Weblog Archive 

May 23 - May 24, 2002

Friday 24th May, 2002

Martin Roth posts:

Hanging Ten With the Lord

The Bible Society in Australia is about to release a Surfer’s Bible:

Waxheads [will] get their tailor-made version of the New Testament, complete with surfie tales, testimonials and glossy photographs galore of that perfect wave….Included in the Surfers Bible are faith-affirming testimonials from world champion surfer C.J. Hobgood and Australian pro-surfing champ Glyndyn Ringrose.

And there’s more to come: tailored Bibles for elite sports people and for police and emergency service workers.

-posted 10:20am, by Martin Roth

God's Timing

God finally remembered Christina Cock, the world’s second-oldest woman, when He took her to Him yesterday. She was 114 and lived here in Melbourne at a nursing home. On her door were the words, "If I had known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself". She sometimes told her daughter that she wondered if God had forgotten her.

In Queensland, Nancy Crick, angry that she wasn’t dying fast enough, killed herself yesterday, surrounded by 21 euthanasia supporters eager to overturn assisted suicide laws. She had kept an online diary (which wasn’t displaying when I checked, but try here).

Nancy Crick was 69 when she died, 45 years younger than Christina Cock.

-posted 10:10am, by Martin Roth

Bene Diction posts:

India – Suffering and Tension

Officials in Southeast India are hoping monsoons will end the intense suffering of over 76 million people. Temperatures this month have gone as high as 122F. This is the worst fatality rate India has ever experienced in a pre-monsoon season.

Australia Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is urging India and Pakistan to take ‘all possible measures’ to reduce tensions along their borders. Australia in one of a growing number of countries expressing alarm at the tensions along the border, where both countries have amassed a million troops since December. Dozens of people have been killed the past week in Kashmir. As the war of words between the two countries gets nuclear, the escalation in fighting could push the conflict into the world’s first nuclear war. In the past 12 years about 60,000 people have died. If both countries can’t back down, how many will die in a few nuclear minutes? Mark Byron is asking questions also.

Inside Israel

This security incident map gives us a real sense of what is going on in the Middle East. For another real and personalized sense of what daily life is like in Israel, read blogger Tal G. in Jerusalem. 

Ransom or No Ransom?

Should ransom be paid for kidnapped missionaries? Christianity Today asks the questions.

Moving On

Cut on the Bias is ‘moving the whole shebang’ off blogspot. As of next week it’s setting up with Moveable Type. A lot of people are leaving blogspot these days. It goes down a lot. InstaPundit  moved on May 21^st and is up and running with a spiffy new look. The prof (or his clone) barely missed a beat. But, if it wasn’t for the technical wizardry of Evan William, CEO of Blogger.com, and his generosity to thousands of people entering this medium, these phenomena of blogs might not have happened. Gospelcom.net is also redesigned, looking good, and is a lot easier to navigate. Bible Gateway has also stepped into the 21^st century following the redesign at Gospelcom.

Now I’ve Seen Everything, Department

I just browsed through some of the 42 bible stories and lessons done in Legos at the Brick Testament. Does the designer have a real job? He claims he does, ‘working for the man.’ On his bio page, he also claims to be a 29 year old with B.A. in religion and philosophy and a million site hits.  What he does have is a lot of time on his hands, and an attitude.

-posted 8:30am, by Bene Diction

Thursday 23rd May, 2002

A Giant Leap for MartinRothOnline.com – Introducing Bene Diction

Martin has been receiving a lot of attention for a new blogger (as well he should; he is almost as good a writer as I am).

But this site is a bit different from other blogs in that articles and interviews are part of it. So in the spirit of what blogs are about, he has enlisted my help to keep the MartinRothOnline.com front page current with news and links.

I am Canadian. He isn’t. We were both journalists. He did print, I’ve been a broadcaster. We both love the Lord and want to encourage others. I’ll help him out with this front page and when he disagrees or thinks I’ve goofed, he’s going to set me straight (you think?).

For now, I’ll be blogging under the name Bene Diction. 

I’ll start tomorrow, OK Martin? Your tomorrow I mean, if we can get this time thing straightened out.

-posted 10:20pm, by Bene Diction

At Last a Positive Contribution from Hollywood

Today’s Opinion Journal, in its Stupidity Watch segment, quotes actor Sean Penn:

We now have a president who thinks in terms of good and evil and that comes from watching too many Hollywood movies.

Chinese Nerds Vs Tight-Head Props

Sydney parents are complaining that their kids can’t make it into the top state schools because Asian migrant kids get better marks in the entrance exams. Greg Sheridan, foreign editor of The Australian, comments:

The tone in which this debate has been conducted on Sydney talkback radio has been appalling, with the naked greed and ambition of middle-class parents too lazy and uninterested to prepare their kids properly for the competitive exam overcoming all notions of procedural fairness.

One mother I heard during the week complained that her son had played representative rugby union but still couldn't get into an academically selective high school. Oh, the injustice. Imagine a potential tight-head prop being kept out of Sydney Boys by some nerdish Chinese kid who spends all his time doing his homework. Where's the UN human rights committee when you need them?

Surf’s Up

The annual BRW Rich List – the magazine’s listing of the 200 wealthiest Australians – is out, and it reveals an intriguing way to get super-rich in this country: surfwear.

Rip Curl founders Doug Warbrick and Brian Singer are worth $241 million. Gary Pemberton, chairman of Billabong, is worth $111 million, and his CEO Matthew Perrin is on $151 million. Alan Green and John Law of Quiksilver trail with $97 million.