I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Randomness

Still at work, dragging my brain around the desktop. Not enough coherant thought for a full post, so here's some half ones.

Since the President had writen his speech back in August, I critiqued it back then (slight troop reductions - have to happen anyway - and "stay the course." Oh yeah, confidence in the Malaki government, blah blah, seeing progress, blah blah, calling the opposition un-patriotic or non-supportive of the troops, blah blah, troops are still confident of the mission - just like HAL - victory is close, blah blah, next progress report sometime after it's too late to pullout before I have to hand it off to somebody else, blah blah, we're winning, blah blah). No reason to watch or respond.

After yesterday's blogapalooza, I'm awfully quiet today.

Tobias and Scalzi are close to finishing their next novels. Each are alternating between lots of posts and being silent.

The Radical Christians are starting to get their dander up, must be approaching Xmas, again. This means for denegrating or completely ignoring the Days of Awe (Happy Rosh Hashanah, BTW), Ramadan, and Diwali, dissing Halloween, focusing on the "good Christian message of Thanksgiving" (which must have been, "Screw the savages") and then full frontal assualt in the "War on Xmas."

Some insight into future weapons (at least for the Navy).

The Halloween stores are open (yippie! Kid in a candy store).

It was only three-quarters of a year ago that I was keeping this schedule regularly and now it whips me. Well, I am on drugs now, and not drinking as much pop, so that might have something to do wth it. If that's the case this winter is going to be murder. How come everytime they try to help me at work, it means I'm working more overtime?

Hope your days are going better. Hopefully I can get some sleep tonight and reset. I'm also halfway through the novella at the end of Fragile Things. It's a "Shadow" story. Loving it so far. Haven't been able to read (fiction) since Sunday. And it just hit me that my remaining library books are due this Saturday.

4 comments:

David Klecha said...

I've always marveled at the War on Christmas stuff, but I think it's just a matter of people losing their sense of entitlement. I'm hoping for the day when the media stops finding it newsworthy and we can move on to other things. But, well, we're facing a sort of cultural transition, and these are the growing pains.

Camille Alexa said...

The Radical Christians are starting to get their dander up, must be approaching Xmas, again.

Sounds like somebody belongs in Dante's 6th circle.

Steve Buchheit said...

Dave, actually I think it was a part of their campaign about, "But, really, we're a Christian Country, we're God's Land." There's more Xmas talk on TV, radio, in the general marketplace than I can ever recall. Much of it is wrapped in, "this is the way it used to be." Sorry, I actually know history, and no, it really was never like this. Also there is the underground persistant belief that our War on Terror is the new Christian Crusade (a thought that hasn't been disavowed strongly enough to the TrueBelivers), and this Xmas refocus is like the KofC putting "under God" in the pledge to differentiate us from them atheistic Ruskies.

That these Radical Christians (not all, just some edge people) are embracing Xmas when 1) it's not the major holiday (I think it's fifth on the traditional calendar), and 2) For a long time wasn't celebrated in early America, and 3) was only celebrated in the US the way we do now since the late 1800s early 1900s, just tickles me silly. The Pilgrams, those paragons of modern virtues, expressly forbid its celebration as too Pagan (conversely they forbid Halloween as too Catholic).

Camille, well, yeah. :) I live in NE Ohio which is pretty close to the 7th Circle in the winter with Satan's Wings freezing us all out (winds from Canada across the Lake giving us snowfall). I have no problem with Christianity. Heck, I was raised in those traditions. It's when people get stupid about it that I have issues.

Does it help to know that I always volunteer to put up our Village Xmas decorations including a big tree and angels? That I've frozen and zapped myself enough times that I come prepared for the weather and with electrical equipment? That I've video taped "Santa" arriving on the fire trucks for the lighting ceremony for 4 out of the past 5 years?

Steve Buchheit said...

that should have been "There's more Christ talk on TV, radio, in the general marketplace"

I blame the overtime.