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A review of Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, from The Revealer. Sample quote: In religious terms, according to teenagers, God cares that each teenager is happy and that each teenager has high self-esteem. Morality has nothing to do with authority, mutual obligations, or sacrifice. In a sense, God wants little more for us than to be good, happy capitalists. Smith and Denton elaborate: “Therapeutic individualism’s ethos perfectly serves the needs and interests of U.S. mass-consumer capitalist economy by constituting people as self-fulfillment-oriented consumers subject to advertising’s influence on their subjective feelings.” And to be good, happy capitalists, we should be good, unless if being good prevents us from being happy. ...

“84-year-old Pontiff ‘serene and calm’ after suffering heart failure.” “Pope John Paul II suffered heart failure and is in ‘very grave’ condition, the Vatican said Friday, but it said he was lucid and spent the morning celebrating Mass and receiving top aides, asking one to read him the biblical account of Christ’s crucifixion and burial.” One figures that resuscitation might fit in there somewhere, but he’s a tough old guy, so maybe he’s just soldiering on. ...

First, The Jackie Manuel Experience. Second, that “other” Carolina wins that “other” national championship. Go, Dave Odom!

Arrrrrrr! Link courtesy of White Noise Update: The Pirate Captain received 44% of the vote, forcing a runoff. Update, again: The Pirate Captain has won.

boringboring… Update: Another good parody site… I like the ad on the upper right. “Vaguely Depressed but still Naked.” :) And the original...

Apparently McDonald’s ad company wants to pay rappers to mention the Big Mac in their songs. (Yeah, I checked the date, and they would have been a bit early for April Fools. Now that doesn’t mean the Daily News didn’t get fooled.) Rappers could get $1 to $5 every time their song is played on the radio. I wonder if that would include Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s song It Takes Two. After all, this was one of the lines: “I like the Whopper, f*** the Big Mac!” ...

Given that Google’s last April Fool’s trick/release turned out to be Gmail, I have to wonder about Google Gulp. None of the flavors sound good, though. Although, I am drinking a Grapeade Snapple right now, so my taste is in question. Sample FAQs: 7. How can I get my hands on a Google Gulp? This “limited release” beta product is available to anyone who turns in a used Google Gulp bottle cap at any local retailer. If you don’t have any Gulp caps, ask a friend to give you one. ...

Analog has an interesting feature in which it shows the top search words people have used to get to your site. Search phrases are more useful, but the individual words have a beauty all their own. Here are the top 25 for the past month: the in mose amish city and of ariel pictures journeys to ranch stoeckel lee ashwin a wallerstein paxton rick melchionni sood durham horse break arm ...

Here’s one good lesson about the fruits of plagiarism, and the fruits of using someone’s real name and enough information to contact them on your site. Perhaps no one in this little drama should act surprised by the consequences?

Witness Reagan’s Raiders. But be warned…