Disney Must Pay - 21 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 254

Micah 6:8
Matthew 18:23-34
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

https://www.sfwa.org/2020/11/18/disney-must-pay/

As you may know, the Disney corporation is the main reason that our copyright laws keep getting revised. They lobby to extend the length of protection to avoid letting anything go into the public domain. Somehow, this zeal to protect the rights of copyright holders seems only to apply to themselves. They are currently in a dispute with an author whose books they're publishing, but are refusing to pay him his contractually owed royalties on the sales. Their bizarre, indefensible claim is that they bought the rights to his books when they bought Lucasfilm, but somehow they managed not to buy the responsibilities that go along with those rights. This despite a contract that specifies that it applies to all successors and assigns of the rights.
Their goal is to hold out long enough that he will die and the problem goes away, Since corporations tend not to die, their view is that means they win.

Rather, it seems to me, it means they are basically thieves, pirates, and scum. Hardly the image that company tries to project.
Good grief the Mouse sucks. #DisneyMustPay

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Beauty - 20 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 253

Micah 6:8
1 Peter 3:3-4
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

 

Today is Beautiful Day - what a great idea - celebrate anything and everything beautiful! As my Canadian friends might say, "Beauty, eh?"
We can and do find beauty nearly everywhere. There is great beauty in Nature to be sure (and why not? consider the Artist who created it.), there is beauty in any of the arts you care to choose.

• Painting? check
• Sculpture? check
• Poetry? check
• Music? check
• Dance? check

There's even beauty in mathematics - ask any mathematician about elegant and beautiful proofs; it's the same thing as Nature, really. As Galileo Galilei said, "Mathematics is the language with which God wrote the Universe." (I'm sure the original was in the Italian of his day, but this is the version I've read.)

Celebrate something beautiful today.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Why, Lord? - 19 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 252

Micah 6:8
1 Timothy 3:8-10
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

1 Peter 4:12-19

"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you." 1 Peter 4:12

This is the scripture reference for today's (19 Nov 20) devotional reading in The Upper Room. It seemed so timely to me that I wanted to share it. I have a feeling that the link will only work today, unless you have a subscription to the site, but I'm posting it here in case you want to follow it.
The writer today was musing on how "bad things" have happened in his life, but that they ended up humbling him, and growing his reliance on and faith in God. Frankly, that's an attitude we all could use these days. "I must decrease and He must increase," as John said. His power is made evident in our weakness, and when it is His power that preserves us through our trials it can only make us more aware of Him and help us to love Him more, and more perfectly.
Think about it.

OK, enough serious stuff:
Today is the day the Nouveau Beaujolais is released! I'll admit that I'm a bit of a wine drinker, and I generally pick up a bottle of the Nouveau each year to sample.
I have a few styles I prefer (and especially nothing sweet, please), but I do try various types and wines from various places around the world. Heck, I even drink wine from various of these United States!
Imagine my surprise and delight to see that Idaho is considered to be the next U.S. wine-making hot spot, according to vinepair.

Of course, many of us have known about the fine wines from Idaho for a long time, now.


Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Cider and Zodiacs - 18 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 251

Micah 6:8
Song of Solomon 2:3-6
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?



Well, well, well. Today is William Tell Day (or Wilhelm Tell or Guillaume Tell, according to your preference). Furthermore, today is also Apple Cider Day! One supposes these are connected by Herr Tell's having been the first person to make cider (cidre?) from a distance. Given the current state of the world, that's probably today's favored method of cidering, no? I don't recall that Tell wore a mask, but since he was well over two meters away from his son, that probably wasn't a problem, right?

In blissfully unrelated news, today is also Married To A Scorpio Support Day. One imagines that to have been meant in an insulting, derogatory way, but nonetheless I heartily support Heidi in her decision to marry me, lo these many years ago. Here's a celebratory video for your viewing pleasure.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Planning for Christmas - 17 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 250

Micah 6:8
Matthew 2:1-6
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Well, here we go again. No family gatherings, no in-person worship, no restaurants, no multi-household meals, no meetings (OK, there is a silver lining), and on and on it goes ...
and here come Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas. grr.

So, what are we to do? We'll be brainstorming to figure a way to celebrate the holidays (Holy Days) anyway. That's what.

After all, whether we have our freedoms temporarily trampled, we still know Who is really in charge, and with faith in God, we still have far more than enough for which we should be thankful.
If we didn't have a church we wanted to attend, would we miss it?
If we didn't have family whom we love, would we miss them?
If we didn't have health, would we worry about getting sick?
As I always say when it's my job to call for the offering at church, when we have enough, we have enough to share. In a similar vein, when we have something to miss, we have something that matters - whether we can possess it now or not.

So -
Yes, this year will be different. It will be hard. It will tax our patience and our civility. In many ways it will suck.
However - it will also be a time to celebrate what we really do have, and to give thanks to the Author of all that is good.

I'll leave my normal tag line below, but I need to add this:
Keep Peace and Joy in your heart - you are loved.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

COVID Follies? - 16 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 249

Micah 6:8
Proverbs 30:12-13
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

I apologize for the lack of humor today.

So here we go again. Somehow the State will find a way to claim the power to compel behaviors from its citizens - or perhaps from its subjects is a better way to put it. While our legal system in general is there to prohibit specific behaviors (e.g., murder, theft, fraud, kidnapping, turning without using a signal, and other such major infractions), somehow we've "progressed" to the point where our leaders rulers have found the power to compel us to do particular things (e.g., wear a mask, buy coverage for things you can't encounter, and other "oddities" of this present age). It's not clear to me where in the U.S. Constitution - nor in any of the various State Constitutions - anyone is finding a positive power of coercion for the government over the governed. I still remember being taught - in a government school, no less! - that the legitimacy of the government derives from the consent of the governed. Somehow we seem to be moving from public servants to a ruling class. If there is a better argument for term limits than what's going on these days, I'd like to hear it.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Worship - 15 November 2020 - Plague Journal Day 248

Micah 6:8
Joshua 1:1-9
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

With the current spike in COVID cases in Grosse Pointe, we've paused our in-person worship, probably for the rest of the year. We will only be streaming our services on YouTube until further notice, so please join us online.

Speaking of joining us online, our new streaming solution (all new cameras and software running on a new, video-optimized computer) came at just the right time.

Today's stream should just appear as the latest entry on our YouTube channel, here.
You'll find all our previous worship videos right there at that same place, and today's stream will stay there as a recording as well.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.