Wednesday, September 26th, A.D. 2007

Regular Religious News

“This was captured as I collected my things from airport security (Detroit Metro Concourse A). I think of it as something like a Rorschach test. Is an elderly Catholic nun being frisked by a Muslim security agent the celebration of blind justice? Or is it simply an admission of absurdity?” Via

POPE DEFENDS right of Muslims to change religion; Pope criticizes lack of religious liberty in Muslim countries. Tantrums, fresh Pope-Rage incoming? …. (mainstream, jihadwatch)

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Legions of the Dead

When you think about it, most of your relatives are dead. All those generations leading up to you? Pushing up daisies. Singing with the choir invisible (we hope).

Aside from the most recent few ranks, we know little but names and dates, if that. But each one a unique self, created by God, another such as you or me, living out life in various circumstances. Ours, yet their own.

Once in a while, one of the oldsters jumps into focus. For the Binkses, we think we got a couple ancestors from the 1500s figured out.

Meet Ewan Beag Cameron, and his “natural” son Donald “Taillear dubh na tuaighe” (Black Taylor of the [Lochaber] Axe).

Donald M’Ewen M’Connell or Donald MacEwen Bhig, known as the Taillear Dubh na Tuaighe, was one of the clan’s most colorful figures. As a child he was nursed by the wife of a tailor who lived at Blar na cleireach, near Lundavra, hence his by-name. Later he was brought up by MacLachlan of Coruanan, head of a tribe who were followers of Lochiel. He became an expert in the use of arms, and was particularly dexterous in the use of the Lochaber Axe, his favorite weapon. He grew up to be a brave and prudent man famed for his wit and sarcasm…

So my patrilineal line is part bastard Cameron of Lochiel, of toughness, wit, and sarcasm. Ours fought and fell at Culloden, and before, and since.

And while these internets are not a deftly handled hooked axe, perhaps they’ve a farther reach, aye?

Remember learn and pass on all about your old ones: without them, you’d be nought. May God bless and keep them safe, until That Great and Terrible Day, and then unto the broad uplands of heaven.

Binks

Thursday, September 20th, A.D. 2007

Regular Religious News

THESE GUYS NEED $$$, or they will close– “I am convinced of the good that the books published by Sophia Institute Press can do in helping people grow closer to God.” Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Here’s their catalogue …. (sophiainstitute)

JUST PUBLISHED: Walking thru Byzantium …. (byzantium1200)

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Gracious Goodness!

When not tormenting the Binklings or surfing the interwebs, this nerd enjoys combat simulations like Rome: Total War; and Battlefront’s Combat Mission series; not to mention Silent Hunter III* and IV [think Das Boot: The Game]. Video of SH-III is online via Youtube.

Yes, in addition to spiritual and interwebs interests, your Binky is a historian, war-nerd, and game-geek.

Mod-gods

But note: this ain’t PacMan. These are seriously accurate games, with deep historical roots and tougher-than-average gameplay. They demand patience, and want a steeper-than-average learning-curve. But more: hundreds of nerdy game-geeks and history-nerds out there make huge numbers of free game-modifications [ or ‘Mods’] which can change the look, music, gameplay, or even basic structure of the original games.

Thus Rome: Total War boast about 10 full revisions of the game, including the one I’m busy with now: the ancient world according to all the ‘barbarians’ and not only the Romans. Ancient history & famous battles come to life.. and more. Just of the love of it. Free.

More here

All of this means you can get off the game-treadmill of bigger and more flashy and machine-intensive games, and enjoy a game for 3-5 years or more. Of course, it takes patience to look about for interesting mods and tweaks, and to have the imagination to enjoy a game over a long time, but it’s worth it. To those who don’t computer-game, it’s like having your favourite series of novels to savour and re-read over the years: Patrick O’Brien and Tolkien spring to mind, amongst others.

History is to be pondered, corrected as needed, learned from and passed on– especially since so many of our current civilizational crises led up to– and stem from– the two World Wars that even now, we cannot see all of the forest for the trees. To see the hollowness of civilization in AD400 or 1914 or 1939 Europe, and the tide of war and totalitarianism and Cold War that ensued reminds me of the Eutopian muddle of 2007; to see the continuing contest of militant Caliphate Islam and Western civilization and Christianity, takes us back past the Crusades to the original Jihad boiling out of Arabia, and sweeping across the remaining Romano-Byzantine Empire. It’s not so far away, or long ago.

Under the eye of eternity, all of it is as a passing day, and the lives of men as a flicker: yet it is within our time and space, and through us and our human history, that God has been pleased to reveal himself in Christ Jesus, and within our passing empires and moments and choices to work out the coming of His Kingdom. Even us, here and now. Hence, this blog.

Binks

* Yes, U-Boats were a dreadful threat in the two world wars, and war is very, very bad. My own paternal Grandfather was torpedoed on a ship by the U-124— captained by this top ace, no less– on June 18th, 1942, but was lucky to survive. I get it.

Next Time: thinking about legions of dead people.

News Blogroll

Friday, September 14th, A.D. 2007

Regular Religious News

Persecution of Christians – kidnapping african girls

THE BENEDICTION of Children: “Bravo to the Pope and his recent plea that abortion should never be deemed a “human right” …. (spectator)

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Stray Thoughts

VIRTUALLY THERE… It’s not the same, but in lieu of being able to travel, the Flickr photo site (with a dash of wikipedia is a real blessing. Type in a
name or place or era or whatever, and somebody somewhere has pictures of it. So I’ve recently toured various Lochs and the Isle of Skye in Scotland, Rome and her catacombs, Hadrian & Anthony’s Walls, Roman aqueducts in Europe, the ruins of Persepolis, bits of Ireland.. and on it goes.

Sometimes it’s just following up on a curiousity-jag from a movie or TV-show or book. This Summer’s bookshelf has been full of scots author Nigel Tranter, and so your humble news-editor has been using pictures of Scottish castles, tower-forts, pictish ruins, misty lochs, bonny braes and historical sites for his desktop backgrounds.

For this would-be travelling Christian, I thank God for all the good photography and effort that goes into travel-books, photo-sites and historical webpages, so I can be where I cannot presently go.

Surely here is an image of our soul’s longing for God, and our citizenship in heaven while yet pilgrims here below: “Where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also,” says Our Saviour. We seek that bright and better land, our true homeland, though “as it is written, ‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him’…“

Binks

Saturday, September 8th, A.D. 2007

Regular Religious News

The persecution of the Church in China

THE BISHOP OF PERU blogs daily on earthquake recovery …. (skdiocese)

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