soundstripe.net

And now we are outnumbered.

Emily Christian May '04	Claire Olivia March '06	Joseph William December '07

Christmas Clips '07 from Steven James on Vimeo.

According to Microsoft, some computers may randomly play It's a Small World or Für Elise. I'm putting the full URL at the bottom of this post so that you can see this is a real problem. I'm not making it up. No, really...what's that? you're computer doesn't do this? Ah, I suppose that might be because it only applies to certain older computers with obscure motherboards that you'd never find in a Dell, HP, Toshiba, or any other name-brand computer. Too bad, I kinda wanted to hear Für Elise.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;261186

If you're interested, check out these [snapshots from Rachel and Paul's wedding](http://soundstripe.smugmug.com/gallery/3806830) yesterday at Lookout Mountain Presbyterian. If you read my [wife's blog](http://achairofbowlies.blogspot.com) you might have already seen some of these. (Click the image for more pictures). [](http://soundstripe.smugmug.com/gallery/3806830/1/219771743)

I am having trouble finding a direct comparison of the platforms of Ron Paul and Fred Thompson on certain issues. These are two potential Republican candidates that don't get a lot of mainstream press, but are all over the "blogosphere." I decided to put together a little head to head on some of the issues that are important to me.

EDIT: OK Dangers of researching on the Internet. I said that Ron Paul was running as a Libertarian. That was because I was skimming an older article carelessly--he did run as a Libertarian in 1988. Sorry for the confusion.

	Ron Paul	Fred Thompson
National Security	Secure our borders immediately Iraq war was and is unnecessary, we are making it worse Open trade, communication, but not enforcing democracy worldwide	Update and expand military Missile defense Global alliances Defeat terrorists abroad
Healthcare	Proponent of alternative medicine, new treatments Limit power of FDA No (federally) required vaccinations Greater choice and freedom in healthcare	Keep current system Use regulations to make healthcare act more like a free market
Marriage	Nothing on official site From other sources: supported an act to ban federal courts from deciding cases on issues such as same-sex marriage, supporting the states' right to make the decisions	Marriage decisions should be decided by States
Abortion	Unborn children have a right to life Wants to define life as beginning at conception Has "delivered" [helped mothers deliver] 4,000 babies	Nothing on official site From other sources: in the past he has supported abortion, and would not currently support an amendment against it From other sources: does not agree with Roe v. Wade and thinks it should be overturned

The candidates appear similar at first glance--both support states' rights and conservative principles (free market economy, lower taxes, etc). Their differences stand out on inspection: national security/foreign policy, and emphasis on fundamental values.

Ron Paul has stood out highly as the Republican candidate who is completely against the War on Terror and the Iraq War. He thinks the military should be almost purely defensive. His focus is on securing the border immediately and pulling our military out of foreign nations as much as possible. His foreign policy is based on strengthening trade and diplomacy relations between us and other nations.

Fred Thompson is at the other extreme, seeming highly militant and wanting a more modern, capable army to be deployed even more widely than it is now. He wants to continue the War on Terror and strengthen America by causing other nations to fear us. Thompson was to create strategic alliances with foreign nations.

The question of values and principles is difficult. It is obvious that no one person shares the values of every American. The duties of a President do not include changing the principles of Americans. I think what is important to Americans is that the President is honorable, just, and upstanding. For me it is important that the President be open to God's leadership, and I am glad that Ron Paul clearly identifies himself as a Protestant Christian. This blogger writes that Ron Paul's Christianity should not make a difference to voters--his duty would be to uphold and protect the Constitution, and he has shown himself able to do that as a Senator. I agree with that position--indeed there is no way for us to see the heart of any man--but the fact that he may be a good example to my children and to all Americans, possible even acting as a witness to God in his position, is heartening.

Fred Thompson seems to be refusing to talk about his faith. He has expressed that he was baptized in the Church of Christ and that is about all. Perhaps he, too, believes that it shouldn't matter to voters, but I would at least like to know where he stands. I like Presidents who are open about their values and beliefs, whatever they are.

Just to make it clear if I haven't already, of these two candidates I prefer Ron Paul. He is more steadfast in holding to his issues and upholding the clear intentions set forth in the Constitution. He is especially strong on the issues that I hold to be most important--the right to life from the time of conception and the importance of traditional families. To me his stance on healthcare, states rights, and tax reform are bonuses.

Our pastor announced on Sunday that he would be leaving our church to become the President of and Professor of Practical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary. We were stunned and saddened to hear this as he is the main reason that we attend our church (FPCC). Dr. Milton's sermons have touched our hearts on a weekly basis in a way that no other pastor's have. We know that he feel the call to teach pastors and we know that he will lead RTS under the grace of God; still we will miss him.

We are particularly sad about the timing; Dr. Milton baptized both Emily and Claire and we were looking forward to presenting our third child to God with Dr. Milton. Unfortunately the baby is due in mid-December and Dr. Milton will be leaving in early December. We are very much hoping that the timing could work out for him to baptize "baby boy brother" (Emily's pet name for him) but it doesn't look hopeful unless can do so during a return visit at some point next year.

As I was browsing Google looking for more information about his moving, I stumbled across his blog. I hadn't known that he had one. In addition to articles it appears that he posts the full text of all (most?) of his sermons, which is amazing and fascinating. Audio and Video of the sermons are available at FPCC's site, but having the text of the sermons is almost more valuable. I will have to speak to him about this the next time I see him.

I'm not that interested in wine, but this is just funny. I just read "The Subjectivity of Wine" by John Lehrer. A study in 2001 [pdf] by Frederic Brochet asked 57 wine experts to taste two wines and give their opinion of them. One glass was red, the other white. The two wines were actually the same white wine but red dye was placed in one glass. The wine experts described the red wine with language used for red wines and not one of the 57 noticed that it was a white wine.

Brochet also tested the same experts and put one wine into two bottles--a fancy bottle and a plain bottle. Forty of the experts said that the fancy-bottled wine was drinkable, only twelve said that the plain-bottled wine was.

I would be extremely interested to have these tests presented to coffee experts. I know that there are coffees I enjoy and coffees I don't, but I often think that the fancy flavors that people find in coffee (blueberry, citrus, melon, etc) are simply artifacts created by the imagination--flavors that our brain is reminded of and then artificially "tasted" in the coffee we're drinking. Coffee is an extremely complex substance and I know that there are many taste components in it, but the fact that wine experts can be deceived by dye and fancy bottles says a lot about the influence of the entire brain on the simple sense of taste.

Tesla coils are always awesome, but check out these two identical Tesla coils playing the theme to Super Mario Brothers! The sound that you hear in the video is coming only from the arc of electricity, no speakers or other devices are involved. In real life the sound is REALLY loud -- 110dB.

Today I heard Paul Theurrot mention Windows Live Writer on Windows Weekly. Not a month ago, I had envisioned a blog writing app that could post using the standard APIs and do all sorts of autodetection and WYSIWYG editing, etc. It seems as if Microsoft was reading my mind. This program so far looks amazing. In not even 5 minutes it appears to be working perfectly with my Drupal based blog. I'm not a huge blogger, but this app makes it more appealing than ever. I've yet to touch the surface of what it can do, but I have to go, so that will have to wait. Go here and get it.

Internet providers have realized that consumers do NOT pay for web sites. If Google is not available, they won't pay the extra $10 a month to use it, they'll just use one of the lesser alternatives until a Google clone comes along. Realizing this, the [ad mock-up](http://i7.tinypic.com/5z6vt4n.jpg) that recently got over 5000 diggs does not accurately depict what we have to fear from ISPs. Even in a market with only two competitors (i.e. Cable vs DSL), we can rest assured that if one competitor is not offering access to certain web sites, the other will because they would quickly take over the entire market. Internet providers, seeing that consumers will not pay more for access, are trying to squeeze money out of the companies that make the Internet great. They are eyeing greedily the deep pockets of [Google](http://www.google.com), [Microsoft](http://www.microsoft.com), and other giants. They want *Google* to pay for the privilege of entering *your home* on their "pipes."