Archive for the ‘Fun’ Category

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Church Name Quiz

Jul

3

2013

It was around this time a few years ago that I sent my first guest post submission to Jon Acuff. I titled it “Classifying Church Names”. Jon was positive in his email reply, but it never was published. After about 40 months of waiting for it appear on Stuff Christians Like, I am giving up on it and am publishing it here for you, dear reader. Enjoy!

When looking for a church, they key element to get right is the name. After all, a good name is to be more desired than great riches. But what makes a name good? As with many issues within Christianity, there are two camps on church names: descriptive or aesthetic.

The descriptive names include either the denomination or part of the doctrinal statement (or both). Some people say that the descriptive church names are bland and restrictive, but at least you know what you are getting when you go there.

And you know it’s a church. You don’t see businesses with traditional church names, like “Calvin Reformed Flower Shop” (specials on tulips!) or “Freewill Baptist Golf Course” (so that’s why the ball never goes where I want it to go…)

The aesthetic names include either a geologic feature or a direction (or both). But sometimes you need to do a little research before visiting the aesthetically-named church, in order to find out what kind of church it is and, more importantly, if it is a church. To help SCL readers hone their church-detecting skills, I present:

The Church Name Quiz

I took a sampling of names in my local area. For each name given below: what type of establishment is it?

1. Oak Pointe
A. Church
B. Subdivision
C. Restaurant
D. Mall

2. NorthRidge
A. Church
B. Subdivision
C. Restaurant
D. Mall

3. North Point
A. Church
B. Subdivision
C. Restaurant
D. Mall

4. The Father’s House
A. Church
B. Rehab center
C. Restaurant
D. Bookstore

5. Stillwater
A. Church
B. Subdivision
C. Restaurant
D. Mall

6. Woodside
A. Church
B. Subdivision
C. Restaurant
D. Mall

7. Brookside
A. Church
B. Subdivision
C. Restaurant
D. Mall

(more…)

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A Parent’s Review of Monsters University

Jun

19

2013

Yesterday I took the older kids to see Monsters University. We got tickets to an advanced screening – excuse me, screaming – of the movie thanks to my wife’s friend.

When my wife called me and asked if I wanted to take the kids to see the movie, my first response was to check the usual review sites to see the appropriate age range and if there is any objectionable material.

The sites I like to check are Common Sense Media and Kids in Mind. Those two sites give reviews that are helpful to concerned parents. But… they review movies after they are out. Since this was June 18th and Monsters University doesn’t open until June 21st, all I got from one site was the synopsis provided by Pixar (and nothing from the other site).

So I had to go off movie critic reviews.

Those were not helpful. Mostly they lamented that, although not a bad movie, MU just didn’t live up to the expectations of previous Pixar releases. They gave the storyline and some other tidbits, but none of them told me the things I cared about:

  • how scary are the monsters in this movie?
  • any inappropriate material?
  • it’s set at a college, so how is the frat party handled?

I’ll try to fill in those blanks so that parents who are wondering those things can have their answers for opening weekend.

The monsters (and settings) are slightly scarier than Monsters, Inc., and I did not see any inappropriate material.

My 9-year-old was eager to go and liked everything in the movie. My 7-year-old was not as eager to go, but he said he liked the movie. I was glad I did not take my 4-year-old, because it would have been too scary for him.

I’d recommend a minimum age of 6. That’s based on my family – your mileage may vary.
(more…)

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The 5 Hows: Airlines Europe

May

2

2013

photo of the top of the box of the game Airlines Europe
This is a guide for how to play the game Airlines Europe. This game is a cross between Ticket to Ride and Monopoly. Or, as I like to say, it’s like Monopoly except it is fun.

The instructions that came with the game were a bit confusing, but now I have played it a few times and explained it a few times and now I will attempt to explain it here.
1. How do I win?
– you win by having the most points at the end of the game.
2. How do I get points?
– by having played shares of airlines when a scoring card is drawn
2b. How is a scoring card drawn?
They are inserted somewhat randomly into the deck of share cards, so as the game goes along and someone wants to draw a card, it might be a share card. At that point, the game pauses and points are tallied. Read the instruction manual to learn how the points are tallied – that is outside the scope of this simple overview.
3. How do I get airline shares?
– by drawing a card after buying an airplane. Both of that counts as a turn.
4. How do I play airline shares?
– by using your turn to take the shares from your hand and place them on the table.
5. How do I buy an airplane?
– by using your turn to spend money from your account.
5b. How much does each airplane cost?
– it depends where it is going. The routes have numbers on them. Whichever route you pick will tell you how much the plane costs.
5c. How do I know which route to pick?
– it usually doesn’t matter. Some airlines have a bonus available, so if you are buying one of their planes you should aim for the bonus destination.

photo of a game of Airlines Europe in progress, with the airplanes on routes

5d. How do I know what to do on my first turn?
Some people are a little perplexed at first. If you don’t know what to do on your turn, here is a suggestion until you form your own strategy:
A. On your first turn, if a scarce card is showing in the draw pile (stock market), then buy an airplane of that company, place it near the hub, and then draw that card. A scarce card is any card with a number smaller than 10.
Otherwise, if no scarce cards are showing, then just draw money on your first turn.
B. On your second turn, build up one or both of the airlines that you played at the start (setup) of the game (i.e. buy airplanes of that color.)
C. On your third turn, you should have a sense of what other people are doing and what you want to do. If not, then I recommend playing some of the shares in your hand.

So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me now a man who can play well and bring him to me.”

1 Samuel 16:17

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Another Diversion

Feb

16

2012

Because there aren’t enough things on the internet yet…

Go visit Social Biblia.

Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘ Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book.

Jeremiah 30:2

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Bolic

Jan

31

2012

Inspired by yesterday’s post about bola, I am writing today about bolic.

“What is bolic?” you may ask.

It’s a word. Here it is:

image showing the word bolic

That’s the standard word. Now comes the quiz part, where I draw bolic differently.

What are the words that each of the following drawings represent?

A.

image showing the word parabolic

B.

image showing the word metabolic

C.

image showing the word anabolic

D.

image showing the word symbolic

(more…)

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The Five Hows

Jan

16

2012

In the business world, there’s a quality-control technique called “The Five Whys”. It involves asking “Why?” to solve problems. I am tempted to mock the concept (e.g. “my 3-year-old came up with that on his own”), but that is not the point of this post.

Rather, I’ve adapted the concept for learning how to play a new game. This was inspired by my attempt to play Seven Wonders recently. The guy who brought the game did a valiant effort of trying to explain how to play, but I didn’t really understand it until after we played.

I call my technique “The Five Hows”. Other people may want to learn a game differently, but I have found this is how my mind wants to work. When attempting to learn how to play a game that is new to you, ask “How?” five times:

  1. How do you win the game?
  2. How do you that?
  3. How do you that?
  4. How do you that?
  5. How do you that?

Just adapt questions 2-5 to refer to the answer given in the previous question, and that’s all there is to it.

I’ll give an example, using the card game Hearts.

How do you win the game?
By scoring the fewest points

How do you score points?
By winning cards of the heart suit (or the queen of spades)

How do you win heart cards?
By playing the highest ranking card of the suit that was lead. You take all the cards that were played that hand and count any points.

How do you play a card?
By laying it face-up on the table, following suit if possible. If you are supposed to lead the hand, you decide the suit.

How do you end the game?
When someone reaches at least 100 points, the game is over. That person is the loser.

More complicated games might require more hows, but you get the idea.

But in case you don’t get the idea: the idea is to start with the big picture and work down. Don’t start with the details of how to play, start with the reason of why to play.

If all else fails, just play a practice round.

A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,

Proverbs 1:5

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Christmas Chaos

Dec

22

2010

Merry Christmas Chaos!

Tomorrow is Christmas Adam, followed by Christmas Eve on the 24th.

Thanks to some commenters on my guest post for SCL, I learned about Christmas Adam – the 23rd of December.

In order to help you celebrate each day, I put together this calendar. Think of it as a post-Christmas advent calendar thingy.

calendar page for December 2010 showing Christmas Adam

(more…)

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