One of my blogging colleagues wrote recently about issues she’s having with her (Episcopal) parish priest. Now, I spent many years working for a church and have a somewhat unique, perhaps skewed, perspective. Anyway, issues within a congregation are always particularly painful. Consider one key point, if you will. People feel an intense attachment to their congregations, to the buildings. This is, at its core, not only good but essential. However, at times it can cause anguish. Messing with components of worship really becomes messing with the core of people’s identity, with their relationship with the divine. If not dealt with well, you are telling those you disagree with that their relationship with God is somehow wrong. Not very priestly, or pastoral in any sense. It’s quite critical for clergy (in particular, but not excluded to them) to keep this in mind lest they harm their flock. The “my way or the highway” mentality may work for leading a Republican congress, but not a parish. It’s ugly, un-pastoral, and damn un-Christian.
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More Vista Thoughts
One thing that I would love to have seen, and that would have made me run out and by Vista, or any OS, is a focus on speed and efficiency. I’m quite sure that Vista is in the same boat as all the rest of the MS OS offerings. More features, more bloat, more RAM, less efficiency and S-L-O-W. At some point, I want all the OS options to focus on using less resources. Use what I have better! Of course, then I wouldn’t NEED to run out and buy something new every few years (months?). Sigh, I’m back to cynicism again…
On Wookies and Polite Conversation
Vista and other joys
Well, I’ve seen much of the hoopla around the release of windows newest edition and have been feeling quite underwhelmed. Nothing huge, mind you, just that I haven’t seen anything as yet to induce to buy any of the versions. Comically, I’m still trying to discern the differences between the different versions. What do I get for the $100 version, vs. the $400? I know some of the pieces, but am still not feeling a great, well, anything. With XP, I could tell you what I would get with Home vs. Profession, and why someone should get one or the other.
Bosses
I once worked for a sausage factory and divided my time between shipping and the brat line. The chap I worked with was named Ever. That time is one of the toughest, for I worked for the Wurst boss, Ever.
Quote of the day
From Fergus and the Druid, W.B. Yeats
“A wild and foolish labourer is a king,
To do, and do, and do, and never dream.”
We’re so focused on doing, on completing and accomplishing and advancing that we forget to dream. Heck, many of us forget how to dream! With no dreams, there are no goals, thus no plans, so life becomes a wandering morass of unconnected and empty (if completed) task lists. So many of us dream of kingship, so it seems.
Seattle, The Viaduct, and Life In The City
Here’s my response to this article/survey (online at the Seattle PI).
The Question:
What’s the best option for the viaduct?
Gov. Gregoire seems to have resuscitated the possibility for a tunnel to replace the
Looking over the debate, the mayor only seems to be concerned about the beautification aspects of this whole debate. I’m bothered by the fact that few folks are mentioning the economic impact of tunnel construction, how we will mitigate the effects of this roadway being inaccessible for nearly a decade, or, of course, the justification of the extra expense. The tunnel hasn’t been sold to me, at least.
Personally, I’m worried that this project has not been thought through. The economic impacts for areas such as Ballard and immense, and haven’t been publicly addressed/discussed. Mayor Nickels has not addressed many of the valid criticisms of his plan, and certainly hasn’t made a case for the tunnel option being better. The only I see in the tunnel is the beautification of the waterfront. A great thing, don’t get me wrong. I’m just not convinced that it’s worth the other costs incurred.
Quote of the Day, Thanks to Google
“The outcome of any serious research can only be to make two questions grow where only one grew before.”
– Thorstein Veblen
This drives home a point that I’ve often meditated on; why is it that that exploration only whets the appetite for further exploration? I was once told that we’re close to knowing all there is to know. What a load of rubbish, eh? That was some time back (junior high, methinks). Well, whatever. What’s really amazing here is how powerful this is. So many folks think that the purpose of research is (simply) answering a question, finding the truth. Yet, the more you learn, the further you seem to be from the truth. Perhaps it is within the quest for knowledge that we learn how far from the truth we really were. Eh, sounds good…
Acquistion Timeline
Here’s a little gem put together by the folks at shmula.com. It shows all the acquisitions by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo over the past few years. It’s a very well done and thought provoking thing. Thanks to Marketing Pilgrim for featuring this.
Great Bumper Stickers
Some are quite dumb, but a few are cute/clever.
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>>Subject: Great Bumper Stickers!
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>> 1) (On an infant’s shirt): Already smarter than Bush
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>> 2) 1/20/09: End of an Error
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>> 3) That’s OK, I Wasn’t Using My Civil Liberties Anyway
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>> 4) Let’s Fix Democracy in This Country First
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>> 5) If You Want a Nation Ruled By Religion, Move to Iran
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>> 6) Bush. Like a Rock. Only Dumber.
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>> 7) You Can’t Be Pro-War And Pro-Life At The Same Time
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>> 8) If You Can Read This, You’re Not Our President
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>> 9) Of Course It Hurts: You’re Getting Screwed by an Elephant
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>> 10) Hey, Bush Supporters: Embarrassed Yet?
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>> 11) George Bush: Creating the Terrorists Our Kids Will Have to
Fight
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>> 12) impeachment: It’s Not Just for Blowjobs Anymore
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>> 13) Give Bush a Blowjob So We Can Impeach Him, Too
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>> 14) America : One Nation, Under Surveillance
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>> 15) They Call Him “W” So He Can Spell It
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>> 16) Which God Do You Kill For?
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>> 17) Cheney/Satan ’08
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>> 18) Jail to the Chief
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>> 19) Who Would Jesus Torture?
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>> 20) No, Seriously, Why Did We Invade
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>> 21) Bush: God’s Way of Proving Intelligent Design is Full Of Crap
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>> 22) So Many Christians, So Few Lions
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>> 23) Bad president! No Banana.
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>> 24) We Need a President Who’s Fluent In At Least One Language
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>> 25) We’re Making Enemies Faster Than We Can Kill Them
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>> 26) Buck Fush
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>> 27) Rich Man’s War, Poor Man’s Blood
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>> 28) Is It Vietnam Yet?
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>> 29) Bush Doesn’t Care About White People, Either
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>> 30) Where Are We Going? And Why Are We In This Handbasket?
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>> 31) You Elected Him. You Deserve Him.
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>> 32) Frodo Failed. Bush Has the Ring.
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>> 33) Impeach Cheney First
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>> 34) Dubya, Your Dad Shoulda Pulled Out, Too
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>> 35) When Bush Took Office, Gas Was $1.46
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>> 36) The Republican Party: Our Bridge to the 11th Century
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>> 37) 2004: Embarrassed 2005: Horrified 2006: Terrified