Here and Now

What could a Cat Oven even be?  Yeah, I'm too lazy to even Google it...

A couple weeks ago  I  kind of went off about the news being all about the salacious and titillating and sensational - and that that's what we, the general public, must want or why would they give that to us...  And today I was surfing a couple news websites and here's what I see: Click to see all of this - Fox News.com 08-23-12 Now, granted, that's Fox News, I get it, and it's not the "headlines" per se, but it's, well, that's a lot of garbage for two lines of images and text.  Let's see... Deadly sex, Kidman getting naked, Nudity on TV... Not to mention a health threat and a celebrity threat and...geez, MS "kills" Windows Logo (I know, I know - it just means "gets rid of," but still...) And I was this: Click to see all of this - CNN.com 08-23-12 CNN.  Really?  THAT is the headline you're going with?  And the picture?  Sigh... So... Is that what we REALLY want to see?  I mean, *I* don't.  I want some

I saw this morning that director  Tony Scott committed suicide  by jumping off a bridge in LA.  I enjoyed many of Scott's movies - I mean, who didn't watch  Top Gun  or  Crimson Tide  back in the day? - and some of his work on TV, too (Lori and I were avid fans of the show  NUMB3RS  when it ran - I think we've seen every episode). I just saw a report that he may have had  inoperable brain cancer  which might explain his motive...a bit, I suppose.  Some yesterday hinted  that being in his brother  Ridley Scott's  shadow might somehow have contributed...* Several articles had tweets from famous people regarding Scott's death: In a tweet Sunday, director Ron Howard said, "No more Tony Scott movies. Tragic day." Director Jon Favreau tweeted, "Such sad news about Tony Scott. Heartfelt condolences to his family and friends." Really?  Tweets?  I find that to be...just wrong somehow.  "Heartfelt condolences" in 140 characters or les

So, you can come in and sit at a table and talk.  But that's it.  Wow - take away the talking and it could be church :) 'cause, you know, no food...or...nevermind...

I saw this on Facebook the other day: Of course Mark Twain  never said any such thing ,* but it's a great quote nonetheless.  And I chuckled out loud when I read it.** Last week I was at the  Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit  simulcast at a nearby church.  One of the presenters was  William Ury ***, co-author of a book called  Getting to Yes  and famous Harvard guy who has been involved in handling negotiations from corporate mergers and union strikes to war in the Middle East and conflict in Northern Ireland.  So, yeah, he knows something about conflict... You can read some notes on his session at GLS  here .  A couple things stood out for me: Conflict is natural.  We negotiate things all the time, every day.  All major decisions of our lives require at least some negotiation and many, many small decisions.**** In negotiation, separate the person from the problem.  This is HARD - but absolutely necessary.  I try to do this, but I admit, there are some people wh

From Morguefile I was eating lunch at a local restaurant in Tidioute when I overheard part of a conversation that troubled my spirit - because it was, in a small part, about me, though the people wouldn't have had any way of knowing that. Last week I was asked to pray for a "blessing of the bikes" for a  dice run  heading out of Tidioute on Saturday.  So I asked one of our guys who is a part of the regional  Christian Motorcyclists Association  for some pointers, showed up early and, at the appointed time, prayed - for the bikes to work like they were supposed to, for the road to be clear, for the bikers to pay attention and for other drivers to pay attention to them, for God's blessing to be on the riders.  That's what I can remember of it, anyway.* I joked just before they left that I would pray for no rain, too.  And I did.  And it rained on me on the way home.  But, I thought, no big deal, they were going in a big loop around the region so this rain wi

So this was in my inbox.  I smiled because of the new twist on the classic,  Nigerian scam  and the updated  Lotto scam  that's been popping up in my inbox.  This one is so ridiculously unbelievable that I couldn't help but read it and then wonder, "Who would reply to this?" Click to read the whole thing Sadly, someone might.  But...really?  Somehow two metal boxes verified by the US government as containing actual cash in the amount of 16.5 million dollars is sitting unclaimed at the airport in Atlanta that FINALLY came in from those darn scammers from Nigeria (apparently) or somewhere.  I and, only I, one would assume, am the lucky one to have beat the actual scammers and have been contacted by directly by Homeland Security's Frank Navarro - not via an official email, of course, but via his "live.com" account. Sounds legit to me. Tell you what, Frank.  I'll just drive down to Atlanta and claim the boxes in person, okay?

From Morguefile I was at a  conference   last week (via satellite) and after some of the speakers, one of the hosts would step up beside the speaker and pray with them.  We always knew when the host would be going to pray, because a keyboard would begin playing softly in the background. It was most telling for me when a  woman from India  spoke about her work rescuing people from  slavery and human trafficking .  She finished with a call for response from us mixed in with her own testimony.  It was powerful.  But as our host (it might have been  Bill Hybels *, I think it was, but I'm not sure) stepped up on the platform, for me, the power of the closing of her message was destroyed by the upswelling of the "prayer music" as the host "unpacked for us" what the woman had said and then prayed for her.  I remember the prayer being a powerful prayer, heartfelt and authentic, don't get me wrong.  There was nothing wrong with the prayer itself. The music ki

Found online.... Rachel asked the other night to watch an Abbott and Costello movie and since I have the collection on DVD she pulled them out and said she'd like to watch the first one, One Night in the Tropics . She and my nephew bounced in and out, watching the Abbott and Costello bits, not really enjoying the "main plot" so much.  It reminded me of when I was a kid.  Every Sunday after Sunday School I would go home, mom would be getting lunch ready (usually roast....mmmmm) and WPXI out of New York City would run an Abbott and Costello movie that my family would watch - and then football or baseball or some other sport if it was on. Rachel laughed out loud several times at Lou and Bud's antics.  She LOVES "Who's on First" and they do a bit where Costello quits and Abbott pays him and the money keeps going down and they both watched raptly - and, again, laughed out loud at the end. I warned Rachel that A & C was "stupid funny" -

Really, what lives in that lake?  Or, um, who would you be disturbing?  And why does the state stop maintaining...um whatever it is they maintain out here.  And no parking?  That just seems excessive...

click to enlarge - copyright 2012 John Kovalic This was just posted the other day.  I wondered if Dork Tower was going to comment on the  Mars landing   this week.* I like  Dork Tower   for much the same reason that I like the show  Big Bang Theory  - not necessarily because I espouse everything in the show, but because, by and large, these are "my people".  I'm not the guy who dresses up and goes to  Comic Con , though I AM the guy who knows what Comic Con is, has a small collection of vintage comic books, likes other nerdy stuff like Star Wars AND Star Trek** and computers (PC, none of this Mac nonsense - that's for non-nerds, or nerd wannabes...heh) and gaming and epic fantasy Lord of the Rings kind of stuff and, well, if you're much of a reader of this blog, well, you know...  The stuff of Dork Tower - and BBT... So, having said all that, let me comment on this particular comic.  I get it.  I FEEL this way sometimes.  The "news" these days i

Click to enlarge - Copyright 2012 Scott Adams Elie is at the age where she confuses correlation and causation all the time.  We eventually grow out of it* of course, but it's sometimes so frustrating in my 9 year old to hear, with absolute confidence, her explanation of everything in the world.  When I try to correct her - when it's appropriate** - sometimes she gets very animated and digs in her heels and insists that she knows better how the world works than I, in my paltry 44 years of experience could ever attain. And part of me celebrates this stage - she's so curious about the world and how things work and what things mean.  There have been (with both girls) and continue to be lots of "what happens if" moments...  And that's not all bad.***  I thought the girls would freak out the day on our walk in the woods when they saw bones on the path.  But they didn't.  They wanted to know what kind of bones they were.****  Then they  wanted to bring th

Click to enlarge - copyright 2012 Kirkman & Scott This is SO true... at least for me.  I am more than willing to take the girls to things, to do what they need done... but half the time I'm clueless on exactly what I need to do.  Where, when, how, how long?  I got nothin'...  Oh, I've been able to take them to the park, yeah... But I'm constantly forgetting...sunscreen at the pool (or a towel) or the birthday gift for the birthday party I'm taking a child to or whatever.  I was just like Darryl when either girl was a baby* - I'd forget the diaper bag or it wasn't packed or no hat or coat or something... "Is Hammie allowed on the monkey bars?"  Oh, yeah, and I ALWAYS needed to know what the girls were allowed to do...  Sometimes Lori and I have had different ideas of what's permissible and what's not and I've always believed that we need to establish that as best we can - so I'd try to think of things ahead of time and a

Click to see it all - copyright Scott Adams - sometime in July 2012 Who hasn't been on the receiving end of this?  I love Dilbert because even though I don't work in a cubicle, this is real life stuff.  It happens in relationships, at work, at church, in volunteer organizations, in politics, everywhere. The corollary at our house is "I'll ask mom."  What that means is, "I'm not asking you, dad, because I know you will say no to whatever I'm going to ask but I have a shot with mom."  The mistake, youngling, is that you tell me you are going to ask mom.   Baby Blues just dealt with this exact thing: Click to enlarge - copyright Kirkman & Scott - published July 28, 2012 So, back to the Dilbert comic.  The escalating to get my way is a tried and true method.  The arbitrary appeal to authority is also a classic - playground days.  "Dad, make her give me..." whatever it is I want her to give me...  I love the arrogance to an

www.almostmakessense.com July sometime This is EXACTLY how I feel sometimes when it comes to phones.  I mean, I read up a little on the technology - but I, frankly, just don't care . I want a phone to call and text.  Yes, it's really nice that once in a while I can surf out and find out what time The Dark Knight Rises  is playing or check that email I forgot to print to get the time for an appointment.  But, really, I don't want to live on my phone. So, I want it to do what I want it to do.  Seamlessly* - which is what Ice Cream Sandwich is all about: I just don't get the hoopla, I guess.  I won't wait in line for the next any product - Apple or otherwise - I'll take the previous iteration of any product that proves it works.**  I don't need all the bells and whistles when they're new...***  And I just can't get into constantly upgrading my cellphone.  When I upgraded last time to my newest phone (which was almost two years ago now), my pho

Really, a hundred acres to put an outhouse on, and they choose the poison ivy...

From Morguefile Long post... The other day I noted that Seth Godin had a couple posts last week that I wanted to comment on.  Here's the second of those. In a post he calls  Feet On The Street  lists sixteen items that are the kinds of "lower level detail" that a business, even when it's "product and strategy is brilliant"*, must do to leverage success.  That even with an amazing product and a killer strategy for placing that product in the eagerly waiting (or unsuspecting - heh) public's hands, that's just not enough today. Anyway, I thought many of the sixteen points could be applied to church-land.  We have an amazing message - life changing - life GIVING in fact - and, well, some churches actually have a strategy for connecting with people who don't know Jesus*. So, just some thoughts on Godin's post (his original points in orange, my comments in white): (Orange bullet points copyright Seth Godin) Contact every user who s

From Morguefile Elie has been sneezing...as only a 9-year-old can - in all the yuck that that might imply to you... Five years ago I took Rachel for  allergy tests  and we've taken her a couple other times too - to no avail.  We're not going to subject Elie to the same thing, I don't think...  What comes out of her nose, though, LOOKS pretty nasty and infectious and, well, I don't want to deal with it.  I just hand her a tissue and say, "Blow."  Gone (mostly) are the days where I have to actually do any nose wiping... But the germs spread anyway, you know?  Rachel was gone all weekend with a sinus infection.  Home now, I figure it's just a matter of time before Lori or I get sick, with both kids' noses flowing nastiness... But that same kind of thing happens in other ways at the Beatty house.  Lori was anxious about something the other day and so she was edgy and a bit short.  Instead of being understanding and supportive, I adopted an "I

When I was getting ready for last Sunday, I was going to summarize something I said the week before and looked for a graphic to help illustrate it and I came across this image: from  here .* Anyway, I've read and heard this concept before, but I summarized it in my message last week and a couple people kind of took notice (and one person came to me after worship and said he took notes and it really helped tie things together for him).  So, sounds like a worthy blog post. At creation, there was one rule: don't eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.** The Law was given as  613 Commandments  - the Ten Commandments being the "categories" of the whole of the Law, if you will*** Jesus, who said that He came  not to abolish the Law the prophets, but to fulfill them , in essence reduced it to Three Commands: Love God with everything you are. Love other people as you love yourself. Love other Christ followers as He loved. One idea - love.  A posit