[TheForge] Meteoric iron - wrap it in foil

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

<Much good stuff snipped>

> In fact, if you want to be absolutely sure nothing is used by
> terrorists, I think you gotta stick with the Antarctic market for now.

Really. I know some Muslims that I'd cheerfully sell anything, knowing
they'd use it intelligently, and quite a few Christians I wouldn't sell a
stalk of celery to because they'd find some way to be abusive with it. You
can'tr judge people by labels, you need to look at what they ARE, not what
they're CALLED.

> But I think you gotta give Phlip, and everyone else, the benefit of the
> doubt that they have their own sense of morality, and that they are the
> only ones who can decide what that is.

Strangely enough, a dear friend of mine who's a Catholic priest told me I
was about the most moral person he knew- not because my morality was his
morality (I'm very NOT Catholic) but because I have my beliefs and I live by
them.

> It is true that many Americans
> will do anything for money- look at reality TV. But I have never gotten
> the impression that your average blacksmith is gonna be tempted to
> compromise all their principles to build weapons for mass murderers.

Not hardly. But I'm not going to consider everyone a mass murderer who has
brown skin and a name that sounds rather like a stack of metal cookpots
falling over, either. There are many good people who happen to be Muslim or
Arab or both (the two AREN'T the same), just as there are many Americans or
Christians or both who are good people. It's the yammerheads that get the
headlines- Abu ibn Mohammad, who sells clay pots in the bazaar, likely isn't
that different than any of us- he works hard, tries to pay his bills, raise
his kids properly, and enjoys a good cup of coffee at the end of a day's
hard work.

> And I always figured the Saint thing had to do with SCA style naming,
> and not that Phlip actually considered herself a Saint.
>
> ries

Well, sorta ;-) I was given the title by some young scamps at Pennsic ;-)
Their Matron Saint is Saint Mom, and we've acquired Sainthood by keeping the
guys out of TOO much trouble. They tend to have unpleasant encounters with a
neighbor who happens to be a PA cop, and I try to keep honest communication
open and both sides at least tolerating each other, if not enjoying each
other. I wear the title because it amuses me, and I think a lot of the boys.
It also doesn't interfere with any SCA naming conventions. I've been finding
it really pleasant, watching a bunch of teenagers turn into (mostly)
responsible young men, with jobs and families.

Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....