Daily Read 09/23/2008

• Microsoft could save 45 million tons of CO2 emissions with a few lines of computer code | FP Passport

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  • Vampires!! - post by umjeremy
  • Microsoft should issue a software upgrade to every computer running Microsoft Windows worldwide. The upgrade would adjust the machine's energy-saving settings for maximum efficiency. Of course, this upgrade would have to allow critical systems to opt out. Nobody wants air traffic control computers to suddenly go into deep hibernation. But correcting for critical systems should be very simple for a company that churns out millions of lines of code every year.

• they must need bears - the leaded window opened to move the dancing candleflame

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  • Vonnegut's notes can be used for sermon preparation too, I'm sure. - post by umjeremy

  • Some writing advice by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. on the subject of short stories, from Bagombo Snuff Box:

    1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

    2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

    3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

    4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.

• The Daily Saint: How Long Should You Stay at Your Current Job?

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  • From Archbishop Oscar Romero - post by umjeremy
  • "It helps now and then to step back and take the long view.  The kingdom is not only beyond our effoerts, it is even beyond our vision.  We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is the Lord's work.  Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.  No statement says all that should be said.  No prayer fully expresses our faith.  No confession makes us perfect; no pastoral visit brings wholeness.  No program accomplishes fully the church's mission.  No set of goals and objective includes everything.  This is who we are. We plant the seeds that some day will grow.  We water seeds that were already planted, knowing that they hold future promis.  We lay foundations that will need much further development.  We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.  We cannot do everything and, realizing that, there is a sense of liberation in our very being.   This enables us to do something and to do it very well.  It may be incomplete, but it is the difference between the master builder and the laborer.  We are laborers, not master builders, ministers, not the Messiah.  We are prophets of a future that is not our own."

• Colbert’s Religionizer One-Liners | Think Christian

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  • From Colbert's Religionizer. Hilarious interfaith jabs abound! - post by umjeremy

  • Christianity:
    
    Sweet! More Bible!
    
    Warning: Stigmata not covered by HMO.
    
    Pro: Salvation. Con: N/A
    
    Jesus died for your sins, so you kind of owe him.
    
    You’re now only 60% likely to burn in Hell.
    
    Start planning your Rapture party now!
    
    Admit it: it feels good to be right.
    
    Jesus is now officially your co-pilot.
    
    Feeling guilty? Get used to it.
    
    Walking on the beach just got a whole lot easier.