Dumb and Such

The Meaning of Is

Here’s part of the story:

Flirting goes high-tech with racy photos shared on cellphones, Web

Passing a flirtatious note to get someone’s attention is so yesterday. These days, young people use technology instead.

About a third of young adults 20-26 and 20% of teens say they’ve sent or posted naked or semi-naked photos or videos of themselves, mostly to be “fun or flirtatious,” a survey finds.

A third of teen boys and 40% of young men say they’ve seen nude or semi-nude images sent to someone else; about a quarter of teen girls and young adult women have.

[…]

Most of those surveyed (73%) said they knew sending sexually suggestive content “can have serious negative consequences,” yet 22% said it’s “no big deal.”

Adrift.

And so the moral decline continues.

Morning News

Three stories: New Bionic Arms for Wounded Soldiers, Trimming Words Out of a Dictionary, and “Tell Me How to Do It.”

New Bionic Arms for Wounded Soldiers

The Luke Arm has four fingers and an opposable thumb, and was designed to be controlled by muscular movement in the wearer’s remaining limbs.

But thanks to neurological advances in “targeted renervation” by Dr. Todd Kuiken of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the Luke Arm can now connect directly to motor nerves, meaning it can be controlled purely by thought alone.

And the nerve connections are two-way: The wearer gets “force feedback” about his own grip and movements, allowing him to pick up an empty water bottle without crushing it.

Many cheers for Dean Kamen and Dr. Todd Kuiken and the Department of Defense.

Trimming Words Out of a Dictionary

Oxford University Press has removed words like “aisle”, “bishop”, “chapel”, “empire” and “monarch” from its Junior Dictionary and replaced them with words like “blog”, “broadband” and “celebrity”. Dozens of words related to the countryside have also been culled.

The publisher claims the changes have been made to reflect the fact that Britain is a modern, multicultural, multifaith society.

But academics and head teachers said that the changes to the 10,000 word Junior Dictionary could mean that children lose touch with Britain’s heritage.

“We have a certain Christian narrative which has given meaning to us over the last 2,000 years. To say it is all relative and replaceable is questionable,” said Professor Alan Smithers, the director of the centre for education and employment at Buckingham University. “The word selections are a very interesting reflection of the way childhood is going, moving away from our spiritual background and the natural world and towards the world that information technology creates for us.”

[…]

Words taken out:

Carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe

Dwarf, elf, goblin

Abbey, aisle, altar, bishop, chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery, parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, vicar

Coronation, duchess, duke, emperor, empire, monarch, decade

adder, ass, beaver, boar, budgerigar, bullock, cheetah, colt, corgi, cygnet, doe, drake, ferret, gerbil, goldfish, guinea pig, hamster, heron, herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt, otter, ox, oyster, panther, pelican, piglet, plaice, poodle, porcupine, porpoise, raven, spaniel, starling, stoat, stork, terrapin, thrush, weasel, wren.

Acorn, allotment, almond, apricot, ash, bacon, beech, beetroot, blackberry, blacksmith, bloom, bluebell, bramble, bran, bray, bridle, brook, buttercup, canary, canter, carnation, catkin, cauliflower, chestnut, clover, conker, county, cowslip, crocus, dandelion, diesel, fern, fungus, gooseberry, gorse, hazel, hazelnut, heather, holly, horse chestnut, ivy, lavender, leek, liquorice, manger, marzipan, melon, minnow, mint, nectar, nectarine, oats, pansy, parsnip, pasture, poppy, porridge, poultry, primrose, prune, radish, rhubarb, sheaf, spinach, sycamore, tulip, turnip, vine, violet, walnut, willow

Some of those deletions are astounding!

Then again, how would you keep a dictionary from becoming thicker and thicker?

Even so, jeers not cheers for that dictionary and its publisher?

“Tell Me How to Do It”

A Korean immigrant who lost his wife, two children and mother-in-law when a Marine Corps jet slammed into the family’s house said Tuesday he did not blame the pilot, who ejected and survived.

“Please pray for him not to suffer from this accident,” a distraught Dong Yun Yoon told reporters gathered near the site of Monday’s crash of an F/A-18D jet in San Diego’s University City community.

“He is one of our treasures for the country,” Yoon said in accented English punctuated by long pauses while he tried to maintain his composure.

“I don’t blame him. I don’t have any hard feelings. I know he did everything he could,” said Yoon, flanked by members of San Diego’s Korean community, relatives and members from the family’s church.

[…]

“I know there are many people who have experienced more terrible things,” Yoon said. “But, please, tell me how to do it. I don’t know what to do.”

He doesn’t blame the pilot?!

He wants you to pray that the pilot wouldn’t suffer?!

He considers the pilot a national treasure?!

He knows others have suffered greater tragedy?!

Mr. Yoon, you are quite the man!

(Dare I say he’s obviously not a “typical” home-grown American?)

May God sustain Mr. Yoon and the young pilot.

(And keep the lawyers and “suers” away from Mr. Yoon, please. Thanks.)

Sadd and Madd

Was it staged or was it real?! 🙄

School’s SADD funds used to stage drunken party

Drunken teenagers at a party funded by a high school’s anti-drink-driving group have trashed a rural Southland hall.

Bottles were thrown at passing cars and into a children’s playground during the out-of-control party, organised by high school pupils using money from the St Peter’s College SADD Students Against Driving Drunk committee, last Friday.

I wonder what MADD has to say about the matter. (No, I don’t; otherwise, I’d Google the matter.)

Maybe this whole episode was a SADD test. After all, how will you know who’s against driving drunk unless you find out which drunks refuse to drive?

Still…to think SADD organized a drinking party…. 😯

She Wants Attention

That’s what crossed my mind as I read her article.

OK, so I’ll call some her way. 🙄

Giving Up on God

As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit.

Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D.

I’m bathing in holy water as I type.

To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn’t soon cometh.

Ma’am, God is a great big problem. You got a problem with that?

She continues:

Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party.

Armband religion — that’s the problem, not God!

What everyone needs is a heart-strings, shoe-strings, purse-strings religion — sincere, genuine, committed, liveable.

And there’s more from KP:

So it has been for the Grand Old Party since the 1980s or so, as it has become increasingly beholden to an element that used to be relegated to wooden crates on street corners.

I say the world needs more preachers “doing” the Gospel on wooden crates on street corners rather than “doing” politics on plush platforms in religiousy buildings.

Then, enveloped in smoke while blindfolded, she adds:

Which is to say, the GOP has surrendered its high ground to its lowest brows.

Oh my! 😯 What makes them “lowest brows”? (Please note: The question does not imply disagreement with the statement.)

And what do you make of this assertion?

And shifting demographics suggest that the Republican Party — and conservatism with it — eventually will die out unless religion is returned to the privacy of one’s heart where it belongs.

It belongs there, yes.

But not to stay there!

And if that’s true of religion, it’s far more true of Jesus Christ.

He belongs in the privacy of your heart. And from there He will live out His life through yours.

Now, one more comment from Kathleen Parker:

Meanwhile, it isn’t necessary to evict the Creator from the public square, surrender Judeo-Christian values or diminish the value of faith in America.

Oh?

Breaking News Thought: Does this mean she supports nativity scenes in the public square?

Now for the funniest part of the article:

Kathleen Parker

I think somebody at the Washington Post better fix that!

HT: Harris, commenting over at WorldMagBlog.

Home Sweet Bench

Judge rules Ohio homeless voters may list park benches as addresses.

How about that — one bench favors another. Neat-o. 🙄

Now the Postal Service can deliver their government checks there.

And the city can’t chase them off their bench.

But they can chase others off their bench.

Will they be able to demand essential services for their bench? Maybe plumbing? And electricity? And cable TV?

But will they pay some sort of tax (if not rent) for their bench?

Ha!

Do I Remember?

Either I’m sure I remember or I’m not sure I actually remember.

  1. John McCain said he would veto earmarked, pork-barrel bills.
  2. John McCain recently voted for the earmarked $700 billion bailout bill.
  3. Barack Obama said he wouldn’t do something or other regarding financing for his Presidential campaign.
  4. Barack Obama did indeed do that something or other.
  5. Barack Obama flunked “tests” that Dan Quayle was hounded and mocked about.
  6. Bob Dole resigned from the Senate to run for President.
  7. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, and Joe Biden didn’t resign from the Senate though they ran (or are yet running) for President or VP.
  8. Hillary said repeatedly she wouldn’t run for President.
  9. The media was very supportive of John McCain during the primary season.
  10. Joe Biden declared Obama someone who shouldn’t get on-the-job training in the Oval Office.
  11. Al Gore’s poll numbers in 2000 were pre-reminiscent of McCain’s in 2008.
  12. A Gerald Ford foreign-policy-type observation cinched the noose around his campaign.
  13. We were warned years ago about fluoride being put in water with the intent of making the American populace meek, mellow, gullible, and ripe for overthrow.

Do you think I remember? Or not?

PS: This list has been in Expansion Mode for several days. Time to post it.

Above all, love God!