Joe benedicts up a zinger, clerics call him rat

Well, pope Joe has done it now. On Tuesday, in a speech in Germany, the Holy Father sparked a doozy of an incident by quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor's less than favorable feelings on Islam.

Anyone reading this will have already seen the quote. If you haven't, these times demand the Times.

What I find interesting when comparing the origins of Christianity and Islam is that in its first millennium, the early Church converted almost all of Europe through peaceful (if not always knowledgeable) missionaries and the "pious" aristocracy. It was not until later that zealous Christianity aquired a militaristic strain (manifested in such events as the Crusades and the various Inquisitions).

Conversely, Islam's first centuries witnessed a wave of military conquests and invasions by the then-politically-unified Arabs, all in the name of Allah and his Prophet.

Now, I don't currently know enough about the intial spread of Islam to assert that most (if any) of the conversions to this new invading faith were actually forced, but I think it's clear that Islam would certainly not have gained such a large following without this series of military offensives.

In lieu of this evidence it would seem that from its very beginning Islam has exhibited a disturbingly close affiliation with violence, and I personally take little issue with Benedict's condemnation of the association of violence and faith.

Enter, to music

Today was my first day of school. Ever.

I'm taking a first year course in music composition at the university, hoping to expand my horizons of creative ineptitude. Taking it to a whole new level, yessir. Anyway, in the class there are miraculously two people I used to know. One is what we in the business call "clownspawn," and is, rather, the son of local entertainers in that veign. The other is a young man whom I knew in my little league baseball years, my principle memory being the time when he took a bat to the back of the head (don't worry, it wasn't me [I knew you were thinkin' it]).

The prof. is a nice enough, rather erudite and obscure fellow. Subtract forty odd years, he's me. In any case, I'm quite convinced this course will require me to do things that most would consider interesting. This week's assignment: write a one-minute composition for a 20-piece ensemble. Use only the note A.

Whaaaaaaat?

Yes, only the note A. You may use any octave or combination thereof so long as the instrumental ranges suffice. "Anything goes."

What fun!

IN OTHER, SADDER EVENTS

Crocodile Hunter and professional wildman Steve Irwin is murdered in cold blood by a stingray sociopath. Steve brought a certain wacky, compounded enthusiasm for nature and wildlife to our TV screens, for which he will not be soon forgotten. Many loved his sundry programming and feats of derring-do. I was one of them. Yes, in my early nature-freak phase I subsumed my consciousness religiously with helpings of Mr. Croco-hunter, protector of the wild, guardian of the scaly, wrestler of the aquatically toothsome. What a guy. I'll say it again, what a guy.