Merry Christmas!

With prayers for God's blessings!
K!Mberly, Tyler, Cameron & Jim

Fastest Growing Websites

Wow! Things can change so quickly with the state of modern technology. 2005 is the first year I've been blogging, listening to podcasts, and posting photos on the internet.

At least I thought I waskeeping up. Now I realize that I haven't even heard of the fastest-growing websites.

"Comparing all sites with at least 1 million visitors in November, the PhotoBucket photo-sharing site saw the largest growth — a 16-fold increase to 15.6 million visitors, from 983,000 last year.

Social networking sites MySpace and Facebook had the second- and third-highest growth, respectively."

Poll: Americans Need High-Tech Gadgets

Can anyone relate to this statement: "The Internet connection is my lifeline."

Haha! I feel like that! I thank God I live in an age when I can learn more about the world than anyone ever before. I can live anywhere and be a citizen of the world.

What we crave - simplicity

Anybody else think "It's about time?!" I am frustrated with increasingly bloated software programs that can do 999 things I don't know about or care about, and which make it so hard to find the way to do the 3 things I really want to do.

"Think of it as option fatigue. Why fumble with one of five remotes when you can press one button, and voil�, it works! Simplicity is the latest buzz in management and design. With the need to work faster and better, who has the time for owners’ manuals?

"Thus a new premium is being accorded to ease of use. The iPod nano nails it. Complexity has become a hazard in pushing products. The new trend is to strip things down to their basics and make products intuitive. In 2005, less was more."

Fascinating Football Facts

USC really has an incredible combination of talent in its two star players. They could accomplish something that has never been done before in college football.

"If Bush wins the award, he and Leinart will become the third set of teammates to win the award in consecutive years.

The last were Army's famous Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside, Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis, in 1945-46.

And the two USC stars could become the first Heisman winners to play together in a college game when USC (12-0) meets No. 2 Texas (12-0) in the Rose Bowl for the national title on Jan. 4.

Or if Young wins, the national title game will be a matchup of Heisman winners for the second straight year — and the second time ever.

Last season after Leinart won the award, USC played Oklahoma and 2004 Heisman winner Jason White in the
Orange Bowl, marking the first Heisman showdown in college football."

Putting Christ back in Christmas

"For the third year in a row, Christians nationwide have mobilized to put the holy back in the holiday. And they are winning battle after battle."

And the word of the year is...

podcast, which has really come a long way during the year, from infancy to almost mainstream. I started listening to podcasts in March (my favorite is the maccast) but after Apple included it in their iTunes software, lots of more professional quality content appeared, including many network-broadcast shows.

"The term 'podcast' has been declared Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary.

The term is defined as 'a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the internet for downloading to a personal audio player'."

Fooling Ourselves

This week the USC-UCLA football game gave me a reminder of how hard it is to get an objective evaluation of ourselves.

We can take our successful results and mix them with wishful thinking and praise of fans and over-rate ourselves, ignoring our weaknesses. Lots of times we don't really want objective evaluations, because they can be painful.

In sports, blissful ignorance can't last too long, because sooner or later you will come upon a really good team. However, in other areas of life, it is easier to go on deluding ourselves.

"I remember a famous writer, I think it was Salman Rushdie, was on the David Letterman show a few years ago. When Letterman asked Rushdie what was the one thing he had learned about human existence, Rushdie said, “The extent that humans will go to fool themselves.”"

Singlish can, lah!

Here's a hilarious example of Singlish from local blogger Mr Brown:

"Aiyo! Why you say me until like that? You so clever you write yourself lah!
.
I tells you first hor, it is not 'Singlish Complain Columns'. In fact, you should say 'Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) Complaint Columns'.
.
Don't anyhowly say, wait, people say your England not powderful.
.
Anyway, you think any mother's-son can write in Singlish meh? You are very the wrong, can?
.
First you must know what is the rules of England. And then you must know what is the rules of Singlish (yes, actually Singlish is also got grammar one, ok?).
.
Then when you write that time the Singlish then got pattern."

Olson became rallying point

Quarterback Drew Olson of UCLA has been the heart and soul of a team this year that has played above expectations and above its talent level.

He has led his team to an impressive 9-1, four of them incredible come-from-behind vicotries, while playing with good but not great offensive linemen and receivers and a poor defensive line and average linebackers and secondary.

"Olson has a better completion percentage, passing-efficiency rating and touchdown-to-interception ratio than any of the past eight Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks"

However, he won't win the Heisman, because he is not leading a national championship team nor has he set records for total yardage or touchdowns. All he does is play the position more efficiently than anybody else and lift a mediocre team to near-greatness.

I think he's had an incredible year and deserves recognition as having the best season of any college football player in the country this year. Certainly if there was a college MVP award, he should get it.

George Washington and Thanksgiving

Author Paul Johnson, in his book on George Washington, says that Washington sanctioned the first amendment because he opposed the government setting up a national church like the Church of England.

However, he would have been horrified to know that the first amendment was used to eliminate religion, and especially Christianity, from public life. He saw the Christian religion as underpinning civilized society.

Johnson pointedly observes:

An America without religion as the strongest voluntary source of
morality was to him an impossibility.

It is significant that the day after the House of Representatives passed the
First Amendment, on September 25, 1789, it also passed, by a two-to-one
majority, a resolution calling for a day of national prayer and
thanksgiving, and asked Washington to appoint the day. The Resolution
reads: ‘We acknowledge with grateful hearts the many signal favours of
Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peacefully to
establish a constitutional government for their safety and happiness.’

Appointing the national holiday of Thanksgiving, Washington replied, in
words equally significant: ‘It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the
providence of Almighty God, to obey His Will, to be grateful for His mercy,
to implore His protection and favour... That great and glorious Being who is
the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that ever will
be, that we may then unite in rendering unto Him an sincere and humble
thanks for His kind care and protection of the people.’ (pp. 102-104)

Narnia: Up from the church basement

Columnist Cal Thomas makes a few good observations about Christians' engagement with society, particularly in the realm of the arts:

"This is an important film because it offers a better strategy for Christians and conservatives than Hollywood-bashing."

"Most conservatives and Christians, rather than advocating for better movies, have been content to boycott films, make really bad ones, or criticize what was being produced. This approach has had minimal influence on the film industry and has contributed little that was positive to the culture wars."

He applauds the new "Chronicles of Narnia" film for being a wonderful movie that appeals to the spirit without pedantically spelling out a gospel message.

Can we applaud Christians for making really good films, music, art, etc, that are not explicitly "Christian?" To skillfully portray biblical values and worldview and then leave it up to the viewer to decide what they are going to do with the message?

Absolutely! Wow, I think we need so much more of that. A subtle communication of the values we believe in and the implications for our lives. Isn't that how non-Christians have shaped culture for decades? Not with overtly anti-Christian messages, but with TV shows and advertising and movies and music that are thoroughly humanistic and hedonistic. Though churches may still be teaching orthodox doctrine, the media of our society have captured people's hearts and shaped our opinions.

Let's patronize this movie and clamor for much more entertainment like it.

Thanksgiving - the rest of the story

Chuck Colson gives us some background on the life of Squanto, who befriended the Pilgrims and paved the way for the first Thanksgiving celebration.

"Who but God could so miraculously convert a lonely Indian and then use him to save a struggling band of Englishmen? It is reminiscent of the biblical story of Joseph, who was also sold into slavery—and whom God, likewise, used as a special instrument for good."

High on Sky High

I left the movie theater with that kind of euphoria I got from the original Matrix and the older Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

My two boys were busily repeating their favorite lines.

I was wondering if I just saw my favorite movie of the year.

The recipe for Sky High's success? It was funny, adventurous, romantic, family-oriented, and extremely likeable. With clear-cut good guys and bad guys in a teenage-drama setting, it managed to be a fantasy film that was very human and not too cartoonish.

I loved it, my family loved it. Ranks up there with 13 Going On 30 and The Incredibles.

K!Mberly stars!

My beautiful talented wife is a guest star at a special Arts Festival Gala tonight.

She is even more fun and creative and delightful today than when she captured my heart on our first date 264 months ago tonight.

By the way, that night we ate Chinese food and went to a play. The ride since then has been wonderful, and it keeps getting better...

Segregation - the rest of the story

This article points out that neither governments nor businesses are wholly good. Both need checks and balances because, ultimately, people are behind all of them and people are not always good. In fact, they are mostly good when it is in their interest to be good. Otherwise, they will tend to exploit for their own advantage unless restrained by an outside influence.

"It was politics that segregated the races because the incentives of the political process are different from the incentives of the economic process."

Pride & Prejudice - Review

We really loved the A&E miniseries version years ago with Colin Firth. Now I'm looking forward to seeing this version.

"Along the way, it serves a continuing banquet of high-end comfort food perfectly cooked and seasoned to Anglophilic tastes. In its final minutes, it makes you believe in true love, the union of soul mates, happily-ever-after and all the other stuff a romantic comedy promises but so seldom delivers. For one misty-eyed moment, order reigns in the universe."

Ahhh... I love movies like that.

Gartner: Ignore Vista until 2008

I expect I'll be ignoring Vista long after that. After migrating through every Windows itineration (except ME - was that an itineration?) from 3.1 to XP, I became a switcher this year, and am enjoying the Mac OS for several reasons, but primarily because - IT WORKS!

"The majority of improvements in Vista, the update scheduled to arrive in 2006, will be security-related and most of this functionality 'is available via third-party products today,' Gartner analysts said in a research note published on Friday."

Zorro Redux

We really loved Zorro a few years ago. Great drama, great characters, good action, good romance, a happy ending. And gorgeous actors. Very well done.

So we were disappointed after watching Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones reprise their roles in the current movie. Still very pleasant to look at, but gone were the drama and character development. The action had turned into A-Team like stunts, lots of bodies flying around in a cartoonish way without anybody ever getting hurt.

The precocious son of Zorro has become a focal point of the movie and the parents have devolved into good-natured but somewhat bumbling heroes. It reminded me a lot of another Banderas movie, Spy Kids, but not as original or endearing.

It still managed to entertain, but was not memorable.

The Case of Behe vs. Darwin

My experience has been that academics are some of the most closed-minded people I've met.

Rather than exploring for truth, they seem bent on lining up evidence to prove their conclusions. So it wouldn't surprise me if the majority of the scientific community were actually wrong, and had followed the crowd rather than actually following the evidence.

"Denton argued there was little physical proof of Darwin's evolutionary theories, despite widespread support for his conclusions. Behe began to wonder.

'I checked research papers, and I was shocked to find that none of these things had been explained,' Behe said. 'I came to realize that a pillar of my thinking [in believing Darwinism] was supported not by evidence but by sociological factors, what other people think.'"