Double amputee swims with a mermaid tail

Nadya Vessey lost her legs as a child but now she swims like a mermaid.

Ms Vessey’s mermaid tail was created by Wellington-based film industry wizards Weta Workshop after the Auckland woman wrote to them two years ago asking if they could make her a prosthetic tail. She was astounded when they agreed.

She lost both legs below the knee from a medical condition when she was a child and told Close Up last night her long-held dream had come true. “A prosthetic is a prosthetic, and your body has to be comfortable with it and you have to mentally make it part of yourself,” she said.

Ms Vessey told a little boy: “I’m a little mermaid” when he asked what happened to her legs and the idea stuck.

Full Article

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No Line on the Horizon

The new U2 albums goes on sale today.  I was lucky enough to get a copy of it last week, but will be walking in a store to buy the CD so I can have a physical copy.  And besides, I just feel like it’s the right thing to do.

Out of all the reviews online, two stand out the most.

The first review is a theological review of the new album.  Here’s a sample:

If the title No Line on the Horizon refers to a yearning for the removal of the barrier between heaven and earth, then I assume it is evoked from Jesus’ prayer to his Father, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It is an idea displayed in visual form on the album’s cover, which is a photograph of a blurred line where the ocean meets the sky, and an “equals” sign over it (…on earth as it is in heaven). The theme certainly would fit within the larger context of Bono’s theology of eschatological tension (the “already / not yet” reality of Christ’s Kingdom), so poignantly painted in the scenes of Sunday Bloody Sunday and many other examples.

You can read that full review here.  I especially appreciated the part about grace.

And the other review comes from the Telegraph:

“Let me in the sound” is a repeated lyrical motif (showing up in three songs, including current single ‘Get On Your Boots’). The theme of the album is surrender, escaping everyday problems to lose (or perhaps find) yourself in the joy of the moment.

Once I figured out the meaning behind “Let me in the sound” I was left with a smile on my face.  I’ll leave that open to interpretation.

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Braveheart Bible Study

Braveheart tells the story of William Wallace, a common man roused to war. After the love of his life is killed, he commits his life to revenge. Since his people are oppressed by the sword, he takes the sword to his oppressors. He is not a nobleman, whom others must follow because of his title, but a man of bravery, whom men choose to follow in admiration. He is a man of single-minded purpose: to attain freedom at all costs, even the cost of his own life. He knows that death comes to all men but decides the mettle of a man is in the type of death he chooses.

This study guide will help you discuss some of the major themes of Braveheart. When is it right to wage war? What is the meaning of freedom, and how is it attained? What do people live and die for?

Link

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