Who is he really?

Here is a video of Barack Obama explaining who he really is at a fund raiser. I loved this. I can't wait until he is our next president.

Raping our Churches and Burning our Women

This is the best argument for gun safety laws ever.

Just an idea.

Dear Apple,
I am writing you to request a favor. I have a suggested business venture for your company. If you could, I ask that you become the jersey sponsor for the San Jose EarthQuakes. They are a terrible team and are in great need of good news. So what is in it for you one might ask. Well, there would be the tons of advertising. Your logo would be in every MLS game that is shown on t.v. Not to mention the jersey itself. anytime someone bought a San Jose jersey they would be a walking billboard for your company. There would be the bigger ideas of having MLS games on itunes. There is some added revenue. Plus, you must respond to Microsoft. They are sponsoring their home team, the Seattle Sounders FC. Why should you not be guarding your hometown? The main jersey colors are already white and black, so that is consistent with your image. Let's look at the target audience as well. A soccer fan is a possible apple fan. Most soccer fans are upper-middle class. They are either sub-urban families or urban young adults. This is already your audience. Why miss an opportunity to advertise to them as well. Let's think about the future as well. Buying the space on the jerseys would be cheap right now. Very cheap in fact. But there is so much possibility for growth. An apple sponsorship could make San Jose the "cool" team. Your logo alone could lure a superstar like Luis Figo, or someone else. How could any player turn down a free iphone? Hell, I would practice to make the team just to get one. And lastly, it would just look good. If these arguments are not convincing you, just photoshop your logo on their jersey and see how bad ass it looks. Well, thank you for your time, now make it happen.

Nathan.

Book Review: Starbucked by Taylor Clark

This was a fun and educational read. Clark is a young author (this is his first book) from Portland. He has a dry wit that had me laughing while reading. His book goes into many in aspects of Starbucks, as well as coffee culture here and around the world.
I enjoyed the telling truths about Starbucks as a company. There are many reasons not to like this coffee chain, but many of the reasons you hear every day are BS. Towards the end of the book Clark makes the a comment, really more of a questions, is starbucks a global homogenizing force, or just a product of global homogenization. The fact is Starbucks is not forcing anyone to drink their coffee. People are choosing to do that. We can mourn the loss of culture in places like China and London, but people there are still buying starbucks.
Another key point I took away was the false idea that Starbucks is bad for the mom and pop coffee house. The opposite is actually true. Starbucks is a gateway coffee company. A person begins with a vanilla latte, but will later branch out. Also their coffee is not that good. So when drinking coffee is socially "cool" why not drink good coffee. Starbucks needs the milk in lattes so no one taste what their coffee really is. This leads many to find a local coffee shop and enjoy coffee how one should. (A side note for anyone in Normal, do not seek out Coffee House, its name is misleading. It should be called "Hang out of Patchouli wearing vegetarians that are anti-everything and elitist, but despite how well educated they want you to think they are, can still not tell that they are drinking horrible coffee, House". That place has the worst coffee I have every had, second only to instant). So basically this was a great book for a coffee nerd like me, and Clark writes in a way that even a non-nerd would enjoy it. Check it out if you have some time.

Whoring out the Faith. (reposted)

I originally wrote this for my other blog.

You know I don't think people ever learn. After being fully embarrassed to call myself a christian as the Creation Museum was being built, I now find another reason to blush. In Tennessee there is a Bible theme park proposed. This would be "historical" as the men in charge of the project say. I just say this is ridiculous, and I think all the readers know why. The article even quotes the supports as comparing people who do not support the project to telling a bookstore to stop selling the bible because they are making money off of it. This is crazy. Selling a manuscript that is a crux to a faith is very, very, VERY different than a million dollar theme park that will probably be poorly done, and a financial disaster. I say wait ten years, and if the creation museum has not been turned into the headquarters for an insurance company, or the largest strip club in Ohio, then talk about this. But even then I say this is a stupid idea.

As if Owning a Moleskine didn't Make Me Pretentious Enough...

This is one of my favorite pieces from the website 'skine art. There a lot of different styles, so I am sure you will find something you like. I mainly use my moleskine for writing things down; ideas, lists, directions, but I wish I used mine in this way. Check it out.

Frontline on healthcare.

Tonight on PBS is a frontline report on healthcare. I watched the reporter on Charlie Rose today and it interested me. He makes points that Japan and Germany do not have "socialized" medicine, but they have much better healthcare than here in the US. I hope even you right aligned readers take time to watch this and learn that there are ways to have functioning healthcare here in America. Here is a trailer. There are multiple air times, so check your local listings, and I think you can watch it online after that.

Marrying for Love is Not the Whole Story.

I found this article in The Star very interesting. It essentially says that in mixed marriages someone of a minority ethnicity "marries down" with a white partner. I don't know what group this is most offensive to, but either way it is a little offensive. The article also talks about how little romantic love actually plays into marriage choices, instead suggesting that a better indicatior is social class. This makes sense when one thinks that a person is normally attracted to someone who has similar experiences to themselves. Being from a social science background, I can really point out that there are too many factors interacting with one another to really say anything concrete, but again I though this was interesting.

So much Faith.

After having a great conversation about some specifics of differing worldviews with a friend, I decided to post somethings on the blog I contribute to. I posted a review of a book a read and a link to a long, and very thought provoking, article about evangelistic atheism. Check them out.

New Monasticism

This article from the Boston Globe caught my eye. I would love to look at this more in depth. The basic ideas are something that I, and I know some of my friends, have been thinking about for a while. I do not think that the mega-church is the devil, but to me this is a more real faith. I just went to a church today that I liked, but it was not where I feel I should be. To find a community like this is something I wish I had in my life. Well anyway, take time to read this article, it is not that long.