Terry Pearson’s Blog

Jessica and I are very excited to watch “24″ Season Seven tonight.

We became big fans of the TV series while we were in college. We would rent an entire season at a time from our school’s video rental place. They let you keep movies over Christmas break. So we could rent whole seasons of 24, Alias, and other shows, and watch all 16 hours of the season over our break.

Whenever we would bring home a season of 24, we would keep saying, “one more episode, then we will go to bed.” This usuall meant that we would stay up half the night watching Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) blow the snot out of terrorists.

I think that 24 is especially entertaining because it really challenges the viewers to think outside the box. Jack is continuously put in impossible situations where he must choose between two or more choices that are shunned by society, discouraged by political powers, or otherwise detrimental to his well-being.

The show’s writers also have no qualms about killing off key characters. This makes it into a suspense filled drama where you never know who might need to be watching their back. In fact, Newsday columnist Raymond J. Keating estimates Jack has directly or indirectly killed 167 people in the first six seasons.

Last season was a little bit duller, with not as much suspense as the previous seasons. Some website are claiming that Jack Bauer was brainwashed this season by the liberal agenda. I guess we will see what happens. I hope they stick with the old character that has made the show so popular.

The show starts tonight (January 11, 2009) at 7pm central time on Fox. They are doing a two hour premier today, followed by a two hour show tomorrow. After that, it will be the traditional one hour episode a week on Mondays at 7pm.

I cannot believe how much it costs to heat your house. Last month, our bill almost doubled. I suppose that comes with the unseasonably cold temperatures.

Jessica and I were talking about the price difference between propane (like we had at our old house) and natural gas (like we have at our new house.

Our initial thought was that it should be about the same. But after doing some research, we found that there is a pretty big difference between propane and natural gas.

In order to figure out the cost of propane verses natural gas, I did the following:

1. I first needed to determine an appropriate conversion between gallons of propane and therms of natural gas. I found a website that listed a rough approximation between therms and gallons of propane:
   “100 cubic feet (1 CCF) of natural gas is very nearly 1 therm (0.95 – 1.05, typically, depending on gas analysis). 1 gallon of LPG is about 0.91 therm. (91000 BTU).”
2. After determining that 1 gallon of Propane = 0.91 therms, I calculated how much one therm equals by doing the by dividing 1 gallon of propane by 0.91 therms. This gives me the solution that 1 Therm = 1.1 Gallons of propane.
3. Then I looked at our propane and natural gas bills to determine the unit prices for each. For propane, this is $1.49 per gallon. For natural gas, it is $0.80 a therm.
4. Next I determined a standard measurement to base our calculations on. I chose therms. Since 1 therm = 1.1 Gallons of Propane, we will take 1.1 gallons of propane times $1.49. This will give us an equivalent to the price per therm.
   1.1 * $1.49 = $1.63
5. We can conclude that, at current market prices (January 1, 2009), natural gas is much cheaper. Currently, $0.80 of natural gas would cost you $1.63 if it was bought in propane.

You may not have realized this, but corn, gold, and oil are not the only high priced commodities in the world markets. Rice, a staple of many families worldwide, has become so expensive that families are rationing what they have.

You see stories such as this one, describing the dismal situation around the world.

While the issue itself is serious, I did hear a rather humorous song on the Chris Baker show the other day. The Price of Rice is Crazy.

I don’t think that there could be any song that is more appropriate this Christmas than “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” For the seventh Christmas in a row, our nation, and the world, is wrapped into a struggle that has forever changed our lives.The fight against the Islamic Jihad, had spread from the Middle East, Somalia, and Indonesia, to New York, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. As our nation reacted to the atrocities at home, we mobilized for war against Al Queda, and those who preached the destruction of the west.

Our soldiers began fighting back the enemies of the free world. Our allies were attacked in Spain, Britain, and more. With courage, we stayed in the fight, knowing that a better world could be made, if we prevail.

After seven Christmases of war, many have given up hope. They have proclaimed that the Wrong have indeed prevailed. Hope has given way to despair. It is easy to believe that there will never be peace again.

It was nearly a century and a half ago that a man, by the name of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, felt as many feel today. He began to write a poem, that would describe his journey from despair to hope.

To understand the context of this poem, you must understand the time and situation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He was a man with scars on the inside and out.

Just three years before, he had tried to rescue his wife as she burned alive after her dress caught fire by a candle. His face was so charred from the fire, that he could not attend his own wife’s funeral.

At the time of this writing, Longfellow’s own nation was in the midst of the greatest struggle it had ever faced. The civil war was in it’s darkest moments and the states were anything but united. Men fought and killed their own brothers and fathers. The tensions between the north and the south created an emotional chasm that appeared as though it would never be bridged.

Longfellow lived at a time when peace may have been desired, but peace was not visible, not even on the horizon.

In the midst of this dark time, Longfellow cried out in his writing:

“There is no peace on earth, for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men. “

This was in the context of a struggle that looked as though it had no end. Many believed that wrong would prevail, and the the Right would fail. They only saw death in the future. Though they believed their cause was just, they had no faith, because they could see no victory.

Longfellow was then reminded that there is hope. With a burst of the bells he was reminded that

“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail With peace on earth, good will to men.”

With those timeless words, came encouragement, not just to Longfellow or the people of his time, but to the entire human race. We are reminded that there will be struggles and we will face circumstances that we see as all but lost, but in the end, the Right will prevail.

Take heart, our struggles here at home, and those of insurmountable proportions around the world, will be victorious. The wrong shall fail, the right will prevail, with the result being peace on earth and good will toward all men!

Merry Christmas!

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”