RaMbLeS
Welcome to RaMbLeS, a collection of weekly musings on life and Scripture. It all began in 2005 on Google’s blogspot as the aBeLOG (a name now recycled), a semi-autobiographical devotional that attempted to keep well-wishers abreast of my activities as I relocated to Scotland for a few years. Since my return, I’ve continued my RaMbLeS, and here’s its most recent incarnation on Homiletix, as random reflections usually based on current news articles and travel experiences and whatever else takes my fancy!
Lip-reading!
Babies lip-read. That’s what developmental psychologists say in a study to be published next week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Babies lip-read.
Scientists from Florida Atlantic University discovered that at about 6 months, during that magical phase when babbling becomes syllabic and gibberish becomes “mama” and “dada,” babies go from staring intently into speakers’ eyes to studying intently speakers’ mouths.
Babies lip-read. They’re
Interruption!
An unusual instrument was added to a rendition of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony the other day. An iPhone. To Mahler’s Ninth. I doubt whether Mr. Mahler would’ve enjoyed it last week being played by a New York Philharmonic + iPhone combo.
But it wasn’t the fault of the NYPO or its conductor that day, Alan Gilbert.
It just so happened that someone’s iPhone went off in the middle of the last movement: Adagio. Sehr langsam und noch zurückhaltend = very slow
Timeless?
Harry Potter had it—a cloak of invisibility, one of the fabled Deathly Hallows. This fascinating piece of cloth, which “endures eternally, giving constant and impenetrable concealment, no matter what spells are cast at it,” renders the wearer invisible—i.e., others can’t seethe one with the cloak. But creatures such as cats (Mrs. Norris) and snakes (Nagini), relying more on smell, hearing, heat-detection, etc., can sense the presence of cloak-wearers.
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.