Alan Jacobs

the history of Bond posters

Effective defenders of Christianity must sound like ordinary citizens. They must be fluent in the sceptical, irreverent vernacular of mainstream liberal culture. Is this so hard? Yes. For they must also convey the awkward seriousness and strangeness of faith, its otherness. They must also show that belief has changed the way their minds work.

thenearsightedmonkey:

What role will our hands play in the future? Will we still write by hand?

via monstercrazy:

thingsmagazine:

Church in Cassone (Landscape with Cypresses), 1913, from Gustav Klimt: The Complete Paintings (Taschen)

And if you are seated in your high chair, or in a chair such as a greater person might use, keep your legs and feet below you as they were. Neither raise up your knees, nor place your feet upon the table, for that is an abomination to me. Yes, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of rebuke. Drink your milk as it is given you, neither use on it any utensils, nor fork, nor knife, nor spoon, for that is not what they are for; if you will dip your blocks in the milk, and lick it off, you will be sent away.

When you have drunk, let the empty cup then remain upon the table, and do not bite it upon its edge and by your teeth hold it to your face in order to make noises in it sounding like a duck; for you will be sent away. When you chew your food, keep your mouth closed until you have swallowed, and do not open it to show your brother or your sister what is within; I say to you, do not so, even if your brother or your sister has done the same to you. Eat your food only; do not eat that which is not food; neither seize the table between your jaws, nor use the raiment of the table to wipe your lips. I say again to you, do not touch it, but leave it as it is. And though your stick of carrot does indeed resemble a marker, draw not with it upon the table, even in pretend, for we do not do that, that is why. And though the pieces of broccoli are very like small trees, do not stand them upright to make a forest, because we do not do that, that is why. Sit just as I have told you, and do not lean to one side or the other, nor slide down until you are nearly slid away. Heed me; for if you sit like that, your hair will go into the syrup. And now behold, even as I have said, it has come to pass.

W. H. Auden taught at the University of Michigan during the 1941-42 academic year. Here’s a syllabus from one of his classes. Hey teachers: next time one of your students complains that your schedule is too demanding, show him or her this.

Reproduced with the permission of the Estate of W. H. Auden.

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1

Calligraphic images, via the Atlantic

But then, across the room, I saw this beautiful guy with gorgeous flowing hair, wearing a simple white linen tunic and swaying gently to the music with his eyes shut, which was especially impressive because the band consisted of two elderly men rhythmically squeezing a goat. I couldn’t help staring, even after Amy told me, “I’ve heard about him. His name is Jesus and he doesn’t have a job.” But then Jesus opened his stunning blue eyes and gazed upon me, and I said to Amy, “I think I’ve just discovered one of the lost tribes of Israel.” “Which one?” she asked, and I said, “The blonds.”

Then Jesus came over and introduced himself and we chitchatted about everything, from keeping the Sabbath to how we both felt really sorry for the lame. Then I asked Jesus about his family, and he said, “My father is a carpenter,” and I could feel myself getting all flushed as I immediately thought, Hello, new coffee table.

Labour was treated to a 45-minute lecture on the moral limits of markets by Harvard University professor Michael Sandel in one of the more extraordinary and cerebral addresses to a Labour conference by a visiting foreign speaker.

The author of Justice, who was asked by party leader Ed Miliband to speak to the conference, said: “If someone is willing to pay for sex or buy a kidney from a consenting adult, the only question standard economics asks is ‘how much?’ Each party decides for himself or herself on what value on the things being exchanged. This non-judgmental stance towards values lies at the heart of market reasoning and explains much of its appeal.”

But he said that a reluctance to engage in moral argument, together with the embracing of markets, had exacted a heavy price: “It has drained our public discourse of moral and civic energy, and it has contributed to the managerial, technocratic politics that has afflicted many societies. A debate about the moral limits of markets would enable us to decide about where markets do and not belong. It would invigorate our politics by welcoming competing notions of the good life into the public square.”

In the United States the notion that bike helmets promote health and safety by preventing head injuries is taken as pretty near God’s truth. Un-helmeted cyclists are regarded as irresponsible, like people who smoke. Cities are aggressive in helmet promotion. But many European health experts have taken a very different view: Yes, there are studies that show that if you fall off a bicycle at a certain speed and hit your head, a helmet can reduce your risk of serious head injury. But such falls off bikes are rare — exceedingly so in mature urban cycling systems.

On the other hand, many researchers say, if you force or pressure people to wear helmets, you discourage them from riding bicycles. That means more obesity, heart disease and diabetes. And — Catch-22 — a result is fewer ordinary cyclists on the road, which makes it harder to develop a safe bicycling network. The safest biking cities are places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, where middle-aged commuters are mainstay riders and the fraction of adults in helmets is minuscule.

“Pushing helmets really kills cycling and bike-sharing in particular because it promotes a sense of danger that just isn’t justified — in fact, cycling has many health benefits,” says Piet de Jong, a professor in the department of applied finance and actuarial studies at Macquarie University in Sydney. He studied the issue with mathematical modeling, and concludes that the benefits may outweigh the risks by 20 to 1.