Random riff of Sarah's favorite Christmas song

I needed some music therapy, and Sarah's been complaining that I never use the keyboard she gave me last Christmas. So, here you go, love! Your favorite Christmas song homemade with with plenty of nutritious keyboard craziness.

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Listen on posterous

 

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Anniversary 2: "Let's go to NYLO."

Two years ago, we said, “I do.” Today, we still does.

Sarah and I have a strange and wonderful relationship – I’m strange and she’s wonderful. But, somehow, she’s still smiling. In a world were so many couples struggle, what Sarah and I share is a cause for thankfulness, gratitude, pride and humility. And it’s a reason to celebrate.

So we did.

We staged a little “staycation” this weekend in our hometown, stayed at a fun place called NYLO, and lounged by the pool. It’s amazing how a short, simple getaway can be so fun when your best friend tags along!

She knew it must be Owen when:.... click to read more.... 

The Cheap Cabinet Blues

Things have been a little stressful around here, so last weekend we decided it was time for some art therapy.

We found this old Ethan Allen piece at a rummage sale for $29. According to the markings, it’s from about 1955. We have no idea what the cabinet’s original use was, but we like the random hatch on the top and the classy louvered doors....

Pictures and more at my new blog....

Krueger, Richard Simmons team up for exercise mask. For real.

Introducing...Rejuvenique the electrical exercise face mask...

It's one of Time's 50 Worst Inventions...

Posted via web from wild pansophia

Tonight, CNN races to call American children "racist." Not so fast...

CNN reports that biased racial attitudes begin forming in young children and that American black and white children are both biased toward whites. And, they say they have a scientific survey to back it up. 





It goes like this.


An interviewer shows a young white girl illustrations of girls lined up from lightest-skinned to darkest skinned. Then, the interviewer asks her questions like: "Which girl is the smartest?" and "Which one is the good girl?" She points to the lighter-skinned girls. When the interviewer asks, "Which girl is the bad girl?" the little white girl points to the darker-skinned illustrations.


Her mother looks on through a live camera feed and cries. Obviously, scientifically, her sweet little girls is a budding racist. Or is she?


Not so fast.


This poorly crafted survey is an example of what  researchers call a "confounding bias" introduced by how the questions were phrased and how the test was presented. I'm not making any comments about race or racism here. I'm only talking about the validity of the survey from a scientific standpoint, as a way to remind us all to be careful what we accept as "proof" of a particular point of view. Just because people in lab coats stand around with clipboards doesn't mean it's science.


In this survey's case, there are a number of problems:

• This girl had no option to chose that "none of the children are bad." She was forced to make a value judgment. 
• Lack of variables. No other visual characteristics like hair color/length, eye color, clothing or even position of light and dark illustrations in the line-up were introduced in the line of questioning. Would the girl have made a different choice if the darker-skinned illustrations where wearing purple dresses and the survey taker's favorite color happened to be purple? The survey doesn't rule out these possibilities.
• Because of the lack of variables introduced, no correlation can be drawn between the girl's choices and her racial attitudes. It's scientifically useless.

Since this survey did not introduce any other possible variables - say, asking the same question but with the illustrated children arranged in a different order in the visual, for example - the survey isn't scientifically conclusive.


But then, why would a black child point to the light-skinned child as being "good" or "smart"?


The survey's results say that even black children pointed to light-skinned illustrations as being the "good" or "smart" children. How could it be anything but the child reflecting a belief that light-skinned individuals are somehow better then them or, at least, better off socially?


Here's something else to consider. Children are not able to think abstractly at this young survey-takers's developmental stage. When she is picking a child out of the line up, she isn't drawing abstract conclusions about value based on skin color. Quite the opposite, she sees herself as a "good" and "smart" child, so she picks the illustration that "is like me." (If you watch the video, you'll see this is the case.)


This survey could just as easily be viewed as a measure of a child's self-esteem than a test of his/her views on an abstract race construct.  Why would a black child pick a light-skinned illustration as the "good" one? Maybe his or her parents and teachers have sent the dark-skinned child negative self-esteem messages. Therefore, the "good" child is the one that is opposite to them. That's a self-perception that would fall on the shoulders of parents, teachers, and other influences in the child's life.


Since the survey didn't test for these possible variables for the responses it gathered, it's interesting but scientifically useless. Again, this is not a defense of any kind of racist behavior. But, in the race to call young Americans "racist" I'm just flipping on the yellow light of caution.


Just because this survey is labeled "science" doesn't mean it's the genuine article.

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Wildman Reviews Dekker's Latest for thefish.com

In "The Bride Collector," Best-selling author Ted Dekker explores the line between genius and insanity through the eyes of a brilliant serial killer who thinks he's working for God.


Read more in my latest review for thefish.com...

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Live: The Rambling Grad & History Tour

We're scooting along through east Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Because we can. And to celebrate our man Tres' graduation. Track us live...at the party...on the road...and of the wall...

Things I don't trust #9: minivans sans hubs

Some things just scream "I am shady, don't trust me."

One of those things are minivans with no hubcaps.

You're trolling the parking lot for a spot to park your car. Then you spot this:

Are you really going to throw on your blinker, go for the empty space and assume this person will either:

1) see you and make a good decision to avoid a collision, or

2) decide not to ram you and take the spot anyway.

They might be a fine, sane, logical person. But...then again, there's a reason their van has no hubcaps. And I don't want to find out that reason the hard way.

So, when I see a minivan with no caps, I give them plenty of room to do whatever they want because minivans sans hubcaps are one of the things I don't trust.

On location in Plano

Every year, a group of adoptive parents and birth moms reunite at Arbor Hill Nature Preserve. Today, the Phosphorus crew captures their stories for an upcoming promo video for AdoptionWorks. Great shoot, heartwarming stories & fun crew = a great event!

Posted via email from wild pansophia

It's not another vampire novel: Wildman reviews Patterson's "Fang" for thefish.com

 

Don't judge this book by it's cover:

It's not another teen vampire novel.

It's something parents, teachers and teens can agree on.

And, it's the subject of my latest review for thefish.com. 

Hebrews: A Companion Guide

Hebrews: A Companion Guide

Click to read & download

 

From my other blog: Easter is a fun and meaningful holiday. It's a time to enjoy the emergence of Spring and celebrate with family and friends. Easter also marks a day we set aside to reflect on Christ's death and rejoice at his resurrection.

But, have you ever wondered why Jesus really died? What is the point of his sacrifice? What does it mean for us today? Hebrews: A Companion Guide is a free download that can help you answer these questions for yourself.

The Bible book of Hebrews is all about Jesus -- who he is, how he fits in with the Old Testament, what his sacrifice accomplished, and how all that impacts contemporary believers. The problem is that a lot of us are afraid to tackle Hebrews because it seems difficult to understand. We love to pick out an occasional inspiring verse, but we have a hard time figuring out what the message of the book as a whole.

Maybe this spring it's time for you to dig in to Hebrews and find out what it says about Jesus for yourself. And the Hebrews companion e-guide is here to help. Packed with background information and tips on interpretation, Hebrews: A Companion Guide is set up to go with you chapter-by-chapter through the book to help your personal study get off on the right foot.

Click on the book widget above to read it online or download the pdf file and print it out to tuck inside your Bible. It's totally free to use and pass along to others.

 

 

 

Posted via email from wild pansophia

Testing out Live Blogging from the Roughriders Game

Testing out coveritlive.com as a way to do live event blogging...I'll be trying to use my blackberry to start up the live blog and post to it in real time from tonight's Frisco Roughriders baseball game. Let's see how it goes...

 

Posted via web from wild pansophia

My new robot friends need names.

These two robots are always ready to give a helping hand. I met them during our visit to the UT @ Austin robotics lab. Josh introduced us to the robots, which are used for testing human interface programs. The robot being controled by the computer terminal uses an infrared camera to populate objects in a 3D space. With that data, Josh can see the area where the robot is operating on his monitor and click on objects he wants it to interact with.

The only problem? The robots need names!

Just the facts, ma'am. The art-i-facts.

Do you ever sit back and wonder what the bits and pieces of our modern lives say about what it means to be human? What we as people hope for, desire, despise, and value? The basic, nuts & bolts needs and assumptions we're using to build our lives as individuals and as a culture?

Archeologists use the artifacts left behind by a civilization to guess what that civilization considered important, what they believed, and what they desired to achieve. An unearthed scrap of pottery can reveal a lot information. Everything from technological advancements, to economic conditions, to the ideals of a culture can be reflected in the things they made, used, and left behind.

Such artifacts are valuable because they have both a function and a meaning. They do something for the person that used them and they say something about the people that made them. Sometimes the function and meaning of these objects are closely related. Sometimes they were quite distinct.

Artifacts don't have to be buried in the soil to be telling indicators of a culture.  You don't have to dig in your backyard for artifacts -- just dig in your closet. Clothes from the 1970's aren't really that old in the grand scheme of history. But to our modern eyes the tie-dye, polyester shorts, and Chuck Taylors of that decade are distant from us today. They are a reminder of the spirit of the times that inspired these fashion artifacts. A spirit that's somehow similar but very different from the spirit of our contemporary times.

Artifacts don't even have to be old. In fact, the clothes I'm wearing right now are artifacts that say something about me personally and my culture. We all know this. We know that what a person wears on their bodies is an expression of what's in their minds and on their hearts -- a small symbol of who they are. We check out each other's artifacts all the time. That's one reason why brand names are important to us.

So, looking at our clothes is an easy way to sit back and wonder what the bits and pieces of our modern lives say about what it means to be human. What about the other things? Maybe sit back, have some fun, spot a random object and try to think about what that thing says.

That's a conversation I could learn a lot from.

Our $15 Cabinet

A couple of weeks ago, we came across this cool old buffet sitting in a parking lot in Frisco. The solid old cabinet had obvious potential, but what was the best way to polish this diamond in the rough? We posted the pics, and friends gave some great ideas.

Well, here's our partial answer. A splash of color makes this piece pop. Using materials we had on hand, all the referb cost was a little elbow grease.

It was fun to save some money, and save this old buffet from the scrap heap. Total cost: $15.

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from wild pansophia

National Day of Unplugging: 10 commandments for high-tech Jews that we all could use

10 Principles for an Unplugged Day

1. Avoid technology.

2. Connect with loved ones.

3. Nurture your health.

4. Get outside.

5. Avoid commerce.

6. Light candles.

7. Drink wine.

8. Eat bread.

9. Find silence.

10. Give back.

 

Read more about the National Day of Unplugging from CNN: 

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/03/19/national.unplugging.day/index.html?hpt=Mid

Imagine not booting up, logging on, dialing up, downloading, streaming, hyper-texting, clicking, viewing, or browsing for one whole day. Sad to say, I don't know if I could really do it. It's worth a try....With all the chatter hushed, maybe I could even hear a still, small voice....

Bargain cabinet find. Now what?

We're all about deals. So when we came across this old cabinet/buffet sitting in a parking lot, we were intrigued. When we got down to $15 on the price, we couldn't refuse. Now the question is...what to do with it. It has lots of potential. And it needs a little attention. So, how do we fix it up? Ideas?

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from wild pansophia

Back up the truck, I'm dumping this stuff off the balcony...

Posted via email from wild pansophia

Pew Research Study: Young adults as religious as ever, but are less interested in church

Check out the article below from a recent USA Today...

Contrary to what we hear from today's church leaders, today's youth are no less spiritual than previous generations. The problem is Church - today's young people are much less interested in Church than the youth of yesteryear. Is it possible our "post-modern culture" that church leaders claim is the problem with America...really isn't the problem? If contemporary young adults are just as interested in religion as their parents, but less interested in attending church, then maybe church is the problem.

Every generation and every culture presents challenges to evangelism and discipleship. Let's complain less and work harder to find out what people need from church. We might have to make changes, but that's ok because we're not out for our own gain, right? Right. :)

Connecting God's dots can give you crazy pictures

Today has been a little discouraging. In the grand scheme of things, I have nothing to complain about. But right now I'm frustrated because I got two papers back and got a little roughed up on both of them. And the experience has me thinking about how we as people -- and as Christians -- interpret the things that happen in our lives.

Take my two bum papers, for example. Are they a sign? If so, what do they signal? Is God telling me to buckle down and do a better job next time? Or is he telling me to quit school because it's not His will for my life? Those are two very different possibilities that use the same evidence.  But I know people who base major decisions on the events in their lives because they connect the dots and think they see God will.

place place a in for everything its everything

As people, we are born with a strong desire to make sense the world around us. We seek to arrange everything we encounter inside a framework that organizes them, gives them context, and assigns them meaning. That's why you puzzled over the bold line of words above this paragraph for a few minutes before moving on. Your instincts told you that those words were there for a reason, that they somehow related to each other and that together they expressed meaning. In other words, you assumed there was...

A place for everything and everything in its place.

That's ok. It's totally natural.

As Christians, we have an extra layer we like to apply to help assign meaning to the events, sights, sounds, and people in our lives -- God. We believe that God is in control and he is organizing the scattered bits of our experience into a coherent sequence for a directed purpose. God, we think, is sovereign and he is scripting history -- including our history -- into a meaningful story.

Even if we can't comprehend it now, God is placing everything in its place. Normal people don't buy that, but we believe it. And we should, because that's how the Bible presents it.

Our faith is the problem

But in this regard, our faith can be a problem for us as believers. We so much want to assign meaning to what is happing in the world right now, that we jump the gun. We try to tell ourselves and others what God is up to in a specific situation, even though we don't always know for sure. In fact, a lot of times we get it wrong. Like Pat Robertson claiming the earthquake in Haiti is God's judgment for their sins. He's wanting to make sense of the situation, so gives it a meaning based on what he thinks God is up to.

Robertson is an extreme example, I admit. But, all of us Christians do the same thing - interpreting life in a way that fits our ideas about God and about how we want the story He's writing to turn out. I do it. We believe in God's sovereignty so strongly that we jump to conclusions too quickly.

This quote from N.T Wright sums it up:

One of the key words [in interpreting history] is Paul's little word perhaps, which he uses in Philemon...'Perhaps this is why Onesimus was parted from me for a while, so that you could have him back not just as a slave but as a brother' (Philemon 15). When Christians try to read off what God is doing even in their own situations, such claims always have to carry the word perhaps about with them as a mark of humility and of the necessary reticence of faith. That doesn't mean that such claims can't be made, but that they need to be made with a "perhaps' which is always inviting God to come in and say, 'Well, actually, no" (Christianity Today, April, 2001 p. 47).

So, I'm not going to make any bold claims or drastic conclusions because I got two bad grades in a row. Perhaps God is telling me to quit school, grab a camera and move to Africa. But I'm going to have to see a lot more of my story play out before I connect the dots that way.

And I guess the lesson is, be careful when you think God's telling you something based on a few circumstances. You and God might wind up having very different ideas about the meaning. It's best to let him put everything in its place...in His own time.

Posted via email from wild pansophia

Snow: The Vocal Edition

A while back, I posted a little musical mix called, "Snow."

Well, here's a little update on that. It's the vocal edition, complete with lyrics. Here it goes: click here to listen....
Snow in the City  

Tea with Hezbollah: I review Ted Dekker for crosswalk.com

Ted Dekker is known for his fiction. But this time, he writes about his own personal experiences interviewing influential Islamic leaders in the Middle East.
What Dekker asks these "enemies" of America may surprise you.

Is this a book for you? Read my review at crosswalk.com.

McReps & McDems Alike Should Cry at Bayh's Goodbye

Cooler heads in Congress head for the exits.

Wow, the current administration and Congress are even too liberal for members of their own party.

Sen. Evan Bayh, a 12 year veteran and moderate Democrat, says he won't run for reelection because Congress "is not operating as it should" and he's tired of the "strident partisanship," CNN reports. Good news for all the Republican fans, right?

Wrong.

I think Bayh and his fellow long-term members on both sides of the aisle see the handwriting on the wall. America's going to be very hard on incumbents this election cycle, Reps and Dems alike. Bayh doesn't want to be the guy who loses his seat to the other team.

The real loser? The American people. Centrist members in both parties have been the quiet workhorses of government for years with their ability to see issues from other points of view and strike deals that suit everyone and not just advance their party's agenda. Now their number is shrinking as the cooler heads in Congress head for the exits.

The increasing polarizing of American politics into only two opposing viewpoints is exceptionally dangerous. Each party will simply resort to exponentially extreme behavior in order to make it clear to voters that, "Hey, at least we're not those other guys." More posturing, less real action by both parties results.

We have decades of disinterested, uninformed voters to thank for giving Reps and Dems the need to caricature themselves and make the choice easy for people who'd rather not have to think too hard. Gone are the days when someone is elected for their personal skills and viewpoints, and not for their party label. 

Now, America votes for their preferred party like they cheer for their favorite sports team or choose their favorite fast food chain. Sure, with McDems and McReps you always know what you're going to get, but what you get won't be very good for you. 

Its easier that way, because all that takes is being able to read the letters "D" and "R" at the ballot box. Soon, we won't even need names on ballots. We'll simply put pictures of elephants and donkeys on the screen and select our government like we order our value meals.

"Thank you for voting, America. Would you like fries with that?"

   

What snow in the city sounds like to me

So, when I have a snow day crazy things can happen. Garageband things. Looking out at all those fluffy flakes floating down inspired me to pull out the keyboard Sarah gave me for Christmas and scratch out a few notes...

For all of us watching snow flutter past our porch lights tonight, here's what snow sounds like in the city...

The Future of Reading: How magazines can be better than ever

Apple's iPad has been unveiled, and it's potential as a web browser and electronic book reader has people like Josh Quitter thinking about the future of reading in an outstanding, forward-thinking piece focused on how the Internet could impact traditional print magazines.

Personally, I love magazines. I think they have the best chance of any current print format to survive the switch to digital because mags already integrate multiple media.

The visual component is an integral part of the experience. If properly harnessed, the multi-media capacity of the web allows for a richer reader experience than print alone. With the web, features like supporting video, interview audio, and flash animated maps and charts can be used along with the typical photos and graphics.

To survive, magazine outfits need to take three steps:

1. Offer full digital versions for much lower subscription costs than on newsstands.

2. Use the money they save from print production to flood the virtual pages with interactive multi-media content. Maps to click, drag, and scale. Photo slideshows. Audio and video from the interviews. Interactive charts. Links for further reading from past issues.

3. Boost interactivity by providing comment and response mechanisms for digital edition consumers. Schedule chats with the author. Allow a reader to annotate a portion of the article, make comments and publish them to the page. Other viewers could opt to see these annotations - like a collaborative pdf document.

Perhaps the changing tastes of readers is a by-product of a more formally educated population than we had 30 years ago. In college, you can't get by with writing a paper and citing only one source. In college, you learn that most people's writing is influenced by their personal views and not fully objective. As you are exposed to a variety of ideas, you find that often every perspective on a topic has some foundation in fact and can contribute to the discussion.

Perhaps that's why the next generation of readers wants conversation as much as they want information. They want their news and information from multiple sources and from a variety of perspectives. They don't merely want to be told, they want to be shown.

This is a lesson that every traditional medium can learn from as we transition to an increasingly digital age.

  

A book about a book about me?

If I were to write a book someday -- I mean a work of fiction -- I know what I would write. It would be a book about me writing a book about me.

A first person account of me constructing a third person account about myself for national consumption.

The me I would write about writing about wouldn't be a Me that friends would recognize. Neither "Me" (the one writing and the one writing about the process of writing) would be me exactly. They would be the Me's I would be if I let me be myself without being concerned with convention or with being comprehended.

Me (both of them) would be the character I wish I could be or that I'm relieved I'm not -- depending on my mood.

The first person third person autobiography would most likely poke fun at how most people construct what they think is reality based on their desire to be accepted by others based on their perception of what other accept.

And it would be a chance for me (this Me) to write like I think and not translate my thoughts into conventionally composed, single themed streams so others can follow. I could write in rivers, not streams.

"The Convention" would be a good title. That's where Me would get inspired to leave and write about himself. He would write a journal about writing a book about himself while dabbling in writing the book. The journal would be first person and the book would be third person.

And that's how I would write about me writing about Me.
  

What's your Life Clock say? Check the time on the Life Clock Calculator

Do you know what time it is? I'm not talking about checking your watch for how many hours and minutes that have passed in this current day. I'm talking about what time it is in your life...what's the reading on your Life Clock?

On your Life Clock, your 80-year lifespan is represented as a single, 24-hour day. Each day you live moves the hands of your Life Clock forward, starting at 12:00AM when you are born and ending when you finish your 80th year and the clock strikes midnight. Where the hands of the clock are right now is your Life Time.

There's something about looking at a clock that gives you a great visual reference for where you are in your day. 7am? Time to leave for work. 12:55pm? Lunch is over, time to get back to work. 9:13pm? Last chance to call your Mom to wish her happy birthday. Thanks to the clock, you know where you are in relation to the activities of the day and you can budget your time accordingly.

So, what if you could do something similar for your entire lifespan? What if we could look at a clock and see how much of our life we've spent and how much remains?

Follow steps below to find out what time your Life Clock reads right now. You'll need about 3 minutes and a calculator.

1. Find out how many days you've lived by filling out this Days Calculator. The "start date" is your birthday. The "end date" is today.
2. Multiply the days you've lived by 3. This is the number of seconds you've lived on your Life Clock.
3. Divide the answer from step 2 by 60. This is the number of Life Clock hours.
4. Round the answer from step 3 to the nearest whole number. Use this Quotient / Remainder calculator divide your whole number by 60. The quotient = the hour on your Life Clock. The remainder = the minutes on your Life Clock. For example: If your quotient = 8 and remainder = 24, then your Life Clock reading is 8:24AM. This is your Life Time.
5. REMEMBER: The Life Clock calculator gives your Life Time in a 24-hour (military) format. If you are over 40 years of age, you can subtract 12 from the quotient to give your hours in a 12-hour format. If you to this, don't forget that your Life Clock reading with be PM not AM.

We're found out our Life Time...so now what?

The years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. The days of our lives add up to seventy years, or eighty, if one is especially strong... Yes, they pass quickly and we fly away...So teach us to consider our mortality, so that we might live wisely. (Psalms 90:9b-10,12)

    

the other side of the fence

the other side of the fence, originally uploaded by thewildpeople.

The worst thing about growing up is that as you get bigger, the world gets smaller. The world, and everything in it.

A few days after Christmas, I revisited the old neighborhood. My fuzzy blond head peeked up behind this white fence for the first twelve years of my life.

My chin once strained to rest on the top of the slats as my blue eyes elevated in search of the ice cream truck. It never occurred to me that all the other chins and eyes on the fence were brown. Or that most of of the treats on the truck were Mexican candy.

Now, the fence ends at my waist. Now I have no difficulty seeing over it.

The yard offered plenty of room to shoot water guns, practice soccer kicks, and shove paper balls of gunpowder down ant hills, light them and run behind a tree to wait for the victorious snap. Now, the truck I'm in rumbles past the entire ramshackle estate in less than a second.

Don't blink or you'll miss it. Unless you want to miss it. Then, go ahead and blink. I couldn't decide which I wanted, so I closed one eye, squinted through the other and took this picture.

In my memories, the fence, the yard, the house -- the world -- all seemed so much larger. I think I liked Big World. More space for possibilities. More room to run. And back then, I didn't know why the rich kids from church on the north side of town never wanted to come over.

The world's smaller now. And everything in it.

Not sure what this even means...

I didn't know the words
until I heard the song.
I didn't know my place
until my place was gone.
I didn't see the sunshine
until the night was long.
I didn't know the words
until I heard the song.