LITTLE iAPPS - CONFESSION: A ROMAN CATHOLIC APP

From Beliefblog:

Yes, the Roman Catholic Church still supports the new app designed to help Catholics make confession. To a point.

The Vatican qualified its support for "Confession: A Roman Catholic App,” on Wednesday, a day after the program’s developer announced it was the first app to have official church sanction.

Thanks to Whiteycat.

“It is essential to understand well the sacrament of penitence requires the personal dialogue between the penitent and the confessor and the absolution by the confessor,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters on Wednesday. “This cannot in any way be substituted by a technology application.”

“One cannot talk in any way about a ‘confession via iPhone,’ ” Lombardi said.

Eons ago, we worked from lists of sins against the Ten Commandments. In the age of technology, why not an iPhone app? I used the lists to remind myself of my wickedness and then committed my sins to memory for use in the confessional, but, on one occasion, a couple of my friends tried to take their lists into the confession box, but it was so dark that they could not read off their sins. I suppose the iPhone has a light, which would eliminate that problem, but then a good many folks don't use the confessional any longer and prefer a face to face experience of confessing their sins.

For good or for ill, it's been years since I've made a formal confession to a priest. I confess to God and, at times, to a wise and trustworthy friend. My last experience of confession was embarrassing for me and, I believe, for the priest - not because of the sins I confessed, because there was nothing extraordinary in their content, but just the experience itself was awkward, and I've not tried again.

Thanks to Ann V.

UPDATE: From Maureen Dowd in the New York Times:

Our Father, who art in pixels,
linked be Thy name,
Thy Web site come, Thy Net be done,
on Explorer as it is on Firefox.
Give us this day our daily app,
and forgive us our spam,
as we forgive those
who spam against us,
and lead us not into aggregation,
but deliver us from e-vil. Amen.

Thanks to Whitecat.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

From the New York Times:

Representative Christopher Lee of New York abruptly resigned on Wednesday night after a shirtless photo of himself, which he had e-mailed to a woman, was published on the Internet.

Mr. Lee, a two-term Republican from western New York, notified the House speaker, John A. Boehner, of his decision in a letter on Wednesday afternoon, after the scandal had erupted, according to senior Congressional officials.

Mr. Lee’s office released a statement in which he asked for forgiveness. “I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents,” he wrote. “I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness.”

The resignation came hours after Gawker, a gossip Web site, published an e-mail exchange that Mr. Lee, who is married and has a son, had with a 34-year-old Maryland woman he had met through Craigslist.

According to Gawker, Mr. Lee, who is 46, replied to a personal ad that the woman had placed in the “Women for Men” section of Craigslist, seeking a financially and emotionally secure man.

No, no picture of the shirtless Mr. Lee. Sorry.

How could Mr. Lee do something so stupid and believe he could get away with it? At some point, one has to wonder if folks like Mr. Lee want to get caught.

Gawker said the woman, a government employee who asked not to be identified, eventually stopped contacting Mr. Lee after she searched for his name online and discovered that he was lying about his profession and his age. The woman then sent the e-mails to Gawker.

Oops!

UPDATE: Ed of "The Ed Show" on MSNBC showed the picture of the shirtless Lee and said, "Isn't that special?"

THE FORCE OF A HANDBAG WIELDED BY AN ANGRY OLD LADY

Extraordinary footage as a gang attempts a smash and grab raid in Northampton - only to be fought off by a pensioner armed with a handbag.

So many folks have sent me the link to the video, that, although the YouTube version has gone viral, I now feel compelled to join the crowd and post the video.

That's one brave and, some might say, foolish old lady. No, I am not the old lady in the video, but I admire her greatly. All you crooks out there, keep in mind that the force of a handbag wielded by by an angry pensioner is not to be dismissed. The old girl runs like a quarterback.

"THE SETTING SUN"

From IT at The Friends of Jake:

Last Thanksgiving, BP and I joined Mom and Dad at Bodega Bay, along the northern coast of California, for a tranquil holiday get away. I took this photo at sunset. It was beautiful, and peaceful, and I treasure those days as a lovely memory of my Dad. It was the last time I saw him. This weekend we will inter his ashes, and I'll be slowly getting back to regular blogging. Thanks again for your love and support.

Please leave messages of sympathy and support at The Friends of Jake. Thank you.

R. I. P. BISHOP SAMUEL RUIZ GARCIA

From the New York Times:

Bishop Samuel Ruiz García, an impassioned defender of the Mayans in southern Mexico and a mediator in peace talks between Indian rebels and the government, died on Monday in Mexico City. He was 86.
....

During his 40 years of presiding over a Roman Catholic diocese in Chiapas State, Bishop Ruiz cast light on abuses suffered by the Indians and sought to bring them into the church as equals with other Mexicans, challenging the rigidly stratified social order.

His advocacy and egalitarian views, which were tinged with socialism, brought him into conflict with the Mexican government, which accused him of fomenting a violent uprising in Chiapas in 1994. He also rankled the Vatican, which said he had strayed from ecclesiastical principles to create a politicized ethnic church, and in 1993 publicly invited him to step down. Mexican clerics rallied to his defense, however, and he remained as bishop until he retired in 2000.

Bishop Ruiz attracted a fervent following among Indians in Chiapas, who called him “Tatic,” which means “father” in a Mayan language. On Tuesday, Indian parishioners filled the cathedral in San Cristóbal de las Casas, a colonial town in the Chiapas highlands, for a memorial Mass that also commemorated the 51st anniversary of Bishop Ruiz’s ordination there.
....

As economic changes in the 1980s deepened the poverty and isolation of the Indians, many Catholics joined an uprising that erupted when the Zapatista National Liberation Army, a group of armed Indian rebels, occupied several Chiapas towns in January 1994.

Bishop Ruiz openly supported the Zapatistas’ goal of fighting injustice, but he did not endorse their violent tactics.

Bishop Ruiz Garcia had the heart of a true shepherd for his flock which included in its numbers so very many of the poor and dispossessed. Please read the entire account in the NYT.

Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant Samuel. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light.
Amen.

May his soul and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
------------------

Let us also pray for all who mourn, that they may cast their care on God, and know the consolation of his love.

Almighty God, look with pity upon the sorrows of your servants for whom we pray. Remember them, Lord, in your mercy; nourish them with patience; comfort them with a sense of your goodness; lift up your countenance upon them; and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

H/T to The Daily Office.

IT GETS BETTER

Wow! Mike Carney's video is great.

From The Trevor Project.

H/T to The Daily Office.

HOW THE INTERNET WAS INVENTED

A revelation with an Incredibly Big Message (IBM):

Well, you might have thought that you knew how the Internet started, but here's the TRUE story ....

In ancient Israel , it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.

And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband: "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her - as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said: "How, dear?"

And Dot replied: "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price.

And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.

To prevent neighbouring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was called Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew To The People (HTTP)

But this success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secrete himself inside Abraham's drum and began to siphon off some of Abraham's business. But he was soon discovered, arrested and prosecuted - for insider trading.

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung.

They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land.

And indeed did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say: "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others."

And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known. He said: "We need a name that reflects what we are."

And Dot replied: "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators." "YAHOO," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE)

And that is how it all began.

Truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuly!!!

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

WELL NOW...THEY'RE CALLED CONSEQUENCES

From the Guardian:

George W Bush has had to call off a trip to Switzerland next weekend amid planned protests by human rights groups over the treatment of detainees at Guantánamo Bay and the threat of a warrant for his arrest.

David Sherzer, a spokesman for the former US president, confirmed the move in an email to the Associated Press. "We regret that the speech has been cancelled," he said. "President Bush was looking forward to speaking about freedom and offering reflections from his time in office."

The visit would have been Bush's first to Europe since he admitted in his autobiography, Decision Points, in November that he had authorised the use of waterboarding – simulated drowning – on detainees at Guantánamo accused of links with al-Qaida. Whether out of concern over the protests or the arrest warrant, it is an extraordinary development for a former US president to have his travel plans curtailed in this way, and amounts to a victory for human rights campaigners.

An extraordinary development, indeed, but Bush is an extraordinary man, infamous for his "What me worry?" attitude toward waterboarding, which I consider torture.

Organisers of the protest had called on participants to bring a shoe, commemorating the Iraqi journalist who threw one at Bush during a 2008 press conference in Baghdad, to a rally outside the hotel where Bush was due to speak.

Human rights groups had planned to submit a 2,500-page case against Bush in Geneva tomorrow over the treatment of detainees at Guantánamo. The Bush administration claims that waterboarding does not amount to torture, but human rights organisations and the Obama administration have said it does.

Bush gets paid big money for giving speeches, and now he will need to be careful about leaving the country to get the monetary rewards - not that he will lapse into poverty as a result. Bush pays only a small price for authorizing cruel treatment of detainees.

H/T to Adrastos at First Draft.

GLASSWING BUTTERFLIES

Click on the picture for the larger view.

From Snopes.com:

Ever seen a butterfly with transparent wings?

A rare and beautiful thing...

Take a moment - its worth it.

Glasswing Butterfly,
Lives in South America

A butterfly with transparent wings is rare and beautiful.
As delicate as finely blown glass, the presence of this rare tropical gem is used by rain forest ecologists as an indication of high habitat quality and its demise alerts them of ecological change.

Rivaling the refined beauty of a stained glass window, the translucent wings of the Glasswing butterfly shimmer in the sunlight like polished panes of turquoise, orange, green, and red.

All things beautiful do not have to be full of color to be noticed; in life that which is unnoticed has the most power.

My goodness! I'd never heard of such a lovely creature. How can something clear, something that's nearly not there, be so beautiful?

...in life that which is unnoticed has the most power.

Is it so? I'll need time to think.

Thanks to Doug.

"A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES" - READ IT!

From Loyola University in New Orleans:

As part of the First Year Summer Reading Program at Loyola University New Orleans, all first-year students will receive a copy of John Kennedy Toole’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “A Confederacy of Dunces,” published by Louisiana State University Press. Students will receive the book either by mail or during upcoming orientation sessions. The distribution of this book was made possible by a generous donation from the College of Law under the leadership of the late Brian Bromberger.

“This book is a fitting choice for many reasons, including its connection to Loyola. Southern literature is known for its connection to place, and no book better represents a place than this one,” states a letter to the students signed by the deans of Loyola’s College of Business, College of Music and Fine Arts, College of Humanities and Natural Sciences and College of Social Sciences.

While teaching in the English department at Loyola in 1976, noted Southern author Walker Percy was approached by the mother of a young, local writer who had committed suicide seven years earlier. The mother explained to Percy that in his career, her son had failed to find a publisher for his manuscript. After some persuasion, Percy read and saw promise in the piece and later used his influence to reintroduce it to publishers. As a result, “A Confederacy of Dunces” was published in 1980 and Toole was awarded a Pulitzer Prize posthumously in 1981. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the book’s publishing.

For students coming in to New Orleans from other parts of the country or the world, I can think of no better choice of a book to introduce them to New Orleans. For local students who have not read the book, shame on them. Now's their chance.

Why isn't Thelma Toole, John Kennedy Toole's mother, named? Thelma was a force, a character, made of stern stuff, not a woman to be deterred from her mission, which was to get her son's masterpiece published. "Confederacy" earned a Pulitzer Prize and a place on the best seller list for Louisiana State University Press.

Yay Loyola! Yay Alma Mater!