I’m having a fun week this week. Being a PR person again. Here’s my work car.
Tomorrow I’m going to play with some army jets and famous car drivers.
(This post was meant to go live on Monday and explain my lack of activity this week)
Category: Consciousness
Mad Skillz: How to run a debate at a theological college
Weird. Apologies to Arthur and Tamie. Just found this post in my “pending pile” thinking I’d posted it on the 24th of May. So, here you go. An extension to Mad Skillz for 2011.
Arthur and Tamie are pretty cool. I can tell that just by looking at their blog. And when you read it you’ll see that sometimes you can judge a blog by its cover. Or design. Anyway. I met Arthur once. At NTE. He was starting a Christian forum that I enjoyed participating in for a while back in ’05. Fast forward a few years and Arthur and Tamie are in Melbourne, studying at Ridley, ready to head to Africa to teach people about Jesus.
So anyway, Arthur and Tamie have a mad skill. They can run debates. At college. That are interesting. Here’s how.
Here’s how Arthur and Tamie ran debates at Ridley Melbourne.
Rationale (what and why?)
1. Make it engaging. The debate is for exploring issues together, not for being settled and definitive.
2. Make it fun. The debate is serious but it must not be dour. Be sure to create levity: compering that is warm and amusing, and speakers who love to laugh.
3. Make it irenic. The debate must be winsome and bridge-building, tactful and wise from top to bottom. Kill off potential antagonism and division.
4. Make it polemical. The debate must actively challenge people’s thinking. To that end, it’s useful to phrase the topic in terms of an artificial dichotomy: “Will the real Mars Hill please stand up?” “Mission: stay or go?”
5. Make it practical. The debate topic must relate directly to ministry and mission. A poor topic: “NT Wright’s understanding of justification is more accurate than that of John Piper.” A more useful topic: “New justification = better mission.”
6. Make it public. Although the debate is an in-house event, make sure it’s good enough to be published. Conduct it as if you will put it online—and then do so!
Procedure (when and how?)
1. Run one debate each semester. It’s quite easy to organise and is fantastic for building community.
2. Hand-pick the speakers. They need to be people with a good level of charisma and people-skills: people who can truly engage with the audience, acquit themselves well, and bring a positive light to both the issue and the college community. The speakers should also represent the whole college community, including both students and faculty, women and men.
3. Use an appropriate format. A traditional debating format may be fine, but be ready to vary this in service of the topic.
4. Prepare the teams. Gear up the speakers to interact directly with the topic, giving them guidelines and appropriate scaffolding, then leave them to prepare on their own.
5. Promote it effectively. Advertise with posters two weeks before the debate, and promote it creatively and casually.
6. Keep it short. 45 minutes is plenty of time for the entire debate.
7. Present it creatively. Pay close attention to the craft of the whole event. For example, introduce the debate using video clips, music, or infographics.
8. Announce a winner. This is not to pronounce a judgement on the issue at hand, but to promote reflection. Presenting a winner helps move the audience from being passive observers towards being proactive thinkers. Get an adjudicator who can do this aptly and wisely.
9. Provide a way forward. The topic isn’t abstract, so conclude the debate with recommendations for the audience, such as books to read or conversations to have.
Mithridatism: The art of not being allergic to poison
File this in the category of things that are cool and contain slight references to plot elements from the Princess Bride.
Mithridatism is the practice of protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts. The word derives from Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus, who so feared being poisoned that he regularly ingested small doses, aiming to develop immunity. Having been defeated by Pompey, legend has it that Mithridates tried to commit suicide using poison but failed because of his immunity and so had to resort to having a mercenary run him through with his sword.
Science says confronting marauding, potion imbibing Gauls leads to brain damage
Yeah. That’s right. Scientific studies of the world of Asterix and his gallic drug addicts has demonstrated that more than 700 traumatic brain injuries occurred within the pages of the popular comic. Helmets apparently don’t really help.
More information about the study can be found here (all the proper peer reviewed stuff is here)
“Seven hundred and four TBIs were identified. The majority of persons involved were adult and male. The major cause of trauma was assault (98.8%). Traumata were classified to be severe in over 50% (GCS 3-8). Different neurological deficits and signs of basal skull fractures were identified. Although over half of head-injury victims had a severe initial impairment of consciousness, no case of death or permanent neurological deficit was found. The largest group of head-injured characters was constituted by Romans (63.9%), while Gauls caused nearly 90% of the TBIs. A helmet had been worn by 70.5% of victims but had been lost in the vast majority of cases (87.7%). In 83% of cases, TBIs were caused under the influence of a doping agent called “the magic potion”.”
Hopefully that’s some valuable tax payer funded research. Because this is important and groundbreaking stuff that will help tourists in Europe no end.
What a day…
Well, more like what a week. Blogging has taken a back seat. Sorry dear readers. Let me explain. And then you can leave words of comfort and encouragement in the comments…
Here’s a snapshot of my week…
On Monday I had what was possibly my only day of holidays this semester. That was nice. I don’t remember what we did, so it must have been good.
On Tuesday the future of the Queensland Theological College, my educational home, became clear with the announcement that Gary Millar was going to take over as principal. I also took some photos for a story that was going in the local paper about a Hymns afternoon we had at church today. The story was based on a media release that I wrote last week, and was good (but small) except for a pretty minor factual error.
On Wednesday I gave a “devotion” (I hate that word) at the Presbyterian Church of Queensland State Assembly. I spoke on Romans 14. I wrote the talk on Tuesday, I’d done a sermon and an essay on the passage already so I thought it would be ok, but it seemed like a dangerous passage to choose to preach on as a student to a room full of old and experienced ministers. Then Robyn and I met up with somebody to discuss where we might end up as student ministers next year.
On Thursday I woke up having had a pretty restless night’s sleep to write my sermon for church, I’m preaching tomorrow on Revelation 19-20. Two exciting chapters. You should read them. I also had a few deadlines to meet for a PR consulting contract I’ve got on the boil, which is all coming to a head in a couple of weekends. The stress I was already feeling was compounded by an email from our landlord wanting to conduct an inspection we’d been trying to line up for about two months this Saturday (today). Given that we’re not going to be around much in mutually agreeable times in coming days, I said yes.
Yesterday I woke up and jumped in a car with a few college friends for a tour of some breweries and cafes on the north coast of New South Wales and on the Gold Coast. It was a terrific day. I really enjoyed it. And I’ll review a couple of the cafes on thebeanstalker.com tonight. Check them out. I got home late because peak hour is horrible and it hates me. And got stuck into tidying up a few rooms that we never use that have essentially become store rooms, and a house that had been a little neglected due to endofsemesteritis. I had a long conversation with the boss about some problems with my sermon, and when I went to bed after midnight, the house wasn’t finished.
We got up before 8 this morning to finish off the tidying ahead of an 11am inspection. The inspection came, the landlord and his wife are chatty, the inspection went. My parents turned up for a visit, right when we were due to leave for my 1pm soccer game. A 1pm soccer game which was the first of the season to be scheduled an hour away on the other side of the city. And I had the team kit. So I had to be on time. I also had to leave at half time, and our team was already short of players (and I’m the manager). We had to go to the hymn day, because I was making coffee (coffee I’d roasted during an already busy week). I’d promised to be there at quarter past 2. But because I was late to our soccer game with the shirts, the kick off was late, half time was late, so I was already running late when we got in the car. And then. We took two wrong turns (or missed two turn offs and had to do a u-turn) because google maps and street signs didn’t really agree. So I was late. The hymn day program was thrown into disarray. Fifty plus oldies who were visiting our church had to wait until the end of the program to get their coffees. And I smashed out 40+ coffees in 30 minutes.
Then I came home to finish/fix my sermon. Which I’ve now done, though it’s too long. Like this post. You’re probably tired just reading it. You probably didn’t make it to the end. Mostly because it was boring. But I hope it explains why I haven’t blogged much this week.
Now I’m sitting in front of the TV and I’m too tired to complain about the Bondi Vet and his stupidly trite cliches, his overly good looking face and his all too pleasant demeanour.
Why am I more stressed on holidays than during semester?
Queensland Assembly: A taste of the future
I had my first taste of the Presbyterian Assembly line today. Turns out to get ahead in the denomination in Queensland you should be balding and sport a goatee.
I sat in on a day’s worth of policy debate on a bunch of boring stuff, in order to see the appointment of our new principal (pending his acceptance, other bloggers have jumped the gun on that one…). Gary Millar. Who is cool because he knows U2. Sort of.
The coffee at Assembly was awful. I sense a bit of a business opportunity.
Tomorrow morning I’m doing the “devotion” at Assembly. Five minutes on Romans 14. Devotion is such an odd word.
Ahh. Holidays…
Semester One finally finished for me yesterday. Which is delightful news. Because it means that other than a PR contract I have to fulfil in Townsville in two weeks, and some bits and pieces over the next two weeks (like preaching on Revelation 19-20 at Scots). It would be horrible to forget that. Wouldn’t it. To turn up at church not realising you’re meant to be preaching.
Anyway. Semester One essays will eventually be posted over at Venn Theology. I was particularly happy with the essay I wrote on the relationship between special and general revelation (reading the Bible, and science). Other essays included a look at hope in the book of Jeremiah, a review of a German guy’s view on Luke (his name is Conzelmann), and one on the role/authority of tradition in the church.
I feel like I’ve learned a lot, and I was infinitely less stressed this year. Not sure why. Maybe it was the almost complete lack of social life.
Anyway. That’s a long way of saying you may see more, or less, of me in coming weeks. Depending entirely on how long Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood takes me to finish…
What does your perfect holiday day look like? Especially a winter holiday day. I’ll be trying to produce a string of them in the next few weeks, and could do with some inspiration.
Mad Skillz: How to make toasted Mars Bar sandwiches, and some variations
While I’ve enjoyed posting mad skillz from a few other people (and I have a few more to go), I thought I might contribute a skill of my own… so, without further ado, I give you my updated guide to the production of the world’s most delicious toasted sandwich. For this batch I expanded the recipe to include marshmallows. So I give you. The Toasted Mars Bar and Marshmallow Sandwich.
You’ll need:
Fun size Mars Bars
Marshmallows
Bread
A sandwich toaster (might be best to get a second one, because if you’re not careful you’ll be trying to get rid of the taste of marshmallow for weeks)
Process
It’s all fairly self explanatory:
1. Chop up the marshmallows.
2. Place them on the bread, away from the edges, because you want to make sure they don’t spill over the edges onto the hotplate.
3. Cut up the Mars Bar – I used fun size ones, I think they used to be bigger. This batch probably could have done with some more chocolate to be honest.
4. Place the Mars Bar bits on top of the marshmallow. Put it in the sandwich toaster. You’ll need to check it as it cooks a few times in case a bit of marshmallow leaks. Trust me.
5. Serve. Delicious.
Now. That looks pretty good right? But you can make it a little more gourmet with the introduction of some puffed pastry in the place of the bread.
Either cook them on the toasted sandwich maker (be sure to oil it) – it’ll take about 15 minutes…
…or in the oven – I let these go for about 17 minutes in the end.
With a little bit of egg glaze (1 egg and a dash of water)…
The parcel worked better than the open one.
You could probably dust these with icing sugar to present them all fancy and stuff. They’re best eaten hot, but the insides get very, very, hot. So don’t burn your tongue.
Sad day for second hand books
My trips to Sydney won’t be the same anymore. Gould Books is a must visit for me, and has been since I was a kid staying in one of the terrace houses across the road. Every day of that week was a new a reading adventure. Until I picked up a very tattered copy of Lord of the Rings (which my clever mother recovered with a Coco Pops box. So it was sad to read that the man who put the Gould into Gould books died. I’ve never been to a bookshop with so many books and such a lax approach to fire safety and cataloguing.
Mad Skillz: How to, in an appropriate context, choke somebody unconscious in 8 seconds
Let me open with an arbitrary disclaimer. Only try this at home if your home is being invaded and you can take the criminal by surprise. Even then, you might be better off kicking them in the groin.
Not the hold suggested below.
I don’t know when you’ll need to use this, and I hope you never will, but Craig Schwarze is a seriously tough guy. He doesn’t just watch UFC like the rest of us. He does martial arts stuff. He knows how to do stuff you’ve only seen Chuck Norris do. He blogs about Genesis 1. You don’t get much tougher. You should, by the way, check out his blog. I’ve been reading it pretty much since I started blogging, and his post rate a few years back inspired me to up the ante here.
Here is his guide to taking down said opponent.
1. Position yourself behind the subject
2. Take your right arm, hook it around the subjects neck, and then place your right hand on your left shoulder. At this stage, the subjects neck should be sitting comfortably in the crook of your elbow
3. Take your left hand and slide it behind the subjects head, with the palm facing toward you. Use it to grip your right shoulder. There should still be no pressure on the subjects neck
4. Gently begin to squeeze your elbows toward each other. Don’t press too hard or quickly, or you will “gas” your arms. Just steady pressure together
5. Your forearms would put great pressure on the arteries on either side of the subjects neck. There should be no pressure across the throat. If applied correctly, subject will lose consciousness within a few seconds
6. Check out a quick demonstration (sadly embedding is disabled on this video)
Thanks Craig.
Feel free to submit your own mad skillz via my email address, found in various locations around this page (try the header).
Mad Skillz Round 2: Kicking off now
I’m about to post my first Mad Skillz Week entry for round 2. But don’t despair. You can still submit yours. Email them to me. I have quite a few. But I’m happy to extend this until I run out. Get in on the action.
Got a mad skill? I want to know about it
Remember Mad Skillz Week – that awesome fortnight last year when you, my dear readers, contributed your mad skillz for the benefit of others. Good times.
Well. It’s Mad Skillz time again. I’ve put the call out on Facebook, and now I’m putting the call out here too. If you have a randomly acquired ability, a professional skill, a piece of expertise, or something from your vast range of life experience that you think would benefit the eclectic mix of readers who visit this site – then tell me about it. Please. It doesn’t have to be amazing, just something that you know how to do but others don’t. I’ll publish it if it’s not something inappropriate and if it’s not boring. Maybe even if it’s boring.
Email me at my gmail address. It’s nm(.)campbell at gmail dot com. But without the brackets and with the requisite @ symbol.
How to make incredible breakfast burritos in Six Steps
Last night, at some time around 11pm, I was talking to reader Tim Goldsmith on Facebook, and in an off hand comment (as he described a technical glitch he was having with this site) he mentioned two magic words. Breakfast burritos. I hadn’t had dinner at this point. I was inspired.
I’d had a breakfast burrito before. On the Sunshine Coast. It was delicious.
I had the ingredients. I still had the oil I’d used in the afternoon for the tortilla chips (I was planning to rebottle it to use again). I was hungry. So I made breakfast burritos. Here’s what I did…
Step 1. Cook the bacon and two eggs.
Step 2. Add some maple syrup and Worcestershire sauce to the bacon. This makes bacon delicious.
I just pour it on top of the cooking bacon – though beware, if you don’t watch it carefully it’ll coat your pan with a layer that’s almost impossible to clean. But it’s worth it.
Step 3. I had some sticky rib BBQ sauce in the fridge, so I put a dollop of that on the tortilla.
Step 4. I loaded up the tortilla with the bacon, some cheese, and then the egg.
Here’s about how cooked it was…
Step 5. Then it was into the frypan (with a bit of really hot oil – probably half a centimetre). It cooked/blackened really quickly. Heaps quicker than the chips.
Step 6. Plate up.
Delicious. It’s now on the menu if ever you come around for breakfast.
How to make awesome and amazing tortilla chips
There’s nothing like a hot snack on a rainy essay day. So today, in between essays, I made some tortilla chips. Which are amazing. Cheap. And delicious. Here’s how…
Heat some hot oil in a frypan. On the stove. I used peanut oil. On the highest temperature. With about three quarters of a centimetre of oil throughout the pan.
Wait till it bubbles a little.
Cut your tortillas into chip shapes.
Put them in oil – once the oil is hot enough each side will cook in somewhere between 20 and 40 seconds.
Put the cooked ones on a piece of paper towel.
Once they’re all done, pile them all up into a bowl and liberally apply sour cream and salsa. They’re also fantastic with mince as Nachos. And great by themselves.
Could this be the best $5 I’ve ever spent…
I think so. Not the cereal. The SnuggieTM. So warm and comfy.