03.01.2007

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Don says:

Lisa and I are still feeling knocked out by having blogs at Lockergnome.   We're used to writing a paragraph or two for this page every time we post the ezine and we each have a blog at myspace but we're not in the habit of posting to them.   With all the negative publicity myspace has received we rarely even log in any more.   Myspace is a good place for people to network but it's importance seems to be inversely proportional to one's age, thus, it's a very big deal indeed to my sixteen year old granddaughter, of slightly less importance to my 30-something niece and not really very important me (I'm 59).   I also have a blog at blogger.com but I didn't really register because I was interested in blogging.   I kept finding interesting blogs at blogger.com and every time I tried to leave a comment they insisted I log in.   The first couple of times I just moved on but finally registered so that I'd be allowed to leave comments.   I actually posted to it a couple of times but never really got into it.   Lisa has posted to her myspace blog even less than I have but it's a different story with our Lockergnome blogs.   She's been posting to Lockergnome on a daily basis and I've been posting every two or three days.   I had to talk a blue streak to persuade her to sign up for a blog at Lockergnome and now, a few days later, she's been writing like a fiend (she has several new posts ready but is "scheduling" them) and has started fretting and worrying that she'll suddenly run out of things to say.   She has a new idiom in her speech; in the middle of a conversation she'll suddenly shout "Oooh, that's content", grab a little notepad she carries around everywhere she goes and start madly scribbling.   After a moment or two she'll look up and say "I'm sorry, where were we?".

Don:   myspace     blogger     Lockergnome

Lisa:   myspace     Lockergnome

A friend sent me one of those email forwards full of images and fonts in multiple colors and sizes going on about how this country was founded by Christians and how terrible it is that we're taking Christianity out of our government and schools.   I mulled it over for a while and wrote what I believe was a pretty good response that I'd like to reproduce here.

Whether or not you worship a God or the human incarnation/avatar/offspring of a God is your business.   If you want to talk about your religion, briefly without preaching, I'm ok with that.   I feel no compulsion to discuss my own beliefs but I'll answer if you ask.   If I have any religious rituals to observe I will take care to schedule them to occur on my own time and I will thank you to return the favor.   I see no reason why we can't keep our respective religions out of our schools, government and public events.   Yes, I know that the founders of this country were Christians; they also believed that women were personal property and bathing was unhealthy, what has that to do with anything?

If this country was run to suit me there would be no churches, sporting events would be illegal and the use of alcohol or tobacco would be felonies with stiff penalties, but I don't want to run the country.   I just want to live here in peace.   If that means I must keep some of my beliefs to myself and tolerate other people who's views differ from my own, I can live with that.

How about you?

It seems as though I'd only just sent this when I got another similar email, from another friend, containing all sorts of images and eloquent commentary on the importance of restoring Christian principles to our government, legal and educational systems.   I didn't want to just parrot myself and I decided that there's got to be an equally eloquent opposing viewpoint out there somewhere, this wouldn't be the America I know and love if there weren't, so I did some research, thought it over for a bit and wrote this response.

Abraham Lincoln was an atheist.

Hitler was a Christian.

My point is simply that being a Christian doesn't make someone a good person any more than being an atheist makes them a bad person.   There are all sorts of people in the world who have many different beliefs.   I can't find it in my heart to believe that there's only one religion that's "right" in the eyes of God.   I was born and raised an American so I believe in letting the majority rule.   Christianity, being the world's majority religion, according to this site, may be the right way to go but when you read down a little further you find that over 40 different Christian sects are mentioned.   How is anybody supposed to figure out which of them is the "right" one?   If that doesn't create enough confusion for you, my research turned up something that would never have occurred to me.   I've never questioned the contention that our nation's founding fathers were Christians but that, it turns out, isn't entirely true.

Notes on the Founding Fathers and the Separation of Church and State

Our Founding Fathers Were Not Christians

All that matters to me is the fact that every American is constitutionally guaranteed the right to his own religious beliefs and an equal voice in our political system.   These are principles I believe in and will defend against all comers, with my life if need be.

In this issue of our ezine I listed a few churches which offer legitimate ordination papers free for the asking.   One of the online churches I found was perhaps a bit of a spoof but I found it irresistable so I filled out the application.

The Church of the Latter-Day Dude

One final item from me, here's an image that was in an email I received recently.   This image really doesn't need a caption, it speaks for itself, but it had a cute caption so I'll reprint that too.

Go ahead, I'll wait.

Lisa says:

According to the LCRA (Lower Colorado River Authority) River Report; the status of Lake Buchanan, which is, or was, about two blocks from our home;

"Above the Highland Lakes this morning, streamflow in the Colorado River and tributaries continue to fall slowly. Lake Buchanan is about 14 feet below the historic February average at 998.30 feet this morning.", which makes it 11 feet above the record low of 987.   In other words, folks, it's dry and has been for several years.   Lake Buchanan is the first in a chain of lakes and it's used to regulate the lake levels of four additional lakes, Inks, LBJ, Marble Falls and Travis. So, the other four lakes have constant levels while Buchanan comes and goes, for the last few years it's been going. Well, as we say, it's gotta rain sooner or later. Until then, I'll be watering my flowers and hoping for the best.

High and Dry in Texas

We've been having lots of fun blogging at Lockergnome.   I've decided to post once a day and get a few days ahead so I don't have to write if I don't want to.   Researching the subject of blogging, I came across a lot of tips.   One is to write every day and post often.   If people become interested in what you have to say, they'll visit on a regular basis.   Of course we hope they'll come to our website and take a look around.   One thing I like about Lockergnome is that they've been around a long time and have a good reputation for information, news, opinion and education.   I'm not sure I feel comfortable writing in a technical publication because I don't know that much but what I can bring to the mix is a beginner's point of view and the application of computing to other areas of life.   There are others in the same position and hopefully they'll appreciate my viewpoint.