The die is cast. Really, it was cast when Microsoft released Vista, though I did not know it at the time. It wasn't long before I started reading about Vista, and negative impressions began to form. » read more »

As Vox points out, it appears the leaders of the Massachusetts government could use one:

Apparently the Law of Supply and Demand still comes as a bit of a shock to some. What, you mean you can't subsidize the cost of health care without increasing the demand for it?

Now in Massachusetts, in an unintended consequence of universal coverage, the imbalance is being exacerbated by the state’s new law requiring residents to have health insurance. » read more »

In my experience, it is a very bad sign when supposedly intelligent people clearly demonstrate that a) they have no sense of humor, and b) they cannot laugh at themselves.

First, check out this video. Now, have a look at this summary of Richard Dawkins' reaction to the video. Recall that this guy is supposed to be an "intellectual."

Sorry, Dick, but you don't get it, and we do. Too funny.

A California court has issued a ruling which effectively makes homeschooling in that state illegal. (Not surprisingly, neither the legislature nor any sort of popular sanction was involved. Such is "law" in this day and age.) In fact, the ruling is broad enough to affect charter schools and even study-at-home programs that are overseen by the public system. The case is headed to the state supreme court, so the ruling could be overturned, but that's only temporary. » read more »

A judge in Utah is persecuting a homeschooling family. Why is he doing this? Are the parents abusive? Are the children failing to learn? No, according to the article, "the judge told the woman that homeschooling fails 100 percent of the time and he wasn't going to allow it." It's always reassuring to have a fair, impartial judge sitting on the bench. » read more »

All believers would do well to study -- not just read, but absorb -- this entertaining dialogue between Vox Day and a science-loving atheist. It contains much ammunition in the event of a discussion with an avowed rational materialist.

I recently read a column by Burt Prelutsky in which he expresses his frustration with the concept of the "death bed confession." In his words,

I must confess I found the notion that if, on their deathbeds, Charles Manson and Osama bin Laden accepted Jesus into their hearts, they would get to heaven, but my grandparents wouldn't, rather unsavory.

I thought about this, and I thought of a scenario that might put this idea into a better perspective.

Imagine you are the parent of a child, a son. You love him with all your heart, but as he grows, he is nothing but trouble. As a child, he is violent with other kids and destructive with property. Later, he gets into drugs, sex, and worse. When he is fifteen years old, he runs away from home, and you lose touch with him completely. You hate the choices he makes, but you still love him, and what he has done with his life breaks your heart every day. Then one day, you receive a call from him. He is in the hospital, sick with some deadly disease, and he wants to see you. You head straight to the hospital where, with his dying breath, he tells what you have been waiting all these years to hear: that he has been wrong all his life, that he is more sorry than he can express for all the pain he has caused you, and that more than anything, he wants you to forgive him. What do you do? » read more »

I just ran across an article describing a recommendation by officials in Fort Collins, Colorado to ban the use of red and green lights as Christmas decorations because of their association with... well, with Christmas. Upon examination, their reasoning as expressed by Seth Anthony, one of the fellows who supports this recommendation, is exposed as a fine example of Orwellian doublespeak:

Some symbols, even though the Supreme Court has declared that in many contexts they are secular symbols, often still send a message to some members of the community that they and their traditions are not valued and not wanted. We don't want to send that message » read more »

Not long ago, I happened to reread an old blog post of mine that deals with the issue of the powers granted to the federal government by the Constitution. After I finished reading my "additional thoughts" at the end, another thought occurred to me. When President Washington was considering the bill, passed by Congress, that would enact a national bank, he wanted to investigate whether it was supported by the Constitution before he signed it into law. This seems like a reasonable approach to me, but unfortunately, today's lawmakers don't seem to have much regard for the Constitution. » read more »

Still think the police are there to "protect and serve"? Ask this grandmother about that. Seems she was walking her dog in the park when a teen took a shot at her with a handgun. Naturally, she went to the police. Their response: "Walk your dog somewhere else."

Helga has a Remington model 870 pump-action shotgun with a five-round magazine, fully loaded. She expends two rounds defending herself from an aggressive polar bear she encountered on her way home from school. How many more rounds can she fire before she must reload?

This word problem is not one likely to be encountered by American schoolchildren. (For that matter, American schoolchildren may never see a word problem in what passes for curriculum these days... but that is another subject.) But it would be second nature for the students described in this article. » read more »

This article includes a chilling description of what society might look like in Great Britain ten years from now. Don't think it could happen here? It already is.

During a recent interview for an Arab television network, Bush stated that "all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God." Now, based on what I have observed about Bush's "Christianity," this does not come as a surprise. His actions are clearly not guided by Biblical principle, so one should not expect that his statements would be, either. But I do believe that Bush is a shrewd politician. So, I am left to wonder what his purpose is in making this statement.

Clearly, Bush is not trying to appeal to evangelical Christians. Any Bible-believing Christian with half a brain knows that Bush's statements are not only false, but deeply insulting to Christians as well as to the Lord Himself. When Bush made similar statements several years ago, Christian leaders were quick to denounce them. Reading the denunciations, it appears that those leaders pulled their punches by insinuating that one must be a "theologian" in order to discern the truth or falsehood of Bush's universalism. It is not so. Only a small amount of research is required to understand that Bush's statement are not only false, but utterly blasphemous to the God of the Bible. » read more »

Doug Giles has compiled a list of ten commandments for husbands. Highly recommended for men who are betrothed, or thinking about entering a matrimonial relationship. You can read Giles' epistle here, or you can watch Giles recite the commandments in a cheesy, but nonetheless entertaining, video here.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that if criminals were smart, they wouldn't be criminals. Here's a story about a couple of would-be carjackers who wound up getting busted because they couldn't figure out how to start a car that had a stick shift. (For those who don't know, you have to push in the clutch pedal to start this type of car.) I'd hate to think what would have happened if they had gotten it started -- clearly, they wouldn't have had the first clue how to drive it. Of course, the best part of the story is the fact that they stuck around trying to get the car started (they did manage to turn on the radio) long enough for the cops to chase them down. » read more »

The feminists are recoiling in horror. It seems that the "right" of abortion on demand, fought for and largely won during the past forty years, is now being used to selectively abort babies based on their sex. This article, from a publication in the U.K., cites this as an increasingly common practice among "some ethnic minorities — with boys being more highly prized than girls." Of course, this practice has been rampant in China, where abortions are also readily available, for quite a few years. If the current trend continues, then in a decade or two, the number of Chinese males will outnumber the females by millions. » read more »

In the building where I work, there are two entrances. One is just normal double doors -- push/pull on them and they open. The other is a mechanical sliding door. The sliding door has been flaky for a long time, sometimes requiring a "jiggle" to get it to open, and sometimes not opening at all. Of course, the sliding door doesn't work at all during a power failure.

Well, this week, they finally got around to replacing the sliding door with double doors. I was thrilled until I realized that the double doors they are putting in are mechanically activated! Now we can look forward to these doors getting flaky and breaking down over time. No doubt they cost more than the normal doors that we already have at the other entrance, and that never break down or fail, and that work when the power is out. What morons!

I don't have much to add to this article.

I suppose in one sense, this is no laughing matter. Still, I had to chuckle when I saw this account of a shark biting a lawyer. (For those who haven't heard the old joke, it goes something like, "There was a shipwreck, and sharks ate all the survivors except the lawyers. Why? Professional courtesy.")

It seems an assistant director of DFACS has been arrested and accused of beating her 8-year-old daughter. Some bitter irony, that.

Police in Forest Park, GA, have found a great new way to prevent auto theft. They are enforcing an obscure law that makes it illegal to leave a car running, but unattended. So, they are making criminals out of people who have committed the "crime" of starting their cars and then going back in the house. This is how they prevent auto theft.

What's next, ticketing mothers who use kitchen knives in the name of preventing stabbings? Impounding unlocked bicycles? Fines for forgetting to switch your house alarm on when you leave? For unlocked windows in your house?

Oh, and notice the statement at the end of the 11alive.com article: "Forest Park police adopted an ordinance based on the 1974 state law, which means the city gets to keep the fines instead of sharing revenue with the state." "To protect and serve," indeed.

I enjoy reading Burt Prelutsky. He's not overly intelligent or insightful, but I find his humor and down-to-earth style appealing. He is also not a follower of Yeshua (he identifies himself with the Jews but is not religious), and his worldview is askew as a result. Nonetheless, he stumbled onto a bit of wisdom in his latest column that I would like to share:

I am not a religious person, but if I’m going to accept anything on faith, I would prefer to lay my money on an invisible force than on Al Gore.

Amen, brother.

One of the legitimate roles of government is to protect the borders of its country from foreign invaders. This is not some made-up task that government officials thought of so that their department could have a bigger budget next year. It's in the Constitution (Article 1, section 8 ). Remember the Constitution? That document that the President and the members of Congress swore, hand on Bible (well, usually), to uphold?

So, why are there multiple tunnels connecting Mexico and the U.S. that we already know about and that are not being filled in? » read more »

Microsoft's new operating system, Windows Vista, is here. For those considering an upgrade, I just ran across an article with some good information about just what is included in various versions (and isn't) and how it works (or doesn't).

For myself, it has just strengthened my resolve that my next major computer purchase will be a Mac.

Pellet guns are dangerous. They can put your eye out. Of course, if your intention is to rob a house whose owner has a .38 revolver, you might consider something more dangerous than a pellet gun. These guys didn't, with a predictable result: they lost.

So often, the justification for a new freedom-restricting law is that it somehow benefits or protects children. The "for the children" mantra has been used to justify all sorts of ridiculous restrictions on our freedoms -- as if the legislators are the only ones looking out for the kids.

But how much does the government really care about our children? I ran across both of these articles the other day, and I couldn't help notice the contrast in this very regard. The first article describes a new city ordinance in Bangor, Maine which prohibits anyone from smoking in a car where a minor is riding. The second article tells us that a huge number of illegal aliens are coming over the border, commiting rape and child molestation, and then being "deported" by the federal government. But, since the feds refuse to close the border, they are free to return and attack someone else's son or daughter. » read more »

I just ran across this quote, attributed to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: "Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence."

I can't really add anything to that.

A while back, I posted about Microsoft ramping down support for Windows 2000. Well, the situation is about to get much worse. As I learned from this article, the newest version of MS Office will not install on Windows 2000, nor will Microsoft's new media player. Now, I figure I can live without those apps quite happily for a long time. But it's not hard to see that this is just the beginning of the "big squeeze," where Microsoft starts making it very hard on its own customers who choose not to upgrade their systems. I might predict, for example, that newer devices will not include Windows 2000 driver support. This is just one way in which Microsoft could make life tough for those of us who are happy with our Windows 2000 systems. » read more »

An administrator at Marquette University removed a quote that a graduate student had posted on his door. That's not news, nor is it the point of the post. Once he got wind of it, a journalist at the Miami Herald wrote a hilarious blog post that is a must-read.

In case anyone is curious, the quote was from humorist Dave Bary, and it read as follows:

As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful, and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government. » read more »

It seems that Apple has shipped a small number of iPods that were infected with a Windows virus. They claim that a Windows computer used on the line of a contract manufacturer (note -- not Apple itself, but another company) is responsible for the infection. The Apple spokesman gives assurances that the virus was not placed there intentionally. Perhaps not, but it occurs to me that this sort of thing (the virus was a type that did no damage to its host) just might give a nudge to someone who is considering replacing his PC with a Mac. » read more »