Bible
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Thursday, August 26th, 2010On a recent Faith & Reason blog, USA Today’s Cathy Lynn Grossman poses the question “Who, exactly, is a ‘Christian’? Obama? You?”
Grossman doesn’t offer any direct definition of a Christian, although she quotes Franklin Graham’s description of a salvation decision. She is more interested in people’s self-identification with the term Christian and their reluctance to apply […]
Ray of Hope
Monday, August 2nd, 2010In the 1970s, I picked up a paperback collection of Ray Bradbury’s short stories. I was immediately transported. Bradbury is the kind of writer who can offer up poetry disguised as prose. I lost that first collection, but I still have my high school copy of Fahrenheit 451 and a half-dozen or so other Bradbury […]
Diaries
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010In some regards, this blog has become a substitute journal for the one I sporadically keep at home. I don’t think I’ve managed a sentence there since early spring. When I peruse entries over the past few years, the annual input is shrinking dramatically.
Others have been much more successful at journaling. John Quincy Adams’ diary […]
Slurrr-mack!!
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010That’s the sound I imagine a giant palm salamander’s tongue makes when it impacts a juicy bug. Turns out, according to recent research, that this Central American critter’s tongue holds the record for most powerful muscular response—18,000 watts per kilogram of muscle. That translates to 24 horsepower per kilogram according to one online calculator!
The Book of […]
Slow Reading
Friday, July 9th, 2010Malcolm Jones, in his article “Slow Notion” in the July 12 issue of Newsweek, takes a look at a habit often discouraged in education circles: “Slow reading has always gotten a bad rap. Slow readers in school were the bad students. No one ever got a blue ribbon or a good grade for plodding. So […]
Lighting Candles
Friday, June 25th, 2010Most of us expect negative headlines in the news. “If it bleeds, it leads,” the saying goes, and that tends to hold true whether you’re reading the morning paper, following a breaking story online or watching the evening news.
But sometimes the headlines stack depressing realities so deep, even a jaded news consumer like me sits […]
Straws
Friday, June 4th, 2010You’ve heard the expression, “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” According to one online encyclopedia, some Bactrian camels can transport 1,000 pounds. Other sites list 300 to 400 pounds as a more reasonable long-distance burden for camels. Even that lighter load represents two average-to-large adults. A healthy camel should be able to carry that […]
Lost
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010After six years, Lost has wrapped, and millions of fans around the world must do without its groundbreaking blend of sci-fi, mystery, action, drama, philosophy and… yes… religion.
The deeply spiritual nature of the show caught my attention when Rose prayed with Charlie in the first season. In Season 2, there was Eko’s brother Yemi, a […]
Virus Alert
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010Earlier this week on my way to work, I heard a news item on NPR about a vaccine for the Ebola virus. The report was optimistic, explaining that the vaccine appeared to be effective even against a new strain of the disease.
That sounded good to me. I don’t think I’m at any great risk of […]
Home Turf Advantage
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010The other night I watched a pseudo documentary that tried to determine the victor if an Apache warrior ever met up with a Roman gladiator. Talk about random. The hour offered insights into Apache and Roman fighting tactics and the key weapons used by each combatant. When the collected data was fed through some computer […]
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