Google Adsense is a service of Google that places ads on your web site and pays you for it. It tries to choose the ads to be relevant to the content of your site. This can have interesting consequences, two examples of which I have noticed recently.

My online friend jasonk has recently expressed his disfavor regarding Barack Obama and the Dixie Chicks. Now the banner ad on the web site is showing ads for both.

Tonight I looked at the ScreenIt! review page for the film Jarhead. ScreenIt! reviews list all of the content of a film that someone might find objectionable (violence, profanity, sex, etc.) so that you can make an informed opinion about whether you want to see the film. The google ads linked to nude screensavers and the like, things that ScreenIt! presumably would not want to promote..

Obviously Google Adsense hasn't learned how to distinguish between whether a site is promoting or panning a certain subject. Or maybe its a better business decision for them to ignore that distinction.

Tonight I watched Jarhead (2005,R) (ScreenIt! Review). From the Wikipedia entry:

Jarhead is a 2005 film based on U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford's 2003 Gulf War memoir Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Swofford. The title is based on a semi-derogatory slang, jarhead, used for Marines, and sometimes by Marines themselves. The film was directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes, most famous for his 1999 film American Beauty.

I thought it had potential, but I give it 3 out of 5.

Tonight I finished watching Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (2007). It's currently playing on HBO and examines torture of prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. So disgusting. So disgusting.

Via Andrew Sullivan, video of an interview of Obama from 2002 where he talks about Iraq.

Not only do I think Bush and Co. should be held accountable for being so wrong about Iraq, but I think (whether you like him as a presidential candidate) you've gotta give big ups to Obama for being so right about it.

Today I watched Prime (2005,PG-13) (Screen It! Review). From the Wikipedia entry:

The film is a character comedy set in New York City. Rafi (Uma Thurman) is a recently divorced, 37-year-old career woman from Manhattan. David (Bryan Greenberg), a talented 23-year-old Jewish painter from the Upper West Side, falls in love with her. Rafi shares all her secrets with her therapist Lisa (Meryl Streep). Unbeknownst to Rafi, Lisa happens to be David's mother.

I'm a sucker from non-cheesy romantic films, especially if there is a healthy dose of angst and longings unfulfilled. This one didn't really fit the bill; it was just OK. I give it 3 out ot 5.

Who remembers the message of Obadiah? I've been studying it recently for our Sunday AM class. The message is the impending destruction of Edom (the descendants of Esau). What was Edom's transgression? One of the big ones was pride.

In his commentary The Minor Prophets, James Montgomery Boice writes:

According to Obadiah, the pride of Edom deceived the people into trusting in their natural defenses, their numerous allies and their acknowledged wisdom, rather than in God. Obadiah says that their wisdom will fail, their allies will prove treacherous and their defenses will be overcome. This is quite general and may easily be applied to any nation at any time in history.

What was it about which Edom was proud? The first answer is: her defenses. Due to her unique geographical situation, Edom was almost impregnable.

Was God being particularly harsh with Edom? No, this is His way with all nations. God God exalts a nation. Those in power see it as a cause for personal pride. They boast that they are better than others and can even do without God. Then God brings the nation down. This has been the case with all the great kingdoms of the world. Historians tell us that the world has seen twenty-one great civilizations. But each has passed away in time to make room for the next. Once there was Egypt, but ancient was destroyed and that which is now Egypt is no world power. Once there was Babylon, but it too passed away. So with Greece and Rome. So it will be with the great powers of our own day: the Soviet Union and the United States.

Is the United States destined for destruction? We cannot say. She may recover her godly heritage. She may last until the Lord returns. But we should be warned by God's judgment on Edom. Do we boast that we are strong? That we have the largest army, the most missiles, the more effective navy? Do we boast that our technology is superior to that of the rest of the world? If so, we must watch out! God says that He can bring even our nation down.

This got me thinking about the pride of our nation, the superiority we often feel relative to the rest of the world. As I mentioned recently, I have a new appreciation based on the minor prophets that there is precedent for God to use disasters (e.g. by an enemy attack or natural disaster) to punish a nation but that I'm also bothered when folks use the occasion disaster to point fingers at another group as the cause of disfavor rather than looking in the mirror. Maybe next time Falwell and Robertson pronounce judgment they should consider whether or not our national pride be an issue.

Some TV recommendations from The Week magazine:

• My Life as a Child, Mon 7 PM, The Learning Channel
• The Black Donnellys, Mon 10 PM, NBC
• Wild Strawberries, Thu 2:15 PM, Turner Classic Movies
• Robin Hood, Sat 9 PM, BBCAmerica

From an article titled "U.S. probing alleged rape of Sunni woman" by Oren Dorell in the USA Today:

Ahmed Abdullah, 29, a Sunni from Zaiona, had doubts [about whether or not a 20-year-old Iraqi was raped by members of the Iraqi police force]. "I don't believe that Iraqis will rape a woman. We don't have such a culture. We might kill, behead or do torture, but rape — I don't think so," he said.