Month: November 2008

Stumbled on this today. Follow the link and you can save as a PDF. http://www.seql.org/100ways.pdf

During the months of November and December I am offering a special on my book … $8 (regular price $10.99) for a signed copy + $2 shipping and handling per order. e-mail me @ wwydquestion@yahoo.com or revkevjr@yahoo.com with the phrase “Heck Yes!” in the Subject line for ordering details. Thanks for showing your support!

Check out this incredibly beautiful home a guy built in Wales that I Stumbled upon: www.simondale.net/house

Unhappy people watch more TV: study

By James Hibberd James Hibberd

Tue Nov 18, 4:45 am ET

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – An extensive new research study has found that unhappy people watch more TV while those consider themselves happy spend more time reading and socializing.

The University of Maryland analyzed 34 years of data collected from more than 45,000 participants and found that watching TV might make you feel good in the short term but is more likely to lead to overall unhappiness. “The pattern for daily TV use is particularly dramatic, with ‘not happy’ people estimating over 30 percent more TV hours per day than ‘very happy’ people,” the study says. “Television viewing is a pleasurable enough activity with no lasting benefit, and it pushes aside time spent in other activities — ones that might be less immediately pleasurable, but that would provide long-term benefits in one’s condition. In other words, TV does cause people to be less happy.”

The study, published in the December issue of Social Indicators Research, analyzed data from thousands of people who recorded their daily activities in diaries over the course of several decades. Researchers found that activities such as sex, reading and socializing correlated with the highest levels of overall happiness.

Watching TV, on the other hand, was the only activity that had a direct correlation with unhappiness.

“TV is not judgmental nor difficult, so people with few social skills or resources for other activities can engage in it,” says the study. “Furthermore, chronic unhappiness can be socially and personally debilitating and can interfere with work and most social and personal activities, but even the unhappiest people can click a remote and be passively entertained by a TV. In other words, the causal order is reversed for people who watch television; unhappiness leads to television viewing.”

Unhappily married couples also watch more TV: “(Happily married couples) engage in 30 percent more sex, and they attend religious services more and read newspapers on more days,” reports the study. “While those not happy with their marriages watch more TV.”

Yet there may be good news here for broadcasters. Commenting on the study, co-author John P. Robinson said the worsening economy could boost TV viewing.

“Through good and bad economic times, our diary studies, have consistently found that work is the major activity correlate of higher TV viewing hours,” Robinson says. “As people have progressively more time on their hands, viewing hours increase.”

Concludes the study: “These points have parallels with addiction; since addictive activities produce momentary pleasure but long-term misery and regret. People most vulnerable to addiction tend to be socially or personally disadvantaged, with TV becoming an opiate.”

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

It’s something a lot of people (perhaps even a majority of people) in this day and age struggle with, yet nobody wants to talk about it. If you don’t struggle with it, you know someone who does – even if you don’t know that you do. Pornography.

In his book The Dirty Little Secret author and founder of XXXChurch Craig Gross tackles the problem of pornography head on. Yet he does it in a way that is foreign yet fresh (and refreshing) from the Christian community. Rather than vilifying those within the porn industry or offering 3 easy steps to breaking free from porn, Gross takes the approach of putting a face on porn. Telling stories of porn addicts, porn stars, porn producers, as well as family members and friends of the a fore mentioned, he takes the readers behind the facade of the glitz and glamour trying to get to the truth about porn and its affect on individuals, relationships, and society. Along the way he gives bits of helpful advice, but his focus is clearly on telling real-life stories.

Overall I found the book to be quite good. What I love in particular about Craig Gross and XXXChurch is their approach of love and grace, and their invitation to conversation about this taboo subject. My only observation/concern (although perhaps, unfortunately, due to the availability and easy access of porn today it is more than likely a moot point) is that in trying to be explanatory this book could inadvertently do what some other well-intentioned books on this topic have done, and actually be offering ideas to readers through detailed descriptions, i.e. names of people, websites, companies, etc. Due to this fact I would advise cautionary discretion for potential readers. It is definitely for mature audiences as Craig pulls no punches when sharing the painful truth about porn.

Yahoo! News
Mon Nov 17, 1:30 am ET

AFP – Eri Yoshida, seen here, a 16-year-old schoolgirl with a mean knuckleball has been selected as the first …

TOKYO (AFP) – A 16-year-old schoolgirl with a mean knuckleball has been selected as the first woman ever to play alongside the men in Japanese professional baseball.

Eri Yoshida was drafted for a new independent league that will launch in April, drawing attention for a side-armed knuckler that her future manager Yoshihiro Nakata said was a marvel.

“I never dreamed of getting drafted,” Yoshida told reporters Monday, a day after she was selected to play for the Kobe 9 Cruise.

“I have only just been picked by the team and have not achieved anything,” she said. “I want to play as a pro eventually in a higher league.”

Yoshida, 155 centimetres (five feet) tall and weighing 52 kilograms (114 pounds), says she wants to follow in the footsteps of the great Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

A female professional baseball federation existed for a few years in the 1950s, but Yoshida will become Japan’s first-ever woman to play alongside professional male players.

Please pray! This young man was the grandson of some folks in our church.
Kev

Newsday.com

Copiague teen found dead from gunshot wound to head
BY PATRICK WHITTLE
patrick.whittle@newsday.com
10:45 AM EST, November 16, 2008

Police are investigating a Copiague homicide in which a 17-year-old resident was found dead in a car in front of his house.Police said they responded to a call to 45 Pleasantview Ct. at 11:35 p.m. and found Joseph Scorezelli dead of a gunshot wound to the head. The shooting took place in front of 225 Pinelawn Ave., police said.Police are asking anyone with information to call 800-220-TIPS or 631-852-6392.
Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.

I just finished reading the National Bestseller The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. On September 18, 2007 Randy delivered a lecture entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” as part of the Last Lecture Series at Carnegie Mellon University. The idea of the lecture series is for various people to deliver a lecture that would encapsulate what they would want their legacy to be should this be their last lecture. Randy Pausch’s last lecture became an overnight Internet sensation because for all intents and purposes, it was literally Randy’s last lecture. Just prior to his lecture, Randy had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and would eventually pass away on July 25, 2008.

The book is incredibly inspiring, and will leave you with a deeper sense of what is truly important in life, a stronger love for your family, and an optimism about life. It goes beyond the lecture itself and gives you a window into the heart and thought process that under girded the lecture. I highly recommend it!