daily rambliniscings

The most incredible find is Truespace 7.6, a fully-featured 3D authoring software. The company has been around a long time, but their products got surpassed by others, and theirs has been relegated to the middle of the pack. Top-end software like Autodesk 3ds max, Cinema 4D, Houdini, and Maya cost 3,000 – 7,000usd. Truespace comes in around 600 dollars, with a slew of products in the 300 and less range. Anyway, this company was bot out by Microsoft this year, and they decided to give away this software – sweet! It has been used professionally in making movies also in the past, so i’m quite confident it can handle what i’m planning (hoping?) to do with a Great Controversy movie.
http://caligari.com/

Another one i snagged yesterday was Blender. This is open-source software, so it has always been free. It is mostly used for drawing in 3D or 2D, and has been used in developing a few movies like Spider Man2, and also for artwork on the History Channel among others.

For an interesting animated movie (the story isn’t too great, but) made all in Blender:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE7VzlLtp-4
To get yours:
http://www.blender.org/

I got Cinebench the other day. It is a benchmark program to test out your computer’s graphic abilities:
http://www.maxon.net/pages/download/
cinebench_e.html
By way of comparison, mine got a measly 1,421 points 🙁

Nero gave me big problems in June after a virus infiltration, so i deleted it. To enable cd and dvd writing again, i downloaded what is probably the most popular free burner software – CDBurner XP:
http://cdburnerxp.se/

Then today was the most recent software download – ie8 browser. I’m still not used to tabs, but we’ll see. It has always amused me how many people like to diss everything Microsoft does, but i respect them a lot – and no, i don’t own any stock in them 🙂
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/default.aspx

For me there is one issue that overrides all others in the current 2008 presidential election. It is the same issue that has been the deciding factor in all the other times i have voted (except for the first time in 1980 when i was feeling my oats!) That is the issue of abortion.

Abortion is murder, pure and simple. God says he forms us in the womb:

Isa 44:2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.

He sanctified Jeremiah before he came out of the womb:

Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

And of course the greatest miracle of all time – Jesus coming as a human:

Luk 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Now what if Mary was living in America in 2008? She might do like over 30 million other mothers have done, and murder their unborn child. Yes, i know, the 30 million fathers are very much at guilt too usually.

This sin is much, much worse than the sin of slavery that ripped apart the United States and plunged us into a war that God told his messenger – Ellen White:

pt: Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald volume#1

God is punishing this nation for the high crime of slavery. He has the destiny of the nation in his hands. He will punish the South for the sin of slavery, and the North for so long suffering its overreaching and overbearing influences.

At least the slaves had a chance to see the sky. These poor babies don’t even get that opportunity.

Here is a link to an article showing how Obama declined to answer a question put to him about abortion:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/
235/story_23581_2.html

When you asked Obama about when life begins, he punted, saying “It’s above my pay grade.” Should someone running for the highest office in the land have a clear answer to that, or is that kind of ambivalence acceptable?

No. I think he needed to be more specific on that. I happen to disagree with Barack on that. Like I said, he’s a friend. But to me, I would not want to die and get before God one day and go, “Oh, sorry, I didn’t take the time to figure out” because if I was wrong, then it had severe implications for my leadership if I had the ability to do something about it. He should either say, “No, scientifically, I do not believe it’s a human being until X” or whatever it is or say, “Yes, I believe it is a human being at X point,” whether it’s conception or anything else. But to just say “I don’t know” on the most divisive issue in America is not a clear enough answer for me.

If an evangelical really believes that the Bible is literal—in other word in Psalm 139 God says “I formed you in your mother’s womb and before you were born I planned every day of your life,” if they believe that’s literally true, then they can’t just walk away from that. They can add other issues, but they can’t walk away from the belief that at conception God planned that child and to abort it would be to short circuit the purpose.

This site says that Obama has promised to make allowing abortion a top-priority for his administration:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/
08061010.html

The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act,” Obama said in his July speech to abortion advocates worried about the increase of pro-life legislation at the state level.

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is legislation Obama has co-sponsored along with 18 other senators that would annihilate every single state law limiting or regulating abortion, including the federal ban on partial birth abortion.

The 2007 version of FOCA proposed: “It is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.”

Obama made his remarks in a question-and-answer session after delivering a speech crystallizing for abortion advocates his deep-seated abortion philosophy and his belief that federal legislation will break pro-life resistance and end the national debate on abortion. (see transcript: http://lauraetch.googlepages.com/barackobamabefore
plannedparenthoodaction)….
Besides making abortion on demand a “fundamental right” throughout the United States, FOCA would effectively nullify informed consent laws, waiting periods, health safety regulations for abortion clinics, etc.

How about McCain?
From his website he says:
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/issues/
95b18512-d5b6-456e-90a2-12028d71df58.htm

John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench.

Constitutional balance would be restored by the reversal of Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion question to the individual states. The difficult issue of abortion should not be decided by judicial fiat.

However, the reversal of Roe v. Wade represents only one step in the long path toward ending abortion. ….”At its core, abortion is a human tragedy. To effect meaningful change, we must engage the debate at a human level.”

Yes, i have some thots about this….. But please, look at the site yourself first. There are 7 stills from the movie up for viewing as i write this.

The guy who made “We are the Strange” movie by himself, working basically full time on his project (3D), said he averaged 3.85 minutes per month. That is completed, finished, viewable product. Of course this involves story-boarding, animatrics, key frames and other things that i’m just now learning about.

No wonder most animations are short. This is a long, hard, patience-breaking work.

Here is a quote: “All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA’s GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.

A compiled list of all the sources can be seen here. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C — a value large enough to wipe out most of the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year’s time. For all four sources, it’s the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.”

 The last 24 hours have seen me on the internet quite a bit, as i moved quarters yesterday.  The most troubling thing is seeing many Seventh-day Adventists going way off into nuttyland, chasing aliens even!!

First it was a email from a missionary in Cambodia, saying that America is the one at fault in Georgia, because he heard so on a Russian TV program. (!) Then a very good friend in India wrote how the economy of the world will fall apart in September. (?) Then some surfing today revealed a relatively new SDA believer putting up a website that includes “troofer” stuff about the US govt. blowing up the twin towers. (*)  Then stuff from SDAs in Australia linking to a report that the US is making underground seed shelters in Norway to save the human race because Planet X is going to strike the earth in 2012.  It detailed a Norway govt. official’s trip down to the underground shelters where he sees signs and evidence of aliens from outer space…… oh my.

Brothers and Sisters, let’s get our minds out of this garbage, and into the present truth!  Let’s preach and teach and live the Three Angels’ Messages.  There isn’t much time left while we can do it in relative safety and peace.  Let’s quit the lies and advance the truth.

At the nominally Seventh-day Adventist school where i taught in Bangkok, there was a “Bible Bowl and Sports Day”. The whole day was devoted to these two main events. The Bible Bowl had each class giving a skit and a song, and then after intermission, mimes by the teachers and a quiz. The quiz questions were prepared by each home room teacher.

The kindergarten questions were cute – like “Who built a big ark?” with the teacher miming nail pounding etc. The 1st&2nd grade question – “Who said Here am i, send me?” 3rd&4th grade (my class) – What two things must you do to be saved?” And 5th grade – “Who was Moses’ sister?”

OK, all decent Bible questions, right? Now each teacher had prepared 8 questions on paper, and i had cut them up and put them in a hat to draw out. So sometimes a grade got 2 questions in a row, and sometimes not for a long while.

“What was the name of the region the Israelites wanted to travel to after leaving Egypt?” “What did Hannah make for Samuel?” “What is the Golden Rule?”

At this stage it still had not dawned on me, but around the time of the third question a pattern became very clear – Most of the teachers were just teaching Bible like any another subject – dry, boring facts with no relation to the students’ hearts or eternal life. How can these things be? Don’t we realize this may be the only time in the life of these non-christian students to really learn about the true God? We only have one class period a week to study religious themes (Values). There is very little time in school proper to open a Bible with the students. And when we do, what are we teaching?

Isn’t it 100 times more important for the child to know what two things they must do to be saved than the name of somebody who died 3000 years ago? And if they really live the Golden Rule, they will no doubt be in heaven too. But some historical fact? How will that affect their hearts and lead them closer to Jesus and heaven? As a Christian, sure, we should learn all the Bible we can, even the historical facts. But for non-christian little children, what could they possibly care if Joseph had a black coat, white coat, or coat of many colors?

Yes, the 1st&2nd grade teacher along with the 5th grade teacher were both fighting God at that time (I hope they have since repented). So their own lack of walking with Jesus evidenced itself in their lack of spirituality in their questions for the children in their care. So sad for those children tho….

Please God, may the seeds planted last school year not be totally lost, but may you preserve them, and when the timing is right, give them lots of water and sunshine to grow strong for you – to live forever with you in heaven 🙂

How can this be? The country i travelled to less than two years ago to spread the 1858 Great Controversy is being overrun by the Russian army. Tuesday, sitting in the comfort of a cybercafe with lots of young men around me shooting at virtual people, i saw pictures of real soldiers doing the same thing.

The report i read mentioned that the Russians had taken Gori, a town less than 100km from the capital of T’bilisi. That name struck a bell. I had gone thru it twice by bus, on my way back and forth to the Turkish border. Now it is in Russian territory?

What about our Seventh-day Adventist Brothers and Sisters in that country? Even without this attack by the Russians, there were plenty of problems facing the small, 400-or-so member church. What will become of them? My friends, my heart goes out to you. T, I, B, G, are you able to keep strong in the faith during this time of trial? G and O, have you come back from Ukraine to Georgia, and more importantly, have you decided to come back to the truth as Jesus Christ is?

What will happen to the little flock there? Lord Jesus, please watch over them, please keep them safe, please may the entire country become more concerned about eternal things, and may the people called by your name stop petty power struggles among themselves, and stop compromising, and realize what it means to be face to face with you. Please protect them from the attacks of Russia and of Satan.

Nice email from my pastor friend…..

Wow! During these few weeks I was busy engaged in several assignments to expand His ministry in remote and unreached areas in Himalayan hill as pursuing negotiating for church land, NOC – No Objection Certificate from local Bxxx  government and forming local Adventist committee, estimation etc….. in Sikkim xxx State. In Eastern Himalayan Sikkim state one generous brother donated plot of land in remote rural areas and there we conducted cottage meeting and 30 members accepted 3 Angels Messages and join SDA Church faith.

In this remote village in Sikkim we do not have any church we tried to make small hut as prayer hall but xxx majority dismantle and burnt it. The reason villagers got afraid many will change their religion and some politician were behind it but still we had fellowship under the tree in the same area where they dismantle our hut but we did not retaliated with them instead made friend and serve as community social health workers.

As the time passed by we thought of making small bamboo house to stay half as living room and half as prayer hall. But we did succeed because in the same room we did stay and put few beds to sleep and kept kitchen utensil. Therefore, villagers were not able to destroy this house since it became home before their eyes instead of worship hall. But during Sabbath, mid-week, vesper etc… our fellow continuously gathers in this room and had worship plus made as multipurpose. Our member’s continuous sincere prayer to our Lord was answer at last.

…

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