Deus Misereatur

Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception by George A. Akerlof My rating: 4 of 5 stars They come in your email, those promises that look too good to be true. Like the one from a lawyer in Nairobi, the widow of a high-placed Government official from Uganda, the U.S. Army Sergeant in Afghanistan, even from Director James Comey of the FBI; all pledging hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars just for the taking. By now you know the scam, called phishing, well enough to disregard them without even opening the emails. George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller, both Co-Winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics in different years and professors of Economics at prestigious Ivy League universities, have taken the notion of phishing and moved it to the area of economics in their 288 hardcover “Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception.” This disarming title covers a fairly technical dossier purportedly for non-technical readers, “consumers…b...

Sunday morning: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46.1). O Lord God, who rules in heaven and on earth, who directs orbits and oceans, governs harvests and hailstorms, who fashions the heart of all people and observes all their deeds (Psalm 33.15), who can set every man against his neighbor (Zechariah 8.10) but can also make wars to cease to the ends of the earth (Psalm 46.9); through your Son, Jesus Christ, you reconciled to yourself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1.20). Attend to our prayers as we seek your face and intercede on behalf of your Church and world. For your church all around this globe, and around the OKC area, such as: Northwest Baptist Church; Northwest Christian Church; Oak Dale Baptist Church; Oakcrest Church of Christ; Oaktree Assembly of God; and Oasis Church; we pray: guide her leaders, heal her divisions, reclaim her waywardness, right her wrongheaded...

The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion N.T. Wright HarperOne ISBN: 978-0062334381; October 2016; $28.99 Reviewed by the Rev. Dr. Michael W. Philliber 5 Stars of 5 While taking up a scholarly book, I find it helpful to read it with two minds simultaneously. The first simply tackles the work as a reader/learner to appreciatively gain as much as possible from the author’s investigation, insights and inferences. The second is a more studied approach that withholds verdicts until the end, looks for streams of developing thought, repetition of concepts, and seeks out answers to questions the manuscript raises. Both minds are needed when reading N.T. Wright’s latest 448 page hardback, “The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion.” This document is intended to reach a wide audience, carrying them along well-reasoned trails that travel smoothly and without any footnotes to turn their ankles on, unti...

We worship you for there is none like you, O God, who rides through the heavens to our help, through the skies in your majesty. You, O eternal God, are our dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And you thrust out the enemy before us and say, ‘Destroy’ (Deuteronomy 33.26-27). It is to you we pray. Look, O Good Shepherd, with compassion on your one flock all around the world, and around the OKC area to include: New Point Church; Newchurch; Nicoma Park Christian Church; Nicoma Park Church of Christ; Norman Christian Fellowship; Norman Community Church; North Haven Church and North MacArthur Church of Christ . With rod and staff, comfort the people of your pasture and the sheep of your hand. Seek out your sheep, and rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. Seek the lost, and bring back the strayed, and bind up the injured, and strengthen the weak (Ezekiel 34.12, 16). Look, O Good Shepherd, with compassi...

O LORD, our Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: you are the LORD our God, who teaches us to profit, who leads us in the way we should go (Isaiah 48.17); to you we pray. You who have called your people; you who are the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Isaiah 48.12); we pray for your universal Church and these churches in the larger OKC area: New Covenant Worship Center; New Harvest Fellowship; New Hope Church-OKC; New Hope Church of Christ; New Hope Church-Yukon; and New Hope Worship Center . Drawing from the prophet Hosea, may we press on to know you, and you come to us as the dawn, as the showers and spring rains that water the earth. Help us to sow righteousness, to reap steadfast love, to break up our fallow ground, to seek you so that you will come and rain righteousness on us. And by your restraining hand and truth-guiding Spirit, may we not plow iniquity, reap injustice, or eat the fruit of lies by trusting in our own way, in the multitude of our own strength ...

Essential Book of Martial Arts Kicks: 89 Kicks from Karate, Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, and Others [DVD Included] by Marc De Bremaeker My rating: 5 of 5 stars When I first started martial arts several years ago I couldn't figure out why the instructor paid such detail to the way I kicked, the exact placement, chambering, execution and timing. It wasn't until I entered my first sparring match that I began to recognize that sloppy kicks do little more than annoy, but well executed kicks deliver a wallop. Now as a second degree black I strive to develop better kicks. So I was delighted when I picked up a copy of Marc De Bremaeker's and Roy Faige's satisfying 256 page manual "Essential Book of Martial Arts Kicks," accompanied with an instructional DVD, from the local public library. As the authors note, this "book is not a "how to" book for the neophyte, but a reference work for the experienced martial artist" (8). This is one instal...

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle My rating: 5 of 5 stars A rousing story that comes in two parts. The first covers how Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes come to team up, the crime, the parallel investigations in London that came to different conclusions, and the surprising arrest of the suspected murderer in Holmes's living-room. The second part of the narrative is mostly the backstory revolving around Salt Lake City, Utah and how it ended up coming to a head at 221B Baker Street, London. The reader, Michael Page, presents the tale with verve and veracity. Between the author's craft and the reader's competence, my youngest teenage son and I listened with captivated assiduity and delight. I highly recommend this audio version of "A Study in Scarlet". View all my reviews