Bag of Randomness

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  • While most Michael Jackson fans have Thriller rated as his or her favorite video, I’ve been a sucker for Smooth Criminal.  There’s something about the gangster period of time in which this video is set, the tip of the cap to Fred Astaire, that white suit which makes him stand out from all the others, that coin hitting the jukebox, and above all else, that lean that just came out of nowhere.  The first time I saw that lean, as a kid, I wondered if it was real or not, and tried it myself.
  • Did you know that Michael Jackson actually had a patent for that lean?  It’s called the method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion.
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  • Yes, I know, Michael Jackson the man was a very troubled individual, but I really admire Michael Jackson the artist.  And yes, I can differentiate the two.
  • My very first cassette tape was Thriller.  I know most covers of that album only has a picture of him, but I remember the one with the baby tiger.  Maybe the tiger was on the inside flap?  I can’t remember.
  • I can remember putting that tape in my jambox and cranking up the speakers with my neighborhood friends breakdancing in a circle.
  • I can still cut a pretty decent rug.  Trust me.
  • I have really enjoyed watching all of his videos over this weekend on MTV, VH1, BET, and a few other channels.  For me, as of right now, it’s not getting old.  But I can understand why it might be for those that didn’t really follow him or listen to his music.
  • I actually watched the BET Awards last night.  They changed a whole lot of the format of the show up in just a few days to honor Jackson.  Jamie Fox did a good job, changing from MJ costume to MJ costume.
  • Bel Biv Devoe performed – that took me back to good times.
  • Believe it or not, last night wasn’t the first time I watched the BET Awards.
  • The old and new Uhura (Star Trek) presented the award, but the new Uhura started the presentation without the older one because she was in the ladies room.  Just awkward.
  • I recall that the actress that played the original Uhura had a brother that died in the Heaven’s Gate cult.
  • I also downloaded a fair share of MJ music over the weekend as well.
  • If you want to listen to his music but not download anything, his website allows you to do that right now.
  • I was so jealous in the second grade when my friend Jamie was the first to show up to school with a zipper jacket.
  • Someone on the radio mentioned when he sang ABC with the Jackson Five, you could hear the innocence.  I thought that was a pretty insightful and correct.
  • I think he really set himself apart when he appeared at the 25th anniversary of Motown show on NBC.  He actually got a phone call from Fred Astaire after that performance.  Now that’s pretty cool.
  • Most meaningful and touching Michael Jackson song: Man in the Mirror The video itself is pretty moving.
  • One person that should be most thankful for Michael Jackson is Weird Al – he would never have had the success without Jackson.  I took a peek at his website, no mention of Jackson’s passing.
  • Very interesting photos of a building that fell in Shanghai.  It fell like a book that was upright, and then on its side.
  • Did you know the same person that came up with the idea for Tivo came up with the idea for the Kindle?  Link
  • I noticed out local Krispy Kreme is now out of business.
  • MythBuster Adam Savage had some issues with AT&T
  • I think I do a pretty good job of making my state registration and safety stickers on my windshield align up properly.
  • Those stickers are made so that if removed, they are ruined.  But when you get a windshield replaced, those folks are pretty good at transferring them from the old windshield to the new one.
  • I hear the new Toll Tags from the NTTA are nothing more than just a sticker.
  • Toll roads in DFW are starting to multiply like rabbits.
  • I was talking to someone a few years younger than me who somewhat recently moved to Lubbock and is looking for a church home.  She said she prefers mainline over evangelical, but above all prefers a traditional worship experience where the choir must wear robes.  In DFW, I saw a robed choir, or a traditional worship service (no drums or guitars, overhead projectors, etc) is a rarity.  If I had to guess, I would say only 10% of churches in DFW offer such a service.
  • There’s nothing wrong with a traditional service, but I think it’s just a sign of the times that that form or worship is dying out.  It makes me wonder what worship will look like around DFW and the nation twenty years from now.
  • I never feel comfortable writing “that that” or “have had.”
  • In case you ever wanted to trade your child
  • Grace
Posted in Personal | 4 Comments

Elephant Pandas

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It is a desperate cry – or rather a very loud trumpet – for attention.

These elephants were painted black and white to look like the pandas who have stolen all their fans.

The elephant is Thailand’s national symbol, but the country has gone panda-crazy since the birth of a female panda cub to pandas Lin Hui and Xuang Xuang at Chiang Mai zoo in Bangkok.

Full MailOnline Article with more Pics

Posted in Goofy, Interesting | Comments Off on Elephant Pandas

Does God answer prayers to do someone ill?

Ever since Pastor Wiley Drake declared not once, but three times, on national radio that he was praying for the death of President Obama, he has been trying to clarify.

Yes, he really does want God to smite Obama. No, it’s not a partisan prayer. Yes, it’s in the Bible, he says, and no, he wasn’t kidding. He’s deadly serious.

The former second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention said he’s merely practicing the age-old art of “imprecatory prayer”—a theological term for praying that bad things happen to bad people.

Imprecatory prayer can turn a verse into curse through reciting Scripture aimed at one’s foes. Rather than asking for, say, healing or a win in the big game, these prayers request that God smite one’s enemies with—among other things—plagues, death and eternal damnation.

“That doesn’t mean I spend every waking hour praying for the death of the president,” said Drake, who leads Buena Park Southern Baptist Church, near Anaheim, Calif. “Of our prayers, 98 percent should be good prayers and 2 percent should be imprecatory.”

Though Scripture says Jesus told his followers to love their enemies and pray for them, the Bible also depicts King David pleading with God to vanquish his adversaries. While famed Christian apologist C.S. Lewis found such imprecatory psalms distasteful and “devilish,” even he could not deny their existence.

Derided by some as a bad Judeo-Christian imitation of voodoo, the literal practice of imprecatory prayer has some newfound fans.

Full RNS Article

I wonder how these words from Jesus fits into all of this:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Posted in Political, Spiritual | Comments Off on Does God answer prayers to do someone ill?