January 2011
15 posts
Dinner and theology
St. Meinrad Archabbey Church
Will the advent of the e-book mean that priests will someday be incensing an iPad? Is the Bible in book form sacred but not when it is on an e-book? Why or why not? Isn’t the Word still the Word, whether it is on a stone tablet, a piece of papyrus, a parchment scroll, a book, or electronic pixels?
I had a spirited (pun intended) discussion on this subject at...
A Kamchatka martini please, shaken, not stirred
I am really out of the loop when it comes to liquor. Not only do I not drink the stuff, I never even heard of the top-selling brand in Ohio.
Here is a list of the Top 10 brands of alcohol sold in Ohio in 2010, according to a report from the state’s Division of Liquor Control:
The top 10 selling brands of liquor, by gallons sold, were the following:
1. Kamchatka Vodka: 407,277 gallons
...
Movies, news and more
We went to see The King’s Speech last night. What an excellent film! The driving force is one man’s painful personal struggle — the Duke of York’s (and future king’s) stuttering, or stammering.
Colin Firth is outstanding as his royal highness, a mix of haughtiness and royal arrogance and flawed humanity. He meets his match in Geoffrey Rush, a skilled and unorthodox...
Duke's loss, OSU's Gee, Gervais' 'Cemetery...
The Duke Blue Devils lost to Florida State on the basketball court last night. Maybe if I had been watching, they wouldn’t have lost since I’ve got a perfect record as a viewer this year. Just kidding about that, I’m not superstitious about such things.
But did anyone expect Coach K’s team to make it through the season undefeated? It ain’t gonna happen, pal. Not with...
Free speech has limits
It’s time to put a stop to the despicable and un-American actions of Westboro Baptist Church. It’s bad enough that this group has been demonstrating at soldiers’ funerals, but to picket the funeral of a 9-year-old girl who was shot to death in the Giffords attack? Put the Constitution away for a brief moment and lock these lunatics up.
From an Associated Press article about the...
State of Toledo
I was part of a panel discussion yesterday morning at Lighthouse Church in Toledo. The topic was the “state of the city” and my area was the city’s churches and religious community. Also on the panel were City Councilwoman Lindsay Webb, speaking on city government, and local business entrepreneur Kevin Lent, speaking on the local business scene.
Obviously, Toledo and many other...
Stephen King's column
I used some frequent flier miles for some subscriptions, since I never seem to get enough miles to actually fly anywhere.
One of the subscriptions was to Entertainment Weekly, which I usually skim through. It’s kind of funny, though, that I never noticed EW ran a column by author Stephen King until I read King’s 120th column in the Jan. 7 issue bidding EW readers farewll.
I guess I...
Dangerous rants
It’s hard to fathom the troubled mind of the 22-year-old lunatic who shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others outside a Tucson grocery store on Saturday.
People are trying to link this mentally unstable individiual’s actions to various political movements, but any effort to do so is futile and self-serving. The pundits and the activists who are trying make a connection are...
2 speaking engagements
I’ll be giving a talk tomorrow evening about my trip to Italy last May, and showing slides. The talk is for the “Boomers & Beyond” group at Calvary AG — in other words, the church’s senior citizens. I don’t think it’s open to the public but if you want to go let me know.
Second, I am speaking on a panel Sunday morning, Jan. 9, at Lighthouse Assembly...
And you thought your address was a pain to write...
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is the Maori name for a hill, 305 metres (1,001 ft) high, close to Porangahau, south of Waipukurau in southern Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand.
The name is often shortened to Taumata by the locals for ease of conversation
It's official - no it's not, yes it is, no it's...
Rich Rodriguez has been fired. There is joy in A-squared.
Update on Wednesday Jan. 5: Whoops, Rich Rod has NOT been fired.
Not yet, anyway.
I was told by a sports editor yesterday that Rich Rod was officially definitely fired. Then a few hours later I saw news reports saying he had not been fired. Last thing I know his status was still up in the air.
Such is the dependability of instant...
Is it bye-bye, Rich Rod?
The web is swirling with stories that Rich Rodriguez is getting fired today.
He had a meeting with University of Michigan officials at 2 p.m. There is a team meeting at 7 tonight after which an announcement is expected.
Michigan watchers have said his firing is “a foregone conclusion.”
The head football coach has been embroiled in controversy from the start of his tenure at U of M,...
We lost a great friend
Sad to tell you that Joan Russell passed away on Sunday morning. The local jazz matron was 77.
Joan was the co-owner of Murphy’s Place, the venerable downtown jazz club, along with her life partner, jazz bass giant Clifford Murphy.
Joan was a good friend through the years and she brought in many fabulous jazz musicians, enriching our lives in countless ways. Among the artists I saw at...
Odds and Ends
Got a phone call yesterday from a “minister” who threatened to beat me up. Said he would “eat my lunch”. Nice representative of Jesus Christ.
Wish I had caught this guy’s name but he got me by surprise. I do remember him saying several times that he is the pastor of Victory Temple in Sandusky, Ohio.
The guy was yelling about something he heard on the radio about an...