To remind us that even Jesus as a baby faced death.
Christmas isn't all lights and presents and happiness. Jesus, Mary and Joseph had to flee the country to keep away from Herod's men.
There's a lesson to be learned here....
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. - Robert A. Heinlein -
Saturday, December 26, 2015
Friday, December 25, 2015
My scheduled Christmas post
Many moon ago, when Ragin' Dave was just a wee thing, he attended Midnight Mass at a local church. It was a Novus Ordo parish, as I didn't even know the Traditional Latin Mass was still going, but it was an old fashioned church nonetheless. We had a full blown pipe organ; a 1920 Black organ. And we had an organist who knew how to play it. He was, and still is, one of the true masters of the pipe organ.
Have you ever heard the phrase "Pulling out all the stops"? That is a reference to a pipe organ. The organist as "stops" arranged on his organ. Pull one out, and the sound gets louder. Push one in, and the sound gets quiet. Pull them all out, and you have a pipe organ at full volume.
This being Midnight Mass at a semi-traditional church, many of the parishioners were someone older. And they weren't used to being up past midnight. Which means that by the time mass ended, many of them were half-asleep.
The last song of the night was "Joy To The World". And the organist pulled out all the stops. On a vintage, 1920 pipe organ, in full working order.
You could see a WAVE of sound roll over the congregation.
Woke them up properly for the drive home, it did.
Feel free to sing along. I sure did.
Have you ever heard the phrase "Pulling out all the stops"? That is a reference to a pipe organ. The organist as "stops" arranged on his organ. Pull one out, and the sound gets louder. Push one in, and the sound gets quiet. Pull them all out, and you have a pipe organ at full volume.
This being Midnight Mass at a semi-traditional church, many of the parishioners were someone older. And they weren't used to being up past midnight. Which means that by the time mass ended, many of them were half-asleep.
The last song of the night was "Joy To The World". And the organist pulled out all the stops. On a vintage, 1920 pipe organ, in full working order.
You could see a WAVE of sound roll over the congregation.
Woke them up properly for the drive home, it did.
Feel free to sing along. I sure did.
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Ragin' Dave's Quote of the Day, The Power of Language edition
From John C Wright:
I could tell my co-workers about how Satan operates, how he tries to manipulate people into damning themselves. But they would yawn and tune me out faster than you could blink.
Put a copy of "The Screwtape Letters" into their hands, however....
The Devil invented lies to turn the power of speech into a weapon of falsehood. And God invented the parable, the poem, the epic, the song, and the sonnet in order to turn the power of lies into fables, myths, types and shadows, to turn fiction into a weapon of truth.
I know more people who were converted by Aslan than by Aquinas. What does that tell you about the power of fiction?
I could tell my co-workers about how Satan operates, how he tries to manipulate people into damning themselves. But they would yawn and tune me out faster than you could blink.
Put a copy of "The Screwtape Letters" into their hands, however....
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Lindsey Graham is out of the race
He finally figured out what we could have told him long before he ever got into the race.
Apparently his "supporters" are switching to Jeb Bush. So you can expect to see a 0.3% bump is Bush's poll numbers. That should get Jeb close to 4% in the national polls, if you round up.
Apparently his "supporters" are switching to Jeb Bush. So you can expect to see a 0.3% bump is Bush's poll numbers. That should get Jeb close to 4% in the national polls, if you round up.
Too friggin' cool
Launch a rocket, dispense a few satellites, land rocket again safely.
Every time something like this happens, we get another step closer to the Moon. Or Mars.
Every time something like this happens, we get another step closer to the Moon. Or Mars.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Two links
Because I don't have much time this morning.
Link #1 is Rule #3: SJWs always project.
Link #2: The Jews voted for Obama en masse. This is what they get. Too bad, so sad, pick a better candidate next time.
Link #1 is Rule #3: SJWs always project.
Link #2: The Jews voted for Obama en masse. This is what they get. Too bad, so sad, pick a better candidate next time.
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