Saints + Scripture

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Saints of the Day
'Tis the festival of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious, T.O.S.F. (circa 1207-1231, A.K.A. of Thuringia).

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Descendant of Ss. Olga of Kiev [11 July] & Vladimir of Kiev [15 July]; niece of St. Hedwig of Silesia [16 October]; mother of Bl. Gertrude of Aldenberg [13 August]; aunt of Ss. Margaret of Hungary [18 January] & Kinga of Poland [24 July], & Bl. Yolanda of Poland [11 June]; & great-aunt of St. Elizabeth of Portugal [4 July].

'Tis the Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time (Tempus per annum, "time through the year"): Wikipedia-link.

The Explorers' Club, № CMXVI

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-5, Part II
12-16 November 1982: Brand, Overmyer, Allen, & Lenoir deployed two commercial communications satellites, which were boosted into geosynchronous orbits by Payload Assist Module-D kick motors, & conducted three student-designed experiments; a spacewalk by Allen & Lenoir was cancelled due to problems with both spacesuits; after 81 orbits, the Columbia landed at California's Edwards A.F.B.

Bonus! Space Age Song o' the Day: S.T.S.-5
Smash Mouth, "Satellite" from Astro Lounge (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.

Bonus! Song o' the Day

The Many Versions of "Wonderwall"
Oasis, "Wonderwall" from (What's the Story) Morning Glory (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: It irks me that there is no question mark at the end of (What's the Story) Morning Glory. The title is clearly interrogative; so, why is there no question mark?

I'm not a particular fan of Oasis, but for the last day or so I've had "Wonderwall" as an earworm.

Saints + Scripture

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Popish Plot
"Saint Gertrude the Great"

Saints of the Day
'Tis the Optional Memorial of Saint Margaret of Scotland (circa 1045-1093, "the Pearl of Scotland;" A.K.A. of Wessex), Queen of Scots.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis the Optional Memorial of Saint Gertrude, Virgin, O.S.B. (1256-1302, of Helfta; A.K.A. the Great).

'Tis the Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time (Tempus per annum, "time through the year"): Wikipedia-link.

Operation ÖSTERREICH— Please Stand By

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 332.4 lbs (Wednesday, 31 August)

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH
The Goodwin Club, "Abe Froman (Sausage King)" from Soda + Join the Club (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whale)

The R.B.D. Moonshot Song o' the Day: Artemis I

The Phenomenauts, "All Go for Launch" from For All Mankind (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Wayback Machine Tour of the Road to Artemis I
6 April 2021 | 7 April 2021 | January 2022 | August 2022 | September 2022

The Queue

I was making progress through The Word on Fire Vatican II Collection even more slowly than anticipated; so, I decided to stop alternating that book with Reclaiming Vatican II & focused on finishing Reclaiming Vatican II, which I did at the end of last week. I highly recommend Reclaiming Vatican II to one & all.

I've begun Across the Airless Wilds in anticipation of the fiftieth anniversary of Apollo 17, the sixth & final Moon landing (7-19 December). The book is off to a very bad start, the author writing on page seventeen:

No other explorer has been in circumstances so remote, or so extreme in their hazards. No expedition had before, or has since, pushed adventure farther or further. Cernan and Schmitt were out at the edge of man's travels as a species. By comparison, Roald Amundsen's trek to the South Pole was a run to the corner grocery.

Long time readers of The Secret Base are no strangers to my enthusiasm for human spaceflight & my own penchant for hyperbole. I'm on board with the first three sentences, but I reject utterly the attempt to build up the heroes of Apollo by denigrating the giants on whose shoulders they stood, such as Amundsen. (The "corner grocery"? If the author had taken such an unnecessary cheap shot at Ernest Shackleton, I would have stopped reading the book immediately & put it in the paper recycling bin.) I'm still reading Across the Airless Wilds, which means I still hold out hope it will prove worthwhile.

Recently
Tim Gray & Jeff Cavins, Walking with God: A Journey through the Bible
Robert Barron, Eucharist
Father Blake Britton, Reclaiming Vatican II: What It (Really) Says, What It Means, and How It Calls Us to Renew the Church

Currently
Earl Swift, Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings

Presently
Second Vatican Council, The Word on Fire Vatican II Collection
Christopher Carstens, A Devotional Journey into the Easter Mystery (Lent 2023)
Heather Augustyn, Ska: An Oral History (SKApril 2023)
Xavier Rynne, Vatican Council II
John W. O'Malley, What Happened at Vatican II

Saints + Scripture

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Saints of the Day
'Tis the Optional Memorial of Saint Albert the Great, Bishop & Doctor of the Church, O.P. (circa 1193-1280, of Cologne; in Latin Albertus Magnus).

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis the Tuesday of the Thirty-third in Ordinary Time (Tempus per annum, "time through the year"): Wikipedia-link.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

The 88, "At Least It Was Here" from Community: Music from the Original Television Series (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Saints + Scripture

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

'Tis the Monday in Ordinary Time (Tempus per annum, "time through the year"): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine '21 & Wayback Machine '20.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Where'd You Go?" from More Noise and Other Disturbances (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Saints + Scripture: XXXIII Sunday in Tempus per annum

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

'Tis the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Tempus per annum, "time through the year"): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the XXXIII Sunday in O.T.

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
The O.C. Supertones, "The Wise and the Fool" from For the Glory (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: Go Blue!

Team 143, Game 10: Michigan v. Nebraska
The University of Michigan Marching Band, "Cadence Series: Michigan Drumline" from Forever Valiant (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Commentary: The composition the drumline is drumming is credited to Brian May & Freddie Mercury.

The only bad thing about the conniving Cornhuskers firing their head coach, Scut Farkus (technically, his name is Scott Frost) is that the valiant Wolverines don't have the chance to hang yet another loss on him. I'll never forgive Nebraska for 1997, for trying to steal our national championship; not ever.

Go Blue!

Saints + Scripture

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Saints of the Day
'Tis the Memorial of Saint Josaphat, Bishop & Martyr (circa 1580-1623, A.K.A. Ioann Kuntsevych), third (III) Archeparch of Polotsk-Vitebsk, martyred by a conspiracy of Orthodox schismatics & Protestant heretics.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis the Saturday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time (Tempus per annum, "time through the year"): Wikipedia-link.

The Explorers' Club, № CMXV

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 40th Anniversary of S.T.S.-5, Part I
11 November 1982: The Space Shuttle Columbia OV-102 lifted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center with CDR Vance Brand, Pilot Bob Overmyer, Mission Specialist 1 Joe Allen, & Mission Specialist 2 Bill Lenoir; this was the first "operational" flight of the Shuttle & carried the largest crew of any spaceflight yet, & they were the first American astronauts to launch not wearing pressure suits.

Commentary: This was the fifth flight of the Columbia OV-102, & the last time that the S.T.S. program flight number would match the individual Orbiter flight number.

Bonus! Space Age Song o' the Day: S.T.S.-5
The Dave Brubeck Quartet, "Take Five" from Time Out: 50th Anniversary Legacy Edition (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.

Saints + Scripture

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Popish Plot
"American Fall Pilgrimages with Special Guest Anthony of Petoskey"

Saints of the Day
'Tis the Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop (circa 316-397), third (III) Bishop of Tours (371-397), founder of Ligugé Abbey (361), formally the Abbey of Saint Martin of Ligugé, & Marmoutier Abbey (372).

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis the Friday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time (Tempus per annum, "time through the year"): Wikipedia-link.

Armistice Day

"Armistice Day has become Veterans' Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans' Day is not."
—Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Breakfast of Champions

Operation AXIOM: The 104th Anniversary of the Armistice of Compiègne
One hundred four years ago to the day, 11 November 1918, "at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month," the guns fell silent on the Western Front. The "War to End All Wars" was over. Tens of millions were dead. Empires lay in ruins. Revolution was in the air. The world that had existed before the summer of 1914 was shattered utterly, torn asunder by unfathomable bloodshed.

The world had never seen madness as red as the World War; pray to the Almighty that we shall not see madness so red in our own lifetime. A century later, only the ignorant &/or the foolish would say we do not live in a world yet scarred by 1914-1918, haunted by the ghost of a war most of us prefer to pretend never happened. Western civilization barely survived the suicide attempt of 1914-1918, & might yet succumb to the wound. It all ended—in triumph, in defeat, in exhaustion, in jubilation—on 11 November 1918, one hundred four years ago today.

"War's Cataract, 1915"
by Herbert Asquith (1881-1947)

In this red havoc of the patient earth,
Though higher yet the tide of battle rise,
Now has the hero cast away disguise,
And out of ruin splendour comes to birth.
This is the field where Death and Honour meet,
And all the lesser company are low:
Pale Loveliness has left her mirror now
And walks the Court of Pain with silent feet.

From cliff to cliff War's cataract goes down,
Hurling its booming waters to the shock;
And tossing high their manes of gleaming spray
The crested chargers leap from rock to rock,
While over all, dark though the thunder frown,
The rainbows climb above to meet the day.

"Killed in Action"
by Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918)

Your Youth has fallen from its shelf,
And you have fallen, you yourself.
They knocked a soldier on the head,
I mourn the poet who fell dead.
And yet I think it was by chance,
By oversight you died in France.
You were so poor an outward man,
So small against your spirit's span,
That Nature, being tired awhile,
Saw but your outward human pile;
And Nature, who would never let
A sun with light still in it set,
Before you even reached your sky,
In inadvertence let you die.

Commentary: Isaac Rosenberg was himself killed in action on 1 April 1918, during the Germans' spring offense.

The Wayback Machine Tour of Armistice Day: Lest We Forget
Armistice Day '21 + Armistice Day '20 + Armistice Day '18 + Armistice Day '17

Armistice Day '16 + Armistice Day '15 + Armistice Day '14 + Armistice Day '13

Armistice Day '12 + Armistice Day '11 + Armistice Day '10 + Armistice Day '09

Armistice Day '08 + Armistice Day '07 + Armistice Day '06 + Armistice Day '05

Armistice Day '04 + Armistice Day '03 + Armistice Day '02

The Explorers' Club № DCLVI: 11 November 1918—The Armistice

The Explorers' Club № DCCXVI: 11 November 1919—The First Armistice Day

The Explorers' Club № DCCLXXXIII: 11 November 1920—The Second Armistice Day

The Explorers' Club № DCCCLVII: 11 November 1921—The Third Armistice Day

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Armistice Day
Ivor Gurney, "Severn Meadows" from The Pity of War: Songs & Poems of Wartime Suffering (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Lest we forget.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Edmund Fitzgerald

Gordon Lightfoot, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" from Summertime Dream (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Operation AXIOM
Forty-seven years ago to the day, 10 November 1975, twenty-nine souls were lost when the lake freighter S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald sank amidst a severe storm—"the Witch of November"—on Lake Superior, a freshwater sea of monstrous proportions. The captain's last radio message, transmitted while the Edmund Fitzgerald battled against thirty-five-foot waves, was, "We are holding our own." The Edmund Fitzgerald was a legend in her own time, setting six seasonal haul records in a seventeen-year career, yet her doomed crew & tragic wreck would be all but forgotten today if not for this date's annual R.B.D.S.O.T.D., the popular 1976 ballad, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, to whom our collective memory owes a great debt.

Twenty-nine men perished when the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald sank on 10 November 1975, forty-seven years ago today.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Edmund Fitzgerald '21 | Edmund Fitzgerald '20 | Edmund Fitzgerald '18
Edmund Fitzgerald '17 | Edmund Fitzgerald '16 | Edmund Fitzgerald '15
Edmund Fitzgerald '14 | Edmund Fitzgerald '11 | Edmund Fitzgerald '10

Bonus! Song o' the End o' the World

Josh Ritter, "The Temptation of Adam" from The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"…Oh Marie, there's something tells me things just won't work out above,
That our love would live a half life on the surface,
So at night while you are sleeping, I hold you closer just because
As our time grows short I get a little nervous.

"So I think about the big one, W-W-I-I-I,
Would we ever really care, the world had ended?
You could hold me here forever like you're holding me tonight,
I think about that big red button and I'm tempted."

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Santo & Johnny, "Sleep Walk" from Canadian American Story (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Yesterday, election day, was a twenty-one-hour day: I awoke at 4:30 A.M. to arrive at my assigned polling place by 6:00 A.M. in order to open the polls at 7:00 A.M.; the polls closed at 8:00 P.M. & my colleagues & I departed the polling place around 9:30 P.M.; the precinct chairman & I, the co-chairman, decamped to the township hall to submit our ballots, paperwork, & supplies to the township clerk's office; we had dotted all our I's & crossed all our T's & were thus free to go home by 11:30 P.M., unusually early; I was wound up from the day's activity & couldn't fall asleep until 1:30 A.M. Sleeping in this morning would have been in order—& would have set me right—but I was called in to help with counting the weekend collection at my parish after none of the scheduled counters showed upon Tuesday, the usual count day.

Operation ÖSTERREICH— Please Stand By

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 332.4 lbs (Wednesday, 31 August)

Bonus! Lied von ÖSTERREICH
Letters to Cleo, "Pizza Cutter" from Wholesale Meats and Fish (Mike Papa Walrus)

The Explorers' Club, № CMXIV

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—In Memoriam Michael J. Adams
15 November 1967: X-15 Flight 191—Major Michael James Adams, U.S.A.F. (1930-1967) died when his X-15 broke up during a supersonic dive; a Korean War combat pilot, University of Oklahoma graduate, & Masschusetts Institute of Technology alumnus, he was selected in Manned Orbiting Laboratory Group 1 in November 1965 & successfully completed six X-15 flights, from October 1966.

Commentary: Flight 191 reached the U.S.A.F. (& later N.A.S.A.) definition of space, an altitude of fifty miles—though not the internationally recognized Kármán line, sixty-two miles (one hundred klicks)—& Adams was postumously awarded astronaut wings. He was the only fatality of the joint U.S.A.F. & N.A.S.A. X-15 program, one hundred ninety-nine flights from 1959-1968.

Bonus! Space Race Song o' the Day: In Memoriam
The Phenomenauts, "Heroes" from For All Mankind (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Requiescat in pace.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Election Day

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Rob Carriker, "The Battle Cry of Freedom" from Over There!: Songs from America's Wars (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Winston Churchill, quoting an anonymous aphorism:

Many forms of Government have been tried, & will be tried in this world of sin & woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Here in sacred Michigan, the polls are open from 7:00 A.M. 'til 8:00 P.M.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Ataris, "In This Diary" from So Long, Astoria (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Kristopher Roe of The Ataris discussed composing "In This Diary" on this week's episode of the Chris DeMakes a Podcast podcast.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the XXXII Sunday in O.T.

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Audrey Assad, "Death in His Grave" from the Death, Be Not Proud E.P. (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"The first born of the slain,
The man Jesus Christ laid
Death in his grave.

"He has cheated
Hell and seated
Us above the fall…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: Go Blue!

Team 143, Game 9: Michigan @ Rutgers
The University of Michigan Marching Band, "El Victors Caliente" from Forever Valiant (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Commentary: I hate night games. I hate playing a game in New Jersey every other season. I hate tilting against Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey every season. I hate everything about this week's game except the valiant Wolverines.

Go Blue!

The Explorers' Club, № CMXIII

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
4 November 1922: The Discovery of Tutankhamun's Tomb—A British expedition lead by Howard Carter & his patron, George Herbert, the Earl of Carnarvon, discovered KV62 in the Valley of the Kings; they first entered the tomb on 26 November & excavations continued until 1932; meanwhile, the "Tutmania" craze seized the Western cultural imagination, & sightseers flocked the the tomb.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: Tutankhamun's Tomb
Steve Martin & the Toot Uncommons, "King Tut" (live) from A Wild & Crazy Guy (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Better Late than Never | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers, "King Tut" (live) from Rare Bird Alert (Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Dan Potthast, "I've Set Sail" from Eyeballs (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: An unexpectted delight from this morning's new episode of the 23 Minutes of Ska podcast was this old gem from MU330's Dan Potthast.

"And if you get seasick,
I'll drop anchor and hold you close,
And if you get sunstroke,
I'll let you sleep in the hold of my boat…"

Saints + Scripture

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Popish Plot: From the Archives (Year 4)
"Black History Month: St. Martin de Porres—Breaking the Law to be a Monk"

'Tis the Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time (Tempus per annum, "time through the year"): Wikipedia-link.

Saints of the Day
'Tis the Optional Memorial of Saint Martin de Porres, Religious, O.P. (1579-1639).

Commentary: Wayback Machine '21 & Wayback Machine '19.

Saints + Scripture: All the Faithful Departed

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

The Popish Plot
"All Souls' Day 2022"

'Tis the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls' Day).

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: All Souls

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls' Day)
Frédéric Chopin, "Funeral March" from Piano Sonata № 2, Opus 35 (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Saints + Scripture: Solemnity of All Saints

Simplex Edition | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Saints of the Day
'Tis the Solemnity of All Saints.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: All Saints

The Solemnity of All Saints
The Dixieland All Stars, "When the Saints Go Marching In" from The Dixieland All Stars: The Greatest Band in the World (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Is there a more perfectly appropriate song for All Saints' Day?