*@&%# Yeah!

Cursing Relieves Pain, Research Shows

Richard Stephens, PhD
Keele University

Special from Bottom Line's Daily Health News
November 19, 2009

"S - - T!!!" Admit it, letting loose with an expletive somehow makes you feel better after you accidentally slice your finger or stub your toe. Now that research has confirmed that cursing does indeed reduce the sensation of pain, perhaps we can sometimes give ourselves permission to yell bad words even louder, without worrying about what anyone will think.

Swear When It Hurts

Richard Stephens, PhD, a lecturer in psychology and the director of the master’s degree program in psychological research methods at Keele University in Staffordshire, England, conducted a study exploring how cursing provides pain relief. It was published in the journal NeuroReport. His study involved a mixed-gender group of university students who were asked to repeat either a curse word or a neutral control word while their hands were submerged in icy water. Researchers found that swearing enabled participants to withstand the uncomfortably icy water for significantly longer. It brought about a measurable reduction in the perception of pain (calibrated with a pain perception questionnaire) and significantly increased heart rate (measured with an electronic heart-rate monitor).

Dr. Stephens told me that participants were asked to repeat their assigned word over and over again at a consistent pace. "By using the same word over and over, we were attempting to keep conditions consistent," he said. "We looked specifically at pain tolerance and perception. When the study participants swore while experiencing the pain stimulus, they found the cold water less painful."

Ladies First...

Women, in particular, experienced a greater drop in pain perception when they were swearing. "We know that swearing evokes certain emotional responses, and that, in general, men tend to swear more than women," Dr. Stephens explained. "We speculated that in people who swear frequently, the emotional response erodes, making it a less effective mechanism in reducing the perception of pain or the ability to tolerate it."

Dr. Stephens also found that swearing was less effective in male participants who had been identified as being predisposed toward catastrophizing pain. For example, he said that if a person is prone to thinking that a small cut on his hand is likely to result in a nasty infection or some other catastrophic outcome, swearing will be less effective as a coping mechanism.

I may not feel particularly proud of myself the next time I bump my head and blurt out a naughty word -- but at least I know there’s science to justify my reaction.

---

Richard Stephens, PhD, is a lecturer in psychology and the director of the master’s degree program in psychological research methods at Keele University in Staffordshire, England.

Even Atheists Understand

A lot of people are talking trash about the New Atheism (and in some cases, rightly so). But I want to address the oldest atheism. The oldest atheism is the atheism that God's chosen people (under the old covenant, mostly national Israel; under the new covenant, the baptized) exercise when they disbelieve the gospel.

“The world does not consist of 100 per cent Christians and 100 per cent non-Christians. There are people (a great many of them) who are slowly ceasing to be Christians but who still call themselves by that name; some of them are clergymen. There are other people who are slowly becoming Christians though they do not yet call themselves so. There are people who do not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ but who are so strongly attracted by Him that they are His in a much deeper sense than they themselves understand. There are people in other religions who are being led by God’s secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it...”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Ch. 10, “Nice People or New Men.”

How do you know if your a Christian Atheist or if you're a Christian? Let me pose some questions that can guide us on the path:

Is the law written in my heart?
Do I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength?
Do I love my neighbor as myself?
Do I live by the Spirit?
Do I love the brothers?
Do I kill sin?
Do I repent?
Do I believe?
Do I die to self?
Do I follow Jesus?
Do I love Jesus more than the world?

• More than family and loved ones?
• More than life itself?

Is Jesus my treasure?
Do I delight in him above all else?
Do I obey his commandments?
Do I treat suffering people as if they were Christ himself?
Is my faith working through love?
Do I forgive others as God forgives me?

• Am I aware enough of God's forgiveness that I can forgive myself & others?
  

Am I increasing in holiness?

Climategate: Exposing the Lie That Needs to Die

James Delingpole has been doing yeoman's work exposing the disgusting underbelly of the anthropogenic global warming sham. He recently exposed a massive conspiracy among climate 'scientists' to cover up data that undermined their hypothesis.

Sorry, Goracle, you're just going to have to find another way to make a living than jetting around the world telling people that they have to...stop jetting around the world.

Read it and keep an eye out. There are people who love to concoct a crisis so they can use it to take away your freedom. (Yes, GWB did this. Yes, BHO is doing it now. Yes, the one-worlders are still trying to use the dead horse of "climate change" to undermine the economies of the West.)

Here's my point. People are falling for the apocalypse now garbage coming from these groups because they've stopped listening to the one person who actually knows how the world is going to end. (Hint: it's the same person who actually knows how the world began.)

What is the Core?

"You may take away from us, if you will, every external ceremony; you may take away altars, and super-altars, and lights, and incense, and vestments; you may take away, if you will, the eastward position; you may take away every possible ceremony; and you may command us to celebrate at the altar of God without any external symbolism whatsoever; you may give us the most barren of all observances, and we will submit to you. If this Church commands us to have no ceremonies, we will obey. But, gentlemen, the very moment any one says we shall not adore our Lord present in the Eucharist, then from a thousand hearts will come the answer, as of those bidden to go into exile, "Let me die in my own country and be buried by the grave of my father and my mother!" to adore Christ's person in His Sacrament, is the inalienable privilege of every Christian and Catholic heart. How we do it, the way we do it, the ceremonies which we do it, are utterly, utterly indifferent; the thing itself is what we plead for..."

James DeKoven, DD in a speech before General Convention, 1874

Standing on the Promise in Advent

Scripsit +Doc Loomis:

Advent 1: A description of ugly things to come is followed by this...."when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" I'm standing...anyone else?

Great...now I have to do a hymn parody.

	Clyde McLennan - Standing on the promises .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Standing on the promise
after Christ the King!
Advent is upon us,
Carols we shall sing!
Gloria in excelsis
and the bells that ring
Go away until it's Christmas Day!
Waiting! Waiting!
Waiting for the Promised One who's Israel's Savior!
Waiting! Waiting!
I'm waiting for the coming Son of God!

It is very meat and very right and our bounden duty

The CHOW Bacon-Wrapped Turkey with Pear Cider Gravy recipe produces a fine, fine Thanksgiving dish. In this video, watch it evolve from bagged bird to bacon-striped, pear-sweet, glistening roast.

You'd better call a priest or a cardiologist to absolve you after this meat monster.

I Hate to Say I Told You So

But I told you so. Now the AU (arrogant Unitarians?) has its collective panties in a wad over the signing of the Manhattan Declaration.

At a press conference today, Religious Right leaders and Roman Catholic bishops unveiled a joint statement criticizing laws that allow reproductive choice and same-sex marriage.

Hmm...Roman Catholics acting catholic? That is news! I really wish AU could get their story straight.

Said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, “This declaration is certain to be deeply divisive. These religious leaders want to see their doctrines imposed by force of law, and that goes against everything America stands for.

“I am optimistic that the people in the pews will not heed their leaders’ misguided call to action,” Lynn said. “Polls show that most church-goers do not want to see their faith politicized. But I am also well aware that religious leaders have vast lobbying power that cannot be ignored.”

Aww...I preferred it when they were saying that the Roman Catholics only wanted to stop helping people at all!

Lynn noted the House version of health-care reform was revised at the behest of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to curtail women’s access to abortion.

So which is it, AU? Should they have stayed out of politics altogether (when they energized their base to lobby for universal health-care)? Or is it only when they bring to their political activism who they are as people of faith?

Happy Belated Birthday Sesame Street!

Anglican Hillbilly

Presbyman called me an Anglican Hillbilly. Well...I had to make a song about it!

Come and listen to a story about a man named Chris

A poor mountaineer, full of vinegar and ****,

Then one day he was shootin off his mouth,

And trouble stirred up about him being from the South.

Dixie that is, where they drink pre-sweetened tea.

Well the next thing you know ol' Chris is Anglican,
Wearin' frilly dresses though he's still a manly-man.
Said "In the AC-NA" is the place you ought to be
So he joined a diocese that was missionary.

All Saints, that is.
Thuribles, Holy Roods...

The Anglican Hillbillies!

Sung at the end of the show (not as a recessional):

Well now its time to say good-bye to all these Angli-kin.
Coffee, biscuits in the back say "Thanks fer droppin in."
You're all invited back next week to this locality
For a taste of Cath'lic worship (sans infalibility)

Papal that is. Kneel a spell. Take your shoes off. (On Maundy Thursd'y at least)

Living Ecclesiology

“When the Church takes account of only the present, she does nothing but change; if she looks only to the future, she does nothing but dream; only when she is conscious of being the living tradition of Christ is she truly renewed.”

Anthony Burton, former bishop of Saskatchewan

Lord, give us eyes to see
both what we have been,
and what we shall be.

For this coming Sunday

Help me out, folks. Which version would you rather sing this Sunday? The traditional?

	O Worship the King - Lyons
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Or the Chris Tomlin style?

	O Worship the King
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Chinese Healthcare in America

As the New York Times reported Sunday, Chinese officials are questioning American officials about health care reform in the U.S. As the Times wrote, “The Chinese were not particularly interested in the public option or universal health care....They wanted to know, in painstaking detail, how the health care plan would affect the [U.S.] deficit.”

Why would the Chinese be so interested in our deficit? Well, for all intents and purposes, China is the official banker of the United States government. China is the number one foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities. This has MAJOR implications on our independence and security, as well as our stance on issues of human rights.

The hard questions they are asking right now are about how much the health care bill will raise the deficit. And make no mistake, if the Chinese decide not to continue financing our debt, the dollar could drop through the floor. America could have a huge financial crisis.

Before asking your government whether or not we can afford this new interventionist policy, perhaps it would be wise to ask the Chinese.


We cannot spend our way out of debt. We must conserve resources and invest wisely in the surest turn-around.

The Wisdom of a Constitutionally Limited Government

I can't for the life of me see any justification for the massive private-sector take over that is happening at the hands of President Obama. Maybe right now you think that only a firm and wise government (such as is reigning under The One) is the only way to fix our multiple conundra. (Which means you've lost faith in people to be solid individuals, but are curiously trusting an individual to fix our mess.)

If you still have warm feelings toward Obama and his good intentions, ask yourself this: Will you feel comfortable one day when the appointees of President Romney or President Palin are exercising unconstitutional, unauthorized, unreviewable authority to restructure the economy the way they see fit?

Because I can tell you that I'm pretty upset that when the Republicans were in power, they brushed aside reminders that some day a Democratic president would be exercising the vast unconstitutional powers that Bush was accumulating in the White House.

Democrat friends, please don't ignore the risks of giving more power to a federal government that will one day be run by conservatives. Because eventually both sides will be appalled by the uses that are made of those powers when that day comes.

Obama's Hypocrisy on Censorship

President Obama began his visit to China with an exhortation to free up censorship and allow the citizenry to question and criticize their government without fear of reprisal.

President Barack Obama pointedly nudged China on Monday to stop censoring Internet access, offering an animated defense of the tool that helped him win the White House and suggesting Beijing need not fear a little criticism.

Yeah. Ask Fox News how well Obama takes a little criticism. Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, was interviewed last month and said: “We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent. As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave.” (Source: NYT)

It was a delicately balanced message and Obama couched his admonitions with words calling for cooperation, heavy with praise and American humility.

Our country needs to apologize to China? When did that happen? We've stood up for their freedom for 70 years! And our economies energize each other, raising the standard of living for both countries.

"I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable," Obama told students during his first-ever trip to China. "They can begin to think for themselves."

I'm in a conundrum. I have no idea which government snitch line I should report this to. - should I report this quote to fishy@whitehouse.gov or flag@whitehouse.gov? I just can't decide which one best holds the populace accountable to the government. OOOPS! I meant that the government is accountable to the people.

Tim Keller in Louisville

Tonight, November 16th at 7:00 PM at Calvin Presbyterian Church. Calvin is where I did my student internship during seminary. And Dr. Keller is very friendly to us Anglicans, having been instrumental in planting Christ Church in NYC.

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters

A talk and book signing by the author, Dr. Timothy Keller (Excellent book review here.)

Free and open to the public - No reservation needed

As pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in New York City, Dr. Timothy J. Keller makes a point of reaching out to immigrants, urban professionals and artists, offering an intellectually compelling case for belief in God. Newsweek magazine called Keller “a C.S. Lewis for the 21st century, a defender of orthodox Christianity.” He is the author of the best sellers, “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism” and, “The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith.” He will be at Calvin for a talk about his just released book, “Counterfeit Gods.” Books will also be available for purchase and signing by Dr. Keller.

This presentation is the final event of the annual Festival of Faiths, and is sponsored by Carmichael’s Bookstore.

Exactly

AU Trifecta

And again with AU. Now they say Rome can't talk about marriage.

“I am amazed that church officials would threaten to stop helping the disadvantaged because they are being asked to treat all citizens of the District fairly,” he continued. “They seem to have lost all perspective. How strong is their commitment to helping the poor if they’re willing to take this hardline stance?

It seems that everybody is required to take a break from any opinions that religious persons may have, but religious people don't have the same right of reprieve?

I think the "REV" in "Rev. Barry Lynn" stands for revisionista.

AU Speaks

So they want us to keep the church from advocating for conscience bound issues in healthcare, but it's okay for the Roman Church to lobby for healthcare in general? GIVE ME A BREAK!

Keep Religious Doctrine Out of the Law | Americans United

Jail Time If You Don't Buy Health Insurance

Wow. There is now proof that the 1098 page bill (which none of these starry-eyed legislators have actually read) contains a provision to SEND YOU TO JAIL IF YOU DON'T BUY HEALTH INSURANCE.

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) received a handwritten note Thursday from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the up to $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance.

Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it "Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold."

What is this? Does anybody remember the STAMP ACT??? Let's not lose sight of the fact that Congress has no constitutional authority to make us buy their program. Government intervention is one of the biggest aggravating factors in this crisis, and more government intervention is not going to help.

The current health care disaster in America is not simply a problem of people refusing to buy health insurance; it's an issue of people not being able to afford to buy health insurance. When the annual insurance premium for a family of four is something above $13,000, that's a terrible financial burden that many Americans simply can't afford to pay -- especially when so many people have lost their jobs due to the faltering economy. Worse, the government says that health insurance companies can't compete across state lines for your business (and we all know that the best way to reign in costs while maintaining quality, is through market competition).

The brutal facts of the matter are inescapable: The American people are too broke to buy their own health insurance, and the American government is too broke to buy it for them. The whole nation is going bankrupt over runaway health care COSTS. Any measure claiming to be healthcare reform that does nothing to address the COSTS is completely bogus.

Marching Band Madness

And I thought our Aladdin gig was cool.