Let wonder replace worry

LOST: John Locke

I have been wanting to write about Locke since Wednesday, but really needed to watch the episode again. I finally got that chance tonight - so here are some thoughts on John Locke's journey off the island and back:

As John Locke sets off on his mission to bring everyone back, he quickly realizes that everyone has moved on. Jack's a doctor, Kate's a mom, Sun has a baby. Sayid joined Habitat for Humanity, and Hurley is content. Not only have they moved on, they have moved on without the island. Locke begins to doubt his own "We are all here for a reason" speeches he was so well known for. The man of faith begins to doubt in the very thing he was prepared to give his life to save.

This leads John Locke into a depression and the only option he has left is what Richard told him back on the island - he must die. I think John had given up on whole island business. He did not care anymore - he just wanted to die. Then Ben knocks on the door. Remember, Ben knows that Locke needs to die to get back to the island. But he does something interesting. He restores him. Tells him that he is not a failure. Says that Jack has booked a ticket, just get Jack and you'll get the rest. Ben talks him down from the ledge. John Locke's faith is restored.

I've read in a couple of different places that when Locke mentioned Ms. Hawkings name Ben snapped and decided to kill him. I don't buy it. Ben had bleach and latex gloves with him for a reason. Everything Benjamin Linus does is calculated, and the mention of a name did not cause him to do something he was not planning on doing. Why not let Locke just kill himself? He had lost his faith. Ben could not let Locke die until his faith in the island had been restored. That by giving up on the island and taking him own life, he would never be raised.  Thereby, Ben restored him, kills him and stages it to look like a suicide. This got it into the newspaper and got Jack to the funeral.

Back on the island, John Locke has risen from the dead. Those from the flight found him standing in the ocean - a symbol of his baptism. He was a loser off the island. No one would listen to him. He was weak, crippled, and manipulated. I'm not sure that outside deciding to kill himself he ever made a decision without being manipulated into it. John Locke on the island is a completely different person than the man he is off the island. Standing in that water with the mango, the old John Locke (Jeremy Bentham) was dead. John Locke is now focused, faithful, and ready to fulfill his destiny.

One thing I can't figure out. Why did everyone only refer to Locke as Jeremy Bentham last season and yet in none of the conversations in this episode did we saw did Locke introduce himself as Jeremy Bentham? I get that was his new identity, but he never told any of the Oceanic 6 to call him that. He did not tell Walt either, who showed up to see Hurley at the hospital last season asking about Jeremy Bentham. How did he know to call him that?

Some other random thoughts:

It took me until the end of the episode Wednesday night to figure out that the plane landed on the smaller Hydra Island we learned about in season 3. That is where they are - I have no idea when they are.

I think that will be the last time we see Walt. Tons of story potential there, but the actor was not into the part at all.

The people from the plane told Locke that the pilot and a woman took off in the canoe. Had to be Sun. They are heading back to the main island to find Jin. Not sure if they will find him, unless they have all landed in the same time.

Who in the world did Juliet shoot in the other canoe a couple of episodes ago?

Things Jaxson will Never Use: #2

This is a blog series where from time to time I'll list things prevalent in my lifetime that will see extinction soon and Jaxson will never use.

#2 A Checkbook

Over the past 7 years, I have ordered 3 boxes of checks. My first box came with the new account I opened when I moved to Washington in 2001. Before I even came close to writing all 200 checks, I married Nicole and we ordered new checks for our joint account. It took us 4 years, but a couple of months ago we ran out and Nicole ordered another box.

All of our bills are paid online. It is convenient, fast, and most importantly, free. I'm not sure what this says about the church, but tithes and offerings are about the only things we ever use the checks for. Guess we are not ready for debt card readers in the offering plates.

I found this info tonight. In 2001 72% of all monthly recurring bills in the US were paid by check. In 2003 that number was down to 60%. 2008 hit 49% and that number will never again rise to more than 50%.

Jaxson will be surprised that to pay a bill, we would write a check, buy a stamp, put it in the mail and wait up to a week for that money to be removed from our account.

In his lifetime, he will never use a checkbook.

I Made a Custom Twitter Background in 10 Minutes...and You Can Too!

I've been noticing custom backgrounds on Twitter that include a personal picture and information you would find on a business card. I thought it would be a cool thing to have - and actually found a website that will design one for you. The catch is that it costs about $25.

I decided to give it a shot myself and was shocked at how simple it actually was. Here's what I came up with after 10 minutes. Not a fnished product by any means - I'll definitely be making tweaks and changes now that I know how easy it is. But not bad for 10 minutes.

FYI - I used my Macbook. Sorry PC folks....do some searching on Google. I'm sure it is just as easy.

First, I created a templet in Keynote with a box outlining the area (as close as I could) where status updates show up on the Twitter page. From both the top and left point of view. In other words, you'll want the top of your pic or text to line up with the top of the box and pushed all the way to the left. Same goes for the right, if you want to add anything on that side.

Download Twitter Background Templet. (Or just make your own.)

Second, I went to Shift Creative's library of free stock images to find my background. Go here to check out over 800 free images.

After I selected my image and drug it into keynote, it was simply a matter of dragging in a pic from iPhoto and adding some text.

Keep in mind that what you see in Keynote will show up much larger once you upload it to Twitter. Zoom in as close as you can.

When you are ready to upload it and see what it looks like, export from Keynote as a JPEG. The file must be less than 800k. If it is over this, export again and decrease the quality to 50%.

Then simply log into twitter, settings, design, and upload your picture. It took me 3 tries to get everything the right size.

Since this is a JPEG, different computer monitors may cut off part of your text. This is why it is important to push everything all the way to the left. I don't see cutting off a couple of letters of text as that big of a deal. If you do, use a small font size and never extend it past your pic.

I'm sure the $25 version would have been prettier, but I'll stick with free and simple. Should have done this over 2 years ago when I started using Twitter.

If you make one, or have made one, send me the link so I can check it out.

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

-Thomas Merton

Starbucks Value Meals

I remember a local news station profiling Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz 5 or 6 years ago and hearing him vow that Starbucks would never have value meals. He also talked about how many people laughed in his face when he asked them to invest in a company selling coffee drinks for $5.

This was also back when they were opening stores literally across the street from each other with no plans of slowing down. Boy have things changed.

This week, Starbucks introduced "breakfast pairings" but they might as well call them what they are - value meals. For $3.95 you can get a drip coffee and a one of four hot sandwich or a latte with oatmeal or coffee cake.

The ironic thing: McDonald's has been copying Starbucks for the last few years, and stealing many of their customers with good coffee at half the price. Now Starbucks is emulating McDonalds.

Why in the world would Starbucks do that? Store sales are down 10% and net income down 69%. Even when the economy turns around, I doubt we'll ever see $5 coffee drinks selling in record numbers again. Especially now that people know they can get them same thing for half the price.

Here is the USA Today article about all of this.

Things that Jaxson will never use: #1

This is a new blog series where I'll list things prevalent in my lifetime that will see extinction and Jaxson will never use.

#1 The Phonebook

A couple of months ago someone left a phonebook in a bag hanging on my front door. They might as well have hung a bag of trash on the door - because it went straight into the garbage. I have not used one in years. The internet is killing phonebooks at a faster rate than newspapers - which are sinking like a rock.

Jaxson will be shocked that we grew up with huge 10 pound phonebooks taking up a whole drawer in our houses.

LOST: Season 5

The beautiful thing about this show is that it is not about being lost on an island at all, but about being lost as human beings. Without being “found“ while on the island, everyone who left fell much deeper into the depravity they lived in before the plane crash. Now (as from the beginning of the series) we see characters in need of and actively searching for redemption both on and off the island.

So far, season 5 has been about reinterpreting the first 4 seasons with the knowledge we know now. The time travel puts everything in question - and the writers have got to be extremely careful here. If they begin answering questions and explaining away inconsistencies with time travel - I’ll lose a lot of faith in the show. Up to this point though, they have handled it well. I’m not a Si-fi person at all - much more attracted to the depravity and redemption woven so deeply into the fabric of LOST - but I’m loving the time travel so far.

What an awesome testimony for Locke. Remembering (and actually seeing) the night Boone dies and he collapsed on top of the hatch. WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME??? WHY??? Looking back later Locke says “I needed that pain, it got me to where I am now.” We all have memories and testimonies like that on our journey of faith.

Sawyer stood in the jungle watching Kate deliver Claire’s baby as a different person than he was when that scene happened in Season 1. We are seeing Sawyer being changed and redeemed from who he was. It was touching.

Both of these things happened as the group was trying to make it back to The Orchid. The Island obviously does not want that to happen. It is throwing everything it can in their way.

Why is Juliet not staying with the rest of the others? Is it because she got “branded” in season 3? I’m starting to think Juliet will never make it off the island. She may be doomed.

The theory from the first episode of this season about Miles being Pierre Chang’s son is all but confirmed now. The bloody noses are getting on my nerves. Daniel knew exactly what to tell Desmond last season during “The Constant” to make it stop - now he can’t finish a sentence. He said the sickness is like bad jetlag, which makes no sense. This is what will eventually kill everyone on the Island if the Ocenaic 6 don’t go back.

Speaking of Daniel, his parents will be Charles Widmore and Ms. Hawking.

How does Sun know that Ben caused the freighter to explode by killing Keamy? Did Locke explain what really happened to her off island? Therefore, Locke must not have known that Jin survived the explosion. If this is the case, how in the world did Locke think this news would make Sun want to return?

How long was Sayid unconscious?  42 hours. Whoever is after him obviously wants him alive.

Seeing Danielle’s crew at the end was cool - not a shocker at all though. I knew who they were as soon as I saw the raft.

The tempo of the show has completely changed since it was decided there would only be 6 seasons. That was the best thing they could have done.

Can’t wait for Wednesday night...

Inauguration

Calvin's Institutes begin with his prefatory address to King Francis. As I read through this a couple of weeks ago the theme I saw was Calvin trying to open the Kings' mind to hear his presentation of the Reformed Faith. In 1536 there had been so much slander against it that Calvin was concerned the King would not give it a fair reading. Through this you begin to get a glimpse of Calvin's grasp of Scripture and an introduction to the kind of biblical backing that he will provide for each doctrine that he discusses throughout the Institutes.

Leaving the theological world and entering the political- I was reminded of this preface as I watched the presidential inauguration this morning. Slander is very much alive today, as it was then. Both our outgoing and incoming Presidents have faced much slander. Many Americans who have placed too much of their trust in one politician or another have either gained or lost faith in their country today. This is unfortunate, for the virtue of the people of this nation far outshine the President- whomever it is.

I am proud of this country today. Not because of President Obama, but because of the reminder of the greatness of the infrastructure of our nation. The founding documents of the United States of America remain the greatest guiding hand for any nation in world history.

Barack Obama is a very smart man who has some very difficult challenges facing him. I'm sure I will disagree with many of the decisions he will make - and you will too. But watching the peaceful transfer of government power today only solidifies my belief that our nation is strong even in these turbulent times. Today I am in awe of the structure of our government.

John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion: A Year with the Institutes

 I've never been too big on New Year's resolutions. Not that I'm against them- I just strive to live the Christian story throughout the year. So for me New Years Day means Epiphany is approaching.

But this year is different. My New Year's resolutions for 2009 is to read through John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. This is a monumental work that stands among the greatest of Christian theology.

I'll not be doing it alone. Princeton Theological Seminary will be celebrating the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth by leading an online community though the Institutes in 2009.

I love reading Calvin- but life and ministry keep me from staying committed enough to making this a habit. Not to mention the fact I have never read the Institutes all the way though. Certain parts many times- but never all the way though. Even if you theologically don't fall in line with Calvin- I bet if you were to give this a try you will gain a deep respect for his faith and logic. It will also make you think a lot without being too heavy.

If you are interested in coming along on the journey- here are some links.

Calvin 09- Read the Institutes

Subscribe to daily audio readings in iTunes

Buy the Institutes on Amazon: Institutes of the Christian Religion (2 Volume Set)

Let me know if you'll be doing this as well. I'll blog from time to time about what I am thinking and learning. Feel free to ask me how its going throughout the year. The accountability will be good for me

Verdict In Landmard Cyberbullying Trial

Mom found not guilty of felony charges in the MySpace suicide trial. Unfortunately, its not considered a crime for a mom to act like a child on the internet. My heart breaks for the family of the 13 year old who hung herself after finding out her MySpace boyfriend was made up by a former friend and her mom. I was honestly hoping for a different outcome.

Via the Wired blog Threat Level:

Lori Drew, the 49-year-old woman charged in the first federal cyberbullying case, was cleared of felony computer-hacking charges by a jury Wednesday morning, but convicted of three misdemeanors. The jury deadlocked on a remaining felony charge of conspiracy.

After just over a day of deliberation, the six-man, six-woman jury acquitted Drew of three felony charges of violating the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, in an emotionally charged case that stemmed from a 2006 MySpace hoax targeting a 13-year-old girl, who later committed suicide.

Tina Meier, the mother of the girl, shook her head silently from the gallery as the verdict was read.

Prosecutors claimed Drew and others obtained unauthorized access to MySpace by creating a fake profile for a nonexistent 16-year-old boy named "Josh Evans." The account was used to flirt with, and then reject, 13-year-old old Megan Meier. The case hinged on the government's novel argument that violating MySpace's terms of service for the purpose of harming another was the legal equivalent of computer hacking, and Drew faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison for each charge.

But on Wednesday, jurors found Drew guilty only of three counts of gaining unauthorized access to MySpace for the purpose of obtaining information on Megan Meier — misdemeanors that potentially carry up to a year in prison, but most likely will result in no time in custody. The jury unanimously rejected the three felony computer hacking charges that alleged the unauthorized access was part of a scheme to intentionally inflict emotional distress on Megan.

U.S. District Judge George Wu has not yet ruled on a defense motion that, if granted, would overturn even the misdemeanors for lack of evidence, and result in a judgment of acquittal. It's also unclear whether the government will seek a new trial on the deadlocked conspiracy charge.

The slap-on-the-wrist verdict is a partial rebuke to federal prosecutors, who chose to charge Drew federally even after authorities in Missouri — where the hoax unfolded — found that Drew's behavior did not violate any state laws at the time. Some legal experts and civil libertarians decried the prosecution as an abuse of computer-crime laws.

Underscoring the importance of the high-profile case to the government, Thomas O'Brien, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, personally oversaw the prosecution and handled some of the witness testimony himself. O'Brien was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2007 to oversee the 266 federal prosecutors in the second-largest U.S. Attorney's office in the country.

The verdict followed three days of testimony by 15 witnesses.

The indictment charged that in September 2006 Drew conspired to create the Josh Evans account with her then 13-year-old daughter, Sarah, and a then-18-year-old employee and family friend named Ashley Grills, for the purpose of inflicting psychological harm on Meier.

Prosecutors alleged that Drew and the two others used the profile to lure Megan into an online relationship with "Josh" to find out what Megan was saying about Drew's daughter online. Midway through the ruse, prosecutors said Drew changed the plan and wanted to print out the correspondence between Megan and the fake boy in order to confront her with the pages in public and humiliate her.

That confrontation never occurred. But after "Josh" turned on Megan and told her he wanted to sever their relationship, Megan hanged herself in her bedroom in October 2006.

Neighbors in O'Fallon, Missouri, the small town where the Drews and Meiers lived four houses away from each other, turned on Drew when her supposed complicity in the hoax emerged. They called her a murderer, Lori Drew's father testified Monday.

A year after Megan's death, her great-aunt Vicki Dunn contacted a local newspaper columnist who wrote about the case but didn't identify Drew in the article, since she hadn't been charged with any crime. The piece was picked up by numerous publications, sparking a frenzy among bloggers and others. who outed Drew's name and published her address and phone number online.

The Drews and their business associates received harassing calls and death threats. Sarah Drew testified that her school asked her to leave after officials concluded they could not control the bullying she was  receiving from other students. A former business associate of Drew testified that a parent at her child's school asked her why she did business with a "murderer."

Publicity over the suicide prompted county prosecutors to review the case to determine if charges could be filed against Drew, but they were stymied by the fact that there was no criminal law addressing the cyberbullying that Drew was alleged to have committed.

That's when prosecutors in Los Angeles sought to indict Drew, charging her with unauthorized access to MySpace's computers, using a federal anti-hacking statute known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Prosecutors charged that Drew was guilty of the crime by violating MySpace's terms-of-service agreement when she and her co-conspirators allegedly provided false information to open the account and pose online as the 16-year-old boy.

MySpace's user agreement requires registrants, among other things, to provide factual information about themselves and to refrain from soliciting personal information from minors or using information obtained from MySpace services to harass or harm other people. By allegedly violating that click-to-agree contract, Drew committed the same crime as any hacker, prosecutors claimed.

The novel use of the statute was criticized by numerous legal experts who said the case set a "scary" precedent and potentially made a felon out of anyone who violates the terms-of-service of any website.

But testimony in the case offered by prosecution witness Ashley Grills under a grant of immunity showed that nobody involved in the hoax actually read the terms of service. Grills also said that the hoax was her idea, not Drew's, and that it was Grills who created the Josh Evans profile, and later sent the cruel message that tipped the emotionally vulnerable 13-year-old girl into her final, tragic act.