Neal was here

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So evolution this week has found a few more items to add to the plethora of evidence that they’ve been able to use to back up the theory of evolution. This article outlines the basics.

I read the fish story when it first came out (links HERE and HERE. My first impulse was that the story sounds fishy. Could it be legit? Absolutely! But let me show you two things that are a bit odd:

1. The scientist was going with the express purpose of finding this evidence. Surprise he found it. Am I saying he fabricated evidence? I doubt it, although I believe it has happened before. But here’s the thing: there is a society of people who believe the earth is flat, and they have evidence to back their claims. A common thread of complaint against Creationists is that they warp evidence to fit their ‘theory’… Can the same thing NOT happen to Evolutionists? A big problem I have with modern science is that both sides of the creation/evolution argument are looking for evidence to support their theory. If you ask me, theories should arise from available evidence, not the other way around. ‘Evidence’ can be made to fit theories. It is entirely possible that this fish just happened to look the way it did; be a wierd species of fish. People glance at me all the time, does that mean they’re all out to get me as I suppose on Saturday nights after a bit too much X-Files?

2. They found 10 of them in this one spot on a old river. They feel this may be the very spot on which the momentus event occurred. Go back to #1. Very rarely do we find 10 like this all together. It’s a good thing in that we can verify their structures, but a bit strange. Just makes it sound questionable.

There is a problem that arises in that I cannot possibly know all things that I would need to know in order to confirm or deny the entire evolutionary theory. I know that there are holes in the philosophy, as I know there is evidence that seems contrary to the idea of Creation. But I cannot personally scientifically prove or disprove it, so I must rely on the Wall Street Journal.

Despite my best efforts, I’m becoming a graphic designer. I enjoy it too much, and am apparently good enough to get buy.

A flash animation I built for a work class is getting major popularity, and my name is getting out there as a flash guy. My knowledge in flash is VERY limited. I finally created a boolean variable the other day. Moving up!

I’m also designing websites out my ears. More coding than designing usually, but I also do a fair amount of design.

Such as these ones I designed:
http://www.priorityministry.com
http://www.kairosministry.com
This site (although I cheated).
http://www.kairosministry.com/encounter/

And these I helped with:
http://www.christianchallenge.com
http://www.encountertruelife.com

I love it. CSS is my lackey. PHP/ASP is my workhorse. MySQL is my backbone. Yet I never made any effort to make this my thing. I just liked doing it and was fortunate enough to figure it out. This is my life. My partner in all this has decided we’re starting a business. I have to figure out if I like this enough to try to make a living at it. Talk about needing to be on the edge of technology though. I’d have to learn several new technologies: XHTML, master XML, AJAX, CSS2.0. Not to mention take some design classes to get my designs to professional quality. Wheeeee.

Read it and may your heart be warmed:

Penny-Arcade on Mac

So I have to again decide how I feel about the Apple. “Would your opinion of the Apple really be persuaded by a webcomic?” Well… yes.

So let’s review the mac culture. (and I’m no historian, so this is the history as I remember it)

Late 80s – Steve Jobs gets the bright idea to do what everybody else is doing, only do it slightly better. He builds the first Apple. Or maybe it was the Apple IIe. Back then computers were so new, any computer was fantastic. There wasn’t the same controversy.

Then the Macintosh showed up. With WINDOWING and a MOUSE. Xerox lost their nifty software to Apple through some schemery or money transfer, and Macintosh debuts it to the public. Microsoft and PC respond with Windows 3. We all remember it.

Then some time passes as technology improves. Apple doesn’t do much, the Macintoshes are out there, graduating from OS to OS. Then comes the era where I remember a perceived difference between Mac and PC. My cousin had one. OS7 I think he ran. It had Apple Talk. Coooooool. But I was still cooler with my home built PC and my freeware apple-talk like program that ran in QBasic. Shazaam. The Mac was still a nerdy thing. You still had to ‘understand computers’ to run it. ‘Trendies’ weren’t all up ons yet.

Then some more time passes. The Macs I know are old and slow and incompatible with everything. LAME.

More time. iMac shows up. iMac. It’s a pretty thing with it’s pretty colors and pretty interface. But the hardware is lousy and capabilities (although flashy) are limiting and not upgradable. LAME. Same thing with the iBook. The true nerds among us know better than to fall for the pretty, and we laboriously work away on our Unix workstations and Linux (or Windows) PCs at home and scoff at those who are swindled into mac pain.

Then the Power line came. PowerBook. PowerPC. Both very cool. Things start to look up for Apple. The nerd culture starts to recognize the power of the machines. Graphic processing comes to it’s own on the Macintosh. They begin to be actually cool. But then the ‘trendy’ culture also latches on to make their indie films and whatnot. And it’s true – MAC people are a different brand of folk. They like to thing they are user oriented, and friendly, and maybe they are, but if you’re not of their kind, you definitely don’t fit in. Case in point: SWITCH TO MAC PARODY

So even though it’s now ridiculously trendy, the PowerPC architecture is fantastic and can do a lot. And then Apple makes the move to *NIX based OS. Whoa. Nerds of the world, hold the phone. *NIX is not Trendy? When did hell freeze over, and why aren’t billions of women now sending me their phone numbers and full-body photographs. So Apple lands a LOT of credibility. It’s still flashy and ‘intuitive’, but with REAL power. Not this ‘mac power’. So my opinion sways toward them. They are something now. I could have one and appreciate it.

Now: nerds everywhere are beginning to recognize and accept the mac. Even welcome it. Many of my friends are switching. And liking it. Granted, they are not the techno-savviest of my friends, but those of us who are are not afraid to consider them.

So I’m thinking: uh oh. Trendy wave #2 – trend of the nerds. Are we to be unified under one power, and that power is Apple? I don’t know that I can accept being grouped with the former ‘trendy mac users’. I don’t relate to them at all, and neither they I. And, since I”m such a indie-trendy guy, I can’t be a firm part of any real trend. I must either be on the front edge, or ride the wave with a device of my own. iPod? Clearly the superior MP3 player, but it’s so damn trendy that it’s hard to have one. This unfettered power that Apple can wield is grotesque and intimidating. What happens if Apple goes evil? So do all these followers!

So as awesome as the Macs are these days, I think I will still rebell. I shall ride the AMD64 X2 wave. I shall use Linux and Microsoft (clearly more evil than Apple, and inherently more hated, and thus more attractive to me somehow – people are watching Microsoft).

So that’s the rant. Conclusion: macs are good, but I can’t have one. READ THE COMIC.

Hidden passages, installed in your home!