WWJT: Can’t think of your own lame Christian status update, there’s a site for that

What would Jesus Tweet. It’s an important question for any would be Christian Confucius out there looking to use Facebook or Twitter as a platform for spiritual warfare.

Here’s a not very funny or self aware song that ponders a similar question… (via JesusNeedsNewPR)

It’s weird that when old people try to be hip and cool they use images of Dell desktop PCs from about 10 years ago in their hip, cutting edge, satire.

But that’s neither here nor there. This is a public service announcement for those out there who:

a) think posting one liners worthy of a church sign is of some benefit.
b) can’t come up with their own pithy one liners, you know, by reading the Bible.
c) want to use Facebook to annoy their friends, both Christian and non-Christian, rather than to bolster real relationships.

If you are that person, then rest easy. Here is a website that is a suppository of options, you can pull them out of your… ChristianStatusUpdates.com…

Here’s a sampling from today…

“____ The best way to start any day off right is to tell God how thankful you are.
____ P.U.S.H.> (P)ray (U)ntil (S)omething (H)appens
____ is strong because I know my weaknesses. I am wise because I know I’ve been foolish. I laugh because I’ve known sadness.
____ Don’t pass judgment on someone else’s life without looking at your own life first…
____ You know it’s grace when God gives you something you don’t deserve.”

July 24, 2011

Here’s the thing: An excursus into the stuff (and detritus) of every day life

Here’s the Thing is a quite brilliant web series that reduces the lives of every day people into the signature things that they own, via a commentated photographic tour of their household. Thanks to the awesome crowd sourcing power of Kickstarter the Here’s the Thing team will be touring the United States.

So what are your things? While I don’t buy into the idea that you are defined by your possessions, it is interesting to think about the impression the odds and ends in your house make about your character. This is the reason I used to take a cursory glance at bookshelves and CD collections (before the age of internet distribution) to get a feel for a person.

I think a tour of my life via our house would include the wedding picture on our wall, my bookshelves, littered with Bibles, theology books, and novels, my laptop and Apple gadgets, an array of coffee paraphernalia, our pets, the musical instruments that Robyn plays, but I don’t, and our litany of kitchen gadgetry useful for creating just about every dish known to man, but largely pulled out upon a whim. Then it would be my series of novelty hats from around the globe, my plastic Bob Hawke head drink dispenser, and whatever other items of kitsch have survived decluttering bouts over the years.

July 24, 2011

Mobius Ship: bottle this and I’d buy it…

This is a truly sensational pun based sculpture.

Just amazingly clever and intricate. It’s not for sale. It’s art. Incredible art from a bloke named Tim Hawkinson.

July 24, 2011

Blogging and marriage…

There’s some sort of deep and meaningful truth here.

Via Tumblog: Lost in Cheeseland.

July 24, 2011

Zombie Gnomes: for the black thumbs out there

I don’t have a green thumb. By some miracle the coffee pot plant I bought 18 months ago has seemingly died and been resurrected multiple times since I purchased it, other pot plants have not fared so well. My gardens have been full of dead things for as long as I can remember. Including multiple dead pets (mostly birds… mostly finches… mostly dead in one day… well, 12 of them). Anyway. Should these dead flora and fauna ever plan to come back to haunt me, this gnome (available from Etsy) will provide all the leadership they need.

July 24, 2011

Absolutely the best image to come out of the News of the World scandal

Wendi Deng’s amazing boxing skills notwithstanding, this is probably the only real legacy of Rupert Murdoch’s “I don’t know, I wasn’t told” appearance in Britain last week.

Via Tumblr somewhere.

July 24, 2011

Light reading: Five books repurposed as lights

I love books. Physical books. I like reading on my kindle, and even more on my iPad. But the tactile experience of a book, and the visual thrill of a well-stocked set of shelves will keep me heading to second hand bookshops, the book depository, and whatever physical bookshop is still solvent after this year.

Turning books into lamps is now old hat. Well. I saw these ones a while ago. I meant to post them, but then I forgot. The light comes on when the book is opened.

There’s a how to, including a video, here.

I love these ones for the steampunk bulbs. I can’t imagine they’d be cheap to replace if you kicked a soccer ball, or a shoe, or some sort of miscellaneous projectile into it.

These are available on Etsy.

This one, from Suck UK is a lamp/bookmark combo.

And here’s another that has a little more spine… each lamp uses a single book.

But for something a little more classy, you could always have a crack at putting together a book chandelier (or just buy one for 440GBP).

July 24, 2011

John Lennox on science and faith

Like the rest of evangelical Australia I’m a bit of a John Lennox fan at the moment. His turn on Q&A last week was a masterful attempt at presenting the gospel graciously in a relatively combative adversarial format. Those critical of his content (and I’ve seen a couple of Christians suggesting he could have answered a couple of questions better) should pay heed to the format, and the way both Eva Cox and the ABC’s moderator Virginia Trioli were keen to jump in on him before he could finish answering their questions. He articulated the need for forgiveness and the intellectual legitimacy of a God who intervenes in creation in a personal and relational way. I thought he did a stellar job. I thought Virginia Trioli’s banging on about circular reasoning was a little bit annoying because truth will essentially be self authenticating and circular, circular reasoning is a fallacy, but it’s not a defeater.

Anyway. Here’s John Lennox on a topic I wrote an essay about this semester.

July 24, 2011

Some cute/kitsch Christian music for your Friday night edification

There’s something irresistible about this video, maybe it’s the matching colours. Maybe it’s the bright house. Maybe it’s the incongruous dog. I don’t know. It’s certainly not the worst or weirdest Christian music on YouTube.

Nor is this, which apart from the ghostly severed heads is pretty cute.

July 22, 2011

Monkey see, Monkey shoot

It turns out it’s less dangerous (as you’d expect) for a monkey to get hold of a camera, where they’ll take delightful self portraits…

… than it is for a monkey to get hold of a machine gun.

July 22, 2011

Guy makes awesome Iron Man costume, sticks to magnets

I don’t know if the last bit of that heading is true. What is true is that somebody put together a pretty awesome replica of the Iron Man suit Tony Stark built in his desert captivity.

According to this little write up of the process – he took 100 days to pull off this amazing feat. And he started with just pliers and a stanley knife. And of course, some inspiration…

Via Hack’N’Mod

July 22, 2011

Jellicious: Jelly Art a solid concept

The following pictures are amazing, delicious, and made entirely out of jelly.

More details about the jello mold competition here.

July 22, 2011

On a serious note…

A while ago I started a second, or was it a third, blog. It’s called Venn Theology. I promised to post serious stuff there. I’m still figuring out the balance for what goes where. But you’ll find, if you look, that I’ve posted some stuff this week. One of the things I’ve posted, is, I think, of particular value. It’s a social media strategy. Or the framework for one, for promoting Christian events. Perhaps it will be of some use to you, perhaps not. I’m ju

July 22, 2011

Noted: Tea towel that looks like paper

If you want your kitchen to look like a stationery shop. And I mean. Who wouldn’t. Then you could start that ball rolling with this tea towel. I don’t know how you’d finish that ball rolling. But that’s not for me to decide. I’m not here to tell you how to run your life. Or decorate your kitchen.

The site is in German. And can I just say, for the record, that I think Google is doing its best to undo the work God did with the Tower of Babel. That’s actually the opening of a book I once started writing. That one day, if I give up writing on my blog, I might finish. But I doubt it.

Did you know I’ve nearly hit 5,000 posts here. If each post is longer than 150 words, on average, I’ve written more than a novel. That’s amazing. What’s also amazing is that this has nothing to do with note paper teatowels, except that if you printed the pages of my blog on note paper tea towels you’d have to use a lot of tea towels.

July 21, 2011

Shirt of the Day: Pi(rate) Chart

Brilliant. For a bit of pirate chatter/an explanation/product details check out the post on the woot.com blog.

Sadly Woot.com shirts aren’t available all year round, almost worth subscribing just in case it comes up again.

July 20, 2011