I am a meteorologist and a former youth leader at church…I have a lot to say on both subjects…and then some
I think that this is one of the reasons. Not that you shouldn’t regulate some things, but when you want to switch grapes and the government won’t let you…
I was going to write something longer, but the video from Canadian Broadcasting Company sums up my ideas. My position has always been that the science, based on model predictions is not complete and that the physics incorporated in the models while always getting better will not emulate the world perfectly. There has been some evidence of some warming, but I have always had my doubts about the man-made parts. Not that we don’t contribute, but I don’t think to the extent that they have been alarming. I also think that don’t practice good stewardship, and when God said to subdue the land, He didn’t mean rape it, which we have, but that’s another post.
What are we teaching our kids?
I stumbled upon this blog, after I friended this person on Facebook. I was puzzled at first, thinking don’t I know this person? The writing style seems oddly familiar. Oh yeah, it’s my dad. He actually started a couple of new blogs recently. This one is his recollection of stories that start when he was a junior in high school. This post was really cool, as he tells how he and Mom met.
The summer of 1961 and how “we” met. « The secret thoughts of a country kid.
Earlier tonight, my wife began posting some videos of our daughter in a school play. In fact, I wanted to create a post of the play list to show here as well. However, someone from the school saw them and asked her if she would take them down so the school doesn’t get into trouble with the Rogers and Hammerstein Organization who licenses the performances. My wife had gone to bed, and since they were on her Facebook account, I couldn’t take them down. However, I thought this would fall under fair use for what we had done? Don’t get me wrong, the school is afraid of being sued and I don’t want to impinge on somebody’s copyright, but can’t I take the excerpts of my daughter and put them somewhere so that my parents can see them (In fact, all I shot were the scenes that she was in, and pretty much only her.)?
I did some digging and Center for Social Media has put together a Code of Best Practices for fair use. The one I think that fits this situation is this:
4.Reproducing, reposting or quoting in order to memorialize, preserve, or rescue an experience, an event, or a cultural phenomenon
Isn’t that what any parent would be doing if their child were in a play and you are just trying to get their scenes? Is this appropriate for fair use? I need some help with this. Anyone have an answer?
Adam McLane over at Youth Specialities posed a question about a “youth ministry gap.” That is a gap between the youth ministry that is run by a paid staffer vs. the volunteer, and the differences between the two. He asks a good question about how do we bridge the gap. I left my two cents in the comments, but it boils down to linking the two leaders so that they help each other, so that they body of Christ comes together for the good of the upcoming generation.
Okay, maybe dread is a little strong, but the way we celebrate Christmas in the U. S. to me is just wrong. What I mean is this, the church fights about the wrong stuff with this “War on Christmas,” stuff, instead of the problem that is more insidious. Consumerism.
Henry Neufeld, a United Methodist blogger, makes the point that I have been feeling for a long time.
While we’re worried about losing the external trappings of Christmas, such as public trees and manger displays, the real war on Christmas is practically won already. Christmas has almost nothing at all to do with Jesus. This has been my opinion for many years. Christmas as celebrated in America, even in most of our churches, is about us and our economic prosperity, not about Jesus and his good news.
This is something that needs to be taken out of the church. It is hard to extract, but I think that if we extract this consumeristic view of Christmas, we may just get a revival in this land. I think that some of this is happening. It will be a slow process.
Read his whole post.
I caught this article in the GR Press the other day. It looks like the Manchester Bidwell Corporation (a non-profit) will be entering into a triangular partnership with GRCC and the GRPS. They have formed the West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology, which as the website says:
Expose people to an inspirational atmosphere and they will be inspired.
It almost sounds too simplistic, but it works. And it all started back in Pittsburgh with a man named Bill Strickland and the idea that environment can change people, their attitudes and their lives.
I saw Bill Strickland speak a few years ago about the Bidwell Training Center and wondered how something like the could come to Michigan. Well, here it is in Grand Rapids!
Nightline – Darker Side of Sin City This was pointed out to me by the XXXChurch people. There is a whole other world under Las Vegas. Wow.
Recently, I have been reading things about the politics of the country, and I have to say that it has been going in a depressing direction. I’m not talking about politically, but the fact that there is little civility in the process. As a kid, there was Watergate and then the country floundered for years. When I was in high school, Ronald Reagan became President and by a such a resounding margin that it looked like the Democrats wouldn’t recover. However, after Pres. George 41, we elected Bill Clinton, twice. Those 12 years, I felt that there we gradually walked away from the discussion and drifted toward the dissonance of hot air on both sides of the spectrum.
So where do I lie on the spectrum? In the middle. I have voted for Republicans and Democrats. I have described myself as a little right of center, but when I take quizzes I’m left of center.
I recently listened to a pastor talking about the fact that Christians should do things to bring healing, but the political scene had devolved into each side making a caricature of the other and shredding the caricature. I’m tired of it.
I read a blog about state politics from from the Democratic side of the aisle and about 1/4 of it is good, with 3/4 hot air. Notice, I didn’t mention Republican blog, they were all hot air. That’s why Michigan is in the mess it is in, hot air from both sides. We are floundering.
So I’m tired of Glenn Beck, Bill O’reilly, and Rush Limbaugh. I’m tired of Keith Olberman, Chris Matthews, and the Daily Kos. While they all may have good or interesting points from time to time, or they may catch the others in inaccuracies, they all yell and create hot air on both sides of the spectrum. An astronomer that I watched during a Q&A for a book that he wrote mentioned that if we could get rid of the hot air on both sides, maybe we could have a conversation.
I get tired of Jimmy Carter insulting me by calling me racist if I disagree with a policy, or others from the left calling me a teabagger (a sexual insult) if I go to a protest. I get tired of the Republicans using me because they think my protest against the current ones in power will help them.
I read today,
“We’re being out-Alinskyed by the anti-Alinskys”- Ben Jealous, NAACP president, on the ACORN story and other conservative Internet exposes.
I had to look that up what was being Alinskyed? I found this link on the rules for radicals. Read the link to understand it fully, but suffice it to say that this dude came up with ways to confront the powers that be. I’m not sure, but I almost feel like we in the middle need to rise up and confront the fringes. If you have something constructive to say, say it, and be part of the conversation, if you have hot air, prepare to be confronted.
