The First Things fund raiser to help pay for the technical support it provides gratis to the several FT blogs, continues. It is seeking to raise funds in a way that offers real value for the buck. If you go to this link, you can subscribe to First Things magazine for only $19.95 a . . . . Continue Reading »
The Italian press is reporting that Cardinal Pell will be leaving Australia and heading to Rome to become prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. When the official announcement comes, it will mark a loss for Australia and a gain for Romesay I, who probably shouldn’t, since I am an . . . . Continue Reading »
The American Board of Anesthesiologists has determined that any member who participates in a legal execution faces expulsion. From the official notice:The majority of states in the United States authorize capital punishment, and nearly all states utilize lethal injection as the means of execution. . . . . Continue Reading »
Writing about morality is dangerous because you might reveal that you don’t have a very good grasp of the subject. In Ethics for Extraterrestrials , Robert Wright asks what the morality of aliens might be like and answers the question by imagining man meeting another being in space. He thinks . . . . Continue Reading »
Los Angeles is in the process of closing more than 400 “medical” marijuana stores in an attempt to stop the chaos of open marijuana sales. Good. From the story:Los Angeles city prosecutors began notifying 439 medical marijuana dispensaries Tuesday that they must shut down by . . . . Continue Reading »
Almost every American who owned a television from the late 1960s to the early 1980s has watched an episode of Gilligans Island . And if you were a child during that erain a time before cable and console video gamesyou probably watched all 98 episodes more than once. It shames me . . . . Continue Reading »
There are moments when I think Terry Pratchett is the funniest writer alive. Funny, that is, the clever sense of funny. It is very important to be sober when you take an exam. Many worthwhile careers in the street-cleansing, fruit-picking and subway-guitar-playing industries have been founded on a . . . . Continue Reading »
According to a study released by researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark, the brains executive networkthe portion of our neural circuitry devoted to complex problem solving and truth seekingis less active during certain modes of religious experience, especially those . . . . Continue Reading »
An important note from Richard Grenell , the former long-time spokesman for U.S. ambassadors at the United Nations: U.S. mission staff have confirmed that [United States ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice] wasnt at the U.N. and therefore wasnt able to so much as drop by the . . . . Continue Reading »
Rev. Kevin DeYoung on the glory of plodding : What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. Thats my dream for the church a multitude of faithful, risktaking plodders. The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of . . . . Continue Reading »