disciple, husband, father, college minister
Interesting way to think about it.
Does new information slow down your life?
From William Reville, here is a speculation: Finally, here is a “guaranteed” way to lengthen your life. Childhood holidays seem to last forever, but as you grow older time seems to accelerate. “Time” …
It is difficult to overstate my pessimism about the trajectory of China’s economy.… I hope I am wrong but I deeply fear another big blow to the global financial system. Google for “Chinese Ghost Cities” to have your socks scared off.
To the point (Austro-Chinese business cycle theory)
“There is persuasive evidence to conclude that the Chinese economy is actually growing at just 4 or 5 per cent right now based on a composite of other indicators,” says Patrick Chovanec, a business pr…
Very interesting — and contrary to what you normally hear. Be sure to read the pieces linked to in the addendum.
It is undeniably the case that racist Americans are almost entirely in one political coalition and not the other. Chris Hayes, Up w/ Chris Hayes, August 18, 2012. Here is data asking whites the quest…
I love the idea of a dinner for the top taxpayers. That’s brilliant. If donations buy access, then why not taxes?
…I find it remarkable that I have yet to receive a thank you note for paying my taxes. When I fill out my taxes, I notice that even receipts for $25 donations have thank you notes attached. But for t…
The mouseover text on this XKCD is fabulous.
< Prev · Random; Next >; >|. Permanent link to this comic: http://xkcd.com/1098/ Image URL (for hotlinking/embedding): http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/star_ratings.png. Selected Comics. Search co…
When I tell students that there are objective and practical benefits to faith they seem surprised. But that’s the nature of truth — when you make choices based upon reality, those choices tend to work out better.
What can we all learn from religion — whether we believe or not? — Barking up the wrong tree
Barking up the wrong tree. I want to understand why we do what we do and use the answers to be awesome at life. About. Eric Barker; First visit? Start here. Bakadesuyo.com is proud to be listed on blo…
As I was standing in line for security screening at a flight, I began to think about how ridiculous so much of airport security is.
I decided that if I were rich and bored it would be fun to buy thousands of nail clippers and stuff them into my suitcase. I suppose it would look like solid metal when the machine scanned it, and so a physical inspection would be required.
I imagine the TSA agents unzipping the suitcase and gazing upon countless nail clippers. At first they would be puzzled. Then, slowly, comprehension would dawn. I would wait one heartbeat after that moment of awareness, then yell to the passengers behind me, “Operation nail clippers is a no go. Repeat, no go. Run for it!”
And then as I rush off into the distance, I would cackle back over my shoulder, “This isn’t over. We’ll be back. Next time we’re bringing bottles of water! Your planes will never survive against our schemes! Bwahahahah!”
And then I would use my rich person magic to make the charges against me go away.
That’s what I would do if I was rich and bored. As things stand, I was bored but not rich, so I left my nail clippers at home and disposed of my deadly beverage and all you get is this meditation upon the security farce we endure when we fly.
Candy is a good thing. Candy is joy given caloric expression. Candy is, to twist an old saying, proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
I do not think my wife believes this in her heart. She is a mom, and there is a lot of pressure on moms to believe that candy is bad. In the land of moms, candy is a controlled substance. One, incidentally, for which medical prescriptions are not forthcoming.
And so as we were going to bed on Halloween I told her, “There’s something important we need to establish before we go to sleep tonight. The presence of leftover candy in our house is not a problem to be solved, it is a joy to be celebrated. We don’t have to give it away, throw it away, or find some creative use for it. Eating it will be sufficient.”
I felt like a Mormon knocking on Richard Dawkins’ door, but sometimes a dad has to step up. Edible joy is a rare thing and worth defending.
A while ago I went off on the Supreme Court’s horrendous decision in CLS vs Martinez.
This morning’s news reveals the logical outworking of that silly ruling: Vanderbilt, apparently following the same train of thought, has put several Christian groups on probation for violating the university’s non-discrimination policy.
Among the groups threatened with shut down is the Christian Legal Society. It ran afoul with this language from its constitution. “Each officer is expected to lead Bible studies, prayer and worship at chapter meetings.” CLS President Justin Gunter told me, “We come together to do things that Christians do together. Pray, and have Bible studies.” To that, Rev. Gretchen Person – interim director of the Office of Religious Life at Vanderbilt – responded “Vanderbilt policies do not allow this expectation/qualification for officers.” (source)
Seriously, Vanderbilt? A Christian group cannot require that its leaders lead Christian activities? One wonders what, precisely, Vanderbilt envisions the leaders of Christian groups doing.
Technically, NCAA is an initialism rather than an acronym — but you know what I mean.
I have long been irked at the way the college sports complex abuses students, but I was absolutely floored by some of the details Taylor Branch shared in “The Shame of College Sports” (published in The Atlantic).
Two snippets to whet your appetite:
“Why,” asked Bryce Jordan, the president emeritus of Penn State, “should a university be an advertising medium for your industry?”
Vaccaro did not blink. “They shouldn’t, sir,” he replied. “You sold your souls, and you’re going to continue selling them. You can be very moral and righteous in asking me that question, sir,” Vaccaro added with irrepressible good cheer, “but there’s not one of you in this room that’s going to turn down any of our money. You’re going to take it. I can only offer it.”
And later:
But after an inquiry that took me into locker rooms and ivory towers across the country, I have come to believe that sentiment blinds us to what’s before our eyes. Big-time college sports are fully commercialized. Billions of dollars flow through them each year. The NCAA makes money, and enables universities and corporations to make money, from the unpaid labor of young athletes.
Slavery analogies should be used carefully. College athletes are not slaves. Yet to survey the scene—corporations and universities enriching themselves on the backs of uncompensated young men, whose status as “student-athletes” deprives them of the right to due process guaranteed by the Constitution—is to catch an unmistakable whiff of the plantation. Perhaps a more apt metaphor is colonialism: college sports, as overseen by the NCAA, is a system imposed by well-meaning paternalists and rationalized with hoary sentiments about caring for the well-being of the colonized. But it is, nonetheless, unjust. The NCAA, in its zealous defense of bogus principles, sometimes destroys the dreams of innocent young athletes.
The whole thing is worth reading, so zip over to The Atlantic and read “The Shame of College Sports” now.