sloWriter

Roma Heat Eterna

2008-07-11T14:32:00.000-07:00

So this is our last night in Rome. Tomorrow we fly back to London, and then on to San Francisco on Sunday. But we're not there yet...

On Wednesday we visited the Vatican and didn't have enough time. The line, while enormous, actually moves very quickly, and we got inside St. Peters in about 45 minutes. Once inside, there was no more waiting. We spent a lot of time wandering around the basilica, built during the Renaissance. It is the largest in the world, and you believe it. The ceilings are huge throughout, and the mosaics on the walls really stand out. The high altar seems about 3 stories tall, and is directly over the tomb of the apostle Peter, while the site of his upside-down crucifixion is in the left wing. Michaelangelo's Pieta sculpture is in the right wing, and sits behind bullet-proof glass. It's magnificent.

From there, we could have gone directly to the Sistene Chapel or climbed the Dome, and we decided to climb the Dome first. All the other dome climbing was a warm-up for this 520-step journey. But with all our walking around and climbing, it didn't seem as challenging as it sounds. The most unique thing about it was the utter lack of graffiti on the walls, and some modern steps. (But the fun slanty climb at the top was still there.) The surveillance cameras and easy-to-clean glazed bricks might have something to do with its cleanliness.

Last was the Vatican Museum and Sistene Chapel. It closes surprisingly early and we didn't get enough time, but it was still worth it. The rooms leading up to the chapel are an impressive precursor, with hallways painted with many many maps (each the size of a large room) of the ancient world, and real tapestries. In the rooms themselves (formerly apartments for medieval popes) are frescoes by Raphael including School of Athens (look it up :) ). I wasn't expecting it and almost walked right past it. Finally was the Sistene Chapel with Michaelangelo's restored ceiling, which removed the dust and soot from many centuries, but added no paint. It's surprising how bright and vivid it is. But the guards spend a lot of their time telling people to be quiet and wandering through the crowd to get them to stop taking pictures. Some people!

Yesterday we visited the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Mamertine Prison, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona and the Trevi Fountain. The Colosseum is taller than I expected, but not as wide or long. Unfortunately, we couldn't go out onto the restores arena floor like Tim and Corey did. Also unfortunately, I lost the others near the exit.

After about an hour without seeing them (they thought I was ahead of them and were waiting at the nearby Arch of Constantine), I gave up and went ahead to the arch (they'd already left), and then across the street to the ruins of the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, the home of emporers. Most impressive there was the ruins of the Vesta temple and the home of the Vestal Virgin, the preserved Roman Curia (but you can't go inside) and the Arch of Titus, built by conquered Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Equally impressive is that I ran into the others near the end of our time there! Whew!

Mamertine prison is quite a place to be. Both the apostles Paul and Peter were actually imprisoned in its cell (across the alley from the Curia), and you can stand next to the pillar to which Peter was chained. It's very dark and damp and small, but not as small as some of the dungeon cells in the Louvre -- which isn't saying a whole lot.

Later in the day after siesta, we went to the Pantheon. It's got enormous Egyptian pillars. It's this huge imposing round building in a TINY space with other buildings all around. And it's also been a Catholic church for hundreds of years. We could peek through the doors to see the altar table, the walls, part of the inner dome, and the roof's circular hole. It's a complete anachronism because its a perfectly structurally sound ancient building amidst all these other modern buildings that are nearly as tall, obscuring much of the approaching view.

Finally we visited one of my personal highlights from Rome -- the Trevi Fountain. I had no idea that there was so much going on there. The "fountain" is actually a bunch of different waterfalls and spouts all next to each other with a vivid scene of Neptune (I think) in sculpture behind it. And the square is PACKED with people at night. Just a fun, energetic place to be. And yes, I tossed a coin, so I guess I'm going back.

Our plans for today didn't work out too much, but we did go to the Spanish steps. Unfortunately the obelisk in the middle was surrounded by restoration scaffolding which kinda killed the view, but the fountain was cool, and we got relief from the liquefying heat of the day in the shade off to the side. And no, I don't know what's "Spanish" about them.

Tomorrow we'll visit the tombs of the Popes at the Vatican before leaving, and me might (I hope I hope) get to Westminster Abbey on Sunday morning. But that's about it. I expect to post one last time about the things that I'm looking forward to upon my return.

I miss you all and will see you shortly. (Or longly, I suppose, for those of you whom I don't usually see often anyway. Sad, I know.)

2008-07-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

We made it to Rome, and are checked into our hostel across the street from the Vatican. (I can see the dome of St. Peters outside of the bedroom window.) It's not as comfortable as the last couple of places, and I'm not sure that I'll be able to use the Internet apart from right now, but those set a very high standard. At least we still have our own room. :)

Before leaving Florence today, we had to choose between seeing the original David at the Academia and going to the Effizi. We chose the Effizi, and managed to line up by 8am, which meant we only had to wait an hour instead of three. I must admit, however, that for 10 euro, I was a bit underwhelmed. Perhaps I just didn't have the appropriate background, though. It seemed mostly like 14th century religious paintings -- which started to all look similar after a while. Sorry to any of you who've seen it and loved it.

Anyway, being so close to the Vatican, we walked over to St. Peter's Square after dinner and hung out for a while, relaxing and taking pictures. We also saw our first couple Swiss guards, though they were in slightly more subdued uniforms instead of the colorful ones.

Tomorrow, we're going to see the inside of St. Peters, the museum, and the Sistene Chapel. Then later on the Colosseum and other ancient Roman temples and ruins.

Hopefully I get to post again from Rome, but otherwise I'll see you back in London. We'll be there Saturday night and Sunday morning, so I might just still get to go to Westminster Abbey. Perhaps for a Sunday morning service.

Arrivaderci.

The gelato of Venize and the heights of Firenze

2008-07-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

Venice was, I think, the most fun part of the trip so far, which is saying a lot, because we've got to see a lot of incredible things everywhere. We got in Friday afternoon, spent all of Saturday there, and took the train to Florence yesterday.

My enduring memories of Venice will be

gelato, gelato everywhere. Every other shop is either that or carnivale masks.
succesfully meeting up with Jacob and Jaime Lewis in San Marcos' square. It made me beyond happy. They were catching the train out in the afternoon, but we still got to tour a church together and have lunch.
staying in an actual hotel with a nice private bathroom for once. Such a respite.
the place has churches everywhere. Like you can't believe.
the old married couple arguing about getting the bus ticket machine to work, as we were trying to get from nearby Mestre (our hotel location) to the city of Venice itself.
getting lost in town at dusk with John and Camille, because Ken and Megan had the maps. Doh! Venice can be an absolute maze.
and last, but most important, the canals themselves. Which have to be seen from the water.

There's even more, but I'll leave others to tell those tales.

Now to Florence. Never go to Florence on a Monday. The Effizi, the Academia (Michelangelo's David) AND Boboli Gardens are closed. We'll try to see at least the Effizi tomorrow before we leave for Rome. But at least today's transportation strike won't affect us.

And we did get to see the Medici Palace, which is still the working location for the Provincial Council. The palace contains some pretty cool tapestries in the working areas and council chambers (which were empty and open for viewing), and a completely frescoed chapel (which we, sadly, could not photograph). We also climbed the Duomo, which provides an amazing view of the whole town. There's also an incredible statuary alley that's been there for a few hundred years. It contains an exact replica of the David, I think because that's where the actual David originally stood, but is subject to the elements.

We've climbed several towers/domes, etc during this trip, and most are all the same regardless of country -- these cramped narrow little stone corridors with short ceilings originally intended for maintenance and construction. And so many people press through that the steps themselves sink in from the erosion of all those feet.

For those of you who've asked, my feet are feeling a lot better. The new shoes have helped. I was able to walk much more easily within about a day of getting them. But I'd still have done it all. The pain was temporary and easily forgotten, but the sights I've seen will last much, much longer in my memory.

Paris -- just a bit less foreign

2008-07-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

So... it's hard to believe that I'm nearly halfway through my trip. We've pretty much finished out sightseeing in Paris. We've seen the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur, and of course the Eiffel Tower.

We changed our plans to see it at night. It's so funny ... it really inspires a lot of making out among tourists. haha... They shine blue lights on it after dark, which I got some pictures of, and then at midnight, the small blinky white lights on the tower itself go crazy.

After walking the Champs Elysees today (I stopped at the Addidas store and bought a zip-up hoodie and some new sneakers, 'cause my feet are killing me), we saw something in the distance, and got pulled onto Pont Alexandre III, which is the coolest bridge I've seen in Paris. At the end of it is Napoleon's Tomb which looks incredible from a distance. Definitely going to check it out if I ever return.

Tomorrow we go to Versailles, and tomorrow night I hope to check out this cafe on rue Cler that we ate next to last night. We're finally getting pretty comfortable moving around town, and now we're about to leave. It was like this in the UK, too. Hopefully the learning curve is a bit less steeper in Italy than it was here, though.

Dude... You Gotta See This

2008-06-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

What can I say about the Louvre? Words cannot describe. Pictures cannot portray. You must simply go. Look at the ceilings yourself. See the paintings that take up the entire wall. See the ancient sculptures that are finely detailed. Walk right up to them. With no glass or ropes between you. (Except for the Mona Lisa, of course, which has both.) I only wish I had time to see the apartments of Napolean III, but you can't do everything, I guess.

So, the Paris I saw today was a bit cleaner than the Paris that I saw yesterday. After taking the metro down to the Louvre, and spending a few hours there, we ate a late lunch at a cafe across the street, where I successfully requested menus from the waiter in French. It probably sounded awful to him, and after that I could barely figure out how to say anything else. But lunch was good, and we then wandered over to Pont Neuf, enjoying excellent views of the River Seine, the Eiffel Tower, and le Ile de la Cite. The island splits the river and was itself the original city of Paris.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the island, walking from the east tip west to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. We didn't go up into the towers, but enjoyed plenty of time inside. I spent €3 to visit the Treasury which included a lot of religious relics mounted in some very impressive gold-and-jewel devices, as well as impressive gifts from monarchs of long ago, including the coronation crown of (I think) Charles I, and a decorative ceremonial orb donated by Napoleon I to celebrate his coronation by the Pope in the Cathedral itself. (There's a painting of this event in the Louvre.)

We had meant to stop at Chatelet on the way to Pont Neuf, but never noticed it until walking back over Pont Neuf. It's a pillar in the middle of the park across the river's frontage street from the bridge that has (I kid you not) four sphinxes spouting water in all four directions. Uh, yeah, okay. :)

Bonjour mon amis!

2008-06-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome to... Paris! City of lights! (and, um, a lot of litter. what the heck?!)

The past two days have been WAY too busy, so I'm just glad that we successfully got through the Paris metro and checked in to our hostel on rue de Crimee, just west of Pont Crimee.

Quick review, yesterday we used the London Pass to get in to a tour of the Globe Theatre (highly recommended), St. Paul's Cathedral (way highly recommended), the Tower of London (highly recommended), and the Tower Bridge (waste of time).

Yeah, I was surprised, the Tower Bridge is far more interesting to simply look at than it is to visit. Going to the Globe Theatre was like a Shakespearian pilgrimmage, so if that's your interest, you must do it. St. Paul's Cathedral was simply MONUMENTAL. I cannot get over it. It's like giants worship there. However, I will say that I was more impressed by the stained glass work at the Bath Abbey.

The Tower of London is a complete anachronism. A real medieval castle in the middle of London. Even amongst many very old, historic structures, it stands out as from a completely earlier time. I mean, the central White Tower was built by William the Conquerer -- still standing 964 years later. And most of it was finished by the year 1400. And the Crown Jewels cannot be missed. The strangest item had to be William's golden Coronation Spoon. Almost a thousand years old, and it looks brand new. They actually walk you through a giant two-room safe.

So on to Paris. I'll try to be brief.

Last night, we took the train to Portsmouth. I wouldn't say we got "lost", but we were given some very poor directions with badly estimated walking time. The police helped redirect us as we walked in pitch black darkness along the shorefront. And then a bit later we finally got a taxi. Then this morning we went to the wrong ferry, and had to take another taxi to the correct port. We made it right at check-in time, which was good, because the ferry left way early.

We landed near Caen, France around 10am, then took the train to Bayeux to see Normandy. Which was basically closed, because it's Sunday. We still could have seen the Bayeux Tapestry (google it), and Omaha Beach, but the train station didn't have lockers, and the buses weren't running. So we said, "forget this. Let's go to Paris and rest." That was a good idea.

By the time the train arrived in Paris, we had strongly realized that if you take the SNCF (France national rail), you need to reserve a seat ahead of time. Or you will have to stand. For a long, loooong time. From there, we figured out enough French to communicate the purchase of the metro tickets and navigated the metro to the hostel.

Two things: One, I was really glad we built our subway skills in London first, so we understood what the metro was trying to make us do. Second, the hostel (St. Christopher's Paris) is like an oasis of a Paris littered with trash all over the ground. It's the only place so far in all of France that I've seen that isn't sketch. I hope it's not like that around the Louvre and Notre Dame tomorrow. I'm kinda "homesick" for London.

Stonehenge, Bath, and the Tower of London

2008-06-28T00:48:00.001-07:00

Hopefully I can write this in seven minutes... :)

Today we check out of our hostel in London. We're going to see the Tower of London, the Globe Theatre, and St. Paul's Cathedral. After all that, we take the train to Portsmouth on the southern coast, and spend the night there, so that we can make it to the ferry by 6:15 tomorrow morning. That ferry will take us to Caen, France, so that we can see Normandy on our way in to Paris.

Yesterday we went to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was neat, but about what I expected. Bath was absolutely incredible. One of the top couple highlights on the trip so far. If you ever get the chance, you must go. The whole town was built in Roman-style architecture even BEFORE they discovered the ancient Roman baths. And there are decorated pigs everywhere, as a historical reference. They remind me of the fish that decorated the streets of SLO. But these at least make sense. :)

One strange note: the quotation mark and "at" (@) symbol keys are switched on the keyboards. Very inconvenient. :)

Love y'all.

Three Days in London

2008-06-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

So... I was hoping to post pictures, but that doesn't look possible from the computer that I get to use. So hopefully I can describe some of this to you...

London is walking walking walking, on the streets, but mostly getting to and from the Tube -- the London Underground. But when I'm on the streets I'm stunned at just how much brick architecture there is in this city. Just about everything is built with brick, except for the landmark monuments.

England is moving too quick! After arriving on Tuesday, we checked into the hostel and went down to the London Eye for a view of the city, and then Parliament Square, and walked around the Houses of Parliament, and then Westminster Abbey.

On Wednesday, we had a great English breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon on toast near Leicester ("Lester") Square, before heading over to the O2 for the Tutankhamen exhibit. All the walking had us thoroughly exhausted by the time we returned to the YHA Hostel. After about an hour, we finally got back out and headed over to Covent Garden for dinner, looking in vain for a Fish 'n Chips place. We were foiled but found a decent place to eat nonetheless.

After dinner, we finally made our way over to the Queen's Theatre to see Les Miserables, which was absolutely incredible. They used this rotating stage to move around the action and the set. We had excellent seats too, first row of the first balcony for halfprice -- £28 + tax -- because we'd waited in line after breakfast.

Yesterday was Wimbledon. I didn't know this, but most of the tickets are first come, first serve. The queue for it is enormous, but moves fairly quickly. We got £20 ground passes, having lined up around 9am, for gates that opened at 10, and we actually made it in aroud 11:30 I think. The other thing that surprised me about Wimbledon was how close you get to most of the matches. We didn't go to the main courts, but we did make it to the side courts. Many of which you're standing right alongside the court, though we sat in seats for the two that we saw the most of, including Haas upset Robredo.

We finally got our fish 'n chips dnner at a pub off Trafalger Square, which was under construction for Veteran's Day, which is today. So there were a lot of barricades around. Much to my surprise, the Square includes a statue of George Washington, which Virginia donated about 70 years ago.

After dinner we walked down Mall Ave to Buckingham Palace and looked around. It's actually bigger than you might think. From there we walked over to Hyde Park corner and took the tube over to the British Museum, whose exhibits closed earlier than we expected, so we only got to see the Great Hall. Don't know if we'll get to return. Someday I'm going to come back here and see more of it!

Today we're off to Stonehenge and the town of Bath, and tomorrow we'll hang out before making our way to Portsmouth, and the ferry to Caen, France on Sunday. Hopefully tomorrow we actually get the chance to go inside Westminster Abbey, but nonetheless we're going to see the Tower of London.

Please pray that my feet survive their blisters! :)

Thus Begins the Adventure

2008-06-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

Technically, my adventure began yesterday, as I left San Luis yesterday in 105-degree heat to drive to Cheree & Marcos's wedding in Walnut Creek. Hooray for working air conditioning. The wedding was awesome -- brief ceremony, and I didn't know more than three people there, but got to eat with Cheree's boss who also didn't know anybody, and also Marcos's mother who was very nice. I hadn't even yet Marcos at that point, so that was funny to us.

Today, Ken, Megan and I are getting last-minute items together, and I write this from Megan's school where we're making Xerox's and can get wi-fi access.

Tomorrow we leave San Jose at nine for the airport, so we can get there around 10:30, in time for our 1pm flight. And then it's 17 hours to London! The anticipation is hardly bearable.

I'm not taking my laptop, so I don't know how often I'll get to write in Europe, or how easy it will be to upload pictures, but I'll definitely make an update if I get the chance.

Is it Love?

2008-03-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine wrote, "Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." A fun thought. And I know where she's coming from -- I understand that feeling. We want to be in love with someone who's in love with us; their openness and vulnerability makes them even more attractive and precious in our eyes. But I think that "irresistible desire" actually represents not love, but passion.

Have you wanted to check your own heart to know whether you really love someone else, or know whether they actually love you? I know I have, especially over the past couple of years.

Here is my conclusion. :)

If one person, of their own initiative, both cares about someone and cares for that person, then they actually do love them. There has to be both concern and action. Without both, there is no love. There may be concern, or there may be action, but neither alone is love.

I'm reminded of Jesus' brother James who wrote that faith without works is dead. "Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works." (Emphasis mine) Ultimately, in both cases, love and faith, the heart feeling is what matters, but the heart is deceitful above all things. How can you believe it if it's not strong enough to motivate action?

I hope that answers all your questions. :)

Meteor Shower Tonight

2007-12-14T17:05:00.000-08:00

It'll start low on the Eastern horizon, then gain visibility after 10. It'll be directly overhead around 2am, and comes from the same direction as the constellation Gemini. Expect 1-2 shooting stars per minute at its peak.

Mars is also bright in the sky right now, and precedes the meteor shower by about 2 hours.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316754,00.html

One IM to Rule Them All

2007-12-05T18:14:00.001-08:00

Do you IM people using multiple services? The official Gmail blog announced that you can now Gmail chat with AIM users.

If you have friends on several IM services, try Pidgin instead. I'm able to integrate IM from AIM, Gmail, MSN and Yahoo Chat, plus many others that I don't use into one program.
http://www.pidgin.im/download/windows/

I used to use Trillian, which does a similar thing, but I couldn't make it to work with Gmail. Plus it turns out that I like Pidgin's UI better anyway.

You Are What You Eat, And You Eat Corn

2007-10-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

Why is it so important to eat fish and vegetables? Because everything else that you eat is corn, or sugar, or sugar made from corn. Don't believe me? Check the ingredients on the label. Eat a lot of meat? Check the food that those animals eat.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/kingcorn/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn#Uses_for_maize

Psalm 73:21-28

2007-05-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

God gives us everything temporarily for a season. Let us love for that season and thank Him for the gift of that season, though it be impermanent. He gives and takes away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

"Thus my heart was grieved,
And I was vexed in my mind.
I was so foolish and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory.

"Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart fail;
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

"For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish;
You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.
but it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have put my trust in the Lord God,
that I may declare all Your works."

Who's Yo Great-Grand-Daddy?

2006-09-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, I learned that ancestors of mine came to America as early as 1635. Men from that line also include veterans of the American Revolution and the Civil War. Interesting stuff. Made me want to learn more about my ancestors.

Genealogy frustrates me, however, because preserving and communicating this information isn't easy. I tried a couple times to create a database for my family tree, but problems surfaced: (1) My own system is incompatible with GEDCOM (the genealogy standard). (2) It's ill-positioned to receive any contributions from other internet users. (3) It relies upon my own efforts to maintain. (4) It's difficult to share the family tree with those (few) people in my family that show interest. And (5), I have no idea how to preserve it for future generations of children, nieces and nephews.

But after the Web 2.0 paradigm shift occurred, I searched online again, and this time I found an excellent solution. Check out Rodovid.org. It's very similar Wikipedia, but is specially configured for genealogical information. Check it out. Upload your own family tree. Maybe we're related!

For example, two of my ancestors are:
Elder John Strong, immigrant from England
Capt. John Strong, veteran of the American Revolution

Warning: For the sake of privacy, do not upload any information directly connected to a living person to Rodovid.org. Criminals can use that data (primarily, the mother's maiden name) to commit identity theft.

From Russia With God (and a Great Deal)

2006-08-28T17:42:00.000-07:00

While eating lunch at Caruso's today with my friend Jacob, a Russian missionary from the Unification Church approached us. He was selling some trinkets to raise money for his work, and he sat with us to talk. I had heard of the Unification Church, so I didn't want to miss this opportunity to share the Gospel. But frankly, he surprised me by agreeing that salvation is to be had through Jesus Christ, through Him alone, and that without it, God will condemn us for our sins.

Apparently, I was unfamiliar with the particulars of the Unification Church. I had thought it was one of these "churches" that preaches a gospel of "God is love" and decent people can be "saved" through the cultic figurehead (in this case, Rev. Sun Myung Moon of Korea, its founder). I was mistaken.

Instead, the Unification Church preaches that Jesus was a man only, and not God, who did give himself as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, but only because the world was unwilling to follow Him in establishing God's political kingdom here on earth. Apart from the bizarre heretical notion that somehow saving our souls from eternal damnation was Christ's "plan B", Rev. Moon claims that Christ Himself appeared to Moon in a vision, annointing him to continue that work to establish God's kingdom here on earth, and that all the Christian churches should unify under this political mandate. With Moon himself as the new "messiah" and leader, of course.

Naturally, they deny the authority of the Bible, apart from their own "interpretations" of course. And they redefine Biblical terms to suit their own purposes. In any case, I wasn't aware of all of this during the conversation, so when he concurred explicitly on the absolute necessity of Christ, I felt that I had nowhere else to go. We kindly declined to buy anything, and he moved on.

But having thought about it more, I've decided that, in the future, when talking with non-orthodox "Christians" (be they Mormons, JWs, Unificationists, or others), who don't declare the differences in their theology from Biblical Christianity, I'll simply invite them to church. I encourage you to do likewise. Give them a big smile and a hearty handshake and say, "well it sounds like I've found a brother in Christ. Why don't you come with me to church on Sunday?"

Would people trying to make the case that they really are Christians like myself refuse the invitation? ("What's that? My church is not true to God? Really? Why wouldn't you want to attend my church?") I expect that would more quickly move us to the doctrinal issues at hand.

Or, even better, they'll accept the invitation.

You Are Only 10% Human

2006-08-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

I'll comment more on this later, but if I'm reading this correctly, people are actually 10% Human and 90% Bacteria. Interesting.

http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2006/08/21.html#a1510?source=NLC-WS2006-08-23

Greenland to Melt in 13,000 Years

2006-08-13T04:23:00.000-07:00

Well here's the biggest piece of global-warming-the-sky-is-falling hysteria passing as journalism these days at the BBC. Too bad they buried deep in the article the part of the story that actually contradicts the need to publish this in the first place.

The Headline: Greenland Melt 'Speeding Up'
Paragraph 1 (of 15): Satellites show that melting "has accelerated since 2004."
Paragraph 2: If it disappears completely, global sea levels will rise 21 feet.

Paragraph 9: Current melt rate is 57.3 cubic miles per year. (I will assume in good faith that that's held true for EACH of the past three years, and that they're not seriously creating a statistical mean based on 2-1/2 years of data.)

Paragraph THIRTEEN: All this amounts to a current global sea level rise of 0.02 inches per year. (Let that sink in for a sec: POINT-ZERO-TWO inches.)

Conveniently ignored and unmentioned implication: If things hold steady, Greenland's melt will contribute a whole 2 inches to global sea level rise in the next 100 years. The entire sheet will disappear in 13,000 years. Oh, HORROR!!! Quick, start building the sea walls!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4783199.stm

Unfortunately, the anonymous(?!) author never bothered to provide any context of historical averages of Greenland's ice sheet melt. Okay, so it's sped up since 2004? By how much? Do we know the melt rate 100 years ago? 500? 1000? 10,000?

So since we don't know any of those things, why the "sea levels would rise 21 feet" alarmism at the FRONT of the story? I'm not implying that this isn't important scientific news. I'm not implying that we shouldn't do anything to stem (or reverse) this. I AM SAYING that the journalist has an eco-PC agenda, is willing to misrepresent the data, is BAD at putting things in context, and is perfectly happy to do so, all while hiding behind the protective cloak of BBC anonymity. I name him (or her, since they're anonymous): Pud-knocker.

By the way, on a separate note, is it actually standard in news articles to give every sentence its own paragraph? That strikes me as rather excessive. Whatever.

See Jesus Walk the Earth

2006-08-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

Did you realize that you can NEVER view the present? It's not possible. You can ONLY see the past. Think about it: You're viewing light that travelled to your brain from some given position (e.g., your desk, your cabinets, the person with whom you're speaking) IN THE PAST. It only SEEMS like the present, because light travels VERY fast, and you're very close to the object.

For example, if you go outside and look at the Sun, you won't see the Sun as it presently appears. You'll see the Sun as it appeared SEVEN MINUTES AGO. This gives me a good idea. The only challenge is that we must first learn to travel faster than the speed of light. BUT as soon as we figure that out...

When astronomers view the stars that sit 2000 light-years away, they are viewing the stars as those stars appeared during the time of Jesus. What if we could place a super-high-resolution telescopic videocamera 2000 light-years from Earth? Focus it on Jerusalem, and PRESTO!

Hopefully, it's not a cloudy day.

Exhibit A: The Porno

2006-07-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

I read an article at lunch today explaining how "freedom of speech" is not the same as "freedom of expression", and I started thinking about the idea of pornography. (Give me a moment here.)

In most every state, prostitution is illegal, right? Now, prostitution occurs when one person receives payment for sex with another person. It doesn't matter who pays for the sex, either. If Mary receives money to have sex with John, she commits prostitution regardless of who gave her the money. John doesn't have to be the payer. For example, suppose John's friend Mike pays Mary instead. The involvement of the third party doesn't magically cause the act to no longer be prostitution.

So why aren't "adult film" "actors" arrested for prostitution? The "actor" was payed to have sex with somebody. How does videotaping the crime *eliminate* the crime??? Isn't the videotape merely evidence by which the prosecution should obtain a conviction???

Suffer the Little Countries

2006-07-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

World Leaders Urge Restraint

No soverign nation should have to endure needling nuisance attacks upon its territory and people. When Israel's neighbors, ideologically, refuse to live at peace with them, why should they respond "proportionally"? Like Israel, our "allies" have strong militaries to send a message to would-be attackers that attacks can and will be met with an overwhelming response.

The Lebanese and Syrian governments would work AGAINST Hezbollah (and in a hurry) if they simply knew the rest of the world (which already condemn the attacks against Israel) would respond with, "you don't want Israel to pummel you? Then don't violate their border or their soldiers." THAT would be the QUICKEST way to bring peace to the Middle East. Coddling the anti-Israel nations will never do it.

The Power of Transformation

2006-02-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

I finally realized what it is I think is special about the Narnia stories. I love how the characters in each of the books grow into people nobler than they were at the beginning of the book. In LWW, it’s Peter & Edmund. In PC, it’s Trumpkin and the beginnings of Caspian. In VDT, Caspian completes his transformation and Eustace begins his. In SC, Eustace completes his transformation, and Puddleglum & Jill grow as people. In HHB, pretty much all four of the main characters learn humility. In MN and LB, I’m not really sure if that’s the charm, though.

Getting Shook Out of His Pew

2005-12-23T05:27:00.000-08:00

Tucker Carlson is a strange dude. (He's the former host of Crossfire that Jon Stewart so uniquely insulted while visiting as a guest.)

Anyway, he's an Episcopalian "with no plans to change". But a couple weeks ago, he blogged about "the notable lack of urgency in most Episcopal churches." It was such a vivid picture, I must quote it:

Every once in a while, as I shift in my pew listening to one of our unusually well-educated preachers expand on the Aramaic understanding of discipleship, I do wish Jesus would come back, preferably in a massive ball of fire through the ceiling of the church. Spiritually, I'm nowhere near ready to face something like that. But it'd be worth it for the shock value.

Glad I could share that with you. Click here for the whole article.

Warrants, Civil Liberty and Hostile Actions

2005-12-21T16:33:00.000-08:00

There is an analogy.

Imagine for a moment that this is the War of 1812, and an American citizen sends a note to a known British citizen. Assume that miraculous scanning technology TOLD the local American commander that the note contained the word “burn”. The question is put to us: is the American cammander required by the Fourth Amendment to obtain a warrant in order to seize and read that letter?

OF COURSE NOT. The United States is engaged in congressionally authorized hostilities against an ally of that British subject (i.e., his country). Frankly, he would be a fool and remiss in his duty not to do so.

This isn’t about prosecuting people for criminal offenses or depriving them of their liberty. It’s about having the intelligence necessary to prevent further acts of violence against our country.

Solution to Illegal Immigration, part 2

2005-12-20T15:01:00.000-08:00

Apparently, my idea was already the law -- even the amount of $5000. In fact, second offenses were $10,000, and all subsequent offenses $25,000. Apparently, that wasn't doing the job.

Congress, in H.R. 4437, just recently approved raising these amounts to $7500, $15,000 and $40,000. They allow a first-time-only penalty exemption for good-faith violations. By the way, my representative, Lois Capps, voted against this raise. Unbelieveable. Just who does she represent by voting 'no'?

So now I'm stumped. How can employers possibly continue hiring illegal immigrants? Are there THAT many employers that aren't getting caught doing so? To me, that seems to be a national scandal -- that our auditing programs aren't strong enough to catch these employers who are breaking the law.

Necesito practicar mi español

2005-12-14T17:10:00.000-08:00

It's always bothered me that my Spanish is so bad. I just haven't had much opportunity to interact with other people and thereby solidify it. But the truth is that if I would just write in Spanish on a daily basis, it would improve by leaps and bounds.

So I think I'm going to start a separate blog in Spanish-- for now maybe just a translation of the material on this one.

Death Penalty

2005-12-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's the self-righteousness that bothers me... I don't know. But my skin simply crawls when I hear people use the phrase, "Thou shalt not kill," as an argument against the death penalty. By doing so, they only shine a spotlight upon their own ignorance of the Old Testament Law.

It is, after all, that same Mosaic Law which *commands* the death penalty in various cases, such as murder, sorcery and sodomy. Essentially, their argument is, "don't enforce the death penalty because the Bible prohibits it." But the truth is that the Bible demands it. Argh. These people... so frustrating... argh...

This is setting aside the fact that "Thou shalt not kill" is more precisely translated as "thou shalt not murder." (Disclosure: I've seen this repeated many places-- I haven't personally researched it. So please rebuke me if I'm mistaken.)

If you oppose capital punishment, fine. I'm perfectly content to respect your right to express your opinion. But don't be disingenuous, and don't pick and choose which passages of Scripture you want to enforce.

The Solution to Illegal Immigration

2005-12-13T01:47:00.000-08:00

I have it! I have the answer! I'm brilliant! OK folks, it's very simple. How do you eliminate any type of undesireable behavior? You eliminate the motivation. What's the primary motivation for illegal immigration in America? Employment. So what's the solution? Just three little words: Make Employers Liable.

I propose that any person or company found to be employing an illegal immigrant be fined $5000 per illegal, every time they're caught, even if the employer was unaware. $5K would be not so much as to put a company out of business (usually), but definitely enough to convince an employer not to close his eyes when his employees are likely (or even possibly) undocumented.

If employers refuse to hire illegal workers, then we won't NEED to actively block them or kick them out--they'll leave of their own accord because they won't be able to find work.

Maybe this is impractical for other reasons... I don't know. Maybe with identity fraud, it really ISN'T possible. But we should at least CONSIDER it. Perhaps we could start with lesser fines during the first few years while we work out the kinks in the idea. Say a $500 fine the first year, then $1000, then $2000, then $3500, then $5000.

Once we get that worked out, we can further reduce the motivation by eliminating the constitutional provision that grants citizenship to the babies (born in the US) of illegal immigrants. But that would get a little tricky. To challenge one's status, the onus would have to be on the government to first prove that the parents were indeed illegal, not the other way around.

We could have a statute of limitations, to protect people from the sins of their fathers. I'd suggest that once a US-born illegal reaches the age of 18, even they would be considered a citizen unless the government could prove the person had NOT maintained residency up to the age of 18. (This would also prevent risking the disposition of legitimate citizens.) And for orphaned minors (or those in similar condition), we would show mercy if there were no adult guardian to care for them, and permit them to stay as a non-deportable permanent resident--but they would not have citizenship unless they went through the same process as anyone else with a green card.

I should call my representative.

Man = Deacon

2005-11-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

I received an e-mail from one of the elders in my church regarding the Men's Ministry, announcing a "Worship through Service" Day. It's a wonderful situation, and the reason I initially left my previous church (which was a wonderful church otherwise--just not where I thought God wanted me to be) was because this kind of thing *wasn't* happening.

So it got me thinking, and I think I'm understanding a little more how the Church should operate. Every man at church (or at least those who are not teachers, elders, or in some other specialized ministry) is called to deacon ministry. Simple as that.

I hope that the elders continue to push orienting the "men's ministry" in this fashion. Too often in churches, the various ministries, "men's ministry," "women's ministry," "youth ministry," etc are oriented around serving that particular group rather than training up and mentoring the people in that group to love their neighbor and spread the gospel. Interestingly enough, the one exception to this tends to be the "music ministry". I wonder why that is. (That's not a hypothetical... I really wonder why that is.)

Intelligent Design -- testable predictions

2005-11-14T16:17:00.000-08:00

OK, I am not learned enough to pretend I understand everything about the whole "Evolution vs. Intelligent Design" debate, but William Saletan made an excellent in point in a Slate Magazine article that a lot of my fellow Christians would do well to understand.

A core principle of modern science is that theories have to make predictions. A belief that doesn't make testable predictions isn't a theory and can't be taught in science classes.

I would change "can't be taught" to "shouldn't be taught," but the point stands.

This is the same philosophy required for an objective interpretation of Scripture. That is, we can come to an agreement about what God's Word says by looking at the same text and concurring with each other. Without this approach to truth, the Protestant Reformation would have never happened.

Possessed Pooch

2005-08-18T15:54:00.000-07:00

OK, this is just plain scary. This dog is way too smart for its size. http://www.wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=30768

Just Friends? Bzzzz!!!! Wrong Answer

2005-08-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

If I hear once more about girls complaining that guys are passive and won't "step up to the plate" and court them, I may go ballistic.

We guys face an absolute dilemma that someone needs to figure a way around.

1. Immediate commitment totally wierds a girl out and causes her to withdraw. It's too forward.

2. Getting to know a girl as friends first destroys any chance you MIGHT have of courting her. You're stuck in "The Friend Zone." And buddy, there is NO WAY OUT. Just TRY to move it to the next level. I dare you. All you'll hear is, "I really do like you as a friend, but I just don't think of you that way."

3. Casual dating. These relationships crash and burn hard. Emotional attachment forms with non-verbalized expectations and intimacy before its proper time.

OK, so, uh, help? Please? This is enough to make one pine for the days of arranged marriages.

One other thing. ATTENTION WOMEN! HEAR THIS, if a guy is asking you to do something one-on-one. IT'S A DATE. Period. End of story. He is not interested in being "just friends." He is trying to court you. 95% of guys do not hang out with girls one-on-one just as friends. They already have friends. And for those 5% who ARE hanging out one-on-one... KNOCK IT OFF!!! You are confusing women who think that it's OK to be buddy-buddy friends with a guy who is not "their" man, and you're RUINING IT FOR THE REST OF US who are under no such illusions.

Thank you. :)

Know the Times

2005-07-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

Are you aware of just how significant an era you live in?

Kevin Kelly from WIRED MAGAZINE described just how significant this whole Internet thing is. And you and I are alive at its birth.

We don't know just how much time we have left on this planet. One day the Lord will return and all will be judged and burned and none of this will matter...

BUT...

until that day, from a human perspective, regarding human history, we are at an historical crossroads, and a MAJOR one at that. (Kelly calls it an "axial point".) The kind that come along only once every couple of thousand years.

He takes too many pages to get to the point, so I'll just point you to page 5.

Go in peace.

Movies I definitely want to see this year

2005-07-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
March of the Penguins
King Kong
Zathura
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit
Chicken Little
The Island
The New World

Movies that I still haven't seen, but want to:
Batman Begins
Shrek 2
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Constantine
Chicken Run

Movies that I might see:
The Aristocrats

Myst III: Exile

2005-06-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

I finished Myst III: Exile last week -- the coolest part is the graphics at the completion of the Ameteria world. The puzzle for Narayan is very elegant and satisfying to solve but not obvious at all. (If you're stuck, re-read through Aitrus's book.)

I also started Myst IV: Revelations, but I'm still stuck near the beginning. I know how to transfer power between different devices, and I've found the different symbols around the island, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to actually USE the power yet. The levers all seem locked. Hopefully I can finish this before the release of Myst V: End of Ages.

I won the motorcyle auction on eBay and hired a company to transport the bike from Springfield to SLO. I have notified the seller, and at this point, I have only to await delivery of my Suzuki Bandit 600!

Install Services

2005-06-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

I'm still unclear what the "instrumentation" is all about, but I think it has something to do with message logging WMI events (whatever those are) and performance counters. (And I'm not sure what those are, either.)

In any case, after I ran the "Install Services" executible that came with the Enterprise Library, I stopped getting Application Errors logged that spoke about a failure to load a few different performance counters.

It's under Start Menu > Programs > Microsoft patterns and practices > Enterprise Library > Install Services. (It's the same folder as the Configuration App.)

But that isn't the end of my problems. Logging a normal error to the Application log works, but when trying to send an e-mail, I'm still getting an error.

Sink failed because: System.Web.HttpException: Could not access 'CDO.Message' object.

Enterprise Library Exception Handler

2005-06-03T22:44:00.000-07:00

Fortunately using the Exception Handler that comes with the Enterprise Library for .Net doesn't require doing any subclassing to customize (yet). The secret is to use the configuration application. You can add an "email sink" to the list of destinations for your exception processing. A couple articles helped me out:
This one by Matias Woloski, and
This one by Santosh Poojari

The email sink still doesn't work properly, though. For some reason, my application isn't able to instantiate a CDO.Message object. Also, I'm not even able to do the "General" error handling (i.e., logging to the Application Log). I think it has something to do with "instrumentation", but I don't really know what that's about. I'll find out on Tuesday. One thing at a time.

Best Haircut in Grover Beach

2005-06-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

Check out Gentlemen's Quarters (formerly "Beach Barbers") in Grover Beach for a great men's haircut. Includes the straight razor for the next, and an electric shoulder massage at the end. $14.

OK, I think I completed Voltaic in Myst III. I received a weird "drawing," and I don't know of any more puzzles. I made a little progress on Amateria where I managed to get the roof airborn. And on Edanna, I successfully got downstairs and raised the "mousetrap" like device. But now I'm stuck in both places, and I can't figure out what to do next. I'll take another look at it next week. The hardest thing about Edannna is figuring out both what and where the puzzle is to begin with.

Sadly I didn't run this morning. I forgot that I was planning to. I probably won't take the time to do so while visiting my parents this weekend. Oh well.

On Tap

2005-06-02T18:25:00.000-07:00

- Haircut
- Meet with someone in the advising center at Cal Poly to figure out how to calculate my transferable GPA and transferable units. I get to apply this month for readmission to Computer Science.
- Start using the Enterprise Library instead of the Microsoft Application Blocks for Exception Handling in one of my .NET websites. I think this involves building the exception handler (and logger), and then referencing in my website. I don't know if it requires that I subclass the logger. We'll see.
- Rotate tires.
- Figure out the next step in Myst III: Exile. Right now I'm stuck on Voltaic. Very frustrating, but perhaps I should try making progress in a different Age, and that will help.
- Finish memorizing the epistle to Titus. (I'm in chapter 2 right now.)
- Finish reading the book of Numbers. My buddy Jacob suggested staying in the same book for a while and continually re-read it. I know that did help when I was in Philemon, but maybe I should try that with a smaller book than Numbers. :)
- Figure out the next step with AGO.org.
- Run tomorrow morning.
- Swim on Tuesday morning.
- Schedule a "HealthyCheck" somewhere.
- Schedule a vision check somewhere.
- Connect to the web service and ASP.NET website that Tim created.

Brownbagging It

2005-06-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

Do you struggle, as I have, to make/bring your own lunch to work? Spending too much money at the deli? I have found a magic solution!!! :)

Make your lunch as soon as you get home from work. Let it be the first thing you do. I've found it to be much easier. I'm usually not hurting for the time to do this. I started doing it this week, and it was great. We'll see if I can keep it up, or if I'm just "in the zone" right now.

I think this is an especially good idea for those of you who need to pack lunches for the kids for school. Or better yet, have them do it first thing when they get home in the afternoon.

This works for making dinner, too... If you can, fix tomorrow's dinner as soon as you finish eating tonight's dinner. Saves a lot of time thinking, "hmmm.... I don't really feel like anything." You eat better, too, because you become more intentional about throwing in vegetables and other healthy bits.

Dude, Where's My Assault Rifle?

2004-11-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking... Would you like to know the best part about having liberals as a political opponent? Armed revolution is out of the question.

Honestly, if I were them, I'd be rethinking my position on the right to bear arms. Speaking of which...

Can we please ban the word "hunting" from the entire public discourse about the Second Amendment? The reason for that amendment has nothing to do with hunting. Its sole purpose is stated quite clearly in its opening: "A well regulated militia [is] necessary to the security of the free state." (emphasis mine)

I take "militia" to mean regular ol' joe citizens, not US soldiers, and Title 10 of the US Code, Section 311 agrees. One viewpoint underpins the Second Amendment, and it is this: for a people to be secure in their civil liberties, they must remain a viable threat to the government. Yes, "threat." The only way a free state can be secured is if the people have the tools needed to rise up and forcibly overthrow a government, just as our founders did.

This has nothing to do with hunting. Our human rights to liberty are bestowed by God our Creator, but we can only secure them from the infringement of others by the threat of violence. If this weren't true, cities wouldn't have police forces.

It is possible that many (or few) years from now, our government will devolve into a tyrannical overlordship. Suppose the judiciary dilutes the First Amendment to the point that it loses all meaning, or that the executive branch itself merely overruled an impotent judiciary. Suppose campaign laws were "reformed" to the point that the opposition could no longer publicly voice its rebuke. In that situation, when it becomes impossible to avail ourselves of the intended Constitutional procedures and protections, reform can only come through armed revolution.

That is the reason the Constitutional framers sought to insist that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Now can we PLEASE stop talking about hunting? Please?

You Must Always Choose the Lesser of Two Weevils

2004-11-02T18:30:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you've seen "Master and Commander" starring Russell Crowe. Watch it if you need to be reminded of the need for heroism in our lives.

I don't like the fact that every four years we choose the candidate that we want to protect us from the candidate whom we feel will destroy our country if allowed to win. In my case, I'm voting for Bush, because Kerry is just about the worst candidate ever to run for President.

My problems with Kerry: His policy decisions are the worst of all senators. He has zero vision. He keeps telling us he has a specific plan for Iraq and the economy without mentioning a single specific, and he always chooses to do the popular thing without regard for whether or not it's the right thing. He seems to think the two are one and the same.

Yet I'm not totally fond of Bush: Why is it so hard to find a Republican President (or Congressman, for that matter) who will actually CUT GOVERNMENT SPENDING. Our national debt is outrageous, and he does this horrible, horrible thing by creating a new prescription drug benefit. He spoke that he would balance the budget, unless necessitated by war.

But then, of course, 9/11 happened and the world changed. But this War on Terror isn't going to end because Islamist fascism is not a state, but an ideology within which martyrdom to achieve the domination of others is considered noble. As long as some people believe it, we will be fighting this war against people who are not bound by agreements like the Geneva Conventions.

So be it.

But we must recognize that the world has changed, and that we will need to protect our citizens from attack in a way that's within our budget! Sorry, folks, but it's time to tighten the belts because we need to shift money from domestic services to things like intelligence and supporting our allies who are also struggling with Islamist fascists.

Bush doesn't seem to recognize this need, and I'd like to be able to vote for a candidate who does. (Bush's only advantage over Kerry is that he actually realizes that this is indeed a war that must be fought and won.)

Our voting system has one glaring problem (among others) that I'd like to see fixed: a plurality (50% minimum) of the vote is not required to win a state. Because of this problem, a voter cannot vote for a third party candidate without making it easier on the guy who he believes would be the worst of all worlds.

We're essentially going to electronic ballots everywhere soon, so we should easily be able to rank our top five picks or so. Then the machines would start eliminating candidates one-by-one (and the votes for those candidates) until a winner emerged. The problem is that (sad, but true) a lot of people in this country are just not that bright to figure this out. However, electronic voting machines could help keep them from screwing it up.

Would such a system really be that difficult and expensive to put into place? We're long past due for this.

Stryper Rocks

2004-10-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

At the moment, I'm actually listening to Stryper for the first time in my life. It's late. There must be something seriously wrong with me.