May 2012
1 post
How to get rich
Here’s how to get rich:
Identify social ill.
Imagine theoretical fictional character who stands as antithesis to that ill.
Write character into book/movie series and make billions off of people who would rather spend a few bucks watching someone pretend to fix aforementioned ill than actually get up off the couch and do something about it themselves.
Oooh! I got one! I think I’m...
March 2012
2 posts
Brittanica stops publishing
[Encyclopedia Brittanica president Jorge] Cauz admits that he will miss holding its volumes in his hands. That product, he says, is “not only romantic, it’s also nostalgic.”
—from here
Yeah, that’s what I said.
So many questions. So little time.
Why do I get so many emails from Formspring? I think it has something to do with Tumblr.
Also, does anyone know how to set up Tumblr to be interactive? I’d love for you all to be able to leave comments. I’ve been nosing around for the settings but I can’t find them. Email me at jeffholton@mac.com.
February 2012
1 post
Checking in from Facebook on a computer
A week or so ago I posted on Facebook that you could “fake” your browser into making Facebook think you’re on a mobile device by going to a particular URL. This is useful, for example, for checking in while on a laptop, which you can’t do from Facebook’s default URL.
I just noticed that the link I posted is not working. I have no idea if this is a temporary or...
September 2011
1 post
Fresh Beat
Yesterday, my four-year-old informed me that “It’s okay to watch the Fresh Beat Band because they encourage preschoolers.”
Yeah. Okay. Thanks for that. I guess you’re in the clear then, kid.
May 2011
2 posts
Futureshock: Mongolian beef edition
Someday, in the far distant future, an archaeologist will dig up pounds and pounds of the hot pepper husks I routinely discard from my Mongolian beef and falsely conclude that the early Information Age Californians engaged in regular, ritual, religious masochism.
April 2011
1 post
Who killed more Indians than Custer? Union... →
Here’s the thing. If you write a book called God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, you sell a lot of books. If you write a book called What’s So Great About Christianity on the evils of atheism, you also sell a lot of books. If you say that neither extremist viewpoint makes any sense, you end up doing a podcast and working as a greeter at Wal-Mart directing customers to...
March 2011
1 post
Disclaimer
Things to keep in mind while reading this blog.
Cash value 1/20 of 1 cent. Not redeemable with any other offers. Non-transferrable. Kids, ask your parents. Batteries not included. May cause drowsiness. Tax, license, and documentation fees extra. May not be valid in all areas. Are you still reading this? Closed course. Professional drivers only. Do not attempt this at home. Side effects include...
February 2011
2 posts
The new consensus on American liberty
The classic Left view of American behavior is that people should be allowed to do whatever they want.
The classic Right view is that people need to be given margins for behavior to maintain social order for the common good. (In short, we should do what the Right says is okay.)
The past 60 years of social development have brought the Left and the Right together to a consensus view on American...
Ignorant of the facts
Why is it that anyone with an opinion on something says that everyone with a differing opinion is “ignorant of the facts?” Isn’t it possible that we’re all looking at the same information—some of which might be factual—and applying our own individual filters to it differently?
If you disagree with me on this, then you’re obviously just a complete idiot.
January 2011
3 posts
Who I hate
I hate people who hate. And hypocrites. And those radically violent folks who have a complete disregard for human life. And people who make self-serving exceptions.
I hate them so much I think we should dig a great big hole, throw them in, and bury them alive.
Well, maybe not the hypocrites.
Children, creative randomness, play, consequence,...
There is a conversation on parenting going on over on a friend’s Facebook Wall. My contribution to the discussion:
I can remember as a preschooler being asked questions afterwards like, “Why did you [insert action here]?”
And I remember very palpably the frustration of having no idea whatsoever how to answer. To be honest, I’m *still* not entirely comfortable with the...
Minding my own business
I need to make business cards.
I’ve been telling myself that for two or three years. But it’s time. Well, no, it was time two or three years ago. Now it’s REALLY time.
I’ve only been asked three times in the past few years if I had one, and had to apologize to brilliant people for the oversight. having a card would have increased the likelihood of an ongoing conversation,...
December 2010
1 post
I read the Bible, and it was cool.
One thing I’ve always seen each time I go through the Bible chronologically is that this is OUR story. Every account and episode of every failure, of every idiot fool in the OT who fails to obey God and bears the consequence, screams familiarity to my heart and calls me out into the scrutinizing light in hopes that I would respond in repentance.
The Word of God that we read is the same Word...
November 2010
2 posts
Conversations with kids: on the exnihilo genesis...
The other day, my four-year-old asked me, “Daddy, when did Nana put you in her tummy?”
“Uhm,” said I, pausing for a moment to regroup, “In 1972.”
I figured that answer would be sufficient, but she immediately continued, “And what time did she put Aunty Joanna in her tummy?”
“What TIME? I…uh… What time?? Uhhhhm…I don’t...
Receiving tweets on your phone that you don't want...
Twitter changed its notification defaults a few days ago and added a new category for Tweets that are responses to things you said. By default, they go to your phone if they’re from people you follow.
To turn the feature off:
Log in at Twitter.com.
Click on Settings.
Click Mobile.
Uncheck the section that says “Mentions and Replies.” No more unwanted text messages!
A Halloween joke
Why do computer scientists have difficulty differentiating between holidays?
Because 31OCT = 25DEC
October 2010
16 posts
Orthodoxy in relation to other things
A phone conversation yesterday has left me pondering the relationship between Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism (and Anglicanism, and Catholicism, and some other isms), Emergence and Traditionalism and Fundamentalism, and Conversion.
I’m not entirely sure that relationship is very simple.
How to manage your followers on Twitter
I’ve been on Twitter almost exactly two years. For me, the number of followers or followings is kinda irrelevant. I’m there to be able to interact with people I otherwise wouldn’t be able to.
I never fight for a follower. In fact, I’d guess that I block at least a third—and maybe as many as two-thirds—of the folks who follow me. You might consider doing the...
Am I emergent or traditionalist?
Emergent Christians say that the traditional church has lost its relevance and must be changed.
Traditionalist Christians say the emergent church is made of renegade heretics and they must change.
I’ve occasionally said that I want the emergents to think I’m a traditionalist, and I want the traditionalists to think I’m emergent. But I never really understood why I thought that....
Apple mobile devices and screen captures
iPhone screen captures used to save as PNG files.
Now they save as JPGs. (Or, at least, it shows up as a JPG when I save a capture to my Dropbox and open it up elsewhere.)
I just noticed that now. I wonder when it changed. I presume it was with the rollout of iOS 4.x. I also just confirmed that it’s across their mobile devices, behaving the same way on my iPad.
I wonder why they changed....
Sheila Walsh; old, used books; and autographs
So, Sheila Walsh invited me to hang out with her in a few weeks. [Read: How I became the most famous amateur tech support engineer in the world.]
Yes, the Sheila Walsh who used to co-host The 700 Club with Pat Robertson.
Crazy. I know.
So, in anticipation of meeting her, I decided I ought to read some of her books.
I bought her first book in 1987 when I was in Scotland. It sat on my shelf for...
What Technology Wants
Kevin Kelly’s new book What Technology Wants was released a few minutes ago.
(Yes, a few minutes. Ain’t modern technology cool!)
I just downloaded the introduction. He says of the emerging trends in the 1980s:
Right before my eyes I saw online networks connect people with ideas, options, and other people they could not possibly have met otherwise.
Anyone notice my bio over here...
On raising children
When I was a senior in high school (in 1990), I wrote a paper on raising children, specifically on exposing them to a wide variety of beneficial educational opportunities. It was a wonderfully intellectual piece of prose, full of quotes from Piaget and Erickson.
In retrospect, the rubber meets the road in too many unpredictible ways to be able to apply a formula to a human being.
So now I pose...
Conformity
Is Church something that we have to conform to, or something that conforms to us?
Spiritual greed
“…our commitment [to God] needs to be out of obedience to him, rather than because it makes us feel good.” —Sheila Walsh
Robot Christians
Why didn’t God just make us to obey him? Why all the messy free will stuff and allowing us to make mistakes that we get punished for?
Ever notice there’s a category of being in the Bible who was forced to obey? Demons. Whenever Jesus addressed them, they obeyed, usually under protest, and usually pretty much immediately.
We don’t obey as well as demons do.
That’s kinda...
A thought on homosexuality and suicide
Are people born gay or do they choose to be gay?
Really? Are we still arguing about that one? I realize that the controversy hasn’t been resolved, but let’s table the issue while people are dying. Children are being beaten and bullied and ridiculed because they are thought—rightly or wrongly—to deviate from norms of sexual identity.
One’s perspective on the choice...
Greek Festival
Λουκουμάδες are awesome. I’m just sayin’.
3 tags
Email feed
It is now possible to subscribe to my blog by email.
Click here and look for the “Subscribe by email” link on the left.
September was my blog’s biggest (unassisted) month yet. I have big dreams for it for 2011. Be prepared for some exciting stuff!
Brilliant thought
I had a sudden, brilliant thought. It was so sudden it’s gone now. I need to start having slower brilliant thoughts.
September 2010
3 posts
