Phone systems

Of all of life's little nuisances, there are few things that bug me more than calling a business with a simple question, and not being able to speak to a human being, no matter how hard I've tried to get through to one. Even if it's Abu in India with customer service, I prefer Abu over R2D2's numerical options.

Lip Syncing and CGI in the Olympics

I found this article pretty shocking. If this stuff has been on the news, I just haven't seen it yet. Apparently, in the opening ceremonies, this little girl's flawless performance that everyone has been raving about was actually sung by a more portly young woman. Some Communist official thought that even though the girl's voice is perfect, nobody wants to have to look at a fat kid in the Olympics opening ceremony. So she was recorded, and the cute girl lip synced it in front of 91,000 people. Reminds me of C&C Music Factory when they had the slim attractive lady in their video singing, "Everybody Dance Now!" which was in fact a much larger black woman's voice whom they didn't want to put in their video.

Also, some of the televised fireworks where they appeared to be making foot-print explosions approaching the arena was previously created using CGI to make sure that everything appeared completely flawless.

The Chinese guys in charge find it puzzling why this bothers anyone, and see no problem with anything they did. I think this highlights some of the intrinsic differing worldviews that the Chinese have compared to the West. We really do not share the same basic moral assumptions about a number of things.

I'm curious what direction this will all go from here.

ESV Study Bible

It seems that different kinds of study Bibles are rolling off the presses in great numbers these days. I have really been wanting an Archaeology Study Bible for a while, and may get one before too long, but what I'm immediately more excited about is the ESV Study Bible.

I grew up using the NIV, and when I hear the Bible in my head, the NIV wording is what my mind follows. But for people who use anything other than an NIV, its wording is often difficult to follow along, so for preaching and teaching I made the swap a few years ago to the ESV. It is still a beautiful, easily understandable version, but it is more literal than the NIV. Fortunately, it is also much less stiff than the NASB. I've been happy with it, and with some of the positively gorgeous options they've come up with in terms of its covers, it seems to be rapidly growing in popularity.

Though I've been preaching and teaching from the ESV, I have continued to use my NIV Study Bible as my primary source when I begin research. It has remained--in my opinion--the best Bible for someone to buy who wants to know a little more but isn't ready to purchase multiple commentaries on every book. For its conciseness, it is very insightful.

Though I've been interested in some of the angles that study Bibles take, I have been anticipating the ESV Study Bible for a long time, which is coming out in October. Rather than being a slightly updated version of an older study Bible, as there is a revised NIV SB edition, this one is a completely fresh take on everything.

Throughout the Bible will be lots of full-color illustrations, including some current satellite photos of some of the areas under discussion. They have a great website describing its features, so rather than retype them here, I would encourage you to go and take a look at what it will include. I'm putting the example here of the illustration of Solomon's Temple. They have several passages available for free download including the entire book of Jonah. I can't wait to get one!

Tips for Dealing With Life's Burdens

I got this list in a PreachingNow e-letter I get. I thought it was worth passing on...

TIPS FOR DEALING WITH LIFE'S BURDENS

Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.

If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to be kind to others.

Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

It's the second mouse that gets the cheese.

When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

We could learn a lot from crayons--some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, and some have weird names, but they all have to live in the same box.

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Song Leader Revolution

My friend Jared made me aware of this Youtube video. For those of you who have spent most of your life growing up in the churches of Christ, I think you will find it highly entertaining.

I know you're thinking about it

Ok. I know it's been on your mind. "Mark's birthday is coming up August 20th, and I want to give him lots of cool stuff, but I wonder what he wants?"


Problem solved. :-)

And yes, I will be turning 28 this year. Pretty hard to believe, actually. I'm getting dangerously close to 30.

Use Your Allusion: Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot

Guy Fawkes (1570-1606) was a Catholic extremist who gathered with a band co-conspirators to try and blow up James I and his parliament on November 5, 1605. Fawkes was not actually the leader of the group, but because of his experience with both military and explosives, he was in charge of executing the plan. Their effort, now known as the Gunpowder Plot, was stopped before it happened when they were discovered by the authorities in the cellar of the House of Lords with barrels of gunpowder, which Fawkes was presently guarding. Fawkes, along with seven of his co-conspirators, were tried and executed.

Now when people allude to Guy Fawkes, they are calling someone a clever schemer or secret conspirator. If someone alludes to a Gunpowder Plot, they are referring to an unsuccessful attempt to remove someone from power.

Several years ago, Guy Fawkes would have been a much more obscure allusion to mention, but after the movie V For Vendetta came out (2005), the Guy Fawkes masks, featured in the movie by the character V who was also a conspirator against the government, became a popular Halloween costume.

Tacos Rojos. ¿Por que?

So we went to Taco Bell last night, and when I get home and eat my food, my crunchy taco has a red shell. I'm wondering why. I felt like the Oompa Loompas were supposed to jump out and start singing, "You got a taco rojo!" And give me a golden ticket to explore Tommy Taco's magic meat factory. But I just ate it. I hope it wasn't worth a lot of money or something.

6UP

Today got off to a really good start. I have been planning to dedicate this entire semester to refreshing my Greek and Hebrew skillz so I could pass a couple of exams at the grad school which would give me 12 hours of credit; 6 for Greek and 6 for Hebrew. My advisor is Dr. Black, who encouraged me that I should go ahead and let him give me the Greek exam over the phone. So I did, and I passed. When I got to work this morning, I had 39 hours, but as of now I have completed 45/84 hours for my MDiv. Cha-CHING!

Now I will start working on refreshing my Hebrew...

Happy Birthday Carolina!

Today is Carolina's birthday. It's been a real blessing to have her in my life. We met in January of 2000, and it's hard to believe we've known each other for 9 years now!

This song goes out to you...