LINUX STUFF: Mint developers now say that Wayland is at feature-parity with X11. Wayland is currently supported “experimentally” on Mint. In the next release (due this Christmas), Wayland will be officially supported. So I look forward to trying out Wayland later this year.
Right now, I’m locked into my X11 setup, because I’ve got it “perfected” for my workflow, and because my setup is “minimalized” (the way I like it). Heck, I’d probably be happy to live in just the terminal if I knew how to pull that off. Maybe if I decide to make a writerdeck someday I can try that.
I continue to be puzzled by the videos of people who visit college sidewalks and quads to push some religious or political message. Oh, I’m not puzzled about why folks would want to do that. I’m puzzled by the outraged harpy students who confront them, claiming only to be “offended” by the visitors' ideas, as if being offended is an argument. And often those same outraged students will go on to demand that the offending visitors must leave the campus immediately, as if mere students are entitled to make that demand.
I mean, whatever happened to the notion that a college is supposed to be a place that encourages an exchange of ideas? Whatever happened to the notion that a college is supposed to be a place where ideas are debated? Whatever happened to the notion that a college is supposed to be a place where students are challenged to think critically, and not emotionally? Good grief.
Sure, I could comment each day on the stuff being said and done by leftists. But in order to do that, I’d have to tune into what they’re saying and doing on a regular basis. I’d have to actually parse their words. Think of it: I’d have to digest all that dreck in a steady-diet kind of way. I know very well that doing that would warp me. Honestly, I just couldn’t endure it. It would be like playing a bubblegum-pop song in an endless loop with the volume turned up to eleven.
There’s this prayer you’ve probably never heard of. It’s called the “Jesus Prayer”. It goes like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It has its roots in the early monastic practices of the East, thus the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern-Rite Catholics still use it, often as a meditation with prayer beads. Some Roman-Rite Catholics use the prayer too. For Catholics, such a prayer is called an aspiration—a brief prayer serving as a way to keep our thoughts centered on God.
The Jesus Prayer is easy to memorize. And it’s quick, so we can pray it any time. It’s a great way for us to pause and raise our thoughts to God, even if just for a moment. And, let’s face it, petitioning our Lord Jesus Christ for his mercy is always a relevant prayer. Always.
It’s harder to be a Catholic than it is to be a “Non-Denominational Christian”. More is required of committed Catholics. Catholicism is a more profound and robust version of Christianity. So if you do church-hop into the Catholic Church, I hope you understand this: As a committed Catholic, you will be challenged. But following Christ is supposed to be a challenge, right? Didn’t Jesus say something about that? Okay, so let’s just admit that being a committed Catholic is not for the half-hearted, the casual observer, the emotion-addicts, or the entertainment-seekers. There are other churches for those folks.