Monthly Archives: November 2006

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NSW to roll out free WiFi service
I think this is the first thing the NSW state government has done right in a long, long time. If it eventuates.

How To Make (and grow) A Luffa!
Grow your own sponge for the bath/shower!

Greeting emergent church ‘conversationalists’ all across the fruited plain
The only sin in following tradition is expecting everyone else to do the same.

Twenty Sided – Transporter 2
The term “former special forces” has become movie shorthand for is invincible and has magical powers, but only cool ones and not gay like that Sailor Moon crap.

Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford
Probably the best advice you can give someone who keeps running themself into debt.

National Flags of the World (with client comments)
What would each country’s flag look like if it were commented on by non-designers (read: executives). I do approve of Canada’s new flag though.

It’s Never Been Built Before
Why software engineering is not like any other kind of engineering.

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Santa: “I Killed Jesus”

8 Replies

Santa gives more to rich kids than poor kids

I’ve been holding onto this image all year.

The run-down: some guy doesn’t like the religion of Santa Claus and so puts up a billboard to make people think about not lying to their kids. People get all crazy and angry because someone dares to suggest that we shouldn’t tell our kids about Santa. Click the picture to read the story.

Note: as far as I can tell, this guy isn’t a Christian, so it’s not even some religious wacko who thinks it’s wrong.

The whole deal with Santa kind of makes me sad – we give presents to one another at Christmas to celebrate Jesus’ birth and it should be a time of joy and thanksgiving. Instead it becomes a huge consumer-fest with people having to buy the right presents, and kids getting upset because they didn’t get the latest toy they wanted.

I also hate the idea of lying to my kids – telling them about an imaginary fat man who gives them presents if they are good. This subverts the whole reason why Jesus was born and died – it was grace, not deserved in any way. The whole concept of Santa is kind of distressing to kids too – there is someone who judges them and watches every thing they do, just waiting for an excuse to give them a lump of coal at Christmas (kind of like some people’s view of God…). Although even this view has been subverted – everyone gets presents now, even if they have been naughty. Rich kids get more and better toys… why is that again, parents?

I’m not going to be lying to my kids. Ruth lists a good way to broach the whole topic with your own kids, and basically outlines what Jen and I have been planning to do anyway. Santa won’t be visiting our house this year – or any year. We celebrate Christmas, and will be giving our kids gifts from us to them in recognition of Christ’s free gift to us. They won’t have to earn it – just accept it.

I love my kids and don’t want to lie to them – I’d urge you to do the same.

RodeoClown: seeing red.

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Look beyond gas mileage when making an environmental choice
Sim will appreciate this: a Hummer has less (total) environmental impact than a hybrid. Might want to look at the assumptions that have been revealed in the comments too…

Iraq: It’s safer here.
I’m not 100% on the accuracy of the statistics, but if correct, there’s a good incentive to emmigrate from the US capital to Iraq.

Youth Ministry: Emo Evangelism
David explores the idea of ministering to a bunch of whingers… I mean emo kids.

I Am Not Offended (And If I Were…Who’d Care?)
If something you see or hear offends you, look and listen somewhere else.

The influence of fathers…
appears to be very significant in determining the actions of a child. Hmmm… pressure’s on.

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Playing With Wii

Not (quite) to scale

Wednesday I went and checked out Nintendo’s new console – the Wii (pronounced ‘we’).

Very small. Very cool.
That remote in the pictureis what you use to play the games, it is motion-sensing, and you can also use it as a pointer on the screen. It’s a lot heavier than I was expecting.

The demo unit had Wii Sports running, a game that comes with the system including Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, Golf and Boxing. I tried out bowling and tennis.

Bowling consists of holding the remote in front of you – holding the trigger on it’s underside – and bowling, releasing the trigger when you want to let go of the ball. If you twist your arm as you bowl, it puts spin on the ball. Just like real bowling. Neat, but my shots always spin to the left… have to work on that.

Tennis is just hitting the ball, your little character (a ‘mii’) runs all by him/herself to the ball – you just swing the remote to hit the ball at the right time. Again, spin is put on the ball by twisting the remote as you ‘hit’. I played versus some random guy and lost because I wasn’t swinging like a real racquet. As soon as I did that, I got a sweet rally happening.

Super fun.

They are also releasing a new Zelda game at the same time, increasing my wanting this even higher.

One final benefit is that it plays all the old GameCube games as well, which would be fantastic as I discovered today that my GameCube died in a recent electrical storm (along with our microwave), meaning I have a dozen games sitting unplayable in our entertainment unit right now.

RodeoClown: wishes he had a spare $400.

A Belated Da Vinci Code Review

Not by me. By Dr Ransom at Faith Fusion. It’s actually a review of the story, rather than the anti-Christ writings therein, which makes for a change.

I thought this quote was fantastic.

Brown spends so much of his time repeating the phrase “sacred feminine,” “sacred feminine” as if a religious mantra — which, of course, it is. It’s almost enough to make me want to head right out and punch a girl just for spite.

Read the review.

RodeoClown: unlikely to bother (with the book, not the review).

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The Boondocks – Guns and Video Games
Replace ‘Video Games’ with ‘Comics’, ‘Heavy Metal’, ‘Rock and Roll’, or whatever other cultural scapegoat you’d like. Still applies.

When you don’t “get” a verse
What should you do when a Bible verse just doesn’t make sense to you?

Office Space, The Horror Film
I like the movie before, but this version looks… different. Click click. Click click.

How Many Points Have You Earned?
Yep. That pretty much sums up the whole concept of grace.

The Royal College of Infanticide
Distressing. Our culture has no morality to speak of.

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Attention: Hairdressers

1) Don’t mumble (especially when English is your second language)!
2) I don’t know to call what I want my hair to look like – short, brush-backable, shaved on the sides
3) When I put my thumb and forefinger t-h-i-s far apart, it means that is how long I would like the hair on top of my head to be
4) Keep the $10 haircut – it is an acceptable price
5) Sweep the floor occasionally

Haircut November 8 2006

RodeoClown: has cold ears.