Saturday Song Share: The Kinks - Apeman

Not sure we've ever done the Kinks before here on SSS, and if not, that's certainly a miss on my part.

Here's one of their better efforts, from 1970 (!).

I'm a King Kong man
I'm a voodoo man
oh, I'm an apeman

St. John's Second Highest Rated School in Minnesota

A recent study by the US Department of Education looked at what the average earnings were for graduates of a college ten years after entering the school.  

Sorted by income, here are the top Minnesota schools:

Some interesting considerations:

• Capella is rated the highest, likely due to the average age of their students
• Tommies suck!
• We always heard we better be nice when we played Carlton in football, as we'd likely be working for them one day.  At least we're getting paid...
• Good on CSB to make the top six

Go Johnnies!

Pope Francis Finally Weighs In

After lame comments, or worse, crickets, Pope Francis finally used one of his Christmas speeches to the Roman Curia to weigh in on the sexual abuse problem in the church.  Statements were refreshingly unambiguous:

• "Let it be clear that before these abominations the Church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes."
• "Even if it were to involve a single case of abuse (something itself monstrous), the Church asks that people not be silent but bring it objectively to light, since the greater scandal in this matter is that of cloaking the truth."
• "To those who abuse minors I would say this: convert and hand yourself over to human justice, and prepare for divine justice."
• "David the sinner and Judas Iscariot will always be present in the Church, since they represent the weakness that is part of our human condition. They are icons of the sins and crimes committed by those who are chosen and consecrated. United in the gravity of their sin, they nonetheless differ when it comes to conversion. David repented, trusting in God’s mercy; Judas hanged himself." 

I am no fan of Francis.  I find him to be far too focused on things of insignificance, and I've waited far too long to hear language like this from him.  I will reserve my judgement, as words are one thing, and deeds something altogether different.

The church needed your words, Francis.  Now they need your actions.

Liberty Safes of Chattanooga

Facebook doesn't like guns, so Randy works around them.

Brilliant.

A Christmas Reading from Matthew 1

20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

Merry Christmas!

A Pretty Good Christmas Ad

While I know this borrows (A LOT!) from the opening scene from Guardians of the Galaxy, it's still a pretty good Christmas ad.

Plus, anytime you can play some Redbone, count me in:





Oh, what the heck, here's StarLord's version as well:

Missing the Message

In the hustle of the season, it is really easy to get mired in the myriad distractions that abound this time of year.  Work, family, and social engagements pull at us, projects and preparations need our time, and our period of rest and relaxation turns out to be neither.

Lost in all of that is why the season is here.  Do we really understand the impact the Christ child brought forth?  What it meant?  It's not a cute folk story, it's not a trade-off for a pagan winter solstice ritual, and it's not opiate for the masses or the unintellectual. 

Christ came into this world.  He was crucified and died, and then didn't die.  His resurrection changed everything - changes everything.  

But it has a start.  Emanuel.  The birth.  Where it all begins.

I know it's trite to pen yet another "true message of the season" missive, but given its magnitude, how could I not? 

Google Approves App For Muslims To Report People Who Commit Blasphemy

Google used to have a motto of "don't be evil."  That's gone by the wayside of late, and the most recent example of this is their greenlighting of an app used in Indonesia to report people to the government that are committing blasphemy.

Here's a link to the app.

It doesn't get much more evil than this.  This app, when employed, will definitely lead to human hardships, if not deaths.

A Christian app of similar function would be laughed out of Google's process.  Since it is instead Islam, "a religion of peace," safety, good sense, and honor go right the hell out of the window.