Social Medicine

There are a few things that the good people of Alabama don't have:

1. Money: According to the most recent U.S. Census (.pdf link -- state data is on page 16 of 40), Alabama has 14.6% of its residents living in poverty, a rate that places it 43rd (or 8th, depending on how you look at it) among U.S. states.

2. An Elected Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court: Roy Moore was removed from his elected post during the Ten Commandments scuffle last fall. J. Gorman Houston, Jr. currently sits in his place.

Note that 3. A State Whiskey is not on this list.

...because now Alabama has a state whiskey. In fact, the Alabama Senate followed the Alabama's House's lead, overriding Governor Bob Riley's veto to name Conecuh Ridge Fine Alabama Whiskey the "official state spirit."

If Only I Flossed Every Day

Fortune Magazine has an interesting health quiz* whereby they calculate the effect of certain positive health habits on your expected lifespan.

* A quasi-scientific, new-agey health quiz

Nader Can Stop Leaving Messages on Murdoch's Answering Machine

Who would have guessed that Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox "News," is a Bush supporter?

Covering Christianity

Time Magazine's cover story this week is Why did Jesus have to die? Lately, I feel like Time (and its competitors) have given Christianity a surprising amount of front page coverage, and so I decided to dig a little deeper.

Time publicly archives its past covers, so it's easy to view their covers from any period. I decided to compare Christianity-themed covers from the January 1998 - April 2004 with the same period 20 years prior, January 1978 - April 1984.

What I included:
+ To be included in my count, the whole cover had to be devoted to religion -- collage images with one religious symbol don't count.
+ The main point of the featured article had to be religion, so nuns battling Alzheimer's or Y2K fears don't count.

In both periods, Christian (or Judeo-Christian) themed covers appeared 12 times; however, I was startled to see the difference in how it was covered during the two periods.

From 1978 - 1984, 11 of the 12 covers concern the papacy's role in geopolitics or the Pope as a person.

From 1998 - 2004, the covers address a number of topics, from historical aspects of the Christian myth to the role of Christianity in modern times.

I'll go out on a limb and say that magazines like Time used to discuss organized Christianity when its actions made the news. Now, they editorially interpret Christianity, making it the news.

January 1998 - April 2004
1998	January 26	Fidel Castro & Pope John Paul II: What brought them together -- Two giants of the century put their faiths to the test
	April 20	The Shroud of Turin: Now that it's back on display, the debate flares anew -- Is this Jesus?
	December 14	Moses: New research and an epic animated movie offers a fresh look at a hero for our time, The Prince of Egypt
1999	December 14	Jesus at 2000: Novelist Reynolds Price offers a new Gospel based on archaeology and the Bible
2000	April 3	Pope John Paul II: The Pope in the Holy Land
2001	April 16	What Jesus Saw: Jerusalem Then and Now
	September 17	Preacher T.D. Jakes: Is the man the next Billy Graham?
2002	April 1	The Catholic Church Dilemma: Can the Catholic Church save itself?
	July 1	The Bible & The Apocalypse: Why more Americans are reading and talking about the end of the world
	September 30	Abraham: Muslims, Christians and Jews all claim him as their father. A new book explores the challenge of turning him into their peacemaker
2003	June 30	Should Christians Convert Muslims?
2004	April 12	Why did Jesus have to die?

January 1978 - April 1984
1978	August 21	Search for a Pope
	September 4	Pope John Paul I: The New Pope
	October 9	The Church in Shock: Pope John Paul I, 1912 - 1978
	October 30	Pope John Paul II
1979	June 18	Pope John Paul II: Triumphal Return -- The Pope in Poland
	October 15	Pope John Paul II: John Paul, Superstar
1981	May 25	Attack on the Pope: Terrorist's Target -- "Why did they do it?"
1982	November 29	Archbishop Bernadin: God and the Bomb -- Catholic Bishops debate nuclear morality
	December 27	The New Missionary: Preaching the Gospel in New Guinea
1983	March 14	Pope John Paul II: "To Share the Pain"
	June 27	Pope John Paul II: Homecoming -- The Return of the Polish Pope
1984	January 9	Pope John Paul II: Why Forgive? The Pope pardons the gunman

If Only the Cameras Had Been Rolling the Whole Time

Bobby & Whitney finally wise up a realize that, as long as your lives resemble a reality TV show, they just as well should actually be a reality TV show.

I have almost no interest in watching reality TV; however, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's account of what would be one of the first episodes piqued my interest:

The couple dined Monday night, as cameras rolled, at the Palm Restaurant in Buckhead, ordering multiple plates of Clams Oreganato, a 6-pound lobster and a 24-ounce porterhouse steak, according to Jimmy Logan, a waiter at the eatery. Their 10-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina, had her own 3-pound lobster. Even the family dog, a small tan canine named Doogie, supped on steak tartare (Houston dutifully picked out the capers from the dish).

The article didn't mention any channel affiliated with the project, but I'm pretty sure that the Food Network would pick it up.

In a Perfect World...

...we can all dance like the second performer in this video.

$kyline

Though most examples of corporate excess turn the stomach, trophy buildings are an occasionally eye-pleasing result of the shareholders' money being spent creatively.

Looking at Fortune magazine's trophy building photo essay, I wish that all organizations would put just a bit more effort into the architecture of their homes.

Air America Radio

Give NPR a rest and check out Al Franken's Air America Radio.

Good ol' Al dreams of being the anti-Limbaugh. His show, wonderfully named The O'Franken Factor, airs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Eastern).

A Little Like an Imp, or Maybe the Grinch

Policy aside, I kind of like Donald Rumsfeld. I just enjoy the idea that the Secretary of Defense is an angry grandpa. Smiling pains him.

I Liked The One With the Giant Film Reel Turning Into a Spaceship

Although the Governator settled on one of the more subdued offerings for the California quarter, I was a big fan of some of the earlier, gaudier designs.

Enjoy the geographic juxtaposition of Golden Gate Bridge collage, a hodge-podge of SF and LA confusing to Californians and non-Californians alike.

Sadly, Archive.org has the HTML page, but not the pictures for all 20 semi-finalists. Some of those were classic examples of Free Time + Photoshop = Trouble.