Google Reader Share

I am now actively using Google Reader, I have added the dynamic sidebar to the page and also have linked to my shared stories, things that I have read and find interesting.

Enjoy :)

Jesus Camp: The Movie

Had to kill this because it was loading the movie without asking and that freakin drives me nuts! Anyhow, if you are interested in watching Jesus Camp: The Movie I suggest checking it out. You can also rent it Jesus Camp: The Movie (Rental)

Here is the actual trailer for the movie: 

Again, Olberman tells it like it is

So, I have heard tons and tons of crap about how evil John Kerry is for all he has said about the troops from FOX News. I have even heard this from liberal friends of mine, who actually have been convinced that Kerry was slamming the troops. Keith Olberman helps us understand that the right-wing media is framing the story. If you only watch the first 25 seconds... you will be a better person.

Debate on the Internet

Nothing like debating on the internet...

Television worth watching: The Monastery

I have gotten totally sucked into the show The Monastery. The basic story of this show is six men from all walks of life are chosen to enter a Benedictine monastery. This show offers an interesting insight into life as a monk and the struggle that it holds.
On tonight's episode one of them men was struggling with how to find meaning in daily recitation of the Psalms in chant. The act of liturgy was difficult for him. The monk he was speaking with said, "I think the secular liturgy is a sports game..." He went on to describe how a football game offers the same flow and pattern of worship. The procession of the teams, the invocation and etc.
It was an image of a worship service that I hadn't thought about before.
Another quote from the Abbott, "Part of maturity is having a conflict and coming out of it."

edit: The show is on TLC

Michael J. Fox Responds to Rush Limbaugh

A heartfelt response by Michael J. Fox to Rush Limbaugh.

"Science is an important part of our society." - Michael J. Fox
"Nobody wants Pity... I am not a victim... I am someone in this situation..."
"If there are answers out there we have a right to pursue them..."
"Disease is a non-partisan problem that requires a bipartisan effort"

Keith Olberman is now my hero

Why I love Keith Olberman. The power and tone of Edward Murrow and the passion of a real journalist.

Another Good Quote

So, Erin and I were chatting and I remembered another good quote from tonight.
"When will Americans learn that 'God Bless America' is not in the Bible?"

Really this idea of God's Country is a bit freaky. Jim Wallis quoted his wife on this one once she moved here from England.

Faith and Politics

So, the live blogging failed, mostly because my phone was set to post drafts instead of actual published posts. The battery on my phone was questionable as well. So I retired the Treo 700w for a trusty sheet of paper and pen. (Thank you Thomas and Kim.)
Essentially here is what I found interesting about this discussion:
1) It was a discussion and not a heated debate. Both Jim and Greg were civil and in many cases agreed with each other more than they disagreed. I think that is the wonderful thing about their discussion. Both men are Christians and after kingdom things. They go about it in different ways.
2) Jim focussed more on being an independent who considers all the issues and votes the way your faith guides you. Greg focussed more on digging deeper and being a compassionate Christ-centered individual.
3) Both detest the co-opting of one stance as "the Christian stance" and I have to agree. To question anyone's faith as a result of their politics is purely the work of evil.
4) Both think that we should look at all the issues behind being Christian and not just focus on the "big two." Most Christian's would place these issues as abortion and gay marriage and most people polarize their faith based on this. It is much much bigger than all that. Poverty is huge. Gobal warming is huge.

Now on to some general thoughts...
The real issue is that when a party claims Christ and calls another "Unchristian" we are judging. It is not our job to judge. The big two issues are deep down what many people just go with as being the only reason they vote on way or another and that pains me (Greg and Jim as well).

I think that ends most of my general thoughts. My favorite image tonigth came from Jim regarding what a politician looks like. They all look like pilots testing the wind with their finger in the air. They vote whatever way the wind blows them to. We cannot change things by selecting a new "wind-testing politician" to really change things you need to change the wind.

Live blogging Faith and Politics

So, I have gotten my blog set up for email posting just in time to try live blogging the Faith and Politics: Should they Mix? Presentation by Jim Wallis and Gregory Boyd at Bethel University. We shall see how this works. The center space of the auditorium is all Bethel students. Thomas (dydimustk) and Kim and I got here about half an hour early to try and get seats. I am hoping for some fun insights. Essentially Jim Wallis says faith should be a motivator of politics provided the entirity of faith is considered. Greg Boyd says faith and politics should be separate.

The Upper Room and Donald Miller

On Sunday evening I went to see Donald Miller speak at the Upper Room. The Upper Room is known and a hip and trendy "emergent" church community. Upon arrival the space itself was quite crowded and by all means very sterile. It felt like quite the production.
Donald Miller was a sensational speaker. He is the author of Blue Like Jazz and a few other books I have been meaning to read. I may post more on this later.

The Blog | George Lakoff: Five Years After 9/11: Drop the War Metaphor | The Huffington Post

Tonight as I was doing a bit of new surfing I encountered this spectacular discussion on "War" versus "Terror". I especially enjoy the following lines,

"Instead, a war metaphor was chosen: the "War on Terror." Literal --not metaphorical -- wars are conducted against armies of other nations. They end when the armies are defeated militarily and a peace treaty is signed. Terror is an emotional state. It is in us. It is not an army. And you can't defeat it militarily and you can't sign a peace treaty with it."

I also think that Lakoff does a tremendous job of getting to the root of a major problem that post-modern America is facing, language.

The Blog | George Lakoff: Five Years After 9/11: Drop the War Metaphor | The Huffington Post

LifeSuck

For the first time in a while I actually feel exhausted, completely drained, almost as though the life has been sucked out of my body. In the movie The Princess Bride, Westley is captured and hooked up to torture machine in the Pit of Despair and they crank the machine up to maximum life sucking... that is how I feel.
Blah.

It's the End of the World As We Know It

My random recurring thought:
Do you think the world will end catastrophically before you die?

My personal thought...
Yes.

My analysis of my thought...
I have always felt like something will go wrong with the world catastrophically. Not like an Armageddon sort of thing, but more like a poof and were done sort of thing. I wonder if that is representative of my personal feeling that "the glass is half empty" when it comes to my chance of having a better life than the previous generation. Based on what I understand, most people in my generation feel that the American dream is dying rather quickly for us non-inheriting millions from our parents sort of people. Frequently I wonder how in the world I could ever afford to have offspring in this country.
Anyhow, I digress and I should get my butt to bed.
Jason

Late Night, lots of thoughts, too much caffine

Well, it is nearly 3am and these nights have been happening more and more lately. It is pretty exhausting. It seems every chance I get to try and fall asleep my brain just doesn't stop running. I tried reading for a while and I couldn't even focus on the book. My head just seems so clogged lately. I can't honestly even say what my brain is trying to deal with. It alternates between work, future plans, Erin being gone next week, Nate leaving town, our budget, and then back to work again.
My hope is that some day soon things will slow down. I don't know how to train my brain to switch off work thoughts. I just worry about getting everything done to the best of my ability.
Well, seeing as it is late and I have an early morning. I might as well head to bed and attempt to sleep again.
The ultimate kicker of tonight... a night where I can't sleep and Dofus (my MMORPG) is offline...
I guess I wasn't supposed to have any escapism tonight.

Later

Wicked

I saw Wicked this evening and it was sensational.
It actually got me to the point of analyzing literature again. I seriously had about half a thesis written in my head by intermission. I am still working things up, but the basic gist of the whole thing is "American Civil Religion" as depicted through Wicked.
There is a lot of interesting OZ as god stuff that I encountered as I was watching.
I also thought it was quite interesting to see the parody of a corrupt empire and a deceived population in light of current situations in the United States.

The Joys of Airport Security

Today Erin and I are flying out of Chicagp Midway Airport. It has been a long time since I had the pleasure of interacting with TSA. Today they were in rare form. Erin walked through the metal detector and they made her go back through because her shoes might set off the alarm. So she walked back through again without setting off the alarm and had to put her shoes on the Xray. Then I attempted to go through and the guard yelled at me. He said, "don't you see me standing here... What are you going to walk through me?" I looked for a comment card but they don't have one. Clearly they could use some customer service skills.

2GB Free Back-up Space

I had checked out Mozy a bit before it was recommended by a friend. Now I am going to give it a try. You should too.

Terrible E-mail Forward

I receieved the following e-mail forward, and it was so wretched, I had to post it. Jesus's death was not about warfare. The unknown author of this forward apparently believes that it was. The author also seems to believe that we fight wars to bring about peace and to give life. Really war is about destroying peace and killing people. Sickening.

Cindy Sheehan asked President Bush, "Why did my son have to die in Iraq?"

Another mother asked President Kennedy, "Why did my son have to die in Viet Nam?"

Another mother asked President Truman, "Why did my son have to die in Korea?"

Another mother asked President F.D. Roosevelt, "Why did my son have to die at Iwo Jima?"

Another mother asked President W. Wilson, "Why did my son have to die on the battlefield of France?"

Yet another mother asked President Lincoln, "Why did my son have to die at Gettysburg?"

And yet another mother asked President G. Washington, "Why did my son have to die near Valley Forge?"

Then, long, long ago, a mother asked, "Heavenly Father, why did my Son have to die on a cross outside of Jerusalem?"

The answers to all these are similar -- "that others may have life and dwell in peace, happiness and freedom."

This was emailed to me with no author and I thought the magnitude and the simplicity were awesome.

This American Life

One of my favorite NPR shows is "This American Life" this weekend the broadcast is called "Habeus Schmabeas" the basic theme of the program is the role of Habeus Corpus and its history. Especially how it has "evolved" under this current administration. I hope you all get a chance to listen to this one.
Here is a quote from their site:

At Guantanamo Bay, our government initially claimed that the prisoners should not be covered by habeas – or even by the Geneva Conventions – because they're the most fearsome terrorist enemies we have. But is that true? Is it a camp full of terrorists, or a camp full of our mistakes? Reporter Jack Hitt unveils everything we know about who these prisoners are. In interviews with two former detainees, he finds out the consequences of taking away habeas, for them and for us.

Thoughts about this blog

So, the more I interact with and try and think about things to post on this blog, I am forced to wonder is this really the forum that I want. I think I am going to wander on over to another platform, no offence to blogger and there amazingness, but I think that WordPress is really putting things together in a way I like it. The end result seems to be a bit more professional.
Not that many people actually read this blog at all... and not that it really bothers me that I am just posting into the vast nothingness that is the internet.
I have started wondering more about these shadows that I posted about last. I really need to read up on a bit of Jung. I know the basics... founding father of modern psychology, and really if you hear the name Jung, you ought to think the word achetypes.
I mean really this guy seemed to live right between real psychology and philosophy. I think I can relate to him because I feel as though I am living right between the intersection between literature, theology, and culture.
I wonder if Jung wondered what he would do when he grew up.

Shadows

I just heard a discussion about Carl Jung that really interested me. I have learned a bit about Carl Jung in the past, but yesterday's reference pertained to his definition of "Shadows." Essentially a Shadow is the dark side of human nature that people wish to cover up and hide. The quote that was read was "beware of being so close to the brightest light, for it casts the largest shadow."
Does anyone know the actual quote from Jung, maybe with citation?
As I chew on this idea, I believe it will quickly develop into a larger post.

Tags: psychology

Geeked Out Gifts

When I was in 5th grade I owned what I considered the coolest calculator watch around. It had a phone book, a calendar, and a great little calculator. Today as I was reading Boing Boing they had posted a link to the Top 10 Geek Watches. I have to say, some of them are a little bit too geeky even for me.

Reading this site made me get all nostalgic for my old calculator watch and thought I would take a look to see if I could find it online. I managed to find the "Nerd Watch Museum." Really, to think I could still be wearing that calculator watch today kind of freaks me out.
Enjoy the sites.

Beatallica

I have recently become a huge fan of mashup albums. I have found a few of them online starting with the The Grey Album, which was a pretty darn awesome mash of the Beatles White Album and Jay-Z's Black Album. After listening to that album I have been searching for more. Today a friend forwarded on Beatallica. Which is not so much a mash-up as it is The Beatles songs reworked as if Metallica had written them.
I especially enjoy Garage Days Night.

Beatallica

Build Your Own Cajon

As a percussionist, I have always been frustrated at the cost of equipment. There are several different drums that I would love to own, but the cost is really prohibitive. I have seen several Cajon's at Guitar Center in the past, but the issue I always run into when looking at purchasing them is, what if the head breaks, then I have a $200 broken wooden box. Thankfully someone has posted instructions on how to build your own Cajon.

Enjoy!

Studio-Central Community :: View topic - Cajon (drum box)

Update (2/27/2013): It's been a long while since I posted this and I still have yet to make a Cajon. I came across this great kit on Amazon that would push me in the right direction.
Musicmakers Cajon - KIT with Snare

Repurposing An Old Blog

This blog was originally configured to be a posting site for news pertaining to my office. It was going to be a place where I would publish announcements and whatnot, now just like a phoenix; it will rise out the ashes of failure and become my own blog. Really, it is just going to be a place where I will post some things that I am interested in. I could write a mission statement, but that would be too proactive on my part.
Enjoy,
Jason

Teagames: The gift that keeps on giving.

This site contains a collection of wonderful flash games. My personal favorite is "Zombie Romp." Nothing like tromping around with a gun shooting at zombies and bats. There are plenty of other games on this site that are worth exploring too.

Teagames.com

Help Using Email Links of the Week

How to Email a Professor
The above link is written by a professor on how students should properly address professors in e-mail. It is pretty interesting.

Becoming an Email Ninja
Tips on increasing email productivity from one of my favorite productivity sites.

Game of the Week

Zork: In PHP
Back in the day, computers didn't have fancy graphics cards...
Back in the day, video game designers counted on the graphics of your imagination to generate the world in which the game was played.
Zork is from back in the day. Zork is one of the first video games I ever played on a computer (right after Oregon Trail)
Now you can enjoy this wonderful text based adventure.

Bad Promotional Video of the Week

IFILM - Viral Video: Appalachian Hot Hot Hot
Last week's Help Desk Meeting involved a brief discussion on advertising jingles used in University commercials. Now, watch this... if only Concordia had a jingle like this...