Dog Days

Oh, the monotony. . .

I'm too busy to write much of substance today, and I'm not in a frame of mind to try to be provocative. I'm very sorry to add to the ennui of what is shaping up to be a bad blogweek. Both the Thinklings and Li'l Brudder's Tavernfolk are already pretty high strung, though (see below). So if you're looking for something spell-binding, give them a visit. In one place they're fighting like schoolgirls, and in the other, they're posting about their schoolgirl crushes. No way I want to try to compete with that.

Meanwhile—

Here's some quick BlogSpotting to tide you over, at least until tomorrow:

• Mark Gibson bites his tongue, but not hard enough. Elsewhere, he explains why he's not having me over for steaks. Hey, Mark! I like bratwurst, too.
  
• Joshua Duncan mines my blog for decent bloglinks.
  
• Chris Pixley hasn't posted much of anything yet, but I can't wait to hear what he has to say.
  
• Bryan in Winnipeg wishes I would take a leap.
  
• Doug Burtt takes my criticisms of the "emerging church" personally, and the mere mention of the subject starts a 36-hour catfight among patrons at the local beer garden.
  
• Editor, Living Room Section thinks the homeschool moms who frequent my blog with their dictionaries and grammar books dropped the ball when they stopped by "Editors in Pajamas." I can attest from my own experience in the publishing world that the very finest editors need help with spelling at times. After all, that's what proofreaders (and homeschool moms) are for. So let's work a little harder out there, OK?
  
• Jared at "Thinklings" notes that it's been more than a week since I wrote anything that piqued his interest. Sorry, Jared. I got so mezmerized by the veritable flood of engrossing posts about the Thinklings' recent quilting party that I guess I lost focus, because I was all worried about where De went and everything. Besides, when the standard of "interesting" is defined by a two-and-a-half-year-long discussion about the color of Gatorade, it can be really discouraging for a tyro like me. But I've been toying with the idea of posting a picture of some maggot-infested filet mignon and starting a thread called "What Color Is This Meat?" I realize that wouldn't even begin to measure up to De's recent posting of a Relient K album cover, and the stunningly provocative commentary he included with it; but, hey—I'm just one guy and a neophyte to blogging. I'm watching you guys and trying to learn. Please bear with me.
  
• Tony Kummer is going to have to install some censorware on his computer.
  
• Heather from New Brunswick admits that she has been stealing stuff.
  
• Suzi at "My Own Thoughts" shares her thoughts about worship styles. She found her way here from Jon Schroeder's blog.
  
• Jeri Massi, who is a pretty decent fiction writer (published by my former employer, Moody, no less), links to Pastor Hugh, Dr. Who, and you-know-who. Her whole blog is like a Who's-Who of some of my erstwhile fundamentalist friends. Ive been forgetting to BlogSpot her site. Now she wants to kill me. Actually, she's an eighty-third-degree black belt or something, so in point of fact, I am truly and genuinely frightened of her.
  
• Dave Bish has a friend in Guildford, Paul Huxley, who thinks the world might be safer if I stopped travelling and Dave stopped going to conferences. I hear that all the time.

Now, finally...

Phelps alert:

A word of caution is in order about a certain person who has sometimes commented on posts at PyroManiac under assorted pseudonymns since our launch on June 1. Now she appears to have begun a blog of her own. (It's actually the latest of several abandoned blog-attempts from this deeply troubled individual). Unfortunately, her new blog contains material too blasphemous to link to. Her writing has the distinct flavor of things that have been said and published elsewhere by the infamous Phelps klan of Topeka, KS, and it is my strong suspicion is that she is somehow aligned with that family-cult. If you have never heard of them, consider yourself fortunate. Their website and their activities are a serious blight on the reputation of Christ's church. I bring it up to say I will delete any future comments posted by this person, and I would appreciate it if other commenters would refrain from knowingly engaging her in debate or dialogue of any kind in the comments sections of my blog. Thanks.

The infamous Phelps Web site has long contained a link to . I am embarrassed by this, but there's little I can do to stop them from linking to Spurgeon. In response, I have given them a link in the "Really, Really Bad" section of my bookmarks. I have encountered Phelps family members on line in various forums before, and both the tone and the results of their contributions to any discussion or debate are always the same as the placards they hold up at their infamous protests: utterly profane and perfectly fruitless.

"These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame" (Jude 12-13).

Update: The woman with the blasphemous blog has responded with a denial that she is in any way associated with Fred Phelps. I believe her, because I don't think a Phelps would have enough moral fibre to be properly ashamed. (I once encountered one of the Phelpses using a pseudonymn in a theological forum and confronted her. She was more than happy to admit who she really was.) It would also seem quite out of character for a Phelps to masquerade as a Presbyterian. It's actually even more disturbing, however, to think that there is someone so unbalanced outside the walls of the Phelps compound. What's worse is that this person claims to reside not far from where I live.

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