BuzzyBlog

Buzzy Multimedia, the people that brought you the absolutely incredible set of Dresden Files Audiobooks, now has a blog! You can check it out here:
http://blog.buzzymultimedia.com

They have separate categories linked, so if you want to only read specific topics, such as Dresden Files posts, you can pick your category and read only the stuff you want. (Warning, they do have spoilers in some of those posts - and in some of the post headers - so if you haven't read ALL the Dresden Files material, you might wind up finding out more than you wanted to know).

They review shows, post "general musings" (including a post advocating KIDS NEED TO READ. I agree completely!), and advertise their products - and product information. I'm really happy to note, for example, that James Marsters, the guy who has done such a stellar job on the first 4 Dresden Files Audiobooks, has been signed to do all the Dresden Files on audio! Hooray!

He's done a fabulous job so far, and I'm very much looking forward to hearing more from him in the future.

Weekly Webness

Today's featured Site:

Etiquette Hell! This site is chock full of stories about people who just don't behave the way they should. There are several categories, including Rude Neighbors, "Just Plain Tacky", and several categories for weddings. Why is it that they bring out the worst in people?

You can even submit your own story to Etiquette Hell; just follow the links!

Woohoo! Changed the template!

Sorta. I modified the template I had to take up more of the page. And changed some of the font colors. Yay! Now to scoot some of the widgets around...

Weekly Webness

For the week of October 20, here's the Weekly Webness!

This weeks' "featured site" is Unshelved, a daily Library Comic Strip. It features several librarians and their daily tasks. If you are a Librarian, were a Librarian, or know a librarian, you'll like this strip.

Weekend strips feature a weekly Book Review, summarizing and recommending a different book each week. Most, if not all, are Juvenile or Young Adult books, but many of them are still worth reading. I've found several books in their recommended list that are entertaining, including the Skullduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, (ooh, cool, I just found out that the fifth (and final) book in the series is coming out on my birthday, so obviously I must get it) and, most recently, Hidden Talents by David Lubar.

Check 'em out.

"Why I Can't vote For Barack Obama"

This just showed up on Snopes, marked "True". Huntley Brown, jazz pianist, composed an email saying why he can't vote for Barack Obama. While I dislike bringing politics to my blog, they're everywhere, and he makes several of the points I've been struggling to codify, so I'm gonna just take his.

Why I Can't Vote For Obama
By Huntley Brown

Dear Friends, A few months ago I was asked for my perspective on Obama, I sent out an email with a few points. With the election just around the corner I decided to complete my perspective. Those of you on my e-list have seen some of this before but it's worth repeating...

First I must say whoever wins the election will have my prayer support. Obama needs to be commended for his accomplishments but I need to explain why I will not be voting for him.

Many of my friends process their identity through their blackness. I process my identity through Christ. Being a Christian (a Christ follower) means He leads I follow. I can't dictate the terms He does because He is the leader.

I can't vote black because I am black; I have to vote Christian because that's who I am. Christian first, black second. Neither should anyone from the other ethnic groups vote because of ethnicity. 200 years from now I won't be asked if I was black or white. I will be asked if I knew Jesus and accepted Him as Lord and Savior.

In an election there are many issues to consider but when a society gets abortion, same-sex marriage, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning to name a few, wrong economic concerns will soon not matter. We need to follow Martin Luther King's words, don't judge someone by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I don't know Obama so all I can go off is his voting record. His voting record earned him the title of the most liberal senator in the US Senate in 2007.
NATIONAL JOURNAL: Obama: Most Liberal Senator in 2007 (01/31/2008)

To beat Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton as the most liberal senator, takes some doing. Obama accomplished this feat in 2 short years. I wonder what would happen to America if he had four years to work with.

There is a reason Planned Parenthood gives him a 100% rating. There is a reason the homosexual community supports him. There is a reason Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, Hamas etc. love him. There is a reason he said he would nominate liberal judges to the Supreme Court. There is a reason he voted against the infanticide bill. There is a reason he voted No on the constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. There is a reason he voted No on banning partial birth abortion. There is a reason he voted No on confirming Justices Roberts and Alito. These two judges are conservatives and they have since overturned partial birth abortion. The same practice Obama wanted to continue.

Let's take a look at the practice he wanted to continue.

The 5 Step Partial Birth Abortion procedures:
A. Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby's leg with forceps. (Remember this is a live baby)
B. The baby's leg is pulled out into the birth canal.
C. The abortionist delivers the baby's entire body, except for the head.
D. The abortionist jams scissors into the baby's skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the hole.
E. The scissors are removed and a suction catheter is inserted. The child's brains are sucked out, causing the skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed.
God help him. There is a reason Obama opposed the parental notification law.
Think about this: You can't give a kid an aspirin without parental notification but that same kid can have an abortion without parental notification. This is insane.

There is a reason he went to Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years.

Obama tells us he has good judgment but he sat under Jeremiah Wright teaching for 20 years. Now he is condemning Wright's sermons. I wonder why now?

Obama said Jeremiah Wright led him to the Lord and discipled him. A disciple is one in training. Jesus told us in Matthew 28:19 - 20 "Go and make disciples of all nations." This means reproduce yourself. Teach people to think like you, walk like you; talk like you believe what you believe etc. The question I have is what did Jeremiah Wright teach him?

Would you support a White President who went to a church which has tenets that said they have a ...

1. Commitment to the White Community
2. Commitment to the White Family
3. Adherence to the White Work Ethic
4. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the White Community.
5. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting White Institutions
6. Pledge allegiance to all White leadership who espouse and embrace the White Value System
7. Personal commitment to embracement of the White Value System.

Would you support a President who went to a church like that?

Just change the word from white to black and you have the tenets of Obama's former church. If President Bush was a member of a church like this, he would be called a racist. Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton would have been marching outside.
This kind of church is a racist church. Obama did not wake up after 20 years and just discovered he went to a racist church. The church can't be about race. Jesus did not come for any particular race. He came for the whole world.

A church can't have a value system based on race. The churches value system has to be based on biblical mandate. It does not matter if it’s a white church or a black church it's still wrong. Anyone from either race that attends a church like this would never get my vote.

Obama's former Pastor Jeremiah Wright is a disciple of liberal theologian James Cone, author of the 1970 book A Black Theology of Liberation. Cone once wrote: "Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him.
Cone is the man Obama's mentor looks up to. Does Obama believe this?

So what does all this mean for the nation?

In the past when the Lord brought someone with the beliefs of Obama to lead a nation it meant one thing - judgment.

Read 1 Samuel 8 when Israel asked for a king. First God says in 1 Samuel 1:9 "Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."

Then God says
1 Samuel 1:18 " When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day." 19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." 21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22 The LORD answered, "Listen to them and give them a king."

Here is what we know for sure.

God is not schizophrenic.

He would not tell one person to vote for Obama and one to vote for McCain. As the scripture says, a city divided against itself cannot stand, so obviously many people are not hearing from God.

Maybe I am the one not hearing but I know God does not change and Obama contradicts many things I read in scripture so I doubt it.

For all my friends who are voting for Obama can you really look God in the face and say; “Father, based on your word, I am voting for Obama even though I know he will continue the genocidal practice of partial birth abortion. He might have to nominate three or four Supreme Court justices, and I am sure he will be nominating liberal judges who will be making laws that are against you. I also know he will continue to push for homosexual rights, even though you destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for this. I know I can look the other way because of the economy.”

I could not see Jesus agreeing with many of Obama's positions. Finally I have two questions for all my liberal friends.

Since we know someone's value system has to be placed on the nation,
1. Whose value system should be placed on the nation.
2. Who should determine that this is the right value system for the nation?

Blessings, Huntley Brown

There is a followup email to this located at http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/huntleybrown.asp

I'm sorry, Mr. Brown, for the stupidity and evil you and your family must endure because you're standing up for morality and Christ-centered ethics. But thank you for standing up for them. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

How I Spent My Weekend

Or, "shopping for apples."

Originally I just wanted to get some apples, for pete's sake. The only orchard I know of that carries them is up by Pokagon, and I know they've done "Apple programs" at the Nature Center at Pokagon before, and of course I couldn't remember the name of the orchard so I couldn't look them up. Why did I have to look them up? Because I wanted to find out if they had Northern Spy apples in stock yet. Northern Spies just so happen to be the very bestest apples EVER, and very few places carry them anymore (in fact, the orchard-I-couldn't-remember is the only place I know of that still has 'em), and they're a later apple, so I didn't want to drive up there for nothing.

I did check the Yellow Pages, only they're not listed. So, next try - check out Pokagon's activity list and see if they're doing an apple program this year. That should mention it, right?
Sure, if they were doing one this month. Answer: No, they weren't - but they were doing a nifty program on Tree Identification, and Saturday was supposed to be a really lovely day, so we decided to go to Pokagon. Drive up there, attend the Tree ID program, learned how to use a Dichotomous Key (sort of like Choose-your-own adventure, actually. "Does it have this characteristic? Go to step 2. Does it have this OTHER characteristic instead? Go to step 3." Pretty neat, although the characteristics they had listed for "Box Elder" worked just as well for the wild grape vines they had growing there. Sneaky.)

Anyway, afterward we talked to the Naturalist who said, "Oh, yeah, it's G.W. Stroh orchard and I'll go and call them if you like to find out if they have any Northern Spies in stock."
Woohoo!
They did!

So we went and got some Spies and they're deeeeeeeelicious.

So, for future reference next year when I completely forget the name of the orchard again, and to give these wonderful people some free advertising, here's all the info in one handy place:

G.W. Stroh Orchard and Strawberry Farm
U-pick Strawberries, Farmers Market
Monday - Saturday 9 am - 6 pm
Sunday 11 am - 5 pm
September through March, June
2 1/2 miles north of Angola on SR 827
Contact: phone 260-665-7607

They've got a fabulous variety of apples, fresh-squoze apple cider, and various flavors of fudge. Including Kev's favorite, Maple Walnut.
Give 'em a visit.
Tell 'em Fred from Pokagon sent you.

Weekly Webness

Kev suggested I start a feature that he's carrying on his blog. He calls it "weekly Webness" (which, incidentally, I keep wanting to mis-type as "Weekly WebMess").
What he does is link to a website he thinks is nifty and tells a little about it, and why you should check it out.

OK, so I'll start that, and hopefully I can remember to keep updating it!

Here's the first one.
This Is True. "This Is True" is a weekly syndicated newspaper column by Randy Cassingham. He summarizes several news stories and makes a pithy comment on each of them. Mostly humorous, sometimes thought-provoking, and always entertaining.

You can get This Is True for free in your email every week, too! (He also offers an expanded version, without ads, for a small yearly subscription fee.)
Check it out, and prepare to be entertained. You can also check out some of the other sites / lists he hosts, as they're all linked from his main page.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Strawberry! Hope you have nothing to whine about today. ;)