Sea of Glass

Test

2007-03-18T18:22:00.000-05:00

I'm back

2006-06-17T20:25:00.000-05:00

It's been too long since I've written an update, and I've let too many thoughts go by. I may change that, I may not. It's so hard for me to be convinced that a blog is a worthwhile thing to have, especially when so much else is going on in my life right now. My apologies to all of you out there . . .

Nick Brandt

2005-11-04T20:38:00.000-06:00

Easily the most compelling and gorgeous wildlife photography I've ever seen.

As the Editor of LensWork, Brooks Jensen, said, they "feel more like portraits than wildlife photography."

Also is some of the most expensive photography I've ever seen. Captivating.

The photography of Helen M. Stummer

2005-09-13T20:59:00.000-05:00

I found this photo project, "Watching Children Grow" to be the most striking photography I've perhaps ever seen. Something about it just really grips the heart. Thought I would share.

Found my way to it via Google after reading the latest issue of LensWork (#60), where Helen's life work was profiled.

Thank yous

2005-08-18T22:32:00.000-05:00

I was rummaging around my photography website's server statistics tonight and found a couple of very cool random links placed on other people's websites pointing to my work. One of them, Luis dos Santos' website, even included a flattering description: "Nice portfolio of landscape photography."

I found another link to my photography at this site, which seems to be a random collection of images the blogger (penman2) finds interesting around the web. Cool.

The most difficult to explain but certainly the most flattering is the link from "Photocamera 35", an italian photography website. Somehow, and again, I really have no idea how, my name is listed alongside people who I really have no right to be listed alongside (e.g. Steve McCurry or Alan Ross).

I suppose this post is my small way of saying thank you to these random folks out there in cyberspace, who will ironically probably never read this. But, if they at least get a couple clicks in their direction from this, I suppose that's the best I can hope for.

It's always fun to see who's been linking to you . . . :)

Backpack!

2005-08-12T17:34:00.000-05:00

I have a suggestion for web page of the year: Backpack!

Created by a company called 37signals, who also make something called Tadalists, which is a simpler version of Backpack.

The best way I can describe Backpack is a PDA meets a Notepad meets a bona fide web publishing program. It's truly remarkable--and remarkably fast. If you're like me and constantly have 1,001 ideas to jot down, or reminders to keep track of, or to-do lists to organize, do yourself a favor and check it out . . . and of course, the best part is that it's free . . .

Amazon rant

2005-08-11T11:50:00.000-05:00

Amazon has officially crossed the line into the realm of stupidity. I mean no offense, but I'm thoroughly boggled at their latest notice while looking at an item:

Matthew, this item is recommended for you. Why?

Does this make any sense at all? I can understand why they'd recommend items I haven't looked at, but why on earth would they tell me that something I am looking at is recommended? Aren't I looking at it for a reason? Do they have any idea what that reason is? If it's because I'm interested in the product, then what do I care if they say it's recommended. They have 'researched' me, but unless they have an expert looking over what's in my wish list (and not just some algorithm), how does this recommendation make any sense when juxtaposed with the fact that I'm looking at the product! Duh, I'm interested--thanks for letting me know! Or maybe I'm not interested at all, and I'm just looking at a product to see what it looks like . . . in which case their recommendation just sounds very . . . dumb.

Kind of a bad post to start blogging again with, but I thought I'd seize the inspiration. Better things to come (I hope!).

Google Sightseeing

2005-04-09T09:14:00.000-05:00

Site of the Day: Google Sightseeing.

This site makes me think of Google's Apple-esque nature. Like Apple's products, Google's products actually make people smile. On the flipside, Microsoft's products rarely seem to have this effect.

Cool.

Intelligent Design

2005-04-02T19:24:00.000-06:00

Have been reading Intelligent Design by William Dembski. I was initially unimpressed with his formulation what he calls the 'complexity-specification' criteria—a method for detecting design. It seemed to still boil down to a matter of probability—the razor's edge argument redux ("everything is so perfectly tuned, and the odds are very small that this could have happened by chance, therefore a Higher Power must have coordinated these circumstances 'just so'"). Any argument based upon probability can be easily be shot down with: "So what? That doesn't mean it didn't happen."

At least one part of Dembski's argument pushes against this quick rebuttal with the notion that biological, psychological, and astronomical sciences either do attribute or seek to attribute intelligence to phenomena when they portray an observable, detachable pattern. If a rat makes 100 correct turns in a maze, psychologists will say, scientifically, not as a hypothesis, but as fact, that the 'rat has learned the maze.' And there is a pattern that, if found, SETI researchers are willing to deem as caused by an intelligent agent.

Yet there is some chance, however small, that the rat simply 'got lucky.' And there is also some chance, however small, that the pattern received by transmission is structured but nevertheless random and unintelligent, is there not?

Why then, if these same levels of complexity and patterns can be shown to exist in human life, can we not also rightly—scientifically, ascribe our existence as the result of intelligent agency (design) as well, and not simply chance?

There is even a chance—infinitesimal but nevertheless real, that you are not in fact sitting where you think you are as you read this. The exact position of the electrons that whirl around the atomic nuclei that compose your body are not definitely known . . . but science will nevertheless assume that you are where you think you are and operate on that assumption.

Why, then, should we be willing to assume that human beings are the result of an evolutionary process with an even smaller chance of having occurred, if we can find the same type of intelligent, designed patterns in nature?

Even Google Gets It Wrong Sometimes

2005-03-10T19:14:00.000-06:00

Despite the fact that "look it up on Google" has become the universal appeal to consumate earthly knowledge, even the nexus centered in Mountain View doesn't always get it right. Take this travesty, for example: according to Google's built-in calculator, anything divided by zero . . . equals zero! Of course this is completely wrong.

The expression x/0 is undefined for all numbers x. Not zero, but undefined. This is because division is defined as multiplying some number by the multiplicative inverse of another number. Thus, a/b is really a * (1/b). The multiplicative inverse of a number is the number m in the expression a*m = 1. Thus, the multiplicative inverse of 5 is 1/5, since 5 * 1/5 = 1. Thus, you may divide by 5, because 1/5 satisfies the definition of the multiplicative inverse of 5. Since no number m exists such that 0*m = 1, you cannot divide by zero.

I learned that in the first week of a class I eventually dropped. :-D

I wrote Google an email telling them of this horrendous error (shocking, really!), but still no response. The message of my email was essentially: "Bad Google! 5/0 is not 0!" The irony is that someone actually thought to hardcode the answer--in other words, actually running the divide by zero operation in a 'real' program would typically cause a fatal error. But this calculator program actually catches the divide by zero error and returns . . . zero?! Again, shocking.

My only hope is that by blogging about this (and getting millions of others to do the same thing), we can overturn this significant threat to the world's intelligence (how many young Googlers are being deceived every moment?!).

Join me!

Fellowship

2005-03-06T20:28:00.000-06:00

It's been forever since I've updated this.

Life has been consumed lately with questions and answers. I'm thankful for both--the questions because short of asking them you'd come to a standstill and die; better to ask questions, and ask them to the right Person and receive answers.

That said, have been thinking a lot about fellowship lately: what is it, and how ought we experience it? God was faithful to answer that question and open my eyes to understanding that fellowship is not just Christians grouping together as friends. We can gather around and talk about each other's hobbies, daily chores, and general business, or even the weather--but that isn't fellowship. No, fellowship is the active partaking of each other's spiritual lives. As Paul said, literally pouring your soul into another human being. It's a deep trust where the wall of enmity is broken down between each heart, resulting in a shared vision, and edification. Too many people attend church these days with a theatre expectation--they either go to be entertained or they go to passively listen, and then return home. This is not what God intended.

Reading Acts 2:40-47, I'm struck by the phrase "they continued steadfastly in doctrine and fellowship." I believe the place where I meet has a strong stance on the true gospel of salvation--deliverance from sin and a godly life. But where we fall short and need much growth is the second--fellowship. And really, fellowship is the second half of the salvation story. The Christian life isn't just about getting saved, sanctified, and then holding on for dear life until the Lord returns. God intends us to move from "glory to glory." What that means to me is that we aren't mean to simply swim around in circles in the same pond of "avoid the world, stay pure, stay holy, don't backslide." You can't go forward if you're always looking behind you. That means that you can't have your eyes on your past experience in trying to build for tomorrow. We need to look higher--all the way up, to Christ, the Head of the Church.

So we can't satisfy ourselves with mere doctrine--we need to experience a vital spiritual discourse with our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Paul states in Corinthians that we "no longer regard any man after the flesh." I really believe we settle far too often for a knowledge of each other in the flesh--much less work and less effort. But again, God designed us for more. We are many members of the body of Christ--that means deep intimacy. The world looks on and thinks that concept is both foreign and weird, and can't accept the idea that this kind of trust is possible here on earth. But the world has given up on True Love, and traded the Creator for the creature. Those in the body of Christ must stand fast in choosing the spiritual things over the carnal. And that means choosing to have our conversation in the Spirit rather than in the natural. In short, I need to be sowing in the spiritual lives of my brethren, and they are equally compelled--"constrained by the love of Christ", to sow in mine. And then we may be "comforted together by the mutual faith of both you and I" (Rom. 1:12). If we are not sowing, we also will not reap. When I hear a testimony on Sunday, if I played no part in that victory, neither in prayer, nor hope, nor Love, nor admonishment, nor gift, nor help, nor counsel, nor tears, then in what part can I reap in rejoicing? A detached, onlooking friendship, or even a passionate comraderie in the things of this world, is not fellowship at all. We cannot settle for this; if we do, we limit the very power and presence of Christ on earth, because it is by the working of the church that His glory will be revealed to an unbelieving mankind:

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
—John 17:22-24

More to come. And my our eyes continue to be enlightened to the mystery and glory of God and His beloved.

"He Will Carry Me"

2005-02-24T14:48:00.000-06:00

I wanted to share the lyrics of a song that the Lord touched my heart with the other morning.

The lyrics here are simple, but the message is powerful. We are soldiers for Jesus Christ, but often wounded; when wounded, He will carry us, but we must be willing to be carried—people that need carrying are not standing on their own two feet, but resting on their knees or more likely lying flat on their faces in the dust. Those are the positions we will find ourselves in when He will carry us through.

—

Mark Schultz - "He Will Carry Me"

I call, You hear me
I’ve lost it all
And it’s more than I can bear
I feel so empty
You’re strong
I’m weary
I’m holdin’ on
But I feel like givin’ in
But still You’re with me

Chorus:
And even though I’m walkin’ through
The valley of the shadow
I will hold tight to the hand of Him
Whose love will comfort me
And when all hope is gone
And I’ve been wounded in the battle
He is all the strength that I will ever need
He will carry me

I know I’m broken
But You alone
Can mend this heart of mine
You’re always with me

Chorus:

And even though I feel so lonely
Like I’ve never been before
You never said it would be easy
But You said you’d see me through
The storm

A difficulty with Calvinism ("Once Saved, Always Saved")

2005-01-28T16:41:00.000-06:00

If we really have no choice, shouldn’t God save us to the uttermost without our consent? In other words, if getting saved in the first place was not our decision, why, then, does God leave our ‘progressive sanctification’ up to us, as a life-long struggle? The same God that’s omnipotent enough to save us without our say should also be strong enough to completely purify us without our say either. The devil is revealed in the fact that with one voice they claim “God’s righteousness alone” but with another voice claim that His righteousness and sovereignty aren’t enough to make them holy.

Music Plasma

2005-01-19T21:10:00.000-06:00

Fun link of the day: Music Plasma. Some guy apparently spidered the daylights out of Amazon.com's music selection to develop this very cool Flash application. Well done!

Tsunami and giving

2004-12-30T18:13:00.000-06:00

If you haven't noticed yet, Google has this link posted on their homepage:

Ways to help with tsunami relief

What an unbelievable disaster. So striking, so massive. I believe God is a God of Love, and in some ways I wonder—why those people, Lord? But I know He knows. In my human wisdom I think, "What an opportunity for the United States to redeem itself!"

It certainly convicts me . . .

Christmas passed

2004-12-30T17:44:00.001-06:00

A few favorite gifts and moments in no particular order:

1. Singing Christmas carols with Skye on Christmas morning. Who knew "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" had such profoundly sinless Christianity lyrics?

God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas day,
To save us all from Satan's pow'r
When we were gone astray;

2. Emma got a FisherPrice photography toy. Basically she mashes a big button and a wheel spins around and makes a noise like a shutter along with a flash and tells her about some animal or thing that is on the wheel. Awesome!

3. Shoe laces! Yeehaw! I needed these something awful.

4. Coffee grinder. My Braun grinder mysteriously gave up the java ghost, and my tinkering brought it to life momentarily but ultimately failed! Waah! But despair no longer, a new one has arrived, with built-in time settings! Woo!

5. Gift certificates galore. Target, Circuit City, and many others. Yay!

6. Not really a Christmas gift, but last night the neighbor lady agreed to watch a sleeping Emma for one hour while Skye and I ran out to Target—that's right, just us! Wow! It was like being 21 again.

7. The promise of an iPod. We weren't able to wrangle one in time (the 20 gigs are pretty much sold out nationwide), but in a month or two I might have one in my hands (partially assisted by the Target or Circuit City gift certs).

Free iPod for me?

2004-12-30T17:44:00.000-06:00

Have nothing better to do? Do you enjoy getting freebies? Then help me get a free iPod!

As a side note, I would like to mention that my wife recently had 16—yes sixteen, Firefox browser windows open at once. Not tabs--but windows. I find this really funny. Probably no one else will. Oh, and that seven of those sixteen were her livejournal . . . 'How many of these can you read at once?!' was my question.

The really funny part is that she was wondering why the computer was running so slowly. :oP HA!

International relations

2004-12-20T22:08:00.000-06:00

I do a bit of reading about international politics—particularly regarding the United States. The immense hypocrisy of the United States in supporting dictators on one hand and supposedly being the vanguard of the Axis of Truth on the other truly disturbs me, and threatens to discourage.

Fortunately, I know that "the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James). Christians ought to pray for the United States. But even more so, we must pray for her enemies. Neither is something I do enough of, and I especially don't hear the latter promoted on the airwaves today.

"Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." —Matthew 26:52 (KJV).

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. —Romans 12:17-21

Pro-Choice in the headlines

2004-12-18T13:36:00.000-06:00

Woman Murdered, Baby Survives.

I've always found it striking how completely unscientific the pro-choice movement is, in light of this very thing: if the mother *wants* to have the baby, the baby is a life; if the mother does not want to have the baby, the baby was a dependent fetus. Since when does volition have anything to do with the definition of a life? That's phenomenology, not biology. How ironic!

In these news stories I can't help but be irked by the continual avoidance of calling the baby a baby, but instead referring to it as a "fetus", even after it has been removed from the womb. The rhetoric of the pro-choice movement just got stranger; it used to be that once the in utero life was no longer in utero, it was no longer a fetus, but a baby (assuming it survived). Because of the parallelism between this crime and abortion, the pro-choice movement must wrap the crime in the same rhetoric; sickeningly, this downplays the crime.

So, what we have here is a description of an attempted abortion. In the same swoop we have incontrovertible proof that the 'fetus is dependent on the mother' argument is biologically false. Roe v. Wade has nothing to stand on scientifically or experientially. Anything that can survive being forcefully severed from another entity was obviously *not* dependent on that particular other entity. Substitution is (or one day will be) possible at any stage in the game post-conception, and here we have proof.

The 'fetus' does not need the particular mother. Here is proof. Thus, the 'fetus' is a human lifespan independent of other human beings. This little one fought the good fight and proved it. Praise the Lord.

In case you have $6 trillion laying around . . .

2004-12-14T20:57:00.000-06:00

From Frequently Asked Questions - 1.1 General Procedural Questions

I'm concerned about the public debt. Can I make a payment to reduce it?

Yes. You can make a contribution (gift) to reduce the public debt. Make a separate check payable to the "Bureau of the Public Debt." You can also enclose the check with your tax return. Please do not add this gift to any income tax you owe. You can send the check to the

Bureau of the Public Debt
Department G
P. O. Box 2188
Parkersburg, W.V. 26106-2188

You can deduct this gift as a charitable contribution on your next tax return if you itemize your deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A. If you owe tax, make a separate check for that amount payable to "United States Treasury."

—

Yeehaw! Sign me up! Err, wait, I already am.

Google Suggest

2004-12-14T19:57:00.000-06:00

Google Suggest! One of the better things since sliced bread.

Someone properly criticized it regarding its "failure" to normalize on singular/plural, which I think is a rightful critique, but the implications of receiving real-time feedback on a search argument before you actually have to execute are exciting. While this is syntactically neat, what I'd like to see is some kind of semantic clustering going on behind the scenes, so that keying in "Saddam Hussein" for example would auto-recommend queries like "Iraq" or "Desert Storm", etc., phrases that have similar meanings but no shared words. Basically, the power of Google meets the concept of Vivisimo.

Now that would be sweet . . .

Google v. Microsoft

2004-12-14T19:48:00.000-06:00

Yahoo! News - Google to Scan Books From Big Libraries.

This could potentially kill the online venture a friend of mine (actually, a couple friends of mine) and myself are running—err, planning to run. Fortunately, this ambitious project of Google's will take something on the order of decades, by which time Microsoft will have either destroyed or bought out Google (same thing, right?), thus turning any hopes of this being a useful project into a bloated mess of buttons and Clippy help avatars.

Microsoft must kill Google. It's our only hope.

Newly-discovered Photographer

2004-12-11T01:07:00.000-06:00

chris jordan photography — recycled lately? Very striking photographs on the waste generated by consumerism. Makes me ask myself what the subject and style of my creative photography is and will be. Right now I feel very divergent in my subject matter — nature of all shapes and sizes, with some architecture thrown in (with some pictures of Chicago coming soon, I hope) for good measure.

Belarusian mortgage refinancing (matthewwensing.com)

2004-12-01T11:55:00.000-06:00

In case you don't already know, someone recently snatched up my domain (www.matthewwensing.com) when I failed to re-register it (actually, I purposefully failed to re-register it, but assumed I could transfer it before someone would buy it—after all, who else would want the domain 'matthewwensing'?). So now matthewwensing.com provides Mortgage Refinancing spam to the citizens of Belarus .

I contacted the current owner of the domain. Found out his name was Midas. When I contacted him about reclaiming the domain (after all, if I were famous, this could be considered identity theft/infringement/libel), Midas gave a hefty laugh (OK, so actually I just imagined that part in my head) and said he had 'never really considered selling it . . . what price?'

Trying to come in low and not too strong, I offered him $20. One Andrew Jackson to solve a morning's worth of troubles—not too shabby. Despite the foreign exchange rate stating that Midas could garner 1.8 million Belarusian rubles (BYB) for my $20 US dollars, he returned my offer with a scoff: "you must joke . . . this domain worth 1,000$ minimum".

Stunned by Mr Midas' rationale that a domain name consisting entirely and only of my first and last names should be worth 90,000,000 rubles, I asked him in my best Eastern European broken English: "What do you base this price on?", to which he replied "good search results". I fired off yet another e-mail, asking him "what searches bring up matthewwensing.com?" . . .

. . . and to that, I never received a reply.

That same day as consolation I snatched up matthewwensing.net. For some reason, despite the amazing marketing potential of matthewwensing.com, Midas failed to sweep the .net variation behind his Iron Curtain.

So yes, what was my personal portal is now replaced by an endless sea of mortgage refinancing link spam. My only logical conclusion is that somewhere in Belarus is a very famous Matthew Wensing.

C'est la vie. Or as Midas might say, "XA XA!"

Harmony remote

2004-11-29T11:31:00.000-06:00

Yes, if you so desire, you can now spend over $200 on a remote control: Froogle Search: harmony remote.

There's just something about mankind and control, especially when it's done via infrared—invisible 'magic', reminiscent of thundersticks and Indians.

"Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms." —motto of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair

"People Propose, Science Studies, Technology Conforms." —the designer's motto today

Living sacrifice

2004-11-23T14:48:00.000-06:00

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?" Luke 14:28.

The greatest pain comes when we let go of the searching and embrace the found—when we realize the search is over. The melancholy adventurer longs for the search, but can be downright terrified at the thought of grasping the prize. Many songs are written about the search, few esteem the prize enough to lose everything for it. When we finally realize the cost is the search itself, will we pay the price?

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:25-27.

My heart cries holy

2004-11-23T10:01:00.000-06:00

Heart Cries Holy, by Big Daddy Weave

Standing here in the presence
Of something more than merely real
There are no words to describe you
Or explain the way I feel

As you speak I find healing for my soul
And your touch alone can make me whole

And my heart cries Holy
And my spirit feels the change
As my heart cries Holy I will never be the same

Your mercies toward me last forever
Your faithfulness is true
And as You touch the coal to my lips
My mind is made brand new

I could never repay all that You've done
So use my life to the glory of Your Son

Everything inside me
Everything untrue
Oh Lord I surrender
All of it to You

Wisconsin shooting

2004-11-22T13:54:00.000-06:00

Five people were shot dead and three wounded when a hunting dispute erupted into a shootout in rural Wisconsin near the Minnesota border.

The manner of the killings and the context were especially disturbing, as the suspect actually hunted down some of his victims with his 7.62mm assault rifle.

But what I find only slightly less disturbing is this headline:

The Australian: Row ends with five deerly departed [November 23, 2004]

How a reputable news organization actually has the audacity to make a morbid pun on such a horrific incident is truly a sign of the times.

The real litmus test is how many people will read this headline and not be able to hold back a chuckle.

A lot of seared hearts and minds. Products of the media we consume. I still struggle to truly feel sorrow as I should.

Old Testament experiences

2004-11-19T07:38:00.001-06:00

From an email I sent this morning . . .

I was thinking about it more, and what I was trying to say last night amounts to this:

If we are left sinning again and again, the same sins over and over, present and future, then we are left with an Old Testament experience. We have not yet entered into a New Testament experience brought on by the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. This is where I believe most Christians find themselves, largely because the ‘Church’ has stopped teaching victorious living—that is, living free from sin. So we are left with people being taught that their cyclical experience is acceptable, even normal—but if that’s the case, then we are not a royal priesthood and holy nation, but are instead no better off than the priests of the Old Testament who had a ‘remembrance of sins every year’. Christ came to set us free from sin—we cannot be in ‘at one ment’ with God and keep on sinning; in other words, Christ doesn’t just offer a convenient way for us to continually receive forgiveness—a sort of perennial ‘on the altar’ sacrifice. His blood does what bulls and goats could not—it changes US.

Birthday, shapes, and scanner

2004-11-11T10:19:00.000-06:00

Today is my birthday, and to honor this day, Microsoft and Google have both offered their humble gifts.

Microsoft's comes in the form of unveiling their new search engine, currently accessible (or, depending on network traffic, inaccessible) at: http://beta.search.msn.com. Great results, much improved over the absolutely horrid mess of a search they had when this thing was in its earliest stages; and that marked improvement means competition for the GOOG. Speaking of which, is it time to sell? GOOG is currently at pre-crash eBay/Amazon/Pets.com levels, with a price-to-earnings ratio that makes them seem as if they're larger than General Electric . . .

. . . but not to be outdone (although they might be anyway), Google has unveiled an update to its index, which has ballooned from 4 billion to just over 8 billion pages. This means that a search for "matthew wensing" now yields many more pages than it used to . . . and of course this means a bunch of other less important stuff. ;-)

Skip this part if you don't need any more reasons to believe I'm a tremendous geek:

In other news, my program for deciding if something is a rectangular sheet, rectangular strip, rectangular bar, square sheet, square strip, or cube based upon its three dimensional measurements turned out to be more exciting than I had once thought.

Turns out that, as I was hoping but hadn't expected, you can reduce it all to a single number: the slope of the line passing through the point 0,0 and the point defined by the ratio of side z to side x and the ratio of side y to side x—if slope (which is really is the rate at which the sides of the shape are growing in relation to one another) is greater than 2 or less than 1/2, it's a sheet; if that number is in between 2 and 1/2, it's a bar. At some point bars become cubes, so you have to code a special case for that, and also some sheets are strips, so you code a special case in those regions of the graph as well. But overall, very cool stuff! :-D I love turning tedious manual tasks into algorithms, thus liberating our group at work from all these chores . . .

—

My parents have gifted me an Epson 4870 Photo Scanner. This means big things for my photography pursuits—essentially I'll finally have a way to output digitally, which means I can start showing my work to others, which means I might actually sell some prints, which means I might actually start to get my little hobby transforming itself into a business.

That's a lot of 'mights' . . . but we'll see. I would love to leave the desk one day and be a full-time photographer, though.

—

Has anyone gotten this far? Or did you all quit reading up there? ^

Enough rambling, back to the slab!

Web development and the Middle East

2004-11-08T23:24:00.000-06:00

Not much to say, but instead of saying nothing, I'll say those few things I can think of . . .

Today was yet another day at McMaster-Carr Supply Co., working in Merchandising's Item Group. The most exciting moment of the day came when I realized that tomorrow I get to tackle a mini-challenge of writing a script that will automatically classify products as bars, strips, sheets, or cubes based upon their dimensions.

OK.

I've seen a number of exciting things on the web recently, only to realize that the odds of them becoming ubiquitous are about 1:1,000,000,000. One of those is Macromedia Flex. It sounds like exactly what I would love to use for my hurricane website project—I can't exactly wrap my brain around it, but it involves some crazy integration of mxml, ActionScript 2.0, and n-tier architectures. The problem is that it sits on J2EE, which I will not be running on the hosting account I pick up from wavepath.com; moreover, I still couldn't exactly grasp what the advantage of Flex is over using Flash MX 2004 Professional with all of its nifty XML Connectors to make remoting a snap. The best I could gather is that "Flex is best suited for n-tier setups", etc., which makes me think, along with the price, that Flash Pro 2k4 is still the way to go.

That said, I'm almost finished with the database/historical layer of the forthcoming stormpulse.com. Then I get to work on lots of PHP scripts for generating XML from the MySQL tables, and then finally Flash. And somewhere in there I have to establish cron jobs to cURL reliable feeds, as well as learn enough about things like hurricane vortex measurements to intelligently parse it into the database . . .

. . . I also learned, as was expected, that many software packages already exist that do similar or better things than what will be stormpulse.com. The difference? Stormpulse will be a free, publicly-readable and accessible website, while all that I've seen so far are bona fide software installations for the power user types. The problem is I need to figure out how to generate revenue. So far Google's AdSense is my best guess, or perhaps just a meager PayPal Donate Now button.

—

Our softball team finished 6-6. Basketball starts next week. Mamun and I will be on the team. Should be fun. He's "undersold us" so as not to manage expectations.

Emma is a greater and greater joy to behold every day. Coming home from work and holding her is just such an amazing experience . . . you really can't put into words just how much you love a child until you have your own. No, pets don't compare. That isn't meant to sound elitist; that's just the way it is.

I found out that there's an Imacon scanner on campus that I may be able to borrow to scan in my 4x5 negatives from Yosemite National Park. Finally, digital copies of my negs! Then I can adjust in Photoshop and voila, output via Inkjet, Lightjet, Giclee, whatever-have-you. Woohoo!

Of course there's the looming possibility I won't actually be able to USE the $10,000 scanner, since I'm no longer a student. Alums are people too, though, right? And aren't we all students, deep down?

Yasser Arafat is on his deathbed, and I am so tired of Zionist interviews and commentaries on the Christian radio stations, talking about the forthcoming nightmare of mobs of Palestinians carrying Arafat's remains to the Temple Mount. Who cares?! Let them have their parade. Of course, if you're in the pro-Israel camp, you probably think you have proof that this is yet another required sign of the Second Coming . . . *sigh*

With all this, I am going to finally finish brushing my teeth and hit the hay. I haven't been able to wake up early in weeks!

John Adams

2004-11-01T16:16:00.000-06:00

I decided to download an audiobook copy of David McCullough's biography of John Adams off of iTunes to listen to while at work. I don't usually have work that allows me to engage a book at the same time, but these days are particularly monotonous with the need to enter in lots of numbers by mechanical repetition (eyes look at book, fingers type what eyes see).

In light of my earlier post today, I've already come across a striking point in Adams' thoughts in relation to Chomsky's. Namely, that citizens have a right to not be left out of the democratic process whether by means of force or New World Order plot.

And Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right from the frame of their nature to knowledge as their great Creator who does nothing in vain has given them understandings and a desire to know. But besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, Divine right to the most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge—I mean, of the characters and the conduct of their rulers.

So you see, I'm not anti-American (as if there could be such a thing . . .).

What America is all about

2004-11-01T09:08:00.000-06:00

If you're at all interested in politics, take 15 minutes and listen to this: Noam Chomsky on the Election and the War in Iraq and optionally give me your thoughts.

As a warning: I don't agree with 100% of his stance—the irony is that I have personally found myself coming so far to the right that I have been creeping into sympathizing with much of the outcry of the left; namely this:

There are serious problems here. One problem is almost a total disillusion, disappearance of the basis for a democratic society. I mean, if we compare, say, this election with elections in, say, the second biggest country in the hemisphere, Brazil. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. They have actual elections where there are issues and where they can elect some mass popular organizations. They can elect, as presidents, one from their own ranks, a man whose background is a peasant, steelworker, union organizer, no higher education, very impressive figure. Against far higher barriers than exist here. I mean, here, we have a thing called an election, which is a choice between two men, both born to great wealth and political influence, and went to the same fancy private schools, same elite university, joined the same secret society where you train people to be members of the ruling class. They can run because they're funded by pretty much the same concentrations for private power. Both understand that the election is supposed to keep away from issues. That's -- they are run by the PR industry, and in a way designed to keep the public out of it. They focus on what they call qualities. He is he a leader, a nice guy? Does he sigh, that kind of a thing. That's what the campaign is. Very few people know where they stand. In fact, there was a Gallup poll about a week ago where voters were asked why they're voting for Bush or Kerry. I thought it was quite striking. I mean, one of the choices of the many choices was their stand on the issues. You know, their agenda, policies. It was around 10%. If you had asked the people, they wouldn't have known. That's the way it's supposed to be. This is a symbol of something extremely serious.

You can’t ignore the election. It’s there. But it’s designed as a method of essentially marginalizing the population. There’s a huge propaganda campaign to get people to focus on these personalized extravaganzas, and make them think ‘That’s politics.” Well, it isn’t. That’s a marginal part of politics, and here, a very marginal part.

In light of all this, some encouraging and blessed words from a song I'm currently listening to:

Sometimes it seems the world’s unraveling around us
We fear it all my one day come undone
We can’t forget the One who came before us
To forgive the past and bring hope for what’s to come
When it all comes crashing down
The cross still stands alone
And on this our faith is built
And our courage is made strong

When the world falls apart
And you fear for your heart
There’s a tower of peace
It’s still the cross
So bring your sick and your poor
And your longing for more
To the place of relief
It’s still the cross
There is hope for the lost
It’s still the cross

Sometimes it seems that I have been forgotten
I don’t know how I will make it on my own
But the One who said I will never be forsaken
He still hears my prayer and I will never be alone
When it all comes crashing down
The cross still stands alone
And on this my faith is built
And my courage is made strong

Though the world may not confess
You and Your holiness
One day all will see
You in all Your majesty
And the cross will stand alone
As the place where You made known
Your love for all mankind
Till then in it we’ll hide

—FFH, "Still the Cross"

Heartening lyrics

2004-10-26T10:51:00.000-05:00

Telecast, "Define"

I've been defined by being found
By Your Perfect Love
And so I'll pick up my cross
And follow hard after You
Your grace is more than enough
Please help me get through

Teach me to die
That You might live and reign inside
This heart of mine
It's Yours to keep
And Yours to define

Oh Lord I accept this gift
Grace You offer me
Jesus I'll keep my eyes on You
Please lead me

I don't need signs, only You
I don't need wonders, only You
I don't need miracles, only You
I don't need anything but You

Back from Yosemite, and other things

2004-10-25T11:32:00.000-05:00

So I've finally returned from Yosemite. What an amazing place. If you've ever been to Chicago, you've seen the Sears Tower in person. Take the Sears Tower and stack two and a half of them on top of each other (not including antennae), and there you'd have the height of El Capitan — 3,593 feet of vertical granite! Combine this with waterfalls (albeit dried-up waterfalls given my visit being in October), Half-Dome, vast landscapes, and some of the most beautiful patches of forest I've ever layed eyes on, and you have one awe-inspiring place. Needless to say, I loved it.

I took quite a few pictures. By that I mean roughly 40, which averages a whopping 8 per day of shooting/field work.

I learned a ton — how film works, what film curves look like and how they behave in the field as well as darkroom, how to pre-expose for greater shadow detail (the course was concentrated on black and white), how to more effectively use camera movements to establish the plane of focus, how to shoot with my Polaroid gadget, how to dodge, how to burn, how to print more effectively with a traditional enlarger using transparency filters developed in Photoshop; I even processed my own film on a Jobo machine with varying development times to elevate highlights. I also discovered that Pentax Digital Spotmeters can survive splashing into streams and that falling lenses are drawn toward rocks (this is a fundamental rule of physics known only to photographers).

Next item on the list is to secure an Epson 4870 scanner to get these negatives in digital format — I've already decided that at least for now I'll be outputting digitally. Someday maybe I'll go through the whole traditional she-bang and buy an enlarger, lens, etc.; but for now, that route is just too expensive. My third option is to nail down a community darkroom somewhere. Either way, I plan to try to display my work at a few local galleries in the near future. Best way to justify expenditure is to get it to pay for itself! Not that I don't do it for its own sake . . .

The only bummer of the trip was the lack of clouds in the sky. One evening we did have a few, but only for a couple hours, during which time I snapped my best broad landscapes of the trip with my camera pointed east into Yosemite Valley from a spot off the road called "Valley View." Excited to see what those shots look like as positives (all I can do for now is gaze at them through a loupe as negs).

Scripture of the morning, from Galatians 2:
17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

No man, having applied himself to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

—

Rhetorical question of the morning: Is it wrong of me to desperately want to retire before 59-1/2?

Free Indeed

2004-10-05T15:44:00.000-05:00

And whom the Son, has set free — he is free, yes free indeed.

Word of the Day

2004-10-04T08:59:00.000-05:00

Whether due to blood-sugar levels or personal whim, my afternoons at times seem to crawl, oozing with neverending stretches of lassitude.

Another weekly update

2004-09-29T11:21:00.000-05:00

What I've been up to:

Emma! How can she, at a mere 11 weeks old (almost) detect when I'm standing and when I'm sitting so perfectly? If I'm holding her and sitting, she cries; if I'm holding her and walking, she's perfectly content! Amazing, really. She also likes to be held face down like a football. A foreshadow of things to come?

Casters! You know those little wheels on the bottom of shopping carts? Those are stem casters. You know those wheels on the little rovers that carry luggage around an airport tarmac? Those are pneumatic casters! Here at McMaster-Carr Supply Co., I am currently living and breathing casters, as I am decomposing our selection of approximately 4,000 of these whirly-gigs into their attributes and features, shapes and sizes. While some may faint or snore at the idea, it's actually not so bad, and a good exercise in information design and architecture.

To supplement the quasi-dearth of creative challenge at my workplace, I'm currently coding away for what will be stormpulse.com, a real-time updating hurricane tracking site. Nothing there yet, but my PowerBook is gladly accepting a pummeling of data as I build the MySQL back-end. This is an exciting project in many ways. From a social benefits standpoint, I truly believe people deserve better than the cartoon-like graphics and information they get from their local weather service. Technologically, it's loaded with challenges of integrating multiple data sources by fetching live feeds and simultaneously calling on the historical data that will be stored as well (all of the tracking information since 1851). For the geeks out there, it looks something like: Original input + fetched data (Cron jobs) --> [MySQL] <-- PHP --> [XML] <-- XML Connector --> [Flash]. Yesterday I downloaded 32,000 GPS coordinates for the state of Florida. Fun! :-D

I leave you with some random links of interest:

For everyone: if you even think you might like classical music (but just haven't realized it yet) and you don't have Rachmaninov: The Complete Piano Concertos performed by Tamas Vasary, spend $13.88 and buy it now! It is definitely the best rendition I've heard of these pieces. Via Wal-Mart.com, you can listen to 30-second clips of each track in the 2-CD set. When something starts like this, you know it's going to be good; and these measures compose my favorite phrase in all of music. (This recording also seems to receive high praise).

For the black and white photographers out there, if you haven't already bought LensWork or visited their website, do it now! I'm hooked on Brooks Jensen's audio blog.

I spent my first hours ever in a darkroom this past Friday night, developing some of my 4x5 negatives (primarily this one) into 8x10's for presentation during my trip west. There's something just wonderful about laying a fiber-based sheet of Ilford paper into Dektol solution and watching your image magically appear. Along the same lines, I recently picked up used copies of Ansel Adam's The Print and The Negative.

A blog I've taken to reading; a friend of Skye's through someone, somehow, that I've slowly gotten to know over time. He has thought-provoking things to say when he wants to, and he works at Microsoft. Neat-o.

El Capitan approaches

2004-09-22T23:12:00.000-05:00

Seventeen days and counting until I enter Yosemite National Park.

Also exciting is that I've managed to find a way to not have to rent a car — some couple from New Zealand that I've never met before will be driving me in, and I'll be hopping two buses, a local shuttle and then a Greyhound at 4:55am, to get out.

Oh yes, and I have yet to enter a darkroom. Still. But that's also changing soon as a friend of mine has decided to generously open up his private darkroom to me in order to develop a handful of prints before taking off for California.

In other news, the Gorillas fell hard tonight, 0-9. I had three singles, but we couldn't get anything on the board. :-( Woe is us. Next week we play a team composed entirely of employees from our company's warehouse operations groups. Me thinks we're in for a slaughter . . .

What have I been doing?!

2004-09-21T21:44:00.000-05:00

So my wife commented the other day that, like every other blog I've ever had, I seem to have abandoned this one. Rather than do that, rather than let this thing die a miserable slow death, I will instead post this semi-random but hopefully meaningful post containing links of things that have been absorbing my time lately:

National Hurricane Center / Tropical Prediction Center — my latest web project involves hurricanes. Twelve hundred of them to be exact. Well, including tropical storms. Can't share much detail but the theme of the story is that I'm tired of the cartoon renderings that currently pass as meteorological forecasts and have embarked on a journey to bring information rich interactive displays using hurricane data to the general public. I've also been waking up between 4:00am and 5:30am in the morning to plug away at this, as my life with a now-nine-week old is rather full!

Softball! Yes, I play for the company team. We're the Gorillas, and we're 2-1. We have our fourth game of the year tomorrow night. I'm known as "Wheels" by some others on the team and am likely to wear #11. I play outfield. I need a bigger glove.

JavaScript. Writing all kinds of crazy things. Created a parser to move thousands of rows of product data into a tab-delimited Excel-ready format from a flat file of thousands of strings.

PHP. Wrote a script to automate some logical tedium at work. "If you don't have anything nice to say, code it" has become my mantra. ;-)

A wife — that deserves far more attention than I give her, has also been consuming a small amount of attention.

And lastly, one of my best friends Mamun just got married. He and his new bride live practically across the street (as across the street as you can get in suburban Chicago) — so for the last two nights we've hung out and had dinner together.

Aight, with that, I'm moving on to something else. But I promise more random updates in the near future. Or something . . . ;)

Counting the cost

2004-09-08T17:59:00.000-05:00

Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, between 11,793 and 13,802 civilians have been killed. Since then, three million children have also died of hunger worldwide. What are our real enemies in this world? "Love your enemies; bless those who persecute you; pray for those who despitefully use you."

Great quote of the day: "North American governments are now planning to spend more than twenty billion dollars a year to fight terrorism. Twenty billion dollars a year just happens to be the amount the World Health Organization has estimated it would take to end hunger in the world. It's the amount of money we would need to spend to create a world where no child goes to bed hungry. We've heard a lot of talk since September 11th about how the terrorists are callous and heartless cowards. And here we are, blithely preparing to spend a sum of money so huge that with it we could rid the world of the scourge of hunger, and we're not even weighing that possibility." — Bruce O'Hara, "Tired of September 11th - A Canadian View"

Cleaning up after Frances, the approach of Ivan

2004-09-08T17:39:00.000-05:00

My parents are cleaning up after Frances. Knocked down trees and no power for days. My brother is still without power and likely will be for at least a couple more days. For those of you not from South Florida, lacking power in this situation doesn't just mean no internet. No, it means that your house is one giant convection oven, as temperatures creep into the mid 90's (which is incidentally also the humidity), and your aluminum shutters (which you're of course leaving on even after the hurricane because another is on the way) make your house a cave of heatwave death. They were also without phone lines (land or cell) for a number of days, but finally (at least for my parents) all has been restored (well, except for the downed palm trees, ruined shrubbery and driveway deformations caused by uprooting). As far as I know, my brother still has to figure out how to get half a tree out of his pool. Fortunately the 50-ft. pine tree didn't fall into his master bedroom.

That all said, Hurricane Ivan has grown into a category 4 monster: GOES Water Vapor Atlantic Java Applet Loop, and looking at the current forecast models, I would place the chance of a west coast Florida landfall at 60-70%. Remember, what they show you on television is usually simply a global concensus, derived largely from the National Hurricane Center. The UKMET model is showing a direct hit on Punta Gorda — yes, the exact same place Charley hit on August 13th. The BAMM and BAMD models are showing east coast visits (you've gotta be kidding me!), while two show strikes on Central America. Nearly any way you slice it, Jamaica is about to be obliterated

Hurricane Frances, Pt. 2

2004-09-01T08:57:00.000-05:00

Goodbye, Vero Beach?

Looks like the National Hurricane Center is showing a 19% probability that the eye of Hurricane Frances will pass within 65 nautical miles of my family in West Palm Beach. That is the largest probability of any place on the eastern coast of Florida, which tells me that forecasters aren't sure if it's going to hit south or north of Palm Beach County, but they are more sure that it will have at least some impact on West Palm Beach than any other locality.

That impact may not be maximum, but anything over 100 mph is of course significant. Most homes are rated and designed to withstand 110 mph winds; sustained winds greater than 110 mph are likely to tear your roof off your home thanks to the same principle that allows an airplane to fly: high-velocity air currents along your roof lowers air pressure relative to that inside your home; consequently, the air inside your house pushes your roof off, i.e. your house explodes.

My family will soon be scrambling to protect my father's office as well as three homes in the area (owned by my parents and siblings). The joys of living in South Florida!

Hurricanes Frances

2004-08-30T23:34:00.000-05:00

So for the second time in less than a month, I have my eye on my homeland of South Florida (while I sit comfy in northwestern Chicago), wondering if a new monster or a storm will strike. Frances continues toward the peninsula — yes, that strange land of 99% humidity and bat-sized mosquitoes — thanks to a high-pressure system hovering over the southern Atlantic. For those of you that didn't grow up learning about projected paths of hurricanes, it's an important meteorological behavior to note: most of the time a high-pressure system will ease its way down over the Florida mainland, keeping massive tropical buzzsaws such as Floyd (killer satellite imagery — yes, that thing turned) away from the by-then-frenzied inhabitants. But this time Frances has a clear shot — the third-base coach is waving her home as a high-pressure system hovers over the southern Atlantic, pushing Frances down along a westerly course.

Of course, these things still turn . . . but at other times, they don't. My family lives in West Palm Beach (the eastern coast for those who have no idea), and my storm-maven father is monitoring this one closely. Even if it strikes, depending on how compact it is, a distance of 50 miles could be the difference between having matchsticks for a house and waking up to a few extra palm fronds in your front yard. Such was the case in 1992 with Andrew, which obliterated Homestead but left our neighborhood in Lake Worth relatively unscathed.

Laity and credentials

2004-08-30T00:34:00.000-05:00

"How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying." (I Corinthians 14:26)

In light of what we read of the New Testament church, I am amazed at the sharp divisions that continue to exist between the 'leaders' and the 'laity' in so many "churches" — divisions created through means of education (seminary), position (pulpits and staging), power to control the program of events, and literally the control of the microphone. How many barriers existed for those gathering in the early church to step out and proclaim what God had placed on their hearts by comparison? Very little. And yet ironically the one crucial element that spurred those early believers is the very thing that cannot be ensured through seminary, careful planning, power or position — that of the absolutely essential — revelation by the Holy Spirit. And that cannot be educated into a man. It must be experienced into a man. And that experience was first gained by fishermen:

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption." (I Corinthians 1:26-30)

If Paul were to walk into your church today, having only the credentials of spending many years in the desert, learning from God, and claiming to have seen the risen Christ in a vision, would he be permitted to preach? Was not Christ Himself a layman?

Kerry, Bush, and the pragmatic view

2004-08-28T06:29:00.000-05:00

To follow up, while I am personally still undecided, I don't have a hard line against those who espouse the 'vote for the candidate that will seem to do the least harm' view. Nevertheless, even if that were my own view, I'm not sure I could make a decision this November. Bush's foreign policy is disastrous, in my humble opinion — his leadership in that arena is simply unbiblical (unless we're thinking in terms of the Old Testament). That's not to say I could vote for for Kerry, but his sentiments in his anti-Vietnam speech most directly hits the nail on the head when it comes to my own sentiments on war; unfortunately, even in that particular point, its hard to tell if Kerry is the man he used to be — he strongly believes in a U.S. presence in Iraq, although from what I understand it's because in his eyes we have a moral duty to finish what we've started.

What really gets me is that many Christians sign up for the Republican party without thinking; in other words, without asking themselves "on what issues are even Republicans non-Christian?" I think many have taken it as a no-brainer and assume that the Republican party and the Christian viewpoint are synonomous — which they are absolutely not . . .
. . . but isn't Republicanism closer to the Christian view than the Democrats? In an overt sense, and assuming you shut an eye to the unjustified military action that has taken place countless times under the Reagan-Bush Sr.-Bush Jr. administration, then yes, Republicans do appear more moral. But if we are learning anything about politics it ought to be that moral appearance and intention and what actually gets carried out in the White House (by Republican or not) are two entirely different things.

Ironically, most of the time we assume this will work against us: we vote for Candidate X who according to his campaign believes in A, B, and C, and once in office he makes a feeble attempt at B and C, and seems to entirely forget about A. We turn out disappointed, but the politician knows what he's doing — he's trying to simultaneously please his constituents and as many members of the opposing party in order to bolster his chances of getting re-elected. If he actually followed through on A, B, and C, he would have no chance of the swing vote from the other side; instead, his lack of commitment is likely to be forgiven by his own party and looked on as sufferable by those critical votes within the opposing party.

If you think the previous paragraph is a needlessly cynical or pragmatic view, I'd ask you to consider two things: 1. I'm applying it largely to candidates from the two major parties — i.e. candidates with a chance of winning. Peroutka, Nader, and the like have no chance of getting elected precisely because they are not moderate enough. 2. This is nothing new or unique to America; we may have perfected it in the modern era, but this is how the game of politics has been played since the days of the Graeco-Roman Senate: "some people can be fooled all the time, and all of the people can be fooled some of the time" (Rhetoric in Athens and Rome).

So could we get the principle of candidates not following through on their campaign promises to work for us? Would a Democrat that does very little in office be better than a Republican that does much that I don't desire? To me, yes. My ideal scenario would be for Kerry to get into office and proceed to do absolutely nothing (read: fulfill few to zero of his platform issues that involve immorality) except restore some respect to America by leading our military out of situations that comprimise our long-term security (read: quit engendering hatred through unjustifiable war). To me, that is a better scenario than another four years of Bush's jingoism and international bravado, which if it weren't for my knowing that God is truly sovereign, I would find extremely disturbing.

That said, poor leaders are poor leaders, and God being sovereign doesn't abdicate an American president of his responsibility to make sound decisions. I do not have confidence in Bush to make those decisions in accordance with a peaceful, turn-the-other-cheek outlook.

And if you don't believe that turning the other cheek can work in international security matters, consider Britain's dealings with the Irish Republican Army: they haven't yet resorted to bombers-on-parade.

Imagine if they had!

Recommended Photography Sites

2004-08-27T21:20:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to share some breathtaking photography websites for my handful of readers' enjoyment:

Charles Cramer
David J. Osborn
Michael Kenna
Chip Forelli

John Kerry, George Bush, and the Cross

2004-08-27T12:01:00.000-05:00

I am a self-proclaimed apolitical being, but if you're a Christian and a Republican and you haven't yet listened to John Kerry's speech against the Vietnam War, do yourself a favor and listen to it now.

Ultimately, I predict that I will vote neither for Kerry nor for Bush. It goes without saying that neither embodies my views entirely, on every issue. But even if we resort to the totally pragmatic stance of 'which is the lesser evil?', I am stumped. Let's look at the long-term effects of Bush vs. Kerry.

Long-term prognosis
Kerry: Kerry's stance on abortion, same-sex marriage, and embryonic stem cell research make him impossible to stomach; hundreds of thousands of people die.
Bush: Bush exacts his eye-for-an-eye standard on nations that lack nuclear or chemical weapons and whose control and ownership increase the United States' global hegemony; outnumbered and outsized, haters of the West turn more and more frequently to weapons of the weak: terrorism and WMD; hundreds of thousands of people die.

In either case, I remain a citizen of a heavenly Kingdom, servant of a God that loves both the redeemed and the sinner, and whose purpose and mission drives me to reach out and save those who are lost and quickly perishing. When will we (Christians) realize that we cannot legislate away sin? The Cross alone is meant to deal with (destroy) sin, and it is the only way of entreating the 'Axis of Evil': "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:19-21).

Ansel Adams Workshop

2004-08-26T20:34:00.000-05:00

From October 10th to 14th I'll be in Yosemite National Park (great website!) attending "Crafting the Fine B/W Photograph", lead by Alan Ross and Bob Kolbrener. Will be shooting large format and I can hardly wait — only problem is that I still have to produce a portfolio of 10 prints to take along with me for group discussion and constructive criticism. I also have no experience whatsoever in a darkroom. I'm hoping to remedy both of those very soon; until then I'm looking forward to it with half-anticipation half-hesitation as I wonder if I'll be prepared. Oh well, the best lens is that of your own eye. More than likely I'll be taking both of those along, and hopefully the rest will turn out OK. Either way, I'm sure I learn a ton.

For what it's worth, though I greatly admire the work of many of these photographers, my faith places me into a realm that few landscape photographers seem to tread. Strangely, while so many of them are able to focus in on the most beautifully designed elements of this great Earth (and the most catastrophic), very few profess knowledge of a Creator God. One rare exception is this fellow Paul Schilliger, who happens to live in the most strikingly beautiful country I've ever visited: Switzerland. Even if you never come back to this blog, take a moment to enjoy his photographs; they are stunning. And so is his testimony, praise the Lord — not heavy on doctrine, but certainly on Love — not a poor testimony to have . . .

New Ideas (and Coca-Cola)

2004-08-26T16:18:00.000-05:00

I've decided what my next great idea will be. I don't know why I feel like moving on to another great idea, since I still have two other ideas-that-I-once-thought-were-great that still haven't seen the full light of day, but this one recently dawned on me . . .

In the spirit of 'content-is-king', I'm scheming to compile the ultimate Coca-Cola vending machine website. Not modern machines, but classics. Skye and I happen to own a 1954 Vendo, as well as a cooler from the same era. The problem is that currently, no single website provides well-implemented, well-integrated data on these antique drink dispensers — namely technical specifications, where to find parts for 'this particular model', value, etc.

Soda Machines is the best I've found so far, but it's just plain ugly, can't be searched, navigates poorly, and doesn't really go the extra mile of making quick connections between 'here's the machine and here's what to do next'. It also has a poor (read: non-existent) ranking in Google's search result pages for "Coke machine(s)" (although it of course comes up first when searching for "soda machines").

The first, last, and most difficult step is actually getting a hold of the data. Vendo doesn't support anything historical, and Classic Soda Machines by some Jeff Walters appears to be the only canonical source on the subject. I wonder if he'd be amiable if I asked him where I can get the same material that's in his book, without buying his book?

Tufte Seminar

2004-08-24T22:04:00.000-05:00

Went to Edward Tufte's seminar today downtown. Highly recommended to anyone that is a fan of his work. Most of the time is spent working through examples in his texts, so familiarity is not necessary, but is beneficial. His delivery is lively, and I was inspired to come to a key realization regarding my magnum opus on web design (mapping the content and navigation of websites in an original rhetorical framework). I'll refrain from sharing what that is, since out-of-context it would make little or no sense. A small part of me hopes I will be able to complete and unveil my thoughts soon (the other part remains in touch with the demands of reality! [not much writing time, excepting this very scatter-brained blog]).

I recorded the first portion of his lecture on tape, only to learn at lunchtime that the mic wasn't good enough to actually pick up his speech eminating from the Bose speakers (of course) at the front of the ballroom. Ah well. Nevertheless, I did record some notes on the paper. For those of you designers out there, it's worth repeating his six fundamental principles of analytical design:

Show comparisons. Ask yourself "compared to what?"

Show causality. Convey mechanisms and account for interventions.

Show more than one or two variables. We live in a multi-variate world. Real world events always involve several dimensions of data, subject to change over time.

Completely integrate word, number, and image. Don't separate data according to its mode of production. As a corollary, as much as is possible and reasonable, don't separate data according to your intended mode of presentation.

Document everything and tell people about it. Give credit where credit is due; all data comes from somewhere — tell where. Documentation builds credibility — statistics should be supported with footnotes and annotation.

Presentations largely stand and fall according to the quality, relevance, and integrity of the content; if your numbers are boring, find the numbers that are worth telling. At the worst, at least let the information pass through unharmed.

Scrabble and AdSense

2004-08-23T22:05:00.000-05:00

Skye just beat me 195 to 189 in Scrabble. Laura came in at [I forget]. And I thought 'retaxed' was going to seal the deal. Hmph.

I also just completed a form to begin utilizing Google's AdSense program for this blog. I have decided to supress generic ads, so only advertisements relevant to my posts should appear. So far, I haven't been very successful at getting those relevant ads to emerge — which likely has everything to do with the fact that right now this blog is so unfocused. I wonder what Blogger/Google are thinking will be the case with personal blogs such as this one (they did approve me, after all)? Google's gmail technology seems sharp enough to pick up on the context of an email just via subject lines and short blurbs of text — why can't AdSense do a better job at reading this blog, an entry at a time?

Updated: Much to my surprise, I just received my first batch of specific ads — ironically but appropriately, ads for fighter jet screensavers and the U.S. Navy (in light of my recent post on the Chicago Air & Sea Show). Fitting, though perhaps I should take the opportunity to share my thoughts on the idea of 'Christian military service' (in short "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal").

Chicago Air & Sea Show

2004-08-22T22:09:00.000-05:00

The Chicago Air and Sea Show took place this week, Saturday and Sunday. Skye, myself, Emma, and Skye's cousin Laura spent Saturday at Navy Pier, gazing in awe at the high-flying stunt plane, bomber, and fighter jet displays as they roared near and far.

The highlight of the day was the appearance of the Navy's Blue Angels, a sextet of F/A-18 Hornets. They performed mostly in a group of four plus two – four planes flying in a diamond formation and the other two largely solo or interacting with each other. Needless to say, the coordination was simply unbelievable, as was the view of a squadron of fighter planes weaving among the buildings of Chicago's skyline.

The Blue Angels over Chicago

The Blue Angels in Formation

B2 Bomber over Lake Michigan

A boy watches an F-16 in the distant sky

Peace and rest

2004-08-20T21:43:00.000-05:00

Just wanted/needed to share that I am thankful that in a time of so much uncertainty, fears, and seeming discouragement, that we are able to hold on to the rock of Jesus Christ and experience love unfeigned, genuine love, and fellowship. How we need our Love to show -- "that the world may know."

So many questions, and yet I know He has the answers. Am I willing to listen and obey? Lord, find in me a willing spirit and by Thy grace may I live as I ought.

Google Blog

2004-08-20T10:44:00.000-05:00

Google Blog: Ah, the smell of a meritocracy! Not that I have any chance of competing in this one, but oh do I love it.

Not that meritocracy is the best. We all know a monarchy with a perfect King is really the best way. Christians know it; ironically Hobbes also knew it.

NBCOlympics.com

2004-08-20T08:16:00.000-05:00

NBCOlympics.com: For all of you keeping score at home, I'd like to say that this is one of the absolute worst web designs ever. Trying to figure out when particular Olympic events will be televized is a horrendous process that yields irrelevant results. The entire site and search especially would benefit from some serious metadata to accurately describe what the data is — the fact that "searching" involves scouring fragmented blobs of TV listings (which only appear for a fraction of their broadcast schedule) is just astounding.

Reading, and a brotherly farewell

2004-08-19T23:11:00.000-05:00

After quite a long day, it's time to say goodnight. Emma has actually managed to fall asleep; though that is sure to change, and soon. Skye sits alongside me reading a book I picked up for her at Sam's Club while on a random errand. She's on page 316 now. She reads more than I do, I think. Or at least, she has the ability to read things that I couldn't sit through for more than 5 paragraphs. Take Ivanhoe for example, a book that is easily in my Top 5 Worst Novels of All-Time is one that she finds excellent. Bah.

We're currently reading In His Steps together, the novel that began the "What Would Jesus Do?" saying before it was a bracelet or bumper-sticker or any such thing. I find it to be a good, which is saying a lot considering it's fiction--for some reason I've found myself struggling as of late to really enjoy fiction. Maybe I find myself so overwhelmed by how much there is to learn in the world today that I have lost my patience with classic fictional literature--at least for the time being. I could go for some Dostoevsky, however. As if I have time for that!

A deep friend of mine and brother in the Lord, George, is leaving Florida for medical school soon; he'll be attending American University of the Caribbean on the small island of Saint Maarten, a U.S. Virgin Island. Although we've been separated by over 1300 miles (Chicago to Florida) on a regular basis for the past four years, I feel a great part of me will be gouged out and missing when he's no longer an affordable phone call away. It gives me a much deeper appreciation for the Love of Christian fellowship as Paul expressed it in First Thessalonians 3:9-11: Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face . . . . I'll miss you, buddy.

Goodnight.

Books to help conservatives

2004-08-19T22:33:00.000-05:00

I'm going to start a list of books to help conservatives understand liberals. In the meantime, liberals wanting to understand conservatives should busy themselves reading the Old and New Testaments.

That said, my first selection for conservatives that want help thinking more outside the box is: Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance by Noam Chomsky.

McMaster-Carr

2004-08-19T13:15:00.000-05:00

McMaster-Carr – where and what I work on all day.

Chicago Symphony

2004-08-19T10:58:00.000-05:00

Anyone have any opinions on any of the pieces listed for the following performances? I'm thoroughly interested in hearing the Glazunov piece, but the St. Petersburg Philharmonic would probably also rock my socks:

CSO Show #1

CSO Show #2

The Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press

2004-08-19T10:46:00.000-05:00

On August 24th (2004) I will be attending Edward Tufte's seminar in Chicago. Paid for by my employer to boot. I'm quite thrilled, since I have been a fan of Tufte's work (though not necessarily his persona) for the last few years. Of course, if I were allowed to philosophize on design in an ivory tower for a few years, I might come up with some original ideas too. ;-)

All attendees get copies of his three seminal works: The Visual Display of Quantitative Data, Envisioning Information, and Visual Explanations. Unfortunately Beautiful Evidence won't have been published yet.

2004-08-19T07:58:00.000-05:00

"In a world where our questions are haunted, 'cause life's not as fair as we all wanted; where the innocent die, we ask why; and still we await the reply."