The always brilliant Andrew Klavan is even more brilliant than usual in this hilarious little piece about celebrity liberalism.
Tip: Big Hollywood.
Embarrassing
According to Jillian Bandes at Townhall.com, the big Muslim gathering in Washington D.C. was pretty much a bust.
She also notes the presence of Christian protestors, preaching through bullhorns “to disrupt the prayers.”
That’s just embarrassing. I abhor the religion of Islam (as opposed to its adherents, whom I respect as fellow human beings to the degree that they individually deserve it), but this is America, and people have the right to pray in peace. I wouldn’t like it if they disrupted our prayers, and they deserve the same courtesy. Sheesh.
Review from “Darwin’s Evolutions”
I don’t think I ever linked to Darwin Garrison’s review of West Oversea, over at Darwin’s Evolutions. Thanks for the great notice, Darwin, and I apologize for forgetting to link to it before!
Wandering
I’ll be offline for a while, enjoying the family and, I hope, local foods. Be seeing you.
Dark Age miscellany
I’m rushing tonight, as I’ve got to help the Vikings load a van for Høstfest in Minot next week. So just a couple items.
Maxine at Petrona reports on a new history of the Viking Age which I find intriguing. Looks like somebody is stepping up to argue back against the “peaceful Vikings” meme that’s had so much currency in the last twenty or thirty years. I’ll defend the Vikings in some contexts, but I’m sick of seeing Vikings portrayed as “victims” of those nasty Christians. Victims is the last thing they’d want to be known as.
(Tip: Dave Lull)
And from England, a web site devoted to the Staffordshire Hoard, found in England last July.
The Staffordshire Hoard is an unparalleled treasure find dating from Anglo-Saxon times. Both the quality and quantity of this unique treasure are remarkable. The story of how it came to be left in the Staffordshire soil is likely to be more remarkable still.
Big news for us reenactors.
(Tip: Wulfric Solvarsson)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
I picked up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
I stated in the Comments on Andrew Klavan’s review (he didn’t like it a lot) that I had a bet with myself that the most conservative, religious character in the book would prove to be the murderer.
I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that I was wrong. I feel morally obligated to post that for the record. Continue reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
Rationing Your Carbon Output
Someone save us from the pseudo-scientists! One U.K. company is fining and rewarded employees based on their carbon output.
Britain’s first employee carbon rationing scheme is about to be extended, after the trial demonstrated the effectiveness of fining people for exceeding their personal emissions target. Unlike the energy-saving schemes adopted by thousands of companies, the rationing scheme monitors employees’ personal emissions, including home energy bills, petrol purchases and holiday flights.
Commenter Chris Bock, whom I assume is British says, “Right now hardly anyone is standing up and fighting for civil liberties in Britain. People want to accept being herded and prodded, their lives micromanged and filmed to the minute, their lives compounded by ever increasing fines and taxes for minor everyday infractions of local and national laws designed to generate such income. Britain will wake up one morning and realize they are a democratic society in name only and anyone crowing about civil liberties and individualism will be deemed Enemies of the State.”
Looks very much like The Village in Patrick Mcgoohan’s show The Prisoner. Perhaps if the once great British would return to their God, preaching the gospel in Canterbury and London, they would stand up for themselves again, defend their families, protect their neighbors, and put away the corruption of the world. But I probably shouldn’t talk like that. It’s undefined, too general, and I just sound like a religious nut. [via Sweetness & Light]
How Good He Is to Those Who Fear Him
Is there any tension between the goodness of God and the fear of Him?
“Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of the children of mankind!” (Psalm 31:19)
Two from Veith
Two interesting bits from Dr. Gene Edward Veith of Cranach today.
He links to an article by art historian Birgit Schwarz in Spiegel Online. She makes the interesting (and very intriguing, it seems to me) point that Hitler saw himself as an artistic genius. And we all know what modern western culture thinks about artistic geniuses, right? They aren’t subject to ordinary moral rules. They have a duty to themselves to express their genius in shocking and transgressive ways. I can’t see this analysis getting much traction in the media, but I think there’s a lot in it.
Dr. Veith is also kind enough to praise my work in this post, on bad bestselling writers (obviously I don’t qualify for that description, on at least one count).
Tonight, in wide screen!
Sorry about not posting earlier. I was in Tech Support Purgatory in regard to my antivirus program. Because it’s late, I’ll just give you this picture to enjoy, of the battle reenactment on Saturday. I’m the one in the white tunic, meditating on man’s inhumanity to man, and whether there’s any loot to be had.
(Thanks to Mrs. Lais for the picture.)