I thought this was quite funny. Colbert did a section telling viewers he was disappointed they did so well.
"Hey Mom, look at me."
My "naughty, bad one" playing in the big closet.
Athena loves getting in any closet, and she has been shut in a few by accident. Just 15 minutes ago, I began to wonder where she was and heard her crying in the bathroom closet. She likes relaxing on my clean towels. She's a silly one.
Crustacean Apple Pie.
J.D. with his Sophie baby.J.D. playing with the kitties. Sophie gets bored and goes out the front door to play in the corridor where we get our mail and she catches her friends the crickets.
J.D. eating the infamous "skunk" Jelly Belly.
I read over this yesterday while proctoring. I thought I'd share. They have them in the hallway of a science building for some reason. 
Love you Marley | Barack Obama |  | 90 | ||
| John McCain | -39 |  |
Party: Democratic
J.D.'s
| Barack Obama | | 72 | ||
| John McCain | -75 | |
<
If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence. As it is, the quickest of us walk about well wadded with stupidity. -George Eliot, Middlemarch
We do walk around not hearing things. Our brains filter even what we do perceive from our registered sensations. We sort and prioritize our senses.
If you were to walk outside right now, what would you experience? Sunlight, a breeze, maybe an autumn chill? Even the act of having expectations would change your experience. You would certainly notice anything that immediately varied from your expectations.
A minute ago I walked outside. I expected to feel a slight chill or hear a car driving by. Instantly, I was surprised by the scent of clean laundry, the smell of someone's dryer sheets wafting up from the basement. Then I heard the dryer. I perceived the smell before the sound, in fact, the smell told me to listen for that particular noise. I had a new narrative and directed my attention to look for the pieces fitting the puzzle.
I didn't hear everything, not the sound of air molecules bouncing off each other all around me. Not the worms in the ground beneath me, not the leaves on the trees quivering in the wind. As Eliot eloquently writes, we don't perceive most of the world around us. We only get a sliver of reality, and usually only the slice we've selected to narrate and experience for the moment.
A few nights ago we watched a show about research in Crete and the decline of the Minoans. They've tried to explain what happened to the Minoans for a long time, usually falling back on a narrative of war and conquest. After the devastating 2004 tsunami, someone made that connection. Once they had the idea of looking for evidence of a tsunami, they found it. The evidence had been there all along. They had been staring at it for years. But it didn't mean anything until they had a particular reason to see it.
Of course, Eliot goes much further than merely discussing the world of our senses. Her real point is the world of human feeling, understanding, and empathy. Perhaps as a matter of survival, we don't really feel for each other very much. But maybe we should try to pay a little more attention to "all ordinary human life."
I was going to post this as a response to Lutheranchick and Baby Olivia, but I got so long winded, I decided it might be better as a regular post.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I think the most radical question, in terms of theology, that I've seen was the one where God pondered: "I AM THAT I AM?"
But that was a typo.
Actually, the question about Jonathan and David's relationship has been the most unexpected that I've seen.
All of the answers are literal. Also they exclusively use the KJV.
And you're right Lutheranchick, beyond even Esther, the questions highlight either the Bible's most submissive or sexualized women (which is a real competition, I mean, come on!). Jezebel is a favorite. We even encountered the question: "Who was the first woman raped in the Bible." Yikes, that identifies a focus for you.
They also focus much more on OT. I was trying to spread the HG category evenly between OT and NT, but it was not possible.
J.D. and I were discussing the "trivia but not trivial" thing too. We agreed, most of it is very trivial. I think that authoritative subtitle was part of the absurd delight I took in buying the game.
As far as these questions, I think I could have answered 11 correctly, guessing on two, but the name of the cave where their bones were buried... yeah right, somehow they didn't emphasize that in LDS seminary class, and I didn't take the time to memorize it. Actually, most of what I know about the OT comes from Dr. Clark's classes anyway and reading literature.
I've been having flashbacks of my childhood religious experiences too Catherine. :) We only read parts of the Bible that pertained to whatever lesson they wanted to teach us. The most vivid experience I remember of actively NOT reading was when Brother Dobb had us read Corinthians 13, the verses about charity, quoted at oh-so-many weddings, which are nice. But, being my nerdy self, I actually read Corinthians 14 too.
After class I brought up the text to him and questioningly pointed out this verse, asking "Brother Dobb, what about this":
"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law" (1 Cor. 14:34). I remember the dismissive response I got. He rolled his eyes and said: "Oh sheesh Tamara." He essentially shut me up for even asking about women asking questions/speaking. Poetic in its irony.
You don't forget things like that. They also tend to make you think....
In college seminary I was chewed out for bringing the NRSV to class instead of the KJV and asking questions there too. We took turns reading, and people found my NRSV text disconcerting. One classmate exclaimed, "Why would you bring THAT book here? The language and ideas are so much more powerful and beautiful in THIS one." I just didn't see why, if I had Old Testament class right before seminary, I needed to make a special trip to get my KJV. (Underlying theme: difference and real questioning... not so tolerated). I was also in trouble for even taking that class. The religion classes and Dr. Clark personally were often the topics of much hostility. But at that point, I refused to believe asking questions and using my God-given-brain were inherently acts lacking in faith. Toward the end, I realized I just didn't fit THAT community any more. I had moved into a new one, a much lonelier, but more honest (for me) place.
I like that George Eliot was fond of quoting these lines from Tennyson's "In Memoriam": "There lives more faith in honest doubt / Believe me, than in half the creeds."
1. What two men tried to pretend to rulers that their wives were only their sisters?
2. Who cursed the day he was born?
3. What did Absalom catch in a tree? (Little bit of a trick question)
4. What possession of Joseph's inspired the jealousy of his brothers?
5. Who gave the following as a gift to make peace with a relative: 220 goats, 220 sheep, 30 camels, 50 cattle, and 30 donkeys?
6. What species of bird does Job describe as stupid?
7. God revealed "I am that I am" to whom?
Although they print the question this way: To whom did God say: "I am that I am?"
8. Who declared his devotion: "Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women"?
9. What is the significance of the words: "MENE MENE TEKEL U PHARSIN"? (Either their meaning or where/how they were written).
10. Who ate honey from a lion's carcass?
11. What was the relationship between Leah and Zilpah?
12. Which king ordered that when his subjects heard music they must fall down and worship him?
13. What reason is given for Isaac's preference of Esau over Jacob?
14. Why was Joseph released from prison and given some authority in Egypt?
15. In a parable found in Judges, the trees decide to nominate a tree king. Which tree accepts the tree kingship (the fig, bramble, olive, or vine)?
P.S. Kitties also love Bible Trivia.
Notice Sophie kept everything nice and neat and only sniffed around it. She's very respectful of the tradition of her namesake. (Sophia is the female spirit of wisdom in the Bible). Athena, however, released her inner warrior princess . . . . Perhaps it's her jealous Hellenic side, or maybe she didn't like that last olive tree question.
MSNBC's stage by Graham Chapel.
My favorite sign comparing Wasilla and WashU's Populations.
Another entertaining sign.
The Missouri Coalition made it out.
News satellites, including Telemundo and Aljazeera.
