The Kingdom Come

Well, I was away from July 27, 2010 to August 8, 2010 on a vacation to Hawaii for my 20th wedding anniversary. Although it was a vacation, I'm constantly looking for how life relates to theology and theology relates to life. So, while sharing a little about the vacation, I'd also like to share some interesting theological perspectives about Hawai'i.

In light of Google's recent announcement that it is paying extra toward benefits for homosexual employees to have "partner" health benefits (source), I took an interest in a new search engine - Yippy.com.

Although, it is going to be difficult to top Google's reach, Yippy looks very interesting. One thing Google has tried to do, that Yippy seems to be following is to make the actual search page ad-minimal. When people go to a search engine, they don't want to have to navigate through a bunch of clutter. Yippy maintains the nice, clean page. Yippy does offer something different than other search engines; a menu bar. But the menu bar is simply icons, which makes you curious (at least it did me) as to what each menu does. I especially liked the Yippy radio, Blues channel. Cool stuff.

I signed up for an account to be able to check out some of the other features. Take a look, Yippy.com

My family has been thinking about hosting a foreign exchange high-school student. Tonight we attended the "return ceremonies" for the previous year students as they return home. Host families provided a food dish so there was plenty of good eats.

We were able to speak with a few of the students; one from Columbia, Thailand, and Germany.

Okay, time again for a little catching up with blogging. Blogging is typically just a person's rambling about their everyday life. So here I go.

I've been working over at my dad's house. His backyard is small and completely shaded. This causes the grass not to grow very well so I am putting in a cobble-stone "plaza" with surrounding shade-flower beds. He has a little bit of sun areas; one is where he has a little pond.

Ning has been a popular, FREE website platform that allows for building a social site. Many people have used Ning to build their own little personal network of "friends" (or "followers", depending how you look at it). But now there is a problem. Ning is discontinuing the FREE version (ref).

So, what will happen to all these Ning sites where the administrators have built up a following?

Victoria Beckham trams in the a.m. with Celine Dion's mustard cars.
Stars fly by Bugatti Type 57SC, Betty White's space ship hip replacement.

Up from the basement, King Ptolemy IV drafted by the Oakland Raiders, fading into the past at last.

Prince Harry in a box wearing Jerry's socks since E. coli came.

Kelly Clarkson's has no son named Casey Affleck, Beckham or Zack!

Rebel dog digging Greece Greek, sneak peak at the week ahead.

El Sid is dead! So he said, flooding flew through and through, dow dow and down.

Wall Street, Main Street met the meet we wii on bees knees. Die!

Spell spill oil in the gulf, flags aloft in Mexico show no immigration toleration in the nation.

Nashville, Capitol Hill will feel for parliament's meal milling around.

Iron man can fans flame, in a name Bible Tagalog too.

What's it all mean?

I have sometimes been ridiculed for linking to Wikipedia or using it for reference. Wikipedia, for those who may not know is an online, open-source encyclopedia. Open-source in this case means that anyone can edit the entries. And it is because it is open-source, that people sometimes ridicule me for using it, since the implication is that the information is supposedly not professionally established and may be unreliable.

However, to me Wikipedia's strong point is exactly because its entries can be challenged, by anyone. Think of the "professional" media for example. They often put out information which we have little ability to challenge, let alone verify. The same can be said of school text books. Look at any public school text book on say history or science and you'll see hypothetical concepts that are presented to children as if they are fact.

Something I wrote -- Is it poetry? Could it be song lyrics?

I'll run thru fire, climb o'er mountains, swim thru seas for thee.
Desperation, Dedication, Adulation

I'll ring round earth, fly the sky, zoom to the moon for you.
Contemplation, Adoration, Asphyxiation

I'll be born anew, suffer sacrifice, die and die for thy.
Incantation, Celebration, Termination

I'll run thru fire, climb o'er mountains, swim thru seas for thee.
Desperation, Dedication, Adulation