Archive for the ‘General MR’ Category
What I’ve Learned
Titles
“What I’ve Learned” is a title. Titles are important to a post. They should be descriptive. And they should be easy to understand! But a title isn’t enough…
Headings
See how a heading breaks up the content of a post? Your eyes go directly to a heading when you first look at a post. You see the headings and you understand at a glance that:
- Headings are like titles for individual sections.
- Headings divide the content into manageable parts.
Note: The above is easy to read because it is set apart using an unordered list. And, this is a note. You should immediately realize that something important is written here. It is in bold text!
Lists
First I like to introduce a list with some text. Then I like to start a list with a partial statement followed by a colon. The following is an ordered list. An ordered list:
- Uses numbers to define a sequence.
- Makes a statement about the order in which something occurs.
- Shows how many of a thing there are in a list of things.
Notes
An explanatory note can also be useful. Usually they are put at the end of a post. They might explain something about the post or they may be about the author. They may be used to thank someone who was helpful. Or they may cite references. Explanatory notes are generally in italics.
Free Link Love
It’s billed as a DAILY dose of freebies (ah, I remember freebies). And there are more than 500 posts. So this guy isn’t a slacker!
It’s the Freebie Reporter, a website dedicated to bring you daily freebies,coupons,hot deals and much more.Save hundreds of dollars monthly and get tons of cool stuff just by joining our comunity (says Haspel, an author on the site).
I remember freebies: I used to go through, literally, thousands of free offers. Most were cheap. Many were mail-ins. And that was 10 years, or so, ago. Before giving away things online was a big marketing ploy.
Plus, my friend would mail me “free” offers. He needed me to sign up on a webiste and give his name so he could collect HIS freebie.
So, I have mixed feelings about freebie sites. Especially directories. But this is a blog. And the webmaster goes through the trouble of finding the best freebies available. Then he writes reviews. Even includes pictures!
The first freebie I saw was “Kindness Cards”:
Description: Taking the tool of human kindness one step further, they’ve introduced the “Kindness Card.” This card enables you to present a tangible reminder of kindness to its recipient.
So, I thought I’d return the sentiment. Here’s my good deed for the day. But I hope he’ll thank me for my kindness. 
In fact, there’s this site he could sign up to, give my name, and ….
Ohio
As some of my readers know, I went to Gregory Palamas Monastery May 1 through May 3. It’s in Mansfield. That’s 79.9 miles from Cleveland (says Google Maps).
It was the first time I’d ever been to Ohio (I kept saying “Round on both ends and high in the middle”. LOL).
I was reminded of my trip again yesterday when, coming home from church with my priest and a fellow parishioner, I had commented on the “funny” name of the predominant river thereabouts: I liked the “Williewonka” river, said I (the real name is Monongahela. I couldn’t pronounce it — nor spell it … thanks Google). Is that near the Oompaloompa Mountains, said my church friend?
We had a good laugh!
Father Alexis had prompted these memories by asking me if I was “looking forward to my next visit to the monastery”. Odd, he didn’t say “looking forward to becoming a monk”. THAT’s RIGHT! Stay tooned for more musings about that tentative decision (My friends aren’t in favor of it. Ha).
Anyway, today I checked out the Cleveland Ohio Real Estate market. Well, I was also motivated by a contest listed in this Cleveland Ohio Real Estate Blog. A fun diversion. Gave me an opportunity to post about the lakes, rivers, hills, and forested areas I saw on my monastic journeys.
Youth Without Youth
A movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
The hero is writing his “life’s work”. He becomes too old to finish. He is struck by lightning on his way (somewhere) with an envelope containing (something). And he becomes young again.
Another chance to finish his life’s work?
He meets a girl who looks like someone he loved when he was young: This lady experiences “soul migration” and regression. She speaks in ancient languages.
Another chance to finish his life’s work?
There are inferences that the scholar “knows things” (about time, language … “origins” / the meaning of life). But there is only ONE (total) revelation: You can’t finish your life’s work because you don’t believe in Nuclear Holocaust (something of the sort).
In the end he says that when he sees his friends again he will tell them “that thing that they all want to know” (not specified).
…
I’ve seen movies that purport to reveal great truths. Those movies fall flat because the revelations they make are not very revealing. This movie doesn’t reveal truths of that sort but nonetheless shows the mindset and tribulations of people who (at least claim to) know great things.
There are HINTS of paranoia, loves lost, sacrifices made; strange paradoxes (body doubles, visual incongruities, time warps); and great “evils” (Hitler, mad scientists, Nuclear bombs). But none of these are resolved to my satisfaction.
So, the movie leaves one with this “final” thought: Though there are suggestions that somehow love (or some other sort of gender confusion / identity crisis) might resolve “everything”; nonetheless, life is morbid. We psychotically BELIEVE in love, genius, greatness, and eternal youth as we EXPERIENCE bloody-red roses, Hitler, hallucinations, and finally death.
Romantic? Maybe not. But a lesson in really GOOD movie making.
Rome in the Fall
I’m new to an Orthodox discussion community (monachos.net). The members are educated and (often) leaders of the church. The topics are discussed in depth and with citations.
Just to share. I found this post interesting:
We went to Butovo today. Just to mention some information we were given. It now appears the shootings there continued until the early 1950s. Some of those who did the shooting are still alive. One man is insane; he says nothing but repeats over and over again, ‘they turned on the lights and we fired’. It seems the guards said to the prisoners, ‘do you believe that the Soviet system will last for ever?’ The reply was, ‘no – it is punishment for our sins but it will not last’. They were then shot. At first, the shootings took place in a large brick hut. The smell of blood became too strong. The executioners could not get rid of this smell from their bodies and in some cases, their wives left them. So the shootings then took place in the open. For some executioners, the stress became too much and they said they could not carry on. They were shot. Prisoners arrived in vans marked ‘bread’. They were shot at night. In the morning a bulldozer flattened the place killing any who were still alive and slightly covered the bodies with earth.
I found this news story about Butovo:
Butovsky Poligon is a symbol of a much larger, bloodier conflict in Russian society, that between the Bolsheviks and the Russian Orthodox Church. One thousand of those killed here are known to have died for their Orthodox faith. Over 320 have been canonized as “new martyrs” of the church – bishops, monks, nuns and lay people who were victims of the Soviet regime.
It’s hard to describe the influence martyrdom has on the Orthodox Church. My Priest often makes “political” statements (regarding our president, or the war in the middle east, for instance) based on his perception of religious persecution. That perception, in turn, is biased by the fact that even the youngest children in the church are regularly read to from books detailing the brutal tortures which occurred in The Lives of the Saints. An example:
Then they tore holy virgin’s eyes out with hooks, but she bravely endured everything, praying for her tormentors that the Lord would open their spiritual eyes.
Seeing her completely healed of all her wounds, they stripped her and beat her, and slashed her body with razors. A wondrous fragrance then filled the air. Then she was stretched out on the ground and beaten for so long that the servants had to be replaced several times.
She was hung up and scraped with iron claws, and her breasts were cut off.
On the following day, they took St Tatiana to the circus and loosed a hungry lion on her.
They threw Tatiana into a fire….
The judge then condemned the valiant sufferer to be beheaded with a sword.
Father Alexis bemoans: I hope that I might do the same some day! But, in the church’s favor, it doesn’t promote voluntary martyrdom and has even “forgiven” those who denounce Christ under duress.
I said to Fr. Alexis: If someone held a gun to me and told me to say that one plus one equals three; they could make me say it but a gun could never convince me the “truth” of the statement.
Yea, still, he said, we’re supposed to put our beliefs into action …
Rome will never rise again! Another church member yelled angrily.
