Kansas City-based artist Dylan Mortimer combined a telephone booth and a prayer station into an art piece titled Public Prayer Booth. If you ever came across one, you can pull down the kneeler and pray on the spot. See the pics here.
“Like most [American League Tampa Bay] Rays’ fans who have suffered through a decade of folly at Tropicana Field, [Baseball Chapel director Gio Llerena] has been riveted by the Rays’ about-face. And, while sports talk pundits scrutinize the reasons for the Rays’ success, Gio has a unique take on it. “They took the ‘Devil’ out of the name!” (Read the Fellowship of Christian Athletes story.)
“It seems the ability we're so fond of calling talent or even genius arises not from innate gifts but from an interplay of fair (but not extraordinary) natural ability, quality instruction, and a mountain of work.” David Dobbs in New Scientist (HT: 33 Things)
. . . and Malcolm Gladwell wants you to know that some of the greatest geniuses accomplished their best work in the second half of life.
“Chosen for a random NCAA drug test after one game, [Mike Flynt] quips he might test positive for Geritol.” From a review of the new book, The Senior, about Mike Flynt’s return to complete his final unfinished year on the football team at Sul Ross University in Alpine, Texas—at 59 years old. As the blurb on the back of the book puts it: “It’s Never Too Late to Tackle Your Dreams.” (story)
“Professionals call it elderspeak, the sweetly belittling form of address that has always rankled older people: the doctor who talks to their child rather than to them about their health; the store clerk who assumes that an older person does not know how to work a computer, or needs to be addressed slowly or in a loud voice. Then there are those who address any elderly person as ‘dear.’ . . . Now studies are finding that the insults can have health consequences, especially if people mutely accept the attitudes behind them” (NYT article).
“The idea of ‘not dignifying a rumor with a response’ reflects a deep misunderstanding of what rumors are, how they are fueled, and what purposes they serve in society.” The author of this Boston Globe story acknowledges the Bible’s warning that ‘A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor but a man of understanding holds his tongue,’ but suggests that modern research has found that rumors are a helpful way to sift for the truth. H-m-m.
5 Expenses To Cut Right Now If You're In Debt
“As the financial crisis takes down some of the richest houses on Wall Street, the effects will ripple out to the charities that rely on them and serve the poorest in America's big cities and the rest of the world. . . . Ultimately, though, Americans will need to depend on the generosity of Americans. And the hopeful surprise is that in past recessions, donations to human services, like hunger, fell the least; in some downturns, they even rose. . . . We'll need a bull market in goodness.” (Time article)
“‘First-time guests, they don't come with mercy, they come with judgment. They're looking for a reason to leave.’” (from the president of a consulting company that hires out “secret shoppers” to visit churches and report first impressions. The WSJ article here. HT: Eileen Flynn’s “Of Sacred and Secular”)
In India, a mutant breed of catfish is said to have developed a taste for human flesh after feeding on corpses thrown into the river after funeral ceremonies. Locals think it has moved on from scavenging to targeting live bathers who swim in the Great Kali, which flows along the India-Nepal border. (From London’s Telegraph)
We can have a lively debate about Governor Palin’s readiness to be President, or even Vice-President. But she’s right and clear and consistent on one of the most important subjects of our day. Everyone should read her speech on how her prolife convictions contrast with Senator Obama’s record on abortion.
In case you missed yesterday’s post, here’s a link to “Three Things that Prolife Obama Supporters Must Do.”
Ouch. “Over the past few decades, the Republican Party has driven away people who live in cities, in highly educated regions and on the coasts. . . . What had been a disdain for liberal intellectuals slipped into a disdain for the educated class as a whole. . . . And so, politically, the G.O.P. is squeezed at both ends. The party is losing the working class by sins of omission — because it has not developed policies to address economic anxiety. It has lost the educated class by sins of commission — by telling members of that class to go away.” (David Brooks)
"There's an old saying that a man who no longer believes in God is ready to believe in just about anything, and it turns out our data suggests it's true." —Dr. Rodney Stark, researcher and author of the Baylor Religion Survey, which points out that self-identified theological liberals and the irreligious are far more likely than Christians to believe in Bigfoot, UFOs, haunted houses, communicating with the dead and astrology [baylor.edu, 9/18/08] Now that’s Religulous!
Photos of tiny animals in people’s hands.
Heresy! “In 1984, the Soviets of Red Dawn represented, well, the Soviets, and the Wolverines represented both the Americans and also the plucky Afghan mujahideen then defeating the Red Army in a guerilla war. But on re-viewing, Red Dawn isn't a stark reminder of Cold War fears. Rather, it's a pretty good movie about Iraq, with the United States in the role of the Soviets and the insurgents in the role of the Wolverines” (David Plotz in Slate). Gasp! I can hear director John Milius shouting, “Avenge me, boys! Avenge me!”
No comments:
Post a Comment