As I was forwarding Doug Wilson’s post about Ron Paul to someone I made the comment that “Doug Wilson is the Ron Paul of the Reformed World” and immediately thought that that statement is more than just a laugh line.

What do you think?

(If you are not up on the Federal Vision controversy in the reformed branch of the church (non liberal Presbyterian types) then count yourself blessed.)

Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

What happens when an animator must face his own animated stick figure in deadly combat?

A stick figure is created by an animator with the intent to torture. The stick figure drawn by the animator will be using everything he can find – the brush tool, the eraser tool – to get back at his tormentor. It’s resourcefulness versus power. Who will win? You can find out yourself.

The sequel, “The Chosen One” is even better.

HatTip: http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=4940

I saw some jigsaw puzzles at Costco today and was tempted to buy them as a Christmas present for my kids. The package contains 2 puzzles which retail for $14.95 each or $24.95 for the pair, but Costco has the package for $15.95. I held off buying them, but now that I have researched them a bit I plan to go back and pick them up.

Seems like it would be a great way to learn geography. I might even learn where some of the eastern states are actually located! It is said the average American knows the location of only 18 of the 193 countries in the world. These puzzles by A Broader View should help improve this statistic (at least in my household).

The Global Puzzle reminds me of the commercial that said “it tastes good and is good for you.” The puzzle contains all 193 countries of the world and their capitals, all 50 states and their capitals and all 13 territories and provinces of Canada. But instead of interlocking pieces, where you are just matching colors, the pieces are actually shaped like the countries, states, and provinces. This means you have to figure out (learn) where every country is located in order to complete the puzzle! The ocean and edge peices are typical jigsaw-shaped puzzle pieces, giving you a frame in which to place the non-interlocking country pieces. Dozens of geography facts about the countries printed within the oceans’ borders. Doing the puzzle is an outstanding and fun geography lesson! The puzzle is designed for ages 9 and up, has 600 pieces, and measures 18″ x 36″ when completed. And if you get stuck, there is a picture of the world on the box you can use to ‘cheat’.

The United States Puzzle is similar but, as the name implies, has a much narrower scope. The puzzle has 55 pieces which, for durability, are twice as thick as normal pieces and measures 18″ x 30″ when completed.

Last night at home I got an ominous message while trying to post to my own blog:

Error 403 “We’re sorry, but we could not fulfill your request for /wp-comments-post.php on this server.
Your Internet Protocol address is listed on a blacklist of addresses involved in malicious or illegal activity.
See the listing below for more details on specific blacklists and removal procedures.
Your technical support key is: 4013-ae25-1366-73cd”

What? What have the kids been up to now? Arghhh!

But this morning I came into the office and I got the same message. Now I am beginning to wonder. Pop up the ole answer machine, Google and sure enough it was not my computer, it was the Bad Behavior plugin I have installed. Bad Behavior acts as a gatekeeper, preventing spammers from ever delivering their junk, and in many cases, from ever accessing the blog in the first place, but in this case it blocked everyone!

According to the plugin author, he moved all of his sites to a new dedicated server. In the process, he decommissioned an old blacklist that he thought wasn’t being used, not realizing that Bad Behavior was still set to use it. Shortly afterward, everyone, including the plugin author, found themselves locked out of their own blogs. A new version was released immediately and after installing it all is well.

I truly wonder sometimes why we want to shoot our own. As I read stuff about the Federal Vision “theology” I see that those who are against it really seem to be against it more because of who is behind it than because of any real theological problems. Sure they say it has to do with imputation and assurance, but I really think it has to do with personalities.

Having gone to high school in Boise, I had heard about the Kuna Caves but for some reason never made the 25 mile trek from Boise to check it out. The Kuna Caves are about 5 miles south of Kuna (out in the middle of nowhere) on public property managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Various local legends have the cave being discovered in the late 1800s and ever since the area has been a destination place for locals, whether for family picnics or high school parties. If I remember right, the local high school team is even called the Kuna Kavemen.

While we are in Boise visiting family for Thanksgiving we always are looking for interesting things to do (and new places to geocache). My brother-in-law had been out there in the past but none of the rest of us had any idea what to expect, so my brother, brother-in-law, and I took 8 of our kids out to “see” the cave. There are no posted directions to the area since the BLM appears to want to keep this area from becoming too much of an attraction for outsiders. My GPS routed us to the obvious, Kuna Cave Road, but then pointed us to go down an unmaintained dirt road (map point A) for a quarter mile. This brought us to a chained gate (map point B), but the chain was not locked, so we went through and rechained the gate. We arrived just as another group was just packing up, taking off their headlamps, overalls, and other spelunking gear. (Our little dollar store flashlights looked pretty wimpy.)

Although called the Kuna Caves, there is only a single cave system, actually a lava tube approximately 1,000 feet long. Local rumors say there used to be more caves but were filled by the Corps of Engineers. At first glance the opening appears to be just an inconspicuous hole in the ground (which can be seen in Google maps satellite view (map point C). But peering into the 35-foot drop to the cave floor is pretty intimidating. A caged steel ladder built years ago by the Corps of Engineers provides access into the dark chamber and a more recent safety rail has been installed around the perimeter of the opening.

The boys went down the ladder first. Being that it was the middle of November, the first thing you notice when entering the cave is that it is much warmer since the interior temperature of the cave hovers around 56 degrees Fahrenheit year round and there is no wind. Once on the cave floor your eyes quickly acclimate to the darkness but if you are going to explore at all you will need a flashlight. I wish we had brought better flashlights. Nobody knocked their heads on the roof but not for lack of trying. The northern section of the tube is the longest, narrowing then opening into new ‘rooms’ and then narrowing again until it is so narrow you cannot go any further. To the south the cave narrows much quicker. Travel is limited either by how dirty you are willing to get, your body size, or your claustrophobia. There was a lot of graffiti on the walls but I was surprised that there was not more trash and signs of vandalism.

We did spend quite a bit of time down in the cave. Most of the boys and my brother went deeper into the cave than I wanted to go and we spent quite a bit of time looking for the Kuna Cave Geocache (you knew there was another reason I took the kids here). Since a GPS does not work underground the coordinates only took us to the cave entrance, then said to go 150 paces north. Luckily there was a hint that the cache was near certain graffiti, but with our wimpy flashlights it took quite a bit of time to locate the right markings.

Kirsten, my 11 year old was the only one who did not go down into the cave. Her claustrophobia would not allow her, but she promised next year she would :) More photos can be found on flickr.com.