My opening Deep Thought is: I hope not to fall down... but if I do, I hope I'm dressed like this:
- Wellnow, this is fun. Here is a little test to discern which kind of American accent you have (assuming you're an American). My wife and I like to say that we're Californians, so we don't have accents. Turns out that's pretty close to true.
- Hm. So, does that mean that we speak American English as it ought to be spoken? I'm saying... yes.
- In Lego news, Sam's Club had to ban the Lego book called The Brick Bible because of its deliberately tasteless representations.
- Staying with Lego: these Lego versions of real people are both fun and scary.
- Thomas Louw challenges us to find the cat.
- I did find it... but only after he told me where to look.
- Lamentably, I think Byron York is, as usual, right: anti-Romney Republicans are running out of time. In this game of musical chairs known as the primary process, the chairs are running out, and one of the folks I least favored is showing the most resistance. One by one, alternatives' stars have risen, and fallen. The flavor of the week has been Newt Gingrich, but could he overcome his old baggage and his new baggage in Republican's eyes, let alone the nation's?
- Meanwhile, now all Romney's GOP competitors know how to fluster Romney: face him with himself.
- Meanwhile, Gingrich himself is stating in no uncertain terms that he is going to be the nominee, and so he plans to focus solely on Obama.
- Meanwhile again, Sumbabdiss Richard Land has addressed an open letter to Newt Gingrich urging him to deal more forthrightly about the issue of his multiple marital infidelities.
- Now, I don't really know Richard Land beyond that he's a name and he's a Sumbabdiss. But I have two immediate thoughts, on reading that open letter.
- First, obviously: copycat. (But at least he's copying from the best.)
- Second, though he is surely right on one level, what Land is doing makes me immensely uncomfortable. He is, in so many words, saying "These are the tactics in which you must engage to secure the female evangelical vote." Really? You have Newt's attention for five minutes, and that's how you want to use it? Here Newt has committed these sins while some kind of nominal Baptist, then he apostatized to Roman Catholicism — and your main message is "here's the tactical maneuvers for gaining more votes from evangelical ladies"?
- Call me a silly ole fundy or whatever, but I think the kinder, Godlier, Christianer thing to do would be to tilt Newt's world with the actual, real-live Gospel.
- Okay, a bonus third thought: honestly, right now, if I were an "evangelical woman," I think I'd be more offended at Land than at Gingrich. I read his letter as saying, "I know how evangelical women think, and if you do this, this and this, you can get their vote." Think about that. I wasn't inclined to think ill of him, honestly I wasn't; but the more I think about it, the more it bothers me.
- Fred Butler helps us get in a festive mood with a traditional Christmas... wait, what?
- Every parent in the expanding BibChr Empire will thank Fred for this list of the five best toys of all time.
- If you don't follow me on Twitter, you may have missed a few cherce thoughts. Here's one:
- "Spurgeon was able to produce such rich golden nuggets because afflictions and depression drove him to dig down deep into God's promises."
- Another: "You don't know what you don't know #DeeepThoughts."
- Another: "< holds up hand > Um, how can someone who is here ILLEGALLY be said to have 'obeyed the law' for 25 years? You mean, like, except for NOT?"
- But mostly, this one: "Without Jesus Christ, the OT is neither more nor less than a sentence-fragment."
- Just a cup o' noodles, you say? Sure. That's what our coming Robot Overlords want you to think!
- So, are Frank Turk and I the only people who will read this and wonder... then where are all the Hulks? And Fantastic Fours, right?
- Would it stun you to learn that Rob Bell's replacement pastor gives every sign of being as perniciously and studiedly clueless as Bell himself is? No? Me neither. (thx Peter Hansen)
- Oh dear. Think racism's dead in church? Wish it were. Sakovich noted a "Free Will" church that effectively voted to shun interracial couples. Gospel issues aside, it seems to me that they all should shun themselves, because I very much doubt any of us is racially "pure."
- BTW, if that were a Tweet, the hashtag would be #PastorVoldemort.
- Does laughing at this make me a bad parent?
- Remarkable Photoshopped before-and-afters (be sure to click on the first link).
- Jill found us another before-and-after: Faith Hill.
- Japanese candy is fun. Weird fun, but fun.
- Still with food, Thomas Louw headed me towards some pretty amazing pix from a watermelon festival in Italy.
- Sigh. Sakovich notes that Osteen will have a reality series. Terrif. Maybe the church will get some reality in the pulpit while he's off filming.
- Jill Miller showed me a very cool Sistine Chapel page. Now I showed you. WIN.
- Also kind of weird; a young reader named Dolly Madison's family got a numbered tortilla. Hunh.
- You've heard this bird call many times in movies. Thought you might like to see what it looks like.
- Staying with the animals, a treat for dear wife and kids: sand cat kittens.
- Buck Murdock update: an ex-sheriff is to be locked up...in a facility named for him. (thx William Wheeler)
- Christmas idea, albeit a silly one: chocolate calculator.
- My dear wife Valerie found us a must-have stocking-stuffer: tiny crime scene tape.
- Relatedly (there's a pun there): I never post videos without having previewed them first. But when my dear wife recommends one, and I just don't have the time to watch until later, I'll make an exception. She thinks our Aussie readers in particular will enjoy this video.
- Back to Christmas gifts: I think I'd pass on this "portable chair" that BSIL found.
- My boys don't "do" Santa; but if they did...
- Robert Sakovich notes a vicious double-standard for the Tea Party vs. the Occupy crowd... when a liberal Democrat is in charge.
- A man built a hobbit home for a family of four... for under $5000.
- Did you know that there is a punctuation mark for irony? Matt Gumm did.
- You know, I checked my personal list of things that need to be done, and I did not find an entry for "Reboot The Munsters." Yet Hollywood did. Go figure.
- A final parting thought for our beloved readers in the frigid north and east.
- ...plus...
THE USUALS WILL BE OBSERVED
Posts
58 comments:
I, on behalf of all non-American readers of this blog, would like to register my deep disgust at your assumption that we are Americans. By expressing your bigotry in this way I have no option but to apply for a government grant so that I can pursue you through the courts on charges of race hatred.
What's that? I miss read it? I pulled his comment out of context? It doesn't matter. I was offended.
Apologise!
Yeah, I found the cat in five seconds. Dumb luck? I'm pretty sure it was.
I fear, though, this might turn out like the thread with the states quiz; by noon you'll be irritated that no on is posting on anything but the cat quiz - so let me add this: November 3, 2007 seems rather old. I'd eat something else if it were I.
I hereby issue a blanket non-specific and non-binding apology to anyone who feels offended at anything, or who is offended by not having found anything offensive. Yet.
I'm afraid that's probably a good call, Tom. Hope your pastoral exhortation directs others to note different aspects in this week's horn o' plenty. (I would have bet on the accent-detector.)
It's about time Santa did something about "holiday trees"!
I have to wait until I get home to figure out what accent they assign to me. I'm very curious to see what pops up, though.
I noticed that date on the tortilla as well and just thought "yuck".
The lego people were great...that lego Conan O'Brian looks better than the real one!
I'm stuck with the idea that this train-wreck GOP selection process is eerily similar to the ones that the Democrats had when Bush ran the second time. Maybe something will happen to change my mind, but I'm not sure. I'm now thinking that I'd rather have Perry be the GOP candidate over the others, but I am not sure that will happen.
I loved the kookaburra calls and watching God's creation at work. I'll have to chow that to my boys because they love kookaburras.
I agree about that Japanese candy...definitely weird, but how cool would it be to play with the candy stuff and then eat it?
Wow...that work with the watermelons is amazing. I can't help but tho think about how messy that process would be, though.
I joked with my wife that we should find out where they are filming and bring our own cameras to preach the Gospel to them and see how they react. I think that would be TV worth watching.
Ooooh...the boys would love that crime scene tape! They could use it with their legos and tinker toys.
Sadly, that punctuation mark isn't on my computer...so I'm left to add commentary or smily faces.
Thanks for fillind Friday morniong with lots of odds and ends for us!
Wow...updating early! I read the open letter to Newt and after reading your second thought I was quite disturbed. Ecumenism is really picking up steam and I can't help but to see an ushering in of the RCC to many mainstream protestant churches. It is sad that most people in protestant denominations have no idea what the Reformation is or what it was about.
I just want to know what sort of American accent the cat has...
I think I found the cat in the top left of the pile. It's a tuxedo cat, if I got it right.
There's Americans with different accents. And there's Canadians, like me, who think they're quasi-American cause they say things like "y'all".
Y'all have a good day now,y'hear!
Lots of good stuff today Dan. Accent finder was right on apparently - how did it know I am from the great lakes area? ;D
I never try to find cats -- they always seem to find me (where's a bb gun when you need one?).
Took me about 4 minutes to find the cat. My wife couldn't find it.
Thanks, I feel better.
Prediction: "Psh, I found the cat and I didn't even look at the picture!" will be a meta-theme.
I'm sure there's more substantive stuff this week, but since "cats rule", I took the time to peruse the pile and found the cat. Now here's the kicker - it took me a while and quite a bit of zooming. so after I found it I zoomed out and said to myself: "That is really obvious, why didn't I see that earlier?" If you'd never told me there was a cat there, I never would have seen it.
And then I thought: "this is analogous to the gospel. It's in plain sight, and it is accessible, but only through the herald telling me it is there did I know it was there, and only through some clear magnification by the Spirit did I come to really find it."
By the way, and now entirely to the post via analogy, after about 3-4 years of Gospel ministry (and living next door) my neighbor put her faith in the Lord for salvation last week.
have a great weekend.
-Kirby
Oh, Kirby, praise God! That's wonderful! I can't imagine better news anytime today, in or below the post!
The cat's name is Waldo, BTW.
My son needs the crime scene tape for his Lego movies. May be a stocking stuffer.
Just like at home, I found the cat very quickly. However, just as quickly as at home, as soon as I made eye contact with the cat it took off never to be seen (by me) again.
Open letter to Richard Land,
You don't speak for me, a 40ish woman who has attended Protestant evangelical churches for years. I do not want to be convinced with a nice speech in the proper venue at the proper time. I'm yearning for a candidate that is a true believer in Jesus Christ and lives like it. We do know that realistically, these people are hard to find. If someone seems true, they can be either a fake or a possibly Dominion oriented. Very few in politics quote the scriptures and believe them.
Yes, I know we all are sinners, and that we should forgive. But I do not need to forgive Newt Gingrich. Forgiveness comes through grace and faith in Jesus Christ alone. Newt's wife is allowed, as the one offended, to also grant her forgiveness.
I would love to see a candidate with a true faith. Knowing I will likely not find this most elections, I vote for the one that will come closest to protecting the United States from dishonoring Christ. That is a very tough thing to judge, and one speech is not going to get my vote. It has to be a life time record. If Newt Gingrich wants my vote, he has to win the candidacy because I am voting for the one with the most conservative record first. Against Obama, yes, if he wins, he has my vote.
Blessings!
Is the cat not black, in a dark, round room and sitting in the corner?
Or have I mixed up my cat stories?
Oh, and Richard,
Rick Warren? Really?
Blessings!
Dawn
I found the cat pretty quickly, but I think that's because I am a trained assassin. (Or I got lucky.)
Also, that test says that I have a Southern accent, which is no surprise. What IS surprising is that the next choice was Philadelphia. Really?
Oh, and Richard...
Did McCain win?
Blessings!
I believe you forgot the folks who will offended in the future but use it in the present, and those who are offended at something else yet find you in some way associated with the offense.
I found the cat in 26.pi seconds. At least that is what I chose to believe. The next time I look at the picture I hope to find a catalytic converter for my truck. Probably needs replaced.
Boston?
I was born and raised in northern CA, and have lived in the south for about 10 years (thankfully, without picking up the accent.) I could have dealt, albeit grudgingly, with it telling me I have southern accent, but Boston?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!
-April
(What punctuation should I use to show complete outrage?)
I got lucky and found the cat in about 10 seconds...great...now I have to do something productive. Not that H&T isn't productive.
Minor quibble -- don't give in to using the word "ban" for "private business choosing not to sell something."
So they don't sell it. There are about 1.7 million other titles on Amazon's list that they don't sell, either. Nobody "banned" anything.
Only the people who believe that centralized control is or should be dictating what a private business sells use the word "ban" for such situations. Don't fall for it, you're too smart, Dan!
My result: North Central
"North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
GIven that I am Canadian, that's pretty good. The quiz was pretty monotonous, given that all the answers were "Same."
I have a Midland accent, and given that I am from Kansas, I'd say that pegged me correctly.
Those 5 best toys have withstood the test of time, haven't they?!
Sand cats are very, very cute. Working on an assumption that the zookeepers are not Christians who hold to Creationism, why is it that they are constantly interfering with natural selection? If the cats are endangered, shouldn't a principled evolutionist just let 'em go extinct?
Love the snowball-lobbing snowman. And I found the cat before I even opened Hither and Thither this morning, with my psychic powers. So there. ;)
Well, the accent test tells me I have a "Midlands" accent. In fact, I am a lifelong Alabamian and admitted hillbilly, and fall somewhere between Billy Bob Thornton and the "squeal like a pig" feller in DELIVERANCE. Nice try, interwebs! ;)
*chuckles at all the comments*
I didn't expect to see our serialized tortilla there, and it gave me quite the jump when I did. :D If we had been the odd type (a different type of odd, I mean), we would have framed it. As it was, I do believe the chickens ate it.
Serialized chickens?
By the way---I found no cat. It's a conspiracy!
Not sure what I think about the Lego Bible.
Found the cat in 10 seconds. I had to stop myself from thinking "If I were a cat, where would I be?" Sad.
Apparently, my accent is "Inland North"... You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
Born and raised in Southern California, lived in Idaho, South Carolina, Netherlands and Uganda...and this is what they come up with.
OT: Did you ever get a website volunteer?
Living 1 hour south of the church that Rob Bell has handed over to Shane Hipps,I can breathe a sigh of relief that all the warnings I've given to my congregation will not need to be modified or rescinded.
That blog article was possibly the WORST show of bibliology EVER. Let me shorten the article so your readers won't have to impale themselves.
summary: I can't beleive in hell because I've never experienced it; I can believe in Jesus rising from the dead because the Bible says so.
No thanks required. I'm just doing my public service for the day.
-Kirby
...and at no extra charge to the reader.
You help make this place a BONANZA!
Where's the punctuation for FAIL???
(Re: Bell, not DJP)
Paul Washer was right, sinful pastors are the punishment for people. God afflicts a gathering with a Rob Bell because they ask for him, and want to be damned.
Now that Bell is gone Hipps is merely going to resume driving their awful godless hipster train to hell.
Deleted that previous comment. It was an attempt at a smart-alec statement about original sin riffing off of TWTG.
When I reread it, it just sounded like I called you a bad parent instead!
Going to go and Google - 'How to be a wise guy without insulting people'.
When you figure that out, let us know.
(c:
PS - it was okay, though; really.
By the way, I'm from Seatlle, and I've never been to Boston, but apparently I have a Boston accent. Is it because I pronounce 'horrible' "Harible", after the style of my New England pastor hero, or is it because I say "Mary, Merry and Marry" with an Irish flair reminiscent of Tommy Makem?
Shall we never know? I thought that we didn't have any accent at all. Go figure.
~Dolly Madison
Heh...I'm in a bilingual marriage...my husband says "Don" wrong ("Dawn"), thereby putting him with his Pennsylvanian kin. I'm firmly in the Great Lakes camp. Thankfully, our children have adopted the proper Midland accent.
The Richard Land letter to Newt...it sounds like when a parent demands that a small child "Apologize to your brother, right now!" If Newt does what Land is asking, his apology (or whatever) will be just as sincere.
Just as troubling as Newt's past history of infidelity is his insistence that life does not begin at conception. In Newtworld, it doesn't begin until implantation, therefore he supports embryonic stem cell research.
That church that banned the interracial marriage? 42 members. And only 15 voted.Evil, wrong, unbiblical, but let's not lose sight of the fact that he media is exploiting this to make Christians look like racist hypocrites.
@Christianlady...Rick Perry has a has a new ad running in IA about his faith. In a recent faith and family forum in IA he gave an answer I really liked when asked if pastors should talk about politics in the pulpit. He said that if pastors preached about the moral issues our country is dealing with, the politics would take care of themselves (paraphrase). It could have only been improved if he had said "preach the word."
Also in that forum Bachmann gave a beautiful testimony of her conversion story. Herman Cain said he was saved at age 10 "when he joined the church."
But it's hard to know with these candidates. Bush said all the right things at times and then he'd say something wild that would make him sound like a universalist. I think we need to remember that we're not electing the Pastor-in-Chief. Character is important and faith can be a factor, but it shouldn't necessarily be the #1 qualification.
I didn't find the cat either so it must be a Seattle thing. Poor kitty, left behind when a OWS campers were cleared out.
Loved the accent test and laughed when it told me I must get annoyed when people ask me if I'm from Chicago. It's been almost 30 years since I left, but yeah, I still get the question.
A meaty H&T -- thanks Dan!
I was thinking, "Aww, cute sand cats" then I died laughing when the narrator said, "Stop at our cat house...." Sorry, I once heard a lady's sad story who once called around looking for a cat house for her cat because it was cold outside. Oh my, she didn't know about alternative meanings for cat house.
I can't find the cat but my cats would have the flexible cardboard furniture clawed into shape in no time.
The test is wrong, I don't have a midland accent since I grew up in the Texas Panhandle where we all mumble in a monotone.
Re: Newt and Richard Land, I concur completely. In fact, I wonder at more evangelicals not pointing out the Rome apostasy more vocally. First thing I thought of.
It's always interesting to see what items get the most comments. I knew the cat was somewhere near a metal object, and it turns out I was right. Too bad finding a presidential candidate couldn't be as easy as finding the cat on the pile of refuse. There's gotta be some analogy there for sure.
I agree with Paula's political comments. Call me politically cynical (or one who knows something about the hearts of men), but I don't expect my politicians to be theologians, nor my pastors to be experts in the Constitution. Ideally, both would be great, but "ideally" and "realistically" are sadly not in the running.
The video recommended by Mrs. DJP was very cool. Being the wife of a Latin teacher, I couldn't help but think by the end how impressed the Romans would have been by such precision and technology.
And today I plan to read aloud the top 5 toys article to my kids, to give them some tantalizing ideas for Christmas. Compared to the eye candy they have been exposed to from all the catalogues recently, that article (and the #6 top toy article) will put some things in perspective. Not only that, but we could likely find miniatures of all 5 that will fit in a shoebox--and wouldn't THAT be cool! Not to mention budget friendly...
I think it's a shame that cardboard tubes were given top 5 toy status while rocks were omitted. Clearly rocks are superior toys.
I did the accent test. It says I have a New Jersey accent even though I've lived in Southern California for almost all my life (except the last five years).
Then I started looking for the cat and realized, I have no idea what color cat I'm looking for much less why I'm looking for it. Meanwhile one of my cats is climbing all over me...then I saw it. I guess I only wasted a couple minutes.
If you like a good debater and only a good debater, choose Newt. Otherwise, people need to move on. I'm still voting for Perry right now.
I just found the cat. Rita thinks it would make a good puzzle.
Wow, that accent test was ah-cure-it!
This is the answer I got, and I agree with it:
"Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near... if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard."
1. I found the cat!! by the way that picture would make a pretty awesome puzzle.
2. That accent test was very very accurate, I'm not american but I have no accent and that's exactly what I scored.
""You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio."
Funny thing I used to watch a lot of american tv, american music and read a lot of american books. Maybe that's why I have no accent. :P
The accent test kicked back that I have the right face for radio.
That can't be right.
"Does laughing at this make me a bad parent?"
Yes.
Rats.
Where's the cat?
I can't find it and wasted lots of time!
Is it a trick?
I zoomed in and out and then the screen would jump to your other funny pictures.
I feel your pain, Ken.
If you divide the picture into quarters, the cat is in the left sector, just about at the dividing-line between top and bottom (just under), and to the left of the middle of that sector. It is stepping over a tire. It is black and white.
Does that help?
Once you see it, you can't not see it - but I didn't find it easy to see either. I needed help.
Cool...got the cat!! How did I not see that before?! Your directions to Ken made it clear!
Is it a metaphor for applying the clear teaching of Scripture? There it is in black and white but most of us can't see it because of all the junk we've surrounded it with.
Actually yeah, I think it is, Andrew. I have a post int he works making that point by way of a video, but that picture could work as well. I think the video, however, is even more effective; you'll see, DV.
I finally saw the cat; thanks Dan!
because the picture screen kept jumping to the gingerbread Imperial walker or the kid in the snow coat falling down; . . .
The only way for me was to copy the picture, paste it on my Word software and zoom to 500 %.
I just wanted to let you know, Mr. Phillips, that I am almost finished reading The World-Tilting Gospel and have completely enjoyed it. It is well written, easily understood and completely edifying! Thank you for it! :)
Kindly,
Katy
That's great to hear, Katy. Thanks for getting it, and for reading it. If you happen to post a review, let me know.
Post a Comment