Windows rules the world... Or not...

It's just too easy to take 'pot shots' at Windows! This was the picture of the LCD screen at George airport before we departed... Yes, windows rules the world... Or maybe note.
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Life as 'Yoda', and why she can't use facebook.

I wonder what other names are on that list!?

Japanese author/translator Hiroko Yoda was having trouble signing up for a Facebook account. Every time she tried registering with her real full name, she got an error message. She suspected that it might be because of her last name was Yoda, so she tried spelling it slightly differently—Youda, Yohda, Yooda. No problem at all. When she e-mailed FB explaining her situation, she got this reply:

Facebook blocks the registration of a number of names that are frequently abused on the site. The name "Yoda," also being the name of a popular Star Wars character, is on this list of blocked names. I apologize again for the inconvenience. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Hiroko explains her constant struggle with her last name in a blog post titled Life as Yoda:

I'm a Japanese woman, and my last name really is Yoda. It's a common family name in Japan. "Yoda" the Jedi Master is actually pronounced with a long "o" in Japanese, which makes it different-sounding enough that the connection only becomes apparent when you write out my name in English letters instead of kanji characters... People think I changed my name because I'm a crazy Star Wars fan, or that I'm just kidding around. Even people who know I'm not making it up are always giving me Yoda trinkets and keychains and figures, so I had this little shrine to him going on for a while.

Rumor has it that George Lucas named the Jedi Master after a Japanese film director he met in Tokyo. Still, Hiroko Yoda always triggers a good laugh when she comes stateside and introduces herself to people. Then again, people never forget her name. "I guess it's a double-edged...lightsaber? Ha ha," she says. Image by barron via Flickr (Thanks, Baker!)

( Lisa Katayama is a guest blogger.)

From boingboig ... a bit of 'link love' (not that they need it! But heck, they deserve it!)

Language as techonology and the possibilities of English as a modifiable 'tool'

I tend to get a little bent out of shape when I hear South African radio and TV presenters hacking the English language to pieces with mispronounced words and train smashed sentences!

However, I do admit that this nothing more than snobbery on my part. In truth, language is, at some levels at least, nothing more than a tool. It is intended to facilitate communication, which in turn has the intention of facilitating progress and development (whether soft development such as relationships, or structured development such as building and manufacturing things).

Perhaps language should be a little more flexible and contextual in order for it to be useful in varied contexts. Conversely, there does need to be enough common ground among the contextual applications of a language for there to be sufficient shared meaning to make the language useful.

I found this post quite interesting... As usual, it is from boingboing....

Here's a stirring Boston Globe op-ed from master lexicographer Erin McKean, presenting the humane case for a dynamic English language in which speakers are allowed to coin neologisms and new usages without grammar tightasses insisting that language is not a user-modifiable technology .

Whenever I see "not a real word" used to stigmatize what is (usually) a perfectly cromulent word, I wonder why the writer felt the need to hang a big sign reading "I am not confident about my writing" on it. What do they imagine the penalty is for using an "unreal" word? A ticket from the Dictionary Police? The revocation (as the joke goes) of your poetic license? A public shaming by William Safire? The irony is that most of these words, without the disclaimer, would pass unnoticed by the majority of readers. (In case you noticed cromulent, that was invented in the 1990s for "The Simpsons.") Writers who hedge their use of unfamiliar, infrequent, or informal words with "I know that's not a real word," hoping to distance themselves from criticism, run the risk of creating doubt where perhaps none would have naturally arisen.

Chillax (via Oblomovka)

Uthina nathi my china's, uthetha nthoni majita? Is die taal for hackery of nie?

Cute technology that could scar your kids for life!

I like a cute gadget as much as the next nerd... But there has to be a line somewhere people! This is just insane!!! When I saw this picture I thought that this 'headless teddy USB drive' could leave an emotional scar that no amount of therapy could ever fix!

What do you think?

Or worse, imagine in you're in that super important strategy meeting with the Bishop of Malta, and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, they're just about to kiss and make up over that whole schism and filioque nonsense of the 11th century. All they need is some young scholar to take the agreement to the local printer on his USB thumb drive to get it printed so that they can sign it... Next thing they see a headless bear sticking out of an Asus EEEPC!!!! AAaaaaaarrrrgggghhhh....

It is just too scary to contemplate!

The Teddy Bear USB drive does a really nice job of switching from sickly sweet to just sickening -- just rip its head off and plug its neck into your computer and it looks like you've crushed a little anthropomorphic bear's noggin and forced it into a tiny, little USB port. Teddy Bear USB Drive (via Oh Gizmo)

Happy Birthday princess Courtney!

Today is my daughter, Courtney's 9th birthday. Megan, Liam and I give thanks for the gift of her life. Courtney is such a special girl! God has blessed her with intelligence, love, character and beauty. I could never have imagined what a blessing being a parent is. My heart rejoices at who she is, and who she is becoming. Thank you Lord. We love you Courts!

Ideal faith in the real world.

My friend Steve Lottering preached a magnificent sermon entitled 'who is Jesus for you?' It was challenging to consider that Jesus did not come into an 'ideal situation' when he was incarnated into the world...

I heard God prompting me to consider the following: Stop looking for an ideal world in which to live. This is the real world. Rather, like Jesus look for opportunities to create and facilitate God's ideal in a real world. After all, isn't that what Jesus came to do? He lived with courage and obedience to create the ideal for us in our real and broken world.

Thanks Steve, it was great hear God speak to me through you!

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Satanism and school murders. A critical consideration.

I am quite skeptical when persons or groups make exclusive and absolute claims about the reasons for violence among young people. Such claims are seldom entirely accurate since as most of us would agree identity and motive are complex phenomena. For every child who behaves badly and plays video games there is another child whose behavior is not inappropriate who plays exactly the same video game.

As for the school murder in Krugersdorp, South Africa, last week - there has been a tremendous amount of sensationalism that has gone along with this very sad and unfortunate event. The young man who perpetrated the act of violence with a sword is suggested to have emulated members of the band 'Slipknot', to have been a satanist, and even a 'Ninja' by some ill informed journalist! Of these claims the claim to satanism perhaps the most disturbing. I have not been suprised that the media have latched onto this particular claim (rather than other psycho-social factors in the young man's life and surroundings) - in short, satanism sells newspapers!

However, this does display both ignorance of the complexity of faith (whatever form such faith takes), and particularly an inability to understand how faith and human development go hand in hand throughout the stages of life.

One must never forget that as persons mature and grow their understanding of themselves and their faith in God (or whatever else gives them the ability to make meaning and transcend the struggles of life) changes significantly. In most cases the 'regular' stages of development can be fairly closely aligned to the stages of faith development (even, as I mention above, if such faith is a form of 'secular spirituality' that places faith in money, the human self, or some other structure). James Fowler's stages of Faith development are particularly insightful in this regard. Here is a quick overview of the stages as Fowler suggests:

Faith is seen as a holistic orientation, and is concerned with the individual's relatedness to the universal:

• Stage 0 - "Primal or Undifferentiated" faith (birth to 2 years), is characterized by an early learning of the safety of their environment (ie. warm, safe and secure vs. hurt, neglect and abuse). In addition, sharp attention is paid to mammalia (e.g., wooly sheep)
• Stage 1 – "Intuitive-Projective" faith (ages of three to seven), is characterized by the psyche's unprotected exposure to the Unconscious.
• Stage 2 – "Mythic-Literal" faith (mostly in school children), stage three persons have a strong belief in the justice and reciprocity of the universe, and their deities are almost always anthropomorphic.
• Stage 3 - "Synthetic-Conventional" faith (arising in adolescence) characterized by conformity
• Stage 4 – "Individuative-Reflective" faith (usually mid-twenties to late thirties) a stage of angst and struggle. The individual takes personal responsibility for their beliefs and feelings.
• Stage 5 – "Conjunctive" faith (mid-life crisis) acknowledges paradox and transcendence relating reality behind the symbols of inherited systems
• Stage 6 – "Universalizing" faith, or what some might call "enlightenment".

Now when one considers the complexity of faith as it develops through these stages it is quite easy to see how a simplistic assumption that a person was motivated by 'satanism' to murder another pupil falls drastically short of the complex reality that surrounds these sad events. Faith, or lack thereof, may have played some part in this incident, but I would not think that this young man had a sufficiently developed faith orientation to motivate him to go against all of the conventions of society to murder another pupil! Heck, most adult Christians have not even developed the courage to speak about their faith (only 3% of all Christians have ever publicly witnessed to their faith)... And such persons are regular attenders of Churches, schooled in their religious convictions and sincere in their desire to honour and serve God.

Regardless of my argument, Steve Hayes, has written a wonderfully detailed and critical consideration of both the motives and the religious convictions of satanism in relation to this issue. You'll find it in his superb post 'Will the real satanists please stand up'. What do you think? Are we missing something?

Technorati tags: Satanist, Satanism, murder, stages of faith, James Fowler

Having problems with Windows Vista!? Microsoft has offered some 'real world' solutions!

So, you're stressed by the fact that your Windows Vista machine only works every other time? Does the constant 'hard drive thrashing' make you worry that the drive may die? Do the many, many, many, security threats make you feel that your data could be vulnerable to attack or corruption? Well, thankfully Microsoft has heard your woes and has offers a REAL WORLD solution!

Yup, there you have it! A great solution from Windows... PS. did I mention that I use a Mac?

An interactive map of some of the world's greatest journeys.

If you're interested in world maps, and love to combine geography with history and popular lore, then this is a great site to check out... This site does exactly what the title says, it provides one with an interactive map of the world that traces some of the most remarkable and interesting journeys in the world. I found out about it a boingboing (as usual!) I would have loved to see Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's epic 'Long way round' and 'Long way down' journeys on here.

Our pals at GOOD created a fascinating interactive infographic documenting "history's greatest journeys," including trips from travelers like Amelia Earhart, Ken Kesey, Columbus, and Jack Kerouac. Notably absent though is Albert Hoffman's bicycle ride. Good traces the most famous trips in history (Good Magazine)

Technorati tags: map of the world, world map interactive map of the world great journeys, most popular, long way round

Mertyl, a lovely lass in a lovely setting

I had a few minutes to take Mertyl for a quick spin up the hill above our house in Somerset West. It is cold and wet in Cape Town! But, any day is a perfect day to take Mertyl for a spin!

Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/digitaldion to see a video of lovely old Mertyl purring along on Silverboomkloof road! And for those on flickr see /blogger.html for more on Mertyle (just search for Vespa).
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Mac vs. PC or Christian vs. Other?

Here's a very interesting post about the use of Apple Mac computers among Christians and ministry 'types'. It is quite a subjective post, but I thought it was quite interesting.

I for one am a 'Mac evangelist'! I have turned quite a few persons on to using Macs, they are rock solid, simply work, and somehow seem to resonate with the 'independent' personality type that is quite common among ministry leaders.

Thanks for sending the link Arthur! Please check out Arthur's great blog here.

Christianity, social justice and your personal relationships

We can move in the direction of justice, but if our personal relationships don't become more human, we haven't moved in the direction of the reign of God and, in the long run, we will discover that our point of arrival is just another form of tyranny. - Arturo Paoli

There is a lot of wisdom here! I believe that relationships are central to the purposes of God's Kingdom, since God IS relationship, a perfect perichoretic relationship of love, trust, openness, and grace. I long to relate in this way to both friends and strangers.