On the first day when Sweden changed from driving on the left side (English style) to right side (everyone else).

Why can’t people spell it correctly? The word gospel: when it is one of the first four books of the New Testament, it is upper case: Gospel; when it is the message about Jesus, it is lower case: gospel. I see this mistake all the time. I have to wonder if editors and publishers even care.

Andy Holt thinks the World Vision incident revealed that we really do need a big tent evangelicalism:

Jesus had a big tent. The Samaritan woman had almost everything wrong about theology and the Scriptures, but there was room for her. Nicodemus had all the right answers, but was too afraid to openly follow Jesus until after the crucifixion. There was room for him. Martha was a Type A who knew what her place in life was, and there was room for her. Mary dared to sit at Jesus’ feet like one of the disciples – like one of the men – and there was room for her. James and John were audacious enough to ask to sit at Jesus’ right and left when he came in glory, and there was room for them. The lot didn’t fall to Barsabbas to replace Judas, but there was still room for him. There was room for Paul and Peter and Apollos and Junia and Priscilla and Timothy and Titus. There was room for the Roman centurion and for the confessing thief.

Jesus knew that throwing all of those people together, not to mention putting us into the mix as well, would create a volatile situation. They were all broken. They were all sinners. And the whole thing almost blew up because they had a hard time figuring out how to let Gentiles in. But by the grace of God it didn’t, and they all moved forward together.

Gotta love Tony Dungy:

As an All-American linebacker in college and a pro with the National Football League, Keith O’Neil was a champ at bringing down the other team’s players. He won a Super Bowl ring in his second season with the Indianapolis Colts, playing under celebrated coach Tony Dungy.
Blocking and tackling enormous athletes came naturally to him—but an opponent he couldn’t bring down lived inside his own mind. In fact, symptoms of his undiagnosed bipolar disorder kept him out of his first game with the team in September 2005.
“I was very excited to play for Coach Dungy and be part of such a great organization,” he says. “But the stress and change proved to be a very negative trigger for my mental health.”
For the most part, O’Neil tried to mask his debilitating fears and other issues. But as the Colts prepared for their season opener against the Baltimore Ravens, O’Neil realized he was in no shape to play.

“I’d gone four nights without sleep and I was frantic and desperate,” O’Neil recalls. “I finally went to Coach Dungy and said, ‘I need help.’”
The depth of caring, empathy, and emotional generosity with which the coach responded still amazes O’Neil. Over the years, the older man has become a source of hope, a mentor, and a role model.
“The only reason I’m able to talk about what I went through is because of Coach Dungy,” O’Neil says now.
At the time, O’Neil says, Dungy listened with his full attention, then pulled in the team doctor, trainer and general manager. The doctor prescribed medications to combat his anxiety and help him sleep.
O’Neil was able to join the Colts for their next game. Several weeks later, he was selected as a team captain.

Dungy’s intervention was just one instance of the helping hands that kept O’Neil moving forward and, ultimately, put him on the path to wellness.

Priscilla Pope-Levison’s interview on women evangelists:

CP: I know the bulk of your work is related to women, but what motivated you to pursue this particular area of women evangelists?

Pope-Levison: Well it began about 20 some years ago when I was teaching evangelism at Duke Divinity School and I was putting together an introductory lecture on the history of evangelism in the United States. What I could find were stacks of resources on particularly male evangelists, the great male evangelists beginning with Jonathan Edwards going through Charles Finney to Dwight Moody, all the way to Billy Graham.

Being a woman minister myself and interested in women’s religious leadership, I asked myself the question, ‘Were there any women evangelists beyond Kathryn Kuhlman and Aimee Semple Mcpherson?’ So that really started my research into an amazing amount of material and I feel like in some ways I’ve only scratched the surface after 20 years of research on an enormous amount of women who call themselves evangelists and traveled around the country. This book argues the thesis that they settled down and built institutions during the Progressive Era in our country, which was 1890 to 1920.

part two

Dave Moore on Pete Rollins:

Yesterday, I watched Peter Rollins describe his understanding of the Christian faith.  Sadly, he loves to scrape and scrape so what was left hardly looked like Christianity.  Frankly, his presentation bordered on incoherence.

Irony and mystery so dominated Rollins’ talk that you were left wondering what he really believes.  In fact, Rollins admitted not being interested so much in what people believe, but why they believe it.  Clearly, he falls prey to a tragic dichotomy as both the what and why of belief are important.  This young scraper offered a few good and necessary push backs on the hubris of some Christians.  Unfortunately, in the process of exposing some of these silly notions he seemed more than willing to discard some of the core doctrines of the Christian faith.

Karl Giberson:

“Brown University biologist Kenneth Miller, one of America’s leading advocates, has just received one of America’s oldest and most prestigious awards—from the Roman Catholic Church….

Many consider Miller a paradoxical figure who occupies the thinly populated no-man’s land between science and religion, embracing both with enthusiasm and finding no conflict. He is a life-long practicing Catholic and accepts church teachings on salvation, the virgin birth and resurrection of Jesus. He described himself in the PBS “Evolution” series as simply a “traditional” Catholic, one who has not had to abandon or distort his beliefs to accommodate his other passion: evolutionary biology. Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins describes Miller as an “incisive witness both to scientific acumen and religious belief.”

Consistent with most Catholic believers, and supported by official statements over the years from the Vatican, Miller embraces mainstream science with enthusiasm, accepting that the world is God’s creation. “I see the Creator’s plan and purpose fulfilled in our universe,” he wrote in a personal reflection about evolution. Miller sees the earth “bursting with evolutionary possibilities,” and understands God to be continuously creating with providentially ordered “design to life.”  But—and here the salvos begin to be launched from conservative anti-evolutionists—he says “the name of the design is evolution.” Ken Ham’s Answers in Genesis says Miller “appears to be blind” in his support for evolution, and unable to “distinguish between science and religious indoctrination.” The Discovery Institute has literally dozens of articles attacking Miller accusing him of everything from shoddy scholarship to duplicity.”

Chad Holtz on holiness and the progressives.

USA, Cuba and plotting to get rid of Castro:

U.S. scheming against Castro began almost immediately. In 1960, CIA agents contacted high-ranking mafia officials and discussed ways to assassinate Castro, perhaps by poisoning his food and drink. The assassin they chose and supplied, Juan Orta, reportedly got cold feet and abandoned the attempt. The agency’s next attempt to overthrow the Cuban regime was relatively conventional by CIA government-overthrow standards. Using Guatemala (whose own government had been toppled in a U.S.-sponsored coup in 1954) as a base of operations, U.S. spies organized, funded, armed, and trained a ragtag group of about 1,500 Cuban exiles, who planned to storm the Caribbean island and eventually topple the government. In April 1961, these exiles landed in Cuba’s Bay of Pigs and were defeated within three days by Cuban military forces, embarrassing the Kennedy administration and the CIA.

After the Bay of Pigs debacle, the CIA’s anti-Castro plots veered away from thetypical Cold War templates of coups and uprisings and into the realm of absurdity. One scheme involved somehow getting Castro to wear a poison-coated scuba-diving suit. Another, which also played upon Castro’s well-known love for diving, involved obtaining a beautiful seashell that would catch the Cuban dictator’s eye, only to explode when he reached for it. Perhaps the most famous proposal involved poisoning Castro’s iconic cigars.

What testing did to this teacher’s students.

Elizabeth Stoker, private charity vs. public welfare and the Christian faith:

The role of private charity versus that of state-sponsored social programs remains a hotly contested issue in right versus left politics, with the right wing typically favoring a heavy or total reliance upon private charity, and the left typically calling for a more robust emphasis on state-provided programs. What is often presumed, however, in this political discourse is that Christianity, like conservatism, requires a total reliance on private charity to deliver services to the needy. This could not be more wrong.

This amazing picture of Chicago’s reflection on the lake taken from an airplane by an iPhone.

Rob Merola’s wisdom —

The two most destructive forces I have seen in my almost 30 years as a priest are anger and alcohol. It’s interesting, then, that one of the chief findings of one of the longest running studies of human development is the surprising conclusion that “alcohol destroys”. Begun in 1938 and conducted by Harvard University, the study’s director writes of alcohol use:

its abuse [is] by far the greatest disruptor of health and happiness for the study’s subjects.

Again, my own experience corroborates that.

So I’d like to make a suggestion. I’d like to suggest that those of us who observe Lent consider giving up alcohol for the season. Heck, maybe even if you don’t observe Lent, or don’t believe in God at all, you might want to join us on this one just on the principle of things.

The period from now until Easter is about 50 days—in other words, not too long. Might it be worth it to abstain from alcohol simply as a way of checking in with ourselves about our relationship to it? And if something pushes back against that (remember, it’s only 50 days), might that push-back in and of itself be  something at which it’s well worth taking a closer look? [Read at the link the rest of the post.]

When best to book your flight — how many days in advance?

Finally, there’s a scientific answer to that magic number of days before a flight when tickets are at their cheapest.

The answer? Are you ready? Are you reeeally ready?

Fifty-four days before takeoff is, on average, when domestic airline tickets are at their absolute lowest price. And if you don’t hit 54 days on the head, you should usually book between 104 to 29 days before your trip — within the “prime booking window” — for the lowest possible prices. In this window, ticket prices typically hover within $10 of the lowest price they’ll ever reach.

31 tips for cleaning your home.

Ted Gossard and the culture wars backlash:

What I think is happening in part is a backlash from the days of the “Moral Majority” and what followed (as one of our favorite teachers back in the 1980′s said might happen). This is tied up in the notion that America is at its roots a Christian nation.  I’m sure there is much more to be said about this. Heavy handed in your face demonstrations and the seizing of political power to enforce moral law just doesn’t strike me as in the way of Jesus for his followers, or even in line with how Daniel and the exiles lived in foreign states.

Francis Effect:

Although he has an average approval rating from his constituency that any U.S. presidents would envy, it’s not fully clear how much the former Argentinian archbishop is influencing Catholic behavior.

“We’re not seeing any increase in the number of people who identify as Catholics. There is no increase in the frequency with which Catholics say they go to church. People are not going to confession or volunteering more often,” said Greg Smith, director of religion surveys for the Pew Research Center.

At the same time, pollsters did detect pockets of growing enthusiasm, especially among the most committed Catholics.

“One in four tells us they’re more excited about their faith in the last year. Four out of 10 say they’re praying more often. And one in five say they have been reading the Bible or other religious materials more often,” Smith said.

Since he succeeded the conservative and regal Pope Benedict last March, Francis has been heralded as a breath of fresh air: down-to-earth and focused on the downtrodden. (HT: LEMB)

Michelle Van Loon is doing a study of 40plus church members — what they think they are doing and what pastors think of them, and here is a series of links to her series:

What pastors, church leaders have to say about working with congregants over 40 –  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pilgrimsroadtrip/2014/02/survey-pastors-leaders-how-does-your-church-relate-to-members-over-40/

A first look at the demographics of those responding to the survey –

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pilgrimsroadtrip/2014/02/40-and-the-church-what-pastors-leaders-have-to-say-part-1/

Comments relating to the nature of intergenerational ministry –

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pilgrimsroadtrip/2014/02/40-and-the-church-what-pastors-leaders-have-to-say-part-2/

The gifts and difficulties of working with congregants over 40 –

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/pilgrimsroadtrip/2014/02/40-and-the-church-what-pastors-leaders-have-to-say-part-3/

Ego-driven leaders…  Matt Monge’s list of ten:

How can you tell if your leadership is ego-driven?

1. Ego-driven leaders often measure their success by how much others notice their success. It becomes more about being the center of attention than it does about actually being successful in and of itself.

2. Ego-driven leaders often feel better about themselves when others around them don’t achieve or earn as much as they do.

From a wonderful article on grains:

Your typical white flour is made from wheat grains that have had the germ and bran removed—it’s all endosperm up in that white bread and “regular” pasta, not to mention your white rice and pretty much anygrain or grain-based product that isn’t explicitly marked with the words “whole grain.” That seven-grain bread does indeed contain seven grains, but unless it’s seven-whole grain bread, you’re still only getting the endosperm—still lots of flavor variety, but not the same nutritional profile.

Grains are refined for a few reasons. Sure, you may prefer those pastas and breads to their whole wheat counterparts, but flavor and aesthetics have less to do with it than you may think. Light, heat, and air are the sworn enemies of cooking oils, and the same goes for the oils in whole grains. Mass-produced grain products are often refined primarily to extend shelf-life and allow for non-refrigerated storage.

The NFL and the N-word prohibition:

It’s one of the most polarizing debates of the NFL offseason: should the league ban and penalize the N-word?

One of the NFL’s most outspoken players, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has weighed in on the issue.

“It’s an atrocious idea,” Sherman told MMQB.com’s Peter King. “It’s almost racist, to me. It’s weird they’re targeting one specific word. Why wouldn’t all curse words be banned then?”

According to King, Sherman also emphasized that the word could be used in different ways and that the intent of its use changes from case to case.

“It’s in the locker room and on the field at all times,” Sherman said. “I hear it almost every series out there on the field.”

Sherman’s viewpoint is a common one, but there are also those who think eliminating the word would be a positive step for the league.

“Ultimately, if the NFL can get it done, it’s great for our game,” free agent linebacker D’Qwell Jackson told King. “But I think refs have a hard enough time officiating the game now. Now they’d be asked to police language?”

Correcting the President, Christina Hoff Sommers:

It’s the bogus statistic that won’t die—and president deployed it during the State of the Union—but women do not make 77 cents to every dollar a man earns.

President Obama repeated the spurious gender wage gap statistic in his State of the Union address. “Today,” he said, “women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment.”What is wrong and embarrassing is the President of the United States reciting a massively discredited factoid. The 23-cent gender pay gap is simply the difference between the average earnings of all men and women working full-time. It does not account for differences in occupations, positions, education, job tenure, or hours worked per week. When all these relevant factors are taken into consideration, the wage gap narrows to about five cents. And no one knows if the five cents is a result of discrimination or some other subtle, hard-to-measure difference between male and female workers. In its fact-checking column on the State of the Union, the Washington Post included the president’s mention of the wage gap in its list of dubious claims. “There is clearly a wage gap, but differences in the life choices of men and women… make it difficult to make simple comparisons.”

Carl Trueman weighs in on the flap some found in the post yesterday by my friend John Frye. Here are Carl’s words and they are good ones:

I am a Calvinist to the tips of my fingers.  I do not think that Calvinism is to blame for some contemporary Christians’ inability to handle tragedy and to lament.  Part of the problem is the perennial intrusion of the theologies of glory which the fallen world preaches to us and which our fallen hearts are always eager to believe.

But I do think the response to Frye should not be ‘How dare you blame the Calvinists!?’ so much as ‘If there is a problem, and if true Calvinism should not create such a problem, what is going wrong in our churches?’   Here, the difference between a church’s doctrine and the reception of that doctrine by individual Christians and congregations is crucial.  Calvinism, true Calvinism, is not to blame; but sadly there areCalvinists who are less innocent, who do reduce the problem of evil and suffering to tweetable soundbites which inevitably lack the complexity of the Biblical teaching, who do ignore the whole counsel of God in their teaching and preaching and choice of praise songs.  And I fear that a failure to reflect the whole counsel of God in our teaching and worship has indeed left individuals conflicted over how — and whether — Christians should lament.  The arrival of funerals that are ‘celebrations of life’ even within some Presbyterian circles witnesses to the reality of this problem.

Yes, thirteen witty lines from literature.

My friend, Aaron Niequist, has a new initiative at Willow on spiritual formation. Praying for him.

Ronnie Cohen on teenagers and breakfast:

(Reuters Health) – Teenagers who didn’t eat a good breakfast were more likely to be obese and have elevated blood sugar in middle age, a new study shows.

Researchers at Umea University in Sweden found that teens who reported eating no breakfast or only sweets were two-thirds more likely to develop a cluster of risk factors linked to heart disease and diabetes when they were in their 40s than their peers who ate more substantial morning meals.

“It may be that eating breakfast aids in keeping to a healthier diet the rest of the day,” the study’s lead author, Maria Wennberg, told Reuters Health in an email.

Blaine Hogan’s reflection addictions, acting, and Philip Seymour Hoffman:

The whole point of acting is to enter into another character so deeply that youbecome that character. The horror is that after the scene is over or the show closes, you have to go back to just being yourself. Now there are a million actors, many of who are friends that can handle this delicate balance with grace and ease. But because I was always running and hiding, never willing to have my backstage life moved center stage, I simply couldn’t.

[Is acting a kind of addiction to distance from the self?]

My colleague and friend, Claude Mariotinni, has a long set of posts on Isaiah 7:14 and the virginal conception and they are worthy of a careful reading. Here is his conclusion:

In conclusion, the New Testament affirms that Jesus was born of a woman who was sexually a virgin. However, the Hebrew text of Isaiah 7:14 is not announcing that a virgin will give birth to a child. Rather, the prophet is announcing that God would be present with his people to save them. It is this prophecy of God’s presence that is fulfilled in Christ. In Christ God is with us to save us from our sins.

Immanuel, God is with us.

Eat less salt:

(Reuters Health) – Eating less than one teaspoon of salt per day remains the ideal goal for Americans, according to a new study.

Most research has linked high sodium consumption with greater risks of stroke and cardiovascular disease. Evidence has shown that men and women age 51 or older, African Americans or those with hypertension, diabetes or chronic kidney disease face especially high risks.

Sean McElwee on the debate between Ham and Nye:

The irony of modern American Christian right-wing fundamentalism is that, for all its talk of tradition, it is a radically new way to read the Bible. The strict constructionist, or literal fundamentalist, biblical method of interpretation was invented in the 19th century. America at this time experienced rapid social change that played a key role in creating the fundamentalism that now lies at the core of the religious right. The Industrial Revolution gave rise to the idea that technological progress is the way forward. American Protestants worried that all this science would encroach on their religious beliefs, so they turned to the Bible as the source of all knowledge — scientific and spiritual. During a time when Darwin’s followers were trying to explain everything in terms of evolutionary theory, American Protestants refused to look for truth outside their interpretation of Scripture.

In “Fundamentalism and American Culture,” George Marsden describes fundamentalism as “essentially the extreme and agonized defense of a dying way of life.” The American Protestant response to the Industrial Revolution was engendered by the fear that a small cabal of experts would dictate to Americans how to live their lives and that science would somehow replace their religion. In truth, the Christian tradition provides little support for the fundamentalist doctrines that arose during this period. Augustine believed that science and religion need not be in competition, and the Catholic Church has long held that evolution does not contradict the Church’s teachings. Fundamentalists who deny climate change and evolution have simply read their simplistic understanding of science into biblical texts.

18 best baseball players not in the Hall of Fame.

Wow, that’s a super sized boulder!

Joe Carter, at the Acton Institute blog, opines about economic theory, taking on the President’s State of the Union address, and then he suggests 10 things that folks ought to know about income inequality — esp what drives it, which he says is that good ol’ vice Envy. OK, this is quite a conservative economic theory at work here, but I wonder if you think obsession with income inequality is an envy-driven issue or is income inequality the real problem? Is the problem poverty? What’s the difference?

Income inequality is increasingly described as a threat both to our country’s economic well-being and to democracy itself. But you rarely hear explanations for why exactly it’s perceived as a threat. The reason is because concerns about income inequality are primarily driven by envy. Envy is generated by positional concerns only when the individual’s current situation is below his or her own aspiration level. That is a fancy way of saying that the “threat” of income inequality derives from the fact that some people want what other people have.

Christians, of course, should recognize this is a problem that is rooted in the human heart and not the Gini coefficient. Even if we reduced the level of income inequality it would not reduce the level of envy for our neighbor’s wealth.

Here’s a thought experiment to prove the point. Imagine you are presented with two possible worlds. In world A, you earn $110,000 a year while colleagues earn $200,000. In alternative world B, you earn $100,000 a year but your colleagues earn only $85,000. Which would you choose?

World A seems to be the better option since, in absolute terms, you have more money to spend. Butstudies have shown that about 50% of people prefer world B. Relative position in a social group proved to be more important than absolute income.

As long as we think we deserve more, we will become envious of those who have what we want.

Since concerns about income inequality are generally motivated by envy, it’s not surprising that the group who are most envious of the “rich” are the “near rich.” For example, a study found that of the Occupy Wall Street protestors — a group obsessed with inequality — over a third had household incomes over $100,000. Said one of the authors of the study, Ruth Milkman, “It’s a pretty affluent demographic and highly educated. Many were the children of the elite, if you will.”

From Karen:

I was slain in the spirit once. Splayed out. Laid flat. Old-fashioned revival time all out slain and down for the count.

I know, right?

Me. A journalist. Laying there on my back at the altar of God, staring at the lights of that big citified Seattle church with people dropping all around me like flies on a day in late Fall.

And for the record, yes, it was weird as H-E- Double-Toothpicks….

I can’t tell you about others – I can only speak from my own experience and it in my case, I did not fall to the ground in a fit of religious fervor. I was not pushed over by some slick-haired evangelical. I was simply at the altar praying with a girl whose name I did not know when a preacher walked by and lightly touched my forehead and buddy, I was gone quicker than a soldier on AWOL.

I have no idea how long I was down. I just remember it being a place of suspension. Aware and present but peaceful beyond consciousness.

Which has got me to thinking being Slain in the Spirit may very well be a way to solve some of our current societal problems….

Patrick Mitchel — the new perspective on Paul in pictures.

The world’s most beautiful train stations.

What the hunter-gatherers of Spain looked like (HT: LEMB):

A 7,000-year-old man whose bones were left behind in a Spanish cave had the dark skin of an African, but the blue eyes of a Scandinavian. He was a hunter-gatherer who ate a low-starch diet and couldn’t digest milk well — which meshes with the lifestyle that predated the rise of agriculture. But his immune system was already starting to adapt to a new lifestyle.

Michael Brown wins this one.

Sacred, cult prostitution in ancient Israel? No.

Indeed, archaeology has shown that Ashtoreth worship and associated rites of sacred prostitution were common throughout the ancient Mediterranean. At the Etruscan site of Pyrgi, excavators identified a temple dedicated to Ashtoreth that featured at least 17 small rooms that may have served as quarters for temple prostitutes. Similarly, at the site of Dura-Europos on the Euphrates, archaeologists uncovered a temple dedicated to Atargatis, the Aramaic goddess of love. Fronting the entrance to the temple were nearly a dozen small rooms, many with low benches. Although the rooms were used primarily for sacred meals, they may also have been reserved for the sexual services of women jailed in the temple for adultery. Such a situation prevailed at the temple of Apollo at Bulla Regia, where a woman was found buried with an inscription reading: “Adulteress. Prostitute. Seize (me), because I fled from Bulla Regia.”

Sacred prostitution, therefore, existed in much of the ancient world and reflected the ritual practices of Ashtoreth worship. In ancient Israel, however, sacred prostitution was simply a synonym for harlotry. Modern translations often unfortunately give another impression.

Read more about sacred prostitution in the ancient world in Edward Lipiński, “Cult Prostitution in Ancient Israel?” Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2014.

Kristin answers why she permits her teenage daughter to pierce her nose.

“Why on earth did you let your eighth grade daughter get her nose pierced?!?”

To be fair, no one has actually asked me that nosy question (pun intended), but I can hear it resonating in their minds, bouncing around until it leaks out in polite ways—an unintentional double-take, a purse of the lips, the rise of an eyebrow.

Maybe you’re lucky enough to be someone who doesn’t imagine what others are thinking but not saying. And maybe, even if you do imagine it, you don’t waste time preparing a defense.

I, however, am not so lucky. I regularly have these imaginary dialogues in my head. Usually I keep them to myself, but I’ve decided this particular dialogue has broader merit in the realms of parenting, judging, and self-expression. So I’m going to present the hypothetical question, followed by a variety of answers I’ve silently composed since my daughter got her nose pierced a couple weeks ago. (That is not a photo of her, in case you’re wondering.)

Tony Campolo to slow down t0 200 speaking events in 2014!

(RNS) Tony Campolo, a progressive evangelical leader who counseled President Bill Clinton through the Monica Lewinsky scandal, announced Tuesday (Jan. 14) that the organization he founded nearly 40 years ago will close on June 30.

Campolo, 78, plans to retire with the closure of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, but he will continue to write and speak, with nearly 200 engagements scheduled for 2014. He said his health is fine and he wants to write one more book on how Christianity fits with the social sciences.

By June, Campolo said he anticipates there will be about $300,000 left to distribute to the offshoot ministries started by the larger EAPE. The 22 ministries that were started under EAPE now operate independently and will continue, including Red Letter Christians, where Campolo plans to spend most of his time.

You have a cat? Do you love your cat this much?

And the irony is that if you follow this guy’s theology you’ll get the deeper blessings, which itself is another version of the prosperity gospel.

Interesting article on dream research:

Do they predict the future or simply rehash the past? By figuring out why we dream, researchers are hoping to nail down what the nightly cavalcade of images and events means.

Ever since Sigmund Freud published his controversial theories about the meaning of dreams in 1900, we have been fascinated with the jumble of experiences we seem to live through while we slumber. Freud was convinced that dreams represent some unfulfilled desires or hoped-for wishes, while later investigators saw a more pragmatic quality to them, as reflection of waking life. None of these theories, however, have had the benefit of much in the way of solid, objective data.

At least, until now. Two new developments in research — brain imaging and big data — may offer some stronger answers. More detailed and timely snapshots of the brain at work, combined with the information researchers amassed about dreams from experiments in sleep labs, is gradually peeling away the mystery of dreams, and revealing their meaning.

Photos of Berlin in 1945, after Hitler.

Why do some birds fly in a V-formation?

Flying birds often arrange themselves into a crisp, perfect V, so why not an S?

Now the first extreme close-up of birds flying in a V formation is providing some answers. Scientists have found that birds position themselves and time their wing beats so perfectly that, according to aerodynamic theory, they minimize their energy use. It’s a task that requires each bird to monitor subtle changes in its wing mates’ flight and alter its own path and stroke accordingly.

Amazing photographs.