A Good Movie
We watched The Great Raid a couple of nights ago, and I really enjoyed it. It's not fabulous, but a good war movie. Joseph Fiennes stars in it. It's about a little-known rescue of POWs who were being held by the Japanese in the Philippines during WWII. Some of the violence is a little brutal, but they don't show much close up. I liked how it showed the importance of the tactical planning that goes into successful military battles. I recommend it.

Stupid Church Signs
Well, today was the big victory parade for the Steelers. There was a lot of talk around town about whether or not to pull kids out of school for it. One school district even cancelled school for the day. Brother. It is just a football team. My son says everyone in his class was there, so way to go Brentwood. I heard one person on the radio say, "Well, I pulled my daughter out of school because this is just as important a day in history as she would study about at school." (sigh) If we as a society really honored the people who invent medicines and preach the Gospel and do important things, I suppose I wouldn't be feeling a little rankled today.

That's all bad enough. But as I've been driving around the past couple of days, I've noticed several church signs that make comments about the Steelers. And at this point, I must say, PUH-LEEEAZE!!!

The first one was: "God bless our Steelers!" When I drove by that with my ten-year-old, he said (not with my prompting, mind you): "Oh brother--you think Jesus cares about a football game??"

Another one: "Thy will be done--Go Steelers!" To which I say: do you think Jesus cares about a football game?

The next one: "Steelers fans, pray here first." Okay, now this could mean, let's pray and then go have fun at the game. It could also mean let's pray for the Steelers to win. To which I say: do you think Jesus cares about a football game???

I like this as a possibility: "Haul your sorry butt into church and pray for forgiveness!"

I don't normally rant and rave, but this is just getting a little much. I have no problem with church members enjoying a football game, but do these churches have nothing better to put on their signs? Apparently not.

Steelers WIN!!
That game was a nail-biter, but it was great for our city that the Steelers pulled it off. After the clock ran down, we banged on pots and pans on the front porch, which scared the dog and cats half to death. Then, even an hour or so after the game was over, we could still hear screaming and honking. So, we went up to our main street to check it out. People were thankfully just happy and celebrating in the street as cars went by and not turning over cars and burning them. I saw people this morning with super bowl Steelers shirts already and asked where they got them. The one woman I talked to said she got hers at Dick's last night at 10:30 or so, where there were at least a couple of hundred people buying Steeler gear. Anyway, it's crazy, but we're happy for the city.

Star Trek Quiz - Which one are you?
This was hilarious. Thanks to Cyberbrethren for this funny link.

My results:
You are Uhura

Uhura 85% Beverly Crusher 60% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 50% Jean-Luc Picard 50% Deanna Troi 50% Geordi LaForge 45% Will Riker 45% Chekov 40% Data 36% James T. Kirk (Captain) 35% Spock 32% Mr. Sulu 20% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 20% Mr. Scott 15% Worf 10%

You are a good communicator with a pleasant soft-spoken voice. Also a talented singer.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

Who Knew, Part 2 - A History of Rhyme
I just finished How the Irish Saved Civilization (intriguing book, by the way), and discovered that rhyme was really not used in Greek and Latin poetry. Augustine liked rhyming words, like bona dona ("good gifts"). But check this out:

Rhyme appeared only occasionally in classical Greek and Latin poetry; it was used more extensively later, in songs of the medieval Roman Catholic church. Rhyme was not established as a technique in English poetry until the 14th century.
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Cool, eh?

Who Knew?
Every once in a while I take a look at names of groups of animals. You know, a pride of lions, a pack of wolves, that sort of thing. Well, yesterday, I came across these fun websites that give all the names of every congregation of animal you can think of.

Here's a fun (and impossible) quiz. To look up all the names so you can complete the quiz, see here and here.

The most poetic ones are for the birds, literally:
- an unkindness of ravens
- a covey of patridges
- a host of sparrows
- a flight of swallows
- a bouquet of pheasants
- a parliament of owls
- a murder of crows (!)
- a dule of doves
- a murmuration of starlings
- a charm of finches

And some strange ones:
- a mob of emus
- a sounder of boars
- a shrewdness of apes
- a rhumba of rattlesnakes

There are lots more that are interesting, unexpected, and strange. It makes me wonder how these words came to be. I'll have to research into that.