A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. ‘’House'’ for instance, is feminine: ‘’la casa.'’ ‘Pencil,'’ however, is masculine: “el lapiz.'’ A student asked, ‘’What gender is ‘computer’?'’ Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether ‘’computer'’ should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation. The men’s group decided that ‘’computer'’ should definitely be of the feminine gender ('’la computadora'’),

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

Okay, that was pretty good. But the most amusing part is coming up. What could be better than that?

The women’s group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ('’el computador'’), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can’t think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won.

While the Spencer Taylor (President of College Republicans for Utah State) makes a good point, I think they’ve taken the idea too far. Using the fact that many college students, regardless of race, will do just about anything for some extra money to try to show that minorities reverse-discriminate is wrong. This type of racism is quite unnecessary.

I recieved an e-mail from a fellow Utah blogger, notifying me that he had linked to my blog, and was hoping that I would reciprocate. I obliged, and started reading his blog. He’s a fellow Christian as well, and happens to hold some beliefs that are contradictory to my own. I almost removed him from my blogroll and was tempted to ask him to remove his link to my page as well, but then came to an important realization. If everyone held the same beliefs and convictions that I do, then there would be no reason for me to even express myself. While many think that I am quite “non-patriotic” or “unpatriotic,” I point them to this quote:

“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism”
Thomas Jefferson (American 3rd US President (1801-09). Author of the Declaration of Independence. 1762-1826)

This goes to show that some of our founding fathers intended us to be able to use our voices to change things in our government that we disagree with or don’t like. Dissent isn’t an example of people hating the United States, it’s an example of people investing in their government. So, the people that don’t agree with the way I think our country should be run should merely see me as an equal or a contemporary. No two people completely agree on every issue.

I believe that Christians, regardless of political beliefs, moral beliefs, or beliefs otherwise should unite, but at the same time, keeping their own identities. There should not be such monumental amounts of hate between Christians. For as a popular hymn reads, “They will know we are Christians by our love.” If we aren’t showing love to fellow Christians, what will that portray us as? We will be cast aside as legimate Christ followers. Christ loved everyone, and thus we should also love, if we are claiming to be following Him. In conclusion, let us be like Christ. Love and be loved.

Thus far, this break has been rather eventful, Christmas included. As lame as this may seem, I’m going to now list off the gifts I recieved and from whom I received them.

1. Creative Labs Zen Micro (5gb) from my parents. photo here
2. Camera Accessories (A tripod, mini tripod, and a bigger camera bag) from my parents.
3. $15 iTunes Card from my sister
4. Clothes from my parents, all of which fit this year
5. A Paul Reed Smith guitar t-shirt from my grandma
6. Mocha with Max, a book by Max Lucado from Alison
7. A handmade beanie, also from Alison
8. A large assortment of candy and gum in my stocking

I hope your Christmas break was as wonderful as mine was!

In addition to the snowfall, this week is seeming to be what Alison calls “The week from hell that never ended.” Finals are coming up, so this week has either been spent starting/continuing/finishing projects, or studying for finals. I’ve gotten off fairly easy, with only two formal finals. Most of the other finals have been projects or papers. I appreciate everyone’s prayers, and I hope my hard work will pay off.

Don’t forget to check out my pictures:

Footprints:

I recently went to go see the musical-turned-movie Rent written directed by Chris Columbus. I found the movie quite good, and the music was the best part of the movie. I’ve been listening to the soundtrack almost non-stop since seeing the movie. I would give this movie 5 stars, because of the great acting, great cinematography and musical aspects. Below is the summary from imdb:

Based on Puccini’s La Boheme, tells the story of one year in the life of friends living the Bohemian life in modern day East Village New York. Among the group are our narrator nerdy love struck filmmaker Mark; the object of his affection his former lover, Maureen; Maureen’s Harvard educated public interest lawyer lesbian lover Joanne; Mark’s roommate HIV+ former junkie, Roger; Roger’s lover the HIV+ drug addicted S&M dancer, Mimi; their former roommate HIV+ computer genius Tom Collins; Collins’ HIV+ drag queen street musician lover Angel; and Benjamin Coffin III a former member of the group who married money and has since become their landlord and the opposite of everything they stand for. Shows how much changes or doesn’t change in the 525,600 minutes that make up a year.

This film adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning rock opera tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in modern day East Village New York. The story centers around Mark (Anthony Rapp) and Roger (Adam Pascal), two roommates. While a former tragedy has made Roger numb to life, Mark tries to capture it through his attempts to make a film. In the year that follows, the group deals with love, loss, AIDS, and modern day life in one truly powerful story. Rosario Dawson, Jesse L. Martin, Idina Menzel, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Tracie Thoms, and Taye Diggs also star.

The soundtrack includes a couple songs and some parts of other songs that didn’t make it into the big screen version of the film. If you’re still wondering if the movie is any good, I’m planning on buying the DVD the day it comes out, which will hopefully contain all the scenes that didn’t make the final production.

You can visit the Rent homepage here, and the Soundtrack homepage here.

You set me free!
To live my life
You became my reason to survive the great divide
You set me Free!

While many people criticized Creed for taking a non-Christian stance toward their religious beliefs, it is now known that Scott Stapp is in fact a Christian. He’s written a song for the CD entitled “Songs Inspired by the Passion of the Christ.” It’s another great CD, I would advise everyone to check it out.