tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-437964542052755799.post3808047231343982171..comments2024-02-13T08:49:07.287-04:00Comments on 'Thought & Humor!': Wanna Fight???Professor Howdyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12189934292678757335noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-437964542052755799.post-13608116750290784432007-03-14T13:59:00.000-03:002007-03-14T13:59:00.000-03:00A man is playing the piano softly one night in a d...A man is playing the piano softly one night in a downtown bar. In walks<BR/>an elephant (told you it was silly) who goes over to the pianist, and<BR/>suddenly the elephant starts to cry. "There, there", says the pianist<BR/>"Do you recognize the song?" "No, no," says the elephant " I recognize<BR/>the white keys."Professor Howdyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12189934292678757335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-437964542052755799.post-42226938515164044142007-03-14T13:57:00.000-03:002007-03-14T13:57:00.000-03:00My Messy HouseJill CarattiniKathleen Norris tells ...My Messy House<BR/>Jill Carattini<BR/><BR/>Kathleen Norris tells a story of a little boy who wrote a poem called "The<BR/>Monster Who Was Sorry." The poem begins with a confession: he doesn't<BR/>like it when his father yells at him. The monster's response is to throw<BR/>his sister down the stairs, then to destroy his room, and finally to<BR/>destroy the whole town. The poem concludes: "Then I sit in my messy house<BR/>and say to myself, 'I shouldn't have done all that.'"(1) <BR/><BR/>The confession of Saint Paul bears a fine resemblance: "I do not<BR/>understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but I do what I<BR/>hate" (Romans 15:7). Norris further expounds the faithful candor of a<BR/>child: "'My messy house' says it all: with more honesty than most adults<BR/>could have mustered, the boy made a metaphor for himself that admitted the<BR/>depth of his rage and also gave him a way out. If that boy had been a<BR/>novice in the fourth-century monastic desert, his elders might have told<BR/>him that he was well on the way toward repentance." <BR/> <BR/>The journey of Lent posits an opportunity to peer at the monster within. <BR/>There are days in the life of faith when I question whether I am living up<BR/>to the title of Christian or disciple--or even casual pilgrim. In Lent I<BR/>find there is no question; I am not. "I have found only one religion"<BR/>wrote G.K. Chesterton "that dares to go down with me into the depth of<BR/>myself." For forty self-reflective days, this is what Lent asks of us. <BR/>What we find are messy houses, filled with hidden staircases built of<BR/>excuses, idols of good deeds atop mantels of false security, the home of<BR/>Christ in disarray at our own hands. <BR/><BR/>If we were to remain shut up in this place alone, we might begin to wonder<BR/>why we should ever hope for anything other than mess and wreckage. Paul's<BR/>confession marks the futility of our own efforts to clean the house. But<BR/>we do not make such a journey alone. In fact we should not have<BR/>discovered the mess had it not been shown to us. We are guided to these<BR/>places in our consciences, to images of ourselves unadorned, and finally<BR/>to broken and contrite hearts. Lent is our opportunity to be searched by<BR/>the Spirit of Truth, the Breathe of Holiness, God who maneuvers us through<BR/>messy rooms and sin stained walls and exposes our monstrous ways. It would<BR/>indeed be a futile journey if we walked this path alone. <BR/><BR/>Instead, the very Spirit that shows us the monster in a messy house shows<BR/>us the one who removes the masks and clears the wreckage. In a scene from<BR/>C.S. Lewis's Narnia, the great Aslan is seen tearing the costume off the<BR/>child in front of him. The child writhes in pain from the razor sharp<BR/>claws that feel as though they pierce his very being. With mounting<BR/>intensity, Aslan rips away layer after layer, until the child is<BR/>absolutely certain he will die from the agony. But when it is all over<BR/>and every last layer has been removed, the child delights in the freedom,<BR/>having long forgotten the weight of the costume he carried. <BR/> <BR/>The journey of Lent does not merely show us the depths of our sin and our<BR/>need for repentance. We are shown the weight of our masks and the extent<BR/>of our messes; we are handed the yoke of our own failures. And we are<BR/>shown again the one who asks to take them all from us. "Surely he took up<BR/>our infirmities and carried our sorrows... But he was pierced for our<BR/>transgressions, crushed for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:4-5). Through the<BR/>dingy windows of a messy house one has the clearest view of the Cross. <BR/><BR/><BR/>Jill Carattini is senior associate writer at Ravi Zacharias<BR/>International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.<BR/><BR/>(1) Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace (New York: Riverhead, 1998),<BR/>69.Professor Howdyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12189934292678757335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-437964542052755799.post-19344169069770243912007-03-14T12:33:00.000-03:002007-03-14T12:33:00.000-03:00Bono, Who Preaches Charity, Profits From Buyouts, ...Bono, Who Preaches Charity, Profits From Buyouts, Tax Breaks [Excepts]<BR/> <BR/>During the final concert of U2's world tour on Dec. 9, Bono, the Irish rock<BR/>band's lead singer, launched into "One," a song about a love affair gone<BR/>sour. "Did I disappoint you or leave a bad taste in your mouth?" he sang to<BR/>47,000 U2 fans at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.<BR/> <BR/>At Bono's command, some of the fans held aloft their cell phones and sent<BR/>text messages of support to ONE, the U.S.-based group that's lobbying the<BR/>U.S. government to donate an additional 1 percent of the federal budget to<BR/>ending poverty.<BR/> <BR/>Bono made the same tie-in for the lobbying group during most of the 131<BR/>concerts on the Vertigo tour, which began in March 2005 and was seen by 4.6<BR/>million fans in Europe, North America and Asia. They sent about 500,000 text<BR/>messages of support to ONE, according to the group.<BR/> <BR/>While Bono was making his appeal, U2 was racking up $389 million in gross<BR/>ticket receipts, making Vertigo the second-most lucrative tour of all time,<BR/>according to Billboard magazine. No. 1 is the Rolling Stones' current tour,<BR/>which by the end of 2006 had received $425 million.<BR/> <BR/>Revenue from the Vertigo tour is funneled through companies that are mostly<BR/>registered in Ireland and structured to minimize taxes. "U2 are<BR/>arch-capitalists -- arch-capitalists -- but it looks as if they're not,"<BR/>says Jim Aiken, a music promoter who helped stage U2 concerts in Ireland<BR/>during the 1980s and 1990s.<BR/> <BR/>U2 has sold about 9 million copies of the album linked to the Vertigo tour,<BR/>"How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," for which it owns all rights. In<BR/>addition, U2 sells merchandise at the concerts, such as a $30 T-shirt with a<BR/>photo of the band on the front.<BR/> <BR/>With his trademark wraparound sunglasses and cowboy hat, Bono is as famous<BR/>for exhorting world leaders -- from U.S. President George W. Bush to<BR/>Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern --<BR/>to give money to Africa as he is for his music.<BR/> <BR/>The 46-year-old Dublin native, born Paul Hewson, is also focusing on his<BR/>investments. Bono declined to be interviewed for this article.<BR/> <BR/>Bono's own dealings haven't always followed the altruistic ideals he<BR/>espouses, says Richard Murphy, a Downham Market, U.K.- based adviser to the<BR/>Tax Justice Network, an international lobbying group.<BR/> <BR/>Murphy points to the band's decision to move its music publishing company to<BR/>the Netherlands from Ireland in June 2006 in order to minimize taxes. The<BR/>move came six months before Ireland ended an exemption on musicians' royalty<BR/>income, which is generally untaxed in the Netherlands.<BR/> <BR/>"This is somebody who's exceptionally rich taking the opportunity to shift<BR/>his tax burden to somebody else, but then asking governments around the<BR/>world to spend that tax take in the way that he would like," Murphy says.<BR/> <BR/>In addition, Bono shares three homes with his wife and four children,<BR/>including a house near Nice in the south of France, a duplex apartment<BR/>overlooking New York's Central Park that he bought from Apple Inc.'s Steve<BR/>Jobs, and a gated estate in Killiney, 10 miles south of Dublin, with a<BR/>panoramic view of the Irish Sea.<BR/> <BR/>"We don't think this fits with Bono's image, and we're trying to get him to<BR/>recognize this fact," says Chuck Kaufman, a Washington-based spokesman for<BR/>the international Venezuela Solidarity Network, which supports the<BR/>government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.<BR/> <BR/>While Bono promotes charitable causes, he doesn't disclose whether he<BR/>personally gives any money to them and, if so, how much. These include<BR/>Amnesty International, the Burma Campaign U.K., DATA, which stands for Debt,<BR/>AIDS, Trade and Africa, the environmental group Greenpeace and ONE.<BR/> <BR/>"It's actually, I think, more honest to say we're rock stars, we're havin'<BR/>it large, we're havin' a great time and don't focus on charity too much --<BR/>that's private; justice is public,'' he told the Dublin-based Sunday<BR/>Independent newspaper in June 2005.<BR/> <BR/>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aqdKjGJi9cHc&refer=homeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-437964542052755799.post-42153462502952887802007-03-14T12:32:00.000-03:002007-03-14T12:32:00.000-03:00Meteorologist Likens Fear of Global Warming to 'Re...Meteorologist Likens Fear of Global Warming to 'Religious Belief' [Excerpts]<BR/> <BR/>An MIT meteorologist dismissed alarmist fears about human induced global <BR/>warming as nothing more than 'religious beliefs.'<BR/> <BR/>"Do you believe in global warming? That is a religious question. So is <BR/>the second part: Are you a skeptic or a believer?" said Massachusetts <BR/>Institute of Technology professor Richard Lindzen, in a speech to about <BR/>100 people at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.<BR/> <BR/>"Essentially if whatever you are told is alleged to be supported by 'all <BR/>scientists,' you don't have to understand [the issue] anymore. You <BR/>simply go back to treating it as a matter of religious belief," Lindzen <BR/>said. His speech was titled, "Climate Alarmism: The Misuse of 'Science'" <BR/>and was sponsored by the free market George C. Marshall Institute. <BR/>Lindzen is a professor at MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and <BR/>Planetary Sciences.<BR/> <BR/>Once a person becomes a believer of global warming, "you never have to <BR/>defend this belief except to claim that you are supported by all <BR/>scientists -- except for a handful of corrupted heretics," Lindzen added.<BR/> <BR/>According to Lindzen, climate "alarmists" have been trying to push the <BR/>idea that there is scientific consensus on dire climate change.<BR/> <BR/>"With respect to science, the assumption behind the [alarmist] consensus <BR/>is science is the source of authority and that authority increases with <BR/>the number of scientists [who agree.] But science is not primarily a <BR/>source of authority. It is a particularly effective approach of inquiry <BR/>and analysis. Skepticism is essential to science -- consensus is <BR/>foreign," Lindzen said.<BR/> <BR/>Alarmist predictions of more hurricanes, the catastrophic rise in sea <BR/>levels, the melting of the global poles and even the plunge into another <BR/>ice age are not scientifically supported, Lindzen said.<BR/> <BR/>"It leads to a situation where advocates want us to be afraid, when <BR/>there is no basis for alarm. In response to the fear, they want us to do <BR/>what they want," Lindzen said.<BR/> <BR/>Recent reports of a melting polar ice cap were dismissed by Lindzen as <BR/>an example of the media taking advantage of the public's "scientific <BR/>illiteracy."<BR/> <BR/>"The thing you have to remember about the Arctic is that it is an <BR/>extremely variable part of the world," Lindzen said. "Although there is <BR/>melting going [on] now, there has been a lot of melting that went on in <BR/>the [19]30s and then there was freezing. So by isolating a section ... <BR/>they are essentially taking people's ignorance of the past," he added.<BR/> <BR/>The only consensus that Lindzen said exists on the issue of climate <BR/>change is the impact of the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to <BR/>limit greenhouse gases, which the U.S. does not support.<BR/> <BR/>Kyoto itself will have no discernible effect on global warming <BR/>regardless of what one believes about climate change," Lindzen said.<BR/> <BR/>"Claims to the contrary generally assume Kyoto is only the beginning of <BR/>an ever more restrictive regime. However this is hardly ever mentioned," <BR/>he added.<BR/> <BR/>The Kyoto Protocol aims to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases to <BR/>1990 levels by the year 2010. But Lindzen claims global warming <BR/>proponents ultimately want to see a 60 to 80 percent reduction in <BR/>greenhouse gasses from the 1990 levels. Such reductions would be <BR/>economically disastrous, he said.<BR/> <BR/>"If you are hearing Kyoto will cost billions and trillions," then a <BR/>further reduction will ultimately result in "a shutdown" of the economy, <BR/>Lindzen said.<BR/> <BR/>http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200412/CUL20041202a.htmlProfessor Howdyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12189934292678757335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-437964542052755799.post-47900259287338551942007-03-14T10:37:00.000-03:002007-03-14T10:37:00.000-03:00OBSCURE AND UNUSUAL WORDS ****...OBSCURE AND UNUSUAL WORDS <BR/> ************************* <BR/><BR/>1) maunder mawn der (intransitive verb) <BR/> : to talk or say something in a vague, rambling, or <BR/> incoherent way <BR/><BR/> Early 17th century. Origin uncertain; perhaps formed <BR/> from earlier maund "to beg" in the literal sense of "to <BR/> keep on begging," or perhaps an imitation of the sound <BR/> of muttering. <BR/><BR/> The man had consumed so much liquor that he began to <BR/> maunder about politics but nobody could understand a <BR/> word he was saying. <BR/><BR/>2) boondoggle boon dawggl (noun) <BR/> : an activity or project that is trivial and wasteful of <BR/> time or money <BR/><BR/> Mid 20th century. Coined by the U.S. scoutmaster R.H. <BR/> Link for a braided leather cord made by Scouts. <BR/><BR/> The basketball team, after winning almost every game of <BR/> the season, felt that the practice was a boondoggle <BR/> since they were sure to win the championship game.Professor Howdyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12189934292678757335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-437964542052755799.post-50775868088213336652007-03-14T10:35:00.001-03:002007-03-14T10:35:00.001-03:00"Did you sleep well?" "No, I made a couple of mist..."Did you sleep well?" "No, I made a couple of mistakes."Professor Howdyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12189934292678757335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-437964542052755799.post-34904099915277448972007-03-14T10:35:00.000-03:002007-03-14T10:35:00.000-03:00I spilled spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone.I spilled spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone.Professor Howdyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12189934292678757335noreply@blogger.com