The Explorers' Club, № MLXXXV

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
23 April 1925: The corpse of Floyd Collins was removed from Sand Cave, part of Mammoth Cave; a spelunker during the "Kentucky Cave Wars," Collins became trapped on 30 January; the attempts to rescue him were a national sensation, broadcast on the newfangled radio; Collins perished around 13 February & was finally reached on 16 February; it took a further two months to recover his corpse.

Requiescat in pace.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

The Interrupters, "Outrage" from Fight the Good Fight (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"Your eyes are glued, glued to the news,
They say there's two sides, you better choose,
A civil war they want you fighting for,
The ones in power who always want more,
They put a mask on to speak their minds,
They need a veil to hide behind,
The mob is howling like wolves trapped in a cage,
This will go down in history as the age of outrage,
Of outrage…"

The Queue: To the Thresholds

Wikipedia-link Ad limina apostolorum

My copy of Ad Limina, which was printed on-demand in the summer of 2020, does not sport the cover art pictured above, much to my chagrin. Cyril Jones-Kellett, simplified as Cy Kellett, is the host of the popular call-in radio show-cum-podcast Catholic Answers Live! as well as the companion podcast Catholic Answers Focus. Ad Limina is indeed "a novella of Catholics in space," a breathe of fresh air in science fiction that all-too-often makes the risible assumption that man, an inherently religious creature throughout recorded history, will simply cease being religious in the next century or two; this magical thinking marrs much even supposedly rational hard science fiction. The greatest weakness of Ad Limina is that it is a novella; methinks the story would have benefitted being lengthened into a novel. It is high praise when one's biggest complaint about a book is that one wishes there was more of the same. Need any more reason to read Ad Limina? Two words: Space Nazis.

I mean to engage seriously with Venerable Fulton Sheen's Life of Christ, though when I need to take a rest to allow the archbishop's brilliance the time necessary to soak through my thick skull, I'll breeze through Hobbo, the coffee table book autobiography of the great television broadcaster & race car driver David Hobbs.

It is great to be reading regularly again, but there are tradeoffs. Project BLACK MAMBA is suffering, as is my commitment to my Bible-in-a-year Twitter reading group. I really don't miss television, so at least I'm not wasting much time on the idiot box. (I also like the nickname "idiot's lantern.")

Recently
Peter Hitchens, The Rage against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith
Skip Carmichael, The Frozen Lighthouse
Cyril Jones-Kellett, Ad Limina

Currently
Fulton J. Sheen, Life of Christ
David Hobbs with Andrew Marriot, Hobbo: Motor Racer, Motor Mouth—The Autobiography of David Hobbs

Presently
Flannery O'Connor, Flannery O'Connor Collection
Michael Gorn, N.A.S.A.: The Complete Illustrated History
Brandon Vogt, What to Say and How to Say It: Discuss Your Catholic Faith with Clarity and Confidence

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril X

Oreskaband, "Carry On!" from the Carry On! E.P. (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey-san)

Skammentary: Welcome to "Little Toyko," day two of four. Oreskaband are SKApril debutants, coming to my attention via one of the ska podcasts I started listening to in March during my disaffection from several of my previously-favorite Catholic podcasts in the wake of the pandemic panic-driven Mass cancellations. These podcasts also served as a ska tune-up in the ramp up to SKApril, because there is so much going on in the ska world as the long-desired fourth wave emerges.

Male instrumentalists fronted by a distaff singer is a ska staple: the The Selecter, No Doubt, Dance Hall Crashers, Save Ferris (original recipe & extra crispy), Tip the Van, & Bite Me Bambi, et al. Oreskaband, however, is an all-girl band. We don't go much for "girl power" here at The Secret Base, because we're not sexist; women are smart & capable & are better off when not shackled with the soft bigotry of low expectations. They're an all-girl band? Good for them. But are they any good? Rude girls & rude boys, Oreskaband would not be part of SKApril if their music wasn't up to snuff. We have our SKAffirmative Action program to make sure that the headlining bands don't hog all the limelight, but we're not running a charity here. Nobody makes the cut who can't cut it.

"Yo, brothers and sisters,
It's time to become one with us.
If you want to be free,
Now's your chance!
Let's go!

"Carry on! Carry on!
You may be right, you may be wrong,
We go smiling either way,
Carry on, oh every day!
Carry on! Carry on!
You know you know where you belong,
We go smiling either way,
Carry on, oh every day!…"

The Rebel Black Dot Exodus 90 Song o' the Day

Sam & Dave, "Soul Man" from the Rhino Hi-Five: Same & Dave E.P. (St. Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Inspired by this week's episode of the Catholic trivia podcast The Quizzical Papist.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Barenaked Ladies, "For You" from Everything to Everyone (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: This R.B.D.S.O.T.D. was inspired by a tweet my beloved brother sent me, from a thoroughly awful Twitter account called "Swear Trek," a source of very funny tweets that reflect an absolute lack of charity & goodwill. I wasted most of the first three decades of my life on bitterness over wrongs both real & imaginary & thoughts of vengeance both feasible & fantastical; so, I know well that revenge & bitterness are obstacles to grace & love. We obfuscate the harm this does to our hearts & minds by saying, "It's just a joke," but we all know that what makes every sardonic quip both so biting & so amusing is the grain of truth around which it is constructed.

"In a book in a box high upon a shelf,
In a locked & guarded vault,
Are the things I keep only for myself,
It's your fate, but it's not your fault.

"And for every useless reason I know,
There's a reason not to care,
If I hide myself wherever I go
Am I ever really there?

"There is nowhere else I would rather be,
But I can't just be right here,
An enigma wrapped in a mystery,
Or a fool consumed by fear.

"And for every useless reason I know,
There's a reason not to care,
If I hide myself wherever I go
Am I ever really there?

"I will give you all I could ever give,
Though it's less than you will need…"

Misadventures with the Twitters

Recently, we here @ The Secret Base have embarked upon our third sortie into the vast cesspool of the Twitters. This sortie was inspired by the two priests who host the excellent podcast, Clerically Speaking, one from the Diocese of Pittsburgh & the other from the Diocese of Victoria in Canada*, who forged their fruitful friendship on the Twitters. By & large, it's been a disaster. For every amusing or prayerful tweet there are a minimum of two or three hateful &/or vulgar tweets, even amidst those who explicitly identify as Catholics. (Yes, I am aware that the Church is full of sinners; that's why we're all in the Church, because we need salvation.) I have gained a renewed appreciation for the anti-Trump bumper sticker, "The Twit Tweets."

Anyway, I posted the following "thread" of three tweets to the Twitters this evening, only then to realize the smug, self-righteous, & self-centered on the Twitters won't care about the soul of an anonymous inmate in the Genesee County Jail, because he's a person, not a GIF; because he's a person, not a "hot take;" because he's a person, not a self-referential poll. Here they are, because I am newly convicted that any & all time spent on the Twitters is a neglect o' The Secret Base.

Great morning in the country #jail today. Two inmates came out for the early sessions, only one for the later session. Bigger groups are interesting, because I stand @ the podium & play preacher, pontificating on the following Sunday's #scriptures, but smaller groups are better.

One of the early guys had recently had a breakthrough, coming to grips with the fact that he bears responsibility for all the wrong he's done, all the damage he's wrought. #CatholicTwitter, please pray for him (God will know who you mean), he's struggling with guilt & shame.

In the later session, Napoleon Solo (not his real name, to no one's big surprise) & I had a rambling conversation about the #CatholicFaith, the #Bible, the Incarnation, & anything & everything else. 'Twas a glorious exemplar of the #fun of #holiness. Let's "taco" 'bout #Jesus!

Bonus! Song o' the Day
The Soggy Bottom Boys, "In the Jailhouse Now" from O Brother, Where Art Thou?: Music from a Film by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (Mike Papa Whiskey)

*I'm not making fun of the Canadas (though I do so enjoy mocking the Canadas), it's actually called the "Diocese of Victoria in Canada" to avoid confusion with the similarly-named "Diocese of Victoria in Texas."

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Today: SKAugust

Mittwoch, 21. August
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "The Mad Dash" from While We're at It (The Last Angry Rude Boy)

Skammentary:

"Slap the slogans on the t-shirts, watch them fly out of the shops,
I don't like what I've been thinking and I think it's time it stops,
Mad dash to be the first one and I pray that it's not true
Are you trying to shift the spotlight so the spotlight shines on you?

"This might be of little interest, it could come as no surprise,
The level of the interest I possess,
I listen to the outrage while something inside me dies,
The more I hear, the more I could care less.

"It is stale and it is stagnant,
Every fiber, every fragment,
Every second we waste on it is a shame!
Grab your coat, now you'll be leaving,
Hope that you had a nice evening,
We thank you for your contribution and we're glad you came!

"The cars came off the causeway with a healthy head of steam,
Benefits, fundraisers, and events,
I want to find out that this nightmare here is only a bad dream,
Wake up and the world makes perfect sense…"

24 HEURES DU MANS | 09:39:00

In sacred Michigan, midnight approaches; in Le Mans, dawn approaches: sunrise is supposed to occur at 6:00 A.M. local time. There is a sort of euphoria that settles on the teams with the sunrise, "Happy Hour," when many fast laps are set as they rejoice that the long night has ended. Of course, shortly after Happy Hour, a certain grimness settles on the teams as they realize that sunrise just means they still have a nine-hour race ahead of them, a race they must contest having already accumulated a day's worth of fatigue, exhaustion both mental & physical.

Meanwhile, the Radio Le Mans guys are getting a little bit punchy, conducting an extended diatribe against the usual model of commercial radio & television.

24 HEURES DU MANS | 22:57:00

Le Mans! Le Mans! Le Mans!

In the first stint, Mike Conway, driving the № 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, set the all-time track record for a racing lap, 3:17.297. (Faster times have been set in qualifying.) Faster that any previous TS050, faster than any of the all-conquering Audi & Porsche P.1s, faster even than the legendary Porsche 217s of the early 1970s. Wait? The '70s? Yes. Back then, the Mulsanne Straight was a three-mile-long straight, allowing the cars to reach speeds in excess of 240 M.P.H., speeds comparable to the absolute record at the Indianapolis 500, the different being that at Le Mans the Mulsanne Straight is followed by a 90˚ corner. Since then, the Mulsanne has been broken up by two chicanes, which limit the cars' absolute top speed. Such is the speed through & out of the corners of the Toyota Hybrid that even with the chicanes on the Mulsanne it is still, at least in the hands of hot shoe Conway, faster than any other care ever. Wow!

In G.T.E. Pro, the Corvette C.7Rs are strong, so strong that all the other G.T.E. Pro. competitors received a five kilogram (11.02 lbs.) weight reduction in the interval between qualifying & the race. Despite this the № 63 Corvette has still climbed from third place to the class lead. The Pro. field looks very close, between Corvette, Aston Martin, B.M.W., Porsche, Ferrari, & Ford.

So far, my fiendish plan of watching the great race on the Motortrend television channel (formerly, Velocity) while listening to the audio from Radio Le Mans on YouTube on my iPhone is working out as well as expected. There are recurrent problems with the YouTube buffering, but c'est le vie. We live in an age of marvels, but to expect flawless perfection is foolish, a wicked snare of the devil designed to lead to inevitable disappointment.

The Rebel Black Dot Work Sucks Song o' the Day

"Weird Al" Yankovic, "First World Problems" from Mandatory Fun (The Last Angry Recluse)

Commentary:

"Some idiot just called me up on the phone,
What?! Don't they know how to text? O.M.G!

"I got—
First World, First World problems!
(First World problems!)
First World, First World problems!
(First World problems!)
First World, First World problems!…"

My specific First World problem is not that someone rang my mobile, but that I was deluged with a series of text messages, to which I replied with a request for a pause in communication so I could catch up; my interlocutor sympathized & wrote that my position was very understandable. She then resumed the deluge unabated.

24 HEURES DU MANS | 6:32:00

First World Problems Revisited: This is the first, last, & only year I will ever endure the Eurosport commentators. I do not know how, but should the Good Lord permit me to live 'til next year's Le Mans, the finale of the 2018-2019 F.I.A. World Endurance Championship "Super Season," I will acquire & expend the resources necessary to watch the race (Eurosport's pictures are fine, because they are the world feed's, just like Speed & then Fox Sports used to air) while listening to the commentary from Radio Le Mans.

The № 63 Corvette is now running fifth in L.M. G.T.E. Pro, behind two of the factory Porche 911s (№ 92 & № 91) & two of the factory Ford GTs (№ 68 & № 67) & ahead of two of the factory Ford GTs (№ 69 & № 66), the three quasi-factory Ferrari 488s (№ 52, № 51, & № 71), & the № 95 Aston Martin Vantage. The № 64 Corvette, which has struggled all race but has never given up, runs eleventh in class, ahead of the № 97 Aston Martin Vantage, the № 93 Porsche 911, & the № B.M.W. M8.

I love the fact that there are still six hours of the race left to go. Most of the other races on the World Endurance Championship calendar are "only" six hours long, there's more than that duration remaining, & the competitors have already run almost three times that long. Hee hee, hee hee! Le Mans!

24 HEURES DU MANS | 16:28:00

Woo hoo, Le Mans! Le Mans! Le Mans! Le Mans! It has been several years since I've been able to sit down & watching the 24 Heures du Mans on television. (Curse ye, Fox Sports!) Velocity, a part of the Discovery, Inc. family of channels, is carrying Eurosport's (another part of Discovery, Inc.) coverage the whole race, including an hour-long pre-race show & a scheduled half-hour-long post-race show (podiums & whatnot). This is a joy, especially after having to cobble together online coverage.

That said, I have a First World Problem. (Actually, everything to do with Le Mans is a First World Problem, since it is a motor race run in France which I am able to watch here in America.) The pictures of the race are glorious, but the Eurosport commentators are, while better than Fox Sports' goonish crew, not as superb as the commentators on Radio Le Mans. I've watched Radio Le Man's "Studio Vision" on the YouTube the last couple years, which is a less-than-ideal way to experience the race, since the video feed is just that, just their crew commentating from studio—no video coverage of the race. But the Radio Le Mans boys & girls are second to none in covering "the Grand Prix of Endurance & Efficiency." Ideally, I could watch Europsort's pictures on Velocity while listening to Radio Le Mans, but this is not feasible in that I do not have a television in my bedroom, where my Macintosh is located, nor do I have a laptop to use down in the living room where the television & the comfy green armchair await my return. Like I said, a First World Problem.

L.M. P.1
The Toyota hybrids, the only factory hybrids in the field after the withdrawal of Audi (2016) & Porsche (2017), are far outpacing the non-hybrid privateer P.1s, but this is a surprise to no one. The petrol-only privateers are counting on the unreliability that knocked out four of the six hybrid P.1s in 2017, unreliability that could well rear its head with just under sixteen & a half hours of racing left to go. For their part, Toyota aren't just cruising around, they are setting faster lap times than they did in last year's duel against Porsche.

L.M. G.T.E. Pro.
There were "balance of performance" (B.O.P. or "bop") changes made the day before the race, between qualifying & the start, which may explain why the B.M.W. M8s are so much faster in the race than they were in practice & qualifying, but there are also dark suspicions of "sandbagging," B.M.W. having deliberating concealed the true pace of their car, in order to earn B.O.P. help from the organizers, the A.C.O. Of course, most of those dark suspicions come from Porsche & Ford, both of which have been known to play B.O.P. games themselves.

Corvette, Ferrari, & Aston Martin don't seem to have the pace to keep up with B.M.W., Porsche, & Ford, but Le Mans is a long race & there's much more to it than pure speed. Fortitudine vincimas ("By endurance we conquer").

Bonus! Song o' Le Mans
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "First World Problems" from Mandatory Fun (The Last Angry Homme)

The Queue

To my great surprise & delight, I was able to keep up with Beautiful Hope, even amidst the hectic (early) holidays with kin: a wedding in *shudder* Ohio, then hosting out-of-state company in sacred Michigan, then back to *shudder* Ohio to be out-of-state company ourselves. This was without a doubt Dynamic Catholic's best "Best Advent Ever" yet.

Messy & Foolish is a wee little thing, not quite seventy pages long. It strike me as absurd that insofar as the accounting of the queue, in the "Recently" section, finishing the minute Messy & Foolish will look no different than when I eventually finish the massive Vanished Kingdoms. Absurd, yet I have no solution to offer. Then again, does an absurdity, simply by being absurd, require a "solution"? Should it not be allowed to persist as an absurdity? After all, we here at The Secret Base have often been told we live at the intersection of the absurd & the sublime.

I am familiar with Fr. Riccardo, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth (Archdiocese of Detroit, not my own Diocese of Lansing), from his Ave Maria Radio program Christ Is the Answer. I began Heaven Starts Now last Wednesday (20 December), after an early exchange of Christmas presents with kin in Ohio. In reading the book, I hear Fr. Riccardo's voice from Christ Is the Answer.

Recently
Scott & Kimberly Hahn, Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism
Matthew Kelly & Co., Beautiful Hope: Finding Hope Every Day in a Broken World
Matthew Warner, Messy & Foolish: How to Make a Mess, Be a Fool, and Evangelize the World

Currently
Father John Riccardo, Heaven Starts Now: Becoming a Saint Day by Day

Presently
Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations ***paused***
Matthew Kelly, Perfectly Yourself: Discovering God's Dream for You
Sherry A. Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus
William E. Simon Jr., Great Catholic Parishes: How Four Essential Practices Make Them Thrive
Bishop Robert Barron, Seeds of the Word: Finding God in the Culture
Mike Aquilina, Understanding the Mass: 100 Questions, 100 Answers
Xavier Rynne, Vatican Council II
John W. O'Malley, What Happened at Vatican II
Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love)
Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis (The Sacrament of Charity)
Richard Price, Clockers
Sir Richard Francis Burton, translator, "Sinbad the Sailor" from The Arabian Nights
Sir Ernest Shackleton, South: A Memoir of the Endurance Voyage
William F. Buckley Jr., The Unmaking of a Mayor
Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World
John le Carré, A Legacy of Spies

The Rebel Black Dot Girlfriend Song o' the Day

Barenaked Ladies, "Alternative Girlfriend" from Maybe You Should Drive (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: The above photograph is of Fox News's resident Millennial, Katherine "Kat" Timpf, costumed as a stereotypical member of Generation X, appropriate to the era in which B.N.L. wrote & released "Alternative Girlfriend." I wish I didn't know enough about any twenty-four-hour cable news channel to know who Miss Timpf is, but C'est la vie!

"You're in an all-girl band,
Your futon's second-hand,
Your parents understand but you don't care…

"Old at being young,
Young at being old,
Everything's been sold to others' revolutions.

"Your my alternative girlfriend,
I love you, now you cannot pretend,
There's nothing left that won't cross over…"

24 HEURES DU MANS | 8:27:00

I've actually cobbled together a pretty great race experience here, a phoenix risen from the ashes of Fox Sports's perfidy. Fox doesn't broadcast the race themselves, they tap into the world feed & then overlay their own commentary. While watching the live stream of Radio Le Mans's Studio Vision, I found a live stream of the race itself, the same live feed into which Fox taps. I've muted the sound; so, now I'm watching the live feed—the same pictures that Fox would broadcast—but with Radio Le Mans's superior commentary. Sure, I'm not sitting in the comfortable green armchair in the living room, but methinks this a blessing in disguise, as it will be easier to stay awake sitting here at my desk than it would be (& has traditionally been) in that oh-so-comfy green easy chair. So, yes, this seems to be working out swimmingly.

I can scarcely believe that two-thirds of the great race is already behind us. Where does the time go? Such is but one the many splendors of the 24 Heures du Mans. Le Mans! Le Mans! Le Mans!

24 HEURES DU MANS | 22:01:00

Le Mans! Le Mans! Le Mans!

The story so far, with just under two of the twenty-four hours raced, is the heat. Temperatures are higher for this 85^e 24 Heures du Mans than they have been for the previous fortnight of preparation, from practice to scrutineering to qualifying. These higher temps will affect engine cooling (potentially leading to failure by overheating), tire degradation, refueling efficiency, & driver endurance. Based on the skies, there seems to be little chance of rain, mooting Jason Statham's gravelly intonations at the beginning & end of the brilliant Audi propaganda film Truth in 24: "It always rains at Le Mans."

Fox Sports is providing twenty-two hours of race coverage, twenty-one hours of the race by half-hour pre-race & post-race shows. Unfortunately, twelve of those twenty-one hours are on Fox Sports 2, a channel available to approximately zero households in America. We are now in that lull between the first hour of the race on Fox Sports 1 & the unseen resumption on Fox Sports 2; so, I've made the transition to "listening" to Radio Le Mans, watching their live Studio Vision video feed. This is less than ideal solution, since it means I cannot see the action on track, but it is a great blessing compared to wrestling in futility with the giant lie that is the Fox Sports GO app, which as previously mentioned is a giant lie. I eagerly await the resumption of live coverage on Fox Sports 1 tomorrow morning at 1:00 A.M.

Le Mans! Le Mans! Le Mans!

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day

MxPx, "Shut It Down" from Secret Weapon (The Last Angry Man)

Commentary: There was a fascinating & frightening piece on 60 Minutes last night, about the techniques coders use to make online tools & smartphone apps more appealing, engaging, & ultimately addicting. I think I'll stick with my "dumbphone" for the time being, thank you very much.

"Throw away your cellphone, you can talk to yourself,
You need a real friend, not some digital image,
So, what's it gonna be? A chat room or your family?
Don't let the T.V. screen turn into your reality!
Whoa-o-o-o-o-o, turn into your reality!
Whoa-o-o-o-o-o!

"Shut it down before we're all out of time,
We've got to shut it down, this is the end of the line,
This is the end of the line,
This is the end of the line.

"I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die,
But I'm having trouble living,
I don't wanna die, no, I don't wanna die,
But I'm not taking what they're giving…"

Project PORCUPINE
Just for good measure, the PORCUPINE protocols are once again in effect (upgraded from a finite "objective" to an open-ended "project"), meaning I'll only log into the FaceSpace once a week, or less. Earlier today, in light of "Shut It Down" as the R.B.D.S.O.T.D., I posted the following to my FaceSpace "wall":

Project PORCUPINE is once again in effect. I won't be back on the Facebook 'til next Sunday, 18 June, at the earliest. Cheers!

I don't use the Twitter, the Tumblr, the Tinder, the Snapchat, the Instagram, the Periscope, the Pied Piper, or any other social media aside from this old-fashioned bloggy-blog. So, as social-media fasts go, PORCUPINE should prove pretty painless.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day: SKAfter Party

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "The Ballad of Candlepin Paul" from The Magic of Youth (The Last Angry Rude Boy)

Skammentary: The ballad of "Candlepin Paul": Wikipedia-link.

"It was May of 1992 when he made history,
The forty-third appearance for him on the telecast,
How he did what he did on that day remains a mystery,
And he holds a record to this day that no one has surpassed.

"Candlepin Paul, candlepin ball,
And that's all it took to make the candlepins fall,
They kept fallin', they kept fallin', they kept fallin' down,
They kept fallin', they kept fallin', they kept fallin' down!

"'Deadwood' David Richards was the champ in every sense,
A champion that showed up on that day just to defend
His television title and his pride; in his defense,
There was no one way that he could possibly predict how this would end.

"Candlepin Paul, candlepin ball,
And that's all it took to make the candlepins fall,
They kept fallin', they kept fallin', they kept fallin' down,
They kept fallin', they kept fallin', they kept fallin' down,
They kept fallin', they kept fallin', they kept fallin' down,
They kept fallin', they kept fallin', they kept fallin' down!

"Sometimes the order's too tall,
Odds had him comin' up short,
They called him Candlepin Paul,
The unlikely hero, the unlikeliest of sports!

"Remember Candlepin Paul,
A little love and support,
The man stands alone, after all,
The unlikely hero, the unlikeliest of sports!

"Those there cannot ever recall
Having seen anything of the sort,
What they saw was Candlepin Paul,
The unlikely hero, the unlikeliest of sports!"

Sobering thought of the day: May of 1992 was twenty-five years ago. Remember when the 1990s seemed like the future?

Objective PORCUPINE | Hollywoodland

A collection of images from yesterday's PORCUPINE sabbatical/the observance of Star Trek's fiftieth anniversary on the FaceSpace. I applied this filter to my profile photograph, & set it to expire only at the end of the month.

My pal & fellow Misty Beaver Super Mario posted a screencap from his smartphone, to show me the special anniversary emojis, the inability to access which prompted yesterday's PORCUPINE post. A fellow parishioner, Papa Bravo, made the excellent point that all the time spent wrangling over the emojis highlighted the underlying logic & arguable necessity of PORCUPINE.

A fellow from another parish whom I know from a retreat last winter, Tango Oscar, sent me this screencap of his smartphone. The homescreen/wallpaper is not specifically fiftieth anniversary-themed, but it will be a warm day on Rura Penthe before I ever complain about any even remotely practical use of the L.C.A.R.S. graphic language.

Lastly, a simple yet artful banner to mark the celebration of the anniversary.