More on Christianity in America (with bonus updates)

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 11:23 pm By Jane the Actuary

(originally written 1/4) Funny how your mind wanders during church . . . Our new assistant pastor is Indian. No, not “of Indian ancestry” and not “Indian-American” (which, you’ll recall, I think should only be applied to someone who does have dual nationalities rather than American nationals with Indian ancestry or national origin). No, he’s Indian-Indian, meaning that he’s here on something more like an expat assignment/sabbatical. Anyway, one way in which he brings his culture along with him, apparently,... Read more

Parking a link: on educational-attainment inequality between the rich and middle-class

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 11:24 pm By Jane the Actuary

From the NYT, courtesy a facebook-friend share, “No Rich Child Left Behind.” If scientists discovered a magic pill which, when given to toddlers, inceased their future IQ by 10 points, should every family have a “right” to this pill? What if it cost so much only the wealthy could afford it? Would the government have the obligation to provide it to everyone, cost be damned, for fairness’s sake? This article claims that the “rich” (the top 10th percentile) have discovered... Read more

Parking a link: the empty churches of Europe

Last updated on: October 13, 2016 at 7:53 am By Jane the Actuary

Here’s a WSJ article about Europe’s empty churches, and the efforts to repurpose them, and the fact that even non-churchgoers feel a loss when the village church is gone. What to do? I linked the other day to an article on Catholics in Chicago, and the declining membership, especially if you strip out the newcomers. What to do? No big solutions, though I have to say that the new archbishop really ought to be pragmatic and make some efforts to... Read more

New terminology for a new year: “Late Adulthood”

Last updated on: August 16, 2016 at 9:50 am By Jane the Actuary

So, look, I’m reinventing the wheel, and maybe even suggesting utter nonsense in light of literature on the subject that I haven’t read, both by lack of time and lack of access to the genuinely scholarly stuff that doesn’t show up on the library New Book shelf. But here goes: One of my pet peeves is the fact that we are continually coming up with new euphemisms for individuals who have reached the later stages of their lives: when “elderly”... Read more

stray thought: why is the price of gas so low?

Last updated on: January 2, 2015 at 7:47 pm By Jane the Actuary

Just a quick comment: Lots of reports that Saudi Arabia is choosing not to cut production, in order to squeeze its rivals with higher production costs. I don’t buy this. I think the answer is much simpler. There are too many producers out there, who aren’t a part of OPEC, who wouldn’t get with the program and cut their own production, for the Saudis to be able to raise the price of oil merely by cutting their own production or... Read more

Money well spent!

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 11:25 pm By Jane the Actuary

Lego Education set 9686, Simple and Motorized Mechanisms, is a huge hit around here. If you’re too cheap to buy the Mindstorms or don’t think the kids would get enough mileage out of it, this is the way to go! //www.youtube.com/get_player Read more

Feed the North Koreans, because their government pinky-swore to be honest

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 11:25 pm By Jane the Actuary

That’s the gist of a Jimmy Carter op-ed piece, apparently originally published in the Washington Post a week ago, and republished in the Chicago Tribune yesterday. It is, of course, good for laughs. He makes the quite reasonable point that top officials generally do not suffer from economic sanctions, but then gives us two contradictory reasons why they should be abandoned: In Cuba, the government, he tells us, the government craftily tells its people that their economic suffering is due... Read more

The “health of women in academia”

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 11:26 pm By Jane the Actuary

This is something I originally put on twitter as an image, nothing else: a questionnaire that purports to be a serious, scholarly study of the health of women in academia. And I had originally put this as an image because I didn’t want people to take advantage of having that link to mess with the survey, since, after all, I came across this because a facebook-friend who’s an English professor (Old English) shared it on facebook. But then I clicked... Read more

Happy New Year! What are your resolutions?

Last updated on: January 1, 2015 at 11:00 am By Jane the Actuary

Or do you eschew making resolutions? I do think it’s useful to have some external marker to motivate you to set goals, but I also have longstanding goals that are independent of the January 1st marker: Lose that 11 pounds of telecommuting weight gain.. Yeah, last spring I was down to “lose 5 pounds” but then over the summer and fall gained back what I had lost, plus an extra pound. Lesson learned: I have to exercise more consistently, eat... Read more

Parking a link: a suicide report on CNN

Last updated on: February 24, 2015 at 11:26 pm By Jane the Actuary

Here’s a report from CNN today: “A transgender teen’s suicide, a mother’s anguish.” The story: a 17-year-old teenager commits suicide, and posts a suicide note blaming his parents for lack of support. Now, the first thing you’ll notice is that CNN has wholly adopted the approach that, if you announce you’re transgender, and provide a new name, their stylebook dictates that this becomes, for reporting purposes, your new name, as they use this new name in their reporting and even... Read more