Earth is entering a stream of dusty debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, the source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Although the shower won't peak until August 11th and 12th, the show is already getting underway.
A weather front rolls in from the horizon, storm clouds darken the sky, and (at least 1.3 billion times a year) lightning strikes. Last month, the National Weather Service promoted their Lightning Safety Week, with information designed to call attention to safe practices, helping people avoid lightning strikes which kill an average of 100 people every year. While the exact nature of the initial formation of lightning remains a subject of debate, what is known is that lightning strikes are caused by electrical imbalances present in the clouds. Those imbalances correct themselves suddenly, with an often spectacular light show - which I've tried to show here, with a handful of recent photographs of lightning from around the world. (26 photos total)
As the summer crawls into its later stages, the weather outside is heating up (in the Northern hemisphere at least). Cool waters call out to those who would leap in, momentarily letting gravity have its way with them, pulling them down as they flail, shout or twist. Collected here are a handful of photos of divers around the world, showing their professional artistry, daredevil bravado, or just simple joy as they take the plunge. (35 photos total)
It sounds like a dream-come-true: having a huge 32-story condo building in Florida all to yourself.
But for one man and his family, that situation has turned into a real-life nightmare.
Victor Vangelakos, 45, recently bought a condominium for $430,000 in the 32-story Oasis I building in Fort Myers, Fla., according to The News-Press.
Vangelakos, a firefighter from Weehawken, N.J., uses it as a vacation residence with his wife and three children.
But eerily, he doesn't have any neighbors. With the real estate collapse that began in 2006, potential buyers steered clear or transferred down payments to units in the Oasis II next door.
Vangelakos wasn't able to do that because his lender wouldn't allow a swap, according to the paper.
So he and his family are stuck in the lonely building, where the silence is unsettling and intruders are frequent. The swimming pool is often raided at night.
Police in Utah say a 7-year-old boy led officers on a car chase in an effort to avoid going to church.
Dispatchers received reports of a child driving recklessly on Sunday morning. Weber County Sheriff's Capt. Klint Anderson says one witness said the boy drove through a stop sign.
Anderson says two deputies caught up with the boy and tried unsuccessfully to stop the Dodge Intrepid in an area about 45 miles north of Salt Lake City. The car reached 40 mph before the boy stopped in a driveway and ran inside a home.
Anderson says when the boy's father later confronted him, the boy said he didn't want to go to church. The boy is too young to prosecute and no citations were issued, although police did urge the father to make his car keys more inaccessible to children.
Mary and I have a friend that is a professional artists. In addition to many other things, Ty is well known for his skills as a caricaturist. As you can see in the images below those skills really stand out when applied to Christmas cards. And, although it seems impossible to believe, it’s time to start thinking about ordering your personalized family cards.
Caricature Christmas cards are unique and fun. They’re sure to draw attention and stand out from the many traditional cards that fill mailboxes throughout the month of December (or, in our case, January or February). Order your Holiday cards now to insure that they are ready to go when you are ready to send them. They are sure to put a smile on the face of your loved ones during this Holiday season.
Ty treats holiday cards like a caricature from a photo. He will provide you with the finished artwork so that you can send it to the printer. Or, for a small fee, Ty can handle the printing and the design of the cards. If you want this great service you had better hurry since printers are already requiring a few weeks for delivery of the finished cards.
Click on either of the pictures to go to Ty's website where you will find his phone number and e-mail address.
I have come up with the ultimate gift to leave my nieces and nephews after I leave this earth. I will have one of these created and they can pass it around on a regularly scheduled basis. I think Jared, Abby, Lance, Grant, Ethan, Brett, Stone, Maggie and Jake will be so thankful that I thought of them.
The will is being re-written right now...
Personal urns are a new and exciting way to memorialize your loved one.
Now we can create a custom urn in the image of your loved one or favorite Celebrity.
New advances in facial reconstruction and 3D printing have made it possible to have an urn made in the image of anyone from just a photograph.
Never forget a face. Personal Urns combine art and technology to create a family heirloom that will be cherished for generations. Available in Two Sizes
* Full sized will hold all of the ashes of any adult * Keepsake size is about 1/4 of the full sized and will hold about 25 cubic inches
First, the background. Father takes young son to Texas Rangers baseball game. Foul ball is hit into the stands. Father, holding boy in right arm, reaches up and catches the foul ball with his left. Impressive feat in general.
The pictures and story showed up on the London Daily Mail website today. The photo above had this caption:
What a catch! The father reaches out for a ball flung out of the pitch by Texas Rangers player Michael Young
New York City is buying one-way plane tickets for homeless families to leave the city.
It's part of a program by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration to keep the homeless out of the expensive shelter system, which costs $36,000 a year per family.
In his theatrical debut, comedian Mike Birbiglia takes the audience on a hysterically funny and intensely personal journey through his struggles with sleepwalking and his reluctance to confront his fears of love, honesty and growing up. Sleepwalk With Me is the rare collision of comedy and theatre that touches your funny bone and tickles your heart.
I do understand why the company has this policy, but it sometimes puts them in a PR nightmare. The policy is in place to protect the company from lawsuits in the event an employee or customer is injured. They paint it as 'to protect the customer and employee', but the reality is that in our current legal system, they are at risk from lawsuit if the thief is injured, if the employee gets hurt or if the 'wrong person' is chased. And when an employee violates this policy the company has to follow through with the defined discipline or the policy loses it's effectiveness.
Well, in this case they fired the employee (as the policy states) and then get all kinds of negative publicity for taking a job away from a good Samaritan. No matter what they do now they are in a no-win situation.
I got 10 of 12 right on this Mental_Floss quiz. Click on the image above to find out how well you can do.
Although they are still technically legal tender, high-denomination bills like the $1000 and $5000 were last printed in 1945. Do you know whose faces grace these rare bills? And how familiar are you with the faces on your pocket change? Let's find out.
A number of people I respect have recommended this book to me. Here is a chance to get a free audiobook version.
Each month christianaudio gives away a premium audiobook download for free. How does it work? Well, we give away one audiobook download (that we have published or that a partner has allowed us to give away) each month totally free; available only during that month; only once, ever.
Click on the book image to go to the free download.
Mental_Floss has a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Quiz.
On August 9, Regis Philbin and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? return to prime-time on ABC for a special two-week run. To celebrate, here are twelve million-dollar questions from past episodes. We can't offer you any lifelines, and if you get them all right, we're not going to pay you the $13,040,000 (or the 20,000,000 rupees) that these 12 contestants earned. But you have our permission to daydream about what you'd buy with that money for the rest of the afternoon.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are proving that a camera phone can capture far more than photos of people or pets at play. They have now developed a cell phone microscope, or CellScope, that not only takes color images of malaria parasites, but of tuberculosis bacteria labeled with fluorescent markers.
Kevin Colón is a church planter whose church works alongside ours in Vietnam. He wrote a blog post today about the things he has gotten from his trips there. I thought he said it better than I ever could so I am providing a link to his blogpost here. Just click the picture to read it.
Fort Worth's cowboy roots run deep, from its early days as a stop on the Chisholm Trail to its claim to the world's first indoor rodeo.
But while the city embraces its boots and belt-buckle background, the bustling metropolis also is home to incredible art, architecture, food and nightlife.
North Korea publicly executed a Christian woman last month for distributing the Bible, which is banned in the communist nation, South Korean activists said Friday.
Ri Hyon Ok, 33, was also accused of spying for South Korea and the United States and organizing dissidents. She was executed in the northwestern city of Ryongchon near the border with China on June 16, according to a report from an alliance of several dozen anti-North Korea groups.
Ri's parents, husband and three children were sent to a political prison camp in the northeastern city of Hoeryong the following day, the report said, citing unidentified documents it says were obtained from North Korea. It showed a copy of Ri's North Korean government-issued photo ID. It is virtually impossible to verify such reports about secretive North Korea, where the government tightly controls the lives of its citizens and does not allow dissent.
The last time Rachel Veitch bought a car, gas cost 39 cents per gallon, Lyndon B. Johnson was in the White House and "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena" was a hit song on the radio.
Nearly 600,000 miles later, the 90-year-old Florida woman still drives her 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente every day.
Some American Airline flights offer free wifi now! Now available on all our Boeing 767-200 aircraft, and it's currently being installed on select MD80 aircraft. If you fly on one of our Internet-equipped planes this summer, simply use your special promotion code with your Wi-Fi enabled laptop or mobile device. valid through September 6, 2009.
The Fort Worth Zoo turns 100 this year, and it’s marking the occasion with a weeks-long celebration.
Yes, the zoo has been around for a century, though it wasn’t always a sprawling park full of exotic species and natural habitats. The zoo started with a handful of carnival animals in 1909. They all drowned in a flood the next year, and the city almost shut the zoo down just a few years later. But despite its rocky start, the zoo has thrived for 10 decades now and is consistently ranked among the finest in the nation.
I am a regular reader of the blog "Stuff Christians Like" and I REALLY do enjoy it. I have shared a number of the posts from that blog here and I know many of you have started following it as well.
This past weekend the author of the blog spoke at a church in Tennessee. The video below is of that sermon. I have not had the chance to watch it all yet, but I have enjoyed the parts that I have seen. If you want to understand the title of this blog post you will need to watch the first 7 minutes of this video. I hope you take that time...
Japanese professor creates baseball-playing robots
The pitching robot, with its three-fingered hand, can throw 90 percent of its pitches in the strike zone, won’t need any relief from the bullpen and never asks for a pay raise.
The batting robot, which has a sensor to determine if pitches are strikes or balls, hits balls in the strike zone almost 100 percent of the time, doesn’t swing at pitches outside the strike zone, and is guaranteed to pass all drug tests.
Have you ever wanted to know what really goes on at the American Library Association’s annual conference? Well, me neither. I have never imagined that it was a place to spend my vacation time. Well, maybe I was wrong. Click on the image above to read the Mental_Floss post and watch the three videos. And if you are tempted to laugh, don't. You might get shushed.
The secret lives of librarians took center stage at the American Library Association’s annual conference earlier this month. There was dancing, there were costumes, there was music, and, of course, there were book carts. They practice their routines in hallways and parking lots, ready to compete in the 5th annual Library Book Cart Drill Team Championship, sponsored by library supply company DEMCO.
You and each of your friends can get $5 off an entree with this coupon. Click on the image to print your copy. And, as usual, make sure and read the fine print for any rules that you might need to follow.
Earlier this year I became aware of a unique Twitter account. A family had found a copy of their Great-Aunt’s diary from 1937-1941. This diary was written in a line-a-day format when she was in her early teens living on a farm in rural Illinois. When they came across it they realized that the one line entries closely matched the 140 character limit of today’s Twitter. With that in mind a couple of the family members began the task of posting the diary entries to Twitter, one line per day.
For the most part this has been a very dry, boring account of farm life in the first half of the last century. If the entries were paragraphs I would probably have quit following them a long time ago, but since they are a single sentence each day I have read each post (so far).
Well, today’s post made me chuckle. After a week of posts about hauling hay and gathering tomatoes today’s post started with “Mamma went and got her teeth”. I don’t know why I found that so funny, but in the mundane day-to-day life of a farm girl it just jumped off the page at me. It also made me wish I had access to this type of journal from my grandparents.
Click on the picture to go to the twitter page and read some of the posts. To learn more about the project read this.
The chihuahua made famous for its role in those late-90s Taco Bell commercials has died, reports People.com.
Gidget, the female dog who played a male dog on TV, and was given the GGI ability to exclaim "Yo quiero Taco Bell!" suffered a stroke at the home of her long time trainer Sue Chipperton.
Chipperton eulogized her thus: "She made so many people happy... I like to joke that it's like looking after a plant. Gidget always knew where the camera was."
Click on the image to see the National Debt Clock in real time.
The Purpose of USDebtClock.org is to inform the public of the financial condition of the United States of America. We are dedicated to bringing the public the most accurate up to date debt information possible. The numbers are laid out in such a way to give a complete real-time snapshot of the country's balance sheet. Although the numbers involved are enormous it is still easy to see the relative balance between wealth generated and that consumed.
All the debt clocks on the site are updated constantly to the most precise calculations using complex formulas and exacting standards, and are verified from multiple sources.
Click the image to see the pictures. Be sure to read the caption & follow the instructions for picture 19.
Earlier today, the moon passed directly in front of the sun, causing a total solar eclipse that crossed nearly half the Earth - through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. Today's was the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting as much as 6 minutes and 39 seconds in a few areas. Despite cloudy skies in many of the populated areas in the path, millions of people gathered outside to gaze up and view this rare event. Collected here are a few images of the eclipse, and those people who came out to watch.
There is very little that the ACLU and I agree on, but I thought I would post a link to one of their videos here. A friend published this link on FaceBook and I thought it was worth sharing. At the end of the video there is a petition link that you should consider signing. Click on the image above to watch the short video.
The Houston Chronicle science blog has a post from "a very young rookie Chronicle reporter" that was covering the Apollo 11 moon landing. It is hard for me to imagine what that time was really like. Click on the picture to read the full post.
Once away from the brighter lights of the buildings, I found a grassy spot and lay on my back looking at the moon, which was a bit more than half-full and waning, and wondered at what man had just accomplished. I found tears streaming down the sides of my face as I was overwhelmed with the wonder of it all and knew that I wanted more than anything to report on space exploration.
Our church is heavily invested in church planting. Back in 2002 we helped Kevin and Amy Colón start Cool River Church in Superior, CO. I don't know Kevin or Amy personally but I have really enjoyed getting to know them through their blogs over the last couple of years.
Yesterday Kevin had a post titled "Lead With Love" that I thought I would share. An excerpt from the post is below. Click on the link to the left to read the full post.
Now that can be a challenge for some of us that grew up with the 'get the message out at all cost' approach. It may sound nice but it's actually not much like what Jesus was doing. Many people think that Jesus was just preaching and teaching away. But how do you think the crowds got there? Jesus didn't have a PR guy. He didn't have an email blast to send out. He didn't have billboards announcing he would be in town to speak the next Saturday. Nope. His life was so amazing, what he was doing was so full of love that people, he was such a blessing to those around him that the people HAD to get to him.
Since Star Trek first went on the air in the 60s, it has had connections to the real life space program. And today the latest example is a new official poster for the next expedition to the International Space Station which has the crew dressed in Star Trek uniforms Check it out below.
Click on the picture to read the article and to see other posters.
Walter Cronkite was on David Letterman shortly after the terrorists attacks of 9/11. There are two clips from his appearance that I am linking to below (one about 6 minutes the other about 7 minutes). Here are the comments from Keith at BagOfNothing.
I was taken aback from an interview that Cronkite did on Letterman. It was just a few days after 9/11, and right before President Bush addressed Congress and the American people. It’s a bit weird watching it now, knowing what all transpired after that speech. Cronkite shows his wisdom, and even though he didn’t make predictions, a lot of what he says actually proves true. It’s almost a bit eerie.
In previous posts I have mentioned that my wife and I have been involved with Crown Financial Ministries for a number of years. The lesson in week 3 of this 10-week course deals with debt, which everyone knows is a major issue in today's culture. One of the key verses from week 3 is II Kings 4:1-7 (you should pause a moment to read it). To paraphrase the passage, a guy died leaving his wife and kids in debt. The wife was unable to pay the debt so MasterCard was about to take her kids as slaves until the debt was paid (ok, maybe it wasn't MasterCard...but you get the point). Anyway, she approached Elisha for advice and he asked her what she had that was of value. Since she only had "a little oil" he suggested she gather up some jars and sell the oil. The widow sent her kids out to borrow jars and then she started pouring oil into them. She found that she could pour until every jar they had was full, and "then the oil stopped flowing", an example of God's ability to provide.
One of the things Crown stresses in this lesson is that, like the widow, we should involve our kids in the family's efforts to get out of debt.
This morning CNN had an online story about an 11-year-old Ohio boy that is selling his toys to help ease his family's financial burden. The article paints this as some heroic effort by the son to help the family, and I guess it is. However, I wonder why our culture has reached the point where children sharing in the family’s sacrifices are the exception.
As I have taught Crown over the years I have always been amazed at the things people consider untouchable. They worry about meeting their mortgage, but the cable bill is always paid on time. Their debt keeps mounting, but little Johnny continues to play Select Baseball. For some reason our culture has reached a point where entertaining their children has taken a priority over good common financial sense. After all, in many cases a prime driver in the family's financial problem is the amount of money they spend on entertaining themselves in and out of the home.
Sorry for the rant, but this is one of those things that always leaves me pounding my head on a hard surface. If you would like to read the full CNN article, click on the image above.
I think this is the #1 (or maybe #2) church building need in the nation.
ELLETSVILLE, Ind. -- A Monroe County church has done without it for years, but the pastor said it's finally time to install a major upgrade -- indoor plumbing.
God's Way Family Church in Elletsville has lights, air conditioning and even a sound system. But the congregation has been using outhouses since the building was built, 6News' Ben Morriston reported.
Pastor Gilbert Thornton has launched a fundraising drive to get indoor facilities installed in an effort to draw more people on Sundays.
"It would help the growth of the church. When you say you've got outhouses, it actually turns them off," he said.
Thornton now has more motivation. When 6News asked the Monroe County Health Department about the situation, officials said they weren't aware the church was still using outhouses, which are in violation of several county codes.
"We will go out and look at it and work with them," said Director Penny Claudill.
Thornton said the project will likely cost close to $5,000. He said the journey will be a test of faith for his flock.
"I think some people believe (money) just falls out of the sky. It's not that simple," he said.
Anyone wishing to donate to the God's Way Family Church is asked to call 812-825-6655.
This morning BreakPoint Commentary talked about the crash of the Washington D.C. Metro train a few weeks ago. Their commentary talked about two men and their courageous response to other victims on the train. The links below are to the BreakPoint commentary as well as to a couple of articles they reference. Good reads...
Chaplain Bottoms crawled over jagged glass and metal toward the voice. He feared his weight might shift the wreckage and cause more injuries. But as the Post put it, “Two tours as a chaplain in Iraq had instilled in him the instinct to comfort the injured and dying.” Bottoms recalled the words of a military mentor: “You don’t let anyone suffer alone.”
CNet posted an article about the ad wars between Microsoft and Apple. It sounds like the new Microsoft ads are have a pretty significant impact on the value perception of a Mac.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but it may have good reason to be upset. Since Microsoft launched the ads, which are a response to Apple's "I'm a Mac" ads, there is evidence that the campaign may be radically altering value perceptions of PCs. According to a report in AdAge, BrandIndex says Microsoft's so-called value perception has risen steadily since the campaign began in March, while Apple's has fallen.
It is hard to believe that there are people that try to deny that the astronauts actually walked on the moon. Some conspiracy theorists have even gone so far as to call the astronauts cowards, liars and cheats (which the video above proves will get you a punch in the jaw from Buzz Aldrin...click on the it to see the full video).
Harrison Schmitt, the pilot of the lunar lander during the last Apollo mission and later a United States senator, said in an interview that the poor state of the nation’s schools has had predictable results. “If people decide they’re going to deny the facts of history and the facts of science and technology, there’s not much you can do with them,” he said.
“For most of them, I just feel sorry that we failed in their education.”
I am sure the Georgetown, TX Chamber of Commerce cringed when they saw this. It is hard enough getting tourists in the summer, but this is ridiculous...
Caricature Christmas cards are unique and fun. They’re sure to draw attention and stand out from the many traditional cards that fill mailboxes throughout the month of December (or, in our case, January or February). Order your Holiday cards now to insure that they are ready to go when you are ready to send them. They are sure to put a smile on the face of your loved ones during this Holiday season.
Ty treats holiday cards like a caricature from a photo. He will provide you with the finished artwork so that you can send it to the printer. Or, for a small fee, Ty can handle the printing and the design of the cards. If you want this great service you had better hurry since printers are already requiring a few weeks for delivery of the finished cards.
Click on the picture to read more about the aquarium.
First, the background. Father takes young son to Texas Rangers baseball game. Foul ball is hit into the stands. Father, holding boy in right arm, reaches up and catches the foul ball with his left. Impressive feat in general.
A number of people I respect have recommended this book to me. Here is a chance to get a free audiobook version.
NBC's Brian Williams on Jon Stewart. 
Kevin Colón is a church planter whose church works alongside ours in Vietnam. He wrote a blog post today about the things he has gotten from his trips there. I thought he said it better than I ever could so I am providing a link to his blogpost here. Just click the picture to read it.
From the Houston Chronicle
Japanese professor creates baseball-playing robots
Have you ever wanted to know what really goes on at the American Library Association’s annual conference? Well, me neither. I have never imagined that it was a place to spend my vacation time. Well, maybe I was wrong. Click on the image above to read the Mental_Floss post and watch the three videos. And if you are tempted to laugh, don't. You might get shushed.
You and each of your friends can get $5 off an entree with this coupon. Click on the image to print your copy. And, as usual, make sure and read the fine print for any rules that you might need to follow.
Earlier this year I became aware of a unique Twitter account. A family had found a copy of their Great-Aunt’s diary from 1937-1941. This diary was written in a line-a-day format when she was in her early teens living on a farm in rural Illinois. When they came across it they realized that the one line entries closely matched the 140 character limit of today’s Twitter. With that in mind a couple of the family members began the task of posting the diary entries to Twitter, one line per day.
Wow. A unique perspective on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Click on the image to read the post.
There is very little that the ACLU and I agree on, but I thought I would post a link to one of their videos here. A friend published this link on FaceBook and I thought it was worth sharing. At the end of the video there is a petition link that you should consider signing. Click on the image above to watch the short video.
The Houston Chronicle science blog has a post from "a very young rookie Chronicle reporter" that was covering the Apollo 11 moon landing. It is hard for me to imagine what that time was really like. Click on the picture to read the full post.
Our church is heavily invested in church planting. Back in 2002 we helped Kevin and Amy Colón start Cool River Church in Superior, CO. I don't know Kevin or Amy personally but I have really enjoyed getting to know them through their blogs over the last couple of years.
Click on the picture to read the article and to see other posters.
Walter Cronkite was on David Letterman shortly after the terrorists attacks of 9/11. There are two clips from his appearance that I am linking to below (one about 6 minutes the other about 7 minutes). Here are the comments from Keith at BagOfNothing.
In previous posts I have mentioned that my wife and I have been involved with Crown Financial Ministries for a number of years. The lesson in week 3 of this 10-week course deals with debt, which everyone knows is a major issue in today's culture. One of the key verses from week 3 is II Kings 4:1-7 (you should pause a moment to read it). To paraphrase the passage, a guy died leaving his wife and kids in debt. The wife was unable to pay the debt so MasterCard was about to take her kids as slaves until the debt was paid (ok, maybe it wasn't MasterCard...but you get the point). Anyway, she approached Elisha for advice and he asked her what she had that was of value. Since she only had "a little oil" he suggested she gather up some jars and sell the oil. The widow sent her kids out to borrow jars and then she started pouring oil into them. She found that she could pour until every jar they had was full, and "then the oil stopped flowing", an example of God's ability to provide.
This morning BreakPoint Commentary talked about the crash of the Washington D.C. Metro train a few weeks ago. Their commentary talked about two men and their courageous response to other victims on the train. The links below are to the BreakPoint commentary as well as to a couple of articles they reference. Good reads...
CNet posted an article about the ad wars between Microsoft and Apple. It sounds like the new Microsoft ads are have a pretty significant impact on the value perception of a Mac.
It is hard to believe that there are people that try to deny that the astronauts actually walked on the moon. Some conspiracy theorists have even gone so far as to call the astronauts cowards, liars and cheats (which the video above proves will get you a punch in the jaw from Buzz Aldrin...click on the it to see the full video).
