May 2nd, 2008 |
The photograph below is considered the most interesting image tagged with “god” on Flickr.
God and Automobiles, originally uploaded by g. s. george on flickr.
The photographer, Geoffrey George, writes eloquently of his thoughts about the photo:
This is the memorable and ironic view that greets every motorist traveling south on I-75 towards downtown. Thousands of these motorists are surely suburban GM workers on their way to work every day, and the irony of this chance alignment is hopefully not lost on them. In the background, the Renaissance Center, Detroit’s tallest building and GM World Headquarters. In the foreground, St. Josaphat, a 105-year old still-functioning relic from Detroit’s heyday. Detroit is the Motor City, but the sins committed here cannot be forgotten or forgiven–from the hundreds of murders every year to the construction of a freeway system that divided and destroyed vibrant and working neighborhoods. Hopefully this image will one day have different associations.
For me, it is a powerful view that is quintessentially Detroit. I’m sure it’s been photographed hundreds of times, but the balance and contrast between Detroit’s largest and most infamous glass skyscraper, a struggling community church, and the freeway that cut a swath across the city and acted as a runway for white flighters provides me with endless fascination. I hope you will find it equally stimulating.
April 14th, 2006 |
What better way to celebrate Good Friday?
Final Fantasy III: Apparently they are remaking this classic game in 3D for the Nintendo DS. This game, which was originally released in the US for SuperNintento®, was the single factor that made me a “gamer”, and loyal to the Final Fantasy series for life. I’ve played Final Fantasy III, VII, VIII, IX, and X. XII comes out sometime later this year.
Live action Simpsons intro: If you’ve ever watched The Simpsons, you know that the intro to the show is always different. Here’s what it would look like with real people. Pretty cool.
The Gospel of Judas: If you’ve heard any of the hype, this site has a bunch of stuff, including scans of the original document - just in case you happen to be fluent in 1st century Coptic. While undoubtedly important, the discovery of early Christian writings is nothing new. Elaine Pagels has been studying and writing about these texts since the 1970s. At least National Geographic will make a lot of money from it.
Iran body count: “Provides a comprehensive analysis of the likely nature of US or Israeli military action that would be intended to disable Iran’s nuclear capabilities. It outlines both the immediate consequences in terms of loss of human life, facilities and infrastructure, and also the likely Iranian responses, which would be extensive.” (thx, Tom)
Amazing sculptures: Larger-than-life sculptures by Ron Mueck. I think the photographs speak for themselves.
I am working on something that would allow me to post links to this blog continuously (much like kottke). This would probably mean a couple of things: 1) the end of Friday linkfest, and 2) more total links being posted. Instead of chooring from a constantly growing link list that I select from on Fridays, I could just post ‘em as I find ‘em.
April 7th, 2006 |
It returns (it seems I still have a habit of bookmarking everything I come across that could be considered remotely interesting)…
Flapart: Make it look like you are reading an absurd book. Might really come in handy if you want to send a subtle message to that professor you don’t like.
Senses Challenge: I originally found this test under the title “This test will make the smartest people stupid!” To some extent it’s true; but it sure is fun!
Spelling poems: I take it you already know / Of tough and bough and cough and dough? / Others may stumble, but not you, / On hiccough, thorough, lough and through..?
Batman onomotopoeias: Remember the old “Batman” series? Remember the (sometimes) absurd words that accompanied the slapping sounds during the (sometimes) absurd fights? Worry you not, they’re all here. Yes, even “Kayo!”
Logical fallacy: I read an article on President Bush that discussed his use of the logical fallacy known as Straw man, so I decided to catch up on my argumentation ability.
Touch-up artist: This dude is a professional photography retoucher, for magazines and such. Check out the picture of the smiling woman with the white background. It’s basically digital plastic surgery… almost disturbing.
April 4th, 2006 |
In my unending ability to find things on the internet to waste hours and hours of my time, I found LibraryThing. The website says “LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. Because everyone catalogs together, you can also use LibraryThing to find people with similar libraries, get suggestions from people with your tastes and so forth.”
I catalogued most of the
books I have at school, which totals 63 (that seems like way too many books to have here). You can see which books you have in common with other people, etc.
LibraryThing is another awesome Web 2.0 service. Again, I never would have guessed that I would ever be a bookworm, let alone a bookworm who enjoys casually reading theology.
[Image is a capture of the “graphical view” of my personal library.]
March 8th, 2006 |
It took me a while, but I finally fixed one of the big visual problems plaguing my site. The comment section. I wasn’t pleased with the way it looked in the new layout, so last night I totally redesigned it. In addition, I created a new header image, which is a picture taken while drving to Luther on Interstate-35 North. Looks like spring is not so far away.
Another thing: I was going to post this a few days ago, but I forgot. I was mentioned in an article in Luther’s weekly newspaper, Chips. You can read it here (don’t mind the huge, atrocious picture of me in the middle).
February 22nd, 2006 |
For the best birthday present ever.
To everyone else who thought of me on my special day: don’t be angry with me, your gifts are wonderful, too.
January 27th, 2006 |
This week’s links:
- Sun Pillars: I don’t think I ever knew that these existed until I was driving home a month ago and I saw a ridiculous one. If I owned a camera other than my cameraphone (which is too sensitive for sunlight) I would have taken a picture. I figured the phenemenon had a name, and I saw this picture on flickr, which led me to Google “sun pillar,” which gives us the aforementioned link. Edit: I think what I witnessed was actually a “lower pillar“.
- Data mining using Google: How to do a ton of cool things with Google search, such as looking up phone numbers.
- Pandora: A really cool music website that looks for and plays music that is very similar to your particular taste. I typed in “Matt Wertz” and listened to a couple of tracks that I would have otherwise never heard. As someone who gets an adrenaline rush every time I discover a new artist, this website is invaluable. You should probably check this one out.
- Slanket: Touts itself as being the “best blanket ever.” It’s an oversized fleece blanket with huge, baggy arms so that you are free to do things like hold a remote, use a laptop, and eat popcorn without having to take your arms out from under the blanket. It sells for a hefty $65, but it could be very worth it.
- The Da Vinci Code: An early trailer for the big-screen adaptation of the controversial novel by Dan Brown. I really hope this means that they make “Angels and Demons” into a film.
December 1st, 2005 |
After a one week hiatus, here are this week’s links:
Finger Frenzy: Yet another online game. This one isn’t so mindless, though. The objective is to type the entire alphabet in order in as little time as possible. My first attempt was around 6 seconds and an hour later I had it down to 2.867 seconds. Shawn can back me up on this… I was sending him screenshots everytime I set a new personal record.
Funny Video: I feel bad for thinking this video is funny, but I just can’t help laughing every time I watch it.
Larry David Interview: My new favorite actor/comedian/producer/writer is Larry David, the co-creator of Seinfeld and star of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. He recently appeared on TBS’s “Earth to America,” a two hour comedy extravaganza about global warming and activism. You can watch the whole show and/or individual clips here, but Larry’s individual stand-up for the show was basically just a straight read of this article he wrote for Rolling Stone. It’s still really funny.
18 Body Tricks: Men’s Health Magazine has a cool article on “tricks” to teach your body, such as scratching your ear to rid a throat itch. Although the article is from Men’s Health, it’s pretty gender neutral. I’ll have to remember to cough next time I get a shot.
Google Video of the Day: A great time-waster with some funny/ridiculous videos.
Mouse-less Firefox: “Learning to use Firefox keyboard shortcuts to reduce your trips to the mouse can lead to a much more fulfilling web browsing experience, especially at those times that your mouse just isn’t doing the trick.” I love keyboard shortcuts… and so should you. If you don’t yet have the new Firefox release, version 1.5, grab it here. It has lots of improvements, including drag-and-drop tab reordering.
November 18th, 2005 |
Back by popular demand… here are this week’s links:
Escapa!: Another time-wasting game. Shawn says, “get to the top left corner and chill, then cut across the middle to the bottom right.” He got 22.352 seconds.
The American Taliban: Fundamentalism = bad. Some of these quotes are borderline unbelievable.
FutureMe: Write an email to your future self and browse emails others have written to their future selves.
Woman Drawing: This is pretty cool. You can watch a sketch go from nothing to a portrait of a woman beginning with the skeletal frame to the end product.
Gizoogle: Ever wondered what a website would look like in “izzle“? Gizoogle can translate whole webpages into izzle. This is what mine would look like. My favorite: “I, along wit T-to-tha-izzom, proposed present’n a to-be-wrizzle papa witin tha topic of Christianity n globalizizzle.” Some of the language may offend. (Thanks, Ryan)
The Problem with Evangelical Theologies: Christianity Today interviews Ben Witherington III, professor of New Testament at Asbury Seminary in Kentucky. An excerpt: “Perhaps in a postmodern culture—where image and story are more important than text and didactic argument—the Bible is more relevant than ever. Exactly. In the 21st century, we’re moving increasingly in a postmodern direction. We have a new opportunity to re-engage the biblical text, which is trying to present word pictures and stories to a world that wants not just answers to its questions, but also its imagination fired up. That’s what this visual dimension of the text does.”
November 4th, 2005 |
This would have gone up earlier if it hadn’t been for a bad case of food poisoning which kept me bed-ridden all day Thursday. That being said, here are this week’s links:
Most Wonderful Time: The brand new Christmas album from The Blenders. If my Christmas music collection only consisted of The Blenders’ Nog and When It Snows, it would be complete. Kristin, this one’s for you.
Das Keyboard: Because last week I posted a link to another type of keyboard. This one has no inscriptions on the keys. Apparently, though, it’s only for UberGeeks.
Try!: “Get the new John Mayer Trio Live in Concert CD and an exclusive t-shirt designed by John Mayer himself and available only here in this combo package.” Again, *cough* Christmas *cough*.
Faith Chips: I don’t even know what to say.
Pie Eating Contest: Enjoy wasting your time by playing stupid games on the computer (I know Shawn does!)? If so, you’ll enjoy this tasty little treat (ha). You have to eat the whole pie in only fifteen bites… sounds easy, but it is deceiving.
October 28th, 2005 |
Here are this week’s links:
Glósóli: The music video for Sigur Rós’ “Glósóli”. I’ve watched it four or five times… it is absolutely beautiful and hopeful. The first time it brought me to tears. The combination of the music itself, the visuals and the unspoken message of the video is breathtaking. If you can’t see the video, you need to download Quicktime 7.
The Character of Theology: Jason Clark has an interesting post about this book on his weblog. This might be a good compliment to my current reading selection (A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, both by Brian McLaren). He says “if… you value your evangelical heritage, appreciate the process the reformers undertook, and want to engage meaningfully with our post-modern context, this is the book for that.”
Midwest Fall Colors: The photographer says this beautiful picture “was taken along MN 60 between Wabasha and Zumbro Falls, Minnesota.”
The Dvorak Keyboard: “The layout [of the Dvorak keyboard] was designed in the 1920s and 30s to replace the QWERTY keyboard layout you probably have in front of you right now. Dvorak facilitates faster and easier typing by placing the most common letters on the home row, where they are right under your fingers instead of scattered around the keyboard.” You can even join the “Dvorak Campaign.” It’s probably like the metric system in the U.S. - it’s way better than what we have, but it’s too late to change now.
The Church of Hate: This video breaks my heart. Take twelve minutes to watch it. The video is an investigative report on a church in Kansas (which calls itself Christian, but strongly resembles a cult) that preaches hate. Against America, against homosexuals, against other countries, etc. They frequently have protests in which they carry the most horrible signs with sayings I do not care to publish here. The two girls interviewed at the end make me want to cry. Thanks to Shawn for the link.
Chicago Cubs Fleece: The White Sox may have won the World Series, but I still love the Cubbies. What better way to support the team than wearing this ultra comfortable fleece sweatshirt? Besides, Christmas is just around the corner… *wink*
October 22nd, 2005 |
Three comments saying that Friday Linkfest was missed. Here are this week’s (belated) links.
TactaPad: Check this thing out. If you ever saw Minority Report, you might remember Tom Cruise controlling the future computer with his hands. That’s what this thing is. Check out the demo videos.
Wikipedia Flaws: If you’ve ever used Wikipedia, an online user-contributed encyclopedia that covers just about everything, you should read this article from the original founder of the website.
iWay: A nifty tool for iPod users that combines the power of the iPod with Yahoo! Maps to make your iPod an on-the-go directions viewer.
Holy Ghost Tees: Ever wanted a vintage ringer t-shirt that speaks in toungues? Me either. But just in case you do… (Are they serious?)
Live8 DVDs: A five minute sampler video from the upcoming release of the 4-DVD set of Live8 concert series.
October 7th, 2005 |
Here are this weeks links:
Visions of Science: BBC News’ top ten picks for scientific pictures. The first one is amazing.
Donald Miller’s new website: The author of one of my all-time favorite books, Blue Like Jazz, has a newly redesigned website. Relevant Magazine has a good interview with Don on their website. His new book, To Own a Dragon: Rewriting the Legacy of an Invisible Father
, comes out next February.
Sorry, gotta go…: For those times when you need an excuse to get off the phone. There are some really funny ones. I’ve got to try this…
Anatomy of a Photograph: “An analysis of a single seemingly innocuous photograph, and the pervasive media bias it reveals.” This is both enlightening and disturbing.
Oh My Gosh!: I literally laughed out loud when I stumbled on this photograph on Flickr.
A song-by-song analysis of DCB’s A Collision: If you own this album (even if you don’t) this is a must-read. In an era when a lot of (not all) worship music is just recycled and regurgitated, David Crowder puts a ton of thought into his music and lyrics. Also, “David Crowder Band’s third release, A Collision, ended up debuting at number 39 on the Billboard charts. This is DCB’s highest placement to date. Not bad for an album that was recorded in a barn in Waco, Texas.” - Relevant.
Google Search Tips 2005: Provides a bunch of search syntax basics and advanced tricks for Google. If you know exactly what you’re looking for, knowing these can greatly reduce unnecessary searching.
The Fray - A Review: Remember when I talked about The Fray and how big they’re going to be? I wasn’t lying, folks. From the aforementioned review: “Although it’s still premature to compare this band to the likes of greats such as U2 and Coldplay, The Fray possesses that same rare quality of undeniable musical talent and classic sound.”
The Bible, text message style: Someone from Australia went and translated the entire Bible (CEV) in to text for cell phones. My favorite verse is John 3:16, which says, “God luvd da ppl of dis wrld so much dat he gave his only Son, so dat evry1 who has faith in him will have eternal life & neva really die.” I’m not kidding.
October 3rd, 2005 |
A fellow blogger, Tim Samoff, inspired by a quote from Brian McLaren (I know I’ve posted a lot about him lately… bear with me) which says, “It’s very dangerous to assume you’ve perfectly contained the gospel in your little formula.” I’m not sure from which book or article it comes, but Tim explains why the quote struck him, and I think his thoughts are profound:
I do understand that the gospel is not something that can be simply stated either… This has been my struggle, I guess. It would be so much easier if it COULD be stated! :) But as something that was in fact lived by Christ and which now must be lived by us, it can’t necessarily be written down or described… That would be a tremendously long book/discussion!
It is difficult when speaking to “moderns” (for lack of a better term) about the Gospel because of this. Things like “natural overflow” and “living God’s Word” and “being authentic disciples of Christ” just don’t seem to jibe well, you know? And coming from a place where the Gospel WAS easily describable in a couple of short bullet-points makes discussion even more frustrating—> like being in a conversation where you go in hoping to sway someone’s opinions, but you realize that you’re agreeing with their beliefs…
This is the next troubling part. Knowing that everything you learned previously is correct, just not…finished…as you may have believed before. Have you ever tried to talk to someone who agrees with everything that you say but just says it differently? To an outsider, it might sound more like a debate. But it’s not!
My current “dilemma,” if you will (it’s more of a constant flip-flop of internal wit than a dilemma), is the traditional view of the Gospel meaning the “rules” in which someone receives Christ as their Savior. An example being the critical view that some people might take toward a sermon they just heard: “Yeah, he was a good speaker, but he didn’t give a very solid Gospel message.” What does this mean, exactly?! If the speaker spoke about helping the homeless, wasn’t that a Gospel message? If the entire sermon was about learning how to love those who are different , wasn’t that a Gospel message? People think that because a speaker might not give an “altar call” (or something similar) it does not contain the “Gospel.”
…
I understand the nature of the Gospel because I have experienced it. I am beginning to know how important it is to view the Gospel as something that grows within us as individuals rather than something that we only hear (i.e., a statement) in hopes to get better at. I know that living the Gospel is the key rather than preaching it.
Right on.
September 30th, 2005 |
A couple of people told me they liked last week’s linkfest, so here are this week’s links:
Office Slang: A website that has a ton of “new office slang.” I imagine this will end up in a dreaded forwarded e-mail soon (i.e. Fwd:[FWD: HILARIOUS! office slang!!! READ!]). For now, however, it’s hilarious. My personal favorite is Chips and Salsa: chips = hardware, salsa = software. “First we gotta figure out if the problem’s in your chips or your salsa.”
Amazing ping pong video: I’ve been playing a lot of ping pong lately, and the other day I decided to type “ping pong” into the Google video search. The video is aptly titled “Play ping pong like a god,” because if God played ping pong, He’d probably do similarly ridiculous moves.
The Millau Viaduct: “The Millau Viaduct (French: le Viaduc de Millau) is a cable-stayed road bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. Designed by British master-architect Lord Foster in collaboration with French bridge engineer Michel Virlogeux, it is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with one pier’s summit at 341 metres (1,118 ft)—slightly higher than the Eiffel Tower and only 40 m (132 ft) shorter than the Empire State Building. It was formally opened on 14 December 2004 and opened to traffic on 16 December 2004.” - Wikipedia. Check out these pictures of the bridge, courtesy of Flickr.
Why we Have to get the Troops Out of Iraq: A great commentary from Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan, on why the U.S. should pull troops from Iraq.
Keith Oberman on the U.S. Government’s poor response to Katrina: Video clip of an awesome commentary on the poor job of the government in responding to hurricane Katrina.
The new $10 bill: Look, ma! Color-shifting ink!
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