Cultural Offering Blog posts that ‘The Senator’, a 3,500-year-old, 118 foot tall cyprus in Florida, burned down after being struck by lightning. Think of the implications, as this is something older than most of the great civilizations of this Earth. A profound loss. RIP.

Take the time to read National Review’s commentary here.

In terms of good manners and bravery, things have changed for the worse.

I had the honor of being raised by a chivalrous father. He had always let it be known that I’d ‘get it’ if I didn’t hold doors open for women, let the woman walk into a room first (except for German girls, where one should walk in first, to make sure the room is safe), and so on. It became something so deeply ingrained into my psyche that every time I hear a feminist cackle about equality to this day, I wonder about the mind-numbing sludge spilling out of their mouth and ponder their seriousness in anything in life. Is that rough? Perhaps, and it’s not entirely meant to be. The problem is that I decided long ago that it was no longer worth my time or effort to decipher things that made absolutely no sense to me.

The problem seems to be two-fold: first, women demand equality, yet expect deference. To say otherwise is to lie, and everyone who thinks critically about this story knows it. It is not to say that feminism, in and of itself, is such a horrible thing. There will be situations in life where you WILL have to rely on yourself, either for your own benefit or for the benefit of those around you. This should be commended and encouraged. Just don’t complain if, in an emergency, that a man won’t steamroll over you to save his skin while you or your child drowns. When you subscribe to certain theories, think fully of the consequences. The second is far more disturbing to me: cowardice. I included a link to National Review Editor Rich Lowry’s column. It left me feeling sick that men feel absolutely no shame in blatant cowardice anymore. It has become an accepted part of society. The man has nothing to defend, and the woman has nothing to shield her from the harsh realities of natural disasters. Our culture rots every time a story like this comes out. We’re in a truly pitiable state.

A lot of you knew I had a rather long surgery a few days ago. I’m fine from it, but recovery will be long and annoying. Still, this is how I’m looking these days. Yes, I need a shave, and I look like a combination between Grizzly Adams and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. Yuck. Anyway, all’s well, and I’ll shave eventually.

Can one be any more obvious? Enjoy!

MSNBC has more on the date jump here.

On that note, I’ll leave you with some wonderful Christmas music, courtesy of the legendary Swedish tenor, Jussi Björling:

Sleep in heavenly peace… sleep in heavenly peace.

I travel a lot, and will probably spend the rest of my life doing so, barring some lovely woman saddling me down with children and whatnot. During most of December of this year, I spent a good deal of time in airports, visiting as many as three a day. On December 5, I had a rather strange, but remarkably pleasant event occur.

I had just left Naples, Italy, after a week-long vacation visiting my good friend, Paolo. The trip was bittersweet for me, as, though I love the city of Naples, it has a rather painful history for me as well. I wasn’t in the best of moods when I went from Naples to Munich, knowing that I would have to wait seven hours to fly to Bulgaria and then spend 16 hours waiting for yet another flight, this time to London, on the way back to the United States to visit my family before moving back to Europe again early next year. Though I had eaten well, had a wonderful sendoff thanks to Paolo’s family, and was excited to go home, the nagging emotional pains didn’t quite go away.

About three hours into my trip, I saw a man walking around with what looked like a skullcap worn by Sinti gypsies. After taking a good glance, I noticed that the man’s cap had Orthodox Christian crosses on it in a style that reminded me of Georgian Orthodox patterns. The man asked if he minded if he took a nap, and I said, “No.” He rested for a few minutes, and he must have noticed my flightiness because he started chatting with me. As it turns out, the man was from Georgia, and was working in Italy as a boat operator.

With my interest piqued, he introduced himself as Sergo. We ended up talking about everything from Orthodoxy to Hamlet Gonashvili, perhaps the finest singer to ever come out of that country. This is one of the few times I will toot my own horn, as I take pride in being able to share the knowledge I’ve accumulated over the years easily with fellow travelers!

When all was said and done, we said our goodbyes, and I was left with the feeling that I had made a friend for life (at least by Sergo’s words).

Meeting new people while traveling is a wonderful thing.