Tuesday, November 24, 2009

This is a real challenge for those of us in ministry too...

Anatomy (and Meaning) of the "Did You Know?" Video Series (VIDEOS, PHOTOS): "When you show it to educators, as often as not, the predominant reaction is withdrawal. They retreat like a turtle to its shell. Not all of them. But a lot of them. It's too much. It's too overwhelming. They don't know what to do with it. This is our challenge.'"

Face it

Jose Antonio Vargas: Anatomy (and Meaning) of the "Did You Know?" Video Series (VIDEOS, PHOTOS): "With more than 300 million users, Facebook is like a country of its own. As Mashable reported earlier this month, Facebook grew by 25 million users from Sept. 15 to Nov. 6. If you do the math, as Mashable's Ben Parr did, that's a daily growth rate of 471,698 users. 'That's a small city joining Facebook every single day,' Parr wrote."

Friday, November 20, 2009

Dig yields possibly oldest Hebrew text

Science- msnbc.com: "HIRBET QEIYAFA, Israel - An Israeli archaeologist digging at a hilltop south of Jerusalem believes a ceramic shard found in the ruins of an ancient town bears the oldest Hebrew inscription ever discovered, a find that could provide an important glimpse into the culture and language of the Holy Land at the time of the Bible.

The five lines of faded characters written 3,000 years ago, and the ruins of the fortified settlement where they were found, are indications that a powerful Israelite kingdom existed at the time of the Old Testament's King David, says Yossi Garfinkel, the Hebrew University archaeologist in charge of the new dig at Hirbet Qeiyafa.

Other scholars are hesitant to embrace Garfinkel's interpretation of the finds, made public on Thursday. The discoveries are already being wielded in a vigorous and ongoing argument over whether the Bible's account of events and geography is meant to be taken literally."

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Stagnating Temperatures: Climatologists Baffled by Global Warming Time-Out

SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International: "The planet's temperature curve rose sharply for almost 30 years, as global temperatures increased by an average of 0.7 degrees Celsius (1.25 degrees Fahrenheit) from the 1970s to the late 1990s. 'At present, however, the warming is taking a break,' confirms meteorologist Mojib Latif of the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in the northern German city of Kiel. Latif, one of Germany's best-known climatologists, says that the temperature curve has reached a plateau. 'There can be no argument about that,' he says. 'We have to face that fact.'

Even though the temperature standstill probably has no effect on the long-term warming trend, it does raise doubts about the predictive value of climate models, and it is also a political issue. For months, climate change skeptics have been gloating over the findings on their Internet forums. This has prompted many a climatologist to treat the temperature data in public with a sense of shame, thereby damaging their own credibility."

Saturday, November 14, 2009

My Youth

I just turned 41. My daughter asked me if I felt old. I told her that I still feel young, though my hair and second chin betray the years passed.

I read this today. It explains my feeling much more eloquently.

Manvotional: “Youth” by Samuel Ullman | The Art of Manliness:

"Youth

By Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what’s next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty."

Friday, November 13, 2009

Thoughts on religion in New England

The McReynolds Story: Christianity in New England. Who can believe it?: "In some ways students are more spiritually open than ever. New England may currently say it's not 'religious', but I see everyday that everyone worships something. When I explain why I worship the God of grace and truth, justice and mercy, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of the Bible; people listen-they may not agree-but they listen intently. Some respond with joy."

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Others seem so happy

circulus vitiosus: "'The only happy people I know are people I don't know well.' --Helen Telushkin (via Dennis Prager)"

Interesting Stuff