This is how they open up a cricket championship game in India. Love it!
Did I mention we have the Cricket Ticket through DirecTV so we don't miss a thing
How to Put Your Gifts Out There
2 years ago
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Right for all the Wrong Reasons
The death penalty has been in the news for the last few days here in Arkansas. A couple of cases have been called in to question and executions have been delayed. So it’s got me thinking about the death penalty, and I am against it.
There are a number of good reasons to be against the death penalty:
1. Life is sacred and should be protected at all costs
2. It is an arbitrary punishment. Two people can commit identical crimes and one may be sentenced to death while the other gets life in prison
3. There is no way to take it back if evidence later proves the person was innocent.
So there are lots of legitimate and even admirable reasons to be against the death penalty. Alas, my reasons may be as legitimate, but perhaps not very admirable.
I am against the death penalty because the people who receive it are the very worst example of humankind. They have destroyed not only the lives of the people they killed, but often the lives of everyone who ever loved their victim(s). The ripple effect of the destruction that occurs in the commission of a violent crime is impossible to measure.
But I also believe in a loving and merciful God. I believe that there is nothing that we can do that can separate us from the love of God. I don’t believe that heaven will be my home because of anything I have done, but because of what God has done through Jesus Christ. I believe that everyone, no matter what s/he has done, has the opportunity to receive forgiveness from God.
God is all loving and forgiving, but I am not. I think that people who have done irreparable damage to this world should have to hang around this life for a while before they get a shot at the next. Since I’m not a believer in purgatory, I like the idea of some prison-time limbo imposed here on earth. I really want them to have a taste of hell before they get a chance at heaven. Not very admirable or loving or forgiving of me.
I just may be the most mean-spirited anti-death penalty advocate around. I believe it's wrong to kill, but I'm okay with certain people being miserable. Not my best moment, is it?
There are a number of good reasons to be against the death penalty:
1. Life is sacred and should be protected at all costs
2. It is an arbitrary punishment. Two people can commit identical crimes and one may be sentenced to death while the other gets life in prison
3. There is no way to take it back if evidence later proves the person was innocent.
So there are lots of legitimate and even admirable reasons to be against the death penalty. Alas, my reasons may be as legitimate, but perhaps not very admirable.
I am against the death penalty because the people who receive it are the very worst example of humankind. They have destroyed not only the lives of the people they killed, but often the lives of everyone who ever loved their victim(s). The ripple effect of the destruction that occurs in the commission of a violent crime is impossible to measure.
But I also believe in a loving and merciful God. I believe that there is nothing that we can do that can separate us from the love of God. I don’t believe that heaven will be my home because of anything I have done, but because of what God has done through Jesus Christ. I believe that everyone, no matter what s/he has done, has the opportunity to receive forgiveness from God.
God is all loving and forgiving, but I am not. I think that people who have done irreparable damage to this world should have to hang around this life for a while before they get a shot at the next. Since I’m not a believer in purgatory, I like the idea of some prison-time limbo imposed here on earth. I really want them to have a taste of hell before they get a chance at heaven. Not very admirable or loving or forgiving of me.
I just may be the most mean-spirited anti-death penalty advocate around. I believe it's wrong to kill, but I'm okay with certain people being miserable. Not my best moment, is it?
Monday, April 12, 2010
Box Writing
My daughter starts taking the Benchmark test today in school. For weeks, they've been preparing for these tests. It seems like everything has revolved around them. And part of the prep has been learning how to write their answers to certain questions inside a box so that the tests can be graded properly. I can't believe I send my child to a learning institution where they are teaching here--training her!--to write inside the box. Drives me absolutely up a wall.
I don't claim to know anything about education, but I can't see the benefit of these standardized tests--other than to provide some statistics for the school districts. I would much rather that she was learning how to solve problems and figuring out new ways of making things work. I supposed my education wasn't much different, but after three years of International school exposure, the world of bubble filling, box writing and endless worksheets just doesn't seem very effective.
Hopefully, her time in Argenta will help counteract this training. I'm pretty sure most of the people who live there don't even know that there is a box--much less how to stay inside the lines.
I don't claim to know anything about education, but I can't see the benefit of these standardized tests--other than to provide some statistics for the school districts. I would much rather that she was learning how to solve problems and figuring out new ways of making things work. I supposed my education wasn't much different, but after three years of International school exposure, the world of bubble filling, box writing and endless worksheets just doesn't seem very effective.
Hopefully, her time in Argenta will help counteract this training. I'm pretty sure most of the people who live there don't even know that there is a box--much less how to stay inside the lines.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Why Do I Feel Like GM's story will be the PCUSA story...
...but without the bailout?
This American Life ran a story this week about the GM Nummi plant closing. It traces why GM--even with the benefit of Japanese manufacturing "secrets"--was still unable to change and survive.
It parallels much of what is happening in the PCUSA (and I'm sure other mainline) churches today.
Resistance to change
Belief that the company would never fold
Too long to obtain the critical mass of leadership who believed change was the answer
Employees who didn't want to take ownership of projects or be responsible for making things better
Lack of support from corporate for divisions who were trying to do things differently
This American Life
If you're reading more than a week after the post, you may need to go to the Previous Stories link and look for Nummi.
This American Life ran a story this week about the GM Nummi plant closing. It traces why GM--even with the benefit of Japanese manufacturing "secrets"--was still unable to change and survive.
It parallels much of what is happening in the PCUSA (and I'm sure other mainline) churches today.
Resistance to change
Belief that the company would never fold
Too long to obtain the critical mass of leadership who believed change was the answer
Employees who didn't want to take ownership of projects or be responsible for making things better
Lack of support from corporate for divisions who were trying to do things differently
This American Life
If you're reading more than a week after the post, you may need to go to the Previous Stories link and look for Nummi.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Monticello
Went to Thomas Jefferson's home today. For those of you dealing with home construction or renovation, take comfort in the knowledge that Jefferson took 40 years to complete Monticello because he kept changing his mind! Courtesy of friend Adam's Uncle Paul, we got access to the Dome Room (or the observatory) that only about 200 people a year get to see. The stair case is too narrow to accommodate a large volume of visitors each year, so it is restricted to special guests. And we got to be special today!
Another great part of the visit was the kids' area at the visitors center. They had replicas of all the things you couldn't touch, use or sit on in the real Monticello available for hands-on activity. We got to sit in the chairs, use the polygraph writing machine like the one Jefferson used to copy his many letters and even lie on a replica of his bed!
Skip and Maddie with our guide in the Dome Room
All of us in the Dome Room
At the side entrance of Monticello
Maddie hard at work as a blacksmith
Jefferson was a man of many talents, but we were particularly impressed with his "10 Rules" for life.
Thomas Jefferson's Ten Rules
1. Never put off tomorrow what you can do today.
2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
3. Never spend your money before you have earned it.
4. Never buy what you don't want because it is cheap.
5. Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold.
6. We seldom repent of having eaten too little.
7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
8. How much pain the evils have cost us that never happened.
9. Take things always by the smooth handle.
10. When angry, count ten before you speak, if very angry, count a hundred.
Another great part of the visit was the kids' area at the visitors center. They had replicas of all the things you couldn't touch, use or sit on in the real Monticello available for hands-on activity. We got to sit in the chairs, use the polygraph writing machine like the one Jefferson used to copy his many letters and even lie on a replica of his bed!
Skip and Maddie with our guide in the Dome Room
All of us in the Dome Room
At the side entrance of Monticello
Maddie hard at work as a blacksmith
Jefferson was a man of many talents, but we were particularly impressed with his "10 Rules" for life.
Thomas Jefferson's Ten Rules
1. Never put off tomorrow what you can do today.
2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
3. Never spend your money before you have earned it.
4. Never buy what you don't want because it is cheap.
5. Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold.
6. We seldom repent of having eaten too little.
7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
8. How much pain the evils have cost us that never happened.
9. Take things always by the smooth handle.
10. When angry, count ten before you speak, if very angry, count a hundred.
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