Imago Diem

I’m going to try out a new format for posting pictures, a dedicated photoblog.  Now a photoblog has one picture per post, and little else – so I’m planning on posting one photo every weekday.  This format lets me put much larger versions of pictures, which I’m thinking will be nice.  Plus it’ll keep me busy with the camera or I’ll run out of stuff to post.

Anyways, it’s over at http://imagodiem.wordpress.com.  Have a look.

iPhone apps I’m liking so far

With the release of the iPhone 2.0 software and the iTunes Application Store, there are now lots of (arguably cool) applications available to enjoy – some are free, some aren’t. I’ve tried out a number of them so far, and here’s what I like and dislike so far.

Tanzania

Well, I’ve returned home safely from a 3 week mission trip to Tanzania, Africa. The trip was amazing, I just don’t know how else to describe it. Snapped an easy 1000 pictures, which will go on Picasa as soon as I get around to it. Here’s a couple of the ones I have so far.

You missed the joke…

I’ve seen at least one bumper sticker like this one around town lately, and it made me laugh.

Just to be clear, I laughed not because the bumper sticker is actually clever or funny (it’s not), and not because I voted for Kerry (which I didn’t), but because the person who put it on their car is such a complete idiot that it made me laugh. At them. Rarely is there a case where somebody missed a joke so badly, but ladies and gentlemen I present to you someone that is even dumber than they’d have you believe the President is, and they did in fact miss the joke entirely.

The “Don’t blame me, I voted for ——-” joke comes from an episode of “The Simpsons” – Treehouse of Horror VII to be specific. Basically two aliens have abducted both Clinton and Dole during the 1996 election so that one of them will win, after which they can enslave us.

Homer: America, take a good look at your beloved candidates. They're
       nothing but hideous space reptiles.  [unmasks them]
        [audience gasps in terror]
Kodos: It's true, we are aliens. But what are you going to do about
       it? It's a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us.
        [murmurs]
 Man1: He's right, this is a two-party system.
 Man2: Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate.
 Kang: Go ahead, throw your vote away.
        [Kang and Kodos laugh out loud]
        [Ross Perot smashes his "Perot 96" hat]

The next day, Kodos announces the result: "All hail, President Kang."

The field in front of the Capitol has now become a working ground
where humans are whipped by aliens and used to carry materials.

The Simpsons family is working too, with Homer and the kids carrying
wood, and Marge pushing a wheelbarrow of cinderblocks -- with Maggie
on top.

Marge: I don't understand why we have to build a ray gun to aim at a
       planet I never even heard of.
Homer: Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.

The punchline of the joke “Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos” is that it doesn’t matter who he voted for, because both aliens would have enslaved them anyways. It’s a stab at the two party system, a clever commentary that in many ways it doesn’t matter who is elected because many things are exactly the same no matter which party is in power at any given time.  It’s painfully obvious if you watch the rest of the episode.

Kent: Senator Dole, why should people vote for you instead of President
      Clinton?
Kang: It makes no difference which one of us you vote for. Either way,
      your planet is doomed. DOOMED!
Kent: Well, a refreshingly frank response there from senator Bob Dole.

The idea that it translates into a clever cop-out that somehow a person is free of responsibility from our countries problems, real or perceived, is not only childish but pathetic. Seriously, do people give up on everything else in life where they didn’t get their way or didn’t like the result? (Oh, this quarter’s finances weren’t very good, but MY business proposals weren’t accepted so it’s somebody else’s fault). It’s pretty bad when people who think they’re being clever are in fact mimicking Homer Simpson, who’s funny only because of how (intentionally) stupid he is. How sad.

Movie Review: Amazing Grace

Went and saw Amazing Grace tonight, and honestly I really liked it. While it was your typical hollywoodized retelling of a true story, it was very refreshing to see a movie where the characters openly talked about their faith in God, and about being redeemed as men for sins past.

If you’re not familiar with the whole story, I’ll briefly sum it up. The movie is about a young guy named William Wilberforce, who was elected to the British parliament at age 21 and would eventually sponsor pass a bill banning the slave trade in the British Empire. This young politician was friends with John Newton, a slave trader who became a priest and eventually wrote the song “Amazing Grace” (hence the movie’s title).

The things I didn’t really like were pretty minor, which is always good. First, like any good historical account of something noteworthy in history, they added a nice love story to make sure we’re at least interested in some part of the movie. Second, and this one was actually annoying, they used way too many cute little cliché phrases to cheer you up. Stuff like “oh but remember that day always comes after night.” It was almost sickening about the fourth or fifth time. Thankfully, they used the happy monikers sparingly throughout the movie.

Much like Titanic we already know how the movie will end, but they really did a good job of bringing you into the story anyways. And while the ending of the movie isn’t a big shocker, I really enjoyed the ending scene (which I won’t ruin for you). I also enjoyed the underlying messages of perseverance, redemption, and faith – only two of which are common in movies anymore.

All those poor Seahawks fans

I’ll go right out and admit I’m not much of a football fan. In fact, if I’m being perfectly honest, I like baseball more. And no, I don’t care how boring you might think baseball is. So as a casual observer, it’s not that surprising that I only saw the end of the last two Seahawks games, since I was curious how they did.

While I can’t say I’m terribly surprised that they lost (ok seriously, the only reason we won the first round game is because the other team fumbled on the winning field goal), I am admittedly sympathetic to the true believers out there who were rooting for them to go back to the Super Bowl again this year. As a fan of a team that sucks (the Mariners), I understand what it’s like to watch your team come close (1995, 2000 and 2001). The Seahawks were a great team last year. We still had a good team at the beginning of this year. The last part of the season was nothing short of a terrible letdown for all those true fans.

Just so we’re clear on semantics, when I say real fan, I mean this guy. Here’s a picture so that we’re on the same page. You will note that he’s even wearing a jersey.

As a Mariners fan for quite a long time, who’s watched them sink back to mediocrity after almost every championship run, I was more than adequately prepared for this team to stink again after coming so close to going all the way (and more or less expecting them to return to the first round playoff loss team we’re used to). I think the fact that they started out pretty strong this year just made losing that much worse.

So in conclusion, my deepest condolences to the Seahawks fans, and good luck next year.

What would you do for a Wii?

So I saw this article about a lady who died from water poisoning in a radio contest (named “Hold your wee for a Wii” no less) trying to win a Wii. Apparently the contest was to see who could drink the most water before they had to pee. According to the article she died at home later in the day after she’d gone home with a headache. Brilliant.

Setting the “stupid macho” factor aside, it seems silly to me that the radio station wouldn’t have bothered to say, do some quick checks to see if their contest was dangerous. Google lists lots of results when I search for “water poisoning”. I suppose doing some simple fact checking, or being responsible would require common sense, which apparently is in short supply in people these days.

Update: I saw another article that had some disturbing details, such as a nurse called in during the contest warning them that the idea was very dangerous, and they didn’t care. Apparently the winner was also very sick afterwards.

Light at the end of the tunnel?

So, for the first time I’m able to definitively identify an end date to my college career – Winter 2008. I’d like to finish earlier, but they have this slightly irritating (but understandable) policy where you take the senior project class in your last quarter, and it’s your only class your last quarter. Unless of course you make a big fuss and cry about it enough. I figure it won’t be that bad anyways, since I can just work a little more and only have one class to worry about which will be nice for a change.