Cherry-Picking

So, once again, people in power have raised St. Paul's words in Romans 13:1-7 to urge obedience to a government's evil laws. Those words were used by slavers in the years before the Civil War, and by "moderates" during the Civil Rights era. That that interpretation is used by USAns, people whose nation was born in a revolt against what were seen as unjust laws, is execrable. But set that aside.

Go ahead and read those words - but also read the words which bracket them, Romans 12:9-21 and 13:8-10; then tell me again that they justify the evil actions of this administration. Me, I'll take Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King over Jeff Sessions and Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Wuthering Heights

I've been listening to Pat Benatar's "Crimes of Passion" album for the last while. There's a lot to like on it: "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and "Hell Is for Children" head the list, but "Wuthering Heights" holds a special place, rather different from the rest of the album.

Looking it up, I find that that song is a cover of an original by Kate Bush. I recognize the name, but know nothing about her. I think I'll have to order something of hers the next time I go fishing up the Big River.

Years, Chalionese and other

I just ran across the following passage in "The Curse of Chalion":

"... the Bastard's Day, that intercalary holiday inserted every two years after Mother's Midsummer to prevent the calendar's precessing from its proper seasons."

In our world, the solar year differs from an even number of days by a little less than a quarter of a day. Apparently in the 5GU, the difference is closer to half a day.

Not that anything much follows from that, but I hadn't noticed it before.

Sidenote: is there any reference, in the 5GU books, to an analogue of the week? The day, month, and year are based on astronomical realities, but the week is wholly artificial (and different cultures have had week-analogues ranging from four to ten days). Has anybody noticed?