Sunday, July 20, 2003

Alan K. Henderson reminded me that today is the anniversary of the moon landing/walk - July 20, 1969.

I have a pretty good long term memory - I can remember details from my childhood that you wouldn’t believe. My first true memory is of watching the men on the moon on TV. I was two years old.

We lived in Oak Harbor, WA. My sister was exactly one month old. My mother’s parents were visiting. I was sitting on my Granddad’s lap, watching the coverage on the console TV we had. I can’t remember if it was color or black & white, although I remember the picture being black & white, of course. I remember understanding that what we were watching was a very big deal, it was years later that I knew exactly why.

So on this day, it makes me sad to think that we somehow lost the vision and passion to continue exploring the moon, space as we did in the 60s. And in light of the Columbia tragedy this year, I’m even more saddened that we may never get that vision and passion back.

If you’re interested in learning more about NASAs quest to get to the moon, rent From the Earth to the Moon - it’s one of the best TV miniseries, entertaining and educational all at once.

Btw, my sister thinks the moon landing was made up - complete fiction ala Capricorn One. I’ve mentioned this before, but I thought I would again because she is a freak, of course.

James at Outside the Beltway has a great post about the Bible and economics - he actually refers to a post at A Fearful Symmetry.

The Bible might seem an odd place to be doing economic research, especially by someone who goes to church about once a year, and only then because that’s when my wife says the Easter Bunny comes. However, I have been thinking—in socioeconomic terms—about the Tenth Commandment.

The first nine Commandments concern the theological principles and social law: Thou shalt not make graven images, steal, kill, etc. Fair enough. But then there’s the Tenth Commandment: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”

Here are God’s basic rules about how we should live, a very brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precepts, and right at the end of it is, “Don’t envy your buddy’s cow.”

What is that doing in there? Why would God, with just ten things to tell Moses, choose, as one of them, jealousy about the livestock next door? And yet, think about how important to the well-being of a community this Commandment is. If you want a donkey, if you want a pot roast, if you want a cleaning lady, don’t ##### about what people across the street have. Go get your own.

The Tenth Commandment sends a message to socialists, to egalitarians, to people obsessed with fairness, to American presidential candidates in the year 2000—to everyone who believes that wealth should be redistributed. And that message is clear and concise: Go to hell.

UPDATE: Just to clarify that the above quote is from P.J. O’Rourke. Thanks, Bill.

Jared,

You might want to sit down, brace yourself…

I was wrong about Magnolia.

What a great movie. So layered and great acting - even Tom Cruise, who imho overacts a lot. John C. Reilly was wonderful and Phillip Seymour Hoffman - they are fantastic character actors. William H. Macy is amazing, in everything he does. Good, good movie. Thanks for pushing me to watch it.

So...there’s no debate here.

(Mom you will like it, but you need to wait for it to be on regular TV.)

Saturday, July 19, 2003

I know a lot of bloggers have posted about how to get linked around the blogosphere. I’ve thought about it some this week, and I think I prefer comments from readers over links to other blogs. Not that I don’t appreciate getting linked, but I’d rather have the interaction with the folks who read what I write or rant or link.

I’m noticing an increase in the amount of comments I’m getting. Thank you for speaking up, by the way! And I welcome differing opinions from my own - I’ve had some interesting conversations here and at a couple other blogs. I’ve learned some new stuff through those debates. And I’ve learned a little more how the opposition thinks.

So tell me, what interests you more as a blogger - links or comments?

I’ve been meaning to add Sgt. Hook to my blogroll. I finally got around to it.

If you want a good read about a mission his unit undertook, read here.

Timothy had a birthday this week.

And it’s Jim’s birthday today.

Happy birthday fellas!

UPDATE (Sun 6:20pm): I forgot to mention that Bryan was having a birthday as well. Happy Birthday, Bryan.

The worship band had a discussion last week about the difference between “praise” songs and “worship” songs and our use of each. We tend to use those words interchangeably all the time, and I think there are differences in meaning, intent. But knowing how to articulate it was a challenge, and putting it in the context of songs was as well.

All week I meant to look up the definitions of each word. Here they are:

praise
n.
1.  Expression of approval, commendation, or admiration.
2.  The extolling or exaltation of a deity, ruler, or hero.
Archaic. A reason for praise; merit.

tr.v. praised, prais·ing, prais·es
1.  To express warm approbation of, commendation for, or admiration for.
2.  To extol or exalt; worship.

--------------------------------------------------

wor·ship
n.

1.  The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object.
2.  The ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed.
3.  Ardent devotion; adoration.

v. wor·shiped, or wor·shipped wor·ship·ing, or wor·ship·ping wor·ships or wor·ships
v. tr.
1.  To honor and love as a deity.
2.  To regard with ardent or adoring esteem or devotion. 

[via dictionary.com]

How do the differences translate to some of the music churches use?
How do we educate folks to the differences?
Does it matter?

Discuss. (Please!)

Here’s the list of exciting stuff I’ll be doing today:

1. Shopping for stuff at Wal-Mart. I may just thow on some clothes (sans shower) and go over now to avoid the crowds. I also need to buy groceries. done

2. I need to watch Magnolia, rented from Blockbuster. Jared and I had a discussion going about bad Tom Cruise movies, this one came up, and I need to watch it so we can discuss this one. Get ready, Jared...a post will be put up this weekend with my review.

3. I have a pot luck dinner at my small group leader’s home tonight. I’m in a small group Bible study (this isn’t the same one I lead, instead I’m merely a participant) from my church, but I didn’t attend much this year because of other obligations. I do like to hang out with them though, so I’m looking forward to the dinner tonight. this was supposed to be at 6pm. It’s been moved up to 4pm

4. I need to do laundry, preferably before the pot luck. The pants I want to wear need to be washed. half done

That’s it. 

Friday, July 18, 2003

I didn’t hear about his indictment until I was in the car, driving to church, and caught the follow-up discussions on talk radio.

He admits to adultery. Does adultery = rape? Not necessarily. We’ll have to wait to hear the evidence presented at his trial.

Here’s my advice to married men (and women for that matter). Don’t put yourself in a position to be tempted by another woman (or man). You may think you would never do the unthinkable. But think of the many, many men who have succumbed to the apparently irresistable temptation to sleep with a women who is not his wife. No one is immune from the temptation - pastors have fallen, Presidents have fallen, teachers, plumbers, accountants, fishermen, basketball players.

People mock Billy Graham for his precautions against this kind of temptation. And yet, they’ve served him well in his long, long ministry and marriage. He refuses to get on an elevator if there’s just one woman on there. He has folks check his hotel room before he enters it. He won’t counsel a woman alone. Because he knows that as much as he loves God, as much as he loves his wife Ruth, he can be tempted.

When you find yourself in this kind of situation there are just two words you need remember. RUN AWAY!

I’ve added a new Quote of the Moment to the rotation. It’s from Tony Blair’s speech to Congress from yesterday. I found the quote at Wizbang.

Tell the world why you’re proud of America. Tell them when “The Star-Spangled Banner” starts, Americans get to their feet—Hispanics, Irish, Italians, Central Europeans, East Europeans, Jews, Muslims, white, Asian, black, those who go back to the early settlers, and those whose English is the same as some New York cab drivers I’ve dealt with—(laughter)—but whose sons and daughters could run for this Congress. Tell them why Americans, one and all, stand upright and respectful. Not because some state official told them to, but because whatever race, color, class or creed they are, being American means being free. That’s why they’re proud.

I don’t have much to say today.

That said, I still need to respond to David’s latest comments at this post of mine regarding the Constitution, religion, and wackos. (However, if you read the post itself, his comments make no sense because they’re completely unrelated. He clicked on the wrong link. It happens sometimes.) He wrote some lengthy stuff that I need to reread before formulating my stunningly intelligent riposte. *that’s a joke, because I’m not feeling stunningly intelligent at the moment*

It’s Friday, and I would normally have worship band practice tonight. However, our leader is having some kind of procedure done on his throat to save his marriage cure his snoring. Anyone have this done? They inject some kind of solution into the soft palette that is supposed to create scar tissue and reduce snoring. Sounds icky and weird.

Anyway, he won’t be leading the singing in church on Sunday, so we have a back-up leader, no band, and accompaniment tapes ahead. It’s Christian Karaoke! Seriously...and this is how we used to worship in song (for 12 years) before our worship leader came to us last summer. It’s very scary.

So, we’re only practicing Sunday morning, but we’ve started meeting as a team to pray and discuss stuff before the Friday night practices. We’re still meeting tonight. But I’ll be home at a reasonable hour, so I might just hop online when I get home.

Then again, I might not...ah, the suspense. And I know you’ll all be noses to your monitors tonight, anxiously awaiting the ping of a new post from me. Right? Right?!

So much for me not having anything to say…

The witty Bryan McAnally posted yesterday about greetings and salutations in the workplace (post titled “interpersonal communication - a primer “ if the permalink isn’t working). A snippet:

Rule Four—The “And You?” Rule—When asked “How are you?” and you give the correct response, “fine thanks,” you must then immediately follow your response with the reflexive “and you?” Failure to do so will identify you as a frigid shrew who obviously isn’t a team player. When answering “and you,” be certain to answer “good,” if they answered your “how are you?” with “fine.” Answer “fine” if they answered you with “good.” If you answer with the same answer they provided, you will be pigeonholed as original, and immediately and perpetually obstructed from promotion.

Did you?

I remembered hearing that Mars and the moon would be visible in the early morning sky sometime soon. Yesterday when I was walking Annie, I noticed that the moon was still pretty bright and then I could see a much smaller light just to the right. And I remembered that little snippet about how Mars would be in the path (so to speak) for the first time in 50,000 years or something like that.

Again, this morning, I could see that little light, which is further to the right now. And it’s not white, it’s sort of pink. So I thought I’d check online to see if there’s word of this phenomenon - there is, of course.

PHILADELPHIA - Skywatchers across North America saw a rare nighttime encounter between the Moon and Mars during the early morning hours today.

Under clear skies here, the two objects were so close as to almost appear to touch. Mars hung just off the right shoulder of the Moon at 4:30 a.m. local time, high in the southern sky. The planet was vividly red in contrast to the powerful white face of the Moon.

Even as darkness eased into daylight, the two beacons of the night sky remained starkly apparent at 5:30 a.m.

[...]

From many other locations, Mars gradually slid over the top of the Moon, from left to right, as the pair glided silently toward the west. By 5:40 a.m. in the Eastern United States, Mars was off to the Moon’s right and clearly moving away but still easily visible.

Thursday, July 17, 2003

I was busy today. The Marshal is meeting with a Congressman tomorrow and wanted some Wanted Posters to add to the packet he’s giving the Congressman. So I spent all day working on adding “Apprehended by US Marshals” to the files we had.

In this case, they weren’t fugitives that we were hunting down, but local bad guys that we nabbed for various police departments in the area.

My challenge was adding the phrase, in the form of a “stamp,” to the .pdf files. I figured out how to create a stamp, but when I went to modify it, I couldn’t make it work. I spent hours trying to recreate it with no success. Then at about 4pm I happened upon a trick to get the result I wanted.

The Marshal was pleased with the results. We’ll see if the Congressman even looks at them.

No, Jared, it’s not Magnolia. I’ll watch that this weekend, and then we can discuss it.

I watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days last night. My very quick review is that it was cute. Make of that what you will…