Changing Religion

A new study finds that American's are shifting religion at an increasing rate. I think that's interesting...I see a few possible reasons for this trend:

1. increased exposure to other religions
2. an increase in the number of people with no belief in religion (the unafiliated tag on the graph may account for that)
3. recent scandals scaring people away from Catholicism (and other religions.)

But the good news is that these has only been a change in .2 percent of those who no longer consider themselves "Jewish."

-DaGirl

Marrying Young

Ynet recently posted a letter from a young women who by her own admission married too young (aged 20), got pregnant and is now seeking a divorce. She explains that her "husband is a truly good guy, but it appears that he just doesn’t know what to do. He never learned how to conduct himself with a woman." One of her major complaints is that whenever an issue arises between them, he runs to his Rabbi to discuss it and assigns more weight to his opinion than her own. I thought this was an interesting take on a pretty important issue. I wish her (and her soon to be ex) all the best.

Hat tip: DovBear

Legoing the Bible

A coworker just sent me this link containing photos of lego designs of Bible scenes. Pretty cool.

HatTip: D(C)C

Making a Mitzvah Out of Sleeping In

Looking for a good reason to get out of bed?

Try the snuznluz!

Every time you hit the snooze button, your alarm clock will automatically subtract money from your bank account and donate it to the charity of your choice.

The recommended use is to set it up to donate to your least favorite charity to motivate you to get out of bed, but if we set this up the opposite way, we could make a make sleeping through shacharit a good thing!

-DaGirl

Hat tip: Howard

Happy Super Giant Fat Tueday!!

I hope y'all had fun voting, parading, getting beads and saying Shir Shel Yom Shlishi.

Hat Tip: NDK:-)

In Praise of...Eli Manning

The top three reasons to love Eli Manning:



1. He is understated. For the entire season, this has caused him ruthless criticism for his "lack of heart" or failure to show emotion on and off the field. I, however, can only respect his modesty and subdued approach. He is an introvert on a field where the players who get noticed are those who showboat and boast, but he is content to simply play the best football he knows how.

2. He succeeded under immense pressure, with the shadow of his brother's huge success looming and his father's legacy on his shoulders. Still, he credits his entire team for the win, and is happy to share the podium with all of them.

3. He is a mamma's boy in the best sense of the word. While his father was on the road with the Saints, and Payton was busy playing in his football games, Eli spent his time with his mother. I think this made him into the mensch he is. (See reasons #1 and #2.) (Congrats to his fiancée!)

Also, if I may add one more little note, he won one of the most exciting football games ever played.

GO ELI!

-DaGirl

(Side note: Apparently, a Chabad center sent out an email prior to the game requesting that prayers be said for Eli ben Archie...maybe there is some higher power cheering for the Giants?)

New York Giants - Super Bowl Champions

Wow. And it all started when Coach Coughlin played his starters the last week of the season.

Meeting your Match

Internet dating has been around for several years now. Most of these sites are familiar, at least by name, to the singles crowd and probably 95% of single people have considered using them at one time or another.

Like many, I have mixed feelings.

On the one hand, they open up a world of dating opportunities with people you would never otherwise meet, but because of all of these choices now on the menu, it's even harder to make your final pick.

But there are two types of sites out there. There are basically dating glossaries, such as JDate or Chemistry.con, which provides you an exhaustive listing of every single person in their directory, searchable by guidelines you set. And then theres eHarmony, which provides matches for you based on a 250+ questionnaire and their own compatibility formula.

It's creepy to think that a computer can figure you out better than you can...but I am a firm believer that many people have trouble in relationships because they don't know what they should be looking for. They certainly know what they think they want and don't want, but that is often very different as to what is best for them in a long-term relationship.

So, I don't find it entirely surprising that eHarmony now claims that they are responsible for 2 percent of the marriages that occurred in America last year. Yes, that's over 120 marriages a day.

The entire industrialized world has changed over the last 20 years because of computers, so why shouldn't they work in the dating world?

Trust the machines, man!

-DaGirl