The future of interior lights


CNET has an interesting guide to indoor lighting of the future…

A new era of lighting is dawning, designed to meet the needs of a power-hungry and resource-challenged 21st century. There have never been so many options for illuminating the indoors.
“My crystal ball says that in five years, the home is going to be a mix of incandescents, LEDs and fluorescents,” said Michael Siminovitch, director of the California Lighting Technology Center at the University of California at Davis.
As prices drop for alternative lighting in the coming years, consumer options will proliferate. Today’s technological innovations make Edison’s work look like the stuff of a middle-school science fair. Compact fluorescents are looking lovelier, white LEDs last a decade, organic LEDs make ceilings and countertops glow, and fiber-optic tubes can pipe true sunshine from roof to cellar.
“The lamp aisle in stores is already a mile long,” said Siminovitch. “It’s gonna be confusing.”

What are you using in your home? Have you made the switch to LED’s or compact fluorescents.
We’re slowly switching all our bulbs to fluorescents in our townhome. I also try to open the blinds in the daytime to let more light in when it’s needed. Just be sure you open the right side of the house. You want to let some light in but keep the heat out.

Chuck Swindoll dropped from Radio Network


Pastor Chuck Swindoll and his radio program, Insight for Living has been dropped from the VCY Radio Network (never heard of them) for crude language.

According to the press release from VCY Radio Network, Swindoll has used a number of bad words since 2000 (yes, apparently they’ve been keeping a tally for 7 years now): buns, heck, crap and balls. They also said he mentioned and encouraged the viewing of — get ready for it….. “The Lion King.” (gasps, screams, a woman just passed out in the back!)

From the VCY press release:

The decision to bring termination to the IFL program arrived on March 5, 2007. VCY and listeners were highly offended by Chuck Swindoll’s use of crude and uncalled for language. His message was entitled, “Male Leadership 101″ which was a presentation given to men at his church. Although a disclaimer was given at the beginning of the program, Swindoll had a sustained laugh as he stated had he known this would be on radio at the time of speaking he probably would have changed things around because he tends to be “a little loose and a little free.” But he says he found “people appreciate that”. The specific area of offense came when Chuck stated:

“The sons of Issachar understood their times, they were men who had discernment and the sons of Issachar were men who had direction. They could make decisions. They saw through all the fluff of that culture. They stood strong when others were fading in the shadows. Patton would say they had guts. You’d say at work, they had balls. Or maybe that’s a Greek rendering of another verse.” (Laughter)…

Knowing this was Part 1 of a message, VCY pre-listened to the March 6, 2007 broadcast. In this message Chuck Swindoll addressed accountability, sensitivity, purity and integrity. These virtues were compromised when he spoke the following:

“The battle still goes on. It will never end. In fact I had my physical the other day and Cooper who has a finger that long (pause and lots of laughter), that long (continued laughter). And while he was up in there said, ‘Now that’s your prostate.’ I said (Swindoll yells) — ‘I know that’. Was this anatomy class? (Laughter). He’s a very sick man. (Laughter). Got through prostate, checked out great. I bragged about that to Cynthia about three hours. ‘I’ve got a great prostate.’ She said, ‘get a life, honey.'” (Laughter)

VCY finds it unacceptable to broadcast Chuck Swindoll’s re-counting of the length of the finger of his doctor and describing it in his body while checking his prostate. This is both crude and offensive.

It is VCY’s position that this language is gutter talk, is crude, and vulgar. VCY stated to IFL that such language is uncalled for, is unbecoming a pastor, and is inappropriate for our listeners.

Read the full press release.

And of course you know out in the blogosphere there are great responses to the announcement from VCY. From Verum Serum:

It is such a relief to know that Ingrid and the rest of the gang over at Slice (along with the others in the watchdoggie litter) are there defending the faith from the dark machinations of the Evil One who has perverted one of the longest running Christian teaching programs in America. To be sure that we get the salient points and to be sure that we are all on the right judgmental spiritual page, here’s what we have learned:

1) Commonly used social colloquialisms and slang are to be avoided at all costs, and to fail to do so draws into question the amount of Godliness within one’s soul.
2) Discussing the physical realities of life (such as medical examinations) is off limits, especially if it is done in a light and humorous manner.
3) Never, never, EVER expose yourself or your children to any sort of stories or fairytale involving magic, magical lands, magical/talking animals, etc. Magic is always evil, no matter what, so anything that tries to portray it in any other light is anathema and must be shunned and/or stoned and/or burned at the stake of heresy.
4) Words like “heck,” “darn,” “shoot,” “crap,” “dang it,” “darn it,” “dang nabbit,” and the like are all suger-coated cuss words to be avoided at all costs.
5) A literal belief in six 24 hour days of creation is ESSENTIAL for a proper understanding of the Christian faith and thus for salvation. Any other belief/interpretation is heresy and should be treated as such.
6) The consumption of any food or drink that the world seems to approve of is to be avoided. In the case of alcohol, anyone who drinks it has allied themselves with the world and the prince of this world (the Devil). The consumption of alcohol is grounds for immediate condemnation to the bowels of hell. In fact, doing anything for fun and/or pleasure that is also done by the world must be avoided. Besides drinking alcohol, the list would include: eating chocolate (or any sort of food with a pleasant flavor), listening to music (even hymns), dressing in anything but sack cloth (longs skirts for women and suites and ties for men stimulate feelings of pleasure at one’s appearance, which is sinful, besides the fact that such articles of clothing have been conceived by and created by nonbelievers in the world), reading (even the Bible, since reading anything but Leviticus can lend itself to an enjoyable passing of time while one reads about the movement of God in the history of the world), watching movies (even G rated movies, since again they have been developed by nonbelievers and are thus tainted by the impurity of their thoughts and actions), etc.
7) Any reference to any male or female anatomy located below the shoulders and above the knees is to be avoided, lest it stimulate carnal and/or otherwise inappropriate thoughts. Besides the obvious ones, the following words should also be avoided: chest, bosom, breast, crotch, groin, thigh, derriere, bottom, rump, butt, buns, bum, and arse.

Be sure and read the full version.

About VCY Network:

The VCY America radio network is a satellite distributed full-service program schedule consisting of Bible teaching programs, live call-in programs on issues of concern to the Christian community, news and commentary, programs reaching children with the Gospel, and conservative, uplifting Christian music. Programs are selected for their ministry value and their biblical content, rather than financial considerations. There are currently twelve VCY-owned stations across the midwest on this network, plus others that take our programming for a number of hours each day, some of them full-time.

Cindy Sheehan steps down


Cindy Sheehan has stepped down from her position as “the face of the American anti-war movement.
ChristianConservative points out though – she holds no official title.
Regardless, she’s written a letter of resignation and also removed herself from the Democratic party.

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the “left” started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of “right or left”, but “right and wrong…”
This is my resignation letter as the “face” of the American anti-war movement. This is not my “Checkers” moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.
Good-bye America …you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

In a separate letter to the Democratic Party she has removed herself from the party that she says, betrayed her.

As for myself, I am leaving the Democratic Party. You have completely failed those who put you in power to change the direction our country is heading. We did not elect you to help sink our ship of state but to guide it to safe harbor.
We do not condone our government’s violent meddling in sovereign countries and we condemn the continued murderous occupation of Iraq.
We gave you a chance, you betrayed us.

Also, if you’re interested, her five-acre Camp Casey near Bush’s Crawford Ranch is apparently for sale too.

Memorial Day 2007

Tomorrow (Monday) is Memorial Day here in the U.S.
There are likely many folks who will chose not to take part in the holiday, other than enjoy their day off from work.
I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of this war. I don’t know that the reasons were just. If we want to go to war to end tyranny, we should be just as involved in Darfur as Iraq. That’s my own personal opinion. And I can’t give you an answer as to how we get out of Iraq or what our next plan should be.
But regardless, I respect our military forces. I hold each man and woman who has served, is serving and will serve in HIGH regard.
I didn’t have the guts to sign-up and serve my country in time of war. They did.
“This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.”
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
So this weekend, we honor, we respect, we remember and we give thanks – to those who gave everything so that we might be free.

A memorial video for encounter.

Posts from previous years:

The View from a Veteran (2005)
The Death of Capt. Waskow (2005)
Just a Common Soldier (A Soldier Died Today) (2004)

No seperation of church and chicken

Rachael Brady, Opinion Editor for the West Virginia University paper has an interesting piece on what Christianity should be.
As a non-believer, she learned it at her local church, no sorry her local BSM, nope — her local Chick-Fil-A.

Monday through Saturday, those who dine in get an earful of God’s glory, as the restaurant always has Christian-themed pop-sounding music wafting on the breeze alongside the alluring smells of chicken and waffle fries.
Normally, when aspects of the Christian faith – or any religion – are thrust into my life without invitation, I get a little bit cranky.
I’m old enough and smart enough now that if I wanted to be converted to your religion, I’d have figured it out by now…
Somehow, though, Chick-fil-a has gotten it right. No one from the corporation is beating down any doors for converts, and they don’t distribute printed materials about faith or damnation while you eat.
What they will actually do while you eat, though, is refill your drink, dump your tray or even just carry on a polite conversation.
The people of Chick-fil-a have taken an essential part of Christianity – the Golden Rule of treating others as you would like to be treated – and they’ve made it their mantra. And they’re not preachy or pushy; they’re just polite.

It’s been said many times that you may be the only Bible someone ever reads. And I love the statement, “Preach always. Use words if necessary.”
Brady adds:

It’s refreshing to see people who are most happy to display their religion by example rather than through radical, alienating evangelism.
Most people don’t want to be approached by strangers about how they may be living their lives in sin. Most people don’t feel like divulging personal secrets and entrusting their spiritual lives to people they’ve never even met.
Most of us just need to be permitted to live our lives and learn our own lessons.
And some of us, along the way, want to eat some chicken.
So Chick-fil-a is, all-around, the purveyor of good news that all Christians should be. If you want a tasty chicken sandwich, there’s no need to worry about choking down a lesson on moral values with it. Chick-fil-a exhibits its Christian values with its excellent service, and that’s that.

Way to go Chick-fil-a for doing just that. Now I’m jonesin’ for a number 6 value-sized

Thanks to CMS for the heads up.