PicoBlog

Biscuit, Scone, Tomayto, Tomahto. Is an American buttermilk biscuit just a British scone in disguise, or is it something completely different? Is it a case of; made from the same ingredients but you can tell the difference when you taste them? If you’ve had afternoon tea in the UK and a flaky buttermilk biscuit in the US you can’t deny the similarity, they’re both incredibly simple, and I am sure an argument could be made that biscuits probably originated from the idea of British scones.

Look at the so-called “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11. The writer of Hebrews highlights key moments in the lives of many “heroes” of the Bible, but if you look at the rest of their lives, you see that chapter would be more aptly titled the “Hall of Embattled Faith.” It is no different for us. It is a painful truth that in a fallen world, doubt is often a normal condition of faith.

There is a document getting around called Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction, a guide put together by a group of educators. It has a black boy on the cover. The idea is to show us how our racial reckoning of late ought change how we expose black kids to math. I suppose the counsel is also intended for kids of other types of melanin, but this is in essence a document that could be called “Math For Black Kids.

I just watched this clip of Don Lemon interviewing Elon Musk, where Lemon pushed back on Musk’s claims of DEI policies impacting the quality of medical care and insisted that there is no evidence that standards are being lowered in medical programs in the pursuit of diversity goals. It was infuriating to watch. The word ‘gaslighting’ repeatedly came to mind. I don’t know if Lemon genuinely doesn’t know the facts about this issue, or if he is deliberately misrepresenting the inconvenient truth, but as anyone who has been paying attention to this issue can attest, it is indisputable that standards are indeed being lowered, in myriad professional and educational contexts, for the express purpose of increasing the racial diversity of that group’s membership.

Here is one of the most momentous short paragraphs ever written in the history of philosophy: “In every system of morality, which I have hitherto met with, I have always remarked, that the author proceeds for some time in the ordinary way of reasoning, and establishes the being of a God, or makes observations concerning hum… ncG1vNJzZmiemZzAqrrWoqWtnaJjwLau0q2YnKNemLyue89ooKxlmal6tb7UnmStoJGperq71GaamqakYrGmvsivnGaZng%3D%3D

Jesus spoke unequivocally when he said that he is the truth: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” he said, “no one comes to the Father except through me.”[1] Why did Jesus claim to be the truth, versus one single truth among many other truths? Why did he say that he would not share his glory with any other God or any other religious leader? Why was he unwilling to accept the mere designation of Rabbi or of a good moral teacher or of an exemplary human being?

Just when you think Joel Embiid’s scoring exploits can’t get any more extraordinary, he raises the bar to an entirely new level. Embiid was already in the middle of a stretch with 21 consecutive games of 30 or more points, which is the fifth-longest such streak in NBA history — but merely extending that run wasn’t enough on Monday. Playing against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, Embiid dropped 70 points (plus 18 rebounds and five assists) to set a new Philadelphia 76ers franchise record for scoring in a single game, topping Wilt Chamberlain’s mark of 68 points from Dec.

When Succession writers began penning the story of a conservative media tycoon and his greedy children vying for his CEO spot, I wonder if they predicted that the show would be most revered by a fanbase of young women who wouldn’t hesitate on voting to tax the rich. Nonetheless, Succession has achieved critical and cultural acclaim while accruing a prolific fan community on Twitter, consisting of teenage girls and young women who largely devote their stanning efforts to one character in particular: Kendall Roy.

Editor’s Note (December 2023) I wrote this essay prior to the recent Airnbnb/VRBO neighborhood shooting crime spree and the rise of burglaries and car break-ins in the area. I don’t know where I stand on the topic of crime overall in Miller now compared to Chicago. I know I would not move back to Chicago (and I truly love the people in Miller and the nature). But we clearly have a crime problem that is growing in Miller that the City of Gary needs to urgently solve — or residents and second home owners will depart for safer areas.