Friday, August 19, 2011

Hither and thither 8/19/11

This week, a very graphic (not in the Mark Driscoll sense) Hither and Thither. Also, an unusual helping of toilet humor. Again, not in the Mark Driscoll sense.
  • Why does this make me think of my beloved grandson Timothe (except in a younger version)?
  • My sons J and j sure adore their nephew. They just returned from 3 days with grandson, DAOD and BSIL. I expected them to be ready for relative peace and quiet — but they could not stop bubbling and chuckling and laughing with delight over this and that antic of little Timothe's. He's blessed in his uncles, and they in him.
  • My dear wife — and many longsuffering moms — will like this one, which I saw on Laura Kelleher's Facebook, er, wall or whatever.
  • Wednesday I had the joy of being on the Janet Mefferd show, to be interviewed about The World-Tilting Gospel. It probably is good I didn't realize how many stations she's on. I did notice she'd had guests like Mark Steyn, Carl Trueman, Michael Rydelnik and Ann Coulter before, so I knew it'd be big-time for me. At any rate, you can listen to the interview, if you like.
  • All right. My day's ruined. I was never even as good a drummer as... as... Justin Bieber!
  • You know, If you just replace "gay-friendly" with "apostate," this might actually be a useful list for Christian students.
  • Obama: "My dog ate the recovery." Well, more or less.
  • Relatedly: great news. Obama will be giving us his jobs plan... as soon as he gets back from his latest vacation
  • The President will fix everything like he always does: by giving a speech.
  • All of this is, of course, incredibly tone-deaf, but it does worry me (like most things): is he really that stupid, or does he know for an ontological certitude that he cannot be defeated in 2012? Neither is reassuring.
  • BTW: I will issue a non-charismatic prophecy: Obama's plan will grow government and decrease liberty. It will primarily benefit unions and/or government employees. This prediction ain't rocket science. It's all Democrats know how to do.
  • Again: Obama marveling at how quiet factories are, and how they employ fewer people, which absolutely no sense of irony. Tone deaf, isolated and clueless, or arrogant. You pick.
  • At any rate, Donald Trump sagely observed that the President "takes more vacations than any human being I've ever seen."
  • Bringing us finally to a bit of bright, hopeful news: John Podhoretz says that Obama is basically politically doomed in 2012. We can only hope he's right.
  • Which leads me to two thoughts:
  • First: I really do think this presidential election is the GOP's to lose.
  • Second: sadly, I think they're the ones who could do just that.
  • Reader John is concerned as to whether we're getting maximum usage of our vehicles:
 

 
  • Fred Butler adds another:

  • Fred also noted a Florida teacher who was punished for being a Christian out loud in his private time. Mustn't! Bad!
  • Update: reader Robert Sakovich found us a lot more detail, and it isn't reassuring for lovers of the First Amendment.
  • David Elliott found us a delightful video about an exquisite pair of singing bird pistols.
  • Think you can operate a yo-yo? Reader Yurie Hwang says watch this, then answer the question again.
  • Challies today seems (by one of his links) to be lamenting how false teaching comes out, and then books follow with reactive prescriptions afterwards. So from this, I gather that Tim would be really excited if a book came out with a strong, accessible, positive presentation of a broad range of Biblical doctrines, which might serve as preventative rather than reactionary medicine. I think he has a point.
  • Trouble pronouncing some Bible words when you do the Bible reading in church? No problem! There's an app for that. (thx Ken Lewis)
  • Last week, it was "I can't brain." This week, it's...

  • Is Governor Perry my dream-candidate?  Well, given that as matters stand (A) Not-Barack-Obama is my dream candidate, and (B) Governor Perry is not Barack Obama, yes, he is my dream candidate in a way. He certainly isn't everything I'd like, and I may or may not vote for him in the primaries; I'm far from decided.
  • But if I don't, I want it to be for real reasons. For instance, we know that he's made TX a job-generating dynamo relative to the rest of the nation. But it is countered that that is mostly minimum-wage jobs. Here is a pretty thorough response to that charge.
  • Thomas Louw led me to find a series of photos showing some pretty amazing insect engineering. Ain't evolution wonderful?
  • Electrified Dog is electrified.
  • (That, or a mirror-trick. I'm hoping the latter.)
  • Similarly:
  • Staying with a sort of theme...
  • Planking: you're doing it wrong.
  • One more, from Kerry Garrett.

  • "Wait — wait-wait-wait-wait! We just got a contract to do a high-end, sexy video to sell what??!"
  • (Found that last from a Facebook update of Rachael Starke's)
  • Joel Griffith finds Biologos once again giving aid and comfort to the enemies of taking all of the Bible as Jesus took it.
  • Well, that's disappointing.

  • On that question, by the bye, Denny Burke asks the right question, and gives the right answer: "What’s at stake in this debate? The heart of the gospel, the authority of the Bible, and more. As far as theological debates go, this is not a question of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. It’s a question of whether or not Christianity has any coherence at all."
  • Paula found just the thing for the bacophiliac who has almost everything.
  • Which brings to mind this from Ty Cito's Facebook page:
  • Also this. (Yes; always practical!)
  • Finally: bad dog! Bad...er, ni--- nice doggie! Nice!
  • And:












31 comments:

Robert said...

Listening to the interview as I kick off my work day. I wish that the modern church would take more of a look at how Jesus turned the religious world on its head when He came to the world and taught the truth of Scriptures. And the reason that happened is because we turned the truth on its head back in Genesis 3.

I think after around 6,000 years of sin, it is hard to get a grasp on the cumulative effect it has had on the world and mankind. However, Scripture does show us Jesus lived as a perfect man and that is our standard. Which drives us to our need for the Gospel because we fall so far short of Jesus.

Your humility shines through in the interview...not that this was unexpected, but it was still nice to hear.

Fred Butler said...

You know. That Kohler toilet just isn't as cool when you have 4 sick kids puking in it.
The commercial tends to leave that part out.

DJP said...

Look for a sequel.

Robert said...

Fred,

Just think of what happens if there is a failure of some sort and the thing won't open when the kids are trying to throw up. Or maybe even worse, what if you have some digestive problems and it won't open? One doesn't tend to have those problems with the good old mechanical toilet. Who would have ever imagined there would be a day when there was a toilet with a remote?

DJP said...

More working parts = more things that can break. Thus spake my late father.

Robert said...

Did you notice the amount for the tip on the receipt? It was $17.50 before tip and $20.00 after. That's just sad that somebody couldn't figure out $2.50. I wonder how much they're paying somebody to do their taxes for them?

DJP said...

...and from which State Reeducation Center they graduated (with honors)?

FX Turk said...

re: "Nice Doggie"

I resent you publishing my :"the Nines" video prior to the conference.

Wendy said...

My family makes pigs in a blanket (hot dogs in croissants) frequently. I'm definitely doing eyes next time. My son will love it - kinda like brains-n-spaghetti.

Computerized toilets - sounds like something that would result in a phobia. Or at least a clown-esque panic attack. I know it kind of freaks me out.

Sharon said...

That last photo of "object dart" is just . . . disturbing.

Mizz Harpy said...

Does the toilet come with a backup generator or battery for when the electricity goes out?

DJP said...

You know, I never know which one item out of 47 will become the focus of the meta.

This one, I should have been able to call.

lol

Robert said...

Well, Dan, you know how much we love potty humor...

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Yah... the potty. Power outages aside, what addled adolescent boys on the team named it NUMI???

And the bird pistols - amazing. But will they kill deer? Omnivores want to know.

Fred Butler said...

BTW, in our house, the remote for the toilet would have been dropped in and flushed the second day after it was installed.

And there is no telling what sort of mess my children would have made once they discovered the bidet.

DJP said...

LOL, Fred. And I still don't even really get "bidet."

BUT I DO NOT WANT AN EXPLANATION. What I know is enough for shivers.

threegirldad said...

But will [the bird pistols] kill deer?

Hehe...nope. Bambi is safe—for now. ;-)

SolaMommy said...

Anybody else remember the "Love Toilet" commercial on Saturday Night Live? I would link to it but I'm not sure if that's a good idea...

Away From The Brink said...

Heh. You should see the toilet in this blog post: http://www.rayallychina.com/?p=4025

Susan said...

Yes, SolaMommy, SNL's "love toilet" immediately came to mind when I saw that dual-toilet-set here! The concept is just...just...um...too close for comfort. :P

Aaron said...

Conservatives in Texas seem to be lining up for Perry although they think he's made some mistakes recently by talking about anything other than our economy.

@Impacted: I love that bathroom!

The computerized toilet would be awesome if I could turn it on and off from an app on my Iphone. Then I could have some real fun with my family.

Rachael Starke said...

I'm currently with the grandparents in the land of 28K dialup, so I only have bandwidth sufficient to say that I'm delighted my find has achieved total H&T comment domination.

My dear husband's first thought: "Why is it facing the wrong way? I'd wanna have that scenic view...."

Pierre Saikaley said...

@Rachel Starke

I guess I gotta step up my game here at H&T. :-D

Anonymous said...

Interesting perspective on Rick Perry:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/rick_perry_a_moderates_conservative.html

Mark Patton said...

Opening line made me LOL (and cry for Driscoll).

And to add to all the potty talk, the thing that jumped out at me was the actors did not show their faces. They probably would have flushed any opportunity for future work if anyone knew who was in that commercial. Do you think they put it on their resume?

Good stuff.

threegirldad said...

Pierre Saikaley: I guess I gotta step up my game here

Well, when someone manages to make "neener-neener-neener" look as noble as Rachael just did, it's probably time to throw in the towel.

:-)

Rachael Starke said...

Okay, turning the conversation awaaaay from the toi-toi-

I admit the Anyone But Obama campaign bus is an easy one to hop on,

but wasn't that partially the reason Obama was elected? How many people do you know who saw Obama as NotBush, and are now kicking themselves for such a dumb approach to voting?

I finally forced msyelf to read some stuff Perry's said, and he seems to talk like Bush on a Budweiser bender (not an asset, to put it mildly). And I, at least, won't forget that this is the guy who was handed a perfectly good anti-governmentally-mandated-sexual-assualt bill, and he vetoed it.

If he's the last guy (or gal) standing, will I vote for him? Sure, because he's not Obama. But I won't be voting for him.

Then again, I'm a conservative living in the Bay Area. I haven't voted for a candidate, and especially one who's won, ever.

Wendy said...

Then again, I'm a conservative living in the Bay Area.

You have my deepest sympathy :)

Christopher said...

I did not see a comment in regards to what I am about to say, so I feel free saying it. Hopefully it is not merely a repeating of a comment I missed:

The Challes (sp?) comment about reaction writings to heretical writings and teachings is a little off (in my opinion). Most of the NT writings (past Acts) seem to be reactions: Galatians, Colossians, 1 John (against Gnostics I believe), Jude, 2 Peter, Hebrews (Judaism is not heretical as much as it was incomplete), parts of 1 and 2 Corinthians. I am probably missing some, but you get the idea.

Like I said, I understand what he is saying, but I think he is looking for something that has never been there.

DJP said...

I didn't take it that way, Christopher, though I had the same thought as you. And if the point of the linked post (or of Challies in linking it) was "Goodness gracious! Stop all these critical books refuting error!", I would certainly disagree with him and would totally agree with you, for the same reasons you cite and others as well.

I took it to say "Let's close the doors before the cows get out," which I think is good counsel. There definitely is a need for books like Pierced for Our
Transgressions
, say, that defend the Gospel specifically against critics.

But there also is a need for a book, for instance, that positively sets out the Gospel, and the fundamentals of Gospel living, in a whole-Bible framework, anticipating and proactively answering error in a positively way. If I'm understanding Challies (and the link) right, he (and the linked blogger) would really be excited about a book like that.

That's what I'm saying.

Robert said...

DJP,

Do you have any recommendations for a book like that? I think I've been reading something like that, but can't recall the name for some reason...