Here I Am

Call it the digital-lifestyle tax. If you want to be plugged in - to the Web, music, TV, movies, news, and phone networks - you have to pay. And pay. And pay some more. How much will all those subscriptions cost you? Almost as much as a car payment.

Omnium Finis Imminet -- the end of all things is near

5:11-13— "Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne […] they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice. […] Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and under the sea, and all that is in them, singing …"

9:3-4— "Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given authority like the authority of the scorpions on the earth. They were told not to damage the grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads."

9:6— "And in those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them."

13:2-4— "And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been healed. In amazement the whole earth followed the beast […] and they worshiped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?' "

17:1-5— "Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, 'Come, I will show you the judgment of the great whore who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk […] The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations … and on her forehead was written a name, a mystery: 'Babylon the great, mother of whores and of earth's abominations.' "

And finally, most chillingly of all:

12:1-5— "A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out with birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth. Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. […] Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron."

I was going to end with the words that close the Book of Revelation: "The one who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' " But to glance at the entertainment news, it looks like He's already here.

For those of you who are looking for a good PC RSS aggregator, my favorite is Sharp Reader.

The pope is dead
Did anyone know the Vatican has a website? How creepy is that. I dunno, personally, I'm tired of hearing about this one. The pope to me, represents an old ideology that is no longer useful to our society. I can't say that I've ever heard anything the former pontiff said that inspired me. I think of his anti-choice, anti-safe sex, homophobic and anti-woman doctrines. I'm not saying he's all bad, just not of any use to me. I don't understand the attempt to deify someone who was, in fact, just a man. It's very strange to me.
As far as "world leaders" go, the papacy has to be the strangest. The pope's only real power is to tell people

The pope and communism
...But elsewhere in the old Eastern Bloc, the pope's impact was at least a couple of steps removed from the courageous decisions that ordinary people made to head out onto the streets and march in protests that they fully expected would be met with absolute resistance from the Soviet forces and their local puppets...
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On not mourning the pope
...Unbelievers are more merciful and understanding than believers, as well as more rational. We do not believe that the pope will face judgment or eternal punishment for the millions who will die needlessly from AIDS, or for his excusing and sheltering of those who committed the unpardonable sin of raping and torturing children, or for the countless people whose sex lives have been ruined by guilt and shame and who are taught to respect the body only when it is a lifeless cadaver like that of Terri Schiavo. For us, this day is only the interment of an elderly and querulous celibate, who came too late and who stayed too long, and whose primitive ideology did not permit him the true self-criticism that could have saved him, and others less innocent, from so many errors and crimes...
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