TU Cent Thoughts, 12-18-05

[greybeta]

One week till Christmas. I found a nice tie to wear, but now I have to go find a nice dress shirt to go with it. I think a grey dress shirt will work best.

Church was cool. I love Dr. Bob Ford...one of the few pastors who doesn't put me to sleep when he gives the message. I pattern my messages in the BSU after him...full of interesting stories. Dr. Ford is a fascinating red headed man who grew up in Mary Baker's Eddy Church of Scientology. He fell in love with a certain godly woman in college and that's how he found the Baptist church. He became so enamored that he went off to be a missionary in Czechoslovakia and Scotland. Fascinating man, with even more fascinating messages.

Mom made her one pound spaghetti, but instead of ground beef she used ground deer. Different, and very, very good.

The thief wants me to call him a rogue. Fine. I'll call you a rogue, thief.

My Golden Gopher cuz Lammie has miiiiighty fiiiiine taste in women. Hot Indian women. Mmmmmm, hot Indian women with their Hindu propriety. (Thank you Facebook for helping me keep up with faraway cuzes).

Random Jameson got mad at me for misquoting him in my previous Convo of the Day. He knows that I purposely misquote people to make myself look better. Funny, perhaps because it's my blog? My blog. Yes? Pwned, Jameson, pwned.

(Also I edit the convo to make it a better story. To appreciate this, go watch the Simpsons episode where Lisa learns the truth about Jebediah Springfield. Fiction is better than history. Which one do we read more...Shakespeare's account of Julius Caesar or Plutarch's account of Julius Caesar?)

If you don't like it, you could always comment with corrections if it bothers you that much. Sheesh.

Convo of the Day:
D2: So you're going to college in Boston, right?
Ky: Yep.
D2: So I guess you're a big JFK fan?
Ky: JFK?
D2: ZOMG
D2: Did you just type that to annoy me or are you really that ignorant?
Ky: Hey now! It's only my first semester in Boston.
D2: I was about to ask if you've been to the JFK Library...
Ky: JFK Library?
D2: Good Lord, kids are ignorant these days. I would kill to go to the JFK Library as a history major.
Ky: Could you just tell me what JFK is?
D2: I'm a history teacher, so I'm going to make you work for it. You've lived in New England for most of your life, right?
Ky: Yeah, mostly a Jersey girl though.
D2: You a Democrat?
Ky: Yeah.
D2: But you don't know the JFK reference?!?
Ky: Just because I am a Democrat does not mean I should know the JFK reference.
D2: You ever taken an American History class?
Ky: We never got past WWII.
D2: That explains your ignorance. Do me a favor, okay?
Ky: What?
D2: Stamp out your ignorance by typing JFK into Wikipedia.
Ky: Okay.
Ky: Oh. But I seriously have never heard those initials in my life before.
D2: ...
D2: God, thank you for showing me why I should teach history.

Quote of the Day:
"Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there." Genesis 22:2
You know, you won't find this in the Bible, but Abraham was a lunatic. I mean even if Charlton Heston's voice came from the heavens above and told me to sacrifice my one and only son, I would just say no. No. Sorry, but no. I mean, if God really wanted to test Abraham, I think he should have just made Abraham kill Isaac. Then again, this is why I am not God, nor will I ever claim to be.

Link of the Day:
theferrett wants you to read today's bloody brilliant Doonesbury. As do I.
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There's this whole thing going around about how some people cheer more for their fantasy teams than their "real team". Well to that I say they never had a real team at all. Only losers cheer for their fantasy team more. What fantasy does is save the NFL by making people watch really bad matchups like the Eagles-Rams game. I mean, if the Steelers were winning and I needed Koren Robinson to catch a TD to win the game for the Vikings, I am going to cheer for my Steelers. Forget fantasy football, I want to watch my real team in the real playoffs!

I watched part of the Razorback basketball game last night. We have a lottery pick caliber wingman in Ronnie Brewer with a solid front line and good number two shooters. The Razorbacks will fall and rise with point guard play.

And TU folks, I wouldn't expect to much from our Golden Hurricane this year. Rice got killed by the Razorbacks, and Rice could kill us. It comes down to point guard play and our swingmen are inexperienced. It's called taking your lumps.
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My sister recently found the sheet music to Love Story. It's only the right hand, though. "Where do I begin..." Also working on a very simple version of the "BANG! BANG!" song revived by Kill Bill.

The scary thing is I'm working on Vietnamese at the same time by trying the sing the Vietnamese versions of those two songs. You know what they say about killing two birds...
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If you like history and sports, the reinforcement the two give each other is amazing. For example, you'll often hear Boston referred to as "Beantown". Now, supposedly, Ky says that's antiquated and nobody in Boston calls in Beantown anymore. Because these days few restaurants serve the baked Boston beans that earned the city its nickname.

Then again, with Rogers Clemens returning, there's another meaning to "Beantown"...

(Aren't I clever, tying sports and history so subtly like that? Or not so subtly, heh.)

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I have plans for 85 of my icons. I have a few more ideas but they require leet photoshop skills. Anyone want to volunteer a Christmas gift or two for me and make me some delicious icons?

Comments

[correspondguy.livejournal.com]

Oh. my. God.

I am going to re-write that conversation in my head so that she's just messing with you.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Is this because you want to make fun of me or is it because you had the same aneurysm I did upon seeing "JFK?" being typed by a so called New England Democrat?

[correspondguy.livejournal.com]

Who cares where she's from? I mean, we're not talking about Herbert Hoover or Grover Cleveland here. I am shocked that anyone wouldn't instantly recognize JFK. In fact, so shocked that I refuse to acknowledge that it actually happened. It's all intelligent design.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Another good part of convo I forgot to include:

D2: Do you know the significance of November 22, 1963?
Ky: No.
D2: Google it.
Ky: I thought so, but I wasn't sure...
D2: Sometimes in life just say something and act like you know what you're talking about. Teachers do that all the time.

[correspondguy.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

The state of history education makes me weep.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Oh, the day that Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis died. Sad, sad day.

[odclay.livejournal.com]

November 22, 1963: My dad's birthday. He turned two that year. It was a really sad birthday party, I heard.

What you will find in the bible.

[nickel.livejournal.com]

"Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there." Genesis 22:2

First off, this was a test of faith. A lot can be said for the leap from the lion's head, the instantaneous ability to trust infinitely for the split second necessary to commit oneself to an action. Much more can be said for the ability to weigh the life of your son against the word of God for the long two weeks* of travel to Moriah, and still come out with the same result of an instant of blind trust. I don't think that Abraham got any answers in those two weeks, instead he ended up at Moriah with no more answers than when he set out, but in place of answers he had faith that what he had been instructed to do was the Right Thing, regardless of how idiotic it sounded.

I think there is a huge difference between blind trust and faith.

Re: What you will find in the bible.

[wldntulk2knwwho.livejournal.com]

The high school class I've been teaching on Sunday mornings has been looking all year at God's plan for salvation and how it existed from the beginning of time. It's interesting that this passage should pop up because it's one that we investigated in class.

Much more than just a simple test of faith, I think God had much more in mind when he sent Abraham off to Moriah. Perhaps it was a sign for people down the road that another one and only Son would have to be sacrificed?

Re: What you will find in the bible.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

But blessed are those who believe without seeing. So the best faith is blind faith in today's conservative tradition.

Re: What you will find in the bible.

[nickel.livejournal.com]

I have a hard time accepting that you actually believe this. Regardless, I didn't say that Abraham saw, I said that having had time to question and freton his way to Moriah, he /kept/ the faith. That's much much more difficult than a single moment of unthinking devotion.

[wldntulk2knwwho.livejournal.com]

Wow. That conversation scares me. As does your attempt at being a corny sportscaster.

As for our basketball team, we've got to learn how to hang onto leads. We keep getting ahead only to the other team catch right back up in a hurry.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

I want John Madden's job. That way I could say nothing and get paid for it.

When you have 8 freshman and a new coach, you have to be a little pessimistic.

[loga.livejournal.com]

Mary Baker Eddy is responsible for Christian Science. Scientology is the brainchild of L. Ron. Hubbard.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Whoops. Stupid heretical denominations.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

The Christian Scientists are a heretical denomination, sure, but the Scientologists are science fictional.
http://www.xenu.net/ is fun if you have time to kill and don't mind frying a few synapses.

[renough.livejournal.com]

2 Things:

1.) Is this any better?

Lemme know if you need anything changed.

2.) I find it funny that adaptation is seen as evolution. When something like bacteria 'evolves,' all it is really doing is letting the version that doesn't have the particular strain in it die off. It's like the moths during the industrial revolution. Due to all the suit, the white moths became quite visible and were mostly eaten by birds who could more easily pick them off than the black moths.

An entire segment of DNA died off due to this. Things didn't evolve to get better, just a part of it is lost, and we call this adaptation. With this trend, things are going in a worse direction than suspected by evolution.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

1. Absolutely perfect. You mind making some more for me down the road?

2. Well this is the whole microevolution vs. macroevolution church debate. Even the Catholic Church believes in microevolution. Macroevolution is the "evil" evolution we so detest.

[renough.livejournal.com]

Haha, for a second, I wondered why on earth the icon I made was above the body of the text in my "LJ Comment" email... then I realized you used it. Bravo! I'm glad you like.

Sure, I'm available to make more! I enjoy brushing up my photoshop skills, and these are nice little projects that keep me sharp. But beware escalation, like in Batman Begins...

When I worked as a camp videographer, I was able to take the head of the Irish camp counselor and put it on a leprechaun's body for the kids to chase in the video, which escalated to "Ryan, can you put all of my camper's heads on puppies' bodies!?" I had to say no. Too much work.

But these icons are fun to make. And I'm more of a compositor than an artist, but I have my little effects. :)

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Next project: Do an animal meld of the Democratic Donkey and Republican Elephant. Specificall the back half of the donkey and the front half of the elephant. It's going to be hard to make it work, but if anybody can, Ryan can. :)

[fub.livejournal.com]

My sister recently found the sheet music to Love Story. It's only the right hand, though.
I think we have the whole thing lying around somewhere... Give me a holler if you want it.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

Holla! My gmail is in my user info.