What’s the worst thing you could say to a homeless person who asks how your day has been?
Probably something along the lines of “It will be good to get home”.
RodeoClown: insensitive.
We watched this movie last night.
I thought it was pretty good, definitely didn’t treat Christianity in a light manner.
My knowledge of Luther is not that extensive, so I don’t know if it got all the details right, but it made him look right and justified in what he did.
I didn’t like the ending, which states that Luther “brought religious freedom” to Germany. I don’t think that is what he was after at all, he just wanted the corrupt church to stop being corrupt. No mention is made of him wanting people to believe what ever they want, only that he wanted what they believed to be true.
It felt like a cop-out, feel-good blurb on a movie that didn’t need it.
Also, they didn’t need to say how many Christians there are in the world that aren’t Catholic. That is also beside the point.
So, to sum up: good movie, worth watching, next time don’t put text before the closing credits.
RodeoClown: would like a monk’s robe.
Worth a watch.
Dog and Cat Diaries
I’m much more a dog person (despite the fact I used to be terrified of them). These diary entries pretty much reinforce my opinions on pets. Dogs seem much more down my alley.
The Unsolvable Math Problem
Some kid turns up late to class, mistakes examples of unsolvable problems on the board as homework and solves them. I love the fact that he thought he wouldn’t get any marks because he handed them in late…
The Open-Source Wish Project
Those pesky genies always try and twist our wishes to the worst possible meaning of the words used. Help come up with perfectly worded wishes, or just see what has already been wished for.
Is Singing More Important Than Preaching?
As Christians, we really need to think through the implications of our song choices at church. Well argued here.
Car Flood
Truly hypnotic. 1000 cars racing through the same track at the same time.
Del.icio.us links brought to you today by the letter B and the number 7.
This article in the Sydney Morning Herald talks about a huge number of house repossessions occuring in Sydney as people default on their loans after people took out huge loans to buy big houses.
It seems our society is fixated on getting stuff now, no matter the eventual cost. Delayed gratification is never considered.
It’s something we need to think about, and try and change our ways. Instead of buying everything you want, think about what you need. After you have the necessities, you can worry about the extras. Save up and get it once you can afford it.
This applies to housing too - instead of getting a 5-bedroom house with 3 bathrooms and a harbour view, think about what you need - maybe three bedrooms. And you could share a bathroom with the kids. Maybe even consider (gasp!) renting. At the moment Jen and I are renting, we’d like to buy a house eventually, but at the moment renting suits us fine. We can move at the drop of a hat if necessary, we don’t have a huge debt hanging over our heads and we don’t have to pay rates or maintenance bills.
It’d be nice to have our own place, and maybe we will one day, but we don’t want to be struggling just to make loan repayments each month - we’d rather be able to pay off a mortgage comfortably.
A quick note about credit cards
Don’t think of a credit card as providing you with free money. It’s very much not free. Credit cards are handy - they let you wrangle all your payments into one lump sum payable at the end of the month, and if you don’t have quite enough money for something you need, you can still get it.
But, the best way to use a credit card is to spend only what you have in your account. If you couldn’t afford it with the money in your bank account, don’t buy it. If you pay back the entire amount each month then you don’t have to pay interest (then it effectively becomes free money).
Don’t spend more than you have, or you’ll get yourself into loads of trouble. Don’t take out a loan you can’t pay back. Wait, and only buy things once you can afford them. Modern society has lost this common sense with advertising telling you to spend now and worry about the cost later. It doesn’t work.
RodeoClown: not a financial advisor.
I got an email saying that my request to change email accounts was cool and that all further mail would be sent to the new address. That’s cool. Except I didn’t change email address!
Thanks to Emma K. from eBay who helped me get it back with a minimum of fuss.
The moral: keep an eye on your accounts, people can try and steal ‘em. Also, eBay has a good system to fix problems.
RodeoClown: reinstated eBay user.
Bear Essential - v1 by ~rodeoclown on deviantART
I made this deviation a long time ago and stumbled across it today. You really need to click the title link and read the description. That’s where the art is.
RodeoClown: bear-ly there.
Adrian Plass: A Critical Point
You want to criticise someone and have them actually taken note? Try being close to them in the first place.
Freely I confess my sins
For God has poured his grace in
But when another lists my faults
I want to smash his face in.
Joseph Called Bethlehem Home?
Hey… that’s a really good point - if Joseph came from Bethlehem, why didn’t he stay with any of his family there?
Jonathan Coulton - I’m Your Moon
OK, I lied. But this will (almost definitely, quite probably, in-fact-almost possibly) be the last Pluto ‘thing’ I mention. Charon, singing to Pluto regarding rejection from the planetary line-up. Best line “They invented a reason, that’s why it stings”.
Did I hear an Echo in here?
When you post something on your blog, add something that will make it more than just regurgitating the news.
Del.icio.us links brought to you today by the letter L and the number 6.
Sometimes I wish I was a spider
I’d make a subtle web
spun from the finest silk
and wait for a fly
I would make my home an artwork
to be seen by all the world
sparkling in the dawn,
invisible at dusk
I could crawl wherever I pleased
my only dread a shoe
thrown at me in fear
and they often miss
Sit upon the ceiling, watching
as another world passes by.
Another fly-on-the-wall
is just a meal
The venom in my mouth would not
come just from my tongue
I would destroy with my fangs
and not with words
A short life, and morbid
living on a death-trap
with no friends at all
even my mate wants to eat me
This poem, and its counterpart are both inspired by a web I drew. I couldn’t decide whether to have a serious poem, or a fun poem so I chose both, read my other arachnid poem two…
Did you like that use of ‘two’ to also mean ‘too’… um, I’ll go now…
New notes:
I wrote this poem while I was at university. I found it recently and thought I’d give it a re-airing. It was originally posted here.
RodeoClown: just like flies.
I’d love to be a spider
and spin a web of silk,
paralyse small insects
and drink their guts like milk
I’d make my web an artwork
spun round and round and round
When someone saw it on the grass
they’d stomp it to the ground
I could get to any room at all
even in the shower.
I could watch the girls get undressed
they’d see me and they’d cower
I’d bite them with my dripping fangs,
inject them with my bite.
They’d swell and itch and howl with pain
and drop dead by that night
My love-life would be exciting
I would have to hit and run
My girl would use me for her babies,
then try and eat me when she’s done!
Well, this is my second spider poem.
The last one is much more serious.
It would be pretty fun to be a spider.
I had a different ending verse, but it
was pretty rude, so I changed it. I’m
not sure if I like this one better or not.
New notes:
I wrote this poem while I was at university. I found it recently and thought I’d give it a re-airing. It was originally posted here.
RodeoClown: webilicious.
A quick tip if you want to do a bible search in firefox, create a new bookmark to http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=%s
and give it a keyword like bible.
Now any time you want to do a quick bible reference you can just type it into your address bar like so:
bible romans 3:10
And it will link you to the verses you wanted.
RodeoClown: found it.
Irony
It’s like ray-hee-aiin on your wedding day. Or like proving you are peaceful by burning effigies… either way.
Andy Ruminations: Dan Brown on faith…
Dr. Luke vs Dan Brown.
10 Reasons To Drink More Water
Really, you should drink more water. Here’s why.
Stem-cell decision is a question of morality, not science
Professor Neil Ormerod outlines why the question of embryonic stem-cell research is not going to go away, and why there is no middle ground that can be agreed on.
The Little Girl Giant
The most incredible puppetry I’ve ever seen. A giant puppet walking through a park. You completely forget there is a crane behind her and dozens of puppeteers. Again, incredible.
Del.icio.us links brought to you today by the letter B and the number 7.
Mark, a friend from uni, recently wrote this blog entry: Willingness to Change.
He gives a few (very real sounding) examples and then this:
Compromise starts with one step in the wrong direction. But where does compromise end? In the act of trying to ignore God’s prompting, and ignoring your own conscience, what happens to your heart or your spirit?
How long do you need to be nagged before repenting?
If you know something is sin but refuse to stop, are you mocking Christ’s death?
Is struggling with sin and losing the same as wilful sin?
What’s the difference?
Many questions, and they all hit close to home.
Another friend pointed out that as we mature as Christians it often feels like we are sinning more often (and this can be extremely discouraging), when we are just more aware of the sin in our lives.
Things to consider.
RodeoClown: convicted.
Do NOT use their mobile internet service… 2.8MB = $43… That’s roughly $15 per megabyte.
To summarise: do not use Telstra’s mobile internet service. Also, if you are thinking of getting a Telstra mobile, don’t. I’m pretty frustrated that I did. The phone is nice, the service is not.
I thought the government should keep full control of Telstra before. Now I hope it gets sold, and quickly, and they can start competing - either that or it hurries up and dies, so a decent phone company can take over and get rid of the extravagantly priced line rental, shocking internet prices and terrible mobile phone service.
RodeoClown: ripped (and ticked) off.
Ok, doing some quick sums while waiting for a late-running CityRail train (don’t get me started…), an equivalent price for my home internet connection would run somewhere in the order of $3 million each year. And I’m on one of my ISP’s cheaper plans. I can understand paying more for mobile internet, but when the cost of a phone call is very expensive at a rate of 50c per thirty seconds, and I can download a MB of data in a minute or two on my phone, I can’t see how they can justify a 5000x increase in price compared to the landline data transfer.
The more I think about it, the more easily I can see how Telstra can pay ridiculous amounts of money to it’s bosses (thanks Dave).
RodeoClown: slightly more annoyed than last time.
Worship, feelings, and what-if?
What if I don’t feel like God is there? Should I act on those feelings? Or is there something more important than my emotions? (I’m sure you can guess the answer…)
Trickle Theory
Got an impossible task that needs doing? Try using trickle theory to get it finished.
Kids Having Fun
These pictures are amazing (they get better lower down).
Male Restroom Etiquette
Every guy should watch this too. But it has less of a priority than the iMonk post.
internetmonk.com » The Man in the Shadow of Adultery
Read this. Especially if you are married. It is super-important.
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