Dead Man Blogging

Fox has a story about a girl who was killed by a man she met online.

“She was really obsessed with computers,” best pal Thamiris Silva said. “That’s what got her into trouble … computers.”

This girl reportedly “spent hours on the computer and often spoke of teen boys she’d met online.” She lived with her aunt after her parents divorced. Her aunt dropped her off at the mall by herself. She had “provocative messages” from her murderer on her computer. She was 13 and had met the 25 year old married man and father of 2 in person before.

But it was the computers that got her into trouble. Right.

Stephen Jay Gould passed away today.

Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, who unlocked the mysteries of evolution for millions of readers with essays on the panda’s extra thumb and helped bring natural history museums to popular audiences, died on Monday at his home in New York after a long battle with cancer.

When Gould found himself before the living God, I wonder what he thought of his God-denying evolutionary theories? I suspect he does not think so poorly of fundamentalist Christians right about now.

Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

The Death Clock estimates that I will die on November 2, 2048. I have 1.466 billion seconds left.

Fortunately, I know what the future will hold for me:

1 John 5:11-13 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

John 3:16-18 (Jesus speaking)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

You can have the same assurance I have.

Romans 10:3-11
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

I suppose my sister is married by now. We haven’t heard from her or my parents since the day before the wedding.

My mom loves Korea and is having a great time. She says my sister is just whining. Mom and Dad are staying in a very nice hotel, so that might affect what they think of Korea.

It turns out that Rachel and Youn Soo didn’t fill out the right paperwork so the marriage is not actually legal. I believe that God, not the state, instituted marriage and He is the only one with any say-so in who is married and who is not.

That does not, however, mean I won’t mercilessly tease them about living in sin.

Worked Till They Drop (washingtonpost.com)

The exact cause of Li’s death remains unknown. But what happened to her last November in this industrial town in southeastern Guangdong province is described by family, friends and co-workers as an example of what China’s more daring newspapers call guolaosi. The phrase means “over-work death,” and usually applies to young workers who suddenly collapse and die after working exceedingly long hours, day after day.

I knew Dad was lying when he said “a little hard work never hurt anyone.”

These new workers are younger, poorer, and less familiar with the promises of labor rights and job security that once served as the ideological bedrock of the ruling Communist Party. They are more likely to work for private companies, often backed by foreign investment, with no socialist tradition of cradle-to-grave benefits.

The young migrants are also second-class citizens, with less access to the weak courts and trade unions that sometimes temper market forces as China’s economy changes from socialist to capitalist. Most of all, they are outsiders, struggling to make a living far away from home.

I just love the implications in these two paragraphs. She would have been OK except for those filthy capitalist pigs.

My sister is in South Korea right now. She will be getting married on Sunday, May 12th, at 5:00 pm (which is 3:00am Saturday the 11th here). She’s been over there for about 5 days. Here is some email we’ve gotten from her:

Sunday, May 5, 2002
     Hey ya’ll. I’m here in smelly Korea. Yes, I do mean smelly. It’s dirty and gross as well. I’m currently sleeping, eating, and sitting in the floor at YounSoo’s parent’s house. I am in pain. I want to be back home in the absolutely fabulous USA! I miss ya’ll! So far it’s been okay though. His parents like me at least. But I don’t like not knowing what’s being said. Youn Soo only translates some of it. It’d be impossible to translate it all though. But that’s okay I suppose. We are on our way to see the professor who is goin to marry us. Great fun. I guess I’ll talk to you all later. Love ya lots!

Tuesday, May 7
     It is soooo different than in america. We both miss home believe it or not. We are kind of ready to be home. And sadly that’s after just 1 weekend.
     Right now I’m in the post office. Yes, they have the internet here inside. It is very interesting.
     Everything here smells kind of bad. Bathing in our house only happens twice a week at the spa. I don’t like that at all. I’ve only bathed once since we’ve been here. I can’t get over jet lag either. I’m so sleepy.
     Today we are selling flowers in the street for Parent’s Day. It has been pouring and it’s kind of cold.
     Actually it’ll be about 3am your time when we are getting married. The dress made it okay and all of the wrinkles are mostly gone. It’s okay.
     They sell knock offs of almost every brand name you can think of here. I bought a fake louis vitton purse for 23 and a fake burberry for 10. It’s amazing. I’m going to buy some fake gucci’s sometime…if I can find shoes that fit. My feet are a little bit bigger than the biggest size they have here. Are you interested in a knock off anything? Anyway.
     I can sympathize with you and poor Joshie’s cold. I’ve been sick ever since we got herel I started out with a bad stomach…and now I’m moving on to cold like symptoms. But I will survive I guess. As long as my husband to be sticks with me.
     (The food stinks for the most part also…) I’m STARVING TO DEATH. But as bad as it sounds…..(oh! and the floor is killing me!) God is with us. Youn Soo is with me….we’ll make it. I’m trying to keep a good attitude about it all. It’s not all that bad.
     Love you lots…miss ya

Wednesday, May 8
     Some of the toilets are like urinals in the floor. I can’t figure out how I’m supposed to use that.
     They have huge outdoor markets. You can buy food in the street (flies walk on it though.)
     I actually didn’t hate yesterday too much. We went out for a family meal. It was nice. But today I’ve been completely scrutinized by his mother up one end and down the other. I don’t know why. She kept coming in my room and looking at all my stuff. It was bugging me.
     We went to a restaurant yesterday. One of our side dishes was bugs. Youn Soo wouldn’t eat them, even though he likes them cause he knew I’d make fun of him. But I finally made him. I took a picture. Ew.
     The food here isn’t so great for me. Youn Soo’s cooking isn’t like the real stuff. I’m hungry. McDonalds isn’t even right either! I’m losing weight though.
     We walk a lot. Somehow we are always going up. Up a thousand stairs. Very rarely do we go down. I don’t understand that…but I should be close to heaven by now! ha ha ha
     The most fun I have is when we shop. Youn Soo takes me shopping every day. He knows I’m not liking here much. I’ve tried not to complain…
     If you can, get me a bunch of magazines…and some books or something. We can’t find any in English here. I’m starving for reading material.
     Anyway…Love you guys….can’t wait until you get here.