mikescape

I’ve read a few reviews of this blogpost before, but finally, after it was linked over on the Blog Of Which We Do Not Speak, I went and took a gander myself…

…and I must say, very well done. Good – no, great analysis of the moral underpinning of both the Sopranos and Battlestar Galactica.

And a discussion of positive vs. privative evil.

Good stuff…

Read ’bout it here. Then sit back and murmur sounds of amazement and awe.

In this blogpost, a church planting pastor bares his heart, and in the process offers a resounding critique of modern American Christianity® Inc.

HT: Vee

http://www.crazydogtshirts.com/servlet/Detail?no=1403

Yes, yadnom.

I figure that makes about as much sense as the über-hep-cat-yo-dog-g-money ECMmer “Manic Music Monday” type of spiffy-artsy, My incredible cultural relevance can beat up your honor student blogpost.

So…let’s get our yadnom on.

Yo.

Some of the things round ’bout the ‘net that have piqued my interest, and should pique yours…

• The People’s Democratic Republic of Redmond sees and end to the Windows era, and is even planning on it.  Da, komrade.
• In the Road Warrior category, Delta (an airline which already has my vote just because they’re not United) is set to add WiFi to domestic flights in 2009.
• Surfer dude Garrett Lisi has come up with a fresh, new Unified Theory of Everything which unifies the Standard Model with gravity, sidestepping String Theory entirely.  Given that I’m not sold on ST, I really like Garrett’s theory – even though to be honest, I don’t understand it. Ironic, given his title for it.
• John Piper lists six reasons pastors should blog.
• Turns out, not only is information not destroyed by black holes, but it doesn’t stay trapped in them forever, either, and eventually “leaks” back out. This has profound implications RE: Einsteinian relativity.
• Talking about black holes, the lower end of the mass limit for a black hole has been observationally verified.
• And this should come as no surprise at all to anybody who either ever misunderstood, or was misunderstood…turns out that believing is seeing, and not the other way around.
• Atomic radiation may not be as deadly as previously thought.
• The wonderful, weird properties of glass.
• Want a mind-reading hat that can predict a brain fart?
• And on the subject of brains, turns out that coffee protects ‘em.
• Us stupid humans are shortening the life of the universe.
• Hypothetically youngest planet observed.
• The secret to raising smart kids.
• I disagree with the author’s contention that Star Trek ever “jumped the shark,” but an amusing read anyway…
• Chalcedon contrasts the atomistic, domestic, and trustee families.
• Delivered in 1998, but still relevant, Dr. Danny Faulkner critiques the current state of Creation astronomy.

And there you have it.  To both of my readers: enjoy.

Tee hee hee.

I’m a major Linux geek – love it, use it, glory in all its innate power and really, insanely odd idiosyncrasies. The church computers here at Calvary Chapel on the Lakeshore run on the latest distro of Mandriva Linux and run either the KDE (Media Workstation) or GNOME (Children’s Ministry Workstation) desktops.

I love Linux.

However, Linux by its very nature as an open-source, community-developed platform, even with the new push towards making self-contained, easy-to-implement distros, isn’t really for the faint-of-heart.

So I really appreciated this ‘toon:

…not really.

But I was browsing the Vineyard’s website the other day, and ran across their audios for their recent national pastors’ conference, and found the session that Jeff Heidkamp gave on the Emerging Church.  It’s an interesting counterpoint to Tim Chaddick’s workshop on the ECM at the recent Calvary Chapel senior pastors’ conference.

I still think Tim’s session was better (vastly better), but Heidkamp’s session was still quite balanced – a bit more on the “pro” side than Chaddicks, but that surprises precisely no-one - and an interesting perspective, nonetheless.

Many of my evangelical brethren become understandably twitchy about the subject of “gay” “marriage.”

Yes, both “gay” and “marriage” are in quotes, on purpose.

1. The lifestyle is anything but gay
2. Two dudes or two gals playing house a marriage does not make, spiffy piece of paper to the contrary notwithstanding

…then again, a dude and a gal playing otherwise heterosexual house a marriage does not make, spiffy piece of paper to the contrary notwithstanding, either…turns out it takes a bit more than that – but I digress…

Laying aside for the moment the absolutely unambiguous declaration of Scripture that “gay” activity is a major no-no, news like this tempts one to sit back in his chair, cross his arms and grin, and say, “let ‘em ‘marry.’”

Because with “gay” “marriage” you also get the inevitable “gay” divorce.

That’ll show ‘em…

First off, for the record: I am not a Republican. I have not been a Republican for many years. The GOP has become, for all intents and purposes, The Party of Big Government, Part II, right behind the Democratic Party.

That being said, I have had some guys that I respect say that it’s not inconsistent to be a “Pro-life Democrat.”

…ummm…yes it is.

The party platform contains very strong language supporting a person’s “right” to execute their children in utero.

Democrats typically have a strong plank in favor of abortion rights; this year’s version is stronger than usual. “The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right,” it says.

By simple virtue of the fact of self-identifying with a party, you axiomatically support that party’s platform.

And the Democrats’ platform specifically includes a provision that forces all Americans, regardless of their opposition to the practice of infanticide, to support it with our tax dollars.

A “Pro-life Democrat” is as much of an oxymoron as is “dehydrated water.”

Just – and I mean just – now got clued in to a real spiffy app for WinCE users.

Sadly, I am one of that woeful, benighted lot.  Oh, that Palm would come up with something updated, so I could re-convert back from the dark side…

…I digress.

If, like me, you find yourself in the woeful place of joining the ranks of WinCE users, this app, MyMobileR, allows you to view and control your WinCE phone from your desktop/laptop.

Why is that helpful?

Other than the cool factor, it allows me to send and receive texts without picking up my phone, and makes for easier file transfers via Mobile Explorer.

And it’s free.

Can’t beat the price.