Tuesday, March 23, 2010

THEY DID IT!!!

Google did it, they pulled out of China!!!

You'll remember, they are doing this because of China's censorship requirements.

You'll also remember that I began the switch to Gmail a few months ago because Yahoo turned over information that ended up getting people prison time in China.

I'm glad I did.

Abandon Yahoo, Google is real people.

WiredForStereo

Monday, March 22, 2010

The Calvinist's Guide to Global Warming

I was having a Facebook flame out the other day in the comments section of a Status Update which said and I quote "IN YOUR FACE GLOBAL WARMING FREAKS" in response to a snow storm on the first day of spring.  Now I like to get into a few Facebook flameouts because as you know, Facebook is my b!tch and I like to bait people and see if I can get them to do stuff like what I'm about to write to you about.


So, the guy(who posted the status)'s mother comes on (and let me say, I like this family, and know them pretty well, but they are such staunch conservatives) and leaves the following tirade:


It's quite presumptuous to think that mere men can affect the Sovereign God's world to such a degree. God has CHOSEN to consider us eternally valuable--our significance is not innate. He will bring us down when we begin to talk like the Babel-onians :), whose pride caused them to set themselves up against an omnipotent, Creator God. Seems that the most serious impending danger lies in our moral depravity...not in our "poor stewardship" of the earth. What are your hearts like? Jesus spent His time exposing the true motives and conditions of His friends' hearts. So~with what are you filling your minds?...and eyes? and ears? What are you eating, drinking, or smoking? It is much easier to live from the outside, in, rather than from the inside, out.

God will destroy His earth, whenever He is ready. We're not that powerful.

Name-calling is inappropriate, weakens your case. Confirms the assertion than the liberal platform resorts to attacking the person, rather than stating the (known) facts.... See More

Environmentalism is a works-based righteousness religion. It borders on idolatry, gives us reasons to pat ourselves on the backs. Don't impose it on me.

American industry should behave responsibly, certainly. But China and India are some of the greatest offenders---yet the U.S. continues her martyr-like, self-punitive behaviors. (Beijing Summer Olympics 2008....and Ganges River)

Freedom>>prosperity>>jealous neighbors, who don't want our "freedom tactics" to leak out, or they'll lose power>>"U.S. is evil!!!" (= we hate them because they're prosperous)


I replied "with all due respect, that's your interpretation" because I didn't want to start a fight with her, because middle aged people in no way get what I'm doing on Facebook.  So I thought, for the benefit of those who may read this blog, that I'd explore the tirade and relate what's wrong with it, bibilcally, politically, factually, and spasmodically.

The first sentence is self defeating if you look at it long enough.  Why then is it not quite presumptuous to think that mere men can not affect the Sovereign God's world to such a degree?  Is it presumptuous to presume that I may be able to shoot someone against God's will?  And if God plans on burning the thing up anyway, (depending on your interpretation) why would we not be able to do our own fair bit to destroy it before then?  Simply saying that we are too small to make a difference does not make it so, there are nearing seven billion of us.  That's 13 people per square kilometer and 47 people per square kilometer of land or one person for every 21,277 square meters.  I don't know about you, but give me a few years, and I could tear up a 21,277 square meters if I wanted to.  That's only about five acres, I got two acres now!

And then the stuff about the Babylonians.  Am I to believe that by supporting initiatives against the destruction of the environment, I am going against God?  I believe the good book says that when God created this joint, he called it "very good." His plan of restoration is to fix what we have messed up.  The word often translated "dominion" in Genesis is better understood as borrowed or held in trust as in the parable of the talents in the new testament.

The name calling wasn't me, it was someone else.

Call environmentalism what you want, but it goes back to name calling.  And if environmentalism is a religion, so is anti-environmentalism.  And as far as imposition goes, don't impose your non caring attitude and politics on me.

If the US needs to be disciplined due to its actions, so be it.  You tell you children things like "just because everyone is doing it doesn't mean you should do it," but on a national scale, I guess the ideology changes. 

And finally, the last paragraph takes the cake.  The hubris and bigotry is self evident.  The world doesn't hate us because we are prosperous, they hate us because we keep BOMBING THEIR VILLAGES!!!  And we do it in Jesus name, at least in their eyes.

I'm not in favor of protecting the environment because of some self serving pseudo religious idolatrous fervor.  I protect the environment because what you do with a gift depends on what you believe about the giver.  I love the giver, why would I not cherish the gift?  But there's this idea that God has everything under his thumb, not simply under his control, but under his thumb, that he will cause and uncause things to happen and make things go his way.  This is ignorance on the highest level.  It is more than obvious that God is not running this show.  He works in smaller more intricate ways on individual levels.  But he always allows the morons of the world to do whatever they want for a time. 

Americans are an individualistic riotous revolutionary bunch.  This is what happens when a nation starts through a revolution.  It's like hiring a worship leader who initiated a church split at a previous church.  Understand it or not, we are all here in this joint together.  A more collective goal as a people is necessary.  If you want to be a rugged individualist, please move to Wyoming.

WiredForStereo

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Comparing Education Levels of Pundits and Political Talkshow Hosts

So I was wondering the education levels of talk show and news show hosts.  I knew Rush Limbaugh dropped out of college, but I wanted to see the education levels of the individuals, so I looked them up.  I'll try to organize them by approximate popularity and see if I can come up with any trends.  I'll start with the Liberals, Progressives, and the like.

Progressives/Liberals
Rachel Maddow  Ph. D.  Politics
Thom Hartmann  Ph. D. (All Degrees Unrelated)  (Around 20 Books)
Kieth Olbermann  B. S. (3 Books)
Ed Schultz  MN St. (not sure degree)  (2 Books)
Alan Colmes  B. A. Communications  (2 Books)


Conservatives/Libertarians
Rush Limbaugh  High School  (2 Books)
Sean Hannity  High School  (2 Books)
Glenn Beck  High School  (8 Books)
Bill O'Reilly  M. P. A.  (8 Books)
Phil Valentine  High School  (2 Books)
Fred Thompson  Juris Doctor

My hypothesis was that if a host was more popular (on the right), the likelihood would be greater that they would be uneducated.  And the more popular on the left, the likelihood of higher education would be higher.  You can argue with my ordering of these people, or you can suggest that I add more, and I hope that you do, I need a more comprehensive list.  However, I am sure that either Rush or Sean is the top on the right side and obviously, it doesn't matter because they are both only educated through High School.  To be fair, they did both drop out of college.

My hypothesis does seem to be correct, at least without deeper research.  This is due to the different emphases in the way business is done in each case.  On the right, the louder, more vitriolic (but not too much) ones seem to excel, while on the left, there is the emphasis on correctly reporting and analyzing the facts.  The right also seems to try to identify with non-educated people more as well.  They tend to criticize scientists, political scientists, Arts degrees, and higher education in general.

I would just like to point out that as far as books go, Glenn Beck wrote one called "Arguing with Idiots" but it has a picture of himself on the front cover.  So, the number of books written may not be an indicator of much if you know what I mean.

WiredForStereo

Monday, March 15, 2010

Welcome to The Transition Government

When you think of "transition government" you probably think about what the president-elect does between the time he's elected and the time he's inaugurated.  And that's where I got the idea, but there's a deeper meaning.

As you may have read in the past in the subtitle of this blog, it's about the garden coming back.  My beliefs about the world, the environment, politics, and everything are based in my faith in Jesus Christ.  And my goal as a disciple of the same is to return the earth and all that dwells upon it to the state in which it was created.  It was created as a perfect garden, and my goal is to bring the garden back.

So when I say "Transition Government" what I mean is not "government in transition" as you'll see on the news, but rather "transition to a new government," or original government as the case may be.  That is not to say however that I am advocating some sort of theocracy, and I'll tell you why.  When we have theocracies on earth, God (or whoever it is) is not ruling directly, rather fallible humans are interpreting the will of God and ruling however they please.  It's about making the world a better place for all who live in it.  That is of course juxtaposed to the way it is now where most of us are unhappy because of something.

Would I like to turn this in to a run for president someday?  Absolutely I would.  But if it doesn't happen, I'll still have done my best to make the world a better place.  If you read the blog regularly, you'll notice I do that with explorations on religion and the Christian faith, environmentalism, advocation for the disadvantaged, progressive politics, and by spreading the message of all of the above.

Know this:  I always have an agenda.  I always work toward my goals at all times, whether it be in my job, at school, on Facebook, among friends or at church.  I live what I believe, and I challenge others to do the same.  I incorporate as many people as possible (those that want to.)  And I hope that if you read this, you'll dedicate your life to affecting something on a large scale too.

So, I'm changing the name of the blog to "The Transition Government."  I've also started a Facebook group under the name "The Transition Government."  If you like my ideas, please consider joining the group and contributing (ideas, or money, whatever.)

WiredForStereo

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Giving up Shampoo.

Over the years, I have washed my hair every day like every other red blooded American, but my head would often break out.  I would switch shampoo, switched to head and shoulders and it worked for a while, but after a month, my head would break out again.  Last summer, I resorted to shaving my head completely.

But I was reading on Treehugger about people who didn't use shampoo anymore.  They said that shampoo washes away your head's natural oils and so your head goes into overtime to produce more oil to replace that which is lost.  When you don't wash your hair for a few days, your hair then gets really oily and you need to wash it again.  And then you'd have to use conditioner to replace the lost oil so your hair would feel healthy.  They said that you could stop using shampoo, to scrub your head with just water, and your head would readjust its oil output and your hair would be just fine.

So I tried it.  And why not?  The phosphates in shampoo and other soaps are one of the major components that have to be treated out of waste water.  Plus by not using shampoo, I can save money and also save the embodied energy in it.

So sometime about last November, I stopped using shampoo altogether.  I'm not one who has really greasy hair anyway, but it was just a little more oily for a few weeks.  Since about Christmas or so, everything has leveled out.  I even had a girl at church feel my hair to prove that there's nothing wrong with it.  My wife has commented that it is soft and not at all oily.

So, my recommendation to you is to try it.  Remember though, it won't happen overnight.  You'll have to keep it up for a few weeks.  When you take a shower, simply scrub your head like you normally would with shampoo, only without.  You'll feel a little of your natural oil on your hands, this is okay.  Just scrub your head until you think you think you are done, and then continue on with your shower as usual.  That's all there is to it.  Keep up with it for about six weeks and if you don't like the results, you can go back to doing whatever you were doing before, nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

Come back and report your results.
WiredForStereo

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

How to Build and Operate a Composting Bin for a Sawdust Toilet in Three Easy Steps.

Step 1:  Build bin from pallets found near random dumpster (or wherever else you can get them for free.)

 
 


Step 2:  Put yer stuff in.
 


Step 3:  Cover over with straw or hay, repeat until bin full, build new bin and start with step 1.  After this bin has waited a year, use compost. Enjoy!


See, it's just that easy.  Leave a comment if you have any questions, comments, or snide remarks.
WiredForStereo