Teenage plus: The new adolescence April 26, 2012
Posted by tkcollier in Life, Lifestyle, Science & Technology.Tags: Lifestyle, Teenagers
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Remarkable new research suggests that conventional assumptions about how we mature are wrong – and that young people do not become true adults until they are 24
via Teenage plus: The new adolescence – Life & Style – The Independent. (more…)
8 year-old Piano Blues Prodigy April 22, 2012
Posted by tkcollier in Music, Video.Tags: Blues, Music, Piano, Prodigy
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Frankie “Sugar Chile” Robinson playing in the 1946 movie ” No Leave, No Love”, starring Van Johnson. Not only did Little Richard also record “Caladonia”, he even copied the fist and elbow showmanship. After playing for president Truman and touring Europe ,Frank Robinson would go on to get his PhD in Psychology and became a therapist.
Tampa Claims The Cuban Sandwich Is Not From My Ami April 16, 2012
Posted by tkcollier in Food, Humor, Lifestyle.Tags: Cuba, Food, Miami, Tampa
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Ah, the Cuban sandwich … the succulent pig meats fused with melted Swiss, sharp pickles, yellow mustard and crunchy bread on a hot press. So delectable, so beloved, so redolent of its home in … Tampa?
Yes, Miami, it’s true: That sister burg at the other end of the Tamiami Trail is laying claim to the sandwich that Cuban exiles made famous. (more…)
U.S.-China Relations or Rivalry? April 12, 2012
Posted by tkcollier in Geopolitics.Tags: China, Geopolitics
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America has simply reached the historical limit of its credit, a limit represented not by the federal debt ceiling, but by the widespread global perception that our best days are behind us absent significant restructuring across our economy and government. By and large, neither U.S. political party wants to hear this, much less act upon it. Instead, we Americans either assume that our next “exceptional” rebound will unfold naturally or believe that it can somehow be achieved by sabotaging China’s rise. Our truly unimaginative political leaders in both parties reach for both straws simultaneously, a combination of hubris and fear that is both odd and depressing.
Any expert familiar with China’s current situation recognizes its precariousness: a vast nation of more than 1 billion souls, with more than half of them still living in incredible poverty, attempting to shift — simultaneously! — from extensive to intensive growth and from centralized political authority to something necessarily more federalized and democratized. Amid these combined evolutions, the Chinese Communist Party is most definitely doomed, and it knows it. Already, senior party officials, especially those in retirement, admit this looming reality.
We can only hope that the world will play the Sino-American rivalry more intelligently that either of its combatants do, until generational change on both sides eventually works its political magic. (more…)
After a 1000 Years – The Arab Spring April 8, 2012
Posted by tkcollier in Geopolitics, Religion.Tags: Democracy, Geopolitics, Islam, Religion
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The Arab world’s so-called “democracy deficit” is not tied to the Islamic religion but rather to the Arab world’s history and the institutions introduced following conquest by Arab armies over 1000 years ago, according to a new paper presented today at the Spring 2012 Conference on the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity BPEA. (more…)
The History Behind Eating Fish On Friday April 8, 2012
Posted by tkcollier in Food, Religion.Tags: Food, Religion, Seafood
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Let’s start with a quick lesson in theology: According to Christian teaching, Jesus died on a Friday, and his death redeemed a sinful world. People have written of fasting on Friday to commemorate this sacrifice as early as the first century.
Technically, it’s the flesh of warmblooded animals that’s off limits — an animal “that, in a sense, sacrificed its life for us, if you will,” explains Michael Foley, an associate professor at Baylor University and author of Why Do Catholics Eat Fish On Friday?
Fish are coldblooded, so they’re considered fair game. “If you were inclined to eat a reptile on Friday,” Foley tells The Salt, “you could do that, too.”
Alas, Christendom never really developed a hankering for snake. But fish — well, they’d been associated with sacred holidays even in pre-Christian times. And as the number of meatless days piled up on the medieval Christian calendar — not just Fridays but Wednesdays and Saturdays, Advent and Lent, and other holy days — the hunger for fish grew. Indeed, fish fasting days became central to the growth of the global fishing industry. (more…)
