[headstones] the measure of your respect

Let me quote from the Science Direct site:

The age-old tradition of feasting the dead has been maintained by Russian populations for well over five centuries. Graveyards hold a special place both in traditional Orthodox faith and in the lives of Russians and others.

The tradition of feasting the dead for three, nine and forty days after death, can be traced unbroken to pre-Christian Rus’. Details may vary, but always the soul of the deceased must battle its way out of the body and then spend time in both heaven and hell. While this journey is occurring, the living must remember the dead, helping their souls during this period of travail.

Even a final feast one year after the death of the individual does not end the relationship between the living and the deceased, for the graves are still visited on a regular basis as a sign of respect to the dead, who are potential saints in the Russian Orthodox tradition.

This ‘saintly’ land — Russian graves — defines homeland and roots the population to a new area. By examining the importance of graveyards to Russians, to the ethnic Komi of Northern Russia, and other Eastern Europeans, a sense of place is maintained in these rituals of daily life.

Of course, we also revere our departed family and I'm not downplaying that in any way but for the Russian, it is something just a little bit more. i experienced this during two deaths of people close to people close to me. One was my best mate's father and the other my girlfriend's grandfather who'd gone well over the odds, age wise.

The essential thing is that money does not matter in choosing the headstone and the best thing to buy is marble. This takes quite a bit of decision making at a traumatic time but it must be done properly. Then a photo must be found that will live in perpetuity. In my mate's case, it was his father in uniform as a younger man and in the gf's, it had to have a particular helicopter emblazoned behind it, as that had been his life's work, designing systems for those.

The ceremony we'll now skip over and move to the nine day feast and the forty day feast. It absolutely must be and the interesting thing is that you are not supposed to weep and gnash the teeth but really get into the food and converse. There are speeches and toasts and this way, you are assuring G-d, presumably, that the man was much loved. Or maybe it is just tradition.

Now, when you visit the cemetery on special days, it is the done thing to visit before midday apparently and there is a ritual to that too. On one occasion, I went with my mate and he formally introduced me to his father, the photo engraved picture in the marble headstone actually looking out at me, a stern figure but I'm sure he was present and said hello back.

One slightly amusing aspect is that the closer you are buried to the cemetery entrance, the more you are an important person [were] in the community. So I couldn't help noticing figures like the one in the photo above [sorry about the writing across it] and some of them were dressed in shell suits and t shirts.

They do things a bit differently over there.

[last day] last words in america

It might be much closer than people have thought. McCain is better on the back foot:

"I respect and admire my opponent, he has motivated millions of people around the world, around the nation, and has secured the nomination of his party against some pretty formidable opposition," McCain said.

The generous remarks fit with what advisors said weeks ago -- that McCain is intent on going out, win or lose, on something of a high note.

He might just get a surge back to him and then the only question is whether it is in crucial areas.

[housekeeping] tweaking the template

UPDATE: This page is as it was but the blogroll page has been redone.


The two sidebars together are not meant to be a mistake - I've put them there to see how they go for a few days.

As I usually have pics across the top of a post or on the left, this lends itself to the new format but there've been difficulties with the html. I can't seem to determine sidebar length and so it seems to cut off below a certain point and the text then wraps around. At first I thought this was not so good but it actually shortens the page, so I've left it.

Not being sure how it would look on Windows with IE, I downloaded IE5 for Mac and have looked at the page in Safari, Firefox and IE. Seems to be basically all right.

See how it strikes you.

[haute couture] of a topical yet practical nature

Just flicking through the haute couture, as one is want to do on a post-halloween, pre-election weekend and came up with the headgear to the left here.

An eminently practical number, this would require a voiture with adequate headroom, say a Bentley or similar and would be more suited to a shorter woman, say around 150 cm. A London taxi would do the trick, of course.

For use at the call centre phone or in a business meeting, some form of curtain-tie would be necessary to hold the grassy bits up out of the eyes but the beauty of this hat is that it does not intefere with the ears and thus phone answering would not be impaired.

Note the muted colours and absence of anything actually spectacular or daring in the below neck area. This is French couture down to a T - only one extravagant item at any one time.

Perhaps a floral stoll could be designed though to compliment the number for these chilly days or failing that, a floral wreath or two could be pressed into service.

Yes, I know what you are saying - that outfit is far too "green" and de rigeur. It hardly takes into account the current fashion for all things African and third world. To address these concerns, the number below right has been designed to re-create the "peasant in the fields at harvest time" effect.

Can't you see yourself now, sashaying down the footpath with oomph and elegance, sporting third world, emerging economy chic that grabs everybody’s attention?

Who needs the ultra glamorous layered look, when you are just so politically correct in this tribute to global sustainability?

And just look at those carbon footprints!

If you're one of those unfortunates of a Caucasian complexion, this shouldn't pose insurmountable problems. A week or two of the yellow tanning oil should produce the desired effect but I'd be more concerned with the conversational limitations - a few turns of the head and someone is whacked over the mush something awful, particularly if you are 150 cm tall.

The appropriate response is tailor made: "Are you oppressing me?"

[electoral college] nearly dropped in 1970

Read about the current state by state situation here.

Some people are not aware that on November 4th, the President and Vice-President of the United States are NOT being chosen by the people.

Rather, the people are voting for Electors who will themselves vote for the President and Vice-President on December 15th.

You might like to read about this here or here. What some people may also not be aware of is that the system was nearly abolished in 1969/70:

The closest the nation has ever come to abolishing the Electoral College occurred during the 91st Congress. The presidential election of 1968 had ended with Richard Nixon receiving 301 electoral votes to Hubert Humphrey's 191. Yet, Nixon had only received 511,944 more popular votes than Humphrey, equating to less than 1% of the national total. George Wallace received the remaining 46 electoral votes with only 13.5% of the popular vote.

House Joint Resolution 681 was introduced to amend the Constitution:

On April 29, 1969, the House Judiciary Committee voted favorably, 28–6, to approve the Amendment. On September 30, 1969, President Richard Nixon gave his endorsement for adoption of the proposal, encouraging the Senate to pass its version of the Amendment. In its October 8, 1969 edition, the New York Times reported that the legislatures of 30 states were "either certain or likely to approve a constitutional amendment embodying the direct election plan if it passes its final Congressional test in the Senate." On August 14, 1970, the Senate Judiciary Committee sent its report advocating passage of the Amendment to the full Senate.

Then it was filibusted out. Shame.

[chaucer and luther] of like mind on pardons

Geoffrey Chaucer, of course, wrote the Canterbury Tales and one of his targets was the Pardoner, even though the church did not specifically approve of their excesses:

According to canon law, a pardoner or quaestor of alms did not have the right either to forgive sin or to sell indulgences. Indulgences remitting punishment for sin could only be legitimately granted to persons who confessed their sins to their own parish priests.

Despite canon law, the practice did become corrupt:

As early as 1212 the Church acknowledged the corrupt practices of many pardoners. Church officials created numerous bulls recommending that the practice of pardoners be restricted: that they not be allowed to preach but only to read their letters.

Chaucer wasn't the only one to criticize pardons:

When the preaching friar in Piers the Plowman wishes to scorn the Augustinians, his worst accusation is that they lived by the "pur pardoners craft."

... but he was maybe the first to publicize it in a populist manner for the time:

By this gaude have I wonne, yeer by yeer,
An hundred mark sith I was pardoner.
I stonde lik a clerk in my pulpet,
And whan the lewed peple is down yset,
I preche so as ye han herd bifore,
And telle an hundred false japes more.

Martin Luther, despite the views of some revisionist historians, probably nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenburg church in 1517 and the idea really began to take hold:

75. To think the papal pardons so great that they could absolve a man even if he had committed an impossible sin and violated the Mother of God -- this is madness.

76. We say, on the contrary, that the papal pardons are not able to remove the very least of venial sins, so far as its guilt is concerned.

77. It is said that even St. Peter, if he were now Pope, could not bestow greater graces; this is blasphemy against St. Peter and against the pope.

78. We say, on the contrary, that even the present pope, and any pope at all, has greater graces at his disposal; to wit, the Gospel, powers, gifts of healing, etc., as it is written in I. Corinthians xii.

The threat to the Catholic church is in the idea that no one but G-d can forgive and extrapolated, that means that the Pope can aid, teach and point people in the right direction, intercede with G-d, possibly even heal ... but he can't actually forgive, nor can those he sends out to do so. This is contained in Mark 2:7:

Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?

Jesus, of course, argued that He had the authority to do that and the miracles he performed [and I have no doubt something happened, otherwise those huge crowds would not have followed Him] were material manifestations of that ability.

This is dangerous stuff, as anyone with a grasp of pyrotechnics, chemistry and the skill to speak authoritatively in pseudo-biblical language, such as Maitreya in Nairobi, [although some argue that he is something altogether different], can put on a spectacle to show he is the messiah.

Where the false messiahs fall down is that after the spectacle, there is nothing sustaining to go on with and none of the displays contain evidence of actual healing which stands the test of time. What follows is a lot of gobbledegook in blue and yellow watercolours and somewhere along the line, money comes into it. Share International is a front organization for this stuff.

What is interesting with many of these "messiahs" is how they try to ape the image of Jesus Christ in the popular imagination. Why not come as a Martian, for example? Why not as Mohammed? Why not the Buddha?