Find the cheapest gas prices in Las Vegas at Las Vegas Gas Prices.
via Flummox

Kurt Vonnegut wrote Cold Turkey recently for In These Times. Check it out.
via t k b l o g

This is my new blogchalk:
United States, Nevada, Las Vegas, Summerlin, English, Paul, Male, 26-30, design, architecture. :)

The Useless Superheros are coming soon...

I've added a counter to the blog today. This could get embarrasing. Does anybody read this?

Theory of Revelation
As I see it revelation is necessary for faith. Some one, some tradition, or some relic must impart the articles of faith in order for us to know what to believe that we can't discover for ourselves. I feel revelation occurs when a person gains access to the Truth. This Truth is much greater than knowledge, or even wisdom. Think of pulling back the curtain in the Wizard of Oz or steping out of Plato's cave and staring at the sun. In my tradition the source of the Truth is God, so I will speak of God, the source of Truth without excluding other names for the source of Truth.
In one thought experiment I imagine that when God provides revelation to a person it changes them in a dramatic way. I imagine that if God were to provide the complete Truth to someone they would then be God. We don't find this in our history often and I feel that either full knowledge of the Truth is exceedingly rare or it tends to be fleeting.
In a second thought experiment I imagine God providing partial access to the Truth. This kind of revelation might be common and include anything from insight to prophecy. Again I expect a dramatic change, but not that the person becomes like God. Since the person is not like God they only have access to part of the truth and they have less than God-like ability to communicate the Truth.
My theory assumes that revelation is uncommon, incomplete, and impossible to communicate fully. This understanding of revelation allows for plural belief, and for rigorous vetting of the nontruth presented with the Truth.

Keep in mind I don't think that I have any answers about faith. These ideas are being worked out in my mind and might only be helpful for me.

The google developed social network orkut isn't accepting applications. You have to be invited. I'm caught between the anticipation of wanting to be a member (trusting google to make a good product, etc.) and the frustration of clicking Join orkut! and being rejected. I found out about orkut reading Mirror of Our Lives by Esther Dyson.

Kevin Sites Blog has a new post today. Sites is a freelance writer in Iraq. His blog posts tend to identify some person and tell their story. Its almost always a sad one but what can we expect?

sixth move

Other moves: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

By the way neither of us claim any chess talent. Oh, and click on the board to see the whole postcard.

I love good maps. There's something wonderful about displaying complicated, revelatory information in a drawing. The Urban Institute has published The Gay and Lesbian Atlas by Gary J. Gates and Jason Ost. I've only looked at the pages available at the above links, but it looks like real tool for public policy analysis.
[Update: lead author Gary Gates is interview by NPR.]

A nice gallery of website icons at 300 Images From 1800 Sites via memepool.com.

Challenging new Graphic Novel format at Al Sacui 2003.

Here's a little interview of Ashley Wood at Design is Kinky. She has a very dark and sexy illustration style.
Also her website.

The article Hack Your Brain with an iPod at Forever Geek seems too implausible to be true. Must. see. for. self.

Spoetre: (Sp)am (Poetr)y (Re)dux: Take the pile of words found in a typical piece of spam. Dispose of unhelpful words. Insert articles, punctuation. Think, poetry.

Atomic commonweal,
annul this demur exile life.
Its phenomenal squash.
Quixotic, anxious, quizzical boathouse of pious provenance.
A galaxy of poverty estimates.
Libido spirit bring the second baseline.
The durable French colossus waits.

after an email addressed from Quinn Mcghee [afalweryd@sohu.com.cn] selling the top 9 generics

NPR's segments this week about Nelson Mandela look promising. NPR : 'Mandela: An Audio History'

This spam poetry made it through my filters today under an advertizement for something claiming to Unleash the Power of your Digital Cable.

Where we can knowingly figure out our impresario.
garbage can beyond is salty.
judge defined by philosopher, inside satellite,
and insurance agent around paper napkin are what made America great!
Furthermore, toward onlooker procrastinates,
and vacuum cleaner living with seek tuba player near bonbon.
Where we can almost make love to our wheelbarrow.
joel
solvent
dextrose
larkin
fiche
botswana
arizona

Andrei Codrescu spoke about spam poetry recently on All Things Considered. Listen here.

This commentary on Ain't Necessarily So by David Figler does a good job of describing my political viewpoint.

forth move

Other moves: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

By the way neither of us claim any chess talent. Oh, and click on the board to see the whole postcard.

I came across this using Stumble! Guess the Dictator or Sit-Com Character You pretend to be a Dictator or Sit-Com Character and it guess who you are. It's fun.

Friday Five:

1. What do you do for a living? I design commercial buildings for a developer.

2. What do you like most about your job? Flexability and the sense of [creative] ownership in completed buildings. I imagine its a tiny version of the feeling of parenthood.

3. What do you like least about your job? I don't get to design beautiful things.

4. When you have a bad day at work it's usually because poor managment has put me in a embarrasing position.

5. What other career(s) are you interested in? furniture making, all kinds of design, teaching, being a cultural pilgrim, ambassador, peace activist

Friday Five:

What was...

1. ...your first grade teacher's name? I'm not sure any more. Mrs. Cinnamy?

2. ...your favorite Saturday morning cartoon? Superfriends, back in the day! Aquaman was so cool. He had telepathy, could breath underwater, and was a king named Arthur.

3. ...the name of your very first best friend? Diana Gomez. She lived down the street and was in the same grade and class as me. She had Collecovison and all kinds of cool games. We went to different jr high schools. Too bad.

4. ...your favorite breakfast cereal? Coco pebbles. Always watching out for that thief Barney.

5. ...your favorite thing to do after school? Play in the desert. (It sure beat sitting on the transformer waiting to get picked up.)

I have this strange mannerism that often catches me off guard. I imagine painful, unlikely events. For example, I used to work with an exacto knife while building architectural models. I would frequently imagine cutting through my finger. It actually happened often enough to consider this a mental fair warning that knives cut. To get to the unlikely part, sometimes I would go overboard and transfer the imagined blade to my tongue or eye ball. Yeouch!
Sometimes, while driving I image the vehicle I'm in miraculously not existing. In my head I go tumbling and sliding all over the road. Strange.