blurbat

Red...Hymn For The Missing

2011-02-02T03:59:00.002-01:00

3 Doors Down...All I Think About Is You

2011-01-29T03:42:00.001-01:00

Bonhoeffer the Brave: Interview

2011-01-03T16:54:00.003-01:00

LOPEZ: What are the most prevalent myths about him?

METAXAS: One of the big ones is that he was a pacifist, which he wasn’t. But the Sixties anti-war movement appropriated Bonhoeffer for their purposes nonetheless. They seemed to be under the impression that, had he lived, he would have been the third person in bed with John and Yoko. Another myth about him is that he was an advocate of income-redistributionist “social justice.” There’s just no actual evidence for that.

But the main myth about him is that while imprisoned by the Gestapo he drifted away from orthodox Christianity toward some kind of “post-Christian humanism,” that he became some kind of atheist. This one is based off of a single infamous phrase — “religionless Christianity” — that he wrote in a letter to his best friend Eberhard Bethge. It turns out that Bonhoeffer meant precisely the opposite of what the atheists and agnostics said he meant. This is a classic case of the lie traveling around the world four times before the truth gets a chance to put its shoes on. There was no rebuttal to this misinterpretation for so long that it just got out there as a fact and stayed out there — basically until now, over 50 years later.

What Makes a Song Sad?

2011-01-03T15:46:00.002-01:00

from The Atlantic:

While there might be a loose correlation—reinforced by our particular musical tradition—between minor scales and "sadness," it's a mistake to think that the moods evoked by music can be confidently reduced to tonality in and of itself. Indeed, those recalcitrant minor key songs that defy generalization about the link between tonality and mood may tell us something more important about music than the ones that conform.

Don't forget: The main reason "Happy Birthday" sounds "upbeat" and "Eleanor Rigby" sounds "doleful" is that their composers intended that they should. And because that's what their composers obviously intended, that's the way the songs are typically performed. But there's much more than tonality that goes into evoking those moods.

Brooke Fraser...Something In The Water

2010-12-12T14:46:00.001-01:00

Jesusfreakhideout up with staff selections for best of 2010

2010-12-12T14:37:00.002-01:00

Jesusfreadhideout...

The King's Speech...movie review

2010-12-06T05:09:00.005-01:00

from ChristianityToday gives this R rated movie 4/4 stars:

Where The King's Speech elevates itself over more conventional films in this genre is in its ability to overlay internal and external obstacles. Firth opined to audiences after a festival screening that film was, for him, about the difficulties in forging and maintaining intimacy in the face of his character's political, cultural, and psychological conditioning to reject it. The extent of that conditioning is poignantly and brutally depicted in scenes where George's father berates him, where his brother mocks him, and where his own children (after his coronation) learn to suppress their natural easiness around him and adopt a formal reserve viewed more appropriate for public, royal interactions.

Elvis Costello...Cat Stevens...Sitting

2010-12-02T04:02:00.001-01:00

Facebook Vet Launches Jumo, a Social Hub for Do-Gooders

2010-12-01T13:12:00.001-01:00

from FastCompany:

Hughes has entered a crowded field of do-good sites wanting to tug your heartstrings and separate you from your cash. He walks through a list. “There’s Causecast, Causes, Razoo,” he says, pulling up sites to compare and contrast. “There’s Firstgiving and Justgiving, and they’re all doing great things.”

Jon Anderson...I'll Find My Way Home

2010-11-30T03:29:00.001-01:00

You ask me where to begin
Am I so lost in my sin?
You ask me where did I fall
I'll say I can't tell you when

But if my spirit is lost
How will I find what is near
No question, I'm not alone
Somehow I'll find my way home

My sun shall rise in the east
So shall my heart be at peace
And if you're asking me when
I'll say it starts at the end

You know your will to be free
Is matched with love secretly
And hope will alter your prayers
Somehow you find you are there

Your friend is close by your side
And speaks in far ancient tongues
A season's wish will come true
All seasons begin with you

One world we all come from
One world we melt into one
Just hold my hand and we're there
Somehow we're going somewhere
Somehow we're going somewhere

You ask me where to begin
Am I so lost in my sin
You ask me where did I fall
I'll say I can't tell you when

But if my spirit is strong
I know it can't be long
No question, I'm not alone
Somehow I'll find my way home
Somehow I'll find my way home
Somehow I'll find my way home
Somehow I'll find my way home

J. Tillman - Master's House

2010-11-28T02:01:00.001-01:00

J Tillman - Singing Ax

2010-11-28T01:58:00.001-01:00

Harry Houdini always stressed that his miraculous tricks were the product of art, not the supernatural.

2010-11-28T01:51:00.002-01:00

from CityJournal:

Throughout his professional life, Houdini had no illusions about his talent. He always assured onlookers that no matter how miraculous his tricks appeared to be, they were actually earthbound, consisting of muscular contortions, lock-picking skills, inventive gimmicks, and misdirection. He did his best to expose charlatans who claimed that their magic came from occult sources. One of his colorful posters is succinct:DO SPIRITS RETURN? HOUDINI SAYS NO—AND PROVES IT.

'Wandering minds' make people unhappy: study

2010-11-13T13:41:00.002-01:00

from YahooNews:

A US study out Thursday suggests that people spend about half of their time thinking about being somewhere else, or doing something other than what they are doing, and this perpetual act of mind-wandering makes them unhappy.

Check out Trackyourhappiness.org:
What makes you happy? Get started
(Sign in if you already have an account)

Track Your Happiness.org is a new scientific research project that investigates what makes life worth living.

UFO Conspiracy Theories has Holes

2010-11-04T13:08:00.002-01:00

from Discovery.com:
Keeping state secrets is difficult enough, but a conspiracy of this magnitude would involve thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands, of people in a dozen or more countries. There are plenty of (often contradictory) stories from both known and anonymous "former officials," yet not a single person has come forth with hard evidence of extraterrestrials.

Peckman and other UFO conspiracy theorists have a difficult time explaining why, exactly, all the governments of the world are so concerned about the public being aware of aliens, what the purpose of a cover-up would be.

Beirut...Nantes

2010-11-01T01:50:00.001-01:00

Beirut...Scenic World

2010-11-01T01:49:00.000-01:00

Beirut...A Sunday Smile

2010-11-01T01:37:00.005-01:00

All I want is the best for our lives my dear,
and you know my wishes are sincere.
What's to say for the days I cannot bear

A Sunday smile we wore it for a while.
And at cemetery mile we paused and sang.
A Sunday smile we wore it for a while.
And at cemetery mile we paused and sang
'bout Sunday smiles as we felt clean. (and)

We burnt till the ground left a view to admire
With buildings aside, church of white
Have burnt till the ground left a grave to admire
Hills reach for the sky, reach the church of white.

A Sunday smile we wore it for a while.
At cemetery mile we paused and sang.
A Sunday smile we wore it for a while.
And at cemetery mile we paused and sang
*--* our Sunday smiles and we felt clean. (and)

LaCrae...Rehab...Children of the Light

2010-10-31T23:44:00.003-01:00

from JesusFreakHideout:
Rehab is a fantastic album and is easily Lecrae's best to date, even topping Rebel. Lecrae is able to show that he is the best and most diverse rapper around. The only thing keeping Lecrae from huge mainstream success is his unashamed approach and willingness to claim Christ as Savior in each and every song. They don't know what they are missing. Personally, I'm happy with and respect Lecrae for what he brings to the table. You do not want to miss this album. Even if you only rarely listen to rap or hip hop, you are going to want to pick this up. This is hip hop perfection.

John Mark McMillan...Skeleton Bones

2010-10-26T01:50:00.000Z

John Mark McMillan...How He Loves Us So

2010-10-26T01:41:00.000Z

Flyleaf...You Are My Joy

2010-10-26T01:37:00.001Z

David Crowder Band...You Are My Joy

2010-10-26T01:16:00.001Z

The Wrecking...About to Fall

2010-10-26T01:13:00.001Z

The crimes of the Khmer Rouge are inextricable from Marxist/Leninist ideology.

2010-10-25T17:22:00.005Z

from CityJournal:
All Communist regimes follow strangely similar trajectories, barely colored by local traditions. In every case, these regimes seek to make a blank slate of the past and to forge a new humanity.

Ian Stewart pays tribute to Benoît Mandelbrot, who discovered a formula to explain the beauty of the world around us .

2010-10-25T16:06:00.005Z

from telegraph.co.uk:
'Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line.” With these words pioneering man of ideas Benoît Mandelbrot, who died last week at the age of 85, launched a scientific manifesto — a new field of mathematics, a new way to think about the natural world and a host of reasons why both were needed.

Once your minds’ eye is sensitive to fractal geometry, you see it everywhere. Ferns, grasses, the craters on the Moon, the fluctuations of the stock market, the incidence of large and small floods, the movements of rock deep in the Earth that cause earthquakes, even abstract art.

Third Day...Surrender

2010-10-25T04:23:00.001Z

Third Day...Follow Me There

2010-10-25T04:21:00.000Z

A radio debate featuring Michael Behe and Keith Fox

2010-10-25T04:12:00.002Z

from Premier Christian Radio website:

The introductory comments on the website read as follows:

Michael Behe is professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University, Pennsylvania and the founder of the modern Intelligent Design movement. His book “Darwin’s Black Box” ignited the controversy 14 years ago when it claimed that certain molecular machines and biological processes are “irreducibly complex” and cannot be explained by Darwinian evolution.

His new book “The Edge of Evolution” takes his conclusions further, arguing that the Darwinian processes of random mutation and natural selection are incapable of producing the variation and complexity we see in most of life.

So can we conclude that life was intelligently designed by a creator?

Keith Fox is Professor of biochemistry at the University of Southampton and chairman of Christians in Science. As a theistic evolutionist he believes that Evolution is the best explanation going for the complexity we see and that ID is a blind scientific alley and theologically unappealing to boot.

They debate whether micromachines in the cell such as the “bacterial flagellum” could have evolved by a Darwinian process of evolution. When inference to design is and isn’t acceptable in science. Whether random mutation can mathematically stack up to complex life, and whether God is reduced to a divine “tinkerer” by ID.

The Airbag for Cyclists: New inflatable collar protects riders who refuse to wear a helmet

2010-10-25T03:59:00.004Z

from DailyMail:
It is the perfect invention for those of us too vain to bother wearing a helmet while riding our bikes.
The 'Hvvding' helmet is an airbag 'collar' that springs into action within 0.1 seconds, covering the skull and neck of a rider in the event of an impact.

Back from the dead: One third of 'extinct' animals turn up again

2010-10-25T03:55:00.002Z

from DailyMail:
Conservationists are overestimating the number of species that have been driven to extinction, scientists have said.
A study has found that a third of all mammal species declared extinct in the past few centuries have turned up alive and well.

Bryn Haworth...Home Sweet Home

2010-10-20T03:41:00.000Z

Michael W Smith...Leave

2010-10-20T03:10:00.002Z

Abel...Lesser Men

2010-10-20T03:03:00.000Z

Lyrics:

I've mourned the loss of matchless integrity
Unwritten words that promise a man I can never be
And I've been a fool cause this world's so lovely
Ashamed, I'll admit that this is all it takes for me
We are all the same, we just want love
And we are safe in Your hands
And You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
Choruses sung when my blue skies are turning gray
And You paid the price for lesser men
When I can't believe that I would ever act this way
We are all the same, we just want love
And we are safe in Your hands
Hallelujah

Bashful Buzzard

2010-10-12T13:26:00.001Z

Trevor Davis...Treasure....and....Crazy

2010-10-08T05:53:00.002Z

Audrey Assad...Honest

2010-10-06T13:13:00.001Z

Inventors Killed By Their Own Inventions: Slide Show

2010-10-05T14:09:00.002Z

from discovery magazine:

While it may not have been a traditional magic act, Harry Houdini died literally at the hands of a physical "trick" he performed -- and a bad case of appendicitis.

Before a performance, two college students reportedly asked Houdini to demonstrate his physical strength "trick" of being able to absorb numerous blows to the upper body without injury.

The impact on that particular day was enough to burst the famous magician's already inflamed appendix.

Houdini died on Halloween in 1926, after surgery failed to save him from the resulting peritonitis. He was laid to rest in the prop casket he used to perform his famous "buried alive" illusion.

Eat Pray Love Me Generation

2010-10-03T17:15:00.002Z

from Standpoint Magazine:

Maybe what was once seen as a little girl's fairy-story is now seen by baby-boomer women as an inalienable right. A little self-knowledge would go a long way here. But this movie is not about self-knowledge. The audience will come out of Eat Pray Love none the wiser on how to put their stuff in order. Rather, it's all about looking beautiful and having hunks lust after you in beautiful settings, with some faded old Sixties mantras thrown in to add to that feel of quality. And there is something distasteful about the kind of pick-and-mix, magpie-like attitude to different cultures that this film shamelessly displays.

In any case travel — the modern variety anyway — increasingly narrows the mind, I find. It's become a fetish, a manifestation of personal disquiet rather than a genuine desire to explore. Gilbert was wrong and Dorothy was right — you don't need to go any further than your own backyard. Or try therapy, if you must.

It is, after all, very rare to come across anybody who has genuinely been changed by a stint living here or there, whatever they might claim to the contrary. Travel, in and of itself, never makes a person more interesting. A boring person's take on their experiences will be the same whether they're in Bali or Boston — even if they do look like Julia Roberts.

The Science of Scones

2010-10-01T05:34:00.002Z

from spectator.uk:

I find that, with the making of scones, as indeed with any baking, it is important to be in the right frame of mind. It’s no good if you become distracted, for example by someone dying suddenly and unexpectedly on the Archers; if so, hiccups, or total disasters, loom.

But I also think that, especially with scones, it’s important not to concentrate too much: speed and agility are key; try to develop a kind of insouciance about it. This lightness of touch helps the aspiring scone-maker to come nearer to creating the accordion-like delicacies that gather fluffy as clouds atop WI fundraiser trestle tables.

Mike Hukabee says folks with pre-existing conditions are unisurable, just like burnt out house

2010-10-01T05:23:00.004Z

from Not Dead Yet:
Where I - and other disability activists - part with politically Right-leaning opponents of assisted suicide is that we see cause for alarm on the Right as well. A lot of radical conservative rhetoric right now - like from the Tea Party - sounds pretty pro-death if you're a person with a disability, chronic condition, etc.

If that sounds extreme and alarmist (as opposed to the "death panel" cries), please watch the video embedded below. It's good old "Compassionate Conservative Christian Mike Huckabee" speaking at the "Values Voter Summit" - the site for the summit says the "values" they want to further are to: protect marriage, champion life, strengthen the military, limit government, control spending and defend our freedoms. Guess which one of those "values" Huckabee throws under the bus?

The Truth About the Catholic Church and Slavery

2010-10-01T05:08:00.002Z

from Christianity Today:
Nothing ambiguous here. The problem wasn't that the Church failed to condemn slavery; it was that few heard and most of them did not listen. In this era, popes had little or no influence over the Spanish and the Portuguese since at that time the Spanish ruled most of Italy; in 1527, under the leadership of Charles V, they had even sacked Rome.

As Eugene Genovese put it: "Catholicism made a profound difference in the lives of the slaves. [It] imparted to Brazilian and Spanish American slave societies an ethos…of genuine spiritual power."

Leeland...Tears of the Saints

2010-09-30T04:03:00.001Z

National Reports Show Increase In Poverty And Charity

2010-09-29T03:05:00.002Z

from Everyday Christian:
This report was in response to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Report on Poverty released earlier this month, which showed the income gap between the richest and poorest Americans widened last year to its greatest disparity on record. Those making more than $100,000 annually earned 49.4 percent of all income generated in the U.S., while those below the poverty line generated only 3.4 percent.

Robert Plant Band of Joy (Rounder)

2010-09-27T13:33:00.003Z

from Chistianity Today:
C.S. Lewis famously described Christianity as a "myth turned true." It's no wonder that Robert Plant finds himself drawn to it; his Led Zeppelin lyrics reference everything from Norse lore to the works of Tolkien, and myth has been dear to his heart ever since. His latest—produced by Buddy Miller, with Patty Griffin as his harmony partner—turns to the myths of the American West, including songs in which Christ and Satan circle each other like gunslingers in a cosmic showdown.

A couple covers of Low songs mix romantic and religious language into existential epics, while "Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down" and "Even This Shall Pass Away" are more traditionally gospel-oriented.

How to ask awkward questions and annoy people

2010-09-26T20:40:00.004Z

from Spiked:
Socrates’ relentless questioning of received moral wisdom and authority, his struggle to apprehend real existence in consciousness, would make him many enemies.

This argument, that all that mattered was care for one’s soul, is, she points out, possibly the one thing that the young democracy could not rightly accept. It was, in effect, a rejection of the people in the name of the individual and conscience. Only Socrates was wise - he tells us in Plato’s Apology (an account of his defence during the trial) - because he knew he was ignorant. Everyone else was simply ignorant.

'The Lonely Crowd,' at 60, Is Still Timely

2010-09-26T20:26:00.001Z

from Chronicles of Higher Education:
It was the first book to stress a change in modern society from a culture of production and scarcity to one of consumption as a social act—from making things to relating to people, from "the hardness of the material," as the authors put it, to the softer touch of consumer-focused sales and services.

The other big trend discussed by The Lonely Crowd was the rise of the "peer group," the importance of schoolfellows and contemporaries, along with the mass media, in socializing a young person...It was a picture of teenagers listening together to pop records or radio music...Though he thought the sociability it promoted was superficial, he differed from earlier writers on mass media, advertising, and consumption—especially Frankfurt School sociologists—who stressed the atomizing of people into self-centered buyers.

Eric Whitacre: Sounds that haunted cyberspace

2010-09-26T14:45:00.003Z

from Telegraph:
The haunting melodies, agonisingly beautiful harmonies and sense of mystical anticipation make Lux Aurumque an excellent starting point for a voyage around Whitacre’s catalogue. It’s also the piece that triggered an online stampede earlier this year when Whitacre’s “virtual choir” production of it became a YouTube phenomenon.

... Whitacre is today launching Virtual Choir 2011, a global search for singers to create the world’s largest online choir in a performance of his piece Sleep.

The tech-aware Whitacre is also a keen user of Twitter and Facebook to maintain a dialogue with fans and colleagues, but his YouTube coup was the moment when household-name status came calling. His compositions have already sold more than a million copies in sheet-music form, finding favour with thousands of choirs worldwide, and his pieces have proved to be commercial gold dust on a variety of recordings (not least Polyphony’s 2006 Whitacre collection, Cloudburst, on Hyperion).

Brand New...At Bottom

2010-09-25T20:37:00.001Z

Wait
I watched you throw out your bouquet
Now i think about you everyday
I'm alone now in my bed

And there's a lake
And at the bottom you'll find all our friends
They don't swim cause they're all dead
We never are what we intend, or invent
'Cause I make little lies and then I pull them apart
Think something dark's living down in my heart

And if I wanted to die before I got old
I should've started some years ago digging that hole
Well I carry this box to the proper place
And when I lower it down
I let it you fade away
I hope that you would do this for me
I'd serve you drugs on a silver plate
If I thought it would help you get away
I hope that you would do this for me

A deer that a hunter shot in the heart
Some dogs that got hit by cars
All came to spill their guts

And we spoke
About the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
And which songs we had loved the most
And then we all turned to dirt
And dust
Some men die under the mountain just looking for gold
Some die looking for a hand to hold

Well I carry this box to its proper place
And when I lower it down
I let you fade away
I know that you would do this for me
I'd serve you drugs on a silver plate
If I thought it would help you get away
I hope that you would do this for me

I'm slowly bringing you down from the Heavenly gates
Now I'm drowning in the flood I made
Well explain myself to me on the other side
I'll watch from Heaven when I die

Well I carry this box to the proper place
And when I lower it down
I let you fade away
I know that you would do this for me
I'd serve you drugs on a silver plate
If I thought it would help you get away
I hope that you would do this for me

Brand New...Handcuffs

2010-09-25T20:25:00.001Z

I'd arrest you if i had handcuffs
I'd arrest you if i had the time
I'd throw you down in the back seat
As if you'd commited a terrible crime

I'd break in a town's worth of houses
And rob whole families blind
I'd do it to you like you do it to me
If you knew you would get away fine

I'd drown all these crying babies
If I knew that their mothers wouldn't cry
I'd hold them down and I'd squeeze real soft
To let a piece of myself die

It's hard to be the better man
When you forget you're trying
Wt's hard to be the better man

I'd arrest you if I had handcuffs
I'd arrest you if I had time
I'd wait for you outside the courtroom
And taunt you when all your appeals were declined

I'd drive my car off of the bridge
If I knew that you weren't inside
With a pedal to the floor who could ask for more
a fantastic way to kill some time

You could lay on your back and be beaten
You could put up your fists and fight
You could try and be way up
Way up way up way up
Way up way up way up
Way up

It's hard be the better man
When you forget you're trying
It's hard to be the better man
When you're still lying
It's hard to be the better man
When you forget you're trying
It's hard to be the better man
When you're still lying
You're still lying

Malaria death toll grows while Greens vilify solution

2010-09-22T02:54:00.002Z

from CFACT:

The Centers For Disease Control (CDC) was formed in 1946 specifically to fight malaria. Its primary weapon was DDT, which it sprayed on over 4.5 million American homes. It worked, and by 1951 malaria had been eradicated from the United States. Since then, a variety of green groups have waged a campaign to ban this valuable weapon, and have succeeded to a large degree. Ineffective bed nets are in. DDT spraying is out. CFACT's experts explain in the following articles why reinstating DDT as a tool in the fight against global malaria is a matter of life and death.

Clinton to unveil US funds for clean cookstove push

2010-09-21T13:43:00.002Z

from Reuters:
Some 1.9 million premature deaths, mostly among women and young children, occur every year due to smoke inhalation from rudimentary stoves, which in many cases consist of a few stones and an open fire inside or outside a shelter, officials said.

Smoke from such cooking methods can lead to childhood pneumonia, lung cancer, bronchitis and cardiovascular disease...

The Art of the YouTube Video

2010-09-20T16:06:00.002Z

from Boston.com:

Are YouTube videos art? The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum thinks they might be. A team from the museum has selected 125 YouTube videos to appear in an exhibit called "YouTube Play: A Biennial of Creative Video."

Andy Stanley...Marriage and Expectations

2010-09-20T02:45:00.000Z

Brand New...Jesus Christ

2010-09-19T22:31:00.003Z

Laurie Anderson...Only an Expert

2010-09-19T22:08:00.001Z

Jason & the Scorchers...Mona Lee

2010-09-19T22:04:00.001Z

The American...movie review by Crosswalk

2010-09-18T04:48:00.001Z

"Rating: R (for brief strong language, strong sexual content, nudity, and violence)
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 105 min.
Director: Anton Corbijn
Cast: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli

It's a rare thing when a movie achieves the psychological depth of a novel (though many try). Movies need not do so to be great, certainly, but when they do the result is absorbing. The American is one such rarity, and is so by not using any literary tricks at all.

A particularly distinguished thriller, too, in that The American is driven by character rather than plot. In a genre almost-by-rule defined by high concepts and plot mechanics, it's daring to slow down, thin the narrative, and really explore a man's nature more intensely than the danger he finds himself in. "

City of Ember...movie review by Charity's Place

2010-09-18T04:42:00.002Z

"Our rating: 5 out of 5
Rated: PG

Reviewer: Charity Bishop

I remember seeing previews for this in the theater and thinking nothing more of it. I assumed it would be rather dull and not worth my time. I was wrong.

Imagine yourself living in a world of complete darkness, apart from the power generated lights that illuminate the narrow streets of your underground civilization...Everyone must work, everyone must pull their weight, and everyone is increasingly concerned about the number of blackouts there have been of late. ...explorations of the various undocumented tunnels on a map will turn up a dark secret.. or that the key to humanity's survival is in a box in the back of a dark closet...

In The Light...DC Talk...written by Charlie Peacock

2010-09-18T04:28:00.001Z

I keep trying to find a life
On my own, apart from You
I am the king of excuses
I've got one for every selfish thing I do

What's going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I'm still a man in need of a Savior

(chorus)
I wanna be in the Light
As You are in the Light
I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens
Oh, Lord be my Light and be my salvation
Cause all I want is to be in the Light
All I want is to be in the Light

The disease of self runs through my blood
It's a cancer fatal to my soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring this sickness under control

Tell me, what's going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I'm still a man in need of a Savior

(repeat chorus)

Honesty becomes me
[There's nothing left to lose]
The secrets that did run me
[In Your presence are defused]
Pride has no position
[And riches have no worth]
The fame that once did cover me
[Has been sentenced to this Earth]
Has been sentenced to this Earth

Tell me, what's going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I'm still a man in need of a Savior

(repeat chorus 2x)

[There's no other place that I want to be]
[No other place that I can see]
[A place to be that's just right]
[Someday I'm gonna be in the Light]
[You are in the Light]
[That's where I need to be]
[That's right where I need to be]

The Rocket Summer...Nothing Matters

2010-09-14T01:16:00.004Z

Back and forth
I have come to this, so listen
If you are interested in it
I hope not too busy to miss
And this epiphany I just had

And I know it's not too sexy
That I'm singing about the blessings we get
When we give up ourselves for something good
It would be bigger than a promotion, motion-motion

Because nothing matters
Just tell yourself
Again and again
Nothing matters
But what we offer in love

And just today my boss came in
And said no way, no way
We don't have money money money
I got so mad, walked out the studio
And there was a man quiet and hungry
Down and out
True story, yeah uh-huh

Nothing matters
Pride will shatter
Our words will never be enough
Cause nothing matters
So I'll surrender to you Lord

And oh how the war wages on
The battle of my heart
The face of truth is what I want
And all that I've discovered is that

Nothing matters
Just tell yourself
Again and again
That nothing matters

Nothing matters
Pride will shatter
Our words will never be enough
Cause nothing matters
But love

The things that chase
That status i crave
Its nothing, its nothing
We invest in the bankers
But not in the Maker
Think about it

I am the culprit
I am no saint
How long will I stand here

Joe Pug...Hymn 101...and How Good You Are

2010-09-10T23:24:00.003Z

Disciple...Dear X (You Don't Own Me)

2010-09-09T14:19:00.001Z

Britt Nicole...Headphones...from Acoustic EP

2010-09-09T01:03:00.000Z

We Owe This To Ourselves...Anberlin...from Dark is the Way, Light is a Place

2010-09-08T14:23:00.003Z

since when did bullets
start to sing
it didnt have to end like this
is this the end of everything
it didnt have to end like this
i feel i feel we can't stop
here
it doesn't have to end like this
we owe this to ourselves
we can't just let this go
if every man became a king
we could start it off with this
we could do more than just dream
we could start it off with this
i feel i feel the change is here
we owe this to ourselves
to fight to lead
we can't just let this go

Salvo Blips...King Corn and others...

2010-09-08T03:58:00.003Z

from Salvo:

This is an eye-opening film about modern American agriculture and its impact on American food. Picture this: Cows are fed genetically modified corn that makes them sick (a corn-heavy diet is toxic to cattle). The cows are pumped full of antibiotics, slaughtered, and then sold to us as meat. We ultimately ingest the corn and the antibiotics. And that’s just one of the problems.

The Gospel of Wealth

2010-09-07T14:43:00.007Z

from NYT:

Platt grew uneasy with the role he had fallen into and wrote about it in a recent book called “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream.” It encapsulates many of the themes that have been floating around 20-something evangelical circles the past several years.

The material world is too soul-destroying. “The American dream radically differs from the call of Jesus and the essence of the Gospel,” he argues. The American dream emphasizes self-development and personal growth. Our own abilities are our greatest assets.

But the Gospel rejects the focus on self: “God actually delights in exalting our inability.” The American dream emphasizes upward mobility, but “success in the kingdom of God involves moving down, not up.”

Whatever happened to quicksand in the movies

2010-08-31T22:07:00.003Z

from Slate:

Access to sand and water may have given kids like me something that has since disappeared—a venue for a certain kind of wilderness fantasy, or "a peril over which the child's imagination has complete control," as Jesse, the quicksand fan, describes it. The ubiquity of sandboxes once nurtured the playful idea of being swallowed whole, while the kids who dreamed of quicksand sustained the movie myth. But in the late 1980s, nervous parents started to take our sand away. When they looked at the sandbox, they saw danger, too.

Why Nondrinkers May Be More Depressed

2010-08-31T21:44:00.001Z

from Time:

But if alcohol can lead to depression, does that mean abstaining from alcohol will make you happier? A new study suggests that the opposite actually tends to be true. In fact, those who never drink are at significantly higher risk for not only depression but also anxiety disorders, compared with those who consume alcohol regularly. Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1928187,00.html#ixzz0yDqZfaB8

Why Do Heavy Drinkers Outlive Nondrinkers?

2010-08-31T14:11:00.003Z

from Time:

"One of the most contentious issues in the vast literature about alcohol consumption has been the consistent finding that those who don't drink actually tend to die sooner than those who do. The standard Alcoholics Anonymous explanation for this finding is that many of those who show up as abstainers in such research are actually former hard-core drunks who had already incurred health problems associated with drinking.

But a new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that — for reasons that aren't entirely clear — abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one's risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The most shocking part? Abstainers' mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers. (See pictures of booze under a microscope.)

Moderate drinking, which is defined as one to three drinks per day, is associated with the lowest mortality rates in alcohol studies. Moderate alcohol use (especially when the beverage of choice is red wine) is thought to improve heart health, circulation and sociability, which can be important because people who are isolated don't have as many family members and friends who can notice and help treat health problems.

Loose My Mind...Starflyer 59...from Changing of the Guard

2010-08-30T03:24:00.001Z

Simplicity: It's Complicated

2010-08-30T03:15:00.002Z

from her.meneutics:

Should Christians hop on the 100-things bandwagon? Does material simplicity — spending and owning less — always lead to spiritual and emotional enrichment?

Burn Me Down...House of Heroes...from Suburbia

2010-08-30T03:04:00.000Z

BURN ME DOWN
When I was young I thought like a child,
And so i reasoned by what i could see;
Childishly. Show me the truth.
Is a kingdom just beyond reach?
Or is it hidden where it's plain to see?
Draw the curtain:
Revelation!
Make clear to me,
The mystery.
There's a spirit fire growing inside me,
Burn me down, burn me down.
There's a holy fire growing inside me,
Burn me down, burn me down.
Let it out...
Like shadow, like the sea mist,
I cannot grasp it yet it exists,
In the background:
Eternity,
Make clear to me,
The mystery.
There's a spirit fire growing inside me,
Burn me down, burn me down.
There's a holy fire growing inside me,
Burn me down, burn me down.
Let it out...
What will we do with all the old made new?
What will we do with all the dead made young?
What will we do with all the false made true?
What will we do? what will be done?
There's a spirit fire growing inside me,
Burn me down, burn me down.
There's a holy fire growing inside me,
Burn me down, burn me down.
Let it out...

Quelle horreur! Asterix surrenders to McDonald's

2010-08-27T16:02:00.003Z

from Telegraph.co.uk:
The mustachioed warrior and his larger-than-life chum Obelix, famed for defending a village in Gaul from Roman invaders, are shown revelling in a McDonald's outlet while the village's tone-deaf bard, Cacofonix, sits outside tied to a tree, his harp by his side.

...McDonald's has pulled off a remarkably successful rebranding exercise in France. It has Frenchified its menu, takes 80 per cent of its beef from national farmers and has a stand in Paris' annual agricultural fair.

And despite the country's reputation as the birthplace of haute cuisine, the French have shown their love for the American chain with their stomachs: France is the company's second-most profitable market after the United States. It is also the country where customers spend most money per visit.

Future of Forestry...Did You Loose Yourself?

2010-08-24T03:31:00.002Z

Fondly, you appease the commotion
Yeah, but seldomly does it give you the notion
When efficiency is the king of your motion
Do it anyway, you do it anyway

Echo, goes the info in your head
'Cause you're a techno and you're techno-bled
Beneath the undertow where the rest of you is dead
You do it anyway, you got to do it anyway

Did you lose yourself? Did you leave yourself behind?
Did you lose yourself? Did you let your heart unwind?

Flipside, waking daylight
You're fisherman
Moving further outside upon the Sea of Japan
Seeing life that you felt
You want it any way, you want it any way

Free-life, on the dream-side
You're just a fisherman
Seeing beautiful memories that have always been
And never been
You do it anyway, oh, you got to it anyway

Relient K...If You Believe Me

2010-08-24T03:28:00.001Z

I got a chill and I wanted to say it was you
Be still because what Im about to say is the truth
Unless we stretch until the point in nearly breaking in two
Wll never find our weakness coming unglued

A cracked sculpture I wanted to say it was you
Being vultures is why I feel the way I do
I fell in love and I wanted to say it was you
I wanted to say it was you

If you believe me
We can stand the test of time like no one else
If you believe me
It means you have to disbelieve yourself

A sudden wind and I wanted to say it was you
I never been so confused about who knows the truth
It began when I wanted to say it was you
Cause I swore you had your head in this too

If you believe me
We can stand the test of time like no one else
If you believe me
You know it means you have to disbelieve yourself
If you believe me

'Cause I'm here wonderin', "what could you be thinkin'?",
Though I know you're there thinkin' that I wonder that all the time.
I can still invade your thoughts when you're not with me;
Don't mind me, I'm just a parasite on your mind.
Yeah, don't mind me. I know you're wonderin' all the time.

If you believe me
We can stand the test of time like no one else
If you believe me
It means you have to disbelieve yourself
If you believe me

Infographic: How to Win in Rock, Paper, Scissors Every Time

2010-08-16T16:31:00.002Z

from The Jailbreak:

It's time to abandon Earth, warned the world's most famous theoretical physicist.

2010-08-16T15:54:00.001Z

From Colliding Universe:

In an interview with website Big Think , Stephen Hawking warned that the long-term future of the planet is in outer space."It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet," he said.

Double Dip? The American economy is in serious trouble

2010-08-16T15:28:00.003Z

from The Weekly Standard:

"...and the remaining weapons we have available to prevent a double dip are few indeed. We will try to avoid a long period of deflation of the sort that doomed Japan to a lost decade, but are not confident we can. That’s a free translation of what the Federal Reserve Board’s monetary policy committee said after last week’s meeting."

Hoodoo Gurus...I Hope You're Happy

2010-08-08T01:37:00.001Z

Eric Bibb...One Soul to Save...from Booker's Guitar

2010-08-08T01:35:00.001Z

Eric Bibb...With My Maker I am One...from Booker's Guitar

2010-08-08T01:33:00.000Z

Sidney the snail races to victory in world championships

2010-07-28T20:34:00.004Z

from Telegraph:
The gastropod won the final at the village fete in Congham, Norfolk on Saturday in a time of three minutes and 41 seconds.

His owner, 62-year-old Claire Lawrence from Litcham, Norfolk, was presented with a silver tankard filled with lettuce.

The world record of 2 minutes over the 13 inch course was set up by a snail called Archie in 1995.

The Myth of the Fairer Sex

2010-07-27T17:16:00.003Z

from The American Prospect:
Anyone who reacts with shock to the reality that women have the capacity to be immoral, malicious, and violent -- just like the guys -- hasn't paid enough attention in history class, much less to the nightly news.

Morals & the servile mind

2010-07-26T22:21:00.005Z

from The New Criterion: By “the moral life,” I simply mean that dimension of our inner experience in which we deliberate about our obligations to parents, children, employers, strangers, charities, sporting associations, and all the other elements of our world. We may not always devote much conscious thought to these matters, but thinking about them makes up the substance of our lives. It also constitutes the conditions of our happiness. In deliberating, and in acting on what we have decided, we discover who we are and we reveal ourselves to the world.

This kind of self-management emerges from the inner life and is the stream of thoughts and decisions that make us human. To the extent that this element of our humanity has been appropriated by authority, we are all diminished, and our civilization loses the special character that has made it the dynamic animator of so much hope and happiness in modern times.

It is this element of dehumanization that has produced what I am calling “the servile mind.” The charge of servility or slavishness is a serious one. It emerges from the Classical view that slaves lacked the capacity for self-movement and had to be animated by the superior class of masters. They were creatures of impulse and passion rather than of reason. Aristotle thought that some people were “natural slaves.”

In our democratic world, by contrast, we recognize at least some element of the “master” (which means, of course, self-managing autonomy) in everyone. Indeed, in our entirely justified hatred of slavery, we sometimes think that the passion for freedom is a constitutive drive of all human beings. Such a judgment can hardly survive the most elementary inspection of history.

The experience of both traditional societies and totalitarian states in the twentieth century suggests that many people are, in most circumstances, happy to sink themselves in some collective enterprise that guides their lives and guarantees them security. It is the emergence of freedom rather than the extent of servility that needs explanation.

Forgiveness Means Giving Up All Hope for a Better Past

2010-07-23T17:52:00.004Z

from Brains on Purpose:

When we refuse to forgive it’s as if we’re holding onto the past and saying “see past, I’m not going to let you have the pleasure of me letting go of you.” Meanwhile, the past is the past, it’s not happening right now in the present moment, or is it?

We keep the past alive by holding tightly to it, so perhaps it is occurring in this present moment. Now, I’m not suggesting we forget the past for the past is our teacher, however, I am suggesting that we loosen our grip on it a bit.

In a past post I asked you to consider this experiment:

“Think of someone in your life right now (maybe not the most extreme person) who you are absolutely holding a grudge against right now. There is no way you are willing to forgive this person right now for their actions. Picture that person and hold onto that unwillingness to forgive. Now, just observe what emotions are there; Anger, resentment, sadness? Also notice how you are holding your body right now, is it tense anywhere or feeling heavy? Now bring awareness to your thoughts; are they hateful and spiteful thoughts?”

4 Steps to Stress Management: An Interview with Jeffrey Schwartz, M.D.

2010-07-23T17:48:00.003Z

from Brains on Purpose:

There is a tremendous power to using labeling. Putting a linguistic label on it and doing it with a cognitive reframe. Here’s the heart of the answer, as you do these steps you begin using your impartial spectator or mindful awareness. What you want to do is get that 3rd person perspective on 1st person experience. All of these techniques are really geared toward enabling people to get a 3rd person perspective on 1st person experience.

Now being a serious Christian, I’m certainly more than happy for people to bring Jesus in as the impartial spectator. I believe this will be more than just a cognitive reframing, but certainly also a cognitive reframing. It’s probably the best way to get a real 3rd person to have a perspective on your 1st person experience. Because Jesus has access to that and Jesus can help you manage it.

FIVE THINGS: MARY ROACH IN SPACE...book review

2010-07-23T17:12:00.004Z

from Economist: Given that Mary Roach has written about sex, cadavers, leeches and the human soul, it should come as no surprise that her forthcoming book, "Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void", addresses such phenomena as “fecal popcorning”, weightless burping, and the exigencies of puking in your helmet during a spacewalk.

Her newest endeavour is an exploration of the human relationship with outer space. It takes the author on a shiver-inducing tour through simulation facilities, isolation chambers and NASA research centres, where she asks the questions a layperson might be too embarrassed to articulate. The book that results is a space manual filtered through the lens of Roach’s ingenious reporting and wry humour. Herewith, five things More Intelligent Life learned along the way:

Angus and Julia Stone...And the Boys

2010-07-23T17:09:00.002Z

It´s been days now and you change your mind again it feels like years
and i can tell how time can bend your ideas
and the boys go on and on

and there´s gold falling from the ceiling of this world
falling from the heartbeat of this girl
falling from the things we should have learned
falling from the things we could have heard
well it´s been days now
and you change your mind again

all the cracks in the walls
reminds you of things we said
and i could tell you that i wont hurt you this time
but it´s just safer to keep you in this heart of mine

and there´s gold falling from the ceiling of this world
falling from the heartbeat of this girl
falling from the things we could have learned
falling from the things we could have heard

and there´s gold falling from the ceiling of this world
falling from the heartbeat of this girl
falling from the things we could have learned
falling from the things we could have heard
falling from the people that we heard
falling from the love we never earned
falling from the sky that should have burned
falling from my heart

Following Christ at a Porn Convention

2010-07-21T15:00:00.003Z

from Her.meneutics:
As we leave, my heart is heavy thinking of Ann’s unspoken past. Her table was laden with porn that she has been creating for years. Is she the one who might reach out for a listening ear via Heather’s e-mail address? I tell Heather how I feel, and she feels the same. I encourage her to return to Ann’s table, while I wait downstairs and dump my porno fliers in the garbage. She returns in five minutes. “I told her she was a beautiful woman, and that she ever wanted a listening ear, please contact me. Then she asked my name.”

We drive home, praising God for our conversations, thanking him that he knows the women’s real names. We pray he waters the seeds we may have planted and sends other Christ-lovers to these women.

On Sunday in worship, I picture the seraphim and angels surrounding the Lord as we sing in praise. I see all in bright white. My soul is full and feels clean as I sing.

The darkness has no place in the kingdom of God. I belong here, one of his people, his beloved sons and daughters, cleansed from all selfishness and sin. Tears stream down my face as I picture the faces of Ann, Kelly, Lisa, and others at the convention. I long for them to know the freedom and glory of belonging to this heavenly family.

Our Abandonment of Self-Denial

2010-07-21T14:56:00.004Z

from Just Thomism:
Two of Christianity’s greatest cultural and social contributions are concern for the powerless and self-denial. The first is well known and still quite vibrant. The second no longer exists as a christian cultural or social force.

We are asked to deny ourselves things for the environment or for health reasons (like to stop smoking, eating trans fats or exploited animals, or burning fossil fuels), but none of these demands fasting or any other kind of general carnal restraint, and none are seen as a part of a way of life that would deny us carnal pleasures in any sort of general way for the sake of something higher. In our society, though one hand might take away fuels, fats, and tobacco; the other offers dope, condoms, credit cards, 1000 channels, any toy or book or consumer good we could want…

"This Time is Different" book review

2010-07-09T15:17:00.004Z

from NYT:
“Everyone wants to think they’re smarter than the poor souls in developing countries, and smarter than their predecessors,” says Carmen M. Reinhart, an economist at the University of Maryland. “They’re wrong. And we can prove it.”

Like a pair of financial sleuths, Ms. Reinhart and her collaborator from Harvard, Kenneth S. Rogoff, have spent years investigating wreckage scattered across documents from nearly a millennium of economic crises and collapses. They have wandered the basements of rare-book libraries, riffled through monks’ yellowed journals and begged central banks worldwide for centuries-old debt records. And they have manually entered their findings, digit by digit, into one of the biggest spreadsheets you’ve ever seen.

The New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Brooks, for example, praised the book as “the best explanation of the crisis” but referred to it as a history book, rather than a work of economic analysis, since it is “almost entirely devoid of theory.” (The implication being, of course, that genuine “economic analysis” must be hypertheoretical.)

Eggsploitation...The Movie

2010-07-06T16:51:00.003Z

from Signs of the Times:

The infertility industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar business in the United States. Its primary commodity is human eggs. Young women are solicited by ads on college campus bulletin boards, social media, and online classifieds which offer them up to $100,000 for their “donated” eggs. They will “help make someone’s dream come true” they're told.

But what about the target of the solicitation, the potential egg donor? Is she treated justly? What are the short- and long-term risks to her health? Are these issues even

The Euthanasia Drumbeat Gets Louder

2010-07-06T16:07:00.001Z

From Alive and Kicking:

The Euthanasia Drumbeat Gets Louder

Across the world, the inexorable push for accepting the new culture of death continues unabated.
It's not a pretty picture, because whichever way you turn, there is pressure for assisted suicide and euthanasia to become an acceptable and even hallowed part of the social fabric.
While the roots of assisted suicide and euthanasia are hardly of recent vintage, the contemporary ground zero in our lifetimes is the Netherlands. more

What is the What: Sudan, Manute Bol and Activistic Art

2010-07-06T14:46:00.003Z

from Scriptorum Daily:

Flannery O’Connor wrote that ‘somewhere is better than anywhere’. The mistake I make – maybe you make it, too – comes when I try to think about ‘the needs of the world’ or ‘the beauty of the world’ rather than starting with the needs or the beauty of somewhere in particular.

In a recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal praising Bol’s ‘radical Christianity’ and chiding sports journalists’ tendency to ignore the Christian faith that energizes selflessness like Bol’s, Jon Shields writes:

Bol reportedly gave most of his fortune, estimated at $6 million, to aid Sudanese refugees. As one twitter feed aptly put it: “Most NBA cats go broke on cars, jewelry & groupies. Manute Bol went broke building hospitals.”

Winter Bone...movie review Christianity Today

2010-07-06T14:40:00.002Z

Christianity Today recommends Winter Bone. Rated 'R':

It's is a hard film to classify. It's been described as a psychodrama, a Western, a suspense/thriller, and a whodunit. The story is rather faithfully adapted from Daniel Woodrell's novel of the same name; Woodrell calls his fiction—which is always centered in the Ozark region of his own upbringing—"country noir," and that is an apt description of the film as well. But this is "noir" all shot through with light, bleakness that is somehow achingly beautiful. However you definite its genre, Winter's Bone is a great, taut story animated by characters who refuse to fade after the final frame. It's sad and it's difficult, but it's very, very good.

Loving the lost and monstrous

2010-06-28T15:23:00.003Z

from Prospect:
Movie Review of "White Material"
"If you could put your finger on Denis’s trademark as a director, it might be her huge reservoirs of empathy, not just for the deserving but for the lost, the cruel, the monstrous. “This kindness, yes: this is something I’m aware of,” she says after a long pause. “Not because I’m a kind person, I’m not. I’m just kind to my characters. I can be unkind to someone in the street or in the subway, I’m a bad-tempered person, but I’m unable to be unkind to a character. They exist because of me and I have responsibility for them.”"

Natalie Merchant...Thank You

2010-06-25T02:54:00.001Z

Trevor Davis...Crazy

2010-06-23T13:12:00.001Z

Prince of Persia...Movie review by Charity's Place

2010-06-20T14:30:00.003Z

from Charity's Place:

Charity's place recommends this PG-13 movie...

If you're fond of the fantasy genre or were not concerned with the supernatural aspect in the Pirates films, this is no more pervasive and in some ways, less sinister since it doesn't involve the walking dead. It surprised me with the fact that it was simply fun to watch -- it doesn't require much emotional involvement but still manages to include a few wonderful moments and they were careful to keep the action scenes from becoming too repetitive. Overall, it's one of the more enjoyable experiences I have had in the cinema.