The video above is a news report about a man who ate at McDonalds three meals a day for three months. In doing so, he was testing the conclusions reached by the documentary “Super Size Me,” which attributed blame to McDonalds for obesity and poor health. In this new experiment, the subject regulated his caloric intake daily, and at the end of three months he lost 37 pounds! And he didn’t just eat salads the whole time. Burgers and ice cream were a part of his regular diet as well. He was able to achieve this result simply by controlling how much he was eating and by walking for about…
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Bill Nye the Science Guy takes on creationists
Bill Nye the Science Guy recently produced a video that has gone viral (see above). It features “The Science Guy” castigating parents who teach creationism to their children. In short, he thinks parents should not be allowed to teach their children such a thing. If parents want to believe in fairy tales like creationism, that is fine. But it is not fine—according to “The Science Guy”—for parents to foist those fairy tales on their children.
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The Supreme Court halts gay marriage in Utah
The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court on Monday blocked further same-sex marriages in Utah while state officials appeal a decision allowing such unions. The terse order, from the full court, issued a stay “pending final disposition” of an appeal to the federal appeals court in Denver. It offered no reasoning. The Supreme Court acted more than two weeks after a federal judge in Salt Lake City on Dec. 20 struck down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage, saying it violated principles of equal protection and due process. Judge Robert J. Shelby of Federal District Court refused to stay his decision while it was appealed, as did the United States…
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New York Times reports on Calvinist resurgence
The New York Times has just published a feature on the resurgence of Calvinism among evangelicals. The story features Mark Dever and Collin Hansen as well as remarks from Arminian critic Roger Olsen. That fact that this story even made it into the nation’s paper of record is significant all by itself. For that reason alone, you don’t want to miss this one. The end of the article asks whether the reformed resurgence is a fad—a movement that is here and then gone like the emergent church. I think that comparison misses the point. There are many important differences between the two movements that render them apples and oranges. The…
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The transgender revolution marches forward
A new law goes into effect in California today that allows new “privileges” for transgender children. The Washington Times reports: [The law] is intended to permit transgender students to choose by themselves which bathrooms and locker rooms they will use, and which sports teams they will join. California schools are already required not to discriminate against transgender students, and they currently work with students and their families to address pertinent issues. However, gay-rights groups and some transgender students said the old policy was not sensitive enough.
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Man gets disability benefits for heavy metal addiction
A 42-year old Swedish man named Roger Tullgren has successfully lobbied his government to get his obsession with heavy metal music classified as a disability. You’re going to have to read this to believe it: Because heavy metal dominates so many aspects of his life, the Employment Service has agreed to pay part of Tullgren’s salary. His new boss meanwhile has given him a special dispensation to play loud music at work. “I have been trying for ten years to get this classified as a handicap,” Tullgren told The Local.
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Fox News panel turns into evangelical small group
The video above is a remarkable discussion about “religion”–even for Fox News. The panelists are predominantly Christian–as far as I can tell–and their conversation ends up sounding like an evangelical “prayer and share.” This kind of conversation on cable news is really rare, so I thought it was worth noting. (HT: Eric Metaxas)
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Top 10 YouTubes of 2013
It’s time for my annual posting of the Top 10 YouTube Videos of the Year (see last year’s list here). This ranking is totally unscientific. Only one person was polled to compile this list—yours truly. This year’s crop contains items relating to sports, theology, news, Christianity, and more. Some of the videos are humorous, and others are poignant. They’re not all actual YouTubes. They’re just internet videos. If you think I’ve left something out, let me know. I’ll think about adding it to the “Honorable Mention” category at the bottom. If you’re interested, here are links to lists from previous years: 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008
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Google Zeitgest 2013
I look forward to Google’s Zeitgeist video every year. It is an annual mashup of footage of the most searched items in the Google search engine. It is a window into human interest for the last year (at least those humans dwelling in socio-economic realities that allow them to search the internet). I’ve noticed that the annual videos tend toward uplift. Perhaps that’s the reason that this year’s video has no trace of Miley Cyrus in it. In any case, here it is. See also: Google Zeitgeist 2012 Google Zeitgeist 2011
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Boeing 777 struggles to land
(HT: Danny Akin)