After some recent cheesy posts, its time to restore the cool to this blog. And what is cooler than tilt shift photography (and cool music):

I’m sure this is what Disney World will look like when I visit this weekend. Tilt-shift basically makes real objects look like they are miniature models. This is accomplished by photographing from high above and changing the position of the lens. Some terms from Wikipedia:

Tilt: When the lens plane is tilted relative to the image plane, the plane of focus (PoF) is at an angle to the image plane, and objects at different distances from the camera can all be sharply focused if they lie on a straight line.

Shift: is a movement of the lens parallel to the image plane that allows the line of sight to be changed while keeping the image plane (and thus focus) parallel to the subject; it can be used to photograph a tall building while keeping the sides of the building parallel.

And if you understood all that, shoot me a note. In the mean time, check out some more cool examples.

(via YBNBY)

Well that is one activity I will be forgoing

Since I will be heading down to Florida this weekend for a conference, I think it is important to get up to speed with their laws. So far, I have learned that a bicycle is legally defined as a vehicle. But does this mean I can get speeding tickets? I have also learned that gay people are not allowed to adopt children (though a judge recently ruled this law unconstitutional). So out of solidarity to my gay friends, I will not be adopting any children while I am in Florida. My research has turned up some more laws:

If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle.

You are not allowed to break more than three dishes per day, or chip the edges of more than four cups and/or saucers.

You may not fart in a public place after 6 P.

With all these laws, I may just lock myself in doors, and focus on the conference at hand. I should spend my time networking with other enthusiastic students, sitting at the feet of learned luminaries, and rigorously debating current affairs in Computer Science.

Nah, I’m going to Disney World.

(inspired by bthomas85a @ flickr)

So you live in a New Monastic community. You have relocated yourself to the abandoned places of empire… down the road. You share economic resources with fellow house members and the needy… or you smooch mooch. You love to compost your food wastes (and also the unmentionables)… in your kitchen. You act as a peacemaker to end violent conflicts… or squirrel gang wars. You dive through dumpsters looking for your next meal. Sustenance. From a dumpster.

Well this hard life is admirable, but sometimes you have to indulge yourself with “appropriate” luxuries.

Like this limousine:

Limousine for New Monastics (click for larger image)

It does not pollute the environment; in fact its made from recycled parts. And you will certainly be the talk of the New Monastic ball, when you show up in this. If Jesus had this, he would not have bothered that weary donkey. Its not the most convenient mode of transportation, but then what limousine is? Its about luxury, not convenience! Show people you have class, style, and taste.

Unless, of course, you are going to visit your girlfriend’s parents. Then you’ll want to borrow one of these:

"He drives a what?"

(inspired by Inspire me, now!)
(photo: 360forged @ flickr)

I recently saw the following lines on a medical school bathroom stall:

Please flush the toilet. Do it twice.
I want to be an M.D.
M.D. = Missed diagnosis.
M.D. = Mentally disturbed
My eyes hurt
No matter how good she looks someone is tired of accepting her crap.

And witnessed this scene in a hospital:

Patient: “Thank you so much for taking care of me. You don’t know how much it means to me. When I get better I’m going to go to Africa. I’ve always wanted to go there. When I get there I’m going to kill a wild animal. I’ll kill it and I’ll take it back here, to you. I’ll find you, and I’ll kill the wild animal. I’ll split it in half with a knife. Right down the middle. And I’ll give half to you.”

We are learning about forgiveness at the New Leaf School for Christian living:

So often, vengeance is the route used in our society. But forgiveness is clearly the better way. How can we be more forgiving? Be a part of a conversation where we can live into the Lord’s prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

I’m glad we are studying forgiveness, because it means the organizers will readily forgive me for skipping out on the last session.

(inspired by ReverendFun and Matthew 18:21-35)

Source: dazhuko @ deviantart.com

I believe there was once a time when 90% of our church was vegetarian. (OK maybe that is an exaggeration.) The good thing is that vegetarians are passionate people, so we had a passionate church. The bad thing is that we were getting infested by all these live animals that were begging to be eaten. You know, like all those trees in California that are begging to be cut down. Really.

Its like the circle of life is broken and now looks like Pacman. Rimshot!

Oh well. God bless vegetarians. If it wasn’t for them, the price of steak would go up, we wouldn’t have those wonderful PETA ads, and the only use for kale would be to make handbags. Speaking of which, I just discovered that you can roast kale:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Wash and trim the kale: Peel off the tough stems by folding the kale leaves in half like a book and stripping the stems off. Toss with extra virgin olive oil. Roast for five minutes. Turn kale over. Roast another 7 to 10 minutes until kale turns brown and becomes paper thin and brittle. Remove from oven and sprinkle with sea salt. Serve immediately.

Well that looks delicious, but then anything that is roasted to a crisp is delicious. Especially bacon.

(inspired by deviantArt)

I saw this picture on NPR.org a few days ago:

A woman is rescued from the rubble caused by an earthquake in Indonesia (Wong Maye-e, Associated Press)

It struck me because I don’t usually associate disasters with smiling. But this lady is beaming, overjoyed at her rescue. Rather than focus on her general distress, or the rehabilitation that may lie ahead, she is just happy to be out of that dark hole, unphased by the glare of cameras, excited to see other faces. I wonder what she is looking forward to the most? Perhaps a loved one, or an engaging job, or a warm meal of spicy rice and prawns, or a favorite movie. Or maybe she has an XBox 360 at home and figured out how to defeat the Scarab tank in Halo 3 while she was in the hole. I know that put a huge smile on my face.

I know what you are thinking. My western sense of “pleasure” needs some perspective and probably doesn’t jive with hers. (Though you never know.) Anyway, I only hope I have her sense of joy if I ever experience great distress and rescue.

So many beautiful songs have been written about seeing God. “Oh what joy”, “take my breath away”, bla bla bla. But I bet none of these song writers considered that suing might be a more profitable expression.

A Campbell River man has received $63,000 in damages for an “out-of-body experience” in which he said he saw God after being accidentally overdosed with the painkiller Ketamine while recovering from back surgery in Vancouver General Hospital.

This does raise some serious liability issues for our church. One too many Hallelujahs and we get served. Or perhaps one of our new songs so lifts our souls that we hallucinate about lions and lambs. Or maybe one of Amy’s liturgies causes an unsuspecting participant to sell all his possessions and live with the poor. We probably need to hand a disclaimer to congregants as they walk in the door: “By participating in our holy rituals, you acknowledge that New Leaf is not responsible for any intense feelings of optimism or encounters with the Almighty, and you irrevocably waive the right to seek any compensation or an apology.”

(via BoingBoing)