Will wonders never cease?

For the first time in seven years, Friendswood has lowered property taxes.

The city council also approved the first reading of an ordinance that would freeze such taxes for senior citizens and handicapped homeowners.

The cuts could be the first of many, city officials say.

Although property values went up in Friendswood this year, residents overall should be paying slightly less because of the significant decrease.

It’s good to see efforts paying off.

But just which end will it be? (Note: some "R" rated language.)

The link below is my pseudo-liveblog from Dr. John Mark Reynold’s talk on Thursday evening at GodBlogCon, "Playful Amusement Concerning God Blogging". It’s mainly a stream of consciouness brain dump from a MS
Word file, with very little editing. When I’m more awake, I’ll attempt
a more concise and cogent analysis. In the meantime, my initial
thoughts include:

• I like the idea of being able to "talk back" to the media pharisees. A good, recent example is Matt Bramanti, from Lone Star Times, masterful fisking of the Houston Chronicle editorial board for its pompous, ham handed attempt at sports commentary.
• Democritizing media and theology is a welcome change because we do not have to take
  the recycled humanist pap anymore. But what will be given in return?
  One could, after all, argue that Beavis and Butthead are blogs’ cultural progenitors.
• Perhaps we should say that the "folks" talking back to the established
  authorities have the same responsibility that the grand poobah in the
  pulpit or on TV should have: intellectual rigor, pure and loving
  motive, submissive spirit, a heart after God’s
• Can the same type of democritization take place in the academic aristocracy?
• I need to meditate more on the idea of how the rise of preservation has
  led to a cultural diminishing. It seems to have taken away the impetus
  for improvisation in many spheres. Perhaps this is a manifestation of
  the urge to control on the part of the Preservers?
• "Even "live" performances have been tinted with "preserved" things: teaching,
  music" Wow, is that the truth! I’ve been to some southern megachuches
  where the worship and teaching are as canned as the laugh tracks to old
  "Hogan’s Heroes" episodes.

Still on central time. Getting sleepy…..verrrrry sleeeeeepppyyyy….zzzzzzzzz

Click here for the pseudo-live blog on "Playful Amusement Concerning God
Blogging"

Biola
University in La Mirada, CA is beautiful. However, I kinda’ feel like a 6th grader at a kindergartner’s party: Everyone here is so young and thin. When did I
become so aged?

The orientation was business-like and too the point. Conference organizer Matthew Anderson, who has been recently
married, suggested that we might blog any suggestions about how the
conference could be better. Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Anderson.
God may use 50 gripe posts about lacking wireless connectivity to prepare you for the joyful rigors of wedded life.

Met Pat Sikora of Mighty Oak Ministries, a freelance journalist covering GodBlogCon for several dead tree mags, including Christianity Today.
She says she’s never blogged before. I’m not sure if I should encourage
her to get into it or not: a natural writer will naturally take to
blogging immediately…..usually till 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. Do I
pass onto her the blessing of blogging and the curse of day-after-blogging fatigue and crankiness? She’s an adult and
capable of making her own decisions. I suggest she should start a blog.
The matter is now in God’s hands.

Hung out at dinner with Matthew Eppinette and Joe Carter of Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity (the latter also of one of my inspiration blogs, Evangelical Outpost) who have the coolest jobs ever, fellow tech-head Brant DeBow of
sarcsmagorical.com and an ebullient, sanguine man who does not have his name on his card (please forgive me for blanking on your name!). He’s pretty bright, though, check him out at http://www.biblestudyemail.com. They seemed interested in Austin. I guess living there all the time, I
kinda’ loose site of how cool it is. Maybe I’m becoming too jaded by
the stark raving madness that also indwells my chosen city of residence. Perhaps it clouds my vision
so that I miss the beauty and grace she possesses, with her emerald necklace of greenbelts and spice-laden mountains.

We chat for a bit about how to use the medium to preach the Gospel and how exciting it is to be among the first people to embrace blogs, wiki’s,
and podcasts as a communications medium. It’s kinda’ like being involved in TV back in the 1950’s. Like then, we are starting by transmorphing existing paradigms into the new media. With TV, it was
stage, movies, and radio. TV shows from that era came off as part radio drama, part stage production. Over time, innovative minds figured out
how to tailor the production to the medium. With blogs, it’s print
media and, more specifically, the printed essay. The hyperlinked nature naturally enhances the cross referencability (I don’t think that’s a
word), thus making the arguments presented more immediately verifiable
and confirmable. So, we have pretty, highly annotated online essays. From here, what?

Prior to the John Mark Reynolds keynote address, I make a dreadful discovery: no WiFi in the auditorium! I
begin to go into convulsions and other withdrawal symptoms. I feel as
though I’m missing a part of me! I must reconnect to the collective!
Like those reviled smokers who have been banished to 15 feet outside
the door, I find some fellow connectivity-deprived souls huddling
around a small, outdoor hotspot getting their wireless fix. I can’t
believe what a WiFi addict I am.

Thus, it looks like the liveblogging is a no-go for this eve, so I’ll have to cover it the old fashioned way. Stay tuned……

Get in there and mix it up, y’all. Today’s random facts are as follows:

• Polar bears are left-handed, just like me.
• Adolf Hitler only had one testicle.
• 7 percent of Ireland’s barley crop ends up as Guinness Stout.

And now today’s trivia question. There are at least 6 ways to get to first base without getting a hit. What are they?