Our in-house emoticons are a hat tip to our classic Gatorade post, since they feature a bottle of green Gatorade next to each smiley. Now, for no other reason than to simply waste time, I'll post all of our emoticons along with a little explanation. . . .

This is a basic smile. Sure beats :-)

Not much cause for using this one around here. We're always happy!

I think of this as the Jared emoticon, though I think he's off tabacky now.

This is me. I'm not sure anyone else has ever used it.

This is, um, a little too flamboyant for me.

An emoticon for our oldest fan.

A happy version of the previous smiley.

This is how we feel about all you egalitarians out there.

Ahoy, matey!

This is our very own Blo, a mythical, elusive sasquatch.

This is what I want to be when I grow up.

This is who you all love and blindly follow.

This is my new favorite emoticon.

This is our "Wild at Heart" smiley. Since WAH dudes have a tendency to fly off the handle, we thought this was apropos.

Our very own pastor Phil.

This was an emoticon for a one-time honorary Thinkling.

That's it. Go back to your busy lives now.

I'm pretty sure I've posted this before . . . Enjoy.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if this turns out to be one of those "it's funny because it's true" things.

Another reason to retreat from meta-life and spend more time living real life.

Favorite quote: "400 billion tweets and not one useful bit of data was ever transmitted."

[H/T: Forward Progress]

On this date, exactly two years ago, I made the following predictions.

Monday, January 18, 2010
Predictions
Posted by Philip @ 2:24 pm CST

1-Mitt Romney will win the Republican Nomination in 2012... but will ultimately lose to Obama.

2-Wearing your pants too low will finally go out of fashion, the direct cause being the "Pants on the ground" song which the general public will start singing behind the backs of guys wear their pants that way. The harassment will just become too much, and one man will have destroyed a fashion with a little song as catchy as a commercial jingle, and decent Americans everywhere will rise up and call him a hero.

3-Arnold Schwarzenegger will make another Terminator movie after he moves out of the governor's mansion...because he will be desperate for popularity.

4-Joe Biden will not return for Obama's second term, citing family and personal reasons, and Hillary will insist on being VP.

5-Obama will kill the "From Moon to Mars" space program, saying we need the money here on earth.

6-Joel Osteen will resign from public ministry because of depression. Dude's gonna burn out.

7-We will find Osama Bin Laden.

So how am I doing?

Status So Far
1- Looking good so far. The probability that I will be right has increased.
2- Looking good so far. What do you think? Seen anyone wearing their pants too low lately?
3-Looking really good so far. News Story from April, 2011 that Arnie will star in Terminator 5 and will be directed by Justin Lin.
4-Not looking good, but not out of the question. People are talking about it.
5-Partially right. Obama killed the Bush version of the plan that involved going to the moon by 2020 and then Mars after that for financial reasons as I predicted. However, the plan now is to go to an asteroid and then Mars.
What I meant was that he'd cancel "Project: Constellation" which he did, but we are still going to Mars, so I wasn't totally correct. Sigh.
6- Not looking good. At all.
7- Done. Nailed that one. My one definite so far.

I was introduced to this by youngest daughter. At first I didn't know what to make of it, but I think it's darn funny (and innovative).



Fact!

(also, though we share a surname, there is no relation that I know of to the BoredShorts people).

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Thinklings on Vimeo.

I swear this wasn't planned, in light of all the conversation around here these days.

Today is our youngest son Blake's 14th birthday, and we were at the grandparents tonight to celebrate. Blake's grandmother got him a Tebow jersey, and, well, watch the video if you're interested in seeing the Tebow jersey celebration.

. . . or this is Divine Intervention baby!

(from Failbook)

[H/T Althouse]

From the "Series of Unfortunate Events" Series, book #11 - "The Grim Grotto"

When you are invited to dine, particularly with people you do not know very well, it always helps to have a conversational opener, a phrase which here means "an interesting sentence to say out loud in order to get people talking."

Although lately it has become more and more difficult to attend dinner parties without the evening ending in gunfire or tapioca, I keep a list of good and bad conversational openers in my commonplace book in order to avoid awkward pauses at the dinner table.

"Who would like to see an assortment of photographs taken while I was on vacation?" for instance, is a very poor conversational opener, because it is likely to make your fellow diners shudder instead of talk, whereas good conversational openers are sentences such as "What would drive a man to commit arson?," " Why do so many stories of true love end in tragedy and despair?," and "Madame diLustro, I believe I've discovered your true identity!," all of which are likely to provoke discussions, arguments, and accusations, thus making the dinner party much more entertaining.

So there you go. What conversational openers would you put in your commonplace book that are sure to make for an interesting evening (if a bit controversial)? Please make suggestions under comments.

Here's a few of mine:

"I don't know about you, but I'm thinking about a nose job."

"Did anybody here have trouble finding matching socks today?"

"Can you tell me if my nose hair trimmer was working before I left the house in a hurry to come here?"

"You look just like someone who beat me up once."

"The last time I saw a necklace like that was the night before someone stole it from my grandmother."

"Why are soda cans measured in ounces while large bottles are measured in liters?"

"What celebrity do you most look like?"

"I think it would make for a great evening if we all ate our spaghetti with our elbows. Who's with me?"

"If I ran for president would you vote for me?"

You get the idea...Now let me hear yours...

Big Time Rush is strangely compelling . . .

It might make you feel better. Don't believe me? How about NFL Defensive Lineman Rosey Grier.



FYI - Grier played with the Giants from 1955 to 1962, during which he led the team to a NFL Championship in 1956 and the Eastern Conference Championship in 1958, 1959, 1961 and 1962. Grier was selected for the Pro Bowl in 1956 and 1960, and was named All-Pro at the defensive tackle position in 1956 and 1958–1962. Grier was traded in 1963 to the Los Angeles Rams. He was part of the "Fearsome Foursome", along with Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, and Lamar Lundy,often considered one of the best defensive lines in football history.
(Oh, and he also tackled Robert F. Kennedy's assassin. Now if that don't qualify you for the man card, I don't know what does.)


Still don't believe me AND Rosey Grier? Read the post below. If that won't convince you, nothing will. :gcryingsmiley:

Nerdiest Correction Ever? Bah. In my opinion this is just the New York Times performing a vital public service.



[H/T Instapundit]

In case you have no idea what this is about, here is the original version of the song that caused all the hooplah. It's amazing how songs can be redeemed.

Just like lives.

If you are like me and wondering what is going on, read this article.

Silver Carp are an invasive species that are infesting midwestern waters. They are even now threatening the great lakes. They get spooked by boats and start jumping like that. So this video is quite funny, but in reality Silver Carp are bad news. (Some have taken to bowhunting them when they jump.)

Is this worth a minute and a half of your time? You bet it is! (Hey, "bet" starts with "B"!)

Cool Footwear....you may have to explain why it's funny to some people...but in this case I think that explaining the joke will only add to the enjoyment.



Hint...click the link or right mouse click and view image info if you haven't gotten the joke yet...

Oh and as a bonus, when you wiggle your toes, his tongue wags.

- I literally had no idea who Justin Bieber was until about 4 weeks ago. I still don't really know anything about the dude, except for the fact that Phil thinks he's charming and Jared hates him with a perfect hatred.

- I'm looking forward to the Gospel Wakefulness Conference. I hope I win a door prize.

- Farewell, Rob Bell.

- I still love my Kindle, like a man loves a woman -- well, not quite like that I guess. The iPad, smartphone, and Nook snobs just don't understand the beauty of a high-tech device that isn't backlit and doesn't have a touch screen. At breakfast one day, a friend of mine said, "If it's not backlit, how do you read it?" I picked up the menu and said, "The same way you read this."

- The other night there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I was walking to our barn to close the chicken coop, and was just dumbstruck by the beauty of the night sky. No painting, no piece of music, no human creation at all, could be as beautiful as the moon and the thousands (millions?) of twinkling lights, shooting stars (saw one), and other heavenly delights that are ours to enjoy, just by looking upwards at night. Wow.

- Farewell, Bigfoot atheists. (Just kidding. Maybe. We'll see. Fingers crossed. :-)

- This clip is funny and scary all at the same time. Hat tip to my homey at Counted As Righteousness:



- Have a great Saturday. Here in Waco, the weather is drop dead gorgeous.

- Oh, on more thing:

Where oh where can my Billboy, be? The Lord took him away from me. He's gone to Heaven [apparently], so I've got to be good, so I can see my Billboy when I leave this world [this is bad theology, by the way]