This is probably why the internet was created. Click through for a video of an exploding banana mask.
from Julana’s summary of Alan Jacobs’ lecture on original sin at the most recent Calvin College Festival of Faith & Writing
Bon Iver covers a song from the new Okkervil River album.
(HT: Steve McCoy)
Hadrian's Wall
I went camping this past weekend in the village of Acomb and got to go on a long hike along a portion of Hadrian’s Wall. Amazing. If you’re ever in England, put this on your list of places to see. I could kick myself for forgetting to bring my camera. (Though I did find a pic here of the ruins of the fort at Housesteads, the place where we started our hike.) The scenery and sense of history — construction of the wall started in 122 AD! — was incredible. And it was so nice to be out and away from the normal routine with a tent and sleeping bag, something I haven’t done in a while.
How can a true-blue pacifist vote in an election for commander in chief? Put more broadly, if I know that in casting a vote, I am perforce voting for future practices that I cannot condone, how can I in good conscience vote?
But in that question lies the very reason we should vote: We should vote because we cannot say, with certainty, that the future practices of the president will be those we cannot condone. Our history, and certainly our present, is replete with examples of presidents doing things that conflict with the politics of Jesus (to borrow a phrase). But there are also examples in our history of elected officials using the power of government to love the least of these and to promote peace. Our system does not necessarily produce war, but an election boycotted by pacifists is more likely to produce war than an election in which pacifists vote.
” Lauren Winner (here, in Sojourners magazine… you have to register to see the full article)
