QOTW: Omnipotent You

Here's the oft promised QOTW from David McGlone:

If you could be God for about 5 days, what things would you try to change or accomplish with your life in your 5 days? (this excludes trying to save the world, stop hunger, etc etc. Basically you are God with powers to control your own life and destiny and not be able to change history or fix it before it happens).And if you want, give a brief explanation why you chose the accomplishment or change.

That is TOUGH! OK, I'll admit it, from this standpoint, I'd want to use part of the time to make my life pleasant — I won't pretend I wouldn't want to. Here's the thing though: being God means having three very important qualities. These are:

1. Omnipresent
2. Omnipotent
3. Omniscient

With those in mind, I'd probably use my time much more wisely. Arguably since God created time that would mean that if God handed me His powers for five days I'd also be able to step outside of time and get more done. But, that's aside the point.

So what would I do? Probably cause the clouds to rain properly translated copies of the Bible to all of the people of the earth. I'd also do some miraculous type signs (maybe the sun wouldn't come up one day or the seas would turn to blood one day) to get people's attention. Then I'd use a booming voice to tell everyone to read the book that had hit them in the head to figure out what was going on. Perhaps I'd even provide a few pointers while on the “megaphone.”

Of course, that goes back to that omniscient characteristic. If I truly had the qualities of God, I would do just what God is doing right now because God already knows what is best to do.

Late Again

The QOTW is late again, but hopefully I will get it up tomorrow. Sorry for the spree of short posts…

QOTW #8: Canonizing Question

Okay, so I still have my hard disk torn up, but I hope to have my old e-mail archive assembled next week and will present David's question then. For now, let's do another one from me.

What's your canon in the canon? (That is, if you could only pick one part of the Bible and make it “yours,” what book or section of books would it be?)

Mine is most definitely the Epistles of the Apostle Paul. I'm very Pauline. On the occasion that I get the urge to rant about a theological issue, I often find myself thinking of Paul and arguing Paul's points. Paul's arguments on the distribution of Grace, issues of legalism (or the needed lack thereof), soteriology in general and everything else rings so fresh and so strongly today. Paul's arguments are wonderful in that they are paradoxically very simple to get the gist of and very complex below the surface. While I don't feel any book(s) of the Bible ought to take precedence over the others — that is, all of them fit together and are necessary — I love the fact that Paul goes right to the heart of the matter and lays everything out. I love his fiery defense of Christian doctrine against heresy and his amazing dedication.

So, it is definitely Paul for me. (If I couldn't pick Paul, I'd probably pick the Eschatological books of Daniel and Revelation).

How about you? Post your pick below or post a link to your blog if you answer there.

QOTW #7: Eat Me!

Well, the computer that has David's suggested question on it is presently “in the shop” (not literally, but I do have all of its software torn apart for a project rendering my old email archive inaccessible). Until I get it back together in the next few days, you'll have to live with one of my questions instead. As always feel free to reply below or on your own blog.

If you were going to eat something right now, what would it be?

It would be a Papa John's thin and crispy style pepperoni and onion pizza with the Papa's special garlic dipping sauce and some red pepper sprinkles. Of course, a pepperoni pizza from Papa John's goes well with a second original (thick crust) the “Works” pizza… Anyone want to join me for a late night pizza?

It's weird. I'm a big Pizza Hut fan (my favorite pizza is Pizza Hut's Pan Pizza), and I love the authentic Italian pizzas St. Louis is famous for, but I get a craving for Papa John's every so often… sort of like I do for White Castle. White Castle sounds pretty good about now too. Especially some jalapeno cheese burgers and an order of cheese fries. Yum!

QOTW #6: Computer Names

Ok, so I haven't been very good at keeping this up once again… but I'm gonna keep it going. Hopefully, I'll get the QOTW back to Monday next week with a question contributed to me by David McGlone. But this week, I'm going to base it on a question Flip asked me about my computers. As always feel free to answer below or perhaps take this question and use it for a meme on your own blog.

What names do you have for your computers?

Well, not all of them are still in service, but I'll order the ones that have been named from the oldest (built in 1997) to the newest (purchased last week). Prior to '98, I didn't network systems, so it wasn't necessary for such names to be employed in my case.

Fred: A Pentium 100 long retired. One of only three systems without some connection to Dilbert.
Dellbert: My first Dell, and a play on the name Dilbert.
Lapbert: My first networked laptop.
Sneakers: I wasn't planning to upgrade when I did, so it “snuck” in… thus sneakers.
Catbert: the Ruby iMac.
Wally: the Shuttle XPC… shiny sort of like Wally's bald head in Dilbert.
Cedar: This one is the server you are reading this off of. Since it is offsite, I decided to start a new naming convention for it. If and when I need a new server some day, it might be “pine.” It's domain is cedar.serverforest.com.
Albert: The G5 (Aluminum + bert = Albert).
Hapbert: The PowerBook… I thought about apbert (Apple + bert) but that didn't sound so good, so it is officially “Happy APple BERT.” Pathetic, I know.

Were's Dogbert? I'm glad you asked. That's my wifi network.

I may try to go a bit more orthodox and revise these. Here's a thought on more proper Dilbert naming:

Dellbert = Dilbert.
Lapbert = Bob.
Sneakers = Wally
Wally = Ratbert
Albert = Alice
Cedar = Elbonians
Hapbert = Dogbert
Dogbert = Asok

Waddya think? Post your own naming conventions below, if you'd like. Do you follow the popular trend of using Greek mythological characters? Perhaps you too use Dilbert?

QOTW #5: Tea and Coffee

Assuming you like at least one of them, which is your favorite tea or coffee? What kind?

Personally, I really enjoy both, but I'd probably miss coffee the most if I had to give one up. Plain, old black coffee (or with a little cream) would be the variety I would probably hate giving up the most, although I also enjoy a Latte from Starbucks or an I.C. Mocha from St. Louis Bread Co. (a.k.a. Panera Bread) as well as various other varieties.

On the other hand, at dinner, at a restaurant, I will usually order iced tea. No sugar and no lemon. Despite my preference for plain old tea, I usually prefer tea with sugar and lemon if it is bottled tea (unless it is really good bottled tea, such as the unsweetened Nestea I finished a little while ago). Arizona Tea Co. has a good bottled sweetened tea. I also occasionally enjoy peach or lemon tea, such as that offered by Lipton (either bottled or mix) or Snapple. But overall, I'd rather have plain old tea.

In fact, if I had the opportunity to drink as much tea or coffee, and those where the only two things I could drink, I'd probably drink more tea than coffee. Yet, I'd miss coffee more, weird, huh?

QOTW #4: Kodak Moments

It is a bit late (and will probably have to cover next week too, since hopefully I will be in Branson this upcoming Monday), but here is the question of the week. Feel free to respond here or use this as a meme on your blog (please post a link to your entry).

Do you have a digital camera? Do you use it in lieu of a traditional film camera? How many pictures have you taken with it? Do you stick to the highest possible quality or do you lower the quality to get in more pictures?

Yes, I do. I have a Sony Cybershot DSC-S72, which is a 3.2 megapixel camera with manual adjustments (shutter speed and aperture). It has, for all intents and purposes, replaced my little Kodak APS (Advanced Photo System) camera, not only because it has more features, but also because I can take as many pictures as I want without development costs.

I'm not sure how many pictures I've taken, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is over 5,000 in the last two years. On a trip, I might take 700 or more photos, only stopping when I fill up my four 128 meg memory cards (obviously, yes, that means I don't take pictures at the full rated quality most of the time… I usually opt for 1280×1024 res.). That leads me to my one complaint with the camera. Sony seems to have decided that Memory Sticks have hit the end of the road and the company is now only creating cards larger than 128 megs in the new Memory Stick Pro format, which is incompatible with older Sony cameras. This means I can't get a 256 or 512 meg stick that would truly allow for convenient use of the 3 megapixel CCD.

Overall, though, I love the camera. Only Sony's prosumer V series cameras come in the same heavy duty, SLR sized form factors now, so I'm glad I got mine while they offered it. I like the little compact cameras, but there is something satisfying about holding a decent sized camera that fits one's hands just right. The other big advantage to the full sized camera is that I can screw on an adapter to fit on standard 52” lenses, etc., you can't do that with Sony's heir to the S72.

QOTW #3: Megahertz Race

Time for yet another Question of the Week. Feel free to answer below or on your own blog if you prefer.

What was the megahertz speed of your first computer? What is the speed of your present computer? Have you ever owned a system with a “performance rating” instead of a MHz rating? Do you check your system speed to see if it really is running at the advertised speed?

I'm not sure, to be honest — I'd have to check to see what the TI 99/4A's specs where. My first PC compatible ran at 33 MHz, though (it was a Intel 486 DX).

My current PC runs at 2.66 GHz (but, to answer the last question, its actual speed is 2657.883). It's a Pentium 4 without Hyperthreading… HT boxen run at .06 less GHz. My Mac runs at 2.0 GHz (yes, that's the actual speed too).

I've never run a “performance rating” processor. Although, if I were building a DIY PC compatible at the moment, I'd be very tempted by the AMD Athlon 64. (Offtopic: Remember when Cyrix was trying to do a non-MHz rating in the mid-90's?)

QOTW #2: Mousing History

Here's the second question of the week. Feel free to give your answer in the comments, if you'd like.

What type of mouse/trackball/touch pad do you use to control the cursor on your computer? What past mouse devices have you used? Did you like them better?

For the most part, I use a Logitech MX700 wireless optical mouse. It's a really nice mouse that has great battery life and very good precision. I have it hooked up to my KVM, so I can use it to control my Mac as well as my PC's. I also use an Apple Pro Mouse on my Ruby iMac.

I've used a lot of mice. I started off with a “Z-Nix” mouse that came in a bundle with Windows 3.1. It was a simple little square, glossy mouse. I think my next mouse was a brightly colored mouse that I was given (it was a review unit from a company that a family member worked at). After that, I had a three button el cheapo mouse (even cheaper than the others). Then I switched to an Alps touch pad… that was back when touch pads were new and so they were selling a stand alone one for desktops.

From there, I went to a Microsoft IntelliMouse I received with a Dell computer. Then, I bought an IntelliMouse Pro (from Big Lots for only $9.99). After that I switched to the Logitech iFeel mouse (also from Big Lots) — I never installed the software to make it “feel,” I just liked its design (very comfortable). After that mouse — which I still use for various purposes — I was given a “water mouse,” a little mouse that had water and little plastic fish swimming in it. That was amusing for a summer, but I soon switched to the MX 700, which I am still using. I also have a mouse that came with my Wacom tablet, but I rarely use it.

On occasion, I also use an Apple Mouse (which is clear and white and is the current Apple mouse, not to be confused with the clear and black Apple Pro Mouse that no longer available), but for the most part, it just sits here.

The MX 700 is my favorite by far. Logitech makes great mice.

How about you?

QOTW: TV Classics

I decided to restart the Question of the Week on ChristianSource (I posted it each week there during most of 2002), and thought I'd post it here too. Feel free to answer in the comments or post a link to your answer if you find the question worth answering on your blog instead. I'm going to try to post a new QOTW each Monday — although don't hold your breath.

TV Classics
If you think back to TV shows of at least 25-30 years ago, is there one particular show you can pick out as your favorite? Would you prefer it to what's on today? What was on five years ago? Ten years ago? Twenty years ago?

For me, I'd say that I would — without a doubt — pick I Love Lucy. That might sound like an easy out, but it really is a classic to the extent that you can see the same episode multiple times and it is still funny. Really funny. And not the least bit vulgar. If today's sitcoms truly followed the Lucy comedic style, they'd actually be worth watching.

While there is some stuff (like Star Trek: TNG and DS9) that might have provided a little competition during the 90's (for my vote that is), I basically can't think of any (fictional genre) show I'd say I'd prefer to watch over Lucy. Usually, a few times a week, I'll grab an episode off TV Land and watch it that evening (one of the few times I actually watch TV). If there could only be one show on from now on, I can't think of a better choice for it.

What do you think?