Miscellaneous

H.I.F. I haven't had a chance to review this matter in full yet, but I find this more frightening than encouraging: Pope Francis named Time Person of the Year [http://www.wtae.com/news/entertainment/Pope-Francis-named-Time-Person-of-the-Year/-/9680792/23428330/-/12qpsevz/-/index.html] .

Background: When I was the editor of Gilbert Magazine [http://www.chesterton.org/explore-the-acs/gilbertmagazine/], I was responsible for the "Tremendous Trifles" column. It was occasionally hard to find a sufficient amount of interesting GKC material to fill the page, so John Peterson sent me a file full

H.I.F. Why I stopped shopping years ago: "Harassed boyfriend jumped to his death after his girlfriend insisted on going into another clothes shop. Tao Hsiao was shopping with his girlfriend in Jiangsu province, east China. After five hours Tao finally had enough and demanded to go home.

I re-read Belloc's Europe and the Faith while I was in Rome last month. It's a pretty stunning work, especially when you realize that he (an amateur historian) dug up his Roman history from primary sources, after deciding that he'd had enough of the

I made two technological purchases this month: an Acer 710 Chrome Book for $199 and a Roku for $40. My jury is still out on the Chrome Book, but the Roku rocks. The Roku is a small device that plugs into your TV that allows you to stream "channels&

My family's main Christmas album: Harry Simeone Chorale: The Little Drummer Boy (1958). I bought it at iTunes. My favorite track: The Little Drummer Boy [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001NS5KKS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001NS5KKS&

I thought I'd try to log onto the health care exchanges early Sunday morning, thinking maybe, just maybe, a lower-volume usage time would increase the chance that I could log on. No such luck. The system is down yet again. It's absolutely unbelievable. This stroke of

Meet the brains behind the three-week-old quiz app that has already grown to 3.5million users QuizUp was modeled after TrivialPursuit It is currently at the top of the Apple App Store's games category The app's creator believes its success comes from simplicity and familiarity. Link

BYCU I guess this new kind of beer is becoming all the rage: "On Dec. 3, Maumee Bay Brewing Company will release its first group of bourbon barrel-aged beers, which includes three versions of its popular Total Eclipse Breakfast Stout." Link [http://www.toledofreepress.com/2013/11/27/

H.I.F. Political Correctness Gone Bad: Indiana University Removes Controversial "Black Santa" Display . . . In addition to its main query, the display also asked students to ponder the following: "If Santa is a black man, would you let him come down your chimney?" and "If