Assumption Day

This day is the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, body and soul, into heaven.  And it's a Holy Day of Obligation, which we made by the skin of our teeth.  I played for a graduation this afternoon and there was a mountain of traffic coming back.  Just barely got back in time to change, pick up the Memsahib, and dash off to evening Mass.  Evening N.O. Mass, alas, but Mass nonethless.  And not the worst one available either.  Excellent sermon, too.

Something from St John Damascene, from the 2d nocturn of the day that's in it:

This day the holy and animated ark of the living God, she who conceived in her womb her Creator,, rests in the temple of the Lord, which was not made with hands.  And her ancestor David leaps, and with him the Angels lead the dance, the Archangels celebrate, the Virtues ascribe glory, the Principalities exult, the Powers rejoice together, the Dominations are joyful, the Thrones keep holiday, the Cherubim utter praise, the Seraphim proclaim her glory.  This day the Eden of the new Adam receives the living Paradise, wherein the condemnation was made void, wherein the tree of life was planted, wherein our nakedness was covered.

A collect from the Divine Worship Missal:

Almighty and everlasting God, who didst assume the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of thy Son, body and soul to the glory of heaven:  grant us, we beseech thee; that being ever intent on things above, we may be worthy to be partakers of her glory hereafter; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord who liveth  and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.  Amen. 

Well that's finally done

I think I have finally finished tidying up the left-hand column of The Inn.  Which tidying up was made necessary by the problem related here.   So now the last of the cyberdust of Photobucket has been clapped from The Inn's cybersandals and we have moved on to the next town,  um, I mean photo hosting site.   In this case Imgur, which shows no sign (so far; fingers crossed) of stamping its logo all over the hosted images.

In some cases the Photobucket version was the only one I had so a different image is now in place.  But mostly things should look about the same as they did before Photobucket became so unpleasant.

Next up:  clearing out the dead links.

Followed, naturally, by The Bad News

Apparently the internet, i.e., The Inn and its cyberspatial confreres, is killing your memory.

We’ve all heard the old warning: staring at a screen all day will rot your brain. Though it’s not quite so dramatic, there may be some truth in the message after all — new research reveals that frequent internet use can change how our brains work. 

That’s the main takeaway from new research by American, Australian, and European scientists who found that heavy internet users performed worse at memory tasks and are generally more readily distracted — a chilling sign that internet-native generations may be harmed by technology so ubiquitous that opting out is nearly unimaginable.

More here, with links to even more.

Of course, eating more chocolate may help.   Or drinking more tea.   I think I'll go put the kettle on.  (But having just been on the internet, when I get to the kitchen will I remember what I went in there for?)

First the Good News

"There is no longer any doubt" , it says here, that coffee, tea, and chocolate are good for you.

So says a website just called "Inc", which cognomen doesn't actually inspire all that much confidence.  But I like what they have to say:

Neuroscience continues to uncover new ways that coffee and (to a lesser extent) tea and chocolate, tend to make brains healthier and more resilient. 2019 has already seen some amazing research breakthroughs that are definitely worth sharing. 

First, a joint study from the National Institute on Aging and Johns Hopkins University, and published last January in Neurochemical Research magazine,discovered that a methylxanthines--a class of chemical found in coffee, tea and dark chocolate (cacao)

"has clear effects on neuronal network activity, promotes sustained cognitive performance and can protect neurons against dysfunction and death in animal models of stroke, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease."

Big Tech's Liability

Should Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram or other purveyors of internet content be liable for damages if they fail to ensure that what they disseminate is not inaccurate, libelous, or otherwise dangerous and pernicious?

Mostly, yes, says Mr Presser here.

But I wonder.   Having the current powers-that-be determine what is "dangerous and pernicious" seems equally problematical.   It seems to me we'd need a new culture for that to work well.

And yet, what other solution is there?

(As a start I would recommend devotion to the journalist and martyr Bl Titus Brandsma, O.Carm. who defied an even more ruthless twister of information than Google and Facebook:  the Gestapo.)

10 August ---- again

The mail just came.  For the record, here on the 10th of August at 3 p.m. we have just received our first Christmas catalogue.

I was going to make merciless fun of it, what with it being unconscionably early and all.  But actually, there are some really nice things in there. . . along with the requisite kitsch, to be sure.  So I can't quite bring myself to unload on an outfit that uses Beuron-style art for their Christmas cards.

Still.  For the record:  it's too early for this.

10 August

My mom and dad tied the knot on this day in 1945.  They were both stationed at Pearl  Harbor at that time.   On the right, I believe, is Col Caulfield my mother's commanding officer at the time who gave her away on the day.

Oh, God who didst command thy people saying:  Honour thy father and thy mother in thy loving kindness have mercy on the souls of my father and my mother and forgive them all their sins: and I humbly pray that Thou wouldst grant unto me to behold their faces in the glory of eternal felicity.  Through Jesus Christ Our Lord.  Amen.