Changing West Point in the name of football

February 25, 2014 by 2 Comments

West Point has very high standards.  It’s hard to get into.  Cadets have to be outstanding not just in academics but in leadership and other personal qualities.  This is because West Point is not just a good college.  It’s where our elite army officers are formed.

But it doesn’t have a good football team!  And it’s lost to Navy for the past 12 years!  How can that be?  Something must be done!

So some school officials, alumni, and army brass are proposing that West Point change its admissions standards so that the athletic program can recruit really good football players. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Football Tagged With: , 2 Comments

The myth of ‘settled science’

February 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Charles Krauthhammer says there is no such thing as “settled science”:

“The debate is settled,” asserted propagandist in chief Barack Obama in his latest State of the Union address. “Climate change is a fact.” Really? There is nothing more anti-scientific than the very idea that science is settled, static, impervious to challenge. [Read more…]

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“Scare the living daylights out of nonbelievers”

February 24, 2014 by 2 Comments

Final:  The Rapture is another end times movie.  It’s billed as a “Christian horror movie.”  The purpose, according to filmmaker Tim Chey, is to “win people to Christ” by scaring “the living daylights out of nonbelievers.”

After the jump, I excerpt a story about the movie with various quotations that I put in bold.   I know that the Law terrifies, as it drives us to the Gospel.  But that doesn’t mean that anything that terrifies is the Law.  Does there seem to be either Law or Gospel in this particular evangelism project?

And what do you make of all of this interest in this particular interpretation of the End Times?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Christ, Movies, Theology Tagged With: , , 2 Comments

The Lego Movie

February 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

From the other extreme of Final:  The Rapture, I found myself watching The Lego Movie last weekend.  I know.  It’s a toy movie.  It sounds like you need to see it with a 7-year old.  But it is a very funny, creative, intriguing movie.  Its theme is, basically, the two different ways of playing with Legos.

After the jump, some over-the-top praise by movie critic Christy Lemire, plus the trailer. [Read more…]

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Split California into six states?

February 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

A measure that proposes to split California into six states–since the one has so much diversity that it is “ungovernable”–is actually making headway, with officials giving permission to start getting signatures on a petition to put it to a vote.  They only need just over 800,000 signatures.  I’d think they could get that in California.  The six states would be Silicon Valley, South California, West California, Central California, North California, and Jefferson (in the northernmost part of the state).

I’m curious about the constitutional ramifications of this project.  Can states just split apart like that, and if they do, would the U.S. Congress have to accept them into the union?   I guess secession is pretty much out of the question, thanks to the Civil War.  But if California were to split into six states, this would give the region 12 senators, probably from 8 to 10 of whom would be Democrats.  If this happens, Republicans might need to talk Texas into a similar division.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Government, Law Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment

Downton Abbey

February 21, 2014 by 2 Comments

Yes, I’m a Downton Abbey fan.  Of course I am.  I also liked Upstairs Downstairs, which pioneered the British period piece about early 20th century aristocrats and their servants.  This season’s finale of Downton is this week.  (Why do British series have such short seasons?  Another of my favorites, Sherlock, had just three episodes!) [Read more…]

Filed Under: Art, television Tagged With: 2 Comments