If you think this is funny, then you’re a geek. I laughed out loud.

Via xkcd

Weird Al has done it again, in this hilarious send-up of the RIAA’s strongarm tactics against alleged filesharers.

Once in awhile, maybe you will feel the urge
To break international copyright laws
By downloading MP3s from file-sharing sites
Like Morpheus or Grockster or Limewire or Kazaa

But deep in your heart, you know the guilt would drive you mad
And the shame would leave a permanent scar
‘Cause you start out stealin’ songs, then you’re robbin’ liquor stores
And sellin’ crack and running over schoolkids with your car

So don’t download this song
The record store’s where you belong
Go and buy the CD like you know that you should
Oh, don’t download this song

Oh, you don’t want to mess with the RI-double-A
They’ll sue you if you burn that CD-R
It doesn’t matter if you’re a grandma or a seven-year-old girl
They’ll treat you like the evil hard-bitten criminal scum you are

So, don’t download this song
Don’t go pirating music all day long
Go and buy the CD like you know that you should
Oh, don’t download this song

Don’t take away money from artists just like me
How else can I afford another solid-gold Humvee?
And diamond-studded swimming pools? These things don’t grow on trees
So all I ask is everybody please

Don’t download this song (don’t do it, oh no)
Even Lars Ulrich knows it’s wrong (you can just ask him)
Go and buy the CD like you know that you should (you really should)
Oh, don’t download this song

Don’t download this song (other people should do it for you)
Might wind up in jail like Tommy Chong (remember Tommy)
Go and buy the CD (right now) like you know you should (go out and buy it)
Oh, don’t download this song

Don’t download this song (na, na, na, na, na, na, oh)
Or you’ll burn in hell before too long (and you deserve it)
Go and buy the CD (just buy it) like you know that you should (you cheap bastard)
Oh, don’t download this song

Download the song directly

Watch the music video

Via Jake

Amy and I celebrated our sixth anniversary yesterday by driving to Olympic National Park, which includes the beautiful Hoh Rainforest. Think of the forest in Lord of the Rings, and you’ll know what kind of place this is - absolutely magical.

As we drove, we had a great chance to just talk. One topic we discussed in some depth was the idea of a “transporter” like they have on Star Trek. Now, the number of sci-fi conversations we have had, up to this point, has been almost zero. But we were both fascinated by the implications this kind of technology would have for human existence.

It seemed to me that a transporter would work as follows: The person is scanned by a computer, and every subatomic particle’s state and position recorded. The huge amount of data this scan generates is then transmitted to another device at the desired destination, and a replicator-like device reassembles the person at the quantum level. Apparantly, I was correct:

A typical transport sequence began with a coordinate lock, during which the destination was verified and programmed, via the targeting scanners. Next, the life form or object to be beamed was scanned on the quantum level using a molecular imaging scanner. At this point, Heisenberg compensators take into account the position and direction of all subatomic particles composing the object or individual and create a map of the physical structure being disassembled. Simultaneously, the object is converted into transmittable information, also called the matter stream. The person being beamed is now converted into billions of kiloquads of data; one atom out of place and he or she is never to return. From the Memory Alpha Star Trek wiki

I realize that this post has reached an unusual level of geekiness already, but please stay with me. This is cool.

Normal matter replicators, like those that produce food on the starships, operate at a molecular rather than quantum level, so they aren’t capable of producing living organisms (which the Wikipedia article on replicators points out). However, a transporter operates at the quantum level, and produces something called a transporter trace, which is essentially an electronic copy of the person being transported.

For some reason, Star Trek never discussed the possibility of transporter traces being used to create copies of people. It certainly seems feasible with available Star Trek technology, yet the ethical implications are very troubling.

But even replicators, able to produce objects and substances on-demand, would have huge implications for human society. I’m interested in thinking through them in the comments, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks to some great work by Christine Davis, author of the Ultimate Tag Warrior plugin for WordPress, tags are back on Radical Congruency. Click the icon that looks like this to view more tag info for each post:

and a panel will slide down to show you the tags and related posts. You can view all tags used on this site here.

One of the nice things about living on the West Coast is having funky radio stations like The Mountain, which plays awesome artists that would make it into the Top 40.

Flight of the Conchords is a perfect example. I heard their song “It’s Business Time” a few months ago, and, being a married man (six years tomorrow!), found it hilarious.

FotC describes themselves as “New Zealand’s 4th most popular folk parody group.” But they’re not afraid to tackle the tough issues, either.

They make plenty of their good stuff available free, so try and buy something from them if you find them as funny as I do. (All I could find was one big thing on ITMS)

We’re watching Robert Greenwald’s Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices. Shocking. The film’s website is here, and you can watch the trailer here.

Some crazy stats and facts, from the film and Wikipedia:

• There are 27 million square feet of empty Wal-Mart buildings in the US. Many of these are stores that were closed or were not finished because the company moved to an adjacent area with lower taxes. Wal-Mart routinely receives tax breaks and other subsidies of $100,000 to $2.1 million when opening a new store.
• Wal-Mart imports $18 billion in goods from China. In one factory featured in the film, workers earned $3 a day, and worked 14-hour shifts 7 days a week.
• Wal-Mart’s health insurance covers 44% or approximately 572,000 of its 1.3 million U.S. workers. In comparison, Wal-Mart rival Costco insures approximately 96% of its eligible workers.
• Wal-Mart encourages its employees to apply for welfare and Medicaid rather than provide adequate and affordable coverage. CEO Lee Scott said “In some of our states, the public program may actually be a better value.” The vast majority of workers qualify for public assistance, which costs the state of California over $75 million a year - just for Wal-Mart employees who do not receive adequate benefits.
• The average hourly Wal-Mart employee earns $13,861 a year, which is well below the poverty line for a family with two children.
• Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott boasted before TV cameras of sharing a hotel room with another executive (saving $200) and eating a $10 dinner while on a business trip in New York, as examples of his commitment to saving money. Assuming he works 40 hours a week and works 49 weeks a year, Scott earns $13,881 per hour. His compensation in 2005 was $27,207,799.
• Wal-Mart’s jet fleet is worth $125,350,000
• Wal-Mart employees gave more than $5,000,000 to help their fellow workers in need in 2004. The four Walton heirs, each worth $18 billion, gave $6,000.
• Wal-Mart routinely and systematically forced workers to work extra time off the clock in order to keep labor costs low. Employee class-action suits have been brought in 31 states.
• 80% of crimes that occur on Wal-Mart property occur in the parking lot. Adding golf-cart security patrols reduces the crime rate in parking lots to nearly zero, according to an internal Wal-Mart study, yet the patrols were not added. Numerous lawsuits from rape, robbery, and carjacking victims ensued.

I will not be shopping at Wal-Mart any more. If poor people shop there, I certainly will not judge them, since they need the low prices to get by. But I will be spending my money elsewhere, even if it means paying more.

We had a great discussion last night at church about grace and justification after reading through Galatians.

Grace is a tough concept for me. Being from a C of C background, my theology of grace is not nearly as strong as my theology of discipleship and personal responsibility.

This is a huge topic, so I’m not attempting a comprehensive treatment of grace here, but I offer the following food for thought: If we’re not careful, we run the risk of allowing grace to obliterate discipleship.

There are plenty of churches that do a good job of balancing grace and discipleship, but the extremes are all too easy to fall into. If we get really into the idea that grace is free, and the gift of God, we get to the point where any action on our part is either merely a grateful “response” to God’s grace, or a heretical Pelagian works-righteousness.

The analogy of “free stuff” is often used to describe God’s grace. If you have to buy something, the analogy goes, it’s not free, and if we have to do something to merit our salvation, it’s not grace. Well, not exactly. If you win a free pizza, you still have to cash in the coupon. You still have to order the pizza. [I'm both making myself hungry and getting tired of arguing by analogy, though, so consider this tangent over.]

So what do I mean when I say that grace can obliterate discipleship? I mean that we run the risk of removing God’s ability to require anything of us at all. If we are saved by grace through faith, and that’s all there is to it, why worry about actually behaving in any certain way? Why would we think that God cares how we live, as long as we believe?

But there is more to it, not least the idea of covenant. A covenant requires participation from both parties, and simply doesn’t make sense if one party is completely passive.

Bono says that grace trumps karma, and I’m glad this is true; however, we cannot ignore the consequences of our actions, even if we know God will ultimately forgive us for them.

I don’t have a straw man to attack; I’m just throwing some ideas out for consideration. As I said, though, I don’t think about grace nearly as much as others do, so chime in.

This is about the most inappropriate image I can think of to put on a bible website:

Click to see the site and animated sword-wielding knight (we don’t do animated GIFs here, sorry). Watch the knight hack at the air for a few seconds, and tell me that’s not disturbing.