Apparently you get an all video edition of best web junk this week. Here it is...enjoy I am opposed to dressing dogs up at all times. This is the only exception I have ever seen because this AT-AT costume is beyond awesome
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrqx_rDHMpY]
Same theme, less awesome
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WunRaZ-N9s0]
This is so good, it could be a Pixar short
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEjUAnPc2VA]
This is probably my favorite fail of all time
I've never heard of this, but now I want to see it in person
This is a very entertaining story, but I wouldn't want to be this guy
This is about 50 minutes of video. But I promise you it is thoroughly interesting, and that you will never watch a cop show the same again
If you only watch one video about the Spitzer Space Telescope, it should be this video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjRJeaNtxN4]
Theoretically I'm going to write an actual blog post tomorrow about how Jon Stewart has become this generation's Neil Postman. What got me thinking about it is this clip from the daily show last week. Enjoy and come back tomorrow. The embed doesn't seem to be playing nice with wordpress.com, so you can watch it by clicking this link
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I listen to a podcast called Fourcast. It is all about the future that always makes me think. In the most recent episode they predicted the death of network TV and alluded to the impending death of record companies. Just a few days before listening to that, I read an article by Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly. In this article he bemoans the death of [music] radio, physical books, good movies, and network TV. At the end of the article he says that his fear is that the replacements for these things is low-quality and that quality versions of all these things are going to disappear. I have hard similar arguments over the years, and the purpose of this post is to offer my disagreement. Last week I asked you to help me make a list of important things you believe are going to die because of technology. Our list included office equipment which is not really a surprise because tech has always moved office equipment pretty quickly. Video stores and banks were on the list. They are also not surprising because the services offered by those buildings can be done cheaper over the internet. (Ultimately, the disks through the mail business is doomed as well. It will be replaced by streaming movies over the web.) The list also included old-style phones and wrist watches. I doubt if anyone is overly concerned about those things, because we have the technology in place to replace them.
Then there's this item; last week I read this article about the death of cursive writing. I personally haven’t written anything other than my signature in cursive since the 9th grade. And this is another thing that technology has made needless. Penmanship doesn’t matter when we type everything.
These things are not that frightening by themselves, but for many people, the cumulative effect of so many changes seems both scary and wrong. I think this is what scares Stephen King, though he expresses his fear a bit differently. In his words "right now there are no adequate replacements for the quality that looks to be on the way out." So let's consider his fear. Do we need to worry that the quality of the media is going to degrade because there’s no money in the new media options and all the skilled people will do something else?
My answer is a strong NO.
Books aren’t going anywhere. Quality authors will always be widely read and they will make good money for their craft. Books made of paper will fade, and the digital copies we all buy will cost less. Publishing companies may even disappear. (I believe their death is certain unless they change their archaic and draconian DRM concepts.) If publishing companies disappear what will replace them? One possibility is that there will be freelance editors to edit for the freelance authors. The good ones will be in demand and will earn a good living. The bad ones will find a new job. The same will be true for authors. A second possibility is some sort of collective or trade group that carries out these duties but has the authors in mind rather than the bottom line of the publishing companies. I’m not trying to predict the future, but I will say with certainty that the way things are is not the way things will be. (Do you think Plato would have written the Trial of Socrates if he had to negotiate his advance.)
The same can be said for each of these media formats. Quality will rise and people who are talented will earn a good living. In fact, I think I can make the argument that whenever network television dies, the overall quality of that media will rise. I am completely certain that music isn’t going to disappear, but I’m also certain that musicians will not earn their income in the same way that they do now.
An inability to imagine the future becomes fear of the future. So much of the hand wringing and fear bears this out. I do not pretend to know how all these things will be replaced in the future. But I am certain that my great grandparents couldn’t have imagined what movies or television would become. (And that they would be appalled at how much we spend each month on entertainment) I am also certain that media isn’t going anywhere. In fact, as technology makes our work easier we will probably spend even more time consuming media.
One last thought that I didn’t know how to connect. I believe that the media we consume will be high-quality. Ask a Ninja, Homestar Runner, and Chad Vader are well-known, funny, widely watched and higher quality than Accidentally on Purpose.
Tomorrow…the one impending change that I cannot envision a replacement for.
The generation that led us through the conservative resurgence is aging and their influence is fading. My prayer is that we would not abandon their passion for the inerrancy of the Bible, and that we have learned the lessons they taught. I pray that the SBC would stand on the shoulders of these men and reach to new heights to see the world changed for Christ. My prayer is that the new leaders of these entities would be seekers of God’s will more than politicians. And my prayer for my own generation is that we don’t abandon inerrancy because we believe “the battle for the Bible is over” I also pray for my generation of Southern Baptists that we make an impact on the world that the previous generation could not simply because they were fighting over inerrancy. That’s it, that is my prayer for the SBC
I probably could have included this in yesterday’s post but it was already very long.
Yesterday I was writing a book review to post today. But I had more to do today than I expected, so you'll have to wait till next week. However, last night my friend Scott posted a review of the same book on his blog. Go there now and read it.
This week was full of flashbacks from television past. There was a new video from Punky Brewster (apparently she reached 1 mil Twitter followers) and Beavis & Butthead (Who are promoting Mike Judge's new movie) This is pretty much completely childish and pretty much completely hilarious
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-8_zu_LAAg]
United Breaks Guitars by Dave Carroll [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo]
the first sequel
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UoERHaSQg]
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. 3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
-Amen
This is one of those times. So I won't bore you with uninteresting blogposts. I will show you a couple of very impressive tricks by Ricky Jay. He's pretty much amazing
Here he is on the old Arsenio Hall show
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jKuHiY397U]
And another amazing trick
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgm4wZCACYg]
Enjoy
Wow, it's so simple, that Dr. Spaceman (pronounced spu⋅chi⋅man) has solved it.
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He really should write a corporate edition of this book. It would be a bit more complex. Don't loan money to people who cannot pay it back, don't say you have money that you don't have.
Today was the beginning of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention. This morning and aftenoon, was the pastor's convention and I heard some wonderful preaching. I was a bit late so I only heard part of the lineup. I was there for Stephen Rummage, Bob Pitman, Danny Akin, and Johnny Hunt.
All of them were wonderful and I enjoyed the preaching immensely. Especially, Bob Pitman's story of his GPS and Dr Akin's political rant.
But I'm addressing the rest of this post to The president of the SBC, Johnny Hunt. He said that many Southern Baptist have a great intellectual curiosity. That "they want to learn so that they can blog" but that "we should want to learn so that we can do." Let me take this opportunity to say, I love Johnny Hunt, and I think he is right. Blogging about evangelism is not evangelism. Forgive me if I use my blog as a forum to attack, malign or otherwise do harm to the kingdom of God.
I write this blog as an exercise in how to organize my thoughts, hopefully it will make me a better communicator. I also write it as part of my daily quiet time ritual. And I genuinely appreciate anyone who takes the time to read it. (Fortunately that is a small enough group to keep me humble)
I will post later this week about the IMB commissioning service and how wonderful it was. That's all for now
I wrote a quite long post earlier today all about the political division in America. But it somehow dissappeared. So I will leave you with only the poll from the end, and maybe one day next week I'll try to rewrite it. [polldaddy poll=1029873]
Please be sure to read the * at the bottom for my disclaimer. Last Tuesday I wrote a post complaining about, among other things, covering elections by polls. Then I promptly went out last Wednesday and read this Zogby poll. It is very telling.
Today I want to post about politics again, but this time from a different angle. Before I begin I want to say that I am certain that no hope for this world, or for our country is found in politics, but only in the gospel of Jesus. (You can read more of my thoughts on this subject here, in what I consider my best post ever.) It does, however, matter how we vote.
So how should responsible Christians think about politics? There are those who would say that there is nothing to think about; we are Republicans, right? Then there are those others who would say that the Republican party is too ungodly they don’t care about the environment and they are only concerned about money so we are to be Democrats. My pastor says look at the party platforms and see which you are. (Here are links to the Democratic and Republican platforms 2008 version.) I must admit that at 123 pages I did not read both platforms. I did, however, skim them both, and my conclusion is that although the two sides are in opposition on most major issues, there is plenty covered by both parties that I can disagree with. (I disagreed with a lot more in one than in the other)
How are we, as responsible Christians, to vote? It seems that it comes down to issues and how a particular candidate feels about those issues. Let's imagine that there are only a handful of issues, even though in reality there are more like hundreds, those issues include:
Here is where it becomes more difficult, it is not as simple as merely dividing up the candidates by their positions, seeing who is on my side more often, and selecting that candidate. The fact is, these issues do not all weigh the same. If I am in agreement with one candidate in his view of net neutrality and another candidate in his view of the sanctity of human life, (which, in fact, I am) those are not equal issues. Both are important, but it is more important to protect human life than to protect the internet from the greed of the telecoms.
For quite a long time evangelicals have been considered a two issue group. However, lately there is this notion in the media that evangelicals are no longer interested in the same issues. This is largely brought on by Rick Warren’s movement to assist with AIDS in Africa and the recent statements by evangelicals on global warming. In response I will quote Dr. Daniel Akin, who said his [SEBTS] presidential forum last week, “We’re not looking for a different moral/social agenda, but we are looking for an expanded agenda.”
I would agree with that statement totally. What I am saying is that Christians should still be committed to the issue of the sanctity of human life in all its forms, from the youngest to the oldest. Christians should still be concerned about defining marriage legally the same way that it is defined biblically. Those, however, should not be the entire list. We should be concerned about the poor in our nation and around the world. We should be concerned about those in war-torn parts of the world. We should be concerned about the AIDS epidemic both in Africa and in America, and we should be concerned about the way we care for our planet.
I guess, 700 words into this post, it's time to reach some conclusions. So let's ask the question again; How should a responsible Christian vote? At the very least a Christian should be educated about the candidates, know their views on the issues, and vote according to his or her beliefs.
It is also imperative that Christians know which issues are most important. In the Zogby poll I mentioned earlier, the number one issue by a landslide was the economy, and that was before the disastrous events of last week. I submit to you two things. First, the president actually has very little control over the economy. The current issues have arisen from corporate debt, and the next collapse is coming because of personal debt. Second, don't sacrifice morality for money. What I'm saying is; it's not the economy, stupid.
A final word. Vote! Don’t ignore your local elections. In all reality, your mayor, or governor or city councilman will have much more effect on your life than the president. Voting for president is important, but don’t ignore your local elections.
[polldaddy poll="946871"]
* Although I am a staff member of LaGrange Park Baptist Church, the views and opinions expressed in this blog are my own and not that of the church. They may not be construed as an endorsement or attack on any candidate or party on behalf of the church. They are my views as an individual.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKK933KK6Gg]
I have literally tens of readers, and some of you are a very helpful and literate bunch. So help me out. I'm taking a trip soon and I'll be in my car for 11 hours or so. I need some audio books, and I am thinking of joining audible.com for a trial. I'll get one free book, Plus it helps out the TWIT network which I listen to like 3 hours a week and have only ever donated a few dollars.
Here's where you come in. I only get one free book, so I need a suggestion of what it should be. I like history, politics, comedy, and sci-fi.
(I know the cumberland county library has audiobooks to download, but never what I want, and I think audible books have a bookmarking feature, which is awesome. cause it means I can listen to something else if I desire, without resetting a 10 hour book.)
I'm strongly considering The Areas of my Expertise by John Hodgeman
Also, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo just because it seems like one of those books i should have read a very long time ago
I’m just back from the city council meeting (the one from this post) and we won. That is the third time this property has been defeated for rezoning. I don’t know if my letter was any help to our case in the meeting, but thanks for reading it earlier. Also thanks to Caroline for editing the crap out of it.
I have an old post called “Makes Me Proud to be From Kentucky.” Tonight I learned something interesting at the city council meeting that makes me proud to be from Fayetteville. Apparently, Fayetteville is the third worst city in the US to raise a kid. That’s right…third worst (#255). Take that Beaumont Texas!
As you can imagine, all the local media outlets have picked up on this, and of course, they have man on the street style quotes in the articles. My favorite is in the one from our nearest ABC affiliate,
It's almost not surprising…
That is pride in a city right there.
I know these kinds of things are just done to sell magazines and start arguments, but this is a poor distinction.
Interestingly, the worst city on the list, Clarkesville TN, is a mere half-hour from my hometown. Maybe this magazine has a bias against me. Or maybe they just don’t like military towns.
I’ll end this post with another quote from one of the many articles.
How your children turn out has much less to do with where you raise them than how you raise them. I daresay you could raise a wonderful kid in Clarksville, Tenn., and a rotten one in Honolulu.
Well said!
<update> This is a very popular post. Somebody really needs to answer this thoroughly. But if you are dealing with a young peach tree you may find this article helpful. </update>Anybody know? The tree was pretty much completely laying on the ground, so I propped up some on the boughs with these planks. Once the fruit begins to grow, it will be probably on the ground again, but it was certainly going to rot the way it was.
I used two different boards to prop up the 2 biggest branches on the tree. it is absolutely loaded with peaches, and I'm afraid it will break or the boards will grow into it or something. So anyone who knows let me know, and I'll get rid of them if they will harm the tree
Here's what the whole tree looks like all propped up.
I'm planning on sending this as a e-mail to the city council later this week. I would like you, my brilliant readers, to critique it, and let me know how it could be improved.
Fayetteville City Council, and Mayor Chavonne:
My name is Jeremy Mathis, and I am writing, regarding the rezoning of the property at the corner of Reilly Road & Telfair Ave. I live in within the notification range and also am a staff member of LaGrange Park Baptist Church
What are the concerns of our church? In other words, why would we care enough for me to send you this letter?
First, we are concerned about the potential for business that might move in. I have not seen any plan as to what may open up in the property, there are no restrictions over what kind of business may move in. To put it plainly there are certain things we as a church do not want to have right next door. And regardless of what it is planned as now, once it is rezoned, there is no controlling what it might become in a few years
Secondly, we want to be the LaGrange Park Church. We are not interested in becoming between the Fast food restaurant and used car lot. Help us prevent what has happened to the Yadkin Road churches.
Thirdly, we desire to be an advocate for our community, at least to the degree that it's desire is moral. Very clearly, the will of the neighborhood is to keep that property zoned residential. It will suffice to remind you that the city council is elected, and the count in the zoning board meeting was about 20 opposed and 3 (consisting of the 2 property owners and their lawyer) in favor.
Fourthly, the only entrance to the property is from Telfair Avenue. There is no Reilly Road entrance. Therefore the only way to enter any future businesses located on this property would be to enter the neighborhood. This moves traffic further back into the neighborhood, and closer to our homes and children.
The lawyer speaking in favor, Mr Charleston, will say…
that a property owner has the right to the “highest & best” use of his property. – I honestly do not know what he means by “highest.” But as to “best,” we would all be in agreement. A property owner is entitled to the best use of his or her property. Best, however, is a contextual term. If one buys a residential property, it seems that the best use of it would be for residential. The owner can sell it, rent it out, or improve upon the property. But the best use of a residential property is residential. I definitely don’t think that this council wants to begin to say that all property is best used as commercial.
that the character of Reilly Rd is commercial. – I submit to you this photograph. Although, three of the properties in view in this photo are commercial, the character of the road is not overwhelmingly so. As you look towards the church, you see trees rather than buildings. The only sign is the one for the nail salon.
that the church is essentially a commercial property. – I would argue that we are not commercial. We are not commercial in terms of mission or function, or for the purposes that affect this council. We meet on Sunday mornings and evenings. Low traffic times on Reilly Rd, and we therefore have little impact or effect on the traffic footprint. Otherwise on Wednesday evenings we meet at 7:00 p.m. and the rush has long since dispersed when our traffic is generated.
that there is no opposition from adjacent homes. – I say there are at least three currently empty homes in the circle. Furthermore, at least 3 of the homes in the circle are rental properties, the owners do not live there, so of course they do not care if traffic is moved closer to their homes. And there are 3 representatives of properties within the circle, here speaking in opposition.
many similar properties all over town have been rezoned - I say that those do not matter, we are only dealing with one property now and should only look at the case in hand. My mother would say, "if all your friends jumped off a cliff would you?" Please don’t jump off that cliff.
You may be thinking the die is cast, and that Reilly Road is destined to become a commercial zone. I submit that you are the holders of the die, and it will only become what you, the council, allow it to become. I would like to think that you had a very compelling reason to overrule the entire neighborhood, by rezoning this property. I urge you, don’t do it.
I rarely watch TV live. I don’t even know when my favorite show, Lost, comes on. I watch it on Sunday nights whenever a new one shows up on my DVR. The only things I watch live are Around the Horn and PTI. I usually ride my exercise bike while I watch these and change it to Seinfeld during the commercials. So, even then, I don't see many commercials. I also watch sports live. It is very rare for me to put a game on the DVR.
So, because I have watched a lot of basketball, I have watched a lot of commercials over the last 2 weekends. This post is about the commercials. I would expect that advertisers would realize that they have to raise their game to make commercials something you want to watch. I cannot be the only person who has cut his commercial intake drastically since the invention of the Tivo.
I appears however that advertisers have not raised their game rather they take 2 tactics. First, repetition. Show the commercials so much that you want to smash their product with a sledgehammer if you see it again. (see apple computers) Secondly, and go with creepy. These are the commercials that make you feel uncomfortable in some way.
The rest of this post is just me reviewing some commercials. I’ll talk about the ones I like and the ones that make me want to refuse to ever buy the product.
First, the five commercials I wish were never made.
MacBook Air – Every human in the USA has seen this commercial at least 5,000 times. Initially I had nothing against it, but now I think if I hear “I’m a new soul…” one more time I could smash a mac into a million pieces.
Charles Schwab – These half animated, half live-action hybrid commercials give me the creeps. I have no money to be buying stocks with, (And guidestone already manages my massive retirement.) but these creepy commercials where people talk about their broker being money grubbing turds (because clearly, Schwab exists completely altruistically and their brokers are like charity workers) definitely make me want to stay away from Charles Schwab.
Taco Bell – All of the current Taco Bell commercials are stupid. Especially the one with the fake looking CG cheese. I’m disappointed, because Taco Bell has had very good commercials in the past.
Volkswagen - I despise everything about this commercial which runs during every single break. (The one where the man keeps approaching the car, and the lights flash and the horn honks) If your message is “Volkswagen, the car for either weird or annoying people”, mission accomplished.
Now my favorite commercials that run during the NCAA tourney
5. E-trade baby- I like the one with the clown. Mainly because of the following quote. “I really underestimated the creepiness.”
4. Subway – I don’t particularly like the commercial, but the five dollar foot-long song is catchy
3. Holiday Inn express – The “Hot Bar” commercials are funny. The designated driver who gets a plate and starts loading up is the best one. (download it here)
2. Sonic – I really like the Sonic commercials. The husband and wife sitting in the car eating and talking about stupid stuff are pretty much all good.
1. Pontiac – The Spy Hunter commercial is great in every way. It is, by far, my favorite commercial currently running.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W29zZXiBsPw]