I’ve been quiet lately. Too quiet.
Largely because I’ve been approaching the deadline for the printing of our Annual Report.
It’s kind of a big deal. Today was the day. It’s now at the printers.
Hooray.
I’m sure my brother-out-law, Hilton, won’t mind the gratuitous use of this photo of us. It displays the emotion I am currently feeling quite adequately.
Right. I should have posted this earlier. But today was Annual Report deadline day. I was busy.
Now is your chance to post your all time favourite YouTube videos in the comments for all to see.
It shouldn’t be too hard. I’ll put one there (you’ll have to click on the comments link to see it).
Speaking of atheism… which I’ve been doing a lot lately…
Dave Walker has kindly agreed to post his talk that he gave to JCU’s Society of Atheist Philosophy last week as a series of posts here. It’ll be online as an audio file as soon as I get it off my iPhone (provided the recording actually audibly worked).
Dave works for AFES in Townsville. He has one wife and four sons. He studied sciency stuff at University so isn’t completely ignorant when it comes to matters of science (like I am) and shouldn’t be dismissed on that basis.
This is a photo of Dave in silhouette form.
He is a real person. He has feelings. Be nice to Dave.
I’ve been having an interesting debate with some atheists (well I think it’s interesting and this is my blog afterall) over at the Friendly Atheist after the Friendly Atheist himself made this claim:
“Now, how do we shame those people who believe in reincarnation?
Or those people who believe that Heaven or Hell are actual places?
Or those people who believe that a god created the world in a week, that Adam and Eve were actual people, or that Jesus came back to life after being killed and has any ability to cleanse us of sins now?
It’s all the same degree of delusion“
Emphasis mine.
I didn’t like the idea that Christians, who are monotheists, are as delusional as either pantheists those who see God in everything, everywhere (eg Hindus who, crudely speaking, believe in reincarnation because spiritual matter can not be lost), or polytheists who believe in many Gods.
I think as soon as you add the word “degree” into a statement like that you have to show that all these beliefs are equally ridiculous. I think it’s patently clear that they’re not. Mostly because there are certain beliefs that are universally ridiculed – like Scientology.
I think it’s funny that atheists seem quite happy generalising about Christians using the most crazy fundamentalist doctrines they can find while at the same time refusing to allow Christians to generalise about atheists – because they’re all different.
In the discussion I put forward a proposition, which I think was a good one, and as yet nobody has addressed it in their responses… I’ll reproduce it here.
“I often wonder if the atheist cause would be better served by supporting the Christians who are trying to teach other Christians good doctrine rather than throwing out the proverbial baby and bathwater.”
This is a nice piece of outdoor advertising. And the heading of this post is a reference to what a conversation on this chair must be called…
From Flickr.
One of the fundamental, and mostly unmentioned, elements of “pick on someone your own size” is the idea that if you don’t there may in fact be a sibling or protector involved in the equation that you haven’t yet considered.
One of the things I’ve been truly amazed by as I search for funny google autofill results for my new blog is how often people ask google questions about poo.
People are clearly worried.
So if you googled “should my poo float” or “should my poo smell” or “why is my poo green” then perhaps this infographic will solve all of your problems…
And remember people. The best feces are like bananas.
The same designer who brought the world the blood powered lamp has produced this wifi detecting rod…
Clever.
To celebrate the Brisbane Zombie Walk (which happened today) I thought I’d post eleven great zombie things from around the interwebs. But before I begin – the ABC is releasing all its footage and photos of the Zombie Walk into the open source ether through a service called pool.org.au which looks pretty cool.
“ABC is building an online ‘town square’ for all Australians. Pool is a collaborative space where audiences become ‘co-creators’. It’s a place to share and talk about creative work – music, photos, videos, documentaries, interviews, animations and more.”
But now. The zombies.
Some people are so scared of the zombie apocalypse they’re preemptively screenprinting their black four wheel drives just so people know who to turn to…
I see trees of green, undead zombies too, I look around and think… well, I’ll leave watching this to you…
Shooting zombies with shotguns is the best way to get rid of them… but to do that you’ll need some target practice. Which is why it’s lucky that this company called law enforcement targets has targets you can use down at the shooting range…
If you want to plot your strategy using Lego men on a model of your city then you’ll need an accurate rendition of your zombie fighting weapons – and BrickArms has you covered.
In the event that zombies are overrunning the planet you might need a deterrent. Give the other zombies the impression that your house is already undead meat and they’ll head next door…
You can use one of these ornaments. Or several.
If zombies do take over the world then you’re going to have to learn how to get ahead in life. Your career in the new zombie world is going to depend on your man-eat-man approach to life. Which is where this book comes in…
Churches won’t really be safe in a zompocalypse. Gatherings of people will be too much like a buffet. Decapolis has you sorted with a nice approach to your devotional life…
“During a zombie attack, it’s really easy to be anxious. Zombies want your brain, and you probably would like to keep it for yourself. Yes, you have to think about physical stuff like, “Where’s the shotgun,” and “aim for the head,” but beneath all situations is a spiritual level.
…
You have to be able to point to something God has actually said if you are to have a real peace.RO 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Ah! There’s a promise God made. I can point to that verse and go, “Hey, I believe that promise.”
Now think of the things that make you anxious and replace “in all things” with your situation…
And we know that during zombie attacks God works for the good of those who love him.”
This one is gone – but there’ll be a new market for zombie teddy bears and toys – this one sold for $89 on ebay.
And then there’s the matter of wardrobe. These ones come via t-shirt rater.
iGroan
Zombies Were People Too
While we’re on the subject of Moses…
The Big Mac (which is what I’m going to call Dave McDougall today) made a really interesting link that I’d never noticed today.
We’re doing a series on prayer at the moment (I’m preaching on the Lord’s Prayer next Sunday) and today was on the subject of God saying “no” to our prayers.
God said “no” to Moses when he prayed to be allowed to set foot in the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 3. I always felt a bit sorry for Moses. He worked pretty hard at trying to keep an unwieldy people in line. And I felt vicariously ripped off for him that he had to miss out on the fulfillment of the promise he worked so hard to deliver.
I’ve also always struggled to figure out the significance of his presence at the transfiguration (Matthew 17). He, like Elijah, is a pretty significant Old Testament player. And I thought that could be it. This is where the Big Mac came to the fore this morning. At the transfiguration Moses is present both in the Promised Land and with the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecy. Which is pretty special – and now I don’t feel sorry on his behalf at all.
I just found this pretty interesting article (though it’s on Fox’s website so it’s probably inaccurate and full of bias) that concluded that Moses is more culturally important to the United States than Jesus.
Which I guess says a lot about some of the religious identity problems plaguing America.
“But as important as Jesus was to Americans’ private lives, he had far less influence than Moses on the great transformations of our public life. The themes of Jesus’ life – love, charity, alleviating poverty – would not make the list of the defining impulses of most Americans.
The themes of Moses’ life, by contrast – social mobility, standing up to authority, balancing freedom and law, dreaming of a promised land – would make any short list of America’s defining traits.”
I’ve had a fair bit to say about typography lately – so don’t get confused here. The first one is about the patterns made by letters, typology is the study of “types” and theologically it’s a way of linking the Old Testament to the New Testament.
Think of the way we use the words archetype and prototype and you’re getting close.
One of the foundational reasons that I think Jesus is something special is the way he fulfils the Old Testament. I don’t mean just the specific prophecies regarding the coming saviour that atheists are so keen to claim are debunked on the basis of generality or whatever other reasons they give. I mean the way he is the fulfillment of the narrative of the Old Testament. In particular the pivotal characters of the Old Testament. And I don’t see how it’s possible for that to be debunked any time soon. Here’s a cool list from a Tim Keller sermon via the new Evangel group blog…
It’s not an exhaustive list – there’s no mention of any of the judges or many of the prophets. But until atheists get this, and critique this properly, they don’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to the claim that anyone can “fulfill the Old Testament” given the right mix of intention and coincidence.
Sadly, as far as I can tell, this isn’t a real toy but a work of art.
I found this particular dead cat at BoingBoing.
I would buy one, I’d also buy some of the previously featured roadkill toys that are sold on this website.
Splodge the hedgehog is great for those people hanging out for the results of my pathos laden letter to K-Rudd. He’s also great for those people wanting to traumatise their children with a plush toy. And he’s completely consistent with my own experiences with the Australian echidna…
Craigslist not only the place to go to let the world know about the attractive girl you didn’t talk to on the bus… it’s also, apparently, where you go to recruit people to function as part of your slightly bizarre Halloween costume.
This guy should get points for trying. Maybe. Here’s a bigger version of that picture.
If you haven’t clicked the link to read the picture for yourself – here’s the text…
So this might seem strange and really offensive to some but hopefully someone will reply. I have always loved the scene in Empire Strikes Back where Chewbacca has to carry around a half reconstructed C3PO in a backpack because he hasn’t reattached his lower body yet. For Halloween I would love to dress up like this. I’m big enough and strong enough to pull off both the Chewbacca look and carry around a lot of weight for the night. So I’m looking for a double amputee (someone missing both legs – preferably at the hip) to accompany me as C3PO for the evening. We should meet ahead of time to work out the backpack/harness system. There are a few parties that I want to attend and I think we will be the hit of any event we attend. Anyone up for this?
YouTube Tuesday: Video by request
Hey peoples.
I want to try something new this week.
My new commenting platform, IntenseDebate (which you should try out) gives you the ability to add your own YouTube videos.
So I’m thinking that rather than post my own YouTube video this week you should all post your favourites. I’ll put a post up. I may even put my own favourite video in the comments. And then you can all go nuts.
If it works I might occasionally have a YouTube Tuesday category like music or something funny… I’m not holding high hopes. Because most of you are pretty slack at commenting (based on the ratio of regular visitors v commenters).
Here’s a couple of samples…
October 26, 2009