Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 346
March 19, 2014
The mystery of the missing cell phone calls
A related mystery in the case of the missing airliner. Whatever happened, why didn’t–or haven’t–any of the 239 people on board call somebody on their cell phones? From Questions Over Absence of Cellphone Calls From Missing Flight’s Passengers – NYTimes.com: When hijackers took control of four airplanes on Sept. 11, 2001, and sent them hurtling [Read More...]
March 18, 2014
J.R.R. Tolkien on Sex
In 1941, J. R. R. Tolkien did what most fathers tremble to do: talk to his son about sex. He did so in a letter filled with wisdom, insight, and a thoroughly Christian sensibility on what he called the devil’s “favorite subject.” Suggestion to trembling fathers: get The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien and [Read More...]
Songs about health insurance
In a desperate, last-ditch attempt to get 18-34 year-olds to sign up for Obamacare–those “young invincibles” who are expected to foot the bill for everyone else–the administration and allied independent groups are trying to reach them with comedy routines, cash prizes, and–most humorously of all–songs about health insurance. After the jump, a link to an [Read More...]
Predict the Final Four
It’s time to pay attention to college basketball now that the teams have been announced for the NCAA basketball tournament. My two alma maters are in it, Oklahoma and Kansas, so I’m pulling for them. But I’d love to see Wichita State, which is undefeated for the whole season, go far. (Weak schedule? Maybe. But [Read More...]
March 17, 2014
Converting the barbarians
Today we express our appreciation to the Irish for saving civilization. St. Patrick converted the Irish, who copied books from classical literature through the Bible and kept alive the ability to read them, as the barbarians ravaged Europe after the Fall of Rome. The consequent “Dark Ages” (not to be confused with the Middle Ages!) [Read More...]
U.S. giving up control of the Internet
What do you think of this? U.S. officials announced plans Friday to relinquish federal government control over the administration of the Internet, a move that pleased international critics but alarmed some business leaders and others who rely on the smooth functioning of the Web. Pressure to let go of the final vestiges of U.S. authority [Read More...]
The missing plane kept flying
The plot thickens in the mystery of the missing Boeing 777. After the transponder went silent, automatic signals from the plane’s engines kept functioning for several more hours, revealing abrupt changes in course and altitude. Then those shut off, but the satellite that receives the data kept its “handshake” with the plane. That, plus a [Read More...]
Crimea votes to join Russia
The plot also thickens in the Ukraine. Crimea, the heavily ethnic Russian section of the Ukraine with the warm-water port, voted to secede from the Ukraine and join Russia. The new pro-Western government claims that is illegal, as is the European Union and the United States, which are considering sanctions against Russia, which had already [Read More...]
March 14, 2014
George Herbert on prayer
We blogged about Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, who wrote about how she was converted from atheism in part through the poetry of George Herbert. She is following that up with a series of articles in the London Guardian about specific Herbert poems. That’s literary scholarship as it’s supposed to be–not a mere academic exercise but an exploration [Read More...]
Baseball’s new replay rule
When the new baseball season gets underway at the end of the month, managers will get to challenge certain calls, which will be reviewed by a high-tech outfit in New York. But managers will just get one challenge a game–two if the first one is upheld–though umpires can review plays after the sixth inning. After [Read More...]
