"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."

These are words spoken by Jesus in Matthew 22:21 about the relationship between God and earthly authority. The common interpretation is "pay your taxes". My interpretation is "divest yourself of that which renders you servile to men". Or as stated in Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

Why I bring this up is because of this news story where Netflix has recently decided to crackdown on password sharing as well as possibly adding commercials. I find it hilarious because I have a DVD player but no Netflix account. That means no commercials, no accounts or passwords, no monthly payments, no movies pulled arbitrarily. There is no indentured servitude.

Coming soon to Netflix

This is only a small part of my "rebellion" against technological modernization. I try to avoid subscription services when at all possible. It was part of the reason I chose to change my diet and lose weight rather than go on Accutane. It's why I refuse to get a smartphone or a new car. It's part of the reason I refuse all drug use. It's why I've become obsessed with gardening and growing my own food. It's all tied in together.

Freedom from technological modernity

You can serve tech corporations or you can serve yourself and, by extension, God. Being free from technological slavery is a wonderful feeling.

Photo(s) of the Week: Tatiana's typhoid fever

 Some photos of when Grand Duchess Tatiana contracted typhoid fever in February and March of 1913.

A very much alive Tatiana

With a ghost Alexandra

Photo(s) of the Week: Sword Fighting is Encouraged

Especially at the hospital

 

Photo of the Week: Telescope

Who knew a simple telescope could be so fascinating.

 

Monarchy and elections part 3: Serbia

Serbia will be holding elections for both president and members of the National Assembly on April 3, 2022. The monarchist political party Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia will be running in a coalition with Dveri.

Photo(s) of the Week: Little Troublemakers

Remembering a friend

It was 4 years ago on March 28, 2018 that a high school friend of mine, Kylie Deane Perrin Musfeldt, passed away unexpectedly. While I can't say I was close friends with her there is one specific incident that led me to consider her a friend. It was our senior year year of high school in 2007 and we were hosting the Nevada Cubs for a football game on Friday, September 7th. I was on the team and had been named a captain for that game.

Now, I had an intense fear of public speaking and as a captain I had to stand out on the gym floor with the other captains during a pep rally in front of the entire school. We each had to take turns riling up the crowd for the game and when the mic got to me I froze. After an awkward eternity someone in the crowd began chanting my name in encouragement. As you can probably guess, it was Kylie. While my glossophobia won out I did come to appreciate it, even if it took ten years to do so.

When news of her death came in 2018 it spurred a change in me. Whereas before I had been a largely directionless NEET, the outpouring of love for Kylie that I witnessed had inspired me to clean up my act. It's still a struggle some days but I'm doing my best.

So thank you for the motivation, Kylie. You are missed by many.

Spring is here!

That means it's time to start planting and with fuel prices rising and food shortages on the horizon there's no better year to start. Last fall I harvested a "wild" sunflower growing near my house and this year I plan to grow numerous sunflowers along the south wall where there is currently nothing but peonies, spirea, and bare mulch.

One head of sunflower seeds and some crabapples.

Along the west wall there's more mulch, spirea, and sedum. I intend to plant cantaloupe in the bare areas here. I have grown cantaloupe in a pot before, producing one baseball sized melon.

In the northwest corner there is more mulch, spirea, daylilies, and coneflowers. I've also planted about 7-8 apple seeds here and am hoping at least one will sprout. In the southwest corner of the property I intend to plant the maple sapling I collected last summer.

Better days...

Winter was hard. The leaves dried up and fell off. I'm praying this means it's just dormant and not dead. Moving to the front yard I'll be removing the shroud from Lazarus the mulberry in a few weeks and praying that the rabbits don't get to it.

Lazarus

Just to the north of Lazarus I planted a sycamore seed. If that one fails to germinate I have several seed balls I can take more seeds from.

Lastly, I may or may not take some of the cedar saplings and transplant them to the north or northwest (if the apples fail) yard to create a windbreak and privacy screen. An alternative is the possibility of 'guerilla' planting them around town.

An abundance of cedars

Those are my gardening plans for this year.

Photo(s) of the Week: Sweet 16

On Sunday the Iowa State Cyclones women's basketball team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division I women's tournament for the first time since the 2009-2010 season. It was a surprisingly easy victory over the Georgia Lady Bulldogs that followed a surprisingly difficult victory over the UT-Arlington Mavericks on Friday. It also gave them a school record 28th win on the year. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the game.

Morgan Kane. Source

Ashley Joens. Source

And easily my favorite photo from the night:

Ashley Joens & Emily Ryan. Source

A much happier final game at Hilton than the senior night debacle vs Baylor.

Photo of the Week: Tatiana the Amazing Levitating Girl

 

Perhaps I'm just not seeing something but to me it appears that Olga is standing on flat ground while Tatiana is floating in the air. So what is the answer: a trick of light and dark, early 20th century photoshop, sitting/standing on a hidden object, perfectly timed jump, or Satanic powers?