Category: misc

Look for me during the Olympics

Just got an update on when some of the new DCCCD commercials will run…

Television Schedule — This year’s campaign kicks off with new English and Spanish television commercials starting July 14 and running through August 17 on channels 4, 5, 8, 11, 21, 27, 33 and Time Warner Cable. Our target market for television is the 18-to-49 age group, so our commercials will run during a broad range of programming, from early morning and 10 p.m. news and sports (targeted to older adults) to the Comedy Channel and sitcoms targeted to 18-to-34 year olds. Our Spanish language commercials will appear in news, entertainment and sports programming on channels 23, 26, 29 and 39.

New this year — We have purchased a 2008 Olympics package on local NBC affiliate KXAS-TV, Channel 5. We will have a commercial running during the opening ceremonies on Friday night, August 8, and then six spots on the two weekends of the games — three per weekend.

I’m in one of the spots twice – see if you can find me.

NPR cancels Bryant Park Project

NPR just announced they’ll be canceling the Bryan Park Project. The last airing of the program will be July 25th.
I haven’t listened to the show much other than clips here and there online – our local NPR station doesn’t air it – it’s only on 28 stations around the country.
But it’s always sounded like a fun program – and gives NPR a “youthy edge.”
Anyone else going to miss the show?
There’s a Facebook group out there for those of you who want to show your support.

Listen to the announcement from the show.

It’s an expensive failure — the first-year budget was more than $2 million — and comes at a time when NPR is facing the same financial constraints as other news media thanks to higher costs and a downturn in underwriting.

Related ::
NPR.org
Share your thoughts with NPR

the Beatles were a Christian band

photo by headphonaught

from e-mail…

The Telegraph ran an article yesterday that reports John Lennon called the Beatles a Christian band and that he himself was a big fan of Jesus Christ.

The statements were part of a 1969 interview with The Beatles front man while he was taking part in a bed-in for peace with Yoko Ono.

As for his infamous statement about the Beatles being bigger than Jesus at the time (which I would tend to agree with)…

“It’s just an expression meaning the Beatles seem to me to have more influence over youth than Christ,” he says. “Now I wasn’t saying that was a good idea, ‘cos I’m one of Christ’s biggest fans. And if I can turn the focus on the Beatles on to Christ’s message, then that’s what we’re here to do.”

He blames “the hypocrites” for being too “uptight” in reacting to his comments. “If the Beatles get on the side of Christ, which they always were, and let people know that, then maybe the churches won’t be full, but there’ll be a lot of Christians dancing in the dance halls. Whatever they celebrate, God and Christ, I don’t think it matters as long as they’re aware of Him and His message.”

Reminds me of a couple things…

  • “Christian is a great noun but a poor adjective.”
  • And perhaps “Jesus is the only way to God – but there are many ways to get to Jesus.”
  • Someone once asked Gandhi if he was a Christian. His reported response was, “Ask the poor. They’ll tell you who the Christians are.”
  • My dad shared some of his thoughts on what a Christian is on the latest Something Beautiful Podcast.
  • Jamie Moffett also shared some of his thoughts and ideas on Something Beautiful 1.6.

I have a feeling that many people are going to get up in arms and upset because John Lennon claimed to be a fan of Christ and suggested that the Beatles might have been a Christian band.

I wonder what the root of the issue is. Is it because Lennon claimed the Beatles were “bigger than Christ.” Is it because they used drugs? Is it because they sang about love and peace? Is it because they hung out with the Maharishi? Is it because John Lennon sang, “Imagine no religion… imagine there’s no heaven?” Or is there something deeper going on?

What about you? How would YOU define “Christian.” How would you explain the Christian “religion?” Does belief in heaven, hell and religion make you a Christian? Does dis-belief in those things make you a non-Christian?

Related ::
Telegraph :: ‘Bigger than Jesus? The Beatles were a Christian band’
SSL :: Christian is a poor adjective

Google Earth updates Jos Nigeria


Screen shot of Jos Nigeria
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.

Just discovered that Google Earth has updated their satellite images of Jos, Nigeria.
Awesome! The streets don’t line up at all but maybe some folks from Jos can build a KML file of some of the SIMS and Evangel Hospital sites in the city…. (hint hint hint)

I built a basic Google Earth (KMZ) file to highlight one or two things I could distinctly see – but its not very extensive or comprehensive by any means. Download the file and then open it in Google Earth to see the new imagery.

Related ::
Google Earth
Google Earth :: Jos Nigeria KMZ file
Photos from my 2006 trip to Jos
Photos of the football/soccer stadium mentioned in the KMZ file :: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
CWF photos from Nigeria 2007
CWF :: Christian Wrestling Federation

Random web stats for the day

I always have fun with web stats. Google Analytics is probably my favorite stats tracker. We have AWstats on our server – but it doesn’t do near as good of a job tracking WordPress posts.

But for those of you who are interested… here’s our the top posts/pages that were viewed from July 6 – July 11 (for the entire casadeblundell.com domain).

Justin Farmer to leave WFAA (written Jan 8, 2008)
Newt Gingrich on InTouch (written July 9, 2008)
Ellis County churches (and beyond) (written March 12, 2006 – updated since)
SSL links

275 of the visits came from the United States with 148 visits coming from Texas and 42 of those coming from Irving and 6 coming from Sulphur Springs.

58% of you use Internet Explorer (booo!) and 33% of you use Firefox (yeah!).

Only 10 of the visits were from dial-up or slower connections (possibly cellphone use).

There were a couple unique keywords used to find our domain through search engines… including cynthia izzzzzaaaaaguuuuuuuiiiiiiireeeeeeeeee and enormous butt (which brought 6 visitors apparently to a picture by brandi).

So there you have it. Random stats for the day. Hope you enjoyed it.
Now I think I’ll go check out the stats for encounter.