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Today I heard someone say something to the effect of “We praise you God, because you’re so kind. And you’re so gentle. We praise you for your niceness.”

And later I thought to myself, man, how lame is that? You serve the Being of which no greater can be thought, and the best you can think of is “He is nice.” Sure, there are times when you need that. Gentleness has a proper place and all in the spectrum of things, but if that’s the best you can do?

The Almighty is fierce. If you can’t accept that, then I can’t take your faith seriously.

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“Successfully adding disks to an existing system is the mark
of an experienced [FreeBSD] system administrator.”

-Freebsd.org

I think that about sums it up: I’m awesome.
Thank you very much. If you need me, I’ll be adding an impressive addition to my resume.

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Swords are interesting things. You can learn a lot about a culture by examining its swords.

• The Celtic legendary sword Caladbolg was supposed to be able to cut a hill in half. This is rather illuminating of Celtic mythology. Their legends have a tendency to be exaggerated to the point of being almost comic. One Celtic legend speaks of a hero whose sword was so huge that when he drew his sword and crossed a river, his massive scabbard filled with water and he drowned.
• In contrast, the Japanese have a story about their most legendary swordsmith Masamune. It’s said if one of his swords were placed in a stream and a leaf floated down, the leaf would stray away from the blade it was headed towards. This reflects the true nature of the sword: not to destroy but to preserve life. The Japanese like to use poetic imagery like that to illustrate their values.
• The most famous sword in English legend is obviously Excalibur. One of the most revealing aspects about Excalibur is that it could only be wielded by the true King. The one who took Excalibur would be the one who was ordained by God to be the ruler of England. Their tale about the sword reflects their preoccupation with divine right to rule. Reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth or Julius Caesar as well as studying the history of England’s monarchs makes it clear that they put a great deal of thought into the divine right of kings to rule.
• American mythology doesn’t have any notable swords to my knowledge. American mythology is relatively lame.

All that to say, swords are cool, and not just because they cut things.

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I was hanging out with a buddy of mine the other day….

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Comparative study of Calculus and Hitting yourself in the face with a Hammer
Calculus	Hammer	Winner
Lasts a whole year Gets harder with time Possible emotional damage Must get up at 0730 Requires retention of facts Need a heavy book Share the pain with classmates Makes you want to curse	Quick and transient Gets easier as you become numb Permanent facial scarring Can be done at any time You can repress the painful memories Need a heavy hammer Face it on your own Makes you want to curse	Hammer Hammer Toss-up Hammer Hammer Toss-up Calculus Toss-up

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You split the curtain, and we were restored.
I sing of incarnation, and the audience is bored.
Drama and Beauty are ours to behold,
But the masses are ignorant,

And still I implore you to take all the wounded,
Force them to love you, take all I have,
And take me too.

I know you don’t need me,
You don’t need my song.
Take it anyway;
I want to belong to you.

-After it Rains by Nothing To Say

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I do believe that if I ever came into a large sum of money—an absurdly large sum of money, you understand—one of the first changes I would enact in my life is to develop a habit for expensive cheeses. Irish cheeses, Swiss cheeses, Dutch cheeses…. Life is to short to not have quality cheese.

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I once read that George Orwell claimed every serious word he wrote as an adult was a warning against totalitarianism. This article on tea brings that claim under my suspicion. Although I thoroughly disagree on his position concerning sugar, he has many fascinating suggestions I may try.

Cheerio!

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