Archive for the ‘news’ Category
a-lit-er-ate or il-lit-er-ate?
Caleb Crain in The New Yorker:
In 1937, twenty-nine per cent of American adults told the pollster George Gallup that they were reading a book. In 1955, only seventeen per cent said they were. Pollsters began asking the question with more latitude. In 1978, a survey found that fifty-five per cent of respondents had read a book in the previous six months. The question was even looser in 1998 and 2002, when the General Social Survey found that roughly seventy per cent of Americans had read a novel, a short story, a poem, or a play in the preceding twelve months. And, this August, seventy-three per cent of respondents to another poll said that they had read a book of some kind, not excluding those read for work or school, in the past year. If you didn’t read the fine print, you might think that reading was on the rise.
You wouldn’t think so, however, if you consulted the Census Bureau and the National Endowment for the Arts, who, since 1982, have asked thousands of Americans questions about reading that are not only detailed but consistent. The results, first reported by the N.E.A. in 2004, are dispiriting. In 1982, 56.9 per cent of Americans had read a work of creative literature in the previous twelve months. The proportion fell to fifty-four per cent in 1992, and to 46.7 per cent in 2002. Last month, the N.E.A. released a follow-up report, “To Read or Not to Read,” which showed correlations between the decline of reading and social phenomena as diverse as income disparity, exercise, and voting. In his introduction, the N.E.A. chairman, Dana Gioia, wrote, “Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement.”
More here.
PS. Thousands of years ago the sage wrote “Of making many books there is no end” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). If this was true then, how much more is it true today when we see tens or hundreds of thousands of books being released every year.
PSS. Click here if you need help with your 2008 Bible reading plan.
enjoy, ron
Name that Teddy!
A trial that prosecutors said would be “swift and fair” opened Thursday in Sudan’s capital for Gillian Gibbons. She is a British school teacher better known as “Miss Gibbons” to the 7-year-olds in her second-grade class at the Unity School in Khartoum, Sudan. She is righteously accused of inciting religious hatred by allowing her students to name a teddy bear for the prophet Mohammad.
Here is what happened. As a class project, Miss Gibbons introduced her students to a cute, cuddly little teddy bear. And then she said “Now we have to give the bear a name.” All the students raised their hands and suggested names for the bear – eight names in all, including Abdullah and Hassan. To be fair, since there were so many great names to choose from, Miss Gibbons suggested they take a vote. And the winner, by a vote of 20 to 3, was: Muhammad!
Now, said Miss Gibbons, we will all take Muhammad home, one at a time, and we’ll bring him back with an essay about what we did with Muhammad the Bear when he was home with us. And so, one by one, the students took Muhammad the Bear home and wrote essays, and eventually Miss Gibbons bound all the essays into a book with a picture of the bear on the cover and the title “My Name Is Muhammad.”
Alas, the diabolical deed was stealthily uncovered by the ever efficient Sudanese police who immediately arrested Miss Gibbons and charged her with blasphemy and insulting the great prophet. She was locked away and told that her most likely sentence would be 200 lashes with a whip. Meanwhile a huge, unruly crowd collected outside the Khartoum jail bellowing fiercely and relentlessly for the immediate lynching of the western infidel.
In fact, if convicted, 54 year old Gillian Gibbons could be jailed for six months and subjected to 40 lashes. Her students have tried to claim responsibility for the act, which Britain’s Foreign Service has called “an innocent misunderstanding.”
Lawsuit Against God?
“Nebraska Democratic State Senator Ernie Chambers has decided to go straight to the top in an effort to stop natural disasters from befalling the world.
Chambers filed a lawsuit against God in Douglas County Court Friday afternoon, KPTM Fox 42 reported.” Here’s the story. Perhaps the good legislator needs to read God’s response to Job beginning in chapter 38.
Here come the Judge!
enjoy, ron
Lawsuit Against God?
“Nebraska Democratic State Senator Ernie Chambers has decided to go straight to the top in an effort to stop natural disasters from befalling the world.
Chambers filed a lawsuit against God in Douglas County Court Friday afternoon, KPTM Fox 42 reported.” Here’s the story. Perhaps the good legislator needs to read God’s response to Job beginning in chapter 38.
Here come the Judge!
enjoy, ron
For Life!
Her claim to fame? She is the world’s most premature living baby, born at 21 weeks and six days. No baby born at less than 23 weeks was previously known to have survived.
When she was born, Amillia weighed 280g and measured 24cm, slightly longer than a ballpoint pen. Now 17 weeks old, Amillia drank from a bottle for the first time this week.
So the good doctors now surmise that she is thriving and well enough to be cared for by her parents at home. “Even though she’s only four pounds now, she’s plump to me,” the baby’s mother, Sonja Taylor said.
Enjoy, ron
For Life!
Her claim to fame? She is the world’s most premature living baby, born at 21 weeks and six days. No baby born at less than 23 weeks was previously known to have survived.
When she was born, Amillia weighed 280g and measured 24cm, slightly longer than a ballpoint pen. Now 17 weeks old, Amillia drank from a bottle for the first time this week.
So the good doctors now surmise that she is thriving and well enough to be cared for by her parents at home. “Even though she’s only four pounds now, she’s plump to me,” the baby’s mother, Sonja Taylor said.
Enjoy, ron
revdrron 