Friday Night Lights

Best show ever.

Tiger Tiger, burning bright

I hope you never answer anyone's questions about what happened that day! Now that would be quite the story!

Update: Tiger Woods' website has posted a statement from the man himself that I feel is a shining example of wisdom in the age of celebrity. It reads in full as follows:

I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.

Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. For the last week, my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. The stories in particular that physical violence played any role in the car accident were utterly false and malicious. Elin has always done more to support our family and shown more grace than anyone could possibly expect.

But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy. I realize there are some who don't share my view on that. But for me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one's own family. Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.

Whatever regrets I have about letting my family down have been shared with and felt by us alone. I have given this a lot of reflection and thought and I believe that there is a point at which I must stick to that principle even though it's difficult.

I will strive to be a better person and the husband and father that my family deserves. For all of those who have supported me over the years, I offer my profound apology.

Tiger owes no one anything, except to meet his commitments.

I hope Tiger Woods' behavior following his "transgression" serves as an exemplar for any celebrity who holds integrity - his own or anyone else's - in high regard. A man's privacy is his own, and what he chooses to do with it is his prerogative alone - including guarding it with his life and his reputation.

This is the way that science ends...

...not with a bang but a whimper.

Climate change scientists toss raw data.

In the social sciences, standard protocol is to hang onto all data for 7 years. As a rule, we provide our raw data to any and all comers. This is the nature and purpose of the peer-review process - to ensure transparency and a community of scientists all working toward the common goal - truth.

Respecting the infinite value of every human life

New brain-scanning technology has enabled doctors to realize a man who had been in a coma for 23 years was conscious the entire time.

There are two similar diagnoses that are used for people who are not behaviorally as functional as the typical person: MCS (minimally-conscious state) and VS (vegetative state). Both, in my view, are terrible names for terrible diagnoses.

As this story indicates, human testing always contains error. This man doctors termed a vegetable was in fact living his life - albeit in a cage of sorts, but he was alive, thinking, feeling, and living.

Let's quit assuming because someone doesn't act like we want them to, there is something inexorably and permanently wrong with them. God never, ever makes mistakes, and if someone is alive, the Lord of all Creation is perfectly content with that. Let's let Him do the hard work of making "end-of-life decisions", not us. We have no right to do it for Him.

Lord have mercy

Father drops court battle to keep baby alive

This baby - known as Baby RB - has a disease called congenital myasthenic syndrome. He can see. He recognizes his parents. He plays. His brain is functioning normally. He has lived on this earth with you and me for 13 months now.

Baby RB is unable to use words to tell anyone what he is thinking or feeling, yet hospital doctors will soon administer a large dose of sedative and remove Baby RB from his ventilator tube because (they claim) the pain this little boy must endure to remain alive is, in their estimation, too great to justify continuing to use medical technology to prolong his life. Without his ventilator, Baby RB will suffocate and die.

When did we forget that life is infinitely valuable?

A Fonzarelli Apology

With regard to my iTunes Prediction a few days ago, I humbly admit I was wr-

I was wr-

When I said the Beatles catalog would be released on the Apple music platform, I was wr-

It was a mistake on my part, and I'm s-

I'm s-

And it won't happen again.

Every serious athlete has her secret

An 8 year-old cheetah named Sarah has broken the mammal land speed record, posting a time of 6.13 for the 100 meter dash. This detail is found later in the story:

The Cincinnati Zoo used a "fluffy dog toy" on the end of a lure to get Sarah to run the race. A representative of the zoo said Sarah acts as if she is attacking a gazelle and when she reaches the toy, she pounces on it and treats it as if she has just made a kill.

It sounds as if Sarah takes her new job as a track star very seriously.

Stating the obvious

I don't think this will make me stand out as some sort of prophet, but I am making a prediction:

iTunes will begin offering the entire Beatles remastered catalog on September 9, 2009.

Hallelujah Clappers: I've hit the big time

I have made my official YouTube debut. The blurb reads as follows:

A beautiful rendition of Handel's classic "Hallelujah Chorus". You will be amazed with the sound and the musicianship within this video.

Thus begins my obligatory 15 minutes of fame...

Red Dawn redux!

Red Dawn is being remade! I loved that movie when I was a kid. This quote by the new director has me really excited:

''As Red Dawn scared the heck out of people in 1984, we feel that the world is kind of already filled with a lot of paranoia and unease, so why not scare the hell out of people again?''

Ha! Go ahead. Scare the heck and hell out of me.

Uh-oh

Obama: Swine flu 'No cause for alarm'

Now I'm really worried -

Like a narrator for a ride queue at Disneyland...

...was what Bobby Jindal sounded like tonight. I was hypnotized by his hands, which were perfectly synchronized with his speech. Oof.

Archaeologists unearth seal impressions from the time of Hezekiah

In May of 2007 I posted about some ancient seals that were discovered in Israel. Now the Jerusalem Post is reported on another stunning archaeological find: Seal Impressions Unearthed in Jerusalem. The impressions were made around the time of King Hezekiah (i.e., ~700 B.C.).

To give you an idea of what these seal impressions probably look like, I have posted a video below.


Related Post: Archaeologists Reveal Seals from the Time of David

Sometimes ideas are not just ideas

I've said it before, but I am compelled to reiterate: Michelle Malkin is a terrible writer. I return to her weblog on occasion, and each time I find myself navigating away with a queasy feeling in my stomach. No matter that I happen to be on the same side of the majority of issues she discusses, I think the spirit with which she conveys her positions is atrocious.

I'll stick with Powerline and my own take on the mainstream media narrative, thank you.

Google hacked?

Since I had to search a little too long to find this answer, I figured I'd post it to myself:

Yahoo Answers forum on Google reporting every site as being harmful to your computer

If you're having "This site may harm your computer" messages, have no fear. I'm going out on a limb and saying Google was hacked. Every site couldn't possibly have badware on it!

Update: It's fixed. Thothe Google geniuthes are THO amathing!