When you buy (or build) a PC, you can slap any CPU, motherboard, or graphics card (assuming some basic level of hardware compatibility) and Windows will work with it. This is one of Windows’ greatest benefits, and biggest weaknesses. The OS has to support every Tom, Dick, and Harry, so it gets pretty bloated.

When you buy a Mac, you can swap out the RAM of your choice, or the HD, but if you want to upgrade your other components you gotta be careful. Steve Jobs likes this, because Mac users don’t upgrade, they replace.

Back to gaming: gamers love to overclock, frequently love to upgrade components, and don’t want to overpay for their components. (They’ll pay a ton of money for the latest graphics cards, but paying an Apple premium for the same stuff would never fly.) They know enough about computers to understand that “Apple” RAM is a ripoff.

So why should Apple care about supporting games? They wouldn’t stand to profit greatly at it, with much lower profit margins to that demographic. Apple makes their money by creating great things you can’t get elsewhere and selling at a hefty profit margin, and jumping in alongside the PC price wars wouldn’t benefit them at all. Furthermore, if you want to game on a Mac these days, you can install Boot Camp and run windows. Then, when you need to upgrade, you can dish out the extra dough for a whole new computer. Happy Apple.

So, Trinity doesn’t let us consume alcoholic beverages on campus. This is a source of severe angst amongst many of the students. So before we go petition the powers-that-be (-dissin-on-our-beer), we had to get our facts straight.

I found some good quotes about beer to take with us, including:

• Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. Benjamin Franklin
• Alright brain, I don’t like you and you don’t like me, so just get me through this exam so I can go back to killing you slowly with beer. Homer Simpson
• If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs. David Daye
• Beer: So much more than just a breakfast drink. Whitstran Brewery sign

There’s lots of good other ones, too, at this page I found on Beer Quotes. Enjoy!

…don’t hurt me, no more.

Today I met with Seth, (an old friend and associate) and I asked about the idea of “screwing things up.”

You see, I’m far from perfect (well, actually, not even in the same universe as perfect), and I often find myself wondering about how my body of flesh—my physical self with all its bad habits and selfishness—so often does the very things I hate myself for. (See Romans chapter 7) How can something I despise so much in my self and others be so oddly tempting at times that it overcomes my resolve? The crux of the matter is that I often wonder what my flesh is capable of.

You see, I’m in seminary, training to hopefully become a pastor some day. It scares me that in some weak moment I might fall into some sin that totally destroys all I’ve dedicated my life to teaching and living out. How can I be assured that the strength of my flesh won’t overcome the redeemed and renewed will of my spirit?

I guess it then boils down to the question: What is love? Or, more specifically, what is God’s love for me? He cared enough for humanity to send Christ to die for our sins even while we were still horribly rotten sinners. (Romans 5:8) This, while hew knew that many would purposely reject him, and all the rest would deny him (eg. Peter) or continue to sin against him (eg. Me). Can I even grasp that kind of love?

I guess my point is this: when Christ carried out the ultimate expression of love on the Cross, dying as payment for sin, no one had done anything to deserve that. God knew what was in all of us, from pastors to addicts to super-apostles like Paul (Saul “I do what I hate” of Tarsus), and He still laid down his only Son to restore us to Him. Rather than fleeing/hiding my face over my sin, then, my proper response ought to be to run back to God, and thank Him all the more for redemption.

I guess I still don’t understand the magnitude of his love or forgiveness, because every time I sin, I fear that I’ve let him down and somehow pushed myself farther out of his supreme “circle of trust.”

The guy over at Upstart Blogger is giving away a Macbook Air for reviewing his site, (well, a chance at a Macbook Air) so I thought I’d jump in the fray. One thing’s for sure–if he’s trying to teach people how to drum up a growing blog audience, he certainly has a clue about it.

Content-wise, this guy seems to do pretty well, though I must admit that I passionately hate all the leading underscores on his site, as they make me feel like I’m losing my mind. Read some of the articles over there though, especially if you’re interested in getting started blogging as a source of income. He’s got some great tips, and he seems to be following them well. (as in, this doctor isn’t afraid to take his own medicine)

It’s all about the linkbait, and the ol’ Upstart Blogger seems to have his ducks in a row. The only question is, will he actually give away a Macbook Air? I hope so, to me that is!

If you’re looking to run Windows on your Mac (without booting into BootCamp), you can surely shell out $80 for Parallels, or VMWare Fusion. They run well, and have some schnazzy features. But what if you could pocket that $80, (or put it towards your legal copy of Windows that you’re installing) and get a similar software program for free?

Yeah, duh. If it worked…

Now it does. InnoTek just put out VirtualBox for OSX Beta 3 yesterday, and it’s sweet.

No, it does not have a few of the super fancy effects that Parallels and VMWare Fusion have (coherence, etc) Beta 3 even includes “Seamless” mode, allowing to run your Windows windows “inside” OSX. It runs fast, and it runs well, and it’s free. You owe it to yourself to give it a shot–what are you waiting for?!? The worst that could happen would be that you didn’t like it, and you’d be out, oh, about $0.

Download this Free Parallels Alternative now!

I’m so proud of IndyStar.com, and yet, at the same point…it’s kind of sad that this actually needed to be said. Shouldn’t people already know this?

Spoiling your kids is a bad thing.