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second post of the day. when it rains it pours.

but I simply had to post this because when I saw it I had two distinct thoughts that I wanted to share. A guy in England, who is from Nigeria, is creating a Manga bible. In it he portrays “Christ [as] a hard guy, seeking revolution and revolt, a tough guy.”

Immediately two things came to mind. The first and most animal response was: I must have this. The second and much more thoughtful reflection was that I don’t feel this is a technically correct or helpful view. Christ was lowly and humble, patient, loving, kind, unassuming, and peaceful. Nowhere in the actual physical life of Christ is he violent or revolutionary. He would even say things like give to Ceasar what is Ceasars. Telling the oppressed Jewish community that they should peacefully cooperate with the government and instead of focusing on the physical world and it perishable riches, they should concentrate on achieving spiritual goals that store up treasures in heaven. On the other hand in Revelations we are shown a violent, perfectly judgemental Christ. But he isn’t at war with man or man’s rulers. He is clearly at war with Satan and Satan minions. In that sense I would say the manga author is right on. When Christ came to save, he was at perfect peace with His creations, wanting only to give His life so that we could re-unite with Him in spirit and in truth. At the same time He was at perfect peace with man He was in the midst of an all out, take no prisoners war with an enemy who for centuries held the human race in utter depravity and captivity.

But like I said, as soon as I can find this thing, I’m going to try and get me a copy.

this is quite possibly the most interesting and hopeful thing i have ever read about man-in-space-exploration. a private (from what i can tell) company bigelow is sending up a series of inflated satellites that will eventually be manned, probably as early as the 2010’s. their next version of ship will have an environment management system onboard to test out livable conditions for crew. i’m really excited by this.

filesharing ring!? those criminals. they’re destroying the moral fabric of british society! scoundrels! bbc reporting on a raid on a honeywell plant for illegal filesharing. screw that why don’t they solve some murders and bust some criminals who actually harm other people. once you’ve got the crime rate low enough that people don’t have to lock their doors at night, then maybe it would be appropriate to waste man hours on this crap. and don’t think for a second that i don’t feel the same way about america. the RIAA and MPAA can bite me. they’re rampant crybabies unable to adapt to a changing marketplace so screw off.

the headline from digg for this article read something like “the end of internet shopping”. i didn’t waste my time reading the comment drivel, so i’m not sure where they’re connecting the dots on this one, but basically the supreme court has just overturned a ruling that has supported the sherman anti-trust act for nearly a hundred years. i’ll hold my tongue until i can see how this plays out.

where should you buy a new iphone today? NOWHERE. just wait you morons.

new on the “projects i’d like to do, but probably never will” list is this multitouch system that uses a projector and a video camera.

insane comic on a dog pondering the end of the earth/universe. cool visuals of the earth.

learn useful latin for things like “what does i.e. mean?”

WHAT THE HECK IS EMAIL??!?!?!? i have no clue. i’m clueless. i’m speechless. this is awesome. the guy’s totally freaking out. i’m totally freaking out. that mail hasn’t combusted yet. but my face has.

Manhunt and GTA are both works of entertainment and arguably, works of art. Therefore, I must have manhunt 2. And you can’t argue that this isn’t just a big PR ploy. They’ve got the M rated version ready and waiting. They just love all this free press. DON’T MESS WITH FREE MARKET, ESRB.

I must not really have a good grasp of business and entrepreneurship because what this guy is doing, while totally understandable and feasible, just blows my mind. On my list of things to check out: Entropia.

Don’t go to work!

This is an insanely long article on global cooling. You know what I think? (not like you really care what I think, but I’m telling you anyways) I think that global warming and global cooling is just about as honest and truthful as healthy eating and dieting tips from food vendors. The more confused about the subject, the more money you will spend/waste in order to “fix” the problem. Also one of the over-arching issues at work that has always bugged me, is the insane amount of pride involved in the science community. My favorite quote from the article:

Climate stability has never been a feature of planet Earth. The only constant about climate is change; it changes continually and, at times, quite rapidly.

Now don’t get me wrong. I like the earth and I think we should keep it in good condition. But seriously, there are agendas at work here on both sides so there’s no point in being totally insane about the topic. Simply keep in mind the well being of what is around you and the well being of future generations.

For my brother, I hope this cheers you up. It’s old school cartoon styles of those funny cat pictures you love.

I’m gonna make one of these like the millennium falcon.

And then sneak around and scare people in one of these.

Some sci-fi must sees. Why? Just because some guy on the internet says they’re better than star wars. PFFT.

Interesting article in the uk publication Daily Mail about the physical boundaries given to children. I remember when I was eight I was not allowed to go past the Beans house. Somehow I managed to find woods to play in though.

A mom in Virginia gets time for hosting a sweet sixteen for her son and providing the booze. The funniest part of the article:

Eckert recently helped launch an awareness campaign in the county called Parents Who Host Lose the Most.

Thank-you babysitting socialist pigs!

War Profiteers: Business as usual.

Awesome entry from wired about a G.I.’s guide to Iraq in 1943 and the G.I.’s guide to Iraq presently. Definitely worth checking out.

A blog of -hilarious- bad spock drawings. via kottke

We should just set a distance from the sun and say, “If you’re past this point, you aren’t a planet.” I know pluto is crying right now. via kottke

From the MAD SCIENTIST files, a man is trying to send information back in time using quantum mechanics. Oh, how the logic of the space-time continuum makes me dizzy.

Ars Technica’s annual BYOC (Build your own computer) guide. GOD BOX GO!

New cartoon from Penny Arcade. I love these guys.

Really intense article from Alternet (via Reddit) on the 9th amendment. I’m no expert on the 9th, but I’ve mentioned my simplified position on the abortion and homosexuality issues before. The list at the end of the article does a nice job bringing it all together I think.

In what I think is a bold and brilliant move, the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, has banned almost all forms of outdoor advertising. I’m in the camp that says “ads destroy and clutter the external environment and confuse the mental environment.” The business camp of things will have to wait and see about how devastating this move is for their economy. Will they be creative enough to work around it? I doubt it, but I’m hopeful.

My last post on MS was way off, so hopefully I’ll get this one right. Dell has started offering computers that have XP on them (as well as models with Vista). They did this based on the response of people at their IdeaStorm site. MS is again fumbling through the PR saying

Microsoft countered that Dell’s move was in response to a ’small minority of customers’ with a ’specific request.’

Insane google maps find of what seems to be Tibetan carved into an iced over lake. I found this on reddit. Some of the comments on this are interesting, some are funny, some are senselessly stupid. I guess that’s par for course.

Comic depicting the “reality” of war in terms of the close-to-home deaths at VT. Guess what? WE’RE AT WAR. THAT’S WHAT YOU DO IN WAR, YOU KILL PEOPLE. YOU DON’T KILL PEOPLE IN AN [INSERT COURSE HERE] CLASS. Brazen yes, but I think it’s an observation I’ve made that I think might be worth mentioning.

Well, I always like to start my day of with a little Penny Arcade. Watch out, horny witches on the loose. Brought to you by wii.

I’m always a big fan of technology improving life. BBC has an article describing how Nigerians will be using cell phone text messages to help ensure a fair election. The move seems encouraging to me and I’m eager to see the results.

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a cheap illegal substance reference today. Check out 4/20 throughout history via wikipedia.

WELL, I GUESS PORN IS BORING NOW THAT THE INTERNET IS SO COOL. Interesting article from the economist showing that hit trends are beginning to lean away from pornography to search engines and social sites. YAY INTERNET, BOO-BIES. j/k.

The scientific american has a neat myth busters type article on the 0-grav pen’s origination. Now you can write UPSIDE DOWN!

In other news, there’s actually a site that gives advice on how to get rid of things. Very refreshing when we live in an age that is obsessed with collecting and hoarding. But I digress. They put forward an interesting write up on fat from historical (evolutionary) body mechanics to tips and tricks.

Going a little heavier, a little deeper, I submit to you the supreme court syllabus from the recent decision that effectively enforces the ban on partial birth abortions. This is a difficult read and takes a lot of time and energy to digest. So admittedly, the following viewpoints are based on having only read the first three paragraphs of the syllabus without being trained in the law. But, with words like

“The fetus is usually ripped apart”

and

“In order to allow the head to pass through the cervix, the doctor typically pierces or crushes the skull.”

Having read this short introduction I only hold two basic views on the subject

1. What is the moral standard of our culture that we find it acceptable to treat any life like this? We have been given over to our desires.
2. What kind of failure is the Church that we as a people must now revert to the senseless stripping of rights because we, for generations, have utterly failed at following the second most important mission of our lives as “Christians”: To LOVE our neighbor. We should be ashamed. I am.

Apologies for the diatribe.

And without leaving you, the faithful reader to a grossly disappointing end, I submit to you a thoughtful write up on web design from smashing magazine.

Slow day at the office? I’ll say. Among other things, my SO’s company’s stock showed up in my financial feeds, so I thought I might throw that out there.

Trying to clarify the lines between funny and tasteless, the language log has a comic reversing the roles of sexuality in comedy. Unfortunately for them I don’t like it when people define life in terms of sexuality. Straight or gay, life is too broad, big and important to be characterized and subsequently (IMHO) pigeon holed by defining one’s life simply by sexual orientation, race, or creed. But rather defining it by comics and video games, that’s OK by me.

Finally, I hate taxes and so should you. A simple flash interactive of a gorgeous information visualization poster shows you why.