As a follow up to this post, I found some more Thinklings artifacts from those early, halcyon days.


Jared sent me these scribbled plans for a Thinklings site in February 2003, right around the time the idea of doing a blog was starting to percolate.


For you Millennials, this is a "floppy disk". This contains Jared's first novel, Otherworld. I still have hopes this will someday get published.


From a very early Moot: Jared thoughtfully debunks The Case for Freewill Theism by David Basinger.

Update - I've uploaded some better renderings of the images . . .

I was cleaning out an old crate tonight and found these two picture prints. These are from one of our first Moots, I'm guessing from the late 90s or early 2000s, pre-blog.

We were young. Actually, the other guys still are young, and basically haven't changed a bit. I've, unfortunately, gone from spry, to venerable, to geezer, to coot in the intervening years.

Gosh, these were good times.


I think this Moot was at the original BloDingle


Rod, rocking the Blackaby

Unlike some past Moots, which had video rolling, this one was more low-key, with just a few pictures snapped. Here you go:


Around the table. Left to right: Rod, Rob-T, Andrew (our first second-generation Mooter) and Stroke. To any who might wonder about any of the Thinklings who have signed tee-totaler covenants. The Brewskis shown are non-Alcoholicskis.


Jared and Rob-T


Blo


Blo, going hard with a deep, cogent take (or talking about Survivor. I'm not sure). Stroke, unimpressed, is playing games on his Droid.


God bless the gift of fire. It kept us warm all night


Bonus Material: These two pictures were taken at Shrode-Moot, a few days after the main Thinklings Moot at Rod's house.


Awesome, awesome marinated steaks prepared by Shrode's wife, Melissa. These were really good. I wish I had gotten a picture of Phil's dogs too, but alas . . .


Phil!!

Phil and I mooted until nearly 3:00 am. It was a fascinating and, for me, uplifting and encouraging discussion. We shared our experiences on a number of fronts into the wee hours. I was reminded again last night of how much I admire Phil. He is a wise and very resilient person who has experienced a great deal and lived to tell the tale, with good grace and humor.

Phil, God's grace on you and yours in 2011. Thanks for a great Moot!

(and thanks again Melissa for the steaks, the seven layer dip, the macaroni and cheese, the chocolate goods, the iced tea, and the hospitality).

I'm mooting with Phil. This is the second Moot I've enjoyed in a week. God is good.

Phil, by the way, is an awesome guy. His wife is also awesome. She bought and marinated my steak for a day and a half, which I think should be a new Moot tradition.

The conversation has been fascinating thus far. We've discussed everything from Alpha dogs (Phil has dogs. The alpha is a female named Star, and she was alphaing the other dogs like crazy tonight). We've discussed Lord of the Rings, the political landscape, Flash Mobs, Meta-life, and the other Thinklings (heh heh).

We've also discussed changes to Thinklings. One I've just made - if you ever have a desire to contact any of us via email, there's now a "Contact Us" link in the sidebar.

Well, back to the Moot!

P.S. There has been a loud clamoring for Moot pictures (OK, OK, one person has asked). I promise I'll get some up in the next day or two.

Here we are, closing out Moot at IHOP. It's been a good one, diminished only by the absence of Bird.

Stroke has made it all the way with us - well done!

There's some more Mooting to be done. We usually get somewhat of a second wind over the pancakes.

Things are devolving quickly around here. Gone are the cerebral subjects. Current topic: lip-syncing Fiona Apple records.

Of course, when pop-culture becomes the conversation, I'm on the outside, smushing my face against the windowpane.

Also, tonight me make fire.

Jared and Andrew are waxing eloquent about novels they've read. Since I've read none of these, I've decided to concentrate on drinking Blo under the table. I'm winning, as attested to by the row of empty non-alcoholic brewskis on my side of the table.

It's three O'Clock, and we're still hitting on most cylinders. Not too shabby.

Wait, just looked over at Blo and Stroke, and they are starting to nod off.

C'mon guys, Moot's on!

The topics have turned to stories of spiritual warfare and victory at our churches.

Pretty awesome conversation.

On a side note, we are hearing some disconcerting chupacabra (or perhaps Nazgul?) noises coming from the nearby environs.

Resolved: Tom Brady is wonderful.

It was hard to get Jared off this subject, until Blo began to wax eloquent about his McHale hatred.

You see the cerebral eurudition that is Moot?

By the way, Choppy's got a short fuse.

We're still mooting hard. Topics range from eschatology and Jared's doctrinal object permanence thereof, "that's not Eva", things that spook Andrew, the beauty that is Vermont, Biblical economics, Jared's awesome kids, and we also talked about soccer and how every man's just the same.

If I had to guess who'll fade first here, my money's on Jared. Which is sad, because if the hub loses consciousness we're all doomed.

Blo and Stroke are discussing "Survivor." I have nothing to contribute to this conversation. It is an allegory of my ennui.

Rob T is the first to fall by the wayside, but he has a good excuse (working at 6:00am).

Rob is a gentleman and a scholar. Plus, he likes soccer, so he and I have a built in je ne sais quois.

On another topic, I miss Bird.

I can't say, but it has to do with playing chicken on the monkeybars.

A scintillating conversation on church polity . . .

And Tom Brady.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, flaming lips.

Resolved: Toy Story 3 is an allegory of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Discuss . . .

I'm here at Moot! I just had a fabulous steak and am working through the O'Doul's NA with Blo. My mouth is on fire from the stuffed jalapenos, and the rehashing, debunking, refuting, and riposting is sizzling like steaks on a circular grill of good fellowship (to strain a metaphor).

Moot go hard.

First order of business: Blo is a type of Blo, a "supposal" of Blo, but definitely not an allegory.

The best teacher is someone who knows something about the topic without knowing everything. If they know everything, they use insider language and forget what it's like not to know anything.

Likewise, a good ambassador is someone who understands what it's like to be an insider and an outsider at the same time.

That's me! I have never been to Moot before, but being a sort of outer level thinkling, I have been around enough to maybe translate it for the rest of the world.

You see that strange annual event known as "moot" is going to happen tonight and I predict that there will be a moot post tonight, and probably several over the next 24 hours. So never fear dear readers. As one who has never been, but stands on the outside looking in, so I'm with y'all, but I have what you all don't have...a standing invitation (which hopefully won't get revoked after this post.) I just can't be there. One of these days....

So in honor of my friends who will be mooting with out me, I will attempt to explain the unexplainable to the rest of us.

What is Moot?
It is the annual meeting of the original thinklings in the Houston area. It is the apotheosis of male bonding - complete with cigars, non-alcoholic beer, and steak on the grill. It usually happens around Christmas.

Why do they call it Moot?
The OT's (Original Thinklings) share a love for Tolkien and so their annual guy-fest is named for the meeting of the Ents in "The Two Towers." Ents are large tree-like people who are very slow and their meetings, called "Ent-Moots" take a very long time. By human standards, the OT version does too. They start in the evening. (Say 7pm and go all night. Yes, all night. Moot doesn't end until they go to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) the next morning.

Oh and by the way, none of them even remotely resembles an Ent. Though they may resemble some other creatures from Middle Earth, gentlemanly decorum demands that I not say which ones.

Is Moot a noun or a verb?
It's both. Noun - "Hey, when is moot going to be?
Verb - "Let's moot!"

Who will be there?
Tonight it will be: Bill Roberts, Jared Wilson, Mark Miranda, Andrew Roberts and whoever else is lucky enough to be on the guest list.

What will they do?
Talk, smoke cigars, make inside jokes, grill steaks outside in the cold, talk about you, and somehow make a record of their event. I don't know if they will post video, audio, pictures or what. But believe me, they'll make a record of it somehow.

If I hear or watch the posted record of Ent-moot, how can I understand what they are saying?
Good luck with that. But here are some tips:

They will make jokes about one of their own named "Blo" and say he doesn't exist.

They will say some things "go hard". That means they like it. (Don't ask me where it came from. I assume it has a perfectly reasonable explanation.)

Watch out if Jared announces that he's "curious" about something. That means he's milliseconds away from changing his point of view.

They will laugh a lot. But hey, so would you if you were there.

So get ready folks. I don't know what's coming on the blog, but since I won't be able to attend, I figure I'll lay low on the site for the next 24 hours or so, because the Moot-ers will take it over. Of that, I'm sure.

Have a great moot guys. Smoke one for me.

A highly scientific analysis of the Thinklings' Moot-ichlorian counts:

thinklings moot-ichlorian counts:

rod: 35,000

bird: 28,000 with tolkeinian pipe (20,000 without)

bill: 21,500

shrode: 19,000

blo: approx. 18,500 (never around long enough to calculate)

As unpromised, then re-promised, here is the lone surviving video from Moot, which is Blo trying to wrap his tiny Sasquatch brain around original sin and coming this close to the heresy of Pelagianism. ;-)

Blo on Total Depravity from Jared Wilson on Vimeo.