Middle America's Worldview

I came across two great sites for freebies.


Right March is a conservative talk show. I never heard of or this, till today. I am currently listening to the Intelligent Design discussion (downloaded the mp3).

It speaks of Ben Steins movie Expelled; No intelligence allowed. I will have to try to see this movie, after listening to the show about it.

The other site is a page from Biblical Archeology. BAR Extras provides additional information from the current monthly magazine. The slideshow of Jezebel was interesting.

Seems the family is finally getting over all this crud.

I am having to head out to Philly on Sunday and will be gone for four days.
I will get to see the new building at Corporate. Suppose to have new security, ect. So a new badge will be given, ect. I am kindof looking forward to seeing the group again, up there.

I am still reading "Hostage of the Devil". I should finish it up next week.

Not much, other than work-eat-sleep. I am just glad we are all seem to be getting over this flu.

And you wonder why the average American isn't fed up with politics.

America, by the inaction of the U.S. House of Representatives, has been weakened substantially in fighting terrorism.

As I reported last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) and her left-wing allies decided to leave Washington without voting on the bipartisan Senate bill that would have extended key provisions of the Protect America Act, a bill that is essential for America's ability to quickly and deftly track terrorist communications overseas.

This abdication of responsibility by such a high-ranking member of our government has been the most amazing anti-national security action by Congress in decades.

This is not a partisan analysis.

The vote in the House Democratic caucus reportedly had some 20 moderate votes opposed to leaving without voting on the Senate bipartisan anti-terrorism bill.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.), the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has said this failure to act has weakened our ability to intercept and stop terrorists.

Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell (a career military officer) and Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey, in a letter to Rep. Silvestre Reyes (Tex.), the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, stated plainly, "We have lost intelligence information this past week as a direct result of the uncertainty created by Congress' failure to act." (View the complete letter at PowerlineBlog.)

I urge you to call your representative today and demand that they pass the Senate bipartisan Protect America Act bill (which got a filibuster-proof 68 votes in the Senate) immediately. Every day that passes is a day that America is more vulnerable.

I actually had a 3 day weekend. I wasn't aware of it, till last Thursday.

So the plan was to do some shopping (getting things acquired, ect), spend some time with my honey and kiddos. Maybe, watch a couple of movies, ect.

Unfortunately, my wife was sick the first part of the weekend, starting with not feeling well Thursday night to fever and aches Friday. By Sunday morning, she was really tired, but felt somewhat better. Then Sunday afternoon/evening, my son came down with it.

With him, if he gets sick, a new onslaught of issues can arise. So Sunday evening, I had my wife and son in the same bed, as I stayed on the couch. I checked them around midnight Sunday, before I crashed. Unfortunately, it seemed they were up at 12:30, 2:30, ect. Sigh.

So as I sit here, about to hit my week of work, I think back on my oh so fast 3 day weekend. It wasn't really as we planned it would be.

Why am I coughing? Maybe this coffee will quench the tickle in my throat.

This is an awesome free 1 hour 20 minute video online.

The HOPE

The Hope is the the whole story, creation through Christ.



The HOPE is a dramatic motion picture presentation of God’s redemptive story as revealed in 36 Biblical events from Creation through the Second Coming of Christ. It includes some of the most beautiful cinematic presentations of the Bible ever filmed. With a high priority on quality, The HOPE was produced on 35mm film (same as hollywood movies). It contains numerous digital effects. Nearly 4 years in the making, The HOPE was produced by mature and respected Christians who have produced effective evangelism films for over 20 years - used of God to lead thousands to Christ.

I had the chance to watch Untraceable last night with my brother. It was just the guys out, kindof thing. We had intended to watch "I am Legend", but it no longer was showing.

Anyway, the movie was actually pretty good. There were some political undertones in it. Specifically referring to net neutrality and online freedom. There is also reference to NSA unable(or unwilling) to assist the FBI, due to the wall between federal and domestic.

The basic premis is someone creating a website to ask others (the online viewers) to join in the murder. The more online viewers the faster the murder takes place. Needless to say, the time speeds up as news of the site grows online.

I won't provide any spoilers, but let's say the structure of the story is typical.

1)Two main characters (the hero ((main female character)) and the killer)
2)Mystery of who can it be
3)The mental game of will
4)It ends well

I will say, at least this movie had a pretty good storyline. It did provide the "why" in the end.

I recall at the end of the movie, my statement to my brother was "That's messed up".

I would recommened the movie.

Trying to catch up from the weekend, rolling over into the week.

Since no on-call for me this weekend, we went to the new church again. I was really impressed with the message. We went to the earlier church (8:40 a.m.) to check out the format. The songs were much more upbeat than what I am use to hearing. Yet, not too hard for my wife(wink). It's interesting when you have something to actually compare to. Most people are unwilling to change, to have the experience of contrast.

I noticed the pasture "taught" rather than "preach". Yes, there is a difference. Rather than on the pulpit to speak about Christ and the bible, he provided background and history to capture the era of time on the why. This, to me, makes a vast difference in the message. I once mentioned to our TeamKids (church on Wednesday nights), you guys are taught to do this, but "why do you do this?"

This is the failing of the church, in my opinion. Rather than simply saying you need God, often it's not defined as to why you need God. Think of it this way. If someone would say to you, you need this medicine. You would obviously ask, "why?" Which reply would you rather have. The reply of "because its' good for you" or the explanation of symptoms and diseases and the medicine would save your life?

This is the difference in teaching and preaching. Teaching provides the background and understanding. Preaching simply conveys you need to do this.

This site Newseum (the interactive museum of news) shows all the front pages in the papers around the world.

You can check out what the titles of each newspaper is per day. I think it's an interesting idea. I haven't checked the full site out. However, if you want to gleam the headlines of the major papers, this is a fast way to roam.

I think we can all attest the lack of sleep wrecks havoc on our thinking skills.

Sleep has been called temporary death, but there's so much that goes on
during that time of repose. While visiting that other world one might walk,
talk, grind teeth, and sometimes dream.

Your brain is more active while you're asleep than when watching television.
And that's even when you don't walk or talk in sleep. No wonder our
language is rife in sleep-related idioms. You can sleep in, on, out, around,
with, and over. You can lose sleep over things.

You can go without food for a while but you can't cheat on sleep. It demands
its dues. According to a report, you would be 25% less alert on just an
hour's loss of sleep.

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

I been waiting for it, and it will be here May 16th! Sweet.

Superbowl Commercial for it.



Official Trailer

Voz Me is a interesting online app to allow you to "hear" your articles.

You might have noticed the new addition I placed on my blog earlier this week.




Its a freeware that allows you to post the html on your blog (wordpress or blogger). The audio is in mp3 format, and you can listen to it via java, or download the file.

I had my wife listen to it, and she says it sounds weird.

I came across a "look whos searching for you" site. I thought it looked interesting till I seen the results.




Yeah, like I am going to sign up for a application that can't count.

The kids seem to continue to enjoy Taekwondo. We went again last night and I enjoy watching them with the trainer and other kids. I am impressed with the teacher, he works well with the kids. I can't help notice which kids are there to learn and those there to simply to be there. I guess that is everywhere.

I am on-call again this week for work. Knock on wood.

The new church wasn't too bad. I received more out of the sunday school. This one seems to keep focused on the study, more so than our current one. I liked that.

The 'contempory' church service was different. The message was awesome. The young pastor was articulate in such a way to bring the message to meaning. The young band was the most different. Some of the songs I recognized from Air One, a radio station I primarily listen too. Others, I had never heard.

I think it was bit much for Kel. We will probably check out the more traditional service next Sunday.

The church breaks up a traditional service early (around 8:20) and the contempory service at 11. The message and teaching are the same, but the format (namely music) is different.

I have heard more and more churches are breaking out to 2 separate services on Sunday. The thought is to draw in different crowds or provide different times for those busy people. I find it interesting.

Another aspect I found of interest was the availible sunday school classes. Seems they have their regular classes, but also provide 6 week courses in different subjects of interest. The appear to have alot more availible in the teaching department.

I like the fact, if you miss a service, the recorded service is availible on CD or MP3 (welcome to the 20th century). Evidently you can also download them from itunes, all free of charge. They also have a pretty impressive website.

The current only questionable thing is the kids classes. I didn't hear from the kids much other than 'awesome'. I would like to know more of what they are teaching them, rather to think it's just a daycare.

I guess time will tell.


Here are some things I look for at a church.

1) Go at least 3 times to observe what is being teached
2) Is the church teaching the bible is the infallible truth
3) Is the church teaching Jesus is the only means of salvation
4) Where is the church on Evangelism
5) Does the church teach Jesus Christ is God in human flesh
6) Is the purpose of the church, glory to God
7) Do they teach ministry is by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit

check out this link called maps of war, showing all the empires over history. It lasts about 90 seconds, but well worth watching.

This tiny hex editor is a great tool to view the transactions.

I actually use this when trying to identify the control characters on some of the transactions.

I want a new church. I need some meat (regarding spiritual growth). However, I am in a dilemma. I like our current church, with the exception of the non-meat.

I would still like to do Team-Kids, since I feel obligated.

Kel remains obligated for Sunday School. Yet, no-one else seems to step up to assist her. They have ideas, but are unwilling to put those ideas in place. Seems most want others to do, rather than do themselves. I learned this a long time ago, the famous 80-20 rule. 20 percent do 80 percent of the work.

Anyway, how can I expect us to move forward and not feel guilty of our current obligations?

I would welcome ideas. Yes, I been praying about this for some time.

This week has been a crazy week. Seems a redundant statement, but it's already Thursday and I have been falling asleep before 10 p.m. every night. This is not usual for me.

I haven't blogged in awhile. This week, if I jump on the computer, it is to work. Once I start working, I don't get to stop, till I force myself at end day. Here lately, that's ran over to "my time" as well. So, when I pull myself away, I am tired of sitting in front of the PC and essentially don't want it anymore.

I think our daughter is getting a cold. She has been coughing the past couple of days. I been giving her Zyrtic, ect, but it doesn't appear to be working. I guess I will have to beef up the vitamens and cold medicines.

Since the kids wanted to try out Karate, that has limited our free evenings down to 2.

M-Karate
T- Free
W- Church
Th- Karate
F- Free

Activities are nice for the kids, but time consuming for parents. We have changed our son's speech therapies to occur during the noon time. This helps in respect of relieving our evenings, but also now takes our lunches. Sigh, I think we just replaced our evenings with something else. Oh well. Their only kids once.

I have 3 calls to return already, and freaking 13 projects running at once for work. This doesn't include those projects on hold, waiting for someone else.

Never enough time in the day.

The movie, 27 dresses, was cute (for a chick flick ). I was glad to see it wasn't the stereotypical woman finding her self-reliance, yet choosing to be with someone.

The characters actually had some depth. I thought Katherine Heigl played an excellent role. The movie centers around her and this girl can really act. I admit, I only seen her on some Greys Anatomy shows and 'Knocked up'. But in this movie, she was absolutely beautiful in some scenes. I hadn't realized how gorgeous she was.

Jane's cynical friend, played by Judy Greer, was just enough in the movie to make you giggle, but not overly done to roll your eyes at.

The very good looking sister is played by Malin Akerman. Her list of movies are not much, but she looked good in this film.

Yes, you pretty much know what's going to happen, due to the synopsis. That part is pretty cliche. Yet, the movie flows well, and they pull it off.

So for you guys out there rolling your eyes, when the wives ask to go to see it, go for it. There are some funny parts in it, and the story line is decent.

I think I will start a new Friday's download each Friday. All of the Friday's download will be freeware of usefull (or non-usefull) tools.

Today's Friday download will be PDF Creator.

PDFCreator is a free tool to create PDF files from nearly any Windows application.
Key Features:

Create PDFs from any program that is able to print
Security: Encrypt PDFs and protect them from being opened, printed etc.
Send generated files via eMail
Create more than just PDFs: PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP, PCX, PS, EPS
AutoSave files to folders and filenames based on Tags like Username, Computername, Date, Time etc.
Merge multiple files into one PDF
Easy Install: Just say what you want and everything is installed
Terminal Server: PDFCreator also runs on Terminal Servers without problems
And the best: PDFCreator is free, even for commercial use! It is Open Source and released under the Terms of the GNU General Public License.