On average, men aren't as healthy as women.

Men don't live as long, and they're more likely to engage in risky behaviors, like smoking and drinking.

But in the past decade, global health funding has focused heavily on women.

Programs and policies for men have been "notably absent," says Sarah Hawkes from the University of London's Institute of Global Health.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • Men • Women

ir Alex Ferguson will step down as Manchester United manager at the end of the season after 26 years in charge.

The Scot, 71, has won 38 trophies for the club and will now become a director and ambassador.

His haul includes 13 league titles, two Champions League crowns, five FA Cups and four League Cups.

"The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about. It is the right time," Ferguson said.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle reacted swiftly to the news that the Pentagon’s estimated number of sexual assaults jumped 35 percent, with several introducing legislation in the House and Senate to protect victims and improve response following report of an incident.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services personnel panel, plans to introduce legislation next week that would eliminate a commander’s authority to overturn rulings in cases of sexual assault.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Men • Sexuality • Violence • Women • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Economy • The U.S. Government • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Senate

The problem of sexual assault in the military leapt to the forefront in Washington on Tuesday as the Pentagon released a survey estimating that 26,000 people in the armed forces were sexually assaulted last year, up from 19,000 in 2010, and an angry President Obama and Congress demanded action.

The study, based on a confidential survey sent to 108,000 active-duty service members, was released two days after the officer in charge of sexual assault prevention programs for the Air Force was arrested and charged with sexual battery for grabbing a woman’s breasts and buttocks in an Arlington, Va., parking lot.

At a White House news conference, Mr. Obama expressed exasperation with the Pentagon’s attempts to bring sexual assault under control.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Men • Sexuality • Violence • Women • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

We have piles of evidence to show that people overtrust their judgment and overestimate their goodness. Also, there is no easy correlation between self-esteem and actual performance....

This leads to my final question: In society generally, are more problems caused by overconfidence or underconfidence? The financial crisis and the tenor of our political debates suggest that overconfidence and self-idolatry are by far the larger problems. If that’s true, how do you combine the self-critical ability to recognize your limitations with the majestic confidence required to struggle against them?

I guess I’m asking how to marry self-criticism and self-assertion, a blend our society is inarticulate about. I guess I’m wondering, as we make this blend, whether most of us need more of the stereotypically female trait of self-doubt or the stereotypically male trait of self-promotion.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Psychology • Women • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market

After two troubling outbursts at a local mosque, leaders there told Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev he would no longer be welcome if he continued disrupting services.

Leaders at the Islamic Society of Boston's mosque in Cambridge say Tsarnaev, 26, who died early Friday (April 19) after a shootout with police, "disagreed with the moderate American-Islamic theology" of the mosque, but they never had "any hint" the brothers might be violent.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Religion & Culture • Urban/City Life and Issues • Violence • Young Adults • * Economics, Politics • Terrorism • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam

Rick Pitino has had teams during his 12 seasons at the University of Louisville loaded with more talent.

And better shooters. And more heralded out of high school.

But he’s never had a team like this.

One that picked each other up when they struggled. One that got better in areas of weakness. One that was prone to unexpected performances when they absolutely needed it....

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Men • Sports • Young Adults • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

Liverpool was stunned as a combination of poor finishing and superb goalkeeping from Ben Foster saw West Bromwich Albion come away with a 2-0 win its second consecutive victory at Anfield, a result that surely marks the end of the hosts’ top-four challenge.

Gareth McAuley and Romelu Lukaku put West Brom on the board after Steven Gerrard missed a penalty.

Brendan Rodgers was forced into making one change from the XI that took a point away from Manchester City, with Jonjo Shelvey coming in for the injured Daniel Sturridge while for West Brom, Liam Ridgewell and Yousouff Mulumbu returned to stiffen up the visitors.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

Jose Mourinho described Manchester United’s visit to the Bernabeu on Wednesday night as “the game the world is waiting for” but in the meantime the world had to make do with Everton, although not the same kind of Everton that upset the applecart at Old Trafford last season.

It was asking too much for this game to be as thrilling as the 4-4 draw in April, last season, when United twice squandered a two-goal lead and eventually had to acknowledge that it was the day when the title started to slide away from them. Even so, taking a 12-point lead in the title race was never supposed to be as easy as this.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

I was thankful it ended up being such a good game.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports

It was an excellent game at Craven Cottage today with lots of chances at both ends--KSH. Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

Watch it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Portugal

On a dark and cold morning last month, 19-year-old Aaron Liberman woke at his apartment and walked a block and a half to a two-story, redbrick synagogue in West Rogers Park, a predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in northwest Chicago. Inside, he was met by the hum of worship and a smattering of older men — some in black hats, some wrapped in prayer shawls — seated at long tables, surrounded by shelves packed with books, Hebrew letters on their spines.

Liberman removed his jacket and unpacked his worn prayer book. He unfurled his tefillin, small boxes holding prayers printed on parchment, and bound them to his left arm and his forehead with black leather straps. Then he prayed.

During the service, a man walked over, politely interrupting Liberman’s meditation, asked how he was, and then, rather proudly, said: “We’re going to get tickets for one of your games. My kids, they are very excited.”

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Men • Religion & Culture • Sports • Young Adults • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Judaism

I looked it up and found that, according to the Centers for Disease Control, learning problems, attention-deficit disorders, autism and related disorders, and developmental delays increased about 17 percent between 1997 and 2008. One in six American children was reported as having a developmental disability between 2006 and 2008. That’s about 1.8 million more children than a decade earlier.

Soon, I learned that medical researchers, sociologists, and demographers were more worried about the proliferation of older parents than my friends and I were. They talked to me at length about a vicious cycle of declining fertility, especially in the industrialized world, and also about the damage caused by assisted-reproductive technologies (ART) that are commonly used on people past their peak childbearing years. This past May, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 8.3 percent of children born with the help of ART had defects, whereas, of those born without it, only 5.8 percent had defects.

A phrase I heard repeatedly during these conversations was “natural experiment.” As in, we’re conducting a vast empirical study upon an unthinkably large population...

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Aging / the Elderly • Children • Health & Medicine • Marriage & Family • Men • Science & Technology • Women • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

...for much of adulthood, I formed aspirational crushes. It wasn't ever deliberate, yet somehow I usually fell for men whose esteem or rejection came to influence my self-worth. In a phrase Tim Keller often uses (probably quoting Lewis or Tolkien), I longed for "the praise of the praiseworthy."

With this mindset, even little tastes of intimacy or access to a crush acquired a disproportionate sense of value, and every exchange mattered far more than it should have. Yet in the end, any intimacy I found in via Google search … or even electronic communication with the crush proved largely false.

It took me a long time to figure out why. Then one Sunday morning in a church class on dating, I heard this formula: Intimacy = talk + time + togetherness. As John Van Epp explains in his book How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk (on which the class was based), Internet-based relationships are often rich in talk, but can transpire very rapidly and may develop across great distance.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • Men • Psychology • Sexuality • Women • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

Two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic advanced to his third consecutive Australian Open final with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 win over No. 4-seeded David Ferrer on Thursday night.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

Maybe it was because they had met on OkCupid. But when the dark-eyed musician with artfully disheveled hair asked Shani Silver, a social media and blog manager in Philadelphia, out on a “date” Friday night, she was expecting at least a drink, one on one.

“At 10 p.m., I hadn’t heard from him,” said Ms. Silver, 30, who wore her favorite skinny black jeans. Finally, at 10:30, he sent a text message. “Hey, I’m at Pub & Kitchen, want to meet up for a drink or whatever?” he wrote, before adding, “I’m here with a bunch of friends from college.”

Turned off, she fired back a text message, politely declining. But in retrospect, she might have adjusted her expectations. “The word ‘date’ should almost be stricken from the dictionary,” Ms. Silver said. “Dating culture has evolved to a cycle of text messages, each one requiring the code-breaking skills of a cold war spy to interpret.”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • History • Marriage & Family • Men • Psychology • Science & Technology • Women • Young Adults

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

“I’m so glad we’re going to the Super Bowl right now,” Baltimore wide receiver Torrey Smith said, “so people can get off Joe’s back.”

Flacco threw three touchdown passes in the second half, helping the Ravens reach the Super Bowl for the first time in 12 years with a 28-13 win over the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game Sunday.

He beat two-time NFL MVP Tom Brady one week after outplaying Peyton Manning, who has won the award four times, in a 38-35 double-overtime win over the Denver Broncos.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports

Congratulations to them.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports

What a match in Australia. Novak Djokovic wins 12-10 in the fifth (on match point #3).

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

In their 10 years of marriage, there had been warning signs, but nothing to prepare her for this bloody struggle. The verbal abuse had finally led to their separation in December. Still, he had never hit her.

Not long after, though, things took a troubling, sinister turn when he told her something that made her afraid.

“He was going to kill himself and take somebody with him,” she said.

He said it looking straight at her. She feared she was the someone he meant.

(Please note: the full content here may not be suitable for all blog readers). Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Men • Psychology • Violence • Women • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

The Falcons’ playoff drought under head coach Mike Smith and quarterback Matt Ryan is over.

Just barely.

Kicker Matt Bryant banged a 49-yarder through the uprights with eight seconds to play to lift the Falcons to hard-fought 30-28 victory over Seattle in the NFC divisional round of the playoffs at the Georgia Dome on Sunday.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports

Lawrence Carpenter knew he always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but he was in the wrong business – the business of selling drugs.

After his second stint in prison, it became clear to him: “I made mistakes in my life, and I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in poverty because of those mistakes. I also knew that I had a criminal record, and looking at things realistically, it was going to be pretty difficult finding a job anywhere. I didn’t want to use that as an excuse. I knew that in order for me to realize the goals I had financially, my only option was to start my own business and create my own market....”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Young Adults • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life

Caught the English Premiere League contest between Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers early this morning . It ended 0-0 and the Rangers played their hearts out. Good for them--KSH.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

At a time when Indians are re-examining their society in the light of a single, horrific incident of gang rape, South Africa seems numb - unable to muster much more than a collective shrug in the face of almost unbelievably grim statistics - seemingly far worse than India's.

Here almost 60,000 rapes are reported to the police each year - more than double the number in India, in a far smaller country.

Experts believe the true figure is at least 10 times that - 600,000 attacks....

Read it all or watch the video report (recommended).

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Men • Sexuality • Violence • Women • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa • South Africa • Asia • India • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Steroid-tainted stars Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa were denied entry to baseball's Hall of Fame, with voters failing to elect any candidates for only the second time in four decades.

Bonds received just 36.2 percent of the vote, Clemens 37.6 and Sosa 12.5 in totals announced Wednesday by the Hall and the Baseball Writers' Association of America. They were appearing on the ballot for the first time and have up to 14 more years to make it to Cooperstown.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Drugs/Drug Addiction • History • Men • Sports • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

I have questions. In effect, I am asking The Sun for an update on that 2006 SI cover, which provided details that I don’t think I’ve seen in the local newspaper.

Question No. 1: Where does Lewis go to church? Past? Present? Future? Is it still Empowerment Temple? What role does his church play in his life, his philanthropy, his future?

Question No. 2: Who is his pastor, his spiritual leader? Who does he call when he is in spiritual crisis? Is is still the Rev. Jamal-Harrison Bryant of Empowerment?....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Religion & Culture • Sports

At the beginning of the New Year, 2013, a law is being proposed in the General Assembly to change the legal definition of marriage in Illinois to accommodate those of the same sex who wish to “marry” one another. In this discussion, the Church will be portrayed as “anti-gay,” which is a difficult position to be in, particularly when families and the Church herself love those of their members who are same-sex oriented. What’s at stake in this legislative proposal and in the Church’s teaching on marriage?

Basically, the nature of marriage is not a religious question. Marriage comes to us from nature. Christ sanctifies marriage as a sacrament for the baptized, giving it significance beyond its natural reality; the State protects marriage because it is essential to family and to the common good of society. But neither Church nor State invented marriage, and neither can change its nature.

Nature and Nature’s God, to use the expression in the Declaration of Independence of our country, give the human species two mutually complementary sexes, able to transmit life through what the law has hitherto recognized as a marital union. Consummated sexual relations between a man and a woman are ideally based on mutual love and must always be based on mutual consent, if they are genuinely human actions. But no matter how strong a friendship or deep a love between persons of the same sex might be, it is physically impossible for two men, or two women, to consummate a marital union. Even in civil law, non-consummation of a marriage is reason for annulment.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Men • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • Women • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Chandler Catanzaro kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired to give No. 14 Clemson a wild 25-24 win against No. 9 Louisiana State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on Monday night.

Trailing 24-22, Clemson (11-2) took possession on its 20 with 1:39 remaining. Tajh Boyd completed a pass for 26 yards to DeAndre Hopkins on a fourth-and-16 play during the decisive 10-play drive.

Catanzaro’s kick set off a wild celebration on the field and in the stands. Some players collapsed on the field in apparent disbelief while most of Clemson’s orange jerseys met in a midfield circle.

Read it all. I was unable to stay up for the end; congratulations to the Tigers--KSH.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Men • Sports • Young Adults • * South Carolina

The Steelers were eliminated from playoff contention today when Cincinnati beat them 13-10 on Josh Brown's 43-yard field goal with four seconds left.
Cincinnati clinched a playoff berth with the victory.
The field goal was made possible when safety Reggie Nelson intercepted Ben Roethlisberger's pass and returned it 10 yards to the Steelers' 46 with 14 seconds left in the game.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports

In assessing the greatness of Lionel Messi, Arsene Wenger, usually the world’s most insightful soccer manager, once said a trite thing: “When you look at the numbers, you have to kneel down and say they are fantastic.”

Wenger was referencing the 2010-11 season, in which Messi scored 53 goals in all competitions.

On Saturday, in his last game before the Christmas break, Messi scored his 91st goal of 2012. So Messi not only crushed the 40-year-old calendar-year scoring record held by German Gerd Muller (85), he reversed over it a few times.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Spain

Few players have provided more important plays for the Steelers the past few years than Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown, and they were at it again Sunday.

Roethlisberger, their Pro Bowl quarterback, had thrown two touchdown passes, one of them to Brown, who fought through a defender to reach the end zone. He had more than 300 yards passing and he led his team from behind into a fourth-quarter lead against the Dallas Cowboys. Brown, their MVP a year ago and Pro Bowl returner, returned one punt 29 yards and led the Steelers with eight receptions.

But both players made critical errors in the fourth quarter and overtime, each blaming themselves for a 27-24 loss, their fourth in the past five games that dropped them to 7-7, yet somehow still quite alive for a playoff spot.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports

You have said you are an enthusiastic supporter of marriage and that you do not want "gay people to be excluded from a great institution." Yet I wish respectfully to point out that behind what you say lurks a basic philosophical misconception about the nature of 'equality.' Equality can never be an absolute value, only a derivative and relative value. After all, a man cannot be a mother nor a woman a father, and so men and women can never be absolutely equal, only relatively equal, since they are biologically different. So too with marriage. Marriage, ever since the dawn of human history, is a union for life and love between a man and a woman. It is a complementary relationship between two people of the opposite sex, the man and the woman not being the same, but different. They are not, in other words, absolutely equal but relatively equal. This is why gay couples, two men or two women, are not being ‘excluded’ from marriage; they simply cannot enter marriage.

By enabling gays to 'marry' and by equating the union of gay people with marriage, however well-intentioned, you are not only redefining what we mean by marriage but actually undermining the very nature, meaning and purpose of marriage. Marriage, and the home, children and family life it generates, is the foundation and basic building block of our society. If you proceed with your plans, you will gravely damage the value of the family, with catastrophic consequences for the well-being and behaviour of future generations. The 2011 Census shows the parlous state of the institution of marriage which you claim to believe in so strongly, and of family life in general, with one in two teenagers no longer living with their birth parents and over 50% of adults living outside of marriage.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Law & Legal Issues • Church/State Matters • Marriage & Family • Men • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • Women • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology

It was Pep Guardiola, the former manager of Barcelona, who once suggested that Lionel Messi should be observed instead of dissected. He is, after all, widely considered the world’s greatest soccer player, not a biology project.

“Don’t try to write about him,” Guardiola said. “Don’t try to describe him. Watch him.”

On Sunday, Messi set an international record by scoring his 86th goal in a calendar year, for both Barcelona and the Argentine national team, delivering an average of one goal every four days, more frequently than a starting pitcher takes the mound, as often as Starbucks opens a new store in China.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Spain • South America • Argentina

Watch it all. Simply stunning.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Spain • South America • Argentina

Read it all. I watched it on tape delay--electrifying until the end when a few fans ruined the atmosphere.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

“The Love and Fidelity Network opposes Harvard University's formal recognition and funding of a group that seeks to associate human sexuality with violence, oppression, and humiliation,” Director of Programs Caitlin Seery said. “Universities should foster an environment where the dignity and beauty of sexuality is honored and affirmed – and where reasoned debate is welcomed among those of goodwill who disagree over what constitutes the true dignity and beauty of human sexuality. Groups like Munch, however, do not seek to participate in that important debate. Rather, BDSM groups dishonor and degrade human sexuality precisely by associating it with violence and humiliation.”

“Our opposition isn’t about banning groups with whom we disagree or censoring private behavior. We support the recognition of many groups with whom we disagree precisely because we think an honest debate about how best to honor the dignity and beauty of sexuality is needed. It is about whether Harvard University should subsidize the promotion of violent and abusive behavior, which endangers all students, particularly women, both psychologically and physically.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Men • Sexuality • Violence • Women • Young Adults • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Over the years [when asked this question about using marijuana], my default answer has been Romans 13:1–7, which basically says that believers must submit to the laws of government as long as there is no conflict with the higher laws of God in Scripture. This was a simple way to say “no” to recreational pot smoking. But now that recreational marijuana use is no longer illegal (according to my state laws, at least), the guiding question is now twofold:

Is using marijuana sinful, or is it wise?

Some things are neither illegal (forbidden by government in laws) nor sinful (forbidden by God in Scripture), but they are unwise. For example, eating a cereal box instead of the food it contains is not illegal or sinful—it’s just foolish. This explains why the Bible speaks not only of sin, but also folly, particularly in places such as the book of Proverbs. There are innumerable things that won’t get you arrested or brought under church discipline, but they are just foolish and unwise—the kinds of things people often refer to by saying, “That’s just stupid.”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Drugs/Drug Addiction • Law & Legal Issues • Men • Urban/City Life and Issues • Young Adults • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Evangelicals • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

After his East Mississippi Community College football team went undefeated and won the 2011 junior college championship, star lineman Derrick "DJ" Wilson was offered full athletic scholarships to four-year colleges in Alabama and Louisiana.

But as the football season came to an end, the 2010 Horn Lake High graduate had more important concerns. His mother, Jelks Wilson, was dying of cancer. Wilson was driving home from school every weekend — an eight-hour round-trip — to care for her and his two younger sisters.

Wilson would wake to the sounds of his mother's soft mumbling. Straining to hear, he realized she was praying.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Children • Health & Medicine • Marriage & Family • Men • Religion & Culture • Sports • Young Adults • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

In Sexual Sanity for Men, David White of Harvest USA writes a book for men about their struggles with sexual immorality. White’s book is needed in the midst of a culture with expanding opportunities for sexual sin and a church whose skills to address those temptations have, at times, appeared weak. As White seeks to expand the church’s wisdom to address men’s sexual struggles, there is much to commend.

The most important thing that can be said of White’s effort is that he repeatedly emphasizes the importance of the gospel of Jesus Christ for change. The most significant element of the church’s approach in the battle against sexual immorality does not consist in any process or procedure, but rather in a person whose name is Jesus.

White not only understands the importance of Christ’s power, he also underlines the necessity of connecting that power to the tangible categories of life in the midst of powerful enemies in the culture, the dark desires of humanity, and the prince of the power of the air. Furthermore, White explains that, in his great gospel, God not only forgives us but also gives us actual power to change (91).

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Books • Men • Pornography • Sexuality • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Evangelicals • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Soteriology • Theology: Scripture

West Pointers are human beings, even those with names such as David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell. I think I have the standing to make this declaration, because I’m a fellow graduate. West Point is long on molding military officers, but a bit short on humanity. Its mission statement stresses the intent to commit every graduate to a career of professional excellence and service, embodying the values of “duty, honor and country.” How does West Point do that?

Here’s how: Rules! Hundreds upon hundreds of rules that govern every facet of human conduct imaginable, including my favorite: no sex in the barracks....[Yet] whether it’s because love (or lust) conquers all, or because ambitious Type-A’s stop at nothing in the face of adversity, cadets soon become experts at evading the no-sex rule....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • Men • Sexuality • Women • Young Adults • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology

1. MOST WINS
The 19 combined wins between USC (9-2) and Clemson (10-1) entering the game are the most in the rivalry’s history, topping the old mark of 18 set last season.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Men • Sports • Young Adults • * South Carolina

A Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, and then to football as a walk on--my goodness. Watch it all (about 5 3/4 minutes). I caught this by happenstance this morning while exercizing--deeply moving; KSH.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Education • Marriage & Family • Men • Military / Armed Forces • Sports • Young Adults • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • * South Carolina

Caught this over the weekend, really worth the time. If you do not know the story, you need to--KSH.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Children • Drugs/Drug Addiction • Education • History • Marriage & Family • Men • Teens / Youth • Urban/City Life and Issues • Violence

We need to recognise the personal cost of crime. We need to recognise the damage, hurt and pain crime causes to victims and their families. And we need to recognise the cost to the wider society. But the harsh reality is that 75% of young offenders re-offend within 12 months - 3 out of 4 - this has to stop!...”

“Reflex prison Outreach workers and volunteer mentors provide positive role models and ‘father figures’. Their accredited education programmes provide creative opportunities for reflection and achievement, and their life skills help build ‘character’, encouraging young people to take responsibility for their actions as part of the community. With God's help, Reflex can place a worker in every Young Offenders Institution in the nation. We can turn the tide.”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of York John Sentamu • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Men • Prison/Prison Ministry • Religion & Culture • Teens / Youth • Young Adults • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Anglicans who are struggling at the front line in the battle to turn back gender-based and family violence can take comfort.

As of this morning, they know they have absolute, unequivocal support from their leaders in the Anglican Communion.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Consultative Council • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Pastoral Care • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Men • Violence • Women • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Matt Cain had one thought as he watched Marco Scutaro dig in for the at-bat of his life.

"I was just hoping he hadn't burned up all of his big hits through the year already," Cain said. "He's had so many. I was hoping he had another one in there for us."

The little Giant, the one they call "Blockbuster," did indeed. With two outs in the 10th inning, Scutaro floated a single to short center field. Austin Jackson charged hard but finally had to concede he would lose the battle with gravity.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

Chelsea were beaten for the first time in this season's Premier League as two red cards ushered Manchester United to a 3-2 win in west London.

Two goals down inside 12 minutes, the leaders fought their way off the ropes to level through Juan Mata (44) and Ramires (53) and were looking likelier winners until Branislav Ivanovic was sent off on the hour.

But a second red card for Fernando Torres meant the end of any genuine attacking ambition, and substitute Javier Hernandez bundled a contentious winner (75) to haul United within a point of the leaders and give them a first Barclays Premier League success at Stamford Bridge since 2002.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

The silence has perhaps never been more deafening at Williams-Brice Stadium than it was around 1:30 Saturday afternoon. The South Carolina and Tennessee football teams and a stadium full of fans swallowed hard and experienced a heavy heart.

Marcus Lattimore again went down with a crippling knee injury.

“When you lose a guy like Marcus, he’s such a leader on the team. Everybody loves him. He gets the guys going,” USC quarterback Connor Shaw said. “It’s so unfortunate. No one wishes that on anybody. Prayers are out for him. I know he’ll be mentally strong, and hopefully he can get back.”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Health & Medicine • Men • Sports • Young Adults • * South Carolina

John McKissick began at Summerville High School as football coach in 1952--what was his salary that year. No fair peaking or googling, etc.

Find the answer and all the other articles after you have made your guess there.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • History • Men • Sports • Teens / Youth • * South Carolina

As rain pounded the field in the ninth inning, second baseman Marco Scutaro spread his arms and looked to the heavens. As the water soaked his face, he beamed a 100,000-watt smile.

Moments later, he looked up again. This time his ticket to the World Series, a Matt Holliday popup, was falling his way. As Sergio Romo bounced on the mound like a kid on a pogo stick, Scutaro squeezed his glove and the Giants had a most improbable pennant.

Down three games to one in the National League Championship Series, they dominated the Cardinals over the final three games and bulldozed the defending World Series champions 9-0 Monday night.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

Congratulations to them.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports

Jeremy Hill capped his breakout game by leaping the fence dividing the field from the stands at Tiger Stadium and embracing a jubilant throng of students as they celebrated LSU's quick ascendance back into the national title discussion.

Hill highlighted a 124-yard, two-touchdown performance with a 50-yard scoring run, and the ninth-ranked Tigers handed No. 3 South Carolina its first loss of the season, 23-21 on Saturday night.

Hill's clutch runs, showcasing his tackle-breaking power as well as breakaway speed, were precisely what LSU needed a week after stumbling to its lone loss of the season at Florida, where the offense had been stagnant.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Men • Sports • Young Adults • * South Carolina

A very fun game to watch played in very difficult conditions.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Men • Sports • Young Adults

Connor Shaw could see it in the Georgia players’ eyes on South Carolina’s first touchdown drive.

A few minutes later, it was even more obvious to Marcus Lattimore after the Gamecocks drove it right down the Bulldogs’ throats for their second touchdown in as many possessions.

“They were shell-shocked. We hit them in the mouth, and they weren’t ready for it,” Lattimore said....

Read it all.

Update: An article from the local paper is there.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • Young Adults • * South Carolina

You can read Paul White's attempted defense here. Next, please make sure to read the whole rule in full which you can find there. You will note that Mr. White quotes neither the full text of the rule nor even the whole paragraph of the rule's explanation.

Here is why he is wrong:

(1) The last two sentences of the rule explanation (not quoted by Mr. White) state--"The infield fly is in no sense to be considered an appeal play. The umpire's judgment must govern, and the decision should be made immediately." The call is to be immediate. It was not. Watch the replay as many times as you like.

(2) Note also White's correct summary of the purpose of the rule--"The rule exists so an infielder doesn't purposely drop the ball so he can get force outs for a double or triple play." Does anyone serious believe, based on where the ball actually was on the field, that a double or triple play could have been attempted much less achieved? Also note that the argument that the runners were protected anyway since they both advanced a base does not work because on a ball this deep they would have advanced 1/2 to 2/3 of the way on the fly ball before going back if it were caught--thus what happened to the runners would have happened anyway which provides no protection whatsoever.

(3) Note next the exact text of the explanation as given by White--"The umpire must rule also that a ball is an infield fly, even if handled by an outfielder, if, in the umpire's judgment, the ball could have been as easily handled by an infielder." The key word is the word "easily," and this was not a play that fits that definition, it could be made, and made with difficulty, indeed one of the reason why the call was made so late was because the infielder and outfielder were so close together which only happens when an infielder is way into the outfield. It could NOT have been handled "easily." Also, the reason the umpire's call was in no way immediate is because all the way until the very last seconds it was not clear whether the infielder or the outfielder was going to make the play.

(4) Finally I defy Mr. White to examine all the times this rule has been applied and to find how many similar balls THIS FAR INTO THE OUTFIELD were ever subject to the infield fly rule being called. Rules to be applied properly must be applied similarly in similar circumstances. No fan if his or her team were the other team would have felt this was a fair or reasonable application of this rule, both in terms of its actaul language, and especially its intent--KSH.

Update: Hal Bodley of mlb.com has it right:

But in 54 years of covering Major League Baseball, I've never seen the fly rule called when a fielder isn't under the ball. The infield fly is a complicated rule, designed to prevent infielders from intentionally dropping a popup with more than one runner on base to perhaps get an extra out.

It wasn't even close in this case. As Holliday charged in, Kozma, his glove outstretched, took a few steps back, deeper into the outfield.

.Another update: Alex Hall disagrees.

Yet one further update:According to an ESPN article:

To put Friday's controversial play into context, in the past three seasons, there were six infield flies that were not caught in the majors, according to Baseball Info Solutions, the longest measured at 178 feet.
Friday's infield fly was measured at 225 feet from home plate, according to Baseball Info Solutions.

Filed under: * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

[Miguel] Cabrera produced the 17th Triple Crown in history, with the first in 1878. He joined Ty Cobb as the only Tigers to win it. Cobb won the Triple Crown in the Dead Ball Era in 1909 when he hit nine homers -- all inside-the-park, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

Cabrera became virtually assured of the Triple Crown when Josh Hamilton, his closest pursuer in the home-run race, went homerless Wednesday afternoon in Texas' meltdown loss to Oakland.

He won the RBI title with 139; Hamilton was second at 128.

Read it all.

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One has to wonder: Where are the fathers? According to the Pew Research Center, the number of children living apart from their fathers jumped from 11% in 1960 to 27% in 2010. What's more, there are plenty of fathers who are physically present but not involved.

Too often, it seems to be by design. Last month, the ACLU succeeded in getting a Rhode Island school district to end the practice of father-daughter dances, as if such traditions are the threat to American girlhood. The ACLU victory news release announced: "In the 21st century, public schools have no business fostering the notion that girls prefer to go to formal dances while boys prefer baseball games. This type of gender stereotyping only perpetuates outdated notions of 'girl' and 'boy' activities and is contrary to federal law."

The point of father-daughter dances was never to keep girls in dresses and off athletic fields. These events symbolize a more important old-fashioned goal: to protect girls. And in an era when many teens attend post prom "P&H" (pimp and ho) parties in which girls shed prom dresses to prance around in lingerie, girls can probably use all the protection they can get.

Read it all.

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Erasing some of their worst Ryder Cup memories, the Europeans wore the image of Seve Ballesteros on their sleeves and played their hearts out Sunday at Medinah to match the greatest comeback in history and head home with that precious gold trophy.

Europe got its payback for Brookline, when the Americans roared back from the same 10-6 deficit. This rally was even more remarkable, carried out before a raucous American crowd that began their chants of "USA!" some three hours before the first match got under way.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • Europe

....personal observation and a smattering of data belie the current reality and in the time since Ms. [Hanna] Rosin’s essay and the release this month of her book The End of Men: And The Rise of Women, I can’t help but wonder if about this claim of victory by authors such as Ms. Rosin and others is premature.

Women hold only 10 per cent of seats on boards of directors in Canada, and 16 per cent in the United States, according to a recent report by Catalyst. The number of female lead directors of Fortune 500 companies fell in 2011, even as Ms. Rosin was busy writing her book. How can women claim victory when the European Union is struggling with legislation to ensure 40 per cent of non-executive board seats are filled with women by 2020?

Social upheaval doesn’t occur overnight. of course, but I caution against believing that a matriarchy is definitively in the cards and that it’s just a matter of time before the power flip.

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The reason given by Christiane Taubira, France’s justice minister: ”Who is to say that a heterosexual couple will bring a child up better than a homosexual couple, that they will guarantee the best conditions for the child's development?” She then reassured critics of the proposed law, “What is certain is that the interest of the child is a major preoccupation for the government.”

If the law goes through, then all references to “mother” and “father” will be erased from the civil code and replaced with the more abstract, cover-all, cover-anything term “parents.”

Let’s focus on that shift to abstraction. It’s more important than you might think, because, as France is now demonstrating, he (or she) who controls the language controls the fundamentally human ability to speak about reality.

Read it all.

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Watch it all (just over one minute).

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They walked with heads held high, harboring dreams imagined in black and gold, marching to the peculiar orders of the times.

A movement was beginning. That day, 50,000 people passed through the doors of Three Rivers Stadium, the massive concrete structure looming just west of the infamous Bridge to Nowhere, this time hoping that the Steelers, after 40 irrelevant seasons, were finally taking them somewhere worth going.

Each person in the stadium had his or her own dramas outside of it. There was the war that seemingly would not end, the intensifying of racial tensions across the city and, for those who were paying close enough attention, the fear that those hulking mills that lined the rivers were not going to be needed forever. But, the Steelers were host to the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the NFL playoffs, and such pressing matters could be thrust to the back burner for the good of Pittsburgh.

An absolute must read article for oh-so-many reasons, but perhaps above all for what it teaches about American history. Take the time to peruse it all--KSH.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • History • Marriage & Family • Men • Psychology • Race/Race Relations • Sports • Urban/City Life and Issues • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market

Pornography. Casual sex. Crude jokes about sex. Hooking up with no strings attached.

Hanna Rosin’s most recent Atlantic article, “Boys on the Side,” describes highly intelligent, career-oriented women engaging in all of these behaviors with a mere shrug of the shoulders. In the minds of many driven young women on college campuses across the country, sexual promiscuity doesn’t harm anyone. Hooking up has become the new sexual norm for young adults, and according to this norm, students shy away from committed relationships and instead enjoy one-time sexual encounters with no expectation of further intimacy. And, Rosin argues, the sexual liberation of the 1960s that led to the more recent “hookup culture” on college campuses is good for women—it allows women to enjoy casual sex without being “tied down” by serious commitment.

Rosin initially substantiates this claim through interviews with her subjects. Most women who are engaging in the hookup culture report that they don’t want to return to the days of chastity belts or even more traditional dating, and Rosin takes these positive reports as evidence that the hookup culture is not only here to stay but is also good for the women involved. She provides no evidence, however, that women who hookup a lot during their early 20s go on to lead fulfilling lives, and she doesn’t offer a counterpoint of women who have opted out of hooking up.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • Men • Psychology • Sexuality • Women • Young Adults • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

The National Football League (NFL) reached an agreement to end a labor dispute with its regular game officials on Wednesday, ending three weeks of questionable calls that had threatened the integrity of the sport.

The eight-year deal with the NFL Referees Association (NFLRA) will allow locked-out officials to return to action for this week's games after replacements had struggled to act as cover for them in the early stages of the 2012 season.

Read it all. also, the regular referees are to work the Thursday game after the agreement, the AP reports.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Men • Sports • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

Purity peddlers construct a false universe where there are pure virgins who wait until marriage, and then there are slutty whores who are going home with different men every night of the week. The truth is that most adults will have a great many important relationships in their lives – some of those relationships will be romantic, and some of those will be sexual. That's a good thing: our relationships with other people, sexual or not, are how we grow, evolve and learn about ourselves. They're how we figure out what love is, what we like physically and emotionally, and how to negotiate our own needs with someone else's. Despite the claims of the wait-till-marriage camp, waiting to have sex won't protect you from heartache, frustration or love lost. But a variety of fulfilling relationships, sexual and not, will make you a more well-rounded, compassionate and self-assured person.

My point isn't that everyone should have sex before marriage – people should determine for themselves when they are ready to have sex. For the vast majority of people, that's going to be before they're married. Making that choice isn't a moral failing. On the contrary, it's often a great, healthy, overwhelmingly positive choice. Whenever you choose to have sex, the cultural message that waiting until marriage is the best choice is simply wrong. And it's wrong for almost everyone.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • Marriage & Family • Men • Psychology • Sexuality • Women • Young Adults • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Just when the anger and complaints from a weekend of contempt toward replacement officials couldn’t get any hotter, a disputed call trumps it all.

Replacement ref rage peaked Monday night thanks to Seattle’s Golden Tate, and a bizarre touchdown call that will be debated, questioned and re-ignite frustrations over the locked-out officials.

Tate pushed a Green Bay defender out of the way, wrestled another for the ball and was awarded a touchdown on the final play to give the Seahawks a 14-12 victory over the Packers.

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Fans and players of both Liverpool and Manchester United paid their respects at Anfield to the 96 fans who died at Hillsborough in 1989.

Flowers, shirts and cards were placed outside the Shankly Gates and the by the memorial to the victims of the tragedy 23 years ago.

And as both teams emerged wearing tracksuits bearing the number 96, while United legend Sir Bobby Charlton presented flowers to Liverpool counterpart Ian Rush before respective skippers Steven Gerrard and Ryan Giggs released 96 red balloons.

Take the time to look at the pictures--deeply moving.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • History • Law & Legal Issues • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

Watch it all (click on the picture--21 and 3/4 minutes).

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

Wow.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports

A certain brand of optimism had been required for James Franklin to forgive his father, to forget their past. But now it was being tested. In his father’s new home, Franklin listened to his father’s new wife deny his father’s sins against him, his sister and their mother.

Then Franklin’s father, also named James, stopped her. It was true, he said. He had done awful things to his former wife and their two children. A proud, stubborn man who was now defeated and dying, Franklin finally admitted this to his son. He was painfully frail, an oxygen tank by his side, cancer attacking his spine and lungs. Still, a sense of righteousness filled the younger Franklin. He wanted his mother and sister to feel it too.

Within a month, his father would be dead. But not before Franklin recruited him to visit their old home in Langhorne, Pa., where his father’s alcoholism and violence had ruined a marriage and nearly destroyed his family.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Alcoholism • Children • Marriage & Family • Men • Sports • Violence • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

Unbelievable stuff.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports

Wow. 7-6 in the fifth, after having been down 4-1.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports

When Stakwell Yurenimo, a Samburu in northern Kenya, did well on his eighthgrade exams, the Kenyan government informed him that he had qualified to go to a high school that they would choose. They also chose his roommate, a young man named Paul, who was a member of the enemy tribe, the Turkana. Stakwell determined in his mind that there was no way he would room with a Turkana. In fact, part of his culture demanded that in order to be respected as a man, he needed to kill a Turkana....

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Religion & Culture • Sports • Teens / Youth • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Kenya • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

In your recently published autobiography, Wherever I Wind Up, you're explicit about how God saved and changed your life. Journalists have interviewed you a lot over the past several months. What percentage of the interviewers have asked about your Christian faith? Probably 15 to 20 percent.

The subject didn't come up in your NPR interview. I brought it up. They edited it out. I always look for opportunities to talk about my faith in a way that is congruent with the story or the question that they ask, because it is important to me that people know. Most of the time it will be edited out.

Your description of the knuckleball—"The pitch has a mind of its own. You either embrace it for what it is—a pitch that is reliant on an amalgam of forces both seen and unseen—or you allow it to drive you half out of your mind"—seems like a metaphor for the mysteries of God's providence in the Christian life. To a certain extent it is, at least for me. An element of surrender has enabled me to get to the next place with the knuckleball. An element of surrender in my own life has helped me get to the next place in my faith and relationship to Christ. I didn't necessarily draw the parallel intentionally, but as a Christian there were so many times in my life where I wanted to control things and I would hold on to them so tightly that God couldn't get anywhere near them—or so I thought.

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Even at a glance, anyone could see that the unlimited and easy availability of contraceptives in Africa would surely increase infidelity and sexual promiscuity, as sex is presented by this multi-billion dollar project as a casual pleasure sport that can indeed come with no strings – or babies – attached. Think of the exponential spread of HIV and other STDs as men and women with abundant access to contraceptives take up multiple, concurrent sex partners.

And of course there are bound to be inconsistencies and failures in the use of these drugs and devices, so health complications could result; one of which is unintended abortion. Add also other health risks such as cancer, blood clots, etc. Where Europe and America have their well-oiled health care system, a woman in Africa with a contraception-induced blood clot does not have access to 911 or an ambulance or a paramedic. No, she dies.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Men • Sexuality • Women • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • America/U.S.A.

There is bad news for boys in North America: They are being blown out of the water by girls in academic achievement; and psychologists say young men are becoming more socially awkward, making relationships with young women difficult.

Sidney Gale, a medical doctor and author of Unto the Breach, an outdoor adventures book for boys, is concerned..."We need to get boys out of their solitary bedrooms and into the sun," Gale says. "It's also a good idea to get them reading something other than tweets, texts and the like. They have intellect, and we should encourage them to use it."

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Youth Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Children • Education • Marriage & Family • Men • Psychology • Teens / Youth • Women • Young Adults

King Felix now has a crowning achievement.

Felix Hernandez pitched the Seattle Mariners' first perfect game and the 23rd in baseball history, overpowering the Tampa Bay Rays in a brilliant 1-0 victory on Wednesday.

The 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner long has talked of his desire to achieve pitching perfection. He finally accomplished it against the Rays, striking out the side twice and finishing with 12 strikeouts. It was the third perfect game in baseball this season -- a first -- joining gems by Chicago's Philip Humber against the Mariners in April and San Francisco's Matt Cain against Houston in June. More than half of all perfectos -- 12 -- have come in the past 25 seasons.

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Melky Cabrera, whose breakout season with the San Francisco Giants was highlighted by his MVP performance in the All-Star Game, has been suspended 50 games for testing positive for testosterone, Major League Baseball announced.

Cabrera, a 27-year-old outfielder, has produced a major league-leading 159 hits this season, along with 11 home runs and 69 RBI. Acquired by the Giants in the off-season from the Kansas City Royals, Cabrera was on his way to a career year prior to being eligible for free agency this winter....

Read it all.

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The New York Times’ [February 2012]... story that more than half of births to American women under age 30 now occur outside of marriage, and the conversation spurred by Charles Murray’s new book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960 – 2010, have shifted public gaze to a population largely ignored in the scholarly literature of the past few decades: the 58 percent of Americans with a high school diploma but no college degree—what some might call “working class.”

Nonmarital births have been common among Americans without a high school diploma for at least thirty years: as the 2010 State of Our Unions reports, in 1982 33 percent of births to women without a high school diploma occurred outside of marriage, compared to 13 percent of births to high-school educated women. But in the past thirty years, nonmarital births to high-school educated women surged: in the late 2000s’, 44 percent of births to high-school educated women occurred outside of marriage. (By comparison, only 6 percent of births to college-educated women were outside of marriage.) It is the behavioral changes of this “moderately educated middle”—the 58 percent of high-school educated Americans—that put the “normal” into “the new normal” that the Times describes.

Furthermore, the “new normal” is not driven primarily by an increase in single mothers, but in the number of cohabiting couples....

Read it all.

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What a wild first half between Great Britain and South Korea.

Update--Ugh, they lost in a penalty shoot out so South Korea goes through.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports

...people...are concerned about a persistent gender gap in college degrees in science, technology, engineering and math -- STEM, for short. The notion that it might have to do with aptitude has long been dismissed. Yet research shows that girls who enjoy -- and excel at -- math and science in high school are less likely than boys to pursue a college major in those fields.

And even if they start college majoring in a STEM field, women are more likely than men to change majors, federal data show. Women make up 24% of STEM jobs, which offers some of the most lucrative careers, a Commerce Department report says. More than half of them have degrees in the physical and life sciences.

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The NCAA’s 444-page manual contains no language directly addressing appopriate punishment for concealing information regarding child sexual abuse. But in light of the shameful conduct of Penn State’s leadership, revealed Thursday in the Freeh report, the NCAA must use its authority to do what’s needed now: Shut down the Nittany Lions football program.

If the Freeh report released Thursday is accurate in its assessment of the university’s role in the worst scandal in college sports history, then the engine that enabled longtime child sexual predator Jerry Sandusky must be switched off, at least temporarily.

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An incomparable career narrative that spanned more than six decades now reads like one of the Greek tragedies the late Joe Paterno always loved: Paterno's legacy has been irreparably stained by findings that the iconic Penn State football coach concealed information for years that could have stopped a sexual predator.

The conclusions of former FBI director Louis Freeh, who drew on more than 400 interviews and 3 million documents over a nearly eight-month independent investigation of Penn State's sexual assault scandal as requested by the school, have complicated and sullied the image of major-college football's all-time winningest coach. Freeh found that Paterno was among five Penn State senior leaders who covered up information to avoid bad publicity after they became aware of sexual molestation allegations against Paterno's former longtime defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted last month of 45 counts of sexual abuse. Freeh said Paterno could have stopped the sexual abuses "if he wished."

"The facts are the facts," Freeh said of Paterno. "He was an integral part of the act to conceal."

Read it all.

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Andy Murray fought valiantly, but Roger was just too good.

Love the twins blowing Daddy kisses from the gallery.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

She was a journalist, a blogger, an essayist, a novelist, a playwright, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and a movie director — a rarity in a film industry whose directorial ranks were and continue to be dominated by men. Her later box-office success included “You’ve Got Mail” and “Julie & Julia.” By the end of her life, though remaining remarkably youthful looking, she had even become something of a philosopher about age and its indignities.

“Why do people write books that say it’s better to be older than to be younger?” she wrote in “I Feel Bad About My Neck,” her 2006 best-selling collection of essays. “It’s not better. Even if you have all your marbles, you’re constantly reaching for the name of the person you met the day before yesterday.”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Books • Marriage & Family • Men • Movies & Television • Women • * General Interest • Humor / Trivia

Read it all on this old blog post.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • Women • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

When the definitive book on sports comebacks is written, it will surely include a chapter on Brian Baker. By rights the 27-year-old from Nashville, Tennessee, shouldn't be able to raise a racket, let alone play professional tennis at the highest level, but yesterday the qualifier who went through five rounds of surgery in as many years swept into the last 16 of Wimbledon after beating the Frenchman Benoît Paire 6-4 4-6 6-1 6-3.

In a championships still reeling from the exit of Rafael Nadal in the second round, Baker's story can match that upset for drama....

Read it all and there is a lot more there.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • Young Adults • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

It was a dominant performance today.

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Congratulations to them they played well; Buffon is quite the goalie.

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South Carolina's dream of a third consecutive national championship vanished for good Monday night at TD Ameritrade Park when Grayson Greiner’s fly ball fell into the glove of Arizona right fielder Robert Refsnyder.
“As soon as the last out, it sunk in,” USC first baseman Christian Walker said.
There seemed to be a state of disbelief for USC and its fans. This is not the way things have ended for the Gamecocks over the past three seasons. Everyone had come to expect Greiner to deliver a three-run triple, or perhaps a game-winning grand slam.
Not this time.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Men • Sports • Young Adults • * South Carolina

Italy were the better team and deserved to win.

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I was hoping for more from France but Spain is just amazingly good and patient.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • Europe • France • Spain

With Chancellor Angela Merkel cheering every step of the way, Germany dominated Greece — on the soccer field.

The Germans reached the European Championship semifinals for a record seventh time by beating Greece 4-2 Friday in a match played amid the contentious political backdrop between the countries.

But just as in the real world, where Germany has been a major contributor to economic bailouts for Greece, the three-time champions were in control at the Arena Gdansk. And after the match, Merkel visited the players in the changing room.

Read it all.

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All too often, Cristiano Ronaldo stuns the world with his fine footwork. On Thursday, the Portugal superstar used the determination of a raging bull to make the difference.

Ronaldo used his head to score the lone goal against the Czech Republic and send his team into the European Championship semifinals with a 1-0 victory.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Sports • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Czech Republic • Portugal

“So, you felt 40 yesterday,” one reporter said, drawing a large smile from Pettitte.

Upon reaching the mid-life milestone, Pettitte listed his three main priorities in life. Baseball came in last. A 17-year career marked by three All-Star games, eight 15-win seasons and five World Series rings ranked behind his strong faith and his relationship with his family.

“That’s just what it’s all about. I try to show humility in everything I do” he said. “I felt like God gave me the ability to do this, so why should I be arrogant about this?”

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • Men • Religion & Culture • Sports

Lefty see, lefty do.

Hours after he watched senior left-hander Michael Roth's two-hitter against Kent State keep South Carolina's season alive, freshman lefty Jordan Montgomery did his best imitation of the Gamecocks' undisputed team leader when he got his turn against Arkansas on Thursday night.

Montgomery held the Razorbacks to three singles over eight innings, and the two-time defending national champions won 2-0 to force a rematch Friday night that will decide which team goes to the best-of-three College World Series finals against Arizona.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Men • Sports • Young Adults • * South Carolina