7 Quick Takes (8/27/10)

Last updated on: August 24, 2012 at 5:15 pm by Leah Libresco

7 Quick Takes (8/27/10) 2012-08-24T17:15:30-04:00 Leah Libresco

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

–1–

Posting here kind of fell off towards the end of the week, because I moved back into my dorm today, and I had to spend a lot of the week packing, unpacking, and finishing my secret sewing project (pillows for me and my two suitemates that were embroidered with our name and an iconic image from a favorite book series). I’ll post pics of the final results next week. Needless to day, even with advance planning, I ended up closing up the last seams in the car.

–2–

In the spirit of the return to Yale, if any of you haven’t seen the music video the admissions office hired students to produce, it’s quite fun to watch. I appear (extremely briefly) twice, the first time at around 3:40 in a red shirt and later, during the melee fighting, I’m in the background with an ax and a short sword. If you’re wondering what armed combat is doing in an admissions video, perhaps you should see it yourself. And possibly click here.

–3–

But if you seriously want to know why I’m so glad to be back at Yale, perhaps it would help to view ’95 Theses,’ a history of Martin Luther in rap. The song is a reworking of Jay-Z’s song which featured the chorus “I got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one” which is reworded as “I got 95 theses but the pope ain’t one.”
I’m always so happy to wake up at a school where people spend their free time writing lyrics like:

I told y’all that Rome’d best agree to my terms
if not you can eat my Diet of Worms

[…]

Oh snap, hes messin with the holy communion.
But I aint never dissed your precious hypostatic union!
One place at one time. Well, thank you Zwingli.
Yeah, way to disregard that whole Im God thingy!
Getting all up in my rosary you little punk.
Your momma shoulda told you not to mess with no monk.

Full video below:

–4–

Again, so very tired from moving this week, so I’m just going to do quick links for the rest of the seven takes. Epiphenom has linked to a great visualization of changes in religious identification in England. Interesting data presented in a great formal. (Have I mentioned lately how much I love Flowing Data‘s discussions of chart designs?)

–5–

The only thing I liked better than James Mollison’s up-close photographs of apes was the explanation of how he managed to get the shots (via Andrew Sullivan).

–6–

I’m sorry I missed putting up a Weatherwax Wednesday post this week, but I’ve saved the draft (which I quite like, for next Wednesday). In the meantime, check out this Pratchett short story titled “Death and what Comes Next”

–7–

Finally, I wrote two pieces for The Huffington Post this week, both centering on the Park51 mosque and community center. In the first, “Censoring Moderates Fuels Radicals” I discuss why Newt Gingrich’s goals re the mosque seem to resemble the foreign policy of South Korea, and both are likely to be unsuccessful.Here’s a quote from the second piece, “The Real Threat Posed by the Cordoba Mosque”

For some minority groups, their very existence is perceived as offense. Whether the mosque is two blocks away or 80 (as Newt Gingrich prefers), the offense is still in existence. The real provocation is the act of being publicly Muslim and then demanding to be treated the same as everyone else.

I’ll be posting one final wrap up here later today.

[Seven Quick Things is a blog carnival run by Jen of Conversion Diary]

7 Quick Takes

other writing

Previous Post

August 23, 2010

Harry Potter and the Unnecessary Assumption

Next Post

August 28, 2010 What I don't defend about the Park51 Mosque

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 7 Quick Takes Apologetics Atheism Book Conversion Debate Tactics Debates Epistemology/Philosophy Housekeeping Ideological Turing Test Marriage Morality in Practice Parsing Catholicism Possibly Heretical Radio Reviews/Recommendations Sequence Index Spiritual Practice Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What metaphor is often used for the righteous in Psalms and Proverbs?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A tree A mountain A river A sun