Musings in Search of a Muse

Happy Halloween!

This is not my holiday, or at least not any more. Having zipped up a body bag at one point in my life really took the 'ween' out of Halloween.

In a previous post I wrote:

In a similar vein (though a bit more facetious in nature), if God hadn't wanted us to eat animals, 'splain why he made them out of meat? And "unclean" animals need extra 'splanation ... if pigs shouldn't be eaten why did He make them with bacon?

Maybe I shouldn't have been so flippant because a possible change to the original dietary law was brought to my attention during my last Bible study from Acts 10:9-15.

⁹About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. ¹⁰He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. ¹¹He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. ¹²It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. ¹³Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."

¹⁴"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."

¹⁵The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

Well, if that doesn't sound like so-called unclean (yet secretly filled with tasty goodness) animals are now okay to eat, I don't know what does. Of course, to still get the best airline food it is still a good idea to tell them that you keep Kosher. One can always get bacon on the ground after landing.

Mmmm ... bacon. I might have to run to the store right now and pig out. McDonald's Bacon, Egg & Cheese Bagel here I come!

Yep, I decided on a new blog template. Not sure why I picked this one. I had wanted one that had a section listing recent posts and built-in permalinks to posts. But I couldn't decide on a style.

Searching the Web turned up quite a few results. Most were links to sites that claimed to have links to templates. The few templates I found either didn't suit my taste or were just plain dreck.

I had been hoping to avoid having any sort of subject-specific theme or a style that would reflect a particular bias toward anything. The template that met these criteria were either too plain, appeared to be aesthetically-challenged, or had elements that I just didn't like -- large borders left and right, for example. The left-hand column of this template is too wide for my tastes but it didn't tweak well so I suppose I'll live with it. If I would just buckle-down and get back to coding I'd have a nice template but I don't want to shake off my "user" status just yet.

While searching for some ringtones for a new mobile phone that I'll be getting in a couple weeks I came across something strange: The Theme from Perry Mason is a Christian tune. Well, it is if you download it from the Cingular Website.

And the phone I'm getting? It is an LG C2000. I might not have picked it as a first choice, but it looks like a rather good phone and it was free. Apparently I dressed correctly during Customer Appreciation Week at work and that was one of the prizes.

Don't let the Caller ID display on the outside fool you. It isn't really full color. That's an illuminated insert behind an LCD. But that is a camera lens above the display.

Except for style and the ability to use MP3 ringtones, it seems identical in every respect to a phone that I used to have, an LG L1150. I rather liked that device. Too bad the inside display went wonky.

I'm looking forward to the extra hour of sleep, though on weekends I don't really need it because I can sleep all I want.

Now I'm off to set the minor time pieces in my home and then change all the clocks for my neighbor. I'll change the last of my clocks just before going to bed. Don't forget to do your own!

And to help you in your quest to revert to Standard Time, here are some Web surfing suggestions:

• Official US Time Clock on the Web
  
• A nifty cartoon from Skywise
• Some great trivia at Daylight Savings Time Web Exhibit
• TimeAndDate.com
• The ever reliable Wikipedia
• WorldTimeZone.com has a cool map
• "Lawmakers Move To Extend Daylight-saving Time" - CNN
• NIST - National Institute of Standards & Technology

The article topic is inconsequential, but this excerpt sums up how I have always felt about technology in general and computer use, to be specific:

"In both cases, people don't think about the individual pieces of the package, he said. They just think about the tasks they want to do, such as listening to their music or getting e-mail on the go." (CNET News.com)

When I bought my first computer, a CompuAdd 8088 with 20 megabyte hard drive and monochrome monitor, all I wanted to do was to write term papers for college. To do that I had to learn an awful lot of stuff that I really didn't want to know but needed to complete the one task I had. It all worked out to my advantage in the long run, I suppose, but I wonder how productive I would have been if I could have spent more time on doing what I wanted to do.

Despite over 20 years of advancements that have increased productivity I am still a slave to the machine. For example, every day I have to clear the browser cache and cookies on my work computer before I can start the several programs needed, otherwise nothing works well. On a regular basis everything needs to be wiped and reinstalled because security protocols prevent disk defragmenting or the programmers of one software package make an update that prevents other applications from working.

Since I made the recent decision to become a "user" rather than someone who actively takes an interest in how my computer works and the tweaks that can be made to it I've had a lot more fun and have had fewer headaches. Now why couldn't the technology work like that in the first place?

There should be no need for the user to worry about tasks to maintain the technology. The user should simply have a product that works. That's why I'm eager to switch to a Macintosh computer. Each time that I start this machine a reminder pops up that I don't have Windows Update active. Mostly it reminds me of the last update that kept this expensive critter from doing what it needs to do.

I've made a few bad music choices lately, but these three instrumental tracks from Agatsuma are not among them. In fact I had a bit of a hard time narrowing down a list of choices to buy from a good-sized catalog of excellent tracks from this artist as I am nearly out of room on the iPod and am short on funds.

Instrumentals are always a favorite because they serve well as background music or as the focus the moment. These tracks, however, have trouble staying out of the spotlight. The rhythms and the orchestration almost scream "Listen to me!" but without being overpowering. While iTunes lists them as New Age I've re-labeled them as World Music because they are distinctly non-Western in flavor but I can understand the original choice. Unlike some World Music I've listened to, Agatsuma's work is fresh and modern while still expressing a cultural identity.

While gathering quotes for the daily e-mail I send to my workmates this one popped up:

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." - Mohandas Gandhi (source)

Whoa. So dead on it hurts. Too many professed Christians don't live up to the model, me included. And there is a reason for this -- it is much easier to govern ourselves by wondering "What would Jesus do?" rather than knowing what Jesus did.

The Bible is hard to read, in my opinion. Surely it is a translation issue or that it is nothing like contemporary prose. A much larger factor for many is that the content is uncomfortable because it points out our flaws -- well, maybe that should be "our humanity" rather than "our flaws" -- and this leads to guilt for not overcoming the condition.

Continuing in a pseudo-Socratic fashion ... So what's up with the guilt, then? Because Jesus was created human, too, he faced the same challenges, problems, and temptations that we do and more so (don't forget that field trip with Satan). Because He was able to remain in a state of perfect grace He became the standard, albeit so nearly impossible to match we tend to feel bad when we don't measure up.

This guilt may not be entirely appropriate. Maybe we should instead be regretful, something akin to guilt, as forsaking the gift given to us by His sacrifice creates the burden of loss. People tend to wallow in regret more so than they do guilt, too, which is part of a cycle of inviting the sin to stay in our lives.

This continuance of sin is, of course, the poor behavior recognized by the Mahatma and to have it attributed to Christians is itself regrettable. We Saints need to take a lesson from the great Indian legend and live according to our values because people judge us by our individual deeds then brand our community as a whole. The only way we can overcome this is to study the life of Jesus and apply the lessons to our own life. Then, perhaps, observations like Gandhi's will no longer cross the minds of our brothers and sisters.

Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is the greatest Rock-n-Roll song of all time.

No "ifs," "ands," or "buts" about it. Everything from the melody and the hook to the lyrics are sheer perfection. Every rendition I've heard from Mr. Berry has been flawless. Each cover I've heard has been worthy of keeping. Even if it makes me late for something, I never skip the song when it comes up in rotation and I always make the time to listen. The copper discs sent with the 1977 Voyager space probes feature "Johnny B. Goode."

The song is that good.

Rosa Parks (1913-2005), pictured at left as she is being booked for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus, a shocking an illegal act some 50 years ago.

Much more recently, I was showing some pictures to friends and many were from a then recent trip to New York City. The kids were facinated by the images from Madame Tusaudes Wax Museum and asked lots of questions about the famous people. After telling them about Rosa Parks there were as choked up as I was.

The story of Miss Parks' contribution to America through her simple act of defiance at the start of the Civil Rights Movement must continue to be told. You will be missed, but not forgotten, dear lady.

For your consideration:

• New York Times - "Rosa Parks, 92, Founding Symbol of Civil Rights Movement, Dies"
• America's Story - "Rosa Parks Was Arrested for Civil Disobedience December 1, 1955"
• Scholastic - "My Story" (great for kids)

Yes, instead of changing my shower curtain, cleaning anything in the house, or even thinking of doing anything productive I spent my time browsing the Bible. Not in the ordinary sense, mind you. I was catching up with The Brick Testament.

The picture tells it all: Bible stories told comic-book style with everything made out of Lego bricks. Blasphemous? Maybe. Funny? Sometimes. Worth looking at? Absolutely!

Strictly speaking, this isn't for kids. As these are stories from the Bible there is nudity, violence, mature language, and adult situations. Make note of the "ratings" for each chapter.

Something I've wanted to do for a long time is sit and watch all three volumes of The Lord of the Rings trilogy in one sitting. Well, I'd still like to do that, but I came close this weekend. Last night I watched The Fellowship of the Ring while today I watched The Two Towers and The Return of the King back-to-back.

Okay, I admit zipping ahead a couple times. They were parts added for the extended edition DVDs. Great back story stuff, I'm sure, or stuff for people who have actually read the books, but I didn't feel the need to include them.

One day I will get around to a complete viewing and I want to do the same with all the Star Wars movies, too. But I'll need to invite a bunch of people over. Watching the trilogy by myself wasn't that fun.

What a wonderful movie, Angels in the Outfield (1951). The Danny Glover version (1994) was good, but no match for the Paul Douglas original. This classic baseball film has lots of highlights: Noreen Corcoran as Bridgett; some wonderful cameos, particularly Ty Cobb; terrific performances by the minor players; and truly superior writing.

The latter stood out because lately I've been thinking about the F-word again and some dialogue in the movie targets language. One of the characters - an angel - said to a foul-mouthed team manager, "There are 698,000 words in the English language. We just want you to stop using one-hundredth of one-percent of them." I can't vouch for the numbers, but it is an admirable request, one that I'd like to be able to make occasion.

As much as I appreciate the versatility and power of the F-word, its casual use really annoyed me several times one day last week. I wonder what percentage of the whole body that one word is and why it is more offensive when used by women. A lady - or should I say "lady" - and I were having a pleasant discourse about her mobile service when a minor annoyance popped up at her end and she immediately tossed the bomb. The whole tenor of the conversation was broken like a cloud that suddenly appears in a clear, blue sky and that tainted the whole day.

I'm not sure what my point is here. Perhaps there isn't one. Or maybe it is this: Free speech is an inalienable right, to be sure, I would hope that people would use it more wisely.

Well that took long enough! Normally I don't follow sports, but I thought I'd check in on the first game of the World Series by looking at the box score. About 15 clicks later on Yahoo! Sports I found one. You'd think that it would be right up front at MLB.com or at its affiliate dedicated to the championship games. Nope. Not even a link. That was disappointing. I thought it would be much quicker than that. Baseball has always taken patience, so I souldn't be surprised that baseball on the Web is no different.

Anyway, if I can't root for my Red Sox this year, I have to say ... Go White Sox!

I took the "Which Fantasy / SciFi Character Are You?" quiz and it looks like I'm Yoda.

A venerated sage with vast power and knowledge, you gently guide forces around you while serving as a champion of the light.

Judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not - for my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life greets it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminescent beings are we, not this crude matter! You must feel the Force around you, everywhere.

Actually, that's pretty good. I'd have to agree. Or not. It is amusing, though.

Yup. This sums it up. Only once in a while my mind slides into the gutter lately ... thanks, God!

There are times I forget that I'm not in any shape to be chasing women-folk let alone catching one. And I'm not sure my memory would serve, either. Yup. Staying single is looking good right now.

'Course that will change tomorrow. Or later tonight. Some time in the near or not-so-near future, to be sure. I just can't make up my mind. Tonight I don't feel like being social but earlier today I was in the mood to spend time with people.

Is there such a thing as a part-time wife? You know, like on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and alternate weekends she could come over and sit on the porch with me or tell me I should be dressing better, or whatever wives do. See, it's been so long I don't remember any more. That's sad, I know. :::sigh:::

Speed Bump cartoon by Dave Coverly

No, Honda Motor Company, your Odyssey minivan is not the van my parents wish they had. Granted, your "Respect the Van" TV advert that light-heartedly pokes fun at the history of the van ("Some families were started in one.") is really, really good. Much better than the advert from a Dodge product that played 90 seconds later on the same channel tonight. You had me until the tagline: "The Van Your Parents Wish They Had."

No, my parents were thrilled with their early-70s VW microbus (in yellow with yellow-flocked smiley hubcaps). Any number of dropped tranny repairs didn't deter them. They got this and a Datsun pickup as an even trade for a Firebird 440 convertible. It was quite the van that did everything from hauling more people that it was intended to, carrying 3-tier anniversary cakes across three state lines at high speed, and making cops do double-takes -- "Is that a dead body in the back?" "Why no, officer. Its the largest bluefish anyone has ever seen."

As for me, I miss my 74 Super Beetle. It looked just like the one at left, even the same color. Now that was a car. Not an automobile (There is a subtle difference). Eventually the floorboards completely rusted out, especially on the side where someone ripped part of the side off, and the rubberband snapped one Easter Sunday, trashing the engine in the process. Fortunately, a new rubber band, a couple gaskets, and a carb rebuild later she ran for another couple years. This is probably the only collector car I would go for if I was ever blessed with enough extra cash.

I was dying to try floating the little beastie. Never got a chance to do that, but I was in a friend's 72 Beetle when we got the front-end floating in Burnt Meadow Pond just outside of Fryeburg, Maine.

There is nothing like the sound of an original Beetle. The 21^st century ones are okay, but certainly not the same. My "Bailey" was the only car I've ever had that would perk up my mood just by driving it. I've had memorable moments in them all (the initial drive with my new Toyota that turned my dad white; being stranded overnight in a freak April snow blizzard with the Taurus; the high-speed attacks on back roads with the Focus), but I'll always love the Beetle.

Yes, Honda. My parents would have enjoyed your minivan, but if my Mom could get another microbus, she'd do it in a heartbeat.

I'm thinking of a change. Actually, there are a number of things that I'm thinking of changing, but the easiest to change is the look of this blog. The look I have now is alright, I suppose, but my mood is thinking that something different is in order.

Here are two choices. If you can think of a better one, leave a comment.

The first is called Snapshot Tequila. It is a greenish variation of two similar templates - one pink and one blue. I like the header graphic and the hint of color. The "Recent Posts" section is nice, too. My only real gripe is the borders left and right. That seems to be a waste of space. Of course, the borders and having the posts to the left of the page might keep posted pictures in place a bit better if the browser window is resized. I can tweak the font size for the hard-of-seeing folks like me. And it looks like it has permalinks built in so I don't have to code them.

The second template, Tekka, is very plain-Jane and I find that oddly appealing considering my attraction to the other template. The larger font is also very nice. There isn't a "Recent Posts" section, but I suppose I could figure out a way to do that. Ditto with the permalinks.

After Googling for other templates I half decided to relearn Html and make my own. There are some pretty lame templates out there. Lamer than these two, actually.

Well, that's not fair. Everyone has their own taste. Right now I can't make up what mine is. Maybe I'll peruse the choices at Blogger one more time.

Normally I don't follow sports, but a story in the news caught my attention. The National Basketball Association (NBA) has issued a dress code equivalent to what is considered "business casual" in corporate America in an attempt to spruce up its image. Players are now required to wear slacks, shoes, and dress shirts while on the clock but may dress however they wish when off the clock. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a story I would follow, but it seems a number of players are upset with it and the comments of one pulled me in:

Indiana Pacers guard Stephen Jackson, contending that a new ban on chains worn over clothing is "a racist statement" from the league, wore every long, diamond-studded chain in his collection Tuesday night as a protest.

Jackson voiced no opposition to the bulk of the "business casual" demands in the NBA's new dress code, but he described the jewelry ban as "attacking young black males."

"I think it's a racist statement because a lot of the guys who are wearing chains are my age and are black," said Jackson, 27. "I wore all my jewelry today to let it be known that I'm upset with it. (source)

Let's get the easy part out of the way. Every employer I've ever had has issued a dress code. Its a darn lax one where I work now, but it is in writing and I can be sent home to change if I manage to find a way of violating it. Every company, agency, retail store, or other establishment that I've frequented -- with the possible exception of some of those strange stores on every other block in Key West during the late 60s and a couple tattoo parlours of late -- has had a dress code. There is absolutely no reason that the NBA shouldn't be allowed to have one. If following a job requirement is too difficult or offends your personal sensibilities so much, then find another line of work. Honestly, I don't enjoy dressing as I did for the picture at right as much as I used to -- and I was never a good dresser anyway -- but I've had to dress like that for various employers and other activities. It was less important than the activity I was engaged in so I lived with it.

Now the hard part: figuring out how the jewelry ban is racist. Just from the statement that the group in question is young black males (emphasis added) tells me the whole race is not involved. In the many pictures and video clips I've seen of prominent black leaders I can't recall once seeing Desmond Tutu, Jessie Jackson, Nelson Mandela, or Kofi Annan bedecked with even one gold chain. Nor do I see many of the black men of any age in my community wearing gold chains. Further, of the young men that I see in public, the ones wearing the most gold chains and trying their hardest to adopt the Hip-Hop look are white or Latino. Females and gold chains? Another issue entirely.

Perhaps I'm missing the point, but I don't see gold chains as part of a racial identity. Of course, I don't really agree with the idea of racial identity anyway. A better term for what Stephen Jackson is describing is cultural identity. Oppressing a beneficial culture is wrong, but the NBA dress code hardly qualifies as suppression, let alone oppression. My employer won't let me wear a kilt to work but I don't feel wronged on behalf of a long line of ancestral Anglos. Gold chains pretty much fall in the same category, I believe. The way Allen Iverson (pictured here) dresses is a personal choice, not a racial inevitability.

Players in the NBA are paid salaries anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars for playing a game they would likely play even if there were no pay. I sincerely hope the few complainers get over the simple requirement of a dress code. One player whose name I didn't catch was interviewed on ABC World News Tonight said "I'm 30-years old. I should be able to dress any way I want." Well, sir, I'm 42-years old and my employer tells me how to dress. I think you can handle it, young man.

The Daily Wisdom splash that appeared on this site today (10/18/05 if you hadn't been keeping track) really gives one pause. The first thought I had about Psalm 33:12 was "Hmmm ... divine rule ... God-granted sovereignty ... theocracy?"

A pretty scattered thought to be sure. Looking at the verse in context didn't help much, but it did add to the mental fodder. As a whole the focus shifts to God's favor. As with individuals, only God-fearing nations will gain the Lord's blessings.

Or not. I'm definitely going to have to think about this some more. In the long run it probably won't matter as it is personal salvation that matters. Governments and nations are strictly human constructs that won't have value when the Eternal Kingdom is revealed to the faithful.

Congratulate me. Installing FlyakiteOSX just made my computer cooler and faster. It is a skin for Windows that recreates the cool look and feel of the Macintosh operating system (well, some things are missing). I wonder if OS 10 for Windows (yeah, you've heard the rumors, too) will look like this. And everything works with more zip. Programs, windows, documents, everything is zippier. I should have done a memory check and processor use comparison but I didn't gather the data before installation as I didn't think that I'd keep it for long. Nonetheless, I'd say it is faster.

It's only been a few hours now and I've yet to find a bad side. So far I'm adjusting gears as icons look different from what I'm used to and I'm still playing with some of the settings. Something amusing: Apple iTunes was totally unaffected and still looks like the Windows original. I'll post more later. Right now I'm off to play Solitare and Spider Solitare. The cards are way cooler than the originals.

FYI - I think I read about this at digg, but I'm not sure. It might have been news.com (or not).

Happy Birthday, IMDb!

After reading the Associated Press story "Neighbors: Neo-Nazis Had No Right to March" (source) I came to several conclusions:

1. The neo-Nazis didn't even need to march to win a victory.
2. Gang members, particularly the masked one that threatened to shoot the mayor, managed to put themselves on the same level with any Nazis past, present, and future. Using violence to show hate for other just because of what they believe makes them brothers, of a sort, one no better than the other.
3. Looting has become a legitimate form of protest, even if the property looted has no relationship to the problem or group that the protest is about.
4. It is okay to suspend the legal rights as long as they aren't yours.

Amazing what one learns when reading the news.

Top Photo "Police secure a block as a local bar burns in Toledo, Ohio, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2005. A crowd that gathered to protest a white supremacists' march Saturday turned violent, throwing baseball-sized rocks at police, vandalizing vehicles and stores, and setting fire to a neighborhood bar, authorities said." (AP Photo/J.D. Pooley)

Bottom Photo "Lou Ratajski stands in front of his damaged club, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2005, in Toledo, Ohio. Jim and Lou's Sportsmans Club was damged during an outbreak of violence in response to a white supremacist march in a North Toledo neighbothood. The riot broke out Saturday when protesters confronted members of the National Socialist Movement who had gathered at a city park. Rioters threw baseball-sized rocks at police, vandalized vehicles and stores, and set fire to a neighborhood bar, authorities said." (AP Photo/Daniel Miller)

Gee, I wonder how destroying this building and the livelihood of a non-participant hurt the Nazis.

Yes, I love Widgets. Not just because they are fun -- and they are -- but because my productivity is up. I no longer need to keep up multiple browsers or Notepads to take care of my normal tasks. I've actually found time to read.

Check out Konfabulator!

"Protesters at a white supremacists' march threw rocks at police, vandalized vehicles and stores and cursed the mayor for allowing the event. Mayor Jack Ford said when he and a local minister tried to calm the rioters Saturday, they were cursed and a masked gang member threatened to shoot him. At one point, the crowd reached 600 people, officials said." (Yahoo! News)

Now 'splain to me why the riot and looting started after the Nazi march was called off. Of particular note, the marchers were protesting gang violence. I'm not defending the Nazis, but there's a hint of truth in the events.

Look! Ricky Martin is a Top Story! Why? Who cares? Who makes these decisions? Why isn't the problem in Malawi Top News? 'Splain this to me!!

And 'splain to me why most of the podcasts from television networks are simply teasers for their programming. There's the obvious answer, but haven't they figured out that consumers are looking for content, not adverts? If they were of such a mind, wouldn't there exist an all adverts TV network by now?

Big 'splanation needed here: Now the US is going after Iran? Have we finished with North Korea, Afghanistan, and Iraq yet? Oh! And we still have troops in Europe well after the threat of Soviet invasion has passed. This is what needs 'splaining ... can't we use our resources for other things like relief from famine, flood, earthquake, and other problems?

Lucy, 'splain to me why (from my perspective, at least) women are so attractive and desirable if I shouldn't be looking at them "in that way" as that is the same as committing adultery (Matthew 5:28). Just before I left work last Friday a reminder about the company dress code was e-mailed. Apparently some of the women-folk were -- as a co-worker put it -- "showing too much bosom." Not that it distracted me from my work, mind you, but I agree. Despite working in a cubicle I still had to see the pulchritude and it tended to make my mind wander from the righteous path. I'll miss it, but the idea is probably for the best.

In a similar vein (though a bit more facetious in nature), if God hadn't wanted us to eat animals, 'splain why he made them out of meat? And "unclean" animals need extra 'splanation ... if pigs shouldn't be eaten why did He make them with bacon?

Lastly, 'splain why the artist once known as Puff Daddy needs to keep changing his name. This tells me there's something missing in his life and from what I've read about the man in the press, I would say that what is missing is God. Only through knowing the Lord can we know ourselves.

Just some things I've found that are worth noting or passing along.

A BBC News piece titled "Feeding the survivors during Ramadan" probes into Muslim culture and how in some ways it is no different from Western culture.

There is nothing in an article about pending famine in Malawi that mentions aid from the United States. Nor is there anything about comments from African-American leaders. Does Africa matter?

And to think I almost drove to Washington, D.C. today for a little field trip. Good thing I didn't because it looks like a million or so crowded the Mall to hear Louis Farrahkan.

Maybe I'm stupid, but it seems to be rather hard to find video from this month's Chinese spaceflight. News coverage is good, but no video. Not even on the evening news.

The paper version of TV Guide has gotten bigger. It doesn't look bad, really.

The new trailer for the next Harry Potter movie is brilliant. Or banging. Or great. Pick your vernacular. I saw it at the theater today before screening The Greatest Game Ever Played. It was a rather good film and a clear sign that Disney didn't have a fluke when they made Miracle. The studio has a way with sports movies.

And finally, I'm rather tickled with this picture. An 18" long collie-Staffordshire Bull Terrier swallowed a 15" long serrated-edge knife (some stories say the knife is 13"). There are miracles every day and some of them even make sense. Can't say this one does, but I'm very glad the dog is doing well. An article at ABC News is pretty good.

Related and also amusing - it looks like ESPN thinks that this was sports news. Guess it was a slow day.

Official: Preventing Pandemic Impossible - "U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt was wrapping up a fact-finding mission Saturday in the region hardest-hit by bird flu. He said his tour of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam has painted a clearer picture of just how daunting it would be to identify and contain an outbreak if the virus mutates to a form easily spread among people. It could skip across borders and oceans, killing millions and crippling entire nations." (Yahoo! News)

This stuff must be driving the apocalyptic crowd nuts. I'm fairly confident that we are in or very near The End Times, but I'm not worried for two reasons. One, the Bible tells us that all will happen in God's time. That means all the prophecies in ever made won't tell us when to expect the highly-expected. Two, I know where I'm going when the spam hits the fan. Do you?

As a side note, maybe we could prevent bird flu if we knew how it was transmitted. I hope someone out there is researching this. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as I always say.

For your consideration:
NY Times "Fatal Bird Flu Strain Is Confirmed in Romania"
BBC News "Avian flu Q&A"
MSNBC "Drug-resistant bird flu found in Vietnam girl"

A great yet unidentified voice in The Fifth Element (1997) belongs, I believe, to Bokeem Woodbine. The actor providing the voice to Finger, a character heard only in phone calls in just a couple scenes, isn't identified in the film's credits or at the Internet Movie Data Base.

Not sure why this is important or if there are any crises major or minor solved, but it is another piece of some puzzle somewhere.

Critical Windows patch may wreak PC havoc
"A Microsoft patch meant to fix critical security flaws in Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 is causing trouble for some users, the company said Friday.

The patch was released Tuesday to fix four Windows flaws, including one that experts predict will be exploited by a worm in the coming days. The flaw, tagged 'critical' by Microsoft, lies in a Windows component for transaction processing called the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator, or MSDTC.

Installing the patch can cause serious problems, Microsoft said in an advisory posted to its Web site Friday. The patch could lock users out of their PC, prevent the Windows Firewall from starting, block certain applications from running or installing, and empty the network connections folder, among other things, the software maker said." (CNET News.com)

Yes, just as I read this article yesterday I was in the last stages of installing the problem ... er ... updates. So I read Microsoft's review of the issue and determined I hadn't done anything to tag my computer as a likely victim. Then everything seemed fine after I rebooted the computer. That was yesterday.

This is today. Until I rolled back the update via the System Restore utility, I had plenty of problems:

• Clicking any link in any browser caused the page to open in a new window (IE) or in a new tab (Firefox).
• Selecting text was near impossible as the system focus danced around selecting whatever it wanted.
• Trying to click the Next button in System Restore was hit-or-miss depending on how many times I restarted the unit.
• Activating a text box for typing was about as easy as month-old pie.
  
• Right-clicking ceased to exist, for the most part, after any browser window was opened.

"The Simpsons television series has used many interesting words and phrases over the years, the most famous of which is Homer's saying: 'D'oh!', which is referred to in scripts, as well as several episode names, as 'annoyed grunt'. D'oh is now listed in the Oxford English Dictionary and even in smaller ones such as OUP's one volume Oxford Dictionary of English (second edition).
The Simpsons has coined some new words and phrases, popularized some existing words and phrases, and also used some existing words and phrases in new ways. " (Wikipedia)

One of my favorite "words" is really the phrase "worst (insert target of derision here) ever!" I think about it often but seldom use it. However, while I was creating this post Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the 1992 movie) was on TV and a scene with Paul Reubens made me think "worst death scene ever!" Really, though, the scene is so bad it is hilarious. That's the best part of Simpsonspeak -- it is sooooo flexible.

Sorry for the spoiler, there. But to make up for it, click here to look into the rumors of a Simpsons movie.

BBC NEWS reports "Nigerian e-mail frauds targeted"
Microsoft and the government of Nigeria have joined forces to crack down on e-mail scams, many of which are known to originate from the African country. In the most common type of fraud, email recipients are asked to pay a fee in return for a much larger sum of money - which they never receive.

Rumors about this sort of e-mail have reached my ears but I've yet to see one. I've learned to delete everything in my Comcast in-box since I trained 99% of the people I correspond with to use my Gmail account, so I couldn't have seen it there. And with the exception of the last few days Yahoo! has been doing a good job of keeping me from seeing spam. That's not a complaint as they howst my official spam address. It's the one I give out for almost all my purchases, contests, and the like. Spam almost never hits my Gmail address.

I wonder how much money I've passed up by now?

Yup, it's official. There's a new James Bond but with the fanfare comes some negative fan-blare about actor Daniel Craig and more than a few are getting down right stroppy about the next film's content.

According to remarks made by Casino Royale screenwriter Paul Haggis last month at the Toronto Film Fest, MI6 gadget maker Q, most recently played by John Cleese, will not appear in the film. It will be the first absence of Q since Live and Let Die.

"We're trying to reinvent Bond. He's 28. No Q, no gadgets," Haggis said, adding the new installment is "trying to do for Bond what Batman Begins did for Batman."

The news of a Q-less, gadget-less movie did not appeal to some of the franchise's most loyal devotees.

"No gadgets or Q, eh? Why not get rid of the theme music, the cars, girls, and vodka martinis as well?" asked a poster to the MI6.co.uk fan forum. "In fact, why not just jettison all the factors that make Bond movies...well, Bond movies, and start a whole new franchise with characters and situations which no longer have anything to do with what we've come to know and love over the past 40 years, let alone Fleming's original novels."

Further roiling the sensibilities of fans was Wilson's statement Friday that Moneypenny will also not be featured in the movie, though M will return. However, it was not confirmed whether Dame Judi Dench will play the spy chief.

Director Martin Campbell said that Casino Royale will reveal a darker, colder side of 007. (source)

Something like this was due, not because of timing, rather because the films were starting to get ridiculous. The Roger Moore era was abysmal and the Pierce Brosnan films started poaching in that territory with the last release. In between, the Timothy Dalton entries that disappointed many but thrilled me. Dalton was a darker Sean Connery - suave and manly in all the right ways; realistic with a touch of gee-whizzery; human, but able to go above when needed.

For your consideration:

• BBC News "Daniel Craig: Our Friend in MI6"
• Bond in Pictures
• Absolutely Bond
• Casino Royale at IMDB
  

There are very few things that can't be improved by the liberal application of double cheeseburgers. Adding bacon could probably cure the common cold.

The rumor of a video iPod has been around so long that it had started getting offers from AARP. But it is finally here and it is actually better news that I thought it might be.

First, it is following the Nano's lead by slimming down, though depending on the capacity, not by much. And it also features a bright, color screen.

Where it departs is the content. Of course there are music videos, but Apple has also formed a strategic partnership with Disney, Pixar, and the ABC TV network (a subsidiary of Disney) to provide content beyond music videos. Being the first day of availability I figured the selection would be a bit Spartan, but I was shocked at how small the choices were. After all, I watched quite a view music videos through iTunes while connected to the 'Net.

Enough carping. The selection will grow. But the pricing is the cool part. Just $1.99 per download. Even the TV shows. That's impressive and I can hardly wait until shows I like are available. Or movies. Did you check out the screen cap in detail? They've already configured iTunes to sort movies and video podcasts. There's a lot of strategic thinking going on at Apple. Personal entertainment is going to start evolving pretty rapidly right about ... soon.

No, I don't hold any illusions about long-awaited promises. After all I'm still waiting for my jet pack promised way back in the 60s. But the death of the personal computer as we know it is in the works. I agree with tech pundits that a small device along the lines where the iPods are evolving will be carried and plugged into larger machines for input by keyboards or other devices capable of great volume but simply carried around for multiple uses -- phone, games, video, music, calendar, to-do list, electronic wallet, identification, and more. There will be fits and starts (the Motorola Rokr could be better), but it is happening. Thank goodness companies like Apple have design sense, marketing savvy, and a real vision.

A brief word about the two videos I purchased. "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim needs to be included in any list of the Top 50 music videos of all time. While the song is pretty good thanks to a great melody it is infinitely enhanced by the presence -- and the dancing -- of actor Christopher Walken. This is Rat Pack cool. Steve McQueen cool. Bob-your-head-slowly-with-a-knowing-grin cool. Yeah.

Blue Man Group is cool, too, just in other ways and while this video for "The Current" isn't spectacular in any way (nothing innovative here, folks), it does what the medium should do: enhance the original product with a new perspective that adds to the enjoyment. This song can stand alone, something I can't say the same about the Fat Boy Slim effort, but is refreshing in this form.

I can see myself buying more videos, but probably sparingly as, unlike my music choices, I'll think more about how often I would be likely to watch the content in the future. That is how I decide whether to buy a DVD or just rent it. But at $1.99 per download I can see there's going to be some temptation going on.

By the way, Apple also released the largest iPod to date. Click here to learn more.

Forget Bible Codes! It is as plain as the ... okay, you get the idea. Check it out:

• What's the number of the Beast? 666
• What does the Beast want you to do? To have us turn our backs on God.
• What does John 6:66 say?

Jiminy Cricket! This is good stuff!

Sometime last month I wrote about a few songs that I had picked up that told the story of the Crucifixion, in part, though the eyes of the Good Thief that was forgiven by Jesus. I keep thinking back to this not only because the songs are in one of my regular music rotations, but because it is a story more compelling than some others in the Bible. Look at it through the lyrics of KJ-52's "Never Look Away" and you'll see the potency.

[Chorus]
I once was lost, but then You found me, loved me
An I'm never gonna look away
No I'm never gonna look away
You paid the cost, You showed me how You bought me
An I'm never gonna look away
No I'm never gonna look away, away

Now who am I? The thief nobody cares about
The kind that run up in your house
Steal your jewels and couch
Been on the run for so long but they caught me now
They hung me on this cross so long, an I see the crowd
But next to me is someone who I heard about
They said He heals the blind an lame,
but I got my doubts
So what's His name? I can't remember
Someone screamed it out
Said it was Jesus, but this Man,
He didn't make a sound
He hung there breathing with the blood runnin down His mouth
He had been beaten, crown of thorns now was on His brow
See, what I've done is just the reason why I'm hangin now
But this man is innocent, an I can see it now
I said "Jesus, are You listenin? You hear me now?
Remember me just on the day you bring Your kingdom down
I wanna change my ways, I really want Ya freedom now"
He took my sin away, an this is why I say it now

[Chorus]

He turned His head and said "Today ya gonna be with me
Cause very soon I'll be dead but I'm a set you free
Cause every drop that I bled is so that you will see
That it was shed for you to be with me eternally"
The other thief, he just laughed at what He said to me
Said "You ain't comin back Ya nothing that you claim to be
If You was king, then why they hang ya next to me?
See, what I think is that you a liar an it's plain to see"
But Jesus' silent an soon the time begin to pass
He cried "It is finished!" an went an breathed His last
He died, the sky was rumblin, it started turnin black
But I knew He'd come again, because I knew the facts
My time to die is comin soon an it's comin fast
It's hard to breathe, I'm tryin to, I begin to gasp
I can't deny what is true, cause it's all I have
An now I knew paradise was where I'm heading now

[Chorus]

I had a debt I could not pay.
Your love broke through took it away
I once was lost but now I'm found
To you I make this joyful sound.

Please remember me, Lord when you come again
Time is passin by, my life is comin to the end
I'm about to die, it's time so please let me in
Please remember me Lord, just when you come again

Please remember me, Lord when you come again
Time is passin by, my life is comin to the end
I'm about to die, it's time so please let me in
Please remember me Lord, just when you come again

[Chorus]

I had planned to add emphasis to key parts, but everything is a key part. This story illustrates the three actions necessary for salvation: confession, repentance, and acceptance.

Confess your sins to the Lord and to your fellow man. Everyone sins. That's the tendency of every being since The Fall. God understands this weakness. The flaw is not your fault, but the result of disobedience to God. Continued disobedience simply increases the entropic effect and drags you further down. You can choose to obey God or not.

Repentance is the mark that you now choose to follow God and His laws. With your free will -- a gift that even the seraphim do not have -- you honor Our Lord as a beloved penitent.

Acceptance of God's freely given love and His forgiveness gained through the sacrifice of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, you are now free. You sinned, he paid the price, and you gained everlasting life.

It sounds so simple. It is so simple, though it took the pain of the cross to drive the point home to Desmas, the Good Thief while the other thief missed the point altogether. What pain will it take for you to understand?

McCain Considers '08 Presidential Run Commenting on why he wouldn't take the Vice Presidential spot: "I spent all those years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, kept in the dark, fed scraps, why the hell would I want to do that all over again?"

He must have read up on John Adams, our first Vice President, who said "My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived."

So John McCain wants to run again? Let's review the Howard Dean juggernaut from a few years on the Internet and see if we can improve it. Or better yet, get it to generate the intended result.

You have my backing, senator, for what it is worth. You are a model American, a clean and honest politician, and a good man in any book.

One again I have carefully washed my t-shirts inside-out with the proper balance of detergent and softener in one of the more expensive machines available (thanks, Mom!) and placed them -- still inside-out -- in the rather expensive matching dryer (thanks again, Mom!) as I do every week.

Lo! And Behold! They are now outside-out and inside-in as if nothing happened! What a miracle. Now if I can get the machine to iron my khakis and stripey shirt I would be extremely pleased.

(Shirt illustration courtesy XXXChurch.com.)

Now is the time to show the Lord that we take his gift seriously. We need to lay down our weapons and use our resources to the aid of our fellow man.

"Pakistan's president called Saturday's magnitude-7.7 earthquake the country's worst on record and appealed for urgent help, particularly cargo helicopters to reach remote areas. Rival India, which reported more than 465 dead, offered assistance" (source).

"Pakistan says more than 19,000 have been killed by Saturday's huge earthquake, and it is feared the death toll could climb much further. More than 42,000 people are believed to be injured, said the interior minister" (source).

This week's earthquake in Asia is but one example of how great the need is yet we waste our resources on war. The history of quakes in the last 85 years tells us of the need:

2004 Asian tsunami, triggered by undersea quake - kills at least 200,000
2003 Bam, Iran - kills 26,271
2001 Gujarat, north-west India - kills more than 20,000
1976 Tangshan, China - kills 242,000
1923 Tokyo - kills 140,000

Having resources ready for disaster rapid response rather than engaged in conflict would save lives not just from quickly giving aid, but casualties among soldiers would decrease.

Then there is the other benefit: reputation. At the risk of committing the sin of vanity, I'd like to point out that a huge problem for America is the poor reputation we have in the world today. We're pushy colonialist meddlers who simply want the world's resources and are willing to use the force of arms to take them.

Wouldn't it be better to be seen as a good neighbor that is willing to give a hand whenever needed without cost or obligation? If this was the image others had of America I honestly believe we would face fewer dangers to the lives of our citizens at home and abroad. It wouldn't be a total cessation danger as terrorists attack others simply for the pleasure of it, but wouldn't they look all the more foolish for attacking a well-meaning nation than they appear now for attacking the nation we currently seem to be?

(Collage compiled from images found at Yahoo! News. Quake history from BBC News.)

It has been my belief for quite some time that if one starts behaving like the enemy then one is no different from the enemy. Senator John McCain believes so, too. He has proposed an amendment to some pending legislation that would ensure this. "The McCain amendment would make the Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogations binding interrogation policy for all those in military custody, and would reinforce the ban on cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees, which the Administration now asserts does not apply to U.S. actions abroad," (source).

"Despite a veto threat from the White House, McCain led--yes, led--the Senate to a 90-to-9 vote in favor of setting humane limits on the interrogation of detainees in Iraq and elsewhere" (source). The nine senators who seem to want unregulated torture to continue are:

Wayne Allard (R-CO)
Christopher Bond (R-MO)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
James Inhofe (R-OK)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Ted Stevens (R-AK)
(source)

Clearly these all-male bastions of the Republican party are in the minority as an impressive list of high-ranking retired members of the U.S. Armed forces back McCain in a open letter published 05 October 2005 (source). Some, like McCain, have been on the receiving end of torture at the hands of enemy combatants. These are people who should know. These are the people the president should be listening to as he makes his decision.

When I had a yellow 1974 Super Beetle I had a tendency to see more Super Beetles than the average driver. Now that I have a yellow 2001 Ford Focus I tend to see more of these than the average driver might. The color may have something to do with it, of course, or that it's a matter of taste, but it clearly resembles a coincidence. I tend not to believe in coincidence any more, but rather consider such events to be a recognizable pattern of either random observance or a divine proposition.

So when recent a confluence of several events happened to reflect one of my current internal struggles as a Christian my first thought was Oh, wow! What a coincidence! Yeah, yeah. There is no such thing. I'm sure it is just my preoccupation of late. I'm getting tired of living alone.

So obviously I'm more likely to notice those things that have to do with being in a relationship. Arlo & Janis portrays in this strip what I really miss - sharing intimate space. When I was married, it wasn't about the sex (though I certainly appreciated that as much as anyone would). It was about spending time with someone I loved and cared about. Sharing intimate space was the ultimate expression of that.

The Luann strip has been taking a different tack as it follows a story line that looks at relationships from the initial physical or social attraction view. It got to this entry just before National Porn Sunday, the day that many churches across America deal with the issue of artificial stimulation via images of attractive people. That's one of the things I struggle with, though not via the Web or in printed material. I just work with an awful lot of attractive women.

The speed of light means that I see a woman before my brain engages and, like most humans (and other mammals) I tend to classify first and ask questions later. In other words, I like women that I think are attractive. My standards are likely different than yours so we won't go there, but the idea is that I'm running on instinct. It is easy to get carried away when instinct is in control, hence my struggle.

What I need to do is to focus on something else and make that a priority so that these "coincidences" don't cloud my mind. The folks at XXXChurch have helped me understand that "our flesh seeks to distort and destroy God's ultimate plan for relationships between men and women" (source). Romans 13:14 puts it this way: "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

Um ... I'll get to publishing these sometime today. Or deleting them out of embarrassment if they don't seem to matter once I look at them.

That little box of Daily Wisdom below the adverts on this page earns me no money but it does stimulate my thinking with some regularity.

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
1 Peter 2:13-15 (read in context)

My first impression was that this passage describes that the faithful should not bow to any ruler not justified by God. Reading a fourth time I finally noted that him in "sent by him" was not capitalized therefore there should be no inference of the divine.

So then what is this scripture about? It seems to simply be an affirmation of "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's" (see also). Not a new concept or one that is especially critical at first glance. The important part -- or, rather, the most important part -- then revolves around "by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men."

We who openly profess to be Christian can cloud or even destroy the image automatically conferred upon us when we fail to honor this concept through faithful modeling of Christian ideals in daily life. Having a Fish stuck to your car is a good way to announce your faith, but then driving as if the devil is your co-pilot is not good (thanks, Tanya and Mike), in other words.

When someone that I am speaking to as a representative of my employer says "God be with you" or something to that effect in the conversation it hurts a bit that I can't reciprocate -- some sort of behavior violation that no one has been able to explain to me -- but I can model good, Christian behavior. More importantly, when someone invites me to blaze a trail to the netherworld or questions my parentage, I can still model good, Christian behavior. In either instance, if my faith were to then be known then my actions would reflect well upon the Lord.

Perhaps this is what the scripture all about, or perhaps not. If all else is to naught, then at least pondering the Word is sufficient. But that is the point of His Word being ineffable in the first place. "Ours is not to reason why," to paraphrase Tennyson, "but to do well so we don't die" in the mortal sense.

Posts that have been sitting around as drafts for about a week have been completed. Look for them below.

A few posts from last month have been edited for clarity and correct grammar.

Several posts from last year have been reviewed and laughed at by the staff (me).