#1504: Ch. 14B, The Sacrifice of the Mass by M. Gavin, S.J.

The Sacrifice of the Mass textbook continues, with more explanations of the differences between a High Mass and a Low Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite Mass.

Chapter 14B.

21:16.

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#1503: Ch. 3, The Brand of Silence by Johnston McCulley

The Brand of Silence continues, as people are rude to our hero for absolutely no reason. Which is kinda weird, considering he’s a millionaire….

Chapter 3: Some Discourtesies.

18:26.

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#1502: Ch. 2, The Brand of Silence by Johnston McCulley

The Brand of Silence continues, as our hero has woman trouble.

Chapter 2: The Girl on the Ship.

12:23.

UPDATE: Link fixed.

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#1501: Bk. 10B, The Ring and the Book by Robert Browning

The Ring and the Book continues, as we hear our historical Pope’s thoughts on our ol’ buddy Guido. (Hint: he doesn’t think much of him.)

Book 10B.

38:48.

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#1500: Chs. 12-22, Bk. 1, On Christian Doctrine by St. Augustine

On Christian Doctrine (St. Augustine’s book on scriptural interpretation methods) continues to veer off into a discussion of what should really be loved, by way of exploring what should be “enjoyed” versus what should be merely used. Also, the Resurrection, the healing of the human race, the Last Judgment, and so on. All very interesting and useful; but you’re not going to hear much more about scriptural interpretation for a while yet. Do you really care, though? Isn’t it better to delve into the linguistics metaphor of “the Word became flesh”? 🙂

Book 1, Chapters 12-22.

18:46.

Btw, I realize there’s an issue here about scriptural quotations. Like most of the Fathers, St. Augustine expects that both you and he are very familiar with good chunks of the Bible. He moves in and out of quotations with the same ease as a Star Trek fan, both equally unable to talk for long without references creeping in. I will highlight some of these by using my “quote voice”. But honestly, I’m not about to do that all day, any more than I’m going to waste time and strain my listeners’ patience by putting on a Spock voice every time I say “logical”.  If you’re listening, you probably know what’s a quote. If you don’t, you’re enough of a fan that you’ll soon find out…. 🙂

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#1499: Ch. 9, The Ultimate Weapon by John W. Campbell, Jr.

The Ultimate Weapon continues, and so does the arms race between the human race and the Strangers. In this installment, we learn some of the lesser known innate hazards of playing with death rays. Mad scientists, take note!

Chapter 9

25:23.

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#1498: Part 21, Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius

Argonautica continues, as the poor Argonauts find that the Colchians have caught up with them again, and are demanding that the Phaeacian king, Alcinous, send Medea home to Daddy! Angry, murderous Daddy!

Part 21.

18:11.

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#1497: Bk. 10A, The Ring and the Book by Robert Browning

The Ring and the Book continues, as the Pope ponders Guido’s appeal for a stay of execution. (As temporal ruler of the Papal States back then, he had authority over the courts of Rome and other places in his territories.)

Book 10: The Pope.

24:53.

Btw, here’s the beautiful basilica church, San Lorenzo in Lucina, to which the murderers brought the bodies of Pompilia et al. Lucina was the Roman matron who owned the house which was made into the original church (titulus Lucinae); she hid Pope Marcellus I from Emperor Maxentius’ persecution.

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#1496: Chs. 1-11, Bk. I, On Christian Doctrine by St. Augustine

On Christian Doctrine (St. Augustine’s book on interpreting Scripture) continues. Book I is about things and signs; but first we get to learn all about why free information sharing is a good thing and taught by Jesus; the ineffableness of calling God ineffable, and all kinds of other fun moments in linguistics theory. There’s some anticipation of Anselm’s favorite proof of the existence of God. Also, lots of theology and prayer life hints and advocacy of humility to theologians and… and so on.

The really sad thing (for us lesser writers) is that, not only does this rush of comments make sense in context and flow nicely from one point to the next, but that in any other author most of these points would be an essay or treatise or book. Here, they’re practically asides. Gah! No wonder people couldn’t wait for him to finish manuscripts before they started copying them on the sly and mailing them to their friends. (Sigh. There’s a definite qualitative difference in thought between those of us who are quite intelligent and had decent schoolings and those who are both really educated and real geniuses. St. Augustine demonstrates this. No wonder St. Albert was so exhilarated to win his point against him on the antipodes.)

Book I, Chapters 1-11.

21:35.

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#1495: Ch. 8, The Ultimate Weapon by John W. Campbell, Jr.

The Ultimate Weapon continues, as the battle moves to Jupiter and Mars.

Chapter 8

24:26.

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#1494: Part 20, Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius

The Argonautica continues, as we once more get a gods’ eye view of the action.

Part 20: Thetis.

19:15.

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#1493: Ch. 14A, The Sacrifice of the Mass by M. Gavin, S.J.

The Sacrifice of the Mass continues — finally. Also, we learn a little something about candles.

Chapter 14A: The Ceremonies of High Mass.

14:22.

Yeah, it finally occurred to me that I’d forgotten to finish this one. It’s amazing what sleep and coffee can do for one’s grasp of these little details. (Yeah, I hate the change of seasons and sunlight as much as holiday stress. Put them together, and I’m not a happy camper.)

UPDATE: Link fixed.

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#1492: The Battle of the Aleutians by Cpl. Dashiell Hammett and Cpl. Robert Colodny

The Battle of the Aleutians is one of the prettier publications ever put out by the US Army. (Yay, government stuff is public domain! You can see the booklet here. ) You don’t hear much about the role of the Aleutians in WWII, other than that History Channel program they did. So I think you’ll find this interesting.

And yes, that’s the Dashiell Hammett. He wasn’t stationed in the Aleutians until shortly after the Attu and Kiska stuff. But when he got to the island of Adak, the guy in charge was a mystery fan. He immediately put the writer in charge of the camp newspaper, which immediately became the best camp newspaper ever with the best staff and the tightest deadlines. Several of his biographers feel that this was the happiest time of his life, and certainly his letters sound pretty happy. (Especially for a guy living close to one of the only places that competes with Thule for least-requested assignment in the Air Force!) But he seems to have thought the people were good and the work worth doing, and that’s what makes anyplace a good place to be.

Back issues of The Adakian don’t seem to be online, and are apparently pretty rare… but maybe I’m not looking in the right place? There’s also a book somebody created long afterward from reminiscences Hammett collected from the poor guys who fought in the fogs of Attu. I bet it’s good. There’s going to be a play in 2010 about <I>The Adakian</I>, which also sounds interesting. (A bit long of a commute for me, though!)

Also, a sad proof that everybody loves totem poles.

The Battle of the Aleutians

36:43.

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#1491: Ch. 1, The Brand of Silence by Johnston McCulley

The Brand of Silence brings us back to the US, and into the hands of famed pulp writer Johnston McCulley. (You may remember him as the creator of Zorro.)  This 1919 noirish novel tells the story of an unassuming man who makes his fortune in Central America and returns home to New York — only to find danger wherever he turns!

Chapter 1

17:20.

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#1490: Bk. 9C, The Ring and the Book by Robert Browning

The Ring and the Book continues, as we reach the end of yet another volume of the poem. Next week, we get to the Pope’s book.

Book 9C

37:58.

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