We Should See Other Blogs

• My wife looks hot in her new workout clothes :) (p.s. this is @ddeboer's wife) #
• Stupid Wii Fit. #

• On Google Reader's Power Readers page, all the links that read "subscribe" don't subscribe. They preview. Confusing. #googleisstupid #
• At work on a Saturday! YAY! #
• "The Departed" is a still a great film, but the DP should have taken a second look at some of those shots. Weird, and not in a good way. #
• Installing Autocad! What fun! #

• When you let a guy who loves to solve problems control the direction of his job… all he's ever going to find is problems. #
• The internet should be mandated 99.9% uptime like the POTS. #
• Strange how the hours are just not going fast enough. #

Stuck in an airport the size of city,
looking for something to find,
amid all the well-dressed, appropriate people,
absorbed in averting their eyes.

Beautiful birds run away from the buildings
and clamber their way to the sky,
passengers saying their prayers at windows
all hoping their gods won’t reply.

Amen. Another one’s lifted high.
Amen. Another one’s lifted high.

Stuck in a city the size of an airport
watching the place running down.
No one knows what time it is in Toronto,
or where’s the best coffee in town.

Carrion birds lie in wait on the buildings,
their dangerous weight just enough
for mothers to pray Jesus’ grace on their children,
that heaven would take them with love.

Amen. Another one’s lifted up.
Amen. Another one’s lifted up.

• Stockholm Syndrome is not the Derek Webb album I wanted to hear him make. A departure, but not a good one. DW is no Radiohead. #
• I do not like the idea of a Kindle. In fact, I hate it. I love, love, love paper books. #

I can’t get over Intelligent Design. It’s one of those things that just doesn’t do anything. At all.

Look, I’m a Christian, and I’m supposed to believe that God created the universe. I’m already on board with that. I can look at the world and see God’s handiwork any time I like. I get that. It’s a selection bias, sure, but I am persuaded that it’s a selection bias for truth.

Why abstract this doctrine–that God created the universe, and all universes that may or may not exist–into something cloaked in scientific mumbo-jumbo and try to teach it to kids in schools? What purpose does this serve? Plenty of people admit that a God or an Intelligence or Something created the universe with just the right ingredients to produce people. But those people aren’t Christians in any meaningful sense; this idea of a Designer doesn’t affect their lives in any real way, which is the point, right?

Let public educators teach whatever they like. Let them leave the question of origins open and indeterminate (or let them tease young branes with M-theory if they like). We don’t need to hide God behind a non-falsifiable theoretical screen and then pull Jesus out like a puppet and say, “Oh and this Intelligence is JESUS!”.

That’s not how you get from here to there, you know?

If you wr expctng
a song yr bound to
be disapntd.

Don’t hv ny sngs
nsde me. Evrythng
abbrv. like a
mr man can’t

cant can’t sqz out
th wrds in a wy tht
mks you sy THAT’s
NICE DO IT AGAIN
MR POET MAN.

Tryng. Can’t.
Rn dry. Lv me
be.

• Lack of Pirate Bay is really cramping my style. DHT's still holding up for most stuff, though. #
• Oh by they way, Windows' "Delayed Write Failed" pop-up bubble is going to freaking kill me. Anyone know how to surpress that? #
• Way to not blend that blended creme, $bucks! If I wanted chunks of ice, I'd drink a freezer! #

I have finally found some new music I actually enjoy. Six albums in all. So I will share:

First off, Herik Jose doesn’t have an album per se, but he sure does have some great music. IDM-influenced with gorgeous vocals and strong melody lines, you can think of him as Postal Service without the bluster and bad metaphors. Free downloads too, by the way.

Jack Penate is a lot of things, but subtle isn’t really one of them. Ballsy dance-rock. “Be The One” stands out on Everything Is New.

I want you to listen to Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit because I they’ve mastered that sort of bluesy slow rock that goes well with whiskey and cigars. Also, great to play along with.

John Paul Keith and the Four One Fives (what’s with all the “and the numbers”?) are throwbacks to another, much more awesome time. Some clear 60s influences here. Awesome music. If it doesn’t force you to get up and dance your legs off, you’ve got problems. Or fewer legs than you should.

Oh dear Kanye West. You’re so ubiquitous that I won’t even link to you. Normally your albums have one, maybe two good songs on them. And then you come out with this. Autotune notwithstanding, 808s and Heartbreak is very, very good. “Paranoid” is wonderful, as is “Love Lockdown”. “Heartless”, though, is clearly the stand-out track.

If you don’t like Ohbijou’s “Beacons”, you clearly have no soul. This is the kind of pop music heaven should be filled with. Perhaps a touch too pitch-perfect, but still. Listen and weep.

• I have a bunch of really strange one-word Bing searches on Mint. What's up with that? It's certainly not real, natural searches. #
• Aha, it's a Microsoft "bug" in their crawler. Yet at the same time it pumps up MS's market share! Shocking! #