Apple to Go Intel?

News.com is usually a pretty respectable news source, so when they report as fact that Apple is switching to Intel, I have to pay somewhat more attention than I usually give to such claims. But, Apple to Intel chipsets? That makes little sense, since no legacy software would run (at least decently), the systems would be slower, AltiVec would no longer be available, etc., etc. If this is true, I predict Apple will not survive the switch. For now, I am presuming the report will be proven false during Job's WWDC keynote on Monday.

Gallery Problems

I thought I'd upload my PhotoQuest to my photo gallery, but I found out my tightened security on my server has broken the gallery software. I guess it will be another day 'til the May PQ appears. I'm sorry, Flip.

Late on PQ

Well, I was going to get the PhotoQuest up this past weekend. Or at least by the end of May. Or at least no later than the first day of June. No dice. How about the second day of June?

Putting it On Paper

I've spent a good chunk of the evening today writing down every detail I could about last week. I ended up with over 10 pages of material. What will I do with this now that it is written down? I'm not sure; it is too raw to do much at all with. But, at least I have a record while things are still fresh.

Improved on IE

Asisaid should now render properly on standards non-compliant browsers ( cough Internet Explorer cough) as well as those which obey standards, now. I tested the site against IE 6 on Windows 98, and, as always, continue to test it against Mozilla Firefox 1.x and Apple Safari 2.0. With Firefox now grabbing nearly 10% of the browser market, less than one year after release, I'm a bit more optimistic that Microsoft may soon have to learn to play nice with W3C specifications, but I'm not overly optimistic.

As a side note, I love the new features of Safari 2.0, especially the RSS reader integration. Now, I can keep up with all of my regularly read blogs without having to go to each one just to see if something new has been posted. I added all of the RSS feeds to one bookmark folder on my bookmark bar, and now I can just click that and see all of the feeds aggregated conveniently. I am also appreciating that Apple finally supported embedded PDF's; it is beyond me why Apple opted not to do this with the original Safari, but I am happy to have it finally acting the way it does in other browsers.

Wrestling with God

I was reminded of Jacob's nighttime wrestling with God this week (Genesis 32.21-32). On Monday, I felt like I had one of the clearest experiences of God leading me that I've ever felt. I spent the rest of the week puzzling over the details of exactly what that meant. Why was God telling me these particulars? What should I do with them? Jacob struggled with God for a blessing; I was struggling for an understanding of how these details fit together. Being in the mostly uninterrupted quiet of the Ozarks was just where I needed to be for this.

A lot of what I would like to know remains a mystery to me. I started to doubt if I had really heard the Holy Spirit. Could it be I was just reading too much into things? No. I prayed that God would show me a sign if I was really hearing Him and not just myself. Unexpectedly, this morning's sermon was on taking the leadings of the Spirit; the topic had been picked a few weeks ago (although I had not noticed that), but our pastor had scrapped the original sermon and written a different one yesterday that hit even closer. It really seemed like a confirmation to me. As usher captain for the month of May, I was alone in the Narthex during the sermon, which was just as well, for I was overcome by what I was hearing.

Other things have stood out in the last few days. Having finished a few novels (the Da Vinci Code, Silenced, the Remnant and Armageddon) in the last few weeks, I decided to return to a non-fiction piece I had barely started last year and had never made it back to: Philip Yancey's Rumors of Another World. Yancey always has something good to say, but today I was taken aback by what I found on the pages directly following where I had stopped so many months ago. It all fit into the pattern of what I thought God was telling me. A few sentences were eerily almost word-for-word what I had planned to jot down as I organized all of my thoughts while in the Ozarks this week.

I still don't know what to do with this information, but I know I need to keep listening.

I'm Baaaack!

Well, it is always a downer to be back after a nice vacation, but it was such a nice trip that I'm feeling pretty good today anyway. It was a great week, and being the week before Memorial Day, it wasn't too busy, although busier than it typically is the week before Memorial Day. The weather was mostly nice and unseasonably mild, which I appreciated very much.

I did wave when going past Rolla, did you wave back, Christopher? I like Michael's idea of meeting at the Hen House sometime. I thought about my blogging buddies of Bourbon and Rolla while I was enjoying my broasted chicken dinner there last night.

Adieu, For Now

I'm off for a few days of R-n-R in the Ozarks. I'll be back at the end of the week, so make sure the party celebrating my absence ends by Thursday so that you can pretend you really missed my daily posts.

Seriously, have a great week, y'all!

Why jtr is Not a Christian

And Maybe I'm Not Either

My friend John-Thomas wants to enter the ministry. He also claims he is not a Christian. What's that all about? This post of his should be read by every American believer (my international friends may find it an interesting read too). He does a good job of swiping at some problems in the American church, particularly our failure as Evangelicals to avoid intertwining ourselves with the Republican party to the point, as he puts it, that we lately have been resolving to be “knowing nothing but George W. Bush and him re-elected.”

This isn't a question of whether President Bush is a good president or not. It is a question of the purpose of the church. Should the church worry about politicized issues such as abortion, euthanasia, poverty, and so on? By all means! But, we ought not let our social concerns, and especially our partisan concerns, override our calling to preach the Gospel. I am loyal to Christ first, my family second, my country third and my party last; it is only a means to an end and we should not let it be anything more than that. If we aren't careful, the American church will simply have the mainlines supporting liberal politics faced off against the Evangelicals and Fundamentalists supporting conservative or neo-conservative politics and no one actually changing lives and declaring the Good News effectively.

I'm not going to spoil his whole post, so go read it to find out about the stuff about not being a Christian.

FridayQ's: Foreign Places and Lovely Spaces

Michael has been doing this meme for a little while, and I thought I might give it a try, doing the past two weeks worth in reverse order. The first one is on foreign countries, the second on romance. If you'd like to answer the questions as well, feel free to do so in the comments.

FQ1: What's your native language? Do you speak any foreign languages? If so, how did you come to learn them?
English. I'm working on Koine Greek, presently, although the my main goal is to be good at reading it, not speaking it (who exactly am I going to speak it to?). This is my second time around with Greek, previously through books, now via a Greek instructor. As I've said before, I probably should learn Spanish someday soon.

I have friends and acquaintances who speak the following languages as their native tongues (in order of frequency that I converse with them): Romanian, Spanish, German and Swedish. If I was really good at languages, or at least had lots of spare time, I think I would try to learn all of the above; I feel bad that I know at least one person from each of the above language groups who probably speaks better English than I do, yet I cannot say one iota back to them in their native language or even another language native to neither of us (unless I time travel back to meet the apostles and greet them in Koine Greek).

FQ2: What's your native country? Have you visited any foreign countries? If so, which ones?
The good old US of A. I have not been outside of its borders; I was suppose to go on a trip a few years back, but a family emergency canceled that and other opportunities have not arisen.

FQ3: Are there any foreign foods, books, movies, or other items that you are particularly fond of? Name some of your favorites.
Foods, yes, most definitely. Probably my favorite foreign food would be Mexican, although I'll admit that I'd generally prefer the Americanized versions at Taco Bell over authentic Mexican food (not that I don't like the latter). Next would be Italian; I love finding a restaurant still owned by an Italian family and ordering a pizza from it. Chinese would probably be next; I really like egg rolls and broccoli chicken fried rice, among other things. I like a lot of German foods too, but I'm not sure how Americanized what I've eaten has been.

Books… well, I guess I have a number of books I like that are from outside the U.S. I mean, technically C.S. Lewis is a foreign writer, but I don't generally think about him like that. If we are going to do translated works, I'll say Jorge Luis Borges's writings, off the top of my head. Or does Dante count?

I'm not a big movie buff in general, so foreign movies aren't a big deal for me. I barely see any domestic movies! What else do I like foreign? Hmm… well, I like German cars (well, Japanese ones are nice too). I had some good chocolates from Austria a few years back as well. I'm not sure, perhaps it is too late at night for me to think of these types of things.

FQ NATIVE: If you had to trade your nationality for that of any foreign country, which would you choose and why?

Sheesh. I'm not sure. For practical reasons, I would choose a first world country. I dunno — maybe I'd “become” German, Italian, Switzerland, Sweden or something like that if I am imagining myself being a native of someplace else. If I was going for something a little different, maybe I'd pick Greece, Israel, Japan or Romania. Now, if I we are talking about yours truly expatriating and going somewhere else, I'd pragmatically pick someplace where I could actually communicate easily, which would give me the U.K., Australia, Canada and Ireland. Of those, I'd probably pick Canada or the U.K.

Last Week's FridayQ: Romance
FQ1: What music puts you in the mood for romance?
Not having ever had a “romance,” I guess I cannot say exactly. To me, though, I'd say that I think cordoning off romance into a particular area is rather foolish; it isn't what you are listening to, but who you're with, right? Admittedly, perhaps some music would be a bad choice, but if you love someone, I think all music would seem romantic in her presence.

FQ2: Where is the perfect place for romancing someone?
Similar to what I said above. I suppose I would think some place quiet that is well suited to talking. Perhaps someplace scenic. But, I do not think that need be necessary. I don't like the idea of “romancing” someone though — it sounds too much like a premeditated attempt at selling one's self. Call me idealistic or a hopeless romantic (pun intended), but I think a relationship ought to be formed simply because two people who enjoy each other's company, and are of opposite sexes, find themselves moving from friendship to mutual love. I have no doubt that this is naive, but still…

FQ3: What kind of foods get you feeling romantic?
Well, ditto what I've already said. I would think whatever food it was that one ate frequently with the beloved.

FQ LOVER: How would somebody go about winning your heart?
Just being herself. If she was kind, interesting to talk to and had a good sense of humor, that would go a long way to it. I think ideally, that person would have a lot of the same interests, but enough different ones that we both could have things to talk about in common and things to share that were not. In other words, not one particular action, but just the general way of being is important; this is a gradual process. Can you see a theme here in my answers?

I'll be honest here; I've had one person win my heart — I'm quite sure inadvertently on her part — so this is not idle speculation on this last question. Of course, the problem is reciprocating by winning hers… if that ever happens, it will only be by grace God chooses to grant me, for I am dubious about whether it could ever occur from what I say and do, and it certainly is not aided at all by my appearance.