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July 18, 2006
A Rune Workbook
There are many books on the runes out there. Some should be avoided like the Plague. I'll stick with the positive and mention one that rather should be purchased.
The Runes Workbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Learning the Wisdom of the Staves, by Lean Wild, is a compact reference and supplement to the runes and runework. The spirit of the book is that it be used as a workbook - instructions on keeping a journal (with template), how to meditate, and lots of exercises to be done to learn and internalize the runes are presented. The book stresses that the primary sources for the runic tradition comes from the 24 Elder Futhark runes, rune inscriptions, the rune poems, and the Eddas.
After an introduction on the runes and the Gods/Goddesses, the main of the book is the presentation of the runes of the Elder Futhark. For each rune, there is a description of the meaning of the rune, keywords about the rune's meaning, relevant Old English, Old Norse, and Old Icelandic rune poem stanzes (translated into English). There are also exercises to help internalize the rune, such as galdra, thoughts to meditate upon for that rune, and ways to enact the rune into your life. There is also a chapter on Runic Divination. The book contains a useful Glossary, Index, and Quick Reference page in the back. Also, there are a lot of references listed, such as organizations and services, academic acknowledgements, and further reading. The quality of the book's presentation and binding is high - the pages are thick, and the layout and artwork are tasteful.
If you are curious about the runes and want a simple book to help you work through them, read them, and write them, then this book just might help you on your way.
Posted by keg at 12:35 AM
July 17, 2006
Never too Late to Say You're Sorry
This is a brief tale of two women. The first is about Grace Sherwood, who, on July 10, 1706, became the first person to be tried by ducking in the state of Virginia for witchcraft. She was also pardoned by governor Tim Kaine on July 10, 2006. The second is about Belinda Nash, a volunteer at the historic Ferry Plantation House in Virginia Beach, VA, who fought to have the Governor clear Grace Sherwood's name.
Perhaps it seemed like a good idea at the time. To be tried by ducking means you have your thumbs tied to your toes, you have a 13 pound Bible tied to your neck, and then you are tossed overboard into a large body of water. If you float, then that means you are a witch, since the pure water has cast out the evil spirits inside, making you rise to the surface. If you stay at the bottom of the river or lake, then you must have been innocent -- drowned, but innocent.
When Grace Sherwood, age 46, was accused of being a witch in Pungo, Virginia, she was tried by ducking (bound, weighted, and thrown into the Lynnhaven River), but floated to the surface, meaning she was guilty of being a witch. The "Witch of Pungo" served more than seven years in jail for witchcraft, and then lived until age 80.
Belinda Nash researched Grace Sherwood for many years, and felt strongly that her conviction should be pardoned. And so she campaigned and lobbied the governor until the pardoning ceremony, held last Monday where a re-enactment took place in front of the Ferry Plantation House.
From an article in the Washington Post:
"With 300 years of hindsight, we all certainly can agree that trial by water is an injustice," Kaine wrote. "We also can celebrate the fact that a woman's equality is constitutionally protected today, and women have the freedom to pursue their hopes and dreams."
There is a donation form to support the Lynnhaven Parish in making a statue in honor of the Witch of Pungo. The statue is to be placed on the grounds of the Old Donation Episcopal Church, 4449 N. Witchduck Road, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Posted by keg at 10:57 PM | Comments (2)
July 16, 2006
Tractor Supply and Green Acres
I have noted with pleasure that several new Tractor Supply stores have opened up locally. While Home Depot and those sorts of stores have useful items for, say, painting, or installing a new sink, there are many things that have been hard to find for folks who live out in the country or have a farm. That there are more Tractor Supply stores indicates that people are 'rediscovering' the fact that there is more to life than life in the city.
An article in the Washington Post talks about this rush to Green Acres:
Tractor Supply's stock is worth 29 times what it was a little more than five years ago, and the chain has grown to about 640 stores. It racked up $2.1 billion in sales last year and $86 million in profits. Around Washington, Tractor Supply runs seven stores on the fringes -- in counties such as Charles and Carroll in Maryland, Loudoun and Fauquier in Virginia. Inside are stacks of a free magazine called Out Here. Recent articles ranged from "Sandblasting Made Easy" to how to start a book club.
I noted that the article mentions Icelandic sheep. When I was in Iceland, I really admired the wool from those sheep - much higher quality than what you can find elsewhere. I'll have to check on acquiring some of those. But in the meantime, I'm off to Tractor Supply for some new overalls...
Posted by keg at 5:34 PM
July 15, 2006
The Government's Right to Tap
The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA, is a 1994 law that requires telecommunications companies to provide special access to their data by government officials -- the usual requirement is to gather evidence for criminal investigations:
To amend title 18, United States Code, to make clear a telecommunications carrier's duty to cooperate in the interception of communications for Law Enforcement purposes, and for other purposes.
However, with the tremendous growth of the Internet, the government has long been trying to apply CALEA laws to Internet service providers too. It was pointed out that network traffic is different from telephone calls, that it would place an undue burden on often small ISPs to fund out of their own pockets the overhauling of their networks to provide network taps for government triffic sniffers and collectors, and many other concerns. However, last year the FCC issued regulations to apply the law to Internet networks.
There is an article at Inside Higher Ed that discusses the dilemma posed for colleges and universities:
Because colleges have taken numerous steps in recent years to make their networks more secure, making changes throughout their networks to make it easier for the government to monitor activities could have been hugely expensive. Colleges were particularly frustrated because they only rarely get requests (with warrants) from the government for such monitoring, and there has been no instance in which a college has been unable to comply promptly. The ACE sued the FCC over the regulations and a federal appeals court last month rejected the suit and said that the rules could be enforced. But the appeals court carved out an exception for "private networks," whose definition colleges have been trying to pin down.
Note that there are two perspectives to consider in this debate, as there are two sides of the network connection (collector and collectee).
Posted by keg at 2:42 PM
July 10, 2006
First Rune Post
If we consider the advice given in the Havamal, it is upon us to learn well the Runes - how to read, write, etc. So, towards this goal, I have decided to foster such growth by learning to blog using the runes.
Of course, I could just type in the unicode characters for each rune, but, for me, that does not accelerate the learning process. Instead, I have created a keyboard layout for my computer that automatically maps a keypress to the appropriate letter or rune. For example, the computer you are using now knows to interpret the press of the key "A" as "a", and the press of "Shift"+"A" as "A". So I just did the same thing, adding the 24 runes of the Elder Futhark.
By doing this as an XML file, which is the interface used by OS X, I can simply swap keyboards when I want to type runes for a while by pointing either to my "runic" keyboard or to the "U.S." keyboard. Also, I left the Roman letter key mappings by default. To type a rune, I just have to press "Option" + the appropriate rune letter. (This means that the standard U.S. keyboard is roughly a subset of my runic keyboard.)
For example, I have mapped Fehu to the letter "f", so to type the Fehu rune, I just hit "Option"+"F", which gives ᚠ.
Ideally this would work when writing webpages, but that seems to depend also on the webserver - whether or not the database supports unicode. The one I am using unfortunately appears to garble the unicode formatting. For example, when writing this blog entry, if I type:
< H2> ᚠ < /H2>
I get
< H2> ᚠ < /H2>.
If I want the rune to show correctly, I have to type:
< H2> ᚠ < /H2>
which gives me
< H2> ᚠ < /H2>.
Note: if you do not see the Fehu rune, then your computer does not have the appropriate font installed. You may want to download Junicode or Code2000.
Posted by keg at 2:07 PM
July 9, 2006
Veterans Affairs Problems
It seems that the Department of Veterans Affairs will not give Sergeant Patrick Stewart, who was killed while in Afghanistan, a proper cemetery headstone.
"At the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in the small town of Fernley, Nev., there is a wall of brass plaques for local heroes. But one space is blank. There is no memorial for Sgt. Patrick D. Stewart. That’s because Stewart was a Wiccan, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to allow a symbol of the Wicca religion — a five-pointed star within a circle, called a pentacle — to be inscribed on U.S. military memorials or grave markers."
Wiccans have been trying to get their religious symbol approved for the last nine years.
"Wicca is one of the fastest-growing faiths in the country. Its adherents have increased almost 17-fold from 8,000 in 1990 to 134,000 in 2001, according to the American Religious Identification Survey. The Pentagon says that more than 1,800 Wiccans are on active duty in the armed forces. "
and
"Federal courts have recognized Wicca as a religion since 1986. Prisons across the country treat it as a legitimate faith, as do the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. military, which allows Wiccan ceremonies on its bases. “My husband’s dog tags said ‘Wiccan’ on them,” Stewart noted. But applications from Wiccan groups and individuals to VA for use of the pentacle on grave markers have been pending for nine years, during which time the symbols of 11 other faiths have been approved."
Note the last part - symbols of 11 other faiths have been approved while the Wicca decision has been pending.
What are some of the symbols that the Veterans Affairs has approved? There are currently 38 approved symbols, including Muslim, Konk-faith, Sikh, Izumo Taishakyo Mission of Hawaii, Soka Gakkai International, Humanist, Native American Church of North America, Bahai, and Athiest.
It is not clear if the Wiccan symbol is not being allowed because of Veterans Affairs incompetence or maliciousness. Maybe they should be reminded of the First Amendment of the US Constitution, especially the Free Exercise Clause. Or maybe they just lost their copy.
But even Christians realize that the Veterans Affairs department is in error. Rev. Barry Lynn addresses the issue on the show Culture Shocks. You can listen to the entire program here.
Posted by keg at 9:24 AM
July 6, 2006
Skyline Caverns - Captive Audience
One of the reasons I love Virginia so much is that this state has beautiful mountains, rivers, beaches, rolling hills, forests, four seasons, and even caverns. Truly a state with something for everyone.
So I was astounded to hear reports of weird religious indoctrination at one of this state's geological sites - Skyline Caverns.
The report is that if you take the guided tour of the caverns, in addition to the stalagmites and stalactites, once you have reached some 200 feet down under the surface, the guide plays a recorded evangelical message. Talk about captive audience!
I am all for people being fond of their own set of beliefs, but when you take a geological tour, the last thing I would expect is to hear broadcasts from Jerry Falwell, the Dali Lama, or the Raelians. It would be perfectly fine if, when buying your ticket, you got to choose the Jerry Falwell Tour, the Dali Lama Tour, or the Raelians Tour (instead, I'd ask for the Beatles Tour). But from these other reports, it seems they try to hoodwink you.
As one of the reviewers said, you should probably save your money instead for Luray Caverns.
Posted by keg at 7:45 PM
July 4, 2006
Happy 4th of July, America!
Today we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a truly amazing document that has yet to be matched in terms of providing for freedom and equality under the law.
We could, however, make use of a few more Jeffersons around to help out these days...
Posted by keg at 10:19 PM
