Archive for September, 2017

Garbled Mess

With my hobby of tracking NFL scores (or at least wins and losses), I check the results of NFL games to update my data. The easiest way to do that is to get the scores. A lot more places have scores available than a simple W or L for the day.

I figured the best place to get the NFL scores is the NFL website. And a convenient device for me to use is my iPhone. It’s not the latest one, but there are still millions of them in use, so it’s fairly relevant.

I went to the NFL website, clicked on the Scores link at the top, and this is what I saw (yes, it was fully loaded and rendered):

image of scores being jumbled together on the NFL website

The NFL website was done so poorly that I couldn’t decipher the jumble of letters and numbers. Compare that to Google:

image of scores being displayed nicely on Google

Much better.

You’d think the NFL would check that their website rendered properly in Safari on an iPhone, but apparently they did not. I’m going to blame their website redesign that’s new since last season. There is a lot about it that I don’t like, but rather than go into all the details, I’ll just stick with this one example.

Every prudent man acts with knowledge, But a fool displays folly.

Proverbs 13:16

Must Wash Hands

The English language has provided us with a fair amount of modifiers and punctuation in order to make things clear. Confusion and humor come into play when people do not avail themselves of those items.

Exhibit #1: The sign in restaurant bathrooms that says “Employees must wash hands”

In the interest of saving printing costs, or because of laziness, or because of some other reason, the people responsible for the sign usually do not include punctuation or possessives. This leaves it open to the interpretation that the employees of the restaurant are responsible for washing my hands.

My guess is someone who likes to have fun with grammar pointed this out to management. Or perhaps management received a complaint from someone who did not get his hands washed by an employee.

Either way, I saw this sign the other day:

image of restaurants bathroom sign saying that employees must wash hands

And I couldn’t help but smile and take a picture of it to share with the internet.

It was at a Red Robin, in case you want to support them for acknowledging poorly-worded signs.

Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”

John 13:9

Land Whateverer

As far as vehicles go, there’s the Land Rover. And Toyota has the Land Cruiser. It seems to me that someone else should make an off-roady-type vehicle and name it Land Something-or-other.

Not really “something-or-other” but rather something having to do with mobility such as Cruiser or Rover.

Such as:

  • Land Wanderer
  • Land Ambler
  • Land Meanderer
  • Land Traveler
  • Land Voyager

I wonder if FCA would object to Land Voyager. And I wonder if Nash would complain that Ambler is too similar. And I didn’t even bother with Land Navigator.

Also out of the running: Land Driver. Too boring.

Honorable mention: throwing Range Rover in there and having a vehicle called the Range Cruiser.

When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them.

Acts 27:9

Teletubbies Updated

It’s been a while since I saw any of the Teletubbies, so I assume the same is true for many of you. For those of you who do remember watching Teletubbies (regardless of if it was your choice), this may be of interest.

First of all, the still photo:

image of Teletubbies opening shot

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Missing Links

Our younger students still bring home flyers for stuff, but our older students don’t. It’s not that they forget the flyers, rather the non-elementary schools don’t hand out papers. We get emails and such. The day before picture day, I asked the boys about picture ordering information since I hadn’t received an email. “I think it’s on the website or something.” was the answer I got.

So I went to the school website. Here’s a snippet of that page.

image of school picture day announcement

If you notice the top part of the announcement, it has a link to Order Information. I clicked that link, expecting it to take me to the studio’s website or something.

It took me to a PDF of the flyer.

That PDF, naturally, had the studio’s website address printed on it. But it wasn’t clickable.

So I had to type in the URL that was on the PDF. First-world problems, I know. I just found it amusing that in this day and age, people aren’t thinking of providing links directly to active content. Links have been around for over 20 years now. It should be the first thought of the website person. I don’t know who runs the school website – maybe it’s a teacher or administrative person who got saddled with that task and is doing the best he can. That’s why I didn’t complain to the school. I simply provided it here for the entire internet to see.

I suppose that since it was originally on the school website, the whole internet could have already seen it. In that case, I provide it here to serve as a lesson for all you web developers: if you create a link to a static document or image, and that document or image has a website or other such link printed on it, you can make everyone else’s day a little easier and brighter by providing a clickable link to that content. Allow people to bypass the middleman.

A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none, But knowledge is easy to one who has understanding.

Proverbs 14:6

Chicken or Egg

I never really understood the apparently age-old question of “Which came first: the chicken or the egg?”

It never made much sense to me. The chicken would have to come first, because otherwise nothing would sit on the egg to incubate it and thus it would never hatch.

Also, the Bible describes creation as God’s making the animals, so I always pictured full-grown animals being created, not eggs or infants. Can’t be infants, because they would have similar problem as the egg: not being able to survive without a parent.

Then I realized the dilemma was probably proposed by an evolutionist or someone who didn’t subscribe to the idea of creation. Because to him, it would be a problem. Okay, not really, but there are other items that are more of a puzzle if you deny creation.

Which was first: the flower or the bee?

Same dilemma – how could the flowers survive without bees (or other such pollinating insects)? And how could the bees survive without their food source of the flower? If the flower evolved first, then why would it bother having to need pollination? Or flower petals to attract bees? If the bee arrived first, then how did it survive without pollen and nectar?

Now that I think about it, the old-earth creationists might have the same problem. Because all vegetation was created on the second day, but living creatures weren’t created until the fourth and fifth days. If one interprets the word “day” as “age” or “epoch”, then none of the flowers would have survived without pollinators. You may notice I used the word “might” at the beginning of this paragraph. That’s because the Bible doesn’t describe insects specifically. Fish, yes; birds; yes; cattle, yes. I’m lumping the insects in with the living creatures, not vegetation. But one could argue – would have to argue to hold the old earth view – that insects were created with vegetation.

Which was first: the male or the female?

Same dilemma – if only one evolves, then that line is not going to survive. They would have to both evolve at the same time, and in the same place.

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.

Genesis 1:24

Planet B

I saw someone the other day who was wearing a shirt that said “There is no planet B.” Something like this:

image of there is no planet B shirt

or this:

image of there is no planet B shirt

And I thought to myself, “But there is!”

That poor soul must not know the Bible well enough. There will be a new earth, likely resembling how things were before the fall of Adam and Eve. So it should be better than this current earth, which is apparently planet A.

To be correct, we should expect there is no planet C.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.

Revelation 21:1