6.24.13 … Musical pranksters … 17 Beatles Songs …

A Lover’s Spat, 17 Beatles Songs, Open Culture, Musical pranksters Collective Cadenza: 

A Lover’s Spat Set to the Lyrics of 17 Beatles Songs.

Musical pranksters Collective Cadenza raided the Beatles’ catalogue for seventeen songs to drive the narrative of a suspicious wife confronting her philandering husband. Which hussy sent him that passionate text? Lady Madonna? Julia? Michelle? Eleanor Rigby seems to have more comic potential than a tired ageist dig, and given their high production values, I’m mystified that the creators shied away from hiring a realistically hot plumber.

via A Lover’s Spat Set to the Lyrics of 17 Beatles Songs | Open Culture.

6.24.13 … Legal Equality: The waiting is almost over … “But a tension runs through the cases, one based on different conceptions of equality. Some justices are committed to formal equality. Others say the Constitution requires a more dynamic kind of equality, one that takes account of the weight of history and of modern disparities.” …

Supreme Court, California’s Proposition 8,  same-sex marriage, Defense of Marriage Act, legal equality, marriage, education, voting,  affirmative action,  Voting Rights Act of 1965: 

The waiting is almost over.

Sometime in the next week or so, the Supreme Court will announce the outcomes in cases on California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage and the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

via Supreme Court has range of options on gay marriage.

 

…

Within days, the Supreme Court is expected to issue a series of decisions that could transform three fundamental social institutions: marriage, education and voting.

Abigail Fisher is challenging affirmative action, saying the University of Texas should not classify people on the basis of race.

Edith Windsor is challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

The extraordinary run of blockbuster rulings due in the space of a single week will also reshape the meaning of legal equality and help define for decades to come one of the Constitution’s grandest commands: “the equal protection of the laws.”

If those words require only equal treatment from the government, the rulings are likely to be a mixed bag that will delight and disappoint liberals and conservatives in equal measure. Under that approach, same-sex couples who want to marry would be better off at the end of the term, while blacks and Hispanics could find it harder to get into college and to vote.

But a tension runs through the cases, one based on different conceptions of equality. Some justices are committed to formal equality. Others say the Constitution requires a more dynamic kind of equality, one that takes account of the weight of history and of modern disparities.

The four major cases yet to be decided concern same-sex marriage, affirmative action in higher education and the fate of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which places special burdens on states with a history of racial discrimination.

via Supreme Court Weighs Cases Redefining Legal Equality – NYTimes.com.

6.24.13 … MegaBus and Bruce Feiler’s Walking the Bible: SHALOM HAVER … “We’re drawn to written things,” Avner said, explaining the stickers. “We’re still a people of the Book.” …

MegaBus is not as crowded today and a more diverse mix of folks than I have ever seen.  I am sitting at the table, happily connected to the very slow wifi.

My companions at the tables are a female student in a hoodie with a tiny string of pearls and a necklace that says “Michael,” a grandma type who is very tired and a first time rider, a bald-headed younger man in a tawny brown tee shirt with a white steer outline and khakis and a younger matronly type. The last woman wins the best dressed of our group.  I will say that comfortable athletic clothes are the usual outfits.

No one is a chatter box, so I think we are a good group.  🙂

Our driver is a female and she seems in control.

I am reading Bruce Feiler’s Walking the Bible. I always notice bumper stickers, so this quote from early in the book jumped out at me.

Also, every car had at least one bumper sticker, mostly on political topics, like GIVING UP TERRITORY IS DANGEROUS FOR JEWS, some were emotional, like SHALOM HAVER, or “Good-bye Friend,” which is what President Bill Clinton said at the funeral for slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. “We’re drawn to written things,” Avner said, explaining the stickers. “We’re still a people of the Book.”  Feiler, Bruce (2010-09-14). Walking the Bible (P.S.) (p. 51). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

I am reading this book because Bruce Feiler, the author will be at my church in September.

An Evening with Bruce Feiler

via First Presbyterian Church – For Christ In the Heart of Charlotte.

 …

The Willard Lecture Series Presents: An Evening with Bruce Feiler September 29, 2013. 5 pm

Are We in a Holy War? A Way Forward for Jews, Christians, and Muslims Today

At a time when the world is asking how the Arab Spring and the death of Osama bin Laden will reshape our times, Feiler will offer a vivid behind-the-scenes portrait of history in the making. Drawing on fifteen years of travels across the region, from Egypt to Israel, Iraq to Iran, Feiler brings his unprecedented experience to the most pressing questions about the Middle East peace and relations among Jews, Christians, and Muslims worldwide.

The speech will be followed by dinner and a panel discussion with leaders of local communities of faith. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT BRUCE FEILER CLICK HERE (http://brucefeiler.com/)

6.24.13 … Sublime Donuts: The Fresh Strawberry Cream wins hands down …

Sublime Donuts: Very good … but atmosphere is lacking when compared to Voodoo in Portland … Still searching for the best! Oh, so I looked back to my original post about sublime donuts, and they agree the Fresh Strawberry Cream Donut wins hands down.

Sublime Doughnuts, AtlantaOwner Kamal Grant

shows up at 2 a.m. every day to start the donut-making process. And

his Strawberry N Cream donut—an original-style donut stuffed with

fresh strawberries and vanilla cream cheese—is a showstopper.

Think: strawberry cheesecake with a donut crust. With top-notch

ingredients and Grant’s hard-to-find passion for perfection, the

resulting pastries are tasty works of art. via Americas

Best Donuts- Page 8 – Articles | Travel +

Leisure.

via 3.2.13 … Charlotte has no doughnuts … but Denver, Atlanta and NY have doughnuts … and I’m going to Denver soon … and Atlanta … 

Sublime Doughnuts – The Goods (404) 897-1801.

6.24.13 … “Mature” Workers: Scary thing when you realize the word “mature” applies to you …

best lists, employers, AARP, Mature Workers:  Scary thing when you realize the word “mature” applies to you.  ;(

The AARP’s latest list of the best places to work for people over 50 includes some familiar names, like the National Institutes of Health (#1), Cornell University (#11) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (#14). But it also includes some names you may not be that familiar with, like Mountain States Health Alliance (#30), Perkins Cole LLP (#49) and CheapCaribbean.com (#50).

What they all have in common though is a desire to retain, retrain, engage and recruit mature workers.

“These best employers know that recruiting and retaining 50-plus workers is smart business,” said Jean Setzfand, AARP’s vice president for financial security, in a press release. “In short, they listen to the needs and wants of their older workers.”

via Best Employers 2013: AARP’s New List Highlights Top Spots For Mature Workers.

6.24.13 … Cooking For Kitchenphobes: How To Poach An Egg …

cooking, kitchenphobes, poached eggs: I tried to poach eggs for Father’s Day brunch; it was a major fail.  Next time I’ll pull up this post.  🙂

In case you haven’t already figured it out, poached eggs are good on everything. They’re exquisitely tender, their yolks become nature’s greatest sauce, and their farm-fresh flavor is unadulterated because they’re cooked in water instead of oil or butter. Basically, poached eggs are the best. But because they require a little more TLC than scrambled or fried eggs, many home cooks steer clear of them. But don’t listen to the haters – you don’t have to be a genius to make a poached egg.

via Cooking For Kitchenphobes: How To Poach An Egg.

6.24.13 … wedding flash-mob disco dance: as I have said before, not everything has a higher value …

flash mob, wedding, vicar: Blyth vicar leads wedding flash-mob disco dance … although I do think this is distracting to the wedding and should be more of a reception thing.  So my clergy friends, would you do this?

A vicar in Nottinghamshire has led a disco dance routine at the end of a couple’s wedding ceremony.

Gary and Tracy Richardson joined Church of England vicar Kate Bottley in the pre-arranged flash-mob inspired dance at St Mary’s and St Martin’s Church in Blyth.

The bride spent eight weeks rehearsing the moves at a local church hall.

via BBC News – Blyth vicar leads wedding flash-mob disco dance.

6.24.13 … Summer Solstice 2013 and Super Moon: it’s completely coincidental …

Summer Solstice 2013, Super Moon 2013, astronomy, Summer, culture, history: 

This year’s summer solstice also stands out because it will be followed shortly after by the largest “supermoon” of the year. In the early hours of Sunday, June 23, the moon will officially reach its full phase and will be the closest to Earth that it will be all year.

While the astrology-minded might be tempted to see significance in the timing of the two celestial events, there is no connection, said Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.

“People draw this connection between [the supermoon] and the summer solstice, but it’s completely coincidental,” he added.

…

The solstices are the results of Earth’s north-south axis being tilted 23.4 degrees relative to the ecliptic, the plane of our solar system. This tilt causes different amounts of sunlight to reach different regions of the planet during Earth’s yearlong orbit around the sun.

…

Adler’s Hammergren said he doesn’t feel too bad about the declining significance of the solstices in modern society.

“Ancient cultures and some modern religions pay very, very close attention to certain natural alignments … and there’s a lot of mysticism and special supernatural significance attached to them,” he said. “The fact that we don’t pay attention to that stuff as much anymore, I think, is a rational thing.”

The University of Arizona’s Holbrook, however, thinks there are certain benefits in keeping the tradition alive.

“Paying attention to the solstices is a way of teaching mathematics, celestial mechanics, and astronomy, culture, and history,” she said. “It is also a pretty good party.”

via Summer Solstice 2013: Why It’s the First Day of Summer.

6.24.13 … Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry: former comedy duo! …

Hugh Laurie,  Stephen Fry, BBC News:  I just can’t imagine House as a part of a former comedy duo!

Laurie told presenter Kirsty Young on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs that the former comedy duo “often” talk about a reunion.

But he said whatever they came up with, it would not be a sketch show.

“I think probably sketching is a young man’s game because, by and large, it’s about mocking people much older than you,” he said.

“We are now not only the age of cabinet ministers, we are actually probably older than half the cabinet.”

The pair met at Cambridge University and made four series of the sketch show A Bit of Fry and Laurie.

via BBC News – Hugh Laurie tells of Stephen Fry reunion idea.

6.24.13 … Obama’s Insider Threat Program: sweeping in its reach … “Hammer this fact home . . . leaking is tantamount to aiding the enemies of the United States ” …

Insider Threat Program, President Obama, leaks, espionage:  I am such a moderate, i try to find justification in both sides behavior.  “unprecedented,” “sweeping,” “espionage “… “Hammer this fact home . . . ”

President Barack Obama’s unprecedented initiative, known as the Insider Threat Program, is sweeping in its reach. It has received scant public attention even though it extends beyond the U.S. national security bureaucracies to most federal departments and agencies nationwide, including the Peace Corps, the Social Security Administration and the Education and Agriculture departments. It emphasizes leaks of classified material, but catchall definitions of “insider threat” give agencies latitude to pursue and penalize a range of other conduct.

Government documents reviewed by McClatchy illustrate how some agencies are using that latitude to pursue unauthorized disclosures of any information, not just classified material. They also show how millions of federal employees and contractors must watch for “high-risk persons or behaviors” among co-workers and could face penalties, including criminal charges, for failing to report them. Leaks to the media are equated with espionage.

“Hammer this fact home . . . leaking is tantamount to aiding the enemies of the United States,” says a June 1, 2012, Defense Department strategy for the program that was obtained by McClatchy.

via Obama’s crackdown views leaks as aiding enemies of U.S. | McClatchy.