Friday, August 25, 2006

My little Dak


If you are the parent that has lived in the era of rear-facing car seats then you may have experienced the following phenomenon.

I usually have my daughter, Hallie, in the car seat right behind my seat. Whenever it is safe, I take a peak in the mirror to check on her. The other day it hit me while I was alone with her in the car that I felt like Luke Skywalker in a T-47 (snowspeeder) and that would make Hallie to be Dak Ralter.

As you no doubt know, the T-47 had a cockpit for two people but the rear person had to face the tail of the ship. So basically I drive around with my daughter saying things like "Steady, Dack. Attack pattern delta. Go now!" Really I hope she never finds out what I've put her through later in life.

Anyway, I'm having fun so that's what is important, right?

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Is it just me or...


Ok, I don't mean to trivialize a horrible event but I am just a little freaked out by the comparable likeness between John Mark Karr and the G-Man from Half-Life. Maybe it is just coincidence or maybe Valve just did good profiling work before they designed the perfect enemy of Gordon
Freeman.

I thought that I was so original with this comparison as I even wasted the time to edit these photos together myself. Then I found out I am not alone... here and here

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Thursday, August 17, 2006

Are You Ready...


Yes, it is Fantasy Football time and I am once again joining the geeky side of the NFL. Tomorrow Night I make the annual trek to Avon, IN to participate in the time honored Fantasy Football draft. We combine the evening with many hours of computer gaming and pizza. It is our last attachment to the glory days of college life. I'm in a keeper league but since I lost last year you can imagine that doesn't exactly work into my favor.

According to brief research I have done, the first Fantasy sport was Fantasy Golf and that started in the late '50s. Somewhere in the '60s an owner of the Oakland Raiders helped start up a little league with some buddys. Back then, of course, the scored everything manually.

Well hopfully when I wake up on Saturday morning I won't ache from bad decisions (or pizza).

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Getting too old for this stuff...


Facebook... MySpace... etc. I just don't belong. I tampered with setting up a couple of accounts to see if I could track down some old friends. But unfortunately my old friends have better things to do than live on the internet. I must be pathetic.

Using MySpace can wear you out too. In order to keep your content fresh you have to give it as much attention as playing The Sims or building up your Tamagotchi or Virtual Pet Rock.

Or think of a Blog as Fantasy Football and MySpace as Fantasy Baseball. MySpace takes too much work.

Maybe I'll find my old friends over at Virtual Atari 2600.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Voltron and the Bible


I was born in '74 so by the time the 80's came to town I was already exposed to new concepts in imagination due to the likes of George Lucas and a variety of TV science fiction. (sidenote: I also got to appreciate Ronald Reagan beating Jimmy Carter as I was just beginning to understand our democracy at age 5.)

Anyway in the early 80's I was exposed to Voltron: Defender of the Universe. I really enjoyed the show mostly because of the team that had to work together in order to survive. There was something very intriguing about trusting your life to a teammate.

For those of you unfamiliar with Voltron, the Lion team was made up of 5 members and each rode in a robotic lion. Each lion had its unique abilities. The lions would transform into a body part and join together to make one larger robot that was nearly invincible. Even more involved was Vehicle Voltron that was comprised of 15 members.

I used to imagine making up my own Voltron team with friends of mine in grade school. In my mind each one had their strengths and specific roles and I do not know where we were going to find crime to fight but that wasn't nearly as important as looking cool in a uniform and vehicle. I had a tree house in the backyard that I was intending to be our lair. I drew up plans for our underground garage to house our suped up go carts. Of course, I was sidetracked by reality so nothing went past the design stage. I was torn though when it came to colors. I wanted to be the black lion because I wanted to be the leader of the pack. But that meant wearing the red uniform. I would have to be the blue lion in order to wear the cool black uniform that Sven wore. Ah, such a dilemma.

Anyway, as I grew up I learned more about the Bible's teaching regarding the church being made of of different members and how they must work together to function as a healthy body. Believe it or not, Voltron becomes a very simple visual aid to support that understanding. For in Voltron each limb of the body is a person. So the analogy is very clear.

I am not going as far to say that I want to start the Church of Voltron, but at least some Christian children's marketing group should develop something along this line to help reinforce the fundamentals of a healthy church.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

You got your Apples in my Oranges


I admit that someone may see my following argument as an Apples vs. Oranges situation but that is ultimately ignoring the Truth.

While these examples may not function to fit the entire stereotype of liberals let's consider them anyway:

1) War. The USA should not engage in war. We should be an example of peace throughout the world. This would require restraint.

2) environment. The American people should refrain from using oil and petroleum whenever possible, and do not cut down trees. This would require adjusting our lifestyles.

3) Rich people. Rich people are evil because they make a lot of money and keep it away from poor people that need it more. Take more money from rich people and just give it to poor people.

4) Sex. People should be allowed to do what they want sexually as long as it doesn't break any laws. Yea! This doesn't require any restraint, I don't have to change my lifestyle, and I only need enough money to buy birth control.

Ok, you are probably wondering where all of this is going so let me get there quick. Liberals flood our brains through every media service out there. They try to tell the American public what is good, who is wrong, and then they counsel you so you know how to improve your life.

They make many claims about areas where we need restraint but that pattern really unravels when it comes to things that are self gratifying and pleasurable to themselves.

Regarding war, they believe if you do not bother other countries then they won't bother you. Sure someone might come along and bomb your tropical military base or knock over a couple of big towers housing thousands of innocent victims but leave them alone and they may not bother you again. So, kids, whenever you are beat up by a bully at school, rejoice. Because according to liberal lore, they won't bother you again if you leave them alone.

Regarding the environment, do not get me wrong. I believe in taking care of what God has given us, but, HELLO, that is the difference here. I want to take care of the earth because it is God's. The liberal wants to take care of it because they... wait a second, how many liberals, especially the "Hollywood types", are actually cutting back on things that pollute this world? Very few if any. That means... they do not actually mean what they say. They simply want people to like them so they claim to be superheros and paint conservative people to be the enemy. They do not do as they preach, they just build a blind army.

Regarding rich people, uh, good for them? So we fought a history of bloody battles so that people could forge their own futures. This includes people deciding how they earn a living, like acting for example. For whatever reasons, people are willing to spend more money on some products and services than others. That makes some people wealthier than others. The funny thing is that the same wealthy people that back the environmentalist army are also crying out against the plight of the poor. How can they speak on behalf of the poor? I can't even do that and I certainly squeak into the bottom of the middle-class America. So since the actors, musicians, and politicians have not decided to take pay cuts, I must assume they do not really believe in practicing a financial restraint to support the economy in the fashion they describe.

Regarding sex (now I'm getting to my point. Thanks for hanging in this far.), we have seen patterns where the liberal wants to solve they worlds issues based on using restraint against the desires of human will. However suppressing casual sex is considered ridiculous and even cruel to mankind. They're fine with people having as much "protected" consenting sex as needed as long as other laws aren't broken. So it is better in their mind to tell a teenager, "who's gonna do it anyway", to use a condom so that they minimize the risk of disease and unwanted pregnancy. The solution is not 100% effective however the related industries and spokespersons are encouraging youth that promiscuous sex is fine and most likely you will have no ill effects from it.

Now, why do liberals push restraint all day long except in the areas where it competes against carnal gratification and selfishness (somehow it seems that the other examples would logically fall into this category as well)?

If two people, a man and a woman, enter a monogamous relationship and neither has an STD, they will not contract such a disease between themselves. If two people, do not have sex at all, they will never get pregnant. But that is crazy talk. How can anyone not have sex all the time? That would require restraint. The same kind of restraint that liberals already do not use in the areas that they preach about needing to use it.

So we will go on having more victims of sexual disease and horrible abortions because "that's life". What a poor lie to empress on the youth of America. I hope and pray for wisdom for the new generation that it would be smarter than its parent's generation so that these youth will not believe the lies that are spoon fed from liberal "authorities".

Because of sexual perversion, horrible things have happened throughout history. The Old Testament of the Bible even records a kingdom that is plagued, a city that is burned, and curses given to family members just because someone couldn't practice sexual restraint. If you also look through the laws of the Old Testament you will see that God is quite descriptive about what sexual acts are a perversion of His design. His standards always ring true in the aftermath of going against His words.

Do not forget that His standards are also full of blessings for those that follow His word. He is God. He keeps His promises... much better than ANY politician. (even Ronald Reagan)