February 2012
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RIP, High School Soccer?
The conflict between club and high school soccer — at least for the boys — is officially over. Club soccer wins.
On Feb. 10, the five-year-old U.S. Soccer Development Academy, which consists of 78 elite clubs nationwide blessed by U.S. Soccer as integral to its elite player development, announced that all teams will be on a 10-month schedule beginning with the 2012-13 season. (Some regions had...
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A Brief History of Lent: A (much needed) time to...
Woodcut by Gustave Doré (1832-1883)
History of Lent, by Father William P. Saunders, read more HERE.
The word Lent itself is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words lencten, meaning “Spring,” and lenctentid, which literally means not only “Springtide” but also was the word for “March,” the month in which the majority of Lent falls.
Since the earliest times of...
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The Top-Earning Grammy Winners of 2012
From FORBES; full story HERE.
Adele emerged from last week’s Grammy ceremony rich in gold—the British songstress nabbed all six of the awards for which she was nominated, giving her more wins than any other artist.
“It hasn’t really sunk in,” she said to a room full of reporters at the Staples Center late Sunday night, visibly giddy from her victories. “We all just keep laughing....
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A Brief History of Mardis Gras (Fat Tuesday): The...
Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday,” is the “last hurrah” before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That’s why the enormous party in New Orleans, for example, ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday, with battalions of streetsweepers pushing the crowds out of the French Quarter towards home.
What is less known about Mardi Gras is its relation to the Christmas season, through the...
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It's President's Day and You Have the Day Off:... →
How did religious beliefs shape the origins of the Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln’s actions during the conflict? As Northern abolitionists and Southern slaveholders clashed over the question of slavery, each side turned to the Bible to argue its cause.
Frederick Douglass, a former slave and abolitionist newspaper editor, despaired that people who called themselves Christians...
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“These days, my mantra is one I think Jesus himself used: Anyone, anywhere....”
– Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith by Bill Hybels
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Ash Wednesday: The Beginning of Lent.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting that prepares us to celebrate Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Following the example of the Ninevites, who did penance in sackcloth and ashes when Jonah announced to them their upcoming doom, foreheads are marked with ashes to humble our hearts and remind us that life passes...
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““I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.”...”
– Morning and Evening, Charles Spurgeon
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Apple’s Mountain Lion Makes the Mac More Like the...
Read the entire post from David Pogue HERE.
Apple’s iPhones and iPads get most of the attention, but Apple is now directing the spotlight on the Mac.
There had been rumors swirling that Apple was back-burnering the Mac, but that’s hard to believe after Thursday’s announcement: from now on, Apple will update Mac OS X once a year.
It will start this summer with Mac OS X 10.8, code-named...
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The Grammys: Does Anyone Stand a Chance Against...
From the NYT.
The Grammy Awards could end up much like the 2011 album sales charts did — as a race for second behind Adele and her top-selling album, “21” (XL/Columbia). This British belter, a critical favorite and seller of more than 7.5 million records (hard copies and digital) in the United States alone last year, will surprise almost no one if she sweeps the big awards on Sunday,...
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“The empowerment of Jesus through God the Holy Spirit is repeatedly stressed in...”
– Vintage Church: Timeless Truths and Timeless Methods, Mark Driscoll
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8 Million Pounds of Guacamole
The Super Bowl should be a national holiday — people are sure treating the Super Sunday that way. It’s a day of food; a day to get together with friends and family; a day to check out the newest commercials; and a day to watch football. A record number of people — 151.6 million — are projected to watch at least a part of the game.
Football almost gets overshadowed in this spectacle....
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The Surprising Story Of The Frito
From NPR; rest of the story HERE.
This Super Bowl Sunday, millions of Americans will watch the game with bowls of corn-based snacks at their side. Whether you prefer Doritos, Cheetos, or even Funyons, you owe the pleasure of that crunchy munchy to the humble corn curl that started it all: the Frito.
This week, our friends at Smithsonian’s Food & Think blog trace the origins of the...
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“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors.” Romans 8:12
As God’s...”
– Morning and Evening, Charles Spurgeon
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The Economy: What's Wrong and How to Fix It
OK, that’s biting off a lot, I know. But really, isn’t that the question you’d like answered?
I’m here to help. I’m from the wonk world, and the folks at Rolling Stone have asked me to contribute a weekly online column starting next year. I’m jumping the gun here because … well, because there’s just so much wrong with the way we’re going at economic policy in America right now, and some of the...
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Watchnpr:
A Lego in space.
guardiancomment:
guardian:
Video: Youtube/mathewmho
Lego man in space: one (very) small step
Two teenagers from Toronto sent a Lego man carrying a Canadian flag into the stratosphere. Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both 17, attached four cameras to a balloon carrying the toy astronaut 24km above Earth. A week after launch they recovered their Lego man in a field, and...
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Why Mitt Romney's Mormonism Doesn't Matter
I’ve never been impressed with the argument that Mitt Romney makes for a weak Republican nominee because conservatives don’t like him. That’s not how that party works. Like they say, “Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line.” Don’t believe me? Think back four years. When the race was still up in the air, the venom aimed at McCain was ten times worse...
January 2012
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In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad
I use my iPad everyday. It’s fun and truly a marvel. I also read that Apple now has nearly $100 BILLION in cash on its balance sheet. And nearly 700,000 jobs overseas primarily through its supply base. The time of just blissfully ignoring how something is made is over; we all need to count all the costs of what we use and enjoy. We can’t just bask in the fun of a new iPad and act like...
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Scientists try to bring back ladybugs
ITHACA, N.Y. — New York state’s official insect, the nine-spotted ladybug, is making a comeback in a fourth-floor laboratory on Cornell University’s campus.
Once extremely common in New York, the nine-spotted became rare over the last 40 years and was even thought to be extinct, said Leslie Allee, a Cornell entomologist.
Allee and another Cornell entomologist, John Losey,...
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“The genius of Martin Luther ran up against a legal dilemma that he could not...”
– The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul
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WatchNorthern Lights
This is not CGI or Hollywood magic. This is God the artist with His paintbrush in all of its glory. In a beautiful place I like called Norway. Enjoy and simply ponder.
condenasttraveler:
Northern Lights over Norwegian Laplands
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Once Hidden by Forest, Carvings in Land Attest to...
From the NYT; full story HERE.
RIO BRANCO, Brazil — Edmar Araújo still remembers the awe.
As he cleared trees on his family’s land decades ago near Rio Branco, an outpost in the far western reaches of the Brazilian Amazon, a series of deep earthen avenues carved into the soil came into focus.
“These lines were too perfect not to have been made by man,” said Mr. ...
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WatchMore of “Less is More”
Watch the University of Edinburgh’s Harald Haas discuss how future wireless data can be transmitted through lightbulbs.
When we use smartphones or tablet PCs to surf the internet, check emails, share pictures, engage in social networking, or store information in a cloud, we make use of wireless communications technology.
Traditionally, all the...