Memorial Day

They sacrifice every day so we may live to be free.

In Flanders Fields
- John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved,
and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep,though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

To those that I have never met but I owe my life and freedom to, I can't say anything more than Thank You.

And I promise, I will never forget.

Da Vinci Outrage

Protests, Demonstrations, Hunger Strikes, Boycotts, …

Get a grip people!

Has our faith become so weak now that it is threatened by a Hollywood interpretation of a novel? Or do people just want to protest about anything and everything anymore. The ever paranoid “Christianity is under attack” rallying cry as I like to term it. Why were there no howls of protest when for example “National Treasure” came out? Maybe it’s because we all knew that that was an entertaining tale and nothing more?

This is a Movie based on a Novel. Have we all forgotten the definition of the word “fiction”? Don’t people realize that by raising such a hue and cry, they are actually giving credence to this so called conspiracy that was created out of thin air?

Ron Howard the director of the film was quoted saying … "The Da Vinci Code is fiction, and shouldn't be assumed to be anything but -- so there's no need for disclaimers or apologies.” He is absolutely right. The author of the novel Dan Brown never asserted that this book was based on any historical or theological fact. In fact that’s why he won the copyright case. He had written a storybook.

I haven’t watched the movie myself or read the book, but I have no problems with either. All this protest nonsense does is to give additional publicity to a movie, which by most reviews is mediocre at best. And for those of you that believe this will spread misconceptions, and threatens our religion, there is a much better way to deal with it. When someone questions you about the premise of the Da Vinci code, hand them your version of the “Truth”. It’s called a Bible. It’s been translated in over 2100 languages and is the best selling book of all time - over 5 billion distributed and counting. And every one of them in every “version” tells us the same exact story with respect to Jesus and the topic at hand.

Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Matt, 8-26

Symantec Sues Microsoft

And the hits keep coming. I am sure this is part of the “wave of innovation” that Ballmer spoke about. Microsoft couldn't innovate their way out of a paper bag. Everything they have has been bought, borrowed or stolen. The fact that they have paid over $3 Billion settling lawsuits despite having the best lawyers money can buy, ought to tell you something. In any case that word is so overused in the Tech circles these days that it has lost all meaning.

I am not naïve enough to think that this has nothing to do with Microsoft’s recent foray into the security business. Frankly, I think these two deserve each other. Throw in SCO into the mix; let them all litigate each other to death, and the computing world will be a better place.