Wood grain, water stains, sandwiches, statues. Apparently Jesus and Mary sure do make an impression everywhere they go. Once again, Mary has made an appearance. This time, in a piece of chocolate.

I think this time, the factory workers at this chocolate factory may have been breathing in the fumes a little too much. There is a pile of chocolate drippings which look more like excrement than the Virgin Mary (thanks Josh), and people are now worshipping this brown mass. These folks at the factory are really going to extremes:

Since the discovery of the drippings under a vat on Monday, employees of Bodega Chocolates have spent much of their time hovering over the tiny figure, praying and placing rose petals and candles around it.

Let me recall my Bible lessons. Jesus certain made some appearances after his death in the stories, but in every case it was the physical man of Jesus standing in front of folks, plain as day. I don’t remember Paul eating some potato pancakes and saying, “Man, these fried potatoes sure look like Jesus. It must be a sign.” For all you know, that face in on your sandwich looks more like a homeless man or a terrorist than anything else. “There’s a generic bearded looking figure in my soup. It must be Jesus!”

Come on people. Have we lost our minds? Has our faith has become so shallow that we are searching for even the most obscure things to boost it? Faith without seeing is true belief, not this crap.

There was a recent Los Angeles Times article that dealt with copyright infringments in music. As a musician, I am always ambivalent on this issue because on one hand, hopefully musicians are in the business because they want to make music and want people to hear their music, but on the other hand it is their livelihood and we don’t tolerate people walking into retail stores and stealing anything, so why would we tolerate the same act digitally?

Anywho, the article finds a growing trend, that younger individuals are seemingly growing more morally convicted about the illegal downloading and distributing of digital music and movies. This brings me to my favorite part of the article. They quote a professor at NYU when he said

At my wedding I handed out about 150 mix-CDs … I was freeloading on songs by Louis Armstrong and others, but I think that’s why they became musicians in the first place. Music has worth because it lets us communicate in ways we can’t manage on our own. But to communicate, we have to be able to share.

If I was a student at NYU, you better believe I would be in his class. How could this man object to plagarism? Knowledge is gained by sharing, so we might as well allow all shared knowledge on term papers and tests.

I came upon this precious find a while back. Apparently there is a market amongst Catholics to have Jesus (in statue form) participating in sports with other children.

		Here we find Jesus being tackled playing some playground football. Apparently Jesus does not need a damn helmet like the children. I mean, he IS Jesus. Secondly, that kid in the red has some balls tackling Jesus.
		I don’t know about you, but this is a little too questionable for my taste. Jesus is looking a little creepy all cuddled up with that girl, helping her putt. I think he wouldn’t be able to live near bus stops in Georgia.
		Jesus can walk on water, but apparently he still needs ice skates. I mean, damn, that’s some cold-ass water. Not common in the sands of Jerusalem.
		Alright, once again we find the creepy Jesus.
		Last one to the Temple Gates has to get crucified!

People don’t believe what you tell them.
They rarely believe what you show them.
They often believe what their friends tell them.
They always believe what they tell themselves.
- Seth Godin

Social acceptability of cigarette smoking sure has changed. These days, people are up and arms that there is a cartoonish character promoting cigarettes, even though no Joe Camel ads seem to be specifically targeting a younger age group. Just the fact that he is drawn and not a man riding a horse with a cowboy hat, he gets a bum rap. Just to put Joe Camel in perspective, check out this advertisement from the Flintstones way back in the day: