Friday, March 29, 2013

On A Friday

An appropriately sombre Good Friday.


Please remember the Christians in the Holy Land and surrounding areas. Remember their neighbours, too, some of whom love them, the others hate them.


Ralph Klein, former Premier  of Alberta, has passed away. He was seventy.

Buoyed by oil, Alberta’s boom-bust economy has often been reflected in its mercurial picks for premier; its preference swings between builders and breakers, visionaries and pragmatists. The late Peter Lougheed, who took the Progressive Conservatives to power in 1971, was a cosmopolitan, aristocratic statesman — the kind of leader who wanted to put the province on the map and use the state’s bountiful oil wealth to build and diversity the economy. If Mr. Lougheed was who Albertans may have aspired to be, Mr. Klein was closer to who they really were; conservative, level-headed and candid. As long as Mr. Klein spoke his mind and kept the books balanced, his occasional gaffes were just another chance for Albertans to revel in their own Albertanness. And, if the polls were any indication, Albertans loved this guy.

Stop catering to the Chinese:

The latest news out of the Marvel film universe makes near perfect sense. Marvel Studios will release a different version of the upcoming Iron Man 3 to China, one with new scenes featuring Chinese actress Fan Bingbing plus bonus footage not included in the U.S. version. ...

Last year's Red Dawn remake was supposed to feature China as the country invading U.S. borders. The studio behind the project got cold feet and changed the enemy to North Korea. The switcheroo certainly had a financial component. Why anger an entire continent filled with people who would otherwise love to see your film?

There's more to it than that. As TheWrap.com reports, China is very strict about the content it allows to be shown in its country. Will future films cater to the country's whims hoping to snare approval? Can we expect pro-Chinese sentiments sneaking into content?

Not one of them is Park Chan-Wook, anyway.


I had to laugh a little when I read this:

Tuesday's report that Pope Francis has chosen to live in a modest two-room apartment within the Vatican rather than the more spacious ten-room Papal Apartment on the top floor of the Apostolic Palace offers a stark contrast to the numerous reports of personal extravagance by President Obama, his family, and his administration throughout his tenure in office.

Since December, the Obama family has averaged one vacation per month. In February, President Obama flew to Florida at taxpayer expense for a day of golfing with Tiger Woods. Vice President Joe Biden's recent one-night stay at a luxury hotel in Paris, France was estimated to cost taxpayers $585,000.


Oh, I'm sure Obama will learn from the new pontiff's modesty and love of his fellow man. I'm sure.

Does that pig have wings?


Over at the Fur: there are five D's of dodgeball; Blogwrath was good enough to film some Jew-hatred (just in time for Good Friday). It's cultish, really; Christ's Passion re-enacted in London; if you thought that the Democratic Party was an open and tolerant one, you would be wrong; I think the exact term is infanticide- Planned Parenthood shows its true homicidal colours; how are the two token gays guys getting "married" anyway like the Holocaust, the Holodmor or the Killing Fields? I need to ask; if you want to know why the province of Ontario is both broke and corrupt, take a look at the Sunshine List; Michelle Obama wants to ruin Easter for everyone and banning the word EASTER is like banning the word CHRISTMAS in that you are fooling no one and you are a self-hating political correctness tool.


The Turin Shroud is real, claims book:

Experiments conducted by scientists at the University of Padua in northern Italy have dated the shroud to ancient times, a few centuries before and after the life of Christ. 
Many Catholics believe that the 14ft-long linen cloth, which bears the imprint of the face and body of a bearded man, was used to bury Christ's body when he was lifted down from the cross after being crucified 2,000 years ago. 
The analysis is published in a new book, "Il Mistero della Sindone" or The Mystery of the Shroud, by Giulio Fanti, a professor of mechanical and thermal measurement at Padua University, and Saverio Gaeta, a journalist. 
The tests will revive the debate about the true origins of one of Christianity's most prized but mysterious relics and are likely to be hotly contested by sceptics. 
Scientists, including Prof Fanti, used infra-red light and spectroscopy – the measurement of radiation intensity through wavelengths – to analyse fibres from the shroud, which is kept in a special climate-controlled case in Turin. 

The tests dated the age of the shroud to between 300 BC and 400AD. 

The experiments were carried out on fibres taken from the Shroud during a previous study, in 1988, when they were subjected to carbon-14 dating. 

Those tests, conducted by laboratories in Oxford, Zurich and Arizona, appeared to back up the theory that the shroud was a clever medieval fake, suggesting that it dated from 1260 to 1390. 

But those results were in turn disputed on the basis that they may have been skewed by contamination by fibres from cloth that was used to repair the relic when it was damaged by fire in the Middle Ages.
Mr Fanti, a Catholic, said his results were the fruit of 15 years of research. 

He said the carbon-14 dating tests carried out in 1988 were “false” because of laboratory contamination....
Scientists have never been able to explain how the image of a man's body, complete with nail wounds to his wrists and feet, pinpricks from thorns around his forehead and a spear wound to his chest, could have formed on the cloth. Mr Fanti said the imprint was caused by a blast of “exceptional radiation”, although he stopped short of describing it as a miracle. 

He said his tests backed up earlier results which claimed to have found on the shroud traces of dust and pollen which could only have come from the Holy Land.

   (thanks a bunch, Gordon)


11 comments:

Unknown said...

From the same article:
"China wields more power than ever in Hollywood thanks to the continued growth of its film market, which many expect to rival the United States in terms of box office within the next decade."

We now have Hollywood liberals catering to China. Seem like perfect bed fellows...

I grew up watching Chinese Kung Fu movies. I held them and the art form in high reverence. I was naive to the facts of how China's government operates.

I have come to realize, as I've gotten older, that the Chinese government is an enemy to not only the U.S. but to it's own citizens.
Amassing huge amounts of personal wealth for it's dignitaries, while people in more rural areas starve.

In the U.S. it started with taking over our manufacturing. American's are so materialistic; they do not care about the deplorable conditions the workers in China suffer through, as long as, they get their new iPhone.

Now, it has gotten a lot worst. China has essentially gone to war with us, in so subtle a manner, most citizens are apathetic to it. Insidious acts of cyber-warfare. Stealing our intellectual properties; re-engineering, producing, and selling the "new" product back to us.

China is buying up our infrastructure and our debt[1]. Using internet kill-switches[2] to limit their citizens access to information, committing infanticide, increasing their military budget and presence in the south pacific.[3]...and that's just the tip of the iceberg

Why are we catering to them again? Threat level critical and we are sucking our thumbs :\

[1]'not an immediate/imminent threat' - Obama
[2]America is now proposing see: Danny Hillis
[3]While America is simultaneously slashing ours

p.s. Sorry, I started writing and got carried away :)

Unknown said...

The stark contrast between Pres. Obama and Pope Francis is so perspicuous and poignant. Yet, it seems the liberal MSM completely misses the irony of the juxtaposition.

Here on one hand, we have a man who lives a life of temperance, humility, prudence; eschewing personal wealth and comfort, while promoting peace love and goodwill.

On the other, we have a man who lives a life of indulgence and cupidity. Is derisive, arrogant, narcissistic, domineering, pretentious etc..

The left lauds Obama, while vilifying Francis. It's aberrant, confounding, and depraved. To the point it's almost ineffable...no words can truly describe my feelings of antipathy.

/sigh

Osumashi Kinyobe said...

Patrick:

RE: China- absolutely. North American greed has allowed China to become powerful. Had it been a democratic country with values similar to Western values, this wouldn't be a big problem. China calling the international shots is a big problem.

RE: Obama- no comparison to Pope Francis is necessary. Obama behaves just like an African dictator with unnecessary laud, exorbitant spending, alienation and incompetence. That the electorate didn't or will not see it still beggars the imagination.

Happy Easter.

Unknown said...

Happy Easter to you, too :)

Sorry if my posts are overly loquacious. Apparently, I think your comments section is my own personal blog. I have a penchant to opine with volubility :P

Your Shroud of Turin post made me happy. The last I had looked into it was a documentary on the History Channel which seem to cast doubt on the credibility of the shroud. Which, I think, was based in large part to the false/replacement fibers.I am glad the are revisiting it with more modern techniques.

The 'immense radiation', location of the wounds, and now that it's dated at around the time of Christ...all but seals it for me. I had been skeptical in the past but with the new info, I truly believe it was Jesus' burial cloth. VERY COOL.

Osumashi Kinyobe said...

The Shroud of Turin is quite the archaeological curiosity. As the shroud has been passed around, it's quite possible that it has been contaminated.

Consider that the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in a cave. What damage was done to them yet no one questions their basis.

Happy Easter.

Unknown said...

To except the Shroud as the burial cloth of Jesus', you must except the he was more than human. People do everything they can to blind themselves from the truth. To the point that they will say Jesus never even existed (even as just a man). That he is a fictional character in a story.

The Shroud, IMO, is proof tangible Jesus was God incarnate(I didn't need tangible proof). 'People' would have to take a hard look at themselves in the mirror, if that was the case. Self-assess/atone/repent? No thank you. That is the last thing on earth they want to do. They want to continue living their life anyway they please. Being Christian - 'ugh there's like way too many rules and stuff'

are you Catholic?

Osumashi Kinyobe said...

The problem with Protestantism is its gradual departure not just from central authority but from the tenets it teaches. Self-assessment eventually becomes whatever one thinks is relevant.

My Church frowns upon it.

Unknown said...

Maybe self-assess was the wrong word. I was trying to say people don't want to take responsibilities for their actions or own up to their improprieties.

'My Church'. That was my question :). What is your church?

Osumashi Kinyobe said...

That is true. People don't want to take responsibility for what they do, hence the scaling back of evil.

Yes, the Catholic Church is the true Church. It says in the Bible.

Unknown said...

*high five* Ok, cool :). Just so I know we are on the same page :D

Osumashi Kinyobe said...

Good.

Now for the secret handshake! :)