Pillars are Just Crutches

Now, I haven’t watched the whole debate (I’ve posted it’s entirety on my blog a few blogs back). I got through the actual debate and one question section and have yet to watch the rest as of yet. But judging by the sections I have watched I think that it is a very close debate. Both Hitchens and Wilson are incredibly intelligent men! However, I don’t think Hitchens’ arguments are as good as he may think they are. For example when pressed why the Universe should care if a race of people were destroyed his answer was along the lines of, “if I was that race I’d care” but the question wasn’t about whether the race cared, it was about the universe. And a problem that is inherent within the atheism debate is the problem of ‘meaning’. Everyone feels it to some extent and yet few can define where it comes from or why we have it. Things like beauty and reason are very difficult concepts to make sense of in the atheistic worldview.

Ok, I’ve had my iPod touch since November and I’ve had lots of time to explore what’s out there for apps. So this is a list of my favorite iPod touch apps.

Bible/Holy Bible – I have two. One is by lifechurch.tv and lets me get NASB with a wifi connection over the net. The other is by Paul Avery and it’s the only ipod bible app I’ve seen that has original languages. So it’s a draw, and I use both …

Comiczeal – This is the best comic viewer on the touch. It’s not perfect and requires some effort to get your own comic collection on it (2 extra downloads on your computer are needed) but if you need your comics on the go it’s the best thing out there!

Flixster – a great movie app. I use it constantly to find out what movies are playing in our local theaters. Has a favorite theater function and access to trailers and reviews! A great little app when deciding if there is anything worth seeing.

Wikipanion – The best looking wikipedia app, IMO. They’re almost all about even but I find this one slightly easier to use.

Shakespell – Like boggle. It’s the most polished game I’ve seen done for free. Integration with Facebook is nice and games are easy to start with other players.

Subway – A very smart, original puzzle game. I love it. Currently on level 38 of 91.

Rolando – A great game. Period.

Cambio – The best free unit converter I have seen so far. Very simple, very easy to use. Has currency conversion as well.

Facebook – I rarely go on to Facebook any other way now.

Stanza – Not only is this a great e-reader but it also has the options to download a wide variety of free books from a variety of sources! I even found Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton!

These are just the apps I’ve used, which apps are your favorite?

I’m not going to lie to you I like the sci-fi genre when it comes to tv and movies as much as I like the country genre when it comes to music. And if the title hasn’t clued you in yet, I don’t like country music in the slightest.

So, like any good trekkie hater (yes I said it), when the news broke out that Battlestar Galactica’s fouth season would be it’s last, I paid no attention. And when I heard that people (presumably the sci-fi nuts) were upset about it’s cancellation, I still paid no attention.

Then I noticed that it wasn’t (only) the people who watch the Space channel exclusively who were disappointed about it’s cancellation, it was the press.

Now I don’t believe everything the press tells me, but in my experience they’ve been pretty spot on in regards to tv. And let’s face it, we need all the help we can get to find good tv shows! Case in point, if it wasn’t for the press singing the praises of ‘The Wire’ I would not have been able to enjoy one of the best tv shows I’ve ever seen! (I’m still holding out for a season 6 even though I know it won’t happen – but I’ll probably watch the series again soon). Which goes to show that popular opinion doesn’t cut it! (That’s right, I’m looking at you ‘The Mentalist’!)

So we come to Battlestar Galactica and after noticing this odd lament I decide that I’m open-minded enough to give it a try. It was a big leap of faith, but I took it, and as of the middle of season 2, I’m glad I did!!

So here are the 5 major things that sets Battlestar Galactica apart from other sci-fi tv shows.

1) Minimal made up techie jargon.

That’s right, you won’t hear anything about anti-matter, warp-drive thrusters, or phasers that can be ’set to kill’. The most techie term so far is “faster than light drive” (called FTL) but the title is self explanatory which makes it much more bearable.

2) No spandex uniforms

Everyone does not where the exact same thing all the time! Civilians dress like civilians, military dress like military, pilots dress like pilots etc.

3) Great story-telling

I wonder if anyone can tell me the plot line for Star Trek: The Next Generation? I’m sure someone could give me the concept but every tv show was an entities unto itself. It’s not necessarily bad but it left for no overall story, they just floated around space.

I’m not going to ruin anything for people who have yet to watch it (so this will be extremely vague) but there is a good story here that actually raises some interesting scenarios that forces the audience to think about what’s taking place.

If you watch you’re going to have to decide for yourself what you think is right and wrong because the show is not going to decide for you! They’ve managed to construct a world where the line of right and wrong is often blurred. People get away with what some would consider murder and others just insubordination.

4) No Aliens

Aliens aren’t all bad, but leaving them out is a good thing. Let’s face it, tv sci-fi aliens are just humans with an extra large human appendage somewhere on their face. Vulcans had big ears, kilgons had that thing on their heads and Romuluns … well, we won’t go there …

There are robots, but they are done well!

5) Good acting

The acting is good. In some cases it’s great. Of course there are the exceptions, but they are few and far between.

So there you have it. I would encourage anyone not usually prone to the sci-fi genre to check out this show! Right now it’s among my favorites, while my former favorites are all quite disappointing now… (that’s you Heroes!)

I have a class coming up that is in modular format. Meaning the whole course is lectured on in a week.

The problem is I have 3 books to read and they all say the EXACT same thing, and now looking at the week outline of the course it looks like the topics discussed in the books are going to be lectured on as well (they actually give the chapters of what book the lecture pertains to … sigh).

I’m in for a long week!

If it’s your first year of college check out these tips.  I agree with almost all of them.

I am going to be away this long weekend, so you probably won’t see me blogging.  Just go back and read something you haven’t read yet, it’ll be alright.

There is a new blog that’s asking people to rant on why they hate church … which is pretty fun and exciting … except the blog is being done by a church … which kind of makes me think it’s an attempt at some sort of sermon illustration … which isn’t as fun …

anyways …

If you’re dieing to live through all that hurt and pain again to tell them your story go here.  I did!

Wow … i kept this option that shows others related blogs at the bottom of my blog on without really thinking about it.  Then I decided to click through some of them and they all turned out to be really weird Christian blogs which consisted of unformated Bible verses chapters, quotes from people they thought were heretics and thier own opinions rants and raves sprinkled in between.  So I turned that option off.

I think I did my good deed for the day!

There is nothing that will destroy a man more quietly than shame.

There is nothing that a man will avoid more than shame.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the source of Mike Guglielmucci’s fall.  It’s an all too common threat, especially since the internet, that has deceived many young Christians.  What is the deception? Just one look.

What young men and women don’t understand is that once is never enough, and the enemy of our souls knows and understands this.  And in a Christian culture where there is a lot of shame attached to sexual sin, and especially pornography, that shame is more of a stumbling block to healing than the actual sin itself.

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I logged on to my myspace page for the first time in a long, long time and I remembered that I used to blog there a lot.  Those were the days: the anger, the fustration, the bitterness

It really brought out the best in me … or at least my blogs…

Click here to go old school