After countless earthquakes and a two year rebuild, a new symbol of Canterbury has finally opened this evening.

It is the only cathedral in the world made substantially of cardboard.

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We don’t just laugh at funny things, the reason we chuckle is that it serves an important purpose in our lives, as James May explains.

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If you young folks will take advice from anyone, after all, I don’t know if you’ve seen it ”” this week’s Time Magazine called you “lazy, entitled narcissists,” who are part of the “Me, Me, Me” generation. So self-obsessed – tweeting your Vines, hashtagging your Spotifys and Snapchatting your YOLOs – your generation needs everything to be about you. And that’s very upsetting to us baby boomers because self-absorption is kind of our thing. We’re the original “Me Generation,” we made the last 50 years all about us. We took all the money. We soaked up all the government services. And we’ve deep-fried nearly everything in the ocean. It may seem that all that’s left for you is unpaid internships, Monday to Tuesday mail delivery, and thanks to global warming, soon Semester at Sea will mean sailing the coast of Ohio.

Now, in our defense, in my generation’s defense ”“ how were we supposed to know that you were coming? We thought it went like this: every successive generation of mankind ”“ and then us! Ta-dah ”“ roll credits.

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Watch it all (hat tip SH).

In the worldwide battle to get dog owners to clean up after their pets, enter Brunete, a middle-class suburb of Madrid fed up with dirty parks and sidewalks.

ome cities hand out steep fines. But in these tough economic times, the mayor here, Borja Gutiérrez, did not much like that idea. Instead, this town engaged a small army of volunteers to bag it, box it and send it back to its owners.

“It’s your dog, it’s your dog poop,” Mr. Gutiérrez said. “We are just returning it to you.”

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Elizabeth showed me this one Monday evening–just wonderful, especially somehow the initial reaction of the shop owner–KSH.

I really enjoyed this–see if you do as well.

Campaigners battling to save the quake-crippled Christ Church Cathedral have vowed to keep fighting, despite a court ruling its demolition can legally go ahead.

Bulldozers won’t be allowed to roll over the stricken landmark Christchurch building until outstanding legal wrangles are sorted out.

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Here are five versions, blog readers are challenged to share others they know or come up with their own additional suggestions–KSH.

How many Anglicans does it take to change a light bulb?
Fourteen; one to change it and 13 to ask “what is change?”

How many Anglicans does it take to change a light bulb?
A whole Synod: one to change the bulb and the rest to debate it until the room spins.
How many Anglicans does it take to change a light bulb?A whole congregation: One to call an electrician, the rest to talk about how much better candles used to be.

How many Anglicans does it take to change a light bulb? Five: One to screw in the bulb and four to form a committee to preserve the old one.

How many Anglicans does it take to change a light bulb? The old one is quite good enough for us and there is no need to follow worldly trends and change it.

–The Diocese in Europe (of the Church of England)

A UK scholar and expert on Gothic Imperial architecture has slated the Anglican Church decision to demolish quake-crippled ChristChurch Cathedral.

Academic Alex Bremner wrote extensively about the cathedral, built by famed English architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, in his book Imperial Gothic.

The senior lecturer in architectural history at the University of Edinburgh, and Gates Cambridge alumnus, has criticised Anglican Diocese of Christchurch plans to create a new cathedral after the original’s spire was snapped in the February 2011 quake.

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Wow (hat tip:SH).

These photos might cause a double-take. Look closely: These white balls of fur aren’t puppies, or lambs, they’re lion cubs. And they’re adorable. The rare white color is due to a recessive gene.

Seven of the cubs were born in captivity to three South African mama lions since last month.

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Check it out.

You see this dog. It was but yesterday
I mused, forgetful of his presence here,
Till thought on thought drew downward tear on tear;
When from the pillow, where wet-cheeked I lay,
A head as hairy as Faunus, thrust its way
Right sudden against my face,–two golden-clear
Large eyes astonished mine,–a drooping ear
Did flap me on either cheek, to dry the spray!
I started first, as some Arcadian
Amazed by goatly god in twilight grove:
But as my bearded vision closelier ran
My tears off, I knew Flush, and rose above
Surprise and sadness; thanking the true Pan,
Who, by low creatures, leads to heights of love.

–Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

“She has not just made this just about her,” said Leslie Richmand, a Plainsboro, N.J., counselor and another of [Patty] Hall’s Shaggy Facebook friends. “Patty is talking to all these people like they are in her living room.”

Hall calls the page a dog diary that she realizes has become something more. Fans have sent her a number of gifts, namely dog toys and books. but Hall also has received a collar with a radio transmitter, a wine glass painted with a portrait of Shaggy and a Mother’s Day card.

“She started off as a dog in distress, and now she has become their friend,” Hall said.

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The fact that comedian Jackie Mason has begun talking about retiring only after nearly a half century in the business is a reminder of how conspicuously Jews have figured in modern comedy. A question also arises: What was a former rabbi doing in that showbiz job to begin with? Did Jackie think the comic was replacing the preacher? And why should Jewish-Americans, from Jack Benny to Jerry Seinfeld, have poured their soul into comedy the way African-Americans did into jazz?

Some Jews may use comedy as a means of reconciling their contradictory roles in history. According to the Hebrew Bible, the children of Israel agreed to be chosen by God of the universe as bearers of his civilizing law. Yet somehow the Jews’ exalting and exalted mission resulted in their being targeted by some of the world’s most determined aggressors””not once, but persistently, and with escalating intensity to the present day.

Since humor thrives on incongruity, it is perhaps no surprise that Jews should specialize in laughing at the fundamentally incongruous consequence of the divine promise….

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Watch it all. So encouraging!

Sammy Rhodes didn’t court Twitter fame. Maybe he flirted with it a little, but he only did it to make other people smile.

As the following grew for his 140-characters-or-fewer jokes posted under the handle @prodigalsam, Rhodes discovered the dark side of fame. Other Twitter comedians began to attack Rhodes for allegedly stealing jokes. As is typical in internet spats, it quickly turned personal and ugly.

“The internet has taught me two things: 1. People are the best. 2. People are the worst,” Rhodes tweeted on May 29.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/06/08/2809008/huge-twitter-following-not-always.html#storylink=cpy

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What the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind justifies

. –The Rev. Dr. Ashley Null, summarizing one aspect of Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer’s theology

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Watch it all–it will make your whole day. This is the stuff from which the saying truth is better than fiction comes (Hat tip:ML)–KSH.

Warrior and Warhorse from The Seventh Movement on Vimeo.

Saratoga Springs, N.Y., famous for its historic racetrack, is among the most idyllic places in America. But on a recent fall weekend, not far from the track, horses were serving a different mission: retired thoroughbreds were recruited to help returning veterans at Song Hill Farm. A group from the US Army 2nd Battalion, 135th infantry, united in grief over the death of a fellow solider, gathered for the first time in five years to be part of Saratoga Warhorse, a three-day program that pairs veterans with horses. Tom Rinaldi reports the emotional story of the veterans, paired with their horses, undergoing a rebirth of trust and taking a first step toward healing.

Watch it all, and, yes, you will likely need kleenex–KSH.

I have always believed in a threefold way of looking at the journey of life. I need to acknowledge the past, live in the present and anticipate the future.

In relation to the cathedral building I acknowledge the forebears. I go further and honour them, because for many years I have been a beneficiary of their efforts.

When it comes to living in the present, my life, like so many others, has been drastically changed by the seismic activity. Life cannot return to what it was. I live in a house which is to be demolished and hopefully rebuilt. This is just one of the constant reminders of the change that has and is occurring for so many.

The present situation, dominated as it is by change, is forcing me to think more and more about the future and try to anticipate what that might look like.

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Watch it all. It will brighten your day.

“The rectory secretary is out this week, so none of the priests will be receiving their massages.”

–From a church bulletin as submitted by Brite Templeton of Arizona, featured in the June 2013 Reader’s Digest, page 165

That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870), Great Expectations, Chapter 9

Here is the link, it is two parents with the young babies, and it is just fantastic.

The Loma Prieta earthquake tore through northern California in 1989, shaking the ground for 10 to 15 seconds, killing 63 people and doing extensive damage to bridges, roads and buildings. Much of the worst damage was in built-up areas around San Francisco Bay, including Oakland.

This could be sounding like a familiar story by now. One of the casualties was a 96-year-old Gothic brick church, the Catholic diocese of Oakland’s Cathedral of St Francis De Sales. Rather than simply rebuild, the diocese opted to be even more radical: it built a new cathedral on an entirely new site. In 2008, the Cathedral of Christ the Light opened on the shores of Oakland’s Lake Merritt and it is already regarded as one of the greatest of contemporary church buildings.

It has been called the first cathedral to be built in the 21st century, and that has become a symbolic value as well as a chronological fact. It says to others that this is the future of church buildings.

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One of the most beautiful birds we have in South Carolina, this picture was taken by my friend Francis Allston.

The Anglican diocese will tomorrow release detailed information on how it arrived at cost estimates for three design options for the Christ Church Cathedral.

Gavin Holley, of the Church Property Trustees, told last night’s Press-hosted public forum on the proposals for the city’s Gothic landmark that he hoped to have the information up on its website by late tomorrow afternoon.

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