An "Expresso" machine for the rest of life

The local fitness center has added the world's coolest fitness machine. It's called an Expresso Bicycle, and it's a stationary bike that powers a video game.

The screen in front of the bicycle places you in a race or tour, with other, fictional riders, and you pedal, shift, and steer to run the course. When you're going uphill onscreen, the pedaling becomes more difficult, and you have to shift accordingly.

I'm interested in this merger between real-life activity (i.e., pedaling) and virtual rewards (having the pixels on the screen show you winning a race), and I wonder if this concept could be applied elsewhere.

Maybe with my job, I could play a game in which I read and run analysis and periodically it shows me publishing a virtual book or article.

Or maybe at home, I show attention to my children and then a game shows my children growing up to be healthy and happy.

Or maybe I could do chores around the house and the get on-line kudos.

Maybe this is a new way of reducing social strain--society gives you goals, and then on-line games give you the means to meet this goals, at least virtually.

If nothing else, that Expresso machine really does give a good work out.

Even Rock Stars Grow Up

I was in the doctor's office this morning, and I was reading Rolling Stone Magazine. They had an article about Gregg Allman, of the Allman Brothers Band, of 1970s fame. In it, he reflected upon his life, and he stated that after six failed marriages, he was starting to wonder if he was the problem.

At first I rolled my eyes, but then I realized that while only on my first (and hopefully last) last marriage, I still have other stupid stuff reoccur in my life. Sometimes, however, I realize that I'm the problem in some way, and that's usually a helpful realization.

So, if even rock stars grow up, there's hope for the rest of us.

What religious freedom looks like in Egypt

Here's an article about a Muslim man in Egypt who converted to Christianity.

Why did he convert? "In Islam, if you steal your hands are cut off, but in Christianity you can be forgiven," he says. This compassion is what attracted me."

How have people reacted to it? "Gohary's life has been threatened, his dogs have been killed, and it's been suggested that he's insane or possessed by spirits."

Hm-m-m, maybe the passive belittling here in the States isn't so bad...

Portraying Christians negatively in literature

I don't read a lot of fiction because whenever I do I can't help but to wonder if it's all made up. (I do read sci-fi, though, I can believe in space aliens). However, my wife, Cathy, keeps up on fiction. On a fairly regular basis, she observes how negatively Christian characters are portrayed. It seems, judging from what she says, that if an author introduces someone with strong Christian beliefs, it's a good bet that they'll rape, murder, or otherwise harm people.

Recently on a trip to Montreal, I happened across this article in the newspaper that discusses this trend in literature of demonizing Christians. Here's an excerpt:

"I have read seven novels from young men and women in the past two years that have had what I consider modern, representative “religious” characters. In all but one of these books, the characters were agents of the most self-righteous kinds of oppression. In fact, in some texts, the words Catholic or religious have become synonymous with all things that good and ordinary people fight against....

The derision toward anyone who believes is swift and non-negotiable among many writers today, or at least in their writing. It is as if a doctrine has been set in motion in which not to demean religion is sacrilegious."

Superman joke

Okay, I'm back from a two-week vacation, and here's a funny joke that was in the paper yesterday:

***

Two men are drinking in a bar at the top of the Empire State Building when one turns to the other and says, "You know, last week I discovered that if you jump from the top of this building, by the time you fall to the 10th floor, the winds around the building are so intense that they carry you around the building and back into the window. Watch, I'll prove it."

He gets up from the bar, jumps over the balcony, and when he passes the 10th floor, the high wind whips him around the building and back into the 10th floor window, where he takes the elevator back up to the bar.

"Wow, that really works," the second man says. "I think I'll try it."

He jumps over the balcony, plunges downward, and passes the 10th floor, continues falling and hits the sidewalk with a splat.

Back upstairs, the bartender turns to the other drinker and says, "You know, you can be a real jerk when you're drunk, Superman."

Watch out, the scientist is a Christian!

Here's an op-ed piece in the NY Times about Obama's recent appointment for the Director of the National Institute of Health. It acknowledges that Obama's nominee, Francis Collins, is an outstanding scientist, but... gasp, he's an Evangelical Christian!

As a result, the author writes, "it is important that we understand Dr. Collins and his faith as they relate to scientific inquiry." He goes on to conclude that "one can only hope that these convictions will not affect his judgment at the institutes of health."

I'm guessing that Collins understands science far better than the author, but somehow his faith makes him suspect.

God forbid that God isn't forbidden at NIH....

Thanks David!

More on the myth of Christian violence

An enduring myth about Christianity is all the violence and death that it has supposedly caused.

I posted on these a couple of years ago.

Here's another take from Andy Unedited:

"160 Million

I was with a group of friends recently when another common myth of western civilization was trotted out as if it were gospel. "We all know religion has caused more violence and death than anything else."

"Well, actually, that's not true," I ventured.

Heads turned. Mouths gaped. The planet itself seemed to wobble on its axis. "What facts do you have to support that?" said the historian in the group, eyebrow arched...

To read the rest.

Kid steals car to avoid going to church

A constant issue in Christian families is when to make kids go to church when they just don't feel like it. Well, here's a guideline... if the kids steals the car to get out of church, maybe it's a good idea for them to just skip church that week.

Here's a video of a seven-year-old boy in Utah who stole his Dad's car to avoid going to church. Watch the end of the video when he gets out of the car and runs away.

Church buildings & business

Here's an interesting article and slideshow about modern church architecture. It relates recently built church buildings to corporations--both emphasizing suburban campuses that make young people spend their time and energy there.

The church that I belong to recently considered building, and the plans it came up with were a sprawling campus--didn't realize this is a national trend.

Thanks David.

Two tracks of Anglicanism

From a New York Times article last week: "Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, said profound differences among the world’s 77 million Anglicans over gay clergy and same-sex unions could divide their church into a “two-track model” yielding “two styles of being Anglican.”

It's hard to see how one denomination could sustain two separate models of faith without splitting, but if they do, it could become interesting. Why stop at two? There's plenty of moral issues on which people disagree. Eventually you could go to Anglican Church and be presented with a smorgasbord of options.

Visitor: "Let's see, I would like to sleep with my girlfriend, but not another guy. I don' t like giving to poor, but I'll give to the church. I'd also prefer not to experience any spiritual gifts."

Usher: "Thank you for visiting us. You'll be sitting in row 7 with other people like you."

Irises (pic)

There's an interesting & sad story behind this picture. A local farmer had his barn burned down by an arsonist--destroying all his farming equipment. He wasn't properly insured so he went out of business. Now the field has gone wild and the irises and other plants have spread, not being kept down by cattle.

Religion and college majors

A study recently came out that looks at the role of religion in university students education choices. I haven't read the article yet, but here are some of the findings as summarized here.

"

• The odds of going to college increase for high school students who attend religious services more frequently or who view religion as more important in their lives. The researchers speculate that there may be a "nagging theory" in which fellow churchgoers encourage the students to attend college.
• Being a humanities or a social science major has a statistically significant negative effect on religiosity -- measured by either religious attendance and how important students consider the importance of religion in their lives. The impact appears to be strongest in the social sciences.
• Students in education and business show an increase in religiosity over their time at college.
• Majoring in the biological or physical sciences does not affect religious attendance of students, but majoring in the physical sciences does negatively relate to the way students view the importance of religion in their lives.
• Religious attendance is positively associated with staying in majors in the social sciences, biological sciences and business majors. For most vocational majors, the researchers found a negative relationship between religious attendance and staying in the same major. The researchers compare this finding to their data about how students who attend services are more likely to enroll in college in the first place: "In both cases, religious attendance encourages a shift toward a higher status path."

I suppose that the take home message for Christian parents is: "Momma don't let your babies grow up to study sociology."

Actually, I wonder about the cause and effect of this. Do students who question their religion gravitate toward the social sciences or does taking classes in the social sciences make students question their religion.

I would assume that GenEd requirements have all students take some social science courses, so the majors just take maybe six to eight more of them.

What do you think?

Thanks Patti!

Marriage patterns by religion

Here's an interesting graphic from the Pew Foundation about Americans' marriage patterns by religion.

What patterns do you see in the data?

What did you do this weekend?

What did you do this weekend? Whatever it was, I'll bet it wasn't as cool as what my brother John did... he went hang gliding in Yosemite Valley!!!! You have to be really, really good at hang gliding to do that, and he is and did.

Here are some pics of his:

A Midwestern wedding entrance

Here's a video of a charming and joyful dancing wedding entrance. When I saw it, I wondered why more people haven't done it. (We didn't because I am a felony-level bad dancer). When I showed the clip to Cathy, without any introduction, she asked after about a minute if it was a Midwest Church. Sure enough, it was shot in Minnesota. I asked her how she knew, and she figured it out by how the people looked and dressed. (She's from the Midwest).

Enjoy.

Barn Window (pic)

Here's the window of an old barn, and it was torn down about a month after I took the picture. :-(

Yes, we worry when the kids are quiet

Yesterday, Cathy told Gus and Floyd that they needed to go outside because there were getting pretty wild inside. Then, after about 5-10 minutes, she realized that she wasn't hearing them play, which could only mean trouble. Yes, they ignored the trampoline, the swingset, the treehouse, and the pool so that they could... take turns locking each other in trunk of the car.

Joel Stein on Christian Improv.

Joel Stein, pop culture journalist, has written a really funny article about an comedy improv group at Rick Warren's Saddleback Valley Church.

Here's the first paragraph:

"There are many things Evangelical Christians are good at, such as bake sales and talking to me on planes. They're less adept at other things, such as comedy and fighting lions. Christians aren't funny because they tend to be literal-minded. Also because they're sad about having had sex with only one person. So when Kevin Roose, author of the excellent new book The Unlikely Disciple, told me that Rick Warren's giant Saddleback Church has its own improv group, for the first time in my life, I felt my calling. I may not be the Woody Allen or Jon Stewart of the secular world, but in the land of the unfunny Christian, the one-joked Jew is king."

Boy and puppy (pic)

A boy in our neighborhood recently got a new puppy, so I asked if I could take his picture with it. This is another use for panoramas.

Summer camp for atheists

Here's an interesting article in this week's Economist. Apparently a series of summer camps for kids from atheist families. The article frames these camps in terms of such kids needing social support, but what interests me is that it's another example of atheism being practiced in the same way that people practice religions.