facebook

I watched the movie "The Social Network" on the plane back from Taiwan, then saw Mark Zuckerberg's picture on one of the Time magazine issues that arrived while I was away, with the heading "Person of the Year" on it. So, Mark Zuckerberg is the man, and his Facebook revolution the talk of town nowadays, it seems.

Just how big is Facebook today, here are a few tidbits: With 550 million users, it would be the world's 3rd largest nation if it were one, only behind China and India; More people visit Facebook website daily than any other; More and more commercial products get their traffic referral through Facebook than through search engines such as Google or Yahoo... Another interesting statistics is that the fastest growing segment of Facebook users comes from women over 55, and women outnumber men in every age category of Facebook users. Some plausible explanations for such phenomena are women are by nature more social than men and they have found out online social network to be a safe and hassle free environment to conduct such activities; and some "moms" may be tempted to join the network for the possibility of "befriending" their children online when the offline contacts are diminishing.

Like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg is a Harvard dropout. (And he pleged to give away at least half of his wealth, estimated to be $6.9 billion today, over the course of his life time, also following Gates' example). Contrary to what's portrayed in the movie, Mark is not a nerdy, socially awkward young man who uses his extraordinary programming gift to acquire girls, money, and party invitations. In reality, he is sociable and well liked by his staff and partners, and already has a live-in Chinese girl friend who is now a 3rd year med student at UC San Francisco--they met at Harvard 7 years ago, before Mark started Facebook. His mother, a psychiatrist herself, attributes what she calls Mark's "sensitivity" to the fact that he was raised with three sisters. Mark himself majored in both Computer Science and Psychology in college. "For me, computers were always just a way to build good stuff, not like an end in itself." Whereas earlier entrepreneurs looked at the Internet and saw a network of computers, Zuckerberg saw a network of people.

The Internet was built in the 1960's with a decentralized artchitecture that engenders the anarchistic electronic no-man's land nature that allows users to take anonymous or pseudo identities to behave what they normally woudn't in real life--witness the proliferation of online pornographers, hatemongers, scammers, hackers, virus writers, etc. Early social networks like Friendster and Myspace carry on such "origin sin" by allowing malleable and playful identities in their communities as well. But Facebook was and is different. "We're trying to map out what exists in the world," Mark says. "In the world, there's trust. I think as humans we 'parse' the world through the people and relationships we have around us, so at its core, what we are trying to do is map out all of those trust relationships which are colloquially called 'friendships'."

Zuckerberg's vision is that after the Facebookization of the Web, you're no longer canvasing the Web on your own: Wherever you go online, you'll see your friends. On Amazon, you might see your friends' reviews. On YouTube, you might see what your friends watched or see their comments first. Those reviews and comments will be meaningful because you know who wrote them and what your relationship to those authors is. They have a social context. "It's a shift from the wisdom of crowds to the wisdom of friends," says Sandberg, COO of Facebook. Or from "words of mouth" to "words of friends' mouth"--"It doesn't matter if 100,000 people like x. If the three people closest to you like y, you want to see y."

Not that long ago, a post-Google Web was unimaginable, but the time may be near. With the rate it's growing, it's not unimaginable in the foreseeable future every Internet user may have a Facebook account. And the difference between a Facebook user and a Google user? While Google can only guess who its user is and what he/she is insterested in, based on their search history, Facebook knows exactly who they are and what they are interested in, because they told it themselves. In the world of targeted advertising, Facebook has a high-powered sniper rifle, so to speak, and can thus claim more bounty dollars from their advertisers. Now does anyone recall the news over 3 years ago that Google tried to buy off Facebook and was flatout rejected?

So is Facebook the best thing ever happened to Internet? Not everyone agrees. Though it is reinvigorating to know people prefer revealing their authentic selves and sharing socially online than hiding and ranting/shouting uncivil-like behind the Internet veil, the profile we provide in the cyber world is in many ways short of full and complete disclosure of ourselves, and the Internet infrastructure is lacking and even inhibiting in terms of conveying true intimacy that is needed in true friendship that can only be accomplished via real life contacts. If we run our social life fully online, we must be aware of the distortion it may create and the risk of becoming "a genie living within a bottle," where Facebook is the bottle, and we the genie. 

Some more serious criticism on Facebook and its modern day ilks such as Twitter focuses on the new way of communication these social media promote--texting, instant messaging, and that "messages have to be seamless, informal, immediate, personal, simple, minimal and short" philosophy proclaimed by Mark Zuckerberg. As journalist/scholar Neal Gabler says in a recent LA Times opinion article: "The more we text and Twitter and 'friend,' ... the less likely we are to have the habit of mind or the means of expressing ourselves in interesting and complex ways." He also refers to social theorist Marshall McLuhan's book "The Gutenberg Galaxy," in which it posits that the "uniformity, immutability, rigidity, logic" of the print press Gutenberg invented in the 15th century that helped spread literacy throughout Europe also led to the remolding of the human mind, thus the rise of rationalism and of the scientific method. "In facilitating reason, print also facilitated complex ideas," he asserts, and "Print made us think better or, at least, with greater discipline," while "seamless, informal, personal, short...communications lack substances and drive out significant ones." His verdict: "Gutenberg's Revolution left us with a world that was intellectually rich, while Zuckerberg's portends one that is all thumbs and no brains."

That's a bit harsh, don't you think?

Do you Facebook? 

* Do you know: The color scheme of the Facebook logo is blue and white because Zuckerberg is red-green color-blind: there are a lot of colors he can't see, but blue he can see.

operation OONI

I've been thinking about remodeling my study/home office for a while--since last year, in fact. I've checked new office furniture online and at local stores, invited some home office/closet specialist to measure and estimate, and thought about how to get rid of all the clunky old desk and chairs, bookcases and file cabinets, computer and phones and accessories... But procrastination combined with "do-you-really-want-to-go-thru-such-trouble" second-thinking kept me from acting.

I finally decided to semi-force myself into the "Move-It!" mode the other day: I took a picture of the two main items I wanted to retire--the desk and file cabinet--and put them on Craigslist.com for sale for a meager $40. Within the next two days I got 4 or 5 takers. One woman (most Craigslist shoppers are women, I have found out) offered to come by, as well as a guy who said he lived in the same town and could pick up the furniture that same day. Having been confirmed that I could get rid of my old furniture with relative ease, I wanted to see if I could move more of them out faster than I originally planned. So when the woman came to inspect the furniture and said she would take them (with the help of her son moving), I asked if she'd like to take some other stuff I have--a printer stand, another file cabinet, two bookcases--as well. She declined, so I told her I'll hold the desk and file cabinet for her unless I found someone who would take not only the desk and file cabinet but also my other stuff. On that same afternoon, when the other guy came over to inspect the desk and file cabinet and said he wanted them, I showed him the other furniture and allured him with a low price, and he said he would take them too. So fortunately for me and unfortunately for the woman, I not only sold the desk and file cabinet, but all the other furniture to the guy (Mike) for a total sum of $80. He wanted to haul them all away that day, but I told him he'll have to wait until I get my new furniture, which will be sometime next week. He agreed but asked me to draft a simple purchasing agreement to secure the deal. I did and he gave me $40 for deposit and I promised to call him as soon as I have my new furniture in.

I then went online and ordered a set of new furniture that I had long researched and decided on from Staples, a collection of an L-shaped desk, a hutch, one credenza, one lateral file cabinet, and one bookcase, for a total of around $1400, estimated to arrive the next Tuesday.

Now I needed to hire someone to assemble them--Living in America means some general assembly skill is required of any normal functioning body and I had done my share of assembling with numerous furniture pieces and exercise equipment before, but to do all 5 pieces at one time, I'd rather put my money in good use and delegate it to someone who would excel on that. So I called Staples furniture assembly hotline for quote. They told me for them to send someone to my home to assemble all those 5 pieces will cost me $375 plus tax, to the tune of around $400.

That's a bit hefty to me. So I went online to Craigslist again. Now I have sold quite some stuff through Craigslist throughout the years (indoor/outdoor furniture, barbeque grill, etc.), but have never used any of the self-advertising services there. I went to the web site and looked under the Services section, clicked on the Household category, and did a keyword search for "assembly." Lo and behold, there did come up a few advertisements offering furniture assembling service. I picked a couple and sent them email describing what I needed and asked for quote.

The next day I got a reply from a guy saying he can assemble all 5 pieces for $100.

Now I needed to shop for hardwood floor, to replace my 20+-year-old carpet in the room. There are hardwood floor sales flyers and ads every week from/on LA Times. I picked a couple of them to visit on Saturday, almost made my decision at the second store except I couldn't make up my mind on the wood selection. On Sunday I visited another store, and with more choices there and better knowledge than I had a day ago, and because I liked the pleasant saleswoman there better than the pushy salesman I met the day before, I cut a deal with her and she came over Monday to do the measurement and I paid the deposit for the work scheduled to be done later that week.

The new furniture did arrive on Tuesday as promised--though with one piece missing that was redelivered Wednesday. So I called Mike to come over to pick up the old furniture Wednesday. He came in the afternoon with a guy helper. Within an hour, they skillfully disassembled the old furniture, moved them downstairs piece by piece, heaved them into their two pick-up trucks, without dropping, hitting, or a scratching on the wall. No wonder--In my chatting with him afterwards I found out they are in security alarm installation business and are expanding to set up a new office around here. He paid me the remaining $40 and I threw in (got rid of) a fullback leather chair to him for free.

Now I had a fully empty office room to myself (except for those file folders and wires and cables and miscellaneous accessories in boxes and bags laying on the floor). My original plan was to have the wood floor installed first, to take advantage of the obstruction free situation, then assemble and install the new furniture on the new floor. However, the earliest the flooring company could have their workers come over was Friday morning. So a change of plan was in order. I emailed/called the Craigslist guy to come in Thursday to install the new furniture. He (Doug) showed up on time at 9 AM, a handsome, well built 30 something white guy. I showed him those boxes of furniture laying on the downstair floor, and he immediately got on to work, non-stop, not even for a lunch break, for the rest of the day, untill 7PM, finishing up only 4 pieces of the furniture, though. Poor guy, he had grossly under-estimated the job, I thought to myself while working at my computer--thanks to wireless technology, I was able to move my laptop to the other room and continued working from there without disruption--while he's busy tightening up nuts and bolts, legs and panels, rails and drawers, all the fun pieces of furniture together. I chatted with him later, "This is more than what you think would take (he originally told me it would take him about 3 or 4 hours to finish the job), right?" He seemed a bit embarrassed, but shrugged and said, "A deal is a deal." I liked the honesty and the way he worked, so I said I'll give him $150 instead of $100. He wanted to continue into the night to finish the job, but I told him he'd better come back the next day as we needed to go out for a dinner party that night.

The next day, Friday morning, the floor installers did come on time at 9 AM. They were two Mexican guys, one 30-ish, the other 20-ish. The 30-something seemed to be the lead man and spoke some English. After verifying the order and the physical dimensions, the 30-something left and the 20-something started working. Like yesterday with the furniture installman, I continued to work in the next room while letting him do his at the office room. About half an hour into his work, though, I started hearing him speaking and laughing into his mobile phone, pretty hilariously at times, perhaps having a fun time with his girl friend, I could only guess, because it's all in Spanish. I thought it would let up soon, but instead it kept going on and on, with even more hilarious laughters, interspersed with the vehement banging of his hammer on my floor. I began to worry such phone distraction may affect his work quality and prolong the job--I had scheduled Doug to come in that afternoon to finish the furniture installation. So I went over and did a soft check on him: "Could you tell me when you think you can finish the job today?" I smiled and asked. He was caught a bit surprised by my intrusion, mobile phone still at hand, and seemed genuinely having difficulty understanding my English. After figuring out what I said, he told me in broken English that it should be completed no later than 2 PM that day.

It actually took him till 3 PM to finish the job. But granted this was a smart, capable young man I had here. I was happy with what I saw: neat, elegant looking wood floor just as I imagine it would be. So I gladly paid off the remaining balance and wrote down "Great job!" on the survey paper they were required to ask the customers to fill out at the end of the job.

Doug appeared on time again at 3 PM to start assembling the last and biggest piece of the furniture, the L-shaped desk. Again it took him well into the evening to finish it, and I needed to help him at the end to heave the hutch onto the desk, as well as move the finished furniture around to their right places. I checked the drawers, cabinets, doors, they moved smoothly, aligned perfectly, and no scraches, no dents. This was really a hefty and delicate job, requiring both muscle and brains. I was glad I didn't try to do it myself.

I ended up giving him $180 for the job, the extra $30 in the name of asking him a favor of hauling those empty shipping boxes and debris away for me. He glady accepted the money and diligently pulled and loaded the trash onto his jeep/SUV while Linda and I drove away to another dinner meeting under the sunset...

Operation OONI (Old-furniture Out, New-furniture In) all done, within one week!


PS #1: It just happened that our small group's recent discussion touched on the subject of how the US economy is consumer driven and what would be considered "good" consumption and what not, etc. Well, a modest expense of around $3000 to upgrade a 24-year-old home office that helped create direct jobs for two workers ought not be considered too bad a consumption in this economy, I don't think :) The only little quirky regret I have, though, has to do with a thought I had while thinking about hiring someone to do the furniture assembling: How about that fine young man of my cross-street neighbor's that I only had occasional short chats with through the years. What if I asked him to come over and help me put the furniture together so we can spend time together chatting and working and get to know each other better, and then I give him $200 for the help to help him out a bit on school expenses, his remote control electronics hobby, etc.?

I struck down that idea because deep down in my mind I knew this won't work if my goal is to have the new furniture assembled the fastest and most professional way possible, which unfortunately is what I was after. It seems that in this busy busy world we live in today, we/I value quick, "professional" result over slow, "unprofessional" process, even though that process itself might potentially be a meaningful one.

PS #2: If you have been reading through this borderline over-sharing piece up this point, I guess you probably won't mind seeing some pictures of this new office I've been blasting about, so here they are:

 

rick's tweets iii

Sharing some of Pastor Rick's "tweets of wit" with you:

Anytime you're tempted to criticize your spouse's judgment, remember they picked you!

Leaders who laugh, LAST! It flushes stress from your soul.You'll have plenty of material if you laugh at yourself & troubles.

Pride keeps us from listening. Not listening keeps us ignorant. Ignorance keeps us prideful. This cycle hardens the attitudes.

You can't know God thru intellect alone because your brain isn't big enough. But even a child can know him through love.

Great people make others feel great. Small people make others feel small.

I often find that my attitude, like a diaper, requires changing or I stink up the place.

When you take a personal strength for granted, it becomes a weakness without you realizing it.

Whatever sin you're quickest to judge & criticize in others reveals what you secretly hate most about yourself. Rom 2:1-6

Forgetting yourself isnt the final step of love but the first. See 1 Cor 10:24 

I've noticed that before marriage opposites attract but after marrying opposites attack! What was cute becomes annoying.

No one counterfeits $3 bills since they don’t exist. Phony miracles, churches, and believers indicate the genuine is out there.

Jesus began his Church as a FAMILY. It changed to an institution in Rome, a political view in Europe, and a business in America.

FREEDOM is not the absence of limit. It is the POWER God graciously offers you to say YES to what’s right & NO to wrong.

You can IMPRESS people from a distance but can only IMPACT them up close. That requires letting people see your weakness too.

You can learn from anyone--even hypocrites! "So practice and obey what they say but don't follow their example" Matt 23:3

You don’t grow in humility by trying to be humble. Just shift your focus off yourself & on to God's greatness & other's needs.

Until you passionately feel your own continuous need for God's Grace, you'll never convince anyone else they need it.

What right do I have to be angry at others who resist change when there are changes needed in me that I refuse to make?

NEVER interpret God's Word by your experience or logic. ALWAYS interpret your experiences by God's infallible Revelation.  

Many truths in the Bible I only understand by obeying them in faith. Then later, looking back, I can see God's reasons.

Far more will defend the Gospel than will SHARE it, because sharing it takes COURAGEOUS LOVE. Defending just takes knowledge.

Believing the truths of salvation without daily friendship with Jesus is like marriage without intimacy. Possible but not enjoyable.

The Gospel is distorted when REDUCED to a system of beliefs, set of practices, schedule of activities or show of emotions.  

It takes no courage to preach the truth to those already convinced. Courage is loving your enemies so they might know Christ.

Anytime doctrine & duty replace loving Jesus you’ll lose your joy. "I don't want your sacrifices-I want your LOVE!” Hosea 6:6

You can't love people if you're always in your study (or behind a pulpit). Walk with your people today. Listen. Hug. Pray.  

When you expect others to meet needs in your life only God can meet, it's unfair to them & insures disappointment in you.

It's human nature to lie to ourselves. What are you pretending isn't a problem in you? The truth sets you free but it takes courage.

stuxnet

This is not your grand-pa's computer virus.

Dubbed "Stuxnet," it was discovered in June 2010 by a Belarus-based security company. Unlike ordinary computer virus that hacks consumer PCs or commercial servers, it is written specifically to attack the control of industrial systems made by German electronics conglomerate Siemens that are used in many factory floors, chemical plants, oil refineries, pipelines, and nuclear power plants. Though these industrial control systems themselves don't run on PC, Mac, or Linux operating system, those PCs that supervise them do run Windows. Stuxnet broke into these PCs, found the supervisory control and data acquisition software (SCADA), overrode the execution code with its own malicious one, and caused valves to open, alarms to turn off, safety temperature levels to reset, etc., therefore damaging/sabotaging the targeted operations.

Stuxnet virus had been found mostly in Iran (58.8%), Indonesia (18.2%), India (8.3%), US (1.6%), according to the geotagging of the IP addresses of Stuxnet-infected computers. As a matter of fact, Iran's delay of completion of its Bushehr nuclear power plant was first suspected by the West then confirmed by the Iranian government the result of Stuxnet virus infections. Also, a power glitch in July in the solar panels of India's INSAT-4B satellite causing it to lose half of its transpnding capacity was suspected to be the work of Stuxnet. Both the Iranian power plant and the Indian satellite use Siemens industrial control systems.

Who's behind such an unusual virus? No one knows. But all experts agree a computer virus (or worm) like this requires a broad spectrum of skills and resources to develop and test and spread, and a nation state is the most likely entity with such capacity.

Israeli government has been denying it has anything to do with the Stuxnet virus. But a recent finding of the name referenced by the software (Stuxnet comprises of a 600-kilobyte file and it has not yet been fully analysed) made an interesting twist toward hinting the Jewish state's possible involvement with the virus, with a Biblical clue:

The word in contention is "Myrtus” — which can be read as an allusion to Esther, or the Book of Esther, the Old Testament tale in which the Jews pre-empt a Persian plot to destroy them. If you're wondering how you get Myrtus from Esther ... Esther's original Hebrew name was Hadassah, meaning Myrtle (Myrtus). The project string “b:\myrtus\src\objfre_w2k_x86\i386\guava.pdb” appears in one of Stuxnet's drivers. The guava fruit is part of the Myrtus plant family.

Another nation state named by some as possible origin of Stuxnet is China, for the simple fact that the Chinese government indirectly owns a major share of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co., which benefited greatly when India's INSAT-4B satellite lost most of its serving capacity and Indian statellite TV service providers had to redirect their customers' statellite dishes toward ASIASAT-5, a Chinese satellite owned and operated by Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co.

No matter who's behind it, Stuxnet is a ground breaking virus not only for its sophistication and scale of operation, but the fact that it is the first computer virus that threatens to cause physical harm through manipulation of infrastructure entities. "Giving an attacker control of industrial systems like a dam, a sewage plant or a power station is extremely unusual and makes this a serious threat with huge real world implications," says Patrick Fitzgerald, senior threat intelligence officer with Symantec. "It has changed everything."

Not necessarily for the good, unfortunately.

reunion NTU1980

I was "drafted" to help organize a 30-year college reunion event about a year ago.

Right at our first committee meeting, we decided to have a multiple-day mini cruise instead of the traditional one-day hotel banquet that's been done by many before us for such an event, as we thought a cruise trip would be more fun and offer more time and better setting for alumni to enjoy.

After one year of planning (cruise selection/negotiating, flyer/registration/website design, promoting, programming..) and partying (in the name of committee meetings), about 90 alumni and their family and friends from all over the US and Taiwan gathered and boarded the Carnival Paradise cruiseliner in Long Beach for a 3-day-2-night trip to Ensenada, Mexico starting last Friday afternoon.

The ship set sail almost right after all 2000+ guests had checked in while we sat and enjoyed our first luscious dinner on board, sensing no ship movement at all if not for the departing shoreline and the setting sun against the ocean waves we saw through the panoramic window pane..

It had arrived and "parked" at Ensenada pier the next moring when we woke up. It's a free off-board excursion day for everyone. After taking some group pictures in front of the cruise ship--an army of orange polo shirt (a reunion souvenir everyone got at the boarding) that made up a most conspicuous group among all cruise attendees, we set out to downtown Ensenada, and then decided to take a tour to the "Blow Hole" scenery point for the excursion.

It took us about an hour to arrive at Blow Hole. It is a seaside hill spot where as the ocean tide surges in, the water shoots up a spectacular splash against the cliff. After taking some pictures and drinking a whole ball of coconut juice of the most natural kind from a street vendor, we headed back to Ensenada downtown and returned to the cruise ship for our reunion program of the day.

It was a session of remembering the old and discovering the new--seeing a collection of old campus pictures, group pictures, and yearbook photos makes you marvel how young and handsome we looked 30 years ago (and of course the girls all look as beautiful today as 30 years ago), and how so many old campus buildings and much scenery had been replaced and transformed by new ones throughout the years.

I checked out the gym room after the reunion program and was pleasantly surprised by the ample and quality exercise equipment it had there. So I took advantage of it and did a 40 minute bike ride that burned off 320 calories, getting all ready for the coming big meal dinner.

Besides the usual high grade entrees (lobster tail and shrimps is what I ordered this time), it's a formal dressing night too. So I slung on the suit I brought to look my best, took some pictures with my ever more beautiful wife, as well as all the other perfect looking ladies and gentlemen at and around our table, and enjoyed the wining and dining and happy conversations with my college pals and their family through a 2-hour dinner course.

After dinner, we went to one of the nightly shows presented by the cruiseline. It was 50 minutes of great dancing and singing, energetic, ebullient fun and enjoyment through and through. Probably inspired by it, many of us went to the disco lounge after the show and danced like those 20 something around us for over two hours, till midnight. I thought I might have triggered my old foot injury again when I lay down on my bed and felt the sore of my both feet..

Luckily I woke up the next moring feeling pretty darn good, and went for an early breakfast buffet while my wife was still at sleep, met a couple of reunioners and had a good chat with them, took a stroll on the deck and found a great jogging runway and a nice mini golf course on the very top deck, and with the early morning sunshine and the mountainous coast in the background, it probably made for the best looking outdoor scene of the whole cruise I'll say. I then went back to the cabin to pick up my wife and up to the cafeteria for another, lighter session of breakfast again, and a pleasant chat with another group of friendly reunioners.

The second session of our reunion program started right after lunch that day. By now we all knew each other better through two days of dining, chatting, outing, or even just passing each other by on ship, and besides the usual old-song karaoke singing, the program hostess threw some interesting games and quizzes at us. For example: who among us has the youngest kid right now (the winner was a girl from the History department with a 12-year-old); who's moved most times so far (winner: a Econ dept. graduate turned professional gambler who had been to casinos over 58 different countries). I was in particular touched by a "testimonial" by a girl from History department: Her family moved so often when she was growing up she learned to avoid becoming part of a group for fear of losing friendships she just established when she would have to move again. She was then very touched and thrilled when one of her old calssmates, a committed member of ours, went through all the trouble to locate and invite her to the reunion, that made her feel she's part of some permanent group again, now and forever.

After the reunion program, we moved on to the deck area to continue chatting and joking around and taking some pictures. Then it's dinner time again, more dining and wining and happy talking, and then another great show of the night, and then some went dancing, while others went shopping, or watching other night shows..

Then when we woke up the next morning, it's Monday back in Long Beach again. It's just a short weekend getaway, after all, but funnily it felt like coming back from a long vacation, having met so many people and done so many things in such a short time..

No doubt we have pulled off a successful reunion event this time, as I can see everyone enjoy it whole-heartedly at the end. A cruise does offer great setting for people to mix and mingle aplenty as they wish, with not only old friends, but new ones as well.

And I have to tip my hat to the girl members of our committee, for the tremendous passion and devotion they show to the reunion cause and their superb people skills. We guys tend to be grand scheme planners and talkers, but these girls are the real hardy doers, and the sweet gel that tie all things and people together. I am humbled by these girl powers I saw!

And we all need reunion from time to time--even though I sat with a couple of my college classmates who I have occasional contacts with throughout the years here in Southern California so I thought I knew them relatively well, I still found out a lot more things about them and their family that I didn't know that well before, and plenty of interesting new subjects to talk about too, as I spent 3 long dinners with them throughout the cruise, not to mention meeting and getting to know many new friends with interesting backgrounds and life experiences from all over.

I am glad I got drafted to help and participate in the reunion. 

my utmost for his highest

"My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers is my favorite daily devotional book. I must have gone through it 3 or 4 times by now, but still find it intriguing and inspiring every morning. Some passages to share with you...

*     *     *    *    *    *     *    *    *    *    *    *    * 

Have you ever sought God with your whole heart, or have you simply given Him a feeble cry after some emotionally painful experience?

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God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength. If there is no strain, there will be no strength.

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Choosing to suffer means that there must be something wrong with you, but choosing God’s will— even if it means you will suffer— is something very different. No normal, healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.

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We have the idea that we can dedicate our gifts to God. However, you cannot dedicate what is not yours. There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God, and that is your right to yourself (see Romans 12:1)... Never try to make your experience a principle for others, but allow God to be as creative and original with others as He is with you.

*     *     *                                                     

The spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, just uncertain of what He is going to do next. If our certainty is only in our beliefs, we develop a sense of self-righteousness, become overly critical, and are limited by the view that our beliefs are complete and settled. But when we have the right relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Jesus said, ". . . believe also in Me" (John 14:1), not, "Believe certain things about Me". 

*     *     *                                                  

Jesus Christ was always consistent in His relationship to God, and a Christian must be consistent in his relationship to the life of the Son of God in him, not consistent to strict, unyielding doctrines. People pour themselves into their own doctrines, and God has to blast them out of their preconceived ideas before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ.

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While being tested, we want to use prayer and Bible reading for the purpose of finding a quiet retreat. We use God only for the sake of getting peace and joy. We seek only our enjoyment of Jesus Christ, not a true realization of Him. This is the first step in the wrong direction. All these things we are seeking are simply effects, and yet we try to make them causes.

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Simple active work and spiritual activity are not the same thing. Active work can actually be the counterfeit of spiritual activity. The real danger in spiritual laziness is that we do not want to be stirred up— all we want to hear about is a spiritual retirement from the world. Yet Jesus Christ never encourages the idea of retirement— He says, “Go and tell My brethren . . .” (Matthew 28:10).

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If we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ...  Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter.

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What is my vision of God’s purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish— His purpose is the process itself.

smart you

Can you read this

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! 

  

What does this picture look to you

Physiological illusions, such as the after-images following bright lights or adapting stimuli of prolonged alternating patterns are the effects on the eyes or brain caused by a prolonged stimulation of a specific type, such as brightness, tilt, color, movement … etc. The above is just one example, the horizontal lines look tilted a little bit upwards or downwards, but in reality they're straight.

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Now I know my brain is Aleck smart and manipulably dumb!!