Vita ab Alto!
To my regular readers and new correspondents alike: Greetings & Felicitations!
I have finally been shamed into entering blogdom by a “fan”—let’s call him Hans—who tells me flattering lies about my “writing ability.” I have posted to friends for years, feeling that broadcasting emails was less solipsistic and more urbane than hanging entries on a glorified electronic vanity press. Nonetheless, a blog is convenient—it allows me to share intelligent commentary I get from correspondents like ChefJeff and Izmud with a wider audience and it thus opens up the possibility for wider conversation. I hope it draws in some comment from readers who usually just read and don’t respond. Besides, millions of navel-gazers before me have worn smooth grooves in the stone steps leading to the heights of self-aggrandizement. Who am I to think I am better than, say, James Lileks?
To All Those Presents, Greetings:
The Veep—you’re in my heart, you’re in my soul…you help keep me on the right track ... but I can still quote Mike Yaconelli when I want to!
Hans—liebe meine Aufsmünkey, you magnificent black fascist bastard!
RedLeader—where are the posts you promised? A number of professional bus drivers read this blog; consider it a potential forum for some of your issues
RedLeader & The Miller—you both know the “F”-111 was a bomber, right?
The Administrator—may this help pass your hours among the heathen each day
ChefJeff—I salute my honorable liberal friend! Please keep up the great commentary. He tasks me…he tasks me and I shall have him
Bruce of Bagdad—as always, keep building a better mousetrap
Fingers & The Voice—only two things frighten me and nuclear war is one of them! [What's the other?] [Bloggers! Small hands ... smell of well-worn pajamas ...]
French Horn Lips—kid, have you rehabilitated yourself? I want you to go sit down on that bench that says “Group W”…Now, kid!
Rommel—Keep up the good fight, Desert Fox
Marvin—Life ... let's talk to him about life ...
Max—welcome back to my nightmare. As an F-15A/C guy, you’re the only real fighter pilot among my readers right now. Despite that, I don’t really think you’re gay
CaveDave—Bama drools, Auburn rules! Always has, always will.
Momma & Pappa Sattui—perhaps this site will offer an occasional voice of reason in the intellectual deserts of the People’s Republic; in lieu of that, keep Napa one hand, Amador in the other
Mustang Teach and Magical Trevor—(Eww…stop that! Get a room!) Diz & Bird--what a work of art! I must commission you, Magic. Ever thought of doing blog design?
To my Midwestern Mustang Mormon friends (One Southern Belle & Billy Bob)—luv ya!
Frenkenstein—run, Forrest, run!
Izmud—If you don't have time for blogging, when will you have time for a novel??
To all new friends who may encounter this site, welcome!
My original conceit was to name this blog "Mors ab Alto," to honor my airpower roots with a handle that was (at least somewhat) BUFF-specific. When I googled that title, however, I found it appropriated by a fellow in snake-eater togs and camo makeup. His site had numerous references to Latin phrases of the “I bring fear” and “I will destroy and devour” sort (you know—the kind favored by guys who never quite outgrew their girl-rejected, scrofulous, proto-Columbine phase), along with a picture of (I presume) himself under the heading, “The Devil,” wearing Air Force Tech Sgt rank and a readable nametag. To this brother-in-arms I say: nice site name! Now get over yourself. You’re not Satan, as you will find to your eternal horror if you meet the real one face-to-face. Oh…and efface your nametag, before Top 3 or some phone colonel finds your site and makes your life here resemble your life to come… I hope I’m wrong; maybe the “devil” is his NCOIC, in which case the usage is probably appropriate.
As I contemplated “MaA,” however, I was pulled by conscience and thought of MonkCorp’s Vice President for Acquisition and Inquisition back to a name that was more consistent with being a child of God. I intend, as always, to offer outrageous opinions, outrageously expressed. I warn readers now that I may proffer opinions that may sound like they came from the dude who purloined Mors ab Alto. I often get in “kill them all, let God sort them out” moods (whoever “they” are—leftist moonbats, sportocratic thugs, racist fools, linear thinkers, muslim fundamentalists, ground-centric military types, Ward Churchill…whoever), but I am always eventually pulled back to the correct perspective—that all are children of God in Christ alike, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, only He can judge the hearts of men, and only He forgives and loves entirely. If I stray from this perspective, dear reader, please feel free to pull me back and/or kick me in the arse.
(Consider this last my equivalent of Charles Foster Kane’s New York Journal “manifesto.”)
I envision this site as a collaborative effort and hope it encourages, cajoles, and/or provokes regular readers of my posts into contributing. Feel free to respond in the comments section. I will pull the best responses out and post them. Or submit articles to me for posting via email. I will post these under your noms de blog, which will be those listed in the greetings above (you know who you are), unless you choose different moniker. Responses may not be immediate (I’m not Glenn Reynolds), but I will try to have something new up every day. Please keep all discourse here civil and civilized, as befits…
The Monk
I have finally been shamed into entering blogdom by a “fan”—let’s call him Hans—who tells me flattering lies about my “writing ability.” I have posted to friends for years, feeling that broadcasting emails was less solipsistic and more urbane than hanging entries on a glorified electronic vanity press. Nonetheless, a blog is convenient—it allows me to share intelligent commentary I get from correspondents like ChefJeff and Izmud with a wider audience and it thus opens up the possibility for wider conversation. I hope it draws in some comment from readers who usually just read and don’t respond. Besides, millions of navel-gazers before me have worn smooth grooves in the stone steps leading to the heights of self-aggrandizement. Who am I to think I am better than, say, James Lileks?
To All Those Presents, Greetings:
The Veep—you’re in my heart, you’re in my soul…you help keep me on the right track ... but I can still quote Mike Yaconelli when I want to!
Hans—liebe meine Aufsmünkey, you magnificent black fascist bastard!
RedLeader—where are the posts you promised? A number of professional bus drivers read this blog; consider it a potential forum for some of your issues
RedLeader & The Miller—you both know the “F”-111 was a bomber, right?
The Administrator—may this help pass your hours among the heathen each day
ChefJeff—I salute my honorable liberal friend! Please keep up the great commentary. He tasks me…he tasks me and I shall have him
Bruce of Bagdad—as always, keep building a better mousetrap
Fingers & The Voice—only two things frighten me and nuclear war is one of them! [What's the other?] [Bloggers! Small hands ... smell of well-worn pajamas ...]
French Horn Lips—kid, have you rehabilitated yourself? I want you to go sit down on that bench that says “Group W”…Now, kid!
Rommel—Keep up the good fight, Desert Fox
Marvin—Life ... let's talk to him about life ...
Max—welcome back to my nightmare. As an F-15A/C guy, you’re the only real fighter pilot among my readers right now. Despite that, I don’t really think you’re gay
CaveDave—Bama drools, Auburn rules! Always has, always will.
Momma & Pappa Sattui—perhaps this site will offer an occasional voice of reason in the intellectual deserts of the People’s Republic; in lieu of that, keep Napa one hand, Amador in the other
Mustang Teach and Magical Trevor—(Eww…stop that! Get a room!) Diz & Bird--what a work of art! I must commission you, Magic. Ever thought of doing blog design?
To my Midwestern Mustang Mormon friends (One Southern Belle & Billy Bob)—luv ya!
Frenkenstein—run, Forrest, run!
Izmud—If you don't have time for blogging, when will you have time for a novel??
To all new friends who may encounter this site, welcome!
My original conceit was to name this blog "Mors ab Alto," to honor my airpower roots with a handle that was (at least somewhat) BUFF-specific. When I googled that title, however, I found it appropriated by a fellow in snake-eater togs and camo makeup. His site had numerous references to Latin phrases of the “I bring fear” and “I will destroy and devour” sort (you know—the kind favored by guys who never quite outgrew their girl-rejected, scrofulous, proto-Columbine phase), along with a picture of (I presume) himself under the heading, “The Devil,” wearing Air Force Tech Sgt rank and a readable nametag. To this brother-in-arms I say: nice site name! Now get over yourself. You’re not Satan, as you will find to your eternal horror if you meet the real one face-to-face. Oh…and efface your nametag, before Top 3 or some phone colonel finds your site and makes your life here resemble your life to come… I hope I’m wrong; maybe the “devil” is his NCOIC, in which case the usage is probably appropriate.
As I contemplated “MaA,” however, I was pulled by conscience and thought of MonkCorp’s Vice President for Acquisition and Inquisition back to a name that was more consistent with being a child of God. I intend, as always, to offer outrageous opinions, outrageously expressed. I warn readers now that I may proffer opinions that may sound like they came from the dude who purloined Mors ab Alto. I often get in “kill them all, let God sort them out” moods (whoever “they” are—leftist moonbats, sportocratic thugs, racist fools, linear thinkers, muslim fundamentalists, ground-centric military types, Ward Churchill…whoever), but I am always eventually pulled back to the correct perspective—that all are children of God in Christ alike, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, only He can judge the hearts of men, and only He forgives and loves entirely. If I stray from this perspective, dear reader, please feel free to pull me back and/or kick me in the arse.
(Consider this last my equivalent of Charles Foster Kane’s New York Journal “manifesto.”)
I envision this site as a collaborative effort and hope it encourages, cajoles, and/or provokes regular readers of my posts into contributing. Feel free to respond in the comments section. I will pull the best responses out and post them. Or submit articles to me for posting via email. I will post these under your noms de blog, which will be those listed in the greetings above (you know who you are), unless you choose different moniker. Responses may not be immediate (I’m not Glenn Reynolds), but I will try to have something new up every day. Please keep all discourse here civil and civilized, as befits…
The Monk
posted by Monk | 14:27
