Sunday/ Preparation

The recently-proposed Green New Deal is proof that climate change is for progressive Democrats what terrorism is for neoconservative Republicans: a ready-made excuse to expand government and curtail liberty.--someone

Police said a "young white man" had been apprehended following an armed attack at the al-Noor Islamic Centre in Norway.

Major League Baseball buys their baseballs from Costra Rica. Minor league balls are from China (and are cheaper). Triple A decided to switch to the major league balls this year, "to allow the soon-to-be major leaguers to see the major league ball." Home runs in triple A are up by an additional 2000 HRs from last year, up 60%. 60%. Home runs in the other minor systems which still use the cheaper China balls are down. Down. Any questions you might have about a live ball in major league baseball should now be answered.

Pirates are 4-23 since the All Star Game. The reporters act as if it has something to do with something other than talent.

Insurance claims for stolen vehicles hit their highest level in seven years at the beginning of 2019. Claims for January to March were higher than for any other quarter since 2012, according to the Association of British Insurers. Keyless car crime was part of the blame, the ABI said, but it did not have exact figures on what proportion of claims were for keyless vehicles. Often times, keyless theft requires thieves to work in pairs. One criminal holds a device close to the car that boosts the signal meant for the key and the other stands close to the house with a second device that relays the signal to the key, fooling the system into thinking that the driver is closer to the car than they are. Then, after being stolen, the cars are usually stripped for parts.

A map to answer some basic questions we all have:

On this day in 1806, while hunting for elk along the Missouri River, Meriwether Lewis was shot in the hip, probably by one of his own men by accident although the man denied it to his grave.

                  Preparation

The gospel today is on the preparing for Christ's return. It is a surprisingly common theme, filled with lighting lamps and girding loins, so it should not be surprising that the Christians emphasize it.

Robert Louis Stevenson loved lamplighters and wrote an essay on their passing.
"The Greeks would have made a noble myth of such an one; how he distributed starlight, and, as soon as the need was over, re-collected it; and the little bull’s-eye, which was his instrument, and held enough fire to kindle a whole parish, would have been fitly commemorated in the legend. Now, like all heroic tasks, his labours draw towards apotheosis, and in the light of victory himself shall disappear. For another advance has been effected. Our tame stars are to come out in future, not one by one, but all in a body and at once. A sedate electrician somewhere in a back office touches a spring — and behold! from one end to another of the city, from east to west, from the Alexandra to the Crystal Palace, there is light! Fiat lux, says the sedate electrician. "

This is "The Lamplighter" from his Garden of Verses.

My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky;
It’s time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.

Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea,
And my papa’s a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I’m to do,
Oh Leerie, I’ll go round at night and light the lamps with you!

For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door,
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light,
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight!