Weekly Meanderings, 27 June 2015

Last updated on: June 27, 2015 at 12:08 am by Scot McKnight

Weekly Meanderings, 27 June 2015 2015-06-26T21:07:30-05:00 Scot McKnight

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A morning coffee to you.

The bee highway:

The city of Oslo now has what it’s calling a bee highway — a path of flowering plants designed to keep bees well-fed as they pass through the urban area. Supporters hope that initiatives like this one can help protect bees — one third of Norway’s native bee species are now endangered — and by extension protect the crops that rely on bees for pollination.

The idea is pretty simple: The Oslo Garden Society has placed flowerpots full of bee-friendly plants on roofs and balconies throughout the city, creating a route for bees to travel through without starving. A Web site shows localswhere more flower coverage is needed and encourages them to plant more.

“The idea is to create a route through the city with enough feeding stations for the bumblebees all the way,” Tonje Waaktaar Gamst of the Oslo Garden Society told a local paper in May. “Enough food will also help the bumblebees withstand man-made environmental stress better.”

What Gary Player said.

What Taylor Swift said and Apple responded:

Taylor Swift is withholding her album “1989” from Apple’s streaming service because she says the company is unfairly withholding royalties from artists.

Swift’s issue is the three-month free trial period Apple is promoting.

“Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those three months,” she wrote. “I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company.”

She added: “It’s not too late to change this policy and change the minds of those in the music industry who will be deeply and gravely affected by this. We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation.”

Swift previously removed her albums from Spotify in a dispute over compensation for streaming music. She explained her decision about Apple in a Tumblr blog post on Sunday morning, several days after her music label confirmed that “1989” wouldn’t be available on the service at launch.

The blog post, “To Apple, Love Taylor,” was immediately shared tens of thousands of times, showing the power of the artist’s megaphone and potentially creating a publicity nightmare for Apple.

The response:

Apple responded to Swift late Sunday night in a series of tweets from Eddy Cue, a key lieutenant of CEO Tim Cook.

“#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period,” Cue tweeted, adding that “We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple.”

What the Gronk did:

Peter King of theMMQB.com posted some excerpts from Gronkowski’s upcoming autobiography, “It’s Good to be Gronk.” Among those excerpts was this tidbit on Gronk’s thriftiness:

“To this day, I still haven’t touched one dime of my signing bonus or NFL contract money. I live off my marketing money and haven’t blown it on any big-money expensive cars, expensive jewelry or tattoos and still wear my favorite pair of jeans from high school.”

By star athlete standards, Gronkowski did not make much money when he first entered the NFL as a second-round pick. His first contract included a $1.8 million signing bonus and his salaries during his first two seasons were $320,000 and $450,000, respectively, according to Spotrac.com.

What Roberto A. Ferdman said:

The other night I was eating a plate of noodles, and enjoying it. I was out to dinner with a friend, hunched over a meal we had been planning for weeks. The restaurant was newly opened and highly regarded. Life was good. And the food was great.

But then it happened. Again.

“Are you done with that?” the server asked, fingers already comfortable with the rim of my plate. “Can I get it out of your way?”

Yes, I had finished eating, because I am a vacuum; there was no food left in front of me. But my friend had not. His meal was only half-consumed.

“No,” I said. “We’re not done eating.”

Adrienne Wichard-Edds:

Want independent, well-adjusted kids who succeed in college, career and beyond? Parke Muth, a veteran college admissions consultant who spent nearly three decades in the University of Virginia’s admissions office, makes the argument that the best investment you can make in your kid’s college education might be to delay that education.

Muth, who has worked with thousands of highly competitive high school students from around the globe, often encourages kids to take a gap year—a year off between high school and college—to travel, work, learn a new language or pursue independent study.

This concept has its roots in Europe (particularly England) but has been steadily growing in popularity in the U.S.; and while there’s not a lot of hard data on how many students choose to take a gap year annually, organizations such as the American Gap Association cite private studies and student feedback to report on the rising trend—as well as on the myriad benefits—of taking a structured year off before entering the high-stakes world of higher education.

Why you should not wear skinny jeans:

Attention wearers of skinny jeans: don’t squat — at least not for long.

Doctors in Australia report that a 35-year-old woman was hospitalized for four days after experiencing muscle damage, swelling, and nerve blockages in her legs after squatting for several hours while wearing tight-fitting denims.

“We were surprised that this patient had such severe damage to her nerves and muscles,” said Dr. Thomas Kimber of the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia, in an email.

Papal apology to the Waldensians. Are the anabaptists next?

Turin, Italy, Jun 22, 2015 / 12:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis met on Monday with members of the Waldensian movement, an ecclesial community which suffered persecution from Catholic authorities from the 12th to 17th centuries. He apologized for the Church’s “non-Christian attitudes and behavior” towards the Waldensians during that period.

“Reflecting on the history of our relations, we can only grieve in the face of strife and violence committed in the name of faith, and ask the Lord to give us us the grace to recognize we are all sinners, and to know how to forgive one another,” the Pope said June 22 at a Waldensian temple in Turin.

“I ask forgiveness for the non-Christian – even inhuman – attitudes and behaviors which, through history, we have had against you. In Jesus Christ’s name, forgive us!”

Monday’s encounter marks the first meeting between a Pope and the Waldensian community. Founded in Lyon in the late twelfth century, it is currently centered in Italy’s Piedmont region, which Pope Francis visited June 21-22.

Fun map of the biggest business state by state:

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