Episcopal Church Prays for AIDS to spread?

From here and other places:


Early reports indicate that the proposed changes to the liturgy that The Episcopal Church will consider at its General Convention this summer will include a "Litany for the Planet" that contains this prayer:

On eukaryotes and prokaryotes, archaea and viruses; on microbes of endless variety, the complex and the simple, Creator have mercy.

I thought that The Episcopal church had lost its ability to surprise me.  I have grown so used to its godless innovations and overturning of sound doctrine and worship, that I thought I'd "seen everything", as the phrase goes.

But the proposed inclusion of a blessing on viruses (not on those who suffer the ravages of viruses, but on the tiny creatures themselves) has proven me wrong.  There is no limit to the insanity of The Episcopal church. 

One can only assume that this is a petition which asks God, among other things, to bless and propagate the common cold and the AIDS virus.  Most interesting.

Weight Training for Women over 40.

If this video is not able to convince women over 40 to train with weights, then I don't think anything really can.

At right in this still from the video is Cynthia Bridges, who was the model for one of my paintings (below):

And here is the short YouTube video.  Time to visit the gym, ladies!

You Verbing Noun-of-a-Noun!

Dark Benedition, a collection of science fiction stories by Walter M. Miller, Jr., has a great deal to commend it.  I am nearly through reading the collection, which has many great stories.

One little unexpected gem was from a story called The Lineman, in which one character insults another with this most genericized insult of all time:

You Verbing Noun-of-a-Noun!

I thought that was mighty clever.

A Collect Against Identity Theft

I tend to worry about a lot of things.  Prayer helps me not to worry so much.  

And, to be honest, the Book of Common Prayer has most of the worries of life pretty well covered.  But in cases where modern life has spawned new fears, troubles, and dangers, I sometimes compose new Collect prayers.

Here is one, which beseeches God to deliver us from identity theft.  I humbly submit this for consideration for inclusion whenever the next legitimate BCP revision occurs!

O Almighty Father, who didst identify with mankind in the Incarnation of thy blessed son Jesus, vouchsafe to keep us from the trouble of identity theft; and, that we may spend our days in tranquility, grant to the perpetrators of the same repentance and the grace to find their true identity in thee. Amen.

Chevrolet = Volt Cheer

As I was getting ready to exit westbound I-696 at Southfield Road this morning, the van in front of me suddenly started blazing amber warning lights.  As I tapped the brakes, I saw that it was one of those rescue vans, such as gets sent out by AAA to rescue stranded motorists.  The driver was slowing down the vehicle and pulling it over to the curb.

What I saw next filled me with cheer, for the stranded vehicle was none other than a Chevrolet Volt with a dead battery!  The first of many such dead Volt sightings I hope to make.

My reasons for hating electric vehicles (and hybrids) are many, and I don't intend to document them in this blog entry.  But I wanted to document my first sighting of a Volt owner who tried to go just a little too far on his battery, and got stranded.

One wonders if the buyers of the Volt and of BEVs in general take into account all the towing expenses they will face, when making their cost-benefit analyses in advance of the purchase?

Saving the Stick Shift, One Driver at a Time

Here is an article about a gentleman on a crusade to save the manual transmission.  I like this guy!  In a day when drivers are lazier and lazier, and want the car to do more and more of the driving for them, manual transmission drivers are a breed apart.

Eddie Alterman is the top editor at Car and Driver magazine. He doesn't mind being called a gearhead. His whole career, he’s watched the sales of cars with stick shifts decline. And when Ferrari failed to offer a manual option for the new 458 Italia, he said, enough’s enough. Basta.


Alterman is going to do something about it, even if he has to convert people one by one.
On a warm and windy day in mid-March, he meets Julia Espinosa in a high school parking lot in Ann Arbor, to give the University of Michigan student her first lesson in driving a manual transmission.
Espinosa says, ever since her uncle regaled her with tales of touring the back roads of England as a young man, she’s wanted to learn how to drive a real car. You know, one with a stick.

Espinosa: "So the clutch pedal needs to be depressed completely before it’s going to engage? or you said half way." Alterman: "About halfway and you will feel that engagement point."

Then, like millions of new drivers before her, Espinosa stalls the car. A second time. And a third.

Alterman doesn't get upset - at all. After all, the car that's being used for the lesson is a company fleet car, a new Focus, driven in for this lesson by Ford's Chris Terry.

"Put a little more gas in," Alterman coaches gently.

And, lo and behold on the fourth try, the angels of the road sing. Espinosa starts the car and begins moving slowly down the parking lot.

Alterman whoops, "You did it! Now to get into second gear…"

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

A casual word from the Deacon after Palm Sunday services at the Anglican parish we were visiting led to our discovery of the Crystal Bridges Museum of Modern Art in nearby Bentonville, Arkansas.

According to this Wikipedia article, the museum officially opened its doors to the public on November 11, 2011.  As I remarked to my family, it still has that "new museum smell".   It has gained its permanent collection quite quickly and, according to the Wikipedia article, must now be ranked among the top half dozen art museums in the United States.  It was built largely with donations from Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, who has reportedly donated $317 million to the project.

The architecture of Crystal Springs, by Moshe Safdie, is pleasing, with a very modern feel.  The grounds, though I only saw a small fraction, seem immaculately kept, and their are 7 or 8 walking trails that visitors may use.  Admission to the museum is currently free!

I was very impressed with the permanent collection, and to give you a small flavor of that, I will share some of the photos I took.  Photography is allowed in the museum as long as it is without using a flash or a tripod.

Enjoy!!