Bad Christian Music Thursday

Thanks to youtube, there are probably more of these sorts of videos out there than can even be counted. Yikes.

Colbert on Computers

Colbert helps Nicholas Carr make his points regarding computing and our lack of concentration. I've blamed my difficulty concentrating on aging, and I think there is some truth to that, but I know - because I can feel it - that my work on the internet has also added to that lack of focus.

Pirate Church

It's International Talk like a Pirate Day, but I really couldn't find a Pirate themed church service. Why can we have "cowboy church" but no pirate church? If there was such a thing, it would have to include this fabulous pulpit from Moby Dick.

Like most old fashioned pulpits, it was a very lofty one, and since a regular stairs to such a height would, by its long angle with the floor, seriously contract the already small area of the chapel, the architect, it seemed, had acted upon the hint of Father Mapple, and finished the pulpit without a stairs, substituting a perpendicular side ladder, like those used in mounting a ship from a boat at sea. The wife of a whaling captain had provided the chapel with a handsome pair of red worsted man-ropes for this ladder, which, being itself nicely headed, and stained with a mahogany color, the whole contrivance, considering what manner of chapel it was, seemed by no means in bad taste. Halting for an instant at the foot of the ladder, and with both hands grasping the ornamental knobs of the man-ropes, Father Mapple cast a look upwards, and then with a truly sailor-like but still reverential dexterity, hand over hand, mounted the steps as if ascending the main-top of his vessel.

The perpendicular parts of this side ladder, as is usually the case with swinging ones, were of cloth-covered rope, only the rounds were of wood, so that at every step there was a joint. At my first glimpse of the pulpit, it had not escaped me that however convenient for a ship, these joints in the present instance seemed unnecessary. For I was not prepared to see Father Mapple after gaining the height, slowly turn round, and stooping over the pulpit, deliberately drag up the ladder step by step, till the whole was deposited within, leaving him impregnable in his little Quebec.

Heifer Ranch

In the post below, I described my experiences at the Heifer ranch in Arkansas. Here's a video about the global village, though it was filmed in a far different season then when we were there. You couldn't even end up in the refugee camp when we were there because it was too hot.

40000 square feet

A friend of a friend of ours knows someone who's building a 40000 square foot house. This is not a Bill Gates or an Oprah, not even a country music star. It's someone who lives in Tennessee. I didn't type an extra zero. 40000. The Las Vegas Hilton Superbook, a sports betting paradise within the Las Vegas Hilton, boasts of its more than 30000 square feet. The 40000 square foot house is being built for a typical family of 4. (That's not a picture of the house, it's just to give you an idea of what we're talking about here.)

No one would call my house extravagant, (especially if they could see the living room right now - it is obvious that we don't have a housekeeper) but it is plenty. I can walk just down the street and see houses that are boarded up, houses that change renters several times a year. My nine year old even knows there's a disparity and has admitted that he doesn't like being there. It makes him uncomfortable, and he acknowledges it, though many of us just ignore it. I wonder if my house seems like a 40000 square foot house to any of them.

A few years back, I traveled to the Heifer Ranch in Arkansas and spent a night in the global village. They have an area set up that represents living conditions in various regions, based on the average for that area. Everyone wanted Guatemala. It had a roof and running water.

My daughter, M. , just 11 at the time, got assigned to the urban village: basically wood floors with tin roofs, no windows, just an open hole for a door. I got Thailand, which wasn't much better, but for July in Arkansas was catching a decent breeze. M. slept in Thailand. The urban village was too much for her. The Guatemalan home, as humble as it would seem if put next door to my house, was a mansion for that day.

POTUS08 Christian Civility

In Sunday School this week, we talked about how we can disagree about politics and still respect one another as Christian brothers and sisters. We used Jim Wallis' Plea for Christian Civility as one tool for witnessing in the political realm.

Other Christian bloggers are saying similar things. Scot McKnight has studied the issues and candidates and give his take on the matter in several blog posts: Public Issues.

Jesus, sake and sushi.

The internet is an amazing thing. I google Christian folk art because I love simple folk images, and I find out about a Japanese folk artist whose work was partially responsible for preserving an art form as well as spreading the Gospel.

Watanabe Sadao : 1913-1996


thanks to Matt Overton for having the image in his somewhat dormant blog

POTUS08 - Lies are Lies

Regardless of which side we're on (and we can also not be on any side, really) it would be nice if we would check facts. Sarah Palin has her faults, as do all the candidates, and focusing on those faults is fine. We should be aware of the political missteps and maneuvering that fill us in on how these people will lead. However, taking issues and fabricating new stories from small details is just wrong, regardless of to whom it's being done.

The specific issue is with Palin's alleged banning of books while Mayor of Wasilla (If you're looking for a name for a band, Mayor of Wasilla is pretty great). Simply, she didn't ban any books. Didn't happen, no evidence, no books gone. Did she dismiss the librarian? She asked her for her resignation, along with several other Wasilla employees, but she didn't leave until nearly the end of Palin's first term.

You can read the details here: Boston Herald. The feed comes from McClatchy, which is a smart news source and can help us follow up on stories we've "heard."

Obama's religion, McCain's wife, Biden's train rides, Palin's children: all are topics being discussed by people all over America, yet lies are being spread instead of truth. Our best witness as Christians may not be for whom we vote, but how we speak about those for whom we choose not to vote.

Getting Ugly - Politics

I think I'm going to be really glad when this Presidential campaign is over. It's ugly. The news media pays attention to ridiculous small stories (What do the pastors of these candidates say!?) while ignoring the major stories of Afghanistan and the economic crises. We have pundits and politicians of both sides saying using double standards. Bring on November. At least we have Jon Stewart to help us through it.

Daily Show Catches Rep. Double Standards (yes they also make fun of Democrats, just not in this clip)

John Wesley in film

Thanks to the UM Reporter blog I am now looking forward to a film biography of John Wesley. I've seen one before, and it may was probably this 1954 version which has the redeeming quality of at least being accurate, if not entertaining.

That's a shame, because John's life is interesting and full of good drama, so I'm hoping that this film will raise some interest in his life. I wish that it had been completed a few years ago, when the church was celebrating the 200th anniversary of his birth, but October is good too. Taking the church to see it would make a good church trip for All Saint's Day.

You can watch the preview here: Wesley

TMBG Names and what they do.

There's been lots of ink spilled on names and identity and those sorts of things. Some churches have been sublimating their denominational name as a means of reaching out to the unchurched. So you get "The Westfield Church" instead of "Westfield Baptist". I don't necessarily like it, but I understand it. It reminds me of the video below. It's a good song, which I think would have gotten more play if it hadn't been for the band name.

It's They Might Be Giants, an alternative band that doesn't get much radio play. I heard it on XM Kids. I wonder how much more play it would get if it was by some anonymous band. Then again, would I have given it a second listen if it WASN'T from TMBG, a band that takes up some space in my CD collection?

This video is just someone's homemade Youtube video. I couldn't find a better one on Youtube.

Derek Webb

I was trying to do music on Fridays, but my whole blog schedule has been thrown off lately, so I'm posting this anyway.

I like Derek Webb for his singing style and his heart. That he covers great artists like Dylan and Elvis Costello is also part of his gift. It's amazing to me that in this song he makes the Nick Lowe song, (What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding? which Elvis Costello turned into a hit - sound like a Derek Webb song.

Battlestar Judaica

I don't watch much television, but it's not because I hate tv, it's probably more that I could sit and watch it for hours. However, there are some shows, such as Lost, that I watch and spend time looking at. It probably has to do with good writing. Battlestar Galactica has writing that appeals to me.

I was old enough to watch Battlestar Galactica, the first series, as a 10 year old fan of Star Wars. It failed to grab my attention. When the second series came out, 4 years ago, I was not interested, until some fairly interesting and intelligent people I know started saying "you have to watch this." And so I did, and now I'm a junkie. It's got a monotheism/polytheism angle, and a Christian/Jewish angle, and issues surrounding identity and sin and predestination and on and on.

Here's some great talks on the show, which are good to watch even if you haven't yet gotten into the show (and there's only a half season left, so I encourage you to get into it.) The links come courtesy of Galactica Sitrep, which is the best Galactica blog out there.

St. Paul ate my breakfast.

(something odd is happening with my blog formatting this morning, so I apologize for the lack of paragraph separation. I have redone it five times now, and before I smash something, I'm giving up)

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.(Romans 7:15,16)

Well, maybe Paul isn't exactly clear on what he did that he hated, but isn't it possible that he ate two Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and drank three cups of coffee and a glass of milk before 6 a.m.? He could have had a bowl of oatmeal, but he chose the wrong thing.

Which leads me to a review of Dan Ariely's Irrational Predictability. I ate the cinnamon rolls this morning knowing that they would not make me feel great. I know I'll have to eat something with protein in it later, and I know that I need to lose weight. But the cinnamon rolls were there. I didn't have to cook them, because I made them yesterday for a group of my daughter's friends who spent the night. So they were easy, and they were also tasty.

Ariely makes the case that we don't always make good choices. Not a difficult case to make, but he provides some unique insights into how we behave through his experiments in behavioral economics, which he describes as "an emerging field focused on the (quite intuitive) idea that people do not always behave rationally and that they often make mistakes in their decisions."

A number of experiments he arranged deal with dishonesty. At MIT, where he conducted much of his work, he put 6 packs of Coke in various common area refrigerators. Within 72 hours, they were all gone. No one had the right to take the drinks, they didn't belong to them. He went back and put plates with $6 dollars on them.When he returned, 72 hours later, they were undisturbed. It's ok to take a Coke, but not a dollar.

So cash influences our decisions, as do the number of choices we have, and the types of choices. There's nothing in the book that's terribly surprising (given the opportunity, students will cheat; when people are aroused, they make bad decisions; people procrastinate) but the way he illuminates the poor decision making is great reading.

It's also relevant to religious discussion.

When reminded of the Ten Commandments prior to an exercise, people were more honest while completing the task. This makes the tefillin seem like pretty good crime prevention.

In social situations, people will go further than they will in economic situations. "Our church" has a thrift store. It's mostly run by retired people in the community. They work hard for this store, despite the fact that they are "volunteers" (actually, servants). I heard one of them say at one point "you couldn't pay me to work this hard." They were right.

We make decisions for strange reasons. When Ariely talks about how we make economic decisions, it gives us insight into our human behavior.

Though he doesn't speak about gambling in this book, his experiments have further application. Our psychological ties to cash are obvious to lottery runners and casinos. It's why we exchange cash for chips. It doesn't hurt as much.

Imagine going into a convenience store, handing the guy a dollar and having him push a button and say "You lose, next!" How long until we had to find other state income plans?

This book will not make me quit making bad decisions. Even Ariely admits to some of his own. But having some knowledge of what influences our decision making can help us improve our chances. There will be no cinnamon rolls on my counter tomorrow morning.

Predictably Irrattional Website.

100 Books (some great)

Thanks to Mary Beth for this list. Last year, there was a survey in England to determine 100 books you couldn't live without. For some reason this is now making the blog rounds, allegedly attributed to the NEA's Big Read project. It's not in any way related to that, but it's a fun list anyway.

The blogging suggestions are to "embolden" the ones you've read, italicize the ones you intend to read and asterisk the ones you love. I'll do the bold part, but I'm too lazy to do the rest. I will add that the fact that The Davinci Code is on a list, of any sort, placed before Hamlet and A Prayer for Owen Meany, seriously calls into question the sanity of everyone in the UK.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Farm Rescue

It doesn't take much to realize how few family farms are left, and as a result, the network of farms that used to help support each other are fading as well. Though I am no farmer, I was around farming during my adolescence, and I often saw one farmer helping another because of various issues. Maybe you might borrow a tractor while yours was in the shop. Your neighbors fields got wet and he had to plant in a hurry, you would jump in so he could get it done.

That kind of thing becomes more difficult as families turn the farm over to big business. There is hope, however, in that the number of small farms has actually been going up over the years. And there are also organizations like Farm Rescue which assist farmers when they face hardships.

Read the CNN article about Farm Rescue.

NT Wright and Colbert

Several bloggers have this clip posted. It's well worth watching. Thanks Gavin, Allan.

Atonement ends Thursday

Someone named Andrew Miller took this pic, which was up at geezmagazine.org, but the one who truly deserves the credit is either whoever booked the movies or set up the sign.

Bookswim

I've been looking at Bookswim for at least a year now, and finally decided I'd give it a try. Of course it's most often compared to Netflix, and that's a very apt comparison, though Netflix recommendations and categories are far more advanced than Bookswim's.

Bookswim does have an amazingly deep catalog though, and the turn around on getting my books was fast. I have yet to return any, so I'll have to update when I do that. I ordered my books on Saturday, received an email on Monday and received the books on Friday, which isn't bad considering it's shipped USPS Media mail.

I love my local library, and I like visiting bookstores. But Jackson, the closest city with a bookstore, has very little to offer. My local library, and the Jackson library, are very helpful and I use the interlibrary loan program regularly, but there are just some books you're not going to find through ILL, and when you do, you may get them at a point when it's difficult to read them and get them back in on time. Bookswim seems like a good solution for book fiends.

My train wreck.

I feel like I've been through a train wreck.

That pic is of the front of the train that I was trying to take to New Orleans at the end of May. I did get there, but on a bus.

I was traveling with family (and friends who might as well be family) and we still ended up having a good time in the Crescent City. Only one person on the train was seriously injured, but two people on the garbage truck that got in the way of the train were injured, and one of them may still be in the hospital, though I don't know for sure.

So, a vacation and catching up from vacation have slowed my blogging down tremendously. Time to jump back in.