When I try to take the devils position (by that I mean ‘devils advocate’ of course – wink, wink), I would assume that Christians take the creation standpoint out of pure faith in God. So to take that a step further, Christians often look at the scientific data found in biology, astronomy, geology, etc and plug that in to their already existing religious view and call it ’support for creationism’. I agree. That’s what happens. Any honest person would answer that way.

The problem is that evolutionists follow the exact same process and yet they underhandedly and shamefully deny it at every turn. An evolutionist does the same thing. He/she assumes his/her own beliefs in evolution first – and any data they find is then plugged in (when possible) to support their predetermined belief system. That’s a religious system just like Christianity. Consequently, and ironically, any data that doesn’t support their religion is simply discarded and ignored.

Think about this. Is there anything we could find in science that would make an evolutionist change his/her mind about evolution? At first I thought “No, they are just to blinded by their bias”. But really the answer is “yes and no”. Actually scientists are recanting evolution all the time, the ones who can look at evidence and make logical conclusions anyway. Unfortunately there are also those who’s entire careers are based on the religion of evolution. They will never change regardless of what they find. If they did change they would lose their funding, prestige, and perceived credibility.

If something is TRUE, it is TRUE in every case. You can’t say something is ‘mostly true’ and then go ahead with it as if it were complete and proven fact. Really, there are thousands of ‘anomalies’ throughout nature that simply cannot be explained by the evolutionary process. So the logical person is forced to say “Hmmm… if that’s the case, if what I’m seeing can’t happen under the evolution system of belief, evolution can’t actually be the answer – can’t be true”.

Take the moon. Where did it come from? I know there are many ‘theories’, but none of them are actually physically POSSIBLE through natural science. So if evolution can’t explain it, and yet it does exist (it’s obviously observable), then evolution has FAILED. Period. There is no evolutionary process that can account for the moon.

Oh, and a side note, the moon is just the tip of the iceberg. Check out Saturn’s rings (some are braided together – how is that possible?), Why does mercury have a magnetic field when it shouldn’t? Why doesn’t Venus have a magnetic field when it should? Why is the moon a different chemical makeup than the earth? Why are every single one of the planets made up of different element combinations when they should all be the same? I could go on and on (and that’s just talking about space).

The point is, evolution in the broad sense is a faith, even though it is marketed as ’science’. A true scientists would say “nobody knows how life began, we can’t seem to duplicate it in the lab” – period. No emotional production, no philosophical caveats. It is what it is – a scientific fact. A religious scientist (who’s honest about it) with a ‘faith’ framework would say “I believe life began through abiogenesis. Although we have no actual evidence for that, that is my theory of choice.” Along the same lines, a Christian scientist might say “Science can’t produce life from non-living matter, and we simply don’t know how it happened. Therefore any theories on how that came about are on a ‘faith’ only basis, and I personally believe what is claimed in traditional creation.”

Here’s the bottom line. There’s a long list of things that simply can not exist under the assumption of a purely ‘natural’ evolutionary process. They are mathematically, chemically, and biologically impossible. Therefore we can only come to the logical conclusion that evolution is bust, dis-proven, illogical, irrational, old, dead, so “yesterday”, and just plain dumb. To continue to believe in it is purely a matter of the heart – a “FAITH tradition”.

(Side note: I have yet to hear of any solid scientific evidence AGAINST the creationist perspective. If you have any, please comment below and I’ll check it out.)

Well, I haven’t posted since January of this year.  I guess I just got bogged down in other things and also maybe didn’t feel like posting rebuttals to the usual garbage that goes on here in the metro area I live in. But my silence is broken today. I just felt the need to express a little bit after watching some YouTube clips.

You know how when you hear something over and over again you start to take it in and make it personal. Well… for some reason the last several months the song ‘Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus’ has been rolling through my head. I don’t know why, but I just can’t seem to shake it (not that it’s a bad thing really).  Every time I sit down at the piano that’s the first thing I think of and so I start playing it immediately.  When I’m driving down the road in silence the lyrics seem to float into my brain like clouds and push out my other ‘more pressing’ thoughts.

So today I spent some time listening to YouTube clips of people singing the song.  I must have listened to the song sung 30 different times by just as many people, each one putting their own spin on the melody. Along with the usual thoughts “Wow these people can really sing!”, and the subsequent insecurities of  “What am I thinking even trying to pursue music after listening to these guys?”, something happened as I listened.   I shut my browser window and just sat there a minute to let the words and music just sink in.

Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. Just to take Him at his Word. Just to rest upon His promise. Just to know “Thus saith the Lord”. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust You. How I’ve proved you over and over. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus… Oh for grace to trust You more.

How many times have I said (usually privately) “God,  I KNOW you didn’t bring me this far in life just to let me go. I know you will come through for me this time.”  When I look back on my life I see so many times that I should have been completely sunk. Broken, paralyzed, bankrupt, overwhelmed, cast down, crushed, defeated, jobless, homeless, friendless, etc. But something always happened just at the right time. Something unexpected, something miraculous. Some series of events came together to save the day. That’s what trust is… looking back and seeing the consistency of the hand of God then looking forward and knowing the same will be true for the future.

They say that trust is earned. And I think that’s exactly the point of this song. “How I’ve proved You over and over”.

I have now been overwhelmed with the sense of His bigness compared to my smallness. (I guess that’s the core definition of humility, isn’t it?)  Somehow the world doesn’t seem like such a meaningless place.  Somehow the future doesn’t seem so scary.  Somehow I think things are going to turn out OK (even if the country does collapse in economic ruin). To be in the hand of God is the only safe place to be. “Oh for grace to trust You more.”

Blessings to you all.
Thanks for letting me write what is stylistically and topically somewhat out of characteristic for me.

Light Touch by Light Blue Optics

OK, when this hits the consumer market I’m getting one.  I think this is one of the coolest things to come out in a long time.

Created by Light Blue Optics, this interactive projector works by detecting your finger placement and responds to your touches on any flat surface. It sports a 10 inch screen (same as many newer netbooks) and has full color laser projection.

Also included are features like WiFi, Video IN, built in speakers, headphone jack, and micro USB.

Website Link: http://lightblueoptics.com/products/light-touch/

Imagine going in to a coffee shop, setting the Light Touch down, and the table becomes your interactive computer screen. Your kitchen table could turn into a personal finance workspace. Watch a movie on the hood of your car. Or edit video clips using your bedroom wall. The possibilities are endless.

I really like the idea of leaving behind the bulky laptops and desktops we’ver been using for years.  This may not be the next huge technological evolution for computers, but I think we’re getting closer. This is at least a step in the right direction. While most companies are focussed on the need for more cool hardare, needing LESS hardware (no keyboard, mouse, or monitor) is actually a refreshing change.

One thing they didn’t explore on their website is the possibility that these devices could interact with each other.  Perhaps the devices would behave differently if the image from another device was detected. This could allow for security verifications, sharing profile information, granting privileges, etc.

Or what if this thing (now were into speculation) could see barcodes and instantly take you to the company’s website, or ebay, or youtube, or amazon, or wordpress and show related content.. I know we already have barcode scanners, but this could take that idea to a new level.

Right now the Light tough by Light Blue Optics runs Windows CE as it’s operating system and also has Adobe Flash Lite. So out of the box it is capable of doing some amazing things. Games, video, photos, office programs, email, social networking, web browsing, etc. 

Although I haven’t had hands on experience with this yet, it has sparked my imagination and so I think it is on it’s way to being a successful product.  We’ll see.

The N Game

This game could have been created in the 80s.  The graphics are super simple. The game play is easy to learn. And yet it’s challenging enough to keep you enraptured for hours at a time.  The N-game (sometimes called N+) is simply amazing.

Remember “LINE RIDER”?  Yeah, this is sort of like that game in many respects. Simple yet adictive.

Now I’m not someone who plays a lot of computer games.  I find them a waste of time most of the time. Occasionally I will play a little Halo or Star Wars with my oldest son. Sometimes I spend some time with my 2nd son playing racing or flying. But in general I just can’t seem to find the time when I’m not trying to be ‘productive’.

Enter “The N-Game”. My son started playing this a couple of weeks ago and I though it was pretty funny to watch. When the little stick figure guy dies he sprays into little tiny pieces.  He can jump super high and runs very fast for his size.  And the playing arena is all done on one screen.

So I watched for a while and then one day said “Hey, let me try that.” That’s all it took. I was hooked. For the first time since college my wife will occasionally come into the room and catch me playing, to my slight embarrassment. But I just can’t help myself. It’s just so fun.

Plus the N-game is available for a bunch of different platforms.  X-box, PSP, and my favorite, the PC web browser. It is a flash-based game that plays with any internet connection.  (It may be available for more systems, but these are the ones I know about).

PLAY IT HERE: http://www.madgravityradio.com/ngame.html 

…THEN BOOKMARK IT!  You’ll need later. :)  

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
Let me know what you think. Comment below.

First of all… What is a VOB file and why should you care? Right?

VOB is the default file type for standard movie DVDs. More detailed information here at Wikipedia. If you want to back-up a DVD onto your computer, you will immediately come in contact with VOB files.

So my son gets a PSP (Play Station Portable) for Christmas and right away wants to put movies on it to watch by himself. So I say “Fine, we have  a bunch of movies here that I can transfer to the PSP.”  I grab a DVD off the shelf and stick it in the computer. Then I grab one of my handy dandy conversion tools and get to work.

• DVDDecrypter (Download Here)
  • I first tried DVDDecrypter because this program simply transfers the raw DVD files (VOBs) onto the computer without compressing them or changing them in any way.  But that didn’t work for this particular DVD. 
• DVD Shrink (Download Here)
  • Then I try DVDShrink because it does a good job transferring DVDs also. It worked. The whole DVD, all the VOB files, were transferred successfully to the hard drive.  But OOPS, I forgot to check the little box that says “Make one big huge VOB file from the DVD”. So instead the movie was chopped into 5 pieces, each one with it’s own VOB file.
    • DVDShrink is usually used to compress a full movie from a double layer disc (up to 8gb) so it will fit  onto a regular DVD (4.7 gb). And it does this very well. But in my case I didn’t need compression, just file transfer.
• AVS File Converters (Download here)
  • I almost always use AVS File Converter to convert the VOBs into other formats, like AVI, MP4, MPG, MOV, FLV, etc.  It does a great job and has a very easy to use interface.  Problem is, if I try to convert the DVD files as they are, I’ll have 5 little movies. That won’t do. I need to combine them into one big VOB.

Come to find out… WIndows has a built-in VOB combiner. And it’s easy to use.   Just follow these instructions.

1. Go to: Start > Run, Then type Cmd (this opens a DOS window)
2. Type: cd \Videofiles(“Videofiles” being the folder where decrypter saved your VOB files. you’ll need to navigate to the location YOUR files are located.)
3. Then type: copy /b vts_01_1.vob + vts_01_2.vob + vts_01_3.vob + vts_01_4.vob new.vob
   1. Be sure to include each VOB file you’re wanting to combine and in the order you want them to play.
   2. The very last file in the sequence (in this case “new.vob”) is the name of the combined file you want to create.
4. new.vob is now 1 VOB file of the movie.

I then used AVS to easily convert to a PSP compliant format and copied it to the memory stick that my son uses. 

This whole process ended up taking about 2 hours. But I think I could knock a bunch of time off that now that I know what I’m doing.  For example, in the process I found out that AVS will convert the entire movie directly from the DVD. So, assuming there wasn’t any DVD encryption to deal with, that right there could have saved a bunch of steps.  In my case the DVD WAS encrypted, so I would have needed DVDShrink anyway.

Hope this helps SOMEBODY out there.  If you have any other solutions for this problem, please comment below.

Inspiration for this post found here: http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/beyond-media-user-user-troubleshooting-support-forum/38077-multiple-vobs-combining-into-one-file.html

NotePad++ (Free Software)

I haven’t created a blog in a while because… well there’s not that much to say.  However, today I came across this great new little program that I know is going to revolutionize the way I create websites and edit code.  It’s called “Notepad++”

This little piece of software is just like notepad for windows… but oh so much more.

For code junkies like me this program color codes the different types of text in the document for easy visual reference.  Not only that, it also prints in color.  Add “tabbed browsing” style document management,  intelligent collapsible content sections and the ability to install plugins  and you have yourself a monster of a program.

The other great thing I noticed right away is that you have the option to put a “Context menu” selector in windows explorer.  This allows you to simply right-click on a file to open it in Notepad++. That is extremely handy.

Now, I’ve only been using this program for about 15 minutes, so I have yet to see what it can really do when put through the paces. But so far I’m giving Notepad++ an A++ .

Actually, install was a little tricky because I always look at the wall of available files to download and think… “which one do I actually need”. But without too much trouble I found the file called “installer” and that was the end of my confusion.

Great little program. I think I will get MUCH use out of it in the future.

Download Here… http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm  (Sort of a freaky website, but don’t let that deture you.)

 If you have never tried it, you should.  You get 100% of the great classic Kool-Aid taste with ZERO sugar.  It’s amazing.

 Stevia is a super-sweet herb that is all-natural and completely organic. ½ Teaspoon of this stuff sweetens just like a whole cup of sugar would, except you don’t get the sugar jitters, hyper activity, or the crash an hour later.

 Here’s how to make the Kool-Aid

• One pack of Kool-Aid drink mix
• 2 quarts of water
• ½ Teaspoon Stevia (powdered extract)
• Ice, of course

 You’ll love it. 

It also works well with lemons.  A few fresh squeezed lemons a little water and a pinch of stevia….  WOW! What a great guilt-free pleasure.  Bring on the Ice and the summer heat. I’m ready!

 NOTE: I use the stevia “extract” powder. There are other mixes that add fillers and bulking agents. These other products would require different proportions to achieve the same taste results.

 Here are some more links for other stevia resources:

• What is stevia? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia
• Stevia, sweeter than sugar: http://www.stevia.net/
• Other stevia recipes: http://www.steviacafe.net/

One of my greatest frustrations in my years of web site building has been creating an easy to use (and modify) drop down navigation bar. Everybody wants to use them on their sites, but it seems like there hasn’t been any simple solutions that work in all the browsers.

I’ve purchased menu creating programs that output large chunks of code. I’ve created Javascript and DHTML solutions. And I’ve read every tutorial under the sun that promises to have a ’simple’ solution. I have always made my menus work somehow, but have never really been happy with how they were constructed from a programming perspective. And the code has never been easily transferred from one site to another.

But… I have come across a great solution for drop-down menus that uses ONLY CSS (no Javascript) and is simple to install. To change your links or page structure, you simply modify the bulleted list. 30 seconds worth of modifications can change the entire drop-down structure. I’m using this from now on.

NOTE: I haven’t tested this code in every application. If you’re wanting a drop-down for your facebook profile or craigslist posting, I don’t think you’ll be able to get this to work. You need to have access to the HTML files for your website. Anyway… here goes.

View the sample Dropdown Navigation: Click here

Here’s how to build it in 3 easy steps.

Step 1: Modify this bulleted list to for your desired navigation structure

Step 2: Copy this code into your master style sheet (modify it for your styling needs)

Step 3: Make sure you have this line in the very top of your HTML code. I’m not sure exactly why… but erasing this line will make the code stop working.

There you have it, an easy to use CSS drop-down menu that works in both FireFox and Internet Explorer. I am excited about how this code is going to helpme out in creating fast, and easy drop-down menus in the future.

I hope it helps you too.

A big problem in listening to MP3s is that they are rarely encoded at a constant volume level.

Well, I have come across a great tool for taking existing MP3s and “normalizing” them to a consistent volume.

It is called MP3Gain.  It’s FREE, it’s easy, it’s fast and it does a great job.

Give it a shot.

http://download.cnet.com/MP3Gain/3000-2169_4-10175552.html

AP Story Here:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iRHXSIoJJdXQpG3kPrRO2LWMnWTAD975TOK00

The story mentioned above is extremely alarming.  Every man, woman, and child should be outraged by this recent vote.  This basically says that no speech that portrays Islam in a negative light will be tolerated.

On the one hand one might say “It’s just the U.N. They don’t govern us here in the USA.”  Wrong.  The United States is part of the UN council and we are very much affected by what happens there.  Besides, I predict that the United States will give up our sovereignty to UN control within the next couple of years if not later this year. If Obama thought he could get away with it, we would have already done it. And the UN doesn’t really care about our little constitutional “freedom of speech” rules. Those are going out the window.

So my question is… why aren’t our women’s groups up in arms about the spread and growth of Islam in this country?  In the Mid-Eastern nations where Islam reigns the women are horribly mistreated on an ongoing basis. They’re forced to be completely covered head to toe. They’re forbidden to drive or be out after dark without their husband. They can’t have authority over men, and their husbands can beat and kill them at will without fear of punishment. And this is just a part of the list.

The women in America are outraged when they perceive they are getting a lower salary than their male counterparts.  Where is the N.O.W.? Why aren’t they complaining about this “Honor Killing” (Article Here) by a Muslim man right here in the USA? Where is the ACLU? Why aren’t they commenting on this?  The ten commandments in a courtroom for some reason is a hideous crime, but cutting off your wife’s head “in the name of Allah” is somehow “honorable”? I don’t get it.

Women… Islam is so obviously NOT your friend. When you see the ladies dressed head to toe in the grocery store. That’s not a cute little middle eastern clothing style.  They might as well be wearing a sadwich-board sign that says… “I could be killed if I don’t follow the rules”.

For some reason America is bending over backwards to bring muslims into this country and let them promote their religon all over the place.  But beware… they are not some “neutral” religon.