The Old Year and the New

The Old Year and the New
Cotton Noe (1916)

Good-bye, Old Year; our journey has been brief;
I'm sorry now to leave thee dying here,
For thou hast borne my burdens with good cheer,
And never murmured, but assuaged my grief.
When buds of promise never came to leaf;
When broken resolutions, doubt, and fear
Did mock at my defeat, O good Gray Year,
Thy reassuring smile restored belief.

Good-bye—farewell! I trust thy dear young child,
Who greets me at the gateway of the dawn,
Will deal as gently with me and my friends,
And lead our footsteps through the springtime mild,
O'er summer's lawn, down autumn's slopes, and on
To where the path of chill December ends.

Soyez hardis en joye mis,
Chacun s’assaisonne,
La fleur de lys,
Fleur de hault pris
Y est en personne.
Suivez Françoys!
Suivez la couronne!
Sonnez, trompettes et clairons
Pour resjouyr les coms, les coms, les compaignons.
    --La Bataille de Marignan

Indeed, I am following Francis in Dunnett's last book on the Lymond Chronicles. In the previous Book 5, as the Supreme General to Ivan the Terrible, Crawford modernized the Russian military to fight against the Tartars. This time, Francis Crawford is fighting for France to stave off a pincer invasion by Mary Tutor from across the English Channel, and the Spanish force lead by her Spanish husband King Phillip II of the Habsburg Dynasty.

His Name Is Immanuel

"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."   --Isaiah 7: 14

Charles Spurgeon:
"Let us today go down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see Him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in Him, and can sing, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, our Lord and our God, and yet our brother and friend; let us adore and admire. Let us notice at the very first glance His miraculous conception. It was a thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a virgin should conceive and bear a Son. The first promise ran thus, "The seed of the woman", not the offspring of the man. Since venturous woman led the way in the sin which brought forth Paradise lost, she, and she alone, ushers in the Regainer of Paradise. Our Saviour, although truly man, was as to His human nature the Holy One of God. Let us reverently bow before the holy Child whose innocence restores to manhood its ancient glory; and let us pray that He may be formed in us, the hope of glory. Fail not to note His humble parentage. His mother has been described simply as "a virgin," not a princess, or prophetess, nor a matron of large estate. True the blood of kings ran in her veins; nor was her mind a weak and untaught one, for she could sing most sweetly a song of praise; but yet how humble her position, how poor the man to whom she stood affianced, and how miserable the accommodation afforded to the new-born King!

Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with Him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendour."

- a L'envoi iPad 3 post

All My Heart This Night Rejoices

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we have seen his glory...
John 1:14

All My Heart This Night Rejoices

Words: Paul (Paulaus) Gerhardt (1606-1676), Pastor, St. Nicholas Church, Berlin.
Music: Johann George Ebeling (1637-1676), Cantor, St. Nicholas Church, Berlin.
German to English Translation: Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878).

All my heart this night rejoices,
as I hear, far and near,
sweetest angel voices;
"Christ is born," their choirs are singing,
till the air, ev'rywhere,
now their joy is ringing.

Forth today the Conqueror goeth,
who the foe, sin and woe,
death and hell, o'erthroweth.
God is man, man to deliver;
his dear Son now is one
with our blood forever.

Shall we still dread God's displeasure,
who, to save, freely gave
his most cherished Treasure?
To redeem us, he hath given
his own Son from the throne
of his might in heaven.

Should he who himself imparted
aught withhold from the fold,
leave us broken hearted?
Should the Son of God not love us,
who, to cheer sufferers here,
left his throne above us?

If our blessèd Lord and maker
hated men, would he then
be of flesh partaker?
If he in our woe delighted,
would he bear all the care
of our race benighted?

He becomes the Lamb that taketh
sin away and for aye
full atonement maketh.
For our life his own he tenders
and our race, by his grace,
meet for glory renders.

For it dawns, the promised morrow
of his birth, who the earth
rescues from her sorrow.
God to wear our form descendeth;
of his grace to our race
here his Son he sendeth.

Hark! a voice from yonder manger,
soft and sweet, doth entreat,
"Flee from woe and danger;
brethren, come; from all that grieves you
you are freed; all you need
I will surely give you."

Come, then, let us hasten yonder;
here let all, great and small,
kneel in awe and wonder,
Love him who with love is glowing;
hail the star, near and far
light and joy bestowing.

Blessed Savior, let me find thee!
keep thou me close to thee,
cast me not behind thee!
Life of life, my heart Thou stillest,
calm I rest on thy breast,
all this void thou fillest.

Thee, dear Lord, with heed I'll cherish;
live to thee and with thee,
dying, shall not perish;
But shall dwell with thee for ever,
far on high, in the joy
that can alter never.

Puccini's Birthday on This One Fine Day

Giacomo Puccini
Italian opera composer
(22 December 1858 - 29 November 1924)

The MP3 below expired on 01-13-2013.
Click here to play the current selection.

James Last
- Summchor aus Madama Butterfly(Puccini)

Winter Solstice, 2012

Lat: 37.7° N
Astronomy:

December  21, 2012       Rise:        Set:
Actual Time            7:15 AM PST  4:49 PM PST
Civil Twilight         6:46 AM PST  5:18 PM PST
Nautical Twilight      6:13 AM PST  5:51 PM PST
Astronomical Twilight  5:41 AM PST  6:23 PM PST
Moon                  12:34 PM PST  1:11 AM PST

Length of Visible Light 10h 32m
Length of Day 9h 33m

My New Retractable 4 MM HAND Stylus

My collection of styli for my Apple mobile devices and the Kindle Fire
My new retractable green color HAND stylus arrived yesterday. It's a first cabin trip for this stylus. It's the most expensive stylus I've owned to date  (handstylus.com).

At a cost of $29.95 for the stylus, I also ordered a six-pack replacement tips at $9.95. Including a required two-day USPS priority shipping charge for $5.00, toss in a sales tax of $2.89, the total came to $47.79 USD for this gadget.

I liked the sturdy, well-balanced, and all metal construction of this handsome stylus. Its 4 mm retractable tip and the removable pocket clip features are one of its kind in the deep bin of styli. Functionally, the ability to tap this stylus tip iside the confine of any key on the virtual keyboard (in portrait display) on the iPhone is really the best feature of all. No more unintentional fat finger tapping on the wrong keys!

If one has an iPad polyurethane Smart Cover, the stylus's magnetizes to it; the inclusion of the pocket clip will strengthen the hold much more. For this to work, the Smart Cover must be closed over the iPad. My other styli with a metal pocket clip would magnetizes similarly on a Smart Covered iPad, but they don't look as nice as the HAND stylus. This all-purpose Smart Cover magnet even holds my Zaggfolio keyboard.

The HAND stylus writes and draws smoothly on my iPhone 4S Note Taker app; it does equally well on iPad's Note Taker HD and Evernote's Penultimate. My only other stylus which comes close in second place on these two iOS writing/drawing app is the black Targus. For it I paid $20.00 at Best Buy(see the close-up picture of all my styli).

One more thing, Steve. My using this new stylus should reduce the smudge footprints my touch-screens.

Close-up look at the tips of my four styli