#Great Tabor

[marcelskittels]

ZOE BÄCKSTEDT 🇬🇧 ‹ Women U23 › UCI CX World Championships Tábor ‘24 📸 by Billy Ceusters/Getty Images

[quidcumque]

Humungous praise to Bob Tabor of "C# Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners" - he's teaching this like I taught Latin. Like you SHOULD teach a language, ie taking small chunks at a time, oversimplifying to introduce ideas (but letting you know it's oversimplified), LIBERAL EXAMPLES, and frequent review. I've wanted to learn coding for years, but I'd fizzle out in frustration after a self-study session or two because fuckers would list out every data type (with REMARKABLY insufficient explanation of the differences), then slam me with the linguistic equivalent of "if Aster has four apples and Frank has nine, what is the projected yield of a mature apple tree?"

Like fuck me okay so the int type stores whole numbers from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 which is a whole fucking bunch of numbers but then the LONG type has uhhhhhhhhh a lot more commas in it and I can't even remember what the FIRST LESSON PRACTICE CHALLENGE was but I remember googling four different concepts and frowning a lot

Bob ain't doing that. He took two separate videos to 1) create your first C# program and then 2) UNDERSTAND your first C# program. By the time I finished the video after that, "Understanding Data Types and Variables", I only have two data types and the ability to read and write via console

BUT

Goddamn, I actually understand some shit now. No, I don't REALLY know why there's four different data types just for numbers, but it doesn't matter because he told me I don't need to worry about that shit right now. What I can grok though is that the Class Library is a giant building of books that I don't have to keep in my house. Those books have all the shit I'd have to do by hand if it wasn't stored in the book. If I type Console.WriteLine it's like saying "hey go to the Console book and get me the shit from the WriteLine chapter." I get that, and I like that. I technically know that the period between is called a "member accessor" but that's not useful to me yet so who cares

OH! AND! Variables are kinda like buckets, right? They hold stuff for you to get at later. Different buckets are better for holding different kinds of stuff (data types), and you gotta label them to find the right bucket again later. So you declare a variable to say you need such-and-such size bucket and you're going to call it such-and-such. Then you assign stuff to the variable-bucket. You can use that label later to retrieve that stuff, for whatever use.

But wait there's more. You got operators which help you work the info. I only know = and + right now, but they're pretty fuckin common sense at the moment. Which is great, because then I'll be comfy with the idea of them by the time we get to the weird ones. Naming conventions are pretty damn important, because 1) C# is case sensitive and 2) there's a fuckton of text and your eyes are going to bleed so do the things that help prevent eye bleed (like camelCasing your bucket names). Leading straight into the last point, which is that programs get stupid long, so Initialization squishes the Declaration/Assignment steps into one line. Fewer lines equals less eye bleed + less carpal tunnel, and we're all good with that

So, like, I don't fully know what methods are, or classes, or what tf static/void/args/etc are for, but I now ABSOLUTELY trust that I will learn them and I won't be mad at everything in the process.

[blueiscoool]

A Rare 2,800-Year-Old Scarab Amulet Found in Israel

Antiquities Authority says recent winter rains helped expose buried antiquities, urges public to be aware and to turn over finds.

A rare scarab amulet from the First Temple period was recently discovered by a hiker in the Nahal Tabor Nature Reserve in the Lower Galilee and turned over to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

The scarab, made from reddish-brown carnelian stone, is estimated to be 2,800 years old and of Assyrian or Babylonian origin. The front is carved in the shape of a beetle, and the back has engravings that depict a griffon or a winged horse, a common motif of the Ancient Near East.

When he discovered the artifact, Erez Avrahamov, 45, was on a two-day leave from IDF reserve duty, taking advantage of a sunny day after recent rains.

“I saw something shimmering on the ground. At first, I thought it was a bead or an orange stone. After I picked it up, I realized it had engravings resembling a beetle. I called and reported the amazing find to the Antiquities Authority,” Avrahamov said, according to a Wednesday IAA press release.

Abrahamov found the scarab near the bottom of Tel Rekhesh, associated with the city of Anaharath mentioned in the Book of Joshua.

During the 6th-7th centuries BCE, “a large citadel stood at the top of the mount, where bathing facilities, halls and ritual chambers were found from the period of Assyrian rule. This rule, as we know, was responsible for the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel” in the First Temple period, IAA archaeologist Dr. Yitzhak Paz explained.

The scarab is likely from this period of Assyrian control and “may indicate the presence of Assyrian (or perhaps Babylonian) officials at Tel Rekhesh during this period,” Paz added. If the scarab can be conclusively dated and this connection proven, it will be a discovery of “great significance,” he said.

Scarab seals of a similar type, fashioned into a dung-beetle shape from a wide variety of stones, originated from Pharaonic Egyptian culture but were widely used throughout the ancient world.

The orange color and material of the scarab found by Abrahamov are fairly rare, the IAA said, as most were made from a softer bluish stone and then covered in glaze, which in almost all cases has worn away with time.

The IAA said it’s likely that the recent rains uncovered the scarab. “As in every winter, when the rainy season arrives, antiquities start to ‘float’ and rise to the surface,” IAA Director Eli Escusido said.

“I am imploring the public to obey the Antiquities Law, and request that if you come across an archaeological find, report it to the Antiquities Authority while in the field. The exact location where an object is found is extremely important… The special scarab will be stored in the state archive, where we can research and learn more about it,” he said.

Under Israeli law, any found man-made object dating from before 1700 is to be turned over to the authorities. Abrahamov received a good citizenship certificate for doing so.

By GAVRIEL FISKE.

[kaybkay8]

I love Parker. She's such a great character. I do wish we got more fight scenes with her. The ones we do get are awesome. I get it, she's a thief. She's more likely to escape or tabor a guy then actually fight. We do get evidence that she's skilled at it though.

Don't get me wrong, I love eliot and all his fight scenes. There's just something really rewarding about seeing the ot3 in each other role that is super entertaining. Specifically hardison thieving, eliot hacking, and parker fighting.

[religious-extremist]

Every year on the Feast of the Holy Transfiguration (Julian Calendar), Mount Tabor is blanketed by great clouds that obscure its peak.

At that time, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking, when lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Matthew 17 ; The Metamorphosis of Our Lord, gospel reading for August 6.

[seaglassandeelgrass]

The Industrial Revolution in song.

Cover image is from an 1835 print in the History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain, held by the British Library.

The Weaver & the Factory Maid- Steeleye Span

The Hand-Loom Versus the Power-Loom- Harry Boardman

The Drift From the Land- The Young'uns

Four Loom Weaver- Maddy Prior & June Tabor

The Dalesman's Litany- Tim Hart & Maddy Prior

Poverty Knock- Chumbawamba

The Hand-Loom Weaver's Lament- Harry Boardman

Song on the Times- Windborne

General Ludd's Triumph- Roy Harris

Foster's Mill- The Short Sisters

Cropper Lads- Maddy Prior & the Girls

Pilgrim on the Pennine Way- Jon Boden

Factory Girl- Rhiannon Giddens

13 tracks; 46 mins. [Spotify]

[my other playlists]

[official-lauchzwiebel]

Tag game by @genxrocker ! Pick a song for each letter of your URL, and then tag that many people!

Thanks for tagging me @get-the-cheese-to-sickbay ! :)

My url has quite a lot of letters, so buckle up buckaroos! I'm giving you a little tour >:)

O - Opernboogie by Georg Kreisler 😎

F - Funny How Love Is by Queen

F - Francesca by Hozier

I - If You'll Have Me by Paul Englishby (Part of the soundtrack of 'Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day' - highly recommend!)

C - Ciaccona (I&II) by L'Arpeggiata, Christina Pluhar

I - Iris's Song For Us by Vashti Bunyan

A - Ae Fond Kiss by The Corries

L - Let's Call The Whole Thing Off by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

L - Lippen Schweigen (Waltz Song - The Merry Widow) by Franz Lehár, sung by Richard Tauber

A - Ankomme Freitag, den 13. by Reinhard Mey

U - (Ummmm, Oh Yeah) Dearest by Buddy Holly

C - Cha Cha Cha by Käärijä

H - Humoresque Nr. 8 by Antonín Dvořák

Z - Zeugnistag by Reinhard Mey

W - While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping by June Tabor

I - I'm Fine by Daisy the Great

E - Everybodee Who's Anybodee by Cole Porter

B - Back That Azz Up by JUVENILE, Lil Wayne, Mannie Fresh

E - Ein ehrenwertes Haus by Udo Jürgens

L - Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver

If you're seeing this, consider yourself tagged!!

Addtionally, I'm tagging @brandybradyrandyandyndy @caressthosecheekbones @liebelesbe @chaotic-carnifex @vosquitransitis @momdailykos @itsfantasticallyhomoerotic @luminatingsatan @basilikum7 @wolfossum @thefebruaryfriday @schlauhonk @joghurtbrot @gaytomatic

Of course, only do it if you want to :)

[kckatie]

Southern Gothic Music Festival

I spent last weekend in Athens, Georgia at the 2nd annual Southern Gothic Festival, where I saw ten bands in two nights. They sure were late nights for me. I'm still recovering from not getting enough sleep. But the bands were great!

Friday night's lineup was

Vincas

Panic Priest

House of Harm

The March Violets

Korine

Tears for the Dying

Saturday's was

Miss Cherry Delight

Deceits

The Chameleons

Vision Video

The rest of Saturday night was DJ'd by Dusty Gannon and Dan Geller.

My short descriptions are:

Vincas is a local Athens band with a swamp-rock psychedelic sound. They were alright, but not inspiring. I confess I like hearing the lyrics, and they seemed to be all drone.

Panic Priest is a post-punk darkwave synth-pop project of Jack Armondo, and was really excellent. He has a great sound, and a good stage presence.

I hadn't heard much House of Harm before the festival, but they are a Boston-based post-punk/synth-pop group. They seemed to want to play in darkness, yeah, it's goth, but still, really? I liked their sound, and I bought a CD.

The March Violets are one of the two reasons I went to the festival. They are a post-punk gothic rock band from the northern UK (Leeds). They started in 1981, and have taken some breaks. They used to be a four person band, and now they are three, but at least my favorite two original members are still with the band. Tom Ashton is an amazing guitarist. I spent a certain amount of their set just watching him play. Rosie Garland is a great singer, songwriter, and performer. She really commands the crowd when she's performing. And the new bass player, Mat Thorpe, was fun to watch, too, as he cranked out the bass along with delivering backing vocals.

I had a little chat after with Rosie, and we found we both like some of the same British electric folk. I mentioned Steeleye Span, and she mentioned June Tabor. We are of similar ages, and so have some similar musical influences. But the March Violets are my favorite Gothic Rock band.

Korine is an interesting electronic pop band. They were playing their guitars onstage, which was probably more visually interesting than playing their synths. I'd heard some of their music before, but hadn't really listened. They were good, and I bought a CD.

Tears for the Dying was the other reason I went to the festival. They are an Athens-based deathrock band, and I have really liked their sound for awhile. They don't tour that far from Athens, so when else was I going to see them? Adria, the singer and songwriter, is writing some of the best political deathrock today, especially focused on LGBTQ experience, and the current political climate.

Miss Cherry Delight is a shock rocker from New York. I'd seen some video and heard some music, so I wasn't shocked. I'll just say she's good at what she does, and she's not to my taste.

I'd heard of Deceits before, but hadn't listened to them. I really, really liked their instrumental sound, which is a very '80s style gothic sound, but was less fond of the lead's singing style. The lyrics were good, but he tends to deliver a line, play a bit, deliver the next line, play a bit, etc. Nothing wrong with that, and I suppose it might grow on me. Other things have, such as drum machines, which I used to hate.

The Chameleons are a post-punk band from the northern UK (Manchester). They delivered a great performance, and had the crowd in their hands. I wasn't going to buy vinyl and try to get it back home, but they had "Strange Times" on CD, and we bought one.

Vision Video played last, and they are the local big goth band. I've seen them several times when they've come through my area, and they're great people as well as being great musicians. Dusty is one of the few goth musicians writing current protest music, and he does it very well. Emily knocks out solid synth, and great backing vocals, and I always like it when she sings lead, whether on her song "Comfort in the Grave", or a cover.

We were pretty tired after two late nights, so we didn't stay long after Vision Video's set.

It was fun. I met a lot of people. I would consider going again!

[marshmallow--shark]

For the character ask game

Chakotay

Oh thank you for the ask and thank you for choosing my lovely Chakotay as the subject!

How I feel about this character

If anyone can't already tell, I love Chakotay, I love him so much! Chakotay is a sweet guy who wants to help people which leads to him getting betrayed and used constantly. He's not afraid to stand up and fight when he needs to. Very susceptible to suggestion/mind control, which is what caused me to fall for him in the first place.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

A- All? Ohh boy. I'll do my best to remember it all but Chakotay is like creamer to everyone's tea, he goes great with everyone. Not including crossover ships:

Janeway, Seska, Paris, Kim, Torres, Doctor, Neelix, Tuvok, Kes, Seven, Annorax, Teero, Suder, Starling, Carey, Kashyk, Moset, Tabor, Rudolph Ransom, Burke, Penk, Iden, Warship Chakotay, Mirror Chakotay, hologram Chakotay from Voy 3.25 & Dal.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I err.. don't ship unromantically so I've got nothing here.

My unpopular opinion about this character

Chakotay is unfairly hated. His writing and acting is good in Voyager, it's just subtle! Or the fact that it took for Prodigy to make people like him. In my humble opinion, If you didn't like him in Voyager, you don't deserve him at all.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Well I could say something obvious like I wish he got together with Janeway but I'm gonna go for something different like, I wish he dated Torres. I'm aware that none of my slash ships could happen because of the times but Chakorres had so much fuel with her crush on him and she had a dirty dream where she tops him! I'd even have been fine if they broke up in the end but they should have happened, Chakorres had so much potential!

M- My, you got me so passionate there. But I could just talk about my sweet Chakotay forever.

[brookston]

Holidays 10.21

Holidays

Abby Cadabby Day

American Frog Day

Antillean Day (Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, St. Eustatius)

Armed Forces Day (Honduras)

Babbling Day

Back to the Future Day

Barrel Day (French Republic)

Boiler Switch On Awareness Day (UK)

Can-Can Day

Celebration of the Mind Day

Check Your Meds Day

Count Your Buttons Day

Egyptian Naval Day (Egypt)

Everyone Writes Day (UK)

Funafuti (Tuvalu)

Global Clinical Engineering Day

Global Encryption Day

Global Iodine Deficiency Day

GTA Day

Heroes and Foreparents Day (British Virgin Islands)

Humble Yourself By Having Your Picture Made Wearing A Bicycle Helmet Day

International Day of Action on Big Biomass

Jailhouse Rock Day

Light Bulb Day

Loud Shirt Day

Mashujaa Day (Kenya)

National Alexander Day

National Annual Tree Loving Day (Thailand)

National Archives Day (Philippines)s

National Breast Reconstruction Awareness Day

National Check Your Meds Day

National Check Your Transmission Day

National Dental Hygiene Day (Thailand)

National Heroes’ Day (Jamaica)

National Jameson Day

National Nurses’ Day (Thailand)

National Pets for Veterans Day

National Raymond Day

National School Bus Driver Appreciation Day

National Shut-In Day

National Social Welfare Day (Thailand)

National Throw Short People Day

National Witch Hazel Day

Ndadaye Day (Burundi)

Overseas Chinese Day (Taiwan)

Police Commemoration Day (India)

President Ndadaye Melchior (Burundi)

Reptile Awareness Day

Take Time and Watch the Sunset Day

Trafalgar Day (UK)

USS Constitution Day

Uzbek Language Day

Wonder Woman Day

World Earthworm Day

World Energy Saving Day

World Esports Day

World Feminist Radio Day

World Gaming Day

World Iodine Deficiency Day

World War II Victims Remembrance Day (Serbia)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Apple Day (UK)

Caramel Apple Day

Garbanzo Bean Day

Great British Cheese Day

International Day of the Nacho (Mexico, US)

National Honey Day (UK)

National Mezcal Day

National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day

Pop Rocks Day

World Apple Day

Independence & Related Days

Narsiryn (Declared; 2021) [unrecognized]

3rd Monday in October

Boss's Day [10.16 or nearest work day]

Circular Economy Monday (Canada) [3rd Monday]

Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day [3rd Monday]

Day of Races (Colombia) [3rd Monday]

Hurricane Thanksgiving Day (Virgin Islands) [3rd Monday]

International Adjust Your Chair Day [3rd Monday]

Manic Monday [3rd Monday of Each Month]

Meatball Monday [3rd Monday of Each Month]

Meditation Monday [Every Monday]

Monday Musings [Every Monday]

Motivation Monday [Every Monday]

Multicultural Diversity Day [3rd Monday]

National Heroes Day (Jamaica) [3rd Monday]

Weekly Holidays beginning October 21 (3rd Full Week of October)

Bone and Joint Health Action Week (thru 10.27) [3rd Week]

Disarmament Week [Week of 10.24]

Fairfield Restaurant Week (Fairfield, Connecticut) [thru 11.3]

Hepatitis Awareness Week (thru 10.27) [3rd Week]

International Infection Prevention Week (thru 10.27) [3rd Week]

National Baking Week (thru 10.27) [3rd Week]

National Culinary Week (thru 10.27) [3rd Week]

National Food Bank Week (thru 10.27) [3rd Week]

National Health Education Week (thru 10.25) [3rd Mon-Fri]

National Kraut Sandwich Week (thru 10.27) [3rd Week]

National Nuclear Science Week (thru 10.25) [3rd Mon-Fri]

YMCA Week without Violence Week (thru 10.25) [3rd Week]

Festivals Beginning October 21, 2024

CHC GALA (New York, New York)

NC Yam Festival (Tabor City, North Carolina) [thru 10.26]

Ohio Bar Owners Bar Expo (Columbus, Ohio)

Philly Music Fest (Ardmore, Pennsylvania) [thru 10.27]

Feast Days

Abby Cadabby (Muppetism)

Asterius of Ostia (Christian; Saint)

Berthold of Parma (Christian; Saint)

The Birdman (Muppetism)

Bruno Hauptmann Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Charles of Austria, Blessed (Roman Catholic Church)

Domenichino (Artology)

Festival of Parlor Shamanism

Fintán of Taghmon (Christian; Saint)

Great Horn Fair (Pagan)

Hilarion (Christian; Saint)

John of Bridlington (Christian; Saint)

Katsushika Hokusai (Artology)

Laura of Saint Catherine of Siena (Christian; Saint)

Leticia (Christian; Saint)

Lord Bacon (Positivist; Saint)

Maha Saptama Great Ceremony; Hinduism) [7th Day of 9th Moon]

Malchus of Syria (Christian; Saint)

Mary Blair (Artology)

Nikos Engonopoulos (Artology)

Patrick Kavanagh (Writerism)

Peter Yu Tae-chol (Christian; Saint)

Phulpati [7th Day of Dashain]

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Writerism)

Seek the King Week (Shamanism)

Severinus of Bordeaux (Christian; Saint)

Try Thinking Day (Pastafarian)

Tuda of Lindisfarne (Christian; Saint)

Ursula (Christian; Saint)

Ursula K. Le Guin (Writerism)

Viator of Lyons (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [43 of 53]

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 49 of 60)

Premieres

All the Right Stuff (Film; 1983)

The Awful Truth (Film; 1937)

Bad as Me, by Tom Waits (Album; 2011)

The Banshees of Inisherin (Film; 2022)

Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (WB Animated Film; 2003)

Bat Out of Hell, by Meatloaf (Album; 1977)

Big Heel-Watha, a.k.a. Buck of the Month (Tex Avery Screwy Squirrel MGM Cartoon; 1944)

Black Adam (Film; 2022)

The Boys from Brazil, by Ira Levin (Novel; 1976)

Bullets Over Broadway (Film; 1994)

Chase Me (WB Cartoon; 2003)

Comes a Time, by Neil Young (Album; 1978)

The Dead Zone (Film; 1983)

Doctor Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)

Dopey Dick the Pink Whale (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1957)

Down Beat Bear (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1956)

Dune Messiah, by Frank Herbert (Novel; 1969) [Dune #2]

Everything to Everyone, by Barenaked Ladies (Album; 2003)

Footlight Parade (Film; 1933)

For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway (Novel; 1940)

The Framed Cat (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1950)

The Geezer (Super Chicken Cartoon; 1967) [#7]

The Good Egg (WB MM Cartoon; 1939)

Goonland (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1938)

It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis (Novel; 1935)

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (Film; 2016)

The Mandarins, by Simone de Beauvoir (Novel; 1954)

Moonlight (Film; 2015)

My Fair Lady (Film; 1964)

Mystic Pizza (Film; 1988)

The Newcomer (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1938)

Next Time, Take the Train (George of the Jungle Cartoon; 1967) [#7]

Oliver and the Artful Dodger (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Movie; 1972)

One Horse Town (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1968)

Orpheus in the Underworld, by Jacques Offenbach (Operetta; 1858)

The Peripheral (TV Series; 2022)

Pink Pictures (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)

Plague Dogs (Animated Film; 1982)

Polka Party, by Weird Al Yankovic (Album; 1986)

Romantic Melodies (Betty Boop Cartoon; 1932)

Rumble Fish (Film; 1983)

The Sheik (Silent Film; 1921)

Sex, by Madonna and photographer Steven Meisel (Book; 1992)

Speed Racer (Film; 2008)

Stooge for a Mouse (WB MM Cartoon; 1950)

Tapeheads (Film; 1988)

What’s My Lion (WB LT Cartoon; 1961)

You Don’t Know What You’re Doin’ (WB MM Cartoon; 1931)

You Want It Darker, by Leonard Cohen (Album; 2016)

Today’s Name Days

Karl, Ulla, Ursula (Austria)

Hilarion, Kajo, Uršula, Zvjezdan (Croatia)

Brigita (Czech Republic)

Ursula (Denmark)

Ulla, Ulrika, Ursula (Estonia)

Ursula (Finland)

Céline, Ursule (France)

Celina, Holger, Ulla, Ursula (Germany)

Christodoulos, Efkratis, Orsalia, Socrates, Sokrates, Sokratis, Ursula (Greece)

Orsolya (Hungary)

Orsola (Italy)

Garlibs, Ginta, Gints, Severins, Urzula (Latvia)

Hiliaras, Raitvilas, Uršulė (Lithuania)

Bergljot, Birger (Norway)

Bernard, Celina, Dobromił, Elżbieta, Hilary, Klemencja, Pelagia, Pelagiusz, Urszula, Wszebora (Poland)

Taisia (Russia)

Uršuľa (Slovakia)

Úrsula (Spain)

Ursula, Yrsa (Sweden)

Ada, Ilarion, Larry (Ukraine)

Celina, Celine, Nobel, Selena, Selina, Ursula, Wanda, Wendall, Wendell, Wendy (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 295 of 2024; 71 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 8 of Week 43 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Gort (Ivy) [Day 23 of 28]

Chinese: Month 9 (Jia-Xu), Day 19 (Wu-Wu)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 19 Tishri 5785

Islamic: 17 Rabi II 1446

J Cal: 25 Orange; Foursday [25 of 30]

Julian: 8 October 2024

Moon: 76%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 15 Descartes (11th Month) [Cujas / Grotius]

Runic Half Month: Gyfu (Gift) [Day 15 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 30 of 90)

Week: 3rd Full Week of October

Zodiac: Libra (Day 29 of 30)

[vacancy90]

Tibor del Grosso 🇳🇱 U23 CX World Champion in Tabor 2024 🌈

[orthodoxydaily]

SAINTS&READING: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2024

september 26_october 9

REPOSE OF THE HOLY APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST, JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN.

The Holy, Glorious, All-laudable Apostle and Evangelist, Virgin, and Beloved Friend of Christ, John the Theologian, was the son of Zebedee and Salome, a daughter of Saint Joseph the Betrothed. Our Lord Jesus Christ called him to simultaneously be one of His Apostles as his elder brother, James. This took place at Lake Gennesareth (i.e., the Sea of Galilee). Leaving behind their father, both brothers followed the Lord.

The Apostle John was especially loved by the Savior for his sacrificial love and his virginal purity. After his calling, the Apostle John did not part from the Lord, and he was one of the three apostles who were particularly close to Him. Saint John the Theologian was present when the Lord restored the daughter of Jairus to life, and he was a witness to the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor.

During the Last Supper, he reclined next to the Lord, and laid his head upon His breast. He also asked the name of the Savior’s betrayer. The Apostle John followed after the Lord when they led Him bound from the Garden of Gethsemane to the court of the iniquitous High Priests Annas and Caiphas. He was there in the courtyard of the High Priest during the interrogations of his Teacher and he resolutely followed after him on the way to Golgotha, grieving with all his heart.

At the foot of the Cross he stood with the Mother of God and heard the words of the Crucified Lord addressed to Her from the Cross: “Woman, behold Thy son.” Then the Lord said to him, “Behold thy Mother” (John 19:26-27). From that moment the Apostle John, like a loving son, concerned himself over the Most Holy Virgin Mary, and he served Her until Her Dormition.

After the Dormition of the Mother of God the Apostle John went to Ephesus and other cities of Asia Minor to preach the Gospel, taking with him his own disciple Prochorus. They boarded a ship, which floundered during a terrible tempest. All the travellers were cast up upon dry ground, and only the Apostle John remained in the depths of the sea. Prochorus wept bitterly, bereft of his spiritual father and guide, and he went on towards Ephesus alone.

On the fourteenth day of his journey he stood at the shore of the sea and saw that the waves had cast a man ashore. Going up to him, he recognized the Apostle John, whom the Lord had preserved alive for fourteen days in the sea. Teacher and disciple went to Ephesus, where the Apostle John preached incessantly to the pagans about Christ. His preaching was accompanied by such numerous and great miracles, that the number of believers increased with each day.

During this time there had begun a persecution of Christians under the emperor Nero (56-68). They took the Apostle John for trial at Rome. Saint John was sentenced to death for his confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Lord preserved His chosen one. The apostle drank a cup of deadly poison, but he remained alive. Later, he emerged unharmed from a cauldron of boiling oil into which he had been thrown on orders from the torturer.

After this, they sent the Apostle John off to imprisonment to the island of Patmos, where he spent many years. Proceeding along on his way to the place of exile, Saint John worked many miracles. On the island of Patmos, his preaching and miracles attracted to him all the inhabitants of the island, and he enlightened them with the light of the Gospel. He cast out many devils from the pagan temples, and he healed a great multitude of the sick.

Sorcerers with demonic powers showed great hostility to the preaching of the holy apostle. He especially frightened the chief sorcerer of them all, named Kinops, who boasted that they would destroy the apostle. But the great John, by the grace of God acting through him, destroyed all the demonic artifices to which Kinops resorted, and the haughty sorcerer perished in the depths of the sea.

The Apostle John withdrew with his disciple Prochorus to a desolate height, where he imposed upon himself a three-day fast. As Saint John prayed the earth quaked and thunder rumbled. Prochorus fell to the ground in fright. The Apostle John lifted him up and told him to write down what he was about to say. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev 1:8), proclaimed the Spirit of God through the Apostle John. Thus in about the year 67 the Book of Revelation was written, known also as the “Apocalypse,” of the holy Apostle John the Theologian. In this Book were predictions of the tribulations of the Church and of the end of the world.

After his prolonged exile, the Apostle John received his freedom and returned to Ephesus, where he continued with his activity, instructing Christians to guard against false teachers and their erroneous teachings. In the year 95, the Apostle John wrote his Gospel at Ephesus. He called for all Christians to love the Lord and one another, and by this to fulfill the commands of Christ. The Church calls Saint John the “Apostle of Love”, since he constantly taught that without love man cannot come near to God.

In his three Epistles, Saint John speaks of the significance of love for God and for neighbor. Already in his old age, he learned of a youth who had strayed from the true path to follow the leader of a band of robbers, so Saint John went out into the wilderness to seek him. Seeing the holy Elder, the guilty one tried to hide himself, but the Apostle John ran after him and besought him to stop. He promised to take the sins of the youth upon himself, if only he would repent and not bring ruin upon his soul. Shaken by the intense love of the holy Elder, the youth actually did repent and turn his life around.

Saint John reposed when he was more than a hundred years old. He far outlived the other eyewitnesses of the Lord, and for a long time he remained the only remaining eyewitness of the earthly life of the Savior.

When it was time for the departure of the Apostle John, he went out beyond the city limits of Ephesus with the families of his disciples. He bade them prepare for him a cross-shaped grave, in which he lay, telling his disciples that they should cover him over with the soil. The disciples tearfully kissed their beloved teacher, but not wanting to be disobedient, they fulfilled his bidding. They covered the face of the saint with a cloth and filled in the grave. Learning of this, other disciples of Saint John came to the place of his burial. When they opened the grave, they found it empty.

Each year from the grave of the holy Apostle John on May 8 came forth a fine dust, which believers gathered up and were healed of sicknesses by it. Therefore, the Church also celebrates the memory of the holy Apostle John the Theologian on May 8.

The Lord bestowed on His beloved disciple John and John’s brother James the name “Sons of Thunder,” an excellent messenger accompanied by the cleansing power of heavenly fire. And precisely by this, the Savior pointed out the flaming, fiery, sacrificial character of Christian love, the preacher of which was the Apostle John the Theologian. The eagle, a symbol of the lofty heights of his theological thought, is the iconographic symbol of the Evangelist John the Theologian. The appellation “Theologian” is bestowed by the Holy Church only to Saint John among the immediate disciples and Apostles of Christ as the seer of God's mysterious Judgments.

1 John 4:12-19

12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.

John 19:25-27; 21:24-25

25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" 27 Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true. 25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.

[hieromonkcharbel]

Can the Ladder, a work written by a hermit monk who lived 1,400 years ago, say something to us today? Can the existential journey of a man who lived his entire life on Mount Sinai in such a distant time be relevant to us?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

After 20 Catecheses dedicated to the Apostle Paul, today I would like to return to presenting the great writers of the Church of the East and of the West in the Middle Ages. And I am proposing the figure of John known as Climacus, a Latin transliteration of the Greek term klimakos, which means of the ladder (klimax). This is the title of his most important work in which he describes the ladder of human life ascending towards God. He was born in about 575 a.d. He lived, therefore, during the years in which Byzantium, the capital of the Roman Empire of the East, experienced the greatest crisis in its history. The geographical situation of the Empire suddenly changed and the torrent of barbarian invasions swept away all its structures. Only the structure of the Church withstood them, continuing in these difficult times to carry out her missionary, human, social and cultural action, especially through the network of monasteries in which great religious figures such as, precisely, John Climacus were active.

John lived and told of his spiritual experiences in the Mountains of Sinai, where Moses encountered God and Elijah heard his voice. Information on him has been preserved in a brief Life (PG 88, 596-608), written by a monk, Daniel of Raithu. At the age of 16, John, who had become a monk on Mount Sinai, made himself a disciple of Abba Martyr, an "elder", that is, a "wise man". At about 20 years of age, he chose to live as a hermit in a grotto at the foot of the mountain in the locality of Tola, eight kilometres from the present-day St Catherine's Monastery. Solitude, however, did not prevent him from meeting people eager for spiritual direction, or from paying visits to several monasteries near Alexandria. In fact, far from being an escape from the world and human reality, his eremitical retreat led to ardent love for others (Life, 5) and for God (ibid., 7). After 40 years of life as a hermit, lived in love for God and for neighbour years in which he wept, prayed and fought with demons he was appointed hegumen of the large monastery on Mount Sinai and thus returned to cenobitic life in a monastery. However, several years before his death, nostalgic for the eremitical life, he handed over the government of the community to his brother, a monk in the same monastery.

John died after the year 650. He lived his life between two mountains, Sinai and Tabor and one can truly say that he radiated the light which Moses saw on Sinai and which was contemplated by the three Apostles on Mount Tabor!

He became famous, as I have already said, through his work, entitled The Climax, in the West known as the Ladder of Divine Ascent (PG 88, 632-1164). Composed at the insistent request of the hegumen of the neighbouring Monastery of Raithu in Sinai, the Ladder is a complete treatise of spiritual life in which John describes the monk's journey from renunciation of the world to the perfection of love. This journey according to his book covers 30 steps, each one of which is linked to the next. The journey may be summarized in three consecutive stages: the first is expressed in renunciation of the world in order to return to a state of evangelical childhood. Thus, the essential is not the renunciation but rather the connection with what Jesus said, that is, the return to true childhood in the spiritual sense, becoming like children. John comments: "A good foundation of three layers and three pillars is: innocence, fasting and temperance. Let all babes in Christ (cf. 1 Cor 3: 1) begin with these virtues, taking as their model the natural babes" (1, 20; 636). Voluntary detachment from beloved people and places permits the soul to enter into deeper communion with God. This renunciation leads to obedience which is the way to humility through humiliations which will never be absent on the part of the brethren. John comments: "Blessed is he who has mortified his will to the very end and has entrusted the care of himself to his teacher in the Lord: indeed he will be placed on the right hand of the Crucified One!" (4, 37; 704).

The second stage of the journey consists in spiritual combat against the passions. Every step of the ladder is linked to a principal passion that is defined and diagnosed, with an indication of the treatment and a proposal of the corresponding virtue. All together, these steps of the ladder undoubtedly constitute the most important treatise of spiritual strategy that we possess. The struggle against the passions, however, is steeped in the positive it does not remain as something negative thanks to the image of the "fire" of the Holy Spirit: that "all those who enter upon the good fight (cf. 1 Tm 6: 12), which is hard and narrow,... may realize that they must leap into the fire, if they really expect the celestial fire to dwell in them" (1,18; 636). The fire of the Holy Spirit is the fire of love and truth. The power of the Holy Spirit alone guarantees victory. However, according to John Climacus it is important to be aware that the passions are not evil in themselves; they become so through human freedom's wrong use of them. If they are purified, the passions reveal to man the path towards God with energy unified by ascesis and grace and, "if they have received from the Creator an order and a beginning..., the limit of virtue is boundless" (26/2, 37; 1068).

The last stage of the journey is Christian perfection that is developed in the last seven steps of the Ladder. These are the highest stages of spiritual life, which can be experienced by the "Hesychasts": the solitaries, those who have attained quiet and inner peace; but these stages are also accessible to the more fervent cenobites. Of the first three simplicity, humility and discernment John, in line with the Desert Fathers, considered the ability to discern, the most important. Every type of behaviour must be subject to discernment; everything, in fact, depends on one's deepest motivations, which need to be closely examined. Here one enters into the soul of the person and it is a question of reawakening in the hermit, in the Christian, spiritual sensitivity and a "feeling heart", which are gifts from God: "After God, we ought to follow our conscience as a rule and guide in everything," (26/1,5; 1013). In this way one reaches tranquillity of soul, hesychia, by means of which the soul may gaze upon the abyss of the divine mysteries.

The state of quiet, of inner peace, prepares the Hesychast for prayer which in John is twofold: "corporeal prayer" and "prayer of the heart". The former is proper to those who need the help of bodily movement: stretching out the hands, uttering groans, beating the breast, etc. (15, 26; 900). The latter is spontaneous, because it is an effect of the reawakening of spiritual sensitivity, a gift of God to those who devote themselves to corporeal prayer. In John this takes the name "Jesus prayer" (Iesou euche), and is constituted in the invocation of solely Jesus' name, an invocation that is continuous like breathing: "May your remembrance of Jesus become one with your breathing, and you will then know the usefulness of hesychia", inner peace (27/2, 26; 1112). At the end the prayer becomes very simple: the word "Jesus" simply becomes one with the breath.

The last step of the ladder (30), suffused with "the sober inebriation of the spirit", is dedicated to the supreme "trinity of virtues": faith, hope and above all charity. John also speaks of charity as eros (human love), a symbol of the matrimonial union of the soul with God, and once again chooses the image of fire to express the fervour, light and purification of love for God. The power of human love can be reoriented to God, just as a cultivated olive may be grafted on to a wild olive tree (cf. Rm 11: 24) (cf. 15, 66; 893). John is convinced that an intense experience of this eros will help the soul to advance far more than the harsh struggle against the passions, because of its great power. Thus, in our journey, the positive aspect prevails. Yet charity is also seen in close relation to hope: "Hope is the power that drives love. Thanks to hope, we can look forward to the reward of charity.... Hope is the doorway of love.... The absence of hope destroys charity: our efforts are bound to it, our labours are sustained by it, and through it we are enveloped by the mercy of God" (30, 16; 1157). The conclusion of the Ladder contains the synthesis of the work in words that the author has God himself utter: "May this ladder teach you the spiritual disposition of the virtues. I am at the summit of the ladder, and as my great initiate (St Paul) said: "So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love' (1 Cor 13: 13)!" (30, 18; 1160).

At this point, a last question must be asked: can the Ladder, a work written by a hermit monk who lived 1,400 years ago, say something to us today? Can the existential journey of a man who lived his entire life on Mount Sinai in such a distant time be relevant to us? At first glance it would seem that the answer must be "no", because John Climacus is too remote from us. But if we look a little closer, we see that the monastic life is only a great symbol of baptismal life, of Christian life. It shows, so to speak, in capital letters what we write day after day in small letters. It is a prophetic symbol that reveals what the life of the baptized person is, in communion with Christ, with his death and Resurrection. The fact that the top of the "ladder", the final steps, are at the same time the fundamental, initial and most simple virtues is particularly important to me: faith, hope and charity. These are not virtues accessible only to moral heroes; rather they are gifts of God to all the baptized: in them our life develops too. The beginning is also the end, the starting point is also the point of arrival: the whole journey towards an ever more radical realization of faith, hope and charity. The whole ascent is present in these virtues. Faith is fundamental, because this virtue implies that I renounce my arrogance, my thought, and the claim to judge by myself without entrusting myself to others. This journey towards humility, towards spiritual childhood is essential. It is necessary to overcome the attitude of arrogance that makes one say: I know better, in this my time of the 21st century, than what people could have known then. Instead, it is necessary to entrust oneself to Sacred Scripture alone, to the word of the Lord, to look out on the horizon of faith with humility, in order to enter into the enormous immensity of the universal world, of the world of God. In this way our soul grows, the sensitivity of the heart grows toward God. Rightly, John Climacus says that hope alone renders us capable of living charity; hope in which we transcend the things of every day, we do not expect success in our earthly days but we look forward to the revelation of God himself at last. It is only in this extension of our soul, in this self-transcendence, that our life becomes great and that we are able to bear the effort and disappointments of every day, that we can be kind to others without expecting any reward. Only if there is God, this great hope to which I aspire, can I take the small steps of my life and thus learn charity. The mystery of prayer, of the personal knowledge of Jesus, is concealed in charity: simple prayer that strives only to move the divine Teacher's heart. So it is that one's own heart opens, one learns from him his own kindness, his love. Let us therefore use this "ascent" of faith, hope and charity. In this way we will arrive at true life.

Vatican, Feb. 11, 2009

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning, September 9th

I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. – Jeremiah 33:3

There are different translations of these words. One version renders it, "I will shew thee great and fortified things." Another, "Great and reserved things." Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian experience: all the developments of spiritual life are not alike easy of attainment. There are the common frames and feelings of repentance, and faith, and joy, and hope, which are enjoyed by the entire family; but there is an upper realm of rapture, of communion, and conscious union with Christ, which is far from being the common dwelling-place of believers. We have not all the high privilege of John, to lean upon Jesus' bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught up into the third heaven. There are heights in experimental knowledge of the things of God which the eagle's eye of acumen and philosophic thought hath never seen: God alone can bear us there; but the chariot in which he takes us up, and the fiery steeds with which that chariot is dragged, are prevailing prayers. Prevailing prayer is victorious over the God of mercy, "By his strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us." Prevailing prayer takes the Christian to Carmel, and enables him to cover heaven with clouds of blessing, and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears the Christian aloft to Pisgah, and shows him the inheritance reserved; it elevates us to Tabor and transfigures us, till in the likeness of his Lord, as he is, so are we also in this world. If you would reach to something higher than ordinary grovelling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the window of importunate prayer. When you open the window on your side, it will not be bolted on the other.

[jourke-rourke]

via SyFy's Dark Matter (2015)

"According to Tabor, they're great earners, but kind of... volatile."

audio: Another One Bites the Dust (Queen)