Cartoon characters in real life are always good post fodder. Here’s Spongebob…
And perhaps more worthily, his friend Patrick…
Not quite as scary as Popeye…
I’ve been to Tetris Hell and I don’t like it
Thanks to commenter Michelle I now know that Tetris Hell is a real place. I’ve been there, and I’m not going back.
Jesus is the answer to the problem that is Tetris Hell.
iPad critics should take a tablet
Aha. Worst. Pun. Ever.
An open letter to whinging geeks,
Whinge. Whinge. Whinge. It seems the more of a tech geek you are the more you don’t like the Apple iPad. It doesn’t do what you want it to do. So it’s a bad device. Wrong. It’s a good device precisely because it’s simple and it will revolutionise the way the rest of the tech world (ie “normal people”) do things online, and read media. You think too small.
You know what. Nobody makes hardware for hardcore geeks. They know you just want to pull it apart, overclock it, or install pirated software. All I hear about from my geek friends, and tech geek blogs, is that the iPad is a terrible piece of equipment and Apple are the anti-tech. Apple have pretty strick policies about what can and can’t be installed on their phones, and now on the iPad. I say good on them. They know their stuff best. Perhaps they don’t want you to install background apps because they’ll slow the processing speed of your phone down and ruin its performance. And then you’ll complain. Because you’re (geeks) whingers. They say (or at least Steve Jobs does) that part of their rationale is to keep pornography out of the hands of children (and adults) and I commend them for that.
Apple didn’t invent the super duper tablet computer that you were wishing for as you sat on Santa’s knee last year. But so what. You’re not their market. You’re such a small corner of the market that you are insignificant, and you’ll probably buy one anyway, just so that you can whinge about it not living up to your expectations. It’s their call. They’re a company. They have responsibilites to shareholders (and customers) to make products that make money. They make money when people want to buy their stuff. People want to buy Apple’s stuff. They’re pretty good at what they do.
If you want a tablet computer that meets your needs – build it yourself. Oh that’s right. You can’t. You’re not capable of fitting everything they do into a manageable size. You’re all talk. For now, you should just obey these ten commandments (when the iPad reaches Australian shores)…
Tea Party Jesus
Have you heard of the Tea Party Movement? If you’re into American politics (probably thanks to the West Wing) you probably have some idea what’s going on over there. I haven’t blogged much about politics for a while, and don’t really intend to now. There’s no election on. But there’s this odd moving of the deck chairs in American politics because the so called “religious right” is such a strong voting bloc. The Tea Party Movement doesn’t really seem to know what it is yet – or what it will do come election time – but they’ve been cosying up to the likes of Focus on the Family in order to lock up God’s vote. Because apparently God cares if you like health care or not…
Anyway, atheists understanably don’t like this, and if there’s one thing they’re good at, it’s pointing out hypocrisy in the lives of believers.
So, I give you, Tea Party Jesus – a site that brings quotes from Tea Party Members (usually prominent) together with pictures of Jesus to remind us why it’s a bad idea not to bring Jesus into the political realm as though he’s endorsing your position… Here’s a quote from right wing pundit Ann Coulter.
And one from Glenn Beck…
And Bill O’Reilly…
And lest you think I’m just picking out right wing shock jocks – here’s one from James Dobson (I kind of see where he’s going with this one, I just think he takes it a step too far).
If you’re going to claim to speak for Jesus you want to make sure that what you’re saying is consistent with what he said and how he lived. There are plenty of things that many of us, as Christians, say that would look equally preposterous – but we’re not there asking you to vote for me, or with me, on the basis that God would.
This is something all those of a political persuasion should learn. (I’m looking at you Tony Abbott – seriously, who could argue that Jesus would not show compassion and love to desperate boat people on the basis that he drove money lenders from the temple).
“Jesus knew that there was a place for everything and it’s not necessarily everyone’s place to come to Australia.”
There are myriad ways that this statement does not work. What about the biblical injunctions to care for the poor? The widows? The orphans? Andrew has a good post about a better response to asylum seekers here.
Here’s a better statement.
“Jesus knew that there was a place for everything and it’s not necessarily everyone’s place to come to Australia.”
For those playing at home – here’s how Jesus spells out how we’re to care for those crying out for help in Matthew 25…
31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Hi, ho, hi, ho
I may not be blogging much this weekend. We’re in Townsville for a wedding and possibly not near an Internet connection. Sorry if you’ve been hanging out for more bacon posts…
Bacon tux lets you dress to impress
Last week’s bacon post featured a “bacon tuxedo” gift box… turns out you can actually, for the reasonable price of $99.95 (plus postage), get a hold of your very own bacon suit.
Tetris Hell
You know what happens when you get stuck doing essays for a couple of days and leave blogging stuff in your queue. Other people post what would typically be prime fodder for your own blog. Everybody has already seen this XKCD strip… but I don’t care.
On preaching to oneself
I’m listening to my sermon from a couple of weeks ago. I don’t mind the sound of my voice – I listened to myself a lot while I was at uni. But I hate my inflections. I can’t tell if the poor enunciation is a result of the recording or how I speak.
I also mispronounce a bunch of words. I might have to start doing the AAP thing and putting the correct pronunciation of names and stuff phonetically in brackets. I also stumble when I leave my manuscript. And I do this weird mumbling thing when I am using a “joke” that I’ve written into the script. As if I’m concerned that it shouldn’t be there. I guess if I’ve put it in to begin with I should just hit it hard.
Anyway. The talk is up here, on the Scots website.
Feel free to have a listen. It’s 26 minutes of your life you’ll never get back. I speak fast so there’s a fair bit crammed into it.
It pays to pay attention
If you’re a sporting correspondent keeping viewers up to date with the happenings in a match – it pays to know more than the show’s anchor who’s crossing to you about the happenings of the match you’re watching.
New Scrabble rules seem improper
Scrabble has officially jumped the shark – or whatever the board game equivalent is. The new rules from Mattel will allow players to play proper nouns – people and place names – thus pretty much allowing any word that parents have ever conceived for their children.
If there were a couple more z tiles in the letter distribution knowing that there is a movie in existence called Zyzzyx Rd would make you almost unbeatable at the game.
These new rules are dumb. I protest. I think I will write a letter. I wonder if these rules will extend to our perennial family favourite, Take Two.
While we’re on the subject of Scrabble – you might find it useful to know that an ai is a type of animal, and that both en and em are printer’s measures.
Coffee with grunt
This little coffee maker reminds me of those bottle openers with arms. You know… the little man bottle openers. It doesn’t need power – except to boil the water. And requires a bit of elbow grease. If you’re one of those people who’ll only eat something that requires extra effort to produce then this might be for you…
It’s called a Presso. And you can buy them in Australia.
Presso Demonstration from Bush Branding and Marketing on Vimeo.
It reminds me of the previously posted MyPressi Twist…
And the Handpresso…
8 Bit Gospel
Here, to waste the next five minutes of your life, is the life of Jesus, from the cradle to the grave, rendered in 8 bits and 10 seconds. Your mission is to collect 12 disciples.
Some screenshots…
YouTube Tuesday: Will the iPad blend?
Those crazy kids at BlendTech got their hands on an iPad.
That’s how they roll.
Down time at Castle Grayskull
Ever wondered what He-Man gets up to when he’s not protecting the empire from Skeletor? Or what Skeletor himself does in his down time? Simple. They lead normal everyday lives doing normal everyday stuff – like getting haircuts and root canals.
These are both from here.