Wonderful little town.

The shift to the centrality of the individual in this whole schema should by now be very clear. The radically diverse positions of the Reformers, the lack of any clear reading of noscripture, and the lack of any universally acknowledged arbiter of interpretation (since all rejected traditional Roman Christianity) meant that, ultimately, each individual was left on his own to decide for himself the correct reading of noscripture and which authorities he was willing to take as authoritative. One very critical consequence of this that I think is often overlooked is that it moved Christianity away from a mode of life to a problem of knowledge. What I mean is this: in traditional European Christianity, doctrine was largely settled for the lay practitioner, and what was chiefly required was the working out of one’s salvation “with fear and trembling,” that is, a concern with Christianity as a life lived (personal and community prayer, fasting, giving alms, works of mercy and charity, clothing the poor, etc.). With the breakdown of doctrinal unity, the issue became chiefly about sorting through competing truth claims to discover the “correct” reading of the Bible. This “tends not only to reduce the relationship between God and man to one of faith and knowledge, but also to restrict this knowledge itself to what can be gained from the text . . . Some Protestants, having achieved a more complete sacramental experience, have themselves criticized the Reformation for having intellectualized Christianity, and for having put the notional understanding of the reality above its actual possession."

—Zac Porcu

Protestants are nerds, apparently. Very powerful critique.

Pour one out for a real nigga.

The snowflake has no ego. It falls where the wind takes it. It does not say, "I am too good for this windshield." Be like the snowflake.

— The Dalai Lama

Ladies and gentlemen, it's done! 100 inches of snow so far this season! Praise God almighty for this boon upon His glorious country.

31 inches in November. 72.75 in December. Amazing. Simply beautiful.

Makin' boneless wings for New Year's. Not something I try often. Trying an odd pseudo-buffalo sauce. Tapatio, butter, bird's eye chili, lemon juice, Worcestershire, salt, and an egg yolk as a thickener. Very enjoyable.

Ah yes, chicken nuggets. Mined from the finest chicken ore down in the mines of the UP. Quite apropos.