Thought for today: the Frog –

In Egypt we see the Frog-headed Heket who is an Egyptian goddess of birth(ing).

As a Celtic symbol meaning, the Frog was deemed lord over all the earth, and the Celts believed it represented curative or healing powers because of its connection with water and cleansing rains.

More Western and European views focus on the Frog’s three stages of development (egg, tadpole, fully formed amphibian) to symbolize resurrection and spiritual evolution. For these same reasons it is also a common Christian symbol for the holy trinity and resurrection. It is often seen in Christian art to express this symbolism.

In China the Frog is an emblem of Yin energy and thought of as good luck. Feng Shui practices recommend putting an image of a Frog in the east window of your home to encourage child birth and/or happy family life.

Frog energy is also considered to be a link between the living and the dead. An interesting ancient Asian custom was to place a jade frog in the mouth of the deceased to insure his/her spirit would pass safely into the spirit world. This custom was believed to allow the spirit of the deceased to speak more clearly to loved ones still living.

Frogs are also good luck symbols in Japan - especially for travelers. Images or charms were worn during long voyages to assure safety (particularly across water).

- whatsyoursign.com : Link.

“All poets are sending religious messages …”

I think that all poets are sending religious messages, because poetry is, in such great part, the comparison of one thing to another … and to insist, as all poets do, that all things are related to each other, comparable to each other, is to go toward making an assertion of the unity of all things.

- Richard Wilbur @ Writer’s Almanac: Link

Richard Wilbur @ Wikipedia

Thought for today:

When you have the intuition that there is something which is there, but out of the reach of your physical world, art and religion are the only means to get to it.

- Guillermo Del Toro: link

Thought for today:

This is no time to make new enemies.

-Voltaire, (1694-1778)
When asked on his deathbed to forswear Satan.

“While the virtual world might be a refuge for some people seeking to flee the real one, it is also full of people seeking something more from life, including, possibly, religious enlightenment … “

Catholic missionaries … are being encouraged to go into the virtual realm of “Second Life” to save virtual souls.

In an article in Rome-based Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, academic Antonio Spadaro urged fellow Catholics not to be scared of entering the virtual world which may be fertile ground for new converts wishing to better themselves.

“It’s not possible to close our eyes to this phenomenon or rush to judge it,” Spadaro said. “Instead it needs to be understood … the best way to understand it is to enter it.”

… “Deep down, the digital world can be considered, in its way, mission territory,” he said. “‘Second Life’ is somewhere where the opportunity to meet people and to grow should not be missed, therefore, any initiative that can inspire the residents in a positive way should be considered opportune.”

[Link @ FOXNews.com]

Via Thinking Machine.

See also Preaching to the Perverted in Second Life by Lore Sjöberg @ Wired.com.

Private undercover team exposes nationwide network of radical, anti-U.S. Islamic centers

“Our initial investigation has concluded there are between 400 to 500 radical Islamic centers in the U.S.,” said David Gaubatz, the director of counterintelligence and counterterrorism for the Society of Americans for National Existence. “In those places, they preach an extreme version of Islam that says America and the West is the enemy. They espouse violence, hatred and the need for terrorism.”

Gaubatz is a former senior U.S. intelligence official, who now works for the Mapping Shari’a in America Project (www.mappingsharia.com), which is supported by SANE, a national non-profit group devoted to investigating the 2,300 Islamic centers in the U.S. for extremist activity.

Gaubatz and his investigators are currently active and will soon form a team of about 12. They pose as people interested in converting to Islam or who are current Muslims. Their goal is to infiltrate mosques and Muslim centers. Recently, he and his team penetrated the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center, located in Falls Church, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Sporting a beard and Muslim dress, Gaubatz said he went on May 18 to the center, pretending to be an American interested in becoming a convert to Islam. He discovered the center espoused terrorism and jihad against America.

“They are teaching what they call Jihad Qital, which means physical jihad,” Gaubatz said. “They’re teaching violence and hatred of the United States.”

… Gaubatz maintains that he and his team of field workers at the Mapping Shari’a in America Project are not only focusing on major metropolitan areas. Although there is plenty of Islamist activity in cities such as Detroit, Dearborn, Michigan and Washington, he says radical Muslims are also establishing education and religious centers in small towns.

“They’re branching out and teaching the Jihadist ideology in small towns across America, especially in rural areas in places like Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina,” Gaubatz said.

… Gaubatz says that his investigative team is composed of individuals of various faiths, whose goal is to protect the American homeland from Islamic extremism.

“We have a team consisting of Christians, Jews and Muslims—there are several Muslims, in fact, on our team—who go undercover and try to penetrate radical mosques in this country,” he said. “This is not about being anti-Muslim. It is about being anti-extremism, anti-Jihadism and anti-terrorism.

[Link]

“Apple picks a fight it can’t win: Why Safari for Windows will leave Apple bruised and bloodied”

The insular Apple universe is a relatively gentle place, an Athenian utopia where Apple’s occasional missteps are forgiven, all partake of the many blessings of citizenship, and everyone feels like they’re part of an Apple-created golden age of lofty ideas and superior design.

But the Windows world isn’t like that. It’s a cold, unforgiving place where nothing is sacred, users turn like rabid wolves on any company that makes even the smallest error, and no prisoners are taken. Especially the Windows browser market.

This is no Athens.

This is Sparta.

[Mike Elgan: ComputerWorld]

Via SlashDot.

Which reminds me of this classic essay:

Umberto Eco on Mac versus DOS [circa 1994]:
“I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant.”

Excerpts from an English translation of Umberto Eco’s back-page column, La bustina di Minerva, in the Italian news weekly Espresso, September 30, 1994.

Insufficient consideration has been given to the new underground religious war which is modifying the modern world. It’s an old idea of mine, but I find that whenever I tell people about it they immediately agree with me.

The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh computer and users of MS-DOS compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counter-reformist and has been influenced by the ratio studiorum of the Jesuits. It is cheerful, friendly, conciliatory; it tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach — if not the kingdom of Heaven — the moment in which their document is printed. It is catechistic: The essence of revelation is dealt with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons. Everyone has a right to salvation.

DOS is Protestant, or even Calvinistic. It allows free interpretation of scripture, demands difficult personal decisions, imposes a subtle hermeneutics upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that not all can achieve salvation. To make the system work you need to interpret the program yourself: Far away from the baroque community of revelers, the user is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment.

You may object that, with the passage to Windows, the DOS universe has come to resemble more closely the counter-reformist tolerance of the Macintosh. It’s true: Windows represents an Anglican-style schism, big ceremonies in the cathedral, but there is always the possibility of a return to DOS to change things in accordance with bizarre decisions: When it comes down to it, you can decide to ordain women and gays if you want to.

Naturally, the Catholicism and Protestantism of the two systems have nothing to do with the cultural and religious positions of their users. One may wonder whether, as time goes by, the use of one system rather than another leads to profound inner changes. Can you use DOS and be a Vande supporter? And more: Would Celine have written using Word, WordPerfect, or Wordstar? Would Descartes have programmed in Pascal?

And machine code, which lies beneath and decides the destiny of both systems (or environments, if you prefer)? Ah, that belongs to the Old Testament, and is talmudic and cabalistic.

[Umberto Eco: The Modern Word]

The Vatican may … field an international-level soccer team?

The idea of equipping the world’s smallest sovereign state with a competitive football club is the brainchild of one of its most influential officials: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Recently appointed as the Holy See’s new Secretary of State, the highest Vatican posting after the pope, Bertone is an enthusiastic football fan.

… Bertone said: “I do not rule out that the Vatican could in the future set up a competitive football team that could play on the same level as the likes of Roma, Inter, Genoa and Sampdoria.”

Italian football federation (FIGC) officials, as well as their colleagues at Europe’s governing body, UEFA, are not taking the matter lightly and are ready to welcome the white-and-yellow jerseys with open arms.

“We would not have a problem admitting a team from the Vatican, all they would have to do is apply,” a FIGC spokesperson told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa on Monday.

“The Vatican is a sovereign state that is recognised by the United Nations, so we would have no problem accepting it as one of our members, as long as certain conditions are fulfilled,” [said] William Gaillard, UEFA’s director of communications and public affairs.

[The Raw Story]

Le cardinal italien Tarcisio Bertone devient secrétaire d’Etat du Vatican: Link

The Vatican: www.vatican.va

Wikipedia: Vatican City

US State Department: Holy See

United Nations and the Holy See

The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations

Vatican makes first U.N. speech [September 2004, MS-NBC]
“Secretary condemns cloning, solo response to terrorism” — no word about football.

I find no indication from the United Nations itself that the Holy See is a member state –
United Nations: Member States : Press Release July 2006

Martin Luther wrote:

Who can longer endure it or keep silence?

And:

Here I stand. I can do no other.
(Hier stehe Ich, Ich kann nicht anders.)

Source: A World Lit Only by Fire, by William Manchester