Doubt and faith
Doubt and faith
When pressed between hard times and harsh realities, the thought of faith and prayer arises. This can be seen in medical emergencies, before a tough exam, or when rooting for a favorite sports team. Most of the time prayer is nothing more than a nonverbal expression of hope that one can make while sighing. This use of prayer dilutes the power of faith just as how certain words have lost their true meaning, or power, through misuse, ignorance, or triteness. When prayer is more than superstition but rather hope and reason, the thought of amelioration becomes plausible. Of course being human, no one can have absolute faith all the time and when times get harder, it is only natural for prayer to become more prevalent. What happens when prayers come true? Should one accept a gift from God with open arms or be weary. Is being weary a sign of a lack of faith in prayer and inevitably God? Is it wrong not to accept something that one has prayed for since it seems like prayers go unanswered for so many people. Prayer has been a vehicle for hope in the power of faith and God but without reason and doubt, the power prayer is unanalyzed and not interpreted thus underappreciated and often unaware.
Doubt and Prayer
By Alfred Tennyson
THO’ Sin too oft, when smitten by Thy rod,
Rail at ‘Blind Fate’ with many a vain ‘Alas”
From sin thro’ sorrow into Thee we pass
By that same path our true forefathers trod;
And let not Reason fail me, nor the sod
Draw from my death Thy living flower and grass,
Before I learn that Love, which is, and was
My Father, and my Brother, and my God!
Steel me with patience! soften me with grief!
Let blow the trumpet strongly while I pray,
Till this embattled wall of unbelief
My prison, not my fortress, fall away!
Then, if Thou willest, let my day be brief,
So Thou wilt strike Thy glory thro’ the day.
Love,
Jonathan
Ubuntu Sound Card HELL !!!
Hello people passing by my blog. Today I finally broke down and decided to fix my sound card issues with ubuntu linux. Let me start by saying that I was using a creative sound blaster audigy SE and the sound was fine but as hard as I tried there was no mic recording on audacity. I just want everyone to know that the only reason i bought the new card was because I beta-ed Microsoft Vista a year back and believe it or not, my SB Live card was concidered LEGACY HARDWARE and wasn’t supported. This meant no sound on vista and grey hair. When the beta ended, I switched to ubuntu fiesty faun and all was better or at least i thought it was alright.
Installing a new OS can lead to little problems with sound and video but most of it is just a little tweak to alsamixer or jumping into a file and adding a few lines. On Ubuntu most of the problems can be solved with apt-get or synaptic package manager, but this isn’t where my problem was solved. I tried everything and the bottom line was that booting up my XP partion got the mic working, so last night I gave up and created my first podcast on Windows XP … i wanted to cry.
Then in the middle of the night i had a dream about making another show but this time on ubuntu and something clicked. I remembered that i had a SB live card in my closet from when i needed to upgrade for Vista. This was my shining light and guiding saviour back to completely using Linux. After installing my Live card, I loaded up audacity and alsamixer and started recording sound without a hitch.
Final thought for this blog entry would be that any Linux user using a sound blaster audigy SE card should think twice before tinking with the mic or any recording because alsa does not like this card. Perhaps its just too new but the thing has been around for a while and alsa usually does not discriminate, so who knows.
Keep a look out for my new all linux made audio blog coming soon!
-Jonathan
Audio Podcast now available!
Hello all! I’ve just started an audio podcast to give my viewers another venue for my rants, thoughts, and beliefs. The rss feed is located on the side bar to the right and they are hosted on podshow.com . So far i’ve only done one and it doesn’t have great production but if it allows me to flow between thoughts or create something good, them i’m ok with it.
So subscribe to get your fix of me on your ipod
Jonathan
Legacy of Kain Series
A friend came in from out of town and wondered if I could order a copy of Legacy of Kain Defiance off the internet. I decided to check out my local EB Games and found a copy in the 9.99 or less bin. When I showed him that I had the game before he got to my house, he lit up with excitement. When I handed him the game I purchased, he handed me a copy of Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 2 for the PS2.
For anyone unfamilar with the Legacy of Kain series, It’s a tale of Vampires, deceit, and stuff. Its hard not dive in and start giving away little details about the games because there is so much good storytelling in these games. So far i’ve beaten the first, blood omen, and i’m working on the third, Soul Reaver 2. I haven’t played Blood Omen since early 2000 so I have to admit that i have much to play but my friend filled me in a few details. These games are rare and its been hard to get my hands on the original discs.
The only thing that makes me cringe is the way game play is changed from the first and the third. The first is like a diablo clone while the rest of the series is more like Tomb Raider or devil May Cry. While the graphics improved dramatically, i think plat forming puzzle games are a little boring, but thats just me.
It would be excellent to see games like these come into the next gen era with awesome controls and robust environments. Hopefully companies like Silicon Knights or Eidios can create some new gems to fill our empty 360, wii, and ps3 libraries.
Good Site: http://www.dark-chronicle.co.uk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_of_Kain
