Archive for January, 2005
"The iPod is bigger than Jesus."
One last check to Google News before hitting the hay tonight caught my eye when two out of three top stories in the technology section concerned Apple, thus prompting this, the second post of the day with the word “Jesus” in the title.
Salon does a comprehensive job expressing the sentiment Google is picking up in an article entitled, “Hallelujah, The Mac Is Back.” It appears that nearly seven years after the original iMac, the mainstream media has finally decided Apple is Apple again.
One lesson that can’t be over-emphasized from Apple’s turnaround: things change. Big time.
A few moons back when Apple was still turning out beige boxes and hemorrhaging cash in the billions (and I was proudly repulsing the opposite sex with my Mac OS 8 T-shirts and “ApplAddict” AIM screenname), the Mac’s future looked about as bright as Tom Daschle’s prospects were on Nov 3, ‘04. Now Apple owns its invention of the digital video and music markets, is selling most products faster than it can build them, and sells its stock above $70, up from about $7 when the bubble burst.
So, when considering any issue involving people, opinions, and behavior–whether it’s as polarizing as abortion or as fluid as Iraq–remember “the times they are a-changin.’” There’s something vindicating about being a true believer.
Jurassic Jesus
Michael Crichton, the man whose work on the silver screen instilled in me a healthy fear of zoos and whose television drama made me realize I’m a better patient than doctor, articulates an insightful frame of reference from which to consider the concept of environmentalism:
Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it’s a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.
There’s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.
The entirety of his comments on the subject are available at his website. (HT: Cheese and Crackers)
To ponder: what other political/social movements fit the bill of “religion”?
College Cordon Bleu
CORDON BLEU
kordon ‘bleu
1. [n] a chef famous for his great skill
Perhaps Asia has irreparably corrupted me. One month into it, I find that in the first semester of living out of my own kitchen, I’ve been surprisingly keen on attempting recipes not found in your average cookbook. It’s a little game I play with myself: while shopping, I select ingredients that I like individually; in the kitchen (aka “the lab” or “Sid’s backyard”), I try to mate them to create caloric nirvana. By my standard, if it tastes better than rice and doesn’t require an Imodium, it’s a dubya.
To illustrate, here are a few of my more intriguing attempts:
Pepperoni Pizza + Salsa (on top) = A sensational multiethnic tasting experience. Brave enough to up the ante? Try mayonnaise.
Cheese Omelet + Applesauce (on top) = A tantalizing nexus of hot and cold, chewy and slurpy. Sadly, it voids the Tabasco effect.
Milk + Cookie Dough + Blender = While delightful, this heterogeneous cleanup mess is better mixed in the mouth.
Cookie Dough + Pineapple Chunks (on top) = Two words: business potential. If I could get it to stick to a popsicle stick, I wouldn’t need to worry about going to class Monday… or ever.
Future ideas include projects codenamed “Liquid Nachos” and “Cereal Omelet.” Recipe suggestions and/or health warnings are welcomed.
All The Insanely Great Inventions Aren’t Taken
I ran across a stunningly brilliant application of technology tonight: the mother of all web page counters, VisitorVille. As they pitch it, “VisitorVille is like website stats meets The Sims®. It’s the coolest thing to happen to traffic reporting … ever.”
As of this writing, I haven’t coughed up the greenbacks to see if the service actually works, but the concept astounded me in the simplistic but useful application of common technology (simulation games) to a data intensive tasks (website stats). I realize that well-adjusted folks who are acquainted with the living, breathing outside world may not get too excited by this product… but for my inner-geek this discovery was like waking up to a snowfall of TI-83 link cables on Christmas morning. A big “Why-didn’t-I-think-of-that?” moment.
On a related tangent, I thought I’d take this opportunity to reassure you: you’re not the only person still reading this. You, too, may have shared my inner-angst in recent weeks as this site’s ranking slid substantially lower in the Alexa rankings (as tabulated in the right column). Ironically, regular readership of this blog has actually been on a steady rise, but since I’ve stopped posting new travel pictures, the photo gallery has become understandably less frequented, thus leading to a sharp decrease in overall pageloads.
Don’t you worry, though. You and I are still here, and that’s all that counts. (Just for reading, here’s an added bonus: a new JibJab is out.)
A Self-Absorbing Moment
In a continuing sign that there is no actual business news in Colorado Springs, the CSBJ was kind enough to feature a glimpse of my world in today’s edition. If you’d care to humor me in this instance of personal aggrandizement and aren’t near a 7-11 in the 719, I’ve stashed a PDF edition of the piece online.
Assessments of the accurateness of the piece from folks who have actually met me are more than welcome. Comment anonymously and I’ll still love you.
Tongue-in-blog aside, transcontinental thanks to the CSBJ and Justin Coppedge. I’m humbled.
Only In Colorado?
After pointing out the quirkiness of California that has confronted my return, I suppose it’s only “fair and balanced” to shed equal light on a far more peculiar story hailing from my own Rectangular Republic. The byline caught my eye this morning in a Malibu coffee shop and the sheer unbelievability of the subject matter led me to reconsider just how proud I should be of a state whose citizens don’t notice nails lodged in their own skulls.
For full effect, I recommend you read the story yourself. Here’s the AP report or the more elaborate Denver Post article (with pictures).
The winning line has to be: “If you’re going to have a nail in the brain, that’s the way you want it to be.”
Here’s your sign.
The Fourth Global War
As a result of the three day weekend, I’ve been able to dig into some personal reading; this weekend I finished off George Friedman’s America’s Secret War (info | pricing), a comprehensive analysis of the Global War on Terror thus far. Friedman is an independent intelligence analyst and does a remarkable job of putting the geo-political pieces together to explain events separated by distance and time and offers an insightful analysis devoid of partisan punditry. In short: an excellent read for anyone interested in understanding this war.
I’ve collected a few of Friedman’s most incisive insights in the space below. Some of his thoughts are very different than what we’re hearing elsewhere, to say the least. Constructive comments are invited.
Pg. 33
Al Qaeda was not motivated by hatred of the United States, American popular culture, or American democracy. Its focus, instead, was on the Islamic world and its governments. Al Qaeda viewed the United States as the main Christian global power. As such, it had assumed a position of guarantor of existing regimes in the Islamic world. Put differently, even if the United States wasn’t directly responsible, it was viewed as protector of these regimes by the Islamic masses.
Pg. 35
The September 11 attacks, therefore, were not meant to send a message to the United States. The primary audience was the Islamic world. Bin Laden viewed the United States as an actor that could be manipulated into behaving as Al Qaeda wanted. But this is not to say that he was not focusing on the United States because of its particular moral shortcomings or character. As a non-Islamic society, the United States was full on inequity, but bin Laden’s actions were a politico-military maneuver designed to generate pro-jihadist change in the Islamic world.
Pg. 233-234
Al Qaeda was, in fundamental ways, a Saudi phenomenon. Its leaders an members were Saudi, its ideology was Wahabi, and its financing drew on Saudi citizens. Al Qaeda was created out of Saudi foreign policy. The problem was that Al Qaeda–or at least Al Qaeda’s social and intellectual foundations–were so deeply embedded in Saudi life that it was impossible to cut off support for Al Qaeda without ripping the Kingdom apart…The central dilemma the U.S. now faced was how to get the Saudis into the war… This was the origin of the U.S. decision to invade Iraq. There were other strands, such as fear of weapons of mass desruction, concern that Al Qaeda was collaborating with the Iraqis, and a genuine feeling that Saddam Hussein was a monster. But to understand the American decision to invade Iraq, it is essential to understand the American concern, even obsession, with the course Saudi Arabia was taking amid growing evidence that the Saudis were financing Al Qaeda.
Pg. 246-247
From a purely military point of view, Iraq is the single most strategic country in the Middle East. It borders on six other countries: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. In other words, from Iraq–and with its forces in Afghanistan–the United States could influence events in countries that ranged from the Himalayas to the Mediterranean and from the Black Sea and the Caucasus to the Red and Arabian Seas. Like its predecessor Mesopotamia, Iraq is the pivot of the Middle East.
Your thoughts?
Look No Further
“Those who say that we’re in a time when there are no heroes, they just don’t know where to look.”
–Ronald Reagan
January 20, 1981
Pearl Harbor survivor Houston James of Dallas embraces Marine Staff Sgt. Mark Graunke Jr. during a Veterans Day commemoration in Dallas. Graunke lost a hand, a leg and and eye when he defused a bomb in Iraq last year. (HT: Airwarriors)
Only In California…
… does gas cost $2.02. For the cheap stuff.
… does one see a collision occur in the rearview mirror. And then watch the participants leave the scene of the accident.
… does a caller get a “Please hold, all operators are busy” message when calling 911 to report the above accident.
… does class get cancelled for rain…
Good morning!All classes are cancelled and university offices are closed on Monday, January 10, 2005, due to the hazardous road conditions caused by the most recent storm. Call x7623 (ROAD) for up-to-date information on road conditions in the Malibu area. Be safe!
The Office of Student Information and Services
A good day indeed.
Today’s blogtoid of the day/wormhole in cyberspace: this site ranks up at a triumphant NUMBER THREE (out of nearly 4 million) if you search for a string of Green Day lyrics on Google France. Try it. Weird, ‘eh?
Who’s Above Criticism?
Tonight’s pre-emptive strike on a writing assignment in this semester’s New Testament Survey class led me to ponder: who, in the Christian tradition, should be above criticism?
I recognize the millenium-long can of worms such a question could crack open, but allow me to summarize and qualify my reasoning: in rejecting principles such as those characterizing the Catholic tradition, I don’t hold any man to be infallible (god-men excluded, of course). Just because your name appears in the Scripture doesn’t mean you share the perfection of the Messiah. And, if such imperfection is the case, why has the evangelical movement acceptedly swallowed the saint-like status of those other than their Savior?
Now, I realize that this line of reasoning could also be extended to question the inerrancy of Scripture, a topic I don’t feel compelled to unpack in this particular post. But, to engage the personalities of Christian tradition: are their rational reasons that elevate the Apostles, Paul, or others to an authority beyond criticism? What sort of objections are acceptable and/or healthy?
Discussion invited.
