Twas who?



Major Henry Livingston, Jr.

Clement Clarke Moore did a lot of inspiring things during his long and productive lifetime (compiled a Hebrew and English Lexicon, helped to organize a parish church, was a seminary professor, published a collection of poems), but whether he actually wrote A Visit from St. Nicholas (aka Twas the Night Before Christmas) is still being debated.

Famed forensic-linguist Donald Foster does not believe that Moore was the author.  When documents are examined for authenticity, the following is taken into account:  ink, paper, handwriting, sequence of strokes, printing processes, erasures, alterations, additions, indentations, communication antecedents, communication consequences, and communication characteristics.

If not Moore, then who?

According to Wikipedia, Major Henry Livingston, Jr. “is considered the chief candidate for authorship.”  Livingston, a distant relative of Moore’s wife, had been writing poetry for about ten years before the seven children from his second marriage were born.  Some of this poetry had been published anonymously.  (A Visit from St. Nicholas was also anonymous when it first appeared in a Troy, New York newspaper.)

Some say that Livingston wrote A Visit from St. Nicholas for his younger children.  Several of these children claimed that Livingston read this poem to them years before it was first published.  Not surprisingly, some of Moore’s descendents have made some different-sounding claims.

Doubt remains alive and well here on planet Earth.  Folks will pretty much challenge everything and everyone.  Some are even saying that Santa isn’t for real – that he wouldn’t even exist in shopping malls today if it weren’t for this poem.

Go figure…

Research

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Clarke_Moore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Livingston,_Jr.#cite_note-mac-2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Wayne_Foster

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Questioned_document_examination

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_analysis

Copyright December 24, 2010 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved 

Kosher for Christmas




Not Kosher! (Photo: Profberger@en.wikipedia)


Of the many reasons modern-day man gives for keeping kosher (health, sanitation, environment, etc.) - the most foolproof one seems to be this:  Because the Torah tells me so.  Substitute the word “Bible” for “Torah” – and you’ve got what sounds like the follow-up to “Jesus loves me, this I know…”

The Torah is, indeed, a foundational part of the very same Bible that Christians use.  It consists of at least the first

five books of the Hebrew Bible (or what many refer to as the “Old Testament”).  These books include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – which contain stories, such as the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt, that are integrally tied to Christian theology.  If books from the Torah were simply “old” stories that are no longer relevant, would Christians today still be fiercely debating on the merits of the Genesis creation stories?

Certainly cases can be (and are being) made for picking and choosing what parts of the Hebrew Bible are especially relevant to Christianity.  These cases are also being fiercely debated.  Why choose some sections and not others?  Faith picks up where logic leaves off in resolving conundrums of this sort.

Therefore, keeping kosher for Christmas (and throughout the rest of the year) might be part of some people’s Christian faith.  Knowing some essentials about the kashrut laws might therefore be important for all Christians.  Some might then be inspired to try at least some of these Torah instructions.

According to Judaism 101, the kashrut (kosher) laws include:  the prohibition against eating certain kinds of animals altogether; the killing in specific ways of birds and mammals that may be eaten; the prohibition against eating certain parts of even the permissible animals; the prohibition against grape products that were processed by non-Jews; the prohibition against eating the flesh of permissible birds and mammals together

with dairy products; and the draining or broiling out of all blood from permissible meat and poultry.

Resources

http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashrut

Copyright December 23, 2010 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved

Nuns score a Honus run



Public Domain



Don’t need an umpire to call this one. 

The Baltimore School Sisters of Notre Dame have scored big with their sale of a rare Honus Wagner baseball card to the current highest bidder – Philadelphia cardiologist, Dr. Nicholas DePace.  DePace, a Catholic, became the winning bidder after the original one failed to meet the payment deadline.  Although DePace at first balked at the $220,000 “price tag,” he is now delighted that the nuns will be using this money to support their international schools and ministries.

Honus Wagner might have been delighted, as well.  Within the historical accounts of this baseball card are anecdotes about Wagner’s social consciousness.  After the T206 Honus Wagner cards were first issued by the American Tobacco Company from 1909 to 1911, Wagner put a halt to their production.  Some say it was because he didn’t get enough compensation from the tobacco company.  Others say it was because he didn’t want youngsters buying cigarettes in order to get this card.  Perhaps a little of  both…

According to Scholastic, Honus Wagner was dubbed “immortal” by none other than Babe Ruth himself.  Ruth went on to explain that Wagner was “head and shoulders above anyone else” as a shortstop.  That sort of gumption was evident early on.  When Honus was only twelve, he dropped out of school in order to help his father and brothers mine coal.  During whatever precious free time they had, Honus and his family would play sandlot ball.  Incredibly, three of his brothers also went on to play professionally.

Wagner has been honored in many ways.  He’s on a U. S. postage stamp.  He’s been described in an Ogden Nash poem.  A stadium in his home town of Carnegie, Pennsylvania bears his name.  He’s the inspiration behind a William Hartz march.

His legacy is now blossoming once again – thanks to this unlikely "marriage" of nuns and baseball.

Research

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Catholic-nuns-sell-Honus-Wagner-card-for-262000-15092916?GT1=39002

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honus_Wagner#cite_note-3

Copyright December 22, 2010 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved

Ursids: The two bears

Once upon a time there were two bears:  Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.  They weren’t always in the sky.  Plus, they weren’t always bears.

Ancient Greek mythology tells us that they used to be Callisto (Ursa Major) and Arcas (Ursa Minor).  Callisto was a nymph (a relatively minor female nature deity) who was closely associated with the

huntress-goddess Artemis (later Diana).  Artemis was big on virginity, and all of her nymphs had to abide by that vow.  Callisto, who was quite taken with Artemis, willingly did.

Therefore, there was more than one big problem when married Zeus decided he just had to “have” Callisto (perhaps he couldn’t help himself - for the name “Callisto” means “most beautiful”).  In order to sneak past his wife, Hera – and, in order to fool Callisto herself, Zeus cleverly disguised himself as Artemis. 

This would have been the stuff that romance is made of had Callisto welcomed these advances.  It was instead the stuff that sensationalism is made of.  Zeus forced himself upon Callisto, which resulted in a pregnancy.  The numerous storylines that then follow do not improve things any.

Some say that Artemis discovered Callisto’s pregnancy while Callisto was bathing - and then wrathfully turned Callisto into a bear.  Callisto therefore gave birth to a baby bear – Arcas.   It just wouldn’t do for the king of gods to have two bosom bear buddies on the loose, so he turned them into barely-there sky bears.

Others say that Callisto was able to give birth to a human son.  The young lad, Arcas, therefore grew up with a bear of a mother.  He became an ace hunter (hmmm…), and wound up shooting Callisto as she ran past him in the woods.

How they both wound up in the sky is anyone’s guess (Zeus is again a prime suspect), but perhaps the Ursid showers are the angry sparks that still fly between this ill-fated mother and son.

Resources

http://meteorshowersonline.com/showers/ursids.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callisto_(mythology)

Copyright December 21, 2010 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved

 

Voyager I: For the Record



Voyager Golden Record (NASA Photo)



As Voyager I gets closer and closer to exiting our solar system, it takes with it a Golden Record that portrays slices of life from planet Earth circa 1977.

This Golden potpourri of sights and sounds from around the world includes the following:  singing birds, rolling thunder, greetings in 55 languages, Mozart, crashing surf, Bach, whooshing wind, Chuck Berry, DNA replica, animal pictures, mathematical equations, whale sounds, human anatomy - people dancing, laughing, working…

How about people worshipping?  Believing?  Praying?  Meditating?  If a team of today’s interfaith leaders were to select a sampling of images and sounds that best reflect human spirituality, what would it look and sound like?  Would it include Da Vinci paintings?  Buddhist statues?  Yoruba figurines?  Qur’an calligraphy?  Torah scroll work?  

Would there be some chants?  Gospel greats?  Bluegrass hymns?  Call and response?  Sermons?  The Lord’s Prayer?  Great Spirit Prayers?  Carols?  Mantras?  Kirtans?  Doxologies?  Incantations?  Bells?  Gongs?  Drums?  Flutes?  Harmoniums?  Sanskrit?  Latin?  Hebrew?  Aramaic?  Swahili?

Interestingly enough, some Theosophists and Hindus believe that a spiritual record of all that has ever occurred (here on earth and throughout the cosmos) already exists.  It is known as the Akashic (Sanskrit for Aether, Sky or Space) Record, and exists in a non-physical realm of consciousness.  This Record is allegedly updated automatically and continuously – and includes such esoteric knowledge as the history of Atlantis, and the 28^th-century future of Earth.  It has also been referred to as the “Hall of Records” and the “Book of Life.”

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record

http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Voyagers20years.html

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akashic_records

http://www.amazon.com/Murmurs-Earth-Voyager-Interstellar-Record/product-reviews/0345315367/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

Copyright 2010 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved 

Michael Vick: What makes him tick?



Photo by Cartouche

There’s an old saying:  Don’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.  The shoes that Michael Vick wore as a child were probably far from shiny new.

Vick was one of four children born to unmarried teenaged parents. His mother and father worked long hard hours just to keep the family afloat.  They lived in public housing near which drug deals, drive-by shootings, and other abusive events were commonplace.  Vick told the 2001 Newport Daily Press this about his childhood:  I would go fishing even if the fish weren’t biting, just to get away from the violence and stress of daily life in the projects.

Football was another saving grace.  His father - known for his own prowess on the field - began teaching his son how to play when Vick was only three.  Vick also began playing sports at a local Boys and Girls Club.  These uplifting influences helped him tremendously.  In 2001, Vick said this to Sporting News magazine:  Sports kept me off the streets…  It kept me from getting into what was going on, the bad stuff.

It seems that the struggle between good and evil was prominent for Vick even back then - and that much of the time he chose the good, against some pretty tough odds.  It seems that he is now still doing just that.

After succumbing to the likely influence of his violent youthful circumstances, Vick paid dearly for this lapse.

He served time in federal prison, and lost millions of dollars in advertising revenue.  Did he pay as dearly

as those that he cruelly abused?  He did not.  However, is “an eye for an eye” the best form of justice – or does “it make the whole world blind” as Gandhi mercifully believed…

It seems that Vick is once again on the good side of this all-too-human struggle.  To outright condemn him

is to outright condemn ourselves.  None of us truly know what we would be like if we trudged the miles he did  in his long-ago shoes…

Resources

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/542514-mike-vick-a-defense-why-we-should-forgive-him

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Vick#cite_note-Puzzling-7

Copyright December 19, 2010 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved

UBS: Lipstick on the dollar



Public Domain



Ever wonder what the BS of UBS stands for? 

It seems as though not enough people have - since UBS (which claims to be the crème de la crème of wealth management) managed to lose not only the cream, but much of the milk itself.  Translated into francs and centimes, this means that UBS has racked up some ultra-strength financial losses.

But not to worry…  UBS has a multifaceted plan to make this all seem better.

According to Reuters, UBS customer-facing employees may soon be asked (or told) to forego those valentine-red frillies in favor of flesh-colored underwear.  There may also be less spice in the food department because “smelly” foods are another proposed no-no.  Tobacco could also be out, not particularly because of health concerns - but because it, too, stinks.

Cover-ups, as in facial make-up, would be in.  This female-specific part of the proposed UBS dress-code is based upon the premise that “wearing make-up gives the impression of competence.”  This from a company that proclaims its commitment to (a) “engaging, developing and retaining a high impact workforce,” and (b) employee “diversity in gender, ethnicity, age and other factors…”

Two immediate questions come to mind:  Why would a truly “high impact workforce” need to accentuate the positive with eyeliner?  And - are male employees afforded their own opportunity to put their best face forward?

The more compelling questions are these:  Could this emphasis upon creating a surface impression be a subtle form of skirting an underlying issue?  If so, would face-saving tactics like these best be relegated

to the “Thou shalt not” pile?

Which begs the larger question:  In many corporate and other professional settings, have we (long ago) reached the point at which profound wisdom is overshadowed by cosmetic improvements?

Resources

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6BD10720101214

http://www.ubs.com/1/e/about/ouremployees.html