Funniest TV Moment EVER

And here is my very most favoritest TV moment EVER. The (in)famous Tim Conway's "Elephant" speech on the Carol Burnett Show. He's completely cracking up all 4 on stage: himself, Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence, and Dick Van Dyke.

But it's Vicki Lawrence who gets the last laugh...

Best "Whose Line" ever?

I was browsing the TV Tropes website (warning, it's a WIKI site, and you'll get lost for days in there. Seriously.) and they have a page called "Crowning Moment of Awesome". It's for moments in a TV show that you think are the best, the most wonderful - where they've completely surpassed everything they've done before or since.

One of the sequences suggested is this one, from "Whose Line is It Anyway" with Drew Carey hosting. The skit and inadvertent humor in it completely, thoroughly cracks him up. I don't think I've ever seen him lose it this badly on that show before.

Squelching Dissent?

Well. THIS is interesting. I just checked out http://www.ideateblog.com - the blog site for "JH Church's" Pastors (mentioned in my previous post "Any Random Volunteer").
I was correct that they are not publishing my comment / feedback about their blog post. However, I've also discovered something else - they have completely disabled comments altogether on their blog now.

To be fair, they could be trying a new template, or something glitched in the feedback system, so it may be temporarily disabled due to a technical issue, and will be back soon. However, I find it very interesting that immediately following at least two negative comments regarding their new practice of violating the Augsburg Confession, the comment feature on their blog was completely removed.

I have taken my objections to them, per Matthew 18, and they did not listen. Apparently saying "No, actually, you're wrong, and you're leading people astray" really isn't part of their ministry.
Nobody likes being corrected - I'm not saying they should enjoy it, but they should at least listen.
And, this is the same church that needed a $25,000 grant from the Synod to acquire a building to meet in, yet paid large amounts of money for some very bizarre, and very controversial billboards. (If you don't want to click - it's a video clip - the gist of it is that they paid to put billboards up that said things like "Boycott Jefferson Hills church" and "I hate Jefferson Hills church", signed "Satan".)
Most people didn't think they were effective, because they thought an atheist group put them out. It didn't get the Gospel out there. It didn't further Christ's message. It did make a lot of people disgusted with WHOEVER it was that put the billboards up, because they figured it was showing disrespect for the church. When they found out that Jefferson Hills church is the one that put them up, they were...let's just say "less than impressed".

Apparently they aren't improving with age...or wisdom.

Any Random Volunteer Will Do

I just found out about a new disturbing practice that at least one church is engaging in, thanks to The Rebellious Pastor's Wife. Apparently "JH Church" is engaging in something called "Communion Nights", wherein anyone who has received a "laying on of hands" can consecrate and distribute Holy Communion, held at a member's house.

Here is the entirety of my comment that I left for them. I have no confidence that they'll actually publish it:

This is very concerning to me, as a member of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. We profess that the Augsburg Confession is a right and true interpretation of Scripture.
In Augsburg XIV, it is stated that "no one should publicly teach in the Church or administer the Sacraments unless he be regularly called."

The simple laying-on of hands is not a "regular calling" as the Church understands it. If anyone could become a pastor by simple laying-on of hands, then why bother with the Seminaries? Why have regular curriculum that our Pastoral Candidates must pass before becoming actual called and Ordained Pastors?

And, why are you, the supposed spiritual leaders of this church, so contemptuous and disdainful of your sacred calling that you would so eagerly and readily relinquish it to any layman that happened to show up and volunteer for it?

This is a very disturbing practice, in clear disagreement with the Augsburg Confessions and with Holy Scripture.

Please, I urge you to be responsible Pastors and reconsider these "Communion Nights". Keep the Office of the Holy Ministry for those who have been trained in it, rather than any random person that happens along and volunteers at the right time.

Ew.

Eli Lilly offers pay-for-it parking on the weekends for activities in downtown Indy such as Colts games. Since this past weekend saw the first game of the regular season, and it was at the new Lucas Oil Stadium, it's to be expected that a lot of people showed up.
This morning, the detritus was still very much in evidence. Glass bottles, intact and broken, everywhere. Trash blowing all over the parking lot. Heck, full trash bags all over the parking lot.

People! Pick up after your nasty, disgusting selves! The lack of garbage cans means take your trash home with you, and throw it away there! You brought it in, you take it out!

Disgusting.

Security by Wishful Thinking

There's a show on Tuesday evening called "It Takes A Thief", in which a couple of reformed thieves actually check out someone's house for security risks, then burgle the house with the owner's permission. (All on-camera, of course, since it's for TV.) Afterward, they show the burglary to the owners, tell them what went wrong and how things can be improved, then set up the owner with some free-to-the-owner basic security features, like better locks, new windows, whatever. It's rather an interesting look at how safe one's house really isn't.

This weeks' family was a 3-generation home. Grandma and Grampa, mom, and 2 kids - a teenager and a (I think) 10-year-old girl. First off, we find out that their house has been broken into, burglarized, and vandalized in the past, at least once (and possibly at least twice; I wasn't sure on that.) AND, apparently they don't live in the greatest area of town, contributing to the breakins and vandalism problems. So, you'd figure they'd be at least minimally security-conscious, wouldn't you?

You'd be wrong. They constantly left the front door unlocked "because Brittany (the teenager) kept losing her key." The window in the back of the house was unlocked because the lock was mis-adjusted. Mom kept hundreds of dollars of necessary money - Child-support money from her ex - loose in a bowl in the kitchen, where it was easily findable. Mom, Gramma and both daughters kept hundreds of dollars worth of costume jewelry, expensive shoes and designer purses, and clothing absolutely everywhere - jewelry all over the desks, dressers, bedroom furniture.

So, the breakin occurred. They actually let the family watch as they did a B&E on their house. The teenage daughter was appalled at the amount of mess that was created. (I still can't quite figure out what she thought they were going to do. They did tell the family "we're going to burgle your house, exactly the way someone breaking the law would do." Someone who's tossing your house to find easily-stolen, easily-sold items isn't going to be concerned with keeping the place looking neat, for heavens' sake.) The "B&E guy" broke in, collected all the jewelry, purses, clothes, shoes, and money, loaded it into his van and drove off in about 10 minutes.

The other consultant told the family exactly what was going on, and then the B&E guy brought the stuff back. The next day, they showed up at the house again to clean up the mess and install new security features, as well as fix the old ones.
All new deadbolts and door handles, they fixed the kitchen window, installed a dozen new windows, gave Mom a "security camera" (basically a webcam-style dealie that could hook up right to a computer or a VCR so she could tape the place), and a bolted-down small safe. They told Mom how to work everything, all the changed they'd done, and what NOT to do in the future - as well as how to be more secure. Then they left, with the agreement that they'd be back sometime in the next month to see if the family was doing any better, security-wise.

On their return visit, they discovered that the door was finally locked, but the teenage daughter left her window unlocked. Easy entry. Mom's essential Child-Support money was still in the bowl in the kitchen. All the jewelry? Still strewn all over the place. The safe not only hadn't ever been used, the packing material was still in it. The Security Webcam? Still in a bundle of wires on top of the TV - right where the Security guy had left it, three weeks earlier.
Mom made all kinds of excuses: "I forgot the money was there." "I've been busy." "I didn't have time to learn the software for the camera." They informed her that there WAS no "software to learn"; it was a plug-and-play camera, and 'busy' doesn't explain the wide-open window.

I was flabbergasted. A family that's been repeatedly burgled - and NOT by people that gave their stuff back, either - just couldn't be bothered to lock their doors, put their valuables away in a safe (provided TO THEM FOR FREE), or even keep their windows locked when they weren't home. It was as though they just kept thinking "if I pretend it didn't happen, it won't happen again!" I felt really sorry for the hosts of the show - they seem like they really want to help people. But the family they featured this week just didn't want to be helped, it seems.

Nothing you can do to help people that just aren't interested in help. Or, rather, that want you to wave a Magic Fairy Wand and Make All The Bad People Go Away. I think they didn't want help so much as they wanted things to be their way, without any effort on their part.

Continuing Progress

All progress has its downside, apparently. My leg and ankle are continuing to improve - much more than I'd hoped, and faster, actually.
I can get around without the cane at all inside the house, and for short trips to places. I still need it for distances and for uneven ground, though, so I do take it with me everywhere. However, the habit of taking it everywhere, then parking it someplace so I can do whatever I needed to do tends to mean I leave it in random places around the house. This leads to a bit of frustration - you wouldn't think that canes could hide, would you - but you'd be wrong! Kev has heard "I wonder where I left it this time..." at least a dozen times now.

I'm moving faster too - just not as fast as I'd like, yet. (Of course). I'm just glad that things are getting back to "normal", whatever that may be.