Schadenfreude

I never really appreciated the term. Sure, I've taken pleasure in the suffering of others. I'm human, after all. Not sure I've ever enjoyed it this much though. Lileks's saga of the Oak Island Water Feature seemed to have come to an end on Friday. (He's been mentioning it on and off since last September.) What a relief to read this morning that it still leaks.

I'd have thought he'd be having nightmares about it by now - but I'm guessing not since he hasn't written about them. At any rate I'm happy to say his continuing pain is our gain.

Indeed.

Scrappleface is always on target. Sometimes painfully so.

When asked how an outsider with no expertise in cryptology could break the code and comprehend the secret, the Popes spokesman said, To reveal the mystery, first lift the cover of the Bible. Then carefully examine all the text on the first page. Slowly turn the page. Repeat the process until the mystery becomes plain.

Taken out of context, one might almost think he had a point, eh?

Away for a little while...

I know it's been a while since I've posted. Unfortunately, it probably still will be for a while.

It's gotten very busy at work recently, and then a fourth of our department took 3 weeks vacation. He deserves it, so I don't begrudge him, but it means I don't have much time to post or even read blogs lately. (Work isn't the only priority which comes ahead of the blog.)

Hopefully things will calm down soon. Meanwhile, if you drop me an e-mail, I won't ignore it.

In case you've forgotten

There are some things about the Bush presidency which should please anyone who claims to love freedom and human rights. Here's one.

China and Russia last night thwarted a year-long diplomatic drive by Britain to impose United Nations sanctions on the perpetrators in of the violence in the Darfur province of Sudan ... The United States, which backed the British initiative, reacted angrily by threatening to call a public vote of the 15-nation Security Council that would force Russia and China into making a formal veto. Source: The London Times

Who's our ambassador to the UN? John Bolton. He's the guy President Bush appointed last year during Senate recess because his nomination was opposed by just about everyone to the left of -- well, the President, actually.

There was no shortage of detractors in the media at the time, either. In the Senate, at least, one mind is being changed:

"John Bolton at this point is a changed man," Voinovich told reporters. "I want reform of the United Nations, so I've worked with John and stayed on top of John to make sure he takes this wonderful opportunity."...Bolton's appointment expires next January. If Bush reappoints him, Voinovich said he "might not take the same position as last time." Source: AP

Tags: politics, UN

Happy Easter!

Sure, it's late in the day (today) but I figure people have been celebrating for 2000 years. So what's 12 hours here or there, right?

Ariel's got a great Easter post up at Bittersweet Blue.
LaShawn also has a great read here.

If you haven't read already, stop by and check them out!

Q&A, part one

It seems like the first thing major media does whenever stories like this or this come out is assume they are of equal or greater merit than the Bible. Doesn't it seem like the thing that a responsible journalist should do is to be skeptical and investigate? But who's got time for that, right?

A friend once insisted to me that the entire Bible was an elaborate deception fabricated centuries ago out of whole cloth. How or why someone would carry out such a complicated ruse, he could never explain to my satisfaction. So in light of recent news items, I submit some answers to my own questions.

Would people go to the trouble of creating false gods? Indeed, the Bible itself is full of people who worshipped false idols. Roughly all of the peoples in the promised land (before the Israelites moved in) were idolaters. Moses and Aaron challenged Pharoah's sorcerers in Egypt, and Elijah had the faith to stand up to the followers of Baal. (1 Kings 18. Read it!) And idolatry isn't limited to the Old Testament. The New Testament letters of Paul and Peter are replete with references to idols, and our lives are filled with the idols we've created: job, money, politics, status, pride, television, food, fitness, family, blog...

Wait a minute, you say, those aren't idols. They might be distractions, or personal weakness, but they're not gods. Some of them aren't even bad things! Fitness? Family?? And the blog? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Are you sure? Has one of those things (or something else that isn't God) become the center of your life? There's no shame in admitting it. I certainly have a hard time making Him the center of my life, though I'm asking Him to work on me.

Well, this post was going a totally different direction when I started, but this seems like a good place to stop. I'll try to continue back in that direction later in subsequent posts.

Tags: faith, Q&A

New problem, easily solved...

...I hope. Back in January our hard drive crashed, taking all of our important documents with it: Tax returns and resumes, mostly. Not to mention some recorded audio of our kids being genuinely cute. And so I learned about the importance of regular backups.

Well last night the computer wouldn't start up at all (no fans, no hard drive, etc.) but the little LED's which indicate a network connection came on fine. I'm thinking it's the power supply, having been down this road once before several years ago. So I'll be picking up a new one for cheap tonight and crossing my fingers.

A hard drive and a power supply failing within 6 months of each other. That leaves the CD drives, the motherboard, and the RAM. So I guess we haven't replaced half the computer yet. Regardless, when the MB goes, it's time for a new unit.

Tag: computer problems

Test No. 3

18 out of 20. Genius, I say!

Well, actually it came from a third party. A completely objective, anonymous third party, whose credibility in measuring such things is not verifiable. So it must be true.

I couldn't get number 7 or 19, by the way.

Hat tip: Mac Stansbury, guest-blogging at Alabama Improper.

Tag: time-waster

Peace at any price

Captain Ed reported that United for Peace and Justice was protesting in front of the Pentagon today, in an attention-seeking effort to build opposition to the presence of American troops overseas. Normally, I'd ignore this sort of thing because it just doesn't interest me that much, except I noticed that one of the featured speakers is local rabble-rouser Mike Ferner of Veterans For Peace.

I almost regret posting this, because it continues to draw attention to him. (You see, Ferner likes to see his name in print.) When he isn't giving speeches, he's writing about people getting arrested in connection with their opposition to the war.

When that doesn't satisfy him, he seeks to be arrested himself. Earlier this month he was arrested for interrupting a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee. On New Year's Day, he was arrested for defacing a few bridges here in the area. Then he had the nerve to imply that the arrest was violating his freedom of speech.

Of local note: Ferner was the favorite candidate for mayor here in Toledo in 1992, but lost narrowly to current mayor Carty Finkbeiner. Sure am glad we dodged that bullet!

Michele Malkin was there and has some pics.

Tag: lunacy

This just in:

Bush may actually be Hitler. Mr. Right has the scoop.

Hat tip to the Jawa Report.

Tag:humor