LOLZ! My friend Isaac came up with a hilarious quote today, based off a famous pieces of scripture:

“No man can serve two APIs: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve Cocoa and Win32.” - Jobs 4:20

‘Course credit due, I’d like to say I inspired the scripture reference by mentioning, “is this the inspired word of Jobs?”

Filed under: All Things Apple, Development
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I used to be Republican and now swing between Moderate and Democrat — but after seeing the immature response from Minnesota Republican elected officials when their colleagues voted to override the governor’s veto, I don’t think I can go back to being a Republican.

The Republican leader of the Minnesota House said today the six Republicans who voted to override Governor Pawlenty’s veto of a transportation bill have been removed from their leadership positions.
Source: MPR.org

The fact of the matter is that Minnesota’s roads, highways, bridges, and mass transportation are lacking — and if we can’t agree to fund something that fundamental to our infrastructure, then those Republicans who voted in favor of the governor’s wishes should be the ones removed of their leadership positions.

Frankly, I see this as an empty, immature, and irrational response to not getting their way. If you don’t get your way with your colleagues, punish them by stripping them of leadership. That’ll show ‘em.

This is exactly why American wants change in our political system. The inbred fighting amongst both Republicans and Democrats is OLD. We’re tired of the lobbyists running the show behind the scenes. The pork barrel spending is out of control for pet projects.

It’s time we saw more change (for the better) around here.

Filed under: Politics
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This is perhaps one of the most sweet-looking uses of Flash I’ve seen in a while. This came across my RSS feed today, an author/artist who’s put together a book called “The Art of Wooing” — but what woo’d me most was his impressive flash preview of his book. (Hint: click and drag the corner of the pages)

Filed under: Flash (Macromedia), Websites
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Okay, saw my friend wezlo just post something on Dobson; and I just had to repost it here, too.

This James Dobson quote is from a Reuters Article:

“I am convinced Sen. McCain is not a conservative, and in fact, has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are … I cannot, and will not, vote for Sen. John McCain, as a matter of conscience,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Later on he says:

I believe this general election will offer the worst choices for president in my lifetime. I certainly can’t vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama based on their virulently anti-family policy positions. If these are the nominees in November, I simply will not cast a ballot for president for the first time in my life,” he said.

Read the full statement if you’re not prone to violent allergic reactions to ridiculous rants of Evangelicalism™.

I’ll admit that I had to look up the word “virulently” — it’s not one that I use regularly in my vocabulary. But seriously Mr. Dobson — a virulent, anti-family policy position? Come on. So that would mean affordable health care is anti-family; and keeping jobs here in the United States as opposed to shipping them off… so families can have food on the table. And what of the war in Iraq? Are we going to continue to sacrifice family members for a poorly-justified war, a war based on false pretenses?

No, James Dobson, last election, George W. Bush was the worst choice in our history for a president. Look at where his brilliant, “Christian” leadership has led us — into a multi-trillion dollar deficit, a war he once declared “Mission Accomplished”, a crisis with the housing and lending industry, an economy sliding towards a recession, a much higher unemployment rate, a weak dollar, and a failing school system. Oh and while we’re at it, much of the rest of the world is on pins and needles, not sure how to relate to us as a nation because our leader is a moron and doesn’t play well with the rest of the kids in the sandbox — always having to have his own way. No, James Dobson, the worst option for a president was George W. Bush, by far the most incompetent president I have seen in my lifetime.

In a way, this pertains to my journey towards Orthodoxy and away from Evangelicalism™ and protestantism in general. It’s his severe overreactions to the events in our culture and the political realm, that causes me to wonder about the substance of his faith. Is his job to make America an Evangelical nation or to serve Christ? I think the former.

James Dobson, stop sticking your thumb in the rest of the nation’s eyes — those who don’t think like you do. We don’t care what you think or what you have to say anymore. Your virulent theology is poisoning the minds of innocent believers throughout the United States. Make it stop.

Filed under: Christian Subculture, Politics
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I’m keeping this brief, but it was remarkable to see the turnout for the DFL caucus in our senate district 39A. As we made our way down highway 52, the traffic was backed up a quarter mile on the highway alone… and was backed up all the way to Simley High School on 80th Street in Inver Grove Heights.

With hundreds and hundreds of cars, filling the parking lots, area streets, and still backed up to the highway, there was a remarkable feeling in the air — like people wanted to see change.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the nation decides — Minnesota DFL’ers have spoken and Barack Obama is their man.

Filed under: Politics
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Get out and vote at the primaries today. You don’t need to be registered to vote, it takes just five minutes of your time, and starts tonight at 6:30pm. Minnesota residents, to find your caucus location, visit caucusfinder.sos.state.mn.us.

Filed under: Politics
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It’s our first year watching the Super Bowl on our new Samsung flat screen LCD and Bose home theatre system. For the most part the picture and sound has been nearly immaculate, with the occasional bad pixelation.

And then there’s the half-time performance of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Tom Petty? At the Super Bowl half time performance? You’re kidding, right?

Well, then Fox’s audio department sure seemed to drop the ball this year — while the visuals were enough to keep me interested, the audio SUCKED. All you could hear was Tom’s voice, the guitars, and the snare drum. The low end was nowhere to be found and my subwoofer patiently waited for a little action, occasionally putting out a barely audible off-tempo thud.

FOX Network, you sure dropped the ball this year at the half time performance. You’ve had your fun, now I think it’s time to let the real networks do their job and cover the Super Bowl.

Filed under: Artists, Music, Performance
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As mentioned in a previous post, I am taking the first steps towards becoming a member of the Orthodox Christian Church; a completely departure from my past expressions of faith which have included Lutheranism (ELCA and independent Lutheran “Renewal”), “Word Faith” brand of non-denominationalism, baptist, and your run-of-the-mill non-denominational charismatic evangelical church.

Well apparently I’m not the only one that is making this journey to the roots of our faith. My friend Jamison is going Roman Catholic, and two others that I know (through Jamison) are also exploring or becoming members of the Orthodox Church. So instead of just blogging about my Orthodox experience here, we’re going to do it in a community/forum style over at The Hitchhiker’s Guide. The Hitchhiker’s Guide used to be a webzine on life and Christian spirituality that Jamison and me used to run years ago.

So we’ve dusted off hitchhikersguide.org and it has a new purpose now. If you’re interested in Orthodoxy or Roman Catholicism, I’d encourage you to check it out and follow our own respective journeys along the way.

Filed under: Orthodoxy, Spirituality, Websites
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