Not sure what to think about this

Link to CNN Article

Here is another link - this time from Aljazeera

This guy converts from Islam to Christianity and therefore must die.

He converted while in Germany, and works as a humanitarian aid worker.

I really don't know what to think about Islam this time.

They preach that the extreme reactionaries are a minority, then something like this occurs and I start to think that maybe that's not true.

There is a difference here between this and terrorism, but at some point they will have to realize that they are part of the larger world and they will have to accept our rules and morals as well as us having to accept theirs.

They can't get angry with people for having freedom of speech and say that it's religious persecution and then persecute religiously themselves.



laters,

Tsunami: Wave of Disaster

Watching "Tsunami: Wave of Disaster" on the Discovery Channel right now, I have seen it a few times before, It is very well done, but this is just one of many documentaries made about this event, how many people are earning money off of this event. I know it is important to document this disaster so that people can learn from this and maybe help people there. But is the money received going just to the filmmakers and TV stations or is some going back to survivors or at least to rebuilding efforts.


It was spring break last week at Iowa State and some people from Lutheran Campus Ministry (still weird to say that instead of ULC ((Fritz thinks that LCM feels more inclusive))) had gone down to New Orleans to help. They mainly helped out with deconstruction, removing trash, refrigerators and such. I have been on such trips before, to the Appalachian area of the eastern US primarily to southern Ohio and the western tip of Virginia. It was a very rewarding experience, but some of the trouble we have had on such trips is the feeling that we are dong this for us, while it is for the people that we are helping. But we are also getting something out of is as well, we are gaining knowledge, emotions and experiences.


Laters,

Horrible Song lyrics

Black Eyed Peas - My Humps



ok, I will say this song does have a good beat and gets in your head, but if you listen to the lyrics they are some of the worst I have found. Not for what they say, just the unoriginality of them. I want to see what the person writing this was thinking ...

ok, first well have

my humps
my humps umm

my humps
my humps
my humps

my lovely lady lumps


(just repeat this about 80 times)

- writer name


k,

Erik

End of an Era

Well, it's an end of an era.

Erik's Super Awesome Website is officially offline. Iowa State has removed it and it will no longer load. I don't know if I will be getting it up on another server at some point soon. But if so, info will be given here


later,
Erik

Kirby Puckett

Kirby Puckett died today from complications from a stroke suffered yesterday.

ESPN Main Story

ESPN Jim Caple

CNN

SportsIllustrated

Minnesota Twins fans will miss him.

Thats all for now, I may say more later.

Kirby Puckett 1960 - 2006

Star of the Prophet Muhammad

so, this is funny, if you had been following the Danish Cartoon story (see below) you can see that the muslim world is somewhat angry at Denmark. What do they do to get back at them? They take a page from the infinate revenge masters in the United States Congress. Some muslims have changed calling "Danishes" to "Star of the Prophet Muhammad". I think it will work, I mean it sure showed the French when we called them Freedom Fries.


yeah, go people,
Erik

Oklahoma

well last night was fun, little more hectic than normal though.

Got back from work at 6:45, Finished making dinner at 7:10. I had just sat down to eat, when my friend Addie calls me to see if I wanted to go to Oklahoma the musical.
She had an extra ticket and did not want to waste it. I said that I would and asked when it was starting, "Yeah, It starts at 7:30" so well I ate in about 5 secs and ran out the door in order to get there on time. Parked at Church, and power walked over, got there at 7:29 and had just sat down, not even gotten my jacket completely off when the overture started.

that was fun, not much else to the story, it was good.


yep,
later

Story from new years

well I just realised that i had forgotten to tell a story of something that happened on new years while in San Diego

Iowa State's football team was playing in a Bowl game that noon, so we decided that we would get food from a local grocery story and then eat in the room. I had seen what I thought was a microwave in the closet of the room and so we went and got frozen stuff to cook and eat.

We got back, settled down and I went to look at the microwave, I opened the door and thought that's weird, there is carpeting in here. then I looked at it closer and well it was a Safe. I mean when I see something that is white plastic outside with a number pad, numerical display and a door, to me that says microwave.

well, we thought our food was ruined, then I thought I only have mini burritos that are fully cooked (Lisa Wells ((from UNI who was on the trip with us)) had pizza rolls) so all we have to do is heat them up to an edible temp. So I sent a pot of water through the coffee maker and then took a shower cap, wrapped a roll in it and dunked it in the water. that worked so we could actually eat. (Later I just set the shower cap in the ground holder area of the maker (What is the called?) and ran two or three batches through the maker.

so I definitely will never forget that new years,

Later

Follow up to my last post,

Found some interesting links from Andrew Sullivan's "The Daily Dish"

A good quote

The editorial staff for the NY press, a small weekly paper, quit


For more information see CNN and BBC News

For another blog following this story see Daryl Cagle's Cartoon Weblog

This story has gotten big enough that it is being covered by both "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report"

Later

Interesting news story

Well, I’ve been following the Danish cartoon story involving the caricatures of the prophet Muhammad; it's been interesting seeing what the different reactions have been to the conflict.

Many different sources have had comment areas containing people from both sides of the story. Most Muslim contributors state that they feel it is oppressive to the Islamic faith, since it is blasphemous to make images of the prophet Muhammad as this could lead to idolatry.

This has a good meaning behind it, there is the issue of people of other religions and beliefs are they supposed to be accountable for other religions beliefs. There has to be a point where you draw a line between feeling insulted and realizing that they do not follow your faith and should not be persecuted for that.

The three major religions stemming from Israel, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all hold that you should not take the Lord’s name in vain, yet every day in movies, books, and in many other forms of media you see this done, whether the utterance of God or Jesus in anger or something more severe.

But you do not see Christians or Jews rising up in anger over this issue, why is this issue not addressed. That I don’t know, whether it is because of the areas and cultures of the people who follow those religions, or maybe the age of the religions. Both Judaism and Christianity are around or more than 2000 years old now, while Islam is only 1300 years old, while this seems old, consider that around between the year’s 1000 – 1800 is when such things as the Spanish inquisition and the Crusades occurred.

Back to the current issue, western sources have often stated that they feel that the Islamic community saying that they cannot print the images is a violation of freedom of speech. I feel this is correct as well. This gets us to the unusual situation that both sides are correct from their viewpoint; the question is what should be viewed as more important, freedom of speech or respect of religion.