Wild Tangents
Marc talks about life in Nashville, life as a Catholic and life as a geek.

Well, it seems a winter storm has rolled through this part of the country. We decided to come back to Memphis early and it looks like that was the right thing to do. Here’s some pictures of what was dumped here.

Outside shot form my office window.

Another shot form the office window. I wasn’t sure how they would turn out, so I took two.

This is our back patio. You can see the bottom of the bike wheel is under the snow.

Another one from the back patio. You can see the fold-up chair and flip flop covered in snow.

Another one of the flip flop and the door step. It seems the snow has piled up against the wall and door.

This is the weird one. This is the staircase in the covered breezeway. You can see the snow piled up pretty heavily on the top step.

Another shot of the whole staircase.

Just a clue to the BBC, only deacons, priests and bishops are “ordained” in the Catholic Church. In this article, they clearly say that Blessed Alphonsa of Kerala was “ordained”. But what happens when a religious brother or sister becomes such is not referred to as “ordained”, but rather as taking a “profession of vows”.

She persisted with her religious vocation despite serious health problems, and in 1928, she was ordained, taking the name Sister Alphonsa.

[From BBC NEWS | South Asia | Vatican to canonise Indian woman]

Now while I am sure that no one from the BBC would stoop so low as to use the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the Oxford dictionary requires an account to look up words. So I’ll use MW instead. They define “ordain” as:

1: to invest officially (as by the laying on of hands) with ministerial or priestly authority

[From ordain - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary]

Other wise this was great article, until it got an agenda.

Indian Christians have been accused by hardline Hindu nationalists of “forced conversions” - especially among low-caste and tribal peoples.

They are also accused of making conversion to Christianity a condition for receiving treatment at medical centres they run.

[From BBC NEWS | South Asia | Vatican to canonise Indian woman]

UM…OK….While I don’t know if this may or may not be happening, I’m not sure what it has to do with the subject of this story. And, if it is happening, it is deplorable and what Christ wanted out of us. Our Blessed Lord offered the woman at the well the water of life before she converted, not after.

Just before lunch time today my mom called me with the sad news that my aunt Annette Malone passed away today. My mother was a single mom who worked hard to provide for herself and me. My aunts really lent a helping hand to here in raising me, so I am closer to them than most men probably are to their aunts.

But the kindness and generosity of my “Aunt Nett” didn’t stop with me or her family. She loved everyone she met with the same smile and generosity she would extend to her own flesh and blood. She always put others needs above her own.

My Aunt Nett suffered from Purpura almost her whole adult life, but she never let it get her down. She charged forth and lived her life to the fullest. She especially never let this disease stop her from helping other people. When it started to hurt, she just pushed herself harder.

Most importantly my Aunt Nett was a woman of great faith. Even with all the adversity she faced in her life, she never lost her faith. She loved God and went to church every Sunday.

So to say she exemplified the Christian virtues of Faith Hope and Charity is an understatement. She is an example wold could follow right to Heaven. I want to see my Aunt Net again, so now I have one more reason to “finish the race” as Saint Paul tells us. But now we also have one more helper in that could of witnesses. With surety in my heart, I know that my Aunt Nett is also Saint Nett.

So what you may not know yet is that I got an iPhone yesterday. That was precipitated by being at a customer site that didn’t provide internet access. There were a number of research items I needed to do on the internet that I couldn’t because of the lack of connectivity from my laptop. That’s how I justified it anyway.

So one of the cool features of this little gadget is the ability to add custom ringtones to your contacts. The ringtones can be song clips and they can be different for each contact. So I set a ringtone for calls from my wife Suzette to be “Lovesong”, by The Cure. I tweeted about it later and got at least one response from Tupelo Rob with what he had set as his ringtone for his wife Kristen. That got me to thinking that this might be an interesting topic for discussion. So I put it out to you all, what would your custom ringtone be for your spouse or significant other?

Check it out. Here is a screen grab from the Official “Lost” Podcast’s recent behind the scenes vidcast. During the intro with Chris White, you can see a load of “Lost schwag”. But one thing is very out of place……or is it?

You’ll notice I’ve circled what appears to be a Luke and Laura lunchbox. There was a plot line in General Hospital where Luke and Laura were on a tropical island. I really remember it that well since I was a youngster and it was really my grandmother who watched General Hospital, not me….I swear….

Can anyone fill in the blanks on this plot line? Anyone else have any theories as why this lunchbox would be there? I mean c’mon. A “Luke and Laura” lunchbox can’t be that common. They must have put it there on purpose. I’m also not sure what the comic book looking thing is on the top self. Anybody got a clue?

pictures, scifi, tv, lost

Words escape me, except “Good job Dr. Paul!”

Check out SQPN for all the great Catholic podcasts yo can get on your iPhone.

Technorati Tags: Catholic, podcast, SQPN

Not since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand has a single volley of gunshots so threatened world peace. If Pakistan falls into civil war, what happens to their nuclear arsenal? What will countries like India, Russia and the NATO countries do to ensure those nukes don’t fall into the wrong hands? This could get very ugly, very fast. Let’s pray that cooler heads prevail this time.

Technorati Tags: news, war

I know I talked bad about this show before it even came out. That was my mistake. Journeyman has been a joy to watch. I really like how they’ve woven the mythology of the time travel into the present day, how Dan’s actions in the past have an impact on his life and his family in the present. Plus, this is one of those shows that just makes you wonder what’s going on, much like Jericho and of course Lost.

I just really hate they’ve decided to cancel. I want to know what’s going on…..

Technorati Tags: 00’s, geek, journeyman, timetravel, scifi, tv