Ali Bytes: Bullet-sized strategies for modern living

Oops. I guess I just leaped over leap day but I’ll give you questions to think about retro-actively. As I do for most blog posts, I tried to do some research to find some interesting bytes around leap day. I was sadly disappointed and ended up with more questions that answers about its origin. So here are some questions to ponder.

1. Do leaplings, those born on February 29, get to pick the day they celebrate their birthday each year? So if February 28th ends up a bust, can they try again the next day?
2. Did you know that tradition dictates that leap years are the only years that women can ask men to marry them? How did it end up the other way around in the first place?
3. Leap years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. I can’t help but wonder, did this Gregorian person who created the calendar make a mistake?

Last month, I got one comment that said a list of “best lists” doesn’t count but I’m doing you a favor. I’m not naive enough to think everyone reads my bytes every day (even though you should!) so these are my favorite from February in case you missed any.

1. 8 awards for Superbowl commercials
2. 7 Sky Mall Valentine’s Day gifts
3. 6 vital friends
4. 14 “Tweets” about Twitter
5. 9 ways to find a match
6. 7 tips for managing stress
7. 6 haikus about President’s Day
8. 4 bytes of religious food for thought

It’s freezing out today! On my way to the metro, I walked by a homeless man wearing multiple ripped t-shirts on top of one another while I had on a turtleneck sweater, a fleece vest, my long wool coat, and a hat, scarf and gloves. Since we’re over half way through winter, now’s a good time to get rid of the coats we still haven’t worn or think about buying a new one to donate. Here are some organizations that will make sure they end up in good hands.

1. One Warm Coat: Pretty simple concept, this organization’s goal is to “provide any person in need with a warm coat, free of charge.” Find out about a coat drive on their website or use their tools to organize one yourself.
2. Coats for Kids: With more than 2,000 new winter coats delivered this year alone, this organization delivers only new coats along with a pair of new gloves and a winter hat. “Giving a child a new winter coat, not one that is ‘gently used,’ has a dramatic and measurable impact on a child’s self-esteem, on their participation in school and school activities, and in their ability to learn.”
3. Operation Warm: This PA- based organization is “committed to combating the social isolation inherent in poverty” by keeping children warm. “We know that keeping kids warm is a small part of the much larger picture of their success.”

I grew up Catholic, taking all the necessary steps of a good Catholic including CCD class, though I admit I was on the bandwagon that called it “central city dump” and couldn’t tell you what it really stood for until college.

Ironically, it wasn’t until I took a most unique class when I lived abroad in Italy during college that I became intrigued by religion and its impact on history and modern culture. The class was “The History of Renaissance Prostitution in Venice and Florence.” I’m not kidding. Of the ten classes I took, it was by far the hardest and most fascinating.

That was my appetizer to this post on religious food for thought. What are your thoughts on religion? Oh and bonus points if you know what that image has to do with this post.

1. On Monday, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released the biggest study on American religion in almost 50 years, which detailed the religious affiliation of the American public. One finding was that 16% of Americans over the age 18 are unaffiliated with a religion, the highest percentage being in Oregon (27%) and lowest in Mississippi (6%). Interestingly, this is far lower than other industrialized countries. The Director Luis Lugo points out that “A good percentage of folks in that group tell us that religion is at least somewhat important in their lives, but they have become disassociated from institutionalized religion.”
2. There are a million books on religion and they are all over the map in terms of critical and positive, funny and serious. Strangely enough nearly every book we’ve read in my book club in the last two years has had some religious component to it. Here are two that will definitely spark conversations in your circles: Under the Banner of Heaven and Infidel. Be forewarned that neither paint an unbiased picture of religion. The former by Jon Krakauer details the history of Mormonism and Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s book is an autobiography that talks about how she came to reject Islam.
3. If you haven’t seen it, get a group together to watch Jesus Camp, a surprisingly unbiased Oscar-nominated documentary chronicling Christian kids who are being primed for “God’s Army” at the Kids on Fire summer camp in Devil’s Lake, N.D. Unlike the film, the critics weren’t at all unbiased. As one review put it, “The kids speak in tongues, dance in orgasmic frenzy before a life-size cardboard cut-out of George W. and are taught that anti-abortion is the only political issue worth pursuing. (Global warming and the Earth in general are irrelevant, since only the afterlife matters.)”
4. Here are four quotes from famous people on religion (yes, this is actually a list within a list!): “My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself (or herself) in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds.” – Albert Einstein; “If it weren’t for Christians, I’d be a Christian.” - Mahatma Ghandi; “This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” - Dalai Lama; “No, I don’t know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.” - George H.W. Bush