Month: January 2005

This Week’s Show (Jan. 27, 2005)

LISTEN TO THE SHOW.

DOWNLOAD THE SHOW.

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Fornication clarification.
  • Prophecy of St. Nilus.
  • A JimmyAkin.Org reader challenges me on the legal obligation for Friday penance.
  • What sins cry out to heaven?
  • Is the Trinity mentioned in the Old Testament and did the Jewish people expect the Messiah to be God?
  • Does gaining an indulgence cut down on temporal punishment in this life or purgatory?
  • What do I think of the New American Bible?
  • Did John the Baptist hear the Voice from heaven at the Baptism of Jesus?
  • Is Masonry Satanic?
  • What about the Gospel of Thomas?
  • Nostradamus: Friend or Foe?
  • Tell me about the Greek Orthodox. (NOTE: This caller has a West Texas accent that you can contrast with my East Texas accent.)
  • Why do people only reference Vatican II documents and not prior councils?
  • Seder meals, the Last Supper, and did Transubstantiation happen at the Las Supper? Did Judas take Communion?
  • A Lutheran asks if he can become Catholic and be a good Catholic without praying to the saints himself as long as he acknowledges the practice in principle.
  • What is a commentator at Mass?
  • How to respond to one who claims that the Virgin Birth is an Egyptian myth and that the papacy was founded by Constantine?
  • Are we eating Jesus in the Eucharist?

Yesterday Morning's Mondegreen

Yesterday morning I was driving to work when I experienced a mondegreen.

"What is a mondegreen?" you ask.

It’s a place where you mishear a song lyric.

The name "mondegreen" is itself a mondegreen.

The 17th century ballad "The Bonnie Earl O’Murray" ends with the line "They hae slain the Earl o’ Murray and laid him on the green." But this line was misheard as "They hae slain the Earl o’ Murray and Lady Mondegreen."

Hence the name.

A famous recent mondegreen is mishearing the Jimi Hendrix lyric "Excuse me while I kiss the sky" as "Excuse me while I kiss this guy." (Whoever heard that must have been in a purple haze.)

My all-time favorite mondegreen is one I read about where someone’s grandmother misheard the lyrics to the Beatles’ song "She’s Got A Ticket To Ride" as "She’s got a tick in her eye." Granny kept asking "But why would anyone want to sing about that?"

So yesterday, I was driving to work and listening to the album

THE BAND (by The Band)

which is a really great early 1970s album. (Greally toe tapping music with insightful, though not always fully moral lyrics; one song I refuse to listen to utterly.)

One of the songs on the album is haunting "Unfaithful Servant," and lately I’ve been trying to figure out the lyrics to it. This morning I mondegreened the first two lines as:

Unfaithful servant . . .
I hear you even sin in the morning.

"Wow," I thought. "That would be pretty unfaithful . . . not even waiting until afternoon to start sinning. What a great line."

Unfortunately, unless other people on the ‘Net are mondegreening it differently than me, the actual line turns out to be:

         Unfaithful servant . . .
I hear you leavin’ soon in the mornin’ [SOURCE].

Which I must admit fits the theme of the song, which is of a servant leaving the country house where he has worked for many years after an unspecified act of betrayal against the lady of the household. The last stanza is:

Goodbye to that country home,

So long to a lady I have known,
Farewell to my other side,
I’d best just take it in stride.
Unfaithful Servant, you’ll learn to find your place;
I can see it in your smile,
and, yes, I can see it in your face.
The mem’ries will linger on,

But the good old days, they’re all gone,
Oh! Lonesome servant, can’t you see,
That we’re still one and the same, just you and me.

Haunting stuff when you hear it set to music.

BUY THE ALBUM.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MONDEGREENS.

VISIT A SITE OF MONDEGREENS.

Share your own mondegreens in the comments box.

Yesterday Morning’s Mondegreen

ThebandYesterday morning I was driving to work when I experienced a mondegreen.

"What is a mondegreen?" you ask.

It’s a place where you mishear a song lyric.

The name "mondegreen" is itself a mondegreen.

The 17th century ballad "The Bonnie Earl O’Murray" ends with the line "They hae slain the Earl o’ Murray and laid him on the green." But this line was misheard as "They hae slain the Earl o’ Murray and Lady Mondegreen."

Hence the name.

A famous recent mondegreen is mishearing the Jimi Hendrix lyric "Excuse me while I kiss the sky" as "Excuse me while I kiss this guy." (Whoever heard that must have been in a purple haze.)

My all-time favorite mondegreen is one I read about where someone’s grandmother misheard the lyrics to the Beatles’ song "She’s Got A Ticket To Ride" as "She’s got a tick in her eye." Granny kept asking "But why would anyone want to sing about that?"

So yesterday, I was driving to work and listening to the album

THE BAND (by The Band)

which is a really great early 1970s album. (Greally toe tapping music with insightful, though not always fully moral lyrics; one song I refuse to listen to utterly.)

One of the songs on the album is haunting "Unfaithful Servant," and lately I’ve been trying to figure out the lyrics to it. This morning I mondegreened the first two lines as:

Unfaithful servant . . .
I hear you even sin in the morning.

"Wow," I thought. "That would be pretty unfaithful . . . not even waiting until afternoon to start sinning. What a great line."

Unfortunately, unless other people on the ‘Net are mondegreening it differently than me, the actual line turns out to be:

         Unfaithful servant . . .
I hear you leavin’ soon in the mornin’ [SOURCE].

Which I must admit fits the theme of the song, which is of a servant leaving the country house where he has worked for many years after an unspecified act of betrayal against the lady of the household. The last stanza is:

Goodbye to that country home,
So long to a lady I have known,
Farewell to my other side,
I’d best just take it in stride.
Unfaithful Servant, you’ll learn to find your place;
I can see it in your smile,
and, yes, I can see it in your face.
The mem’ries will linger on,
But the good old days, they’re all gone,
Oh! Lonesome servant, can’t you see,
That we’re still one and the same, just you and me.

Haunting stuff when you hear it set to music.

BUY THE ALBUM.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MONDEGREENS.

VISIT A SITE OF MONDEGREENS.

Share your own mondegreens in the comments box.

Adventures In Audiobooks #2

Yesterday I blogged about my interest in audiobooks. This is an interest that has grown with time.

The Christmas I was considering a roadtrip to visit my kin in Texas, like the one I took last summer.

I didn’t end up going (good thing, too, as the weather was horrible), but while I was gearing up for the trip, I decided that I wanted to find a better way to listen to audiobooks while I was gone.

In particular: I didn’t like having to change CDs every hour. That’s a big pain if you’re doing ninety, whipping down the curvy, boulder-avoiding road through Texas Canyon in Arizona.

So I thought to myself: .mp3s of spoken word can be much smaller than ordinary CD files, and many new car stereos will play .mp3s, so here’s what I’ll do: I’ll get me one of the newer stereos for my pickup, then download a bunch of books on .mp3 from Audible.Com (which advertises your ability to listen to its books on portable devices), and I’ll be all set.

So I went down to Best Buy, bought a car stereo for like $130 that would play CDs, .mp3s, and Windows Media Player files, and had it installed the next day.

I was all set.

So I went ot Audible.Com to download some books and made a horrible discovery: Audible doesn’t let you download books in .mp3. They have a proprietary format that won’t play on my new player.

So I did a little research about what portable devices will play Audible files. It turns out: iPods can.

So I went out and got an iPod.

I also got a cheap broadcast device to let me play the iPod through my car stereo.

I haven’t actually set up the broadcast device yet, but barring another misfortune, I should be set.

VISIT AUDIBLE.COM.

LEARN MORE ABOUT .mp3s.

LEARN ABOUT iPODS.

Some Insightful Op-Ed

From the Washtington Times . . .

On Jan. 23, 1973, the day after the Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade, the New York Times ran this headline: "Supreme Court Settles Abortion Issue." That was 32 years ago, and if the thousands who rallied yesterday in downtown Washington for the annual March for Life are any indication, then perhaps the NYT would now consider running a correction.

    "Settled" is how many pro-choicers considered the issue then — and still do — when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. For example, imagine if in 1986 — 32 years after the Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education, ending public school segregation — there was still a strong and growing segregationist movement in the United States. Imagine if segregationists were being elected to Congress, or that a segregationist held the White House. Rather, in a relatively short time, the sweeping changes decided by Brown came to be seen by the public as both constitutionally and morally right. The same cannot be said of Roe, a fact that says more about the decision than pro-choicers would care to admit.

If anything, Roe succeeded only in forming a coalition of otherwise politically disinterested voters that has significantly strengthened the Republican Party. For Democrats, Roe has become a political liability: If they aren’t sufficiently pro-Roe, their base will ignore them; yet if they are, they cannot hope to make inroads into red states. This has led to the untenable and absurd position held by many Democrats (and a few blue-state Republicans), who say that they are personally against abortion, but in favor of Roe.

READ MORE.

Audiobook Reader Roundup

READER A writes:

I’m a recent audible.com devotee, too, and await hearing about your experiences, Jimmy! Who’s your favorite author?

It took me awhile to get everything with audible set up (part of the problem was that their servers were overtaxed during Christmas). Thus far most of the audiobooks I’ve heard weren’t on audible.

Don’t know that I have a favorite author. My all-time favorite audio books are Robert Graves’ I, Claudius and Claudius The God (which are not for the faint of heart as they show ancient Rome in its glory and its cruelty). Unfortunately, these are only available in cassette at present (though, maddeningly, Audible used to have them, it appears).

Lately, I’ve been listening to Tom Clancy audiobooks. These sometimes have elements that I don’t like in them (e.g., rough language used by people in the midst of international crises), but in the main they’re quite entertaining.

Particularly freaky is the novel Executive Orders, where Jack Ryan has just become president in the wake of a 9/11 style attack (only far worse). The novel is amazingly similar in its general themes to what happened in 2000-2001: A disputed presidency, an airliner terrorist attack, and a biological attack, all in rapid succession. I hadn’t read this book at the time, but I found it totally creepy how well it thematically tracked recent history. People who had already read the novel were absolutely stunned when the events of 2000-2001 unfolded.

Most recently, I read the abridged audio version of his novel Red Rabbit, which is set in 1981 and in which a young Jack Ryan tries to stop the assassination attempt on John Paul II. You know he won’t ultimately stop the attack, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t save the pope’s life. As Ryan (like Clancy, I believe) is a Catholic, this was a really neat read. Non-Catholics may not be as interested in this one (in fact, many such folks didn’t like it since you know at least approximately how it will end), but seeing Jack Ryan woven into real history alongside John Paul II is a treat for me.

On my August trip, I audio-read Robert Ludlum’s Cassandra Compact, which I enjoyed.

Earlier, I audio-read Ken Follett’s retro-Cold War thriller (it’s set in the 1950s),
                        Code To Zero, which I really enjoyed.

On the other hand, I absolutely hated John Le Carre’s Absolute Friends. I seriously thought about asking for my money back. After suffering through the novel hoping against progressively dimmer hope that it’s going to get better, it ends in an absolutely viciously anti-American screed.

READER B writes:

I might point out to you that on your cross-country adventures you
can rent an audiobook at a Cracker Barrel and return it a week later to
any other Cracker Barrel in the country.

Thanks!

Actually, on my August trip I noticed lots of seemingly rental copies of audiobooks at places I stopped. I assumed they were only for rent to locals, but apparently not. Next time, I may pick up one!

READER C writes:

I’ve never tried one of these audio book thingies.

How "abridged" are the abridged versions.  Are they worth your while?

It depends on what the publisher wants. Thus far, I haven’t had a problem with them. Typically the Tom Clancy novel’s I’ve listened to are about 5 CDs (6 hours) long, which is maybe half what the original novel is.

I’ve actually run into people online saying that they like the abridged versions better, because when you’re abridging a novel the first thing you cut out are the non-essential, slower, less-interesting parts.

Apparently, Clancy has a tendency to include informative but non-plot-advancing material in his novels (e.g., how military agencies work, etc.) that some people prefer to have left out so they can focus on the story.

I’ve never read an unabridged Tom Clancy novel, but I’m planning to. I was so pleased with Red Rabbit (noted above) that I plant to download the unabridged version from Audible.Com and have a listen to the whole thing.

A Common Situation

A correspondentt writes:

I am a catholic woman. I am divorced. My first marriage was
preformed in a reception hall, by an interfaith minister, not in a
church. Therefore, can I now marry the catholic, single, man of my
dreams, in a catholic church? I dont ,myself, need an annulment if I
was never before married in the catholic church or by a priest? Correct?

If you, as a Catholic, were married outside the Church without a
dispensation allowing you to do so then your first marriage was not valid.

You do need an annulment in order to show that your first marriage was
not valid.

After receiving the annulment, you will be able to marry someone else in
the Catholic Church.

The kind of annulment you need is very easy to obtain because all you
have to do is gather the correct documents to be able to show the
circumstances of the original marriage ceremony.

Contact your local parish and say that you’d like to set up an
appointment to see about obtaining an annulment. They can help you from
there.

Hope this helps, and God bless you!

March 18, 2004 Show

LISTEN TO THE SHOW.

DOWNLOAD THE SHOW.

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • What
    is the difference between a disciple and an apostle?
  • Do all
    bad people go to hell?
  • Do
    American Indian religions have a legend of a virgin birth?
  • Is the
    veneration of icons encouraged?
  • What
    do “Nihil Obstat” and “Imprimatur” mean?
  • Why aren’t bells rung at the consecration?
  • If I forget to confess a mortal sin, is the absolution invalid? How much detail is required?
  • Can
    the creed be omitted during Sunday Mass?
  • Is kneeling required during Mass?
  • Is it
    infallible that women can not be ordained?
  • Why
    can’t those in RCIA receive the Eucharist?
  • Is a
    saint a sinner who never gives up?

Adventures In Audiobooks #1

The next few days I’m going to be doing a few posts (in addition to other posts) about one of my interests that I haven’t really blogged about before: audiobooks.

For those who may not be aware, an audiobook is simply a book (either unabridged or abridged) that someone has recorded outloud, either to tape, CD, .mp3, or what have you.

I got into audiobooks a few years ago when I discovered that, after so many hours of squinting at print on a screen or on a page, I really enjoyed simply relaxing and letting someone else read to me for a change.

I especially like to listen to audiobooks when I’m travelling. It’s nice to plug in a CD and let the miles roll by.

You can get all kinds of audiobooks, from quite a long while ago (the Bible, the Illiad, the Odessy), to 19th century (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Fin, the works of Edgar Allen Poe), to twentieth century (I, Claudius, Claudius the God), to the latest bestsellers (Tom Clancy or Michael Crichton’s latest).

At first, I would purchase audiobooks, as one can do from Amazon.Com or in a bookstore, but this tends to have a problem associated with it: Such audiobooks are often expensive–more expensive than hardbacks.

Another solution is to get them from a service like Blackstone Audiobooks, where you can rent them rather than buy them.

More recently, I have been enjoying downloading digital audiobooks from Audible.Com, where you can download them (in a proprietary format) quite inexpensively.

The next few days, I’ll tell you more about ways you can get, use, and even make (!) your own audiobooks.

(ANTI-SPOILER REQUEST: For those who are already into audiobooks, I’d ask you not to spoil some of the neat hi-tech things I’m about to introduce. Kindly wait till I mention a method and then mention your neat-o variation on it. E.g., for this post you might talk about your experience with conventional audiobooks and with services like the ones named above. Much obliged!)

Louisiana Vandalism . . . Hate Crime?

Louisiana_crossesA kindly reader recently e-mailed me links to

THIS STORY

and

THIS ONE,

which deal with vandalism committed against a pro-life display down in Louisiana.

The display consists of 4,000 crosses to symbolize the 4,000+ children who are murdered each day in this country by abortion.

Pro-abort hooligans vandalized 3,000 of the crosses, including doing juvenile things like spelling out the words "Pro-choice" with them.

Police officers told them to stop but did not arrest them.

Excerpts from the first story:

“This is not a game,” [display organizer Mary] Higdon said, “this is private property.”

The crosses, which were on loan from St. Mary and St. Joseph Family Memorial Foundation, cost $3 a piece to make, Higdon said.

Richard Mahoney, president of the foundation, said they have been
lending crosses to Students for Life for 10 years and that vandalism
has occurred before, but never like this.

Mahoney is furious, and said that if LSUPD does not handle the situation justly, he has lawyers prepared to file suit.

“Defacing a religious symbol is a hate crime,” Mahoney said.

Mahoney said the vandals damaged more than $9,000 worth of private property, which should be prosecuted as a felony.

But Adams said there is no way of knowing who took what, so the
identified individuals probably will be charged with misdemeanor
charges.

Mahoney said that if a Jewish or other religious minority group set
up an exhibit that vandals defaced, such as the Star of David, the act
would not be tolerated.

He said a Christian organization should not have to tolerate it either.

He’s right. No Christian organization should tolerate this. I am outraged by it. I’m happy to provide coverage of this. If they can nail somebody for a felony, great. I think that the individuals responsible for the vandalism should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law–or, at least, the full extent of the justice of the law.

But I have a quibble about one point: Just because the law may provide a penalty does not mean that the penalty is just. The law can overreach justice, and I think that is what happens with "hate crime" legislation.

Such legislation selectively isolates motive in some cases in order to extend special protections to certian groups (the targets of the "hate"). In reality, anybody who has a crime committed against him is the victim of malice, and to create certain classes protected by "hate crime" legislation selectively favors these classes over others, who are equally victims of malice. This contributes to the polarization of our society and works against the fundamental principle of equal justice for all.

Consequently, I don’t favor hate crimes legislation. I don’t favor it when it works to the benefits of groups to which I don’t belong or of groups to which I do belong (e.g., Catholics, Christians, religious people, pro-lifers).

To my mind, if someone commits vandalism, you charge him with vandalism. You don’t charge him with vandalism plus harming a specially-protected group.

So, to the folks down in Lousiana, I say: Run these malefactors out of town on a rail, but do it on the vandalism charge, not the "hate crimes" charge. We’ll all be better off the sooner we get over this "hate crimes" nonsense.