I am borrowing this from Mark Shea.

Hey all you readers and pray-ers and givers and commenters and thinkers and friends and strangers and acquaintances and weisenheimers and brothers and sisters:

I like the goodness of you and appreciate your being in my life. I reckon you all gifts from God.

Last Week In Life: April 19, 2021 – April 25, 2021

 FEAST DAYS ,HOLIDAYS AND LAST WEEK IN HISTORY

 Mon  April 19,  2021

Patriot’s Day/Boston Marathon

Wow! Quite a lot happen on this day, most of it of a very terrible violent nature.

• 1770 – Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The war begins with an American victory in Concord during the battles of Lexington and Concord.
• 1984 – Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia’s national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
• 1971 – (The Year I was Born) Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders.
• 1975 – South Vietnamese forces withdrew from the town of Xuan Loc in the last major battle of the Vietnam War.^[
• 1985 – Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.
• 1987 – The Simpsons first appear as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, first starting with “Good Night“.
• 1993 – The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. 76 Davidians, including eighteen children under the age of ten, died in the fire.
• 1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, USA, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six.
• 2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.
• 2011 – Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.
• 2013 – Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown (where I was working at CatholicTV at the time).
• 2020 – A killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves 22 people and the perpetrator dead, making it the deadliest rampage in the country’s history

Tuesday April 20,  2021

Weed Day

• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
• 1884 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum genus, condemning Freemasonry.
• 1889 – Adolf Hitler, the greatest villain of the 20th century is born. (d. 1945)
• 1893 – Harold Lloyd, Silent Movie Comedy Legend is born. (d. 1971)
• 1946 – The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations.
• 1961 – Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba.
• 1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.
• 2007 – Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips with a handgun barricades himself in NASA‘s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
• 2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race. 
• 2010 – The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that would last six months.
• 2021 – State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin: Derek Chauvin is found guilty of all charges in the murder of George Floyd by the Fourth Judicial District Court of Minnesota.

Wednesday April 21,  2021

 Saint Anselm of Canterbury, bishop and doctor of the Church – Optional Memorial

• 1789 – John Adams sworn in as 1st US Vice President (nine days before George Washington)
• 1910 – Mark Twain, Creator of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn dies (b. 1835)
• 1972 – Astronauts John Young and Charles Duke fly Apollo 16‘s Apollo Lunar Module to the Moon’s surface, the fifth NASA Apollo Program crewed lunar landing
• 1977 – Gummo Marx, American vaudevillian and talent agent dies. (b. 1893)

Thursday April 22,   2021

Earth Day

• 1864 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that permitted the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.^[3]
• 1876 – The first National League baseball game is played at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia.
• 1889 – At noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Rush of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000.
• 1970 – The first Earth Day is celebrated

Friday  April 23,  2021

Saint George, martyr; or Saint Adalbert, bishop and martyr – Optional Memorial

• 1635 – The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston.
• 1923 – Avram Davidson, American soldier and Sci-Fi author is born. (d. 1993)
•  1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat is born. (d. 2014)
• 1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.
• 1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1996 – P. L. Travers, Author of Mary Poppins dies. (b. 1899)
• 2005 – The first YouTube video, titled “Me at the zoo“, was published by co-founder Jawed Karim

 Saturday April 24   2021

Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, priest and martyr – Optional Memorial
Conversion of Saint Augustine of Hippo

• 1800 – The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress“.
• 1915 – The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.
• 1916 – Easter Rising: Irish rebels, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, launch an uprising in Dublin against British rule and proclaim an Irish Republic.
• 1916 – Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the crew of the sunken Endurance.
• 2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.

Sunday April 25,  2021

 Saint Mark the Evangelist– Feast
 Bishop Barron’s Weekly Homily

• 1908 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist is born.  (d. 1965)
• 1944 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
• 1959 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
• 1995 – Ginger Rogers, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1911)
• 2004 – The March for Women’s Lives brings between 500,000 and 800,000 protesters, mostly pro-choice, to Washington D.C. to protest the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and other restrictions on abortion.

Last Week’s SPECTACULAR STORY OF WEEK

 We all have Coronamüde but Wear Your Alltagsmaske

“Things that do not have a name can cause people to feel fear and insecurity. However, if we can talk about things and name them, then we can communicate with each other. Especially in times of crisis, this is important.” -Christine Möhrs,

We all have Coronamüde (COVID-19 exhaustion).

It has caused us to don a Coronafrisur (corona hairstyle), drink Abstandsbier (distance beer) while Glühweinstandhopping (hopping between mulled-wine stands), listen to Balkonsängers (balcony singers) and have us fear a Todesküsschen (friendly smooch on the cheek viewed as a kiss of death). We may have even bought a Spuckschutzschirm (mask: spit protection umbrella) or have done some Hamsterkauf (panic buying and stockpiling food like a hamster).

We all have Coronamüde

But if everyone wears a Alltagsmaske (everyday mask) with a Schnutenpulli (mask: snout sweater) and joins the Anderthalbmetergesellschaft (one-and-a-half-meter society) keeping the Mindestabstandsregelung (minimum-distance regulation)we don’t have to fear a Coronadiktatur (COVID-19 dictatorship) who makes a Ausgangssperre (going-out curfew) or a Ausgangsbeschränkung (going-out restriction). If we wear our Alltagsmaske, social distance and wash our hands we may even get some Kuschelkontakt (cuddle contact) with a loved one. So don’t be a Maskentrottel (mask idiot who wears a face covering leaving the nose exposed) or you might get a Quarentänebruch (quarantine violation).

We all have Coronamüde.

Don’t be a Trottel (Jerk), but lovingly and willingly get a vaccination so you don’t spread your covid germs to less vulnerable people then yourself and have them possibly impose a Impfzwang (forced vaccination) on society.    If you, do it without grumbling  it may cause some Impfneid (vaccination envy) for those who haven’t yet got it.

We all have Coronamüde.

And the Germans have come up with 1200 new words to amuse and help us describe the current times in which we live.

Ah, those delightful Germans! Always with the single word that describes a very specific thing that any normal language would never have a single word to describe! Over the past year, German has coined some 1,000-plus new terms endemic to the Now Times—ironic capitalization, by the way, being an annoying method that English speakers use to create new language.

Speaking of which: Unlike English, whose own recent neologisms often read as nonwords that are only cute the first time you encounter them—coronasomnia, situationship, pandammock (all right, that last one was something I made up just to describe the hammock I got in quarantine)—German’s COVID lexicon just looks … German. And that’s thanks to the language’s rules of compound noun formation, which dictate that you can make a new, longer legitimate word out of almost any existing ones. (For a country that makes you choose your children’s names off a preapproved government list, this has never ceased to amaze me.) – Rebecca Schuman, Hamsterkauf! Coronazeit! There’s a German Word for Your Pandemic Experience. (February 24, 2021)

Last Week’s News of the World

India being overrun by its massive virus surge.

India has been overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of new coronavirus cases daily, bringing pain, fear and agony to many lives as lockdowns have been placed in Delhi and other cities.

India’s Health Ministry reported 295,041 new cases on Wednesday with 2,023 deaths, taking total fatalities to 182,553. India has since the start of the pandemic recorded 15.6 million cases, the second highest behind the United States.

Newly reported cases have exceeded 200,000 each day for a week — with people being infected faster than they can be tested.

“This time, infection is spreading so fast that people are not getting time to get medicines. Many people are dying before we can get a test report,” said Dr. S K Pandey of Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow, capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

George Floyd’s Killer Found Guilty

Our Leader’s Reactions

APRIL 20, 2021

 Today, a jury in Minnesota found former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts in the murder of George Floyd last May.

It was a murder in the full light of day, and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism the Vice President just referred to — the systemic racism that is a stain our nation’s soul; the knee on the neck of justice for Black Americans; the profound fear and trauma, the pain, the exhaustion that Black and brown Americans experience every single day.

The murder of George Floyd launched a summer of protest we hadn’t seen since the Civil Rights era in the ‘60s — protests that unified people of every race and generation in peace and with purpose to say, “Enough.  Enough.  Enough of the senseless killings.”

Let’s also be clear that such a verdict is also much too rare.  For so many people, it seems like it took a unique and extraordinary convergence of factors: a brave young woman with a smartphone camera; a crowd that was traumatized — traumatized witnesses; a murder that lasts almost 10 minutes in broad daylight for, ultimately, the whole world to see; officers standing up and testifying against a fellow officer instead of just closing ranks, which should be commended; a jury who heard the evidence, carried out their civic duty in the midst of an extraordinary moment, under extraordinary pressure.- President Joe Biden

In the 2018 pastoral letter of the US bishops against racism, “Open Wide Our Hearts,” we stated that for people of color, “interactions with police are often fraught with fear and even danger.” How sadly prophetic that statement was in the case of George Floyd, killed by police last summer.

The Church affirms the dignity of all human life as given to us by God from conception until natural death. As two of my brother bishops stated yesterday, “[the] death of George Floyd highlighted and amplified the deep need to see the sacredness in all people, but especially those who have been historically oppressed. Whatever the stage of human life, it not only matters, it is sacred.” George Floyd’s life mattered.

While the dismantling of systemic racism is a long road, it begins with a conversion of heart that acknowledges the humanity of all persons, particularly those who are different from us. The US bishops note importantly that “[prayer] and working toward conversion must be our first response in the face of evil actions.”

The Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace states, “To overcome discrimination, a community must interiorize the values that inspire just laws and live out, in day-to-day life, the conviction of the equal dignity of all.” We are called to interiorize not only justice, but love for all as our brothers and sisters.

Let us pray for the eternal repose of Mr. Floyd and for comfort for his family and loved ones. Let us pray for all who experience their human dignity violated by others. Let us pray, as well, for law enforcement officials that they will always carry out their duties with integrity, honor, and respect for human life. Let us pray that each of us may experience a conversion of heart leading to deeper love of all persons while working peacefully for justice. – Most Reverend Oscar Cantú, Bishop of San José

Another Police Shooting

An Ohio police officer shot and killed a teenage girl named Ma’Khia Bryant Tuesday as she attacked two other people with what appeared to be a knife in east Columbus, body camera footage released just hours after the fatal shooting shows.

Police were called to the scene around 4:30 p.m. on a report of someone attempting to stab others at a home.

As soon as police pulled up, a young female can be seen tackling another female to the ground with what appeared to be a knife in her hand. The girl can then be seen charging at another nearby female while raising the apparent knife in the air, at which point the officer fired multiple shots, fatally wounding the attacker.- From a report about Ma’Khia Bryant’s death:

One Reaction:

“Teenagers have been having fights including fights involving knives for eons. We do not need police to address these situations by showing up to the scene & using a weapon against one of the teenagers,” she tweeted. “Y’all need help. I mean that sincerely.”- Bree Newsome on Twitter

Another Reaction:

An Ohio criminal-justice professor who studies the fatal use of force by law-enforcement officers didn’t hesitate to render an opinion after watching body-camera video of a Columbus police officer fatally shooting a 16-year-old girl Tuesday afternoon on the city’s Southeast Side.

“My first impression is that the officer was legally justified in using deadly force,” said Philip Stinson, a Bowling Green State University professor who has compiled nationwide statistics on fatal shootings that have led to criminal charges against officers.

“It’s a terribly tragic situation, and my heart goes out to the girl and her family and friends,” he said. “But from looking at the video, it appears to me that a reasonable police officer would have had a reasonable apprehension of an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death being imposed against an officer or someone else. That’s the legal standard.”- The Columbus Dispatch

REMEMBER

 The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012,

The Kids Would be Teenagers if they had lived.

Officials: Biden preparing to recognize Armenian genocide.

An open letter to @POTUS:

This week, the world will mark the 106th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

This is the first April 24 of your presidency, your first chance to keep your promise to hundreds of thousands of Armenian Americans:

Recognize the Armenian Genocide. pic.twitter.com/5FOl8z2rwl

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) April 20, 2021

News of the World Briefs

Wedding Crashers Busted.

Wedding crashers! Brazen Florida couple try to tie the knot at $5.7million mansion believing it was vacant and even tell guests it’s THEIRS – before being busted by IHOP heir owner and the cops on their big day.

Watch: Man bowls a perfect game with ball containing his father’s ashes.

39 year old John Hinkle, who has bowled several 300 games during his time in the sport, said the game was especially significant since his father had never quite managed to shoot a perfect game.

“It’s special. Dad shot 298, 299, never had a 300. I had goosebumps, chills,” Hinkle said. “He was there.”

 POPE FRANCIS’S FAMOUS LAST WEEK’S WORDS 

Pope Francis meets with Water Polo Team

“Your sport, water polo, is not easy, but it is interesting. It takes discipline to move forward

When I speak with athletes, I say the same thing. I say two things. Teamwork is the first thing. In sport, the biggest defeat for an athlete is to work, to play alone.”- Pope Francis

It was the second papal audience in the team’s history. Pope Pius XII also met with the Pro Recco team in 1957.  Maurizio was in that audience 64 years ago as well.

“It was a historic day that we will cherish forever. We thank the Holy Father for the profound words and affection with which he received us.  In such a difficult period, his figure is a beacon that illuminates our path, which is made up of joy, passion, but also of sacrifice. His testimony will strengthen even more the social values that accompany our commitments, both as athletes and as people, in everyday life.”
–Maurizio Felugo, Team president of the water polo team from Liguria, northern Italy.

 BLOG/ARTICLES POSTS OF THE WEEK

Creating a “new” superhero is rather difficult when Marvel and DC Comics boast thousands of superheroes. This doesn’t even get into the numerous independent publishers that have added their creativity to the mix in recent years.

For this reason, I was reluctant to break into the superhero scene. I simply didn’t think it was possible to create an interesting superhero that wouldn’t simply be a copy-cat.

Then one day I had a revelation. Philip Kosloski, G.K. Chesterton, a Jedi and the Phantom Phoenix – Voyage Comics & Publishing

 

The Western canon is an extended dialogue among the crème de la crème of our civilization about the most fundamental questions. It is about asking “What kind of creatures are we?” no matter what context we find ourselves in. It is about living more intensely, more critically, more compassionately. It is about learning to attend to the things that matter and turning our attention away from what is superficial.

The removal of the classics is a sign that we, as a culture, have embraced from the youngest age utilitarian schooling at the expense of soul-forming education. To end this spiritual catastrophe, we must restore true education, mobilizing all of the intellectual and moral resources we can to create human beings of courage, vision and civic virtue.

Students must be challenged: Can they face texts from the greatest thinkers that force them to radically call into question their presuppositions? Can they come to terms with the antecedent conditions and circumstances they live in but didn’t create? Can they confront the fact that human existence is not easily divided into good and evil, but filled with complexity, nuance and ambiguity? Cornel West and Jeremy Tate  Opinion | Howard University’s removal of classics is a spiritual catastrophe – (April 19, 2021)  The Washington Post

Pondering Podcasts OF THE WEEK

The Secret Mission To Unearth Part Of A 142-Year-Old Experiment on NPR’s All Things Considered

The researchers had gathered together to dig up part of an experiment: an unusual long-term experiment that started in 1879 on the campus of what is now Michigan State University.

A botanist named William Beal wondered how long seeds could remain viable underground. So he designed an audacious study to find out, knowing full well that the answer might not come in his lifetime.

“Almost like more pressure or something than normal. Because I’m part of this bigger process, it’s bigger than me, and I really want to make sure that it’s done right and carried forward properly — both for the generations of plant biologists in the past who have been involved, but also for those generations that are still to come who will be involved in the future.”-Lars Brudvig

Book Em, Dano on your reading list

Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier (2021) by Bob Drury  (Author), Tom Clavin  (Author)

By the Daughter of acclaimed Catholic film critic Deacon Steven D. Greydanus

The Power in the Snow by Sarah E. Greydanus  

On a remote mountain, a young girl discovers a hidden world where legends live on. Befriended by a Snow Elf, she becomes part of the mountain’s unique life—but her adventures bring her face to face with long-hidden fears and an important decision about her future.

Why Be Catholic by Ken Geraci  

Two People bringing the Phantom of the Opera to life on Youtube Acapella Style

Informative, Funny, Unique and Vibrant  Videos

OF THE WEEK 

Youtube Comedy Videos

Reaction Videos 

Hip Hop Flute Player Reacts to “Weird Little Flute” (SNL)

Classical Flute Player Reacts to WEIRD LITTLE FLUTE

Pro Flutist Reacts To SNL’s “Weird Little Flute” | Flutist Plays “Weird Little Flute”

 

 This Week on 

Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World

 

MYS151: In 1962, the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent Operation Northwoods to JFK as a daring, covert plan to stop a potential Soviet invasion. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss this now declassified plan, the shocking series of secret actions it proposed, and Kennedy’s response.

WATCH IT! 

Tuesday, Apr. 20

  Sasquatch: Season 1 (2021) Hulu

Thursday, Apr. 22

– – Life in Color with David Attenborough: Miniseries (2021) Netflix

– – Stowaway (2021) Netflix [movie]

Secrets of the Whales, Disney+

Friday, Apr. 23

– – Shadow and Bone: Season 1 (2019) Netflix

– – Mortal Kombat (2021) HBO Max [movie]

Sunday, Apr. 25
93rd Academy Awards, 8 p.m., ABC

Best Picture: Nomadland
Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Tenet
Best Animated Film: Soul
Best Original Song: Judas and the Black Messiah Fight for You, by H.E.R., D’Mile, Tiara Thomas

The Trial of the Chicago 7: 6 Nominations. Only best picture nom to win none of the awards it was nominated for.
Did win best-ensemble cast at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Movie News

Seth Rogen Action Film ‘Escape’ Inspired by Buster Keaton, Jackie Chan 

In a new profile published by The New York Times, Seth Rogen reveals the existence of a passion project he’s been working on for at least the last five years titled “Escape.” Rogen has been writing the movie with longtime collaborator Evan Goldberg and said he hopes to film it next year. “Escape” is being touted as “a big action movie” that is “heavily inspired by Buster Keaton and Jackie Chan.” Rogen is eyeing a starring role, but he’s not giving up any plot details other than saying the project was originally conceived without any dialogue.

LeVar Burton star of “Reading Rainbow” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” will guest-host “Jeopardy!,

 Literally Their Last Week in Life 

Walter Mondale, 42nd Vice President of the United States (b. 1928) 

Jim Steinman,  (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021) American rock lyricist and composer

His work included albums such as Meat Loaf‘s Bat Out of Hell (which is one of the best selling albums of all time)^[2] and Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, and producing albums for Bonnie Tyler. His most successful chart singles include Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart“, Air Supply‘s “Making Love Out of Nothing at All“, Meat Loaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)“, the Sisters of Mercy‘s “This Corrosion” and “More“, Barry Manilow‘s “Read ‘Em and Weep“, Celine Dion‘s cover of “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” (originally released by Steinman’s project Pandora’s Box) and Boyzone‘s “No Matter What” (the group’s first and only single to be popular and chart in the US, and for which Steinman only wrote the lyrics). Steinman’s only solo album Bad for Good was released in 1981.

Jim Steinman’s work also extended to musical theater, where he began his career. Steinman was credited with the book, music, and lyrics for Bat Out of Hell: The Musical, as well as lyrics for Whistle Down the Wind, and music for Tanz der Vampire.

Antron Pippen (Scottie Pippen’s son) November 1987- April 18, 2021 

Gregory Edward Jacobs (August 25, 1963 – April 22, 2021), known professionally as Shock G (and his alter ego Humpty Hump), was an American musician, rapper, and lead vocalist for the hip hop group Digital Underground. He was responsible for Digital Underground’s “The Humpty Dance“, 2Pac‘s breakthrough single “I Get Around“, and co-producer of 2Pac’s debut album 2Pacalypse Now.

Piffy Quality Quotes

of the Week