I’ll be participating in symposium article relating to the topic of why so many people are leaving the Catholic Church. I haven’t much space in which to express my view, and with so many root causes, narrowing it down to something that really hits the mark is a challenge worth overcoming.
I’ve chosen to focus on [...]

Filed under: Catholicism | 16 Comments »

People who spend too much time in offices find much better uses for charts than sales projections and ROI analysis.
Good:

Better:

And my personal favorite:

For the whole Flickr song chart meme, go here.

Filed under: Funny | 2 Comments »

PUN ALERT: This gives new meaning to the term, “eye tooth”:
An Irishman blinded by an explosion two years ago has had his sight restored after doctors inserted his son’s tooth in his eye, he said on Wednesday.
Bob McNichol, 57, from County Mayo in the west of the country, lost his sight in a freak accident [...]

Filed under: Cool Beans, Fun with Science, What the...? | 2 Comments »

I started reading in The International Herald Tribune this morning about Dimitri Medvedev, the man chosen from on high to be Russia’s next President.
But I have to be honest - the story bored the hell out of me, so I gave up. Maybe I’m just not in the mood to read about how Medvedev will [...]

Filed under: Back in the USSR | 1 Comment »

It looks like the current one child policy may be coming to an end.
The bad news is that this lessening of the restrictions still sounds like it’s not going to be providing much additional breathing room. The communist government remains devoted to controlling population through coercive means.
What strikes me as most odd about this piece [...]

Filed under: Brave New World, China, Glimmers of Hope, World News | 3 Comments »

Taking pretty much the entire playbook from the Iraqi Information Minister, Iranian President Ahmadinejad has been making comments riddled with such fanciful hyperbole that it’s impossible not to laugh:
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared on Thursday that Iran was the world’s “number one” power, as he launched a bitter new assault on domestic critics he accused of siding [...]

Filed under: Epic Stupidity, Funny | 1 Comment »

The Associated Press is reporting this morning that the U.S. Economy slowed in the fourth quarter of 2007 to a virtual standstill.
Recession talk grows louder, the housing market continues to decline, the dollar fell again this week as inflation went up after the Fed cut the interest rate and oil prices are setting records like [...]

Filed under: Bankrupting America, Economics | No Comments »

I finally got around to reading about the passing of William F. Buckley, Jr.  I didn’t follow Mr. Buckley’s work and I found that when I did read him I certainly had plenty of disagreements, but the man’s life story reads like the kind I hope to have:
Mr Buckley, 82, suffered from diabetes and emphysema, [...]

Filed under: Legends and Giants | 1 Comment »

Ryan Goodrow of Murky coffee demonstrates in this classy video what real baristas do. (You don’t teach this in three hours, Starbucks):
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u_QQ1qDwPk]
For another cool video I can’t embed because Wordpress is a finicky little b@!* sometimes, check out this CBS news piece that includes some of Murky’s other finest in a Latte Art competition.

Filed under: Coffee. Yum. | No Comments »

I had a reader email me today to ask about blog strategy - how to build, maintain, and grow a good site. This isn’t the first time I’ve fielded questions on this topic, so I’ve decided to turn my response into a mini-guide.
I’ve been blogging since 2003. My site(s) have gone through many different evolving [...]

Filed under: New Media, Social Media, Tips and Tricks | 7 Comments »