Run with God

Stephen Colbert tackles "Bad Theology"

America's Comedy Central's favorite ultra-conservative comedian takes a crack at liberal religion. Stephen Colbert interviews Bart Ehrman, author of Jesus, Interrupted.

Favorite lines:

• "There's a misinterpretation of Jesus, and you're blaming this on the Early Jews"
• "What's the son of a duck. It's a duck. It it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck and it raises the dead like a duck, it's a duck."
• "That's why John's last [of the four Gospels]. The first three were rough drafts."
• "Isn't it possible that you're missing the point, and Jesus is an elephant?"

Check out the entire interview below.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Bart Ehrman
colbertnation.com
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UMiami rated Top Party School in America

Okay... twittered this earlier, but it needs a revisit. The University of Miami was voted the Top Party School by America's #1 nudie magazine, Playboy. Link: UMiami Student Newspaper

Thoughts? Well, initially I'm just happy we won at something. I mean, Football's a joke. Basketball streaky. Baseball doesn't live up to it's potential. But hey, at least Miami's coeds know how to PAR-TAY!

Am I surprised? Not really. I'm not in the college scene that much anymore, so it's not like I know from personal experience... myBabyGirls would kill me...

What this is, though, is a symptom of being in this city...
I love that God's called me here...
- to make a dent in this city...
- to help a city that's in dire need...
- to share His love to people that don't know...
God, thank you for the honor of working for you...

For the record, Playboy voted University of Florida the #4 Party School. At least the "U" can beat the Gators in something...

How the Dolphins "Changed the Culture"

So how does a football team go from 1-15 to 11-5 and win their division? They changed their culture.

On Wednesday (12/31/08) at a Dolphin Press Conference, Chad Pennington (#10) was asked about changing the culture. Below is his response.

Coach Sparano has talked about changing the culture to all of us... Trying to help us understand what it actually takes to change the culture... you just can't talk about it. There's a lot of different things you have to take into consideration, and then make it happen... and change. We talked to us about it on individual levels, and he talked to us on a team level. All of our guys have bought in. All of our guys wanted to change the culture. And all of our guys wanted to find out what this winning thing is all about, and what success is all about, and how it creates confidence and momentum...

More in the video embedded below...

Not so long ago, in a CNN Studio not that far away...

Love 'em or hate 'em, it's President-elect Obama. Romans 13:1. And that's all I'm going to say about that...

Check it. Watching the Election coverage Tuesday night I saw one of the coolest things I've ever seen on TV. Will.i.am "beamed" into the CNN studio circe Star Wars' Princess Leia ("Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope...")

Check out the footage below...

Awesome. Check out some of the behind the scenes footage...

It's an exciting time to see what is technologically possible...

World of Warcraft subscribers = Entire population of Ohio

GamePro has the story...

Blizzard Entertainment today announced that total World of Warcraft [WoW] subscribers has surpassed 11 million, equal to the population of the entire state of Ohio, according to 2007 census estimates.

The news comes as anticipation builds for the release of the game's second expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King, which launches on November 13.

"Since debuting in North America in 2004, World of Warcraft has become the most popular MMORPG in the world," Blizzard announced in a statement today...

World of Warcraft is unique (compared to most games) in that gamers must pay a monthly subscription fee of $13-15 per month to play, in addition to buying the game for $30. The MMO has also drawn criticism from disgruntled spouses and researchers for being abnormally addictive.

Jeff's Thoughts: No word on whether congress is going to allow the WoW state special representation in the Electoral college. Okay, that was stupid...

Yet another stat showing that the 2.0/virtual world is becoming more tangible.

There's 11 million people spending a TON OF TIME hanging out in a virtual world that I know absolutely nothing about... like I got time for that.

Anyone involved in WoW? Does it still live up to the hype? Do you see anyone from the WoW world in the real world? Someone once told me "What happens in Facebook stays in Facebook!" Is that true of WoW? Or does the virtual world bleed into the real one?

Woman Arrested After Killing Virtual Ex-Husband

Wired News has the story...

A 43-year-old Japanese woman, angry over a sudden divorce in the virtual online game Maple Story, has been arrested on suspicion of hacking into the game where she killed her once-virtual husband, authorities said.

Authorities said the Miyazaki woman illegally accessed the game with a password she hijacked from a colleague. That made it appear as if her coworker committed the online murder.

According to The Associated Press, the woman told police: "I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry."

The hacking allegation carries a maximum five-year prison term.

Mental note... don't have affairs with people online. 

UPDATE 10/24/08 - 12:02am: Better yet, just don't have affairs...

Polar Bears no longer around the Iceholes...

Bad news for the Polar Bear community... Evidently you are now a "Protected Species". NY Times once again has the article... Unfortunately, the bears aren't being killed off or threatened by the Greenhouse Effect... it's human hunters that are doing the damage.

One thing we have not considered yet is how many of these Polar Bears got magically transported to the LOST Island. Come on! They've got Polar Bears on a tropical island in the South Pacific... They've got Polar Bears in the middle of Afghanistan... Where else have these elusive creatures run off to?

Sad to say, I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to say:

The key to the game is in the name. The name of the game is Polar Bears around the Icehole. Planets around the Sun. Petals around the Flower. And/Or the many wives of Ghengis Kahn.

And while that may mean nothing to most of you, right now a couple hundred 18-26 year olds are letting out a collective "Oh crap! Not again!"

Seriously, save the polar bears!

Obama is like a Mac (no wonder I want to vote for him)

We're all familiar with Apple's Mac vs. PC ad campaign that's been running for three years now. Wow. Great times. Remember that one where PC was dressed like that dork...

Enter the New York Times (gotta love the Times) that recently parodies the Mac vs PC campaign with that of the Democratic Presidential Race... pinning the "Mac" title on Obama, and of course Hillary Clinton gets the always lovable but not that useful title of "PC".

The NY Times article focuses on what each candidate is trying to portray through their online presence. And while the impact of their website may be downplayed, I believe in this 2.0 society the implication is huge.

Obama understands communication, and how sometimes simpler is in fact better. Clinton tries to hammer in too many points, therefore causing Information Overload...

Wow, almost like real life...

XM + Sirius = XRius?

With the start of the Baseball Season, and my semi-addiction to ESPN Radio, I decided to renew my expired Sirius subscription. I actually like XM Radio better than Sirius. When I lived in Texas, I had XM. When I bought my new truck, it had a Sirius radio built in. I liked XM better...

According to the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, XM and Sirius will be merging into one network.

Prepare for XRius network, coming soon to a Satellite Radio near you. All kidding aside, looking forward to MLB and NFL being combined under one Satellite Company. Good job, US Government. Now if you can get around to fixing the economy, that'd be great!

PS - I have no idea if they are going to go with XRius, but maybe I should trademark the name, just to play it safe...

Death... by Cig or Cell?

Wanted to say this up front... not sure if it's valid or not, BUT it's worth a conversation...

From "The Independent"

Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take "immediate steps" to reduce exposure to their radiation.

Professor Khurana – a top neurosurgeon who has received 14 awards over the past 16 years, has published more than three dozen scientific papers – reviewed more than 100 studies on the effects of mobile phones. He has put the results on a brain surgery website, and a paper based on the research is currently being peer-reviewed for publication in a scientific journal.

Noting that malignant brain tumours represent "a life-ending diagnosis", he adds: "We are currently experiencing a reactively unchecked and dangerous situation." He fears that "unless the industry and governments take immediate and decisive steps", the incidence of malignant brain tumours and associated death rate will be observed to rise globally within a decade from now, by which time it may be far too late to intervene medically.

"It is anticipated that this danger has far broader public health ramifications than asbestos and smoking," says Professor Khurana, who told the IoS his assessment is partly based on the fact that three billion people now use the phones worldwide, three times as many as smoke. Smoking kills some five million worldwide each year, and exposure to asbestos is responsible for as many deaths in Britain as road accidents.

Jeff's Take: I've never smoked a cigarette in my life. Never saw the point. However, if the iPhone was found to cause cancer I can honestly say I do not think I could give up the iPhone. Really. It's communicative hold on me is like crack... (trying to think of a creative joke paring up Blackberry/Crackberry, but I just can't get there...)

So tell me. Year is 2010, and the US Department of Health does find that cell phones do increase the risk of brain cancer... Could you give up your cell phone?