Internet Safari

Column for week of April 25, 2004:

Christianity – a word used to describe folks who
have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ of
Nazareth. A relationship that is based solely on
faith – for you see, Jesus walked the earth over
2000 years ago. Up until 9/11 – Christianity was
pretty much bashed by anyone and everyone who
wasn’t a Christian themselves. Folks in
“Hollywierd” still have a great time making light
of a religion that they believe is false. It
seems though, that since the horrendous terrorist
attack in New York – interest in Christianity has
been on the rise. Before 9/11 – I’d have even
thought to myself, that a major motion picture
about Jesus would never survive its first opening
weekend, but – that was before.
This is now.
Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” has now
grossed over 361 million dollars – that is a lot
of money. That also equates to a lot more people
watching the film, than just Christians. If you
want to keep up with box office totals (for any
movie), it’s easy, just jump over to the Internet
Movie Database at
www.imdb.com
and then click on the “more” link, under the “Tops
at the Box Office” category.
A lot of people, Christian and non – believers
alike, have a very strong feeling that
the end of the world, as we know it – is very
near. Some folks (including myself), can see the “writing on the
wall”, it’s everywhere. One of the most popular
excuses that I have heard folks use, is that they
don’t like Christianity because it’s based on the
Bible, and the Bible is just too difficult to
understand. Either the folks don’t like the
“King’s English”, or they don’t trust a particular
translation. So, even though they are curious as
to what the Bible says about the “end of days”,
they don’t pursue it.
A few years ago, it would be pretty costly to have
access to several different versions of the Bible
– that is not the case today. For the price of
access to the Internet, anyone can quickly,
freely, and easily become a Bible scholar (well
close Ok?). First stop is
www.bible.org
where you will find the complete online version of
the “New English Translation” Bible. There is much
more on the Web site than just the Bible though;
hundreds of essays and theological studies can
also be found there.
Looking for more options while researching the
Bible? Try the “Bible Gateway” at
www.biblegateway.com
and you’ll find yourself having access to at least
16 different Bible versions. One can also read
foreign language versions of the Bible at that Web
site.
Not satisfied with access to 16 versions of the
Bible? How about 22? Just hop on over to
bible.crosswalk.com
And you’ll be astounded by the width and breadth
and what is available to anyone wanting a better
understanding of the Bible.
If you are looking for a little more than just
quick access to the Bible, say for example things
like daily devotionals, commentaries, and columns
– then you can have all of that at
www.studylight.org –
it is a great Web site.
So, no one any longer has any excuse for not at
least being able to confirm a particular passage
of the Bible that may be used in a movie, book, or
song.
Remember, even satan (left un-capitalized on
purpose) knows what is written in the Bible.

Tom DiFrancesca III is a freelance columnist and a
resident of Clovis, New Mexico. He can be reached at
www.trackertom.com

Column for week of April 18, 2004:

“The sanctity of marriage.” – if you haven’t
already, you are going to read; and hear that
quote a lot in the next few months. Whether or
not you agree with the current definition of
marriage, you have a right to be heard – and to
share your opinion with our elected officials.
Congress will be taking up the issue of marriage
when members are presented with an opportunity to
create the “Federal Marriage Amendment”. If you
want to let those who represent the people, know
how you feel about that potential constitutional
amendment, the best way to do that, is to visit
the “e. the People” Web site at
www.e-thepeople.org/
- there, you will find easy access to elected
officials, current issues, and – you can even
start your very own petition (you decide on the
subject). Explore the site thoroughly, you’ll be
impressed with all of the options available to
everyday folks like you and I – we can make a
difference.
Since I started off on a political/activism slant
today, I reckon I will just keep going with that
flow. Although I’ve been out of town for the past
few weeks, I did become aware of the issue with
the Clovis High School newspaper, and the staff’s
claim of censorship. I did not become aware of the
issue by reading the Clovis News Journal online –
I received an e-mail alert from the Google News
Service.
About a year ago, I went to
news.google.com
and signed up to be alerted about any breaking
news stories that referred to Clovis. Like
clockwork, as soon as news stories started popping
up on the Web about the high school newspaper – I
was alerted. One of the first notifications that I
received, advised me that the “First Amendment
Center” Web site at
www.firstamendmentcenter.org/
had just posted a story, that they had received
off the Associated Press news service.
The “First Amendment Center” Web site, is well
worth taking a gander at - check it out. If you
want to locate the news story that I’m referring
to, just type in “Clovis” in the “Search” box.
I’ll wrap up the political slant with one final
Web site address:
politicalweb.info/
If you want to keep up-to-date and informed about
the 2004 presidential candidates, this Web site is
a great place to start. There is actually a great
deal more political information contained on the
site – you’ll just have to go see for yourself.
Are you into maps? Lots of people are into maps –
both professionally and for personal use. I just
received a notice that the National Geographic
folks have totally redesigned their online atlas.
Curiosity got the best of me, so I went and
checked out the revamped Web site – I was very
impressed. Navigate on over to
plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/ (sorry
for the long funky address), and you will see what
I mean.
Speaking of maps and “stuff”, the State of
California has the “California Coastline” project
going on, if you are a former Californian, or –
you just like to be nosey, jump over to
www.californiacoastline.org/
and - have some fun.

Tom DiFrancesca III is a freelance columnist and a
resident of Clovis, New Mexico. He can be reached at www.trackertom.com

Column for week of April 11, 2004:

I’ve been overwhelmed this week – overwhelmed with
e-mails that is, e-mails sent to me in response to
last week’s column. Digital dispatches filled with
encouragement, and – with stories, stories about
loved ones suffering from Bi-polar disorder. I had
used the acronym “BPD” several times throughout
the column, which technically - is the wrong
acronym. The official acronym is “BAD”, which
stands for “Bi-polar Affective Disorder”. Can you
see why I don’t like that acronym and would prefer
to utilize a different one? One reader also
shared my dislike, she pointed out that it’s harsh
enough that people don’t understand the condition
(especially in children), and then to label a
child who suffers from it – as “BAD”.
Not a good thing.
A couple of the e-mails that I received also
contained a question about the existence of a
local support group for those who suffer from
“bi-polar”, and for their loved ones. I did some
“digging”, sent out some inquiries – and, so far -
have not been able to find any information that
would lead me to believe that such a group does
exist in Clovis. If any of you know about one,
please send an e-mail to enlighten me – and then,
I will enlighten everyone else.
I’ve been out of town for a few weeks now, and -
it’s been very nice to be able to go to the Clovis
News Journal Web site at
www.cnjonline.com
and - to keep up with what is going on in the
nicest place to live in eastern New Mexico and
west Texas. I see that the rain has been a
fallen’, that’s God’s blessings pouring down in
liquid form. Back to the “CNJ” Web site though –
Freedom Newspapers of New Mexico has done a very
good job lately of keeping the site up-to-date and
fresh with new content.
If you find yourself traveling much, hometown
newspaper Web sites can’t be beat. If you are
interested in what is going on in Portales, just
jump over to
www.portales-news.com
and, you’ll get the scoop. Same thing goes for
Tucumcari – just hop on over to
www.qcsunonline.com
and - it will be as if you’ve never left home.
What is great about these sites is - they offer
free access, and no subscription fees are charged
whatsoever. That is not the case for some hometown
newspapers that now charge a fee for site access.
Now, don’t get me wrong – a Web site visitor (to
one of sites listed above) does not have access to
every single item that is contained in the print
version of the newspaper, but the site does
contain enough information to “keep your feet
wet”. So, I reckon, that if you do pay a
subscription fee, and you got the whole enchilada
– then, I guess it would probably be worth it.

Tom DiFrancesca III is a freelance columnist and a
resident of Clovis. He can be reached at www.trackertom.com

Column for week of April 4, 2004:

Mental illness – those two words immediately
render disturbing images in most people’s minds;
images of hospital wards populated with “crazy”
people, images of people doing strange things like
talking to themselves (or to a nearby lamppost,
etc.), or acting in an obsessive or compulsive
manner.
Bi-polar disorder (formerly know as
manic-depression) is a form of mental illness.
It’s a disorder that needs to be taken seriously;
by both the person that suffers from its sometimes
- debilitating affect, and – by the friends and
family members in that person’s life. Some folks
who have Bi-polar, have had it for years – and
most people they know in their social circle,
never even have a clue. Either the disorder is
very weak, or the medication that the sufferer
takes works great at treating the illness. Another
factor in the lack of awareness, that a person you
know may have the disease, and that you don’t know
it, is – they are very good actors. Lots of folks
are quite able to pretend they are “OK”, when they
definitely are not. Some sufferers of the disease
will explain their “illness” as being physical
(i.e. headaches, the flu, etc.) – just to throw
folks off-track.
By the way, if you didn’t already know it,
Bi-polar disorder is caused by a chemical
imbalance in the brain – people don’t ask for, nor
do they deserve that disease. Left untreated, a
person with Bi-polar will go from being very, very
depressed (even suicidal) to becoming full of
energy (practically bouncing off the walls), the
cycle between each stage can take as long as a few
months, to as short as a few hours. The cycle can
also be very random and completely unpredictable.
Some folks have been known to be symptom free for
months - or years, and then to have a major
relapse. Bi-polar wrecks havoc on the sufferer’s
life, the illness is devastating, insidious and
unrelenting. The imbalance, in most cases – is not
caused by drug or alcohol use (or abuse), and it
does not play favorites. People from all walks of
life suffer from this siege on the brain. It’s not
contagious either, so – if you find out, that a
friend or loved one has Bi-polar, you don’t have
to avoid them in an effort to avoid being
“infected”. Actually, if you are close to someone
who suffers from “BPD” – you need to become better
educated about the illness, and about how to cope
with that person’s moods and actions – and, to
help those folks cope – sometimes, it hard going
at it alone.
Dealing with Bi-polar, on a day to day, and in
many cases, a year-to-year basis - can be very
fatiguing. Most sufferers of the illness try to
lead normal lives, normal as in being productively
employed, having a loving functional family, and
just doing the things that all of the “normal”
people do. I’ve oftentimes heard people who suffer
from “BPD”, explain the disorder this way; it’s as
if one is wrapped tightly in cellophane (both the
body and the mind, that is). Being “wrapped” like
that, makes the sufferer feel like they have to
work much, much harder at doing even the simple
mundane things, much less, remaining employed,
married, and financially stable – and let’s not
forget the handling of an occasional crisis.
Someone who suffers from a mild to severe case of
“BPD”, no matter how much medication they take –
still suffers from some of the symptoms. An ironic
twist is, that the more medication needed to treat
the disease – the more side affects the person
suffers; side-affects such as nausea, headaches,
fatigue, sexual dysfunction, and sleeping
disorders – to mention just a few.
My suggestion, go to www.google.com, type in
“bi-polar disorder”; first of all you’ll be amazed
to find over 500,000 references to the illness.
Secondly, go to some of the links, read up on the
disease – because knowledge is power. Use that
power to become more patient and tolerant of those
you know who suffer from “BPD” - day in and day
out.
I have suffered from Bi-polar for over 20 years
now – today, I’m stepping out of the closet.

Tom DiFrancesca III is a freelance columnist and a
resident of Clovis, New Mexico. He can be reached at
www.trackertom.com