I've known this for a while...

Couldn't have said it better myself...

Microform Abstract Art

Yes, I am indeed an artistic innovator. While I was slaving over decades of the Religious Herald Baptist newspaper one Friday night at the Southern Seminary library, a printing error on the microfilm reader gave birth to artistic inspiration.

This piece should sell for a few thousand for its creativity alone, don't you think?


And behold all those subtle details!

A Beautiful Thing

A sign of the times. Never before in human history have so many people said so little of substance all at the same time.

Remembering the Sega Dreamcast: 10 years later

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. launch of the Sega Dreamcast, the once great company's last console. It only lasted until 2001, but it sold a few million units and had a great crop of games despite its short lifespan. Ignored by most from its beginning, the little system that could finally bowed down before the hype of the PS2 and XBox. I do not exaggerate to say that it is my favorite video game system.

RIP Sega Gaming Systems!

http://retro.ign.com/articles/102/1021947p1.html

The (Un)Natural Revisited: "Chicks Dig the Longball"

Today marks 11 long years since Mark McGwire broke baseball's single season home run record in 1998. His record would in turn be broken by Barry Bonds in 2001. Both hitters' accomplishments would in turn be rendered meaningless (along with many other players' statistics and most of the MLB record book in general) by the ongoing revelations of steroids throughout the rest of the decade.

This was my original reflection from last year's historic tenth anniversary of McGwire's now infamous feat.

But this year I'll spare the melodrama in favor of a whimsical look back at this epically funny (now especially so) Nike commercial campaign:

"Chicks Dig the Long Ball!"


Yeah, the Nike girls might dig the long ball, but the only way Big Mac will be getting into the Hall of Fame is if Glavine and Maddux invite him to their induction ceremonies!

When the Obvious Hits You!

This is, quite possibly, the most random thing I have ever posted, but I just had to note this for posterity!

I was struck by the difference in how we write and how we speak. For instance, in the written word, we use the indefinite article "an" (rather than "a") before words that begin with a vowel. All words beginning with a consonant are usually preceeded by the indefinite article "a" rather than "an." However, in the spoken word, this precedent does not always feel natural.

For instance, I was typing out the phrase "a SBC history" (short for "Southern Baptist Convention"). Now, if I were to say "a Southern Baptist Convention history," there would be no problem. But should I attempt to say "a SBC history," I would end up tongue-tied. Saying "an SBC history" sounds much more natural. Why is this the case?

Because we do not pronounce the letter "S" with an a "s" sound! We actually pronounce the letter "S" with an "E" sound (short "e" + long "s", like "mess" or "best").

Weird...
Is that common knowledge or have I been blessed by the Grammar Muse? :-D

EDIT: My collegiate comrade, David Wickiser, advises me that written grammar really is based on sound. Thus, "an SBC history" really is the correct way to write it out, similar to "an hour" as opposed to "a hour." Thanks, David!

The Words We Use: Profanity, Vulgarity, and the Glory of God

Remember what your grandmother used to tell you about cussing? "I'll wash your mouth out with soap, young man!” Most kids learn that certain “dirty words” will get them into trouble when spoken in front of older adults or in public places. Every culture dictates that certain words are lewd or offensive by nature. Thus, in each particular culture sensibilities are perturbed when obscenities are thrown around by those who give no regard for standards of decency.

What few people realize, however, is that vulgarities are not equivalent to profanity. Vulgarities are cultural-relative, but profanity is blasphemy. Profanity by definition transcends to a higher level because it shows irreverence towards something holy. I find it peculiar that in most televised movies censored for language, certain obscenities are redubed while profanities remain, such as taking the Lord's name in vain (e.g. "God," "Jesus Christ," etc.). In the Old Testament, God forbade Israel to speak His name in vain, for there is nothing more sacred than the name of the Lord.

The exception to the rule, of course, is "God damn," which oddly enough still has the ability to offend those who take no offense in using holy names such as "Jesus Christ" or "God" in vain and do not hesitate to misuse ideas such as "damnation" out of their proper context. Complacency and nominal religion dominate the makeup of the American population but why do they continue in this irreverence? Either we do not stop to consider the meaning of the words they use, or they do not believe in the ideas that the words describe. Not only do they profane the holy, but they utter curses with flippancy. Indeed, if a man were angry at his brother for being late for a social event he might be in the right to rebuke his brother for being a poor manager of time, but to "damn" him by condemning his soul to eternal damnation would be beyond his human authority. Only God is just in such a judgment, thus we must realize that there is really no difference in the verb, "damn" and the more culturally offensive "God damn." Very few people are conscious of this truth. Worse still, many curse simply because they like the sound of a word as it rolls off their tongue.

Though vulgarities are limited to the cultural realm and usually not blasphemous per se, foul language can become an addictive habit that is not easily broken. Moreover, one who makes a habit out of it will be blind to the fact that his/her vocabulary has likely become stagnate. Language is the central medium by which we express ideas and feelings; if we take our use of language lightly then we reveal by inference that we attach very little value to those ideas that language expresses.

When studied and used properly, language can help us formulate and order our own thoughts and express them with clarity and eloquence to others. On the other hand, when taken for granted, language will degrade into mindless rambling. If we are to bring revival to our culture which is largely devoid of reverence, we must first discipline ourselves to choose our words carefully.

April Fool's Day Apocolypse?

And I thought humanity had been spared Judgment Day thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger's selfless sacrifice in Terminator 2!

This story is pretty scary:
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/128643/beware-conficker-worm-come-april-1/

I had no idea hackers planned this far in advance! I really hope I'm not one of the thousands who have already been infected and await their judgment. Yikes!

The Revenge of Jack Bauer Redux Strikes Back

Once again, I've felt the need to blog about the moral code of Jack Bauer. Check out my newest post: "Does Jack Bauer Have a Place in the New Moral Climate?"
http://standingonshoulders.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/does-jack-bauer-have-a-place-in-the-new-moral-climate/

And don't forget my previous take at the end of Season 6 of 24 (seems like so long ago!):
"Is Jack Bauer a Christian's Role Model?"
http://adamwinters.blogspot.com/2007/05/is-jack-bauer-christians-role-model.html

The NEW "SBTS" ???

Apparently as of around 4:45 pm today, trying to access the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's website (www.sbts.edu) will automatically redirect you to the site of another seminary.... the School of Bible Theology Seminary and University. That school's website is the eerily similar address, www.sbts.org. For some reason, not only is sbts.edu redirecting there but when you click on Southern Seminary's Google link it also takes you to SBTSU.

From this...

To this.....?

I know Southern Seminary has put a lot of work into their web redesign for the 150th anniversary, but I'll bet they never bargained for an obscure school in San Jacinto, CA stealing their domain name.... at least for about 15 minutes or so on February 24. ;-)

Hmm... I smell a cordially written letter of legal nature on the horizon. Seriously, though, you have to wonder why the School of Bible Theology Seminary and University didn't go with www.sbtsu.org. Something smells fishy.

Edit: Southern Seminary seems to have reclaimed their domain name as of 4:55 pm. I'm very happy as I will be able to check my student email again. :-D

Valentine's Day Lovin'!

Some Valentine's Day funnies for your consideration:

Good breath is essential to getting your cousins to help you protect a good blood line!
Printed in the Comics section of the Louisville Courier Journal, 1958

Dennis the Menace teaches us some suave around the ladies. (1958)


A Valentine's Day tradition courtesy of Sonic the Hedgehog!


And was this Sonic's inspiration? Winnie the Pooh breaks PSA ground reminding us not to let someone "touch you in a not-ok-way"!

"Blessings from God"

I thought this was an appropriate story for today. A woman struggles to keep the faith in spite of the struggle of trying to raise 5 children without the necessary resources.

From the Washington Post. Full Story

There are days when life for Adwai Malual looks like an endless wheel. Already she has lived through much: growing up in Sudan as war tore apart her homeland, discovering in the midst of it that she was pregnant, coming to this strange land of America.
Then, weeks later, she gave birth to quintuplets.

Now, in a small, crowded apartment in Laurel nearly two months after the babies' delivery, Malual's life is dominated by another kind of chaos. It begins every day at 3 a.m., as she wakes up to take over feeding duties from her mother, visiting from Sudan. One by one, she tends to her five babies in 40-minute shifts. By the time she has changed the last one's diaper, the first is crying for food again. And so it goes for 12 hours straight, until she hands them off to her mother so she can sleep for a little while before waking do it all again.

Life is now confined to this second-floor apartment and to the most basic of human needs: eating, peeing, pooping, burping and sleeping.
"I am grateful for the blessings in my life," the 28-year-old said recently during a rare break from her babies. "And I am tired."

All day long, her mind alternates between those two states. She thanks God for the people -- many of them complete strangers -- who donated diapers, time and money to help her through her grueling first few weeks out of the hospital. Then she prays for some way to survive the weeks ahead.

She is living, for the most part, a borrowed life. Much of the babies' clothing is donated. The two cribs they sleep in -- three in one and two in the other -- are hand-me-downs, as is the changing table. Soon, the quintuplets -- already a handful -- will learn to crawl and then walk. Getting a babysitter to watch all five, let alone a job that would cover that cost as well as her children's growing needs, will be difficult.

Even before her babies were born, Malual had started worrying about these things. As she lay in the Annapolis hospital, her doctors warned her to focus on her health whenever her blood pressure and nausea started rising. And in recent weeks -- as she has fed, changed and rocked her babies -- she has found herself facing those worries again. The future looms ominously as she struggles each day to keep up with the present.

The difference now, she said, is that she faces such fears with the proof of miracles in her arms.
"These children are blessings from God," said Malual, who comes from a family of a devout Christian. "He brought them to me, protected them through all that time. So for the future, I think I must live day by day. God will provide."