Marc's Messages

YES! Finally got it!

Today I finally got my drivers licence! I know after four times the average number of lessons, four different instructors, and four attempts to pass the final exam it's hard to believe, but the proof is that pink little paper on the left that you can click on and that proofs that I'm gay I can drive. Really, believe me, it's true. Miracles do happen after all.

For those interested in my driving chronicles (including some cartoons), check out my updates of Apr 05, May 05, Jun 05 and Nov 05.

How are the Brits doing? (2)

Mr. Simple Church Alexander Campbell wrote an extensive report on church planting in the UK since the year 2000, that can be ordered here. He gives a good number of interesting examples of emerging, organic and simple churches (guess these terms can be used more or less interchangably), their basic theology and practice.

Why men shouldn't be ordained

Some stuff travels a long way through the blogosphere. B-W of the Transforming Seminarian weblog wrote an entry for the International Women's Day gridblog, listing the top-10 reasons why men shouldn't be ordained. An amusing post that was copied by Serena Snape, passed on to Maggi Dawn, included by Rogier Bos, and alas... quoted by me. All 10 reasons make sense if you ask me, but I liked number 8 especially:

"Their physical build indicates that men are more suited to tasks such as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be 'unnatural' for them to do other forms of work."

I told you before: men are not created for 'sissy' things like church meetings. ;-)

The majestic Piano Grande

Looking for a place in the middle of nowhere where I could go for a 'wild at heart' retreat, I came across these galleries of the Piano Grande in Umbria, Italy. Compliments to photographers Franz Bauer and Jacob Lalkens. For an overview of Italian national and regional parks, see Parks.it.

A cloud of words

SnapShirts allows you to automatically generate a word cloud from your blog. The cloud is composed of the words most frequently used on Marc's Messages. The bigger and bolder the word, the more often it's mentioned in one my postings.

Five hotspots in Europe

emRG researcher Scott Friderich identified five regions in Europe that are potential 'hotspots' for the Gospel, because there is a higher than average Gospel-responsiveness. These transnational or subnational regions are:

a. the North-Adriatic (Northeast Italy and Slovenia);
b. Transylvania, Moldavia and Bessarabia (a region comprising parts of Romania, Moldova and Ukraine);
c. the Schmalkaldic zone (Bavaria, Saxony and several other parts of Germany);
d. Rumelia (Macedonia and parts of Bulgaria);
e. the Pale (East-Poland and parts of Slovakia and Ukraine).

According to Scott these hotspots indicate ripe and ready soil, and could very well become the epicenter for great things in Europe. Full report here.

The most intelligent Europeans

Sorry, I couldn't resist this new European league of IQ scores that ranks the Dutch with an average IQ of 107 as the most intelligent Europeans. Fair enough, we share this first place with the Germans. The research was performed by professor Richard Lynn of the University of Ulster, and published in The Times. The differences in IQ can be explained by the fact that North and Central Europeans have slightly bigger brains than South and East Europeans, because we eat more meat. Also intelligence is higher in economic urban areas.

The Brits can be relieved that although they can't compete with the Dutch and Germans, at least they're still more intelligent than the French. Professor Lynn ascribes the differences between British and French intelligence levels to the results of military conflict. He described it as “a hitherto unrecognised law of history” that “the side with the higher IQ normally wins, unless they are hugely outnumbered, as Germany was after 1942”.

Rich dad, poor dad

It's already a few weeks ago that I read Robert Kiyosaki's book 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad. What the rich teach their kids about money, that the poor and middle class do not'. A title that almost guarantees to boost one's book sales, and Kiyosaki knows it, but hey - like with any book: if you apply the lessons, it's worth the bucks.

Kiyosaki shares that he had two dads: his own dad who was a head teacher, and his friend's dad who was a business man. The first one was poor, the second one rich. The key is that these two dads thought and acted quite differently when it came to money. Poor dad played safe and never took risks, while rich dad learned his boys to launch out in life and manage risks.

Unveiling Islam

I'm at home with flu, and used the opportunity to dig into a new book (just published in Dutch by Gideon), titled 'Unveiling Islam: An insider's look at Muslim life and beliefs'. The Authors, Ergun Mehmet and Emir Fethi Caner, are two brothers from Turkish descent, who were raised as Muslims, but later found Christ and are now teaching theology at Christian seminaries. The purpose of this book is two-fold: to educate Christians about Islam, so they can be more effective witnesses, and to unveil the roots and practice of this religion.

More beer and health news

More news from the beer front. Belgian 'beer therapists' advise schools in their nation to serve kids light alcoholic table beer instead of softdrinks, according to an interview with Ann Frankie of the Beer Therapists Society in Leuven in Flemish newspaper 'The Latest News'. "Table beer is much healthier," she says, "because it contains less sugar than softdrinks." She suggests to offer school kids a choice between chocolate milk and table beer.

The Belgians also launched Beerandhealth.com, a unique website that brings together all the available scientific information about the effects of beer on health.