May the 4th be with you....annually.

What is a short, simple, responsorial psalm or bidding prayer for a deceased person whom the congregation will not know?

My MIL recently passed. My stepmother - who lives in another country - is asking what my wife would like for a bidding prayer or responsorial psalm. I have no idea how to respond as I am not Catholic. For a variety of reasons my wife can't respond.

Thanks in advance.

Salam Aleykum brothers, I am between Sunnism and Shi’aism and Idk which salah to make, because I already know the Sunni one. At the moment I make the Sunni but my doubt is: why Shi’a salah is/isn’t bid’ah? And what should I do? Thank you very much.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-52767583

This is exactly why religion is pernicious. At a time when the world at large is exercising enormous restraint and puting up with not inconsiderable hardship those of a religious bent continue to take the view that their personal exigencies should trump the needs of the rest of society. Religious faith and the practices that come with it require absolute certitude that the pracitioner's rights are pre-eminent to the exclusion of all others. It is this certitude that manifests itself in the terrorism that is the current expression of the persecution, destruction and war that has accompanied it for millennia.

Religious faith and its practice is no more intellectually or socially valid than any other hobby [sic] practiced by any other section of society. If you want to play with your rituals to help you commune to your imaginary sky-pixie you should do so in private where you do not affect others. As soon as you affect others then you open yourself up to the censure of society and potential prohibition. In this case, clearly they wish to do their thing regardless of the risk to others. And must be challenged.

>Ms Brimelow said Mr Hussain, chairman of the mosque's executive committee, had put forward a plan for it to open only for an hour and a half for the Jummah prayer, with a maximum of 50 worshippers and social distancing in place.

So it's not actually something that's required - it's only for those 'fortunate' 50? The rest can what? Be damned? Worship at home? What? They can't even be consistent!

But that's it - religion inculcates absolute and complete sociopathic selfishness - even to the point of disregarding fellow believers; let alone those who follow a different sky-pixie - or even worse, those who believe only in the evidence of the world about them - for whom persecution can be the only logical extension of the need to impose their religious certitude.

Hey cousins, you might remember a couple months ago I posted when my fiancée and I were putting an offer in on a house we didn’t get. Putting an offer in on a different house. I’m not asking for your prayers or hopes, instead I’m asking those that can to raise a glass and join me in a drink. We’re offering nearly $400k on a 1300 square foot house, and the thought of that makes me want a Washington apple cocktail (or 4, they’re delicious!)

Cheers cousins, I love you!

UPDATE: Offers were due yesterday. My realtor confirmed that there were surprisingly few offers - just our offer and one other. Prevailing theory was concern over it only having 1 full and one half bath kept others from bidding on it since it makes family life much more difficult to not have two full baths. We will find out tomorrow if they accept :) We are all very excited over here and appreciate the well wishes and company. Y’all are a great family, I love you.

Sigh. FTHBs here so, yes.... we didn’t really realize what we were getting into. Lesson learned.

This market is brutal. Here in the ATL area, we’ve lost out on nine bids by crazy over asking, all cash, and no contingencies offers left and right. We knew buying in this market meant we would most likely be paying all closing costs and would be buying any home “as is” without seller concessions for repairs or credits.

We finally found a home in our dream area that was well within our budget and the seller accepted our offer. We didn’t waive any contingencies and offered a 10k appraisal gap with a ceiling price. It appraised 5k over our offer. On the disclosure from the seller, she told us that the basement flooded two years ago because the sump pump failed but that it was fine before and has been fine since. That was the only troublesome thing she mentioned. We also inherited a warranty on the sump pump she had replaced and told us she recently had it serviced and it was fine.

During DD, the inspector tells us that there is one pipe that needs to be replaced, HVAC has damaged coils, and the electrical system needs an upgrade along with minor cosmetic things. Nothing, that he could tell, needed “dire replacement” he said. He said foundation looked solid, no cracks or damage. And there was no evidence of water damage or mold. He was surprised when we told him the basement floor had been flooded two years prior. We figured we could definitely handle this and were excited that we finally got a house as our lease was up in May.

We moved in two days ago after doing cosmetic work and had the plumbers come out and fix the pipe and have our electrician inspection tomorrow. It’s a 1962 ranch at the top of a hill but with a partial daylight basement that has a walkway with a retaining wall leading to the basement doors.

Well—we have been experiencing severe weather here in Atlanta all day today and tomorrow. It was wonderful to wake up one week after buying this place to discover that there is about 4 inches of standing water in the walkway by the basement rising by the minute, a wet laundry room floor where the sump pump is, a retaining wall spitting literal waterfalls against the foundation, AND a roof leak that was spewing water from inside the kitchen cabinets.

whyyyy

We got played I guess. As you can see in the video, all of the drainage from the laundry room in the basement looks like it was a DIY job. The plumbers w

The four horsemen of the Apocalypse are such an iconic part of the Book of Revelation that they are probably the most popularly recognized thing from the Book of Revelation next to the Mark of the Beast, with references to the horsemen often appearing in popular culture and memes. In this installment in the study series, I would like to demonstrate the hermeneutic with which I interpret these visions, which is necessary before I introduce my study on the seven trumpets of the Apocalypse.

The vision of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse comes from Revelation 6:1-7, where they are revealed one at a time as the first four seals are broken on a scroll sealed with seven seals.

Revelation 6:1-7

^(1) Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” ^(2) And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

^(3) When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” ^(4) And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

^(5) When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. ^(6) And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”

^(7) When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” ^(8) And I looked, and behold, a pale [χλωρός, chloros—literally "green"] horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

—

[Note: *In my opinion, the color of the fourth horse should not be translated as 'pale' or 'ashen', but rather, 'green'. The term used is 'chloros', which appears several times in the New Testament, but everywhere else it appears, it is translated as 'green'. I suspect that the translators interpreted 'green' figuratively to mean 'sickly' because nobody has ever seen a green horse,

In a previous post about Runescape community drama, I wrote about players vilifying one of their own. This story, picking up over a year after the last, instead focuses on the community’s everlasting struggle against the game’s developer, Jagex. It is the first particularly sour memory in the history of Runescape, and probably remains the game’s most controversial moment considering its massive population at the time, and how long the residual anger lasted. The controversy revolves around the real world trade/real money trade industry, which had supposedly generated a minimum of $1 billion in revenue by the time of this controversy via the sale of in-game money for real world money.

This post is quite long and covers just less than a month, taking place from 20/11/07 to around 17/12/07. The story involves huge changes to several core aspects of the game during this period of time, primarily trading and player vs. player combat. The events chronicled here include the Duel Arena changes on 20/11/07, the addition of the Grand Exchange on 26/11/07, and finally the calamity caused by the Wilderness and Free Trade updates on 10/12/07. The story touches on some odd beats, including Chinese gangs and sweatshops, high school libertarians, concerns about gambling behaviour among children, and mass digital revolts. But first, a little information on what sort of game Runescape is and how its real world trading works.

What is Runescape?

Runescape is a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game that was first released in 2001. The game takes place in the medieval fantasy world of Gielinor. Among children and teenagers, MMOs have dipped in popularity relative to other online game genres such as FPS shooters, Multiplayer Online Battle Arena games (DOTA, League Of Legends, etc.), sandbox games (Minecraft, Roblox) and Battle Royales (Fortnite, PUBG). However, earlier on in the 00s, MMOs were reasonably big among nerdier types. The most prolific of these games was World Of Warcraft, which left its mark on the culture at the time. To play WoW, players had to purchase the base game, and then any future expansion packs that came out.

Runescape worked very differently and was

I know WCT is translating this at the moment but I wanted to provide a summary because it was that good, the ending left me in tears. I am not an official translator so please do bear with me if there are mistakes. If you want to wait for the full translation, then please stop reading now. Ringo has already translated the prologue, so I will jump straight into Chapter 1.

>!Chapter 1 ('Chasing after the round moon')!<

• >!Beatrice and Puck are living together in Echidna's mansion when one day they receive a visit from a guest. Echidna is away, so Beatrice steps up to the task of receiving this person as the daughter of the Witch of Wisdom, and as the stand-in for her mother.!<
• >!The guest is a teenager of around 15-16 years old, with red hair and blue eyes. Beatrice notes that it is rare for them to receive guests, as the mansion is difficult to get to, and only those with determination can pass through the enchanted forest and reach the top of the mountain, where the mansion is located.!<
• >!Tosca, the red-haired boy, asks for help in saving his love and childhood friend. Beatrice gets flustered because she has not read about the intricacies of human love in her mother's library.!<
• >!Puck comes to the rescue and they find out that a dragon has asked for a sacrifice from Tosca's small village called Canut, and that sacrifice is Tosca's childhood friend, Reminas. The deadline is in 10 days (on the day of the full moon), but it takes around 10 days to get from the mansion to the village. Echidna is due to return in 10 days, so it will be too late to wait for her. Tosca finds out that even though Beatrice and Puck are great spirits, they are only 3 years old and he falls into despair. Beatrice decides she will go with Tosca and Puck says he will not let his precious sister go on her first journey outside of the mansion alone, so he will come along as well. !<
• >!They leave the mansion and Puck/Beatrice are surprised by Tosca's speed even as Beatrice uses wind magic to help him move faster, in order to reach the village in time before the deadline. They are even more surprised when Tosca easily kills the Mabeast Guiltylaw without their help. Even though his sword is shabby and of poor quality, he takes down the Mabeast easily.He cooks the Mabeast meat and offers it to Betty who refuses it. Puck tries it and piques Betty's curiosity, w

For example, with Niyah, is getting up with the intention to pray Asr enough, or do I have to say something internally???

The funeral director was asking us what we think Mum should wear in her casket.

Mum always loved to wear sarongs (fabric wraps that go around the torso and drape downward a bit like a long skirt would), so my uncle suggested that she wear a sarong in there.

The funeral director looked a bit confused, as did some of our family members, to which my uncle added:

"What's sarong with that?"

I started laughing like an idiot. He was proud of it too. The funeral director was rather shocked. We assured her, and our more proper relatives, that Mum would've absolutely loved the joke (which is very true).

His delivery was perfect. I'll never forget the risk he took. We sometimes recall the moment as a way help cushion the blows of the grieving process.

--Edit-- I appreciate the condolences. I'm doing well and the worst is behind me and my family. But thanks :)

--Edit-- Massive thanks for all the awards and kind words. And the puns! Love 'em.

Book 1 of The HEL Jumper

Year 2 of The HEL Jumper

Year 3 of The HEL Jumper

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“So, that’s the secret you’ve been keeping from me is it?” Gentia asked sweetly of Thantis. The two of them, along with the other high priests of the village, were seated around another large fire in the middle of Alyra’s temple. In addition to being one of the more comfortable places in the village to take a load off on account of the woven pillows and blankets, it was also one of the only temples that did not see evening foot traffic outside of rare exceptions. On that night in particular, secrecy was the topic of the hour. Thantis smiled kindly at his mate.

“It was not my secret to tell, my dear. And while we have already heard from both our High Priest and Huntress regarding their thoughts on the matter, I feel it is appropriate to add further context. This proposal, at least when it was made to us officially, came from Winters’ sister. I have spent a decent amount of time with both her and this human leader with dark skin, and I believe her to be more trustworthy on the whole. Though I am perhaps being unfair to those in positions of power,” the death priest looked apologetically at Antoth from across the crackling fire. “But I believe intent is important.”

Thantis’ final sentence put a lid on any scathing retort Ratha might have had. Instead the huntress drew her knife and picked at the underside of her claws. “He has a point there. Anyone else?”

Ratha tilted her head in annoyance but said nothing as her mate nodded approvingly and tossed another log onto the fire. Well dried after more than a season of warm, indoor weather, the wood caught and snapped almost immediately, throwing sparks towards the ceiling. “That is a point to consider, Thantis. And by now I’m sure we all know that Winters and his spirit can hopefully be considered allies, if not friends. However the admiral, Natori, outranks them within their hierarchy of warriors.”

“Could have fooled me. That human

In Davos II ACOK, Davos and Melisandre have a short but interesting debate about the nature of humanity and how people should be judged by their actions.

>"Are you a good man, Davos Seaworth?" she asked.
>
>Would a good man be doing this? "I am a man," he said. "I am kind to my wife, but I have known other women. I have tried to be a father to my sons, to help make them a place in this world. Aye, I've broken laws, but I never felt evil until tonight. I would say my parts are mixed, m'lady. Good and bad."
>
>"A grey man," she said. "Neither white nor black, but partaking of both. Is that what you are, Ser Davos?"
>
>"What if I am? It seems to me that most men are grey."
>
>"If half of an onion is black with rot, it is a rotten onion. A man is good, or he is evil." Davos II ACOK.

Davos sees the grey while Melisandre (the religious zealot) takes the puritanical view.

It is a creative way to introduce the concept of black and white thinking because rot is black and an onion is white and well you get it. And once I noticed the introduction of the concept, I began looking for other times the story grapples with that issue.

Stannis seems to agree with Davos.

>"A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward. You were a hero and a smuggler." Davos II ACOK.

Funny thing is that Davos' answer to Melisandre is so close to the description of himself that Stannis gives earlier in that very chapter that it makes me wonder if Davos defines himself through the eyes of Stannis. Which is an interesting thought since we readers are supposed to be seeing Stannis through the eyes of Davos.

Sandor Clegane seems to agree with Melisandre at least when it comes to knights whom he sees as nothing more than a tool for death.

>"Just as if I was one of those true knights you love so well, yes. What do you think a knight is for, girl? You think it's all taking favors from ladies and looking fine in gold plate? Knights are for killing." Sansa IV ACOK.

Jaime agrees with Stannis and Davos I think.

>"So many vows . . . they make you swear and swear. Defend the king. Obey the king. Keep his secrets. Do his bidding. Your life for his. But obey your father. Love your sister. Protect the innocent. Defend the weak. Respect the gods. Obey the laws. It's too much. No matter what you do, you're forsaking one vow or the other." Catelyn VII ACOK.

Jaime seems to think that the more yo

I would have a daughter