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Tag: The More You Know (1-4 of 4)

Apr 9 2013 10:45 AM ET

Pastor Joel Osteen responds to elaborate Internet hoax

by Hillary Busis

Tags: (Give Me That) Old Time Religion, ABC, Internetland, Joel Osteen, Religion, The More You Know, TV

Image Credit: D Dipasupil/Getty Images

No, Houston megachurch pastor Joel Osteen is not leaving the Christian faith — despite all “evidence” to the contrary.

The Internet was captivated yesterday by a message — supposedly posted by Osteen himself — in which the televangelist apparently claimed to be renouncing his religion. “Deep down in my heart, for a number of years now, I have been questioning the faith, Christianity, and whether Jesus Christ is really my, or anyone’s, ‘savior’,” the “press release” read in part. “I believe now that the Bible is a fallible, flawed, highly inconsistent history book that has been altered hundreds of times. There is zero evidence the Bible is the holy word of God. In fact, there is zero evidence ‘God’ even exists.”

These words were backed up by a Twitter account (@PastorJoelOsten), a series of YouTube videos posted by a supposed Christian News organization, and a blog called Christianity News Texas, which ran an “exclusive interview” in which Osteen discussed his resignation. READ FULL STORY »

Apr 5 2013 12:46 PM ET

Last night's 'Parks and Rec' was an extended homage to 'Infinite Jest'

by Hillary Busis

Tags: Amy Poehler, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, Michael Schur, NBC, Parks and Recreation, The More You Know, Things That Are Awesome!, Books, TV

Image Credit: NBC

Newsflash: There was more to yesterday’s episode of Parks and Recreation than Ron getting sued and guest appearances by Annabeth Gish and J.K. Simmons. As USC doctoral candidate George Carstocea points out on his blog, the whole half-hour was one long homage to David Foster Wallace’s massive novel Infinite Jest – the number one book you pretend to have read in college.

Parks and Rec showrunner Michael Schur — a.k.a. the guy who occasionally plays Mose on The Office — is an admitted DFW-phile. He wrote his undergraduate thesis on Wallace, directed a Decemberists video based on Wallace’s 1,079-page opus, and even owns Infinite Jest‘s film rights. (Good luck with that one, Mike.) And since a minor character in IJ hails from the town of Partridge, Kan., Schur saw an episode named after and partially set in the town of Partridge, Minn. as the perfect opportunity to indulge in a variety of Jest references.

READ FULL STORY »

Apr 2 2013 10:37 AM ET

Illustrious Google doodle celebrates Swiss naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian

by Hillary Busis

Tags: Google, Google Doodle, Internetland, Science, The More You Know

Google’s going green today to honor a natural woman: Maria Sibylla Merian, a scientific illustrator born April 2, 1647. (She doesn’t look a day older than 360!)

Merian is best known for the illustrated text Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, which she published in 1705 after spending two years in the Dutch colony of Suriname with her daughter Dorothea (and, somewhat scandalously, without a male companion!). The book included illustrations of both insect life cycles and the plants on which they lived, giving many Europeans their first extensive glimpse at the New World’s botanical and entomological features. Her work garnered several important fans, including Russian emperor Peter the Great. She died in Amsterdam in 1717, two years after suffering a stroke that left her partially paralyzed.

Celebrate Merian’s life today by browsing through a few of her gorgeous prints, not swatting any flies, and eating some pineapple — which the illustrator once described as “the most outstanding of all edible fruits.”

Feb 6 2013 12:22 PM ET

Google posts new Doodle in honor of archaeologist Mary Leakey

by Hillary Busis

Tags: Google, Google Doodle, The More You Know

Though Feb. 6 happens to be National Frozen Yogurt Day, Nutella Day, and — on a different note — Lame Duck Day, Google has chosen to go in another direction with today’s Doodle. The drawing celebrates the 100th birthday of Mary Leakey, a trailblazing British archaeologist and anthropologist famous for discovering the first skull of a prehistoric primate called the Proconsul. READ FULL STORY »