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hallows' eve

9/23/2021

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math in nature

9/22/2021

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A lenticular cloud is a stationary cloud formed at high altitudes. It is usually aligned at a right angle to the direction of the wind. Pilots avoid lenticular clouds because the waves of air forming them can make for a bumpy ride. On May 25, 2021, Jessica Flores, Engagement Reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote, “To learn more about altocumulus standing lenticular clouds, visit the NWS [National Weather Service] page here https://www.weather.gov/.”
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1st century

9/20/2021

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Here is a list of non-Catholic men who were born in the first century and wrote about Christ (crucified 33): historian Flavius Josephus 37-100; historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus 56-120; author Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus 61-113; historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus 69-122; and philosopher Mara bar Serapion - letter circa 73. Per Encyclopedia Britannica, Acts of the Apostles was written between 70 and 90.
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quips

9/19/2021

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Padre Pio was walking through a crowd of admirers when a woman pushed forward and asked, “Is my husband in Purgatory?” He said, “How would I know? Did I come from there?”
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darts

9/19/2021

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Adriana and I amused each other over the idea of shooting tranquilizing darts at those about to receive unworthily. Immobilizing them right before communion would save their souls. There is a hapless individual who is not Catholic and receives, and today, he was admonished. I'd rather see wayward politicians be darted. Only if they were near the end of the communion line would we succeed. Ketamine takes effect in 3-4 minutes.
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schizo

9/19/2021

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The term “schizoid” refers to the Greek for a split or cleft, as in schism, and signifies how someone can be emotionally split from everyone else. [source: visionsteen.com] Harry Guntrip (1901-1975), British psychotherapist, classifies a secret schizoid as someone who behaves with socially available, interested, engaged, and involved interaction, yet remains emotionally withdrawn and sequestered within the safety of the internal world. That leads me to this query: are contemporary Catholic dissenters secret schizoids?
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bumper numbers

9/19/2021

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Catholic priest brothers
Wisconsin
Strand
Jacob, Vincent, Luke

Oudenhoven
                                      
 Timothy, Daniel

                                        Sember

                                          Joel, Ben
                                            (identical twins)

                                      ***
                                        New York
                                       
Pilsner
                                          James, Peter, Joseph
​

                                        ***
                                        Michigan
                                     
Koenigsknecht
                                         Todd, Gary

                                         (identical twins)
                                     

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new movie

9/17/2021

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The new movie, Mass of the Ages, located under the More Tab, now has over half a million views on YouTube and is subtitled in 20 languages, including Spanish, Italian, French, German, Chinese, and Vietnamese. At the end is a list of interpreters.
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Q

9/17/2021

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The word queue begins with a Q and is followed by four silent letters, four standing quietly in a queue and not quacking about it. Q is the start of many Latin words including quinque, which means five, and queue has five letters. In longhand, Q quaintly looks like a 2, but a queue is often longer than 2. Quaint in Latin is sexcentis exagitant. O Q!
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volleyball luminary

9/15/2021

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I saw a great school-produced video profile of Elise. A commitment by her to academic tutoring intensified Elise's athletic glow.
​
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war heroes

9/13/2021

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       soldiers' communion on the battlefield                                             Uncle George at home
               courtesy of quinersdiner.com                                                           with my grandma

George S. Dunn Jr. (July 1, 1917 - Dec 7, 1941), was born in San Francisco and died age 24, USS West Virginia, Pearl Harbor. His body was never recovered, and the marker is at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, CA. George’s mother (my grandmother), Louise W. Dunn was born in Tombstone 1890 and died in San Francisco 1980. RIP to the man I never knew and to all who die for us.
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spies

9/13/2021

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Cell phone, smart TV, computer spying on you? Your vacuum cleaner and mine have been collecting dirt on us for years.
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latin parade

9/13/2021

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Tumultumque means riot [glorious sounding word]
Root for English word tumult [confusion or disorder]
Tumult must be quelled by an army [even little ones]
​

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Credit: imperium-romana.org ​

​The word tumultumque sounds like a bass drum tumbling down the mountainside and the fat man who clobbers it right behind.
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humble pie

9/13/2021

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9-12-21 The gospel is a parable about a man at a wedding reception who takes his place at the table in front, and the host tells him to move for someone more important. JC says, “…every one that exalteth himself shall be humiliated, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” The English translation below is an example of fine writing.
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snapshot story

9/12/2021

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I gave a writing prompt to my very gifted student. The prompt, Inference in Writing, is a color picture of a small plane that has crashed in the snow. The pilot is trying to repair the plane with a snowshoe. The student is directed to write about the scene without using the words snow or plane.

Inference requires that a writer give clues about a subject - not say anything explicitly. Alexander drew 13 cartoon panels (boxes) with bubbles for dialog. That was his amazing response to the prompt. After the tutoring session was over, I headed for the laptop and produced the following short based on his cartoon.

Alexander likes tales about cops, soldiers, FBI agents, secret agents, security guards, guns, and knives...and he likes poetry.
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zeus zap

9/11/2021

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       lead-up to lightning 9-9-21 Santa Clara, CA                           northeast of Sacramento, CA
                                 credit: friend                                                               credit: Jake Thomas   
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public school

9/9/2021

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According to Katy Grimes, writer for California Globe, in a report dated Sept 7, 2021, civics teacher Gabriel Gipe at Inderkum High School in Natomas (30 miles from me) was fired for espousing communism in the classroom.

A Project Veritas undercover video went viral, and angry parents and former schoolteachers showed up at a school board meeting to demand that he be prosecuted for child abuse and child endangerment. The meeting is on YouTube.

Parents said they have names of other teachers who openly express anti-American views and teach critical race theory and hatred.


I enjoy schooling my students. None of them know my party affiliation or how I vote, with one exception, and that is because the father of one asked me directly.

Short stories and poems assigned contain themes on morality, and we discuss the themes. There is a partial summer reading list on 7-3-21. One student read 13 classic short stories this summer.

A few social studies passages in the SAT reading section contain material that is not documented, which makes them doubtful or untruthful. However, I do not insist that students agree with me. They are encouraged to think for themselves.

Lesson 1, Sex Education, 5th grade, California public schools does not mention the word love and is quite graphic. One friend told me she opted out on behalf of her two children. Good decision. The solution is that parents should not have to opt out.

Homeschooling at my parish is omnipresent, and homeschooling is very affordable, but not all parents can do it.
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kipling

9/8/2021

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osculate

9/7/2021

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Catholicism is a war with yourself, not with your neighbor. I need to osculate him or her more often. Osculate: in math, to touch another curve or surface so as to have a common tangent at the point of contact; in uncommon usage, kiss.
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modifiers

9/7/2021

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For Altan:
misplaced modifiers and squinting modifiers

First, a misplaced modifier is an adverb located in a place other than near the word it modifies.

Look at this example:
I nearly won a million dollars in the lottery.

It's hard to tell if the person won close to one million dollars or did not win any money.

Second, a squinting modifier is one that is placed in a sentence in such a manner that it could modify either of the two nouns in a sentence. When a modifying adverb or phrase is placed in a sentence so that it can be interpreted as modifying either the words before or after it, then it’s called a “squinting modifier.”
 
Look at this example:
Running long distances quickly builds my endurance.
 
It’s hard to tell what this sentence means. Is the person running long distances quickly? Or quickly building his endurance? The squinting modifier here is the word “quickly.” Its position in the sentence makes the meaning murky.
 
Fixing a squinting modifier:
 
Bad: Having a baby often changes your life.
Better: Often, having a baby changes your life.
Bad: Beating eggs rapidly creates a whipped foam.
Better: Rapidly beating eggs creates a whipped foam.

 
Fix the examples for nearly and quickly.

Altan's fixes:
I won nearly a million dollars in the lottery. Correct. Altan clarified that he won a large amount of money, almost a million dollars.
Running long distances builds my endurance quickly. Correct. Altan clarified that when he runs long distances (he is a great soccer player), he is building up his endurance at the same time.

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fibonacci 1

9/7/2021

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In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. Remember, a ratio is a fraction. Opposite are two segments, labeled a and b. The equation shows how the golden ratio works.


φ
The golden ratio is approximately equal to 1.618 and is symbolized by the Greek letter phi as shown above. The number appears many times in geometry, art, and architecture: the Parthenon shows signs of the golden ratio. The number even shows up in describing the perfectly proportioned human body and face.
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Madame Nhu

9/7/2021

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This is a deserving repost from the blog entry on Aug 17, 2018. The Vimeo video quality is poor, so fast forward when the audio weakens. Madame Nhu (1924-2011), wife of the brother of the President of South Vietnam, speaks at Fordham University in New York City in 1965.

A devout Catholic, Nhu spoke Vietnamese, French, and English. She was an educated, beautiful, and strong woman. She has the assistance of her daughter during the speech. She answers a question about her use of the word, “barbeque,” regarding Buddhist monks immolating themselves in protest on the streets of Saigon.

By bestowing on her the name, “Dragon Lady,” the American press grievously wronged Nhu. She died in Paris. View at: https://vimeo.com/21726173


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confucius

9/6/2021

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Confucius say
Man who want pretty nurse must be patient.
Passionate kiss, like spider web, lead to undoing of fly. 
Squirrel that run up woman's leg not find nuts.
Man who leap off cliff jump to conclusion. 
Man who run in front of car get tired, but man who run behind car get exhausted. 
Man who eat many prunes get good run for money. 
War not determine who is right; it determine who is left.
Man who drive like hell bound to get there. 
Wise man not keep sledgehammer and slow computer in same room. 
Man who live in glass house should change clothes in basement.  
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impulses

9/5/2021

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Postcommunion prayer for Sept 5, 2021. Candice DeLong, former FBI profiler and host of Deadly Women on cable's ID channel, says the most common reasons for murder are money, jealousy, and revenge. My stories have touched on all three. Here, sensus is translated as impulses, which makes sense.
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the exorcist

9/4/2021

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On Sept 3, 2021, Raymond de Souza wrote:

“Many of these telltale signs of demonic possession were present during the Ronald Hunkeler exorcism and were terrifyingly reproduced in the Blatty film. Priests say that after the release of the film, confessionals were never empty, and nonpracticing Catholics by the thousands returned to the practice of their Faith.”

Mr. de Souza writes weekly articles for the oldest US Catholic newspaper, The Wanderer. He was referring to a 14-year-old boy and The Exorcist 1973. Father Gary Thomas, exorcist for the San Jose diocese (CA), will back him up on the details of exorcisms. Thomas gives an excellent account on YouTube of how he does one. He grew up in South San Francisco and advised Anthony Hopkins, lead actor in The Rite 2011. The rite is spoken in Latin. The demons fear it.

One of my short stories, "Phantasmal," addresses the subject. Thomas's YouTube videos were an excellent resource. For an account of Hunkeler's exorcism, which was recorded in a Jesuit priest's diary, go here:
​
https://historyofyesterday.com/when-a-demon-came-to-maryland-69badbdb2246

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