Dr Paul Allen

Piero della Francesca: Legend of the True Cross - the Queen of Sheba Meeting with Solomon , Detail. (c. 1452-66, Fresco, San Francesco, Arezzo, Italy) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "Sorrow is better than laughter : for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better." ( Ecclesiastes 7:3 ) People like to be made to laugh, and many professional comics make a good living telling jokes and doing slapstick comedy. Even in the realm of Christian ministry , those preachers and teachers who can keep their audiences laughing are often the most popular, especially among young people. No doubt humor has a place, but it does need to be kept in perspective. King Solomon had everything and tried everything, including activities promoting laughter and merriment, and was soon disillusioned. "I said in mine heart, . . . I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth: What doeth it?"

Image via Wikipedia The Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska had on display three live female bonnethead sharks . The bonnethead is quite attractive in a lethal hammerhead kind of way. But no matter how attractive these three ladies were, none of them had ever been on a date. You see they lived in a tank, in a zoo. The closest male sharks were, well, unavailable. Sharks, like chickens, can produce unfertilized eggs and sometimes do so perhaps in silent protest at not being allowed to date. But one day the protest became a bit more pronounced when, on 14 Dec 2001, one of these broody sharks went into labor and out popped a baby girl bonnethead shark (yup hammerheads have live birth). Everyone with a 5 th  grade biology class under their belt, including all th Image via Wikipedia e world-renowned marine biologists , stood with their collective mouths agape. This, to put it mildly, was new. A virgin shark, who had never as much as held hands with a male, producing offspring. Though some inse

We all know it.  It’s a fact we all live with.  The food that we see on all of the fast food advertisements   never  look like what’s lurking inside that cardboard box . The following images present them side-by-side, thus showing the contrast between advertising and reality.  There’s a fine-line between putting your best foot forward, and bearing false witness. Related articles The truth about advertising junk food to children: It works (medicalxpress.com) You Wasting Money on Marketing & Advertising too? [Norman Feiner] (ecademy.com) Lexus breaks advertising rules (autonetinsurance.co.uk) Do me a favor please... (desigheeandcoffee.wordpress.com) Is McDonald's Coffee Success Strong Enough to Last? (foodservicewarehouse.com) Largest Advertising Budgets (creditloan.com) AVL Inc. Expands Its Holdings to Include FrogBox Franchise (prweb.com) The Truth About Twitter Advertising (businessinsider.com) Deceptive Advertising 2 (Result) (englishelxni2.wordpress.com)

Rock Climbers & Cliff Campers Man is a wondrous being, just look at what God has made. Man is capable of amazing deeds! Hanging precariously in tents off a 4,000ft vertical cliff face wouldn't be most people's idea  of the perfect camping trip. But these daredevils scale cliffs and pitch their tents thousands of feet up. These intrepid rock climbers thrill in tackling the longest and hardest - and probably most dangerous - big wall climbs they can find. And as these pictures show, because their climbs can last for weeks they must set up tents on the edge of cliff faces for much needed rest The collection of photographs is part of a summer-long exhibit of work by Gordon Wiltsie at the Mountain Light Gallery in Bishop, California , USA . The exhibition features an array of stunning images from climbs over the past decade including the first ascent of Great Sail Peak (above) - an overhanging granite  wall on Canada's Baffin Island Gordon W