Friday, September 7, 2012

I'd Rather Live in America, Part 2

Once again, the Pakistanis have shown religious intolerance by putting a young Christian girl in jail for blasphemy.  According to some reports, she suffers from Down Syndrome and is somewhere between 11 and 14 years old.  She is in the same jail as the convicted killer of the local governor (see my post here about that case).

The local Imam "encouraged local people to evict the child’s family from the area" after Friday prayers.  The land mafia also wanted to expel the Christian community from the area.  People don't like to have their religion criticized.

I'm not sure what the girl said that was blasphemous, but if I did know, I wouldn't tell you because then I would be committing blasphemy myself.

http://dawn.com/2012/09/08/christian-girl-facing-blasphemy-charge-gets-bail/

Update October 9, 2012
The Taliban shot a teenage girl who was advocating for girls' rights to an education.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/taliban-says-it-shot-infidel-pakistani-teen-for-advocating-girls-rights/2012/10/09/29715632-1214-11e2-9a39-1f5a7f6fe945_story.html


Thursday, September 6, 2012

Drunk Mirror

The Brazilians invented the Drunk Mirror and installed it in bars.  What it does is delays what you see in the mirror by 2 seconds.  The idea is to raise awareness of how alcohol impairs the drinker.  I wonder if it is helping.  About 5 weeks ago, a respected member of our church, 60 year-old father of 5 children and grandfather was killed by a drunk driver on the freeway.  There is an on ramp and off ramp next to each other.  A delayed reaction resulted in the driver turning on the latter, ignoring the "DO NOT ENTER" sign and hitting and killing this innocent man.

I know many people who drink responsibly with no apparent side effects.  I also know of many cases of lives being ruined by drinking.  A review of localcrimenews.com shows that a large number of crimes are related in some way to alcohol consumption.

I'm still trying to sort out my opinion on how to prevent the tragedies without repeating the mistake of Prohibition.  For me personally, I choose not to drink.

You can watch the video and read about the drunk mirror here:
http://www.fastcocreate.com/1681472/drunk-mirror-experiment-gives-bar-goers-something-to-reflect-on

Translations from Portuguese:


Como chamar atencao das pessoas para o risco de beber e dirigir
=How to call attention to the risk of people drinking and driving

Usamos um espelho diferente para alertar as pessoas
=Use a different mirror to alert people

Um espelho com delay
=A mirror with delay

E´ assim que seus reflexos ficam depois de alguns drinks
= This is how your reflexes are after a few drinks

Um conselho: se beber, nao dirija
=Some advice: if you drink, don't drive

Monday, September 3, 2012

Character References

I decided to put together a quick reference to the video testimonials for Mitt Romney's character.




And one that isn't from the RNC:

Links: Neo-neocon