Toyota woes pushing people to pray in the morning?

Last Thursday, the story broke that the Prius was also being investigated for possible brake problems.  This came after 2 weeks of Toyota reeling from a gigantic recall on many models due to faulty gas pedals.

I took a quick peek on Google Trends to see if many people were searching about Toyotas.  Google Trends provides statistics on which search terms are most popular.  Sure enough, the search Prius Brakes was the most popular search that day.  But interestingly, the search term in 2nd place was Prayer Breakfast.  Could it be that people driving Toyotas are saying extra breakfast prayers to avoid accidents before they head out?  :-)

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Killing me softly with his blog?

I read the results of a new study suggesting that watching TV is bad for your health.  And it's not because it correlates with less exercise and poor health.  Read this excerpt:

Researchers tracked the TV-viewing habits of 8,800 adults and followed them for six years. They found those who spent four hours daily in front of the tube had an 80 percent greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than those who watched the box for less than two hours. The association was independent of risks such as smoking, obesity and unhealthy diet.

Prolonged inactivity, which can raise blood-sugar and cholesterol levels, is to blame for the health effects, not the appliance itself, said David Dunstan, a study author and researcher at Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute in Melbourne.(Source)

(...)

“Too much sitting is bad for health,” said Dunstan, a professor of health sciences. “Avoid sitting for prolonged periods and keep in mind to move more, more often.”

So sitting for extended periods is bad for your blood-sugar and cholesterol.  Go figure.  Sitting in front of a computer isn't very different from sitting in front of a TV, is it?  So is blogging bad for your health?  Should I sue my boss for making me work at a desk all day?  At home, maybe I should raise my desk and blog while standing up?  Better yet, let me setup a treadmill or a stationary bike in front of my PC...

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Great humour on "dentists" from an old Bill Cosby monologue

This video cracks me up! Good clean humour. 

Bad idea amid the H1N1 frenzy

I pray that I never see one of these in a Catholic church.

A company called Purity Solutions has developed a hands-free communion dispenser to cope with the H1N1 panic. While I can appreciate their good intentions and the practicality of this tool for Protestants who don't believe in the Real Presence, this would certainly be a no-no in a Catholic Mass.

The first picture on the right shows the device, which comes in gold, silver and "white" (whatever substance that is). Or maybe the "gold" and "silver" on their website only refers to the color of the device, not the metal it's made of.  Now gold and silver would certainly be suitable precious metals for a Catholic paten or ciborium, but if they are made of stainless steel and simply coated with gold or silver paint, that's a non-starter.  

Even if they were made of gold or silver, it gets more complicated.  As you can see by the second picture, the hosts are not directly placed inside the metal device. They are placed in plastic cartridges, much like Pringle potato chips, which are subsequently inserted into the aforementioned communion dispenser.  There they will remain remain throughout the consecration and during the distribution of communion. Somebody refresh my memory:  does plastic qualify as a valid precious material for the sacred vessels?  The company also sells hosts that are pre-soaked with wine, so that you can