Random Thoughts 9/9/14

• Baltimore running back Ray Rice had his football career ruined when the video of him beating his wife was released this week.  On the one hand, I understand why people are so upset because the video is violent and it removes any shadow of a doubt about what happened on that elevator.  On the other hand, I'm stunned by the sudden outrage.  It's like people thought it wasn't real because they couldn't see it.  But now they can, so now it is real, at least in regard to Ray Rice.  Never mind that this violence is done by other famous people (unrecorded by video) and the public generally looks the other direction.  I'm thinking of alleged (and sometimes convicted) wife-beaters like Mel Gibson, Mike Tyson, John Daly, Charlie Sheen, Axl Rose, Dennis Rodman, O.J. Simpson, John Lennon, Steve McQueen, Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage, Steven Seagal, Vince Neil, Jim Brown, Jose Canseco, Warren Sapp and many, many others.
• Here's a pretty good article condemning Victoria Osteen's "gospel of happiness."
• Apple has announced its new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, as well as it's upcoming Apple Watch.  Our phones are two years old, so we're technically due for an update.  I like the iPhone 6 but Shannon is leaning toward the phablet-sized 6 Plus.  I just need the thing to actually fit in my pocket.  The Apple Watch looks incredibly cool but I don't wear a watch now and I don't have $350 to learn to start wearing one again.
• "Apple Pay" sounds like pig-Latin to me.
• I won my first fantasy football game of the year.  That's not my usual m.o.
• Listen to a classic sermon by Frank Peretti at Focus on the Family here (part 1) and here (part 2).