Gilgamesh and the Bible

Posted: September 28th, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: christianity, personal | No Comments »

I called this website sparkplug9.com mostly due to my fascination with the Gilgamesh epic. And my fascination with that epic is mostly due to Robert Silverberg’s amazingly great book Gilgamesh the King.

So I was quite interested to see a link my dad shot over entitled Noah’s Flood and the Gilgamesh Epic. Click here to take a look …

Very interesting!

Part of the fun of having a blog is …

Posted: September 28th, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: blogging, personal, technology | 1 Comment »

What do the following phrases have in common? (And yes, there is a common link.)

Ethiopians make their gods black and snub-nosed, Thracians red-haired and with blue eyes; so also they conceive the spirits of the gods to be like themselves.

The contents of the world are not just there for the knowing but have to be grasped with suitable mental machinery.

Who can refute a sneer?

Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.

Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true.

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The Schizophrenic Austin Mini Aesthetic: Retro outside; Jetson’s Inside

Posted: September 25th, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: cars, personal | 1 Comment »

Can someone please tell me what’s up with the Austin Mini?

I love the exterior of the Mini with it’s vaguely retro multi-color styling. I hate the interior of the Mini with it’s Jetson’s bulbous plastic futuristic styling.

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Seeking Peace in a World with No Peace

Posted: September 25th, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: christianity | No Comments »

I happen to be a Christian, and I also happen to publish my church’s bulletin. Occasionally I write a devotional thought or two, and I plan to also publish those here from time to time.

The following was originally published in the bulletin of Emmanuel Free Reformed Church, a member of the Free Reformed Churches of North America.

May the Lord bless you, and keep (protect) you, and cause His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance (face) upon you, and give you peace.

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Six Gmail invites to give away

Posted: September 21st, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: personal, technology | No Comments »

Hmm … interesting. People who had Gmail used to only have 3 invites to give away.

However, I was notified that I now have 6 invitations to give away. Interesting!

Who wants ‘em? Let me know!

Hitler’s Secret Partners … Why WWII happened the way it did

Posted: September 20th, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: books | 1 Comment »

I just finished reading Hitler’s Secret Partners, by James Pool. While being interesting for all the usual reasons – interesting topic, well written, fascinating details – the book is particularly interesting for insight into why WWII happened the way it did.

In Pool’s analysis, WWII happened mainly because Hitler was running a pyramid scheme. If that sounds completely crazy to you, read on before you judge.

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John Nash: A beautiful mind; an ugly man

Posted: September 19th, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: books | No Comments »

I just finished reading A Beautiful Mind, by Sylvia Nasar, which formed the basis of the recent movie of the same title starring Russell Crow.

Yikes!

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Jumping on the Firefox Bandwagon

Posted: September 15th, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: technology | 2 Comments »

Mozilla, the organization that builds the open-source web browser Firefox, is having a download-fest, trying to get 1 million downloads in the next ten days.

It’s the best browser for Windows, Linux, and for some, Mac OS X as well.

Get it here.

If you don’t know why, here’s why:

  • tabbed browsing
  • pop-up blocking (can you imagine people actually paying for this?!?)
  • security, security, security (Explorer is a powder keg on your desktop)
  • Google search built-in
  • faster
  • cleaner look and feel
  • smaller, leaner, and still better than IE

Get it here.

World Cup of Hockey: Canada Wins, the Trophy is Very Ugly

Posted: September 14th, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: hockey, personal | No Comments »

Wow. Excellent, wonderful, great, happiness, joy, peace, and light.

Canada won the World Cup of Hockey, everything is well with the world (for one night) and Canada is celebrating one more confirmation that hockey speaks Canadian.

But isn’t that trophy butt-ugly?

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Today’s Kids Names Are Driving Me Nuts

Posted: September 7th, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: language, personal, stupid | No Comments »

I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time, and never have been able to summon up the passion for it. But yesterday I heard two kids names: Parker and Peterson.

Now I have the passion.

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Stupid, Stupid, Stupid: Dune – House Harkonnen

Posted: September 4th, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: books, stupid | No Comments »

The Dune series by Frank Herbert is one of the best SF series ever, ranking up there with fantasy’s Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien) and the Thomas Covenant novels (Stephen R. Donaldson).

And now they’re being bastardized by bullshit from Frank’s son Brian and some other hack by the name of Kevin J. Anderson.

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Feeling Like a Dog, a Dirty Dog

Posted: September 3rd, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: personal | No Comments »

Most of my blog entries are for the world at large. This one is for just one person – you know who you are.

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My New Most unFavorite Word: Compliance

Posted: September 3rd, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: language, personal, stupid | No Comments »

Compliance seems to be a very in word these days … and I have had it with a passion.

I’ve heard it three times in the last 36 hours. Enough!

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New iMac G5, New Apple Tablet

Posted: September 1st, 2004 | Author: John Koetsier | Filed under: technology | 1 Comment »

I wrote a few weeks ago about the need, yes need, for an Apple tablet. Today the new iMac came out.

Anyone else notice anything interesting?

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