Apple is like a gorgeous girl who gives you an STD
No one can deny that the Macbook Air is an incredibly hot piece of aluminum encased circuitry. Its sensuous curves beckon you with a nearly irresistible force, but if you succumb to its sultry charms you’ll find, albeit several months later, that you have a nasty case of the Digital Clap. That’s right. The locked down battery and sealed case (effectively preventing upgrades) is akin to a disease gotten by ignoring reason and self-control and instead acting on sheer desire and impulsive passion. Practice restraint, practice safe computing— Don’t buy the Macbook...
Sibling Rivalry
If you have siblings you know what it is, those fierce fights for supremacy in all shared interests. Brotherhood is like a primordial food chain–you want to be on top. Basketball, soccer, wrestling, best-paying summer jobs, prettiest girl friend–you name it, if there’s a shared interest there’s usually a competition. Of course it doesn’t HAVE to be like that, and in all likelyhood such a paradigm isn’t very healthy. I think in many respects I’ve grown out of such competition–I’m too good for it… Of course, I can’t say that a satisfied smile failed to cross my face when I heard that what I had guessed at all along has actually been established as objective scientific truth, that...
Use your Blinkers
My wife has a female coworker that is quite possibly one of the worst drivers of all time; she drives everywhere at high rates of speed and has been in close to 10 accidents–and she’s never suffered a debilitating injury! She must also have incredible luck. This may be due to the fact that she goes through a ritualistic “blessing” process with a Buddhist monk whenever she gets a new car. “I think they tie a bunch of strings to it (the car) and say some sort of blessing,” explained my wife. “They use strings a lot.” I don’t know much about the power of Buddhist Blessing Strings, but I do know that the road is often a place of warfare–spiritual or otherwise. Perhaps that is why an obscure religious office...
From Russia With Love
I’ve always been fascinated by Russia. The nation has a remarkable history. Some of the greatest thinkers, writers and scientists hail from Russia, but some of the worst men imaginable have been born of Russia as well. It is a country of extremes; loved by its own people and perhaps not always well understood by foreigners. Back in the days when people were actively prevented from leaving Russia the KGB had a peculiar way of finding out which travelers planned on permanently fleeing the country. The ones who planned not to return would usually have a small container of Russian soil hidden carefully in their belongings. So great is the love of Russians for their country that even upon fleeing a repressive dictatorship the desire to take a small...
A Fresh, Dark, Foaming Calling
Historically Beer has played a major part in church history. Many of the best imported beers today were originally developed in Monasteries where monks devoted their lives to prayer, fasting and brewing superb Ales. In more recent years, however, Beer seems to have been cast away by much of the western Church. It stands falsely accused of all number of ills. Many Christians have no problem admitting that guns are not evil–that it is the people who use them that may have problems–but those same people at times are unable to extend that logic to alcohol, specifically Beer. Beer, unfortunately, is decried by many as an unholy devilish nectar. The Nazarenes, proud rectors of my alma mater, go so far as to devote considerable time and energy at...
On the Effects of Graduate School
jimi sometimes talks about the awful toll extracted by graduate school, how oft times the merry life of a pizza delivery driver seems like a frolic in paradise compared to the dreary misadventures of those seeking stature in the academy. Harry Hutton (who I’ve just discovered) wonders about the downfalls of professorship too: But is it good to spend so much time in universities? In The Sleepers by Walt Whitman there is a phrase, “The sick-gray faces of onanists”. Another four years in higher education and that would be me. In four years time I would emerge thin and pasty, blinking like a mole. I can see myself on my release day as I stand on the pavement, shabby and pathetic. I am hunched against the biting wind, and all my possessions are next...