Friday's Compendium O' Links

A lot of cool and interesting links this week. Hopefully you enjoy.

First, the musical:

They're not being greedy, no, not at all.

Apparently Bollywood music is ubiquitious.

Vampire weekend 2.0 is coming!

Next the faithical:

Kathleen Sebelius, former governor of Kansas, talks frankly about the Catholic Church denying her communion for her views on abortion.

Fascinating story on prayer and how to pray; no not from Christianity Today, but from the NY Times.

Since this is Ramadan, an interesting photo blog on 30 mosques in 30 days.

On to the animal
(OK the 2nd one should probably go in the musical section, but I need another...shoot me!)

Scientists have determined that a mythical eagle in New Zealand did, in fact, exist and have named it the "Haast Eagle." The eagle weighed over 40 pounds and had powerful enough talons to kill a human. The bird is extinct, and we know we're supposed to be sad about that but ...

In the bird theme...cool bird music video.

Doubtless, you think you have seen all the email forwards about optical illusions. I did too.

Finally the humorous, cool links:

How to win at scrabble.

Oh, those olden days ways were a special time, when wives used to demonstrate the power of bulletproof glass.

Crazy strong hair.

The health care debate is important—but it pales in comparison to the age-old "Pirates vs. Ninjas" question. Fortunately, Wired UK has taken this debate head on. For the record, ninjas would totally beat pirates in a fair fight ...

What not to do in the background of a cool Obama pic.

What not to do to geeks.

Be NASA for $150.

Weekly dose of cardiac arrest.

My favorite link of the week! As the poster says, the look at 00:32 is awesome.

Friday's Compendium O' Links

I thought last Friday was my first foray in to the world of Friday linking. But it turns out that I was there one month ago, and didn't realize it. Oh well.

Anyway, onto the links:

Be scared, be very, very scared--rodents of unusual size do exist. Also, here, here and here.

Staying with the animal theme, is your internet connection faster than a pigeon?

From the "I never realized that" department comes this revelation.

If you ever wondered about the mathematics of grocery lines and how to prove the express lanes were not really express, well, wonder no longer. Or you can simply rely on intuition.

Another geeky math link regarding the mathematics of urinal usage. From the genius that is XKCD.

Awesome review of Will Smith Movie

Continuing the awesome theme, the awesomest fight scene evah, and the awesomest song evah!.

Now onto the interesting stuff:

A photo essay 8 years after 9-11. Today is 9-11. Where were you? If you want to relive the day, check out this live thread at FreeRepublic, people posting as news developed.

On the 9-11 theme, an image from space.

More images from space.

A rescuer meets with those he saved, who were recreating their escape.

An artist's rendition of what Manhattan would have looked like a few years ago.

The mad kings of clutter. I don't feel so bad about my pack-rat-edness anymore.

Very cool: Toothpick city

From Dubious: Why are tortilla chips so good? Also known as they're getting paid to study what, now?

Deluxe! Jesus Action figure!

My brother-in-law saw this (click on pic for larger view) on a recent trip to the great white north, and snapped a picture of it. Unfortunately, the price got cut off, but it's $45.99! A real bargain, if you ask me, especially since it's got glow in the dark hands!



Edit: I saw the brand name on the top right of the packaging, and after some quick googling, I found their web site. I can't say much more. The web site speaks for itself, unfortunately.

Friday Links

Other blogs that I read have this "Interesting Links on Friday" gimmick, so I thought I'd copy. When in Rome...

So, here we go:

A fascinating article from the New Yorker Magazine talking about a wrongfully convicted man who was ultimately executed for the crime. Warning: very long and sad.

Another long article, this time from Rolling Stone Magazine, about a deaf, dumb and blind kid, sure plays a mean phone scam.

Cool video of fish shooting bugs in a barrel.

Other cool science videos. Warning. Could spend a long time here.

Kinda funny, kinda depressing.

Yes, this is an actual commercial.

Deep Fried Butter? Seriously?

Mario Cart the Movie...only if.

A five pound gummi bear. [Gummi bears, jumping here and there and everywhere, high adventure that's beyond compare, these are the gummi bears.--is it shameful that I rmeember that?]

After the disasters that were Transformers 2 and G.I. Joe, Where the Wild Things Are (one of my favorite books of my childhood) is my most anticipated movie of the year. Trailers here, and cool article here. The soundtracksounds awesome also.

The following four are all from one of the aforementioned Friday links blogs. All very cool:

For children of the eighties and lego fans everywhere. An 8-bit Trip.

What's on earth tonight

ToTo Africa as interpreted by a Slovenian Choir. And just for fun, Toto Africa as interpreted by Jeffster [from the awesomest show on TV right now].

Who knew NBA statistics were so subjective?

Hope you enjoyed.

Hosea

Been reading the book of Hosea lately--fascinating book. Been having a jumble of thoughts regarding the illustrations and the events that give us the illustrations.

If there's anyone who can say "Why, God?", it's Hosea. Imagine marrying a prostitute, knowing that she's unfaithful, knowing that everyone knows that she's unfaithful. What kind of love must you have to love her? But as you think about it, this is exactly the point of the book.

Also, imagine naming your kids "Not Loved" and "Not my people". The latter one--wouldn't people assume that, given the nature of your wife, that you don't know the parentage of the kid? As I read the chapter, it never says that kids #2 and #3 are Hosea's. (But it doesn't say that they aren't either).

I searched RZIM's Slice of Infinity website and found this old slice:

I believe one of the most profound poems ever written was penned by an Englishman named Frances Thompson. Thompson was a genius, but he became a drug addict and was on the run for many years of his life. Towards the later part of his life he wrote that magnificent masterpiece he called "The Hound of Heaven." The poem describes God as a persistent hound who, with loving feet, follows and follows until he catches up with this person who is trying to run and flee from him. He writes,

"I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled him down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after."

As the poem comes to an end, Thompson depicts the persistent cry of God to the one who flees his presence, the one He pursues to the end:

"Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."

With the wisdom of one who had found himself chased after, Thompson notes the heart of God and the contradiction of man. We run away, fearful that if we have God, we might have nothing else beside. And God says, "You were weak and blind and miserable when you were driving me away, because you were actually driving love away from you. It is Me you seek."

The life and ministry of the prophet Hosea is a fascinating, mystifying look at the love of God and man’s readiness to push that love away. His message will send a deep ray of hope into our hearts if we listen carefully. Hosea was a prophet called by God to marry Gomer, a harlot who continually left the loving home Hosea had provided to return to her life of prostitution. We can almost hear the whispers among the people to whom Hosea faithfully preached, until someone is brave enough to ask: "Hosea, can you tell us how it is you continue to love this woman, a woman who has so betrayed you and repeatedly abandoned her commitment to you? How can a holy man of God like you be joined to a woman such as this?" And Hosea says, "I will be delighted to answer your question if you will first answer a question of mine. How can a holy God like this love such a harlotrous people like us?"

The first thing about the nature of God's relationship with us is that He gives to us a love that we do not deserve. We do not merit it. But not only is the love of God unmerited; it is also a love that grows and is sustained by relationship. The longer we walk with Him, the more we understand how glorious this love is.

Through the prophet Hosea, God spoke graphically to a nation running from his presence. As individuals, He chases after us, woos us into his arms, pays the price to buy us back, cleans us up, and brings us home. Through his Son, God has reached out his arms to pay the price for our sin, to offer us new life, to give us fresh hope and meaning. Let us come to the cross as we are: sinners needing mercy, children desiring love, souls sick of running through our nights and days and ready to follow the One who ordains them.

Albums I want that I can't afford right now

Funny thing about being on a budget, you can't buy what you want. So, if either of my readers wants to buy me something, here's a few suggestions:

Anything by Matt Maher
Imogen Heap - Ellipse (see previous post)
Regina Spektor - Far
Mute Math - Armistice
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

Imogen Heap

I've known about Imogen Heap for a while now, but have never listened to a full album...until now. Very, very good. Listen below. Many of the tracks can be found via elbows.

Compendium o' Links

I know I haven't posted in a long time. So, since I have nothing meaningful to say, here's a bunch of cool links.

[Via Dubious Quality] is a performance by sand artist Kseniya Simonova in Ukraine's Got Talent. It's absolutely incredible. Read the back story here.

[Also via Dubious Quality]I wish I had thought of this for our daughter.

[Also via Dubious Quality]Root Bridges.

A 3000 year old egyptian sculpture looks exactly like MJ. I thought this was an onion story at first.

The definitive Bush v. Obama comparison.

Some humor, juvenile, but still humor.

[via JH] Mmmm...pancakes

[via tiwyf]Congestive heart failure #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5.

Obama's Supreme Court Pick

I don't know much about much, especially this Selma Bouvier look-alike that Obama has nominated.

Critics have brought some interesting criticisms of her record. But you know what irritates me? Pundits saying that it's more important to court the hispanic vote than to thoroughly vett (or is it vet?) her.

That's all for now.