I went to watch The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy today. I liked it which is not much of a surprise since it stuck pretty closely to the book. One scene that I thought particularly poignant was when Arthur, the main character, was talking with an alien about redesigning Earth. In the book, the alien architect says,

"In this replacement Earth we're building they've given me Africa to do and of course I'm doing it with all fjords again because I happen to like them, and I'm old fashioned enough to think that they give a lovely baroque feel to a continent. And they tell me it's not equatorial enough. Equatorial!" He gave a loud hollow laugh. "What does it matter? Science has achieved some wonderful things, of course, but I'd far rather be happy than right any day."

"And are you?"

"No. That's where it all falls down, of course."

I actually liked the movie better than the book for that part, partially because of the mood, but mostly because it draws out how pointlesss everything is without God. But I don't feel like hunting down the script online, so you might have to watch the movie some time if you really want to know what I'm talking about. Or if just like random British comedy.

In Other News...
I am decidedly a fan of $2 theaters.

But if the accused [murderer] ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he has fled and the avenger of blood finds him outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the accused without being guilty of murder. The accused must stay in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may he return to his own property.

-Number 35:26-28

Hmmm, can you say 'foreshadowing'?

Good To Be Alive - Geoff Moore & The Distance

Wasn't it yesterday I was eight years old
A pocket full of rocks
That I knew were made of solid gold
There were girls to be hated
Trees to be climbed
Forts to be built, There was so much time
It's good to be alive, It's good to be alive

There's nothing in the world like being fifteen
Your pockets are empty, but your head is full of dreams
Of girls to be loved
Of places to see
It's the best and the worst
Just my friends and me
And we're anything we want to be

(Chorus)
And it's good to be alive
To feel the wind in my face
See the blue in the sky
It's days like this I realize
What a gift it is
It's good to be alive

Well I wonder, what this day will see
Will I find my dreams or stare in the face of tragedy
Whatever may come
Whatever may be
Of this I am sure, I'm forgiven and free
And I will live like I believe


In Other News...
I got six calls from the Kaufman County Law Enforcement Center. Apparently someone there wants to talk to me.

Too bad, I missed another tornado today. Sirens were going off and they issued all sorts of warnings, but the storm passed just south of us. Oh well, maybe next time.

I studied quite a bit today, so when my brain felt full, I decided to listen to the old radio broadcasts of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Just as funny as I remember. If you're interested, you can download them here.

In Other News...
This weekend I got to clamber around a river bed an hour outside of Dallas. I found some real dinosaur footprints. Too bad someone else had found them first. Go to my pics if you're interested.

So here's an interesting question suggested to me by my friend Anna:

What is the best way to kill a Nalgene?

Melt it in a dishwasher or campfire?
Eaten by an airplane?
Nalgene rapture?
Knocked off by an Eddie Bauer assassin?

Any ideas?

Ben called me today and mentioned that he was surprised that I hadn't put this article up on my blog. I had seen it, but didn't realize some of the humor until he pointed it out. Yeah, this is how Planet of the Apes starts.

Wanted: Stealthy simian for SWAT unit

I was reading a news article about the kid who did the voice of Bambi. He grew up to be a Marine drill sergeant.

In Other News...
Silkworms are officially annoying. Especially when a batch hatches right outside your door.

"And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? "

-Deuteronomy 10:12,13

(God doesn't require us to be intelligent, or good looking, or confident, or to have it all together. We just have to follow Him and He will take care of the rest.)

Whew!! I just finished the final draft (I hope) of my paper for Culture, Language, and Mind. Twenty-four full pages of analysis of the cognitive linguistic phenomena in newspaper comics. I'll post it online sometime, but for now, I'm just glad to be done.

In Other News...
I now have proof positive that if you believe something hard enough, reality will change around you. My watch has been an hour fast for the last couple of weeks (don't ask me why) and I believed that if I waited long enough, time would change itself and I would be proven right. Well Sunday I was triumphant!

I have way too much stuff to do today. Please pray that God gives me the strength and understanding to get through all my papers and tests in the next 24 hours.

Terri Schiavo died yesterday.

What seems like the most unusual thing about this whole issue is Michael Shiavo's insistance that Terri die. He begins by saying that he intends to keep his vow and help her as long as she lives, but ends up insisting that she would never want to live that way. If he thinks that she wouldn't want to live that way, why isn't he allowing people to try to help her? The only way that I could possibly imagine anyone making that kind of u-turn (other than lying in the first place) is if he didn't fully comprehend how handicapped she was when he made that statement and that he got consecutively shocked, depressed, and then bitter. But I just can't quite buy it. It doesn't explain why he was so resistant to letting her family try to help. I mean, not letting anyone clean her teeth for the last 10 years? Not letting the windows be open or seeing if she might respond to animals? Where's the love? Two years after she was hospitalized he won $1.3 million in a malpractice suit and tried to win another $20 million to take care of her until her expected death at age 50. No comments of her desire to die there. In November of '92 he said "I feel wonderful. She's my life and I wouldn't trade her for the world. I believe in my wedding vows. ... I believe in the vows I took with my wife, through sickness, in health, for richer or poor. I married my wife because I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I'm going to do that." I find that especially interesting since he was seriously dating another woman at the time. No, when I actually read the history of her case, I cannot believe that Michael Schiavo was really interested in what was best for Terri.

You can argue whether refusing treatment is contradicting God's will, but its still highly debateable whether Terri wanted to die. And when you have 33 medical experts who believe that she wasn't in a persistent vegetative state and could improve with rehab or treatment. Maybe Renea will tell us some of the fascinating discussions she had in her medical ethics course, but she's probably too busy. Sorry, I'm keep switching between indignation and pessimism. What was the rush, why not take one more day to give her another swallowing test? If she can swallow like her nurse claimed, then you can take her off the feeding tube and you have just saved a woman's life. If not, then you've ruled out one of the witnesses. And seriously, after 15 years, what's one more day?

Here is the most thorough news article I could find. Admittedly WND is highly opinionated and likes to toot their own horn, but as far as facts go, this will tell you a lot more than you'll find on the major networks.

By the way, if something like this ever happens to me, bug my hospital room. Where there's life, there's hope.