Blog Jones

I have just played the best strategy game ever made. Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords came out this week. I was sorely tempted to buy it on Tuesday, but I knew, I knew, that I would get nothing done for the rest of the week if I did. So I waited until yesterday, after school, after work, after the revival service at church… Finally, I was able to start playing last night.

This game is everything Master of Orion III should have been. These guys have done an incredible job.

GalCiv II is a turn based strategy game, where you start off with a single planet, a survey ship, and a colony ship and you go try to explore and expand into the galaxy, research new technology, and even get into intergalactic wars with other races.

The game has all kinds of great features that you don’t normally see in these games. For example, not only can you design your own ships in the sense of choosing what weapons, engines, etc. go on it, but you can customize how it looks. The ship design engine is amazing.

Stardock did a great job of polishing the game too. Not only are the graphics superb, but the attention to detail in the gameplay is excellent as well. For example, in most of these games you can trade technologies with other races. In those games, you can sometime give them obsolete technology along with current technology to get them to give you more stuff. In GalCiv II, you can’t–the opposing race will say ^~~It wouldn’t really do us much good to have that obsolete technology, now would it?^~~.

I love it. It’s $40, available at your local retailers and via download from Stardock.

A terrorist has bombed a Shiite shrine in Iraq. This kind of thing is why I don’t think there will ever be peace in the Middle East.

Before:

After:

On the other hand, maybe there is hope after all.

Muslims across the Middle East – Sunnis and Shiites alike – largely ignored sectarian divides today to unite in condemnation of the the bombing that destroyed of the golden dome that graced one of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines.

Today: Best. Chapel. Evar.

From the moment the service began, I could tell it wasn’t going to be your average chapel service. As it turned out, we had a singspiration this morning, led by an evangelist rather than someone in the music faculty.

The man was dynamic, funny, and extremely energetic. He was walking back and forth in the massive pulpit, directing us with exaggerated motions. Half way through, he took off his jacket and walked around to in front of the pulpit, waving his arms furiously, and encouraging us to sing out louder.

I hope WBJU had a camera pointed at the stage today. If they did, I want a copy of the video.

It was one of those things that I wouldn’t like all the time, and that I wouldn’t like if I were in a smaller group, but today it was just perfect.

Question for BJU students/faculty: What was that guy’s name?

This is fun, especially if you enjoy squinting: The World’s Smallest Website. Play pong in a 50×50 pixel window.

You know how conservatives are all the time asking why, if Islam is a peaceful religion, Islamic leaders don’t condemn terrorism and violence?

Read this story:

“Islam says it’s all right to demonstrate but not to resort to violence. This must stop,” said senior cleric Mohammed Usman, a member of the Ulama Council — Afghanistan’s top Islamic organization. “We condemn the cartoons but this does not justify violence. These rioters are defaming the name of Islam.”

What more do you want?

Since I don’t know what I want to do with my life yet, xckd.com’s latest cartoon struck a chord with me.

(Listen to this AP audio clip to get the gist of the story.)

According to the AP, the Army has started a new program to teach soldiers how to pick good spouses. The program is called either “How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk” or, in true Army fashion, “‘P.I.C.K. a Partner,’ for Premarital Interpersonal Choices and Knowledge.”

They even have this odd salute:

Maj. John Kegley, a chaplain who teaches the program in Monterey, Calif., throws in the “no jerk salute” for fun. One hand at the heart, two-fingers at the brow mean use your heart and brain when choosing.

Gotta love ‘em.

An interesting story from CNN: Christian CEOs bond for love and profit
God’s network: How Christian business owners help each other get rich and go to heaven

As Zacfoo reports, Starbucks was recently banned at Bob Jones University. (That is, it’s no longer being sold in the Snack Shop)

Over the past year or so, Starbucks has been placing various quotes on their coffee cups in an effort to stimulate conversation in their coffee shops. These quotes come from all over the map, with sources ranging from Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, to Virginia Postrel, author of The Substance of Style, to Armistead Maupin who is the author of the “Tales of the City” series which “chronicled San Francisco’s homosexual community in the 1970s and 1980s.” (source)

The cup that has the quote from Armistead Maupin, cup #43 in the series, reads “My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don’t make that mistake yourself. Life’s too **** short.”

Zacfoo continues:

Dr. J went on to explain WHY we were [banning Starbucks]. Back in September, “#43″ caught people’s eyes here at the Institution. Mr. President promptly wrote a letter to everybody in Starbucks corporate kindly asking for an easy explanation as to why they are selling such “potentially” offensive material especially when they have Christians, soccer moms, and good ol’ fashioned-family values people consuming this stuff (coffee, and gayness to this one aspect) on a highly regular basis. (I have no problems with drinking a lot of coffee, Starbucks or not, and paying for it too.) They got back to him in November. Yah, that late… Like they didn’t care. But the guy from Starbucks said they did care, that they were getting a lot of negative feedback from the paying public, and were talking about doing something about it after the Holidays. He promised to call back in less than 2 weeks. After 3 weeks of no contact with Starbucks, Dr. J sends a total of 8 emails/phone calls none of which are returned, answered, or apparently cared about. The regional sales guy from our area even called the corporate dude and told him we were somebody to be reckoned with. They still didn’t care.

Thus, we don’t have Starbucks anymore. And I agree with the school on this one. BJ was patient, kind, considerate, tactful, and concerned. They were even humanitarian, reaching beyond the Bubble to remind Starbucks that other people shared in their displeasure. But all to no avail, apparently. Starbucks couldn’t care less.

In my opinion, that’s the real reason they’re banning Starbucks. It’s not so much about the quote; it’s about bad customer service.

So, no sympathy for Starbucks on my part; if you can’t be bothered to return your customer’s calls, then you lose the business. That’s all there is to it.

America Online’s Instant Messaging service (AIM) has new marketing copy that has far-right Christian groups up in arms. WorldNetDaily asks “Is new AOL IM slogan marketing blasphemy?”

Let’s take a look at a screenshot, courtesy of WorldNetDaily. (I’ve visited the site and it matches this screen shot.)

Can you spot the “offensive slogan”?

Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

That’s right! It’s the words “I am.”

When Ian Millar opened up his AOL Instant Messenger program yesterday and linked to the new AIM Triton site, he wasn’t prepared for what he saw.

“I have been an AIM customer for many years, and although I do not use AOL for my mail client, I have recommended it for relatives and friends,” he said in a letter to top executives of the company. “In general, I appreciate AOL and your business savvy.”

But when Millar saw the company’s new slogan, he was shocked and disgusted. He was not alone.

Oddly, WorldNetDaily does not refer to any other sources, so I don’t know if he was alone in his outrage or not.

He points out to AOL executives that “I AM” is the English translation of YaHWeH, the self-proclaimed name of God.

“He is the Creator and Savior of the world,” explains Millar. “He alone is to be worshipped. To take His name in vain, or use as a common thing is blasphemy, a vulgar sin of offense. Perhaps you have not read the Third Commandment, since they have removed it from so many public monuments in the last decade. But breaking it as a means of marketing your products offends the mind of everyone who worships Him.”

Ooh, nice job working in the 10 Commandments issue to a completely unrelated topic. -2 points for rabbit trailing.

“You must immediately change the name of your program,” he told Jonathan Miller, the chief executive officer of America Online, and John Buckley, corporate communications officer for the company, in a pointed letter. [”]I can assure you that you will lose business over this marketing tactic from people who worship the Almighty.

A rather demanding chap, isn’t he? And I like how he assumes that the entire Christian community sees things his way.

But worse, you have offended Him by your actions; whether they are deliberate or ignorant.

And how he assumes that God sees things his way.

To treat as common the name of God is wicked. God is patient, but mankind is today making an error of epic proportions by the deliberate actions of mocking the Almighty; particularly in the technologically advanced society. His patience with the mockery of mankind will come to an end.”

OK, so it’s not abortion that’s going to send God’s wrath against America. It’s not even gay marriage. No, what’s really going to get God mad at us is the misuse of English linking verbs.

Millar suggested AOL would never think of using – or misusing – the names “Allah,” or “Buddha” in its corporate marketing efforts.

This is yet another example of Christian Paranoia: “They’re all out to get us! Christians are the only group that it’s politically correct to make fun of!”

AOL officials were not available for comment.

I imagine not. They probably thought it was a prank call.

Seriously you guys. Aren’t there enough real problems in the world that you can spend your time on?

(Via IMAO’s article Outraged by AOL? We AM!!)

According to the AP:

“The ability to really withhold information no longer exists,” Gates told a government forum on the Internet.
…
But the spread of free, private e-mail enabled users to disseminate information anyway, Gates said.

“You may be able to take a very visible Web site and say that something shouldn’t be there, but if there’s a desire by the population to know something … it’s going to get out very broadly” via e-mail, Gates said.

The internet has killed censorship. Bill Gates gets it.

Orwell’s 1984 society will never happen to an internet-connected society.

“To all those people worried that Bush’s SOTU speech is a sign we’re going back into the folly of Carteresque “alternative-energy” policies, one question: how’s that whole return-to-the-moon thing going these days?”

-James Lileks