I am currently doing a bit of link cleaning. In my todo queue, I came across one entry that wasn't like the rest.

2008-07-26 - no leftovers

If I recall correctly, on that day almost a year ago, I got Chinese food with my family and there were no leftovers, a fact which amazed me so much that I put it on my list of things to blog about. And by coincidence, a year later I came across the entry.

I sense some Chinese food in my future. Woulnd't want to upset fate by not going for it.

Labels: fun, history, random

Even before discovering his Jewish background, Weksler-Waszkinel had harbored doubts about his true identity. The young man had been aware of the fact that he did not have the pronounced Slavic features of his parents. He had been called "a Jew bastard" by town drunks, so he asked his mother if he was Jewish. She assured him that he was Catholic. When he was 35, long after his ordination, he again inquired about his identity, and Emilia, weeping, told him about his Jewish mother.

Emilia told Weksler-Waszkinel that he had wonderful parents who were murdered by the Germans in the Holocaust and that she had saved his life.

. . .

Weksler-Waszkinel's case for automatic Israeli citizenship seems to be stronger than that of Rufeisen in one respect: He could argue that he never did, in fact, "embrace" another religion. Unlike the Polish-born Carmelite monk, who converted as an adult to Catholicism after finding shelter from the Nazis in a convent, Weksler-Waszkinel never consciously chose to leave Judaism for another faith. He argues that he considers himself a Jew who was raised from infancy as a Catholic without being informed of his true identity.

In terms of complicated identities, this has to take the cake.

Labels: catholic, jewish

Looks like Fr. Fessio has been fired from AMU for the second time. That place is really strange beyond my understanding.

Labels: catholic, teaching

Note to self - probably not a good idea to revoke people's rights to read books about revoking people's rights.

Amazon Uses up the World's Irony

Orwell in 2009: Dystopian Rights Management

An analogy of sorts:

"This is precisely the functional equivalent of Barnes & Noble -- or Amazon itself for that matter -- using a crowbar or lock pick to break into your home or business, then stealing back a previous physical book purchase, replacing it with the equivalent value in cash," said privacy advocate Lauren Weinstein in an e-mail message posted to the Interesting People mailing list.

Labels: philosophy, technology

When Rabbi Simcha Zissel of Kelm (1824-1898) would wake up his young children in the morning, he would gently say to them, "Children, wake up. You have a kingdom to rule. The Almighty gave humans command over the entire creation" (Hameoros Hagdolim, cited in Growth Through Torah, p. 144).

Labels: charity, family, jewish, religion

Even if someone has it coming, it may not be a good idea to give it to them.

Labels: work

From Hacker News:

In this particular case, Wells Fargo holds the first and second mortgages on a condominium, according to Sarasota, Fla., attorney Dan McKillop, who represents the condo owner.

As holder of the first, Wells Fargo is suing all other lien holders, including the holder of the second, which is itself.

"The primary reason is to clear title and ownership interest in a property to prepare it for sale," Waetke said in an email exchange. "So it really is not Wells Fargo vs. Wells Fargo."

Yet court documents clearly label "Wells Fargo Bank NA" as the plaintiff and "Wells Fargo Bank NA" as a defendant.

. . .

"Defendant admits that it is the owner and holder of a mortgage encumbering the subject real property," the answer reads. "All other allegations of the complaint are denied."

Labels: humor

Being a "protesting Catholic" - it's called being Protestant.

I had zero tolerance for folk masses, anti-abortion diatribes, ecclesiastical greed, rote reciters of scripture and congregants who refused to sing. (After all, as St. Augustine said, “singing is twice praying.”)

Two notes. Firstly, if you don't agree with the core moral issues of the Church, I think you may have some issues with the rest of it. The Episcopals might be right up your alley. Secondly, I believe Augustine said "singing well is twice praying", though my Google-foo is weak tonight.

Labels: catholic

Sometimes reality is so strange that there's not much you can say.

Some members of the congregation may believe that, said Constance Guice-Mills, a member of the church. “But his focus on personal salvation, on the individual, was diametrically opposed to the tradition of Riverside. Here, we believe you achieve salvation by doing social justice. Out in the world. And we have people from all backgrounds. Buddhists.”

So in summary - a movement that started as a revolt against traditions on top of Scripture has now ejected a pastor for following Scripture and not the traditions of the church.

Incidentally why is it a church and not say a Rotary Club at that point. Anywho.

Labels: Bible, church, religion, scripture

I guess the point is that A), it's noble, and B), it's hard to outsource being a plumber to India. Not to mention that it's satisfying to work with your hands.

Maybe I'm in the wrong line of work.

Labels: trends, work