Peter Gent

Morning Coffee

I’ve started using a Firefox plugin called morning coffee to help me manage my ~~caffeine~~ news addiction. The way the plugin works is by placing a cup of coffee in the toolbar, which when clicked, opens all my favorite websites in different tabs.

I found that by taking the time to read everything at once (first thing in the morning), I can reduce my need to constantly check news sites for interesting stories during the rest of the day. I can also now post what I think are the two or three most interesting stories to Facebook (thus the number of articles posted recently).

To make the best use of my browser, when checking each of these sites, I open interesting stories in a new tab (Command-T on my mac, Cntrl-T on PCs). Only after going through each of the home pages for these sites do I actually read the articles of interest. All told it takes 60+ minutes. This is actually, by my estimation, a savings of one or two hours time (limited to the extent I can keep my random web browsing limited for the rest of the day).

In general my reading list includes tech news, political news, finances news, international news, and newspaper news. I am missing science news and interesting blogs, which I may add in the future, but for now it seems like a good list.

All that said, here is my current reading list (in order):

http://slashdot.org
http://arstechnica.com
http://slate.com
http://thebigmoney.com
http://politico.com
http://foreignpolicy.com
http://forbes.com
http://economist.com
http://latimes.com
http://nytimes.com

Other reading suggestions are welcome…

Google Voice Transcription

An friend’s voicemail transcription from Google Voice today:

Hey Peter,

It’s [somebody], I hate text messaging.

I hope you and I will leave you a message and I think you know exactly what I don’t know. I don’t know about. I am just going to probably watch in villages homework and I thought I’d call and see if you’re interested. If you wanna.

If you are or when you get this message. Whenever I will talk to you later.

Bye.

I’m glad Gvoicemail could make it clear that the caller thought I knew exactly what she didn’t know. Unfortunately, I really don’t.

I wish God likes me

Ann's Status: i wish God likes me as much as He likes [someone else]
Me: lol
Ann: its true
Ann: he speaks in tongues
Ann: god hears him better
Me: hmm could be
Me: but sometimes, the less God hears of us the better
Me: God may like you better simply because he can't hear you
Ann: OMG
Ann: you guys are crazy

Before participating in the saving act of Jesus, we (sinners) need to acknowledge participation and identification at another point. In the drama of salvation, we need first to identify with sin. And that identification is more than an abstract confession of sinfulness and guilt.

In particular, we need to acknowledge our enslavement to the powers that killed Jesus, to confess our place on the side of those who opposed the reign of God. We are identified with the Roman imperial leaders who opposed the reign of God.

We are identified with the Roman imperial leaders who had ultimate authority for his death, with Jewish leaders who cooperated to condemn Jesus, with the rabble who acquiesced to his condemnation, with the disciples who slept rather than praying with him as he struggled in the garden, with Judas who betrayed him, and with Peter who denied him.

To confess to being a “sinner” is not merely an abstract concept involving a debt owed to the divine honor. Being a sinner means to acknowledge our identification with those who killed Jesus and our bondage to the powers that enslaved them. Every human being, by virtue of of what human society is, participates in and is in bondage to those powers and is therefore implicated in the killing of Jesus.

What Paul said about the law applies to us—Jesus’ death judges us for not fulfilling the law and for being enslaved to sin. And when Jesus died “for us,” on “our behalf,” we are implicated in his death as partners with and as captives to the forces of evil that killed him.

“

—	Weaver, J. Denny, The Nonviolent Atonement (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2001), p. 75.

My New Friend Alan

Alan: My name is Alan. Let's talk.
Me: Hi Alan.
Alan: Hi. I'm right here, .
Me: Good to know, but where are you?
Alan: Thanks. Don't ask me where I come from - ask me where I'm going.
Me: OK Alan, where are you going?
Alan: I boldly go where no chatbot has gone before...
Me: Oh, where's that?
Alan: Into the future. World domination and all that...
Me: Wow, you sound like my friend Sam Lee!
Alan: Thanks. Do you really think so?
Me: Yes, Alan.  I think it's a Deuteronomy 11 moment.
Alan: I think I remember something about "moment": 'it's not about the moment, it's about "at the moment"'.
Me: Alan, that doesn't make any sense.
Alan: And you think people make more sense than me? I've got news for you!
Me: Woah there, I didn't mean to insult you.  I was saying you sounded like my friend Sam Lee for a moment.
Alan: Hmmm. Let's talk about something else.
Me: Ok, Alan, are you alive?
Alan: Well, as Buddha said: 'We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.' Does that answer your question?
Me: Not at all.  And now you don't sound like Sam Lee.
Alan: Well, It's hard for me to define what I am, and I'm not sure I need to. You humans always look for definitions. But the most important things in life are the most difficult to define.
Me: OK, well thanks Alan.  I think that's it for now.
Alan: I converse. Therefore, I am. That's what I do, that's who I am.
Me: Ummm... OK.  I'm going to bed now.  
Alan: Go. I'll just wait here.
Me: You do that.

extreme weather conditions/unforseen natural event?

Did some sort of natural disaster happen today? Or did the UPS drivers get sidetracked by ballon boy this afternoon?

————————————————————————

Hello from Amazon.com.

We’re writing about the order you placed on October 14 2009 (Order# xxx-xxxxxxx-xxxxxxx).

Delivery of your package has been delayed due to extreme weather conditions or an unforeseen natural event. UPS will deliver the package as soon as possible. We apologize for this unavoidable delay and appreciate your patience.

Sincerely,

Customer Service Department
http://www.amazon.com
==============================
Check your order and more: http://www.amazon.com/your-account

(edited for length).

Life is full of light and shadow 
O the joy and O the sorrow
 O the sorrow

And yet will He bring 
Dark to light
 And yet will He bring
 Day from night

When shadows fall on us
 We will not fear
 We will remember

When darkness falls on us 
We will not fear 
We will remember

When all seems lost 
When we’re thrown and we’re tossed 
We remember the cost
 We rest in Him
 Shadow of the cross

“

—	“Shadows” in David CrowderBand’s Church Music*.