Thinking about it

Which song should James Durbin do for Top 5 American Idol 2011?

shawnchristian — Sun, 01 May 2011 04:04:21 +0000

Here are some suggestions for James Durbin’s performance of a 1960′s era song in the Top 5 American Idol competition. What do you think is the best choice?

“Ramble On” by Led Zeppelin (1969).
“Break on Through” by The Doors (1967).
“Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf (1969).
“All Right Now” by Free (1969).
“Helter Skelter” by The Beatles (1968).

Working on a new project…

shawnchristian — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 04:03:35 +0000

Starting this month, I am working on a project called “The Blessing Files”. The idea is to document as many different blessings as possible to distribute some positive verbage into the blogosphere. I’ll try to post one blessing everyday from cultures across the world.

Here’s the link:
http://blessingfiles.wordpress.com

Check it out and let me know what you think!

What Up With That?

shawnchristian — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:20:13 +0000

Funny stuff!

more about "What Up With That?", posted with vodpod

A Christmas skit

shawnchristian — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:39:58 +0000

‘Tis the season!

more about "An excellent Christmas skit", posted with vodpod

What font are you?

shawnchristian — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:57:47 +0000

Just about anyone who works on documents long enough ends up with a favorite font. I just took a fun quiz lets you find out what font you really are. And, the font that represents me is …

You are Helvetica

You fit in well to most situations. You're not flashy, and prefer clarity to knocking people over with your style. A tad quiet perhaps, but not stuffy, and you've got very strong opinions under there somewhere. When you get drunk, you start looking more like Impact.

Take the quiz on BuzzFeed.com

Cool Jimmy Buffett Poster

shawnchristian — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:21:13 +0000

JimmyBuffetPoster

Originally uploaded by Shawn Christian (New Mexico)

While visting Gruene, Texas, we stopped by a general store that had this lovely poster in the window. I couldn’t resist a quick snapshot.

Obama interview circa 1995

shawnchristian — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:43:14 +0000

This is a series of videos taken from an interview with Barack Obama somewhere around 1995 after his book Dreams from my Father was published. He was interviewed by Connie Martinson on what seems to be a local access or university channel. If you’ve payed attention during the recent campaigning, you’ll find that Obama has remained a very consistent voice for the strengthening of communities and uniting of people from different backgrounds.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Newsvine is a great site!

shawnchristian — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:18:53 +0000

Newsvine is a user-run newsite. You can post your own news articles or seed links to existing articles for community discussion. The community dialog is at a very high level — not a lot of brainless spam.

Here are a couple of articles that are examples of the best of newsvine:

Celestina’s article “Digging Dirt on Obama”

Discussion on Neil Turok’s assertion that there wasn’t a Big Bang

Do we still need PBS?

Obama and the Economy

shawnchristian — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:29:49 +0000

Albuquerque, New Mexico was the site today of an economic summit organized by the Obama campaign and attended by Senator Barack Obama and a panel of economy experts. I was at the event and left with an even greater appreciation for Senator Obama and his ability to lead our country. Here’s an excellent article in the NY Times that covers Obama’s message.

And here’s another interesting article, related more toward getting college education for as many people as possible while simultaneously expanding service to the community through Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, etc.: philanthropy.com article. Also, in case you’re interested, here is Senator Obama’s plan for the economy, straight from his campaign website: Obama’s economy plan.

In defense of Senator Barack Obama against internet and email false attacks

shawnchristian — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:37:25 +0000

Dear All,

I took some time to do a little research and compile a list of facts about Senator Obama to hopefully quell, in your minds, any doubt as to the man’s character. I’m very distraught at the widespread proliferation of internet rumors and propaganda that paint an entirely false picture about the man. I can’t believe that our political situation requires such energy to protect candidates from blatant lies, but if it does, then let me be the first to stand up and shine the light on the truth. Please serve the interest of our great Republic and help get the truth out to the rest of our voting public.

Senator Obama is a remarkable man of excellent character, exceptional intelligence, inspirational leadership, and true patriotism. I hope that this list of questions and answers helps get the facts straight. Please forward this to anyone you think could benefit from hearing the truth.

Q: Did Barack Obama swear in to the U.S. Senate on the Quoran?
A: No. Barack Obama took his oath of office on his own personal copy of the Bible.

Sources:
Fact check article.
Politifact article.
Snopes page.

Q: Is Barack Obama a Muslim?
A: No. Barack Obama is a Christian, converted to Christianity in his 20′s, and currently attends Trinity Church of Christ in Chicago.
Sources:
Fact check article.
Politifact article.
Snopes page.
Obama campaign fact-check site.

Q: Does Barack Obama refuse to say the pledge of allegiance?
A: No. Barack Obama definitely says the pledge of allegiance. Barack Obama has actually led the pledge of allegiance in the U.S. Senate.
Sources:
Here is a video from C-SPAN to prove it (The Pledge starts at about 2:00 minutes):
Politifact article.
Fact check article.
Snopes page.

Q: Does Barack Obama attend a racist church?
A: No. The Trinity Church of Christ welcomes members of all races.
Sources:
Politifact article 1.
Politifact article 2.
Snopes page.

Q: Are there any indications of Sen. Obama’s good character?
A: Yes! Here are some examples:
(a) Senator Obama is co-author of legislation to provide more accountability and transparency to the federal government.
Wikipedia article
Pogo article
People for the American Way article

(b) Senator Obama introduced a lobbying and ethics reform bill along with Sen. Feingold to the US Senate that “would ban lobbyists’ gifts and curb privately funded travel, establish an Office of Public Integrity, slow the revolving door between Congress and K Street, improve lobbying disclosures, and strengthen open government in the Senate.”
Sen. Feingold’s website

(c) Senator Obama passed a law in Illinois to protect suspected criminals from violence and manipulation into false confessions by requiring the videotaping of interrogations and confessions:
Washington Post article

(d) Read Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope”. The man is a remarkable human being. His own words leave no room for misinterpretation. The fact is, the man has a great vision for bringing healing and unity to our nation. He is a true patriot and a man of faith. Barack Obama understands God’s grace and the need for synergy between his faith and his politics. We could all learn much from this man about how to live with integrity and how to genuinely listen to other people who have opposing views to your own.
Amazon.com’s customer reviews of “The Audacity of Hope”

Q: Where can I find out about Barack Obama’s specific plans for America when he is president?
A: The best place is to go right to the source and read Obama’s campaign literature.
Find out about all of Barack Obama’s platform issues here:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/
Read Barack Obama’s biography:
http://www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_barack.php#
Read Obama’s Blueprint for Change in America here:
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/ObamaBlueprintForChange.pdf

Q: Where can someone find out whether e-mails on the internet are true or false?
A: Here are a few good websites for general fact checking about political candidates and issues:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/
http://factcheck.org/
http://www.snopes.com/

Best wishes,
Shawn