POC Bundle 10.03.2007

Pop Culture
The Dove foundation's Campaign for True Beauty has created some interesting short films showing what women and young girls face in our culture of plastic beauty. As a father of daughters these drove my wife and I to our knees.

On Science
It seems like we will all be able to hide our Klingon Ships now...er, at least a 10micron circle. US Physicists build Cloaking Device 

The Church
There is a good article on Church planting article at Chrisitanity Today.  My friends in the Acts 29 Network had some good things to say.

Technology
Microsoft has some new Zunes coming.  Pretty impressive lineup and moving in good directions.  Not giving up the iPod yet, but the Zune 4/8 are pretty good Nano competitors with Wifi and an FM tuner built in.  Full comparisons here.

POC Bundle 9.24.2007

General News

• A married couple who didn't realise they were chatting each other up on the internet are divorcing. Sad story here of online cheating, with their current spouse.  Link here.
• Interesting little clock widget that watches the world - love to look deeper at the underlying assumptions, but interesting nonetheless.
  

The Church

• A look at Brian McLaren's new gospel
  
• Interesting take on the Lord's Supper by John Calvin - A Short Treatise on the Lord's Supper.
• Divorce - well, you know - no big deal for a preacher who God calls...Paula White on her divorce.

Technology

• Blog wars - Movable Type and WordPress - a nod (or 10 of them) for MT4.
  
• World's Smallest Camcorder - At least thats what they claim.
  

POC Bundles 8.22.2007

On Science

• A very interesting article on cosmology is available over at the American Scientist. It summarizes contemporary inflationary big bang theory and the poor state of modern cosmological speculation.    

Technology

• Arm wrestling arcade game - for real men only...this one breaks arms of girly men
  
• Cool WordPress Theme for Mac fans - the little bomb at the bottom of the screen is what happens when Macs crashed.  Yes, I know they told you Mac's never crashed - but believe me, I used to TA a class on them in college and yes they certainly did.  If you have a Mac Classic in your house that you made into fishbowl then this is for your blog.

Just for Fun

• What men do when they don't have jobs and a mission - they devise ways they can be like Jason Bourne. Don't try these at home.

General News

• This...is just nasty: A Beijing factory recycled used chopsticks and sold up to 100,000 pairs a day without any form of disinfection, a newspaper said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of Chinese food and product safety scares.

POC Bundle 8.13.2007

On Science 

• Apparently, according to Nigel Calder, former editor of New Scientist, Richard Dawkins needs a refresh in Genetics. Audio interview here.
• Interesting article on the Boston Globe regarding the ID/Evolution debate.

General News

• Going way beyond don't ask don't tell...and false historical claims.  Victor Hanson responds to a claim by Mike Gravel that gay is more than OK for the military. 
  
• Parableman rightly chastises a church for not agreeing to do the funeral for the family of a gay man.
• Great article in the Atlantic Monthly on the financial and manufacturing prowess growing in southern China. See China Makes, The World Takes for a fascinating read.  The picture below is pretty amazing...all the little boxes are shipping containers.

POC Bundle 5.19.2007

Technology

• Palm Treo 755 is reviewed over at PalmInfocenter.  I have looked at smartphones for years...really.  I had the first PalmPilot in 1996 and used to follow the handheld market like a freak.  But none of the smartphones seem to have all I want - getting better, but they still cost a bundle.  Anyway, the new Treo is out.
• Cool looking new Dell Display
• This is a funny list of nightmare client requests from a web designer.  If you do web sites, you will feel a camaraderie in reading this one.
• Al Gore uses a Mac - how do this make you feel?

On Science

• Cool new possibility for hydrogen production for fuel cells in automobiles.  It would be great some day to grab a bucket of pellets made out of aluminum and gallium and throw them in the "tank" - then recycle the byproducts...Especially if they could some day get it to be less than 3 bucks a gallon.

The Church

• Joshua Harris, yes that Joshua Harris for those who grew up in youth groups, has an article up by Isaac Hydoski giving counsel for Christians and online dating.  I think it is worth checking out for single folks hanging out online.  Here is the link.
• Lauren McCain - one of the women shot at Va Tech last month was interviewed a few weeks prior to her murder.  The video is online here in flash - it is copyrighted so don't try to rip it off.

Gospel and Culture

• My little ditty on gender according to Scripture and Culture is now up on The Resurgence. If you are new to the Resurgence, book mark it.  It is a great resource.  

POC Tech Bundle 5.4.2007

This is a spooky cool concept out of R&D at Mikeysoft.  Digidesk of the future - make sure to watch the video if you have a minute.

Logos Bible Software for the Mac is progressing nicely 

POC Bundle 4.29.2007

Technology/Pop Culture

I am a big fan of the Transformers...these are funny headphones...I wouldn't wear these though.

 

Pop Culture/Gospel and Culture

 

Dog the bounty hunter describes his faith - he loves Jesus...but doesn't seem to think anyone else really needs him...a little sad. Dog still cracks some heads
, but it might not hurt to read some more Bible.

Just for Fun 

A funny picture Engadget used for an article on a government sniper program...Get em kitty:

 

Technology 

As much as the Macintosh fun bunch wants to say how bad Vista is, it sure does suck all the way to the bank.  Here is a quote from a Business week article on the hot selling Windows Vista.

Revenue in Microsoft's (MSFT) Client Division, consisting primarily of Windows sales for PCs, hit $5.3 billion, a 67% jump over a year earlier. That includes $1.2 billion in deferred revenue from presales of Windows Vista, money paid by customers before the quarter started but not counted in results until the product shipped. But even without that spike, the group's sales climbed 17%. In other words, Vista sales growth topped Microsoft's estimates of overall PC unit sales growth, which came in between 10% and 12%. That's largely because 71% of customers opted for the high-priced premium editions of Vista.

Now I know Mac folks may say. This is just because Vista is installed on my PCs which are sold worldwide...not because people like it.  Yeah, but we seem to overlook that it is on most PCs sold worldwide.  Like that doesn't matter?  Sales are likely to increase as many will wait to get a new PC before upgrading.  I know that is my plan.

POC Bundle 4.24.2007

Just for Fun

1. I am among the few, the proud, the 36% of brave wikipedia users in America. 

2. How to know your ticket price is TOO HIGH for the local soccer game:

 

3. Christian people...quick pointer...Don't EVER design crap like this. People do not think this is cool - it is goofy.

 

Source - Drew Goodmanson in a presentation on church communication - Yes, he used it as an example of what not to do in communication

POC Bundle - 4.9.2007

Technology

• Have a company worth 2 billion? Its seems like a good time for DoubleClick to sell.
• In case you missed it, EMI is offering is full line up of MP3s for 1.29 on iTunes now.  What, why the price hike?  Higher quality? Yes.  But much more...they are going to be sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management software).  That means you can use the music on whatever device(s) you like.  If you buy through iTunes, you could play it on your Sansa or Zune.  Zune Marketplace has followed on some of its content as well. 
  

Just For Fun

• Some of you are familiar with Blendtec's pithy "Will it Blend" series of Videos.  This time, they actually "record" a live blending of a camcorder from inside the blender.  Well, at least until the blender kills the feed.  These are funny.
  

Theological Reflection

• Same Storms, a Christian Hedonist, scholar and theological charismatic, has a new, nicely designed web site.  Check it out here (HT - Theologica)
  

POC Bundle - 2-24-2007

Pop Culture - Ubiquitous advertising...not sure if this is a real ad, but it is creative...and obnoxious.

Just for Fun - I definately misspell this word all the time.  Or is it definitely? Also, these are some very, very cool photos from around the world taken from the air.

Technology - Firefox just released an incremental version - 2.0.0.2 - sounds like if you have Vista you should get it.  Though I'm not a gamer, those who follow the Xbox, PS3, Wii wars, this video is pretty funny (warning, there is some language which may be objectionable to some - nothing terrible, but one word at around 40s)

On Science - We need to see research like this succeed and form marketable sources of energy.  This is actually research I pray for.  Good for the planet, good for the wallet.  Greens and Supply Siders happy together as one big family.  Finally, some good news out of Florida for old people and brain function...Florida, too funny.

POC Bundle - Superbowl, Greek Gods, and Mice

General News

• Yes, we all know that paganism (real polytheistic worship) is on the rise, especially in places like Europe.  Well, now the old Greek gods of Bulfinch's Mythology are being worshiped again today.  The Guardian has an interesting article about those today who worship the thunderbolt hurling Zeus and the faithful God of the sun Apollo.
  
• Superbowl parties at churches can now legally go forward due to a clarification given by the NFL.  I think the use the really big screens was a problem and even that looks to be OK now.  I remember doing SuperBowl parties with college students and we would show a half-time video with Christian testimonies.  We always had to "turn off the game" then we could share the gospel.  Then, we would stop the message, and then "turn back on the game."  It is goofy that the NFL even tries to control these things.  But alas, we tried to play by the rules.  Article at WorldNet Daily.  Apparently someone put together a video saying that the church has prohibited either team from using a "Hail Mary" at the end of the game.  Too funny.

Just for Fun

• Find out How Stuff Works
  

Technology 

• I think I found my reason for staying with Windows/PCs and not jumping to the Macinslosh.  The new version of MS Office for Windows just rocks.  The UI is very different, but I think it is a huge improvement for most tasks.  I was concerned I would not like the Ribbon, but now after living with it for a bit I think it is great. Wikipedia has a bunch of details.
  
• Speaking of Microsoft - check out the original MS Mouse. 

POC Bundle 1.08.07 - One Huge Bundle

There is some fast action on the web in many of the POC Blog categories...so a HUGE POC Bundle was due.  Here is a ride down a large slide of links... 

Bible Translations

All my friends know that I have been and continue to be somewhat of an ESV evangelist.  Two good pieces of news on that front:

1. Mars Hill Church in Seattle has switched over to the ESV.  Our church did so about a year ago.  Glad to see others joining the party.  See Pastor Mark Driscoll's reasons for switching here.  For his full essay on Preaching and Bible Translations see here
   
2. And the ESV continues to grow in usage:  (This data may still reflect some bloat in ESV numbers due to a “Spread the Word” outreach bible they were selling New Testaments on the cheap in October)
   

The Church

• New book on the theology of Emerging Churches is forthcoming from Zondervan.
• John Yates and Os Guinness way in on why they left the Episcopal Church over at the Washington Post.The reasons they provide are well articulated yet heartbreaking.

Theological Reflection

• The Resurgence has begun a new podcast entitled the Heidelberg Project - Here is there description: Welcome to the Resurgence’s second podcast feed titled "Resurgence Heidelberg Project" which will run each week for all of 2007. The Heidelberg Catechism was divided up into 52 sections and will be read by pastors, professors and other godly men and women in the Church. The Heidelberg Catechism has been translated into many languages and is the most influential and most generally accepted catechism from the Reformation era. The desire of Resurgence is that believers in Jesus Christ stay biblically faithful while reaching people in their community and we believe this project will give support in this missional life. There will be weekly audio downloads of people reading this historic Christian confession of faith.  I plan on listening with my kids.

On Science

• National Geographic has an interesting show upcoming that features views of children in the womb.  The pictures are pretty amazing.
  

Technology

• The ESV Blog has a link to how Google Earth is being merged with data to use as a Bible Atlas.  It is cataloging 1100 places mentioned in the ESV translation of the Bible.  Very cool - here is the link
  

General News 

• This is what is meant by "filthy stinkin rich" 

POC Bundle - 10.7.2006

A small buffet of quick reading. 

The Church 

• Darryl Bock on Emergent - It would great if Dr. Bock would learn some basic HTML like: <ol><li></li><li></li></ol> - you'll see what I mean when you read his post.  Even though it is presented as a big blob of text - he has very good things to say here.  I would only say that we should not shy away from sin/wrath when sharing Jesus with others.
  
• Taylor provided several quotes on anti-intellectualism in the evangelical church - these quotes are awesome.  Continuing the crusade to convince young Christians that being stupid is not a virtue!  Thanks to the peeps at Inversion who are bucking that trend. (HT on these two - Justin Taylor)
  

 
Mars Hill Church in Seattle will begin its series on Jesus tomorrow. My guess is that it will be a series will with Christological rigor, apologetic value, reverant adoration of Jesus, and probably some red neck jokes. Additionally, Mars Hill is launching a new web site - you want to see what can be done on the web when you have a bunch of Microsoft geeks in church?  Go here.

Technology 

Finally, there is a cool Zune page out there now Not that I am interested personally, but the Zune looks like it may have something to offer.

POC Bundle - 10.03.2006

The Church Audio from the Desiring God National Conference is now up at Desiring God's new web site.  The page is ready - the "exerpt" by Piper is great.  DG is also podcasting John Piper's Sunday sermons. 

Biblical View of Women - Grace Driscoll has an article at the newly designed Acts 29 web site on the Biblical view of women and its application in our culture

Quote Fest - Quotes from David Wells, Voddie Baucham, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, DA Carson...very strong quotes from men with chests.

POC Bundle 8.29.2006

General News

Project Management Source has a list of pop business productivity wisdom entitled Lessons from Project Management: 101 ways to organize your lifecomplete with a reference to "ZEN" - my how we love ZEN in just about everything today.  Some of this is good advice, most is the commons sense, blah, blah, blah that sells many books and lacks serious reflection.

Calculate your Miles Per Dollar - you know how many miles per gallon you get in your ride...now you can see how many miles you get for every George Washington in your wallet. I get about 9 miles per dollar...so it costs me about $1.96 round trip to my office each day.

Technology 

Is there a new evil empire brewing?  Google CEO Eric Schmidt joins Apple's board.  I had one friend tell me they were boycotting apple because they are becoming "the man" - this indeed looks more likely now that "the man" of Internet searching and page ranking has joined the board. 

The Old Evil Empire (you know Microsoft) has just released their first "release candidate" of Windows Vista.  Oooo can't wait.  Actually, with our next PC purchase we will be choosing between the Old and New evil empires...what to do? 

POC Bundle - 8.13.06

Technology - Some interesting screen shots of User Interfaces on personal computers from 1984 to the present.  The Mac worshippers and PC protagonists will love this walk through the past.  You can find the screens here.

Current Mac OS

 

Next Version of Windows

 

On Science - The brain control agents are at it again in the UK.  This time they control blind-folded humans through a maze by monkeying with the people's brains.  Hooray! Link here.

Technology -  Firefox is still gaining ground on Internet Explorer and is a solid #2 in the web browser world.  Complete story here...if you have not used Firefox, you should check it out.  Very worthy of the switch.  Article on E-week.com

POC Bundle - 8.1.2006

General News - In further weirdness on the "marriage front" - you need to check this out. Last year I read about a French woman who married her snake.  Now all of this is getting a formal presence.  At least in the weird worlds of cyberspace. MarryYourPet - The pet and people wedding specialists

This quote is a classic:

On this website we often refer to pets as 'he'. We want you to know that we're not sexist, girl pets are great. We're just lazy typists.

Gee, I was worried they were sexist...actually, you are marrying your stinking pets!!! I think being sexist is the least of the problem.  Now, if you hold that "marriage" is socially constructed without definition by God...how they heck can you argue against marrying your dog?  One simply cannot.  I hope and pray that we do not continue to stoop into such lunacy.

Technology - Speaking of weird weddings.  Check out this wedding of some techno-Swedes.  Interactive Wedding Clothes

The Church - Andrée Seu has a great article over at World about churches that plant other churches as part of their DNA.  The title says it all to me: Slouching toward the comfort zone: Do our churches want to be Acts Normal or American normal?  Here is the link - WORLD Magazine | Weekly News, Christian Views

POC Bundle - The Church - 7.27.2006

Resurge - Listen to this series of messages from the recent Resurgence Conference on Missional Theology.  Put it on the pod, computer, or wherever - you can find it on all the Resurgence web site.

Mainline Fun - Can't walk the Labrynth to be "centered" (you know this is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible) on your own.  No worries, you can do your own virtual finger Labrynth!  Your soul be delivered! You can even turn on the icons, text (read the text...kind of sad), and spooky sacred tunes...(HT - Challies)

Girly-Church - Where are the men?  Here is a link which highlights the laments and comments on the feminization of men in the church.  Dudes arise and reject the sissy gospel!  My favorite link title here - The Modern American Evangelical Church: (a.k.a. the Evangelical Church of American Women Who, At Times, Bring Their Soft "Nice Guy" Husbands and Sons Says Murrow) (Source - JollyBlogger) 

POC Bundle - 7.18.06

Islamic Watch

What are the little kiddos learning in school today?  Pluralism? Political Correct Speech codes? Diversity? Maybe a little math and a few spelling bee words?  Perhaps in America.   Or maybe that Jews are apes and Christians are swine?  Or maybe that the Muslim must wage jihad in order to spread the faith in battle against the infidel? Or that Jews and Christians are the "enemies" of Muslims?  Well that would be in Saudi Arabia.  There is an interesting article over at MSNBC about what the kiddos are learning in the land of princes and oil.

Technology

Mac's do have some cool stuff going on today...namely cool Logos Bible Software on the way (PC users like me have had this for years) and now a cool Bible Widget to go with.  Mac users, download today

 

The Church 

Mark Driscoll comments on Calvary Chapel's recent statement of concern regarding Emergent.   

POC Bundle - 7.15.06

For Fun - Check this out - ESV “To Do” Bible - purgatorio - and yes, if you are new to Purgatorio, this is a joke. Too funny...

The Church - The PCUSA trashes the Trinity

When one California pastor was asked how he felt about the new terminology for the Trinity, he told the Los Angeles Times newspaper, "You might as well put in Huey, Dewey, and Louie." That minister is not alone in his sentiments -- another conservative Presbyterian theologian and pastor is similarly expressing disgust at what he describes as the denomination's move to "alter a major doctrine of the Christian faith."

For Young Dudes - Great Article - Stop Test Driving Your Girlfriend by Michael Lawrence (HT - Theologica)

On Science and Philosophy - Interesting article on moving robotics with brain impulses...now what causes the brain to move? (HT - Pearcey Report)