Farmers with .50’s

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Looks like a nice time to be a Filipino farmer: a police raid on underground insurgents claiming to be farmers turned up — among other things — two .50 caliber machineguns, an M1 Garand rifle, and three 12-gauge shotguns; weapons which even Filipino communist rebels and Muslim extremists would have trouble getting their hands on. I wonder if this could be related to that US air transport which was fired on by anonymous attackers over Northern Luzon a few months ago.

X-Files Finale Reflection

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Reflections on the X-Files series finale…

“I want to believe that the dead are not lost to us, and that if we listen to them, they can give us the power to save ourselves.”

So says Fox Mulder at the end of the X-Files, and Scully responds with a smile, “Then we believe the same thing.” Mulder thumbs the cross hanging from her neck and says, “Maybe there’s hope.”

I have problems with that. Christianity is not by any conservative stretch “the dead telling us we can save ourselves,” but rather the Living One telling us that it is He who saves us, not by our own merit or effort, but by His own mercy, love, and sacrifice. And our salvation is not a physical, material rescue from a 2012 alien invasion — or even from other earthly woes like poverty or war — but a redemption from our own sin and its wages. The whole point of redemption in the Christian context is that a heavenly righteousness is imputed to us by faith and not by works. Because we as imperfect humans are too fallen in our sin to save ourselves, Christ has, on the cross, executed and finished the propitiatory work of saving us, and that salvation becomes available to all solely through God’s grace.

So where does that leave the conclusion of the X-Files? Somehow a point is missed with Mulder’s vague reference to Christianity as the transcending truth which he comes to believe. What comes next? Now that it has given hope, what kind of hope is given, even without taking into account the Christian outlook? Are we still talking about “hope” in the face of an upcoming alien invasion and a pervasive government conspiracy — or is this an X-Files insight into the triumph of humanity’s sense of hope, which transcends even those otherworldly threats?

<cliche punchline>

Or is the truth… still out there? (cue X-Files theme)

X-Files Ends

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The X-Files series finale left too many loose ends hanging, and seemed to have lost all of the show’s original mystique. I was left somewhat annoyed and dissatisfied, and unsure as to whether I would be able to enjoy a movie if the creators decide to make one. More commentary on MeFi.

It is Well

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“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,

It is well, it is well, with my soul.”

– It Is Well With My Soul.

OOP and tables

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I’m still struggling to understand the concept of classes and object-oriented programming in PHP. This is tough stuff. I’m also coming to terms with the fact that, for certain design objectives — non-graphic tabbed menus among them — HTML table hacks, in tandem with CSS box properties, retain certain advantages over pure CSS-based design, for fast and convenient markup, as well as for cross-browser compatibility.

Coolest Guy in Japan

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Genta Ogami — the Coolest Guy in Japan.

G. Cosmos Japan is believed to have collected 48 billion yen from about 12,000 people seeking to invest in the advertisement business. Company documents, however, show that the company has failed to pay 20 billion yen to at least 7,000 clients.

Many investors were middle-aged or elderly individuals desperately seeking to make the most of their money at a time of low interest rates.

Mutiny Charges

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As if their vested interests and political bias were not blatant enough: Jake Macasaet of Malaya, and Ninez Cacho-Olivarez and Herman Tiu Laurel of the Tribune, (both heavily pro-Erap newspapers, almost to the point of drooling) are filing mutiny charges against Edsa II military leaders. Let’s all say it together now: “ZERO JOURNALISTIC CREDIBILITY.”