TIME.com: Holy Hypocrisies -- The media take its moral outrage out of mothballs to attack Mel Gibson. As seen on Thrunderstruck
.

What is the gospel? a great post from LT.

The Joys of Group Dating

- Peace

For Exercise in New York Futility, Push Button

The city deactivated most of the pedestrian buttons long ago with the emergence of computer-controlled traffic signals, even as an unwitting public continued to push on, according to city Department of Transportation officials. More than 2,500 of the 3,250 walk buttons that still exist function essentially as mechanical placebos, city figures show. Any benefit from them is only imagined

-Peace

Former IdeaJoy blogger Steve has started his own blog, mostly cause he forgot how to sign into IdeaJoy, seeReverend Joyleaf. Welcome back Steve.

- Peace

MP3 Meme via email:

>>The deal is: if you have a jukebox-type program on your computer, open
>>it up, put it on random, press play, and then list the first 15 songs
>>that get played.

1 Kamikaze - Five Iron Frenzy (FIF)
2 Superfly - OC SuperTones
3 Reborn - Rebeca St James (I share this machine you know)
4 Slip - The Throes
5 Rock Stars - SuperChick
6 Nod Over Coffe - Mark Heard
7 The Boy Who Never Forgor - Joy Electric
8 Robert Randolph and the Family Band live 2002-02-15
9 Startspin - Downhere
10 Used Car Salesman - The Ws
11 Greater Than by Riely Armstrong
12 It was Beautiful - FIF
13 Vacant Places - Spy Glass Blue
14 I've Been Waithing - Sixpense None the Richer
15 Cannon Ball - FIF
16 - Moshing Floor Steve Taylor (cause I'm not counting Rebeca)

- Peace

Wired News: Webmonkey, RIP: 1996 – 2004

I was once a MonkyJunkie, part of the web monkey mailing list when both developers and designers hung out there. It was the coolest place to be for a time.

"Millions flocked to Dave Thau's Javascript tutorial" - my claim to almost fame - I helped Dave clean up his cookie handling JavaScript.

- Peace

Dare to Love: Changing the World One Child at a Time

I camped near Joe and his familly at C-Stone 2003. It's the story of how he and his wife came to have 7 girls (4 adopted).

Updated: The above link now returns a blank page, but the wayback machine has a copy.

faith & hip hop culture and check out the link to the Jesus Walks video while you're there.

- Peace

Just came from a presention by the head of the The ZIM Project (Zeal in Missions)

Projects like these are why I stay in the Salvation Army, over all the Army has a great hear for the poor. In places passion has gotten lost cause they got so good at doing the work it became institutionalized.

But this is a group of lay people, Salvationists, working outside the formal structure to help the Salvation Army in Africa. And that's very cool. I'm hoping we'll go as a familly sometime in the next couple of years.

- Peace

$1.5 billion gift is blessing, curse for Salvation Army By Jeri Fischer Krentz

Money Money everywhere and not a drop to spend. In fact to carry out the wishes of the Kroc estate the army will need an extra 40 - 60 Million a year.

- Peace

Brian J. Walsh

propositionalist theology moves you not toward indwelling the biblical story, but rather toward pulling out of the biblical story various kinds of 'timeless truths.' What this does is codify the Scriptures in such a way that people actually don't need to read the Bible because they already know what it says.

I think some people avoid reading the Bible for them themselves, for fear fo missunderstandign it and saying / thinking somthing that goes against the common wisdom of what the bible means.

For instance in the Salvation Army, reading the Bible would lead you to think that Baptisim and comunion were good and important things. And yet good slavationists know better.

- Peace

Sixpence None the Richer Breaking Up?

That's sad news.

- Peace

The contemporary relevance of Augustine's view of creation

IVP Author Interview: Postmodernism; Brian J. Walsh and J. Richard Middleton

I just found this today. I knew I recognized Brian's name, the book Truth Is Stranger Than It Used To Be was my first introduction to postmodernism from a Christian point of view, back in the early 90s.

Brian is also one of the contributors to Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog that I'm reading to review for The Phantom Tollbooth. Brian's section is on Wake Up Dead Man a song of lamet, and how the we tend to avoid psalms of lament like Psalm 44.

- Peace

From CNN.com - 'Friends': The most overrated comedy ever by Frazier Moore, Feb. 12, 2004

In comedy no less than drama, the best characters have nagging flaws they must contend with. Think of Archie Bunker's bigotry, or the addictive personality of Sam Malone, a recovering alcoholic and dogged womanizer.
...
Throughout sitcom history, the best characters are forever reaching for a goal just beyond their grasp. Hawkeye Pierce wants to get home from Korea in one piece. Deputy Barney Fife wants to prove his valor as a lawman to the citizens of Mayberry. Mary Richards wants to show the world she can make it, after all.

But what of the tight little sextet of "Friends"? They just want to be loved by one another, and they are. They just want to hang out with their friends, and they do. So their mission was accomplished in the series' first week. After that? More and more icing on the cake.

I won't argue that Friends is over rated, I only catch random reruns, it's never been Must See TV for me. But I think Frazier Moore has missed the point. Hanging out with one another and being loved by one another isn't the icing, it's the cake. The comedy is the icing, the core of the show is the fantasy about people who stick with one another despite fights, break ups, marriages and divorce. In many ways it's the same formula that drove Touched by an Angel for years. Each week Monica declare that God is real and that he loves us. We (as a society) don't really believe it, but it moves us never the less.

I look at the fragile relationships around me are, how we often miss obvious opportunities to apply love and grace. How easy it us to burn a relationship with a quick word or a misunderstanding. The idea that a group of people would stick together even though they live badly is deeply appealing. The church should have this appeal. We are called to not forsake out fellowship with one another, to love our enemies, forgive our friends. Yet true fellowship, grace and reconciliation is rare in my life. I don't think I'm alone in that. I agree Friends is overrated as TV, but I won't underrate it's appeal.

- Peace

The Onion | Saddam Hussein Rules Over Cell With Iron Fist

Wired News: The Russian Nesting Doll of Games:

A fan-made plug-in ... allows Sims characters to effectively play SimCity inside The Sims. The Sims franchise has gone meta.

- Peace

From KraftCanada.com: Oreo Cookie
3 pkg.(250 g each) softened Regular or Light Philadelphia Cream Cheese,
3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs

Ok, so I think I'll go with the light philadelphia cream cheese, cause then it would be healthy right?

- Peace

I'm speaking tonight at CJUG -

Java Programing for the World Wild Web. Some lessons I've learned from building Who Links Who and other web apps that deal with the web as it exists in the wild.

And yeah I'll get back to WLW anyday now...

- Peace

The Blood-and-Fire Mission of the Salvation Army - Christianity Today Magazine

Before the mid 1880s, Booth tended to see social services as a diversion from revivalism. Early Salvationists had begun various charitable enterprises, but it was only in the decade leading up to the writing of his widely acclaimed book In Darkest England and the Way Out (1890) that Booth changed his mind and integrated the social and spiritual emphases. In Issue 26, Murdoch tells how the firebrand evangelist was inspired by Salvationist workers on the urban "front lines" to begin working for the social salvation and physical well-being of the poorest city dwellers

I found that interesting, cause in the army churches, when we hear about booth He is the fire blood preacher speaking out on behalf of the poor and the lost. So even William Booth went through a time of not seeing the big picutre.

- Peace

J2SE 1.5 in a Nutshell What every Java developer needs to know about 1.5.

- Peace

Salvation Army To Help Unemployed Casino Workers - That's grace, in a headline.

- Peace

MXPX - Everything Sucks

All I ever needed was to eat popcorn with you,
Come on over,
Watch the late show,
Stay up talking until two

...

Everything sucks when you're gone,
Everything sucks when you're gone

A dream of our reunion makes me crazy just to think,
How so very far away you are,
My hope begins to sink

...

Everything sucks when you're gone,
Everything sucks when you're gone

It's not ok,
I've baked dinner here for two,
And it's not ok,
I've got candles lit for you,
And It's not ok,
I've got you're favorite records out,
And it's not ok,

...

Everything sucks when you're gone,
(I want you! I need you!)
Everything sucks when you're gone
(I want you! I need you!)

I'm in my third week of being a single dad, and I miss my wife. So these lyric fragements from Everything Sucks has been going through my head today.

- Peace

So I've been back since friday, but just didn't feel like blogging. Thanks to everyone who left comments or sent email. It's meant more than you'll know. I've been shocked by how hard my mother in law's passing has hit me. It's not like we were close. The most tangible thing I will miss are the nuts and bolts snaks she made and sent us. They had that genuine smokey bar taste that you just can't replicate without soaking them in nicoteen. It was the one food that was enhanced by Kim's parent's chain smoking.

I think it's hit me hard, because I know how hard this has been on Kim and she's feeling the pain of her Dad's. There's more than enough pain to go around, and I've just been feeling the overflow.

- Peace

NY Salvation Army stresses Gospel - what amazes me is this comes as news. I guess parts of the army have gotten away from why we serve the poor.

- Peace