Some days you just need to see a sloth.
This is Happy Monday #424.
Continue readingSatur-deja Vu
You’ve probably heard the story about how kangaroos were named by early English explorers. First published in 1888, the story goes that Captain James Cook ran aground in 1770 and saw an animal he could not identify. There were over 250 aboriginal languages in Australia and when he asked his interpreter/guide what it was he said something that sounded like kangaroo and meant either I don’t know or I don’t understand. “Ah yes,” the captain acknowledged. “The kangaroo.” It has been known since 1898, although not widely acknowledged, that “gangarru” in the language of the Guugu Yimidhirr people is the origin for the English word kangaroo. Alas, the truth is more boring than fiction. If you don’t believe me, let Ken Jennings explain it.
The English were incredible colonizers and empire builders but terribly unoriginal at naming things. The colony New Netherlands became New York when they took over and New Amsterdam became New York City. You know, up in New England.
Continue readingiMonk Radio Podcast #131
When I posted episode #130 I mentioned that the national attention The Coming Evangelical Collapse received was a catalyst in Michael’s decision to publish a book. In this podcast episode he will talk about choosing a publishing agent. He also responds to the Top 10 Questions about that three part series of evangelical collapse posts once they were suddenly noticed by more people.
Happy Monday
Satur-deja Vu
Good news pollen sufferers: The pollen season is actually winding down. The current count is in the hundreds each day and not up in the several thousands so we are past the peak of it. The pollen levels will continue to slowly taper off over the next week or two.
Continue readingHappy Monday
Satur-deja Vu
We are able to save ourselves. That’s what Senator Warnock of Georgia posted on Easter morning to Facebook and Twitter. Even after those posts were deleted – no clarification, no retraction, just disappearing posts – I continued to see screenshots of both for several days as people reacted online. During his campaign, Warnock reminded us many times that he served as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, filling the pulpit of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. He may be strong on civil rights but somewhat heretical on theology.
Continue readingiMonk Radio Podcast #130
Let me begin by apologizing for not posting last week. I never realized; my wife mentioned it on Saturday.
Episode #130 is quintessential Michael Spencer. In this episode he talks about the sudden rise in popularity of the Coming Evangelical Collapse posts. The national level of attention of that series of posts received is in large part responsible for the book deal that later followed. The second half of the episode shifts to evangelicalism in the modern American culture. He uses a borrowed term to note the effect Rush Limbaugh had over the course of two decades to define and direct Christian conservatives.
Happy Monday
He Is Risen, an Easter Poem
In the early hours of the morning,
after the Sabbath had ended,
a few women walked toward his grave
to finish matters left unattended.
They carried spices for anointing,
to honor custom and tradition.
For he had been quickly laid in the grave
on the day of Preparation.
