If you’re too uncoordinated to drink out of a can without spilling your drink down your shirt then maybe, just maybe, this set of 12 bottle tops for cans will come in handy.
I think they’re dumb…
Simple love
If you ever find yourself running out of ways to show love to your neighbour (literal and figurative) you might find this Simple Love website useful.
Via Christian Reflections ages ago.
Shirt of the day: Space Invaders shirt a real blast
This animated Space Invaders shirt is a nice blend of the past and the future. Just don’t wash the battery pack…
It’s the shirt Threadless rejects…
Threadless didn’t like my shirt. Apparently I didn’t use their template. And Apparently they don’t like to play around with other people’s characters and stuff… Well, stuff them.
I now have a store on CafePress. And you can buy your Future of Evolution shirt starting at a price of $21.50 (plus postage).
There are other cuts, colours and styles available through the store.
Real life Duck Hunt
Duck Hunt was an awesome game. The zapper was magic (though I found out how it worked) and the little ducks just begged to be plucked from the sky.
If you’ve been missing the NES experience, like I have, you’ll be excited to know you can now pick up a real life version of the game.
Heroes near a bomb shell
Photographer Agan Harahap put together a little gallery of World War Two photographs featuring superheroes. The good guys could not have won the war without this sort of external help…
That heading is possibly a lame reference to the Ninja Turtles’ catch cry – if you didn’t pick that up… if it needs explaining it’s clearly a bad title.
Nananana nananana hoodie…
Sock it to the fashion police with this retro Batman hoodie that’ll have you powing and whaming in no time…
Blocktastic Wedding Dance
While I may not have succumbed to the temptation to post the JK Wedding Dance that everybody in the world loved I will succumb to posting the Lego version.
Shirt of the Day: Jumping the 3D Shark
One day everybody will be walking around in 3D glasses. When they are they’ll be terrified by this shirt.
Foot fault: Tan lines
Sock tan is a national disgrace. With weather like ours, and with the national footwear being the thong, Australians have no excuse for white feet and ankles.
If you bear the shame of pale feet then you best get one of these – and you can thank me for it later.
It’s a tanning solution. A solarium for the feet. Get one for your socially outcast family members this Christmas for just under $230. They’ll thank you for it…
Novel-T T-Shirts
Here’s a site from the 826NYC organisation that brought you my favourite super hero supply warehouse. This little fundraiser for budding rivals is best described using the blurb from the site…
“Jerseys are a great way to show support for your heroes–if your heroes happen to be athletes.
What if your heroes are found in the bookstore instead of the ballpark? What if books are your game?”
Captain Ahab is probably my favourite… but there’s an “Epic Whale” Moby Dick shirt too…
I have a dream…
This is a great Passive Aggressive series of notes documenting printer frustration and odd dreams…
More on Copyright
Mikey linked to this article by his fellow Tasweigian – Will – who wrote a thoughtful piece on a Christian approach to Copyright that I agree with most of.
Except for the bit where he makes a distinction between tangible and intangible assets. Which I have a problem with. We have turned the intangible into a commodity. Ideas are worth money. Entertainment is big business. Companies rise and fall on the back of protecting ideas. Creativity is worth money. And while Will asserts that borrowing someone’s story does not constitute a violation of commandment number eight – I would suggest that there are ways that it can.
Sermon illustrations are a grey area. I’ve never had one pinched. But I know people who have. I think there’s enough out there without stealing people’s real life anecdotes and presenting them as your own. There’s a place for appropriate attribution.
But, as I’ve indicated in discussions both here, and elsewhere, I sympathise with Will’s position.
“IP restrictions in general are bad for Christian proclamation. I listen, watch and read widely as I prepare my sermons. I have been known to, ahem, “borrow” an illustration or two. I have been known to read quotes from books in order to make a point. God help us if these sources were to stand on their IP rights. “
And I find this statement interesting…
“The Biblical practice of remuneration for gospel work is primarily one of patronage – a stipend, gift, donation so that you may be free to give of yourself, not a wage so that you can earn your keep. “
It has implications for the way we approach our own rights in the context of our ministry.
Andrew Katay has been posting about the nature of remuneration for ministry.
I came to the conclusion elsewhere (in one of my old posts linked below) that the church has a responsibility to pay its financial dues to those whose work it uses, and workers have the responsibility to live out the gospel and serve the body with their gifts.
I think when we want to use someone else’s IP, even when they have sacrified their right to that IP, we should be attributing it to them. While I believe all exercises of spiritual gifts to be spiritually inspired I think acknowledging the work and contribution of the person is the right thing to do. So I’d draw the line at stealing personal sermon illustrations without attribution to the person. If it’s a good illustration it should cope with the attribution without falling over in a pile of steaming awfulness.
Copyright is a complex mix of ethics, law, and theology. Here are some great resources for thinking through the issue…
Simone is a Christian songwriter of repute – she posted about copyright, song writing, and changing song lyrics. She got lots of comments. And she posted a follow up.
Communicate Jesus has a bunch of great posts about copyright for churches, and a post for Christian creatives to consider how they can generously give of their abilities. Steve from Communicate Jesus also points out that it’s illegal to screen YouTube videos in church without a CCLI video license (CVLI) or consent from the video’s producer.
This PDF is a handy guide to copyright for churches.
And here are my previous thoughts on the matter…
Hopefully some of these links will prove helpful for anyone traversing the murky waters of copyright and IP in the church.
On stupid guilt inducing status updates
Dear Christian Facebookers,
If you feel the need to inspire your Christian brothers and sisters to guilt please do so in a fitting and clever manner.
Do not post gut wrenching hallmark inspired guilt trips in your status and encourage other people to do the same.
If you post this:
“is a follower of Christ and proud to say it!! Let’s see how many people on FB aren’t afraid to show their love for God! Repost this as your status. Each time you see this on someone’s status, say a quick prayer for that person!! Lets get God back in this country like He should be!!! If you agree post this in your status update. Just copy and paste.”
I won’t unfriend you. But I will block your statuses from appearing in my news feed, and I will think a little less of you.
Even if it’s just because you used so many exclamation marks.
Mikey has good rules for Facebook Status Updates. Obey them.
UPDATE: There were several instances of this in my feed – this was not directed at anyone in particular – unless you were the culprit who instigated this practice to begin with…
On Twilight, feminism, and ethics
Back in July Amy gave quite a reasonable point of view on the damage Twilight might do to young girls.
Here’s what she said…
“I am really worried about the worldview this presents to teenage girls (say 13 and 14 year olds). A lot of people in (US) Christian circles are jumping on Twilight as being okay for their kids to read (unlike Harry Potter – but you don’t want to get me started on how shortsighted that is) because they think it supports abstinence (which honestly, it really doesn’t – not having sex because you might kill someone is a lot different to choosing to for moral reasons).”
“Almost as soon as Bella meets Edward, she decides to give up college or any idea of a normal life (including seeing her family), so she can become undead like him. That’s right girls – find the right guy and just get him to look after you. You won’t ever have to think about looking after yourself.”
An opinion writer from the Herald has essentially regurgitated the same point of view.
She celebrates characters from chick literature of the past – like the girls from Little Women and Anne of Green Gables…
For more than a century, Jo March and Anne Shirley have been teaching little girls that there is more to life than hooking up with a rich, handsome bloke. Now, in 2009, we have a heroine who tells them that it’s worth their family, their education and their soul.
But in the same piece presents an interesting ethical dilemma as though it’s a fait accompli…
“They conceive a half-vampire, half-human child. Baby vampires are particularly dangerous, apparently, as they have as little restraint as any baby and have been known to slaughter entire cities when they’re hungry. But with customary thoughtlessness and confused morality, Bella refuses to have an abortion. Her decision puts a lot of people to a lot of trouble.”
Assuming, for a moment, that vampires are real… why is this refusal to have an abortion framed in such black and white terms? It would seem to be more complex than that…