Flobi retains fitness trophy in July

http://psiblog.net/2008/08/04/flobi-retains-fitness-tropy-in-july/

By the time Mike returned on July 30th, Flobi held a slim .02 mile lead. Both competitor walked on the 31st, but when the clock struck midnight Flobi was victorious. Flobi went 54.67 miles and Mike went 51.39 miles.

As for my challenge, it was purely rhetorical. We had recently watched Back to the Future and that's the line Marty said when trying to outrun the terrorists. Originally, I had no intention of running this month. But as it stands, with 3 days left, I'm only 3.4 miles behind. No one's really going anywhere this month.

I might have gone 90 miles, but I spent a week being lazy, a week sick, and a week watching a tropical storm go past. Can't run in rain, the device is very very water sensitive. But right now, it still looks like I've got a very good chance at keeping the trophy another month.

Also, in August, we started a family championship. I'm 8.17 behind miles right now. That will be fairly easy to overtake too. Looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of walking this weekend.

If I keep winning this thing, and subsequently loosing weight, it looks like I'll have a photo record of my weight loss. That would be interesting. So far, I've lost about 30 pounds.

A Little Lunchtime Reading

This is from part of an article describing some current theories of sub-atomic structure. Specifically, string theory in this section this came from. For anyone not familiar, the quick and easy is that the pieces that make up atoms (electrons, etc.) are made up of strings vibrating at certain frequencies in some 11 dimentions (only 4 of which we can directly observe).

It is also interesting to note that physicists believe these strings of energy are either closed (forming a loop) or open (forming a line interval). I cannot help but think of the binary numeric system as used in electronic circuitry and computer programming. I can imagine a subatomic world in which various vibrating stings of electromagnetic energy, some circular like a “0,” some linear like a “1,” interlocked in various multidimensional mathematical computations to form complex structures in multidimensional binary code. - Allen, D. (2008). An Apology and Unification Theory for the Reconciliation of Physical Matter and Metaphysical Cognizance. Retrieved August 18, 2008, from Answers Research Journal Web site: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/arj/v1/n1/unification-theory

As a programmer, I find this hilarious. In fact, I find the same visual coming to my mind as D. Allen describes. Then again, in my mental image, everything's green and trickling...wait, that was a movie. Maybe there's some truth to The Matrix trillogy after all? Things are not always what they seem. In fact, it doesn't seem that things are what they seem...at all.

floIcon Download Favicon Fixed

Okay people, I know that the most popular thing on my site is the floIcon based icon assembler. So, if something is broken on the site, please let me know. I know that people use that. Anyways, I noticed this morning that there was a missing \ character in the favicon downloader feature on the floIcon page and I fixed it.

You can AIM me, my username is flobi. You can email me, flobi on this domain. incredinex if you happen to use Yahoo! or my email address on gmail or msnm. ... You know, I suppose I do have a message saying things might be broken, don't I? I'll have to update that. That page was supposed to be stable.

What parts of the Bible should be taken literally?

This is from: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080802190624AAH1hua. I thought I had an insightful answer so I wanted to share it here:

First off, I'm Christian. I guess what I'm really asking is, what parts of the Bible should be taken figuratively? For many atheists or unbelievers, they point out many different things, things that might seem abominable to humanity, such as slavery, or the destruction of homosexuals. But those arguments are always countered with "No. That wasn't supposed to be taken literally."

So what is supposed to be taken literally, and what should be taken as figurative or symbolic? Isn't it wrong to make anything that sounds evil become "symbolically taken" and at the same time, claim it's right to accept anything loving as literal?

One story I'm referring to: Jesus sees a fig tree. It doesn't have fruit that he can eat. He cripples the tree so it can never bear fruit again.

So literally... Destroy those things that doesn't satisfy your desire simply because you are able. If something doesn't satisfy your desire, make it such that the thing will never satisfy your desire.

Symbolically... I've been told this represents that Jesus' arrival to Earth is inevitable. I really don't see the connection, but still.

So how are you able to know what's to be taken literally or figuratively?

First off, no one can answer this question definitely for you. If there was a definite answer to this question that satisfied everyone, there would be no separate denominations. Each person has to find the answer him/herself.

I personally take as literal, whatever is not contextually figurative. The oldest copies of the scriptures are written in languages that are fully developed, and fully capable of indicating what parts are metaphors, similes, parables, recommendations, etc. And a tremendous effort has been put forth to make sure it is accurately translated, including these literary devices.

Your second paragraph demonstrates my reason for my second paragraph. It is wrong to claim "symbolic" the things you don't like, and "literal" the things you do like. It is quite apparent to me from the Bible that God's view of what is abominable is quite different from the secular view, whether you like it, or not.

As far as your fig tree dilemma, by my standard, you would take this literally: Jesus cursed a fig tree because it was not providing the food he sought. He used this to demonstrate to his disciples the power of faith.

You can find that God may give you a different symbolic meaning than he gave me. He gave me the understanding that whatever doesn't serve God will be cursed, even plants. How much more will God curse those who can choose to serve him and don't when he cursed a tree which has no conscious choice such as this? But to those who believe, that for which they ask will be given them. Also, God's cursing is a bit more effective than dropping the F-bomb a few times, if you take it literally. I definitely don't want to be on his bad side when he comes back.

As far as taking the passage figuratively, I see no wording to indicate that this passage is a metaphor, parable or any other literary device besides a recount of events that took place. Except, perhaps as an example of God's personality.

On a side note: Yahoo! Answers can be a great resource, but I doubt it is the best place to get spiritual guidance.

Air Conditioning

Well, we went over to my parent's house today to install an air conditioner for my great uncle, Uncle Johnny. He shares a half of the house with my grandpa, Grumpy, and Grumpy likes the house much warmer than Uncle Johnny. So, the idea was that Uncle Johnny would have a window A/C in his room to keep it cooler and the rest of the area could stay comfortably warm.

I will say this about the new A/C is that it was very easy to install. I pretty much just lifted it up on to the window sill and closed the window down to it. My dad sealed off the perimeter. It was very light and seems pretty powerful for it's weight. The A/C was a Haier HWR06XC7.

We had some coffee. My dad makes the best coffee.