Pentecost Sunday

Good Jesu, fountain of love:
Fill me with thy love,
Absorb me into thy love,
Compass me with they love,
That I may see all things
in the light of thy love,
Receive all things as tokens of thy love,
Speak of all things in words
breathing of thy love,
Win through thy love others to thy love,
Be kindled day by day with a
new glow of thy love,
Until I be fitted to enter into
thine everlasting love,
To adore thy love and
love to adore thee,
My God and my all.
Even so, come Lord Jesu!

Edward Bouverie Pusey (AD 1800-1882)
--from Churchyear.net

Ending the Month with Jazz

10 Truly Great Jazz Performances was a post last week on Listverse. I am not sure of their #1 choice, but here is the You Tube clip of #3. Miles Davis (trumpet) and John Coltrane (sax) (it doesn't get any greater than that) with So What. (Along with Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers, bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums.) By the way, Tuesday would have been Miles' 83rd birthday. Settle back for 8:22 of the greatest of cool jazz.

Nothing Serious

So it's Saturday. I don't feel serious or even like posting something serious. So, in good pmPilgrim fashion I went to (The Customer is) Not Always Right and found this one from a video rental store:

Me: “Hi, can I help you?”

Customer: “Yeah. I rented this movie, and ya’ll gave me the wrong one. This one has subtitles, and I wanted it in English.”

Me: “Sorry, sir. But Passion of The Christ is supposed to be in subtitles. It’s the way Mel Gibson made it.”

Customer: “Ya gotta be kiddin’ me! Why would he do somethin’ stupid like that?”

Me: “Well, I’m guess he just wanted to be true to its roots.”

Customer: “The idiot. Everyone knows the Bible is in English!”

Me: “…”

Customer: “So, can you fix it or what?”

Me: “Fix it? What do you mean?”

Customer: “Call up that Gibson feller and tell him to send you guys the English version!”

and this one from a law office:

Caller:*on the phone* “My father-in-law was hit by a car while riding his bike. I need to get some advice about what he should do.”

Me: “Was he injured?”

Caller: “Yeah. I mean, he’s conscious and stuff, but he’s bleeding and in pain.”

Me: “When did this happen?”

Caller: “About 5 minutes ago. Can we sue the guy?”

Me: “I’m sorry, did you say this JUST happened? Have you called the police and ambulance?”

Caller: “No, that’s why I called you. I need to know what to do.”

Me: “Hang up and call 911!”

Caller: “Really? So we should take him to the doctor even though he doesn’t have medical insurance? Who’s going to pay for it if he dies? I can’t be responsible for that!”

(Sirens are heard in the background.)

Caller: “Oh no, someone must have called, because a firetruck just pulled up…am I going to have to pay for this?”

Me: “Sir, please deal with his injuries and make sure he’s taken to the hospital. You can call us back after he’s been treated if you need to and we’d be happy to explain how to get the bills paid - right now you need to worry about him.”

Caller: “I ain’t doin’ anything ’til I know who’s gonna pay for this. I shouldn’t be stuck with this!”

Me: “In all likelihood, the insurance company for the driver who hit him will pay his medical bills.”

Caller: “I’m calling them then….” *aside in background* “Don’t go messing with him; I gotta find out who’s paying for this before you go taking him anywhere!” *hangs up*

Oh So True

It's been awhile since I posted one of Jessica's great charts at Indexed. Here's one that many a person will most definitely agree with.



In fact I knew a Bishop once, who, coming out of a denominational meeting was heard to say:

There are no meetings in heaven- and if there are, I will look at the options of the other place.

What an Interesting Statistic

Found this the other day at Fast Company's blog:

Bikes Outsold Cars at the Start of 2009. Does It Matter?

Both automobile and bicycle purchases fell overall in the first quarter of 2009, but in a surprising twist, bike sales trumped car sales (2.6 million bicycles vs. 2.5 million cars).

As they pointed out, of course, bikes cost a lot less than cars, but the numbers are still interesting. Some of it may very well be that people are looking for "cheap" recreation as much as "cheap" transportation. Some may also be looking for "green" alternatives to use when they can.

I would like to think that it may also be a trend toward better health and less impact on the earth. I know for me that there is quite a moment when I get on the bike and head down the trail under my own power.

Priceless.

Motivation from Mark Twain

Another from Best Article of the Day and Sloshspot Blog. Here are a couple of the Motivational Posters from Mark Twain:

They Call 'em

As They See 'Em is the title of a really interesting and intriguing new baseball book by Bruce Weber of the New York Times.

pmPilgrim Photo, 5/25/09

Weber did a thorough job of discovering what umpiring has been all about. For example, I didn't know that

one of the first things an umpire learns is to pull the face mask off without also pulling the hat off
that there are two umpiring schools
that there is a prescribed- recommended- way for umpires to move around the field in order to cover plays most effectively
that each umpire will develop his or her own set of "mechanics"- how to indicate strike, out, or safe

There is a great deal of modern baseball history in Weber's book that most of us have paid little attention to. Umpires are basically invisible until we don't like their call- and then it can get pretty hairy. There are a number of fascinating stories of close calls, missed calls, and insider information that kept me hooked from the beginning.

I have a hunch that even the most fanatic baseball fan will find a lot of new information in this book. When I went to the Twins-Red Sox game on Monday I found myself with a little better feel for what the umpires do and how they do it. As Weber points out to pay attention to them is actually counter-intuitive but they are an essential part of the game. It actually made for more interest as I watched, although I have to admit I could not pull my attention away from the plays as they were unfolding to watch what the umps were doing.

I guess you have to be trained to do that.

A Late May Thought

Posted on Inward/Outward:

By Rainer Maria Rilke

In spite of all the farmer’s work and worry,
he can’t reach down to where the seed is slowly
transmuted into summer. The earth bestows.

Source: Sonnets to Orpheus, translated by Stephen Mitchell

Just Say "No"

An important insight into time- and self-management by Seth Godin.

If you've got talent, people want more of you. They ask you for this or that or the other thing. They ask nicely. They will benefit from the insight you can give them.

The choice: You can dissipate your gift by making the people with the loudest requests temporarily happy, or you can change the world by saying 'no' often.

You can say no with respect, you can say no promptly and you can say no with a lead to someone who might say yes. But just saying yes because you can't bear the short-term pain of saying no is not going to help you do the work.

Saying no to loud people gives you the resources to say yes to important opportunities.

This is simply another more gentle way of saying that the squeaky wheel gets the oil. We all know it's true. If we are in a helping profession there are always lots of people who are clamoring for a piece of our time. How do we decide who to say yes to?

• The person with the loudest cry?
• The person with the most clout?
• The person who arrived first?
• The person with the greatest need?
• The person we are most likely able to help?

Too often we do dissipate our energies and gifts by thinking we should be able to help everyone. It's just not true and we will discover that we are far more effective when we are willing to admit that. The paradox then is that we will help, truly help, more people than we thought we would be able to.

When I Grow Up....

Posted last week on The Best Article Every Day

From Steel to Slots and Other Changes

pmPilgrim Photo, July 2004

A headline over last weekend...

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Gamblers tried their luck Friday at Pennsylvania's newest casino, a $743 million slots parlor built on the site of a historic mill where tens of thousands of workers once made steel for warships and beams for countless skyscrapers and bridges.

As Paul Harvey used to say, there is a lot more to the story than just a new casino.

We're talking Bethlehem Steel (1857-2003). An icon. A treasured name in American industrial history:

Bethlehem Steel, based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S. steel industry and management problems leading to the company's 2001 bankruptcy, the company was dissolved and the remaining assets sold to International Steel Group in 2003. In 2005, ISG merged with Mittal Steel, ending U.S. ownership of the assets of Bethlehem Steel.


pmPilgrim Photo, 7/2004

Bethlehem Steel was also one of the largest shipbuilding companies in the world and one of the most powerful symbols of American industrial manufacturing leadership. Bethlehem Steel's demise is often cited as one of the most prominent examples of the U.S. economy's shift away from industrial manufacturing and its inability to compete with cheap foreign labor.
--Wikipedia

pmPilgrim Photo, 7/2004

We're talking Bethlehem Steel!

If you are not from the east coast or eastern Pennsylvania, let me put it this way- we're talking the same thing as General Motors and Chrysler. (Lee Iacocca is from Allentown, PA, the other side of the Lehigh Valley, and went to school at Lehigh U. just up the hill from Bethlehem Steel.)

We're talking the paradigm of American industrial strength. Sure US Steel was bigger, but Bethlehem was Bethlehem right there in the same Valley as Mack Truck, and well, you know, when something is built like a Mack Truck, it lasts. (Mack Truck, another US icon has been a subsidiary of Renault since 1990 and of Volvo since 2001. Oh, and they are moving headquarters from Allentown, PA to North Carolina.)

This wasn't originally meant to be a second part like the lost trains post on Sunday, but it is beginning to look like it, isn't it? Just the sight of the article on the casino opening in Bethlehem was enough to get me thinking, reminiscing, and well, getting sad.

We can probably discuss, argue, dissect and disagree for hours over the changes in American industrial and manufacturing from the long painful death of Bethlehem Steel to the current automotive industry reshuffle or even the banking crisis. Some of it is business models based on a world that no longer exists. Some of it is greed. (All executives wanting corner offices so you build a building with twice the number of corners. See Good to Great by Jim Collins.) Some of it is grandiosity (What's good for GM is good for the country.)

The Pulitzer-Prize winning late editor of the Bethlehem Globe-Times, John Strohmeyer in his book Crisis in Bethlehem (1984) gives a good deal of the history which is as relevant to today's situation as it was 25 years ago. Here's the end of the 1994 preface:

Late in January 1994, Bethlehem suffered the ultimate indignity. The steel company announced that despite union concessions it has been forced to close down the hot metal steelmaking operations in Bethlehem. Those roaring blast furnaces which gave Bethlehem Steel it's life and its name in 1904 will be silenced forever...The steelmaking skills passed down by generations of Bethlehem families will be useless.

The city reacted with shock. The stock market was delighted... The saga of Bethlehem becomes a case study of the tumultuous, often insensitive, profit-driven changes in this nation's once impregnable industries.
--Google book search

pmPilgrim Photo, 7/2004

And now it's a casino, among other things. As we watch GM and Chrysler struggle as the Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads struggled may we not "mourn" so much as learn. May we see that much of what is happening is a problem with more than one villain, few, if any, heroes, and lots and lots of victims. It does not have to mean the end of American industry. Not if we are willing to make some hard choices. Not if all involved, including those looking for "golden parachutes" are willing to make sacrifices.

It is all very complex. But it is not unheard of nor unusual. Perhaps in the American mythology it is, but there have been a lot of industrial names we thought we would never lose. Let's do what we Americans can do so well- apply our ingenuity and stick-to-it-iveness and figure out where we need to go and not where we have been or wish we were.

Watching the Stars Go By

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Memorial Day 2009

Vietnam War Memorial, Washington, DC
May, 1983 (scan from slide)

--cross posted with pmPilgrim photoBlog.

24/7 Liberty

Since it is Memorial Day, take a virtual trip to New York Harbor and see live picture (or archived pictures) of Lady Liberty herself via EarthCam.

Link here.

Sunday After Ascension

I saw it somewhere this past week- the Ascension is the end of the Incarnation. I must admit I have never thought of it that way before. Once Jesus was back in heaven, so to speak, the Incarnation, God with us is over.

But I would beg to differ. It may be the end of the incarnation through Jesus, but it is the beginning of the Incarnation through the Holy Spirit into us. I almost wrote The Church, but I don't think that is a good theology. Incarnation is the Word made flesh and the Church is not flesh. Only us, the members of the Church are flesh and blood and only in us can God continue the Incarnation.

Spoil Sports

Discovery Magazine's blog Cosmic Variance sure likes to ruin good fiction and movie "science". Last week they had a post on the (real, honest to God) Rules for Time Travelers thereby undermining all the shenanigans in the latest Star Trek, not to mention the classic Marty McFly story in Back to the Future.

Here are the first two:

0. There are no paradoxes.

This is the overarching rule, to which all other rules are subservient. It’s not a statement about physics; it’s simply a statement about logic. In the actual world, true paradoxes — events requiring decidable propositions to be simultaneously true and false — do not occur. Anything that looks like it would be a paradox if it happened indicates either that it won’t happen, or our understanding of the laws of nature is incomplete. Whatever laws of nature the builder of fictional worlds decides to abide by, they must not allow for true paradoxes.

1. Traveling into the future is easy.

We travel into the future all the time, at a fixed rate: one second per second. Stick around, you’ll be in the future soon enough.

Link to all 10+1 rules. Just don't try to break those laws or the Paradox Police will get you.

Lost Trains

I recently got a forward from my friend Dwight that one of the big names in toy trains, the German manufacturer Marklin, is in trouble. (Link to NPR story.) It is now in the German version of Chapter 11 and is actually owned by a British private equity firm. They are hoping that they can attract a new generation of train lovers.



Which first got me thinking about my toy train when I was a child. It was an American Flyer. It had realistic two-track layouts, not the three tracks of Lionel. It is now long gone- both mine and the company. (Train can be seen on the left side in the Christmas morning picture from around 1955 or so. pmPilgrim at much younger age on the right.)

Then I started looking through some of my slide scans of some of the now lost railroads of the east coast where I grew up....

First is the Reading (pronounced redd-ing). (Picture 1974, near Allentown, PA)


This engine shows signs of two other great, classic, and doomed railroads, the Pennsylvania (PRR in the red keystone just showing behind the cab) and the Penn Central merger of the PRR and the New York Central (NYC). (Picture 1982, near Allentown, PA)

Here are two more: the CNJ, Central Railroad of New Jersey, with its logo just showing on the boxcar on the right and the Lehigh Valley (LV) on the yard engine. (Picture 1974, near Allentown, PA)

These of course were the major roads folded into the Consolidated Rail Corporation- Conrail. (Picture 1983, Rockville/Harrisburg, PA)

They are all gone now. Conrail was basically split and sold in 1999 to CSX and Norfolk Southern. There are still some of their engines and insignia around. But they are left to history. These companies helped make the United States the industrial power they were. They had robber barons running them, true, and in that were the seeds of their destruction. Conrail never stood a chance.

Someday they will be forgotten in everyday life. But let's hope history keeps their rightful place alive.

Fun With Logos

Thanks to Mental Floss Blog for the link to graphicdesignblog.org where there is a truly interesting post of corporate logos with hidden symbols. Like this one to the right for the Big Ten sports conference. If you don't know, the Big Ten expanded to 11 teams with the addition of Penn State a number of years ago. They didn't change the name but added the number 11 in the "blank space" on either side of the capital "T".

Others in the post include the old NWA logo, Amazon.com, Fed Ex and a host of others. Follow the LINK to see for yourself.

News Roundup Of Sorts

It started on Monday. Three news items caught my attention and I decided that I would really like to comment on them. No reason, other than they tickled my fancy. It only increased from there. So here goes.
---------------------------------------------------------

1. A settlement has been reached in a screenwriter's lawsuit against Mel Gibson over "The Passion of the Christ."

Comment: Okay, was it Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John?
---------------------------------------------------------

2. Bedford, Ohio Man calls 911 over 28-year-old son's messy bedroom
The son is a school board member. And works as a political consultant.
The father didn't press charges since he didn't want to ruin his son's political career.
The son now agrees to keep his room clean.

Politicians are you listening. Clean your rooms.
---------------------------------------------------------

3. Cuts will keep marching band off the field

Comment: I wish this one had a happy ending. Sadly, it's right here in Rochester, too. Actually the headline does not tell the whole story. In reality the field programs or shows are what's cut. The students will actually get more music instruction time and it won't cost as much. So there is a happy ending. Unless you like band field shows.
---------------------------------------------------------

4. UK study: Postponing retirement may delay dementia.

Comment: Some would say that postponing retirement is a sign of dementia. Although I would disagree... uh, what were you saying?
---------------------------------------------------------

5. Happiness Is ... Being Old, Male and Republican
LiveScience.com
Robert Roy Britt Editorial Director

Americans grow happier as they age, surveys find. ...Happiness is a complex thing. Past studies have found that happiness is partly inherited, that Republicans are happier than Democrats, and that old men tend to be happier than old women.

Comment: But it may simply be sign of retiring too soon.
---------------------------------------------------------

6. Scientists debunk "Angels and Demons" antimatter

Comment: Correct me if I'm wrong, but Dan Brown writes FICTION! Yet he has now written two books of FICTION that have to have their facts debunked. Has someone changed the definition of FICTION since I was in school?

---------------------------------------------------------
I have now stopped looking.

Two Years of Pictures

(about 260+ pictures, to be exact.)

Today is the second anniversary of my pmPilgrim photoBlog. Here's the first picture published over there....

It was, of course, a type of picture that I love to take- a sunset. This one is from the Apostle Islands along Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin.
Date- 8/5/05

Overheard in Recovery - Writing Your Story

A writer friend and I were talking about the process of writing stories. Some writers, he reminded me, like to start knowing the end of the story before they start. Others know where the story starts and let the story take them where they need to go in the end. And some, we were reminded from the book Ron Carlson Writes a Story end up discovering that the end of the story that they wrote first ends up being but the beginning of the story.

I realized that recovery is like the last example. We start thinking we know the end of the story:

I will stay clean and sober. That's what it's all about.

But a few years down the road, if one manages to stay on the path, you realize that the end was but the beginning. You end up writing your own story starting at the end- clean and sober- and then going on from there.

I think that moment is the ultimate willingness to admit powerlessness and move into true acceptance.

And to discover what it means to live in hope.

Contact High?

According to an article in the Star-Tribune last week:

A new study has found the air in Madrid and Barcelona is laced with at least five drugs — most prominently cocaine.

The other four, by the way, were amphetamines, opiates, cannabinoids and lysergic acid _a relative of LSD. Of course they reported no reason for concern.

No, wait a minute, close the blinds. Is that the police? Someone coming to get me?

Maybe the next report will show an increase in reported and diagnosed cases of paranoia.

Then you worry.

At the same time there was also a report about Portugal:

Decriminalizing drug possession and providing users with treatment rather than jail time helped cut teen drug use and the number of people seeking treatment doubled in Portugal, according to a new study from the libertarian Cato Institute.

It would appear that you won't need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing on the Iberian Peninsula.

--from Join Together

Where No One Has Gone Before

Star Trek. (95% Tomatometer; IMDB)
Two simple words that in a film title exude years (and YEARS!) of meaning. Almost exactly 40 years ago (June 3, 1969) the original TV series went off the air after 80 episodes. It was almost lost to the mists of time until it went into rerun syndication and then Star Wars changed the look of movies and sci-fi forever.

Now, after many movie and TV sequels someone had the bright idea to reboot the franchise for the 21st Century. J. J. Abrams (Lost, Alias) was brought in as director and the result is nothing short of a complete resurrection.

This movie rocks!

• It has a plot (though containing some scientific holes, but in sci-fi that's acceptable).
• It has action. The beginning sets the stage and doesn't let us.
• It has characters. Yes, we know them when they are older, since this is a prequel, but we see a young version of what we already know. It was like looking at old home movies of that old uncle when he was youngster. And Spock- as a young, way-too-logical Commander- is a joy to watch.
• It has actors who can act. Sorry William Shatner but your Captain Kirk just lost to a hard- and hot-headed young Kirk just a few days shy of being a completely lost juvenile delinquent.

I was never a big Trekkie. I enjoyed whatever episodes of the show I watched, but the original series coincided with far more important things in my life- my first three years in college, the Vietnam War, running the college radio station, and, lest we forget- parties. All the characters are certainly embedded in my cultural awareness. But this movie is for non-Trekkies (like my wife who also loved the film) as a good summer blockbuster.

Don't forget the popcorn, sit back and enjoy the ride of the summer with a truly high-quality movie about fun and friendship. Don't read too much into it although friendship and diversity are there (and was that a hint at waterboarding with Captain Pike?) See it on the big screen and hve fun!!!

It's No Fun Being Her

From (The Customer is) Not Always Right:

(A customer wanders in and stares around, sighing forlornly for a while.)

Me: “Hello there. Are you okay?”

Customer:*very sadly* “I just miss being able to have coffee.”

Me: “Oh, that is sad! But we do have non-coffee drinks available if you’d like…”

Customer: “It’s just not the same!”

(The customer grabs a bag of ground coffee, opens it and takes a deep whiff. She then shoves it back on the shelf and runs sobbing out of the store.)

I Get Worried

Last Friday President Obama surprised a lot of people with a decision to restart the Bush-era military tribunals for terror suspects. This was such a big shift in his position that it was a shock to the system. He had been vehemently against these. Absolute in his condemnation of them less than a year ago. Yet here he was re-instituting them, although with supposedly better safeguards that keep them within American values.

My immediate reaction was, "Well, that's a typical politician, even one who appears to be so straightforward." I wondered what the political payoff was for this- a way of getting the GOP to support something he was doing? Forty plus years of political cynicism and suspicion doesn't disappear in a few months. So admittedly that worried me.

Then I switched sides, sort of, and wondered, "What does Obama know now that he didn't know a year ago that would cause him to do such a significant shift on what looks like a clear case of legal process and civil liberties?"

That's when I got worried.

I realize that a candidate for office is often stating a "pure" vision of his positions and beliefs. I also realize that the facts of life in the real world are never close to that ideal. There is always information that is Top Secret and should remain that even a candidate for President doesn't need to know before he or she is elected.

Does Obama now know something so big or important and secret that he refines his opinion? Are there big issues out there in the big, wider world that take precedence on these types of decisions? That's what scares me. Is there a point we may reach where the values and principles and core beliefs on which the United States rests will not keep us safe and does Obama know that?

Personally, I don't think that is where we are. Rather I think we are seeing the President for what he has always been- a politician. Yes, I believe he is an honest and a man of integrity. I believe he stands for the best we are and can be as a nation, including civil and human rights. But in the end he is the President. And that will no doubt lead him to things that are difficult.

I agree with Bob Carlton at The Corner. Reflecting on this very issue he commented:

I voted for Obama as a politician, but to be brutally honest, I hoped for Obama as an activist. I hoped for more - and like any politician, Obama governs like a politician, not an activist.

I pray that more of what many of us were hoping for will overcome the political things that may be less than we can be. I pray that Mr. Obama will be able to hold to his stated principles and not be tempted to give in to less than what he wants. Only time will tell, and we are still very early in this administration. I haven't lost hope.

But there are many times when I am worried.

Who Are You Gonna Listen To?

From Inward/Outward, a powerful quote from author Frederick Buechner

If the world is sane, then Jesus is mad as a hatter and the Last Supper is the Mad Tea Party. The world says, Mind your own business, and Jesus says, There is no such thing as your own business. The world says, Follow the wisest course and be a success, and Jesus says, Follow me and be crucified. The world says, Drive carefully—the life you save may be your own—and Jesus says, Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

The world says, Law and order, and Jesus says, Love. The world says, Get, and Jesus says, Give. In terms of the world’s sanity, Jesus is crazy as a coot, and anybody who thinks we can follow him without being a little crazy too is laboring less under a cross than under a delusion.

Source: Listening to Your Life

Enjoying Spring

Some more of my pictures from the Quarry Hill Nature Center here in Rochester, MN.

This first one didn't strike me the same way when I saw the picture. When I looked at it on my screen I called it "Snow Tree." The way the blossoms seem to build up like a snow bank caught my attention.



Birds, of course, are always fun to look for. These three are part of the regular population at the center. Nothing unusual or unique about them. But they can be photogenic- goldfinch, grosbeak, and woodpecker. The wonders of the world!

(Note: Clicking on the pictures will take you to the Flickr page where you can navigate
to a larger version- and the individual cropped pictures of the birds.)

Here's a Thought

From management guru Tom Peters blog. This is from his series 100 Ways to Succeed #169:

Only You "Own" Your Attitude!

Does life suck sometimes?
Absolutely.

Nonetheless you and only you own your attitude. "Realistically," things may stink to high heaven. Still, the day is yours to Embrace with Vigor and Good Cheer—or not.

Your call.
100%.
Period.

I Almost Kept On Driving

I got in the car to head home after time at the coffee shop last evening. The radio was set to one of those classic rock stations that do a special weekly show picking a particular year then giving us the news and music of that year. I knew what year it was because they told us this morning that they were going way back in time for this one, over 40 years. I cringed when they said 1966, the year of my graduation from high school.

Anyway as I was driving the 1.4 miles home the music was blaring from out of that way back time. All of a sudden I realized I just wanted to keep on driving. Cruising the strip. Letting the music blare from my open windows. Just like it used to be.

Then I realized

1. that the music sounded far better than in did in 1966- we didn't have FM radio playing those songs at that time. All we had was scratchy, static prone AM; and
2. I ain't 18 anymore.
   

The 6th Sunday of Easter - Love and Joy

John 15:9-13, 17

As the Father has loved me,
so I have loved you;
abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you,
and that your joy may be complete.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another
as I have loved you.
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ...

I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

I know that in the Gospels there is a hidden "back story" that involves not Jesus but the community in which the writer of the Gospel lived. The brilliant scholar Raymond Brown had several insightful books on that subject a number of years ago, including The Churches The Apostles Left Behind and The Community of the Beloved Disciple: The Life, Loves and Hates of an Individual Church in New Testament Times. In short the memories of Jesus life and events were often put together in a way that addressed the needs of the communities in which the authors were living. The editing served positive social and theological purposes.

As I pondered the words of today's Gospel I couldn't help but veer off in that direction. The logical argument that Jesus seems to be using in this section, his final discourse to his followers is simply put-

God loves me. I love you. Live in my love. Love each other.

So what was going on in the community of John the Beloved that would need this strong statement found nowhere else in the Gospels with such power and even urgency? Had love been lost?

That wouldn't be too surprising knowing human nature. We all know that the church has always had- and will always have- difficulty with that love one another, especially when that other is different or just plain doesn't agree with me. John, as he put these words together in the way he remembered and felt them, wanted to make the point that Jesus' joy depends on our love for one another.

The way to get that, John reminds us, is to abide in Jesus. Go to him and live in him. Spend time with him. Goof off with him. Enjoy having him around.

Then we will find out what love is. No, not a squishy, gooey, super-sweet emotion, but the powerful awareness that we re willing to give ourselves to the other, just as Jesus did. It is a commitment to our common good and our common support. It is true love.

And with a HT to Mike at Waving or Drowning? I add a PS: "The task of any religion is to teach us whom we're required to love, not whom we're entitled to hate." - Rabbi Harold Kushner

[Awestruck Look on Face]

Award winning astrophotographer Thierry Legault captured this nothing short of remarkable view of the space shuttle in front of the sun.

SpaceWeather.com often clues us in on these type of remarkable photos.

There's also this link to the picture Thierry Legault was really trying for- the shuttle and the Hubble telescope. Note that when the picture opens you will need to zoom in and find the tiny outline in the lower left quadrant. It is no more noticeable than speck of dirt on the lens. Remarkable.

Then close your mouth. It truly is awesome.

Cleaning The Quotes List

Time to push the envelope and blame it on others. It's time for a look in the Quotes folder and see what jumps out.

First, from comedian Jay Leno:

"Here's something to think about: How come you never see a headline like 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?"

J. W. Eagan, for whom I found no information may be on to something, especially in light of the reviews of most movies made from books:

"Never judge a book by its movie."

Comedian and radio pioneer Fred Allen has obviously tried his hand at writing.

"I can't understand why a person will take a year to write a novel when he can easily buy one for a few dollars."

What would a collection from the Quotes folder be without one from the second most prolific author, Unknown who may very well have been outsmarted by a computer.

"Artificial Intelligence is no match for natural stupidity."

Finally, I'll end with one from Jules Feiffer, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, playwright and author. It reminds me that I have left the serious behind...

"Maturity is only a short break in adolescence."

We Don't Swim in Your Toilet

From LiveScience as the summer swimming season begins:

One in five people admitted to peeing in a swimming pool

And as if that isn't bad enough:

About one-third (35 percent) say they don't shower before entering the pool.

Actually the article is quite sobering when it begins to list the precautions you should take before going in the pool. That really lowers the importance of waiting an hour after eating before going in the pool.

What, you mean that one isn't needed? Is nothing sacred anymore?

Jesse Ventura Knows Torture

From Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish, our former MN Gov. himself:

Jesse Ventura: I would prosecute every person who was involved in that torture. I would prosecute the people that did it, I would prosecute the people that ordered it, because torture is against the law."

Larry King: You were a Navy S.E.A.L.

Jesse Ventura: Yes, and I was waterboarded [in training] so I know... It is torture...I'll put it to you this way: You give me a waterboard, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.

Here's the video:



He may be crazy and weird and outspoken, but he has always voiced the frustrations of many.

Overheard in Recovery - Shame and Guilt

From a lecture by a friend to people in early recovery:

We need to turn our shame into guilt so it's repairable.

As the old saying goes- I have guilt when I do bad things. I have shame when I feel I am bad. Therefore it is a good thing to move away from the issues of shame, look at the actions for which we may rightly feel guilty, and then repair our lives through

• admission,
• amends, and
• forgiveness.

Alcohol is Only an Excuse

I'm not quite sure it is "only" an excuse, but the alcohol does not make it happen. The alcohol only oils the gears for lots of bad things to happen. Nor does alcohol take away responsibility. Don't believe the lies. In recovery you do the time for what you are responsible for. Don't believe they were made to do anything. It is a sad and scary cycle.

New Video Disputes Abusers Claim Alcohol Made Me Do It
Newswise April 17, 2009

Newswise - A new documentary shatters the myth that alcohol causes men to be violent. Four survivors of domestic violence willingly shared their experiences on camera in the hope that other women will not accept alcohol as an excuse or be less likely to seek help because of the dangerous illusion that, if the drinking stops, so will the abuse.

In reflecting on her three-year abusive marriage in the video, "Mary" concedes, "I always thought his drinking caused a lot of problems we had. I realize now alcohol was just a copout so he could do what he wanted and say things like, 'I'm sorry about last night; I was trashed.' I guess getting away from it and detaching completely from the situation was when I realized it wasn't just because he drank that he abused. There were periods in our marriage he didn't drink and I would still feel the same about how he treated me or the kids."

See the full article at: http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/551354/?sc=dwhn

Infinity Awesome

First fond on Awesomer.com this truly is time-lapse CG at its most awesome. It was created by Japan-based creative studio WOW for Citizen’s booth at Baselworld.

Follow Your Bliss Fears?

Free-lance world photographer David duChemin on his Pixelated Images Blog last week posted a quote from Steven Pressfield in the book The War of Art. He introduced the quote:

Pressfield contends that the greater the fear the greater the indication that the thing of which you are afraid is in fact the thing you really MUST do. Here’s a quote, he’s talking about resistance, but if you assume that fear is often one of the greatest manifestations of resistance in the creative life, it’s a powerful thought:

“Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, Resistance will unfailingly point to true North - meaning that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing.

We can use this. We can use it as a compass. We can navigate by Resistance, letting it guide us to that calling or action that we must follow before all others.

Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it”

On Pressfield's website he describes the book

The War of Art emphasizes the resolve needed to recognize and overcome the obstacles of ambition and then effectively shows how to reach the highest level of creative discipline. Think of it as tough love . . . for yourself.

From a psychological point of view, it does make some sense. Of course not all our fears are things that we need to do (i.e. spiders and snakes and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night). But if we feel resistance to a call or action or a call to action, it is probably true that our soul is in need.

And come to think of it, maybe we need to stop fearing those things that go bump in the night and allow our souls to shine light into the darkness.

Watch the Dragons Fly

On another hunt for spring on Monday at our local nature center I put my camera on continuous action and managed to get four relatively usable pictures of a dragonfly skittering along. With the help of Paint Shop Pro I got these four shots together. Never realized some of the color you would see in a dragonfly.

But of course I also found some more hints of spring, down there along the ground with shoots and violets...

A Different Type of Culture War

The latest battle in the culture wars may just have started in Ohio...

Heritage Christian school had warned 17-year-old Tyler Frost that he would be suspended and prohibited from attending graduation if he went to the Saturday dance. The fundamentalist Baptist school in northwest Ohio forbids dancing, rock music and hand holding.

So what happened?

He went to the prom.

And the result:

Heritage principal Tim England said Frost will receive an "incomplete" on remaining assignments and will be banned from graduation ceremonies, but will receive his diploma after completing his finals.

Frost's father, Stephan Johnson, said the suspension is unfair and that he plans to sue the school.

When I became a Christian in 1963 I was a member of just such a church where these things were forbidden. But it wasn't a school so many of us still went ahead and danced and held hands anyway. It is 46 years later and the same issues are still rumbling around in the fundamentalist Baptist world.

In short, this is a culture war that has been around for a long, long time- well before even my experiences. It doesn't look like they have made much progress.

Worried?

Thanks to Cory for this important link. In this era of panic and uncertainty over the swine flu, follow the link and find out if you have pig flu.

Working From Home??

Hey- maybe I will someday be able to sit at home and do counseling in my slippers:

Study Finds Online Drug Treatment Effective
Join Together Online www.jointogether.org April 22, 2009

Research Summary

Online drug-treatment programs could be as effective in the short-term as traditional in-person counseling, according to new research from Johns Hopkins and the Institute for Behavior Resources in Baltimore, the Baltimore Sun reported April 19.

Thirty-seven study participants enrolled in a methadone program were divided into two groups: a traditional counseling group and one that met via online video conferencing. Researchers reported the attendance of the online eGetGoing participants after six weeks was 90 percent, compared with 76 percent for the traditional treatment group.

Now It's Meddling

The old joke about the guy who likes what the preacher says until it hits too close to home ends with the tag- "Preacher, now you're meddlin'."

Ralph Milton's Rumors Blog (Sermon Helps for Preachers with a sense of humor) regularly gets to that point. In the post on this week's lesson Jim Taylor talked aboutthe gall (chutzpah?) of the gentiles expecting to get into the church without being circumcised. Peter stood up for them and for the incredibly heretical idea that God would accept them just as they were. Taylor said he might preach on:

the astonishment of the circumcised believers who had come with Peter, that the Holy Spirit could be poured out on uncircumcised Gentiles. As if a foreskin was sufficient to keep God out!

So I might explore some equally ludicrous assumptions many of us still cling to. For example:
* That a wedding ring entitles a husband to rape his wife.
* That having a uterus disqualifies women from making decisions about abortion.
* That church rules and traditions can’t be questioned.
* That anyone who can’t speak English can’t possibly be a world leader.
* That using the name of Jesus requires God to fulfill our prayers.
* That those who don’t attend church – or who don’t give generously to it – can’t be truly religious.
* That a gay or lesbian orientation excludes one from the circle of God’s mercy.
Perhaps things haven’t changed all that much in 20 centuries.

Talk about an approach that afflicts the comfortable.

Sounds like something Jesus would do.

A Good Question

Randy of Upward Way Press blog tweetered (or twitted or whatever) a good question as I am sure many churches did more exciting things in worship today than they will do for Pentecost:

[Randy] wonders how the evangelical church got off the Christian calendar and on the Hallmark and civil holiday calendar.

Not that there aren't times and places for some of the civil holidays, they are not truly holidays in the sense that our celebrations of the great acts of the faith are.

No, I am not an old curmudgeon, maybe. But balance is the right word, I think for what we need in these issues.

And having said that, here is my heartfelt nod to mine....

It's a Day to Honor and Remember

(1956)

Happy Mother's Day

Do They Take Turns?

The Best Article Everyday web site titled this "True Friendship."

It tickled my fancy!

Who?

Do you want to comment on Brett Favre?

No.

---------------------------
Well, maybe?

NO.

---------------------------
Come on. You know you do.

NO!

---------------------------
Sure you do. It will make you feel good.

What about "NO!" don't you understand?

---------------------------
You're just acting like a spoiled kid.

NO!

---------------------------
You're looking for revenge.

NO!

---------------------------
???

Well, maybe.

---------------------------
!!!

Come on over to my place and we can talk.

Don't Look Down...

The world's most dangerous roads. Pictures at DirJournal.

This one is

Guoliang Tunnel in Taihang mountains (China)

The name of the tunnel translates from Chinese as the “Road that does not tolerate any mistakes”. First the tunnel was created by the villagers from the remote area of the Taihang Mountains to get a way out to the outside world. Presently the road is 15 feet high and 12 feet wide which is pretty scary for the drivers. The tunnel has 30 windows to enjoy the scenes.

Amazing pictures!

.... Or Up and Down

And now for the human-constructed at DirJournal as they also look at the Tallest Buildings in the World. Some really great pictures and some amazingly awesome buildings around the world.


But I have to admit that I am still partial to the granddaddy of them all: The Empire State Building. (right)

No disrespect to 9/11 or any of the other buildings, the ESB has character and class that has been around a long time. It is still #1 in my book.

Overheard in Recovery - Tag Team Brain

Following a discussion about the way addiction/alcoholism hijacks the brain and one ends up with this split brain with addiction pulling one way and recovery pulling the other:

Both brains are me, and since both brains are me neither will ever completely win. That's why you need other people to tag team their brain with yours and get sober.

Don't Look Too Closely

David Hayward, The Naked Pastor, titled this cartoon of his:

Unexpected Arrival.

I think I would say it's more about opening your eyes to see who is already there.

--Link

Why We Ignore Danger

Back in March LiveScience had a post on why people don't heed tornado warnings. While specifically done around the Super Tuesday tornado outbreak in February 2008 the information the Weather Service discovered is helpful.

Several interviewees said they spent time seeking confirmation of a tornado and went to a safe location only after they saw a twister.

The report also found that many people minimized the threat of personal risk through a thought process called "optimism bias," the belief that such bad things only happen to other people.

The new report also found that the National Weather Service issued tornado warnings on average 17 minutes in advance of all the deadly tornadoes, and that communities and citizens received those warnings and were aware of them.
(Emphasis added.)

Paint Me a Picture

I started by clicking to a website that had a shadow dancer going in a clockwise direction. They told me that if I saw her going counter-clockwise I was left-brained. Well, the dancer proved to me what I already knew- I'm highly right-brained. So I clocked on through and took the quiz and got the result, again, that I already knew.

You Are 15% Left Brained, 85% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

Let Me Recommend...

Together Through Life, the latest from Bob Dylan. It is a fairly quick turnaround to release this new album and it is a different direction from his excellent previous trilogy. It is not his greatest album. But it is Dylan at his high quality best.

What makes this different is the sound. It is Zydeco and some Tex-Mex added with some rock and ballads and well, it's Dylan. His voice is as gravelly as ever- and actually continues to add new elements to his style as he ages. There can now be a tenderness to his voice that turns the gravel into a pleasant rod through his musical thoughts.

It is important to remember that in three weeks Dylan will be 68. Yes, 68! I don't expect him to make the kind of pulsing energy in his songs that led to his early fame. But what he still has is his music. Underneath the gravel of age and the generally easy, bluesy, jazzy rock is still Bob Dylan. As one person said in an iTunes review we don't know how many more original Dylan albums we will have. I for one celebrate this one!

Like You've Never Seen It Before

New York City. Specifically Manhattan.
You know that huge urban island filled with people and buildings....



MANHATTAN 1609 vs. 2009:
Natural Wonder to Urban Jungle


--National Geographic News

--HT to The Awesomer

Hints of Spring

Saturday was a beautiful spring day. It was still a little chilly in the normal southern Minnesota wind. I decided to go looking for hints of spring. Sure, I could have found someone's flower garden where tulips are blooming, but I wanted to look in the more subtle places where the human hand has not had as much influence.

So I went out around the (human-created) lake near our apartment. (There are NO natural lakes in this county!) Got in close on some things to see the still tiny signs that are arriving.

Naturally the dandelions are around. Weeds are just plants growing where you don't want them to, so these weren't bothering anyone....

The best early signs of spring are found in the ways the trees bud and leaf out.

Although some of those are still so tiny that you need to get in real close.

Of course some things are just waiting. Will the birds return to this nest? I am not enough of a naturalist to know what type of nest it is and whether they reuse the same nests or not. I actually saw about half a dozen empty nests in a few hundred feet of each other along the shore.



And don't forget that there are still leftovers from last year:



Some you have to really magnify to get their beauty. These too are probably more than leftovers. They are the hints of the future beyond even this spring.



No doubt about it, spring IS here.

I Waited Until Monday

From (The Customer is) Not Always Right:

Me: Hi, Ma’am. How can I help you on this fine Sunday afternoon?”

Lady: “I need to talk to the owner.”

Me: “She’s not in today, ma’am. If you’d like to–”

Lady: “I need to talk to her NOW! I have a message from GOD!”

Me: “…”

Lady: “…” *glares*

Me: “Well, she’s still not in. If you wanna leave a message…”

Lady: “You don’t understand! God Himself has sent me here with a message for her; it’s important and needs to be delivered today, right now!”

Me: “God sent you here?”

Lady: “Yes, to deliver an important message to the owner.”

Me:*leaning across the counter, eyebrows raised* “Um…wouldn’t God know that the owner never works on Sundays?”

(She freaks out and begins ranting incoherently about how God will strike us down. Then she throws some things and leaves, slamming the door.)

Me: “Have a good day!”

Fourth Sunday of Easter

I am the Good Shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

pmPilgrim photo. Cadiz, Spain. April 2002

One of the most enduring images Jesus used - the Good Shepherd.
Even today when many of wouldn't know a shepherd if we tripped over one it brings us a sense of calm and peace. Perhaps the words of Psalm 23 have something to do with that as well.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.

The image can give an amazing calm and quiet to the soul that is hard to describe. I have never been a shepherd. I have never been part of a farm or any other place for that matter where a shepherd would be at work. Yet the calmness and peace of the image prevails. I feel that presence even though I am not a dumb sheep lost in my way.

Or am I? Maybe I do wander in fields that I should avoid. Maybe I do follow the crowds into lonely places. Maybe I am in need of guidance and direction and even a presence that tells me that all will be well, no matter what.

Well, of course I am like that- and I am in that kind of need. No doubt. Aren’t we all? Sometimes we wander into places by accident. We turn down the wrong street, meet the wrong person, get mixed up in things we should ignore. Sometimes events or life or time over take us and life doesn’t seem as hopeful anymore.

What a calm and indescribable assurance that gives us. What depth of hope can touch us. I know it sounds trite and schmaltzy and old-fashioned. But somehow in God's active actions in my life it can become real.

And all I can do is give thanks.

Happy 90th Birthday

The folk singer and political activist, Pete Seeger, is 90 today. Never one to hold back, his proud left-wing political views and songs helped shape several generations' views- for and against. His greatest love, however, was probably the Clearwater project that has worked to clean-up the Hudson River. And he's been married to Toshi for sixty of his 90 years. Wow!

I once heard Arlo Guthrie be asked about Pete and his dad, Woody. Arlo commented that his dad was a singer for his time. Pete is a singer for all times.

Happy Birthday, Pete.

--Wikipedia
--Pete Seeger Appreciation Page

A 65-Year Memory: Echos of Wedding Bells

No, I don't remember. I wasn't even a gleam in anyone's eye or a dream in a mind. On this date in 1944 Harold and Dora founded the Lehman Family. It was a war marriage. He was a soldier at Camp Gordon Georgia. She was a young woman looking to find the world away from her family back in New York. They met and were married. He went off to war in Europe, returning over a year later when the war ended.

The marriage lasted a little less than 18 years until Dora died at the young age of 48 from cancer. They had two sons.

At least for today, the memory lives on.

I Have No Explanation

The Pew Forum released some interesting poll results earlier in the week. In quick, short summary:

the greater the frequency of church attendance by white evangelicals and Catholics, the higher their support for torture.

Huh????

Talk about something that makes absolutely NO SENSE to my mind.

Is it that in our country the higher frequency of church attendance has become a more central part of the life of conservatives?

Is it that something about the greater frequency of attendance at church changes a person's assumptions about being able to do something in for the right reasons makes it right?

Is it.....?

I will let that to some sociologist or social psychology student. As for me, it makes me cringe. It makes me fear for the morality and ethics of a country that could be directed by such religious ideas. It shows the gap that can often exist between what we say we believe and how we put those beliefs into the world.

Perhaps if Jesus were around today he would add another example to his list of the sheep and goats....

I was being tortured and you
a) tried to stop it
b) cheered the torturer
c) debated the ethics
d) prayed for my soul
e) went back to whatever you were doing and pretended it hadn't happened.

Is it any wonder that many non-Christians wonder what we truly believe?

This is COOL

It's hard to keep a good drummer on ice for very long......

H1N1 Flu- Update

Well, we are past the first week of the swine flu. Hard to believe that it has only been a week! You could tell earlier this week when first Arlen Specter, then 100 Days of Obama and this morning Justice Souter were all the top Yahoo! News stories. You could also tell last evening when the Health Ministry of Mexico said the cases are "leveling" off, which I guess means they are not increasing as quickly.

There are really two perspectives to take on the swine flu issue. First is that it is important to keep it all in perspective. Cory Doctorow found this information the other day:

It's estimated that about 28 per cent of Canadians and Americans contracted the Spanish flu. Worldwide, an estimated 2.5 per cent of the sick died of complications, which made the pandemic one of the most lethal flu outbreaks in recorded history. Certainly it was one that imprinted itself upon human consciousness for several generations.

But there's another way to look at those statistics. You might observe, for example, that they mean that even during the worst ravages of the 1918 flu, 97.5 per cent of those infected survived and recovered. Or that 72 per cent of the population -- even in the absence of the sophisticated public health planning and infrastructure that Canada and the U.S. have since built -- was not infected during the pandemic.

So, even if we had a repeat of the 1918 flu, the chances were seven out of 10 that you wouldn't catch it and if you did, the odds were better than nine out of 10 that you'd survive.

That was during the worst pandemic of the modern era and one which occurred in the days before the instantaneous communications of radio, television and the Web enabled quick public health responses.
--Vancouver Sun
--HT to Cory at BoingBoing

That would still be a lot of people in 2009 USA-84 million sick; 2.1 million dead. The odds are against such numbers in this age of public health and better health care, antibiotics, and generally much better sanitation. But a major flu outbreak would still have significant consequences- impacts on many aspects of life that could conceivably change the world we live in at least for a short period if not longer. That is the second perspective. Awareness of the potentials for serious issues while remaining calm.

The planning that has gone on in many local and statewide agencies for a possible flu pandemic will more than likely have a positive effect on the outcome. More people in more places are at least minimally prepared. That is good news. But that doesn't mean there would not be some significant effects.

Two areas that strike me:
1) Threat to the economy.

Look at the relatively quiet streets of Mexico City, empty football stadiums, take-out-only restaurants, no Sunday Masses at the churches, locked stores. Add to that the potential dive in air travel and you can see how the economic foundation can be undermined quite quickly. Then consider lost wages and potentially higher medical bills- even for only 10 - 15% of the population. The costs can mount quickly and could be difficult even in healthy economic times.

2) Threat to community.

Look again at the relatively quiet streets of Mexico City, empty football stadiums, take-out-only restaurants, no Sunday Masses at the churches, locked stores and you can see another difficulty. An odd, almost criminal-looking anonymity takes over the scene as people go everywhere wearing a mask. (The banks sure could have trouble telling who is a robber and who isn't.) Isolation does not build community. Nor does fear of even friends who may be carrying some disease. The 75 - 85% of us who won't even get the flu will still know someone who did. We may even know someone who dies from it.

Grief, fear, uncertainty could become the words to describe us.

But for now- things are actually relatively quiet. The "experts" are saying the H1N1 virus may not be as dangerous as expected. They are thinking it doesn't have the "staying power" nor the right genetic make-up to keep it exploding. I will keep watching the news, but will no longer be holding my breath....

Until the next time.