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Archive for the 'Interesting' Category

• Rowling Writes Potter Prequel

The AP announces that J.K. Rowling has written a prequel to her seven volume Potter series. Albeit a short one. 800 words. It was part of a charity auction in which 13 different authors and artist were given a postcard sized piece of cardboard. Rowling covered both sides of hers with the prequel and the [...]

• The Political Derby

I don’t mean to make light of a sad situation, but I saw a great deal of irony in this:
In a rally just north of here (Louisville) on the Friday before the Kentucky Derby, Hillary Clinton urged her supporters to “go to the derby on Saturday and place just a little money on the filly [...]

• On the Horizon: Changeling

On The Horizon is a new feature that takes a look at movies that are coming down the pipeline that I predict will be either critically successful or particularly interesting. This time of year, everyone is talking about all the summer blockbusters, but just after the summer buzz begins what I call the critical season. [...]

• Bear Kills Trainer Not Will Ferrell

In case you were fortunate enough to have missed Semi-Pro, there is a scene where Will Ferrell’s Jackie Moon character fights a bear as part of half-time publicity.
It looked like this: (”Spumoni” is supposed to be his safety word)

Funny story about that bear: It’s name is Rocky, it’s 5years old, 7 and a half feet [...]

• Science Fiction and Faith

I’m in a really cool class at Southern right now on Christianity and Science Fiction. Yeah, I know, your Cooperative Program dollars hard at work. But it has actually been fabulous and very compelling. For our final project we have been charged with the task of answering two crucial questions.

What is a biblical and theological [...]

• A Dad Shaped Hole?

At sixty-one years old, Sylvester Stallone shouted and shot a fifty-caliber cannon, halting the progress of any who wish to mutilate and murder the missionaries and mercenaries trying to bring light to a lifeless land. After the bloodbath, Stallone sighs, looking like a leathery god as actress Julie Benz gapes upward in awe. There is [...]

• Dear God

Ever feel like praying to some vague notion of a higher spiritual force? Yeah, me either. But that is what many people are doing. In fact there is a new website called Dear God where you can publicly submit prayers to the divinity of your choosing. And while no real answers are found, community is [...]

• Tornadoes

I love how the weather changes. We’ve had hot and dry conditions until last week when we snapped into the 40’s. Now we have a cold front moving through with severe wind sheer. There is a great chance for tornadoes. One storm cell has already past us and according to radar went right over our [...]

• Settling In

Well, we’re mostly unpacked (I still have to find a place for all my books), and the kids are meeting all sorts of friends in the neighborhood. I go tomorrow for a tour of UPS and to have my fingerprints taken so they can find out if I’m really a terrorist or a Columbian drug [...]

• Hebrew Introduction 2

Some quick information about Hebrew. Biblical Hebrew is a simple but complex language. It is simple because biblical Hebrew has a very small vocabulary (about a quarter of the size of that used by Shakespeare and approximately 1% of the 660,000+ words contained in the Oxford English Dictionary). Of these, many only occur once or [...]

• Hebrew Introduction

Starting in the Fall, I’ll be taking Elementary Hebrew. With three kids now, I need as much of a head start as I can get. This is the Hebrew AlephBet. If I get a chance, I’ll talk a little bit more about the transformation of the Hebrew language. But for now, I feel like my [...]

• A Beautiful Analogy

I can only wish that I wrote this. I have in fact thought it before. However, I lacked the time, talent, and knowledge of beer to write it myself. With that being said, enjoy this great analogy between beers and theological persuasions by Erik Raymond (a.k.a. The Irish Calvinist)
People have described some of the contemporary [...]

• The Desire for Fame

Last night on 20/20 one of the reports was on a rising trend among teens and college-age adults who would reportedly rather be an assistant to a celebrity than a CEO of a major corporation. They believe that the simple proximity to fame could be enough to tip the scales in their favor in their [...]

• Christmas Icons in Public Places

Yesterday, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport removed their 25 year tradition of displaying Christmas trees after the threat of a lawsuit from a single passenger. A rabbi asked that a menorah be placed in the display as well, and instead of meeting this seemingly simple request, they decided to turn off and disassemble their fifteen holiday displays. [...]

• Is The Wii (Insert Ominous Music) Dangerous?

While studies are still in progress to judge its addictive powers, there is now proof that part of the Wii is in fact dangerous… to your television, or other expensive items within throwing distance of this Japanese Death Toy. That’s right folks, the Wiimote is dangerous, it has cracked screens, caused blunt force trauma to [...]

• The Effects of Pornography

I grew up in church, a fundamentalist church nonetheless. And I attended my youth group faithfully, and every February, around Valentine’s Day, our church would participate in “True Love Waits,” an abstinence before marriage campaign. But it couldn’t just stop with a simple urge towards chastity, these talks had to run the gamut; sex, abstinence, [...]

• Starbucks and Pluralism

I just read a very interesting article on EvolutionShift.com by David Houle. In this article, he discusses the shift towards a coffee culture. He believes that we have become much more of a coffee culture than ever before. It is now hard to be in any large city in the United States where there [...]

• 150 Things

I’m sure this will raise all sorts of questions and concerns, and if you prod hard enough I just might tell stories.
Legend:
Bold Black = Done it!
Green = Haven’t but want to
Red = Haven’t and don’t want to
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain (albeit a small [...]

• Should Dressing for Church be About Fashion or Family

Mark Driscoll, one of my favorite people to quote, posts his reflections on a recent question posed in a Dear Abby column. This question touches deep to the heart of what it means to be intentionally relational with non-Christians. How are we supposed to reach them if all we ever do is alienate and confuse [...]

• On Being Scared

As Halloween draws closer and colorful superheroes line the aisles of stores with ghouls and goblins, and trailers for horror movies light up our television screens with eerie and gruesome images, the question comes to my mind: Why do people, as a whole, like being scared?
Now, I grant you, not everybody likes to be scared. [...]

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