Suppose you're like me, a loser who sits around watching the Discovery Networks and the National Geographic Channel. Also suppose that, like me, you're at least a somewhat intelligent loser. Then, you will have undoubtedly watched shows about all the construction going on in Dubai: the Burj ...

On this day, 1854 years ago, Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna who was linked to John the Apostle, was martyred. I use the verb "martyred" because, as  The Martyrdom of Polycarp tells us, it took some doing.  After being betrayed by his servant, Polycarp was brought before t...

Over at Culture11, Clint Rainey writes about the "decline and fall of charity." He has a lot of interesting things to say, so read it. Please. I was especially struck by this part: Of course, even money given to churches doesn’t always find its way to the needy. Americans gave an estimat...

I've written before about my appreciation for the folks at Magnatune (motto: We're Not Evil). My admiration stems not only (or even primarily) from their business practices but from the kind of music they promote: alternatives to the mass-market crap of the major labels and the "I'm-too-cool-to...

The editors of The Economist induct soon-to-be-former Governor Eliot Spitzer in the "Hypocrite's Club" as a "diamond member": [Spitzer] is a hard man to defend. He was the most self-righteous politician in America—which is saying something—and an arrogant bully with it. If an...

According to an MSNBC story, "Born-again virgins claim to re-write the past." In it, we learn about Victoria Watts, a 23-year-old single mother of two small children who lives in Canton, Ohio, [who] lost her virginity at 16 with her high school boyfriend. She was the granddaughter of a Pen...

From today's New York Times : In “Love and Consequences,� a critically acclaimed memoir published last week, Margaret B. Jones wrote about her life as a half-white, half-Native American girl growing up in South-Central Los Angeles as a foster child among gang-bangers, running drugs for the Blood...

Via Rod Dreher. The Christian Science Monitor recently ran an interview with Adam Shepard, who after his 2006 graduation from Merrimack College . . . intentionally left his parents' home to test the vivacity of the American Dream. His goal: to have a furnished apartment, a car, and $2,500 in savings...

I hate the modern world. There are lots of reasons, but one of the biggest is that I hate being the grump/curmudgeon in the corner. I am, by temperament, an agreeable kinda guy. I'm not from Kansas but "seldom is heard a discouraging word" sounds good to me. But sometimes you have to say i...