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In recent times, the amount of free indie games available on the internet has started to hit something of a golden age. The latest that I have found to be the most fun (at least this week) has been blurst.com's Minotaur China Shop.
It's a Minotaur, in a china shop!
The controls are easy, and watching the big lummox run around the tight confines of the store trying to serve customers and not break anything is charming. The options to increase your strength, speed or get special moves add to the depth and replayability of the game, making it a great way to waste 15-20 minutes. It also asks the the existential question "Aren't we all just minotaurs, in our own china shop"?
JoshZ
Siberia, right now, is very cold. Numbers don't do it justice. To say very cold is like saying Stalin was very much a jerk. You know it is true, for a given value of true, but it doesn't give the entire picture of what it really means. As a Sydney boy, havig only seen snow about a handful of times, this is an exhilirating time and place to be in.
It is interesting to find out how foreigners feel. I don't speak much Russian (I know enough now to say that I don't speak ANY Russian), but I can understand a few basic bits and pieces and I know enough to get around a little (very, very little). As an ESL (English Second Language) Teacher I am always surrounded by people that need to learn the language that I grew up speaking, people that have come to a country where they might only barely speak the language, and try to find a school in a city they don't know. Until you've been this kind of foreigner, you really don't know what it is like. It's helped me understand and respect my father's parents a great deal more (they were immigrants from Germany and Poland that arrived here without a word of English).
I've also learned a lot about Russians in general. On the outside they are rude, sad people that look at you funny if you are smiling, say hello or wear a funny hat (in my case a red woollen hat with a pompom, and I do those over things too). But when you actually get to know them they are some of the warmest and nicest people you'll ever meet.
JoshZ
Recently, the President of Iran mentioned that Jesus would be against expansionist politics. Everyday, Republican and Demoratic representatives mention His name in their policies all over America (in Australia it is not very common, our pollies tend to be reasonably quiet on the subject of their religion). But what would Jesus actually say about politics?
Through the Gospels, Jesus barely mentions politics. We know he ate with government representatives (tax collectors) and we even have a pice of dialogue between him and one of these people. Does he tell him which way to vote? Which economic model to follow? No. He mentions none of these things, only says that Zaccheus is a son of Abraham. The only other mention we hear from Jesus is "Give to Caesar what is Caesars' and to God what is Gods'."
In his book "Blue Like Jazz" Donald Miller often points out that the church he attended as a child was a white southern Baptist church that often touted the local republican member, and would toe the party line with no hesitation. He didn't hate the church, but he did dislike the feel he got from hearing politics thrown down with such finality. I know what this feels like. When I was in New Zealand, I went to a small pentecostal church. The pastor there once spoke about George Bush, that he was God's choice for American President, and that we should pray for him to win. I didn't like being told what to think, or how to vote (my own church barely ever mentions politics, a fact for which I am grateful). Jesus told christians to use their brains as hard as they could.
Generally speaking I don't disagree with politicians using His name. I don't disagree with a preacher saying they agree with someone. I DO disagree when the preacher says that someone is God's choice for political office. Jesus didn't mention politics often because to Him they weren't important. He spoke often that we should love each other, love our selves and love God. He told us that God loves us. He said these things all the time, because they ARE important.
JoshZ
It would be needlessly tacky to start this post with a few lines of ring announcer type dialogue. So I won't. What I will say is that for a long time man has known that there is some kind of order to the world that can be explained through observation (the earliest recorded scientific data is sometime around 35th century BC, being Mesopotatmian clay tablets) and that there is also some kind of things he cannot explain, including things like right and wrong.
Science, according to my Uni Lecturer, is built upon what is called the PEL model. Pre-supposition, Evidence and Logic. The basic presuppositions of science are that
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There are certain things in my religion that offend me almost to the point of making me physically ill. But I get the feeling that they aren't relegated to my religion alone. The ability that people have to turn their brains into the "off" mode just because a man with a pulpit says so tends to grate on me from time to time (though luckily I haven't noticed any at church for awhile, which could mean one of two things, either that they stopped doing it or I stopped noticing it) and that they manage to take something amazing and turn it to crap.
For example, the recent election in the states we were "blessed" with the ramblings of those that decided that in McCain resided the hopes of all good christian Americans and that Barack Obama's heart was darker than his skin. I'm not saying that it was religion alone that helped turn their brains off, but unfortunately, it may have been a factor. In 1953 Solomon Asch performed what was called The Asch Conformity Experiment or otherwise known as the Asch Paradigm. Wikipedia entry here. Or you can read the Cracked version here which is a good deal funnier and actually has more info. Anyways, the theory is that people generally follow the herd out of some kind of instinct. People nod because other people are nodding. People agree with what people are saying because other people are agreeing. Environments such as churches, schools, corporations etc can all make use of this effect quite easily. All you need are a few shills among the crowd in order to steer the atmosphere your way. After that, it's easy
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A lady that I worked with recently (being an ESL teacher I tend to work with strange yet interestingly charming people) told me that in Tibet they have a law which makes it illegal to tell people about your religion. She thought it was a great idea and when I asked why she said that "Because most people can't have their minds changed by argument." A fair enough answer, and yet, she continued "And because I don't want to be bothered by people like the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormons about what they believe." I didn't argue with her (I believed her first point and hey, I only had a few minutes before class) but I don't agree with her.
If I support a government that stops people speaking about their religion because it bugs me to hear it then what is to stop the government making a law that stops me from complaining about them? My right to speak about the Gospel is linked to my legal right to call politicians dishonest or corrupt or incompetent
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There is a certain amount of ire and distrust that inevitably gets thrown at any church that has money and reaches a certain size. Some of it is justified, some of it isn't. The Sydney Morning Herald has decided that because a rather large church has decided to put on barbecues in schools that may or may not be accompanied by music that this is a fiendishly cunning plan to make people join the church.
story here
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As much as I am a nerd (and I am quite a nerd), I have to admit that my tastes as far as art goes is quite lacking.
Except in some cases
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Comment by JoshZ
on Have you heard about Fitna? Who hasn't?
Really Long Link
JZ