Ray Fowler .org

(Learn how you can survive the Digg effect below.)

A number of you trying to access my blog last weekend may have encountered a big, fat “ACCOUNT SUSPENDED” notice instead. No, I was not delinquent on my bills. I was dealing with the Digg effect.

What is the Digg effect, you ask? Digg is a social media site where users share and promote content from all around the internet. The most popular articles get “pushed” to the front page. This results in the Digg effect, where thousands of visitors suddenly surge onto your site in a relatively short period of time. If you have a dedicated server with plenty of bandwidth and memory resources, it is not a problem. But if you are on a shared server, like I am, your server host can shut you down for consuming too many resources.

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Do you want to see a giant moon? Step outside after sunset Wednesday night and look to the horizon on the east. You will see a huge moon rising into the sky.

The full Moon of June 18th is a “solstice moon”, coming only two days before the beginning of northern summer. This is significant because the sun and full Moon are like kids on a see-saw; when one is high, the other is low. This week’s high solstice sun gives us a low, horizon-hugging Moon and a strong Moon Illusion.

Sky watchers have known for thousands of years that low-hanging moons look unnaturally big. At first, astronomers thought the atmosphere must be magnifying the Moon near the horizon, but cameras showed that is not the case. Moons on film are the same size regardless of elevation … Apparently, only human beings see giant moons.

Are we crazy?

After all these years, scientists still aren’t sure. When you look at the Moon, rays of moonlight converge and form an image about 0.15 mm wide on the retina in the back of your eye. High moons and low moons make the same sized spot, yet the brain insists one is bigger than the other.

To learn more about the Solstice Moon Illusion, visit the Science & Nasa page.

Click links below for more Moon related posts:

• Mississippi Moon (Great song about the June solstice moon!)
• Lunar Eclipse over the Dome of the Rock
• Full Moon Rising over Saguaro National Park

Click here for more Space related posts.

Here are six video vignettes starring WALL·E the robot from the upcoming Pixar film, WALL·E.  WALL·E comes out in movie theaters on June 27.

                                            Magnet

 

                                          Headphones

 

Click below for four more WALL·E video vignettes (Hula Hoop, Bouncy Balls, Fire Hydrant, and Vacuum Cleaner).

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What Women Want:
To be loved, to be listened to,
    to be desired, to be respected,
    to be needed, to be trusted,
    and sometimes, just to be held.

What Men Want:
Tickets for the World Series.
                            – DAVE BARRY

Yesterday’s message in the Life of Samuel series was called Father’s Day Advice from Eli, taken from several passages in 1 Samuel. The message asked the question: “If Eli were here, what Fathers Day advice would he have for us today?” Here is a brief outline of the message.

ELI’S FATHERS DAY ADVICE

1. Put God first in your life (1 Samuel 2:27-29)
    – Honor God above all things.
    – Deal with sin in your life.
    – Set the example for your children.

2. Discipline your children (1 Samuel 3:11-14)
    – Teach them God’s Word and God’s ways.
    – Encourage them when they do right.
    – Correct them when they do wrong.

3. Teach them about Jesus (1 Samuel 2:22-25)
    – Tell them what Jesus did for them at the cross.
    – Teach them about repentance and faith.
    – Teach them about confession and forgiveness.

4. The earlier you start, the better (1 Samuel 2:25)
    – Their hearts are more open when they are young.
    – You will save them a lot of trouble along the way.
    – Don’t put it off until tomorrow. Start today!

Note: Click on the Sermons tab at the top of the blog for this and other messages.

Click here for more Fun posts.
Related post: New Illinois State License Plate (Fun)

It’s a girl! This amazing video of a beluga whale giving birth comes from the Vancouver Aquarium.

(Video length: 1:09)

Qila the beluga gave birth to her first calf at 4:28 PM Tuesday, June 10, 2008. The newborn beluga is about 1.5 metres long and weighs more than 50 kilograms (at birth). The beluga will be wrinkled for the first few weeks. Its color is slate grey, which will gradually lighten as it matures. You can view Qila and her new calf live on the aquarium’s Beluga Web Cam.

Here is a picture of Saturn backlit by the sun taken by the Cassini Spacecraft. Cassini is scheduled to complete its four-year prime mission on June 30th and will then enter its extended mission.

                        (Click on the picture for larger version.)

Visit The Big Picture for eleven more stunning photographs of Saturn taken by the Cassini Spacecraft.

Well summer is almost here, which means it was time for Danny D.’s annual summer haircut. Here he is in all his furry glory:

And here he is sporting his brand new field cut. It’s a lot cooler for him and a lot less hair on the carpet for us. He looks like he’s lost 20 pounds — which is pretty drastic considering he only weighs about 25 pounds to begin with!

Related posts:

• The Amazing Adventures of Danny D.
• Parable of the Prodigal Puppy

The Journey into Narnia: Prince Caspian Attraction opens this summer at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World Resort. The Aslan’s How structure used in the attraction was cast from the same molds as the one used in the film.

Your journey begins in the queue where you can test your knowledge of the Narnia stories. Next, either head into the soundstage or introduce yourself to Prince Caspian himself! Then experience a unique look at the epic story in Soundstage 4, where you can watch special behind-the-scenes footage featuring the film’s director, Andrew Adamson.

Pass through a rockwork archway, and you enter Aslan’s Stone Table Chamber, the underground vault where Aslan sacrificed himself in the first movie. You stand amidst gorgeous stone carvings in one of the most awe-inspiring sets in the series, which is also a pivotal location in the film, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Multiple screens, dimensional sound and in-theater effects help you live the story of Narnia firsthand, as you explore this walk-through chamber in depth, guided through the tale of Prince Caspian’s courageous battle against the evil King Miraz to win back his rightful place on the throne.

Finally, conclude the journey with a close up look at the authentic concept art and storyboards that contributed to bringing the motion picture to life, as well as the actual props and costumes used by the film cast.

HT: NarniaWeb

Click here for more Narnia and Caspian related posts.
Click here for Countdown to Caspian roundup.
Click here for Narnia sermon series.

Born twice. Baby Macie Hope was born twice — once when she was six months old in the womb to have a dangerous tumor removed, and then again on May 3 when she was born into the world to stay.

House guest. A homeless Japanese woman lived inside a man’s closet for a whole year before being detected. When the homeowner noticed food kept disappearing, he became suspicious and installed security cameras. Police eventually found the woman in the top compartment of the man’s closet, where she had set up a mattress for sleeping and had lived for the past year.

Night at the museum. Art thieves defeated the security system at a museum in Canada by phoning security and telling them there was a problem with the system and to ignore any alarms that might go off. The security guards believed them, and the thieves went on to steal over $2 million worth of artwork.

I found the following diagram helpful in understanding the tensions that sometimes exist between science and Biblical faith.

                            Bible:theology :: Creation:science
              (The Bible is to theology as creation is to science)

The diagram distinguishes between: 1) Scripture and theology, and 2) creation and science. Scripture is God’s Word and therefore free from error. The physical creation is God’s work and therefore will never be in conflict with God’s word. However, theology is man’s study of Scripture, just as science is man’s study of creation. As such, theology and science are both susceptible to error and can be in conflict with each other.

Thus when science and theology conflict, we should not rush to judgment about which side is wrong. Rather we should continue to test our theology against the evidence of Scripture and our science against the evidence of the physical world. When we get our theology and science correct, there will be no conflict between the two.

I like this model because it affirms:
    1) the truth of God’s word,
    2) the order of God’s world, and
    3) the value of both theological and scientific endeavor.

Note: The diagram comes from David Heddle, associate professor of physics at Christopher Newport University. Heddle is currently teaching a Sunday School class on science and faith at Grace Baptist Chapel in Hampton, VA. He is posting his weekly notes online at GBC Sunday School. You can find an outline of the series here.

Related post: God’s Providence and Scientific Investigation