Diary, Curious News
The other day I strolled in the gothic quarter of Barcelona and came by a tattoo shop. I was very impressed with the lady who stood behind the counter. She was the best advertisement that anyone could have thought of for this kind of establishment. I wondered: Did mom and dad already have a tattoo and this is simply the second generation of making one’s own body the canvass of an artistic impulse? Or did mom and dad absolutely not want her to have any tattoo on her skin and the lady wanted to show her folks that she is truly independent? Or did she fall in love with a guy who was into tattoos? Be it as it may, next to the cathedral of Barcelona, the phrase “my body is my temple” took on a whole new meaning.A Lady who Pratices what she Preaches
Diary
If my eyes did not fool me, Senator John McCain made a very brief cameo appearance in this average comedy that in the end takes a big bow in front of the institution of marriage. But there is a lot of loose behavior and fowl language (sometimes funny) that will not please theWedding Crashers
Diary, Astute Observations
Surprisingly, the article on Lincoln’s state of mind in this month’s Atlantic Monthly turned out to be very interesting. Making valid inferences after the fact about what propelled a person to act in a particular way is difficult, to put it mildly. With hindsight everyone has perfect vision. Joshua Wolf Shenk’s Lincoln’s Great Depression does not fall into the trap of inferring a grand thesis from one case. Looking at Lincoln’s entire life he finds one episode after another in which Lincoln does not overcome his melancholy for good, but rather learns to live with his sadness and to turn it into a creative force. Shenk argues that Lincoln’s depression forced him to analyze himself and the world around himself, giving him a deeper insight into reality that prepared Lincoln to see more accurately the challenges of his time. Think about this startling implication: if George W. Bush would get a bit depressed, we might all be much better off!Lincoln’s Great Drepression
Diary
In 1996 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who recently became Pope Bednedict XVI, sat down with Peter Seewald, a German journalist who had left the catholic church, for a long conservation that was published as a book in the following year. Salt of the Earth: Christianity and the Catholic Church at the End of the Millennium became a bestseller in catholic circles. On a visit to Germany (the homeland of the new pope) I stumbled upon the book on the coffee table of my host and started reading. It turned out to be so interesting that I spent the next day reading it cover to cover. Seewald asked Ratzinger all the questions that an unbeliever or critic of the catholic church might want to ask the high church officials. Seewald posed Ratzinger one tough question after another, and you wonder constantly whether Ratzinger will be able to give an intellectually satisfying answer. The picture of Ratzinger that emerges in this conversation is quite different than one that I had collected from reading worldy newspapers.Christianity and the Catholic Church at the End of the Millennium
Diary, Must Know
A couple of weeks ago a friend raved about the TV show 24, which will start its fifth season in January. I rented the first three episodes of the first season from Blockbuster. The entire season takes place in 24 hours. Before I knew it, I had watched the entire season in a few days. The writers of the show have been able to create so much suspense that I (and other people I know) run to blockbuster in the middle of the night to rent the next episodes. This may be the best TV drama that I have ever seen. Go rent it but don’t blame me if you miss work because you stay up late watching one episode after another. I am addicted to this show!Getting Addicted to “24”
Diary, Curious News
Accumulating stuff takes time. After reading this unusal portrait of America, I had one question: How much time do people actually spend shopping? Until the end of my teenage years, I used to enjoy bargain hunting immensely and spent endless hours in pursuit of gadget that fell within my budget. I hate shopping now and my favorite shopping experience is Amazon.com’s “One- Click.” Takes less then a minute to get the item I want delivered to my place. In Modern Era, Self-Storage Has Right Stuff By DAVID WESSEL (WSJ) A Different Portrait of America
Whatever the strains and shortcomings of the U.S. economy, we Americans have a whole lot more stuff than we used to. How much? So much that there is enough space in rentable self-storage lockers in the U.S. for each man, woman and child to stand on a spot 2
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