They may look like standard football helmets — but these skull shields are about as standard as Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Impala. The basic form is there, but everything else has changed. The aim is to cut the 300,000 concussions that players — from Pop Warner to NFL teams — suffer annually. Check out the story on these new helmets here.
Prominent evangelical leaders are warning Sen. John McCain against picking former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as his running mate, saying their troops will abandon the Republican ticket on Election Day if that happens.Yeah.. evangelicals boycotting the election.. I imagine this is sad news for the democrats.. and pro-choicers.
They say Mr. Romney lacks trust on issues such as outlawing abortion and opposing same-sex marriage and because he is a Mormon. Opposition is particularly powerful among those who supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the Republican presidential primaries earlier this year.
Unlike my parents who drank coffee "regular" - New Yorkers refer to coffee with milk and sugar as "regular".. I like coffee with a few sugars but no milk.
In this edition of Weird World Wednesday, I submit to you this Associated Press article:
I remember signing a contract, to play ball not to be put to sleep by some two bit carney hypnotist!I suggest that.. if the Royals really want to win.. they add pitching and hitting to the payroll instead of psychologists.
Technophobia is the fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices, especially computers. This Forbes article reveals that: 
I got another viral email message today.. this one purported that Obama snubbed troops in Afghanistan. I checked it out at Snopes.com and found it to be false.. these messages often are just propaganda from one point of view. Here is the Wiki on Snopes: Snopes (pronounced /ˈsnoʊps/), also known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is a website that is the most widely-known resource for validating or debunking urban legends, Internet rumors, email forwards, and other such stories of uncertain or questionable origin in popular American culture.Do you ever check stuff out at Snopes or do you use another site like
Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) was a late Medieval Catholic monk and author of The Imitation of Christ, one of the best known Christian books on devotion. Following are a few insightful things that he said:When I was three years old my father abandoned my mother and I. He put a gun to his head, pulled the trigger and blew out part of his brains, but he did not kill himself. And for the next 26 years he was a walking vegetable in a mental hospital. A man with a college degree, a Master’s degree from Northwestern University could put food in his mouth but not remember to chew. He could walk but he could not talk. He could put his pants on but not remember where or when to go to the bathroom.Even reading this chokes me up. Rob's story is such a moving and uplifting one of redemption.. check out the 10 minute video interview and/or read the rest of his Hour of Power interview.
My mother had enormous emotional and psychological problems that she had masked prior to their marriage, but as always in marriage those masks come down. And three months after my fathers failed suicide attempt she dragged me from Chicago to Little Princeton, Illinois, and it was a strange building and I’m whimpering and she’s telling me to shut up and commands me to sit in a corner and play blocks with a strange boy. And I reach for a block and he steals it, and I reach for a block and he steals it, and I turn to look to my mother for help and she’s abandoned me without a word of explanation.
And a strange woman whose name and face I don’t remember said she’s gone back to Chicago and she would come get you when she was well. And I still remember the three-year-old in slow motion clumsiness rising off the floor crying, no! And running to the nearest door and trying to reach the handle to escape and find my mother. And I was too short and I cannot reach the door. And this woman says, “Quit crying or I’ll spank you.” I was terrified and I couldn’t stop crying, and she picks me up and spanks me over and over and over again, until the pain of being spanked is worse than the pain of being abandoned. And my memories then go blank for a while.
Yeah, I voted with the 75%. I probably wouldn't have voted that way if she stayed with entertainment and away from spirituality.. of course I haven't watched her in years.. but knowledge.. or a lack of it.. never has stopped me from having an opinion. How would you have voted?
This picture moves me deeply.. it reminds me of what humanity can become when it loses it's God given humanity. Elie Wiesel is pictured in this photo taken in April 1945 at Buchenwald Concentration Camp five days after the liberation of the camp.
This Pangasianodon Gigas (giant catfish) found in the Mekong River Basin of Southeast Asia weighs in at 661.4 pounds and is almost 10 feet long. Now that is some fish story J
Not sure if you have caught the Moral Compass series on the Dibert Strip lately.. you can see it on the Dilbert widget here on my blog.. but it has been a funny lampoon of the unscrupulous nature of the coroporate executive environment.
..to host the Olympics..
My ankles were acting up yesterday so I took some time to sit in my easy chair and catch this epic (aka too long) movie. I generally liked the movie but wished that it had been editted down. One aspect of it that reminded me of our current election process was when Dodge City replaced the tough (i.e. brutal) Sheriff Earp with the less violent Ed Masterson. Ed's forte was reasoning with gunslingers and talking their guns away from them.. Wyatt's forte was using force and taking guns away. Ed was eventually murdered and Wyatt was brought back to sheriff Dodge.
I was about ten years old when I played my first game of chess. I love the game but have never been very good at it. My favorite piece is the knight.. I love how it moves so different than all of the other pieces. In remembrance of my chess game (or lack of it) I give you a few quotes that speak to the game and to life:
"The only evangelicals that he's going to win over are those who have never read the Bible," said Burress, who was one of a handful of conservative leaders who met with McCain on June 26 in Cincinnati.Hmmm.. not sure what to make of this kind of allegation. I guess that it is much of the same rhetoric that I once espoused in the name of orthodoxy.. but I am sure that Mr Burress has a lot of folks that agree with him.. after all.. we all know that only Republicans read the bible. J
Brother Lawrence (1614-1691) was a lay brother in a Carmelite monastery, who is today most commonly remembered for the closeness of his relationship to God as recorded in the classic Christian text, The Practice of the Presence of God. I thought that I would share a few of his quotes with you todau:TANSTAAFL is an acronym for the adage "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch," popularized by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein in his 1966 novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, which discusses the problems caused by not considering the eventual outcome of an unbalanced economy.With the state of our (American) economy these days I was wondering..
It demonstrates opportunity cost. Greg Mankiw described the concept as: "To get one thing that we like, we usually have to give up another thing that we like. Making decisions requires trading off one goal against another."
What trade offs do you think we Americans needs to make to secure a more economically sound future for our grandchildren?I'll start by saying that we need to find ways to operate better in this global economy. Foreign nations like China hold the mortgage on our national debt. Maybe we need to trade off cheap trinkets from China for American made ones.
"In politics out there, they always say, 'Well, now, I don't know anymore what he really stands for. He has just changed his mind...'" Schwarzenegger said.I tend to agree with Arnold and don't think that every policy change is a flip-flop or political maneuver .. of course some are :(
"Flip-flopper," said George.
"'...and he's flip-flopping' and all those kinds of things," the Republican governor continued. "Let me tell you something. Flip-flopping is getting a bad rap, because I think it is great. Someone has made a mistake. I mean, someone has, for 20 or 30 years, been in the wrong place with his idea and with his ideology and says, 'You know something? I changed my mind. I am now for this.' As long as he's honest or she's honest, I think that is a wonderful thing. You can change your mind...
"I have changed my mind on things and there is nothing wrong with it," Schwarzenegger continued. "But I'd just say to the people, I'd say, 'Look, I once felt this way. Now I think this way,' end of story."
Barack Obama's campaign lashed out Sunday at the editors of The New Yorker magazine for a cartoon cover that depicts the Democratic candidate and his wife as fist-bumping terrorists.Sadly the magazine did not provide any explanation of the picture.. in doing this they play into the politics of fear instead of exposing it. I found the image disturbing and agree that it is "tasteless and offensive".. I wish that the New Yorker magazine did not use it.
The magazine's editor described the cartoon, called "The Politics of Fear," as satire. The Obama campaign called it "tasteless and offensive."
The Illinois senator is depicted in traditional Muslim garb in the Barry Blitt illustration set in the Oval Office.
His wife, Michelle, is in fatigues, sporting an Angela Davis-style sky-high Afro, an AK-47 slung over her shoulder.
A portrait of terror kingpin Osama Bin Laden hangs above the fireplace, in which an American flag is set ablaze.
I encourage you to read the whole Christianity Today article.. it will give you a picture and a model of God's grace.Blessings arrive in unexpected packages—in my case, cancer.
Those of us with potentially fatal diseases—and there are millions in America today—find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God's will. Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence What It All Means, Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.
The first is that we shouldn't spend too much time trying to answer the why questions: Why me? Why must people suffer? Why can't someone else get sick? We can't answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer.
I don't know why I have cancer, and I don't much care. It is what it is—a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.
...
Finally, we can let love change everything. When Jesus was faced with the prospect of crucifixion, he grieved not for himself, but for us. He cried for Jerusalem before entering the holy city. From the Cross, he took on the cumulative burden of human sin and weakness, and begged for forgiveness on our behalf.
We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us—that we acquire purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God's love for others. Sickness gets us partway there.
Do you enjoy talking politics but have grown tired of the talking heads spewing rhetoric under the guise of news? I suggest that you give Morning Joe a try. Recently reviewed by the NY Times, Joe is the show that replaced Imus and airs weekdays at 6am eastern time on MSNBC - we DVR it and watch it over breakfast. It is a blend of politics, culture and most of all balanced civility - with a bit of laughter thrown in too boot. If you have seen it please let me know what you liked or disliked about it.
According to this video Doug Pelmear, a mechanic living in Napoleon Ohio, has tweaked his 1987 Mustang to get 110 miles per gallon.
Other federal areas in which couples in civil unions don't have the same rights as married couples include immigration (a partner who's a foreign national can't become an American by entering into a civil union with someone) and veterans' and military benefits (only opposite-sex spouses have a right to pensions, compensation for service-related deaths, medical care, housing and the right to burial in veterans’ cemeteries). Gay couples, however, may actually benefit when applying for programs such as Medicaid or government housing that require low-income eligibility. A spouse’s income is included in such applications, but a same-sex partner’s income is not. One change has been made in federal law: A provision in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 allows same-sex couples to transfer 401(k) and IRA earnings to partners without penalty.
So, I guess that the main difference between these two is very legal in nature and may not really mean much in the actual practice of living together as a couple.. with the exception of the perception of legitimacy. If a couple is legally recognized by the state (as civilly joined) then, from what I can see, the argument here is a legal one of federal proportions.
Tomorrow Serena (left) and Venus (right) Williams will meet for the fourth time in the Wimbledon women's final. They last played in the final at the All England Club in 2003, a three-set match in which Venus was forced to play through hip and abdominal injuries and eventually lost.
Larry Harmon (born Lawrence Weiss), the man who popularised Bozo the Clown, died yesterday of congestive heart failure. While not the original Bozo, Harmon was largely hailed for honing the clown's trademark look by adding the orange clumps of hair, the big red nose and that crazy red, white and blue costume. Extra credit if you provide another quote by any of these people.
I am fascinated by the universal appeal of head cheese but I think that my interest was really peaked by Wanda's post because head cheese was one of my dad's favorite delicasies.
Please let me know if you know anything else about this "cheese".. google it if you like.. and let me know if it is popular where you live.. and if you have ever tasted it you might want to post on it yourself :)
