Am I the only one that saw that blog post about naming your character after IKEA furniture? You seriously come out with some great names. LOL. I can't find the link anymore. =P - Louie
Well, there's a difference between speaking for God, being divinely inspired, and a joke. - Mark Trapp
Well, If I believe in God, I prefer him as a smartass. Much more interesting than the petty, vindictive version a lot of Christians believe in. - Lindsay Donaghe
We don't believe in a petty, vindictive God, either. That would be a silly thing to believe in. - Mark Trapp
Lindsay, I'm sure He has a sense of humor. He'd have to have a well-developed one in order to put up with our crap, day in, day out, through the millenia. - Raoul Pop
yeah but there is a fine line there Mark. people can say just about anything for someone when they are not close to the person (physically or emotionally) - Justin
Justin, I think you need to factor in intent and the reasonably expected consequences of a sign like this. No reasonable person would believe that God made the billboard and is using it as a mouthpiece to speak to people stuck in traffic, and I doubt the billboard maker intended to deceive anyone with the sign. Although thinking about it some more, if this was a jab at Christianity by some prankster, it'd be improper, but the sign qua the sign can't infer intent. Need more information. - Mark Trapp
@Mark, not saying you do, but a lot of Christians do. Anyone who believes that God would send them to be tortured in Hell for ETERNITY for even one, unrepentant sin (or, for that matter, 80 years worth of sins compared to eternity) is worshiping a pretty petty god. - Lindsay Donaghe
Christians don't believe that Lindsay. The God of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism is all forgiving. In Christianity, there is only one unforgivable sin, and Satan's the only one who's committed it. Christians believe if you are truly sorry for your sins, God will forgive you. Unconditionally. It's the core tenet of the religion. - Mark Trapp
"there's a difference between speaking for God, being divinely inspired, and a joke" - no difference that I have ever been able to discern - Brian Sullivan
that makes sense. though i'm not sure i approve of these sort of things regardless of their intended effect. yeah sure people wont necessarily believe god made the billboard but someone did make this to prove a point which people are entitled to do. i guess my point is instead of using a deity to back up whatever the intent is, use some reasoning other than "cause the deity said so." - Justin
hmmm... I think my response to Mark was deleted. I guess I'll take that as a clue my opinion isn't welcome on this discussion. That's ok. - Lindsay Donaghe
Lindsay, Victor would be the only one capable of moderating comments, and I don't think he's around right now: it might not have reached Friendfeed due to a network hiccup or something. Everyone's opinion should be welcome, but what you're saying isn't a possible interpretation of who God is to a Christian. The religion breaks down if you assume God is vindictive and petty. If someone purporting to be a Christian tells you that, they are misinformed. - Mark Trapp
Mark is it a sin not to be a Christian? Will I have to ask forgiveness for being a Buddhist? Heh. My religion has no punishment beyond that which one does to ones self. - Tad, Fool
Ok, well, I'll try again... I know plenty of Christians who believe that God will send you to Hell for eternity if you have even one unrepentant sin. In my opinion any God who would torture you for eternity for anything you did in the short ~80 year timespan you have on earth is being petty and vindictive. I'm not saying all Christians feel that way, but those who do worship a dictator god who is only worshipped out of fear. I feel sorry for those people. - Lindsay Donaghe
@Mark - I've come across many Christians who feel the way Lindsay describes. - Yuvi (has IRL friends!)
@Mark, the trick comes also in determining what's really a sin. The Bible has so many conflicting rules and gray-areas that I'm sure everyone sins even if they don't know it or they do but consider it to be inconsequential or even necessary in the long run (for "small" sins). If you aren't sorry for something you've done, and don't consider it a sin but, in God's view, it is, does that preclude you from receiving forgiveness and then sentence you to hell? Choosing a non-Christian religion is an example. - Lindsay Donaghe
I had a conversation with a very religious Christian (non-denominational) guy I used to work with one time. He had some Bible quote on his desk that was kind of scary - something about being afraid of God. I asked him how God could be scary if he was omnibenevolent (all good). He said, well, maybe he's not all good. Then I asked why worship that? His answer was because his anger is mighty or something like that. No thanks. - Tad, Fool
Tad, different denominations have different interpretations, but for the Church, it makes no claims on what happens to people outside the Church. We simply don't know the full will of God. You could be saved, you could not be. It only makes a claim of what's a surefire way to be saved. Lindsay, it does a disservice to the majority of Christians who are informed of the basic articles of their faith to be lumped in with people who haven't a clue or a deeply misinformed idea of God. They simply aren't Christians in the minds of the greater community, even if they purport to be. It's like saying polygamy is encouraged in Mormonism, when it really is just a small breakaway sect who thinks that. Christianity is founded upon God forgiving anyone who asks for forgiveness, because the only perfect being is God. It's built into the system that even the most religious people mess up and do things wrong. - Mark Trapp
How many Catholics are in hell right now for eating meat on Friday? - Tad, Fool
also, just to point out... the internet is awesome! where else can you get a billboard to launch a thousand comments! (i don't mean that in a mocking sense) i really enjoy friendfeed and the conversations it provides! - Justin
Hooray for giving religion the finger after 9 years of catholic school! And I never looked back. - ::Kristen::
I actually agree with Mark - that's my understanding of Christianity in its generic sense. I can't imagine Jesus himself condemning anyone to any sort of torture for any reason. That's just not my experience with how most Christians I've met act. - Tad, Fool
What's the distinction between mortal and not mortal? - Lindsay Donaghe
@Mark, I grew up around Southern Baptists. They most definitely held the viewpoint I described. They are a significant mainstream segment of Christianity. Your viewpoint is in the minority of the Christians I have been exposed to. Not to say you're wrong, just to say, in my experience, most Christians do worship a god they fear and that seems very odd to me. - Lindsay Donaghe
Simple actions don't damn you. Heck, God isn't even the one who damns you: you damn yourself. It's a state of mind: to know what God says, and then to flagrantly reject it. You can be confused, you can be misguided, you can just not understand what He says, or any number of things. What prevents you from being saved is to understand everything you need to and still say "No, I'm better than that. I'm better than God." It's an attitude that comes out of hubris, and if you've had it for 80 years, you're probably going to have it regardless of how much time you're given. The actions that qualify as sins are representations of that attitude. But seriously, I don't pretend we're going to figure out "that religion thing" in this thread, but I would hope that we could all show some mutual respect for each other's beliefs. - Mark Trapp
@Mark back on after a break, I don't believe in deleting peoples comments. Haven't even blocked anyone yet. @Lindsay did you mean moral? - Victor Ryden
I respect what you believe, but I hope that you realize you're not speaking for ALL Christians or even necessarily the majority of them. I think if God were omnibenevolent he would even give the guy who rejected him for 80 years a ticket out of hell after suffering for 80 years. Eternity is a long time. No sin is worth an eternity in hell to an omnibenevolent god, but Hell is a one-way ticket. - Lindsay Donaghe
Mark may not be speaking for ALL Christians and that's right, not all Christians have the same knowledge about GOD. - Alex Sauceda
Lindsay, I'm describing basic, unassailable tenets of Christianity. All Christians must accept them. In that sense, I am speaking for all Christians. If someone who purports to be a Christian tells you that they believe something contradictory to what I'm describing, they are, by definition, not Christian. Beware false prophets. - Mark Trapp
Why do Christians always have to capitalize GOD, if he see all, pretty sure he sees your misuse of the caps key. You guys are so cute living your lives by fairy tales ::pinches cheeks :: - sean percival
At the risk of throwing gasoline on a fire, the concept of "eternal" punishment is not exactly biblical. I only say this because I struggled with the same questions. Not all Christians believe this, but it's the kind of question that the God I believe in wants us to examine for ourselves, IMHO. - ha3rvey
@Mark, I challenge you to go to Mississippi or any other southern US state and walk into a Baptist church and ask anyone there if they believe that God doesn't punish you for your sins in the way I have described. And if you find, as I expect, they disagree with you on the unassailable tenets, I challenge you to tell them they are not Christians. - Lindsay Donaghe
friendfeed seems to breed conversation huh? interesting - Ruben Llibre
can't even describe how happy I am being born and grown up in country where it was not necessary to believe and churches of any kind where kept on short chain. I find it pity there is no such country anymore :-/ - silpol
wow, this just took me a while to read and folks got really into the whole religion debate! FF rocks doesn't it!! this is sooo cool!! I got kick out of the billboard sign and a much bigger kick out of the ensuing comments!! I believe in God and I do not believe he's petty or vindictive. That sounds more like RELIGION and the folks who peddle religion. I love God, not all those lame rules (judgments) which divide people and cause the church/religious folks to judge everybody...not good. - Susan Beebe
Sorry mate, thats going to affect my dreamworld..when I first looked it from the distance I thought they were the same people/or the lighting on the girls dress was at odds, so was slightly unsettled by the close image to be honest.(I can't stand horror films, except the old universals/60-70s folk etc) .But in summary, me thinks that the application could be potentially really useful for other applications within photography/encryptions etc. Anyway FFFT - Jason Brooks
Thanks to tabbrowsing, I'm saved ; ) *phew* - LouCypher
I was planning on going to bed. I can scrap that for a while. - Mark Wilson
Hao rocks! "My job here is done. Sweet dreams!" I was kinda distracted, so had to watch again... My sympathies to Jason & his spilled soup. - Mitchell Tsai
I don't like you anymore Hao - I won't post what I yelled in case anyone has kiddies looking over their shoulder - Marco (aureliusmaximus)
I've come to enjoy freindfeed becuase twiiter has been down a lot in past weeks. Now I don't miss twitter as much. I still want to use it though (grumble, grumble) - jjprojects
I love twitter, I think they will come out of this and be the Apple of the 140 char world - Greg Wilker
via twhirl
This isn't just a bookmark to meebo, though, this is their new "community IM" program, which turns any site that uses it into an IM-enabled one. - Phil Glockner
yeah kinda like the Facebook IM. That is pretty neat. I added the Digsby widget to my facebook profile so people can im me when i'm not on facebook. I wonder if they will integrate something like that even though they are a web based IM service - Justin
Going to get this all out in one breath- Chris, this is a prime example of all the choice select posts that goes beyond the standard medium of sharing well done images. My rating= AB 00 (Prime+) - Nice Fish Films
I know exactaly how much. I downloaded the MeeTimer plugin for FF. - Sonciary Honnoll
i moved almost completely off of twitter. i still set off a tweet here and there when the subject is not FF worthy; like "I'm drinking my protein shake by the pool". All in all its alot more interesting on FF. - Carlos Ayala
I tried Twitter and didn't like it. Since starting FF, I hate to admit it, I actually like FF. It is sort of like a group instant messaging utility. - Herschel
Since I used RescueTime for a week, I have reduced all my soc net time down drastically. - Sally Church
I don't waste my time on twitter anymore. I spend all my time on FF; that's where the conversations are. - John Budnik
Well, most of the people I follow on twitter are here, so I turned off device updates on twitter. And as for the rest, twitter has not been sending me IM's for a few weeks now. So outside a short twit now and then, or my script posting what I'm listing... I'm not wasting much time on twitter. - Grant Bierman
None at all. Just FF. Anyone worth talking tech with on the internet is here on FF. We could use a bigger crowd, but for now this is where it's at. - Tad, Fool
not enough, although most of my time is wasted on Friendfeed these days - ♜ Bjorn Tipling
better question should be how much time are you wasting on the internet - Dan Rockwell
via twhirl
I don't consider any of it wasted. I get a lot of great links and information from Twitter/FF posts, and I've seen/participated in a lot of interesting discussions as a result of those links. That's never a waste. - eve shot first
Well, I used to waste a lot of time. But since I got Twhirl, no time gets wasted. It is a marvelous tool. - Rodrigo Leme
via twhirl
I think an interesting related question is, "what are you accomplishing on Twitter? " - Brian Wilson
I use little twitter, more FF and fftogo lately. I'm not a techie so I hope to not bore folks as I try to broaden my geekish horizons :) - kbourke
I use Twitter for communcating with some clients, and also now use Twhirl. - Ian May
via twhirl
"gmail expects the same respect as outlook" - tell that to the Corporate IT .. and see what the response is !! - Peter Dawson
I wrote about RescueTime when they first launched, but I never dared to try it myself for what it might find :-) To answer the headline question: hardly any at all now. - Duncan Riley
I mostly use Twitter in bits of time between more meaningful tasks. Standing in line, waiting, switching between tasks, etc. - Jack Collins
I have a blackberry and I live in Canada. There is no easy way now to read/follow twitter since the IM feature is gone; I used to read twitter via google talk. I find that twitterberry and m.twitter don't allow me to read more than a page or the past hour and using SMS is painful. Every 250 messages I need to delete my mobile number online and re-add it or I would have to wait a week for new messages. I read it when I'm on the go or need a break from my writing. - Phillip Jeffrey
I waste more time on friendfeed a lot more than twitter because of how much more content is available - Justin
I use time very wisely on Twitter - no more than 30 mins/day actively. Scans messages while it runs in background on Twhirl. - Jim Turner
via twhirl
i rarely use twitter, but i wouldn't say that it's because of ff. necessarily. it's just become unreliable as well as "spammy" - Cee Bee
Next to none since friendfeed. Loving me some friendfeed! - joshua fouts
None. I'm wasting my time on friendfeed instead :) - Ryo
I would love to use Twitter and Friendfeed more - if only they were more mainstream here in Australia. - Jim Yiapanis
Isn't Twitter like breathing? I don't stop breathing. - Carolyn Chan
via twhirl
I think I'll be wasting a lot of time on FF, only because it offers you more real estate than twitter. That and the fact that I never know when, and if, twitter will be online! - Dukeswharf
via twhirl
Great app, helped me cut my social shennanigans under an hour a week. - Sean Oliver
i use twitter a lot since it helps me connect with real people and real solutions. the conversations on friendfeed are ones that drive the thought process and creativity though . - Fuad Arshad
Sounds like a great tool, though it vaguely sounds like a rip-off of something else. I don't consider my Twitter/FF time wasted though. I learn so much in the course of goofing off, and save so much time venting rather than stewing in my own frustration that it's a wash. - tinu
I think we've discussed it when the problems started.. i agree, but it's more then IM it's a many-to-many IM rather one to one - Naor
Steven - I agree that you can use twitter like an IM service, but it offers so much more. Simultaneously update everyone subscribed to you. And indirectly, everyone else via search in real time. Plus the location features make the search that more powerful. - Tom Landini
ooh that brings up a good point. i suppose you would have to explain what is going on and hope for the best. does the iphone have bluetooth support? - Justin
@jschnees Yes on bluetooth. As for Steve's question, Dunno. But what I do is keep one ear clear. I use only the bud with the mic - Michael Markman
In California, you have to have one ear without the headphone in it. So when I see the five-oh, I pull out the earphone without the mic. - Michael Carter
this was the first gift I received for my wedding. :) - felix
Felix, was that from an ex-girlfriend you invited? :) - Mark Krynsky
I'm kind of hoping that there are a few less knives in my iPhone... when I get one... - Ross Miller
I have to get one of these for a friend. She's gonna love it. - ha3rvey
Mark, lol! I got the red one, people who see it mostly love it although some get a little unnerved. :) Totally great, the knives themselves are, eh. - felix
Greader, but Steven Hodson really likes Newsgator's FeedDemon. - Phil Glockner
Friendfeed. :) I've started creating groups as imaginary people and just adding feeds to those groups. It works quite well for me so far. Keeps things quite organized. - Justin Korn
Justin - That is a very cool idea! You should write that up somewhere. - Phil Glockner
Google Reader. I used the Sage Firefox extension for a while, but Google Reader is up to date on any computer I happen to be on. - James Williams (willia4)
J.Phil - I thought about it, but I'm not the best of writers...I'll give it a go and you can build on it :) - Justin Korn
Justin, the best remedy for lack of skill is practice. I can guarantee you everyone on FriendFeed who is a blogger now started out crappy, and got better as they wrote more articles and posts. There is no "how to blog real good" class. - Phil Glockner
J.Phil - thanks for the encouragement....stay tuned - Justin Korn
Finally got my post up on "FriendFeed as an RSS Reader" if anyone is interested. Would love feedback as I am just getting into this thing people like to call "blog
