Random

JUST WONDERING -- If this is legit video footage, why is the seagull flying around at night and how is it that the owner was able to find and retrieve the camera? (via)

I'M LOOKING to start a ukulele band for beginners (children) through the church. Anyone have a sleeping uke or two that they'd want to donate? The most important thing is that the instruments are able to hold the tuning.

"WAR AND DROUGHT in Somalia are leading to an unprecedented number of people fleeing across the border into Kenya..." ~ BBC

"THE US STATE DEPARTMENT has placed the Federated States of Micronesia on its watch-list for international human trafficking." How big of a problem is this in Micronesia if they are only ranked as Tier 3? Or are they Tier 3 because the governments in the islands aren't so good at maintaining records -- especially when shame is involved? If they don't keep records then there must not be a problem. Still, I'm not sure that the US solution to the problem is going to work. My sense is that there needs to be a more indirect solution. ~ link

SHELDON GOOD:

Young and old enjoy spiritual formation for its social function. The future of faith lies in our capacity to engage in honest dialogue on the world’s spiritual and moral issues. In a social and cultural context that programs us to demonize rather than dialogue, honest conversations are more countercultural than ever. ~ link

This sounds so true on paper -- but in real life are the "dialogues" actually replacing the more didactic classes? My sense is that where Sunday School is disappearing it isn't being replaced with anything else.

HUFF HAS a "Create Your Own Religion Competition." Everyone is trying to be clever but they all sound like cheap knock-offs of something. There isn't much transcendence. Creating a religion isn't as easy as you might think it is. ~ link

I STILL say that "faith alone" makes sense and is totally biblical -- if faith is understood in its fullest sense. ~ link

NOMINAL DETERMINISM -- Do you think there is anything to it? Is there a link between your name and your fate? ~ link

I PREDICT that this will be a great success if the Vatican can find enough positive news to balance out the negative press they generate for themselves. It is a spiritual battle but sometimes it seems that they are their own worst enemy. "Pope Benedict XVI himself will give a cyber spark of life to a new Internet portal that gathers all Vatican news into one multimedia website, officials from the Vatican's communications office announced." ~ link

PREACHABLE: Stephen Colbert 2011 Commencement Speech at Northwestern University (jump to 13 minutes if you want to get to the profound part.)