We're Coming, Flannery!
First Sherman, then the carpetbaggers, then the retirees, then technological start-ups. Now Catholics: Protestant South Becoming a New Catholic Stronghold.
Something tells me that Flannery (and Walker Percy, for that matter) would've preferred the average Church without Christ member than the average American Catholic today.
Tax Haven Infographic
Kind of interesting. I'm not sure I agree with all the premises, but the idea that Big Government would help Big Business in this way certainly resonates with me:
Source: Tax Havens of the Wealthy and Powerful
BYCU
Move over Scotland and Kentucky. The Japanese are taking over whisky. From Forbes: At the 2012 World Whiskies Awards . . . Suntory's Yamazaki 25-year-old was voted World's Best Single Malt, while Nikka won the top spot in the Blended Malt category. Suntory now exports well over 10,000 cases a year to the United States alone, with France and the UK not far behind. With their exceptional equilibrium, smoothness and delicacy, these whiskies are redefining an ancient art. When I ask Mike Miyamoto, a former master distiller at Suntory, why their whiskies are becoming so popular across the world, his reply is terse: 'Quality. We are trying to make our whisky better every year.'"
The article is pretty interesting, though lengthy.
Gardening . . . with BYCU
One of the best drinking stories of the year comes from the (yak) Huffington Post. It combines gardening, distributism, and beer. Booze From Local Crops Booming.
The process is sometimes referred to as "grain to glass" – the beer-and-whiskey version of the foodie slogan "farm to table." Both phrases imply a connection to fresh, local ingredients. Tuthilltown is part of a larger hand-crafted booze movement that has Wood Creek Distillers in Colorado growing its own potatoes for high-end vodka and Wigle Whiskey in Pittsburgh using local, organic heirloom rye.
A new survey found out the average American will spend $168 on Mother's Day this year. For any woman who's been through labor for a day and a half, remember, it pays exactly $168.
A movie version of "Dungeons and Dragons" is in the works. It's expected to set all-time records for people saying, "Ticket for one, please."
Bullets
Man, that Cleveland abduction story is wild. Hangin' ain't good enough for those bastuds. Unbelievable. * * * * * * * Meanwhile, I've noticed a definite uptick in false criminal sexual conduct allegations by females. All anecdotal stuff, but it almost feels like the false allegations are becoming an epidemic. The authorities really need to stiffen the crimes for false allegations before there's a severe backlash and we have troubles putting the real cretins behind bars. * * * * * * * Top 50 law schools, based on job placement. My alma mater finished 18th. * * * * * * * I took the kids to Iron Man 3 Monday night. It was pretty good. I give a 6.5. I didn't see it in 3D. I read online that the 3D effects weren't worth the extra ticket price. * * * * * * * You know what made the Great Depression "great"? Government interventionism. The U.S. had had many panics and depressions, but we always came out of them fairly quickly. The Great one last ten years, and it was the first one that the federal government set out to eliminate. (Mini-rant inspired by this article at LR) * * * * * * * "Taco Bell's chief marketing executive says they are now working on a new low-end menu. What? You mean the stuff they've been serving is the high-end stuff?" Leno * * * * * * * "Nietzsche was right, it appears, when he said that after the Death of God comes the Death of Reason." That's just one good line in this entertaining debunking of self-congratulatory atheism. Recommended.
A man managed to hitchhike 100,000 miles without spending any money on travel. He says he did it all with a friendly smile, a positive attitude, and an ax.
There's a new summer camp for adults where using cellphones and computers is banned. The camp has an interesting name: North Korea.
Another reason to be a Michigan Wolverines fan:
Link.
A loyal TDE Buckeye reader sent that to me, with this observation: "Photo of Obama w/ OSU prez Gordon Gee. A relative suggests it looks like Gee outed himself and is being congratulated by Barack."
Miscellany
This May blitz is among the most brutal I've experienced. It's not getting me down, but it is getting me behind. I fear full-scale blogging won't resume until Memorial Day weekend. I'm sure you understand.
A few of you are sending me potential story leads. I really appreciate that. I will run them. I might not get to them as timely as I'd like, but I will run them.
I've run across some great "Today I Learned" entries at Reddit lately. Herewith, a few of my recent favorites:
Aldous Huxley author of "Brave New World", was so influenced by the power of LSD that he requested his wife to inject him 100 µg of LSD on his death bed.
The difference in the land area of the United States and China differ by 1.8%.
Australian Bill Morgan was declared dead for 14 minutes and lived unscathed. To celebrate his survival, he bought a scratch card & won a $27k car. The news asked him to re-enact the scratch card moment so he bought another card & won a $250k jackpot.
The Canadian Parliament is prepared for a zombie apocalypse.
Today former Pope Benedict is moving back into the Vatican. He is going to be mad when he sees that Pope Francis took down his Metallica posters.
That's right. Two Popes now under one roof. Can you believe that? Yeah, they're just one-half Pope away from being a sitcom on CBS.
The owner of an ice cream truck named Snow Cone Joe was arrested for allegedly stalking his rival truck, called Mr. Ding-a-Ling. It's being called the saddest turf war ever.
"God wants from us human work that is well done. This means our working hard, with order, skill, competence and a striving for perfection; it means a completed job with no rough edges, no flaws or blemishes. It means serious work and an end-product that not only looks good, but is good. . . . The Christian brings something new to his work. . . he does it for God. He presents it to him as a daily offering that will have eternal value. But the qualities it has are those of any honest work--it will be responsible, competent, hard work. A job done in this way dignifies the one who does it and gives glory to his creator." Francis Fernandez
(Heck, this post might have been labeled "Something for Monday Morning")
The whirlwind continues: out-of-town company, AAU basketball tournament near Chicago, First Communion, plus the usual assortment: work, baseball, soccer, and track. We also went to Wicked Thursday night, which was enjoyable, but made for a late night Thursday.
If you haven't seen Wicked, I'd recommend it, but I wasn't blown away by it like a lot of people.
For today, this unique conversion story from sci-fi writer, John C. Wright.
BYCU
Feel-good beer story of the year: Local self-taught beer expert overcoming autism with hope and help. The autistic guy is pretty impressive in the important things: "Rice, 55, of Vermilion, owns thousands of beer cans. He can tell you the story of where and when he acquired each one. He can tell you the history of each brewery. He also has a vast collection of books about beer. He knows every detail: When a certain brewery was founded, how much it produced, when it closed."
Catholic Men's Quarterly, a one-of-a-kind general interest men's magazine written by Catholic men for Catholic men. Makes a great Father's Day gift.
"The Daily Eudemon is the sort of thing
that Chesterton or Mencken would be doing, if they were
alive today. It's what, in saner times, was called journalism.
In the writing and in the reading, it's exactly the sort
of leisure we should want at the basis of culture."Mike
Aquilina, Author of The Fathers of the Church
and TV Talk Show Host.
"Literate
Catholicism-urbane, witty, engaged-is alive and well!
If you can read, you should be reading The Daily Eudemon!"David
Scott, author of A Revolution of Love: The Meaning
of Mother Teresa
"If
you like your blogs pithy, nimble, pointed, high-spirited,
and waggish, then bookmmark Eric Scheske's The Daily
Eudemon. Ooops! You want prolixity, density, meandering,
dull, and sober? Then run (do not walk!) to the blogs
of the major news outlets. They have just what you want.
Honestly they do." John
Peterson, Editor, G.K. Chesterton: Collected Works,
Volumes 12 and 13.
"Eric
Scheske's web site is full of information and insight.
Always worth a read."James
V. Schall, Author of Another Sort of Learning.
"Eric
Scheske has one of the few indispensable sites in an overcrowded
blogosphere." Thomas E. Woods, Jr., Ph.D.,
New York Times Bestselling Author and Author
of How
the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization.
