The End

After spending a week camping in the Rockies, I'm done with letting Google Reader be a gigantic time-sink.  As most of the content here came from feeds, this blog is now officially discontinued.

If I were an 8-bit Odysseus, this man would be a Siren

http://music.todaysbigthing.com/2010/07/23

While the Simpsons' was good, Back to the Future is genius.

http://music.todaysbigthing.com/2010/07/12

Achordants - MacPherson's Rant

One of my favorite acapella performances ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR2pzzXTnr4

All nuclear explosions 1945-1998

http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/07/09

An intelligible analysis of the Gulf Oil Leak

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593/648967

I'm no expert so I can't verify the article, but it sure as heck sounds very well informed

Here's a counter response: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6655

The happiest picture ever taken

http://pictures.todaysbigthing.com/2010/06/28

The most apropros soundtrack ever.

http://sports.todaysbigthing.com/2010/06/25

Dinosaur expert does stand-up comedy

http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2010/06/22

This would have revolutionized my childhood

http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/06/10

I could care less about this video

http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/06/14

Rocket Dentistry

http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/06/15

The greatest subway station ever

http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/06/17

I did something like this once, on the Wii

http://sports.todaysbigthing.com/2010/06/21

Juggling Soccer Balls newest X-Games event.

http://sports.todaysbigthing.com/2010/06/22

Twenty-Something Ninja Turtles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcWNgnEsTUk

The Star Wars Kid's future wife.

http://music.todaysbigthing.com/2010/06/04

Golf balls are secretly made of jello

http://sports.todaysbigthing.com/2010/05/31

Marimbas are baller

http://music.todaysbigthing.com/2010/05/26

An urban bike race that requires no peddling

http://sports.todaysbigthing.com/2010/05/27

Behold -> Ninja Bear

http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2010/05/27

"Free" money: Buy gift cards at a discount

http://www.cardpool.com/

A better way to teach math

http://blog.ted.com/2010/05/math_class_need.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TEDBlog+%28TEDBlog%29

Jupiter disappeared behind the Sun for 3 Months. Now that we can see it again, it's missing a belt.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18889-jupiter-loses-a-stripe.html

Sing Talk (Tik Tok parody making fun of Ke$ha)

http://music.todaysbigthing.com/2010/05/11

Man has succeeded in running on top of water

http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2010/05/10

The psychology of inspirational leaders

http://blog.ted.com/2010/05/how_great_leade.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TEDBlog+%28TEDBlog%29

This guy got to hang out with an octopus

http://www.flixxy.com/octopus-swims-off-with-camera.htm

Serial vs Paralell Paintball Art

http://www.flixxy.com/gpu-vs-cpu.htm

Nothing is more romantic than the instrument you played in 5th grade.

You have to be patient through the short introduction.
http://funnyvideos.todaysbigthing.com/2010/05/03

Greatest Simpsons Intro Ever

http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2010/05/03

An Awesome game for nostalgia

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/534416

The greatest innovation to lawn mowing

http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/04/26

This little girl will get all the boys one day

http://funnyvideos.todaysbigthing.com/2010/04/20

Our nation's first president has racked up quite a tab at a New York library.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8627835.stm

10 Greatest Jumps, including one from the edge of space

http://www.flixxy.com/biggest-and-best-jumps-ever.htm

Geriatric Rock Stars - Tim Hawkins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnPINGavPP0&feature=player_embedded

There should be laws against being this creepy.

http://pictures.todaysbigthing.com/2010/04/06

Bouncing Water

http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/04/02

Duct Tape + Discmen + Zero-gravity = awesome

http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/04/05

5-Year-Old inspires the Red Sox

http://sports.todaysbigthing.com/2010/04/06

Non-living things solving mazes

http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/04/06

A wonderful online comic

Here are a few to whet your whistle.  (The mouseover texts are equally hilarious.)

http://xkcd.com/503/
http://xkcd.com/337/
http://xkcd.com/425/
http://xkcd.com/100/
http://xkcd.com/171/
http://xkcd.com/409/
http://xkcd.com/627/
http://xkcd.com/149/ (My favorite)

A great Duke-bashing article

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/morrissey/2132168,CST-SPT-morrissey31.article

Words fail me, other than mesmerizing

http://music.todaysbigthing.com/2010/04/01

A great way to "network"

http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2010/03/31

Don't buy gold plated cables

http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/the-rip1/

Computer Magic

http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/03/26

Scientists and the misuse of stats

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/57091/title/Odds_Are,_Its_Wrong

For those who educate their children, here's a fun math/science lesson.

http://orfe.princeton.edu/%7Ervdb/tmp/sunsetTalkSmall.pdf

A really cool proof of the pythagorean theorum

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/square-dancing/

Wicked cool hovercraft

http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/03/10

How to take one hour to ski down the bunny slope

http://sports.todaysbigthing.com/2010/03/12

Sewer corkscrew in a car

http://technology.todaysbigthing.com/2010/03/11

Talk about split personalities

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8561814.stm

How can we be sure that the weak voices are heard, and not scared into silence?

http://en.tackfilm.se/?id=1268151541360RA47

1995 Article predicting the future of the Internet

http://www.newsweek.com/id/106554

Math Post #4 - This one makes all my nerd hairs bristle with excitement.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/finding-your-roots/

Firefox Extensions: Beautifications

When it comes to looking at a white background on a computer screen, it can be like looking at a giant, low-powered light bulb.  I find dark backgrounds with light text to be much preferred as it is much easier on the eyes, and looks pretty sleek.

With that said, the theme I use for Firefox is NASA Night Launch.  The only thing NASA about it is the activity icon up in the top right, so you won't feel like a nerd for using it.  It is just a really good dark theme for firefox.

And keeping it dark is Google Redesigned.  This extension will transform your Gmail, GCal, and GReader with an excellent dark theme.  This extension is the biggest reason why I haven't switched to using Chrome.  It really is "eye candy".  Bonus: it plays nicely with the "Better ..." extensions in my previous post.  Here are some screenshots of the extension at work.

Lastly are a cluster of extensions that work together to produce an effect.  This picture is the final result.

In the picture you can see what the NASA firefox theme looks like.  You will also notice that 3 tabs are very tiny, containing just the icon.  This is done by Faviconize Tab, which lets you tell firefox to shrink certain tabs down to just the "favicon".  Second, these tabs are permanent; whenever firefox is open, my Gmail, GCal, and GReader are always open.  This is done by PermaTabs Mod, which is an experimental add-on, but has yet to give me any troubles whatsoever.  Third, my Gmail and Greader tabs contain a number in the icon, which is the number of unread items.  This is done by Better Gmail and Better GReader already covered in the previous post, but those extensions do a lot more too.  Likewise, you could also get just the number by downloading the appropriate userscript for greasemonkey.

Firefox Extensions: Increased Functionality

I use Xmarks to sync my bookmarks to an online server, in case I'm ever on someone else's computer and I can't remember the name of what I was looking for.  If you're completely unconcerned about security, it will also encrypt and save all of your passwords, but I don't want that information out on the web.

If you ever want to get temporary access to a website, use BugMeNot.  It has usernames and passwords to many sites, like the New York Times.  There's no need to create a free account just to read an article on a website, so use this extension.

Here's a developer who's made several helpful extensions.  Most notably the "Better ..." series adds tons of minor tweaks to each of the websites.  For instance, GCal has a feature to collapse the header and sidebar, allowing the calendar itself to use the entirety of the window.

And best of all is Greasemonkey.  Greasemonkey is a portal into a whole world of tweaks for websites.  In fact, most of the tweaks in the "Better ..." extensions are really just a compilation of the best userscripts for Greasemonkey.  You have to have Greasemonkey installed, then you can go to userscripts.org and start downloading stuff to make the internet wonderful.
Here is one script that prevents Youtube videos from autoplaying, but still allows them to buffer.  It also removes ads, and automatically selects the highest quality with which to play the video.
And after you install this userscript for Facebook, you will want to give me a big giant hug, and also give me money.  I'll let you play with all it's awesome options, but most notably, it will show any picture on facebook at full resolution just by hovering the mouse over it.  I repeat again that you will want to kiss me once you see how great that is.

Firefox Extensions: Security related

Many people use Firefox but are completely unaware of the vast potential of the extensions that are out there for the browser.  So here's the first post on the firefox extensions that I've found useful.

The awesomest firefox extension out there is AdBlock Plus.  It blocks all the ads on websites, except text ads like on google.  There are ads out there that can be malicious, especially the pop-up ones.

Another is TACO.  Many times websites will place files on your hard drive that track what websites you visit.  It's also a good idea to go into your preferences (Tools > Options > Privacy) and block 3rd party cookies.  Granted, tracking what websites you visit should be relatively harmless, but some are troubled by learning that they have far less privacy than they believed.

The most protective add-on is NoScript.  Many malicious websites and advertisements use Javascript to compromise your computer.  This extension blocks every script a website wants to run.  However, this will break just about every website you visit.  The good news is, you can tell the add-on to allow certain scripts from certain websites.  Essentially, you'll have to train the extension to allow the good stuff, and keep out the bad.  It can be annoying to have to "make" websites work.  So if you're not committed to it, you'll just end up turning the extension off.

And some of you may ask what antivirus program I use: Antivir.  It's completely free.  It scans every file that your computer touches, so no virus can install itself without the program instantly knowing and asking you whether to quarantine it or delete it.  This means you never, ever have to do a full scan of your computer.  Never.

Hilarious Commercial

Rhett and Link have made another commercial, this time for a pharmacy in Indiana.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYYdF0zcuSI

Here are their previous commercials - http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E5E7F99D70D6C2A2
My Favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnOyMSEWNTs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-RLqLx1iYI

OK Go's newest music video

http://music.todaysbigthing.com/2010/03/02

"My name is Jonathan, and I am an introvert."

"I'm an introvert. You are a wonderful person and I like you. But now please shush."
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200303/rauch

Church and Culture: Language part deux

I think this video is a fitting conclusion in so many ways to part uno.
http://entertainment.todaysbigthing.com/2010/02/23

edit - Warning: Strong Language.

Snow Castle Proposal

No one would ever confuse me for a romantic, but this is just awesome.
http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Snow-castle-sets-scene-for-Ohio-marriage-proposal-377313.php#photo-2

Church and Culture: Language

I've always found the phenomenon of "swear" words interesting.  There's nothing particularly wrong about the words themselves.  For instance, neither the culture nor the church has any qualms with calling a donkey an ass.  So it's not a quality of the spelling/pronunciation that causes the word to fall into the category of "swear" word.  Likewise, "poop," "crap," and "shit" carry the same exact semantic domain (for all intents and purposes) whether used as a noun, adjective, interjection, etc.  It's not like poop is less stinky than crap.  So it's not the meaning of the word that makes it taboo.  So why can't Christians go around saying, "Damn! That ass's ass smells like shit!"?

Because for some odd reason, the culture has taken certain words tied to certain semantic domains and labeled them as taboo.  And people who say and do taboo things are assumed to have a certain kind of character.  As Christians, as those who claim to have something of the character of Christ, when we say/do taboo things, the culture associates that certain kind of character with the character of Christ.  There's nothing particularly sinful about the words themselves.  So as Christians, don't swear.  You make Christ look bad when you do.  As Christians, don't get your panties in a wad over those who do swear, or over movies/music/etc that contain swear words.  You make Christ look bad, and proclaim Him as law-giver rather than Savior.

A great article in the New York Times: Are There Secular Reasons?

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/are-there-secular-reasons/

Hey Ya! Charlie Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGnYw-OuCnI

30 Best Pics of the year

http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2010/02/04/unrealitys-30-favorite-pictures-of-the-year/

Note, a couple of the 30 are popular due to the attractiveness of the women in them.  So here's a couple personal favorites if you don't want to see all 30.

If Only Twilight Ended Like This
Mind = Blown
A Health Care Protester We Can All Agree With
Seinfeld Summed Up in One Picture
Avahontas
There Are Two Sides to Every Story (my personal favorite)
Busters.  Myth Busters.

School Spying Scandal Gets Weird

http://techdirt.com/articles/20100221/2118128243.shtml

Division and Its Discontents - Math Post #3

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/division-and-its-discontents/

Ripples in the Sky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsDEfu8s1Lw

PA school system gives students laptops in order to spy on them

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/17/school-used-student.html

Information vs People

Having spent several years being very critical of the Church here in the states, I'm now realizing that much of what's wrong with the Church is exactly what's wrong with the culture.  It is perfectly reasonable that Americans do church in an American fashion.  It's unfortunate that you get the bad with the good, but it's normal.  So I from time to time may write some criticisms of the Church, but it is my intention here to highlight the bad aspects of our culture, illustrate how they manifest themselves in American ecclesiology, and remind myself and my readers to be more aware of how culture has shaped us.

Modernists place a higher priority on information than on people.  As the church has good reasons to reject post-modern sensibilities, it is also highly modern.  I think the best illustration of this is the advent of denominationalism.  New denominations form by a group of people leaving a denomination because that denomination has its facts about God and the Bible wrong.  In essence, they forsake all of the relationships they had built in order to maintain their loyalty to the correct information.  This point was made clear to me in my Baptist History class.  400 years of petty bickering and parting ways over who was more "right".

We can see this manifest itself in other ways.  The central focus of the Church is a weekly religious lecture.  And the quality of the information of that lecture is considered the most vital element to the health of the church.  Sunday school is another example, stuffing kids away into the corner until they have been sufficiently educated on God to participate with the adults.

The wrong response would be to desire to be in a different church where they did everything correctly.  The right response is to not be so worried about how the church does things, and to invest in people's lives.

"That's what she said."

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/failblog/~3/3REYW6Zbj20/

Making a Tough Call

"When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin. It works not because it settles the question for you, but because, in that brief moment when the coin is in the air, you suddenly know what you are hoping for."

"Too Late to Apologize" History Lesson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZfRaWAtBVg

Microsoft astronomically outdoes Google Maps

The video is 8min long but really cool.
http://techflash.com/seattle/2010/02/video_bing_maps_at_ted.html

Reagan's Star Wars brought to bear upon mosquitos

http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/02/12/176220/Directed-Energy-Weapon-Downs-Mosquitos

Math Blog Post #2

Here is the second post in a series on making math understandable to all.  It is both fascinating and enlightening, even to math dorks like myself.  I can't recommend it enough.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/rock-groups/

It's a mad, mad world

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/02/pentagon-looks-to-breed-immortal-synthetic-organisms-molecular-kill-switch-included/

A very interesting blog series on math

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/from-fish-to-infinity/

A comprehensive list of free online college courses

http://lifehacker.com/201979/technophilia-get-a-free-college-education-online

Seventies-tastic!

http://californiavans.arloartists.com/portfolios/22211-view-images

Scientific proof that the first cowboy to draw his gun dies in a duel

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2010/203/1

Communicating with vegetables

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8497148.stm

Some days I feel like I'm living in the future

http://www.livescience.com/technology/081017-bts-metal-foams.html

Political Correctness gone mad in UK

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1246201/Employer-told-advertise-reliable-workers--discriminates-unreliable-applicants.html

News mockery

http://funnyvideos.todaysbigthing.com/2010/01/28

Skydiver seeks to break sound barrier in free fall

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8475288.stm

Replace Your Lost Cellphone Charger for Free

http://lifehacker.com/5454709/replace-your-lost-cellphone-charger-for-free?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifehacker%2Ffull+%28Lifehacker%29

Scripture Memorization Webapp

Here is a webapp to help people memorize long passages of text, ideal for scripture memorization.
http://www.memorizenow.com/

Baseball bat skills

http://sports.todaysbigthing.com/2010/01/18

How to check bags so they never get lost or rifled through

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/09/expensive_camer.html

German Government recommends public stop using Internet Exploder

http://mashable.com/2010/01/15/german-government-stop-using-internet-explorer/

Men evolve (think micro evolution, not macro) faster than women, Woot!

http://www.wi.mit.edu/news/archives/2010/dp_0113.html

Golden Ratio at work at the quantum level

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2010/01/07/golden.ratio.discovered.a.quantum.world

Tim Hawkins FTW

http://timhawkins.net/video/government-can.html