So I received an email...
Posted on 2007-04-26 at 21:14
The subject of the email was "FW: YOU BET I'LL PASS IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!" The contents went something like this:
YOU BET I'LL PASS IT ON!!!- - -
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!
I was asked to send this on if I agree or delete if I don't. It is said that 86% of Americans Believe in God. Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having "In God We Trust" on our money and having "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
I AGREE!
PLEASE KEEP THIS GOING, EVEN IF YOU HAVE PASSED IT ON BEFORE!!
Please send this on after a short Prayer!
Prayer wheel for our Marines, soldiers, sailors, Coast guard, and airmen.. Please don't break it
"Dear Heavenly Father, Hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families For the selfless acts they perform For us in our time of need. Please stop a moment And say a prayer for our troops (land, air, and sea) in Afghanistan , Kuwait , Iraq and all around the world.
This can be very powerful... Just send this to people in your address book. Do not stop the wheel, please...
Of all the gifts you could give our . Military,s Prayer is the very best one!
God will Love You for helping Spread His Word..THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I. And soldiers of all nations
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
YOU MIGHT WANT TO PASS THIS ON, AS MANY SEEM TO FORGET BOTH OF THEM.
As you might imagine I have strong feelings on this topic, so I decided to reply:
According to the U.S. Census in 2001 the percentage of Christians is 79.8% (a drop of 8.5% from 10 years earlier), Jews constitute another 1.4%, and Muslims another 0.6%. The rest of the United States does not acknowledge any sort of deity that bears even a passing resemblance to the God of Jewish culture that Christians, Muslims, and Jews worship. Fully 15% of Americans do not acknowledge any religion at all (an increase of 6.6% over the preceding 10 years).
The reason having those statements on our money and in our national pledge is a bad thing is that it tries to sanctify our nation as a religious one. This /is/ a problem. Our nation is a secular one and that's that way it was designed. Our separation of church and state is necessary to uphold the freedoms our military is installed to protect. One of those freedoms is the freedom to be an atheist, an agnostic, a Buddhist, or a Wicca. When we put "One nation under God" in our pledge we are asking those people (nearly 1 in 5 citizens of this country!) to choose between their own faith and being loyal to America. When we put "In God we trust" on our money we are telling those same 1 in 5 Americans that they participate in our culture by our grace as Jews, Muslims, and Christians rather than by the grace of their own birthright as native-born Americans or by the hard-won choice they made when they undertook the road to gain citizenship. We are telling them, those 1 in 5 Americans, that their faith---their spiritual choices---make them less-than-fully American. I may not agree with your choice to be an atheist, but I'd be damned before I let your Right to make that decision be stripped away.
If you are unswayed by those arguments, let me make one that appeals to your self interest. Right now we (religious people who recognize the Jewish God in our faith) are the majority. Re-read the numbers I gave you in the first paragraph. The numbers of people who are not us doubled in the 90s. That number has continued to grow in the 2000s. That growth is at the expense of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim populations. There may very possibly come a day when we are the minority. If and when that day comes, do you want the new majority to look back on our behavior as a model? If so, what lessons do you want them to take from us? That we forced our views on others? That we made them stand up in class every morning and say a pledge to a God they didn't believe in or be ostracized for abstaining? Not me. I want them to look back and see that we instead treated them as equals, that we allowed them the freedom to choose as they please, they we gave them every opportunity to see our faith but never pushed it on them. That's what I want them to remember if they are ever in the majority, because it is our choices now that will help shape their choices in the future. If we don't recognize the position we are putting them in with a federal endorsement of our specific religious claims, then I promise you that whatever persecution we face as a future minority will be of our own making.
So, no, I won't pass this message on and, no, I won't delete it if I disagree. I'll stand proud as an American with a voice and as a Christian with compassion and reply on behalf of all those people who are not being given a voice in this debate, who are not being given a choice in their pledge or on their currency, who are not being given respect by the majority of Christians who sit damnably silent because it isn't they who are being disenfranchised this time.
Remove God from our federal payroll. He doesn't need our support. We need His. Muhammad once said that difference of opinion in the community is a manifestation of God's mercy.
God bless everyone. No exceptions.
I think my reply said all that needs saying regarding my position on this topic.
Nissan and the sub $3000 car
Posted on 2007-04-25 at 07:44
Wow, that's pretty cheap!
"Renault-Nissan is planning on building a car for under $3000. The price could be as low as $2500, which is 40% less than the least expensive sub-compact car available today. The Chief Executive of the company, Carlos Ghosn, made this announcement at a plant-opening on April 4. An Indian carmaker, Tata Motors, plans to launch a $2500 car next year. This race for the really ceap car could have a major impact on the industry as a whole."
I can't wait to see the price fallout accross the board from this rollout. Moreover, if it preally passes crash tests adequately, as they claim it will, then you might see me riding one around town. I'm down with cheap and good. Cheap and good rock!
I've changed my header graphic again
Posted on 2007-04-23 at 07:58
The new header image is a picture I took whilst walking along the Great Wall at Badaling in China. I saw this guard tower sticking up out of the surrounding forest and it just looked cool to me. Enjoy.
Strange Days Indeed
Posted on 2007-04-23 at 07:49
Most Peculiar, Momma!
I think I'd be scared to ask for the ipod back.
The Woz Speaketh
Posted on 2007-04-20 at 09:12
Wednesday evening, I and a guy from work went to listen to The Woz speak for the Virginia Beach Forum. Anecdotes and some tidbits follow....
In addition to the speech, we scored tickets to the preceding, more exclusive, meet-n-greet where I got to spend no small bit of time talking with him directly.
The Woz is known as a casual guy. I made a conscious decision to dress casual. I wore a long-sleeve undershirt kinda thing and a pair of army pants. Upon arrival to the meet-n-greet, I learned that it was more correctly called a 'cocktail party'. So, I and my friend were the only ones there not dressed up. I have poor decision-making ability.
I asked him about Venture Capital because I have no shame.
He holds a magic ring made of mithril that knows which way is up. I shit you not. This ring will in the darkness bind them, if you know what I mean.
He believes in the idea of software patents, with some caveats. I will forgive him this trangression, for he knows not what he says. ;-)
He worked for two weeks to get a working prototype of a floppy disk for a tradeshow early in Apple's history. After an all-nighter, he finally had a working floppy disk. He went to make a copy of the good disk and accidently copied a bad disk image over the good one, instead of the reverse as intended. This story made me feel better about all the various similar things I've done. To Mark: Outlook Express. You understand.
The mayor was there. She was totally bogarting all of the Woz's time in the beginning of the cocktail party. I had a plan to walk up and ask the Woz about his views on illegal immigrants just to send her running away with a "no comment", but she left as I walked up. Lucky git!
Technically, there was one person dressed worse than us at the cocktail party, but he didn't know it. Dark blue blazer (miami vice cut), black dress shirt, white tie, mullett. Seriously, the guy looked like he stepped out of a Hall and Oates video. Sorry dude, but I can't go for that. No can do.
Pens. Dude had three pens clipped to his shirt and several in his pockets. Maybe it was for autographs. Maybe it was just his crazy showing itself. Either way it was kinda neat and odd.
That's all for now. If I think of more, I'll write more.
Productivity, Dry Erase Markers, and the Art of Abduction
Posted on 2007-04-13 at 07:51
To those naysayers who claim I am lazy and lame and cannot possibly perform any task of consequence whilst at work, I say to you, "Gaze upon a snapshot of my whiteboard and be humbled":
Clearly, this proves that I am both productive AND well respected in my field of employ!
New Mouse and Print Server
Posted on 2007-04-11 at 08:03
I got new toys.
Netgear PS121 USB Print Server: Rocking little box that plugs in the network hub and the printer and shares it all out. Niceness.
Logitech MX Revolution Mouse: Goo Gaas and Doo Dads Galore! The buttons on this mouse have buttons of their own. I think it will control objects in 18th dimensional space. Plus, it's smooth-licious and shine-tastic!
Imus and the Case of the Black Women
Posted on 2007-04-10 at 07:42
There's all manner of uproar. He's been suspended, chastised, made to apologize, and even scolded by the (wants-to-be-)great Reverend Al Sharpton. Of course, everything done to him and said about him is 100% on the money. He should be ostracized by the community for making vile, mysogynistic comments disparaging the women of that team. That sort of attitude belongs in the 19th century where we had hoped to leave it behind us.
It's a shame all this outrage and disgust can't also be poured out on the rap community. So, let me get this straight? When Don Imus calls black women "nappy-headed hos" it's torch-and-pitchfork-worthy, but when the rapper Eazy-E "slapped the ho" and claimed to be a "woman-beater" as part of one of the most influential rap groups ever (N.W.A.) all we hear are the crickets chirping. Where's Al Sharpton? I guess it's bad when Imus speaks ill of black women because it makes it less special and fun when black men do it?
Al, clean up your own house before you start worrying about the mess in someone else's living room. How about from now on we get upset whenever anyone speaks that way to anyone else? Just a suggestion.
Web Traffic
Posted on 2007-04-06 at 08:03
A few people have asked me how many people read this blog. The answer is that I have no clue how many read it regularly. While I could, I suppose, track that sort of thing, I don't. I can tell you how much traffic I get per day or month, but not how many of them are repeat visitors or how many visit via the news feed. Anyway, since it's been asked, here are the highly summarized visitor stats for the last year broken down by month.
| Month | Daily Avg | Monthly Avg |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 2007 (so far) | 363 | 2182 |
| Mar 2007 | 331 | 10281 |
| Feb 2007 | 267 | 7501 |
| Jan 2007 | 311 | 9647 |
| Dec 2006 | 212 | 6588 |
| Nov 2006 | 210 | 6305 |
| Oct 2006 | 216 | 6697 |
| Sep 2006 | 196 | 5906 |
| Aug 2006 | 169 | 5266 |
| Jul 2006 | 140 | 4342 |
| Jun 2006 | 154 | 4638 |
| May 2006 | 154 | 4800 |
See? I told you guys that no one reads this thing!
Venture Capital
Posted on 2007-04-05 at 18:52
I'm currently pursuing a venture capital route for a new business idea. No details yet (for many reasons), but I'm hoping that by month's end I will know if my current track is playing out or if I need to switch records. In either case, the experience will be worthwhile, I think. I have done the "grow your own business" thing and the "make a great job for yourself" thing. It's time to see what's entailed in the "hit the ground running with a real staff and product" thing.
Horizons are for pushing.
What would you die for?
Posted on 2007-04-03 at 07:51
I was reading about friendly fire killing more coalition soldiers. Friendly fire? What the hell is that? It's like the phrase "Civil War". Makes no damn sense.
And while I'm bitching, let me add a bit about John McCain. Listen John, I understood when you pandered to the extreme right. You need the nomination and you won't get it without appearances at places like Liberty University and telling Republican beleivers that the war is going well, but you crossed a line. I can turn the other cheek when you make outrageous claims about mythical safe Baghdad streets, but to put 100 soldiers in harm's way to prove how safe those streets are? You are damn lucky that none of them got hurt in that little publicity stunt. If they had? What would you have said at their funeral? Do you tell the mother, wife, or husband that their little soldier died an honorable death getting you elected?
So, I'll ask the title question to my audience here. What would you be willing to die for? Don't answer me. Just think about it.
Mmmmm Sacra-licious!
Posted on 2007-04-02 at 08:04
I felt that the body of Christ, the---the meaning of Christ, is about the sweetness. Tell me more about this divinely-tasty Messiah of yours.
OK, enough with the dessert jokes. I did have one semi-serious point to make. To the guy in the linked article who said this was "one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever," I'd like to respond with, "Then let me introduce you to the Colosseum. I think its rich history might afford you some damn perspective."
As We May Think
Posted on 2007-04-01 at 15:08
Once, in college, I wrote a paper in which I offered a short list of some of the most influential people to modernity. I suggested T.S. Eliot, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, and Vannevar Bush offered more to change the worldview of modern man than most others.
The professor didn't appreciate my choices. She liked them all, mind you, except that last one. She'd never heard of him, and therefore didn't see how he could have been that much of an influence. I never could convince her that her logic was specious and her assumptions faulty (go figure). Nonetheless, I kept his name in the essay, despite her insistence that it's inclusion would color the final grade I received for the paper, but I was far too interested in getting an education to worry about things as mundane as grades.
She doesn't read this blog---of that I'm certain. That said, I feel compelled to remind people just how important an unknown figure can be to our society. Read Vannevar Bush's essay "As We May Think" as published in The Atlantic in July of 1945. Truly seminal work.