Books: Fairy Tales in Latin: Fabulae Mirabiles

Books: Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis

Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Latin Edition)

Email: Spam filters [JH]

If you have spam filters on, then pretty much any bulk mail you get that is sent from an address you don't have in your address book, will go into the spam filters. I check my spam folder daily because after I start a new mailing list, I set its domain name (if unique) on my safe list so it will go into my normal inbox from then on. Or if a friend uses a new address, I add it to my address book for the same result.

Press: Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible

(There is little new here; the Catholic Church has for 40 years preached against not the "truth of the Bible" but the overliteral, fundamentalist equating of spiritual and historical truth.)

Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible - World - Times Online: "The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation, they say, but continue: 'We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters.'

They go on to condemn fundamentalism for its 'intransigent intolerance' and to warn of 'significant dangers' involved in a fundamentalist approach.

“Such an approach is dangerous, for example, when people of one nation or group see in the Bible a mandate for their own superiority, and even consider themselves permitted by the Bible to use violence against others.”

Of the notorious anti-Jewish curse in Matthew 27:25, “His blood be on us and on our children”, a passage used to justify centuries of anti-Semitism, the bishops say these and other words must never be used again as a pretext to treat Jewish people with contempt. Describing this passage as an example of dramatic exaggeration, the bishops say they have had “tragic consequences” in encouraging hatred and persecution. “The attitudes and language of first-century quarrels between Jews and Jewish Christians should never again be emulated in relations between Jews and Christians.”

As examples of passages not to be taken literally, the bishops cite the early chapters of Genesis, comparing them with early creation legends from other cultures, especially from the ancient East. The bishops say it is clear that the primary purpose of these chapters was to provide religious teaching and that they could not be described as historical writing.

Similarly, they refute the apocalyptic prophecies of Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible, in which the writer describes the work of the risen Jesus, the death of the Beast and the wedding feast of Christ the Lamb.

The bishops say: “Such symbolic language must be respected for what it is, and is not to be interpreted literally. We should not expect to discover in this book details about the end of the world, about how many will be saved and about when the end will come.”

In their foreword to the teaching document, the two most senior Catholics of the land, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, and Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop of St Andrew’s and Edinburgh, explain its context."

Email: Wolves and vixens [CD]

I think everyone who is worth his or her salt wants to weed out calculating, non-romantic candidates. You could read a book like Never Be Lied To Again, but the best way is just to "pay attention to what is really going on" and develop your intuition through experience and insight. There are no guarantees -- but I think trying to choose ever more wisely is better than making the same mistakes over and over, don't you? Wolves and vixens being attracted to self-abnegating, romantic persons (like flies to honey) seems to be the best explanation for "when bad people happen to good people" -- and I've seen specific examples of it in action. Snakes in the grass are to blame, not the nature hikers who get bitten.

The odd thing is, women always say they want the sensitive, romantic type -- but I've seen them again and again choose the exact opposite. I fear that the mass of emotionally unavailable men have trained women to expect just that; whereas my approach to life and romance is not to accept what is before my eyes, but to wait and work for what my heart knows is right.

Email: He doth protest too much [MG]

You're right to trust your own judgment (on sufficient evidence), not the self-reported opinions of a person who clearly has socialization issues. Older men, particularly ones who have not long lived alone, do tend to be cranky old farts, don't they?

Books: Virent Ova! Viret Perna!! - Green Eggs and Ham In Latin

Books: Cattus Petasatus - The Cat in the Hat in Latin

Email: birthdayalarm.com [JH]

Birthday Alarm is a good idea but like every electronic solution, they get greedy and try to opt-in everyone by default (because advertising pays by head or by view) instead of trusting people to do what they want to do. I applaud you for trying to get organized though. I just keep all birthdays in my email address book and manually look up addresses by specific person, date or month in order to send out birthday e-cards (or store-bought cards for family and those closest to me).

[Birthday Alarm has] been around for many years but they've made it peskier since the last time I used it.

Lyrics: Feuilles-Oh - Art Garfunkel

Tablature and lyrics - Feuilles-Oh / Do Space Men Pass Dead Souls On Their Way To The Moon? (J.S. Bach/Linda Grossman): "As appears on the Art Garfunkel website:

Feuilles oh, sauvé la vie moin dans mizé moin yé oh,
Feuilles oh, sauvé la vie moin dans mizé moin yé oh.
Petit mou malade moin kouri caye gang gang, si me lo,
Petit mou malade moin kouri caye gang gang, si lu bon gang gang,
Sauvé la vie moin dans mizé moin yé oh.

As suggested by Wanda Sherratt on alt.music.paul-simon:

Feuilles oh, sauvé la vie moi, dans mes yeux mouilles oh.
Feuilles oh, sauvé la vie moi, dans mes yeux mouilles oh.
Pitie moi malade, mon coeur caille gang-gang, si me l'eau.
Pitie moi malade, mon coeur caille gang-gang, si lu bon gang-gang,
Sauvé la vie moi, dans mes yeux mouilles oh.

[Oh leaves, save my life, in my wet (tear-filled) eyes.
Pity sick me, my heart is frozen, like the water.]"

Willie works as the garden man;
He plants trees, he burns leaves,
He makes money for himself.
Often I stop with his words on my mind.
Do spacemen pass dead souls on their way to the moon?

Books: The Highly Sensitive Person in Love

The Highly Sensitive Person in Love - Dr. Elaine Aron: "The single largest reason for this genetic effect is not a 'divorce gene,' I'm certain. (To say something is genetically determined doesn't clarify much--wearing skirts or owning a rifle is almost totally 'genetically determined,' thanks to the genes for gender plus a lot of cultural moderators.) Genetics enter into marriage because of the way that certain inherited temperaments cause trouble in relationships. They cause trouble only because most of us are totally ignorant about the reality of the drastic differences that can exist among nervous systems. But with the right guidance, the many 'mismatches' in this world can have the most fulfilling relationships of all.

[...]HSPs have nervous systems that pick up more on subtleties in the world and reflect on them deeply. That means, for starters, that they will tend to demand more depth in their relationships in order to be satisfied; see more threatening consequences in their partners' flaws or behaviors; reflect more and, if the signs indicate it, worry about how things are going.

Because HSPs are picking up on so much, they are also more prone to overstimulation, quicker to feel stress--including the stimulation and stress that can arise in any intense, intimate interactions. They need more down time, which can cause a partner to feel left out. They find different things enjoyable compared to others.

[...] Women love to be friends with male HSPs, but want to date and marry non-HSPs. One goal of The Highly Sensitive Person in Love is to help HSP women realize their mistake and HSP men to feel less to blame for their situation.

Another goal is to explore the different ways that HSPs and sensation seekers approach intimacy. HSPs are naturally cautious and reflective before committing. They also have good reason to fear being rejected for being "too sensitive" or overwhelmed by another's needs. Sensation seekers also fear commitment, for quite different reasons--the loss of variety, the fear of boredom."

Links: Highly sensitive persons

"This means that regular sensory information is processed and analyzed to a greater extent, which contributes to creativity, intuition, sensing implications and attention to detail, but which may also cause quicker overstimulation and overarousal."

(click the post title link to see the full entry in Wikipedia)

(see also the website of leading authority Dr. Elaine Aron, which describes her books and provides a self-test)

Trivia: I have a mostly verbal brain

Your brain: 80% interpersonal, 60% visual, 200% verbal, and 60% mathematical!
Congratulations on being 400% smart! Actually, on my test, everyone is. The above score breaks down what kind of thinking you most enjoy doing. A score above 100% means you use that kind of thinking more than average, and a score below 100% means you use it less. It says nothing about how good you are at any one, just how interested you are in each, relatively. A substantial difference in scores between two people means, conclusively, that they are different kinds of thinkers.

Matching Summary: Each of us has different tastes. Still, I offer the following advice, which I think is obvious:

1. Don't date someone if your interpersonal percentages differ by more than 80%.
   
2. Don't be friends with someone if your verbal percentages differ by more than 100%.
   
3. Don't have sex with someone if their math percentage is over 200%.

My test tracked 4 variables. How you compared to other people your age and gender:
You scored higher than 47% on interpersonal
You scored higher than 11% on visual
You scored higher than 98% on verbal
You scored higher than 17% on mathematical

Link: The 4-Variable IQ Test written by chriscoyne on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Music: Pirate songs

If you're looking for pirate-themed music, Real Music has 117 songs with Pirate in the title. Use Search to find anything you want there (or iTunes or any other MP3 music store).

Language: Mind the gap

Riders of the London Underground (subway) are constantly reminded to "Mind the gap" -- or to translate from British English, mind (pay attention to) the (the) gap (passage between cars). In other words: Beware the chasm. Watch the feet. Mind the gap.

Fauna: Gaboon viper

I like to say Gaboon Viper, but this snake is memorable.

Books: In Praise of Slowness - Carl Honore

Amazon.com: Books: In Praise of Slowness : How A Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed: "A former 'speedaholic,' an award-winning Canadian journalist advocates living a slower, more measured existence, in virtually every area, a philosophy he defines as 'balance.' Honore's personal wake-up call came when he began reading one-minute bedtime stories to his two-year-old son in order to save time. The absurdity of this practice dramatized how he, like most of the world, was caught up in a speed culture that probably began with the Industrial Revolution, was spurred by urbanization and increased dramatically with 20th-century advances in technology." (Publisher's Weekly)

Email: Holidays and nights alone [SS]

Thanksgiving and other holidays can suck when alone, but I do better than most, it seems, at maintaining a mental and emotional connection with others even when far away. Being stuck in Houston [sometimes], I prefer to cook my own than to be the guest of a church family who opens their home to all the lonely, non-culinary-skilled singles who have no family in reach. I prefer to host than to be hosted.

So you're saying you might intersect with or co-occupy that other side of your bed if you had a partner who already kept it warm for you? Isn't that like a child who doesn't want a toy until another child picks it up? ;-) Do what I do: Take up the whole bed for [your]self! Don't feel like half of a couple; see yourself as a whole person. It's your bed! Once you do have a partner, you may wish you could reclaim some of that real estate, you know.

You might be getting or you might be noticing more interest. Certainly you're feeling more ready to possibly do something about it. A word of caution: Do not surrender all the initiative to the man. Be picky. You want Mr. Right, not Mr. Right Now. Right?

It's a real part of who you are though; so while it might to easier to ignore [or repress] your sexuality, it's more growthful to teach yourself how to care for it and share it. Learn wisdom!

There are men around; but you want [one] good man. They'll find you; but you want the one that you find and choose for yourself.

Email: Back from vacation [KF]

Vacations do wonders for us, and we only forget because we're "too busy" to take one!

Lyrics: The Weight - The Band

(see the full lyrics and significance at [minstrels] The Weight -- Jaime 'Robbie' Robertson)

I pulled into Nazareth, I was feeling about half past dead;
I just needed some place where I can lay my head.
'Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?'
He just grinned and shook my hand, and 'No' was all he said.

Words: suss, suss out

Main Entry: suss
Pronunciation: s&s
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: by shortening & alteration from suspect
1 chiefly British : to inspect or investigate so as to gain more knowledge -- usually used with out
2 chiefly British : FIGURE OUT -- usually used with out

Peeves: Dallas Stars

No, I will never forgive Dallas for stealing away the Minnesota North Stars.

Weblogs: This is what 'advice and consent' means

(Look at me! I'm quoting Ann Coulter on Twerpette! Thanks for the pointer, MG. I've been formulating my opinion against the Harriet Miers nomination for the Supreme Court since the morning of its announcement, and I jotted down a skeleton draft on Thursday, but Ann's expert Bush bashing in her October 5 column below coincides with two of my points: Miers is in no way qualified, and America gets to make the decision, not Bush.)

AnnCoulter.com: "First, Bush has no right to say 'Trust me.' He was elected to represent the American people, not to be dictator for eight years. Among the coalitions that elected Bush are people who have been laboring in the trenches for a quarter-century to change the legal order in America. While Bush was still boozing it up in the early '80s, Ed Meese, Antonin Scalia, Robert Bork and all the founders of the Federalist Society began creating a farm team of massive legal talent on the right. [...]

However nice, helpful, prompt and tidy she is, Harriet Miers isn't qualified to play a Supreme Court justice on "The West Wing," let alone to be a real one. Both Republicans and Democrats should be alarmed that Bush seems to believe his power to appoint judges is absolute. This is what 'advice and consent' means."