11.30.05 30!
Posted in Blogroll, God/spirituality at 4:45 pm by Josh Peters
Proverbs 30
1The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle.
The man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:
2Surely I am more stupid than any man,
And I do not have the understanding of a man.
3Neither have I learned wisdom,
Nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.
4Who has ascended into heaven and descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has wrapped the waters in His garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name or His son’s name?
Surely you know!
5Every word of God is tested;
He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.
6Do not add to His words
Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.
7Two things I asked of You,
Do not refuse me before I die:
8Keep deception and lies far from me,
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is my portion,
9That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?”
Or that I not be in want and steal,
And profane the name of my God.
10Do not slander a slave to his master,
Or he will curse you and you will be found guilty.
11There is a kind of man who curses his father
And does not bless his mother.
12There is a kind who is pure in his own eyes,
Yet is not washed from his filthiness.
13There is a kind–oh how lofty are his eyes!
And his eyelids are raised in arrogance.
14There is a kind of man whose teeth are like swords
And his jaw teeth like knives,
To devour the afflicted from the earth
And the needy from among men.
15The leech has two daughters,
“Give,” “Give.”
There are three things that will not be satisfied,
Four that will not say, “Enough”:
16Sheol, and the barren womb,
Earth that is never satisfied with water,
And fire that never says, “Enough.”
17The eye that mocks a father
And scorns a mother,
The ravens of the valley will pick it out,
And the young eagles will eat it.
18There are three things which are too wonderful for me,
Four which I do not understand:
19The way of an eagle in the sky,
The way of a serpent on a rock,
The way of a ship in the middle of the sea,
And the way of a man with a maid.
20This is the way of an adulterous woman:
She eats and wipes her mouth,
And says, “I have done no wrong.”
21Under three things the earth quakes,
And under four, it cannot bear up:
22Under a slave when he becomes king,
And a fool when he is satisfied with food,
23Under an unloved woman when she gets a husband,
And a maidservant when she supplants her mistress.
24Four things are small on the earth,
But they are exceedingly wise:
25The ants are not a strong people,
But they prepare their food in the summer;
26The shephanim are not mighty people,
Yet they make their houses in the rocks;
27The locusts have no king,
Yet all of them go out in ranks;
28The lizard you may grasp with the hands,
Yet it is in kings’ palaces.
29There are three things which are stately in their march,
Even four which are stately when they walk:
30The lion which is mighty among beasts
And does not retreat before any,
31The strutting rooster, the male goat also,
And a king when his army is with him.
32If you have been foolish in exalting yourself
Or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.
33For the churning of milk produces butter,
And pressing the nose brings forth blood;
So the churning of anger produces strife.
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Posted in flamebait, funny, politics/government at 4:54 pm by Josh Peters
Miami Police to stage shows of force, in an effort to show potential terrorists they’re not worth messing with. Jenni, if the whole LA thing doesn’t work out (or if the LAPD decide to try this too) maybe this could be in your future? It’d be like Reno 911 meets 1984’s police state.
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Posted in funny, technology, web at 1:09 pm by Josh Peters
Well, actually, not America. Somewhere in the UK. It seems online poker could be ruined by bots.
I can’t say this is too surprising, since anything available on the web is susceptible to someone writing a spider or bot to interact with it in ways never intended by the author. I think that’s a strength of the web that should be embraced, but then again, I don’t own an online company that makes a killing offering gambling to people 24-7.
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Posted in politics/government, technology at 12:50 pm by Josh Peters
Don’s favorite publication, the Wall Street Journal is running this article: “FCC expected to back ‘a la carte’ cable pricing”. At first glance, it sounds like a great idea: finally I can totally ignore E!, Fox News, and any other channel I deem to be totally ignorable.
However, to spout a little university rhetoric, diversity is a good, good thing indeed. What’s nice about the web is a superset of what’s nice about TV: there’s an abundance of crap out there to distractdiscover and enjoy.
At first, it seems like a great idea to roll your own cable tv, treat tv like My Yahoo! so only what I’m interested in will be what I’m exposed to.
Can you see where I’m going?
It would be a great way to blind yourself to the wonders of the world that TV can introduce you to. Sure, it’d be nice if I could save a few bucks and not have to ever expose myself or my kids to anything on E! (can you tell that I despise that channel?) but at the same time, someone may decide that PBS isn’t worthwhile or that Discovery is crap and miss out on a bevy of interesting programs that can get the mind working and inspired. Worse yet, what about those who decide that they only want to watch CNN for all of their news? Any lean that CNN has could easily work its way deeper into an individual’s politics.
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Posted in flamebait at 12:03 pm by Josh Peters
Our country is in a sad state of affairs people. Politicans serve themselves, “spin” negates the media, companies treat individuals as commodities to be traded and discarded, I don’t think I have to mention people’s skepticism of the church and clergy. Here’s an article about Wal-Mart’s subversive corruption of America. I wish Sam Walton could come back to life and kick some ass. Or at the very least eat the brains of the heartless corporate chairs in Arkansas.
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Posted in Blogroll, God/spirituality at 10:38 am by Josh Peters
Proverbs 29
1A man who hardens his neck after much reproof
Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.
2When the righteous increase, the people rejoice,
But when a wicked man rules, people groan.
3A man who loves wisdom makes his father glad,
But he who keeps company with harlots wastes his wealth.
4The king gives stability to the land by justice,
But a man who takes bribes overthrows it.
5A man who flatters his neighbor
Is spreading a net for his steps.
6By transgression an evil man is ensnared,
But the righteous sings and rejoices.
7The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor,
The wicked does not understand such concern.
8Scorners set a city aflame,
But wise men turn away anger.
9When a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man,
The foolish man either rages or laughs, and there is no rest.
10Men of bloodshed hate the blameless,
But the upright are concerned for his life.
11A fool always loses his temper,
But a wise man holds it back.
12If a ruler pays attention to falsehood,
All his ministers become wicked.
13The poor man and the oppressor have this in common:
The Lord gives light to the eyes of both.
14If a king judges the poor with truth,
His throne will be established forever.
15The rod and reproof give wisdom,
But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.
16When the wicked increase, transgression increases;
But the righteous will see their fall.
17Correct your son, and he will give you comfort;
He will also delight your soul.
18Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained,
But happy is he who keeps the law.
19A slave will not be instructed by words alone;
For though he understands, there will be no response.
20Do you see a man who is hasty in his words?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.
21He who pampers his slave from childhood
Will in the end find him to be a son.
22An angry man stirs up strife,
And a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression.
23A man’s pride will bring him low,
But a humble spirit will obtain honor.
24He who is a partner with a thief hates his own life;
He hears the oath but tells nothing.
25The fear of man brings a snare,
But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.
26Many seek the ruler’s favor,
But justice for man comes from the Lord.
27An unjust man is abominable to the righteous,
And he who is upright in the way is abominable to the wicked.
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Posted in flamebait, politics/government, privacy/secrecy/security, religion at 1:37 am by Josh Peters
Why not call it reverse discrimination? A couple sues a website for attempting “to modify the beliefs of public school science students so they will be more willing to accept evolutionary theory as true.” The ole “you’re teaching my kids to question what I teach them to believe” argument. There’s a right to privacy case waiting to happen here I’m sure.
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Posted in anecdotes, friends/family/loved ones, funny at 12:42 am by Josh Peters
This past holiday I got some quality time with my two nieces and other assorted kids in my family.
Some background: I’m an uncle to two lovely little girls: Rheyse (yes, that’s how it’s spelled, but it’s pronounced “Reese”, she’s age 6) and Kenna (age 2, I think her name is a feminine version of Kenneth, which is my father’s middle name, but my sister maybe sorta just made it up instead—I have no idea). I don’t see the girls as often as I’d like, so there’s been some tension between me and Rheyse for about 3 years now (and I’m hoping that I don’t repeat the same with Kenna, as she’s getting to be near that age).
Anyway, back to the memories of the recent past (or is it recent present?)
Friday was Rheyse’s 6th birthday. We celebrated on Saturday. More on that later too.
Thursday of course was Thanksgiving, celebrated by all those who live in America and think that Turkey (or at the very least Tofurkey) is a worthwhile main course dish, and my mom’s side of the family had its annual lunch gathering. Normally, it is held at my grandma’s house, but this year, my aunt Christine asked for the opportunity to do all the cooking, with the condition that the lunch be held at her church. Her church, by the way is out in the boonies. And I’m from Flora, so I know a little bit about the boonies. The food was great, but the atmosphere was noticeably different. We ate in a large kitchen/common area, versus being crammed into grandma’s living room and kitchen, being so close you can’t help but interact with your cousins and aunts and uncles you rarely see. Not the case here. In addition, there were like 16 people who didn’t make it, so only like 20 people were there to begin with.
After a light lunch (I felt incredibly nauseous just before lunch) I got up to play with my nieces. Rheyse came to lunch exceedingly shy, so I was quite pleased that she opened up after lunch. Kenna is such a ball of joy. She went anywhere her big sister went. My cousin Colby (who is just a little older than Rheyse) joined the fun and so I chased the three girls around this big, expansive common room, teasing them and grabbing them and turning them upside-down and threatening each to mop the floor with their hair or smoosh them in the mash potatoes. Needless to say, we all had fun. (Well, eventually they wanted to play house where they were all princesses and I was their maid who also cooks and is a monster, but I wasn’t quite up for that game)
Saturday was Rheyse’s party where like 20 little kids met at my sister’s church which she had reserved so her home wouldn’t be totally destroyed. My sister is quite smart.
Kari (my sister who I just said was smart) likes to rent this huge inflatable castle thing that the little kids just love with all their hearts. It’s a bounce-fest which the adults aren’t invited to, so I had to watch as the kids jumped and bounded perilously close to each other without injury. (Do I sound as though I’m getting incredibly old here?)
Colby came up to me during the party and said “Chase me!” to which I replied “Why should I?” She answered, “Because I want you to…” That was enough to get me to start plodding after her, as she screamed her head off in a joyous way (I’ve heard her scream in non-joyous ways before, so I can speak with full confidence to her emotions here).
Kenna and Rheyse also had a great time. Before Rheyse’s (best?) friend (I forget her name) arrived, she didn’t want anything to do with the other kids. So it was up to her uncle to pursue her and tickle her in a hallway where no-one else was to be found. I also took this time to teach Rheyse how to compete in a wheelbarrow race, though sadly, she did quite poorly at carrying my feet and keeping up with me (just kidding, she did fine).
Kari also got a pinata for the kids. Once it exploded, it was crazy. I think one little girl must have collected a full two pounds of candy in her bag. Think about that. A 6-year-old. 2 pounds of candy. That’s like a full 6% or more of her body weight. Another little girl gave me quite the dirty look when I bent down to pick up a piece that had broken in two and opened itself up on the floor. A third girl lamented her lack of candy (only a half a pound or so it seemed) to which I consoled her, “you’ve got more than you came in with, don’t you?” Ah, the advice only an uncle or other non-father can offer! Such joy.
Sunday rolled around and I went to my dad’s side of the family’s Thanksgiving. After 3 days of watching poker and football, I was ready to go home. Quite tired and restless, another meal was just the opposite of what the doctor ordered.
I arrived on time, but well before dinner was served and played with my cousin Lance’s son Holden. He’s about 4 years old and he’s really the first male child I’ve got to play with all this time. Boys are so different than girls. Whereas Rheyse pretended she was a princess and I was a monster, Holden was a half-bull, half-cowboy conglomeration that bucked, had horns, and wielded 6-shooters. Needless to say, I was quite eager to play with him. I found out that he and Kenna have a bit of a mutual attraction going (is it okay for second cousins to be attracted to each other well before puberty?) Once she arrived, Holden got quite territorial. Once he understood that I was only her uncle, he decided that I was okay to play with and not a threat to his obvious alpha-status (see, this is what a college education does to you, you start deconstructing and labeling everyday occurrences)
All in all, this Thanksgiving really made me feel thankful for family. Being away from them really makes the time I spend with them a whole lot more special. I’m also quite thankful that my nieces love me and interact with me and don’t shy away from me until right before I leave for another few months.
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Posted in friends/family/loved ones, introspection at 11:50 pm by Josh Peters
I’ve just got to take some time and brag about my life here for a second.
I’m so totally blessed. I love it. In the pained words of Ren Hek, “I…feel…happy!”
Things are going pretty well with my special lady and I’m ecstatic about where we’re headed and how close we’ve become over the past 3 months. I really like pursuing Danielle. I’m quite pleased that she considers me worth all the effort she puts into the beautiful crafty things she prepares to tell me she cares about me. At the same time, I don’t want her to feel that she’s the only one putting forth a creative effort (I’ve got some interesting plans for her that are top secret). My friend Ed recently asked me if I felt at all intimidated by her abundance of creativity in regards to having to keep up with her. One of my favorite things about my relationship with Danielle is that I feel totally free to not compliment her just because she compliments me. I hope she feels similarly free. It’s so amazing to just take it and dish it out.
It’s been quite tough for me in the past to take compliments. I know what you’re thinking, “Josh, you’re such a tremendously great guy! You’re modest, talented, and handsome! How can you say such things?” But it’s true. I deflect compliments in any way I can (often with humor or self-deprecation) in order to avoid direct confrontation with them. With my lovely lady, I make a conscious effort to put myself in harms way (in a manner of speaking).
Anyways, I’m not quite sure why I’m sharing this on my blog when I rarely share this with my friends face-to-face, but it’s still worth saying. Equally worth saying is that Danielle Franke is a beautiful woman whose spirit and heart inspire my masculinity.
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