www.jeffthefish.com

Hey guys, look at this. Check out the second section, “Errors and Contradictions in the Bible?” They’re upset about a new book by Bart Ehrman that deals with contradictions in the gospels, and they link to Ehrman’s interview on The Colbert Report, saying that “even a goofy interviewer can see through the ridiculous arguments of this author.”

Yeah. I think it’s just this side of possible that they don’t get Colbert.

AiG was also kind enough to include a response to Erhman’s book by one of their employees:

God laughs at the attacks on His Word and character (Psa. 2), but He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but desires that they repent (Ezek. 18:30-32). Jesus still says to His Father, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” as He says to sinners, “repent or you too will likewise perish.”

May we all rejoice this weekend again in the wonder of the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah, which the four Gospels collectively give us a beautifully complementary and perfectly accurate and description of, so that by faith we might know the mercy and grace of God in the forgiveness of our sins and might be motivated once again to share that good news with others who are still lost in sin.

Dude, it takes you two paragraphs to say “OH YEAH?????”? You might be stupid. Just throwing that out there.

At first I was pretty skeptical of this account of a debate between Ray Comfort and an ordinary person who’d never debated anyone before. It just sounded a little too good to be true, but then, I frequently underestimate (or should it be overestimate?) Ray’s inadequacy.

But then he posted the audio. Hot damn!

In the last 24 hours I have been the victim of several interesting coincidences.

1. Yesterday morning while driving to work, an eighteen wheeler was backing into a parking lot, blocking most of 1st Ave. I had never seen this happen before on 1st Ave, at any time of day. I have been taking this route to work for two years.

A few blocks to the north, I encountered another eighteen wheeler doing the exact same thing into a different parking lot.

2. Yesterday I ate lunch at the Showbox SODO with my coworkers. The song Music Is My Hot Hot Sex by CSS was played over the speakers. I love this song, but I had no idea that anyone else on Earth did. I can never really tell if a band is famous because I don’t consume much media. I was very surprised to hear it.

Last night I went to happy hour at The Elysian with Jen S. and her sister Kate. Again I heard the song Music Is My Hot Hot Sex by CSS. When I commented on it to Jen, she told me that it was a popular song that they played on the radio. I had no idea. Apparently there’s also a video.

3. This morning, while thinking of writing this post, I looked out the window overlooking Starbucks and saw a sky blue eighteen wheeler parked on the street. At the same moment, a woman wearing a jacket the exact same color walked into Starbucks from the opposite direction. This is amazing because not only was I thinking about coincidences, but there was an eighteen wheeler involved, and I’m pretty sure that music was this woman’s hot hot sex.

I like thinking about the fact that this is just how probability and the human brain work. I’m sure I encounter coincidences like this all the time, but I don’t really notice them. Now my mind is on the lookout for them. At the same time, random events do have a tendency to clump together, and this is a great example of that. There was an episode of Numb3rs about this. I can’t find the clip of Charlie explaining it to his class, but here is a summary of the logic used in that episode.

Here’s some more funness from Omegle, the chat service that connects you anonymously to one other stranger. There are no user names and no identifying information whatsoever, unless you choose to share that with your conversation partner.

So stuff like this can happen:

Stranger: where u from honey?

You: seattle.

You: you?

Stranger: Beverlly Hills

You: oh.

You: i’ve driven through there.

Stranger: age?

You: 28

You: you?

Stranger: 25

You: gender?

Stranger: f

You: oh hai

You: i’m m.

Stranger: what is your kind of music?

You: i make hip hop / sampledelic stuff.

Stranger: you are beautiful?

You: but i listen to diverse forms of music.

You: i’m a little bit beautiful. but i’m fucking hilarious, and my music makes people love me.

Stranger: i likes Beyoncé , Britney Spears , Lady GaGa , Mariah Carey <3

You: oh.

You have disconnected.

I recently discovered the joys of Omegle, a chat service that connects you anonymously to one other stranger. There are no user names and no identifying information whatsoever, unless you choose to share that with your conversation partner.

So stuff like this can happen:

Connecting to server…

You’re now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

Stranger: hi

You: hi.

Stranger: hi

You: please don’t shout “MIDGETS” or something like that.

Stranger: what

Stranger: haha

You: that’s what’s been happening to me :)

You: it’s funny for about 30 seconds.

Stranger: why

You: i don’t know.

Stranger: why r they shouting midgets?

You: i guess they think it’s cute.

Stranger: haha

Stranger: so.. where u from

You: they didn’t offer an explanation.

You: i am living in seattle.

You: you?

Stranger: uk

You: oh boy!

You: i’m half english.

Stranger: im from scotland

You: oh.

Stranger: im half english too

You: oh good.

Stranger: yes

You: i thought i’d blown it.

Stranger: haha why?

You: what city?

You: i don’t know.

Stranger: dundee

You: oh.

You: do you like it there?

Stranger: not really its cold

Stranger: right now theres loads of mist its really creepy

You: you’re near the sea.

You: that’s cool.

You: it’s cold and rainy here too.

Stranger: yes

You: but probably not as col.d

You: and today it’s sunny.

Stranger: i bet id find your cold warm

You: quite possible.

Stranger: MIDGETS

You: oh dear lord.

Your conversational partner has disconnected.

You have got to be fucking kidding me! How can grown ups possibly say something so obviously fucking stupid? I’m not going to let this go for a loooong time.

I don’t normally write about politics, because I don’t actually know anything about politics. But I do know that people read prepared statements at press conferences. Someone on Facebook posted a link to this article with the comment, “Who really is President? I can’t stand that our ‘leader’ can’t even talk without help. I really HOPE America is happy with what they got in Obama[.]”

Um…huh.

The article is about the fact that Obama used a teleprompter at last night’s press conference. And…? Who cares? People who say things on television use teleprompters. People who gives speeches and statements read them off of a paper or a screen. Who the fuck cares? Does he honestly think Bush wrote his own speeches?

But it actually kind of gets worse. The article seems to criticize Obama for being careful. What??

What kind of politician brings a teleprompter to a news conference?

A careful one.

Ooh, burn.

It’s an interesting dichotomy: Obama came before the nation to sell one of the most expensive and politically risky agendas ever offered by a U.S. president, but his language was heavy with caution. A hard-willed plan given a soft sell.

How exactly is this a dichotomy? You’re doing something risky. So you want to be careful. Don’t we want him to be careful? Is caution a bad thing now?

Served up opportunities to lead with his heart, Obama was cerebral. Cool and calming in a time of white-hot public anger.

Isn’t this a good thing? Do we really want to return to the days of “bring it on”, “need some wood?” and “is our children learning?”? < –weird punctuation (srz)

Now, when I first started reading the article, I got the impression that Obama took questions from the press and read answers off of the teleprompter. But then I read this, halfway down the article: “The teleprompter was no help during the question-and-answer session (reporters don’t signal their intentions), but Obama was no less careful during that give and take.”

OK, so he read a prepared statement from a teleprompter. Then he answered questions from the press, the answers to which came from his head and were carefully considered.

What exactly is the problem?

______
UPDATE

I just became friends with Barack Obama’s Teleprompter on Facebook.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

It’s the way she says “chicken-sized dinosaur” with such unabashed amazement. When I hear the phrase “chicken-sized dinosaur” my first reaction is, “…and…?”

GUYS GUESS WHAT!  SCIENTISTS HAVE FOUND…GET THIS…AN IGUANA-SIZED LIZARD. OMG FREALZ.

This morning I was making dinner plans with Josiah, and I briefly considered suggesting an Irish pub in Burien. Then I realized what today was. For one thing, it would be way too crowded. For another, it would look too much like I was participating.

Josh requested a new blog post today, but I can’t just think of stuff on command.  So here’s something from like 2004 or something, updated with this year’s Oscar winners!

—

Back when I was a member of the Crescent City Trade Exchange, I enjoyed restaurant meals at extremely discounted prices. One of my favorite places to go was Cafe Rani, where I only paid 10% of the price of the meal, plus the tip. Sweet trade exchange action! You could say that. Cafe Rani had paper table cloths, which was very conducive to creativity. When we left, the table would be covered with movie titles, or rather, what the titles would have been had they starred Indiana Jones! Here is a happy list of some of them.

• The Curious Jones of Indiana Buttons
• Indiana / Jones
• Jonesdog Indianionaire
• Jonesling
• Jonesic Thunder
• The Jones Knindiana
• Friday Night Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones After Next
• Analyze Indiana Jones
• Look Who’s Indiana Jones
• Look Who’s Indiana Jones, Too
• Indiana Jones: World Police
• Indiana Jones 49
• Finding Indiana
• Indiana Gump
• The Sixth Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones Reloaded
• How Indiana Jones Stole Christmas
• Indiana Jones Almighty
• Raiders of The Lost Indiana Jones
• My Big Fat Greek Indiana Jones
• Beverly Hills Indiana Jones
• The Day After Indiana Jones
• Saving Private Indiana
• Gone With The Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones and The Indiana Jones of Doom
• Dances With Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones Forever
• Indiana’s Eleven
• What Indianas Want
• The Perfect Indiana Jones
• Planet of The Indiana Jones
• There’s Something About Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones Dundee
• Three Men and an Indiana Jones
• The Sound of Indiana Jones
• As Indiana Jones As It Gets
• It Could Happen To Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones Pie
• The Indiana Jones and The Furious
• 2 Indiana 2 Jones
• The Indiana Jones Picture Show
• Teenage Mutant Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones Management
• Silence of The Indiana Jones
• Honey, I Shrunk Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones and Indiana Joneser
• The Indiana Jones Is Not Enough
• My Best Friend’s Indiana Jones
• Sleepless in Indiana Jones
• Indiana Brockovich
• Indiana’s Angels
• Indiana’s Angels 2: Full Jones
• Indiana Jones Never Dies
• Good Morning, Indiana Jones
• The Jones Identity
• 50 First Indianas
• Hunt For Red Indiana Jones
• On Golden Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones 9/11
• You’ve Got Indiana Jones
• Indecent Indiana Jones
• Basic Indiana Jones
• Kramer vs. Indiana Jones
• The Italian Indiana Jones
• How To Lose Indiana Jones in 10 Days
• Sleeping With Indiana Jones