The Snuson Confessional Sacristy & Bulletin

[wa3zrm]

Microsoft to begin alerting users about suspected government snooping

Microsoft will warn email and OneDrive users if it detects apparent attempts by governments to hack into their accounts.
The rollout of the alert system on Wednesday follows reports Redmond had failed to warn Hotmail users targeted by Chinese hackers, according to former employees.
Reuters reports Microsoft was hacked in 2011 but failed to notify affected users, partly to avoid antagonising China, the suspected culprit. Targeted users were instead advised to pick new passwords without any particular reason being supplied at the time.
Google, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo already offer similar government hacker alert systems to the one just introduced by Microsoft. Alerts are far from rare. Google, for example, reportedly tells tens of thousands of users every few months that they’ve been targeted by foreign spooks.
Redmond’s alerting system has raised issues about US data breach disclosure laws. “If China had stolen Hotmail users' passwords, Microsoft would have had to tell users,” Christopher Soghoian, a principal technologist at the ACLU, stated in an update to his personal Twitter account But *private emails* are not considered PII [personally identifiable information].

(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...

[wa3zrm]

Truck carrying pigs crashes on I-40 West; crews work to clean up mess

RALEIGH, N.C. - A tractor-trailer carrying 2,200 pigs crashed Tuesday morning along Interstate 40 West in south Raleigh, creating traffic delays in the area for hours, police said.
The wreck happened shortly after 10 a.m. between South Saunders Street and Lake Wheeler Road, forcing authorities to shut down the two right lanes of the highway. Police said the tractor-trailer lost control after a vehicle changed lanes in front of the

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No serious injuries were reported in the wreck, police said, but some pigs were killed.

(Excerpt) Read more at wral.com ...

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KEYWORDS: pigs

[wa3zrm]

Homily On Christmas Morning

BEHOLD a new and wondrous mystery. My ears resound to the Shepherds song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a heavenly hymn. The Angels sing. The Archangels blend their voice in harmony. The Cherubim hymn their joyful praise. The Seraphim exalt His glory. All join to praise this holy feast, beholding the Godhead here on earth, and man in heaven. He Who is above, now for our redemption dwells here below; and he that was lowly is by divine mercy raised.


Bethlehem this day resembles heaven; hearing from the stars the singing of angelic voices; and in place of the sun, enfolds within itself on every side, the Sun of justice. And ask not how: for where God wills, the order of nature yields. For He willed, He had the power, He descended, He redeemed; all things yielded in obedience to God. This day He Who is, is Born; and He Who is, becomes what He was not. For when He was God, He became man; yet not departing from the Godhead that is His. Nor yet by any loss of divinity became He man, nor through increase became He God from man; but being the Word He became flesh, His nature, because of impassability, remaining unchanged.


And so the kings have come, and they have seen the heavenly King that has come upon the earth, not bringing with Him Angels, nor Archangels, nor Thrones, nor Dominations, nor Powers, nor Principalities, but, treading a new and solitary path, He has come forth from a spotless womb. Since this heavenly birth cannot be described, neither does His coming amongst us in these days permit of too curious scrutiny. Though I know that a Virgin this day gave birth, and I believe that God was begotten before all time, yet the manner of this generation I have learned to venerate in silence and I accept that this is not to be probed too curiously with wordy speech. For with God we look not for the order of nature, but rest our faith in the power of Him who works.


What shall I say to you; what shall I tell you? I behold a Mother who has brought forth; I see a Child come to this light by birth. The manner of His conception I cannot comprehend.


Nature here rested, while the Will of God labored. O ineffable grace! The Only Begotten, Who is before all ages, Who cannot be touched or be perceived, Who is simple, without body, has now put on my body, that is visible and liable to corruption. For what reason? That coming amongst us he may teach us, and teaching, lead us by the hand to the things that men cannot see. For since men believe that the eyes are more trustworthy than the ears, they doubt of that which they do not see, and so He has deigned to show Himself in bodily presence, that He may remove all doubt. Christ, finding the holy body and soul of the Virgin, builds for Himself a living temple, and as He had willed, formed there a man from the Virgin; and, putting Him on, this day came forth; unashamed of the lowliness of our nature. For it was to Him no lowering to put on what He Himself had made. Let that handiwork be forever glorified, which became the cloak of its own Creator. For as in the first creation of flesh, man could not be made before the clay had come into His hand, so neither could this corruptible body be glorified, until it had first become the garment of its Maker.


What shall I say! And how shall I describe this Birth to you? For this wonder fills me with astonishment. The Ancient of days has become an infant. He Who sits upon the sublime and heavenly Throne, now lies in a manger. And He Who cannot be touched, Who is simple, without complexity, and incorporeal, now lies subject to the hands of men. He Who has broken the bonds of sinners, is now bound by an infants bands. But He has decreed that ignominy shall become honor, infamy be clothed with glory, and total humiliation the measure of His Goodness.


For this He assumed my body, that I may become capable of His Word; taking my flesh, He gives me His spirit; and so He bestowing and I receiving, He prepares for me the treasure of Life. He takes my flesh, to sanctify me; He gives me His Spirit, that He may save me.


Come, then, let us observe the Feast. Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the Nativity. For this day the ancient slavery is ended, the devil confounded, the demons take to flight, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from us, error driven out, truth has been brought back, the speech of kindliness diffused, and spreads on every side, a heavenly way of life has been in planted on the earth, angels communicate with men without fear, and men now hold speech with angels.


Why is this? Because God is now on earth, and man in heaven; on every side all things commingle. He became Flesh. He did not become God. He was God. Wherefore He became flesh, so that He Whom heaven did not contain, a manger would this day receive. He was placed in a manger, so that He, by whom all things arc nourished, may receive an infants food from His Virgin Mother. So, the Father of all ages, as an infant at the breast, nestles in the virginal arms, that the Magi may more easily see Him. Since this day the Magi too have come, and made a beginning of withstanding tyranny; and the heavens give glory, as the Lord is revealed by a star.


To Him, then, Who out of confusion has wrought a clear path, to Christ, to the Father, and to the Holy Ghost, we offer all praise, now and for ever. Amen.

[Premium Parrots]

[wa3zrm]

PP and his friends!!!

[Snusdog]

Most recent addition to the church arsenal...
TAURUS 85NV 38 SPECIAL

Ain't so new......

Beecher Bibles
The Sharps rifle was a big innovation in firearms during the 1850s. It was highly sought after by men looking to gain political advantage in territorial Kansas. The unique weapon with its patented breech-loading and self-priming features offered quick loading, speed in firing, and accuracy in distance. Early in 1856, the Sharps rifle picked up a new nickname. In a highly visible article on the Kansas conflict, abolitionist preacher Henry Ward Beecher recommended the effective weapon as a tool to fight slavery.

He (Henry W. Beecher) believed that the Sharps Rifle was a truly moral agency, and that there was more moral power in one of those instruments, so far as the slaveholders of Kansas were concerned, than in a hundred Bibles. You might just as well. . . read the Bible to Buffaloes as to those fellows who follow Atchison and Stringfellow; but they have a supreme respect for the logic that is embodied in Sharp's rifle.

This article appeared in the New York Tribune on February 8, 1856, and rapidly thereafter the Sharps rifle became known as a "Beecher's Bible."

[Burnsey]

Titanium?....for Pete's sake!.....very nice piece.....

[Andy105]

Most recent addition to the church arsenal...
TAURUS 85NV 38 SPECIAL

Nice chunk of titanium! You could get your avatar laser-engraved on it

[wa3zrm]

Most recent addition to the church arsenal...
TAURUS 85NV 38 SPECIAL

[wa3zrm]

Diocese Posting of Nun's Trophy Deer Draws Backlash

ST. MARYS, Pa. (AP) — A Roman Catholic diocese has taken down the Facebook photo of a nun with a 10-point buck she bagged after the posting drew criticism, some of it vulgar, by anti-hunting and animal rights activists, the diocese said...

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...

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[Premium Parrots]

them better not be reindeer.

[wa3zrm]

[wa3zrm]

Bizarre Cases of People Who Spontaneously Ceased to Exist

Mysterious disappearances arent new....Yet, as bizarre as these cases may be, there seems to be an even stranger type of disappearance out there; people who vanish in full view of others, under circumstances where it seems impossible that they could have even gone far, let alone totally disappeared. These are the cases in which people were there one moment and gone the next, seeming to have just literally faded from existence, leaving us baffled and perhaps even questioning what we think we know about this mysterious world of ours. Let's take a look at the history of some of the more curious accounts of these spontaneous vanishings of people who by all indications seemed to have just ceased to exist.

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Sometimes, not only did the person disappear, but they did so right before the eyes of witnesses, literally fading away in plain sight... In 1815, at a Prussian prison at Weichselmunde, a prisoner by the name of Diderici was doing a 10-year sentence for assuming the identity of his dead employer by dressing up in his clothes and a wig and trying to withdraw a large amount of money after the man had died of a stroke. Allegedly, one day Diderici was being led through the exercise yard in chains in a line of other prisoners, when something very odd began to happen. According to other prisoners, Diderici began to literally fade away, his body gradually becoming transparent and immaterial until finally his empty manacles and chains clattered to the ground as baffled prisoners and prison guards looked on. An inquiry into the case would turn up nearly 30 eyewitness accounts from both convicts and guards that reported the exact same thing; that Diderici had become slowly invisible until he was simply not there anymore.

(Excerpt) Read more at mysteriousuniverse.org ...

[wa3zrm]

Putin the 'Only Defender of Christianity' – Bashar Assad
sputniknews.com ^ |

Syrian President Bashar Assad considers Russia's Vladimir Putin as the "only defender of Christian civilization one can trust."
"When I look at the present state of things in the world I realize that Vladimir Putin is the sole defender of Christian civilization one can rely on," Assad said in an interview with French magazine Valeurs Actuelles.
The Syrian leader also said that he would step down only if asked to by the Syrian people and the Syrian parliament, adding that the issue of his possible resignation had not yet been raised on an international level.
Syria will only share intelligence information with France if Paris changes its policies in the region, President Assad said.
"If the French government is not serious in its fight against terrorism, we will not waste our time collaborating with a country, government or an institution that supports terrorism," he noted in the interview carried out the day after Friday's deadly attacks in Paris.
"You have to first change policy so that it is based on one criteria, to be part of an alliance that joins countries only fighting terrorism and not supporting them," Assad added.
More than 220,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war.
More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front.

[wa3zrm]

Two days after the horrendous jihadist attacks in Paris, Pope Francis preached about the “end times,” encouraging his hearers to be vigilant and ready at any moment to meet God face to face.

In his Angelus message Sunday, the Pope invited the ten thousand pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter’s Square to think about their death, the day they will meet God and give an accounting for their life.
The Pope also explicitly addressed the Paris carnage, expressing his “deep sorrow for the terrorist attacks that bloodied France late on Friday, causing many casualties.” Along with offering his condolences to the victims and their families, Francis condemned the massacre as an “unspeakable affront to human dignity.”
“Such barbarity leaves us shocked and we wonder how the human heart can conceive and carry out such horrible events, which have shaken not only France but the whole world,” he said.
Francis unequivocally recognized the Islamist ideology behind the attacks, denouncing the use of God’s name to justify the brutal attacks as “blasphemy.”
Commenting on Sunday’s Scripture readings, the Pope said that Jesus’ preaching about the end of the world contains “apocalyptic elements, like war, famine, and cosmic catastrophes.”
“In those days,” Francis repeated, “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”
These signs are not the most important things, however, the Pope insisted. “Our final goal is the meeting with the resurrected Lord.” The most important thing is not knowing when the end will come, but being ready for it when it does, he said.
“We are called to live the present,” Francis said, but always ready to meet God whenever he may call.
At the end of the world, Francis said, “Jesus’ triumph will be the triumph of the cross, the demonstration that the sacrifice of oneself out of love for one’s neighbor, in imitation of Christ, is the only victorious power and the only stable point in the midst of the upheavals and tragedies of the world.”
The Pope also warned against an unhealthy curiosity to know details of the future, with recourse to psychics and horoscopes, saying they distract us from what is really important in the present.
We are called rather “to watchfulness,” Francis said, that keeps us focused and ready at all times.
“In our days,” he concluded, “there is no lack of natural and moral disasters, as well as adversities of every kind.”
“The Lord tells us that everything passes and only He and his Word remain as a light to guide and strengthen our steps,” he said.