Pope Francis: 'I am skeptical' unity will be reached

Pope Francis: 'I am skeptical' unity will be reached: “We’re on this path [to unity],” the Pope said, “but we must wait until the theologians agree among themselves. We’ll never get to that day, I assure you. I am skeptical.”

In context, Pope Francis’ point was that unity is too important to wait for theological agreement. While he meant to highlight the pressing need to work together, the Pope nonetheless provided an unintentionally frank admission that full unity in the truth is unlikely.

A conservative blog for peace: The psychiatrist who chose conscience over enabling government evil, and more

A conservative blog for peace: The psychiatrist who chose conscience over enabling government evil, and more:

When should a psychiatrist refuse to treat a patient? If you were a psychiatrist assigned by the government to make torturers feel better about their lives, what would you do? That's not a rhetorical question. Back in the 1950s, the psychiatrist and philosopher Frantz Fanon was forced to answer that question, in his own life.

Science Shows Something Surprising About People Who Love to Write - Mic

Science Shows Something Surprising About People Who Love to Write - Mic:

No matter the quality of your prose, the act of writing itself leads to strong physical and mental health benefits, like long-term improvements in mood, stress levels and depressive symptoms. In a 2005 study on the emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing, researchers found that just 15 to 20 minutes of writing three to five times over the course of the four-month study was enough to make a difference.

ISIS: What the US Doesn’t Understand by Ahmed Rashid | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books

ISIS: What the US Doesn’t Understand by Ahmed Rashid | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books:

In contrast to al-Qaeda, however, ISIS has not made the US and its allies its main target. Where al-Qaeda directed its anger at the “distant enemy,” the United States, ISIS wants to destroy the near enemy, the Arab regimes, first. This is above all a war within Islam: a conflict of Sunni against Shia, but also a war by Sunni extremists against more moderate Muslims—between those who think the Muslim world should be dominated by a single strand of Wahhabism and its extremist offshoot Salafism and those who support a pluralistic vision of Muslim society. The leaders of ISIS seek to eliminate all Muslim and non-Muslim minorities from the Middle East—not only erasing the old borders and states imposed by Western powers, but changing the entire ethnic, tribal, and religious composition of the region.

An Orthodox view of Pope and Patriarch's Turkish encounter Vatican Radio

An Orthodox view of Pope and Patriarch's Turkish encounter Vatican Radio:

Pope Francis’ visit to Turkey, which concluded on Sunday, came exactly 35 years after the setting up of a joint international commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The principle purpose of the three day visit was to celebrate the feast of St Andrew together with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew 1st, spiritual leader of the Orthodox world.

10 Surprising Things That Benefit Our Brain That You Can Do Everyday | The Mind Unleashed

10 Surprising Things That Benefit Our Brain That You Can Do Everyday | The Mind Unleashed:

1. Your brain does creative work better when you’re tired.

Here’s how it breaks down:

If you’re a morning lark, say, you’ll want to favor those morning hours when you’re feeling fresher to get your most demanding, analytic work done. Using your brain to solve problems, answer questions and make decisions is best done when you’re at your peak. For night owls, this is obviously a much later period in the day.

On the other hand, if you’re trying to do creative work, you’ll actually have more luck when you’re more tired and your brain isn’t functioning as efficiently. This sounds crazy, but it actually makes sense when you look at the reasoning behind it. It’s one of the reasons that great ideas often happen in the shower after a long day of work.

The Origins of Aggressive Atheism - The Atlantic

The Origins of Aggressive Atheism - The Atlantic:

American faith has gone through many awakenings. Depending on how you count, there have been three or four distinctive surges of Protestant religiosity in the United States, marked by tent revivals, missionary work, widespread conversions, and, often, intense rhetoric about the consequences of sin. These "Great Awakenings" have been memorialized through texts like "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," a sermon delivered by the preacher Jonathan Edwards in 1741, who warned of the "fire of wrath" in hell.

So it's provocative to title your book Atheist Awakening. Oxford University Press's newest release on non-belief, by researchers Richard Cimino and Christopher Smith, claims to be the "first sociological exploration of organized secularism in America," tracing the evolution of the atheist community over the past several decades.

Orthodoxy in America: Will Increasing Political Conservatism Lead to Increasingly Becoming a High Church Sect? | Red River Orthodox

Orthodoxy in America: Will Increasing Political Conservatism Lead to Increasingly Becoming a High Church Sect? | Red River Orthodox:

Claude S. Fischer recently wrote an intriguing sociology of religion article for the Boston Review. The data is data that’s been well known for some time. The “spiritual but not religious” or the “nones” category is growing and growing fast. What is fascinating in this article, though, is that he correlates the rate of that group’s growth with political views. In sum, the more a church coheres with values of “the Christian right,” the less likely it is to attract members who believe in God but call themselves spiritual but not religious. In fact, the data suggests such churches not only fail to attract such people, but push such people away.

Free Syrian Army abandons Aleppo, leader flees to Turkey - MURAT YETKİN

Free Syrian Army abandons Aleppo, leader flees to Turkey - MURAT YETKİN: The Free Syrian Army (FSA), the recognized armed opposition group against the Bashar al-Assad in Syria, has ceased its resistance in Aleppo, Syria’s second biggest city, withdrawing its 14,000 militia from the city, a ranking Turkish security source told the H�rriyet Daily News on Nov. 17.

“Its leader Jamal Marouf has fled to Turkey,” confirmed the source, who asked not to be named. “He is currently being hosted and protected by the Turkish state.”

The source did not give an exact date of the escape but said it was within the last two weeks, that is, the first half of November. The source declined to give Marouf’s whereabouts in Turkey.

As a result, the FSA has lost control over the Bab al-Hawa border gate (opposite from Turkey’s Cilveg�z� in Reyhanlı), which is now being held by a weak coalition of smaller groups led by Ahrar al-Sham.

The source said some of the weaponry delivered to the FSA by the U.S.-led coalition in its fight against both Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) and the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria might have fallen into the hands of Ahrar al-Sham and al-Nusra, the Syria branch of al-Qaeda.

6 links that will show you what Google knows about you — Productivity in the Cloud — Medium

6 links that will show you what Google knows about you — Productivity in the Cloud — Medium:

Want to find out all the things Google knows about you? Here are 6 links that will show you some of the data Google has about you.

Analysis: The Khampepe Report, a crushing blow to SA’s diplomatic credibility | Daily Maverick

Analysis: The Khampepe Report, a crushing blow to SA’s diplomatic credibility | Daily Maverick:

For more than 12 years, the South African government fought to keep the contents of the Khampepe Report under wraps. Finally, they failed, and the details of a damning cover-up were revealed: Zimbabwe’s 2002 elections were rigged, and South Africa knew all about it. Zimbabwe has been paying the price for this ever since. Now it’s South Africa’s turn. By SIMON ALLISON.

Three-Hundred Sayings of the Ascetics of the Orthodox Church

Three-Hundred Sayings of the Ascetics of the Orthodox Church:

Once some thieves came to an old hermit and said, "We are taking everything in your cell." He answered, "Take whatever you need, my children." They took almost everything in the cell and left. But they missed a little bag of money that was hidden. The elder picked it up and went after them, crying, "Children! You forgot something!" The thieves were amazed. Not only did they not take the money, but they returned everything that they had taken. "Truly," they said, "this is a man of God."

Thank heavens for Justin Welby! � The Spectator

Thank heavens for Justin Welby! -- The Spectator:

This week, payday loan companies are facing reform (or in some cases oblivion) as new caps on interest payments come into effect. That the industry finds itself in this position is thanks, in no small part, to it having been hooked around the neck by the Archbishop’s crosier.

Welby has inspired reform of the industry not by trying to set himself up as the leader of the opposition in a cassock, but by acting as an effective leader of the Church of England. His approach to the payday loan industry was not to demand that it be banned, he being aware that an even darker industry of doorstep loan sharks would replace it, but to compete with it head on. He took the church to the needy by supporting credit unions which will do the job of Wonga but without annualised interest rates of 5,853 per cent and threatening letters from fictitious firms of lawyers.

Aids ‘family tree’ traced back to Kinshasa | Blog

Aids ‘family tree’ traced back to Kinshasa | Blog: Aids-related deaths have fallen by 20 per cent over the past three years, to 1.5 million a year. And the 2.1 million new cases in 2013 represents a 38 per cent decline since 2001. Increased access to drugs has improved the situation. Also, the number of men getting circumcised to reduce their risk of contracting HIV has doubled.

Rolling Stone Names President Obama ‘One of the Most Successful Presidents in American History’ | B. Scott | Celebrity Entertainment News, Fashion, Music and Advice

Rolling Stone Names President Obama ‘One of the Most Successful Presidents in American History’ | B. Scott | Celebrity Entertainment News, Fashion, Music and Advice

How Did Amazon End Up as Literary Enemy No. 1? | Vanity Fair

How Did Amazon End Up as Literary Enemy No. 1? | Vanity Fair: Amazon’s war with publishing giant Hachette over e-book pricing has earned it a black eye in the media, with the likes of Philip Roth, James Patterson, and Stephen Colbert demanding that the online mega-store stand down. How did Amazon—which was once seen as the book industry’s savior—end up as Literary Enemy Number One? And how much of this fight is even about money? Keith Gessen reports.

Announcing the Orthodox Illustration Project – Orthodox Arts Journal

Announcing the Orthodox Illustration Project – Orthodox Arts Journal: In brief, the purpose of the project is to make available online a collection of graphic illustrations of the highest quality. The collection will focus on iconographic drawings and related graphic ornaments stylistically suited to the illumination of printed Orthodox publications. The project will address the needs of Orthodox book designers, graphic artists, and many others, who desire excellent imagery for their publications.

Feast Your Eyes on This Beautiful Linguistic Family Tree | Mental Floss

Feast Your Eyes on This Beautiful Linguistic Family Tree | Mental Floss: When linguists talk about the historical relationship between languages, they use a tree metaphor. An ancient source (say, Indo-European) has various branches (e.g., Romance, Germanic), which themselves have branches (West Germanic, North Germanic), which feed into specific languages (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian). Lessons on language families are often illustrated with a simple tree diagram that has all the information but lacks imagination. There’s no reason linguistics has to be so visually uninspiring. Minna Sundberg, creator of the webcomic Stand Still. Stay Silent, a story set in a lushly imagined post-apocalyptic Nordic world, has drawn the antidote to the boring linguistic tree diagram.

Help mighty Mason fight for a good life despite Cerebral Palsy | The South African

Help mighty Mason fight for a good life despite Cerebral Palsy | The South African: After 13 years in the UK, Sasha and Blake Buckingham made the tough decision to move home. Their son Mason was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and they needed help.

Bolivia Is An Example of How Socialism Can 'Work' | Alternet

Bolivia Is An Example of How Socialism Can 'Work' | Alternet: Bolivian President Evo Morales last weekend won re-election by a smashing margin. His eight-year rule has weakened Bolivian property rights, indulged in frequent nationalizations and demonized capitalism. Yet it has also produced Bolivia's best growth rates in several decades, far better than the orthodox and admirable policies pursued in 1985-2003.

Thus Morales' policy of making Bolivian clocks run backwards seems reflected by the apparent successful defiance of theory in his economics. In reality, however, there is a fairly simple explanation, and it is an important lesson for other poor countries.

10 (insane) things I learned about the world reading Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” - Salon.com

10 (insane) things I learned about the world reading Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” - Salon.com:

Over the past year, I’ve been reading and reviewing Ayn Rand’s massive paean to capitalism, Atlas Shrugged. If you’re not familiar with the novel, it depicts a world where corporate CEOs and one-percenters are the selfless heroes upon which our society depends, and basically everyone else — journalists, legislators, government employees, the poor — are the villains trying to drag the rich down out of spite, when we should be kissing their rings in gratitude that they allow us to exist.

Good article, and a pretty good assessment of Ayn Rand's writing.

Sick of this market-driven world? You should be | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian

Sick of this market-driven world? You should be | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian: Today the dominant narrative is that of market fundamentalism, widely known in Europe as neoliberalism. The story it tells is that the market can resolve almost all social, economic and political problems. The less the state regulates and taxes us, the better off we will be. Public services should be privatised, public spending should be cut, and business should be freed from social control. In countries such as the UK and the US, this story has shaped our norms and values for around 35 years: since Thatcher and Reagan came to power. It is rapidly colonising the rest of the world.

Neoliberalism has brought out the worst in us

Neoliberalism has brought out the worst in us | Paul Verhaeghe | Comment is free | theguardian.com: Bullying used to be confined to schools; now it is a common feature of the workplace. This is a typical symptom of the impotent venting their frustration on the weak – in psychology it’s known as displaced aggression. There is a buried sense of fear, ranging from performance anxiety to a broader social fear of the threatening other.

Damaging Our Country from Wars of Choice � CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Damaging Our Country from Wars of Choice � CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names: Here they go again. Another result of Bush’s war in Iraq. Washington has already expended thousands of American lives, hundreds of thousands of American injuries and illnesses, and over a million Iraqi lives. The achievement: the slaying or capture of Al Qaeda leaders, but with that came the spread of Al Qaeda into a dozen countries and the emergence of a new Al Qaeda on steroids called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) which has nominal control over an area in Syria and Iraq larger than the territory of Great Britain.

Kenneth Hagin Sr.�s Renouncement of Word-Faith Teachings. - Sermon Index

Kenneth Hagin Sr.�s Renouncement of Word-Faith Teachings. - Sermon Index: Charismatic Bible teacher Kenneth Hagin Sr. is considered the father of the so-called prosperity gospel. The folksy, self-trained “Dad Hagin” started a grass-roots movement in Oklahoma that produced a Bible college and a crop of famous preachers including Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Savelle, Charles Capps, Jesse DuPlantis, Creflo Dollar and dozens of others—all of whom teach that Christians who give generously should expect financial rewards on this side of heaven.

Hagin taught that God was not glorified by poverty and that preachers do not have to be poor. But before he died in 2003 and left his Rhema Bible Training Center in the hands of his son, Kenneth Hagin Jr., he summoned many of his colleagues to Tulsa to rebuke them for distorting his message. He was not happy that some of his followers were manipulating the Bible to support what he viewed as greed and selfish indulgence.

The Posts Go Ever On: Guest Post on "War In Heaven" | The Oddest Inkling

The Posts Go Ever On: Guest Post on "War In Heaven" | The Oddest Inkling: War in Heaven, published in early summer, 1930, has, to my way of thinking, gone from a story set in the contemporary world to a classic ‘period piece’ without any loss of vitality. It was drafted, as The Corpse, four years earlier, having been finished in time to be offered to, and rejected by, Faber, by the end of May, 1926. I do not know how much or little The Corpse differs from War in Heaven as we know it. But the Twenties seem to have been a rapidly and even wildly changing literary landscape as far as ‘mystery’ and ‘detective’ stories went. And some facts about literary context at the turn of 1925-26 strike me as interesting.

It's Still Not the End of History - The Atlantic

It's Still Not the End of History - The Atlantic:

Most of us in the West are liberals, whether we admit it or not. We want equal rights for all, reject racial differences, cherish the freedom of worship while preserving the freedom to disagree, and seek an economic order that suits the ambitions of the individual. But there’s a growing sense that liberalism isn’t delivering at home and that it’s not as popular as we think it ought to be in the developing world. The problem is that hubris has blinded its defenders to the crisis consuming liberalism’s identity, leaving them unable or unwilling, to respond to pressing challenges around the world.

Notes from a Common-place Book: Philip Jenkins on the Reformation, both Protestant and Islamic

Notes from a Common-place Book: Philip Jenkins on the Reformation, both Protestant and Islamic:

2017 will mark the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation. In The Breaking of Images, noted Baylor scholar and author Philip Jenkins gets a jump on the anticipated flurry of commentary. The occasion of his piece is David Motadel's recent review of "The Politics of Iconoclasm: Religion, Violence and the Culture of Image-Breaking in Christianity and Islam" by James Noye. As Jenkins notes, "the review, and the associated scholarship, raises important questions about how we conceive of the Reformation, how we teach it, and significantly, how we will commemorate the 500th anniversary of the event in 2017."

Dalai Lama's visa still under consideration

In short: Dalai Lama’s visa yet under consideration: SA

New Delhi: Amid reports that South Africa has denied a visa to the Dalai Lama, the African nation’s High Commissioner to India France K Morule on Friday said his visa has not been denied yet and the application is under consideration. Morule said he will be meeting the Dalai Lama’s representatives here tomorrow on further action required to be taken on granting visa to the spiritual leader, who was going to attend the 14th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Cape Town next month.

Putin is under Satan’s influence, says leader of Kiev Orthodox Church | FaithWorld

Putin is under Satan’s influence, says leader of Kiev Orthodox Church | FaithWorld: President Vladimir Putin has fallen under the spell of Satan and faces eternal damnation unless he repents, a top Ukrainian clergyman said in an unusually blunt statement that squarely blamed the Russian leader for the war in Ukraine.

Patriarch Filaret heads the Kiev Patriarchate, a branch of the Orthodox Church that broke away from Moscow in 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union and the declaration of an independent Ukraine.

His church, a rival of the Moscow Patriarchate which is closely linked to Putin, strongly supports Ukrainian nationhood and the Kiev government’s struggle to defeat pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Why independent book stores are on the rise again

Independent bookstores rising: They can’t compete with Amazon, and don’t have to.:

The recent news of the opening of an independent bookstore on Manhattan’s Upper West Side was greeted with surprise and delight, since a neighborhood once flush with such stores had become a retail book desert. The opening coincides with the relocation of the Bank Street Bookstore near Columbia University, leading the New York Times to declare, “Print is not dead yet — at least not on the Upper West Side.” Two stores don’t constitute a trend, but they do point to a quiet revival of independent bookselling in the United States.

4 Things You Should Know About Russian Demography That Vanity Fair Won't Tell You - Forbes

4 Things You Should Know About Russian Demography That Vanity Fair Won't Tell You - Forbes: As is so frequently the case when mainstream magazines try to deal with demography, Vanity Fair presents figures selectively and without much context. We’re told that Russian life expectancy is currently 64 for men and 76 for women, and that this is quite poor by international standards, but we’re told very little about how this relates to Russia’s own recent history (hint: it’ a lot better!). I kept waiting for the article to tell its readers that Russia’s population has stopped shrinking, that the total fertility rate is at a more than two decade high, that alcohol poisonings have decreased sharply, and that Russia’s actual demographic performance over the past 10 years has consistently exceeded even the most optimistic official forecasts. It never did.

How the War on Terror Created the World's Most Powerful Terror Group | The Nation

How the War on Terror Created the World's Most Powerful Terror Group | The Nation: There are extraordinary elements in the present US policy in Iraq and Syria that are attracting surprisingly little attention. In Iraq, the United States is carrying out air strikes and sending in advisers and trainers to help beat back the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (better known as ISIS) on the Kurdish capital, Erbil. The US would presumably do the same if ISIS surrounds or attacks Baghdad. But in Syria, Washington’s policy is the exact opposite: there the main opponent of ISIS is the Syrian government and the Syrian Kurds in their northern enclaves. Both are under attack from ISIS, which has taken about a third of the country, including most of its oil and gas production facilities.

But US , Western European, Saudi and Arab Gulf policy is to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, which happens to be the policy of ISIS and other jihadis in Syria. If Assad goes, then ISIS will be the beneficiary, since it is either defeating or absorbing the rest of the Syrian armed opposition. There is a pretense in Washington and elsewhere that there exists a “moderate” Syrian opposition being helped by the United States, Qatar, Turkey, and the Saudis. It is, however, weak and getting more so by the day. Soon the new caliphate may stretch from the Iranian border to the Mediterranean and the only force that can possibly stop this from happening is the Syrian army.

Not All Pedophiles Have Mental Disorder, American Psychiatric Association Says In New DSM

Not All Pedophiles Have Mental Disorder, American Psychiatric Association Says In New DSM:

The new manual specifies that in order for an atypical sexual behavior to be classified as a mental condition, a person must:

1. Feel personal distress about their interest, not merely distress resulting from society's disapproval; or

2. have a sexual desire or behavior that involves another person's psychological distress, injury, or death, or a desire for sexual behaviors involving unwilling persons or persons unable to give legal consent.

Does (1) imply that repentance for sexual lust is a mental disorder?

That would have disturbing implications.

Keith Gessen: Why not kill them all?: In Donetsk

Keith Gessen: Why not kill them all?: In Donetsk -- LRB 11 September 2014:

When the Maidan protests started in Kiev late last year, Mishin followed them with increasing anxiety. He watched as young men in masks and the insignia of old Ukrainian fascist movements attacked riot police – some of them from the Donetsk area – with Molotov cocktails. He saw governors in the western provinces pulled out of their offices and roughed up by furious crowds. It seemed that the country was descending into chaos. When he heard a rumour that some of the young men from Maidan were headed for Donetsk, he believed it. After work he started taking the bus to the centre of Donetsk to stand with the protesters who called themselves ‘anti-Maidan’. Some of them waved Russian flags; others held up posters of Stalin. But they all wanted to express their disagreement with what was happening in Kiev.

What a Shaman Sees in A Mental Hospital | The Mind Unleashed

What a Shaman Sees in A Mental Hospital | The Mind Unleashed: What those in the West view as mental illness, the Dagara people regard as “good news from the other world.” The person going through the crisis has been chosen as a medium for a message to the community that needs to be communicated from the spirit realm. “Mental disorder, behavioral disorder of all kinds, signal the fact that two obviously incompatible energies have merged into the same field,” says Dr. Som. These disturbances result when the person does not get assistance in dealing with the presence of the energy from the spirit realm.

Why Russians will have it all! | Koshka's Blog

Why Russians will have it all! | Koshka's Blog:

1. Because they don’t give a damn about public opinion of the West about them.

2. Because they have their hand on the energy tap of the world – especially Europe.

3. Because Putin is a better strategist and a poker player than any of his Western counterparts.

Are you Church or Chapel? | The Vaishnava Voice

Are you Church or Chapel? | The Vaishnava Voice:

Vaishnavism has not always been immune from these schisms. The followers of the teachings of the great Ramanujacarya (1017-1137) were united for seven centuries, but then succumbed to conflict over cardinal philosophical points, eventually becoming the Tengalai (Southern School) and the Vadagalai (Northern School) sometime in the 17th or 18th century.

Two Understandings of Death: On the Dormition of the Theotokos

Two Understandings of Death: On the Dormition of the Theotokos: we will notice a profound contradiction between two understandings of death. Blessed repose, dormition, falling asleep – the word “death” is not used in reference to the Theotokos. Incidentally, another word used in ecclesiastical parlance is derived from here: “reposed” – not died or perished, but reposed. We see that there is a different understanding of death. On the one hand, there is the understanding connected with the triumph of the Mother of God; on the other, there is our ordinary understanding of death as a tragic end, as the termination of all things. One feels animal fear, the fear of death, before this tragic end. How greatly this fear of death contradicts the basic value judgments of modern society, a society of consumerism and prosperity! But this very society, imbued with false values, recognizes the impossibility of joining its ideals – those of unlimited consumption and pleasure – with the fact of death.

Our 'Enemies' in Ukraine Speak

Our 'Enemies' in Ukraine Speak: America’s ‘news’ media do not let the victims of Ukraine’s civil war — the people who are dying and being driven out from the southeastern regions of that country by the new Ukrainian Government — speak, and tell their story. Scenes will therefore be posted below from an admittedly overlong amateur video from southeastern Ukraine, in which they have been allowed to tell their story. This is being done here since U.S. ‘news’ media apparently don’t consider it something that you would want to know, and since you should be allowed to judge for yourself whether it is or not, and to judge why it’s not being reported on the ‘news’ sources that our ‘democracy’ offers to ‘inform’ America’s public about public affairs.

The 55 Essential Movies Your Child Must See (Before Turning 13) | PopWatch | EW.com

The 55 Essential Movies Your Child Must See (Before Turning 13) | PopWatch | EW.com: This isn’t a list of the 55 “best” kids movies, nor a compendium of hidden gems. Rather, it’s a survival-guide syllabus of films that we all need to know to be able to speak the same pop-cultural language, listed in order by when they might be best introduced. It starts with a film that is a perfect introduction to the cinematic universe and ends with one that is an ideal capper before graduating into the world of PG-13 and R movies—and the age when kids begin to make their own theater decisions.

The fabulous Alcock boys and how they took South Africa by storm | World news | The Observer

The fabulous Alcock boys and how they took South Africa by storm | World news | The Observer: They grew up in a mud hut, two blond kids regarded by their tribal peers as Zulus. So when the new dawn broke over South Africa, the Alcock brothers took the rainbow nation by storm - Khonya brokering land deals for 200,000 tribesmen, entrepreneur GG bringing the party spirit back to Soweto.

We scam the Indian call centre scammers | TechCentral

We scam the Indian call centre scammers | TechCentral: Regard-van-der-Berg-180At TechCentral, we get called on average at least once a week — sometimes far more often — by a friendly sounding Indian national warning us that our Windows computer is infected with a virus. The call, which originates from a call centre, follows exactly the same script every time. Usually we shrug them off and put the phone down, but this week we thought we’d humour them to find out how they operate.

When survival and accountability collide: Ramaphosa and Jordan's moments of reckoning | Daily Maverick

When survival and accountability collide: Ramaphosa and Jordan's moments of reckoning | Daily Maverick: Just days after a national newspaper exposed his academic qualifications as a lie, Pallo Jordan apologised to the ANC and to South Africa, and stepped down from his public positions. This week, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa finally appeared before the Marikana Commission of Inquiry to explain his role in events preceding the massacre of 34 mineworkers two years ago, an appearance during which 'sorry' seemed to be the hardest word for him. He still remains the most likely candidate to be the next President of South Africa. Jordan, on the other hand, is headed into the political wilderness. What does this mean for the ANC and for South Africa?

Lavrov: Ukraine ready to accept Russia’s humanitarian aid — RT News

Lavrov: Ukraine ready to accept Russia’s humanitarian aid — RT News: The Russian Foreign Ministry has received a note from the Ukrainian government expressing its readiness to accept the Russian humanitarian aid. The news came as Moscow agreed on the Ukrainian presence in the humanitarian convoy.

The arrangements for the humanitarian aid convoy have been completely agreed upon, with all of Kiev’s wishes taken into account, including the route, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters at a press conference in Sochi.

The New Cold War and the Necessity of Patriotic Heresy | The Nation

The New Cold War and the Necessity of Patriotic Heresy | The Nation: The Ukrainian civil war, precipitated by the unlawful change of government in Kiev in February, is already growing into a proxy US-Russian war. The seemingly unthinkable is becoming imaginable: an actual war between NATO, led by the United States, and post-Soviet Russia.

Certainly, we are already in a new cold war, which escalating sanctions will only deepen and institutionalize, one potentially more dangerous than its US-Soviet predecessor the world barely survived.

Stop poking the bear: A secure and prosperous Russia is in our national interest | Elizaphanian

Stop poking the bear: A secure and prosperous Russia is in our national interest | Elizaphanian: The principal driver of this crisis is the United States, seeking to expand the borders of Nato to the edge of Russia. They are seeking to humiliate Russia. This is not a strategy of statecraft but of small boys in a playground.

Elizaphanian | Trying to be a man who pleases God – If the Church of England were to fail, it should be found in my parish." (Keble)

Elizaphanian | Trying to be a man who pleases God – If the Church of England were to fail, it should be found in my parish." (Keble): The principal driver of this crisis is the United States, seeking to expand the borders of Nato to the edge of Russia. They are seeking to humiliate Russia. This is not a strategy of statecraft but of small boys in a playground.

Google and the right to be forgotten | Technology | Technology | Mail & Guardian

Google and the right to be forgotten | Technology | Technology | Mail & Guardian: On May 13, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ), the highest court in the EU, ruled in favour of Costeja González and against Google. González asked the search engine giant to remove some unflattering links from the results that appeared when anyone searched for his name. Google refused, and so he took the company to court.

We can all sympathise with González. When his home was repossessed in 1998, a notice appeared in a local paper and on its website. Most people would want to forget such an unpleasant and embarrassing event as soon as possible. But Google’s results continued to remind the world of the repossession more than a decade later.

With its ruling, the ECJ effectively created a new legal right – the right to be forgotten. Since the ruling, tens of thousands of requests for removals have been pouring into the system that Google built for their handling. But the current solution is both deeply problematic and impractical.

Fragmentation of News and Causes � CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Fragmentation of News and Causes � CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names: In the shadow of neocolonialism, criminal elements within NGOs, religious and otherwise, converge like so many hyenas on the unfortunate victims of the typhoon, for purposes of human trafficking. As in Haiti, soon the women and baby snatchers will be replaced by the likes of Bill Clinton, who will promise investments and reconstruction so long as the country’s assets are liquidated in a fire sale to corporations. More than three and a half years after its earthquake, Haiti is not reconstructed, but rather more demolished than ever before, and it is firmly under the boots of disaster capitalists.

The end of the hipster: how flat caps and beards stopped being so cool

The end of the hipster: how flat caps and beards stopped being so cool | Fashion | The Observer: At some point in the last few years, the hipster changed. Or at least its definition did. What was once an umbrella term for a counter-culture tribe of young creative types in (mostly) New York's Williamsburg and London's Hackney morphed into a pejorative term for people who looked, lived and acted a certain way. The Urban Dictionary defines hipsters as "a subculture of men and women, typically in their 20s and 30s, that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics". In reality, the word is now tantamount to an insult.

Genea-Musings: FindMyPast Acquires Mocavo, Mocavo Provides Free U.S./ Census Indexes

Genea-Musings: FindMyPast Acquires Mocavo, Mocavo Provides Free U.S./ Census Indexes: The Mocavo Genealogy blog post by Mocavo founder Cliff Shaw is at http://blog.mocavo.com/2014/06/new-chapter. The post highlights the announcement, plus provides a link to the U.S. census record indexes that are FREE (and Cliff says they always will be).

The link to search all of the census records is http://www.mocavo.com/1790-1940-United-States-Census/126199, and you can select a specific census from that page.

Genea-Musings: FindMyPast Acquires Mocavo, Mocavo Provides Free U.S./ Census Indexes

Genea-Musings: FindMyPast Acquires Mocavo, Mocavo Provides Free U.S./ Census Indexes: The link to search all of the census records is http://www.mocavo.com/1790-1940-United-States-Census/126199, and you can select a specific census from that page.

Zambia & Rhodesia Genealogy help: Christians of the Copperbelt

Zambia & Rhodesia Genealogy help: Christians of the Copperbelt: Here is a surprising find -- a recent book on the internet archive, in full: Christians of the Copperbelt. For the purposes of this blog, the bonus is that the book has an index including a list of names of people who were influential in the early church on the Copperbelt of Northern Rhodesia.

This account by John V. Taylor and Dorothea A. Lehmann was published in 1961 as part of the World Mission Study series. The book is based on an eight and a half month study undertaken in 1958 and particularly at Nchanga Mine in Chingola and in the township of Kansuswa near Mufulira. Although mainly about the Copperbelt, the authors also worked in rural areas elsewhere in the country, including Northern and Luapula Provinces. The authors say that the time they allowed for their work was too little and that suspicion of political motive hampered their success in interviewing local people. Nevertheless, there will be much of interest here to anyone with missionary roots, to help understand the story of the growth of the Christian church in Zambia, particularly at the time of the transition to independence, and to help understand the impacts of urbanisation. Also of interest is the study of Alice Lenshina's Lumpa Church before its bloody clash with UNIP just before independence in 1964.

Ayn Rand-loving CEO destroys his empire - Salon.com

Ayn Rand-loving CEO destroys his empire - Salon.com: The invisible hand waves bye-bye to Eddie Lampert, whose business plan has run Sears into the ground

Flannery O'Connor: Friends Don't Let Friends Read Ayn Rand (1960) - | Open Culture

Flannery O'Connor: Friends Don't Let Friends Read Ayn Rand (1960) - | Open Culture: I hope you don’t have friends who recommend Ayn Rand to you. The fiction of Ayn Rand is as low as you can get re fiction. I hope you picked it up off the floor of the subway and threw it in the nearest garbage pail. She makes Mickey Spillane look like Dostoevsky.

Cherie's Place -- Avebury

Cherie's Place -- Avebury: Avebury is a fascinating site that connects to other prominent features in the ancient landscape. What remains of the Avebury Circles is largely reconstructed. In the 1930s Alexander Keiller having purchased the site of Avebury and part of West Kennet Avenue started to excavate the site and in time restore the site to some of its former glory. Where stones had been removed he placed concrete plinths to mark their former position. The outbreak of WWII put a stop to the excavations and restoration. Sadly the excavations have never been resumed.

Facebook email switch continues causing problems - latimes.com

Facebook email switch continues causing problems - latimes.com: After causing a raucous week by changing users' listed email addresses to ones ending in @facebook.com, Facebook's switch is causing yet another embarrassment for the company and problem for many users.

The email switch has gone beyond the walls of Facebook, according to various users, who are saying that the change is affecting the emails listed in their contact books.

Across the Web, people are saying the emails listed for many of their contacts in their address books have been replaced by @facebook.com emails.

Fasting for three days can regenerate entire immune system, study finds - Telegraph

Fasting for three days can regenerate entire immune system, study finds - Telegraph: The researchers say fasting "flips a regenerative switch" which prompts stem cells to create brand new white blood cells, essentially regenerating the entire immune system.

SS songs and antisemitism: the week Golden Dawn turned openly Nazi | World news | The Observer

SS songs and antisemitism: the week Golden Dawn turned openly Nazi | World news | The Observer: Supporters of the far-right party gave Hitler salutes and sang the Horst Wessel song outside parliament last week. Helena Smith reports from Athens on how Golden Dawn has taken on a sinister new tone

14 Google Search Tricks That Make Life A Whole Lot Easier

14 Google Search Tricks That Make Life A Whole Lot Easier

Zuma going full circle – from apartheid telecoms and back

Zuma going full circle – from apartheid telecoms and back: Unbeknownst to many people, Zuma returned to the structure used under the apartheid government, which had a Department of Communications and a Department of Post and Telecommunications.

The cabinet of FW de Klerk, which ran South Africa from 16 August 1989 to 11 May 1994, had Roelf Meyer as minister of communications and Piet Welgemoed as minister of post and telecommunication.

Zuma’s decision to go back to the pre-1994 structure is seen as a mistake by many commentators – and they have a point.

In South Africa, telecommunications services were operated by the South African Post Office until 1991. It therefore made sense to combine telecommunications and postal services into one ministry.

However, Telkom became a public company in 1991, which meant that it started to operate independently from the SA Post Office.

Ten Reasons to Love Uruguayan President Jose Mujica

What did we do to deserve Jacob Zuma?

Isn't this more in line with tbhe spirit of the old ANC? The ANC of Mandela, Tambo and Sisulu?

Ten Reasons to Love Uruguayan President Jose Mujica - FPIF:

President Jose Mujica of Uruguay, a 78-year-old former Marxist guerrilla who spent 14 years in prison, mostly in solitary confinement, recently visited the United States to meet with President Obama and speak at a variety of venues. He told Obama that Americans should smoke less and learn more languages. He lectured a roomful of businessmen at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about the benefits of redistributing wealth and raising workers’ salaries. He told students at American University that there are no “just wars.”

Whatever the audience, he spoke extemporaneously and with such brutal honesty that it was hard not to love the guy. Here are 10 reasons you, too, should love President Mujica.

What is a Christmas beetle?

How your etymology and entomology can be confused, depending on where you live.

Confusion in South African English: A Christmas beetle in Gauteng is seen but not heard. A Christmas beetle in KZN is heard but not seen.

Flying peanuts, Christmas beetles, leaf chafers, May beetles / Melolonthinae (Invertebrates) by tony rebelo on 13th January 2012 | iSpot:

which Xmas Beetle? The Cicada, this chappie or something else (the Red Driver Ant, for instance) - Just google "Christmas Beetle South Africa" to get a taste of the discussion and see answerit.news24.com/Question/Are there still Christmas Beetles in South Africa? for an overview of how people dont even talk about the same thing.

My wife insists that what I call a Christmas beetle is a "hardie", but we both agree on the singing of Christmas beetles at Christmas time. We were both born in Durban, but I moved to the Transvaal at the age of seven, and so learnt some Valie ways. I know that the Christmas beetles you hear are really cicadas, but are rarely seen, and when seen they're green. But the Christmas beetles that you see are brown...

Analysis: An Arab spring for South African Jews | Daily Maverick

Analysis: An Arab spring for South African Jews | Daily Maverick: South Africa’s Jewish community is regarded as one of the most conservative in the diaspora, its blinkered support for the Jewish state characterised as an approach of ‘Israel – right or wrong’. But recent developments are recalibrating local Jewish opinion on Israel-Palestine, and posing challenging questions regarding the politics of sovereignty, security and democracy. By REBECCA HODES.

Impact of Social Sciences – How to manage a research library with Zotero

Impact of Social Sciences – How to manage a research library with Zotero: Keeping up to date with research and managing an ever-increasing number of journal articles is skill that must be well-honed by academics. Here, Alex Hope sets out how his workflow has developed using Zotero, Dropbox, Goodreader and his iPad.

Skitt's Skittering Grounds

Skitt's Skittering Grounds: Do YOU realize that the overwhelming majority of people have more than the average number of legs? A staggering fact, isn't it!

The Up-Goer Five Text Editor

The Up-Goer Five Text Editor: Can you explain a hard idea using only the ten hundred most used words? It's not very easy. Type in the box to try it out.

Why a South African Braai beats a US bbq | Peace, Love & Giraffes

Why a South African Braai beats a US bbq | Peace, Love & Giraffes: Trust me. I was skeptical too. When my then boyfriend, now husband tried to explain the beauty of a South African Braai, I’ll be honest, I didn’t really get it. It sounded like a basic barbecue. A gathering of friends and family eating food from the grill. “Our barbecues are great,” I argued. “My dad makes a mean burger.” But whenever we cooked out on the grill, my husband’s face said it all – he longed for his beloved braai.

Analysis: A dam(n) crazy idea | Daily Maverick

Analysis: A dam(n) crazy idea | Daily Maverick: Right now there are 10,000 cubic kilometres of water behind dam walls – five times the volume in the planet’s rivers. The weight is so great it triggers earthquakes, and geophysicists estimate that the redistribution of weight from reservoirs may be having a measurable impact on the speed the earth rotates, the tilt of its axis and the shape of the gravitational field.

Disinformation, Carl Bildt, and Eastern Orthodoxy | David Heith-Stade's blog

Disinformation, Carl Bildt, and Eastern Orthodoxy | David Heith-Stade's blog: I usually don’t write on current political issues, but during the last days there has been a piece of “news” circulating on Russian websites about which Russian, Greek, and Finnish friends have made me aware.

A recent English version of this piece of “news” has the following headline “Carl Bildt thinks that Eastern Orthodoxy is main threat to Western civilization.” (Carl Bildt is the foreign minister of Sweden; therefore, I have been asked about this.)

1959. Extension of University Education Act No 45 - The O'Malley Archives

1959. Extension of University Education Act No 45 - The O'Malley Archives: This act made "it a criminal offence for a non-white student to register at a hitherto open university without the written consent of the Minister of Internal Affairs" (Lapping 1986: 184).

It also "provided for the establishment of a series of new ethnically-based institutions for Blacks, together with separate universities for Coloureds and Indians"

Have We joined Satan’s Side? - A Russian Orthodox Church Website

Have We joined Satan’s Side? - A Russian Orthodox Church Website: In reality, war does not begin when people start shooting at one another. It begins when certain convictions, upsurges in awareness, or news darken people’s reason and they stop seeing what is most important in those near them. They stop understanding that within the person near them – or not near them but, relatively speaking, “on the other side of the barricade” – there is much more to love than to hate.

Something terrible is happening to us now, when we stop seeing in our neighbor that which is most important, profound, and authentic. As a result, Satan is running the show. We are only giving occasions for the demons to rejoice, for their revelry, when, during our Pascha, we say “Christ is Risen!” to someone, but at the same time write terrible things about others on Facebook and rejoice that someone has “knocked off” someone else, and so forth. Hell is triumphant.

Free Family History and Genealogy Records — FamilySearch.org

Free Family History and Genealogy Records — FamilySearch.org



Getting better, though I still miss some of the functionality of the old one, like the ability to download Gedcom files.