Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

The following text is a morning prayer of invocation traditionally known as Saint Patrick’s Breastplate. The translation I’ve presented below comes from Philip Freeman’s book St. Patrick of Ireland. For a brief introduction to the historic Saint Patrick, I recommend this excellent article by Pastor Reid Monaghan.

I rise today
with a mighty power, calling on the Trinity,
with a belief in the threeness,
with a faith in the oneness
of the creator of creation.

I rise today
with the power of Christ’s birth and baptism,
with the power of his crucifixion and burial,
with the power of his resurrection an ascension,
with the power of his return for the final judgement.

I rise today
with the power of the love of the cherubim,
in obedience of angels,
in service of archangels,
in hope of the resurrection and reward,
in the prayers of the patriarchs,
in the foretelling of the prophets,
in the preaching of the apostles,
in the faith of the confessors,
in the innocence of the holy virgins,
in the deeds of righteous men.

I rise today
with the strength of the sky,
with the light of the sun,
with the splendor of the moon,
with the brilliance of fire,
with the blaze of lightning,
with the swiftness of wind,
with the depth of the ocean,
with the firmness of earth,
with the strength of rock.

I rise today
with the power of God to guide me,
with the strength of God to raise me,
with the wisdom of God to lead me,
with the vision of God to see for me,
with the ears of God to hear for me,
with the words of God to hear for me,
with the hand of God to protect me,
with the path of God before me,
with the shield of God to guard me,
with the friendship of God to keep me safe from

the contriving of demons,
the temptations of sin,
the inclinations of my nature,
and everyone who wishes me harm,
far and near,
alone and in the crowd.

I summon today all those powers to protect me
against every cruel force which may attach my body and soul,
against the incantations of false prophets,
against the evil laws of unbelievers,
against the false laws of the heretics,
against the subtle temptations of idolatry,
against the magic of women, blacksmiths, and Druids,
against every knowledge which corrupts body and soul.

Christ protect me today
from poison and burning,
from drowning and wounding,
so that I might gain an abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ below me, Christ above me,
Christ to the right of me, Christ to the left of me,
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye which sees me,
Christ in every ear which hears me.

I rise today
with a mighty power, calling on the Trinity,
with a belief in the threeness,
with a faith in the oneness
of the creator of creation.

Yep. I made the paper, and thankfully it wasn’t for anything bad! I was pleased to have the opportunity to chat with Brian Amaral of the Watertown Daily Times yesterday about the SOPA and PIPA legislation that is currently in Congress. Like many tech-savvy folks, I’m wholeheartedly against these bills, because I am concerned about the threat they pose to civil liberties and the basic technical functions of the Internet. At the same time, I’m not convinced they’ll do much to truly aid in protecting intellectual property for American businesses and individuals.

Here’s a quote from the article:

A self-proclaimed “geek,” Champion resident Leonard A. Flack had never contacted a federal representative before.

That was until Democratic Rep. William L. Owens became a co-sponsor of the Stop Online Piracy Act, a piece of legislation that is aimed at curtailing the theft of copyrighted material but has been criticized by tech giants and everyday geeks alike as overly broad and damaging to the Internet.

“I’m not big on anything that messes with (the Domain Name System) or gives the government wide, sweeping authority to go in and shut down websites footloose and fancy free,” said Mr. Flack, who describes himself politically as independent-minded and “liberty-focused.”

I think it’s an excellent piece. Check out the rest of the article here: “As sites black out in SOPA protest, Owens hears from critics”

(Note: It will be posted on the WDT site for the next week or so; then it will be archived.)

Long Overdue...

Seeing as how it’s been over a year since I’ve done anything constructive with this space, I thought it might be a good time to hit the reset button.

My good friends at Alphasites spent some time working with me to get everything upgraded and working smoothly. The site is now hosted on a newer server, and I’m very pleased with things “under the hood”.

Content-wise, I’ve decided to scrap all my previous posts, since much of it was geek-related stuff that is now outdated. Fresh stuff to come, Lord willing!