Terry Eagleton on Jesus’ Work Ethic

Jesus, unlike most responsible American citizens, appears to do no work, and is accused of being a glutton and a drunkard. He is presented as homeless, propertyless, celibate, peripatetic, socially marginal, disdainful of kinsfolk, without a trade, a friend of outcasts and pariahs, averse to material possessions, without fear for his own safety, careless about [...]

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The Bush Doctrine’s 6th Anniversary

“We have no ambition in Iraq except to remove a threat and to restore control of that country to its people….The dangers to our country and to our world will be overcome.”
Today marks the sixth anniversary of George W. Bush’s speech in announcement of the Iraq invasion, which for many people marks the advent [...]

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Top Ten Oregon Breweries

Among the many other things that it is best at, Oregon exceeds all other states in beer excellence – both in quality and quantity (at least breweries per capita).  Here are my favorite breweries in our fair state.  
10. Bridgeport (Portland)
9.  Full Sail (Hood River)
8. Deschutes (Bend)
7. Hopworks (Portland)
6. Lompoc (Portland)
5. Amnesia (Portland)
4. Caldera (Ashland)
3. [...]

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John Winthrop on Economics

From the founder of American exceptionalism, some timely words on lending:
Question: What rule must we observe in lending?
Answer: Thou must observe whether thy brother hath present or probable or possible means of repaying thee, if there be none of those, thou must give him according to his necessity, rather then lend him as [...]

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“It’s the Californians, man, the Californians are the worst.”

Tonight will be my fifth night in a row staying at my new house on 43rd and Division, my longest stretch by far outside of Montavilla – within Portland that is.  I’m realizing that much of my affection for my city has been coddled by a neighborhood that flew under the radar of Vera Katz [...]

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Five Myths About Drinking Water

Take this, Eric:
Myth No. 1: Drink Eight Glasses Each Day
Scientists say there’s no clear health benefit to chugging or even sipping water all day. So where does the standard advice of drinking eight glasses each day come from? “Nobody really knows,” says Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a kidney expert at the University of Pennsylvania.
Myth No. [...]

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Philip K. Dick on Sci-Fi

“I want to write about people I love, and put them into a fictional world spun out of my own mind, not the world we actually have, because the world we actually have does not meet my standards. Okay, so I should revise my standards; I’m out of step. I should yield to reality. I [...]

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If the divinity is true…

But if the divinity is true it is certainly terribly revolutionary.  That a good man may have his back to the wall is no more than we knew already; but that God could have his back to the wall is a boast for all insurgents for ever.  Christianity is the only religion on earth that [...]

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Against the Disciplined Palate

There are many reasons why I would advise against disciplining your taste buds. To a certain extent, there is a virtue in training your tongue to be able to recognize the finer flavors of, say, wine, chocolate, or coffee. The benefits are obvious. I just want to point out a few of [...]

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Our old blog was messed up. We moved.

Our old Blog is kind of losing its mind right now.  The italics monster seems to have taken over. Also, the comments buttons don’t work.  And we’ve tried things like posting new entries, and deleting old ones, and none of those things work.  And we tried emptying the cache and resetting Safari.  No go. So [...]

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