I haven’t tried Coke Blak, so I can’t opine on its flavor. I don’t need to say that I don’t think it is a good idea–first blush–because I haven’t given it a chance to impress me. But this video of Anderson Cooper trying Coke Blak on live TV is worth the click. The clip is too long for my taste, but its fun.
That zincing feeling
Outside, it was like summer in Minneapolis today. Just beautiful. Air conditioning weather.
But it is winter in my head.
My first cold of the year has arrived, with its entourage in tow.
I’m getting tired of this. Last winter, if I recall correctly, consisted entirely for me of a very long bout of flu, bookended on either side by unusually long colds.
I’m losing my faith in zinc tablets.
I’m beginning to suspect that zinc tablets are like the secret police of a particularly inept military dictatorship. They manage to beat down the resistance, but they cannot wipe it out. It waits, and organizes, and grows in strength in the shadows, until it bursts forth with volcanic violence in terrorism and revenge and blood in the streets.
It is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. It’s the beginning of the beginning of Cold Season.
Pseudoscience: Believe It or Not?
… traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to the usefulness of astrology. [The study] also shows that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians.
On the Way to the Emmys
Comedy writer Earl Pomerantz chat us up with his experiences at the Emmys. The highlight? “I shook hands with Raymond Burr.” Perhaps that should be the title of his memoir.
No Lil’ Bratz in Scholastic School Flyers
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is claiming a victory in a children’s publisher’s decision to pull Lil’ Bratz-related books from its book club and fair fliers. Scholastic, Inc. is not going to recommend picture books based on the Lil’ Bratz dolls in their sales fliers, and many parents are glad for it.
Is Mormonism Christian?
From the current First Things:
Mormon beliefs diverge widely from historic Christian orthodoxy. The Book of Mormon, which is Mormonism’s principal source for its claim to new revelation and a new prophet, lacks credibility. And the Jesus proclaimed by Joseph Smith and his followers is different in significant ways from the Jesus of the New Testament: Smith’s Jesus is a God distinct from God the Father; he was once merely a man and not God; he is of the same species as human beings; and his being and acts are limited by coeternal matter and laws.
The intent of this essay is not to say that individual Mormons will be barred from sitting with Abraham and the saints at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We are saved by a merciful Trinity, not by our theology. But the distinguished scholar of Mormonism Jan Shipps was only partly right when she wrote that Mormonism is a departure from the existing Christian tradition as much as early Christianity was a departure from Judaism. For if Christianity is a shoot grafted onto the olive tree of Judaism, Mormonism as it stands cannot be successfully grafted onto either.
Thoughts on the State Fair
“‘Most people would like to be delivered from temptation,’ observed Robert Orben, ‘but would like it to keep in touch.'”
Panic now! Or wait two months, then panic!
According to this highly questionable report, the Large Hadron Collider has been shut down due to damage and will be out of order for two months.
What really happened, I think we all understand, is that a black hole immediately formed in the core of the thing, and that Switzerland is already being sucked into the vortex (Think about it. When was the last time you had a phone call from anybody in Switzerland?).
They just don’t want us to panic. Because if we’re all going to die a horrible death anyway, it’s important we do so in a calm state of mind.
I had dinner last night with a group of fantasy writers from the American Christian Fiction Writers convention, being held in our fair metropolis. I managed to get out of my shell after the always-difficult initial “meeting people” stage, and by the end of the night they were all bored sick with me.
Thanks to all of you (you know who you are) for your patience.
Ireland’s Eoin Colfer to Continue the Hitchhiker’s Guide
The publisher approached Eoin Colfer with the idea of carrying on with Douglas Adams’ series in a new book to be called, And Another Thing. To his credit, Colfer was initially shocked at the invitation.
How’d Ye Fare, Lubber?
Ahoy! Did ye’av a bonnie day of it today, young reader? Mayhap, ye’d like to cap it off with a mug o’ rum, or grog if the barkeep has nothing better? As ye may know, rum comes from Caribbean sugar cane. Me matie Scurvy Carl says,
Converting cane into sugar is an industrial process that produces byproducts: cane juice and molasses. Caribbean islanders soon began converting these byproducts into cheap liquor, known first as Kill-Devil, then later as Rumbullion, and then simply as rum. This was powerful stuff. An early critic referred to it as “hot, hellish, and terrible.”
And right he is too. Let’s see if we can’t call for something out of the bung hole, eh. Aye.