discoveries from the internets and some stuff I wrote too
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recent quotes i like
"Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words." - ? | | | | | | |
"If there is anything I have learned from liberals and conservatives, it's that you can have great answers and still be mean... and that just as important as being right is being nice. " - shane claiborne | | | | | | |
"If Liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." --George Orwell ||||||
"On Facebook, no one can hear you scream." - I dont know ||||||
"The reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order, this lukewarmness arising partly from fear of their adversaries, who have the laws in their favor; and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it." - Machiavelli ||||||
Chest of Drawers
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This chest of drawers is to replace the cheap stand (with no storage) that
was previously holding up our parrot's travel cage. She only lives with us
a few...
An important message from Consumer Reports
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This is our last post on Consumerist.com. We’re deeply proud of all the
work we’ve done on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by
secretive ...
My Milk Toof Travel Update
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*Dear International readers from Southeast France!*
ickle, Lardee & myself will be traveling around the southeast of France
area from 06/02-06/20. If anyo...
The Years Of Writing Dangerously
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Thirteen years ago, as I was starting to experiment with this blogging
thing, I wrote the following: [T]he speed with which an idea in your head
reaches th...
Saint Francis of Assisi
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… everyone who follows Christ receives true peace, the peace that Christ
alone can give, a peace which the world cannot give. Many people, when they
think ...
X-Factor Auditions, Part Two: The registration...
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Kind of creepy to be walking around White Plains at 4:30 in the morning. No
lights on, no cars, no people. I felt like I was in a zombie movie. And,
really...
One of New York's finest was arrested early Sunday morning after pushing a Jersey City cop in the chest in the parking lot of a Downtown Jersey City bar, police said.
Michael Velazquez Jr., 23, of Tompkins Avenue in Brooklyn, was charged with aggravated assault, disorderly conduct and failure to disperse, reports said. Jersey City Police responded to calls about a disturbance in the parking lot of the Sand Bar on Marin Boulevard around 3 a.m., reports said.
Police found a large gathering of men and told them to move along, reports said. But Velazquez yelled that he was a police officer and did not have to listen to the Jersey City cops, and shoved one of the Jersey City officers, reports said.
After being restrained, Velazquez was taken to the East District Precinct on Seventh Street for processing, where he continued to be verbally abusive and it was confirmed that he is a New York City police officer, reports said.
Living in America, it's easy to forget that most of the world does not speak English; and that much of the world's literature is not written in English. In order for us to read the best of what the rest of the world writes — and in order for the rest of the world to experience our best literature — skilled writers must work in the art of translation.
But it's not as straightforward as you might think. A good translation needs to be true to the original and able to stand on its own for a new audience.
Bea Basso, who came from Italy to the United States in 2000 to study and work in theater, has done a lot of translating from Italian to English. She says that the choice of a single word can determine the arc of an entire work.
you can hear it at it's most extreme in Cher's "do you believe in life after love?" (funny how two things can take me directly back to a specific time and place; a song and/or a smell. this song places me in the midst of a particular bar in Montreal around the time this song came out, i even can see the shorts i was wearing....) Anyway....
here are two NPR stories on the "Auto-tune" technique and how it has been and can be used:
i have been following the story of tavi since i first heard of her early last week, all the while waiting for her to be revealed as some kind of hoax. she is 12 and has her own blog, most of which deals with her exploring fashion. some photos of her daily outfit choices, but also a lot of very arty fashion type pics she takes and a bunch of text that seems to have been typed by a 35 year old who works at Vogue.
Well, she hasn't been exposed thus far so i thought i would finally mention a couple things related to her.
A: her description of herself from her blog:
I am a 12 year old space cowboy that can fit in mail bins and pretends to follow baseball season. To pass the time I write fairy tale fan fiction, in which princesses join cults and witches are photographed by Wendy Bevan. My favorite foods are raspberries and hipsters, and my #1 pet peeve is Comic Sans. Magic wandery is my prime method for self defense, along with some karate I picked up in fourth grade and excellent insults I spontaneously come up with on the spot. Your mom.
B: this video where she raps about her parents taking her to visit to H&M - and she claims it is her reward to all of us for voting, then at the end she explains that she has some previous rap experience because in second grade she was obsessed with writing raps about poop: Untitled from Tavi G on Vimeo.
usually she gives each of her 20 or so favorite things from each year to all the members of the in studio audience. the results are as follows:
but this year she has said that due to the economic situation she is going to be focusing on things that cost "nearly nothing." i wonder what the audience's reactions will be to that?
"For almost 400 years, Christmas was banned in Scotland. At the height of the Reformation, in 1583, when anything smacking of Catholicism and idolatrous excess was thrown out with contempt, Christmas and all its trappings was wiped off the official calendar ...Reinforced by the hard arm of the law, this was a ban that had bite... This was an age when religious belief could mean the difference between life and a very nasty death....
Scottish Presbyterians, when called on for support by the Puritans of the English Parliament in 1644, did so on the understanding that their allies would in exchange impose the ban on Christmas. For over a decade traditional English Christmas festivities were prohibited
From Scotland, the ban on Christmas spread briefly, as Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army brought the Cromwellian revolution to England. Cromwell's Puritans banned Christmas in England for about a decade but the measure was unpopular. Feelings among pro and anti Christmas advocates ran strong and, after a second enforcement act against Christmas was passed by the English Parliament in 1647,
Again the people rebelled, this time so forcefully that armed officers had to be sent to remove evergreens decorating St Margaret's Church, near the English Parliament itself. Rioting broke out in London, Kent, Oxford, Canterbury and Ipswich, in which several people were killed. A petition with more than 10,000 signatures demanded either the restoration of Christmas or else the king back on the throne...
Even after the bans were revoked in England in 1660, Puritans and other Non-Conformists "ranted against Anti-Christ's-masse and those Masse-mongers and Papists who observe it", and were commonly known to "inveigh against New Year gifts and evergreens, or to attack the Pope by refusing to eat plum-broth; or to condemn those who ate mince-pies as Papists and idolaters"....
These attitudes were carried to the New World by English Puritans, Quakers, Baptists and Scottish Presbyterians. In America, reprisals were as harsh here as back in Scotland. In Massachusetts a five-shilling penalty was imposed on anyone found feasting or shirking work on Christmas Day...
A hundred years later the Quakers were still ranting against the Christmas pie as "an invention of the scarlet whore of Babylon, an hodge podge of superstition, Popery, the Devil and all his works".
From England the Protestant War on Christmas then crossed the Atlantic, migrating with the Puritans who were fleeing the persecution of their political and theological tendency that followed the overthrow of Cromwellian government, to the New World. Under Puritan rule in the Bay State Colony, Christmas was at one point legally banned for two decades.
Christmas fared worse in Scotland though and was only brought back after four centuries because of the experience of Scottish soldiers during World War Two. As Amy McNeese describes,
Abroad and in the company of English soldiers, many Scots experienced their first proper Christmas dinner. Once tasted, it was never forgotten. On their return home, these servicemen began to celebrate the festival with some style, and gradually their ideas took root.
for more on why Christmas is when it is see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus - Sol Invictus ("Unconquered Sun") was the Roman state-supported sun god created by the emperor Aurelian in 274 and continued, overshadowing other Eastern cults in importance,[1] until the abolition of paganism under Theodosius I. Although known as a god, the term "Unconquered Sun God' is not found on any Roman document.
The Romans held a festival on December 25 of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, "the birthday of the unconquered sun." December 25 was the date after the winter solstice,[2] with the first detectable lengthening of daylight hours. There was also a festival on December 19.[3]
The title Sol Invictus had also been applied to a number of other solar deities before and during this period. The type of Sol Invictus, though not the name, appears on imperial coinage from the time of Septimius Severus onwards.[4]
Though many Oriental cults were practiced informally among the Roman legions from the mid-second century, only that of Sol Invictus was officially accepted and presacribed for the army.[5]
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After his victories in the East, the emperor Aurelian introduced an official cult of Sol Invictus, making the sun-god the premier divinity of the empire, and wearing his radiated crown himself. He founded a college of pontifices, and dedicated a temple to Sol Invictus in 274. It is possible that he created the festival called dies natalis Solis Invicti, "birthday of the undefeated Sun", which is recorded in 354 (in the Chronography of 354) as celebrated on the 25th December;[6] but no earlier reference to it exists. The cult of Sol Invictus was the leading official cult of the fourth century
In the legions, where a policy of individual religious freedom is attested by personal inscriptions, on shrines and through votive offerings in every part of the Empire, outside the camps themselves, the only Eastern cult that was officially tolerated, probably from Aurelian's reign, and certainly under Constantine, was that of Sol Invictus.[7]...
Constantine decreed (March 7, 321) dies Solis—day of the sun, "Sunday"—as the Roman day of rest [CJ3.12.2]:
On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.
The religion of Sol Invictus continued to be part of the state religion until all paganism was abolished by decree of Theodosius I on February 27, 390...
Some Christians accept the idea that Sol Invictus may be behind the date of Christmas, with the idea that the early church "baptized" the holiday by imbuing it with a new, Christian meaning. In the 5th c., Pope Leo I (the Great) spoke of this in several sermons on the Feast of the Nativity. Here is an excerpt from his 26th sermon:
But this Nativity which is to be adored in heaven and on earth is suggested to us by no day more than this when, with the early light still shedding its rays on nature, there is borne in upon our senses the brightness of this wondrous mystery.
But this sermon was not in any way related to Sol Invictus directly.
In his 22nd sermon, he directly addressed those who attributed the Nativity to Sol Invictus:
Having therefore so confident a hope, dearly beloved, abide firm in the Faith in which you are built: lest that same tempter whose tyranny over you Christ has already destroyed, win you back again with any of his wiles, and mar even the joys of the present festival by his deceitful art, misleading simpler souls with the pestilential notion of some to whom this our solemn feast day seems to derive its honour, not so much from the nativity of Christ as, according to them, from the rising of the new sun . Such men's hearts are wrapped in total darkness, and have no growing perception of the true Light: for they are still drawn away by the foolish errors of heathendom, and because they cannot lift the eyes of their mind above that which their carnal sight beholds, they pay divine honour to the luminaries that minister to the world.
In this sermon, Pope Leo I clearly establishes that the two feast were held on the same day, but that they are also not related.
Solar symbolism was popular with early Christian writers[11] This is also apparent in the prayers and hymns of the Church, such as the Eastern Orthodox Troparion of the Nativity:
Thy birth, O Christ our God, rose upon the world as the light of knowledge; for through it those who worshipped the stars were taught by a star to adore Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Sunrise from on high. O Lord, glory to Thee...
According to the scholiast on the Syriac bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi, writing in the twelfth century:
"It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part. Accordingly when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnised on that day."
You remember Ted Haggard, of course, the nation's top Evangelical, former President of the National Association of Evangelicals, and chief adviser to President Bush. Ted Haggard who was disgraced when it was learned that he had a taste for turning Benjamin's into hot sheet motel rooms, gay hookers and crystal meth? Straight Ted who betrayed his congregation, the American Evangelical Movement and his family when he succumbed to sin? Not temptation, of course. You can't be tempted to suck another man's penis unless you're a homosexual, and Ted, as he still insists, was not and is not gay.
before he got caught:
is there even a word for the depths of hypocrisy this clip betrays???? I seem to recall some thing about "white washed graves" that look very pretty from the outside but are full of serpents and worms within - I think somebody like Jesus said that.... correct me if i'm worng?
now AFTER he got caught - "aint my fault" as usual. Accepting responsibility for one's own actions is an indicator of maturity:
- it ain't my fault! and those darn church leaders - they screwed up too! did i screw up? oh, no, it wasn't my fault....
So Ted wants his career back and is positioning himself to become America's Homophobe-in-chief; and who better to fulfill that role than a pathologically self-loathing gay man.
The question is whether or not Evangelical America and the mainstream media will buy into this pernicious and vile con.
just a funny video - but ALL FACTS! :) Hallalujah!... or Allleluia! depending on your Christian leanings. Anyhow, Praise be to God for the Truth once in a while!
The best part of this, of course, is that now that he's working the pulpit again, Teddy can reclaim his tax exempt status so that your tax dollars can subsidize this unique and especially vile brand of hate-mongering and psychopathic behavior.
I know I have at least ONE Johnny Depp fan out there - and she knows who she is - florida. But I think some of the rest of us might find this of interest - not just that he is doing THE MAD HATTER but that anyone is doing Alice In Wonderland! all from huffingtonpost:
With curly red hair sticking out from his quirky hat, a ghostly pallor and bohemian Victorian clothes, Johnny Depp is unrecognizable in his latest role.
The chameleon Hollywood actor is, once again, transforming his good looks for his upcoming role as the Mad Hatter in Alice In Wonderland.
The 45-year-old star is playing a darker version of the tea-drinking hat maker in Tim Burton's upcoming remake of the Lewis Carroll classic.
And this picture is being touted as the first glimpse of the actor in the role.
On Saturday November 15th 2008 I was in Philadelphia for the pro-marriage anti-proposition 8 rally at City Hall. The gathering seems to have ended up falling into three parts actually. The first part was folks with signs and various chants erupting and a little speech and moment of silence for the 18,000 couples in California who married since May of this year but are now in a legal limbo since California passed Proposition 8 by 52% calling for banning gay marriage leaving their legal fates unknown and no further marriages permitted.
A second segment then began involving most of the marriage supporters moving to the edge of City hall along the main thoroughfares and hoisting their sign and receiving a great many honks of horns from the passing cars in support. Whenever the light would change signaling pedestrians to cross a few would run out and wave flags and dance around until the light changed back again.
The third part of the rally ended up seeming the most interesting to me. way on the other side of the plaza the "Repent America" folks showed up. These folks are a slightly less nasty version of the Westboro Baptist Church people - the "God Hates Fags" church who go around doing such enlightening things as crashing dead Iraqi soldiers funerals to alert everyone there that the reason their loved one is dead is because America tolerates gays and therefore God is punishing America through the death of this or that particular soldier. Like I said, that'sWestboro Baptists - this is Repent America. Repent America shows up at each and every gay event in Philadelphia and position themselves and their bullhorn someplace unavoidable and begin to shout and yell at the gay people. They are at every gay parade and pride festival etc in Philadelphia and they are almost always ignored by the vast majority of the crowd.
This time they got the attention they so obviously crave. The marriage supporters began to converge around repent America (all three of them) and their sign and bullhorn and funny little soapbox and respond to them for a change. Chants of "We don't hate YOU" and "God is Love" and "Cast the first stone!" and "We have a permit, you do not" came up from the crowd. Not having received any real attention at their previous protests the Repent America people began to sweat now that they found themselves surrounded by a couple thousand gay people shouting back at them.
Several plan clothes representatives of the Police arrived. They were identifiable by bright orange police arm bands that they wore. They asked the Repent America people of they felt ok and whether they wanted to continue. Apparently at first they said they felt ok if the police would back the crowd up a bit. About 10 minutes later the police were up front negotiating with the Repent America guys again, it seemed to me they were trying to convince them to stop or move somewhere else - they couldn't force them to, but they were asking. Repent America remained where they were but said they felt threatened by the crowd so a pro gay clergy member along with the police representatives began to ask the pro-marriage folks to form a clear "escape route" - basically right down the middle the sea parted and the progay folks linked arms and made a corridor for the Repent America people, should they decide to make use of it.
They did not make use of it for some time and the corridor only became longer and longer as the repentance bullhorn and the alternating chants drew most of the other rally attendees over tot he area. Eventually Repent America decided they had had enough and packed up their banner and walked right thru the corridor of linked arms. They took a breather and started back up a little further from the plaza about a half an hour later, but by this time the crowd had reverted to the standard tactic of simply ignoring them.
Huckabee: Gays Haven't Crossed Civil Rights Violence Threshold - as evidenced perfectly by this blog post! video - note: he maintains that "institutional rights" and "individual rights" are two different things - can you explain to me how that is so?
De Tocqueville understood the genius of American Christianity better than most Republicans today:
"I have no belief in the virtue or durability of official philosophies, and when it comes to state religions, I have always thought that, though they may perhaps sometimes momentarily serve the interests of political power, they are always sooner or later fatal for the church.
Nor am I one of those who think that to exalt religion in the eyes of the people and to do honor to the spirituality of religious teaching, it is good to give its ministers indirectly a political influence which the laws refuse.
I am so deeply convinced of the almost inevitable dangers which face beliefs when their interpreters take part in public affairs, and so firmly persuaded that at all costs Christianity must be maintained among the new democracies that I would rather shut priests up within their sanctuaries than allow them to leave them."
These people will kill Christianity before they get to enforce by law the fantasies of their own neuroses
