Archive for 2009

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Big Ten Logo Update

Dec

30

2009

Breaking news, just in from the Big Ten headquarters in Park Ridge, Illinois :

With the upcoming addition of a twelfth team, the Big Ten conference has released a new logo. Since the old logo incorporated the number “11” inside the text “BigTen”, that logo was no longer relevant to the expanded conference.

The new logo retains the look and feel of the previous logo, emphasizing the history of the Big Ten while at the same time subtly showing the progress the conference has made in growing to twelve members.

Old Logo

Old Big Ten logo for eleven teams

New Logo

New Big Ten logo for twelve teams

And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Acts 1:26

Posted in Sports | 5 Comments »

X-Men: Rivals, the Plan

Dec

29

2009

X-Men Rivals / Wolverine title

Here is another scene from the unreleased Wolverine movie (click on the image to see a full-size version) :

X-Men Rivals / Wolverine comic

Here is the text, in case your browser has trouble with images:
Wolverine : Tebownium has been neutralized
Wolverine : But with some help fro the Big College Superhero . . .
(narrator): The big-game ray will affect the enemy’s throat muscles,
(narrator): causing them to tighten.
Puddles : You mean he will choke?
Wolverine : Exactly!

You may also want to see the previous episode of X-Men Rivals.

They will all respond and say to you,’Even you have been made weak as we,You have become like us.

Isaiah 14:10

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Finding Joy Friday, December 2009 Edition

Dec

25

2009

Finding Joy Friday

In cooperation with LaanyKidsMom, here is my entry for this week.

Where did I find joy this week?
The start of Christmas

One of the signs that I am on Christmas break is that my wife makes a hearty breakfast for us all.

platter filled with breakfast food of pancakes, sausage, and bacon

That brought me joy on Christmas Eve morning. Not pictured are the scrambled eggs and the oranges. Yes, there are both blueberry pancakes and chocolate-chip pancakes. No, that wasn’t my plate – that was the serving plate.

What else?

We opened our presents.

presents under a Christmas tree

I enjoyed the presents that I got, but it was even more fun watching the kids open their presents and seeing their genuine smiles.

What else?

Our church’s Christmas Eve candlelight service

people singing by candlelight in a churchpeople singing by candlelight in a church

Only the last few carols were sung by candlelight. The first 50 or so minutes of songs and readings were done by normal incandescent light. How can you not like a service full of Christmas carols? Not just Christmas songs, but real carols that are all hymn-y and stuff.

One more

Why Christmas?

small ceramic Nativity scene on a wood background

God became man and dwelt among us. The joy comes not from knowing what He did or how He did it; the joy comes from knowing why He did it and that He did it for me.

Have a Merry and Joyful Christmas!

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

Luke 2:10

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Caution: Teething in Progress

Dec

24

2009

Gamma has 4 teeth now, and he has learned how to use them. Maybe it’s 4 and a half.

picture of baby's first four teeth

Here is his pacifier. Or rather, here is a pacifier that used to be his but is now in the trash.

pacifier that has been bitten apart
pacifier that has been sliced by teeth

Pop Quiz!

This teeth-shredded pacifier is :

  1. Evidence that silicone pacifiers are better than latex pacifiers.
  2. Evidence that old pacifiers should be discarded and not handed down to the next child.
  3. A very good reason why the weaning process should start when the child gets teeth.
  4. All of the above.

Time’s up. Hand in your answer using the comments form, please.

Blessed be the LORD, Who has not given us to be torn by their teeth.

Psalm 124:6

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Joking Hazard

Dec

21

2009

Wandering through the store the other day, I saw that Star Wars has licensed its name to a number of science kits. The one that first caught my eye was the Jedi mind-reading device (they call it the Force Trainer), but I also noticed the Darth Vader mechanical arm.

Star Wars science kit mechanical arm

It’s just like the old Armatron that Radio Shack used to sell. Change the color, slap a Star Wars badge on it, and suddenly it’s popular again.

My favorite part about the mechanical arm is the warning:

MANUFACTURER’S SAFETY CAUTIONS AND WARNINGS
Star Wars science kit mechanical arm choking hazard warning

Of course it’s a choking hazard. Have they not seen what Darth Vader does with his arm? How he treats enemies or underlings who displease him?

Watch the movie again and you won’t even want to get close to this toy. It’s not just that the hand could grab someone’s neck and be a choking hazard that way. I mean, if this is Darth Vader’s arm like it claims, you could just point the hand in someone’s direction and, by using the Force that you’ve honed using the Force Trainer, choke a person from across the room.

Darth Vader’s arm is not a friendly thing. Be very careful if you purchase this toy.

The rest of the warning states that it is a choking hazard due to small parts. However, I think you may want to watch out for the other choking possibilities too, if you have this toy.

What a help you are to the weak! How you have saved the arm without strength!

Job 26:2

Posted in Ponder | No Comments »

All-Haiku Bowl Predictions, 2009

Dec

17

2009

Based on the popularity existence of last year’s article predicting bowl games in haiku form, I present to you this year’s all-haiku bowl game predictions. Still America’s only all-haiku college bowl game predictions.

These are listed in order of date (earliest first). Some picks are whom I think will win, and some picks are whom I want to win. I’ll leave it to you, the reader, to decide which is which.

Dec. 19th

New Mexico Bowl
Watch for bowl game creep
This game’s a day earlier
than it was last year
Fresno State over Wyoming

St. Petersburg Bowl
UCF/Rutgers
My prediction is that the
Knights will win this one
UCF over Rutgers

Dec. 20th

New Orleans Bowl
Do people go to
this bowl for the game or to
visit New Awlins?
Six over Half-dozen

Okay, okay, Southern Miss over Middle Tennessee

Dec. 22nd

Las Vegas Bowl
BYU’s fifth straight
Las Vegas bowl – it’s now their
home away from home
Oregon St. over BYU

Dec. 23rd

Poinsettia Bowl
Based on how they each
fared against the PAC-10 Ducks
Utah is better
Utah over Cal

Dec. 24th

Hawaii Bowl
Remember to use
an apostrophe when you
spell Hawai’i Bowl
Nevada over SMU

Dec. 26th

Little Caesars Bowl
If I pick against
C-USA, would I be
unpatriotic?
Ohio over Marshall

Meineke Car Care Bowl
Pitt should have won the
game against Cincinnati.
They’ll make up for it.
Pitt over UNC

Emerald Bowl
Similar colors
cause confusion on the field
What’s that shade of red?
BC over USC

Dec. 27th

Music City Bowl
They should not play a
college game on a Sunday.
That’s for NFL.
Kentucky over Clemson

Dec. 28th

Independence Bowl
I hope the bowl game
is handled a lot better
than their website is
Georgia over Texas A&M

Dec. 29th

EagleBank Bowl
UCLA beat
both Army and Navy to
get in this bowl game
UCLA over Temple

Champs Sports Bowl
“Florida Citrus Sports”
sounds like they should be playing
a game of fruitball
Miami over Wisconsin

Dec. 30th

Humanitarian Bowl
If Bowling Green would
change their name to Bowling Blue,
they’d fit in Boise
Bowling Green over Idaho

Holiday Bowl
Second place versus
Another second place team.
Gotta prove themselves
Arizona over Nebraska

Dec. 31st

Armed Forces Bowl
Grudge match for Air Force.
Maybe they can win this one?
Not against Keenum.
Houston over Air Force

Sun Bowl
Everyone knows that
you should not expect UO
to win their bowl game
Stanford over Oklahoma

Texas Bowl
As the saying goes:
Missouri loves company
And Midshipmen too
Navy over Missouri

Insight Bowl
Battle of the teams
that are evenly matched and
both mediocre
Iowa State over Minnesota

Chick-fil-A Bowl
Kiffen in charge now.
Head coaches can’t be younger
than I am, can they?
VT over Tennessee

Jan. 1st

Outback Bowl
The Outback Bowl should
be played in Australia,
not in Florida
Northwestern over Auburn

Capital One Bowl
Les Miles on one side.
Coaching by odometer,
JoePa has more miles
PSU over LSU

Gator Bowl
Bowden insulted
Shouldn’t his last game be in
the Seminole Bowl?
WVU over FSU

Rose Bowl
Buckeyes have trouble
in the national spotlight
and lose their bowl games
Oregon over Ohio State

Sugar Bowl
Swan song for Tebow
But don’t forget the team has
other players too.
Florida over Cincinnati

Jan. 2nd

International Bowl
This game is on a
palindrome date.  It should start
at 12:21
NIU over USF

Papajohns.com Bowl
Last of the sponsors
left from the dot-com era.
Pizza or website?
UConn over South Carolina

Cotton Bowl
Even college teams
will need to watch out for the
big low-flying screens
OK St. over Ole Miss

Liberty Bowl
The Liberty Bowl
was founded by Pass and Stow.
Who’s this Dudley guy?
Arkansas over East Carolina

Alamo Bowl
Michigan State has
its third-straight bowl appearance.
That’s more than U-Mich.
Texas Tech over MSU

Jan. 4th

Fiesta Bowl (A.K.A. The Kids’ Table Bowl)
BCS afraid
of having non-AQ teams
upset BCS
Boise St. over TCU

Jan. 5th

Orange Bowl
Iowa didn’t
win the Big 10 but it might
win the ACC
Iowa over Georgia Tech

Jan. 6th

GMAC Bowl
Troy won the Sun Belt
but they will have to do more
to catch LeFevour
CMU over Troy

Jan. 7th

Cleverly-named National Championship Game Bowl
What does ‘Bama do
to teams whose franchise player
is their quarterback?
Texas over Alabama

And that’s it for this year’s BCS and non-BCS bowl game predictions. Tune in later, about the second week of January, for the results show.

Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

Deuteronomy 28:5

Posted in Sports | 4 Comments »

Chance of Cloudy Tags

Dec

15

2009

Jimmy Blogger here…

What’s wrong with Tag Clouds?

There are no clouds!

While everyone else has plain tag clouds, your blog can have cloudy tag clouds.

(cut to scene of people using laptops at coffee shop)

“Thanks to Cloudy Tags, my blog isn’t boring anymore!”
“I love this new widget!”

(cut back to set with audience)

SSSSSStamp!

Blogging tested!
Blogging approved!

For many of you, that spoof made no sense. For others, it did make sense. But in about 6 months, that line of commercials should have withered and no one will appreciate this post anymore. By that time, there should be plenty of other posts and I wouldn’t expect that many people to be reading this one anyway.

I have completed my second plugin for WordPress blogs, Cloudy Tags. It makes your tag cloud look cloudy, like this:

Details are at the Cloudy Tags page.

It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud

Genesis 9:14

Posted in Technical | No Comments »

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