Reading the recent piece by Alex St. John about PC gaming vs. consoles I just had way more to say than I could fit in replies to the subject so I blogged about it instead.

Yeah, I understand some people like gaming with headphones, a mouse and keyboard in their basement, but I prefer the couch, a big set of home theatre speakers, a wide screen HD TV and a controller in my hand with a headset on and a bluetooth keyboard next to me when necessary. I've been building PCs since I was 15 and I wouldn't have imagined it then, but console gaming is now at the point where its really not worth the bother to me to constantly keep up with my PCs capacity to play the newest titles.

Anyway, read more about my thoughts on my blog entry if you like.

Due to recent events (pastors being outed / accused of things they ought not to do), I've been confronted by persons discussing the hypocrisy of Christianity.

I'll be brief -- such people are often completely ignorant of both Christianity and ethical/moral issues in general. It is frequently impossible or impractical for any person, regardless of their beliefs, to be 100% perfect in their own minds (and if they were, I believe there's a psychological condition they'd be diagnosed with).

The fact that a person believes they should not break the law and yet speeds to get to work faster or another believes pollution is evil and yet still heats their home with dirty power for example is enough to refer to such persons as hypocrites. But is there anything wrong with the goals they have, despite failing to achieve them?

The bible states that those who follow Christianity will be known for love, kindness, self-control and gentleness among other qualities and that against these things there is no law.

I'd like to say I do not defend anyone's wrongdoings, but there are a few misconceptions that need outing:

1) What the bible says about Christianity is what I believe, not what some evangelist on TV said. This makes me a fundamentalist by definition. Would you prefer I follow said evangelists' views instead of formulating my own?

2) Having the goal of achieving something and failing does not make the goal system irrelevant or in any way wrong -- we're all imperfect human beings striving toward whatever we set our minds to, sometimes we're just stuck or we screw up. (PS, that's Christianity too -- that people are fallen and fallible, not in any way perfect, with the goal of becoming better). ... and more, but I'm done ranting for now. Please, if you think Christianity is stupid, do your research and don't just play follow the leader from what someone else has told you. If you're against Christianity because Christians are jerks, well, they're probably not really Christians (falls under 'do your research'). Try not to be as overbearing with them as they are with you.

I just added someone to my foes list simply for being an ignorant jerk. They posted this comment in another user's journal about boxing in fast cars just to piss them off.

I happen to get paid to do support, often driving to a dozen locations in a day and those people lose me money. I've called the cops on them for holding up traffic and thoroughly enjoyed watching them get pulled over and having the rules of safe driving explained to them (speed isn't as important as safe flow).

I sure hope somebody gets this guy pulled over a few times as a result of his ignorance. That kind of "I'm so smart" attitude will get you hurt. And you'll have it coming; my family has an expression ... "you can be dead right".

Its almost been a year since my wife and I went into the hospital to give birth to our wonderful baby boy who died just three days later.

I had every intention of setting up a small section of my website with some pictures of him and commentary but haven't brought myself to do that yet.

I have however posted a summary of the events on my Wikipedia page.

Please note; donations are still suggested to Mount Sinai Hospital although if you wish to add it to those in his (Colin Isaac Babcock's) memory, you can't make a donation online (yet).

This is a short sequel to my previous journal entry. I quite enjoyed this message by Khasim (1285) recently but chuckled a little at the icons he has for me:

• Friend
• Friend of a Friend
• Foe of a Friend

It seems at least one of my 'friends' doesn't like this user, one does and I do. The irony is that the one person who doesn't is someone I only added to my list so as to see their sometimes intelligent views on things, although I usually disagree with their vantage point.

The message is #10486464 if you care.

Since I noticed the ability for Slashdot to change ratings on messages based on my friends list, I've started adding more and more of the "enlightened" people I notice to my friends list.

I've given a +2 bonus modifier to my friends so I can see what those people whose opinions I've previously valued have to say (and also notice if they never again have anything useful to say).

What I'm finding interesting now that I've reached a couple dozen people on my friends list is how many people I click the neutral circle on and discover that they are a friend of at least one of my friends. It seems that birds of a feather really do ... oh never mind.

At any rate, it was interesting to me.

I've been asked if there's any way to help with the condition my wife has (see previous journal entries for background).

The short answer is of course yes, please donate to a group doing advanced (and open) genetics research. This will benefit us all. My wife has been part of a test group for some research in Philidelphia who have done much advanced work in the use of modified viruses to affect genetic mutations and the like.

Consider donating to the National Urea Cycle Disorders Foundation (United States) or the Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation (Canada). Donations have been made already to each in the memory of my late son, Colin Isaac Babcock. If you wish to add to those, feel free to mention his name when you give.

Mount Sinai has been phenomenal in their care; our doctors have been very hands-on, very involved and concerned and have even called us at home on multiple occasions since the passing of my son to keep in touch and make sure we're okay. The nursing staff is incredible and delivering upwards of 40 to 50 babies a day, mostly high-risk would make any person dizzy -- these people work hard to keep things calm but personal and give great, fast and consistent care.

I'll probably post more about this when I have the energy on my personal website ...

My wife went into labour on Thursday and delivered a beautiful baby boy at 10:30 AM. We had a couple great days with him but he died of ammonia poisoning from his genetic condition (OTC deficiency) today at 2:10 PM. We're glad we had two good days and he didn't suffer much and lived a life full of love, albeit short.

My wife and I just found out that our second baby, due in December is a carrier of OTC (which my wife has) and is a boy, which means that he will die within days of birth.

There are no treatments for infants, especially of the genetic form and it is very rare.

http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic2744.htm for more info.