Points to Ponder:
(On Grieving)
When it comes to grieving, it is difficult no matter which side you are on. When you are the one who has gone through loss, oftentimes those who reach out are very awkward in how they do it and can at times unintentionally offend in how they do it. It helps those who are hurting to remember that.
For those on the other side of the fence who are reaching out to someone grieving, remember that no two people grieve in the same way. As much as possible do not take rebuffs personally (if they happen) and patiently try to find different ways to reach out until something works.
Greater patience and love on all sides is something we all should strive for. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa May 30, 2017)]
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
In Remembrance...
(A Vault Flashback)
Despite it being a longstanding tradition of this website in years past, I somehow forgot last year to resume the practice when I begin publishing it again. While I did not exactly fail to make reference on the day in question, I was nonetheless very indirect about it -posting instead the lyrics to a song I had heard on the radio that day which is very hard for me to listen to.
I customarily have asked readers to remember my father in prayer on special days such as his birthday, the day he passed on, my parents' wedding anniversary, etc. But last year as well as earlier this year, I had forgotten to do this. I do not want to forget anymore so with this website posting, I combine two features in one with an archive flashback to 2009...
There have been a number of deaths in the family and among friends in this millennium. But out of all of them, there is one which stands out from the pack as being the most difficult for me to deal with. Today is the eighth anniversary of the passing of my late father Richard Dunn McElhinney. All I will say about it at the present time is what I say every year at this time; namely, that prayers for the eternal repose of his soul would be most appreciated.
Eternal rest grant unto his soul oh Lord and may thy perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace with all the souls of the faithfully departed. Amen. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa June 12, 2009)]
(A Vault Flashback)
Despite it being a longstanding tradition of this website in years past, I somehow forgot last year to resume the practice when I begin publishing it again. While I did not exactly fail to make reference on the day in question, I was nonetheless very indirect about it -posting instead the lyrics to a song I had heard on the radio that day which is very hard for me to listen to.
I customarily have asked readers to remember my father in prayer on special days such as his birthday, the day he passed on, my parents' wedding anniversary, etc. But last year as well as earlier this year, I had forgotten to do this. I do not want to forget anymore so with this website posting, I combine two features in one with an archive flashback to 2009...
There have been a number of deaths in the family and among friends in this millennium. But out of all of them, there is one which stands out from the pack as being the most difficult for me to deal with. Today is the eighth anniversary of the passing of my late father Richard Dunn McElhinney. All I will say about it at the present time is what I say every year at this time; namely, that prayers for the eternal repose of his soul would be most appreciated.
Eternal rest grant unto his soul oh Lord and may thy perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace with all the souls of the faithfully departed. Amen. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa June 12, 2009)]
Monday, June 11, 2018
Points to Ponder:
"In American religious culture - very much including Catholic culture - we are accustomed to gravitating to actual consolations or the merely inverted consolation of melodramatized, egoistic desolations; what we strain to avoid is dryness, not realizing that the dryness of the desert is quite normal experience of the maturing soul on its journey. We crave Heroes (or, failing that, Antagonists; in any event, a melodramatized agonism). Dryness - like the desert - scares us. Dryness can come in the form of detachment from our liturgical desiderata. Really hard for people who *do* liturgical professionally, to avoid turning that into the inverted consolation mentioned above." ["Liam"]
"In American religious culture - very much including Catholic culture - we are accustomed to gravitating to actual consolations or the merely inverted consolation of melodramatized, egoistic desolations; what we strain to avoid is dryness, not realizing that the dryness of the desert is quite normal experience of the maturing soul on its journey. We crave Heroes (or, failing that, Antagonists; in any event, a melodramatized agonism). Dryness - like the desert - scares us. Dryness can come in the form of detachment from our liturgical desiderata. Really hard for people who *do* liturgical professionally, to avoid turning that into the inverted consolation mentioned above." ["Liam"]
Sunday, June 10, 2018
"One From the Vault" Dept.
(On Mike Mentzer)
As today is the seventeenth anniversary of his passing, I will post at this time a link to a lengthier thread written in years past on this subject. Without further ado...
On Mike Mentzer's Passing and His Influence (circa June 12, 2008)
(On Mike Mentzer)
As today is the seventeenth anniversary of his passing, I will post at this time a link to a lengthier thread written in years past on this subject. Without further ado...
On Mike Mentzer's Passing and His Influence (circa June 12, 2008)
Friday, June 08, 2018
"One From the Vault" Dept.
The following is a flashback to the archives of this website from 2008...
"...To really take this to brass tacks, faith is something that we give assent to that we cannot prove. I am referring in those words to how we have no way to verify emperically that the rules required to utilize reason and logic actually exist but we must presuppose them in order to reason at all. And even that statement itself embodies an often unrealized element so I will briefly note it at this time.
All presuppositions to some extent require a degree of faith when they are not grounded on proven or otherwise provable tenets. And those who lionize empiricism as the be-all and end-all of verification are involving themselves in a double standard on the laws of utilizing logic and reason that they would never accept in other contexts. Ergo, they inexorably deny the law of non-contradiction by failing to require empirical evidences for the laws of logic and reason the way they would other empirically unverifiable presuppositions. (Such as the existence of God.)
So at bottom, as the existence of the rules required to utilize logic cannot be proven in a fashion that does not presuppose them, they cannot be proven logically. They have to be taken as presuppositions and thus they are taken on a kind of faith. And for this reason, the atheists who mock religious people for believing in something they cannot empirically verify are hypocritical for doing the exact same thing themselves..." [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa October 23, 2008)]
The following is a flashback to the archives of this website from 2008...
"...To really take this to brass tacks, faith is something that we give assent to that we cannot prove. I am referring in those words to how we have no way to verify emperically that the rules required to utilize reason and logic actually exist but we must presuppose them in order to reason at all. And even that statement itself embodies an often unrealized element so I will briefly note it at this time.
All presuppositions to some extent require a degree of faith when they are not grounded on proven or otherwise provable tenets. And those who lionize empiricism as the be-all and end-all of verification are involving themselves in a double standard on the laws of utilizing logic and reason that they would never accept in other contexts. Ergo, they inexorably deny the law of non-contradiction by failing to require empirical evidences for the laws of logic and reason the way they would other empirically unverifiable presuppositions. (Such as the existence of God.)
So at bottom, as the existence of the rules required to utilize logic cannot be proven in a fashion that does not presuppose them, they cannot be proven logically. They have to be taken as presuppositions and thus they are taken on a kind of faith. And for this reason, the atheists who mock religious people for believing in something they cannot empirically verify are hypocritical for doing the exact same thing themselves..." [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa October 23, 2008)]
Thursday, June 07, 2018
Wednesday, June 06, 2018
What are your memories of the 2008 Seahawks season?
I remember the 2008 and 2009 seasons as being downright awful. 2008 was the last year of the Holmgren regime and much as I loved the way Mike Holmgren brought the Seahawks back to respectability again for the first time since the Chuck Knox days; at the same time, there was a need for massive sweeping change and 2009 continued the same rot under Jim Mora before the Seahawks ownership cleaned house and hired Pete Carroll who along with John Schneider ushered in the third and greatest period of Seahawks football history.
We are now in a similar state as we were in 2007 except I do not foresee any more fall. Pete and John are reloading now and the Seahawks should be primed for another playoffs trip and a return to respectability next year after a disappointing injury plagued 2017 season.
I remember the 2008 and 2009 seasons as being downright awful. 2008 was the last year of the Holmgren regime and much as I loved the way Mike Holmgren brought the Seahawks back to respectability again for the first time since the Chuck Knox days; at the same time, there was a need for massive sweeping change and 2009 continued the same rot under Jim Mora before the Seahawks ownership cleaned house and hired Pete Carroll who along with John Schneider ushered in the third and greatest period of Seahawks football history.
We are now in a similar state as we were in 2007 except I do not foresee any more fall. Pete and John are reloading now and the Seahawks should be primed for another playoffs trip and a return to respectability next year after a disappointing injury plagued 2017 season.
Tuesday, June 05, 2018
Parkland Students To Announce Nationwide Gun Control Tour
Perhaps they can title said tour the "Ensuring Republicans Keep the House in 2018 Tour" because this little stunt has backfire written all over it.
Monday, June 04, 2018
On the Popes, Heresy, Etc:
This material was occasioned on another media source from my words as quoted in purple font below. My interlocuters words will be in dark green font. Without further ado...
If we go by the long established understanding of the term heresy, neither Honorius nor John XXII were heretics.
The Holy Spirit prevents popes from being heretics, schismatics, or apostates and to claim otherwise is to deny the doctrine of indefectibility of the Church of which the pope is the visible head as well as the guarantor of ecclesial communion.
False.
Actually, everything I said above is true.
There is a difference between objective material heresy... And the sin of formal heresy. of which we've had several popes
We are talking about the promulgation of heresy. While there are a lot of material heretics about (and I can guarantee that you are a material heretic!), the Holy Spirit even protects the pope from promulgating material heresy. Its part of the whole "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail" prayer of Jesus to Peter. Or at least that is how the Popes themselves have seen it:
"Peter, and like him all his successors and heads of the Church, has the mission of encouraging the faithful to put all their trust in Christ and the power of his grace, which Peter personally experienced. This is what Innocent III wrote in the Letter Apostolicae Sedis Primatus (November 12, 1199), citing the text of Luke 22:32 and commenting on it as follows: ‘The Lord clearly intimates that Peter’s successors will never at any time deviate from the Catholic faith, but will instead recall the others and strengthen the hesitant’ (DS 775). That medieval Pope felt that Jesus’ statement to Simon Peter was confirmed by the experience of 1,000 years." [Pope John Paul II]
This material was occasioned on another media source from my words as quoted in purple font below. My interlocuters words will be in dark green font. Without further ado...
If we go by the long established understanding of the term heresy, neither Honorius nor John XXII were heretics.
The Holy Spirit prevents popes from being heretics, schismatics, or apostates and to claim otherwise is to deny the doctrine of indefectibility of the Church of which the pope is the visible head as well as the guarantor of ecclesial communion.
False.
Actually, everything I said above is true.
There is a difference between objective material heresy... And the sin of formal heresy. of which we've had several popes
We are talking about the promulgation of heresy. While there are a lot of material heretics about (and I can guarantee that you are a material heretic!), the Holy Spirit even protects the pope from promulgating material heresy. Its part of the whole "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail" prayer of Jesus to Peter. Or at least that is how the Popes themselves have seen it:
"Peter, and like him all his successors and heads of the Church, has the mission of encouraging the faithful to put all their trust in Christ and the power of his grace, which Peter personally experienced. This is what Innocent III wrote in the Letter Apostolicae Sedis Primatus (November 12, 1199), citing the text of Luke 22:32 and commenting on it as follows: ‘The Lord clearly intimates that Peter’s successors will never at any time deviate from the Catholic faith, but will instead recall the others and strengthen the hesitant’ (DS 775). That medieval Pope felt that Jesus’ statement to Simon Peter was confirmed by the experience of 1,000 years." [Pope John Paul II]
But hey, what do they know right?
The inability to distinguish this difference is the error common to both papolitors and sedevacantists.
And now we have the smart aleck so-called "traditionalist" engaging in calumny. To take the position that the pope cannot be a heretic, schismatic, or apostate is to take seriously the doctrines of Church indefectibility, the promise of Jesus Christ, the belief that his prayer for Peter's unfailing faith would be granted, etc. But why listen to me when Vatican I is so clear on this:
“Indeed, their Apostolic teaching was embraced by all the venerable fathers, and reverenced and followed by all the holy orthodox doctors, for they knew very well that this See of St. Peter always remains unblemished by any error, in accordance with the divine promise of our Lord and Savior to the prince of his disciples: ‘I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren’ [Lk 22:32].
This gift of truth and never-failing faith was therefore divinely conferred on Peter and his successors in this See so that they might discharge their exalted office for the salvation of all, and so that the whole flock of Christ might be kept away by them from the poisonous food of error and be nourished with the sustenance of heavenly doctrine. [First Vatican Council: Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus]
You either believe this or you do not. And how the gift of truth and never-failing faith could possibly be conferred on Peter and his successors where they either apostasize{1}, are a schismatic{2}, or are heretical{3} is something you will twist yourself into pretzels trying to excuse it away in the sort of disingenuous fashion not uncommon to many who call themselves "traditionalists."
There is a reason why you will not find any Saints or Doctors who have publicly proclaimed any popes were heretics with even eminent Doctors like Francisco Suarez who though they argued hypotheses of popes possibly being heretical, personally believed that God's "sweet providence" would not allow the pope to either teach or fall into error. (Based again on Luke 22:32.) The same position was espoused by St. Alphonsus Ligouri who said "We ought rightly to presume as Cardinal Bellarmine declares, that God will never let it happen that a Roman Pontiff, even as a private person, becomes a public heretic or an occult heretic.’ ”
The inability to distinguish this difference is the error common to both papolitors and sedevacantists.
And now we have the smart aleck so-called "traditionalist" engaging in calumny. To take the position that the pope cannot be a heretic, schismatic, or apostate is to take seriously the doctrines of Church indefectibility, the promise of Jesus Christ, the belief that his prayer for Peter's unfailing faith would be granted, etc. But why listen to me when Vatican I is so clear on this:
“Indeed, their Apostolic teaching was embraced by all the venerable fathers, and reverenced and followed by all the holy orthodox doctors, for they knew very well that this See of St. Peter always remains unblemished by any error, in accordance with the divine promise of our Lord and Savior to the prince of his disciples: ‘I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren’ [Lk 22:32].
This gift of truth and never-failing faith was therefore divinely conferred on Peter and his successors in this See so that they might discharge their exalted office for the salvation of all, and so that the whole flock of Christ might be kept away by them from the poisonous food of error and be nourished with the sustenance of heavenly doctrine. [First Vatican Council: Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus]
You either believe this or you do not. And how the gift of truth and never-failing faith could possibly be conferred on Peter and his successors where they either apostasize{1}, are a schismatic{2}, or are heretical{3} is something you will twist yourself into pretzels trying to excuse it away in the sort of disingenuous fashion not uncommon to many who call themselves "traditionalists."
There is a reason why you will not find any Saints or Doctors who have publicly proclaimed any popes were heretics with even eminent Doctors like Francisco Suarez who though they argued hypotheses of popes possibly being heretical, personally believed that God's "sweet providence" would not allow the pope to either teach or fall into error. (Based again on Luke 22:32.) The same position was espoused by St. Alphonsus Ligouri who said "We ought rightly to presume as Cardinal Bellarmine declares, that God will never let it happen that a Roman Pontiff, even as a private person, becomes a public heretic or an occult heretic.’ ”
Now we cannot read souls so whether there is private material heresy in anyone is not something we can determine. However, public actions and statements are another matter. If at any point in history a pope was a public heretic in any manner whatsoever (formal or material), a schismatic, or an apostate then they have deviated from the faith and there is no coherent way around this.
What would such an event mean? Simply, this would mean that the prayer of Jesus failed, the promise of Matthew 16:18 was false, the 519 Formula of Hormisdas{4} was a lie, St. Agatho I, Innocent III, St. John Paul II and other popes who spoke of the See of Peter being always preserved from blemish were all to a man delusional liars. This does not mean the popes are impeccable of course or that they cannot make limited errors.{5} However, it does mean that they cannot in any respect deny the faith (heresy), deviate from ecclesial communion (schism), or renounce the faith (apostasy). If they could do any of these things then this whole notion of the Holy Spirit protecting Peter and his successors is a giant farce. And that is the bottom line really.
Notes:
What would such an event mean? Simply, this would mean that the prayer of Jesus failed, the promise of Matthew 16:18 was false, the 519 Formula of Hormisdas{4} was a lie, St. Agatho I, Innocent III, St. John Paul II and other popes who spoke of the See of Peter being always preserved from blemish were all to a man delusional liars. This does not mean the popes are impeccable of course or that they cannot make limited errors.{5} However, it does mean that they cannot in any respect deny the faith (heresy), deviate from ecclesial communion (schism), or renounce the faith (apostasy). If they could do any of these things then this whole notion of the Holy Spirit protecting Peter and his successors is a giant farce. And that is the bottom line really.
Notes:
{1} Read: renounce the faith.
{2} Read: are separated from the communion of the Church.
{3} Read: denying dogmas of the faith or doctrines proximate to them.
{4} Required for reunion in the sixth century and promulgated to the whole church by the Fourth General Council of Contantinople IV in 869 and the First General Council of the Vatican in 1870.
{5} Or that they will always make the best decisions in a given situation involving matters of discipline, church government, etc.
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Briefly...
As this is the 3100th posting to Rerum Novarum since its inception, I thought at least a brief mention of it in passing was in order. There is a lot in the archives and I inaugurated the vault flashback feature last year as a vehicle to re-present some of it for those who missed it the first time around.
In the process of tying up some loose ends format-wise, I finally tended to a post tag revision process that was more than a decade overdue. The results of that endeavour can be viewed HERE.
I will also take this moment to publicly note that I have a fairly detailed three part series that will be posted starting about five weeks from now on matters of a theological nature. The latter along with apologetics themed stuff was a far more prevalent feature of this humble website in its earliest years than it either was later on{1} or in the period since I revoked the previous indefinite suspension of this website{2} last year.{3} While hardly the first time I have delved into controversial material, I suspect that this may be the most controversial subject matter in some circles{4} that I have undertaken in over a decade. Anyway, that is all I will say as any kind of telegraphing of what is to come on that front at this time.
Notes:
{1} That is why I as a rule am tired of the apologetical dance and have been for quite a while. That is not to say that I do not do it still on occasion of course but I get tired of seeing people talk past one another and generally evincing no interest in actually listening to what their perceived "adversaries" actually say. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa July 9, 2005)]
{2} Notification of An Intended Return to Web Publishing (circa April 4, 2017)
{3} Of the 272 posts of an apologetics nature, 172 of them predate September 15, 2003 and there are there are only 22 from the period spanning April 30, 2007 through the December 19, 2009 website suspension with only 5 published since this website's relaunch on April 4, 2017. (One of which addressed a controversy and has been consigned to draft status as long as it is viewed as prudent for me to do so.) Suffice to say, I have had minimal interest in apologetics for more than fourteen years to put it mildly. The theological postings have seen a similar decrease in frequency; however, I still maintain some interest in this area having published eighteen such threads since the resumption of this website last year. I will also be releasing a good half dozen additional theological themed threads within the coming month or so.
{4} Commemorating A Controversial Anniversary (circa August 17. 2017)
As this is the 3100th posting to Rerum Novarum since its inception, I thought at least a brief mention of it in passing was in order. There is a lot in the archives and I inaugurated the vault flashback feature last year as a vehicle to re-present some of it for those who missed it the first time around.
In the process of tying up some loose ends format-wise, I finally tended to a post tag revision process that was more than a decade overdue. The results of that endeavour can be viewed HERE.
I will also take this moment to publicly note that I have a fairly detailed three part series that will be posted starting about five weeks from now on matters of a theological nature. The latter along with apologetics themed stuff was a far more prevalent feature of this humble website in its earliest years than it either was later on{1} or in the period since I revoked the previous indefinite suspension of this website{2} last year.{3} While hardly the first time I have delved into controversial material, I suspect that this may be the most controversial subject matter in some circles{4} that I have undertaken in over a decade. Anyway, that is all I will say as any kind of telegraphing of what is to come on that front at this time.
Notes:
{1} That is why I as a rule am tired of the apologetical dance and have been for quite a while. That is not to say that I do not do it still on occasion of course but I get tired of seeing people talk past one another and generally evincing no interest in actually listening to what their perceived "adversaries" actually say. [Excerpt from Rerum Novarum (circa July 9, 2005)]
{2} Notification of An Intended Return to Web Publishing (circa April 4, 2017)
{3} Of the 272 posts of an apologetics nature, 172 of them predate September 15, 2003 and there are there are only 22 from the period spanning April 30, 2007 through the December 19, 2009 website suspension with only 5 published since this website's relaunch on April 4, 2017. (One of which addressed a controversy and has been consigned to draft status as long as it is viewed as prudent for me to do so.) Suffice to say, I have had minimal interest in apologetics for more than fourteen years to put it mildly. The theological postings have seen a similar decrease in frequency; however, I still maintain some interest in this area having published eighteen such threads since the resumption of this website last year. I will also be releasing a good half dozen additional theological themed threads within the coming month or so.
{4} Commemorating A Controversial Anniversary (circa August 17. 2017)
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
On Spring Cleaning For 2018...
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)
I have in recent days undertaken a long needed spring cleaning of this site's archives. The delineation of different postings by primary category tags is one that was quite a chore to do initially but once it was completed in initial form, it eliminated the old update format once and for all. However, there were sometimes duplicate primary tags used and some postings were miscategorized. There is also the problem of some of the posts where there were multiple fonts used to differentiate different people's words becoming skewed when the software this site was built from did some updates. And the old audiopostings back in the days of audblog no longer work and have not for a long time so I needed to tend to that as well.
After some thought on these things and because I knew it would not be possible to tend to these matters again for the indefinite future beyond this time, I went through and reclassified primary tags on many postings. The main tags are now as follows -new additions marked with an astrisk:
Expository Musings
Dialogues
Miscellaneous Threads/Brief Musings
Interesting Links
Points to Ponder
Lyrics/Poetry
Lyrics/Poetry/Musings
Guest Editorials
Excerpts From Literature/Writings
Humour/Parody/Satire
Humour/Parody/Satire/Plus Musings
Vault Flashback
Audio Musings*
Quizzes
Quizzes/Musings*
Spiritual Instruction
Archivally Obsolete/Duplicate Post/Minutiae
The most regular tag of the primary ones is the Miscellaneous Threads/Brief Musings one. If I do not know how else to categorize something, it will go there. The Expository Musings tag originally had far too many posts in it that did not fit or because of changes no longer did. As I plan to try audio blogging again if I find the right format, that called for a primary tag for that endeavour but then pondering the subject of audioblogging made me wonder what I would do with prior audio posts that no longer work. I started deleting them but then realized after I scrapped a half dozen of them that it would be more work than I wanted to undertake and besides, if somehow I figure out how to use them again, then I am purging my own archives in ways I have resolutely criticized others for doing. So to stay true to my nature of not throwing anything out{1}, I decided to create a separate primary tag titled Audio Musings and all remaining audio blogs were reclassified there.
I also found Dialogues which had been misclassifed as Expository Musings, Points to Ponder threads that had more than one primary tag on them, etc. After making these adjustments, basically nearly 200 postings previously tagged as expository musings were reclassified.{2} The original descriptions for the pertinent primary tags were covered in a 2007 expository musing and were explained as follows:
[Y]our host informed the readers of the arduous task of tagging the posts in our massive archive late last month.[...] The good news is that we figured out a couple more short cuts since writing on that matter last -mainly through finding some natural categorizations in the archives in the process. So while the weblog probably will not be close to fully and thoroughly archived until summertime but as it is, the entire weblog has been given a preliminary go-through. While still far from complete, it can now be said that nearly 100% of the posts to this weblog can be broken down into eighteen non-overlapping primary categories. These categories are as follows -with a brief explanation of each:
--Points to Ponder: Posted tidbits from various sources (including sometimes tidbits written by your host) intended to cultivate the reader's pondering capacities...
--Expository Musings: These are threads which are as a rule of a longer and/or more detailed nature generally. However, sometimes there are threads so categorized which are not per se that long but may have taken more time to refine into the shape in which they were blogged than other postings of a similar length or for some other reason were categorized in this format...Among the audio posts, the longer and/or more detailed of them are tagged with this label though some of the others will have to be listened to as time allows for it to see if they should be classified here or not.
--Dialogues/Mailbag Discussions: These are threads posted in a dialogual format which could be derived from various sources...
--Miscellaneous Threads/Briefer Musings: These are generally threads which contain various forms of briefer musings. Among the posts so labeled are various "miscellaneous threads" postings, the shorter or briefer audio posts[...], etc. This is basically the defacto primary category for any posting...
--Stray Links of Interest: Exactly what it says...
--Guest Editorials: These are editorials submitted by others which were posted to this weblog...
--Spiritual Instruction: These are postings dealing with facets of spirituality...
Taken together, one of the above seven categories is tagged on almost 90% of all postings to this weblog. But those are not the only primary categories we have utilized -indeed the next nine comprise roughly the remaining 10% of the weblog's postings:
--Lyrics/Poetry/Haikus: These are postings which chiefly involve one or more of the subjects in the tagline...
--Lyrics/Poetry/Haikus/Plus Musings: These are postings which involve either lyrics, poetry, or haikus but also have some brief musings by your weblog host...
--Humour/Parody/Satire: Self explanatory...
--Humour/Parody/Satire/Plus Musings: Also self-explanatory as these contain the same as the previous category but also some brief musings by your weblog host...
-- Excerpts from Literature/Writings: These are postings which contain excerpts from either literature or from various writings...
--Quizzes: Basically as a temporary diversion the occasional online "quiz" has been taken...
--Archivally Obsolete/Duplicate Post/Minutiae: Basically postings which fit one or more of the criteria noted in the tagline for some reason or another. As of today, there are 32 of them though in a testament to this weblog's focus on perennial relevance as well as quality over time, 26 of those postings were in 2002 and 5 were in the first couple months of 2003. As this latter category may appear to be an odd one to include, your host wants to explain briefly the reasons why before wrapping up this posting.
Essentially, we would be less than fully honest if we did not admit that there are some postings in the archive which we do not find to be of value anymore for a variety of reasons which we are not going to delve into at the moment[...] except to note one significant reason which went into this determination.
For you see, your host has refused to purge his archives of stuff which in retrospect he regrets posting. Part of the reason for this is principles as we have been critical of others for trying to airbrush the historical record at their own sites to avoid telling the truth about their past actions or statements in a given point of time. But another reason is that life itself is a process of growth and development across a broad continuum. This includes weblog writing and interests.
We have no problem admitting that it took a bit of time before this weblog really started to take a discernible shape and some of the features and/or principles which have become standard or typical over time were in the "finding their feet" stage early on. The posts noted in the "archivally obsolete/duplicate posting/minutiae" category may also have been a localized kind of project which either was left incomplete due to time or interest factors or which was of a limited applicability back before your host sought to as much as possible make this weblog's contents have both a timeless and general applicability and also a particular circumstantial one.[...] But that is all that this writer intends to say on the matter at the present time except to say that yes, we have even categorized the obsolete or otherwise no-longer-of-any-real-value chaff from the archives.
Taken together, the eighteen categories above comprise by our count 100% of all posts to this weblog as primary categorizations. [Excerpts from Rerum Novarum (circa May 15, 2007)]
I was originally going to post an excerpt in full which contained material later changed but decided to just omit the former and only use the pertinent excerpts above. Because of tag character limits, some of those original tags had to be shortened a bit and others were changed or merged into other primary categories over time. (After experience showed that the schema I first went with was too complicated.) As of this moment, there are 3099 postings to this website since its inception which can be broken down after some recent reclassifyings as follows:
Expository Musings: 300
Dialogues: 365
Miscellaneous Threads/Brief Musings: 1355
Points to Ponder: 486
Interesting Links: 235
---
Excerpts from Literature/Writings: 19
Guest Editorials: 28
Humour/Parody/Satire: 22
Humour/Parody/Satire/Plus Musings: 19
Lyrics/Poetry: 62
Lyrics/Poetry/Musings: 30
Quizzes: 11
Quizzes/Musings: 35
Spiritual Instruction: 39
Vault Flashback: 10
Audio Musings: 61
Archivally Obsolete/Duplicate Post/Minutiae: 31
It is possible the above totals may tally a bit higher than 3098 because some are postings that are completed and tagged already but have not yet been published. In giving the primary tags a thorough go-through, I also in delineating with greater precision which postings were properly classified as Expository Musings took the nearly unprecedented{3} step of revising archive postings by appending nearly all of those classified as Expository Musings with the subtitle Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum.{4} In situations where those postings had other subtitles, I retitled them incorporating the prior subtitles into a new descriptive title. On others where I used either no title or some variation of Miscellaneous Musings, I retitled them On Miscellaneous Matters. That is the extent to which anything in those postings was revised except in a few cases where there were spelling, grammar, or colour formatting issues. And while I may make colour formatting adjustments on additional postings under the Dialogues category where warranted in the coming weeks{5}, what is noted here is the extent to which I foresee anything being further revised in the archives of this humble website in perpetuity.
All things to the contrary notwithstanding.
Notes:
{1} And with the exception of seven posts (six of which were currently defunct audio postings), I have stayed true to this principle. (The seventh posting was a two sentence gibberish post from early 2005 that was in the archivally obsolete category. It was originally slated as a placeholder to highlight a planned series I never remotely got around to working on and now never will so it got the axe when the aforementioned six audios were similarly deleted.) I have no plans to deviate from this longstanding principle anymore -indeed I do not even like to make changes to past postings apart from fixing spelling, grammar, or colour formatting schemes when warranted: a far cry from how not a few folks handle these matters.
{2} Including 88 as Miscellaneous Threads/Brief Musings and 61 as Audio Musings. I also reclassified prior quizzes which were under the miscellaneous threads/brief musings tag with a new category titled Quizzes/Musings. There were also 7 or 8 Interesting Links entries that contained musings in them beyond an ultra brief description and they were reclassified as Miscellaneous Threads/Brief Musings. I also in nearly all cases with postings that involved updates in the old format classified them either as Miscellaneous Threads/Brief Musings or Expository Musings where applicable and abrogated the prior tags used for that material.
{3} I say "nearly unprecedented" because back in 2013 when this website was still suspended, I took the opportunity in an attempt to both let bygones be bygones as well as heal a long simmering rift which had perpetuated at that point for more than eight years. See last year's posting titled Commemorating a Controversial Anniversary for more details on this if interested.
{4} This tagline serves as a kind of marker to indicate the character of the post in question. Most expository musings had been adorned with that subtitle since roughly May of 2003 but the uniformity on this matter was one that took time to develop to the way things are currently.
{5} I realized when perusing the archives for prior dialogue material for use in other publishing mediums that software formatting changes has messed up the formatting of some of those postings from their original colour schemes. As a result, they will have to be fixed. I will however only correct these issues in piecemeal fashion as I have the time or inclination to do so.
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)
I have in recent days undertaken a long needed spring cleaning of this site's archives. The delineation of different postings by primary category tags is one that was quite a chore to do initially but once it was completed in initial form, it eliminated the old update format once and for all. However, there were sometimes duplicate primary tags used and some postings were miscategorized. There is also the problem of some of the posts where there were multiple fonts used to differentiate different people's words becoming skewed when the software this site was built from did some updates. And the old audiopostings back in the days of audblog no longer work and have not for a long time so I needed to tend to that as well.
After some thought on these things and because I knew it would not be possible to tend to these matters again for the indefinite future beyond this time, I went through and reclassified primary tags on many postings. The main tags are now as follows -new additions marked with an astrisk:
Expository Musings
Dialogues
Miscellaneous Threads/Brief Musings
Interesting Links
Points to Ponder
Lyrics/Poetry
Lyrics/Poetry/Musings
Guest Editorials
Excerpts From Literature/Writings
Humour/Parody/Satire
Humour/Parody/Satire/Plus Musings
Vault Flashback
Audio Musings*
Quizzes
Quizzes/Musings*
Spiritual Instruction
Archivally Obsolete/Duplicate Post/Minutiae
The most regular tag of the primary ones is the Miscellaneous Threads/Brief Musings one. If I do not know how else to categorize something, it will go there. The Expository Musings tag originally had far too many posts in it that did not fit or because of changes no longer did. As I plan to try audio blogging again if I find the right format, that called for a primary tag for that endeavour but then pondering the subject of audioblogging made me wonder what I would do with prior audio posts that no longer work. I started deleting them but then realized after I scrapped a half dozen of them that it would be more work than I wanted to undertake and besides, if somehow I figure out how to use them again, then I am purging my own archives in ways I have resolutely criticized others for doing. So to stay true to my nature of not throwing anything out{1}, I decided to create a separate primary tag titled Audio Musings and all remaining audio blogs were reclassified there.
I also found Dialogues which had been misclassifed as Expository Musings, Points to Ponder threads that had more than one primary tag on them, etc. After making these adjustments, basically nearly 200 postings previously tagged as expository musings were reclassified.{2} The original descriptions for the pertinent primary tags were covered in a 2007 expository musing and were explained as follows:
[Y]our host informed the readers of the arduous task of tagging the posts in our massive archive late last month.[...] The good news is that we figured out a couple more short cuts since writing on that matter last -mainly through finding some natural categorizations in the archives in the process. So while the weblog probably will not be close to fully and thoroughly archived until summertime but as it is, the entire weblog has been given a preliminary go-through. While still far from complete, it can now be said that nearly 100% of the posts to this weblog can be broken down into eighteen non-overlapping primary categories. These categories are as follows -with a brief explanation of each:
--Points to Ponder: Posted tidbits from various sources (including sometimes tidbits written by your host) intended to cultivate the reader's pondering capacities...
--Expository Musings: These are threads which are as a rule of a longer and/or more detailed nature generally. However, sometimes there are threads so categorized which are not per se that long but may have taken more time to refine into the shape in which they were blogged than other postings of a similar length or for some other reason were categorized in this format...Among the audio posts, the longer and/or more detailed of them are tagged with this label though some of the others will have to be listened to as time allows for it to see if they should be classified here or not.
--Dialogues/Mailbag Discussions: These are threads posted in a dialogual format which could be derived from various sources...
--Miscellaneous Threads/Briefer Musings: These are generally threads which contain various forms of briefer musings. Among the posts so labeled are various "miscellaneous threads" postings, the shorter or briefer audio posts[...], etc. This is basically the defacto primary category for any posting...
--Stray Links of Interest: Exactly what it says...
--Guest Editorials: These are editorials submitted by others which were posted to this weblog...
--Spiritual Instruction: These are postings dealing with facets of spirituality...
Taken together, one of the above seven categories is tagged on almost 90% of all postings to this weblog. But those are not the only primary categories we have utilized -indeed the next nine comprise roughly the remaining 10% of the weblog's postings:
--Lyrics/Poetry/Haikus: These are postings which chiefly involve one or more of the subjects in the tagline...
--Lyrics/Poetry/Haikus/Plus Musings: These are postings which involve either lyrics, poetry, or haikus but also have some brief musings by your weblog host...
--Humour/Parody/Satire: Self explanatory...
--Humour/Parody/Satire/Plus Musings: Also self-explanatory as these contain the same as the previous category but also some brief musings by your weblog host...
-- Excerpts from Literature/Writings: These are postings which contain excerpts from either literature or from various writings...
--Quizzes: Basically as a temporary diversion the occasional online "quiz" has been taken...
--Archivally Obsolete/Duplicate Post/Minutiae: Basically postings which fit one or more of the criteria noted in the tagline for some reason or another. As of today, there are 32 of them though in a testament to this weblog's focus on perennial relevance as well as quality over time, 26 of those postings were in 2002 and 5 were in the first couple months of 2003. As this latter category may appear to be an odd one to include, your host wants to explain briefly the reasons why before wrapping up this posting.
Essentially, we would be less than fully honest if we did not admit that there are some postings in the archive which we do not find to be of value anymore for a variety of reasons which we are not going to delve into at the moment[...] except to note one significant reason which went into this determination.
For you see, your host has refused to purge his archives of stuff which in retrospect he regrets posting. Part of the reason for this is principles as we have been critical of others for trying to airbrush the historical record at their own sites to avoid telling the truth about their past actions or statements in a given point of time. But another reason is that life itself is a process of growth and development across a broad continuum. This includes weblog writing and interests.
We have no problem admitting that it took a bit of time before this weblog really started to take a discernible shape and some of the features and/or principles which have become standard or typical over time were in the "finding their feet" stage early on. The posts noted in the "archivally obsolete/duplicate posting/minutiae" category may also have been a localized kind of project which either was left incomplete due to time or interest factors or which was of a limited applicability back before your host sought to as much as possible make this weblog's contents have both a timeless and general applicability and also a particular circumstantial one.[...] But that is all that this writer intends to say on the matter at the present time except to say that yes, we have even categorized the obsolete or otherwise no-longer-of-any-real-value chaff from the archives.
Taken together, the eighteen categories above comprise by our count 100% of all posts to this weblog as primary categorizations. [Excerpts from Rerum Novarum (circa May 15, 2007)]
I was originally going to post an excerpt in full which contained material later changed but decided to just omit the former and only use the pertinent excerpts above. Because of tag character limits, some of those original tags had to be shortened a bit and others were changed or merged into other primary categories over time. (After experience showed that the schema I first went with was too complicated.) As of this moment, there are 3099 postings to this website since its inception which can be broken down after some recent reclassifyings as follows:
Expository Musings: 300
Dialogues: 365
Miscellaneous Threads/Brief Musings: 1355
Points to Ponder: 486
Interesting Links: 235
---
Excerpts from Literature/Writings: 19
Guest Editorials: 28
Humour/Parody/Satire: 22
Humour/Parody/Satire/Plus Musings: 19
Lyrics/Poetry: 62
Lyrics/Poetry/Musings: 30
Quizzes: 11
Quizzes/Musings: 35
Spiritual Instruction: 39
Vault Flashback: 10
Audio Musings: 61
Archivally Obsolete/Duplicate Post/Minutiae: 31
It is possible the above totals may tally a bit higher than 3098 because some are postings that are completed and tagged already but have not yet been published. In giving the primary tags a thorough go-through, I also in delineating with greater precision which postings were properly classified as Expository Musings took the nearly unprecedented{3} step of revising archive postings by appending nearly all of those classified as Expository Musings with the subtitle Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum.{4} In situations where those postings had other subtitles, I retitled them incorporating the prior subtitles into a new descriptive title. On others where I used either no title or some variation of Miscellaneous Musings, I retitled them On Miscellaneous Matters. That is the extent to which anything in those postings was revised except in a few cases where there were spelling, grammar, or colour formatting issues. And while I may make colour formatting adjustments on additional postings under the Dialogues category where warranted in the coming weeks{5}, what is noted here is the extent to which I foresee anything being further revised in the archives of this humble website in perpetuity.
All things to the contrary notwithstanding.
Notes:
{1} And with the exception of seven posts (six of which were currently defunct audio postings), I have stayed true to this principle. (The seventh posting was a two sentence gibberish post from early 2005 that was in the archivally obsolete category. It was originally slated as a placeholder to highlight a planned series I never remotely got around to working on and now never will so it got the axe when the aforementioned six audios were similarly deleted.) I have no plans to deviate from this longstanding principle anymore -indeed I do not even like to make changes to past postings apart from fixing spelling, grammar, or colour formatting schemes when warranted: a far cry from how not a few folks handle these matters.
{2} Including 88 as Miscellaneous Threads/Brief Musings and 61 as Audio Musings. I also reclassified prior quizzes which were under the miscellaneous threads/brief musings tag with a new category titled Quizzes/Musings. There were also 7 or 8 Interesting Links entries that contained musings in them beyond an ultra brief description and they were reclassified as Miscellaneous Threads/Brief Musings. I also in nearly all cases with postings that involved updates in the old format classified them either as Miscellaneous Threads/Brief Musings or Expository Musings where applicable and abrogated the prior tags used for that material.
{4} This tagline serves as a kind of marker to indicate the character of the post in question. Most expository musings had been adorned with that subtitle since roughly May of 2003 but the uniformity on this matter was one that took time to develop to the way things are currently.
{5} I realized when perusing the archives for prior dialogue material for use in other publishing mediums that software formatting changes has messed up the formatting of some of those postings from their original colour schemes. As a result, they will have to be fixed. I will however only correct these issues in piecemeal fashion as I have the time or inclination to do so.
Monday, May 28, 2018
On this Memorial Day I do not have the time to post anything new so I will re-post at this time as a vault flashback the link to an expository musing I wrote on the subject ten years ago. Without further ado...
On Memorial Day (circa May 28, 2008)
On Memorial Day (circa May 28, 2008)
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