Mr. Underbrink
From the grapevine I hear that my high school world history teacher is hospitalized with pancreatic cancer. I need to confirm this. A real Indiana Jones. He's an anthropologist, archaeologist, professional photographer, teacher. His other job is a photojournalist for UNESCO & NATO. He travels the world photographing ancient ruins as part of the UN's preservation efforts. He is well loved for his stories, his camel call, his love of food ("If it comes out of the sea, I'll eat it"), his self-absorbed cat, his loathing of camels, his humor, his energy, his involvement in the local community. Someone needs to record his story.

The most memorable story was his climbing in the Himalayas(?) for a better view, only to fall down the mountains and have a rock pierce through his right forearm because he did what "any photographer would do–protect my camera." He was taken care of by indigenous people who wrapped his arm in a caste and rowed him down a river to civilization. The caste form was thought long gone to the endless fascination of the physicians who examined him. The muscles of his right arm had to be rearranged and attached. He learned to write with his left hand while his right healed (which it did).

It's hard to imagine him not living life grandly and sharing a bit of that with us students, but now he may be stricken with a terminal illness. I've never gotten tired of his stories. Because he's a part of so many of our pasts a bit of our own history is maligned. (But more so I suspect mortality calls each of us and we don't want to be reminded.)

Wow, teachers can impact so many people. They definitely need more respect in this society.

Sad, sad, saaaad Americans. This video makes me want to cry. Julian Morrow Reports. Why?! Ignorant adults. Of course this is not a statistical sample but selected to humiliate Americans. Still shows a definite sample of Americans who seem to care less about the world. In the least it speaks to a void of information and or interest among Americans.

"Close, but no cigar." Sounds funny. What is that from?

Suite 101 shows how to make an em-dash hold down Alt, type 0150, release Alt and you get – instead of using --.

Unity? Among Christians
Sacrificing truth for the sake of unity is an insidious trend among the majority of evangelical Christians in the United States. Truth is not targeted directly but treated with complete disregard—it's out of thought. It meshes perfectly with the celebration of ignorance by truthiness, post-modernism, and political correctness.

This is so prominently manifested as Christians court Catholics for the sake of unity i.e. ecumenism. This happens nationally in the wake of ECT (Evangelicals & Catholics Together), locally in colleges and churches trying to boost membership without offending.
However when critics cite the discernment and counsel of the Bible, the reaction ranges from confusion to outrage. "How dare you promote division among Christians! How could you be so unloving?" they counter the critics.

The critics return, "Have you even considered what a Christian is?" Since Evangelicals and Catholics differ in defining what a Christian is, can there be substance by which they put up a united "Christian" front? An objective measure is necessary to gauge any Christian's decision. That measure is Scripture. Follow the Berean example of examining not only if words are found in the Bible but if the ideas agrees with the Bible. Christians are Christians not by their church attendance, prayer, or happy singing; but in whom they believe and put all their trust.

Without the weight of Scripture to define Christians, Christians can be and are seduced by cults calling themselves Christian such as the Mormon church.

It's cold. 9°F, windchill of -7°F. But this is only the start.

World Cup of Bakery
I recently found out there is a world cup for baking that seems to be held every 3 years (?) [last competition was in 2005, next one is 2008]. The official name of the competition is Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie. Team USA is under The Bread Bakers Guild of America. Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, Team USA won 1st prize in the 2005 World Cup! France 2nd. Japan 3rd.
In fact there is a world of baking/cooking competitions beyond the advent of Iron Chef, The Next Food Network Star, Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, Cooking Under Fire, etc. I thought Iron Chef is what inspired the professional circuits but I am mistaken. I thought until recently they were relegated to local fairs with competitions for pies, chili, ribs, and the likes.

Chicago Bears win NFC Championship!
(image from Bears homepage)

Today I visited the latest opening of Pete's Fresh Market. Pete's is for Mexican & livestock as H-Mart is to Korean & seafood. Prices are terrific and now I have two city options for cheap fruit & veggies (the other one being Stanley's Fruit & Vegetable).

The meat selection is huge! They have a super long butcher counter and many butchers on hand. I hope the prices stay cheap and the place maintains it's cleanliness.

Wow... check out Savant Syndrome. It features prodigious savants. What can I say? Genius! Absolutely amazing perceptions, memories, organizational skills, calculation, artistic expression yet often paired with "profound disability" (as Daniel Tammet noted. Tammet is unique as a high-functioning autistic prodigious savant and an acquired savant).

Saudis May Ban Letter 'X' because it resembles the cross. Is this an example of their hate for Christians? I'm not speaking of all Saudi's but the clergy.

What is with the buy-up of Internet Web 2.0 portals & social software?
eBay is buying Skype for $2.6b.
Yahoo is in discussion to buy Facebook... not far removed from Yahoo's acquisition of Flicker.
(Of course this is in the wake of Google's acquisition of YouTube.)

Correction: eBay bought Skype in 2005. Yahoo bought Facebook in 2006.

By radio I listened to the discourse between Sen. Barbara Boxer and Secretary Condoleezza Rice and honestly Boxer was hostile, attacking, and unhelpful towards addressing the Iraq war.

In reference to the plan to increase U.S. troop levels in Iraq, Boxer jabbed,

"Who pays the price? I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old, and my grandchild is too young. You're not going to pay a price, as I understand it, within immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families."

Rice responded,

"I visit them. I know what they're going through. I talk to their families. I see it. I could never and I can never do anything to replace any of those lost men and women in uniform, or the diplomats, some of whom ..."

Cutting Rice off Boxer said,

"Madam Secretary, please. I know you feel terrible about it. That's not the point. I was making the case as to who pays the price for your decisions."

So politically motivated and lacking in professionalism or respect.

Later Boxer defended herself for "speaking truth to power" and trying "to draw us together, and not apart." It was anything but drawing together. Boxer's purpose was to provoke.

And Condi later said, "I thought it was okay to be single. I thought it was okay to not have children, and I thought you could still make good decisions on behalf of the country if you were single and didn't have children."

Come on Boxer, is the 1st 100 hrs of Democrats in Congressional power so precious as to foment bad blood? Don't make everyone's job harder.

I'm excited about this new year... must have resolve against complacency. Fight mediocrity — execute, execute.

Funny, through the grapevine, Wong Fu Productions. It's inspiring to see someone find and pursue what he truly loves doing.

Further browsing on the Apple website shows a new Airport with 802.11 n technology. First time I heard about n. I'm getting behind on the technology.

Cingular is Apple's exclusive carrier for the iPhone... must be Cingular's insistence on being exclusive (Has Cingular always been a unit of AT&T?). Other partners are Yahoo (mail, search) & Google (maps). Not surprisingly, Microsoft is missing from the party. That may smart given the layout of business land -- where is the document composition? Will I be able to install PDA software?

We will see by June 2007.

And what of this name iPhone... will it stick with Cisco's Linksys VOIP? Discussions are under way.

Update on Apple iPhone- it uses quad-band GSM on Cingular network, has Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g.

iPhone
The rumors were right. Apple confirms the existence of the iPhone at Macworld San Francisco. It is a smartphone: plays music & movies, displays photos; runs OS X - e-mailing, web browsing. It has a 2 MP camera. It has a patented touch screen that supposedly ignores unintended touch. I want to try this thing out.

Speculation gives way to more questions. Is the interface just as elegant? How much will it cost? When does it ship? It has headphone jack but does it have Bluetooth? Does it actually use cubic zirconium & ceramic materials? Who is the service carrier...Cingular (like the Motorola ROKR)? Will it self-compete with iPods sales as some predict? Will it survive the slew of phones competing out there?
Was timing strategy good for the unveiling, given the simultaneous CES conference going on in Las Vegas and all the hype leading up to this conference? Given the alternative of holding off there would have been a lot of disappointment. For Apple's sake it may overshadow the Apple TV, now released.

This new touchscreen makes me wonder if this is the future of iPods: retirement of the clickwheel?

I finally saw Crash. Great job, Michael Pena, for a powerful performance - the setup was great and he was deeper than the remaining cast of plot movers. It doesn't live up to the hype but there's something about the writing of Crash that just makes it work.

Saw Millions. Creative and well done except for one aspect. Imaginary"saints" visit the boy throughout the film. These saints have an irreverent bent that's unconvincingly force-juxtaposed on a boy with pure motives. (Or perhaps dead British have strange humor or irreverent bent.)