Obese teens: Overweight and healthy-weight teens smoke, drink alcohol at similar rates, study concludes - latimes.com

Obese teens: Overweight and healthy-weight teens smoke, drink alcohol at similar rates, study concludes - latimes.com: "Given what we do know about what their day to day life is like, extreme obesity in particular being highly stigmatized, we expected that these teens would be more socially isolated and more peripheral in a peer group, and therefore less likely to be exposed to high risk scenarios that a typical teen is exposed to.”

Zeller said she could have guessed an opposite conclusion—that socially, obese teens “are so impaired they are hanging out with kids who are more peripheral as well.”

But now the numbers, at least some of them, are in. Best not to assume."

DOMA: Republicans lose big-money law firm but keep key lawyer - CSMonitor.com

DOMA: Republicans lose big-money law firm but keep key lawyer - CSMonitor.com: "'I resign out of the firmly held belief that a representation should not be abandoned because the client's legal position is extremely unpopular in certain quarters,” Clement wrote in a statement. He added that his personal views on DOMA did not affect his decision, and that “having undertaken the representation, I believe there is no honorable course for me but to complete it.'"

Statue of Jesus, desecrated on Easter Sunday, restored on Monday | ajc.com

Statue of Jesus, desecrated on Easter Sunday, restored on Monday ajc.com: "Garrett said her initial reaction was “horror, and compassion for the poor souls who could be so affected by such evil that they could do such a thing.”
Church officials said the statue was just recently purchased with a gift from one of the parish’s 3,000 families.
“How heartbreaking for them, to have their gift so desecrated,” Garrett said. “How heartbreaking for them and for the whole parish.”"

Garden of Good and Evil

Isn't that funny!

One day you're here.

Same day you''re not.

Period!

Earth Day

Eli Stone: Two Ministers

http://www.hulu.com/watch/160452/eli-stone-two-ministers#continuous_play=on

Eli Stone:

Eli Stone: Praying for Time

Whoopi Goldberg's 'one really major regret' - CNN.com

Whoopi Goldberg's 'one really major regret' - CNN.com: "Goldberg was asked about the recent 'Newsweek' magazine report that said she was the most popular host of 'The View,' and she's more well-liked than Oprah. 'Well, I -- you know, I mean I'm thankful,' said Goldberg. 'I'm grateful. But I don't know really what it means.' So is Goldberg a 'voice of America in the morning?' 'I don't think of myself as the voice of America, but I do think that sometimes I see things from a different perspective, sometimes because of my race, sometimes because of my gender, sometimes because of my experiences.'"

Palm Sunday

Cat's amazingly cute encounter with dolphins becomes Internet sensation

Cat's amazingly cute encounter with dolphins becomes Internet sensation

Is Hell Dead? - TIME

Is Hell Dead? - TIME: "If the earth is, in a way, to be our eternal home, then its care, and the care of all its creatures, takes on fresh urgency."

Is Hell Dead? - TIME

Is Hell Dead? - TIME: "What many believers in the 21st century accept as immutable doctrine was first formulated in the fog and confusion of the 1st century, a time when the followers of Jesus were baffled and overwhelmed by their experience of losing their Lord; many had expected their Messiah to be a Davidic military leader, not an atoning human sacrifice."

Is Hell Dead? - TIME

Is Hell Dead? - TIME: "The traditionalist reaction is understandable, for Bell's arguments about heaven and hell raise doubts about the core of the Evangelical worldview, changing the common understanding of salvation so much that Christianity becomes more of an ethical habit of mind than a faith based on divine revelation. 'When you adopt universalism and erase the distinction between the church and the world,' says Mohler, 'then you don't need the church, and you don't need Christ, and you don't need the cross. This is the tragedy of nonjudgmental mainline liberalism, and it's Rob Bell's tragedy in this book too.' Particularly galling to conservative Christian critics is that Love Wins is not an attack from outside the walls of the Evangelical city but a mutiny from within — a rebellion led by a charismatic, popular and savvy pastor with a following. Is Bell's Christianity — less judgmental, more fluid, open to questioning the most ancient of assumptions — on an inexorable rise? 'I have long wondered if there is a massive shift coming in what it means to be a Christian,' Bell says. 'Something new is in the air.'"

iGOD II

Me:


If dogs are a man's best friend......

God:

How do you assume this statement holds true for me?

Me:

I wasn't finished! And man was made in God's image; a jealous God man then made mad. Is it possible that God is a female? Where does it say god spelled backwards couldn't be a BITCH?

God:

Perhaps I misunderstood. What were you? When was this exactly? Try to tell me that another way. I suppose it is possible, yes. You do not speak with respect. that God is a female? Where does it say god spelled backwards could not be a FEMALE DOG?

Ship of state - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The ship of state is a famous and oft-cited metaphor put forth by Plato in book VI of Plato's Republic. It likens the governance of a city-state to the command of a naval vessel - and ultimately argues that the only men fit to be captain of this ship are philosopher kings, benevolent men with absolute power who have access to the Form of the Good. The origins of the metaphor can be traced back to the lyric poet Alcaeus (frr. 6, 208, 249), and it is found in Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes before Plato.

Plato's use of the metaphor

Plato establishes the comparison by describing the steering of a ship as just like any other 'craft' or profession - in particular, that of a politician. He then runs the metaphor in reference to a particular type of government: democracy. Plato’s democracy is not the modern notion of a mix of democracy and republicanism, but rather pure rule by what he terms the poor masses by way of pure majority rule. Plato argues that the masses are too busy fighting over what they consider to be the right way to steer the ship to listen to a true navigator – representing his philosopher-king. Socrates, speaking for Plato, rhetorically asks “Will he not be called by them a prater, a star-gazer, a good-for-nothing?” It is ultimately seen, then, that the ship of state metaphor is a cautionary tale against rule by anything other than an enlightened, benevolent monarch-of-sorts."

Ship of state - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Yuri Gagarin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"In August 1960, when Gagarin was one of 20 possible candidates, an Air Force doctor evaluated his personality as follows:

Modest; embarrasses when his humor gets a little too racy; high degree of intellectual development evident in Yuriy; fantastic memory; distinguishes himself from his colleagues by his sharp and far-ranging sense of attention to his surroundings; a well-developed imagination; quick reactions; persevering, prepares himself painstakingly for his activities and training exercises, handles celestial mechanics and mathematical formulae with ease as well as excels in higher mathematics; does not feel constrained when he has to defend his point of view if he considers himself right; appears that he understands life better than a lot of his friends. —Soviet Air Force doctor,"

Yuri Gagarin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Antibiotic resistance: Bacteria are winning the war | Frank Swain | Science | guardian.co.uk

"None of us have the answers as to why the issue of antimicrobial resistance does not capture more meaningful attention by governments and governmental agencies.  The problem is that it is somewhat akin to climate change and so slow and insidious that people, and notably our politicians, are lulled asleep."

~Professor John Conly~

Chairman of the Board for the Canadian Committee on Antibiotic Resistance

~(Alexander Fleming)~

"In what has surely become the most ritualised medical practice since the Hippocratic Oath, the World Health Organization took to the stage again today to warn that the misuse of antibiotics was threatening to render one of our most potent medicines useless. This comes a decade after an identical appeal from the organisation warned of a global crisis in the making.

Health experts have been ringing the alarm over antimicrobial resistance for so long that it seems to have become part of our collective background noise, like the endless rasp of waves on the shore. And like stupid tourists, we sleep in the sun while the tide comes in."

Antibiotic resistance: Bacteria are winning the war Frank Swain Science guardian.co.uk:

Old Cell Phone commercial

Leonardo Da Vinci

Tim Tebow for Jockey® staycool

Book-burning: fanning the flames of hatred | Books | The Guardian

Book-burning: fanning the flames of hatred Books The Guardian: ".' Anyone who kills a man, Milton said, kills 'a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself'."

Tsunami Dog Rescued After 3 Weeks at Sea

Tax the Super Rich now or face a revolution Paul B. Farrell - MarketWatch

Tax the Super Rich now or face a revolution Paul B. Farrell - MarketWatch: "Here’s how one savvy insider who knows described this Super-Rich Delusion: “The top 1% live privileged lives, aren’t worried about much. Families vacation at the best resorts. Their big concerns are finding the best Pilates teacher, best masseuse, best surgeons, best private schools. They aren’t concerned with the underlying deterioration of America or the world, except in the abstract, because they aren’t directly affected by it. That’s not to say they aren’t sympathetic, aware, or don’t talk about the issues you bring up. They are largely concerned with protecting and enhancing their socio-economic positions, ensuring their families live well. And nothing you write about will change things.”"