Ben's posterous

Feb 3 / 12:36pm

My Firefox Bookmarks Toolbar. Can you guess 'em all?

Feb 1 / 1:06pm

Probably the ONLY thing I agree with Maynard James Keenan about

Maynard James Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle) on the Grammy Awards:

"I think the Grammys are nothing more than some gigantic promotional machine for the music industry. They cater to a low intellect and they feed the masses. They don't honor the arts or the artist for what he created. It's the music business celebrating itself. That's basically what it's all about." (source: http://www.nyrock.com/interviews/2002/tool_int.asp)

Filed under // a perfect circle Grammy Grammys Manard James Keenan tool

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Jan 29 / 12:43pm

Verizon EVDO speed test. Loving it. This was from within the center of our building too!

Test Date: Jan 29, 2010 2:41:22 pm
Connection Type: Cell

Download: 1136 kbps
Upload: 732 kbps
Ping: 341 ms

A detailed image for this result can be found here:

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Jan 29 / 7:49am

Sigh... it's gonna be a dreary day...

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Jan 27 / 4:25pm

Yet Another Living Sacrifice Inspired Poetry Wednesday

My friends Matthew and Josh recently started a community of bloggers doing what they call “Poetry Wednesday.” The idea is simple: post your favorite poetry (yours or someone else’s) on Wednesdays. And that’s it. So here’s mine:

In honor of their 7th full length album in their 21 year career (titled: The Infinite Order) - I give you my favorite song so far:

"Nietzsche’s Madness"
by Living Sacrifice

Moral laws do not apply / The mind is capable to justify
The madman has come / The madness attacks my mind
Cannot comprehend a purpose in randomness
Where is God? Have you killed him?

Self aware observation / Thousands of years
Finite greatness, finite cruelty
Which is the standard of man without God? Meaningless
Which is the standard of man? No rationale for what exists

The madman has come / The madness attacks my mind
Cannot comprehend a purpose in randomness
Where is God? Have you killed him?

Liberation of no law / Exhilaration of no God
Justified in the mind / Leads to horrors of every kind

What if there was a gun to your head? Would it not matter?
What if there was a gun to your head? No meaning in your death

The madman has come / The madness attacks my mind
Cannot comprehend a purpose in randomness
Where is God? Have you killed him?

Story behind the lyrics:

[From an interview with NoiseCreep.com] [...] Guitarist and screamer Bruce Fitzhugh takes aim at atheism on the track ’Nietzsche’s Madness.’ "Nietzsche was a 19th century German philosopher and atheist, who is most famous for declaring ’God is dead,’" Fitzhugh told Noisecreep. "The song references the ultimate outcome and rationale of atheistic thinking, where life is random (by pure chance) and has no meaning."

The lyrics were inspired by a book by Christian writer and lecturer Ravi Zacharias, titled ’Can Man Live Without God?’ Fitzhugh believes that man might be able live without God, but it doesn’t seem to turn out very well.

"[Nietzsche’s] philosophy eventually influenced Hitler and the Nazis," Fitzhugh went on to explain. "Part of the lyrics are influenced by a parable that Nietzsche wrote called ’The Madman,’ specifically the line in the song ’Where is God? Have you killed him?’ The parable reads, ’Whither is God? I Shall tell you. We have killed him – you and I.’ Ironically, toward the end of his life, Nietzsche showed signs of insanity himself, and that is where the title of the song came from, along with the title of his parable."

Filed under // blog blog post living sacrifice poetry poetry wednesday

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Jan 22 / 9:03pm

The results of pictionary...

Posted from Rainbow City, AL

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Jan 21 / 12:22pm

I would have hated to have been a voter in the state of Massachusetts on Tuesday...

The senate race to determine who would replace the position vacated by Ted Kennedy (a political figure I'm NOT sad to have seen move on from this life) was vitally important to the future of our country - politically. It boiled down to 1 issue - which candidate supported Barack Obama's "health care bill". The Democratic candidate Martha Coakley supported the plan while her Republican opponent Scott Brown did not. Brown won, he won in a state that is STRONGLY Democratic - a shot across the bow to the Democratic party and a sign that Americans are waking up to the truth that Obama's "health care bill" is nothing but ANOTHER unnecessary expansion of government and ANOTHER unnecessary entitlement program.

The problem was that while this was a political victory - it was a loss morally. There is one issue that both Coakley and Brown agree upon: abortion. To me - someone, like Scott Brown, that doesn't take a core value like the sanctity of life seriously and tries to weasel off into ambiguous gray areas on an issue such as this - is someone of low moral character in the end. While Coakley had her run-ins with core values and moral character - Massachusetts' voters were the victims. Left in a quandary and forced to pick between the lesser of two evils.

So while we should celebrate the defeat of Obama's "health care bill," we need to remember who we are cheering for and what he stands for at his CORE....

Credit for this should go to my girlfriend, Laura. This post was inspired by a conversation she started with me about Scott Brown's win in Massachusetts.

Filed under // abortion blog blog post health care Martha Coakley Massachusetts obama political opinion politics pro life Scott Brown

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Jan 20 / 3:11pm

Poetry Wednesday For The Week of January 17, 2010

My friends Matthew and Josh recently started a community of bloggers doing what they call “Poetry Wednesday.” The idea is simple: post your favorite poetry (yours or someone else’s) on Wednesdays. And that’s it. So here’s mine:

"Be Here Now"
by Ray LaMontagne

Don't let your mind get weary and confused
Your will be still, don't try
Don't let your heart get heavy child
Inside you there's a strength that lies

Don't let your soul get lonely child
It's only time, it will go by
Don't look for love in faces, places
It's in you, that's where you'll find kindness

Be here now, here now
Be here now, here now

Don't lose your faith in me
And I will try not to lose faith in you
Don't put your trust in walls
'Cause walls will only crush you when they fall

Be here now, here now
Be here now, here now

Filed under // blog poetry poetry wednesday Ray LaMontagne

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Jan 19 / 3:14pm