touching story

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/09/military.jet.crash/

Someone's comment:
"It's simply amazing that this man has more respect for a country that is not his native birth place, it's military and their sacrifice than many Americans who have never suffered a day in their lives living in America. I'd trade all of the backstabbing self-righteous vermin in America for this one guy to have his family back, he's worth more than them all."

I'm mostly inclined to agree with the comment above, although I might have left out the vermin part. Needless to say, I'm really really touched by this guy's heart of forgiveness, and his faith.

ender

If you liked Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, you'll be happy to know that Orson Scott Card just wrote another book in the series.

http://www.amazon.com/Ender-Exile-Orson-Scott-Card/dp/0765304961

Might want to wait until it comes out in paperback, or until your library has it.

on the presidential election

I've met my fair share of McCain and Obama supporters. I'm most skeptical of the ones who find absolutely no fault in the candidate they support.

life a miracle

I'll be the first to admit that this essay may be a bit disorganized. But hey, there's a reason why I'm an engineering major.

http://leaderu.com/theology/irrational_faith.html

peter singer

This past Sunday, I had a pretty long conversation with Pastor Matt at one of the tables outside Panera. Towards the end of our conversation, a girl sitting at the next table leaned over, looked at Pastor Matt, and asked "are you Peter Singer by any chance?"

Haha, freshmen are so funny. Anyway, Pastor Matt had to explain to her that no, he was quite the opposite. I'm sure he was flattered, regardless.

income

Here's an interesting picture (taken from http://rodrik.typepad.com/dani_rodriks_weblog/2008/03/american-politi.html). Basically, under Republican presidents income disparity has a tendency to increase, and vice versa for Democratic presidents. And income increases more overall under Democratic presidents.

The book which the article references apparently goes to great lengths to demonstrate why this difference isn't a fluke. Pretty interesting (written by a Princeton professor, too).

words

It's amazing the words you learn while studying for standardized tests.

first comes love...
then comes marriage...
then comes the baby in the perambulator!

I'm so going to teach my kids that.