It's like one of those jokes. Do you want the good news or the bad news first? The good news is that after a search of epic proportions, a team of scientists led by Dr. Emmanuele A. Jannini of the University of L'Aquila in Italy may have finally come up with a way of reliably locating the sexual holy grail: the hard-to-find G-Spot. The bad news is that the majority of women may not actually have one.
Armed with ultrasound equipment, Jannini's sexual crusaders stormed into the zone, measuring the thickness of tissue in the urethrovaginal terrain where the G-Spot is thought to hide out. A small group of twenty females volunteered for the study, which was published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine. Nine (blessed) women said they experienced vaginal orgasms, while the remaining eleven said they didn't (better luck in the next life). The researchers found that women in the first group had thicker tissue in the study's hot spot.
Many experts (and even more non-experts) have doubted the existence of the G-Spot, but it now seems that the significant differences in sexual capability amongst women may be due to genetically based anatomical factors (rather than a partner's lousy map reading). Previous research by feminist sex educator Shere Hite found that 70% of women did not experience orgasm by vaginal stimulation alone. Jannini's research might explain why.
"For the first time it is possible to determine by a simple, rapid and inexpensive method if a woman has a G spot or not," says Jannini. "A simple test could tell you if it is time to give up the hunt for your G spot or if your partner just needs to try harder."
"In a time when the world is searching for enlightenment, one man is in a position to help." The man: Mike Myers. The position: Not exactly the Lotus.
Check out this hilarious trailer for Mike Myers' new flick The Love Guru. The Austin Powers star plays Pitka, the "second best guru in India," who, after being raised outside of his country by gurus, returns to the States in order to break into the self-help business. His first challenge: To settle the romantic troubles and subsequent professional skid of a star hockey player (played by 40 Year Old Virgin actor Romany Malco) whose wife left him for a rival athlete (played by Justin Timberlake).
The film, which gives Timberlake a pumped-up-in-the-trunks, Boogie Nights-style 70's porn star makeover, also features Jessica Alba (as Jane Bullard), Gandhi star Ben Kingsley (as Guru Tugginmypudha), and Daily Show funny man John Oliver (as Dick Pants). It promises some light-hearted enlightenment, and features the best transcendental invention ever: a motorized guru cushion so you can mediate on the go. Anyone know where we can buy one of those?
When I first came to Los Angeles over a decade ago, the city's love for psychiatrists was already a longstanding joke. And when Prozac and its ilk first arrived on the scene they were hailed as miracle pills that would bring instant happiness to the metropolis' two-hundred buck an hour couch surfers. But when it comes to depression, as a new study has shown, there are no quick fixes, though promisingly it seems the blues may actually serve a purpose, and indeed have the potential to make us happier in the long run.
While at my first job at a record label here in L.A. I struck up a friendship with a young girl who worked on reception. She'd just moved to the entertainment capital and this was her first job out of school. Lonely and vulnerable, she'd stumbled into a relationship with a much older, and very married man. After the initial excitement of the illicit affair had worn off, depression set in and she began to see a psychiatrist who soon prescribed Prozac for her troubles.
At the time, this struck me as beyond wrong. As a young girl alone in a big city, away from her family for the first time, it was only natural for her to feel a little home sick and down. Add a lousy relationship with a love rat into the mix and any sane person would have been depressed in her situation. It seemed to me that giving her happy pills to make her life more bearable was counterproductive. She needed to feel depressed. She needed to feel bad enough to be driven to make positive change in her life. In short, she needed to ditch the cheating dude, and learn to cope with life alone, rather than popping a pill to make life with him more livable.
And it seems that scientific studies are now supporting my inexpert observations. One new study, which for the first time combined all results from clinical drug trials, including those that had previously been withheld by the pharmaceutical companies but had become accessible under new FDA freedom of information rules, found that, "the new-generation antidepressants do not produce clinically significant improvements in depression in patients who initially have moderate or even very severe depression, but show significant effects only in the most severely depressed patients."
The research, which was published in the Public Library of Science medical journal, drew information from trials of four popular drugs: fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Seroxat), venlafaxine (Effexor) and nefazodone (Serzone). Given these results, Prof Irving Kirsch and his team concluded that, "there is little reason to prescribe new-generation antidepressant medications to any but the most severely depressed patients unless alternative treatments have been ineffective."
Furthermore, Dr Paul Keedwell, of the Institute of Psychiatry, argues that depression serves an evolutionary purpose, and may in the long term actually be good for us. "There are benefits and that's why it has persisted. It's a tough message to hear while you are in depression but I think that there's a life afterwards," said Keedwell in an interview with the BBC. "I have received e-mails from ex-sufferers saying in retrospect it probably did help them because they changed direction, a new career for example, and as a result they're more content day-to-day than before the depression."
So it seems, at least where depression is concerned, what doesn't kill you really can make you stronger. Depression can serve as a useful mechanism that lets us know we need to make profound change in our lives. And if you can work your way through your troubles, rather than reaching for possibly ineffective pills, you'll be better equipped to deal with obstacles down the road. But try telling that to someone who's depressed.
Rehabilitation in action. At least when these Filipino prisoners get out they'll be qualified to work as Britney Spear's back-up dancers. You gotta admire the creativity, and the damn fine moves. It'd be a crime for them to go back to crime after this.
Is Obama the new American Idol? Or are we just blinded by the hype? (And Obama's avalanche of cash?) Can Hillary derail the seemingly unstoppable momentum of Obama’s rock star-like celebrity? Do we need to believe in the American dream so much that we'll actually overlook a more qualified and experienced candidate? Is the media so obsessed with a good story that they're ignoring the truths in the way? After SNL stuck a pin in the Obama bubble last weekend, it seems for some the Kool Aid is finally wearing off. As Tina Fey succinctly put it, is "bitch the new black?"
A polar bear and a penguin that discover the benefits of energy saving light bulbs, a cow that learns about the environmental impact of his own methane gas, a hippo who figures out that showers use less water than baths, and a pug dog that realizes that by turning off electrical appliances in the evenings he will finally get a better night's sleep are just some of the clever characters featured in a series of ten animated short films produced by the Oscar winning Aardman Animation studio. The cute clips, from the makers of Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run, which show animals in their own habitats learning to live an environmentally friendlier life are intended to show human beings how they can adapt in order to save the planet.
If player fails to load, click HERE to view the first short in the series.
Vampire Chronicles author Anne Rice is relenting on her vow to abandon her blood sucking characters, and is considering writing one more novel in the series which features the enigmatic Brat Prince of Vampires, Lestat.
The first novel in the Vampire Chronicles series, Interview with the Vampire, was completed the year after the death of Rice's six year old daughter, who succumbed to leukemia in 1972. The novel sold over 8 million copies and spawned a film, which featured Tom Cruise (as the forever restless Lestat), Brad Pitt (as Louis, a conquest of Lestat's who invited him into his life after he lost his brother and his will to live) and Kirsten Dunst (who played Claudia, an eternally 5-year old child vampire).
After the death of her poet husband in 2002, Rice published her final novel concerning the black arts, Blood Canticle. In 2003, Rice, who along with her husband had been a self-described atheist, returned to the Catholic faith in which she'd been raised, and set a new course in her writing with a fictionalized Christ taking over from Lestat as the central character in her subsequent novels (Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt and Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana).
"I never stopped grieving," said Rice on the loss of her faith and her first child during a 2006 Kindling Muse interview. Rice also spoke about how the melancholy plight of the vampires in her chronicles paralleled the loss of light she felt in her own life. But now, after finding spiritual redemption herself, Rice hopes to find the same in her writing for Lestat. "I have one more book that I would really like to write," said Rice in a Time.com interview published this past Sunday. "It will be a story that I need to tell."
After being inundated with emails, Rice wrote an open letter to her fans, excerpts from which are printed below (the full text can be found on her website):
"Yes, I am contemplating one last novel involving the Vampire Lestat, and the Talamasca, the fictional organization I created years ago in the Vampire novels. The novel, if ever written, would be entirely Christian in framework and would involve Redemption. It would affirm my dedication to Christ and my belief in Him and my commitment to write only for Him."
"Such a novel would probably not appeal to the old Goth readers who want to see the vampires continue in their old ways. But it might very much appeal to readers of the old books who saw them as spiritual works about the search for salvation. They might welcome it as a Christian conclusion to the saga I abandoned in 2002."
"But let me assure you -- all of you out there, Christian or non-Christian -- that my consecration to Christ as a writer remains the same. The Lord has given me the strength to maintain that commitment, and I find writing for Him and about Him to be the most challenging and wondrous part of my entire life."
"There is no possibility for me to return to writing about the vampires as heroes of a dark realm in which they are the only authority on their actions. There will be no more rip roaring adventures for the godless Lestat. That is dead and gone. I found the light in Christ for which my old characters were always searching. The question is: can I bring my Christian faith back to one of those old characters in a meaningful and deeply religious way."
"It's worth noting that the original idea for this book was actually developed in 1998, with the tentative title of Angel Time. It never got written, and I think I know why. I wasn't ready to write it. I wasn't ready to bring Lestat into an embracing Christian faith. But now perhaps I am ready and able to do this, and the novel might reach a great many readers of the earlier books who have been reluctant to accept books about Jesus Christ."
"Let me add one more important observation. Americans think about money a lot. They think about what people will do for money or will not do for money. They are accustomed to discussing authors in terms of money quite casually and sometimes without much factual information to back up their cynical observations."
"I'm in the fortunate position to assure my readers that my new books dedicated to Christ have done surprisingly well. I see no financial advantage to returning to Lestat in any form, including that of a Christian novel. If I do write this book, it will be because I feel that I ought to write it, that it is in me waiting to be written and demanding to be written. I'm blessed in that financial considerations simply are not involved."
"And once again, let me say, my consecration to Christ remains as strong as ever, thanks to His mercy and His grace."
They say a free press is the cornerstone of any democracy. But since there's nothing free about our press, and very little that's democratic about our government-for-hire, America's house of democratic illusions is only held up by those naïve enough to still believe the fairy tale, and those too apathetic to do anything about it, which, if we're honest, is most of us (endlessly forwarding activist emails may make us feel like we're doing something, but, let's be real, is mostly ineffectual).
George Bush is certainly under no illusions about the role of the media in our pseudo-democracy. After a speech intended to welcome journalists to the new White House briefing room back in July 2007, a Reuters photographer took a now infamous snap of the president's speech. The man charged with maintaining what should be the greatest democracy in the world had taken a black pen to his own neatly typed address, and, after the phrase "a free press is", had scrubbed out the words "one of the cornerstones of." But then, as he wages wars in the name of democracy abroad, he's waged another cold war on democracy at home, which has been, however unwittingly, aided and abetted by the very cornerstone our "democracy" is supposed to rely on.
But if you won't pay 50 cents per day for a newspaper, $29 a year to support an independent online news service such a Salon.com, or $50 a year to fund news on PBS or NPR, then don't blame the press for the current fix we're in. It's a matter of value. What do we value more, the news, or the cars and burgers sold in between the news? If it's the former, we should economize on the latter and be prepared to pay for quality journalism.
Like any other commodity, with news you get what you pay for. Purveyors of infotainment, such as Fox "News", which Fox & Friends guest, comedian Lee Camp succinctly called out live on air last week for being a "parade of propaganda" and a "festival of ignorance," serves no higher purpose than to provide fodder to keep viewers tuned-in for the advertisements. Like any other mainstream news outlet owned by one of the big media conglomerates, Fox News serves its parent company's bottom line, and is under no illusions that its purpose is to provide a check and balance to curtail the activities of a runaway government.
While pumping billions into an ill-advised war overseas, Bush is trying to cut off the lifeblood of those that report on it with an independent voice at home. His proposed federal budget would cut more than half of the funds allocated to public broadcasters in 2009 and 2010. And with the New York and Los Angeles Times both announcing three-figure job cuts in the past month, don't be expecting their much maligned journalists to have the time to come up with as much original thought or news as they have in the past. With less staff but the same column inches to fill, many of our once grand newspapers are being reduced to nothing more than printed blogs, reprinting the same recycled news, press releases and wire stories by the inch, and commenting on the commentary of others in place of the time consuming task of researching their own fresh news and opinion.
Ask yourself why the word "divisive" ubiquitously sits next to Hillary's name, as does "change" next to Obama's. In truth either world could equally apply to both. But these clichés have become ingrained in our culture thanks to a media that doesn't have the time, money or inclination to find the news, but merely reports on the same "news" briefings and press releases, representing the often unchecked facts and quotes they contain as news.
As any physicist can tell you, if you want to arrest entropy you need to put more energy into a system. Write to your congressman or woman and demand that they fight the PBS budget cuts. Consider where you should get your news from (the BBC is a great place to start), rather than reaching for the remote or reading whatever's on your homepage out of habit. Refuse to be another Faux News viewer or clicker. Don't let these masqueraders make money off your viewership and clicks. And don't just take the news as read, but consider where a story is really coming from, who's promoting it, and, most importantly, why?
A member of the Israeli parliament blamed a recent spate of earthquakes on gays, and what he sees as Israel's overly tolerant attitude towards homosexuality. Shlomo Benizri, a member of Ultra-orthodox Jewish Shas party, made the comments during a debate on earthquake preparedness on February 20, 2008.
"Why do earthquakes happen? One of the reasons is the things to which the Knesset (parliament) gives legitimacy, to sodomy," said Benizri, who is known for his homophobic views. "A cost-effective way of averting earthquake damage would be to stop passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the State of Israel, which anyways causes earthquakes."
"We are looking for earthly solutions, how to prevent them," he continued. "I have another way to prevent earthquakes. The Gemara says that one of the reasons earthquakes happen, which the Knesset legitimizes, is homosexuality."
The Israeli government repealed laws banning consensual gay sex in 1988. Since then, though they don’t permit gay marriage, they have recognized same-sex unions performed abroad, and have extended many of the benefits and rights married couples enjoy to same sex couples. Last Sunday the country’s attorney general ruled on legislation that expands the rights of same-sex couples to adopt. Since then, two more earthquakes have rocked the region.
"God says you shake your genitals where you are not supposed to and I will shake my world in order to wake you up," said Benizri, who is a member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's ruling coalition. What Benizri seems to have conveniently overlooked is the fact that homosexuality is really not on God's Top 10 List, with things like adultery and theft being far more of a priority for the oft misquoted and misunderstood deity.
If God is really showing his displeasure by shaking up the Middle East, it's more likely because of the worship of false idols (money and oil), the coveting of a neighbor's house (Palestine/Afghanistan/Iraq), and the (mass) murder being committed in the region by people from all sides (including us). Can we just stop blaming the gays for our troubles? I know God isn’t.
How many times have you heard a single friend say, "if only I had a boyfriend/ girlfriend/ soul mate my life would be perfect." I've always thought that logic was flawed. That's way to much pressure to put on a potential partner. If you expect a "soul mate" to come along and make your life perfect, in reality the only thing you'll achieve is to frighten him or her off.
It makes far more sense to put your own life in order, and make it as perfect as you possibly can before you search for a special someone to enjoy your life with. That way you're more likely to attract someone who sees you for the fulfilled and healthy individual that you are. After all, do you really want to be with someone who's attracted to your neediness? Furthermore, if a "soul mate" fails to come along, with your house in order you're in a better position to enjoy the life you have. It's a win-win strategy.
So when the Daily Mantra's like-minded MySpace buddy Dvorahji, a fun-loving guru from the school of common sense, posted her Ask Dvorahji: Where Is My Soul Mate video on our page, I had to both laugh and marvel her infallible, down-to-earth wisdom. In the YouTube clip (if player fails to load click HERE to view), the eccentric (in the best possible way), self-styled "final guide for the spiritually challenged and confused" reads out a letter from an 84-year old woman called Sarah who wants to know where her soul mate is.
"The problem is everyone is spending so much time looking for a soul mate that they are absolutely not enjoying their life," Dvorahji responds. "Why waste a another moment looking for a soul mate." Dvorahji certainly didn't. Life's way too short. She went out and bought a soul mate for $250 from a puppy pound in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Who ever said soul mate's only come with two legs?
A recent article in Live Science delved into fairy tales for glimpses of truth. Having recently seen The Brothers Grimm (which stars Matt Damon and the late Heath Ledger) on DVD, I was expecting to read about the real life stories that the fairy tales grew from (not that the film was exactly a documentary). But that's more history than science, more anthropology than physics, which is the sphere in which Live Science concentrated their efforts. They hypothesized about the most fantastical aspects of three well-known fairy tales to conclude whether or not Rapunzel's hair really could have held the weight of her prince, if the Little Mermaid's voice could have been stolen, and if a magic carpet might really be able to fly.
Being a fan of author Joseph Campbell, I tend to look at fairy tales as metaphors for deeper truths about life itself. So while Rapunzel, were she a real girl locked in a tower, may have been able to sustain the weight of her prince on her long blonde locks, I believe there are more important messages in the story. As parents read the story to their young daughters, they may be reminded about the upcoming struggle between protecting their innocence and letting them grow up, and the young listener may learn about not giving up on love.
The Disney version of The Little Mermaid, modernizes the message of the rather gruesome original (which involves a sea witch cutting out our heroine's tongue). The way Disney tell it, The Little Mermaid is a cautionary tale about putting personal wishes above those of one's family. It champions following one's heart and trusting in love, as well as not giving up one's voice or changing who we are. The magic of fairy tales and myths is in their ability to speak a different message to each of us, and even offer guidance at different points in our lives.
Many of us have experienced the freedom of a flying carpet without actually defying gravity. The wonder of being able to go where we want, when we want, without limit or permission is a dream we can all understand, whether we experience it on a bicycle or a balloon. Of course, the tale was told before the modern airplane was in existence, so perhaps that myth has already become a reality in a way.
Suspension of disbelief is essential in these stories, but perhaps knowing that some of it is possible helps us with our resolve to not give up on our own fantasies. Because we can connect and relate to the characters and their situations at some level, we may be able to use that as a bridge to enter the realm of the magical and discover what is truly possible, expanding the boundaries of the real world to experience some of what seems to be only imaginary.
To read the results of Live Science's investigations go to: http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/080211-fairytales-science.html
This wonderful short called Carried Away (if player fails to load, click HERE to view), by animator Zach Parrish, reminded my of a recent trip to the Point Dume, CA. After a heady walk along the breathtaking State Beach there, I returned to my car as the sun was setting and saw two very elegant older ladies reclining on deck chairs merrily blowing bubbles with very young hearts.
Next time life is getting you down try some bubble therapy for yourself. A website that amusingly offers "homemade bubble solutions" suggests using 1 part liquid dish washing detergent to 12 parts water. For those who are more serious about their bubbles, a few drops of glycerin or a dash of corn syrup is also recommended to increase size, elasticity, and durability. And, according to a bubble expert at Flora's Hideout, "Don't throw any leftovers away either. The longer your solution sits, the better it gets."
This is an interesting Current TV video pod on exorcism in England in the 21st century (if player fails to load, click HERE to view). Meanwhile in Australia the Sunday Mail is reporting that there's a shortage of priests trained to perform exorcisms in the Catholic Church there.
One priest, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals (though we're confused as to from whom), claims he carries out exorcisms at an average rate of once a fortnight
"Being possessed by a demon is terrifying in one's mental and emotional life," said the priest. "Some of these manifestations are extremely powerful, causing people to be plagued by disturbances. They hear voices and see hideous creatures in their sleep."
To deal with the increased demand for exorcisms worldwide, The Vatican's chief exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, has be charged with "setting up exorcism squads to deal with the rampant growth of Satanism" by Pope Benedict XVI.
"There is a progressive distancing from God and this helps the Devil. The action of the Devil is a lot more widespread than in the past not because he has more strength but because he is given more space," said Amorth in a recent CNN/IBN interview which was first broadcast on February 4, 2008.
"We deal with priests and bishops who know nothing about the subject because for three centuries exorcisms were almost totally abandoned. They have never seen exorcisms, they never performed them. They believe in the Devil, but they don't believe much in the actions of the Devil, so they prefer to send everyone to psychiatrists and psychologists," Amorth continues. "Thank God there is a Pope who wants to fight the Devil head on."
Tired of being dissed by literary types like Jonathan Franzen and lied to by dissembling memoirists like James Frey, Oprah retreated for awhile to safer book club fare. Featuring long dead, canonical writers such as William Faulkner and John Steinbeck connected her viewers to American literary history and also served to keep controversy at bay. She dipped her toe back into the waters of contemporary authorship when she chose to promote reclusive novelist Cormac McCarthy's The Road. She does so again with her latest selection, esteemed spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose. And if humiliation is what the iconic TV personality and media mogul wishes to avoid, this latest pick is certainly an excellent bet.
Oprah's choice of Eckhart's book isn't merely a safe one; it's also one Daily Mantra wholeheartedly applauds. Few people on the planet have a soapbox the size of Oprah's. When she uses it to promote substantive teachings and practices she does us all a service.
Eckhart writes and speaks out of the same deep stillness he advocates and is therefore a healing and transformative presence. Anyone interested in encountering this presence and tapping into this wisdom can do so in the company of Oprah, who on March 3, 2008 is starting an ongoing ten week class via her website in conjunction with the diminutive German born and British trained advocate of present moment awareness. Along with live classroom webcasts, the unfortunately named "webinar" interactive seminar series will also provide Q&A opportunities with Oprah and Eckhart, a workbook, an online community, and archived classroom videos.
For most, spiritual awakening is an ongoing process rather than a sudden happening. Given our human need for reminding when it comes to the most basic truths, Oprah's class on Eckhart's teachings offers a useful opportunity. Newcomers along with longtime fans of his work, including the earlier, widely read The Power of Now, would both likely benefit from this refresher course on staying present.
Former Longboard Ranch guitarist, David Kaufman, and some of his pals, put together this fun parody of Bow Wow Wow's "I Want Candy" video to support presidential candidate Barack Obama (if player fails to load, click HERE to view).
"Barack Obama wasn't my first choice (or second), but considering the reality of the playing field, he's definitely my current pick," says Kaufman.
Though I actually feel Hillary has far more experience for the top job, I have to admire the lyrical dexterity of this version. For full disclosure, I should also mention my hubby's in Bow Wow Wow.
The Daily Mantra is glad to see new episodes of one of our fav shows, Medium, back on air. We’re loving the way the writers switched things up, with D.A. Manuel Devalos’ downfall making way for the entrance of Anjelica Huston’s mercenary character, Cynthia Keener (though we’re a little upset about seeing less of hunky detective Lee Scanlon played by actor David Cubitt).
In a recent TV Guide interview, Huston revealed there may be more to the seemingly cold-hearted Ms. Keener than we have initially been lead to believe. “Yes, Cynthia is flinty and weird, but there's a reason for that,” says Huston. “She harbors a dark secret and is on a quest. She needs money because of a personal interest I won't divulge. There's something very strongly at stake. In the end, you'll see she's actually a pretty good egg. I like that my character starts out being quasi-skeptical about Allison's powers, then starts to believe in them to the point where it unites the women.
When asked if she was “into this psychic stuff” the actress, who played who has played numerous supernatural characters, replied, “Oh, absolutely! I find it very fascinating. I don't want to sound like a page out of the National Enquirer, but I have some psychic powers of my own, a modest sixth sense, if you will. I think a lot of women have it, certainly not as acute a gift as Allison's, but we've got it! We weren't burned at the stake for nothing!”
Want to commune with God over a pint? On the first Friday of each month between 9p.m. and midnight customers at the Market Cross Pub in Carlisle, PA will be able to do just that thanks to a rather unique outreach program set up by Bethel Assembly of God Church senior pastor Chuck Kish. Through this new monthly ministry, Rev. Chuck hopes to offer inspiration beyond that found in the bottom of a glass, and alternative solutions to those that might otherwise try drinking their troubles away.
"He approached me on the idea about a month, a month and a half ago, and I kind of did a double-take on it," said bar owner Jeff Goss in an interview with the local Sentinal newspaper. "Once we started talking about it, I realized what a great idea it was. I'm sort of an internal optimist. Working here for 14 years, I've seen customers, regulars and employees who have had their ups and downs through life."
"There was a lady at one of the bars who was married for 30 years and her husband just up and left her, and she was there about to drink herself into oblivion," explains Rev. Chuck. "The bartender said before she could do that, maybe she'd like to talk to the chaplains. It was a sort of pilot thing for us, and we were able to give help in a very tangible way. That's when I realized, you know, this is going to work."
It could be argued that the warm, friendly, and intimate atmosphere of a pub is far more conducive to confession and communion than the chilly atmosphere of many churches. Certainly the location seems more appealing than that of Rev. Chuck's bricks and mortar church, which is located five miles out of town on State Route 34 next to the Graham Cadillac dealership and Merrick and Fair Performance Dealership.
Rev. Chuck plans to make sure there's at least one male and one female pastor on hand to serve those in need, and he promises they'll be no preaching or proselytizing at the bar. "We're not going in there to strong-arm anybody," Rev. Chuck said. "We give more pastoral care, listening to what you have to say."
The unorthodox pastor, who also serves as the Senior Police Chaplain for Carlisle and North Middleton Police Departments, is no stranger to offbeat outreach. Rev. Chuck runs a youth program called the B.A.D. Attitude tour, and offers a road side ministry on Sunday mornings at the Truck Stop TV Lounge at the Petro Stopping Center on the Harrisburg Pike. "Many drivers have come to accept Christ as their savior during these services."
Let's hope any water into wine miracles are confined to the Market Cross Pub, since though Jesus was partial to a glass with a fish and bread supper, he certainly wouldn't approve of drinking and driving.
Carbon Rally is the Weight Watchers of the CO2 dieters world, the proverbial 12 Step program for CA (Carbon Anonymous). We all know how to reduce our carbon footprint, but sometimes a little group motivation can help when it comes to actually cutting down.
The eco-networking site posts new challenges every few weeks, the current featured challenge being to bring your own cup when buying drinks from coffee shops in order to reduce your emissions by 1.25 lbs per week. You can take on the challenges individually, but the fun really starts when you join a team or organize one of your own.
Carbon Rally posts a 30-Day Leaderboard, which is currently topped by The Lime-aids, who are led by New Jersey based Lemon Head. They have 34 members, have taken 238 challenges and have cut their collective carbon emissions by 5.18 tons. Go Lime-aids!
Fellow teammates and challenge takers can network and swap tips via the message boards, and can also make task suggestions in the Challenge Workshop. Here at the Daily Mantra, we’d like to kick the Lime-aids carbon-skinny butts, so have created our own team. Click HERE to join.
To promote togetherness, the Relevant Church in Tampa, Florida is asking its married members take part in a 30-Day Sex Challenge, during which they'll be required to “purposely engage in sexual activity” at least once a day.
A statement on the church's website explains, "People are not having enough sex. An epidemic of breakups prove the needs that lead to a great sex life are being overlooked. Dirty dishes, frumpy clothes, and a lack of authentic connections are killing the romance. A great sex life is a challenge and takes focus, determination, and planning. Some say it's an unrealistic goal, but we disagree. We believe you can have a great sex life, in fact we believe God wants you to have a great sex life."
"We believe this challenge will not only improve sex lives, but also strengthen relationships," the statement continues. "For far too long the church has remained silent on the subject, leading many people to believe that God is against sex, which is completely counter to what the Bible teaches."
Sadly it seems God only wants you to have a great sex life if you're married. The challenge set forth for the church's single parishioners could prove to be a little more, well er, challenging. They're being asked to abstain from all sexual activity for 30 days. There was no information given on what same-sex couples, who are not single but also not married, were expected to do during this 30 day period. But if you have to ask, you probably know the answer.
When we tried to download the official 30-Day Sex Challenge Guide from the church’s website, we were told the page was "temporarily unavailable" due to "capacity problems." We're therefore guessing this idea has been a hit with a least one subsection of the church's Christian soldiers.
Check out this animated short about evil in western civilization from Ancient Greece to the present day (if player fails to load click HERE to view). The filmmaker, who is known only as YouTube user Omaggs2000, explains it was, "intended to show what people have believed in and pointed to as evil throughout history. It was meant to get you to think about what evil really is. It is meant to show that when we get too obsessed with 'evil' we might end up taking part in it ourselves."
"One has to separate evil and human cruelty," explains Omaggs2000. "Human cruelty is people not being nice to one another. Evil is something else, it is something we have created, a word and a concept for things that are not acceptable. It is a label for things that we do not understand and don't want to understand. But is evil really ever a complete explanation for anything? A lot of bad deeds has been done in the name of good. The people that did them meant good, are they evil?"
Finally, Omaggs2000 wants you to know that the video is not meant to
A: Blame religion for all the evil in the world.
B: Claim that God is dead. (It is simply a reference to the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, look him up.)
C: Offend anyone, race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.
D: Claim that Elvis was evil.
E: Be an exact and complete account of the actual events that has taken place throughout history.
Most of us know that composting is a good way to deal with your organic kitchen waste instead of sending it to the landfill. But if you don't have space in your backyard or a lot of time to maintain a compost heap, are you doomed to send your potato peelings away in the garbage truck? How can an urban dweller compost effectively and efficiently?
NatureMill has developed an automatic compact composter designed to be used either indoors or outdoors, with minimal fuss and maintenance. They promise their low-energy machine, which uses just 5 kwh per month, will recycle "its weight in waste every 10 days" and will divert "over two tons of waste from landfills over its life."
Just prime the composter before the first use by throwing in a few scoops of garden soil, and with a little mechanical help, the natural cultures will do their job breaking down your organic waste. The mixer and heater inside the composter do the hard work for you. What's more, due to the machine's regular churning cycles and its ability to maintain an optimum temperature, the time it takes for your kitchen waste to be transformed into garden fertilizer is shortened dramatically, from several months or more with an outdoor compost heap to about two weeks with the composter.
Here at the Daily Mantra we were lucky enough to receive a review unit. I was incredibly excited to receive such a high-tech composting gadget, and set it up in my kitchen immediately. It sat neatly beside my fridge, and merrily hummed away as it got to work on my waste. I peeked in at my apple peels and used teabags cozily nestled in their new home on the first night before going to bed myself.
I woke up a short time later to a strange clunking noise in the kitchen. I crept downstairs and found it was coming from the mixer in the composter. I was a little unnerved, but the cycle ended shortly after I came down to check on it, so I shrugged and went back to bed.
The next morning I came downstairs to find the composter unplugged. My husband had been woken at 4 a.m. by the same noise from the mixer, and, since he wasn't sure if it was supposed to make it, he'd switched it off just in case. I sent off an email to NatureMill and left the composter unplugged over the weekend. I received a very helpful and reassuring response first thing Monday morning saying that the clunking noise is normal during the first few mixing cycles and will go away as the machine breaks in. So I plugged it back in and started composting again.
After being inactive for almost two days my composter was starting to smell rather, well, rotten, so I moved it outdoors. I made one very respectable batch of compost, which smelled more like dark, loamy earth than moldy cantaloupe, and have now moved the composter back into my kitchen. So far it doesn't smell at all, so I believe the trick to avoiding odors is to leave it on, just like the instruction manual says.
Despite my personal hiccups, the NatureMill composter does do an excellent job. After almost a year of attempting to get a compost heap going in my backyard I hadn't yet produced any usable compost for my garden, but after just two weeks of using the NatureMill I have half a bucket of dark, earthy compost that I can't wait to work into the ground. Like baking sourdough bread, brewing beer or making yogurt, composting takes a little bit of practice and knowledge in order to nurture the bacterial cultures responsible for the magic. With the automatic composter, the process is sped up so much that it takes much less time to learn what makes good compost. The manufacturers provide everything you need apart from the garden soil that starts the initial process. They include a detailed instruction booklet, sawdust pellets and baking soda to keep the acidity balance in check. As a result the machine makes composting almost effortless.
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Most of us know that composting is a good way to deal with your organic kitchen waste instead of sending it to the landfill. But if you don't have space in your backyard or a lot of time to maintain a compost heap, are you doomed to send your potato peelings away in the garbage truck? How can an urban dweller compost effectively and efficiently?