Povey Prattle

1, I n the USA we “spring forward” tonight to enter “Daylight Savings Time”. What a pain -  is there any truly worthy reason for this nonsense. OH PHOOEY 2.      I forgot to turn the radio on this morning, so I missed one of my favourite NPR Saturday shows “Wait, wait, don’t tell me”.  It’s often very funny (‘specially so when Paula Poundstone is one of the panellists.).  She has a wickedly wonderful wit.  (see http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/ ) OH PHOOEY 3.      I drove to the store this afternoon, and listened to a bit of the NPR broadcast of the “Metropolitan Opera” on my car radio.  ‘Twas a glorious production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.  When I got home I again forgot to turn my radio on. OH PHOOEY. 4.      At the supermarket a man ahead of me at the service desk spent $58 on lottery tickets.  He was “betting” multiple numbers on the Florida Lottery and on an inter-...

 THIS IS THE JOKE ------------------------------------------------------------------ Eve chats with God. "Lord, I have a problem." "What is it, Eve?" "I know that you created me and provided this beautiful garden and all of these wonderful animals, especially that hilarious snake, but I'm just not happy." "And why is that Eve?" "Lord, I'm lonely, and I'm sick to death of apples." "Well, Eve, in that case I have a solution. I shall create a man for you." "Man? What is that Lord?" "A flawed creature with many bad traits. He'll lie, cheat and be vain. All in all he'll give you a hard time, but he'll be bigger and faster and will like to hunt and kill things. I'll create him in such a way that he will satisfy your physical needs. He will be witless and will revel in childish things like fighting and kicking...

Of all the services in our American Book of Common Prayer, “The Great Litany” is one of my favourites. A Litany is a prayer consisting of a series of invocations and supplications by the leader with alternate responses by the congregation. The “Great Litany” as used in the Episcopal Church is more or less a direct descendant of the one compiled by Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer in 1544.  Thus Christians in the Anglican/Episcopal tradition have prayed in the same words for over 450 years. There were days when the Litany was a regular part of Sunday morning fare. These days it is used only in Lent - if at all.  (The parish I attend these days never uses it). More’s the pity, for the Great Litany forces us to have a concern for God’s world and God’s church which is much wider and broader than “normal Sunday prayer”. For instance it causes us to pray for: All prisoners and captives All who are desolate and oppressed All women in childbirth (still a dangerous experi...

When the Justice and Development Party won the 2003 election in Turkey (where is it is known as the AK Party), the un-informed anti-Islamic prejudices of both the conservative and liberal media in the west came into play.  We were assured that Turkey would become a basket case of Islamic fundamentalism. So much for the media.  As it happens, the party, under Prime Minister  Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has governed with a mildly progressive agenda, so much so that the Turkish economy is booming, and the Turkish response to the horrors of the Syrian regime has been stellar. Prime Minister Erdogan is emerging as a wise and prudent leader. POINT # 1 .   Please do not believe all that you are told by the (western) popular media about life in Islamic countries.   Please understand that Islam is no more monolithic than is Christianity. There is an Islamic minority in Turkey known as “Alevi” Muslims (NOT to be confused with the Alawite Muslim group which is the g...

Via my Staten Island cousin Kippy A.

The tail end of the storm which spawned all those ghastly tornadoes reached south west Florida this morning. When I arose at 4:30 p.m. the outside temperature was 75f. Within the space of two hours it had dropped by 10 degrees as the winds came rushing in.   It’s not gotten back to 75f all day. Mind you -  we have been fortunate.  We did not even get the heavy rain and thunderstorms which were visited on the panhandle and other parts of north Florida yesterday.   For a while at about 7:00 as I was walking Penne the storm clouds were full and I anticipated a drenching.  But they blew over, and we received no more than a few sprinkles. But it has been very windy all day, reminding us of the amazing power of wind, and of the awesome and awful damage wrought by tornadoes.  As I have looked at the photo’s of flattened towns and villages especially in Kentucky and Indiana, I have wondered “how to people start all over again when they have lost ever...