Dog and Owner Obtain Baylor Law Degree

WACO, Texas – When Amy Jones received her law degree from Baylor University, her playful service dog Skeeter got the same honor.

As Jones got her juris doctor degree on Saturday, Skeeter received an honorary law degree.

“Amy has busted through brick walls, and Skeeter has been faithfully by her side every step of the way,” law school Dean Brad Toben said. “Skeeter has become a part of our community and part of our family here at the law school.”

Jones has used a wheelchair since a 2002 skiing accident left her a quadriplegic. Two years after the accident, she was paired with Skeeter, a black Labrador retriever.

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It looks like FiveThirtyEight did pretty well afterall

Now that Barack Obama has officially won North Carolina and all of the electoral map is filled in (save Missouri, kind of), we were inclined to look at which of the pollsters and prognosticators called the election right.

First, we can look at Nate Silver, a new prognosticator to the political scene. The baseball statistician turned Electoral College map savant really was the belle of the election ball, living up to his website’s tag line: Electoral projections done right.

While Silver never did any of his own polling, he analyzed all the pollsters’ findings and spit out every voting model possible. Ultimately, he said Obama would win by 52 percent to 46 percent. In the end, Obama won 52 percent to 46 percent in the popular vote.

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Church Music Director Fired, Choir and Attendance Suffers

For 31 years, hundreds of people who went to services at Lexington’s First United Methodist Church were drawn by the music program run by Albin C. Whitworth.

The performances often featured works by Bach, Brahms, Beethoven and Handel sung by a choir of more than 100 accompanied by Whitworth on a massive pipe organ.

Although the size of some mainstream Protestant congregations in Lexington has declined in recent years, the 1,800-member First United Methodist thrived and was especially popular for its all-music service every fifth Sunday.

Now members of the West High Street church say it is suffering from a painful division after the September firing of Whitworth, 70.

The numbers of those singing in the choir have dropped from more than 100 to about 30, members say. And Sunday attendance at the downtown church dropped by nearly 200 from mid-April to mid-October, according to church bulletins.

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Bag of Randomness

  • Tis the season . . . It annoys WifeGeeding when the Christmas displays come out too early.  So when she was gone this weekend I decided to put up the tree and decorate the rest of the house.  You only tease the ones you love. 😉
  • I spent most of Saturday afternoon talking to Bible Scholar George, who is also a recovering Baptist.  It’s was great being able to talk about theology at a very deep level for several hours.  He’s also a Republican, so we also had to talk politics.  Even though we differ in opinions, it’s great to talk about things civilly.
  • When I worked at Fidelity (who just announced layoffs btw) I often had to have conference calls with India.  It’s always interesting dealing with another country, because you have to inform each other of upcoming national holidays.  I was reminded of this as I was on a conference call with the friendly Canadians of West Jet just the other day.  We had to let them know about our Thanksgiving, which is on a different day than their Thanksgiving.
  • It’s fun listening to Canadians talk, and I bet they enjoy listening to our southern drawl as well.  They did seem a bit envious of our 70 degree weather.
  • What happens to the McCain-Palin plane after the election.  Link
  • An interesting article on the future and past presidential limos.  Link
  • Everything you ever wanted to know about presidential transitions.  Link
  • BIlly Graham is no longer counseling presidents . . . but will pray for the new guy.  Link This article also mentioned that he’s a registered Democrat.
  • I saw a news story last night where an Arlington, TX man is so upset over the outcome of the election that he is flying a black flag with an upside-down American flag underneath it.  Part of me wants to say get over it, and part of me is delighted he is exercising his first amendment right even though I disagree with the message.  Yea democracy!
  • There was also a story of FBC Dallas’ anti-gay sermon with protesters.  Both sides probably tire of each other, but once again it’s great having free speech.
  • I’m surprised by the amount of emails that are forwarded to me that are so over the top in believability.  They range from a Billy Graham prayer to the bashing of Clinton.  I don’t know why people feel so compelled to forward them to me, and I’m surprised they don’t take the time to see if the message has any validity.  Often I’ll look up the subject matter on Snopes.com and reply back with the link that disputes the message.
  • Speaking of Snopes, I had to look up if RFK was somewhat prophetic saying a black man could be president in the next 40 years.  Link
  • You’ve heard of wedding albums, how about a divorce album?  Link
  • How to remove a McCain bumper sticker, although I’m pretty sure it will work for all bumper stickers.  Link
  • Interesting new YouTube features.  Link
  • Sundays are weird when your football team doesn’t play.
  • There aren’t as many Peyton Manning commercials as there use to be.
  • Brothers don’t shake hands, brothers gotta hug.
  • I wonder how many folks get that last movie quote.
  • I did see a funny Big 10 football coaches commercial that made me laugh.  It’s Joe Pa at the end that cracked me up.  Video You just gotta love an old guy with spirit.
  • Photogallery – Presidential children through the years.  Link
  • Pictures of presidents on their first and last day in office.  Link This stuff always interests me.  I can’t decide if they are at a particular stage in life where the aging process is more noticeable, or if its the stress of the job that causes the rapid aging.  It’s probably a combination of the two.
  • Do they still have World Fairs?  I always hear certain cities of the past hosting them, but I don’t recall hearing of any in my lifetime.  Are they as big as they use to be?
  • My dad has been dead for over ten years now, but every now and then I will catch myself saying one of his old catch phrases.  Recently I said something was as dry as a popcorn fart.
  • The evolution of Al Pacino’s voice.  Link
  • Build your own hover shoes?  YouTube
  • An interesting interactive map comparing the 2004 and 2008 elections.  Link
  • Fire ants create their own lifeboat.  YouTube I’m impressed.
  • Peas are my favorite vegetable.
  • I thought a Spirograph was a fun toy.
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