29 March 2006
Uncle Kevin explains things: Okay we already talked about wearing clothes you don’t fit and the need for underwear, so let hit a few more points y’all might want to consider:
Sincerity is really meaningless in terms of true and false or right and wrong. It may be a reason for mercy, but wrong is still wrong even if you truly honestly believe it isn’t. There is no correlation between the strength of a belief and its relationship to the truth.
In reference to the above, people claiming Christianity requires total pacifism like the Christian Peace group on Medved’s show should shut the fuck up and read the whole gospel. Anyone know if they apply this non-killing thing to fetuses? Seriously, if you are reading the Bible without the guidance of the Church, you are basically looking at someone else's family album and making up stories.
Science is the main tool for separating what is true from what we believe is true. So if you are going to try to push creationism, give me some scientific evidence and not just “we can’t explain this so” arguments. Or maybe stop making up your own interpretation and see what early Church said about scripture and allegory.
Similarly, if you are a secularist, you need a good scientific reason why I should care for any sort of social justice. Unless there is also an objective moral truth, then Mao was right and I want to get my trampling in while I can.
Science conferences are long and you walk a lot. High heels don’t make you look good. They make you look dumb. Likewise, dressing like you are going clubbing does not enhance your presentation. If I am thinking of how you’d squeal on a mattress, I am probably not considering your data.
Touching someone you aren’t willing to do, kill, or are kin to is probably unwise. At the least, it's rude. At worse, something might just kill and eat you…
I learned to stop calling names in about the 6th grade. Stuff like Mad Kane’s trash, the insults conservative writers get called, calling Reynolds the Insta-cracker, or calling Bush Hitler isn’t clever. It’s childish. It’s a sign of limited creativity and possibly damaged intellect. Everything time you do stuff like that, you convince me to take you even less seriously than I do.
Similarly, with crude humor. I stopped finding genital jokes funny in high school. If that’s the best stuff you can find, get a better writer or find a real job. And no, the Vagina Monologues aren’t funny. They are actually pretty pathetic.
Don’t tell me about rights and justice unless you are trying to defend them for people you hate. Otherwise the term is self interest. By the way, “speak truth to power” really means forcing your opinion down my throat.
It takes two things to get good at something: hard work and staying power. If you aren’t willing to do either, don’t waste a teacher’s time. If you have done something a couple hours a week for a few years, you are a beginner or a dabbler so sit down and shut up.
If you can’t lose your livelihood, a limb, or your life by doing it, then it’s not courage. BTW courage does not imply right. It means being brave. Nothing else.
Patriotism: It’s simple. If it aids the enemy, weakens the country, or endangers the nation, its not. It’s treason. Want failure in Iraq, open borders, to be nice to terrorists? You’re a traitor. Live with it. And that means a lot of us think you deserve to hang. Yes, that means the news media too.
Why, yes, it was an interesting trip.
27 March 2006
Atlanta: Well, I'm at the ACS Conference and things are no better than expected. The conference has some fascinating talks and the booth is, well, boring. I did get to drink good scotch with Hal and see Lily and their little one. What a lovely little girl! The goddess would have never let her down. Friends like these make life on the road a pleasure rather than tolerable.
Great stew too but no Bean. I bet the mothership got him back.....
26 March 2006
This stuff didn’t upload for some reasons, so here we go again…
Country’s New Double Standard: Normally a double standard is that the man is cut more slack for indecent behavior while the woman is judged. So one of my co-workers who’d hump a tree on the odd chance it might hold a female chipmunk is tolerated but a woman who acts that way is considered slutty. (Not by me – I see no moral difference between a whore and a whorehound – to use the term a Midwest friend has for male equivalents). Apparently this is true in country music, as the Dixie Chicks have lost a lot of playtime for their anti-American stance (and the poor babies whine that people say things to their families about them…I wonder if traitor get used.) However Steve Earle still gets plenty of local play despite his ballad to an all-American Traitor, his public admission of trying to “skip pinko shit into bluegrass,” his continued insulting of his country, the military and the government, his rooting for out enemies, and his songs at the anti-war rally last weekend where he was singing “f$%^ the USA.” Inquires by phone to the local stations like the Range have not gotten answers.
Now I’ll admit that quality of Earle’s music is better than the Dixie Chicks, but then I think they sucked since they got rid of that bluegrass-ey sounding lead singer from their early work and went Nashville with the current one. They do pose naked a lot better than Earle would, even if they have tried to pull all copies of that PETA ad they did naked. Heck even the vocalist looked good. (try googling it – this is a family friendly site or I’d post it). Still, if you are going to not play them, why the hell would you play Earle?
No links because I’ll be damned if I willing give these people hits.
Fog
City Dumpster Diner: My friend Doc and the
lovely Miss Laura took me out to this restaurant in San Francisco. This place
wasn’t any diner by my standards: Texas diners don’t stock 20 year old scotches.
The bourbon selection was pitiful however despite Doc’s prior assurances. Laura
looks radiant these days and still I have no clue how Doc got her to marry him.
Academia’s Quota System bites back: Dr. Helen has a post about the unintended affect of the quota approach to admissions on women. So many more women are applying that better female candidates may be passed over for males. Now, after I got done laughing, I decided that the lovely Dr. Helen (how did Glenn marry her?) may be skipping a major point in the whole argument. Not missing because I think what she said is dead on and her last line seems a bit gleeful. The problem to me is not that academic admissions are quota driven. The problem really is that universities, like a lot of the arts, have become totally divorced from the society around them. Some disconnect is probably a good thing, as there needs to be a place for pure research, but we reached the point where most universities are at war with the surrounding society. We are still basically a capitalist society that rewards ability and drive. Universities are, well, different.
Starting from the admission process, where despite all the attempts to hide or justify it, a quota system is imposed, university life is a trip into the old Soviet Union. Speech codes are enforces, politically favored groups, i.e. Muslims today, are protected even when they break the law, teachers are untouchable in their actions, and market forces do not really apply. In Texas, 50% of the state school’s tuition is paid by the taxpayer, the remainder by the student and neither of those two can say anything about how the place is run. The current tenure system both assures faculty of a safe unaccountable job after tenure and also assures that divergent viewpoints will not be allowed to even enter the sacred halls. Being adjunct faculty with grant money and graduate students, I get to see more than most outsiders and it ain’t pretty. I know of three cases where politics or religion resulted in a candidate being rejected despite them being admitted the best person for the job. I know of other cases where tenure was given to a weak candidate because she was a minority female and that filled several diversity boxes. I know of five other cases where tenure was refused because the person was making changes that made the department look bad (like actually doing research, teaching courses so that the students learned something, etc). I know of a chair selection committee that decided that no one from industry or government would be considered as they are “could not understand the special arrangements of a university.” I know of many people whose brains stopped working when tenure was obtained. This is all in science and engineering departments. I hear it’s worse in the liberal arts. In the sciences and engineering, the course work is pretty much fixed and its hard to force feed politics in it. Not so in the arts.
Add to this a system where a teacher is pretty much unanswerable to anyone, where administrators are rewarded for not rocking the boat, where the police force is oppressive, where costs are divorced from rewards and from risks, where your parents aren’t allowed but the university wants no responsibility for you, and its not surprising that the goddess sees more depression at the clinic than anything else. (STDs are a close second.) So despite the concern about admissions, I think they aren’t looking deep enough. Yes, we should admit the best possible candidates without looking at anything other than ability. However we need to fix the system. I think the increased conservatism claimed for the youth today is less a function of the Roe effect but more do to expose to the twisted and unfair system that exists in most colleges and universities today.
19 March 2005
50 BMG Legal Update (and a CCW law too): For those of you like to watch what our self-appointed guardians are trying to slip thru, here's the current status of various laws affecting 50 BMG ownership. Remember several anti-gun groups are on record for saying that if they can succeed in banning heavy sniper rifles, they will then push for medium sniper rifle bans. And that probably includes most center fire rifles on the market.
Illinois: HB 2414
Appears to be a total ban on 50 caliber and larger firearms. This bill carried over from 2005 and is part of a package of anti-gun bills submitted by Gov. Blagojevich and Mayor Daly. This bill is not dead and seems to have a set of legs that keep it moving inexorably forward in the legislative process. This bill is currently in the Executive Committee on the House side with a recommendation to approve. No hearings have been set yet.
I just turned down a job offer because I'd have to live there. Ugh.
New York S 2590
Bans the sale, use or possession of 50-caliber or larger weapons and instructs
the police to chase them down. At this time the NY Assembly has passed a
companion bill A-4471. S 2590 on the Senate side of the legislature has been
assigned to the Rules Committee.
Hawaii SB 25 79 & HB 3015
Both of these bills are dead for the year. A strong vote of thanks needs
to be extended to two (2) people: Dr. Maxwell Cooper of the Hawaiian
Rifle Association and Representative Ken Ito. Representative Ito is the
chairman of Public Safety and Military Affairs Committee and refused to schedule
the house bill for a hearing. The bill died as a result. This situation in
Hawaii is a good example of interference by anti-gun influences. There has never
been a reported incident involving a 50 caliber rifle in Hawaiian history, yet
the Chief of Police just decides to introduce legislation to ban them.
California AB-50 Update:
FCI has been contacted by several of our California supporters regarding a
problem that is occurring to owners of 50 BMG rifles while trying to register
their firearms in accordance with AB-50. The problem is there are inaccuracies
in the document from the DOJ regarding the Make, Model and Serial Numbers
of the firearms being registered. In answer to a request by the FCI, the DOJ
responds:
"The Department of Justice (DOJ) necessarily utilizes the gun make and model
codes promulgated by the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) of the federal
Department of Justice. Doing so enables DOJ to communicate with the other states
regarding gun files such as stolen weapons, etc. NCIC itself does not
presently have a literal output of E.D.M Arms or Barrett Firearms Mfg. Rather,
NCIC assigns the narrative "EDML" and "Barrett Firearms" for these long guns.
Therefore, while the literal does not match
Mr. X rifle's imprint, the code is correct and applicable to his weapon."
If you are experiencing similar difficulties or have questions about their
letters from DOJ, please contact DOJ at (916) 227-3268.
Delaware: HB 359 and
maybe an Online Poll
The News Journal newspaper in Delaware is running an on-line poll concerning a
"shall issue" concealed carry bill which was filed yesterday in the Delaware
House of Representatives as HB 359. The anti's have found this poll and are
trying to drum up numbers to show public opposition to the bill - which is
wrong. Delaware citizens our need help! Although not 50 caliber related FCI is
asking everyone to go on line at
www.delawareonline.com and vote "YES" in support of this very important
bill. Now, I can't find the dang thing but the anti-machine is out in force and
there is no question where the paper stands. The language in the articles
paints the Brady whores as saints and the NRA as high paid lobbyists...etc.
If you know folks in Delaware, encourage them to support this bill and vote in
the poll.
Details on all this can be found at the FCI site here and most of above has been taken from their legislative alerts.
Okay, ban my 50 you bastards: Ronnie Barrett didn't actually say that in any way or form that I have ever heard. He's too much a gentleman from all the tales I hear. Instead, he has developed a new round, the .416, which is legal in California. The FCI is raffling one off as a find raiser but look at this thing's ballistics: a 400 grain bullet with a muzzle velocity of 3250 and its is claimed to stay supersonic out past 2500 yards.
Isn't she lovely?
I want one. And a set of dies. Those kids can work there own way thru college. Besides since Noah wants to shoot the fifty, I can shoot this with him and we can bond...
17 March 2006
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Holy Bishop Patrick,
Faithful shepherd of Christ's royal flock,
You filled Ireland with the radiance of the Gospel:
The mighty strength of the Trinity!
Now that you stand before the Savior,
Pray that He may preserve us in faith and love
And for those that missed it yesterday, it was 3 years ago Rachel Corrie committed suicide by bulldozer so:
Okay I'm a day late too but in mockery
honor of the treasonous amoral bitch misguided child, let's
make pancakes. Unlike the current traitor
de jure moonbat darling, Cindy "Dishonor my son's grave
Peace Mother" Sheehan, at least Corrie had some stones. No moral
compass and not a lot of smarts, but stones at least. Don't tell me you're
speaking the truth to power unless you are someplace that power will kill you
for it. I suggest Christian rights in Saudi Arabia or maybe anti-government
speech in China or Cuba...
French Pancakes (from my father): Dad used to make these nights when Mother wasn't home or when the three of us would be cooking together. It was years before I realized that what people meant by crepes were these things. I like them best plain, with just some butter, however you can fill them with a savory meat filling, pickled herring, a sweetened farmer's cheese, or fruit jams. The Making of A Cook by Kamman has some great recipes for filling crepes (old version not the new one).
3 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
4 tablespoon melted butter
dash of salt
Add flour to a mixer's bowl, add eggs, and turn on low mixing well until strands begin to form. Add milk slowly while mixing to form a batter. Add melted butter and salt. Let batter sit 15 minutes and then cook crepes in a large flat skillet with melted butter. Heat the pan until hot and add 1Tbsp clarified butter. Pour the batter in one end and tilt the pan to spread it. Use as little batter as you can 'cause thinner is better here. When bubbles appear the side is done. Flip and repeat. Serve with butter and fillings if desired. If you are going to make dessert crepes, add 1 tbsp powdered sugar to the flour, increase the eggs with an extra yolk, add 2 tsp of a sweet liquor if desired, and adjust the milk by adding a bit more to get the right consistency.
Shooting and Fishing with
Kids: On those days when the job makes your soul start to consider
eternal damnation as a decent trade, sometimes you just shut it down and go
hide. I packed the boys in the truck, grabbed the guns and the rods, and ran out
to East Texas to visit Bryan and his folks. Ben Wheeler is a lovely part of the
state and even in the drought, with the tanks low, there is enough spring-fed
water coming in to keep the fish alive. Katie (12), Dustin (11) and Tyler (9)
were up there too, Bryan's niece and nephews so we had a bunch of them. Fishing
was a bust with nothing biting but turtles so we moved over to shooting. Katie
got sweet talked into trying pistol shooting for the first time. I think she's
hooked. I know the boys all are.
Ben up to something (and about to get his butt
chewed over those missing safety glasses) - Katie sights the fifty - Dustin
and Tyler with .22s. 
Noah, Katie, Ben and Bryan - Ben by the tank - Noah
and the fifty.
Noah adopted my 17 - Katie with the 50.
11 March 2006
Mandolin Chords: For anyone who uses Tabledit and plays mandolin, I've added a catalog of Mandolin Chords to the side column for downloads.
Noodles and Farmer's Cheese: It took me forever to find someone in the Dallas/Fort Worth area that carries what I was raised calling Farmer's Cheese. Not the unripe cheese that the folks from Sweden and the Baltic region make, but a dry form of cottage cheese that you can use in place of ricotta. We use it in the Pascha cheese spread as well as the Pascha bread. Mother reminded me of this Lenten* dish using it:
1 pound cooked egg noodles, ideally still warm (but leftovers are what I normally use)
1/2 dry cottage cheese or kosher farmer's cheese
1/2 onion diced
1/2 to 1 cup cabbage shredded (I like to use red)
4 Tbsp butter
(and outside of Lenten, 1 pound loose sausage, browned and drained).
Melt the butter in a large skillet and add onions and cabbage. Fry until softened and beginning to brown. Add the noodles and mix well. When noodles are heated through, add the cheese (and the sausage if you're not fasting) and stir well. When cheese starts to melt and stick to the noodles, serve hot. its makes a fast semi-Lenten meal or a nice side without the sausage and with the sausage makes a decent main course. If any of the other Lemkos out there know the old name for it, let me know.
* The fasting rules Mother was raised with and still follows are pre-return so no, its not really Lenten for me. Dang it.
5 March 2006
Cheese Fare: Great Lent begins!
Cheesecake for Cheesefare: About 8 pounds of it in one giant cholesterol overloading cake. Ideal for the last day you can eat dairy and eggs until Pascha comes.
Graham cracker crust: Cheese cake:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs 4 – 8 ounce pkgs. cream cheese
1 stick butter, melted 4 eggs
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar 1 ½ cups sugar
4 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
¾ cup milk
16 ounces sour cream
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the crust ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a fork. Press crumbs over the bottom and sides of a 9 inch spring-form pan. Cream together the cream cheese, eggs and sugar. Add remaining ingredients and mix well, until almost all the lumps are gone. Pour into prepared pan. Place cake on a cookie sheet (it leaks a little) and bake for one hour. Then turn oven off and prop open the oven door with the handle of a wooden spoon. Allow the cheese cake to remain in the oven for one hour.
Refrigerate 12 to 24 hours. Remove the sides of the spring-form pan. Decorate the top with fruit as desired. One can of cherry pie filling works well.
3 March 2006
San Jose de Cabo: Being without email or cell coverage for a four day sales meeting isn't hell, but its a good first order approximation. I survived but my liver ain't in as good shape as it was before. The scenery was lovely, from what I could see from the meeting room. Not much to do if you don't sunbathe or golf and aren't into clubbing. I came back with no new recipes through. No really my cup of tea but if you like that, this would be a great place to go.
26 February 2006
Meat Fare Sunday: The warm-up for the Great Fast Begins Tonight
Thought for the day: Benjamin Stark: "Live free or die. Death is not the worst of fates." I got it from Powerline but I have used the last part for years as my father would say it. I hadn't remember where it came from. The second part of his quote about "especially if you can have company in Hell" I think comes from Kipling.
There will be some blogging: if the meeting place this week in San Jose de Cabo has internet access. (Yes, the first full week of the Great Fast is the same week I am at a Regional Sales Meeting. God help the poor bastards with me.) So bitter cynical political commentary, ill-tempered religious discussion, and self-loathing observation should resume for a bit. The non-blogging has helped. My to-do list is much shorter: still not sane but shorter. And I'm writing again.
19 February 2006
Things to do with
Steaks
(various kinds): For those of you who
like your food spicy, these pepper steaks are just awesome. The orginial recipes
comes from Cook's and we played with it a bit:
4 1 pound ribeyes
1 cup olive oil
5 ounces crushed black pepper
2 ounces crushed Szechuan peppercorns (roasted...if you got green ones, send me some!)
4 Tbsp Sesame oil
Heat olive oil to simmering and add the crushed black pepper. Cook for 10 minutes, drain and cool. Add the peppercorns.
Rub steak with sesame oil and let sit while pepper cooks. Lay pepper mixture out on a plate and press the steaks into it. Press both sides and then move to a hot grill and cook for about 10 minutes on each side. Steak should show a nice peppery crust. Serve with green salad and homemade bread.
We also tried their pan-fried steaks, using 1 thick ribeye. It was amazingly fast. Using the electric skillet, we only needed about 5 minutes to warm it up so dinner took 15 minutes:
2 3/4-1 pound ribeyes Spiced Butter:
black pepper 1 stick butter, softened
sea salt 1 tsp lemon zest
minced garlic 1 tsp minced garlic
chipotle 1 tbsp minced parsley
1 Tbsp Olive oil 1/2 tsp ginger paste
1/2 tsp wasabi powder
Heat skillet to medium heat (400 F for electric skillet) for five minutes. Pepper and salt each side of the steaks. Spice with minced garlic and chipotle. Add olive oil to pan and then immediately place steaks in skillet. Let cook 5 minutes on one side, covered, and then flip over and cook another 5 minutes on the other side, covered. Remove and serve with spiced butter*. Steaks are medium to medium-rare.
*Spiced butter. Soften butter and add spices to it. Mix together well until smooth. Add 1-2 Tbsp to top of hot steak.
Digital Shots: Just playing with my new Olympus E500 Digital SLR and old lenses to see what happens. I used a 50 mm Marco lenses from the old OM-1 series to do the picture of the knife, the old Macro tube system with the 50 mm lenses to zoom in on the nut for a actual length of 100mm (functional 200mm with the digital conversion factor), and then the new 14-45 mm zoom lenses with set-down ring and a 49mm 2X close-up filter for the blade of the other knife. Kinda cool for not needing to add anything else in the last case and having the camera focus for me. All three are shot natural light.
Now to try it on the DSC at work and see if I can show sample and lid placement in close-up.
Update: Here we go. A bit of a focal length issue
but...no bad for a piece smaller than my little finger's nail/
11 February 2006
Ontario CA: One forgets how conservative California can be
outside of the big cities. And how rural, even though the sprawl from LA is now
reaching into the high desert. It's still lovely up that way as this panorama
from a series of photos from my Olympus E500 shows. Cool huh? I think I like
this move away from film...
While I was out there, I did get to visit
Uncle Stu, my shing-yi teacher's class
brother. It's nice having a place out there where you belong and have some sort
of family, however unnatural....Stu is an absolutely fabulous teacher and I sure
hope his students appreciate just how lucky they are. He's also does carpentry
at a level I wish I could. The old crowd from the Centre Street ShingYi Kwoon
was as unique a collection of characters as I've ever h
ad the pleasure to meet.
Sifu Gong's kwoon was more family than school and you still see that today in
the lack of the bullshit that is seen with other schools, like say Man-Ching's
students where everyone claims to be the true heir to the system. BTW, this is
the Olympus again, natural light only at 1600 ISO...dang I wish this went to
3200. Anyway the grainness is due to reducing this to web-size. The camera RAW
file is much cleaner.
Bambi Loaf and Bambi Stew: or as I
called it the Meat Loaf that even Connie likes (the goddess is infamous for her
dislike of meat loaf)...
1.5 pounds ground venison
1.5 pounds ground chuck (20% fat)
1 pound ground sirloin (10% fat)
2 cups Jack, Cheddar or mixed cheeses grated very fine
½ stick unsalted butter
2 medium onions, chopped fine
2 celery stalks, , chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tsp thyme, dried
3 tsp hot paprika
½ cup tomato juice
1 cup chicken stock
4 large eggs
1 tsp Knox unflavored gelatin
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp fish sauce Glaze:
2 tsp hot mustard powder ½ cup ketchup ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
4 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley 1 tsp hot sauce 3 Tbsp brown sugar
¾ tsp sea salt ½ cup tomato juice 1 tbsp chipotle powder
2 tsp black pepper 1 tsp coriander
Preheat oven to 375 F.
This makes a ton of meat loaf so you might want to cut it in half, or do like we do and use half to make meatballs. It’s pretty much the Cook’s Illustrated recipe, except for the spices and venison. Because the venison is almost no fat, our version is leaner than theirs. If you don’t use venison, use equal parts sirloin and chuck.
Melt the butter in a skillet and add the onions and celery and cook until clear and soft. Add the garlic, thyme, and paprika and continue cooking until the garlic softens. Add the tomato sauce and cook, stirring and scraping to remove any fond. Remove from heat and cool.
Whisk eggs into stock until smooth, add gelation and whish until dissolved. Let sit 5-10 minutes. Mix in the soy sauce, mustard, parsley, salt, pepper, fish sauce, and cooled onion mixture. Add cheese and mix well. Add the three meats and mix everything together. Work until it’s mostly smooth and then take half out and shape into a loaf. I put it on a rack covered with foil and used a fork to put lots of holes in the foil to let any fat drain. Stick in oven for about 70 minutes or until center reaches 140 F. Turn on the broiler and remove meat.
While meat is cooking, mix everything together for glaze and cook on simmer until glaze is very thick and reduced to about ½ cup volume.
While broiler heats, coat meat with ½ the glaze. Move rack close to broiler and cook until glaze is bubbling and brown. This takes about 5 minutes. Remove meat, reglaze and repeat. Let sit 20 minutes and serve.
With the remaining half of the mixture, make meatballs (I get about 24) and cook these at 275 for 30 minutes. You can either cover them with a tomato sauce or just cook them alone. Store until needed and then reheat in a meat sauce and serve over pasta. To be honest, the meatballs are even better than the loaf.
And the Bambi Stew:
2 pounds round steaks, cut into cubes and marinade overnight in ½ cup vinegar, 2 cloves garlic, 2 Tbsp sea salt and enough cold water to cover.
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ cup flour
4 Idaho potatoes, peeled and cubed
12 baby carrots
1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
2 cups beef broth
1 tsp thyme
Salt, pepper to taste
In a skillet, heat oil over medium high heat and sauté onions and garlic until clear. Dump drained meat into a plastic bag and add the flour and black pepper. Shake well to coat meat. Add meat to onion mixture and cook until meat is brown.
In the slow-cooker, add potatoes, carrots, and celery on the bottom. Dump meat mixture on top. Heat ½ cup of broth in the skillet and whish around to remove the fond. Pour over meat mixture and add remaining broth, thyme, salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low until meat is tender, about 8 hours.
3 February 2006
Goodbye: I've been blogging for a bit over a year, and over the last couple of weeks got really sick. During that time, I realized that blogging, while fun, is basically dross for me. Too much real live gets delayed or skipped for this online stuff. So as of today, I'll dump pictures here for the kids and god-kids when I travel, and probably post a recipe or two. But I could be shaping wood, forging steel, shooting, making love, teaching a boy to hunt, dancing the forms, learning to play like Jonathon, so many things that this is just an excuse not to do. I'm not some of my friends, content to "smell of dry leaves."
Stuff will appear here randomly but I'm done with the blogging... Go with God, my friends.
27 January 2005
Interesting reading: Somehow, this post ended up in my mailbox for the Christian carnival and I couldn't honestly see it a way it fit. However I found it fascinating as it discusses the Jewish view of idolatry in non-Jewish worship.
25 January 2006
The Christian Carnival CVI: St Isaac of Syria Edition
Be Still, and know that I am God. Psalm 45:10
With that quote from the Psalms on the opposite
page, my edition of the the Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac of Syria opens
followed by the lines of Homily 1 "The fear of God is the beginning of virtue
and it is said to be the offspring of faith. It is sown in the heart when a man
withdraws his mind from the world's distractions..." This is how the text
that a monk once told me was the basic handbook for monastics opens. Like the
Philokalia, it's a book I can not read much over before my conscience accuses me
of taking my faith too lightly. 
Last week, our host used the theme of the Rule of St. Benedict for the Christian Carnival. I thought as an interesting contrast to use one of the texts of Eastern Monasticism as a guide for this week. Starting with St. Anthony after the legalization of Christianity, the monastic movement began with a fleeing the world to the deserts of Egypt and Syria to find a place to be still and seek the knowledge that God is God. Unlike the west social conditions lead monastic orders to develop and focus on various Godly tasks, like feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, teaching the young, etc., the Eastern Church's monastics (a term used for both men and women and also for both laymen and priests...cool, huh, we were politically correct centuries before it became cool) maintained a focus on pray and seeking union with God. I'm not going to go into the ways the latter was attacked and perverted over the centuries, from Arians to Barlaamists to New Agers and Mormons today. The Fathers of the Desert, whom I used as theme the last time the Christian Carnival was here, were early responders to the call to forsake the world for Christ. As the world became more and more Christian, the difference between being in the world and of the world became blurred.
While lacking orders like the Dominicans, Cistercian, or Franciscans, the Eastern Church does have an extensive collection of texts on the monastic life from the Saying of the Desert Fathers to the Ladder of Divine Ascent to the Philokalia (Love of the Beautiful) to the Arena. St. Benedict, being from before the schism of the churches, is considered part of this. In this wide collection of works that are both records and guides to a soul's striving for the Presence of God and the Gift of Pure Prayer, the Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac of Syria are considered a fundamental, or maybe even the fundamental text. It has been said that "A page a day makes a monk." Today, in a world in many ways different from the silence of the Desert, St. Isaac's advice is still good, even for us who do not or can not flee the world to seek what the early Celtic Church called the green martyrdom. So this week's entries are grouped by some of the pearls from St. Isaac's work with commentary from his homilies. Since I've actually read all the posts and sometimes other stuff on the blogs, I tried to match up as best I could...and I tried not to get distracted.
Against the World: Worldly Glory is a reef in the sea covered by water.
A common theme in monastic writings is the dangers of the world to Christians. The relationship between the two for the monastic is simple: flee from anything that distracts you from prayer. For those of us who still live in the world and try not to be of it, the reefs are a greater danger. This week we have several posts looking at the Christian in the world:
One of the major themes in St. Isaac's writing is our enmity with the world and with the ungodly. John at Blogcorner Preacher looks at a current example of this in Federalism versus Life, a look at the assisted suicide ruling and the NY Times coverage of it. The world is not a Christian's friend, although it is perfectly willing to use him when it can.
Over at Early Riser, Jon is looking at Religion and Politics. It's an interesting discussion at the Church's obligation in a democratic society, something that wasn't addressed for most of the Faith's history, but he leaves open to a question in my mind. At what point can traditional morality be set aside and teaching contrariety to the morality of the Church for 2000 years be accepted? Most churches here seem to have decided that its really not an issue as long as we are "nice" but is that what we are called to do and how much can be be involved in influencing societies decision before we become lukewarm?
Messy Christian, of the same named blog, asks how are we to deal with a culture ridden with un-Godly superstitions? As a Sino-phile from way back, I have always found Chinese culture fascinating but then again I don't live in place where astrology and feng shui are a part of day to day life. All I ever had to deal with is telling an employer I really didn't want to burn incense to Gou Gong. Messy looks that the issue in feng shui, zodiac....nuisance. I'm tempted to quote parts of the Ballad of the White Horse, but John of Damascus' Exposition of the Orthodox Faith is probably better since he address astrology dead on.
Alex from Jordan's View looks at why fundamentalism isn't necessarily bad word. However, the world sure seems to want it to be: more evidence perhaps that the problem is really its opposition to Christ.
From the Common Room, the Deputy Headmistress sends us the Grim Anniversary. Having lost our own at a bit older than, I'm not going to say anything more than "Christ God, have mercy on us."
Over at Cross Blogging, Lennie asks why Pro-Choice Democrats celebrate death in Celebration of Death. I'd say pro-choicer as we got more than a few Republicans that go that way.
Other people: "Suffer with those who are ill, mourn with the sinners; with those that repent, rejoice. Be every man's friend, but in your mind remain alone. "
Repeated many times and in many ways, St. Isaac urges us to not judge, to treat other people with gentleness and love, to act with humility and care, and to limit the harm we cause by our own sins. We are to love the sinner while hating his sinner but can not belittle or disparage him as he too is a child of God.
St. Isaac, like the Desert Fathers in general, was not a fan of humor. Idle laughter was considered dangerous, especially when the grave and the Dreadful Judgment await us all. I've never decided if it was cultural, or just a defense lest humor be used to harm relationships in the monastery. Our culture is much more accepting of humor, in fact it is often the only way to make a point without offense, and hence this little parody from David at Disciple's Journal has a point. Many of us know that Gilbert and Sullivan is idea for "filking" and David does a good job with this one. It echoes St. Isaac's advice: " if you can't be a peacemaker, then do not be a trouble maker...if you can not still the mouth of one who disparages his companion, at least do not join him." (Editor note - only it's funny)
Dan from NoSpeedBumps, a fellow transplanted Texan but a gerbil-gun user, looks at ID in Intelligent Design Takes On More Water, Now from the Vatican. He's makes an argument that I've seen with college kids - "By encouraging believers to embrace the ID theory as a scientific proof of God, they set it up for a very visible failure as time goes on." If that is untrue, then what happens to the rest of their faith? Morality seems to go next...(By the way, be polite in the comments - I had to delete a few for ad hominem attacks when I posted on this a bit ago. You might want to read the comments for Jeremy's discussion of the issue too.)
On the other side of the debate, Nate at the (not so) Daily Me weights in for being the truth and an absolutely literal interpretation of Scripture in Fact or Belief.
From Free Money Finance, FMF sends us a guide to Christian Investing entitled: Bibical Investing. He's got some good advice but I still wonder: what about the traditional opposition of Christians to usury (loaning money at interest)? Maybe he can address that sometime as I've never reached a decision, as opposed to stocks which strike me as partial ownership and seem fine.
From Christianity is Jewish, CWV Warrior, who has apparently forgiven me my lapses <grin -is joke>, sends a post with the curious title Waengongi Has a Son, looking at the End of the Spear.
Lyn from Fw: Thoughts looks at a Biblical call to active caring in Back from the Precipice. The old question am I my brother's keeper may require a more pro-active response than we expect.
Brian from the Christian Prophet sends us the Daily Message from the Holy Spirit.
Reading Scripture: Do not approach the mysteries contained in the Divine Scriptures without prayer and beseeching God for help.
St. Isaac points out that reading Scripture for the wrong reasons or with the wrong attitude toward it will do us more harm than good. It appears that man has been following the devil's lead in this for a very long time. It is easier to look for what we want Scripture to say rather than what it says.
Martin at Sun and Shield is looking at Questions on Genesis 2 as he reads thro the ESV this year. In this section on the creation of man, he looks at the second creation story.
John from Brain Cramps from God looks at the End of the Spear - gays and Christ. An interesting argument one I agree with partly, that there are much worse sins, but I'm not sure...
Brandon writing at Siris looks Obadiah Vision: "As you have done, so shall it be done to you, your deed shall come back upon your own head...." Biblical karma perhaps. A short book that may be unappreciated. (And he's also got a link to Cooking for Engineers, "one of the best cooking sites on the web" okay, it's not related to this carnival but my inner foodie got loose.)
From Vegetable Soup, Kathleen sends us a look at Revelations 12 where we get to go backstage and see what happens behind the scene in the Tech Crew.
From dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos theophilos, Richard sends a post entitled a Can of Worms, which looks at the Sign of Jonah and suggests only St. Luke really got it right...
One of the reasons people fled to the deserts and wilderness was God speaks in country. Reading Psalm 19 caused Rev Ed at Attention Span to mediate on that truth.
This doesn't fit the topic, but matches the post above so closely it needed to go. "Silence is a mystery of the age to come." From James at Points of Light, comes Quiet Waters. Hopefully the first in a series...
Our newcomer to the Carnival this week, Bruce at It Seems to Me has an parody on New Bible Translations or as he could have called it Translations that should never be allowed to happen.
Wink at Parableman instead of Jeremy this time asks the question "Did Jesus Commit suicide?"
Saul became Paul and history is changed. Mike at the Mind of Mike looks at what happens when God changes your name.
Faith: Faith is the door to mysteries. What the bodily eyes are to sensory objects, the same is faith to the eyes of the intellect that gaze at hidden treasures.
A life without trials is not possible for one following the path of Christ. St. Isaac put it that "In truth without afflictions, there is no life." It is Faith that keeps us on the path when things get bad, even on those days when we'd really rather go home.
The opposite of faith from the bloke in the Outer asks the question if a mature faith can doubt. It's part of a 4 part series on faith. I'd recommend reading them all.
Another sign of lack of faith can be "being too realistic." Light Along the Journey looks at What God Thinks of Pragmatism and picks four examples and how God responded to them. Sometimes being sensible is another way of hiding our lack of faith.
Tom at Thinking Christian asks about Wish Fulfillment in the work of Dennett, a man who believes "belief can be explained in much the same way cancer can" and looks at what you have to believe to not have faith. Check out the comment under his photo too.
Over at Semicolon, Sherry looks at A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller with the several questions including are the barbarians at the gates? Well, in Orthodox we'd express it as it is alway the end time for you, being on this world for 70 years. A thoughtful look at a book that is maybe an expression of faith.
Faith is tied closely to love. With enough love, having faith is easy and one becomes what others might call shameless. David danced before the Lord because of his love for and faith in God, and in With all his might, Penitens at A Penitent Blogger contrasts that our current worship.
At A Sparrow's Home, they are mixing Math and Faith (maybe more precisely logic and faith) with another great photo.
Barbara at Tidbits and Treasures looks at the perfect heart, and we ain't considering an angiogram. More like my favorite Psalm, the 50th "a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise"
Toils and Troubles: "Until we find love, our labor is in the land of tares. and in the midst of tares we both reap and sow, even if our seed is the seed of righteousness."
At Brain Cramps from God, we get the 12th part in a series on Back to Basics. This installment deals with that from which all the commandments descend: Love God with your whole heart, mind, and soul and your neighbor as yourself. In Loving Our Neighbor as Ourselves, Carl looks at the second half of this in a bit of detail.
From PhilThreeten, we get a post entitled "I hate Death" where Phil looks at how dealing with death impacts his life. I'd add the word of Donne "...wee wake eternally, and death shall be no more, death, thou shall die" perhaps...
Elena from the Wuggy Chronicles sends us Grace for the Journey, where she tries to embrace motherhood in a culture of death.
What is the opposite of fear? Xyba at Once More into the Breach had guessed courage but from "Gate of Fire" that's its love, for love cancels out fear. I think I argue both his first guess, and part of theirs, but perfect love is another story...I'm not there yet.
Change is never comfortable. Brett at Seek Truth writes about New Starts and accepting God's Plan. Sometimes it takes those that love us to kick us around so we listen to Him...
Ever hear the term "technical virgin?" Dave from All Kinds of Time didn't use the term but he sure could have in this post on sexual purity entitled "It's God Will you should be sanctified..." Every carnival I host has an unexpected gem and this was the one this time.
Who said "God, if You are this hard on Your friends, its no wonder You have so few of them?" Ron at Northern 'Burbs Blog looks at a similar sentiment in Nothing Easy about it.
Rev. Bill looks at a comment he got from a reader on his post God is Love and answers the writers concern's about the Old Testament God, the New Testament God and Eternal Damnation. Difficult topics but important ones. And a perfect lead into my final quote from St. Issac:
God's Mercy: "As a grain of sand can not counterbalance a great quantity of gold, so in comparison God's use of justice can not counterbalance His mercy."
And with that quote, which is comfort to me on those days when I really see what I am, we end this weeks Carnival. Please pray for me, the chief of sinners.
Thanks to Nick Queen for starting this, Dory at Wittenberg Gate for keeping it going and letting me play, and all of you for coming over. Any submissions received after 2 am Texas time were passed to the next host. Information about this Carnival can be found here. This carnival should be listed at the Conservative Cat, Blog Carnivals, and the Ubercarnival. Trackbacks are all sent: hopefully I didn't miss anyone. Let me know if you find any errors or broken links and I'll fix them. Next week we'll be here.
UPDATE: Please note here above is now Attention Span and yes, that was changed from the earlier blog. This one is correct.
24 January 2006
Bet this won't make the morning paper either: Mexican Military or people who have access to uniforms, humvees, and mounted machine guns just like theirs violated the US border to help drug smugglers move pot across. Our response: don't cause an incident. You can read the details here and here. So what the hell is it going to make people realize there is a problem? When they occupy San Antonio again?
UPDATE: Heck, even CNN picked it up.
Not surprised: Google, the so-very liberal and progressive company, has just agreed to allow censorship of its information to gain access to the Chinese market. Gee. Just like how our leftists supported freedom everyway but in the Soviet Union and today in Cuba. Can you hear what they would be saying if the US wanted censorship of child porn or Islamic sites?
22 January 2006
For Gerry: Rufel found evidence that we were practicing at the zoo.
It's Raining!!!! I think this is the first time since October and this is normally the wet season. If I didn't have a cold, I'd go dance naked in the rain on the front lawn from sheer joy.
20 January 2006
Someone agrees with me but I don't feel better: My opinion on ID isn't apparently mainstream for evangelicals but the Catholic Church seems to agree. I'm fairly sure that doesn't make me feel any better, but at least its somebody... Ooops, I forgot. Neither of us are really Christian. And Catholics think I'm a schismatic semi-Pelagian. Dang Scholastic Augustinians.
19 January 2006
More stuff to read: This week's Carnival of the Vanities and the Christian Carnival are up.
14 January 2006
Carnival of Recipes is up at the Common Room.
13 January 2006
Stuff to read: The Carnival of the Vanities and the Carnival of Cordite, the Zombie Edition, are up. Guess which photo from the latter my eldest wants for his locker? Even 2000 miles away, that man is a bad influence.
UPDATE: Yes, his taste is excellent. Stop encouraging him...(Not Gully's but Noah).
Pork busting's next step: See the online petition or appeal at the Truth Laid Bear (I always wonder exactly who is truth anyway and does Mrs. Bear know...ahem, sorry.) Seriously, go read it and consider adding your name. And then call your congressman and share it with him/her/it...
New Comic: I tripped over Winger this morning, about a conservative fellow working in a bookstore. Kinda fun and <sob> already at 3000 hits a week when less than a month old. Minion ever looks a bit like Cindy...
12 January 2006
Front Page News? Wanna bet? If this Fox News story had turned out the other way, it would have been all over the front pages. However, since the DNA evidence shows that Colemen was guilty, we won't see it. No bias here. Nope. Move along.
And don't look at this one on how Saddam trained terrorists at camps in Iraq....Nope. Nothing here either.
Journalist - now just another word for lying whore.... just lovely.
11 January 2006
The Christian Carnival is up at Random Responses and it was organized using a random number generator. Now if he had used a drunkard's walk, that would have been cool considering my post.
10 January 2006
Finally! Bush said it! Fox News reports that President Bush stopped wearing gloves and said it. I haven't seen the transcript yet but "'comfort to our adversaries" sure sounds dead-on. The Democrat's response is predictable: its kinda amazing that they believe treason is patriotic. I guess they think General Arnold and Tokyo Rose should be considered a heroes?
The God of the Gaps: Intelligent Design keeps risings its head, and as not the theist evolution I understood the term to be in my youth. I'm not to going to comment on bad science, the idea of lying for Jesus, or the interpretations of Genesis (See Bishop Lazar's book for that.) Instead, I've been wondering about the type of theology that requires such an absolute literalness in its Scripture, that it reduces God to a "being that fills gaps." If you look at the arguments against evolution they seem to fall into 2 major camps, neither of which I think are good theology. First are the weakness of evolution by legal interpretation, the Johnson school if you will. This argument seems to be favored by people unable to answer the cocktail-hour argument that science disproves there is a god. Now I find pointing out that science says nothing about anything with supernatural abilities and that I've never met the scientific atheist -someone who science convinced God doesn't exist...everyone I know who has rejected a belief in God has done so for what I'd call moral arguments. The problem I have with this whole approach is that legal arguments and scientific ones are not the same. Legally all sorts of scientifically stupid decisions get made, from drug recalls to patent claims. I've seem stuff that to me as a scientist was a complete rip-off of other work and yet, by patent law, there were valid differences. Similarly I've seen one case where the courts upheld a patent the included subtraction of curves and covered work that was 20 years old. Scientifically it was a horrible decision; legally it has stood up on appeal. So good or bad legal arguments say nothing about good or bad science. The tendency here to "straw-man" the evolutionary position by arguing against the stuff Darwin and his co-workers wrote, and to ignore the modern interpretations. If the modern work is mentioned at all, it is done in piecemeal fashion to show that scientist ever disagree on it. All of these are acceptable legal tactics, but no one I know in science would consider them valid arguments for discussion the chlorination of benzene.
The second case is the Intelligent Design camp, the idea that evolution is just a theory and creationism is also a theory of equal value. This actually concerns me more, because while the above is about what I expect of lawyers (Sorry Mark and Jonathon...) the latter requires two separate evils in my book. The first is easy to address and that was one of the findings in the Kentucky case. Lying in the name of God is wrong. If these people haven't gotten that from Scripture, one would have assumed they at least read Lewis' the Last Battle. Or those damning lines that start: "This then is the greatest treason." More complex and more damning is the theology that makes you argue that the gaps in evolutionary theory, be they the apparent irreducibility of the cell, seeming gaps in the fossil record, apparent mismatches between genetic and fossil evidence, etc., By this approach, which was one of the major arguments in the Kentucky case, anything which we can't explain is evidence of God. Now the problem with that is it is a very weak God whose abilities are only seen where Science fails. It tends to be the same God made a slave to necessity I talked about earlier, a God who has to act in certain ways. I'm not sure what it means, but where sola scriptura is the strongest, so is this approach. The traditionalist churches, those that value tradition as well as scripture (or the Orthodox which do not separate the two), seem not to see the issue with evolution.
The problem with the theology of a God of the Gaps is that science has this tendency to fill gaps. As that happens, this God, limited in scope, becomes less and less important. A child, raised to believe in this kind of God, a God who is so weak as to have to hide in the holes, especially if supported by lies and falsehoods, tends to crash and burn once he find out that certain things are true. At that time, he can either reject science or he rejects his faith. After all, a God who can only exist in the areas of ignorance and needs to be protect by legal trickery and falsehoods is not the kind of God that inspires martyrdom in either the red, green, or white sense. That god is also not one that you could call the Truth, the underlying fact all truths lead back to. It is the kind of God that seems to be worshiped a lot around here. It's the kind of god that gives emotional support for whenever you get caught, the god that doesn't really mind what you do as long as you have a good heart and really believe, the god that lets you screw your brains out Saturday night and drink yourself into oblivion, the same one that lets you cheat people as part of your job, loan money, play politics and walk past the beggar on the way home.
Theology is important. It's not some daydream or idealistic study like the west, especially the Protestant philosophers or the Catholic Scholarships try to make. It's learning about God and that requires exposure to Him. How we pray, what our service looks like on Sunday, what our home life is like, how we follow the traditional disciplines of the Christian Church, the pray, fasting and almsgiving, all things make up our theology and express it. One of the desert fathers once said "Let me see how you pray, and I'll tell you your theology." A god of gaps can't be the same God as He who created all things out of nothing, He who is without form or beginning, without flaw or end. A god whose can only be defended when science doesn't have an answer can't call you to a charity that is greater in its lack than all the pleasures of the world are in their presence. That god can't demand of you an absolute purity of mind, body, and soul that affirms the goodness of creation. The God Who really is there is so much bigger than we can conceive of, Whose Mind and Energies are beyond our understanding, Who emptied Himself to be contained in the womb of one of His creatures can. He remains a folly to the wise and scandal to the proud. Unconstrained and Unimaginable, He can call us to a holiness that the world can't and won't imagine.
God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Three in One, Undivided and Unlimited, does not need us to twist words like a lawyer, to lie and shade meanings, or to deny the truth for Him. How He created the world is not really an issue unless we make it one from our own pride. It's like asking what would of happened if Man didn't fall or how would God judge me if I never heard of Christ. Moot points. Similarly the whole ID mess. Allegorical interpretation of scripture has been around a long time, but its a hell of a lot easier to argue for a 7 Day creationism than to work on rooting the sin out of our own souls, especially when that sin encompasses the generational sin of centuries of allowing man to decide what God taught. Either one man or each man, its the same sin of pride. God's existence isn't going to be proved by science to those who don't want to believe, nor does science limit the belief of those who really do. The real attacks and dangers come not from a theory on how life develops, but from the treason of "doing the wrong thing for right reasons."
Breakfast Burritos Hacienda Ranch Style: The goddess says you can't take me places. Not true. Let me hang out in the kitchen and I can stay out of trouble, which is what I did on the hunting trip. This is what was made for breakfast:
1 pound bacon
1/2 pound loose sausage
1 cup canned mushrooms
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup diced jalapenos
2 cups frozen shredded hash-browns
1 diced onion
2 Tbsp butter
12-18 eggs, beat together
12 flour tortillas
This works best on a large grill top that covers a couple burners. Since most of us don't have them, I'll write it up with pans. In a skillet, cook bacon and sausage until done (bacon should be crispy). Meanwhile, in a large pan like a dutch oven, cook the hash-browns and onions with butter until softened. After the bacon is done, crumble and drain off grease. Add to the hashbrowns and toss. (This can be done the night before and then reheated). Pour eggs over the hash-brown mixture and toss, add the cheese, mushrooms and jalapenos, and continue cooking until the eggs are done. Heat the tortillas in the microwave inside a couple of damp paper towels. Serve with hot sauce and salsa.
Guns and the irrational: If you haven't tripped over these two news items, it worth a look. First, most of us realize that the DC gun ban has contributed to our nation's capitol being a festering crime pit. As both England and Australia are demonstrating, the slogan "when guns are illegal, only criminals will have them" is true. Well, the unilateral disarming of the lawful citizen claimed another victim. Davis Rosenberg of the NYT died from injuries caused by a robbery. His employer is one of the biggest voices against the right of self-defense around. Interesting how that wasn't in the news?
Along the same lines,
Mayor Bloomberg and his troll
Police Commissioner Kelly are now trying to export the lovely NY city gun
laws around the country. It seems like, since gun crime is out of control there
again, despite such lovely racist measures like the infamous Sullivan Act
-designed to keep those dirty Savs and Italians away from guns. So rather than
deal with the fact that gun control isn't working, that the mayor and
commissioner are incompentent, and that the gun laws are an excuse to harress
people they don't like (ask my buddy Alan, who had a premise permit about his
hell trying to legally fly to Texas with his guns), they want to rest of us to
join them in social suicide. Rather than admit that the NYC and Washington DC
experiences are wrong, these two clowns want the rest of us to try it, because
maybe then it will work. Since we can't close the border to drugs or illegal
immigrants, I'm not sure how that would work. I'd suggest not visiting the DFW
area to pitch these thro.
8 January 2006
Texas State
Rifle Association Youth Hunt: The
TSRA has this program where they set up.jpg)
hunts for kids. Names are submitted by
members and then drawn. I think they run a 50% chance in any one given year. All
expenses are paid for by the TSRA: the kid needs to get to the hunting site with
his gun, ammo, a valid hunting license and an adult....It's a great program to
encourage kids in hunting and shooting sports. The only downside is that
you don't get a lot of warning. Noah got called on Wednesday about a chance to
hunt Texas Dahl Sheep.jpg)
at the Hacienda Ranch in Uvalde Texas. So we drove down
Friday night (8 hours), getting there Saturday morning.
Five boys total were
hunting under the guidance of their adult sponsor (Dad, Uncles, Grandpa, and
Mom) and the rancher, Scott Thrash, and
his staff. Everything was supplied from a room in this lovely old house to meals
cooked by this wonderful South Texas lady to ammo for skeet shooting. Scott,
Brad, and Ron kept the kids busy with target shooting at 10 yards with pistols,
25 yards with .22 LR, 100 yards for center fire, and skeet. Scott also had some
Tannerite, an explosive used in reactive targets. He used it at about 150 yards
inside an old deer archery target and an old grill. The resulting booms were
described by my kid as "That was awesome. Can we buy some?" Everything was well
controlled and safely done, without limiting the natural excitement of a bunch
of boys out hunting and shooting. I shudder to think how much ammo they burned
thro. Noah actually shot my poor Savage side-by-side into failure (not really
but we are blaming him anyway - he is a teenager after all). All of the
kids were safer than some of the adult hunters I've seen on other leases. A
bunch of well trained kids and for the most part very well behaved. Only one took even 2 shots to make his kill.
.jpg)
After lunch, Ron took Noah down to the range
and got him sighted in. We ran into a problem as Noah's scope mounts weren't
holding so Ron loaned Noah a 300 Savage. After Noah was holding under 2" at 100
yards, we set out to find him a ram. It took to almost dark before Noah could
hunt down and get a clean shoot on the Dahl. Another single shot kill for the
Badger. We ended up with about 60 pounds of meat and a nice set of horns. Dinner
was chicken fried back strap with all the trimmings and yes, I got her recipe.
The kids sat up watching Batman and then football, but this Dad practiced
mandolin and then crashed out. The following morning was more skeet and pistol
shooting, a great breakfast, and even sandwiches of leftover venison steaks for
the trip home.
I've heard about the TSRA program before and am now
even more impressed. Between that, and the State Wildlife Department's Youth
Hunt program, Texas seems to be assuring the next generation is going to be
pro-gun and pro-hunting. As for Scott and the Hacienda Ranch, well, if you want
to hunt in deep south Texas, I can't think of a better place. I've been to many
leases that were not even.jpg)
close to as nice, as safe, as professional, or most
importantly, as kid friendly. If you want to hunt exotics or white tail down
there, give him a call.
Hacienda Chicken Fried Venison
1 pound venison backstrap
3 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp ground cumin (whole seeds coarse ground)
1/2 cup lard
1 tsp hot paprika
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 cup white flour
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
Mix the garlic, paprika and the cumin and use the mixture to coat the venison backstrap on both sides. Let sit 30 minutes. Beat the egg and add to the buttermilk. Mix together well. Put the flour in a large bowl and add black pepper. Heat the lard until shimmering. Dredge the steaks in the flour, dip in the buttermilk-egg mixture, re-dredge in the flour (they can sit there while others are cooking) and just before frying drip in the buttermilk-egg again. Fry until golden brown, then turn over and fry on the other side. You can use the pan drippings and remaining flour to make cream gravy. Serve with mashed potatoes, biscuits, and corn.
National Hot Tea Month: No,
really...go look
here. It comes complete with a banner. Then come back and let's have a
cup of Dragon Well tea together to celebrate.
Update: For those who wondered, information on and sources of the various type of teas can be found at the Tea House and Ten Ren USA. The latter also sells the Chinese Zodiac teapots the goddess loves.
Carnival of Recipes #73 - Russian Christmas Edition
Due to many historical reason, the Eastern Orthodox Churches
have been slow to accept the modern calendar for liturgical use. Now, this tends
to mean we have our major holidays later than everyone else does, but it also
means you escape the attack of the fat red man with all the
bulgoi and of the spring
Hasenpfeffer as well as getting the goodies on sale. For the Orthodox on the
new calendar for Christmas (let's not talk about Pascha, okay), Russian
Christmas as we called it in my house falls right about Little Christmas. Called
12th night in the west, this is the feast of the Theophany, and interestingly in
the part of the world my maternal great-grandparents came from is celebrated very similarly to Christmas. Christmas really begins
the night before as we end the Advent fast with the Holy Supper, a vegan-ish meal
and then the rich foods of the Holiday itself. As we look at this week's
entries, mixed into my recipes and memories of the Christmas season, we'll also
look at the folk customs for Christmas. You can find most of this in
Bogatreyev's Vampires in the Carpathians, a incredibly dry but fact-filled
book on Eastern Europe folklore. Most of this is what my friend calls Baba
Theology, little explanations from Grandma gave curious children
The Holy Supper
The children sit outside watching to see the first star of evening while Grandma cooks. I remember sitting on the downstairs porch waiting to see Venus about the trees of the woodlot. When one spots it, you run in and tell Grandpa, and then the Holy Supper begins. It's a strict fasting meal, no meat nor fish, no eggs nor dairy, no olive oil nor wine. The table is covered with a white cloth on which is strewn hay or rowen. Hay or straw is spread under the table on the floor. Places are set and one extra place is set that will remain empty. The legs of the table are linked together with an iron chain and in the old country, a yoke was put under it as well. A bowl of honey, from one's own hives or received as a gift, with garlic and salt is on the table as is the kracun or kolach, a loaf of Christmas bread. Under the kracun is a piece of wool and some rowan leaves. Some families kept the loaf for the year, but we always ate ours. The top, indented in a cross, has garlic, wheat and barley grains in it and flowers laid on top. These are placed there by those of marriageable age in hopes of a love match in the following year. Sheaves of wheat are in vases on the table in place of any flowers and a candle must be burned during the meal, with no other light. In the old days, neither oil lamp nor torch could be used and today all lights are turned off except for the beeswax candles. Before you sit down to eat, you washed your hands with water in which silver was thrown and dry them on a sheepskin, both supposed to bring goof fortune. Incense is burned in the house during dinner, as a sign of how our prayers rise up to heaven. During and after dinner, carolers would come by and girls would throw nuts at their boyfriends (real or desired). Getting brained by a brazil nut as a sign of affection seems more like something out of Terry Pratchett in retrospect.
Seven to twelve dishes were served and sadly, we aren't talking haute cuisine here. My oldest Noah tried this year to escape by claiming he was doing a total fast. It didn't work. His grandmother made him take a taste from all 12 dishes. Traditionally, you have boiled piroshi (these days maybe fried in canola oil), wheat boiled with honey, mushroom-barley soup, stewed mushrooms, raw garlic, pickled cabbage (sauerkraut), bobalki, potatoes cooked with garlic and onions, mashed lima beans, cooked vegetables, stewed prunes, nuts, and the bread. Cranbury juice is served instead of wine today, but in the old days it was water and tea. After that, it was off to church for vespers.
Bobalki:
1 lb. (2 cups before rising) bread
dough
1 lb. sauerkraut (drained)
2 tbsp. shortening
1 small chopped onion
1 cup poppyseed
1 cup honey
4 tbsp. water (milk)
Pinch off portion of dough about size of large egg and roll out to make a
circle about 1/2 inch high. Cut into1 inch pieces. Repeat for all the
dough. Let it rise for 20 minutes. Bake at 350F for 5 minutes (lightly brown).
Pour boiling water over the bread in colander (a little to make damp) and
drain quickly (or it gets soggy!). Fry onion in shortening and add with
sauerkraut to the bread . Mix well. Add the poppyseed mixed with honey add to remainder .
Mix well. Serve. (Yes, it kinda tastes like it sounds. It's an acquired taste.)
After Service Snacks (Le Revellion?)
After the evening service, Christmas is sort of here.
Liturgically, the day starts at sundown. Now many people fast from the Holy
Supper (as my eldest says there is just something about all that cabbage,
prunes, and garlic that kills the appetite) until Liturgy the next day, but some
family's only fast from midnight and so there is this short time you can snack. St. Nickolas often visited our house and filled stocking while we were at
Vespers. Because of the overlap with the Catholic Church in many areas of
Eastern Europe, some Orthodox churches had a midnight Divine Liturgy and
Grandpa's was one of them. So we'd stay at church and sing carols until then,
and head home early in the morning. We would come home and open stockings
while snacking on food. Grandpa and Dad and the other men would sit and smoke
their pipes while drinking whiskey (bourbon in my father's and uncle's
case; my grandfather drank this rye stuff that I think doubles as aviation fuel)
and watching us see what St. Nicholas (at left) brought us. Normally there would be
some candy, a apple with all these cuts in it with change stuffed in them. I'd get
a couple bucks from it and not having discovered germs yet, then eat the apple.
(bourbon in my father's case; my grandfather drank this rye stuff that I think
doubles as aviation fuel). Now, I'm an American mutt, so we weren't purely
Russian with the Toutierre, which came from my father's Quebecois's family.
There would be some meat filled piroshi of the baked kind, pickled herring in
sour cream, some kolace, and some cheeses, and a glass of red wine for everyone. Having my own
kids now, I realize Mother was just trying to make sure she could get some
sleep. Sometimes a family friend who come by dressed as Vladika (an term used
for a bishop - roughly it means he who rules) Nicholas (Our St. Nick looked like
a bishop, not a large red elf) and give out small gifts.
At some point, we'd burn out and our folks could get some sleep.
David at Third World County has been away from this Carnival for awhile and returns with a Simple Rice Delight, quick and easy using leftover rice. A prefect snack for after midnight service or for anything you need to get rid of rice and don't feel like frying it. I'd suggest trying some of that Sweet Spice blend I use.
Joan from the Oasis of Sanity has a simplified recipe for Chicken Cordon Blue. It's a casserole, prefect for popping in the oven and reheating after a long service (which for me means 3 hours or so). She even managed to get her kids to get it... Gee, with a teenager and a pre-teen I can't even remember those days.
In the same theme, Jane Dough has a recipe for
Lazy Lady Lasanga, another recipe that just might work well in the middle of
the night.
It looks dang good so drop by
Boston Gal's Open Wallet
and take a look.
Kaitlyn of Seven Silly Southern Sisters sends in a trinity of recipes for some fast breaskfast drinks in 3 Really Good E-Z Recipes, that would kill those after service hunger-ies while the rest was being served.
David of the Glittering Eye sends us a French piroshi recipe (although he spells it pierog). His Coulibiac recipe uses puff pastry dough and salmon and looks dang tasty. It'd been great for breaking the Advent fast, since the Orthodox fast includes no fish. The goddess loves salmon so I am going to have to try this.
From Morning Coffee and Afternoon Tea, Christine sends in a recipe for crab stuffed mushrooms, which look absolutely wonderful. These would make a great midnight snack or a wonderful first course.
Christmas Day
It was very important the first person to enter Grandma's house was male. It was very bad luck if that first visitor wasn't both male and kin. Interestingly there was one exception to the kin part: a Jewish male was even better luck according to Bogtyrev, which explains why Uncle Lenny was always early on Christmas. We normally ended up at the morning service too 'cause Grandpa and Mother were in the choir. Stockings and some small gifts from Grandma were opened early but after Liturgy, we'd rush home and open the real presents. While doing that, we snack on sweet cakes and cold meats while dinner cooked. Since we had just come off a fast, vegetables were a rarity unless butter, cheese sauce, or cream was somehow involved in their cooking. Normally we'd have some sort of kielbasa, lamb, ham, and maybe a roast beef, nut and poppy seed rolls, apple and lemon pie, breads made with a richer dough, butter, caviar and toast, piroshi made with cheese, meat or potatoes and cheese filling then fried in butter, mushrooms cooked with butter and wine, and some poor vegetable cooked in butter and then covered with cheese sauce. There might even be pigs feet in aspic for Grandpa, which none of the kids would touch. And of course, wine, vodka, and beer...with strong coffee cut with heavy cream served sweet.
Meats:
What is the one Russian dish almost everyone knows? How about Beef Stroganoff? And Catherine over at Warm Beach Brat has one she claims is the best Beef Stroganoff Recipe Ever. Hmmm, from looking it over, researching that claim may add a few pounds to my already overly generous waistline.
Jennifer at KeeWee's Corner gives us a recipe for a sauce to go over penne, a Tomato Ham and Vodka Sauce. Here the vegetable (well technically the fruit) being mixed with meat and booze, making it a prefect post-fast meal.
For some reason, growing up, poultry was never a item at
Christmas. These days it is only when we get a wild turkey during hunting
season. After reading over the recipes for
Afghan Mourgh (Chicken) and Naan (flatbread) at
Singaleer, Robert may make me change
that next year.
Triticale -the wheat/rye guy has a borscht recipe that's more suited for Christmas day than what I grew up with. The latter was vegan, made with beets, and made palatable by adding sour cream out of the fast. His has beef and cabbage in it. I am so jealous.
Great mind think alike. Claudia of In the Headlights also has a borscht recipe she claims is delicious and uses meat. Where were these recipes when I was growing up?
Poultry is always under-represented at our Christmas table, but I think the Apple-brined Duck Breast that Kevin at Seriously Good served on New Year's Day is going to make it next year. I love duck especially wild duck and this recipe makes me thinking duck hunting needs to happen next year...
Or, of course, lamb...('cause I couldn't get the other pictures to copy for some reason)
Diary:
If you dared serve a vegetable on Christmas, it had better have something cheesy about it. Mensa Barbie of the same named blog sends us her Cherry Tomatoes, filled with herbed cheese. It's an amazingly simple recipe for something that looks so good.
Over at Cooking Capers, Cookie has a recipe for Pasta alla Carbonara. Eggs, heavy cream, bacon...what's not to like?
We normally don't eat breakfast on Christmas Day, but if we did, these waffles from Elison at the Blog d'Elison would be something to try. Waffles with hot maple syrup and butter...a great breakfast or light supper. Considering the alternative meaning in his postscript reminded me of the old custom of "fasting in the flesh", which makes the idea of Christmas waffles even better.
Cakes, Breads and Cookies:
A lovely story about family and love comes complete with an old family recipe that can use up those apples and oranges you get in stockings. (The apples that have had change stuck in them aren't really munch-able.) The Deputy Headmistress of the Common Room sends us Apple-Orange bread, which will sit quite nicely on my Christmas table.
Taleena at the
Sun Comprehending Glass
sent us this recipe for
Cheese Knots, a bread that being rich and cheesy would be prefect for a
Christmas table. Especially since you can add poppy-seeds, which for some reason
she doesn't.
How prefect is this for a Russian Christmas? Over at Everything or Nothing, Shawn has a recipe for a White or Black Russian Cake. Hmmm. Shouldn't that be White or Red Russian? Looks like something I may have to try myself.
Hmmm. Chocolate. That's what the goddess misses most in Advent so we always have some truffles for her on Christmas. Jim at Frazzled Dad has a recipe for Chocolate Nemesis Cake that looks like it'd kill her craving pretty fast.
I've made Whatagot stew on hunting trips and as a way to clean the refrigerator, but never a Whatagot Cake. Hiedi of Frugal Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Warehouse has a recipe for one and it looks interesting. It's a similar approach to the stew, but with cake instead. Maybe we should run a contest over who can make one with the oddest ingredient?
Finally my own recipe this week is for the filled dome cake or Zuccotto. We made ours for New Years but it'd work well for Christmas too.
That's it for this week. I'm sure people will have different spelling and customs, but as a partly Carpathian-Rus kid, this is what I grew up with. Things change and many Orthodox families now use a variation of the Advent wreath and most celebrate Christmas on the 25th. However, January 7th is always special to me. In case anyone wonders, I picked pictures based on what I had and what looked good on the page. Some of the pictures on people's sites just wouldn't copy correctly and I was running late as it was.
Next week, the carnival is at
The Common Room
and the place to find the schedule if you get lost is
here. Thanks to Dory for starting this
and Punctilious for letting me play. We
are should be listed at
the Conservative Cat, the
Uber Carnival, and the
Blog Carnival. Trackbacks should be
coming soon...well, as soon as I clean the guns.
UPDATE: David hasn't really seceded from the Union yet so I correct third world country to third world county. Meas Cupleas! Anyone else I messed up on?
UPDATE 2: As someone mentioned, its not just Russian Orthodox. Many Orthodox Churches still use the old Calendar as do the Coptic Churches I think. Hence the top icon of the Navitity is Ethiopian.
Carnival of Cordite is back and up here. Complete with pictures a grinning Ben...
6 January 2006
Glorious Theophany!
In humility, God the Creator submits to baptism by the hand of John. With glory, the Trinity is revealed: God the Son is manifest in the flesh, the voice of God the Father proclaims "This is my beloved Son," and God the Holy Spirit descends on Christ in the form of a dove.
Carnival of the Vanities is up under new management. Lots of cool stuff, especially more from the Peace Moonbeam Chronicles...
4 January 2006
The Christian Carnival is up at Miserere Mei. No permalink but I got a profanity alert! Ah well, nothing says I have to be nice, just good. Some interesting posts this time with some observations on Christianity and the US's culture. Interestingly no one asks my question: Is American Protestantism compatible with Christianity?
Scary Stuff: A chance conversation with a friend today lead to a discussion of his company's plans to outsource the majority of the trials on drug testing for new products to China. This is being driven partly by the fact the testing will be cheaper to do there (in terms of labor and materials) but mostly because people can't sue them for bad side-effects and results there. In fact, the difficulty of getting the America-based researchers back and forth, and overseeing tests on the other side of the globe makes the first a wash. The real deal maker is the protection from lawsuits, environmental, OSHA, and other regulations. Now I'll admit this brings up the image of testing on convicts in slave-labor camps...but its scary our regulatory and legal system is driving one of our strongest industries away. First the human trials, then the R&D itself to a more friendly place. We've seen that in the US with stuff moving out of California to Texas and the South. No reason why it can't happen internationally. Especially as among the educated Chinese, English is a common second language. My old martial arts buddy, Jonathon, makes a decent living in China teaching English and American Business to students at one of the colleges there. His Chinese is weak (according to him anyway) and yet he seems to do very well.
Sadly this matches what I heard last week, flying from LA to Dallas. I sat next to a fellow who worked for one of the major Pharmaceutical firms and he made no secret of the fact that his company was planning to start doing their human trial in China in 2006. Amazing the conversations reading a Chinese cookbook on your laptop will start. Same reasons I mention: "we won't get our butts sued because someone doesn't want to deal with [the fact that] everything has risks."
Glenn Reynolds has links to a related problem with drugs and regulations, the refusal of companies to make drugs due to legal and extra-legal pressure. Personally, I'd like to kill the bastards who pulled Vioxx because of some increased heart disease risks. I'd gladly take the chance to have full use of my knees again without pain.
Secret Pleasures turned sorrowful: I try not to let it out, but I tend to hit Rodger's Curmudgeonly and Skeptical about once a day. Only the SFW version, of course. However, he had this great poster today and if you chase the link back, the choices are even better. This one below was the best, and no, I haven't and I won't...
The folks who made it have more. You got to love a site called "sacredcowburgers.com"
2 January 2006
Making a
Zuccotto-style cake: Every have
Zuccotto in an Italian restaurant? Like baklava, it looks so incredibly
difficult to
do but surprisingly like baklava, it not. You just need the tools,
basically
a
dome cake mold from King Arthur's Flour.
They call it an ice cream cake set for some reason.
Anyway, Mother and I dug it out (I had gotten it last year and never had the
time to play with it) yesterday and used it to make dessert for a simple New
Year's Day dinner. Now the pans (left) give you a couple of options. You
can fill all the pans and make a 3 part cake with filling in between or you can
make the dome and base to make a Zuccotto or something similar. We found
that it is a really good idea to put some
batter inside
the dome (farthest back piece, turned over) so that you can check on baking
because, well, leaving it in for an hour is scary. I'm giving batter recipes but
let's be honest, you can use a mix and no one will know... If you do, use one
box for a double layer cake.
Cake batter
2 1/4 cup flour, shifted
2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
2 tsp vanilla
4 ounces baking chocolate
5 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
Cream shortening (aka butter) and sugar together.
Blend in vanilla and cooled melted chocolate. Add eggs one by one, blending in.
Shift together flour, baking soda, salt. Add to mixture 1 cup at a time,
alternating with buttermilk. Beat well until smooth. Grease the pans heavily
with butter and dust with cocoa powder. Fill the outer dome up (middle pan) to
the line and then put the inner dome. Fill the flat pan up to a 1/4 from the top
and then dump any leftover batter into the center. (Note each section holds
about as much as an 8" cake pans, so plan according.) Bake in a 350 F oven for a
hour for the dome, removing the flat pan after 25 minutes. A toothpack comes out
clean or a finger push springs back. Cool the flat cake upside down on a
wire rack. When the dome is done, let cool 10 minutes in pan before removing
lid. Leave cake in pan until filled. Then chill cake in freezer for 10 minutes.
Filling: You can use Bird's custard like I did, a Pastry cream mix from King Arthur, softened ice cream, or whipped cream. You need 3 cups at the end. Once's its done, cool it in the frig until it thickens. Spoon into inside of dome and cool. Chill the whole thing until the bottom is ready.
Frosting: I bought it in can but this works well:
1 pound powdered sugar
6 Tbsp butter
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 ounce baking chocolate
1 tsp coffee
1/4 cup heavy cream
Soften butter and blend with 1/2 sugar. Add everything else and blend in. Add remaining sugar and blend to smooth.
Frost the top of bottom (flat cake) first and place it on top of the filled dome. Loose the cake in the dome, put a plate over the bottom and turn over. Frost the rest of it and serve. Takes about 2 hours and looks like it took all day.
Affirming the reality of the Incarnation: Yesterday was the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and Fr. Basil quoted from St. Dmitri's sermon on the 8 lessons from the Circumcision of our Lord. Interestingly, it was the first and most basic that stuck me as this year saw, as has most years recently, a solid little push in the media denying the possibility that the Gospel accounts can have any real meaning. See this as an example. Dmitri's first point is the presentation of Jesus in the temple for His fulfillment of the law has no description of miracles. No tales of Jesus being born without a foreskin, no stories of how he didn't bleed, or didn't cry. The implication of the fact He did is He was fully man, not a image of a man or an illusion but really man in the flesh as we are. The very God who created the universe, who gave the law, came as a newborn child and with pain and blood This argument only needs to be used these days against Unitarians, New Agers and some of the fringes of my own faith where they defend the divinity by denying Christ ever bleed, bruised, and took a shit. If the latter sounds strange, consider that oaths in the Middle Ages and the East could involve stuff like God's balls because the Incarnation was that strongly understood and accepted. These days the Incarnation is still attacked, but the push is to deny the divinity and reduce Christ to just a man, a prophet to Islam, a revolutionary and teacher to some Jews, and a Jewish mystic to the secularists. It's easier than accepting the possibility the God is not totally other and is involved in our world. That's a scary thought. I was a lot happier as an atheist. Not as nice a person nor as content but I had more fun in some ways. To quote several writers wiser than I, most heresies derive from making the Truth of Jesus Christ into something simpler and easier to deal with.
Looking at the article linked to above, what really shocked me is that the arguments have neither changed since my youth, nor addressed the various responses that believers have supplied. I shouldn't be surprised because if you were to read either Theoplyact's Commentary from 1080, Basil's work from the mid 300s, or even the Apostolic Fathers' writing, you see the same attacks on the Incarnation. Many of the issues raised in the Slate article have been addressed for as long. The date, the star, the availability of sources, all these have been answered, but the attacks continue. Why? Because the heart of the problem is the Incarnation itself. A Being we can't conceive of, a God capable of creating the Universe that we still can't understand, a God who is outside of time and space, yet cares for man is inconvincible to those whose pride sets themselves up as the center of creation or, maybe better, as the end-product of evolution. Unlike the Nameless God behind other mythologies, this God is so concerned that He parts the laws of reality and "He Who contains the Universe, Himself was contained in the womb of a Virgin." On top of that, He has the human operating manual and it doesn't say what we thought it should. Part of that is, fallen as we are, we're running hacked software. So what to us may be natural or genetically based, can still be dead wrong. A fully Incarnated God, one who experienced all of human life while remaining Eternally Divine, means we can't hide behind the excuses. And if the Incarnation wasn't full, if God only sort-of Incarnated, we're screwed. "Only that which was assumed by God is saved." If He didn't assume flesh in the fullest sense, we can stop this silliness and start drinking and screwing ourselves into oblivion. For then there is no hope. As the commemoration of His Circumcision shows, He did and that's why Death was overthrown and the Gates of Bronze shattered.
Bob Park's What's New - Hypocrisy in Action: Yes, again. I'm sure Witold sends these to me just to evelate my blood pressure. This weeks theme seems to be lies and he looks at bunch of them, rightly noting the Korean cloning mess was handled better than Schoen work and the Prayer study You'd think that someone who supposedly is a hotshot in physics would have learned how to embed links so you can check the original story yourself. You know kinda like blogs do. Well, no, and when I google on this nugget:
A new vaccine was 100% effective on 6,000 women in tests andcould eliminate the
sexually transmitted disease that causes
cervical cancer. Conservative Christian groups oppose its usebecause it would
eliminate the incentive for abstinence
Guess what? I can find articles on the vaccine, the study itself, etc but no where could I find a Christian conservative group, not even a nutjob, that had any comment on this. Is this Bob's own lie, or his anti-religious bigotry and liberalism showing? Well I'm pick the latter as this week's edition includes this gem too:
Last week, WN repeated a news story of inter-library loans beingmonitored by
Homeland Security. The student now admits it never
happened. His lie had the effect of trivializing the problem ofour government
spying on Americans.
What spying on Americans? Monitoring international calls to known terrorist? I haven't seen anyone arrested because their email or blog says bad things about the government, otherwise the Kos crowd would be jailed. Apparently Bob is joining the moonbats is believing the Constitution is a suicide pact and the liberty has no price. I wonder if he was so concerned when the Clintons wanted Republican Congressmen's FBI files?
Olympus Blues: <sigh> My E500 arrived on Friday night and its defective. The danged memory card doesn't lock down. Amazon ahs promised to have a replacement here on Thursday but I am so bummed I could cry. Still no reply from Olympus on the problem, the lens adapter, or their weird little software.
I keep telling myself that with all this glass, this makes the most sense but Canon is sounding better and better...
1 January 2006
Happy New Year Day!
The Carnival of Recipes is up at Caterwauling. Lots and lots of holiday goodies.
