The Bible says we are all born sinners in need of redemption. Jesus Christ is the only way to that redemption.
Many people turn away from Christ. Therefor, the parents added to the evil of the world by having that child. Great job. And yet all Christian faiths (who is right?) impose pressure on young couples to have children. Therefor, anytime a child commits an evil act, and the birth of that child was due to peer pressure on the part of the church to have children, it was an evil act perpetuated by the very institution claiming allegiance to God.

In doubt of the above I studied further, and found that we can be held accountable for the sins of our forebearers and sins of our children. Why else would an innocent baby be slaughtered in Numbers 31? It's everywhere in the bible. Guilt by association is an immutable law enforced by God, or we would not be living in a fallen world made unholy by the acts of two people we never knew.

Faith is based on free will. We are to be grateful to God for our lives. Many people hate being alive. The world is full of atrocity, pain, and perpetual violence visited on innocent people. None of us had a choice in being born, and had we been shown this world as a preview would most likely have chosen to become martian dust storms instead. So why should there be an expectation of gratitude on my part? I really want to know. Once here and exposed to the Bible we have two choices: accept and love the Trinity to achieve everlasting life, or go to hell. Some choice. In fact, it seems everywhere I turn there is very little free will in the matter. I will not bring a child into that. It would be cruel and selfish, which according to scripture would in fact be right in line with my inherited nature.

Or, perhaps Christians have got it all wrong and God exists and Christ existed, but the Bible is upside down due to human meddling by an organized religion bent on world domination in the guise of being evangelical centuries in the distant past. What an unhappy and state I am in with these thoughts. What  heretic I have become.

There are three years in my life I would have rather done without. Of those, 2009 is by far at the top of this very short list. In fact, if it were a triangle, the other two years would form a frighteningly small base for such a tall apex. If 2010 is anything like 2009, I'd rather just sleep through it.

If 2009 were a drug it would be the one lone pill sitting by itself expiring in the back of your cupboard, of absolute use to nobody even it were swallowed. I believe God invented 2009 as a test of how much crummy stuff could actually occur in a 10 dimensional universe (the refutation of string theory means we add one more dimension, thus making it 10...as if we need one more dimension anyway). If so, congratulations, it worked. The only thing missing is a malfunction of the Matrix so that instead of everything tasting like Chicken it tastes like 2009.

2010 has an easy job. Just don't be 2009.

Heywood Banks sums up my feelings on 2009 quite well in this ditty.

Credit card payments are what happen between Christmases.

I managed to bust a vessel inside my nose and I am now the proud owner of a novel device I must "wear" for 3 days. By "wear" I mean it is shoved up into my nose, wrapped around the BACK of my nasal sinus cavity, and coming out the other nostril. It is basically a fluid filled plastic mesh pouch containing "clot enhancers" to help stop the bleeding. I figured out that "clot enhancer" is codespeak for "stings like hell, burns like hell, for what feels like an eternity in hell."   The real joy is that, once inserted, it is pumped up using a micro fluid pump until it presses completely on the walls of your sinuses. This stops the bleeding...eventually. It also stops person-to-person meetings, video conferences, and sleeping. Trying to sleep with this thing in my nose is like swimming to the bottom of a pool, then flipping yourself upside and laying on the bottom. If you ever decide to try that stunt without exhaling through your nose once on the bottom, you will be where I am at now. It also gives you the sinus headache from hell, and makes it impossible to eat or drink anything without feeling like you're on an airplane that's descending too fast (plug both nostrils and drink something...now do this for 3 days). I look like a UFO alien abduction reject. This tube with a small reservoir is hanging out of my right nostril, taped to the side of my face. And the other nostril has your standard "sham wow" gauze packing that is super absorbent...and as such is also super soggy, super heavy, and super gross.

I went to my ENT doctor this morning and had him look at what the ER doc had done. I thought he would say, "man that is overkill". Instead he said, "We'll need to leave that in for 3 more days."  Oh boy.

Sort of sums it up.

Ok, it's not Mars, but it's almost as ugly. The trip to the San Luis Obispo winds through some pretty desolate terrain. Imagine everyone's surprise when we discovered that even out here California lives up to its potential for traffic jams. Also, the smoke in the distance on one of these pics is the Santa Barbara fire on Thursday. You can zoom on the photos in my photo gallery.

I have recently completed two books in a science fiction series dealing with the psychological phenomenon known as Future Shock and how it may pan out by the year 2035. Having been ill since January of this year, I have filled my time polishing my manuscript in order to stay focused and motivated to work in the real world, where I am a web designer and web business consultant. In researching appropriate agents to query for submission of Book One, I came across a rejection letter that could have been received by JRR Tolkien's query letter for permission to send an agency a sample of his manuscript, "The Hobbit". This letter came out of an exercise evaluating JRR Tolkien's work to what the industry of the time expected. The agent in question is fictional but the criticisms are real. If you are an author, then this might help with thoughts that perhaps your work isn't that good after receiving a number of query rejections. Here then, is a credible rejection letter to one of the most famous stories ever told.

Dear Mr. Tolkien,

Thank you for submitting a query for your children's novel, "The Hobbit". I regret to inform you that while the proposal shows merit, this agency may not be the best fit for your work.

If I might venture some feedback, your query letter needs to be improved if future submissions are to be met with success. Although well written, with some of the strongest grammar this agency has ever seen, your outline of the dilemma facing the main protagonist failed to engage me on an emotional level. You also spent far too much time talking about your professorship and expertise in Norse mythology and foreign languages. What has that got to do with anything? Tell me about your book!

On to the sample pages you supplied. From what I can see, most of your first chapter is taken up with back-story concerning "hobbits" and their unusual living arrangements. Indeed - by the end of this first chapter, the story still hasn't started. Might I suggest commencing at a different point in the narrative? Your best bet would be to open with Bilbo in the grip of the Trolls, and gradually, as the tale progresses, present the back-story of how he came to be there. This will grab your young reader's attention from the start, enticing them to read further while moving the story along at a much quicker pace.

As for the main protagonist - is it likely that children will relate to a fifty-something man with hairy feet who lives in a pit? Might I suggest making Bilbo younger and perhaps a tad less hairy? How about having him as a young tear-away living in his parent's attic, perhaps escaping one night by tying his bed-sheets together, that sort of thing. This demonstration of a rebellious attitude and a desire for personal empowerment will far better capture the imagination of a young reader than a middle-aged man running off without a pocket-handkerchief. Trust me.

This might be a good place to mention the apparent gender imbalance in the work. There would appear to be just a slight deficiency of female characters in the story. To put this another way, there are none - zilch - zero. There are men with hairy feet, men with long beards, men with pipes, men who can see in the dark - there are even men who can turn into bears. There are men of every size, shape and smoking habit imaginable, but the closest you come to a female character is the inclusion of several slightly effeminate elves. This just won't cut it in today's publishing world. If you want to attract a female audience, you must include strong female role-models. My suggestion would be to make the wizard a woman. Gandalina has a nice ring to it. But lose the beard.

A final comment - the conclusion of your story is far from satisfactory. Having brought Bilbo across miles of uncharted wilderness and ever-present danger, someone else kills the dragon! I can already hear the wails of your young readers, devastated at such a radical deviation from accepted norms of children's literature. I for one will not subject them to such a trial.

I wish you all the very best for your future submissions. Remember, publication is a highly subjective business, and one person's trash may indeed be another person's gold.

Yours Sincerely,
Herbert T. Agent

 

I dislike touch screen devices that do not come with a clamshell cover or some other way cover the screen like a flip phone. Without exception, people I know who have an iPhone or other touch-screen phone have had the embarrassing situation where their butt calls someone. You know, they stick the phone in their back pocket and the touch screen activates and dials a number.

I do not own an iPhone for that exact reason. Nothing with a touch screen, that does not have a flip cover on it, will ever be purchased by me. I don't care what the feature set is, such accidental invasions of privacy are without exception a problem for EVERY person I know with one of these devices.

Four days ago, my wife's iPhone proved it is probably the most intrusive piece of technology ever invented, and almost ruined a family relationship. A family member was driving us nuts. I'm sure nobody else has a family member that causes them stress, so perhaps I am alone on this. My wife set her iPhone down on our coffee table and then we began to discuss our frustrations and figure out a way to deal with this loved on. Unfortunately, my wife's thumb had brushed a screen button that apparently re-dials automatically. This person ended up hearing 1.5 hours of our conversation. It has not been a good week. Now the iPhone gets turned off and put in another room. It is banished.

Just curious to get your reactions to the video below. How does it make you feel and what thoughts come to mind?