On Saturday I picked up a few LPs at the most reliable of my record-buying haunts. The best of them was The Comedy (1962) by The Modern Jazz Quartet, a colourful suite of tunes inspired by the Italian commedia dell'arte. It's a record (Fig. 4) that showcases the quartet's European influences. While enjoyable, it's a little light on the soulfulness that underpins their best work. It's interesting to contrast this record with its moodier follow-up, Lonely Woman, issued later the same year.

Acquired alongside it was a record exemplifying a very different aspect of comedy: The Sick Humor of Lenny Bruce. Originally released in 1959, my copy (Fig. 5) is from a 1987 re-issue (the same year Bruce's name came up in the lyrics of a certain song I then loved). I've read a fair amount about him over the years, but had never heard any of Bruce's comedy until now. I can't say it made me laugh, but it probably would have done had I been a young man in '59: I could see the appeal of it, at least. My sense of humour, I fear, has been eroded over time. I'm less often amused than I once was.

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1987 was also the year The Green Flame was published. This is a dual-language anthology of Italian poetry (originals on the left, English translations facing them) that I finished reading on Friday. It was edited and presumably translated by Alessandro Gentili and Catherine O'Brien. Even though the word 'contemporary' appears in its subtitle, most of the poems in it are from the early-to-mid-20th Century. It includes authors I was already somewhat familiar with (such as Montale, Pavese, Ungaretti, Pasolini & Spaziani) along with others I knew only by name (Marinetti, Quasimodo, Sereni, Zanzotto) and still more I didn't know at all (notably Saba & Luzi).

My copy had been freely annotated in pencil by a previous owner. This was evidently someone fluent in Italian who was well able to take a critical view of the translators' work. Several translated words or phrases are glossed with clarifications or even crossed out and 'corrected'. As a monoglot I'm obliged to take the work of translators on trust, so it was interesting here for me to see a more knowledgeable reader's engagement with their renderings. There were some instances where the pencilled-in alternatives struck me as clearly preferable to the printed text, whereas most of the time I was unable to judge whether the 'edited' wording was any better than the original. In any event, it's a good anthology that has filled a gap on my poetry shelves.

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When I'm working I like to have a large, thick, ruled notebook to scribble in. If I can’t make notes I struggle to think straight. With my employers being much too cheap to supply decent stationery, I buy my own. My choice for the past decade has been the Collins Ideal 6448, a casebound A4 book with 384 ruled pages. When I went to order a new one recently I was disconcerted to find them out of stock – which I hope is only a temporary state of affairs. As an alternative I bought myself the next best thing I could find: a Ryman A4 'Bumper' notebook. This has fewer pages (352) and thinner paper (70gsm rather than 80) than the 'Ideal', but it does have the advantage of being about half the price. I started writing in my new Ryman book on Monday, and think it will do the job well enough.

Thank you for changing. Thank you for working to become happier (for the lack of a better word) and calmer.

I, too, want to work on becoming happier (for the lack of better word) and calmer. But it´s really not that easy.. It happens, from time to time (actually quite often), that my mind takes a minor unpleasant event and spins it out into a far bigger story of what's wrong, what could end up even more wrong, and how solutions to that might be even more wrong, leading into a total dead lock of oh shit.

The other day, I was watching an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Raymond buys a special, expensive, rare, fad collectible card for his daughter. You may know the episode, Hackidu. It's a good one. Paul Reubens, best known for his character Pee-wee Herman, steals the show.

The point is, it made me very emotional, thinking of all the nice toys my parents bought me as a kid, including many that were fads, expensive, difficult to obtain, or simply extremely thoughtful. I grew up in the 90s, and so this list includes things like Beanie Babies, Tamagotchis, baseball cards, video games, educational games, books, scooters, backpacks featuring TV shows I liked, and much more than I can honestly remember.

I'm very grateful for that. I hate to say, “it's the thought that counts,” as though I didn't enjoy the toys themselves, but truthfully, the thought and love they put into those choices is very meaningful to me.

I feel a bit strange being so emotional over physical things, especially when I dislike consumerism, but it was the thoughts that matter most. They show their love through gifts, to a large extent, and I am very touched.

#Miscellaneous

There are names we hear once and forget. There are names we remember for a season. And then… there is the Name that refuses to fade, refuses to weaken, refuses to lose power even after two thousand years. A Name that doesn’t simply exist in history but moves through today with the same force, the same fire, and the same authority it has always carried.

That Name is Jesus.

For generations, people have spoken His name in joy, in fear, in gratitude, in despair, and in worship. They have whispered it in hospital rooms, cried it out in dark nights, shouted it from mountaintops, and sung it with trembling voices. But beneath all those moments, beneath all the ways His name touches the human heart, lies one eternal question: What does Jesus mean

Not just linguistically. Not just academically. Not just historically.

But spiritually. Personally. Eternally.

Because if a single name can comfort the grieving, shake the chains off the broken, silence the storms in a mind that won’t rest, and reroute the entire direction of a soul—then that name must carry a meaning far greater than any dictionary could ever capture.

Understanding the meaning of Jesus is not an intellectual exercise. It is a spiritual awakening. It is a moment when knowledge becomes revelation, and revelation becomes transformation.

When you know His meaning, you understand your purpose. When you know His meaning, you recognize God’s heartbeat toward humanity. When you know His meaning, the world looks different, life feels different, and you walk differently.

So today, let’s go deeper than a surface definition. Let’s discover what it truly means when we say His name—what heaven hears, what hell fears, and what the human heart receives every time we speak it.

Because once you understand His meaning… nothing about your life stays the same.

His name is not passive. His name is not neutral. His name is not empty.

His name is salvation, identity, power, mercy, and destiny all at once.

To understand the meaning of Jesus is to understand the meaning of hope itself.

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Before the word Jesus ever entered the vocabulary of humanity, God was already writing the story of redemption. Not with ink, but with blood and promise. And when the angel appeared to Joseph, the message was precise: “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

His name wasn’t chosen for poetic sound. It wasn’t chosen for cultural style. It wasn’t chosen for tradition.

It was chosen because it declares His mission.

The meaning of Jesus is not a title—it’s a calling.

His name comes from the Hebrew Yeshua, meaning “The Lord saves,” “The Lord is salvation,” or “God delivers.” But those translations only scratch the surface. They give us the definition, but not the heartbeat.

Because salvation isn’t an abstract concept. Salvation isn’t a theological formula. Salvation is a person.

Jesus doesn’t bring salvation. Jesus is salvation.

You don’t run toward a process—you run toward Him. You don’t cling to an idea—you cling to Him. You don’t put your trust in a ritual—you put your trust in Him.

His name is not an answer you memorize. It’s a life you step into.

So when you ask “What does Jesus mean?” you’re not asking for information. You’re asking to understand why your soul responds the way it does when His name is spoken. You’re asking why hope rises when everything feels hopeless. You’re asking why peace breaks through in the middle of anxiety. You’re asking why your heart softens when it’s been hardened for years.

You don’t react like that to ordinary words. You react like that to truth.

Jesus is the truth every soul has been searching for since the day humanity learned how to cry.

His name answers the deepest questions inside us:

“Am I loved?” “Am I forgiven?” “Am I worth anything?” “Is there hope for me?” “Does God see me?” “Is there more to life than this?”

Every time His name is spoken, heaven answers those questions with a thunderous yes.

That is what Jesus means.

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There is something remarkable about the way His name crosses all boundaries. You can visit any continent, step into any culture, speak to any generation, and the name still moves people in ways they can’t fully explain.

Say the name Plato or Aristotle, and people think of philosophy. Say the name Caesar or Napoleon, and people think of empires. Say the name Shakespeare, and people think of literature. Say the name Einstein, and people think of science.

But say the name Jesus, and people feel something. Not think—feel.

Love. Conviction. Comfort. Strength. Freedom. Hope.

Why? Because Jesus is not a historical figure who left behind ideas. He is the living presence of God who still moves, still breathes, still heals, still speaks, still calls, and still saves. The world doesn’t feel His name because it has good marketing. The world feels His name because it carries the supernatural weight of the One who created it.

The meaning of Jesus is not academic—it is experienced.

You can read a thousand books on theology and never touch the depth of revelation that comes from one genuine moment when His name meets your brokenness. When His name finds you in the night you tried to hide from everyone else. When His name pulls you out of a storm you thought would drown you. When His name brings you peace that no medication or distraction could give. When His name reminds you of your worth in a world that keeps trying to convince you that you don’t have any.

That’s when you learn what Jesus means—not because someone told you, but because you lived it.

His name is the doorway into divine encounter.

And many people today are walking around with empty souls because they know the name but not the meaning. They’ve heard the word but never experienced the man. They’ve seen the symbol but never met the Savior.

But when you truly understand His meaning, everything shifts. The world no longer defines you. Your past no longer labels you. Your failures no longer imprison you. Your fears no longer own you.

Because the meaning of Jesus is the meaning of freedom.

Freedom from sin. Freedom from shame. Freedom from hopelessness. Freedom from fear. Freedom from the lie that you are alone.

He didn’t come to give you religion. He came to give you life.

Not survival. Life.

The kind of life that wakes you up inside. The kind of life that rewrites your identity. The kind of life that puts breath back into places that have been dead for years.

That is what Jesus means.

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If you want to understand His meaning, don’t start with history books. Start with your story. Start with the parts of your life where you needed saving. Start with the nights you didn’t know if you’d make it. Start with the moments you felt lost, broken, or forgotten.

Because Jesus is the answer God gave to every moment the world tried to break you.

He is the reason you survived things that should have destroyed you. He is the reason you got up again when you didn’t think you could. He is the reason hope kept finding you even when you stopped looking for it.

Jesus means God stepped into human pain—not as an observer, not as a critic, but as a Savior.

He didn’t watch humanity struggle from a distance. He walked into the struggle Himself. He cried our tears. He felt our hunger. He carried our burdens. He faced our temptations. He stood in our storms. He endured our rejection. He took our punishment. He died our death.

Not for the righteous, but for the broken. Not for the saints, but for the sinners. Not for the perfect, but for the desperate. Not for the strong, but for the weary. Not for the winners, but for the people who feel like they’ve been losing for years.

When you understand His sacrifice, you understand His meaning.

Jesus means you are not defined by the worst day of your life. Jesus means your sin does not have the final word. Jesus means your story isn’t over. Jesus means there is more grace in God than there is brokenness in you. Jesus means redemption is possible. Jesus means new beginnings aren’t just poetic—they’re real.

Because Jesus is not a theory. Jesus is transformation.

His meaning is written into every healed marriage, every restored heart, every redeemed life. Every person who thought they were too far gone but discovered that grace goes further.

The meaning of Jesus is the meaning of mercy.

Not mercy that excuses. Mercy that restores.

Not mercy that ignores sin. Mercy that breaks its power.

Not mercy that pats you on the back. Mercy that lifts you to your feet.

Jesus doesn’t just free you from what you’ve done—He frees you into what you’re called to become.

That is why His name is unlike any other.

It carries destiny.

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When you speak His name, you are not repeating a religious word. You are calling on the God who:

Healed the sick Raised the dead Fed the hungry Calmed storms Cast out demons Forgave sinners Restored outcasts Lifted the broken Carried the cross Conquered death Opened heaven And still transforms lives today

This is why His name shakes the world. This is why His name rattles the darkness. This is why His name comforts the hurting. This is why His name reforms the shattered identity of anyone who believes they are unworthy.

The meaning of Jesus is that God didn’t just visit the world—He invaded the darkness and lit it on fire with hope.

And that hope is still alive.

You can feel it when you pray. You can sense it when you worship. You can recognize it when you hear His words. You can see it in the lives He touches.

Jesus means you are not abandoned. Jesus means you are not alone. Jesus means you are worth rescuing. Jesus means God would rather die for you than lose you.

There is no other name that carries that message. There never will be.

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The meaning of Jesus becomes clearest when life hurts the most. Because it’s in those moments—when the world feels heavy, when the future looks unclear, when the soul grows tired—that His name shows its true power.

You can whisper His name when your hands are shaking. You can speak His name when your voice is weak. You can call His name when your heart is breaking. You can cry His name when you don’t have anything left.

Jesus meets you where you are—not where you pretend to be.

He doesn’t wait for your strength. He responds to your surrender.

And every time you say His name, something begins to shift inside you—even if you don’t feel it immediately.

Because His name carries peace. His name carries comfort. His name carries healing. His name carries deliverance. His name carries truth. His name carries power.

Jesus is not a name you use in prayer. Jesus is the name that prayer flows from.

Jesus is not a name you hope reaches heaven. Jesus is the name that brings heaven to you.

Jesus is not a name tied to a moment. Jesus is the name tied to eternity.

His meaning is not limited to what happened 2,000 years ago. His meaning is woven into what is happening in your life right now.

Jesus means God is with you. Jesus means God is for you. Jesus means God has not forgotten you. Jesus means God has a plan for you. Jesus means grace is bigger than your mistakes. Jesus means there is a future beyond your failures. Jesus means you can stand again, rise again, breathe again, and believe again.

That is the meaning of Jesus.

And that meaning is the greatest gift humanity has ever received.

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Watch Douglas Vandergraph’s inspiring faith-based videos on YouTube.

Support the ministry here.

#Jesus #ChristianMotivation #FaithTalk #Encouragement #HopeInChrist

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Douglas Vandergraph Faith Teacher • Encourager • Storyteller Creator of thousands of messages bringing hope, healing, and the love of Christ to the world.

As a student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, you expect the student association to safeguard your interests: fees collected should be spent transparently, equitably and in ways that enhance student life. Instead, in the past three months rumours and emerging evidence suggest the KSA board, lead by Ishant (Goel) Goyal, President and VP University Affairs Paramvir Singh, VP Finance and Operations Manmeet Kaur under the oversight of Executive Director Timothii Ragavan, may have veered far from that standard. This is not about minor budgeting mishaps; this is about institutional accountability, governance and whether student funds are being used in ways that reflect their stated purpose.

What we’ve heard

Silver coins for a “44th anniversary”

The board authorized the purchase of ten silver coins, each weighing under 10 grams, celebrating the KSA’s “44th anniversary”. These coins feature Sikh and other religious symbols and, by reports, were purchased at approximately CAD $70 per coin. By comparison, the spot price of silver in Canada today is approximately CAD $2.33 per gram.

If the coins truly weigh 10g each, then the raw metal cost would be around CAD $23.30 per coin (10 g × $2.33/gram). If under 10 g, the cost would be lower. That means paying CAD $70 is about three times the metal‐value alone.

On its face: if the rationale was a simple commemorative coin for the KSA’s 44th anniversary, the symbolism fails for two reasons: the coins don’t clearly tie to the “44th anniversary” motif (they instead appear more aligned with Diwali and religious representation), and the cost premium appears excessive given the metal value.

Hanging Basket Chairs

You may have seen these hanging basket chairs on campuses. We have heard allegations that the cost of these were approximately CAD $1,950 each (total ~CAD $20,000). But current wholesale listings on major procurement platforms for the same model are in the $300-600 range.

What justified the association spending $2,000 per unit on these chairs?

Overpriced nut baskets and dresses distributed to students

For Diwali celebrations, large expenditures on “nut baskets” and dresses which were given to students was alleged. Details (quantities, vendor quotes) remain vague; however, the pattern of gifting combined with high unit cost raises valid questions about procurement, tendering and justification. Who were the vendors who were contracted for this? Why is this not being disclosed to students and campus reporters?

$250 plants that look like Ikea palms in Rona pots

A further allegation: that the association spent CAD $250 each on plants that appear to be repotted Ikea palms placed into CAD $28 pots sourced from Rona. If true, this suggests markup and perhaps a lack of competitive sourcing.

Nearly $10,000 on Diwali decorations across campuses

The board allegedly spent nearly $10,000 on Diwali decorations just for the installation across campuses. The decorations themselves were purchased separately by the association, adding even more cost on top of the installation fee. Students effectively paid twice: first for the decor, then for the labour to put it up. This is yet another opaque expense pushed through by a board and Finance VP who appear to exercise little scrutiny over vendor pricing, procurement practices or whether spending aligns with the association’s mandate.

Why this Matters

Our student fees are not a slush fund for luxury items, overpriced decor, or vendor contracts that nobody outside the board has ever seen. They are paid with the expectation of responsible stewardship and transparency.

The examples above point to a pattern:

• High-cost purchases without clear student benefit
• No competitive procurement process
• No public vendor information
• No accountability from the Finance VP Manmeet Kaur or Executive Director Timothii Ragavan
• A culture of secrecy rather than service

But questionable spending is only half the picture. The governance failures behind it are just as serious.

A Board That Barely Shows Up

The Runner’s recent reporting highlights an equally alarming issue: the board’s growing inability to even run its own meetings.

At the Nov. 21 council meeting, the KSA failed to vote on three key election-regulation changes, not because of disagreement, but because councillors simply didn’t show up.

Zero councillors attended in person, despite the room being booked specifically to avoid connectivity issues.

Attendance dropped from ten online participants to seven, below the quorum of eight.

This marks the third meeting where critical governance items were delayed due to lack of quorum.

Councilors receive an honorarium of $125 per meeting, yet many appear to:

• log in silently
• sit muted,
• write a line or two in chat (mainly to vote yae or nae)
• and disappear before the meeting concludes.

These honoraria are meant to defray any commuting costs so that these meetings are held in person. They are not just an extra source of income for clicking on a meeting invite and sitting quietly in chat.

Meanwhile, these same elected officials oversee procurement, student-club funding, election rules, and the millions in student fees flowing through the association each year.

If the people responsible for oversight aren’t present, oversight doesn’t happen. And when oversight doesn’t happen, waste, mismanagement, and unchecked spending become predictable outcomes.

KPU Students Deserve Better

Good governance is not complicated. It requires councillors who:

• attend meetings in person,
• participate meaningfully,
• stay for the full agenda,
• and uphold their responsibility to the students who elected them.

Good procurement is also not complicated. It requires competitive pricing, transparent reporting, proper documentation, and accountability to the student body.

Right now, the KSA appears to be falling short on both fronts.

SIGN THE PETITION FOR A FORENSIC AUDIT

For years, students have paid millions in mandatory fees with little transparency, accountability, or oversight. Yet these funds continue to be misspent while students across Kwantlen campuses receive uneven and inconsistent services.

It’s time to demand better.

We the KPU students need to organize, speak out, and call for a FULL, INDEPENDENT, FORENSIC AUDIT of the KSA.

Please share the following link with every body you know: sign and share the petition for accountability and reform: https://c.org/FzsKZB7gMZ

We also call on the Province of British Columbia to amend and strengthen the B.C. Societies Act to ensure student-funded organizations can never again operate without transparent, democratic governance.

Enough is enough.

GO HOOSIERS!

Today we have two IU basketball games to follow. First up will be the Lady Hoosiers as the IU Women's Basketball Team travels to meet the Florida Gulf Coast Lady Eagles. This game is scheduled to Tipoff at Noon, my local time.

Later today the IU Men's Basketball Team will be hosting the Kansas State Wildcats. This game is scheduled to start at 19:00, my local time.

I have conflicting obligations that may prevent my following both of these games in their entirety, but I'll listen to each of them as much I can.

GO HOOSIERS!

And so the adventure continues.

A Fault Line Investigation — Published by The Beacon Press
Published: November 25, 2025
https://thebeaconpress.org/the-muslim-brotherhood-in-2025-designated-terrorists-previously-usaid-funded

Executive Breath

The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, has for seven decades been simultaneously:

• Banned as a terrorist organization by Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Russia
  
• Treated as a legitimate political actor by the U.S. State Department and EU
  
• Receiving U.S. taxpayer funds through USAID “civil-society” grants (average $35–50 million/year 2018–2025)
  

On November 24, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to evaluate designating certain Brotherhood chapters as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).

The Official U.S. Position (Pre-November 24, 2025)

The State Department has historically viewed the Brotherhood as a “non-violent Islamist political movement” despite its Hamas ties and October 7, 2023, rocket support from the Lebanese chapter (State Dept Country Reports on Terrorism 2024). USAID granted $35–50 million annually to MB-linked NGOs (e.g., Islamic Relief Worldwide, $10M in 2023) for “democracy promotion” (GAO 2025).

The Money Trail (U.S. Taxpayer Funds)

Since 2011, U.S. aid to MB-affiliated groups totals $300 million+:

• 2011–2015: $100M to Egyptian MB offshoots for “election monitoring” (USAID 2015 audit)
  
• 2016–2020: $80M to U.S.-based MB legacy groups (CAIR, ISNA) for “civil rights” (OpenSecrets 2025)
  
• 2021–2025: $120M to international MB NGOs (e.g., $15M to Jordanian chapter, USAID 2024)
  

The Qatar-Turkey Axis (Open Patrons)

Qatar hosts MB leaders and funds MB media (Al Jazeera, $500M/year). Turkey's AKP (Erdogan) aligns with MB ideology, providing $100M+ in aid to MB-linked Syrian groups (RAND 2024).

The Arab Ban List (Evidence Dossiers)

• Egypt (2013): Banned as terrorist post-coup; evidence of MB-Hamas arms smuggling (Egyptian court ruling 2013)
  
• UAE (2014): Federal Law No. 7; MB as “radical group” with 1,000+ arrests (UAE Ministry of Interior 2014)
  
• Saudi Arabia (2014): Royal decree; MB “extremist” for inciting violence (Saudi Gazette 2014)
  

The 1991 Explanatory Memorandum: Key Snippets (Seized 2004, Entered as Evidence 2008)

The “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America” (Mohamed Akram, 1991) outlines the MB’s U.S. strategy as a “Civilization-Jihadist Process”:

“The process of settlement is a ‘Civilization-Jihadist Process’ with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

“It is a Muslim’s destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes…”

Attachment lists 29 U.S. groups as “our organizations and the organizations of our friends,” including ISNA, NAIT, ICNA, MSA — many now CAIR affiliates (Holy Land Foundation trial exhibits, DOJ 2008).

2025 Status: Trump’s Executive Order (November 24)

President Trump signed an executive order directing Rubio and Bessent (consulting AG Pam Bondi and DNI Tulsi Gabbard) to submit a 30-day report on designating MB chapters in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt as FTOs/SDGTs under 8 U.S.C. § 1189 and EO 13224. Action due within 45 days if appropriate — asset freezes, travel bans, criminal support penalties. Justification: MB’s Hamas ties and post-October 7 rocket attacks (White House Fact Sheet, November 24, 2025).

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Sources (Full Attribution — Pillar 3: Truth Only)

1. Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Begins Process to Designate Certain Muslim Brotherhood Chapters… – White House, Nov 24, 2025
   
2. Designation of Certain Muslim Brotherhood Chapters as Foreign Terrorist Organizations… – White House Executive Order, Nov 24, 2025
   
3. An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America – Investigative Project on Terrorism (English translation), 1991
   
4. Holy Land Foundation Trial Exhibits – DOJ 2008 (declassified)
   
5. UAE Federal Law No. 7/2014 – UAE Ministry of Interior
   
6. Egyptian Court Ruling 2013 – Egyptian Judiciary

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Action Demand (Pillar 7)

Demand MB funding transparency – contact USAID: “Audit all grants to MB-linked NGOs since 2011.”
→ USAID Contact

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Whenever someone (thinking currently of Zohran Mamdani, but insert anyone’s name here) advocates having the government do something to acutally help people, you typically get two responses.

One is from the corporate centrists, who say, “well, of course we’d like to do something like that, but it’s just not realistic.”

The other, from the right, derides the whole idea as “people wanting free stuff.”

Let’s start with the centrists, shall we? This is the kind of Bill Clinton politics that has infected the Democratic party at all levels. And it’s a con. Because of course what’s realistic is simply what you’re willing to fight for.

Let’s take single payer healthcare, for example. They’ve told us for decades that free at point of service health care like so many other countries have is not realistic. This has proven true in that no one has been willing to fight for it. So of course it’s not realistic. The absolute best face you can put on this is that it’s a colossally incompetent negotiating tactic, where you give in to your opponent before you even talk to them. The more accurate face, I believe, is that it’s a calculated dodge—you call something you don’t want to do unrealistic. Then you don’t have to get into “Actually I get huge donations from Aetna and United Healthcare, so I don’t want to fight for a health care system that works.”

History is littered with examples of things that were considered unrealistic until they happened. Like the USA becoming an independent country! Like France beheading the king! Like Apartheid ending without massive bloodshed! Big, revolutionary changes can happen as long as people are willing to fight for them. Duh.

And now let’s go on to free stuff, shall we? Regular readers, know that I, a non-rich person, went to school with a lot of rich people.

And you know who gets a TON of free stuff? Rich people.

For example, rich people get a free college education. I don’t mean they get full scholarships or anything—I just mean that they don’t pay a dime for college.

Because their parents pay.

“Ah, but that’s not free!” you might say, but I submit that you are wrong. If you, a legal adult, get to attend college without paying for it, that’s free. The fact that your parents paid for it doesn’t make it any less free to you. Did you earn that money? Or was it given to you by your parents? What does free mean?

So when people deride people “wanting free stuff,” they should really include rich people. A house and a college education are, for most people, the biggest investments of their lifetimes. And rich people get one or both of them for free.

This isn’t derided in the media—indeed, saving up so you can give your children hundreds of thousands of dollars they did nothing to earn is portrayed as a thing that good, responsbile parents do for their children. I’m not going to get into that—I just want to point out that there are a LOT of people out there gathering lifelong benefits from stuff they got for free.

You cannot argue that an 18-year-old who gets a free education from their parents has earned it. They haven’t. Sure, maybe they worked hard in high school (though at least in the places I went to school, the wealthiest kids were not the ones who worked the hardest), but so do a lot of people who don’t get a free college education.

Given how many people get a free college education and aren’t vilified for it, we have to conclude that the right’s ostensible opposition to people getting things they haven’t paid for from wages they’ve earned is not sincere. I mean, yes, the right is sincere only about power and domination, but they’ve done such a good job indoctrinating us into the idea that you have to earn everything you get in life that most of us can’t even see the glaring exception that’s all around us.

So neither the “realism” nor the “free stuff” arguments make any logical or moral sense. Maybe there are sound arguments to be made against free transportation, free college, free health care. If so, I’d be interested in hearing them. But, so far, I haven’t.

TL;DR * If you need power, flexibility, and universal compatibility → stay with sudo.
* If you prefer lean, mean, and less to go wrong → give doas a spin.
Whichever you pick, remember: the real power isn’t the command you run, it’s the judgment you apply before you hit Enter. Keep experimenting, stay curious, and own your admin choices! 🚀

The Heavyweight: sudo

Aspect	Details
History & Adoption	Born in the early ’90s, sudo is the de‑facto standard on most Linux distros and BSDs. It’s battle‑tested, heavily audited, and supported by a massive community.
Feature Set	Extremely feature‑rich: fine‑grained per‑command permissions, logging, authentication timestamps, SELinux integration, plugin architecture, and more.
Configuration	Uses /etc/sudoers (or files under /etc/sudoers.d). The syntax is powerful but can be verbose and tricky; a misplaced comma can lock you out.
Security Model	By default, requires the invoking user’s password (or can be set to NOPASSWD). Supports “lecture” warnings, authentication retries, and timestamp caching.
Performance	Slightly heavier because it parses a large policy file and forks a helper process. In practice the overhead is negligible for interactive use.
Portability	Works everywhere—from tiny embedded devices to massive server farms. Most tutorials assume sudo.

Bottom line: If you need granular control, audit trails, or you’re working in an environment where everyone already knows sudo, stick with it. It’s the Swiss Army knife of privilege escalation.

The Lightweight Challenger: doas

Aspect	Details
Origin	Developed by OpenBSD as a simpler, safer alternative to sudo. It’s deliberately minimalistic.
Feature Set	Stripped down to the essentials: run a command as another user (default root). No per‑command whitelists, no timestamps, no fancy plugins.
Configuration	One tiny file: /etc/doas.conf. Syntax is straightforward—think “allow user X to run anything as root”. Example: permit :wheel or permit nopass :wheel.
Security Model	By default, requires the invoking user’s password unlessyou specify nopass. Because the codebase is tiny, the attack surface is smaller, which many security‑focused folks love.
Performance	Faster startup (les parsing) and a smaller binary (~30 KB). On low‑resource systems the difference is noticeable.
Portability	Primarily shipped with OpenBSD, but ports exist for Linux, NetBSD, and a few other *nixes. Not as universally pre‑installed as sudo.

Bottom line: If you crave simplicity, want a tiny, auditable binary, and don’t need the bells and whistles, doas is the sleek, no‑nonsense option. It’s the minimalist’s dream—“just works” for most everyday admin tasks.

When to Choose Which?

Situation	Recommended Tool
*Enterprise environments with complex policies	sudo (granular ACLs, logging, existing toling)
Security‑hardening where a tiny codebase matters	doas (smaller attack surface)
*Systems with limited storage or memory (IoT, containers)	doas (tiny footprint)
Cross‑distribution scripts/tutorials	sudo (everyone expects it)
*You just want something that “just works” without a manual	doas (simple config, less to break)

A Quick Word‑play Wrap‑Up

Think of sudo as the *Swiss watchmaker—complex, precise, and built for every conceivable scenario. doas is the digital watch—clean, lightweight, and gets the job done without the extra gears. Both keep time, but one does it with more flair.

antes decía esto y aquello hasta que fue comprendiendo el movimiento de las palabras / las fue domando y ahora lo que no dice es porque no quiere

Terza Rima Purgatory DLC

Selected remastered poems. To be released in December 2025.

Few questions generate more heat than the relationship between evolution and faith. For many, these seem like irreconcilable worldviews locked in an eternal struggle. One side appears to demand blind faith while ignoring scientific evidence, the other seems to reduce human existence to mere chemistry and chance. But is this conflict as inevitable as we've been led to believe?

The answer might surprise you. Millions of Christians worldwide see no fundamental contradiction between accepting evolutionary science and maintaining a robust faith. The real disagreement isn't between Christianity and evolution—it's among Christians themselves about how to interpret scripture and relate it to scientific discovery.

The Spectrum of Christian Views

Christianity is hardly monolithic on this question. Christian perspectives on evolution span a wide spectrum, each with thoughtful proponents and long theological traditions behind them.

Young Earth Creationism takes Genesis literally, believing God created the universe in six 24-hour days roughly 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. Proponents argue this honors scripture's authority and preserves key doctrines about human origins and the fall. This view remains popular in some evangelical circles, particularly in the United States.

Old Earth Creationism accepts the ancient age of Earth and universe but questions macroevolution. Some in this camp accept natural selection within species but believe God specially created distinct “kinds” of organisms. Others accept more evolutionary change but see God intervening at key points, especially in human origins.

Theistic Evolution (sometimes called evolutionary creation) holds that God created the universe and established natural laws, including evolution, as the mechanism through which life developed. Evolution isn't opposed to God's creative work—it is God's creative work. This view is embraced by many mainstream Protestant denominations, Catholic theologians, Orthodox Christians, and organizations like BioLogos.

Metaphorical Interpretation approaches Genesis as ancient theological literature rather than scientific or historical reporting. From this perspective, the creation accounts address profound questions about why God created and humanity's relationship with the divine, not the precise mechanisms of how creation unfolded.

The Catholic Church's Position

The Catholic Church offers an instructive example of how a major Christian tradition has navigated these questions. Far from seeing evolution as a threat, recent popes have affirmed compatibility between evolutionary science and Catholic faith.

Pope Pius XII's 1950 encyclical Humani Generis acknowledged that evolution could be studied as a serious hypothesis. Pope John Paul II went further in 1996, stating that evolution is “more than a hypothesis” given converging evidence from multiple scientific disciplines. Pope Francis has affirmed that God is not “a magician with a magic wand” but rather created beings and allowed them to develop according to internal laws.

The Church's position maintains certain boundaries. It insists that God creates each human soul directly, that humans possess a spiritual dimension transcending biology, and that our capacity for relationship with God reflects genuine divine intention, not cosmic accident. Within those theological guardrails, Catholics are free to accept the scientific consensus on evolution.

Why Some Christians Embrace Evolution

For Christians who accept evolutionary science, several theological considerations prove compelling.

God's sovereignty isn't threatened by natural processes. If God established the laws of physics, why couldn't God establish biological laws? A God powerful enough to create ex nihilo is surely capable of creating through evolutionary processes. The intricacy and elegance of evolution might even reveal more about divine creativity than instant creation would.

Genesis can be read as theological literature. The creation accounts bear hallmarks of ancient Near Eastern cosmology and employ poetic, symbolic language. Their purpose may be to establish theological truths—that God alone creates, that creation is good, that humans bear God's image—rather than to provide a scientific chronology. Reading Genesis this way doesn't diminish scripture's authority; it honors the type of literature it actually is.

The image of God transcends biology. Whatever our evolutionary history, humans remain uniquely capable of moral reasoning, creativity, self-reflection, and relationship with the divine. Our special status comes from God's intention and relationship with us, not from biological discontinuity with other creatures.

Science and faith address different questions. Science excels at describing natural mechanisms and processes—the “how” questions. Faith addresses meaning, purpose, morality, and ultimate reality—the “why” questions. Many Christians see these as complementary rather than competing ways of knowing.

The Sticking Points

Despite these reconciliations, genuine tensions remain. The most significant center on human origins and the historicity of Adam and Eve.

If humans evolved from earlier hominid species, were we ever genuinely distinct enough to represent a “special creation”? At what point did God breathe a soul into evolving hominids? Was there a literal Adam and Eve, or do these figures represent humanity collectively?

Different Christians answer these questions differently. Some propose that God chose two individuals from among early humans to represent humanity in special covenant. Others see Adam and Eve as archetypal figures representing all humanity. Still others maintain that recent scientific work allows for a literal Adam and Eve as ancestors of all humans, though this remains scientifically controversial.

The doctrine of original sin also raises questions. If death existed in the animal kingdom before humans, what does it mean that sin brought death into the world? Most theistic evolutionists understand Paul's teaching about Adam in Romans 5 as theological rather than requiring a literal first human whose sin physically altered creation.

Moving Forward

This conversation reveals something important about both science and faith. Science changes as evidence accumulates. What seems certain today may be refined tomorrow. Faith traditions also develop in their understanding, as believers wrestle with scripture and tradition in new contexts.

Perhaps the question isn't whether evolution and Christianity can coexist—clearly they can and do for millions of believers. The better question is how Christians can thoughtfully integrate scientific understanding with theological conviction without compromising either.

This requires humility on all sides. Scientists should recognize that empirical methods can't address questions of meaning and purpose. Christians should avoid turning Genesis into a science textbook or treating every word as having only one possible interpretation. And everyone should acknowledge that honest, thoughtful people of faith have reached different conclusions on these questions.

The conversation between evolution and Christianity isn't a battle to be won but a dialogue to be continued with both intellectual rigor and mutual respect. Whether you land on theistic evolution, old earth creationism, or somewhere else entirely, the goal should be coherence—a worldview where your understanding of God, scripture, and the natural world fit together in a way that honors truth wherever it's found.

What matters most is that we pursue truth with integrity, treat those who disagree with charity, and remember that both the book of scripture and the book of nature ultimately point to the same Author.

I’m using voice to text for this because I’m doing this while I’m getting ready for bed, but I’m hoping that I can kind of give something of substance tonight. I haven’t really been writing much because I’ve noticed that ever since having my girlfriend E, I’ve felt like I’ve always had access to someone where I can talk to or discuss things with and I’m kind of realized that this blog has kind of been a surrogate for that for a long time. I’m not saying that I want to stop this habit of journaling, but I think I’ve definitely realize this is one of those things that gives me a sense of independence because I’m able to talk about whatever I want without feeling like I’m a burden to my friends. But I guess with that out of the way, tomorrow I’m turning 24! It’s a little bit weird because this is the first time in a long time where I’ve actually felt excited for my birthday, or I guess a better term would just be not afraid. This is also my first year not in school and kind of in the real adult world for the first time in my eyes, and honestly it’s a bit weird. I feel like this is the part of my life where I really get free freedom and I get to choose what I want to do for these holidays for example, because I have the independence and I have money and I have the flexibility and I think also big part is that my friends are not all just leaving to their families for the break. Well I guess that’s still kind of happens because a lot of coworkers are leaving but a lot of them are not. One thing I’ve been grateful for is the lack of safety wheels. A lot for a couple different reasons, but I’m really grateful that I’ve never really relied on family a huge amount. I’ve always thought that some people going to college end up for the first times without their family and it feels like their legs have been swept out from underneath them, and that must be a horrible feeling. I’m pretty grateful that I don’t have to deal with that problem for better if for worse, because I’ve never really had that to rely on in the first place so it makes transitioning pretty easy. But I digress.

I’m trying to go to bed early tonight so that tomorrow I can wake up an early to go skydiving, which is something on my bucket list for the longest time. Originally it was meant as a suicide-lite™ where I could jump off of a very high building and hopefully feel that view from halfway down, and I think it’s kind of just turned into something that I’m excited to experience. It was a little bit of a last-minute thing but I realize that this was as good as chance as ever and why wait and so here I am. I’m kind of not sure if I want to keep with this tradition of journaling in a meaningful way every single day, partially because I feel like it’s gone to the point where it gives me a sense of pressure and I feel like that is not necessarily productive for what I want but at the same time I do recognize how incredibly valuable journaling is and also having it as a habit. So here we are. Maybe I just journal in this kind of half assed way that I have been, but at least it’s something consistent and then the days where I feel like I do need it or I do have something to talk about I can always take that chance. Oh well, here’s to waking up 24! Good night

This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on November 7, 2025.

The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale

By Joe R. Lansdale – Tachyon Publications – October 7, 2025

Review by Robin Marx

Joe R. Lansdale is your favorite horror writer’s favorite horror writer. Widely anthologized and the recipient of no fewer than ten Bram Stoker Awards, it doesn’t feel accurate to characterize the prolific East Texas author as underrated, per se, but to this reader it has long felt like Lansdale should be much more of a household name, up there with Stephen King. Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard series of novels has received popular acclaim from crime fiction fans, but readers who are less plugged into the horror short fiction scene (as opposed to the novel market) are all too often unacquainted with his work. Tachyon Publications is attempting to rectify this injustice with The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale. This convenient volume packages 16 tales spanning the lengthy career of this “Champion Mojo Storyteller.” The stories gathered here are dark, occasionally crude, often bleakly humorous, frequently gross, and always offbeat.

The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale opens strongly with “The Folding Man.” Some teenagers out joyriding after a Halloween party encounter a big black automobile carrying a group of nuns. One of the boys decides to “moon” the nuns as a joke, and the sight of his bare buttocks immediately sends the nuns into a murderous rage. When their savage high-speed pursuit fails to eliminate all the teens, the nuns produce a bizarre mechanical man from the trunk of their car, dispatching it like the robot from The Terminator to hunt down the survivors. Relentlessly paced, filled with graphic violence, and operating by incomprehensible nightmare logic, “The Folding Man” sets the tone for the stories to follow. It lets the reader know that they are now in Lansdale’s world, in which a quirky, chance encounter can rapidly escalate into something horrific and fatal.

Weird Westerns are one subgenre in with Lansdale excels, perhaps due to his Texan background, and this volume includes a pair of them. In “The Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train,” a gunsmith with some aptitude for folk magic and his apprentice are hired to retrieve the soul of an innocent woman condemned to an eternity as a passenger on a ghostly train guarded by a demonic duelist. The clever and methodical way in which the Hoodoo Man tackles this supernatural predicament feels like a satisfying blend of the early Witcher stories by Andrzej Sapkowski and the Silver John Appalachian folk horror tales by Manly Wade Wellman. “The Hungry Snow” is the second Weird Western, in which a wanderer known as the Reverend Jedidiah Mercer encounters a handful of bedraggled travelers stranded in the Rocky Mountains. Having exhausted their supplies, the hapless survivors have resorted to cannibalism. While the Reverend is understandably cautious around his hungry and desperate new acquaintances, the party as a whole face a greater threat: a prowling Wendigo lurking just beyond the campfire. Like “The Hoodoo Man and the Midnight Train,” “The Hungry Snow” features a level-headed and resourceful protagonist using their expertise and their wits to extract themselves from dire straits.

The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale also includes a pair of post-apocalyptic tales, each with an appropriately unconventional spin. “Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back” chronicles the descent into madness of a scientist emerging from an underground shelter into the world he had a hand in destroying. Humanity is all but extinct, and the surface world has been claimed by bizarre, hostile wildlife, forcing the scientist and his estranged wife to shelter together in a lighthouse waiting for the inevitable. While it still feels a little overstuffed to me, like it has more than enough ideas to sustain two separate stories, “Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back” was one of the more memorable stories from the George R. R. Martin-edited volume Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse (2015). The frequently anthologized novella “On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folk” is another work of exceptional post-apocalyptic fiction. When a bounty hunter and his ruthless quarry are captured by religious zealots building an undead army, the two enemies must join forces to escape torture and death. Replete with a “Jesusland” theme park, sexy nuns, Mouseketeer ear hat-wearing zombies, and a dash of necrophilia, this story epitomizes Lansdale’s gonzo, deranged appeal.

The second novella collected in The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale is probably his most famous work, due to the well-received 2002 film adaptation by Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, The Beastmaster, etc.): “Bubba Ho-Tep.” Set in an East Texas retirement home, the story is told from the perspective of an elderly man who is either Elvis in his twilight years or an impersonator who has kept up the act so long that his original identity has become foggy. When their fellow residents begin dying under mysterious circumstances, Elvis teams up with a nearly victimized Black man convinced that he is former President John F. Kennedy. They soon learn that a resurrected Egyptian mummy prowls the halls of their old folks’ home looking for souls to devour. With a colorful cast of addled characters and Lansdale’s trademark wit, comedy is very much at the forefront of “Bubba Ho-Tep,” but he doesn’t neglect the horrific aspect of the premise. The reader is reminded that the retirement home residents are incredibly vulnerable, death at the hands of the mummy results in eternal torment, and outside assistance is not coming. The threat may be somewhat ridiculous, but it is a lethal one, nonetheless.

Regular, well-meaning folks in the wrong place at the wrong time are common horror protagonists, but Lansdale also relishes putting the reader in the shoes of the truly despicable. Callous, bigoted, deceitful, or just plain demented. Sometimes they get their just deserts, sometimes they don’t. “My Dead Dog Bobby” is a two-page piece of flash fiction about a young boy playing with his decomposing pet. Lansdale is sometimes lumped in with the old splatterpunk movement—a categorization that’s not always undeserved but also feels slightly reductive—and there’s plenty of grue in this story, but readers may find their initial revulsion for the narrator replaced by pity by the short’s end. “By Bizarre Hands” is a chilling character study of a psychopathic traveling preacher visiting a widow on Halloween with plans to molest the woman’s developmentally disabled daughter. And rather than let readers off easy with the relatively reassuring “Bubba Ho-Tep,” The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale instead concludes with one of the darkest stories in the book: “Night They Missed the Horror Show.” Two racist, idiotic high school boys attempt to kill a dull evening in their Podunk town by dragging the corpse of a dead dog behind their car. Later in the evening they encounter a pair of even crueler men and quickly find themselves in a desperate situation. In his introduction to the piece the author aptly describes it as “a story of the bad guys meeting some really bad guys.” Many of us have had the misfortune of encountering people that just seem “off” or somehow fundamentally broken inside, and Lansdale is uncommonly effective at portraying that sort of ominous individual on the page.

The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale is a worthy retrospective of a bona fide horror master’s extensive career. The folksy, the humorous, the gory, the gonzo, and the pitch-black elements of his body of work are all present and accounted for across this collection’s 16 entries. If you’re new to Lansdale, this is an excellent place to start. If you’re already acquainted with him, this volume likely includes your favorite Lansdale story alongside several less familiar treasures.

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In a recent edition of The Ethicist, a letter to the editor style publication from the New York Times, Kwame Anthony Appiah responds beautifully to a difficult question a reader asked about whether they should cut off an acquaintance who has committed racist acts.

Like you, I favor a bit of grace in a world full of sinners. And cutting off everyone who is morally flawed would leave you with a very small coterie of friends — who might then be tempted by the flaw of moral vanity. (In which case you’d have to get rid of them, too.)

You say you’re an equality-minded liberal. The way to live your creed isn’t by curating a spotless feed of spotless minds but by helping people do better. Hew to the norm; judge the person by what he does next; show grace where it stands a chance to help someone grow. That’s the difference between moral vanity and moral work.

This dovetails nicely with my last post, Counterproductive activism. I would never defend racist acts, obviously, but I agree that moral work demands helping others to be better, if at all possible. The rest, as he says, is moral vanity. Gosh, what a great term.

Am I guilty of moral vanity? Yep, in ways I both do and don't notice. Even this post might convey a kind of moral vanity. If you notice times when I'm guilty of it, though, let's talk about it. That's how change happens.

#Communication #PersonalDevelopment #Philosophy #Politics #SocialMedia #Technology