The General Convention Of The Episcopal Church Is Being Held In Indianapolis This Week

I hope this has nothing to do with it:

Naked Man Goes On Ninja-Like Rampage In Indianapolis

Thursday's Prayer

O Lord God Almighty, Father of your blessed and beloved Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have been given knowledge of yourself; you are the God of angels and powers, of the whole creation, and of all generations of the righteous who live in your sight. I bless you for granting me this day and hour, that I may be numbered among the martyrs, to share in the cup of your Anointed and to rise again to everlasting life, both in body and in soul, in the immortality of the Holy Spirit. May I be received among them this day in your presence, a sacrifice rich and acceptable, even as you appoint and foreshadow, and now bring to pass, for you are the God of truth in whom there is no falsehood. For this, and for all else, I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you; through our eternal High Priest in heaven, your beloved Son Jesus Christ, by whom and through whom be glory to you and the Holy Spirit, now and for all ages to come. Amen. - Polycarp

What Was He Thinking?

Lifeguard fired after rescuing drowning man

Or, Tragically, Wagner

David Goldman (the Internet's "Spengler") likes to point out the correlation between the study of Western classical music and success in science. "There's a difference," he writes, "between an engineer and an engineer who plays Bach." Whenever he makes his case, even those of a conservative disposition fill up the comments section with objections: There's nothing wrong with an engineer who likes rock-'n'-roll, or country, or thrash metal or gangsta rap or grunge . . .

Be that as it may, music has fled our schools: In California and New Jersey, you can reach twelfth grade without having heard a note of Mozart.

An Interesting Habit, I'm Sure

1,400 people dressed as nuns break Guinness World Record

Christians Already Knew This

Satanists Claim Theft Is Hate Crime

More Well-Spent Tax Money

NOAA DENIES EXISTENCE OF MERMAIDS

And Now, Back To Our Regular Program

So, enough about politics and such.  Here's something completely different from the world's best magazine, Popular Mechanics:

The Evolution of the Convertible

My LBGT Colleagues Send Me Notices All Of The Time. Why Not This One?

It's okay.  I know the answer.  It doesn't fit the narrative.
Mary Cheney marries longtime partner Heather Poe

Whatever Happened To The Memoir?

Oprah's Book Club recommended James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces," hailed by Bret Easton Ellis as a "heartbreaking memoir" of "poetic honesty," but subsequently revealed to be heavy on the "poetic" and rather light on the "honesty." The "heartbreaking memoir" of a drug-addled street punk who got tossed in the slammer after brawling with cops while high on crack with his narco-hooker girlfriend proved to be the work of some suburban Pat Boone type with a couple of parking tickets. (I exaggerate, but not as much as he did.)  Oprah was also smitten by "The Education of Little Tree," the heartwarmingly honest memoir of a Cherokee childhood which turned out to be concocted by a former Klansman whose only previous notable literary work was George Wallace's "Segregation Forever" speech. "Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood" is a heartbreakingly honest, poetically searing, searingly painful, painfully honest, etc., account of Binjamin Wilkomirski's unimaginably horrific boyhood in the Jewish ghetto of Riga and the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. After his memoir won America's respected National Jewish Book Award, Mr. Wilkomirski was inevitably discovered to have been born in Switzerland and spent the war in a prosperous neighborhood of Zurich being raised by a nice middle-class couple.

She May Be Right, As I Have No Idea Who She Is

Star Emily Mortimer: Americans are dangerously uninformed

Maybe The Govt. Wanted To Make Some Soylent Green

TSA Agent Leaves Grandpa's Ashes On Floor

Archaeological News

Ancient Mosaic Depicting Fiery Bible Story Discovered

Will They Let Us Eat [Wedding] Cake?

Behold:  The Obama Event Registry.

Got a birthday, anniversary, or wedding coming up?
Let your friends know how important this election is to you—register with Obama 2012, and ask for a donation in lieu of a gift.

At first, I thought this was a gag, but it appears that our contemporary reality is now beyond parody.

Green Goes Red

This disaster was predictable, and promises to get worse. Over the past decade, from British Columbia to New Mexico, the world’s most rapid deforestation has been underway in the North American west, with an average of nearly six million acres of forest lost per year — roughly double the three million acres per year rate in Brazil. The culprits here, however, have not been humans, but Western Pine Beetles, whose epidemic spread has turned over 60 million acres of formerly evergreen pine forests into dead red tinder, dry ammunition awaiting any spark to flare into catastrophe.

Yet while the global green movement has made a cause célèbre of the Amazon rain forest, they have done nothing to oppose those destroying our woods. Quite the contrary, they have been doing everything in their power to assist the wreckers. Indeed, over the past decade they have launched over a thousand lawsuits to block every attempt by the National Forest Service or others to take necessary counter measures.

We Used To Be A Nation Of Farmers

Now we may be on our way to being a nation of bureaucrats:

I Say Tomato, You Say No

Today Is Politics Day

As it's an election year, many, many of my ordained colleagues want to make sure that I think and vote "the correct way", keeping all of my perspectives, notions, thoughts and what the science fiction writer Philip K. Dick called "pre-thoughts" [those thoughts you might be inclined to have sometime in the future] in line with their own.

After all, they're clergy, so their perspective is better, smarter, and more morally evolved than anyone else's.  In fact, if you disagree with them about any point, or even ask an innocuous and apolitical question about an apparent contradiction [Example: How can we be against capital punishment and pro-choice in the abortion issue and still be theologically coherent?], they will offer to "educate" you about "the correct way".  A successful "education" simply means acquiescing to them on every point.

So, my e-mail box, Facebook account, and regular old post office box [I don't think the Office of Peace and Justice has a computer yet, as all of their correspondence comes to me in hand-addressed envelopes] are chock full of political appeals, each seeking some satisfaction that I am in complete, total, and near-lobatomic agreement with them on all matters. 

If I'm not, I'll never get on a diocesan committee.  My professional world is so strange that this is actually considered a punishment.

Anyway, as a piquant response, in the spirit of Aristophanes, Alexander Pope, and Mark Twain, I thought I would spend today posting items easily found on the Internet that might cause my colleagues' heads to explode a little.

Also, even in my profession, every once in awhile one must assert his right to think independently.   Sometimes tweaking a figurative nose is the best manner of declaration.  Rather like Ishmael [the one from Moby Dick, not the Old Testament] and his desire to knock people's hats off their heads.  [That quote is on the first page of the novel, if I recall correctly, so no one has to read the whole book to find it.]

Those of a delicate nature are advised to come back tomorrow for more prosaic postings.

A Quotation

"With his divine alchemy, God turns not only water into wine, but common things into radiant mysteries, yea, every meal into a Eucharist, and the jaws of death into an outgoing gate." - George MacDonald

Brooks Brothers Has A Blog

And it's good, too.

This Week's Feast Days

Only one this week: Independence Day [aka the Fourth of July]. If this surprises people, because the historically illiterate "church/state separation" gang has clouded common understanding, note that the Episcopal Church does recognize and celebrate this national holiday for a rather specific reason.

Why, you ask? Because on July 3, 1776, we were still the Church of England in the colonies.

A Collect for the day:

Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

"It Would Violate Your Privacy for the NSA to Say if It Violated Your Privacy"

From Wired magazine: Washington’s 5 Worst Arguments for Keeping Secrets From You

[If clergy keep sending me e-mails, Facebook messages, Tweets, etc. about secular politics, I can post something like this.  Besides, this post actually has objectively true information, rather than spin from some political PR firm.]

This Is Almost Too Wonderful

Somebody please tell me why Princeton University — Princeton University! — is admitting women who need to be continually pushed to speak more. In the 21st century. They don't deserve the seats they fill. They shouldn't be coddled. They should be flunked out. You get into Princeton and you sit there too timid — or too withholding — to speak?

It's about time someone said this.  Please, please read the whole thing.  If you think it was written by some Ivy League guy, then you really need to read the whole article and the weblog, too. 

When I was at old PU, the only topic that made the women students loquacious was the re-working of some moldy points of feminism from the generation before or claiming to be a victim of some institutional process.  The time I pointed out to my colleagues [doctoral candidates, I might add, of some mature experience with the world] that the nature of institutions is often to treat all people poorly, I was regarded like Richard Speck.  One of the women started to cry because I wasn't helping to "legitimate her grief as a marginalized person".  I realized that this was what feminism had become by the mid-1990's: anger, blaming, tears.  You died for nothing, Bloomer.

Professor Althouse's comments about the role of betas in the university community is precise, too.  It could easily be expanded to The Church, which is Beta Central.

Islamist Violence Becomes Self-Destructive

Islamist rebels in northern Mali smashed four more tombs of ancient Muslim saints in Timbuktu as the International Criminal Court warned their campaign of destruction was a war crime.

The hardline Islamists who seized control of Timbuktu along with the rest of northern Mali three months ago, consider the shrines to be idolatrous and have wrecked seven tombs in two days.

The Cost Of Intemperance

12 Athletes Injured During Temper Tantrums

Interesting Advice

Never Read a Bible Verse

Duh

Belief in hell, according to international data, is associated with reduced crime

Mexico's Luckiest Virgin

Fire in Juárez destroys church, spares Virgin of Guadalupe image

Jesus Sighting!

'Face of Jesus Christ' spotted on side of Chinese takeaway in Sunderland

As My Inner Ten-Year-Old Might Say...

...this is super-cool:

Humanity escapes the solar system: Voyager 1 signals that it has reached the edge of interstellar space - 11billion miles away

Maybe Should Have Thought About This Change From A PR Angle

A DC board changes its name, and sends out an interesting message.

Hmm. Things May Be Looking Up.

Toledo Blade advertises for a religion reporter.

From Popular Mechanics, No Less

A Brief History of the Surfboard

Another Sign Of The Apocalypse

Turtles divorce after 115 years together

This Isn't Surprising, Either

Lifeguard shortage leaves many pools, beaches unprotected

If I follow the math presented in the article, this job is considered a good deal because it pays .80 an hour above minimum wage, which means a lifeguard would earn $340 a week before taxes.  But, it costs roughly $350 to earn lifeguard certification.  So, in other words, for a 10 week job, one must surrender more than one week's pay for the ability to earn for a portion of the remaining 9 weeks.  Net gain before taxes = $3050

Or, one could work a minimum wage job which doesn't require any certification and earn a net gain of $3080 during the same time period. 

Gee, I wonder why they're having trouble finding lifeguards?

Of course, the other issue is that many young people don't know how to swim [more than since 1960, a fact I could prove if I could find where I put that statistic] because of dimished physical fitness standards in many public schools and fear of the sun [melanomaphobia].

The Future Of Higher Education

Yet there is one project he's happy to talk about. Frustrated that his (and fellow Googler Peter Norvig's) Stanford artificial intelligence class only reached 200 students, they put up a website offering an online version. They got few takers. Then he mentioned the online course at a conference with 80 attendees and 80 people signed up. On a Friday, he sent an offer to the mailing list of a top AI association. On Saturday morning he had 3,000 sign-ups—by Monday morning, 14,000.

I wish I were thirty again.  Or fresh from being awarded by first doctoral degree.  The near future of education is going to be truly revolutionary, in the same way that the news media and book publishing have been transformed.

Black President Elected

The Southern Baptist Convention...is poised to elect its first African-American president.

They've Been Known To Do This Before

Man claims leprechauns beat him up for dancing

Now It's Spread To Kenya

Anti-Christian violence and church attacks by Muslims have now spread to Kenya, arguably east Africa's most stable and cosmopolitan country.

Kenya: 'Ten dead' in attacks on Garissa churches

It's A Gang Alright

Student Wears Rosary For His Grandma; School Forbids It

The Coracle Is Back

Here's part of the new schedule:

Monday: Feast Days
Tuesday: Quotation of the Week
Wednesday: I don't know.  What, do I get paid for this?
Thursdays: Celtic Devotions and Obscure Prayers
Fridays: Heroes
Saturday: Lections for Sunday
Sunday:  Notes from the morning's sermon; other stuff.  Maybe not.

Plus whatever catches my attention at any given time.  You know me.

Blog Bomb Re-Launch On Sunday.

Beginning on Sunday, The Coracle will return with a vengence.  Dozens of new posts, weekly Celtic devotions, significant church dates, Episcopal terminology [I know, everyone does that.  So what?], Jesus/God/Virgin Mary sightings, ephemera about music, art, and surfing, poetry and literature, not to mention anything else that snags on the needlehook of memory for a mid-century man like myself.

Oh, and "Heroes" every Friday. 

Happy Anniversary, Jenni

Other guys get to go to a store and buy their wives something.  Me, I have to build Kubla Khan's stately pleasure dome.  And yes, as you can tell by the last photo, this thing is level.

[Actually, June 24th is our anniversary, but I'll be busy tomorrow.  We now return to radio silence until July 1st.]

An Unplanned, But Necessary, Hiatus

I'm deeply appreciative to all who read this weblog, for all of its eccentricity; especially those who have done so for some time.  Currently, the demands of my primary occupation, not to mention duties as a son, father, and soon-to-be grandfather [yikes!] are claiming an extraordinary amount of my professional and personal time.  So, one of the things that I'll have to surrender for awhile is blathering on about esoteric topics, stray sightings of Jesus in items of food, odd news tangentially related to American religion, etc. 

I regret this, as I include this blather as part of my daily "wellness" routine along with training and swimming at the gym, honing my rifle skills, shaping guitars, and working the blues scale for six-strings.  When the experience of leisure returns to my schedule, The Coracle will once again offer daily postings.

The Coracle will return on July 1.

The Things One Finds On The Beach

Huge Japanese dock washes up on Oregon coast

The Power Of Comic Books

Marvel Comics creates superhero for boy with hearing aid

Best Laid Plans

The plan was to hold a bike parade as a nice, non-destructive, healthy senior prank.

Seniors called police for an escort, and even called Walker's mayor, who rode in the parade.

"Police escort, with the mayor, who brought us donuts. ...The mayor brought us donuts..." said a group of seniors following the ride.

But school official weren't told in advance, hence the word prank, and were not happy with the event.

They kicked the seniors out of school for their last day and threatened to keep them from walking in graduation ceremonies set for May 30.

Cue the abrasive bureaucrat: "...Get your butts home. You're not participating in senior walk today."

I Think Jimmy Carter Has You Beat, Mr. Prez

Obama also stressed he probably knows about Judaism more than any other president, because he read about it -

Say what you will about Carter, but he had a broad and impressive knowledge of comparative theology.

Also, John Adams and James Madison knew Hebrew.

Apparently, A Cross On The Side Of A Highway Establishes A Religion

53-YEAR-OLD CROSS TO BE TORN DOWN

God Sighting

Is this the face of God in a mixing bowl?

Summer #55 [Anticipated]

In over fifty summers, I've sustained a damaged rotator cuff, torn thumb tendon, strained Achilles tendon, sprained ankle, simple orbit fracture, cracked palate, demolished molar [a surf board hit me in the side of the face; not my board, some teenager's], two black eyes [not at the same time], bloodied noses, a sprained elbow, jellyfish stings, and forty-eight sixty sixty-six stitches in various parts of me. Not to mention sunburn [although not since the early 80's], dehydration, ear infection, various minor abrasions, contusions, lacerations, a profound sinus irritation, and shredded knee cartilage. Oh, and a barracuda once gave me a dirty look.

Then again, I've seen colleagues literally work themselves to death in the face of their congregations' spiritual lassitude, sneering indifference, and occasional hostility, so it seems that surfing is safer.

From The Dawn Patrol, by Don Winslow:

"The physicists call it a 'energy-transport phenomenon.'

The dictionary says it's 'a disturbance that travels through a medium from one location to another location.'

A disturbance. It's certainly that.

Something gets disturbed. That is, something strikes something else and sets off a vibrations. Clap your hands right now and you'll hear a sound. What you're actually hearing is a sound wave. Something struck something else and it set off a vibration that strikes your eardrum.

The vibration is energy. It's transported through the phenomenon of a wave from one location to the other.

The water itself doesn't actually move. What happens is one particle of water bumps into the next, which bumps into the next, and so on and so forth until it hits something. It's like that idiot wave at a sports event - the people don't move around the stadium, but the wave does. The energy flows from one person to another.

So when you're riding a wave, you're not riding water. The water is the medium, but what you're really riding is energy."

[Above is a photo of a Roman Catholic nun whose religious order hosts an annual charity surfing competition in Stone Harbor, New Jersey.]

Memorial Day

Memorial Day in Roxbury means at least a couple of things, from the fun of our very particular town parade to the quiet witness of small American flags sprinkled throughout the three cemeteries.  Below is the collect for today:

Lord God Almighty, who have made all peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and peace: Grant to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sometimes the old poetry teacher in me comes out, too.  Below, A.E. Housman's "Here Dead We Lie":
 
Here dead we lie
Because we did not choose
To live and shame the land
From which we sprung.

Life, to be sure,
Is nothing much to lose,
But young men think it is,
And we were young.

[For Jeff and Scott, who were young; and for those of the 1/4th Marines who fought the good fight and kept the faith.  "Whatever It Takes."]

Wherein I Take Umbrage At Something In The NYT

This may not be the first time that I've winced at something in the New York Times [I think that was when they tried to turn the obit for movie cowgirl Dale Evans into a dissertation on post-modern feminism], but this opening sentence, while compelling and designed to please an editor on a holiday weekend, isn't accurate:

In the end, it was a typical Monaco Grand Prix procession: The man on pole finished first, the man who started second finished second, and none of many potential surprises came to be.

Well, racing reporter, except for the races that were held between 1989 to 2007.  That would seem to make it not typical at all.    

[This is for Formula One nerds only, of whom I know only two others.]   

The Day Of Pentecost

This week, as is traditional, we witness the procession of the early Christian phone book, appropriately groan in labor pains with the early church, and learn of the Advocate, who is to be our perpetual guide through all things temporal. All this plus what I witnessed at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 1972 [or was it '71?].

The lections may be found here.

Remember: It is customary to wear the color red on the Day of Pentecost.

Too Busy To Blog

I became remarkably busy this week and was unable to spend any early morning, or late night, time in front of the computer.  Also, today was the last day of school for me for this academic year, which meant I took a little more time at RHS this morning.

Returning soon....

Today Is National Maritime Day

It's a grand day for those of us who have the honor of serving as chaplains to merchant seamen. An often forgotten form of national service gets its due by presidential decree on this date each year. I also get to wear my uniform. Well, if I can find it.

More may found here.

Also, have fun playing "Guess the mariner" with the photo below.  Hint: a great number of America's writers have been merchant mariners, including Herman Melville, Jack London, Allen Ginsberg and Mark Twain.  Joseph Conrad, while not American, was a merchant ship captain before becoming one of the great stylists of the English language.

I Used To Play Bass For Sarcastic Fringehead

The things I meet while surfing. Check out the photo. (Bad link now fixed.)

The Government Gets Ready To Go After Guitars Again

Feds threaten to disrupt summer concerts 

"Lawmakers are scrambling to save the summer concert season from federal agents poised to seize the instruments of rock and country stars because the wood used to make them may have been illegally harvested--and without their knowledge."

Yes, it's this weird "illegal" wood fixation that portions of the federal government seem to have with Gibson guitars. Note that Martin guitars, which are made from the same wood from the same source, have never been subject to government scrutiny nor have they ever been raided by armed federal law enforcement personnel. [Ditto Clements guitars, I might add.]  Odd, isn't it? It's almost as if there's something political about all of this. Nah, that's crazy talk.

The New York Times Explains This "Christian Marriage" Notion To Its Readers

Mitt and Ann Romney’s marriage is strong because they believe they will live together in an eternal afterlife, relatives and friends say, which motivates them to iron out conflicts.

Honestly, whenever the NYT speaks of Christian theology or sacrament these days, it's as if they're explaining the practices of some odd cargo cult to a collection of curious readers.  It reminds me of the tone heard in those old travelogues that used to be shown in movie theaters: "Here are the Tahitians in their colorful native dress.  Don't shrink our heads, boys and girls." or "Behold the Navaho trinket salesman.  Don't worry, he doesn't want your scalp!"  Yeesh.

The part that gets me is that the NYT implies that this belief of the Romney's is something particular to Mormons.  In fact, it is the Christian sacrament of marriage as understood by anyone who is, well, a Christian of any type, denomination, or church.  That's why marriage is a sacrament; it's eternal.

I Used To Play Bass For Vegetarian Shark

World's First Vegetarian Shark Prefers Heads of Lettuce

Parish News

I received word this morning that Marion Oonk, a long-time member and former lay minister at Christ Church, has died. In fact, she was the lay minister I worked with on my first Sunday at Christ Church back in 1999. Let light perpetual shine upon her.

Rite Of Sancturary Is Offered To Black Bears, Too

This fellow came to visit me in front of the parish this morning.  By the time I found my camera he was making his way along South St.

The Widening Gyre

An ordained friend of long acquaintance called me today.  "Did you know that there is General Convention this summer?"

Actually, if I did make note of it, I had forgotten.

He then asked the question that haunts me: "Do you think it matters any more?"

My answer to that question scares me a little.

When the center of this gyre we call the church no longer holds, what happens?  No, I know the answer.  It's happening now.

Greece And Russia: The Christian Connection

This is especially interesting given the coming, and significant, international political shift.

The Geopolitics of Greece’s Exit from the Euro

A Marvelous Letter From Yesterday's Wall Street Journal Web Page

It regards the woman who was once referred to as the Harvard Law School faculty's "person of color", an ostensible 1/32nd Cherokee, whose claims to being the member of any tribe are...weak:

I think everyone is missing the point about the Elizabeth Warren matter. What's important isn't whether or not she lied. What's important is that once she was hired, and Harvard et al. were able to check the diversity box, it didn't matter one little bit if she was actually an Indian or not. This whole kerfuffle exposes the diversity hoax.

On the one hand, back in 1997 we were to celebrate that Harvard had hired its first "woman of color." Finally, Harvard was diversified, which is apparently vitally important for many unnamed reasons, or so we are told. On the other hand, we are assured by all the involved parties that she was hired and evaluated on her performance, not on the diversity that she brought to the institution.

Unlike Warren, I am an "official" Cherokee Indian. I have the pedigree card from the Department of the Interior, Indian Affairs Bureau to prove it. But just like Warren, any "diversity" I bring to an institution has nothing to do with that pedigree. I didn't grow up on a reservation. I don't participate in any Indian-specific religious or cultural institutions. The diversity I bring is related to being the first in my family to go to college. It comes from being in the military. It comes from growing up, being educated, serving my country, and working under my own unique circumstances. In short, the diversity I bring is only different, not better, not worse, than anyone else's "diversity," regardless of skin color or bloodline. It is certainly not related to my great-grandmother being a Cherokee.

But if I check that box, somehow my employer might be viewed as better, more progressive and more "diverse" than others. That's a pile of Indian-pony dung.

Of course this means that any who are of mixed racial background, and yet are as oatmeal-colored as Elizabeth Warren, are held up to even more ridicule by pure Caucasians; something that has been an unforturnate experience for some time.  Between academic poseurs such as Warren, and the odd collection of "Indians" who operate casinos, the honest claim of Indian blood is now always to be suspect.  In the 21st century, the only good Indian is the one you can pretend to be.

Words Written In 1978 [Italics Are Mine]

I speak as a socially concerned evangelical, one who sees that the Gospel is a stick of dynamite in the social structure. We need to proclaim the whole Gospel to the whole man, and this includes relating Christian faith to the whole man, and this includes relating Christian faith to the economic and political areas of life as well as the so-called religious area. At the same time we must beware of combining the Gospel with any social ideology.  - Donald G. Bloesch

True, as the Episcopal Church's strong association with one branch of one secular political party often renders it an irrelevant entity in the lives of about 80% of the American public.  It also sends the unfortunate message that The Church believes that Jesus is only for those who politically agree with its leadership.

And Also With You

Man arrested for throwing Bible at roomie

But You'll Die Healthy

Deadly organic food – worse than Fukushima

The Educational Conundrum

College artists take out onerous student loans in order to learn how to paint a mural that...protests student loans?

Ah, The Simple Joys Of Summer

Armed environmental police shut down ice cream stand

Cue the bureaucrat: "I like ice cream as much as anybody, so it pains us to even temporarily close what is an iconic property, but we have to make sure people eating ice cream there are safe,' said Lambert."

Feel his pain, and that of the thirteen now-unemployed high school + college students.

Some More About Donald "Duck" Dunn

Not to be tedious, but as mentioned in a post from a few days ago, Dunn was a major influence on most of the popular music that grew out of the cauldron of the 1960's; a time when the blending of styles created music so memorable that I still hear it played in high school dormitories.  This link is to an excellent article about him in The Atlantic with mentions of the songs on which he played, his style in regards to the other two bass greats of his era [James Jamerson, who died of a drug overdose, and Jaco Pastorius, who was beaten to death by a bouncer.  Rough crowd I hang out with, aren't they?] and the inspiration he bequeathed to bass players everywhere, even ratty nightclub hacks from the late 70's/early '80's [like me].

Dunn leaves behind an impressive legacy: just a quiet guy holding down the low end who managed to change the sound of pop music.

This Is Why Wind Turbines Are Called "Bird Blenders"

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a division of the Interior Department, is considering loosening regulations on the killing of bald eagles, the national bird of the United States, to accommodate the development of wind energy sources.

This seems a disturbing metaphor.

I Wonder What Grade He Got

Teen arrested after homework left at crime scene

Detroit's historic churches still thriving, helping city

When the Rev. Steven Kelly arrived at St. John's Episcopal Church in Detroit a decade ago, there were only about 50 members left at the historic congregation.

But today, there are almost 200 who attend the oldest church building on Woodward Avenue, built in 1859, a Victorian Gothic structure that sits next to Comerica Park and across the street from the Fox Theatre. The revival of the area around the church coupled with its unique services --traditional Anglican rituals -- have brought back a house of worship that was fading into history.

An Obituary Of Note

Legendary bass player ‘Duck’ Dunn of Booker T. and the MGs dies in Tokyo at age 70

And Also With You

New Zealand churchgoer rips man's ear off

Archaeological News

RAF fighter plane discovered in the Sahara... 70 years after it crashed in the desert

An Obituary Of Note

Carroll Shelby, Builder of Cobra Sports Car, Dies at 89

Maybe the coolest guy ever. I think he was on his fourth heart.  Here he is talking to some guy who's only half as cool.  And look at that car....

Yes. Next Question.

Are the Indians for real?

(It's about baseball, not political candidates.)

Surprisingly, This Was Written In 1911

"Modern culture is a mighty force. It is either subservient to the gospel or else it is the deadliest enemy of the gospel. For making it subservient, religious emotion is not enough, intellectual labor is also necessary. And that labor is being neglected. The Church has turned to easier tasks. And now she is reaping the fruits of her indolence. Now she must battle for her life." - The Princeton Theological Review, Volume 11, 1911

Vox Populi, Vox Deo

As mentioned in an earlier posting:

Massachusetts House overturns school bake sale ban

Cue the outraged politician:  “That is the stupidest thing I’ve seen in my career,” state Rep. Cory Atkins (D-Concord), moments after the House unanimously voted to ease the statewide cupcake crackdown.

You tell 'em, Cory.

And You Can't Smoke Outdoors, Either. So There!

New York Bans Kiteboarding

When did things get so...totalitarian?

Speaking Of Environmentalism

Rescue Workers Train for Hybrid Hazards

Now This Is Environmentalism

The fastest surfing wave in the world has been saved

Ohhhhhhh, Canada

A Christian student suspended from a high school in Nova Scotia for sporting a T-shirt with the slogan "Life is wasted without Jesus" vows to wear it when he returns to class next week.

Cue the bureaucrat: "Nancy Pynch-Worthylake, board superintendent, said some students and teachers found the T-shirt offensive. "When one is able or others are able to interpret it as, 'If you don't share my belief then your life is wasted,' that can be interpreted by some as being inappropriate," she said."

Perhaps I shouldn't smile about the bureaucrat's name sounding like a Month Python character's.

The New York Times Explains These "Christian" Creatures To Its Readers

I saw that when people prayed, they imagined themselves in conversation with God. They do not, of course, think that God is imaginary, but they think that humans need to use their imagination to understand a God so much bigger and better than what they know from ordinary life. They imagine God as wiser and kinder than any human they know, and then they try to become the person they would be if they were always aware of being in God’s presence, even when the kids fuss and the train runs late.

If I were of a scabrous nature, I'd say "Duh". I'm not, though.

The Feast Of Julian Of Norwich, 1342 – 1416

Insomnia, from which I occasionally suffer, can be great when working on sermons or catching up on a variety of letters and notes that need to be sent out. It's also good for catching that deer that's eating my rhubarb.

But, around early afternoon, it can be a bit of a drag. Rather, I can be a bit of a drag by early afternoon. Insomnia usually causes word-retrieval issues, spontaneous bursts of laughter at nothing in particular, and a certain impatience with common foibles.  At those times, it's best that I not be around ordained colleagues.  For some, it can permit compelling experiences with non-linear perception.

One of Christian history's insomniacs, as well as a sufferer of migraine headaches [specifically, scintillating scotoma] was Julian of Norwich, whose feast day is today, of whom more may be found here.  Suffice it to say that she was one of the great mystics of the Anglican tradition and her story evocative of that portion of spirituality of which we seem rarely to speak these days. Given the volume of literature that has been produced about her and her visions, especially since the mid-20th century, she is certainly the most identifiable of Anglican mystics.

The saying, "…All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well", which Julian claimed to be said to her by God Himself, reflects her theology.  T.S. Eliot incorporated this phrase in his "Little Gidding", the fourth of his Four Quartets poems:

Whatever we inherit from the fortunate
We have taken from the defeated
What they had to leave us—a symbol:
A symbol perfected in death.
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
By the purification of the motive
In the ground of our beseeching.

Lord God, in your compassion you granted to the Lady Julian many revelations of your nurturing and sustaining love: Move our hearts, like hers, to seek you above all things, for in giving us yourself you give us all; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Useful Information

'Death is one of the most important things in life'

The Commonwealth Of Mass. Discovers The Cause Of Obesity

Turns out, it's school bake sales.

Bake sales, the calorie-laden standby cash-strapped classrooms, PTAs and booster clubs rely on, will be outlawed from public schools as of Aug. 1 as part of new no-nonsense nutrition standards, forcing fundraisers back to the blackboard to cook up alternative ways to raise money for kids.

I haven't purchased school bake sale goods in well over a decade, which explains why I'm whip thin.

Cue the bureaucrat: "State Sen. Susan Fargo (D-Lincoln), chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Public Health, said the problem of overweight children has reached “crisis” proportions.  'If we didn’t have so many kids that were obese, we could have let things go,' Fargo said."

Gosh, the government can fix everything. It's like Jesus and Superman combined. Of course, if state funding hadn't been cut from athletic/outdoors programs, I doubt this would be an issue. That's why obesity isn't such a problem at private schools.

The New Town Christmas Tree Has Been Planted

The annual party may continue.

Fun Things For A Day Off

Well, it may not be your day off, but it's certainly mine.

Ever consider how important a mail order catalog was in the formation of American music?  Here's an interesting article:  How Sears, Roebuck & Co. midwifed the birth of the blues

This morning's news from France reminded me of this article by P.J. O'Rourke from about four years ago, which was ostensibly about graduation speeches:  Bad Advice for New Graduates

It includes this gem:

"6. Whenever you’re unsure about what course to take in life, ask yourself, “What would France do?”You see, France is a treasure to mankind. French ideas, French beliefs, and French actions form a sort of loadstone for humanity. Because a moral compass needle needs a butt end. Whatever direction France is pointing in—toward Nazi collaboration, Communism, existentialism, Jerry Lewis movies, or President Sarkozy’s personal life—you can go the other way with a clear conscience."

And finally, from the world of sports: Kiteboarding replaces windsurfing in the 2016 Olympic Games

Just So You Know...

The patron saint of horsemen is St. James the Greater. Unofficially, St. Augustine of Hippo (whose mother was Monnica, whose feast day was this week) is the patron of horse racing.

Useful Information

Saturday's Supermoon won't destroy Earth

The Feast Of Monnica

St. Monnica [note the two "n's', as there is an interesting archaeological tale involved in that spelling] was the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the three or four greatest theologians in Christian history, whose most favored quotation was from his great work The Confessions, in which he said that, despite his mother's devotion to Christ and her desire for her son to be equally devoted, in his younger days his prayer was "Lord, give me chastity, but not yet."

Anyway, Monnica was a well-born member of a North African family of the early 4th century; her family was Christian.  In her youth, she was a little on the wild side [a family trait, it appears]; her fondness for wine was extreme to the point that her family's servants would openly ridicule her for her drunkenness.  A sense of shame and developing maturity caused her to eschew wine for the remainder of her life.  However, it is safe to say that she did find her spirituality to be intoxicating.

Her husband was a pagan, and it was to these outworn creeds that her brilliant, precocious son Augustine was originally drawn.  Her singular mission was to see that her son came to Christ, and it was to this she remained dedicated until, with inexorable results, Augustine would be baptized on Easter of 387.  It should be noted that it was the Christian intellectual Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, who had much to do with Augustine's conversion, as Ambrose taught Augustine that one could be both an intellectual and a Christian.  Ah, for an Ambrose in the 21st century....

Monnica followed her son as his political career took him from Carthage to Rome; her work with Christians in the Holy See would become legend.  Interestingly, it was through her efforts that the sites of the Holy Land, while part of the Christian Roman Empire, would be set aside as special.  The building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is thought to be on the site of Jesus' crucifixion, was the singular project encouraged by her work and devotion.

She died before she could return home to Carthage and was entombed in Ostia, on the Italian coast, on this day in the year 387.  Her tomb would be discovered and revealed by archaeologists at the end of World War II.  On it, the spelling of her name is as it appears in this posting, and not as "Monica", which is how it had been spelled in history texts since...well, for a long, long time.  It is not known if the newer [which is to say, older] spelling is accurate or the result of a clumsy stone mason, but it is the spelling that is now accepted.

O Lord, who through spiritual discipline strengthened your servant Monnica to persevere in offering her love and prayers and tears for the conversion of her husband and of Augustine their son: Deepen our devotion, we pray, and use us in accordance with your will to bring others, even our own kindred, to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.

National Day Of Prayer

We will be meeting at noon on the Great Lawn of Christ Church today to recognize the National Day of Prayer.  If inclement, we will meet in the church.

This Isn't What You Think

Horny Jesus hits cop with massive butt

Supermoon = Superwaves

Biggest Full Moon of the year due this weekend as 'supermoon' raises tides around the planet

Continued Gender Problems In Higher Ed

The major reasons young males are not matriculating is a campus atmosphere that is unwelcoming…. It is voiced by young men who enroll but may leave after several semesters: We do not feel welcomed. The environment is anti-male in many classrooms. Administrators, who are now for the most part women, are not interested in how active young men are in college life, with the exception of athletics. Lack of engagement of men in on-campus activities and organizations was one of the first signs of young men being turned off by college life….

This is a commonly expressed issue in seminaries and divinity schools too; although sotto voce, as no one in the greater church wishes to be labeled "disharmonious".

Post-Modern Anarchy: Blowing Up A Place Popular For Elementary School Field Trips

FBI: 5 arrested in plot to blow up bridge

What a surprise: They're members of the Occupy bunch.

Something NPR Left Out

Oh yeah, and a visit from God

Feast Of Sts. Philip And James

As in the case of the other apostles, we see in James and Philip human men who became foundation stones of the Church, and we are reminded again that holiness and its consequent apostolate are entirely the gift of God, not a matter of human achieving. All power is God’s power, even the power of human freedom to accept his gifts. “You will be clothed with power from on high,” Jesus told Philip and the others. Their first commission had been to expel unclean spirits,heal diseases, announce the kingdom. They learned, gradually, that these externals were sacramentsofan even greater miracle inside their persons—the divine power to love like God.

Almighty God, who gave to your apostles Philip and James grace and strength to bear witness to the truth: Grant that we, being mindful of their victory of faith, may glorify in life and death the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.