If I was ever of a mind to celebrate Halloween in the American sense I would probably buy one of these $200, one piece zombie suits.
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.
A dog’s life
Anybody who tut-tutted my coffee machine’s carbon emissions (2.3 tonnes per year) should think twice. Especially if they own a dog.
So says Good Magazine and a team of scientists… and who can argue with them… here’s a nice little infographic breaking down the comparitive eco-footprint of pets and four wheel drives… I’m guessing that a turtle is about on par with the hamster featured in the bottom left hand corner.
Driscoll on the “good” question
Mark Driscoll’s column in the Washington Post is a delight to follow. This time around he tackles the question of goodness without God.
His answer is worth reading in full.
It clarifies the Christian position in a way that tackles the offence atheists take when we make the claim that God is the root cause of goodness.
“Therefore, right and wrong are ultimate standards rooted in the character of God and revealed in the teaching and life of Jesus Christ. Even those who do not believe in a god, or worship Jesus as the only God, cannot altogether erase the deep imprint of right and wrong because God stamped it on their very nature so that, despite being marred by sinful rebellion, it cannot be denied or ignored. In fact, we each appeal to this moral law every time evil is done against us; we appeal for something more than merely the survival of the fittest, where might makes right and morality is determined by those holding power. Therefore, we image God by respecting all of human life, particularly the weak, oppressed, sick, elderly, poor, unborn, and racial and cultural minorities because God values them as his image bearers.”
Bohemian like you
This is very clever. Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody recreated using old bits and pieces of technology…
Who is Bert Erhman you say?
Bert Erhman has been mentioned pretty frequently in the continuing conversation on Dave’s post about why he’s not an atheist.
Other than the fact that his surname is an anagram of Herman I didn’t really know who Ehrman was, or much about him. But luckily, Stephen Colbert, America’s most trusted news hound, has interviewed him…
So now I know all about him. And that he’s wrong.
The answer is that he’s an atheist writer who questions the validity of the claims that the gospels represent an accurate history of who Jesus is.
Metal detecting shoes make bad hobby slightly less bad
Metal detecting is apparently the world’s worst hobby. I would have suggested bird watching fit that bill – but the results are in… Or so Slate says anyway…
About two percent of the problem with metal detecting as a hobby comes from having to lug the metal detector around with you.
Now you don’t have to. You can wear them on your feet…
And they look really stylish too – you can wear them to parties – who knows what you might pick up…
Have yourself a very wooden Christmas
Christmas is just around the corner. Shops are setting up their displays, playing Christmas Carols and being generally annoying.
If I was going to set up a nativity scene in my house – or anywhere actually – I would totally consider this minimalistic set designed by German Oliver Fabel (and available, apparently, in both English and German)…
That’s cool right? But where’s the dragon from Revelation 12. We need an extra block… here’s a photoshop nativity I did for a sermon on Revelation 12 last December.
Beautifully redundant photography
Fred Lebain takes photos of city scenery. Prints them out on large sheets of paper then takes the photo back to the scene and takes another photo…
There are more of these at Design Bloom. I like them. A lot.
Pocket pizza
No, not Pizza pockets… those are an entirely different, and entirely less awesome thing…
Dominos has just launched its iPhone application allowing you the power to order pizzas from your phone… oh wait… we’ve always had that power.
But now, we don’t have to talk to people, and that can only be a good thing… here’s a screenshot…
Too much of a good thing
After sales follow up is really nice. I like when a company cares.
I would, however, limit this after sales service to one form of contact in the first week – and then perhaps a follow up call a few months down the track.
A phone call, an SMS and an email is probably overkill.
It’s as true for churches as it is for mechanics (and guys chasing a second date).
Don’t be too nice, or too keen to see me again. You’ll only freak me out.
My top five rules for blogging
I have been meaning to post this since reading Ben’s reflections on blogging. I’ve noticed that a lot of people I know start blogs (and I get really excited). And then the blog dies. After about a week. Mine didn’t. So here are my tips.
- Blog regularly
- Don’t blog for comments
- If you want hits, write lists
- If you need to write about stupid stuff in order to keep writing, then write about stupid stuff.
- If you want regular readers comment regularly elsewhere.
I’m going to turn this into a little series and expand on each idea during the week. In the meantime, share your tips in the comments.
Birthday Wishes
My lovely wife turned 25 yesterday. An alarming number of people (six) wished her a happy birthday on her Facebook profile expressing a hope that I had “spoiled” her…
Now, I don’t buy into the whole “spoiling” thing. I think I treat Robyn with due specialness all year round…
But I did “spoil” her. With an almost surprise high tea party organised at the last minute after she told me quite clearly a week in advance (after having previously told me that she didn’t want anything) that she still didn’t want a party, but that if she did, she’d like it to be a high tea.
Thanks to those who brought stuff. I would have photos to post had I remembered that I owned a camera – and had I not been churning out the coffees and hot chocolates and making sure children didn’t trample our turtles.
Since I didn’t have a camera with me here’s an old photo.
Shirt of the Day: What Space Invaders really look like
Ever wondered exactly what you were seeing when you were playing Space Invaders as a child… well. Here you go. A behind the scenes look at the alien space craft…
Don’t push the red button
Rule number one in the joy flight manual should be “don’t touch the controls”.
Let this guy’s mistake be a lesson for all of us…
“The man, a civilian joyriding with his air force pilot friend, accidentally grabbed the eject lever while trying to brace himself.
He was instantly fired through the aircraft’s perspex canopy and blasted 320ft (100m) into the sky by the rocket-powered chair.
He then floated down to the ground with a parachute that opened automatically.
Experts said he was lucky to escape unharmed from the bizarre accident last week in South Africa.
Air Force bosses scrambled a helicopter to pick him up after the blunder near Langebaanweg airfield, 80 miles north of Cape Town.
The yellow-and-black eject levers are fitted as standard in the jets to allow pilots and their passengers to escape in the event of an emergency. It only needs to be pulled 2.5cm to activate two rockets attached to the chair.”
Stupid Inventions, great concept
I have lots of ideas for stupid inventions – so I can totally sympathise with the creators of this YouTube series…
Here are some great stupid inventions…