i needed a laugh today. this was one.

found on the very juvenile fark

William Gibson‘s new novel will be called Spook Country.

Not sure when it will be released, but there’s nothing on Amazon yet.

The opening song at Mass today, this evening, was Morning Has Broken, which I associate with Cat Stevens more than anyone else, though he did not write the song. It was a nice surprise. I remember my mother playing his record Teaser and the Firecat, and that’s a nice memory.

Mass was packed, and ran long because of the blessings and words directed at this years’ Confirmation initiates. My own confirmation happened for me when I was in the 8th grade. These kids I think were high-schoolers, though as I age I find it a bit harder to nail down such distinctions easily. In looking at the page for Confirmation, I see that the custom of taking a confirmation name — I chose “Benedict” as mine, is just that, a local custom peculiar to English and German speaking. The Benedict I chose was Benedict of Nursia. I recall that I chose him because he was a kind of hermit. Read his biography and you see a lot about a life of study and isolation. It is a certainty I chose that as a person to model after because I felt myself so alone in the world. I had few friends by virtue of always being a new kid. The stretches of time afforded to a monk appealed to me. To draw and read and pray (in that order) were tremendously appealing. I was awkward and a little odd. I did my science project not on hurricanes or exploding volcanoes, but on the Pythagorean Theorem. I was cerebral and introverted.

I wondered who these kids will choose for their Confirmation name.

One aspect of the Mass was the family laying their hands on the initiates and blessing them. That’s something uncommon in the Catholic Church. In a LDS/Mormon Church, there are various Priesthoods held by the men of the congregation, indeed, my stepsons have what is called a Priesthood.

True story, when my youngest got his latest Priesthood, an older Mormon male joked –mostly seriously — that you (getters of that particular priesthood, age 12) “have more of God’s power in your litte finger than ‘That Man’ in Rome does” — I glanced at Ty on that one. Ty is savvy and understands — even as a teen, that kind of a “cut.” It was a nice point of discussion to discuss how that fellow might be cutting himself off from certain truths, and offending his audience, by dismissing other faiths in that way. It was a great teachable moment for the whole family. I know I got a lot from it.

I like something I read recently about something in the Baptist faith called “The Priesthood of all believers.” This sounds like truth to me. This is in keeping with the idea of a “personal relationship with God.” I think authorities can enhance that relationship, but in a vacuum, a disconnected person has that same agency, I believe.

On other fronts, a cousin of the kids was killed in a motorcycle accident in the San Diego area last week. We had had them this weekend, but this short-circuited all that. I prayed for their Dad’s family, including them, at Mass. What else can one do?

Hey, I don’t know anything. But I find the interfaith comparison thing fascinating. I’m learning every day.

As Oso says too, Onward.

Now here’s some local history I didn’t know: Report Claims Simi Valley Nuclear Meltdown Has Been Causing Cancer For Decades. How wild. This is not actually that close to us, I mean relatively. But I’ll be watching the news. Here are two articles on ye olde Wikipedia: Santa Susana Field Laboratory; Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory Contamination.

Funny, on the radio yesterday NPR was talking about nuclear power.

I think nuclear may be the way to go, but then I also think nuclear power requires such quality management that our own governments don’t have the capacity to manage nuclear power.

*sigh*

My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time —
To let the punishment fit the crime —
The punishment fit the crime;
And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!

Oso has a post you must read. Oso, God bless.

El Oso, El Moreno, and El Abogado : Hector Enrique Calderon Contreras
60 years down the road I’ll be 86 and Hector Enrique Calderon Contreras will be 83. Who knows what the Internet will be like at that point. Who knows if this blog will still be online and if it is, who knows how significant or insignificant it will be in the sea of searchable information.

But maybe, just maybe, sometime in the next 60 years Hector Enrique Calderon Contreras will come across this post and he’ll remember the night he mugged a gringo tourist. Maybe that laptop he scored that night changed his life. Maybe he learned how to use a computer, was able to get a job, found himself inside the global economy.

Or maybe he sold it for $500 and used the money to buy drugs. Maybe he kept stealing. Maybe he wound up in jail or dead.

leahpeah : Blog Archive » Alex Is Sweet 16

Leah made that dress,  in less than 24 hours. Based on a way-wrong “vintage” Vogue pattern and her own native skill.
Stunning, it was.
We’re still recovering the house from the party – we moved things around a bunch to get lots of floor space, but it’s all coming back around now with some hard work.

Find out more over at leahpeah.com. Fo’ sho’.

Hope to hear from you over there!

There is always hope.

Even when you mess up, you have not wrestled control from Him. After all the dust has settled, where you are and how you are is exactly as He had planned at the outset of creation.

And so, there is always hope.

(this was the thought of the day from askmoses.com)

I like that line. Read Joe the Potter.

Potters Journal: Taking the deer
I read Lost Coyotes blog this morning and left my response. Today is the opening day of Utahs deer hunt. It is like a state holiday. I believe the kids get Monday off from school. Ill not go walking in the mountains today. Last night I could hear the boom of rifles being sighted in at the range east of town. I have fond memories of the pre-dawn excitment waiting with my father when it was still to dark to see or shoot. Those we great times. He is a very good shoot having distiguished himself during his army days in California. Neither of us care to hunt much anymore. It wasa mostly to put meat on the table but the memories are priceless. He always took me to very remote places where he had spent time as a boy and where most Utah hunters dont go. The time alone with him was good medcine. My mother can cook venison better than anyone I have met.

Thought of the day from AskMoses.com:

Remember you are not the body. Neither are you the animal that pounds within the body, demanding its way in every thing.

You are a G-dly soul. Do not confuse the pain and struggle of the body with the joy and purity of the G-dly soul.

Two hours of Tom Barnett in twenty – thirty? – minutes

“Africa won’t be the US – it will be a copy of China, which is a copy of Singapore, which is a copy of Japan, which is a copy of the US.”

Buy a Comic.Or heck, just send me money.

I also have a lot of tech books I could sell you at a reasonable price.

Consider this a garage sale.

Forgiveness – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Forgiveness is the mental and/or spiritual process of ceasing to feel resentment or anger against another person for a perceived offence, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. Forgiveness may be considered simply in terms of the feelings of the person who forgives, or in terms of the relationship between the forgiver and the person forgiven. In some contexts, it may be granted without any expectation of compensation, and without any response on the part of the offender (for example, one may forgive a person who is dead). In practical terms, it may be necessary for the offender to offer some form of apology or restitution, or even just ask for forgiveness, in order for the wronged person to believe they are able to forgive.

Most world religions include teachings on the nature of forgiveness, and many of these teachings provide an underlying basis for the varying modern day theories and practices of forgiveness. Instances of teachings on forgiveness such as the parable of the Prodigal Son[1] and Mahatma Gandhi’s forgiveness of his assassin as he lay dying, are well known instances of such teachings and practices of forgiveness. Some religious doctrines or philosophies place greater emphasis on the need for humans to find some sort of divine forgiveness for their own shortcomings, others place greater emphasis on the need for humans to practice forgiveness between one another, yet others make little or no distinction between human and/or divine forgiveness.

6 Righteousness guards the man of integrity,
but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

7 One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;
another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.

8 A man’s riches may ransom his life,
but a poor man hears no threat.

9 The light of the righteous shines brightly,
but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.

10 Pride only breeds quarrels,
but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

11 Dishonest money dwindles away,
but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

13 He who scorns instruction will pay for it,
but he who respects a command is rewarded.

14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,
turning a man from the snares of death.

15 Good understanding wins favor,
but the way of the unfaithful is hard. [a]

16 Every prudent man acts out of knowledge,
but a fool exposes his folly.

17 A wicked messenger falls into trouble,
but a trustworthy envoy brings healing.

18 He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame,
but whoever heeds correction is honored.

19 A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul,
but fools detest turning from evil.

20 He who walks with the wise grows wise,
but a companion of fools suffers harm.

So funny!

defective yeti: Ice, Ice baby
My god, what are we teaching this generation of children? First we have the prequels, portraying Darth Vader as the kind of sensitive romantic more likely to join a boy band called U ‘n’ I than the Sith, and now the Wampa Ice Creature is being recast as an adorable, pocket-size critter suitable for cuddling? Where will it end? Grand Moff Tarkin getting named “#1 Grandpa?”

Now crawl to me Magellan across your barren straits
I’m stranded on the sidewalk but I’m sailing
Now the rose is whispering and dripping bouquet
Now my tongue is listening to every insect message that you’ve
sent to me Columbus across your fruited plain
soul shipwrecked ‘tween the pillars of your failing
Now the rose is glistening and screaming my name
Now my tongue is listening to every insect message on the town
every insect message underground

“A man got to have a code”

– Omar

Every day is new.

Affirmation: “I am capable of changing.”

Backup Affirmation: “I am enough.”

Religious practice fascinates me lately:

Tefillin – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tefillin Hebrew: תפלין, also called phylacteries, are either of two boxes containing Biblical verses and black, leather straps attached to them which are used in rabbinic Jewish prayer. They are an essential part of morning prayer services, and are worn on a daily basis except the Sabbath and festivals by many Jews. In this article the term “to lay tefillin” will be used throughout but it is still correct to use “wear”.

Everyday I build a mask
Up to the task
But now there’s no real me

Call me a collage
Of spare parts found in Berlin’s garage
But there’s no real me

I cut clippings from my dreams
And move them around till they look like me
But there’s no real me

My paste-on eyes can see right through
All of you
But you don’t see me

Josephine entertained
They’d laughed and swooned
All she had was her pain
Carefully tuned

Boy was she was without shame
So elegantly marooned
The mask was just her band-aid
She worked the wound

I finally found a home
Between the clicks of a metronome
Now there’s no real me

I went out on a limb
But the tree disappeared and the sky grew dim
Now there’s no real me

My pain entertains
I see you applaud
Thanking God you’re sane
Now woe is me

I’m cursed to entertain
You laugh and swoon
All I have is my pain
Sharp and in tune
And should I feel ashamed since I’m still here marooned
No one else can be blamed
For me working the wound
I’m still working the wound
I’m still working the wound
I’m still working the wound

(stew’s blog;  passing strange: now playing at the berkeley repertory theatre)

when will flickering candles, orange haze, undulating shadows and the face of the one you love cease to be the best television ever? – stew

With all due respects to Bob Barker, I would have bet anything that he was already dead. And I would have bet everything that “The Price Is Right” was no longer on the air. I’ve got to start watching more TV. – j-walk

You’re not really having an adventure unless knowledge of your blood type is required beforehand. – coop

Luckily, the coroner who lives next door refused to supply the scattered body parts they sought to complete the illusion. –  defamer

I turned into a Democrat just to be rebellious. – leahpeah

After all, their application ran perfectly on the System/3 and there was no need to change it. – daily wtf

Today is Halloween, and may I just remind you how much I don’t like this holiday? – mark evanier