Swap Blog

CNN.com has the story (here) today that Genero Dorantes, who has been on the FBI 10 most wanted list, was captured in Mexico today. Dorantes, and Martha Patlan - the childs mother, dumped the body of a dead child which had died due to abuse in a Nashville park in 2003.

The child’s autopsy showed he suffered from battered child syndrome, was scalded, suffered infected burns from the waist down and had internal head injuries.

At the time of the crime there was a local watch for the couples vechicle. They have been on the run until recently when the mother turned herself in and agreed to cooperate on Feburary 10th.

I have no use, patience, or sympathy for child abuser. I am glad to see them both in jail and I hope they get long prison sentences.

Yes that is right phishing is now illegal in Tennessee, and that is great news. Full Story at the Knoxville News Sentinel Here

Of course if it was fishing that had been outlawed there would likely be a riot at the capital and the Bass Pro shops would suddenly register as a lobbyist. Seriously though, it is a great move for the Tennessee Senate to make phishing (the act of trying to get personal information from someone over the web by illegal or fraudulent means) illegal and I am glad to see that it passed unanimously. If it was up to me I would add a spam contingent to the bill too. If it was my call, I would make it a state law that any UNSOLICITED email ad would be required to have a unregister / removal option that got the users email off of the list in 24 hours. Any email without that option would be subject to suit, and there would be a $100 fine per email that was sent after the user requested removal. Though I doubt that will happen I can still hope and dream. I am also glad that the bill was pushed by my state Senator Tim Burchett, who has been known to pitch some less “palatable” bills - i.e making it legal to pick up roadkill - in the past.

Saturday morning three young people died in a car crash here in Knoxville. Details of the crash here

Basically at pickup was going the wrong way on the Interstate and hit the oncoming Honda, killing the three in the Honda. The driver of the pickup, Clint Walker, was not hurt, but he does have some past charges. No charges have been filed yet in this crash as the accident is still under investigation regarding both the Honda and the pickup. Regardless of the situation though, the death of three people so young is always sad. Josh and Nick McMillan, the two young men in the car, were buried yesterday and the funeral for Jessice Jones, the female, will be tonight.

With that said, there were two news stories on channel 8 last night about Jessica and both includes information about a tribute that some of her friends and family had yesterday. Story here & here It turns out that Jessica was really into cars and as a tribute her friends did burnouts in a parking lot in tribute. The later story reports that her mom set in the front seat of the cars during the burnouts and there is commentary one of her relatives about how much Jessica would like it and how these burnouts are for her.

Honestly, this was all a new concept for me, but I am also the first to admit that I am not up to speed, no pun intended, on events / tributes / and honors in the turner car world. I just found it odd that burn outs are now a way to give tribute to someone. Understand I am not condemning it, as I would be honored if everyone that loved me did something that I loved togather when I die, but this one was just different then any tribute I had ever seen. Too each there own I guess.

For the last few days there has been buzz on the web over the Microsoft Origami Project - Project Site Here. IF you have not heard of it yet there is a good story about the project over at DL Mag here.

Long and short no one seems to know exactly what this thing is, but it definately seems to be a portable computer with lots of entertainment functions. Microsoft is, and will always be, a software company to avoid competion with their customers - the XBOX is the only real exception to that rule as their keyboards and mice are just rebranded from a sub manufacturer. From what I see though no one really knows the exact specs of the device, but there is a consistent buzz that there are some PDA / PIM functions, a MP3 player, some video component, that it has a Windows based OS (obviously), and that the device is driven / operated via pen / tablet and that they will directly interface with a Windows XP Media Center PC. Some seem to think that this is designed to be a Ipod / Blackberry killer.

I personally would be interested in something like this, and for me to say that about anything out of Redmond is a BIG step. I would want to see Bluetooth compatiblity, a 2 to 3 megapixel camara, and some sort of memory card expansion for download / portability to make this a must have item. If it offered that, with a phone / PDA feature I would dump the Palm Zire 72 ASAP, and I love my Palm. Wtih that understood I have no problem with the pen / tablet interface.

Currently, I am not interested in the Palm 700W, though it does most of what I describe, because I would have go through a conversion and if do a conversion I want to get more then just get a hyped up Palm. The 700P (Palm OS based) is not out, but I assume it is coming and I would consider that because it requires no conversion.

Simply I do not want a Blackberry and I like RAM / Memory card based devices over hard drive based due to how rough I am on things, so only the Apple Ipod Nano has any interest to me. If Microsoft would roll some nice features into a portable, give me a bit of web interactivity / Blue tooth, a MP3 player, some phone / PDA stuff and a camara I would be REAL happy. The video stuff is not important to me because I do not want to watch anything for long on a screen that is under 15″.

Hopefully Microsoft does this right and nd gives us something that is easier / better then a Pocket PC. A scaled version of XP based would be very cool. IF they price it fairly, I think that Microsot could really cut into the Ipod and Blackberry markets, due to the 700W I already consider the Palm market to be Microsoft influenced in the future. For once I think Microsoft may really have a winner on their hands right out of the box.

Ben Gray from over at Open Switch is on a theological explanination roll. Sunday he attempted to explain the Trinity - post here, and yesterday he took on explaining Jesus (how He is fully God and was fully man) - post here. Heady stuff for a transplanted Chicago boy, but he does a good job with both, so give them a read.

Milton Stanley from Transforming Sermons links to a reposted piece by Dan Eledan from Gratitude and Hoopla regarding how often the Christian life in America resembles more of a carnival then a actual relationship with Christ (which is what it should be). Dan’s bottom line is that at a point the church and the Christian faith, when presented in this hyper experience way - ultra hip, ultra slick, over marketed, mega hit way, becomes a mirror of the world and completely ignores the key to Christianity - Christ on the Cross and His death that redeems. Christianity without Christ is just ianity, and that ain’t much to go on.

I know personally I get tired of just one more must do / have program, one more must attend / must understand session, one more can’t miss event, one more life changing / affirming conference, one more this and that. There is nothing wrong with using modern means and tools to communicate, the fact that this is on the web shows I am completely for modern communication and tools, but if the core of the lesson, the core of the faith, the core of the purpose (that is a tricky word to use today) is not a God focused, Christ redeemed, and Holy Spirit lead relationship then it is not really fulfilling the meaning of Christianity.

For too long Christianity has been driven by the modern emotional, happiness, joy, and prosperity gospel lessons which really completely ignore the truth of the Cross. The Cross is not a place that the Christian should visit once (on the day of repentance) and then walk away from. It is not place to make a annual visit too (Easter) even. The Cross is a place the should define, mold and make the Christian. This work is not a one time thing, it is a ongoing process and it is a process that is painful, lonely, and isolating at times.

Regardless of your place in the spiritual realm this one is worth a read and it should be a gut check for all the Christians out there that are caught up in “the Christian community”. Milton’s Post Here, Dan’s Post Here

John Norrris Brown from The High Country Conservative has a story about some of the wackiest road names in the US. Two of them are in Tennessee -story here

The funniest part of this story is my beautiful wife use to work for a government agency that had a client that lived on the road in Lebonon, TN so I already knew about that one.

MSNBC has a story today that records what / who they consider to be the 10 biggest busts of the winter Olympics for the US / US teams. Full Story here

Overall I agree with this piece, there are some things I would have said differently and maybe I would have left off a few as busts and added some others, but overall I do not think you can argue with the picks or the statements made. The US came in second to Germany in overall medal counts, and that is good I guess, but at times it was hard to watch SOME of our representatives when they talked about selfish goals, personal wants, and indivdual pursuits. Yes, they are all there to compete, and they all should be able to shine individually, but it is like when anywhere you go outside the nation - you are America to all that see you and if you act badly it reflects badly and that has nothing to do with performance in the events. Performances are great, but class is a lot more important overall when you are representing your nation.