Illuminatea

Summer is here and school is out, so the kids are looking for more to do. One thing they won't be doing for the next couple of weeks, however, is riding their bikes. You see, some bastard(s) stole their bikes at some point in the last couple of days (we were out most of Friday, so it could have been any time from Friday afternoon until Saturday ...

My friend Mir was telling me about a writing challenge she's been working on lately on one of her web forums; someone posts nine words and then people write a poem incorporating them.I decided to do something different: write a poem in nine words.Discipline.Commitment.Relationship.Can't I have easy lessons, God?

...in my last post when I said this was the year of the outage. About the time Steph and I tried to get the domain controller back online, we had a completely unrelated bit of breakage take down the blog server for another several weeks. Finally tracked it down and fixed it this weekend, and in the process fixed more of the cruft on the ...

For the past several months (maybe even year or two), I've been pondering an essay on how short and overt expressions of Christianity seem to be a staple feature of the country music genre and the severe cognitive dissonance this sometimes produces. Several events have happened recently that convince me I need to write this essay sooner, ...

Steph just forwarded me a blog post that has taken my metaphorical breath away. I haven't had a chance to properly take it in; all I have are questions and impressions. No answers, sorry. Most unlike me, I know; I'm usually much more of a know-it-all. Steph is sitting over at her computer, working on her own reaction, so keep checking ...

One of the things I like about 3Sharp is that I have a great group of co-workers. We can be heads-down in the middle of the most amazingly deep technical discussion and without batting an eye (or dropping an ASCII smiley) transition into the most esoteric (or geeky -- or for extra points, both) topics. Just now, I was discussing the plight ...

For a while now, I've been kicking around the idea of writing a book on Christianity. All this recent fuss over The Da Vinci Code just convinces me of two things: today's Amercian Christian churches serious need a well-placed slap upside the head and there's a lot of free publicity just waiting for the enterprising writer. Without further ado, ...

Love your Enemies End the OccupationRelease the Peacemakers

Holidays are a time of love, peace, family unity, good smells coming from the kitchen, world peace, and a fluffy bunny for every child. They are also times of high stress, especially for those who are hosting the inevitable gatherings. Lots of chores, food preparation, and other tasks of varying degrees of pleasantness await those who extend ...

You get pissed off about sex in video games because of the children. You get pissed off about homosexuality because of the children. You get pissed off about all sorts of things because of the children. And yet you support a war, and the leadership which is waging it, in which our troops are encouraged to use incendiary weapons in urban areas ...

I still remember a time in politics, back when I was a lad, when the conservatives were the people who thought that you created the fewest number of laws you could get away with and the liberals were the ones who thought that if something was a good idea it needed to be enshrined in law. Sounds like the opening of a science fiction story, ...

I got some very difficult news tonight about a friend. I have no words of my own, so I offer these that were crafted by Annie Lennox, Howard Shore and Fran Walsh , to be sung so powerfully by Annie Lennox for the end of The Lord of the Rings: Lay down your sweet and weary head Night is falling; you’ve come to journey's end Sleep now and ...

Neither Stephanie nor I are pretty when we cry. If you're drawing a blank on why the above line makes sense in a post titled ''It's My Party,'' you've obviously never seen the movie of the same name starring Eric Roberts and Gregory Harrison. This movie is not everyone's cup of tea -- the story is about Nick (Eric Roberts), has just been ...

I made it all the way through Lent without having any pop[1], so Easter Sunday afternoon I treated myself to a can of Pepsi. I had another one this afternoon. It just doesn't taste as good as I used to think it did. I won't have any trouble keeping pop as an occasional treat, rather than a steady part of my diet. Hmph. [1] Pop, soda, soda pop, ...

Thanks to PNH of Electrolite fame and Wil Wheaton, I learned about the list of blogs and bloggers taking a public stance against the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General of the United States. The original kick-off is here and the overflow list is here. Count me in. This one is a no-brainer.

Today, we spent the lion's share of our day at the consecration of our dicoese's new Bishop Suffragan. Bavi Edna Rivera, or Nedi as we know her, occupies an interesting place in the history of the Diocese of Olympia (Western Washington) of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America (ECUSA). Follow along, if you dare, on these Fun Nedi ...

John Scalzi posted his seven Maxims for Non-Believers and they struck me as so well-crafted, I immediately wished that I was a non-believer so that I could use them: Being a non-believer does not mean you have to be intolerant of those who believe. Being a non-believer does not mean you have to be ignorant of the beliefs of those around you. ...

It seems the American Family Association is upset with FCC Chairman Michael Powell, according to the e-mail I received from them last night. They've set up a lovely website for you to register your displeasure with a few clicks and contribute to what they hope is an overwhelming volume of e-mail in protest. I did in fact make use of their site, ...

As I was getting ready for bed, a casual conversation with my wife kicked off a thought that resulted in me rushing to the keyboard. This post is the result. Those of you who read me on LJ may not know that I am a Christian. That's not a very comforting thing to have to type. I'm actually happy that I've had this kind of post, because I want to ...