The Discovery Channel and ESPN are the only two things I ever watch on cable, and much more of the former than the later. My new favorite show, in addition to my existing favorites (Mythbusters, Cash Cab, and Dirty Jobs) is "It Takes a Thief." Two former criminals are the hosts. One approaches a family/business and makes the proposal - we'll watch a burglar (the other host), take your stuff (to be returned, of course), then beef up your home security and provide general home-security tips.
It's an hour-long show on at 5:00pm.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Lent: Week Four
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!"
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted;they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm and not a man,scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you was I cast from my birth,and from my mother's womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.
Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd,and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet — I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted,and he has not hidden his face from him,but has heard, when he cried to him.
From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord,and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord,and he rules over the nations.
All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.
-Psalm 22, of David
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted;they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm and not a man,scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you was I cast from my birth,and from my mother's womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.
Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd,and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet — I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted,and he has not hidden his face from him,but has heard, when he cried to him.
From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord,and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord,and he rules over the nations.
All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.
-Psalm 22, of David
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Coffee Giveaway
Maybe, just maybe, I'm too pessimistic in life. About some things, at least. There are other things about which I think my pessimism is fully justified until I see some evidence to the contrary, but that's well off-topic.
On Saturday, we tried a second attempt at a hot coffee giveaway in front of Wal-Mart, the first having been called off on account of snow. The goal: give away coffee, refusing to take anything in return. Sounds simple, but lets face it - when you see tables and people in front of any store, do you (a) stop to consider what they are doing, or (b) avoid eye contact, speed up, and avoid them as much as possible - perhaps using little old ladies as a human shield?
I was sure it was doomed to failure, but I felt that way about our car wash, too. The initial experience confirmed my fears - lots of human shields, no one really wanting coffee. I took the easy task of holding a sign, which became harder as the temperature dropped and my fingers numbed... but it meant I didn't have to be the one getting rejected over and over, and that's a welcome change of pace (no. I promise. I won't go there, and I will stay on topic). I did, however, talk to a few brave souls that ventured over to the table - meaning, I answered questions if they asked. I also made eye contact with people, smiled, and wished them a good morning.
I was amazed that as the day went on, we had not a few people who were genuinely curious what in the world we were doing, but who didn't want any coffee. "What is this for?" "We're a new church in the south, and every two weeks we try to get out in the community to serve in some way, like..." It's really useful to be able to rattle off some of the events and service projects we've done, and it's proof that we're not out here trying to slip in under your radar but that we simply believe it's important to serve others, just because. Having a track record of doing so, both with a variety of non-partisan groups and on your own, is a useful way of demonstrating your motives, I think.
I also decided that "bless" is a Christianese word that we need to get out of the habit of using. I think it's a useful word, but when you shout at a passerby that you want to bless them, I wonder if they are curious who sneezed. I much prefer "give" and "serve," which both convey the what-we-are-trying-to-accomplish message, without unnecessary obfuscation.
Finally, it's always great when I see new faces at our Servant Evangelism projects. We had several at this one, and it's encouraging beyond words to watch people grow from being hearers of the Word to doers, also.
On Saturday, we tried a second attempt at a hot coffee giveaway in front of Wal-Mart, the first having been called off on account of snow. The goal: give away coffee, refusing to take anything in return. Sounds simple, but lets face it - when you see tables and people in front of any store, do you (a) stop to consider what they are doing, or (b) avoid eye contact, speed up, and avoid them as much as possible - perhaps using little old ladies as a human shield?
I was sure it was doomed to failure, but I felt that way about our car wash, too. The initial experience confirmed my fears - lots of human shields, no one really wanting coffee. I took the easy task of holding a sign, which became harder as the temperature dropped and my fingers numbed... but it meant I didn't have to be the one getting rejected over and over, and that's a welcome change of pace (no. I promise. I won't go there, and I will stay on topic). I did, however, talk to a few brave souls that ventured over to the table - meaning, I answered questions if they asked. I also made eye contact with people, smiled, and wished them a good morning.
I was amazed that as the day went on, we had not a few people who were genuinely curious what in the world we were doing, but who didn't want any coffee. "What is this for?" "We're a new church in the south, and every two weeks we try to get out in the community to serve in some way, like..." It's really useful to be able to rattle off some of the events and service projects we've done, and it's proof that we're not out here trying to slip in under your radar but that we simply believe it's important to serve others, just because. Having a track record of doing so, both with a variety of non-partisan groups and on your own, is a useful way of demonstrating your motives, I think.
I also decided that "bless" is a Christianese word that we need to get out of the habit of using. I think it's a useful word, but when you shout at a passerby that you want to bless them, I wonder if they are curious who sneezed. I much prefer "give" and "serve," which both convey the what-we-are-trying-to-accomplish message, without unnecessary obfuscation.
Finally, it's always great when I see new faces at our Servant Evangelism projects. We had several at this one, and it's encouraging beyond words to watch people grow from being hearers of the Word to doers, also.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Pew Profile of Religion in the USA
The PEW Research group has released a pretty broad survey of religion in the US. There's so much information, it will take a while to pick through it all. I took a glance at the figures for education by religion, and found some interesting nuggets.
Compared to the National Average, 6% more Evangelical Christians have only a high school diploma or less, while 7% fewer have at least a college degree. 11% fewer Mormons have only a high school degree or less, but only 1% more have at least a college degree. Fully 28% fewer Jews have at most a high school degree, and 32% more have at least a college degree (59%, compared to 27% nationally). The biggest discrepancy is Hindus, for whom 34% fewer are limited to a high school degree, and 47% more have at least a college degree (74% of Hindus in the US have at least a college degree). There's a variety of effects to sort out (my guess is that a significant share of Hindus are temporary/permanent immigrants who are here under immigration provisions that favor professional/college-trained workers).
With a few exceptions, most groups people who identify with a religion are more educated than society as a whole. Those exceptions are Evangelical Christians, Historically Black Christian Denominations, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses and Muslims, who all trend more toward the HS-or-less, and less toward "college-or-more" than the national average. JW's in particular are 20% higher than the national average in HS-or-less, and 18% lower in the college-or-more segments.
I'm not saying what any of this means. I just found it interesting.
Compared to the National Average, 6% more Evangelical Christians have only a high school diploma or less, while 7% fewer have at least a college degree. 11% fewer Mormons have only a high school degree or less, but only 1% more have at least a college degree. Fully 28% fewer Jews have at most a high school degree, and 32% more have at least a college degree (59%, compared to 27% nationally). The biggest discrepancy is Hindus, for whom 34% fewer are limited to a high school degree, and 47% more have at least a college degree (74% of Hindus in the US have at least a college degree). There's a variety of effects to sort out (my guess is that a significant share of Hindus are temporary/permanent immigrants who are here under immigration provisions that favor professional/college-trained workers).
With a few exceptions, most groups people who identify with a religion are more educated than society as a whole. Those exceptions are Evangelical Christians, Historically Black Christian Denominations, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses and Muslims, who all trend more toward the HS-or-less, and less toward "college-or-more" than the national average. JW's in particular are 20% higher than the national average in HS-or-less, and 18% lower in the college-or-more segments.
I'm not saying what any of this means. I just found it interesting.
Solutions
I had a dilema. I needed to track some data, and while spreadsheets would probably work it would be a cumbersome way to handle this particular type of data. What I really wanted was Access, so I could use some forms and reports to compile various pieces of the data as seamlessly as possible. But I don't have Access at home, and it would be good if I can put together a solution that would be portable - that is - a solution that I could hand off to somebody else without first seeing if they have a pricey suite of programs.
The answer? OpenOffice.org It's a suite of open-source programs that include programs to accomplish the same tasks as MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Access. And it's a free legal download (so anybody I would hand this file off to would be able to download this software and use the file I'm building).
It's pretty slick so far, but I'm still fumbling my way through it. Mostly, I'm waiting on some important source data so I have some real numbers to work with. That will go a long way to answering whether this will actually work.
The answer? OpenOffice.org It's a suite of open-source programs that include programs to accomplish the same tasks as MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Access. And it's a free legal download (so anybody I would hand this file off to would be able to download this software and use the file I'm building).
It's pretty slick so far, but I'm still fumbling my way through it. Mostly, I'm waiting on some important source data so I have some real numbers to work with. That will go a long way to answering whether this will actually work.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Movie Season Approaches
This is the first movie this year that I have been really looking forward to. Under 3 weeks to go!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Silly Songs With Dave
I get the randomest things stuck in my head. If you have iTunes and dare venture into my madness, feel free to check out "I'm Henry the VIII, I am" HERE.
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