Why Can’t I Own a Canadian

My wife just sent me the letter quoted below, and give the historical battle between religion and Gamers, I thought it would be funny to post it here.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a east coast resident, which was posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as informative:

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them:

When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15:19- 24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your devoted fan,
Jim

Source: Humanists of Utah

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hollows Trailer

I thought this was worth sharing.

New project

So, true to my geeky self, I have started a new project. Actually, I have started an old project, which I originally began back in 1995 and never really finished.

I have decided to pack all my old writing into one single file and create my own Dragonlance compendium. The project included a friend of mine, who has now left these shores, so I will take the liberty of rewriting some of his stuff as I see fit.

At this point, I am deciding whether the War of Souls should be part of the setting, since we originally started to write this compendium, because we didn’t like the War of Souls. However, there are so many cool changes in Dragonlance, that I think I will try to incorporate these in order to move the setting forward.

Needless to say, this is a pretty big project, and if I ever finish it, it will take me a long time. However, instead of complaining about a dead world, I will try to put my money where my mouth is and actually make a contribution to it.

Gaming session – Live

I am finally sitting down with my group getting ready to play a round of Dungeons & Dragons. We are playing in the Mystara setting, so not Dragonlance this time.

Right now we are trying to find our characters and remember the rules, so I have a little time to write a blog post. Luckily I keep my character online, so I could find my wizard right away. You can see my wizard here.

Check out the table. Gone are the character sheets replaced by software applications. The flowers are not our idea by the way.

Done for now

Well, I finalized my blog redesign for now. I was looking around for a couple of extra social networks to add, but I decided to stick with Twitter, Picasa and Google Friend Connect.

I played around with StumpleUpon, but I could not find any way to syndicate the feed, so I have abandoned the idea for now. I might look in to it at a later point. I am considering a new de.-icio.us account to share various links, but I think I might be able to do that using Twitter. Time will tell.

As for some content, I have been working a little bit on a few ideas lately, so with a little luck I might one day start to upload things that are relevant to the D&D game, instead of complaining about how there is no more support for Drangonlance.

Blog redesign almost done

As I have talked about on numerous occasions, I have been looking into redesigning my blog. I don’t think it will make much if a difference in terms of how many people read it, but I like the idea of using a customized template, which hopefully gives the blog a more personal feel.

There are many templates out there on the Internet, but I decided to use Google own tool for the mew template. The template allows me to easily change colors, backgrounds and all other stuff, and I find that important because change to the template makes the blog seem more alive, hopefully.

Currently, I am looking into setting up a social page, which will house all my social stuff such as Twitter. I have no followers on Twitter, so it makes sense to move that feed to a separate page. I might also add Stumple Upon or Del.icio.us to that page, as I tend to stumble across quite a few links that I like to share on my blog.

Finally, I am considering adding the Google friend module to my blog. I think it might be a good way of getting to know more people in the community and hopefully make a new friend or two, who share my passion for Dragonlance.

Since it is raining cats and dogs today, and my daily run might be somewhat limited, I hope that I will get around to finishing up the blog redesign today. Stranger things have happened.

Mother F*cker!!

I went to my bookstore today to pick up The Gargoyle King. I had my daughter with me so she could see all the cool books, but in all the excitement I picked up The Fire Rose in stead. It wasn’t until we were on the train home, that my daughter told me: “Daddy, you already have that book at home”.

Anyway, I started Dragons of the Highlord Skies, so I guess I can wait until I get a chance to exchange the book.