All I've got is some links today.
This blog in itself is priceless, but the comments afterwards are even better. Enjoy! :) (click the title for the link... that's how these things work, apparently)
This one's not so fun... it's terrifying, actually.
13.2.05
Blue Like Jazz
I borrowed this book by Donald Miller from my buddy, Tim, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Here're a couple of quotes that stood out for various reasons.
From Polaroids by Donald Miller:
... and it gets better... but you'll have to read the book to find out!
I can't find the original quote, so I'm taking another from Blue Like Jazz by Ravi Zacharias
...they may have been yelled at by a teacher in a Christian school, abused by a minister, or browbeaten by a Christian parent. To them, the term Christianity meant something that no Christian I know would defend. By fortifying the term, I am only making them more and more angry. I won’t do it. Stop ten people on the street and ask them what they think of when they hear the word Christianity and they will give you ten different answers. How can I defend a term that means ten different things to ten different people? I told the radio show host that I would rather talk about Jesus and how I came to believe that Jesus exists and that he likes me.
War metaphor. The churches I attended would embrace war metaphor. They would talk about how we are in a battle, and I agreed with them, only they wouldn't clarify that we were battling poverty and hate and injustice and pride and the powers of darkness. They left us thinking that our war was against liberals and homosexuals. Their teaching would have me believe I was the good person in the world and the liberals were the bad people in the world. Jesus taught that we are all bad and He is good, and He wants to rescue us because there is a war going on and we are hostages in that war. The truth is we are supposed to love the hippies, the liberals, and even the Democrats, and that god wants ust to hink of them as more imporatant than ourselves. Anything short of this is not true to the teachings of Jesus.
From Polaroids by Donald Miller:
What great gravity is this that drew my sould toward yours? What great force, that though I went falsely, went kicking, went disguising myself to earn your love, also disguised, to earn your keeping, your resting, your staying, your will fleshed into mine, rasped by a slowly revealed truth, the barter of my soul, the soul that I fear, the soul that I loathe, the soul that: if you will love, I will love. I will redeem you, if you will redeem me? Is this our purpose, you and I together to pacify each other, to lead each other toward the lie that we are good, that we are noble, that we need not redemtion, save the one that you and I invented of our own clay?...
I am not scared of you, my love, I am scared of me.
God risked Himself on me. I will risk myself on you. And together, we will learn to love, and perhaps then, and only then, understand this gravity that drew Him, unto us.
... and it gets better... but you'll have to read the book to find out!
I can't find the original quote, so I'm taking another from Blue Like Jazz by Ravi Zacharias
A writer I like named Ravi Zacharias says that the heart desires wonder and magic. he says technology is what man uses to supplant the desire for wonder. Ravi Zacharias says that what the heart is really longing to do is worship, to stand in awe of a God we don't understand and can't explain.That one really hits home for me, being a tech-geek. I feel ashamed of myself. I know that I sometimes buy things that I don't really need just because I think they're cool.
12.2.05
Cool VR Panoramas
Found this one on boingboing.net. It's site that has a number of panoramas, my favourites being the ones from the moon... let me tell you, it really feels like you're there looking around. I've always looked at pictures from the Apollo missions, but this is the first time they've felt real. Do yourself a favour and check these out! You'll need Quicktime to use them. (the link provided gives you the version without the stupid iTunes crap)
11.2.05
The Flying Life
Well, I haven't had much of one in about 6 or 8 months now. I miss flying dearly, and I wish I could be doing it every day! Unfortunately life got in the way. Between all the stuff I've been doing for the church and my business it has been next-to-impossible to get myself booked in to fly. But that may change shortly, or at least I hope so. I stopped by the flight school today to get things going again, and I'll be going again tomorrow to meet my new instructor (#3 or 4... I'm not sure which). Should be fun!
In other news, I'm going to start using my union's benefit plan in the coming weeks. (Did I mention that I'm a union steward at work, but our rep doesn't tell me anything?) Oh joy. I'm going to be losing my wisdom [teeth], which somewhat terrifies me. I know that it's not that big a deal these days, but I'm still not a big fan of pain! The first person who calls me "chippy" or "chipmunk face" will be losing some teeth... probably not their wisdom ones, either!
Speaking of unions, Wal-Mart is in the news again. Looks like their taking their union-busting to another level and decided to close the first unionised Wal-Mart in Canada - in Quebec. They even received bomb-threats at some of the other stores because people are so ticked off! Down with Wal-Mart - scourge of North America. People seem to forget that behind all these low prices are people who are being paid at minimum wage. Sure, Wal-Mart can afford to pay them more, but why would they? If they did that they'd have to raise prices. Well, sorry guys, but that's the price of doing business! I run a business, and we manage to keep our costs down by not hiring anybody. Albeit we're on a much smaller scale, but at least we're not forcing someone to stay in a poverty-level income! Yeah, yeah, you say, they could get another job... If they could get another job, do you think they'd be working at Wal-Mart?
Sometimes I think people might be worse off in a minimum wage job than being unemployed.
And last but not least... Today's reason to shed a tear for the world (article).
In other news, I'm going to start using my union's benefit plan in the coming weeks. (Did I mention that I'm a union steward at work, but our rep doesn't tell me anything?) Oh joy. I'm going to be losing my wisdom [teeth], which somewhat terrifies me. I know that it's not that big a deal these days, but I'm still not a big fan of pain! The first person who calls me "chippy" or "chipmunk face" will be losing some teeth... probably not their wisdom ones, either!
Speaking of unions, Wal-Mart is in the news again. Looks like their taking their union-busting to another level and decided to close the first unionised Wal-Mart in Canada - in Quebec. They even received bomb-threats at some of the other stores because people are so ticked off! Down with Wal-Mart - scourge of North America. People seem to forget that behind all these low prices are people who are being paid at minimum wage. Sure, Wal-Mart can afford to pay them more, but why would they? If they did that they'd have to raise prices. Well, sorry guys, but that's the price of doing business! I run a business, and we manage to keep our costs down by not hiring anybody. Albeit we're on a much smaller scale, but at least we're not forcing someone to stay in a poverty-level income! Yeah, yeah, you say, they could get another job... If they could get another job, do you think they'd be working at Wal-Mart?
Sometimes I think people might be worse off in a minimum wage job than being unemployed.
And last but not least... Today's reason to shed a tear for the world (article).
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