An Open Letter to Microsoft

I have just found out that Windows 10 is already planned to be replaced by Windows as a subscription service.  I have been a loyal Microsoft customer since the very first edition of Windows, and as much as I HATE Windows 8 (if I wanted to run a MAC OS, I’d buy a MAC), i …

You might be a liberal…

If you spend your life hugging trees, but you think carbon dioxide is destroying the world, you might be a liberal. If you froth at the mouth anytime some questions Darwinian evolution, AND you froth at the mouth if a species is listed as “endangered”, you might be a liberal. If you think that medical …

A New Study on GMO Maize

Even among the scientific community intelligent enough to be skeptical of the anthropogenic global warming hypothesis, I often come under fire for my lack of support of genetically-modified food.  Many of these people do not even understand that genetic modification is completely different from selective breeding–in fact, it technically creates new species.  Nor, apparently, are …

Questions About my Religious Development

Originally posted on Home of the Little-Known Blogger:
An old friend from high school and college just asked me some rather deep question about my religious experience and beliefs. I thought that they were interesting enough to share, both the questions and my answers. For reference, I was raised in an Evangelical Church (Presbyterian); became…

Adventures of an Amateur Hoplologist

Japanese Girlfriend: “Hey, there’s a karate tournament this weekend!” *hands me a paper* Me: Oh, let’s see…  This guy does Shorin-ryu, this guy does Goju-ryu, this guy does Shorin, Shorin, Goju… No, he does Uechi-ryu… Japanese Girlfriend: “I thought you couldn’t read Japanese?” Me: I can’t.  I can tell what style they practice by how …

Nostalgic Reading

When I was about 12 years old, I was inducted into the First Presbyterian Church.  As part of the process, a Church elder took me out to eat and to have a conversation with me about joining the Church.  I ate very little–I was a very skinny kid–and so the elder offered to take me …

Why Freedom Beats Socialism

“Real wages rose by 50 percent and the portion of the population in acute poverty fell from 50 to 15 percent.” Although not exactly the economy I would plan–they have light income tax and no sales tax–Hong Kong nevertheless remains the exemplar of free-market economics in the world today.  Especially when compared to it’s Socialist …

My Guilty-Pleasure Movies

This list is by not exhaustive; I will probably think of several more as soon as my head hits the pillow this morning.    However, here is at least a partial list of B-movies, bombs, and otaku-fodder that I would gladly miss a few hours of sleep to watch again: The Last Action Hero A …