In Memoriam: Fr. Thomas King, S.J.

From The Hoya:

Longtime Jesuit Professor Fr. Thomas King Dies at 80 

By Christine Roberts 
Hoya Staff Writer 

Fr. Thomas King, S.J., a respected member of the Georgetown community for 41 years, passed away today at age 80, confirmed Fr. Eugene Nolan, S.J. 

King was a professor of theology; he taught The Problem of God and classes covering the works of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Merton, Jean Paul Sartre and C. G. Jung. 

King also was a strong presence outside of the classroom. During his second year of teaching at Georgetown, he began offering 11:15 p.m. Mass six days a week at Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart. These masses have become increasingly popular with Georgetown’s student body over the past 40 years. 

He had also served as a chaplain in residence and was an active participant in student retreats. 

During his time at Georgetown, King wrote nine novels, including “Teilhard’s Mass: Approaches to ‘The Mass on the World’” (published in 2005) and “Jung’s Four and Some Philosophers: A Paradigm for Philosophy” (published in 1999). 

In 1999, The Hoya named King “Georgetown’s Man of the Century,” claiming that “no one has had a more significant presence on campus and effect on students than Father King.” 

University spokesperson Julie Bataille, Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J., and Father Patrick Rogers, S.J., could not be reached for comment.

More on Fr. King's life and impact on the Georgetown community: Georgetown Alumni Online

In defense of sugar!

something I've always believed to be true: a little real sugar won't hurt you. but a lot of fake sugar might.

(if someone can teach me how to do a true reblog in blogspot i will be your bff.)

maryrambin:

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice - by Nutritionista

Okay, really, this post is about one thing: SWEETNESS. What’s the best (read: healthiest) way to sweeten food and drink? I used to be a straight up Splenda addict. You couldn’t convince me there was anything wrong with that stuff. It has zero calories and tastes fine, what’s not to love?!

SPLENDA IN FACT ISN’T SPLENDID

Well, turns out, a lot of things. Splenda, and all other artificial sweeteners, are made with… drumroll please… CHEMICALS. They’re made from different chemicals, but chemicals just the same. NutraSweet and Equal are made from aspartame and Splenda is made from sucralose. It’s true that some studies have shown that artificial sweeteners are safe in small amounts, but why would you want to consume them when there are better options? Why risk it? Not to mention, artificial sweeteners have been linked pretty extensively to weight gain.

WHAT LIES BENEATH THE SWEET

Most of the other popular sweetening agents are composed of a combination of glucose and fructose (honey, agave, HFCS, etc.). Fructose is the main component in high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and presents a few problems. It’s been shown to induce obesity in mice, doesn’t provide the same level of satiety as glucose (meaning you’ll eat more of it), and raises blood triglyceride levels (markers for heart disease) higher than glucose. That’s why I pass on stuff with HFCS, though other seemingly natural sweeteners contain some fructose as well.

GO AU NATURAL

It turns out that in the end, most of the non-artificial (caloric) sweetening options are all about the same in terms of effects on the body. I’m on the fence about Stevia, so I just stick to the stuff that’s as least processed as possible: regular sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc. (though all are processed to some extent). Sure, you might be getting a few extra calories, but you also know it’s not going to do anything weird to your body.

As far as I can tell, the least processed sweetening agent you can use is simply fruit or fruit juice. You can use 100% fruit juice to sweeten tea or other drinks or real fruit/fruit preserves to sweeten things like oatmeal and yogurt. Another thing I think we all need to do is get used to the way things taste when they’re not so saccharin sweet. Gradually cut back on sweeteners of all kinds and you won’t need things to have that sharp, sugary taste. Appreciate food for what it really tastes like! Plus, so many foods are naturally sweet (nuts, fruit, even veggies) that it’s easy to satisfy the craving without ever touching the sugar jar.

Top 10 Lessons Learned from the 2009 MTV Movie Awards

1) Kristen Stewart is really socially awkward. But I really liked her sneakers with designer dress look -- is it cool if i adopt that from now on? my feet will thank me.

2) Justin Timberlake is an attention-whore, and feels the need to insert himself into everything Andy Samberg does.

3) At least some people realize when not to take themselves too seriously. This isn't the Oscars.

4) MTV needs to decide if the movie awards are for popular teeny-bopper films or serious films -- but can't have both. It looks sort of ridiculous to have both Vanessa Hudgens (HSM) and Kate Winslet (The Reader) nominated for the same award.

5) The cast of Harry Potter is adorable and poised. The cast of Twilight needs lessons on public speaking. I still want to see both new movies.

6) Comedians are the new heartthrobs. Or at least they should be.

7) Nothing is spontaneous anymore.

8) Zac Efron has a good sense of humor, particularly at his own expense.

9) Two words about Megan Fox: OVER. RATED. (Also, Shia LaBeouf is not hot and people need to stop pretending that he is. He's gotta be one of the scrawniest action movie stars in history.)

10) MTV clearly wasn't trying to hide the fact that every single presenter and nominee was only there to promote their new projects -- it was ridicuously obvious.


The show has some incredibly funny moments -- Andy Samberg's digital shorts, Abigail Breslein telling Cameron Diaz how she admires her career as an 'adult film star' being two of my faves -- and I did enjoy my own personal little relapse into adolescence. But overall, I got the feeling like something was missing. There was nothing outrageous, nothing spontaneous, nothing particularly genuine. I mean, not only was the Bruno's butt-in-Eminem's face thing staged, it wasn't even original: Howard Stern did basically the same thing in 1992. Um, yeah, that's a whole 17 years already. Granted, most of the kids watching the show weren't even born when that aired. (Yikes, i'm old. 25 -- may as well be 60!) Also, maybe I'm confusing it with their big production for the music video awards, but I sort of got the feeling like MTV had to go low-budg this year. Overall, it was a good show. Not great, but good. That said, I will probably still watch at least 5 of the 10949 reruns MTV airs over the next two weeks. It's inevitable.

Oh yea, and I took pictures too...

Just got these off my camera from the rally/game last month.