New U2 Video

Here's a new U2 Video. I can't imagine how long it took to put this together.



[ht: transitionpete]

Unexpected Pleasures

I noticed something this year that I hadn’t noticed before. Unexpected pleasures are better than expected pleasures. Let me explain.

Around Christmas lots of people exchange gifts. We know that we are going to get presents from certain people. We know our spouse is going to give us something. We know our kids are going to give us something. We know that we will get something from the office gift exchange. The list goes on and on. In a way, we expected those gifts. Don’t get me wrong, we like or even love those gifts and the people who give them to us. They are precious. But we still expect them. It’s an expected pleasure.

Once in awhile we are surprised and someone we never imagined gives us a little something. Usually it’s not a big thing, just a small little thing that says, I’m thinking of you. It’s unexpected and I find that it gives me pleasure. I can’t really verbalize why, but those little unexpected things are quite nice. That unexpected pleasure really cuts through all the junk of Christmas and hits home.

High on my list for next year is to be involved with more unexpected pleasures for other folks.

An Engineer's Thoughts About Christmas

There are approximately 378 million Christian children in the world according to the Population Reference Bureau. At an average census rate of 3.5 children per household that comes to 108 million homes, presuming that there is at least one good child in each.

Santa has about 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west. This works out to 967.7 visits per second. This is to say that for each household with a good child, Santa has around 1/1000th of a second to park the sleigh; hop out; jump down the chimney; fill the stockings; distribute the remaining presents under the tree; eat whatever snacks have been left for him; get back up the chimney; jump into the sleigh; and get on to the next house.

Assuming that each of these 108 million stops is evenly distributed around the earth which, of course, we know to be false, but will accept for the purposes of our calculations, we are now talking about 0.78 miles per household--a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting bathroom stops or breaks. This means Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second--3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second, and a conventional reindeer can run at best 15 miles per hour.

The payload of the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium sized Lego set weighing two pounds, the sleigh is carrying over 500,000 tons, not counting Santa himself. On land, a conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that the flying reindeer could pull ten times the normal amount, the job can't be done with nine of them--Santa would need 360,000 of them. This increases the payload, not counting the weight of the sleigh, another 54,000 tons, or roughly seven times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth, the ship not the monarch.

Six hundred thousand tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance--this would heat up the reindeer in the same fashion as a spacecraft re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer would absorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy per second each. In short, they would burst into flames almost instantaneously. The entire reindeer team would be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second, or right about the time Santa reached the fifth house on his trip.

Not that it matters, however, since Santa, as a result of acceleration from a dead stop to 650 miles per second in one-thousandth of a second, would be subjected to centrifugal forces of 17,500 g's. A 250 pound Santa which seems ludicrously slim would be pinned to the back of the sleigh by 4.3 millions pounds of force, instantly crushing his bones and organs and reducing him to a quivering blob of pink goo.

Therefore, if Santa did exist, he's dead now.


Merry Christmas!

The Holiday Season

The holiday season is a time for gathering and celebrating with friends and family, gift-giving and general cheer and rejoicing. To commemorate this time of year, the U.S. Census Bureau presents the following holiday-related facts and figures from its data collection.

It’s in the Mail ...

20 billion
Number of letters, packages and cards the U.S. Postal Service expects to deliver between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. The busiest mailing day this year is expected to be Dec. 18, with more than twice as many cards and letters being processed as the average on any given day.

About 12 million
Number of packages delivered by the U.S. Postal Service every day through Christmas Eve. The busiest delivery day: Dec. 20.

The December Rush to the Stores – Last Year

$31.7 billion
Retail sales by the nation’s department stores (including leased departments) in December 2005. This represented a 47 percent jump from the previous month (when retail sales, many Christmas-related, registered $21.7 billion). No other month-to-month increase in department store sales last year was as large.

Other U.S. retailers with sizable jumps in sales between November and December 2005 were book stores (96 percent); clothing stores (49 percent); jewelry stores (174 percent); radio, TV and other electronics stores (54 percent); and sporting goods stores (67 percent).

14 percent
The proportion of total 2005 sales for department stores (including leased departments) that took place in December. For jewelry stores, the percentage was 24 percent.

23 percent
The proportion of growth in inventories by our nation’s department stores (excluding leased departments) between the end of August and the end of November 2005. Thanks to the holiday crowds, inventories plummeted by 23 percent in December.

Note: Leased departments are separately owned businesses operated as departments or concessions of other service establishments or of retail businesses, such as a separately owned shoeshine parlor in a barber shop, or a beauty shop in a department store. Also, retail sales estimates have not been adjusted to account for seasonal or pricing variations.

1.8 million
The number of people employed at department stores in December 2005. Retail employment typically swells during the holiday season, last year rising by an estimated 46,600 from November and 186,400 from October.

$19.4 billion
Value of retail sales by electronic shopping and mail-order houses in December 2005 – easily the highest total for any month last year.

$27.1 billion
The value of total retail e-commerce sales for the fourth quarter of 2005. This amount represented 2.7 percent of total retail sales over the period and exceeded e-commerce sales for all other quarters of the year. E-commerce sales were up 23 percent from the fourth quarter of 2004.

15,626
The number of electronic shopping and mail-order houses in business in 2004. These businesses, which employed 261,646 workers, are a popular source of holiday gifts. Their sales: $147 billion, of which 35 percent were attributable to e-commerce. California led the nation in the number of these establishments and their employees, with 2,322 and 30,619, respectively.

If you’re not sure where to do your shopping, choices of retail establishments abound: In 2004, there were 149,831 clothing and clothing accessories stores; 9,360 department stores; 10,345 hobby, toy and game shops; 33,956 gift, novelty and souvenir shops; 22,902 sporting goods stores; 28,772 jewelry stores; and 11,218 book stores across the nation.

48,695
The number of malls and shopping centers dotting the U.S. landscape as of 2005, a total that increased by approximately 12,000 since 1990. (Source: Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007.)

Christmas Trees and Decorations

$485 million
The amount of money the nation’s Christmas tree farmers received from tree sales in 2005. Oregon was the top state in tree sales ($126 million), followed by North Carolina, Washington and Michigan.

$605 million
The value of U.S. imports of Christmas tree ornaments from China between January and August 2006. China was the leading country of origin for such items. Similarly, China was the leading foreign source of artificial Christmas trees shipped to the United States ($65 million worth) during the same period.

Where the Toys Are ... Made

116
Number of establishments around the country that primarily manufactured dolls and stuffed toys in 2004; they employed 2,386 people. California led the nation with 17 such locations.

723
The number of locations that primarily produced games, toys and children’s vehicles in 2004; they employed 16,465 workers. California led the nation with 117 establishments.

$3.2 billion
Total value of shipments for dolls, toys and games by manufacturers in 2004.

$639 million
The value of U.S. imports of stuffed toys (excluding dolls) from China between January and August 2006. China was the leading country of origin for stuffed toys coming into this country, as well as for a number of other popular holiday gifts that were imported. These include electric trains ($65 million), puzzles ($49 million), roller skates ($82 million), sports footwear ($215 million), golf equipment ($47 million) and basketballs ($30 million). China barely edged out Canada as the leading supplier of ice skates ($6.7 million versus $6.6 million), with Thailand ranking third ($4.9 million).

Holiday Names

Places whose names are associated with the holiday season include North Pole, Alaska (population 1,778 in 2005); Santa Claus, Ind. (2,283); Santa Claus, Ga. (242); Noel, Mo. (1,515); and — if you know about reindeer — the village of Rudolph, Wis. (422). On top of that there is Snowflake, Ariz. (4,958); Dasher, Ga. (807); and a dozen places named Holly, including Holly Springs, Miss., and Mount Holly, N.C.

Hanukkah

One-half
Proportion of the nation’s spuds produced in Idaho and Washington in 2005. Potato latkes are always a crowd pleaser during Hanukkah. http://www.nass.usda.gov/


Source - here

Sound Matters

If you’ve been following my blog, you know they tore down the building next to us in August to build a new high rise condo. (see Follow up on building demolition) After the demo and cleanup, a crew pushed dirt around for a while. They’d move the dirt back and forth. Dig holes and fill them up again. Watching the crew reminded me of being 8 years old and playing with my trucks in the dirt. There was no real goal, just moving dirt around. It looked a bit fun actually.

After that crew left, the construction crew came. And once again they began moving dirt around. They’d pile here and there. Dig holes, and then fill them up again. Then they appeared to get serious. Someone showed up with a big stack of plans and some surveying gear. Measurements were carefully made and marked. And once again they begin digging holes. They seemed to have a little more purpose this time. The purpose of these holes is still a mystery. I admit that I know next to nothing about building a 16 story high rise. To my untrained mind, shallow holes (maybe 4 feet deep) don’t seem substantial enough to be the foundation. I guess time will tell.

The digging of these holes was interesting to watch. The big backhoe would be digging away, then it would stop and men in orange vests and hard hats would congregate and look at the hole. There would be much pointing, handing waving and gesturing. Sometimes they would consult the big book of plans which would be followed by more hand waving and gesturing. Then the big backhoe would dig some more. And the whole process would repeat itself over and over again.

From my perspective, this was very humorous. A bit like the old silent films of the Keystone Cops. If I could have sped it up a little, almost exactly like the Keystone Cops. Now I am sure the men were having a very technical discussion about the hole. Is it deep enough? Wide enough? Are the sides caving in? There are all kinds of neat things to talk about in regards to holes, I guess. However, since I couldn’t hear them and could only watch their hand waving, it made no sense to me. You see, sound matters. Being able to hear and understand changes the Keystone Cops into trained individuals who know how to build high rise buildings. Building high rise condos requires a good deal of technical knowledge. But without sound, it doesn’t work.

I wonder how many times people watch Christians go about their business, but they just don’t get it because there is no sound. They watch Christians do things, but they don’t understand why those things are being done. Does it make Christians look like the Keystone Cops? Saint Francis of Assisi is quoted as saying, “Preach the gospel at all times – if necessary, use words.” We should live a life that sets an example, but don’t leave it as just an example. Sound matters. Use words and tell someone about a God who loves them very much. That’s what Christmas is supposed to be about anyway, isn’t it?

Religious Christmas cards?

I had to swing by the card shop today to pick up a couple of cards. As you might imagine, the card shop is completely awash in Christmas. There's Christmas ornaments, knick-knacks, stockings and cards (naturally). Very festive actually. I didn't need Christmas cards, so I was over in the corner where are the non-Christmas cards had been moved to make room for Christmas. As I was browsing the slim pickings of non-Christmas cards, I over heard an elderly women asking the the clerk where the religious Christmas cards where. I wasn't eves dropping, it was really easy to hear her. Apparently she was hard of hearing and assumed everyone else was too.

But her very innocent, and appropriate, question completely stumped the clerk. Where were the religious Christmas cards? They spent a few minutes looking and even brought in another clerk to help in the search. They finally found 3 whole religious Christmas cards! Wow. Two isles of Christmas cards, and 3 are religious. Man, what kind of ratio is that? I should point out that this particular card shop stocks an entire section of Christian cards, yet they could only manage 3 religious Christmas cards. Truly sad...

I wonder what Christmas would be like if it was really about Christ?

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. It's not the football - although I like football. It's not the awesome meal - although I don't turn down too many good meals. It's not hanging out with family and friends, although I certainly do love hanging out with family and friends. These are all great and wonderful things, but they are not the reason I love Thanksgiving.

I love Thanksgiving for its simplicity and pureness. Think about it for second. All other holidays have been commercialized beyond comprehension. Christmas, New Years, Halloween, Valentines day, even 4th of July have all be commercialized. They are about buying stuff that you need for “perfect” holiday. Presents, cards, candy, fireworks, etc. etc. We’ve lost the reason for these holidays; they are just commercials for big companies to make some big money. Certainly Christmas is the worst, but the other holidays are catching up quickly. There’s no pressure for any of this on Thanksgiving. Sure we all probably spend a little more time making a bigger meal. We spend a little more food, maybe a little more gas to drive to someone’s house and certainly the turkey industry has a great season. But Thanksgiving isn’t about how much you spend, or what you get, or sending cards, it’s simply about being thankful.

Part of Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation of Thanksgiving reads

“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God… They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

I like that. Spend time giving thanks. In our society we seem to spend a lot more time complaining than we do giving thanks. I wonder what our relationships with our family members would be like if we more thankful for that fact that they are in our lives. I wonder if we’d be happier on the job if we were thankful for the work and paycheck. I wonder if we’d be involved with our government (ie, we’d vote at election time) if we if we were thankful that we live in a republic that practices democracy. I wonder if we’d be more content with our house or car, if we were more thankful that we have a place to live and we don’t have to walk. I believe having a spirit of thankfulness would have a huge impact on our daily lives.

I hope you take just a moment or two this holiday and give thanks, it’s important.

LineRider

If you haven't played this little gem, you need to. It's simple and fairly addictive too. :-)

www.linerider.com

Are you ready?

That phrase can have a somewhat negative connotation to it. It’s almost like, “I’m ready, but I’m not so sure about you.” But it’s a question that we are asked and that we ask ourselves fairly often. Especially when we are wondering about something that we aren’t sure we are ready to undertake. Maybe you are learning to play an instrument and you try to play a piece of music above your skill level. Maybe you are learning to play a sport and you try to do something that is more advanced than your skill set. Maybe you are in a relationship and you push too soon, too fast and the other person isn’t ready for that level of commitment yet. Possibly you are trying to get into shape and you want to go run the LA Marathon long before you are ready to attempt such a physical undertaking. We experience, and watch our friends experience, things like this all the time. It seems like we are always hearing about stories like this. We try to do something we aren’t ready to do – and usually with poor results.

On the other hand, it seems that we need to try to do new things all the time to continue our growth. If I am playing the guitar, I just can’t play the same entry level songs all the time. At some point I need to try a more difficult song. I need to advance, to learn something new. The same thing is true with sports, getting fit and even relationships. We need to get better, or have a deeper/fuller relationship. It’s generally not healthy to just stay at the same spot or level all the time.

This presents an interesting conundrum. We need to advance, to learn, to move forward, but only when we are ready. How do we know when we are ready? How do we know if we are moving too slowly or too quickly? How do we maintain balance and keep moving forward and growing, but at the appropriate pace?

Schools have done a reasonable job at this. Students have certain levels that they should maintain and then they can move forward to the next level (class). But even the with all the years and effort that have been put into the educational system, it’s not perfect. Not every student performs well under that system. Some bloom early, some bloom late. Some students are great at memorization, some do better at application of principles, some are creative, and some are logical. We are all just a little different. So I’m not sure there is one answer to question of “am I ready for the next step?”. I think each of us is going to move through life slightly differently.

While there is no one answer that works for every situation, I think there are some principles we can apply.

1. Honest evaluation. Often times we aren’t honest with ourselves. When evaluating whether you are ready or not, don’t answer with what you’d like or wish to hear, but with reality. If you know you’ve only been playing the guitar for 2 months, then you know that you aren’t ready to play Eddie Van Halen’s toughest licks. Also some things are just going to take a while. If you are trying to recover from the loss of a loved one, or you are in recovery for an addiction, or you’re trying to recover from a life time of physical, emotional or sexual abuse – please realize that this is going to take a while. Be honest with your evaluation of where you are in that process.

2. Get the opinion of a trusted person. You’re best friend might not be your best option for this. They may not be as honest with you because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. But get the opinion of someone who you know will be honest. See if their evaluation of your progress matches with your evaluation.

3. Be prepared for growth bursts and defining moments. Things rarely grow linearly. They grow, then plateau, then grow again. My kids have huge growth burst now and again. All of the sudden they are inches taller than they were. Be prepared for God ordained growth bursts. I’m sure Noah didn’t think he was ready to build an ark. I wonder if Benaiah realized that the snowy day he went down into the pit with the lion and killed it was going to be recorded in history for everyone to read (reference 2 Samuel 23:20). There are moments when we grow and we are ready.

Now let’s ask the same question we asked at the beginning, this time with a positive connotation. Are you ready? Are you ready for what God wants to do in your life?

It's been quiet...

Yea, I know it's been a little quiet here. Sorry.

I've got a couple of things brewing in the back of my head that I need to ponder about a bit more before I am ready to write something. But something is coming.

I also have a new toy that I've been playing with (for the church). New toys are always fun! This one is fun because it gives us a lot more capability at church - but it's also more work. Nothing is free, eh? Come to church this week and you'll see the new toy in action. More later...

Hurry up!

Have you noticed that when you try to rush through something, that’s when things are most likely to go wrong? The other day I was headed to work on the freeway when I saw a dramatic demonstration of this principle.

There was a California Highway Patrol (CHP) on the freeway and as usually happens, traffic was backing up behind the officer. I was in the number one lane (fast lane) as an impatient Porsche driver came up in the slow lane going much faster than we were going. It looked like the Porsche was going to try to pass two cars and then cut in front of them to make the off ramp. As the Porsche rapidly passed the two cars, he noticed the CHP and dramatically slowed down. It looked like the Porsche driver wanted to get between the two cars in the slow lane to hide from the CHP, however there was no room for him to fit there. The second car in the slow lane took that exact moment to speed up and pull out from behind the slower car in front. There are now three cars headed for the exact same spot on the freeway. You can imagine what happened next, which was rather exciting, given that I was on a motorcycle only two lanes away.

Those drivers were in a big hurry to get somewhere, probably work. (How big of a hurry do you need to be in at 6AM?) The Porsche driver was trying to save all of 2.3 seconds by passing those two cars. In the end, it cost him a bunch more time and hassle. The “hurry up” attitude cost him way more than it was ever going to save him. It was a bad gamble. An accident at 70 MPH on the freeway can turn into a disaster in a big hurry. I know that I can sometimes do that same thing. I have tendencies to be impatient. I often want to get things done quickly, to be efficient. But I’m not convinced that’s always a good plan.

I wonder how many other times in our lives we make poor decisions in an effort to hurry up. We can be tempted to make poor financial decisions in an effort to make big money in a hurry. We eat poorly (fast food) so that we can be done quicker. Rush through tasks at work. Even in our spiritual life we can tend to want to hurry up and rush through. We might be tempted to race through our devotion so we can get on with the day. Or maybe our quiet time is only a few seconds. In all these cases, we often hurt ourselves more than we help ourselves. So why do we continue with the “hurry up” attitude? Especially when we are talking about our spiritual lives, the consequences have eternal implications. Why does such a small gain seem worth the risk?

Tomorrow let’s try something different. Be efficient. Be on time. Be prompt, but don’t rush. Take your time. Do it right. Don’t be an accident.

Time Change

Remember, tonight the clocks go BACK one hour.

Whooo Hoooo for an extra hour of sleep.

Boooo Hoooo for it getting dark at 5pm.

Time for New Wallpaper?

No, not the wallpaper that you hang in your house, the wallpaper on your desktop. Are you tired of your current desktop wallpaper but you don't have a brilliant idea for something else? Check out Wallpapr (yes, that's spelled correctly). Type in a search term and see what turns up.

Video IPods have a Virus

Not just any virus, but (horrors of all horrors) a Windows (gasp!) virus. (Bill falls to the floor in hysterical laughter.) Oh man, that’s just too rich! I couldn’t make up a better story than that.

I don’t have anything against Macs or IPods. In fact we own a couple of IPods. I’ve even given serious thought to switching to a Mac. Some of you greybeards will remember the Amiga – I owned several of them through the years. I’m not afraid of going down a different path than Microsoft, but I digress. So this isn’t Mac bashing for the sake of Mac bashing. In this case, I think they earned it. Recent Mac ads have been, well, blatantly untrue. I guess the hip Mac computer and the stogie PC computer ads where the computers are played by humans are ok. But some of things Mac says, or strongly implies, are just flat out lies. Like Macs can’t get viruses. Macs can and do get viruses. It’s just that virus writers channel their efforts to PCs which hold something like 90% of the market instead of going after the much smaller Mac market. That doesn’t mean Macs are immune to viruses, it means virus writers go after the big market – doh. So when a Mac product gets a WINDOWS virus and it ships from the Apple that way – you just have to love that. Irony at it’s finest.

Apple’s website had this statement. “As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it.” Wow. Let’s think about that for a second. First of all, Apple follows the time honored principal of blaming someone else before accepting any blame yourself. Good marketing Apple. Not! They also seem to imply that Microsoft wrote this virus (or any virus) just to get Mac. Good grief. Secondly, if Macs can’t get viruses (Apples own advertising claim), then that means Mac must be using Windows machines to build/program Video IPods. How else would the IPod get the virus? Certainly the almighty Mac can do everything on its own. They wouldn’t use Windows machines, would they? It just keeps getting better. It’s not even a new virus. It’s been around for over a year. EVERY anti-virus program on the planet detects and stops this virus. (It’s not too obvious that I am enjoying this, is it?)

To paraphrase the popular bumper sticker, “Stuff Happens.” In fairness to Apple, I’m sure it was an accident. I’m also pretty sure somebody is losing their job over this as Mac managers fly into a rage. But when you put yourself up as the better product that can’t get viruses, you better make sure that’s true. You’ve set yourself up to be held against a higher standard. I’ve got nothing against high standards. In fact, I often campaign for higher standards. But the truth is no one lives up to their standards all the time. We all mess up and fall short. I think the goal is to try and make sure no one is watching when it happens. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for Apple.

Christians also fall short of their standards. And when we do, popular society often says, “What a bunch of hypocrites! They don’t practice what they preach.” But I think a more accurate truth is, “Stuff Happens.” Maybe Christianity would be better served if we didn’t set ourselves up as the holders of all truth. We often present ourselves as having all the answers. So when something happens and it is obvious that Christians don’t have all the answers, the natural thing is to question our claims. I wonder if Christians would be better served by a more humble approach. Instead of claiming to have all the answers, I wonder if we should just claim to be in search of answers? Instead of declaring everything as black and white, maybe we need to admit that sometimes there appears to be a big gray area. I’m not sure that God sees those grey areas the same way we do, but they sure do look like grey areas to us. I wonder if admitting that we struggle to find the answers would make Christianity more appealing to non-Christians?

Thoughts?

Powers of Ten

This has been around for a while, but just in case, here it is again.

Click here to watch as we zoom in from outer space to the space inside of a cell. Viewing this always gives me at least two different feelings. The first is "how cool is that". The second is "How small and insignificant am I?"

Fortunately God doesn't seem to care how insignificant I am. He loves me anyway.

A Consistent Picture

Volvo has an interesting history of advertising. You may remember when we found out that the company that advertised itself as the safest car on the planet cheated when making their ads. They reinforced the cars so after they rolled over, they didn’t look too smashed up. Strike 1. You may remember when a car company that wanted to be known as the safest car decided to start advertising that they were fast. They were faster than a Porsche even. Huh? Since when do ‘being safe’ and ‘massive amounts of acceleration’ go hand in hand? Strike 2.

Now they have a new campaign, ‘Who would you give a Volvo to?’ Interesting. The ad seems to play off our selflessness. It addresses how much we care about the people we love. We want to love them and protect them with a safe car, so we should give them a Volvo. You can go to their website and submit a story about how someone ‘deserves’ a Volvo. But that’s about it. Volvo is not giving away 10 cars, or 5 cars, or 3 cars or even 1 car. They think we should give away their cars, but not them. They want us to be selfless, but not themselves. Strike 3. I believe Volvo needs a new ad agency. These ads are broken, as Seth Godin would say. They don’t make sense. They don’t give us a consistent picture.

I wonder how often we do the same thing with church. Are we being consistent? In church-speak we say “practice what you preach.” It’s good to be true to what you believe and do the things you say. But I think it should go much deeper than that. Are we presenting a consistent picture of who we are and what we are about to the people around us? Do we confuse people when they come to visit our church? Think about it from the point of view of someone who doesn’t usually come to church. We talk about love for God and our fellow man, yet many churches have a big cross (some even have a dying Jesus on it) as their main symbol to reach the masses with. I don’t know about you, but it appears to me that the cross doesn’t appear to speak about love to someone who doesn’t know what it’s about. The cross appears to talk about pain and death, not love. I'm not suggesting that all the churches should get rid of their crosses. But we should be aware that it takes a fair amount of understanding as to why the cross represents love. We talk about caring for our fellow man, yet when was the last time we did something for our fellow man – besides inviting him to a church event? Oh sure, we give a couple of cans of food at Thanksgiving, but I mean really DID something – got sweaty, smelly and worn out. Imagine, entire churches actively involved in working to help people in their community. Lives would be changed. People would really understand what we were about, lives would changed. I wonder what that would look like?

Ponderings_,

Pachelbel's Canon

Classical music, awesome guitar work, what more could you need?

Fun_,

The Absurdity of it All

Has anyone else noticed that disposable razor commercials are simply over the top? Their advertising and marketing claims get more and more ridiculous.

There is something I should say in order to be completely fair and have full disclosure… I am, and always have been, an electric razor user. I think I may have used a disposable razor once or twice in my entire life. So that may influence my opinion. Your mileage may vary. Yadda, yadda, blah, blah.

But have you seen these goofy commercials??? You’d think there was an army of Noble Prize winning scientists working on the immensely difficult problem of how to make a couple of dollar razor. They make it seem like the average razor has more technology in it than the space shuttle. Just consider the names, the Extreme III, the Mach3, the Mach3Turbo, the Quattro (4 must be better than 3 and Quattro is definitely cooler than Four), and now we have (drum roll please, oh and crank the echo effect) the Fusion. The Fusion has SIX blades! Five for a comfortable shave and a 6th one that is on the other side for detail trim work. There is even a Power version that has a battery. The website is a riot. It’s a nice site and all but beware, it takes a while to download. There’s an attractive woman walking around in a modestly short red dress and high heels with a lab coat on. That’s just too much. NO respectable lab rat would be caught in that outfit. Certainly, she must be one of the Noble Prize winning scientists working so hard to give us the most awesome shave ever. Right....

Then there’s a TV commercial about how when a good looking man (at least I’ve been told he’s good looking – I’m not an expert in such things) gets a close shave, that the woman on the treadmill becomes so distracted that she falls off the treadmill. Not once, but twice. Maybe the woman on the treadmill is just uncoordinated, I’m not sure. But I’m not sure if I would ask a woman out on a date who kept falling off the treadmill. That could be embarrassing on your date. She might fall of the chair in the restaurant. She could fall down the stairs in the theater. There are all sorts of potentially disastrous situations that could happen. It’s simply not safe, or wise, to be around her. Furthermore, I believe the man in the commercial would be just as good looking if he used a Fusion, or an Extreme III. Heck, he’d probably still attract the ladies if he didn’t shave at all or so I am told.

So what’s the point? Why spend all the money that the companies do on this stuff? To change our perceptions? To give us false hope? Hey, even you ugly guys can use the magic razor and hot women will fall all over you. Surely no one really believes that. So what’s the reasoning for the multi-millions spent in advertising a piece of plastic with a few bits of sharpened metal? Simple. To encourage us to spend a little more on a better shave. Two blades were better than one. Three is better than two. And the arms race is on. But each time the company has to spend a little more money and do something a little more outrageous to convince us that this model is better than the last one. They have to get us to part with a few more bucks for each new model too.

I wonder what an advertisement for church would look like if it used this model? How would a congregation convince the masses that their church is better than the one down the street? And is that even a good thing? I’ve seen some advertisements for churches on TV. Usually it’s for a denomination, rather than a local congregation. I like seeing the ads. I like the fact that Christians are trying to reach lost souls. However, I must admit to being less than completely thrilled with the ones I’ve seen, but hey, they are giving it a try. I’d like to see my local church do something like that. I love my local church. I’m not sure how I would tell someone in a 30 second sound byte how great our church is. The point is not that we are that awesome – I think the point is God is that awesome. I’d have a hard time telling someone how great God is in 30 seconds. I wonder what that would look like on my TV?

Ponderings_,

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Some White Guys Can Jump

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