Watching the anime series Angel Beats recently led my thoughts to other non-Christian artists producing art that hints at truths that Scripture illuminates more clearly. Specifically, it reminded me of John Mayer’s song, Something’s Missing, perhaps the most blatant recent example of non-Christians sensing a mystery that calls to all people.

The concept of non-Christians recognizing the existence of a higher power or force but misunderstanding or even denying that spiritual “nudge” is nothing new. Paul writes about the very same in his letter to the Romans:

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UPDATE: I have installed the SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam WordPress plugin, which I hope will prevent spambots from registering accounts. The plugin should render the request below irrelevant, so there is no longer any need to contact me before or after creating an account.

I delete several spam accounts from the Brainstorm Warning database every week. If you’re a real human being registering an account, please contact me (whether by e-mail, instant message, Facebook message, or the Contact page) before or shortly after creating an account and let me know so I don’t delete it.

My apologies for the hassle.

I posted 3 new galleries today; all 3 are filed under my Private gallery section. To view the galleries, as well as private posts (which comprise roughly 50% of the site’s content), you’ll need to register an account and I’ll need to upgrade the account from Subscriber to Friend.

I’ve seen several new account registrations (many with e-mail addresses ending in .ru) with suspicious usernames. I’ve deleted all accounts with usernames I did not recognize (under the assumption that these accounts are created by spambots) in an effort to prevent unsolicited advertisements on the site.

If you are a real life human being and interested in creating an account, please use the Contact page to send me a very brief message to let me know you’re not a spambot. Even something as simple as “Yes, I’m a real human being” will suffice.

This method will still allow users to register new accounts while still keeping our user records clear of spambots. If this method doesn’t pan out, I may look at an alternative approach (though I don’t know what form that approach would take).

Merry Christmas to all!

May God bless you and your family richly this day and this season. As we gather together, spend time with family, and exchange gifts, may we never forget the true meaning behind the holiday and the greatest gift of all: Jesus the Christ, sent to the world as a baby to redeem us.

From The Miscellany of a Japanese Priest (Being a Translation of Tsure-zure Gusa):

Idle fancies come floating into our hearts just as they will; is it not because we have nothing which can rightly be called a heart? For if within the breast the heart were already occupied, none of these unruly thoughts could find room therein.

Inspired by the #squarespace trending topic on Twitter, I decided to introduce the #brainstormwarning hashtag to promote Brainstorm Warning. As stated in the introductory tweet, I will give any user including #brainstormwarning in a new tweet sage, Dr. Phil-style advice for free.

If nothing else, this should prove an interesting experiment in social micro-blogging.

Never pay for homebrew.

Homebrewinstaller ($29.95) and Wii Homebrew Installer ($15) charge money for files and information available for free on other sites. Both of these web sites are scams. For information on free Wii homebrew, I recommend visiting WiiBrew or HackMii.

For those who are unfamiliar with Wii homebrew: It is not equivalent to piracy. The purpose of many homebrew applications is to extend the functionality of hardware past the limits of official software. For example: The homebrew application NuGaSa allows Wii owners to backup and restore Gamecube save files from an SD card.

The owners of WiiBrew, HackMii, and Brainstorm Warning do not condone piracy.

I have blocked all Google AdSense ads relating to Homebrewinstaller. If you see any ads attempting to charge money for homebrew files, please post a comment or use the site Contact form to let me know and I will block the ads as soon as possible.

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

-William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18

I love you like a fat kid loves cake.

-50 Cent, 21 Questions