I know that they are it isn't the best thing to do to my back, but every now and then I get an urge to do an insane amount of sit-ups. However, this urge hadn't shown itself for several years, until last night. To my great surprise, cranking out one hundred sit-ups was actually almost difficult. This could be excused by the fact that I have gained twenty pounds (in a very good way) over the past few years, but the results were still shocking. Why? Because the last time I got the urge I was able to do five hundred situps. Looks like my to-do list just got longer (again).

You sit down at your computer, open up your favorite FPS, and begin fragging away. Well, not if you have this game. Yes, a company is finally developing a non-violence simulator. Walk in the footsteps of Ghandi to victory. Will it be on your Christmas list?

For An Alternative

If you haven't read Living Stone's post, Against Conservatism, do so before reading what I have to say. He has made a strong case against conservatism and liberalism, but I want to present different arguments that arrive at the same conclusion. So, my thesis: Modern American politics is based off of Enlightenment ideologies that place man before God and therefore must be replaced by a Biblical alternative.

According to Francis Schaeffer, modern man has split truth into two different categories; truth that can be discovered rationally, and truth that is only discovered by blind faith. This split has affected our entire worldview, causing us to expect two, and only two, opposing viewpoints on every issue in life. But, because truth is split, both stances are equally correct. Is there a computer monitor in front of my face? I can choose either yes or no, but both of those answers are equally legitimate and true. Which are right, liberals or Conservatives? Once I decide that one side is right, that side becomes right, and I must defend it with all the effort I can give. The important thing here is that I am the ultimate judge over every issue in life. I become like God. Becoming like God is what Satan promised Eve, and what has caused men so much grief over the years. The dichotomizing of truth is just another episode in the same series.

As you probably know, the title of this post is, "For an Alternative." I set out to post an alternative, but bashing the current system is so much easier than finding a way to fix it. Additionally, I suspect that actually putting the alternative into place will be much harder than talking about it, which means we probably have some Hard Things in store. At any rate, I would urge you to not dump the status quo just because it has problems, jumping into a political vacuum will probably just bring on more issues. In the meantime, I will try to find a real alternative, and not just a reason for one.

IF function = "NewTemplate" THEN PRINT "Captain Obvious Post"

Well, pictures can never do it justice, but here are some more views of the GWB at night.

The following is an e-mail exchange that I thought was with one of my teachers. For some reason, it didn't end up that way.

From: Skystryder
> Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 9:20 AM
> To: Jim Bordwine
> Subject: Jeremy's Discussion Questions.
>
> 1. Why didn't the world recognize Hitler's demands?
>
> 2. Why was Hitler so Succesful?
>
> 3. Where do you see hubris?

On 10/4/05, Jim Bordwine wrote:
> I need some clarification:
>
> Which Jeremy is this (we have a few at church)?
>
> In regard to the first question, what "demands" are you referring to?
>
> In your second question, are you asking why God would have allowed a
> man like Hitler to achieve that level of destruction?
>
> For the third question, in what context are you using "hubris"? Are
> you speaking generally, or as the term is used in the context of plays
> and poetry? Are you asking if God punishes arrogance or why doesn't He
> always punish arrogance?
>
> What is the context of your questions? Are you studying some
> particular topic in school?
>
> Sorry for the delay, but I need more information.
>
> Pastor Bordwine
>
>
>Outgoing mail scanned by Norton Anti-Virus

From: Skystryder
Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 11:56 AM
To: Jim Bordwine
Subject: Re: Jeremy's Discussion Questions.

Sorry. This is Jeremy ***********, I thought I sent this to Mrs. Holt.
These questions are for a Gileskirk assignment she gave me. Sorry for the
confusion.

Ok, that explains it. This qualifies as one of the strangest emails I've
ever received. You win a prize.

And I was looking forward to discussing the questions. Too bad.

Pastor Bordwine

Well, you guys have probably figured this out by now, but I am home. Now I have to recalibrate myself to lawn mowing, typing on a real keyboard, using a real mouse, not driving for at least three hours a day, sleeping in the same bed for more than two days, and all that great stuff.

Wal-Mart needs to get AOE III. Soon.

Well, it looks like I am not at home. In fact, it looks like I am in Raleigh, NC. The plan changed. But to get to the real reason I am posting, we visited the Higgins Armory yesterday in Worcester. It has an over-whelming amount of chain mail and plate armor, along with many arms. As you can imagine, it was extremely cool. But what was even more interesting were the fighting demonstrations. It began with some knife fighting, then went to Halberds. As was explained to us, a Halberd is basically a Swiss Army knife on a stick. The ways you can use the spear, axe, and hook are quite amazing. But the most eye-opening of all was the sword and buckler demonstration. Before yesterday, I thought that sword and buckler fighting primarily involved whacking the other guy's shield until it fell apart, but it is actually more complex than any other type of sword fighting I have ever seen. The shield is moved as often, and as importantly, as the sword. Most of the stances basically have the right and left hands locked together, allowing blocks that would never be possible with "normal" techniques. The blade of the swords were actually pointed away for large amounts of time. I think I might make a buckler when I get home.

Interesting. Earlier today Dad got news that there is a conference in North Carolina that looks quite valuable on Tuesday. Because of the way the system works, few, if any, of the probable sales from the conference will put money in our hands, but Dad is going, anyways. The key word is, "Dad." I get to fly home by myself on Saturday. This should be quite interesting.

It was a dark and stormy night. This will be a typical, boring Skystrideria post. Never mind. But it was a dark and stormy night. The clouds were thick and hovered only one hundred feet or so in the air. We were driving through the maze that is known to the world as New York City. Luckily, we didn't have to drive through Manhattan, but we did manage to get semi-lost. However, our GPS did give a lot of assistance in bringing us through exits that gave you six choices. (that very same GPS got us in our problem in the first place, but it eventuall got us out) We pulled onto I-95, which is quite similar to I-5 in Seattle. The highway is recessed twenty feet, and many sky-scrapers were built across it. But then we noticed something quite strange. We came out from under the last building, and saw blue lights making a stair into the clouds. It followed a bizarre, concave curve. Then, beyond the blue lights, we saw a grey tower shrouded in the mist. We continued to the tower, and then went under it. When we looked to the side, we noticed that the walls of the recessed highway had given way to empty space. We looked forward again, and saw the blue lights curve down, and then back up. We came to a second tower, and finally to solid ground. The George Washington Bridge is quite cool in the day, but on the night we crossed it, it was more freaky than any movie or computer game could ever be.

I have been extremely busy on this trip. I was going to do various school things while here, but haven't had any time. I did read some of Plethora (even though "Your Horoscope" plays constantly in my mind, I refuse to write out the full title for that book) so that I can get a feel for how to right the 8 page research paper that is due in a month. The outline for it is due on Tuesday, but for some bizarre reason it doesn't seem like I will have it done by then. Mrs. T. won't be happy, and I won't be happy when I get my grade. Dern.

So, to summarize what has happened in the last few days, I will, umm, summarize them. I didn't get to bed until one A.M. on Saturday, and then got up at four to get to the airport. Great start, right? We got on the plane, no terrorists presented themselves, and a brain-dead but sleepless flight ensued. We arrived at Hartford Connecticut, got the rental car, and decided to drive to New Jersey. However, the remains of a tropical storm was lashing the area, and made the ride quite interesting. Somewhere in New York or New Jersey, we ran into a "puddle" that was at least sixteen inches deep. Because we were driving at freeway speeds, it almost through us off the road. Someone needs to improve the drainage over here. Another interesting factoid is that when a utilities company wants to work at the side of a road, it must be accompanied by a police car. After seeing about 8 such arrangements, we asked some teachers about, and found out that it is state law. Supposedly, drivers over here are so insane that if there isn't a police car, with lights flashing, they will probably cause some kind of damage. However, it was also revealed that policemen taking this duty of sitting around all day get paid at a significantly higher level. The politics behind that must make an interesting story, just like the politics behind mandatory car insurance.

Other than driving, we have basically worked or slept. We simply take our products to various schools and show them to the teachers, occasionally a class, also. I suppose you guys will probably be bored by the details, so I won't go into them. Still, I haven't been very bored, and go to bed quite tired. Well, that is all I have to say for now.

What are my top five favorite songs? Well, I will list the top five that have been circulating around my head since Friday, the last time I actually really listened to music.

1. Your Horoscope. Weird Al.
2. Ebay. Weird Al.
3. It's all About the Pentiums. Weird Al. (yeah, I listened to Weird Al on Friday, probably not the smartest thing to do)
4. Fade Away. Day of Fire.
5. Remember. Big Dismal.

So, that is that. I hereby tag the next four people who spam on this blog. We will see if they are really just friendly bloggers.

Tomorrow at 6 A.M. I head off for Connecticut. Hopefully I will get a little surprise ready for this thing while I am back there.

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Well, some of you have heard this story, but I have a need to tell it again. Yesterday morning I decided to send the discussion questions for a history class I go to to one of the moms. These questions are really only understandable if you take the class, things like, "Where do you see Hubris?" So, I sat down at the computer sent in the questions. I then proceeded to do math and various homework. When I checked my e-mail several minutes before it was time to go, I saw a strange message from my pastor. "Re: Discussion Questions" I opened the message, and saw that he had attempted to answer the questions, but requested further clarification. After some major embarressment on my part, I ended up getting a prize for sending him the most bizarre e-mail he had ever received. I suppose some of you could try to displace me, but I wouldn't reccomend it0011101000101001

Oh yeah, I have become obsessed with binary.
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