The online editorial staff comprises Betsy Shirley, Jenna Barnett, Josiah R. Daniels, Mitchell Atencio, Heather Brady, Kierra Bennning, and Zachary Lee.
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Voice of the Day: Cesar Chavez
Verse of the Day: Blessed Are You Who Are Poor...
Verse of the Day: Wisdom and Instruction
Prayer of the Day: Silent Meditation
Voice of the Day: Richard Rohr
Voice of the Day: Wangari Maathai
Verse of the Day: Bread of Life
Prayer of the Day: Prayer of Praise
Verse of the Day: 'If You Only Love Those Who Love You...'
Prayer of the Day: Peace in the DRC
Voice of the Day: Francis de Sales
QUIRK: Morabund Walmart + Ingenuity = Award-Winning Public Library
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After Walmart closed up shop in McAllen, they left 124,500 square feet of retail space behind for use by the city.
Rather than bring in another big box corporation to pick up where Walmart left off, the southern Texas city decided to turn the building into its new public library. And not just any public library neither: Upon its completion, the McAllen Public Library became the largest single-story library in the United States.
The project was massively successful: Registration by first-time patrons went up by 23% in the library's first month of operation, and its "functional, flexible and affordable" interior — constructed by Minneapolis-based Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd. — was recently named winner of the International Interior Design Association's 2012 Library Interior Design Competition.
Read the full report HERE.
QUIRK: In for a Penny, In for 800 Pounds
MILFORD, Mass. — A Massachusetts man who pledged to make the last mortgage payment on his home with pennies has fulfilled that promise.
After warning his bank, Thomas Daigle dropped off about 62,000 pennies weighing 800 pounds in two boxes for the final payment on the Milford home he and his wife, Sandra, bought in 1977.
He started saving his pennies when he moved in.
Read the full story HERE.
Voice of the Day: Karen Armstrong
Prayer of the Day: Prayer for Congress
O God, whose will is good and gracious, and whose law is truth: we ask you to guide and bless our senators and representatives in Congress. Give them courage, wisdom, and foresight to provide for the needs of all people—especially those who struggle to feed themselves and their families. Amen via Bread for the World's Prayer for Congress
Verse of the Day: Faith of Abraham
QUIRK: University Sues Student for Finishing Degree Too Quickly
Marcel Pohl, a student at The School of Economics and Management in Essen, Germany, says he couldn't believe it when he found out the university was suing him for graduating with a master's degree after just three semesters.
"When I got the lawsuit, I thought it couldn't be true," the 22-year-old told Bild. "Performance is supposed to be worth something."
Economics: Daily Show Correspondents Explain It All
Economists
The Daily Show correspondents weigh in on why economists are more than just nerdy, high-panted economic yodas with no accountability. More inside the blog.
God Particles (or Everything You Wanted to Know About Higgs-Boson But Were Afraid to Ask)
Artist concept of elusive Higgs-Boson. Image by Crady von Pawlak/Getty Images.
Physicists answer the question "What is the Higgs-Boson?"
In 1964, the British physicist Peter Higgs wrote a landmark paper hypothesizing why elementary particles have mass. He predicted the existence of a three-dimensional "field" that permeates space and drags on everything that trudges through it. Some particles have more trouble traversing the field than others, and this corresponds to them being heavier. If the field — later dubbed the Higgs field — really exists, then Higgs said it must have a particle associated with it: the Higgs boson.
Fast forward 48 years: On Wednesday (July 4), physicists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest atom smasher in Geneva, Switzerland, announced they had discovered a Higgs-like particle at long last. If the new particle turns out to be the Higgs, it will confirm nearly five decades of particle physics theory, which incorporated the Higgs boson into the family of known particles and equations that describe them known as the Standard Model. (Source: LiveScience.com)
Still confused? (We are.) Inside the blog, four physicists explain on video.
QUIRK: How to Top 'The Dog Ate My Homework' Excuse
We've all been there. It's the morning before your 20-page paper is due—the one that counts for 30 percent of your grade—and you get the blue screen of death before saving. Or $2 Tuesdays got a little bit out of hand the night before. Or you just plain forgot.
While the list of excuses rattles through your mind in the hour or so before class, here's one you probably didn't think of: fake abduction.