Tags -- I'm it!

I've been making a lot of posts on this blog, but most of them have involved forwarding articles that pique my interest or curiosity. A lot of these articles are ones I decide I want to be able to find later.

I have a number of tags I've used over the years, intended to make it easier to find posts on certain hot topics.

I just looked in on the blog today and realized I've let too many posts stand without tagging.

The first step is to assign the "*untagged" status to everything with no tags at all (since Blogger doesn't have a way to filter the display to only posts with no tags), and then start editing the ones that only say "*untagged" to give them the tags they deserve.

In a lot of cases, I'm also going in to posts that have only a link and posting an excerpt of the linked piece.

This should be enough work to keep me busy for quite a while.

Wheel of the Year

Here, within this circle, we shall learn the dance of the Lady, Mother of all things, and her beloved, the Lord of Death and Resurrection.

This dance is ancient beyond time, yet eternally new. It is the dance of atoms and of particles that flicker in and out of existence in a wink. It is the dance of the sun and the moon. It is the stately dance of galaxies in their courses. It is the birth and death of our universe itself - the breath of the Gods. This is the unbroken circle, the Wheel of the Year. The circle is never broken, and its movement is never-ending.

....

The tale of the Lord and Lady is told again and again by every voice in all of time and space. Everything in the universe, from the largest to the smallest, relates the story in its own way and its own time. Their story rings across space and time, and in all the worlds that spin their way through eternity.

We shall follow this dance, in its many intricate steps. Indeed, we shall see this dance as many different dances, woven together into a tapestry of space and time, of light and life, and of mystery. We shall follow the story of birth and growth, of discovery and mastery, of age, ripeness, and decay. We shall pursue the twin mysteries of death and resurrection, and of love, without which none of the other mysteries would take place.

(From the introduction)

Wheel of the Year - Now an e-book

The Wheel of the Year

This book is an exploration of the Wiccan Wheel of the year – the eight festivals of the year. This started out as a series of essays on The Witches' Voice. When I printed them out for a friend who was asking about Wiccan holidays, I realized I had the makings of a book.

The book is now available for Kindle users.

---

By the way, you don't have to buy the physical device. You can download a reader for your computer.

Mojave Red Beer

With the boycott declared against Whole Foods, I decided to go and buy some Mojave Red beer. I'd forgotten how good that stuff was.

Liz Throws a hissy fit

Elizabeth Becton doesn't like being called "Liz".

She really, really, really doesn't like it.

If you want to score a meeting with Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), know this: His scheduler/office manager, Elizabeth Becton, is to be addressed by her full name — not Liz or any other variant.

An executive assistant at McBee Strategic recently learned this the hard way. A few weeks ago, the assistant e-mailed Becton seeking a meeting with McDermott and a client, JPMorgan Chase. Days later, the assistant checked back in and unfortunately began the e-mail with "Hi Liz." 

Becton curtly replied, "Who is Liz?"

When the assistant wrote back with an apology, Becton turned up the heat. "I do not go by Liz. Where did you get your information?" she asked. 

The back-and-forth went on for 19 e-mails, with the assistant apologizing six times if she had "offended" Becton, while Becton lectured about name-calling.

A while ago, I decided to adopt as a policy that you get one apology per minor offense.  If that's not sufficient, that becomes your problem.  Now this isn't for something major like a broken bone or a wrecked car, but if you take offense over a mode of address, and refuse to accept an apology, I have to conclude it's because you enjoy taking offense.

I'm more than happy to oblige.

I'm listed on Amazon

Wow! My book has been selected for listing on Amazon!

Well, I suspect that's become the default option for all books published through Lulu, but it's kind of nice to see it become an option.

Happy Birthday!

You know who you are.

 

You can quote me on that!

Many times, I've seen brilliant quotes attributed to people who didn't invent them -- for example, "We've established what you are, now we're haggling over the price" has been attributed to George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, and Winston Churchill.  Only one of those could be the originator of that quote.  In light of this, I've decided to attribute all quotes to Edwin Meeks, a file clerk in a couting house in Surrey. He may never have existed, in fact, he probly didn't.  This makes him a great target for attributing quotes.

 

So from now on, unless I'm absolutely certain who came up with that wonderful quote, I'll lay it at the feet of Edwin Meeks.

Hi, all!

Did you miss me?
I've been working at the Loscon science fiction convention all weekend.  I was running the hospitality suite for about 1000 people. It was an incredible amount of work, and I put in 10-hour shifts Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
But it seems to have been a success.
I'm on vacation today and tomorrow, to recover.
And back to blogging.....

One of those days.

The Power Of The Dog

 

by Rudyard Kipling

 

There is sorrow enough in the natural way

From men and women to fill our day;

And when we are certain of sorrow in store,

Why do we always arrange for more?

Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware

Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

 

Buy a pup and your money will buy

Love unflinching that cannot lie--

Perfect passion and worship fed

By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.

Nevertheless it is hardly fair

To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

 

When the fourteen years which Nature permits

Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,

And the vet's unspoken prescription runs

To lethal chambers or loaded guns,

Then you will find--it's your own affair--

But...you've given your heart for a dog to tear.

 

When the body that lived at your single will,

With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!);

When the spirit that answered your every mood

Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,

You will discover how much you care,

And will give your heart for the dog to tear.

 

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,

When it comes to burying Christian clay.

Our loves are not given, but only lent,

At compound interest of cent per cent.

Though it is not always the case, I believe,

That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:

For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,

A short-time loan is as bad as a long--

So why in Heaven (before we are there)

Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

I've been surveyed!

For those who have never heard of anyone who actually gets surveyed, I've just been surveyed.

This was a pretty straightfoward survey on issues and who I intend to vote for. There was none of the "are you sure you haven't changed your mind" that I detected with the marriage amendment survey.

Unfortunately, one of the features of Los Angeles is that if you don't know how to pronounce Spanish names, you're going to have trouble with our Mayor's name.

I think I got him fairly close to being able to pronounce the Mayor's name. And that of the Secretary of State.

When all was said and done, he thanked me for being the first to respond to his survey.

I almost wasn't. I almost didn't pick up the phone.

Old Technology

I was talking with a friend after a LASFS meeting yesterday, and the conversation turned to Thomas Edison and his famous quote, "I haven't had a thousand failures, I've discovered a thousand ways not to make a light bulb." (Or whatever the number is.)

I mentioned the other accidental discovery Edison made, when he ran a cold wire next to a hot filament. He discovered electricity would flow from the hot filament to the cold wire.

This "Edison Effect" turned out to be useful in circuits. If you wanted current to flow in only one direction, you cold put one of these bulbs in the circuit, and current would flow from the hot wire to the cold one, but not the other way. This gadget would be named, variously, a "valve", and eventually, a "diode".

If you put a grid between the two wires, you could change how much electricity got from the hot wire to the cold one at any given voltage. One of the applications was that, if you got the voltages right, you could impose a weak signal on the current going into the grid, and you would get a strong signal imposed on the current coming through the diode. (Well, now a "triode", because it has three elements.)

My friend realized, with some astonishment, that Edison had accidentally invented at least two major industries, radio and computers.

I took electronics in college in the early 80s, at which time vacuum tubes were relegated to an appendix in the textbook. Does anyone still study the things nowadays?

It's here!

Sort of...

I pre-ordered Secret Voyage at the end of May. It was supposed to be available in the States on the 15^th. Someone posted the entire disc (apparently the German version) online on the 8^th, and I downloaded it soon thereafter.

It's quite good, and I look forward to receiving the disc itself.

I also recommend it to one and all.

Another test

This is a test.
Hopefully, this will be bolded.
And hopefully, this will be in italics.

Link Whorage

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher's Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around... per the Watcher's instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.
Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

More readers of my stuff.

The bumping of this thread afforded me the opportunity to take advantage of FreeSeeker's link to the Karl Lembke essay. (Thanks FreeSeeker.) Oddly, although I am a self-professed word junkie, it had never occurred to me to plumb the definitions of the words in The Rede. How very intriguing. Lembke states: ""Bide" does not mean "obey". It means "endure"." That piqued my interest, so I looked it up. Following is Merriam-Webster's online offering:

Main Entry: bide
Pronunciation: 'bId
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): bode /'bOd/; or bid·ed; bided; bid·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English bIdan; akin to Old High German bItan to wait, Latin fidere to trust, Greek peithesthai to believe
Date: before 12th century
transitive senses
1 past usually bided : to wait for -- used chiefly in the phrase bide one's time
2 archaic : WITHSTAND
3 chiefly dialect : to put up with : TOLERATE
intransitive senses
1 : to continue in a state or condition
2 : to wait awhile : TARRY
3 : to continue in a place : SOJOURN

M-W, indeed, confirmed Mr. Lembke's statement with meaning 2. However, I suspect that it also may be a contraction or variation of the more common abide with the following definition:

Main Entry: abide
Pronunciation: &-'bId
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): abode /-'bOd/; or abid·ed; abid·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English AbIdan, from A-,perfective prefix + bIdan to bide; akin to Old High German ir-,perfective prefix
Date: before 12th century
transitive senses
1 : to wait for : AWAIT
2 a : to endure without yielding : WITHSTAND b : to bear patiently : TOLERATE
3 : to accept without objection
intransitive senses
1 : to remain stable or fixed in a state
2 : to continue in a place : SOJOURN
synonym see BEAR, CONTINUE
- abid·er noun
- abide by 1 : to conform to 2 : to acquiesce in

This being the case, perhaps we are being called on to endure or withstand or bear patiently the Rede, or perhaps it derives from the intransitive sense of both bide and abide: sojourn or dwell, i.e., live. As in "where do you abide?" or as some of us who were raised in the Christian tradition might remember, "Abide with Me." Thus our charge might be to live the Rede.

Beyond the denotation, however, isn't the etymology fascinating? Akin to German: to wait; Latin: to trust; and Greek: to believe. Of course, as we know, the word "rede," although related to "read" as a verb, means "counsel" or "advice" in its nominative sense, as used here.

As such, perhaps we are also being called on not only to endure, but also to wait, trust, and believe —- and live — the Wiccan counsel or advice. Hmmm. Think on that. Isn't that lovely? Though I can't explain why, I find those words very comforting. (and very challenging).

My articles get around

The long form of the Rede is traditional, at least in the sense of the term which means "I think I've covered up all traces that I made it up last Tuesday". It appears to be a collection of law and lore which would apply to at least one line of Witches. In particular, the line from which came one Lady Gwen, who founded the New England Coven of Traditional Witches (NECTW).

...

From: Karl Lembke probably published in 'Pagan Ink", although this was received through private channels.

More on Imbolc

From the Wild Hunt blog.

Darwinism

While I'm ego-searching, I might as well link to this article on evolution and science.

My beltane article

At pathwalkers.net.