Thursday, March 20, 2014

LOL (part 2) - International Talk Like William Shatner Day

everystockphoto.com/Where's Captain Kirk?
 LOL - Laughing Out Loud - is a look at the lighter side of life.  And in a few days, we can find an excuse to do just that.

Maurice LaMarche has declared March 22nd  as -

 *International Talk like William Shatner Day *

[reference:  William Shatner: Talk like him on his 80th birthday - CBS News (2011) ]

And on that day, William Shatner, perhaps best know as Captain Kirk on Star Trek, will celebrate his 82nd birthday.

In the video clip below, Mr. LaMarche explains the inspiration behind this special day -





Star Trek has been an inspiration for 50 years.  Therefore, the actor who played this intrepid star ship captain - Captain Kirk - deserves to have his day!

And on this day, I would venture Mr. Spock would wish us all to -

  Live Long and Prosper!

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Previous Post in this series:

LOL (part 1) - Olympic dreaming on such a winter's day (2014)

For a link to Facebook:  

International William Shatner Day


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Photo from:  everystockphoto.com/Where's Captain Kirk?

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Biblia Files (part 4) - Holy Hyperlinks

Wikipedia/Christ driving the Traders from the Temple

For bloggers, hyperlinks are our friends.  They can link the reader to another page with more information about a key phrase or give a reference for a point made.

Before the internet and electronic documents, books had a way of doing that.  They were called footnotes and end-notes.  Not only that, this technique was and is still used in the spoken word. In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln had made reference to the proposition that all men are created equal - a spoken "hyperlink" to the Declaration of Independence.

Jesus used this technique, too.

And as we are in the season of Lent, here is a great example of one of these Holy Hyperlinks that Jesus used in throwing out the money changers in the Temple.

12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. 
He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[a] 
but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’[b]

Matthew 21:12-13 (NIV)

Below is the clip, dramatizing the scene:


Let's take a look at these phrases Jesus cited:

‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[a] ...

The reference [a] is a link to Isaiah 56:1-8.  These verses speak of including the foreigners - the Gentiles - in worship of the one God in the Holy Temple.

 ‘a den of robbers.’[b]

The reference [b]  is a link to Jeremiah 7:1-29.  These verses speak of a call for reform in a religion that was "breaking bad" as noted among many things for its oppression of foreigners.

So in two short phrases, Jesus said much to those who understood the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament.

* Smart Jesus. *

And seeing this example gives me pause to see Scripture in a new way - it's Holy Hyperlinks - which fill in so much more to tell the rest of the story.

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Recent posts in this series:

Biblia Files (part 1) - Thru the Bible (2013)

Biblia Files (part 2) - What is the Bible Basically About? (2013)

Biblia Files (part 3) - Gideon - weakness, warts and all (2013)

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Photo from:  Wikipedia/Christ driving the Traders from the Temple

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Science 101 (part 4) - Cosmos Continued ...

Wikipedia/Thomas Digges map
About 35 years ago, Carl Sagan launched the Cosmos (1980) series.  His thirteen episodes brought the wonders of science into our mainstream culture.  And with his books and series, Sagan connected many scientific concepts with the arts and the spiritual.  As noted in my ZAMM (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) series,  I believe Robert Pirsig would be pleased to see this connection of the spiritual, the artistic, and scientific.
[reference:  Cosmos: A Personal Voyage - Watch Free Documentary Online]

Below is a clip of Carl Sagan, remixed, extolling the wonder of discovery and our connection with the universe:


Since the passing of Carl Sagan in 1996, a new star has risen, astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson.  And he has carried on the passion of bringing science to the general public, such as contributing to the PBS series - Nova - ScienceNow.
[reference: Neil deGrasse Tyson]
  
Here is a sound bite of his perspective of the Cosmos:



Since Cosmos first aired in 1980, there has been an explosion of new discoveries.  And Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson takes off where Carl Sagan had left off last century ... last millennium.  On March 9, 2014, National Geographic is planning to start - Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey (2014).

Below is one of the trailers. a lead in by Carl Sagan:


Let's have Dr. Sagan have the last word as the new Cosmos continues:

Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us — 
there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, 
a faint sensation, as if a distant memory, 
of falling from a height. 
We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.



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Previous posts in this series:

Science 101 (part 1) - Vernal Equinox  (2013)

Science 101 (part 2) - The Sound of Music? (2013)

Science 101 (part 3) - From Galileo to Apollo (2013)


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