Month: April 2005

Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. travelling at 55 MPH, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 MPH.

Via C|Net: Blog Censorship Gains Support

Most Americans believe bloggers should not be allowed to publish sensitive personal information about individuals, according to a new survey.

Wait for it…

Web hosting company Hostway this week released the results of its poll of 2,500 Americans on blogging. Eighty percent of respondents did not believe that bloggers should be allowed to publish home addresses and other personal information about private citizens. However, more than one-third of respondents had never heard of blogs before participating in the survey, and only around 30 percent of participants had actually visited a blog themselves.

Exactly. And since when is 2,500 individuals who just happen to come upon the ‘Hostway’ website a picture perfect reflection of America? Talk about a bogus sample.

A further 72 percent favored censorship of personal information about celebrities, and 68 percent, information about elected or appointed government officials such as judges or mayors.

Right – peg all bloggers as teenagers with braces at home plunkin away at the computer, creating fake photoshop pictures of Britney in compromising positions and taking advantage of celebrities who are dumb enough to shoot provocative pictures of themselves with a cell phone camera, leave the pictures on the camera, and then lose said camera. Hello!

And about elected or appointed government officials like judges or mayors — hey, if they’re good honest people, what do they have to worry about?

While Americans were concerned about free speech, the survey revealed more moderate attitudes when it compared bloggers to journalists.

Now you’re talking. 

Fifty-two percent of those surveyed said bloggers should have the same rights as traditional journalists, while 27 percent did not express an opinion. Free speech rights are protected under the first amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights, which says Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press.

OK, so the writer of this article knows about the first amendment, great. But, then she goes and shines a big ‘ol spotlight on this…

Despite the fact most respondents classed bloggers in the same category as journalists when it came to free speech, the survey revealed bloggers are not taken as seriously as traditional media. For example, 39 percent said they found blogs less credible than newspaper articles, although an additional 32 percent said they either did not know or had no opinion.

If bloggers did a better job at designing their blog sites I wonder if this percentage would go down? Obviously, the 39% polled here are types who like bright shiny things.

The survey also tapped into patterns of blog usage, revealing most people used blogs to obtain information about politics or current events. This news may not come as a surprise to U.S. political bloggers, who recently mobilized against a move by the country’s Federal Election Commission that would have imposed harsh rules on the blogging community.

Yep, that was us.

The FEC is in the process of extending campaign finance rules to the Internet–a process that involves, among other things, deciding if bloggers qualify as journalists.

If only they’d ask the bloggers themselves. I don’t mean Glenn, or Ana Marie, or Andrew or Jeff (the current overexposed of the blogosphere). Ask people like Michelle, Captain Ed, or Tim.

About the poll – get a better sample of people – ask connected bloggers and blog readers who know a thing or two about what’s going on in the blogosphere. Heck, do two polls. One with the people in the know and the other with the people who don’t know. Both camps could provide great information.

There will be plenty of these polls being taken in the next couple of years. For now, I won’t take this one poll very seriously. It’s too early to stick the fork in the blogosphere. It (we) ain’t done yet!

Others who are talking about this poll:

• Vodkapundit

Via the Associated Press:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says Israel will not attack Iran over its nuclear program.

American movie star Bruce Willis smiles after receiving the Arts and Letters Award at the French Culture Ministry in Paris, Wednesday, April 13, 2005. Created in 1957, the award is to honor individuals who have distinguished themselves in an artistic or literary field.

He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

I couldn’t give a rip about this ‘news’.

Pig Snot

What is Pig Snot?

• Pig Snot was designed by chemists, bikers, and automotive experts to provide a gorgeous shine that protects your bike and car from the elements as well as gas spills.
• Our unique formula makes Pig Snot a breeze to apply and then buff off.
• Pig Snot does NOT contain any cleaners and is safe for ALL clear coats.
• Use Pig Snot on chrome to give it a real shine.
• Once you use Pig Snot, you will never use another wax again!

In case you missed it, you’ll want to check out Pig Snot’s cousin, Monkey Butt.

…makin the switch.

Update: I’m getting closer.

Via Crosswalk – Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) president predicts that the Lutheran Church is setting itself up for one of the most acrimonious debates ever conducted by a denominational organization. 

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America [ELCA] Church Council released its recommendations (PDF) to the denomination’s Churchwide Assembly on issues related to sexuality on April 11, 2005, setting the stage for what promises to be one of the most acrimonious debates ever conducted by a denominational organization.

The recommendations came on the heels of two reports issued by theologians on both sides of the controversy. In the end, the Church Council went in another direction entirely, rejecting the recommendations from its “Task Force for Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Studies on Sexuality,” released in January. That report called for the church to adopt what amounts to a “local option” policy, permitting local churches to violate the church’s standards for ministers without penalty. In essence, this recommendation amounted to an acknowledgement that the ELCA is so polarized on the issue of homosexuality that an honest compromise is impossible. Honesty and integrity would have required the denomination to take official action, either to allow the ordination of practicing homosexuals or to exclude practicing homosexuals from the ministry. After years of study, the church’s task force recommended that the church maintain its policy explicitly permitting the ordination of practicing homosexuals, but allow churches to disobey and violate the policy without penalty or disciplinary procedures. In other words, this mainline Lutheran denomination attempted to adopt a ministerial form of the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

The Lutherans are split into two separate denominations. The other ‘branch’ is the LCMS, or Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It didn’t take long for them to respond to the ELCA recommendations.

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod [LCMS], a far more conservative Lutheran body, responded to the ELCA Task Force’s recommendations as representatives from the two bodies met for the “Committee on Lutheran Cooperation” in St. Louis on March 29-30. The LCMS, committed to biblical inerrancy, responded to the ELCA with “a word of Christian concern about the recommendations of this report and the rationale for those recommendations.” The report from the LCMS pointed directly to the authority of Scripture as the fundamental issue: “As the LCMS has wrestled with the sensitive issue of homosexuality, it has had to return time and again to the more fundamental question of how we go about addressing these questions in the first place: namely, on the basis of the Holy Scriptures as God’s inspired and inerrant Word. There is widespread agreement among Biblical scholars of varying theological persuasions and positions that the Bible itself clearly identifies homosexual behavior as sinful.” The LCMS statement went on to emphasize “the foundational issue of the authority of Scripture,” arguing that the church must “say without qualification that the Holy Scriptures are, in their entirety, the inspired and inerrant Word of God.”

Go read the entire article. If you’re a regular reader of PunditGuy, you know where I stand. Christians are to be set apart from the world. We believe that the Bible is the Holy Word of God. It was written by him through men he inspired. If you believe the Bible is the living Word of God, you believe the ENTIRE Bible is his Word. Not just ‘this part’ and ‘that part’, but not ‘that part’. The problem with modern Christianity today is it’s become mostly a big tent society, with interchangeable theologies and conflicting doctrines. It seems more important to fill your church than it is to teach biblical truth. What is future for the Christian faith if its beliefs can be changed to accommodate anything and anyone at anytime while totally disregarding the ‘sin problem‘?

None of these external issues will be solved until we deal with the internal issue of ‘sin’.

Flame on.

USB Programmable Dormitory Disco Dance Floor

A group of MIT students built a 128 square foot light-up dance floor in their dorm lounge. A total of 1,536 LEDs provide 4,096 colors and 30 frames/second. Of course, the whole display is programmable via USB. And yes, they plan to play Dance Dance Revolution on it.

(h/t Boing Boing)