Below is a fascinating little experimental poll about profile pics. Blog: http://www.lemondrop.com/2010/02/01/we-asked-a-real-guy-whats-the-best-online-dating-profile-pic?icid=main|main|dl9|link7|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lemondrop.com%2F2010%2F02%2F01%2Fwe-asked-a-real-guy-whats-the-best-online-dating-profile-pic There were several different choices with several suprising conclusions. Personally, I tend to be lazy and simply crop photos that other people post of me and then make them my profile photo. 

 I have only one main preference when viewing other’s photos, clearly mark yourself in group photos. I am guilty of this myself. Profile photos of multiple people (especially of the same gender as yourself) make identifying the actual user difficult. It really only bothers me when I receive a friend request because if I don’t know the name, there is no face to aid the memory. Girls tend to do this more than guys… not sure if that means anything.

How do you choose your profile photo?

This little tidbit interested me even though I don’t feel like it is that scientific, the implications are humorous. Apparently, children who prefer sweets are more likely to be alcoholics and have alcoholism in their family history. Article: http://www.aolnews.com/health/article/study-links-childrens-sweet-tooth-to-alcoholism-depression/19351889?icid=main|main|dl1|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fhealth%2Farticle%2Fstudy-links-childrens-sweet-tooth-to-alcoholism-depression%2F19351889

This amuses greatly. Wouldn’t this make for a hilarious parody? All those parents from the original Willie Wonka movie have fuller back-stories now.

some days we wake up with little compulsion to stare at a screen for hours with little distraction besides a flick and a click. other days it is mesmerizing….

Student loans are out of control and it’s really embarressing. We won’t fully see the repercussion of this situation for a couple decades, obviously but that doesn’t make it any less ridiculous. For example, the average 4 year college graduate has a minimum of 40k in student loans. This doesn’t include debt from living expenses but purely the cost of higher education. While I realize that we are only entitled to a highschool education as Americans, I don’t think universities are thinking through the consequences of their prices. The number of people interested in going to college will decrease as they make it more difficult.
While you might spend your first 8 semesters flipping through videos on youtube like these:

You will eventually realize that your salary doesn’t outweigh the debt you are in.

When thinking about your college education, how much would you be willing to pay back? 

After years of apathy and assumptions in the previous generation’s youth, young people have started reconsidering their spiritual lives. They do not assume that going to church over the holidays will satisfy some far-away god and near-by judgemental relations. They do not guess that all faiths are fraud. They do not assume atheist as the default option for a belief system.  Article: http://www.parentdish.com/2010/02/18/faith-of-our-fathers-survey-says-not-so-much/?icid=main|main|dl5|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentdish.com%2F2010%2F02%2F18%2Ffaith-of-our-fathers-survey-says-not-so-much%2F

Young people have started asking why but few are coming forth with answers. Many mega churches have assumed that the flash and panache will draw the numbers and indeed it draws crowds. However, a glance at the culture of twenty-and-under-somethings shows a penchant for quirky authenticity.

Tip 1: do not look to the elitists

While Apple and Abercrombie and Fitch pride themselves as icons of youth, their actual figures show a lack of loyatly with the majority of this age group. They have polarized their audience and while some may shop their brands exclusively, more intentionally avoid their products on principle. Using the elitist (and hipster) approach may draw some young people but it will turn away an equal amount that loathe this type on principle. Being mainstream isn’t mainstream, for now. Religious institutions would be wise to maintain a genuine and free spirited atmosphere over a cool, of-the-moment trendiness.

Tip 2: personal experience is irrelevant

Harkening back to your youth may entertain us but it will not enthrall us. Basically, someone who was a spoiled boomer with a 3 car garage, yearly vacations, and a vast array of opportunities,  will not empower an (overmedicated) potentially depressed, emotionally neglected, futureless, pressured millennial. Those studies done about how spoiled millenials are were written by insecure boomers so all this information should be flitered by context. Sure, young people have cell phones… because their parents are too busy to pick them up on time. Young people have computers, because they need to be computer literate to gain employment. Young people are medicated by doctors with the permission of their guardian because people would rather hand them pills then talk to them.  They trade or sell prescriptions, follow underground bands and secretly loathe many group activities (like sports, clubs and plays) even if they are the best. Everyone is an outsider and no one is listening. 

Tip3: Grassroots not Gags

Stirring a simple buzz amongst real people fits the scenario better than making a large display. A quick anecdote about a loving forgiver or merciful friend spreads stronger through the gossip lines than a scandalous sermon title or expensive giveaway. Essentially, you have a group of people who have conformed to non-conformism and while they have a (oxymoronic) uniform, creed and code, they will resent blatant appeals as condescension.

This is just to get you  started.

 Please add you own tips below for what you are looking for in a religious experience….

If you could wake up today and devote the whole day to telling a story that the whole world would listen to, what story would you choose?

Out of all the young celebrities on the Disney channel currently, who do you think will break down first?

Did I do anything significant today? Maybe. Sometimes, when I have the time to worry about silly things, I consider the precious value of the unknown person.

Back during the Great Depression, young people who didn’t want to burden their families or wished to escape abuse would run away. Not only run away but, they would “run away and join the circus.” The circus was a disreputable freakshow full of misfits, outcasts and failures whose only means of gainful employment was exhibitionism. The reports from circus life are mixed as some feel that they were taken care of while others felt they were exploited. Either way, many of these people couldn’t work other jobs and thus, joined the circus because it was thier only option. Often, we look back on that time and see it as a barbaric  commentary of our society.  These circuses took advantage of the handicapped (both mentally and physically) while forcing the most desperate to turn their personal lives into a display of cautionary tales. I’m talking about bearded women, obese couples, the tattooed man, Siamese twins and little people.  You have your performers and your down and out-ers. We would like to this that during this recession, people wouldn’t have to resort to a modern day equivalent of the depression-era circuses.

 Have you ever thought that being on a reality TV show was a good idea?

Attention Protestants! This is your problem too. Church is church and all religions are the same to those who do not partake. Indeed, the scandals of the Catholic Church  in recent months have reinforced the suspicion and skepticism that most religion is really a good ole boys club. In many cases it seems fair to assume that the higher up in the religious totem pole your face is placed, the more likely you are to escape the consequences. The un-churched consensus leans toward a disgusted delight like a teenager who digs up a dusty, F riddled report card of an overbearing parent. Who you were is who you are and groups are homogenous are two main presumptions that support the argument for rejecting religion on the basis for one congregant or leader’s failings.

Who you were is who you are

The crux of the Christian faith is change via forgiveness. A hypocritical church would be one that forgives sinners yet won’t forgive the saved. Yet, to the outsider, the rehabilitation process looks more like a pile of dirt lurking from beneath a rug rather than a situation that has been handled with a level of privacy equivalent to the crime committed. Historically, church leadership that was more politically motivated, would assume a standard of harsh repudiation involving a black and white standard of punishment and shunning for those humans who fell short of the divine order while at the same time elevating corrupt leaders due to their government influence and family ties. All it would take is for one priest, pastor or evangelist to be improperly reprimanded and the entire system loses its fidelity in the eyes of both the congregation and the world at large. As this has historically happened many times over, religion has lost credibility.

As human beings we desire repudiation. When something goes poorly, someone must suffer. It’s this natural response that encourages protesters and vigilantes to rebel when punishment seems unbalanced. Our instincts combined with experience tell us that people never change which creates the above mentioned suspicion and skepticism. In reality, religion is like any diet, exercise routine, substance recovery or marriage because it’s a commitment to a lifestyle change. your entire disposition won’t go away…ever. The person that you were pre-conversion is just trying with heavenly help to commit himself to a line of morality. It’s unfair to assume that all lusts and weaknesses will dissipate merely because the person has decided to change.

Groups are homogenous

People want to be treated as special snowflakes yet, habitually impose generalizations on those around them. Whether this is an evolutionary survival skill or a psychological means of coping with the unfamiliar does not matter so much as recognizing the fallacy that groups are homogenous. Sit in on one board meeting, one family dinner or one rousing locker room cheer as an outsider and you will feel like the members are both symbiotic and in agreement. Join said board meeting, family dinner or locker room cheer as a member and the subtext will become clearer. The tensions, the disappointment and betrayal glimmer from the knowledge of past experiences and suddenly you realize that the group, while they share a bond of necessity, is functioning in some way for a greater purpose. Whether that purpose is evil or good, is not proven by the sincerity of the members. People can be sincere and entirely wrong. People can be insincere and still serve a good purpose.

Part of becoming a balanced and developed person is understanding that you do not understand everything. Unfortunately, people can be distracted (as they should) by the loud and embarrassing individuals that are the exception. People are distracted by the evil member, improperly disciplined with regards to the public offense of their crime. We should all learn a lesson from the situation in the Catholic Church. Public crimes (such as those involving minors, violations of civil laws, and violations of church statutes) should be publicly explained. One can assume that offensives priests are relieved of positions involving minors, are demoted and secluded. However, the Catholic church would have been wise to let the public know (in minimal detail) how the situation was handled rather than leaving the un-churched to assume that nothing was done.

When nasty things happen in religious setting people react in many ways. Some disgustedly revoke all affiliation. Some are shaken in their previous beliefs. Others see the stumbling of another as a chance for a beautiful extension of grace and mercy.

How do religious scandals affect your view of religion?