Category Archives: General

Word of the Day

Zeitgeist

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zeitgeist (German pronunciation: [ˈtsaɪtɡaɪst] ( listen)) is “the spirit of the times” or “the spirit of the age.” [1] Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and/or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era.

The term is a loanword from German Zeit – “time” (cognate with English “tide” and “time”) and Geist – “spirit” (cognate with English “ghost”).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist

McD’s Bad Drive-Through Experience

Me: I would like a #6 meal.

McD: [murmuring, nearly silent]
McD:

Me: I can barely hear you.

McD: [Speaking up, more volume]
McD: What kind of kids meal would you like?

Me: No, you misheard me. I would like a Number, Six, Meal, and I do want the Swiss cheese.

McD: [Rings me up a #6, hold everything except the cheese.]
McD: [Rings me up a sweet tea, which I did not order.]

Me: No, I did not tell you to take everything off the sandwich. I said I like the Swiss cheese.

McD: [Clears the screen]
McD: [Rings me up a #6, hold the cheese.]
McD: [Rings me up a sweet tea, which, again, I did not order.]

Me: No, I did not tell you to hold the cheese. I said I want the cheese. I like Swiss cheese. We’re having some trouble communicating. Can you understand me?

McD: [Getting snippy. Replies with a bad attitude.]
McD: Yes…. Sir.

McD: [Clears the screen]
McD: [Rings me up a #6.]
McD: [Rings me up a sweet tea, which, again, I did not order.]

Me: You have rung up a sweet tea that I did not order.

McD: [Clears the screen]
McD: [Rings me up a #6, special note on the cheese.]
McD: [Long pause….]

Me: Let me know when you’re ready.

McD: [Asks the following question begrudgingly, as though too lazy to ask, and frustrated to have to ask…]
McD: What would you like to drink?

Me: Mr. Pibb or Dr. Pepper. 

McD: [Rings me up the correct drink.]
McD: [Asks the following question with a smarmy tone]
McD: Is the screen correct?

Me: Yes. Thank you.

…So then I drive up, pay, move up, get the food, and check the bag. Looks OK. I drive away. Then I open the package to eat, and there is no cheese on my sandwich.

I turn around and drive back. I park and walk in. Stepping up to an abandoned service counter, I call to the nearest employees standing on the far side of the restaurant, “Excuse me.”

No luck.

“Excuse me.”

No reply.

“Excuse me!”

Finally, a drive-through delivery girl starts saying, “Oh, he wants to talk to someone!” while another asks me if there is a problem.

I reply that I had asked three times for Swiss cheese, and I have a sandwich outside with no cheese on it. “Can someone get me some Swiss cheese, please?”

Employees start scurrying away, while the drive-through delivery girl seemingly decides it’s not her problem.

I thought one of them might have gone to get me some Swiss cheese. No dice.

Apparently none of the employees wanted to talk to me or help me, so someone among them had gone to fetch the manager.

Out comes the manager, with an employee in tow. I asked the employee behind her, “Is no one helping me yet?”

No answer from the employee.

“What seems to be the problem?” asks the manager.

I was explaining, when she stopped me to ask what kind of sandwich.

I thought, “What does it matter? I just want a slice of Swiss cheese that I paid for!” However, I told her it was a club.

Then she wanted to know whether it was crispy or grilled.

Sigh. “Crispy.”

She walked away. I thought, “Well, maybe I will get a slice of Swiss cheese.”

I waited.

Finally, she came back with a whole sandwich, saying this one has cheese.

At that point, I just kind of gave up, said, “Thank you,” and took the sandwich.

It did have Swiss cheese on it.

This was perhaps the most annoying drive-through experience I’ve ever had. Some may say it’s not worth the trouble. I am tempted to agree, but, “Oh, the power of cheese!” Did I mention that I like the Swiss cheese?

Why I Switched From ASP to PHP, Instead of to ASP.NET

I cut my teeth (in web dev) on the Active Server Page (ASP) methodology (a proprietary Microsoft technology) by way of the Visual Basic language. So, why am I now choosing the “hard” path of learning a whole other language and slowly porting all my web apps over to PHP, instead of “growing” on into ASP.NET? Two reasons. First, because it is significantly easier to learn and use PHP than it is to try to learn all the new weirdness of ASP.NET. Second, I am offended (on principle) at a company that decided it can force those using its old technology to move “up” to its new technology by breaking their existing apps and then taking remote debugging info away from them, instead of wooing its users with enticements. Those who cut their teeth on ASP.NET have no clue what I am talking about, and die-hard ASP/.NET fans will surely think I am idiot. They are welcome. This is my path, and they need not walk it.

Needing a last minute gift? The new book is in!

Tonight at church, Pastor Doug Joseph will have copies of the first two books of the “Millennial Teleport Trilogy” — Get either book for $10. Get both for $18 (save $2).

Book One: New Immortal

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Book Two: Tesseract

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Could God have done that?

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What might await us in the endless future beyond the Millennial Kingdom age? Past the great white throne on Judgment Day? Could God have created  many different peoples on other worlds? Might He have created other universes or inhabited dimensions entirely disconnected from this one?

This book posits its answer to those questions as a concluded fact that is not debated (within the book, at least). However, I studied and personally debated such questions before writing the book.

Consider that, according to the Holy Scriptures, God is perfect and has not ever changed in His fundamental nature or character. Indeed, He cannot ever change, for it would be a departure from perfection, and such would be against His own self revelation to us (it would be a deviation from what He has declared in His word). Since God does not change, then what is the fundamental nature or character from which He never departs? Is His basic nature that of a lazy being who is not very creative, who naturally tends to sit in total inactivity, creating nothing?

Look around. Countless life forms abound on this world alone. Modern science has not even discovered all of them yet. No, lazy and uncreative is not who He is. His creativity is boundless.

So, why did Moses, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, write that God “rested” on the seventh day after His having worked for six days to create all that we see around us? Scholars with linguistic skill have pointed out that the Hebrew context, and the word for “rest” shown there, give a connotation of Him having completed the work to perfection. He first envisioned what He wanted to do, and then, once He was done, He stopped working simply because it was perfect.

Bear in mind that the utter lack of perfection in the sin-cursed world we now inhabit is all due to the sin of humankind (of which the first sins were committed by Adam and Eve in the Garden that was eastward in Eden). God rested not because He was lazy, tired, or was basically a non-working, non-creative being. No, He stopped because the job was done. It does not mean He stopped all creative work elsewhere. If he simply stopped all creating (as a permanent cessation), then the massive burst of creating that caused this universe (and all the life we see here) would have represented a colossal departure from His character and nature.

God created this world as a perfect place which could have been enjoyed for eternity. Were it not for human sin, which “messed up” the place, no more work from God would have been needed here. He is now at work fixing it. Yet that does not even hint that He could not have, or would not have, continued to create elsewhere. He has to have done more. It is His nature. This author cannot imagine a God so creative as to have given us this massive display of life… just sitting on His laurels for all eternity. Not only is He creative, but He also has made us as creative beings as well. Thus, authors such as C.S. Lewis and yours truly imagine other realms. Check out the “creation” in this novel. The liberated reader will love it. The “literary Taliban” (as Roy H. Williams once dubbed them) will no doubt send us out for the firing squad, as we’ve shown way too much creativity and had way too much fun. Which type of reader are you?

Order Tesseract: Paperback | Kindle
Daniel & Tess are childhood sweethearts who finally marry. Meanwhile, in another space-time, on an untainted world called Sset, the Corlan (a sinless race blessed with genetic memory) govern a paradise that has never felt the bitter sting of death. Back on sin-cursed Earth, Tess and Daniel are childless. Although they are well acquainted with pain and loss, their relationship is solid, and they live their life to the fullest in service to God and others. Fast forward over a thousand years into the future, when an unspeakable evil arises on Sset, devastating the moon world’s surface and decimating the Corlan population. Yet the Creator of both that universe and ours was not caught off guard. He’s had Daniel and Tess in mind for saving the Corlan species from extinction since before either realm was created. Although our world has had visitors from that one, this is the first time in history that it’s gone the other way. Teleport with Tess and Daniel to a place beyond time, space, and imagination. Tesseract will transform you in mind-stretching ways.

YA | Fiction, Christian, Futuristic | Science-Fiction | Adventure | Romance

New release: Tesseract

Note: Proceeds from book sales are going to help Renee Bargo get a new type of medical treatment. Thanks for your help! We have a precious family in our church here in Clarksburg, and the wife & mother in that family has a rare disease for which there has been no known treatment. They have now learned of an experimental treatment that is not covered by their insurance. She is currently raising money to make the long trip from here to Phoenix, and we are working to help her. Below are some details about this exciting, new release. 

Tesseract is part of the Millennial Teleport Trilogy (Book Two).

You can now order either installment (this one, or the first book, entitled New I.M.mortal) — or both — on either www.AuthorStock.com/tess or www.newimmortal.com. Each of those sites offers both books (they can be ordered together as a single purchase). Also, Amazon should have both the print version and Kindle version of the new book available any time now.

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SUMMARY: Daniel & Tess are childhood sweethearts who finally marry. Meanwhile, in another space-time, on an untainted world called Sset, the Corlan (a sinless race blessed with genetic memory) govern a paradise that has never felt the bitter sting of death. Back on sin-cursed Earth, Tess and Daniel are childless. Although they are well acquainted with pain and loss, their relationship is solid, and they live their life to the fullest in service to God and others. Fast forward over a thousand years into the future, when an unspeakable evil arises on Sset, devastating the moon world’s surface and decimating the Corlan population. Yet the Creator of both that universe and ours was not caught off guard. He’s had Daniel and Tess in mind for saving the Corlan species from extinction since before either realm was created. Although our world has had visitors from that one, this is the first time in history that it’s gone the other way. Teleport with Tess and Daniel to a place beyond time, space, and imagination. Tesseract will transform you in mind-stretching ways.

For Young Adults and Up

Classifications: Fiction, Christian, Futuristic | Science-Fiction | Adventure | Romance

Below: Part of a panel of illustrations in the final book — artist rendition of the central part of the Corlan society, on the moon world of Sset. This image just happens to be the title page from the Kindle version of the book, due to appear on Amazon’s Kindle store just about any time now. All the illustrations are provided in both the print and Kindle versions.

01_kindle_title_page

Fixed: Firefox 3.6.8 will not open new window

For those who are using Firefox, and having trouble wherein new (additional) windows will not open, here was my fix:

The followings steps instantly fixed my problem. (This worked for me using Firefox 3.6.8 on a Win XP Pro system.)

1. Start Firefox.

2. Click Tools, then Add-ons

3. If you have more than one Java Console active, uninstall all but the latest one (highest version number).

(It is possible that “disable” would also work, but I chose to uninstall.)

Unrelated diatribe:

I am currently using two laptops. I am slowly leaving a Windows (XP Pro) laptop while transitioning to a Mac (OS X) laptop. I decided (upon principle) to not buy or upgrade to another Windows OS, and as this one slowly dies (first the ability to search my own hard drive went, and lately M$ Outlook won’t let me reply or compose new emails) I am moving to the Mac. However, the foregoing could be applicable no matter what OS you use.

New I.M.mortal: New lower price on Amazon!

My latest book, New I.M.mortal, had been selling on Amazon for $15.95. It’s now available from the trusted retail giant for a new lower price. Amazon now has it for only $9.95. Also, all my books are available for Kindle e-readers, at lower prices than their paperback counterparts.

December 5, 2009
5 out of 5 stars(4)
$9.95
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Watch This!

It’s All About Scale

You simply have to watch this short video. Amazing!

http://www.wimp.com/budgetcuts