Open Thread WE 14 FEB 24 ~ Bless our Ashes
Lent. The religious holiday to give-up rationality for 40 days and swim fast with the holy fishes.
Or some such, depending on denominational dictations.
Or maybe just quit celebrating Mardi Gras for a few weeks?
A New Orleans style jazz funeral march ..
=
This essay is not intended to disparage any religion. I just find some of the customs
and costumes to be a bit comical. And some of the inspired architecture is quite
good.
This church, named in memory of William Ellery Channing, the famed
Unitarian-Congregationalist preacher who was born in Newport in 1780, is an assemblage, in roughcut granite, of varied gables, turrets, and porches set against one side of a tall, narrow dominating gable and a fantastically shaped emancipated tower set against the other. The stepped elements of the tower, rudely hatcheted by stages, create the reduction of mass required to enable the spire to point its knobby finger at the sky. Inside are stained glass by John La Farge and a relief by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
Open thread so jot down your notes below the fold.
Comments
Hey, good morning
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Clear and cold here today. Received about 6 inches of snow yesterday.
A neighbor plowed us out with his little Kubota, thank goodness.
The wood stove ash pan is still too hot to empty (burned a bunch of
wood yesterday) so will have to wait for the blessing of the ashes.
Cheers
Good morning...
How about a laugh? (3 min)
May as well laugh at the hypocrisy.
Stay warm, and be well!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Stewart is back and boy are shitlibs ticked off at him
.
for saying that Biden is old.
The first part starts out with people from his administration saying the same things. And Kamala…. just watch.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
seriously folks
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If this is Biden (according to Kamala) on top of his game
we are in serious trouble. Facts matter (except in DC).
thanks for the clip!
Her demeanor or maybe her affect just rubs me the wrong
She is either coming across stern or laughing at her silly sayings, but here she seems to be in lecture mode. Good gravy can you imagine her state of the union address?
I doubt that she will be kicked off the ticket because that would lose every black female vote and with Muslims and others despising genocide Joe…
Architecture thread for those who can see it.
Amazing because of the tools they had at the time. There are even more stunning ones if people are interested in seeing them. Has anyone read Pillars of the Earth? They are trying to build a cathedral and learned about arches in building them. Hard book to read because of the cruelty of the powerful.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Just wow
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the interior shot of the Ely Cathedral lantern is truly amazing!
Thank you for sharing it snoop!
Check out these 2 interiors
If I still flew I would love to tour the churches of times past.
Check out the Catholic Church in Ogden. Great views of the church and the mountains in the background. It was built in 1809 iirc.
https://www.stjosephogden.org/
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Imagine the amount of upkeep
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on a 600 year old building!
Built to last no doubt.
I visited the church
in Vilnius. Thanks for sharing the info, and thanks for the reminder of an amazing trip I had with friends, one of whom is no longer with us.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
It’s too bad you can’t see tweets
because there are some other ones that are even more amazing than what I posted. We used to build buildings that looked incredible like old post offices and train stations, but then the parasites took over and built things on the cheap.
Did you click the link for the church in Ogden. You can see how beautiful the area is. And how close the mountains are. I live about 10 blocks to the right and 6 blocks down.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
I did!
Beautiful church, fantastic place to be. Good on you!
I have to drive 13 hrs to get to my place in Colorado to see mountains. Dammit.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good morning QMS, et.al. I love the illustration -
so perfect in many ways. Luckily Valentines Day is a fixed date non-holiday while the competing "celebration" is a floater, or at least that's my understanding. I sat down to pen something both profound and witty, but found myself becalmed because I'm not "penning" but typing. We are instructed to "jot" stuff, but I find I cannot. Due to a confused and iggerant childhood, I find myself unable to "jot" without adding at least one tittle. Several of my fountain pens have calligraphy nibs, which would allow me to readily affix multiple tittles to my writing, but, alas, the keyboard allows me no such power.
beside that, I am revisited by childhood jealousies. I did not become aware of the whole Ashy Wembly thing until High School. There came a day when a lof of kids drifted in quite late, having missed one or more whole classes. Said kids uniformly had dirty foreheads. I asked a classmate what the hell was going on and he explained the whole rigamarole. I was instantly pissed off. Why were not the rest of us also given the morning off, to go surfing or shoot hoops, or just hang about as we saw fit? Top this day, the injustice of it all still rankles.
Meanwhile Saint Valentine's Day is largely a Hallmark holiday until one crosses that boundary where confections enter into it. For us, on alternating years, the chosen one seeks out a suitable purveyor of a good champagne brunch or suitable luncheon table and treats the other to a repast at same. This year is my turn and I discovered a new rule of thumb - always pick someplace you can drive to on surface streets if rain is in the offing. I failed to do so and ergo must allow extra travel time in case one or more of the guaranteed pile ups happens to the highway we will be on while we are on it. Food for thought as iot were.
Meanwhile, happy whatever floats your boat to all and sundry
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Thanks for the reminder
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probably should pick up a card or something.
Not really a candy/flower sort.
But do have a good supply of cool ashes!
enjoy your romantic brunch
For no particular reason, I do not
celebrate holidays. I have completely forgotten Christmas Day or New Year's Day, only to find stores were closed, and the postman didn't deliver. I had to read the sign on the door to
I was reminded it was Valentine's Day when my brother came in the office, passing out boxes of candy and a lotto scratch off card for me and my assistant.
I won $15.00.
Do I buy food or tp?
Have a good whatever you want it to be day!
Thanks for the OT, QMS!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Ah so
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you are a winner!
makes it all the more sweeter.
thanks for popping by
Never had much use for religion
A little Ash Wednesday music
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
of similar thinking
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have trouble seeing the efficacy of religion
for otherwise enlightened minds
Lordy
It was Douglas Adams, I think, who wrote that Jesus said we should all try to be kinder to each other and they nailed him to a tree.
My brother reminded me that
today would have been Dad's 101st birthday. He died 10 years ago.
I will wish him a Happy Birthday when I drive past the cemetery on my way home.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
U R Not Mortal...
anyway if you're a billionaire you may achieve immortality. https://www.donotpanic.news/p/the-billionaire-who-wants-to-live This Billionaire claims that humans are nearing an immortality revolution, he wants to live forever and has been documenting the results of his efforts to do just that.
Recently he admitted to having long covid which decreased his lung capacity by 15%....so maybe he's not immortal after all. But gotta give him an 'A' for effort.
Thanks for the OT QMS ...sorry about your hot ashes throwing a monkey wrench in your plans.
Times of Trouble: Hope vs Despair
I'm not too sure who Aurelien on Substack is. Older, deeply involved in the mechanics of military/deep state during his working years, maybe British, lives in France.
I keep getting referred to his essays lately. I would recommend each and every one of us read this.
A Postcard From The Far Side of Despair
Twice in the last week I've heard the phrase "too wordy" applied to an essay. Time to grow up.