Pacific Garbage Patch Twice the Size of Texas

It strains credulity, but there's a heap of floating garbage, consisting mostly of plastic trash, floating in the Pacific between San Francisco and Hawaii that's twice the size of Texas and weighing in at some 3.5 million tons!

The patch has been growing, along with ocean debris worldwide, tenfold every decade since the 1950s, said Chris Parry, public education program manager with the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco.

The garbage is being trapped by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, "a swirling vortex of ocean currents comprising most of the northern Pacific Ocean. It is located between the equator and 50º N latitude and occupies an area of approximately ten million square miles."

QotD for 17 Oct., 2007

From a column in the Daily Californian on marriage equality...

I suppose all we’re left with is the religious or moral objection. Some churches frown on homosexuality. Well, rock on. I’m not here to tell any faith how to do its job. But, conversely, religion ought not to tell democracy how to do its job. Against gay marriage? All right then, refuse to sanction those unions within your faith community. But religious objections are insufficient to dictate public policy to a pluralistic, secular society. --- Scott Lucas, Why Not Marriage for All?, 15 Oct., 2007

(emphasis mine)

If You Get This, You're Over-Educated

And Jesus turned to the theologian and said, “Who do you say I am?”

And the theologian promptly answered, “You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma of which we find the ultimate meaning in our interpersonal relationships.”

And Jesus said, “…huh?”

[via Mary Sue at the Order of Santa Ignora]

The (Evangelical) Chickens Come Home to Roost

Sara over at the Orcinus blog has a fantastic post up about...

A study released last week by the Barna Group, a reputable Evangelical research and polling firm, [which] found that under-30s -- both Christian and non-Christian -- are strikingly more critical of Christianity than their peers were just a decade ago. According to the summary report, Barna pollster David Kinnaman found that the opinions of non-Christians, in particular, had slid like a rock in that time frame.

Dare I hope that it might actually be a sign that the 30-year long train wreck that has been the "Christian" Right is finally loosing steam ?

Go thou, and read. Me ? I'm going to go ask forgiveness for the sin of schadenfreude. And boy have I been wallowing in it since I read this! ;) (take that, all you Dobsons, Robertsons and Mohlers of the world)

An Easy Pork Roast Recipe

A comment thread over at Mad Priest's got me thinking of what to do if you find yourself with a pork roast and need dinner that night. I put several links there for some Latin American recipes, but here's the simplest of all:

• a boneless pork tenderloin roast


• a jar or two of your favorite Mexican salsa


• a crockpot

I start with one of those Armour boneless pork tenderloins (either plain or southwest seasoned) from the supermarket and usually cut it in two or three big pieces so they'll fit in the crockpot. Put a bit of lard, bacon fat or oil in a heavy skillet, heat, and sear the outside of the pieces of roast until they begin to brown. Then place the meat in the crockpot, cover with the salsa, and cook for 8 hrs or so - until the meat is basically falling apart. Remove, shred the meat with a couple of forks, and serve as a taco filling with warm, fresh tortillas. Goes well with cold, Mexican beer. Vegetarian Posole or borracho beans make a nice side dish.

If you really want this to be yummy, substitute something like Cervantes Red Chile Sauce from New Mexico for the salsa. Mmmmm...MMMMM!

United in Homophobia

The Rev. Giles Fraser, vicar of Putney and lecturer in philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford, UK, reminds us that after the Episcopal Church's HoB meeting in New Orleans, the US bishops have bent the knee to the will of the bully.

Unfortunately, for all its sharp prophetic witness, the Achilles heel of the Episcopal church is its snotty-nosed Anglophilia. Establishment liberals have only so much bottle.

Amen.

Select-A-Candidate Quiz

WQAD, channel 8 in Moline, IL, has a great on-line quiz up that uses responses on specific topics from all the presidential hopefuls to steer you towards the candidate that best matches your views.

It's no surprise that all my close matches were Democrats, but the closest was Chris Dodd - a candidate I've barely heard of ;)

Go try it. The results might surprise you, too.