As I gather you are way out in the colonial countryside somewhere, I thought I'd update you with this bit of startling news from the real world: "Kenny Chesney's Songs Sound the Same After a While". Yes, I know... the mind boggles:
http://www.nytimes.com/reu
Somehow, at least to these eyes, this is the funniest headline ever written in English, the Onion excluded. I was almost equally taken with their summary of Sammy Hagar as 'loud and absurd'; were I not more of the strong, silent type, I'd have a t-shirt made of it. ('Strong, silent and absurd' doesn't really have a future, as far as t-shirt slogans go.) (One of my many unrealized dreams is to start my own t-shirt line. I'm starting small - having one printed up for my friend C W's August birthday: "I'm with Stupid", with the arrow pointing down. Possibly, the global market for that one is in the three-billion range, as opposed to, oh, 14 strong, silent and absurd gentlemen. One could quit worrying about money and what one is to be when one grows up, and play with Stupid instead.)
Oh, and I just read a most remarkable novel - Redemption Falls by Joseph O'Connor; Sinead's brother, of all things. I can't think of another contemporary novel I've read - well, it's a pitifully short list, given my preference for literature first written on scrolls or carved into stone, but still - that just gets better and better, all the way to the very last paragraph. It reads as if Yeats played with The Band, or if Dylan was Irish. I, at least, found it very inspiring. (Not from a humanist perspective, but as a perennially aspiring writer. From a humanist perspective, the thing will tear your heart out - it's set during the 'Reconstruction', which is when the US first invented euphemism as a sociopolitical strategy.)
Anyway - as far as i can tell, you are in a dirty corner of heaven. One would be loath to leave such a rare state of ambivalent grace - and probably would only do so for a clean corner of hell. In either case, saying something like 'I hope you're well' seems trite, given the clouds in the photo you posted of the lake.
Enjoy,
SK
I've collected the best Christian T-shirts I found in here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.helsinki.fi/~pjojala/Christian_Shirts.html
Personally, I would prefer those apologetic figures such as Dinoglyfs documented by the ancient man few thousands years ago, as displayed in the site above. Unfortunately, they are not sold anywhere... Anyway, anyhow, this might be the Elder Wand you sought:
http://www.helsinki.fi/~pjojala/Dinoglyfs.htm
Do You happen to know a site for such "apolo-wear"?
A recent book "Understanding Intelligent Design" by William Dembski and Sean McDowell, son of Josh McDowell just became available last week.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/understanding-intelligent-design-now-available-at-amazoncom/
The book is geared at Christian young people (junior high and high schoolers) as well as for Church groups (e.g., Sunday Schools) to help get out the word about ID, Intelligent Design. A MOST REVEALING INSIGHT FROM ITS FIRST CHAPTER:
"A few years back, skeptic Michael Shermer wrote a book called
How We Believe. For it he commissioned a poll of thousands of
people. He asked participants why other people believe in God. The
most popular answers focused on religious benefits: God comforts
us, provides the basis for living a moral life, gives purpose to our
lives, and is the source of meaningful religious experiences.
Then Shermer asked participants why they personally believe
in God. The number one answer changed drastically. The most
common response was the design and complexity of the world.
Our natural tendency, it would seem, is to believe the world was
designed."
Hunting the best T-shirt slogans,
Pauli.Ojala@gmail.com
evolutionary critic
Biochemist, drop-out so called
(MSci-Master of Sciing)
Helsinki, Finland