World

  • Olympic Medal Updates

    August 15, 2008

    This past Monday I sat down at work not having seen any of the Olympic games over the weekend, so I really wanted to show my national pride and catch up on the excitement. “I’ll just find some Twitter account following the winners.” I found a few Twitterers tweeting Olympic news, but I couldn’t find... Read More

  • Quake?

    December 13, 2006

    Maybe I’m delusional, but tonight at church I felt what I believe to be a small earthquake (2 or 3 magnitude). I was leaning against the wall and felt it tremble significantly for about 40 seconds, then again after about a minute (the second time not as much). I mentioned it to someone and only... Read More

  • One Last Cup of Kofi Before I Go

    December 13, 2006

    Kofi Annan gave his last major speech as UN Secretary General, and I had the prilvege to watch it on television. You couldn’t miss the conviction in his words. Sure, he’s not exactly charismatic, but he spoke of some lofty goals: “First, we are all responsible for each other’s security. Second, we can and must... Read More

  • Verkeersbordvrij: Europe’s Great Traffic Experiment

    November 20, 2006

    It sounds absurd: Tear down all the traffic signs. Pull up all the sidewalks. Scrub the lines from the road. Verkeersbordvrij (“free of traffic signs”) is a revolutionary new model of managing traffing dreamt up by anarchist Mikhail Bakunin who was banished to Siberia for his political ideas, but his laissez faire model of traffic... Read More

  • Senseless Violence

    October 2, 2006

    I don’t feel like writing an expose on senseless violence. It is by definition impossible to explain. When the story of the school shooting in the one room schoolhouse in Lancaster broke earlier in the day, I was so saddened. My wife and I just recently spent our anniversary in Lancaster; we were charmed and... Read More

  • In The Shallow Ocean Water

    September 20, 2006

    A poem concieved upon reading the newspaper and looking around in church: Warm me sun and bathe me brine Here where rolls the gentle tide, Strokes the ocean bottom fine. Close my eyes, suspended low Between the sky and ribboned floor, Anchored, spinning by a toe. Yes, I saw the coming storm; I happened once... Read More

  • The World Gone Mad

    September 16, 2006

    UPDATE: “We want to make it clear that if the pope does not appear on TV and apologize for his comments, we will blow up all of Gaza’s churches,” [Lions of Monotheism] said in a statement. (This has inadvertantly become a series.) I ask you this: Has the world gone mad?! Five Christian churches in... Read More

  • The Best Way Not To Prove Your Point

    September 15, 2006

    UPDATE 2: I guess this is turning into a series. UPDATE: Well, it seems as though the Pope has recanted. At least now we don’t have to worry about seeing him on Al Jazeera with a scimitar at his throat. Not to anyone’s surprise, the furor of most fundamentalist Muslims over the Pope’s remarks (or... Read More

  • Pope Doesn’t Support Islam!

    September 14, 2006

    Let’s file this in the “ok, DUH” category: Pope’s Speech Stirs Muslim Anger » I can’t believe the gall of this guy. First, he is made the veritable head of the Catholic church and then he has the outrageous insolence to speak out against another religion! Come on. The absolute effrontery of pointing out the... Read More

  • Yellow Journalism

    August 16, 2006

    So Mike Wallace gets a once-in-a-lifetime interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and it ends up looking more like a tea party than a journalistic endeavor. Ahmadinejad is saavy, no doubt; his answers were deft and well-crafted. But his inconsistencies drove me almost as crazy as the fact that Wallace didn’t call him on them.... Read More

  • So These Four Ukranians Walk Into A Church…

    March 9, 2006

    Pasha, Oxanna, Ura and Sasha and Oxford Valley Chapel, to be precise. And what a day it was! These four brothers and sister in Christ took two weeks without pay to visit us from Komsomolsk, Ukraine and spend time learning how to better their ministry and deal with questions that they, as fairly new believers,... Read More

  • Killing for the Mind’s Sake

    December 28, 2005

    Just came across this in the news: Abortion was decriminalised in Spain in 1985 for certain cases: after rape, in the case of malformation of the foetus and if the pregnancy represents a threat to the physical or mental health of the woman. The report said 95.7 percent of abortions were carried out for the... Read More

  • Michael Yon: Independant Report in Iraq

    November 28, 2005

    Michael Yon is a self-proclaimed independent, informed observer chronicling the monumentally important events in the efforts to stabilize Iraq. Visit his site (http://www.michaelyon.blogspot.com/) and you’ll find riveting and passionate stories about the struggles taking place daily in the effort to bring democracy and stability in Iraq.

  • Reagan on Communism, Confrontation and Life

    March 23, 2005

    With Chinese Communism back in the news lately, I thought it would be rather appropriate to share a few quips from Reagan on the topic from the December 2004 issue of Reader’s Digest: A Russian Communist official asked a collective farm worker about a potato crop. “Oh, Commisar, if we could put the potatoes in... Read More

  • Slow and Steady Compromise

    March 20, 2005

    Looking back on the short time I’ve been alive, it sobers me to see how many of my close friends have fallen from grace. Best friends who have fathered illicit children in a drunken fit of passion. Mentors who have been scorched by the fire of an extramarital affair. Students who are, as you read... Read More