1. The Jon Swift Memorial Roundup 2013. Go. Read. Discover.
2. Give credit to Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer for responding appropriately to Fox News’ “White Santa” gambit. (See also.)
3. “In 1900, Ladies’ Home Journal Publishes 28 Predictions for the Year 2000”
Sure, they got a few wrong — such as that C, X and Q would disappear from the alphabet or that mosquitos would be eradicated or that Nicaragua would apply for statehood. But they also got a few things right — like “hot and cold air from spigots” and “store purchases by tube” and “wireless telephone … will span the world” and full-color photographs “telegraphed” from any distance. Fun and fascinating.
See also: Isaac Asimov’s 1964 predictions for what the world will look like in 2014.
4. Young-Earth creationism has a problem with poo: “flood geology provides a wholly inadequate interpretive framework for understanding that data.” But then it’s not just an inability to account for coprolites — young-Earth creationists also have a problem with manufacturing and shoveling poo.
5. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Florida. Everything Carl Hiassen ever told you was true.
6. Harvard School of Public Health: “Eating healthy vs. unhealthy diet costs about $1.50 more per day”
While healthier diets did cost more, the difference was smaller than many people might have expected. Over the course of a year, $1.50/day more for eating a healthy diet would increase food costs for one person by about $550 per year. This would represent a real burden for some families, and we need policies to help offset these costs. On the other hand, this price difference is very small in comparison to the economic costs of diet-related chronic diseases, which would be dramatically reduced by healthy diets.
7. Joan Chittister: “We are at a crossroads for women in the church”
Feminism is about allowing every member of the human race to become a fully functioning human adult, to make choices at every level of society, to participate in the decision-making that affects their lives, to be financially independent, to be safe on the streets, secure in their homes, to have a voice in the courts and constitutional bodies of the world — to enjoy, in other words, full and equal civil rights.
It is about bringing to public visibility and public agency the agendas, the insights, and the wisdom of the other half of the human race.
It is about taking their ideas and plans seriously. No! Correction: It is about taking the theology of creation seriously.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In