Agley

It pays to advertise

2010-09-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

I was riding the unik to work today. As I rode across a crosswalk, I passed in front of a tree service truck with a couple of guys in it, waiting to turn right. I pulled up and waited for the lights to change, and as I did so I noticed the guy in the passenger seat 'staring', so I nodded and smiled politely. The driver then yelled out the window, "Hey, I have one of those! I don't know how to use it!"

Trying to be encouraging/polite, I responded, "Yeah, it just takes some practice."

"No, I don't want it. You want it? I'll give it to you."

Pause. "Sure!"

"Here. Here's my card. Call me."

I'm pondering what it means that a) this happens right before I go up to the mountains, and b) that my brother is thinking about buying a unicycle.

In the Wilderness

2010-04-08T15:09:00.000-07:00

I was - briefly - pondering Lent and Easter a few moments ago. What occurred to me mainly was how much more time I "had" to spend on memorizing scripture during Lent. That was a purposeful choice on my part, and one which I definitely intend to repeat. But it got me thinking about fasting.

Since we are not Dr. Who, and do not have any control over time or its flow, we only have one way to "make time" for something, and that is to give up something else. This is really the definition of fasting. When we fast, we give up something (often eating, but sometimes more difficult things like the internet) in favor of something else. One sided "fasting", which consists of simply giving something up, leaves a hole in our lives. This hole, if not purposefully filled, will be accidentally filled by the flotsam and jetsam of daily life, especially when it is a time hole, because we still have to spend the time somehow.

Thus it is that Jesus - and so many, many others - went into the desert to fast and pray. The purpose of going into the desert wasn't fasting. The purpose was praying. It's just that some times you have to make room for prayer, and that is the essence of fasting.

Thinking - briefly - about fasting, led me briefly on to thinking about wildernesses, where so many people have fasted, either by their own choice or someone else's. Thinking - briefly - about the wilderness led me to thinking about camping, wherein I had my epiphany: Camping is the essence of fasting. How many people speak of camping in terms of "getting away", or "taking time off"? In camping, we give up the conveniences of modern day life, with its very many distractions, and we fill that time with other things: hiking, napping, reading, swimming, playing games, talking. Sometimes even praying.

So next time you have to explain Lent and fasting to a friend who "just doesn't get it", tell them that it's kinda like going camping for 40 days, but without all of the packing, unpacking, smoke, bugs and dirt.

Psalm 3

2010-02-27T15:06:00.001-08:00

From memory:
1. LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! how many are they that rise up agains me.
2. Many there be that say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
3. But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of my head.
4. I cried to the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.
5. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.
6. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.
7. Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou has smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
8. Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people.

Bible memorization

2010-02-21T21:53:00.001-08:00

This year SexyMamma and I decided to work on memorizing parts of the Bible. Now that Lent is upon us, I have begun in earnest, and I have to say that so far I like it.

This year, I am aiming to memorize all of John's epistles (1,2,3 John, and the first however many chapters of Revelations) as well as "Psalms". Not all of the psalms, but I want to start moving that direction. So I decided I'm going to try taking it a psalm a week. I figure that if I can keep that up, I'll get through almost a third of the psalms this year, and maybe in three years I'll have memorized the whole thing!

Now, this leads to the inevitable question of how I'll maintain my work. Once I've memorized a psalm, how often will I revisit it to keep it 'fresh'? And the answer is: I haven't gotten that far yet. But I did figure out one thing that is keeping me encouraged:

I have decided that my memorization goals are two-fold: 1) In the first week, memorize it as close to verbatim as possible; this includes punctuation. 2) After the first week is over, I would like to be able to recite it verbatim, but mostly I want to have a solid enough memory of each psalm that I can remember, "Hey, I think Psalm 3 says something about going to bed and waking up..." and be able to find my way through the psalms fairly easily.

So my method at this point is to learn them tactilely. That is, I'm learning them by writing them, rather than by reading or speaking them. I print the psalm of the week on a 3x5 card that I can carry around, and then I keep a scratch-pad and nice pen on me, so that whenever I have a few spare minutes I can practice writing out my work. This means that I get to use that tactile part of myself with which I identify so closely, and I have something beneficial with which to fill all of the little cracks and gaps of my life.

Saint Roles

2010-02-21T21:42:00.000-08:00

...Not to be confused with CreSaint Rolls.

Here's my deep thought during church today. It has nothing to do with the sermon, more with something I'd been mulling over from a bunch of comments that were made about the RC church on a web forum where I lurk:

The role of the Saints should be not to stand between us and God, but rather to point us toward God. They should act as a road or pathway leading us toward God, rather than a door by which we can access God.

It seems to me that - at least on a surface level - the role of the Saints in those churches where they have a role, is as mediators, or someone to whom we go instead of going to God. Instead of praying to God, we ask the Saints to pray to God on our behalf.

I am much more compelled to look at the lives of the Saints and the things they did - whether real or legendary, since I'll never know for sure which is which - and instead attempt to emulate the way that they related to God.

Psalm 2

2010-02-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

From Memory:

1. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3. Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.
5. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them ~~sorely~~ in his sore displeasure.
6. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7. I will declare the decree: The LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee.
8. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9. Thou shall break them with a rod of iron; thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
10. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be instructed ye judges of the earth.
11. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

ProgenArt: A new blog

2010-02-11T10:23:00.001-08:00

I started a new blog today, in honor of the fact that my daughter regularly gives me drawings, and I usually don't know what to do with them. I thought putting together an album that we can look back at in years to come might be cool, but decided to go digital instead of hard-copy. Thus, I give you ProgenArt, a home for all of my children's artistic endeavors.

Project: Juggling Bags

2010-01-25T09:53:00.000-08:00

This weekend I got inspired and made myself some custom juggling bags. I also wrote up and posted an instructable about the process, in case any of you feel like following in my manly footsteps.

Haxxor!!!

2010-01-06T13:14:00.001-08:00

I use MediaMonkey to play my music. I love it. It roxxorz. I give it 3 sneezes.

We (the wife and I) are currently listening through the Lord of the Rings trilogy in audiobook format. Due to the length of the chapters, the cds are broken up into 3-minute tracks. This means I have a LOT of LOTR mp3s in my music library. So [begin geekery] I wrote a custom playlist in MediaMonkey which grabs all of my LOTR tracks that have a play count of 0, and sorts them so that the beginning of the playlist will always be the first track we haven't listened to. It's like an automatic bookmark.

Then, I decided to update the tags and filenames of my LOTR tracks. At which point, MediaMonkey lost its database info for all of the LOTR tracks (presumably because it's associated by filename), setting the playcounts for all of the tracks back to 0. Which meant that unless I wanted to let MM play through all of the tracks we had already listened to (something like 6 hours of them) those tracks would always be sitting at the top of my playlist. Grrr!

So I did some lurnin' on the interwebs, and discovered that MM's database is stored in SQLite format. I downloaded SQLiteMan, and used it to hack my database, setting the playcount for the older tracks to 1, and solving my own problem. [/geekery]

Yay! Now I have geekhigh!

Ringing in the new year

2010-01-01T11:25:00.001-08:00

As the new year and new decade rolled in, I was watching Twilight with my wife.

This fact is mitigated by the fact that we also had the Rifftrax going.

I decided to start the year at the bottom so it could steadily get better.

I also just ordered the first 6 books of the Harry Potter books on Amazon because I haven't read them, and after watching the 50%-blood prince, I got inspired.

Tweedlydeedlydeet, tweedlydeedlydeet tweedlydeedlydeet

2010-01-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

Rockin' robin, oh yeah, rockin' robin...

I have decided that whereas as I thus far like twitter, it is a strange thing. For example, I now have a tendency to relate New Year's wishes and the like from such folks as John Cleese to my wife, much the same as I would if an actual friend who knew me were to say hi. How very strange.

And now, to take us to commercial, here's Michael Jackson and the other four people no one remembers....

In your heeeaaad...

2009-12-18T23:08:00.000-08:00

In your heeeaaaaaaad,
Zo-ombie, zo-ombie, zo-ombie-eee-eee-eee

No, what's actually in my head (and is quite possibly even creepier than zombie) is Jack Nicholson's voice, saying:

"Sell crazy some place else. We're all stocked up here."

It's a great line, that I wanted to have turned into a door sign, but I'm not sure I can go with it, now that I know who said it.

Speaking of zombies, if you haven't heard/seen this, well, even I enjoyed it, and I'm not a fan of the whole zombie movement. But be careful. The music gets stuck...in...YOUR BRAIN!!!! MUAH-HAAH-HAAH-HAAAAAA!

I apologize for that.

Friday Lynx - 2009.12.18

2009-12-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last lynx post (or any post, for that matter), so I have several:

First, a not-quite-new, but still kick-donkey technology I would love to see more of.
One of the Mere Comments contributors linked to this in response to a particularly banal bit of political idiocy. I plan to pull this out and use it whenever appropriate.
I have never made it more than 30 minutes through Napoleon Dynamite, but here is some interesting footage about real-life ligers. That is a really big cat. One of the cool things in this clip is that the zoologist explains why ligers are so big.
Finally, to wrap things up on a narcissistic note, I'm finally on Twitter. I make no warranties as to how often or for how long I will be posting on Twitter, but there you go. Follow at your own risk.

Project: Bench faux toes

2009-12-03T18:22:00.001-08:00

As promised, I was able to get some pictures of the benches. Behold, the unfinished product:

Project: Benched!

2009-12-03T07:57:00.001-08:00

Our dining room chairs, most of which we have had since we got married, are breaking down. Whether this is due to them being reasonably low quality, or whether it is due to abuse by 1-4 excitable, bouncy toddlers, I can't really say. Probably a combination.

This fact, coupled with the fact that at most we could easily fit 6 people around our table (fine for just the family, not so much for anyone else) inspired me to build some benches to go down the 'long' sides of our dining room table.

Using Google Sketchup (if you do much carpentry design and you haven't tried it you really ought to) I came up with the following:

The lengthwise braces at the bottom of the leg are the way they are so that the bench can be turned to either allow longer-legged people to easily rest their feet on the floor, or else to let shorter-legged people put their feet on the brace. Clever, no?

I don't have pictures of the actual final product, but in a few hours on Black Friday my BIL and I were able to cut, rout and assemble two of those, one for either side of the table. I have yet to sand/finish them, but they are very sturdy and perfect for what I wanted. And only one of them is a little bit wobbly (made more noticeable by our undulating dining room floor)!

I'll try to get some pictures of the unfinished product to post. I'm hoping to have some time this weekend to do some sanding and at least get the seat varnished, so it will stop absorbing food and drink before the stains soak deep enough that they won't sand out.

Also note that this project wouldn't be nearly as practical if we hadn't recently torn the carpet out of our dining room and put in laminate flooring, so we can actually move the benches around reasonably easily. Although currently the table slides more easily than the benches, which makes for some exciting 'tug of war' when the kids are ready to get down.

Blast from the Past

2009-12-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

Anyone remember this game?

My good friend Josh back in high school (not to be confused with my good friend Josh back in high school that I still hang out with) and I used to play this one and man was it fun. It was the perfect combination of frenetic action, shiny bits, faux-guns and hand-eye coordination. I'll have to start watching the thrift stores for old copies of it, although I don't doubt that most sets around these days are missing most or all of the little, shiny, swallow-able pieces.

Monday Lynx 2009.11.30

2009-11-30T13:12:00.000-08:00

Rhett and Link have released their latest 'local commercial'. Watch it if you're not easily offended.
If you've never seen The Guild, and you want to increase your Geek Quotient, I recommend checking it out. In the mean time, here's a song, based on the show entitled Do You Want to Date My Avatar.
I got my Google Wave invitation this weekend and I've been checking it out. I have a very few invitations for people, so if you want one leave me a comment explaining why there are six 'Original' Star Trek movies, 5 'Next Generation' star trek movies, and 0 DS9 star trek movies. I mean, come on. What are they going to do, ruin the series more than the combined forces of ST:TMP and STV:TFF?

The 30-List

2009-11-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

So I turned 29 this year.

Everyone knows that once you hit 30, you stop getting smarter and start getting dumber, which means that some people I know must have been absolutely genius when they hit 30, and I'm a bit behind if I want to not be drooling in my oatmeal by 35.

[/snark]

All that said, I have created/am creating a list of things I want to learn or accomplish before I turn 30 in...about 10 months. This list includes:

Learn to juggle 5 balls
Learn to walk on my hands
Get Blasteroids to version 1.0 (only 9 .x version updates to go!)
Be ready to test for 3rd degree black belt
Learn to free-mount my unicycle (I'm getting closer!)

I have no idea where this list will max out. If nothing else, I'll stop adding stuff to it in 10 months.

How many of these to I expect to accomplish? Good question. I think the hand walking and unicycle ones are realistic. I think the other 3 will be a stretch. I don't expect to accomplish all of these, realistically. I just don't think I have the free time. But I want to have them out there where other people can jab at me and say, "How's the game coming? Only 2 months left!" and that kind of thing.

Besides, if I don't post anything about the list, and I do manage to accomplish some/all of them, then when I post about my success people will wonder which goals I didn't tell them about that I failed at. At least, I'd wonder about that.

Game box project: material testing

2009-11-21T11:49:00.000-08:00

My magnets arrived yesterday, and I'm on to the next step in the process: testing materials. I ended up getting a lot of 3/16" diameter by 3/16" tall NdFeB (Neodymium) magnets, which I think will work great. The next step is to find a mounting structure. I'm going to be mounting them so that there is one magnet per 1/4" square on the board, as this is pretty much exactly the right size to make an 8-square by 8-square board on the bottom of the box. This configuration works best for many many many classic board games, the most common of which are checkers and chess.

So the problem becomes: How do I mount 3/16" magnets with a 1/16" gap between them, when they really want to stick to each other? The first thought I had was to get some thin wood and drill 3/16" holes in it at 1/4" intervals in both directions, so that the magnets can just sit in the holes and the wood will keep them apart. I still really like this idea, but I think it will be hard to find wood that will be sturdy enough to do this, and it also leaves me with the task of drilling the holes.

Yesterday at work I salvaged an old brochure holder, thinking that the clear plastic would be easier to work with than wood, and maybe a little sturdier (and it's clear plastic! Geek points!). Unfortunately, I discovered two things about it: 1) if you don't drill really slowly, the drill cracks the plastic instead of boring through it; 2) regardless of what you do, the plastic ends up melting to the drill bit.

So after cleaning off my father-in-law's 1/8" drill bit (this was before I realized that I had 3/16" magnets instead of 1/8" magnets), I decided that plastic is not the way to go for this project. I'll keep my eyes open for wood that might work.

Another idea I hit upon is using something that I can build a 'grid' out of that is 1/16" thick, so the magnets can sit between the grid which can mount inside the base of the tin. I was at a loss for what to do this with, until I hit upon the idea of popsicle sticks, which are 1/16" thick, almost exactly. So I'll have to test that method too. This may be easier, as it will involve less drilling (which requires a drill press), however it will also involve more cutting, as I'll have to get the popsicle sticks to interlock. And, the popsicle sticks will be deeper than the magnets (unless I cut them lengthwise - ugh) so they'll take up more room in the tin, and that's a minus.

Anybody have any other clever suggestions for how to rig this up, other than just breaking down and buying 1/4" magnets (which are decidedly more expensive)?

To see more about this project, check out the rest of my game tin project posts.

Things you learn eating citrus fruit

2009-11-20T22:25:00.001-08:00

"Ow! Hey! When did I get a cut on my finger?"

Friday Lynx, 2009-11-20

2009-11-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

Not much happening on the internet this week (hah!), so just a couple:

First, and most important: If you haven't heard about the Manhattan Declaration, you really ought to go check it out and seriously consider signing it.
Secondly, something for my in-laws, you know, the gun-crazy ones:

Sorry, no YouTube video this week. More internanity next week. Enjoy your weekend!

Frighteningly addictive

2009-11-16T21:38:00.000-08:00

While this is normally a description I use for such things as Cookies 'n' Cream ice cream, cashews and heroin, I'm applying it to something different this evening.

Today I discovered a little game called Canabalt. Not surprisingly, there is a flash version, but there is also an iPhone app and a downloadable portable app which will install to a usb drive or anywhere else for that matter.

Are regular games just too hard to figure out? No worries with Canabalt. You have one choice: jump, or don't jump. Okay, so it's a little bit more complicated then that, since you also have to figure out how high to jump, and you have about a 10th of a second to make the right decision, but you really should give it a try.

My current record is 1950m, btw, so let me know when you beat that. Oh, and my personal nemeses are windows. If that sounds cryptic, try the game. You'll understand.

Edit: Within 5 minutes of posting this, I of course more than doubled my high score to 4280. Take that!
P.S.: The boxes aren't always your enemies.
/Edit
Edit again: To test the theory presented in the PS above, I did a couple of runs trying to hit every box. I made it 3360m before failing a jump. Hmmm...
/Edit

Late Lynx, 2009-11-12

2009-11-15T01:35:00.000-08:00

I was going to post these last night, but forgot, so instead of Friday night links, you get Sunday morning links.

I found this while looking up information on handstands. Looks like Damien Walters is another one of those urban ninjas.
This was linked to from Ffffound. Don't get it? You obviously never played enough of this as a child.
It looks like someone has finally found a proper use for one of Apple's mice.

Game box project: Material List

2009-11-13T13:47:00.001-08:00

I am starting a new project to make a travel game board out of an Altoids tin. The first step - which is as far as I've gotten - is to start assembling materials. Here is what I have deduced so far:

An Altoids tin - This will form the case to hold all the bits and pieces, as well as being the sturdy surface on which the game will be played.
Magnets - The magnets will be mounted inside the tin, as a means of keeping the pieces in place on the board. I ordered a bunch of NdFeB ("rare earth") magnets from eBay, where I was able to find the size/shape I wanted, for a good price, with free shipping.
Pieces - This is the current puzzle. I figure something like screws will work best, as they'll be about the right size (small enough to fit, large enough to grab) and ferro-magnetic (i.e. stick to magnets), but I haven't had a chance to pour through the aisles of hardware/craft stores to see what's available.
Extra metal - I'm toying with ideas for making the box even more multi-function, but have to play with a few Altoid tins and lids to see what will work best. If nothing else, I'll want a metal plate covering the magnets in the bottom of the tin to keep everything else separate.
Paint - cool as it may or may not be, I don't plan to leave the original Altoids paint job on the tin. I'm going to scrub it and repaint it, then probably lacquer it for a sturdyish finish.
Alternate boards - at this point I don't know whether the alternate boards will be printed on card stock and then laminated, or whether I'll cut multiple metal pieces and paint the boards on them. But I'll either need card stock (got it) or metal (maybe got it). The metal will hold up longer. The card stock will be easier to produce.

BTW, does anyone know if Altoids sells tins anymore that aren't embossed? If not I'll have to try taking a hammer to one and see if I can pound the embossing out without screwing up the shape.

To see more about this project, check out the rest of my game tin project posts.

The Internet Explained: pwn

2009-11-12T22:13:00.000-08:00

Pwn

Pronunciation: "Pone" (like 'own' but with a P on the front)
Meaning: to hand someone his ass in a funny, geeky or extreme way.
Usage: "Let's go pwn some n00bz!"
Derivatives:
PWNED! - often used as an interjection to bring to everyone's attention the fact that someone just got handed his ass.
Chowned! - a conglomeration of "PWNED!" and "chown" which is a UNIX command to change ownership of a file or folder. Meaning: to hand a computer it's ass; to hand someone their ass in an extremely geeky way.

Have some portion of the internet you need explained? Leave me a comment and I'll do my best to enlighten you!

Vulgarity: the opiate of the asses

2009-11-12T07:08:00.000-08:00

See what I did there?

So after clicking through the link on my post about blocks to make sure it actually worked (yes, I proofreed my posts) I was reminded of a basic fact of humanity in general, and the interwebs specifically: If you give bored people free rein to express themselves they almost invariably degenerate to vulgarities.

As I was playing around with the letters and enjoying the apparent emptiness of the site, I started arranging the letters into a crossword, seeing how many of them I could use up before someone arrived and started moving them. I was doing pretty well (having managed to use both 'velociraptor' and 'quixotic') when someone showed up and started stealing my letters to make swear words, at which point I left to finish the post.

I must say that I admire the Bard in his ability to throw around some of the dirtiest lines penned in the English language, while still making them original and clever. See, boys, Shakespeare wasn't all about kissing and stuff. Willy FTW.

Movie Review: George of the Jungle (1997)

2009-11-10T20:47:00.000-08:00

Let me start out by saying: I am a Brendan Frasier fan. I am not a hardcore Brendan Frasier fan, but I have been known to watch Brendan Frasier movies simply because I know he is in them. This list would include The Mummy, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Blast from the Past and Encino Man.

That being said, I think I owe it all to this little gem of a movie, George of the Jungle, and this movie has probably become one of my favorite movies of all time, in that stealthy, Princess Bride sort of way. You know: whenever you ask someone what their favorite movie is, they never say, "The Princess Bride", but whenever you mention it everyone says, "I love that movie!"

The Good:
- Brendan Frasier brings everything to this movie. Not only his goofiness, but his willingness to really sink in to the spirit of the character and, frankly, make a ham of himself
- Leslie Mann (Ursula), Thomas Haden Church (Lyle), John Cleese (Ape), and all the rest of the supporting actors likewise give themselves over to the roles and the genre and contribute to a totally cheesy but utterly worthwhile movie.
- Kids love this movie. Or at least, my kids love this movie, which is what matters to me. I can't tell you how many Saturday mornings this movie has gotten me through, because invariably mentioning George of the Jungle results in me being able to 'nap' on the couch for 90 minute while the kids bounce and jump.
- The movie is totally clean. Thanks to the genre of the movie, the worst word spoken on screen is 'poopie' - uttered by the horrible, stinky, really bad guy, Lyle. There are a couple of fart gags, but I don't have a problem with that.
- The soundtrack is excellent, and if it wasn't 'rare' (read 'expensive) I would own a copy.
- Okay, scratch that. I found a used 'good' copy on Amazon for under $9 with shipping. Buying....NOW.

The Bad:
- I got nothing.

Best Scene:
Okay, the best scene in the entire movie is the seduction scene at the waterfall. Once again, Brendan Frasier wholly commits to his role, and the background music (Marvin Gaye's "Let's get it on") comes in at the perfect moment.

Don't Miss:
- Lyle calling Kwame ("Quah-may") "Quaym".

Quotable Lines:
- "Funny lookin' fella." and also "Somethin' wrong with this fella!" - George
- "George go investigate!" - George
- "Meanwhile, at a very large and expensive waterfall set..." - Narrator
- "Pretty DARN good!" - George
- "Thank you Gunter, Gunner, Hans, Franz, and Phil." - Lyle

Personal Note:
Those of you who know my brother will find this funny: when the movie came out, the lead character was favorably compared with him, especially since he had just bleached his (long) hair for prom, and was prone to running around barefoot, although not (usually) bare-chested or sporting a 'butt-flap'.

Final Grade:
Overall, I'd have to give this movie an A+. The only way this movie fails is if you are looking for a serious or deep movie. Since that is rarely the case with me, I can find no fault with it, and whole-heartedly recommend it for your movie library.

1 + 1 = AWESOME!

2009-11-10T10:45:00.000-08:00

We found a new cereal at Albertson's this weekend, and I have to ask, now that I've tried it, why it took a house brand to think of it. Everyone knows that the best part of Lucky Charms is the marshmallows, but you feel obligated to eat the boring part too. Well they finally replaced the boring crunchies with Cocoa Puffs! Behold, marshmallow cocoa crunchy puffs!

Character Sketch

2009-11-09T21:50:00.001-08:00

I enjoy role playing enough to do it a couple of times a week during lunch breaks at work.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been working on a character sketch for a sailor character, and thought I'd share the final result:

The image was created in Inkscape, which is currently my favorite open source graphics editor.

The frizziness of the hair was created using a filter in Inscape which gave the shapes a 'crumpled paper' texture. The pattern of the shirt was created using another filter to give it the faded/bleeding/rumpled look. I also took and applied a couple of different gradients over the hair to give it the sun-bleached/darkened look.

I traced three individual images to get the final result: I started with a picture of some random dude on the internet who had the general musculature and posture I wanted, then took a picture of myself making the expression I wanted for the eyes, and then looked through a Google Image search for 'portrait' to find a nose that looked interesting. The 'final result' (as in, I may add more stuff to it at some point) is what you see.

Ideally he's supposed to have a bunch of tattoos, trinkets, charms, etc. because he's a superstitious character, but I haven't gotten around to blinging him out. But over all I think the sketch does a good job painting his as a wind-tossed, no-nonsense type of person who has a decent idea what he wants and how to get it.

Whizzzzzzzz

2009-11-09T21:36:00.000-08:00

Anybody here ever not have one of those dreams where you're flying? K.

I have those dreams all the time, and every time it's just as disappointing to wake up. BUT! When I was learning to ride a unicycle, I used to have similar dreams about unicycling. You know: you get up on it, and take off down the street, with the wind in your hair, and it's just effortless and fun. Okay, you probably don't know. Take my word for it.

Well, I'm happy to say that tonight on the ride home I got one of those rides. The air was cool, and I don't know if it was the fact that it was dark and I couldn't see all the imperfections in the sidewalk enough to worry about them, but I was just cruising. I think it was the fastest I've made it home since getting a unicycle (and while actually riding a unicycle).

So remember: some things may be tricky, and take some learning, and may even be a minor pain on occasion, but on other occasions they can be a real blast.

Someone keeps stealing my blocks!

2009-11-08T12:31:00.000-08:00

Ever played with this site? That's what it's like trying to do blocks with a 5-year-old, a 3.5-year-old, and two 1.5-year-olds.

Prodigies

2009-11-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true. My children are genii. Right now, as I sit here writing this, the older two are taking turns on Wii bowling playing the Power Throw training for bowling. And frankly, they're doing pretty well. Especially given that Sam has no concept of aiming, and they're 5 and 3-1/2.

Oh, also: Sam 'discovered' how to turn the Wii off by holding down the power button on the remote. He's so clever. Unfortunately this caused him to forfeit the rest of his turn.

Oh, and so far they have yet to whack anyone or anything, which puts them two steps above me and one step above The Josh.

Battlefield Band

2009-11-08T10:20:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have never heard of Battlefield Band, you've been missing out. My best friend found them on Prairie Home Companion many years ago, and we've been fans since. I then got the Sexy Mama hooked on them, and we got her family hooked on them, etc. etc.

Anyhoo, we went to see them in concert last night, and it was totally worth the cost of the tickets, the cost of the babysitter, the drive to Pasadena, the hassle of this, that and everything else.

If you're a fan of Scottish music, or even just Celtic music in general, I highly recommend checking them out, and if you have the chance to see them in concert, don't miss it!

Caveat: Their new album Zuma Zuma, which makes up most of the lyrical songs they performed last night, does not seem to be one of their best, but the instrumental jigs, reels, waltzes, etc. were absolutely stunning.

Also, one of their junior members - the makeup of the band changes from year to year as people come and go, except for Alan Reid who is a founding member from 30+ years ago - named Alasdair White has been hailed as a fiddle prodigy and I believe it. He has a solo album out which I have not heard, but I'm sure is worth buying.

Oh, and if you want to buy us more BB music, we only own 5 of their albums: Across the Borders, Happy Daze, Home Ground, Leaving Friday Harbor and Live Celtic Music.

Lynx!

2009-11-06T21:53:00.000-08:00

I love animated images like these, and the way they bring 'depth' to photographs. Rating: 2 sneezes
In response to this video (posted on SexyMama's blog), a co-worker showed me this. Rating: 2 sneezes.
Here is one of those random phenomena which can really only exist on the internet. Apparently this book was written with the spelling and grammar of a 3rd-grader. My favorite review is the 2-star review by 'NAS'. Take the time to read through the comments. You'll enjoy it. Rating: 3 cheezes.
Also, while we're on the topic of bad products on Amazon, here is a similarly amazing product. Buy one today! Rating: 3 cheezes.

Incompatible Technologies

2009-11-05T10:36:00.001-08:00

This from one of my favorite tickets lately.

This is why you don't put transparencies through a laser printer:

You see, laser printers use this concept of 'heat', which, in certain circumstances, causes some things to melt and stick to other things. When one of the things is toner and the other thing is paper, the process goes as planned. However, when one thing is a sheet of plastic and the other thing is the roller from the printer's fuser, things do not go so well.

Found!

2009-11-03T09:02:00.001-08:00

On a Linux forum member's avatar:

Why get high, when there are other ways of achieving a smug sense of superiority?
Sarcasm: my antidrug

The Possum Approach

2009-11-02T21:31:00.000-08:00

I had a thought today, while riding home, about what to do in the event that I was in a bank or cetera during a robbery/hostage situation. (Don't ask why I was thinking about hostage situations. I don't recall.) I came up with what I think would be a genius plan to not get taken as a hostage, and possibly get an opportunity to surprise the bad guys: the Possum Approach. It works like this:

1) If possible, get the attention of one of the bad guys. If not, go with another person near you.
2) Tell them that you have narcolepsy, and that it tends to kick in during high stress situations.
3) Start to act a little woozy.

You now have a perfect excuse to sit/lay/fall down at any point that it seems appropriate. And, as an added bonus, it is probably fairly unlikely that you will get taken as a hostage, given someone will have to carry you.

Genius!

Random flashback

2009-11-01T13:51:00.001-08:00

I just realized that I must have seen Rich Mullins in concert once apon a time. (And I don't care what my spell checker says, I like 'apon' better than 'upon'.)

While listening to my 'Bouncy Upbeat' playlist, Rich's "Awesome God" came on. It was probably the first time I've listened to the song in...many many years. Then I remembered sitting in a little amphitheater in Elitch Gardens in Colorado, listening to some unimpressive looking person sing Awesome God, and I remembered that it was a concert with Michael W. Smith (of whom I was a fan) and some other guy I hadn't really heard of.

If course, I could be misremembering, and it could have been someone else.

Wire-wrapped RPG Minis

2009-10-16T23:50:00.000-07:00

I'm kinda in to role playing. Not the kind where you sit down with someone from work and pretend that one of you is a customer, and the other one tries to 'help'. The 'cool' kind, if such a designation can be applied to something so geeky.

Currently I am playing through a fantasy-themed campaign, wherein I play an Orc 'Elf slayer' named Kwarr (or Kwarrrhr or Quarr; the spelling varies from session to session, as Kuarr is barely literate). It is something of a custom for me to create my own mini for my character in whatever campaign I'm playing, and this session I've had wire-wrapping on the brain, so I pilfered some old CAT6 cable scraps and created the following:

Astute observers will no doubt note that his Ancient Bronze Sword (Good (+2)) can be held in his back sheath. Also, Orcish fashion and/or genetics dictate that he wears his hair in a mohawk.

My coworker Timothy created a similar, but much more elaborate miniature for his Elf character. I don't have pictures of it, otherwise I'd probably upload them here.

In a fit of inspiration this evening, I pulled out the wire and my wife's beading pliers and made a wizard character for another one of the guys playing:

Dick (the wizard) likes to use fire a lot, hence the wand and staff on fire for this mini. Also, astute observers will note that one arm of his robe and his hat are not the same shade of blue as the rest of his robe. Yeah. Apparently, there is very little quality control when it comes to CAT6 wire coloration. I didn't figure this out until I had made the large portion of his robe (the hard part) and didn't have enough of the old shade to finish. I've decided to explain this away by saying simply that he's a wizard, and wizards like to wear clothes that are a little...odd.
Also note his awesome beard, and the fact that anywhere you can see through his robe you can see that he is wearing a full set of long underwear in a lighter shade of blue.

Oh, and the weird wing-looking things in the second picture are actually a stand I made to get the picture. That was before I figured out that he would stand on his own, given a solid surface.

Both of these minis have been or will be mounted on a base to help with stability. I discovered that washers make a good base for this. The washers are about the size of a half-dollar. Just cover the top with double-sided tape, and stick the little feet down. Then, if you feel like overachieving, take an old leaf and crumble it over the rest of the tape and tamp it down. Voila! Instant bracken-y ground cover.

Okay, observation test time: Can you guess what four colors are found in the twisted pairs of CAT6 cable? (Hint: there are really eight colors, but four of them are a lighter version of the other four colors.)

It's ALIVE!!!

2009-08-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

For all you Windows users out there, you must try this.

I made it.

Myself.

With a name like Wubi...

2009-04-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

So I am delving into the realm of Ubuntu again. I have been toying with the idea of trying to get a computer running Linux again for a while now (the better part of a year), and have mostly been looking at SuSE or Mandriva, because my previous experience with Ubuntu left me feeling unfulfilled.

Then today, while poking and prodding the interwebs for useful content, I stumbled across Wubi. I know. Really? 'Wubby'? It turns out it might not be as dumb as it sounds.

Wubi is a 'looped installer' for Ubuntu that allows you to install Ubuntu on your system just like you would normally install a Windows application. And, more to the point, uninstall Ubuntu like you would a Windows application.

So, while Ubuntu is not my Linux distro of choice, Wubi looks like an good option for me to play with on my [ahem]work-owned[/ahem] laptop, since it should be fairly easy to remove later on (if I get that far). I'll let you know how it goes.

Why I'm not a pacifist

2009-04-23T23:56:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of titling this 'Why pacifists are wrong', except that I don't know for sure that they're wrong, and I think that to some degree it is a 'personal' issue. But nonetheless, I'm going to tell you why pacifists are wrong. So there. [end caveat]

Being a student and instructor of the martial arts, and being a Christian who tries to in good conscience think about the relationship between my passions and Christianity (Christianity being not so much a passion for me as something I actually have to work at), I have spent what I consider to be my fair share of time percolating the relationship between peace, violence and Christianity.

Let me start be defining my terms:
Peace - am probably going to use the word 'peace' in two senses here: 1) Peace(1), the fruit of the Spirit which we are called as Christians to nurture and develop; 2) Peace(2), the state which life reverts to when it is cleansed of sin.
Violence - likewise, the word 'violence' will be in a couple of senses: 1) Violence(1) - 'external violence', which is any means by which one party attempts to impose its will apon another party against their consent; 2) Violence(2) - 'internal violence', that state that is the polar opposite of peace, the fruit of the Spirit.

The 'inspiration' for this essay began as an imaginary conversation in my head that I was having with a classmate - whose name I don't remember - from several years ago who mentioned during one of our discussion classes that he was a pacifist, and an extreme pacifist at that. I remember being appalled and somewhat disgusted when he stated that he would not step in to stop a man who was in the process of raping his wife (not a theoretical wife, mind, because he was actually married at the time), a fact of which she apparently was aware, and with which she was apparently okay.

This statement convinced me that the man had decided that it was better to allow the suffering of innocents than to commit physical violence(1), and tonight it caused me to pose a question to him (in my imagination): If a crime were commited, you were the sole witness, and you have the knowledge before hand that the decision of the jury hangs on your testimony, would you testify for the prosecution in court?

My reasoning behind this question lies thusly:

If you would refuse to give your testimony in court, you would seem to have a major failing in your development as a follower of Christ. Ignoring the afflictions of the innocent is fairly soundly condemned in the Old Testament (see, oh, any of the prophetic books), and seems to fly in the face of doing our Christian duty, both as citizens and as loving neighbors.

If, on the other hand, you replied in the affirmative, then it would seem that you are making a distinction which does not exist. While your body would not be an instrument of physical violence, nonetheless violence would be handed out to this person, and - because I asked the question this way - that violence would be inextricably tied to your action. Either economic violence: the person would be relieved of some of his money in the form of a fine; or else what I will dub 'environmental violence': the person would be forcibly removed from his home and relocated to a place that he would probably rather not be, a.k.a. prison. It is even possible (and indeed likely) that the person would be subjected to physical violence, either at the hands of other prison mates (prison being one of the many places I never ever want to visit) or at the hands of an executioner should the crime be deemed worthy.

So, here are my thoughts the use of violence(1) and it's roll in maintaining peace(2) and keeping the commandments of Christ:

First off, I would state that violence(1) is a tool. Whether it is physical violence, or verbal violence, or social violence, etc., it is something that is used to achieve an end, that end being to impose your will apon someone else. Sometimes, this is bad. Okay, perhaps even most of the time this is bad. But sometimes this is good and necessary. As a parent, I find it necessary to discipline my children in order to discourage certain behaviours and encourage other behaviors. Sometimes this takes the form of spankings, sometimes time-outs, sometimes they don't get to play with certain toys for the rest of the day. As a father, husband and concerned citizen, I have studied self defense with an eye to knowing what to do should I need to severely discourage someone from hurting my loved ones.

Secondly, I would say that violence(2) is often, but not always an excuse for violence(1). I have felt the blood pulsing in my veins when I have yelled at my kids to knock it off. I have felt the surge of adrenaline when muttering at stupid drivers under my breath.

Third, violence(1) and violence(2) are not mutually inclusive. Violence(2) is very helpful for implementing violence(1), in that our passions give us fuel to drive our actions.

Until Christ comes again, violence(1) will always be the means of steering the world toward peace(2). When the evil man inflicts his violent(1) will on the earth, the only response is violence(1), whether it is in the armies that march against his invading horde, or in the gentle rebuke that chastizes him for his abusive language.

It seems to me that most pacifists shun physical violence(1) in an effort to escape violence(2). However passiveness is not the answer to violence(2). Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control are the answer to violence(2).

Violence(1) that is done by a person who is in possession of those fruits can be done without violence(2). Even if the adrenaline is pumping, the blood is rushing, and the person is dizzy from the passion of the moment, after the moment of violence(1) is gone, the adrenaline wanes, the heartbeat slows, and the person can look at his actions and - for the most part - judge truly that what he has done was necessary and sufficient.

So that's why I have chosen to study physical violence, and why I have a hard time understanding the person who has chosen inaction over action. If I have time and energy later, I want to address some of the Christian 'problems' with violence, and tell you why I'm right and you misunderstood. I'm sure it will be very ecucational for you.

Either too much red, or not enough.

2009-02-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

Warning: The following contains a...unique picture of Sean Connery. Be prepared to avert your eyes

It's been a while since I've done one of my thrice-weekly Cetera posts, so here we go:

Cowboys, Indians or cowboy Indians?

No, not that kind of Indian. I heard a blurb on NPR today about a new occupation in New Delhi: Cattle Wranglers. Apparently the city administrators are getting fed up with the Brahmas clogging up the thoroughfare, so they have started hiring brave young men to round them up, put them in carts, and take them to farms in the countryside. These cowboys have to deal with a) bulls with Really Big Horns (at one point one got mad and injured 20 people), and b) people who worship the bulls.

The head wrangler they interviewed said that they had removed about 100,000 bulls from the New Delhi area, which leaves about 20,000 to go. (The article above sites lower numbers. It is probably more correct, but I like the idea of hundreds of thousands of bulls wandering around the capital of India. Probably I just heard wrong.)

Talk about a load of bull.

Indian Cowboys: 2 sneezes

My eyes!!!

A co-worker and I were discussing this and that and, of course, Sean Connery came up. I wanted to find a picture of him in all his finery from the movie Sword of the Valiant, but when I did a google image search I couldn't find a good one. I did, however, find this gem.

Beeteedubya, if you happen to find a good picture of The Green Knight and his Holey armor, send me a link.

Sean Connery having the chutzpa to wear that outfit: 3 sneezes
Sean Connery actually wearing that outfit: 1 sneeze
Me actually seeing a picture of Sean Connery wearing that outfit: Blue Nostrils

Rhett & Link

And finally - and because no Cetera post is complete without at least one video - here's a vid of Rhett & Link giving you a message your friend just couldn't deliver

I also heartily recommend the Fireworks song and the Cornhole Song.

Rhett & Link: 3 sneezes!

Children of Israel

2009-01-29T10:01:00.001-08:00

Once apon a time, Joseph - Jacob's son - brought his family to Egypt. He brought them to Egypt because there was death coming in the promised land. It took many years, but eventually they returned to the promised land. He did not live to see it, but Joseph's children went on to become a great nation, and all the nations of the earth were blessed through them.

So, again, it came to pass that Joseph - Jacob's son - took his family to Egypt. He brought them to Egypt because there was death coming in the promised land. It took many years, but eventually they returned to the promised land. He did not live to see it, but Joseph's Son went on to become the great King, and all the nations of the earth are blessed through Him.

Coming soon?

2009-01-08T22:45:00.000-08:00

I have several thoughts regarding churchy stuff and martial arts, that are currently rattling around in my head. Hopefully they will coalesce into some coherent posts soon. In the mean time, here are some tidbits to keep you amused*

Very cool!

Speaking of martial arts, a co-worker sent me this link. Some very impressive and creative photography going on there.

For your amusement:

In the vein of Star Wars (yes, I'm still on about that) I offer you the following two videos which do their best to bring the worlds of Star Trek and Star Wars together:
This and this
Warning: One of the above videos contains gratuitous and excessive amounts of William Shatner. You have been warned.

Shooooot Dang!

As an ex-Texan (can you ever really become and EX-Texan?) I don't feel that I get to holler that often enough. Here is a video of a guy who has a talent that is not entirely useless, but is fairly....hick.

*Amused: A - Mused. I.E. uninspired to do anything creative, but rather to sit and suck meaningless entertainment from whatever source is readily available (e.g. the interwebs, this blog, el televisora, and cetera).

Gaaaaaaaaaay

2008-12-25T21:44:00.000-08:00

Okay, fair warning. I have a disclaimer up on this blog that I might utter the occasional vulgarity, and I've never taken advantage of it yet, but I just got done watching Prince Caspian (I know, I know, it's only been out since May or something) and I am officially shitting on this movie.

*ahem*

shit shit shitty shit shit!

Okay, I understand artistic license. I understand rewriting, adding and deleting things that make the movie move fast enough to fit enough of the story into the time alotted. I understand cutting out and/or rewriting most of Trumpkin's flashback and the back story with Caspian. I understand that visual effects can be tweaked at the microscopic level until the director is perfectly satisfied, whereas dialogue relies on the ability of the actors to deliver it and (more importantly) the director to direct it. But COME ON!!1!

This is how I imagine the discussions went when they were putting this movie together:

"Okay, so we have this book that's pretty popular, and we already did the first one as a movie and it did pretty well, so we're going to do this one now too, I guess. The setting is okay, we'll keep that. And there are some really good moments in the plot. We'll keep those, and pad them out with a bunch of good CG and stuff, yeah. The characters are okay, but they're not angsty enough. Emo is all the rage now, so lets emo them up, but maybe with a touch of rage and teenage angst. Yeah, angst! That's what this book needs! Ooh, and angst goes really well with fighting, so we'll throw in a bunch of that. Oh, I guess there's already a bunch of that. Oh well, that fighting is crap. We'll and add a bunch more, so that we can make the characters more angsty!"

Note that the following points contain spoilers for those of you who have read the book but not seen the movie and still care.

GRRRRRRR.

Forgivable edits:

- The kids discovering Caire Paravel (sp?) - Compressed
- The scene with the white witch, the hag and the werewolf - Altered
- The 'harrowing of the shire' - as it were at the end of the book. (You know, with the schoolkids turning into pigs, &c.) - Cut

Key scenes/dialogue points that they should have just left intact:

- Susan: "I didn't really want to come to Narnia anyway! Waah!"
- The Narnian council on the dancing lawn - Mangled
- Lucy not saying "I told you so," or more appropriately, Peter congratulating Lucy on not saying "I told you so": CUT
- Lucy's vision of Aslan and the trees: Destroyed
- Lucy telling the others that she had to go with Aslan whether they followed or not: CUT
- Trumpkin's first encounter with Aslan: Mashed
- Peter acting like a high-king, and not some angry, testosterone high pissant, anxious to get into a pissing contest at every opportunity: TOTALLY DESTROYED
- The end of the duel between Peter and Miraz - Mangled = "His life is not mine to take. But it is Caspian's! Here ya go buddy! Derm-dee-derm-derm."

Stupid additions:

- Xena - I mean "Susan" - The Warrior Princess - WTF!!!?
- Um, yeah, the whole middle third of the movie with them attacking Miraz' castle - WTF x 2!
- No, seriously, I couldn't stop wanting to slam my forehead into a brick wall throughout the entirity of that 'act'. I mean, C'MON!! - WTF again.
- And REALLY? Miraz' wife SHOOTS Caspian? REALLY!?!>!
- "I know, let's give the Narnians FIGHTER JETS! Yeah! We can have DWARVES, hanging from GRYPHONS, shooting their BOWS and ARROWS! It'll be KICK-ASS! And then- and THEN, we can give the Telmarines ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS! YEAH! DOUBLE KICK-ASS!!!"
- "OOH! OOH! And we'll have the fawns doing PARKOUR!!@!" - {writer wets himself}
- "And let's have the NARNIANS destroy Aslan's How, as part of this grand strategy, even though all of the angstiness of this miserably rewritten plot revolves around how they have NO STRATEGY! YEAH!!"
- "WE HAVE TO GO FIND ASLAN!!!" - WTFingF!
- Susan and Caspian - The star crossed lovers. I guess it's forgivable, but still...
- "Yeah, that little door they walk through in the book is SOOO CG-poor. Let's make it a TREE!!" - Boooo
- And WTF was up with that MUSIC? Singing? SINGING!? What is this, a DISNEY MOV- Oooooh, riiiight.

Scenes/lines I really wanted to see done well and was left with blue (eye) balls:

- Remember in Fellowship of the Ring, when they made it to Lothlorien, and everything is supposed to be golden and bright, and instead Peter Jackson did the whole thing like it was in moonlight? Think of that, and you have the exact opposite of what happened with the scene with Lusy and the trees.I really REALLY wish they had had the balls to just do the scene, with Lucy, and the dancing trees, and Aslan, and the moonlight, and everything not quite solid enough to be sure, but so so close.
- The River King or whatever he is asking Aslan to loose his bonds, at which point the bridge is destoyed. I was waiting for that line. What ev.
- No Bacchus? Forgiveable, I suppose, but disappointing that they left out the whole 'fun' part. And besides, as an uncle I feel bad for JP's namesake being left out.
- The TREES! The trees are supposed to sweep across the landscape like a sea, not like a scraggly little mob!
- Oh Reepicheep. Oh poor, poor Reepicheep. You were such a cool character. And then this movie happened. And Lucy summed it up all to well: You were very cute. With your little, big, manly voice that sounded nothing like the way it was described in the book. *sigh*

It's like they spent the whole time rewriting the script to build up to this great scene, but the scene never came.

And finally, let's take out any insinuation at all that Aslan knows what he's doing and is in control of things. You know, we have to prove ourselves to him, and it's up to us, even though we're not enough. Let's take out any touch of good theology that that crazy old Christian guy who wrote the book migh have put into it, and instead let's make it about self esteem and feeling good!

Okay, I'll stop now. But let me just say this one last thing: If you haven't already seen the movie, just....just don't. Wait until Dawn Treader comes out. Maybe - apparently Disney isn't going to be involved in this one - just maybe it won't suck. Which would be nice, because it isn't my least favorite of the Narnia books like PC is.

Speaking the Truth in Love

2008-12-20T22:22:00.000-08:00

After hearing several people recently (and in the past) talking about this reference in the Bible, I wanted to throw in my 2 cents.

Often in my experience, I have heard this dichotomy brought up in the context of a tension, the desire to try to balance two opposing goals. Some people speak truthfully. Others speak lovingly. The goal is to attempt to do both at once. Often, when there is tension between the two, people speak of 'erring' on the side of one virtue or the other.

But after at least a year of percolating this idea in the back of my mind, I think that view is inherently flawed. You cannot see Truth and Love as being opposed or even disconnected. Since both Truth and Love are virtues, you cannot 'err' toward a virtue, but rather you have to err away from a virtue. So when someone speaks of 'erring on the side of love,' what he really means is 'erring on the side of falsehood', and likewise when one speaks of 'erring on the side of truth,' he really means erring on the side of spite.

So what does this tell us about our views of this strange 'tension'? Allow me to illustrate. Here is a graph (I'm a nerd) that shows how I think most people would view the Truth/Love relationship:

Note that in this diagram Truth and Love are unrelated to each other. You can have either Truth or Love or both or neither, and neither has any bearing on the other. The lines or axes of the graph are straight, and imply that you can speak absolute Truth with no attention to Love whatsoever. But again, both virtues are just that: virtues. I think that any virtue we practise will necesitate the excercise of all other virtues to some degree or other, so assuming that we can pick one over the other is fallacious.

I think, rather, that the following diagram illustrates how these two interact a little better:

Note a few things:
1) The axes on this graph are not straight. Both bend toward each other, meeting at the height.
2) In order to be completely Truthful, one has to be completely Loving, and vice-versa. If you are completely lacking in Love, you will - of necessity - be completely lacking in Truth.

Also see that there are several points on this graph where you can increase or decrease the 'value' of one virtue without affecting the value of the other. However that will only take you so far. Eventually you will run into a wall, and either you will decrease both values, or you will increase both values. Thus, you cannot 'err' on the side of one or the other, but rather you are forced to either sacrifice both or to maintain both.

Finally, note that in this diagram there is a definite end point. This graph does not extend toward infinite. Rather, the most Loving and Truthful you can hope to be is the exact amount you should be. Most of us hover around being half as loving as we ought to be, or 1/3 as Truthful as we ought to be, etc. There is a point of perfection, but it is very seldom reached even in a single interaction.

Ooh! I want one of those

2008-12-15T08:24:00.000-08:00

Occasionally, I am forced to wonder about the intelligence of certain people on the internet. For example: Today I received a spam e-mail with the following subject:

She won't keep the eyes of your Submariner watch.

This causes me to ponder two questions:
1) Who wrote this? Now, admittedly, Microsoft Word's grammar checker would have no problem with this sentence. It is entirely reasonable to tell someone that a female (in the pronoun sense) will not be able to maintain possession of the eyes of his (or her, but presumably his) Submariner watch. Nonetheless, I'm willing to bet that that wasn't the intended point of the sentence, but rather to inform the reader that, "She won't be able to keep her eyes off your Submariner watch," thus implying (much like so many other spams I get) that there is something you can buy online to improve your 'standing' with the ladies.

2) Presumably, this e-mail has a target audience. This leads me to wonder: Who responds to e-mails like this? Especially when they come from an e-mail address like "motivatedyw28@deepspacedisc.com", and have a link in the body which says simply, "Haste to visit."

How many dumb people can there really be on the internet?

Oh, by the way, for legal reasons I have to start tracking my readers, so for each of you out there I'm going to need a name, an e-mail address, and - preferably - a credit card number. You can just post them in the comments to this post and I'll take care of the rest. Thanks.

Is this totally off topic?

2008-12-12T21:33:00.000-08:00

So I've been wondering if I should try to find some theme for my blog which I can regularly post on, in a vain (and I use that word precisely) attempt to drum up readership. But then I got to thinking: Maybe picking a topic for this blog would be the one thing I can never really do. I mean, look a the title and subject line of the blog as a whole! Picking a topic would be fine as long as I was sure to eventually wander from it.

Besides, for all I know, there are MILLIONS of readers out there in the interwebs who check this blog hourly, salivating for just one more tidbit to fall from my fingers.

Okay, I can tell by looking at Google's Analytics site that that's not true. For example:
- In the last month, my record traffic in one day was on November 12th, when I received a grand total of...(hold your breath)...5 hits!
- In the last month, I have had 40 hits from the USA, 1 from Canada, and a handful from Europe (Great Britain, Italy, Uzbekistan, etc.) I can only assume that most of these people stumbled onto my blog by accident, when searching Google for...something else.

But all that aside, why should I care how many people read my blog? It's not like I'm trying to say anything deeply meaningful. Although, I have to admit: the times when I have something meaningful to say, I wish I had a large readership to hear it and tug at their beards, and say, "Ahh, hmm, very thoughprovoking."

Oh well.

A measurement mnemonic, an interesting picture, and the next big thing from the land of Haiku

2008-12-03T21:26:00.000-08:00

Let's see, there's four quarts in a gallon, and two pints in a quart...

From a conversation tonight:
Wife: Two tablespoons would be an eighth of a cup, right?
Me: Um...I dunno. I know there are three teaspoons in a tablespoon.
Wife: Hmm...Oh yeah! Because a tablespoon is an eighth of half a cup!
Me: ...uh...so...an eigth of a half a cup is easier to remember than a sixteenth of a cup?
Wife: Yes.
Me: Why is that?
Wife: Because butter comes in half-cup sticks, and the sticks are divided on the wrapper into 8 sections, each of which is a tablespoon.
Me: ...You know, that actually makes sense.

For all you globetrotters out there

Someone generated this by charting flightpath information:

(found on drawn.ca. Check it out.)

Pecha Kucha

Pecha Kucha is the PowerPoint version of Haiku. Basically you have 20 slides, and you get 20 seconds for each slide. Another example of the Japanese packing as much as possible into every package. (My wife says that modern poetry consists of saying everything you want to in the least possible words. Who know you could mix PowerPoint and poetry so.)

More thoughts on Star Wars

2008-12-01T20:13:00.000-08:00

I already posted about why John Williams is the man. Here are a couple more thoughts about why Old Star Wars (OSW - episodes iv, v and vi) is and will probably always be better than New Star Wars (NSW - episodes i, ii and aiaiai):

Pontification the First

I have heard several people complain about the 'accentual stereotyping' done by Lucas in NSW (pronounced 'ensue', if you will): The Gungans speak a form of pidgin that stereotypes them as indigenous, ignorant, tribal people; the evil Galactic Trade Federation speaks with a heavy 'Asian' accent; the unshaven, brutal, slave-owning Watto speaks with a Middle-Eastern accent. I could hear the stereotyping, but it never bothered me because, while I don't believe in all of Lucas' visions, I don't think he did it to be malicious, but rather that he did it because that's the stereotype that lives in his mind, and as such it's how his vision played out.

But I noticed in OSW (pronounce 'ohsue') that Lucas almost completely avoids accents. Yes, there are a few notable exceptions: The Imperial Moffs and officers speak with a British accent; the Rebels speak with a flat, American accent (which goes unnoticed by us Americans, but I'm sure the Brits pick up on it). Rather, in OSW Lucas leans more on language to get across the differences in race. In the cantina in the semi-beginning of Ep IV, Greedo and Han carry out a bilingual dialogue; Jabba the Hutt speaks Huttese; Chewie...doesn't really 'speak' so much as rumble; even R2 has his own 'language' that requires C-3PO's translations most of the time.

This leads me to two conclusions:
1) OSW was written toward a more adult audience, who were expected to be able to read the subtitles. This idea is also reflected in the slightly darker look of the movies (contrast any scene in OSW with any scene from Naboo in Ep I), the more mature/developed characters (contrast the old, serious, but peaceful Obi-wan with the young, grumpy, almost comical Obi-wan), and the somewhat sex-charged dialogue between Han and Leia (contrast with just about any conversation anywhere between Anakin and Padmedala).
2) By virtue of actually having a role to fill, C-3PO avoids falling into the same category as Jar Jar Binks : that of the annoying side-kick with no real purpose but comedy. Instead, C-3PO is a vital part of the group's communications with several important characters: Jabba, the Ewoks, R2, etc. If Jar Jar had had a redeeming role to fill, perhaps he would have fallen more into the droid's 'annoying but loveable' category, rather than becoming the bane of the first movie.
3) Lucas, if you're going to make movies aimed at a younger audience, you should really leave out the dismemberment followed by burning. Wife and I were both rather dismayed to see kids in the audience at the end of Ep III.

Pontification the Second

Han and Leia are the best part of the movies.

I know, everone who wishes he were a Jedi will disagree with me. But watching the trilogy for the first time as adults, wife and I were both struck by how funny the banter between the two is as Han tries to convince Leia that she's in love with him, and Leia tries to convince Han that she's not.

Three videos of questionable sanity

2008-11-26T17:25:00.001-08:00

1) For all you slackers out there, a sport called Slacklining

2) For those of you who were fans of the the Fifth Gear's review of the Carver, I give you the T-Rex

3) And finally, for anyone who has ever done skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, or any similar sport, a not so new toy that looks like fun even to me: The 'motorcycle for your feet'. You can really get the idea from the first few seconds of the vid and don't need to watch the whole five and a half minutes, although you should at least skip ahead to the part where they're not just riding on the beach (around 2:10 and 2:55). Also note the gratuitous bikini at about 2:30. I say gratuitous because the camera stops focusing on the machine being demoed.

We have liftoff!

2008-11-25T11:10:00.001-08:00

I am babysitting the older kids today while Wife takes the younger two to an eye appointment.
After they started to get a little wiggly, I was tempted to put them down for quite time, but then figured it would probably be wiser to unwiggle them a bit first, so I took them, two balls, and my unicycle over to 'the quadrangle', a spot in the complex where there is a four-sided walk with grass in the middle. They threw their balls around while I worked on my unicycling skillz.

Anyway, the point of the post is that I was finally able to get fairly consistent at free-mounting! Not every time, and not half of the time, but probably a third of the time I was able to get up and keep going! L00t*!

Of course, I'm sure it will be trickier once I'm wearing my 20 lb backpack, but nonetheless, it is progress!

The tip, for those of you who are working on learning the same thing, is to put your momentum forward, and not try to 'finesse' your way onto the unicycle, so much as to get yourself in motion and then let the unicycle catch up.

In other news, I am considering getting some shin- and wrist-guards so that I can start practicing my bunny hopping. Otherwise, how am I ever going to learn to go up curbs (kerbs?) and such?

* yelling (or even muttering) "w00t" is too internet geeky for me. I figure if you put an L on the front, it becomes a nice combination of internet geek and pirate. R!

Another Composer, a change that never should have happened, and some MetaCetera

2008-11-24T08:55:00.001-08:00

Why John Williams really is the man

After watching the above YouTube video incessantly for the last week, Wife and I decided we just had to see Star Wars again, so we picked it up from the ILs and watched the first one (Episode iv, of course) last night. You have to admit: Star Wars wouldn't be what it is today with out the musical genius of John Williams. Imagine watching Luke be the mopey, angsty farmboy that he is, without the swelling strings of John Williams. Imaging those big, yellow words scrolling across the screen without the brass. Even Harrison Ford would have a hard time saving that movie.
- John Williams: 3 sneezes

Han shot first - Or "Why George Lucas isn't quite the man"

That's all. I mean, really, Lucas? Greedo pulls a blaster out, and totally misses Han from 3 feet away? REALLY?!?
- The 'new' version of the original Star Wars movies: 3 cheezes

It was on purpose. Sort of.

After deciding on the term 'Cetera' for these little updates, I decided unanimously to refer to an individual point of cetera as a ceterum. I wasn't sure if indeed the Latin word 'cetera' was plural, and if so whether it was male or female, but a brief stop by the vault of all knowledge on the InterWeb, I was confirmed in my belief and affirmed in my brilliance.

Why Dennis McCarthy deserves to go down in history (and two more)

2008-11-21T14:58:00.000-08:00

Dennis McCarthy

I know that James T. Kirk is engrained in many memories for the whole "Space...the...finalfrontier.these...arethevoyages..." etc. And I know that Jean Luc Piard one-upped him with the 'remix' version that came out on The Next Generation. But Star Trek didn't quite make it musically until the orchestral stylings of Mr. McCarthy and his Main Theme hit the screen on Star Trek: Deep Space 9.
-- Star Trek: Deep Space 9 - "Main Theme": 3 Sneezes

Tea and Sugar

I am rediscovering that yes, really, I do like tea with sugar in it. This is not to say that I am coming to realize that I still don't like tea without sugar, because I still do enjoy a nice cup of rooibos or lemon ginger Au Naturale (as it were). But lately I have been drinking a lot of Chai (today it was Twinings' Indian Spiced Chai Tea) with milk/cream/half-n-half and sugar, and I just finished a cup of some-brand-or-other Cardamon Cinnamon with a spoonful of sugar, and I have to say: "Yum!"
-- Cardamon Cinnamon with sugar: 2 Sneezes

We have a name!

I have decided that my 'official' name for the triple shot is going to be 'Cetera'. You can tell it's official because I have tagged this post under the 'Cetera' category. Go ahead and look. Down below. Lower. Lower. A little higher. Right there. See?

WinMorph, Haiku, and a couple of Palindromes

2008-11-20T11:53:00.000-08:00

1) WinMorph:

I was recently introduced by Timothy to a program called WinMorph. You know how you see those videos people have done where you take two pictures and you morph from one picture into the other? Yeah, it does that. So far I've done two of the chids morphing in us, the parents. 3 Sneezes

2) Haiku:

I'm still working on winning the ThinkGeek Monthly Haiku Contest. I have a plan, but I don't want to reveal it too soon, otherwise someone smarter than me might work it out first.

3) Palindromes:

While waiting for some progress bars during the past few days, I came up with a couple more that I'm proud enough of to publish:
- Ned I am, anon a maiden.
- 'Tis but an Irish sir in a tub. Sit.
- 'Nam-era webcam in an iMac. Beware, man!

Triplets

2008-11-20T11:50:00.001-08:00

Inspired by something I saw recently, I've come up with another hare-brained (hair-brained? hair-braned?) idea to help me post semi-regularly. I'm calling it: Triplets (at least until I come up with a cooler name).

Here's the idea: Three times a week (without warning) I post three things that will hopefully be of interest to my reader(s). That gives you, said reader, a whole whopping 9 new insights into the world.

We'll see how it goes.

Conversations I wish I could have with people

2008-11-12T16:39:00.000-08:00

Me: I was attacked by a posse of roving wombats on the way in this morning.

Friend: What?

Me: Normally they would have been no match for my honor guard, but since I was riding alone and had left my sword-stick at home, one of them was able to get past my mind barrier and scratched me with his foreclaws. I had to use a healing meditation technique to remove the poison from my body.

Friend: Uh huh.

Unfortunately, I'm to reserved to prevaricate so extravagently on a day-to-day basis.

UniTrek: The Next Cycle

2008-09-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

Captain's log, Unidate 12 point something or other:
It has been one week since being transferred to the new vessel, and I have yet to christen her yet, although I am leaning toward something like "The Crimson Circle", or "Ring of Fire" (although that one conjures up bad associations with bean burritos with too much hot sauce). I am finding that progress is slow, but measurable aboard the new ship, and disasters so far have been minimal.

On day four we had our first real voyage - not just piloting around the port, but actually venturing out into open space. The trip was a little unstable, due in part to unfamiliarity with controls, and the fact that we were unevenly loaded with extra cargo for our first duty. This combination resulted in one fairly minor encouter with vertical instability, which resulted in some bruising, but nothing major.

As I progress in my piloting skills, I find that there are still major obstacles to overcome, but some of what at first appeared to be major obstacles are becoming manageable. Today I cleared a 1-2 inch bump without spilling (both directions), and was finally able to make an assisted launch from position at the bottom of an immediate rise.

I am still working toward unassisted launches, but have not had much luck with them thus far. I will probably tackle that goal in full once I am more comfortable with getting into the saddle comfortably and quickly.

I am also developing the ability to shift seat position mid-flight, although these adjustments are rarely a full realization of my wish, and it is often more beneficial to pull over and relaunch.

Turning is coming along, and I am actually able to pull off some fairly graceful turns now, rather than relying solely on jerky turns.

Hopefully, improvements will continue to acrue and soon I will be flying high and free and making good time.

not two tired anymore

2008-09-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

I've done it. Today I put in an order for a Nimbus 29er, with an Isis hub, a 300mm seat post, 125mm cranks, and red highlights.

What does all that mean? It means I've gotten far enough in my efforts to learn to unicycle that I'm buying my own! (You can have yours back in a week, Daniel). I am confident enough in my abilities (or at least the potential of my abilities) that I'm sinking over 300 bucks into the coolest, manliest form of transportation I have ever tried. Soon you should see me zipping around town in what amounts to a perpetual wheelie. Now I just need to find someone I can con into learning to unicycle so we can go riding together. Who knows, maybe some day I'll even try muni!

Okay, why?

2008-07-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

A common conversation between me and Eldest these days goes like this:

Me: "Would please [do X]?"
Eldest: "Why?"
M: "No, you need to say okay."
E: "Okay, why?"
M: "No, just 'Okay'."
E: [whimpering] "Okay. Why?"

It has brought me to realize how easy it is to assume that understanding is as important as obeying. But it's not, and when God tells us to do something, we really need to just reply with, "Okay," no matter what the circumstances are. And then of course we need to obey. Maybe when we say okay and obey He'll tell us why. Maybe after a little time has passed there will be a good time to ask why, but if we really need to know why He'll tell us, and right now we're too small and upset to listen to and understand the why, so we just need to trust and obey.

Unicyclical Pensations

2008-07-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

Since we moved (you know, the reason I haven't been blogging a whole lot?) I now have a half hour walk-commute to work each way, instead of a 15-20 minute walk-commute to work each day. In an attempt to cut that time down, I have decided to take up cycling as my preferred means of (short range) transportation: Unicycling. So I borrowed a unicycle (or 'unik' as I shall henceforth be calling it) from a friend (thanks Dan!) to learn on and see if it is indeed a feasible plan. I have come to the conclusion that it is indeed feasible, but I have also come to some undeniable conclusions:

1) Uniking may not be harder than it looks, but it is indeed every bit as hard as it looks.
2) Unikers have not only a very well developed sense of balance, but also very well developed leg muscles. Just try uniking over 100 feet in a controlled manner, and see if you feel like going any further after you get off.
3) Balance is very important in learning to unicycle. However, learning to keep your balance is only secondary to learning to sense your balance. Once you can sense you balance pretty well, the unicycle almost balances itself. (okay, not really, but still...)
4) Bikers are sissies. (Sorry Dad B.)
5) I tried my first ride home from work Friday. It only took me about 45 minutes to unik what I usually take half an hour to walk. While there is definitely a mechanical advantage over walking, the time gained uniking is rather made up for by the time spent climbing back on the unik after jumping/falling/sliding/what-have-you-ing off.
6) I definitely want a unik with at least a 26" wheel. Nothing as exorbitant as this, but the larger the better.

So all that said, I am definitely making progress, but I still have a way to go. Soon, hopefully, I'll be zipping around town on my unicycle.

Abused Nursery Rhymes

2008-07-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

Well, we are moved, so I've decided it must be time to get back to blogging. To celebrate the occasion, I'm heralding my own return with some slaughtered nursery rhymes I wrote in a fit of poetic angst (or something).

To the measure of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star":

Wobble, wobble, little top;
You'll fall over if you stop.
Then I'll pick you up again,
And give you another spin.

--

Scurry, scurry, little mouse,
Running all around the house,
Nibbling all my favorite food.
If I catch you, you'll be screwed.

--

Wander, wander, vagabond,
Here today, tomorrow gone,
Never staying in one place,
Always searching for your space.

To the measure of "Mary Had a Little Lamb":

Adam had a beer bottle
Which once was full of beer,
But then he shared it with his wife,
And now it's gone. Oh dear!

--

Jimmy had a pogo stick.
He rode it round and round.
Well, actually, that's not quite true:
He rode it up and down.

Feeling Cross

2008-06-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

I decided I wanted to design a Celtish (i.e. not quite Celtic, but similar look and feel) Cross. What I ended up with isn't exactly what I was shooting for, but I rather like it. The only problem is, I have to decide which form I like best, so I thought I'd let you, my three reader, help me decide. Here are the three versions I have elected (dictatored?) to post:

Version 1:

This version is just the base shape, the outline of the cross - if you will - overlayed with the original line design for highlight.

Version 2:

This version is just the 'holes', or the gaps between the original line design, without the base outline, and with the line overlayed for highlight.

Version 3:

This is a combination of the two above, with the base outline, the internal gaps, and then the line overlayed.

So what do you think? I'm toying with the idea of printing this out big enough to make a smallish poster.

PS Oh yeah, and in case you couldn't guess, this was made in Inkscape, whose praise I have sung before.

PPS Now that I'm looking at these in a smaller size, the combination looks a little better to me. I was looking at it in full-screen size, and it was a little overwhelming, but I still like it.

How Not to Blog, part 1

2008-06-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

As part of my lifetime effort to improve the state of the world, I have decided to publish some tips for prospective or current bloggers on how not to blog. Now, admittedly, some of those out there in the Blogosphere do not write their blogs with the intent that it be read by the wider public, but assuming you are not an angsty 15-year-old, I think you can learn from these. These tips will also be helpful to anyone who has ever posted anything in an online forum.

Tip 1: You are not Captain Jean Luc Picard, of the USS Enterprise

In other words, most people aren't going to care if you include every minute detail about your day. People pay attention to Picard's logs because they involve explosions, cutting edge technology like Bioflangic Protomat Respactors, never-before-seen alien diseases that make people do crazy stuff, and Klingons yelling guttural words. If your blog doesn't include this kind of stuff, then just give me the gist, or I'll start deleting your posts before I read them, and eventually I'll delete your blog from my list entirely.

Tip 2: Do NOT skip, fail, or get a D in 7th Grade English

If you want to be taken seriously, brush up on a few of the following:
1) Your vs. You're
2) To vs. Two vs. too
3) Its vs. It's
4) Then vs. Than
Also, get familiar with all of the following:
. , ; ? ! ' " - and ~
Okay, so I mostly threw those last two in just for fun.

Tip 3: Read your own writing

After you read, and before you post, read your post over again. If you catch anything that needs changing, change it, and then Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Someone wise once said, "Anything worth writing is worth rewriting." In the case of blogging, replace the word writing with the word posting.

I think that if we can all learn from some of these tips, the world will be a better place.

Episode 3: A New Contrivance

2008-05-28T17:07:00.000-07:00

Rolling out the first episode of my latest unspiration: the Palindromic Comic!

And now for something completely different...

2008-05-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

a few palindromes:

1. Beware: VOMIT. I'm over a web.
2. Wet raft fart. Ew!
3. Di bares a cheek in nike, eh? Case: rabid.
4. No snot on son!
5. No swaddle held Dawson.
6. "Revolt!" "Never!" "Event lover!"
7. Sage vote decide it's a win. I was tied. I cede to Vegas.
8. Stab! Mow! Repel leper wombats!
9. Stable beryl; guide jedi; ugly rebel bats.
10. You, me 'n' an emu. Oy!

Spiritual Fruit - Introduction

2008-05-02T01:39:00.000-07:00

I first really became aware of the fuits of the spirit verse (Galatians 5:somethingorother) when I started doing karate. It was always one of those verses that you felt ashamed not to be able to chime in with whenever someone would start it, but it was a surprise when I started karate and it was our class motto, recited every class. It only took a couple of recitations to get it memorized, and it took not that long to realize why it is an appropriate mantra for a Christian martial arts program, but it has taken many years to slowly come to grips with the implications of the verse. So here are some introductory thoughts regarding the fruits of the Spirit, and I will be following up shortly with focused percolations* on the individual 'fruits'.

The active fruits

The first thing that occured to me eventually is the fact that all of these fruits appear on the surface to be emotions, or passions. It sounds like Paul is saying that the eventual outpouring of God after enough spiritual formation will be that you will feel the following way: loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self controlled. While this may be true too - see C.S. Lewis on the effects of action of emotion - I do not believe it is actually what is being said.

If you look a little closer, you eventually see that these fruits are actually virtues, or 'lifestyles' to choose a psychobabylic term. They are actions, rather than passions**. That is, they are things in which you are the actor, and not the passive receiver. They are muscles that you must exercise in order to use them when you need them.

All things in moderation

Secondly, I am coming to realize that, as with all things in the Christian life, each of these fruits involves a balancing act. All of them have various facets, which, when put together, make up a virtue. But if you focus too much on on facet over the others, you begin to lose the virtuousness of the fruit. Just like with real fruit, you can over water or under water, over prune or under prune, etc. Most of the time, it is not obvious at first what these balancing acts involve. This is one of the areas I am hoping to explore a little more deeply with this series.

The martial connection

Because I am interested in the martial arts and how other things relate to them and vice versa, I will probably spend at least a few bytes on the connection between the Fruits of the Spirit and karate. These connections will - of course - be at least partially limited to my encounters with the martial arts, but most of the points should be fairly wide spread.

So stay tuned, because I'll be kicking it all off with a doozy:

Love

*I use the words 'percolations' rather than 'meditations' to reflect the method by which I usually achieve such insights (if I may call them such); that being that I do not actively reflect on them for long periods of time, but rather they will sit in my back brain where some magical part of my mind will process them over a long period of time, eventually producing (in some cases) enough coherent thoughts to put together some sort of statement. Thus, I find it to be more similar to the slow and steady process of a coffee drip resulting in the cafeinated beverage my wife enjoys so much - or perhaps the slow and amorphous steeping process of tea, a beverage which I myself actually enjoy - rather than to some sort of mental or spiritual scrutiny.

**I would not have truly understood what this meant if it were not for Dr. Dave H. and his discussion on what exactly we refer to when we talk about the Passion of Christ, so props to Dr. H.

A brief Wizard Wednesday, and a preview

2008-04-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of years, I have been on a constant search for a music player. In my experience of music players since 1998, I have sampled the gamut, everything from the Linux-only Amarok, past Apple's inescaple iTunes, and into the obscure open source programs such as MusikCube.

Without a doubt, my favorite music player has been the previously mentioned Amarok, but the Linux-onliness of it interferes with the fact that I am thus far required to run Windows on my work PC.

iTunes has its upsides, but there are just a few too many maladjusted features which stem from the fact that it is the proprietary spawn of sata- err... where was I? Oh, right. Here are the criteria I have come up with for a media player to suit my needs:

- Must support the full gamut of audio codecs: Mp3 (duh), Ogg Vorbis, FLAC (I haven't used it yet, but I may want to some day) &c.
- Must allow for the maintenance and convenience of a media library. I remember the day when the standard mp3 collection was small enough that you just had a music folder you dumped everything in to, and when you wanted to listen to something you would drag and drop from Explorer into the playlist window. No more!
- A slew of features is nice, but more importantly, I want to be able to remove features I don't want to use. In otherwords, it should be basically an mp3 player, with a bunch of plug-in support for everything else.
- Customizable layout - I want to be able to arrange things so that the player window/pane goes here, the playlist pane goes here, the equlizer sits here, the media library is there, etc.
- It must be free. Now, there is free as in beer, and there is free as in Braveheart. In this case, I care more about the beerish 'freeness' than about Braveheartian 'freedom'. In other words, it needs to not cost anything to me, and that's more important than it being open source.
- It needs to run on Windows. If I had the liberty to run Linux, no doubt I would be running Amarok, since it truly is the best media player I have sampled.

After having sampled - as I said - a whole slew of players, I have settled once again on Winamp. Ah, Winamp! You won my love back in the 90s, lost it toward the early 'aughts', and I have once again returned to you!

Winamp combines the best of all of the above. It comes with more features than you can (or would want to) shake a stick at, but it also comes with the ability to uninstall pretty much everything that is attached to it. I recently downloaded and installed the latest version (5.something.something) and was dismayed with all the clutter in the media library. But I opened the preferences, and went to the plugins section, and low and behold, there they all were, and within 5 minutes I had it stripped back down to a nice, tight, slim little player.

The layout customization of Winamp is wonderful. Every section has its own window, which can be completely and independently moved around. If you want to, you can lock the windows together to create one big glom of media stuff, or you can detach them and organize them all seperately.

The default set of plugins supports all the codecs I care about (primarily mp3 and ogg) with additional plugins available for anything you might be missing.

And, Winamp basic (which is anything BUT) is free as in Beer! Yes, if you really want to, you can upgrade to Winamp Pro, but I'm at a loss for what features it might incorporate that aren't available either by default or as plugins.

It even incorporates global hotkeys, which allow me to start, stop, fast forward, rewind, and do just about anything else I want to from any application or window in Windows.

So congratulations, Winamp. I hereby award you a 3 Sneeze rating in the category of media players! You can pickup your plaque at the back of the auditorium.

COMING SOON:
I've been having ideas for a series of posts about the Fruits of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22) rattling around in my head for the past week or so. Hopefully, if I put something here about how I'm going to post them, it'll actually get done ("He intoned the magic words 'Ala Kazaam!' and waved his arms in a big circle, and the spell was complete").

More more more!

2008-04-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

Two more avatars:
Josh B.

and Samwise

It's done!

2008-04-09T11:28:00.000-07:00

About a year and a half ago, I embarked on a project, a journey, if you will, into...somethinghood. Namely, I began building a bunkbed for the two oldest kids, with the assumption that some day we would have more kids and want a place to put them.

This last weekend - much past due and somewhat over budget - I completed the last (for now) step on said bunkbeds and installed them in the kids' room:

When I say 'done' and 'complete', I use the term sort of as George Lucas uses it: I reserve the right to change things later, and there is probably stuff that will need to be added/changed later. But for now, we have bunkbeds, and b. is very excited. s. would be sleeping on the bottom bunk, except that he is too young to be relied apon to stay put without walls to keep him in. Maybe when he's 3?

I'm also proud to point out that they don't wobble, although whether this is due to my excellent craftmanship, or due to the fact that the floor undulates at a similar frequency to the legs is untested at this point, and will remain so for the sake of my ego.

More Avatars

2008-04-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well, the orders keep rolling in, which means I should be charging for these. Too bad I'm such a nice guy.

First, allow me to introduce my sexy wife:

Second, another (ex)co-worker:

And finally, a co-worker's wife:

I've learned a couple of important things for making an avatar look like the person in question:
1) if it's a guy, facial hair is a duh, but if facial hair is sparse or completely lacking, tracing the bottom line of the lips helps.
2) if it's a girl (assuming facial hair is lacking) doing the lines around the eyes draws out the shape a little more.

Another one

2008-04-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

Another avatar of a co-worker:

Vector Avatars

2008-04-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

During some rare downtime this weekend, I made myself into a cartoon:

A co-worker liked it so much, I made one for him too:

Solomon missed one

2008-04-03T11:38:00.000-07:00

My proverb of the day:

It is not good for a man to work at a desk, lest he miss the beauty of the clouds and sun and wind, which the Lord has given him to lift his heart.

Gimme, gimme, gimme, I need, I need, I need!

2008-04-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from a brief conversation with b. during her quiet time:
"What's wrong?"
"I can't....do lots of things."
"No you can't, but right now it's quiet time, so enjoy your quiet time and when you're done, you can move on to doing something else."

It's a good reminder that I can almost never do everything I want to do. Sometimes it's a priority issue: there's something I must do instead. Other times, it's a proscription issue: what I want to do, I mustn't do. Others still, it's a realistic thing: I just can't fly. And others (and most often), it's simply an economic issue: I can either do A, or B, or C, but I don't have time or hands to do all three. It is incredibly frustrating sometimes to be a finite individual.

No wonder the pure in heart will see God.

Bringing god to the masses

2008-03-27T09:21:00.001-07:00

What do you think: biting social commentary, or a joke taken too far?

Babies R Wee

2008-03-17T11:39:00.001-07:00

First off, a momentary diversion:

Secondly, if anyone knows of a way to make money off of dirty diapers, clue me in. If last night's trash run is any indicator, we should be able to pay cash for a house and put the kids through college on any money we could harvest from dirty diapers.

t00t!

2008-03-06T07:47:00.000-08:00

I just bought a harmonica. Jessica and I were sitting around this evening, waiting for the 9:30 feed and I pulled out a little blues harmonica the we have and started playing with it. It reminded me of a great harmonica that I had way back when that my aunt and uncle got me - I think as a birthday present - that got lost somewhere back in Tay-hass. I've missed it ever since - at least when ever I think about it. So after some research found the kind that I wanted, and when I search Amazon for Hohner tremolo harmonica, there she was, the Hohner Echo. I even recognize the stamped pattern on the body of the harmonica.

So I should soon have in my hot little hands one of the first instruments I learned to play (sort of). Yay!

What's Your Vector, Victor?

2008-02-27T09:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I rediscovered the joy of Vector Graphics. I downloaded and installed Inkscape, which I have played with briefly in the past, but never gotten quite into it. But yesterday I was inspired and had some free time at lunch, and so I drew up a few cartoon characters, just for fun:

The inspiration for them came during our weekly staff meeting yesterday morning. I was doodling, as I usually do, and came up with them. Hopefully I'll add a few more to the entourage, just for fun.

And now, a pun

2008-02-18T13:37:00.000-08:00

It was the fifth day of the second month in Alluria, and by tradition the great and generous Tarm would be visiting each village, bringing gifts of food and clothing. The watchmen were in the towers, waiting to give the signals to open the gates, and the peasants were waiting with bated breath. The atmosphere was one of excitement and gaity.

Suddenly, the watch bell chimed, a resounding GLAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNGGGGG, and the crowds excitedly thronged the main street, eager to catch a glimpse of the great and generous Tarm. Breaths were held, and voices hushed in anticipation, all except one, that of an old man from somewhere in the back of the crowd, obstinately saying, "It ain't him yet!" The old man was shushed, and the crowd waited, until the gates opened to reveal...a merchant and his entourage, coming to trade his wares at the next market day.

The crowd dispersed quietly, and the old man sat in his chair, rocking and muttering quietly to himself.

Moments later, the watch bell chimed out again, GLAAAAAAANNNNNNGGGGG and the peasants again flocked to the main street, expectantly waiting. Again the old man's voice piped up from the back of the crowd: "It ain't him! It ain't him, it ain't him!" Again he was shushed, and the crowd waited, as the gates were opened to reveal...a messenger from a neighboring village asking if the Tarm had yet passed this way. He was sent on his way with a negative response, and the crowds began to disperse.

As the people wandered away, they heard the old man saying, "Don't wander too far now, he'll be here in a few minutes." Some gave him no heed, and others swore at him under their breath, but a few hung around to see if he was right.

Almost an hour passed before the bell chimed out again, GLAAAAAAAAANNNNNNGGGGG! Once more the crowds gathered, with a slightly subdued air, and this time, from the back of the crowd the old man was heard cackling, "He's here! He's here!" He was once more shushed, and the crowd stood waiting while the gates were dragged open for the third time, to reveal...the great and generous Tarm!

The crowds cheered, hats were thrown, money was tossed to the waiting crowds, and the air of revelry increased threefold.

As impromptu parade wound its was to the heart of town, the old man sat on his chair and chuckled to himself. One onlooker paused briefly and asked, "How did you know it was him?"

"I tell people every year! When it comes to gettin' a parade together, the third chime's a Tarm!"

When is an MP3 not an mp3?

2008-02-16T10:16:00.001-08:00

Okay, I haven't been blogging much lately, and I don't usually blog on the weekends, but I saw something earlier this week, and research dictates that it is deserving of a post-haste.

On the way home from...something - don't remember what - I saw someone riding what looked like a standard street bike, except it had three wheels in the front. I have been wondering for a while why no one has bothered making three-wheelers with the two wheels on front, so this caught my attention and curiosity. With a little bit of Googling, I found the following:

Piaggio 3 Wheel MP3 Scooter

Piaggio launched the first Vespa model — and with it the scooter phenomenon — in the spring of 1946. The scooter revolutionised personal transport, giving Europeans a sense of utter freedom. Sixty years on, Piaggio has come up with another revolutionary product: the PIAGGIO MP3, a totally innovative three-wheeler with two front wheels. The PIAGGIO MP3 provides safety, road grip and stability levels that no two-wheeler can match. Power, performance and ease of use make for a very entertaining ride.

...

The front assembly, with two independent tilting wheels, is far more stable than any scooter. The PIAGGIO MP3 grips the road even when tailing other vehicles, providing top performance in total safety.The full extent of this three-wheeler’s stability can be tested on wet asphalt or tough riding conditions that would sorely challenge a traditional two-wheeler.

In town and city traffic the PIAGGIO MP3 has no equal in terms of safety. It takes on cobblestone streets, patchy asphalt and tram tracks with the greatest of ease, remaining safe and stable all the while. With its compact super-scooter size and exceptional manoeuvrability, the PIAGGIO MP3 is at home in town traffic. It’s a cinch to park: an electro-hydraulic suspension locking system means there is no need to put the vehicle on its stand.

...The Piaggio MP3 is type-approved as a standard two wheeled motorcycle.

...The three-disk braking system and exceptional front-end road-holding reduce braking space by 20 per cent compared to the best scooters.

...

The PIAGGIO MP3 is available in two engine displacements, 125 and 250 cc, both up-to-date 4-stroke, 4-valve, liquid-cooled units in line with Euro3 emissions standards.

The 125cc engine offers an excellent power output of 15 bhp/11kW, the legal limit when riding with a car licence. The 250cc, equipped with electronic injection, delivers a 22.5 bhp/16.9 kW power output, making the PIAGGIO MP3 capable of comfortably taking on long-distance rides.

So, for those of you with plenty of money who are wondering what to get me for Birthday or Christmas, you can add this to the list. It's probably not as much fun to drive as the Carver, but it's certainly not as expensive either.

Going My Way?

2007-12-13T15:38:00.000-08:00

Working on a university campus, it is not rare to randomly run into someone you know at an intersection between two major walkways, and to pause to chat about this or that (I am a poet).

Today I discovered what I will henceforth refer to as The Awkwardly Prolonged Interaction. It occurs as follows:
1) You encouter an acquaintance at an intersection, and decide to renew social bonds with said person by engaging in a brief, polite conversation.
2) The conversation ends, usually on a pleasant note.
3) You each move to go your seperate ways, only to discover that you are both going the same direction.

You now have a choice. Do you:
A) attempt to resume the previous conversation by adding unnecesary and (usually) boring details?
B) attempt to continue on in a companionable silence, which usually just feels awkward?
C) attempt to begin a new conversation, with the knowledge that at any moment you may part paths, and have to either truncate said conversation or else take another pause to finish it?
Or
D) pretend that you are going different directions anyway, and ignore the other person?

Maybe I'll have to start a poll of the week.

Poke it again, just to make sure

2007-12-07T13:56:00.001-08:00

Apparently, The Lemming is not dead.

Movie Review: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

2007-12-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

Last night we watched the first Tomb Raider movie (yes, they apparently made a sequel), and I have to say that it is almost everything I expected. The almost lies in the fact that they didn't pay nearly as much attention to Angelina Jolie's breasts as one might have expected them to. But I get ahead of myself.

Some time in the mid 90's, Core Design created a brilliant game starring Lara Croft, the female version of Indiana Jones, sans whip, and plus guns. As I noted, the first game was brilliant (at least what I played of it) with great (for the time) visuals, fun game play, clever puzzles, and the occasional pistol-whipping of random animals like killer bears and wolves and stuff.

The following games - as my impression lies - became less and less about puzzles and more and more about shooting things and, yes, Lara's breasts. Hence the eventual nickname adopted for the series: Boob Raider.

Apon hearing about the original Tomb Raider movie several years ago, my friends and I never questioned that there would be two stars: Angelina's right and left breasts. And as such, attempting to at least give the impression of not being wholly driven by sexual urges, we never went to see it.

So when my wife checked it out of the library last night, I figured it might actually be fun to watch. I mean, Angelina Jolie isn't actually a bad actress, for all that she tends to get cast for her looks.

I have to say that the movie has everything that such a movie should have: reasonably bad acting, cheesy dialog, obviously fake stunts, excessive special effects, crazy gadgets, magical talismans (talismen?), a sappy attempt to make the main character 'deep', and lots of stuff getting destroyed. In fact, I would say that rather than the stars being various anatomical tidbits, the real star of the show was Angelina Jolie's ability to keep a straight face. You could probably make a drinking game out of it: Any time Lara smirks when someone destroys something, take a drink; no, that would be excessive...

This movie has nothing to recommend it unless you are looking for a good kampy romp co-starring Daniel Craig (the most recent James Bond) with a really bad American accent. Also, bear in mind that it may promote destructive tendencies, since Lara apparently has a hard time not destroying anything she touches.

I give this movie 3 Cheeses, since it really can't qualify for a Sneeze rating, either positive or negative.

Oh, and in case you're wondering: Yes, the shorts + holsters do look as dorky in real life as they did in the game.

The Liturgical Tradition - Pt 2: Why I stayed

2007-12-03T15:56:00.000-08:00

My decision to start attending a liturgical church was not by any means the end of my journey toward accepting the liturgical format as the best way to worship. That journey is still going on. But there was one thing that I and my friends - who were new to this whole thing - could agree on: it has something that our previous worship experiences had been lacking.

The easiest way to describe this would be to say that liturgy provides a skeleton for the flesh of the worship. If worship were dance, liturgy would be the music to which you dance.

Before, my experience with church - not to mention my 'personal worship', for lack of a better term - had always felt fairly amoebic. The church service may have had a program and order to it, but that order was inconsistent, intangible and (as far as I could tell) purposeless. The prayers, while not heretical or even banal, had a very 'inspirational' feeling to them, like you could almost hear the person offering the prayer searching for inspiration.

Maybe that's what it was: it felt like the whole point of the service was to inspire me. Many of the songs were of either the happy 'Jesus is my friend' variety, or of the 'I'm happy to be Christian' variety, and while both of those are true (more at some times than others) they are not always what should be said. They either assume I am in a mood in which I might not be, or they seem to attempt to get me into a certain mood. They came across as being patho-centric.

What I found with liturgy was a service that took nothing for granted about the state of the person entering into it. Instead, it invites you in and engages your mind, rather than your emotions. And the eventual result is that your emotions begin to follow. Lewis must have been Anglican.

Now, instead of a nebulous experience awaiting me, I have a structure waiting for me that invites me into the worship, and helps me to quiet my mind and calm my heart. Instead of a bright, 'friendly' auditorium, I enter a quiet (if I get there on time), holy place, where I am obviously not the most important person there and neither is the person at the front of the stage.

Now, instead of being invited to 'take a moment for silent reflection and repentance', I join those around me in asking God for His forgiveness, and as I repeat the words I am forced to remind myself that I am an evil person who needs repentance and forgiveness. It is a good message to hear in this age of affirmation.

Instead of sitting quietly and awarkwardly waiting for communion to start, half of the service is dedicated to reminding us what exactly communion is all about, and preparing for communion.

And when, at the end of mass, the celebrant exhorts us to "Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord," I can enthusiastically exclaim, "Thanks be to God!", knowing that my mind, heart and spirit have been nourished and refreshed, rather than feeling as though I have been watching a show for the past couple hours.

Random Acts of Friday: Soup

2007-11-30T16:19:00.000-08:00

I have a friend from the north-west of Spain. He is a Basque.

He said that in his home town, they grow the most delicious pears known simply as the Basque bosc.

Some of the old women in his home town like to puree the pears and boil them down into a Basque bosc bisque, but others say that you'll get a better taste if you add some nice veal to it: a Basque bosc brisket bisque. And, obviously, the best way to stir your Basque bosc brisket bisque is with a Basque bosc brisket bisque whisk.

The soup is so popular that some of the younger women even use it as a facial cleanser and make themselves Basque bosc brisket bisque masks.

Now, naturally, when you are eating your Basque bosc brisket bisque, you tend to want something bready to go with it, so they make special Basque bosc brisket bisque biscuits which do a very good job of absorbing the soup.

Even thought the Moors were kicked out of Spain, they left behind a very little bit of influence behind. For example, they used to cook a special 'halal' - or 'clean' - type of the Basque bosc brisket bisque biscuit, which was supposed to be eaten after their worship services. It was known as the Basque bosc brisket bisque mosque biscuit, and of course you carried it to the mosque in your basque bosc brisket bisque mosque biscuit basket.

So next time your traveling from France to Spain, take the opportunity to have a picnic, pack some Basque bosc brisket bisque and some Basque bosc brisket bisque biscuits into your Basque bosc brisket bisque biscuit basket. Is there a risk?? Don't even ask.

Movie Recommendation: Enchanted - 3 sneezes

2007-11-26T10:26:00.000-08:00

Well, we had a rare opportunity to go to a real movie at a real theatre this weekend, and at Jess' recommendation we went to see the new release Enchanted, and at this point I think I can wholeheartedly recommend the movie.

Story: 2 Sneezes - a little predictable, but not to bad regardless
Technical Details: 2 Sneezes - good music, good visual effects
Acting: 3 Sneezes - excellent role-playing by the fairytale characters
Humor: 3 Sneezes - several good laugh out loud moments
Family Friendly: 2 Sneezes - Good morals, good parenting

It begins in a perfect spoof of any Disney fairy tale movie, right down to the 2d, hand-drawn animation, and the princess-to-be in her woodland house with her woodland animal friends singing about love. But 15 minutes into the movie, the princess is thrown down an enchanted well and ends up in live-action New York City. The plot unfolds as the prince attempts to rescue her, and the people she meets in NYC try to help who they think is a very nice nutjob.

High points of the movie include:
- Acting: Amy Adams (Giselle) and James Marsden (Prince Edward, also played Cyclops in X-Men) do an excellent job of wholeheartedly throwing themselves into the roles of a fairlytale princess and prince in real life. And Patrick Dempsey does a good job of playing the skeptical New Yorker who is trying to be nice while still being a good dad.
- Morals: In true classic Disney form, no one sleeps with anyone else in the movie, and it does a decent job in handling divorce and even the idea of "happily ever after". The dad character is actually portrayed as a good father and a worthy hero. SPOILER:Even though the guy from NY is dating someone while he falls in love with the princess, they are not engaged, so there aren't even any vows broken END SPOILER
- The film does a good job of making evil evil and good good.

I'm suppose I should caveat that the ending might be a little scary for little kids, since the evil queen turns into a dragon, but children over the age of five would probably be okay, since there is nothing particularly grotesque about it (she is a very pretty evil magic dragon).

The Sneeze Rating

2007-11-22T11:30:00.000-08:00

Since it is a known fact that every blogger is required to have opinions and rate various things, concepts, and (especially) movies, I have decided to follow in the vein of the Unbridled Warhorse and make up my own rating system.

Thus, I give you the SRS - Sneeze Rating System:

As we all know, sneezing releases endorphins and creates happy, tingly feelings. As such, I have created my rating system based on said endorphins and tingly feelings. Here are the ratings:

3 Sneezes - Heart stoppingly, ecstatically wonderful (like sex!)
2 Sneezes - Pretty darn good; think free (good) beer*, or an afternoon nap
1 Sneeze - Not too shabby; winning a board game, or finding a dollar bill on the ground*
0 Sneezes - Meh; cold frenchfries
-1 Sneeze - Bummer; Having to work the weekend (even if you are getting paid overtime)
-2 Sneezes - Ugh; Staff meetings** and going to the dentist
-3 Sneezes - Boooooooo!; Breaking a bone, or throwing your back out on the day before Thanksgiving

I will also occasionally refer to things as rating a 'Blue Nostrils' or a 'Sneeze Teeze'. These are equivalent to -3 Sneezes, and refer to those times when you almost sneeze, but then don't.

* Yes, I would rate free good beer over finding a dollar bill.
** Unless you have your Nintendo DS and the opportunity to play it. This adds 2 sneezes to any neutral or negative event.

Wizard Wednesday: OSS Pt. 1

2007-11-21T10:08:00.000-08:00

This is the first part of a series of my thoughts about open source software (OSS). The following information is my impressions and understandings of open source software, and is not necessarily reflective of the beliefs and intentions of the open source movement and the GPL (although I do my best).

So what is 'open source' anyway?

Design Philosophy

There are two main competing views of software design and distribution today, about what it takes to design, produce and distribute a good piece of software.

The first one has been - and continues to be - the most common. It states that a good piece of software requires a large budget, usually supplied by a large corporation with a good design team, bug testers and support department.

The second one is less well known, and is a direct offshoot of the internet generation, which recognizes the power of the internet in bringing together people who have very little in common geographically, but much in common in their interests. It says that a good piece of software just requires someone to get it started, and then others will pitch in to help make it better. This is the guiding principal behind OSS.

So why is it called 'Open Source'?

Source Code

When a program is written, it is written by a programmer in a programming language. The programming language is basically a set of commands with a set of syntax rules which allow the programmer to tell the computer what to do. When the program is in the process of being written, the files which contain these sets of commands are called the 'source code'.

With your standard payware software, the end user never sees this source code, and has no access to it; all they get is the final product to use. With OSS, this source code is 'open'. When you download or purchase the program, you also have the option of downloading the source code for it. This means that for those who have some programming knowledge, they now have the option of not only using the software, but of modifying it to suit their own needs and preferences.

For example, if you were to download Microsoft Internet Explorer (I know, I know, it comes preinstalled; just bear with me) you can only use it for browsing the internet, and regardless of features you feel it is missing, you just have to deal with it. But if you download an open source internet browser, such as Mozilla Firefox, you now have more options. Want Firefox to play music? Okay, you can download the source code and add code to enable it to be a media player as well.

This is how OSS develops. In most cases, there is a single group of developers who manage a given project, and if you have features you think the program should encompass, you have three options:

1) Submit a feature request to the developers. They will take your suggestions along with other people's input and decide which features to implement in the next revision. This is the same way that almost all closed source software (CSS) works.
2) Write a plug-in. Plug-ins are what makes Mozilla Firefox so popular. A plug-in is a piece of software that plugs in to the original code to add features. Much CSS contains the availability for plug-ins as well.
3) Rewrite the source code, and redistribute it under a different name.

But what about the legal ramifications of this last option? If you somehow managed to procure the source code for Microsoft Office, what would happen if you modified it and started distributing it as Macrosoft Orifice? Probably, you would quickly receive a Cease-and-Desist from Microsoft, followed promptly by a lawsuit.

We'll look at the open source licensing philosophy and the GPL next time.

For more information about the open source movement, you can look it up on Wikipedia or wait until next time.

Martial Tuesday: One board at a time

2007-11-20T21:43:00.000-08:00

Last week I talked about breaking and the commitment that goes into it, and the comparison between that and dealing with sin and temptation, and before I had even published the post I had more thoughts on the issue.

In my karate training it was a fairly short step from breaking a board to breaking a stack of boards, and then to doing several breaks in succession.

Breaking a stack of boards is basically the same thing as breaking a single board, except that it requires greater commitment. Instead of breaking through a barrier that is about an inch thick, you are breaking through a barrier that is 6 inches to a foot thick. Depending on how the stack is arrangedit may be exponentially harder to break or just geometrically harder to break, but the general idea is the same.

But a series of breaks is a different creature. A series of breaks is confusing because the idea is to break the whole series in rapid succession, so you have to plan the whole series out and keep them in mind. But you can't break all of the boards at the same time, and if your mind tries to, you will break none of the boards in rapid succession. You have to break it down and take it one break at a time.

Our sensei puts it like this: "It isn't five breaks. It is one break, five times."

It sounds very Zen, which is sort of on purpose. I mean, if you're going to be a karate instructor, part of the fun is getting to say Zen-ish with a fake Chinese accent. But like so many things, there is truth to it. If you let your mind think about everything you have to do in the next 10 seconds, you will not be able to commit it to the first board you break, and as I noted before that creates a destructive cycle and gives your mind yet another thing to think about while you are not-breaking the second board, and so on.

Instead, it helps to step back for a minute, and consider everything that is supposed to happen. Take in the flow of the break (in this case, 'break' referring to all of the individual breaks as a whole), and the flow of your body as you execute it. And then, let it go. To quote one of our instructors, "Mokuso, let it go." Once you know what needs to be done, forget about everything except what is in front of you now. And then explode through the break.

Once you have destroyed the first board, forget about it. It can't help you now, and you can't help it. Remember the second board and destroy it. Then forget about the second board, and repeat until there is nothing but splinters left.

To bring this post back around to what will eventually become its tired analogy, temptations won't always be weak things. Some great saint said that no one comes to understand the power of temptation who always gives in right away. That person cannot grasp the temptations that will come in time. They have not yet broken their first board, and so they cannot grasp breaking a stack of boards. As time goes by, our Sensei allows us opportunities to grow stronger by giving us bigger breaks.

And sometimes things will start to pile up. We'll find ourselves struggling with 5 different things at once, and it begins to get overwhelming. We need to stop and take a look at what is ahead of us, and then we need to forget about it and focus on one thing at a time. As Jesus said, don't worry about tomorrow. Today has enough things to worry about. He wasn't saying we shouldn't be prepared for the future to the degree that we can. But when trouble seems to be looming, prepare for it and then let it go. Sufficient to each break is the difficulty thereof.

Strike out!

2007-11-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

Anyone who watches tv knows about the big strike going on between the Writers[sic] Guild of America and the big production companies. Most people don't quite understand what the strike is all about, and many of those who do don't seem to care too much. So I'm not going to delve into that today.

My question is: If this goes on long enough, do you think there's any chance that it will revitalize America's capacity for creativity? I mean, if all that's on tv is the same old reruns, how long do you think it will take for people to start getting fed up and, oh, I dunno, read a book? Or do a puzzle? Or even - heavens forfend! - go outside and play ball?

I doubt that this is an impending event, but I can't help being excited about it anyway. Maybe when we go for walks in the evenings, we'll actually start passing some of our neighbors?

Braindead Thursday: The Urinal Chat

2007-11-15T09:57:00.000-08:00

Most guys instinctively know about Urinal Etiquette:

You never talk to another man when he's peeing
If you do, it is limitted to such things as, "Hey," or, "How's it going,"* (Note:NEVER "How's it hanging?") or, "What's up."*
If you for some reason feel the need to carry on something approaching an actual conversation, you do not - under any circumstances - look at the other person while you are both standing there "hangin' out".
These rules apply doubly for anyone who is in a stall. The walls are there for a reason.

Now, sometimes these rules can be broken or bent a little bit if the person standing next to you is a close acquaintance (family member, child's god-parent, next of kin, etc.), or someone with whom you were already carrying on a conversation when you entered the restroom. Say, for example, a co-worker when you are both on the way back from a meeting.

But occasionally, one encouters that strange gentleman (at least we will assume he is usually considered a gentleman, for the sake of charity) who apparently grew up in another country, and will feel the need not only to converse over a nice pee, but will do it with full testic-- er...gesticulation, and while attempting to maintain eye contact.

I ask you, what is a polite fellow to do in a situation like that?

* Note that these are statements, not questions.

Wizard Wednesday: Google Analytics

2007-11-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

In an effort to try and track some traffic (all 4 of you who read my blog) I have set up a Google Analytics account, and I have to say that if Google ever does become the next MicroSuck, it will be with good reason.

Google Analytics is like a hit counter on steroids. It gives you daily breakdowns of how many hits your site got, how many unique visitors you got, where those visitors hit you from (by country, state (if applicable) and city) as well as a bunch of other statistics I don't understand or care about at this point.

I'm playing with getting it to register my RSS hits, since I probably get about 10 times as many of those as I do actual site hits. For now - if you want to help out my ego - click the link at the bottom of this post so I can track you.

To sign up for a Google Analytics account, go to http://www.google.com/analytics and create an account, and it will walk you through how to copy the script code into the page(s) you want to track.

A Toast to Teachers

2007-11-13T21:45:00.000-08:00

Here's one for the teachers, who daily do their best
To answer tricky questions like, "Will this be on the test?"
Who know such things as tangents, and what Maximus confess'd,
and how to use the library to make a book request.
For every single teacher there are 5 who do their best
to mimic the behavior of a common household pest.
So drink one to the teachers; they never get much rest,
and often find themselves the bottom of some cruel jest.

Martial Tuesday: Break through

2007-11-13T08:33:00.000-08:00

Watching a martial artist break a board can range anywhere from the mundane to an expression of existential bliss. It all depends on who the person is, what his experience level is, how difficult the break is, and a number of other factors that will never be exactly the same, even if they appear so.

The experienced martial artist will probably approach the break with a reasonable amount of nonchalance, looking calm and relaxed, but focused at the same time. The fresh white belt will approach the break with some trepidation and distraction, worrying about failing and/or hurting himself.

The one will have technique and experience on his side: he knows how to hit the board, where to hit the board, what to do with each part of his body to make himself into the most efficient toothpick producer possible. The other will have technique and experience working against him: he has a only vague idea of where and how to hit the board, and a very clear idea that boards tend to hit back. The blackbelt will be aware that a board can hit back, but an unbroken board hits back much harder than a broken board.

The blackbelt might take a few seconds, or even up to a few minutes to consider the break, and then will hit it hard, driving his hand, foot, or whatever through the boards or bricks, leaving only a trail of destruction.

The whitebelt will ponder the break for a few seconds, but usually won't know enough to know what to ponder, and so will step up and - after a few practice swings - take a swing at the board. Sometimes it will break. Sometimes it won't. In most cases, the whitebelt who breaks will be more surprised than the whitebelt who doesn't.

I have never had a student who has not been able to break. I have had students who have failed to break a board, but that's not the same thing. Every student I've had has had the physical ability to break through a 10-inch white pine board. But I have seen many students - both mine and others' - who have not been able to let themselves break, and they all have the same problem: Commitment.

Now, I'm not trying to talk psycho-babble-bad-relationship-advice here. I'm not talking about 'fear of commitment' like you hear about in bad chick-flicks. I'm talking about a lack of commitment, the (usually vain) hope that the board will just break itself if you touch it, and you won't have to do any of the work. Very occasionally, it does, and that's when we realize that what we thought was a board was really more like two scraps of wood with a splinter connecting them. In most cases, breaking a board takes a lot more mental power than physical.

I have come to the conclusion that boards are like temptations. As we look at them, we know how much it hurts to hit one running and bounce off, to 'try' to break out of sin, only to get thrown back in. In many cases we don't know quite where to hit it to break through, how to flee temptation, how to break the pattern. We don't realize that if we just hit that brick with a little force and a lot of commitment, the crystaline structure will shatter, and we'll come through with a surprised look on our faces and very few scars to show for it.

And here's another happy thought: Any time you hit that first board, it hurts no matter what. Even if you break it, your hand goes numb for a few seconds, then it tingles, then it feels bruised, and then it goes away. And the next time you hit that board, it breaks more easily, and it doesn't hurt as much. And then, before you know it, you've moved from a 4-inch board to an 8-inch board, to a 12-inch board. Your body hardens itself each time you hit something with it, and your soul is the same way. Each time you break through a moment of weakness, your spiritual bones get stronger, and what used to be a soft, flabby hand becomes a hardened, muscled weapon of mass destruction. It's a redemptive cycle.

But there's a downside to it too: Every time you hit a board that doesn't break, it makes it harder to break the next one. Your hand doesn't get any weaker, and your bones don't become brittle, but your mind takes damage, what we would call in roleplaying 'Composure Stress': you become less certain of your ability to complete the break, and you start to lose your commitment, and so you hit the next board (or the same one) with less power. It becomes a destructive cycle, and usually it takes help getting your momentum back.

The good news is that in martial arts you should be able to trust your sensei not to put something in front of you that you can't break, and if he does you can always walk away.

The bad news is that in real life you can't always walk away from temptation, in fact usually walking away is giving in.

The good news is that we have a Sensei - One who came before us - who promised that He will never give us something we're not able to break.

So step up and give it a swing.

The Liturgical Tradition - Pt1: How I got hooked

2007-11-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

For some time I have been wanting to consolidate some thoughts that have been rolling around in my head regarding church tradition, liturgy, and forms of worship. What follows is the first part of what I hope will become a series.

I was raised in the non-denominational church. Partially out of necessity (growing up overseas in a Muslim country means you take whatever you can get) but even when we moved back to TX, we started attending a non-denominational church. I think it was just habit by then. I'm not really sure.

My first experience with the liturgical tradition was after I moved out to CA. I wasn't really actively 'shopping' for a church, but I wasn't particularly thrilled with the one I was attending. I was basically riding Mom's coattails to a single parents group at a large NDC here. Occasionally I would go to the college group, but I didn't know anyone, and have never been great at making friends on my own initiative, so I would mostly stand in a corner and juggle until things got started, and then I would sit in the corner and more or less participate.

Anyway, my brother's girlfriend (at the time, now his wife) had been raised Episcopal, and during their semester in Oxford he had fallen in love with TLCs, so they had found a good, solid, orthodox Episcopal church in the area that they were attending, and one week he invited me to go with them, and I said yes.

The church was fairly small (seating about 150 people fully packed) and had stained glass windows and statues and crufixes, and all the bells and whistles (literally). I spent most of the service trying to figure out when to kneel, what page of the little black book we were on, and how to best pretend to sing along to the plainchant songs/prayers. I believe my overall impression at the end of the service was, "Well, that was interesting. I don't think I'll ever do that again." I had a few questions, but for the most part I didn't care enough to ask about most of what was going on. Besides, I prefer to appear to know what I'm doing at all times.

A few months later, my brother mentioned to me that the rector of the church was also a blackbelt in karate, and taught classes through the church for a free-will-donation fee. We decided that it would be a fun thing to do together, so we started going. Looking back, it strikes me that that first day in karate class was far more awkward than that first visit to a TLC - I still didn't really know much of what was going on, didn't know when to kneel or stand, and spent most of the time watching others out of the corners (or middles) of my eyes. Plus, I kept wanting to address the Sensei as "Dr. so-and-so" instead of "Fr. so-and-so", due to my previous sublimation in the academic world.

But after a couple of months going to the church twice a week for karate, and as I got more familiar with some of the people in the karate class who were also members of the church, and - most importantly - the cute girl I had a crush on started attending the church, I began to think more about giving liturgy another chance. So I hooked a ride with some friends and never looked back.

Random Acts of Friday: Sentimientos

2007-11-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm not a particularly sentimental guy. Ask my wife, my brother (who I never call), my mom or my dad, and they would probably all agree

Last night, after watching Survivor over at Mom's, and while I was waiting for...something, I was perusing Mom's cd collection and came across one called The Roches. When we lived in Indonesia, we had a tape that my uncle (who was our go-to guy for random musical selections, and is directly responsible for getting me hooked on Enya) had recorded for us.

Now, this music is not particularly high-brow. In fact I think the group (known as "The Roches" - apparently it was a self-titled album) might have produced a grand total of 3 albums or less. So I can't recommend that you pick up any of their cds and listen to them, because I doubt that you'll fall in love with their quirky, folksy sound and their unlikely lyrics about random, everyday-ish stuff. But I borrowed the cd nonetheless, because I just had a hankering to listen to it again.

So this morning I listened through all the songs on the cd that I recognized and didn't dislike. And now that I've had my 'fix', I think I can gladly go another 5 years before I ever listen to the Roche sisters again.

Well, with the possible exception of "Quitting Time", which is perhaps the best song in their repertoire (but again, this is not saying much).

P.S. - I just was looking at the cover art, which features three rather non-descript women in such things as tights and soccer shoes, and I noticed that it looks like two of them are twins. That just struck me as funny. Go figure.

Wizard Wednesday: Open Source 1 - Synergy

2007-11-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

According to Wikipedia, synergy is:

"the phenomenon in which two or more discrete influences or agents acting together create an effect greater than that predicted by knowing only the separate effects of the individual agents."

According to SourceForge (the universal repository for all open-source software worth downloading), Synergy is a kick-a program which allows one computer to share its mouse and keyboard with an unlimited number of other computers - in any spacial configuration - over a network connection. What that means is this:

I currently have two 'main' computers at work, a Dell Latitude D820 (laptop) with an extra monitor, and an iMac Intel. Up until yesterday, that meant I had two seperate work spaces on my desk, with two seperate keyboards and two seperate mice. As of yesterday, I now have one workspace, with my laptop in the middle, my secondary monitor on the left, and my iMac on the right. With Synergy configured on both the Dell and the iMac, I now run my mouse cursor off the right edge of my laptop screen, and it appears on the left edge of the iMac screen, where I click on some stuff, type in a few commands, and then bring it back, off the left edge of my iMac screen and it reappears on the right edges of my laptop screen, where I resume using it.

But wait, there's more. Suppose (as happens fairly often, actually) that I have something - a web page, a serial number, some random bit of text, whatever - on my PC that I want to use on my iMac (or vice-versa). I can now select that bit of text - say a webpage's URL - and copy it to my Windows clipboard, and then move my mouse to the iMac screen, open a web browser, and paste that link from my windows computer into my Mac webbrowser.

The program is compatible with Windows, Mac/Unix, and Linux, so you could theoretically have 5 computers, each running a different operating system, with five different monitors, and operate fairly seamlessly between the three of them.

Here's a YTV of someone doing something just like that.

If that isn't Wizard, I don't know what is.

Moving Soon!

2007-11-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have the url reserved. This weekend, this blog will be moving to http://agley.blogspot.com/, so prepare to update your RSS feeds on Monday.