* * *

January 21, 2021

 

Mid-morning. Last night you wrote, "I have nothing to lose." You feel that you should "have nothing to gain" either. – Ms. H. 

 

0931. What I mean is that I do not want this 'rework with the new times' to be a selfish act. This brings me to the conflict – spiritually, I did all I could to bring about Diplomat's Pouch, published it as a philosophical treatise for a week or so through Amazon, then I took it off the market. Is it morally right to change it into a ghost story?

 

It will always be a passionate spirit story, Mr. Orndorff because that is the way it came from your heartansoulanmind to your fingertips and the keyboard. Drop this into your blog. – Ms. Havisham

 

2225. Tonight I am up to Chapter Forty with the deletions and a few minor changes along the way. It will be interesting to see if it makes sense without Amorella, Soki, and you to be a direct part of the story. I am curious enough to continue. G-D and G-Dofamily are still mentioned without the other spirits. Diplomat has captured the Voice or Spirit within, but she does not yet fully recognize that it is me, the author. This in itself gives the story another twist I had not thought of. Simply put, it is me who is within her. I am the one who is haunted by the dream she exists in. 2237.

 

Yes. This is an interesting turnabout. Without the other spirits, myself included, she can only sense you, her creator. –Ms. H. - Drop in the blog. 

 

* * *

* * *

January 20, 2021

 

You were gratified the way the Inauguration was handled today. Presently, you are waiting for Carol in the parking lot of DSW Shoes. Before we do anything else, write the Introduction and Afterword of The Gravedigger's Tale, the title of which may also be altered if need be. Spirits will intercede in the story to take the place of Angels and the like. Even Amorella will be stricken from the story for publication to tone down the rhetoric. No aliens. However, Grace will subtly have her say. What do you think? – Ms. Havisham. 

 

1400. Are we returning to Greek and Roman times?

 

We begin with a gathering of Spirits setting forth a dream of kindness, compassion and empathy. – Ms. H. 

 

1404. I am not interested. I do not have the passion. I had the passion in the work I renounced from publication last Fall. I followed my heartansoulanmind but went overboard. I feel I am used up, that I have no more sense of a human truth within me. Besides, the world is a better place today. 

 

So be it, Mr. Orndorff. Take down your blogs. You had your say. – Ms. Havisham 

 

1409. I have been thinking of such. I was a teacher, and I was a writer, but not a very good one – mis-directions with directions sent. However, I cannot find the will to do so at this time. Sharing appears to be the essence of writing. 

 

Evening. This is a draft, Mr. Orndorff. Do as you will, purge the Soki and Commentaries. – Ms. Havisham

 

2151. I have nothing to lose. The original still exists. Today is the beginning of another time – one of hope and renewal. 

 

2308. I stopped the purging at Chapter Thirty-Five.

 

* * *

January 19, 2021

 

Bedtime. You realize the Diplomat's Pouch is frozen in limbo as personal sacred territory. The work cannot be changed but for the Intro and Afterword remarks. Clear them if you wish. You may change it to a fiction from philosophy then let it go. I will help you with this and a one-hundred-word Introduction and a one-hundred-word Afterword. Other slight changes to lessen the sense of being philosophical, to soften the philosophical slant, may be made. The fictional title may be changed to A Gravedigger's Tale, and this aspect can be hardened into the theme of the work. – Ms. Havisham. 

 

2251. I will consider this. I agree with what you write. I don't know what I will do afterword.

 

* * *

January 18, 2021

 

Early morning. With Jadah sitting on your lap in your favorite black leather chair you thought of a new title for a slightly trimmed fictionalized Diplomat's Pouch  philosophy into A Gravedigger's Tale. 

 

Afternoon. Employed by Westerville City for several summers in the early and mid 1960s, Richard worked first in cemetery maintenance at Blendon Township's Pioneer Cemetery at South State Street; Olde Methodist Cemetery at the end of Lincoln Street; Blendon Central Cemetery at Dempsey and South Hempstead Road; along with Otterbein Cemetery at Knox and Walnut Streets. Richard along with a full-time caretaker at the cemeteries, and he also dug summer-time graves at Otterbein Cemetery with  pick, shovel and ax, and sometimes with the help of a hand-carried shovel attached to a portable air compressor. 

 

Evening. Your passions, your heartansoulanmind, are rejuvenated. Here are your thoughts at present. November 9, 2001 stirred your mind to the upcoming setting for Diplomat's Pouch. Today, you are stirred by a social and political connection to January 6, 2021. The key to this is a message of compassion and courage from three aliens, two females and one male whose civilization is only a thousand years ahead of your own. The earthlings directly involved are one female and two males. The communication is empathetic and carried by heartansoulanmind in a dreamtime like sequences; like attempts to communicate with the Dead. 

 

2248. Well, this is something to think on – a ghost-like story based on quantum physics. 

* * *

January 6, 2021

 

You had Chinese at your favorite restaurant, Lucky House, and presently Carol is searching for 5X7 picture frames for the boys' recent photos at nearby Walmart in Westerville. – Ms. Havisham

 

1454. Hopefully, the Democrats will have gained both seats in the Senate later today. O Happy Day, if this is so. Friday, we have an early supper with Cathy and Tod at Old Bag of Nails Uptown.

 

From 1600 to 2020 hours, you and Carol were glued to the televisions various channels: NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and cable's BBC over a crew of two thousand or so Trumpets' Insurrection or Coup on the U.S. Capitol Building, and on the Congress and Senate's official acceptance of the States' votes on Biden and Harris as elected President and Vice President. – Ms. Havisham

 

**

BBC Summary at 2304 hours.

1.   Armed supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol building and forced a lockdown

2.   Rioters smashed windows and clashed with police, with one person shot dead

3.   The violence halted debate over Joe Biden's election win but Congress has reconvened

4.   Some Republicans were trying to overturn the results in some states but lack sufficient support

5.   Trump called on his violent supporters to go home but repeated false claims the election was stolen

6.   Earlier, Democrats won two Senate seats in Georgia that tipped control of the Senate their way

7.   Meanwhile, the Democrats have won control of the Senate after Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated Republican incumbents

**

* * *

January 5, 2021

 

Afternoon. Your thoughts are on trimming up "Diplomat's Pouch" and turning the page into fiction rather than bio-fictional thinking. First, taking out all introductory material and changing the name from Richard to David Sawyer of something of that sort; complete rid the author of the book with any of the characters. Perhaps only Friendly's perspective. No angels or suggestions of angels – just a 'ghost' story from the cemetery. – Ms. Havisham

1722. I am not really that interested at present. The base story is complete. The only thing needed is an introduction. 

 

Your heart agrees; your mind does not, and your soul is indifferent at this point in your life with a the statement, "What is done, is done, orndorff. Let it go." Ms. Havisham

 

 

 * * *

January 2, 2021

 

Good morning, Mr. Orndorff. Your passion for writing has ebbed away for the present, perhaps permanently. Basically, your purpose has eroded away with the realization that it was a false cause stemming from misplaced guilt perhaps, who knows. This is how your heart and mind see it. After your reflections on your soul, you realize this was most likely misplaced also – wishful thinking if nothing else. I would say your intent was innocent, but you don't want to believe that because you don't trust your 'inner voices' as much as you used to. You would like to broadly put these four blogs in the category of 'Misunderstandings or Misinterpretations' in the sense you wished you could help make the world a better place as long as you were here. Do you agree? – Ms. Havisham

 

0905. I hoped I would have made a greater contribution, but a career in consistently attempting to teach young people to be more thoughtful, reasonable, and scholarly each year is positive in my own mind. I hope I did no one any permanent harm in my life. 0910.

 

Do not take the blog down as of yet, but let's take a sabbatical, so to speak. Ms. Havisham

 

* * *

 25. Christmas

Early afternoon. You and Carol shoveled the driveway before nine o'clock this morning, then you napped until eleven. Carol made hamburgers and veggies for lunch, which you had for breakfast. In an hour, you will be on your way to the movie theatre for a private showing to see "Wonder Woman." Kim, Paul, Owen, Brennan, Gayle, Carol and you are going. Cathy and Tod canceled last minute because Tod is having a bad health day. 

 

2145. "Wonder Woman" earned a three out of five, but some scenes were worth a four. We had a good time,  nevertheless. Dinner of short ribs, veggies, salad, potatoes, and yummy ginger cake dessert with caramel sauce topping and a plop of whipped cream on top from 101 Beer Kitchen was excellent. We exchanged gifts, enjoying the time together (I lost to Owen in chess. He played well, and I made three errors which didn't help my cause.) Kim and Paul gave each of us Air Pro earphones, and we each bought ourselves an iPhone 11, which Paul set up for us. 

 

Tomorrow you need to call AAA and have a new battery installed in the 2005 Honda. Kim and Paul tried to talk you into selling it and buy an updated Honda Accord, if not a new one, because of the safety features. Once the year is over, we can better return to this blog's focus, editing "Grandma's Stories" into one book from short story selections in three books. – Ms. Havisham

 

2207. We had a good Christmas afternoon and evening with family. 

 

* * *

 December 22, 2020

24. a biopic on words

 

Last night Carol and I watched "The Professor and the Madman," a 'biopic' with Mel Gibson and Sean Penn about creating the Victorian Oxford English Dictionary, which was quite above Samuel Johnson's eighteen-century version. The professional reviews of the film are terrible. We thought it was well done for showing the developing passions of the word-lovers, a self-taught Scottish professor, James Murray, and a Yale-educated, mentally distraught Civil War Veteran, Dr. William Chester Minor. Dr. Minor's main setting is at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital in Berkshire, while Professor Murray's place is at Oxford. The two plus the Oxford English Dictionary project are the film's main focus. This is dressed up with Professor Murray, a teacher, having a wife, and several young children. Dr. Minor has committed for accidentally murdering the wrong man in London and convicted to Broadmoor for insanity. He develops a stressful relationship with the wife, with children, of the man he murdered, while he still believes someone that he branded a deserter in the Civil War is still stalking him. 

 

The film has terribly violent moments. However, it is the intellectual passion of the lexophiles that impresses me the most. As life-long readers, Carol and I feel the film is well worth watching. Avid readers who understand the subtleties within word meanings will, I trust, see beyond the film's shortcomings. It takes courage to make a film about the making of a dictionary like the Oxford English. – rho, – 2236. 

 

 * * *

[addendum] December 24, 2020

on friends

 

Craig and Alta called tonight to wish you both a Merry Christmas, and you had a good chat for thirty-five minutes or so. You both miss seeing them. As you turned off the porch Christmas lights, you noted it snowed at least two inches, perhaps three. The four of you talked about how Christmas is not the same for seventy-year-olds. They have a small tree, and so do you. The fun is for the children and young at heart; for you four, fun is talking to friends any time of the day or year and watching the children and young at heart. – Ms. Havisham

 

2243. That it is. Friends. I cannot imagine an afterworld without old friends. 

 

* * *

 December 20/21 2020

23. events of two days

 

Sunday morning. You had a busy couple of days. Friday, your sixty-inch Sony, given to you by Kim and Paul when they took your older fifty-five inch Sony Kim had bought for you and Carol in 2013. This is after they had bought a new sixty-five-inch television a few years ago. So, your sixty-inch black screened, then the audio dropped to a whisper, then nothing. You did about two hours-worth of research, and you both decided on another Sony because of the picture quality and style. You upgraded to an XBR65X800H HDR Processor and 4K X-Reality PRO  LED/LCD Sony. Paul ordered it for you from Best Buy Friday (Kim took the money from your account as you asked), and Paul picked it up Saturday morning with Kim's Honda Odyssey. It took Paul and Kim two hours to take off the old TV and fully set it up on the wall brackets. Paul also hooked up the Internet and Cable along with the Harmony remote and Alexa. While this was going on, your home alarm systems began short beeping for their first replacement backup batteries. Kim and Paul came back later with a larger ladder and batteries to replace the house's seven or eight alarms. – Ms. Havisham

 

1120. The older we become, the more we depend on Kim and Paul for periodic assistance, such as yesterday's events. Also, Kim gave us our (late ordered and received) photo Xmas cards already addressed, which we hand noted and signed this morning. They will be mailed tomorrow. The technological changes in televisions are amazing. This Sony was on sale for eight hundred dollars, down from a thousand. A couple of years ago, this upgrade (now a standard) would have cost much more than we paid. Kim and I had a discussion on changing those alarm batteries. She insisted that neither of us should be climbing ladders. I was a bit taken back by Kim's rather aggressive rebuke but acquiesced (at least she isn't taking our car keys). 1134

 

Mid-afternoon. Carol is napping, and you have dropped Story Ten onto a document for refreshing; however, presently, you are not mentally ready to work. Ms. H.

 

1440. I found an interesting Christmas article.

 

Drop it in. – Ms. H.

 

**

SCIENCE ALERT

 

PLANETS WILL ALIGN IN THE SKY ON MONDAY. IS THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM COMING BACK? 

 

ERIC M. VANDEN EYKEL, THE CONVERSATION 

18 DECEMBER 2020 

 

On 21 December 2020, Jupiter and Saturn will cross paths in the night's sky, and for a brief moment, they will appear to shine together as one body. While planetary conjunctions like this are not everyday events, they also are not particularly rare.

This year's conjunction is different for at least two reasons. The first is the degree to which the two planets will be aligned. Experts predict that they will appear closer during this conjunction than they have in nearly eight centuries and brighter.

But the second factor, and the one that has thrust this event into the spotlight, is that it will occur on the winter solstice, just before the Christmas holiday. The timing has led to speculation whether this could be the same astronomical event that the Bible reports led the wise men to Joseph, Mary, and the newly born Jesus – the Star of Bethlehem.

As a scholar of early Christian literature writing a book on the three wise men, I argue that the upcoming planetary conjunction is likely not the fabled Star of Bethlehem. The biblical story of the star is intended to convey theological rather than historical or astronomical truths.

LEADING LIGHT

The story of the star has long fascinated readers, both ancient and modern. Within the New Testament, it is found only in Matthew's Gospel, the first-century account of Jesus' life that begins with the story of his birth.

In this account, wise men arrive in Jerusalem and say to Herod, the king of Judea: "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage." The star then leads them to Bethlehem and stops over the house of Jesus and his family.

Many have read this story with the presupposition that Matthew must have been referencing an actual astronomical event that occurred around the time of Jesus' birth. The astronomer Michael R. Molnar, for example, has argued that the Star of Bethlehem was an eclipse of Jupiter within the constellation Ares.

There are at least two issues involved in associating a specific event with Matthew's star. The first is that scholars are not certain exactly when Jesus was born. The traditional date of his birth may be off by as many as six years.

The second is that measurable, predictable astronomical events occur with relative frequency. The quest to discover which event, if any, Matthew might have had in mind is, therefore, a complicated one.

BELIEFS ABOUT THE STAR

The theory that the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn may be the Star of Bethlehem is not new. It was proposed in the early 17th century by Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer, and mathematician. Kepler argued that this same planetary conjunction in or around 6 BC could have served as inspiration for Matthew's star story.

Kepler was not the first to suggest that the Star of Bethlehem may have been a recognizable astronomical event. Four hundred years before Kepler, between 1303 and 1305, the Italian artist Giotto painted the star as a comet on the Scrovegni Chapel walls in Padua, Italy.

Scholars have suggested that Giotto did this as an homage to Halley's Comet, which astronomers have determined was visible in 1301, on one of its regular flights past the Earth. Astronomers have also determined that Halley's Comet passed by the Earth in or around 12 BC, between five and 10 years before most scholars argue that Jesus was born. It is possible that Giotto believed Matthew was referencing Halley's Comet in his story of the star.

Attempts to discover Matthew's star's identity are often creative and insightful, but I would argue that they are also misguided.

The star in Matthew's story may not be a "normal" natural phenomenon, and Matthew suggests as much in the way that he describes it. Matthew says that the wise men come to Jerusalem "from the East." The star then leads them to Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem. The star, therefore, makes a sharp left turn. And astronomers will agree that stars do not make sharp turns.

Moreover, when the wise men arrive in Bethlehem, the star is low enough in the sky to lead them to a specific house. As physicist Aaron Adair puts it: "the Star is said to stop in place and hover over a particular lodging, acting like an ancient GPS unit."

The "description of the movements of the Star," he noted, was "outside what is physically possible for any observable astronomical object."

THEOLOGICAL UNDERPINNING

In short, there appears to be nothing "normal" or "natural" about the phenomenon that Matthew describes. Perhaps the point that Matthew is trying to make is a different one.

Matthew's story of the star draws from a body of tradition in which stars are connected to rulers. The rising of a star signifies that a ruler has come to power.

In the biblical book of Numbers, for example, which dates to the 5th century BC, the prophet Balaam predicts the arrival of a ruler who will defeat the enemies of Israel. "A star shall come out of Jacob, [meaning Israel]…it shall crush the borderlands of Moab."

One of the most well-known examples of this tradition from antiquity is the so-called "Sidus Iulium," or "Julian Star," a comet that appeared a few months after the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Roman authors Suetonius and Pliny the Elder report that the comet was so bright that it was visible in the late afternoon. Many Romans interpreted the spectacle as evidence that Julius Caesar was now a god.

In light of such traditions, I believe Matthew's story of the star exists not to inform readers about a specific astronomical event but to support claims that he is making about the character of Jesus.

Put another way, I argue that Matthew's goal in telling this story is more theological than it is historical.

Therefore, the upcoming conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is likely not a return of the Star of Bethlehem, but Matthew would likely be pleased with the awe it inspires in those who anticipate it. 

Eric M. Vanden Eykel, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF RELIGION, Ferrum College.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

Selected and edited from - https://www.sciencealert.com/the-star-of-bethlehem-may-be-returning-as-heavenly-bodies-convered

 

**

1450. Now that I have reread the article, I can't really see any relative sense in dropping it in the blog. 

 

Define 'traditions' as the word is mentioned several times.

 

**

tradition - noun 

 

1 the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way: every shade of color is fixed by tradition and governed by religious laws. 

 

• a long-established custom or belief that has been passed on from one generation to another: Japan's unique cultural traditions.

 

• [in singular] an artistic or literary method or style established by an artist, writer, or movement, and subsequently followed by others: visionary works in William Blake's tradition. 

 

2 Theology a doctrine believed to have divine authority though not in the scriptures.

 

• (in Christianity) doctrine not explicit in the Bible but held to derive from the oral teaching of Jesus and the Apostles. 

 

• (in Judaism) an ordinance of the oral law not in the Torah but held to have been given by God to Moses. 

 

• (in Islam) a saying or act ascribed to the Prophet but not recorded in the Koran. See Hadith.

 

Selected and edited from the Oxford/American

 

**

 

1459. It appears to be the author's focus is to question the validity of the Bethlehem Star with a lasting impression of either wonder or doubt from the reader's perspective. This is similar to the objective of Grandma's Stories written surrealistically by Amorella. 

 

* * *

December 20/21, 2020

 

You and Carol are at Heritage Park, Westerville, and had a picnic from Potbelly's while Sueti Guimaraes, wife/partner of Alex Guimaraes, cleans your house once every two weeks on a Monday. Both are from Sao Paulo, Brazil, which makes understanding/communication easier. Sueti and Alex have been cleaning Kim and Paul's house for several years – good, honest people from Sao Paulo, in your estimation. They have one child and own a healthy business model. – Ms. Havisham

 

1434. I found the article online today. Good stuff to think on and wonder. 

 

**

SCIENCE ALERT

 

SPACE

MYSTERIOUS RADIO SIGNAL DETECTED FROM OUR CLOSEST NEIGHBOURING STAR SYSTEM 

 

RAFI LETZTER, LIVE SCIENCE 

21 DECEMBER 2020 

 

Astronomers hunting for radio signals from alien civilizations have detected an "intriguing signal" from Proxima Centauri's direction, the nearest star system to the sun, THE GUARDIAN reported.

According to THE GUARDIAN, the researchers are still preparing a paper on the discovery, and the data have not been made public. But the signal is reportedly a narrow beam of 980 MHz radio waves detected in April and May 2019 at the Parkes telescope in Australia.

The Parkes telescope is part of the US$100 million Breakthrough Listen project to hunt for radio signals from technological sources beyond the solar system. The 980 MHz signals appeared once and were never detected again. That frequency is important because, as SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN points out, the radio waves band typically lacks signals from human-made craft and satellites.

Breakthrough Listen detects unusual radio signals all the time - between earthly sources, the Sun's natural radio output, and natural sources beyond the Solar System, there are a lot of radio waves bouncing around out there.

But this signal appears to have come directly from the Proxima Centauri system, just 4.2 light-years from Earth. Even more tantalizing: The signal reportedly shifted slightly while it was being observed, in a way that resembled the shift caused by the movement of a planet. Proxima Centauri has one known rocky world 17 percent larger than Earth and one known gas giant.

THE GUARDIAN quoted an unnamed source with apparent access to the data on this signal as saying, "It is the first serious candidate for an alien communication since the 'Wow! Signal,'" a famous radio signal detected in 1977 that also resembled a technosignature.

But THE GUARDIAN cautioned that this signal is "likely to have a mundane origin too."

Such more mundane sources include a comet or its hydrogen cloud, which also could explain the Wow! Signal.

Penn State University's Sofia Sheikh, who led the analysis of the signal for Breakthrough Listen, voiced her excitement about it: "It's the most exciting signal that we've found in the Breakthrough Listen project because we haven't had a signal jump through this many of our filters before," Sheikh told SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, adding that the signal is now being referred to as Breakthrough Listen Candidate 1, or BLC1.

An inherent challenge in searching for alien communications is that no one knows how aliens might communicate. No one knows all the potential natural sources of radio waves in the Universe. So, when signals arrive that seem even plausibly technological and don't come with easy natural explanations, it's tempting to make the jump to aliens.

So far, no data on this signal is public, and it's likely that even when it does become public, there will be no conclusive answers; that's what happened with the Wow! Signal after all.

This article was originally published by Live Science. Read the original article here.

 

Selected and edited from - https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-radio-signal-received-from-our-closest-neighbouring-star-system

 

**

 

Evening. It is ever your hope that if humans can't come to save their humanity, that others, aliens of a sort, will have humanity and mercy and renew my hope. – At the moment you wrote 'our' hope, then realized the truth of the moment, that it is 'my' (meaning 'your') hope. – Ms. Havisham

 

2241. Indeed, it is my hope, in the singular; such is the arrogance that I possess. 

That's all for tonight, Mr. Orndorff. Carol is in bed with the light on and Jadah resting comfortably on her lap. You are tired. Jadah left for a drink. Good night, Mr. Orndorff. Post. – Ms. Havisham

 

* * *