Eco-friendly

Going Green has been the catch phrase of the decade and it doesn't look like it will be going away anytime soon. personally I think it has been mostly ridiculous. I also think earth-day (like most activist specialty days, weeks, and months) is kind of silly. this is not to say that i don't think curtain things should not be brought to the attention of the masses, i am just not sure that these awareness days really do anything. but that is just my opinion.

Any way this post is really about something I saw advertised recently, a car completely run on electricity. now if you have talked to me at all about global warming, climate change, greenies, you know I mock them profusely, and believe the global warming to be a hoax, and become encased in consumerism as a marketing ploy. I also think it is disgusting that environmentalist care more about a tree then their fellow man. But that is all beside the point.

The reality is I have no problem with alternative forms of energy, just make sure you take care of the millions of people who will be put out of work with the coal and oil industries are forced to close.

Any way about this car. The fact that it looks like they have built a car that will be able to actually run off electricity and be efficient is great, there is just one problem. electricity is for the most part generated through coal and oil, with some coming from water, and a very small percentage of solar, wind, Nuclear, ect. So instead of burning the oil in the car to generate it the car becomes part of your electric bill each mouth with is generated most likely by coal. this means that the person who owns this car will be causing more coal to be burned, and thus undoing the good deed they may have thought they were doing by driving an electric car.

Now if the home is powered by solar or Nuclear power then go for it buy this car because it will actually be good for the environment. But for most people in this country solar power is not an option, because it is not cost effective in all places. Where I grew up for example, solar power would be great in the summer, but in the winter when the sun goes down by 5pm and doesn't come up till 9-10 am, that is a problem.

Sense earth day was only a few days ago here is another thought I have had, recycled paper. sounds great, used paper can be turned in to brand new paper. the problem is that we think we are being earth concise by recycling it but recycled paper has a very disturbing side effect, toxic slug of some kind. okay now I must be honest and say that I don't know the specifics about this but what I know is that the waste from recycling paper is toxic.

another earth day thought, Sun chips, one of my favorite kind of chips, have new packaging that is biodegradable. I think that is neat, but I want to know a few things about. First how is it made? What is the process? Are there any hidden secrets like with recycling paper? Is it being made that is not only in the best interest of the earth but also in the best interest of our fellow man? How does this change the price for chips is it more or less, or does it make a difference?

I promise this is my last two cents on earth day. On Thursday in chapel the speaker mentioned that she was in a conference about environmental issues and human rights. Environmental issues I don't really care about, but I do care about people. And I don't think that these two go together in the way that most people would like them to. yes there are some ways in which the two are completely together but there are some other things that make me worry. for and example alternative fuel, I don't have a problem with experimentation, I don't have a problem with finding other ways to make electricity, I do have a problem with farmers deciding to grow corn to produce ethanol because they can get grants and make more money from it then growing corn for livestock and humans. Food prices are going up and part of the reason is this. another thing because of the laws being passed on the use of different fuels many developing nations are being kept from developing because they cant afford to get the fuels that are approved by these laws.

those are my Earthdayish thoughts.

Fun High-Jinks in the Library.

for most of my seminary time i have worked at the library.  it is a good job to have, great people and just generally a good place to be.  it even has it's little quirks, like an alarm system that goes off and on when ever it wants to.  the lights that sometimes come back on all by themselves after turning them off.  and the usual complaints of being a technology center.  we at the library often jock about the place being haunted.  I wrote something about this back in October.  but there is something very fun that happened today, yes more fun then the library rave we had over spring break last year.  we had a bird caught in the upstairs quiet floor.  how did it get in?  good question, i would guess it got in the same way that the bats get in...Magic.

any way this bird was tricksy and it took several people to corner it.  including the very brave former zoo employee, Jon Todd.  it flew here and there, landing on books stealing crumbs and hiding in mysterious places that only magic birds know about.  in the end after wearing the bird out by chasing it and acting like a dysfunctional pack the thing that finely caught the bird and returned it safely back outside?  well as the young man said who caught it, it was his mad Asian skills. 

Knitting project

Finally it is done! my very first bag!

This is my lunch bag.  it started by following the pattern posted at knitty.com for a brown lunch bag which i thought looked really neat. the problem was i decided to use some yarn i already had which could not be felted, so when i got to the end of the pattern it did not look right.  so I changed it up by adding a drawstring, then for some more color i experimented by putting on a pocket.  this was a very fun project!

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I have been trying to think of something to blog about and I realized that it has been a wail sense i did a review on something.  So here it goes

I know this movie came out a wail ago but I just saw it over spring break.  I really like this movie it has a good message. 

Spoiler alert (the plot):  it is about Peter Bretter is a musician who hopes to one day write musicals but is currently working as the music guy for a hot TV Crime show that his girl friend of five years, Sarah Marshall. is the lead character.  the movie opens with Peter enjoying his day and then having a surprise visit from his girlfriend who informs him that she is breaking up with him.  Peter deals with it as any secular modern man would.  he goes to Hawaii where as fate would have it Sarah is also there with her new boyfriend the Aldous Snow at the same hotel.  Hilarity ensues as Peter goes back and forth between wanting to be over Sarah and wanting to have her back in his life.  finally he lets go and starts going with Rachel the hotel receptionist.  

Things I Like

First: the message of this movie is great.  the message is that some times there are consequences that you just have to live with.  at one point Sarah starts to realize that she may have made a mistake to break it off with Peter and when Aldous breaks up with her she tries to get in peter's pants, it almost works because well Peter is a guy. afterwards when he tells Sarah that he could never be wither again because she broke his heart.  he then actually does the right thing and tells Rachel everything, even though he knows it will hurt her and that she will probably leave him for it.  She does because lets face it just because you tell the truth doesn't mean that it will be all sun shine and puppies.  But also it is when Peter stops trying to have someone in his life that he is able to  move on with his life and do the one thing that he has been dreaming about.  

Second: the one couple in this movie that leaves Hawaii happy and satisfied is a Christian couple on their honey moon.  their relationship is first awkward  because they hadn't had sex before they got married, but in the end with a few tips on how to 'please' his wife the couple are happy and satisfied with each other.  

Third: Aldous Snow, to me at least int he movie he represents the free love, world peace, extremists. and he is mocked the whole time.  he goes on a whole rant about how love isn't about relationships it is about 'connections' with women.  he is also so phlegmatic about things that he doesn't understand why people would get upset,  but my favorite quote is when someone points to his tattoos and says  Let me tell you something about these tattoos, okay. That is Buddhist, that is Nordic, that is Hindu, that's just gibberish. They are completely conflicting ideologies, and that does not make you a citizen of the world, it makes you full of Crap!

Things i didn't like:

to be warned there is a fair bit of sex in this film, for the most part it is all in context of the story that is being portrayed.  a guy in this day and age gets his heart broke after coming out of a 5 year relationship, what is he going to do? there also is some non sexual male nudity.  but on the whole there is little that is gratuitous.  

That is it, i give this movie a 4 out of five stars.  if you liked Knocked up, 40 year old virgin, and the hangover you will probably enjoy this flick. 

blog changes.

Okay so I have changed up the look of my blog, those who frequent it please let me know what you think of the changes.

facebook people, well here is a link http://glosdrumbeat.blogspot.com/

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday follows Good Friday, the "anniversary" of the day we killed God. for many people this makes Holy Saturday a very sad day, the day when among that small band of discipleship everything seemed just a little darker. for us today we may think of this day as a dark day, but truly that is only because we could not see what was happening.

in the apostle's creed it states that he (Christ) descended into hades, then on the third day he rose. so on this holy Saturday we remember that Christ died and went down into hell and started Fucking shit up. (an apology to those of my readers who disprove of strong language, nothing but strong language would convey the event which takes place on this day). during holy Saturday Jesus won the war and reminded all those silly little fallen angels and Satan himself who was in charge of this world. He claims victory over death and the grave, he breaks the chains of sin, and takes back what was his from the beginning. and in the end wail he stands over the devil he first asks "is that all you've got?" then when there is no answer Jesus asks another question, "you had enough yet? you remember now why I'm God and you are not?"

So in celebration and in memory of that great victory which is remembered on this day, Holy Saturday, I give you St. John Chrysostom's Easter homily:

Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward; let any who came after the third hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of being too late; for the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him who comes on the eleventh hour as well as to him who has toiled since the first: yes, He has pity on the last and He serves the first; He rewards the one and praises the effort.

Come you all: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day; you who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today. The table is richly loaded: enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted one: let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of his goodness. Let no one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed; let no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave; let no one fear death, for the death of our Saviour has set us free: He has destroyed it by enduring it, He has despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom, He has angered it by allowing it to taste of his flesh.

When Isaias foresaw all this, he cried out: "O Hades, you have been angered by encountering Him in the nether world." Hades is angered because frustrated, it is angered because it has been mocked, it is angered because it has been destroyed, it is angered because it has been reduced to naught, it is angered because it is now captive. It seized a body, and, lo! it encountered heaven; it seized the visible, and was overcome by the invisible.

O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen and you are abolished. Christ is risen and the demons are cast down. Christ is risen and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen and life is freed. Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead: for Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Death is Dead! Love has Won! Christ has Concord and risen from the dead!