The $1000 can of Fresca
Tuesday:So, I'm busy at work, drinking my Fresca and working on the usual two computers at once. I reach for the Fresca, but miss, knocking it over...right onto my PowerBook. Fresca on the screen, Fresca on the keyboard, Fresca in the keyboard...I wipe it off and shut down the PowerBook as quickly as possible. A trip to the Apple Store, wait for a Genius, relate my tale of woe, and leave the PB for further examination.

Wednesday: I call the Apple Store and get the news: liquid in the screen, liquid on the logic board, the PB won't boot up: a Tier 3 repair. Cost: $1014.86. Estimated time for repair: one week. Bigger cost: all my work files trapped on the hard drive, many in Mac-only applications. I went ahead and bought an external hard drive and asked them to copy the disk image and the Documents directory to it. The hard drive will come in handy as a backup device for my computer and my wife's computer, as well as holding all the music and movie files (all legal, BTW) I need to put somewhere.

Lessons: 1. Whatever you're doing right now, STOP and BACKUP your computer. 2. Keep all liquids a minimum of 100 meters from your laptop.

If you see me posting to other journals even less than usual, you know the reason. [sigh]

(4 Comments |Comment on this)

The truth about blogs?
This is an interesting take on the whole blogging phenomenon. Two caveats: the language is a bit rough in spots and, if you take yourself seriously, you're not going to like this at all. Personally, I enjoyed it a lot.

(3 Comments |Comment on this)

Need to know the time?
Try this site: the Human Clock

(3 Comments |Comment on this)

A warning for all you insomniacs
According to this story, the less you sleep, the more likely you are to become obese. So, my pretties, ask yourself this: is that extra LJ entry, or that extra IM, worth the extra pounds?

(Comment on this)

Finally! A DVD Set Worth Buying
What's that, you say? You can't get enough of Strong Bad, especially when you're away from the computer? Say no more! Your wish has been answered. Coming soon to a DVD player near you...the Strong Bad Emails! Hmmm...do I know anyone who might want to add this to her Santa wish list?

(1 Comment |Comment on this)

God's Role in the Election (and it's not the verse you think)
The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.

Daniel 4:17

(1 Comment |Comment on this)

Are You a Neocon?
Take this quiz and see. For the record, I turned out to be a "liberal." Yikes!

(Comment on this)

The Anti-Rush
If you're tired of the usual right-wing drivel on the radio, you may want to consider Air America, a source of left-wing drivel. Get a different (not necessarily more accurate) perspective on things, and a good dose of humor to boot. I just heard their Dick Cheney attack ad, and it was hilarious ("Dick Cheney: he's responsible for AIDS, he's a vampire and he slew his brother Abel.").

And if you want the anti-Murdoch, try IndyMedia and relive those glory days of the 60's, when revolution was in the air and people still spoke about class struggle, police brutality and solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the world. Why should Fox News have all the fun slanting news coverage to support an ideological point of view?

(1 Comment |Comment on this)

Voting after all
I didn't think I would say this, but it looks like I'm going to vote tomorrow. It wasn't an easy decision: I'm not wild about any of the candidates, and, in general, I don't like the idea of voting for the lesser of two (or more) evils. One thing pushed me over the edge: my daughter.

She's away at college and did her best to get an absentee ballot, to no avail. As one of the few Kerry supporters at a a predominantly conservative Republican school, she's maintained her beliefs in an environment which is, shall we say, not always welcoming of the more left leaning branches of the political tree. I don't agree with her politics at all: I respect her willingness to take a stand based on her own beliefs.

I wasn't planning to vote, but can. She was planning to vote, but can't. It's pretty clear: tomorrow, I'll hit the polls and fill in the card for her candidate. Jessica, this one's for you.

(2 Comments |Comment on this)

Finally, a gadget worth buying
Here's a Wired story about a gadget worth buying: a universal TV turn off device. How many times have you been distracted by the drone of the corner TV while attempting to carry on a conversation? No more! Think of the fun you'll have in restaurants, airports and friends' homes. The company starts accepting PayPal Friday: I'll be placing my order then.

(2 Comments |Comment on this)

Some interesting links

Palmetto Church of Christ bulletin: Take a look at the bulletin section. The selected articles are thoughtful and interesting. I'm discovering that folks from the noninstitutional side of the family may have gotten a bum rap from the more "mainstream" of us. Bring your mind with you when you visit this site: you'll need it.

16th Annual Inman Forum: These lectures, delivered by Everett Ferguson in 1998, focus on worship and the assembly. Besides touching on questions of music and the role of women in the assembly, he addresses the nature and sanctity of worship. I don't agree with everything he says here, but he is persuasive, eloquent, gracious and thought-provoking. Bring your mind here, too.

Reflections of Al Maxey: Al Maxey is an elder and minister in Alamogordo, NM. The reflections here are a series of essays he's written on topics of interest to those in churches of Christ. Don't park your mind just yet: you're going to need it again.

What do these sites have in common? Not theological agreement, to be sure. Not agreement with my own views (I've found statements by all three with which I have problems). What they share is a respect for God and His Word, a humility about their own understanding/authority, a desire to engage the reader in the discussion and a graciousness and love toward those who don't share their beliefs.

Bring your mind and prepare to have it opened and challenged: consider it your Berean exercise for the day.

(Comment on this)

Aphorisms of the Day

The knowledge of God is very far from the love of Him. --Pascal

To stand on one leg and prove God's existence is a very different thing from going down on one's knees and thanking him. --Kierkegaard

(Comment on this)

Does God Want Freedom?

During the debate last night, the President made a statement to the effect that God wants people to live in freedom. If God's grand design includes introducing democracy to the world, I wonder why He established Israel first as a theocracy and then a monarchy? I wonder why Jesus was born into a world ruled by the Roman Empire, whose iron fisted rule He never condemned (indeed, Jesus taught His followers to submit to the occupiers, not to liberate themselves). I wonder why the early church was told to obey the civil authorities (not democratically elected) and to honor the emperor (certainly not democratically elected).

Is it possible that the freedom to which we are called is neither political nor economic, but spiritual? Is it possible that God is less concerned about the illusion the world calls freedom and more interested in the liberty that comes from submitting ourselves fully to Him through Jesus? Is this, perhaps, the reason the church was established and flourished in a world without liberty and freedom?

Is it possible that the American concepts of freedom and liberty are, in fact, at odds with God's notions of freedom and liberty?

Let's talk.

(Comment on this)

A Pox on Both Their Houses

Why can't a candidate answer the question put before him?

Is George Bush capable of putting together a coherent paragraph?

Is John Kerry capable of sticking to the question at hand?

Is either candidate capable of independent thought?

Is this the year we should replace the Electoral College with Thunderdome?

I guess you can tell what I'm watching at the moment.

For those who still believe this is God's chosen country, I give you Messrs. Bush and Kerry.

(Comment on this)

And Now For Something a Little Different...

...and it's not what you think. Here's a quiz for all you twisted folks out there (except one of you, who will get it right away: you know who you are).

• Autolite
• Johnson Wax
• Lipton Tea
• Palmolive

What do these four have in common? If you can answer that, you can probably also organize them into two logical groups.

For extra credit, add some entries to the list.

(3 Comments |Comment on this)

The Basis for Discussion

YOU CAN DISAGREE with another person's position as much as you want - after you have been able to state it in your own words to his satisfaction. The above is a basic rule men of reason ought to observe during any discussion or argument.

That statement comes from Charles Holt, editor of The Examiner, a publication I discovered on Jeff Puckett's blog. It's a thoughtful and thought-provoking publication. Whether you read it or not, consider the wisdom of the above statement. How much more fruitful would our conversations be if we took it to heart (and yes, I'm talking to myself here)?

(Comment on this)

Cheney's Slip: Was It Freudian?

By now, you may have heard about one of Dick Cheney's more embarrassing misquotes last night: he directed people who wanted to know the truth about what was being said to factcheck.com. The site he meant to reference was factcheck.org. The owners of the former decided to redirect traffic from there to georgesoros.com, a site run by George Soros, a billionaire who is one of Bush's harsher critics.

I know that it's easy to confuse .com with .org, especially if a person is not an Internet geek. However, for someone as in control as Cheney to misspeak in that manner is surprising. So, let's put on our tin foil hats and figure out what's really going on.

It was clear last night that Cheney does not believe the President is correct to support a constitutional amendment defining marriage: that was apparent from a not-too-careful reading between the lines. He's being a good soldier in this case and toeing the party line, but reluctantly. So, we could say that his Web site slip was Freudian: that, subconsciously, he wanted to punish Bush for forcing him to take a position that degraded his daughter. The only problem with this logic is that the site did not redirect to the Soros site until after the debate...so they say. While you're getting another roll of Reynolds Wrap, I'll toss out another, more sinister, possibility.

It was also clear last night that Cheney was more presidential than the President. Of the four men running for the top spots, he's the Gravitas Guru. And we all know that CEOs don't step down from one company to become a VP at another. Ergo, Cheney is only VP now because he's prepping for his next CEO position, this time running USA, Inc.

But there's a problem: he sees what's happening to the country because of the Administration's foreign and domestic policies. No matter who wins the election, the next four years are going to be brutal for the country and there will be much suffering. Whoever is in charge the next four years is going to be in a lot of trouble. If it's Bush, Cheney's ambitions will be snuffed out by the wind of unpopularity that will engulf W.

However, if it's Kerry, the picture changes considerably: he'll be a one term president, facing the challenge of Hillary Clinton in the primaries and painted in the press as the next Carter. The Republicans will be looking for someone who can rise above the fray, someone who can calm and reassure the American people, someone with gravitas, someone presidential...Dick Cheney.

But, how to do it? The President must lose, but in a way that will cast no aspersions on Mr. Cheney. The public must be subtly moved away from the President, especially his supporters. What better way than to show them that it's all right to be obscenely rich and a Bush basher?

It's all so clear when the tin foil deflects the mind control rays, isn't it?

(1 Comment |Comment on this)

Cause for hope?

I just finished watching the vice presidential debate. While, as a debate, it was pretty much a draw (though I'm not sure how good it is when the VP looks more presidential and competent than his President), with some fireworks, but not as much as I thought. In fact, there was one moment that gave me hope that some spark of decency remains in these people.

At one point, the question of gay marriage came up. Edwards complimented Cheney on the love he and his wife have for their daughter, who is lesbian. Cheney basically said he disagrees with Bush on the amendment, but has to support him as President. Concluding the discussion of the topic, Cheney told Edwards, "Thank you for your kind words about my family."

Ironic, isn't it? The most morally polarizing issue in the campaign provided the moment of greatest civility. There may be hope for us yet.

(Comment on this)

Why "The Generalist?"

A generalist is someone who knows nothing about everything, as opposed to a specialist, who knows everything about nothing. This will be a place for general ramblings and the occasional witty remark. From ABC to OTR to SF, I hope to toss a little bit of everything into our blend of alphabet soup and try to make just a little less sense of things. Remember: life is too important to take seriously.

(Comment on this)