1984

watched Pirates of Silicon Valley this weekend. Very interesting. And in light of that, this parody of the 1984 Apple commercial is very funny: http://www.theroyalwe.org/1984.html

ironic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironic_%28song%29

read the stuff in references by Ed Byrne. Funny. Those are ironic.

top 10 ways to destroy the earth!

in case you needed some helpful hints...

http://www.livescience.com/technology/10ways_destroyearth.html

Separation of church and state

I think that one key in the last article I linked is the following in "The Legal Eagle" section: "In 1971, the IRS issued a decision redefining the tax exemption as a public endorsement or subsidy." Tax exemption should not be looked on as a public endorsement or subsidy. Such a view implies that Government is meddling in religion. The first amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...". But endorsing (or not endorsing) religious groups does just that. If you charge someone for exercising their religious beliefs, you are attempting to establish religion. Perhaps not directly, but indirectly through people's pocketbooks, which is actually probably more effective than just by law.

I think that the only solution is to either not tax religious groups (currently the case, I think) or tax them all the same (no loopholes). The first is definitely easier, but admittedly allows the possibility of non-standard religious groups trying to use the tax exempt status. It has some issues that need to be dealt with, but I think we don't want the government messing around with religious definitions.

gay marriage/church rights

here's an interesting read if you want to follow the effect of gay marriage on our society. Apparently the Catholics can no longer run an adoption agency in Massachusetts since they refuse to place children with gay couples.

http://www.afa.net/websites/weeklystandard_05_15_2006.htm

inappropriate comments

today I was out with some guys and there happened to be a girl selling drinks that had very short shorts, etc. on. Some of the guys with me made inappropriate comments which I hope that she didn't hear, but she might have.

While I definitely think that it's not right to talk about girls as the guys with me were, a friend of mine pointed out that the establishment that employed the girl was also at fault. To have a young, attractive girl selling alcohol and being dressed provocatively is not a good combination. He brought to my attention that more than one party was at fault. (and now I almost consider the business that employed her to be in the worse)

send a brick

he, he. America's great:

http://www.send-a-brick.com/

check out the pics too

gold farming article

http://azeroth.metblogs.com/archives/2006/05/on_gold_and_gollums_an_overvie.phtml

truck prayer

a few days ago my friend told me that his truck problem had cleared up. which I thought was cool because I had borrowed his truck a few days prior to that and he had told me about the problem it was having. While driving it, I prayed that God would fix what was wrong with it. And, praise the Lord, he did!

slime?

slime is not fast. It should be be able to outrun a man. Or even a small child. What's up with that???

ecxlent spy tactics

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=176

bring a sword

cool guy: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=529

Class M driver's license

About two weeks ago I took a motorcycle class. Today I passed my test at the DMV, so I'm now legal to drive one. One step more is to decide what I want to buy and then purchase one. Almost there. :)

celandine - another word I like

celandine - a yellowish flower (found in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe)

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=celandine

picture:
http://www.archiemiles.co.uk/Images/Flowers/am_Lesser%20celandine.jpg

Forgiveness

Recently I realized that forgiveness is just not possible. For example, I know of a situation where some people treated some guy I know poorly. They probably won't realize how their actions were wrong. And so this guy I know has trouble because people just like to at least be acknowledged that they were wronged.

The church teaches a couple of ways of getting around this. They teach you should have low expectations or you can talk it out with the person. But talking won't help if the person won't realize their faults or won't admit it because of pride, etc. And I don't know of a foolproof way of lowering your expectations. Fasting maybe. But I think maybe there comes a time when you just have to forgive because you can't avoid being offended.

Hmm. I was just looking at Luke 17 (which is hard to find if you can't spell offence right). Which is where Jesus says that it's impossible for offenses not to come. Although in different translations it seems to be talking about people sinning against you. Maybe that's the same thing. Yeah, that sounds like it will work. Anyways, I notice that after Jesus says to forgive seven times, the disciples asked for more faith. No doubt.

But back to what I was thinking. I think sometimes that you just can't forgive (at least in your own strength). You have to forgive through the power of God working in you. And that's when there is real spiritual power, not some churchy method of forgiveness that is only done in the flesh. :) Why people don't teach the first, I can't understand.