“All our entertainments, good as they may be in themselves, can all too often function like sedatives that mask our awareness of some underlying tedium in our reality.” – Richard Winter
Read a brief devotion on this topic at Living Christ 360.
“Kafkaesque”
Our friend Mark Bertrand talks about the benefits of going to jail.
"Kafkaesque"
Our friend Mark Bertrand talks about the benefits of going to jail.
Adventures in Odyssey: Snow Day
If you aren’t a fan of the radio program Adventures in Odyssey, you’re missing some great entertainment for children. Today, I found a podcast with a hilarious story about a young man on the dangerous mission of taking his mom’s famous cookies to his grandma on a snow day. The war movie motif and the terrible metaphors make this show great fun. There’s a writer-producer interview in the podcast too. Enjoy.
Raise a Dram for Tolkien Tomorrow
On January 3rd, 1892, J.R.R.Tolkien was born. Today, fans around the world toast him on his birthday with a beverage of their choice. Read the details and leave a comment with your toast to the professor on the Tolkien Society website.
Kathryn Darden of Atlanta has a brief bio and analysis of his writing on the great author, pictured below from 1956.
Good Taste, Bad Taste
Happy New Year
The following is from a poem by Ogden Nash, probably about 80 years old, called, “Good-bye, Old Year, You Oaf, or Why Don’t They Pay the Bonus?”
My goodness, if there’s anything in heredity and environment
How can people expect the newborn year to manifest any culture or refironment?
Every New Year is the direct descendant, isn’t it, of a long line of proven criminals?
And you can’t turn it into a philanthropist by welcoming it with cocktails and champagne, any more than with prayer books and hyminals….
Nevertheless, all the staff at Brandywine Books wish you as happy a new year as may reasonably be expected, under prevailing conditions.
And remember, it’s pronounced “Twenty-Ten!”
Still Looking for a Resolution?
Here’s an introduction to falconry. Be the first on your block to master this skill.
On Combat, by Grossman and Christensen
It’s considered prudent of late to announce it when the book you’re reviewing is one you’ve gotten for free. I’ll not only admit, but brag, that I got Lt. Col. Dave Grossman’s and Loren W. Christensen’s On Combat as a gift. Col. Grossman (whose Two-Space War books I’ve reviewed here and here) sent it to me in response to a question I asked him about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
A book like this will be of no interest to some of you, and I think the authors would be the first to admit that if you’re one of them, it very likely speaks well of you. But for those involved with violence, whether as soldiers or police officers, or those who love them, or just armchair storytellers like me, this study is both valuable and fascinating.
The art of war has been studied since before history was written. Societies have learned, and passed on, the training and coping techniques necessary to help the warrior to conquer and survive. It’s only recently, as technology has altered the face of warfare in ways unimaginable to our ancestors, that it has become possible—and necessary—to figure out precisely what happens to people in a deadly fight, and what can be done to help them overcome one of the most traumatic experiences of life. Continue reading On Combat, by Grossman and Christensen
Straight from the shoulder
Over at the mighty Powerline blog, Scott Johnson publishes an exclusive statement from the great Stephen Hunter. Hunter writes about his latest Bob Lee Swagger novel, I, Sniper, and about what it was like to be a conservative journalist at liberal newspapers. Well worth reading.
I know you follow my health with passionate interest, so I’ll mention that I saw the doctor again yesterday. She told me that (contrary to my own views) I’m recovering from my bronchitis. It’s just taking a while.
I also asked her about the sore shoulder I’ve been enduring for some months, in the Norwegian manner—“No point spending money on medical advice. It’ll probably get better by itself. If it actually starts to turn blue and the fingernails fall out, then I’ll have it looked at.” I figured it was probably bursitis.
To my delight, she informed me it’s not bursitis, but tendonitis. This was gratifying, because in my mind bursitis is something old people get, while tendonitis is something that happens to young athletes. It appears I’m not doomed to feel like this for the rest of my life, but will be permitted to continue to delude myself that my gray hair is premature.