Month: February 2008

Kosovo’s Faultlines

So Kosovo is independent.

Now what?

And what is happening below the media’s radar?

Here is my question: What do readers need to know in order to understand the emotions that are currently being unleashed in Serbia and in Kosovo, especially in northern Kosovo?

[…]

Now, click here and tour some of the destruction in Kosovo. Yes, this is a one-sided, pro-Serbia site. But just think of this in terms of art and history — like the Bamiyan Buddhas. These holy places are also irreplaceable.

Again let me state that these Serbian church websites documenting the destruction tell only part of the hellish story that is post-war Kosovo and Serbia. Of course. But the destruction goes on and the churches and the monasteries cannot be replaced. That is part of the story.

Search the news reports in the next few days and look for the material on these treasures of art and faith. While many are celebrating, others are — sheltered in tiny enclaves protected by foreign troops — in mourning. Are there enougn troops to guard all the churches in northern Kosovo? Does anyone in Europe care? How about the United States? This is part of the Kosovo equation that should be included in balanced, accurate mainstream reporting.

This seems a good place to point you to something I wrote way back when: Kosovo and Serbia: A Case Study Regarding Christians in the Military.

Found: Transitional Life Form

Scroll down for updates. Original post date/time: February 18, 2008 @ 09:04

No, I’m not talking about Big Foot or PlatyPus.

Nor am I talking about a winged lizard nor a walking turnip.

Not even a man with the head of a bird and the ears of an elephant.

Nope, it’s something I saw on the Web on Saturday evening and again this morning.

Key Bank: Transitional Life Form

If you want to see in real-time my incredible discovery for yourself, go here.

Dare I hope a Key Bank person sees this?

Now tell me, how’s that a transitional life form?

And another question, what general life lessons do you see in the screen capture above?

And this one yet: How might this post fit under Christianity 101?

OK, now it’s 7:54 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 — and nobody’s tried answering my questions.

To answer the first question, here’s what I just got done commenting to Key Bank:

www.key.com/managecredit seems to me to be a transitional life form.

That is, it’s between Brick-and-Mortar philosophy and Web-Business philosophy.

We can do account management online . . . if we do it during certain business hours on business days.

So Saturday I noticed that my payment was due on 2/18. But I couldn’t pay online since it wasn’t Monday-Friday.

So Monday I tried to make a payment, but couldn’t since it was a holiday and your Bricks-and-Mortars were closed.

This morning I was finally able to make a payment. (Thanks for the convenience of using the Web!) Alas, it’s late.

Transitional life forms are frustrating. And in my online banking experience, Key is so far unique. In a not-so-positive way.

Do you have plans to transition fully into the Web-Business philosophy?

Thanks.

Egg-zamining Eggs Eggs-pertly

Ensure that you're buying and consuming fresh, high-quality eggs

For your consideration, what some Dr. Mercola has to say:

It may sound incredible, but many conventional egg operations contain as many as half a million chickens. Each cage will hold four or five birds, each with room to roam an area no larger than a letter-sized sheet of paper.

Subsequently, these cage-raised chickens have to be given routine doses of antibiotics and other drugs, all of which have serious health implications for you the consumer.

[…]

Regardless of where you get your eggs from, there are several guidelines to ensure that you’re buying and consuming fresh, high-quality eggs:

  1. Always check the freshness of the egg right before you consume the yolk. If you are at all uncertain about the freshness of an egg, don’t eat it. This is one of the best safeguards against salmonella infection.
  2. If there is a crack in the shell, don’t eat it. You can easily check for this by immersing the egg in a pan of cool, salted water. If the egg emits a tiny stream of bubbles, don’t consume it as the shell is porous/contains a hole.
  3. If you are getting your eggs fresh from a farmer it is best to not refrigerate them. This is the way most of the world stores their eggs; they do not refrigerate them. It’s important to remember that to be able to properly judge the freshness of an egg, its contents need to be at room temperature. Eggs that are stored in the fridge and opened immediately after taking them out will seem fresher than they actually are. At the very least, eggs should be kept outside the fridge for at least an hour prior to checking them for freshness or opening them.
  4. To check for freshness, first roll the egg across a flat surface. Only consume it if it rolls wobbly.
  5. Next, open the egg. If the egg white is watery instead of gel-like, don’t consume the egg. If the egg yolk is not convex and firm, don’t consume the egg. If the egg yolk easily bursts, don’t consume the egg.
  6. After opening the egg you can put it up to your nose and smell it. If it smells foul you will certainly not want to consume it.

There you are. And if you want some additional egg-citement, eat them raw. 😯

Unforgivable?

This type of crime is particularly despicable and contemptible.

Soldier Accused of Raping Girl

Japan’s prime minister on Tuesday denounced the suspected rape of a 14-year-old girl by a U.S. Marine on the southern island of Okinawa, an episode with echoes of a 1995 case that jolted the U.S.-Japan alliance.

[…]

“It is unforgivable,” Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told a parliamentary panel in his first public comments on the latest incident on Okinawa, host to a huge U.S. military presence.

“It has happened over and over again in the past and I take it as a grave case.”

Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed anger over repeated incidents despite frequent promises by U.S. officials to prevent them.

That story reminds me of this event:

Soldiers Rape Girls

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East stated that 20,000 (and perhaps up to 80,000) women were raped, their ages ranging from infants to the elderly (as old as 80). […] According to some testimonies, other women were forced into military prostitution as comfort women.

Has Japan formally asked forgiveness for those World War II events (and many other cases of rape during that war)? It seems it has.

But any possible hypocrisy and double standard aside, and the affairs of nations aside, and the posturing of politicians aside, these stories remind me of what Jesus had to say on the subject of forgiveness.

In Luke 11:4 we have this: “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.”

And in Matthew 6:12,14,15 there’s this: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Then in Matthew 18 Jesus tells a story on the subject. Here are the concluding verses:

32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

So, now, which sin will I refuse to forgive?

For which offense or wrong will I continue to hold a grudge?

Who is currently on my No Forgiveness for These list?

Away from Home. And Sick.

I’ve done my share of traveling (though not as much as Hans Mast has done).

Being sick while on a trip is awful.

And the further away from home I am, the more awful it seems.

So pity poor Hans Schlegel.

He’s sick. And a long ways from home.

Shuttle Atlantis

Schlegel, 56, a two-time space flier, did not appear to be sick when he floated inside the space station and took part in a safety briefing, but he seemed quiet. He was seen on camera for only a few minutes.

There’s no known (to me, anyway) relationship to Mr. Schlegel’s illness, but “just before docking, Atlantis did a 360-degree backflip.”

Gulp!

I get sea sick on a swing! 😳

Protect Children Online

I don’t usually listen to Christian radio. But I did for a bit this afternoon. And I’m reminded that we live in perilous times that seem to resemble more and more what it must have been like in the days of Noah.

Anyway, as a result of listening to part of the Homeword (that is spelled correctly) program, here’s a book I want to read:

Internet Protect Your Kids:: Keep Your Children Safe from the Dark Side of Technology

And maybe these as well:

How to Protect Your Children on the Internet: A Road Map for Parents and Teachers       Safety Monitor: How to Protect Your Kids Online       How To Protect Your Child from Sexual Predators

We’ll see.

Above all, love God!