We have a very confused azalea bush in our back yard. Also: Ben Carson loses Vermont; the Black Tax on car insurance, confirmed; within weeks they'll be reopening the shipyard; frozen cave lion cubs; and a vintage sit-com that seems ripe for reinvention. Read more
For a few glorious weeks in the early 21st century, we had this thing called "Trackback." It was terrific. You'd write something on your blog or website and it would ferret out any other blog posts or websites engaging with that content. It spawned links and conversations and cross-pollinations that would never have otherwise occurred. It got us talking -- and listening. Read more
How to have a more authentic, abundant faith in the redeeming power of bombs and hand grenades. Plus: A bombshell DEET-free mosquito repellant; Jordan Anderson's epic mic-drop; a Calvinist limerick; and the strange-but-true career of a 19th-century ex-Mormon professional Indian. Read more
"As Blanche rattled off song titles, LaVey doodled away on two or three of his keyboards at once: 'Somebody Loves Me,' 'Embraceable You,' even 'Rhapsody in Blue.' ... He finished his medley with a great flourish and looked up. 'Gershwin was a good Satanist,' he said." Read more
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," the epistle says. But anywhere and everywhere are beyond my finite ability to comprehend, to act or to pay attention. Fortunately, the letter continues, and the following sentences point toward something that can help us to move beyond the prejudices of our affinities or the paralysis of our finitude. Read more
The recent wave of discussion about whether or not to go back in time to kill baby Hitler really doesn't have anything to do with the contingencies and mechanics of time travel. It has to do with the contingencies and mechanics of killing -- of violence. Could we fix everything if we just made sure to kill the right people? Read more
"If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are caught in the act, the man who lay with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the young woman’s father, and she shall become his wife. Because he violated her he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives." Read more
According to a ridiculously incoherent Internet rumor, an alignment of the planets will cast the entire earth into darkness for 15 days, starting tomorrow. That's not going to happen, but it reminds us of a time when something like it really did happen -- New England's Dark Day, on May 19, 1780. The sun failed, the sky grew dark at noon, and no one had any idea why. Read more
After calamity, we seem to wish that someone, somewhere, would say something else, something more. We want to hear someone explain this, explain how to correct it somehow, how to prevent it from ever happening again (or, less nobly, how to prevent it from ever happening to us). And there can be a pressure, or a temptation, to try to be the person who says all of that. Our desperate need to hear something that will make sense of it all can lead us to try to say something that might appear to make sense of it all. Read more
Here are my predictions for the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary you'll be hearing preached on in sermons this Sunday, ranked from least- to most-likely. Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
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