I told you this was going to happen! Don’t trust cows! Sure, they look stupid, but it’s a nefarious (I love that word) disguise!
As he crossed a field while walking his dog near his home in Brighton, England, in October, police Inspector Chris Poole, 50, was attacked by about 50 cows. He spent 11 days in the hospital, recovering from the butting and stomping, which cost him four broken bones, a severed artery and a punctured lung. [BBC News, 10-29-07]
HT: KingDavid.
The Nights before Christmas, 2007' to Del.icio.us" alt="Add 'The Nights before Christmas, 2007' to digg" alt="Add 'The Nights before Christmas, 2007' to reddit" alt="Add 'The Nights before Christmas, 2007' to Stumble Upon" alt="Add 'The Nights before Christmas, 2007' to Google Bookmarks" alt="Add 'The Nights before Christmas, 2007' to Ask" alt="Add 'The Nights before Christmas, 2007' to FaceBook" alt="Add 'The Nights before Christmas, 2007' to Barrapunto" alt="Add 'The Nights before Christmas, 2007' to MySpace" alt="Add 'The Nights before Christmas, 2007' to Twitter" alt="Add 'The Nights before Christmas, 2007' to Social Bookmarking Reloaded" alt="Add 'Doug Mientkiewicz says: I wish I’d thought of that.
“The Eternal Being, who knows everything and created the whole universe, became, not only man, but before that a baby, and before that a foetus inside a woman’s body. If you want to get the hang of it, think how you would like to become a slug or crab.”
— C.S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity
Among Christmas carols, I’ve always rather liked the “Carol of the Bells” song, either with words or as an instrumental. It’s not an especially spiritual song, but it’s catchy and pleasant in a way that “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” isn’t (and whatever we’ve done to deserve this song, hasn’t the statute of limitations expired by now?). I’ve noticed, however, how over-exposed “Carol of the Bells” is getting as it’s been co-opted by TV commercials.
I’ve heard it many times with different commercials but can only remember three specifically: the two Garmin commercials, which I kind of like (love the “There’s that moose again!” and “Got a unibrow” lines) and the Hyundai “Holi-duh” ad because it is so nauseatingly obnoxious that I made a point of remembering who the advertiser was so I could never buy their cars. I knew there were others, but I couldn’t remember the products (a sign of bad advertising) so I Googled the subject so I could list them in a post I wanted to write.
It turns out, someone has beat me to it. Check out Christine’s post over at The Motley Yule. She says just about everything I wanted to say and more.
An interesting, behind-the-scenes tidbit from The Writer’s Almanac about the Bill of Rights:
It was on this day (December 15) in 1791 that the Bill of Rights was adopted by the United States, thanks in part to a man who hasn’t gotten a lot of credit, George Mason. He was a lifelong friend of George Washington’s who wasn’t interested in politics, but when Washington was named Commander of the Continental Army, George Mason reluctantly took over his friend’s seat on the Virginia legislature. And then Mason was assigned by chance to the committee to write the new state constitution.
Mason had read the philosopher John Locke, and he liked Locke’s idea that all people are born with certain rights, and that government’s purpose should be to protect those rights. George Mason believed that the best way to protect those rights would be to list them in the constitution itself. And so he put together Virginia’s “Declaration of Rights,” the first government document in history that specified the absolute rights of individuals. Mason’s ideas about rights and freedom influenced a 25-year-old legislator named James Madison, who passed them along to his friend Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson would go on to use Mason’s ideas in his own draft of the Declaration of Independence.
Mason was asked to participate in the Constitutional Convention after the war, but he disagreed with the other delegates on numerous issues, especially slavery, which he thought should be outlawed in the new constitution. He fought for the inclusion of a list of rights, like the “Declaration of Rights” in the Virginia Constitution, but his idea for a bill of rights failed by a wide margin.
And so, when it came time to sign to the new U.S. Constitution, George Mason was one of the only men there who refused. He said, “I would sooner chop off [my] right hand than put it to the Constitution as it now stands.” His decision ruined his friendship with George Washington. The two men never called on each other again. But he hoped that his protest would encourage an eventual passage of a bill of rights, and it did. His former protege, James Madison, introduced the Bill of Rights into the first session of Congress in 1789, and Madison used Virginia’s Declaration of Rights as the model.
Even with the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution didn’t provide full citizenship to blacks or women, among others, and it has had to be amended again and again over the years. But when we think of what it means to have a free country, most of our ideas about the meaning of freedom come from those first 10 amendments, adopted on this day in 1791, which include the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, and the right to a fair trial. George Mason died in 1792, a year after those freedoms and rights became law.
I’ve heard this story — or parts of it, anyway — before, and I’ve posted about this as well, but the history stirs me. There are well-known heroes from the founding of our country such as Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, et al who capture the imagination and even inspire some of us to think about what it would have been like to be so-and-so, or to aspire to that kind of historical significance for ourselves in our own time.
My own aspiration, however, would be to be more like a George Mason, where the Cause or the Idea lives on even if one’s name fades from the knowledge of all but the most scholarly. I imagine Mason, inspired by the Vision of what could be and the unique opportunity at-hand, devoting his time, energy and treasure to the pursuit of creating not just a new kind of government but a new kind of human existence. I see him working with the great minds and characters of the day to bring the concept to fruition, only at the last, to see the vision defaced and even crippled.
How long, I wonder, did he pray and agonize over his decision to sign or not sign the Constitution? Or was it a simple decision of honor and conviction that hardly required a moment’s hesitation? Think of the pressures put on him by the other delegates, many who may have shared his views, but urged him to be “practical” or to be satisfied with what was already a remarkable achievement, or tried to discourage him from his “meaningless” protest that couldn’t stop what was already decided! What would I have done in that circumstance? What would you have done?
What difference would his signature then have made in our lives today? What our lives would be like if so much of what we now take for granted had not been enumerated, and what would happen should these ever cease to be defended. Let us think of what is at stake if we are encouraged to be “practical” or urged to refrain from our meaningless protests.
The Mall Diva posted about Eclectica a couple of weeks ago and, being both a proud father and a marketing guru, I just had to get the word out again about this coming Sunday’s show.
Eclectica is the name of a Christmas program that the Diva and her good friend, Princess FlickerFeather, conceived of several months ago. They found some scripts for skits, selected music, actors and other performers and worked up their own choreography for the program. They then broke the cast into three groups, with each group rehearsing one night a week for the past two months. As the producers, however, the Diva and Princess have had to be at all three rehearsals each week. There are certain compensations, however: I wonder if it’s coincidence that the Mall Diva’s sister, Tiger Lilly, has the most uncomfortable costume?
It is a Christmas program about the true meaning of Christmas, which you know is an important topic around this blog, and I’ve heard reports of some very talented performances at the rehearsals; including, I’m told, an impressive turn as a camel by a certain MOBster not related to me. The show is this Sunday night, December 16, at 6 p.m., with cookies and refreshments to follow.
Where: The Miracle Centre Church
125 21st Ave. S., S. St. Paul, MN 55075
Admission is free!
Last week I wrote that I was working on a “doozy” of post that was taking me longer than I expected to write. I’ve continued to struggle with it for several days, and it’s kind of a strange experience. The topic is one that I care deeply about and where I have strong opinions and many examples to share, yet I feel as if I’m a bee batting against a window: I can clearly see where I want to go, but I just can’t get there.
I’ve finally come to the conclusion that for whatever reason, or purpose, this is just not the time. I don’t have peace with it, and when that happens (seldom in my blogging career, but often enough in other areas) I’ve learned it’s better to let it bide.
Meanwhile, the struggles I’ve had with this topic have kept me from getting some other posts done that are bouncing around. Enough unproductivity. I’m going to put this troublesome topic aside for now and move on. I think tomorrow I will tell you the story about the end of an era.
This is a very busy week both at home and at work, and the work hours are slopping over into the non-work hours, and the non-work hours are eating well into the sleeping hours, leaving some rather dis-jointed blogging minutes. All while I’m working on what I think is going to turn out to be a pretty long, controversial, behind-the-scenes post. One that I’ve started to write many times and set aside. I write this part now as a way to commit myself to following through.
Why now? It has something to do with this, but that’s not the main reason. You’ll see. I hope to get it posted yet this week.
If that’s not enough of a tease, just wait until Friday: the ladies are planning another “live blog” of one of their coffee chats!
MD: Mom, do you know where my keys are?
RM: You just started your car with them.
MD: Oh, ha ha.
RM: I thought I was the one getting older.
NW: Oooo, blog fodder.
MD: Unh uh.
And so it is.