the digital story of the Nativity

roflmao

Seasons greetings

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all . . .

a n d a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2011, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great, (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is the only "AMERICA" in the western hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or choice of computer platform of the wishee.

(By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.)

4 mothers everywhere

When my wife quit work to take care of our new baby daughter, countless hours of peekaboo and other games slowly took their toll. One evening she smacked her bare toes on the corner of a dresser and, grabbing her foot, sank to the floor. I rushed to her side and asked where it hurt. She looked at me through tear-filled eyes and managed to moan, "It's the piggy that ate roast beef." - Andychap q.gcfl

Christmas 2010

first some cards to choose from

and from the past (follow the links)

great Christmas story and a blast from the past

Christmas at Greccio

bloopers, boo-boos and errata (c)

The below online story has a correction from the printed copy:


DEWEY BEACH, Del. — For the past five years, Marissa Filderman has adopted a turkey for Thanksgiving.

But she has never been interested in raising the feathered fellow.

The 24-year-old vegetarian is focused on saving that turkey from its inevitable holiday fate.

So each year, she adopts a foul from Farm Sanctuary, an organization that rescues abused farm animals and works to stop and expose cruel farming practices with shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif.

...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-11-21-turkey-sanctuary-program_N.htm

Austria/Australia - what's the difference?

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/austrian-gillard-gets-a-makeover/story-e6freuzr-1225952747882

lots of good memories about this place

and the football has improved a lot

http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/11/03/division-iii-qb-joey-baum-the-true-student-athlete-who-gives-ba/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl7%7Csec1_lnk3%7C182279

Case used to play WRU.

One year, WRU cheerleaders has this one:

Case once, Case twice
Holy jumping J.... C.....
Rivets and bolts
Rivets and bolts
Nuts nuts nuts
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew Case

thrilla in Manila

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/11/03/australia-terror-attack-manila-imminent/

a halloween note for my granddaughters

Two vampire bats are going for their midnight feed. After an hour or so, one bat gets tired of looking and goes home with no blood. The other bat comes home with blood dripping from its mouth. The first bat says enviously,

Where did you get all that blood from?

The second bat replies,

Follow me. I'll show you.

After a while the second bat leads them to a cave. He says,

You see that wall over there?

The hungry bat excitedly says,

Yes!

Other bat says,

I didn't.

- Ollie Crumpler

let's get this straight

I can't identify w/the guys on Big Bang Theory

but this is good, bigoted but good. And it has that amateurish 60s sound

always enlist another set of eyes

http://blog.beliefnet.com/deaconsbench/2010/10/worth-a-thousand-words----or-at-least-three.html

I am a senior citizen and still inventing

A college student at a recent football game challenged a senior citizen sitting next to him, saying it was impossible for their generation to understand his.

You grew up in a different world,

the student said loud enough for the whole crowd to hear.

Today we have television, jet planes, space travel, man has walked on the moon, our spaceships have visited Mars, we even have nuclear energy, electric and hydrogen cars, computers with light-speed processing ... and uh....

Taking advantage of a pause in the student's litany, the old geezer said,

You're right. We didn't have those things when we were young; so we invented them, you little twit! What are YOU doing for the next generation?

(I love senior citizens!) - Thomas Ellsworth q.gcfl

It's time to organize a Texas Navy

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/01/search-teams-seek-man-shot-mexican-waters/

for my godfather

A man goes to the confessional. "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned."

"What is your sin, my child?" the priest asks. "Well," the man starts, "I used some horrible language this week, and I feel absolutely terrible."

"When did you do use this awful language?" asks the priest. "I was golfing and hit an incredible drive that looked like it was going to go over 250 yards, but it struck a phone line that was hanging over the fairway and fell straight down to the ground after going only about 100 yards."

"Is that when you swore?"

"No, Father," replies the man. "After that, a squirrel ran out of the bushes and grabbed my ball in his mouth and began to run away."

"Is THAT when you swore?" asks the priest again. "Well, no," says the man. "You see, as the squirrel was running, an eagle came down out of the sky, grabbed the squirrel in his talons, and began to fly away!"

"Is THAT when you swore?" asks the amazed priest. "No, not yet," the man replies. "As the eagle carried the squirrel away in his claws, it flew toward the green. And as it passed over a bit of forest near the green, the squirrel dropped my ball."

"Did you swear THEN?" asks the now impatient priest. "No, because as the ball fell, it struck a tree, bounced through some bushes, careened off a big rock, and rolled through a sand trap onto the green and stopped within six inches of the hole."

"You missed the putt, didn't you?" sighs the priest. - ArcaMax Jokes

you can't make up stuff like this

truth weirder than fiction

another blog on the coming changes in the Mass

http://platytera.blogspot.com/2010/08/more-new-translation.html

My Friend Joe

I had a friend named Joe,
to Iraq we had to go.
We fought together side by side,
until the day that my friend died.
We were in a town, the name unknown,
playing with some kids.
We gave them candy and MREs,
cause their lives had hit the skids.
When thru a window a gun got poked,
a finger on the trigger.
To kill an American GI,
would make the shooter bigger.
Joe had just given a little girl a hug,
when out of the gun there came a slug.
In Joes back a hole I could see,
the finger on the trigger moved...
then another round hit me.
The children ran off screaming,
as a second slug hit Joe.
My friend knew he was dying,
he didn't want to go.
The shooter he ran,
at the sight of a van,
a big red cross for a sign.
then a medic came by,
said you're gonna be fine,
I'm sorry your buddy's dead.

I had a friend named Joe,
now to Arlington I go,
to tell him of all the things in life,
that he no more will know.
I put a flag and a flower,
on the grave of a friend so dear,
and water his hallowed resting place,
with many a heartbroken tear.

- SSG Jack G. Simpson Jr US ARMY (RET) copyright 2008

Roger Staubach, Still Captain America

Recently, my brother was sitting in first class on a flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Colorado Springs when a couple boarded and sat in front of him. He immediately recognized the man as Roger Staubach. They exchanged greetings, and Staubach said he was headed to Colorado Springs for the inaugural Warrior Games.

After 60 or 70 percent of the plane was boarded, a female Army soldier who had lost her leg boarded. Staubach insisted she sit in his seat; she said, "no, thanks," but he insisted. He took her place in a middle seat way in the back. After a few minutes, the young girl got tears in her eyes and said she wanted to go to her seat and have Staubach return to his. The flight attendant overheard, and, as the female soldier headed to retrieve Staubach, the attendant said she had a no-show and both could sit in first class.

The flight attendant returned with the female soldier, but Staubach sent a double amputee Army soldier to sit in his seat. Staubach remained in coach the entire flight and disembarked last. My brother waited and asked for an autograph for my birthday; Staubach said certainly. It's a great gift, but the greater gift is knowing Roger Staubach is still Captain America.

- Drew Werner, Addison TX q._Reader's Digest_America in Uniform_

a hissy fit as Ruby B would say

Albino Python on Cocaine Confronts Police - AFP headline

the wedding guest

guess why this guy is not married

response -- in re 9/11

Putting aside politics, if that is possible in this location (pun intended) and at this time, his idea has merit, though not as he saw it.

Too often when one is touched violence, the advice is “Forgive and get beyond it.” Many people find that difficult — witness the road side shrines maintained years after an event took place. On a small road in Cobb County GA, near Sope Creek, there is attached to a tree a memorial that is refreshed each season. I don’t know who or what happened there, but on the winding road in the hilly area of a well-to-do neighborhood, a reasonable assumption is an auto accident.

The politicization of 9/11 and the WTC may have been inevitable — it was a political act to begin with in a very political area/arena. But surely our faith background should direct us to examine the long-term affects of violence on victims, their loved ones and society as a whole.

As Catholics we should understand ritual — its purpose and place. Have we ritualized listening to the victims, their loved ones and society as a whole on the effects of violence on them?

As Catholics we should understand symbol — its purpose and place. Do we see the symbolic damage to the fabric of society by violence? Have we pondered how to remediate the tears in the warp and woof of that fabric by ritual action?

On 9/11/2001 I was the Grand Knight of a Knights of Columbus council. On 9/11/2006 I was the Navigator of a Knights of Columbus 4th degree assembly. I had meeting of each shortly after the events. I found myself at a loss for words to connect with my brothers on how I felt on these occasions. I have found clergy and laymen alike shrink from talking about these issues.

But like those shrines, the wounds are still there. We may question NG’s motive for his proposal. But I for one think he is on to something that will not go away.

stimulus -- in re 9/11

Newt Gingrich proposes that the WTC site be declared a national battlefield memorial. If he had been paying attention,he would have known that for the last nine years it’s been a true New York battlefield between the developer, the insurance companies, and the Port Authority. What a stew pot to memorialize.

Gingrich: “I think the Congress has the ability to declare the area a national battlefield memorial because I think we should think of the World Trade Center as a battlefield site; this is a war,” he said, apparently thinking that if Ground Zero was a national park, Park51 would be restricted from building near it.”

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/gingrich_make_ground_zero_a_national_battlefield_t.php?ref=fpblg

- Margaret O'Brien Steinfels 2010Sep3 11:47 am dotCommonweal

my parish

http://www.georgiabulletin.org/local/2010/08/19/spotlightstthomasapostle/

Frederick MD

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/randy-white-fights-to-expose-cancer-cluster-near-frederick-maryland/19588039?icid=mainhtmlws-main-ndl1link4http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Frandy-white-fights-to-expose-cancer-cluster-near-frederick-maryland%2F19588039

this person must be a physicist

it takes that level of warped mind to do this

this is not miss manners

http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/visitbritains-2012-olympics-etiquette-rules-explained/19592753?icid=mainhtmlws-main-ndl5link4http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fsurge-desk%2Farticle%2Fvisitbritains-2012-olympics-etiquette-rules-explained%2F19592753

acting

To act with my clothes on is a performance. To act with my clothes off is a documentary. - Julia Roberts q.http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/04/01/no_sex_scene_actor/index.html

don't mess with the elephant

or reality depends on your point of view [as usual, assume "mess" is a macro]


A lion woke up one morning feeling really rowdy and mean. He went out and cornered a small monkey and roared

Who is mightiest of all jungle animals?

The trembling monkey answered

You are, mighty lion!

Later, the lion confronted an ox and fiercely bellowed

Who is the mightiest of all jungle animals?

The terrified ox stammered

Oh great lion, you are the mightiest animal in the jungle!

On a roll now, the lion swaggered up to an elephant and roared

Who is mightiest of all jungle animals?

Fast as lightning, the elephant snatched up the lion with his trunk and slammed him against a tree half a dozen times, leaving the lion feeling as if it had been run over by a safari wagon. The elephant then stomped on the lion until it looked like a corn tortilla and ambled away. The lion let out a moan of pain, lifted his head weakly, and hollered after the elephant

Just because you don't know the answer, you don't have to get so upset about it!

- ArcaMax Jokes q.gcfl

Florida seems interesting also

My mother taught me not to like snakes either but I don't think I ...

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/wacky-crimes-the-best-of-police-blotters-from-830478.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss

I live in an interesting place

but who is pookie?

http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/8937814/article-Write-in-votes-show-funny--dissatisfied-sides-of-voters?instance=home_news_special_coverage

autism and Iraq

http://rhemashope.wordpress.com/

diversity in Catholic Church

stimulus local copy

response

While Fr Elizondo's original interview was in 1981, I was living in Houston. I had written a letter to the local Catholic newspaper about the difference between immigration when my ancestors came from Germany and immigration then. This is an update to that view.

When my ancestors came to the US late in the 19th century, it was of necessity a permanent move. They were poor and could not afford to go back. But also they came here in order to have a future away from the turmoil and poverty of Germany at that time. They brought their language, their religion and their culture.

Religion

The religious acceptance of immigrants at that time can be indicated by a story my mother told. She lived at the foot of a hill in Covington Ky. During one of the revivals of the Ku Klux Klan, crosses would be burnt on the hill above her house and overlooking the Ohio River. The other side was Cincinnati OH.

It was also true that Catholic churches in Covington when I grew up in the 1940s and 50s came in pairs - Irish and German -- the latter more numerous. Their is no indication they hated each other, just that the other was OTHER.

Language and Culture

The German language and culture were not there as I grew up. Later in life I was told by the family that all the signs -- business and public -- in German were removed the day WWI started. At the same time the use of the German language "in public" ended. It was never clear whether the first day of the war was meant or when the US entered the war.

This would indicate that German culture, at least in the Cincinnati area, ended more abruptly than any I have heard of under any circumstances short of invasion.

1980s

30 years ago Mexican immigration into the US and specifically TX was different. Because of the proximity of the two countries, any immigrant who had a job -- and there is no indication that then jobs were not plentiful -- could drive back to Mexico almost at will. The price of oil was up and the oil business was booming.

When my son was in his late elementary school years at St Jerome parish school in the early 1980s, the parish had three language groups -- English, Spanish and Vietnamese. There were trilingual Masses for moments, such as Holy Saturday, when a combined service made sense. There were separate vicars for Spanish and Vietnamese. The Vietnamese ran their own religious education program using Vietnamese nuns.

Interestingly enough, within the parish boundaries, there were two non-territorial parishes, one for Koreans and one for Polish.

My son had a friend in his class whose parents were born in Mexico. The father ran a successful sheet rock business. As the oil business hit a bump in the road in the middle 1980s, all business in Houston entered a slump. My son's friend's father's business seemed to be hanging in there.

Then his father got ill in Mexico. He went home for an extended stay. When his father rallied, he returned to Houston. This happened multiple times before the business failed and the family lost their home during a local housing crisis that included deflation and banks failing. The father moved to Chicago to find work. I left Houston about this time as I had lost my job and had found work in Pittsburgh. I don't know how the story ends.

Today

The Atlanta area and its churches have immigrants from just about every country on the globe. At work, I hear Spanish, Russian and multiple Asian languages, especially Indian.
I belong to a parish that has 2000 non-Spanish-speaking families (from 5 continents with multiple languages) and 4000 Spanish-speaking families. The dynamics of parish life seem the same as 30 years ago.

I don't think what immigrants experience is any worse what the immigrants experienced 100-150 years ago. In many ways the experience is much better in terms of access to public services without discrimination.

What has changed is that immigrants without exception can go home every so often. A friend at Delta Airlines tells me that the profit motive for flights to the south is cargo. They never overbook flights there because even with less than a full load, cargo requirements may mean passengers may have to be bumped. "Load and balance" they call it.

One last story

When I went to Pittsburgh, my family did not go at first. I was lonely and went to the Carnegie library in my work complex. One day I found a history book about something I had never heard of -- the Polish National Catholic Church.

It seems that in the late 19th century large groups of people were coming to the US from central and Eastern Europe. They had a tendency to stay in locales that centered around a church. One group of Polish immigrants became angry at their German [Catholic] bishop for not providing a pastor who spoke Polish. So like Protestants they found a priest who did speak their language and would minister to them.

The schismatic group exists to this day. I am told they are even now back in Poland.

goats!

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/07/27/government-outsourcing-goats-save-money/?test=latestnews

you can never have too much of

Flannery O'Connor

The ant philosophy

Over the years I've been teaching children about a simple but powerful concept - the ant philosophy. I think everybody should study ants. They have an amazing four-part philosophy, and here is the first part: ants never quit. That's a good philosophy. If they're headed somewhere and you try to stop them; they'll look for another way. They'll climb over, they'll climb under, and they'll climb around. They keep looking for another way. What a neat philosophy, to never quit looking for a way to get where you're supposed to go.

Second, ants think winter all summer. That's an important perspective. You can't be so naive as to think summer will last forever. So ants are gathering in their winter food in the middle of summer.

An ancient story says, "Don't build your house on the sand in the summer." Why do we need that advice? Because it is important to be realistic. In the summer, you've got to think storm. You've got to think rocks as you enjoy the sand and sun. Think ahead.

The third part of the ant philosophy is that ants think summer all winter. That is so important. During the winter, ants remind themselves, "This won't last long; we'll soon be out of here." And the first warm day, the ants are out. If it turns cold again, they'll dive back down, but then they come out the first warm day. They can't wait to get out.

And here's the last part of the ant philosophy. How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All he possibly can. What an incredible philosophy, the "all-you-possibly-can" philosophy.

Wow, what a great seminar to attend - the ant seminar. Never give up, look ahead, stay positive and do all you can.

- Jim Rohn

an exaggeration "Catholic laypeople did not read scripture"

stimulus

Seventy-five years ago, when this magazine was first published, the Mass was in Latin, and laypeople did not read from scripture or distribute communion. "Religious education" consisted of classes in Catholic schools taught primarily by sisters wearing habits.

my response

1. I started Catholic elementary school in 1949. At that time we were using a format of the Baltimore Catechism, at least in the upper grades, which had scripture with the Q&A.
   
2. I started Catholic high school in 1955. One of the required texts was a New Testament. We had periodic "days of reflection". We were expected to read the NT during that day, especially when we were assembled in study hall. We also had 4 intense yrs of Latin and 4 less intense yrs of Greek. In college I bought a Greek NT so I could keep up with my Greek - not very successfully.
   
3. I started Catholic college in 1959. We were required to take 8 theology and 6 philosophy courses as part of the core. 3 of those courses were scripture.

This was not a raving liberal place. Several decades later I was at a party in Houston talking to my former pastor John McCarthy, then the Aux Bp of Houston and later Bp of Austin, now retired. I told him I was from Covington Ky. At first he couldn't place it. After I pointed out that it was just across the river from Cincinnati, his eyes lite up. Oh yes he said. That is where the Cincinnati airport is. He then brought up a piece of trivia I will always remember. During Vatican II, the Covington bishop, Bp Ackerman was considered one of the most conservative bishops at the council.

I find it hard to beliee that a backwater like CVG would be ahead of the rest of the world.

unclear of the concept

or just sloppy?

this man has clarity and accuracy

which makes this hot

http://ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/seven-days-shook-vatican

life

Well, it's been a week since dental surgery, the antibiotic has run out, and my mouth still hurts. Sometimes my teeth hurt.

I'm still eating liquid and very soft food. I have headaches. I am tired and grumpy. I am hoping to be eating and chewing food by July 4th.

The golden years continue unabated.

shy but persistently insane

Truck driver Yuuki Oshima, 22, was arrested in Chiba, Japan, in December after allegedly urinating through the mail slot of a woman's apartment door on more than one occasion. Oshima told police that he was frustrated, apparently too shy to approach the woman and admit that he was "crazy" about her. [Japan Today, 12-12-09]

http://www.newsoftheweird.com/archive/nw100124.html

important research

A December National Public Radio report noted that fake houseflies have begun appearing in urinals around the world based apparently on research showing that men are more likely to aim at the flies, thus leaving the area surrounding the urinal cleaner. Another commentator wondered how such "research" was conducted (other than by the obvious method of paper-wiping floors around urinals and then comparing the wipes). [KPCC Radio (Pasadena, Calif.), 12-25-09]

http://www.newsoftheweird.com/archive/nw100124.html

science is racist

In January, the Berkeley (CA) School Board began consideration of a near-unanimous recommendation of Berkeley High School's Governance Council to eliminate science labs from its curriculum, reasoning that the classes mostly serve white students, leaving less money for programs for underperforming minorities. Berkeley High's white students do far better academically than the state average; black and Latino students do worse than average. Five science teachers would be dismissed. [East Bay Express, 12-23-09]

http://www.newsoftheweird.com/archive/nw100124.html

apple pie

To make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. - Carl Sagan

To make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. - the pup

better blogging

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/16_ways_to_be_a_better_and_holier_blog_commenter?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NCRegisterDailyBlog+%2540The+Daily+Register%2541#When:19:21:13Z

I don't think I represent this remark, do I?

http://www.gocomics.com/freerange/2010/06/09/

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad news

Police Find 14 Sheep Crammed into Car - New Zealand Press
Association headline

this person is trying to fix the Gulf of Mexico

but this is who we need

this person can fix the Gulf of Mexico

saving the planet - NOT

Myth: we have to save the earth. Frankly, the earth doesn't need to be saved. Nature doesn't give a hoot if human beings are here or not. The planet has survived cataclysmic and catastrophic changes for millions upon millions of years. Over that time, it is widely believed, 99 percent of all species have come and gone while the planet has remained. Saving the environment is really about saving our environment - making it safe for ourselves, our children, and the world as we know it. If more people saw the issue as one of saving themselves, we would probably see increased motivation and commitment to actually do so. - Robert M. Lilienfeld (1953-) management consultant and author and William L. Rathje (1945-) archaeologist and author

on law

Good men must not obey the laws too well. - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) _
Essays_ writer and philosopher q.awad

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. - Plato q.awad

In a democracy, laws are the agreed upon boundaries between each person's rights and a formal expression of each person's responsibilities. - pup

Law will be simplified [over the next century]. Lawyers will have diminished, and their fees will have been vastly curtailed. - Junius Henri Browne, 1893, journalist q.Laura Lee _The Futurist_

Laws are the spider's webs which, if anything small falls into them they ensnare it, but large things break through and escape. - Solon q.awad

One law for the lion and ox is oppression. - William Blake (1757-1827) poet, engraver, and painter

We all know here that the law is the most powerful of schools for the imagination. - Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944) q.marsha1945@AUSTIN.RR.COM

When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken. - Benjamin Disraeli (1804Dec21-1881) q.marsha1945@AUSTIN.RR.COM uga2009Dec21

1. Laws are society's common sense, written down for the stupid.
2. The stupid refuse to read. Thank you for choosing to read.
- q.Chagatai Khan

for my son

While we were on field-training exercises at Fort Hood TX, our unit was inspected by a very critical senior officer. At the end of the training cycle, we were asked to submit a written evaluation of the inspector. One buddy's statement perfectly summed up our sentiments:

He's the only officer I have ever known who can strut while sitting down.

- Col. Ralph Sims (Ret.) q._Reader's Digest_Humor In Uniform_

for jason the builder, tweeter and the grandkids

a bit of local history

for andrea

see no.5

complementarity

the more philosophical version of the quantum mechanics uncertainty principle

During a lecture on his principle of complementarity, Neils Bohr said that, for every measurable quantity, there is a complementary measurable quantity such that the more precisely one knows one of the quantities, the less precisely they know the other. He was asked from the audience, "Then what is complementary to Truth?" His immediate response was, "Clarity."

for all mothers

Before I was a Mom,

I made and ate hot meals.

I had unstained clothing.

I had quiet conversations on the phone.

Before I was a Mom,

I slept as late as I wanted.

I never worried about how late I got into bed.

I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was a Mom,

I cleaned my house each day.

I never tripped over toys.

I never forgot words to lullabies.

Before I was a Mom,

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom, I had never been . . .

puked on

pooped on

spit on

chewed on

peed on

or pinched by tiny fingers.

Before I was a Mom,

I had complete control of my mind, thoughts and body.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held down a screaming child so that doctors could do tests or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a Mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important.

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

Before I was a Mom, I had never known . . .

the warmth

the joy

the love

the heartache

the wonderment

or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much . . . before I was a Mom.

She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed. (Prv 31:27-28a)

May God's richest blessings be with each of you mothers.

response - what is holy/sacred

The face of Francis is holy, not sacred. An unfortunate perpetuation of the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane continues to be used in art criticism (and many other places as well) when dealing with Christianity.... But what “sacred” means, in contrast to “profane” (that which lies outside the temple and is purely of this world), is “something set apart” in relation to the divine. It is separate, by some form of consecration, for religious usage. - stimulus - Dimensions of the Holy

I am trying to get my head around the distinction he makes between holy and sacred.

I do not find my grandchildren to be holy, but I do think of them as being sacred - creations of God bearing the finger prints of God. I say the same of the trees surrounding my house.

Merriam-Webster does not appear to support me in this: holy sacred

stimulus - Dimensions of the Holy

Sacred Spanish art at the National Gallery

Describing Jesus and his disciples as they go up to Jerusalem, Mark the Evangelist writes: “Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid” (10:32). That coupling of amazement and fear, according to Rudolf Otto in his classic The Idea of the Holy (1919), is the essence of human experience of the divine or numinous. When God appears to human beings, it is, in Otto’s memorable phrase, as mysterium tremendum et fascinans, a holy mystery that awakens both fear and fascination. There are, of course, a variety of ways the experience can be expressed—as humbling and exalting, as awe and embrace, as deepened desire yet remorseful recoil. The experience can lead to tears of consolation or the desert of immense distance, both beyond words.

Such an experience of mingled awe and enchantment arises as one enters “The Sacred Made Real,” an exhibition of 17th-century Spanish painting and sculpture currently at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Somewhat abbreviated from an earlier installation in London’s National Gallery, the show offers stellar examples of two types of art, one two-dimensional, the other three-dimensional, which are generally shown separately but here enter into revealing conversation.

During the Catholic Reformation, the artists of Spain’s Golden Age developed an intense realism to stir and even shock viewers with stark, emotional and often anguished presentations of Christ, the Virgin and the saints. Several of the era’s greatest painters are represented in the current exhibition, including Francisco de Zurbarán and Diego Velázquez. They are matched by less well-known sculptors like Juan Martínez Montañés and Pedro de Mena.

No pairing of works more vividly represents the interaction of painterly and sculptural interests than two versions of the Immaculate Conception (see pg. 17), one a sculpture attributed to Montañés (c. 1620), the other an early painting by Velázquez (1618-19). Both depict the Virgin slightly larger than life-size, according to the Book of Revelation’s description of “a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars” (12:1-2). Together they exemplify a typology developed by Baroque artists in 17th-century Seville: a naturalistic young girl takes all her dignity from her clothing and surroundings.

Velázquez places his Mary, with her broad face and full cheeks, against an inky night sky, whose billowing white clouds give cosmic dimension to her swirling blue mantle. (She may have been modeled on Juana Pacheco, the daughter of Velázquez’s master, Francisco Pacheco, whom the painter married.) At her feet are symbols suggesting her purity—a temple, a fountain, a palm tree. The sculptural effect is striking, and Velázquez may well have studied an earlier Immaculate Conception by Montañés.

The Montañés Virgin evokes a similar serenity. But additional majesty at-taches to the figure through the tunic decorated with pale flowers under a black cloak enriched with effulgent golden arabesques. Delightfully, the angels at her feet and on the pedestal seem neither awestruck nor prayerful but simply happy to be there.

You can stand before these two wondrous works, beguiled by the lovely faces, imagining the inner grace of each figure, drawn into the mystery of innocence enduring all experience, transported to another time and still sensing a deeper root in your own.

Art that enthralls begets other art that enthralls, and nearby are three interpretations of St. Francis of Assisi that could define the word. Zurbarán’s mid-career masterpiece, “Saint Francis Standing in Ecstasy” (c. 1640), from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, shows the saint anachronistically in the habit of the reformed branch of his order, the Capuchins, his hands folded in sleeves and his face looking heavenward, the whole figure lit by a suggestion of candlelight. (Legend has it that when his tomb was opened before Pope Nicholas V in 1449, the saint’s body was found in exactly this position, miraculously preserved.) Next to the larger-than-life-size painting is the half-life-size, polychromed statue of “Saint Francis Standing in Ecstasy” (1663) by Mena, which may have been inspired by the Zurbarán. A celebrated object of veneration by pilgrims, the piece has never before left the Cathedral of Toledo.

Next to it is one of the greatest of all representations of prayer: Zurbarán’s “Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation” (1635-39), from London’s National Gallery. You can enter the darkness with Francis as he kneels silent and enraptured, a skull cradled in his exquisitely painted hands. Light falls over your left shoulder onto his right shoulder. Looking up toward his face, you realize that you do not see his eyes, deep in the shadow of his cowl, but only his handsome nose and parted lips. No words come, to him or you, no motion, no desire to be anywhere but here. The presence of God suffuses this image of the poorest and perhaps most beloved of all the followers of Christ.

Your eye moves across the canvas, from the strong hands with the slight indication of the stigmata on his right hand, to the tattered robe, down the plumb-line of the cord falling from his waist, over to the folds that cover his feet and knees, up again to the holy face. The figure is almost entirely on the right side of the painting, yet it balances because the coarse white of the habit at Francis’s right arm pulls the figure to the left and gives it a pulsing stasis, an insistent silent presence. You wish the gallery were empty so that you could kneel.

The face of Francis is holy, not sacred. An unfortunate perpetuation of the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane continues to be used in art criticism (and many other places as well) when dealing with Christianity. It was, for example, the cause of considerable conceptual confusion at a major exhibition on religion in art two years ago at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, “Les traces du sacré.” But what “sacred” means, in contrast to “profane” (that which lies outside the temple and is purely of this world), is “something set apart” in relation to the divine. It is separate, by some form of consecration, for religious usage.

But for a faith that confesses God’s living among us and enduring for us death itself in Christ, our human world is no longer a realm apart but, rather, radically God’s own. Its story and ours have come to be because the holy mystery of God graciously chooses to create a story that will be God’s own, the story of God’s holiness enfleshed in human holiness and suffering for it. Of all the words that might speak less deficiently of the God beyond all language, it is “holiness” that best accompanies “love.” And so the representations of Christ and Mary and the saints that are magnificently brought together at the National Gallery might be said to be sacred, as art or music or dance in a church might be said to be. But the human beings represented by the art are holy, because the God of holiness has dwelt in them through God’s own Spirit—and always will.

- Leo J. O’Donovan SJ (president emeritus of Georgetown University)

http://www.americamagazine.org/

my favorite guru

http://www.infoworld.com/t/it-management/the-real-secret-it-success-088

hacker in context

http://www.infoworld.com/t/misadventures/waiting-the-terry-childs-verdict-811

delaware

for Kat's kitten

Nor were losses equally spread around the country. State by state figures for 2008 - the latest available - showed the number of tech jobs actually increased in 41 states. California gained 15,800 technology jobs, while Delaware saw the largest percentage growth with a 12.8 per cent increase. - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/29/us_tech_jobs/

for my son and all those who have served in the Middle East

Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who banned PowerPoint presentations when he led the successful effort to secure the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005, followed up at the same conference by likening PowerPoint to an internal threat.

"It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control," General McMaster said in a telephone interview afterward. "Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html?src=me&ref=general

is a seat really cheaper than baggage?

reuters

bloopers, boo-boos and errata

the slippery double negative

Because he does have those days to appeal, certainly we don't want to put ourselves in an uncompromising position,

Crowder-Eagle said.

But again, he has delayed us so much, and the judge has spoken and the voters have spoken, so we want to move forward on that.

- mdjonline

the New York way?

Suffolk officials said workers will be culled from local construction
companies.

source

or is it just [sic]

Eh?

hoser history

spell check failure?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8511910.stm

pittsburgh skyline

p'burg skyline

fuer die Kaetze

Today in the Arthritis Pool Exercise Class, a 90-year-old lady said,

I'm flying to Chicago for Thanksgiving, and they probably will charge me extra for being an 'old bag'!

- Jean Wilcox

bano nano

link

not a pretty site

David Marshall-Martin was delighted to read the AAP wire service report on 28 February about the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras:

Many were disappointed they couldn't penetrate the thong of onlookers.

In an article by Michelle Hanson in the Guardian on 5 March:

If the government are considering competency tests for dog owners, I say go for it - and compulsory microchipping, neutering, third-party insurance.

All very good, but what about the dogs?

Lessons From a Blue-Collar Millionaire

doing it right - culture without a Petri dish

tweeter may be right

I seem to fit Asperger's syndrome

publish or perish

and use caution at all times

signs of the times

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/11/the-13-funniest-help-want_n_493654.html?alacarte=1#slide_image

modern departure in style

AUTO: yyyyy xxxxxxx/UK/IBM is out of the office FOREVER (returning 01/01/2015)

I am out of the office until 01/01/2015.

I have taken early retirement from IBM so you won't get a reply to your e-mail. xxxxxxx@googlemail.com is my private e-mail if it's a non IBM related e-mail please get in touch...

yyyyy signing off from IBM...
　
Note: This is an automated response to your message "zzzzzzzzz" sent on 5/3/10 18:03:48.

This is the only notification you will receive while this person is away.

obviously machines have a different view of forever than we do

Thank God for Warm Blankets

When a doctor looks you straight in the eye and says,"You have cancer," time stops. In that instant you know that things will never again be the same. From then on there will be the "before" and the "now".

In my "now" there have been many changes, among them a heightened awareness of the little things I am thankful for on a daily basis. Today I am thankful for warm blankets!

This phase of my treatment is called "stem cell collection" and entails about four hours a day on a blood machine. It's totally painless, you just lie on a bed all plumbed up and watch tv, read, or nap. The machine pumps all of the blood in your body through it three times during the treatment, and in the process the blood going back in your body is cooler so you tend to get cold. Hence the wonderful, warm blankets they bring you.

You can have as many as you want, and they feel indescribably good.

I guess blankets must be some sort of natural comfort in life. My four-year-old grandson has a great blanket called his "Elmo" after the character printed on the fabric. Well, actually, he has several Elmos, because when we saw how attached he was to it, doting grandparents bought three or four of them and stashed them around so he would never be without one. Elmo is a fixture in the extended family, and I realize now how important our Elmos are.

The warm blankets at the hospital are certainly nice, but what is more important is the statement they made when offered the first time without my asking.

It said to me, "We understand what you're going through. We really do, and we want to do everything we can to make you as comfortable as possible."

Which led me to think about the other blankets I comfort myself with, and wrapped in which I feel secure: the love of family and friends, the encouragement of co-workers, the well-wishes that come by phone and internet each day, and the smiles of understanding from those you encounter at the hospital.

I will never again take for granted the phrases "I'm thinking about you" or "I'm praying for you." People really mean it when they say it. You can feel it when it's your time of need, the positive force field around you that helps you through the next step of the journey. An invisible cloak, which despite being unseen is far from unfelt and shelters you from the coldness life sometimes brings.

Thank God for warm blankets. Of every type. At every age. - Jim Berry [is fighting the good fight against the big C. 2010Mar13 3pm he goes 'out with the old' in getting rid of the remaining cancer cells and 'in with the new' (actually harvested stem cells) at 1pm Mar15.

more on names

http://www.livescience.com/health/080708-baby-names.html

one family scores three names in current top ten

my grandchildren score two in current top ten

and my generation scores three in the 1950 list, one of those a double, plus one if you count ex's

previous post

no comment needed

http://smilepanic.com/index.php/fun/34-crazy/404-three-is-a-crowd.html

a public service announcement

http://www.holytaco.com/if-us-state-flags-were-honest

now there are awards for everything

http://www.holytaco.com/tribute-men-staring-boobs

There's no such thing as a stupid question

http://www.holytaco.com/25-hilarious-yahoo-answers

I am not drunk!

It was rush hour in Atlanta and I was just driving on the connector when ...

stupid signs

or better signs made by stupid people

great story

problem analysis of the highest order

and an anal but very accurate statistician

anthrax

scary stuff

liquid explained

The Terror of L and R

very poltically incorrect

http://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/01/26/am-i-a-bad-black-woman-vol-i/

the high cost of terrible ideas

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/media/ayn-rand-thomas-malthus-and-the-high-cost-of-terrible-ideas/19331088/

a hoax but still funny

the hoax

revealed

just for looks

The girls were heading out for a women's dinner at church when my little four-year-old granddaughter asked her mom why the baby couldn't stay home with Dad like the other kids. Her mom explained that it was because she needed to feed the baby. The little girl replied, almost like she was thinking out loud: "Oh yeah, that's right, you have the nursers, and Dad has nursers too, but his don't work ... they are just for looks!" - Katherine C. Frater

special for tweeter

On a visit to the library I happened to notice a man and a woman, both deaf, signing with intense gestures, apparently in a heated debate. The man said something; and the woman seemed upset. She started signing her reply very fast, to the point where the man couldn't understand a word; she also signed in big, wide gestures, which is the equivalent of volume. Finally, looking strained, her companion took her hands, "silencing" her. Then he signed, very small and slowly: "You don't have to shout, I'm not blind." - Thomas Ellsworth

there will always be an England

Nicole Mamo, 48, tried to place a help-wanted advert in Thetford, Norfolk, England. The owner of an employment agency, Mamo said applicants for the 5.80-pound/hour (US$9.35) position of cleaner "must be very reliable and hard-working." But the Thetford Jobcentre refused the ad. "She said it was because they could have cases against them for discriminating against unreliable people," Mamo said. "We supply the [National Health Service] with staff, so it's very important for the patients that we have reliable workers." (London Telegraph)

what's in a name

baby center is addictive

my name is #162 on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 in the US population showed it ranked about 25th. It rose to 5th in 1930 and stayed there until 1947. It is now 107th.

child K is #1117 on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 in the US population showed it ranked about 875th. It went down below 1000th in 1916-1923 and back to 159th in yoc and 180th in yob. It is now 975th in last year recorded.

child T is #681 on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 in the US population showed it ranked about 218th. Rank stayed 171-259 range until 1942 when it jumped 40 places. It peaked at 18th in 1961-63. It was 61th in yoc and 66th in yob. It is now 580th.

g-child R is #46 !!! on babycenter The start of recording in 1990 in the US population showed it ranked about 826th. It has risen ever since. It was 184th in yoc and 166th in yob. It is now 39th.
g-child E is #18 !!!!!! on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 showed it very popular in the US population when it was the 4th most popular. It has fallen to a rank of 26th in 1946. It was 10th in yoc and yob and around there in last 30 yrs. Since then it has risen to 9th.

her nickname L is #408 on babycenter Since the start of recording in 1880 it has been as high as 600th in 1934 and as low as below 1000th n 1977-2001. It is now 877th.

g-child C is #15 !!!!!! on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 in the US population showed it ranked about 367th. It fell to a low of 947th in 1925. It went up to 699 in 1936 and down to 951 in 1943. It was unpoplar until 1984, when in 7 yrs time it rose 670 places to 178th. It is now 10th.

g-child A is #7 !!!!!! on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 in the US population showed it ranked 490th. It fell below 1000th in 1907 and stayed below 950th. Starting in 1943 it has risen steadily, topping out at 4th in 2005. It is now 8th.

her nickname A is #57 on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 in the US population showed it ranked about 738th. It fell below 1000th in 1894 and stayed below 925th. Starting in 19563 it has roseto 586th in 1962, fell to 888th in 1968. It then rose to 2o0th in 1983. It is now 259th.

g-child H is #23 !!!!!! on babycenter The start of recording in 1982 in the US population showed it ranked 893th. It has risen steadily, topping out at 23th in 2007. It is now 25th.

ex-wife S is #18757 on babycenter The start of recording in 1941 in the US population showed it ranked 819th. It peaked at 242th in 1945-7. Since 1954, it has been below 900th.

brother T is #49 on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 in the US population showed it ranked 8th. It went down to 12th and back to 8th in 1940 and stayed there until 1955. It is now 52th.

his daughter S is #12!!!!!! on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 in the US population showed it ranked 10th. It went down to 119th in 1959. It rose to 4th in 1981. It is now 20th.

his daughter A is #124 on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 in the US population showed it ranked 951th. It rose slowly and erratically to 554th in 1935, then sharply to 128th in 1944. It rose to 23th in 1978. It is now 71th.

brother D is #19 on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 in the US population showed it ranked 25th. It went down to 55th in 1914-6. It has risen ever since. It was 21th in yob. It is now 5th.

his wife S is #959 on babycenter The start of recording in 1925 in the US population showed it ranked 793th. It rose to 23th in 1939. It stayed above 20th until 1964, peaking at 8th 1943-5 and declined thereafter. It is now 641th.

his son A is #9!!!!!! on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 in the US population showed it ranked 24th. It went down to 85th in 1935-46. It rose to 5th in 1988. It is now 12th.

his son M is #3!!!!!!!!! on babycenter The start of recording in 1880 in the US population showed it ranked 117th. It went down to 209th in 1931-47. It rose to 3th in 1981. It is now 10th.

my favorite editorial cartoonist

Krampus looks a lot like a defensive lineman

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/america-and-the-world/091222/holiday-traditions-christmas-stories

it is my sad duty to inform my grandchildren

reindeer-christmas-deaths

[sic]

Of the survivors, one is married with three children and the other is paralyzed. - mdjonline.com

And the message is?

btw this is the shooting just down the street from where I work. We could see the news helicopter from NBC hovering over the site from the front window of our office.

Which was tricky because it was very near the flight path of the east end of the runway at McCollum airport in Kennesaw. Or is it Cobb airport?

haiti

pt 1

USB and other bank stocks

Warren Buffet agrees with Uncle Bill

I love this quote

reports of my death are greatly exaggerated

I see the Kat arching her back

raising her hair and hissing

up up and away

this story will blow you away

a (faux) nuns story

seventeen to be exact

1987 was a very interesting year

guess who!

think up a caption for this picture

tweeter has a fondness for this picture, but then it isn't her child!

think of how you tell this

to BlueCross

either Jason might do this

http://www.collegehumor.com/picture:1830815#ls:11111

now this is attitude

http://www.lemondrop.com/2009/12/30/single-on-new-years-me-too-heres-what-we-should-do/

kleenex time

http://www.lemondrop.com/2009/12/30/craigslist-letter-to-dead-girlfriend/?icid=mainmaindl3link4http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lemondrop.com%2F2009%2F12%2F30%2Fcraigslist-letter-to-dead-girlfriend%2F

just about anything can happen in Vegas

even this

as you would expect, the punchline is at the end

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/PampG-open-to-outside-ideas-apf-4294495497.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=

condemned and ready for execution

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091231/us_nm/us_bannedwords