Scrapbook

My friend Caedmon and I have been reminiscing by discussing old entries from this blog and the ensuing conversations. The interesting thing about blogging over the long term is that a blog becomes a lot more than merely a collection of words I have issued forth to attract dust in the eternal bit bucket — they form links to conversations, friendships and life in general.

As I flipped through some of my old posts the last few days, I was reminded of fascinating conversations with my blogosphere friends that helped shape my thinking. I saw comments from old friends who quit blogging and have seemingly disappeared. Some of the posts were bittersweet to recall the circumstances behind their posting. Others were just simply fascinating. Still other posts are annoying for how wrongheaded they seem to me today.

In all, though, I think they show how blogging at least has the potential to paint a fascinating picture of one's life. Not because I have anything especially profound to say, but because blog posts generally are (and should be, I think) written in community, and thus they resemble a photo album or scrapbook.

Unfolding My Story: Real, Live Examples of What I've Been Saying

So someone in St. Louis comes by to my most recent post on the abusive activities at my old church today and posts a link anonymously. I have significant reasons to believe this to be from someone at that old church. The link goes to the Men's Fraternity bookstore page for a booklet called “The Quest for Authentic Manhood: The Overly-Bonded with Mother Wound.”

This smacks of something of the propaganda the pastor of the old church has pushed for the last year. My mother was well liked at the old church and can also hold her own under attack, so when she would not agree to the pastor's request that she push me to do what he wanted, when, instead, she supported my free and independent decision to refuse to continue to be abused by the pastor and those assisting him, the church leadership set out to attack her. The pastor attacked her in his communications with church leaders, our friends, my dean and others.

He would have been fine with her being as controlling as he falsely alleges if she had allowed him to use her to manipulate me. It was when she joined a chorus that also included numerous other godly people I go to for advice, when I stood up and said I would not violate Scripture or conscience to do the bidding of, as I now have come to realize, an overly controlling pastor (not an overly controlling mother), that suddenly the pastor decided I was not manly enough. Is not having godly advisors in one's life to help one deal with difficult situations part of what these “Biblical manhood” programs are even suppose to foster? The pastor wanted none of that, so he twisted the narrative to be about my mom somehow forcing me to stray and then attacked this straw man (or straw woman, in this case) — this caricature of my mother — he had created.

Read more...

From the Archive: Stray Cats

Worth re-reading.

Sign Up

It does not add a lot of functionality just yet, but if you would be willing, would you please sign up for an asisaid Account? I am testing my newly minted user sign up and authentication system, part of the “project” I've been working on this summer.

Once you get your account and sign in using the sign in form located above the box to leave a comment on any entry, you'll notice that the comment area will show you signed in rather than giving you boxes to fill out with your name and so on. The information you normally would have typed (or that could optionally be stored in a cookie) will now be stored on the server, associated with your account profile.

It doesn't sound like much, but it required some hefty architectural changes to my codebase.

Thanks to any willing “beta testers.” 20 asisaid points for giving it a whirl.

Microsoft, Macs and Seminarians

The AP reports:

Increasingly, companies are giving their employees a choice to either use Microsoft Windows PCs or Apple Inc.'s Macs, the analyst said. And, increasingly, employees are choosing Mac over Windows. To boot, Chowdhry said 70 percent of college freshman are entering school with Macs, up about 10 percent to 15 percent from a year ago.

I think this is quite likely true. I have observed this phenomenon during my entire seminary experience. Since 2007, when I arrived there, I have noticed that each incoming class of students has brought with them an increasingly high number of Macs. It may not have been a majority at first, but in the last few years, between new students coming in with Macs, along with middlers and seniors getting new systems, the glowing Apples about any classroom denote that Macs are clearly now a significant majority.

What is even more notable about this is that seminarians are not exactly known for having a lot of funds or — perhaps more relevant — expectations of large incomes post graduation. If they are willing to throw in a bit more cash for a more reliable computing experience, I think that the overall picture of Apple in academia is promising.

Especially in fields where computer platforms are less likely to be mandated (such as ministry work), I think it seems reasonable to expect that today's students will continue to use Macs into the future, barring any major changes to the landscape of computer operating systems.

Is it too much to wonder if Windows could become the next WordPerfect? Yes, probably. But, with Mac OS, iOS, Chrome OS and Android all chewing away at different parts of the Windows market and estimates like these indicating who has the next generation's market share and mindshare, I think we could be headed into a future where non-Windows computers are not immediately considered “alternative” and foreign.

Better Facebook

Better Facebook is a FREE user script that plugs into your browser and adds a lot of great enhancements to your existing Facebook account!

I've been using Better Facebook since the Safari Extension Gallery came out and highlighted it. So far, I'm finding some of its additions to Facebook quite handy. (It also works on Firefox, Chrome and Opera, by the way.)

A Year

Amazing grace,

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

So true.

Amoco is Dead, Long Live Amoco

Reuters reports:

Some BP gas station owners in the United States want to drop the BP name and return to the Amoco brand to recover business hit by public anger over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.

I predicted this some time ago, but failed to post it online. Too bad. I do expect BP will pull a Worldcom and rebrand with their less tarnished, previously subsumed and retired brand sometime in the next year or two. I wouldn't expect it in the next couple of months, though. Doing it too soon would risk dragging the Amoco name into the mud, or in this case, oil.

Unilever Offers Homing Prize

Laurel Wentz writes:

Starting next week, consumers who buy one of the GPS-implanted detergent boxes will be surprised at home, given a pocket video camera as a prize and invited to bring their families to enjoy a day of Unilever-sponsored outdoor fun. The promotion, called Try Something New With Omo, is in keeping with the brand's international “Dirt is Good” positioning that encourages parents to let their kids have a good time even if they get dirty.

I'm not sure this is going to prove a good idea.

Sometimes to Get It, You Must Live It

Soul Survivor: How Thirteen Unlikely Mentors Helped My Faith Survive the Church

I am sure I did not fully appreciate the title of Philip Yancy's excellent book when I read it two years ago.