Of Bald Men and Bears

I've begun the process of posting pictures from my recent trip to Europe.

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A friend of mine just lent me a CD of a Christmas concert in which I participated during my senior year of high school. After attending my brother's high school graduation today (congratulations, Billy!) and reminiscing on my own high school experiences, this music is evoking the most sentimentality I have had about high school in a long time.

It isn't even really that I want to go back to high school--they were great years, but compared to my last three years of college, my high school years might as well have been my middle school years (*shudder*). It is an eerie feeling, though, to hear a solo I sang, to have the ability even three years later to sing along with my Tenor II parts in the various songs, and to be able to pick out the voices of my high school friends from our blended sound. I even sent my choir director an e-mail asking if there might be any more recordings which I could add to my musical library. Even though I do very little musically anymore except listen, I would definitely have been a much less culturally developed person than I am today without high school choir.

(Sorry for the sappiness of this post--my mood right now is just one big sigh.)

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Furthermore

Boston's "Rock and Roll Band" is definitely the most exciting classical rock and roll song ever written/recorded/performed (click to listen, courtesy Amazon.com: Windows Media Player or Real Media Player--unfortunately, this clip ends before the coolest part of the whole song). Combine an exhilaratingly driving electric guitar line with lyrics about every boy's childhood fantasy (becoming a part of a successful rock and roll band), and you get my Pump-Me-Up Music for the weekend.

Labels: Music

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This article was posted to explain the inner workings of a lightsaber. It's pretty hilarious. My favorite parts include the warning label for the lightsabers:

Important Safety Information
A lightsaber is not a toy! Keep it out of reach of children at all times. Lightsaber locks are required in most states.

There are two ends to any lightsaber -- one end has the belt ring, while the other end houses the blade arc tip and blade emitter. NEVER point the blade emitter of a lightsaber toward your own body. NEVER look down the "barrel" of a lightsaber, even if you are "sure" it is in safe mode. If you accidentally activate the lightsaber, serious injury could result.

Also, the picture with the caption, "A lightsaber can help convince an assailant that no means no" is pretty hilarious.

Ahhh, geekdom!

Labels: Fun

Posted by Jacob at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments

So, I was reading from Numbers 10 about the use of silver trumpets within the nation of Israel. It was interesting, but I was sort of thinking about it as being on par (in terms of importance) with prohibitions against boiling an animal in its mother's milk or something like that. I'm such a Gentile.

Then, I got to Psalm 47. Verse 5 says:

God has gone up with a shout,
   the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.

The fascinating thing here (or, at least, it struck me as fascinating) is that this verse seems to be the exact opposite of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, especially verse 16:

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command [often translated "shout"], with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God

This only gets cooler, though, when we look at the purpose of a trumpet in Numbers 10:9-10:

9And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the LORD your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies. 10On the day of your gladness also, and at your appointed feasts and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. They shall be a reminder of you before your God: I am the LORD your God.

Not only will the return of the Lord be signaled with a trumpet that calls us to war, but that will also usher in feasts with the LORD, our God! So cool.

Labels: Bible, Theology

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Labels: Fun

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