I went for a walk this evening, and brought my camera along. I have been getting back into taking more photos since I started posting a photo each day. I am thinking constantly now, what should my photo of the day be? What have I not taken a picture of that others might find interesting? Or what unique way can I photograph something ordinary? Today's photo is of a nearly completely rusted out automobile taken from a not so normal perspective, and at a slightly odd angle. I like the results.
This past week, NASCAR discovered some ingenious engineering of shocks on the #48 car of Jimmie Johnson, and the #5 car of Kyle Busch, both of which are owned by Hendrick Motorsports. The shows were designed to work pretty much the opposite of normal shocks. So, instead of absorbing (hence the name shock absorbers), these shocks were designed to push the tail of the car up when it hit bumps. Since the track at Dover is quite bumpy, the tail would be raised for most of the race, giving the car added downforce, and as a result, better handling.
NASCAR has stated that the shocks were not found to be illegal, but as a result, have banned them from future use. Now, this is where I have a problem. I am not a huge Jimmie or Kyle fan. I pretty much like all of the drivers and teams. I just really enjoy racing in general. My understanding though is that NASCAR is sort of a testbed for automobile technologies. Now, if this is the case, why ban ingenious technology? I think if they come up with new technology that meets car requirements, then they should be able to use it. If it gives them an advantage, it won't be long before the other teams find a way to beat it. Besides, it wasn't like it guaranteed them a win.
They did the same thing to Jeff Gordon a few years ago during the all-star race. His team built a car that just completely obliterated the field, and as a result, NASCAR outlawed the design.
Why do they want to stifle innovation? It just seems to go against the original spirit of NASCAR in my mind.
There is a great review of some not so traditional Christian Media by Bishop T.D. Jakes over at The Thinking Southerner. I posted a comment in reply to it, and I thought it was worth sharing here.As a Christian, I find you that have hit the nail on the head, and it is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for the church in general. Or at least it is the biggest problem non-Christians have with the church. A quote I heard once said something like "The biggest problem with Christians is that they come to church and leave, and go back to their lives." Basically, they don't come across any different than anyone else. No one can see a change in them. Now, that's not to say, we're not going to sin. We are... maybe more than before, but people should be able to see changes in us. They should begin and continue to see Christ's love for this lost world shining through our being. No, we're not perfect, but we know and trust the one who is, and people should be able to see that.
Also, like you mentioned, we need to relate to those who aren't Christians. They need to see that we do struggle with the same things they struggle with, but they need to see that they don't need to struggle alone. We don't need to condemn them. We are just as bad off. Another quote that comes to mind is "The Gospel is one beggar showing another beggar where to find food."
I am glad that there is Christian media out there not portraying false impressions of the Christian lifestyle. Kudos to Bishop T.D. Jakes.
If the folks at MIT have their way, we could have $100 laptops in the not so distant future. Utilizing flash memory, Linux for the OS, and an ingenious power cord that doubles as a carrying strap, this is one cool laptop. Even cooler is that for those times when the power is out (say because of a massive natural disaster) it has a hand-crank to build up the juice it needs. It's definitely revolutionary. I'd love to see this thing get to the market.
I took this today after work in the Charleston metro area, though I don't think it really looks like it was taken in a city. Anyone out there want to venture a guess as to where this was taken?
Today's photo is another in a series of photos I have come to call, "Stuck in traffic blues".
I was watching the video of Andy Hertzfeld discussing Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field over at MacTV, and it reminded me of an employer I had. Andy was describing the unrealistic time frames that Steve had, and that the employees attributed to Steve's Reality Distortion Field that prevented him from s seeing what he wanted was impossible. Anyways, my employer where I used to work would often come and present a project to us looking to get feedback on how long we thought that it would take to complete. But before we could even think about it, let alone respond, he would quickly follow with, "About two days? Ok, great! Thanks!" And that was the end of it. His name was Tony, and so we affectionately came to call it by the term, "Tony-time".
This morning I was reading about Tom's disgust with the media. He sees there being News bars in the future, much like we have sports bars. In this case, you would have Bill O' Reilly or Chris Matthews on the big screen instead of the Steelers and Cowboys. Some time back, Kordalian discussed much the same thing. He sees the media, as does Tom, as entertainment.
Also last night, I had to do a little shopping in town. While at the Dollar Store (yes, I am cheap, so sue me), the cashier was wondering why there were two vehicles from the local media in town. We both figured it had something to do with the town meeting. There has been a lot of mud-slinging going on about our Mayor not doing his job, or trying to hide things. He's a good guy, I like him, and I really wish they would just let the man do his job.
But what really brought all of this together for me was listening to the radio on my drive in. Can you guess what song was playing as I drove in this morning? If you're smart, you would've guessed "Dirty Laundry" by the Eagles.
So like Tom, and Kordalian, I am seeing the media as more of an entertainment business. I guess it has always been this way, but it is becoming a lot more evident as of late. They are not trying to hide is so much. At least I don't think so. If it were really about providing news to the people, we would see a lot more stories about the good that is happening in our world, and in our towns, and less talk about the bad. Sure bad stuff happens. So does a lot of good stuff. Why don't we hear about the good things? Because it doesn't sell. And if they are trying to sell, they are in it for the money. They are in it to entertain.
Goofy's Barnstormer in action. This is a great little roller coaster. It is a must ride for those with small kids, and those who are just young at heart.
Spike's Showbiz Update has returned to The Mix, and I for one, am ecstatic! Spike is quite a funny guy and his take on Showbiz, movies, and celebs in general is great. He is providing the text to the update in a new blog, in case you can't hear it on the radio. It airs at 7:30am each morning. He says that audio will be available soon. That'll be great, then you can get the full effect.
A nice sunrise for the photo of the day. I get to see a lot of nice sunrises on my way to work in the mornings.
You probably need to have kids, preferably ones that can't get enough Thomas the Tank Engine, to understand this quiz, but I thought I'd share it anyways. According to this quiz, I'm most like Edward.
Take the Thomas the Tank Engine Quiz!
Mixing history, with a little humor in today's photo. I walk past this sign every day on my way to the office, and I thought I would share it with you.
Now, that had to be a gutsy tagger to get his mark on the underside of this bridge.
I came across this article on how to run KDE on OS X. KDE, for those who don't know, is a desktop environment typically found running on BSD and Linux, although it has been ported to several operating systems. My question, however, is why would I want to run KDE on OS X? I mean, really? Why? It doesn't give me anything extra really. Some will claim, "Now you have a *free* desktop environment." No, I don't. I had to buy OS X in the first place to be able to do this. So, it wasn't free. Others may claim, "You can now run all of this great KDE software". Yeah, but it's not that great.
I would just love to know, other than for just to be able to say that you can, why would I want to run KDE on Mac OS X?
From reading comments in Rick's blog, I found another WV photographer, Through the Lens.
I stopped at McDonald's yesterday morning for breakfast. While there, I got to watch a drug bust. Now, that was quite something. Two cops came in, and motioned for a gentleman to come out with them. So he did, and they proceeded to talk to him some, and then proceeded to check his entire vehicle out. They found quite a bit of drug paraphernalia in his possession. The fellow in question appeared to be in his 40's. Well, there were a couple of young college age girls with him as well. In the end, all three of them were hauled off in the squad car. I found out from some personnel at the McDonald's that this gentleman's wife had called the police. I guess she found out about the young girls, and the jealousy busted him.
Maybe McDonald's (or at least the one Pikeville, KY) should change the slogan from "I'm Lovin' It" to "Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Goin' Do When They Come For You?"
Took this on the way home today. They were doing some roadside cleanup, and we were stopped for a while. I was bored, so I decided to take a few shots of what was around me. This is one of them.
I was reading an interesting article discussing that the allotted names for this year's hurricanes are just about to run out. If that's the case, they'll start using the Greek alphabet. In reading, I learned more than I ever knew about naming hurricanes. One thing that struck me as odd is the fact that they only allot 21 names, and the letters q, u, x, y and z are not used. Now instead of using the Greek alphabet, why not just use those letters, and should you reach the end, why not just start over at a? That would make sense to me, but of course I am not nearly as smart as a meteorologist (sarcasm). So, in an effort to get the ball rolling on this, I propose the following names for the unused letters:
Has anyone else using Mac OS X Tiger noticed the scrollbar bug in the picture on the left? This happens from time to time when I got from a page with less content to a page with more content, and thus the scrollbar thumb is smaller than on the previous page. Happens in every application too. If anyone has seen this phenomenon, and has a fix for it, please let me know.
Although the weather has been great, winter will soon be here. I know that you probably don't want to hear it, but it is. So, in preparation for its arrival, I offer today's photo. This photo is taken from some video I shot last winter using a very small inexpensive digital video camera. I applied a sepia tone effect to it. What do you think?
Now, why can't I think an absurd idea that some rich idiot is willing to buy? I was beat to the punch again! Catherine Zeta-Jones is buying bottles of air. Bottles of air? That is too funny! Reminds me of a joke we used to have in high school. I was always trying to sell powered water packets. Simply open, and fill with water to get it. And then today in Dilbert, they were selling a time machine that let you travel 1 hour ahead in time, and it only took 60 minutes to get there. I guess if you just think of something to sell, someone will buy it. The trick is to find the sucker, I mean customer, willing to buy it from you.
When I was younger, my dream was to be a game programmer. Not just any game programmer though. I had a particular plan in mind. My goal was to work for Psygnosis, and write video games for the Amiga. Well, today that dream has long since faded to the recesses of my mind. That is until today when I read that there is a game development kit for the Mac that looks to make it possible to create games without writing code. All the fun, none of the pain. Now, one of my friends who writes games for a living is probably thinking in the back of his mind, "Why on earth would you want to write games for a living! The hours are terrible! The stress is high! And the pay is lackluster! Get out while you can!" Well, he's right. I don't want to write them for a living, but to get back into creating small games for my personal pleasure, and maybe some games for the kids, would just be great!
Now, this is a cool use of Google Maps -- Measuring an area encompassed by points clicked on a map. What I am looking for though is a way to measure distance on Google Maps using the same technique of clicking points on a map. Anyone out there have a Google Maps application that measures distance between clicked points?
I am not sure if this is really true or not, but it would not surprise me in the least. According to this guy's story, McDonald's cheese is not really cheese at all, but some sort of polymer. For the scientifically challenged, read polymer as plastic. If it's true, makes you wonder about everything else, now doesn't it?
You may find this hard to believe, but Donna Brazile has found a new appreciation for our President. For those who don't know, Donna managed Al Gore's Presidential Campaign against George W. Bush in 2000.
Today's photo is a picture of a small status of Goofy near Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom.
Here's the photo of the day. Also, I found another West Virginia blogger, Abductive Columns. I found his blog via FeedMap.
I was reading a post over at Tin Foil Hat entitled Top 10 Signs You are a Fundamentalist Christian. I started to reply to it in the comments, but figured I would just take each one and answer them from a Christian perspective. I know he was having fun, and looking to incite us Christians, and that's alright. In any case, here's some responses to each. I've posted the list here for reference.
10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.
I do not feel outraged. I am astonished, actually, that someone can look around the universe and see the design of it all, and not believe in Intelligent Design. How can you see the intricacies of everything, and believe it happened by chance. I am amazed. That takes more faith than I could ever possibly have.
9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.
I don't feel insulted or dehumanized. Like you say, it is more "dehumanizing" to believe that we were formed from dirt. As is said at many funerals, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Every living thing decays and returns to the earth from which it was formed. But let's talk about evolution some. Let's assume that evolution did occur. Let's assume that a single cell organism was formed, and somehow went from being a single cell asexual organism to a multicell sexual organism. There are a lot of steps assumed there, but let's assume it happened. For it to reproduce, it would have to have a mate. And that mate would have to have undergone the same processes, at relatively the same time, and not only that would have to be capable of mating with it. And additionally, they would have had to have found each other, and mated. Multiple times, and then those offspring would have to find mates, and so on. Now, that is for just one species. This would have to happen for all species. Intelligent Design again is easier to swallow.
8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.
Actually, the term used is trinity. Trinity does not mean 3 gods. God is muti-faceted. It is a very hard concept to grasp onto. God is omni-present. This means he can be anywhere at any time, and at multiple places at the same time. Studies have been done, and seem to indicate that God is at least 11-dimensional. We exist in 3 dimensions. Time is the 4th dimension. But to fully understand this, let's assume we live in 2 dimensions. And let's assume that God is 3 dimensional. Think of us a sheet of paper. Placing you hand to one side or the other. If we were the sheet of paper, we would not see it. If, however, our hand were to go through the paper, it would cross into the 2 dimensional world. And we could do this at any point in that two dimensional world, thus transcending time. Basically, what I am trying to say is that to fully understand God is not something that is possible.
Some have tried to give the analogy of the trinity as an egg. It has a shell, an egg-white, and a yolk. That is s simple analogy, but somewhat effective. God is three distinct personifications of the same entity.
7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!
I can't even begin to understand God's reasons. God is omniscient. He transcends time, and knows the beginning and the end. He created everything, and I think His command is justification enough. Now, the problem that we have many times today are those that claim to speak for God, and claim that the atrocities they perform are at his command. I am no God, and I can't say. I have to simply leave judgment in His hands.
6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.
And that is why it is called faith. As I mentioned earlier, I think that it takes more faith to believe that there is no creator, than to believe that there is a creator.
5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.
Actually, I believe that the earth is much older than a few thousand years. For some reference material, check out Reasons to Believe.
4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."
Again, I leave judgment for God. "Do not condemn others, and God will not condemn you", Matt 7:1.
3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.
Rolling around babbling is not speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues has been so misunderstood by recent generations. The gifts of the Holy Spirit, of which speaking in tongues is one, are not around today. The gifts were given to the apostles, and could be passed on by the apostles laying on of hands. Those who received the gifts could not actually pass them on. The gifts were given at the time as a sign that those who were speaking were representative of God. These gifts died out after the apostles were all deceased, and those that they had passed them onto were deceased as well.
2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.
Actually, that would be a terrible success rate. The point that you miss is that prayer is communication with God. Prayer is not God's ATM. Prayer is not our wish list for God to do. And answers do not have to be yes to be an answer. Suppose you asked your parents when you were growing up for something. Your parents could answer, Yes, No, not now, maybe, etc, etc. All are answers, but not all mean that you get what you asked for. Prayer is kind of like that. I like to think of prayer much like Mother Teresa spoke of it. When asked what she does when she prays, she answered, "I listen." When asked what God did when she prayed, she answered, "He listens."
1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.
On this one point, I will most definitely concede that you are probably right for many Christians. We would all do well to study more. Paul wrote to Timothy, and urged him to "Study to show yourself approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed."
These are just some thoughts that I had for your top 10 list. I actually appreciate the time you took to come up with that list, and I would love to have more debate on the subject.
Microsoft is copying yet again, and claiming innovation. Vista looks a lot like brushed metal on OS X, and now they have released Microsoft Gadgets, which are quite similar to Mac OS X Widgets.
While reading some comments over at Spike's, I came across two more WV bloggers.
Well, I got a comment from one of local DJ's mentioning that I forgot to add his blog. Well, Spike, I didn't know you had one. Thanks for the link, and you have been added to my WV links. Spike has to be one of the coolest DJ's around. Keep up the good work Spike!
I think I am going to start a photo of the day post on my blog. Just to add a little reprieve from ranting, and what not. Here's my first one. This is a picture of Cinderella Castle in Walt Disney World. This was taken around 2:27am on July 12, 2005. We were the last to leave the park that day, as you can probably imagine. I know I should chopped the top part of the castle off, but at nearly 2:30am while trying to hold a camera still on a round top trash can, I think it's pretty good. What do you think?
We have started singing a new song at church, and it really hits home for me. The lyrics to the bridge go like this:You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
LORD, Blessed be your name
I added the emphasis on choose. It is our choice to acknowledge that God is in control, and admit that we do not understand everything that happens in this world.
We may not understand why those who choose to ignore God profit, and why those who strive to follow Him as closely as possible face struggle after struggle. We may not understand when huge tragedies happen. We may not understand all the problems in the world. We may not like the wars that our country has or is or will be engaged in. We may not like everything that our leaders do. We may not agree or like what other countries do. We may think that we're right, and we don't understand that no one else can see that fact. We may think, "God, how could you let me brother die in that car crash?" Or, "Why did that father of 3 small kids have to die?" Or, "God, how can a husband of 25 years leave his family for someone else?" Or, "God, how could you let such an awful tragedy transpire in New Orleans?"
But like that song says, we must choose to trust God. He created the world, and I think He can take care of its problems. We don't know everything, though some of us might think differently.
You may not agree me with me on this, and that's fine. Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. These thoughts have been on my mind for a few days now, and I just wanted to share, but mostly I wanted to get it off my chest.
oncee provided me with several more WV bloggers, so without further adieu, here goes:
I've added all of these links plus the others posted already to my list of links. I have also split the WV links out so they'll be easier to find.
Wanna play Super Mario Brothers? How about if it was written entirely in JavaScript? Yep, you read that right. This is a clone of Super Mario Brothers written completely in JavaScript. Simply amazing.
I have been tanking for the past few weeks in our church NASCAR fantasy league. We have a winner for spring season, fall season, and overall for the year. I won the overall last year, while I didn't win either of the seasons. I believe I finished 3rd in both seasons. Consistency paid off. This year, we have a lot more teams. We have grown from 11 teams to 21 teams, and the competition has been a lot better, so I have not fared so well. In an effort to make up a lot of ground, I have been trying odd lineups looking for a combination that works well, and that most teams don't share many drivers with. Well, when it works, it works well, and of course, when it doesn't, I fall like a brick from a plane.
Over the past few days, I have tracked down several blogs in good ol' West Virginia. Kudos to Oncee, Sharon, Jen and Robin S. for all of these.
I may not agree politically/socially/etc with all of the authors of these blogs, but I'm supporting my fellow West Virginian's right to free speech.
While reading this post over at It's Obvious, I have come to the realization that once again, we West Virginians are being taken advantage of. Gas price in Anaheim, CA is $2.85. Here, I am lucky to pay $2.89.
Law makers in WV are considering a reduction, or removal of the food tax that we currently pay. Right now, our food tax is 6%, and this includes all food purchases. Under consideration is a reduction to 5%, or complete removal. The governor wants to reduce the tax over time, but many of the republican law makers want to remove it completely. As you can probably guess, I want it removed completely, but will take any reduction I can get.
On the news this evening, one lady really got under my skin, and she personifies the type of idiot that has brought our state to the level of taxation that we currently endure. When asked if she would like to see the tax reduced or removed, she said, "If I can pay $5 out of the $100 I spend at the grocery store for the greater good of our community, then I am all for it." Remember how much I said the tax in WV is? SIX PERCENT. Six percent of $100 is $6, not $5! It's this kind of nonchalant attitude that doesn't bother to really check into things that has caused so many taxes to be passed in our state.
Another said that reducing the tax by 1% wouldn't really help any. Again, I have to disagree. Reducing the tax by 1% saves me a penny for every dollar I spend on food. I currently spend probably $400 or so on food each month. That's $4 each month. Over the course of a year, that's $48. I don't know about you, but $48 would pay for my child's school lunch for a couple of months.
If you are one of these two people who were interviewed last night, please contact me. You can pay my share of the tax, and we'll all be happy!
For the past couple of days, I have been converting ASP pages over to ASP.NET for one of our web applications, and I have become quite frustrated with some differences between ASP and ASP.NET. Granted these issues wouldn't be so much of an issue had some forethought been taken before writing the stored procedures, and the routines for calling them from ASP.
The trouble I have encountered is that ASP does not care about the names that you use for parameters you create and add to the stored procedure command object, so long as the parameters are in the correct order. ASP.NET cares that the names are correct, and cares that the parameters are in the right order. Well, in the ASP pages that I have been converting, the parameter names given in the Add() method for the command object are almost always different from the ones in the stored procedure itself.
So, here I go converting, and then test, only to find that the parameters are named differently! Argh! It basically is a fault of consistency on Microsoft's part, and on the part of the person responsible for the ASP pages. You know who you are!
I stumbled across the Geek, Nerd, Dork Test, while reading some of the rants of Samantha Burns. I discovered I am normal. Who knew?Joe Normal
34 % Nerd, 30% Geek, 13% DorkFor The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored less than half in all three, earning you the title of: Joe Normal.
This is not to say that you don't have some Nerd, Geek or Dork inside of you--we all do, and you can see the percentages you have right above. This is just to say that none of those qualities stand out so much as to define you. Sure, you enjoy an episode of Star Trek now and again, and yeah, you kinda enjoyed a few classes back in the day. And, once in a while, you stumble while walking down the street even though there was nothing there to cause you to trip. But, for the most part, you look and act fairly typically, and aren't much of an outcast.
I'd say there's a fair chance someone asked you to take this test. In any event, fairly normal.
Congratulations!
Perusing the music isle at the local K-Mart today, I was reminded of something funny. Have you ever noticed a band, group, artist, whatever that comes out with a greatest hits album, and all they have ever released prior to this was one, maybe, two albums? I think that is so funny. Well, today I noticed that Vanilla Ice has a greatest hits album. He had one big hit, and it wasn't big for that long. How can he possibly have a greatest hits album? And then, I see that Hillary Duff now has a greatest hits, er, I mean most wanted, album. (Wouldn't want to get that one wrong.) And I think she has released two albums? Shouldn't there be some sort of prerequisite to get a greatest hits album? Maybe it could be that you are required to actually have 8-10 songs in the number one spot? Maybe it's just me, but I find those so so-called greatest hits albums funny!
I am sick of hearing about FEMA preventing photos of dead bodies. I have commented on a couple of blogs concerning this, and wanted to share my most recent comments. And then I am moving on to geeky things again.I don’t think they should publish photos of the dead… How would you feel if you find out via a photo that someone you love is dead? Additionally, what purpose do the photos serve? Sensationalism. That’s it, plain and simple. It doesn’t help anyone. It can only hurt. You guys all want to cry foul, and proclaim that your free speech is being stepped on. Well, let it be stepped on. These people need help, and taking photos of dead bodies does no such thing.
I noticed today that the help for the GetMonthName() method of the DateTimeFormatInfo class reads as follows:month
An integer from 1 through 13 representing the name of the month to retrieve.
I wonder what calendar Microsoft is using?
With the release of iTunes 5, my Mac OS X GUI is starting to look a lot more like my old Linux X11 days with multiple toolkits everywhere. Come on Apple. Pick one.... Please.... With sprinkles on top.
I was reading the latest post over at Another Man's Meat this evening, and he brings out a wise point for the zealots:At one end there are religious extremists who are calling this God’s Day of Judgment and wrath against an evil city. New Orleans is, in their minds, the twenty-first century of Sodom and Gomorrah or Nineveh. I have a simple reminder for them from Holy Writ. In the greatest sermon ever preached, Jesus said these remarkable words:
7 “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”
If there are religious zealots reading this blog who are so self-righteous that they feel compelled to judge an entire city I would also remind them that they do so at their peril.
Well put, Phil. All of us should take heed to these wise words. I was talking to a friend of mine last night, and we were discussing the hurricane, and all of the blame that has been thrown around, and we were discussing how these types of things happen every time there is a tragedy. One thought that I shared with my friend, and he concurred, was that in every tragedy, God has brought it around so that he is glorified. This tragedy will be no different. As it is written in Romans 8:28And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
The problem so many times is that we only see the small picture of the tragedy. We fail to see the huge painting of love that God is continuing to work on. If we could only see this painting. One day we will. Until then, take this tragedy as a time to spread the Good News, and to love the world, as Christ loved the world.
Two secretaries have been fired over a flamewar about a missing ham sandwich. And people thought that a feud over a pig between the Hatfields and McCoys was ridiculous. That must have been some ham sandwich!
In my life, I have met quite a few fruitcakes. In reading blogs here recently I have come across those who are even more fruity than I thought possible. But here again, my expectations of fruitiness have been far exceeded. I really don't think there is anyone who can top this one. I don't think I have laughed this hard in quite some time. I am going to bookmark this one to read just for the laughs. For those who don't want to bother following the link, here are some excerpts.Katrina seemed kinda fishy to me. I am no expert in weather/meteorology, but based on what I've read, this storm took a really odd path and got stronger when it should have been getting weaker. I am certain that our government has the technology to manipulate weather, which would include the ability to steer a hurricane and/or make it stronger. This storm has Illuminati written all over it!
Ok, so the Illuminati are too blame..... Ok.......So a recurring theme now in my posts is spirituality. I've been totally blown away with it, and it totally ties in to what is going on today with the Illuminati/New World Order/Reptilian agenda to enslave mankind.
Ok...... I think this fellow is on some strong meds.Milk it does a body good? Not!!!!!..........Get the facts on milk because it's not as beneficial as it's made out to be. Homo sapiens are the only animals that drink milk past their infancy, and it's not necessary. There are other ways of getting calcium in your diet than drinking milk. Check out the link and educate yourself on the dangers of milk, don't believe the lies that the dairy industry saturates your television with.
I don't know what you think about this guy, but I think this guy needs some milk to dilute the meds.
Our message at church tonight was titled, "Lessons Learned From Hurricane Katrina". Our minister had some great points. Here's a quick outline:
Vulture's Row has a great post on the situation in New Orleans, truth in reporting, and the blame game in general. Preach On Brother!
I stumbled across this site today selling what has to be the best bumper sticker in the world. 
I may have to get some of these for those extra special drivers at the local shopping plazas.
While surfing blogs via BlogExplosion, I once again hit this site. I have come to the point where I really do not like this guy's opinion much. Here's a quote from a recent post:I must confess, I have a hard time with Rehnquist's body lying in repose, and people making such a fuss crying over his body, when hundreds -- if not thousands -- of Americans are lying dead in the streets in New Orleans.
He has such a horrible outlook on life, and of course his politics differ from mine drastically. But more than the politics, it is his lack of respect for leaders, whether he agrees with them or not. As flawed as the election system may be, our leaders are elected, and we must trust their decisions. At some point in the past, Mr. Rehnquist was chosen to serve as a Supreme Court Justice by one of elected officials. Give the man some respect for his service. If you want change
Who'd have thought back in April of this year that New Orleans would be nearly complete anhililation come August? I guess someone at Popular Science might have had this inclination.
A hillbilly was stopped by a game warden in West Virginia recently with
two ice chests of fish. He was leaving a cove well known for its
fishing.
The game warden asked the man, "Do you have a license to catch those
fish?"
"No, sir, I don't have any of those licenses, no. You must understand
these are my pet fish."
"Pet fish?" said the game warden.
"Yea. Every night I take these here fish down to the lake and let them
swim 'round for a while. Then I whistle and they jump right back into
this ice chest and I take them home."
"That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that!" says the warden.
The hillbilly looked at the game warden for a moment and then said,
"It's the truth Mr. Government man, I'll show you. It really works."
"Okay," said the game warden, " I've GOT to see this!"
The hillbilly poured the fish into the lake and stood and waited. After
several minutes, the game warden turned to him and said, "Well?"
"Well, what?" said the hillbilly.
The warden said, "When are you going to call them back?"
The hillbilly said, "Call who back?"
"The FISH!" replied the warden.
"What fish?" answered the hillbilly.West Virginians may not be as smart as some city slickers, but
we aren't as dumb as most government employees.
Found some great cheat sheets for web development. Here are the direct links:
I have been amazed at who finds blogs, and how they come across them. So I was wondering, who's reading this? And how did you find it? Probably won't get any responses, but it is just something that I have been wondering.
A man's life can be broken down into three stages:
Pre-Marriage:
This stage lasts about 20 - 30 years, and it involves a man's mother asking, "Where are you going?"
Married Life:
This stage lasts some 40 years or so, and it involves the wife asking, "Where are you going?"
Post-Death:
At this point, everyone is asking, "Which way did he go?"
