02.16.06
Posted in Uncategorized at by mountzionryan
…since my last post.
I’ve had the blogrims lately. That’s a word I’m inventing. Here is the dictionary entry:
Main Entry: blog·grim
Pronunciation: ‘bläg-gr&m
Function: noun
Etymology: Modern English blog combined with megrim.
1 a : lack of enthusiasm about blogging. b : condition when a blogger has nothing to say and no desire to say it.
‘Kay so there’s one.
***
Here’s another:
Some Orthodox blogger (sorry I can’t remeber who) was pretty vocal about the whole “cartoon” issue. One of his complaints went like this:
“Gosh darn and what about all the abuse the modern media heaps on Christianity. There’s that “creative expression” [I won't call it art] that involves an image of Our Lord and a jar of urine and that one that involves an image of the Theotokos and a pile of elephant dung. What about that!”
Tough, I say. Show me where the scriptures say being a Christian gets you the easy life. Ask Job if he thought it was easy remaining true to his faith. Or any of the apostles or thousands of martyrs who where killed for thier faith.
Christ did not promise happiness or an easy life, but rather struggle and adversity. read the lives of the Saints and tell me they had it easier as they increased in theosis.
St. John of Kronstadt was despised by much of the establishment.
Likewise with St. John of San Francisco, heck they even took him to court and accused him of embezzlement.
St. Raphael was removed from the Altar at the Antiochian church in Moscow (where he was it’s priest-in-charge) for standing up to the corrupt election of the new Patriarch of Antioch. He was later arrested in New York for inciting a riot. Turns out the Melkite Catholics didn’t like having an Orthodox priest in town, drawing worshipers from their own edifcaces.
I have touched upon this in a previous post. here is the recap:
1) Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (matt 5:10)
2) Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
(Matt 5:11-12)
Does this prayer by Saint Nikolai of Ohrid and South Canaan strike you as the words of a man who expects “The World” to be kind toward Christians?
***
Since this one is so long, I’ll only post two today. Plus I’ve the blogrims! ;-)
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02.10.06
Posted in Uncategorized at by mountzionryan
Like anyone cares. :-)
Okay after looking at my machines I have some more definitive indentifications.
Granpa’s Royal is c. 1949. It is a Royal KMG (who knows what the initials stand for).
The other Royal, purchased at a Church summage sale is a Royal HH, c. 1955. Mine is a dark gray/brown.
The Smith-Corona is a Silent c. 1953 (precursor to the Silent Super).
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02.09.06
Posted in Uncategorized at by mountzionryan
Wind power, manual typewriters, and a rotary phone
- Well I aksed about the sailboat and the secretary thinks it will auctioned at the Mardi Gras party. (This is a large Catholic church) Oh, well. If you know of anyone with a sailboat that needs a loving home (and willing to work with me on payment) please point them this way.
- When I was at Chattacon someone was admiring the typewriter font on the cover of MZSFR.
It’s called 1942 Report. She mentioned she is a font geek. I said that I was too, expecially typewriter fonts. She collects typewriters, she said. I replied that I didn’t really collect them, but that I had three. “You collect them,” she said with a smile.
For some reason I was thinking about that today, and thought I’d share it. I have two like this:
(A post-war Royal, mine aren’t nearly as shiny)
And one like this:
(Smith-Corona Silent Super mid 1950s)
Here’s a geeky luddite’s typewriter keyboard. It still works as a typewriter. Man this is too kewl
- Our phones are all on the fritz, save an old black rotary phone that is part of my retro (yeah, I’m no luddite, I’m retro) collection. I love having it on my desk. And you cant beat the heft of a real telephone.
And, to go with your typewriter keyboard, how about a cellular bakelite rotary phone!
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02.08.06
Posted in Uncategorized at by mountzionryan
More than three to make up some ground.
- Bitten again–I was driving to lunch and WHAM! I saw a Catalina 22 parked in a church parking lot. I immediately wanted to sail. I went into the office to inquire about her disposition. The sect’y had no information, so I’ll return tomorrow. There’s no sign and it has an ‘06 registration so I doubt its for sale, but…it can’t hurt to ask.
Instaed I went to the bookstore and bought a copy of Small Craft Advisor. O! To dream!
- Work has been really busy. It’s cutting into my blogging time. But really, I do most of my blogging from work. As soon as I can I will be using your word verifications to write something…
- I am the librarian at St. Anne Church (although at about 500 books “library” is stretching it) and I’ve been placing cards (yay!) in books and thinking about how to organize. Right now I have these categories:
- History
- Introduction
- Icons
- Biographies, Letters, Journals, Memoirs
- Lives of Saints
- Patristics
- Theology
- Liturgics
- Childrens
- Spiritual Life/Prayer
- Other (non-Orthodox specific titles)
I’m not sure if that makes the most sense but it’s what I’ve got. My biggest problem is not having enough space. Every time I go through the shelves I find something new and interesting and I’d love to have the room to put books on display to encourage library usage. (Wow this one is especially mundane. I’ll post a Forth item to make up for it.)
- Soccer season is fast approaching and I am not sure if I want to coach again. I’ve loved coaching Sophie’s team for two seasons, but dang if it doesn’t get tiring. I’d like to take Fr. Justin’s class this spring instead. Sophie definitely wants me to coach and some of the other parents have asked me if I was coaching so…guess I will. Hopefully the new leadership will make it easier on us coaches.
- What do you think about the Mohammed cartoon? (You can see it here) I’ve heard a lot of NPR coverage and Michael Savage’s take on it and I’m still not sure. There is absolutely no justification for the violence and destruction coming from angered Muslims. Nonetheless, I suspect that violent protest is the only kind they know, so…no surprise there.
According to the Wikipedia article, “although the Danish press is free to satirise, a 2004 report by the European Network Against Racism concluded that a disproportionate amount of time and space is devoted to negative reporting on ethnic minorities. Within the Danish media spectrum, Jyllands-Posten [the original publisher. -Rapheal] was singled out as being particularly anti-immigrant.
How could some of these “political” cartoons be anything but inflammatory. Is that responsible use of free speech?
Granted the response is, as I said, unjustified, but the anger and shock is certainly understandable. Or not. I’m still sitting on the fence.
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02.03.06
Posted in Uncategorized at by mountzionryan
One thing. I meant to publish the first one Friday…
- A fellow wordsmith and lover of good writing recently gave me a copy of The Elements of Style Illustrated. It is great. I’ve been dipping in from time to time to draw a rule or tip like cool water from a well.
My all time favorite is:
17: Omit needless words.
The rule itself is an example of the rule. If that ain’t poetry…
Here is another:
6. Do not overwrite.
Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest , generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating. If the sickly-sweet word, the overblown phrase are your natural expression, as is sometimes the case, you will have to compensate for it by a show of vigor, and by writing something as meritorious as the Son of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
When writing with a computer, you must guard against wordiness.
The click and flow of a word processor can be seductive, and you may find yourself adding a few unnecessary words or even a whole passage jus to experience the pleasure of running your fingers over the keyboard and watching your words appear on the screen. It is always a good idea to reread your writing later and ruthlessly delete the excess.
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