Podiversary

Sorry for the sudden slowdown in posts, but I’m sick again.

Yesterday was my 2nd podiversary. I won’t post a bunch of boring stats, I promise. (I had mercy on y’all and made myself a spreadsheet.) But I did actually go to the trouble of totting everything up on said spreadsheet (since I had nothing better to do). It seems that, according to archive.org’s records, I’ve had more than 136,000 downloads. (About a third of that was religious stuff.) I think that’s pretty good.

As always, I thank you for your interest and your support.

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#914: Pt. 2 of “The Blackmailers”, Constance Dunlap by Arthur B. Reeves

Constance Dunlap continues, as Constance fights fire with thermite. Another very dark viewpoint on social trends in America before WWI.

“The Blackmailers”, Part 2

20:01.

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#913: Excerpt from “Demonstration II: On Love” by Aphrahat

In honor of my Iranian visitors, here’s a podcast of the work of a hometown boy: Aphrahat, the Persian Sage. Aphrahat (aka Pharhad, aka Aphraates) was abbot of the monastery of Mar Hattai, near Mosul. Born of pagan parents on the Persian border, he converted to Christianity as a young man and was baptized under the name Jacob. His 23 Demonstrations were probably written from AD 337-345.

I did record the rest of this essay and will put it up on archive.org. But the third part of the essay is really the interesting part, so that’s what I’m podcasting.

Excerpt from “On Love”

17:27.

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#912: Chs. 19-20, Book 5, Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Against Heresies continues, with a chapter on Mary and Eve, and another on true and false teachers.

Book 5, Chapters 19-20

10:52.

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Librivox: Audiobooks of Interest

“On the Duties of the Clergy” by St Ambrose.

Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys by Amelia B. Edwards. Before she did Egypt (and inspired Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody) in A Thousand Miles Up the Nile, Edwards explored the South Tyrol region of Italy.

History of Holland by George Edmundson.

Dream Days by Kenneth Grahame. Children’s fiction and essays. Includes “The Reluctant Dragon”.

“Red Shadows” by Robert E. Howard. From the creator of Conan. Puritan adventurer Solomon Kane tracks his prey over land and sea and defies gods — all to avenge a woman he’d never met before.

Wonderwings and Other Fairy Stories by Edith Howes.

Chamber Music by James Joyce. A 1907 collection of his poems.

The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Thoughts of the Stoic emperor.

Brewster’s Millions by George Barr McCutcheon. A young man must go through a huge amount of money in one month to inherit an even greater sum.Yes, they made a movie out of it.

Anthem by Ayn Rand. Science fiction work by that crazy philosopher chick. Worth downloading, if only to know what the Rand fans get so excited about. (It has its moments, but you have to live in a culture that’s in pretty bad trouble to find Rand’s philosophy at all convincing or inspiring.)

The Moon Metal by Garrett P. Serviss. Early science fiction from an old school astronomer.

Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum. If you want to learn about self-reliance, read this real life adventure, published in 1899.

The Fur Country by Jules Verne. Weird stuff happens, and it’s by Verne. Do you need to know more?

The King of Schnorrers and The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill. A hilarious satire and a clever mystery novel, by an extremely interesting Victorian writer.

Old Indian Legends by Zitkala-Sa. 14 Dakota legends.

I should also note that a good chunk of the Bible is available from Librivox: the translations used are the American Standard Version and the World English Bible. There are also works up in many languages: French, Finnish, German, Chinese, and Japanese. There’s even a book in Old Church Slavonic.

Anybody can submit audiobook readings in any language, as long as they are reading something in the public domain.

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#911: Ch. 11B, The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison

The Worm Ouroboros continues, and so does Lord Corund’s siege of that ancient fort of Impland, Eshgrar Ogo. But Corund is determined to get in — and Gro has some ideas on how to do it….

Chapter 11B

22:01.

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#910: Ch. 6B, The Girl of the Golden West by David Belasco

The Girl of the Golden West continues, as Jack Rance attempts to woo the Girl.

We also meet a Pony Express rider in this chapter. The Pony Express was a service for delivering mail  across the West, using a chain of posthouses with fresh horses. The riders indeed had to be young men who weren’t very heavy. They also were supposed to be unmarried and orphans, because the job was considered too dangerous and the riders had to travel so far and so often. The Pony Express service only stayed in business until the telegraph and trains made it less useful. But it became an American legend.

Chapter 6B

24:16.

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#909: Ch. 1C, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine by John Henry Newman

An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine continues, with ethical and metaphysical development of ideas.

Chapter 1C

18:32.

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#908: Ch. 1B, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine by John Henry Newman

An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine continues, with a list of different kinds of idea development.

Ch. 1B

17:01.

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#907: Chs. 1-2, Bk. 1, A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation by St. Thomas More

A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation is St. Thomas More’s book about dealing with trouble, written while he was in the Tower. These chapters say that studying pagan philosophy is useful, but argues that only faith in God can provide full comfort.

Book 1, Chapters 1-2.

13:19.

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Welcome, Readers from Balatarin.com!

I can’t read Arabic script, so I don’t know what balatarin.com said about this podcast. But a lot of people have visited me today!

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#906: Ch. 1, Brain Twister by “Mark Phillips”

Brain Twister continues. Special Agent Malone learns that his new assignment requires a mind reader.

Chapter 1

30:26.

[http://www.archive.org/download/BrainTwister/BrainTwister01.mp3]

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#905: Pt. 1 of “The Blackmailers”, Constance Dunlap by Arthur B. Reeves

Constance Dunlap continues, as we begin “The Blackmailers”.

The second part is a bit more action-adventure. Sorry I didn’t get it up this week.

Part 1 of “The Blackmailers”

22:36.

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#904: Chs. 8B-9, On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius

On the Incarnation concludes. Athanasius talks about the overwhelming power of conversion, and the immense lifestyle and character changes caused by following Christ, not only in residents of the empire, but even in uncivilized tribes.

Then Athanasius bids his reader Macarius farewell, recommending further study of the scriptures, doing what his teachers in the faith tell him, and working to make his life fit — and be fit for — his studies. (Something not much recommended by academia’s scholars today, which may explain a lot about their work.)

19:54.

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#903: Ch. 8A, On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius

On the Incarnation continues. Athanasius refers here to the overwhelming changes made in Roman values at the time of Christ’s coming. He argues that the unheard-of decline of belief in gods, idols, oracles, and magic by unconverted pagans is as much Jesus’ doing.as the amendments in life He causes in His followers.

Furthermore, he is quite sure that the Sign of the Cross and the name of Jesus makes magic stop working, as matter-of-factly as pulling the cord out of the wall makes the TV turn off. In fact, you don’t even have to be a believer to make it happen. “Anyone, too, may put what we have said to the proof of experience in another way. In the very presence of the fraud of demons and the imposture of the oracles and the wonders of magic, let him use the Sign of the Cross which they all mock at, and but speak the Name of Christ, and he shall see how through Him demons are routed, oracles cease, and all magic and witchcraft is confounded.”

Chapter 8A

16:54.

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