Volcanoes

This blog is like a volcano. At one time, it was active, and gushed forth lots of hot stuff. But at times, a volcano will go dormant, and it will sleep for a long time. But then it can erupt at any time. My blog is currently dormant (or is it?).

Music

I'm a really big Coldplay fanatic. So I'm really excited about their new album coming out later this month--Viva la Vida. I'm looking forward to this CD, since their last CD, X&Y, blew away my standards for music. Totally clean, lyrically deep, and musically exceptional, it has to be my favorite CD ever. I'd recommend checking it out from your library at least, if you've never heard of them.

Violet Hill. I thought I'd share:




*CORRECTION: It's not free, per say. It is available for listening on their website. It seems that they had a limited-time free download a while back, that's where I got it.

What a life.

As you may (or may not) have noticed, I haven't written any blogs in several weeks.  I've just had a complete lack of writing ability lately; I've not even been able to write any more of my story.  I haven't even been all that terribly busy.  I hope that I'll be back at it, churning out words and letters into late at night, sometime soon.  Rest assured, though, that I'll probably stick to non-controversial topics.

But I do want to get back int to the writing mood, and so I forced myself down and just wrote what came to my fingers.  The result is a short story, not fully developed, and not ended.  Perhaps I'll finish it someday.  Or, perhaps I'll leave it in my Unfinished Stories folder to collect cyber-dust.  Who knows?  We'll see.

Talk to you guys later,

~Nuntius

Playtime!

I've done a few really serious posts recently, so I thought it would be fun to do something a bit more fun for a change.  How many of us watch videos on YouTube?  Almost everybody (everyone who doesn't have a filter, that is).  But how many of us are sick of the horrible quality of the movies (No, not the stupidity of the kid pouring soup down his brother's back, I'm talking about the video quality, the sharpness of the picture)?  I know I am.  At least, I used to be.  However, I recently was shown this really cool trick: if you add &fmt=18 to the very end of the video url, it forces Youtube to play in higher quality!  See, when you upload a video to Youtube, it gets recompiled into FLV.  But, when you add this code, it plays an MPEG-4 version, which is higher quality.

Now for the caveats.  Since this video is higher quality, it is also larger (For one Music video I checked out, the FLV version was 11 MBs, while the MPEG-4 one was 22 MBs).  This means if you have slow internet connection speed, or a slow computer, you'll want to use this feature with caution.  Also, this doesn't work with every single video on Youtube.  I think it's just more recently uploaded ones.  

Enjoy.

Nature of Death

This entry is a continuation of my previous post, Ophidian's Oration.  This time I'm going to discuss the Death before the Fall.

 Often times, young-earth creationists claim that one of the reasons old-earth creationism is wrong is because they do not believe that anything died before the Fall.  Old-earth creationists (of which I am one), however, claim that the world is millions of years old and that animals were dying long before the Fall.  

Why do young-earth creationists believe no animals died before there was sin? They site this verse: Gen. 2:16-17 (ESV)  And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Let's step back and examine this verse.  This is the first and only command that God gives to Adam and Eve.  Thus, breaking this one command is the only way they could have sinned.  God makes a statement here "for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”.  Death.  What is death?  How would Adam have known what it means "to die", if he had never seen anything dead? It would have been like God telling you not to eat the cookies on the shelf, for in that hour you will glostugiliath.  I can imagine your blank face as you try to figure out what it means  to glostugiliath.  If Adam and Eve didn't know what death was, why would God tell them that they would die?

Also, I would like to point out that God appears to tell a lie. "for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die".  Well, we all know that Adam and Eve went on to live for a few years--enough to have several children--before they expired.  How do we fit that in with God's warning?  

I believe the answer appears a long time later, in book of Romans, chapter five.

 "For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.  Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.  For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.  Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

So we see here that through Adam came death, but through Christ comes life.  We all know that Jesus gives us eternal life, that's what we're taught from the very first time we hear about Him.  Now follow me here, and pay close attention.  Through Jesus, comes Life. Through Adam, came Death.  Are we comparing apples and oranges; Physical death vs. Spiritual life?  I don't think so.  I believe that Paul is talking about Spiritual life and Spiritual Death.  When Adam disobeyed God, he introduced not physical death, but the death of the soul.  For added support, in John 8:51 when Jesus said,  "I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."  [This sounds vaguely like the other side of what God said back in genesis ("If you do not keep my word, you will die").]  Is Jesus talking about physical death?  Absolutely not.  There is no one who has not died--Paul, John, Luke, Matthew, Mark--they died, some by very unpleasant means.  So, we can see that He meant spiritual death.  

Why would God punish sin with physical Death, while offering Spiritual Life through Christ?  I believe that Adam brought Spiritual Death to mankind, while Jesus Christ brought Spiritual Life.

The Ophidian's Oration

Gen. 3:1-5   

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,  but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 

“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 

We all know this bible passage--the few moments preceding the Dawn of man's sin.  How often have we read it?  Many of us have been told it from our earliest days.  Perhaps that's why few of us actually read it with fresh minds.  We know what's going on, why take a closer look?  Indeed, why?  Let's do so now.  

"Now, the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman..."  STOP!  Did you see that?  Let's look one more time.  "He said..."  HOLY COW!  We've got a talking snake here!  What's with that?!   Is this a literal description of a talking snake, or just a metaphor?

Either case is quite interesting to ponder.  If in fact the snake *did* speak, was that an isolated occurrence?  Was that particular serpent just the devil in disguise, and no other animals could talk?  If so, Wouldn't Eve have been rather surprised?  Or, what if talking animals were commonplace?  That's really cool too.  We get into the realms of Narnia and other fantastical tales.  (I would have wanted to ask a bee what she thought of the phrase "busy as a bee")

But then, some people don't take this seriously.  They say that the serpent didn't really say anything (Note, that's what the serpent said, "Did God really say...?"), but it was something else.  Such as just the serpent eating the fruit, and the devil prompting her to eat it.  Or some such thing.

So.  What are your thoughts?  I look forward to your comments.

On Lower Things in Life

You wake up in the morning, golden streams of warm sunshine bathing your face and arms.  Stumbling out of bed, you stagger over to the window, rubbing your bleary eyes.  The green grass and trees, and red and blue flowers fill your senses with a delicious feeling of awe at God's creation.

Then your focus swings closer; to your window.  Rivers of slimy mucus run all over the outside -- clear evidence that slugs were having a party while you slept peacefully.  Slugs are such disgusting creatures, you grimace, how could the same God who made the flowers and sky have made such slimy, repulsive little boogers like slugs?

I did a little research into slugs (AKA gastropod mollusk) today.  They're interesting.  Did you ever wonder how they even climb up windows?  I don't know if you've ever tried climbing a window (I know I have!), it's really not as easy as you'd think.  There's not much to grab on to.  But these slugs go up, up, up, no problem (Though, I wish it were harder for them, especially when I'm delegated to wash the window).  

Slugs have a mucus excretor (called a "Pedal gland")  near their head which carpets their path with a thick, smooth trail for them to slide along.  The mucus has fibers in it which help it stick to vertical surfaces.  Rows of muscles on their feet -- or more accurately, foot.  These muscles contract and relax at just the right times, making a wave effect that pulls the slug along. 

Also the slug's reproductive system is quite... erm... queer.  Slugs don't have different genders.  All act the same, and have the same bodily parts.    So often times when you see them just circling each other doing, and it looks like they're eating each other's tail, well, that's not what they're doing.  Need I say more?  

I could probably go on about interesting facts about slugs, but I don't want to make you sick and avoid my future posts.  My whole point is that slugs really are unique animals specially and uniquely designed by God, for his enjoyment (No, not culinary, thank you).  If you can get past the gaggingly hideous outside, you'll see the creativity and beauty of God's workmanship even in slugs.  I just wanted to share that, as the Psalm says, "I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders." (Psalm 9:1)

So next time you see a slug, don't just grab your salt-shaker and watch the poor thing melt -- praise God.  

Now please excuse me while I go remove the slimy beasty on my carpet.

Oh, look at the time!

Well, it's been a while since my last post.  

I'm not sure who even stops by here, anyway, o if anybody will actually read this.   So, without much plan in my mind, I'm sitting here formulating what I should write about.   I just got a flash of inspiration.  I'll just write about what I do.

Lately, I've been working on  some 3d projects using Blender (a pretty sweet program, and free).  The latest being some fire (Pictured here, or you can check out the animated version here YouTube - Blender Fire) .

Let's see...

I've also been studying Trigonometry, Norwegian, Math theory (I'm reading a book about Phi.  No, not Pi -- Phi.), English, (My story, The Stone, is taking up most of my writing time, hence the lack of Googlus Blogus.  Boy does that sound funny.) and Music.  I learning, slowly but surely, how to play the guitar.  Speaking of which, I may post a picture of my girlfriend sometime.  She's got a really sleek body, and a nice neck, and.... *Sees people staring at me*  *Ahem* maybe I should note that my guitar is my girlfriend.  I don't know exactly how it started, but me and my friends refer to our guitars as girlfriends...  go figure.  

Well, here she is.  Yes, she's on the floor, I know, I know, I'm unkind.  It was the only picture on my computer, which I took for a project I had...

Anyway, she's a Matao (A very rare brand, you've likely never heard of it. ^^  Ha.  They were made in Japan.)  She's a classical acoustic with really great tone (Wish I could play as good as she!).

*Gets really crazy idea*

Okay, how about this.  Let's play a little game.  Take a picture of your instrument(s), and post a description of them on your blog, then link back to here.  If you don't have a blog, upload the picture somewhere and describe in a comment.  You can even give her/him a personality, if you want (Just be sure to check out the poll I made, and vote Insane).

That's it for now.

Sanity. That small, seemingly innocuous word. The Oxford American dictionary Dictionary defines it as "the ability to think and behave in a normal and rational manner". That sounds good, right? Well, apparently not.

I have recently come across quite a few people who claim to be "insane". What do they mean? Do they mean they lack "the ability to think and behave in a normal and rational manner"? Many of these self-proclaimed Insanites (AKA Insanitaries :P) are nice friendly people, who can act normal and rational. So, what do they mean?

Please add a comment. Tell me if you are insane or sane. And give your reasons, too. Why are you (in)asane? I look forward to your responses.

I, for one, am sane (of sound mind; not mad or mentally ill. It's derived from the latin, 'sanus', meaning 'healthy'). And I hope to keep my sanity far into my life.