One wonders how rumours of the demise of celebrities spread and conspiracy theories were hatched prior to the internet. I’m pretty surprised by the heights reached by the McCartney theory, and we have our own present day equivalent. Kanye West is apparently dead. And autotune is being used to cover this up…
The rapper’s next release, “Love Lockdown,” displayed a major idiosyncrasy. No rapping is audible, only auto-tuned singing, which is supposedly the Viking symbol of death.
Then came the rapper’s latest album: 808s and Heartbreak, with even more auto-tune.
Twitter is abuzz with #ripkanye buzz – which is what Twitter does best.
Here’s my hot tip. Which might be obvious to many of you. If you are drowning in an unread sea switch to “list view” using the link on the top right of your screen. Scroll through the headings, click the interesting ones, star the ones you want to save and then click “Mark all as read”…
You’ll save much time and energy.
I only started doing this this week. It has saved me a lot of wasted time already. I commend it to you.
"Using a list of countries generated by The World Factbook database, flags of countries fetched from Wikipedia (as of 26th May 2007) are analysed by a custom made python script to calculate the proportions of colours on each of them. That is then translated on to a piechart using another python script. The proportions of colours on all unique flags are used to finally generate a piechart of proportions of colours for all the flags combined. (note: Colours making up less than 1% may not appear)"
Almost as much as the lecture I got from a couple of premillenial dispensationalists last night. Sometimes different elements of Christianity can be funny. And I’m all for self deprecation.
I’m fairly convinced by my take on both Genesis and Revelation – but I’m much more convinced that neither actually truly matters. I don’t get people who make these bits of the Bible the big deal. Or points of division and distinction. Though I do get how your eschatology shapes your actions here and now… so I can see how it is important (but not essential).
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).
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.
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.”
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…
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.”
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 think Australian culture is poorer for not having the same addiction to Craigslist that our American friends do. There is an Australian site.
There’s apparently a whole culture I was almost completely unaware of, where you post “Missed Connections” advertisements or messages in the hope of finding that person who caught your eye.
I know Text the Editor in our local paper occasionally features this sort of behaviour. But it’s mostly so that people can vent or rage about bad driving.
This is a long preamble to bring to your attention this blog called “Missed Connections” where an artist provides artistic renditions of these ads that catch her eye.
Like these…
“Monday, March 23, 2009
-m4w (Harlem)
Remember? Uptown A train. Sunday at around 9pm. I was the black dude reading Bukowski’s Post Office. You were reading the Arts and Leisure section. You passed wind rather loudly and started chuckling. I’d like to see you again. The flatulence wasn’t a turn-off. “
“Thursday, August 27, 2009
sorry your bike got stolen. its beautiful. when some guy offered it to me for 40 bucks, i didnt even think twice. i was drunk, missing my bike and figured if not me, someone else would buy it anyways. also, my bike got stolen last week. who knows, maybe you bought it for 40 bucks from some guy on the street. so if you see me riding it, feel free to say hey. maybe we could trade back. if not, you can buy it from me for 40 bucks. id buy my old bike back for 40 bucks. it was way more comfortable than this one. “
“Saturday, October 17, 2009
– m4w
We shared a bear suit at an apartment party on Saturday night.
I asked for your number and you gave it to me, but somehow I don’t have an area code written down. I had a great time talking with you, and I don’t trust Chance enough to wait until I see you in the elevators… “
“The basic idea in chessboxing is to combine the #1 thinking sport and the #1 fighting sport into a hybrid that demands the most of its competitors – both mentally and physically.
In a chessboxing fight two opponents play alternating rounds of chess and boxing. The contest starts with a round of chess, followed by a boxing round, followed by another round of chess and so on.
A contest consists of 11 rounds, 6 rounds of chess, 5 rounds of boxing. A round of chess takes 4 minutes. Each competitor has 12 minutes on the chess timer.”
I can’t help but think that it’s one of those sports that will be forever dominated by participants from the former USSR.
It would seem that in order to ensure chess players can last more than one round one of the only qualifications for the competition is the ability to play chess… but competitors should be a little worried.
One of the Klitschko brothers, Vitali, holds a PhD in sports science. He’s no dummy. And he and his brother are both keen chess players and world heavyweight boxing champions… from Wikipedia…
“Both Vitali and his brother are avid chess players. Vitali is a friend of former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik and the two have played, with Kramnik always winning. Vitali has commented that “chess is similar to boxing. You need to develop a strategy, and you need to think two or three steps ahead about what your opponent is doing. You have to be smart. But what’s the difference between chess and boxing? In chess, nobody is an expert, but everybody plays. In boxing everybody is an expert, but nobody fights.””
I had the chance this week to head along to JCU’s Society of Atheist Philosophy (SOAP) meeting where Dave Walker was invited to speak on the reasons he’s not an atheist.
The meeting itself had all the trappings of a Christian meeting. It had a nice positive tone.
Dave did a great job. I’m hoping he’ll turn his three reasons into guest posts.
But here are six areas I think Christians and atheists should agree.
The separation of church and stateis a good thing
One of the big branding problems facing Christianity, and one of the major problems atheists have with Christians, is that we’re inconsistent in our approach to politics.
We can’t want to impose Christian morality on people through the legal system unless we’re happy for an atheist government, or Islamic government to do the same to us. If we all believe we’re right and everybody else is wrong we need to make accommodations for this in the way we deal with each other.
Freedom of speech I’m a bit shocked at how Christians respond when atheists want to advertise or gather. This week two atheist websites were hacked – probably by crazy Christians. Complaints flood in every time an atheist association puts up a billboard or advertises on a bus.
If we want to be free to discuss and promote our beliefs we need to uphold the rights of others to do the same. Even if we don’t like what they’re saying.
Most religious beliefs are crazy
I think it was Peter Jensen who said that atheists are the closest group philosophically to Christians because we’ve both made a deliberate decision regarding the existence of God. We believe there is one, they believe there is none, the rest of society is either undecided, pluralistic, or quasi-spiritual.In most cases we’ve applied logic and reason to the rejection of other Gods. We shouldn’t be overly upset when atheists do that to us. Even if we think they’ve discounted one God too many.
There are also a lot of subsets of Christianity that fit the crazy bill. Anyone who bases a distinctive on one verse in a part of a gospel that is not even in all the original manuscripts (like the snake holders and poison drinkers do) should be considered crazy.
Most people who read Revelation as though it’s a literal description of what’s going to happen (even though it is introduced as a vision) can also rightly be labeled crazy.
Pluralistic relativism is a dumb idea
If there’s one idea that truly unites atheists and Christians it’s the idea that we can’t all be right. Both groups make absolute claims. All religions make contradictory claims. Even the monotheistic Abrahamic religions that are theoretically following the same God make claims that can not be reconciled. Islam teaches Jesus didn’t die. Judaism teaches Jesus isn’t the Messiah, and that he didn’t rise. We can’t all be right. We can’t pretend that we are.
Morality is not dependent on belief in God
Atheists are capable of doing good things. The group contributing the most money to developing small businesses in developing countries on Kiva is an atheist society.
Christian statements about morality are slightly confused, which in turn confuses atheists. There are two definitions of good at play in the Bible. One describes actions. It’s “good” to feed the hungry. The other describes our nature. Where nobody can be “good enough” for God.
It’s true that Christians believe that all goodness, and good actions of people come from God. Whether you’re a Christian or an atheist. And that good atheist actions come because they too are made in the image of God.
But you don’t have to believe in God to be good.
To throw further confusion into the mix – not even Christians are “good” in the complete sense. And nobody is good (or righteous) except Jesus.
Science is a great tool for understanding the world
Christianity’s stance on science (particularly in America) is confused and confusing. Science has no scope to prove or disprove God, unless you think the Bible (written before the scientific method was developed) somehow seeks to be a scientific textbook.
Science teaches us about the way God does things. It reveals more about the world we live in. Christians should love science. Not fear it. The reason some Christians fear it is the same reason someone attacked by a vicious dog fears all dogs. Science handled badly is dangerous.
What Christians shouldn’t like (and one of Dave’s points) is the idea of naturalism – that only what we can sense and test is real. This is a philosophy that embraces science as a sword. It’s not science.
So you’re writing that novel you’ve always had trapped inside your head. But the plot is formulaic and requires something a little bit special. How bout a twist. Here’s a nice chart that will help you pick the perfect plot device for a completely non-formulaic storyline.
If I was going to make a compilation of musical torture it would look nothing like this (now fairly old but suddenly “current”) list of bands that may or may not have been played to torture people who may or may not be terrorists held at Guantanamo.
A bunch of bands want to know if they have been in the metaphorical firing line squad, they’ve launched a Freedom of Information inquiry to find out if their music was played. I think Metallica have joined in just so they can be paid the appropriate royalties.
If I was an unheard of band I’d be joining the inquiry just to get my name in the news…
Except maybe “I Love You,” from the “Barney and Friends” children’s TV show.” I would just play that over and over again.
When I was a little younger I used to be a musical terrorist. I’d take $10 worth of coins into a pool hall that had one of those video clip jukeboxes and order $10 worth of really painful music (think Britney Spears and Aqua) and then leave.
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