Oops!

After getting dropped off at the carpool meeting point after work, I noticed an extension cord lying on the ground in front of my car. I thought I should move it out of the way so I don't run over it. Then I noticed that my car was plugged into it.

In the morning I had unplugged the extension cord from the outlet, but I must not have unplugged the car from the cord. So I must have driven all the way to the carpool meeting point (about a 5-minute drive away) with that loooong extension cord sticking out behind my car. And in the afternoon, the block heater timer was nowhere to be seen. I'd assume it came off somewhere during the drive, rather than being stolen, because the prongs of the extension cord were a bit bent. The timer probably would've protected the prongs.

I tested the cord and it still works. So that's a bit of good news.

I'm Christian, unless you're gay--an article

Have a look at this article that a friend posted a link to on Facebook:

I'm Christian, unless you're gay.

Also have a look at the powerful responses that the writer links to at the end of the article.

The odd time that I've written about homosexuality here, I've typically tried to speak out in defense of gay people who are mistreated. But thinking back quite a few years, I did, on occasion, say some things that would've been quite hurtful to gay people. I can picture one occasion, probably in junior high school, when I told someone who'd just said something anti-gay, "I'm homophobic and proud of it." In elementary school, I'd like to think I was a nice and accepting person, but I occasionally joined in making fun of the least popular kids. And based on Facebook, at least one of those people turned out to be gay.

If you heard me say hurtful things like these, I'm sorry. I'd like to think I've treated gays and other mistreated people reasonably well most of the time, but I know there have been exceptions. So once again, I'm sorry. And I want to assure you, if you're gay and you feel like you can't tell most people, if you tell me, you won't lose a friend like that guy in the article did.

No more Facebook blogging

So Facebook recently removed their feature that imports people's blog posts onto their Facebook profiles. I had been using that feature, but I was actually considering removing it.

For one thing, it meant that I'd have two separate comment threads on each post--one on Facebook and one on the blog itself. The Facebook thread got more comments, but it would've been nice to keep them unified.

Also, I think I might get a bit more personal here if it's not being broadcast to everyone I know on Facebook. Sure, the blog is technically more public than my Facebook profile, but unlike Facebook, the blog doesn't announce everything I write to everyone I know who happens to log into Facebook. Now my thoughts will--in theory--only be read by people who want to read them, so that might make me feel more free to write what I want. We'll see.

And Blogger allows anonymous comments, so you can easily leave comments without a Google membership. If you have any trouble with that feature, try to let me know if you have a way of contacting me. But I just tried it, and it let me leave an anonymous comment.

Adaptations of hymns

Lots of Christian rock bands have adapted old hymns into rock songs, but there are some mainstream bands that have done that too. Two come to mind from the last few years, but I'm sure there are more.

The first example is based on the spiritual "Roll Jordan Roll." Here's one performance of it. Alexisonfire did an adaptation of it with different music but similar lyrics (although I'm not sure if they wrote the verses) called "The Northern." Here is the music video.

And then as a contrast, there's a Shaker song called "Simple Gifts." Here's a choir performing it. And then Weezer came along and adapted it into a rock song, loosely based on the original tune. But they didn't retain any of the lyrics. They didn't even write lyrics in the spirit of the original song. Instead of a song celebrating humility and simplicity, they adapted it into one of the most awesomely arrogant songs of all time. I can only hope they were joking. Here it is: The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn).

(That video reminds me, ski season starts soon!)

What is it about these hymns that inspire rock singers--who don't claim to be Christians, as far as I know--to adapt them?

Gods you can comprehend

John, the disciple Jesus loved, ended his first letter with this line: “Children, be on your guard against false gods.” In other words, steer clear of any god you can comprehend. Abba’s love cannot be comprehended. I’ll say it again: Abba’s love cannot be comprehended.

--Brennan Manning

No voices in my head

God may or may not have told me to link to this:

No Voices in My Head by Bill MacKinnon

9/11 conspiracy theories

"I have a rule of thumb when it comes to conspiracy theories. If the theory involves aliens or government competence - such as keeping a secret for years - I don't believe the story"
--Scott Adams (not talking about 9/11)

The Globe and Mail has a page on their website where readers can comment about how the 9/11 attacks changed their world. Reading through several of the responses, I'm surprised how many people believe the various conspiracy theories about those attacks. In case you're wondering what the conspiracy theories are, or what the counter-arguments to the conspiracy theories are, check out this BBC news article. I don't know nearly enough about this stuff to debate it, but I'm inclined to believe the official reports. I find it easy enough to believe that government incompetence and communication problems made the disaster worse than it could have been otherwise, and that the government produced faulty intelligence reports in order to justify invading Iraq, but I find it hard to believe that the government orchestrated the attacks.