Game: Seen on Screen

An interesting puzzle game. You click on things on the screen based on short cryptic clues. I finished it, so if you need hints, let me know through the comments. Lev 13 was difficult, i think because it's wrong.

What Christmas means to me

I don't care that Jesus wasn't actually born on December 25, 0 AD. To me, that isn't what Christmas is all about. It's not a birthday party, where we bring out a cake and approximately 2010 candles; we don't decorate the room with festive banners, and play pin the tail on the sheep. In fact, did you know that the early Church frowned on celebrating birthdays? Origen, a great theologian of the early Church, in one of his commentaries wrote: "Some one of those before us has observed what is written in Genesis about the birthday of Pharaoh, and has told that the worthless man who loves things connected with birth keeps birthday festivals; and we, taking this suggestion from him, find in no Scripture that a birthday was kept by a righteous man." I know it's hard to understand that old writing, but basically it's saying, only bad men celebrate birthdays. He said to look as an example the Pharaoh and Herod. He also went on to further say, no righteous man in the Bible ever celebrated a birthday. I could never make such a bold statement, since I'm not Bible scholar, but apparently that's all he did, study the Bible even in its original Hebrew.

Nope, for me Christmas isn't about birthdays, keeping score of how old Jesus was. To me, Christmas is about honoring Jesus, and remembering the time He abased himself and became mortal. To me, Christmas is tightly intertwined with Easter, the two bookends of my salvation. One cannot exist without the other. Christmas is the celebration of the beginning of grace, of forgiveness. Yes, I still indulge in all the trappings of Christmas, giving gifts to my family, singing carols, go to Christmas concerts. It's fun, and a good diversion from the rest of the mundane, which is my life. I still participate in my Church's Christmas program, even if it is only for entertainment. However, I always remember that Christmas isn't just a festival celebrated once a year. It's in my heart 24/7/365. It's a mindset, that Heaven came down, and Glory filled my soul.

What kind of gifts are you expecting? For me, I want good health for my family. I want my entire family to stay strong with the Lord. I wouldn't mind more of them reading my blog, but only God can make the impossible, possible :) So, have some eggnog, relax with your family and friends, forget about work. Click on all the links I've provided over this past year, I promise you'll find at least one thing to enjoy. I'm going to be on vacation next week, so you'll prolly not hear from me till Next Year. Merry Christmas and have a happy New Year everyone! Peace.

Christmas Myths (Pt 1)

Well, it's here. Christmas. The word has different meaning to everyone, based on their religion, race, culture. To some it means skiing, to others it brings memories of jam-packed malls and outrageous sales, and to others, it evokes images of Church Christmas play or Church potlucks. And to some, it brings memories of the Birth of Jesus.

Lately, there has been a huge backlash against Christmas, from both the conservative Christians and from the atheists. It's interesting how two polar opposites can agree on one thing about Christmas, they both don't like what it represents today.

Now, take your kids out of the room, because this blog is for mature readers only. Most of the Christmas story is a myth. Now, there are many attacks on the Nativity story, but I'm only going to deal with the ones that can be supported solely from the Bible.

Genealogy of Jesus
The two major Birth stories occur in Matthew (1:1-16) and in Luke (3:23-37). And both of them thoughtfully include the genealogy of Jesus. If you're at all like me, once I see a huge list of names, my eyes kinda glaze over, and I drift through each line and verse until I see a normal paragraph again. And if you are like me, you would not have noticed that the two genealogies are vastly different. First, Matthew traces Jesus to Abraham, while Luke traces it further back to Adam. Scholars believe this is because the author was writing to different audiences. The branch or split occurs after the David. Matthew traces Jesus' lineage along the bloodline of Solomon, while Luke traces it along the bloodline of Nathan. No one knows for sure which is correct.

Three Kings of Orient
This is taken from Matthew. First of all, they weren't kings. Matthew called them Magi, or wise men (Mat 2:1). Most likely they were astrologers, people who divined events of importance from looking at the stars. Second of all, there weren't three of them. Or maybe there were. But we don't know for sure. Matthew just mentions them in the plural sense throughout the passage. Now, I'm guessing that whoever wrote that song thought it would be fitting for there to be three because Matthew mentioned three gifts that they brought (Mat 2:11). So wouldn't it be cool for a song for each king to bring one gift?

King Herod and the Execution order
Because the Three Kings were long associated with Jesus' birth, it was only natural to include Herod as the bad guy in this story. After all, he was the one who pointed them to Bethlehem.(Mat 2:8) However, his inclusion in the Nativity story should be minimal at best. When the magi finally came to Israel, Jesus was already a boy. And based on Herod's execution order, we can deduce that he was around two. That's why Herod ordered all children under 2 (Mat 2:16). If Jesus was still a baby, when Herod found out about this new King of the Jews, he would most likely have ordered the deaths of all babies or persons under the age of 1. It might have been a safety move on his part to have the 2 year olds killed too, but what's the chances of someone mistaking a 2 year old with a baby boy?

Jesus was born December 25th
First of all, no one knows the exact date of Jesus birth. The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar. And if you are Chinese, Vietnamese or Persian, you know what that means. It's hard to convert a lunar calendar to the Gregorian Calendar. There's always a floating month every couple of years. So it's hard to pinpoint exactly when Jesus was born in the Hebrew Calendar, and even then you have to convert it to Gregorian system, which will totally be off. But, even though we don't know the exact date, the Bible gives us a time-frame, or season-frame as the case may be. Luke writes about a bunch of shepherds living out in the fields, tending their flocks at night (Luke 2:8). Do you think this would happen during the winter, which is where December would fall? It's highly unlikely. The most plausible explanation is either spring or summer, when it is still warm enough outside for shepherds to live in the open.

So, why December 25th then? As is the reason behind Halloween, we must look at the early century Church. Going along with the program of adopting pagan rituals and "Christianizing" them, they incorporated all the winter festivals and feasts and changed them to Christmas, the birthday of Jesus. There were three major pagan festivals around December, Saturnalia, Natalis Solis Invicti, and one that should sound very familiar, Yule.

Video: Scary Mary

A long time ago (maybe last year?) there was a small internet fad of taking movies and re-editing them to different genres. So, here I bring you Mary Poppins, the Horror movie: Scary Mary.

Game: Pacman-like game

There was an old freebie game where you draw lines to divide the screen up from the bouncing balls. This is something similar, only it uses Pacman and the ghosts and powerups. Pretty fun. Check it out.

Arlington Wreaths

A very uplifting story about a man's desire to never let soldiers be forgotten.

Rituals (Pt 2)

Rituals, by its very nature are not a bad idea. If they were, people wouldn't be using them so often, not just in religious ceremonies (as rituals are most often associated with) but even in every day life. Don't you have a morning "ritual"? I know I do. Get up, do the toilet tango, brush my teeth, shower, comb my hair, dress up and dash downstairs as I'm late for work. I'm sure you have one too. Most likely upon waking up, you don't randomly do your various waking up tasks, like putting on clothes, then brushing your teeth, then jump in the shower, then do your business. So, do you see why rituals are important? With a routine, it allows our bodies to do the basic tasks while the brain is focused on more important things (like waking up). Rituals ensure that everything we need to do, will be done, without the brain worrying about every step. It allows our brains to go on auto-pilot. Can you imagine the added stress it would cause us, if we have to consciously remember everything we do? Just the sheer thought would probably motivate you to stay in bed. It's easier :P

Rituals also give us comfort. Most humans feel safe around a controlled environment. It's why everyone feels safest at home, even though there is no mathematical reason why it is so. You are still just as likely to get robbed or cheated while at home then at the office or in your car on the way to work. No, the comfort of home is in the control people have over their environment. Things are where they are expected to be. Rituals in a way allow us to control certain aspects of our life. Driving the same route to work every day is a comforting ritual. You know exactly how far to drive, which exit to get off on, which street to turn into. Imagine what it would be like if your company switched locations every day. You would have to get a new map, get lost, drive slowly looking for the right street while people behind you are honking and throwing fingers at you. Not exactly a good way to start the day, right?

So, the same reasons apply to religious rituals. There are entire denominations that rely on rituals. Catholics are very ritual-centric, but I would say that Greek Orthodox are the most ritualistic. I once went down to a friend's wedding with a Greek Orthodox. The interesting thing was he wasn't born into that faith. He was actually a Baptist. But after he dropped out of military academy, he grew his hair long, sported a beard, and started to attend a Greek Orthodox Church. I was naturally curious about his decision, and he began to tell me why. Now bear in mind, this conversation happened about 4 years ago, and I've been told I mishear things all the time, so this may not be too accurate. However, from what I understand, the essence of worshiping God is not in the preaching, the praise service, or even the prayers. The repetition of the liturgy, vespers, and prayers, allow our minds to commune with God. By taking away all the distractions of our bodies, we are free to focus on the divinity itself. Just like the morning rituals we all do when we wake up, instead of worrying about what songs to sing, what the sermon is going to be about, we can instead focus on loving God, being in His Presence. The prayer books, the sermons have been written hundreds of years ago, by the powerful Christian thinkers of that time. They have been passed down from century to century, every word carefully preserved. And the purpose of them is to be familiar, comforting, to be as stress-free as possible. So that the worshiper can focus just on God.

To be honest, it's hard for me, personally, to give good reasons why it is best to have traditions in Church worship. So, I will end with a paragraph taken from a true and fervent believer in ritual worship, Mr. Lewis.

..Novelty, simply as such, can have only an entertainment value. And they don't go to church to be entertained. They go to use the service, or, if you prefer, to enact it. Every service is a structure of acts and words through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to these things best - if you like, it "works" best - when through long familiarity, we don't have to think about it. As long as you notice and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don't notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.
But every novelty prevents this. It fixes our attention on the service itself; and thinking about worship is a different thing from worshipping...
Thus my whole liturgiological position really boils down to an entreaty for permanence and uniformity. I can make do with almost any kind of service whatever, if only it will stay put. But if each form is snatched away just when I am beginning to feel at home in it, then I can never make any progress in the art of worship." (Letters to Malcom: Chiefly on Prayer, pp 4-5)

If you are interested in other topics about the ritual of Service, check out this paper, by a Reformed Presbyterian Pastor. Peace out.

Video: Creep you out

Do you remember Jibjab, who made their 10 minutes of fame with that Bush and Kerry "Our land"? Well, combine their zany animation with Weird Al's great humor, and you get this.

Rituals (Xmas)

Rituals have such a bad connotation nowadays.  When I say (write) the word ritual, what’s the first thing that pops in your head?  For me, I get the sense of over-used, trite, lifeless.  Tired is often an adjective that gets lumped in with ritual, much like fiery temper or stony silence.  Tired rituals.  It’s become a cliché now.  And when people suggest doing something that’s been done before, instead of saying “It sucks”, they would say, “That’s so ritualized now”.  Well, probably not the common man, but, maybe common English majors?  

But rituals aren’t a bad thing.  Rituals have a sense of tradition, a feeling of history.  When the ritual first began, it held some importance to a group of people.  That’s how they start at any rate.  For example, when I say Independence Day, what comes into your head?  Fireworks, hotdogs, family barbeques…  But if you said the same thing to people in 1800’s, what do you think they would think of?  Fireworks, sausages, witch burnings… whoops, just kidding!  No, they probably would think, boy it’s great to be free of those pesky English!  This is a great day to celebrate our freedom!  Then the Easterners would paint their faces in blue paint and wear skirts with no underwear.  I might be getting it mixed up with the Scottish, but y’know, same difference.

Let’s look at another more important ritual.  Christmas.  Malls, sales, crowds, jostling with every one to get into the paying line.  Santa Claus sitting in the chair taking pictures, Santa Claus in the movies, Santa Claus outside the store ringing that bell with a red bucket on a tripod.  There’s the incessant rushing around to various Christmas parties, the Christmas dancing, the Christmas plays.  Shopping in a crowded mall with thousands of kids screaming all at the tops of their lungs while Christmas music blares into your eardrums and the wild festive colors of red and green assault the senses.  It’s enough to drive anyone insane, no wonder people are fed up with that holiday season.  It’s gotten so bad, that people actually start dreading the holiday season.  I’m one of them.

Christmas as a ritual, is a “Bad thing”.  But then, if you see it as a contemporary ritual, you are missing the point.  Rituals are all about the original intent.  If you look past the gifts, eggnog and cheer, you’ll see something that is most basic and fundamental.  It’s about the birth of salvation.  If you perform a ritual from the heart, that’s a “Good Thing”.  And that’s what we forget.  When we perform a ritual, don’t just go through the motions.  Remember why we are celebrating it in the first place.  In this case, live in the past.  Feel the way the pioneers of that tradition felt when they started it.  This just doesn’t apply to Christmas either.  Easter, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, even President’s and Veteran’s Day.  They are all rituals that celebrate something important, and if you don’t know what that is, then maybe you should take the time to look it up.  Rituals don’t also have to be holidays either.  There’s the ritual, or rite, of the sacrament, of baptism, of marriage.  Do you ever say those are tired traditions?  

If you do, then maybe it’s time to stop doing it, and reflect why it is you are doing it.  Trust me, I don’t think the Church or God will be offended.

Top College Pranks

A list of the top 10 college hoaxes as compiled by the Museum of hoaxes. Each hoax is described and reasons are given why it should be in the top 10. Most are pretty amusing.

Quiz: Where have I seen this guy?

Happy Monday! Here's a quiz for all you movie star buffs. A very hard quiz on supporting actors. I only managed an 8.

Game: The Car

Another point and click adventure. This time about a experimental car. It wasn't too bad. Just remember to click view object on the items you pick up. If you're stuck, drop me a line and I'll see if I can help you out.

100 Greatest TV Quotes

TV Land is going to air a week-long series on the 100 greatest TV Quotes starting Dec 11. Here's the advanced list in alphabetical order. You'll just have to tune in to see which is number one! Interestingly, I think SNL has the most quotes. Seinfeld has one! Yay!

Motives (Pt 2)

Sorry for the lateness of this post, but the dog ate my journal. So that I don't confuse myself, I'm posting it under Thursday, even though I wrote it today, Friday.

Today’s topic is kinda related to my previous column, about motives and intents. However, I came across a passage that made me stop and think. It seems to go against everything I’ve said before; to me, it says the “Ends do justify the Means.” In other words, the result is all that matters, the hidden motives behind the actions do not matter. It’s exactly the opposite of the entire column I wrote before. Where is this verse? It’s in Philippians 1:15-18. Here's the passage so you don't have to turn to it. (Aren't I nice?)

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

I took the liberty of highlighting the important points. Now, unlike my previous articles, I have been very careful about those niggling things like context and exegesis. It's why I got ripped off bought the Expositor's Bible. I wanted to make sure I didn't get this wrong, and they all agree with me. In this one case, Paul is saying that motives don't matter.

So let me explain to you what's going on, here, as I understand it. When Paul wrote this letter, he was in prison. And he heard from his little birds, about people preaching the gospel. Some he knew, preached out of love and goodness. They preached because they honestly love the Lord, and want to fulfill Jesus' commission. But others, Paul understood, preached out of pettiness and jealousy. They wanted to hurt Paul, by showing him that while he's stuck in prison, apparently unable to do anything, they're out spreading the gospel far and wide. Secretly, they were jealous of Paul. They wanted to hurt him, make him feel powerless, because he wasn't at the forefront of the ministry spreading the gospel. However, little do they know that Paul was bigger than that. He was magnanimous. The second interesting thing is that Paul did not find any fault with their preaching. They were teaching the exact same gospel that Paul and his followers preached. Because he did not say anything bad about their preaching style, we must conclude that they are preaching the same thing he did. So that's another thing to keep in mind.

I want to preface the whole thing by saying first, that this is the only example I could find where motives did not matter to Paul. As I had shown you in my previous column, there are many many examples where motives do matter. This is significant because it means that this is a very isolated, special case. I think there are several factors which make this a specialized case, factors which I will detail later. But I just want to warn you that it will be very hard to apply this passage to any argument you may make about the "ends justifying the means." That's all I'm saying.

First of all, this passage illustrates that Paul is a totally ego-less person, humble to the extreme. These people preached the gospel to get at Paul. To ridicule him for his imprisonment. While he is stuck in a holding cell, all these other people can finally be at the forefront of spreading the gospel everywhere. These were people who had too long been living under Paul's shadow. However, Paul didn't take their bait. Essentially, with this passage, he's saying, "Good Job! You have spread the gospel!" He doesn't care who preaches, as long as they're preaching the right gospel. He clearly writes that he doesn't care why they are preaching the gospel, as long as it is being preached. He doesn't want divisions within the Church, where people are baptized from Paul, others from Barnabas. He wants everyone to be baptized and live in unity. Just like he doesn't care who spreads the gospel, as long as everyone can hear it, and know the full knowledge of Christ.

Second of all, it is very important to note that these preachers with evil motives, nevertheless preached the correct gospel. The message they gave was the exact same message that Paul gave. If they had preached a wrong or false gospel, Paul would have come down hard on them. These weren't Gnostics, of whom Paul had denounced in many of his other letters. Nor were these Judaizers, who tried to preach Jewish customs to Gentiles, a practice that Paul also abhors.

Even though this was a very isolated case, it is still important because as American legal system would say, "It sets a precedent." Paul shows that under the right circumstances, it doesn't matter what their motives were. He is happy nevertheless, because the gospel is preached! It didn't matter to him that some people preached out of envy or jealousy. Just as long as the gospel is reached around the world. In this case, motives don't matter. Now, can we apply this situation to today? Well, possibly. If someone today preaches the correct gospel, but he does it because he wants to become famous, is that wrong? Or if someone starts up another church because he doesn't like the pastor of his current church, is that wrong? If someone serves in a Church ministry out of obligation, "because if I don't, who will" mentality, or to be recognized within the church, is that wrong? I can't answer these questions, only the Holy Spirit can.

A-Z Retail Tricks

Here is an informative website on how retailers use tricks to get you to shop more. The page background is atrocious though, making it a little hard to read.

Motives (Pt 1)

I've done a lot of thinking about this blog and columns. In the beginning, I created this blog. Unlike The Supreme One, I had no purpose, rhyme or reason to do so. I had some things that had been stewing in my hamster wheel, and it was cluttering my mind. This was a way to put my thoughts down in some version of permanence, which allowed me to promptly clear out my head for some new thoughts. At least that was the idea. Unfortunately all I have now is an empty head. Anyway, I've made a lot of mistakes, and I tried a lot of different directions. At first I was going for the application side of Christianity, what it's like to live in the real world not in some fantasy Christian-land. Then I took a dark turn and started to rant and rave for a while. Now, I think I'm ready to try the middle path. I'm not going to give my opinions anymore. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop talking about controversial topics, but it means that what I will endeavor to do is to provide both sides of the argument, and let you, my dearest reader, to decide for yourself. And today is as good a day to start.

While (You will never read "whilst" from me in this blog or ever! I think it's highly pretentious.) I was doing my once-in-a-blue-moon Bible Study/ Quiet Time, I came upon an interesting verse, and it literally shook one of my core beliefs. So interested was I in it, that yes, I actually bought an expository Bible (granted it was used, and as I found out much later, a very old version, so yeah you could say I was ripped off... especially when a friend offered to give me a copy for free. But isn't that what friendship is all about? Ripping off each other?) just to see if my understanding of it was correct or not. I'm still not sure. Ahh, what is it, you ask? Sorry peeps, but you'll have to wait til Thursday to find out. For now, I want to talk about: the heart.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." (1 Co 13:1)

This well-known verse is commonly understood to mean that without love, all your spiritual gifts are meaningless. Or put it another way, it's all about your motives. You could be blessed with God's most powerful miracle abilities, but if your heart isn't in the right place, then it is wasted. Even now, people are so focused on skills and super-human abilities, that they forget why they have the gifts in the first place. It's not to puff yourself up, but it's to show God's love.

Paul even continues on. Knowledge, faith? All nice things to have. Gifts of charity? Martydom? Yeah, those really evoke noble images. But they're not things that make a Christian unique. Even non-Christians are capable of such acts. Look at those who die for apartheid, injustice, even trees! But, if these acts are done without love, then it's all for nothing. No one will be brought to Christ because of these self-sacrifices. It's not the actions that move people, but the reasons behind the actions. Let's use this short scenario as an exercise. You see a guy rush out to save a beautiful girl from almost being hit by a car. That is certainly a noble thing. How would you still feel if right after that, you see him ask her for her phone number and later for a date? Now what if instead, just before she was almost hit by the car, she had robbed the guy at gun point and was trying to make a quick get-away? Which scenario would make you stop and think? I would venture the second would. Why? Because it's counter-intuitive, it doesn't appear to be a selfish act, whereas in the first scenario, you're left wondering if he saved her to make himself look good. The second scenario looks like the guy did it out of love, or concern for her health, regardless of what she just did to him.

There are plenty of other passages (Pro 16:2, 1 Chr 28:9, 1 Cor 4:5) that deal with the hidden motives. God always looks at someone's heart, rather than their actions. It's this power, that makes God the perfect Judge. So for everything you do, keep that in mind. You aren't doing it for other people, you are doing it for God. And when God calls you up on your actions, don't try to lie to Him about it. Do you want to know what happens when you forget this very important point?

Well, sit back, put your feet up, and let me regale you a tale. During the early church days, there was a dude named Barnabas. He sold a field and donated all the proceeds to the Church. There was much praise for him. Another guy, named Ananias and his wife Sapphira, saw this and wanted that praise. So he too sold some land, but kept part of the proceeds for himself. Then he gave the rest of the money to the apostles. But instead of praise, Peter calls him out a liar, and he dies. His wife comes in later, and lies as well to Peter and plop, she goes down as well. So what's the moral of the story? When you sell land, give all the proceeds to the Church? Well, no, that wasn't the point. The problem with Ananias was that he lied about the donation. He claimed he gave "all" the proceeds to Church, when in fact, he didn't. You can try to lie to others, and your actions may seem righteous, but you can't fool God. He sees through all deceits and subterfuges. And believe me, He will lay the smack down.

Now some will say, that is all there is to this story. The intent of the author is to show you don't lie to God. However, I can't help but wonder why did Ananias try to lie to God? In the verses before, the author writes about Barnabas and the act he did. Ananias did the same act, but he died. The basic act (giving) was the same, but the intentions were not. I wonder, had Ananias told Peter that he was only donating part of the proceeds to the Church, would he have died?

It's a wonderful internet

Pretty cool flash video. It's a parody of "It's a wonderful life". The little slide things is a little gimmicky. It's supposed to evoke images of those old picture books, you know, in brick and mortar stores?

Game: Dolphin Olympics

It's pretty simple, and fun. Just use the 4 direction keys. Pressing down will do corkscrews. The key is to do jump after jump after jump quickly to really rack up the points. Dolphin Olympics

Super Mario Bros 3

Check it out before it gets taken down by the "Man". It seems to be a faithful recreation of that classic, Super Mario Bros 3. I never got past the first level though, but it's pretty good!

Best time to buy

Just in time for the holidays, here's a short article that lists some of the best times to buy stuff. Some of it is obvious and some aren't.

These are the facts...

Sorry for the lack of a column this week. At least try to pretend to be sad, ok? :)
Anyway, I'll return next week with something good, for once. So in place of a column, I present you two interesting articles!
People outrageous at how lawsuit-happy we have become as a nation, often cite the McDonald's Coffee lawsuit as a prime example of a frivolous lawsuit. However, as this urban legend grew, many important facts have been omitted. Here's a writeup about what really went down in that case. Maybe it wasn't so frivolous after all.

Lots of puzzles!

This game has a lot of puzzles to go through. It gives you no instructions, you have to figure everything out yourself. You only have to use your mouse tho, so click and drag away!

Improve your chance at getting a job

I read this guy's references, he seems like someone who knows what he's talking about. He gives some ways to better improve yourself for job interviews. A lot of very good points, and I agree with a lot of them, even though the last job interview I did was 5 years ago? Anyway, he adds a lot of humor in there as well. This is targeted mainly to tech companies, but I'm sure some of the basics can be applied elsewhere. Check it out.

Animator vs Animation II

Yes! A sequel to the award-winning (awarded by me) video. Definitely check it out.

Thanksgiving traditions

National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation

Urban legend has it, that the very first presidential pardon, was given by Lincoln when his son was worried that his pet turkey would be eaten on Thanksgiving. In a grand public gesture, as only a loving father would do, the President pardoned the turkey. This ritual became annualized in 1945, during the office of Harry Truman. The National Turkey Federation (Yes, even turkeys have lobbyists!) presented Truman with a turkey. Sadly, these turkeys would still end up as dinner, albeit for the president and his family. It wasn't until JFK, when he let the turkey live the rest of its free life in a turkey farm. In the present time, two turkeys are given to the president. The more photogenic turkey is the official "pardoned" turkey, while the runner-up, in case the first turkey is unable to perform its turkily duties, gets stuffed and eaten. Ha ha! Just kidding! No, he gets pardoned as well. Afterwards, they get sent to Disneyland (like all our other celebrities) and become the Grand Marshall of the Turkey Parade. And you only WISH I was making that up. Since 2003, the White House provides a poll for people to name the pair of turkeys. In 2003, the pair were named "Stars and Stripes". In 2004, it was "Biscuits and Gravy". 2005 saw "Marshmallow and Yams". And this year, they will be called... (drumr0ll please!) "Flyer and Fryer".

Traditional Thanksgiving Hymn

Apparently there are quite a few Thanksgiving songs, making it the second largest holiday with themed songs. The first is obviously Veteran's Day. Or Christmas, one of the two. Anyway, here's the official Thanksgiving song that you must sing at your Thanksgiving table. If you don't, it's not a real feast. It's called, "We Gather Together". Sing along with me now!

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,
Sing praises to His name: He forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
And pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

Started in 1924, the Macy's Department Store in Manhattan held a parade for the city. Everybody loved it, and so the heads at Macy's decided to hold one every year. During World War 2, Macy's graciously donated the rubber, used to make their balloons to the war effort, which is the only time the Parade was not held. The year after the war, 1945, it returned bigger and better than ever. The 2-mile route was established then, which is the same route followed every year thereafter. Another first was that year was the first time it was televised. Of course, only the 5 richest people in America saw that show. During this time, the parade mainly consisted of high school marching bands and lots of big balloons. It wasn't until 1969, that floats, essentially big Kleenex boxes on wheels, were invented. Presently, about 2.5 million people line the streets to watch the parade, and over 40 million watch it on TV.

Thanksgiving Feast

The centerpiece of a Thanksgiving meal is the turkey. In 2003, USDA estimates over 260 million turkeys were raised in the country, of which 1/6 were consumed on Thanksgiving Day alone. That's a lot of turkeys! That's about 43 million turkeys eaten today! Another common tradition is for the person who gets the Turkey wishbone. This lucky person will hand one end of the bone to the person sitting next to them. Each grasping one end of the bone, they pull it apart. The one with the larger end will have his wish granted. Thus, a lucky person can have up to 2 wishes granted, one from birthday and one from Thanksgiving. There was a funny Seinfeld episode about that... Anyway, the typical side dishes that accompany the Turkey are: mashed potatoes (With the skins on! I've been converted to that and believe true mashed potatoes must have skins!), New England stuffing (it MUST be from New England, anywhere else is crap!) -- which is normally stuffed inside the turkey, candied yams (it's yamerriffic!), and lastly pumpkin pie (taken from Halloween's Jack-o-Lantern).

Mmmm... talking about all this food has made me hungry. Anyway, there is one last tradition I'll talk about next week. Enjoy your holidays! I know I will, catering from Ranch 99... Yummy!

We can rebuild him... we have the technology

That wsa the opening lines for a great cheesy 70's show, "Six Million Dollar Man". I loved that show. Well, looks like the future is here! The first woman with a bionic arm. It's crazy. If they can improve the strength on it, I might just hack off my arms and get them replaced! Read it here. Be warned, it may require registration, although when I clicked it, it was fine.

Thanksgiving (Pt 1)

So this week is Thanksgiving. Similar to the Halloween post, I figured now is a good chance to talk about the history of Thanksgiving. (If this sounds like a cop-out, well... it is!)

The very first Thanksgiving happened with the Pilgrims, when they came to America during the 17th Century. Thought to be an outgrowth of the Harvest Festival back in the Old Country, the Pilgrims decided to celebrate the last day of Harvest with a celebration. At first it was more a religious observance rather than a celebration. They literally thanked God for rain. This happened off and on until about the 18th Century. After the Revolutionary War, each successive president starting from Washington would proclaim a day as Thanksgiving. This day would bounce back and forth based on the whim of the president at the time.

Lincoln signed a proclamation (He sure loves to make proclamations, doesn't he?) to celebrate Thanksgiving on the final Thursday of November. This continued annually until FDR came into power. Now remember, during his term of office, the Great Depression was going on. He wanted to move Thanksgiving back a week to the second-to-last Thursday, in order to give merchants more time to sell things during the holidays. You see, back then, Americans celebrate one holiday at a time, not like now when you see Christmas ads even before Halloween has come and gone! Since no one can do any shopping until Thanksgiving was out of the way, FDR's solution was to move it back, thus lengthening the Christmas season. But FDR didn't make it a federal mandate, he still left it up to the states. Some decided to follow his advice, some did not. In what is very common in the political arena, a compromise was reached. Congress passed a resolution which stated that Thanksgiving will always fall on the fourth Thursday of the month. In some years, it would be the second-to-last week, and in other years, it would be the last week. This year, it just happens to be the second to last week.

On Thurs, I'll post some of the more common Thanksgiving traditions. See you then!

Self-Esteem Test

An example of a stupid test (at least I think so.) It's supposed to show how much or how little self-esteem you have. The questions are so basic, it might as well sum up all 9 questions by asking how much self-esteem do you have?

Christopher Columbus: Not so good

This would have been perfect for Columbus Day, but since Thanksgiving is often associated with the whole "New World" Colonization thing, I figured this was another appropriate time. Plus, I needed an excuse to get rid of this post. Turns out the founder of the New World, Chris Columbus, was not a good guy after all. This is probably why my company doesn't celebrate Columbus Day. Here's the report.

Online Reference Tool for Programmers

I find this a helpful site to go to when I'm stuck on a programming problem. It's a site that gives you documentation on many computer languages. Very useful!

Microsoft what?

This is really cool. It's an online suite of applications that basically replace Microsoft Office. And best of all it's Free! I've been looking for something like this for a long time. Usually when I write, I save stuff on my computer and then have to email it to myself so I can edit it from any computer. Now, I can do all my writing on the web, and not have to worry about if it's the latest one! Really useful for creative types.
Check out the entire suite here. Remember it's all free!

Update: I've been using this for about 3 months now, and it's still great! You don't know how convenient it is to be able to write the same document from any computer.

Humility (Pt 2)

As with many things in a Christian's life, there are two types of humility. Take a wild guess what the two are. If you said Earthly Humility and Godly Humility, you are wrong! Ha ha. No, just kidding. Of course you're right, it's so obvious. It's just like there's "Earthly Wisdom" and "Heavenly Wisdom", "Earthly Foundation" and "Heavenly Foundation", "Earthly Video Games" and, wait... uh, scratch that last one.

So the difference between the two, lies in the source. Where does humility spring from? Let's start with the first one. Earthly humility comes from many sources. People with low self-esteem are often humble. Because of their poor self-image, typically, they feel they don't deserve the good fortune. They believe they do not possess any skills or characteristics that people would find appealing. If they won a race, they would attribute it to a fluke or luck. Every one's number is bound to come up. They also will make up excuses for why they did something well. "If that other runner didn't trip, he would have easily won." They can't help it, it's an unconscious thing. Their speech patterns will naturally flow from where their mind is at, and if they spent their entire life thinking only about themselves, then they can't help but use that word. For any famous person with a great skill, it's always expected to be humble. No one loves an arrogant person, especially since it creates this "I'm better than you" vibe, that, let's face it, isn't exactly an endearing quality.

Another type of earthly humility is the false humility, or the everyone expects me to be humble because I'm the good guy. Athletes are typically guilty of this. If they want to have a reputation for being a likeable guy, someone fans and kids can really look up to, they will often say things that seem humble. However, you really have to listen to what they're saying to be sure whether they mean it or not. If they say stuff like, "I had a great coach, who taught me well, and always encouraged me." or "It wasn't just me, it was the whole team.", then most likely they're being falsely humble. They tend to use a lot of the first person pronoun I, or other variations of it, like me, my, mine. They can't help it, it's an unconscious thing. If it isn't carefully monitored, speech patterns generally reflect where their mind is, and how they naturally think of themselves. Ultra-competitive people, which are in general athletes, superstar singers and actors, usually only care about their own selves. It's how they are able to succeed so well in their respective field. It's only natural that they think of themselves first. And yet, the public doesn't want to support egotistical people, which is what helped drive them to fame in the first place. So, these public figures take on a role, a mask if you will. The humble, good-guy-type, affable star who everyone says is just another normal person.

Of course, these aren't the only two causes. There's plenty more, but it's just the two I could think of off the top of my head. Plus, I'm as anxious as you to get to the good stuff!

On the flip side, there's the heavenly humility, which obviously has only one source... God. The thing about this type of humility is that anyone can become like it. All they need to do, is change their mind's perspective, not towards themselves (selfish) nor even toward others (selfless) but towards God. It's all about the realization that Man isn't at the top of the food chain, that there is a higher power. All of us mortals are weak, imperfect, unskilled, but there is one who isn't all of these things. Rather than compare talents and skills between two hopelessly imperfect beings, compare your talents with God. And once you do, you'll soon realize that you and God aren't playing on the same field, you're not even playing the same sport. You are barely crawling, while God is running marathons around you. And that's where spiritual humility comes from. Isaiah said it best:

“ Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The LORD of hosts.” (Isa 6:5)

Not only are we so far from God's standard, but a truly humble Christian realizes that all good things come from the Lord. Whatever skills you may think you have, whatever blessings you think you have inherited, whatever job, money, cars, love you possess, they all came from God. And just as easily as he gives to you, he can just as easily take it away. So don't take pride in such ephemeral things, because they won't last. Don't take pride in your wisdom, or knowledge, for those things are fleeting. Over the past year alone, we have learned that there's only 8 planets in the solar system not 9 or 10. Who knows what other knowledge we have that will be obsolete in 2, 5, 10 years from now? The only thing we can be proud of is God, the Provider of all things. "Therefore, as it is written: 'Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.' " (1Cor 1:31)

Humility

Today's secret word is 'Humility'.

There was a story about Ben Franklin, one of America's greatest inventor and thinker, that I heard on the radio one time, while driving to work. He tried to become the most morally perfect person (for a brief time. You'll see why later.) He would write down his progress in his notebook, about the various deeds and things he did to achieve the moral perfection that he sought. Until, that is, he wrote about Humility: "In reality there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself...For even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my Humility."

It's a very funny word, and I would probably say one of the few words that is a paradox within its own name. Consider this: to give the character 'Humility' a name is precisely what it wants to avoid. A true humble person doesn't seek any popularity and, in fact, wishes to be nameless. How funny that we should create a name to something whose very definition doesn't want to be named. If Humility were really a person, it would try very hard to be noticed. By defining and naming that quality, you have rendered the very characteristic useless. Now you see the humor? No? Oh, maybe it's just me then.

Ok, how about this? A truly humble person never thinks about humility. As soon as you think about how humble you are, immediately you're proud, which is the antithesis of humility. It isn't a quality that you can boast about. For example, you can't say, "My best quality is my humility." Again, it means you are proud of the fact that you are um...not proud? However, someone else can say, "Look at this guy! What a humble guy!" But then, what happens? The person hearing it is immediately proud because someone has praised them! So, you can't even say it in front someone, lest they lose their humility.

And it's not something that can be desired either. You can't say, "I want to be a humble person." Because how can you tel you have reached your goall? If you seek praise from others for your humility, bam! You aren't humble again. It's a no-win situation. Plus on top of that, your motives for doing things have changed. Even performing "humbling" acts wouldn't be very humbling, because you are doing it for the sake of humility. And that defeats the purpose. Cleaning toilets, serving the homeless, even giving thanks to God may all seem like very humbling experiences, yet if you do them to serve yourself, it becomes meaningless. Look at athletes who win championships and medals, and then try to be self-effacing. "It wasn't me, it was my team, it was God who gave me the ability." These words become hollow and lose their meaning. It's what's expected of them to say so that the public won't think of them as arrogant pompous people. Do you know what a truly humble person would do? Well, I'm not sure, but I can definitely bet you they would not be giving interviews, that's for sure. They are the ones who quietly go to their locker room, without celebrating, without fanfare, and just disappear into anonymity.

Lastly, for a humble person, pursuing humility is the furthest thing on their minds. They don't do things because it looks like something a humble person would do. They don't talk about humility, they don't talk about pride, in fact, humility isn't even in their vocabulary. They don't even think about it at all. A humble person just exudes humility. It's in everything they do, whether it's raking the leaves or giving a speech. They don't actively run away from attention either. If it finds them, it's ok. If it doesn't, that's fine as well. Because if they actively try to hide, that means it's on their minds. And they especially do not try to analyze their actions or behaviors to see if it stems from pride because again, it shows that they care about being humble.

This is the meaning of humility. And yes, I'm well aware that since I have talked about it, I have broken the Brotherhood of The Humble's vow of secrecy. I have subjected myself to exile from that exalted order so that I can give you, my dear readers, special insight in what really goes on inside the Brotherhood. This is how much I treasure you!

Starbucks McD Map

An interesting map. On the left, it shows where Starbucks gets its supplies, and also how many stores it opened since 87. On the right, it shows McDonalds and its sales compared to its competitors and even countries! Very eye-opening.

Coffee is Healthy!

This will be good news to some of my coffee-drinking fiends, err I mean friends. Coffee apparently is good for you! So drink up and drink more! Article is here, don't shoot the messenger, all you anti-Coffee nuts!

Game: Ikagura

One of the best shoot-em-ups was Ikagura. Someone created a flash game of the very first boss. It's pretty fun, especially during those long work days ;)

Flash: How to draw a head

You need flash to view it, but it's a free online class on how to draw heads. It's from a real university so it's pretty good tutorial. Check it out here! Please note: This will take some time, so you should probably watch it when you're at home (or if your boss is in a meeting...)

Must we wallow in ignorance?

This column might be a little ranty. Just a warning. This is actually in response to my previous column (How weird is that, responding to my own comments?) I understand that we shouldn't do things that will cause other people to sin. But does that mean we should always cater to the lowest denominator of faith? Should we continue to let people believe in these baseless restrictions? Shouldn't we at least try to teach these people, so that they can grow and mature? Must we keep feeding them baby food all the time? Sure the growing process hurts, but they will have to do it eventually. You don't see 20 year olds walking around with a bib and still eating baby food, right?

Case in point: There was a movement among the early Christians, that as followers of Christ, we had no place in this world. Thus, a strict diet of basic food was encouraged, and even enforced among some of the monks. Sex, being a worldly and immoral act was forbidden, which is why even now many Catholic orders practice chastity. In order to commune more with God, these people began to live in caves to isolate themselves from the world, and provide more time for meditation. This all sounds good right? Poverty was encouraged, while wealth was degraded and to be avoided at all costs. By isolating the body from such worldly lusts, a person will become closer to God. However, as modern-day Christians we know better. For Protestants, we have even looser restrictions. We allow our leaders to marry, in fact, we encourage them to have families. It's ok to be rich, ok to eat rich food. These are things that we as Christians enjoy, because we know that it is not through our actions (or inactions as this case is), but it's through the Lord's Grace do we commune with God.

But why did we stop there? It seems ever since Martin Luther, there does not seem to be any other radical shifts in freedom. With Martin and others of his time, such as Calvin, they gave us the freedom to confess our sins directly to God and the freedom to conduct worship services in languages other than Latin. But now, it seems we have to cater to the conservatives, to be inclusive of people of all levels of faith (by levels I mean maturity levels). It seems we are saying it's ok to live with archaic rules, that it's ok to eat baby food.

But I don't think it is. I believe God wants us to grow. Not grow in earthly puffy knowledge, but grow in the knowledge of God's grace. We need to release these earthly shackles of things we "should" do, in order to present the "proper image". Because it's not what we do, it's not how we present ourselves, but it's our love for Christ that is the "proper image". How does showing up to Church dressed nicely demonstrate to people your love for Christ? How does drinking alcohol show disrespect to the Church Body? And why must we serve in Church ministries in order to show that we have faith in Christ?

While yes, we should nurture the babies of Christ, we shouldn't coddle them forever. Eventually, they need to discover that their salvation doesn't depend on the 10 commandments, or any of the other lessons of the Bible. Now, I'm not saying we should ignore the Bible and have no rules. What I'm saying is that there are earthly conventions that are restricting our walk with God. And it's up to those mature Christians to tell this to the Christian world. Rather than simply be passive and permissive, we should try to teach people about what is God's grace, and to teach people what it means to love Christ. Basically, what I'm ultimately trying to say is, "Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do. " (Ecc 9:7)

Steps to being photogenic

I hate getting my picture taken and it shows. So, I will try to use these 5 steps and hopefully I won't look quite as bad. Read them for yourself and you may look like a STAR!

Puffy Knowledge

Last week, I was writing about Harvest Parties, which are basically Halloween with Christian themes. After reading the article that I linked to about them, I realize I should not have mocked the entire project. Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a stupid idea, but I can see that it serves a purpose for some people. Naturally, this led me to one of the most famous verses in the Bible, about permissibility (If it's not a real word, then I'm making it real. I can do whatever I want, this is my blog!). Permissibility, as Nathaniel Kwok defines it, is the ability to allow things to happen without any arguments or ridicule.

"Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak." (1 Co 8:9) Actually, I linked the entire chapter not the verse, because the whole chapter is important. For the sake of keeping this blog short, I only picked out one verse (Who loves ya, baby?). In the chapter, Paul is talking about food sacrificed to idols, but what he says about it can be applied to nearly everything, really. For him, it's idol food, for me, it's occult festivals. Same difference. Basically, Paul is saying that he knows that eating food sacrificed to idols is not going to harm his conscience. Which I feel is the important point. He's not arguing whether it was right to eat or not eat idol food. He's saying that he doesn't feel guilty when he eats food sacrificed to idols. However, other people who may see him eat it, may feel that he's sinning. And if that's the case, then he shouldn't force his point of view on those people.

So, for me, I don't feel guilty for celebrating Halloween. I know that dressing up as the devil doesn't make me a devil. Just like dressing up as a vampire doesn't make me want to drink blood. Do I believe evil spirits exist? Yes, I do. But do I believe that ghouls, zombies, witches (the Willow the Buffy-friend witches, not those tree-hugging wiccan witches) exist? No, I don't. To me, there is nothing occultish about Halloween. I believe that Halloween has completely lost its original meaning and now is just an excuse to dress up in scary costumes and go to parties and pretend to have fun like cakewalk and bobbing for apples. Oooh! Someone stop me from walking the cake!

But I must follow Paul, not only because he's in the Bible and therefore kinda important, but more importantly because he's right. He's always right! (Kinda annoys me.) But anyway, if I go to a Halloween party while outwardly confessing my Christianity and a fellow Christian sees me and he thinks to himself, "Hmmm... Nate is dressed up as a Transformer, then it's ok for me too!" even though he doesn't really feel right about it, then umm... I lost my train of thought. Hopefully you got my point though. Just because I feel ok about it, is no excuse for me to hold a Thanksgiving parade about that idea. Knowledge should build up, not puff up.

Maybe for you, it's something different. Maybe it's eating pig blood jelly. Maybe it's playing Mah-jongg. Maybe it's even something as harmless as drinking. Whatever it is, if it causes your brothers and sisters in Christ to sin, causes them to do something that makes them feel guilty, then you should stop doing it in front of those Christians. Satan is already pretty good at causing people to sin, he doesn't need your help.

Mothers playing videogames

Peter Moore, the VP of the Xbox360 Game Division, said that even moms would be playing the Xbox360. So one journalist decided to put that quote to the test. A really interesting article and good views on games from another perspective.

Game: Four second frenzy

This game is just like Warioware. I dunno if you ever played it on GBA or DS. Basically it's a bunch of minigames lasting 4 seconds each. You only have to use the direction keys and space bar. Each game is different. Check it out, very fun and very addicting.

Email Psychology

For those interested in "pop" psychology, here's an article about what the state of your inbox has to say about you and your parentage. Bon apetit!

The Halloween spirit

Someone asked me, "is it true we are not supposed to celebratei it". Ok, bad grammar and spelling aside, this is a very interesting question. I'm not some sort of divine authority on Christian law, this is just one inconsequential leaf of an opinion in the vast rushing river of Christian morality. However, what I can do is give you the tools to make your own decision.

If you read my blog earlier this week, you are pretty much know all you need to know about Halloween. Yes, the origin of Halloween lies in a pagan ritual, a ritual that pre-Church was not very Satan-y or demonic. It simply marked the end of the harvest year, and the beginning of winter. Only later, did other people add their customs and symbolism and relevance onto this holiday. The Church, in an effort to sway and control the chaotic times during the early centuries, created a holy day out of the festival, while at the same time demonizing the pagan ritual. Unfortunately, they undersestimated the seductive call of evil, and now we remember more the ghosts and goblins and witches instead of the saints and angels and halos. But the bulk of this tradition, and even the name itself, Halloween (or Hallow's Evening) is pretty much a Catholic (read: Christian) invention. So, on one hand Halloween is good.

However distorted it has become, the popular culture portrays Halloween as the scary month. More horror movies open during the month of October than any other time. There are all those haunted houses and scary mazes, which really, are not very scary at all. It's more shock-surprise than anything, with people just jumping out at odd times to scare you. That's not true horror. True horror is discovering that you forgot to pay your taxes and it's April 16th! But anyway, Halloween has been changed to a time when it's easier to believe in demons and ghouls and undead. So that makes Halloween a bad thing (in Christian eyes).

But, kids get candy! For Free! Plus there's lots of parties going on around that time. So that's good!

But then there's also those rumors and stories about how some deranged guy puts razor blades in apples and gives them to kids. Not to mention the serial killers who come out on Halloween. That's also very bad.

Many Christian circles have taken to changing Halloween to Harvest Party. What's different about it? Well, let's see... usually Churches sponsor "Harvest Night" and they have parties held on on Church Grounds. People dress up in costumes, and they play little mini-carnival-like games, as well as bobbing for apples. Oh, and instead of Jack-o-Lanterns of scary faces, they're usually smiling or some other similarly happy theme. So... yeah... not too much difference. I guess, it's just a way for Churches to get in the act. Does a name change really make it ok?

When I first thought about Halloween, I thought it was funny that many Christians decry Halloween because of its satanic significance, and yet at the same time complain when Christmas becomes commercialized and marginalized. I was thikning about this for a long while, but it kinda makes sense. In their world-view, all holidays and festivals have significance and meaning, and they don't want to see any holiday lose its meaning. So, while Halloween has an evil significance, Christmas has a good significance. At least they get points for consistency. However, realistically, both holidays have pretty much lost their religious contexts. Both holidays have been commercialized. Most people don't even know the history of Halloween, and sadly the history of Christmas. When I was a kid, my parents let me go trick-or-treating. They didn't think that taking part of Halloween was "embracing" it. They viewed it as a fun past time that us kids enjoyed. And really, that's all Halloween is now.... an excuse for kids to dress up as their favorite hero(ine) and get lots of candy and then go on a sugar-high the next day.

Ultimately, it's up to the individual family to decide whether to do Halloween or not, and it's up to the same familial unit to uphold the religious significance of Christmas or not. Just because people sing Christmas carols and attend the Nativity Mass, that doesn't make them a born-again Christian who's going to Heaven when they die. So it is with people who dress up as witches or ghosts and go trick-or-treating, they're not going to Hell because of that. And changing the name from Halloween to Harvest yet still have all the same contraptions of Halloween is just plain dumb. In my eyes. It's what's in your heart and mind that counts.

Paper Art

This is incredible. This guy makes really detailed paper sculptures. Not only that, but he uses the paper and sculpture as symobls for stuff. Some of his stuff is incredibly intricate.

The story of Halloween

Today is Halloween. I’m not sure what you are going to be doing, but I will be hiding in the farthest room from the street without any lights on, watching the TV through a headset. Why? Not because I’m a Christian and don’t celebrate Halloween, but I don’t want to give out candy. I never know what to do or say when kids come to the door looking for sweets. Plus, I don’t want to have to walk from the TV all the way to the door, and then back again. It’s very exhausting.

I received an interesting question from someone, who unfortunately doesn’t read this blog (like many of my “friends”). I figured, it’s a good topic, and then when people ask, I can always point them to this journal entry, (or here, which is more complete). So, take out your laptop, huddle near your door and read about the history of Halloween, while giving out candy to the children.

Unlike all the other sites, I’m not going to start at the usual place, the original name of the festival, and yadda, yadda, yadda. First and foremost on everyone’s mind (well, at least in my mind), where does the name Halloween come from? It comes from the term All Hallows Eve, which later was shortened to Hallow Evening. And finally, because when people talked faster and started to slur their words, it became Hallow’een. Then keyboards were invented and it was tough to find the apostrophe, so it got shortened to Halloween.

I know what you’re thinking next. What does Hallow mean? No, it’s not a typo. Hallow is actually an ancient term, meaning Holy. Like hallowed halls? So, now, this is where the history portion comes in. A LOOOONNNG time ago, there were people living in Ireland, called the Celts. And they had a religion and their priests were known as Druids. Now, for them, they marked their beginning of the year on the day when the harvest days end and winter begins. This day was called Samhain (which you’d think would be pronounced sam-hane, but is actually sow-in. Those wacky Celts!), which translated to our calendar was roughly November 1^st. On the night before the new year, the Celts believed that the boundary between the living and the dead weakend, allowing spirits and other otherworldy creatures to cause trouble and damage crops. So, the Celts held a festival, where they would sacrifice animals and crops to their deities for protection.

A couple thousand years later, the Catholic Church rose to power. In attempt to abolish all pagan rituals, the Church converted many of them into Christian-themed festivals, while at the same time denounced the pagan rituals as evil and demonic. Samhain was one such festival. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV created All Saint’s Day on November 1^st. This was a time to honor the saints and Christian martyrs. Yup, this is where the Hallow of Halloween comes from. All Saint’s Day in Middle English was called Allholowmesse. And naturally the day before it became known as All-Hallows Eve.

So, what about the traditions of Halloween? Where do they come from?

Bobbing for apples: Most historians believe this tradition came from the Roman festival to honor Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees, which occurred around the same time as Halloween. Her symbol was the apple.

Trick or Treating: There are several possible origins for this tradition. During the 800s, people would leave out treats to placate the spirits that were out. Another origin comes from England, where Christian beggars would go door to door begging for soul cakes. In return for the cakes, they would pray for the deaths of any of the family members. Early Christianity, they believed that more prayers would help expedite the dead’s passage into Heaven.

Costumes: The celts, when they sacrificed the animals, wore animal heads and skins. Another theory was that during the time when people began to put out treats for spirits, people would dress up as these spirits and go around grabbing the treats. One other theory was that people would don the masks when they went from their homes, in attempt to “blend in” with the other ghosts and spirits.

Jack-O-Lanterns: This tradition clearly comes from the Irish, and was brought to America during the big Potato Famine. There are many stories about him, but here’s my favorite. There was a notorious Irish trickster named Jack. Well, one Halloween night, Jack was drunk, and Satan came to tempt Jack and take his soul. However, Jack told Satan that first before giving away his soul, he would like to have an apple from a nearby tree. Eagerly Satan agreed and climbed the tree to get the apple. Quickly, Jack pulled out his knife and carved a cross onto the bark of the tree, thus preventing Satan from coming back down. Jack would only free Satan on one condition, that the devil stop tormenting him forever. Satan quickly agreed, and the cross was rubbed out. The very next year, exactly on Halloween (I mean, what are the chances, huh?) Jack died. Because of his wicked deeds, he wasn’t allowed into Heaven. And he was denied Hell, because of the bargain that was made. So the Devil gave him a burning ember, and told Jack to go find his own way home. Jack placed it in a turnip, to make the flame last and began to wander the earth. People began putting candles in turnips and set them outside their houses so that Jack could grab a new light without bothering them. When the Irish came over to America, pumpkins were more plentiful than turnips, so they used those instead.

Making Shadow Puppets

I always wanted to do shadow puppets. I had memorized them before, but forgot most except the dumb bird and dog. Here's a site that shows you how to do most. Remember, practice practice! Then you can be cool and entertain people during a movie!

Work Friendly

Now you too can be like me! Read my blog and follow the links without getting caught by your boss! It's the new WorkFriendly site. Simply enter any url into the thing, and it will pop up the webpage, but it looks like a Microsoft Word document. Pretty cool! Check it out!

Game: Dice wars

This game is kinda hard, but it's pretty addicting. There's no instructions, but I have shouldered the burden of figuring them out for you. Yes, I braved this game, all for you, my dear readers! Here's how it works, you get a stack of dice, and you click on other territories with stacks of dice to conquer. The computer will roll the total amount of dice you have and compare it with the total amount the other country rolls, whoever has the highest roll conquors the territory. Ties go to the defender. When you conquer that territory, you leave one die behind on your territory and move the rest onto the other territory. You keep doing that until you have no more moves. Then when you end the turn, for every territory you possess, you get that many reinforcement die. Unfortunately, it's random where they appear. And you cannot move one stack of die onto your own territory. You can only attack. It's pretty hard if you don't go first. The key to winning i think is to try to grab as many territories as possible so that you can get more reinforcements. So far, I've only won one game, and that was just a 2 player game. It's pretty difficult. Wow, I wrote a lot! Anyway, enjoy!

Aaron Sorkin (Pt 2)

So, Aaron's got a new show this season. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be as big a hit as West Wing was. I think West Wing got a big boost from the presidential election that year, and it was the right show at the right time, I guess. I mean, the two shows have the same creator, the same smart writing, even some of the same actors! While one is a behind-the-scenes show about the presidency, the current one is a behind-the scenes look at Sketch comedy show. However, while West Wing had 4 glorious seasons and 4 not-so-good ones, Studio 60 is in the middle of a heart attack.

Why is that? Well, one reason is that the skits within the show just aren't funny. Aaron should either a) hire a better skit-writer or b) not even show any skits, just mention them in passing to the viewers (or do anything else, but please spare us from having to endure lame jokes and the actors fake-laughing as if it's the funniest thing they ever heard. Actually, that's a perverse pleasure of mine, is to hear Tim Busfield do his fake chuckle and shake his head. That's probably the funniest unintentional laughs.) The second reason I think the show is doomed is because of its religious content. In the TV series so far, we learn about: a sketch titled "Crazy Christians" (even though the viewer doesn't see the sketch, the premise is pretty obvious), actors praying before every 'show', the lead actress is an evangelical Christian, and that an evangelical group is a major percentage of the viewership (apparently Rapture magazine has more subscribers than Vogue). Aaron's point? TV networks are very concerned about Christians.

And, I think, they should be. A prime example: look at one of last year's shows that bombed miserably, Book of Daniel. It was a mid-season replacement (It aired its pilot in January) and only showed 4 episodes before it went away. The reason NBC pulled it was due to low ratings. Digging deeper, Christian groups had spoken against the show, despite not even seeing one episode. As a result of that backlash, several TV markets didn't even air the show at all. Advertisers were also unwilling to be associated with the show as well, and pulled out their ads. Aaron addresses this very issue in the second episode of Studio 60. In the episode, the head of NBS programming was informed that if she let the show do a skit called "Crazy Christians", several TV markets would not show it. Her reaction? Do it anyway. And, this being a fantasy show, it worked, and the show got even higher ratings.

However in the real world, it's just the opposite. Every week, the show is losing more and more viewers. And, I think it's because Christians can't laugh at themselves which is a very sad thing. Apparently, Black comedians can make fun of Black people, gay comedians can ridicule gays, but Christian comedians can't poke fun of the Christian facade. I think it's time we, as Christians, get off our high horse, with our attitude that we're too holy to be made fun of. It's another reason why the world doesn't like us, and not in the good, Satan-hates-us, Bible-sense either. It's more like in the bad, hypocritical, We're-holier-than-you sense.

25 Most important Questions

Altho a pretty long article, it's got pretty interesting questions and answers. So, pop open a soda, relax (You made it through the middle of the week!) and read the answers to the 25 most important questions.

Aaron Sorkin (Pt 1)

I really like Aaron Sorkin, especially the way he portrays Christians on TV. Under any other writer or for any other show, I would cringe. They always get it wrong. Law & Order, Nightline, you name it, Christians are always stereotyped and one-dimensional. And guess who they base it on? Take a look at the "famous Christians". I'm sure they are as much an "inspiration" for other Christians as well as non-Christians. I've talked about them in previous posts. I'm not ashamed of them, because it only proves that we, humans, are weak. We shouldn't admire any people, not even "men of God", because we all sin. It's just a matter of how well everyone hides their sins. Despite this, Christians still are viewed unfairly because the only famous Christians that are news-worthy are generally the ones who've done something wrong. You don't flip on the news, and see an uplifting news segment about Billy Graham not doing anything bad. It doesn't exactly make riveting news. But nothing captures the hearts and minds of the American Public than a scandal. Maybe it's because of the common conception of Christians thinking they are superior to the rest of the world, and it's good to see them taken down a peg or two. Hey, I totally feel the same way as well about any famous person, Christian, Muslim, Jewish or Scientologist-ism...

So anyway, I was saying, it's easy for TV writers to totally stereotype Christians. But not Aaron. For once, he doesn't show the "perfect" Christian, he shows: the real Christian, both the good and the bad. I remember clearly, West Wing was getting rave reviews by Christian magazines and websites. "Oh, they totally get Christianity (especially in the episode with the Chinese Underground Refugees). " And then what happens? Mrs. Landingham (President's Secretary) gets killed in a car accident, and the president is crying out against God in Latin. Reaction by the Christian media: "Boo! Hiss! Aaron is the anti-christ!" Umm... have they ever heard of Job? David? Read any of the psalms? It's ok to question God, to ask him, "Where were you when the fake secretary died?"

32 He is not a man like me that I might answer him,
that we might confront each other in court.
33 If only there were someone to arbitrate between us,
to lay his hand upon us both,
34 someone to remove God's rod from me,
so that his terror would frighten me no more.
35 Then I would speak up without fear of him,
but as it now stands with me, I cannot. (Job 9:32-35)

Background story: Job got punished by God, rather unfairly he thinks. And he would love to confront God about it, take him down to People's Court, and really grill God. I'm sure Job had many questions to ask God. For example, "What did I do to deserve losing my entire family and health?" or "How can you justify doing the things to me? What am I, your lab rat?" But of course, Job can't do that. Why? He's afraid of God! Piss the Big Guy off, and He could truly end Job's suffering... permanently. So, he doesn't. But these verses still express his frustration and his true wish. If he could somehow talk to God without fear of consequences, why, he'd really let Him have it! In fact, he kinda does in the next chapter. "Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?" (Job 10:3) So, long story short, I think it's ok to question God, because God didn't ultimately kill Job in the end.

So yeah, I like Aaron. I think with that episode, I knew Aaron really "got" what a Christian is really about. They stand up for what they believe in, yes, but they don't say outrageous things like "New Orleans was being punished for their sins." The true evangelical Christian is just an every-day person, trying to cope with sin, but also the pressures of family life and/or professional work. They are more interested in coming up with fellowship activities rather than proving that the Christian Right are the most patriotic position in the government.

Study: Like Better

Here's a study that apparently can tell things about you based on which pictures you pick. Try it out, it seems pretty accurate, I found only one prediction wrong. Play it here.

How to find the job you love

So, it's monday. Are you dreading going to work? Well, perhaps you're not happy with your job, or your boss is a monkey's butt, or maybe your workplace just sucks. Have you always heard about the key to happiness is to find a job that you love to do? Well, here's a site that tells you how to do it practically.

Power of the pen

It's amazing that a simple ballpoint pen could save lives and the Moon Race. Here's the fascinating story.

Video: Heat Vision and Jack

This is a pretty campy TV pilot , directed by Ben Stiller. You may have heard of some of the actors on the show :)
Enjoy your Friday!

Crazy Christians

Pat Robertson:
We have imagined ourselves invulnerable and have been consumed by the pursuit of ... health, wealth, material pleasures and sexuality... It [terrorism] is happening because God Almighty is lifting his protection from us.
Robertson's explanation of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in a three-page statement released Thursday, September 13, 2001

I know it sounds somewhat Machiavellian and evil, to think that you could send a squad in to take out somebody like Osama bin Laden, or to take out the head of North Korea, but isn't it better to do something like that, to take out Milosevic, to take out Saddam Hussein, rather than to spend billions of dollars on a war that harms innocent civilians and destroys the infrastructure of a country?
The 700 Club television program, August 9, 1999

The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.
fundraising letter, 1992

Ann Coulter:
Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity, as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more along the lines of ‘Kill everyone who doesn’t smell bad and answer to the name Muhammad.’

The Great Satan is wearying of this reverse hegemony, in which little pipsqueak nations try to impose their pipsqueak values on us. Aren't we the ones who should be arrogantly oppressing countries that unaccountably do not have the death penalty?

(Mel) Gibson didn't insert Jews into ("The Passion of the Christ") for some Machiavellian, racist reason. Christ was a Jew crucified by Romans at the request of other Jews in Jerusalem. I suppose if Gibson had moved the story to suburban Cleveland and portrayed Republican logging executives crucifying Christ, the left would calm down. But it simply didn't happen that way.

Boy, I can't imagine why Evangelical Christians have a bad rap. Do I even need to talk more? Why are we still letting these people represent the Christian populace? Or maybe I'm putting too much emphasis on this. I guess the real Christian leaders are busy in the background doing the important stuff and letting these guys run the "smoke screen" as it were. But, I'm here, not really doing much, so I'll handle the trivial stuff while letting the real guys get to work. That was a joke, btw.
I have several theories on why we still have Pat Robertson speaking, let alone have his own TV show.

Reason 1: He's harmless and good for a laugh. Does anyone still take him seriously at this point? I don't know about you, but hearing his quotes just makes me laugh. I don't think he takes himself seriously at this point. It's gotten to the point where any disaster strikes, I'm anxiously waiting for Pat to speak up about it, just to hear what he says next. ("Oh the earthquake in Hawaii? That's because God hates macademia nuts.") And to those anti-christians, or the liberal left (no relation) who actually take him seriously, give me a break. You can't feel justified with your position by pointing at whatever he says as a logical point. It's like using the great "Are too/am not" lines in a political debate. (Oh wait...)

Reason 2: If we shut him up, someone worse may actually replace him. What we don't need right now is someone intelligent as the spokesperson for the Christian Right. That could lead to actual war, and as everyone knows from WW2, you don't want to fight a two-front war, especially during an election year. Robertson is pretty harmless. See Reason 1.

Reason 3: Pat and Anne have gone so far to the right, that it has to be an act. I'm not sure they entirely believe the stuff they say. I think it has to be a role they play just to get attention. They have always craved attention, and now they will say or do anything to get it. Because they're harmless, when they fall or sin, it's not a huge blow to the rest of the Christian community. Don't believe me? Imagine if a scandal were to arise concerning Pat Robertson. Like he was embezzling money from his foundation. Now imagine that same scandal from Billy Graham? Which would rock the Christian foundation more? And you know why? Because, Pat has already established himself as a loony, and clearly from his remarks, he doesn't know what he's talking about anyway.

Reason 4: Maybe they are perfect examples to Christians on what not to believe in. Oh, Pat says assassinations are good, well then I'll believe the opposite!

Reason 5: It's God's Will. Sure, this reason works for everything from George Bush as President to me still having a job. But, nevertheless, it's still an important reason. God wants Pat to have that 700 show to sell-- I mean solicit donations, and Anne to keep saying preposterous things on talk shows to sell books. Everything is for God's glory.

Anyway, it's not like I can do anything about it except rant and rave. Surprisingly, I do feel better now though.

Seeing with Sound

An incredible story! A boy blind since 2 is able to get around using echolocation or the echoes from sound. It's very similar to how bats and dolphins get around too. He doesn't even need a cane or anything!

Christian Politics

I've been waiting a while before tackling this sensitive subject. I was waiting for either a stable user-base, or as in this case, a user-base of 1, before deciding to talk about Christians and politics. Nothing divides a room faster than religion and politics, and mixing these two volatile mixtures into one is like mixing nuclear waste with ebola. Not a very pleasant combination. So, here's a fair warning. Feel free to disagree with me, and that's ok. You are entitled to your opinion, no matter how wrong I think you are. I kid, I kid!

I'm going to be talking about this article, so please read it before continuing. Don't worry, I'll wait for you. I'm very patient.

Done?
So, what do you think of it? Ok, that's good... you do realize I can't really hear you? You can always comment though! But, here's my take on it.

The Christian Right give all of us Christians a bad name. There, I said it. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but since when did us, Christians, become so thin-skinned? Why can't we laugh at ourselves? Throughout most of the NT, the early Christians had endured torture, beatings, hangings, stonings. And yet we, in the modern world, can't handle jokes? That's pretty sad of us. So now, if something offends us, not only do we boycott the program, we have to make such a big public outcry about it. It's displayed as news, thinly disguised as an example of how "the Morals" of America are going in the bucket. Oh, boo hoo. Seriously, it's not TV, or a play or a cartoon that is corrupting the youth. Believe me, the youth have been corrupted since they were born. We've been corrupted since Adam and Eve ate the apple.

While it's true, the squeakiest wheel gets the oil, it also annoys the other wheels as well and gives all the wheels a bad name. For me, I think it's time that we provide a balance to the Christian perspective. As the article says, not every Evangelical is politically-active and goes to large Churches, which are often run more as a business rather than a body of Christ. There are those of us who are just regular people, nurses, engineers, bus drivers who just happened to be Christians. We aren't a political demographic to be catered to, nor are we an advertising audience that needs to be catered to. We are every day people, who believe in one God. We enjoy the same movies as other people do, we watch the same TV, and enjoy playing the same games as others.

That's why I always shake my head, when I hear about a "Christian-themed" movie, or a "Christian-themed" game. That's when I know the media producers just don't get it. You don't need to lure us with a Christ-centered theme. Alll it has to be is well-made and we'll go see it. Next time, I will really talk about those "Crazy Christians".

Quiz: Internet Addiction

How addicted to the internet are you? Take this quiz and find out! I think the quiz is flawed though, since I got a 34, which apparently is average. Yay! I'm only average in Internet Addiction! ;)

Masks (Pt 2)

But (ha, you just knew there was a but there somewhere, huh?) are masks really a bad thing? I suppose if you are a humanist, and believed that deep down inside of all of us humans that we’re all really, really good people, then yeah, masks are bad. As impressionable teenagers, there’s no need to put up a “front” for people to like us. If we’re ourselves, there’s bound to be people who will like us. And those are your true friends, the ones who like you for you. And this is “The More You Know” segment of my blog. Looking at it this way, it’s a self-esteem issue. We don’t have to wear masks and pretend to be something we’re not.

However, are we good people deep down inside? Do you really want to see the inner-being of people, without masks?

Have you ever read comic-books, or even, seen any of the X-men movies? (Wow when did geek become chic?) Remember Professor X (aka Captain Picard) who could read everyone's minds? That's what it would be like if no one wore any masks. It won't be a paradise like all those motivational spiritual leaders think it would be. Sure, there would be no more misunderstandings, but that won't mean no more wars or fights. Think of it. A couple passes you by, and you notice the beautiful girl hanging on the arm of the loser. Rather than carefully keeping your face neutral and eyes straight ahead, you instead are leering and ogling the girl (OK, if you're a girl obviously flip all the sexes. ) . One of two things is going to happen: a) The girl is repulsed and the guy kicks your ass or b) The girl enjoys it and the guy kicks your ass. Either way, your butt is going to be sore. Or even imagine the president, instead of putting on his "politician" mask, tells you exactly what is going on in his heart. He's invading Iraq because he can, and he needs an excuse to put more money into military spending. (Ok, this is just an "example" people! Put down those arms and back away slowly...)

We need masks. It's what allows humans to co-exist in a society. We are not good people deep down inside. We have to put up a mask or else no one will like us. Truly, and honestly. We are all sinners, we were born a sinner, we're going to die a sinner. But even the masks sometimes aren't enough to cover up the evil that is inside us, kinda like no matter how much perfume you put on a rotting corpse, it's still a rotting corpse, only with a thick layer of floral stench.

Also, masks are not just protection for us. If you turn the situation on it's side, really, what is a mask, but a role you play. Just like Bruce Wayne donning the Bat-suit, he became Batman. Just like me donning Spiderman, I became... well... crazy, but still! The point is somewhat the same. A mask is another role, and even the Bible says that's a good thing. Look at these verses in 1 Tim 3:1-7. How many roles do you see in that one man? I count at least 3. First the role is obviously the overseer of the church. But what else? He needs to be a good husband, and third a good father. That's three different roles or masks. The wife doesn't see an overseer, (well at least not in today's post-feminist society!), she sees a loving husband. And the children obviously don't see a husband, they see a stern but loving father. Three different roles, hats, masks, but all just one person.