Jon Katz: What my 3k-pound steer has taught me about faith

"I've attended churches, Quaker Meetings, synagogues, and Buddhist temples. I've taken yoga and read Joseph Campbell, Thomas Merton, C.S. Lewis, St. Augustine, and the Bible. I pray often. But I had an unsettling realization recently, which is that my steer Elvis already has the spiritual equanimity I have been seeking."

read more | digg story

Fortune Magazine -- GM: Death of an American dream

In working for the largest company in the industry for so long, GM's management became comfortable, insular, self-referential, and too wedded to the status quo - traits that persist even now, when GM is on the precipice. They prefer stability over conflict, continuity over disorder, and GM's way over anybody else's.

read more | digg story

I'm Not One Of Those 'Love Thy Neighbor' Christians

Everybody has this image of "crazy Christians" based on what they hear in the media, but it's just not true. I'm here to tell you there are lots of Christians who aren't anything like the preconceived notions you may have. We're not all into "turning the other cheek." We don't spend our days committing random acts of kindness for no credit.

read more | digg story

Great Money-Making Idea/Plan to Piss Off PETA (PIC)

1) Buy a bunch of dogs 2) Put signs on their necks 3) Put them on street corners 4)????? 5) Profit!

read more | digg story

If TV Shows Had Truthful Titles

A few weeks ago, we decided to show you what a few advertisements would say, if they were being honest. But we thought maybe it'd be more helpful if we showed you what some TV shows might be called if they were being a little more truthful.

read more | digg story

Legalize It

With a recession in sight, the case for legalizing marijuana and taxing it for government revenue seems more practical than ever.

read more | digg story

Was George Carlin Our Mark Twain? Comedy Greats Say Yes

Shining stars from America's comedy universe gathered Monday in Washington to honor the late, great George Carlin with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

read more | digg story

Alaska Update: Thousands of Ballots 'Found'

One-third of ballots remain uncounted

read more | digg story

Lego Bricks You Can Actually Eat

The concept is rather simple: Grab a Lego surface, a few Lego pieces, silicon to make a negative mold, cook the candy liquid, pour in, and let it cool down until it solidifies into transparent brick goodness, Lego logo included.

read more | digg story

Scientists Discover Why Sharks Can Swim So Fast

Shortfin mako sharks can shoot through the ocean at up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometres an hour). Now a trick that helps them to reach such speeds has been discovered – the sharks can raise their scales to create tiny wells across the surface of their skin, reducing drag like the dimples on a golf ball.

read more | digg story

Secret Service code names for new First Family

They give a peek at the Obamas' personalities.

read more | digg story

Us Citizen Held Since 2002 in South Carolina to Get Hearing At Supremes

The supreme court agreed to hear the case of a US citizen who has been held in a military prison in South Carolina without trial because of alleged links to terrorsts.

read more | digg story

Amazing shot of the atmosphere

read more | digg story

A Very Real, Though Slightly Impractical Cure For AIDS

The startling case of an AIDS patient who underwent a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia is stirring new hope that gene-therapy strategies on the far edges of AIDS research might someday cure the disease.

read more | digg story

Beatles "Hard Day’s Night" Chord Mystery solved w/Math!

The most famous opening chord in rock & Roll:For 40 years nobody knew for sure what it was. Many guitar players have tried in vain to recreate the sound but usually fail miserably. Well, someone has figured it out - not a musician, but a Dalhousie mathematician.

read more | digg story

5 All-Time-Classic Albums That Critics Despised

As much as people like to deny it, there is something about a negative album review that can sway the public consciousness. A bad review in the right publication can seal an album's fate as a bargain bin throwaway before it even has a chance.

read more | digg story

Bullet Train Gets Approved in California!

Voters in California this week agreed to bankroll a multi-billion dollar high-speed railway system. The bond measure will fund about 20% of the $45 billion price tag.When completed, the high speed rail (220mph) will connect San Francisco to San Diego

read more | digg story

How to make $45 Million a year with Doman Names & Lawn Signs

Have you seen one of those lawn signs plugging a local dating website? A blogger gets obsessed with who is behind them and just how far they stretch. This is a report of his findings, which start in a tiny NJ town and lead all the way to the secret guerilla marketing infrastructure of a multimillion-dollar company...

read more | digg story

Love you too, Mr Sloth

read more | digg story

Suddenly, it may be cool to be an American again

She was a stranger, and she kissed me. Just for being an American.It happened on the bus on my way to work Wednesday morning, a few hours after compatriots clamoring for change swept Barack Obama to his historic victory. I was on the phone, and the 20-something Austrian woman seated in front of me overheard me speaking English.

read more | digg story

PIC - Is MC Escher Working for Google Maps?

Photographic evidence seems to sure look like it.

read more | digg story

Bump.

Finishing what was started over 150 years ago.

read more | digg story

Palin Didn't Know Africa Is A Continent, Says Fox News

According to Fox News Chief White House Correspondent, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked "a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency," in part because she didn't know which countries were in NAFTA, and she "didn't know that Africa was a continent."

read more | digg story

Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job

African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America.

read more | digg story

You Can't Fake This Stuff...

What a great image!

read more | digg story

Saddest picture you'll see all day

Love him or hate him, you've got to admit that he's done a lot to get young people excited about politics again. Well fought Dr. Paul.

read more | digg story

Saddest picture you'll see all day

Love him or hate him, you've got to admit that he's done a lot to get young people excited about politics again. Well fought Dr. Paul.

read more | digg story

"Jurassic Park" Author Michael Crichton Dies of Cancer

Prolific novelist and "ER" creator Michael Crichton has passed away. He was 66. Perhaps best known for being the author of Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World, which were turned into a hugely successful movie franchise, his numerous books have sold over 150 million copies worldwide.

read more | digg story

"Jurassic Park" Author Michael Crichton Dies of Cancer

Prolific novelist and "ER" creator Michael Crichton has passed away. He was 66. Perhaps best known for being the author of Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World, which were turned into a hugely successful movie franchise, his numerous books have sold over 150 million copies worldwide.

read more | digg story

Miss! MISS!!! [PIC]

read more | digg story

XKCD: Election

I don't have to be an election junkie anymore. I'm free.

read more | digg story

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!

Somebody had to say it.

read more | digg story

Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress

After emerging victorious from one of the most pivotal elections in history, president-elect Barack Obama will assume the role of commander in chief on Jan. 20, shattering a racial barrier the United States is, at long last, shitty enough to overcome.

read more | digg story

The World's View of Obama's Win

What seemed audacious and improbable before is now a reality. In Obama's victory are sown the seeds of great expectations that a truly new chapter will be written in the history of the world.

read more | digg story

76 Nobel Laureates Endorse Obama

As of last Friday, the number of Nobel Laureates endorsing Barack Obama for president has risen to 76, saying Obama will end Bush-era trashing of scientific research, integrity, and competitiveness.In an open letter (pdf), the Laureates cite the politicization of science under the Bush administration, particularly in the fields of heath...

read more | digg story

Obama Calls for College Football Playoff System

Like you needed another reason to vote for the guy! "I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football. I'm fed up with these computer rankings and this and that and the other. Get eight teams — the top eight teams right at the end. You got a playoff. Decide on a National Champion," Obama said.

read more | digg story

John Cusack: No Currency Left to Buy the Big Lies

First the past: Senator McCain, Governor Palin and assorted surrogates are delusional and breathtakingly corrupt. They disgrace themselves and their country as they lie, smear, slur and write it off as political manner.Yet the creeping truth must frighten them late at night: there is no currency left to buy the big lies.

read more | digg story

How, Mountain Goat? Please Tell Us How You Got There!

G. Dan Hutcheson, the photographer who snapped this incredible photo, says: "I never did find out how this Mountain Goat, Oreamnos americanus, managed to get down. I was there for more than an hour and it kept licking away at the mineral in the rock. It was a sheer drop below, there was no apparent way up or sideways."

read more | digg story

No charges; US may never release Guantánamo Chinese

Seventeen Chinese prisoners who have been held for nearly seven years in Guantánamo Bay will be informed on Monday that they could spend the rest of their lives behind bars, even though they face no charges and have been told by a judge they should be freed.

read more | digg story