Search this site
Matching entries from BatesLine
BatesLine 20th anniversary
First-ever Wayback Machine snapshot of BatesLine.com, from August 5, 2003 Twenty years ago today at 6:01 am, the first blog entry at batesline.com came into being, an automatically generated entry proclaiming, "MovableType 2.63 has been successfully installed!" The first blog entry authored by a human followed at 12:22 pm,...
Resources on believers' baptism
A rain-filled mikveh (ritual immersion pool) at Korazim National Park, Israel. Photo © 2023 by Michael D. Bates, all rights reserved. Here are a couple of useful resources that I recently encountered, one very old, one new, in support of the view that Christian baptism is for those only...
<em>Vale, Pia Regina</em>: Queen Elizabeth II, RIP
John Byron Kuhner pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II as an exemplar of pietas -- not piety in the strictly religious sense, but dutifulness, after the fashion of Aeneas, hero of Vergil's Aeneid, the epic journey of the founder of Rome from the ashes of Troy. It is generally acknowledged...
Singing Latin grace with notation knives
A recent social media post showed a set of four knives with the lyrics and notation for a four-part grace-after-meals. Titled "Gratiarum actio," "the giving of thanks," the lyrics are, "Pro tuis beneficiis, Deus, gratias agimus tibi." "For your benefits, God, we give you thanks." On the reverse side,...
Charles Spurgeon resources
Recently I've returned to the habit of reading a book before bedtime and when eating on my own, leaving aside the digital device and focusing my attention on the printed page. In the past few weeks I've finished Calvin Coolidge's autobiography, Arnold Dallimore's biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a short...
Thanksgiving and the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's arrival
A happy Thanksgiving 2020 to all and sundry. Ours was immediate family only, with one away at school; our nearest extended family were elsewhere today, and many more of our extended family are of advanced age. So four of us did all the cooking, eating, and cleaning. We intended to...
V-E Day 75th anniversary
The German war is therefore at an end. After years of intense preparation, Germany hurled herself on Poland at the beginning of September, 1939; and, in pursuance of our guarantee to Poland and in agreement with the French Republic, Great Britain, the British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations, declared war...
Spanish Flu in Oklahoma, 1918: Avoid osculation
The earliest reference to Spanish flu or influenza in the Oklahoma Historical Society's Digital Newspapers Collection is from page 4 of the August 31, 1918, edition of the Daily Ardmoreite. The flu is still a far-off thing, but near enough to be worthy of some advice: INFLUENZA AND OSCULATION If...
Cornhill Magazine and the Internet Archive's time machine
My trouble has always been that I find too many different things interesting. The vast collection of printed material in the public domain and available on the internet is like a time machine that beckons one to enter and explore. A Pocket article (originally from Narratively), advertised on a new...
Crosbie Heights neighborhood threatened by blight claim, slashed property values
Homeowners in a revitalizing historic neighborhood west of downtown Tulsa are feeling threatened by a sudden drop in the County Assessor's valuation of their lots and the persistent interest of the Tulsa Development Authority, the agency that seeks "blighted" property for redevelopment.
Save the Pearl Coalition launched
A press release issued on Tuesday, November 12, 2019, announced the organization of a group to rescue Paul Harvey's childhood neighborhood from demolition for redevelopment under the guise of stormwater management. Save the Pearl: New Group Formed to Oppose Tulsa Development Authority's Eminent Domain Plans A community in Tulsa joins...
North American Reciprocal Museum Association
Your membership in your local art or historical museum is worth more than free local admission thanks to the North American Reciprocal Museum Association. It acts as a season pass, providing member access to museums in all 50 states, Washington, DC, as well as several sites in Canada, Mexico, El...
A bidding prayer for Christmas, A. D. 2018
Edited from the version originally published on December 25, 2012 Merry Christmas to anyone who happens by BatesLine today. As a Holland Hall high school student, I attended and sang in the annual service of Christmas lessons and carols at Trinity Episcopal Church, modeled after the annual Christmas Eve service...
Flashback: Ayatollah Drew Edmondson shackles petitioners
In 2007, Attorney General Drew Edmondson made national headlines -- embarrassing headlines -- when he indicted three leaders of a petition effort to protect taxpayers and property owners against government-backed greed and then had them shackled and perp-walked out of the courtroom. The spectacle caused publisher and erstwhile presidential candidate...
The Archers
I have a confession to make. I've become a soap opera addict. At least I can indulge my habit without plopping myself on the sofa for hours. I can catch up on the latest episode while running errands. This addiction has its roots in a five-week business trip to London...
Luther at the Movies: "Here I sit!"
About 10 years ago, an intelligently entertaining (and often spiritually edifying) pop culture blog went on permanent hiatus. It's worth revisiting, in this year of the 500th anniversary of its pseudepigraphous author's great historical moment. The premise of Luther at the Movies: The Great Reformer, famed for his blunt speech,...
"I Love a Sunburnt Country"
In 1908, just seven years after Australia's federation, a young woman named Dorothea Mackellar wrote a tribute to her homeland. The poem, "My Country," is sometimes called by the first line of its second verse, the beginning of the poem proper after a prefatory stanza. I love a sunburnt country,...
<em>You've Been Trumped</em>: Donald Trump bullies Scottish homeowners
Donald Trump's habit of using government to hound people from their homes to make way for his schemes isn't limited to the US. Ian Tuttle has documented Trump's efforts to make life miserable for neighbors of his grand Scottish golf resort -- a resort that has failed to live...
<em>Vivat Regina!</em>
Today, Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest reigning British monarch, surpassing her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. Elizabeth acceded to the throne on the death of her father, George VI in 1952. She has been described as an "accidental queen," advancing to heir presumptive when her uncle Edward VIII abdicated the throne...
Scotland's independence referendum
Polls are now closed in Scotland, but it will be several hours until all the votes are counted in the referendum to decide whether its 307-year-old membership in the United Kingdom will be dissolved in favor of independence. The question on the ballot is simple: "Should Scotland be an independent...
Feed Subscription
If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries matching 'London'. [What is this?]
