Mad Libs with Mail Merge

Every time I hear the song Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow! I am reminded of an activity I did once several years ago when I used to teach computer applications. We were learning about mail merge features in Microsoft Word. We had finished an assignment on making form letters (actually, we made letters to send out to each of our family members informing them each of a different gift on our lists insuring that they each bought us something different we wanted) and had an extra day before leaving for break so I decided for the last day to try a funner use of mail merge.  So, we made Mad Libs.  Christmas Carol Mad Libs.

Acid Rain: (more info)

Students took 15 minutes or so to set up files, about 15 minutes to go from computer to computer filling out each others mad libs, and the last 15 minutes or so reading what ensued.  My favorite line -- the only one I remember actually, is:

"Let it Acid Rain! Let It Acid Rain! Let It Acid Rain!

The student had put "type of precipitation" in as a clue, and while most people put either rain, or snow, there's always that one kid that thinks a little differently.

If you're curious how to make it work, I copied and pasted my instructions down below.  These were based on the 2003 version of word, so the exact places you go to find these options have probably changed if you have the newer versions. Some of these instructions were specific to my students that year -- please forgive me if I didn't filter all of them out.

1. Create a folder in your personal space called "madlib"
2. Open a new Microsoft word document save it as "mymadlibsong" in that madlib folder.
3. Find the lyrics to a christmas song of your choosing online, and paste them into "mymadlibsong".
4. Go through your song, and remove certain keywords which you would like to be blanks that need to be filled in with words.  Delete the old word and in its place type some type a field name that you will replace it with.  e.g.  Rudolph the ADJECTIVE1-nosed ANIMAL1...  (Notice that I have a 1 after adjective, that's because each field needs a unique name -- otherwise EVERY adjective in the song would be replaced by the same word.  If I have another adjective later, I would ADJECTIVE2, etc.
5. From Tools, choose Mail Merge...
1. Click create main document, form letters, Active Window
2. . Get Data, Create Data Source...
3. Remove all the prearranged field names that Word gives you
4.  Go through your whole story from top to bottom and add the fields that you created above.  Remember that each field name requires a unique name, which is why I have adjective1, adjective2, etc.  
5.  Click OK and save it as "mywordlist" in madlib folder
6. Choose "Edit Data Source"  The Data source is what MsWord calls the document which contains all the information that will be placed into the main document, or in this assignment, the data source is the wordlist, and the main document is the story.
7. You can words if you'd like, enter at least one set of words.  If you have come up with one set of words -- called a record -- either enter another set, or have a friend or neighbor enter a set
8. When you are finished entering words (at least for now) hit OK.
6. Notice now the Merge toolbar has been added to your bar. The first available button is insert Merge field.  If you click on that button, you'll see your list of fields that you can place in your document in the appropriate locations.  Go through your document and replace each of the field names you typed earlier with the appropriate mergefield. It should look like <<ADJECTIVE1>>.  
7.  When you are complete finished, press the button with <<>>ABC on it and you'll find that each of the merge fields has been filled with the lyrics that you and your friends have come up with!  Click the > button to read through each of the records you created.
8. To make another verse. Click the MailMergeHelper button, and you'll see the familiar menu. This time click Edit Source Document.  Add another verse, either yourself, or by asking me or a different friend to fill yours out.  Before you hit ok, click View source.  You should see another word document pop up with a table containing your words -- much like an excel spreadsheet.  Both can be used.  Typically it is easier to create a file this way, but sometimes, if you already have an Excel document made up, it will be easier to use that information already. Close the source file, saving any changes you may have made, and try reading the new verses you made.

If you try it and come across any issues, comment below and I can try to help. If you try it and come up with a cool verse, comment that too!

Metric System Prefix Fufu Song

Little basic FuFu, hopping through the forest
Scooping up the millipedes and boppin' 'em on the head
(spoken) Down came the 10-to-the-third fairy, and she said:
  "Little basic FuFu, I don't want to see you,
   scooping up the millipedes and boppin' 'em on the head.
   ... (spoken) Now I shall decrease each of your three dimensions by a factor of ten: poof!


Little milli-FuFu, hopping through the forest
Scooping up the micropedes and boppin' 'em on the head
(spoken) Down came the 10-to-the-third fairy, and she said:
  "Little milli-FuFu, I don't want to see you,
   scooping up the micropedes and boppin' 'em on the head.
   ... (spoken) Now I shall decrease each of your three dimensions by a factor of ten: poof!

Little micro-FuFu, hopping through the forest
Scooping up the nanopedes and boppin' 'em on the head
(spoken) Down came the 10-to-the-third fairy, and she said:
  "Little micro-FuFu, I don't want to see you,
   scooping up the nanopedes and boppin' 'em on the head.
   ... (spoken) Now I shall decrease each of your three dimensions by a factor of ten: poof!

Repeat with, nano,pico/femto/atto/zepto/yocto.

  ... (spoken) I suppose you'll never learn, will you?  Back to normal!

Little basic Fufu, running through the forest

Hiding from the kilo-birds who bop him on the head

(spoken) Down came the 10-to-the-third fairy and she said,

   "Little basic Fufu, how I hate to see you,

    Hiding from the kilo-birds who bop you on the head"

    (spoken) Lets try increasing each of your three dimensions by a factor of 10: poof!

Little kilo-Fufu, running through the forest

Hiding from the mega-birds who bop him on the head

(spoken) Down came the 10-to-the-third fairy and she said,

   "Little kilo Fufu, how I hate to see you,

    Hiding from the mega-birds who bop you on the head"

   (spoken) Lets try increasing each of your three dimensions by a factor of 10: poof!

   Repeat with Mega/Giga/Tera/Peta/Exa/Zetta/Yotta

y=mx+b Fight Song

Today we learned how the things we've been studying in Algebra -- lately working with slope, and finding intercepts, and drawing graphs of lines, are all brought together in one tidy little equation shape: slope intercept form! For those of you less familiar with math jargon, that was the y=mx+b form you remember graphing with.

To celebrate the occasion -- and to show my students that I'm not always just a boring math teacher -- I wrote the Y=MX+B fight song, and we celebrated by singing it at the tops of our lungs.  I wrote it to the tune of a college fight song -- not my alma mater's of Michigan State, and not (God forbid!) the other university's, but chose a neutral college, Notre Dame.  The lyrics are posted below:

Y equals m x, + b 

That's the way to graph naturally 

m is how lines move - that's slope 

 b stands for the y intercept! 

Start with the slope: that's rise over run 

Write as a fraction - man this is fun! -- 

Tack on where the line begun 

 you're Graphing to victory!

If you've forgotten the tune, you may listen to it here:

 Note that the video plays through the song twice, so you can imagine me singing it to you the first time, and then stand up and join in the second time around.  

If anyone besides my wife comments, I might consider recording my own voice singing it, but I'm pretty sure no one reads this thing anyway.

Song Structure

I've been listening to a lot of country music lately (It's summer!).  While listening, I've noticed a new song structure that perhaps is growing in popularity?  It's a subtle difference that fixes one of the annoyances I've had: the repetitiveness of the double chorus at the end of every song.

Wait. You lost me... What is song structure?

Well, all songs are broken down into blocks or chunks of different types. Typically we call these chunks verses and choruses. Other types of blocks exist too -- such as a prechorus, a bridge, an instrumental or solo, and the infamous "tag" which is a line or two that is said repeated at the end of song.

Anyway, when you're a band leader, you notice these chunks, and you use them to describe the direction a song will go before you play it.  For example, for one of our praise team songs at church, we'll probably plan on the following (we call it a road map): Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus, Tag, Tag.

In fact, that is the most popular roadmap of a Christian praise songs.  Think of Blessed Be Your Name, Better Is One Day, or How Great Is Our God as some examples.  It's pretty popular among pop and country music too.  Unfortunately, it often adds to the stereotype that Christian praise music is unoriginal, or repetitive. Some complain that it get's old to sing the chorus that many times at the end.

 I've written several songs, and three of them fit this mold perfectly.

Well, the new pattern I've seen lately is a subtle variation of this. Several songs popular in country music use two different choruses.  Then, at the end of the song, instead of singing the same chorus twice, they combine the two choruses.  Thus you get a roadmap: v1, c1, v2, c2, b, c1, c2.  I like this as it is still predictable (I'm of the mindset that leaving a known pattern too much causes a song to be too "different" to be accepted) yet adds enough variance to be unique and stand out.

An example is Blake Shelton's current #1 hit, Honey Bee.  I'm not a huge fan of the lyrics, (a little too sappy and frankly, too 'country' for me).  Also, You Lie by The Band Perry has the two different but related choruses-- thankfully they only sing one at the end though.

I like the concept -- hope to hear more of it in both country and Christian music.  Spot another example?  Leave it and a link to the lyrics below in the comments.

Song and Scripture

Everlasting God - Lincoln Brewster

Isaiah 40: 

²⁵ “To whom will you compare me?

   Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

²⁶ Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:

   Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one

   and calls forth each of them by name.

Because of his great power and mighty strength,

   not one of them is missing.

 ²⁷ Why do you complain, Jacob?

   Why do you say, Israel,

“My way is hidden from the LORD;

   my cause is disregarded by my God”?

²⁸ Do you not know?

   Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,

   the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

   and his understanding no one can fathom.

²⁹ He gives strength to the weary

   and increases the power of the weak.

³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,

   and young men stumble and fall;

³¹ but those who hope in the LORD

   will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

   they will run and not grow weary,

   they will walk and not be faint.

Song and Scripture

Hungry - Falling On My Knees

Psalm 107

 ¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; 
   his love endures forever. 
² Let the redeemed of the LORD say this— 
   those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, 
³ those he gathered from the lands, 
   from east and west, from north and south.^[a]

 ⁴ Some wandered in desert wastelands,
   finding no way to a city where they could settle.
⁵ They were hungry and thirsty,
   and their lives ebbed away.
⁶ Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
   and he delivered them from their distress.
⁷ He led them by a straight way
   to a city where they could settle.
⁸ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
   and his wonderful deeds for men,
⁹ for he satisfies the thirsty
   and fills the hungry with good things.

 ¹⁰ Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom,
   prisoners suffering in iron chains,
¹¹ for they had rebelled against the words of God
   and despised the counsel of the Most High.
¹² So he subjected them to bitter labor;
   they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
¹³ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
   and he saved them from their distress.
¹⁴ He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom
   and broke away their chains.
¹⁵ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
   and his wonderful deeds for men,
¹⁶ for he breaks down gates of bronze
   and cuts through bars of iron.

Song and Scripture

This Is The Stuff - Francesca Battistelli

Luke 12:

Do Not Worry

 ²² Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! ²⁵Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life^[b]? ²⁶ Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?   ²⁷ “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ²⁸ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. ³⁰ For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
   ³² “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.³³ Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Song and Scripture

Psalm 121
A song of ascents.

 ¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
   where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.

 ³ He will not let your foot slip—
   he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep.

 ⁵ The LORD watches over you—
   the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
   nor the moon by night.

 ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
   he will watch over your life;
⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
   both now and forevermore.

Song and Scripture

Hebrews 10:1-25

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

 ¹ The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. ² Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. ³ But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. ⁴ It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

 ⁵ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

   “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
   but a body you prepared for me;
⁶ with burnt offerings and sin offerings
   you were not pleased.
⁷ Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
   I have come to do your will, my God.’”^[a]

 ⁸ First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. ⁹ Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 ¹¹ Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. ¹⁴ For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

 ¹⁵ The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

 ¹⁶ “This is the covenant I will make with them
   after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
   and I will write them on their minds.”^[b]

 ¹⁷ Then he adds:

   “Their sins and lawless acts
   I will remember no more.”^[c]

 ¹⁸ And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

A Call to Persevere in Faith

 ¹⁹ Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Song and Scripture

Psalm 19^[a]

 ¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
   night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
   no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice^[b] goes out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
 ⁵ It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
   like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens
   and makes its circuit to the other;
   nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Revelation 21

A New Heaven and a New Earth

 ¹ Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”^[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’^[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Song and Scripture

Romans 3: 

 ¹⁰As it is written:

   “There is no one righteous, not even one;
 ¹¹ there is no one who understands;
   there is no one who seeks God.
¹² All have turned away,
   they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
   not even one.”
¹³ “Their throats are open graves;
   their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
 ¹⁴ “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
 ¹⁶ ruin and misery mark their ways,
¹⁷ and the way of peace they do not know.”
 ¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

 ¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Righteousness Through Faith

 ²¹ But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Song and Scripture

Jeremiah 29:
 ¹ This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ² (This was after King Jehoiachin^[a] and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) ³ He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:

 ⁴ This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” ⁸ Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. ⁹ They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the LORD.

 ¹⁰ This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.^[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Song and Scripture

Starry Night by Chris August

Psalm: 148
 ¹ Praise the LORD.

   Praise the LORD from the heavens;
   praise him in the heights above.
² Praise him, all his angels;
   praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
³ Praise him, sun and moon;
   praise him, all you shining stars.
⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens
   and you waters above the skies.

 ⁵ Let them praise the name of the LORD,
   for at his command they were created,
⁶ and he established them for ever and ever—
   he issued a decree that will never pass away.

 ⁷ Praise the LORD from the earth,
   you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
⁸ lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
   stormy winds that do his bidding,
⁹ you mountains and all hills,
   fruit trees and all cedars,
¹⁰ wild animals and all cattle,
   small creatures and flying birds,
¹¹ kings of the earth and all nations,
   you princes and all rulers on earth,
¹² young men and women,
   old men and children.

 ¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD,
   for his name alone is exalted;
   his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
¹⁴ And he has raised up for his people a horn,
   the praise of all his faithful servants,
   of Israel, the people close to his heart.

   Praise the LORD.

Song and Scripture

Lead Me by Sanctus Real

Ephesians 5:

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing^[b] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^[c] 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³ However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Isaiah 35:

³ Strengthen the feeble hands,
   steady the knees that give way;
⁴ say to those with fearful hearts,
   “Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
   he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
   he will come to save you.”

Song and Scripture

Several very simple posts scheduled for Tuesdays this year.  Plan to post a link to a song, and some scripture that go with the song.  If the song or scripture inspires you, or brings any thoughts, praises, or prayer requests to mind, feel free to comment below and share your thoughts.  If not, thats fine too.

Can't Get Away by Rush of Fools

Psalm 139:
⁷  Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence? 
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
   and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
   the night will shine like the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.
 ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.