One guy's take on how Hollywood's rampant use of the F-word is perceived overseas...

I just read this interesting article by a gentleman named Dan Bloom.  He's been living in Japan for 20 years and offers an eye-opening perspective in this piece about how children in overseas countries regularly greet western visitors with the F-word and "the finger" because Hollywood movies have, perhaps inadvertently, taught them this things are "cool!" 

Such a disgrace. 

For me, it gave me additional perspective to the influence that America has on the world.  That influence can be good--such as helping other nations in need with humanitarian efforts.  That influence can be bad--like teaching the world that gluttony is not only okay but should be aspired to.  And apparently that influence can also be downright ugly--as in the case made by Bloom.

Virginia Earthquake - August 23, 2011

Some very unique shaking, rattling and rolling hit us today!  It was not the first earthquake I've ever felt, but at 5.9 on the richter scale is was very much so the strongest.  Thought this was an interesting piece post by USA TODAY's Dan Vergano:

"Central Virginia does get its share of minor earthquakes, but an earthquake of this size on the East Coast is certainly very unusual," says seismologist Karen Fischer of Brown University.

Virginia is not on an active earthquake fault and is roughly in the middle of the North American continental crustal plate, she says. But it has residual fault scars left over from 200 to 300 million years ago, when it was an earthquake zone, at the time when the Atlantic Ocean rifted apart from Europe. "We are just seeing pressure build up and release on those scars," Fischer says. "There is a lot of debate on exactly what is going on down there and exactly how quakes this big happen in this kind of crustal zone."

Because the crust under the East Coast is colder and firmer than the West Coast, shocks travel more efficiently through it, accounting for the widely felt shaking.

"One lesson of this quake is that building codes will likely need to be revisited on the East Coast," Fischer says. "Because we are not as conscious of earthquakes here as the West Coast and we will have to see about structural damage to buildings, although I have not heard any damage reports so far."

Stars by Sara Teasdale

Alone in the night
On a dark hill
With pines around me
Spicy and still,

And a heaven full of stars
Over my head,
White and topaz
And misty red;

Myriads with beating
Hearts of fire
That aeons
Cannot vex or tire;

Up the dome of heaven
Like a great hill,
I watch them marching
Stately and still,

And I know that I
Am honored to be
Witness
Of so much majesty.