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The most fantastic light show I have ever seen

If you are not a fan of the sport of cycling (and I won’t be surprised if you aren’t a fan of a sport that only recently counted the mega-cheat Lance Armstrong as one of its legends), chances are you would have missed this spectacular at the closing of the Tour de France. France shows us its genius in this show.  For me it rivals the Beijing Olympics Opening in ingenuity if not in scale. Arc de Triomphe indeed. Enjoy. (Note: Watching the Tour induces Francophilia. Be warned.)

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Christ the Polarizer: Interview with Bono

Jesus’ claim about his own identity is too big to ignore. His claim leaves no room for fence-sitters. This man said he is the Son of God; it is a challenge to every individual about how he/she sees his/her own life, and how he/she sees Jesus’ life.  You have to either say, yes Lord I believe You are the Son of God, or no you speak untruths.  There is no room for, Jesus was a great man, he was a great prophet etc. If you don’t believe he is the Son of God, you cannot then believe he was a great man.  If you do not believe his claims about who he was, you cannot then conclude he was a great prophet. He has lived his life and said his words in this way, that every one must make up his/her mind about who exactly Jesus is.

No Apologizing

Okay….so I am always on the lookout for how celebrities describe their faith.  I find it interesting.  9 times out of 10 they end up creating a God that does not exist in the Bible.  Then along comes this excerpt from a book where Bono from U2 is being interviewed about his faith.  Actually the interview is from September 2010…but never the less it is an incredible read.  The following excerpt is from the poached egg and can be found at this link.

 

Bono: My understanding of the Scriptures has been made simple by the person of Christ. Christ teaches that God is love. What does that mean? What it means for me: a study of the life of Christ. Love here describes itself as a child born in straw poverty, the most vulnerable situation of all, without honor. I don’t let my religious world get too…

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The Unofficial Harvard Kennedy School Mid-Career Class of 2013 Guide to Procrastination During Finals Week

Through the wonderfully random phenomenon of crowdsourcing, this is the list of what people do when they are faced with the looming prospect of final exams and term paper deadlines. Proudly presenting, (drum roll), in fully random order, the list of things that my classmates wouldn’t normally do, but did on the weekend before their final exams and/or their paper is due, just so they could procrastinate on working on them. (More shocking fact: these people are in their graduating semester).

  1. Set up a Facebook post on the class page to ask in what ways classmates are procrastinating.
  2. Practice run on the Charles River.
  3. Clean iPhone (not sure if physical or digital).
  4. Download all pictures and videos from iPhone to make room for new pictures and videos (I presume this is for the coming final project in iPhone photography and videography).
  5. Label and categorize all downloaded iPhone pictures and video (for the final project on categorizing iPhone photos and videos)
  6. Throw birthday party for daughter, whose birthday was 2 months later (lucky daughter)
  7. Research and order brake parts for truck for the brake job the following month.
  8. Order plane tickets for the trip planned for 4 months later.
  9. Think hard about what to write for the Facebook post on procrastination (see 1.)
  10. Laugh at kids trying to break a piñata. For 1 hour. (what kind of a piñata is that that needs an hour to break open??)
  11. Bet on which kid would be the one to break the piñata.
  12. Go on a mini-tour of the legendary Harvard Widener Library (I hope he happened to be studying there and did not go there just to do that mini-tour.
  13. Google research Quaker forms of worship. (background: the dude walks past the Quaker building to school every day and decided to finally research the subject that finals weekend)
  14. File the 974 mails in the inbox.
  15. Reorganize the freezer.
  16. Take son out to dinner for his (the son’s, that is) straight As.
  17. Wedding anniversary brunch.
  18. Watch son’s baseball game.
  19. Practice twerking.
  20. Dance Bollywood and Bhangra.
  21. Research vacation rentals for the trip the next day (but haven’t started on the 12-page paper!)
  22. Reading the Facebook post on the class page (see 1.), which has grown to become rather sizeable.
  23. Help neighbour wash the dog (my personal favorite).
  24. Checking Wikipedia to see what twerking means (see 19.)
  25. Play field hockey.
  26. Attend the Harvard Graduate Commons event-for the very first time.
  27. Sleep two hours on the JFK Forum couch.
  28. Gather fellow procrastinators to watch the biggest derby of the Argentine football season.
  29. Posting random music videos on the Facebook post (see 1.)
  30. Respond to a fellow procrastinator getting people to watch the Argentine derby (see 28.).
  31. Seek comfort from fellow procrastinators by reading the Facebook post (see 1.).
  32. Drive around Boston aimlessly following Siri’s directions to non-existent places.
  33. Going through folders in the computer arranging “Show View Options” to prioritize “Arrange By: Kind” and “Sort By: Name”.
  34. Hang out with the most incredible Cuban artist at the South End artist market.
  35. Get a pedicure.
  36. Eat through an entire box of Annie’s (organic) Traditional Party Mix.
  37. Eat through a box of Kix (probably inspired by 36.).
  38. Playing with Thursday’s exam material when there is a paper due on Tuesday.
  39. Attend a rock show.
  40. Polish all shoes.
  41. Plan for the summer.
  42. Watch half of Mad Men Season 4.
  43. Visit Ben & Jerry factory in Vermont.
  44. 2 days in Brazil to meet former President, 2 days in Chicago to celebrate fiance’s birthday.
  45. Game of Thrones marathon.
  46. Read all 68 previous comments on the Facebook post (see 1.).
  47. Watch Gossip Girl.
  48. Call the entire family.
  49. Laundry.
  50. Watch all bloopers of Big Bang Theory on Youtube.

And I think this was half the entire list. I’m afraid that if I actually typed out the entire list, which threatens to approach 100, people might have serious doubts about the way I utilise my time. Besides, 50 is a long-enough list to impress people to think that my classmates are such geniuses that they could do all that in the list and graduate.

I’m gonna miss my classmates. Thanks for the material, my friends.