The definition of Jared Barden
Archive for October, 2006
Abortion
Oct 31st
It is election time, and it wouldn’t be like me to not talk about something politically related. Today’s hot button issue – abortion.
Let’s start off with some “facts”. I use the quotes, because you never know how much of what you read online you can trust. That being said, here are the following facts I discovered over the last few days.
Fact #1: According to the Guttmacher Institute, 1.29 Million abortions were performed in 2002. It seems they don’t have the most recent data, but that will suffice. This comes out to an average of 3,534 abortions PER DAY for each day of 2002. Projecting those numbers of a period of 3 years, and you get somewhere around 3.25 to 3.75 million abortions.
Fact #2: According to Iraq Coalition Casualties, 2816 U.S. soldiers have been killed during the war in Iraq since 2003. This averages out to roughly 2 deaths per day during that timespan.
Combining Fact 1 and Fact 2, we have a ratio of 1767 to 1 for abortions per day vs. U.S. military deaths per day in the war in Iraq.
First of all, let that statement sink in for a moment.
I think abortion is wrong. Period. End of story. No room for debate. You will have a hard time convincing me otherwise. Danielle and I talked about it the other day. We went through the typical scenarios. What if you were raped? What if your life was in danger?, etc., etc. We came up with the conclusion that we still wouldn’t opt for an abortion. Of course this is only hypothetical and circumstances sometimes effect decisions, but we still reached the same conclusion.
It makes me so angry to think that people can justify the killing of unborn children. Please tell me how to rationalize that decision. Why is it illegal to kill a child the moment after it’s born, but you can abort a baby in a horrific fashion during the actual delivery process (aka Partial Birth Abortion)?
Sometimes the whole issue makes me so angry I can’t even think straight. I know it is an emotional issue for many people, and I do not judge people that have the decision one way or another.
I guess the point of this post is this: put some thought into why you believe what you believe? Is it because your parents do? Is it because it’s the right thing to do? Why do you believe it?
The second point is, get out and vote, but before voting, do some research at places like Project Vote Smart. This site has lots of useful information, including voting records of just about any candidate you can imagine.
Use your vote to voice your opinion. It’s pretty much the most effective tool we have to get our voice heard. Don’t become one of the people who says, “my vote doesn’t count.” If everyone thought that way, our country would be a much different place.
Good Times With Old Friends
Oct 24th
There’s something to be said for spending quality goof-off time with old friends – the people who knew you before you became the person you are today.
Last night a group of my fellow high school graduates, my wife, and I went out to Dinner at the Dumpling House in Wellsboro. They have great Chinese food there. The Chicken with Curry Sauce is especially delightful. It was so nice just to spend time talking, catching up on what everyone has been doing in the past few years, see old faces that I hadn’t seen in a long time, and generally have an all around good time.
For me sometimes I find it awkward when I haven’t seen someone in a long time. It seems hard (for me anyway) to find things to talk about or catch up on, etc. My wife says I’m nuts, but that’s just the way I am. That was not the case last night. I saw someone who I haven’t really spent time with in almost 3 years, and I really figured I might not see for a long period of time. It was great to catch up with them and see that things were going well for them.
We went to a friend’s apartment after dinner and played a rousing game of Head Of the Class, which you should try if you haven’t lately. It may be hard to get your hands on, seeing as how it came out in 1984 or 1986 I believe. We always seem to gravitate towards trivia games, and last night was no exception.
All in all it was just nice to spend time with friends I don’t get to see as often as I’d like. Life has become so hectic it seems. There is always something going on somewhere, and we have to go here, there, and everywhere, but last night was truly a great time.
If you haven’t seen an old friend in a while, drop them a line, maybe call on the phone, but just let them know you’re thinking about them. I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.
Google Website Optimizer
Oct 18th
Google just keeps rolling out the services (which may or may not be a good thing). I just read this afternoon over at Google Blogoscoped that Google released the Google Website Optimizer which allows users to test different versions of pages on their websites to see which perform the best.
This is something I am particularly interested in. Not that I would really use it on my own site, but I could see it’s use in e-commerce sites and the like. As long as you don’t mind Google seeing your data, and let’s be serious, look at all the other information Google has about you (assuming you use Gmail, the Google Toolbar, Google Desktop and a host of other Google offerings), what’s one more piece of data?
This tool seems like it could be really useful, and it gives an easier way to set up testing of multiple pages for performance issues.
If you’re interested in this kind of stuff, check it out.
Being Tested
Oct 17th
This past Sunday the speaker at church spoke on living in unity with fellow Christians. I really enjoyed the message, and it made sense, seeing as how we are looking for a new pastor. What I didn’t expect was that I would be tested on this very teaching so soon in the week.
We were reminded that our Christian struggle in this life is not with people, but against the unseen forces of evil that are battling every day. Call me crazy, but I do believe in a spiritual realm that is every bit as real as the world you can smell and touch.
There are verses all throughout the Bible that deal with living in unity. They talk about God’s blessing to people who live in unity and the fact that our living in unity with one another (as Christian’s) is an example to those who don’t believe in God that He is indeed real and is living and dwelling in us. A crazy thought there to wrap your head around.
Anyway, there is this person that just rubs me the wrong way that plays at our Monday night basketball “league.” I think we all have people like that in our life at one point or another – most likely sent by God to smoothe out some rough patches in our lives. Said person was being particularly annoying last night and really trying (in my opinion) to get under my skin while we were playing.
His strategy worked really well at first. I am not typically an angry person, but when I do get upset it usually gets the best of me. After a while though, I was reminded of the message that I had heard not 24 hours before in the very same room. Needless to say that hit me like a ton of bricks, and although I am still not crazy about this person, I am trying to live at peace or in unity with them.
If you’re reading this and you are having an issue with someone in your life, resove that issue as soon as possible. Sometimes we get so bent out of shape over the smallest most petty things, and we take our eyes off what is truly important in life. I know I’ve done it countless times before.
Don’t let the small (or even bigger) things keep you from everything God has for you.
Google Mini Fridge
Oct 14th
Yesterday we received a Mini Fridge from Google for getting our millionth visitor to our website through the AdWords advertising program.
I snapped a video (after work hours mind you) of the fridge with my Razor, transferred that to my laptop via Bluetooth, and then did a little amateur editing in iMovie.
The following is the “finished” product.
Google Docs and Spreadsheets
Oct 11th
Google just keeps on rolling. Today (or perhaps last night) Google released Google Docs and Spreadsheets.
Earlier this year Google aquired a company name Writely, which specialized in allowing users to edit documents (imported Word files, etc.) online. I always thought this was a great way of working. Your documents aren’t tied to a machine, and there accessible from anywhere.
Google also released on online spreadsheet program earlier this year, which allowed you to edit spreadsheets online, rather than using Excel or OpenOffice.
This appears to simply be the combination of the two into one location, plus some other features. One of the coolest features is document collaboration. You (and other Google Accounts users) can edit the same document at the same time. My wife, Danielle, and I tried this out once, and it worked really well.
So, you don’t feel like paying a bundle of money for Microsoft Office? Try Google Docs and Spreadsheets (needs a shorter name I think). Do you loathe using OpenOffice for whatever reason? Try Google Docs and Spreadsheets.
The Google Tube
Oct 9th
Apparently Google has just bougt YouTube for a cool $1.65 Billion in stock.
What does this mean for Google Video and YouTube? I’m not too sure at this point. I do know that it means that Google has purchasedly one of the most popular video sites on the internet.
I also know that it will probably mean lots of legal headaches for Google due to all the copyright infringement that takes place on YouTube. Google and YouTube both took steps today to include Sony and Warner Music Group content on both of their sites, so that helps with some of the legal issues.
This also means that Google is one step closer to ruling the world…err “organizing the world’s information and making it readily accessible.”
Mistakes
Oct 2nd
I hate making mistakes. I mean I really absolutely abhor making mistakes. However, just this morning, I was reminded of something I’ve heard my dad say before. It goes something like, “if you can’t make a mistake, you can’t make anything.”
I just turned 26 this year (scary thought), and I think I’m starting to learn more about myself, and in that process you sometimes see the parts of yourself that you’d rather not look at, but those are the parts that desperately need not only a good look through but also a good change or two.
I touched on one of those issues in my life recently – fear. This morning I was reminded of my perfectionist tendencies and the damaging effect they can have. It was something small I missed at work, but it could have made huge damage in the long run. Thankfully it was caught and taken care of.
If you ask my wife, Danielle, she’ll tell you that I hate to be wrong. And sometimes I have just a wee bit of a problem gloating in my “rightness.” I cannot stand being wrong, which I think ties into the fact that I hate making mistakes. I hate mispronouncing words, not knowing the answer to a question, etc. etc. But in being wrong, there is always room for improvement, room to learn, and room to grow and become a better person.
They say that the traits that bother you in other people are often part of your own personality. And I must say that people who always act like they’re right annoy me to no end sometimes. I hope that I don’t come off that way to other people. If I do, please slap me upside the head.
So if you have perfectionist tendencies, like me, relax. It is ok to make a mistake every now and again. It’s probably a good thing actually. It keeps you humble. It makes you sharper (or should point you that way), etc. etc.
Mistakes, if we learn from them, can be the some of the best things that ever happen to us.