G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.

And now for something completely different...

HT: TC

9-11 remembered

HT: JS

Miscellany...

To all of you who enjoy occasional rants about the inconsistencies of the English language, I offer this.  Hopefully, Gentle Reader, it will aid you in getting it "out of your system".

To all of you who tire of the edu-speak concerning self-esteem, I offer this. A little dose of Theodore Dalrymple should help.

And while we're talking about interesting ideas, how about this by Anthony Esolen?  Good food for thought.

If guys were like girls....

Thanks to ED for posting this. It made me laugh out loud.

Some Friday silliness...

HT: KY Sharon. Thanks!

The end of publishing...

Thanks, Elsa, for pointing out this clever ad!

Midweek Miscellany

With a photo of pruning a mesquite tree, how about if I prune away a few finds I have been saving for you, Gentle Reader?

Poem of the day: from my friend KL, a beauty by Christina Rosetti

Cartoon of the Day: Took this to my composition class to share today. I will pull it out when I am in my grammar-Nazi mood.

Chocolate of the Day (or month): My friend Renee is doing a whole month of chocolate recipes. Check them out! And last month, she did a month of house-cleaning challenges, each one to take no more than 5 minutes. They were fun: so check out her January posts as well.

Frightening Cultural Trend of the Day: Check out this story from Dr. Veith.

Economics Visual of the Day: Here's a picture of how the US's debt stacks up.

Movie Moment of the Day: I haven't seen Avatar, and am not all that interested in seeing it, but this made me laugh.

Economics Rap

Special Thanks to my friend AR, who is a genius at finding fascinating things on the web...

The most aggressively inarticulate generation...

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

With thanks to Taylor Mali, Cindy and Joe Carter.

Midweek Miscellany

I read a very convicting article today, written by a young Chritian woman who has had four abortions. Her thoughts and reflections are moving. The fact that she needs to speak to the place where there is the most silence, and she idetifies that as the church, is more than heart-breaking! (Thanks to TB) I found A. Kern's short words on climategate interesting and logical, and this article from the NY Times a cross between horrifying and ridiculous. (Al Mohler has a helpful take on this issue here.) I found these salient points about modesty from Time, of all places, helpful. And while we're looking at culture, did you read these powerful reflections from Anthony Esolen?

Manhattan Declaration Hubbub

Have you read the Manhattan Declaration, Gentle Readers? There is a lot of hubbub about it on Evnagelical blogs. If you haven't read it, you can access it here. It's not very long, and I encourage you to read it.

The Declaration is being hailed by the likes of Charles Colson. There are many signatories on there that I respect. As Ligon Duncan has said, in signing with Catholic and Anglican priests, the signatories see themselves standing as co-beligerants against a rising attack on the dignity of human life. But, as R. C. Sproul has said, the document seems to miss the main point of the transformative power of the gospel, and casts a very wide net in its definition of Christianity.

There has been some thought-provoking discussion of the whole topic at Pyromaniacs. I am not sure what I believe. But good discussion is happening, I think. May God use it, and all things, for His glory.

Monday Miscellany

We enjoyed a lovely holiday in Tucson at Tim and Nikki's, including a trip to San Xavier mission. It is quite lovely, and very elaborate for a very old mission church. I'll post more about my trip here.

My bookmarks are just full of items deserving attention. I don't have time to do them all justice, but here are few things that strike me...

On the global non-warming front, everyone has by now heard about the questionable practices among the global warming gurus. I think this is all going down soon, and when it does, the Nobel committee is going to look ridiculous for giving Al his peace prize over it...

On the "New Atheist" front,I found this article from Christopher Hitchens fascinating. I'm sure the debate between him and Pastor Doug Wilson was also fascinating. Has anyone seen it? And the silliness over Richard Dawkins' latest ad is humorous.

On the absurd policy front, I thought James Kuchiner's comments were excellent here.

On the bizarre front, did you read about the giant jellyfish?

And on the beauty front, how about these stunning photographs of lovely libraries?

And so, Gentle Readers, onward we fly to the end of the year and beyond...

The problem of popular democracy

"The popular idea of democracy is animated by a very strong resentment of superiority. It resents the thought of an elite; the thought that there are practical ranges of intellectual and spiritual experience, acheivement and enjoyment, which by nature are open to some and not to all. It deprecates and disallows this thought, and discourages it by every available means. As the popular idea of democracy postulates that there shall be nothing worth enjoying for anybody to enjoy that everybody may not enjoy; a contrary view is at once exposed to all the evils of a dogged, unintelligent, invincibly suspicious resentment."
~Albert Jay Nock, as quoted by T. L. Simmons in Climbing Parnassus, p.153

Midweek Miscellany

On the global warming front: Watch where the money is, always with any issue. And in the new industries surrounding all things "green", there is a familiar face...

On the Obama administration front: As a nation we have officially made some murders more worthy of punishment than others. I wonder how my friends whose young daughter was murdered feel about knowing that the man who committed the crime would receive a less severe sentence because it wasn't a gender-issue related crime. This is absurd. Here and here are some excellent commentary on the Hate Crimes bill.

On the family front: Divorce continues to ravage the basic institution of the family. Marriage, as an institution, is ill. And abortion is disproportionally wiping out the black population of our country. (And there is a money trail worth following...)These are things for which we must repent as a society. I can't help but think God is already judging us for such crimes.

On the just plain weird front: But we could be in the UK, where parents can no longer supervise their children on the playground... or we could be in Carl Jung's mind. What a frightening place that had to have been! Does anybody really know what this guy actually believed? It is akin to to the big-name atheists like Dawkins choosing to believe in aliens as the source of life because they hate the God option. And if you think at least your child's geography classroom is safe from the nihilistic mindset of the culture, think again.

Monday Miscellany

Reflections on family: I ran across some interesting family-related items this week. Married to the State is an interesting chronicle of the changes from the state protecting marriage to usurping power over marriage. Micah Watson reports on an interesting piece by Maggie Gallagher about a new marriage index. And the New Yorker discusses the changes in childrens' books, and how it reflects change in the family.

Best title of the week: this goes to Anthony Esolen's blog post at Touchstone Magazine's blog entitled Inhaling and Ingesting Microscopic Chinese Communists. Interesting thoughts, too!

Best photos of the week: Check out these amazing images from the world of medicine.

Nifty product of the week: I'm actually split between two products here. Either it is the Postmodern Apology form, or it's the Grammar Nerd Corrective Label Pack. I really want one of these. I only wish they had included the than/then difference...

Health Care DMV style

Thanks to my friend Ann and the folks at NCRegister.com

Midweek Miscellany

Trying to come up for air after 10 wonderful days away in the natural beauty of SW Utah and N Arizona, but here are a few interesting tidbits...

A strange take on our culture of death can be found here.

Some unprecedented thoughts coming from our president via Al Mohler, and some related ideas about women in the military.

Some ideas about words from Andrew Kern on literature, and sort of the antithesis of this: a library without books. And a few thoughts on the kindle reader: not sure I'm sold on it yet. I know I'm a Luddite, but I love books: their feel and smell and look and weight! It's hard to imagine not having books-- real books.

Some interesting words on economics from the Intercollegiate Review.

Some explanatory words about these beautiful pictures of clouds.

Mid-week miscellany

That is what I call my miscellanious post when I miss posting it on Mondays...getting ready for a trip is playing havoc with my schedule here!

~Fun Photos: Check out the storm photos or the award-winners at one of these sites for inspiration.

~Economic Echoes: If the US had a credit score, what would it look like? See here.

~Climate Change Chaos: This is an interesting take on things...

~Dealing with Death: I ran across a couple interesting meditations on death/dying this week. One is about the recent death of Unitarian minister Forrest Church. The other is photos of tombstones in an Anglican graveyard in Nassau.

~And in the avoidance of death category: How about this reminder of good sanitary precautions during flu season?

~And finally, in the weird video of the week category: Check out the video here. I am at a loss for words...really...

Monday Miscellany

*Economics Item of the week: How about this WSJ article about the lack of effect from the stimulus? So much for having a good reason to ransom future generations.

*Life-issue items of the week: On death before birth, see Al Mohler. On death at the end of life, see this Newsweek article. And for some excellent analysis of the messy side of the sexual revolution, read D'Souza here.

*Healthcare item of the week: Read Andrew's thoughtful post over at the Quiddity blog.

*Silly items of the week: My favorites this week both revolve around popular (and wealthy) novelist Dan Brown. Take your pick here: either you can peruse the 20 all-time worst sentences in Brown's fiction, or you can play around with the Dan Brown plot generator.