Spend your money like a millionaire

A frugal one, that is.

Millionaires make up just 2 percent of the population. They get a bad rap during recessions for being wasteful with their money and are frequently used as examples of excess. It's the millionaires that you don't see that you can learn from in times like these. I call them the frugal millionaires and interviewed 70 of them to uncover ways we can all be smarter with money.

Nearly 70 percent of the economy is based on consumer spending. To keep the economy going we need to keep spending but not waste money in the process. This is where the frugal millionaires come in. They've been smart with their money all along and haven't lost it all and had to remake it. These are the kind of people you want to learn from when it comes to spending your money.

If you can afford to purchase a new car every month, you can afford to buy Cameron's house

Ferris Bueller fans, take note: Cameron Frye's house is for sale. The house used for the film is actually near Chicago, as opposed to the house used as Ferris' home - which is in Long Beach, California.

For those of you - like me - who fondly remember this film during your high school days, please don't feel old when I tell you that Cameron is 52. Alan Ruck was 29 when he played the depressive high school student with the marvelous car. Oh, yeah.

The roofs on every home in the world should be painted white

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu says, "If you look at all the buildings and if you make the roofs white and if you make the pavement more of a concrete type of colour rather than a black type of colour and if you do that uniformally, that would be the equivalent of... reducing the carbon emissions due to all the cars in the world by 11 years – just taking them off the road for 11 years."

So, basically, we should all act as if we live in Bermuda.


H/T: Althouse

Memorial Day Weekend Movies

Like most patriotic Americans on Memorial Day weekend, I usually spend a good bit of time watching movies. On the big screen in the community cineplex. On the small screen in my bedroom. From Blockbuster for $3.99 (for a whole week), or a nearby Redbox for $1 (for one night). Doesn't matter. At some point or another, I'll watch one movie - or two or three - from beginning to end.

I've seen two so far.

Saturday night's film was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, rented from the Redbox. Button was filmed in such a gorgeous manner, with such a beautiful city (New Orleans) and such striking actors (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Julia Ormond, and Tariji Henson), that I was completely taken aback by how utterly boring I found it. Pitt and Blanchett seemed to have no chemistry together. Should I not have expected more from them? Pitt and Henson were nominated for Oscars, but I didn't find their performances to be particularly moving. I found the most striking character to be the tugboat captain Benjamin worked for, and I mourned his passing because he was the only character who seemed full of life and vitality.

When Blanchett's Daisy tells Pitt's Benjamin that he is "perfect," I almost expected him to say, "Well, of course I am - I'm Brat Pitt!"

Last night's film was Night at the Museum, shown on the ABC Family channel. I was charmed by the film when I first saw it a few years ago, and it still has its pleasures. I think it'd be great fun to have an Easter Island head around the house, but I wouldn't let it get away with calling my "dum-dum." I particularly enjoyed seeing Dick Van Dyke (a Vermilion County native!) and Mickey Rooney as two of the "bad guys" of the film. Has there been another film where Van Dyke has been the villain? Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't think there is.

Always be ready, no matter what you're wearing

Obviously this soldier was a Boy Scout at one time. Their motto is "Be Prepared."

(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

This is Dan Brown's America

We're just living in it.

RELATED: Check out this site by Westminster Theological Seminary.

If you're poor, you're gonna pay more

The high cost of poverty.

Poverty 101: We'll start with the basics.

Like food: You don't have a car to get to a supermarket, much less to Costco or Trader Joe's, where the middle class goes to save money. You don't have three hours to take the bus. So you buy groceries at the corner store, where a gallon of milk costs an extra dollar.

A loaf of bread there costs you $2.99 for white. For wheat, it's $3.79. The clerk behind the counter tells you the gallon of leaking milk in the bottom of the back cooler is $4.99. She holds up four fingers to clarify. The milk is beneath the shelf that holds beef bologna for $3.79. A pound of butter sells for $4.49. In the back of the store are fruits and vegetables. The green peppers are shriveled, the bananas are more brown than yellow, the oranges are picked over.

(At a Safeway on Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda, the wheat bread costs $1.19, and white bread is on sale for $1. A gallon of milk costs $3.49 -- $2.99 if you buy two gallons. A pound of butter is $2.49. Beef bologna is on sale, two packages for $5.)

Prices in urban corner stores are almost always higher, economists say. And sometimes, prices in supermarkets in poorer neighborhoods are higher. Many of these stores charge more because the cost of doing business in some neighborhoods is higher. "First, they are probably paying more on goods because they don't get the low wholesale price that bigger stores get," says Bradley R. Schiller, a professor emeritus at American University and the author of "The Economics of Poverty and Discrimination."

The secret of the curve ball... revealed!

The world's best visual illusions.

"The Incident"

Yes, friends, another season of the best show on television - Lost - has drawn to a close. Last night, we got to see what happens first when a hydrogen bomb named Jughead explodes (a flash of white light!), Jacob in white and an unnamed man in black sitting on a beach, Jacob meeting with several Lostaways in their LBTI's (life before the island), Bernard and Rose living out their "retirement," and Ben making sure yet another person meets a very sticky end (How many people has he either killed himself or ordered to be killed? Too many to count).

I probably won't be posting a full review of the episode, but even if I did, I probably wouldn't do as much justice to it as Jennifer Godwin or Alan Sepinwall.

Only 7 more months or so until Season Six! Destiny Found!

Evangelical Outpost

Joe Carter has returned. And he's not alone.

Matthew Anderson—one of my oldest blog buddies—will be joining me as a senior editor. Together we hope to help shape these young writers, honing their writing and reasoning skills and preparing them to provide thoughtful reflections on culture, politics, and religion from an evangelical Christian worldview. Our goal is to make EO an incubator for developing intriguing opinions and introducing interesting individuals.

In the process, we plan to bring you an engaging and entertaining mix of content, from book reviews and essays to opinion pieces and link lists (i.e., the return of 33 Things) and much, much more. We especially want to provide critical reflection on matters—daycare, cremation, etc.—that few of us stop to consider. Most of all, though, we plan to introduce you to interesting people—our contributors, our commenters, and our friends in the community of Christian bloggers.

Happy Star Wars Day!

Before it's over, I have to post this:

The American Patriot's Bible

Finally! A Bible for every red-blooded American!

THE ONE BIBLE THAT SHOWS HOW 'A LIGHT FROM ABOVE' SHAPED OURNATION. Never has a version of the Bible targeted the spiritual needs of those who love our country more than The American Patriot's Bible. This extremely unique Bible shows how the history of the United States connects the people and events of the Bible to our lives in a modern world. The story of the United States is wonderfully woven into the teachings of the Bible and includes a beautiful full-color family record section, memorable images from our nation's history and hundreds of enlightening articles which complement the New King James Version Bible text.

This is the Bible that the world has waited for! All those other countries can go to... well, you know where they can go.

Mine That Bird wins the 2009 Kentucky Derby

I love stories like this: someone (or in this case, some horse) - who no one thought would be capable of much - does something amazing.

Mine That Bird dug up a miracle, stunning the field to win the Kentucky Derby with a dynamic stretch run through the mud at Churchill Downs.

The 3-year-old colt and jockey Calvin Borel found room along the rail deep in the stretch Saturday then pulled away to give the 50-1 long shot one of the biggest upsets in the 135-year history of the race.

UPDATE: Stop by Mark Beech's place at Sports Illustrated for his thoughts on today's race:

Folks, there is no sporting event in America quite as great as the Kentucky Derby. Nearly every other one worth mentioning is contested by millionaire athletes who are nothing like you, me and the guy down the street. But the Kentucky Derby brings those two worlds together. Mine That Bird beat eight horses who sold for at least $200,000 at auction. Two of those horses sold for more than $2 million. The crown prince of Dubai had two horses in this race. Mine That Bird also bested a colt who is the only horse owned and trained by a retired Louisville high school principal, as well as one owned by diet queen Jenny Craig. No other event in America makes a folk hero quite as quickly as the Kentucky Derby. It's not the greatest two minutes in sports for nothing.

"...almost the most fun a kid can have."

Enter a strange and exciting world. A world which Bill O'Reilly beckons you to come and enjoy.

She paid $540 for those?

The First Lady shows off her new footwear to the patrons of a Washington food bank.

Mrs. Obama, we know that your husband is pulling down $400,000 a year now, so you can afford those shoes. But if you're going to buy shoes with that kind of pricetag, please make sure they are pretty. And that you're mindful of where you wear them.

"Jesus is to be mass-produced, imprinted on metal, given a reflective coat and sold for money."

Jesus on a license plate.

His crown of thorns will lie just beneath the "FLORIDA" across the top of the plate; his outstretched arms will be truncated to the left and right by the tag numbers, so that one does not actually see the cross, the nails, the wounds — no, we would not have that! The words "SUNSHINE STATE" will be stamped across his unscathed, unlashed torso. And yet, if even this censored Passion is still too strong for one's taste, the Legislature is producing an alternative "faith" plate as well, that one with a stained-glass window, a prettied-up cross and the slogan, "I Believe."

"A Scary Thing Happened"

The government wants to help you cope by offering you art therapy. Really bad art therapy.


You know, I'd probably be completely traumatized if I was (1) reading a book with drawings of a plane crashing into buildings, (2) looking out my window to see that what was shown in my book was happening right outside my home, and (3) watching it being broadcast on TV - ALL AT THE SAME TIME. I'd probably need hundreds of these books to help me recover.

Beauty and Joy in the face of Death

Thanks to the Jollyblogger for pointing us this moving set of pictures, chronicling the very brief marriage of Katie and Nick.

I was born in a large creek, and now I speak normally

What?!? What the devil is Brownie talking about? Well, you'll have to turn to this to figure it out.

"Cub fans and Emergents have a lot in common: faith in nothing, futile eschatology, nice buildings full of drunk ppl having fun."

This is why I follow FakeMarkDriscoll on Twitter. Yes, I admit it: I tweet to twits. So what if Joshua Claybourn doesn't like it. I mean, Challies is doing it, so how bad can it be?

Valor

Valor
Originally uploaded by Good Brownie

This is part of a monument at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton, Ohio.

"People might think they're cute, but they're a menace. They're multiplying like crazy - that's what they do."

Bunnies on the loose, terrorizing Florida residents.

Dozens of rabbits, the spawn of Easter gifts from as far back as 2002, now run wild in a field of two-story condominiums.

Actually, wild is an exaggeration. “I have two that let me pet them,” said Denise Callahan, 55, out for a walk on Wednesday with her dog, Gigi. “One’s Peter; the other’s Mama.”

A few feet to her right, a snow-white rabbit with dark eyes sniffed the sand near a boat trailer. Behind her, a chubby brown one hopped past a parked Hyundai. Clearly, in a neighborhood of mostly parking lots and small apartments, these bunnies felt at home.

Not everybody feels terrorized, apparently.

"We, Frenchies, are well-known for our flatulance."

Martha Stewart's dogs Francesca and Sharkey, both French bulldogs, are as much into blogging as she is. They began blogging on February 27, 2009, and have somehow found a photographer to keep up with their, ahem, adventures. I suppose you would lead a somewhat adventurous life if your were Martha's canine.

Columbine Revisited

A decade has past since Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on their murderous rampage.

The two teenagers who killed 13 people and themselves at suburban Denver's Columbine High School 10 years ago next week weren't in the "Trenchcoat Mafia," disaffected videogamers who wore cowboy dusters. The killings ignited a national debate over bullying, but the record now shows Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold hadn't been bullied — in fact, they had bragged in diaries about picking on freshmen and "fags."

The Cute One spins the Beast

Truly This Man

And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole Council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him, "You have said so." And the chief priests accused him of many things. And Pilate again asked him, "Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you." But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, "Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?" And they cried out again, "Crucify him." And Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him." So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.

And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews." And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!" So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "Behold, he is calling Elijah." And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down." And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"

Mark 15

Better that one man perish...

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.


John 11:45-52

Craig v. Hitchens

Doug Geivett has a report on the recent debate, on the existence of God, between Christopher Hitchens and William Lane Craig. Craig is the author of "God is Not Dead Yet," an article that appeared in Christianity Today last July.

"The End of Christian America"

That's the cover story for the latest edition of Newsweek, which usually has a Christian-themed article for Easter time.

While we remain a nation decisively shaped by religious faith, our politics and our culture are, in the main, less influenced by movements and arguments of an explicitly Christian character than they were even five years ago. I think this is a good thing—good for our political culture, which, as the American Founders saw, is complex and charged enough without attempting to compel or coerce religious belief or observance. It is good for Christianity, too, in that many Christians are rediscovering the virtues of a separation of church and state that protects what Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island as a haven for religious dissenters, called "the garden of the church" from "the wilderness of the world." As crucial as religion has been and is to the life of the nation, America's unifying force has never been a specific faith, but a commitment to freedom—not least freedom of conscience. At our best, we single religion out for neither particular help nor particular harm; we have historically treated faith-based arguments as one element among many in the republican sphere of debate and decision. The decline and fall of the modern religious right's notion of a Christian America creates a calmer political environment and, for many believers, may help open the way for a more theologically serious religious life.

Al Mohler, who was quoted for the article, writes about his reaction to it here.

I appreciate the care, respect, and insight that mark this essay by Jon Meacham. I also appreciated our conversation about an issue that concerns us both. Still, I hope I did not reflect too much gloom in my analysis. This much I know -- Jesus Christ is Lord, and His kingdom is forever. Our proper Christian response to this new challenge is not gloom, but concern. And our first concern must be to see that the Gospel is preached as Good News to the perishing -- including all those in post-Christian America.

Dan Kimball, pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, CA, offers his thoughts here.

So I think maybe there is a decline of a certain shape and sub-culture(s) of "Christian America" as the article states. But at the same time, there is a rising and surging of missional church leaders, church planters, and Christians who have already recognized that we are in a "post-Christian" America as the article states. But that recognition has simply fueled creativity, prayer and passion for mission and because God is God, people are coming to a saving faith in Jesus. So it is ironically quite an exciting time period in the midst of this gloomy title and cover. It feels as though some expressions of church and Christianity maybe is fading out. But
at the same time there is excitement and energy and hope as churches who have already recognized what this article says about being in a "post-Christian" country - and have made changes to become churches on mission.

I am so optimistic for the future and have great hope. Yes, there is a "decline and fall" as the article states of certain types of "Christianity" and church perhaps. But there is also a rising and resurgence of missional churches and missional Christians. Churches and Christians who are rethinking what it means to be "be the church" and to be the church on mission. It may mean rethinking how we go about things since we do live in a "post-Christian" world. It may not be as easy or routine as it has in the past. It may shake up some of our ecclesiological catagories that we have constructed. But it should only spur us onward in adventure, not get us depressed looking at a spooky black cover with red letters.

I, Blogger, take thee, Commentor

The NYT has a nice article on a very modern romance: Ann Althouse, whose blog averages around 500,000 visitors a month (I visit several times a day!), had agreed to marry Laurence Meade, who has left comments on her blog over the years.

Congrats, Ms. Althouse and Mr. Meade!

"I suppose my agent did something unusual in telling me who they really wanted. And telling me that I was the third choice."

"I was very, very aware that I was not the first or second choice. I mean, ordinarily, agents don’t do that, and I must admit in my case, it did make it hard for me. Because I didn’t get the sense of humor, really, didn’t understand it very well. It’s not my type of humor, so the director had to kind of coach me through everything I did. It’s by far what I’m best known for on planet Earth. No day goes by without someone commenting on it to me. It turned out to be one of the most beloved films. People had the most astonishing response to it. Apparently by following Rob Reiner, by trying to imitate him—he would do [my lines], and then I would imitate him. And I must have done it adequately, as people compliment me on it on a daily basis."

Actor and playwright Wallace Shawn gives an interview about his movie roles, including his most famous one as Vizzini in The Princess Bride.

bad "Star Wars" costumes

Oh my.

(Via Althouse by way of Metafilter)

April Fool's Day

Have you fooled someone today? Has somebody fooled you?

Huffpo has a brief history of April Fool's Day, along with fix recent hoaxes. I remember the "Taco Liberty Bell" announcements.

a bridge

a bridge above the North Fork River in Danville, Illinois
Originally uploaded by Good Brownie

This is dedicated to all those who are crossing - or will soon cross - bridges in their lives. Literally or metaphorically.

I was going to do something like this from my office...

...but the government beat me to it.

"It is really like the space flight without the weightlessness and the danger to our lives."

Sealing yourself off from the world -literally.

On Tuesday, six people will be voluntarily locked into a cloister of cramped, hermetically sealed tubes woven inside a Moscow research facility the size of a high school gymnasium. They will eat dehydrated food, breathe recycled air and be denied conversation with practically everyone else but one another.

And they must stay inside for 105 days.

In a small step in the direction of Mars, the international crew is embarking on a simulated flight to the planet to test the limits of human tolerance for the isolation and monotony of interplanetary travel.

Don't they already have something like this on television? Isn't it called Big Brother?

I guess he isn't going trick-or-treating

Four years old...

... this blog is. Here's my very first post. I may be posting more sporadically these days, but I don't want to give it up just yet.

Dorothy as economic theorist

A new way of looking at The Wizard of Oz.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is one of the world's best-loved fairytales. As Judy Garland's famous film nears its 70th birthday, how much do its followers know about the story's use as an economic parable?

Dorothy in Kansas conjures up nostalgic thoughts of childhood Christmases hiding behind the sofa from the Wicked Witch of the West. Or those flying monkeys.

It's unlikely its young fans will have been thinking about deflation and monetary policy.

But the story has underlying economic and political references that make it a popular tool for teaching university and high school students - mainly in the United States but also in the UK - about the economic depression of the late 19th Century.

the beast in blue

the beast in blue
Originally uploaded by Good Brownie

what do you like?

God Hates Figs

An intriguing counter-demonstration against the notorious Westboro Baptist Church.

Trail of Death 1838

Trail of Death 1838
Originally uploaded by Good Brownie

The plaque on the marker reads:

"In 1838 the northern Potawatami tribes and many Indians from other tribes were forcibly located to Eastern Kansas. The first point of encampment in Illinois on the march westward was the North Fork River in Danville. This monument is to commemerate the hardships, death, and humiliation these people suffered during their forced passage. We salute their courage. It is in their memory we make this dedication. May 13, 1990."

Happy Pi Day

It's today, you know. Feel free to celebrate however you'd like. Working geometry problems. Eating slices of pie in all different varieties. Naming all the other Greek letters. Whatever strikes your fancy.

Sexy People

Yep, they have their own website. Chock full of pictures. You'll obtain much pleasure by looking at them. Women are there. Men are there, too. Even children. You'll want to tell your friends all about it.

Now, don't be alarmed. It's not that kind of site. Do you really think I'd lead you there? No, no, no, no....

What are you waiting for? Just go!

"Raiders" story conference

Once in a while, you come upon a post on some blog that really makes your afternoon. This one did it today for me. A real treat, especially for Raiders fans.

Will the Church be the Church for all Christians?

Even the gay ones?

"The Coming Evangelical Collapse"

Michael Spencer, the Internet Monk, has recently had an essay published in the current Christian Science Monitor - "The coming evangelical collapse." If the title grabbed your attention, just wait until you read the article itself.

I believe that we are on the verge- within 10 years- of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity; a collapse that will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and that will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West. I believe this evangelical collapse will happen with astonishing statistical speed; that within two generations of where we are now evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its current occupants, leaving in its wake nothing that can revitalize evangelicals to their former “glory.”

There has been much discussion about this essay, as expected, and from a variety of sources. It's rather fun to jump around and see who has been talking about it, what points they emphasize and/or criticize, and where the discussion goes. I mean, iMonk has everybody talking! See?

• American Power
• Andrew Sullivan
• Atheist Nexus
• Caffeinated Thoughts (Shane Vander Hart)
• Crunchy Con
• Jim West
• Joshua Claybourn
• League of Ordinary Gentlemen
• Macsmind
• Outside the Beltway
• Pharyngula (PZ Myers)
• Pyromaniacs (Phil Johnson)
• Reformation21
• Slice of Laodicea (Ingrid Schleuter)
• The Other McCain
• The Pocket Mardis

I honestly don't think you could find two more different blogs out there than Ingrid's and PZ's, and they're both talking about the same thing.

And, yes, iMonk does have something to say about the ARIS study.

The Christian Hipster

Are you one?

Christian hipsters like music, movies, and books that are well-respected by their respective artistic communities—Christian or not. They love books like Resident Aliens by Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger by Ron Sider, God’s Politics by Jim Wallis, and The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. They tend to be fans of any number of the following authors: Flannery O’Connor, Walker Percy, Wendell Berry, Thomas Merton, John Howard Yoder, Walter Brueggemann, N.T. Wright, Brennan Manning, Eugene Peterson, Anne Lamott, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Henri Nouwen, Soren Kierkegaard, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Annie Dillard, Marilynne Robison, Chuck Klosterman, David Sedaris, or anything ancient and/or philosophically important.

Christian hipsters love thinking and acting Catholic, even if they are thoroughly Protestant. They love the Pope, liturgy, incense, lectio divina, Lent, and timeless phrases like “Thanks be to God” or “Peace of Christ be with you.” They enjoy Eastern Orthodox churches and mysterious iconography, and they love the elaborate cathedrals of Europe (even if they are too museum-like for hipster tastes). Christian hipsters also love taking communion with real Port, and they don’t mind common cups. They love poetry readings, worshipping with candles, and smoking pipes while talking about God. Some of them like smoking a lot of different things.

Don't forget the piercings. Or the tats. Or the T-shirts with skulls on them.

"I don't believe in racism... sexism.. or any ism."

I just saw a commercial that included the above quote. I didn't really understand what the commercial was trying to say, other than to tell me - the viewer - to click on the site of the TV channel on which the commerical was airing.

But it led me to think:

1. The commercial was ripping off a line from Ferris Bueller: "Isms in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an ism - he should believe in himself."
2. If you reject theism, atheism, and agnosticism, where are you left?

February is slipping by - why isn't Brownie blogging?

Okay. So, I guess this February is turning into a month of very light blogging. I didn't really plan it that way, but that's how it turned out. Much like life, right? You plan to do something, and it doesn't turn out the way you expected. Or, you didn't plan to do something, but somehow you did it anyway.

Enough of philosophizing. Let's turn our attention to art from one of the greatest toys of the '80's - Rubik's Cube!

Ladies, if you want to have 8 kids at once, you'll probably look like this.

The Octo-mom, just days before she gave birth.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln.

I could not truly call myself an Illinois blogger if I didn't note that two hundred years ago on this day, Abraham Lincoln was born. Yes, it's true that he was born in a log cabin in Kentucky and spent his childhood there and in Indiana, but his family moved to Illinois when he was 21 years old. He stayed in the state for many years, rising from rail splitter to lawyer to one-term Illinois congressman to... well, back to being a lawyer. He only left Illinois after taking a job that required relocation.

What would life be like in America today if Lincoln had decided that his one term in Congress was enough of a political life for him? What if he had found satisfaction in being a lawyer? What if he determined that Illinois was where he was going to stay?

Fortunately, we don't have to dwell on those "what ifs," because we know his history. His history is an integral part of our national history. Indeed, the United States of America probably would not exist in this day - as it is - without him. Much has been written about him (see here for one blogger's list of books), and most likely there will be more. Each new book broadens our view of him, but we may never truly ascertain his greatness.

Happy birthday, President Lincoln. May each president, not just our current one, seek to emulate you.

"He saw Jamal Anderson and Mark Hudson sniffing two lines of powdered cocaine off the back of the toilet.”

A police officer caught Anderson, formerly a running back for the Atlanta Falcons, and his "friend" doing lines of coke off a toilet in a bar. You have to wonder (1) how clean the toilet was at 3:00 AM on a Sunday and (2) how pathetic Anderson's life has become if he's doing lines of coke off the toilet in a bar at 3:00 AM on a Sunday.

"I should be competing for an Oscar with del Toro."

I find this amusing because Sean Penn isn't saying that he's unworthy to be considered for an Oscar this year, so Benicio del Toro should take his spot. No, he's saying that both he and del Toro delivered performances worthy of a nomination, and one of the other four - Richard Jenkins, Frank Langella, Brad Pitt, or Mickey Rourke - should not have been nominated. Any guesses as to who he would drop? My money's on Jenkins, since he's the least-known of the group.

It's presently 56° here in Danville, Illinois

So, naturally, my thoughts turn to global warming. Should we have that high a temperature at this time of year? We're nearly a third into February now, and I'm thinking it should be at least 20 degrees colder.

Well, while we're pondering our own personal roles in global warming, let's get to watching a heart-warming video, shall we?



Wasn't that wonderful? I'm going outside to enjoy the sunshine now. And, perhaps, pick up an SUV.

Solitude & Technology

Can it coexist? Are we truly alone if the world is at our fingertips? Neil Swidey penned - or typed, rather - an essay about that very idea.

What do you think of Obama's job so far?

Instapundit wants to know. He's been president for two weeks now. I almost voted "epic fail," just to be funny, but I decided to take the poll seriously and go with "not bad, with a few teething pains."

In my view, the teething pains have to be coming from this guy, although some people manage Obama's handling of this as a means to continue spouting campaign slogans. Let's hope we don't hear those words from Obama on a regular basis, Andrew.

10 cinematic clichés that must die!

It's hard to disagree with this list, especially numbers 3 and 5.

The picture accompanying #9 is of Robin Williams from The Fisher King. It isn't a completely terrible movie, unless you count the scene where Williams strips naked and shows the full monty. Jeff Bridges does well with his role, but then he's usually good in practically everything he's in.

Evil Republicans make it in at #8. "All Republicans in movies or TV are evil. They’re all trying to cheat the public, start unnecessary wars, take away civil rights and turn the country into a fascist dictatorship. And, of course, it’s saintly Democrats who save the day." I suppose that if films want to be more truthful, they should portray Democrats as tax evaders with memory problems.

"I think we're dead. And time is going by really really really slow."

Blago a-go-go

The governor of the state of Illinois, where I now reside, has been impeached and convicted.

the Christian, mental illness, and iMonk

Michael Spencer, or the Internet Monk if you prefer, has written several articles on the Christian and mental illness, which you can find links to here.

Do you pledge to be a servant to President Obama?

Yeah. uhm.... I don't think this would have been made if McCain was president right now.

I think we all should head out to Hollywood right now, bang on the doors of Cameron Diaz and the Moore-Kutchers, and tell them how then can come over and help out our communities. They can start by picking up the trash by the road. Do you think they'd do that?

And since I mentioned Cameron and Ashton: were you two representing America when you did that hideous What Happens in Vegas movie? Or was that made just because we were still all living during the oppressively horrible Bush years, and we're now in the Obama Era so everything will be better?

They should have a show called "American Re-Idol"

If only so we could have more stories like this.

Poor Joanna Pacitti. She was supposed to play the title role in the production of Annie on Broadway ten years ago or so, but she was replaced a few weeks before opening night. I played Drake in our high school production. It wasn't Broadway, but it was still fun.

Obama's life story

We all know that W left Washington and returned to Texas

What about Dick Cheney? What happened to him?

It wasn't pretty.

Because You Left

I have just a few thoughts after seeing the premiere of the fifth season for Lost. Yes, I'll have some spoilers here, so read on only if you dare.

1. Traveling through time sure made it tough for Sawyer to find a shirt. He finally got one from Neil, but they certainly don't look like they have the same shirt size. I'd guess Sawyer would wear a large and Neil would be a medium, but whatever. Maybe shirts on the island shorten and stretch, just like time on the island does.
2. How fantastic was it to see Dr. Marvin Candle... or Pierre Chang, or whatever his name is... in the first few minutes? And, yes, that was Daniel Faraday with the other workers below the Orchid station. I don't think we yet know the number of times he's visited the island.
3. Is Charlotte doomed? She's having nose bleeds, she's having prolonged headaches, Faraday is obviously hiding things from her... I'm guessing she's doomed.
4. When the TV first reported Hurley as a murder suspect, why didn't the cops immediately go to his house? Why wouldn't they have had a search warrant for his parents' home?
5. If Sawyer had come back when Desmond and Faraday were talking, what might have happened?
6. If you need a good recap of the episode (and all previous ones), go here. For a bit of commentary with your recap, you can try this spot.
7. Who could've guessed that Ben likes porterhouse steaks?
8. Nice to see you making yourself useful, Ms. Hawking. I wouldn't be surprised that you're the one Desmond comes to... again.

First, she wanted the job and told the media all about it

Then, she saw something happen to a family member and decided she didn't want the job.

Now, she wants the job again.

Or, maybe, she doesn't.

Ms. Kennedy, what exactly is going on?

UPDATE: It's official. Caroline is out.

"I informed Governor Paterson today that for personal reasons I am withdrawing my name from consideration for the United States Senate," the official statement read.

Is Obama President?

Yes he is.

"O god of our many understandings..."

Here is Eugene Robinson's prayer from yesterday's inaugural festivities. Given HBO's programming history, it's rather interesting that the channel chose not to include the prayer in yesterday's broadcast. Is HBO afraid of a gay planet?

But let's go back to the prayer itself. Timmy Brister has something to say:

Notice that, in the four minute prayer, nothing is said of the nature of this god, and nothing is asked in reference of him doing what only a god could do. The prayer is fundamentally ethical, not theological. It reflects not a desire to know the one true God and conform our lives to His will, but a prayer for God to understand us and conform his will to our ways. The requests for deliverance is not against sin, Satan, and self but rather social evils. While it may be true that billions exist with less than a dollar a day, every human exists without forgiveness of sin apart from the person and work of Jesus Christ. But that’s not the point. Mr. Robinson is “horrified” by the Christian prayers of the past and seeks to buck the trend by advocating “religious tolerance” for everyone who has a god of their own understanding. Having said that, anyone who prays to a God who has defined Himself, who is eternally self-existent, eternal, and self-sufficient, well, that will not be tolerated. Your prayers should be renounced and your God must not be addressed. We don’t need to know and understand the God who has spoken and whose words shape reality; we need to self-actualize and shape our own realities with greater moral fortitude and faith in the supposed inherent goodness of man. We are all victims, and so is the god of our
many understandings.

Inauguration Day mishaps

Read this list to discover which presidential inaugurations had party crashers at the White House, dead pigeons on the parade route, and broken hotel room windows.

Let's hope the Obama team has prepared themselves appropriately.

"...a commitment to agnosticism—as opposed to agnosticism still open to the alternative— is a form of atheism."

Maclin Horton thinks agnosticism is not a solution.

top 10 photography "firsts"

This list is to be viewed only by my nephew-in-law Dustin. Don't you dare look, because you don't have permission.

Okay, look if you must.

top 10 signs of evolution in humanity

An interesting list.

"Lost" returns on January 21

Only five short days from now...

I like how the poster splits the Lostaways in half, between the Oceanic 6 (plus Ben and Desmond) and the ones who were left on the island. Of course, we know that John Locke eventually found a way off the island and took the name of Jeremy Bentham, but I imagine we'll learn the particulars in the next few months.

To find information about nearly everything on Lost, go here.

goodbye, Circuit City

I've bought a few things from you over the years - DVD's and CD's, mostly - and now you're gone. I didn't buy enough, I guess. Or, America didn't.

Reading the Bible in 2009

It's not too late to start a plan. An old college friend has provided a link to an exceptionally good one.

His reasons:

1. 1. It takes you through the entire Bible, but not sequentially. This is important because I've quit in April when I was struggling through 3-4 chapters a day in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The plan typically gives you two New Testament readings, an Old Testament passage, and a Psalms or Proverbs. The diversity is really helpful.
   2. It allows for 5 missed days per month. I wish that I could say that I like this because it gives me 5 extra days to do other readings...but the real story is I appreciate the grace of 5 days per month.
   3. It balances various genres of Biblical literature. Typically the plan features a narrative, some kind of poetry, and an epistle. My heart is touched differently through each.
   4. I appreciate the accountability of a sheet that records my reading.

"As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before Nine-Eleven. But I never did."

"Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our Nation. And I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe."

I think those are the best lines from President Bush's farewell speech.

(HT: IAG)

You can see that I've placed the "retirement" tag on this post. While he can't really "retire" from the presidency - not being elected again isn't the same thing as retiring - it is safe to say that Bush is "retiring" from public life.

"The puppet master is... the counselor?"

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Let me tell you something, because I'm speaking from experience: counselors are puppet-masters, so she's not really wrong.

Ricardo Montalban, 1920-2009

the Bibles of the Presidents

An interactive look at the Bibles used by George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Jimmy Carter, and a few other guys. Barack Obama reportedly plans to use the same Bible as Lincoln at his first inauguration.

Speaking of two great tastes that taste great together....

Peanuts and Beethoven.

When Schroeder pounded on his piano, his eyes clenched in a trance, the notes floating above his head were no random ink spots dropped into the key of G. Schulz carefully chose each snatch of music he drew and transcribed the notes from the score. More than an illustration, the music was a soundtrack to the strip, introducing the characters’ state of emotion, prompting one of them to ask a question or punctuating an interaction.

“The music is a character in the strip as much as the people are, because the music sets the tone,” Mr. Meredith said. To understand what gave Schroeder chills, he said, you have to listen to the musical passage. “When you actually hear the symphony, the whole thing feels completely different.”

What will the Bush haters do after next Tuesday?

Poor Bush haters. They've had one main object of derision for the past eight years. They even have his portrait to hate. And now, he's about to pass into history. Who will their fire consume now?

bacon + chocolate

I'm seriously considering ordering some of these. Seriously. They are two great tastes separately, but together they seem a little scary.

Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation

They have a newly updated website. Check it out.

Golden Globes 2009

Did you watch the broadcast? If not, you can check here for the listing of winners. Kate Winslet, who has yet to win an Oscar, won two GG awards, for The Reader and Revolutionary Road. She beat a lot of serious talent, including Meryl Streep and Angelina Jolie. As expected, Heath Ledger won for his portrayal of the diabolical Joker in The Dark Knight.

Films which the GG's made me want to see:

• Slumdog Millionaire
• The Wrestler
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Recount
• Gran Torino
• John Adams (technically a mini-series)

UPDATED: Does Entertainment Weekly not know American history? The Florida recount drama occurred in 2000, not 2004.

2008 Weblog Awards

Have you voted yet? You have until 5:00 PM EST (or 4:00 PM, where I live) on Tuesday, January 13.

Here a few of the categories I voted in:

• Best Blog: Boing Boing
• Best Individual Blogger: The Anchoress
• Best Liberal Blog: Talking Points Memo
• Best Conservative Blog: RedState
• Best Diarist: Dooce

Make your own croutons - don't use storebought, even if they are T. Marzetti's

Just one course from a whole dinner's worth of advice from Mark Bittman, one of the best food writers around. He'll also tell you what to ditch.

Do you read his blog? You should, you know.

"Since winning the Super Bowl after the 2006 season, Dungy has thought long and hard each offseason about how much longer he really wants to work..."

Tony Dungy is supposed to meet with Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, today to discuss his future. He will then give Irsay his decision tomorrow.

BROWNIE'S PREDICTION: Dungy will say that this was his last season as the coach for the Colts.

UPDATE: It looks like Dungy will step down. This isn't surprising, given his desire to work in some type of ministry and to spend more time with his family in Florida.

Brownie beats Althouse

I always get a thrill when I blog about something before she does.

no Manning at this year's Super Bowl

Peyton Manning's team lost to the Chargers last week. Eli Manning's team lost to the Eagles this week. With the Eagles, Cardinals, and Ravens in the hunt, it looks like the Super Bowl will be for the birds.

"... he has the coolest style and foulest mouth of any preacher you’ve ever seen."

The NYT Magazine's Molly Worthen examines the ministry of Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill in Seattle. The article is a pretty fair assessment of the Seattle pastor.

Mark Driscoll is American evangelicalism’s bête noire. In little more than a decade, his ministry has grown from a living-room Bible study to a megachurch that draws about 7,600 visitors to seven campuses around Seattle each Sunday, and his books, blogs and podcasts have made him one of the most admired — and reviled — figures among evangelicals nationwide. Conservatives call Driscoll “the cussing pastor” and wish that he’d trade in his fashionably distressed jeans and taste for indie rock for a suit and tie and placid choral arrangements. Liberals wince at his hellfire theology and insistence that women submit to their husbands. But what is new about Driscoll is that he has resurrected a particular strain of fire and brimstone, one that most Americans assume died out with the Puritans: Calvinism, a theology that makes Pat
Robertson seem warm and fuzzy.

At a time when the once-vaunted unity of the religious right has eroded and the mainstream media is proclaiming an “evangelical crackup,” Driscoll represents a movement to revamp the style and substance of evangelicalism. With his taste for vintage baseball caps and omnipresence on Facebook and iTunes, Driscoll, who is 38, is on the cutting edge of American pop culture. Yet his message seems radically unfashionable, even un-American: you are not captain of your soul or master of your fate but a depraved worm whose hard work and good deeds will get you nowhere, because God marked you for heaven or condemned you to hell before the beginning of time. Yet a significant number of young people in Seattle — and nationwide — say this is exactly what they want to hear. Calvinism has somehow become cool, and just as startling, this generally bookish creed has fused with a macho ethos. At Mars Hill, members say their favorite movie isn’t “Amazing Grace” or “The Chronicles of Narnia” — it’s “Fight Club.”

Worthen seems intrigued by Driscoll's unusual preaching style and acceptance of people you probably wouldn't see at a "normal" fundie church service, but repulsed by his embrace of Calvinism and complementarianism.

Blago: impeached

My governor has been impeached. The vote was overwhelming, 114-1.

Do you want a wingsuit?

If you had one, you could do stuff like this...


wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

I like how they casually talk about testing out the wingsuits by jumping off 1000-feet high cliffs, as if it's really no big deal.

Willimon vs. Ehrman

William Willimon discusses Bart Ehrman's God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer over at Christian Century.

Bart Ehrman has written another book that is probably destined to be a best seller. God's Problem is a lively, though thoroughly conventional and utterly predictable, dismissal of Jewish and Christian views of God. It is a real page-turner, quickly written by an author who assumes a position of moral and intellectual superiority to just about everyone who is unlucky enough not to be a tenured professor in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

God's Problem begins not with God but with Ehrman, and with antitheology as autobiography. We learn that suffering has "haunted" Ehrman "for a very long time" and that it is the reason he lost his faith. The faith he lost was Christian evangelical fundamentalism, which, as we are told, crumbled under "critical scrutiny." Ehrman told NPR's Terry Gross that for a while he tried the Episcopal Church, finding its rituals aesthetically pleasing, but that he eventually left because "even in the Episcopal church they say the creed." Even Episcopalians were too gullible and credulous for the agnostic Ehrman.

Being subjected to the puerile theodicy of undergraduates while he was teaching courses in religion at Rutgers was the coup de grâce for what was left of Ehrman's faith. So the professor ventured forth on the journey that he apparently considers heroic, even though it has been made by millions in the West before him: the journey of taking God less seriously and himself more so. While this is now an old story, Ehrman seems invigorated by the telling of it—I presume because it his own story. The radical subjectivity and narcissism of evangelical pietism must be tough to shake.

While reading God's Problem, I kept asking myself, why bother?

Don't do what I don't do: watch "American Idol"

'Twill make you so crazy.

"Empire Strikes Back" toys

If I could go back in time for the sole purpose of purchasing toys to bring back to 2009, I would return to 1981 so I could buy these. Yes - yes, I would.

If you could go back in time to do only one thing - and that one thing could not in any way affect your life (ie, you couldn't stop yourself from doing something you later regretted) - what would you do?

2008 films

If you pay attention to such things, the New York Times has an excellent section on its website dedicated to the best films of 2008. Two of the slide shows - one on the aging of Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and one on the recreation of a 1970's political campaign for Milk - are particularly fascinating.

The Golden Globes air next Sunday night. You can see the complete listing of nominated films here. I've only seen two on the list - The Dark Knight and Kung Fu Panda.

she was a fast machine

I wonder, did she keep her motor clean? Ah, well. She's fast, though. Not fast enough to win the Indy 500 - yet - but too fast for the common roads.

Happy 2009!

I have to confess: I don't generally make New Year's resolutions. I did in the past, but I haven't for the last few years. For the most obvious of reasons: I don't generally keep them. But this year...

This year...

I resolve to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.

I resolve to be a better husband to my wife.

I resolve to be a better father to my daughters.

I resolve to be a better master to my puggle.

I resolve to be a better therapist to my clients.

........................

So, what are your plans for 2009?