The Final Inspection

The soldier stood and faced God,
Which must always come to pass.
He hoped his shoes were shining,
Just as brightly as his brass.

"Step forward now, you soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"

The soldier squared his shoulders and said,
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't.
Because those of us who carry guns,
Can't always be a saint.

"I've had to work most Sundays,
And at times my talk was tough.
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.

"But, I never took a penny,
That wasn't mine to keep ...
Though I worked a lot of overtime,
When the bills got just too steep.

"And I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God, forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.

"I know I don't deserve a place,
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around,
Except to calm their fears.

"If you've a place for me here, Lord,
It needn't be so grand.
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."

There was a silence all around the throne,
Where the saints had often trod.
As the soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.

"Step forward now, you soldier,
You've borne your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."

-- Author Unknown (h/t to "D.W.")
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A human being should be able to ...

... change a diaper,
plan an invasion,
butcher a hog,
conn a ship,
design a building,
write a sonnet,
build a wall,
set a bone,
comfort the dying,
take orders,
give orders,
cooperate,
act alone,
pitch manure,
solve equations,
analyze a new problem,
program a computer,
cook a tasty meal,
fight efficiently,
and die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.

-- Robert A Heinlein (1907 – 1988)

(H/T to "Alan" in Vancouver, Washington.)

“Wherever we were going, well, we’re here.”

Well, maybe not yet, not in this world. But twenty years ago tonight, in a city that was divided by a stone wall for over a generation, the world appeared to a jubilant crowd to be on the verge of Valhalla. On that night, the infamous "Berlin Wall" was finally, if somewhat spontaneously, dismantled.

To understand the reason for its existence, is to understand history; not just that which followed the Second World War and the partitioning of Germany, but that of Russia, and her own view of its western frontier. Most nations are separated by borders of geographic significance; a river, a valley, a mountain range. Russia lacks the benefit of natural borders to separate it from the west, only a vast frontier, one that in spite of its breadth, gives way to a sense of vulnerability. The attempted conquests by Napoleon, among others, has compelled Russia to extend its influence on more than one occasion, into the Baltic States, and onward into eastern and even central Europe. The "Great Patriotic War" in the 1940s was the catalyst for the most recent incarnation of the ancient Russian Empire.

When Germany was occupied and divided into American, British, French, and Russian sectors, at the end of World War II, the capital city of Berlin, located well within the Russian sector, was similarly divided. So the Russians built a wall between their sector of Germany, and that of the other three. Thus the two parts became East and West Germany. In 1962, Berlin was divided in like manner, thus the two parts became East and West Berlin. A documentary of that year, an excerpt of which appears in the first clip, gives us a closer view of life surrounded by walls, at the cost of freedom.

In June of 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate, and posed a challenge to the Soviet empire, and to Communist Party leader in particular: "Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Two years later -- twenty years ago tonight -- that is exactly what happened, as seen in this ITV Newsreel from 1989.

We've heard a great deal about hope in the past year, haven't we? Most of us really don't know the meaning of the word. We think of "hope" in terms of wanting something that someone else has, which was a sympathy exploited in the previous general election. The Church teaches us that the theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity) differ from the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance) in that the former can not be obtained by human effort, but only through Divine Grace. This alone raises the discussion of hope far above the American political fray.

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23) "The Holy Spirit ... he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:6-7) (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1817)

With faith in God through Christ, in the manner revealed to us through the Holy Spirit in the constant teaching of the Church, we aspire to our eternal reward in Heaven, and in the hope that comes through Divine Grace. Accepting this by means of the human will, and processing this through our intellect, it is imparted to our fellow man through charity which comes from the heart. So then, hope is the bridge that ties faith and charity together, and binds them as one.

Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end. (Teresa of Avila, Excl 15:3)

The world has changed around us in a manner unimagined only a quarter century ago. And even though various crises at home and abroad, remind us that the Kingdom of God has yet to be reached, we hold out for the real hope that only comes from above. Contrary to what the slogan-writers and spin doctors tell us, the real world that is ours has yet to be realized.

But where there is life, there is hope. And where there is genuine hope, God is already among us.
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Proficiscere

As part of our remembrance of the month of November, as that which Catholics associate with intentions of the dead and the Life Beyond, we devote this piece to the preparation of the dying.

Catholics in the health care professions, particularly those devoted to home and hospice care, may have a unique opportunity to bring their commission through Baptism to the fore. But it is no less so to friends and family of those who perpare for the Inevitable.

Here at "Chez Alexandre" we have a silver troika, consisting of a crucifix between two candlesticks. When a patient under Sal's care has passed away, we have been known to recite the Psalms together while the crucifix with lit candles is on the table before us. We have found the so-called "penitential psalms" also known as the "psalms of confession" to be quite suitable. They are: Psalms 6, 31(32), 37(38), 50(51), 101(102), 129(130), and 142(143). (NOTE: The numbering system from the Latin Vulgata is given preference here. Most modern usage employs the Greek, or Septuagint numbering, which appears here in parenthesis.) Of these, Psalm 50(51), the Miserere is the most appropriate:

Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
    In your compassion blot out my offense.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
    And cleanse me from my sin ...

Every Catholic home should have a "sick call set" handy, for the use of the priest or deacon who visits the sick or dying. It consists of a crucifix and two candles on a white tablecloth by the bedside, along with a vial of holy water, and a dish of regular water with a small white cloth for ablutions. The use of the palm from Palm Sunday, and a bell to announce the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, is optional. It has become common to have such a set self-contained in a wall crucifix, the top portion of which can be detached, to access the accessories contained in the base. (See image at left.)

The priest who comes to the door with the Sacrament does so in silence, and should be greeted by a person carrying a lighted candle. He will say, "Pax huic dómui." ("Peace be unto this house.") The greeter should respond, "Et ómnibus habitántibus in ea." ("And all who dwell therein.") The cleric is led to the room in silence. All genuflect or kneel in the presence of the Sacrament. In the event that the patient needs to confess his sins, all must leave the room, including the primary caregiver. A priest is trained to know when other assistance is needed. In the event that the patient lacks capacity to confess, a general absolution may be given.

If a priest or deacon is unavailable, the faithful are nonetheless able to help prepare a soul for the journey. A page devoted to this is found at Fisheaters.com. A prominent feature to this guide is the prayer known by its beginning word in Latin: Proficiscere.

Go forth, O Christian soul,
    out of this world,
in the Name of God the Father almighty,
    Who created you;
in the Name of Jesus Christ,
    the Son of the living God,
        Who suffered for you;
in the Name of the Holy Ghost,
    Who sanctified you ...
... may your place be this day in peace,
    and your abode in Holy Sion.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Of course, circumstances may dictate the length or brevity of such preparations. The communal praying of the Rosary, particularly the use of the Sorrowful Mysteries, is most commendable whatever the circumstances.

Once the soul has passed on, a different set of prayers is appropriate. As the time before death is devoted to preparation, that which follows requires intercession from on high. One most appropriate form is the Responsorium, the responsory for the dead:

V. Do not remember my sins, O Lord.
R. When you come to judge the world by fire.

V. Direct my way in your sight, O Lord, my God.
R. When you come to judge the world by fire.

V. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,
    and let your perpetual light shine upon him.
R. When you come to judge the world by fire.

V. Lord, have mercy.
R. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Our Father ...

Our series continues next week, with a reflection on Catholic funerals, and the practices associated with them.
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The Boys of Summer

My first job was in the fourth grade, as a newsboy with The Cincinnati Enquirer. For getting five new customers in early 1965, I got two tickets to see the Reds play the Chicago Cubs (I think) for the Opening Day game. Now, a lot of baseball towns have opening day games. But everyone knows that the REAL one can only take place in the city that gave the world professional baseball. Not only that, but getting tickets to the game was considered an excused absence.

So I took my Dad (hey, somebody had to drive) to old Crosley Field. I remember the smell of "red hots," the best I ever tasted. How did they make those? The organ played a mournful tune during one of the breaks, and an old man in a dark suit stood up and removed his fedora. They were playing his song, "My Old Kentucky Home."

I stopped following the game as closely as I once did when I moved to DC. I was never that good at it anyway. This is why I was too busy this year to pay any attention at all to the World Series. So the Yankees won again. Big deal. Another reason for New York to think it's the center of the known universe.

But over in Korea, they seem to have a different attitude toward the game. It's hard to tell exactly how, because I don't speak Korean. But if anyone out there does, I'd love to know if the commentators in this clip can explain what's going on. Peter Schiller of The Dugout Doctors calls this "the strangest thing I have ever seen in a baseball game." We've all seen plays where the pitcher accidentally hits the batter. Here's how they deal with it in Korea.

Apparently.
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“Jump Around” is the first and most memorable hit, by the Irish-American hip-hop trio (huh???) known as House of Pain. It reached number three on the USA charts in 1992. A re-release the following year reached number eight in the UK. VH1's “100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop” clocked it in at number 66. We are not in a position to display the lyrics here. You can barely make them out in the recording. It's just as well, as the song appears to have taken on a life of its own beyond the lyrics.

The University of Wisconsin blasts this one over the speakers at every home football game at the end of the third quarter. Those cheeseheads know how to have a good time, yessiree Bob! Do you think they care one way or the other what the words say? Or course not. That's because the important message here is not the personal struggle of an angry young man from the suburbs who romanticizes living in urban poverty, while making more money than he knows what to do with. What matters here, is that there are times when everyone needs to "jump up, jump up and get down," know what I mean?

But wait, this gets better!

Such a phenomenon would not be complete without the Bollywood remix. The past year has seen a number of movies come out of India's cinematic mecca, for the benefit of general audiences in America. Maybe it's because we all went ga-ga over Slumdog Millionaire, but it's more likely because Americans will buy anything if the price is right. And so, this third piece culminates our latest offering for the Friday Afternoon Moment of Whimsy.

After viewing all three clips, you probably won't be able to get this song out of your head for several hours.

I love it when a plan comes together.
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Guitar Workshop: Four Chords Revisited

Last week, we featured an amusing piece entitled Guitar Workshop: The Song Remains The Same. You remember that one, right?

There has been quite a reaction on the internet to the "four-chord medley" phenomenon. A young man named Jonathan, formerly identified as "Tea Junior" but now known as "JayDee" produced a medley of covers which is easy for the beginning guitarist to make his own. (You might check out the links in this paragraph to his YouTube channels, to see if he demonstrates certain "open" chords in his medley.)

We continue to find other examples, in this next case performed on the piano, by a guy who presumes the inability of his audience to count to four. After two or three examples you're saying, dude, I get it already, okay? If you click here, you can see the captions on YouTube showing you the various chord progressions. You also get to see Mister Happy Fingers insult your intelligence up close.

It's not unlike fingernails on a chalkboard. Try not to let that distract you though.
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Grandpa’s (Most) Original Tractor

The first photograph is of a tractor owned by my maternal grandfather, Walter James Rosselot. Dating to about 1940, it may have been his first one, but it was definitely the first he ever constructed himself. It was built with the frame of a 1923 Dodge, with a 1916 motor of the same make. The gas tank is from a Model T Ford, vintage unknown. The rear wheels were made from scratch, while the brake drum at the center of the wheel is from an old truck of unknown origin. It was used for seven years to plow corn, using a 1936 Oliver plow.

The second photograph dates from 1965, of an unidentified man pulling a land leveling device, invented by Grandpa earlier in the decade, and for which he earned a US Patent. After briefly manufacturing the first units out of his garage (which was essentially a home-built tool and die factory), he eventually sold the patent to a company in (as I recall) Indiana.

At the time he left the farm with Grandma to live in the city with my aunt, he had a patent pending on a can crushing machine.

(Images courtesy of the Rosselot Family Archives. Used with permission.)
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Another Day After

It might be a sign that I'm getting on in years, but yesterday afternoon, I couldn't remember where I voted this time last year. That's hard even for me to believe, because now that I do remember, there was a huge line for getting in that time. I did manage to find out where my polling place was, though, and there wasn't a line. But there was a victory for the Republicans last night, as McDonnell won the governor's seat, and other GOP candidates won the contest for both Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General.

Closer to home in Arlington, the GOP didn't even bother to run anyone for the open seat on the County Board of Supervisors (the executive branch of county government in Virginia). I resisted the urge to pick the Green Party candidate, and cast myself as a write-in. It may have been the slightly better choice.

As to whatever happened elsewhere, I believe it was ABC's Jake Tapper who said it best:

NBC's "The Biggest Loser" is at the White House tonight. This is not a joke.

No, but David Axelrod is trying to make the best of it. He told Fox News that the race for Congress in the New York 23rd (where a Democrat won, barely) was the one that really mattered on the national scale, while the governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia (where Republicans won, handily) do not.

By the way, Axeman, your boy Rahm Emmanuel didn't feel that way about that situation four years ago, did he now?

I'm not so sure myself. If you look at the last two Presidential elections by county, you see very little difference between 2004 and 2008. The Dems ran a super-smart campaign; they knew exactly where to concentrate their efforts to win the popular vote, and kick ass with the electoral vote. (The latter is the one that counts, because in America, the people do not elect their President; the States do, through electors.) That way to victory may not work the next time, if New Jersey is any indication, as two counties which went to Obama were decisive in securing victory for the GOP's Christie.

Meanwhile, Republican National Committee chairman Michael "What Up, Dawg" Steele continues his massive egg-laying program across America. At a press conference today, he took Sarah Palin to task for ... well, being Sarah Palin.

"If you don't live in the district, you don't vote there, your opinion doesn't matter very much," Steele said while assessing the intra-party strife that resulted in a Democratic pick up of a seat held by Republicans since the Civil War.

Now, if we follow Steele's line of (and we use the term guardedly here) reasoning, his opinion doesn't matter very much either. Especially since he wanted to play ball for the New York 23rd with that Fake Democrat who turned around after pulling out and urged her supporters to go for the REAL Democrat.

Yo, Dawg! Word up, two of 'em: Alren. Specter.

I think we can safely say that the Man of Steele can get in line behind Newt Gingrich at the door to the National Foot In Mouth Disease Clinic. But it could take a few more on the chin before these golf-club swinging cake-eaters learn the most valuable lesson here; that Americans will go for someone who stands for something, over someone who will fall for anything.
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One Minute Theatre: Labyrinth (Frans Hofmeester)

For this week's midday Wednesday installment of “One Minute Theatre” here at mwbh, we are featuring a film by Frans Hofmeester entitled “Labyrinth.” The piece is an exploration of composition with charcoal-on-paper drawings, something I haven't done since high school. It won a “One Minute Award” at the 2008 Holland Animation Film Festival.

We may be featuring more works of Hofmeester in the future. Stay tuned ...
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Hope and change begins ...

... with the letter “V” tonight. But hey, don't just take MY word for it.

Welcome to ABC's V, the final, the most fascinating and bound to be the most controversial new show of the fall television season. Nominally a rousing sci-fi space opera about alien invaders bent on the conquest (and digestion) of all humanity, it's also a barbed commentary on ...

Can't you just feel the tingle up your leg? Stay tuned.
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Dia(s) De Los Muertos

November is the month in which the Church devotes herself especially, to the remembrance of those who have died in the previous year. As we remember the communion of saints already "raised to the altar" in Heaven, we also pray for those among the righteous of this life, who nonetheless part from this earth with sufficient imperfections, so as to remain in a state of purification, at the end of which they are released to witness the Beatific Vision, to see their God face to face in Glory. And so, as is said in the Book of Maccabees: "It is a good and holy thought to pray for the dead." The chorus of both the "Church Suffering" (the souls of purgatory) and the "Church Triumphant" (the saints in heaven), along with the choirs of angels, are among the assembled at every Mass with the "Church Militant" (the rest of us).

As today is All Souls Day in the western Church, it is also known as "dia de los muertos" (day of the dead) in Spanish-speaking countries. But since the celebration usually begins the day before, on All Saints Day, it is often referred to in the plural. Yesterday, for instance, Sal was still in the Philippines, and went with her family to the cemetery where their deceased loved ones are buried, for a picnic. That sounds rather bizarre, unless you consider the mayhem we make out of Halloween here in the States. Customs associated with this holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed. It is likely that such confections were brought with Sal's family to the graves.

The human skull is a favorite image associated with the feast. Homemade candies in the shape of skulls are given as treats to children, and adults are known to parade in the streets in costumes featuring their faces painted accordingly.

The holiday's origins have been traced back thousands of years, to indigenous observances dedicated to the Aztec goddess Mictecacihuatl. We can surmise that the Spanish colonizers "christianized" the observance in the manner that we know today.

In the month to come, mwbh will feature other writings on matters of what Catholic teaching refers to as "The Last Things."
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Obligatory “NaBloPoMo” Entry

“NaBloPoMo.” Huh???

Today is the beginning of National Blog Posting Month. “NG” of Alice's Adventures Underground throws down the gauntlet:

The rules of NaBloPoMo are simple: post at least once every day for the entire month of November or feel like a sad, pathetic failure ...

Now we all know I'm no pathetic failure. So I've gotta write something, okay? How about All Saints Day? Nah, did that last year. I know, let's do something on my personal heroine, Sarah Palin.

During the vice-presidential debate last year, that cute wink of hers was enough to give MSNBC's Rachel Maddow the creeps, which was all I needed to know. Then I learned that comedian Lewis Black started his latest tour called Stark Raving Black. So I decided to include one of the clips from the tour, one of the few that I can show here because Lewis Black is such a potty-mouth.

You know, like I am when I'm off the record.

By now you're aware that her ex-son-in-law, Levi Johnston, is hitting the talk show circuit saying all kinds of trashy things about her. And he gets to pose for Playgirl magazine, where you get to see everything. More than you really want to. And he'll get paid and everything.

This is all just typical white-trash nonsense. Trust me, I heard stories like this one when I went home last month. Stuff I can never repeat here. Something about the city council elections. Or was it for the mayor? I don't remember, but imagine Wasilla, Alaska, without the cyrstal meth trafficking.

Now you've got the idea.
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Hey, did I buy all this candy for nothing?

"I Walked With A Zombie" is the title of a 1943 horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur and released by RKO. It is also the title of this uncharacteristically unimaginative tune by R.E.M.

It was raining earlier today, so there won't be much walking with zombies in Arlington County, at least not outside. Of course, the County website provides all kinds of possibilities for Halloween fun with the kiddies, all of which involves stuffing the little rug rats into the car and schlepping them to a library or a recreation center somewhere.

What's that? You've got a better idea? You mean like stepping out the door with your kids, and walking down the street begging for treats? What kind of deal is that? Sounds like too much fun. Sounds like very little inconvenience. Sounds like something we can't regulate the bejeezus out of.

I'll bet this is a lot more fun back in Milford.
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Americana Pipe Dream

Thomas Peters, author of American Papist, is a rising young mainstay in the Catholic press and media, and a "go-to" guy with the cable news networks for all things Catholic. Nice work if you can get it. Anyway, he appears to have an issue (although I could be wrong about this) with a recent tee-shirt design being sold by Old Navy.

I have always had a vision of leading my own band. There would be four of us, the genre somewhere between indie-type "nerd rock" and Americana, with the occasional Afro-Celtic vibe. Maybe one day we'd be famous, and do a music video for a John Prine tune called "Take A Look At My Heart."

It would go like this. I'd be on the rebound from getting dumped by an old girlfriend, who suddenly appears at the bar where we're playing, accompanied by her latest meal ticket. The others in the band would see her too, and knowing that I was still on the mend, remind me of how the show must still go on. And this is the hit song we would do, with an eye in the direction of the lovely couple. The gal would do her usual baby-doll schtick, and the guy would be a little too eager to please. So I'd have a message for him in the bridge.

Do you think you can
    be her lover,
And not become her fool?
Do you think that you are
The exception to the rule?

And, to top it off, as the singer does the "hook" of the song “take a look at my heart” on voice-over, it would cut to a two-second clip of me opening my outer shirt to reveal an image of the Sacred Heart, with a sudden zoom to extreme close up. If only to keep the dream alive, this item of apparel would definitely fit the bill. Which is why I'm buying three tonight, one for each of the "family."

To provide the soundtrack for this bout of wishful thinking, is The Coda Band, which describes itself as a "country rock band based in Rome and Florence," which "comprises English, Italian, Irish, [and] American members."

You might say, it's an idea after my own heart.
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We realize you may want close up shop early today, so you can get the jump on some serious Halloween fun, but surely not before you take just twenty seconds, to witness a seasonal prank gone wrong.

A blessed All Hallow’s Eve from the staff and manamgement of mwbh for this week’s edition of the Friday Afternoon Moment of Whimsy.
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Murray's Malarkey

He was a sales rep for Procter and Gamble's soap division when I was a boy. Murray Malarkey (that really was his name) was a gregarious, cigar-smoking, back-slapping, laugh-out-loud, Irish-gift-of-gab kind of guy. He lived in Milford, Ohio, when I was growing up, and Dad had worked with him on one project or another. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it, and was one of the bright spots in my childhood.

His own childhood was spent in that town as well. Now, the night before Halloween has always been known by various names throughout North America; Cabbage Night, Devil's Night, Gate Night, Goosey Night (huh???), Mischief Night -- the list goes on. But in our town, it was simply "Damage Night." People tipped over garbage cans, threw toilet paper in the trees of front yards, and used soap bars to draw silly faces on windows. It was all harmless stuff.

But to hear Mr Malarkey tell it, we had nothing on him. One night before Halloween, young Murray went to the public school in the middle of town, and ran several metal garbage cans up the flagpole. The school ended up calling the police the next morning, but he got away with it. And of course, the understanding was that, if you got caught by the property owner or another responsible adult, they could punish you pretty much as they saw fit. Such was not the case by the 1960s.

Mr Malarkey died several years ago, and the place of my youth lost one more remnant of its uniqueness. But I remember him well, as one of the truly unforgettable characters, in a small town which had its share of them.
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Guitar Workshop: The Song Remains The Same

For this week's edition of Guitar Workshop, we're taking things in a different direction. Rather than discussing the highest common denominator in various genre, we're going to look at the lowest, or perhaps what one might call the simplest. Every now and then an artist complains that someone else has stolen their song, when it's more likely that they only stole the chord progression.

Imagine a scale of do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do. Got it? Good. The chord rooted in the "do" is known as the "tonic" (roman numeral I), or the chord that sets the tone for the whole scale. That which is based on the "fa" is the "subdominant" (roman numeral IV), and the one based on the "so" is the "dominant" (roman numeral V). So on a natural C scale (A, B, C, D, E, F, G), the three primary major chords (I, IV, and V) would be C, F, and G. Oh, and roman numerals rendered in the lower case indicate the minor, not the major chord.

That's a rather crude explanation, but it's one that can be transposed to other scales, so it will serve us for now.

Our first two video clips deal with a curious phenomenon of the many pop songs in recent memory which consist of just four chords. They are: I, V, vi, IV. In the example provided by the Australian trio "Axis of Awesome" in the first clip, the chord progression appears to be E, B, Db minor, A. They demonstrate this phenomenon for the following:

You're beautiful by James Blunt,
Forever young by the Alphaville (covered by Youth Group),
I'm yours by Jason Mraz,
Amazing by Alex Lloyd,
Wherever you go by the Calling,
Can you feel the love tonight by Elton John,
She will be loved by Maroon 5,
Pictures of you by the Last Goodnight,
Cigarettes will kill you by Ben Lee,
With or without you by U2,
Fall at your feet by Crowded House,
Am I not pretty enough? by Kasey Chambers,
Let it be by The Beatles,
Under the bridge by RHCP,
Horses by Darryl Braithwaite,
Down under by Men at Work,
Waltzing Matilda,
Old Australia's funniest Homevideos intro,
Taylor by Jack Johnson,
2 become 1 by the Spice Girls,
Take on me by A-ha,
When I come around by Green Day,
Save tonight by Eagle Eye Cherry,
Africa by Toto,
If I Were A Boy by Beyonce,
Self Esteem by the Offspring,
Apologize by One Republic,
U + Ur Hand by Pink,
Pokerface by Lady Gaga,
Barbie Girl by Aqua,
Kids by MGMT, and finally,
Scar by Missy Higgins.

Still with me? Excellent!

Someone else known only as "mathyou9" took this a little farther in our second clip, and found as many as 65 songs which use this same chord progression. Over and over and over, for nine minutes.

Around the world is an army of hungry recording industry lawyers, just licking their chops at the thought of taking on the sort of imitators we have described here. But they should know that what we show here is not without historical precedent. A variation on the aforementioned phenomenon is the EIGHT-chord progression, as found in "Pachelbel's Canon in D" according to comedian/musician Rob Paravonian, the subject of our third clip.

As a musician, I've always regretted never having developed the knack for songwriting. After seeing this, I can't imagine what stopped me all these years.

Obviously, Led Zeppelin was right all along.

[FOOTNOTE: In music, the frequency of the standard pitch A above middle C on a piano is usually defined as 440 Hz, that is, 440 cycles per second. This is known as concert pitch, to which an orchestra tunes.]
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Screen Test

Is the news going "down the tubes" in your house?

Are you tired of getting your news from the same "Big Three" every evening, realizing that what you see and hear is just a powder-puff version of what's really going on? I know I am. That's why I've spent much of the year looking for a news video feed to place in the sidebar, one that is continually updated, and gives the reader the kind of news they can actually use.

The best candidate so far appears here.

TimesTube is produced by the Washington Times, and I've selected two options. The first (above right) has the advantage of being smaller, and clicking on any choice opens it up in a separate window. The advantage to this one, is that I don't have to widen the sidebar; I can use it as is. The second option (left) shows the image of the most recent video clip, which is the advantage in this case. But since the source only provides for a limited number of scalable options, I would to have to widen the sidebar to use it.

One possibility I'm considering, is to use the first option now, and reserve the second one for a redesigned weblog. Slated for rollout early next year, the enhanced site would appear much as the current one, only with sidebars on both the left and right of the main column. This would provide for better organization of content, and would acknowledge a growing audience of widescreen viewers.

We are looking to the internet for more and better choices in how we get our information, as it is clear that the "mainstream media" has gone in the tank for a particular world view, and cannot be trusted simply to tell the viewer what happened that day.

Check it out. Discuss. Get back to me. Whatever.
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Yes He Can!

I heard the news tonight, oh boy ...

Last week, the two daughters of the President were vaccinated for the prevention of the H1N1 ("swine flu") virus. Thousands of Americans have stood in line for hours, including pregnant women, children of tender years, health care workers, and others of high risk groups, many of whom end up being turned away because some bozo forgot to count. But the agent of Hope and Change got to move his kids to the head of the line.

If there is to be any Hope for "the huddled masses yearning to breathe free" for a bit longer, information can be found at this website: flu.gov.

We provide this public service because we care. Yes, we can.

(You can too. To learn more about how a strain of influenza gets around, click on the illustration for a closer look. Image courtesy National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health.)
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More Sidebar Stuff

As part of our continued effort to improve your reading experience and insatiable curiosity, we here at mwbh have added two new features to the sidebar. We can only show the images here, since their scripts do not function in the main column, so you'll have to make an effort to scroll down the page. It's not so bad.

One feature is in response to what this writer has to concede (if reluctantly), is the success borne from increased readership by those who follow "tweets." You know, those little messages from Twitter. Somebody got stinking rich knowing that there was a market for people with nothing to do all day, but send an endless stream of messages, each with 140 characters or less, to apprise the equally unfulfilled of their every waking move. Then there are the few, the proud, the elite among us, who use it judiciously, and only in the interest of alerting discriminating followers (and in our case, you both know who you are) to things one would hope are worthy of further review. Obviously I had to have a "button" specifically tailored to our unique branding concept. So we stole the one used by Ironic Catholic.

The other is an feed aggregator (this is to say, a news reader) devoted to The Chesterbelloc Mandate, devoted to a little-known social-economic school of thought known as "distributism." While hardly an expert on the subject, this writer has looked forward to learning more about this alternative to the excesses of both capitalism and socialism, inspired by the social encyclicals of the Popes, and the writings of both G K Chesterton (1874-1936) and Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953).

This was decided upon after we received an essay last night, from one of our regular correspondents, which was authored by Thomas Storck, also the author of The Catholic Milieu, from which a quotation appears as our "raison d'etre" at the top of the blue sidebar. The topic of some discussion on e-mail lists, is the matter of "Economic Science and Catholic Social Teaching," one that could not come at a better time. It is hoped that we can devote more to this subject here at mwbh.

But if it's all the same to you, this author prefers to know what he's talking about first. Go figure.
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