A slight language warning in this video. Well. Not slight. It contains an f-bomb. But it also contains somebody singing like Arnie and footage from Predator.
Author: Nathan Campbell
Bacon Cologne: Smells like swine spirit
If you want to play the pied piper role for a city full of bacon lovers you need every possible bacony tool at your disposal. Including the subtle scent of bacon found in this cologne from fargginay.
A common question, does this fragrance really smell like bacon? The answer is yes & no. Our Gold formula offers a memorable sizzling citrus aroma with an ever so slight hint of bacon and the fun… is in finding it. This artisanal Gold formula is lovingly crafted with a pure essential oil blend of mandarin, bergamot, grapefruit, lemon, nutmeg, pimento berry, black pepper & a touch of sweet, a smidgen of savory, and one pinch of Bacon salty goodness. What are you waiting for?
Like every magical product it has a magical backstory.
The year was 1920 and quite by accident John Fargginay, a Parisian butcher discovered the ability to dramatically elevate his customers’ mood with a secret recipe blending 11 popular pure essential oils with the essence of…bacon. As the story goes, film stars & heads of state would frequent his shop to procure the magical elixir. With a wink of the eye and the secret code, “fargginay,” customers would be slipped a discreet pouch containing the formula said to trigger pleasant memories. After a massive fire on July 4, 1924, the business was lost and so was the formula…Until now. Ladies & gentlemen, behold, bacōn fragrances, by fargginay. The time has come to uncover a new level of awesome.
Via Uncrate.
A very sandy easter – incredible Easter videos drawn in sand
My very talented friend Tim, and his very talented brother, have put together these sand art Bible stories. You should get a hold of them if you’re looking for a bit of multimedia for your easter service.
Fun times in harbour town
Our weekend in Sydney is drawing to a close. We’ve had a great time, though only ticked off six of the seven things on my list of things to do, and only visiting three of the six cafes. Apparently Sydney still closes on a Sunday.
The wedding was fun, it was great to spend time with cousins who we’ve barely met. There’s something to be said for a family heritage that produces so many ministry minded people. I really love being part of the family I’m part of. What was even more fun was seeing people from Maclean (where I grew up), and Dalby (where Robyn grew up), at the wedding and having to explain why we were at this wedding of their friends. Fun times.
We skipped the Manly game, in favour of dinner with good friends. Which was great. I haven’t laughed as much as I have this weekend since I watched Four Lions two weeks ago.
Church By The Bridge on Sunday was a most enjoyable experience. So much singing. Never have I sung so much in an evangelical church service and enjoyed it. It was a refreshing change. And very friendly. Though it helped that I knew a bunch of people, including the guy on welcoming, from various AFES events and other bizarre quirks of Christianity’s two degrees of separation. It was fun meeting Ali in real life too. Meeting blog people is sometimes a little awkward because you know more about somebody than you should on first real life meeting. But this wasn’t.
I love the smells of Newtown, and we had two great dinners from the Sultan’s Table and Faheem’s Fast Food (a terrific sub-continental curry place).
You can read about our adventures in coffee on thebeanstalker.com.
Tumblrweed: Chicks with Steve Buscemeyes
Freaky. Steve Buscemi has notably freaky eyes. He looks like an ice addict. So sticking his eyes on lady faces is scary. But that’s what this single serving tumblog is all about.
First up we’ve got Pink, and then Angelina Jolie.
Damien recommend this one on Facebook – thanks Damien. I will never sleep again.
Today: Coffee, Zoo, Greek Food, Gould Books
Ahh Sydney.
So, today, we walked down King St, visited Moore College (where we stood in a corner and people watched and my wife was shocked by how young and cool Con Campbell looked, she had pictured him as a 60 year old englishman), walked to Redfern, caught a train going in the wrong direction, so we caught a different train. Then, finally, we arrived at our destination – Mecca Espresso on King St in the CBD (not to be confused with the aforementioned King St).
I’ll be reviewing Mecca on thebeanstalker.com, but I tried my first ever Clover brew. The Clover, when released, was a $15,000 piece of technology. It’s the black box in the middle on this bench:
It was nice. Smelt like fruity tea. Tasted like coffee.
We spent the morning with my friend Paul. Which was tops. Then walked to Circular Quay, caught the ferry to Taronga, and walked around the zoo for the afternoon. Which Robyn loved and I enjoyed.
There were turtles.
And rabbit-eating dragons…
And primates.
And other animals.
Though, some were missing…
Then it was a reversal of the morning, though we added dinner at a cheap Greek place, and about 45 minutes poring through the shelves at Gould Books.
A good day.
1 pixel clock: counting down the hours in slow-mo
Nice idea. Get it as an iPhone app, or a webapp, it doesn’t really matter. If you’re into incremental displays of the changing time then it doesn’t get much smaller than this… The 1 Pixel Clock.
Life imitating computer game: Pizza Tycoon
I used to play a really fun game on the ‘puter called Pizza Tycoon (if you believe in abandonware you can download it here (I have no idea if that link is safe). The purpose of the game was to design and build pizzas and pizza restaurants that you then managed. You had to buy shop fronts. Hire staff. Set prices. You could also be a criminal. Where you could join the mafia and rise in the ranks, or just stick to sabotaging your competitor’s shops with bombs and rodents.
There’s a whole website dedicated to tips and tricks (and pizza recipes) here.
Well. Somebody obviously played that game and thought that it was representative of the real world.
An Upper Darby pizza shop owner has been charged with putting mice in the shops of several competitors.
In what Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood called a case of “food terrorism by mice,” the owner of Nina’s Bella Pizza is charged with trying to sabotage his competitors by setting mice loose in their shops.
Nikolas Galiatsatos, 47, now faces charges of disorderly conduct, harassment and animal cruelty.
Chitwood said two of his officers happened to be eating lunch in Verona Pizza on West Chester when Galiatsatos, 47, entered the business carrying a bag and then asked to use the bathroom.
When the owner of the shop inspected the bathroom, he found footprints on the toilet. The owner checked it out and discovered a bag stashed in the ceiling of the bathroom.
Officers suspected a possible drug deal and checked it out. But instead of drugs in the bag they found a bag containing several mice.
Seven Things I’m Looking Forward to in Sydney
In no particular order…
1. Catching up with friends (including Izaac and Sarah whose blogs I can’t be bothered linking to but you all read them anyway. Right.)
2. Taronga Zoo.
3. Manly play the Sharks on Saturday night
4. Church by the Bridge (5pm service on Sunday is my plan)
5. Coffee at AIR, Alchemy, Bean Drinking and Mecca. Those are my plans.
6. Gould Books..
7. The wedding we’re actually coming down for.
Sunday: Two days after Friday – a Christian parody video
Well. Call me (and Gary) a prophet.
It’s finally here. The day song you’ve been waiting for. Sunday. Better than Friday
I must warn you, I haven’t watched this. It popped up in my feed just now, and I’m in a lecture. But I promise you it will be bad.
A musical infographic: A beginner’s guide to Radiohead
Radiohead. They’re a complicated band. So I’m sure you’ll appreciate this visual guide.
Via Stereogum.
Shirt of the Day: Musical Hair
Pop Chart Labs have put together a comprehensive guide to musical hairstyles…
And turned it into a shirt. Which you can wear.
An open letter to my Christian Facebook Friends about School Chaplaincy
My Facebook newsfeed is jammed full of articles, cause invites and petitions suggesting that the Christian sky will fall down if I don’t voice my support for the government funding of school chaplains.
For some background – the Australian government provides some funding for schools to employ chaplains (after consultation with the P&C and support from the local community (which means churches). This funding is generous and has allowed for many chaplains to be hired around the country. In Queensland these services are generally provided through Scripture Union (SU) who are an umbrella body, and a Christian organisation. Chaplains roles are limited because they offer services to people of all faiths, beliefs, lack of faiths, etc. An atheist from Toowoomba doesn’t like that government money is going to what is arguably a religious service, that arguably enshrines Christianity as a state religion (though the legislation is all very clear that chaplains don’t have to be Christian). This is the website for the High Court Challenge. Here’s a few paragraphs from a news story from September last year:
“Mr Williams said that while the rules of the program prohibited chaplains from proselytising, the Queensland provider, the biblical literalist Scripture Union, has as its aim ”to encourage people of all ages to meet God daily through the Bible and prayer”.
”It’s absolutely, totally out of control here. You can’t prevent your children being exposed to chaplaincy,” Mr Williams said.
In Victoria, state school chaplains are employed by ACCESS Ministries, the same group that provides non-compulsory religious education. Chaplains in Victoria are better qualified than in other states, and are required to have at least one degree in teaching, theology or counselling, as well as further training in another of those fields.”
I won’t be joining said causes, signing said petitions, (though I will read the articles).
I think government funding for chaplains is actually borderline a bad thing, for a number of reasons. I wrote something along these lines back in 2006 when federal funding was first announced, and nothing I have seen since has changed my mind.
In case you’re sitting there thinking “oh no, all the chaplains I know are lovely people, and should totally keep their jobs” – I agree. Entirely. One of my best friends really is a chaplain, several other close friends are too. Chaplains, on the whole, have had an incredibly positive impact on the lives of children at school – and somebody in the school community should be doing the job they’re doing, I’m glad the people currently doing the job are Christians. I really am.
I have a couple of problems with the scaremongering going on around this issue.
1. There’s an assumption that government funding of chaplains is a good thing.
2. There’s an assumption that this money is free.
3. There’s an assumption that chaplains would disappear if the funding was pulled.
4. There’s an assumption that chaplaincy, in its present form, is good for the spread of the gospel.
I’d challenge the first three, and suggest that in the case of the third this is no axiom, but reflects the exception, not the rule (indeed, I’d say for chaplains to be spreading the gospel they’d have to be putting their federal funding and positions in danger).
It’s this kind of approach to the interaction with church and state that I think characterises much of what is wrong with the church – we assume we have some sort of entitlement to special access.
Around the same time in 2006 that I wrote that post linked above, I wrote another post, suggesting that because of Christianity’s place in Australia’s heritage we do have a place in the educational spectrum. Particularly in modern history. And I think RE is appropriate – because all students have equal access to religious instruction, and religion is a huge part of life outside of school, and I recognise that there is a spiritual aspect to one’s development as a person that is rightly addressed in an RE program.
But chaplains aren’t even allowed to teach RE. What’s the point of having a Christian voice in a school if they’re not allowed to teach Christian things?
“While exercising their roles from within a Christian framework and promoting positive Christian values, SU Qld Chaplains will be sensitive to and respectful of people who hold beliefs and values different from their own. SU Qld Chaplains will be available to all students, staff and parents within their schools, regardless of religious affiliation.” – From the SU Chaplaincy site
As is their position on what chaplains can do as part of their role…
Whilst personally modeling and owning their own faith positions or belief, chaplains avoid any implications that any one religion, denomination or other set of beliefs is advantageous or superior to any other denomination, religion or belief.
Chaplaincy programs are compatible with policies and practices that apply to delivery of any service in a multi-faith and multicultural state school community. A chaplaincy program is inclusive of and shows respect for all religious and non-religious beliefs and other stances represented in the school community. All activities and events provided within a chaplaincy program are non-discriminatory and equitably available to students of all beliefs who choose to participate.
That earlier link spells this out a little further when it comes to the subject of teaching RE…
Teachers and chaplains are not to teach religious instruction. It is not part of their work duties. However, if a chaplain or a teacher works part-time, they may choose to teach religious instruction in their own time, outside of work hours.
Accepting government money, in a nation where church and state are separate (which is a good thing), creates a relationship of dependency and shifts the power dynamic in this separation to the person giving the money (I suspect this will eventually become a problem with regards to the tax benefits churches enjoy).
The “Save Our Chaplains” campaign is making this a do or die issue for school chaplaincy (and if you disagree with me, go there and sign the pledge – this post then becomes “awareness raising” so everybody wins). I think we can all acknowledge some truth to this campaign, an overturning of the federal funding may well see a bunch of chaplains out of a job – which is not the outcome we want. But if the church, as a whole, believes chaplains are worth keeping – then we should be paying for them ourselves. It’s great that the government wants to recognise the role that these guys play – but as soon as we take their money, they take control. And suddenly there’s a bunch of truths we can’t speak. Can a chaplain, funded by the government, be known to believe that homosexuality is a sin? Can a chaplain explain to a troubled child that Jesus is the only way to God? Can we make any claim that offends any other taxpayer? I don’t know. I’m not a chaplain – but I’ve been to a couple of SU Supporters nights and noticed that it’s all about “having positive impacts on children’s lives” and “being there” – and there’s almost never a mention of God at these nights at all. I once offered to pay $100 per year for every mention of God at one of these dinners, and it didn’t cost me a cent. And this is when they’re preaching to the converted. It’s not even “Scripture Union” anymore. It’s SU. Which is one of those branding decisions that’s made when you’ve moved away from the core product but want to keep your history… SU’s aims and working principles document is still thoroughly Christian, and commendable.
The guy launching the court action against government funding seems to be a bit of a jerk. But he’s a jerk with principles that are actually based in reality – church and state are separate. And we want them to be. Because we can’t afford to have the government controlling our message – look what happens to state churches in European (especially Scandinavian) countries. For a perspective on the issue from the other side (the atheist side) of the equation read this article – it’s long, and it makes some sound points, and some points from a “religious teaching is child abuse” kind of perspective.
Figuring out how to maintain the distinction between being on school grounds teaching Christianity as part of a religious education program and government funded positions for religious workers who can’t teach religions is tricky. One of the other spin-offs of this court challenge against chaplaincy in schools, and the introduction of ethics classes in NSW, and a host of other campaigns being driven by opponents of the gospel who conflate the two into one issue, is this attack on the teaching of RE in schools, or CRE, or RI, or whatever “scripture lessons” are called in your states. This is a period of time allocated for volunteers to come into a school to preach. There’s a campaign on Facebook that wants to keep RE taught in Victorian schools, which is a cause I’d support (not least because the guy running the Facebook cause is a friend of mine).
I won’t be signing anything to keep chaplaincy in its current guise in schools. I love my chaplain friends dearly. And I’d love to continue financially supporting them in the future so that they can get into schools and preach the gospel to kids without the shackles of government funding tying them down.
That is all.