Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them. (John 17:25-26) – from the readings of the day for the Memorial of St. Irenaeus.
“You know them Catholics – they have all kinds of secrets – in fact, did you know that there is a Secret Library at the Vatican and it’s filled with all kinds of things they don’t want us to know.” That was from a conversation from almost 40 years ago. It was just one card in a more complete catalog of conspiracy theories held by this individual.
While I like technology, I don’t think I am too much of a gadget person. I am rarely-to-never an early adopter and will acquire gadgets when I think they serve a functional purpose I might value. The one exception was Amazon Echo. They promoted it at about 25% of the first generation Echo and I thought why not, buying the device before it was generally available.. The year was 2014. Really nothing too different since then – until last year.
“…every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Jesus was speaking about false prophets, a warning to his disciples. Not bad advice in general.
Shira Ovide sent out an interesting article. Shira writes a technology column for the NY Times. It is not a deeply technical article about software or the newest tech devices, but more a “big picture” view of things technical going on in the world. Her post today looks at what we think we know – that ain’t necessarily so. Some curious factoids:
Today is the Memorial of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, the latter of the two who is more popularly known as he was the central character of the movie, “A Man for All Seasons.” The film depicts the final years of Sir Thomas More, the 16th-century Lord Chancellor of England who refused both to sign a letter asking Pope Clement VII to annul Henry VIII of England’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon and to take an Oath of Supremacy declaring Henry VIII Supreme Head of the Church of England. But St. John Fisher was in the same situation as Thomas More. 
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
In today’s 
At the end of the movie “Tora! Tora! Tora” (1970 film about the Dec 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor), Admiral Isoroku Yamamato comments, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” It is a great line, prescient in nature, but… Although the quotation may well have encapsulated many of his real feelings about the attack, there is no printed evidence to prove Yamamoto made this statement or wrote it down. William Safire traces its origins to the phrase dubiously attributed to Napoleon, “China is a sickly, sleeping giant. But when she awakes the world will tremble”. But the metaphor of the awakened sleeping giant was apt – and may well have been in Yamamoto’s mind. The admiral had studied, served and traveled in the United States and was well aware of its extensive industrial capability – as were a number of key Japanese military leaders of the day. 
