Candles

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O. Hallesby: Prayer

I need not exert myself and try to force myself to believe, or try to chase doubt out of my heart. Both are equally useless. It begins to dawn on me that I can bring everything to Jesus, no matter how difficult it is; and I need not be frightened away by my doubts or my weak faith, but only tell Jesus how weak my faith is. I have let Jesus into my heart. And He will fulfill my heart’s desire. —O. Hallesby in Prayer.

Witness

A man is not primarily a witness against something. That is only incidental to the fact that he is a witness for something. A witness, in the sense that I am using the word, is a man whose life and faith are so completely one that when the challenge comes to step out and testify for his faith, he does so, disregarding all risks, accepting all consequences.

—Whittaker Chambers, Witness

I and Thou

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What?

The company is selling a security product that will protect you from someone stealing the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) from items like cell phones and laptop computers. But if you stare at it long enough, it gets creepy, or funny. Mobile prostate exams?

A new perspective

"Pointing out that stuff sucks is not edgy or dangerous anymore. Everyone knows what sucks. What's better is to find the stuff that's amazing and hold it up."

— Comedian Patton Oswalt, quoted in Paste Magazine, September 2009

Remastered

I've spent the last two days listening to my favorite Beatles songs, for the first time.

Just released are newly remastered versions of the Beatles catalog. The difference, even between previous CD versions and these, is stunning. The new masters are so alive, so nuanced and so full of presence that they are truly better than the originals. If you are a Beatles fan, you owe yourself to spend the money. And please, listen to them on something other than Ipod earbuds. (I bought my first Beatles album, Rubber Soul, in 1965, and listened to it on a small portable record player with a 3" speaker. While I appreciated the musicianship, I could not appreciate the recording until decades later when I listened to the CD on a high-end stereo system).

Concurrent with the Beatles releases, a newly remastered version of The Wizard of Oz has just been released. Available in Blu-Ray and standard DVD, it promises the same sort of experience as listening to The Beatles. One benefit I am looking forward to: the new version has 6.1 surround sound; all the previous releases were monophonic, since that was what movie theaters were equipped to play in 1939. (Trivia: What was the first multi-channel movie soundtrack?  Walt Disney's Fantasia, in 1940. When did the Abbey Road recording studios, made famous by The Beatles, open? 1931.)



And in other remastering news, God is continuing to improve on Wayne S, model 1. As the song says, 

I've got to admit it's getting better

A little better all the time

It can't get no worse

I have to admit it's getting better, it's getting better

Since you've been mine.

(Lennon-McCartney, 1967)