iPad Porn

From the "I could play as well as those guys" department

Quadragesima IV (no, it's not a surround-sound format)

Quadragesima is the Latin term for Lent, meaning "forty days". The Lentan period starts today on Ash Wednesday, it is marked in many places by Mardi Gras celebrations on the previous day. For early Christians the rules of fasting during Lent were strict: just one meal a day, in the evening, and no meat, fish, eggs, or butter is permitted. Most religions have relaxed these rules, for example, since 1966 Roman Catholics only require strict fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

I posted about Quadragesima in 2007 and in 2008. Traditionally Lutherans aren't required to fast or sacrifice something for Lent as some other denominations require (see here for a brief theological discussion), but I will be doing it again this year. Last year I didn't make a Lentan sacrifice, but in previous years I have given up desserts and sweets, alcohol, sodas, and other dietary things.

This year I chose to give up television. I quit watching television completely for a week in college, during my senior finals, but it was still very difficult to do. Lent is actually 46 days (the Sundays in the Lentan period don't count towards the 40 days), and it has been difficult to maintain my will power for this long a period, so I decided not to leave it to chance. I had been considering television but I actually decided to do it when I heard a commercial from DirecTV about temporarily suspending service for free. I called them to set it up, suspending service from today until Saturday April 3rd. The good: they set up the suspension at no cost, automatically. The indifferent: any time remaining to fulfill a contract doesn't count during the time of suspension (that makes sense, since I'm not paying during that time, and my account has to be fully paid up before they will schedule the suspension (since the biggest leverage they have to make me pay their bill is to threaten to cut off service). The bad: the suspension time will count towards any promotions I have, like free HBO for six months. That doesn't really seem fair, it just seems spiteful.

My rules:

• No television at home, including no DVDs, DVR, VCR, etc.


• No television on Sundays or on Solemnities


• No Hulu to watch television shows on my computer


• Youtube is okay, within reason


• If I'm at someone else's house or at a restaurant I won't leave or ask them to turn off the television, after all, this is my sacrifice, not theirs


• Movies at a movie theater are okay

I will be disappointed to miss some of the series that I am following, but in order to make it a true sacrifice, as a way of remembering and personalizing the great sacrifices made for me, it has to be something that's significant.

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Best blooper show evar!

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Marvin Gaye's vocals are fantastic, but what really makes this song and many other Motown hits is the bassline of James Jamerson.

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This is a view of the Kuroshio Sea aquarium set to music; maximize the screen, the video quality is great and something about the colors and how groups of amazingly different fish appear and disappear is naturally soothing.

Kuroshio Sea - 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world - (song is Please don't go by Barcelona) from Jon Rawlinson on Vimeo.

From What I Learned Today.

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My favorite was always Huey Lewis and the News.

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O! M! G! (may be fake, tho)

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My friends Kevin and Leslie and their kids took this video of Roger Staubach signing my business card. They sent it to me as a gift because Roger was my childhood hero. It couldn't have been a better gift!

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I love to read the comments on YouTube.