Two spaces (5) Apr 5, 2006
Back in the early days of high school or junior high, I learned to put two spaces after the period at the end a sentence when typing.  I've been doing this ever since.  I've noticed that I'm the only person on earth who does this.  I figured everyone else was wrong, as is usually the case.  But it turns out that it's an ongoing debate.  Basically, the old way of doing things was to put two spaces after the period.  This practice began with typewriters and fixed-width fonts (like Courier), where every letter takes up the same amount of horizontal space on the page.  It was straining on the eyes to read long documents where sentences weren't separated by more than one space, so the extra space was added to make reading easier.  This "old school" approach was handed down and continued by typing teachers, most of whom are old ladies.  But since the advent of proportionally-spaced fonts (like Times New Roman and pretty much everything else), the extra spaces seemed unnecessary to most people.  Also, the introduction of the interweb and HTML made the double-space even more obsolete because HTML only shows one space, whether you put two or seventeen.  But no matter what the current standard is or what's commonly accepted, I'm sticking with my way of doing things because it's arguably the best way of doing things. 

More info here, here, and here. #language
Cults Apr 5, 2006
One thing I've been noticing more and more is that cults (and Christian people involved in cases of major moral failure) have really given Christianity a bad name.  When people are slightly interested in Christianity and start hanging out at Bible studies, they're always cautious about not spending too much time or effort there because some of the people's actions "seem a little cult-ish".  Yes, Christianity can look a lot like a cult because a lot of cults have been modeled after Christianity.  But the difference is that cult leaders usually assume a position higher than God and/or they convince their followers to do things that defy reason and sound judgment.  [Some may argue that Christianity in itself defies reason and sound judgment.  I won't address that point.]  But the real shame in all this is that people are really scared of devoting time to God and the Bible because they think any amount of extreme devotion is akin to cultism.  A leader of a Bible study hadn't seen one of the new attenders for a few weeks, so she said, "Hey, we haven't seen you in a while.  Where have you been?"  The new attender took this to mean that he had to give an account as to why he hadn't shown up in a few weeks.  He felt this was very cult-like and it made him uncomfortable.  When I was in college, I was trying to explain to one of my friends why I had made certain changes in my life and why I no longer did certain things.  I referenced several Bible verses that explained why I did things and how I felt, and he took that to mean that I had drunk the proverbial Kool-Aid of my school's Christian cult.  Since when do Bible verses mean I'm in a cult?  Another time in college, I was in a Bible study that met at a professor's house.  We met weekly, and we also met several Fridays or Saturdays during the semester.  Many people took this to mean that the group was a cult because we spent so much time together. 

In conclusion, cults have given Christianity a bad name.  Thanks a lot, ya buncha jerks. #religion
Sesame Street Apr 5, 2006
I work with a guy named Ernie.  The other day, he called a co-worker while I was in the room.  He said, "Hi Curt, it's Ernie."  I had to struggle to hold in my laughter. #sociology