Whitby

On the coach trip with the biddies yesterday, we passed breathtakingly beautiful countryside, through dales and moors. Whitby is a wonderful small fishing town and St. Hilda's is lovely.

I sat on the pier and wept a little, because Grandpère was not with me, and because the place was so beautiful. He would have adored Whitby. He's never known a fishing town or village that he didn't like. I sat on a bench on the pier and watched the waves roll in, which was soothing and healing. I'm getting all weepy and sentimental about places. I wept when I left the Yorkshire Moors with MadPriest and Mrs MadPriest. Imagine what MP thought of a weepy woman in the back of his car!

The words above are from one of the few posts I wrote while I was in England. According to legend, Whitby is associated with Dracula and has a creepy feel about it, but if so, I didn't experience it. I have long wanted to have a glimpse of the North Sea, so I fulfilled two wishes when I visited, getting more than a glimpse.

Three wishes, because I saw the beautiful ruins of St. Hilda's Abbey, which is pictured below.


St. Hilda's from the pier.


MadPriest told me that I had to order fish and chips in Whitby, so, of course, I obeyed. When the waitress brought my order, it was huge. The fish was as long as my forearm, and on the side was a large pile of chips. The fish was haddock, and it was delicious. The meat was thick, white and firm, but I could eat only about a third of it. Grandpère and I had fish and chips somewhere in the south of England, in Portsmouth, maybe, served from a stand wrapped in newspaper. The meal in Whitby was much tastier.


Gratuitous pictures of Whitby, just because I think the scenes are pretty.


On the coach trip, I sat next to a lovely lady from Wakefield. She was a widow in her 80s, and she often went on the senior coach trips in the area, because she didn't drive, and she thought she needed to get out. The cost of the trip was only £12.50, which I thought was good value. Our guide talked some of the time, but not incessantly, as some do. That tends to get on my nerves. Once we arrived in Whitby, we were on our own, which suited me very well, as I could roam on my own and go where I pleased.

I'm So Glad I Found Out About This!!!

The correct way to weigh yourself:


I can't believe I was doing it wrong all these years.

WE MUST SPREAD THE WORD.

Thanks to Erika.

You'll Need Your Money For a Lifeboat

From the Daily Comet:

Ivor van Heerden, a sandy-haired South African scientist with a penchant for levees and coastal environments, delighted in his role after Hurricane Katrina as one of the few scientists in Louisiana willing to criticize the Army Corps of Engineers.

With his field instruments in hand, van Heerden was a go-to source for news organizations, talk radio and documentary film makers. His message was consistent: The corps was at fault for poor levee engineering and had to be held accountable.
....

On Thursday, about 30 supporters of van Heerden held signs and marched in front of a LSU Health Sciences Center library in New Orleans, shouting "L-S-U, shame on you!"

The signs read: "LSU take the politics out of hurricane studies" and "LSU — stop gagging experts."

"Van Heerden was one of the few to step out and tell the truth that it was corps' engineering," said Ray Broussard, a 50-year-old maritime photographer. He lived in the Lakeview neighborhood when Katrina hit Aug. 29, 2005, and his home was flooded with 7 feet of water.
....

Michael Ruffner, former vice chancellor for communications at LSU, told The New York Times in May 2006 that "We don't see him as a viable source to be discussing the engineering aspect of the levees."

In a June letter to The Times-Picayune newspaper, Ruffner said he wanted to quell speculation that the school attempted to limit van Heerden's access to the media.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Ruffner wrote. "LSU continues to be deeply committed to First Amendment rights, as well as unfettered academic freedom."

Ruffner wrote then problems arose "relating to his technical and professional expertise to comment on levees and construction matters because he is trained in geology and botany, and not civil engineering."

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the powers at LSU shut him up because he was not an engineer. It's true that Ivor is not an engineer, but Team Louisiana, the group that Ivor assembled to inspect the levees after Katrina, included engineers. Plus, it doesn't hurt to have someone on the team who knows something about geology, does it?

We're saving the money we would have donated to LSU to buy our lifeboat for the hurricane season.

It's good to see folks come out in support of Ivor.

Stay Home, Governor Jindal!

From the Daily Comet:

As Gov. Bobby Jindal's profile in the Republican Party rises, so does the bill for Louisiana taxpayers.

Widely considered a GOP presidential contender, Jindal insists he's only interested in re-election as governor, but he has traveled to a dozen states to collect campaign dollars and stump for himself or other Republicans.

An Associated Press review shows that providing legally mandated security on such trips has cost the state treasury tens of thousands of dollars since Jindal took office in January 2008, money that has not been reimbursed by Jindal or his campaign.

The tally grew higher this week as Jindal traveled to New York and then to Boston for fundraisers. The Boston fundraiser, on Thursday, was sponsored by former GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney.
....

Jindal, who has championed tougher ethics standards, said he always touts Louisiana when he's on the road. The aggressive political travel, he said, is to ensure he has enough money for a 2011 re-election bid. He's raised more than $3 million since his inauguration.

"In 2007, I ran against two millionaires able to self-finance. They were able to write checks for several million dollars. That's not something I can do, so I want to make sure we've got the resources to get the message out," the governor said.

Yes, Governor Jindal, it's all about your next run for governor of Louisiana, and all the folks around the country really, really want you reelected to that post. Really.

You look pained in your picture, Governor Jindal. We're in pain, too. The state is in a bind with a shortfall in the budget. Time to do your part. Save us money. Do the job we pay you to do. STAY HOME!

Disruptive English Parishioners

From News Biscuit:

Rural parishes unable to find permanent members of the clergy have been forced to bring in supply vicars whose inexperience and lack of authority has made them vulnerable to disruptive parishioners, says a new report.

One temporary priest was reduced to tears with heckling and catcalling during his sermon, and when he looked up he saw that all the church-goers had turned their pews round to face the opposite direction. ‘These young supply vicars do not have the experience to be able to hold the attention of wayward Christians,’ admitted the Archbishop of Canterbury. ‘The moment they turn their back they are pelted with screwed up service sheets and Alpha Course leaflets made into paper planes, and many of them just don’t know what to do.’

Read the rest. How long before the bad behavior jumps the pond? How long before the the unruliness moves beyond supply vicars and priests to vicars and rectors? Soon and very soon, I'm guessing.

Thanks to Saintly Ramblings.

From My Granddaughter

A cowboy rides into town on Friday. He stays for three days and leaves on Friday. How does he do this?

My grandchildren have been out of school all week. Spring break, I suppose. We took them to Western Sizzlin', renowned for its gourmet food, for lunch today. It went rather well, all things considered. The restaurant is not far from my house, and the kids and I walked home. Grandpère did not want them in his truck with their messy frozen yogurt cones. The weather was lovely, a breezy spring day, so we made a good choice.

The children are on my desktop, which I much prefer, and I'm on the laptop. I posted this, only partly finished, at OCICBOV by mistake and had to delete it. See. I'm already confused.

Jesus Appears At Emmaus

Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Luke 24:27-35

O God, whose blessed Son did manifest himself to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open, we pray thee, the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, p. 223)

The painting above is another in the series titled "The Passion of Christ" by New York artist, Doug Blanchard. Doug blogs as Counterlight at Counterlight's Peculiars.

According to the Lectionary, I'm a day late with this post, but you know what they say, "Better late...."

Susan Boyle Wows The Cynics

From the BBC:

A 47-year-old church volunteer from West Lothian has become an unlikely overnight singing sensation with millions watching her perform online.

Susan Boyle, from Blackburn, stunned judges on ITV's Britain's Got Talent with her performance of I Dreamed A Dream from Les Miserables on Saturday.

Since then Hollywood actress Demi Moore has joined the legions of fans who have voiced their support on the internet.

Ms Boyle has now become the bookies' favourite to win the talent show.

Ms Boyle, who told viewers she had "never been kissed", said she had always wanted to be a singer.

She said: "I entered the competition because I wanted to have a chance at my singing."

Susan is feisty and completely natural. She charmed me before she began singing. To watch the reversal of attitudes of the cynical judges to her comments, followed by their reactions once she started singing, makes the video worth viewing. I hope Susan wins.

MadPriest, do let us know if you spot Susan Boyle while you're in Scotland.

Embedding is disabled, but you can view the video here.

H/T to Oyster at Your Right Hand Thief, although he is the world's worst cynic and makes sport of Susan.

All Right! If you want to hear Susan Boyle's version of "Cry Me a River", from a charity CD made in 1999, listen to it at The Daily Record. You won't be sorry. Thanks to Susan S. in the comments for the link.

Our Letter On Ivor Van Heerdon's Termination

Grandpère and I sent the letter below to the chancellor of Louisiana State University to protest the firing of Dr. Ivor van Heerden. Grandpère composed the letter, and I edited and revised it. GP was pleased with my editing and revision. He said, "I didn't know you could write so well."

He complains about the time that I spend blogging, so I said to him, "Do you realize that my writing skills are honed by writing on my blog? Keep that in mind when you get annoyed with me." Ha!

My recent posts on Ivor are here and here.

Dr. Michael V. Martin
Office of the Chancellor
156 Thomas Boyd Hall
Baton Rouge LA 70803

April 15, 2009


Dear Dr. Martin:

As alumni of the classes of 1959 and 1961, we feel strongly about the firing of Dr. Ivor van Heerden. He served the people of New Orleans and Louisiana well in his investigative work before and after Hurricane Katrina and his subsequent conclusions that the levees were poorly designed and poorly constructed and not adequate to do the job of protecting New Orleans. He was the go-to man for accurate information on the quality of the work done by the US Corps of Engineers.

Dr. van Heerden should have been rewarded with promotion, tenure, and a sizable raise in compensation for his excellent work, rather than a termination notice. The decision to fire Dr. Van Heerden seems rather shameful. His termination places the Forever LSU campaign and future attempts to move the university to a rank in the top tier in jeopardy. What has happened to academic freedom at LSU? Actions such as this send a bitter message to the world that non-tenured faculty members who speak out, even when they speak truths that we need to know, do so at the risk of their jobs.

This year, we will be withholding our usual donation to LSU.


Sincerely,


Joseph T. Butler, Jr.
June B. Butler

The Children's Bible In A Nutshell

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that.

Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did.

Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.....Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff.

Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore.

There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.

Jesus also had twelve opossums.

The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.

But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.

Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

Thanks to Erika.