There's Beauty in the Bellow

Some sites I don't want to lose track of (and I'm not on my computer to bookmark them) http://www.marklamoreaux.blogspot.com/ http://faculty.owc.edu/math/liu/Watercolor(03-07)/Preface.htm

John Lennon's "Imagine" is playing on Pandora. Has it occured to nobody that the song's imaginary world is boring ? As in neither hot nor cold so I will spew you out of my mouth.

I'm reading Philip Jenkins' The New Faces of Christianity for Theology. And it occured to me, about halfway through his chapter "Women and Men" that the Bible gives few restrictions on women and the types of roles or jobs they should hold. It says that a woman should be submissive to her husband, it says that a wise woman looks well to the ways of her household, and that younger women are to be keepers at home, but it has more to say on a woman's behavior. Nothing about no college, split ends down to the ankles, flowery sack dresses, barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. The strongest statement on feminine roles is that a woman is not permitted to speak in church--but there are plenty of other places that she can speak!

I found an online edition of Sanditon. I love it--I've never laughed out loud so much reading an Austen novel. Meet Sir Edward Denham: "Do you remember," said he, "Scott's beautiful lines on the sea? Oh! what a description they convey! They are never out of my thoughts when I walk here. That man who can read them unmoved must have the nerves of an assassin! Heaven defend me from meeting such a man unarmed." "What description do you mean?" said Charlotte. "I remember none at this moment, of the sea, in either of Scott s poems. "Do you not indeed? Nor can I exactly recall the beginning at this moment. But -- you cannot have forgotten his description of woman -- Oh. Woman in our hours of ease -- Delicious! Delicious! Had he written nothing more, he would have been immortal. And then again, that unequalled, unrivalled address to parental affection -- Some feelings are to mortals given With less of earth in them than ...

This was curious. I occasionally drop by Boundless webzine--Focus on the Family's webzine for college students. Is "Transforming the World" Biblical? by Motte Brown on Apr 30, 2008 at 4:04 PM Ted just sent me this link from freerepublic.com about the United Methodists changing their mission statement this week at conference. Previous mission:The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. New mission:The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Rejected amendment:The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the salvation of souls and the transformation of the world. Now I don't want to read too much into this. I mean, I'm a marketing guy so I understand wanting a pithy mission statement. But it seems they should have rejected the latter phrase of the rejected amendment, not the former. It's just too man (and earth) centered . You know, how about something like, ...

Assignment for Declamation: write a tongue twister. I found these two gems of Wikiwisdom. Be careful where you attempt them! I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's mate, And I'm only plucking pheasants 'cause the pheasant plucker's late. I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's son, And I'm only plucking pheasants till the pheasant pluckers come. I'm a sheet slitter If sheets need slitting, Sheets I slit.

Hello World. Welcome to the virtual residence of an out-of-body me. And something from my commonplace book: You ask why can't Clarissa hold her tongue. Because she fears her fingers will be stung. from Gerard Manley Hopkins' Seven epigrams Ball and Cross Books is relinquishing its downtown space and thus is having a sale this weekend---Buy 1 Get 1 FREE! I bought a little biscotti cookbook, a nice hardback of Quentin Bell's biography of his sister-in-law, Virginia Woolf, and a cool book of orgami. But the best so far is the Tassajara Bread Book by Ed Brown. Tassajara used to be a resort near our favorite part of the USA--that would be Monterey California--and Brown was working as a cook when the place got bought up and turned into a Buddhist monastery. The cookbook is printed in 1970 and it shows--lots of honey and whole wheat flour and raw bits. I looked the book up on Amazon and it has lots of good reviews, and testimonials that this book got...