Month: June 2007

The times are a changin’

More from the DMN (via The Times of London):

The Times of London reports that the second most popular name for baby boys in Britain (after Jack) is Muhammad.
The name is likely to be No. 1 by next year.
In official lists, the paper reports, no one variant of the name is that high in popularity. But when all 14 possible spellings are added together, Muhammad (or Mohammed or Muhamad or … you get the idea) soars.
“Overall, Muslims account for 3 per cent of the British population, about 1.5 million people,” The Times reported. “However, the Muslim birthrate is roughly three times higher than the non-Muslim one.”
In Arabic, Muhammad means “one who is praiseworthy.”

Maybe I’m missing something here, but it’s wrong to make a cartoon with Muhammad because it’s irreverent, but it’s OK to name your kid after him? I guess different cultures see irreverence as different things.

Jump up jump up and get down

I found a fun video that gives an interesting twist on the jump photos Laurie and I have tried as of late…

We may have to bust out our video camera as well and see what we can come up with. I have a feeling it might make some fun countdown videos for church.
The website indymogul.com has lots of cool tips for creating your own movie FX for cheap. Where were all these great sights, computer editing and YouTube when we were growing up. We could have had a blast for sure with all our homemade movies.

Creative public wi-fi

CNet writes about some creative solutions Smalltown, USA may need to take advantage of to bring public Wi-Fi to town.

…while thousands of towns are interested in developing municipal networks, few vendors are willing to take on small projects.
“I think towns are putting out RFPs faster than the industry can respond. I mean, there are several thousand cities pursuing this; there are only so many vendors pursuing smaller cities,” Mitch Gorsen, vice president at MultiState Associates, said in an interview…
EarthLink and AT&T in a panel at MuniWireless New England here on Tuesday said that population density is a factor when they consider taking on a project. As businesses, they want to see a return on their investment through things like subscription services or advertising revenue, depending on the business model.

Read more at CNet

Huckabee on evolution

Mike Huckabee on Evolution and the GOP Debate 6/5/2007

Gov. Huckabee gives a clear answer to his belief in creation during a CNN debate.
He admits he doesn’t know whether it was a literal six days or a longer period of time but he does believe, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
A great answer from a Presidential candidate.
I’m really hoping he and Obama can move to the front of their parties and win their nominations.

Re: Pursuing relevance

I was skimming through Blue Like Jazz again tonight and came across this from Donald Miller, thought it fit the previous post:

I don’t think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His Gospel. If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool web pages, then it is not relevant to culture either. It is just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing.

And one other thought on a slightly different topic:

Andrew would say that dying for something is easy because it is associated with glory. Living for something, Andrew would say is the hard thing. Living for something extends beyond fashion, glory, or recognition. We live for what we believe.

Prayer request for Carl Wessels

The Waxahachie Finance Director, and someone I’d consider a good friend, Carl Wessels, was in a car accident Sunday.
From the WDL:

Waxahachie director of finance Carl Wessels has been hospitalized after being injured in an automobile accident near Ruston, La., on Sunday, June 3.
Driving back from a fishing camp, the 2006 GMC Suburban in which Wessels was riding lost control on a wet road and rolled, reports indicate.
Wessels was transported to a local hospital, where it was discovered he suffered two compression fractures in his back, specifically the T-2 and T-3 vertebrates. He was later moved to a Shreveport, La., hospital, where he may undergo surgery to repair the damage.
Wessels’ family reported that aside from his back injury, he is in good condition.