Nielsen’s Nook

For those who care (and I don’t care much) about the NFL playoffs, you might like my completely random choices for which teams will win in the first round of the playoffs. Let’s see if my arbitrary algorithm works.

• Carolina will win at Pittsburgh because I just have to have something to rib Aiden Houk about. See score.
• Seattle will win at home against Washington because I grew up in Dallas and something in my spiritual formation during the Landry Days disposes me against the Washington Redskins. See score.
• Tennessee will beat the Chargers because … well I like the mythic rather than the electric. See score.
• New York will win at Tampa Bay because . See score.

See if I’m any good after the games.

Yes, we’ve been “elfed.” You have got to check out this hilarious holiday spoof that OfficeMax put out this year. Click on the picture for the flash version.

HT: Jared Edwards

I have to share this with you. It is absolutely hilarious.

My wife has been reading Richard Muller on Calvin and his relationship to the Scholastic traditions, both the Medieval Scholastics (e.g., Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus) and the later Protestant Scholastics (e.g., Francis Turretin). Consequently, I have been learning a lot from her as she shares with me her insights and we get to discuss. For those who would like a more in depth treatment of Muller’s thesis, please visit my wife’s blog: Per Caritatem.

What I wanted to do here on my blog was ask a question regarding the relationship of form to substance in another way by sharing with you a little video that Mike and Rachel Vendsel shared with us. While it is very funny, it presents the question at hand in a creative way, I think. So watch the video (1:05) and then ask yourself, does the form in which the content of Mary Poppins is being presented to me change the substance of the film? What kinds of affects does form have on substance? Do spoofs like this film help us to answer this question or does this frame the question in a way that is flawed?

Some of you know that in addition to my pastoral studies and aspirations, I have run a small Web Development and Graphic Design corporation. So you will understand why the spoof on tech support that my wife sent me was so funny. I have no idea who the fellow is that posted it but it made a few of us laugh at the office today.

Here a sample to whet your appetite:

When a user is calling in need of help, don’t forget that he is a weakling. Only a loser would need to come groveling to you, begging for crumbs of help that may fall from your godlike lips. And he knows that he is a loser in the race of the weak and the strong, that his kind is doomed to extinction. Therefore, show him no mercy. Treat him with the utter contempt that he deserves. It is the law of nature that you should do so.

This is one of those “I feel like I should laugh and cry at the same time” kinda links. It is a satire that animated series did on choosing a church and of course only Mark Traphagen would have found it. Thanks Mark, this was hilarious.

Go to Mark’s blog and click on the link.

You have got to see the post on Mark Traphagen’s blog, Sacred Journey. He explains the extent to which Westminster Seminary professors go to get back to the sources of the Bible. — Absolutely hilarious if you know or have seen Doug Green, professor of Old Testament at Westminster Philadelphia.