This is k-rad:

$14 Steadycam: "Steadycams (or camera stabilizers) are attachtments used to capture smooth looking video even when the camera and camera operator are in motion. The camera operator may walk (or even jog), move through tight hallways and doorways, and even climb up and down stairs without shaking the camera. Unfortunately, professional steadycams cost around $1500. Even the cheap 3rd party ones cost $600 . Not exactly a bargain considering many of us use cameras in that price range. So, I decided to make my own version. It turns out, it only costs $14. Not too bad. And I'll show you how to build your own right here (or you may simply buy one from me)... "

Easter is about Jesus, not bunnies. Therefore, let us graphically defame and kill the Easter Bunny in front of horrified children, and let us smash his eggs, angrily declaring that "there is no Easter Bunny [any more]!" and there shall be no egg hunt. Children will grow up to be better people if they are frightened into the clutches of the Lord.

Newsday.com - National News: It may not have been as gruesome as Mel Gibson's movie, but many parents and children got upset when a church trying to teach about Jesus' crucifixion performed an Easter show with actors whipping the Easter bunny and breaking eggs. ...Melissa Salzmann, who brought her 4-year-old son J.T., said the program was inappropriate for young children. "He was crying and asking me why the bunny was being whipped," Salzmann said. ...Performers broke eggs meant for an Easter egg hunt and also portrayed a drunken man and a self-mutilating woman, said Jennifer Norelli-Burke, another parent who saw the show in Glassport, a community about 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

Go God go!

London Free Press: : "Parents opposing a school program used a picture from a satirical newspaper on their pamphlets."

The photo shows a teacher at the front of a class with explicit sexual images and terms drawn on the board and is supposed to represent one of the "countless" classrooms where homosexuality is promoted. The picture was copied from the Onion, a satirical newspaper from the United States. The headline of the 1998 story says, " '98 homosexual drive nearing goal." ... Marilyn Ashworth of STOP said it's concerned the photo represents what will end up in this region's schools if the board goes ahead with its plan. "We knew it was a gay paper and we hold that even as a joke, the gay community is proud of their advancements into the safe schools program in the U.S.," she said. "We don't think homosexuality in schools is a joke." Asked whether she believed it was a real photo, Ashworth said the caption included the teacher's name, city, state and grade. "We researched in depth and that was one of the things we found," she said, noting the group spent seven weeks accumulating research. "We don't come by our findings lightly. . . . Whether it was meant to be a joke or not, it's not funny to parents who are trying to protect their children." Other headlines on the archival page are: Antique dealer sick of appraising smurf collections and Orgy a logistical nightmare. Sean Mills, president of the Onion, laughed when he heard the news. "The motto the writers have is we're not going after the right or the left, we're just going after people who are dumb," Mills said.

From the NY Times:

Since '94 Horror, Rwandans Turn Toward Islam: KIGALI, Rwanda, April 6 When 800,000 of their countrymen were killed in massacres that began 10 years ago this week, many Rwandans lost faith not only in their government but in their religion as well. Today, in what is still a predominantly Catholic country, Islam is the fastest growing religion. Roman Catholicism has been the dominant faith in Rwanda for more than a century. But many people, disgusted by the role that some priests and nuns played in the killing frenzy, have shunned organized religion altogether, and many more have turned to Islam. "People died in my old church, and the pastor helped the killers," said Yakobo Djuma Nzeyimana, 21, who became a Muslim in 1996. "I couldn't go back and pray there. I had to find something else."

Ken Ham appears to be losing his mind at an accelerating rate. People who are interested in things might be amused by his multiple choice test, title "Can You Marry Your Relation?" As a mathematically-inclined geek, when I hear "relation" I naturally think "equivalence relation" or possibly "ordinal relation" such as greater-than/less-than. After taking the test, I realize that isn't what he's talking about. In fact, I have absolutely no clue what he is talking about. Here's the first few questions:

Can you marry your relation?: "1. Can you marry your relation? a. Yes b. No c. Probably d. Only after counseling 2. Did kangaroos live in the Middle East? a. Yes b. No c. They live only in Australia d. We can ’t know for sure 3. Which of the following best illustrates a prehistoric animal? a. Alligator b. Mammoth c. Brachiosaurus d. None of the above 4. Has God told us when He made Tyrannosaurus rex? a. Yes b. No c. We can’t know for sure d. Only science has the correct answer

Here's the explanation he offers for Question 1:

If your wife or husband wasn’t related to you before you married her or him—you didn’t marry a human! The point is, every human is related because we are all descendants of one man and one woman (1 Corinthians 15:45; Genesis 3:20; Genesis 5:4; Acts 26). The reason we can be saved is because Jesus became our relation to die for His relations (this is why He is called the ‘last Adam’—God provided another ‘Adam’ to pay the penalty for sin). Now we don’t marry someone closely related to us today because of the problems with our genes resulting from the curse. This is why it’s so important to be able to answer the question, Where did Cain get his wife?

Oh! Of course. Dr. Ham's logic is patently theological (by which I mean, "utterly absurd"). Susan Haack has written an interesting taxonomy of science and theology, which is quoted in the current Skeptical Inquirer magazine. She says:

Unlike religion, theology is a form of inquiry. Unlike scientific inquiry, however, theology welcomes -- indeed, it seeks -- supernatural explations, explanations in terms of God's making things so. Usually, furthermore, it calls on evidential resources beyond sensory experience and reasoning, most importantly on religious experience and the authority of revealed texts. So, unlike scientific inquiry, theological inquiry is discontinuous with everday empirial inquiry, both in the kinds of explanations in which it traffics and in the kinds of evidential resource on which it calls. ...Whereas the sciences have amplified and refined the evidential resources on which we all rely daily, theology relies on additional evidential resources the authenticity of which depends on dubious old crossword entries.

I think Haack's "crossword" analog sheds some light on theological reasoning. To me, it simply looks like bizarre alogical gibberish. But where it lacks logic, it does tend to have a narrative form. The Bible doesn't tell us exactly what to do about Terri Schiavo, for example, but the Pope says it does. The Pope has not drawn this conclusion from a literal reading of the Bible. To draw theological conclusions, he must take the Bible characters and imagine them in a plausible modern setting, and then craft reactions that would be consistent with the characters from the original series. It's a form of Fan Fiction. The events don't have to make too much sense, as long as the story is interesting and the characters' reactions are plausibly based on previous episodes.

I love editorial mistakes in online news articles:

The Reporter - Despite meter error, FdL woman“I hate doing this,” Fond du Lac Water Superintendent Dale Paczkowski said. “I don’t like it. (And) it’s time consuming for us to be putting (shut-off) notices on the door and sending letters.” Paczkowski said the water was used — it ran through the actual meter. “I agreed (in December) to $50, which I cannot do,” Terry said. “I thought I could (pay $50 per month toward the debt), and I had my back surgery, and I lieves headache and eases insomnia. It can be applied full strength to burns, rashes or psoriasis. Lavender is a “must-have” in the home, Vores said. n Lemon increases optimism and sense of humor, helps calm fear and increase memory, according to Vores’ list of essential oil uses. In very dilute solution (1 or 2 percent) it is good for acne, he said. n Peppermint is a mental stimulant, relieves headache and anxiety. It is good for congested sinuses and digestion as well as emotions. n Tea tree oil builds strength before surgery, says a list of oils Vores’ has compiled. It’s a strong antiseptic that stimulates immunity. Vores describes essential oils as the “lifeblood” of a plant, the part that is fragrant. “Pure” oil comes from a single source. Pure essential oil is always superior to synthetic oils, Vores said. Synthetics are likely to be mass-produced, lower in cost and have weaker scents. The real thing, he said, is likely to give the nose a bigger “zing” when it’s uncorked than a synthetic.