Addicted to forgiveness?

Ebonmuse has raised an intriguing point at his site, Daylight Atheism.  He suggests that unrealistic expectations promulgated by many churches throw many people into disorienting existential spirals.  Instead of acknowledging the limitations of human animals up front, many church-goers (with the encouragement of their religious leaders), conceive of their journeys through life…

Continue ReadingAddicted to forgiveness?

Walk a mile in my over-muscled cramp-prone freakish physique

I don’t know anything about bodybuilding, or I didn’t until I watched Raising the Bar 2, a brand-new documentary by Mike Pulcinella (Mike wrote it, shot and edited it).  Mike often submits comments to this site, and we have corresponded by e-mail a number of times.  A couple weeks ago, Mike asked me whether I’d be interested in watching his new documentary, and I jumped at the chance.  Based upon Mike’s many comments to this site, I know him to be a thoughtful guy. I knew that he must’ve found something worthy of his time in this freakish-seeming endeavor of “bodybuilding.” 

In this documentary, Mike follows his brother Dave Pulcinella (and Dave’s significant other, Jenn Emig) as Dave trains for and competes in high-level bodybuilding competitions.  Before you jump to the conclusion that this is just some guy following his brother around with the camera, take a look at the trailer for “Raising the Bar 2,” available at Mike’s site. As you will see, Mike is a skilled filmmaker and storyteller and he is careful to make sure that this story retains real-life texture.  Mike’s edits are crisp and the soundtrack works well.  As for the storytelling, this kind of video could only have been accomplished by a filmmaker who had gained the complete trust of the participants.  In sum, this documentary is not always a glowing endorsement of Dave.

The documentary was compelling on several levels.  First of all, viewers will have an opportunity to see what is …

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Continue ReadingWalk a mile in my over-muscled cramp-prone freakish physique

If you want a fast and cheap Internet connection, you can have it, but not in the U.S.

These stats are mind-boggling.  The U.S. is not a good place to have access to a fast or reasonably priced Internet connection: The average broadband download speed in the US is only 1.9 megabits per second, compared to 61 Mbps in Japan, 45 Mbps in South Korea, 18 Mbps in…

Continue ReadingIf you want a fast and cheap Internet connection, you can have it, but not in the U.S.

Bush was warned that Iraq would turn into . . . Iraq

Huffpo is reporting what secret papers revealed to Bush before he decided to invade Iraq.  Intelligence analysts predicted, in secret papers circulated within the government before the Iraq invasion, that al-Qaida would see U.S. military action as an opportunity to increase its operations and that Iran would try to shape…

Continue ReadingBush was warned that Iraq would turn into . . . Iraq