I post lots of infographics. I like them. They are simplicity personified (though not as simple as a good Venn Diagram). But infographics are part of the search engine optimisation strategies of some of the web’s nefarious spammers.
So here’s an explanation.
Via Urlesque.
The Whitlams were on to something. I don’t think they were thinking about ministry when they wrote Love This City. But I think it’s a great idea for churches. It’s Biblical too (see Jeremiah 29).
This is one thing I think the Mars Hill/Acts 29 movement does really well. And when they speak about it, I listen.
So check out this post. Four ways to know your city.
Here’s one way:
“Ask your neighbors and fellow citizens lots of questions. Don’t interrogate them but show sincere, intentional interest in them and the information they possess. Anecdotal information about your city and fellow citizens is unbeatable.
Ask them the What, How, and Why questions: What do you think is broken in our neighborhood or city? What gets you excited about life? What do you think should be done about economic decline in our city? Anything you would like to change about your neighborhood?
Are you fulfilled in what you are doing in life? Why do you drive across town to do X? Why do you dislike traditional Christianity?”
The last question is based on a startling assumption. Maybe they don’t dislike traditional Christianity.
Charlie Bit Me is one of those classic bits of parental exploitation on YouTube, the kid should join some sort of internet celebrity support group with David After Dentist.
H/T Steve Tran.
Years ago my friend Phil and I produced a range of parody Christian book covers, including, but not limited to, the Porpoise Driven Life. Here’s a TV commercial. Not made by us. But brilliant.
Pet turtles are fun. You should totally get some. Then you can take their photos while they eat and make them minor cewebrities on Turtles Eating Things. A photoblog dedicated to turtles eating stuff.
A wearable, playable, Pacman outfit is sure to go down a treat at your next costume party.
Via Walyou.
I’m a sucker for a Bohemian Rhapsody cover/parody. Here you’ll find the Star Wars prequels in six minutes. Better than watching them.
This is pretty over the top. And thus. Awesome.
Warning: it includes the comedic severing of a limb.
Via 22 Words.
I’ve posted something like this before. It may even have been this. If so, it is worth repeating. If not… well, it’s worth posting. Clever.
Why? Why? Why?
I’m not paranoid about the data Facebook, Google and Apple are gathering about me. Because I put too much stuff out there voluntarily for that to be overly concerning, and I don’t do anything I wouldn’t want the world seeing anyway. But some people find this sort of thing scary.
From here.
Speaking of duck. Check out this fluky piece of latte art I pulled off a couple of months ago.
I love duck. If it’s on the menu at a restaurant, and I’m not paying, I’ll order it every time. I was thrilled, last time I was checking out the meat section at Coles, to find whole ducks for $17.99. I bought one. Tonight, I cooked it. Duck a l’orange style. That’s how I’m spelling it anyway. I mostly followed this recipe here, but I made a few additions.
It was spectacular. I served it with roasted baby carrots, potatoes and garlic.
Here are some grainy iPhone photos.
I was a little surprised to unwrap the duck to find the neck still attached.
I salted the skin and pricked little holes in it (following that recipe) to let the fat drip out during cooking.
This was my little tray of veggies.
Here’s the duck after an hour. It took about three and a half hours to cook.
The sauce was orange juice (squeezed by hand, with a fair bit of pulp), roughly a cup of moscato, a spoon full of orange marmalade, and some of the duck fat. I reduced it a fair bit, basically until it was a syrup. I cut a couple of slices from the middle of each orange to make my candied orange garnish (one of my additions).
I tipped a few lid-fulls of castor sugar (from one of those CSR bottle things… I think they’re CSR bottles) into a fry pan with a dash of water, and let it heat for a little while. Then I dropped my orange pieces in and tried to caramelise them. They ended up tasting a bit like marmalade and being a nice sticky texture. Perfect.
This sauce had been sitting for a while (as I finished off the veggies) a quick stir settled the oil (from the duck juices) back into the orange syrup. Delicious.
A while back I sparked a minor outrage in the Australian evangelical corner of the blogosphere when I suggested that if we were going to be the type of people who wore icons we should wear empty tombs rather than crosses.1 I’m wondering if instead of empty tombs we should wear thrones. If we really want to celebrate where Jesus is at now… actually, lets not make it a dichotomy, or a trichotomy. Lets do all three. Maybe a charm necklace with a cross, an empty tomb and a throne. If there’s one thing Christian culture likes its a bracelet to remind them of significant truths. This may not be a four letter acronym wristband (FLAW), but it could have better production values. You could make them out of appropriate precious stones, with cheaper versions so as not to be exclusive, in fact, in a “last being first, first being last” manner you could sell the cheap material for more. They would sell millions. Does anybody want to help me sell them?
We could do it Ezekiel style (chapter 1):
“26And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.”
Or Revelation style (chapter 4).
2At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
1 I reckon I would’ve gotten away with the basic idea of the post had I said “best symbol of our hope” rather than “best symbol of the atonement”…
