Month: August 2008

“Love is the measure by which we shall be judged.”

St. John of the Cross… Read the rest

I’m pretty sure this one was taken at Augusta during the Martha Burke protests at the Master’s a few years ago:

… Read the rest

Roy was sitting on the front porch, reading books by some obscure writers from early twentieth century England. Laughing and making notes in the margins. Patrick was tending to the little garden that occupied the entire side yard. It was Saturday, and both were feeling splendid.

The newspaper boy rode up the driveway and gave Roy his newspaper.

“What’s in the news, Bobby?” Roy asked.

“I dunno,” the boy said.

“Well, you’re the newsboy, aren’t you?” Roy said, laughing. “Aren’t you supposed to know what’s in the newspaper?”

“I just deliver ’em; I don’t much read ’em. There’s a story about some preacher coming to town, though. That’s kinda different.”

Roy looked down at the paper. The front story caught his attention like it had the delivery boy’s: “Famous Preacher Coming to Town.”

Hmmmm, Roy thought to himself, walking slowly over to Patrick as he glanced through the story.

“Patrick, are we living in the early twentieth century South?”

“Not last I knew,” Patrick said.

“Early nineteenth century New England?”

“Nope; pretty sure no.”

“Then why would a preacher coming to town make the front page of our local newspaper?”

He handed the newspaper to Patrick, who quickly read it.

“It says the preacher’s name is Paul Ivywood,” Patrick said, looking at his uncle like the name might sound familiar.

“Yes, I noticed that,” Roy said, thinking. “Paul Ivywood. A preacher with a PR machine, apparently. Last names are easily changed. Come on, Patrick, to the Beer Room!”

The two walked to the backyard and approached the locked cellar doors. Roy reached to the ground and picked up a corroded can of Schlitz that was buried, half crushed and tilted, in the dirt next to the doors. From the bottom of the can, who took a small key, which he … Read the rest

I’ve seen the future and it works. Pictures of Russia in that future. … Read the rest

Beautiful: Parts of a giant, exquisitely-carved marble sculpture depicting the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius have been found at an archaeological site in Turkey. I wrote the Christian’s Stoic Handbook, but couldn’t find any publishers. In it, I wrote about Aurelius:

It has been said that the last of the great Stoics, the good and virtuous Marcus Aurelius, did not have the god he deserved. His philosophy gave way at the logical end to a resigned, and sad, nihilism: “A little while and thou wilt have forgotten everything, a little while and every thing will have forgotten thee.” He never heard of Christ’s redemption and didn’t know about the beatific vision—the vision the good Christian awaits patiently, with Stoic detachment and resignation.

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What? No warnings about hookers? The New York state Democratic party devoted a page in its information packet to three separate warnings to its delegation about how hard booze hits the system in mile-high Denver.
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Not a good enough Good Samaritan. Shoulda left him in the parking lot: Horrocks and some other teenagers were drinking hard liquor in a Vernal parking lot, said Uintah County Deputy Attorney Greg Lamb. Horrocks chugged so much booze he became unresponsive and someone called Collard, 24, for help. Lamb said people had to lift Horrocks into a car. But instead of taking Horrocks to a hospital or to his parents, Collard drove him to her home in Jensen, 13 miles away. Another adult found Horrocks to be unresponsive in the house at about midnight, Lamb said, and the adult called 911. The next day, Horrocks was ruled to be brain dead, disconnected from life support and died. Utah has a criminal statute for failing to render aid, but prosecutors decided to pursue a homicide charge.

This sad story reminds … Read the rest

China wins: 223-220. We finished just two dropped batons behind.
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One of the most knowledgeable writers I’ve ever met sent the following story from The Associated Press. Boys and girls, study close the italicized phrases as great examples of what to avoid (“Hey, Scheske, we get enough such lessons reading TDE!”):

Tropical Storm Fay’s path Saturday crossing the Florida Panhandle vaulted the stubborn weather system into the record books.

The tropical storm crossed over the central Florida Panhandle at 5 a.m., the first in recorded history to hit the state with such intensity four different times.

George Sweat, 46, searches for his valuables after a large pine tree fell on his home, as girlfriend Peggy Mash, 53, played on her couch with her two cats, at right, during Tropical Storm Fay Friday in Hawthorne, Fla. Residents of the Ranch Motel RV Park and Campground rushed to save the woman, comforting her until rescue crews arrived.

The center of the storm was reported to be over the Florida panhandle about 15 miles north-northeast of Apalachicola, Fla., according to the National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center.

Fay was expected to be near or over the western Florida Panhandle’s coast Saturday and near or over the coast of Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday, the center said.

Though Fay never materialized into a hurricane, its zigzagging downpours have been plenty punishing.

At least six people in Florida were dead from the storm, state officials said, and two more deaths reported Friday were believed to be Fay-related. The state attributed an additional death, before the storm hit, to hurricane preparedness after a man testing generators died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

”The damage from Fay is a reminder that a tropical storm does not have to reach a hurricane level to be dangerous