loPEZ Dispenser

…ridiculed, seen as crazy, unreasonable, and hypocritical. This is another symptom of how out of touch many Christians are with the world. We are told to be “in the world but not of the world” but we are still definitely IN THE WORLD.

How often do we see Christians trying to “protect” themselves via segregation? This is evidenced in the fact the we have separate schools and colleges, Christian workout facilities where men and women are separated in the name of modesty, and Christian bookstores where you can get the latest praise album.

Yes, God does tell us not to partake of the sins of the world but we are also told to “go into all the world and preach the gospel”. How can we accomplish this if we are never in the world?

You must be wondering by now what this is all about. Well, today I read about a new conservative Christian website that was introduced to counter wikipedia. Conservapedia is “A conservative encyclopedia you can trust.” Um, I trust wikipedia just fine, thanks. This is what they have to say about themselves:

Conservapedia is a much-needed alternative to Wikipedia, which is increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American. On Wikipedia, many of the dates are provided in the anti-Christian “C.E.” instead of “A.D.”, which Conservapedia uses. Christianity receives no credit for the great advances and discoveries it inspired, such as those of the Renaissance.

Conservapedia is an online resource and meeting place where we favor Christianity and America. Conservapedia has easy-to-use indexes to facilitate review of topics. You will much prefer using Conservapedia compared to Wikipedia if you want concise answers free of “political correctness”.

It was started by a guy named Andy Schlafly and a band of “58 high-school-level, home-schooled students from the New Jersey area”, according to this article (which is where I discovered this waste of web space). The fact that a group of sheltered homeschoolers (of which I used to be one) started this site pretty much throws all credibility out the window.

Schlafly claims that Conservapedia is “one of the largest user-controlled free encyclopedias on the internet.” Is this some kind of joke? Does it really matter whether dates use CE or AD? I mean, does it really, really matter? Are people going to turn away from God because of it? If they do, they had other issues to begin with.

This site has become a laughing stock of the blog community (rightly so) and it embarrasses me that I, as a Christian, am lumped into the same category as those who proliferate this nonsense.

My wife and I have been discussing the issue of education recently. Our daughter just turned 1 last week so we have some time before any critical decisions are made, but we both seem to agree on one thing. No amount of parental sheltering can protect a child from everything. Instead of teaching a child to avoid and shun everything we should be teaching them how to deal with things and make proper decisions for themselves. Case in point, I went to a Christian school (and was partially homschooled) and I turned out good. I never smoke, drank or did drugs and I didn’t have premarital sex. My wife went to only public schools and she never smoke, drank or did drugs and didn’t have premarital sex either. So what does that say?

I will continue to use wikipedia. In addition to wikipedia, I will confirm that information with additional sources, which you are supposed to do ANYWAYS!! Plus, I imagine that (at least) scientific information on wikipedia is more accurate than on Conservapedia. Just a hunch though.

With all that said, I will now officially launch a boycott against all things Conservapedia!! After all, boycotts is what we Christians do best, no? If you wish to join my boycott, leave a comment below…

The Ultimate Chicken Dance Montage

They’ve Made A Huge Mistake

Hermano

Ok, so Steve and I met up in NYC last Thursday. Steve was there on business so we were able to spend Thursday night and Friday together. I made it to Penn Station about 40 minutes before Steve so as I waited I enjoyed one of my favorite pastimes, people-watching. Of the 40 minutes I spent about half on the street level and the other half in Penn Station. So these are some observations:

I love the winter!!

I have long thought that women always look better in the cold weather. Some of my favorite pictures of my wife are when she is bundled up and in the snow. Well, there was no shortage of good looking, bundled up women in NYC!! I don’t know what it is. Steve surmised that maybe it is because many of the more evident flaws are covered up but winter dress (but of course my wife has no flaws).

Maybe They Should Pass That Law

Most of you heard of that senator in NY that wants to pass a law banning the use of PDA’s, mp3 players, and cell phones while crossing the street. I think I now understand his angle. No exaggeration, just about every person I saw in the 15-30 (male and female) age group was walking around with headphones in. They weren’t all the white phones (death to the iPod!) but they were there nonetheless. In addition, I have never seen so many Blackberry’s and smart phones anywhere. Practically everyone on the subway had one (well the ones that didn’t creep me out).

Life Models Art?

Ok, I have never understood the fascination with japanimation cartoons. I think they are bizarre and of poor intrinsic value. That said, while in Penn Station many Asian men walked by looking like they came directly from a comic book page. In fact, it reminded me of this Strongbad Email. Granted I used to bleach my hair blond but I never went that far…

Tourists Stick Out…BAD

I think the key to NYC is to look like you know what you are doing! Steve and I did a fair job of blending in once we figured out how to use the subway system. I could fairly easily pick out the tourists as they left Penn Station. They were either marked by the oddly large camera around their neck or the fact that when they exited Penn they immediately stopped in their tracks (blocking foot traffic) and stared up at the skyline…I did it my first time too.

Our childhood was marked with touristy antics provided by our father (we love you dad) and we were reminded of this while in the security line to board the Circle Line Ferry to Liberty Island. There was a man and his wife, probably in their 60’s in line in front of us. Instruction’s were simple. Remove your coat and your belt, empty your pockets, walk through metal detector. This guy had on cargo pants and every pocket had something in it in addition to his shirt and coat pockets which also were full. He tried to walk through with his money clip and it set off the alarm. He was paranoid to part with his cash and cards for 30 seconds and proceeded to remove said cash and cards from the money clip. It was quite the scene.

There are far too many Starbucks

There were at least 2 in our hotel alone. From one vantage point we could see five Starbucks. Erin tells me of an intersection somewhere that has a Starbucks in 3 of the 4 corners. The same goes for Sbarro Pizza (but we actually ate there).

Don’t Make Eye Contact

I learned this the last time I was in NYC. In the subway and train stations there are many performers. Some set up shop on the platforms and open their cases to accept donations. Others actually roam the trains singing and hoping for payouts. The trick is to ignore them, even if their music is good (it was decent). If they catch your eye they will stare you down and maybe even move a little closer. Its better just to be invisible.

I Can’t Find One

We saw a bank of Wachovia ATMs while walking around Thursday night. The plan was for me to stop by there the next day on our way out. The problem is, we couldn’t find them. We tried to retrace our steps and even asked a Times Square cop and still couldn’t find them. We ended up looking for one for several more hours (while we were doing other stuff) only to discover that at several points during our adventures we were as close as 20 feet from them but never saw them. In hindsight its pretty funny.

Did I leave anything out Steve? Feel free to add to this post. All you readers out there feel free to leave comments with any funny stories or unique observations about NYC or any other big city.