#1482: Ch. 13, The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

The Mysterious Affair at Styles ends, as Poirot ties up a few loose ends for poor, baffled Hastings.

Chapter 13: Poirot Explains.

36:02.

Sorry for the long hiatus. I was spending most of my free time either singing, sleeping, at my parents’ house with no Internet, or obsessively doing logic puzzle grids and messing most of them up. (There’s something about the holidays that always makes me go obsessive. If it’s not pencil and paper puzzlebooks, it’s probably jigsaw puzzles or some mystery series.) I’ll change my banner as soon as I have time to do so.

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#1481: Bk. 9B, The Ring and the Book by Robert Browning

The Ring and the Book continues, as the prosecuting attorney continues to argue for Pompilia’s innocence and against Guido’s murderous behavior. Just as with Guido’s defense attorney, some of his arguments are pretty dubious.

Book 9B

32:34.

By the way, there’s a reading at Librivox now of Chesterton’s book on Robert Browning, which includes a very insightful essay about The Ring and the Book. (And even some words on why these prosecution and defense books are necessary to the poem.) You might want to check it out.

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#1480: Pt. 7, “Oration and Panegyric to Origen” by St. Gregory Thaumaturgus

The “Oration and Panegyric to Origen” ends, as St. Gregory commends his teacher’s skill in interpretation of scripture, regrets his imminent departure back to his pagan hometown and family, makes a last explanation of the temerity of his speechifying, and then asks Origen to pray for him and his brother.

Part 7

20:33.

This has been a really warm and beautiful portrait of respect and love for a good teacher, and the inestimable value of a good education for Christian life. I commend it to anyone who cares about the life of the mind.

Gregory’s sorrow is also pretty funny, in retrospect. He thought that he was going back home to lead a mundane lawyer life, trapped in the bosom of his well-meaning pagan family and separated from all the Christian things he valued. But instead, he was only going to be home about five minutes before the Church grabbed him again and made him a bishop this time. He thought he’d like to be a perpetual student; instead, he was made a perpetual teacher. If you think God doesn’t have a sense of humor, read autobiographies. 🙂

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#1479: Pt. 6, “Oration and Panegyric to Origen” by St. Gregory Thaumaturgus

The “Oration and Panegyric to Origen” continues, as Gregory commends Origen’s methods of teaching philosophy.

Part 6.

14:40.

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#1478: Ch. 6, The Ultimate Weapon by John W. Campbell, Jr.

The Ultimate Weapon continues, as Buck Kendall goes shopping.

Chapter 6.

11:07.

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#1477: Ch. 5, The Ultimate Weapon by John W. Campbell, Jr.

The Ultimate Weapon continues, as Buck Kendall’s research team finally makes a breakthrough.

Chapter 5

14:44.

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#1476: Ch. 4, The Ultimate Weapon by John W. Campbell, Jr.

The Ultimate Weapon continues, as Buck Kendall continues his desperate race to get Earth ready to defend itself against alien invasion.

Chapter 4

15:37.

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#1475: Pt. 18, Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius

The Argonautica continues, as the tragedy portion of the story of Jason and Medea begins. I don’t think I ever learned this part of the story; but it does make the stuff that happened later in their lives make a lot more sense. The Greek gods didn’t mind stealing and raiding, but kinslaying was a big no-no.

Part 18: Kinslaying.

18:23.

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#1474: Ch. 13C, The Sacrifice of the Mass by M. Gavin, S.J.

The Sacrifice of the Mass continues, with an explanation of the “Last Gospel”, read at the end of an Extraordinary Form Latin Rite Mass.

Chapter 13C.

14:05.

By the way, I also updated Ch. 13A. There was a lot of rattling noise on it from my old headset microphone, which I have now replaced.

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#1473: Ch. 13B, The Sacrifice of the Mass by M. Gavin, S.J.

The Sacrifice of the Mass continues, as all the pre- and post-Communion prayers are explained, all the way to the dismissal. But wait, there’s more!

Chapter 13B.

22:05.

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Podcast Problems

I’m sorry I’ve been slow to post again. Yesterday, I discovered that my laptop has started to turn itself off at odd intervals, while still plugged in. Apparently there is something wrong with the fan or the BIOS controlling it. I vacuumed out my laptop last night, but I don’t know yet if that has solved the problem.

Anyway, I do mean to post the podcast, but be prepared for delays.

Also, I found over the last couple weeks that my headset microphone has been rattling and making noise a lot, and I don’t know why. Wiring loose, or something like that. Anyway, I got a new headset. The only problem with the new Logitech one is that it has the “convenient” feature of being able to mute the microphone at a touch. Um. I don’t think that’s too convenient for me, because I’ve already had to go back and re-record sections! So I will probably go to Radio Shack and buy another Giga Ware one (their house brand).

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#1472: Ch. 12, The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

The Mysterious Affair at Styles continues, as Poirot does the traditional thing and gathers everyone together.

One of the things that it’s difficult for most readers to remember is that, even if you think of the mystery genre as beginning with Poe, it was almost a hundred years old by the beginning of the “Golden Age” of mysteries. It’s as if pulp adventure had never died out, and then suddenly a new generation of pulp adventure writers were to emerge in force today, with huge literary and genre ambitions.

Chapter 12: The Last Link.

28:49.

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#1471: Bk. 9A, The Ring and the Book by Robert Browning

The Ring and the Book continues, as the public prosecutor begins telling his side of the story.

Book 9A

27:42.

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#1470: Part 5, “Panegyric and Oration to Origen” by St. Gregory Thaumaturgus

The “Panegyric and Oration to Origen” continues, as St. Gregory describes how Origen first broadened his students’ minds by teaching them geometry, astronomy, and other fields of math and science.

Then they were ready to study the philosophy of ethics and morals. But Gregory feels that Origen’s good example irwas what really taught him these subjects!

Part 5

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#1469: Part 4, “Panegyric and Oration to Origen” by St. Gregory Thaumaturgus

The “Panegyric and Oration to Origen” continues, as St. Gregory tells us all about how Origen convinced his brother and him to come study with him. Then he tells about Origen’s methods of educating them in critical thinking and philosophy.

Part 4

25:40.

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