If there are no Martians or Jupiterians, then the global warming occuring on those planets must be our fault, right? Well, at least we know President Bush has something to do with it.

My computer (about three years old, I guess) was randomly crashing and restarting recently, so I searched around on the Internet for the symptoms and discovered that dust could be the culprit. I contacted the manufacturer’s support center and got instructions for removing the outer case, and sure enough, there was a lot of dust, especially on the fan. Once I cleaned all the dust out, the fan quit making so much noise, and it hasn’t crashed since.

Just something to think about if you’ve had your computer for a while and are wondering whether or not you should replace it. I use mine for work, so I can’t have it crashing on me when I’m in the middle of a job. Fortunately I found that little hint and saved myself some money (for the time being, anyway).

The Shroud of Turin is back in the news. John Jackson, a physics lecturer at the University of Colorado contends that the results of the carbon dating tests done back in the 80’s are suspect because of possible contamination.

You can count me among the skeptics, but I am still fascinated by the shroud nonetheless. I sincerely doubt they could ever prove that it was (or was not) the burial cloth of Jesus, but wow, what if it really is what he was covered in? If it is, then this is the face of Christ. On the other hand, if no one was around to see the actual resurrection event, why the intense bright light? So many questions, but it is certainly an intriguing artifact.

The Shroud of Turin Website has lots of interesting information for further reading.

I thought I’d do something different today and introduce one of my favorite Japanese singers. Her name is Chitose Hajime. She is from the Amami Islands and mixes in traditional folk sound with her music.

The question was posed at Uncommon Descent in response to a survey.

Personally, I am absolutely convinced that there are no sentient extraterrestrials out there (I’m undecided as to whether or not I think there might be unintelligent life on other planets). I agree with one of the commenters at UD who said,

The problem is that the fall of creation (i.e. the universe’s apparent natural evil/entropy/death) can no longer be attributed solely to man’s willful disobedience of God and will present a severe problem reconciling Christ’s atoning work on the Cross.

I realize that Old Earthers would be pretty much unaffected, because they don’t believe that death began at the fall, but if there were extraterrestrials, that would pretty much rule out my theological position (unless they were immune to death and disease). I have big problems with the idea of a God who would create death and suffering and call it good, though, so I’d have to really do some soul searching.

Even if they did find extraterrestrial life (or it found us), I’d still have no reason to doubt the Resurrection, so I can’t say that I’d stop being a Christian, but it would definitely present me with a theological crisis…

When I first upgraded to Wordpress 2.5 I was having problems with the flash uploader. I kept getting an “HTTP Error,” and Wordpress was telling me to “Try again later.” I searched around the forums and dug through many useless threads until discovering that it could have something to do with mod_security. I then checked my logs, and sure enough, mod_security was the culprit. If you are having trouble with the uploader and you have mod_security installed, don’t turn off mod_security all together as was suggested on the Wordpress forums, just put this code into your .htaccess file (all on one line; copy and paste should work):

SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI wp-admin/async-upload.php$ MODSEC_ENABLE=Off

Voila! You can now upload images.

Well, I’m now at a new domain. It’s been a long time coming. For the longest time I have wanted to register cct.com, cct.net, cct.info or something like that, but those domains are reserved for at least the next decade or so. I thought about caseyscriticalthinking.com, but that’s too long. So then it occurred to me, why not go with a Japanese word? It just so happens that “hoshuha.com” was available. Hoshuha () means “conservative” in Japanese (pronounced “hoe shoo hah”).

Anyway, if you’re one of the 4 people that links here (you know who you are), please update your links accordingly.

Kansas Bob posted 45 unanswered questions yesterday that I found interesting, so I thought I’d do it, too.

1. WHO WERE YOU NAMED AFTER? - A road sign (”Casey County”).

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? - My Taekwondo instructor (Korean) once told me that a man is allowed to cry 3 times in life: (1) When he’s born, (2) When his parents die and (3) When his country is in trouble.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? - No, and no one else does, either.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? - B-o-l-o-g-n-a

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? - Who, me?

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? - I don’t know. I’d have to ask me.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? - No, of course not.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS - Yep. Turns out they’re not vestigial.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? - I’m afraid of heights.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CEREAL? - Cinnamon Toast Crunch

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? - It’s such a hassle here in Japan having to take my shoes off every time I go in a fancy restaurant or church or someone’s house that I’ve invested in some velcro shoes.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? - I’m with Bob. It depends on how you define “strong.”

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM? - Cookies ‘n cream

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? - Things they’d rather I didn’t.

15. RED OR PINK? - Red.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOU? - Love handles.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? - My grandfather.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO RESPOND? - If ya’ll have time, please do.

19. WHAT COLOUR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? - Brown shorts and no shoes.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? - Cereal

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? - Born Again Radio despite the fact that they have not picked up Michael English’s latest album…

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE? - Red

23. FAVOURITE SMELLS - Pizza, freshly baked bread, lavendar air freshner

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? - A client

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? - Of course

26. FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH? - Taekwondo, UFC, kickboxing, boxing and sometimes basketball

27. HAIR COLOUR? - Brown

28. EYE COLOUR? - Brown

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? - No

30. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS - Scary

31. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? - I don’t know. The names are sometimes lost in translation. It had Jackie Chan in it, though.

32. WHAT COLOUR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? - White

33. SUMMER OR WINTER? - Spring

34. HUGS OR KISSES? - Yes

35. FAVOURITE DESSERT? - White chocolate macadamia cookies or Rice Krispie treats

36. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? - Bloggers and people who don’t like to comment

37. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? - People who don’t blog or like to comment

38. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? - I translate for a living, so I don’t like to read when I’m not working.

39. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? - Stains

40. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? - Japanese variety shows

41. FAVORITE SOUND? - Animal noises

42. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? - Beatles

43. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? - Japan

44. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? - I’m reasonably good at pencil drawings.

45. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Kentucky.

In case anyone actually believed that the Palestinians were interested in peace, here’s the story right from the horse’s mouth:

Hamas is ready to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders but “it will not recognise Israel,” the Islamist movement’s exiled chief Khaled Meshaal told a news conference Monday.

“We accept a Palestinian state within the June 4 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital — a sovereign state without settlements — as well as the right of Palestinian refugees to return, but without recognition of Israel,” he said.

Isn’t that nice? So they’re willing to negotiate with Israel as long as Israel agrees to cease to exist. Yep, all this violence, it’s Israel’s fault.

Meshaal was making his first public comment following two meetings in Damascus with former US president Jimmy Carter, who said earlier Monday Hamas told him it would accept the right of Israel “to live as a neighbour” if a peace deal was approved by a Palestinian referendum.

Jimmy Carter is an embarassment to the United States and a useful idiot to terrorists.

I was watching a show called “Alien Planet” on the Discovery channel today, and some scientist (I presume an atheist) said, “We have to realize that life is the result of a series of random accidents. Life is precious, so we must do whatever we can to protect it.” He then went into a shpiel about how we have to protect the environment.

I’m left wondering, however, why? Why, if it is merely an accident, do we have to protect life? The word “precious” presupposes that there is some sentient being that feels that affection or to which the thing described is considered valuable. To whom or what are we duty bound to protect life if there is no God? Ourselves? Well, what if some of us don’t see the need? It makes no sense to me.