The Mitzvah of MacArthur

Ever since my return from studying abroad at IBEX this last spring, I've retained an interest in modern Hebrew religious literature. The website ArtScroll.com helps to keep this fond feeling alive. Today I paid an overdue visit to the site and noticed something rather profound: AN 18-MINUTE-A-DAY LEARNING PROGRAM The advert runs like so: Even if you have a regular learning program, A Daily Dose will add more learning and excitement to your day - every day! Each hardcover, beautiful volume of Daily Dose will provide four weeks of provocative and enjoyable learning. Over the course of the coming year, ArtScroll plans to publish the initial cycle of this series in thirteen four-week volumes - plus a fourteenth volume focusing on the Festivals. Each new volume will be released in time. Each day's learning program includes: A Torah Thought for the Day Mishnah of the Day Gems from the Gemara A Mussar Thought for the Day Halachah of the Day A Closer Look at the Siddur Question for the Day Taste of Lomdus (once a week) This seemed curiously similar to something else that I've seen before . . . . in fact, it's sitting on my dorm shelf! Just check out the similarities in the selling points: Take a tour through the Bible with pastor-teacher John MacArthur - unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time. The MacArthur Daily Bible takes a portion of the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs for each day of the year, with daily comments that guide and inform you as you read through the Bible in a year. John MacArthur's insight maximizes the benefit of each day's reading. If a commitment to daily Bible reading never worked for you before, this is the answer. With John at your side, there'll be no such thing as a tough portion of Scripture. The parallel descriptions run on the verge of random hilarity. I almost expected the ad for the Daily Dose of Torah to read "Unleashing the Torah, one verse at a time."

Eruption of Mount St. Helens

FIND THIS AND OVER 6,000 TRAVEL VIDEOS AT WWW.TRAVELVIDEOSTORE.COM The Eruption of Mount St. Helens chronicles the events during one of America's most famous natural disasters. Beginning on Sunday, May 18, 1980, the once beautiful symmetrical cone, rising 9,667 feet above sea level, lost over 8.8 billion cubic yards of ice, rock and dirt, and 1,300 feet of height. This film includes footage from the rescue helicopters that combed the area looking for survivors. These amazing scenes reveal an unearthly landscape of mud, ash and steaming craters, which sharply contrast the pre-eruption scenery of pristine snow-covered peaks. Revisiting the area a decade later, it is startling to see the rapid recovery after so much destruction. The Eruption of Mount St. Helens explores the power of nature to destroy and to heal. Academy Award½ Nominee Best Short Documentary Language(s): English, Chinese Subtitles: English Video: Color Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Bonus Features: Bonus Featurette: Images of a Volcano. Closed Captioned.

What Girls Wish You Knew

And what I wish had been given to me as a laminated handout in high school. *Edit* As I entered into my freshman year. NOTE: Submit the following knowledge to the glory of Christ Jesus. Click here to edify yourself and enjoy.

Did The Devil Make Me Write This Post?

"The devil made me do it."

This is the spiritual equivalent of pleading not guilty. It is a line of reasoning that I've been encountering to a fair extent this week. Out of the mouths of babes, no less. These five weekdays are Vacation Bible School at my home church. It is my privilege this year to be a group leader. The last time I served three years ago, I was the junior leader.

For some parents, VBS is just five days of babysitting with a biblical backbone. With over 100 children in attendence, most of whom are under the age of 10, it has been very interesting to scratch and sniff their souls. We ask questions such as:

What is God like? What is man like? If God is loving, shouldn't we obey Him? Do you obey Him? What do you know about Jesus? Why was Jesus born? Why did Jesus die? Why did Jesus have to die? Why is Jesus called our Savior? Why did Jesus rise from the dead? What does this mean? What does this mean for you?

Etcetera.

Then we wait for the answers.

The most interesting answers are usually the ones that deal with the question, "What makes men evil? What, or who, makes a man sin?"

"THE DEVIL, SATAN!!!"

Ease up, General Custer, not so fast. Is that really true? Well, yes and no.

The devil did make a man sin . . . once. In the Garden of Eden, Satan tempted and succeeded at making Adam and Eve sin against God (Genesis 3). But he never had to do it again. For one brief moment in the first days of human history, the devil was our assailant. After that, he became our accomplice. In that one disobedient, disloyal act of eating the fruit forbidden, sin became grafted into the physical and spiritual DNA of humanity. The whole of creation groans under the domination of sin and is scarred by it (Romans 8:19-22). Natural man, however, is saturated from within by sin. The Apostle Paul summed the indictment from the Scriptures against man's sinfulness: There is no one righteous, not even one. All have sinned.

As it is written:

"There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one." "Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit"; "The poison of asps is under their lips"; "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known." "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Romans 3:10-18

The devil didn't factor into any of the above charges. We can never claim that we were under duress when we had thought impurely, acted unjustly, spoke unkindly, or hoped wickedly against the well-being of another person. Who makes a man sin? It is himself. You see, in the first murder in the Bible the devil played no part. There wasn't any serpent who spoke in Cain's ear before he wickedly slaughtered his brother Abel. Satan didn't encourage the bloodshed. He didn't tempt Cain. Instead, God spoke to the dejected young man Himself before the crime was committed (Genesis 4:6). To paraphrase, God tells Cain, "I know what you are thinking about. Don't act upon the evil impulses of your heart." No one persuaded or fooled Cain into sinning. God counciled him against sinning. And Cain did it anyway.

The Perfect Place for Me is . . . Picadilly?

You Belong in London

You belong in London, but you belong in many cities... Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sidney. You fit in almost anywhere. And London is diverse and international enough to satisfy many of your tastes. From curry to Shakespeare, London (almost) has it all!

What European City Do You Belong In?

Different Image, Equal Substance

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed a nasty lack of discernment in what movies Christians have been patronizing and endorsing this summer?

Emails and newsletters held an equal concensus encouraging the faithful to either refrain from watching and/or be extremely mindful of the historical inaccuracies and theological heresies that provided the basis for the novel and movie based on it, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. The basic plot is that an secret society preserved the geneaology and bloodline of the descendants fathered ultimately from the sexual relationship between Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene. Jesus, as is revealed in the twists of the story, was merely a mortal man and not the Savior of the world that the Confessing Church has made him to be. According to Brown's book, the divine nature of Jesus was an invention brought about by the Council of Nicea.

While Dan Brown's book carried a big stick that bashed the fact-based beliefs of the Christian faith, Ron Howard opted to make a film that spoke softly (and anemically) the controversial claims about Jesus. The numerous flaws in The Da Vinci Code have already been documented and refuted many times over by men more eloquent and better studied than me.

So, you are asking, what is this post about?

It's about a humble little film that comic book fans have been waiting nearly 20 years to see: Superman Returns. Supes, as he is affectionately called, has always been known since his origins in Action Comics for his many similarities to Jesus Christ. His creators, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, went so far as to name Jonathan and Martha Kent, Superman's adoptive parents, Joseph and Mary in the early years of the comic. And the parallels between Jesus and Supes have continued in details and plotlines to this day.

In fact, if you have been reading the entertainment articles at BeliefNet.com lately, you would know that there has been a reckless enthusiasm of looking forward to the release of Superman Returns and using the film as a gospel witnessing tool. The title for the movie review even went so far as to say: "The Kryptonian Gospel: 'Superman Returns' presents a gospel story as moving as 'The Passion of the Christ'--and possibly more affecting."

All of this left me wondering the following: Is Superman supposed to be the cultural stunt double for Jesus? (By the way, I heartily encourage you to read the above links. It will definitely help you to understand where my responses are coming from.)

Have you given up taking your unbelieving friends back to Genesis? Afraid that those close to you will scoff at you for believing that God's will for man can be known through reading an archaic book? Too embarassed to talk about God the Father when you talk about God the Son, Christ Jesus? Have no fear! Strike up a conversation about superheroes and lead them to talking about Jesus of Nazareth!

Au contraire! You must still lay a foundation for belief upon God's word with God's word, embodied in God's only Son, Jesus. Superman Returns is a great work of cinematic art, a superhero's story, not an adrenaline-addicted summer action movie. Some of the best craft in movie-making, storytelling, and acting was put to use in this film. Who knows, I might even buy it on DVD. But I won't make it an excuse to stop studying the gospel of Christ Jesus. I feel the same way about certain books, such as Finding God in the Lord of the Rings or Finding God in the Chronicles of Narnia. So did Aslan. Just read the last chapter of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and you will know what I mean.

Superman Returns tells a wonderful story, but the trouble begins when we try to hail it as an incarnation of the Story, the only essential true story in the universe. There are many reasons why Superman Returns isn't Gospel Lite. The film had some very troubling plot-points, one in the forefront particularly: Supes is a deadbeat dad!?! Yes, the Man of Steel has been given the worldly promotion to "Fornicator." I don't recall this development in The Adventures of Lois & Clark ten years ago. In fact it only began recently thanks to that other tv show: Smallville. It used to be that Clark Kent had a sense of virtue greater than that of mere mortals. I guess being the greatest superhero in modern times just isn't enough anymore.

Now we have Supes fathering an illegitimate son with Lois Lane. Seriously, the Man of Steel is starting to rust. One night stands and courting another man's fiance don't bother the conscience of this hero. Since when did Clark Kent borrow James Bond's license to thrill? Despite the starry-eyed zeal of many, it is very doubtful that you can blindly equate Christ Jesus with Superman. I should call it highly hazardous to the spiritual welfare of unbelievers. They need to hear about the Son of God that was stripped, beaten, crucified, and resurrected. They don't need you to keep talking about the Last Son of Krypton who wears blue tights.

This is because Superman is a hero and a savior, but of a lesser order than that of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Kal-El is not the Christ. He is a myth that falls short of equality with Jesus. He is a compromised christ, a meager messiah. One who scandalously fathers a child. And isn't that exactly the same with what The DaVinci Code had to say about Christ Jesus?

Vanity vs. Pride . . . A No-win Situation?

Throughout this summer, I've been keeping myself up to date in my multi-tasking study skills. Before I came home in May, I was cultivating a list of at least 12 books that I would be reading concurrently until I returned to college. On a dare from my sister, I added yet another tome onto my reading list: Pride & Prejudice. I haven't finished it yet (i.e. I know from the movies how it turns out, just don't spoil any details for me!), but I have grown very fascinated with how the novel compares and contrasts pride and vanity. Jane Austen draws the distinction down to this -- vanity is what we would wish other people to see in us; pride is what we think about ourselves. This got me to thinking about which could be the worse of the two. Vanity worries constantly about the opinions of others while pride cares not a thing at all about others. The life of a vain person is consumed by feedback and always earning the respect of everyone else, everyday! The proud person leads a life that is full of themself, with no room in it for anyone else. Ultimately, vanity leaves us without a mind of our own and pride robs us from having a heart that has any compassion for other people. That is where my train of thought has taken me over the past few days after what I read in Austen's book. But to refrain from sounding too proud, tell me, what do you think about pride and vanity? Oh, dear me! There goes my vanity again.

Paintball Memories

A picture that was taken just after a game of paintball last Saturday. This is me going for "The Terminator" look. I've heard that combative sports can do this to people.

There were roughly 20 of us peoples from IBEX that spent our Shabbot afternoon dabbling in the world of paintball - Israeli style! Our bus driver Beni even joined us in the fray, which was really something.

It was a day of new frontiers for some of us. Heather "Smiley" Zorichak stepped out onto a paintball course for the very first time. She was a little nervous but fortunately the mask did the smiling for her. As always, her enthusiasm rose to the occasion.

Brittany, on the other hand, showed us her expertise in paintball. I would hate to be on the team facing her. She gave a fine and sportly demonstration of her weathered roots in the game.

Much fun was had by all on our side. We didn't realize how well we were discouraging the opposition until they turned on their captain, Bill. I can't be certain, but I doubt that a strategy of this kind will ever succeed.

The final roundup of our team before we left. Back row: Chris, Ryan M, Me (a name I call myself), Chad, and Tad. Front row: Heather "Smiley", Brittany "B Good", Ryan H, and Nate "Der Boone Goon". Foreground: Todd, our team captain (and level-headed professor, make no mistakes).

Studies in the Dust: My Adventures in Archaeology

Our class embarked on the bus with many preconceived notions of what to expect from our archaeological dig in Jerusalem. All of them were from either: a) Indiana Jones,

b) The Mummy,

c) Romancing the Stone,

d) National Treasure,

e) Sahara,

f) or Casablanca (?!).

Well, that wasn't exactly what we experienced.

Our group was honored with the task of volunteering for free . . . rather than the more typical procedure of paying for the privilege. For two days, from 7am until 12:30pm, we dug dirt. After that, we retired to contemplate . . . contemplate approximately 20 kosher pizzas from a nearby Pizza Hut in Jerusalem! Then for a change of pace, from 1:30pm til 3:30pm, we dug some more.

For two days, our task was to open up a shaft near the beginning of Warren's Shaft under a hill in Jerusalem. At the end of our time, we had transported about 200 cubic feet of dirt and rubble. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of pottery shards, boulders, and some bones to be found, but for the most part, we dealt with dirt. Needless to say, dirt in and of itself is terribly boring. Is it any wonder that it is called dirt? Even the name has all the marks of a thrill-killer. In order to maintain some enthusiasm and make the time fly by faster, we engaged in some sanctified sarcasm and "talkin' trash."

Jeremy Phelps to Jeremy Siemer: "Put your shirt back on. Yeah, the one that says 'I'm with stupid' and has the arrow pointing up!" Phelps strikes again: "The girls sure are digging aggressively! Did you tell them that there was a souvenir shop at the bottom of the pit?" Luke Neuman (at lunch break): "This is such dirty work! Do you have any hand cleanser?" Nate Boone: "Why? You should be happy to be in the dirt. God made man out of the dirt." Me: "So we're going back to our roots then?" Nate: "Kinda, besides, after death man turns back to dust, so basically we might be up to our elbows in our ancestors."

Some folks decided to sing to pass the time. Unfortunately, they did so while singing with their "shower voices": loud and orff key! (Groan)

This led to some good-natured ribbing.

Me: "You should sing solo. So low we can't hear you!" Phelps: "You should sing tenor. Ten or eleven miles away from here!" Me: "You should sing bass. Basically not at all!" The deeper we dug, the more we were made aware that we were excavating mud, thanks to the water that was percolating through the rock about the shaft.

Jennica: "It's so cold and wet down here!" Nate: "Don't worry . . . the closer you dig to hell, the warmer it will get." Our bucket chain gang passed the time by singing songs. There were a lot of campfire songs and classic rock singles coming up in the review. I resented being reduced to nothing more than a passive listener, so I demanded some Disney songs to which I already knew the lyrics. I did have one disclaimer to offer, though: "Anything is fine . . . except 'Kiss The Girl," 'cause there are two on my right and I might get tempted!"

We walked on an excavated street almost 40 feet below modern ground level. More specifically, it was a road from the first century AD, based on the finding of coins from the 1st Jewish Revolt against the Romans. We were presented with the opportunity to view one of the newly discovered coins that was minted in the 4th year of the revolt, 69 AD. Once it has gone through the restoration process, the coin will be worth $50,000 on the antiquities market. That's roughly the equivalent of my room and board at my college for the past two years. My mom is gonna read this posting and wonder why I failed to pinch a coin to offset my current education expenses!

The path of the street led from Jerusalem to the Pool of Siloam, so with some certainty I was blessed with the gift of walking were Jesus walked when He restored the vision of the man who was born blind (John 9:1-11).

Ready To Serve

Found this quiz online through a friend. These were my results:

You scored as Support Gunner. You're a support gunner. You carry a big gun, and people generally call on you when in trouble. Your a strong person physically and emotionaly. You can take being on the front lines of any problem clearing paths for your buddies. You generally lead the way with your strong personality, hitting the problem with all the tact and grace of a freight train. CLICK, Cha-chink... DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA!!! Support Gunner 81% Engineer 81% Combat Infantry 75% Medic 69% Officer 63% Special Ops 44% Artillery/Armor 25% Civilian 0% Which soldier type are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Find out who you would be!

Jerusalem: City of Kings

Until this last Tuesday (24/01), I had had at best only a vague understanding of why the phrase, “Up to Jerusalem,” is just so. With the exception of the village Abu Ghosh, our bus traveled steadily uphill through some light traffic for 30 minutes. When we arrived at our designated bus stop in Western Jerusalem, we still had to go further up.

We trekked on an upward slope into the Old City through Jaffa Gate, the only gate on the western wall of the city. It should be noted that the walls that define the boundary of the Old City are due to the legacy of the Ottoman Turks, who constructed the walls in the 1530s.

We entered into what is traditionally called the “Christian Quarter” of Old Jerusalem, so named because of the predominantly “Christian” presence in that sector of Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Coptic sects. Our group found itself immediately in the shadow of the Citadel, also known as the Tower of David, though having nothing to do with David and very much owing its existence to Herod the Great, the Crusaders, and the Turks. Inside the Citadel was very intelligent and well crafted museum about the history of Jerusalem. The exhibits were highly mesmerizing and I was all too aware that I could have easily spent all day in the Tower of David. This realization was even more agonizing since we spent a grand total of 30-45 minutes at the site.

Through the course of the 6+ hours of the field trip that gave us a rudimentary acquaintance with Old Jerusalem and its “Quarters”: Christian, Moslem, Jewish, and Armenian. The Christian Quarter is more of the “Kodak Moment” and tourist-friendly sector of the city. This is no doubt due to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which has enshrined for over the past 1600 years the traditional location of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, along with the traditional site of the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Christian pilgrims have journeyed to this site of “smells and bells” for the better part of the last 2000 years, perhaps explaining the overall appeal of the Christian Quarter to the traveler today.

The Moslem Quarter, by contrast, with its over-saturation of street vendors, was more inclined towards the local Arab populace. However, there was no salesman whose tongue was found lacking an adequate knowledge of the English language. The streets of the Moslem were also markedly dirtier than any of the other quarters. The dirtiness and littering escalated to its peak outside the Moslem Quarter we walked along the eastern exterior of the Old City through the Moslem Cemetery. I think that was one of the most shocking moments to my Western sensibilities of how a graveyard should receive a higher measure of respect. As our group made its way around the Temple Mount, our attention was directed towards a seemingly insignificant slope below us between the Hinnom and Qidron valleys. Our guide, Bill Schlegel, informed us that that slope was the true site of the ancient City of David.

Upon returning into the Old City through the southern entryway of the Dung Gate, we were immediately confronted by the sight of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount and its accompanying security complex. I was promptly struck by the fact that the Quarter of the Jewish Persuasion was by far the most lively and cleanest of the four sectors. Bill treated us to some wonderful fresh-baked pita bread on the way towards Zion Gate.

I cannot find much to say about the Armenian Quarter since we barely passed through it. One aspect I discerned from our brief travel through the quarter was that it was definitely the quietest. This shall be further motivation for me to fulfill Todd Bolen’s admonishment to us IBEX students: get out there!

Greetings from the Goyim

"Goy" [plural: goyim, adjective: goyishe] is the standard Hebrew term for non-Jew. Literally it is the Hebrew for "nation." Spoken aloud with a disgusted inflection, it's pejorative. For those of you who keep track of my postings, this may seem like a promising sign that I shall be updating at my previous rate. And you would be correct. I have found a new motivation for writing frequently again . . . with my new surroundings. I'm studying this semester at an extension campus of my Southern California college in Israel. For 15 weeks I have the great privilege to study overseas in Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel). It has been an odyssey, one that initially finds me under the weather with a head cold. The new base of operations for my education is Yad HaShmonah (or HaShemona or Hashemonah or Hashmonah . . .), my new digs in Israel. The name means "Memorial to the Eight." A fascinating history behind the name is that the settlement owes its existence to Finnish beleivers who named their moshav after eight Jews of Austrian citizenship who smuggled themselves into Finland. The Nazis made an ultimatum to the Finnish government to hand over all of their indigineous Jews. The Finns refused to compromise the welfare of any native citizen, but instead handed over these eight Jews from Austria who were illegal aliens in Finland. Only one survived the Holocaust.

The settlement is believed to be very close to the biblical location of the Camp of Dan in Judges 18:12. Some local points of interest are the neighboring village of Neve Ilan, the Elvis Inn (what can I say, Israel is a land graced by many kings), and the Arab settlement of Abu Ghosh.

Return of the SlightStrider

Dear esteemed and valued readers who frequent this blog, (Hey, I can dream can't I?) Happy 2006 to you! My Christmas break is almost gone and I feel like I've only been able to touch the ground a couple of times. I've been checking my email very randomly (and the attention towards my blogs has even been worse). I'm like a stone, skipping on water. I just had a very enjoyable (albeit, frenetic) week, coming back early to college for a Winterim class. I've been under a lot of conviction over all the great books about God that I've been given and have yet to read. Texts beyond the count of my fingers and toes are salted throughout the bookshelves in my room and by the front door. Just recently I finally picked up a book of morning and evening devotions by C. H. Spurgeon. It was under at least a 4-year layer of dust with pages just as crisp as the day it was given to me. This morning's devotion was a genuflection upon prayer. Spurgeon simply remarks on how rife the pages of the Bible are with prayer: Genesis has barely just begun when "men began to call upon the Lord" and the some of the final words in Revelation are "Maranatha! . . . Amen." I was having some fun lately this Christmas. Whenever someone said to me, "Happy Holidays!" I would reply, "Which one?" However, I was not always so merciful. If people I knew at church wished me the same, I would counterattack (with sanctified sarcasm), "Well, after all, Xmas is merely that tradition when Xians celebrate the birth of X." (If the well-wisher was not of African-American descent, I would answer, "And a Happy Kwanzaa to you, too!") While reading some of the blogs of TMC schoolmates that I know, I read many reminiscences about friends, family, presents, relaxation, Narnia, etc. I thought that there was a sad shortcoming of exclaiming what Christmas and Jesus meant to them. It's not just us folks, justified by Christ's blood, who read each others' blogs and other webpages. I keep reminding myself that there are a great deal of unredeemed eyes & hearts that God may bring across our little bubble of friends. And besides, the Gospel is as equally important to us Christians as to unbelievers. I guess I'll say my piece here, to you, first. --- I quote from our family Christmas letter this year, an opportunity which the Lord gave to me to compose: Two millennia ago, when the fullness of time was accomplished, God provided us with the only essential Christmas gift we have ever needed: Himself. Unto us a Child is born, a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord (Isaiah 9:6, Luke 2:11). Bound up inseparably with Christmas is Easter: that while we were such unlovable sinners ("man disobeying, disloyal" -- John Milton, Paradise Lost), God so loved us that He crushed His only Son, Jesus, in our deserving place (Romans 5:8, John 3:16, Isaiah 53:10). The reason for this season is Jesus of Nazareth, the only baby in all of history who was born for the sake of dying, for taking away the shame of others upon Himself. It is our prayer that this Christmas, you rejoice in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and take joy in the hope of rebirth that He has provided for us. Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth. Hark! the herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King!"

For What Shall a Man Sell His Soul?

Answer: A Google ad spot. This seems like every college student's dream. Why struggle to find a job to pay for your school in addition to your already manic schedule when, with a goose-quil pen and a few drops of your life's blood, your blog that is a favorite hobby to post upon can generate some modest revenue. I guess making money off of a personal blog is like gun laws: Why enforce something new that no one shall take seriously since all that you need is already at your fingertips if you would only use it. The logic is no different for blogging. Why waste time at a mediocre occupation trying to support yourself as a full-time student when you can just manipulate a previously existing hobby to rake in some muy much wanted wampum? If the ads seem tasteless to you, don't blame me . . . it's just the stupid artificial intelligence that Google uses match ads with my postings. I'll just use the word "match" one more time to see if that ridiculous dating service, e-hormoney.com turns up as a hot link. Ah, yes! I can see it now: SWM w/ nil social skills seeking same in SWF. Preferably from Australia. That one's for you, Pecadillo.