The Trickbusters

My new favorite no-budget show has to be The Trickbusters. They are not magicians, just super skeptics using basic deductions skills, logic and critical thinking to figure out magicians and other forms of trickery. Their motto is "magic don't exist, only tricks". While a lot of their shows are geared towards debunking the "Mind Freak", Chris Angel, appropriately called "Mind Fake" on the show as to avoid any legal action, they cover other forms of magic and trickery like pick pockets and mind readers.

Check out their site at www.thetrickbusters.com and their videos on YouTube, (here as well). Here is just one of their many entertaining videos.

Don't Speak the Truth, You Might Hurt Someone

It seems America does not want to offend anyone, and are working on laws to enforce this. If you happen to offend someone today, there is more ground gaining for you to be silenced and possibly be charged with a crime for speaking truth in a world of falsehood.

With gay rights, Islam, and other belief systems that contradict the Bible gaining more ground, those that speaking out against these subjects are being told, sometimes by law, to keep quiet or are being accused of hate crimes. America was founded on Christian values and Christians adhere to the bible as truth. Sadly we are loosing this fast, but that is another story. The bible clearly teaches that the only way to heaven is Jesus, and homosexuality is a sin. All other belief systems that teach otherwise are in contrary to scripture and would be deemed false in a Christian worldview. More and more those that speak up for biblical truth are being silenced and accused of intolerance and hate speech. This is not a hate speech/crime issue, but a truth issue, and I make no apologies for being intolerant of falsehood.

Check out this disturbing news:
"H.R. 1592 is a discriminatory measure that criminalizes thoughts, feelings, and beliefs [and] has the potential of interfering with religious liberty and freedom of speech," according to a white paper submitted by Glen Lavy, of the Alliance Defense Fund.

As well as this news:
It appears from the bill [The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H.R. 1592)] and from astonishing comments made during the April 25 Judiciary Committee hearing that a pastor who preaches against homosexuality could be charged with inciting a hate crime if one of his church members—sometime after hearing the pastor’s comments—commits a crime against a homosexual person.

Any crime against someone should be punished, but preaching truth even if it offends someone should never be a crime. When Jesus was here on earth, he called people's sin and falsehood out, often offending them, yet he committed no crime against them. God's patience is long, but there is a time when His patience against sin and falsehood will run out. We are called to preach the truth as stated in 2 Timothy 4:2, and should not enact judgment, as that is up to God as shown in Hebrews 10:30-31. Judging and speaking truth to someone are totally separate and different things, and often people get this confused with the "don't judge lest ye be judged" attitude. The bible says not to judge, but also says to rebuke falsehood and preach truth. Contradiction? No. Judgment would be more of a condemning judgment such as a judge in a court of law, and speaking truth and opposing falsehood would be more like a teacher or parent does. As said in Matthew 22:37-39, we need to love God first and as truth is part of God's nature, we should adhere to that and also oppose falsehood because that is against God's nature. Secondly we are called to love others, and love involves speaking truth.

A presidential candidate who will remain unnamed defined sin as anything that contradicts your moral values. With this logic there are no moral absolutes. With no moral compass to adhere to, it is like trying to have sailors navigate the world with compasses where true north is different for each person. Imagine the chaos! Who would be in the wrong? According to moral relativism, everyone is right and the person who offends the other is wrong, but in actuality it would be everyone who's compass is not pointed to the true north. As Christians, we should fix our compass north to God's word.

Apparently not offending someone is more important than truth. Imagine if the law made doctors behave this way. "I can't be allowed to hurt your feelings and offend you by telling you that there is a weird growth inside of you and if we don't remove it, which could be a painful process, you might die. I have to keep silent and not tell you, so we can get along admirably, or else I will be the one punished". On the surface everything would be fine, but in reality things are not ok, and someone is headed for destruction and disappointment, only because truth was traded for tolerance.

I fully embrace freedom of speech and religion by which America is based on. If someone wants to believe a lie and speak accordingly, they have every right to, but at the same time those that adhere to truth and oppose moral relativism should not be silenced or charged with a crime, even if it offends someone. Then again, Jesus spoke the truth, and was crucified because it offended people, and this is just one of many historic precedents.

Disneyland entrance with Microsoft Photosynth

One of the coolest technologies to come out of Microsoft lately is Photosynth. This is where they take multiple 2D photos that overlap, and their software will re-create the environment in a 3D world you can navigate around. They just released it to the public so you can create your own. I have been photosynthing with pictures in my collection, and am now attempting to re-create Disneyland, or at least parts of it with Photosynth. I spent a few hours taking over 2000 photos! Here is the Disneyland front entrance. I got it to 96% synthy so you can really navigate around 360 degrees! Try it here (PC only):



For my next trick I will do Main Street USA! Until then, Photosynth some of your own photos.

Update: There is now a website dedicated to Photosynthing Disney parks. You can even vote for your favorites. www.disneysynth.com

I recently added Cinderella's castle and hub at Disneyland. See if you can find the Fairy Godmother and time-capsule plaque! You can even zoom in to minute detail to read it all:

So, so sad.

Best of luck with your new god...

Isa 44:17-18	From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me; you are my god.” They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
Matt 10:32-33	"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.