To RSS or not to RSS?-The Onion Evaluation

As I am searching for an RSS feed to subscribe to I come across a page with the most interesting name. The Onion has to be one of my favorite stops on this summer assignment trip that I am experiencing. Hosting random articles such as Man Returns To Place Of Birth To Mate or one of my favorites 5-Year-Old Wants To Be A Tractor When She Grows Up, for someone of my “taste” you could say that The Onion is the right flavor for me. I chose to read the articles that peaked my interest more than just reading whatever came up first on my Google Reader page. There was almost to much to choose from with number of articles ranging anywhere from 29 to 39 articles a day. With articles being editorials or opinions I found The Onion writers to stray away and just give me the information I needed such as Novak Hits Pedestrian With Corvette you cant get any more blunt than that, Robert Novak hit a pedestrian and had to be chased down by a bicyclist. I will keep this feed in my reader for future enjoyment and I encourage you to take a look at Teen Who Just Discovered Led Zeppelin Starting To Piss Off Friends.

Journals of the Future

Blogging is becoming a quick nominee for the title of The World’s Next Top Pastime.  Technorati currently holds its numbers at 112.8 million blogs to date, which is not even counting big blog sites such as edublogs, wordpress or xanga.  There are three blogs that stuck out to me one from a group of students from Rancho Verde High School, another from Jessel Gerard and last from Ben aka Bad Ben a runner of ultras, xterras and marathons.

 

I came across a student blog named The Oilers which I am sure was a forced homework assignment considering that the URL was under a high school’s IP address.  The Oilers is a creative name for a blog whose topic is that of the rising gas prices in the country and around the world.  I made the inference that the author(s) of this blog is/are male considering the layout, colors and the repetitive substitution of the word “suck” for a word like stink.  The Oilers have organized their posts into categories on the sidebar of their blog page into pages such as articles, interviews and research etc.  They have not utilized any widgets such as a slideshow or a calendar and seem to be only interested in gas prices.  Most of their posts consist of an experiment or an interview in which they will ask someone how they feel about prices of oil and how they deal with them.  One teacher claimed he only spends 70 dollars on gas a month which is not that hard to believe considering he only goes to school and home.  Another post that stuck out to me utilized multimedia in the form of graphics, showing a picture that someone took of a sign that charged an arm for regular, a leg for plus, and a first born for premium.  The Oilers do their research and walk the walk just as much as they talk the talk I give the blog a “thumbs up”.

 

I was searching, and just when I was about to give up on searching I came across a blog called Faith of a Centurion.  Jessel Gerard, the blog’s author, is a Philippine Jesuit.  I really enjoy reading his posts; they have an appeal to them that just seems right.  His blogs niche is biblical ranging anywhere from Old to New Testament.  His page is well kept and organized.  Jessel utilizes his sidebar and posts videos of himself and archives his posts according to where they are in the Bible.  He has an Old Testament category and categories for all 5 of the gospels.  Jessel even has links to other Jesuit websites.  In his posts he usually always talks and gives his insight on a certain bible story or verse.  He is an experienced blogger, his posts date all the way back to October 2005 and he posts almost every day.  He almost seems to preach in his posts.  Faith of a Centurion seems really down to earth and in your face.  Jessel does not candy coat anything and I respect that more than anything when someone is preaching.  Joel Osteen is a prime example of a “candy-coater”; he never talks about anything unless it involves self gain or it makes people feel good, like they can do nothing wrong.  If Jessel Gerard would take Joel’s place I would feel much better about watching television, even though I am Southern Baptist and Joel is much closer in denomination to me than a Philippine Jesuit.  To me Jessel Gerard seems to have his head on straight and I really recommend taking a look at his blog. 

 

Bad Ben’s Ramblings, a blog written by a man I would love to meet, is full of spunky wisdom and inspiring stories.  Ben ,aka Bad Ben, is a runner; he enjoys trail running the most in his older age but has done almost all you can do in the short lifespan we are granted.  I think the main reason I am enthusiastic about this blog is the fact that I want to be this man when I have reached his age.  His posts are stories of running; one of his more recent posts is of a trail run that he hosted in Lawrence, Kansas.  There was a 100k and a 40 mile run consisting of 2-3 loops around a muddy barren trail in a state park.  Ben likes to use his sidebar a lot; he has a clock widget and many links to archived posts, his friends, and links to running sites that I still enjoy discovering.  He must have a camera because it is hard to find a posted story that does not have at least one picture.  Bad Ben’s Ramblings is inspirational to me, it is an all around flavorful site full of time consuming, inspirational stories.  I recommend this site to anyone, but especially to runners who enjoy reading about others’ achievements.

 

Blogs are the journals of the future.  To own a blog all you need is access to the Internet, a mind, and a drive that makes you want to express yourself and your ideas.  I would recommend any of the three blogs I have evaluated to anyone willing to listen to someone else express himself.

 

Gay Marriage = Contradiction

Gay Marriage is wrong in the eyes of God. 

Right marriage means that a man and a woman are intimate, not a man and a man or a woman and a woman.  Right marriage is with a spouse and none other. Right marriage honors and shows God’s righteousness and glory. Right marriage results in offspring in most cases.  Right marriage is a reflection of God through a holy union.  Wrong marriage or sex causes disease such as AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.  Wrong marriage or sex results in humanity being introduced to the true wrath of God.  Romans 1:26-17 (NKJV) states that God gave them up to vile passions for even the women were giving uses against nature and ended in them “receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.”  Wrong marriage or sex is wrong no matter which perspective someone has, “just because emotion is deep or powerful does not justify acting upon it.”

This argument is not one sided but many people believe that the argument is. People argue that a person can be born homosexual but I disagree. However, even if someone can be born homosexual, God’s grace shows deliverance from sin. Homosexual acts must be distinguished from the homosexual point of reference. An individual with homosexual orientation must not fulfill this physical urge. This is no different from saying that a heterosexual person must not have sex outside of marriage. The difference is that the heterosexual person can find sexual fulfillment within marriage (Emiston, n.d).