The Weekend Eudemon
What do a Michigan State student and an Ohio State student have in common? They both applied to the University of Michigan.
With that, you know where I stand on today's game, which arguably has the best "credentials" of all time: big-time rivalry (103rd meeting), undefeateds, 1-2 in the rankings, national championship on the line. (Wikipedia on the Rivalry). The hyper media (excuse the redundancy) declares two or three games every year as the "Game of the Century," but this one really is. I can't remember a regular-season game with this many plugs. Let's hope it lives up to the hype (heck with that: let's hope UM dominates).
Atheist books are hot, according to Jay Tolson at U.S. News & World Report. I generally like Tolson (author of a biography of Walker Percy, he can't be all bad), and he does a nice job here: interest in atheism might be rising, but the atheists aren't really saying anything new.
Whenever I hear about atheist criticism, I like to think about Bertrand Russell. He was a genius and devout atheist. When he wandered from the discipline where he excelled (math) into religion, he made juvenile arguments, the type you might hear from a smart-alecky eighth grader. One time, for instance, he sneered at Christians who would tell a grieving mother that her little daughter's death from a nasty disease is all part of a divine plan. He chortled, "That's no comfort" (very rough quote). Yeah, one of Russell's critics replied, it's much better to assure her that the daughter died for no reason at all.
One lap top per child: $100 apiece. It looks good, at least until the ACLU makes it a constitutional right for every public school student.
A while back, the federal government ordered every library to install this kind of block to prevent children from accessing sensitive material. Unfortunately, as librarians pointed out, the whole system isn't all that good. It operates by looking for words it associates with pornography. Catholic bloggers have a problem here. It tends to label anything using a particular word as pornographic without actually looking at it. As near as I can tell, one of the red flag words is ******, as in Blessed ****** Mary. You can see the potential for problems.
Interesting stuff. A family member pointed out over a year ago that my blog was a victim of filtering. I figured it was because of my gay jokes and similar items. Maybe it's because TDE is so holy. Whooda thunk?
Finally, Hollywoodites are still unleashing on Mel:
Mel Gibson . . . tops a very different kind of list: Film Threat's annual "Frigid 50: The Coldest People in Hollywood."
The independent film Web site on Friday named Gibson No. 1 among the "least-powerful, least-inspiring, least-intriguing people in all of Tinseltown," following the anti-Semitic remarks he made during his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving.
Yeah, the anti-Semitic remarks. The Passion and Mel's traditionalist Catholic beliefs have nothing to do with it. I find it humorous, though, that Mel is now lumped in with the likes of previous winner, Freddie Prinze Jr.
Until next week, may your Thanksgiving arrive early and last late.
