Things we like about the USA II

Things we like about the USA II
Originally uploaded by berenike.

Franciscan monastery in D.C.: can't find a photo to do it justice. Marvellous. Marvellous. Marvellous.

Things we like about the USA

stewieandrupert
Originally uploaded by berenike.

Stewie. My hero.

Toilets

Preliminary survery results suggest that all public toilets in the USA are
equipped with a gap on one or both sides of the cubicle door: whether this
is for the entertainment of those in the queue (for looking into) as
believed by Mr Twit, or for that of those on the potty, (for looking out
of), is not yet established. Scientists are also puzzled by the provision
of a bath-sized quantity of water to pee into, which in some cases prevents
the adoption of the standard "silent peeing" techniques of Old World toilet
users that were developed for use with the Central European "sample
collection shelf" toilet or the "handy slope at the front or back" model
common in the UK and much of West-Central Europe. Old World users in the
USA have been observed (through the "observation gap") adopting innovative
ways of dealing with the problem. A further stage in the project will be to
discover whether noisy peeing is considered something to be avoided by
natives, and if so, how they avoid it.

Christmas Card for Salzburgers

Here is a card sent to every household in Salzburg by Youth for Life, featuring the Socialist head honchette of the Salzburgerland who is arranging for abortions to be done at public cost in the Land. The link takes you to the full story, including a picture of the Socialist Youth banner that inspired the cartoon.

Mr Twit conducting ornithological research: a source says that it may not have occurred to him that toilet-door-gaps, like windows, may be for looking out of, not for looking in to.

Pleasing stories of Our Lady

Here is a page with short accounts of the origins of various Marian titles and images in Latin America. A lot of statues just turn up: one chap is lying down for the night and somethign keeps digging into his back: ecco, a statue of Our Lady. Two boys are in a boat and something floats towards them: a statue of Our Lady. A woman is walking along minding her own business and finds a statue of Our Lady, which keeps getting lost and turns up always in the same spot. Some merchants find a box on the beach which turns out to contain . . .

Virgen Dolorosa de La Recoleccion

Virgen Dolorosa de La Recoleccion
Originally uploaded by berenike.

A.N. image of Our Lady from Latin America. Aren't they lovely?

Once more, the "modest clothing" phenomenon. If you were ginger striped, would you choose polka dots?

Some things one doesn't need to parody

This is great, go and giggle now. An sample:

"At the closing liturgy, the three bishops concelebrated Mass in stoles covered in colourful felt pictures of Gospel scenes made in one of the workshops. It was a vivid sign of communion."

Here is the article, "Straight-talking Church", from the website of Clifton Diocese. Suddenly St Andrew's and Edinburgh looks a lot more appealing.

Joint-master of Buccleuch cleared of hunting accusation

This'll be that well-drafted law they passed recently, then. Hee hee, nae joy.

A HUNTSMAN was today cleared of breaking Scotland’s fox hunting ban.

In what was considered a test case, Sheriff Kevin Drummond ruled Trevor Adams, 46, had not broken the law introduced in 2002.

The court ruled that the former master of the Buccleuch Hunt was searching for foxes and not hunting, when he led a party chasing them with a pack of dogs. The party had gunmen ready to shoot the foxes when they were cornered.

Procrastination material for doctoral students

Cow-milking (thanks to HSB)

Pingu-throw (can't remember who sent me this)

Nice Picture III

Our future leaders

A friend forwards me an email from a girl with whom she shares an office at one of the country's top universities (a Scots yin):

Sarah, this you have to see, one of my students used info from this webpage
to answer a question on Iona.

http://www.reformation.org/page2.html

Fill in your own comments.

Katie Grant on the rudest word

Namely abstinence.

I was told once by a chap who used to work with some sex-ed promoting office in Glasgow or Edinburgh that the folk he worked with knew that the "more information, more condoms" approach had failed, and openly said that this was not their concern, the important thing was to make sure those who argued against them were not allowed to "win".

Article is here.

POD things to do in Rome #2

Visit the Museum of the Souls in Purgatory: in the church of the Sacred Heart, that Neo-gothicky thing almost exactly opposite the FSSP church: Lungotevere Prati 12. Open more or less from 6:30-11 and 5-6:30.

POD things to do in Rome #1

POD things to do in Rome #1: get your shoes mended by the man who made Bl. John XXIII's slippers (as pictured).

Scots graffiti in Rome

"MCCCCLXVII quidam Scoti hic fuerunt"

(Catacombs of Saint Callixtus)

"Partick Thistle"

(Desk at back of a lecture hall in the Greg)

Euthanising babies

Read this.

Life not worth living

A woman suffering from a muscle-wasting condition has described her fear of
euthanasia in an article in The Times. Jane Campbell described being too
afraid to sleep for 48 hours when she was hospitalised with severe
pneumonia
because the doctors kept assuming that she would not want to be put on a
ventilator if she suffered respiratory failure. Commenting on the Assisted
Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill which is currently being debated in the
House of Lords, she writes: "While the Bill aims to address the needs of
patients in the last stage of their lives, I am concerned about the
underlying message that death is the preferable solution for people
severely
incapacitated or in pain." [The Times of London, 2 December]

An quote

There is a question whether faith can or is supposed to be
emotionally satisfying. I must say that the thought of everyone lolling
about in an emotionally satisfying faith is repugnant to me … What
people don't realise is how much religion costs. They think faith is a
big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.

Flannery O'Connor