Watch this group a sharp looking kids in Atlanta sing: “Obama’s on the left. McCain’s on the right. We can talk politics all night, and you can vote however you like.” I should look up the lyrics; I can’t understand most of them.
How Can You Protect Your Yard Signs?
A man in Chapel Hill, N.C., had a bit of trouble keeping his McCain-Palin signs in his highly visible yard, so he electrified them and put a camera up to watch them. He set the shock low so no one would get hurt and posted little warning signs. A bit later: “A neighbor trotting up with an Obama-Biden sign, grabbing a handful of volts as he touched a McCain-Palin sign, then fleeing at top 9-year-old boy speed.” The boy’s father was upset, saying the boy just wanted to see how the signs were put together. Perhaps the kid carried an Obama sign sleeve with him all the time as a safety blanket.
Let’s rumble!
No, this isn’t my favorite Lutheran hymn, as Phil requested. I just thought it was amusing for Reformation Day.
Hat tip: Ed Veith at Cranach. (Don’t blame me.)
Do 50% of Marriage Really End in Divorce?
Here’s a podcast with interesting research into the popular claim that half of all marriage end in divorce. Where did that figure come from and is it accurate? As you will hear, the research isn’t quite there.
Steadfast
I cast around for a Lutheran hymn for tonight, a good hymn in the Lutheran tradition not written by Martin Luther, and I came back around to one of his again. Maybe it’s predestination. Happy Reformation Day and Happy Halloween.
Lord, keep us steadfast in your word;
curb those who by deceit or sword
would wrest the kingdom from your Son
and bring to naught all he has done.
Lord Jesus Christ, your power make known,
for you are Lord of lords alone;
defend your holy church, that we
may sing your praise triumphantly.
O Comforter of priceless worth,
send peace and unity on earth;
support us in our final strife
and lead us out of death to life.
A note on the last nice day
It was a beautiful day. Nearly 70°. This is the end of that sort of thing, of course. It’s like when your girlfriend dresses up real pretty and wears her most expensive perfume so she can tell you it’s over; she’s met a Belgian graduate student who truly understands her needs. Not that that’s ever happened to me. I never did that well with a girl.
It occurs to me that I haven’t mentioned the New York C. S. Lewis Society here yet. No, that’s not true. I’ve mentioned it, but I don’t think I’ve linked to its site. So here’s the link. You don’t have to reside in Manhattan or its environs to be a member—me, I’ve been on the rolls since the early ’70s, and I’ve never been to a meeting. But they publish a monthly newsletter that’s very professionally done and well worth reading, if you’re the kind of person who wants to know just everything about Lewis. Which I am.
Our frequent commenter Dale Nelson is a regular writer for the journal, specializing in pieces about the books Lewis read and their possible influences on his work.
Consider this my unsolicited endorsement.
Nice review
Thanks to frequent commenter Loren Eaton for this review of Erling’s Word on his blog, I Saw Lightning Fall.
I wish you’d have bought The Year of the Warrior instead, though, Loren. It’s a double volume, incorporating Erling’s Word entirely, in a slightly improved version. When you buy it, you don’t need to buy EW.
Remarkable Garden
Take a look at Ella’s beautiful work on her garden, an illustrated poem.
A.M.Smith Novel Online in Twenty Weeks
Alexander McCall Smith is delivering a novel through The Telegraph Online, day by day in twenty weeks. Corduroy Mansions is on chapter 33 today, and you can read it at The Telegraph site or get them in your email or rss feed. It begins “in the bathroom.”
Passing off, thought William. Spanish sparkling wine – filthy stuff, he thought, filthy – passed itself off as champagne. Japanese whisky – Glen Yakomoto! – was served as Scotch. Inferior hard cheese – from Mafia-run factories in Catania – was sold to the unsuspecting as Parmesan. Lots of things were passed off in one way or another, and now, as he stood before the bathroom mirror, he wondered if he could be passed off too.
If God had not been on our side
A hymn by Martin Luther, perhaps inspired by Psalm 124.
If God had not been on our side
And had not come to aid us,
The foes with all their power and pride
Would surely have dismayed us;
For we, His flock, would have to fear
The threat of men both far and near
Who rise in might against us.
Their furious wrath, did God permit,
Would surely have consumed us
And as a deep and yawning pit
With life and limb entombed us.
Like men o’er whom dark waters roll
Their wrath would have engulfed our soul
And, like a flood, o’erwhelmed us.
Blest be the Lord, who foiled their threat
That they could not devour us;
Our souls, like birds, escaped their net,
They could not overpower us.
The snare is boken–we are free!
Our help is ever, Lord, in Thee,
Who madest earth and heaven.