Looking for a present for that hard-to-buy-for teenager on your Christmas list? Well, if they are into Steven Curtis Chapman, Out of Eden, and video games… look no further!
Digital Praise offers a new spin on the Dance Dance Revolution craze with a PC game that lets seeker-sensitive teens (and their *lost* friends) dance to hit songs by Christian artists. The game features more than 50! hit songs by artists ranging from Audio Adrenaline to ZOEgirl, with lyrics right on screen so you can sing along while trying to bust out some sweet moves and set a new high score.
What's that? Fifty songs isn't enough for your digital media saturated family memeber? Don't worry! Digital Praise offers three *awesome* expansion packs with more than 35 new songs each. At only $24.95 a piece, the expansion packs are:
Volume One: Modern Worship - Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, and Delirious? headline this pack. From the manufacturer's website: "The lyrics in the musical selections glorify God. The uplifiting tracks provide new opportunities for worship and movement."
Volume Two: Hip-Hop/Rap - Who doesn't love Grits, KJ-52, and DJ Maj? "These tracks showcase vocal prowess and intelligent poetry, with bangin' bass and life-affirming messages." Where else can bangin' bass and poetry be combined in an interactive God-gorifying mix like this? That's right; nowhere.
Volume Three - Relient K, Rebecca St. James, Stacie Orrico… need I say more? Your unsaved friends will be letting Jesus into their hearts in no time.
The basic version includes the game and one standard dance pad for $49.95. If your little friend has been especially good this year, you might consider the super-deluxe-everything-included pack. It has the game, all three expansion packs, and two "super deluxe" dance pads. A $264.70 value, it could be yours for just $199.95.
Is it worship? Is it evangelism? Who knows? One thing is for sure, though. If you love Jesus, you're gonna love this game.
*Not recommended for use by Christians from certain denominations including, but not limited to, Baptists.
Pete will be 3 years old next Thursday, which makes this the first Christmas that he will start to "get" what Christmas is about. Amanda has been telling him the Christmas story during the day, using the nativity scene that Pete has on his dresser as a visual aid. A few days ago she was telling him that Jesus was born in a manger, in the same place where animals lived. The ever-insightful Pete remarked, "Hmm. Sounds like 'Plan B'." I guess he still has a ways to go in understanding the sovereignty of God. But, at least he didn't ask why Santa wasn't featured in the nativity scene.
A groundbreaking study has revealed what we all have known for years: women talk more than men. Dr. Luann Brizendine (also known as "Captain Obvious" to her friends) has published the results of her study in a book entitled "The Female Brain". Some of the discoveries from the study (as described in the article):
- "…women talk almost three times as much as men, with the average woman chalking up 20,000 words in a day - 13,000 more than the average man."
- "…women devote more brain cells to talking than men."
- "Women have an eight-lane superhighway for processing emotion, while men have a small country road," said Dr Brizendine"
- "…what the male brain may lack in conversation and emotion, they more than make up with in their ability to think about sex. …to put it another way, men have an international airport for dealing with thoughts about sex, 'where women have an airfield nearby that lands small and private planes'."
- (perhaps the most interesting statement in the article) "Girls arrive already wired as girls, and boys arrive already wired as boys. Their brains are different by the time they're born, and their brains are what drive their impulses, values and their very reality. I know it is not politically correct to say this but I've been torn for years between my politics and what science is telling us."
Perhaps the only novelty of this study is that a scientist (and a self-proclaimed feminist at that) is willing to recognize and admit that her scientific endeavors are not completely sequestered from her politics/ideology. Maybe someday the Darwinists will be mature enough to make a similar statement.
I took my wife and kids out to breakfast on Monday. We had just moved into our new house a few days earlier, and the thought of trying to scrape together a suitable breakfast in our box-filled kitchen seemed rather prohibitive. We settled on an old-fashioned little place called Howard's Pantry. When we had finished our breakfast, I headed to the counter to pay our bill. I pulled out my checkcard and handed it to the lady running the register. She looked at me like I had just slipped her an envelope full of anthrax. She tried to remain calm as she informed me that they only take cash or local checks. Possessing neither of the acceptable forms of payment, I left my family as a deposit and headed out into the balmy 25° morning air in search of an ATM. Ten minutes and a $2.50 "foreign ATM fee" later, I returned to Howard's fine dining establishment to remunerate with old-fashioned paper money.
I may just be getting cranky in my old age, but it seems absurd to me that any merchant/vendor/restaurant wouldn't accept credit cards. I understand that taking a 1.75% hit each time a customer pays their bill isn't an exciting proposition for most business owners, but it beats the alternative. In this case, I had to spend $2.50 on ATM fees just so the restaurant owner could save $.35 on a $20 tab. When I have a job to get to and two young children to get into the car, my time and convenience are worth significantly more to me than the dime and a quarter some guy named Howard was able to pocket at my expense. I hope that $.35 was worth it, because we won't be dining at Howard's again anytime soon.
Having tried for years to catch up with the digital "file sharing" explosion (and its subsequent influence on the collective bottom line of the film industry), the MPAA is taking steps to make the showing of copyrighted films in unsanctioned home theaters illegal. From the article:
The MPAA defines a home theater as any home with a television larger than 29" with stereo sound and at least two comfortable chairs, couch, or futon. Anyone with a home theater would need to pay a $50 registration fee with the MPAA or face fines up to $500,000 per movie shown.
"Just because you buy a DVD to watch at home doesn't give you the right to invite friends over to watch it too. That's a violation of copyright and denies us the revenue that would be generated from DVD sales to your friends," said Glickman. "Ideally we expect each viewer to have their own copy of the DVD, but we realize that isn't always feasible. The registration fee is a fair compromise."
The article also states that "various motion sensors and biometric technology" will be used to track the number of viewers and details about what is being show.
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OK… so, it's satire. But, given some of the recent activities of the MPAA, it would be fair to assume that your fair-use rights for digital materials you have legally paid for will be under fire for the foreseeable future. Is not being allowed to rip DVDs to your video iPod the newest definition of unbearable suffering? Well, probably not. But, it is still irritating.
Not sure what to get your Calvinist friends and family for Christmas? You should consider wrapping up a 24×36 inch poster of the Synod of Dort for that special someone. Available from Mongergism.com, the poster runs $25 and typically ships the same business day.
It's true what they say. Nothing says "I love you" like a Calvinist poster under the tree. (HT: ReformationTheology.com)
Call me old fashioned, but I prefer to postpone listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. And, yes, Friday is included because the Nebraska game and everything associated with it are part of the "Thanksgiving tradition." When Saturday rolls around, feel free to play all the Burl Ives, Bing Crosby, and Elvis you want.
I'm not even sure where to begin commenting on this…
From the journal of William Bradford, the second1: governor of the Plymouth Colony
In these hard & difficulte beginings they found some discontents & murmurings arise amongst some, and mutinous speeches & carriags in other; but they were soone quelled & overcome by ye wisdome, patience, and just & equall carrage of things by ye Govr and better part, wch clave faithfully togeather in ye maine. But that which was most sadd & lamentable was, that in 2. or 3. moneths time halfe of their company dyed, espetialy in Jan: & February, being ye depth of winter, and wanting houses & other comforts; being infected with ye scurvie & other diseases, which this long vioage & their inacomodate condition had brought upon them; so as ther dyed some times 2. or 3. of a day, in ye foresaid time; that of 100. & odd persons, scarce 50. remained. And of these in ye time of most distres, ther was but 6. or 7. sound persons, who, to their great comendations be it spoken, spared no pains, night nor day, but with abundance of toyle and hazard of their owne health, fetched them woode, made them fires, drest them meat, made their beads, washed their lothsome cloaths, cloathed & uncloathed them; in a word, did all ye homly & necessarie offices for them wch dainty & quesie stomacks cannot endure to hear named; and all this willingly & cherfully, without any grudging in ye least, shewing herein their true love unto their friends & bretheren. A rare example & worthy to be remembred. Two of these 7. were Mr. William Brewster, ther reverend Elder, & Myles Standish, ther Captein & military comander, unto whom my selfe, & many others, were much beholden in our low & sicke condition. (emphasis mine)
Having endured this winter, the pilgrims enjoyed an abundant harvest the following Autumn, which prompted the first "thanksgiving" celebration:
Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming among us, and among the rest their greatest king, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation, and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty. - Edward Winslow
When you sit down to a 2,300 Calorie turkey dinner, in a nice, warm, forced-air heated home, please do your very best to be thankful to the God who continues to provide for his people. The pilgrims praised God because he kept them from dying. Between lunch, watching a football game, taking a nap, dinner, and second dinner, I would suggest taking an inventory of your life and considering the millions of blessings we all have received that are in stark contrast to what we all deserve.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Before I get to the prediction, let me give you a little background, including this video:
"The worst days as a Buff is better than the best days as a Husker." Them is some purty strong wurds from a coach who cant put together a grammatically correct sentence (or a win over Div I-AA Montana State). Shouldn't it be "The worst days… *are* better?" Maybe Renae can help us out with this one.
Some history about the "days" of these two programs:
Series record: 45-17-2, meaning that Nebraska has won 70.3% of the meetings between these storied programs.
National Championships:
Nebraska: 1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, 1997 (split w/ Michigan) = 5 (4.5)
Colorado: 1990 (split w/ Georgia Tech) = 1 (.5)
Conference Championships:
Nebraska: 46
Colorado: 26
I guess what I'm trying to say is,
My Prediction:
Buffs: 6
Huskers: 45
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