The word “stooopid” comes to mind. (HT: ABC Online)
An Eyre Peninsula man is the talk of the town after catching a bronze whaler shark in his hands and wrestling it up onto a jetty. Phillip Kerkhof from Louth Bay was at the local jetty when the 1.3-metre shark began chasing squid lures.
“I just snuck up behind him and eventually I went for the big grab and I fluked it and got him,” he said.
“He’s just thrashing around in the water but then he was starting to turn around and try to bite me and I thought ‘well, it’s amazing what vodka does’.”
The only damage from the dangerous species was a bite mark to his jeans.
“It’s not something I’d recommend to do. When I sobered up I thought about it and I said, ‘I’m a bit of an idiot doing it’,” Mr Kerkhof said.
Uh, yeah.
(Beautiful photo courtesy Robin Hughes. All rights reserved.)
Can we we finally put this nonsense to bed?
Antarctic temperatures disagree with climate model predictions
COLUMBUS , Ohio – A new report on climate over the world’s southernmost continent shows that temperatures during the late 20th century did not climb as had been predicted by many global climate models.
It also follows a similar finding from last summer by the same research group that showed no increase in precipitation over Antarctica in the last 50 years. Most models predict that both precipitation and temperature will increase over Antarctica with a warming of the planet.
David Bromwich, professor of professor of atmospheric sciences in the Department of Geography, and researcher with the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University, reported on this work at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at San Francisco.
“It’s hard to see a global warming signal from the mainland of Antarctica right now,” he said. “Part of the reason is that there is a lot of variability there. It’s very hard in these polar latitudes to demonstrate a global warming signal. This is in marked contrast to the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula that is one of the most rapidly warming parts of the Earth.”
“The best we can say right now is that the climate models are somewhat inconsistent with the evidence that we have for the last 50 years from continental Antarctica .
“We’re looking for a small signal that represents the impact of human activity and it is hard to find it at the moment,” he said.
Maybe they’re just looking for something that isn’t there….
I’ve been reading a fair amount at prosthesis blog [no link] recently. The blog is focused on science and technology, but the author(s) have a lot to say about faith as well. Tucked up in the upper left corner is the following:
“As followers of Jesus Christ,
living in this world
which some seek to control,
but which others view with despair
we declare with joy and trust:
Our world belongs to God!”
–Our World Belongs to God, Preamble
This is an excerpt from the Statement of Beliefs of the Christian Reformed Church. I’m not a Reformed theologian by any stretch, but this certainly captures my beliefs on the status of the planet (and all those who reside thereon).
Technorati Tags: faith, statement of belief
Tags: faith, statement of belief
Want to see who’s coming through the Panama Canal? Here’s a link to the Panama Canal webcams. There are cameras at the Miraflores locks, the Gatun locks and the Centennial Bridge. If you can’t get a picture, click the Get Java link at the bottom of the page, install it and then reload the webcam page.
On the internet you can find things that you just won’t find anywhere else. Maybe that’s a good thing.
Lutherans Gone Wild
Last night in my quiet, little dormitory a Lutheran party broke out.
Nuff said.
From Only Sometimes Clever. Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a 10 foot pole, underline the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk the ones you’ve never heard of.
1984 (Orwell)
A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)*
A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) Just finished listening to this on the iPod by way of Audible.com. I give it two thumbs, way up.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)*
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
Bible
Blindness (Jose Saramago)*
Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)*
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
Dune (Frank Herbert)
East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
Emma (Jane Austen)
Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)*
Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)*
Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
Great Expectations (Dickens)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)*
In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)*
Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
Les Miserables (Hugo)
Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
Lord of the Flies (Golding)
Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)*
Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)*
Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)*
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)*
Shogun (James Clavell)
The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)*
The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
The Hobbit (Tolkien)
The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)*
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)*
The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)*
The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)*
The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
The Stand (Stephen King)
The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)*
The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)*
The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)*
The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
The World According To Garp (John Irving)
To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
Ulysses (James Joyce)
War and Peace (Tolstoy)
Watership Down (Richard Adams)
White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)*
Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
And I’ll tag KingDavid and the blogger sometimes occasionally known as Southern Knight.
UPDATE: The image below isn’t a good representation as the coins don’t really show as much detail. I think these should be known as “Angry Georges” as he has a more pronounced scowl on the actual coin. The edge detail is very faint and hard to read without magnification.
From WND:
The new American dollar coins due out next month will have a bit of an edge to them — for that’s where some important info will be displayed.
A new series of U.S. dollar coins coming out in February will bear the images of deceased U.S. presidents, as well as the national motto, “In God We Trust.” However, one very important design difference is that the motto will not appear on each coin’s flat surface as always before, but on its thin edge (that is, along the side of the coin).
Also relegated to the edge of the coin will be the year it was minted and the previous national motto, “E Pluribus Unum.”
WorldNetDaily said the U.S. Mint’s explanation for the coins’ change in design is to provide more space for the presidents’ portraits on the face of the coins and the Statue of Liberty on the reverse. Four presidents will be featured each year, with a new president appearing every three months.
The first U.S. coin to bear “In God We Trust” was the 1864 two-cent piece. The statement was engraved on American coins until 1956 when, by an act of Congress, it was declared the national motto. The next year, the motto was permanently adopted for use on U.S. money.
Now that is a great idea to build interest in the coins. It certainly worked well to boost popularity of the state quarters. The Susan B and Sacajawea dollar coins didn’t do well because there wasn’t enough buzz about them. Now if we can just get rid of those useless pennies…
I think the new coins look moderately cool, and I’m not bent out of shape (too much) by putting the motto and the date on the edge. We’re way overdue for a good dollar coin.
My brother pointed out that maybe our focus on perceived global warming is wrong.
“And the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun; and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues; and they did not repent, so as to give Him Glory. (Revelation 16:8)
and again…
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burnt up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” (II Peter 3:10-13)
I’ve never been a fan of looking for signs and wonders, but at what point will it become obvious that the events foretold in Revelation and elsewhere are coming to pass? When Katrina hit, when the Indonesian tsunami hit, when the Northridge earthquake struck, pastors and “prophets” were quick to claim that these were all a sign of God’s judgement against a sinful people and of looming Armageddon. Maybe, maybe not.
On the one hand, the events foretold will be hugely devastating, orders of magnitude beyond the Plagues of Egypt. And as with the plagues of Exodus, those events yet to come will demonstrate God’s mighty power. How will we be able to deny them? That answer is above: “and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues; and they did not repent, so as to give Him Glory.”
Bottom line - is “global warming” the wrath of God foretold? I don’t know. But if it is, saving the planet is the last thing we need to be worried about.
(HT: yeti)
(It’s a joke. Lighten up, Francis.)
