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.

Tidal title

There is a new Gomez album out. It’s titled “A New Tide”. You should most definitely get a copy. Unless three part harmonies sung over the top of complex multilayered melodies and infused with a bit of alt.country banjo isn’t your thing. Then you should probably go listen to something else.

On the first listen this sounds like a bit of a mix of old Gomez and more recent Gomez – with a bit of Athlete thrown into the mix. But they’re a band who are notoriously difficult to pigeon hole with categorical certainty.

It really is most excellent. And they maintain their position on the top of the pile of my current favourite bands.

The new Augie March CD is also worth a spin. But that’s probably something I should have mentioned a few weeks ago.

April 8, 2009

Segway 2.0

What do you get when you cross a Segway with a smart car? A Puma apparently. The world has gone bonkers over this new announcement – and given my previous fixation with the gyroscopic transporter I couldn’t let this slide…

Here it is in action. It’s like a golf buggy. Only crapper. If you’re reading this in the sidebar you may have to click the link through to the post for the video.

April 8, 2009

Package deal

Coffee tasters love finding nuanced flavours in bean varieties – and they can at times seem a stretch… other times they can punch you in the face. There’s a particular bean I like that tastes almost exclusively like blueberry.

Square Mile Coffee are a roaster/cafe of some repute – with involvement from a couple of previous World Barista Champions – they label their coffee with a tag cloud to demonstrate different flavour notes in their beans. I like it. It’s clever. Particularly this underlying idea – that didn’t get off the ground (yet).

We did have an idea of a microsite that allowed customers to input their cupping notes into the site to constantly update a swirling live tag cloud of the espresso. Crowd sourcing descriptors seemed like fun! However that probably won’t happen as the cloud would only really become useful when enough people enter data and at that point the espresso would be close to the end of its run as a seasonal blend.

April 8, 2009

Lock stock

Here’s something for the security conscious puzzle nerd – try getting out of a room locked with one of these puzzle locks (let alone getting into one).

When it comes to locking doors it pays to remember the three S’s – security, security, security… you should probably also make sure you fit it to the right side of the door.

April 8, 2009

On the road(kill) again…

Driving is a hungry business. Sometimes when I’m on the road and I run over some Australian fauna or driving past a hoard of dead animals I think to myself “boy, I wish I had a crock pot here with me so I could cook this up…”

It’s that sort of thinking that no doubt led to the release of this in car slow cooker… the Road Pro – $US29 of awesomeness.

There’s actually a whole series of in car cooking appliances – from pizza ovens to portable stoves (and everything in between).

April 8, 2009

Got Milk?

This is a novel take on the idea of “literal packaging“…

These fruit juice cartons follow a similar, but slightly varied theme.

Amy mentioned that she’s a sucker for a well designed product package – so no doubt she’ll be ordering up big on fruit juice if these ever hit the shelves.

April 8, 2009

Dead set legend?

I mentioned the ABC radio’s unique take on the stats released by the Centre for Public Christianity yesterday. Dan has helpfully shared a link to the ABC Radio transcript of the story I was listening to on the world today.

The reaction to the statistics has been somewhat amusing. On the one hand 55% of the “non born again” community don’t believe in the resurrection. Which should be comforting to atheists, Muslims and the liberal church.

The Uniting Church in New South Wales was one of the first organisations to put its own spin on the findings – claiming most of the 45% of (non “born again”) people who believe in the resurrection only believe it in a metaphorical sense.

Many Australians, although certainly not a majority, would see Jesus as metaphorically real, or his resurrection as metaphorically real, but would expect that the bones of Jesus would be found in Palestine.

And that’s my own position.

But I think that the resurrection of Jesus is principally about the continuing reality of Jesus of Nazareth in this world. – Ian Pearson from the Pitt Street Uniting Church…

Hmm, interesting take on things. You’ve got to wonder why this guy is still a “Christian” minister if this is what he thinks. If they found the bones of Jesus in Palestine I’d throw in the Christian towel. Immediately. If it’s all just a metaphor you’ve got to ask “why bother at all?” – Exactly the point Sydney Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen raised…

If he just rose metaphorically, well, it’s Alice in Wonderland sort of stuff, and is not worth worrying about.

I wouldn’t be a Christian if I thought that. Just wouldn’t be worth the trouble.

But that’s not what the New Testament says; that’s not what the evidence says.

The evidence is really talking about a real resurrection from the dead.

The atheists on the other hand. Well. They still kind of miss the point of serving God if you believe in him – which many clearly still do… talk about imposing your value judgments on others…

The world needs to get away from this dependence on an imaginary super person in the sky, and start looking at the problems that we’re encountering in real terms – David Nichols, the president of the Atheist Foundation of Australia

April 8, 2009

POTUS Pots

Barack Obama is apparently so popular he’d win elections in most countries around the world. Without even turning up. It can be tough at times to pay appropriate tribute to a man as influential and exciting as the current President of the United States (POTUS). How bout your very own herbal treatment for America’s first ever pot smoking president* – a Chia Obama. A few US retailers are now refusing to carry them instore. There are two varieties – happy and determined…

*at least the first to openly admit “inhaling”…

April 8, 2009

Pillow talk: The key to sleeping at work

I’ve never really found myself nodding off at the desk but I’m sure it’s a dangerous occupational health and safety issue requiring novel solutions. Like these.

A pillow tie/sleeve combo from designer Maja Ganszyniec…

And for those narcoleptic office workers who just can’t type a sentence without nodding off – a pillow with a built in keyboard… From Russia with love (and Google Translate).

April 8, 2009

Meth related spirits

US designer Dan Meth received much kudos for his map of US sitcoms. I posted about it here. It was a nice idea and it’s good to see it replicated for British comedies – because everyone knows that British comedies are superior.

Here’s the intro post from the designer of this most fantastic map.

April 8, 2009

Egg centric

Lifehacker is often full of useful tips and tricks to make your life better. Their posts can be pretty random and eclectic – today there’s a scientific analysis of the preparation of boiled eggs with a link to a flash application developed by someone at the University of Oslo.

Here is the formula.

Here’s a picture of the flash app which does all your eggciting calculations for you- and a link to a translated version of the original page.

egg

April 8, 2009

The Beginners Guide to Taking Over the World – Winning Over the Masses

Winning over the masses
The international community is taking you seriously. You have a name. Now it’s time to turn your eye to the local community. If history has taught us anything it’s that if the local community isn’t behind you then you’re not going anywhere fast.

The Roman Emperors of old got the public on side by throwing huge festivals that ran for months. Your empire isn’t that large yet, but that’s something to consider in the future. However, calling public holidays, particularly in Australia, is one way to get the public on side very quickly.

Other, less cost effective options include canceling of debts owed, tax cuts, and other options that are equally likely to leave you in financial trouble down the track. No, you want your solution to cost you as little as possible.

It’s no secret that a smiling population is a happy population. I would suggest that the best way to create a happy population, tighten your grip on your society and further your plot to take over the world in one swoop would be to hire a large army of mercenaries and dress them as clowns. Your clown goons patrolling the streets will bring happiness to the masses, prevent crime and later help you in your bid to expand your empire. This street time is invaluable experience for a soldier. Australia’s involvement in several peacekeeping exercises in the Oceanic region has simply been an opportunity to have other nations provide the training for our troops. That’s why the government doesn’t step in sooner, or preemptively, as the US, who believe that their armed forces are already up to scratch, did in Iraq.*

It may also be a good idea to teach your clowns a few card tricks or jokes to please the kiddies. Happy kids make happy parents. The Clown Goon army’s guns should also be disguised, but not in a way that encourages children to play with them. Broccoli shaped gun covers should be standard issue.
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*In fact the US army are so well trained, and keen to do battle that they often make the mistake of shooting each other during conflict, unaware that in conflict they are using “live” ammunition as opposed to the “dead” ammunition they use in training exercises, perhaps it is possible to train too much after all.

April 8, 2009

A bunch of links – April 7, 2009

April 7, 2009

Egg citing statistics

Research released by John Dickson’s Centre for Public Christianity has been given widespread media attention today.

The ABC radio’s idea of “objective” coverage was to give the Atheists a chance to use this as a platform to call for a secular society.

But it’s a pretty interesting statistic when it comes to reaching the “unwashed masses” – it seems almost half of the country’s non-Christians could be considered “low hanging fruit” – believing that Jesus rose from the dead.

This survey did not include those who define themselves as “born again” which possibly means it did include church going liberals, Catholics and others who tick the “Christian” box on the census.

Here’s the SMH story on the stats.

April 7, 2009

Rocking grill

Ahh, the magic of stone grilling… one of the best meals we had in New Zealand was a stone grill selection at a pub in Hanmer Springs. It was so good that I’d almost buy this. For 29 GBP.

April 7, 2009