Wednesday 7 December 2011

A Very Special Quiz

The Leaflocker editorial staff is very sorry to announce that we don't have a quiz prepared for all of our loyal readers this week, although the answers for last week's quiz are now available. Instead, we would like to draw your attention to the annual "Notchers News" Christmas cricket scoring competition, which in the past few years has greatly increased our understanding of fiddly bits of cricket scoring, to the detriment of dinner-table conversation but to the great benefit of underworked cricket synapses.

Notchers News is an excellent scorer's newsletter from the UK (where cricket scoring is a serious business), which brings me great joy on a quarterly basis when it lobs in my email inbox.

An example of the type of questions that we're talking about here, from last years quiz:
"The striker makes a legitimate second strike at the
third ball of the over to protect his wicket; the batsmen run and, after they have crossed, the fielder throws the ball in an attempt to run the non-striker out; the throw misses and the batsmen complete three runs. How many runs should be added to the score?"
This years competition can be found on pages 2 and 3 of the latest issue of Notchers News and is well worth a look if a complete understanding of the Laws and Spirit is one of your life goals.

Tuesday 29 November 2011

The Wednesday Quiz II.VI: It Becomes an Emperor

Well, it turns out that you guys, while distinguished and erudite in many ways, aren't that excellent at naming monkeys, so we've collected a bunch of other primates for you to have another go, in the little game we like to call Name That Emperor. All you have to do is identify the Emperors in the comment thread below to win the genuine admiration of a blogger near you.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Vive l'Empereur!

Monday 28 November 2011

What's Up With: The Reading?

As some of you may know, I have finally moved houses, and I now live in a cosy little bedsitter. While this is great in many ways (and I'm finally getting some alone time to read!), it does cause one large drawback to the reading project: My unread bookshelf does not fit, so I instead have... the unread Suitcase!

The suitcase contains only the books that filled two of the five boxes packed from the contents of the bookshelf, but it's a start, and if by some fluke I ever manage to finish this lot, rest assured that the rest are waiting happily nearby.

With any luck, the book reviews and pointless statistics that I know you've all been waiting for will be back this time next week. I've finished a few books recently that I cant wait to share with you, by which of course I mean that I can wait, at least until next week (see above). Expect

Thursday 24 November 2011

Chess Variants - Extinction

A month ago now, in that blogging black hole that we shall not refer to again, I hosted a small chess variant tournament for a few friends, games were randomly selected from a list to which we all contributed suggestions, and on Saturday the four of us, my four chess boards, and a box of tea got together for what I hope was the first of many such competitions. None of the four of us are exactly hot-shot chess players, but we make up for our lack of skill with enthusiasm for the game. Over the next few weeks I'd like to present you some records of the games I played, complete with annotations, because I'm just that hep with it.

The first game drawn out of the hat was Extinction Chess, a popular and widely played variant in which one wins by removing all of an opponents pieces of any type, so if you lose your queen, or both of your bishops, knights or rooks (or even all of your pawns) you lose, as well as by conventional checkmate. Being gentleman, we agreed to call check for any "royal" piece whose loss would cause the end of the game.

In my first game, I drew the black pieces against David, who I would normally beat in a game of orthochess some three times out of five, but as you're about to see (assuming that you have java) I played a pretty poor game of chess.

Click on the applet below to being the game and navigate by pressing the direction buttons or spacebar.

This browser is not Java-enabled.

So my first game of the tournament started off true to form, but I had no time to mope about my loss, because my next opponent was Dan, who'd also come off of a loss in the first round. This one isn't exactly a great win, Dan having made a bad error with his knight very early on, but it is a nice example of the possibilities of extinction mates.

This browser is not Java-enabled.

And so, spurred on by that victory, I decided that if my next opponent was going to plat silly buggers with his knights, I was going to play silly buggers as well. This is a classic example of how overconfidence, rapid play and sheer not-looking-at-the-board can result in a truly abhorrent game of chess. I'm not going to annotate it, because there's nothing to say, except that this is without a doubt the worst game of chess that I have ever, ever played, and it's almost enough to convince me to hang up my board forever.

This browser is not Java-enabled.

On the plus side, I can hardly play such a terrible game ever again, right? Tune in next week to find out! (And if anyone has access to or wants to quickly code up a pagn viewer that can handle a 16x8 board (no need to enforce the rules), drop me a line.)

Tournament Scores (W-L-D) After Round 1
Bell, D. : 3-0-0 (3 Pts)
Nowak, D : 2-1-0 (2 Pts)
Diment, T : 1-2-0 (1 Pt)
Thomas, D : 0-3-0 (0 Pts)

Friday 2 September 2011

Tie of the Week

Today just happens to be Footy Colours Day, an arbitrary day of the year when all the good sports are supposed to dress up in their Sportland Sport colours in order to look silly at their places of employment, an idea I totally endorse. For the occasion, I have put on my special "football supporter" face, and of course, my footy colours, I just had a little trouble deciding exactly what those were.

My tie, as well as looking suspiciously like my old school tie, is in the red, blue and yellow colours of the Pride of South Australia, the mighty Adelaide Crows (who play Australian Rules Football). It's probably best not to mention them again after this season, except to suggest that at least they're not Port Adelaide.

My blue jacket and red shirt betray my support for Norwood in the SANFL (or the state Australian rules competition, for Americans and other aliens). The Redlegs have actually had a pretty decent season and might be the only team that can stop Central Districts from winning their fifth flag in a row.

My socks show my support for the American Football team of choice, the Oregon Ducks, whose season kicks off tomorrow against LSU. They're also for the Australian national Soccer team who are expected to steamroll Thailand in a World Cup qualifer tonight.

And you'll just have to trust me that my underclothes show my support for Aston Villa, the Premier League team I started supporting a few years ago, mostly in order to antagonise my brother, who is a fan of Liverpool. If you're wondering how I have maroon and cyan underclothes then you are, firstly, more aware of soccer that I would expect of a reader of this here blag; and secondly, in need of a reminder of an old cricketing tail-ender's adage (if you wear a pair, you might get a pair, but you'll have a pair [yep, that's about as sophisticated as sporting adages get]).

Tie Number:005
Designation: Tie-ota
Provenance: Purchase, 2002
Manufacture: Rembrant, Australia
No. of Comments: 3 (Moderate)
Most Favourable Comment: "School tie?"
Least Favourable Comment: "Is that a St. Michael's Tie?" (asked by a former schoolmate. We did not go to St. Michael's)
Observations: I love school ties. And best of all, I have another one, exactly the same.

Carn da FOOTIE!

Thursday 1 September 2011

The Leaflocker Month in Review

Well, blAugust is over and Septembemblag will start soon (after a short break), so this seems like a sensible time to do a review of the goals and effectiveness of the propaganda organ that is the Leaflocker.

Mission:
To provide modest entertainment to the population of the internet at large and get some practice writing again:
Don't know about the modest entertainment, but even over the short period of a month I've noticed that it's become easier to write, and I hope you'll all agree that the structure of my writing has become at least a little less slap-dash. I've been very rusty for a very long time (about five years), and it feels good to get a little grease in the works.

Regular Features:
Monday Papal Cartoons:
Cartooning again after a year away has been good, although the quality of my art makes me cry myself to sleep some time. Nevertheless, doing the Pope cartoons and associated explanatory notes has re-ignited my enthusiasm for the long-term project that is Hamemus Papas, my time-travelling pope adventure. We'll have to wait and see what happens with that, but I hope that Monday cartoons (with or without popes) will be a continuing feature.

Tuesday Solo Book Club:
This has been hard to keep up due to the slowness of my reading pace now that I'm spending all my time working and writing blag posts. I am unhappy with the reviews in general, and need to put more time into researching the topic to make them more interesting. Nevertheless, I enjoy the long-term project that is the reading list and aim to continue it, but maybe on a fortnightly basis once I finish the backlog of reviews for stuff read since the start of the year.

Wednesday Quiz:
Has been pretty seat of the pants apart from the first couple, and participation numbers have been low, even compared to last season. I find it hard to reconcile making a quiz that participants will enjoy (which typically means "get most of the stuff right") and a quiz which I will enjoy making (which typically means "a bunch of obscure trivia"), and so far have erred on the side of my personal enjoyment, because the Leaflocker, as much as it purports to be for the people, is fundamentally an exercise in my own ego. I'm going to keep it, at least until the end of the season, and then look at ways of making it more interesting somehow.

Thursday Void:
The absence of a planned feature for Thursday, far from keeping the Leaflocker unpredictable and exciting as intended, has meant a struggle every week to find content, then last minute text-filled posts (like this one). The plan of doing a regular devotion on Thursdays, though it's yielded a grand total of no posts since its inception, is a line of thought worth pursuing, I think, though I still feel a little uneasy about sharing my personal thoughts on such a level with the internet, particularly given that it has such a long memory.

Friday Ties:
Inexplicably, has turned out to be a popular addition that will continue until I run out of ties, unless something unexpected happens. Keeping it interesting could be a challenge, but for now it's fun (and not too time consuming) to make and (apparently) to read. The intended expansion into Tin Tin reviews is yet to eventuate and I'm not sure that this is a bad thing.

Irregular Features
Wreck This Journal:
Going online and seeing some of the amazing things that some people have done to their journals has put a damper on this project for a little while. I'm still enjoying destroying my journal, but I'm not utterly convinced that the world needs to see. I'm trying not to let this attitude infect the rest of the features, as it could be fatal.

Crosswords:
While my crossword participation rate is at an all-time high, my crossword composition is sadly lacking in recent times. If I ever manage to finish a crossword it will be posted here, but I wouldn't be holding your breath. The current crossword education project was abandoned when I realised that the crossword I was using was much too hard. It may be resurrected if I can come up with something better.

The List
In as much as it's ever actually happened, the list is on hiatus until certain visitors to Canada have returned to the sunburnt country.

The editorial staff would like to extend our thanks to you all for stopping by during the month, and we hope that you'll continue to patronise the Leaflocker in the future. If you have any suggestions for content (we're currently short an average of about 1 post a week), or comments to add feel free to drop us a line.

Enjoy your Spring (or Fall, for our North American audience [or Autumn, if they use that term in Canada]).

Wednesday 31 August 2011

The Wednesday Quiz II.V: Where in the World is...

With this post, the Leaflocker editorial team has achieved our goal of posting each and every weekday of blAugust. There will be punch and crackers all around. The chief editor has informed me that the board has determined that Leaflocker service will continue uninterrupted in Septemblag, so stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel, for more batty fun.

Everyone's favourite quiz format "Pin the Tail on the Country" is back, bigger than ever. Put the world's most superlative places in their correct grid squares without looking them up to have your chance to win the fabulous prize that is my love and respect. I'm a fickle mistress.


1. Highest mountain
2. Smallest country
3. Lowest land area
4. Tallest building
5. Highest population city
6. Densest population city
7. Deepest part of ocean
8. Longest rail tunnel
9. Tallest waterfall
10. Hottest city

Leave your answers in the comments, and the results will be there this time next week.

Tuesday 30 August 2011

Read: The Yiddish Policeman's Union (Part II)


So, I still haven't got around to reading Neuromancer. I meant to, but I fell asleep instead. I can give you all the solution to the chess puzzle from The Yiddish Policeman's Union that I know that you've all been losing sleep over. If you're the kinda guy that doesn't like his novel ruined by knowing the outcome of the central chess puzzle motif, then you should walk away now and go sit down somewhere and read this book.

The chess puzzle is set up on a cheap board in the room of a murdered Jew who went by the name of Emmanuel Lasker (a name you might be a little bit familiar with), who happens to live in the same apartment block as Detective Meyer Landsman, an over-the-hill homicide detective with a broken marriage with his boss, an on-again-off-again relationship with a cheap bottle of vodka and no sense for the middle game. The whole thing takes place in the District of Sitka, a Jewish enclave in Alaska about to revert to the US in this alternative history in which the state of Israel collapsed in 1948.


Back in this reality for a moment, the puzzle was composed by Victor Nabokov of Lolita fame (Lolita is in my shelf partly read at the moment, having given me the heebie-jeebies on the first attempt), and it had deep meaning for him, as it does for "Emmanuel Lasker". The way for white to move and mate in two is to move his bishop to c2, putting black into the inenviable chess position of "zugzwang", in which any possible move works out badly for him, and allowing white to mate next move no matter his decision. It is a very, very attractive puzzle in it's own right, and I think Nabokov would be gratified that someone else found it as useful a motif as he did.

This "zugzwang" is very appropriate, not just for the yid calling himself Emmanuel Lasker in room 208, and for all the displaced Jews of Sitka, but also for an anglo-saxon attempting a review. As you may have gathered by this point, this is the kind of book that in this sensitive age could only have been written by a Jew, as it portrays Jews not only as the good guys, but as the bad guys too, which is just not cricket for a non-Jew in the same way that it would be ill-advised for an anglo-saxon to call an African American a nigger, but appears to be ok if it comes from the horse's mouth. Thus, I'll refrain from too much comment except to say that the subject of race is not treated in the conventional manner.

For all that, though, it's a very attractive book. The dialogue is harsh and crisp and full of bitter resentment and double meanings, all the witty repartee of noir with all the mystery of the best SF, slowly releasing details about a world like, but unlike, our own. Everyone in the book is a smart-talking bad-ass, and all the conversations are full of things not said and things avoided, things the characters understand but the reader is left to wonder about. A quick sample from random from a book full of exciting little conversations, written in a frenetic, jumpy style, just like they would occur, not as if they're just dead words on a page:
"Never again I don't touch that stuff, Detectives, and even if I do, believe me, I don't go near Frank. I am crazy, but I am not lunatic."
Landsman feels the bump and the skid as the tires lock. They have just hit something.
"Why not?" Berko says, kindly and wise. "Why does selling smack to Frank make you not just a criminal but a lunatic, Mr. Shitnovitzer?"
There is a small, decisive click, a bit hollow, like false teeth clapping together. Velvel tips over his king.
"I resign" says Velvel. He takes off his glasses, slips them into his pocket and stands up. He forgot an appointment. He's late for work. His mother is calling him on the ultrasonic frequency reserved by the government for Jewish mothers in the event of lunch.
"Sit down," Berko says without turning around. The kid sits down.
The mystery unfolds, like mystery stories always do, with international plots that go right to the top, old crimes brought to the surface, heavies out to whack the good guys, painted cows and one rather unusual femme-fatale. All in all it's a rollicking good ride, and well worth the $8 I spent for it, and has put a bunch of other books on my reading list, namely the other works of this young up-and-comer Michael Chabon, with the possibility of extending the list to every book that's ever won the Hugo Award (as this one has) if the internet ever decides to pay me to give up my day job and read full-time.

Page 123:
Zimbalist struggled for the next hour to understand that move, and the strength to resist confiding to a ten-year-old whose universe was bounded by the study house, the shul, and the door to his mother's kitchen, the sorrow and dark rapture of Zimbalist's love for the dying widow, how some secret thirst of his own was quenched every time he dribbled cool water through her peelng lips.
Despite what these quotes might indicate, the book is not all about chess, chess is just regularly used as a metaphor because chess naturally lends itself to that sort of thing (probably a post for another time, that), and sometimes whole pages go by without a single mention of the game at all. It's a genuine blend of the different genres that it's trying to be a part of, and for money it's hit that difficult nail on the head. So if that sounds like your sort of thing, I have a nice hardcover copy I'm willing to lend you, as I need to rearrange my read bookshelves so that I can fit some more stuff on them anyway.

Reading List Progress:

Number of Books read: 6
Australian dividend: 1.045
Science Fiction dividend: 2.5
Fantasy dividend: 2
Biography dividend: 1
Mystery dividend: .5
Next Up: William Gibson, Neuromancer (Still), or something else that's partly read at the moment.

Monday 29 August 2011

It's Getting Heretical in Here

What follows is my response to this, in keeping with my now long-established tradition of stealing his ideas and reusing them for my own gain. This week's number shows Pope Gregory the Great (who we met last week) slightly earlier in his life before he became pope, laying down the liturgical law for St. Eutychius.

Now Eutychius was, by this point, one of the most prominent members of the Eastern Church; he'd led what would later come to be considered as the Fifth Ecumenical Council, and was Patriarch of Constantinople, an important enough man to mess with the Emperor and escape with his head. However, Eutychius did not subscribe to the doctrine of bodily resurrection, believing instead that the soul after resurrection would become "less than air", which caused him some problems with Gregory, whom as we have already discovered took all this religion stuff pretty seriously.

Now bodily resurrection, unfortunate similarities to zombieism and all, is a central tenet of the church, mentioned regularly in the earliest surviving Christian writings, like those of St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing at the turn of the first century AD (and in whose work we see the first mention of the words 'catholic church', incidentally). The reason that it was mentioned so often in these texts is that it was the bone of contention for so many of the early heresies, and the surviving writings of the period are mostly epistles from the church fathers to leaders, expounding the understanding of the church and written directly in opposition to heresy. Many views on the nature of the resurrection arose, some of which would reappear again and again in the history of the early church, so much so that bodily resurrection became a part of the Apostles Creed, the statement of faith that churches around the world still use today. As such, I've been familiar with the words for a long time, but bodily resurrection for the masses really gets to me, and one of the reasons that I put off my confirmation for so long was that I, like Eutychius, have some problems with it.

The concept of universal bodily resurrection is based primarily on the biblical resurrection of Jesus, who the gospels tell us physically rose, such that his feet could be touched from a venerating prostrate position, he could break bread and eat with the disciples, and even have his physical wounds poked and prodded by my ever-doubtful namesake (with whom I have always felt a strange kinship). Resurrection was taught by the Jews, many of the prophets talked about the dead rising from the Earth, Jesus supports this himself, and early church leaders like Ignatius and Paul held this to mean actual physical bodily resurrection like that demonstrated by Jesus, but that interpretation just doesn't sit nicely for me (I'm a fan of metaphor and Jesus seems to have been as well, what with all the parables). The primary gospel support for the position that there are actual physical bodies in heaven comes from Matthew 22 (and its equivalents in Mark and Luke), when Jesus is arguing with the Sadduccees, in which he states that risen humans will be like the angels. Now as far as my memory serves me, there is no mention in the bible of an angel physically interacting with the material world, they appear to be purely spiritual beings, as fearsome as they may be (correct me if I'm wrong, out there, the comments thread is open).

EDIT: I've never pretended to a good biblical knowledge. A reader has reminded me of the angels that ate with Lot and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Enquiries are ongoing.

Thus, I'm with Eutychius, not Gregory, in thinking that a non-physical resurrection seems more in keeping with the teachings of Jesus that a physical one. Which at least means it'll all be a little less confusing since we won't have to go around sorting out all the bits and pieces which have decayed, or cremated, or scattered, and a non-physical existence is still "life", if Doctor Who has taught me anything. In the sixth century I may have been a heretic, but the advice I was given when I brought this up as a reason for my unconfirmed status could be approximated as "well, if that's all that's stopping you...". To my mind, the nature of resurrection is an unknowable mystery. I'm ok with that, and don't need to worry about whether I'll be buried with my feet to the East or feel bad about donating my organs to science or medicine, because I don't think that having my body in one piece is required for redemption.

Either way, Gregory knew where he stood (or sat, anyway, because of the gout), and he sure was convincing in his argument, as he managed to convince the Emperor to gather together and destroy all the works of Eutychius; who is reputed to have recanted of his heretical beliefs on his deathbed with the quote from the ever-poetic Job "I confess that in this flesh we shall rise again" , which at least allowed his disciples a chance to save face and assured him a place in the echelon of recognised saints.

And leaves me in a bit of a pickle without a Church father to trot out in support of my little heresy. Poop. Then again, being protestant I'm part of a great big heresy anyway, so what's one more?

Friday 26 August 2011

Tie of the Week

It's that time of the week again. Funny how that happens, isn't it?



Here's me, cold-sores and all, in this week's tie with the shirt I wore on Thursday (having been too lazy to wash my Thursday shirt, breaking an 8-week run). It reminds most people of bubbles or Christmas baubles, but makes me think of a series of explosions. I like my explanation better anyway.

Tie Number:004
Designation: The One With the Powerpuffs
Provenance: Christmas Present, 2010
Manufacture: Moulin Rouge Paris, China
No. of Comments: 4 (Moderate)
Most Favourable Comment: "Oooh, I love your tie!"
Least Favourable Comment: "That's a terrible tie, far too light."
Observations: Surprisingly, the khaki green, atomic pink and mellow orange work well on this tie with a range of different shirts. I guess those Chinese Frenchmen sure can pick 'em.

Until next time.

Thursday 25 August 2011

Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant mori

This is Tiberius, who has finally given up the ghost after ten years of faithful service. He has been my constant companion since I received him second hand from my primary school on Christmas 2002, and I will miss him sorely.



Once I have a more permanent solution for replacing him, the miscaellania of the Leaflocker will be backing full force, but until then the service may be somewhat limited. And no, I have no idea how to write Latin, how could you tell?

Wednesday 24 August 2011

The Wednesday Quiz II.IV: Name That Monkey!

In honour of Ace reporter Barb and her fellows at the ABC in this difficult time, this week's quiz will be: Name That Monkey! The quality will be low because this is in a bit of a rush because my computer has finally actually died, and an iPad is not ideal for blog editing. Please put your answers in the comments and refrain from the most henious crime of googling.

1.
2.
3. (on the right)
4.
5. (on the left)
6.
7. (under the hat)
8.
9.
10.

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Read: The Yiddish Policeman's Union (Part I)

24 hours remain to complete last week's quiz.

I'm afraid that my Saturday sickness cut severely into my reading time for this week. One of the books that I have read earlier in the year that I'd hoped to review here was Michael Chambon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union. But my Monday night movie education has left me with little time, so I'll leave you instead with the central motif of the book, a cunning little chess problem set by the victim of the murder (by way of Victor Nabokov), and come back later in the week to do the rest of the review, hopefully giving me enough time to finish up Neuromancer before next week.

White to mate in two. I do think it's a beautiful little thing.

Monday 22 August 2011

Leaflocker Exclusive: Pope Eats Babies

So it's not a bible study or a devotion, but I sure did a lot of reading on the Church fathers, so I feel a lot more holy, or at least a lot more confused. That must count for something. Probably do a devotion on Thursday.

In response to Connell's comic on Proairesis, and in keeping with the old adage that everything is funnier with a pope, we continue our series which began last week with the following:


This one depicts (rather terribly, I'll admit, but you can't win every time) Pope Gregory the Great getting surpised (and slightly embarrassed) by a rabbit that has stolen his papal mitre. It was going to be a carrot, but Gregory lived in the 6th century AD and Europeans hadn't yet heard of carrots; and I was going to replace it with the mediaeval vegtable of choice, the turnip, but decided it was going to be easier to draw a papal mitre of the type used in the hagiographic iconography of Gregory I (alongside the dove). When drawing popes, it's often easier to use the associated icons, because there's very little to distinguish one little old Italian man from the next, especially since we have no idea what they really looked like, and more importantly I have no idea how to draw. The mitre and the dove are mediaeval shorthand for saying "Gregory the Great", which is beyond me, but apparently it worked.

The story goes that rabbits were domesticated in the 6th or 7th century when Gregory declared that foetal rabbits (or laurices) were fish, and were thus acceptable for devout Catholics to eat on fasting days, of which there were considerably more than there are today (both the Catholics and the fast days). I like to imagine that a scene like this is why. Poor Gregory can't chase after the rabbit and get his mitre back because after a long life of monastic austerity he has crippling gout, and is rarely able to bestir himself from his bed (what he's doing here out in the snow is a little beyond me, I'll admit), but he can set his armies of monks to lagomorph genocide, ripping unborn rabbits from their mothers wombs and devouring them, which seems like a pretty nice little act of retribution against rabbit-kind. Pity that it ended up spreading them worldwide, the best laid plans of men and rodents...

Unfortunately, the story is probably apochryphal, I've spent my free time in the last week going through the writings of St. Gregory (who left behind quite a few writings, many of which survive to today thanks to Gregory's status as a Doctor of the Church), and can find no record of his granting an indult to eat laurices, which were known to be a great delicacy in Roman times, in fasting periods. In fact, the only surviving reference to the consumption of laurices of the time is in the works of fellow churchman Gregory of Tours (however shaky his theology), and when he describes a nobleman as eating Laurices he seems to be mocking him as a glutton rather than praising him for eating the correct foods in Lent.

Whether Gregory actually proclaimed an idult or not is probably beside the point, as there are plenty of other examples of animals that are considered in various parts of the world to be acceptable for consumption during fasts. Beavers and otters in Canada and Scandinavia, and the capybara in South America are the most prominent examples. It's not that the Church considers them to be fish, per se, but that...heck, let's let Thomas Aquinas show us how it's done:
Wherefore the Church forbade those who fast to partake of those foods which both afford most pleasure to the palate, and besides are a very great incentive to lust. Such are the flesh of animals that take their rest on the earth, and of those that breathe the air and their products, such as milk from those that walk on the earth, and eggs from birds. For, since such like animals are more like man in body, they afford greater pleasure as food, and greater nourishment to the human body, so that from their consumption there results a greater surplus available for seminal matter, which when abundant becomes a great incentive to lust.
In other words, those animals which are considered most like humans are to be avoided in times of fasting, the animals which breathe the air and live on the land. Aquatic creatures, be they 'fish' in the modern sense or not, are kosher because it was understood at the time that they don't 'result... [in] seminal matter'. Catholic law still hold to this today, on the assumption that Aquinas knew what he was talking about.

In the sixth century, the understanding of rabbits was what we would refer to in this educated age as "not understanding". Pliny the Elder, still a respected source at the time, tells us that rabbits have both male and female parts, so they can reproduce all by themselves (have a little sympathy for the guy, this was a long time before Linnaeus, and being a trusting guy in the tradition of philosophers he was just repeating what Anaxagoras told him). Thus, by the common understanding of the time, rabbit were another class of creature from humans altogether, and could have been eaten during fasts with impunity. Not that there's any evidence that I can find that says they were, but it's not out of the realms of possibility.

This brings up the whole purpose of fasting. Today we commonly understand fasting to be a penance or sharing in the suffering of others, be it Jesus in the desert or starving children in Somalia, oras a means of focusing ourselves on prayer by forsaking world distractions, but for a long time the early church understood fasting more as a type of bodily subjugation, essential starving oneself as a cure for lust. I can't help mentioning that perhaps our modern world could do with a little bit more fasting, and not just in Lent... those rabbits won't know what hit 'em.

Sunday 21 August 2011

Tie of the Week

Oh dear, we almost missed the tie of the week! We couldn't have that now, could we?

Here's this week's tie as worn on Thursday (this is a recreation, I'm afraid), a rather fetching little trellis-and-peacock-feathers number that reminds me of classical gaudy painted sculptuary. If I look a little pasty this is because it was taken on Sunday, the day after the Great Food Poisoning Incident.

And here it is in the French style as aided by my new tie ring. I feel that it is neccesary to point out that a white-gold tie ring is an expediture of ludircous extravagance, and I may need to find some other use for it one of these days.

Tie Number:003
Designation: Fibulae Jugulum
Provenance: Christmas Present, 2010
Manufacture: Gino Rossi, Australia
No. of Comments: 2 (Low)
Most Favourable Comment: "Looking good as always"
Least Favourable Comment: "Ugh. Just Ugh."
Observations: It's hard to make this tie go with shirts that aren't plain. Not that that bothers me. Just sayin'

See you next week.

Friday 19 August 2011

Two Disturbing Pictures

There's probably a taboo against posting this sort of thing in a public place but...


There's definitely a taboo against posting this kind of photo in a public place, it's a strange and unusual punishment of the worst kind and liable to cause public panic, but a guy can't help the face he's born with.

Thursday 18 August 2011

Maybe I will...

While I was racking my brain trying to think of something for my post for today that didn't involve me , I got a little distracted (as I am somewhat wont to do) by a book of Australian verse (I will behave myself and refrain from calling it poetry). An hour or so later, I decided that I'd just write up a little something for today, just as soon as I'd read one more...

THE MEN WHO COME BEHIND
, Henry Lawson

There's a class of men (and women) who are always on their guard—
Cunning, treacherous, suspicious—feeling softly—grasping hard—
Brainy, yet without the courage to forsake the beaten track—
Cautiously they feel their way behind a bolder spirit’s back.

If you save a bit of money, and you start a little store—
Say, an oyster-shop, for instance, where there wasn’t one before—
When the shop begins to pay you, and the rent is off your mind,
You will see another started by a chap that comes behind.

So it is, and so it might have been, my friend, with me and you—
When a friend of both and neither interferes between the two;
They will fight like fiends, forgetting in their passion mad and blind,
That the row is mostly started by the folk who come behind.

They will stick to you like sin will, while your money comes and goes,
But they’ll leave you when you haven’t got a shilling in your clothes.
You may get some help above you, but you’ll nearly always find
That you cannot get assistance from the men who come behind.

There are many, far too many, in the world of prose and rhyme,
Always looking for another’s ‘footsteps on the sands of time.’
Journalistic imitators are the meanest of mankind;
And the grandest themes are hackneyed by the pens that come behind.

If you strike a novel subject, write it up, and do not fail,
They will rhyme and prose about it till your very own is stale,
As they raved about the region that the wattle-boughs perfume
Till the reader cursed the bushman and the stink of wattle-bloom.

They will follow in your footsteps while you’re groping for the light ;
But they’ll run to get before you when they see you’re going right;
And they’ll trip you up and baulk you in their blind and greedy heat,
Like a stupid pup that hasn’t learned to trail behind your feet.

Take your loads of sin and sorrow on more energetic backs!
Go and strike across the country where there are not any tracks!
And—we fancy that the subject could be further treated here,
But we’ll leave it to be hackneyed by the fellows in the rear.


I think, maybe, that I'll leave the verse to the professionals for now. Even if Mr. Lawson is unlikely to take offence these days.

Wednesday 17 August 2011

The Wednesday Quiz II.III: Autobiographical

Featured below are the aurobiographies of some prominent persons. Your task this week is simply to give the titles of the works without resorting to looking them up. It's a bit different from the last few weeks because Leaflocker management has received complaints on the lack of variety. That's the way to get things done around here, complain. It works on other blogs too.
Without further ado, let's get on with it.

i.

ii.

iii.


iv.

v.

vi.

vii.

viii.

ix.

x.

Last week's results should be up around abouts now as well.

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Read: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

You have until 10AM ACST to post your answers for the current quiz, and a new one will be along tomorrow, if all goes according to plan.

Let's get this off our chests right away. I don't understand Japan at all. This is a bit of a problem for my street cred, and around AVCon circles I'm beginning to be vaguely known as 'the odd one who doesn't like anime'. For a guy who tries to be involved in helping to run an anime convention it's a serious black mark, so I do my best to expand my horizons. The latest opportunity came when Jimmy (of the infrequent updates) lent me the first in what is apparently regarded as quite a good series of Light Novels (a light novel is a novella, as I understand it, but not all pretentious like novellas normally are), Nagaru Tanigawa's The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiha, on a sadistic whim.


I actually enjoyed reading this a lot more than any manga or anime that I've read or watched respectively for quite some time. It's easier to understand something that's put down in words (and in a superior translation, I must add) than it is to try to get a bunch of seemingly unconnected images that would apparently transfer instant understanding to a Japanese or sufficeient advanced otaku audience, and the style is pretty fun, for what I guess would be categorised as a Young Adult novel here.

Kyon, the (ok, one of the) hapless victim(s) of the title character, is the first person narrator with a friendly, rambly tone and a very enjoyable habit of phrasing his narration as if it's part of the current conversation. Every now and then the other characters will respond to what he "thought", which is a clever little technique which adds I nice little element of brain-bending to an already complicated plot, what with the pocket universes, time-travel, and reality-editing killers and all. And I have a more-than-sneaking suspicion that things are likely to get considerably more complicated in the following books (of which I hear there are at least ten).

The story follows the formation of the SOS Brigade, a school club in the mysterious style of Japanese school clubs that I can't begin to understand, whose purpose is to serve the whims of the domineering title character and generally look for crazy people. This process is made easier by most of the crazy people being members of the club. I don't really want to go any further in case I spoil the whole thing, but there is the potential for some crazy, crazy junk later in the series, which I am interested in reading out of a sense of cat-killing curiosity if Jimmy is up for me ragging on his favourite reading matter yet again.

Page 123:
[Is one of a few picture pages of the book. This one features a schoolgirl in the traditional ludicrously short skirt, with a dreamy look on her face, and a knife! Oh no...]
...which brings me along to the reason that I generally don't like the anime/manga genres in general, they're just creepy. This book, for example, features a character whose main purpose is to be sexually harrassed, and though the narrator is a decent enough bloke and keeps pointing out that this is perhaps not all that appropriate, it doesn't stop him from staring at and fantising about such scenes.

Now you might be tempted to say "but isn't the narrator a teenaged boy? Isn't that just good characterisation?", but to me the awkwardness about it just makes it worse. It seems to reinforce the all-too-common idea that somehow guys can't help but be pervents, and that this sort of thing is acceptable, because a human being with feelings just can't help themselves sometimes. I don't know about you guys out there on the internet, but I've never thought that sort of thing was funny, and scenes like this and the gratuitous fanservice that's so common in these forms just detracts from the experience for me.

Maybe the authors know their demographic, maybe I'm just the odd one out here (sales figures and con attendance would seem to support this view, not just for anime and manga but across young adult fiction in general), but it seems to me that it just cheapens the art-form, and cheapens those of us that read it, too. How do we expect people reading this sort of stuff to grow into functioning human beings, or more important, to graduate to reading big boy's books?

Well, that got a bit more serious than I intended. That's two days in a row I've finished writing the post and felt all preachy. Maybe I need a holiday or something.

Since I was supposed to be reviewing a book, and feel like I haven't done it justice, let me just say that the energy and enthusiasm for pure silliness that you find in Japanese media is a wonderful thing that we could do with more of in our Western literature, and this book is a pretty good example of what we're missing, despite some of my gripes.

If you were hoping for a review of the Buru Quartet's This Earth of Mankind, I'm afraid it will have to wait until I get my hands on another copy, because the one that I was reading has gone home to its owner.

Reading List Progress:

Number of Books read: 5
Australian quotient: 1.045
Fantasy quotient: 2
Science Fiction quotient: 2 (this can count as SF, because it mentions aliens)
Biography quotient: 1
Next Up: William Gibson, Neuromancer (By popular demand)

Monday 15 August 2011

Reinventing Comics

Bonus post because I am feeling oh-so-generous.

If you're following Ale's blAugust adventure you'll know that she's been getting some outside help to make her art blog more interesting than mine.

Following the old adage that everything is funnier with a Pope, this evening I sat me down and drew this utter plagirism of the most inferior sort.


There was quite a few production problems, like my scanner being out of action and my using a handheld camera, my general lack of artfulness and my completely forgetting to actually label the books, but overall I'm actually pretty pleased with it. It depicts Benedict XV (the pope I currently have it in for), reading some useful encyclicals and still failing at roller-skating, which is even harder in choir dress (if such a thing is even possible). In case you're wondering, the books he's reading are intended to be Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum, Humani Generis Redemptionem and Quod Iam Diu (he's reading his own encyclicals because no-one else was likely to, poor guy).

I've got something lined up for this week's effort, too, but I'll wait to post it in the hope that I can work out what's wrong with my scanner (and maybe touch up the picture a little). I would be impressed if someone managed to guess what it might be.

Get a Job (Nananananananana)

I promised some Canadian chick that the next time I sat myself down to do a devotion I'd post it for her delectation, if delecatation is a word that can be applied to devotions. To be perfectly honest I'm a little bit uncomfortable about being so openly religious on this here blog, given that I'm not normally much of a bible-basher and in public I tend to enjoy laughing at aspects of my religion rather than defending it, but I'm going to give it a try anyway, since it's at least as much a part of me as wearing silly ties.

If me getting all Christian on your ass is disturbing, feel free to leave now and come back tomorrow, when I'll be talking about Japanese girls in short skirts. If you need something else to read right now, here's something a friend of mine recommended to the other day, which is kind of cute (it's a pity that the cute is ruined by the last two panels a little bit, but at least it's better than much of the rest of the archive, which is distinctly nsfw).

Anyway, my random flipping through the bible (I seem chronically unable to keep to any kind of reading plan or schedule) landed me in the Book of Job, in which Job despairs at the unfairness of his life and the cruelty of God; about the most cheery place a guy can end up when he's feeling down, except perhaps Lamentations or Jeremiah. The good thing about Job is that it's full of beautiful flowing poetic language like this little excerpt from 10:10-12:
Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese,
clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews?
You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.
It's very, very readable, and before long I found myself swept away in the language and the drama and distracted from the purpose of the reading, which is to gain something of an understanding of God as he applies to my life. Too often with bible readings, I have either this problem, or the problem of feeling like I know it all already, like I'm not learning anything new despite other people sharing their experiences and insights. Job has the same problem in 12:2-3, but he's much snarkier and ruder than I am, and responds to his friends thus:
Doubtless you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!
But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know all of these things?
The difference between Job and me is that it's right down there in the text that Job is a godly man, and Job does actually understand all the arguments that his friends are making in defence of God, whereas I just think I do. The fact remains, though, that too often I feel like I'm being taught something or am trying to teach myself something that I already know; and my university experience lets me know that nothing is as fun the second time around, be it Mathematics 1A or Theology 101.

However, since I know it's what I'm meant to do and somewhere deep down I really do think that it's good for me (probably more so than finishing up Pokemon Tower), I settled down and gave it a go, and blow me down if I didn't find something worth mentioning to a Canadian chick (and apparently the internet at large). At least, it seems to me where I'm at at quarter past twelve at night like it's worth saying (I'm writing this Sunday night for posting on Monday), I'm not saying anything new, to me or to anyone else, but right now it's encouraging. Hopefully the religious types amongst you might find it kind of interesting, and the irreligious ones might find it interesting from a scientific viewpoint, or something, and all of your will get some kind of idea of where I'm at just at this second, which is a nice little point of fellowship, I suppose. The text in question is Job 5:17-27:
Blessed is the man whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
For he wounds, but he also binds up;
he injures, but his hands also heal.
From six calamities he will rescue you;
in seven no harm will befall you.
In famine he will ransom you from death,
and in battle from the stroke of the sword.
You will be protected from the lash of the tongue,
and need not fear when destruction comes.
You will laugh at destruction and famine,
and need not fear the beasts of the earth.
For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
You will know that your tent is secure;
you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.
You will know that your children will be many,
and your descendants like the grass of the earth.
You will come to the grave in full vigour,
like sheaves gathered in season.
We have examined this and it is true.
So hear it and apply it to yourself.
That's some good advice there, thanks Eliphaz the Temanite! Contained here is the centre of apology, that God breaks down so that he can build, that the good of his actions in the world is greater than the evil, that he is at work for the ultimate blessing of his people; and we're called to submit to his discipline with joy. Now any concordance or preacher will tell you that Eliphaz and Job's other friends are off base because their advice is all based on the assuption that Job is a sinner when in fact Job is the apple of god's eye. In sermons time after time, I hear that we're supposed to hear the words of Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and Elihu, but disregard them because Job has a better understanding of the Almighty.

With the way I've been feeling at the moment, though, my repeated refusal to acknowledge my own errors, the powerlessness to change the weaknesses that I do notice, it seems to me that Eliphaz is on the money (Often when I read Job I feel this way, that the theological statements of the 'wrong' friends are more useful than God's tirade of rhetorical questions come the end of the book). Instead of despairing that I am lost and confused, I should be watching out for my every mistake and actively trying to atone and correct for them, in my relationships, in my working life, and in all the other places too. This isn't anything groundbreaking, but at this moment I feel like it's a reminder that I needed, expressed in a way that I can get behind. Best of all, there is a promise that if I can reconcile myself to God's teaching in these ways that I will be rewarded, I'd like to pretend that I don't need a reward to want to do those things that I know are right, but I'd be a sucker to pass up a chance at things getting better instead of piling up getting worse.

So, it's time for a little more introspection (is that a word?). A little less time playing chess and a little more being helpful around home. A little less time spent sending silly personal emails and a little more getting down to business. Perhaps most of all, a little more time for devotion and prayer and a little less training up my Sandslash (which, I feel compelled to tell you, is kick ass).

Of course, this isn't something new for me, these are problems I constantly notice in myself and constantly fail to fix, mostly because I keep on thinking that I can do it alone. Chances are that if I continue making Monday a devotion post (which seems like a cool idea right now) it'll come up again and again, until you and I are bored to death of it. Anyway, until then, let me leave you with a little something from the Man himself, via Job 38:1-3, that I'll be using as the core of my focus tonight as a call to thoughtful prayer, expectant silence, introspection and acceptance...
Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer me.

Friday 12 August 2011

Tie of the Week

Week two in my tie-wearing project, and this week was going to have to be a less interesting tie than last week's, as how can a humble patterned tie ever hope to measure up to Tintin?


This is me as I was dressed on Wedneday night when I was at the theatre, complementary Ken Clarke eyeglasses and all, and wearing this week's snazzy tie, which is not only attractive with a range of plain shirts of any colour, but is also Teflon coated. That's right, I could fry an egg on this baby on a hot day and it'd wipe right off. You just know that's gonna come in handy some day

Tie Number:002
Designation: Polytetrafluoroethtielene
Provenance: Op-shop, 2009
Manufacture: Unknown
No. of Comments: 1 (Low)
Most Favourable Comment: "Looking Swell!"
Least Favourable Comment: "Looking Swell!"
Observations: I didn't know that Teflon ties were a thing, but I don't have the courage to spill stuff on it just in case it won't come clean, I like this tie.

Tune in next week for yet another tie-related post.

Thursday 11 August 2011

The Leaflocker Theatre Review

This was going to be another photoblog about destroying my books, but since I haven't actually done any destruction since last week and since I spent this evening out at the theatre, this is now a theatre review piece. Not reviewing the theatre itself, which was pretty standard suburban theatre fare, masks of comedy and tragedy, pretentious latin mottoes and all, but the production, you understand.

The production was Man of Steel and it was being performed by Emmaus College, which a couple of years ago was Tabor College and when I went to school was Bethesda College, a Christian school with a chronic alias problem that just happens to have a number of kids that I know and like in it. Thus I went along, pondering the dual questions of exactly why every school seems to do an annual musical these days instead of actual artistic theatre (thanks, John), and how I (as a twenty-something going to watch a 13 year old girl be in a musical) was going to look a little less suss, always a concern for a young man who tends to go to shows alone. As it turned out, my second problem was solved by a number of friends turning up, which made it all ok, I could tag along with them, make snide little comments in their ears, and feel like I fitted in. The first question is bigger one, which I will deal with at another time.

It seems to me that the cast did an excellent job without having much to work with, altogether. The set, costumes, choreography and the acting were all above average for a school musical, I found out later that this was because the whole school worked on various parts. However, the play itself (apparently the most regularly-produced play in Australia) is just bad. To my mind, there's two reasons why the script might have been just so bad, the first is that it's just bad and people have no taste when it comes to musicals, and the second is that as any conscientious Christian school would do, it's possible that the script was heavily censored to make it suitable for the majority of the audience. I don't think this second one is the case, but I would like to present it as a possibility before I launch into a undeserved diatribe at the writers.

Man of Steel is a musical about a superhero and a non-sensical plot by the evil "Big Boss" (who gets a pretty good villain song, at least)to bring him down and rule the Veldt (the "big boss" has a bad accent that kept making me think of the South African cricket team, then again so many things do). There's a love triangle, a sinister plot, all-singing, all-dancing gangsters, some colourful but ultimately superfluous side-characters, and therefore it should have all the constituent parts of a successful musical, but somehow the parts just don't come together in an entertaining way.

The songs, while well sung by the cast in general and the leading lady in particular, and backed by an excellent band (I'm a sucker for a theatre band), were repetitive and boring, and while that is par for the course for musicals, it felt like someone had deliberately set out to write repetitive and boring songs. There was also a dearth of them in the second act, which seemed mostly dedicated to "plot".

The plot was shallow and uninteresting, which again is par for the course for superhero fiction, but with a love triangle (that was nothing but an excuse for an extra song in the first act, and had no further mention in the plot), hidden identities (no time for the hero/alter-ego love angst thing, I guess), employment concerns, and much more, there was potential for a considerably more interesting story than what ended up occuring. Perhaps I've been spoilt since the last few plays I've been to see were by the state theatre company.

On the plus side, though, the puns were excellently groanworthy, the cast and crew did a great job despite a number of technical hitches, requiring some ad-libbing and improvisation, and the piece had been well regionalised and brought up to date for a modern audience, so that it worked well and got a lot of laughs from the audience. Though for my part, seeing girls in 50's dresses talking about Taylor Swift is a little bit jarring.

The leading man was excellent as the Man of Steel himself (not Superman, though, for copyright reasons, I imagine), pulling off that classic smug Superman image with great aplomb and making me want to jump up on the stage and slap him for being so damn smug (and I might just do so at church this weekend). My other friend in the musical, despite being in the chorus, was pretty good too, and seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. So altogether I was glad that I'd gone instead of sitting at home planning some other boring blog post.

So, Man of Steel is more fun than sitting at home by yourself, and it's on again tonight and tomorrow night at 7 P.M. on Goodwood Road next to Eggless, the dessert cafe that is apparently where all the cool kids hang out these days.

For me, though, the man problem is that I'm not singing any of the songs today, something that has never happened before after seeing a musical. I am disappoint. It makes me want to try and write something better. Maybe I'll have to pull out my old Binary: The Musical script, and see where the mood takes me...