links for 2008-01-11

Zero Tolerance = Zero Intelligence. Example #4,219

The TSA detained and searched a five year-old boy. Read that again. It was a case of mistaken identity; a five year-old boy has the same name as another individual who is on the no-fly list. The Consumerist adds:

When his mother went to pick him up and hug him and comfort him during the proceedings, she was told not to touch him because he was a national security risk. They also had to frisk her again to make sure the little Dillinger hadn't passed anything dangerous weapons or materials to his mother when she hugged him. For those of you wondering, "Why the heck would they do all this?", Bruce Schneier has the answer: The explanation is simple: to the TSA, following procedure is more important than common sense. But unfortunately, catching the next terrorist will require more common sense than it will following proper procedure. [Emphasis added. --R] It's all theater. It does nothing to protect the public; it simply pulls the wool over the eyes of those who choose to not think about it, to make those sheeple feel better. Five year-olds do not pull off terrorist acts, nor are they engaged in chatter with sleeper cells, which land them on a no-fly list. Any five year-old could figure that out. Okay, that's not fair. Five year-olds might have a hard time figuring it out. But I know an eight year-old who'd know it was wrong... [Wave of the phin to Lee and Tanner Lovelace.]

links for 2008-01-10

I figured Vader as more of a chopper guy


At least it's not one of those girly-looking Vespas.

Three times is charming



LSU's Matt Flynn throwing against Ohio State
Photo courtesy of Associated Press

It was certainly a great night for the Tiger fans here in the Phisch Bowl. We had some fellow alumni over, as well as friends who are just college football fans, and their kids. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, had Zapp's potato chips and Abita beer (Amber and Turbodog), even some king cake. We ate well, we cheered hard for our Tigers, and cheered harder still as the clock ran down in the fourth quarter. GEAUX TIGERS!!!

links for 2008-01-07

A reality show I'd actually watch

I make no bones about my disdain for the reality shows which litter network television. The only one I'd consider watching on a regular basis would be The Amazing Race. From the few bits and pieces I've seen of the various shows, it's the only one that didn't annoy me after thirty seconds. One of the things that annoys me about some of the reality shows is that they're not originals. They're just re-hashed versions of something popular in another country, most notably the United Kingdom. Well, if we're going to retool reality shows for the American audience, my vote is we roll with this one from Japan:


links for 2008-01-05

Gifts that keep on giving

Yesterday, I put to good use the Barnes & Noble gift cards I received for Christmas and my birthday. (I get at least a couple every year.) The "big" card was used online a few days before, to purchase two other items which were on my wish list: + Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series, narrated by David Attenborough. I've wondered how many HDTV sets this series is responsible for the sales thereof. + Blade Runner (Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition) The in-store Barnes & Noble shopping resulted in: + The Shooters, by W.E.B. Griffin. The fourth in Griffin's Presidential Agent series, which I've thoroughly enjoyed to date. W.E.B. Griffin writes some of the best military fiction out there, and this current-day, antiterrorism series is no exception. + Spirit of the Wolf by Shaun Ellis and photographer Monty Sloan. Wolves are among my favorite animals, and I believe a lot can be learned from their pack behavior. (Especially when you have a dog, and therefore a pack, of your own.) Sloan's got some stunning photos in this coffee-table book, and I'm looking forward to reading Ellis's commentary. + Star Wars Jesus - A spiritual commentary on the reality of the Force by Caleb Grimes. Any book that combines the movie franchise which impacted, informed, and defined my tweener childhood (and which continues to impact and inform my son's childhood), and the Author and Finisher of my faith, well, that's just something I've got to give a whirl. I think all of my other book reading just went on hold... So my thanks to my family members who were very generous this year with the gift cards. They were well invested, I assure you.

links for 2008-01-03

ATPM 14.01

The January 2008 issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available to help you ring in the new Mac year. Mike Chamberlain looks back at the first of 2007, and how his desire for a "MacPhone" panned out, and surprisingly so, later in the year. Mark notes how smaller cars might not always be a good thing, but smaller iPods are, and wonders what lies ahead for Apple's music player line. Mark's also thankful that FileMaker has remained easy to use, lo these many years. ATPM reader Tricia Roach becomes an ATPM contributor, with a Segments piece on how she uses her Mac's video capabilities to stay involved in the lives of her grandkids. This month's desktop pictures are courtesy of ATPM reader Jennifer Curry, from her 2006 trip to Cuba. They feature the island nation's buildings and cityscapes. Meanwhile, Angie flashes back to 1984 as she and Cortland face off against Lisa in the Mudrix for a final showdown. Linus takes Baseline, a utility which helps you look at file and folder sizes on your Mac, through its paces. Ed uses BusySync to get things done, allowing others to subscribe to or read his iCal calendars, thus assuring everyone's on the same page. Chris Lawson tries out, and really likes, the Fin Laptop Handle/Stand, while Lee pairs his iSight up with Iris for some fun. Reader Mark Stoneman contributes a review of Mellel, a word processor I'm fond of, and a must-have for those who work with right-to-left languages such as Hebrew or Arabic. This issue marks the entry in to the fourteenth year of publishing for About This Particular Macintosh, and we hope it's a great year for our readers, and Mac users everywhere!

Movies 2007

A friend from college got me in the habit of saving my movie ticket stubs, and I have a glass mug stuffed with them, going back to the very early `90s. I've never really kept a running yearly tally before, however, until I was encouraged by my pal Brent, who keeps his own tally of those sort of things. So here's my list of movies seen (in theaters) in 2007: Amazing Grace
300
Shooter
Blades of Glory
In the Land of Women
Knocked Up
Ocean's 13
Surf's Up
Ratatouille
Live Free or Die Hard
Transformers
The Bourne Ultimatum
Superbad
3:10 to Yuma
The Kingdom
Michael Clayton
Fred Claus
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
No Country for Old Men
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Alvin and the Chipmunks
My pick for best movie? It's a really tough call to just pick one as the best overall. From a purely cinematic perspective, I'd have to go with No Country for Old Men. I laughed the most during Blades of Glory. For a book adaptation, Shooter was pretty good, though like most book adaptations, it falls short of what can be crammed in to two hours on screen. The worst movie I saw was Superbad; I guess if I were thirteen, I would've enjoyed it more, but given that I liked Knocked Up, and to a lesser degree Walk Hard, all by the same crew, perhaps it wasn't just my age that was a factor. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, 3:10 to Yuma, Ratatouille, Surf's Up, and Transformers. Best movie? A tie, simply because they're such totally different movies, and my favorites for two vastly different reasons. The Bourne Ultimatum is just flat-out entertaining, visually appealing, a real "thrill ride" as the critics would say. I was initially skeptical five years ago of Matt Damon taking on the role of Jason Bourne, but he took it and ran with it, owning the role. He is Jason Bourne. Though the movies have little in common with the plot lines of the books, they are still among my favorite action thrillers. The second movie in the tie is Amazing Grace. William Wilberforce showed how one can positively affect the cultural and political culture while remaining grounded in faith in Jesus Christ. His efforts toward ending the slave trade the British Empire was engaged in paved the way for slavery's abolition in the United States, and continues to be an inspiration to this day. Slavery still exists in our modern world, though the euphemism "human trafficking" is the nom du jour. Amazing Grace is a reminder the battle for human freedom and dignity still goes on.

links for 2007-12-26

The Awaited One

The following is excerpted from Max Lucado's An Angel's Story*, and was the 12/23/07 e-mail from MaxLucado.com, which anyone can sign up to receive. Max and his crew are encouraging subscribers to share this and the other excerpts with their friends, so here I am, sharing it with my readers.* We were a wreath of Light around the stable, a necklace of diamonds around the structure. Every angel had been called from his post for the coming, even Michael. None doubted God would, but none knew how He could, fulfill His promise. "I've heated the water!" "No need to yell, Joseph, I hear you fine." Mary would have heard had Joseph whispered. The stable was even smaller than Joseph had imagined but the innkeeper was right--it was clean. I started to clear out the sheep and cow, but Michael stopped me. "The Father wants all of creation to witness the moment." Mary cried out and gripped Joseph's arm with one hand and a feed trough with the other. The thrust in her abdomen lifted her back, and she leaned forward. "Is it time?" Joseph asked. She shot back a glance, and he had his answer. Within moments the Awaited One was born. I was privileged to have a position close to the couple, only a step behind Michael. We both gazed into the wrinkled face of the infant. Joseph had placed hay in a feed trough, giving Jesus His first bed. All of God was in the infant. Light encircled His face and radiated from His tiny hands. The very glory I had witnessed in His throne room now burst through His skin. I felt we should sing but did not know what. We had no song. We had no verse. We had never seen the sight of God in a baby. When God had made a star, our words had roared. When He had delivered His servants, our tongues had flown with praise. Before His throne, our songs never ended. But what do you sing to God in a feed trough? In that moment a wonderful thing happened. As we looked at the baby Jesus, the darkness lifted. Not the darkness of the night, but the darkness of the mystery. Heaven's enlightenment engulfed the legions. Our minds were filled with the Truth we had never before known. We became aware for the first time of the Father's plan to rescue those who bear His name. "Joy to the world! The Lord is come! Let earth receive her King! Let every heart, prepare Him room! Heaven and nature sing!"

links for 2007-12-24

links for 2007-12-23

links for 2007-12-22

The Spirit of Christmas

The following landed in ye olde e-mail inbox earlier today, penned by talk radio host Laura Ingraham: Megan pulled a three-ring binder out of her bag and showed me a photograph of herself and her husband. Young--they're both 21--with big smiles on their faces and obviously wildly in love. "That's what he looked like," she said with a somber face, "He was such a cutie-pie, always buying me little stuffed animals and writing the most thoughtful notes the entire time he was in Iraq." Then she showed me the photo of her husband receiving the Purple Heart on Wednesday from President Bush at Bethesda Naval Medical Center. As President Bush pinned the medal on Mike, he lay unconscious in the ICU, having suffered a traumatic brain injury caused by a piece of shrapnel that pierced his temple. "This is my Mike now," she said, rubbing her eyes. He is completely blind and to alleviate a terrible cranial pressure build-up, doctors had to remove the front of his skull. Since being wounded several months ago, Mike has never regained consciousness and suffers from terrible seizures. "That's my guy," she repeated, before she went on to tell me about how they met and fell in love. For whatever reason, I kept thinking about the fact that some person somewhere carefully assembled the IED that would eventually maim Mike and many others. They are often packed with nails, hunks of lead and screws to cause maxim human suffering. When they explode, the contents rip through flesh and bones, shattering countless dreams in the process. How to comprehend this level of evil and the physical and emotional agony it causes? This young woman and her husband should be out buying their first Christmas tree together, going to parties, raising a glass to their future. When I asked what she was doing for the holiday she said, "I'll be here with Mike. I would never want him to be alone on Christmas." They had been married for about three months when Mike was wounded. In these days before Christmas, Megan and other military wives and moms gave me a precious gift. They reminded me that true love requires sacrifice--sometimes seemingly unbearable, heart-wrenching sacrifice. They are living out their love in big and small ways. Many have moved thousands of miles to relocate to the hospitals where their husbands, wives, sons, and daughters are being treated. This takes an enormous emotional and financial toll, yet they do it for love. When they are not at the hospital bedsides of their wounded warriors, they sit for hours a day in waiting rooms across the United States, hoping for good news--or at least no more bad news. They pray with each other, cry with each other, and yes, even manage to laugh with each other as they hope for a day when they can return to "normal life." Yet for the families of our most seriously injured troops, they know they will have to get used to a "new normal," much different from the life they knew before. As we are about to celebrate Christmas spending time with our families and friends, let us all do our best to live up to the true spirit of this season--and make it a time filled with love, faith, gratitude, hope, charity, and, yes, let's try for some peace on earth. Let us remember the military families and our wounded heroes who will spend this Christmas at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Brooke Army Medical Center, Bethesda Naval Medical Center and other medical facilities across the nation. As we rush around stressed out because we "haven't found the perfect gift" for so-and-so, these families hope and pray for gifts that cannot be wrapped up: a hand that squeezes back, a smile, the first step on a new prosthesis, or a positive medical report. They need our prayers and support at Christmas and every day. Please give what you can to any of the wonderful organizations that support our bravest and their families. Merry Christmas.

links for 2007-12-21

Immanuel

The following is excerpted from Max Lucado's An Angel's Story*, and was the 12/20/07 e-mail from MaxLucado.com, which anyone can sign up to receive. Max and his crew are encouraging subscribers to share this and the other excerpts with their friends, so here I am, sharing it with my readers.* The King walked over and reached for the book. He turned it toward Lucifer and commanded, "Come, Deceiver, read the name of the One who will call your bluff. Read the name of the One who will storm your gates." Satan rose slowly off his haunches. Like a wary wolf, he walked a wide circle toward the desk until he stood before the volume and read the word: "Immanuel?" he muttered to himself, then spoke in a tone of disbelief. "God with us?" For the first time the hooded head turned squarely toward the face of the Father. "No. Not even You would do that. Not even You would go so far." "You've never believed me, Satan." "But Immanuel? The plan is bizarre! You don't know what it's like on Earth! You don't know how dark I've made it. It's putrid. It's evil. Its..." "IT IS MINE," proclaimed the King. "AND I WILL RECLAIM WHAT IS MINE. I WILL BECOME FLESH. I WILL FEEL WHAT MY CREATURES FEEL. I WILL SEE WHAT THEY SEE." "But what of their sin?" "I will bring mercy." "What of their death?" "I will give life." Satan stood speechless. God spoke, "I love my children. Love does not take away the beloved's freedom. But love takes away fear. And Immanuel will leave behind a tribe of fearless children. They will not fear you or your hell." Satan stepped back at the thought. His retort was childish. "Th-th-they will too!" "I will take away all sin. I will take away death. Without sin and without death, you have no power." Around and around in a circle Satan paced, clenching and unclenching his wiry fingers. When he finally stopped, he asked a question that even I was thinking. "Why? Why would You do this?" The Father’s voice was deep and soft. "Because I love them."