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 series of 4chanate events

It seems nobody can safely enter the world of online Christian dating. Cyber bullies from 4Chan have stolen a bunch of login details from a Christian dating service’s database and used them to hack the people’s corresponding Facebook profiles, posting all manner of nasties and shocking family members. I’d seen a couple of their escapades pop up on a couple of the humour blogs I subscribe to. They’re not nice. And I can’t imagine having to explain that sort of thing to friends and family. Here are some examples – don’t believe your friends if they claim these things without talking to them first…

“Status updates posted on other hacked Christians’ Facebook profiles included racist hate messages and messages pretending that the poster had contemplated suicide or had accidentally killed a homeless person.

The hackers also caused trouble between the users and their friends, writing on one user’s photo that their baby was “ugly” and on another woman’s photo that her teeth matched her skin.”

The message here – other than “don’t always believe what you read on someone’s Facebook account” is “don’t use the same password for all your sites across the internet”… oh, and “don’t have a stupidly simple password” and on that point I’m speaking from experience…

I’d also suggest not keeping all your passwords in your email inbox. That’s a recipe for disaster

August 25, 2009

Yawn of a new era

Ben has posted a little bit of conspiracy theory driven speculation over on Vanishing Point which suggests that his blog’s nominally inferred prophecy may come about as the result of a yawn.

The yawn, unlike the sneeze is a subtle evil. Where the sneeze is loud, and produces a certain amount of tangible outbound traffic (spittle), the yawn sneaks under the radar. It is silent. There is no wetness to be felt. And yet the damage can actually be of a similarly devastating magnitude.

I have some of my own theories about yawns, which according to my site search thing I’ve never actually written about. Which is a situation that must surely be rectified. Here. Now.

Yawning, as we all know, is a contagious disease. One person yawns, and in the right circumstances it could set of a perpetual motion loop where everybody in a circle yawns, one after the other, dooming them to a harrowing oxygen fuelled existence.

I have a theory about why yawns are contagious. When we yawn we draw more oxygen into our lungs than a normal breath. To yawn in an enclosed space is to hog oxygen. Which, because we are selfish individuals, explains why everybody else in the vicinity also yawns. We don’t want anyone having more than their fair share.

This could one day pose a problem. If a group large enough gathers, and a yawning epidemic spreads, there will not be enough trees in all the Greenpeace wheelbarrows of the world to photosynthesis enough oxygen to replace the catastrophe that would follow.

Once you understand and embrace this underlying understanding of the nature of yawning you are on the path to enlightenment. You are equipped to deal with and understand life in a way that you have not been before.

This new, secret, knowledge gives you an unfair advantage over your fellow man. So use it carefully. Here’s an example.

If you are a single person and you are sitting in a room full of eligible people of the other gender – and you think that a particular member of the opposite gender has quite literally "caught your eye", if say, you think they are engaging in a little bit of casual "checking out" – just yawn. If they were checking you out your yawn will be irresistible. They’ll respond. If not, well, there’s no reason to get your hopes up and have them cruelly dashed.

There’s nothing so painful as unrequited cross auditorium/lecture theatre/church/conference centre love. Harness the power of the yawn and you’ll never feel that pain again.

August 25, 2009

Kutzy, Kutzy Coup

Slowly and surely the people I know who I think should have blogs are starting blogs. And why not? Blogging is great. First there was Izaac. He’s been going strong for a couple of months, and he’s well worth a read. Then I managed to coax my sister Maddie into writing occasionally here.

Now my long time philosophical sparring partner, former housemate, good friend, and potential future workmate Kutz has started a blog. He did ask me not to mention this, but that was a week ago, and he’s since published it to his myriad friends on Facebook. So here’s the link.

He’s opened with a worthy contribution to the conversation about country ministry and where people should go.

There’s a bit of meaty stuff already, and I’d expect more of the same.

Now if only Dave Walker would start a blog…

August 25, 2009

Reliving the classics

I’ve posted a bunch of games in real life type things before, but none has been as beautiful as this collection. They really are nice. And all my favourites are there – Pacman, Tetris and Space Invaders. Can’t go wrong really.



August 24, 2009

Ping Pong 2.0

Table Tennis. Check. Data projector. Check. Motion Sensor. Ambient fish graphic. Check.

That’s a recipe for an awesomely trippy futuristic/1970s crossover party. Or something. Check it out.

“PingPongPlus is a digitally enhanced version of the classic ping-pong game. It is played with ordinary, un-tethered paddles and balls, and features a “reactive table” that incorporates sensing, sound, and projection technologies. Projectors display patterns of light and shadow on the table; bouncing balls leave images of rippling water; and the rhythm of play drives accompanying music and visuals. In the process, this project explores new ways to couple athletic recreation and social interaction with engaging digital enhancements. ”

August 24, 2009

Lost in space (and time)

Time travel is tricky business – especially if you’re a movie producer. I imagine that you don’t want your character catching up with Marty McFly in some bizarro alternate universe. That would be bad for your plot. And you certainly want some consistency in the rendering of both past and future so that your industry looks intelligent… which is why this space travel infographic is a must have for all movie producers considering a time travel plot device.

There’s a bigger version here – and I found it here.

The other thing producers need to take careful note of is calculating length and distances both for actual travel and in order to calculate the time it’ll take for their protagonist to go on a time travelling mission to Mars. Consistency is not all that important if you have a time machine that will erase the travel time… but some geeks viewers are pretty pedantic about that sort of thing – especially when it comes to sci fi.

So here’s another vital infographic (from here). EDIT – apologies to XKCD, the original source of this graphic.

I <3 infographics.

August 23, 2009

Shirt of the day two: Monster mash (up)

It’s hard to know just what level of panic to summon when confronted by a monster. With this quick reference shirt you’ll be able to tell your Chucky dolls from your Mr Stay Puff.

Found here.

August 23, 2009

Pi Dish

Mmm, sweet tasty Pi. Here’s a dish with 88 digits of tasty, tasty mathematical awesomeness.

Lucky it’s only got 88 – because some computer nerd/mathematics nerd has just calculated it to 2.5 trillion decimal places. Which is useful for calculating the dimensions of incredibly, incredibly large circles. Really.

August 23, 2009

The other BMI

Health is measured using Body Mass Index (BMI), while economic health is measured by the Big Mac Index (BMI).

Ben (economist Ben not Vanishing Point Ben) scoffs at the Big Mac index. He thinks it’s economically trite. I think it’s a worthy comparison of the economies of different countries. Here’s a new chart that takes an interesting new direction with the traditional concept used to measure purchasing power…

August 23, 2009

Shirt of the Day: How are people made?

This shirt will help you answer that awkward question that everybody faces at least once in their lives… It’s pretty awesome.
INGREDIENTS tee by roper. Available from MySoti.com.

August 23, 2009

Bumbling Awesomeness

This is quite literally the best fancy dress outfit ever. I say that with confidence because like Warren the word over use watchdog – I hate it when the word literally is abused.

Check it out.

August 23, 2009

Feeling the burn

The Ashes are, without a doubt, the single most important piece of post colonial national pride. There is no other contest so closely fought between Australia and England. It’s important. People who don’t understand sport can’t see the influence that cricket has on the national psyche. But our sporting dominance over the Poms is important because they’re better at other stuff – like comedy – than us.

Now that we’re going to lose the Ashes again, in all probability, from a seemingly unlosable position, I’m going to go on the record (again) with my statement that Ricky Ponting is the worst captain of Australia in my lifetime.

I can’t speak for previous generations – but he’s not a patch on Waugh, Border, or Taylor (listed in order of captaincy nouse from least to greatest). He is a great batsmen – but if he can’t get his players to keep their heads, and their wickets, when the pressure is on, then he absolutely should not be leading the team.

He’s also terrible at managing his players, setting attacking fields, using his bowlers, and all the other rudimentary elements of captaincy. Unfortunately, like the Liberal Party, there doesn’t seem to be an obviously palatable replacement.

August 23, 2009

St. Eutychus around the web

Turns out the Catholics already have a saint named Eutychus. I’m not sure it’s the same guy.

But there is a great little song about Eutychus on YouTube – skip to about a minute forty five in for the good bit.

Alternatively, watch it in lego…

August 22, 2009

Google has all the answers

The Friendly Atheist thought it was pretty funny that Google says mean things about some Christian leaders when you type their names and “is” using Google’s predictive search thing.

I ran the test. I came up with some interesting results.

Here they are.

Google gets this one right…

August 21, 2009

You say potato cannon, I say potaser cannon

This is probably highly irresponsible. But stun guns aren’t readily available in Australia so I feel safe reposting it. Plus it’s available on Make Magazine’s YouTube channel. A stun gun triggered potato cannon. Brilliant. Science at its best. This one is basically for Tim. I reckon we should make a couple next year Tim, what say you?

Alternatively, we could put together a potato gatling gun.

August 21, 2009