The feed link on the right was wrong. Should be fixed now. Let me know!

So…. I’m back from a hiatus. Time for a nice long rant.

Most of you who know me (and most of you do know me… hi, Mom…), know that I don’t get into politics too much. I find most political candidates irritating and dishonest, and elections aggravating to no end. When I voted in the most recent presidential election, I felt just plain icky voting for either candidate.

However, I have recently found a candidate of such consistent integrity and intellect and uncommon sense, who believes so strongly in the ideals of our founding fathers, that I am actually excited to spread the word! That candidate is Ron Paul.

Friends, you seriously owe it to yourselves to visit www.ronpaul2008.com. Take a look at what he has to say. Watch the YouTube videos. See if he doesn’t make a WHOLE LOT of sense! Truly, it would not be inappropriate to compare him to Thomas Jefferson (politically at least). He is a true conservative, in the best sense.

Please, consider him seriously and, if you agree with me, then do something to support his run for the republican nomination. If nothing else, spread the word! (And even if you don’t agree with him all that much, you have to recognize that he’s the only anti-war republican, and therefore the only hope for the republicans to beat the democratic nominee.)

What does he stand for? Here is an incomplete list: Sanctity of unborn childrens’ lives (he was an ob/gyn), balanced budget, Not borrowing tons of money from China every single day, non-intervention as foreign policy, limited federal government (abolishing the IRS, the Federal Reserve, dept of education, and Homeland Security, among others), transitioning out of medicare and social security, no national ID (Real ID), strong national defense, getting out of Iraq, secure borders.

Until recently I wasn’t too worried about a little bit of big brother for national security. After all, most of the “violations of personal liberties” are those I don’t feel anyway. Plus I’m a good person, and I don’t expect that anything I do would be of much interest to our government anyway. But where we’re headed as a country right now is towards a one-world government, where everyone has a chip in their body to track their movement and keep all of their financial/medical/personal information. That’s bad. (For more information, see the book of Revelation).

I also care about social justice- caring for the poor, etc. I’ve come to see that most of the social problems we face are not a failure of government so much as a crisis of the church, compounded by a mentality of depending on the government. Therefore the solution, I believe, is less government, and for the church to step up and take its place in caring for the world.

Our country was founded on the principle of distrust towards power (It leads to tyranny). The purpose of our constitution is to protect the people by establishing a limited government, complete with checks and balances of power. Read the bill of rights. It’s about what our government is not allowed to do. The US Government was not intended to be an enforcer of freedom, but rather an example. The purpose of our government is not to take care of us through every walk of life; its purpose is to protect our individual liberties and provide justice, and to keep the nation reasonably safe.

The more power the government has, the less we have as individuals. And the more control and money the elite gain. As government gets more and more unwieldy, so does it become more of an intrusion in our daily lives.

I believe one of the key ways this happens is through fear – officials repeat the message of terrorism so that the public is afraid. In essence, the messengers become the terrorists in the lives of your average American, invoking terror through words rather than explosives. We must never, ever give up our personal freedoms for our (perceived) safety. It is not safe, and it’s not the American way.

(Spring in England, originally uploaded by ॐ In search of Syd.)

I just loved this picture…

Here are a few ads I’ve been enjoying lately…

• J.C. Penney: Today’s the Day
• Chips Ahoy: Don’t You Want Me, Baby – this is probably my favorite in a long time.
  
• Dairy Queen: Flamethrower Chicken Sandwich
• Propel: Under Pressure (A huge monster made of daily worries is running through the city to the tune of “Under Pressure” by Queen… anyone got the link?!?)

So what’s your favorite (currenty running) ad? Leave us a comment! Extra points if you actually link to the ad.

(Fritz, and probably Aaron: I know you’ll probably say something about the mac ads, so just tell me your favorite one to date.)

Just saw the movie tonight w/ my wife’s family… It was predictable but all-in-all not so bad. I think it was probably worth watching. My sister-in-law brought up a good point that it can sort of give off the wrong message that if you follow God, everything will start going your way… I don’t think that’s the intent of the film, but… {Spoiler warning…}

I think one of the problems should have gone un-fixed. Because God uses what’s broken in our lives for His glory. And he doesn’t always fix everything as such.

In this movie, we see that:

• The team keeps losing
• the coach is sterile
• David, the soccer kid, has no self-confidence
• David’s dad is in a wheelchair
• Coach’s car is a pile of junk
• Coach is being conspired against

By the end:

• The team wins state
• wife is pregnant
• David scores the winning point against the giants (His new friend in the team is Jonathan, btw)
• David’s dad stands up for a moment
• The formerly-disrespectful-but-now-saved kid’s dad buys the coach a new truck
• Coach gets a raise.

Nice, but predictable. I think I would have had the coach and wife driving off in the jalopy at the end.

There have been some great articles recently on A List Apart, especially this one (which also defines the word “grok”). A lot of what author Craig Cook says here echoes my philosophy toward designing. It’s important for your code to be as standards-compliant for myriad reasons, outlined in that article, as well as this other article.

But Cook’s piece here really touches more broadly on what I’ve learned as a designer: a designer (web or print) must be a writer, engineer, and artist, and in that order. If any of these elements are lacking, then the end result will be at least partially unrealized. The key here is that each of these disciplines is distinct in the way it goes about creatively problem-solving. The message must come first. The way the design is put together must be functional for the end viewer. And finally it must be visually appealing. These principles are universal to any medium.

Okay, people, this one is important. A substitute teacher in Connecticut was recently convicted of 4 felonies because of uncontrolled “naughty” popups on the (very unsecured) classroom computer. This is an outrage. It’s outrageous. I’m outraged. Her husband has started an official blog with an opportunity to donate to their cause: http://julieamer.blogspot.com/ Basically they have a lot of legal fees and need to pay bills.

And on top of the ridiculously unfair trial, she miscarried due to the stress, after battling infertility.

See also: update from Download Squad, Sunbelt Software Blog (security firm that has taken up the cause).

Respond as your heart deems appropriate.

aw yeah… it’s not actually mine, it belongs to my work, but it’s sweet. Luxurious. Nice.

Recently, I helped a member of a clandestine law enforcement agency with a small matter at one of my offices. He was a very nice man, and, since I was helpful, he gave me a small pin with the agency’s logo on it and said “Here, I’ll deputize you…”

One of my office-mates, who shall also remain nameless, said “Well, congratulations, Barney!”

The pin is on my laptop bag now. And I feel very special.

[note: I wrote this around the 16th, but didn't publish 'til today.]

James 2:14-26. Hebrews 11. Faith.

It really annoys me when people talk about faith as a belief system. (“I have faith- I believe in God.” “I participate in my faith- I go to church.”)

People, faith is obvious when you see it. It’s not a matter of whether you share your faith with others. If you have faith, you don’t have a choice- it’s apparent to those around you. Faith has to do about caring for others, but only to the extent that it’s an act of obedience. People with no faith can be some of the kindest, givingest people in the world. Faith is not believing ideals and such; no, faith is trust, and when you trust someone, you take actions to prove it. There’s just no way around that.

Faith is going out on a limb, where you look like a fool if the other party doesn’t come through. Faith becomes vulnerable to others. Faith is utterly dependent on the one in whom it is placed. And the only way I can see of doing that is to obey God, having faith that He’s good and that you can trust him to follow through on His part of the deal.

We act on seeing someone else’s need, not because the “morals of our faith” command us, but because we trust that it’s what God wants us to do, and that he’s got our back. It’s more complex than that, but this is where the faith part comes in. In the scripture passages referenced above, God, through the authors of James and Hebrews, gives example after example of people putting themselves in awkward, vulnerable positions because they had faith that God had their backs. And He did.

But faith doesn’t rest on its laurels. Faith that is not putting itself forward through action is dead. Yesterday’s leap of faith does not mean that you don’t need to face any more ledges. It should strengthen your resolve to take on today’s ledge, but you still have to take that new leap. Or maybe for you, it’s the same ledge every day.

For me, I feel like God is calling me to a leap of faith… I don’t know what yet, but I do know that I’ve become too comfortable, and I haven’t been putting myself on the line for Him. I’ll try to let you know what that leap is when I know.