Exit, Pursued by a Bear

A churchy link for Advent

From the GetReligion blog:

When it's time to receive communion, it is our custom for the choir to communicate first, so here we are, all kneeling at the communion rail, me last in the far corner of the L-shaped rail. Five or six people removed from me, and around the corner of the L at an angle from which I can see and hear everything, is one of my basses. As we await our turns, from deep within the folds of his choir robe, this fellow's cell phone announces its presence by playing a spirited version of the opening measures of the Finale of the William Tell Overture. By the second -- extended -- playing, he has fumbled through the ample recesses of his garment (he is a large man) and extracted the offending instrument. He mutters a few words into it, closes it, redeposits it in the depths of his robe, and receives the wafer on his tongue.
I am appalled but think, "Well, that ends that." No. The best, as the saying goes, is yet to come.

full post

Check out the comments as well -

Once again -

The Times Magazine’s Year in Ideas, A to Z. Nothing as cool as the Windhexe this year. My shortlist in bold -

Acoustic Keyboard Eavesdropping
'Acting White' Myth, The
Animated Society Portrait, The
Anti-Concept Concept Store, The
Augmented Bar Code, The
Benign Corporate Oligarchy, The
Best Way to Skip a Stone, The
Blogo Ad, The
Caller ID 6.0
Car That Emotes, The
Cold-Weather Theory of Witchcraft, The
Concrete You Can See Through
Criminalizing Reckless Sex
Debunking Photoshop Fakery
Designated Hitter as Moral Hazard, The
Do-It-Yourself Attack Ad, The
Downwardly Defined Celebrity Flaw, The
Drug-Trial Registry, The
Dumb Robots Are Better
EBay Vigilantism
Electability
Employable Liberal Arts Major, The
Escalating High-Heel Shoe, The

Exoskeleton Strength
Eyeball Jewelry

FanWing, The
Feral Cities
Fertile Red States
Foolproof Death Penalty, The

Genetic Family Values
Giga-Waves
Global Political Positioning System, The
Hawkishness as Evolutionary Holdover
Income-Variability Anxiety
Inkless Magazine, The
Invitation-Only, Incentivized Campaign Rally, The
Kill Midlevel Terrorists
Land-Mine-Detecting Plants
Lawfare

Listening for Cancer
Mainstream Mash-Up, The

Making Vaccines Good Business
McProfiling
Micropolis, The
Neo-Secessionism
Nonhegemonic Curating

Phraselator, The
Popular Constitutionalism
Presenteeism
Professional Amateurs
Psychopathic C.E.O.'s
Purple Is the Color of Correction
Purple-State Country Music
Sabermetrics for Football
Self-Storage
Singable National Anthem, The
Skin Literature
Soccer Model of Warfare, The
Stock Options for Soldiers
Strategic Extremism

Television Blaster, The

Thermoacoustic Freezer, The
3-Point Problem, The
Underwear for Animated People
Vaporized, Oxygenated Cocktail, The
Virtopsy
Virtual Sketch Artist, The
Wal-Mart Sovereignty
Wandering Museum, The
Water That Isn't Wet
You Don't Need Superstars to Win

It’s not from the Onion -

It’s from the American Dental Association’s Web site, of all places -

70-year-old oral surgeon heeds Army's call to duty
By Craig Palmer
Satellite Beach, Fla. — Dr. John J. Caulfield was incredulous about the Army's "unsolicited communication" inviting his return to active duty toward easing increasing wartime demands on military medical treatment facilities.

… Dr. Caulfield sees himself as "a kind of fatalist" and Afghanistan as "moderately busy for my specialty." He invokes harsher descriptions for the requisite reconstruction of professional and military careers just to get the assignment. "Getting reactivated is a complicated, time consuming, frustrating and, yes, somewhat demeaning process," he said.

What it meant was "vetting" the past by running down all the transcripts, personal recommendations and documentation from high school, college, professional school, internship, residency, licensure boards, hospitals with privilege, professional liability history and appointments "from everywhere I had ever practiced or been licensed." That meant affirmation from a classmate at a high school that no longer exists who said upon their reacquaintance, "John, I heard you were dead."

… Dr. Caulfield, father of four, grandfather of eight, figures he's in "reasonable good health with the exception of meds for hypertension, acid reflux and a little osteoarthritis," and good to go. But he wonders if the Army Medical Service isn't "stretched thin" in having to reach for retired oral surgeons, ophthalmologists, psychiatrists, nurse anesthetists and other specialists for combat duty.

full story

Man's best aquaintance

Very interesting Web site about a Tanzania-based organization training African giant pouched rats to detect land mines by smelling them. Turns out they’re ideal – they have an intensely sensitive sense of smell, they’re more tolerant of endless repetitive tasks than dogs, and (unlike dogs) they’re too light to set the mines off.

(The New York Times covered this operation back in May.)