Super Funky

Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts

Desktop Wallpaper: Jesus in the mist

Beautiful photo of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Desktop wallpaper sized image here.

*Previously: Video of lightning striking the Christ the Redeemer statue.

*Find religious action figures at eBay.

Little Mac vs. Soda Popinski fight poster

Here's a few standout artworks from the iam8bit show that I hadn't seen before.

"1987 Was a GREAT Year" by Mike Mitchell.

"On the Seventh Day, R.O.B. Rested" by Jude Buffum.

"Atop Octorok" by Wade Schin.

Many more images from the show can be seen here.

*Previously: Manipulated Super Punch-Out Animated Gifs.

*Buy Legend of Zelda toys at eBay.

Video of UFC fighter Jon Koppenhaver explaining why he legally changed his name to "War Machine" amd other news of the day

You can read more about "War Machine" at Wikipedia.

Other weird news of the day:

1. Video of a moth with the face of Jesus.

2. Video of driver driving wrong way on freeway. The reporter mocks the driver at length, repeatedly calling him a "rocket surgeon." First time I've heard that phrase, but it's surprisingly common.

3. Roger Ebert tells Jay Mariotti to suck it.

4. West Point instructor describes fascinating visit with Sikhs at the Golden Temple.

*Find more weird news here.

*Buy War Machine action figures at eBay.

The nature of technological advances indicates the hand of god?

I'm not religious in any traditional way, but I got chills reading this paragraph by Malcolm Gladwell about the phenomenon of simultaneous discovery:

This phenomenon of simultaneous discovery—what science historians call “multiples”—turns out to be extremely common. One of the first comprehensive lists of multiples was put together by William Ogburn and Dorothy Thomas, in 1922, and they found a hundred and forty-eight major scientific discoveries that fit the multiple pattern. Newton and Leibniz both discovered calculus. Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace both discovered evolution. Three mathematicians “invented” decimal fractions. Oxygen was discovered by Joseph Priestley, in Wiltshire, in 1774, and by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in Uppsala, a year earlier. Color photography was invented at the same time by Charles Cros and by Louis Ducos du Hauron, in France. Logarithms were invented by John Napier and Henry Briggs in Britain, and by Joost Bürgi in Switzerland.

It's almost as if some hand is directing makind to make technological discoveries at a specific pace.

As with everything else by Malcolm Gladwell, I highly recommend you read the whole thing.

*Previously: Warning, wrath of god ahead.

*Buy Malcolm Gladwell's books for 40% off at Amazon.

Warning, Wrath of God Ahead

Warning sign by Ian Austin

Wrath of God ad by ~mostlymade on deviant ART

*Previously: Faith healing sign at Disneyland.

*Find vintage signs at eBay.

Bible Illuminated: The Book

Amazon says:

A homeless man walking. A soldier preparing for combat. A mother nursing her newborn child. Never before has a publisher illuminated the Bible with such an array of striking, even provocative contemporary photographs. Wrapped in a arresting cover. Bible Illuminated: The Book, New Testament presents the Bible in a full-color, glossy magazine format, set in running text with no verses, inviting readers to step into the Bible and experience it in a whole new way. The Book, using the Good News Translation as approved by the American Bible Society, will introduce believers and non-believers to a culturally relevant, accessible Bible and will encourage dialogue between people from all walks of life.

Here's the official site. You can preorder it for 34% off at Amazon.

Via these fine sites.

Newspaperman reminisces about the Scientology spy working at the paper

Part of a much larger article about the St. Petersburg Times’ Clearwater Sun newspaper, Mike Pride reminisces:

Besides their secretive ways, two things made covering the Scientologists hard. First, they were confrontational and unpleasant (Hubbard’s doctrine described journalists as "Merchants of Chaos"). Second, our city desk clerk was a Scientology spy. We wrote nearly 200 stories during the year after we disclosed the Scientologists’ presence, and they always seemed to know what we were up to.
[snip]
We knew the newsroom had been infiltrated, but we never guessed the spy was the friendly, efficient, sympathetic "June Phillips." We learned this only years later from FBI files.

Read the whole thing. Via.

"Siddhartha Gotama in gas mask" by Samuel Stimpert

If there was a Buddhist shrine in Fallout, it would look like this. Via.

*Previously: Download the Vault Boy papercraft.

*Preorder Fallout 3 at Amazon and receive an exclusive Pip-Boy 3000 digital clock.

Darwin fish comic

Via these sites.

*Previously: Learn about evolution at the unicorn museum.

The black and white flag of Brittany

This is the black and white flag of Brittany, a province of France. I don't think I've ever seen a black and white flag before, but the Wikipedia entry notes that there's a few locales that have black and white flags. Via.

While looking for photos of the flag, I found this image at Flickr:

It has something to do with a pilgrimage called the "Tro Breizh." Wikipedia explains:

In Brittany, there is a very old pilgrimage called the Tro Breizh (tour of Brittany), where the pilgrims walk around Brittany from the grave of one founder saint to another. The seven founder saints of Brittany are:

* St Pol Aurelian, at Saint-Pol-de-Leon/Kastell-Paol,
* St Tudual (sant Tudwal), at Tréguier/Landreger,
* St Brieuc, at Saint-Brieuc/S-Brieg,
* St Malo, at Saint-Malo/S-Maloù,
* St Samson of Dol, at Dol,
* St Patern, at Vannes/Gwened
* St Corentin (sant Kaourintin), at Quimper/Kemper

Historically, the pilgrimage was made in one trip (a total distance of around 600 km). Nowadays, however, pilgrims complete the circuit over the course of several years. In 2002, the Tro Breizh included a special pilgrimage to Wales, symbolically making the reverse journey of the Welshmen Sant Paol, Sant Brieg, and Sant Samzun. Whoever does not make the pilgrimage at least once in his lifetime will be condemned to make it after his death, advancing only by the length of his coffin each seven years.

I wonder why there's a slash though the sign.

Marijuana growers believe Ganesha is their patron saint

The New Yorker has a long, fascinating article about the entrepreneurs who grow medical marijuana in California. This detail stood out:

While Blue napped, I wandered around his apartment, and counted nearly a dozen images and carvings of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha. The proliferation of Ganesha dates back to a well-publicized federal bust in January, 2007, when the D.E.A. seized the medicine and cash of eleven pot dispensaries in Los Angeles. The only major dispensary that wasn’t busted had a Ganesha in its window. Now it is hard to find a karmically inclined ganja dealer in Los Angeles who doesn’t own a herd of lucky figurines.

Read the whole article by David Samuels here.

(Marble Ganesha idol found at Flickr.)

*Previously: Ganesha plush.

*Find Ganesha statues at eBay.

Add the Pope to the list of jetsetters...

living opulent lifestyles that think everyone less important should cut back - - specifically that mankind's "'insatiable consumption' has scarred the Earth and squandered its resources."

The real Dhalsim?

A statue at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery. Here's two more shots. Via.

*Find Street Fighter toys at eBay.

US Presidents and other neat bobbleheads on sale at eBay right now

SF Giants Rally Rabbi. Link.

Anaheim Angels Rally Monkey. Link.

York Revolution Mascot. Link.

Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, & Teddy Roosevelt. Link.

Washington Nationals/Abraham Lincoln. Link.

Washington Nationals/Teddy Roosevelt. Link.

Boston Red Sox Wally. Link.

Philadelphia Phillies Phanatic. Link.

Brewers Racing Sausages Mini Big Head Bobblehead set. Link.

Milwaukee Brewers Chorizo. Link.

Milwaukee Brewers Polish Sausage. Link.

Coercion, illustrated

Powerful ads for the newspaper Metro. "Metro: Pray" and "Metro: Vote" are part of a larger campaign with the tag line, "Think for yourself. Metro. Just facts."

Gaudi's Church of La Sagrada Familia...as a sand castle

Part of the "Childhood Renaissance 4" photoshop contest at Worth 1000.

I once gave a presentation on the "Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família" for Spanish class. I more or less did my research/preparation over the lunch break before class and then proceeded to tell the class about how Mr. Sagrada and his family were Gaudi's financial supporters. My teacher interrupted to explain that this was not exactly correct.

Packaging: Another Bloody Water, Spiritual Water

Gosh, how to choose! Another Bloody Water spotted here. And a visit to Another Bloody Water's site led me to Spiritual Water.