In the light of the cartoons depicting Mohammed and all the hubbub, I have done some thinking. The Indonesian government spokesman said: “Freedom of expression cannot justify indignity toward a religion” (The Jakarta Post, Feb. 4). I have also heard the phrase that the freedom of speech should be tempered with responsibility. I believe this but in a totally different way. You are responsible for your sppech and expression. Let me expound further.If I had been the author of the cartoons, I would have been responsible for the fact that doing the cartoons communicated my lack of respect for Islam. Christian musicians realize that they are saying that they belive in Christ and the message behind their music. Unfortunately, Hollywood doesn’t appear to always believe in standing behind their own expression. While Michael Moore believed in the message of Farenheit 911 his actions don’t show it. If I believe the nation I lived in was so lacking in morals, traitorous to its own people I would have to leave. Why live in a nation led by people you hate(and a populous who supports them) and not leave when you have that choice.
Now there is a Turkish movie called Valley of the Wolves(trans)with some American actors parttaking in this anti-American propaganda. Here is an abrisged description from the Telegraph.

Valley of the Wolves, by the Turkish director Serdan Akar, shows crazed American GIs massacring innocent guests at a wedding party and scenes in which a Jewish surgeon removes organs from Iraqi prisoners in a style reminiscent of the Nazi death camp doctor Joseph Mengele.

Now I do not have a problem with propaganda that I don’t agree with(sticks and stones make break my bones but cartoons and movies will never hurt me) but I don’t want those actors who participated to come home. Taken from GOP Vixen:

In addition to Billy Zane, who played the dissed boyfriend in “Titanic,” the film stars former star Gary Busey as that evil doctor, frequent TV and bit actor Spencer Garrett as the journalist, and Huntington Beach native and “ultimate fighter” Tito Ortiz as a lieutenant. Makeup and hair was done by Lynda Armstrong, who has worked on many films including “Troy” and “Die Another Day.” Special effects coordinator was Mark Meddings, a Brit who also did “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Beyond Borders.”

If they believe in the message of this film, why do they wish to live in the US? Say what ever you want but you must live up to what you say. Now we all say things that we don’t mean but them you need to apologize and admit it. If not, live in Turkey.

I have seen information on Jewish artist Matisyahu on 2 different blogs that I read and I had to finally check it out. I first saw this on Yonah Wolf’s Confessions of an Orothodox Dad and I became curious. I didn’t actually do anything until I saw it on Ethos. So I cruised over to Matisyahu’s homepage and I have to say that I liked what I heard. I watched the new Youth video and it was positive and of good musical quality.
And here is the cd

Now you must remember I am a conservative that likes good wholesome rap and that is in small quantity. I also will be on the lookout for this and other artists being put out by JDub Records. I love this description of the type of artists they are looking to sign:

JDub is always looking for new artists and new music. Whether you are religious or secular, Jewish or non, if you consider your music to be Jewish or Jewishly influenced, we want to hear it!

I am sure that I have confused some of the readers who are out there and don’t know me personally. I will explain my Jewish fascination in a later post. But, I do believe the Church on whole might want to get behind music like this. It isn’t Christian but it is based on our core values(that is where we got them;). This music overall promotes a positive message and movement.

My last word…It isn’t TobyMac but it is pretty good.

PS. For more good rap/hiphop check out , it is a favorite in the NerdFamily!

Here is the ultimate touch for a female Tech Geek. It is an earring for your earphone. The beauty of this is that your earring won’t get tangled in the earphone cord. This is being produced by a company in Japan so I figure it won’t be that long before we see them here in the States.See them here but the site isn’t in english.
(via BoingBoing)

How many people have had an infant just cry out of frustration? How many of us have wanted to cry because we have no idea what the 1 year old we are with(ours or some one else’s)? Well, we deal with this by using sign language. As many of you know, the NerdFamily house is populated by many small people. We have previously taught our 2 older children sign and now we are starting with our 3rd. Basically, we start showing the baby signs about the time you introduce food(on our case 6 months). Usually it on;y takes a couple months before the baby starts signing back. (FYI, every kid is different so it could take longer with some. Hang in there it is worth it) This helps avoid the frustration usually around meals. According to some studies sited in articles the average child starts saying single words about 13 months, where as, signing can start at 8 months.
I have been asked if my kids won’t speak, can’t understand language, etc. I speak the word while I sign and after they learn you don’t have to sign any more. My children all have spoke very young but they also started to speak in sentences because they sign in simple sentences. At first they only consist of a noun and a please or thank you then they grow from there. My NerdPie(2 yrs) uses him and her and uses correct tenses of verbs(for the most part). At 4 the NerdBug is an amazing conversationalist and both of them have the logic to back it up.

Now that I have proven how wonderful signing with you kids is, let us talk a little about logistics. If you teach a 1 year old sign and never do it again, they will probably forget. If you have multiple children, your older children can retain it and have their 2nd language. Given this, some people teach a “baby sign” that is not a language. The NerdDad and I primarily teach American Sign Language(ASL). When I say primarily I mean that sometimes I will substitue a simple sign for a more complex one but for the most part I use ASL. Recently NerdDad found this great website put out by Michigan State that is actually an ASL Browser. It has a great index of signs and it includes the motion involved. So I hope this encourages some of the many parents of young children out there.

It has been discussed in many places how the DNA tests on the American Indians has shaken many people’s beliefs in Mormonism(aka the Church of Latter Day Saints). After reading an article from the LA Times posted on Ethos I decided to comment. I am curious to see the true effect that this holds for both the structure of the Mormon Church and for its attenders. But I get ahead of myself. Let me go over some foundation to this whole discussion.

The Book of Mormon was based on, the supposed, history of the American Indians which were the descendants of the “Lost Tribes of Israel”.

After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians” (Introduction to the Book of Mormon – every English edition since 1981).

In addition to this being the premise of the religion, it is also the premise of some of their missionary work. In an article from the Salt Lake City Messenger, the author quote the Book or Mormon,

The Book of Mormon prophesies that the day would come when the record of the Nephites and Lamanites would be given into the hands of the Gentiles, who will then perform missionary work among Lehi’s descendants:

And now, I [Nephi] would prophesy somewhat more concerning the Jews and the Gentiles. For after the book of which I have spoken shall come forth, and be written unto the Gentiles, . . . there shall be many which shall believe the words which are written; and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant of our seed.

And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of the Jews (2 Nephi 30:3-4).

The recent DNA tests are proof that the Native Americans are decendant from people originally from Asia and not the Middle East(ie not Jewish). And now you can start to see some problems that the church is facing. I admit that I have always believed that this is a fake religion and I love it when science can back that up. So will this lead to a “new intepretation” of the Book of Mormon? If so it may already be to late in South America. Many of the Peruvian Mormons are speaking about the fact that their identity was tied into this belief of being descendants of Israel. Their belief in Mormomism appears to be obliterated.

The LDS Church are already putting out counter literature. One of their claims is doubting the DNA Science. I think that this will be a beginning to the demise of the Mormon Church and I hope that it will be!

NerdDad Mentioned this to me over lunch and so I did a little research. Yahoo is banning all nicknames that contain allah. This also effects st least one of their partners, Verizon. I found out more details over at dommynicius’ weird news

Nor will Yahoo! accept yahoo, osama or binladen. But it will accept god, messiah, jesus, jehova, buddah, satan and both priest and pedophile.

One of the reasons this is so note worthy in the NerdFamily house is because our church Worship Leader and one of our favorite bloggers is Pat Callahan of Two Blonde Boys. I don’t know if Pat is aware of his lack of freedom to use his own last name on Yahoo. This is a crazy world…

If you haven’t heard Bono(yes of U2) spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast. If you haven’t read it yet go here. I find all of this very interesting. I hear that Bono will also be speaking at some other Christian events. While I am not completely sure that Bono has the best plan I definately agree with his sentiment that the church needs to be helping the poor and not just our own. The best analysis I have found is not from a political analyst but Shaun Groves

There’s a little, maybe a lot, of debating and pontificating about whether Bono is a Christian by our definition these days. Is he too ecumenical? Is he too Catholic? Too ambiguous? Paul said belief crosses us over from death to life – not language or piety. And John tells us the evidence of this crossing over is our love for people. He said if we claim to love God but don’t love people we’re liars. Jesus said if we love the Most High we’ll be about loving the least. Bono seems to know Jesus, though it’s not my job to judge either way, and, more importantly, Bono seems to know where He hangs out:

“I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill… I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff… maybe, maybe not… But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.”

I find this very convicting and that usually is a good thing. We are out taking care of ourselves and I believe that God watches out for me but… There is a line out of a hymn “When I am weak He is Strong” So I suppose that God would be strongest for and with the poor and sick. I don’t know what role God has for me in this area but I want to be His hands and feet and more importantly share His heart and vision with others.

So tonight the whole Nerd Family was sitting down, eating dinner and watching an old Tivo’ed West Wing. The NerdBug(4 yrs old) asked, “Are we ever going to get a kids West Wing puzzle?”. It is official, he is going into politics;).

I found ProLifeBlogs.com and it had some interesting posts. One was a letter from Terry Schiavo’s brother in response to Cathy Young of the Boston Globe. The post that really got my attention was about a passage in Exodus(21:22-24), from Nathan Sheets, and how it translates to the value of unborn life. the verse in the King James is

If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot

I completely agree with this analysis:

Christian Courier notes:

However, there is absolutely no evidence that a dead fetus is under consideration in this passage. The fact is, the Hebrew language has a term (shachol) that denotes an abortion, or miscarriage (see 2 Kgs. 2:21; Hos. 9:14), yet that word is not employed in this context. This passage deals with a premature birth, not an aborted fetus.

The Hebrew word rendered “depart” is yasa, basically meaning “to go (come) out.” Though the word has a wide variety of uses in the Old Testament, it is frequently employed of an ordinary birth. God told Jeremiah, “ . . .before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you . . .” (Jer. 1:5). In Exodus 21:22 the verb is used “of untimely birth” (Brown, Driver, & Briggs, Hebrew Lexicon, p. 423), or of “premature birth” (cf. NIV; NKJV).

We then see that the verse is saying if a woman has a premature birth, but the baby does not die, the man is to be punished with a fine. If her baby dies as a result, he is to be put to death. Thus, God valued the unborn’s lives as equal to those who were born, and He still does today as clearly evidenced in the writings of the Early Church.

I found this insightful and true.

Thanks to the Corner I have found something to nerdy for us(I even varified this with NerdDad). It is the Binary Watch. It is odd but interesting.