Stormbringer's Thunder

Still More Religious Bigotry by Atheists

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:02:00 +0000

Click to see this foolishness in larger glory. Of course, I touched it up...

Buon giorno. Atheists really wonder why they are the least-liked, least trusted group? Amazing, innit? Here are more examples of obnoxious atheists misbehaving like juvenile delinquents that are desperate for attention. When atheists get called on their petty tricks, they play the victim card. Agonizing.

First, we have the bad manners exhibited above. Can you really believe that they are silly enough to think that we'll believe their story that this is an attempt to "increase communications"? Mislead me again, Marvin!

"They say their ad is intended to spark dialogue with people of faith on the existence of God, but you don't draw people into conversation by poking fun of the beliefs," Glenn Stanton, director for Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, told The Christian Post.

Read the rest of the story on the obnoxious atheist billboard here. Next:

Here we go again! Atheists hate laws that protect anything that would allow Christian speech, it seems. Here is a case of blatant disregard of the Equal Access Act, which allows student-run Christian groups the same rights as other student-run groups at school. But no, atheist bigotry wants the laws ignored and discrimination to rule the day.

A newly appointed state director of an atheist activist group said that he will fight two national Christian-based organizations for what he alleges to be proselytizing at public schools while "targeting the impressionable minds of our children."
Al Stefanelli, the former president of United Atheist Front and presently the Georgia state director for American Atheists, Inc., said he will take action against the Child Evangelism Fellowship and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes this year. Both groups conduct after-school and break-time activities on school campuses throughout the United States with the approval of school officials.

When asked by The Christian Post as to what actions he would take against these groups, Stefanelli said, "I cannot get into specifics at this time, as we are still in the planning/strategizing stages. You can be confident that we will, as always, operate within the law, using peaceful means."

Operating within the law? This whole thing is a blatant disregard of federal law! When atheists wonder why I don't trust them, I can show them this, capice? Anyway, you can read the rest of "Atheist Activist Targets Two National Christian Fellowships" here. Next:

Atheists gang up on a Christian film to give it low ratings. In some ways, this is nothing new. I see atheist trolls attacking all the time, giving low ratings to books, YouTube videos, music, movies, whatever. There is nothing honest about this, they haven't actually read the books, they just attack. (One memorable review is about atheist S.E. Cupp's book, the reviewer said that she's not really an atheist because she was not vitriolic! I guess it means to be a true atheist, one must be an obnoxious jerk?) These people wonder why we shut off the comments on the Question Evolution Day Page on Facebook; trolls attacked, left inappropriate (and extremely off-topic, and extremely illogical) comments. So, in some ways, this is typical of modern obnoxious Internet atheist behavior.

Christian film "Suing the Devil" has met some challenges since its release, having suffered an online atheist "mob attack" and heavy pirating. However, the film's writer/director Tim Chey says the attacks and theft are worth it and that it is all in a day's work for the evangelist.

Chey told The Christian Post that recently the producers of the film received an email from a group called "anonymous Atheists," who said they would "mob attack" the film on IMDb, the largest film site on the Internet.

Within three days, the film's score dropped from seven to four.

"We tried contacting IMDb, but they turned deaf ears to us. The problem with a low score is it stigmatizes the film," Chey said, pointing to other Christian movies that have also received an unwarranted bad review. Some of these include "Courageous" and "Facing the Giants."

Read the rest of "'Suing the Devil' Filmmaker Alleges Online Atheist 'Mob Attack'" here.

Book Review: The Influence

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:46:00 +0000

This is also published at "A Soldier for Jesus".

The front door sticks a bit. When opened, a sort of crackling or ripping noise happens suddenly, and is gone in less than a second. I am sitting in the living room chair, reading. Rrrippp! I was so absorbed by the book that I felt like I could have jumped over the chair...

Buon giorno. I am not exactly comfortable with doing book reviews, since I have done so few of them. Especially fiction. That may be to my advantage, however. I'll just be myself instead of using some kind of formula and say what I think, but not ruin the story for anyone, capice?

This is the first ebook that I purchased. I was so certain that I was going to get the Kindle that I bought the e-book before I even owned the Kindle. Are you flattered, Mr. Slick?

Yes, that's right, Rev. Matt Slick. The same guy that I talk about, link to and give you audio excerpts from is also an author. And yes, it's his real name (he learned that his ancestors had a longer version of the name, though).

Bottom line first: I was entertained by The Influence. In fact, I gave more time to reading than to do my writing and research. It had been quite a while since I read a book just for the pleasure of it, and it delivered.

This book is about angels and demons, and warfare in unseen places. It also has discussions in theology, because Mark, the main character, is granted the rare privilege of seeing and speaking with an angel. (On a side note, I have seen it before where characters have discussions so the author can present a viewpoint. Fortunately, The Influence is not like Genesis, the flying saucer conspiracy book by W. A. Harbinson — that fat baby seemed to spend two thirds of the time in tedious, unbelievable dialogue and low on the promised "searing terror and explosive excitement"). Mr. Slick makes the demons genuinely evil, and not just troubled, misunderstood or misguided with hidden goodness deep inside. Evil is not sugar-coated here. Matt took some literary license in his descriptions of the demons and of the action because the Bible does not give us those details, and he wanted to be as Biblically accurate as possible.

The theological discussions are informative, of course, since Rev. Slick is a theologian and an apologist. I am pleased to say that the theology does not get mind-numbingly deep or go into specialized denominational interpretations. Also, the discussions are broken up with page turning (well, on Kindle, screen tapping) excitement. Things that I thought I could predict ("Oh, she's gonna die here!") that happen in lesser stories did not happen here, fortunately.

I'm going to give one thing away that is important to the story, and the story making. One thing that startled me was when reference was made to the death of an infant, his name was Jacob. Matt and his wife Annick lost Jacob shortly after his birth. He brought his own pain into the story through the character of Mark. Don't get me wrong, it's now a "downer". There is humor in the story as well, and the characters were far removed from the cardboard cut-out Pollyanna-style of other Christian fiction that I have read. (Good characters are important to me; I have watched movies or television shows and actually missed the plot because I was so taken with well-written, acted and directed characters.) So, if you want people that can make you feel something, Mr. Slick wrote them for you.

Speaking of feeling something, there is a vision that someone has at the end of the book. I will only tell you that it got to me, and I left the living room for a while because I did not want to bother She Who Must Be Obeyed with my sniveling.

I recommend The Influence. You will be entertained, and you will probably learn something. If you want it, the link on the left is to the paperback, the one on the right is to the Kindle version.

Can't Talk About That Here

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:13:00 +0000

Buona sera. It's been a while since I talked about my buddy Neil. Since he had some circumstances that fit in with what I've been talking about off and on the past few months, he's in the spotlight. Wave to the nice people, Neil. I'm telling your story.

At the Big Soulless Corporation where he works, there was a kind of "meet and greet" for new employees. One of the higher-level managers facilitated the thing, made announcements, had people introduce themselves and so on. Some of the questions he asked made Neil a bit introspective. He went up to that manager later, after most of the crowd had dispersed, and said that he had changed a great deal over the past few years.

"In what ways?", the manager asked.

Neil mentioned that he liked reading apologetics and logic things (including mine). When asked, "What the hell is apologetics?", Neil told him that it was the defense and presentation of the Bible and Christian faith.

"Oh, religious stuff, then", the manager said.

At that moment, a managerette that was standing next to him said, "This is where I leave!", and briskly walked away. This strikes me as amazingly rude, too. Neil and the manager continued to talk a bit after that. There was no preaching, Bible quoting or anything of that nature.

The next day, a lower-level manager told Neil that the other ones were flustered because "You're not supposed to talk about religion here". Neil startled her by saying that such a directive is discriminatory. (One Mafioso was reported to have told people under him that they cannot wear "religious" jewelry and so forth. I can see frowning on a "repent or burn in Hell" shirt, but he's overly restrictive.) If they make a fuss or try to do gag orders, Neil is more than willing to get them straightened out by Alliance Defense Fund, Liberty Counsel, Rutherford Institute and others. Big Soulless Corporation is terrified of negative publicity, and they would get it in spades.

Hypocritically, the Big Soulless Corporation allowed a big astrological symbol to be prominently displayed on a white board. Neil had to see this every day for over a month, and was offended by it. But he didn't act like a whining leftist, he just tolerated it. BSC claims to value "relationships", "integrity", "compassion" and other stuff — all of which Neil has seen proved to be lies. They also claim to respect "diversity", including race, age, culture, experience, background and so on. Yet, they demand uniformity of performance. Pretty much a clone club.

So, there is Neil's example of religious discrimination. But I promise you, if he was a Mohammedan in full garb, no manager would dare say anything about it, capice? It's "in" to kick Christians today, you know.

Pointless, But Interesting to Me

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:36:00 +0000

Buona sera. I'll keep this short because it is really not that important. Maybe you'll find it interesting. Or not. It's the kind of thing that gets discussed at the dining room table, or in the bedroom just before falling asleep.

Things before and after making my video of "Question Evolution Day - February 12" were kind of strange. I had been thinking about it for quite some time, but kept putting it off. After all, I had never done something quite like this before, what with writing up a script, reading it into Audacity, finding an acceptable soundtrack and getting permission to use it, making a donation for said soundtrack, adjusting the volume in Audacity so I could mix both voice and music together without one overpowering the other — quite a bit of detail work.

Not that I was embarrassed or ashamed of the content ("haters gonna hate"), but could I do what I wanted to do properly? So, I put it off.

When I was ready to get serious about the project, the cord for the headset was caught in the vacuum cleaner and destroyed. That was discouraging. But I talked myself into proceeding. The next day, She Who Must Be Obeyed was at the store, and I suddenly remembered that she was near the store that I bought the original headset, so would she mind stopping into that department and grabbing another for me? Excellent timing, I was almost too late, but she got it.

All of the above steps were done later, plus getting graphics and timing when I wanted them to change on the soundtrack.

Everything was done to my satisfaction (not bad, I used Windows Movie Maker, Audacity and a $20 USD headset) and I uploaded it.

The next day, we had the first noticeable snowfall of the season (about ten weeks late for our area). My ISP was down for a good part of the day, and it would not tolerate any sizable uploads. That's kind of interesting. Also, I had a throat problem, and sounded like Al Pacino after smoking too much.

Ups and downs in publicizing the "Question Evolution Day" event happened, too.

But overall, the project was threatened a bit by my hesitancy and the ruination of the headset. Then things went well. After that, I would have had significant delays.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to do some more publicity. I want the world to be involved in "Question Evolution Day" because the right to investigate and ask questions are important, capice?

Dare to Question Evolution

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:25:00 +0000

Question Evolution Day is February 12!

For more information and more videos, go to Piltdown Superman dot com.

The Irrationality of Atheism

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:24:00 +0000

Buona sera. On a personal experience, subjective perspective, it is easy to see that atheism is irrational. Just look at what it does to people:

Vituperative trolling on the Internet, often under multiple assumed names
Fundamentalist jihad replaces rational thought, where hatred of Christians is more important than the logic that they claim to appreciate
Basic lack of civility — this makes me wonder if the hate-consumed angry atheists are unemployable, as they spend an inordinate amount of time attacking people on the Internet
Digging into philosophical mires where they insist that they are right despite how silly they look; they are almost never wrong, especially if it means that a Christian is right about something. Essentially, the atheist insists, "I'm right, you're wrong because I said so!" They're cute when illogical.
Using fundamentally flawed "evidence" for evolution, no matter how outdated, disproved and just plain bad

But enough of my observations and speculations on the atheism worldview.

Here is an article by Dr. Jason Lisle that is quite fascinating:

Atheists are “coming out of the closet” and becoming more vocal about their message that “there is no God.” Professor Richard Dawkins (Britain’s leading atheist) is encouraging those who share his views to express their opinion. Author of The God Delusion, Dawkins says he wants to “free children from being indoctrinated with the religion of their parents or their community.” Will Christians be prepared to “give an answer” to the atheists’ claims?

Materialistic atheism is one of the easiest worldviews to refute. A materialistic atheist believes that nature is all that there is. He believes that there is no transcendent God who oversees and maintains creation. Many atheists believe that their worldview is rational—and scientific. However, by embracing materialism, the atheist has destroyed the possibility of knowledge, as well as science and technology. In other words, if atheism were true, it would be impossible to prove anything!

Read the rest of "Atheism: An Irrational Worldview" here.

Greatest "Hits" Against Christians in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Buon giorno. Although it shouldn't, it amazes me when atheists will pretend that not only are Christians lying about being harassed and persecuted (despite frequent documentation in this Weblog and in other places), then they try to act like they are the victims! I strongly suspect that any "discrimination" against atheists are because of their vituperative personalities (and doing stupid things, like the atheist that applied for a job with a church group) rather than the simple fact that they are atheists. None so blind as those who will not see, huh, Lela?

But I digress.

DefendChristians.Org solicited the members of their online community to vote for their choice of the top ten anti-Christian acts of 2011 in the U.S.

"I am always surprised at the results of our poll and this year is no exception," said Dr. Gary Cass of DefendChristians.Org. "The fact the number one and number two issues are public policy and political in nature shows Christians are very concerned about the political direction of the country. I wouldn't be surprised if this translates into a strong political response in 2012."

These results do not necessarily represent the views or priorities of DefendChristians.org. They are a measure of the opinions of a cross-section of subscribers who responded to our online poll.

The Top Ten Anti-Christian Events in 2011 are:

Not so fast, Freddie. You can read the rest of "Surprising Top Ten List of Anti-Christian Acts of 2011" here. But it pales in comparison to the outright persecution (including torture and murder) of Christians in atheist and Mohammedan countries.

Tebow Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:04:00 +0000

Mom used to quote Isaiah 64, about waiting on the Lord [Possibly Isaiah 64.4]. It doesn’t mean being complacent. It means understanding that he has a plan, and that we’re not the ones in control. In the meantime, we need to strive to use our gifts and abilities fully.

— Tim Tebow

Buona sera. I'm feeling left out. So many other people are talking about Tim Tebow, and I haven't done it yet. I don't even watch football much, but I guess it's time for my two grotzits worth.

First, I'll state what most people seem to know: Tim Tebow is a well-liked quarterback for the American football team called the Denver Broncos (I put the extra bit in there for the sake of international readers, Norman). He is reasonably successful, but I've heard it said that he's not great, he has room for improvement.

John 3.16
Tebow threw for 316 yards, averaging 31.6 yards per play. Cool, huh?

There are other Christians in professional football, and in other professional sports. I guess the big deal is that Tebow "wears his religion on his sleeve"; that is, he is very open about his beliefs. He praises the Lord frequently (even during games), kneels before games, is vocal about his faith in interviews and so forth. Fans love him, and religious bigots hate him (anti-Christian bigotry is acceptable in this otherwise politically correct climate).

He appears to stand for what he believes, but the nay-sayers pretend to know his thoughts and motives, calling him a hypocrite, showboat, phony and other things. I've got news for you: If you don't like it, do something else! One caller to a radio program was whining because he wanted to see a game, not his "religious" stuff. Bad news, Beauregard, you still get all of your game. The guy has his faith, he briefly expresses it (there are no long sermons or anything). There is still freedom of religion and freedom of expression in this country — until haters like the Freedom from Religion try to foul this up for decent people, too.

Christian-bashing is the current fad. Tebow has to put up with mockery from other players, ridicule from Saturday Night Live, as well as typical abuse from anti-Christian bigots like Bill Maher and others. (What would happen if blacks or Muslims were displaying their religions, or if Tebow was a Muslim himself, would there be such open displays of bigotry? I doubt it.) Yet, Tim Tebow is acting — well, like a Christian about it.

We have a God-honoring man in professional football, and he is a role model for kids. Some people resent being role models, but it comes with the territory. "With great power comes great responsibility" is true. And being in the public eye brings great responsibility. I seem to recall that when Tom Baker was The Doctor, he acted like (my words here) an ambassador, because people knew him as a "civilian" as well as a character on TV.

Addendum:

Gene Simmons, lead singer of KISS, was motivated to say something.

Does God care who wins? I doubt it. Should people pray for victory? I doubt that, too. What I did learn long ago was that players should pray that they do their best and that they honor God on and off the field. After all, they are ambassadors of their team — and of Christ (2 Corinthians 5.20).

I hope that people will not put Tim Tebow on such a pedestal that when (not "if") he shows human frailty and weakness, they will forgive him for being human! There was only one man who never sinned, capice (Hebrews 4.15, Romans 1.4)? Tell me, though, how does Tebow act when his team loses, or he fouls up in his game? That is where he can set his greatest example.

There have been some interesting discussions of the Tim Tebow phenomenon. At this writing, the latest one is by radio talk show host Chris Plant. I don't know how long the link works, but you can listen to the MP3 of the show, and some interesting comments by callers, from about 37 minutes into the show, here. Also, J. Warner Wallace has some comments at the Please Convince Me podcast. Addendum 2: J.D. Curtis at Trees for Lunch has some good material on this topic as well.

Strange Searches - My Favorite Contact Sport

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Why people come to me on this, I don't know. It's not exactly a frequent topic here, and definitely not a "how to" site.

Actually, they should be asking Nicky, he's even more of an expert than I am!

More Kindled Excitement

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

(Click for larger)

Buon giorno. In our last exciting episode, I was going on about how excited I was to have a Kindle Touch, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display e-book reader. I must repeat, however, that I have no experience with any of the other readers on the market. They're probably just fine. Another thing I should repeat is that I am getting nothing, in any way, for endorsing products and services. This is just another public service from Stormbringer Productions, capice?

Speaking of public service, I wanted to make my Weblogs available for Kindle. It turns out that I cannot just give them away on there, people will have to pay to subscribe to them (just like with other Weblogs sent to Amazon). Not much, but my content is to remain free. So no, you have to read them in the usual ways.

Amazon is somewhat proprietary in that they sell books primarily in their own AMZ format rather than the much more popular ePub format. It also reads PDF to some extent, and also Mobi. They may add ePub functionality in the future. All of these formats have computer reader software available (most likely, you already have Adobe Acrobat Reader for those PDF files floating around all over the place), and it is free. There are also apps available for "smart phones" and things to read these files.

Electronic products (as well as software) change rapidly. At this writing, however, Kindle is the most friendly to Wi-Fi document delivery.

Here is where I found things to get exciting. The two fun bits I'm about to discuss are not difficult to do. They make more sense and are a bit easier if you pay attention, are familiar with your Kindle account, and are willing to follow directions (unlike some people I can name). One fundamental instruction common to both involves adding the names to the "Approved" list your Kindle's "Personal Document" settings.

I am writing this as a Firefox user, though you can go to the sites (linked below) to get instructions for other browsers.

The first item that I found was "Kindle It". This simple add-on gives you the options of firing off a Web page straight to your Kindle, or directly saving the Web page as ePub or Mobi. You can share these documents with other people, Kindle users or not, since they can download readers for their computers and things. The junk is stripped out, so you only have the real article. Just for giggles, I made my previous Kindle article available for e-book download, Mobi (for Kindle) is here and ePub is here. I'm thinking of adding a download section to Piltdown Superman so people can grab the articles I've linked, since they have URLs and full attribution.

Just before sending. Note the download options. No, your copy is not reversed out. Original here. (Click for larger image)

The second fun add-on that I found is "SENDtoREADER". Yeah, obnoxious looking writing, I know, but it really stands out on your toolbar. Also, their site is far more attractive that these words imply. There are several services available, but I'm focusing on just one of the free ones now (you can check out sending material from Google Reader and subscribing to RSS feeds for yourself). Once you sign up for a free account there, you tell Kindle to accept e-mail from them (like I explained for the "Kindle It" add-on, above) and get a "bookmarklet" for your browser. Or, you can get an add-on, if you dislike bookmarklets. My test run with the bookmarklet went exceptionally well, with the content actually showing up on my Kindle before Amazon sent me an e-mail saying it was on its way! Like "Kindle It", the junk is pretty much stripped away, and you only get the article you want. (Check the bottom of this article for screen shots.)

One of the main reasons I got the Kindle was to reduce eye strain, since I spend a great deal of time in front of monitors every day. Sending a Web page or an article to the Kindle is a great thing! Sure, some of the formatting suffers, but I don't care.

By the way, the Web page articles are not space hogs. For that matter, books themselves are not likely to clutter your storage. I have a Bible that is 12 megs, but Ben-Hur is less than half a meg. Another Bible is about a half a meg, too.

And now...

How about a way to manage and convert (non-DRM) books between formats — for free? I highly recommend Calibre. It's Open Source, too. If you watch the introductory video, and you're at all like me, you'll be chomping at the bit to get it downloaded and running. (NOTE: Calibre is not just for Kindle!)

Like I said, Calibre will manage your e-books, and convert between formats (as long as they're not "protected"). You can also subscribe to various periodicals, find e-books, share your (unprotected) content, e-mail your books and things to your Kindle, arrange your library in many ways, transfer your content directly to your e-book reader when it's connected to your computer, get DRM-free e-books — all sorts of fun things. I have scratched the surface on Calibre's capabilities, but I'm pleased with what I've learned.

Speaking of learning, there are forums for that, and plug-ins for the technologically inclined.

Although I bought the Kindle for reduced eye strain, portability, accessibility and the like, these other items make it into an invaluable tool. And I feel like I have some control over it.

Now I should check out how to make and self-publish my own e-book. Stormbringer's Thunder, the Digital Edition has a nice ring to it. Arrivederci, baby! Oh, and the screen shots I promised earlier are below.

Original Web page (partial). Click for Larger

SENDtoREADER, sent to Kindle, moved to Calibre Reader. (Click for larger)

The Heat of My Excitement Was Kindled

noreply@blogger.com (Piltdown Superman) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Buon giorno.

And now for something completely different.

If you're having half as much fun as I am, then I'm having twice as much fun as you!

Yeah, so I stole that joke, it's still funny, innit?

The title of this post is a play on words, because I am excited about my new Kindle Touch, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display reading device. It arrived on Friday, 30 December 2011 anno domini. Which is really great, I wanted to usher in the New Year with a new gadget and new reading material.

By the way, nobody is paying me for this write-up, I'm getting nothing for it. Also, these are my experiences with this particular device. There are others out there and I am sure they are adequate for their tasks. I will not put any of them down because I have had no experience with the others.

"Big deal, Uncle Bob! I don't have any kind of e-book reader."

Amazon will set you up with free Kindle software for your PC. There are other readers for your PC (including an ePub Firefox add-on), as well as apps for smartphones and other gadgets. So, if you want to try the e-book experience before you buy an e-book reader, you're set. If you don't mind reading at a computer monitor, which is one of the reasons I got the Kindle.

Click for larger image. I held it oddly for the picture, but one-handed reading is easily done.

5-1/4 x 8-1/4 paperback, Kindle Touch, business card. Click for larger.

This bad boy is lighter than most common paperback books. The ~~psychic paper~~ "E Ink" display looks startlingly like real paper. It is not backlit, so you need to have external lighting. (Laura Ingalls Wilder read her Kindle by candlelight, and Hoss Cartwright used a kerosene lamp.) If you want something that is backlit, with color and the ability to watch videos and such, they have the Kindle Fire, Full Color 7" Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi. I didn't want all that. May as well go all the way and get another full computer, capice?

New books cost slightly less than real books, but the prices come down. There are literally thousands of free e-books available. Most of these are classics, but there are occasional free e-book offers. Also, prices come down over time (like when you want to buy the latest DVD or CD, just wait a while and it will usually become drastically less expensive). Amazon itself has many of the free and low-cost e-books on their site. It feels kind of funny to select the "1-Click" purchase for a free book. Although I love books (especially Bibles), turning pages, the smell of a quality new book, the pleasure of just reading, I need the portability and convenience. Instant delivery and no shipping charges are another big plus. Instant delivery, so an e-book can be a great emergency gift idea for a Kindle user. And I understand that a library of about three thousand books can be stored on a Kindle. Groovy!

Speaking of library... I understand that some libraries are hooked up so that you can actually borrow e-books. For that matter, I read that you can hook up with other users at Amazon's site and borrow their books, but I don't know anything about that yet.

There are hundreds of e-book sites besides Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Google itself claims to have millions of the things!

You can also subscribe to magazines and periodicals, both paid and free, but I haven't explored those possibilities yet. More about why I'm not chasing that down yet in the next installment.

The Barnes and Noble "Nook" e-readers are similar (some have even said that they essentially copied the Amazon models, but others said that Nook has some features that they would like to see on Kindle, so who knows). Nook primarily uses the ePub format, which is the most common. Amazon does not accept the ePub format, but that may change. Converters are available to change ePub into a format that Kindle accepts, especially the free non-DRM books. Some converters can be made to strip away the DRM so you can use your purchased book on another device, but I am not going into that now. Besides, I haven't tried to do it yet.

In the pictures above, you can see my new Bible on the Kindle. It is the WEB version (World English Bible), a new, respected, accurate, readable translation. It is free all over the Web (including audio), but I paid $5 USD because this version had special formatting for the Kindle; I can type in a reference and bada bing! I'm there. My point is that some things that are found free can be obtained for a price because someone put extra work into formatting and so forth.

There are four drawbacks to my Kindle touch.

I mentioned needing a light source, and there are clip-on lamps available if you want to read in a dark room and not disturb someone else.
There is no free-standing charger. Although the battery life is supposed to be a phenomenal two months, you trickle-charge it through your computer's USB cable. External chargers are sold separately.
My model has advertising ("special offers"). Before it arrived, I was resigned to seeing and ignoring a crawling message across the bottom of the screen. Such is not the case. The advertising kicks in when you're on your home page or it is in sleep mode, so you are not bothered in the least when you're actually reading something.
Fourth, there is no case. That's an important one for me. So, I shelled out a few more grotzits after reading reviews and examining the products specifically for this model at Amazon's site. I'll let you know how it is.

A fifth drawback is that sometimes when you tap the screen for a menu option, nothing happens. But I suspect part of that is because the book in use is so large, I have to tappity-tap until it pays attention. Or it may be just a bit of finesse that I need to learn.

That's enough excitement for one day. Next time, I'll tell you about the e-book stuff that put my excitement into overdrive. Here it is. Ciao!

Strange Searches - You Gotta Be Kidding Me!

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:30:00 +0000

Talk about your preconceptions! Or is it simple stupidity? Or maybe I'm being pranked again? Still, this gave me a moment of, "HUH???"

What's New about the New Year?

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Buon giorno. First of all, I want to wish you all a Felice Anno Nuovo. May God bless you and yours in 2012.

Do you like that image? I grabbed one that's been circulating on the Web and did some adjusting in Paint dot Net.

Anyway.

Why people get all excited about the changing of calendars escapes me. We went from 2011 to 2012. Be still, my beating heart! Sorry, but there is no magic in the passage of time. We are not transformed into new creatures with our past mistakes left far behind simply because crowds chanted, "3...2...1...Happy New Year!" in time zones around the world. Don't we all know that we're kidding ourselves with this false salvation?

I am not changing my mind or regretting my previous posts about getting ready for the New Year, because I do believe in the psychology of it. That is, holidays are over and this is a great time to set goals and put plans into motion. I had my annual New Year's shower to symbolically wash off the previous year, shaved with new razor blades, put on a new shirt, going to start to read a new Bible version on my new Kindle Touch, I'm sitting here writing a new article.

When I looked into the mirror, I saw the homely face that I had on December 31. Writing at the same computer, living in the same place — I'm still the same old me, capice?

While I was working on this article, Thunderbird needed to update itself again, to 3.1.7. (Strange, they spent a long time without doing anything, then it seems like it's updating itself twice a week!) Then, Firefox needed to update itself as well, to 9.01. The other day, I ran CCleaner and it updated itself to 3.14.1616. When these things get updated, I can see the changes sometimes, but other times, no. In essence, they're still the same Thunderbird, Firefox and CCleaner at their cores.

What about you? Are you thrilled that you changed the calendar and that it is a "new year"? Sure, you and I have some things planned for 2012. (Maybe you'll want to join me in laughing at the doomsday people on December 22, 2012.) We all have hopes, plans, dreams. And we all have baggage; our mistakes, crimes, hateful words, sins, hurtful actions have still happened, and some of them have consequences that linger.

Are you tired of playing games with wishing that New Year's Day had some kind of power in it to make real changes in your life? I have good news. Transformation is possible. That can happen when we come to God on his terms.

First, I am not going to tell you that if you get right with God, all your problems will disappear and life will be peachy keen. Some people treat God like a cosmic Santa Claus to grant us wishes, or a bandage to make us feel good. It's not easy to be a follower of Christ, but it's worth it. He gives fulness of life, and he is always there with us (Heb. 13.5-6).

Let me explain.

Aside from doing philosophical and (il)logical gymnastics, we all know deep down inside that God exists (Rom. 1.19-20). We may try to earn his pleasure through being a "good person" or being "religious", but the fact remains that all of us have sinned (Rom. 3.23). God is holy (Joshua 24.19), and cannot look upon sin (Isaiah 59.2, Habakkuk 1.13). We have all sinned before a holy God, and the price to pay is death (Rom. 6.23). The good news, however, is that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ (Rom. 6.23, John 3.16). God has been patient so that we can surrender to him (Exodus 34.6, Psalm 86.15, 1 Peter 3.20, 2 Peter 3.15). Until we make him the Lord of our lives, God's wrath remains on us (John 3.36).

What we have happening here is a legal transaction. Jesus is God in the flesh (as we kept hearing in the Christmas carols), (John 1.1, John 1.13, Col. 1.15-16). He lived a sinless life (Heb. 4.14-15). God in the flesh died on the cross to take our punishment for sin (Gal. 2.20, Isaiah 53.5, Romans 4.25). When he shouted out, "It is finished!" (John 19.30), (in Greek, tetelestai, τετέλεσται). It was an accounting term meaning, "paid in full". The resurrection of Jesus was the evidence that God accepted the sacrifice of his only Son on our behalf (Romans 6.4, 1 Peter 1.21, 1 Cor. 15.3-6).

But it's not automatic.

We must actively choose to accept the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins (John 1.12), and to make him the first place in our lives (Rom. 6.4, Eph. 2.10, Titus 2.14). Then, we can have that transformation that we have been kidding ourselves about with the false salvation of New Year's Day! People who believe in only material things and in scientism (all knowledge must be obtained through science, or it is not valid) cannot understand these things because they presuppose that there is nothing beyond the physical; these are spiritual matters (1 Cor. 2.14). The truth is, when you receive Christ as your savior, you are born again (John 3.3, 1 Peter 1.23). We are changed (2 Cor. 5.17), and have a new life (Rom. 6.4)!

If you want to know more, you can watch a really cool video here, listen to a short presentation, take the eight-question test here, or write to me (the e-mail is in the profile). I sincerely hope and pray that you will seriously consider this message and take it to heart.

By the way, putting it off is a bad idea. After this life is over, there are no second chances (Heb. 9.27).

In Just a Few Days: Something New

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Buon giorno. This is a small sequel to yesterday's article about getting things prepared in your home and in your mind for the New Year. (Hopefully, Blogger won't do me over again and skip the scheduled publishing date for this part! I'm irritated, you see.) The other section was about making certain preparations, and I want to suggest one more to help you gear up mentally: Something new.

That's right, you heard me.

"What 'new' stuff, Cowboy Bob?"

Oh, Ernie the Gambler is chiming in this time. Where's Nicky?

"Out getting booze for the crew's party!"

Sure, he doesn't forget that. Not exactly what I have in mind for "something new", but it fits in with yesterday's post where people get things all lined up before the deadline.

No, I'm suggesting that people get themselves a kind of New Year's present. (Or give someone a New Year's gift, that'll baffle them!) Nicky likes to have a new shirt on January 1, Hal the Hacker starts using a new cologne from St. Charles Shave, Rowdy Ralph gets a new coffee mug, Tommy the Knocker gets a new nightstick from the cop surplus store, Billy the Baptist (how he got that name, I still don't know) gets a new music CD. Well, that's the general idea.

Me, I like the new shirt business. Plus, I take a New Year's shower —

"Whether you need it or not!"

Great, you're back, Nicky. Now clam up.

I take the shower to figuratively wash away the bad stuff from the previous year. Like I said, I'm into the symbolic and psych stuff. And that's pretty symbolic, capice? New razor blades, too. Not a new cologne for me this year.

Anyway, I think I made it clear, even to the paranoid Norman types out there, that I think it's good for you to get something new and break it out for its first use on January 1. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to settle the crew down.

In Just a Few Days

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Buon giorno. Today is Wednesday, December 28, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven. This tired old year is almost over, thank God.

Over the past few years, I have taken an interest in New Year's Day. For years, it was always "just another day", and I admit that I still have some elements of that attitude even now. I am not interested in staying up until midnight and pretending that some kind of magic happens, capice?

Street iron work clock by Jon Sullivan

No, the part that interests me is psychological. We can use the New Year to our advantage. All the hurrying, hustle and hassle of the Christmas season is pretty well behind us. Aside from taking down the tree and packing away the decorations (I wish them well, them what needs must take down the exterior illumination), we are on the path to getting back to our routines that have been frequently interrupted as of late.

Why am I writing like an intoxicated Victorian Englishman? Anyway...

If you are fond of making New Year's resolutions, fine, go for it. (But wise people have said not to do more than two of them, because people try too hard to remake themselves. Once you get those established, pick two more to begin at the first of the next month. Repeat as needed.) I do believe in setting goals because the first of the year works out well for target dates. Oh, and get a decent planner, notebook, online calendar system or whatever so you can write things down.

But there's something else that I want to point out: Clutter. Taking a page from the Tibetans, I think it is a good idea to have things tidied up before the first of the year. Do some cleaning, get the filing done, pay leftover bills, subscribe to blogs in your reader, unsubscribe to blogs you're not really looking at anymore, send out checks (I'll e-mail you my address if you want to send me money), repair that cabinet that should only take a half an hour anyway but you keep putting it off, find or replace your Bible so you can renew your commitment to daily reading, deliver those things you want to donate to the Salvation Army, take out the trash — getting those little things done ahead of time can feel very good.

One thing I'm toying with is scanning my science-related postage stamps to use for illustrations in my articles — beginning next year.

The Tibetans do not want anything going out of the house, neither money nor garbage. Their reasons are based in superstition and custom, but I can see the psychological appeal of avoiding loss. It's like programming your mind and setting a pattern. It could be worth a try.

At any rate, I wish you well in your clearing out and cleaning up in preparation for 2012.

Fading Friendships

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Buon giorno. I hope you all had a good Christmas. This article is not going to be about Christmas, but I wanted to discuss some thoughts that were triggered during Christmas card time. This will be a bit rambling and disjointed; I'm not trying to say much of anything, really.

In early 2010, I was examining Minimalism, and receiving some sense of liberation by uncluttering stuff in my life. But — what about removing people?

Christmas has been a bit rough for us the past couple of years because of deaths, illnesses, injuries, depression and other things that I will not elaborate on. I was not enthused when it came to writing out Christmas cards. Going down the list of names added to the difficulties. My father was a pastor, and we did not stay put much because the Untied (misspelling intentional) Methodist denomination seldom lets people stay put for more than a few years (I think the five years I spent in Lansing, Michigan were the longest I lived in one area while I was with my parents.) My parents made many friends in several churches. Some of those churches were tiny, some had hundreds of members. Anyway, they exchanged Christmas cards with some of those people for decades.

When you only hear from someone once a year so you can exchange obligatory cards, what good is it? I had resolved not to let that kind of thing happen. Either friends I had made along the way and I cared enough about each other enough to stay in touch, or we didn't. Well, duh. That is, if all we did was the once a year thing, but no contact in the in-between times, were we really friends, or not? Those promises made to always stay in touch, to always remain close, to be there for you...

E-mail muddies the stream even further. You can stay in touch in a way by sending links, jokes and things, sending group mailings, sending your written thoughts, but I do like to send some thing physical to certain people. So, the e-mail thing is not the issue here, capice?

Sure, people get busy or have problems and maybe they couldn't do much in the past year. But when it continues, it's time to consider letting the people from the past remain in the past. Why send them a card when we're not keeping in touch in other ways? I feel that I'm prolonging the inevitable fading by obligating them to reciprocate.

Looking at the list, remembering people and how we were close. And sometimes agonizing over the memories and feelings, should I just drop it? Cut them off? It's one thing when a friendship turns sour and it really does end, or if someone just stops communicating with you for unknown reason and you're pretty sure they're done with you. But the fade away aspect seems harder to me.

Anyway, there's no hurry to trim people from our lives. Although I could not get past my personal issues and deal with sending cards (almost none were sent), I can look at the list another time, when there is no time or emotional pressure. Trimming people out of your life, "minimalizing" — is it worth it? Is it necessary? I think it might be, to clear up mental and emotional clutter. I'll find out.

Happy Christmas 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 19:56:00 +0000

Just a 10-1/2 minute pause during our busy time to listen to a special audio version of the first Christmas and to remember the reason for the season (source here):

More Atheist Intolerance

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:10:00 +0000

Buon giorno. Normally, I save this atheist stuff for the weekends, but I plan on being busy.

Whaddya think? Should I just drop the atheist stuff next year? On one hand, they're boring and predictable with their absence of critical thinking. On the other hand, I get amazed at the lack of reasoning ability and the vituperative hate.

Let's start with a self-appointed atheist Thought Police officer. He kept badgering me about being a Christian and a creationist, but kept refusing to answer my question as to why it mattered to him what I believe. Finally, I got an answer:

Isn't that precious? He cares because he thinks that "religious" people will do stupid things.

"Yeah, like arguing with atheists!"

Good point, Nicky.

He's committing the ~~Genetic Fallacy~~ here. (Edit: I got to thinking, this is closer to the Fallacy of Composition.) Yeah, gotta watch out for those "religious" types, can't have the Amish crashing their buggies into crowded bus stations or something. And we can't have "religious" people building schools and hospitals, or ministering to the poor — you know, those things that you don't see atheist groups doing.

One of the problems I have with modern Internet atheists is that they use their "reason" and "logic" by (to use the technical term) making stuff up. The other "big thing" they do (aside from another fallacy, wishfully thinking that if they assert something, it will magically become true.) Norman the Paranoid Troll was great at these, he was full of accusations and hate in his rambling, nonsensical "writings". Norman is right because he said so! He did not document things correctly (the few times he documented anything), and was guilty of libel. Yes, I've documented it. Don't want to be like those other people, capice?

Typical of atheists, they have been guilty of libel, slander, illegally recording calls and more, but I digress.

My old pal Matt Slick of CARM (ask him about me, he'll say, "Oh, him!") was doing hate mail. He "amps it up" for those times (usually on Fridays) and indulges in silly voices and rants. This one was good (and very similar to material I have received, almost verbatim in some places), showing atheist intolerance, smugness, arrogance, presuppositions, anger, hate and fallacies. Count 'em.

Christians Respond to the Passing of Christopher Hitchens

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:47:00 +0000

Buona sera. Many atheists are noting the death of Christopher Hitchens. Many are lashing out at Christians who put up their announcements (including vicious, vile comments at Atheist Central). So, what was his legacy? Hitchens was called a "great man", but wherein lies his greatness? He debated the existence of God, but was not noted for having great skill. A way with words, yes, and venom, but not skill. So many modern atheists have not learned to think well. In fact, they use the poor reasoning of others as sources for copy-n-paste in lieu of actual thought. Still, there are plenty of others, such as Myers and Dawkins, that they can plagiarize, capice?

It is tragic when anyone, disbelieving celebrity or not, enters eternity without a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The fact remains that all of the philosophy, debating, logic and whatever to make excuses against this knowledge have always been available (Romans 1.18-21, Psalm 53.1-3 NIV).

Even so, and to the possible dismay of angry atheists, Christians as a whole are not celebrating the death of Hitchens. Check out the following:

The Aristophrenium
Theologian Douglas Wilson in Christianity Today
Souljournaler
Peter Hitchens, the brother of Christopher
Frank Turek
Doug Phillips of Vision Forum Ministries
Mark Looy of Answers in Genesis
Addendum: Here is an interesting video commentary:

An Atheist Christmas Carol

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 18:54:00 +0000

"An Atheist Christmas Carol"

Featuring Richard "Daffy" Dawkins, Lalla Ward, P.Z. Myer, Charles Darwin and (wait for it...)

everyone's hero, Piltdown Superman!

(And the crowd goes wild!)

GREETINGS!

Stormbringer sent you a JibJab eCard

CLICK HERE TO VIEW IT

Atheist Kittens?

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:05:00 +0000

Little Suzy had a cardboard box of very small kittens that she was playing with in front of her house.

Suddenly a big big black car stopped in front and a clean shaven man with graying hair and was wearing a sweater stepped out.

“Hi, little girl, what do you have there in the box?” he asked.

“Kittens” Little Suzy says. “They’re so small, their eyes are not even open yet.”

“What kind of kittens are they?” he asked.

“Atheists”, says Little Suzy.

The man smirked to himself, returned to his car and rode away.

Sensing a good publicity opportunity to boost his income, Richard Dawkins called his manager and told him about the little girl and the kittens. It was planned that they would return the next day, have all the media there and tell everyone about these great kittens.

The next day, Little Suzy is standing out on the corner with her box of kittens. A line of big black cars pulled up with all the vans and trucks from BBC, ITV, Sun, Guardian, Mail, Telegraph and others.

Everyone had their cameras ready and then, Richard Dawkins got out of his limo and walked up to Little Suzy.

“Now, don’t be frightened,” he said, “Remember me from yesterday? I just want you to tell all these nice news people just what kind of kittens you’re giving away today.”

“Yes sir,” Suzy said, “The are all Christian kittens.”

Taken by surprise, Dawkins said, “But yesterday, you told me that they were atheists!”

Little Suzy says, “Yes, I know. But today, they have their eyes open and they see the light.”

I Thought There Was a Problem

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:00:00 +0000

Buona sera. At about 14.15 on 10 December 2011, I heard sirens. Lots of them. Loud. They seemed to be getting closer, but I was uncertain. Must be some disaster up the road, because they were not coming into the complex. Nope, no smoke in the sky. Medical emergency? But the sirens and horns continued.

Then I saw that they were coming into the complex. I figured the best thing to do was to stay put; emergency personnel do not want sightseers in the way, capice? Especially since there were voices coming from loudspeakers or something, and I did not understand what they were saying.

I had my camera phone handy and stood on our second-floor balcony. Too bad I do not have steady hands, but I did not do as poorly as I have other times. Here is the first vehicle:

Then came the second vehicle (doggone cell phone camera resized the rest when I sent them to myself):

And then, the third vehicle made everything clear:

Cute vehicle driving Santa around town! Then I got it, and had a good laugh. The loudspeakers were making sense, too, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Well, good! They used the "C" word!

They went deeper into the complex and turned around I took one more picture before the phone itself complained that I had not deleted enough old photos, so I had to stop:

Nice day for it, huh?

Basement Cat, Christmas and All That

noreply@blogger.com (Piltdown Superman) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 21:10:00 +0000

Here is a short video featuring Basement Cat and Christmas.

A Bit of Payback to Atheists

noreply@blogger.com (Piltdown Superman) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

First, a reminder of why atheists are the least-liked and least-respected group. Protest this, protest that, expect the majority to bow to their whims...

One Virginia courthouse is taking the debate over Christmas displays on public property to the next level with a controversial “crucified Santa” set-up.
Julie Grandfield, assistant to the Loudon County Administrator, explained to The Christian Post that the individual responsible for the display went through the system. “Board of Supervisors currently has a policy in place to allow displays on the courthouse lawn,” said Grandfield. “There are only 9 display sites that are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. The applicants choose the 3 week period they want to have their display shown.” Grandfield also said that among the displays approved, there would be two nativity scenes that will be put up “later in the month.”
She declined to comment on whether or not the display was tasteful, saying that it “is a matter of subjective opinion.”

Read the rest of "'Crucified Santa' on Display at Va. County Courthouse" here, and continue below for more fun.

Next on the docket, a bit of creative payback. Atheist groups conveniently forget (and frequently try to rewrite) American history, that we were founded on Christian principles. So, having a cross on a water tower is "an endorsement of religion"? Oh, spare me!

Mayor James Bellar was planning to cave to atheists’ demands and have the religious symbol moved to private land. Bellar, who defended its presence, claimed that the town could not afford to pay for an expensive legal battle with Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) — the “freethinking” group seeking its removal. Thus, moving it to a nearby highway seemed like the best possible solution.

In its new location, Bellar said it would be seen by an even larger audience. But rather than make good on this plan, the mayor decided to voice his protest to the atheists’ demands.

Find out how the mayor made his voice known loud and clear, read about the controversial water tower cross here, and then see the final installment below.

Every once in a while, we hear or read rumors about atheists wanting "In God We Trust" removed as the national motto of the United States. Sometimes, they even try. But that notion was soundly trounced as Congress reaffirmed "In God We Trust" as the national motto by a vote of 396 to 9. Naturally, B. Hussein Obama chose to mock the vote because they did not vote on his political grandstanding.

Approved 396-9, the resolution affirms “In God We Trust” and encourages its display in all public buildings, public schools and other government institutions - even though the motto wasn’t facing any legislative threats and was reaffirmed by the Senate five years ago.

While opponents of the measure said it was unnecessary, lead sponsor J. Randy Forbes, Virginia Republican, said he was concerned about how the motto was being treated by the courts, legislators and President Obama.

“I realize there are some who don’t see a difference between what we’re doing from naming a post office or commending some athletic team,” Mr. Forbes said. “But I happen to believe when Thomas Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence that our rights came from God, that he didn’t think it was irrelevant or not important.”

Read the rest of "House vote reaffirms ‘In God We Trust’" here.

Dearborn, Muslims and Human Rights

noreply@blogger.com (Stormbringer) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:00:00 +0000

From "Answering Musims":

The prominent human rights organization American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), its Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) program and the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force (VAST) will be hosting the first-ever human rights conference dedicated to exposing the plight of women under Islamic law in Dearborn, Michigan on the anniversary of the honor murder of Jessica Mokdad: the Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference.

The Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference will be held at the Hyatt Hotel in Dearborn. After bowing to Islamic supremacist pressure and canceling a speech by Pamela Geller that had been scheduled for a Hyatt in Nashville, Tennessee, the Hyatt reversed its stance, recovered its understanding of the American principle of free speech, apologized and offered AFDI space in a Hyatt for a future Conference to make it up the human rights organization. Geller chose the Hyatt in Dearborn to stand in solidarity there with girls who are in danger of being victimized like Jessica Mokdad.

Jessica Mokdad was a 20-year-old Muslim woman in Warren, Michigan, who was brutally murdered in May 2011. Fox News Detroit reported: “Authorities say a Minnesota man killed his 20-year-old stepdaughter in Michigan because she left home and wasn't following Islam.” Jessica’s stepfather, a devout Muslim, tracked his stepdaughter over four states to murder her for bringing dishonor on her family.

Read the rest of "Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference in Dearborn, Michigan" here.