Line Rider - Mountain King

This is great!

Darth Vader plays the gurdy.

The things I find on the internet.

Random Quotes

"Baloney is flattery laid on so thick it cannot be true, and blarney is flattery so thin we love it." --Ven. Fulton Sheen

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid." -- G. K. Chesterton, author

"Punctuality is the virtue of the bored." -- Evelyn Waugh, author

“Every once in a while you just have to decide to do something very crazy and very right--just to dare yourself to live. I don't mean doing something stupid and destructive--just something fun and good and beautiful.”  -- Regina Doman, author

Random Quotes

“Have you ever noticed this - that people never answer what you say? They answer what you mean - or what they think you mean” -- Father Brown,  The Invisible Man by G. K. Chesterton

“What punishments of God are not gifts?” -- J.R.R. Tolkien

"Coffee has given me unrealistic expectations of productivity." -- Unknown

The Play that Goes Wrong performing at The Royal Variety Performance 2015

I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.



Enjoy!

Random Article I found: Secrets behind London’s mysterious deadly fog revealed

Secrets behind London’s mysterious deadly fog revealed – Can it help save China?: No one gave the fog much thought at first. Fog is a regular occurrence in London, after all. It wasn’t until the late afternoon, when the air took on a yellow color and began to smell like fire....

Third Rock's Why Vote

How I felt this morning.

World's Funniest Classical Music Performances

Now trying to find each of these individually.

If any knows where to find them, please let me know! :)

Insane Robot Dancer Looks A Little Too Robotic

I love the fact that he is dancing as Wall*E!

Musings on Research, a LS 502 post

I think that for my research there are two areas to consider: technology changes and natural disasters. These two things have a huge impact on archives.

This was an interesting read: (Theimer, Kate. "What Is the Meaning of Archives 2.0?" The American Archivist 74, no. 1 (2011): 58-68. http://www.jstor.org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/stable/23079001.) that I'm filing away. I don't know if I will use it, but it's here.

In talking with my supervisor at work I learned that an archive practices boxing up their collection into trucks and moving them away when major storms hit. I wonder if there is a virtual version of that?

Breath In, Breath Out

There is a that tired feeling one gets when one has had enough. Some people call it burn out, others call it world weariness. Of the two, I think I am somewhere in between. It is a surreal sense of being alone in an overcrowded room with all the shouts and noise muffled in your own mind.

I do not really need a life line, just some prayers, positive thoughts, and so forth. Intercessory prayers with these guys would be very much appreciated.

Take a Gander, a cross posting

Check out my review of 'The Geeky Chef Cookbook' over on the Catholic Geeks blog called 'A Taste of Fandom'.

Funniest Ballet Performance Ever

For a good laugh:

Penn & Teller Fool Us Francis Menotti

I am loving this!

Information Technology Visual Aid

In one of my classes we had to draw out how we visualize information technology. Below is how I see it; basically it's different topics all interconnected and information technology helps us see all those connections through an access point. Everything is connected.

Very quickly drawn in a coffeeshop

Do We Think Anymore?

Several weeks I took part of a conversation with several co-workers that I do not normally work with; well it was mostly me just standing there and the other three talked. The topic of this conversation was the holds list - to explain if there is a book, let's say a particular book about fishing, if the local library does not have it the librarian (or the patron through their account) can place a request for that fishing book and whichever library has it will send it off. It's a neat system and I have used it on multiple occasions. On the library end of this system the holds list is the list of requested items are we have to go through the stacks to find and send off to the requesting library.When it's printed off it is in order by the call number.

Seems simple enough, right? Well, the difficulty (and a minor one at that) is that each library has set up their collection in their own way. One library might have collected the Christian Inspirational, African American, Large Print, or Short Stories each into one area that is not denoted by the call number. This results, especially when still learning a particular library's setup, in the librarian zigzagging across the library if they are going in strict order of the call number.

The zigzagging was main component of the conversation (it was more like a mini-rant). I listen as one person wondered if there was a way to program the holds list so that the zigzagging could be eliminated. The other two agreed and I was a bit dumbfounded.

I think what bothered me so much about that conversation was how depended some of my co-workers were upon the computer system to arrange everything for them. One of the first things I do when I arrive for work is pull the holds from the shelve. But before I disappear into the stacks I go over the list and make note of which items can be found where, then I go to each section of the collection to find the items. I may change up the order from day to day, like finding the audio-books first before going to non-fiction or looking through the Mysteries before the Large Print.

As I was growing up I was always taught that computer programs and the like were a great supplement, but not a replacement to my thinking. It was a time saver, not my brain. This is how I view the holds list; to quote Pirates of the Caribbean, the list "is more what you'd call 'guidelines'" than a strict order of things. It makes pulling the holds easier, but it is not going to completely dictate how I go about pulling the holds. If somehow the computer program for the library  is set up so that it takes into consideration the format of each collection, fine by me, but I am not going to hold my breath for it.

Random Quotes

Hearing nuns' confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn.”
― Fulton J. Sheen

"There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds."
― Gilbert K. Chesterton

"There's an old saying about those who forget history. I don't remember it, but it's good."
― Stephen Colbert

Random Quotes

"I've been married to a dental hygienist for years and if you think I haven't heard "Use the Floss" you'd be mistaken."
-- Mark Hamill

"The simplification of anything is always sensational."
-- G.K. Chesterton

"That’s the real trouble with the world. Too many people grow up.”
--Walt Disney

"We cannot like everyone, but we can love everyone."
--Venerable Fulton Sheen

What's Happened to Love?

I fully admit that I read young adult novels.  It's a habit I develop in school when I wanted something light and easy after reading dense philosophy and theology texts. A nice reprieve.  One main reason I veered towards the young adult novels is that I know that there will not be a sex scene, maybe intense awkward kissing but no sex.

So with the desire to vegging out I began reading The Selection by Kiera Cass.  Best way I can describe the book without getting into too much detail is that it's a water down version of the Hunger Games meets the teen version of The Bachelor/ette.  Overall the story was meh.  It had the overused trope of love triangle with a all talk don't see a lot of action war going on in the background.  Again me reading this series was solely for the purpose of vegging out.  It worked all the way up to the last few chapters of the third and, thankfully, last book when the main girl and the prince start stripping off each other's clothes.

Let me repeat that - stripping off each other's clothes!!!!

My brain crashed in on itself when I first read the passage.  Fortunately they stop when they reach the last layer of underclothing because they didn't want to get caught.  This point in the story they just declared their love for each other and are unmarried.

I quickly finished the book just to know what happened. It was predictable with unnecessary angst and way too many side characters killed off for dramatic effect.  I guess the author was going for a 'earn your happy ending' trope.

It is an unfortunate trend I see with anything about love directed at the tween to young adult audience.  Love has become less about wanting the best for the other (ultimately getting that person to Heaven) and more about physical gratification.  There are common placed, and getting overused descriptions of 'eyes clouded with want', 'a need that they could not explain', 'quickening pace of the heart' all used to describe what true love is like.  Having never been in love, I do not know what it is like, but I do know what is expected of people when they are in love (many thanks to parental units and married sibling).

Love in it's truest form is selfless, wanting what is best for the other.  You can get mad at your spouse, fight, give the silent treatment, disagree, or keep secrets, because lets face the facts we're human we made more mistakes then we would care admit to anyone.  In the marriage vows it states that you will be by your spouse's side for better or worse, not just when you are happy.  There is no such thing as 'Happily ever after' because being in love takes effort, work, and determination. We live within the passing of time, never just in a moment.  We remember and relish the happy moments, we try to ignore the bad, but we cannot stay.

As I rant about love another book comes to mind: Arms of Love by Carmen Marcoux.  In this novel a young couple work on having a chaste courtship/relationship and everyone, outside of the girl's family and friends, sees their actions as something defective.  I read this one several years ago when I was still in college. While I applaud the efforts of Mrs. Marcoux to present love authentically, I really cannot recommend the book. I really did want to enjoy the book, and on Amazon there are many positive reviews, but in the end it felt fake.  It was more of a sermon with a thin plot rather than a story with a moving message.  I doubt many secular or non-Catholics would even consider reading it. For me the Catholicism in the book felt ... too touchy-feely for me. But I'm a smells and bells kinda girl.

I have witness relationships that seemed to have stepped out of pages of 'Arms of Love' and they have the strange aftertaste of spurious and induce fear for any children they may have. DO NOT misunderstand me, chastity (both mind and spirit) rocks in my humble opinion.  But something does not ring right when a couple waits til they exchange their vows for their first kiss.  An act such as that has a gnostic feel to it, like the couple is saying they are better than the rest because they rise above the physical acts of affection (kissing, hugging, holding hands).

Take the book as you will. I'm not going to force you to read it.

With the recent release of '50 Shades of Gray', a pornographic fanfic turned book turned box office record breaking movie I feel that we as a society has lost touch on what love actually is.  Love is expressed in so many muddy confusing ways that in the ends leaves many wanting more, thus looking for that something more in all the wrong places and end up hurt.

St. Raphael the Archangel, Patron of Love and Lovers, Ora Pro Nobis.

Top Eleven Random Things You Didn't Know had a Catholic Origin.

(Just my notes for a talk I gave the Middle School Youth Group)

• 11. Autobiography: We can thank St Augustine of Hippo for the existence of the autobiography.  In his Confessions St Augustine recounts his younger life before his ordination with painful honesty telling the reader his thoughts and reflections of his past actions.
• 10. Friday the 13th: Friday is the day that Christ died on the cross, something to be cherished and revered, but because it is a day of Christ’s death it has always has a penitential character to it i.e. not eating meat.  As such it developed a reputation of being the unluckiest day of the week.  So beginning any on this day was considered was bad luck (which means I’m in a lot of trouble). 13 was associated with Christ and the 12 apostles, the 13th being Judas the Traitor.
• 9. Calculator: The first truly operative mechanical calculating device made its appearance in 1642 when Blaise Pascal (French Philosopher, Mathematician, Apologist) wanted to help his father, who was a tax official, with his work.  He called it ‘percaline’, it was 4x20 inches long with 8 dials on its face that was able to add and subtract with great accuracy.  We could also consider the pacaline the first basic computer.
• 8.A Capella: style of singing without musical instruments. Italian = ‘in the chapel’ written for sacred spaces too small for orchestras or a pipe organ
• 7. Piñatas: This started out as an Italian sin-bashing during Lent; 
• there were colorful 7 pignatta ‘fragile pot’ representing the 7 deadly sins that would dance on a rope showing how difficult it is to overcome sin, blindfolded – hard to see as sin.
• As evil can be defeated by good, we have aids: virture = bat, faith = directions shouted by the crowd, hope = directing his actions heavenwards, charity = when the pignatta is finally busted and sweets shower divine gifts and blessings cascading out
• 6. Almond Milk: great alternative to cow milk in the Medieval Age, it lasted longer and was often used in Lent when on Fridays one abstained from all animal products.  One couldn’t find a cookbook in a Medieval kitchen that did not have a few recipes that required almond milk.
• 5. Croissant & Pretzel: I ranked them the same since they are both food items.
• Croissant: commemorates the Battle of Vienna in 1683, Vienna was an Eastern outpost of Western Christendom against the larger superior army of the Ottoman Empire.  If Vienna had fallen The Turks could have very easily taken over all of Christian Europe, but they were defeated by a spectacular counterattack with a coalition of troops from different Catholic Countries led by the Polish King John Sobieski. 
• The Legend: Baker heard the Turks trying to tunnel under the city walls and he notified everyone. He was rewarded with a patent to produce a bread to commemorating the victory. The crescent is a symbol of Islam
• Pretzel: The Lenten treat of Ancient Christianity. In 400s the Great Fast of Lent included total abstinence from all meat and dairy products. Simple bread of flour water and salt in the shape of praying arms (crossed arms across chest in prayer). Were call bracellae Latin for ‘little arms’, from which German brezel or prezel = pretzel
• 4. Tempura: comes from the observance of Ember Days where there was a mandatory fast and abstain from meat.  The Spanish and Portuguese missionaries of the 16th century settled in Nagasaki, Japan started deep frying shrimp as a tasty alternative for meatless meals.  The idea caught on and the Japanese began to deep fry everything. The name is from Latin  Quatuor Tempora ‘the four seasons’ = the Embertides
• 3. Groundhog’s Day: Feb 2 Feast of Purification of the BVM – the presentation of Jesus at the Temple 40 days after birth. Simeon’s prophecy of Jesus being a light to the Gentiles (Luke 2:32) led to a folk believe that one could predict the weather on this day. The Germans would use a badger or hedgehog to determine; brought over to Pennsylvania in colonial times and a woodchuck was used. Woodchuck was considered a wise animal by the Indians of the area.
• 2. Big Bang Theory: not the show! States that at some moment all of space was contained in a single point from which the Universe has been expanding sever since. This theory was first proposed by Fr. Georges Lemaître, Belgian astronomer and professor of Physics at the Catholic University of Leuven. Sounds similar to the creation story, doesn’t it?
• 1. Solmization: You might know it as the Do-Re-Mi Scale. Hymn in the Divine Office for the Feast of St John the Baptist by Paul the deacon
• Ut Queant laxis Resonare fibris, Mira gestorum, Famuli tuorum, Solve pollute Labii reatum, Sacte Ioannes.
• An Italian monk, Gudio of Arezzo noticed that the melody of the hymn ascended precisely one note of the diatonix scale of C at each verse. Took the sybllables for each note of our scale.

Honorable Mentions

• Cappuccino: said to have been invented by Bl Marco D’Aviano, a Capuchin monk after the Battle of Vienna when a bag of coffee beans left behind by the Turks was found.  He found that it was too bitter for taste thus added milk and honey turning the color brown. Dubbed the drink ‘little Capuchin’ or cappuccino
• Lobbies: A lobium in medieval Latin was a cloistered walkway where it is believed that many would wait to seek council and help from the monks.

Now enjoy this cappuccino made with almond milk while I calculate the Big Band Theory to the sounds of 'Do a deer' in the background.