This kid is going to grow up to be a racist Third Eagle of the Apocalypse. The puppet only gets a say about 3 minutes in.
He’s a junior KKK member. No kidding.
Author: Nathan Campbell
Nathan runs St Eutychus. He loves Jesus. His wife. His daughter. His son. His other daughter. His dog. Coffee. And the Internet. He is the pastor of City South Presbyterian Church, a church in Brisbane, a graduate of Queensland Theological College (M. Div) and the Queensland University of Technology (B. Journ). He spent a significant portion of his pre-ministry-as-a-full-time-job life working in Public Relations, and now loves promoting Jesus in Brisbane and online. He can't believe how great it is that people pay him to talk and think about Jesus. If you'd like to support his writing financially you can do that by giving to his church.
Speaking of Radiohead
This time tomorrow Robyn and I will be on our way home from a Muse concert. Awesome.
I’m hoping for some of this.
Not this.
Or this.
Paranoid Androids
Paranoid Android is one of my favourite Radiohead songs. Here’s Thom Yorke singing it with an acoustic guitar.
And here are Australian comedy band Tripod singing it a capella.
And here’s an 8 Bit version of the song.
And a bonus, because it was on YouTube and I saw it – here’s another one of my favourite Radiohead songs. Live.
Shredded Creed
There’s a series of videos on YouTube of “popular” bands being redubbed with badly played instruments. This Creed one made me laugh until I cried.
Bad Christian Music #74
YouTube’s supply of bad Christian music seems bottomless. I can’t remember if I’ve seen this before. But it made me laugh.
Prime Ice
If I were an ice sculptor, a talented ice sculptor, I don’t know how high on the list I’d put “carve a giant autobot” – but having seen this, it’d be up there.
From here.
On a brighter note: How Abraham Lincoln got his beard
So this morning’s letter was pretty sad. I thought I’d balance it with this one – a letter from a little girl to a then clean faced Abraham Lincoln who was just embarking on his presidential campaign.
“My father has just home from the fair and brought home your picture and Mr. Hamlin’s. I am a little girl only 11 years old, but want you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you wont think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter. I have got 4 brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President.”
And he replied.
“I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughters— I have three sons— one seventeen, one nine, and one seven years of age— They, with their mother, constitute my whole family—
As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affectation if I were to begin it now?”
He grew a beard though. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Again, via Letters of Note.
Infographic: A new world order
What would happen if we redistributed nations around the countries of the world based on population? Well. The world map would look something like this.
I’m not actually sure where this came from. But the image is here for you to zoom in and have a look at.
Give the gift of coffee this Christmas
People regularly ask me what coffee stuff they should buy for their loved ones. I like coffee. And I know a fair bit about coffee. But I hate getting coffee presents from people – because usually they’re rubbish (unless you’re very cool people who come to visit from Sydney and bring Campos beans. You know who you are).
So here is a bit of a coffee connoisseur’s guide to Christmas shopping, for a variety of budgets.
Beans
Buy some from me. At the moment I’ve got a sensational Brazilian single origin “Toffee” bean, that’s what it’s called. It’s not sugar coated. Best coffee yet. I think I’m actually going to have to raise my prices in the new year (by about $5), so get them while you can at $20 a kilo.
Buy some from Campos. Their Superior Blend is a knockout, and $40 a kilo.
Buy some from BlackStar. Their Revolutionary Espresso Blend is pretty good, and $35 a kilo.
Buy some from Cup. Cup offers a few single origins and a “seasonal blend.” They sell it in one third kilo bags. $45 per kilo.
Or sign them up for a “Coffee Sub Club” coffee bean subscription with Ministry Grounds. Fantastic range of single origins and a special “Special Reserve” offer.
Cups
Never underestimate the importance of good cups. When my folks were in Italy earlier this year the only souvenir I asked for was a set of good Italian porcelain cups, just garden variety ones, of the right size. For cappuccinos you want a demitasse cup. Half a cup. And smaller for espressos, macchiatos and piccolos.
If you want to get really fancy you can get Bodum’s double walled insulated espresso cups. They’re $20 each. And it sucks when a careless house guest or curtain and blind cleaner knocks one onto the floor and shatters it.
Campos sells sets of six branded cups for $45.
Hand Grinder
Neil from Ministry Grounds sells these Kyocera Hand Grinders for $88 including shipping and coffee (you can also get a combo with the Aeropress).
Zassenhaus are a German company famous for their handheld coffee grinders. They’re incredibly hard to come by – and vintage ones sell for over $150. There’s one for sale here they’re sold out (amongst a range of other grinding options).
Aeropress
The Aeropress is a powerless coffee maker perfect for camping, some people say the coffee is just as good as from a real machine. But I haven’t tried it, so I can’t comment. I
You can buy one online for $54 from Ministry Grounds They look cheap and plastic because they are. But they’re a coffee geek thing.
Syphon
Syphons look cool, use a gas burner, and make exquisite coffee capturing the subtleties of different beans.
The cheapest I can find them is at Campos online (though I suspect postage adds a bit), they sell them for $125 with burner. The Coffee Guy at Wooloowin has them instore for $165, though they’re different brands so we’re comparing Golden Delicious with Granny Smith here. This is what I’m hoping for as a combined birthday/Christmas present from my wife this year. Hint. Hint.
Ministry Grounds sells the Hario 2 Cup for $140.
MyPressi Twist
The MyPressi is a soda-bulb powered hand held espresso maker. It’s pretty cool. Though at $299 is pretty expensive. You can buy direct from the company for $149 currently (not including postage).
You can grab one online from Toby’s Estate – if you’re in Brisbane the Coffee Guy has them on the shelf.
Grinder sub $200
Sunbeam’s EM0480 Conical Burr grinder is a winner, it’s what I had before I upgraded to a stupidly expensive cafe grinder (a Macap M4 which I am very happy with).
Espresso Machine sub $200
Anything under $100 isn’t going to last long and is likely to make terrible coffee. Ignore anything you read about pump pressure, and if it creates crema by putting a double floor onto the basket in the handle it’s designed to be used with bad supermarket beans that need an external aid to create an imagined sense of body.
I was pretty happy with our Sunbeam Cafe Series machine (the cheapest I’d go, I think), if you’re looking to spend just over the $200 mark the Breville Ikon is a pretty good machine. But the grinder is way more important. The Kyocera/Aeropress combo from Ministry Grounds is the best bet for cheap coffee. Unless you want to get a plunger or one of these pourover filters ($35 from Ministry Grounds) and some filter papers.
Bonus presents for the real snob
Roaster sub $40
A popcorn maker is all you need to get started roasting at home.
Roaster sub $60
Snaffle a second hand breadmaker from a garage sale and get one of Bunning’s Heat Guns (in the paint section) which comes with a lifetime guarantee for something like $25, and you’re on your way to roasting big batches of beans at home.
Roaster sub $500
The Behmor Coffee Roaster I use is great for 500gm batches of coffee, Ministry Grounds no longer sell them, but a quick google will show you that others still do.
Books and DVDs
Coffee Parts have a great range of more expensive coffee machines and grinders – and if they sell it it’s probably pretty good (plus parts are available for it). But they also sell a huge range of other coffee related stuff for amateur baristas and coffee enthusiasts. Including books and DVDs.
Driscoll on Christianity in public
Say what you will about Mark Driscoll – but the man is sharpest (I think) when he’s talking about how the church should interact with the surrounding culture. I like this video because we are almost completely in agreement.
Christianity, society and politics from CPX on Vimeo.
He talks about how we can learn from Calvin’s approach to Christianity and Politics, avoiding anachronistically suggesting that any imposition of Christian government is wrong, and suggesting that it’s not appropriate today because you’d need everybody in a country to be Christian in order for that to be appropriate.
“Change often times comes from the bottom up. And I think one of the great myths is that politics changes culture. Politics doesn’t change culture, it represents culture. Politics represents the views of the constituency.”
“My efforts particularly in our city have not been politically active, I’m quite frankly not, I mean, we don’t talk about politicians or issues, much, I mean as I’m teaching through the Bible there might be some corollary between a social issue and a biblical teaching, but for the most part our goal is to love and serve people, to serve the city, to be people who really do love and are committed to our city and want to see the benefit to all people in the city, not just the Christians, and I believe that as more people share that ethic that will help to turn the culture of the city over and that will lead to political change.”
Watch it. It’s good.
This is the sort of post that is eventually going to migrate to Venn Theology (in fact, it’s cross posted there).
NBA Jam: Jordan meets James
Last year this basketball player named LeBron James sent shockwaves through his home city because he turned his back on the team who had nurtured and created him. He moved. He changed teams. He didn’t do it in a very classy way. Anyway, he’s probably the best basketballer going around – and he’s a Nike sponsored superstar.
That intro is necessary for you to understand why this mashup of Nike commercials where Michael Jordan gives LeBron some advice is pretty cool.
Great Scott: Because it’s always fun crying before breakfast
You know a letter addressed “To My Widow” is going to be a tear jerker – and this one didn’t fail to hit that mark. I’m as tough and manly as the next guy, but this letter from Captain Robert Scott, who was beaten to the South Pole by some guy from Norway and died on the way back, to his wife, smashed me in the guts.
Via: Letters of Note (there’s a full transcript there).
“I must write a little letter for the boy if time can be found to be read when he grows up — dearest that you know cherish no sentimental rubbish about remarriage — when the right man comes to help you in life you ought to be your happy self again — I hope I shall be a good memory certainly the end is nothing for you to be ashamed of and I like to think that the boy will have a good start in parentage of which he may be proud…
You see I am anxious for you and the boy’s future — make the boy interested in natural history if you can, it is better than games — they encourage it at some schools — I know you will keep him out in the open air — try and make him believe in a God, it is comforting.
Oh my dear my dear what dreams I have had of his future and yet oh my girl I know you will face it stoically — your portrait and the boy’s will be found in my breast and the one in the little red Morocco case given by Lady Baxter — There is a piece of the Union flag I put up at the South Pole in my private kit bag together with Amundsen’s black flag and other trifles — give a small piece of the Union flag to the King and a small piece to Queen Alexandra and keep the rest a poor trophy for you!”
His son became a famous natural scientist, and television host, and his wife did remarry. So it seems the letter paid off.
Mmm. Smells like bacon.
Scented candles have never really excited me. Until now.
Set the mood for your next breakfast shin dig with these…
From ThinkGeek.
Steampunk Prime
What if Optimus Prime hit earth before the combustion engine was invented. He’d be a steam train of course.
This guy from Encline Designs makes custom Transformers and other toys. Pretty awesome.
Tumblrweed: Kim Jong Il looking at things
I am contemplating making a regular feature of weird single serving blogs on Tumblr. This one features photos of Kim Jong Il looking at things.
It’s odd. And provides some sort of insight into the style of staged Public Relations shoots in North Korea. Somehow the idea that Kim Jong Il looks at things must provide some succor to his legions of loyal, browbeaten citizens. Everything about his reign is stage managed. Which means the oddness is intentional.
