06.30.07

Politics Again?

Posted in Politics and Issues at 8:53 pm by Jeff

Oh how I wish I could just stop caring about politics. But, try as I may, politics just keep finding me. I guess it’s hard to escape, especially as the scope, reach and intrustion of our government continues to grow.

At this point, I’m still laying low. Of course my ultimate hope is not in the political process, but at this point if I had to vote tomorrow, Fred Thompson is looking like my first choice. If you want to hear what other bloggers are saying about Mr. Thompson, check out the Blogs for Fred website and find out more about this former Congressman and successful actor. I’m interested to hear what you think about him as well.

Will The Problem Solve Itself?

Posted in Politics and Issues, Culture and Ideas, Justice and Compassion at 8:45 pm by Jeff

Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. Otherwise known as “FUD.” There is a lot of FUD surrounding the whole immigration issue. Robert Dunn has an interesting take on the whole thing. Basically, he points out some demographic trends in Mexico that will lead to “rapidly aging populations with too few young workers to support the economy.” In other words, he believes the immigration issue will naturally resolve itself.

TCS Daily - How the Mexican Immigration Problem Will Solve Itself

06.22.07

Have You Prayed for bin Laden Today?

Posted in Politics and Issues, Faith and Practice at 10:07 am by Jeff

A very thought provoking interview with Brother Andrew.

Excerpt:

We should be flocking to Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and seek the Christians and help them. And then, please, for God’s sake, listen to what they say. They have something to say. This should be the driving force in our lives. It’s not solving political or economic problems. It’s being Christian.

My plea always has been that the church must be the Church, with capital letters.

Read more: Have You Prayed for bin Laden Today?

06.13.07

Ethics Are About Doing

Posted in Faith and Practice, Culture and Ideas at 9:30 pm by Jeff

Another great post from Joe over at Evangelical Outpost

There is an underlying assumption that once questions about right and wrong are answered then the ethical questions are settled. But in real world situations, most moral quandaries exist not because we fail to distinguish between good and evil but that we fail to do that which is good.

Read more

06.11.07

Interesting Islands and Lakes

Posted in Culture and Ideas, Computers and Internet at 11:04 am by Jeff

Who has time to come up with this stuff?

The Island and Lake Combination

06.07.07

What I’m Reading

Posted in Computers and Internet at 5:18 pm by Jeff

I’ve recently lamented at the fact that I’ve become such a Google freak. You really must check out the new Google Reader. One intriguing feature is the ability to quickly share items that you are reading. When you mark an item to share, Google adds this item to a publicly available list. This list is published as a regular web page and as a feed.

The thought occurred to me that I could create a script to extract data from that feed and publish a “what I’m reading” module on my blog. This would allow me to modify my blog by simply marking items as “shared” in the Google Reader and these links would then auto-magically appear on my blog!

Well, if you look to the side-bar on the right, you can see my new “What I’m Reading” feature. I’m currently parsing the XML using PHP, but maybe later I’ll turn this into an AJAX script to improve performance and allow for background processing of the list.

In the mean time, if you want the PHP code, leave a comment.

06.04.07

Imagining the Tenth Dimension

Posted in Science and Technology at 3:10 pm by Jeff

Back in grade school, I remember enjoying Madeline L’Engle’s books. The whole concept of time travel and space folding was such a mind bender (still is). As if 4 or 5 dimensions weren’t enough, now physicists are conceptualizing ten of them.

Warning: this may make your head hurt.

Welcome to the Tenth Dimension

Check out the Flash based version of the site and navigate to “Imagining the Tenth Dimension” for an eleven minute presentation that will blow you away.