Tag Archives: Ramblings

Lies, Damn Lies, & Statistics or Why Christians scare people in this & other countries…

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A snippet:

Evangelicals Behaving Badly with Statistics
Mistakes were made.

by Christian Smith

American evangelicals, who profess to be committed to Truth, are among the worst abusers of simple descriptive statistics, which claim to represent the truth about reality, of any group I have ever seen. At stake in this misuse are evangelicals’ own integrity, credibility with outsiders, and effectiveness in the world. It is an issue worth making a fuss over. And so I write…

And

Why do evangelicals recurrently abuse statistics? My observation is that they are usually trying desperately to attract attention and raise people’s concern in order to mobilize resources and action for some cause. In a world awash in information and burdened by myriad problems, some evangelicals may justify the problematic misuse of statistics to get people to pay attention to what they think are good causes. But this is inexcusable. Such desperation, alarmism, and sloppiness reflect the worst, not the best, in evangelicalism…

Read the whole article HERE

You can also revisit what THIS BLOG said about the rampant alarmism last January – if you get lost, read the day one, day two & day three posts.

I thiink I’ll do a series on this one. Alarmism. Statistical abuse. Christian Marketing. Might be fun.

More good news…

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Repent…Jesus Christ will judge you?

What the heck?! I’m on the list.

NOTE: Mr H wanted to know if the picture above was taken of the guys who yell the “good news” at UNR. Answer is no, but this picture is of the UNR campus visitors, though while they were blessing UC Davis with their presence & their message.

A Top 5 List & some New Years Ramblings…

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Haven’t blogged for a bit – heres my top 5 reasons why not:
5. Computer transition – the PC at home is lurking near death, with family & friends circling like vultures hoping to get to use the remaining computer. Condolences can be sent in care of a Mac near you…

4. Christmas holidays – attempting to spend the time with the family, engaged, vs. being physically present, but surfing in a land far, far away mentally.

3. Schhhhhedule – (must be said with a big English accent to get the full benefit…) above & beyond the regular life stuff: 4 day hoops tourney in deepest darkest Galena. Houseguests… a great friend. a big friend. a friend w/2 first names came to visit. Damage caused by the wind has led to attempted maintenance. Ugly.

2. Other interests – did you know that there are at least 32 College Football bowl games happening between December 20 & January 8? It’s true. Not speaking to the quality of said games, but am commenting on quantity. All football. All the time. And, its playoff time in the NFL. I even watched almost 1/2 of a game on Sunday! The wife has a new interest as well: Netflix has brought us House, season 1. TV that she likes. Hooray!

1. Taking a break – very nice.

On that note…

  • Still not a snow fan.
  • High school sports, esp. practice during the break shouldn’t start at 8 a.m.
  • Pain hurts. Shoulder feels a little better, but still with some shooters in the range of motion.
  • Sometimes I feel like a doorknob.
  • Christmas clean-up takes longer than Christmas set-up.
  • Staying up to ring in the New Year, all the way to Midnight, is still overrated.
  • The guy in the neighborhood with the firecrackers that he sets off every New Year – don’t do it, man. And if you’re going to set them off, do it at 12, not 2.
  • I miss being in school. Not Geology, but the classes I like. I’m going back for German &…
  • Pastor Jack is in heat. Again. Nuff with the doggy hormones.
  • When I drive along an especially cool section of street, I dream of running on it & of the routes I would take.
  • Jamba Juice is exponentially better than Keva Juice. All fruit smoothies, not too sweet, not too much juice, are very nice.
  • Stargate SG-1 is still being cancelled this Spring after 10 seasons. Come on. Don’t do this to me.
  • As of 6 January, I have a 10 year old. And she’s my youngest.
  • Family matters.