Librivox.org

I have been (very loosely) affiliated with an organization called librivox.org. By affiliated I mean, I download from them on occasion and I have submitted once. Librivox.org is a site/organization dedicated to producing high-quality audiobooks of works which are in the public domain. These include unpublished works which hold no copyright and also older works for which the copyright has expired. My meager submission is a part of the Librivox Short Story Collection, Vol. 8, and is a reading of Mark Twain’s short story, Cannibalism in the Cars which is one of my absolute favorite stories. If you’d care to hear my reading or any others from that collection, click here.

I truly enjoy Librivox.org. I love to see people coming together, volunteering their time and resources to join in a community. The name, Librivox, comes from mashing together a couple of Latin words meaning “free voice” or “book voice”.  From the librivox.org website:

What does LibriVox mean?
“LibriVox” is the sort of name you invent when you don’t know Latin at all. “Libri” means book, and “Vox” means “voice” so it means: “BookVoice.” But it’s possible Latin scholars would cringe at some error in the melding together of the two words. Still, it sounded pretty good. Another Latin word for book is “Liber”, which also means: “child, offspring;” and “free, independent, unrestricted.” So we like to think LibriVox might be interpreted as “child of the voice”, and “free voice”. Finally, the other link we like is library; so you could imagine it to mean Library of Voice, which sounds cool too. But all this is the result of using online Latin dictionaries with no formal training.

I would encourage you, faithful readers, to visit Librivox.org.  Browse the catalog or subscribe to one of their podcasts.  If you enjoy reading aloud, volunteer.  Pretty much any computer in existence can handle the recording and I would be glad to help.  Maybe we can all share in your submissions next time.

SDG,
Matty

God has Spoken

I have been checking out books on Amazon which have been recommended by various bloggers, friends, other Christians, random people… and Amazon keeps track of what I look at. So, they send me recommendations of books they think I will like, based on what I have bought and looked at. Very nice of them, don’tcha think?

How do you keep track?

I have discovered something great called Google Reader.  For those who might not know, Google reader is an RSS reader, but it is browser based, part of Google’s online suite of productivity apps.  I must say, I am in love!!!

My dad tells me that he loves to read what I write, but he doesn’t remember to go to my blog on a regular basis.  For him, I have subscribed him to my email feed, so that new posts appear in his Hotmail inbox… I know, I know… Mr. No-Micro$oft and my folks use Hotmail.  I have been trying to convince them to switch to Gmail… anybody have any good “arguments” I can use?

I encourage you, if you try to follow several blogs but don’t want to be tied down to a “single-computer”RSS reader, check out Google Reader.

Oh, and, Dad, this should be the first message to show up in your inbox from my blog feed.   I hope you didn’t delete it.

SDG,
Matty

Left Behind Game Review

I posted a day or so ago about the Left Behind: Eternal Forces video game. Today, I found a review of it that you might find interesting, faithful readers.

Click here to check it out and let me know what you think.

SDG,
Matty

God and the Quarterbacks

I came across this joke earlier today and, with the Super Bowl approaching, I felt it was apropos.

God is sitting with three great Quarterbacks and wants to find out what they believe

God asks Peyton Manning first: “What do you believe?”

Peyton thinks long and hard, looks God in the eye, and says, “I believe in hard work, and in staying true to family and friends. I believe in giving. I was lucky, but I always tried to do right by my fans.”

God can’t help but see the essential goodness of Manning, and offers him a seat to his left.

Then God turns to Tony Romo and says, “What do you believe?” Tony says, “I believe passion, discipline, courage and honor are the fundamentals of life. I, too, have been lucky, but win or lose, I’ve always tried to be a true sportsman, both on and off the playing fields.”

God is greatly moved by Tony’s sincere eloquence and he offers him a seat to his right.

Finally, God turns to Tom Brady: “And you, Tom, what do you believe?”

Tom replies, “I believe you’re in my seat.”

GO GIANTS!!!

SDG,
Matty

Left Behind… again

Ok. I am not a fan of the Left Behind series of books by Tim LeHaye and Jerry Jenkins. I think they are poorly written and do nothing to further the faith; they are merely tools to get elitist fundie “christians” all riled up by the thought of all the poor “sinners” being left behind when the “faithful” are raptured. The last thing followers of the King of Kings should be excited about is the death and torture of their fellow man. But, fundie christianity (my use of the lower-case c is intentional, btw) is rife with this “us vs. them” philosophy. JESUS came to save all people, not just the ones that look like you, Fred Phelps. Ok, ok, to compare LeHaye and Jenkins to Phelps is going a bit far… maybe…

Heath Ledger 1979 – 2008

I am deeply saddened by the news of this great actor’s passing. He leaves behind a young two-year old daughter, Matilda, and other family. I pray that he had a personal relationship with our LORD and SAVIOR. I pray that his daughter will grow up with happy memories of her dad; knowing how well he was respected and admired for the challenging roles he chose. I will always remember him in A Knight’s Tale. That is one of my favorites.

LORD, we lift up the family of Heath Ledger to you as they are grieving today. Give them comfort and strength, and make your healing known to them. Amen

Rest in Peace, Heath.

SDG (Repost)

This is a word-for-word repost of my original explanation of the acronym SDG which appears often in my blog and emails. – ed. note

You may have noticed I sign off lots of my posts (and emails, too, incidentally) with the letters SDG. I realized the other day that some might not understand where that comes from or what it means. SDG = Soli Deo GloriaThis phrase is Latin and it is translated as “to God alone be the Glory”. It is one of “five solas” which summarized the doctrine of the protestant reformation. J.S. Bach wrote these letters at the end of each piece of music he composed. In my Bible class my senior year (it was senior year, right Andi?), our teacher, Roy Lowrie encouraged us to live our lives only for the Glory of God…

This is my prayer, that God will be glorified in all that I do.

Blessings to you all.

SDG,
Matty

Happy Thursday! ?

I was anticipating much discussion on my economics post… it’s gotten fewer page views than my “Social Networking” page!!! Oh well, not everyone is into macroeconomics, I guess. Are all of you thriving in this economy so it just doesn’t matter to you? Am I the only one who’s broke and battered and bruised?

“Something D-O-O economics?… Voo Doo economics… Bueller?”

“A rising tide lifts all boats” – attributed to JFK

So, we were having this discussion at lunch about corporate out-sourcing and the shrinking middle class and the sorry state of the economy in general. I’m an economic conservative, for the most part. I tend to be a little more Libertarian than Republican, but I respect the economic growth that took place in the 80’s based on deregulation, tax breaks for corporations and HUGE AMOUNTS of defense spending. But, you know what? “Trickle Down Economics” doesn’t work anymore… Let’s consider this.

Classic supply-side economics says that when the economy is stimulated such that it encourages entities to produce(supply) goods and services, this, in turn, creates jobs, which enable people to spend, leading to more production and so on and so on. Demand is, in essence, secondary. In the 80’s, income taxes and the taxes on corporations were reduced across the board and, like good supply-side-ers, corporations in this country hired workers, paid wages, paid taxes and the economy grew. It was in the best interest of corporations to do this; meaning it increased their profits, which is the true motive of any corporation.

Today, this model is ineffective due, mostly, to the outsourcing of jobs overseas to cheap labor markets like China, India and Mexico. Corporations are following their motive, higher profits. They can now, with the advent of high-speed data transmission lines, relocate call centers and manufacturing to the developing world and shave millions off of their costs. This is good for the bottom line, it’s good for the stock holders’ dividends and it’s good for the developing world… but it’s shitting all over the American economy. Couple this with the willingness of foreigners to invest in US corporations and it means much of those profits, which would previously have been reinvested in the US economy, are now going to pay overseas workers and to pay interest on loans made, not just by foreign individuals or VC firms, but by SOVEREIGN STATES! Here in Las Vegas, the sovereign government of the state of Dubai has invested close to $3 Billion in MGM/Mirage, acquiring 5% of MGM/Mirage and 50% of the City Center project. The City Center project is the largest, private construction project in the US and will total over $7 Billion at completion; and half of the profit will be going to fund the Arab state of Dubai.

So, as you listen to candidates (and the Pres.) talk about economic stimulus and how they want to pull us out of this slump, listen to see if they are proposing anything which will keep jobs here in the US! Look for candidates who propose incentives for businesses who don’t out-source jobs overseas or who propose tax cuts for businesses who reinvest their profits back into the local economy. Our country is never going to survive if we keep sending money overseas!

Just my 2 cents (or should that be, my 2 rupees),
Matty