This is the sermon I gave today at church. Attendance was pretty low, because it's the summer. But the choir was there, which almost doubled the numbers. And, who doesn't love preaching to the choir?

( Read more... )

Given how emotionally attached I am to the Disney attraction, and how betrayed I feel by their recent "updates" to it, and the general "meh" from critics, I didn't expect much from this movie. But I still had to see it.

But it opens with a teenager in Florida, repeatedly breaking into the Kennedy Space Center, to sabotage the equipment dismantling ( Read more... )

A friend on Facebook complained about a rant about women who choose not to have children and that you never see that sort of polemic aimed at men. So I took the rant and genderbent it below...

( Childless-By-Choice Men Are The Reason Society is Deteriorating )

Years ago a friend had a "Who in Hell" halloween party, where you were to come as someone in Hell. I decided to come as "Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light" from Dilbert, who attended as a courtesy. (He's not from Hell, he's from Heck.) He couldn't offer you a contract for your soul; he didn't have that franchise. But one of my gags was as ( Read more... )

Chapter 45 - Epilogue

The sun shone brightly over the green fields. Clouds dappled the sky giving just enough light and shade to create a plesant temperature. Waves laped the nearby shore quietly and gently, a sonorous background to plesant conversation. The air had just enough of a breeze in it to keep everything fresh. It was the perfect day for a ( Read more... )

Chapter 44 - The Final Confrontation

Thirty-six hours later it was over.

It was a slaughter. The combination of surprise plus magical reinforcement was more than the other Forsaken were prepared for. Even the last fight, where they had some minimal warning, was a foregone conclusion. Whatever they lost from a lack of surprise was more than made up ( Read more... )

Chapter 43 - Battle Royale

After three days of drilling, Arnhvatr was satisfied that his troops could nagivate a gate in a combat situation. Devonshire was extremely busy realigning swords and armor, deomonstrating spells, and answering endless questions about the tactical uses of certian magic. Winter mostly brooded.

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Chapter 42 - Modern Tactics

The following morning a single figure marched across the plain to the Forsaken encampment. Arnhvatr assembled his officers and stood ahead of his army. The figure carried a long pole, but the standard on it was furled. There was no armor, no uniform and no insignia. There were a few murmurrs when the figure was close ( Read more... )

Chapter 41 - The Same Game

Winter stood on top of a hillock next to the Forsaken camp, watching the bloody light of dawn color the sky. The wind was still and nothing stirred around him other than his thoughts.

( Read more... )

Chapter 40 - Style vs Substance

Winter stood next to Arnhvatr in the pavilion overlooking the combat field. An elaborately dressed Orcish herald bellowed out Balanoptera's name, his lineage, his rank and his medals. The elaborate detail used with each was clearly highly embelished. But no one knew brash bluster better than the Orcs. Balanoptera ( Read more... )