Shrine of the Holy Relics Undergoing a Renovation
From the Cincinnatti Enquirer:
Albers, curator of the shrine, said other relics housed at the shrine include what is believed to be a splinter from Jesus' cross, a thorn from his crucifixion crown, pieces of wood from his crib and the Last Supper table. Also, a piece of the Virgin Mary's veil and relics of each of the apostles are there, Albers said.
Many of the relics were brought to the convent in 1875, Hoying said. A Milwaukee priest bought the collection in Rome at a time the church was eager to prevent the relics from being stolen and sold by bandits.
The priest chose to take the relics to Maria Stein because of its rural setting and security provided by the Sisters of the Precious Blood's round-the-clock devotions. The sisters maintained a 24-hour-a-day vigil at the shrine until the 1970s, when there were no longer enough of them to continue.
In the past only half the relics were on display. I'll look forward to seeing this renovation. The shrine is about an hour from where we live.
Saturday, February 8, 2003
The Ongoing Threat
From the NY Daily News:
The CIA fears that Al Qaeda is planning at least two large-scale attacks against American targets by mid-February or at the outset of war with Iraq, the Daily News has learned.
The terrorist strikes - which may coincide with the end of the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca - could include the use of a radioactive "dirty" bomb or chemical and biological weapons, the CIA has determined.
From the NY Daily News:
The CIA fears that Al Qaeda is planning at least two large-scale attacks against American targets by mid-February or at the outset of war with Iraq, the Daily News has learned.
The terrorist strikes - which may coincide with the end of the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca - could include the use of a radioactive "dirty" bomb or chemical and biological weapons, the CIA has determined.
Friday, February 7, 2003
Offline--Soon Forgotten
Themestream was a place where you could post an article and be paid everytime someone clicked on your story. I received a few checks of about $20 as I recall. This site has the "ghost" of Themestream posted in their museum of E-Failure!
Ghost Sites /Museum of E-Failure /themestream.jpg
Themestream was a place where you could post an article and be paid everytime someone clicked on your story. I received a few checks of about $20 as I recall. This site has the "ghost" of Themestream posted in their museum of E-Failure!
Ghost Sites /Museum of E-Failure /themestream.jpg
You're Not Insane if You Have Plenty of Cash
Warren Zevon has lyrics in his song Splendid Isolation that go, "Michael Jackson in Disneyland, don't have to share it with nobody else, lock the gates, Goofy, take my hand and lead me through the World of Self." Turns out the lyrics don't reflect accurately the real Mr. Jackson. It is people his own age that he despises---he loves to be accompanied by children--- bunches of them.
Adults like Martin Bashir who interviewed Jackson and followed him around for eight months might "judge" Jackson as a little odd. But odd is no longer a fit moniker for Jackson---clearly Jackson is mentally ill.
But Jackson is also filthy rich.
So doctors will continue to rearrange and plaster his face as long as the checks keep coming. Women will allow themselves to be injected with his sperm cells and hand over their babies to him covered in placenta as he races home to enshroud them in a burka. Parents will allow their children to "sleep" with Jackson and collect the checks to keep silent. Art galleries will continue to demand payment for the art that he flippantly picks out like he was at a flea market.
The rest of us watch and do nothing.
Jackson's wealth may keep him out of a mental institution but he should not be allowed to inflict his illness on others. The trouble with the insanity of Michael Jackson is that he is a pop icon of the insanity of our culture that no longer looks with scorn on those who victimize others by their own selfish whims.
Zevon had that part right about Jackson. It is the world of "self" that he occupies--a veritable living hell.
Warren Zevon has lyrics in his song Splendid Isolation that go, "Michael Jackson in Disneyland, don't have to share it with nobody else, lock the gates, Goofy, take my hand and lead me through the World of Self." Turns out the lyrics don't reflect accurately the real Mr. Jackson. It is people his own age that he despises---he loves to be accompanied by children--- bunches of them.
Adults like Martin Bashir who interviewed Jackson and followed him around for eight months might "judge" Jackson as a little odd. But odd is no longer a fit moniker for Jackson---clearly Jackson is mentally ill.
But Jackson is also filthy rich.
So doctors will continue to rearrange and plaster his face as long as the checks keep coming. Women will allow themselves to be injected with his sperm cells and hand over their babies to him covered in placenta as he races home to enshroud them in a burka. Parents will allow their children to "sleep" with Jackson and collect the checks to keep silent. Art galleries will continue to demand payment for the art that he flippantly picks out like he was at a flea market.
The rest of us watch and do nothing.
Jackson's wealth may keep him out of a mental institution but he should not be allowed to inflict his illness on others. The trouble with the insanity of Michael Jackson is that he is a pop icon of the insanity of our culture that no longer looks with scorn on those who victimize others by their own selfish whims.
Zevon had that part right about Jackson. It is the world of "self" that he occupies--a veritable living hell.
Geoff Bodine on pole for Bud Shootout
From the United Press International:
Although Geoffrey Bodine has not had a full-time NASCAR Winston Cup ride for several years, the 1986 Daytona 500 winner will start on the pole Saturday night in the 25th annual Budweiser Shootout.
From the United Press International:
Although Geoffrey Bodine has not had a full-time NASCAR Winston Cup ride for several years, the 1986 Daytona 500 winner will start on the pole Saturday night in the 25th annual Budweiser Shootout.
Amy Contributes This From a Salon Interview with Camile Paglia
As we speak, I have a terrible sense of foreboding, because last weekend a stunning omen occurred in this country. Anyone who thinks symbolically had to be shocked by the explosion of the Columbia shuttle, disintegrating in the air and strewing its parts and
human remains over Texas -- the president's home state! So many times in antiquity, the emperors of Persia or other proud empires went to the oracles to ask for advice about going to war. Roman generals summoned soothsayers to read the entrails before a
battle. If there was ever a sign for a president and his administration to rethink what they're doing, this was it. I mean, no sooner had Bush announced that the war was "weeks, not months" away and gone off for a peaceful weekend at Camp David than this catastrophe occurred in the skies over Texas.
From the point of view of the Muslim streets, surely it looks like the hand of Allah has intervened, as with the attack on the World Trade Center. No one in the Western world would have believed that those mighty towers could fall within an hour and a half --
two of the proudest constructions in American history. And neither would anyone have predicted this eerie coincidence -- that the president's own state would become the burial ground for the Columbia mission.
Including one small town where the debris fell called Palestine, Texas.
Yes, exactly! What weird irony with an Israeli astronaut onboard who had bombed Iraq 20 years ago. To me this dreadful accident is a graphic illustration of the limitations of modern technology -- of the smallest detail that can go wrong and end up thwarting the most fail-safe plan. So I think that history will look back on this as a key moment. Kings throughout history have been shaken by signals like this from beyond: Think twice about what you're doing. If a Roman general tripped on the threshold before a battle, he'd call it off.
I would add that we have become very reliant on our technology to blow our enemies into oblivion. As President Carter learned in the failed attempt to rescue hostages in Iran. The desert is not a friendly place to fight a war, especially if it means fighting a ground war.
As we speak, I have a terrible sense of foreboding, because last weekend a stunning omen occurred in this country. Anyone who thinks symbolically had to be shocked by the explosion of the Columbia shuttle, disintegrating in the air and strewing its parts and
human remains over Texas -- the president's home state! So many times in antiquity, the emperors of Persia or other proud empires went to the oracles to ask for advice about going to war. Roman generals summoned soothsayers to read the entrails before a
battle. If there was ever a sign for a president and his administration to rethink what they're doing, this was it. I mean, no sooner had Bush announced that the war was "weeks, not months" away and gone off for a peaceful weekend at Camp David than this catastrophe occurred in the skies over Texas.
From the point of view of the Muslim streets, surely it looks like the hand of Allah has intervened, as with the attack on the World Trade Center. No one in the Western world would have believed that those mighty towers could fall within an hour and a half --
two of the proudest constructions in American history. And neither would anyone have predicted this eerie coincidence -- that the president's own state would become the burial ground for the Columbia mission.
Including one small town where the debris fell called Palestine, Texas.
Yes, exactly! What weird irony with an Israeli astronaut onboard who had bombed Iraq 20 years ago. To me this dreadful accident is a graphic illustration of the limitations of modern technology -- of the smallest detail that can go wrong and end up thwarting the most fail-safe plan. So I think that history will look back on this as a key moment. Kings throughout history have been shaken by signals like this from beyond: Think twice about what you're doing. If a Roman general tripped on the threshold before a battle, he'd call it off.
I would add that we have become very reliant on our technology to blow our enemies into oblivion. As President Carter learned in the failed attempt to rescue hostages in Iran. The desert is not a friendly place to fight a war, especially if it means fighting a ground war.
Father Tolkien Revisited
A reader sent along the following that he found posted on a newsgroup. It calls into question the veracity of the claims against Father Tolkien.
Öjevind Lång wrote:
"The British police declared they had enough evidence to have him prosecuted. They only refrained from doing so because he suffered from dementia."
The article that this is based on is full of oddities. Read it again carefully.
The only person named as an accuser is Mr. Carrie. I have searched several papers online. None of them name other victims, and none of them seem to have spoken with other victims. And yet the Sunday Mercury reports Mr. Carrie's claims that there must be a hundred victims, and asserts in the second paragraph that these victims numbered in the "dozens". Yet there are no names and the paper doesn't claim to have talked to any of these victims other than Mr. Carrie:
On the other hand, when the police investigated this in 2002, they were investigating only a few possible victims ("in the low single
digits"):
Of course even one victim is heinous, but if one plaintiff alleges a hundred victims with no evidence, it makes me wonder if he is being
honest in his other claims as well.
The most bizarre part of the story is this. Mr. Carrie, now 57 years old, claims that in mid-1994 he had a conversation with the
77-year-old Fr Tolkien. He claims that Fr. Tolkien didn't deny the abuse. Indeed, says Carrie, their conversation was so friendly that
he entertained hopes that he and Fr. Tolkien might co-author a book giving the perspective of the abuser and the abused. On the other
hand, Fr. Tolkien's story to the police that same day was that Mr. Carrie tried to blackmail him.
Blackmail? Well, one thing that is certain is that Fr. Tolkien has lots of money. The reason I bring this up is that on the victim's own
website he actually accuses _two_ sons of J.R.R. Tolkien of abuse. The two brothers have never worked in the same city (according to the victim's own website). But what they _do_ have in common is they are both heirs to one of the largest literary fortunes of the 20th century.
I don't want to jump to conclusions that this is a lie -- the last year certainly has taught us not to do that! But the abuse cases
we've seen in the past year usually involve one priest and several victims. Here we have two abusers -- both very rich -- and one
victim. Plus, according to Mr. Carrie, 99 other unnamed victims.
And here's one more bizarre angle. Supposedly Fr. Tolkien abused this man in 1956, when he was ten. I would think that a victim in this situation wouldn't want to read the novels of his abuser's father. And yet this victim not only has read J.R.R. Tolkien's books, but has used a Middle-earth theme all through his own webpage, with cute little "Gollum" comments, as well as using a Middle-earth theme in his self-published book (which is named Klone'It, a Tolkien anagram with cutesy punctuation).
I certainly hope the authorities investigate these charges. But based on the evidence so far, I am not convinced.
Update-December 2006:
From Mr. Carrie:
Öjevind Lång wrote:
"The British police declared they had enough evidence to have him prosecuted. They only refrained from doing so because he suffered from dementia."
The article that this is based on is full of oddities. Read it again carefully.
The only person named as an accuser is Mr. Carrie. I have searched several papers online. None of them name other victims, and none of them seem to have spoken with other victims. And yet the Sunday Mercury reports Mr. Carrie's claims that there must be a hundred victims, and asserts in the second paragraph that these victims numbered in the "dozens". Yet there are no names and the paper doesn't claim to have talked to any of these victims other than Mr. Carrie:
On the other hand, when the police investigated this in 2002, they were investigating only a few possible victims ("in the low single
digits"):
Of course even one victim is heinous, but if one plaintiff alleges a hundred victims with no evidence, it makes me wonder if he is being
honest in his other claims as well.
The most bizarre part of the story is this. Mr. Carrie, now 57 years old, claims that in mid-1994 he had a conversation with the
77-year-old Fr Tolkien. He claims that Fr. Tolkien didn't deny the abuse. Indeed, says Carrie, their conversation was so friendly that
he entertained hopes that he and Fr. Tolkien might co-author a book giving the perspective of the abuser and the abused. On the other
hand, Fr. Tolkien's story to the police that same day was that Mr. Carrie tried to blackmail him.
Blackmail? Well, one thing that is certain is that Fr. Tolkien has lots of money. The reason I bring this up is that on the victim's own
website he actually accuses _two_ sons of J.R.R. Tolkien of abuse. The two brothers have never worked in the same city (according to the victim's own website). But what they _do_ have in common is they are both heirs to one of the largest literary fortunes of the 20th century.
I don't want to jump to conclusions that this is a lie -- the last year certainly has taught us not to do that! But the abuse cases
we've seen in the past year usually involve one priest and several victims. Here we have two abusers -- both very rich -- and one
victim. Plus, according to Mr. Carrie, 99 other unnamed victims.
And here's one more bizarre angle. Supposedly Fr. Tolkien abused this man in 1956, when he was ten. I would think that a victim in this situation wouldn't want to read the novels of his abuser's father. And yet this victim not only has read J.R.R. Tolkien's books, but has used a Middle-earth theme all through his own webpage, with cute little "Gollum" comments, as well as using a Middle-earth theme in his self-published book (which is named Klone'It, a Tolkien anagram with cutesy punctuation).
I certainly hope the authorities investigate these charges. But based on the evidence so far, I am not convinced.
Update-December 2006:
From Mr. Carrie:
I am determined the story will be known and to that end I have published it free to read on my web site.
I invite you to visit my site, download the now 18 chapters.
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