Something to keep in mind

“The problem with Internet quotations is that many of them are not genuine.” — Abraham Lincoln

Far out, man

Tune in, turn on, and click the image . . .

How to Start a Movement

I discuss "150 Bible Verses" with host Doug Keck on EWTN's "Bookmark" show

Dang

My kids’ Christmas gifts have all broken already. That’s what I get for buying them Waterford crystal.

I loved his music

Gerry Rafferty‘s distinctive voice is well-known to any radio-listening Westerner over the age of 40. With hits like “Stuck in the Middle With You” and the 1978 smash “Baker Street” (what a song), he contributed something important, if minor and intermittent, to the 1970s’ music scene. He died today at just 63. May he rest in peace. May the Lord grant him pardon and peace, and may perpetual light shine upon him.  

A primer on the difference between devotion and superstition

Here’s the entire “Catholic Answers Live” show from yesterday, January 3rd. One of the issues we covered in this show is the superstitious practice of burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard of a house one is trying to sell. As you’ll hear, I don’t look at all favorably on that deplorable custom. One of the most intriguing calls came from a man named Larry, whom I assume is Catholic (or perhaps he’s just “Catholic”). He argued that Catholic piety regarding reverence toward the Eucharist is “superstitious.” You read that right. I’ve fielded thousands of Catholic-related questions over the years, but that one was among the most bizarre. Take a listen and please feel free to weigh in with your own thoughts on that or anything else we covered (or should have covered) in this show.


P.S. The debate on religious images and the communion of saints that I had with Protestant apologist James White (which I reference in this show) is available here.  

Map of American English dialects

Being born and raised in Southern California and living most of my life there (we moved to Central Ohio in 1997), I always thought that the “California accent” was so mild and flat that it hardly qualified as one at all. I still think that, though now that we’ve been living in Ohio for nearly 14 years, when I hear a fellow Californian speak, it’s distinctive enough for me to notice. Native Ohioans are a much different story. I can always tell when I’m speaking with someone who grew up here, especially when they say the words “boosh” (bush) and “poosh” (push). Another common one is that they say “Nerk a-HI-ya” for “Newark, Ohio.” There are other noticeable idosyncracies, to be sure. And I have no doubt that we Californians sound kind of odd to them, as well. Without question, the rise of popular television programs broadcast coast-to-coast, as well as Hollywood movies, not to mention the great increase in transience that followed in the wake of President Eisenhower’s Interstate construction initiative) contributed greatly to the general flattening of regional accents. We’re quite far away from anything resembling a homogeneous American dialect — I strongly doubt that such a thing could ever develop — but it seems to me that the regional quirks in dialect are slowly becoming, if I may be forgiven for putting it this way, less pronounced.

Costa Rican Leaf-Cutter Ants are ready for their close-up

The woman who inspired the iconic WWII "Rosie the Riveter" poster has died

“Geraldine Doyle, 86, who as a 17-year-old factory worker became the inspiration for a popular World War II recruitment poster that evoked female power and independence under the slogan “We Can Do It!,” died Dec. 26 at a hospice in Lansing, Mich.


“Her daughter, Stephanie Gregg, said the cause of death was complications from severe arthritis.


“For millions of Americans throughout the decades since World War II, the stunning brunette in the red and white polka-dot bandanna was Rosie the Riveter.


“Rosie’s rolled-up sleeves and flexed right arm came to represent the newfound strength of the 18 million women who worked during the war and later made her a figure of the feminist movement.


“But the woman in the patriotic poster was never named Rosie, nor was she a riveter. All along it was Mrs. Doyle, who after graduating from high school in Ann Arbor, Mich., took a job at a metal factory, her family said.


“One day, a photographer representing United Press International came to her factory and captured Mrs. Doyle leaning over a piece of machinery and wearing a red and white polka-dot bandanna over her hair.

“In early 1942, the Westinghouse Corp. commissioned artist J. Howard Miller to produce several morale-boosting posters to be displayed inside its buildings. The project was funded by the government as a way to motivate workers and perhaps recruit new ones for the war effort.
“Smitten with the UPI photo, Miller reportedly was said to have decided to base one of his posters on the anonymous, slender metal worker, Mrs. Doyle. . . .” (continue reading)

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