Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Unequally Yoked

Home
Catholic
7QT: Preachy Swords and Pricey Peanut Butter

7QT: Preachy Swords and Pricey Peanut Butter

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 12:13 pm by Leah Libresco

7QT: Preachy Swords and Pricey Peanut Butter 2015-03-13T12:13:55-04:00 Leah Libresco

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

— 1 —

I’ve been recommending Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip hop musical for a while (tickets now on sale for Broadway!) and you can see a few nice clips in this CBS story, which also includes interviews with Miranda:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wboCdgzLHg/

— 2 —

If you need any further persuading, take a look at how Miranda wrote the character descriptions for the Broadway run:

ALEXANDER HAMILTON – Eminem meets Sweeney Todd
AARON BURR – Javert meets Mos Def
GEORGE WASHINGTON – John Legend meets Mufasa
MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE/THOMAS JEFFERSON (dual role) – Lancelot meets Ludacris/Harold Hill meets Drake

(Noah Millman’s review for AmCon is also a real pleasure to read)

— 3 —

I understand that Hamilton may leave you feeling a little unmoored in terms of genre, so why not get your bearings by checking The Toast’s guide to “How To Tell If You Are In A Shakespearean Comedy”

You will believe literally anything written in a letter.
You remain chaste throughout a series of tribulations and are rewarded with a husband whom you have never met.
There are but two forms of criminal justice in your town: capital punishment, or a public scolding from the Duke.

— 4 —

Another unusual story I enjoyed this week: this short story, written in response to the prompt: What would happen if an intelligent greatsword inhabited by an ancient paladin’s Lawful Good spirit was found by a mean-spirited ogre, and the sword kept making telepathic LG suggestions which the ogre dim-wittedly obeyed…

Not really the same thing as Diana Wynne Jones’s The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, but I suspect that if you like one, you’ll also enjoy the other.

— 5 —

If you want to investigate mysterious artifacts a little closer to home, you might want to check out Gizmodo’s story of $761 peanut butter, sold by the government. It’s not a story of waste, but of accurate calibration, and a nice reminder that, when something sounds insane, it’s often a good idea to be a little curious rather than dismissive.

None of these materials are for consumption—or whatever it is you would think to do with lake sediment powder. Rather, SRMs serve a very particular purpose: NIST carefully measures the chemical content of their SRMs. Industrial labs all over the world buy SRMs to vaporize inside their gas chromagraphs and mass spectrometers and other devices, comparing those readings against NIST’s so they know their instruments are accurate. Food labs testing fatty foods need a fatty reference material like peanut butter, petroleum labs need crude oil, and so on.

— 6 —

Over at Dominicana, Br. Jordan Zajak has an interesting post using the Sorrowful and the Joyful mysteries of the Rosary to calibrate his response to both. I really enjoyed reading his paired meditations.

The Second Mysteries: The Visitation & Scourging at the Pillar

Before abandonment comes openness. God can and does make Himself present, but we must have hearts open to recognize Him. Old and barren, Elizabeth no longer expected God could bless her with a child. But God reverses her and Zechariah’s disappointment in dramatic fashion. Her joy reaches its peak with Mary’s visitation. Whereas Mary, the creature, comes bearing the Creator, the scourging at the pillar is motivated by the creatures’ condemnation of the Creator. Jesus does not meet the expectations of the high priests and scribes, so they turn over God’s Son to Pilate to preserve their self-generated, false images of the messiah. Thus, when our false ideas about God are proven wrong, it can be for us, like Elizabeth, a blessing—or, as for the high priests, a stumbling block.

(And speaking of the Dominicans, my friend Br. Dominic is being ordained as a deacon tomorrow, so please keep him in your prayers)

— 7 —

Finally, I used the hashtag #LittleAngelsReadUp and the image below (both a reference to Terry Pratchett’s Night Watch) to ask friends yesterday if they’d never read Pratchett and if they’d like one of his books as a gift. I wound up giving away copies of Men at Arms, Hogfather, Witches Abroad, and Monstrous Regiment. (The first three are great places to start in Discworld, the last was too perfect for the recipient to pass up).

Before I’d started thinking about giving books, I was already part of long fb threads on several walls that were mostly people just reposting favorite quotes until someone commented “I feel like I’m at a virtual wake.” I did too, and I wanted our virtual wake to spill over into the streets, so I’ve been very happy to send books on their way.

7 Quick Takes

Previous Post

March 12, 2015

Learning about Sainthood from Terry Pratchett #LittleAngelsReadUp

Next Post

March 14, 2015 Terry Pratchett's Morals and Magic [Radio Readings]

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 7 Quick Takes Apologetics Atheism Book Conversion Debate Tactics Debates Epistemology/Philosophy Housekeeping Ideological Turing Test Marriage Morality in Practice Parsing Catholicism Possibly Heretical Radio Reviews/Recommendations Sequence Index Spiritual Practice Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which prophet raised a dead boy to life for the Shunammite woman?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Elisha Samuel Elijah Isaiah