| You don't talk about religion on Livejournal! |
[28 Jul 2009|07:07pm] |
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mood |
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Isaiah 45:7"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."
I just wonder why, when he creates evil we should consider him "good". From a technical standpoint it can be translated many different ways from the original Hebrew. Semantics. That's all well and good, but this is a double standard. When he kills a bunch of children it's good. When one of us do it, it's evil. He, in and of himself CANNOT be evil. Why? Because he says so. No other thing makes him good other than he says he is. He can do the most evil things ever and it doesn't matter because he says it's good, all part of the plan and his definition of good. And if he can constantly change the definition of good, isn't that relativism?
Circular reasoning is valid because of circular reasoning being valid!
One other thing that confuses me, God gives us free will so we can make choices on our own, so he can judge us if we're sinning... but he's omniscient. If he knows what we're going to do before we do it, that eliminates our choice because he knew we would do it. So what the hell is the point, if he already knows what we're going to do he could just judge us now and get this over with, or not even start it to begin with. Or start at the end. Either way it seems a little sadistic to me. If God DOESN'T know what we're going to do that means he isn't omniscient and therefor imperfect. Can we have that? I mean I could deal with an imperfect god, and that would make a lot more sense to me, but I don't know about other people.
-T
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[23 Jun 2009|02:44pm] |
She said, "I'm glad you're normal, unlike our last roommate."
I said, "You're glad I act normal."
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| Crappy TV shows |
[03 Jun 2009|11:42am] |
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mood |
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 lethargic |
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Seems like everyone else is becoming obsessed with "good" television shows lately. I.E. Lost, Heroes, The Wire, etc... Fortunately I haven't gotten hooked on a TV show since Deadwood... until now. And what show did I decide to start watching? One of the most brain-rotting mindlessly formulaic sword and sorcery rip-offs ever to be put to the small screen.
I used to try to get people into Deadwood, but I would scarcely recommend Legend of the Seeker to anyone with half a brain. In fact I would tell most people to avoid it, as it would definitely lower their opinion of me.
Why do I watch it? I dunno, it's a definitely a fun show, and the choreography for the fights are actually quite good. Later in the first season the cinematographer actually learns how to use a camera. Beyond all that though, I could probably watch this woman knit for 45 minutes and be equally happy.
-T
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| Man Man & Gogol Bordello |
[27 May 2009|05:45pm] |
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mood |
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 sore |
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This Sunday at the Congress Theater in Chicago. $25. I'm game, the question is, are you?
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| Like my heart and my soul and my will to speak. |
[20 May 2009|11:53pm] |
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mood |
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rejected |
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I've lost a few things that were dear to me. In retrospect, I probably deserve it.
My life has turned into an old country song in the course of a month.
How has your day been?
-T
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| Ah, what amazing minds... |
[22 Apr 2009|11:21am] |
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mood |
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 amused |
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I peruse the Fox News site now and again, and it seldom disappoints. I would say it is from a "know thy enemy" view, but more and more it is purely for comedic value. On today's main page there is this little gem, for example:
I only added the circle and arrows.
I could write volumes, but I think this speaks for itself.
-T
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| A Watchmen Review |
[07 Mar 2009|07:08pm] |
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mood |
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chipper |
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I actually liked Watchmen quite a bit. Beat the pants off 300 as an adaptation thats for damn sure.
-T
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| Jesus lieks Socialism! |
[22 Jan 2009|05:56pm] |
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mood |
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There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”). He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
(Acts 4:34-37)
BOOYA GRANDMA! Not that it matters to me much, but whatev.
More Pictures From New Zealand
XOXO
-Tony
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| Who Watches the Watchmen in your hometown?! |
[30 Dec 2008|05:28pm] |
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mood |
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 geeky |
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This post isn't actually about New Zealand, as have been my postings as of late. Instead while tooling around on the Internet I came upon this article.
First was wonderment, then elation, then sadness, then confusion, then elation again. I can say truthfully that this article has made me run the full course of emotions. All five questions were asked in my brain in rapid succession. Who? How? What? Where? When?
Being a geek myself I find this phenomenon worth exploring. I use the term phenomenon begrudgingly, because it may be a flash-in-the-pan story. Except for the shear number of them, and they can be found here. A little more research could probably uncover even more of these "Crime-fighters". I think it's more interesting to talk about what kind of impact they may be having versus the actual state of their mental health, which in some cases seems a bit dubious. I mean comic superheros fight crime mainly for personal reason or that they're tired of crime going rampant in their city. Some of these people seem like they're doing it because superheros are cool, not because they actually want to help. Life imitating art. Some of them are actually doing this in dangerous neighborhoods, which says to me those are the ones who are pretty damn serious about it.
It all begs the question: Is it helping or hurting? Sure being approached by a person wearing a mask and a cape can usually diffuse a situation just from pure spectacle alone. Helping a cat out of a tree, breaking up a barroom fight, changing a tire, speaking to children about staying out of gangs. That's all well and good, but some of these people are breaking up drug deals in the park. For those untrained in law enforcement, that is just dangerous. The worst thing that happened to a "Real" in the story was him getting punched in the face by a chick, but you can see how things might escalate in some situations. It hasn't happened yet, but what happens when one of them gets shot?
Anyway, the more media this gets the more "heroes" are going to crawl out of the woodwork. Who knows how many will spawn elsewhere? I wanted to be Batman just as much as the next kid, but to live in a time when people are actually doing it... I never thought that would come about. The world just got a little weirder, and it puts me at ease to know that there is people out their who's hearts are in the right place, even if their minds may be elsewhere.
There is a part of me, a very big part actually, that always wanted this to happen despite my misgivings about it. It'll be fun to watch it all unfold.
-T
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| Even MORE New Zealand! |
[15 Dec 2008|03:01pm] |
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mood |
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happy |
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I made myself a Flickr account. Mine is going to be mainly for architecture and scenery while Kallie's will probably for more candid shots.
For Pictures Clicks here:
More New Zealand!
Tommorrow I will have my own computer so I'll be on here a lot more.
What say you Americanos?!
-T
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| Pictures from New Zealand |
[14 Nov 2008|04:20pm] |
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mood |
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calm |
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I made Kallie an account on Flickr. Here are some of our pictures so far. I need a better computer than this laptop to get the videos Ive taken to a web manageable size.
Pictures!
See what you're missing? Drop yer shit and get over here! It's good times and they sell booze on Sunday!
-T
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| Strange Dreams... |
[10 Nov 2008|02:27pm] |
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mood |
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 groggy |
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I keep having dreams about this green half stork half man writing a book that I can't read, because he's writing in code, but I can't figure out how to decode it. He seems to think what he's writing is very important. I still have vivid images about what this bird man looks like. Maybe I'll draw a picture and post it.
Other than that my feet hurt from Mountain climbing. I was in a country that celebrated Guy Fawkes Day, which was kinda cool. I journey to Wellington tomorrow.
Nothing else to report.
Stay frosty marines
-T
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| Good Job Indiana. Good job. |
[08 Nov 2008|04:04pm] |
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mood |
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accomplished |
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Alright, I guess it's time for a real post from the other side of the world.
All the people here are big fans of our new president. I can stop telling people I'm Canadian now! Thanks to everyone who voted in this historic election. I'm glad we've stepped up to the plate, but I'm still afraid of Americans, so I'll see how things go. I'm really liking it here. Mountains, big cities, and oceans are always only about 2 hours away.
13 hour plane rides and I do not mix. But it was cool, because Air NZ has tv screens on the back of the seats and you can pick from about 40 some odd movies to watch. I watched Batman: The Dark Night, Wall-E, In Brugge, and another one I can't recall. The wine on the flight was free. I made use of that to calm my nerves, I hate flying.
Then we hit Auckland. The hostel was for shit, but the food was good. Best french toast I have ever had in my life! Apparently we were in the red light district so we saw some trannys turning tricks. Good fun. I got drunk and walked a lot. We were able to start bank accounts, get a cell phone, and buy and license a car in ONE DAY. The car only cost us about $975 US. It's a little 1992 Honda Interga with a lot of KM on it, but it runs ok, but more on that later.
We are doing fine in a little lake town called Taupo in the center of the north island. We've been here a week and drove to a port town called Napier yesterday. We drove through a mountain range, and it looked exactly like one from the car commercials. The car started to overheat on the drive so we had to get it repaired in Napier, but it only cost about $150 US to get the radiator replaced. Now for what was awesome about this: The mechanic drove us into town so we could sight see while he fixed it(which only took 1.5 hours) then he came and picked us up. Car runs fine. Drove back to Taupo that evening.
Today I climbed a mountain near Taupo, only about a 10 min drive from downtown. I kept calling it the Lonely Mountain, because it just kinda juts up out of nowhere, and because Kallie isn't into climbing mountains so I had to do it solo. It wasn't a volcano, so I couldn't throw a ring into it. I can see Mt. Doom from here, but I jacked up my feet on these new boots, so I'll have to wait till next time to save Middle Earth from Sauron. I can barely walk right now.
Tomorrow we're going to do laundry! Exciting I know. The internet and phone calls are expensive for tourists here, but I'll try to upload some video I shot later on.
See you later
-T
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| I am drunk in New Zealand. |
[02 Nov 2008|06:48pm] |
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mood |
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accomplished |
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That is all. Go about your business.
Also, I met a couple crackheads. Is this awesome? (Y/N)
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| Everyone has their articles, so here is mine. |
[20 Oct 2008|08:11pm] |
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mood |
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Everyone on sites I read have started posting articles about "How we got into this mess." Most of them use a lot of jargon, point fingers, and talk down to the average person who just really wants to know what's going on. Not a simplified version of what's going on, but a version in plain English.
Do you have an hour? And REALLY wanna know? Because this will tell you.
Listen
*Edit* ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) velouria01 Apparently posted this before and there is another wonderful episode of This American Life explaining the crisis. My thanks to her! She has a NY Times article too, but it isn't read in Ira Glass' soothing voice.
Listen2
It did enlighten me and cleared up some of the information that I had gathered previously about what happened to the housing market.
-T
P.S. Yes I know reality has a well known liberal bias.
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