Thursday, 30 January 2025

Bring back the box office and cheques

Ordering or booking anything on line is making me more and more stressed. People in my family just find it too hard so as the senior the buck stops with me.
So I do a search with inexact words in Google. Bingo a site pops up prompting me to go to the check out.Its so quick, and looks genuine, but there's always a nagging doubt. Maybe like me you have been caught out before. 
I complete the transaction. Skip to my emails but there is no promised receipt. I've  taken a screen shot just in case. I have to wait until the next afternoon when the firm opens to finally receive confirmation that my transaction has been processed. 

I go to the agency to deregister a car. The woman is disinterested, but after numerous stages it is done. I pay $10. The next day I get an email. The agency wants my bank account number to give me a refund, they say this is not a scam! I can ring a number to prove it. I don't bother, it's not worth the worry and the risk for just a few months refund on a car registration.

The whole online trading thing is too compromised. We need something else. Double, triple verification is a nuisance. 
Bring back a cheque in the mail and a local box office that can take my money and where I get issued a receipt by a human being, be it a grumpy one or not I say!

Wednesday, 29 January 2025

Rights

The latest Trent HERE talks about the rights of children.
In my comment on his Patreon page I summarized some of his video musing over the origin of 'rights'.
I think what's a little confusing is that Trent talks of children's rights as if others don't have these. Many will no doubt talk of a mother's right for this or that too. So what makes a child's right paramount? When a boat is sinking we hear the boatswain demanding "women and children first" as he stands by the lifeboat holding a pistol. In turn mothers on that lifeboat would be expected to give up their seat for a child who suddenly appears. No one would question that. Imagine if someone in my imagined scenario shouted, "no, the child doesn't matter, save the woman". He'd be turned on and beaten to a pulp.
I would hope the same would apply if the unexpected late arriving child had Downs Syndrome or was a cripple.
But society doesn't act this way. If an ultra scan suggests a deformed child, abortion can be recommended. Duty of care goes out the window. I wouldn't be surprised to hear some recommend euthenaisa later even.
So why are the rights of children so important? This is not about obligations of parents, but something much bigger. A child has the same fundamental rights as everyone but theirs are greater because of their dependency. And society does look after the needy. Having cared for an infirm person for many years I know that there are many agencies in place to assist. And all that is practicable is done until "medicine" has run out of ideas, and a comfortable end is all that is available. There is no question about the rights of the infirm. They become paramount. No one ever talked to me as if my rights were greater than the person I was looking after.
I hear you say "why should a mother give up her life to look after a severely disabled child?".
The fallacy starts with the false assumption that the mother is losing something. People grow and receive much joy in caring. We all know , in our hearts, that a selfish inward looking life, is a road to misery. It's in reaching out, going out of our way, that stuff like inner peace is found. A parent who puts their own welfare before the child will never find happiness. We live in a world where it is commonly accepted that the rights of the weak come first. This is not the natural way. Survival of the strongest rules in the animal kingdom. Even in previous human ages we have seen cultures that practice infanticide; to weed out the weak or gain strength through pleasing the godswith human sacrifice. Though we have turned this around and taken the higher moral path undertones of other systems emphasizing different ideas of rightness endure.
So right comes back to what is proper. Our christio-centric morality has shaped us to see love as proper. Love one another, do good and treat others with kindnesses , avoid inflicting pain or harm. We are so engrained to act with care that it takes wifull thought to do otherwise.
Just look at the public out cry against abortion. Clinics that do this injustice have to be hidden away.  This proves that abortion is a convenience, and not a right.

Well that's my cant for today.

Have fun by not sinning.



Te waewae kapiti o Tara rāua ko Rangitāne

 


I've been busy booking a trip to Te waewae kapiti o Tara raua ko Rangitane.Te waewae kapiti o Tara raua ko Rangitane lays off the west coast of Te Ika-a-Maui.Te waewae kapiti o Tara raua ko Rangitane is part of a mountain range that geologists say was formed 202,201,114 years ago at 2 o'clock Saturday morning March 5th by an earthquake. Of course it wasn't surrounded by water then. It would be boring to say it was just the same so historians imagine a lush valley between Te waewae kapiti o Tara raua ko Rangitane and Te Ika-a-Maui, populated with Moa and giant eagles. As far as I know these are not on the mountain any more, which is just as well because having a giant eagle land on your shoulder instead of a Kaka would not be as pleasant. You wouldn't have time to take a selfie before it whisked you away and fed you to its babies. 
It's a month away yet, and I'm going with a couple of friends, (yes I do have some friends still TC and they are not like those on Facebook). 
I've been watching Bear Grylls and imagine a route across  the island dangling from ropes 300 metres above a valley before abseiling down the western cliffs and swimming out to a launch for extraction.
In truth I'll step of a ferry, wander about looking at historic sites before casually meandering up to a look out. Actually someone said the lookout is 525 meters elevation.  500 meters is only about the same as the surrounding hills at Moera Heights. It's called Tutemoana lookout.

It should make for a good blogging series.

Have fun, don't sin and say your Angelus at noon.

Monday, 27 January 2025

Heresy!

I read a comment in which the person, who shall remain anonymous, said "I am not a heretic I am an atheist". 
So what is Heresy? Can anyone be a heretic? What happens to heretics?

For common usage, in our culture, a heretic is any baptized person who consistantly denies an authoritive teaching of the Catholic Church. There are many matters of controversy that the Church does not have a doctrine about. Human evolution, the length of creation, aliens... In fact most matters relating to science and the physical world. Yes, there is the assumption, immaculate conception and a few more believes of a miraculous nature all Catholics must accept.
It would be fair to say that believing in God is core. The very creed of the Church begins " I believe in one God...". 
Baptism can not be undone. No more than being a Catholic. If you deny the teachings of the one true Church then you are a heretic. By definition all protestants are heretics. It's like being a devorcee. Once married always married. In a similar way I consider long term relationships to fall here too. Marriage is in essence a contract. The Church may bless it, and /or turn it into a sacrament, but the only option is separation. Any thing else is adultery or fornification.
That's just the way it is. It may not be convenient, but otherwise you are crating your own religion. Think Henry VIII. The result for him was  excommunication.
But it is not all bad news. In this world there is nothing that the Church using it's Godly authority can not forgive for those who are repentant. Remarried devorcees can carry on in new marriages living as brother and sister. Some marriages may not have even been valid.
Heretics can come back to the Church with a repentent heart. Excommunication is only for public figures setting a bad example. I doubt if a blogger with a readership of two would be in this group.

So go see your nearest priest and get back on the train to heaven.


...have fun but do not sin.





Sunday, 26 January 2025

Sunday...

As I walked up the Awakat.. Hutt (River), really you are not supposed to say river, just Hutt, the clouds loomed with bluntened menace above the Western horizon. A gent with a beard said he had seen some trout activity near the far shore below the rail bridge.
I thanked him and walked across the single file pedestrian bridge beside the railway. A sign told me that this was to close on the 28th Feb. The sign didn't know if it would reopen. I thought that this might be the last chance, and access is a little difficult, involving crossing several small islands and that would be impractical at high tide. I momentarily considered the grammar of the last sentence, thought never mind , and walked to the tail end of the stretch of water in the assumption that the trout would face upstream. The breathless wind rippled the water no more than the inactive trout. Nevertheless they knew I was here! Slow and methodical, don't grate the stones, fish can hear or feel vibrations. After a few minutes a light shower made ringlets on the surface. This was good. I would be less visible. After a while they started rising again. 



The sun had risen over Moera Heights and was gazing through the clearing clouds when I disassembled my fly rod. I'd been using the dry fly and nymph configuration recommended by the sport shop in Petone. The trace line had tangled around the dry fly possibly explaining my increased lack of success. But I didn't mind going home with an empty bag. Like life, often it's the seeking and wondering that is as much fun as the accomplishment.  


 Have fun boys, but don't sin.


I forgot to take any flowers but the two lavenders had lasted well (someone had removed the Hydrangeas) . Next time I will just take that and some Rosemary. I've got my mother's dislike of plastic flowers. I  gave up spiritual flowers instead, 50 red roses as Hail Marys and five yellow roses as Our Fathers. I toss them around to other graves too. The souls in purgatory really need our prayers. 

K and I had lunch with S's sister, then a lounge in the pool, it was 27C. Supposed to be similar today but with rain.

It's refreshing to see President Trump's common sense stance on transgenderism.

Have a fun day, but try not to sin.



 

Saturday, 25 January 2025

Anima Christie

 Anima Christie 

ANIMA CHRISTI, SANCTIFICA ME
CORPUS CHRISTI, SALVA ME
SANGUIS CHRISTI, INEBRIA ME
AQUA LATERIS CHRISTI, LAVA ME
Passio Christi, conforta me
O bone Iesu, exaudi me
Intra vulnera tua absconde me
ANIMA CHRISTI, SANCTIFICA ME
CORPUS CHRISTI, SALVA ME
SANGUIS CHRISTI, INEBRIA ME
AQUA LATERIS CHRISTI, LAVA ME
Ne permittas a te me separari
Ab hoste maligno defende me
In hora mortis meæ voca me
ANIMA CHRISTI, SANCTIFICA ME
CORPUS CHRISTI, SALVA ME
SANGUIS CHRISTI, INEBRIA ME
AQUA LATERIS CHRISTI, LAVA ME
Et iube me venire ad te
Ut cum sanctis tuis laudem te
Per infinita sæcula sæculorum. Amen
ANIMA CHRISTI, SANCTIFICA ME
CORPUS CHRISTI, SALVA ME
SANGUIS CHRISTI, INEBRIA ME
AQUA LATERIS CHRISTI, LAVA ME


Cellist busking.  A very contrived short of a cellist being asked to play a tune. I don't see an orchestra. 

Bring back the box office and cheques

Ordering or booking anything on line is making me more and more stressed. People in my family just find it too hard so as the senior the buc...