FIRST THINGS: On the Square » Blog Archive » MN: Beer Blessing in Latin

"MN: Beer Blessing in Latin By Michael Novak Tuesday, August 1, 2006, 3:46 PM

Beer Blessing From the Rituale Romanum (no 58)

Bene+dic, Domine, creaturam istam cerevisae, quam ex adipe frumenti producere dignatus es: ut sit remedium salutare humano generi: et praesta per invocationem nominis tui sancti, ut, quicumque ex ea biberint, sanitatem corporis, et animae tutelam percipiant. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen

Bless, O Lord, this creature beer, that Thou hast been pleased to bring forth from the sweetness of the grain: that it might be a salutary remedy for the human race: and grant by the invocation of Thy holy name, that, whosoever drinks of it may obtain health of body and a sure safeguard for the soul. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Translation by Fr. Ephraem Chifley, O.P.)"


Thanks JA for pointing this out.

Gelato and sorbet recipes -- amNY.com

I don't know if this would actually be a good idea, but it sounds delicious!

Gelato and sorbet recipes -- amNY.com: "Almond cream ice cream Ingredients: 1 cup cream 2/3 cup salted, roasted almonds 3½ cups milk 1 cup sugar 5½ tablespoons light corn syrup 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin Directions: 1. In a bowl, beat the cream until it is thoroughly whipped. 2. Prepare the almond paste by mixing 2/3 of the almonds in a food processor at high speed. Grind the remaining third of almonds until they are a fine powder. 3. Place the milk, sugar, light corn syrup, gelatin and almond paste in a saucepan, and stir until bubbles start to appear around the edge. Remove from the heat, and let cool to room temperature. 4. When cooled, add the whipped cream a little at a time, gently folding it into the mixture. 5. Add the entire mixture to your ice cream maker, and follow the manufacturer's instructions. When finished, add in the ground almond powder. Lemon sorbet Ingredients: -1 2/3 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice -2 1/2 cups spring water -1 cup sugar -5 1/2 tbsp light corn syrup -1 tsp unflavored gelatin -1 egg white Mix strained lemon juice, water, sugar, corn syrup and unflavored gelatin in a blender for approximately 3 minutes. Separate the egg white from the yolk and whip until stiff. Add the lemon mixture to your ice cream maker and follow the manu"

Star: Declining birthrate forces Russia to award prizes for babies

Interesting that a nation is setting aside an entire day for this and awarding prizes. I wonder how this would affect family dynamics if you were the 'prize child' or not.

Imagine... Yes son, that refrigerator is all because of you!

or

If you could have just been a day earlier, we would have had a car so I could have gotten to work and we would be so much better off... its all your fault!

mhh

Star: Declining birthrate forces Russia to award prizes for babies: "Declining birthrate forces Russia to award prizes for babies August 15, 2007 Edition 2 Moscow - A Russian region best known as the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin has found a novel way to fight the nation's birthrate crisis: It has declared September 12 the Day of Conception and is giving couples time off from work to procreate. The hope is for a big brood of babies exactly nine months later on Russia's national day. Couples who 'give birth to a patriot' during the June 12 festivities will win money, cars, refrigerators and other prizes. Ulyanovsk, a region on the Volga River about 900km east of Moscow, has held similar contests since 2005. Since then, the number of competitors, and the number of babies born to them, has been on the rise. Alexei Bezrukov and his wife Yulia won a 250 000 roubles (about R70 440) cash prize in June after she gave birth to a baby boy, Andrei. Bezrukov said patriotism wasn't their motive for having a child, their third, although the money was welcome. 'It was a patriotic atmosphere, you know when everyone around is celebrating, but I wasn't thinking of anything but my son,' he said. 'The whole thing is great. It's great to get 250 000 roubles when you have a new baby to take care of.' Russia, with one-seventh"

My morning... until now that is.

To put this in a little bit of a perspective... Last night was a long night-or yesterday was a long day out of the house at 5:20 am, got back at 11:30 pm. I know i turned my alarms on last night, but apparently i forgot to change the phone from vibrate to ring. This morning, when i hit snooze on the regular alarm i changed the time setting it an hour ahead. I ended up waking up an hour and 15 min late. I didn't eat breakfast, no coffee, I missed the next train by 1 minute, but managed to get the ferry 1 hour after my usual one... I took the train to the ferry, then waited for the R until they said the R was not going to Brooklyn, I then took what I thought was the W to canal only to find out it was a Q stuck in manhattan running on the R track. I got off at cannal now with little hope that the Q was running. Upon arriving onto the platform which was sort of had this indoor raining thing going on (people had umbrellas out) and shortly there after found out that neither the N or Q were running. I ran into a student of mine on the platform and she started following me.

I/we went to walk to the B and instead of going north east, I went south west.... As soon as I left the station I was trying to get a hold of someone at school.... I got distracted and got turned around. Once I figured that out, then I felt really bad and tried to get us a cab as we walked back toward , but had no success. We ended up walking back, while trying to get a cab, all the way to Grand street and found out the B was not running either. Then we/I again tried to get a cab and had no luck. Some random guy saw me on the phone and stopped and gave us a ride. He was going to broooklyn any way, driving right past the university. I gave him $10 against his will

I just had to say thanks though. It was so very nice of him. I ended up being about 45 min late overall.

totally nuts.

If I was alone I would have walked over the bridge as soon as I got off at canal, but the student was following me. She suggested taking the 6 downtown and then transfering to the 4. I wanted to take the B at Grand. I thought it would be faster

but the entire bridge was shut down and the 4 wasn't running to Brooklyn either. I showed up and we did problems until people stopped asking questions.

I tried to have a message put on the board by someone here at the university but it was ugly. They guy in the office would not even talk to me. He said "sorry I can't do anything I have to stay here". I asked if he could relay a message and he said no.

Totally ridiculous

for the non new yorkers

look at the yellow line to brooklyn at the base of manhattan and then its trail back into brooklyn on the lower east side.

Denny Burk » God the “Narcissist”?

I thought this was quite interesting...


Denny Burk » God the “Narcissist”?: "God the “Narcissist”?
Posted by dennyrburk under Theology/Bible


There has been something of a debate unfolding in the comments of my previous post, “John Piper on the Calamity in Minneapolis.” The lines of the debate are fairly neatly drawn between those who are determinists and those who are not. The determinists are arguing that God was in control of the collapse of the bridge, and the non-determinists attribute the tragedy to the activity of Satan or some other non-divine source.

One commenter argued that the belief in God’s sovereignty over such calamities means that all tragedies would then be nothing more than “the narcissistic expression of an all powerful being.” This comment brought a question to my mind that I will throw out to you the reader.

Is it possible for God to be a “narcissist”? Of course we get our word “narcissist” from Greek mythology, but the term’s meaning in common parlance is “inordinate fascination with oneself.” So the question can be rephrased as follows. Is it possible for God to be inordinately fascinated with Himself? Or as the myth goes, can God be so enraptured with the reflection of His own image that it becomes a vice?

I would argue that the Bible teaches that in this sense it is not possible for God to be a narcissist. God is the only being for whom self-exaltation is not a vice, but a virtue. That God would exalt the beauty of His own perfections for others to admire is the essence of love. That is why you have texts in the scripture that express God’s jealously concerning His own worship and glory: “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images” (Isaiah 42:8).

Only with God is self-exaltation a virtue because He is the first and best of beings, the only One who can satisfy the soul. When sinful humans exalt themselves, it is not loving because it is a distraction from the One who truly can meet the deepest needs of fallen humanity. It is a vice for sinful people to call others to admire them and so to distract them from admiring God.

God is love. Therefore He must exalt Himself so as to draw people into worship. This is not narcissistic because it is no vice for Him to exalt the beauty of His own perfections for His creatures’ enjoyment and blessing.