Monthly Archives: June 2006

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Good Night, and Good Luck: A Strong Statement about our media

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The opening lines of Good Night, and Good Luck:

It is my desire, if not my duty, to try to talk to you journeymen with some candor about what is happening to radio and television. And if what I say is responsible I alone am responsible
for the saying of it.
Our history will be what we make of it. And if there are any historians about 50 or 100 years from now and there should be preserved the kinescopes of one week of all three networks they will there find recorded in black and white, and in color evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live. We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable, and complacent. We have a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us then television and those who finance it those who look at it and those who work at it may see a totally different picture too late.

I’ve just started watching this film from Participant Productions about the real-life interaction of Edward R. Murrow and Senator McCarthy during the year 1953. This is an interesting movie to be watching amidst some recent news I’ve heard about a situation in Little Rock (I’ll write more when I have the chance). It seems a common occurance that our media is more often giving us what we want to hear, rather then what we need to hear.
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Check out the film, and then Take Action.

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Weekly Podcast Update 06.04.06

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Now with some regularity:

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New Look and an attempt at a blogroll…

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So, I was getting annoyed by the last design of this blog. I like the features it adds to the posts, but I want to have more control of their design so we’re going with this for now and I’ll add in my own post tweaks later (if that made any sense at all).

I’ve also realized that people link to your site much like they use myspace and facebook. If you link to theirs they’ll link to yours, etc. So, I’d like to put some sort of blogroll on my site. The thing is I don’t like traditional list of links, I’d rather have one that is continually updated as people post. I’ve added one to the right sidebar, and I’d like to know what folks think. I’ll clean it up a bit, but do you like the preview text for each post? Do you want to know who wrote it? Is the date important? Let me know so I can make it what your interested in.

I get carried away sometimes I know.

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Rejoice with those who Rejoice: Whitney Cerak update

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UPDATE: The Cerak’s and the VanRyn’s have recently written a book about their experience, you can order it here:
Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope

From Carly Cerak on the VanRyan Blog:

Romans 12:15
“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”

We read this verse to Whitney this morning as we spent time in the Word as a family. My dad followed her to physical therapy where she was put into a wheel chair that allowed her to use her good arm and leg to push herself back to her room! She ate all of her meals today and had good times of sleep.

For the rest of the day she was very aware and wanted to sit up for most of it. Whitney wanted to talk to everyone she could think of and had us call many of her friends. Some of her friends came for short visits and she would greet each with a hug and was able to hold conversations with great interaction. She made me laugh so hard when she asked two of her friends this question, “What has your day consisted of?” I walked away from her bed laughing after she asked us to write it down, and she told her friends that her sister was making fun of her.

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Tech Friday: Using Google Maps as Yellow Pages (Firefox only)

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Probably one of my most used Firefox bookmarks is a google maps search. I use it constantly. Where’s the nearest bowling alley? Is there an REI near by? How do you get to ____?

Anytime, I have one of those questions I ctrl+T to a new tab on firefox and then I type “yp ____” and immediately a google maps search with my location as the starting point shows up.

Here’s how to do it (Sorry this is a bit more complicated then I’d like). The Code Below is what you want to edit to create your bookmark. First just add a new bookmark to Firefox (you can bookmark this page). Then go to that bookmark and right click and choose properties. Now you can name it what ever you want. Then your going to paste in the code below (after you’ve edited all the sections: STREETNUMBER, STREETNAME, etc.) into the “Location” box. Finally your going to pick your keyword (mine is yp), and then click okay.

That’s it. Now anytime you want to look something up you just go up to the address bar (easiest is to hit ctrl+t to open a new tab) and type “yp pizza” or “yp bike shop” and your search is done.

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Whitney Cerak: An update on her condition

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UPDATE: The Cerak’s and the VanRyn’s have recently written a book about their experience, you can order it here:
Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope

Written by Carly Cerak on the VanRyn Blog (now shutdown):

We were told that Whitney was asking for us and when we saw her she was coherent enough to cry, so we all cried together. She immediately began to say “Let’s go home.” We spent the day crying and praising God for the ‘resurrection’ of Whitney. She began listing people she wanted to see, starting with our dad (who was on his way back from New York with the Youth Group). She kept telling us to call him and when she talked to him she told him she loved him and to “come over.” Matt, her boyfriend, arrived and she wanted him to lie down next to her. She blew us away with her detailed memory and ability to speak. Towards the end of the night she spoke clear sentences. When our dad arrived she grabbed his hand, my mom’s hand, and looked at Sandra and I and sighed like everything was finally right.

Today many of her friends have arrived and she has wanted to see them all but is very exhausted from yesterday. She saw a few of them and then wanted to sleep. Whitney woke up to someone bringing in flowers for her. This triggered something and she wanted to know who they were from and then she wanted to have all her family in the room. She began to cry and said “You think I’m dead.” We spent a good part of the afternoon comforting her as she has began to realize that she was in an accident and we weren’t with her for a while. Her tears are a mixture of joy and the fear of not knowing what has been going on. She took a break from crying when her therapist brought her actual food! Today she ate her first meal. She had grilled cheese, applesauce, and a milk shake. Within the next week she should be done with her tube and just eating food. After she ate she showed off her basketball skills and made three baskets in a row during physical therapy. She quickly slowed down and wanted to sleep again. Not only is it still unbelievable that she is alive but she has amazed us with her progress.

Earlier today my dad said, “Every time I look at Whitney I think of the Van Ryns.” We are so blessed and overjoyed about Whitney but our hearts and prayers are heavily on the Van Ryns.

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Left Behind Games: Get ready to vomit

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Here’s what you have to look forward to, from the Left Behind Games website…
Wage a war of apocalyptic proportions in LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces:

  • Conduct physical & spiritual warfare : using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world.
  • Control more than 30 units types – from Prayer Warrior and Hellraiser to Spies, Special Forces and Battle Tanks!
  • Recover ancient scriptures and witness spectacular Angelic and Demonic activity as a direct consequence of your choices.

Feel free to provide your own commentary, and I might provide my own, but I think I’ll give you some insight from kendallball.net

Imagine a video game that basically used beturbaned, dark skinned fellows from unidentified Middle Eastern countries as the main characters, and the whole point was to either make converts, or violently wipe out those infidels who would not convert, to Islam. Imagine a side-game being a little flight simulator where you got to fly a passenger jet into a large building. Bonus points awarded for completing THIS mission! Can you imagine the outcry at that?!? Yet, because these are Christians doing violence and leaving piles of corpses in the name of God, and not Allah (pbth), it’s somehow acceptable. (more)

From
Violent Video Game Marketed Through Mega-Churches (Part 2)

A top aide to mega-church pastor Rick Warren is advising the makers of a children’s video game in which characters kill New Yorkers while shouting “Praise the Lord.” When children tire of converting or killing New Yorkers, they can switch sides and command the demonic armies of the AntiChrist, and kill the conservative Christians.