Christmas Shopping Ideas

Thanksgiving is over.  The famous Black Friday has passed.

And now Christmas shopping in earnest has begun.

But, before you get too deep into shopping, you might want to wait for some items.

To what am I referring? you ask.

Well, it seems that if you wait until AFTER Christmas, you can get some realllllly good bargains.

To find out what they are and why, HERE’S THE LINK

And while you are at that link, be sure to click on the other helpful links at the bottom of the article.

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Warning -- 2011 NIV not recommended!

The NIV (New International Version) of the Bible was first released in 1984 and has had widespread acceptance with few complaints by the readers and Evangelical groups and Scholars.  Indeed, many Churches have used it as the Pew Bible.

But several years ago the 1984 version was ‘updated’ and called TNIV (The New International Version). However that ‘update’ was soundly rejected by most Evangelical groups.

So the translators ‘updated’ again with the 2011 Version. This ‘update’ is also being rejected by Evangelical Groups and Scholars.

So what was this ‘updating’ that has caused so much consternation?

Well, most of the updates deal with ‘gender neutrality’ issues among other things. (See link at end of this post for details).

And, saddest of all, the original (1984) translation of the NIV, (known simply as NIV ) is being phased out and soon will no longer be published even though it was widely accepted and had few detractors.

This means that the version most folks liked (the 1984 NIV) and the 2 versions that are disliked (TNIV and the 2011 NIV) will ALL three soon be ‘no more’.

For more details and to read about the ‘issues’ involved, HERE’S THE LINK.

Fireproof

 Fireproof is a movie.

It has been ‘out’ for a year or two.

But it was only recently that I finally saw it.
               
And WOW what a movie.

Several folks repeatedly encouraged me to watch it but I never got round to it until just recently.

If you have not yet seen it, be sure to rent and view it asap.

To read its plot and to learn more about the actors, etc.,
HERE’S A LINK  and HERE’S ANOTHER LINK.

Wow. It Happened Again !!

What happened?

Well, you will recall that a few days ago there was a surprise musical appearance in a Macy’s store in Philadelphia.

Well, it has happened again. 

This time a different group ‘popped up’ in a Food Court.

You will love this.   HERE’S THE LINK

What to do with the Leftovers?

Yesterday was a day of feast and plenty.  And, ooooh what a good time everyone had and yum yum were all the dishes.

Yes, the Thanksgiving meal was wonderful and bountiful.

But now there are lots and lots of leftovers. 

So what to do?  This is too tasty to throw out.

The famous turkey sandwich route is a staple left over ‘idea’. 

But what else?

Well, with this question in mind and needing some answers, here are a few sites with some really tasty and creative suggestions about what to do with those leftovers.
HERE’S A LINK   and   HERE’S A LINK and if that isn’t enough HERE’S ONE MORE.

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Happy Thanksgiving !

In America, today is Thanksgiving Day.

The classic Rockwell painting (pictured here) correctly illustrates this day that Americans celebrate annually.

This is the day that folks travel to grandmother’s house or some similar place to gather with family and friends and observe one of the most favorite and special times of the year, Thanksgiving.

Some will have large gatherings and bountiful meals, others smaller groups and not so much.

But all who truly understand this special Holiday will give thanks on this day to God for our many blessings.

History books when I was a child (long long ago when Dinosaurs roamed the earth) told the correct history of Thanksgiving.

But, alas, since those days there have been many revisions and deletions concerning its origin and true meaning.

So what is the true history? you ask.

Well, whenever you want the accurate and trustworthy history of the early days of America, including the origins of Thanksgiving, it is best to turn to David Barton’s Wall Builders site.

You reallllly need to read this and you might even want to read or summarize it at your Thanksgiving gathering. HERE’S THE LINK.

What can a really big Volcanic eruption do?

If you have been paying attention to the news in the past few years, you have probably noticed that there are more and more volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and other earth related events being reported.

But these things are not just ‘current happenings’.  Such things, as you know, have happened repeatedly in the past -- at Pompeii and many other places.

You likely have also heard of the famous 1883 eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia.

My mother and grandmother mentioned it frequently.

Mother, of course, was not alive at the time, but Grandmother was and both referred frequently to the event.

Why? Because, It was a very big and important event.

Big? Important? Indonesia is far far away and on the other side of the world. 

So, why would a volcanic eruption that far away be of interest to folks in North America?

Well, for many reasons including, of course, the deaths and destruction that occurred locally in Indonesia, but also because big eruptions such as Krakatoa cause weather changes that affect the entire planet.

Mother and Grandmother said that the weather in America and around the world was significantly different (cooler, etc) for several years after the eruption.

I have, therefore, always had an interest in Krakatoa, and recently a friend sent an email mentioning that eruption and several others. 

That jogged my interest so I surfed out to Wikipedia to read about the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa and discovered many interesting things concerning what what a reallllly big volcanic eruption can do.

Mt. St. Helens, which erupted in 1980 in Washington State, was considered to be a big event but it did not hold a candle to the Krakatoa eruption.

Finding the article in Wikipedia very interesting, I thought you would like to read it also. HERE’S THE LINK.

Brain Teasers

 The Brain is an amazing amazing thing.  

You have seen the ‘usual’ pictures of a brain.

But perhaps the picture today is new to you.

In case you are wondering, it is a PET scan of an 80 year old Brain. 

A PET (Positron Emission Tomography) Scan is one of the studies done in Radiology Departments that shows brain activity (or inactivity) among other things.

And speaking of brain ‘inactivity’, several emails with funny ‘brain teasers’ have gone round and round the internet.

At least they have dropped into my inbox several times and likely yours also.

Yesterday we saw a 6th grader who memorized more numbers in Pi than one could ever have thought possible.

So perhaps today, we older or more ‘normal?’ folks should test our brains for activity also.

So, with that by way of introduction, to see how you are doing mentally, HERE’S THE LINK

Pi

                     
Time for the jokes. 

Pi  R square. No Pie are round.

Or, my two favorite kinds of pie are ‘cold pie’ and ‘hot pie’.

Or again, my two favorite kinds of pie are ‘one crust’ and ‘two crust’.

Well, that is PIE.

But how about the mathematical Pi.

We all remember learning about pi in our math classes.  And you probably remember that the definition of Pi is a long number that begins with 3.1416....

And we all knew that there are a lot more numbers after 3.1416 but didn’t bother to memorize them.

How many numbers?

Well, there is a class of students who know a lot of the numbers and one kid in the class reallllllly knows an amazing number of numbers in pi.

Prepare to be amazed. (After the commercial-- sigh)   HERE’S THE LINK

A really unusual Flying Car

                  
Well, actually, all flying cars are unusual.

But this one really is.

You have no doubt seen various prototypes of flying cars. We have even posted some on this DIT site in the past.

But, most flying cars look a lot like airplanes.

This one doesn’t.

And, this one is not intended so much for flying in the ‘usual’ way to the ‘usual’ places.

Rather, this flying car was designed by, Steve Saint, the son of the missionary, Nate Saint, who is probably known by name to most of you reading this DIT. 

And, if you are not aware of Nate Saint’s life and sacrifice, you really need to see the movie and read the book (both titled ‘The End of the Spear’) that chronicles the events.

Then you can better understand why this flying car was developed.

Yes, the main intended purpose of this flying car is to assist missionaries and mission work in very remote areas.

This is reallllllly interesting.  HERE’S THE LINK

Pictures from the Space Station

As you know, the International Space Station circles the earth about every 90 minutes.

You may have seen it from time to time, perhaps without knowing that you were seeing it.

From here on earth the Space Station looks like a bright star.

But from the space station looking down on the earth, the earth looks like --- well --- 

See for yourself as you view a few pictures of earth taken from the space station. HERE’S THE LINK

The story of Jonah

So you think you have heard a few sermons about Jonah?

Perhaps you have.

But I seriously doubt if you have heard the story as told by this individual.

This link was sent to me by a friend and it is toooooo wonderful to just leave in the inbox.

So, without further ado, pull up a chair and watch this 7 min 44 sec video.  HERE’S THE LINK

What would you do?

Several of my nieces and nephews play golf and they are approaching the age of this young golfer.

Likely many of you also play golf.

And several of my friends do.

In fact, many years ago I did also but the green fees soon put an end to that since frugal (or ? cheap according to some folks) is my middle name.

But whether one plays or not this article caught my attention and likely will yours also.

What is it?

Well, it seems that a teen golfer disqualifies himself and gives up the medal he won !

It is quite a story. HERE’S THE LINK.

Hand bells ? Who needs hand bells?

Likely you have enjoyed listening to (or perhaps playing in) a hand bell choir.

But, this is not your ‘average’ hand bell choir.

In fact, there are no hand bells at all.

Yet, it is a ‘choir’ and the ‘music’ is being performed by a group from the St Luke’s Lutheran Church.

There are several little short videos of their music so if you like what you hear, then click on some of the others.

You will definitely need to hear at least one of these, and like potato chips, you will probably not be satisfied with only one.

For example, the “Dance of the Reed Flutes” is a hoot. Be sure to listen to it also.

But let’s start with the first one, a 2 minute 3 second video. HERE’S THE LINK

How do cats drink?

Talk about a DIT (Daily Interesting Thing), this is really one. 

Actually it might be two DITs in one, in that, today, we are going to discover 2 new things (to me and perhaps to you).

DIT # 1 is this picture of a Bengal Cat which belongs to one of my friends. 

The first time I saw this unusual cat, it had on a harness!   I kid you not. And it seemingly happily wears it when outside going for a walk!

It is a most unusual and beautiful cat and was even friendly, which for me, a dog person, is very unusual.

But enough of this pontificating about a most interesting cat.

Moving on to DIT # 2:  Another friend who is also a cat lover sent an article about a recent cat study that has been done.

What is it this time? you ask.

Well, most of us have watched cats drink.  And perhaps a few wondered how they drink. 

Personally, though I have watched cats drink, it never crossed my mind to think that I (or anyone) really needed to know how they drink.  I was just happy that they did.

But, did you know that US Tax dollars funded a study that has “unveiled the secret of how cats lap water or milk ... “

Yes, our tax dollars at work!

And to find out what was discovered, though I wish the article about the report our tax dollars paid for had included the video, HERE’S THE LINK. 

And if you are wondering about the Bengal Cat breed and want to know more about this “relatively new hybrid breed of cat, formed by the cross of a domestic feline and an Asian Leopard Cat", HERE’S A LINK.

Christopher Bear’s Update

Those of you who have followed this DIT site know of Baby Christopher.

He was born Nov 30, 2009.

Pre-birth ultrasound exams revealed that he had severe Cardiac problems.

After birth the problems were discovered to be even more severe and he urgently needed a Cardiac transplant.

So he was transferred by Air Ambulance from his birth hospital in Oregon (which does not do transplants) to one in Arkansas which did.

Jan 16, 2010, he received his New Heart (with sadness and grateful thanks to the Unknown Donor and family).

Christopher will be 1 year old on November 30.  He spent almost 11 of those months in intensive and cardiac care units in hospitals.

Just a few weeks ago he was FINALLY discharged home.

He is still on renal dialysis and will be until sometime in the future (in a few years?) when he might be able to get a kidney transplant.

But, this update is to let you know that he is HOME at last with his family (they are doing the renal dialysis on a portable home dialysis unit.)

Christopher’s first year of life has been a journey of Faith and Trust in God by his parents, siblings, relatives, and innumerable friends who have followed his saga.

His mother has recently posted an ‘at home’ update on the Caring Bridge site.

Also, a 7 minute 55 second video summarizing Baby Christopher’s first year was recently posted on YouTube. I have put both it and the mother’s ‘at home’ update on the same page.  HERE’S THE LINK

Hallelujah Chorus in Philadelphia

People were milling around and shopping in Macy’s in Philadelphia.

An organ is playing in the background entertaining the shoppers as is often done in Malls and big stores during the holiday shopping season.

But, then, something unusual happens.

Amazing. 

Check this out.  HERE’S THE LINK.
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Giant Spider Webs in Madagascar

Usually when you think of Madagascar, you think of Lemurs since that is their native habitat.

You do associate Lemurs with Madagascar, don’t you?

Of course, I know you do.

But when you think of Madagascar, do you think of BIG spiders and BIG spider webs?

Probably not and until recently not many people did, except those living in Madagascar.

Usually when one thinks of spiders, one thinks of small little creatures that spin smallish webs.

And, as you know, spiders catch things to eat in their spider web nets.

But, how about BIG spiders and BIG webs. Are there any?

Well, yes -- In Madagascar spiders with reallllllly big webs have been found.

These webs are really big -- so big that scientists are wondering how the spiders do this and how they attach them and ...

Well, hmmmmm.  I guess these are big questions IF one is wearing the “old earth worldview / evolutionary glasses” which say that spiders and their ability to make reallllly big webs just happened by chance.

For folks wearing the “young earth worldview” gasses, the answer is simple.

So, what is the simple answer to these amazing spiders and their humongous webs? you ask.

How about just believing what the Bible says -- which is that God created all creatures (and this would include spiders with their ability to spin webs) to be what they are and to do what they do.

Anyway, if you interested in seeing some of these BIG webs.  HERE’S THE LINK.

Football Trick play

 It is Friday and that means many folks on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday will either be at football games in person or watching on TV.

So it is only ‘timely’ to have a football DIT today.

You may have already seen this as it has been on Yahoo and Fox News. 

But, if you have missed this video, it is a ‘must see’.

What is it?

Well, it is a 27 second video of the most unusual football play that I have ever seen.

It was sent to us by one of our friends on the other side of the world though the play happened in Texas.

One of the bloggers in the comment section below the video said that this is an illegal play.

Well, perhaps so.

But it is still a hoot.  HERE’S THE LINK

Today is Veterans day

Is your flag flying???

Veterans Day has other names.  You may have first heard it called Armistice day or Remembrance Day.

But regardless of the name, it is an important day.

First proclaimed a Holiday on November 11, 1919, it seems to be one of the few holidays that is still observed on its originally intended day.

Most other Memorial days (Various birthdays of Presidents, etc. ) have been moved to include a weekend or whatever.

But Veterans day is still observed on November 11.

Some of you working folks will get the day off.  Others will not.

And being on Thursday this week, you are not likely to be going on a trip or having a cookout or whatever.

But, regardless of what you do or don’t do, we do need to ‘remember’ this day.

To read why it is important HERE’S THE LINK.
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Jump Rope like you probably never saw before

 This is not your grandmother’s way of jumping rope

There is a video ‘out there’ on the net that was emailed to me by a friend that seems to be some kind of jump rope competition.

And wow!  These folks have taking this sport to a whole new level.

This is not the skip skip skip jumping rope routine that most of us did as kids.

And it is not even the fancier jumping that athletes such as ‘prize fighters’ do.

No, Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.

You will NOT believe what you see.

And, you will notice, there are NO fat folks in the group.

For a noisy and very animated 7 minute 59 second video, HERE’S THE LINK 

And if, after seeing that video, you were ‘inspired’ to take up or resume your old jumping skills, for some instructions (or reminders) to get you started, HERE’S THE LINK.

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19 Easy Home Winterization Projects

Unless you live in Florida or some other similar balmy climate, you have probably noticed that it is getting COLD outside.  Brrrrrr.
So, for us in the Northern Hemisphere, that means that winter is coming (or is here).

And that means that heating bills will be going up.

So what to do?

Well, for 19 suggestions regarding how to winterize things around your house or apartment,  HERE’S A LINK.

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Baking Soda in your Refrigerator

 Everyone has seen the famous yellow box of Baking Soda.

And if you have ever read the small print on the box, you have discovered that Baking soda has a zillion uses.

Perhaps the most famous of its uses is that of removing odors from the refrigerator.

So, since you are probably already using Baking Soda in your fridge, this article will be of interest.

Bottom line:  you can’t just put it in the fridge and forget it.  Sigh.

As with everything, it seems, there are helpful ‘rules’ and ‘guidelines’

So if you would like to know the ‘best’ way to use Baking Soda in the fridge, HERE’S THE LINK.

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Ezekiel 35 and 36, A Great History Lesson

                   
Recently I was loaned a very interesting book.

It had lots of maps (I love maps) and a lot of reallllly interesting history about The mountains of Israel.

It is a short book and a fast read.

But in its brief 120 pages it succinctly explains the somewhat (to me and perhaps to you) confusing but very significant chapters in the Bible, Ezekiel 35 and 36.

Why are they ‘somewhat confusing’?

Well, they are prophecies addressed to the mountains in Israel !

This is definitely a book that every Christian needs to read.

It was published in 1993 and has had several printings since then with 90,000 or more copies having been sold all around the world.

The person who loaned the book to me got it from a member of his Sunday School class but I don’t know where that person got it.

However, checking around, I discovered that it can be found at Amazon. (And, no, we do not get any money from this suggestion.  We just think you should read it and pass it on to others.)

HERE’S THE LINK and be sure to read the 19 or so reviews and the sample pages with the index, introduction, the 2 chapters in Ezekiel and more.

Daylight Savings Times ENDS Sunday Nov 7

This is a big heads up and reminder that

It is “Fall Back time.”

Yes, tonight, this Saturday night (well, technically in the wee hours of Sunday morning), Daylight Savings Time ends.

So, be sure to change allllll your clocks and timers and everything that ‘blinks when the power goes out’ BACK one hour before you go to bed tonight (Saturday night).

If you don’t do this, you'll be an hour early to church!  And, if you are a Baptist, I guess that means you will be the early bird making the coffee and putting out the donuts.   : )

Anyway, this will be a 25 hour day, so, joy and happiness, you get another hour of sleep tonight !!!!

But, alas, if you have a job where you are on call or on duty when the time changes, well, sad about that as you have to work longer.  Sigh.

Also, this is a good time change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

And if you want to know more about the how and why and ins and outs of Daylight Savings Time, HERE’S A LINK
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Twitpics (Twitter Pictures) from space

Yesterday we viewed 22 pictures by the Astronomy Photographer of 2010.

Today let’s view 22 more pictures.

This time these are pictures sent back from space by an Astronaut via his Twitter account.

The uber rich, in addition to the astronauts, are starting to travel to space to see such things. 

If you are not uber rich but would still love to see what it looks like from a platform in space, then this link is for you.

So, put on your ‘virtual spacesuit’ and pretend you are on the space station as you view these pictures.

Beautiful.   HERE’S THE LINK.

And if you liked those, to view 12 more from the same 'twitter' person.  HERE'S THE LINK

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Astronomy Photography

22 pictures by Tom Lowe, the Astronomy Photographer of the year 2010.

These are beautiful.

What more can one say.

Check them out. HERE’S THE LINK.

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From Darkness to Light

Monday we discovered that many Major League Baseball players are giving a testimony for Christ.

And recently we followed the rescue of the 33 miners in Chile and heard snippets about the faith of the miners.

But, alas, not many ‘ spiritual details’ were forthcoming by the main stream media.

And you, like I, probably wanted to know more.

Well, now ‘more’ is starting to leak out.

A wonderful article with an accompanying short video has made it onto the net.

You will be blessed by it.  HERE’S THE LINK
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Today is Election day.

Be sure to VOTE !!!

No links. No click throughs today.

Instead, spend the time today going to your polling place, voting, and then watching or listening to the results.

We will continue these DITs (Daily Interesting Things) tomorrow.

So, Catch ya later.    : )
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It's Baseball World Series Time

Some of us are more ‘into’ the World Series than others.

My neighbors are following it closely and so are many friends and relatives.

Others are more ‘into’ college or pro football at this time of the year.

But, for those of you who follow Baseball and the players, this article will be of great interest to you.  It was to me.

What is it about?

Well, as a big clue, the title of the article is “MLB World Series Players Testify of God’s Grace.”  HERE’S THE LINK.
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