Compare and Contrast: Counting Songs

THEN

NOW
Sorry, no video on this.

Now, vote!

Tags: Sesame Street, Choo Choo Soul, Counting Songs, YouTube, iJigg

End Of The Line

What happens when you put five good friends in a room together, to write and record album, with a 10-day deadline? It the five happen to be George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty, well then you get some might fine music. In 1988, Harrison was having dinner with Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison when he asked the two to join him in writing a filler song for the B-side of his latest single. They agreed, and thought about recording it that night at a little studio Bob Dylan had - a phone call later (and actually getting Dylan on the first try) they were set. Except for Harrison had left his guitar at Tom Petty's house; so they drop by and invite him along, as well. Five great musicians from three eras of rock, good friends all, record a song on a lark: "Handle with Care".

The record company wisely refused to let "Handle with Care" be hidden on a B-side and encouraged the friends to fill out an album. Dylan was heading out on tour in ten days, so that was their timeline. And what came out was The Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1. In June, a collection of the Wilburys' music was released (having been unavailable since first released): in a month it has sold close to a million copies. And for good reason. The mix of these five is magical - no preening or jocking for position, they shared equally in writing and singing, even auditioning amongst themselves for who would sing what. A little rockabilly, a little classic rock, a lotta good listening.

This video is "End of the Line", from Vol. 1. Sadly, before the video could be shot Roy Orbison died of a heart attack. He carries the chorus in the middle of the song, and is remembered with a picture and a guitar in a rocking chair. This song is their way of saying to let go, don't sweat what you don't have, but be glad in what you do have - it'll carry you through. A pretty good message, actually; contentment.

Enjoy!

Tags: Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Traveling Wilburys, End of the Line, Video, YouTube

Pseudonymity

So, I'm coming clean here: my real name is not Euphrony. I do not sign that on checks or IRS forms, nor is it even listed in my profile on my resume. Whew! Glad that's off my chest.

Okay, I've talked about where Euphrony came from in the past. I want to know about the secret origins of your pseudonym. How did you choose your on-line identity? Or, was it chosen for you? For example: did Kat get her name from a love of Krazy Kat; or did FancyPants take her name from a Bob Hope / Lucille Ball comedy?

And while you are at it, you can take a stab at this question: Which of the following nicknames have I not carried at some point in my life?

1. Orenthal P. Wisenheimer
2. Mr. Fix-It
3. Blond Jewish Whale
4. Popo
5. Funny Guy

Ready? Set? GO!

UPDATED: No winners were found. I guess everyone thought I have been called Mr. Fit-It. Alas, no, I have never held that nickname. Read the comments for full disclosure.

Tags: Quiz, Trivia, Personal Information, Pseudonym, Online Identity, Nicknames

Preparing my thoughts: Inertia

Today is Day 21 of the 40 Day Fast. They say 21 days of doing something forms a habit; in this case a good thing. Mark Jaffery blogs today about the work he and others are doing in Cairo to help the Sudanese, and asks us to pray for South Sudan in particular.

In preparation for my day of fasting next week, I have been thinking a great deal about inertia. Not the physical inertia which Isaac Newton layed out in his laws of motion. No, I'm thinking about psychological inertia: that thing which we allow to hold us back when we know we must move.

Marianne, in her fasting post yesterday, talked about having known about Blood:Water Mission for a year or more before finally really doing something in response. How true is this for many (if not most) of us? An object at rest tends to stay at rest, Newton posed, and this can be equally true for physical and mental movement. But the opposite is also true, as Newton observed, that once you start it is hard to stop. Getting a taste for action can be addictive.

So right now my thoughts are on inertia. An age-old problem, it is, where we would rather sit and fondly reflect on slavery as luxury because the true road to milk and honey seems to difficult.

Sara Groves
"Painting Pictures of Egypt"

Tags: Sara Groves, Painting Pictures of Egypt, Conversations, Video, YouTube

Promise Kept

One of the things I love so much about the Bible is its vibrancy - how it truly speaks to and relates to people today, two or three millenia after the words were first put down on paper, or even spoken to man. Jehovah has given us promises, words with power because of the faithfulness of He who spoke them. Promises full of hope, guiding us on into the steps ahead. Promises full of despair, with destruction for those who deny the Creator and Savior of all mankind. Promises, that tell us that the Word of God to man is not a rulebook, to be kept and checked off, modified when expedient or discarded as irrelevant. Promises that the Word of God is written on our hearts, alive in each of us.

One promise that I hold dear is in Psalms 139:

¹O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
²You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
³You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
⁴Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all.
⁵You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

⁷Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
⁸If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
⁹If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
¹⁰Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
¹¹If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,"
¹²Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.

Psalms 139:1-12 (NASB)

A promise of both safety in His hand, of His eternal presence with us, and a reminder that we cannot escape Jehovah - His dominion is all-encompassing. A good thing to pull me through the darkness that at times distracts me from Him. A promise Jehovah has kept many, many times.

What promises do you hold dear? What words from God give you hope and fill your mind constantly?

Tags: Hope, Promises, Jehovah, Faithfulness

Abandon hope, all ye who ride with the Euphrony's

You may remember that I've written about the joys of car ownership before. You may also remember that I became a small-time celebrity to some local rednecks after a recent accident. Well, it is time for full disclosure (you can't handle the truth, but you can handle some of it) on these accidents. What prompts this revelation, you may ask? Well, of course, it is yet another accident.

Just the facts, ma'am
This is the city: Houston, Texas. I work here. I'm a rheologist. It was the evening of July 9^th, a Monday, at about 6:20. Mrs. Euphrony had just picked up Little Euphrony from swim lessons; Littler Euphrony accompanied the two older family members in the family mini-van. The driver (Mrs. Euphrony) was attempting a right turn on red, yielding to cross traffic, when their vehicle was struck from behind. The second vehicle was driven by a girl - college age - who was as shook up about this as were the Little E's: Mrs. Euphrony was calm with the experience of someone who had been there before. Only minor damage was incurred - scratched paint and some wear of the rear bumper. No injuries were reported. A claim is being filed for reparation of damages.

Ironically, this was almost expected. You see, Mrs. E's car was in a fairly bad accident when Lil'E was four months old; and since Liler'E is now four months, it was his turn for some excitement. Not that these are the only times, because I could mention the accident that totaled the car and sent Mrs. E and Lil'E to the ER. I'm not immune to this bug, either. My car has been hit twice this year. A few years ago I went through three cars in a month. No joke: my car (totaled when a lady turned out in front of me while I was going 70-mph) and two rentals (one I ran off the road in a case of highway hypnosis, and one side-swiped by an 18-wheeler on the interstate). One of my favorites was when we did a squeeze play, where I was smashed in my compact car between Mrs. E's SUV and the 18-wheeler that rammed be from behind. Crumple zones work: trust me.

So, if you're ever our way, be sure to look us up to say hi. We can go get some dinner, play glow-in-the-dark indoor mini golf, or let kids play at a park. But, you might just want to drive yourself. Take a different route, and leave ten minutes ahead of us. Or, you can hop in our car and let the good times roll.

See ya' soon!

Tags: Car Crash, Accident, Damage, Common Occurrence, Tongue in Cheek, Driving, Houston, Dragnet

Part III: What is a Spirited life, and why do we have the Spirit?

(After long delay, I am returning to this series on the Holy Spirit. I had hoped to post about two a week for about a month. Instead, I haven't published one in over a month. Oops.)

How has the Spirit moved in your life? I'm not asking for generalities, but can you name specifics of when the Spirit has lead you to (or away from) an action, or given you specific insights, or comfort. Where have you actively considered the action of God's Spirit in your life?

I know there have been very tangible times when I have known the Spirit to be with me, guiding me. We know and are assured that God has freely given us His Spirit, a promise extending back to before Christ spoke of this gift.

I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication

Zechariah 12:10 (NASB)

I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it

Ezekiel 37:14 (NASB)

It will come about after this
That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions

Joel 2:28 (NASB)

The problem with recognizing the touch of the Holy Spirit arises in that we live in a post-modern, post-Christian, post-(pick your own filler) society. Our views as Christians have been influenced by the world: Darwinian thinking, Freud, world religions, societal goals (money, fame, ease), etc. have all been stamped on our views of living a Christian life. These, at times, lead us to seek answers and explanations which are self-reliant, naturalistic, and jaded when the truth is we have experienced Jehovah moving His Spirit to change our lives. Am I wrong on this? Honestly, have we not all found ways to explain away the action of the supernatural with the machinations of the natural?

So, what does a Spirited life look like? An easy example is to look at Stephen in Acts 6-7. Read these two chapters, and see a man who was characterized by the Spirit of God: full of the Spirit (6:3, 5), full of grace, power, and signs (6:8), wisdom (6:10), face like an angel (6:15), boldness (7:51-53), seeing God (7:55), and loving of others who hated him (7:60). I am convinced that much of what Paul taught on the Spirit he learned from watching Stephen on this day, though the lesson took some time to sink in. Read 2 Corinthians 3:18 and 2 Timothy 1:7, among others, and see just how much Paul wrote about was exemplified by Stephen.

Beyond the biblical example, I also like to look at the Quakers for one example of Spirited life. Their belief in being lead by the Spirit is so deep that they do not have prepared lessons in their times of worship; instead, characterized by prolonged silences, they wait until someone is moved by the Spirit to speak. Bizarre? Maybe a bit, but I love their dedication to not speak and lead from their own personal desires and the reliance on and intimacy with the Holy Spirit it shows.

Another view of the the Spirited life can be characterized by the difference of how the Spirit works in a life. I think of this as having been touched by the Spirit verses having the Spirit abide within you. Consider the differences between King Saul and King David, in 1 Samuel. We are told several times that the Spirit of God came upon Saul (1 Samuel 10:10 and 11:6). But we are then told how the Spirit departed from him (16:14). In contrast, we see David in his anointing as king, with the Spirit coming on him "from that day forward" (1 Samuel 16:13). We see that the Spirit touches lives, even those not wholly dedicated to Jehovah - and therein lies a purpose. Go back to the above mentioned Zechariah 12:10 and see that the Spirit is pored out to touch the hearts of a people dead to God, convicting them of sin and bringing them to repentance. This we see fulfilled in Acts 2:37. It is the difference of God sending His Spirit to touch mankind, moving them to repentance, and the indwelling of the Spirit we receive in putting on Christ as our lord and savior; but both are pictures of life with the Spirit.

So then, why have we been given the Spirit? Why, also, is life in the Spirit important? I take the parable of Matthew 12:43-45 to heart: we are slaves to someone. If we choose not to be filled with Jehovah's Spirit, we will be overridden by the evil spirits of this world. We can either choose to be a slave to Christ, in His Spirit, or a slave to sin and death.

But then, look at the Gospel of Mark. Writing primarily to the Greeks, Mark spends a good deal of the opening of his gospel acquainting them (and us) with the Living Spirit. In Mark 1:8 we are introduced to baptism of the Spirit and then, in verse 10, see it exemplified in Jesus own baptism. We watch as the Spirit compels Jesus to enter the wilderness and a time of fasting and temptation (also verse 10). We then see Jesus casting out an unclean spirit (vs. 23-27) and, when word of this got out, demon-possessed people are brought before Him, and the demons cast out (vs. 32-34). What can we conclude from Mark's introduction to the Spirited life? We have been given the Spirit to live a life of danger. The Spirit did not lead Jesus into the desert for a picnic; more like to pick a fight. When we seek to do God’s will, we will be assailed, but in His Spirit we are hedged in and shielded. We are not removed from the battle; rather we are carried through it. As Jesus was, we are baptized with a Spirit of power. This Holy Spirit within us has authority and dominion over unclean spirits of this earth. We do not have to fear possession by one of these demons when we have first become the possession of Jehovah and His Spirit.

To be sure, this is not the only reason for the gift of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also our comforter and speaks for us when we cannot. Jehovah's Spirit is our teacher; in His Spirit, we have the mind of Christ. But, in all honesty, we are in a fight for our lives - our eternal lives - and we are not up to the challenge alone. God is with us, having given us His Spirit, so that we may be able to endure this boxing match without being knocked out.

Have you experienced the work of the Spirit in your life? Have you seen first hand what a Spirit-filled life looks like? How so? Recognizing the Spirit's actions is easier when we share how our own lives have been touched - the big and the small.

Tags: Quakers, David, Saul, Life in the Spirit

How I spent my morning

Tags: Bill Cosby, Dentist

Prayer answered

Our friends Connie and Joel write:

We started working with a second adoption agency a couple of months ago. Almost as soon as our paperwork was in (not a small task!), they presented us with a birthmother in Las Vegas, Nevada. They told us she was due toward the end of July, then at the beginning of July. We were thinking about it and trying to get more information when we got a call last Monday saying the birthmother was in labor. If we were interested, we needed to get to Las Vegas ASAP. We hadn't yet committed, but in the three hours after we first discussed it, we decided to go, we packed us and Matthew for an unknown number of days, we drove to Connie's brother's house to drop off Matthew, and we got to the airport, where we sat around waiting to see if we could make it on a 10:30 flight as standbys (Thanks, Mom!). Finally, the 10:30 flight boarded a little after midnight, and we made it on as standbys #24 and 25. Then we arrived in LV, found a hotel, took a suicidal taxi ride, and finally got to bed around 4 am Texas time.

OK, that's the first few hours. The next few days are a blur, but four hotels and LOTS of stress later, we are in possession of a beautiful baby girl (sounds like a crime, doesn't it?) that we can bring back to Texas in 7 to 10 business days. The details of the past few days should fill many e-mails or telephone conversations, so they'll have to wait for now.

Connie and Joel have been trying to adopt a second child for two or three years now (it's been so long I've lost track of the time). They have an adopted boy and now, at long last, a little girl as well! It has been a long road, with multiple birth mothers backing out after the child was born (under circumstances that lead to the belief they never intended to give the child up for adoption in the first place) breaking their hearts. But now the wait is over!

Rejoice with them today, and pray that they all make it back home safely and soon.

Tags: Adoption, Friends, Joy

Do you recall . . .

Apparently, companies that sell product made in China do. If you don't follow the news, there have been numerous recalls of products this year that are traced back to poor quality control or deliberate malfeasance on the back of the Chinese manufacturer. The latest is a recall of tires missing a gum strip that helps prevent tread separation - the same problem that got Firestone into a lot of problems back in 2000.

Hitting closer to home for parents with young children are some two dozen toys being recalled. One of the latest announced was the June 13^th recall of Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys because 'surface paints on the recalled products contain lead.' Lead paint? Good grief! I thought we got past this as a new problem 30 years ago, but it keeps coming back. Another is the recall of some butterfly necklaces whose clasp contains high amounts of lead.Other recalls include children's jackets whose zippers pose a choking hazard and earrings sold at Kmart which also contain high levels of lead. Some toy drums has also recalled, again for use of lead paint.

In non-lead related recalls, Fisher-Price Rainforest Infant Swings have been recalled. Infants can shift to one side of the swing and become caught between the frame and seat, posing an entrapment hazard. Fisher-Price has received 60 reports of the infants becoming entrapped, resulting in cuts, bumps, bruises and red marks.

Make that 61. Liler'E got caught in ours a couple of days ago, though he wasn't hurt since I was right there watching him. Only after this incident did we find out about the recall. Now we're working on returning the swing.

I must admit, I'm not the best at keeping up with product recalls. I should try to do better about that. If you want to know more about general product recalls, check out the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which lists the latest recalls. I'm adding it on my Miscellanea links list, and plan to start checking it about once a week for anything relevant to me.

Tags: Safety, Product Recall, China, Lead Paint, Baby Swing, Toys