Go Vote! TODAY!
Registered voters who want to avoid the long lines next Tuesday for Georgia's presidential primary can vote early through Friday in advance voting. Metro Atlanta counties have multiple poll sites; voters may go to any in the county where they are registered. Early voting locations may be different from the regular Election Day sites.
Below is a list of the locations, hours, Web sites and phone numbers of election offices for metro Atlanta counties
Data collected by The Glenmary Research Center. The GRC is a catholic group that supports the Glenmary Home Missioners.... who are domestic missioners. So the point of this data collection was to find out where to where to concentrate their efforts. They have some other maps available (in PDF format), including U.S. Counties With High Percentages of Unclaimed/Unchurched, U.S. Counties With High Percentages of African Americans, and others that I find interesting. I guess they've been around around for a while. Take a look at this map from 1938:
In the spirit of the last post, I figured I'd post an updated travel map. I saw a good bit of world in 2007, but there's so much more to see. I've only visited 20% of the countries of the world. I look forward to going to South America and Africa soon.
create your own visited countries map
The Smithsonian has posted The Life List, a list of 28 places that must be seen and experienced. I have only managed to see 3 out of 28 so far: Grand Canyon, Parthenon, and the Great Barrier Reef. I guess it time to start traveling again.
To that end, the staff of Smithsonian—as diverse a group of travelers as you're likely to meet—put their heads together to come up with an exclusive list of 28 places the Smithsonian reader might wish to visit before ...it's too late. Some of the sites are portals into the past—ancient cities so well preserved that visiting them is like stepping into a previous century. Others feature feats of engineering or sublime works of art—or, in the cases of the Taj Mahal and Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, both. Travelers can visit temples and churches so breathtaking they must have been built with divine inspiration. For the more adventurous, we offer rewards beyond mere sightseeing—from a three-day hike across the Grand Canyon to a ride along China's Yangtze River.
While all of these destinations beckon year-round, there are places where timing matters: many travelers are at a loss for words after witnessing the sun rise over Machu Picchu or seeing Iguazu Falls by the light of a full moon. And, appropriately, some of our sites now confront their own mortality—endangered by pollution or just worn down, like a few of us, by the passage of time.
Whether you visit only a couple of these destinations or all 28, your life will be enriched by the experience. And if along the way you want to gorge on caviar or get a tattoo, that's entirely up to you.
Found this gem on Digg today. Here is the original link and here's a mirror if the first site is down. Good stuff in here:
To say the Bible was written by men and may contain inaccuracies completely contradicts the word of the Bible.
To me, religion is evil. It is manmade and man-centered. I have a belief. A belief in My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
If your original Hebrew disagrees with my original King James --- your original Hebrew is wrong. If your original Hebrew agrees with my original King James, your original Hebrew is right.
I can sum it all up in three words: Evolution is a lie
Today in my ongoing series of photos from my travels: the Christian Atheism guy who stands quietly at Speaker's Corner in London every Sunday, with signs that proclaim: CHRISTIAN ATHEISM: TO FOLLOW JESUS, REJECT GOD. Link
The questions on this quiz are extremely limited and divisive. There are only 2 or 3 answers and they are obviously a democratic or republican view. None of the republicans scored high on my list even though I have a strong capitalistic vein. I blame the questions.
85% Barack Obama
75% Bill Richardson
74% Chris Dodd
71% Joe Biden
70% Dennis Kucinich
70% Hillary Clinton
70% Mike Gravel
69% John Edwards
47% Rudy Giuliani
45% John McCain
38% Ron Paul
37% Mike Huckabee
33% Mitt Romney
24% Tom Tancredo
22% Fred Thompson
2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz
I just visited Malaysia last month and was amazed at the religious diversity. The only other Muslim country I have been to is Bahrain, and that was back in college. Malaysia was full of Hindu, Taoist, and Buddhist Temples along with many Mosques. I saw an occasional Christian Church, but is was a different world compared to my European travels.
The following article was found on The Wild Hunt, a great Pagan blog IHO. It was originally published by AsiaNews.it
The construction of the world’s tallest Taoist Goddess of the Sea statue has set off the latest row over religious freedom in Malaysia. The 36-metre (108-foot) statue of Mazu, known as Tin Hau in Hong Kong, should be erected in the fishing village of Kudat on Borneo Island. So far only the platform has been set; the statue itself is waiting some 200 km away in the port town of Kota Kinabalu. Local authorities had approved construction in December 2005 but Sabah state authorities stopped construction saying that the statue was “offensive to Muslim sensitivities.”
Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, who heads the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party, warned that if the row was not resolved it could hurt multiracial and inter-faith harmony in the hitherto tolerant Malaysia.
“The insensitive controversy objecting to the building of the Mazu statue is created by a small group of Muslims with ulterior political objectives, which setS a dangerous precedent in undermining inter-religious goodwill in Malaysia,” he said.
“All we want is for Mazu Goddess to protect us when we are at sea and our Muslim countrymen have nothing against,” said a local fisherman.
After the state government halted construction Sabah’s mufti issued a fatwa saying the statue was “offensive to Islam” because it was too close to a mosque.
Sabah’s deputy chief minister Chong Kah Kiat, an ethnic Chinese, resigned in protest and in early December took legal action challenging the order to stop construction.
About 60 percent of Malaysia’s 27 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims; 25 per cent are Chinese and 10 per cent, Indians, mostly Hindu or Christian.
Malaysian commentators and minority leaders have sounded the alarm over the growing ‘Islamisation’ of the country and the increasing polarisation of the three main ethnic communities, which mix much less than in the past.
In recent weeks there have been other controversies, including a ban issued by the Ministry of Internal Security on the use of the word ‘Allah’ for God by the Herald, a Catholic weekly.
Catholics and Protestants have also had their right to build places of worship severely restricted.
Tonight, along with Rev. Marti Keller, I did my first Vespers service. Because of Leo's surgery, I wasn't able to plan as well as I had hoped, but it went very well. Marti did the homily, but I did everything else: opening words, selected the music, meditation, joys and concerns, and closing words. I am feeling more comfortable in a church setting as time goes on. I have done tons of public speaking and teaching, but never in a church. So this is a great learning experience.
If anyone reading was there tonight, please feel free to give me frank feedback. I appreciate all opinions, no matter how brash.
I am also realizing that I do better with notes and speaking off the cuff, that trying to write out all the wording ahead of time. That might be different when I actually write a homily or sermon, but for other things I think I'll stick with my normal way of presenting. I only tried to write everything out because I noticed that was the way that others presented. I respected their message, so I tried their style. We'll see... I still may to do for longer speeches.
I feel accomplished. Joining the Lay Ministry was way outside my realm of possibilities a year or two ago. It's feeling right and it looks like I might be able to do it well.
Leo did great today. The surgery happened with no complications. The surgeon got to see how much damage the reflux had done and he confirmed that this procedure really needed to be done. He's spent most the day drugged up and or sleeping. He may be home tomorrow, or it may be Wednesday.
Even thought he did well today, last night was another issue. His reflux peaked one last time, as if to say it wasn't going away without a fight. Leah was up most the night, cleaning vomit and rocking an upset baby.
Well, the worst is past us. We feel like we made the right decision, and there were no complications during surgery. It's just healing time now.
Leo, Leah's 20 month old little baby, is going in for surgery tomorrow. He will getting a Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication to fix his serious reflux. It's a major surgery, so we all a bit on edge. It will happen at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. We expect a few days of recovery time. I have taken off work and will be available via cell phone. Please do not call Leah's cell phone, she will be with him and will probably be turned off.
Wish him luck!
ps. We found a house in the Mornigside area within our budget and are 90% moved in. The move is on hold for a bit to concentrate on Leo, but send me an email if you want our new address.
