And another… figured Id do one more, since it had been so long. This one is Cancer

I finally got around to doing the next image in my Zodiac series… this one is Aries

So, I just got this email stating that 85% of Americans believe in God, and therefore, it is not understood why people have a problem with this line in the pledge of allegience, or “In god we trust”

Before I go on, tho… now me, personally…  I believe in something. More of a source of Power, or infinite energy that is in everything. If you wanna tag it with the title “God” I guess you could. Afterall, God is just a word.

Do I believe its some man in the sky? No.

Do I believe, that what I believe, is absolute truth?? No….

But now, we’re getting to the meat of the matter….

So do I have a problem with statements such as “One Nation, Under God? Actually…. yes, I do. Maybe 85% of Americans do believe that there is a god, but what about the other 15%??? And just because the greater majority believes, does that make the concept absolute? Not even close. I have never seen any evidence proving (or even disproving) that God exists. So having such sayings in our money, in our pledge of allegience or even as a motto, is absolutely asinine. Not to mention, archaic. You might as well stamp “I believe in the Tooth Fairy” on all our currency.

And thats completely getting away from whether or not the statement “85% of Americans believe” is a truth unto itself. That percentage seems awfully high, considering the rise in Atheism, Paganism, Wicca, as well as people of other Nationalities living in America, whom believe in their own God. Lets not even get into the many Polytheistic religions that believe in multiple Gods.

(Did you know that 99.9% of statisitcs are made up on the spot? LOL)

But thats not even the biggest reason why I have a problem with those lines…..

Anyone who comes to our country, would obviously have to obey our laws, etc etc. Does that mean they have to stop believing in their god, only to then believe in ours? Absolutely NOT! And they should not be expected to repeat lines in the pledge of allegience, such as “One nation, under God” It just seems like its a form of truncating their God, for ours…..

Personally, Id like to see mottos like that, tossed. Leave sayings like “In God We Trust” for Sunday sermons. If we truly are free to believe how we want, then whats the purpose of implanting things like that into everything remotely legal or political in nature?

Coz I so needed another thing to keep up!! LOL

Actually, since most of my stuff is now streamed from my weblog and into aol lifestream, I figured one more wasnt a big deal. And wheee, I can update twitter thru my phone too!

Check out my twitter and feel free to add me!!

http://twitter.com/IgnisSerpentus

I got up to a notice that someone featured a piece of my artwork (Guardian of the Dead) on their site as best of the week.

Click here to check it out

Its an old one I handpainted a few yrs back in Photoshop…. but I do have a fondness for this one, since Anubis (my fave Egyptian god) is in it.

My newest release on DAZ

New Background set at my store — 10 Backgrounds for darker scenes

Ok so, I feel the need to blog about Arizona. And my opinion might not make me popular, but I can assure you, it DOES NOT make me  a racist. In fact, Im a little tired of people inferring that those whom side with Arizona are racists. Seriously? Is that the best argument you can throw at me?

ILLEGAL is ILLEGAL…. am I right or wrong? Every person in this country has to ABIDE by the LAW… right or wrong? If a drug dealer gets busted for trafficking or even possession, or being under the influence, does he get off scott free just coz hes a person, and its inhumane to lock him behind bars? NO! Nor should they. Black, white, hispanic… the law is the same for everyone. If a person wants to come here from another country, MORE POWER to them. I embrace it, for I have many friends that are from other countries, and came to America the PROPER way. They couldn’t enter this country without knowing English FIRST. They had to fill out paperwork en masse, and they probably know more about America than native Americans do! They have to pay their dues and tirelessly cut thru red tape, and then they are finally rewarded with the prize — citizenship.

So in all fairness, is it RIGHT for people to come in from other countries, tip-toe past the border illegally and sneaky-like, take our jobs (and thats from natives and legal immigrants alike) use our resources, when they can’t be bothered to pay their dues? When many of them can’t be bothered to even learn English? NO, ITS  NOT RIGHT! And quite frankly, Im tired of hearing the argument from the other side, that what Arizona is doing is not humane. You guys have an odd concept of what humane is. Its not like we shoot them down, or subject them to tortures, or whip them like slaves. We simply require everyone to adhere to our laws, or they get sent back to where they came from… thats it. And that is how it SHOULD be!

If I decided to move to Italy, would I not be forced to learn Italian? Would I not have to adhere to their laws and standards? Would I not have to enter their country with proper documentation? I would have to learn Italian, I would have to acquire a visa and passport and I would most definitely have to abide by their laws. So why should it be any other way for us?

You want to be an American? Then you have to BE an American. And everything that implies….

And no…. this does not make me racist. I embrace more races than most americans (especially since I seem to be a minority in sticking up for Arabic people after 911) I deal with multi-raced people on a daily basis, as part of my job. I have friends from all around the world. If you want to voice your opinion on the matter, thats wonderful! Its your right, by our laws. But don’t sit there and call people of the opposing faction, racists. Coz quite frankly, thats coming across as “I’m sorry, I dont have a better argument than you, so Im going to go to my lowest point and infer you’re a racist. That ought to shut you up! Or at best, hide the fact Im talking out of my rear.”

When you come up with a better argument, then you can come talk to me……

In close, WTG Arizona! I hope that more states follow your lead.

Ok so, Im a total webdevgeek…. and Ive been currently geeking (with ann) over favicons. This has been our whole fancy of the week LOL

What is a favicon? Well, its a custom icon you can create for your website, with a logo on it, which will display in your browser when you load the site. When you add it to favorites, it will also show the icon, so you can spot the site…. well, on sight lol

Ok, cool, but how do you make one?

Well, for starters, it needs to be 16×16 pixels in size (thats really tiny) And it will need to be saved as an .ico extension — and Photoshop does not have that capability by default. Naye does Paintshop pro. This means you will have to have a friend make one (if they have a program that can actually save .ico) or you will have to buy expensive software to create a favicon…..

No, no, no….. it means you will have to look here!

Creating Favicons in Photoshop

This tutorial (courtesy of Ann) explains how to create one using a Photoshop plugin to make the ico file. So now, everyone in the galaxy can have pretty icons on their website! YAY!

Now… go forth and make icons!