Happy Nuclear War Day

I love Texas, but sometimes we do compete with Idaho in having nut jobs holed up in our states:



He's twice predicted nuclear war in the past, which didn't come to pass. I guess he thinks third time's the charm. Come on, dude, nuclear armageddon is so 1980's.

RS

Commercial Levity

A bit of Monday Levity to help get you through Lent. Just goofing around and found more than I thought I would. You should be able to figure out the "theme" quickly.















RS

Roman Sacristan in Corporate America?

Time for some Monday levity.

Wonder why I hate corporate America? or is it corporate America hates me?

(No, in spite of the name fathead, that's not me in the commerical ... just my stunt double.)



RS

Weird Headline or Bad Plot?

Here's some Monday Levity for you.

I only managed 60% correct. Take the quiz at the following link:

Ripped from the Headlines or Plot from Scooby Doo?

RS

Kudos to msnbc host

Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC's morning show "refuses to cover the stupid imbecile we call Paris Hilton leaving jail. She tries to burn and shred the story too! Finally!"



The hardest part of this clip is dealing with the idiots making fun of her for being sick of this stupid story.

I love it! All the comments at the site I found this at were all cheering her on! Nobody cares about Paris Hilton anymore, you stupid media outlets!



RS

Railroad Track Switch

This video is for The Engineer. This is a very cool commercial for a Norwegian Oil Company.



At the end of the commercial the text reads,
"There are a lot of young engineers. We are looking forward to them growing up."

RS

Prison culture

I just watched this series on a prison in California that focuses on hardcore gang members and leaders. Yet I always find the word "gang" to be rather misleading. Usually it just conjures up some image of a rag-tag group of thugs who just engage in street fights and turf wars. But these gangs are really more like super mafia or highly organized networks of crime. They are responsible for drug trafficing, high stakes robbery, violent crimes, assassinations, and the like.

Warning: Although it is a National Geographic show, it does have a bit of potentially graphic visuals.

Lockdown Gangland Pt 1


Lockdown Gangland Pt 2


Lockdown Gangland Pt 3


Lockdown Gangland Pt 4


Lockdown Gangland Pt 5


I found these videos pretty amazing. In spite of having this extremely tight security prison, with former Navy Seals acting as some of the guards, you have some of these inmates able to continue carrying on their work from within the prison itself.

Not only that, but the actual organization and discipline of some of these guys is actually amazing. Without wanting to sound too cliche, you wonder what these guys could do if they could use their powers for good instead of evil? That these guys would be able to be that ingenious and that disciplined to carry out not just crime outside the prison, but to have power struggles within the prison.

Even the "footsoldiers" who are just gang members have such discipline that they cannot get into a fight without permission from the upper ranks.

It eventually leads to the question of the death penalty. Much of the argumentation against it is that we now have prisons that attempt to reform the prisoner. But what about situations like this? When you have such hardened criminals, they not only resist reforming their lives, but actually go to prison to learn and hone their skills better, and continue to carry out extremely violent crimes from within the most secure parts of the prison.

A question is what happens to those who do leave their gangs. They are still serving life without parole. Still, those who have reformed have less of a case for the death penalty.

I won't go into costs, since I don't want to put a price on a man's life.

It is a difficult question. While I support the death penalty, on an emotional level I would never want to have to be on a jury deciding that myself. It is a difficult question in which you have to wonder if the concept of justice has been lost. What about the value of the life of the person who was murdered? From a religious standpoint: would it be better for a person to serve justice in this life so that they don't have to in the next? Difficult questions, but ones we need to look at intellectually rather than a strictly emotional level.

I would see the death penalty as being something only to be used in repeat murders or in cold blood. On the average, I don't think it would be necessary. However, what about these extreme cases, like those mentioned in the above, or those in the supermax prisons? And I especially ask this in light of the afterlife and God's justice.

RS

Go Away

This video just had to be made. I agree with it and support it.

Safe for work ... one of the only times I think you'll ever be able to say that in anything related to Paris Hilton.

"Go Away, Paris Hilton."


RS

Happy Anniversary Pope Benedict XVI

Two years ago today was an amazingly happy day!

I was at the church working on some handouts and had just been emailed a website that was a webcam pointed at the smokestack of the Sistine Chapel. So, I turned it on and nothing was going on, but I left it open and continued working.

A few minutes later, I looked at the site and this time saw something going on.


I went over to the TV room (which had EWTN) and something was going on. However, nobody was quite sure if it was really white smoke or not. Apparently in the past there has been some confusion on the smoke colors, so people were a bit hesitant to say something was going. However, as they showed the piazza in front of Saint Peters, you could see more and more people were congregating in the piazza. Every channel was covering it. Something was going on.

At this point I notified Father that something was going on. By the time he got to the TV room, the bells of Saint Peters had begun to ring. According to a friend who was there, at this point people began pouring into the piazza and surrounding streets.

It seemed to take quite a while for any activity to be noticed. However, FINALLY, a cardinal came out onto the upper balcony. Looking at what he read, it isn't very long, but at that time, it was like an eternity. Talk about the excitement and tension. It was like the entire world was on the edge of its seat.

Here's the "transcript" of my thoughts through what seemed like an eternity of anticipation.

Cardinal announcing: "Fratelli e suorelli carissimi ..."
Me: OK, Italian greeting to the faithful

"Carissimos hermanos y hermanas ..."
Spanish? I think. Oh no, is he going to go through every language?!

"Ches frères et soeurs ..."
French! He is ...

"[something I didn't understand]"
NOOOO! languages I don't recognize! This could take forever!
EDIT - Turns out it was German ("Liebe Brüder und Schwestern")

"Dear brothers and sisters ..."
Hey! English!

"Annuncio vobis, gaudium magnum ..."
Hey, Latin! ... THEY'RE ANNOUNCING IT!

"Habemus papam ..."
Yes, we pretty much figured that, get on with it!

"Eminentissimum ac Reverendissimum Dominum,"
OK, it's a cardinal, figured that ...

"Dominum Josephum..."
Josephum, Josephum ... Joseph! ... JOSEPH! Ratzinger is named Joseph, but how many other cardinals are named Joseph?!

"Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem"
Aaargh! We know the title of a cardinal, get on with it!

"Ratzinger!"
Oh my gosh! I don't believe it! RATZINGER IS THE NEW POPE! YES!!!!!!
And look, the crowd is thrilled, the people are loving it!

[At this point I am jumping up and down cheering along with Father]

"qui sibi nomen imposuit ..."
Oooh, his name, what will his new name be?

"... Benedictum XVI"
Benedict! How cool! How classic!

Here's the clip of what seemed like an eternity.


EDIT - Notice how much Latin there is, but for some crazy reason, people understand it!

Then the the new pope came onto the balcony. It was great!


He looks like a natural.


Wow! This is amazing! Deo gratias!

We had a Mass of thanksgiving a bit later since we had the Mass scheduled in the afternoon anyway. It was great to hear "una cum famulo tuo Papa nostro BENEDICTO."

Wow, what a great day!

Happy Anniversary, Pope Benedict!

VIVA IL PAPA!

Two years ago tomorrow was one of the worst days, which I almost didn't make it through. I think the devil was in a rage over the new pope and I got hit with the splashdamage of his wrath. More later.

RS

An Inside Story on Sudan and Darfur

As most readers of this blog know, I am very interested in the media and the information or misinformation it can provide. I have recently come across a "news agency" called Vice Broadcasting System or VBS.tv (I won't directly link to their site as contains some "more-than-just-PG-13" articles or topics).

While VBS does seem to be made up of many who would probably have a more liberal bent on their worldviews, one thing that does interest me is their desire to get more of an inside story than what the major news networks get (ie NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, BBC, etc.), and yet I don't think VBS is sensationalistic jounalism.

What impressed me with this story on Sudan and Darfur was that it was not limited by the usual politically correct bias that most mainstream news networks have. This story is based on them going into Sudan and looking at the history of war there and what the causes were, the state of each the areas of Sudan, and quite possibly what the lies are.

I think these videos would be appropriate for this blog, although they are more PG in nature. Anyway, this is not quite the "average news outlet" story on Sudan.

Here is "Inside Sudan" in five parts.

Pt 1

Pt 2

Pt 3

Pt 4

Pt 5


RS

More on the Mount Everest Controversy

As the description of this blog says ...

"You never know what you'll find in a sacristy."

I have noticed recently that for some odd reason, my blog was listed about 5th on google for searches on "everest controversy," and have been getting several hits from people searching for that, and getting my previous post on the Everest Controversy.

So, I figured I would look into this more and found another article that seems to be pretty informative. There definitely is a lot of controversy surrounding the death of David Sharp and the actions of Russell Brice and his "Himex" crew.

For those seeking more information you can check this link out (be warned there is a bit of foul language in the article):

"Left to Die on Everest, No one came to David Sharp's aid on Everest. What happened?" by Nick Heil, et al.

RS

Mount Everest controversy

I love mountains and have always been fascinated with Mt. Everest and K2. It always amazes me how climbing Mt. Everest is truly an "expedition." The planning, the costs, the difficulties, and the tiny windows of opportunity given the fickle weather make reaching the summit something to be admired, no matter how crazy or dangerous you think it is.

I had heard about the death of a climber recently which hit the headlines due to the accusations that he had been passed up by several groups and then left to die.

Recently while visiting home on Thanksgiving I was able to watch the Discovery Channel's series on climbing Mt. Everest, "Everest: Beyond the Limit."

Now those things being said, they are suddenly all tied together in this article I found at MountEverest.net:

The most shameful act in the history of mountaineering: "Everest: Beyond the limit" airs Tuesday

It's hard to say how true the article is, but it did strike me when I remembered one thing on the TV show about the guy trying to be "sneaky" to beat other expeditions up the mountain. However, the climbers in the Discovery Channel series were amazing, given that I remember one being an asthmatic and was going to go the summit without oxygen, another was a French guy in his 60's, and another was an amputee below both knees and was climbing on prosthetic legs.

The tragedy that happened was sad, especially in that it does sound like he could have been saved. I would expect the climbers might not have known the guy was having problems, but it sounds like the guides would have or at least should have known.

Still, as much as I would love to try Everest, I really couldn't justify the risk to life involved. I'll just stick with the panorama view at this site:
360 degree panorama from summit of Mt. Everest (you will probably need a quicktime plugin to view)

(Click the picture for a much better view. Great resolution of K2.)

K2 is another interesting mountain, which is said to be much tougher than Mt. Everest due to K2 being much more rocky and sheer from any angle. You can learn more about that at the K2 website.

RS

Grace Before Meals

I am not one to watch much TV (I don't even own one), but when I do visit my folks, I will find that when the TV does come on at home, I find myself watching the Food Network.

I learned quite a bit about cooking at the monastery in Norcia, so when I came back to the United States, I was able to do many more (and better) dishes. Since I am just a single guy living in an apartment, I can't exactly invite my homeschool-family friends over for dinner. Thus I have gone over to their houses and cooked for them on occasion.

While I was catching up on the posts over at the blog COSMOS-LITURGY-SEX, I came across an entry that mixes these ingredients together then adds a extra kick of priest (puns intended).

Now, my immediate reaction was, "this is going to be corny." However, I watched the trailer and found it to look quite interesting and entertaining, especially since his basis is getting the family together and encouraging that togetherness through meals. He also seems to have a great sense of humor.

You can see the trailer for his PBS show "Grace Before Meals."
(If the video is choppy, just let it get to the end and then refresh your browser window)

EDIT - Curt Jester also pointed out that there is a short pilot of the show too. It isn't a full episode, but I liked what I saw. He seems to have good taste as I noticed he had an Orvieto wine, and it looks like he does a lot of Italian type dishes.

Since we do Latin here too, I'll add the meal prayers for those who might be interested:

Prayer Before Meals
Bénedic, Dómine, nos et hæc tua dona, quæ de tua largitáte sumus sumptúri.
Per Christum Dóminum nostrum.
R. Amen.
Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.

Prayer After Meals
Ágimus tibi grátias, omnípotens Deus, pro univérsis benefíciis tuis. Qui vivis et regnas in saécula sæculórum.
R. Amen.
V. Fidélium animæ per misericórdiam Dei requiéscant in pace.
R. Amen.
We give Thee thanks, Almighty God, for all Thy benefits. You Who live and reign forever and ever.
R. Amen.
V. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
R. Amen.

Maybe I'll even post some of my own recipes on occasion.

True Freedom

"Dadwithnoisykids" has a great article on how he and his family made one July 4th very special by declairing independence from their television, over at his blog "scorpionstalkingduck."

Knowing him personally, I will say that he will be able to give you great amusement from a Catholic perspective, so check it out.