My sister has a blog – at this stage tracking her German holidays (on a scholarship) – if you like it when I try to write wry observational posts, but would prefer them to be funny – then you should check it out.
Izaac has started a Pixar watch blog in his holidays.
I’ve registered a domain for my own holiday project – watch this space.
I haven’t spread the Link Love for a while. So here goes.
If you haven’t already done so you should read the following:
That’ll do for now.
It’s been a while since I last shared some significant link love. And I like doing these posts – it reminds me how much fun the blogosphere is…
I’m looking forward to working at a church that cares about the small things – like fonts – next year (not that our current one doesn’t – it’s just I don’t work for it). Simone is writing a new series of Sunday School material on 1-2 Kings.
Jeff’s sermon on evangelism prompted some interesting application of his application. He also posted on the gender pay issue that cropped up in the comments of Benny’s last (or second last) post.
Ali noticed that conversation starter cards are springing up everywhere.
Kutz designed a cool shirt and perhaps started a sub-movement.
Ben created a word game.
Tim posted some good analysis of the World Cup bid (and other Football goings on) via YouTube – Play Fair,
NIKE: TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL (high quailty), Balanced view of the world cup
Stephy at Stuff Christian Culture likes covered the wardrobe choices of “relevant” preachers in the US. But before that she took on two of my favourites – prayer requests as gossip and oversharing via prayer request. What’s worse than oversharing via prayer request is oversharing via prayer request on Facebook.
Lee who has turned into a regular comment in these parts has a couple of blogs – I guiltily enjoy Lemon Harrangue Pie more than the serious one about being a Contemporary Calvinist. But both are good stuff and I commend them to you.
Dave Miers has a great list of books people should read in their first year out of highschool – at the very least you could put them on your holiness shelf.
Andrew managed to pick a fight with some atheists on Tumblr. Having first picked one on Twitter.
Stuss reviewed Australia. She didn’t like it. I haven’t seen it. I don’t plan to. It’s a bit like the Passion. I know all the good bits so a movie is only going to cheapen the experience.
Conference blogging was all the rage – Izaac shared some thoughts on NTE talks.
Over at Christian Reflections Mikey liveblogged the Geneva Push’s In the Chute conference. There were lots of posts. Here were 24 I enjoyed.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of the good stuff around the blogosphere but it has, for now, exhausted me.
If you’ve got something you wrote or read that is worth sharing – put it in the comments for all to see.
I have a confession. Whilst I encourage lots of friends to join me in the blogosphere, I also feel threatened when they do that with moderate, or better, success.
So while I commend Izaac’s UniChurch through Chairs series to you, and direct you to his first column on the Geneva Push website, I do so feeling sinfully envious.
But, I can also finally announce that I have a little column in the Eternity newspaper – and a link on its homepage.
That makes me feel moderately better. I do love how they have a disclaimer.
So. There hasn’t been a link post around here for a little while. Lets fix that shall we…
Simone stirred the hornets nest by pondering the impact the increasing prevalence of same sex relationships will have on the perception of close friendships amongst Christians.
Izaac posted about iChurch. He’s also posted a series reviewing the church plant he was part of… it’s not quite finished, but when it is it’ll be worth another link. Izaac, and his wife Sarah, will be spending next week with us in Townsville. This is very exciting.
Sarah blogs more than Izaac and today she wrote about moving house, and moving church – two of the most stressful things a person can do…
Amy likes good TV shows and believes good stuff… or at least stuff I mostly agree with.
Jeff posts good links.
Dave Miers shows why customer service is important – and why coffee cup holders in cars are a necessity.
Ben posted a crepe recipe. We bought a crepe pan. The two may have been linked.
Mikey encouraged people to think more broadly than their local congregation when it comes to ministry. He also posted a link to this article/lecture (PDF) from Michael Jensen on the CASE website on apologetics that I’ll post more on eventually. Michael Jensen is the Australian Christian blogosphere’s everywhere man. Seriously. How many sites does he contribute to?
Ben was away for a week – but he’s back. And we’re all happy. He kicked things off on Monday with a new leaner looking quiz…
Andrew Katay writes good stuff and he’s looking for student ministers next year… if he ministers like he writes that would be a worthwhile opportunity.
Andrew Finden is in Germany being an almost world famous opera singer… well, one day… he shared his thoughts on church tourism. And a string quartet tribute to Nirvana. String quartet tributes are one of my favourite sub-genres. You really should check out Muse or Radiohead in all their string quartetly goodness.
Leah wrote five tips for surviving the Internet. Pretty sound advice and worth reminding yourself of… I’d add a couple – don’t forward stupid emails without going to snopes, and don’t believe anything without checking with google first.
LinkedIn is a pretty dumb professional networking tool that takes all the fun out of Facebook. I’m on it somewhere. If you find me I might accept your invitation, but I probably won’t.
I haven’t written a link post for a while. But it’s time. I just discovered that a heap of people I know have blogs that I didn’t know about. And it was pretty much by accident. People should be like me and post links to their blogs on Facebook more…
Anyway, here goes, a list of friends or casual acquaintances, mostly from Brisbane, who have blogs that are pretty amusing. Some I’ve been following for a while, others not so much… I might do it in order of the length of time I’ve been following…
SDAL – Scott’s blog has been on my radar for a while, though I’ve been pretty much a serial lurker. He posted a link on my Facebook status once when I asked if anyone had blogs that I didn’t know about. He blogs about fun stuff like comic books, art, movies and obscure stuff. I think Ben would like him.
Phil Richo is Andrew’s brother and thus Simone’s brother-in-law. He blogs mostly about politics. Which I like. But you might not. If you do. Check him out…
I followed Phil’s blog to Brad’s blog. Brad officially falls into the casual acquaintance category because although he linked to one of my posts recently he refused my Facebook advances some time ago. And I hold a grudge. It’s a shame. Because his blog is pretty funny.
The other link on Phil’s blogroll was to Josh Mansfield‘s blog, it was intersting, though I’m not sure why he thinks you shouldn’t say the word crap.
Brad’s blog was a veritable treasure trove of links to others.
Nick Gauci for example has a blog called a wealth of riches, I had a look, it lives up to it’s name.
Richard W has set his sights on having the eighth worst blog ever. Which, given he currently has a few intriguing posts about chemical elements, is unlikely.
Is anybody else out there in lurker land in possession of a blog that should be plugged?
Ah, another week, another post chock full of links from the narrow sector of the world wide that I like to call the blogosphere.
I thought I’d get a little bit geographically specific with this little link edition. Just to give you an idea of the spread of blogs that I read (that you should too). This is by no means comprehensive – but here are some of the homes of regular commenters, people I know, and people I reckon you should discover (along with some choice posts from their sites).
Right-o. Lets go.
Starting with those in my own neck of the woods – the Townsville scene… (in no particular order).
If you’re in Townsville, and I’ve missed you, let me know in the comments.
Moving south, here are some of the notables in Brisbane…
Now, on to Sydney. The city of my birth and home of many good blogs.
Mikey (from Tasmania) was also the second person to, somewhat vicariously, mention dad this week because his name came up in one of the posts from the aforementioned series of interviews.
It has also become apparent – from what Andrew Heard said on Dave’s blog and what Al Stewart said on Mikey’s – that the Geneva portmanteau was only a vicious rumour, and that the name is actually a reference to Calvin’s work in that city. Which is a good thing.
And to conclude, here are my favourite ten posts from my blog this week (including bits from Robyn and Benny).
* I should point out that these constant mentions of dad being mentioned are a mixture of patri-pride and because I think it’s slightly funny that he feels a sense of discomfort about being in the spotlight. It’s not because I think he’s super special (though he is). And if you want to join the fan club here’s the video I made for his 50th.
Slowly and surely the people I know who I think should have blogs are starting blogs. And why not? Blogging is great. First there was Izaac. He’s been going strong for a couple of months, and he’s well worth a read. Then I managed to coax my sister Maddie into writing occasionally here.
Now my long time philosophical sparring partner, former housemate, good friend, and potential future workmate Kutz has started a blog. He did ask me not to mention this, but that was a week ago, and he’s since published it to his myriad friends on Facebook. So here’s the link. He’s opened with a worthy contribution to the conversation about country ministry and where people should go. There’s a bit of meaty stuff already, and I’d expect more of the same. Now if only Dave Walker would start a blog…
Are you missing my daily links posts? Me too. It means posting links requires heaps more effort on my part. But there’s so much good stuff out there.
Izaac* has been fighting the good fight – collating suggestions for a response to atheist university students who are postering campuses around Sydney.
Ben came out of the hip-hop closet and let us all know about his history as an MC in a hip-hop posse.
There’s a pretty interesting discussion happening as a follow up to my abortion post over at the Fountainside.
Simone* has pointed her readers to another blog (Jean in all honesty) which is discussing the use of childcare for Christian parents. I refrained from commenting there because I’m a guy, and not a parent, but Simone’s husband Andrew* has put up a post where us guys can feel comfortable chiming in.
CafeDave is a little blog about cafes and marketing – so you can see why I’d like it – Dave posted his responses to the Jesus All About Life campaign as reported by Steve Kryger’s (very helpful) Communicate Jesus and discussed by a pack of raving atheists on mumbrella – atheists who can’t seem to distinguish the activities of churches from “tax payer funded activities” simply because churches receive certain tax exemptions. Churches are not for profit community organisations – no not for profit community organisations pay tax, and plenty of them (my employer included) advertise.
Recent new reader/first time commenter Drew has a blog. It’s worth reading. I particularly like his insights into the use of a blog as a tool for getting things done – including getting things off one’s mind. I read quite a few of his posts last night while watching NCIS.
Ali has a biting insiders view on what’s wrong with legal writing – I must agree, having started a law degree and been told that it’s all about plain writing and then sitting through hours of lectures, reading case notes and hearing lawyers talk, I can completely understand the sentiment behind the quote she shared.
Tim* had a go at me for giving up fast food. I should have a go at him for giving up grammar. But he makes some interesting points.
Dan* used his gloriously designed blog to reflect on a recent lecture on Christian ethics and the reconciliation debtate in two parts.
Byron Smith – whose name sounds suspcisciously like Bryson Smith – has posted a really helpful reflection on parenting that covers one of those little topics I’m toying with as future post fodder – the idea that indoctrinating your child is abusive. It’s not. As a Christian it’s the most loving thing you can do for your child.
I’m thinking about writing quite a few pieces on parenting – and this is not any kind of announcement – but I’m also struck by Queensland’s new surrogacy laws. On one hand they open up great possibilities for offering to formally adopt children from those considering an abortion, and on the other, they turn “parenting” into a right and privelige for everybody – rather than a responsibility and natural outcome of being part of the archetypal family unit. I’m not a fan of that part, but it’s not enough of an objection for me to not be a fan of the whole thing. My inner pragmatist realises that gay couples – particularly women – can have children whenever they want already, and this is, on the whole, designed to protect their child, and the biological father.
And for those of you wondering which of my posts from the last few days I’d bother reading if I were you it would be these:
* Denotes people I know in the real world…
NB: The photo at the stop is completely unrelated to the post, it was just text heavy and I hadn’t posted it before. It’s from Lucinda. You should go there. I would have put up a photo of a can of Lynx, if I had one.
That is all.
I’ve been reading Daily Vowel Movements for a while. Since its Andrew became one of the many Andrews who comments here on occasion. It’s a blog with a nice regularity. You should check it out.
Friday is my favourite day, because on Fridays Andrew posts his pointless post it notes – which are every bit as amusing as the index card version they were inspired by. Here’s my favourite:
Nobody actually calls Scott “Scotter”, or in fact by his real name. It’s either Scott, or Scooter… at least that’s what I’ve gathered in a few years of knowing the chap. His cynicism and sarcasm brighten my day – and after a two year hiatus he has rejoined the blogosphere. It promises much…
So, with a new coat of paint, here’s to an old blog getting a new start – new content, new sarcasm, cynicism, maybe even vandalism – here’s hoping we can prompt ponderance, brew brainstorming and captivate comment.
Friend Izaac now has a blog. He has put a link to it in his gmail status so I assume that means it’s open for business.
He’s funnier than me. But he’s a St George supporter so there’s a trade off.
On commenting on other blogs
Sometimes when I am a bit bored, or have some spare time up my sleeve, I choke up my browser by opening up people’s blogs and work my way through them commenting on the post at the top of the page. I don’t comment on every blog I open – but most of the comments I make in that vein are pretty vacuous and I don’t tend to return to continue the discussion or see if they’ve been replied to. But I do like you, all the people who write blogs I read. And I appreciate your efforts in distracting me from my sometimes mundane workplace existence. Here’s my blog link list from the left hand column of my page – if you’re a reader and I haven’t listed you – let me know. I have no doubt forgotten somebody…
If you don’t already read some of these people – you should, they’ll no doubt say interesting stuff.
April 27, 2009