Author: Jonathan Blundell

I'm a husband, father of three, blogger, podcaster, author and media geek who is hoping to live a simple life and follow The Way.

Sesame Street may not be suitable

ChurchRelevance reports that the new volume 1 and 2 DVDs of Sesame Street come with the following warning:

These early “Sesame Street” episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.

Why?
Executive Producer Carol-Lynn Parente says that Cookie Monster smokes and eats a pipe during “Monsterpiece Theater.” And other characters may seem too grouchy, depressed, slow, or drugged. The NY Times also notes:

On the very first episode, which aired on PBS Nov. 10, 1969 — a pretty, lonely girl like Sally might find herself befriended by an older male stranger who held her hand and took her home. Granted, Gordon just wanted Sally to meet his wife and have some milk and cookies, but . . . well, he could have wanted anything.

Seems like culture is changing for sure. As ChurchRelevance points out, when you think about the church and ministry, what worked 40 years ago, probably doesn’t work like it used to.
Should we post warnings to people that our services may not be suitable for the needs of today?
Hopefully that’s not true. But what do you think?

NPR has more on the story as well:

Newly released Sesame Street DVDs of its early episodes show material that would never air today. For example, the set features a closeted gay couple living in a basement, a puppet who binge eats on cookies and lengthy psychedelic segments.

1969 Sesame Street Intro

Recent intro

My wife showing off

My Wife Showing Off – Watch more amazing videos here

I finally got this video uploaded from encounter’s outdoor service. Laurie had fun showing off her gymnastics skills on the trampoline.
Enjoy.

update :: sorry for all of you who found this while looking for porn. well not really. HA.

Scientists create embryonic stem cells from skin

From NPR:
Two teams of scientists have independently discovered a way to turn ordinary human skins cells into stem cells with the same characteristics as those derived from human embryos, a breakthrough that could open the door for advanced medical therapies.
If the work holds true to its promise, it would largely bypass ethic issues that have dogged research on human embryonic stem cells and allow scientists to tailor the cells to specific individuals, eliminating the possibility of rejection.

In my opinion, if this works like they say, this is HUGE. Imagine having the use/power of stem cells for research without the ethical implications of destroying an embryo. Simply amazing. This could lead to so many things.

Listen to the story.

Your age by dinner math

Got this from an e-mail… it’s a cool trick, but it’s basically just a simple math problem.

It takes less than a minute.
Work this out as you read.
Be sure you don’t read the bottom until you’ve worked it out.
This is not one of those waste of time things, it’s fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to
go out to eat. (More than once but less than 10) or you can just pick any number between 1 and 9
2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold). or to make the problem work 😉
3. Add 5.
4. Multiply it by 50.
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1757. If you haven’t, add 1756.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number.
The first digit of this was your original number (How many times you want to go out to restaurants in a week (or the random number you picked.)

The next two numbers are:
YOUR AGE (oh yes, it is!).

THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2007) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND!

Ric Flair endorses Huckabee

From CNN:

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) – In the race for presidential endorsements, Mike Huckabee has the kitschy pop culture celebrity vote on lockdown.
First it was martial arts hero and “Walker, Texas Ranger” star Chuck Norris, who appears with Huckabee in his first TV ad.
Then hard-rocking hunting enthusiast Ted Nugent jumped on the Huckabee bandwagon, citing the Republican’s support for second amendment rights.
Now, Huckabee is getting ready to rumble: wrestler Ric Flair, a.k.a. The Nature Boy, is supporting the former Arkansas governor in his bid for the White House.
CNN has confirmed the former WWF and WWE star wrestler is on board with Huckabee, and will co-host a campaign tailgate with the candidate at the South Carolina vs. Clemson football game on Saturday afternoon in Columbia, South Carolina. More details are forthcoming.

Gotta say it… “Wooooooooooooo!”