Progress on a Treadmill

  

 

3 feet high and rising

We have probably written all there is to write regarding the facts surrounding the be-sneaker'd feet that have been washing up on the shores of Vancouver Island and environs for several years now, so we won't spill any ink on this latest, except to point out that yes, another foot has made an appearance:

https://us.blastingnews.com/news/2018/02/a-detached-foot-belonging-to-a-washington-man-has-washed-ashore-in-canada-002386071.html

Something we didn't know:

Vancouver Island is also well known for its Sasquatch sightings.

For well over a decade, residents on or near Vancouver Island have reported hearing strange howls during the day and night. Some have even claimed to have seen one of the creatures.

The Sasquatch, we should point out, is also known as....Bigfoot.

Ah-choo

To quarantine or not to quarantine....

100 years ago, in January, 1918, the first cases of the H1N1 influenza virus, or "Spanish Flu" were observed.  It may have started in France, or maybe Kansas, scientists aren't sure, but by the time it simmered down it had killed between 50 and 100 million people, or 3 to 5 % of the world's population, making it one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history.  And it struck almost everywhere, even the Arctic.

Why the "Spanish" Flu?  Apparently censorship in many countries involved in the Great War, e.g. Great Britain, the U.S., Germany, and France minimized early reports in order to protect morale, whereas in neutral Spain, the media reported on the pandemic more freely.  People thus assumed Spain was harder hit and hence the name.

In Spain they called it the "Naples Soldier" which was taken from a musical operetta titled La canción del olvido (The Song of Forgetting).

Such a tragedy, the Great War ended in November, 1918, but one could argue that the conditions (destroyed infrastructure, overcrowded camps, general mayhem) it created helped propagate the virus that kept on killing for another 2 years.  There were two waves of the pandemic, the second even deadlier than the first, but by December 1920, it was over.

Happy 2018.

See 1918 flu pandemic for more details

“I am the bread of life...."

The dubious sculpture

You have to wonder what the sculptor of the statue pictured above was thinking.  Was it really just a case of not thinking things through, a tremendous case of oversight -- or was it a jab at the Catholic Church's pedophilia cover-ups?  Or merely a childish joke?

 

Covered up, eh?  As for reality being the metaphor, you can't get much better.  When the statue was installed, students at the school immediately  saw the humor in it, taking pics and posting them on Instagram.  The school wrote a note of apology explaining the situation (above) and then covered it up until a solution can be found.  I'm sure the Blackfriars Priory School is loving all the attention.

The cover up.

It's kind of a shame, really, because the Saint depicted, St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639), seems like a pretty decent fellow, known for a genuine commitment to the poor, having established both an orphanage and a children's hospital.

Born in Lima, Peru, he was the illegitimate child of a nobleman and a freed slave.  Though an unusually devout child, his mixed race prevented him from fully joining a religious order.  But when the Prior ignored the law due to Martin's unflagging dedication to healing the sick and caring for the poor, he was allowed to take vows as a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic.  Unfortunately, not all the monks were as open-minded as the prior, and he suffered insults and harassment from his new "brothers".

There are several anecdotes that attest to his humanity: bringing an old man covered with ulcers to his own bed, saying that "Compassion, my dear Brother, is preferable to cleanliness" when he was criticized by a dubious brother.  Another time he was reprimanded by the Prior for bringing a dying Indian to his room and he responded "Forgive my error, and please instruct me, for I did not know that the precept of obedience took precedence over that of charity."  Zing!  St. Martin had certainly learned the true meaning behind Jesus rebuking the Pharisees when they criticized him for healing on the Sabbath.  He was thereafter given liberty to do as as wanted when it came to merciful acts.

There are reports he cured the sick merely by giving someone a glass of water, and that during an epidemic he worked tirelessly, even walking through locked doors into quarantined areas.  His alms could feed up to 160 people a day.  Other miracles have him levitating in ecstasy, light filling rooms as he prayed, a remarkable rapport with animals (he was a vegetarian), miraculous knowledge, instantaneous cures, and my favorite, bilocation.

Because of the miracles that occurred when he was invoked in prayer, his body was exhumed 25 years after his death.  His body was said to be incorrupt and to have given off a sweet fragrance.  Numerous pleas were sent to Rome for his beatification, and though his works were eventually recognized as heroic, he wasn't beatified until 1837.  He was made a saint in 1962.  He's often shown carrying a broom to symbolize his belief that all work was holy and he is also sometimes pictured with a dog, cat and mouse drinking from the same bowl, symbolizing peace.

He is the patron saint of mixed-race people, barbers, innkeepers, public health workers, and those seeking racial harmony.  His feast Day is November 3.  In Santeria he is venerated as Papa Candelo.

The Adelaide Blackfriars probably wanted to unveil something nice for Saint Martin's saint day, but unfortunately they, erm, blew it.

Open Source Band Names List for as yet unnamed or non-existent bands III

List II

Burkini Fatso Bill Cosplay Bork The Wayward Sun The Spectacle of Society Life Before Death Dadbeat Dead Dork in Boots The Dworkins Road Rage Sarah Palindrome Schematoma Spandex Ballet Borneo Bullet Boy (B3) C3P.O. Box Sporkfinder Sporkfiend Spork and Mindy Mindless Rubbish Bar Baron Dogs on Crack Doctor Hate Fools in Love Fops in Paradise Ford Rivers Red Range Rover (R3) The Maimed Stars Rockets over Riyadh Laughing at the Graveyard Fiery Death Ball Shit Gibbon The Weathered Veins Pic-nique ta mère Donald Dork Hangin' w/ Chris and Chester Ad Astra Cortisone Kids Koala Kandy Bill's Board White Arrow Sniff the Doo Doo The Fires of Artifice Poète + Maçon = André Béton Once Upon a Thyme Dorks in Paradise Xanaxdu Silt Dragon The Golden Polymers Annoying Kuntz Bingle Jell Rock Pudding Jakarta Important for Life Riders on my Bone Strangers in my Pants Stormrider Stranger than Fiction Guitar Zero Queer as Fuck Apple Eaters Apple Boys Girl Powder Riot Sqrrls Cattle Proud Cat Collect Call Spanish Moses Moss Man Stones of the Queen Age Percy Bysse Shellfish Emerson, Lake & Palm Frond Morder Philharmonic Orc-estra Ravi Longshanks Flood Zone Dollars for Jesus Disco Dollar Dog Caller Kale Factory Bowl of Poop Filthbucket Surrender Turdlings! Take us to your Leather