Stuff! 05/30/10
After keeping us waiting for a century, Mark Twain will finally reveal all
“The creator of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and some of the most frequently misquoted catchphrases in the English language left behind 5,000 unedited pages of memoirs when he died in 1910, together with handwritten notes saying that he did not want them to hit bookshops for at least a century.
That milestone has now been reached, and in November the University of California, Berkeley, where the manuscript is in a vault, will release the first volume of Mark Twain’s autobiography.”
The Council of Trent – The Sixth Session: Justification Canons
It’s interesting to read Rome’s official stance on reformation doctrine, particularly the doctrine of justification by faith alone. All people who hold to this doctrine (that is all who believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone) have been declared by the Roman Catholic church as accursed. And yet if we (evangelicals) are right on the gospel and Rome is wrong (and there can only be one correct view) then they have actually placed the anathema on themselves.
Is The Thickness of Two Short Planks A Forgotten Divine Attribute?
“None of the systematic theologies I own include `being as thick as two short planks’ in their treatments of the divine attributes; but it appears that there is a trend today to rectify this neglected aspect of God’s being.”
Pornography — The Difference Being a Parent Makes
“Ryan Tate got more than he bargained for when he made his protest to Steve Jobs. In a strange way, we are now all in his debt, because the response from Steve Jobs now puts Apple on the line. In the end, the real meaning of this media eruption is less about computers and “apps” and more about parents and kids.”
Mark Zuckerberg responds to privacy concerns
“We have heard the feedback. There needs to be a simpler way to control your information. In the coming weeks, we will add privacy controls that are much simpler to use. We will also give you an easy way to turn off all third-party services. We are working hard to make these changes available as soon as possible. We hope you’ll be pleased with the result of our work and, as always, we’ll be eager to get your feedback.”
And this guy says don’t believe it (Why you shouldn’t trust Facebook’s apology)
“Facebook isn’t sorry. It says it’s sorry, but it isn’t sorry. Sure, it’ll come up with tweaked privacy settings to defray criticism, just like it did in December 2009. And in August 2009. And in March 2008. And in December 2007.”
50 Freely Available Professional Fonts For Your Designs
Need some really neat and professional fonts? This here is a very good list.
Stuff! 05/22/10
This is the first in what I hope to be a regular series of posts compiled mostly of stuff I’ve encountered online throughout the week, both religious and secular in nature. The title: “Stuff!” Of course.
Fed Up With Facebook? Delete it, and Here’s How
“In the blink of an eye, Mark Zuckerberg has gone from boy wonder to Big Brother, from Mozart to Mao. The man and his machine have suffered a populist fall precipitous enough to make even Tiger Woods wince with empathy. All this calamity, of course, begs the obvious question: “How did things go so horribly wrong?”
“The model of adolescent faith is not the kid who can avoid the bad, but the kid who stares down the darkness in herself and in her world by seeking God in just such places. The model of adolescent faith is not shiny, happy kids, but honest kids, that in joy confess a God who works in backwards ways, in ways where the first are last, and the suffering are embraced, where all who taste death are promised God’s very presence. They are not good kids that avoid all that is bad, but faithful kids that go into the world to seek God in the real, in the reality of existence, which is both beautiful and horrible.”
“Contemporary worship suffers from an emotional bias. It is disproportionately upbeat. I am not necessarily talking about the tempo of the music, although this bias is sometimes reflected in the tempo. I am talking about its emotional tone. The culture of evangelical worship has little tolerance for grief in the assembly.”
London unveils creepy-looking mascots for 2012 Olympics
“Olympic mascots have always been the object of scorn (remember Izzy?), but these two, uh, things take the absurdity to a whole new level. There’s a complicated backstory to the characters which was written by a children’s author. It explains why the mascots have one eye (it’s a camera lens to see the world) and yellow lights on tops of their heads (an homage to London taxicabs), but fails to tell the tale of why they look like early rejects from a Pixar movie.”
Seattle’s Best Coffee Stirs Up Heated Opinions
“Seattle’s Best Coffee revealed a redesigned logo this week. Unfortunately, its ambiguous look brings to mind a lot more than just a cup of joe.”
How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell
While we’re still on the subject of design, here’s one take on the web design process that I’m sure every web developer can relate to. Hilarious and sobering.
Ian McKellen – Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
What would we do without the internet?
If Team Pyro did the Daily Show, it’d probably look like something like this.
Nike knows how to make commercials. But its latest World Cup ad has got to be one of its best ever. Helmed by Alejandro Inarritu (director of “21 Grams” and “Babel”) the nifty video is peppered with humorous visions of the future, skillful soccer plays, and hilarious cameos. An instant classic.
Me
Writer, designer, father of two, husband of one. Armchair theologian. Inconsistent blogger and photographer. Still, I try.Tweets
