The Evolution of the Geek

The original geek is the "Glee Geek"?  That sounds about right; I think every boy-band in history started in a glee club somewhere.  And I thought Urkel was the pinnacle of all things geek.  Shows what I know. One important thing to note: we're all geeks!! Embrace your geekiness!!

HT: Joe Thorn

Worship on iPhone

Jonathan Rourke as CJ Mahaney

Jonathan Rourke as CJ Mahaney from Resolved on Vimeo.

Honestly, if you closed your eyes you would think you were listening to CJ himself. This is hilarious.

HT: Joshua Harris

Dad Life

Dad Life from Church on the Move on Vimeo.

HT: Ed Stetzer

Next Olympic Sport: Snowboard-Basketball?

Enjoy Those 11 Minutes

An NFL game is 60 minutes by the rulebook. It takes at least 3 hours on the air. How much of this time involves actual play on the field? A recent study says about 11 minutes.

According to a Wall Street Journal study of four recent broadcasts, and similar estimates by researchers, the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes.

In other words, if you tally up everything that happens between the time the ball is snapped and the play is whistled dead by the officials, there’s barely enough time to prepare a hard-boiled egg. In fact, the average telecast devotes 56% more time to showing replays.

So what do the networks do with the other 174 minutes in a typical broadcast? Not surprisingly, commercials take up about an hour. As many as 75 minutes, or about 60% of the total air time, excluding commercials, is spent on shots of players huddling, standing at the line of scrimmage or just generally milling about between snaps. In the four broadcasts The Journal studied, injured players got six more seconds of camera time than celebrating players. While the network announcers showed up on screen for just 30 seconds, shots of the head coaches and referees took up about 7% of the average show.

Americans love football. But there is actually very little of it during a game.

Football—at least the American version—is the rare sport where it’s common for the clock to run for long periods of time while nothing is happening. After a routine play is whistled dead, the clock will continue to run, even as the players are peeling themselves off the turf and limping back to their huddles. The team on offense has a maximum of 40 seconds after one play ends to snap the ball again. A regulation NFL game consists of four quarters of 15 minutes each, but because the typical play only lasts about four seconds, the ratio of inaction to action is approximately 10 to 1.

So enjoy those 660 seconds, that 1/6 of an hour, that 1 moment of action for 10 moments of inaction. But while you are on the couch this weekend try to do something productive during the commercials.

HT: Kevin DeYoung

A Humerous Christmas Video: Me Be Gone

ME BE GONE from Two Rivers on Vimeo.

HT: Ed Stetzer

Have you seen this man?

Now this is crime fighting at its best.

HT: Denny Burk

You Want It, Ask For It

This is sort of old, but I just for the first time tonight. It's a funny commercial, but also contains a little truth - a big part of receiving what you want involves asking for it. I wonder how much discontentment in life and relationship could be resolved if we simply discussed our expectations with each other and asked for what we want? Of course we also need to take the desires of our heart to God in prayer (Matthew 21:22).

How to Worship: An Instructional Video

Exactly Why I Don't Twitter

What Defines You?

Last night I went to see Rob Bell, currently on his most recent speaking tour, "Drops Like Stars," which I thought was fantastic (more on that in a later post, I'm still reflecting on what Bell presented), with three friends and at one point he asked, "What defines you?"

Bell provided an example of how one man answered a similar question when he was asked on his NYU college application, "In order for the admissions staff of our college to get to know you, that applicant, better, we ask that answer the following question: Are there any significant experiences you have had, or accomplishments you have realized, that have helped to define you as a person?"

Here is his answer:

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat 400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

How would you answer this question? What defines you?

"Look at every proud man and humble him, crush the wicked where they stand." - Job 40:12

Colbert and Ehrman on the Resurrection and Whether Jesus is God

Stephen Colbert goes at it again with Bart Ehrman on the Colbert show this past Thursday...this one is even better than their first encounter a couple of years ago...

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Bart Ehrman
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

HT: JD Greear

Organization is a Matter of Perspective

The desk in my office is notoriously messy, but not this messy. My wife won't believe this, but I bet you that guy (just like me) knows exactly where everything on that desk is ... which means it's organized, right?

Did Jesus Swim?

Of course not. He walked. Duh.

HT: The Plow via A Little Leaven