ENTERTAINMENT - The age old question for punk rock fans!

SPIRITUALITY/RELIGION - Study: Belief in an angry God associated with variety of mental illnesses

People who believe in an angry, punishing God are much more likely to suffer from a variety of mental illnesses, a scientific study published in the April edition of Journal of Religion & Health finds.

The study, conducted by Marymount Manhattan College Assistant Psychology Professor Nava Silton, used data from the 2010 Baylor Religion Survey of US Adults to examine the links between beliefs and anxiety disorders like social dysfunction, paranoia, obsession and compulsion.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/17/study-belief-in-an-angry-god-associated-with-variety-of-mental-illnesses/

POLITICS - Freedom Day 2013: The South African dream, still deferred

Perhaps there were too many noble ideals. Perhaps the founding fathers were too romantic about our future and therefore set unrealistic and unachievable goals. Maybe we ran out of good luck, or good leaders, or good faith. What if we were never the miracle nation anyway, but just an average people who attained freedom because the status quo was no longer sustainable? Maybe that’s why we are failing to be what we envisaged we would be 19 years ago? Democracy shaped a united thriving nation, which is now turning on itself. Freedom Day 2013 is a world away from that beautiful day in 1994. By RANJENI MUNUSAMY.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-04-26-freedom-day-2013-the-south-african-dream-still-deferred/

MY LIFE - Both proud and annoyed!

Speaking of my daughter and music...

She apparently got an A in band for a solo performance by playing a screamo song very well on clarinet instead of the song she was assigned.

ENTERTAINMENT - But I want to see The Mystery Ship!

But wait! These are masks! They're not Romulans at all! It's Old Klingon M'cGuf and his crew!

MY LIFE - Discussing music with my daughter!

Conversation from last weekend...

Me: "Have you heard Indian electronic dance music?"

Daughter: "Yeah, it's interesting."

Pause.

Me: "You realize that we are one of the few fathers and daughters who could have this conversation?"

ENTERTAINMENT - The Day My Kid Went Punk, an ABC After School Special

POLITICS - Great answer!

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY - A Wet Towel In Space Is Not Like A Wet Towel On Earth

You just don't know (because who's going to tell you?) that when you leave Earth, travel outside its gravitational reach, hundreds and hundreds of everyday things — stuff you've never had to think about — will change. Like ... oh, how about a wet wash cloth?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/04/21/177949605/a-wet-towel-in-space-is-not-like-a-wet-towel-on-earth

POLITICS - WATCH: New Zealand Parliament Passes Gay Marriage Bill, Breaks into Song

HUNDREDS of jubilant gay-rights advocates celebrated at New Zealand's Parliament as the country become the 13th in the world and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalise same-sex marriage.

Lawmakers voted 77 to 44 in favour of the gay-marriage bill on its third and final reading.

People watching from the public gallery and some lawmakers immediately broke into song after the result was announced, singing the New Zealand love song Pokarekare Ana in the indigenous Maori language.

ENTERTAINMENT - Those Moshers smashing into me can mess up my arthritic knee!

CULTURE/SOCIETY - Patton Oswalt’s Facebook Post After Boston Bombing Strikes A Nerve, Goes Viral On Social Media

The reports will continue as new details emerge, as victims get better or worse; as information about the perpetrators is discovered and revealed. But in the midst of all the horror, noise, and grief, we are still a community of humans, most of us struggling to live good lives and keep the planet from spinning completely out of control. And sometimes the way that’s done is with words. With just the right words. And it seems today the right words were spoken by comedian Patton Oswalt, a man known more for being funny than particularly inspirational, but whose Facebook posting about the tragedy appears to have struck a nerve. It started slowly and became a viral phenomenon as more and more people spread those same words throughout social media.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/04/15/patton-oswalts-facebook-post-after-boston-bombing-strikes-a-nerve-goes-viral-on-social-media/

ENTERTAINMENT - Awwwww, I love Cookie Monster!

MY LIFE - When my daughter shows she's my child!

HUMOR - The true meaning of "adult situations"!

CULTURE/SOCIETY - A true story of friendship and more!

HISTORY - Phil Romano, the New York Cop Who Saved Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life

Just the letter opener might have changed history if Romano had not stopped a panicked onlooker who was reaching to pull it from King’s chest when the cops ran up. Howard told King not to cough or sneeze or even speak as they lifted him onto a chair and began to carry him out through a back exit.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/21/phil-romano-the-new-york-cop-who-saved-martin-luther-king-jr-s-life.html

HUMOR - But I don't like gaming or sports!

SPIRITUALITY/RELIGION - WHEN SAME-SEX MARRIAGE WAS A CHRISTIAN RITE

While the pairing of saints, particularly in the early Christian church, was not unusual, the association of these two men was regarded as particularly intimate. Severus, the Patriarch of Antioch (512 - 518 CE) explained that, "we should not separate in speech they [Sergius and Bacchus] who were joined in life". This is not a case of simple "adelphopoiia." In the definitive 10th century account of their lives, St. Sergius is openly celebrated as the "sweet companion and lover" of St. Bacchus. Sergius and Bacchus's close relationship has led many modern scholars to believe they were lovers. But the most compelling evidence for this view is that the oldest text of their martyrology, written in New Testament Greek describes them as "erastai,” or "lovers". In other words, they were a male homosexual couple. Their orientation and relationship was not only acknowledged, but it was fully accepted and celebrated by the early Christian church, which was far more tolerant than it is today.

Contrary to myth, Christianity's concept of marriage has not been set in stone since the days of Christ, but has constantly evolved as a concept and ritual.

http://www.christianity-revealed.com/cr/files/whensamesexmarriagewasachristianrite.html

CULTURE/SOCIETY - What happened after MLK died?

On Thursday, April 4, 1968, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stepped out onto the balcony of a Memphis hotel and was killed by an assassin's bullet. The story typically ends there, with the slain civil rights leader on the ground, surrounded by blood-stained colleagues left to carry on his vision. Rebecca Burns' new book, Burial for a King, begins that day in Atlanta, as the news passes through restaurants and telephones, from radios and televisions, over symphonies and street corners, and ends as his body is laid in the ground the following Tuesday, April 9. Through enormous research and a careful narrative hand, Burns has crafted this week of history into a vivid, microcosmic moment. Spanning from Auburn Avenue in Atlanta to the mountains of South Vietnam, Burial for a King makes the reverberations of King's life and death feel raw and clear again.

http://clatl.com/atlanta/what-happened-after-mlk-died/Content?oid=2668606

ENTERTAINMENT - Incredibly Detailed Quilled Paper Portraits by Yulia Brodskaya

Russian artist Yulia Brodskaya creates incredibly detailed portraits out coiled strips of paper in an art form known as quilling or paper filigree. In addition to her portraiture, Brodskaya produces paper illustrations for a variety of clients.

http://laughingsquid.com/incredibly-detailed-quilled-paper-portraits-by-yulia-brodskaya/

CULTURE/SOCIETY - How Blacks And Whites Remember Martin Luther King Jr.

Dyson explores how blacks and whites have shaped their own different images of the late civil rights leader.

Whites, Dyson writes, “want to see Dr. King as peaceful and clawless, while blacks remember him as flawless, even though he had affairs and depression.”

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/01/21/mlk-book-dyson

ENTERTAINMENT - New X-Files tv series!

Excited about this new X-Files tv series! What with Chris Carter as executive producer and Russell T Davies as producer and main writer! Also like that they have two unknowns for the starring roles, but I got to question the casting of David Hasselhof as their assistant director?

CULTURE/SOCIETY - Bet You Didn't Know: Easter Traditions

How did Easter traditions like the Easter bunny and egg hunts become part of the holiday celebration?

http://www.history.com/videos/bet-you-didnt-know-easter-traditions

SPIRITUALITY/RELIGION - Good one, Jesus!