David Daniels

I first heard this countertenor in 2007 when he sang the role of Orfeo in Glück's opera Orfeo ed Euridice.  His type is incredibly rare because the usual male voice is either are tenor, a baritone, or a bass.  You hardly ever find a grown male with an alto singing voice.

It has been four years since I first heard David Daniels.  This man is just astounding.  Because his voice-type is rare and he's amazing at what he does, he has made my list of absolute favorite singers.  I haven't heard him on the radio very much because he specializes in the Baroque repertoire and a lot of those pieces were written for castrati (yes, that means castrated.  It was done to achieve a permanent high male singing voice).  But given the lack of castrati in this day and age, those roles are usually sung by a female mezzo-soprano.  So I love it when David Daniels takes on one of those roles. 

I've visited his website.  If you haven't heard of this guy, then you've missed out on something awesome and you need to fix that.  Come on, don't tell me that this guy isn't great.  He's so awesome he can knock an opponent over with his voice.

Bar Signs

I was driving down Main Street while on my way to work, and there was a sign on the side of one of the bars reading, "There Is No Town Drunk.  We Take Turns." 

It's amazing what signs people come up with these days.  Frankly, I think this goes on the list of most incredibly ridiculous.   Taking turns at being the town drunk.  What are these people doing?  Being goofy or trying out for the role of Bob Ewell? 

Heresy vs. False Prophecy

I recently learned that there is a colossal difference between heretics and false prophets.  Heresy means that the doctrine is different (witness the Albigensians and Agnostics).  False Prophecy is where someone claims to be speaking God's word but is really lying (witness the Prosperity Gospel). 

Heresy is where the doctrine is completely different from the what Gospel says.  This is where you get all the creepy and annoying cults.  And these people blur the truth by saying such things as "It doesn't matter what you do; you'll go to Heaven anyway".   The Albigensians claimed that only the spiritual world was created by God and that the physical world was made the devil.  This is heresy.  God made both the spiritual and physical worlds. 
Dante placed the heretics in the sixth circle where they are trapped in flaming tombs.  The idea here is that the heretics deny the Resurrection.  No surprise.

False Prophecy includes such lies as the Prosperity Gospel.  People who teach this claim that God only wants you to be happy.  Bullshark.  Jesus specifically said that following him entails suffering and persecution.  It's hard for me personally to accept persecution as part of the deal, but I know it's there and should expect even though it pushes my berserk buttons.  But those who preach prosperity gloss it over and portray the Christian life as pleasant from beginning to end. 
Dante placed false prophets in Circle Eight, Bolgia Four with diviners, soothsayers, fortune-tellers, and other frauds who tries to see the future via forbidden means.  Their heads are turned backwards on their bodies and are compelled to walk/run backwards and keep bumping into each other. 

Watch out for these folks.  As Jesus said, "By their fruits you will know them."  And this particular lot do not produce good fruit; they produce poisonous fruit.  And they will destroy you if you listen to them.

That's Cool.

I read today that there is a region in Peru called Tacna.  It comes from two Quechua words: taka (strike), and na (something to do).  So it literally means "a place to strike at".  How cool is that? 
It apparently comes from many centuries ago when the Quechua people conquered the Ayamaras. 

Christmas Sepctacular (In More Ways Than One)

Friday, December second saw the performance of the Madison Symphony Orchestra with their annual Christmas Spectacular; complete with the awesomeness of bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen and the enjoyable Gospel arrangements of Christmas tunes by the Mt. Zion Gospel Choir.

It all started out with the ever popular "Joy to the World" which a lot of people don't realize was written by the master composer George Frederic Handel.  That was an amazing arrangement.

That was followed by two excerpts from the "Christmas Oratorio".  One sung by the choir the other by Mr. Ketelsen.  The latter was incredibly awesome.  Mr. Ketelsen was reading his music a lot, but that's generally to be expected at a concert like this.  His voice is just sensational. 

Soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine sang two arias from Mozart's "Exultate, jubilate" with amazing precision.  I have heard her sing for the Christmas Spectacular before.  This was the second time I heard her perform.

The first half concluded with the classic "Hallelujah" Chorus from Handel's oratorio "The Messiah".  One thing that most people forget is that Handel wrote this piece for the ending of Part Two, about the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus. 

The orchestra opened the second half with Leroy Anderson's classic "Sleigh Ride".  That was the only instrumental piece in the whole show.   That was amazing.

There was also a performance of "Sing We Now!" by one of the youth choirs.  I thought that was very well done.

Ms. Guarrine and a boy soprano sang the "Pie Jesu" from Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Requiem".  That combination was just spectacular.  And a boy soprano is something no one should miss.

Mr. Ketelsen sang the so-called "Christmas Song" (also known "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire").  This version was the jazzed-up version that I find so annoying; but Mr. Ketelsen's voice is so awesome, he can make even mall-store muzak sound like art.  And he did an awesome job at it.  That song was swiftly followed by Mr. Ketelsen and Ms. Guarrine singing "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin.  That was so cool it couldn't be beaten.

I don't think that any Christmas Spectacular is complete without some good Gospel music.  The Mt. Zion Gospel Choir performed some amazing arrangements of "Carol of the Bells" and "O Come, All Ye Faithful".  That had to be he Crowning Music of Awesome that night.

The performance was concluded with all the choirs singing a Gospel arrangement of "Sing Praises to Thee" and a Christmas sing along.

There were quite a few other pieces performed that night other than the ones listed here, but I don't have enough words to describe them.  All I can say was that it was an awesome night, and if no one's heard Kyle Ketelsen sing before, that needs to be fixed.  Pronto.

How Common Was This?

I learned today that a particularly barbaric form of human sacrifice was practiced in Peru before the time of the Incas.  The Chimu culture, like the Aztecs and the Mayas from Mexico, cut of the hearts of their victims, although they did this on children rather than on captive men. 

Human sacrifice is evil no matter what; but this Ripping-The-Heart-Out-Of-The-Victims-Chest-While-He's-Still-Alive method is especially cruel.  I don't even want  to imagine the level of pain it caused. 

My question is this: How common was this demonic Rip-It-Out method?  The Aztecs did it, the Maya did, and now I learn that the Chimu did it as well.  What made this form of human sacrifice so popular among these tribes?

If anyone has an answer, please let me know. 

Materialism? Meh. PC Naysayers? I Can't Stand Those!

So we've witnessed "Black Friday" and all the stresses and horror stories associated with it.  There's talk about people fighting to get to the stores just so that they can get bargains on things they want to get.  Along with that are the usual complaints of the retailers who whine about the greed of the general public during the Christmas season and stories of customers who are insufferable.  I tend to ignore this sort of thing simply because it's mundane and happens only once a year.
I agree that materialism is bad.  It causes a ton of stress for people and once you have one thing of course you need something else.  But it's an issue that is relatively easy to deal with.  The thing to do is just not to spend a ton of money in silly ways and to just think about what you really have to deal with that isn't related to money and material goods.

What I get upset about this time of year is not materialism.  It's the Politically Correct naysayers trying to blot out Christ's name from Christmas just because " it will offend people of other religions".  Come on!  I have hardly if ever heard a Jew, Muslim, Hindu, or anyone from another faith say that Christmas offends them.  I have heard people ask that people wish them well on their holiday, but nothing about Christmas offending them.  Which means that they are okay with (some actually celebrate it along with their own holiday). 
Case in Point: The shoutloud about calling the Christmas tree at the Capitol building a Christmas tree.  Some people are asking for it to be called a "holiday tree" to keep from offending people.  But it is a Christmas tree because there really isn't another major religion that uses trees during their holiday.  
These PC naysayers are clearly never satisfied.  They are people who constantly make themselves unpleasant to others and in the end get nothing.  Also, you can't go without offending someone no matter how hard you try, because some people get offended by you simply saying hello.  And that's what happens with these naysayers.  They people to avoid because they are unpleasant and cannot enjoy themselves.  Why can't they just go and make a nice batch of delicious cookies and muffins?

Tips For Christmas Shopping And Decorations (Or Any Celebration)

Around this time of year we get people rushing furiously trying to do their Christmas shopping.  I've heard enough of the "Black Friday" horror stories to last me a lifetime.  Well, I happen to love shopping and Christmas shopping has become a habit for me.  However, I don't like rushing about trying to make every perfect.  With that said, I would like to offer a few tips for people who want to shop and make everything perfect for Christmas:

1) First and foremost, don't aim for perfection when you shop and prepare.  Too often I hear of people trying to out-do the previous Christmas or other celebrations (birthdays, Thanksgivings, Easters, etc.).  If you do, you'll only break your brain and cause trouble for those around you. 

2) Check your budget.  You may want something big and extravagant, but you will find that you might have to go for something a lot smaller; which brings me to the next tip:

3) Keep it simple.  This goes for both parties and decorations. 

     a.  Use what you have in terms of tableware.  Okay, so you don't have any good China or fancy pitchers but you do have plates that are plain but presentable.  So use those instead.  They may not be super nice, but if their at least presentable and clean, you'll be just fine. 

     b.  Plan the meal carefully.  Buy the turkey, ham, beef, or whatever big roast you want to serve at a reasonable price.  Don't try to buy something that costs too much, and you'll want to inspect it when you bring it home to make sure that it's okay.  And you'll need a back-up plan in case you can't serve the meal the way you wan to.

     c.  For Heaven's sake, if you want decorations, don't go for some ostentatious kitsch-palace decor for the lawn or home.  It's hard on the eyes and makes you look like a spendthrift.  Go for something smaller.  Pine boughs are okay and Christmas lights are somewhat useful for outdoors; but inflatables, store-bought standees of Christmas figures, etc. are silly and look weird.  Nativities are excellent, but if they're huge and right there on the lawn, even they become hard to look at and annoying, and as a Christian, I don't want that to happen.  Nativities are best if they are small and inside.  Indoor decorations should be kept small. 

4)    You can have a big party, but don't overload yourself.  Limit yourself to only a few people, don't try to invite your entire extended family.  They may not be able to.  This same goes for if you want to go visit family.  You have to check the budget, and be sure that everyone's well enough to even do this sort of thing.  Often your best bet is to just send a greeting card or call the relatives on the phone.

5)   Don't go shopping on Christmas Eve unless you have no other choice. 

6)  And when you shop, bear in mind the budget and what people want.  Here are a few ideas:

     a. If your child wants a toy but they have so many already, you're not required to not buy the toy.  But you will have to talk to your child and let them know that they may not get it this year.  it may be that you don't have the money, or the child is too young (or too old) to have it, or it could be that they already have enough.  It may also not be safe for them right now.  They need to know that you love them, but that you won't be able to get a new time for them every Christmas. 

     b.  Practical does not mean boring.  People seem to think that useful gifts are always dull and not fun.  Well, if all you can afford is to buy socks for your family, get them socks that are cute, cool, interesting, etc..  If your daughter likes interesting pink and purple combinations, get her socks or something else she needs that have those colors in curious patterns.  If your son is a Packer's fan, do the same thing.  Make a seemingly uninteresting gift into something interesting.  

And

7) Seriously, appliances don't really make good gifts.  I've heard the old cliched story of a husband buying his wife a dust buster  or some other appliance for Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc., and the wife is not impressed.  Dust busters were never meant to be given a gifts; they were meant to be something you clean your house with.  And you only buy one if you need it. 

Pots and pans only work they happen to be fancy and/or unusual (like the fancy ebelskiver pan my aunt gave me last Christmas).  And usually I only hear about people getting kitchen supplies for Christmas if they happen to love cooking.  

  

If anyone finds this at all useful, feel free to comment. 

Ancient Rituals: Many Cultures Seem To Have Similar Ways Of Doing Them

I've been boning up on information about or related to Peru since this summer.  The other day I got a book out of the library about the Incas.  While I was reading it, I came across a passage that talked about the sacrifices performed when a new ruler, or Sapa Inca, was crowned: Two hundred youths would be sacrificed and then buried with specific items (the book did not say precisely what, unfortunately).
I found that to be quite similar to the Shang Chinese royal burials.  When the king died, hundreds of prisoners and slaves would be beheaded and buried with him in the tomb.

These two cultures were thousands of years and one ocean apart.  But there's something about those two rituals that makes me ask a couple of questions:
1) How common was this kind of ritual in the ancient world?

2) Why was it done?

The trouble is that I haven't read much about either the Incas or the Shang in a long time so I'm very rusty on their history and just beginning to learn some more about them.  For years the only things I remembered about the Incas were their sacrifices (National Geographic has several really good articles about those), Macchu Picchu, and the Conquistadores.  And all I remember about the Shang were their sacrifices and the bronze making.  So, I've got a lot to read about them still.  Heck, the last time I read about Macchu Picchu before this summer was back when I was twelve and my mom got a book about it out of the library. 
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Extra: I noticed that the same principle applies to art as well.  That is, I noticed that some of the jewelry found in the tombs of the various native Peruvian cultures is similar to the ones belonging to the ancient Egyptians.  Not that I think that they are related; however, I do like noticing things that look similar. 

UNTAMED AND UNCUT: Animals Behaving Badly and Unexpectedly

Animal Planet, a channel devoted to nature, has a show called Untamed and Uncut.  It's a show that specializes in unexpected animal attacks ranging from unprovoked to the What-In-The-World-Was-That-Person-Smoking kind of stupidity. 
Here are the four that I personally find interesting:

1) Double Great White Attack: A surfer is suddenly attacked by TWO great white sharks.

2) Crocodile Death Roll: A young man performing a stunt unknowingly pulls out the wrong crocodile.

3) Lion Bites Owner: A wild animal trainer's beloved lion attacks when the man makes the mistake of turning his back on the animal.

4) Boa Bites Owner In The Face: A man who doesn't know how to properly care for snakes gets bitten in the face by his boa when he shows her off at a party. 

So these four go from the unprovoked to the provoked.  Feel free to comment.

Stupid and Incomprehensible Bumper Stickers

I saw a strange bumper sticker on my way to an appointment.  It was written in green and blue letters and it read "WHEN A FAT GIRL FALLS IN A FOREST, DO THE TREES LAUGH?".  If you ask me, that makes about as much sense as a Megalodon volleyball team.  What exactly does someone mean when they ask if trees laugh when a fat girl falls in a forest?  I would love to know the answer.

And then of course you've got your general share of idiotic "Coexist" bumper stickers.  These bumper stickers are popular with people who assume that education will end prejudice.  You'd have better success trying to get a great white shark to give up seals in favor of seaweed (their teeth are not designed for eating plants). 

I'm getting fed up with the "RECALL SCOTT WALKER!" stickers.  Come on!  He hasn't been caught with hand either in the till or down someone's pants.  That's the only legitimate reason to recall an elected politician.  I'm also utterly sick of all the noise people are making about him, so the moment I see a "RECALL WALKER" bumper sticker I always say "GO SIR WALTER SCOTT!", simply because I'm tired of all the shoutloud.  

If there is a political bumper sticker that actually makes sense, let me know. 

EUGENE ONEGIN: Tchaikovsky's Masterpeice

I first heard Eugene Onegin when I was fifteen and a sophomore in high school.  I also had a boyfriend at the time.  The opera was being broadcast over the radio as part of the Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network and Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky sang the title role.

Last night, I went with my dad to see Eugene Onegin at the Overture Center in Madison. Baritone Hyung Yun sang the title role and he's pretty good. Tatyana was sung by soprano Maria Kanyova.

The character of Eugene Onegin is nothing new.  He is every upper-class twit who believes that the world exists for his own personal amusement.  And in Act Three when he has come to St. Petersburg after wandering all over the world, he still hasn't grown up even at twenty six.

He snobbishly rejects the love of the humble country girl Tatyana Larina, but six years later after she's already been married for two years, he tries to get her to abandon everything for him.  And he rightly deserves the emotional smack in face he gets when Tatyana tells him to leave her forever.

Act One, Scene One opens in the provincial countryside.  Madame Larina, a widowed landowner, is making jam with Filipevna, her daughters' old nurse.  Tatyana is seventeen and her sister Olga (played to perfection by mezzo-soprano Jamie van Eyck), is sixteen.  They sing about love and passion while their mother listens and recalls the time when she felt those those feelings too.  The peasants come in from the harvest bringing tribute to Madame Larina and they dance. After they leave, the shy and dreamy Tatyana starts to read from one of her romantic novels, while the vivacious and coquettish Olga laughs and teases her.  Madame Larina notices Tatyana looking pensive and quiet and asks if she is ill.  Tatyana tells her that she is caught up in her novel.  Madame Larina tells her that it is all fiction.  Suddenly Olga's fiance Vladamir Lensky arrives with a friend from the city, Eugene Onegin.  While Lensky courts Olga, Onegin goes for a walk with Tatyana, who falls immediately in love with the handsome stranger.  Later, Madame Larina calls them in for dinner, and Filipyevna suspects that Tatyana has fallen in love.

           Scene Two finds us in Tatyana's bedroom where she asks Filipyevna about her first love.  Filipevna tells her that her marriage was arranged when she was only thirteen; being in love was out of the question.  She asks Tatyana if she's okay; Tatyana simply says that she's is love and asks her nurse to leave, but not without asking for a pen and some paper.  After Filipevna leaves, Tatyana, flushed with a wild compulsive love for Onegin, writes him a letter and fantasizes about who she believes him to be.  In fact, she stays up all night writing the letter.  In the morning, she gives it to Filipevna, whose grandson will take the letter to Onegin.

         Scene Three takes place in the garden where peasant women are picking berries and singing about flirting with young men.  Tatyana enters and sees Onegin approaching.  She is afraid of how he will think of her.  Onegin enters and tells her that while he moved by her sentiments, he is not a man made for marriage and will cease to love Tatyana after a while.  Translation: "I'm a man of great importance, you're just a coltish little country girl who reads too much."  Tatyana is crushed.

  

Act Two, Scene One takes place a few months later.  It is Tatyana's eighteenth birthday and her family is throwing a grand ball for her.  All their neighbors have come to celebrate, including Eugene Onegin.  Lensky persuaded him to come with.  Onegin dances with Tatyana, but some of the neighbors have heard about what happened in the garden.  Onegin gets fed up with their talk.  He's bored and blames Lensky for his boredom.  To get back at Lensky, Onegin flirts with Olga and dances many dances with her.  This arouses Lensky's jealousy and he confronts Olga.  She tells him that he is overreacting.  This encounter is interrupted by Monsieur Triquet; a French neighbor and Tatyana's tutor.  He serenades Tatyana in French.  Afterward, the dancing begins again and Onegin dances with Olga again.  Lensky decides that he's had enough and challenges Onegin to a duel.  Madame Larina begs them not to fight in her house.  Lensky believes that Olga has betrayed him and dumps her in front of everybody.  Although Onegin asks Lensky to not make a scene, he accepts Lensky's challenge, and between the two of them, they ruin Tatyana's birthday.  Olga pleads with Lensky but her words fall on deaf ears.

                  Scene Two takes place at dawn.  Lensky and his second, Zaretski, are present.  Zaretski wonders why Onegin is late (he follows the rules of dueling to the point of absurdity).  Lensky muses on his short life and imagines Olga going to his grave to mourn him.  Onegin enters with his valet, Guillot, acting as his second.  Both Onegin and Lensky believe that they have acted foolishly and wish they could reconcile and be friends again, but they are both too proud do so.  The duel proceeds and Lensky is killed.

Act Three, Scene one takes place six years later at the palace of Prince Gremin where a grand ball is in progress.  Onegin is twenty-six and depressed.  He has been wandering the world in search of entertainment and escape from the memory of Lensky, whose bloody ghost Onegin believes still haunts him.  He has no job, no wife, no obligations, and no purpose.  Suddenly, the elderly Prince Gremin enters with his beautiful young wife on his arm.  Onegin recognizes her as Tatyana, the same girl he rejected all those years ago.  Tatyana recognizes him and prays for strength.  Gremin tells Onegin that Tatyana is his wife and he is just crazy about her.  He got fed up with all the phonies he saw around.  Then Tatyana came along and she is the complete opposite of the aristocrats and he saw it.  He then introduces Onegin and Tatyana, but Tatyana says that she is tired and leaves with her husband.  Onegin suddenly realizes that he has fallen in love with Tatyana.

             The final scene takes place in Tatyana's boudoir.  Onegin has sent her a letter, just as she did to him.  Tatyana is troubled by the old passion and weeps.  Onegin enters and throws himself at her feet.  Tatyana regains herself and tells him to get up.  When Onegin declares his love for her, she questions him.  He broke her heart once before.  Why does he come running to her now?  Is it her position?  Her husband's reputation?  Why should she believe him when he's proven himself to be a self-centered young man?  Onegin says he made a mistake and loves her.  Tatyana weeps and laments that love was once so close but now the past is past.  She admits that she still loves Onegin, but she is married now and will be faithful to her husband.  Onegin tried to force her to come with him and abandon her husband, her duties, everything for him.  Onegin continually begs Tatyana to give in, but finally she shouts "Farewell forever," and leaves Onegin to his despair.

The settings and acting were something else.  The first scene of Act One was the exterior of the Larin home. Just before the curtain rose, Onegin walked out onstage looking bored and annoyed.  Then the curtain rose to reveal a transparent screen in front of the scene one set.  Onegin stood for a moment, then left the stage.    On the left was the house which people went in and out of, and there was a table on the far right where Madame Larina and Filipevna sat making jam.  This production had Olga behaving like a little girl and several times she snarfed some of the jam.  There were autumn birch trees and fallen leaves as well.  The peasants' dance was something else.

                Scene two had Tatyana's bed, bookshelf, desk, and chair simply out of a platform in front of a screen.  When the letter scene is over, the platform is removed and we're back to the exterior of the house, as if Tatyana had wandered outside while she was fantasizing about Onegin (they actually showed her becoming aware of being outside in her nightgown!).  Filipevna is simply surprised to see her out of bed so soon.

               Scene three took place in the garden.  The screen rose to reveal to the peasant women picking berries.  there were two rows of berry bushes and what looked like those log chairs or whatever they are that you'd find at a summer camp.  When Onegin gave Tatyana what is often called his sermon, she sits on one of these little chairs.  After Onegin's lecture, she runs off.

               Now this production divided the second act between acts One and Three.  The first scene of Act two took place right after the Garden Scene.  This scene was the ballroom of the Larin house.  During this scene, an amazing waltz plays.  The walls of the room were a yellowish color.  There was a refreshment table in the background and over that was a wreath that resembled  a Christmas decoration.  There were also dining tables in the scene where guests sat and gossiped while couples danced.  Some of the men left the room and came back at the end of the waltz with several bottles of wine. In this production, Monsieur Triquet looked like Harpo and Bilbo put together and clad in goofy 19th Century costume.  When Onegin and Lensky's fight really got ugly and they began physically fighting with each other, several men pulled them back and really restrained them.

           Scene two  took place in a grove of trees at dawn.  There was a little light streaming through the trees.  Now, I've seen the duel on YouTube before, but the part where Lensky and Onegin actually turn and shoot still sent shivers up my spine and Onegin's gunshot still startled me.  That's simply a function of seeing the performance live as opposed to online. 

               Act Three, Scene one began with a polonaise and had Onegin being changed onto his good clothes for his appearance at the ball.  The setting had dining tables and large columns, plus a couch on the far right.  Gremin wore a military uniform while Tatyana wore a pink dress and a tiara.

       In my humble opinion, the most beautiful love song in all of opera is not sung by a young tenor, or young soprano, or young mezzo-soprano character, but by an old basso character who has seen so much over the years.  Bass Harold Wilson was perfect as Gremin.  At the end of the scene when Onegin sings that he is now in love with Tatyana, he immediately sits down and writes her the letter.  Then he give sit to a servant to take to Tatyana.

               The final scene in the boudoir was represented simply by curtained windows, bookshelves, a desk, and a couch.  Tatyana sat on the couch and wept after reading the letter, and Onegin saw this and threw himself at her feet.  She questions him and he protests saying he loves her.  She Admits she still loves him, but asks him to leave.  In this productions she tore his letter to shreds in front of him.  When she says her final farewell, she runs of and leaves Onegin collapsing and miserable.

On the whole, this was an awesome performance.  Russian Opera is different from other European opera but it is great.  I'd suggest this one for anyone whose new to opera, or else just a Tchaikovsky fan.

This Just Takes The Cake!

PETA has really put their foot it in this time.  Their latest add claims that shark attack victims deserve the attack because of cruelty to animals.  While I'm not all for fishing for sharks, claiming that victims of attack have it coming is like saying that it's your fault if you get breast cancer.  And most of these attacks are unprovoked.  I wonder how these PETA lunatics would react if they themselves were attacked by a shark or had a loved one who was attacked.  They might find out that the victim didn't even provoke the attack or even deserve it. 

SAND MERCHANT Wreck: A Case of Colossal Foolishness

I read Dwight Boyer's book Ships and Men of the Great Lakes.  This book had a story about a sand-sucker ship called the Sand Merchant.  In her heyday she worked on Lake Erie, sucking sand from the lake bottom to be used in making pavement for roads.  

However, on this day is 1936, First Mate Bernie Drinkwater had invited his wife along to take a trip.  This was of course against the rules.  However, this rule was often overlooked by captains. 
Well, sometime during the evening, the Sand Merchant began to list to port.  Whether it was a leak in her ballast tanks or a shifting of her cargo is not known.  Drinkwater roused the other sailors to help prepare the lifeboats but he himself went to calm his wife instead doing his duties.  As a result, they and seventeen others went down with the ship. 

This article includes the account from Dwight Boyer's book and can explain the incident better than I can.

Three Most Fragile Gems

I've always known that gemstones are fragile at some point.  What I didn't realize until I read a book on the subject was that if you own an emerald or pearl or piece of amber, you cannot use even so much as soap and water on them because it will damage the jewel. 

Amber is fossilized tree resin.  It is often orange or yellow in color.  I think the best pieces are the ones with fossilized insects inside of them. 

Emeralds are the most famous form of beryl crystal.  It is usually some sort of green color. 

Pearls are organic gems made in the shells of certain types of oysters and clams.  They are usually portrayed as white, buy many are reddish, yellow, and black. 

Why can't soap and water be used on these gems?  Because these three are exceptionally fragile.  Most of the emeralds I've seen seem to have scratches on the inside, and I read that they are treated with some kind of oil during shaping in order to give them a nicer finish.  Amber is a fossil and fossils are by nature fragile in the first place.  And pearls come straight from living shellfish, and shellfish shells are very fragile.  I know because I've stepped on invasive zebra mussel shells before.

Tchaikovsky and Dante

I think that when most people think about the composer known as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, they think of pretty ballet tunes and stories of magic and love.

What many people don't realize is that he wrote some dark pieces as well as perky ones.  In fact, he took Canto V from the Inferno part of  Dante's The Divine Comdey and made it into a symphonic poem.  This piece is simply called Francesca da Rimini after the adulterous woman whose tortured soul appears along with that of her brother-in-law Paolo in the canto.
This story takes place in the second circle of Hell.  Dante and the shade of Virgil descend from the first circle (known as Limbo), and enter the second circle. They encounter Minos, the judge of the damned.  This monster resembles a man, but has a long tail with which he delivers his verdict.  The lost soul comes before him and confesses all of its sins.  Then Minos wraps his tail around himself x number of times to say how far the soul should descend.  Once judged, the damned soul is hurtled downward to whichever level has been decided.  Minos rages at Dante (who is still alive at the time of his visionary journey through hell), but Virgil rebukes the monster.  Minos then allows them passage.
The two poets then arrive at a precipice.  The world around them is dark and hideous.  Before them whirl the souls of the lustful; those who had let their appetites sway their reason.  As they were inconstant and led by raging passions life, so in death they are blown about for eternity by winds of a monstrous storm.  Among them are Semiramis(1) Dido(2), Cleopatra(3), Helen of Troy(4), and Achilles(5).  Dante notices two souls being blown together and asks to speak with them.  Virgil approves and Dante calls the two souls over.  They come and reveal that they are Francesca and Paolo.  She had been given in marriage to one Giovanni Malatesta, but fell in love with Paolo, his younger and handsome brother.  The two committed adultery and were later murdered by Giovanni.  When Dante hears their tragic tale of sinful love, he faints for pity.
NOTICE: Francesca and Paolo are together in Hell not because they still love each other.  Not a chance.  What Dante really means by putting them together in Hell is that they add to one another's agony.  When Francesca says "There is no greater sorrow than to remember a time a of great joy in a time of great pain", she really means "To remember that time is to remember that we sinned greatly".  They must whirl through eternity looking at each other's bodies and remembering their sins thinking "For that, alas, I went damned" (I decided to quote John Ciardi directly at that point). 

Tchaikovsky does a wonderful job portraying the story the instrumental music.  In fact, his was used as the script for Sergei Rachmaninoff's opera about the same story.  Listen to the music very closely.  The strings in particular portray the infernal hurricane.  The annotations in the video can do a better job of explaining than I can. 
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(1) The Assyrian queen was notorious for having many lovers
(2) The legendary queen of Carthage swore a vow of faithfulness to the ashes of her husband Sicheaus.  However, she fell in love with Aeneas when he landed at Carthage.  When he left, Dido slew herself on a funeral pyre that she built.
(3) Despite being an intelligent and very able ruler (she was well-versed in nine languages), she used sex appeal as part of her political strategy.
(4) The legendary queen of Sparta and wife of Menelaus fell in love with Paris who then carried her off. Their adulterous love was what started the Trojan War that lasted ten years.  
(5) The mythical hero of the Greeks developed a passionate love for Polyxena, one of King Priam's daughters.  He actually joined the other side so that he could marry her, but en route to the wedding he shot in the heel by Paris, and his heel was the only weak spot on his body.

Kill The Girl Because Of A Spelling Error?

I don't read the Herald Tribune very often (frankly, I don't know what its stance is on many issues), but it ran a very strange article. 
A young Christian girl who was attending a school in Abbottabad, Pakistan, accidentally misspelled the word for "Poetry in Praise of Muhammad" as the word for "Denounce".  This made the more zealous Muslims accuse her of blasphemy and call for her demise.  She was expelled from the school to calm the accusers.  They applauded the move.  The girl apologized for her error, but why should people start yelling cruel threats against her for a mere typo?

That's the issue I have with Islam; it calls for those who blaspheme Muhammad to be killed.  This was an accident.  The girl didn't mean to screw up, and this particular Arabic word is easy to misspell.  Why should this molehill become a mountain? 

If anyone has any answers, please let me know. 

Rossini and Cuisine

My Professional Cooking instructor wants me to bring in some Rossini music next week.  I understand full well why.  Rossini loved good cooking.  According to what I read in my Opera 101 book, Rossini could actually tell the difference between Neapolitan and Genoese pasta just by tasting it!  So it comes as not surprise that someone in the food service industry would want to hear Rossini.  Then again, classical music and food tend to go together very well any how. 

"Hansel and Gretel": Not Just A Children's Fairy Tale

I'm pretty sure most people in this country have heard of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale known as Hansel and Gretel.  It's the story of two children whose parents turn them loose in the forest where they become lost.  They come across a gingerbread house and feeling a sense of relief, they start to eat parts off of it.  An old woman comes out of the house and invites them in.  She feeds them sweetmeats and puts them to bed.  Unfortunately, she is an evil and scheming witch who eats children, and she plans to cook and devour them.  In fact, around her house are the children who have fallen into her trap before and were turned into gingerbread.  When the witch wakes Hansel and Gretel up the next morning, she puts Hansel in a cage and feeds him more and more.  She tells Gretel to cook the meal for him.  At one point, the witch tells Gretel to crawl into the oven to check to see if it's ready.  Pretending to be dumb, Gretel claims she doesn't know how and asks the witch to show her.  The witch gets exasperated and climbs in while telling the girl that it simple; and at that point Gretel hoists the witch with her own petard and shoves her all the way into the oven and then shuts and latches the door.  She then releases Hansel from the cage.  Meanwhile, the children who were turned into gingerbread come back to life and find that the witch herself has been turned into a giant gingerbread cookie which the children proceed to devour.  Hansel and Gretel return home and are reunited with their parents.

I have a feeling that this isn't just some story written for children.  While no witches exist who can turn children into gingerbread, there are in fact enemies out there who prey on children.  They are pimps, drug dealers, and others who use children for their own gain; namely money. 
I started reading a book yesterday called Please Forgive Me, God. It is the account of a Catholic nun who runs a shelter called the Covenant House for street children.  These were kids who escaped from troubled and abusive homes and wound up on the street.  The street is a cold and scary place for children to be; no food, no shelter, no one to love or at least relate to, all sorts of troubles.  So when someone comes and offers them a place to stay and food to eat, they accept without question.  But sooner or later what was supposed to be haven becomes a hell for the children.  The person whom they viewed as a savior is now their tormentor.  A young girl would be raped, beaten, and thrust into a life of prostitution.  A boy would be used as a trafficker, a drug dealer, or some other sort of criminal.  And it is all done to make a profit off of the children.  The captors want money. 

So there are witches of a sort out there.  They lure children in with the promise of food, shelter, and care, and then they abuse them and catapult them into a life of crime; just as the witch lured children into her gingerbread house with the promise of safety.  
I'm absolutely certain that the kids at the Covenant House can relate to Hansel and Gretel.  They were lured into a trap by someone who made a false promise to them.  Sometimes these street kids can summon up the courage to face their captors and find help, but unfortunately others don't.  Hansel and Gretel isn't just a mere children's story about two kids in lost in the woods; it's also a warning to children about dangerous people who are like the witch.  They may not pop you in the oven, but they'll threaten you with violence unless you obey them.  And they want to make money from all of it.

Good Protesters, Bad Protesters

Less than two months into the year we got a huge number of people protesting at the capital building in Madison.  These people shouted and carried signs, but most of them went home after a while.  Those who go home after a while are good protesters; they know when to leave.
This month we have a small bunch of goof balls who just won't go away.  They're what I call the professional protesters; they're mostly in they're twenties don't have jobs.  They prefer to lie around and play silly games until something the disagree with comes up.  Then they'll shout and protest and don't go away.

One of these loud folks dumped beer on the head of one of the Republican politicians.  I wonder how he'd react if some dumped beer on the head of someone he agreed with, or even dumped beer on his head.  I'm not sure about the first one but here's what I think would happen regarding the second:
1st Guy: "Dude, what was that for?".  (He grabs another beer and dumps it on the head of the head of the guy who did it to him first).
2 Guy: "You'll pay for that".  (Grabs another beer and does the same thing to 1st Guy again).
1st Guy: "How dare you!"  (Repeats beer dumping).
Random Person: "Hey look!  A fight!"  (Cue mayhem).

Dirty Politics: The 1860 Presidential Election

Elections in general are dirty; the 1860 election was probably the dirtiest in history.  The biggest issue was slavery.  And the fact that slavery was even an issue in the first place made this particular election unbelievably ugly.

There was Abraham Lincoln as the Republican candidate.  He was against slavery; while not precisely an abolitionist, he did not want slavery to spread.
Then there was Stephen Douglas as the Northern Democratic candidate.  While he was for slavery, he wanted the states to decide for themselves whether or not to allow it.  This was called "Popular Sovereignty". 
Next you had John C. Breckenridge as the Southern Democratic candidate.  He was very much pro-slavery.
Finally there was John Bell as the Constitutional Union Party Candidate.  He was one of the earliest third-party candidates in U.S. history.

 It is so easy to jump up and say that Lincoln was right and the others were wrong.  While that's true, one has to go deeper into the issue and try to explain your argument.  Look at the issue and observe what happened.  Why did Douglas's idea of Popular Sovereignty not work?  Because when you allow a state to decide for itself based on what the people find most appealing, you're going to get trouble (witness "Bleeding Kansas")

on November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected as the nation's 16th President.  After that, the South broke off from the Union and fired on Fort Sumter.  The rest of the story...well, I think most of you probably know already what happened.  This article should explain things a little better than I can.

Christ+And = Heresy

Our church has been doing a sermon series called "Stronger Together", which is a lesson from the Book of Philippians in the Bible.  Saint Paul was writing to the church in Philippi while he was in prison.  Today, we studied the third chapter.  In this part of book, Paul warns the church about "evil men who are mutilators of the flesh".  The evil men he was talking about were a small group of people who were saying that faith in Christ wasn't enough.  If people wanted to really be saved, then they also had to adhere to Jewish law practices in general, and circumcision in specific.  These were the so-called Judaizers; a group of Jewish Christians.  Their attempts to make other converts strictly follow Jewish laws were undermining the church's mission to spread the Gospel.  This is a prime example of what we call Christ+And. 

There is only one appropriate thing to call people who preach Christ+And doctrines: Heretics.  These people try to undermine the church's mission by saying a true Christian must also follow this set of rules because Christ isn't enough.  The point is that Christ is enough.  Now, faith in Christ should manifest itself as good works, but our confidence should not be in those good works.  The Bible says that no matter how hard we try, we can never be good enough because we are sinners.  As Christians, our confidence should be in Christ alone. 

Whenever we say that people must follow Christ and our rules, we are not preaching the good news; we are preaching heresy.  And heresy is one of the biggest threats not only to Christian unity, but also to the mission Christ calls us to.  Heresy leads not only to the exclusion of people, but it also turns people off to the Gospel.  And heretics make other Christians look bad. 

Christ+And is also found in legalism.  Legalism says that people must adhere to strict rules on modesty and only indulge in approved forms of entertainment.  Granted a lot popular culture in our day and age is junk, but nevertheless, legalism alienates people from the Gospel.  It doesn't have be heresy, but it often is. 

So what should we do as Christians—or more appropriately, should I say, Christ Followers?  We should manifest our faith as good deeds, but we shouldn't let them become what we put our trust in.  And we should be on our guard for the heretics who preach Christ+And.  Jesus said," By their fruits you will know them."  Actions speak louder than words.  People who preach Christ+And exclude people and often form something akin to, if not really, a cult.  And cultists are heretics.  In fact, Christ+And IS heresy.  Merely calling it lies is putting it too mildly. 

Dante's "The Divine Comedy": Awesome Poem, Trashy Video Game

I've been rereading Dante's epic poem The Divine Comedy (so called because the story has a happy ending).  It is the story of the poet's journey through Hell (The Inferno), Purgatory (The Purgatorio), and Paradise (The Paradiso).
The Inferno is perhaps the most famous of the three books of The Divine Comedy.  He begins the story by telling about he found himself in a dark wood.  He is assailed by three beast that represent the the divisions of Hell, albeit in reverse order: a leopard of malice, a lion of violence, and a she-wolf of incontinence.  He is rescued by the shade of the poet Virgil, who tells him that a saintly woman called Beatrice has asked him to come to Dante's aid.  Then Virgil leads Dante through Hell.  At the Gates of Hell, they encounter the miserable shades of those who "lived without infamy and without praise"; in other words, people who lived only for themselves.  They were unfaithful to both God and his enemies.  Therefore, Heaven will not take them and nor will Hell. 

In Dante's mind, Hell is the enormous impact crater left by Lucifer/Satan when he was cast out of Heaven.  It was believed at the time that Hell was located underneath Jerusalem.  There are nine circles, each one decreasing in size the further down it goes.  They are as follows:
Circle 1: Virtuous Pagans and the Unbaptized.
Circle 2: The Lustful.
Circle 3: The Gluttonous.
Circle 4: The Avaricious and The Prodigal.
Circle 5: The Wrathful and The Sullen.
Circle 6: The Heretics.
Circle 7: The Violent (divided into three rings: 1,Violence to Others, 2, Violence to Self, and 3, Blasphemers).
Circle 8: The Fraudulent (Divided into ten sections: 1, Panderers and Seducers, 2, Flatterers, 3, Simoniacs, 4, Sorcerers,Diviners, and False Prophets, 5, Barrators, 6, Hypocrites,7,  Thieves, 8, Evil Counselors, 9, Sowers of Discord, and 10, Falsifiers of varying sorts).
Circle 9: Traitors.  In Dante's time, treachery was considered the worst possible sin.
At the very bottom of Hell is Satan the Devil.  He is imprisoned there for eternity for committing the ultimate sin: Treachery against God.  Dante and Virgil climb down Satan's back and escape to the other side of the world.  From there, they move on to Purgatory.

It's just an epic poem about one man's learning to recognize sin for what it is.  However, some dingbat had to make a video game out the story and completely trash it.  In the game version, Dante is a crusader who commits some serious crimes while at war.  Beatrice is Dante's lover.  Her soul has been kidnapped by the Devil and taken into Hell, where the Devil slowly begin to turn her into a succubus.  Dante must go and rescue her, and to do that, he must fight and destroy the demons that inhabit every level.  He rescues souls along the way.
See the problem?  There are several.  First off, Beatrice, who died in 1290 at the early age of twenty-four, was already in Heaven, and evil cannot enter there.  Second, only a few demons serve as guards in Hell and most of them are characters from classical Greco-Roman mythology (i.e. Cerberus, Minotaur, etc.).  The demons are also simply there to torment the souls of the damned.  They assail Dante, but Virgil helps him.  Thirdly, in the poem, Satan is trapped forever in ice.  Not matter how hard he struggles, the ice makes it impossible for him to escape.  Fourth off,, it was Beatrice who sent Virgil to rescue Dante because she saw him lost in the dark woods.  She saw him being assailed by the three beasts and wanted to help him.  And finally, the damned cannot leave Hell.  It is their prison forever. Oh, and Dante was a scholar, never a soldier.  And he was in love with Beatrice, but she didn't really know him; so it was pretty one-sided. 

I haven't played the video game.  However, I have read the premise and seen stills from the game.  And you know what, it's trash.  And you don't even need to play the game to notice that.

This Again.

For the past couple of days there has been more shoutloud over whether or not to ban the use of fetal tissue in stem cell research.  Proponents argue that a fetus is not quite human.  That said, they believe that it is perfectly reasonable to remove tissues from a fetus to "cure certain diseases". 

Life begins at conception when the sperm meets the egg.  When that happens, the gender, hair color, and eye color have already been decided.  So at two minutes, the fetus is either a girl or a boy, because the father sperms have either had the X Chromosome or the Y Chromosome.  So yes, the fetus is a human.  And if you want to use tissues from someone else, make sure that the person has given their consent first.  And using fetal tissues happens without the fetus's consent; therefore, it is murder.

Don't Blame Bush!

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Al-Qaida members hijacked airplanes and flew them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  The World Trade Center was torn down completely by the impact of the planes, the Pentagon lost one side of its structure.  Thousands of people were killed.
Back in May of this year, Navy SEALs tracked down Osama Bin Laden, the man who orchestrated the terrorist attacks, and shot him in his bunker.

There is one major issue I have with this topic, and that is the fact that so many people still falsely accuse former President George Bush for orchestrating the tragedy just to agitate for war.  It wasn't his fault.  Are Americans so enamored of sudden little plot twists in stories that they try to apply the same rule to real life?  Granted there are some real creepy politicians in Congress, but when something as colossal as 9/11 occurs, people still point the accusatory finger at whoever happens to be in power.  If Bush really was agitating, he would've spread rumors about the killer next door prior to the attacks.  But there were no such stories.  And since we've started fighting this war, there have been no terrorist attacks on our country.  And that's nothing to sneeze at.

So to those people still blaming Bush for the deaths of thousands of people in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, I say stop it.  It's not true and you know it.  It also gets really old quickly, and it is not a reasonable response to the tragedy.
Popular Mechanics ran an article about the various debunked conspiracy theories about the attacks.  It's amazing what some people come up with when horrifying events like this occur.

I Wonder How Big Her Ticket Was

I heard a joke today about a woman from New York who was driving in Atlanta Georgia and got pulled of over for speeding.  The officer told her, "You can't go barreling through Atlanta like that."  Her reply?  "Sherman did."

Have They Forgotten This?

I am so tired of hearing people yelling and saying that since Governor Scott Walker didn't go to college he hates education.  Just because he wants to reduce, end, or what with collective bargaining rights for teachers does not mean he hates education.  Also, how does not getting a college education make someone hate it?  Are these folks assuming that you absolutely have to go to college or a public school in order to get an education?

Have people forgotten that Abraham Lincoln didn't go to college either?  In fact, if you added up all the time he spent in a classroom as a boy, it would add up to only one year, simply because he lived way out in the boondocks and had to help out on the farm.  And yet he LOVED learning and wanted to learn.  He taught himself how to read.  How many people are even willing to do that?  And look at what happened to Lincoln!  He became the nation's greatest president. 

To those loud folks making the ridiculous claim about Scott Walker's lack of a college education I say this:
Try educating yourselves by reading.  Go back to the library, get some books, and read them.  You don't have to go to college to get an education.  And please stop using Walker's lack of a college education as a case against him.  It has absolutely zero to do with his agenda. 

MLK Memorial Doesn't Do Him Justice

So there's a new memorial in Washington D.C. and that is the statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the famous Civil Rights Leader from the Fifties and Sixties.  I have seen pictures of it, and frankly the statue does not do him any justice.  Why?  Because it just doesn't look like him.  I have seen pictures of the statue and I don't like it.  It portrays Dr. King as standing with his arms folded and with what is supposed to be a look of determination and steadfastness on his face.  The attempt at trying to make him look immovable and steadfast, however, makes him look like a Chinese war god who will kill you if you make a false move.  It just isn't him.

Instead of that, why not portray Dr. King with his arms outstretched and looking like he's welcoming the observer to be with him; or show him holding the cross in one hand and the scales in the other.  Dr. King was a preacher and a man of deep faith.  Why can't we show that?  It would do him justice if we portrayed him in the memorial as a man who wanted to welcome people and be his friends.  That's what he was fighting for; for people to overthrow racism and love each other as brothers.  While this won't be entirely realized until Christ returns, it's a good goal.  Why not show that side of him rather than make look like some stubborn creep?  And the stature of him is certainly uncanny valley.

Children's Entertainment: TV Shows

A few days ago, I found some videos of a TV show that I loved when I a very little girl.  It was called Lamb Chop's Play Along, and it starred ventriloquist Sheri Lewis and her puppet companion, the eponymous Lamb Chop, a ewe lamb with black eyes.  Also featured in the show were puppets Charlie Horse (a colt who had buck teeth wore a green t-shirt, pants, sneakers, and a red baseball cap), and Hush Puppy (a little grey-brown dog with floppy ears and wore a blue and red striped t-shirt).  The show centered mostly around games, jokes, riddles, and whatever the main story is in the episode.  Unfortunately, Sheri Lewis died of cancer in 1998, a year after the show ended.  But she was very original in her work.  Lamb Chop, Hush Puppy, and Charlie Horse were all very enjoyable characters with lovable personalities.  Their jokes, riddles, and games are still awesome even after thirteen years. 

These days, kids shows are lame.  Their main goal is marketing rather than entertaining children.  Dora the Explorer, Bob the Builder, various Disney products, etc., are all lame shows with tie-ins meant to be marketed.  Nothing's original; it's all the same sort of idea.  And all those tie-ins (*shudder*); toys, party supplies (i.e., paper plates, cups, napkins etc.), even school supplies.  I remember when we had to request a cake with Lamb Chop's picture on it for my fifth birthday because it wasn't already available.  But the fact that we had to request having the picture on the cake was what made it special.  These days the tie-ins are so ubiquitous that I want to wring the necks of those who produce them.  I'm sick of seeing Disney Princesses, Dora, SpongeBob, etc., all over the place.  In fact, I want tie-ins to go away completely.  The fact that tie-ins are everywhere results in the items being mundane.  They are not special at all. 

Now I happen to own some Barbie dolls and a few Lord of the Rings action figures plus a Legolas poster, but I don't play with the toys much anymore now that I'm twenty, but I gave my dolls their own personalities.  I also like Star Wars tie-ins; but what separates Star Wars from the rest is that in Star Wars people actually get killed.  I'm not saying I like it when people die; I don't like it at all.  However, a lot of marketed kid's stuff does not involve much death unless the character in question is the villain; and then the death usually involves falling to one's death from a great height.  In Star Wars you have people getting shot, impaled, blown up, etc., and while there isn't much blood (lightsabers and blasters tend to sear the flesh), there is still an onscreen death, and a lot of kids have seen death up close.  I for one, happen to be unfortunate enough to have seen a stray dog shake one of my beloved pet rabbits to death right in front of my eyes―and when I was six-years-old.
There was no talk about death in Lamb Chop's Play Along, but that show was purely about jokes and games.  That was different from the adventure/pseudo-adventure items that are popular today. 

Producers of children's entertainment, if you want to just entertain, please go back to the old jokes and games deal.  Please lay off all the tie-ins and stuff like that.  If you want adventure stories, please show some real serious stuff like in Star Wars and Transformers.  And quit trying to lightly touch on serious subjects like death.  Show it onscreen as a lot of kids have seen death whether it was a pet that died or a relative.  Don't dance around those subjects.  Teach kids how to cope with it (I'll talk about that later).  Lay off the marketing and stick with just plain entertaining or helpful.

Jaws: What Inspired It?

I'm going to assume that most people in America have probably heard of Steven Spielberg's classic film known as Jaws.  This story is about a great white shark that terrorizes a sea-side community in the Northeastern United States.  Brody (the chief of police), Hooper (a scientist), and Quint (a fisherman), go out to hunt this animal and succeed in killing it.

But how did we get such a famous fish story?  Well, Peter Benchley, the man who wrote the novel that the movie was adapted from, read about the 1916 New Jersey Shark Attacks.  At this point in time, no one knew that shark could randomly attack humans and so many were making up strange ideas as to what really occured.
Here's what happened: In the summer of 1916, a shark, apparently a great white, somehow left the gulf stream.  It was unable to catch its natural prey for an obscenely long time.  Now great whites can go for months without eating; however, even they reach a point where they just can't go for much longer.  That happened to this shark.  So when it got to the New Jersey coast, it was so hungry that it attacked a swimmer, Charles Vansant, and killed him.  Naturally, this caused a lot of panic.  Some people denied it was a shark that attacked Vansant.  Some thought it was a torpedo attack, others thought it was a mackerel.  A few days later, the shark killed Charles Bruder and severed his legs.  Beaches were closed as a result.

The shark also moved into a tidal inlet.  Great whites don't usually do that; it's primarily bull sharks that can survive in fresh water.  However, there had been a full moon at the time which made the creek saltier than ever.  It attacked and killed Lester Stillwell and Stanly Fisher.  It also attacked Joseph Dunn but he survived. 

So that's where the Jaws story comes from.  I read a book on the subject called Twelve Days of Terror.  It's a good book, and the story is very interesting.
  

Christian Bookstore Weirdness

I had to get a pair of shoes for working in the Culinary Arts kitchen at MATC.  It turns out that the shoe store my dad and I went to on the East Side of Madison is right next to a so-called Christian bookstore.  So when we finished my errand (it took about fifteen minutes to do so), we went to the bookstore for a little while.  Unfortunately, merely sticking a Christian label on something doesn't automatically make it Christian.  If I may quote Abraham Lincoln on the subject, "If you call the tail a leg, how many legs does a cat have?  Four; just because you call the tail a leg does not make it one."  Likewise, calling something Christian that looks like it doesn't necessarily make it such.  
 While I like this particular bookstore's plain Bibles and greeting cards (the cards with the sheep theme are my favorite), their book and music selection leaves a lot to be desired.  I'm going to explain why I say this, although I'll leave out the children's stuff because I didn't look in that spot. 

Some of their Bibles looked a little odd.  I found one that was apparently aimed at girls under the age of seventeen.  It hand sequins and beads on the cover.  While I like those sorts of sparkly things, I don't like them being used to decorate a Bible.  First off, it makes Christianity look cute and fuzzy (which it is not), and number two, if you're going to decorate a Bible, why not use the old Medieval illuminated style?  It may look pretty, but a lot of illuminated scripts tackle such painful issues such as Punishment and Hell. 

The music selection is ridiculous.  It is all contemporary; no Bach cantatas, no Mendelssohn's Elijah, no sacred works by Handel or Beethoven, no Verdi's Requiem, no Vivaldi's Gloria, not even anything by John Rutter.  Don't get me wrong; a lot of contemporary Christian music is great (I myself happen to be a fan of the Newsboys and some of Casting Crowns songs), but a lot of Classical Music is sacred works.  In fact, for many years and particularly during the Renaissance and Baroque periods, most of the music written was for church/mass.  Why not sell recordings of some of the older stuff?  There was also no Michael Card music.  Michael Card, the Christian singer that I grew up listening to, who wrote mostly his own original tunes, and who never glossed over anything about the Bible: Listen to his song The Basin and the Towel.  This was the second tune of his that I heard (The first one was "Poem of Your Life".  I first heard both when I was a little girl).

Their video selection was—to put it mildly—dumb.  While I haven't seen most of the movies they had on sale, there was a DVD set of movies about the Apocalypse.  If there was ever a subject that people couldn't be more annoyingly presumptuous about, it's this.  I first saw a film about it when I was in eighth grade.  It was so ridden with glitches I have refused to watch another video on the subject.  The Bible clearly says that we don't know the day or the hour, or even so much as to how it will precisely occur.

Their book selections are the worst.  Most of the books were feel-good, happy-perky, stego-brained glop.  Books with titles like Get Out of the Pit, Good-Bye Insecurity, etc..  No Pilgrims Progress, no Beyond the Gates of Splendor, no Let the Little Children Come, nothing about how Christians suffered for the LORD.  Whenever it wasn't feel-good dumbness, it was God-Wants-You-To-Always-Be-Happy heresy.  And I mean heresy.  My dad spoke of this one "preacher"man whose books were being sold at this bookstore.  There was a passing reference to salvation in it, but nothing about sacrifice or the cross.  This man, who preaches only feel-good stuff, is a heretic.  There was a book called Prayers that Activate Blessings.  Just by reading the title I can tell that this is something that would make even my Pentecostal best friend Stiffelio roll his eyes.  The whole idea that following Christ would result in only happiness for a person and never suffering completely ignores the fact that Jesus said that we must deny ourselves and take up our crosses every day.  It's not pleasant, and crucifixion was hellish way to die, but Jesus said that we must be willing to suffer for the faith.  I struggle with the concept myself, but I can't argue with it.

So to the owner of the Christian bookstore on the East Side of Madison I say this: Cut out the con job.  Start selling the real serious stuff and no more of the How-To-Live-A-Happy-Life stupidity.  That is, quit telling people that the Christian life is a soft fluffy pillow and start teaching about how to really live for God.  And while you're at it, can you also start selling Dante's The Divine Comedy?  People should really start learning about what sin looks like to God.

Greek Fest: Church and Icons

There is a church just off of Highway 151.  It is Assumption Greek Orthodox Church and it is lovely.  It was founded by Greek immigrants who settled in Madison, so the congregation is very fond of the heritage.  Every summer they hold a small two-day fair called Greek Fest.  Mostly what it consists of is Greek food, music, and a tour of the sanctuary (just decorated with icons).  It's small, but awesome.

I shared a plate of various Greek foods with my dad and little brother.  This sampler included meatballs, a cheese phylo, a spinach pie, dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), shish-kabob, and bread, plus some loukoumades (Greek honey puffs).  We ate our lunch outside, so we were able to listen to some Greek music (while trying to ignore the unbearable heat). 

The Eastern Orthodox denomination holds a unique place in Christian history.  Unlike the western church which changed considerably over the past several centuries, the Eastern Orthodox church has remained relatively unchanged in terms of art and tradition.

This denomination places a huge emphasis on icons.  In fact, the artist who painted the icons in the church still has a few more to paint.  I can't list all the icons in the church, but I'll try to name a few. 

Pictured in the Pendentives (four triangles surrounding the dome), are the Four Gospel Writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Each of them is shown in a sort of study where they are writing their gospels.

There are many icons along the walls of the sanctuary (Saints Anne, Paraskevi, and Theadore Tyron to name a few).  These icons are on either side of the pews.  Back in Europe, the church sanctuary is standing room only.  Here, they put in pews so that people can sit down, which is logical considering that the average Orthodox liturgy can last for more than an hour (I'm understating the case here because some liturgies go for six hours!). 

The dome icons consist of important figures from the Old Testament (Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and King David being a few of them).  The icon at the top of the inside of the dome itself portrays Jesus.  Apparently the dome is supposed to represent Heaven (hence why Jesus is shown at the top).

The icons surrounding the alter are the ones that really hold your attention.  The icon you first notice when you walk in the door of the sanctuary is the one of the Virgin Mary, her title in this church being "Mother of God".  However, as much as she's called "the bridge between Heaven and Earth, Mary does not hold the same position in the Orthodox church as she does in the Catholic church.  She is seen as one of us; a human being with flaws.  She is portrayed holding the infant Christ and her halo is made of gold leaf.  In front of her icon is a Eastern style crucifix. 

I recommend Greek Fest for anyone who wants to find something to do at the end of July in Madison.  It's got great food, music, and church history.

FINALLY!

That absolutely torturous Sociology class is DONE!  Oh man, it has felt like being in the Pliocene Epoch sea, in the middle of the night, with a crazed megalodon about to attack, and the only protection is a damaged shark cage. 

My main issue with the subject is that it claims that almost everything about male and female behavior is due to socialization (when most of their behaviors are natural), that inequalities are always unnatural (some are, some aren't), and that everything is relative (also untrue).  If I have to deal with that crazy idea again, someone is going to find themselves forced to watch bad movies.  Well, that last line is just a joke, but I seriously can't stand to listen to these sorts of things. 

Now it's over and I've got several weeks of vacation before next semester starts up. 

The EASTLAND Disaster

Forget the Titanic!  Here's a maritime disaster from the 20th Century involving Americans that happened in our own waters.

On this day in 1914, the Western Electric Company of Chicago rented some boats for an excursion on the Chicago River; one of those boats was the steamer known as the Eastland.  Unfortunately she was a "tender" ship as she had no keel, was top-heavy, rode high in the water, and had a tendancy to list.  To make matters worse, in the aftermath of the Titanic sinking, more lifeboats were added the Eastland making her even more top-heavy than she had been previously.

There were so many passengers who boarded the ship that day that the Eastland suddenly capsized onto her port side.  845 people drowned in the river. 

Frankly, this is much more interesting than the Titanic disaster.  There were ordinary working people involved and not the rich and famous, and this was even more preventable than the iceberg incident.  Also the Eastland was still tied to the dock when she capsized.

Dane County Fair

My mom took me and one of her Chinese friends to the Dane County Fair today.  It was hot, so we started with the indoor exhibits first before going to the barns to see the animal exhibits.

This fair is in my opinion, the best one in Madison.  It is a youth fair, so the main exhibits are shown by children.  Woodworking, rabbits, horses, natural science, and sewing are just  few of the many catagories of exhibits at the fair.  My little brother and I have both shown exhibits at the Dane County Fair in previous years.  However, neither of us is in 4-H anymore so we stopped showing exhibits at the fair (which is a real shame because showing an exhibit at the fair is a lot of fun).

The animal exhibits are in the barns across from the exhibition halls.  Kids show horses, sheep, rabbits, and other animals.  On a certain day of the week during the fair, the kids show their animals to the judges to see whether or not animals are well cared-for.  For example, the rabbits must have good teeth, healthy fur, clean ears, etc..  Or, for another example, kids showing horses must be show that they can control the horse, even if the animal gets fussy.

The natural science posters are always interesting.  This year someone made a poster on different kinds of bullets in a hunting gun.  Another child made a poster on bees, and another one exhibited a bug collection. 

Cake decorating is the really fancy one in my opinion.  They exhibitors don't frost real cakes because they won't last very long exposed like that.  Instead, they decorate a box.  This is just to show how well they can decorate a cake.  And some of those cakes can be pretty wild.  This year someone made a Scooby-Doo  cake complete with model of Scooby about to have a peice of the cake, and the cake itself is a rotating disk.

We didn't do the rides because we didn't have time.

Wreck of the EDMUND FITZGERALD

This song by Gordon Lightfoot tells the story of the 1975 sinking of the ore carrier ship, the Edmund Fitzgerald.  

The Great Lakes are often battered by storms in late autumn, especially in November.  Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron tend to get the worst of these gales, which involve hurricane-force winds, 40-60 ft. high waves, and freezing rain and/or snow.

On November 10th, 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald  was making her last voyage of the season on Lake Superior.  During the night, she sailed into a late-autumn storm.  Despite being equipped with the best state-of-the-art technology, she still went down with all hands on board.  She lies in two pieces at the bottom of the lake; her stern section is upside down.

John Kass on Botox and Children

John Kass, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune hit the nail on the head when he said that kiddie beauty pageants should be shut down.  A lot of moms are trying to make their daughters into perfect models at a way-too-early age. 

Back in May, there was an outrage over a lady who used botox on her eight-year-old daughter because the girl had "wrinkles". The girl is eight-years-old, and wrinkles don't exist on small children. 

Also, by giving the girl botox injections, she's basically saying that beauty comes before character, which is a highly screwed-up way to look at yourself.  Botox can also be damaging to the body as well. 

All I can say is, may God forgive that woman. 

A Clarification

In a previous post, I ranted about how I can't stand it when people think that it is problem that women are not really encouraged toward stuff like engineering and stuff like that.  To clarify what I was saying, men and women are different physiologically, and since the brain is not separate from the body, they're mentally different as well.
So, when I hear people say that we're socialized to think that women are different mentally from men, it makes me really upset.  Men can do some things better than women and vice versa.  

Sermon on Esther

The sermon tonight was on the first two chapters in the book of Esther.  The point of the message was that God is always at work.

Before we meet Esther, Vashti is queen.  The king throws a huge party just to show off how powerful and rich he is.  He displays his splendor throughout the whole empire.  While he is drunk, he calls for Vashti, who refuses to come.  The king gets angry and kicks her out of the palace forever.  What is God doing through all of this?
When we first meet Esther, she is an orphan who has been raised by her older cousin, Mordecai, the man who sits at the king's gate.  She is among many young girls selected to come before the king.  She spends a year in beauty treatments, and then is called before the king.  When the king sees her he loves her more that the other women.  He marries her and makes her queen.  What is God doing in through all of this? 

What's most important is that God works in many ways.  Sometimes it's through miracles, more often it's more subtle and harder to notice.  But God's purpose is not to entertain us.  His purpose is to work in us, through us, and for us, and that requires faith.  And faith is not about waiting for a big flash-and-bang miracle to solve our problems.  It's about trusting God to know what He's doing, and to do what He says and to follow him.

Juan Diego Florez

If there was anyone in the world who could make you feel like you were the only other person in the room, it's this Peruvian singer.  He is the best, sexiest, and most amazing tenor in the world.  The first time I had even heard of him, I was watching a documentary online about the late Luciano Pavarotti.  I was sixteen.  Later that school year, I went to see Donizetti's opera, La Fille du Regiment. This guy sang the male lead. 

Now it's been three years since I first heard Juan Diego Florez sing.  He has replaced Orlando Bloom as my fangirl L.O. and I must say, there is no other like him.  I have seen him in Rossini's Le Comte Ory, and I have a DVD of his performance in Don Pasquale, another Donizetti opera.  I have seen various videos of him on YouTube.  And I also have two of his CD recordings: Sentimiento Latino, and his latest sacred arias recording, called Santo.

I have been to the website about him.  If you haven't heard of him, you need to fix that.  This guy is my number one favorite opera singer.  There are few others like him; he can sing the most difficult Rossini pieces, including songs that are often omitted from performance because they're considered too hard for the singer to handle.  He can out-sing that wimp Justin Bieber by 100%.

Marx Brothers

These guys were the best comedy group the world had ever seen; actually, they could out-funny the most popular comedians today.  Their names were Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo.  One talked too much, one didn't talk at all, one spoke Italian, and the other sang. 

Another One Rides The Bus

Aside from being a song parody by Weird Al, what I am talking about is a very awkward ride on a Madison Metro bus this afternoon.  I was with my dad and we were going to ride the bus to his parking spot near the Yahara river bridge.  However, we wound up sitting apart from each other because there weren't many spots available.  To make matter worse, it soon go to standing room only.  This meant that for every one passenger that got off, three got on.  So it was crowded as all get out before more than four got off the bus.  Dad and I were able to get to the parking spot, but I swear I'll never ride the bus at rush hour again.

Fourth of July

Well, if there's any holiday here in America that people use as an excuse just to get the family together and have a nice big barbecue dinner, it's this one.  This day commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 during the American Revolution.

The Flags of Freedom parade was yesterday.  Sun Prairie always has the big parade on a Saturday for some reason.  We are also having Chinese students coming over to have dinner with us tomorrow.  I've always wondered about that, but hey, we do it, so there.

I also don't have work or class tomorrow, which means I can sleep in (if my parents will let me).

I would also like for my neighbors to stop popping big fireworks within the city limits. 

Dmitri Hvorostovsky

If you haven't heard of this Russian baritone, you need to fix that.  I first heard him when I was 15-years-old and dating.  Eugene Onegin was the first opera that wasn't Carmen that I heard front to back.  It was broadcast over the radio, however, so I didn't quite grasp who this singer was at first.

Now it has been four years since I first heard Dmitri Hvorostovsky(*) sing.  When I realized just who the heck he was, that's when I really began to enjoy him. 

Dmitri Hvorostovsky is unmistakable; his hair is prematurely white (started of black apparently, then began graying when he was in his twenties), and he has a buff physique.  His voice has a very rich, very velvety tone, which makes him perfect for roles like Onegin (Eugene Onegin), the Count di Luna (Il Trovatore), and Prince Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades).  Since 2007 (when I first heard him), I have heard him sing in War and Peace (at least I think it was that), Il Trovatore, Simon Boccanegra, and have seen various videos of him in all sorts of operas.  I have also heard him sing Russian folk songs and romances.

There is a website dedicated to this singer.   He will be performing in the Metropolitan Opera HD simulcasts next season, singing in both Ernani, and La Traviata.  Dmitri Hvorostovsky is one of the best singers in the world.  Actually (and here I'm going to steal part of a line from Kung Fu Panda), if his voice were a weapon, his enemies would go deaf from over-exposure to pure awesomeness.  Check it out.
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(*)Pronounced VOH-roh-STOHV-skee