Free Way to translate YouTube Videos

Here is a site that allows you to subtitle youtube videos. It works by attaching a wiki subtitle line, so that you (or anyone else) can subtitle a video in any language you know. There is a fun little demo that you can play with, without registering, that shows off its capabilities. Using dotsub.com is free – and allows a video to be translated into any language and to be assessible to the hearing-impaired! It does not look like it currently does automatic translation like the Universal Translator in Star Trek. 😦

dotsub.com

Delara Darabi’s execution may be imminent

Her appeal to the Supreme Court of Iran was turned down.

My first post on Delara is here.

Don’t Mess with Our Chocolate!

The Chocolate Manufacturers Association (including Hershey Co., Nestles SA, and Archer Daniels Midland Co.) is seeking FDA approval to let them make chocolate bars without cocoa!!!! Instead of using cocoa butter and cocoa beans they want to use artificial sweeteners, milk substitutes, and vegetable fats “such as hydrogenated and trans fats”

Our grand-kids will eat “mockolate” rather than “chocolate” bars after school! Besides not tasting right, some of the world’s poorest countries produce the most cocoa – such as the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Indonesia, Ecuador, and Brazil. Do we really want to take away jobs from these countries so that we can eat cheaper chocolate??? It costs$2.30 a pound for cocoa butter, but only 0.70 a pound for vegetable oil, argues the candy industry.

Will we let Hershey do this to us? dontmesswithourchocolate.com says NOT!

This is a national emergency!

Any product that doesn’t have the cocoa butter doesn’t taste as good and doesn’t feel the same on your tongue. A high quality chocolate, when you put it in your mouth, it melts and becomes very silky. With hydrogenated oils, it feels kind of waxy or greasy. – July Anderson

Cocoa also has health benefits such as curbing strokes and heart failure. It is an antioxidant.

What will we tell our grandchildren when they ask us why we didn’t do anything when Hershey removed cocoa from the all-American candy bar!

The information for this article came from a Philadelphia Inquirer news story (4/28/2007).

Who would you vote for in The 2007 French Election?

So who would you for in the second round May 6 French Election?
This socialist woman:

 Segolene Royal – the motherly socialist who wants to guarantee jobs or job training to everyone, guaranteed college education loans with no interest, increase the minimum wage to $2000 a month, and tax capital more than income.

“I want for the children in these suburbs what I want for my own children,” she said, clenching a fist before her bright-red blazer and prompting the crowd to erupt into a two-minute standing ovation.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/11/news/france.php

Or this man:

The Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, or Sarko, who got 31% of the first round votes. He believes in personal responsibility, law and order, and is very conservative. He supports the war in Iraq. However, has he managed his family well?

Wife #1 – Marie Dominique Culioli – married in 1982, divorced in 1996 after having two boys. Marie is a charismatic Roman Catholic who still prays diligently for Sarko, who left her for:

Wife #2 – Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz, married in 1996. Cecilia left Sarko in May 2005 for someone else. However they reconciled in Jan 2006 and are currently living together. She has no interest in being “first spouse”, telling the New York Times today that she is very politically incorrect.

“Merit and labour are values that should be rewarded more and more. We must applaud and be thankful to the France that gets up early.” -Sarko

So if you were French, who would you support and why? I was talking to a woman who grew up in France, went to West Chester University, and married an American about this – and it seemed like a very intriguing election. Two totally different visions of what is good for France, and the candidate in the middle came in third place, and is out of the running for the final!

Nothing But Nets

This is a faith-based ministry that hands out mosquito nets in Africa.  They were featured on Americian Idol last night and that the Bill Gates Foundation supports them. Yesterday, April 25, was also the first time that the United States has officially observed National Malaria Awareness day. This disease has been irradicated in the United States, but kills a child in Africa every 30 seconds. A simple insecticide-treated bed net, that costs $10 apiece, could cut that figure in half. The NBA is also supporting this! They are also up for a Webbie for their excellent web page.

True Jeopardy

Evangelical Politics and Global Warming

Christianity Today has a good editorial on Evangelicals and politics –

One-Size Politics Doesn’t Fit All

Evangelical social reform is a many-splendored thing.

to which I gave the following comment:

President Ronald Reagan once argued that since we don’t know for sure if a fetus is a living soul, it is better to err on the side of life and save its life – rather than err on the side that it isn’t – and make no attempt to protect the unborn life. I think the same argument goes with global warming. If the global warming scientists are correct – then we have saved maybe hundreds of thousands of lives. If the global warming scientists are incorrect, and we do creation-care anyway – well, no lives will be lost, and we will have cleaner air to breathe! As an evangelical – I believe we need to support the poor who are suffering the most from global warming, instead of the interests of the rich – let me pollute – big business! I also believe James Dobson should accept Jim Wallis’s challenge to a debate about the evangelical political agenda.

American Idol – Idol Gives Back

There is a show called “Idol Gives back” that is coming on tonight and tomorrow night (April 24 and 25). It may create one of the largest audiences to hear about the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty in TV history. Millions of people might watch this show, and many lives may be saved from starvation and disease as a result (pro-lifers take note!). Bono, the lead singer of U2,  will appear on Wednesday night. It might be worth watching even if you are not a fan of TV or American Idol. Go to a friend’s house if you do not own a TV! Here is an email about it:

Tonight and tomorrow, one in ten Americans will sit down in their living rooms and tune-in to American Idol for a special episode called “Idol Gives Back.”

We are excited to announce that Bono will be making an appearance Wednesday night on behalf of ONE urging the millions of Americans watching the show to join us in the fight against extreme poverty. Bono will meet with the Idol contestants to talk with them about ONE and the difference your advocacy is making in the lives of the world’s poorest people. The Idol contestants will also perform “American Prayer,” a song written by Bono and Dave Stewart about the AIDS emergency in Africa.

We need your help to make sure your friends and family are watching. Spread the word about tonight and tomorrow’s shows! This is a great way to introduce friends and family to ONE. Invite them to join you in the fight against extreme poverty.

Forward this e-mail to friends and family and ask them to join today by visiting: www.ONE.org

Wednesday night’s show will be a two-hour special hosted by Ellen and featuring appearances by Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani, Earth, Wind & Fire, Il Divo, Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Josh Groban with the African Children’s Choir, Jack Black, Helen Mirren, Rascal Flatts, Quincy Jones, Carrie Underwood, Annie Lennox and many more.

We are excited about what the next two days could mean for the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. Because of your continued support and involvement, extreme poverty is getting the national attention it so badly needs. When millions of people come together as ONE voice, anything is possible.

Thank you for your energy and dedication,

Susan McCue, ONE.org

Why I am a Christian

This is from Michael Spencer, the “internet monk”

Why I Am a Christian

1. It is reasonable that God might exist.

2. Further, it is reasonable (based on the evidence) that this God who might exist might be personal and therefore have communicated with human beings.

3. The world’s religions are a reasonable place to look for evidence of such communication.

4. Among those representing the world religions, Jesus of Nazareth seems to hold the consensus as the person most likely to provide convincing evidence of the God who might exist. (Since Jesus is- in some way- incorporated into all major world religions. If all the world’s religious leaders were locked in a basement until they could elect only one person to represent the best of their beliefs, I believe Jesus would be the person selected.)

5. The resurrection of Jesus is a reasonable explanation for the existence of Christianity as a distinct belief system from Judaism.

6. An examination of the various alternatives and existing evidence convinces me that the Resurrection is, in fact, true.

7. If the Rez is true, then Jesus’ statements about himself, God, Truth, Sin, etc. (The Christian worldview) are true by deduction.

8. Based on this conclusion, I relate to the God who I now believe exists through Jesus.

9. My experience matches what Jesus describes, providing personal verification of the truth of Christianity.

10. Based on Pascal’s wager, I await eventual verification of this conclusion after death, but haven’t lost anything if I am wrong.

The complete post is worth reading here

3 Christians killed in Turkey by radicals

If you haven’t already heard – three Christian workers were executed at a Christian publishing house in Turkey. They were tied to chairs and then had their throats slit. They were holding letters saying “We did it for our country. They’re trying to take away our country. They’re trying to take away our religion.” Two were Turkish citizens and Moslem converts  (one who was a  pastor), and a German citizen.

This from here:

Voice of the Martyrs is helping in Turkey. They’re evaluating how to help these families. Right now you can help. “There are wives without a husband. There are children who now are left without a father. They need our prayer support.”

On the other hand, Nettleton is also asking people to pray for Muslims in Turkey. “As they read about this case, [pray] that they’ll ask, ‘What were these Christians doing? What was their message? That can lead people to find out more about Christianity and eventually, with the work of the Holy Spirit, can lead them into a relationship with Christ.”