Tired of those annoying “ask your doctor commercials”?
They just got served.
Category: Of Random Interest
Actual Details On The Giant Black Box Called Springfield
Rich Tatum posted a fascinating article on the recent Assemblies of God restructuring process. These are the kind of details I’d like to get from headquarters instead of the usual rah-rah stuff I get in the ministers’ letter or Enrichment Journal.
The Facebook In The WSJ
Extremely popular website the Facebook seems to be alarming some college administrators.
In The Dorms This Morning
I was on campus this morning strolling through Toyon, and I noticed a lot of apparently dorm-sponsored flyers celebrating Hanukah and Kwanzaa. I noticed something was missing, and so I asked a student if there were any dorm-sponsored Christmas acknowledgements anywhere in the dorm. She said no.
I Just Coined a New Word
Gumnastics:
(1) as a noun, the fascinating facial contortions of a toothless person
(2) as an adjective (gumnastic), of or pertaining to the facial motions of the untoothed
College Factoid
“The average age of an undergraduate student is 26, reports the American Council on Education. But the average age of an undergraduate living on campus is 20, the group says.” (source: Alcohol makers on tricky path in marketing to college crowd)
Overwhelming Generosity
Paula and I loved our first microwave. It had this awesome dial that did everything. You didn’t need to punch a number–you just turned the dial and magic happened.
One sad day our microwave died. Food stopped warming yet the microwave kept churning, leading us to surmise that radiation was seeping into our chromosomes.
So we got a replacement microwave from a friend. It was great, but the light didn’t work and the food didn’t rotate. And we often suspected that radiation was still seeping into our chromosomes (but only half of them owing to the lack of rotation).
And that’s just one reason we’re so grateful for last night: many of the Assemblies of God churches in the South Bay threw a Christmas party to celebrate AG US Missionaries. We and the Harlows were the recipients of outrageous generosity. Dana got books, stuffed animals, a play tea set, a stroller, some garb, and an enormous ladybug pillow (with matching sheets and cover).
And we got a fully functional microwave. No more radiation-steeped DNA, no more inexplicable tans, just hot tasty food on demand.
And the icing on the cake? Not too long ago an alumnus of our ministry gave me a PSP (a completely unexpected and much appreciated gift).
We are blessed beyond measure. Say what you will about the hierarchy of the Assemblies of God, the tremendous generosity of our laypeople is unmatched.
Because I Like Quoting Myself
Here is the thought that has been my eschatalogical anchor for at least five years: we will be just as surprised by the details of the Second Coming as were the Pharisees by the details of the First.
Grownup School
Amazon has a feature called Grownup School that I was totally unaware of. It’s an awesome idea–ask experts what books they think are best in their field and let the rest of us in on the secret. Found via Freakonomics blog.
Crooked Mile Band
Walking across White Plaza today I noticed that heavy-metal cover band Crooked Mile was performing. They were quite talented. And they were extremely loud. And they had no audience. That’s why we don’t do big musical outreaches on campus–Stanford students just don’t stop and listen.