Daily Update: August 24, 2011

Though Bartholomew was listed among the Twelve Apostles in the three Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), and also appears as one of the witnesses of the Ascension,В each time named in the company of Philip, he is one of the apostles of whom no word is reported nor any individual action recorded in the New Testament.В On the other hand, Nathaniel is mentioned only in the Gospel of John, always mentioned with Philip, while Bartholomew is never mentioned; so many authorities consider Bartholomew and Nathaniel to be the same person, perhaps as «Nathanael bar Tolomai», since «Bartholomew» is technically a last name.In the Gospel of John, he is described as initially being skeptical about the Messiah coming from Nazareth, saying: «Can anything good come out of Nazareth?», but nonetheless, follows Philip’s invitation.Jesus immediately characterizes him as «Here is a man in whom there is no deception.» He may have written a gospel, now lost; it is mentioned in other writings of the time.He may have preached in Asia Minor, Ethiopia, India and Armenia; some one did, leaving behind a*sorted writings, and local tradition says it was Bartholomew.Tradition holds that he was martyred in Armenia by being flayed alive.He is the Patron Saint of butchers and tanners, and is invoked against neurological diseases.Today is also the birthday of Julie’s second daughter (1986).

I woke up this morning at 9:00 am, after sleeping something like 19 hours.I found that Hurricane Irene, after having dipped for a while back down to Category One status before regaining Category Two status again, had graduated to Category Three status at 7:00 am.Richard went to get his hair cut while I ate my breakfast toast and read the morning paper; he also went to our auto service garage to see about getting the tires on the truck rotated, but was told that we really need to replace said tires instead.By the time he got back I had done my Daily Update for yesterday, Tuesday, August 23, 2011, I marked the folding money I had on hand for the Where’s George website and logged the marked bills onto the website, then I did my Devotional Reading for the day.

I then loaded up the truck with several bags of aluminum cans and with the two almost-full recycling bins of newspapers; Richard and I then left the house at 12:15 pm.We took the cans & newspapers to our local recycler, then I went to the bank to get the new Dollar Coins (featuring Rutherford B.Hayes, whom my bank teller had never heard of).We took the now-empty newspaper recyling bins back home, stopped at the convenience store to the east to get my Powerball and Louisiana Lotto lottery tickets for tonight’s drawing (they were out of Crawfish Pies, alas), and left town for Baton Rouge at 12:45 pm.Along the way I read the August 22, 2011 issue of Sports Illustrated; we stopped at the McDonald’s in Port Barre for lunch for me, then went down the eastern side of theВ Atchafalaya River to I-10, which we took into Baton Rouge; Before arriving in Baton Rouge, I had also read the September 2011 issue of National Geographic.

Once in Baton Rouge we went to the AAA office on Bluebonnet and got the current AAA Tour Books for all the states which we will be pa*sing through on our vacation.We then headed back west, and I started reading Julian’s Cat: The Imaginary History of a Cat of Destiny by Mary E.Little.This time, we took I-10 and went up the east side of theВ Atchafalaya River to US-190; down below Krotz Springs, we found the house where they dry Spanish Moss outside.В (According to Wikipedia, Spanish Moss isВ collected todayВ  for use in arts and crafts, for beddings for flower gardens, and as the filling for traditional voodoo dolls.)В I finished reading my book, and we arrived home at 5:15 pm.I got on the computer and did my Book Review for Julian’s Cat: The Imaginary History of a Cat of Destiny by Mary E.Little for this weblog and for my Goodreads and Facebook accounts; then I ate dinner (spaghetti with meat sauce) and did some Advance Daily Update Drafts through next Wednesday, the end of this month.And now that I am almost done with my Daily Update for today, once I am done I will go take a bath and do some reading.

In the Tropics Hurricane Irene is at Category Three status, with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour, and moving to the northwest at 12 miles per hour.The storm is now 185 miles southeast of Na*sau in the Bahamas, and is expected to reach the Bahamas tonight and tomorrow.The current long-term track probability has the storm missing Florida, skirting Cape Hatteras, and nailing Boston.A low-pressure system located about 1,200 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands has a 10 percent chance of developing into a Tropical Cyclone within the next 48 hours, and a low-pressure system about 300 miles southwest of the southern Cape Verde Island has a 70 percent chance of developing into a Tropical Cyclone within the next 48 hours.

Tomorrow I need to do my laundry, do the filing of papers, go through the photographs under my vanity, clean my vanity, and get a head of lettuce so that I can make lunch salads.Since all that needs to be done before I go to bed after Jeopardy!, I will be fairly busy tomorrow.

Our Parting Quote this Wednesday evening comes to us from Aaron Russo, American entertainment businessman, filmmaker, libertarian and political activist.Born in 1943 in Brooklyn, New York, he was raised on Long Island, New York, and worked for his family’s undergarment business.While in high school he promoted rock and roll concerts at local theatres, and at the age of twenty-four opened up his own nightclub, Kinetic Playground, originally named the Electric Theater.Through the club, he hosted various famous rock bands and musicians such as Led Zeppelin, The Who, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Iron Butterfly, Rotary Connection and Jefferson Airplane.He was manager forВ The Manhattan Transfer and Bette Midler from 1972 to 1979, and he produced The Rose (1979), which starred Midler in a role based on the life of Janis Joplin.В Russo also co-directed 1989в