RandomMonkeyWorks Interactive

Interesting Pics

2011-03-24T15:56:27Z

Going through photographs, I came across the following specimens which I figured I’d post here. Over ten years ago I was privileged with a trip to the Philippines, and one of our hosts (a wonderful, kind-hearted man) drove us to some beautiful scenery. One of our stops was the Taal Volcano, and the following pics [...]

Brave New World

2011-02-28T19:32:21Z

Well, I haven’t had the time to post every day like I hoped (maybe in the future I’ll be able to), but I did come across an interesting item or two I wanted to get down. One of those is a note about our current technological ability. During my SolidWorks studies, I found the following [...]

Deceiving Appearances

2011-02-02T02:09:43Z

Three days ago I hinted that SolidWorks and AutoDesk Inventor weren’t equivalent, drafting-wise. At the time, I believed a following post would say things were easier to do in Inventor. First impressions are deceiving, though. Part of the reason for my statement was AutoCAD’s powerful drafting tools make drawing 2-D sketches quick and relatively painless. [...]

Grand Canyon, Take Two

2011-02-02T02:13:12Z

Today’s post is simply more messing around with the previous photo. After looking at it, the greens seemed too green, so I thought I’d continue playing for a bit. Comparing yesterday’s and today’s versions, though, I find the initial effort more appealing. Potential lessons: 1) good results are difficult to come by with point and [...]

A Grand Project

2011-02-02T02:11:59Z

With the majority of my astronomical lessons out of the way, and the completion of the website background work (I just made myself laugh!), I’m finally in a position to post more often. For fun, I’m going to try writing something every day for a while, no matter how miniscule. For today, a before and [...]

Room(s) for Improvements

2011-02-02T20:51:19Z

In the previous post I said several items could be improved in the software I use daily. Some of them will be listed here—feel free to respond with others you deal with. To start out, let’s concentrate on Windows 7. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft’s offering isn’t as good as the glossy ads claim. Here’s ‘My Idea:’ fix [...]

Working and Learning

2011-02-02T02:22:33Z

I’m trying to post here more often, but the busi-ness of life keeps interfering. Not much is going on in my astronomical learnings, although a week ago I had the pleasure of talking to a Doctor of Religious studies at Southern Methodist University. He was kind enough to point out some items to address in [...]

Seven (Semi-) Quick Takes

2011-01-28T22:19:22Z

Several months ago a friend told me about Jennifer Fulwiler’s blog, Conversion Diary. Fulwiler is an atheist-turned-Christian, and is rational, intelligent, and a talented author. She says she studied her way into Christianity, and out of atheism. Her statement made me curious how she would respond to my past, as I studied myself out of [...]

LATD – Intro & Chapter One

2011-01-30T21:34:36Z

(Another freebie! This is the introduction and first chapter of my book, Laughing at the Devil: A Cult Survivor's Religious Discoveries. Enjoy!)

Introduction

When I was six my mother took my sisters and me to a Catholic cult. We were kept there for three months and brainwashed.

The years were filled with many painful events after that experience in 1974. My parents divorced because of the cult's programming, and I was torn between my mother, my father, my maternal grandmother, and the cult. In those times I heard things said in the name of religion that, quite frankly, should never have been said. The church, my mom, and my grandmother told me that my father was the son of satan (I won't capitalize that word anymore, because I don't respect it enough to give it that type of power—needless to say, they meant Big "S"). And being merely seven, I believed them, because I trusted and relied on Mom, and she said it.

But Dad was stubborn and intelligent, ...

Spirituality

2011-01-28T22:27:17Z

My take on spirituality may not be what you expect. It is that every aspect of our lives is spiritual, whether we think about those parts or not. Everyone and everything around us is a reflection of spirituality, as are all of our pains, trials, and tribulations. Spirituality can become kinda mundane, and that’s the [...]