Sunday, March 1, 2009

Best Burn of the Week & The Future of Mosings & More Car Lust

From Shafeen Charania's entertaining, ensightful ~synthesis~ blog comes this great description of poor Congresswoman Chipmunk, our perpetually-surprised House Majority Leader. 


"Maybe Nancy needs to lower her Crystal Meth intake or go to Walter Reed to have them reattach the cerebrum that she accidentally threw into the recycle bin during National Be a Moron Week." 

Charania's optimism is, sadly, misplaced. It would take a powerful electron microscope to locate something of that size in a recycling bin. In writing that blistering sentence, Charania was referring to the auto bailout. He was writing from a "live and let die" perspective about companies; if GM and Chrysler can't stay relevant and alive, why should they survive? However, as I've mentioned before--it was on Glenn Beck's program--the auto companies almost deserve that money: it probably amounts to the profits they've lost over the years due to harebrained federal regulations and such. That does not make it alright, however. A thing can be just without being the right thing to do...An idea which, I believe, underpins such important stories like The Incarnation. If we were treated justly, we would have been exposed to God's boundless wrath towards our sin. However, it was not the right thing to do. (God did not do it. God does what is right. Therefore, it was not the right thing to do. Q.E.D.) God chose to exercise his mercy instead. 

It occurs to me that I've just covered many of the things most dear to me in one paragraph: talk radio, cars, logic, intelligent and free-thinking blogs, and of course God's Incarnation. I wish it was as easy to write 50,000 words of fiction (the length of an average novel) as it is to blog 50,000 words. 

Moving on. Blogger is kind of like blog preschool. Once children can say the alphabet and go through the day without mentioning "butt" or "fart," they move on to grade school. Thus it is with blogs; when a blogger finds blogging fulfilling and enjoyable, and has some sort of readership, he moves on to the next step. This means registering a real domain name, paying for web-hosting, and rolling up your sleeves for HTML coding (or Java if you're insane.) Alternatively, since Blogger obligingly allows you the code to your own blog if you ask for it nicely, you could just use that. I've fiddled with this in the past; I added the small white widget at the end of each post for bookmarking it--I doubt it's been used since I don't have a tech-savvy user base, but it's nice to know that it's there. I am contemplating taking this step with Mosings. Hosting one's own website is only one step short of Web 1.0 Nirvana (Cloud Nine itself would be starting an internet business.) 

Even as I talk about "moving on" I know I won't do it. Some people are go-getters who take ideas and run with them. I'm not like that. Plus, I hate spending money. There's nothing wrong with Blogger, and realistically I can't see devoting much more time to it than I already do--which I would have to if I set it up myself. So, that idea is now filed in the "Possible Future Concepts for When Sola Gratia Has Unlimited Time On His Hands." I wonder if they have blogs in heaven. We will be "glorifying God and enjoying Him forever;" there might be a place in there for blogging. 

Moving on, yet again; surfing the synapses in the frothy abyss of my cerebrum. I love cars. And lately, I've been reading more car mags and watching more videos from what is simply the best tv show on the air today. I speak, of course, of Top Gear. There are no words to describe the utter joy of this show. The three hosts: Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May; are engaging, interesting, informative, and they work well together. They test amazing, beautiful, wondrous cars that cost more than some people make in their lifetimes, like a Bugatti or a Pagani or an Ascari or a Ariel Atom or a Lamborghini. But they also test regular cars once in a while. That's how I justify my love of this show: sometimes (infrequently) they give advice about cars that might help me in the buying and driving processes. Oh, one more thing. It's a British show, made by the BBC. So many of the cars aren't available here. And it's still the best. And I'm not alone in saying that. Slate Magazine even acknowledges it.

Aided by Top Gear, Motor Trend, and Road & Track, then, may I present my top 5 (Semi-Affordable) New Cars I want.  

5. Ford Mustang GT. ($26,995) If I wanted to be slightly irrespnsible and buy a car with no real family utility (fast-forward to sometime in the misty future when I have a family of my own...and money to buy a car), this is the one I would buy. It's fast, it's cheap, and it's a Mustang. What else must be said? 

4. Mazdaspeed 3. (Unbelievably, $22,740) Small, but fast. The performance version of the best compact on the market. The American phobia towards small cars is completely irrational. Although, I admit, if everyone else is driving a big car, you want one too. I'd rather not be caught in a crash between two Escalades in a 3. But then, it's fast and nimble enough that I probably wouldn't have to. 

3.....I can't think of any. Next time! 

So, what has this post accomplished? 

....

Nothing. Oh, well. It was fun. *sigh* 
 

2 Comments:

pianochick_92 said...

Lol, "what has this accomplished? Nothing." That made me laugh,lol. It accomplished brightening my day by making me laugh,lol.

Audrey said...

I agree. It wasn't utterly pointless. You had a couple Biblical lessons neatly tucked in that were subtle, but still meaningful.