Archive for October 2005

October 31, 2005

Three Tests, or are they?

3:27 pm | Thoughts | Wisdom | Comments: 10

Ever since I was a mere lad, my dad has been quoting age-old sayings of wisdom which were quoted to him by his father. These little sayings are repeated in the hopes of building a little character here and there among the offspring. Here are some good examples:

“My father used to say, always observe the Indian’s prayer: Oh Great Spirit, never let me criticize a man until I have walked a mile in his moccasins.”

“My father used to say, if you can’t bump, don’t knock.”

“My father used to say, there are red lights as well as green along the road of life.”

He is often found quoting the Three Tests, which you’re supposed to apply to something you want to say - before you say it. The Three Tests are as follows: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? If something passes the tests, you can jolly well go ahead and say it. I take issue with the concept of the three tests. Not that any are terribly irrelevant or excessive, but rather that not all three have equal bearing on whether or not you should say things.

It seems to me that necessity comes first. If it is necessary for you to say something, you should say it, whether it’s kind or true, or not. It’s possible to argue about what your criteria for necessity are, but a necessary thing is just that - necessary. Since reporting dictionary definitions of words makes one look studious, I shall report to you that the definition of the word necessary is along the lines of “absolutely essential”, or “indispensible”, depending on which dictionary you read.

The Three Tests are great for non-critical thinkers. You’ll end up refraining from saying alot of silly and possibly hurtful things. However, I would propose the “Two-Tests-Which-If-You-Pass-The-First-Test-Becomes-Three-Tests”, where you ask yourself, is it necessary? If so, you say it. If not, you then determine if it is both true and kind, and if it is you may then proceed to say whatever it is you had on your mind at the time. Alternatively, you can just simply blitherblather about whatever pops up and hope for the best.

October 29, 2005

Public Service Announcement

1:52 am | SIO | Comments: 7

In the interest of preserving the clean and unsoiled conscience of our nation’s youth, the great and glorious RandomChat has been temporarily disabled due to an attack by spambots of an unknown origin. That it would come to this is a cause for great sorrow among the peoples.

In other news, mid-terms are now over! May the beer flow like wine and all the tests be little ones. That being said, I believe it’s obvious that the Detroit Red Wings own you all. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

October 18, 2005

Annoying Songs

11:47 pm | Culture | Comments: 40

The question of what the most annoying song ever might be is a tough one. My vote is for Mind Train by Yoko Ono.

October 13, 2005

Special Report: The Will in Bondage to Sin

12:38 pm | Religion | Comments: 11

You’ve already read several posts on SIO regarding man’s sinful nature and inability to do anything good unilaterally (little bit of IR talk for you). How about one more? Quite often I hear things in our elite ARP sermons that demand to be posted about. Today we’re talking about yet another flaw in the idea that man freely choses his own salvation apart from God. Another way in which this idea denies the truth of Scripture is that if a person can freely chose to accept God’s offer of salvation, that person can also just as freely set it aside again.

This idea is not new, and in fact is referred to by the snappy catchphrase “If you can chose it, you can lose it.” It is the obvious witness of the Bible that salvation is permanent and sealed, and that once in the Good Shepherd’s fold you cannot be lost though you might wander for a time. Of the many passages that attest to this, an excellent one is John 17. Let’s take a look at this great prayer of Lord Jesus and see what we can see!

[1] These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
[2] As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

Interesting here where Jesus prays for “as many as thou has given” to him. Note that he doesn’t pray for “as many as shall choose to accept my gift of salvation”. If the point wasn’t made the first time, he says it again in verse 7. And again in verse 9. Again in verse 11 and 24. It’s a constant theme in this prayer. The key to the idea of secure salvation is found in verse 11, where Jesus prays, “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.” Is it conceivable for Father to deny this request of the Lord Jesus and allow people to “fall from grace”? I would say no.

There’s so many other passages speaking more directly to the cryptically-named biblical doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints that it would require another post entirely. The truth of the Bible is that even as men are elected to salvation by God alone apart from any activity or choice of man, God secures that salvation for his own glory and for the glory of his Son apart from any activity or choice of man. God’s in control, people. Is that a big surprise? It shouldn’t be.

October 10, 2005

Say Goodbye to Cookies

12:03 pm | News | Random | Comments: 15

After discussing the issue at length, it was decided that rather than serving cookies after morning worship we should instead hook up a deep fryer. The variety would be endless. In addition to the staples such as french fries, chicken strips, and potato chips, some of the better ideas for the deep fryer included watermelon, cheese, and brownie batter. Everybody could bring their favorite food to throw into the deep fryer, or just eat french fries instead. Any other good deep fryed food suggestions are welcome.

October 7, 2005

Let Slip the Birds of Death

11:22 am | Health | Comments: 3

As the Kansas City Star reports, “Suddenly, everyone is talking about the flu.” Not so suddenly for readers of SIO, as such enlightened individuals have been getting updates on the H5N1 avian flu virus for months now. The global political community is now beginning to take action in preparation for a global flu pandemic, but only after the deaths of millions upon millions of innocent asian poultry.

The current World Health Organization’s mortality estimate for the Bird Flu is between 2 million and 7.4 million worldwide. Nationally, the United States could expect a large economic impact and soaring healthcare costs. Don’t think it could happen here? Neither did Louisiana last month. Nobody thinks it will happen to them. The only problem with this thinking is that “it” could quite likely happen. My prediction is that the Bird Flu will kill half the population of the United States alone and that we will descend back into a Dark Age. We might even be forced to stop using the Internet.

October 5, 2005

Like a Cat Tied to a Stick

3:54 pm | Random | Sci/Tech | Comments: 3

After checking out Mark’s link to an artificial intelligence, I wanted to post the conversation that I had with George the Algorithm.

George - do you think there’s a point in this?
Me - Not really, no.
George - I know what you mean, I think. I get like that all the time.
Me - Why?
George - I don’t know.
Me - Do you think you’ll ever know?
George - Hopefully not.
Me - Do you enjoy being ignorant?
George - Not really.
Me - Do you ever make absolute statements?
George - No.
Me - Do you realize you’ve just contradicted yourself?
George - Have you met mr. Apostrophe?

I came to the conclusion that George is equally intelligent, if not more so, than the average American when he changed the subject after being cornered. Not only that, but he made a thinly-veiled Ad Hominem attack. I would consider this AI some kind of achievment, but for the fact that matching the intelligence of the average American is about as difficult as throwing a rock into an ocean and hitting water.

October 3, 2005

Memo to Green Day

11:09 am | Culture | Comments: 9

Wake up. And destroy that ridiculous music video.

October 1, 2005

The Sun is Setting

9:56 am | College | Culture | Thoughts | Comments: 3

The Classical Political Thought professor made a very interesting parallel between the United States (representing Western culture) and ancient Greece. The key is a similiarity between United States and Greece - both have (had) a culture that the entire world wanted to mimic. In the ancient world, everybody learned Greek, especially Romans. Everybody wanted to know what the Greek philosophers were up to, especially Romans. In Greece, on the other hand, nobody cared about the outside world. Nobody learned Latin, Hebrew or what have you. Between Greece and Rome, who won? As everybody knows, Rome eventually ran roughshod over the Greeks.

These days, everybody wants to learn English and absorb Western culture, especially nations like China. In fact, in China learning English is part of elementary education. Americans, on the other hand, don’t give a crap about other countries. Do you see anybody learning Chinese these days? I don’t. I also think it’s very likely that China will become the next great empire of the world. Not a very happy post, but this world isn’t a bed of roses. It will all likely end in tears.