It's such a "blessing"!

[Vera]

Thanks Vera.  I just love flashmob performances.  They really lift my spirits.

Me too! It's amazing, the power of music to unite and bring joy! (And yeah, I'm partial to "classical" flashmobs, and not just because I do prefer this music (well, Baroque really) but also because a lot of people are also not in the habit of listening to this kind of music and it's a different experience. Plus, you can't really think a tenor is just some random crazy guy in the street... *that* kind of singing takes years to master ;-))

This one (sponsored by a bank but hey, they did a brilliant job) is amazing. I mean, if one does not get goosebumps the second time they all start singing... one's missing a vital part of what makes us human (well, imo ;-)).

[Reltzik]

I mean, if one does not get goosebumps the second time they all start singing... one's missing a vital part of what makes us human (well, imo ;-)).

... ears are vital?    

[Vera]

... ears are vital?    

Well, after reading (well, rather appropriately maybe, listening to) Oliver Sacks' book about deaf people and how crucial hearing - or rather, language, of which the deaf are/were so often deprived during the first, vital years of their lives - is for any semblance of normal intellectual development, I'd have to agree that ears really *are* vital.

Also, "the congenitally deaf, or “deaf and dumb,” were considered “dumb” (stupid) for thousands of years and were regarded by an unenlightened law as “incompetent”—to inherit property, to marry, to receive education, to have adequately challenging work—and were denied fundamental human rights. This situation did not begin to be remedied until the middle of the eighteenth century."


It's a fascinating (albeit sad) book and it tells about Charles-Michel de l'Épée who opened the first school for the deaf that used sign language and how after a period of using sign language to teach deaf people, there was a reversal and for a long time (actually, well into the 20th century) using sign was discouraged (if not outright forbidden) in favour of oralism, which, frankly, is downright disgraceful.

"In 1878, the International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (ICED) met in Paris to discuss the use of sign language and other issues within deaf education. During the congregation, no Deaf members were allowed to testify. In 1880, the ICED met again in Milan with 164 educators attending with one of them being deaf. This meeting created the solely oralist classroom preventing any form of sign language from being used. After the Milan conference, the Deaf community referred to this time in history as "the dark ages for deaf education in America."

[no one]

I just blessed the hell out of the porcelain throne.

[Cavebear]

I just blessed the hell out of the porcelain throne.

Ooh. Bad food or too much wine? Its never easy.

[SYZ]

Presumably this is one of the handbooks for paedophile priests before they front the courts...




Bless the righteous?  Aussie bishop George Pell who enabled relocating paedophile priests for example?