I just read an article on a church in Detroit praying for congress to bailout the Big Three. While I understand that a large portion of the congregation works for the auto industry, bringing three SUV's up front seems ludicrous. I only read one article on this, but the quotes in it sound like the people are relying more on the auto industry than they are on God. I pray that I may never rely on anyone more than I rely on God.

"We have never seen as midnight an hour as we face this week," the Rev. Charles Ellis told several thousand congregants at a rousing service at Detroit's Greater Grace Temple. "This week, lives are hanging above an abyss of uncertainty as both houses of Congress decide whether to extend a helping hand."

"We have done all we can do in this union, so I'm going to turn it over to the Lord," Holiefield told the congregation.

"I pray in good times and in bad times, but I pray these days because it's something that directly affects our lives.

Here's an interesting Christmas idea from SkipinPT at RethinkingChristmas.org

Typically our Christmas morning is a round-robin of opening gifts, then we eat a light lunch and then folks start to drift off home. This is certainly less than celebratory and not memorable in the least. Every years Christmas pics look the same as the last. Because our finances are limited anyway we've been cutting back for years as it is but this year we are considering a new option.

( I can't believe someone hasn't thought of this before. Stop me if you've heard this one.)

We set two rules:

1. Each person is expected to bring one gift. That one gift must be something the entire group can use/eat/play/experience together.

2. All gifts must be experienced before the end of Christmas Day.

This eliminates the lengthy "opening of gifts" and it immediately changes Christmas morning from a passive event to an active experience.

So maybe one person buys a game (say catchphrase) and that gift is opened and the family spends an hour or so playing the game. It must be played, everyone must participate. Maybe someone brings home-made cinnamon rolls as their Christmas gift for everyone. so at some point everyone sits down and eats a roll and coffee together- unrushed. I do a little hand-drumming and was thinking how fun it would be to make my gift a drumming lesson for the whole family. I think my wife is planning on making everyone fingerpaint.

The gifts might mean spending some money but not necessarily.

Suddenly Christmas day moves from the mundane to an amazing world of creativity and fun!. At least in my imagination.

We'll see how it goes.

I have been having lots of interesting thoughts, one of which is that I should try to think of more interesting things. I wonder how much you can force yourself to think interestingly. I sometimes wonder if I wouldn't be better reading more of the great books from history. But I also think about the great (or at least famous) movies that I've never seen and tv shows that can learn from. I also really enjoy reading a variety of books. I've been reading Alton Brown's Gear For Your Kitchen, which is wonderfully entertaining, but I've also been reading a biography of John Adams, and just finished Tolkein's Farmer Giles of Ham (with explanatory notes). Is it better to focus on the classics because they are classics or to let my reading wander with my attention and curiosity? I believe the better education lies with the latter.

We will never forget. At least some of us.

Now What?

I just read an article about how they've discovered a new way of relatively large amounts of positrons- but don't know what to do with them. They can't store them because any container is matter, which reacts instantly with antimatter, and they don't know what to do with the resulting gamma rays.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,459544,00.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/20/sbm.overview/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/01/zelizer.centrist/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/12/081201-jupiter-venus.html