Today’s the perfect day: 7/7/07. The 7th day of the 7th month of the 7th year. Two months ago at my grandma’s funeral, my Aunt Ruthie said she was holding a party on this day. She was inviting 7 guests, I think they were having a 7-course meal, and I’m pretty sure the starting time was 7:07 pm. She was really building on the “seven” theme.
Lots of people are getting married today, adding a bit of Lucky 7 to their vows. Whatever works.
Here’s a fun fact for you: 60% of grocery carts harbor the type of bacteria normally found on toilet seats. Think about it. The last person to use the cart sat a little kid in the basket, complete with drool-covered fingers. This is where you now lay your lettuce.
And a fun link: “How Cheney Abused His Power in War on Terror”, from Britain’s Sunday Telegraph. I’d already seen most of this, but never such a complete collection of Cheney’s Vice Dictator shenanigans.
Last September I wrote a piece about rediscovering Ann Kiemel’s books. The post was called “Ann Kiemel, Wherefore Hast Thou Been?”
Interestingly, a lot of people have come across that post, obviously through Google searches, and have left comments about what Ann Kiemel has meant to them. There have been three comments just in the past couple of weeks. Very interesting.
I set up Google Alerts to notify me anytime the search engine runs across the name “RandomPokes.” In that way, I learn about places that are linking or referring to my commercial site or to this blog.
Today, I was informed about a bulletin board post by “RandomPokes” in a discussion of the movie “Brokeback Mountain.” If my parents stumbled across this (or, heaven forbid, my coworkers or any number of United Brethren ministers and laypersons), they might be a bit concerned. Here’s what I found, amidst a rather long discussion of the film:
Post by RandomPokes on Mar 30, 2007, 8:31pm
A close friend of mine recommended the film awhile back so yeah I’ve seen it. It was alright but the first romantic scene was way too sudden and graphic. A kiss would’ve just worked out first jeez…
Heh I had to pause the movie every five minutes to make sure my dad wasn’t listening in. (he’s homophobic, but knows my best friend is gay >_>)
I did cry at the end, however, so it was still good good movie imo.
So, Mom and Dad–I’ve not seen the movie, and if I did, I doubt that I would have cried at the end.
Heard a great story of good triumphing over evil this morning.
Randy Fennig pastors our United Brethren church in Springfield, Ohio, and is preparing to head to Sierra Leone as a missionary. This weekend, he and his wife visited a daughter in Spain, while their two sons stayed back in Springfield.
A career criminal broke into the parsonage. He disturbed the cat, which woke up the sons, both of whom are wrestlers. They apprehended the criminal. One son put the thief in an illegal wrestling hold and told him, “Let me offer you an arrangement. If you don’t move, I’ll let you breathe.”
The guy was evidently still breathing when the police arrived and hauled him to jail.
Snowing outside. Had some huge flakes yesterday, but today it’s actually been accumulating. Not much, but hey, it’s supposed to be spring! I was going to mow my yard today!
Does anyone else find musical ringtones annoying? You’re in a meeting, or a church service, and somebody’s phone goes off with a a vaguely familiar tune. It’s loud, and the person takes forever to silence the thing. A few weeks ago in church, we heard Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie” several times (since the phone’s owner was out of the sanctuary at the time). Ringtones are like fonts–there are zillions available, and you’ve got to try them all. So the theory evidently goes.
But the advance of technology has now created something even more annoying. At BP stations, when you start pumping gas, a voice from a speaker at the pump intrudes into my personal space with verbal advertisements. Thankfully, you can hit a “mute” button to silence the voice, an option I always take (as I did this morning). But I find this intrusion to be entirely diabolical and evil.
I thought nothing could be more annoying than pop-up ads. Then along came ringtones, and now these spoken ads at BP stations. I can hardly wait to see what’s next.
R. Albert Mohler Jr., the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky, opened up a can of worms. He said that if a gene is found that controls sexual orientation, he would support efforts to alter that gene inside the mother’s womb, thereby changing a person from a homosexual to a heterosexual. He likened it to supporting “any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin.”
So is he saying that homosexuality is genetically based? That that’s how “God made me”? Such an admission will upset some Christians, who view homosexuality as changeable behavior. (Please, I’m not making any personal statement on the subject–just reporting what I read.)
But beyond that, it raises lots of ethical questions. What about doing other gene tampering with unborn fetuses–increasing intelligence, enhancing athletic ability, decreasing any disposition to violence? All kinds of possibilities arise. Since the avoidance of temptation is an issue, how about cutting the sex drive of all humans, regardless of sex or sexual orientation, while they are still in the womb?
The thing is, before I depart this earth, these issues will have gone beyond theory. People will actually have listings in the phone book as “Meddler in Human Genetics.”
One morning last week, while snowed in, I watched a History Channel feature about Bolivia’s North Yungus Road, a 70km horror that connects the capital city, La Paz, with the city of Coroica. It is hands-down the world’s most dangerous road, claiming 100-200 lives every year. I’m fascinated by this road. A History Channel reporter drove the entire road with a film crew. Incredibly, I found this more interesting than the Anna Nicole Smith saga.
I came across a web article about the five most dangerous roads in the world. The Bolivian road heads the list, but the others are quite interesting, too. Lots of pictures.
Saw a great bumper sticker today. It said:
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