The Monday brief

Highlight of the week: I got an iPhone 3G last Wednesday. I’m now convinced that you can’t fully understand the amazingness of the iPhone until you actually own one. It’s unreal.

Book(s) I’m reading: I started Reading Paul by Michael Gorman this week (in preparation for the Reclaiming Paul conference), and I’m still working on Tom Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution — and How It Can Renew America.

Music I’m digging: William Fitzsimmons’ The Sparrow and the Crow (link opens in iTunes) is easily one of the best — if not the best — albums I’ve heard all year. Get it. Now.

Something(s) that blew my mind: The Clovis school board in New Mexico is taking control of the yearbook to make sure that they don’t include lesbian couples in a section of the yearbook on couples at the school.

Ministry update: The high school students started learning about the Lectio Divina this week.

Seminary/ordination update: Once I mail my personal essay into Luther Seminary, I’m done with the application.

Looking forward to: I’m going to Chicago later this week (Thursday through Saturday) to visit my friend Kelly. In addition to having an all-around good time, I’ll be able to catch up on podcasts while I drive.

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That’s it for the Monday brief. Feel free to leave a comment, and if you’re feeling extra frisky, check out the Monday brief archives.

• In case you missed it, I was in the Des Moines Register yesterday in an article called A season for the ages for Iowa baseball fans. 10/02/2008

Flickr + God

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.

Friday linkfest

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.

Friday linkfest

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.

Library Thing

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.]

Loose ends

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).

Thanks, Peter

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.

Friday linkfest

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.

Friday Linkfest

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.

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