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I recently discovered this awesome blog site 
http://artofmanliness.com/2008/01/16/ stop-hanging-out-with-women-and-start- dating-them/
it matches fantastic vintage pics with great entertaining advice for guys on how to improve on their gentlemanly skills 
Particularly good articles for Christian guys who by and large tend to be shy and retiring sorts ... ... so put more GGggrrrRR and gentlemanly courting skills back inta you boys!

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The Problem with the Hook-Up CultureOn college campuses hooking-up has replaced dating. Guys seldom ask girls on out real dates: outings they have planned ahead of time and which involve just the two of them. And they even less frequently ask that girl to be their girlfriend and enter into monogamous relationships. Instead women and men hook up at bars, Greek houses, and parties. They have their way with each other and then hope never to have a run-in around campus. College is seen as the time to sow one’s wild oats before settling down at some yet to be determined, but definitively far off time.

I've recently observed a new 'scam' - I've put it in ' '  bec. its done so subtly and with such skill over time, that even the church would give her child freely for this exploitation.  The scam goes something like this :  

hmm just watched this extensive documentary by the well known British documentarian Anthony Thomas

http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/ celibacy/synopsis.html

http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/ celibacy/interview.html

If one is feeling restless on a Sat night, you're by yourself, single and alone ... there is a paltry lack of places for a Christian Single to go - theres no cafe open late night, no late night bookshop etc ... the only places open are strip clubs and casinos

It seems that the TV programmers offer Christian singles with 2 options on a Sat night, when the typical Christian (female) single is sitting at home dateless - programmers seem to realise that its a growing demographic ... so now this demog have a choice of 2 options

So I was listening to NPR and an interview came online with Nuala O'Faolain - an Irish writer who died recently at 68, she was single

In this interview she talks in depth about her feelings about being single and middle aged - I found that perhaps it offered some good contrasts and insights for the growing population of single women who are headed towards middle-age in the next decade.  Logistically, you just have to face the fact that you probably will never get married, bec. there just enough males in the church ... so, I found Nuala's thoughts very interesting to mull over when being reminded again of this very real challenge that faces the Church in the ensuing years

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/ story.php?storyId=90371362

Fresh Air from WHYY, May 12, 2008 · Irish journalist and author Nuala O'Faolain died May 9 in Dublin of lung cancer at the age of 68.

the current Austrian incest imprisonment story is so icky and gross ... after noting that this is not the first occurence in Austria, I started Googling to see if there was a pattern and while reading up on the research, I stumbled onto a couple of rather curious articles ... well they certainly made me reach for the barf bag ... but what it does seem to reveal is that ... for all the dark secret taboos out there, there are always others across the world practising the same things - and with the internet, these ppl are contacting each other and hence feeling validated or "normalised" in this process ... hmm from a Social intellectual perspective - I thought hmm this seems to be an interesting new shift .. an accellerated shift in the taboo norrmalisation process

having travelled in Egypt, Rome and Greece and being rather surprised by the ancient practices   - I also started to think about cultural practices, taboos and what we view as normal in our 21st century Christian Protestant world view

the thought of Incest for eg. makes us very nauseous ... but was common in Egypt and in fact mentioned rather nonchalantly in the Old testament.  As was Paedo/gay polygamy in Ancient Greece ... all this seemed to go away for about 2000 years ... but I wonder whether with the speed of Internet communication, if these rather "out-dated and recently outlawed" practices will make a come back, a gradual return to "normal cultural practice" ... currently we've already seen a return of Porn as mainstream, after nude portrayal disappeared post-Victorian age ... hmmm

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here are the articles that raised my eyebrows

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/ Article/0,4273,4331603,00.html

Forbidden love
Can sex between close relatives ever be acceptable? Johann Hari on the queasy issue of 'consensual' incest
Johann Hari
Guardian - Wednesday January 9, 2002

It was a Friday night a few months ago. Rob was standing on my doorstep, ashen and trembling. He still couldn't speak even as he sipped at a mug of tea after my flatmate and I had ushered him into our front room. We could not guess what had happened, but a feeling of dread was fast forming in our minds; we could only assume that something terrible must have happened to Rob's fiancee, Karen. Gradually, his powers of speech returned and the story emerged. Something had happened, but that something was terrible to Rob himself, not Karen.

Now, you have to understand that Rob and Karen were the most balanced, wholesome couple I knew. They had recently moved out of their flat while it was being redecorated, each returning to their respective family homes for a couple of weeks. That Friday, she had left her keys at his place by accident. He was passing by her parents' place later that night, so he stopped off and rang the doorbell.

No answer. So he let himself in to leave the keys, with a note, on the kitchen table for her mum and dad to return to her. Only, the house wasn't empty - he heard some movement in the front room. In an instant, he blundered in on Karen - the woman he was due to marry - having sex. With her dad.

Not her stepfather. Not her adopted father. Her actual, biological dad. She was 22 years old. There was clearly no coercion taking place.

Three weeks passed. Rob had called off the wedding - obviously - and was trying to put his life back together. One morning, he got a call from Karen, asking if they could meet up to divide their mutual belongings, the accumulation of over three years' cohabitation. He agreed.

Predictably, when they met, an argument began. "I don't know why you think it's so odd!" she screamed. "I know lots of people who do this." That stopped Rob in his tracks. "Who?"

(click link to read the full article)

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http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/30/ reviews/970330.cheever.html

Innocence Betrayed By SUSAN CHEEVER

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/ middle_east/7259057.stm



saw this on the bbc .. its so peculiar bec. I thought Islam would be as distant to transsexualism as Christianity is ... hmm the Cleric's quote on Islam's view of it was rather surprising ...
Sex changes have been legal in Iran since Ayatollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution, passed a fatwa - a religious edict - authorising them for "diagnosed transsexuals" 25 years ago.

Found this while listening to NPR - the amazing thing is that the Manga Bible isn't from Japan (though that would be kool too) .. but its by 2 London African-born guys who are avid fans - truly hybrid truly fresh ... faith meeting the new world

http://www.themangabible.com/index.asp? module=Pages&action=View&postId=16

(listen to NPR - they do great radio documentaries)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/ story.php?storyId=19269725


The world's most-read book has been reproduced yet again, and this time in a style known as Japanese manga, closely associated with anime. Ajinbayo "Siku" Akinsuku is author and illustrator of The Manga Bible. He says he reproduced the Bible using the popular animation style to keep the religious message relevant to younger generations.