Looks More Like a Puma

…that you ever need to know about web design:
Avoid Unnecessary Whitespace in HTML.

Gotta watch out for those 2 byte newlines. About 250,000 of those suckers will add an extra second to your load time.

Who’s in charge here?
1 Peter 2:13-17

Today’s sermon at my church discussed submission to earthly authorities. These are the notes I took:

-Obedience to authority is a litmus test for your spiritual walk-

I. All authority is delegated by God
-Romans 13:1-2
-Colossians 3:22-24
II. Submission to authority reflects Jesus’ character
-1 Peter 2:18-24
III. Submission to authority will ultimately be rewarded
-Romans 13:3-4
-1 Peter 2:19-20

Of course it was mentioned during the course of the sermon that the one exception to this is whenever an authority requires you to do something that directly violates something in God’s law. That makes sense, but it’s also noticeably absent from what Peter writes. If he meant that, why didn’t he say it? Reading his flat statement to submit to “every human institution” seems to contradict with what men of God have done throughout the Bible (Daniel 3:8-12, Daniel 6:12-13, Acts 4:18-20).

These difficulties are resolved by thinking about what is implied by the word authority. The President of the United States is a person who has a great deal of authority. If he decides to, he can direct our (formidable) armed forces to attack some other country (for 3 months at least). However, when he visits Mexico, he can’t tell anybody to do anything. Like every other human authority, his has limits. The authority of an individual is limited by where it applies, to whom it applies, and by topics it applies to. As an example of the last, a congressman in the State of Georgia can require me to pay taxes. However, he can’t stop my car and issue me a speeding ticket. In the same way, he cannot tell me what church to go to, or forbid me to pray. Even if our state constitution allowed that, his commission from God does not. Considering the limits placed on all authority, it makes sense that authority given by God does not include the authority to contradict Him.

So to give the readers who don’t know anything about me (current estimate: 0) a little introduction, I decided to interview the author and find out a little about him.

RJC - So tell me a little about yourself.

RJC - Wait….aren’t you, me?

RJC - Yes.

RJC - How are you interviewing me? Or….or am I interviewing you?

RJC - ….

So tell me a little about yourself.

RJC - Seriously, that’s a lame question.

RJC - Oh, for crying out loud, just tell me where you go to school, your major etc.

RJC - Alright, alright (sheesh). I am a senior at Texas A&M University and I am studying Computer Engineering. etc.

RJC - So you’re in the Aggie Band?

RJC - Yes.

RJC - Care to elaborate on “yes”?

RJC - What?

RJC - Elucidate! Tell us about the band!

RJC - Oh. The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band is a military style marching band that is a unit within the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M. We perform at all home football games, several away games, and other university functions.

RJC - And what are you doing after college?

RJC - My education comes courtesy of the US Navy, so I’ll be learning to drive submarines when I graduate.

RJC - Speaking of submarines…

RJC - Yes, I was on a sub this summer. We did go to the North Pole. This is me:

RJC - So why do you have a link called “Bible” on your blog?

RJC - It’s a good book

RJC - But didn’t that all get disproved back in the 50’s? You know, with science and …stuff.

RJC - You mean the whole alleged conflict between Faith and Science?

RJC - Sure…

RJC - Yeah, that’s a hyped up (by mass media) myth. Fact is, everyone relies on both faith and science for what they beleive in. Christianity is a very rational religion (Christians invented science), and I wouldn’t believe it if it didn’t make sense. On the other hand, atheistic scientists have to have faith. How do we know that the laws of physics will be the same tomorrow as they are today? We don’t, we just kind of assume that. Or how do you know that everything you think exists actually exists? You could be dreaming. You could be in the Matrix!

RJC - Matrix, huh? So you’re a geek?

RJC - The operating system on my computer is Ubuntu Linux.

RJC - Yeah, that’s what I meant.

RJC - I switched because I wanted better performance from my computer, but now I just love all the little things that I’ve gotten used to: workspaces, a usable termal, being able set windows as “Always on top”, ssh/scp, package manager, rythmbox, etc.

RJC - So what’s the best thing you ever seen, done, or eaten?

RJC - Mountain Dew.

RJC - OK, that a wrap. Thanks for watching our program, folks. We be back…um…later.

Well, I started this blog because I thought it might be interesting to put some of the things I think about down on paper. Or…electrons. So, here’s a thought I thunk yesterday:

This thought I thunk as I was thinking concerned the topic of teaching electrical engineering. As you (might) know, I am a student at Texas A&M University studying Computer Engineering. My major is essentially a blend of Computer Science (software, code, programs) and Electrical Engineering (hardware, metal, electrons). As my professor was going over some of the principles of using transistors, it occurred to me that while all of my computer science courses have been focused on design, all of my electrical engineering courses have been focused on analysis. In CPSC 111, I learned Java (programming language (not not coffee (or an island))). How? By writing programs with Java. In ECEN 214, I learned about basic circuits. How? By studying the voltage, current, etc. of a bunch of complicated circuits, the practical use (if any) of which was not presented. In a word, it was lame. How enthusiastic would I be about programming, if the only way I had learned it was by reading code, and never writing my own? Admittedly, I don’t know how practical any of this is, but it seems to me that students would be (I would have been) more engaged in the principles of electrical circuits if they were using them as a means in the process of creative design. If they were using them to build a useful circuit.

So if you happen to be the Dean of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M, this is what one person thinks.

…well whatdaya know….a blog.