Continental Humor

August 30, 2006 at 4:14 pm (Germany, Uncategorized)

Learning more about German culture.. this time, humor The article is actually more helpful for understanding Brit-com, which these germans seem to appreciate in their jokes..

taken directly from:http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,1781004,00.html

Some Germans tell us their jokes …

Tabea Rudolph, 26, StuttgartThere are problems in the woods. The animals of the forest are always drunk, so the fox decides to ban alcohol. The following day, the fox spies a rabbit hanging out of a tree, clearly wasted. The fox ticks him off, and carries on his way. But the next day he sees the rabbit drunk again, and gives him a final warning. The next day, the fox does his rounds and there’s no sign of the rabbit, but he notices a straw sticking out of a stream. Wondering what it is, the fox scoops it out, only to find a very drunk rabbit on the other end of it. “How many times do I have to tell you that animals of the forest aren’t allowed alcohol?” says the Fox. “We fishes don’t give a toss what the animals of the forest aren’t allowed to do,” says the rabbit

Gerhard Bischof, Bad Toelz, 57

A man jumps out of a plane for the first time. At 3,000m he tries to undo his parachute, but the cord fails. At 2,000m he tries to open the emergency chute but that doesn’t work either. At 1,000m he bumps into a man wearing blue overalls, carrying a spanner. “Can you repair parachutes?” asks the first man. “‘Fraid not,” says the other. “I only do boilers.”

Wolfgang Voges, 56, from lower Saxon

Three priests hold a meeting to discuss where life begins. The evangelical priest says, “No question about it, life begins when the child is born.” “No, no,” says the Catholic priest, “it all starts when the sperm meets the egg.” “You’re both wrong,” says the Rabbi. “Life begins when the children have left home and the dog is dead.”

& the best for last– actually a Brit joke about Germans:

Our attitude to the Germans and their supposed lack of a sense of humour is best understood through the example of the joke known to comedy professionals such as myself as The German Child. It goes like this. An English couple have a child. After the birth, medical tests reveal that the child is normal, apart from the fact that it is German. This, however, should not be a problem. There is nothing to worry about. As the child grows older, it dresses in lederhosen and has a pudding bowl haircut, but all its basic functions develop normally. It can walk, eat, sleep, read and so on, but for some reason the German child never speaks. The concerned parents take it to the doctor, who reassures them that as the German child is perfectly developed in all other areas, there is nothing to worry about and that he is sure the speech faculty will eventually blossom. Years pass. The German child enters its teens, and still it is not speaking, though in all other respects it is fully functional. The German child’s mother is especially distressed by this, but attempts to conceal her sadness. One day she makes the German child, who is now 17 years old and still silent, a bowl of tomato soup, and takes it through to him in the parlour where he is listening to a wind-up gramophone record player. Soon, the German child appears in the kitchen and suddenly declares, “Mother. This soup is a little tepid.” The German child’s mother is astonished. “All these years,” she exclaims, “we assumed you could not speak. And yet all along it appears you could. Why? Why did you never say anything before?” “Because, mother,” answers the German child, “up until now, everything has been satisfactory.”

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European liberalism v. American..

August 30, 2006 at 5:33 am (Germany, Life, my existence, Philosophy: 20th/21st Century, Social, Theology, Uncategorized)

My 6 month old hope for a European trip has made a couple steps forward, and upon such, interest has grown to understand where I’d be putting myself. Hence, this article I google’d upon:

http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0402/articles/weigel.html

(Interestingly enough, he quotes Charles Dawson, who also came up on the google search.)

While I’ve not been to Europe & have heard hardly any stories, other than the label “liberal”, I’d like to think this guy is on to something. I fully agree with his statements of culture being driven by what it values/worships (as expressed in it’s ideals) & I like how he describes European ideals (whether right or wrong, I’ve yet to find out). And of course I can see American being a slow-moving, yet “beefed up” version of Europe. So his method I can agree with.

His questions in the middle of the article are.. (for an intellectual) ‘fun’. They’re the questions I’d like to ask “on the street” and in the universities if/when I go there ($533 ticket to franfurt! yeah air india!). They’re the kind of thing you could imagine people thinking about, but not saying to each other. Or if conversation would occur, then no answers/action would come of it.

So I guess I’m left to propose my own solution, per my own experience. These questions are the “face the reality of the situation” questions, much like (for Americans) questions of ’spiritual pragmatism’. “You’ve tried that.. is it working? You don’t like to admint, ‘No’, but you know it’s true! So try something that DOES work- JESUS.”

But I’m curious if they see ‘declining birth rate’, et al as a bad thing..

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right-o

August 28, 2006 at 5:17 am (Uncategorized)

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by accident..

August 26, 2006 at 5:01 pm (Social)

so i was looking for ancient egyptian theology but somehow google gave me “why can’t a woman eat like a man”(http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,1276066,00.html)

Now, I’m sure we all know this content, but it’s always fun to diverge. I found it mostly humorous (not at all at the expense of the wonderful feminine side of life) but mostly at the ending story:

“Just recently, I asked my husband how many calories there were in a Mars Bar, and he said ‘What Mars Bar? You didn’t tell me you had a Mars Bar. Have you eaten it all?’”

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Supreme Reality..

August 26, 2006 at 4:41 am (Theology)

Theology/Eternal Reality & Purpose of Everything.
–adapted from John Eldredge, based 99% on reason, 1% on the Bible. AKA, “Not to be preached.” (but i’ll still blog it??)

I really have a basic premise of all everything:
1) Trinity: 3 persons, inter-dependent on each other,(otherwise he’d be polytheistic?) eternal, united in love.
& when you’ve got a good thing going, you want to share it.
2) God then created his angels (also dependent?, fully able to decide) to share in this.
Angel’s reaction: Awe.
1 angel’s reaction: desire for it. “Being a PART of it wasn’t enough”
3) War ensues. a third of angels is banished by force(revelation 20-ish?), but the enemy isn’t proven wrong by force. He will be proven wrong by choice.
4) Creation of the earth is to
1) bring dependent, everlasting creatures into enjoyment of Him
2) show/answer the enemy:
a) God is always/still the better option
b) love wins over force.

Thus, our supreme goal as humans is to be united in Him, by His love, through the introduction into His life (through the justification by Jesus, since God is holy — a single act of denial of the ‘god(read false god, enemy) of this world’) & enjoyment of that life of/in Him(continual act of denial of the ‘god of this world’) ['denial of' meaning, "agreeing that God is life, not the enemy"]

& to ‘display for all creation’ the enemy is a liar. Logically, all God has to do to “prove the enemy wrong”(not that he has to prove ‘im wrong) is have 1 person choose Him over the enemy. (Read: Adam & Eve)

Please don’t read this as ‘normal christianity’. It might be, but it’s mostly philosophical. I just like to think too much. & this is a nice organization of all I understand about christianity.

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but I want control!!

August 26, 2006 at 4:33 am (Life, my existence)

For the guys back in my bible study group.. you’ll appreciate this one.. we talked about this before I skipped town. It’s all your fault dan taylor!:
seriously- how do our emotions work? how is it that it takes awhile for things to ‘die down’? before we can ‘let them go’? we could always be materialist & blame it on the physiological components, but if we believe in our soul then there’s more to it. we could generalize it’s start by saying “something happened against our will” (that we didn’t want/out of our control)
so we’re at fault for thinking it’s in our control?

Oh Father, whose sonship I deny– teach me to know what is under my control & what is within yours.

In a sense, this is learning to relax, to have fun, since we’re then free from keeping all our ducks in a row.

For us with ‘D’ personalities, who always want control.. this is an important lesson.
Aside: I wonder what are primary lessons for each personality type??
I could imagine the ‘C’ needing to learn to need ppl & to feel emotion(instead of deny it)
I could guess an ‘I’ needs to learn to CALM DOWN! ( i really have no clue– feel the weight instead of ‘blowing things off?)
& for the ‘S’, feeling the weight, also? no- they feel the weight & are crushed by it. They need to learn strength.

For those who don’t know, I’ll reference the DISC thing alot: http://www.discprofile.com/

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Purposelessness??

August 26, 2006 at 4:27 am (Uncategorized)

Whaddya’ll make of this guy? I ran across ‘im last night when looking for what ppl are saying on youtube about religion(he’s got a video about that too)– just to get a cultural update, y’know?

I’ve totally been where he is. & I think that needs to be communicated more to each other. & that’s what I love about my church. most ppl have called it ‘being real’. I’ve scoffed at that phrase a million times. as if reality is now equated with lies! (cuz that’s usually what ppl live according to that causes their pain that they feel). ok, so ignore that comment/argument, cuz that’s not where i am anymore, but if you think it makes sense, blog about it & lemme know if I’m crazy or not.

People are SO looking for validation.  It’s central to humanity. It’s in the music we love. Likewise purpose & belovedness.
When we don’t hear the validation from people, circumstance is next.
& for those who are hurt emotionally, they seek validation as well. Of what sort? That the hurt they feel is valid. There’s a validation in external environment being matched with internal struggle. Hence, slicing of wrists– it’s a valid form of pain.
But on a lesser level,  when the enemy beats us up, we want to know that we have strength. & for men, it’s usually validated within sexuality. Eldredge makes much of this & I’d say rightly so.
But that’s my brain trying to be rational, & not backed up with research. & that’s the fun of post-rational society. We all get to create our own structures of thought & live them out. I just hope we all understand that history & authority is still important. Sure no one has lived EXACTLY as I have, but sometimes ‘close enough’ is ‘good enough’.

& that brings me back to our friend, jim on this video. He’s probably built his own life on his own rules & reason & now he recognizes something doesn’t add up. When I hit that wall, jesus answered that equation. that’s my confession & all I’m sayin to jim & others is the “don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it.” & the tough thing about jesus, is that so few ppl converse with Him & have come into relaitonship with him in such a way that when they have LITERALLY TRIED TO RUN AWAY from him, have found that they can’t without.. well.. dying (internal in their soul, or even physically- even then I’ll be with him!). In the words of Shaded Red(good luck finding their cd’s) I’m “caught”. & that’s a good thing. I don’t always like it, or agree, but it’s the ‘good better than I realize’. & my denial just can’t “break reality.” Again to John Eldredge.. “love is more fierce than we realize.”

Jim, I see you’ve “opened your mind” to ppl’s thoughts. But always be sure to “open up your heart” too. even to God’s love & desire to be in relationship with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ9WspHNrV0

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Bandwagon

August 26, 2006 at 4:00 am (Uncategorized)

Alright folks, i’ve jumped on the web2.0 bandwagon. cuz “it’s all about me & my life, presented & displayed as a narrative.” (sarcasm for those who missed it!) Maybe I should think like Aristotle(?) that the only thing worth considering is deity himself?

Anyways, hopefully I’ll remember to update this more than once a year.

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