Since I’ve already done my introduction video I thought I’d share… It was really fun making… I guess I’ll post a post on making videos later If you want more info on The WordPress Dojo when it launches, go to the Home page, click on the email button at the bottom and I’ll keep you in the loop!

Enjoy the video, and feel free to give me a buck fifty-worth of your $.02!

Click the picture to bring up the lightbox, and then click the play button in the lightbox to view it.

Greetings from the Navarros!

We hope this message finds you in good health and happy circumstances.

We are preparing to head on our sixth mission trip to Mexico this coming August. As most of you are aware, it’s been a few years since we have gone on a mission trip with our church, and we are excited about doing it again! This year, we will not be returning to San Pedro outside of Merida, although we do hope to return there and see our brothers and sisters in Christ again. This time we are heading to our denomination’s retreat center, Camp Maranatha, in Rio Verde, a few hours outside of San Luis Potosi in central Mexico. The center is used for various children’s camps and regional seminars throughout the year. We will stay in and work on repairs of what is known as “The Big House” where we will also be residing during our stay. Living there will surely assist in the motivation to get the work done! (Especially replacing the leaky roof!)

How you can help!

Prayers - we are flying from Houston to San Luis Potosi, so we will not be anywhere near the border areas that have been so dangerous lately. But we always covet prayers for safe travel and the well-being of all of us on the trip.

Funding - it does cost money to fly to Mexico and to purchase materials. We would appreciate a donation of any amount, as it all adds up and helps cover the costs. We have already raised some money through fund raisers at our church, including a spaghetti dinner in February and a Chili Cookoff in March (yummy!). We have a festival planned for June with burgers, hotdogs, and BBQ (that would be the noun, not the verb!), plus games and fun stuff for the whole family!

You can donate by sending a check made out to ‘Huntersville ARP Church’, and note “Mission Trip” in the memo field, OR you can visit our church website at http://huntersvillearp.org and donate via credit card on the top right of the home page.

As with all missionary efforts, it’s the little work done by the many that ‘adds up’ so any and all donations, regardless of amount, are surely appreciated. If you want more details, let us know! I expect one or both of us will blog about the trip while we are down there or right after we get back, so keep an eye on theimperfectblog.com or anthonynavarro.com for highlights.

Blessings, Love, and Thanks for your prayer and financial support!

-Anthony & Laura

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My iPad Teleprompter Setup

Well, I’ve started writing my scripts for my upcoming training website, The WordPress Dojo. One of the exciting things about doing video work is all the gadgets you get to use while making it, especially on a shoestring budget!

While your typical hardware-based teleprompter setup can run somewhere in the hundreds, if not thousands of dollars depending on the surrounding hardware, I MacGyver-ed myself a teleprompter setup with equipment I already had, plus a $15 software program for the iPad.

The major trick is that I used an iPad stand that I zip-tied to the tripod to hold it up close to the camera lens so it won’t look so much like I’m reading from another source, glancing away from the lens every now and again.

(Stay tuned for a future update on this – I bought a pretty neat gadget that will make it even better!)

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Hoosiers - Read more about this in the Indiana Times (click photo above)

The Supreme Court of Indiana decided last week to essentially repeal the 4th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.  As a refresher, this reads

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

There is a rich history to the reasons for this amendment to be in place, but in a stunning 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer’s entry.

“We believe … a right to resist an unlawful police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence,” David said. (emphasis added) “We also find that allowing resistance unnecessarily escalates the level of violence and therefore the risk of injuries to all parties involved without preventing the arrest.” (read the full opinion)

Wow… you bet it will escalate in violence! Try envisioning a police officer walking up to someone’s house in San Antonio, Chicago, or Harlem and let’s see what the lawmakers decide to define ‘escalation in violence’. Since 1604 in the famous Semayne’s Case, Brits, and now Americans have recognized this right. It was ruled that, “The house of every one is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defence against injury and violence as for his repose.”

Yep… that’s the way it has been for the over 200 years of our American History. The judged mind you, not the lawmakers of Illinois, think they know better. (Anyone smell ‘legislation from the bench?’)

I am going to be interested to see if the people of Indiana put up with this… I would expect a law like this to his Chicago, but Illinois???

Here it is again, in plain English: A police officer can walk up to any house in any city in Indiana and announce they would like to take a look at what is inside your home. For no reason. You have no legal right to stop them – you are stripped of your protections, and in fact, if you tell the police officer no – you WILL go to jail.

Anyone care to do a little research and see if this has ever been a good thing in the history world governments? Are those governments still around, or are they relegated to the wastebasket of failed policies?

To the residents of Illinois – be sure to send your appreciation to Justices Rucker and Dickson for dissenting on this decision. To Justices David, Shepherd, and Sullivan, I’ll leave them to your creativity.

What do YOU think? Inquiring Americans would like to know. Comment below…

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Our nation’s dependence of foreign sources has increased to 52% of the daily requirement as compared to 45% just 15 years ago. Over half of that amount comes from countries that are inherently unstable or ruled by despotic regimes whose interest it is to de-stabilize the United States.

Yet the United States is sitting on the world’s largest untapped oil reserve. A natural resource that would not only mitigate the over $400 Billion sent overseas to other countries but could create untold millions of jobs and put the country on a sound financial footing. In little time, the US could become the single largest exporter of oil and oil related products in the world, thus potentially eliminating its trade deficit, and increasing the national standard of living as well as making a massive dent in the national debt.

Read the complete article on American Thinker…

I got sidetracked since Christmas because of my next shopping excursion: brass rods and tubing. It was hard to believe, but no one in the hobby industry in Charlotte had them! I went to Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, and HobbyTown, and was surprised not only that they did not stock any, but they could not tell me where to go to get any… So of course, I go online, which would have been my first choice. I would have rather supported my local business, but I didn’t have that luxury.

Shopping online was another adventure. I searched for “Brass Rod” and started adding items to the cart. I needed seven different diameters of tubing and rod, and the first two places I tried had all but one of the sizes – 5/16″ brass rod. I did a specific search for “5/16 rod” and came up with the Votaw Tool Company – they were the first place I had found that had all diameters of rod (1/16″, 3/16″, 1/8″, and 5/16″) and tubing (5/32″, 7/32″, 1/4″).

Total Price: $14.41 Plus shipping, and I’m one step closer to making my first cuts!

The Running Totals:

Material Costs: $98.72

• Blueprints: $38.95
• Wooden Dowells
  • 1.25″ – $3.78
  • 1″ – $3.24
  • 3/4″ – $2.64
  • 3/8″ – $.84
• Carriage Bolt: 1/4 x 4 1/2 (2) – $.68
• Threaded Rod: 8/32″ x 12″ – $.98
• Patio Door Rollers – $5.37
• 1/4″ Flat Washers (6) – $1.18
• Brass Wood Screws
  • 2″ (3) – $1.18
  • 1.25″ (1) – $1.18
• Mason “Surf Caster” Nylon Line, 45 lb test (via eBay) – $9.99 ($18.04 w. s/h)
• Brass Rod & Tubing: $20.66

Time:

• Research: 4 Hours
• Lowes Shopping Trip #1 – 1 Hour
• Online Shopping: .5 Hour
• The Brass rod and tube hunt: 3 Hours

Tools: $27.36

• Vise – $21.38
• Sanding Pad Cleaning Stick $5.98
• Dremel Workstation Attachment $36.99

I believe every man needs a hobby. Mainly (at least in my case) it can give a man who primarily works from home (in an environment where you don’t get typical day-to-day interaction with other human beings) a creative outlet and a steam pressure valve. A man needs to do something mentally stimulating with a creative challenge from time to time in a non work-related context or he can go bonkers. 

Anyhoo, 2010 was a great creative year for me – I had built a real nice stone patio on the front yard and a stone firepit stand in the back yard. My wife and I experimented with seed-based bird feeders and we also had a great year with a hummingbird feeder. I burned a truckload of wood enjoying the firepit and the birds and I read several books and even built a few websites from the comfort of our front patio. “So,” I asks myself… “what to do next?”

I had a desire to get back to wood. I haven’t done anything significant with wood since I built our iMac media server niche or the Home Theater. I also didn’t want to just nail squares and rectangles together – even pretty ones. I wanted to do something really unique and creative that would stretch me. So, I started looking for ideas.

My Next Woodworking Project: Solaris by Clayton Boyer

I can’t recall how it was I came across wanting to build a clock, but I discovered Clayton Boyer’s website and saw some intriguing plans and instructions on building wooden clocks. After long contemplation and a quick poll form my FaceBook friends, I decided to build the Solaris. I liked the opportunity it would give me to utilize multiple types of wood, using multiple stains, and having something I can stand back and enjoy and show off to friends and family. (I also would need to acquire some additional Power Tools!  ooh, ooh-urr!!!) Like the stone patio, it was something I have never done before and will have a lot to learn and hopefully have a lot to share with the clockbuilding community. There are lots of videos on YouTube from people who have built wooden clocks which have inspired me, and I hope to return the favor.

So, I look forward to embark on this journey and share it with you.

Let me know below: What hobby do you have? What do you like to do in your “off-time?” If you don’t already have a hobby, what might you decide to start doing in the New Year?

Time to go to Lowes and start shopping!

The Running Totals:

Costs:

• Blueprints: $38.95

Time:

• Research: 4 Hours

Failure is hard. It represents a lot of wasted, time, effort, resources, and in a nation, dollars that could have been used productively in a nation’s interest.

So, will America learn lessons from Greece, France, and now, Germany, who are now lay claim to the honor of hosting other failed social experiments like Russia’s communism, Britian’s health ‘care’ system, or, will we, like them, fail to heed the call of history and insist that we can do it better? If only we could… history is replete with failures of that ilk as well.

So what is Miss Merkle’s plea from across the pond? That Germany’s resident immigrants learn German culture, learn the German language, and <gasp> adopt Christian Values!

What a thought… It is no question that the philosophies the drive freedom, capitalism, women’s rights, anti-slavery, property ownership, ingenuity, learning, and human advancement should be at the forefront of Germany’s mind right now.

It worked for America. In less than 200 years we made the equivalent 5,000 Year Leap from the dark age to the space age because of these principles. America began her decline when she too, turned from them not so many years ago.

We’re told  in Psalm 33:12 that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD” and we received that blessing. Today, however, we are not reaping those rewards as we once did. Today we are a nation of entitlements, of social and economic welfare, multiculturalism and relativism, and we will suffer the fate of those other nations if we do not re-assume a national identity and, like Germany, encourage the adoption of a single language, a single national allegiance, a single work ethic, and a single political goal of remaining a nation of law and not a nation of whatever the wind has blown across the pond, or across the border for that matter.

Liberal critics will unflinchingly cite the quote at the base of the Statue of Liberty which reads

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore

thinking we are to open our borders to take in anyone and everyone and let them do as they please. The New Colossus, the title of that poem, closes with

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

What the critics won’t tell you is that the ‘tempest tost’ are those living under persecution, under the indentured servitude of dictatorial regimes, of religious persecution. These are people looking for a door, lit by a golden lamp, who are willing to unite under a banner of freedom, of justice, and yes, ethics. People willing to assimilate and become Americans.

This lesson is not new. Again, history repeats itself. In 1941 FDR’s Secretary of the Interior Harold Ikes gave this definition of an American when defending the cause of the Allies before entering WWII:

What constitutes an American? Not color nor race nor religion. Not the pedigree of his family nor the place of his birth. Not the coincidence of his citizenship. Not his social status nor his bank account. Not his trade nor his profession.

An American is one who loves justice and believes in the dignity of man. An American is one who will fight for his freedom and that of his neighbor. An American is one who will sacrifice prosperity, ease and security in order that he and his children may retain the rights of free men. An American is one in whose heart is engraved the immortal second sentence of the Declaration of Independence.

Americans have always known how to fight for their rights and their way of life. Americans are not afraid to fight. They fight joyously in a just cause.

We Americans know that freedom, like peace, is indivisible. We cannot retain our liberty if three-fourths of the world is enslaved. Brutality, injustice and slavery, if practiced as dictators would have them, universally and systematically, in the long run would destroy us as surely as a fire raging in our nearby neighbor’s house would burn ours if we didn’t help to put out his.

If we are to retain our freedom, we must do everything within our power to aid Britain. We must also do everything to restore to the conquered peoples their freedom. This means the Germans too.

We must support the Germans in their quest to retain their national heritage and identity, but we cannot do that unless we do it ourselves.

This short video takes you on a tour starting from the Himalayas and leading to the farthest reaches of observable space. It gives true meaning to the word ‘space’ because that’s what most of the universe is… a lot of empty space! When you realize how Earth is suspended in literally, the middle of nothingness, you can see how amazing creation is.

Job 26:7: He hangs the earth on Nothing (How did people in the Old Testament times know that? Hmmm…)

Psalms 19:1: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.

There's a reason this bagel cutter looks like a guillotine!

Have you ever had the attitude of “things are so crazy, nothing can surprise me now”? Well, just when you thought taxes were crazy enough, I received this morning’s milk-up-my-nose moment when I read that my home state of New York has instituted… get this… a sliced bagel tax. (It’s actually been on the books for years… someone finally decided to enforce it!)  If you buy a whole bagel and walk out the door, no tax. If you dare take a weapon of personal consumption (WPC) against said bagel to put, let’s say, um, cream cheese on it, Cha-Ching, a coin rolls into the Albany coffers. Eight coins, actually Four if you use a nickel.

Heck, here in North Carolina, if I want to grab a bite at the local Subway’s and ask the sandwich mechanic (or whatever they’re called) to toast my sandwich, cha-ching, I’m taxed on that!

In California restaurants, if you order coffee when you sit down, yep… you guessed it: there’s a Tax for that… (Hint: In California, even if you’re going to sit, always order your coffee to go!)

Taxes are your single greatest expense!

Where does it end? It’s this nickel-and-diming of the American public that is finally causing the outrage we are seeing in our communities – the Tea Parties, the tax protests, the conservative small-government ‘extremists’ who are being treated in the press as if we are some revolutionary, radical, anarchist movement. There’s nothing radical about wanting to keep the money you earn. There’s nothing radical about saving for retirement and letting our heirs keep that money (more on that in another post). There’s nothing radical about giving Caesar what Caesar is due and not a penny more!

The Obama Budget Deficit - He's got to pay for it somehow!

One of the turning points in the birth of our nation involved the oppressive and unfair taxation of another consumable product – Tea. Our fledgling populace knew oppression when they saw it and refused to give in. That was the dawn of what would be called “The American Spirit.”

Tell Albany What You Think:

Here’s a suggestion to my New York Brethren: Go buy a bagel (uncut, to avoid the tax!) and run down to your local government-operated Post Office and put the bagel, a tea bag, and a post-it-note in a Priority Box saying “Repeal the bagel tax!” and sign your name with your city & state. The boxes are free! (well, they’re not free… you’ve already paid for them… with your taxes!)

Regarding the tea, send a used tea bag to represent the “leftovers” the government expects us taxpayers to live off of after they charge us for our bagels, our gasoline, our telephone calls, our emails, yada yada… ad infinitum.. (Remember, only half of us Americans are paying taxes… the rest are benefiting from our earnings!)

Think I’ll head over to the Bagel Bin… after I finish my Green Tea.

America, What Say ye?