Quo Vadis?

An ending marking a new beginning...

2007-08-07T20:53:00.000-04:00

Well folks, I'm officially calling it quits here at Quo Vadis. It's been such a long time since I last posted that I felt the best thing to do was simply start afresh. And so I have. My new blog, the Geistkreis, can be found at the following address:

geistkreis.blogspot.com

I hope you get to checking it out sometime in the near future, and to all of you readers out there (especially those who have posted in the com-boxes over the years), thank you for all that we've shared up until now in this little dialogical, digital world of ours. I can only hope that the best of these joint musings will continue in my new blogging home...and that I'll have time to be a little bit more active on the posting side of things.

Open Culture: Enlightened Ideas and Media. Served Up Fresh.

2007-01-21T14:16:00.000-05:00

I discovered this Open Culture blog today and had to share it. Think of it as a web nexus providing links to all sorts of great free audio and video files of a more educational and cultural variety. Everything is sorted by the following categories: arts and culture podcasts, audio book podcasts, foreign language lesson podcasts, news/information podcasts, technology podcasts, and university podcasts (lectures, journal articles, etc.). These "podcasts" typically entail an assortment of iTunes and/or .mp3 (and sometimes a text file too) depending upon the material. They certainly don't have everything, but there's definitely a lot to sift (and listen) through.

Their latest "podcast" is something very interesting to me as well: Lawrence Lessig's book, Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. As the blog describes him, Lessig, a law professor at Stanford, "has made a big name for himself by developing a sustained critique of how Congress, at the behest of corporate America, has progressively stifled cultural and scientific innovation by extending the duration and scope of copyright laws." He's also the creator of Creative Commons, in case you've heard of them before.

Of course, all of this plays into what I see as the important value of the open source movement, particularly in these current times, but I'm sure you don't want me to bore you with that discussion.

Just enjoy all of the free resources at Open Culture...

Pandora and the Music Genome Project

2006-11-26T12:29:00.000-05:00

Pretty interesting project. You just type in some of your favorite artists into the Pandora database and not only do they bring up similar music, but they play it for you. Then, as you listen you can give songs positive or negative ratings, thus further tailoring your sound that you like, all the while discovering new artists that match your tastes.

Frustrations with "Family Values"

2006-11-18T17:06:00.000-05:00

Recently I was forwarded an "Action Alert" email from a friend, which I discovered was orginally sent out by the American Family Association, "America's Largest Pro-Family Action Site" (or so their website tells me). What frustrated me was the content of the email, for the alert was announcement that Wal-Mart was supporting the "homosexual agenda" with thousands of dollars and therefore must be boycotted by Americans with real "family values."

We can debate whether this "homosexual agenda" is a good or bad thing another time though, for what especially struck me was the fact that this "Pro-Family" organizaiton was only now speaking out against Wal-Mart, as if the insidious corporation has done nothing to seriously harm families in the past. Homosexual marriage and other issues may be important to some degree in relation to families, but I seriously question whether they are more important than people being paid fairly, provided with basic health-care needs, and respected in their communities, all three of these things that Wal-Mart is notoriously known for violating. Frankly, I am much more convinced that when these conditions are not met adequately families will struggle more, than I am that increased homosexual activity will tear families apart.

Examples like this also force me to ask, how did "conservative" and/or "religious" groups ever develop a notion of "family values" so narrow as only that which is sex-related? These same types of people seem to blaim our culture for being too sex-obsessed, something that may be true, but perhaps they also need to look at where their own criticisms lie. As far as I can tell, even if a general excessive sex-craze is one of the problems in the world today, it is far from the only one. In the end, I suppose what I'm trying to say then, is that if the American Family Association is really pro-family, they should have been protesting and boycotting Wal-Mart a long, long time ago.

New "Must See" Movies

2006-11-10T14:10:00.000-05:00

So I've decided that I won't be posting again until I have the time to type up something a little deeper and more serious (which may not be until Thanksgiving).

In the mean time, however, enjoy these 2 trailers I came across for the new versions of Jaws and The Shining:

Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?

2006-10-27T15:45:00.000-04:00

So I just came across this old spoof of Cops, called Troops. Pretty funny stuff.

I recommend the higher quality download, but if you don't have the time or space (28 mb), check out the lower quality YouTube video.

And after that, you'll want to check out the sequel, IMPS.: The Relentless.

Warning: Some of these sequel chapters are huge! (200 mb+)

The estrangement of modern life?

2006-10-22T19:58:00.000-04:00

...we die to each other daily.
What we know of other people
Is only our memory of the moments
During which we knew them. And they have
________changed since then
To pretend that they and we are the same
Is a useful and convenient social convention
Which must sometimes be broken. We must
________also remember
That at every meeting we are meeting a stranger.

~T.S. Eliot, The Cocktail Party

Summer Pics Finale

2006-10-10T22:38:00.000-04:00

Well, the fall is here, so I figured I ought to at least finally get around to uploading the rest of my summer trip pictures...

First, sweet home Chicago--the family trip to Chi-town for July 4th weekend.

Second, white water rafting in West Virginia the weekend before school started back up. Plus, camping just off the side of the road right smack dab in the middle of Appalachia! Anybody in the mood for Deliverance?

Lastly, the Labor Day Weekend Traverse City Cabin Trip Extravaganza! And yes, we did chop down a tree, trek all the way across Sandy Bear Dunes, and eat at the scary Cherry Hut family restaurant--it was truly a trip of many "firsts"! Wish more of you could have been there.

And so ends the summer of Chris.

Firefox extensions everyone should have...

2006-09-28T17:50:00.000-04:00

Extensions are by far one of the greatest things about the web browser Firefox, so I'm going to follow in the path of my friend Justin by sharing some of what I think to be the coolest extensions which everyone ought to have on their Firefox browser. Feel free to suggest any of your own personal favorites as well.

1-Click Answers

"1-Click Answers TM will save you even more time with AnswersTips that instantly deliver the information you are looking for. Just point at any word, hold the Alt key and click. Upon letting go, an AnswerTip in the form of a pop-up "information bubble" appears on the screen explaining the term."

VideoDownloader

"Download videos from Youtube, Google, Metacafe, iFilm, Dailymotion... and other 60+ video sites! And all embedded objects on a webpage (movies, mp3s, flash, quicktime, etc)! Directly!

VideoDownloader add a small icon on the status bar at the bottom of your firefox window, and a toolbar button. Just click that and download the video you are watching!"

*And if you don't want the extension, it's worth noting that you can still do it manually, by copying and pasting links into the top line of this website: http://javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php

*And you'll need an .flv player, so I recommend this free one:
http://applian.com/flvplayer/?src=VideoDownloadPlay
http://www.martijndevisser.com/blog/article/flv-player-updated

Adblock

"Once installed, it's a snap to filter elements at their source-address. Just right-click: Adblock: done. Filters use either the wildcard character (*) or full Regular Expression syntax. Hit the status-element and see what has or hasn't been blocked."

In other words, you shouldn't have to deal with any picture ads while web browsing any more!

Adblock Filterset.G Updater

"This is a companion extension to Adblock or Adblock Plus and should be used in conjunction with it. This extension automatically downloads the latest version of Filterset.G every 4-7 days. Filterset.G is an excellent set of filters maintained by G for Adblock that blocks most ads on the internet. In addition, this extension allows you to define your own set of filters that you can add along with Filterset.G during an update."

That is to say, this is the easiest way to keep your Adblock extension up-to-date.

Tab Mix Plus

"Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox's tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager with crash recovery that can save and restore combinations of opened tabs and windows."

FoxyTunes

"Do you listen to Music while surfing the Web? Now you can control your favorite media player without ever leaving the browser and more...

Supports WinAmp, iTunes, Yahoo Music Engine, Pandora, foobar2000, Windows Media Player, Xbox Media Center, Musicmatch, Quintessential, J. River, jetAudio, XMPlay, MediaMonkey, Media Player Classic, Sonique, wxMusik, Real Player, XMMS, Noatun, Juk, Amarok, Music Player Daemon, Rhythmbox and many other players.

Just click on the orange note and select your player."

ForecastFox Enhanced

"Enhanced version of the popular Forecastfox extension (forecastfox.mozdev.org) by Jon Stritar and Richard Klien. This adds 12 improved radar images and the ability to supply a URL for your own radar image. It also allows for pausing, restarting and setting the frequency of automatic updates."

This version is far better than regular forecast fox. The only downside (as with the original) is the reliance upon Accuweather, which seems to be slightly less accurate than weather.com, from my own experience.

I wonder what members of the Mac cult think of this old fiasco...

2006-09-12T18:25:00.000-04:00

Don Marco, The Master Crayon Artist

2006-08-29T14:11:00.000-04:00

I'm impressed.

Take that Mr. Piñata Beast-like Animal Rainbow Creature Thing!

2006-07-25T00:39:00.000-04:00

Also, check out my photo album of pics from Brad and Michelle's wedding (although none are from the wedding itself). And yes, I realize you can't download any from this site -- don't worry, that option should be available to you in a day or two via another link.

Summer readings thus far...

2006-07-19T23:30:00.000-04:00

As surprising as this may be for those who think I don't read these days, here are the books I've actually read since school got out, the best by far being the short novel Manalive by Chesterton:

Jean Grimshaw, Philosophy and Feminist Thinking (1986)

John Taylor Gatto, The Underground History of American Education: A School Teacher's Intimate Investigation into the Problem of Modern Schooling (2000)

G.K. Chesterton, Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox (1933)

G.K. Chesterton, Manalive (1912)

Steven E. Rhoads, Taking Sex Differences Seriously (2004)

Peter H. Spader, Scheler's Ethical Personalism: Its Logic, Development, and Promise (2002)

John F. Crosby, Personalist Papers (2003)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And I'm currently in the middle of or just starting the following:

Peter Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (1990)

Jean Bethke Elshtain, Public Man, Private Woman: Women in Social and Political Thought (1993)

Thomas DuBay, Fire within: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and the Gospel - on Prayer (1990)

Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception (1945)

Jim Mollenkopf, The Great Black Swamp: Historical Tales of 19th Century Northwest Ohio (1999)

"A Wimpy World War III"

2006-07-18T16:23:00.000-04:00

I have to agree with this recent post by Steve Kellmeyer criticizing conservative pundits and whoever else for labelling our current situation with the radical Muslims "World War III". The idea is utterly outlandish. As Steve notes, if anything, it's more like organized crime:

Islamic terrorists seem to be set up much more along the lines of organized criminal gangs than they are armies. Indeed, given the level of intra-Muslim violence, it is not unreasonable to draw comparisons between gang warfare and the current level of Islamic violence.

I understand terrorism is bad, but do people really remember what World Wars I and II were like? Quoting Steve one last time, "if this is World War III, then world wars are definitely getting pretty wimpy."

Summer listenings thus far...

2006-07-12T01:05:00.000-04:00

In case some of you were curious as to what I've been read...err... listening to of late, here's what I've gone through since I started back up again in May...

Herman Melville, Moby Dick (1851)

The Irish in America, collected essays, ed. Michael Coffey and Terry Golway (1997)

Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)

Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance (1893)

Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband (1895)

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot (1869)

Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes: A Memoir (1996)

Albert Camus, The Stranger (1942)

Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost (1887)

Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince and Other Stories (1888)

Oscar Wilde, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories (1891)

Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook (1998)

Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy (1961)

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five: Or, the Children's Crusade, A Duty-Dance with Death (1969)

Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones (2002)

Scott Hahn, Letter and Spirit: From Written Text to Living Word in the Liturgy of the Church (2005)

And I'm currently in the middle of the following two:

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov (1880)

Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe (1996)

The World Cup in retrospect

2006-07-10T17:30:00.000-04:00

[Update: Well, YouTube had to take down the cool Zidane head-butt video I'd linked to, because the stupid whiny FIFA apparently complained. I can't get back that great original (especially the awesome "head-butt" music), but here are some other videos of the infamous hit-job: Boring Regular Footage; Regular Footage (with Japanese commentary!); Zidane Head-Butt Remix; Dramatic Re-enactment (starring DeNiro); Head-On Ad; Zidane's boyhood; Zidane Lego Style; Zidane the Destroyer; Flaming Head-Butt(?).]

Well, just as I predicted, Italy came through with the victory.

Surprisingly though, I also found the game--the first televized soccer game that I've ever watched all the way through--to actually be entertaining. Aside from the amazing head-butts into the goal by that Italian guy, here are some more initial observations from my first real encounter with the World Cup...

The Good

Possibly the greatest thing I discovered about soccer on TV is that there are hardly any commercial breaks, and none during the course of play! All we had to deal with was a small changing company logo at the top of the TV screen and the corporate banners along the wall surrounding the field. It's just a thought, but perhaps this is another factor (even if a small one) as to why soccer hasn't become mainstream in our American commercialist/consumerist cult-ure.

The Stupid

I'm sorry, but are we still living in the Stone Age, or do we actually have Juggernaut from the X-men walking among us? Seriously, I understand that words were exchanged and Zidane may have been offended, but who strikes revenge with a head-butt to the chest?

The Confusing

Should they really call it the "World Cup" when the trophy isn't even a cup? At least in the NHL, you actually win a giant cup in the Stanley Cup finals. Apparently, that's how it used to be in soccer too. C'mon FIFA, where'd the real cup trophy go?

The Future (if game-developers are smart)

The consumerist in me has a sudden desire to play a soccer video game now, but I have a very important question to ask (to anyone with experience) before I think about really buying a game: do any of the games actually allow you to fake being hurt so that you can try to give penalties to the opposing team?

The Wondrous Might-Not-Have-Beens

2006-07-04T13:25:00.000-04:00

A few years back, I had the opportunity to make a short film to share with some friends in a mini-film festival we planned to put on. Ultimately, I didn't get very far myself (in all honesty, most of us didn't), but I did have some ideas. My favorite was the following, and I can't help but think it at least had (and perhaps still has) some potential.

What I wanted to make was a documentary, a documentary about something special. This special thing would actually be many things though. My hope was that it would surprise and entertain the audience, but also intrigue, simultaneously stirring the mind in thought and inspiring. For the special thing that my documentary would have explored was truly a marvel, even if everyday and ordinary. And so it goes:

The film would have started completely black; the viewing room would have needed to be particularly dark also. After a short period of silence a voice would come in, asking the audience to participate in some thought experiments. "Imagine," it would say, "that you have gone blind." As the monologue continued, small vague images would come and go in the blackness, images of things one would likely especially miss if all of a sudden blind. While they were momentarily appearing and vanishing, the voice might also pronounce, "All of these, you once saw, but no more."

Then blackness again. While still in the dark void, a second experiment would follow, the audience now being asked to imagine never having had vision. Thus, they would not even have the muddy images in their minds which minutes ago they may have been cherishing so much in the darkness. They would be asked to try and fathom how different life would be like this. (Perhaps it would be noted that this could be done with the other senses as well.)

Finally, the voice would remark that the audience was about to go on a great adventure, being healed from their blindness, in order to see things anew, for the first time. Suddenly a bright light would then flash across the screen (grand music would build up as well), the whiteness slowly becoming clearer, so that eventually a beautiful scene of nature became visible…

The rest of the film isn't really worked out in detail, but it'd basically be about what I just said: seeing things anew. I find too many people in life who have lost a sense of wonder for too many things. Yet is there not so much to marvel at in this strange universe of ours! G.K. Chesterton aptly remarks in his book Tremendous Trifles, "The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder."

Rather than focus upon grand vistas and the astonishing though, my film would especially examine wonder in the seemingly monotonous and mundane. Have you ever given much thought to how many things that perhaps once excited you are now seen as merely part of the "ordinary"? Chesterton seems to see this as often largely a consequence of growing up: "A child of seven is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door and saw a dragon. But a child of three is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door." [emphasis mine]

But just because this loss of wonder typically happens as we grow old, is not to say that such a loss is a good thing. In my film then, I wanted to suggest that the child of three is right to be excited at the simple act of opening a door, for such an action truly is incredible. In fact, to a degree, such a response is really worth imitation by us "older folks", for the truth is that there is nothing ordinary in this world we live in; deep down, everything really is extraordinary!

It was with this sense of wonder at mere existence in mind, that Chesterton opposed the thinking common among some in his day, which spoke of "many a [failed] man as a Great Might-Have-Been." Rather, "it is a more solid and startling fact that any man in the street is a Great Might-Not-Have-Been." In all honesty, I think this can also fittingly be said of everything that simply is. Perhaps a good title for my short little flick – which never fully came to be itself – would have been The Wondrous Might-Not-Have-Beens.

The child often wonders at anything precisely because everything is new to him and didn't exist before – it is a world of Might-Not-Have-Beens, whether we're talking about a beautiful sunset or plain old cup (I've seen a 1 year old play with a plastic cup for hours!). In reality however, the situation never changes, whether one is 1 or 10 or 100 years old. We still live in a world of Might-Not-Have-Beens, and we ourselves are each a Might-Not-Have-Been.

It is the combination of our new discoveries and interests, our limits in being able "to take it all in," and our simple laziness and pride at times, that lead us down the path of viewing so much as merely mundane and monotonous. It doesn’t have to be this way though. There’s no reason why we can't take some sort of pleasure in the "ordinary", for the ordinary truly is incredible!

And so I also wanted to show that one of the great benefits of this attitude towards all around us is a greater sense of gratitude for all that we have. Coupled with this gratitude however, also comes a sense of humor, for it is often in seeing things afresh that we notice their peculiarity and strangeness – something many times quite comical. Additionally though, all of this wonderment has the special character of rousing the deeper questions of life – what it means to be a human, is there meaning in life, how should we live, where is the divine (if anywhere at all), what about the problems of evil and suffering, etc. – questions which I don't think any of us should ever grow tired of asking and exploring.

Ultimately then, I think that generally speaking, if one opens themself up this far, they'll find a greater desire stirring within, a desire to live every moment to the fullest, as if it was the only one, precisely because in a sense, as far as we know, each moment really is the only one we have.

Chesterton once said, "If you look at a thing nine hundred and ninety-nine times, you are perfectly safe; if you look at it the thousandth time, you are in frightful danger of seeing it for the first time." Hopefully, this little reminiscent reflection of mine has similarly provoked you the reader out of any slumber and apathy (which we all succumb to at times) into which you'd possibly fallen into of late. May it inspire you too to see everything around you again for the very first time, gazing now upon it all, with wonder, fear, gratitude, laughter, and a new sense of vigor for living this great mystery of life that we all partake in.*

*Incidently, while I could have cited many different writers affirming what I just described, you may have noticed Chesterton was the only one chosen. I did it this way, because it is Chesterton more than anyone else, who opened me up to this sense of wonder and all that follows from it. In fact, I'll be quite honest, this more than anything else, is what drew me to Chesterton's writings, and it still is what I find to be best about his work. This isn't to say he's my favorite thinker – he's not, and I'm not as big a fan of him as I used to be. Yet I still can't help but admire much of his style and ethos – that uncanny ability he has to open up a new source of imagination and wonder in the heart and mind of the reader.

St. Paul, MN and back again...

2006-06-26T23:58:00.000-04:00

My friend Eric and I ran into some incredible T-storms just past Chicago last weekend, coming back from the 25th annual Chesterton conference in St. Paul, MN. As you can see, it was quite a spectacle as we approached the majestic clouds, warmly illuminated by the setting sun behind us. Unfortunately, we didn't get any real clear pictures of what at times may very well have been the largest and most vivid rainbow I've ever seen in my life. I won't forget it myself though.

In this newest photo album then, you can find more of those pictures, as well as some shots of the impressive and inspiring Cathedral of Saint Paul. We attended Mass there on Sunday morning before beginning the long and grueling drive home (12 hours baby!).

p.s. The conference itself was excellent -- plenty of laughs, wine, beer, stories, talks, poetry (especially Clerihews!), intellectual ponderings, entertainment, and cheap used book sales -- though I probably won't be saying much more about it on the blog here.

[Note: The lightning picture on the side bar is not mine. In fact, since I began this blog, none of those side bar pictures have been mine. I apologize for not being able to give credit to whomever it is due.]

Global Warming...My Recent Thoughts

2006-06-01T17:25:00.000-04:00

[Note: This was originally posted April 2nd, but taken down because I wanted to think about what I'd said more. Since my friend Justin recently started talking about Al Gore and global warming though, I thought I might as well put it back up.]

After an extremely mild winter, and in light of the approaching summer heat, along with this discouraging news story, I thought (of all things) that it’d be a good time to clarify where I currently stand on the whole "global warming" issue. Longtime readers may recall my old essay from 2004 raising questions about the "hockey stick" reading of the climate changes over the past 1,000 years. I should note that my raising questions was not out of some malice for the environment, but because I sincerely had questions about the issue, which seemed to me a very confusing one.

Two years later, I still find the subject confusing, though there have been some developments. The questions raised by Soon and Baliunas regarding Mann’s “hockey stick” interpretation have received a fair dose of criticisms themselves. Additionally, Baliunas involvement with numerous organizations that receive funding from petroleum companies, while not necessarily disproving her research, nonetheless raises more questions.

As for the other studies I cited that seem to give doubt to the "hockey stick" reading, I've had a more difficult time finding responses. Additionally, it must be remembered that this "paleoclimate" evidence is only one type; there are other studies (such as the correlations between released gases and rising temperatures) that also need to be considered.

The best I can tell right now though, is that the rising temperatures are very likely a mix of both natural causes and human activity. What I can't say with any level of certainty is the degree to which each has had an influence upon climate changes. The bottom line, as far as I can tell then, is that whereas it is clear that temperatures have been rising of late, we still don't have that clear of evidence as to the precise impact man is having in all of it. I think I'm being quite fair in saying this, for the more recent McIntyre and McKitrick criticisms of Mann's work seem to be even more warranted than the previous ones I'd cited in the past.

[Note: For those interested in reading more than Wikipedia summaries, check out the blogs where both sides are publishing a lot of their thoughts, as well as summaries of recent studies: Real Climate: Climate Science from Climate Scientists (a blog that Mann contributes to, amongst others), and Climate Audit (McIntyre's blog).]

I admit though, that I am no expert in this field, and assuredly have not read nearly enough. Such an admission could be grounds for both sides of the issue to discredit me (and I don't place McIntyre or McKitrick on either side necessarily): those with less concern about the environment might argue that I haven't considered enough evidence and thus shouldn't blame human activity, whereas the more environmentally-minded might also say I haven't studied enough, but conclude instead that I need to recognize the negative human impact more than I do.

Personally, I think what I'll say shortly will discount both of those positions. Before I get into that though, let's also not forget the nature of science (Justin, please correct me if I'm wrong here). Proving there to be serious problems in the methods of previous research (such as Mann's) only reveals negative evidence. It doesn't provide positive evidence one way or another in regards to what is actually causing global warming, or the extent to which present global warming is a problem. Thus, the question is merely opened up to debate and further research again. And that’s where I think we stand presently.

Additionally, however, I had a recent thought that I think anyone concerned about the environment should be emphasizing more often, especially when in dialogue with the real neo-cons and industrialists, those who seem to have little or no regard for the environment and use the criticism of studies like Mann's to argue that there’s no reason to be concerned. Similar to the "agnostic quadrilemma" point that I believe to be most important in dialoguing with those who support abortion, this time the dilemma is one of environmental negligence.

Basically, even if one were to argue that the warming trends are not threatening, nor caused by humans, unless one can prove with complete certainty that this is entirely due to natural causes, then I think everyone ought to be playing on the safe side, and working at least in some way (the amount would of course be debatable) for further funding, research and development towards trying to better understand and deal with the "possible" climate problem. To completely shrug it off as nonsense, as I think many conservatives do, seems completely irresponsible to me, especially considering the fact that there is so much scientific evidence suggesting a real warming problem, as well as a human connection. Though there may still be questions and points to debate, considering what might happen if indeed we humans are the primary cause (or even just a partial cause), shouldn't we be at least be taking some precautions? Does it not seem negligent to simply continue to live without any concern over the matter? Now, I do understand the complaint of some that science has been wrong in the past (take the horrid example of eugenics from the early 20th century), but what doesn't make sense to me is how giving the "global warming threat" claim real consideration will in any way seriously hurt humanity, even if it were some day proven to be untrue.

And so, my present thought is that while much remains unclear in the global warming debate, we nevertheless ought to act under the assumption that we are a part of the problem, consequently doing what we can to try and be more environmentally conscious and protective (and I realize here that the issue of global warming is only one aspect of environmental problems). Even if one is skeptical of the warming trend as a serious threat, one still ought to assume it to be true, unless one could prove it most definitely not to be the case. This may not sound like a revolutionary thought, but I think it is a simple point that could be made, yet probably isn't made enough.

Ironically, in doing a little research before writing this post, I was surprised to come across a recent statement from (of all people) President Bush expressing similar sentiments: "We -- first of all, there is -- the globe is warming. The fundamental debate: Is it manmade or natural. Put that aside." He went on then to point out all on his agenda that he's doing to try and help better the environment. Despite the strange choice of words (the "globe"?), I think he's actually getting to the point I made above as well. Hopefully his administration will really make the right decisions now in carrying out those promises. Only time, and our "globe," will tell.

Well, there you have it -- my thoughts on global warming. Please let me know if you think it makes any sense (or no sense at all!). This is actually a fairly recent idea that came after trying to really think out the issue and the best way for me to respond in light of the present circumstances and what little I know from my limited perspective. Even now, as I think about it more, this probably wouldn't be enough for a complete account (for example, it doesn't seem as strong as the abortion "quadrilemma" point), but I do think it seems like a good starting place.

St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology, pray for us!

Fruit wars...

2006-05-08T21:30:00.000-04:00

VS.

You may or may not know that I'm not a big fan of iTunes. In fact, I despise Apple Computer's self-centered monopolizing ways with iTunes (that's the spirit of unbridled capitalism for yah!). Nevertheless, I have to side with them on this ridiculous court case. For the record, all the Beatles (and their involved family members) lose 1,000 points each in my book for this kind of whining (excluding the dead ones, of course).

Afternoon Opera, Italian dinner, and Love...

2006-04-15T01:19:00.000-04:00

No, I did't just go on a romantic date. But the title of this post does capture much of my experience several Sundays ago (April 9th to be precise) that I wanted to share with you.

First, Opera...

After an inspiring Palm Sunday Mass and a quick bite to eat at home, I was off with the Dawson Society (a group on campus that promotes various cultural activities) to experience my first live opera. More specifically, we saw an incredible rendition of the Italian opera Tosca at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh.

To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect initially. In retrospect, I think a part of me was slightly intimidated by the seeming upper class nature of opera, as though perhaps I just wouldn't get it. Looking back now though, what a foolish thought! Especially in light of later learning that opera is much more widespread in Europe and an event for all people. For some reason however, in the U.S. opera is not as common and much more expensive (thankfully, my ticket was paid for).

Sung in Italian with English "supertitles" (a new word to me) projected above the stage, the music of Tosca was not only beautifully done, but easy to follow. If you're really interested, listen to a sample from the character Tosca here, or the character Cavaradossi here.

I must say though, that listening to the music alone won't do it justice, for it is the delicate mixture of music and acting that truly brings the story to life. And as for the story itself, it's in many ways your classic love story tragedy and quite moving.

If ever I can afford it again, it will be hard to pass up another one of these! Truly amazing!

Next, Italian...

After the opera, the group went to Buca di Beppo, a southern Italian family style restaurant.

Though I think their desert is outrageously overpriced and the shrimp scampi extremely disappointing, everything else I've tried on their menu has proven pretty delicious. Additionally though, I like the atmosphere in the restaurants. It's hard to describe, so I suppose you won't know unless you experience it for yourself.

By the way, before going on, I feel as though I ought to note a revelation I had recently about how much I love city life. Pittsburgh in particular is a great town! There are always so many exciting things going on. Honestly, between my experience there this schoolyear and in San Francisco over Christmas break, I could almost see myself one day living in a city. But alas, I don't think I could go that far. Ideally, I think I'll always prefer something closer to nature. Nevertheless, it wouldn't hurt to live 30-60 minutes away from a major metropolitan area. ;-)

Finally, Love...

After a delectable Italian dinner then, we headed back to Franciscan to hear the annual Edith Stein lecture, this year given by one of the leading French philosophers, Jean-Luc Marion.

Is that the classic professor look or what?!

Marion's talk was titled "Love as a Philosophical Question." Basically, it was critical of much of the history of philosophy (whether Greek, Buddhist, Christian, Enlightenement, Modern, Postmodern, etc.) for not building philosophy upon a foundation of love, which he sees as the most essential element to the human experience. Needless to say, I found his ideas very appealing. In many ways, it's an even greater emphasis upon what is highlighted in the following quote you may have read on the side column of this blog:

"To the extent that we fail to grasp what love really is, it is impossible for us to give adequate philosophical consideration to what man is. Love alone brings a human being to full awareness of personal existence. For it is in love alone that man finds room enough to be what he is." (Dietrich von Hildebrand)

There's more I could share on this topic from Marion, as well as from my favorite modern (Max Scheler) and ancient (Augustine) philosophers, but I don't want to bore people with too much "philosophy."

So that's that. A long but wonderful day of fun with friends here at school. I don't know if it's what you expected from the title, but it's what I experienced, and coupled with it being Palm Sunday, that day was by far one of my more memorable outings of late.

And a few more updates while I'm at it...

On another note, despite the briefly-lived fun of Palm Sunday, school was starting to become stressful with the loads of work building up. Plus, in some ways, it doesn't help that you have Holy Week, which is naturally of a somewhat somber spirit (even if joyful in other respects). Fortunately, in light of this stress and sorrow, I found myself greatly rejuvenated and refocused by the Easter celebration (which--another revelation--I've been reaffirmed experientially in Easter being by far my favorite holiday).

So, to these last few busy weeks of class, I say, bring it!

Lastly, in between all the hustle and bustle, some friends recently introduced me to a great band (err...man/artist?): Iron & Wine.

You may have heard some of his(their?) music before. If not, well, if you like "Indie Rock" and "Folk," or that "acoustic" sound, then you may like this guy. One of my favorite songs is the "Trapeze Swinger."

Alright, back to the grind!

J.K. Rowling and the Magical Christian World of Harry Potter

2006-04-05T21:56:00.000-04:00

Left: J.K. Rowling herself
Right: "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" movie poster

Staying on the subject of fiction, I want to share an article I recently wrote for a small student-run newspaper that gets put out around campus here at Franciscan University. The newspaper's called The Gadfly, after Socrates' use of the term, and it's purpose is to 'bite the sleeping horse,' raising new questions and discussion where they aren't already taking place. Basically, it's to upset the status quo, to try and get people to be a bit more open and critical in their thinking. The title of my piece is "The Christian World of Harry Potter" (slightly modified here for the blog/internet), and I'm trying to break down the wrongful prejudices so many Christians seem to have against the books. At the same time, I don't think you have to be Christian to make sense of it. More than any of my other recent posts, I'd love to get some feedback on this one (it will also likely be my last post until sometime after Easter). Enjoy!

==================================

I think most would agree that the controversy among Christians over Harry Potter has largely petered out in the last couple of years. Nevertheless, I have a hunch that strong sentiments—both pro and con—still lurk beneath the surface for many. So, naturally, I thought it'd be fun to put a new spin on the subject and stir things up a bit, hopefully for the better.

In the past you see, even those Christians willing to defend Harry Potter have typically only emphasized that there’s some good to it and it isn't intrinsically evil. What I want to suggest here though is far more, for I actually think the books are drenched in Christian imagery and symbolism. To recall a C.S. Lewis notion, I believe J. K. Rowling has created Harry Potter largely with a desire to "baptize the imaginations" of her readers, helping them to ultimately better comprehend the heart of the Christian story.

To understand how this might be so, let's first go back to one of Rowling's own interview statements from 2000 after she was asked about her religious beliefs: "Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said yes, because I do, but no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I have to say that does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books."

A remark like this ought to spark some curiosity: just what is she up to? After all, Rowling, a member of the Church of Scotland, seems to be implying two things: not only will the series eventually reveal her faith, but talk about her faith could also give away secrets to the upcoming books. Still, on shouldn’t draw conclusions too hastily, for Rowling may simply be a Wiccan incognito, right? To really find answers, we must turn back to the books themselves, searching for clues within.

In doing so, anyone with background in classical literature and Latin (like Rowling herself) will immediately recognize a plethora of Christian alchemic symbolism. Of course, I'm sure everyone recalls that alchemy was much more than a proto-science; to most who practiced it, alchemy was a deeply mystical discipline. The goals of transforming common metals to gold and finding the philosopher's stone were symbols pointing to the deeper spiritual transformation being sought after by the alchemist. Within Christian alchemic tradition, this obviously meant a transformation in Christ.

This spiritual practice fell to the wayside with the rise of modern science, but the symbolism continued to permeate Christian literature, from Shakespeare all the way down to Lewis and Tolkien. And now, I propose, Rowling has joined that tradition. Alchemic symbols in Harry Potter include the philosopher's stone in the first book (American publishers changed this to "sorcerer's stone" because they thought kids wouldn’t read a book with "philosopher" in the title!), the variety of images used throughout (resurrecting phoenix bird, unicorn, dragons, etc.), and even character names, just to mention a few.

Each book Harry also goes through a spiritual transformation from beginning to end, actually following the three stage alchemic process: nigredo ("black," dissolution), albedo ("white," purification), and rubedo ("red," perfection). Additionally, the fifth and sixth books each correspond respectively to the whole nigredo and albedo stages, implying the seventh final book will be the final rubedo stage, thus bringing the series to completion.

Throughout the novels, Harry's character is truly growing in virtue and being purified, slowly becoming more open to love, sacrifice, and seeing people genuinely, while conversely overcoming his pride, fears, and wrongful prejudices. This is especially shown at the end of each book, where Rowling seems to create a medieval Everyman morality play using symbols from the various challenges Harry faces. (Here it should be noted that the symbols representing good and evil are always traditional Christian ones.) Ultimately then, Harry provides the reader's imagination with an incredible experience of the battle between good and evil, each book ending then in an illuminating encounter with the amazing value and power of sacrificial love. If that doesn't sound Christian, I don't know what does.

Before closing though, I want to briefly answer three objections to the picture I've laid out. First, some critics may point to the "Pope opposes Harry Potter" reports from last summer. Any serious consideration of the documents, however, will show the weakness of this argument. For a detailed analysis, see the essay, "'Pope Opposes Harry Potter'? Hardly".

Secondly, about the whole magic thing, please consider the idea that maybe, just maybe, Rowling's "magic" is simply fantasy/fairytale magic. In case you didn't know, real-life witches don't use broomsticks or magic wands (Rowling has emphasized this numerous times in interviews). Additionally, the spells used in the books are quite different from the real-world occult practices that invoke spiritual powers.

Thirdly, many might protest that even the mere potential of leading people astray is cause for not reading the books. The problem here, though, is that anything can lead people astray, because anything can be interpreted badly (even the Bible!). A survey several years back revealed that most Wiccans point to The Lord of the Rings as the most influential book early on in their lives. Does that mean we ought to condemn Tolkien's work? I really hope not. Why should we let evil and error spoil the fun for the rest of us?

That being said, if this has peaked your interest, know that it’s only the tip of the iceberg. To really learn more, go to www.hogwartsprofessor.com, or read John Granger's book, Looking for God in Harry Potter. Most of the ideas put forth in this article actually come from his work. Feel free to also email me with your thoughts, questions, and concerns. Lastly, go pick up a Harry Potter book yourself and read it with a newly open heart (i.e. turn off those "witchcraft" blinders). Perhaps then you'll discover, not an enemy of God, but a new source of spiritual growth, wonder, and creativity.

The Da Vinci Phenomenon

2006-04-04T23:01:00.000-04:00

You may or may not have heard about the copyright trial going on over whether Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code, ripped off the ideas from authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh's own earlier work. Well, I just found out the closing statements were made a week or so ago, and the verdict from the judge is supposed to come within the next week or so.

What I found particularly humorous though, was a question raised by some: why would someone make a copyright suit over these so-called "factual" claims in the Brown book?

[F]or Brown, as the book has filtered into the awareness of people who are qualified to refute most of its claims, he's always been able to plead fiction; "The Da Vinci Code" is, after all, only a novel. Although he begins the book with a statement that it accurately describes real documents, and that the Priory of Sion really does exist, even this leaves him with plenty of wiggle room. The book's selling point is the impression that it contains large and provocative servings of historical fact; yet when challenged on the many fallacies in his novel, Brown can always assert that, as a work of fiction, "The Da Vinci Code" can't be held to any standard of accuracy.

A cozy situation for Brown, but it became somewhat less so recently when, in the U.K., a lawsuit was filed against him for "breach of copyright of ideas and research." The complainants, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, are the coauthors, with Henry Lincoln, of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," a bestseller from the early 1980s. Virtually all the bogus history in "The Da Vinci Code" -- nearly everything, in other words, that today's readers' find so electrifying in Brown's novel -- is lifted from "Holy Blood, Holy Grail."

This puts both Brown and the authors of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," in a tricky position. Baigent et al. have always maintained that the "facts" supporting their theories are available to any dedicated scholar and that the theories themselves, while unconventional, have been seriously entertained by other "experts," (including some, they claim, in the "upper echelons" of the Roman Catholic Church).

Since "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" presents itself as nonfiction, it has been in its authors' interest to downplay how much of it is invented. However, if the "research" and ideas in "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" are not the original creations of the book's authors, they become harder to copyright, and the possible infringement suit against Brown might be weakened. No one, after all, has a copyright on the facts surrounding Abraham Lincoln's assassination or the Treaty of Versailles.

Whether this "tricky position" has been talked about in the courtroom, I don't know, but I can laugh about it in the mean time, right?

Additionally, in the mean time, the court case doesn't appear to be doing either book any harm; in fact, they're selling even more copies. Which forces me to ask to myself once again, what is it about The Da Vinci Code that has allowed it to continue to be so popular? And why do so many people still believe the "conspiracy theory" it lays out, despite numerous criticisms from specialists at universities all over (Christians aren't the only ones lamenting over people's naiveness in accepting ideas as fact that Brown puts forth)? I have my own theories, but I'm curious as to what others think first. That, and I'm honestly just fascinated by the whole "Da Vinci" phenomenon that has come over our culture. I think I need to just stop typing and really take it in, this truly remarkable spectacle!

Kinkade's Corruption?

2006-04-03T23:20:00.000-04:00

If you're anything like me, then you're probably not a huge fan of Thomas Kinkade artwork. Perhaps you smell "big business" or "commericialized" or "superficial" nearly every time you see one. If not though, you ought to consider the following two articles I came across recently (thanks to Amy Welborn's blog post).

The first is from 2004, a CBS News 60 Minutes story describing Kinkade's success. Some of the statements seriously scare me, but first, let's consider the nice sounding side of the artist in the story:

"Art is forever. It goes front and center on your wall, where everyday the rest of your life you see that image. And it is shaping your children, it's shaping your life," says Kinkade.

"What I paint touches on foundational life values. Home, family, peacefulness. And one of the messages I try to constantly get across is slow it down and enjoy every moment."

Okay, not too bad so far. But let's look a little deeper now:

"There's over 40 walls in the average American home, and Tom says our job is to figure out how to populate every single wall in every single home and every single business throughout the world with his paintings," says Fleming [CEO of Kinkade's company].

"Thomas Kinkade is a multi-dimensional lifestyle brand, similar to Martha Stewart or Ralph Lauren," says Kinkade.

"You can put a Thomas Kinkade couch beneath your Thomas Kinkade painting. Next to the Thomas Kinkade couch goes the Thomas Kinkade end table. On top of that goes your collection of Thomas Kinkade books, Thomas Kinkade collectibles, Thomas Kinkade throw rugs. You can snuggle your Thomas Kinkade teddy bear."

And, he adds, "You can put all of that inside your new Thomas Kinkade home in the Thomas Kinkade subdivision."

More than 100 homes, all modeled on his cutesy, cozy cottages, have been built in Vallejo, Calif., outside San Francisco.

"This is ad nauseam, I know, to some people. But hear me out. My goodness. Walt Disney wasn't satisfied just making a movie. He said, 'I wanna invite people to step into that world,' and he built Disneyland," says Kinkade. "We view my work and my cultural identity, in a way, as heir to the Walt Disney kind of tradition."

Maybe it's just me, but this sounds insane! Ad nauseam indeed! Personally, it also seems as though the almighty dollar has gotten the best of this possibly once genuine artist (though I already had a feeling that was the case with his artwork alone as evidence). If you're not troubled yet though, let's move on to exhibit B, the second article.

This one comes the Dallas Morning News, March 17, 2006: "Thomas Kinkade accused of bad business dealings, behavior." The details are fascinating:

Thomas Kinkade is famous for his luminous landscapes and street scenes, those dreamy, deliberately inspirational images he says have brought "God's light" into people's lives, even as they have made him one of America's most collected artists. A Christian who calls himself the "Painter of Light," Mr. Kinkade says God has guided his brush – and his life – for the last 20 years.

But some former Kinkade employees, gallery operators and others contend that the Painter of Light has a decidedly dark side. In litigation and interviews with the Los Angeles Times, some former gallery owners depict Mr. Kinkade, 48, as a ruthless businessman who drove them to financial ruin at the same time he was fattening his business associates' bank accounts and feathering his nest with tens of millions of dollars.

Mr. Kinkade – whose solely owned Thomas Kinkade Co. is based in Morgan Hill, Calif. – denies these allegations. Last month, however, a three-member panel of the American Arbitration Association ordered his company to pay $860,000 for defrauding the former owners of two failed Virginia galleries. That decision marks the first major legal setback for Mr. Kinkade, who won three previous arbitration claims. Five more are pending. Former gallery owners, ex-employees and others also say Mr. Kinkade's personal behavior belies his wholesome image.

Mr. Kinkade declined the Times' request for an interview but responded to written questions. He called the accounts of crude personal behavior "ridiculous" and "crazy allegations."

As he built his brand, Mr. Kinkade came to embody its underlying themes of faith, family and life's blessings. He speaks lovingly of his family – illustrating a lighter side of the man his supporters say is genial and genuine, a "regular guy" with small-town roots. He also has raised millions for charities.

So what are some of the other accusations?

In an interview, Terry Sheppard, a former vice president for Mr. Kinkade's company, recounted a trip to Orange County in the late 1990s for the artist's appearance on the "Hour of Power" television show. On the eve of the broadcast, Mr. Sheppard said, he and Mr. Kinkade returned to the Disneyland Hotel after a night of heavy drinking. As they walked to their rooms, according to Mr. Sheppard and another person who was there, Mr. Kinkade veered toward a nearby figure of a Disney character and decided to "mark his territory."

In a deposition, the artist alluded to his practice of urinating outdoors, saying he "grew up in the country" where it was common.

Mr. Kinkade's memory was fuzzy when he was asked during the arbitration proceedings about a signing party in Indiana in August 2002. By various accounts, most of the partyers overindulged, including Mr. Kinkade and Mr. Cote. At one point, according to testimony and interviews with Mr. Cote and three others who were there, Mr. Kinkade polled the men in the room about their preferences in women's anatomies.

During that discussion, according to arbitration records, Mr. Kinkade groped one of the women at the party. Others at the party said they also saw the alleged groping.

Mr. Kinkade testified in a deposition that excessive drinking and "some normal rowdy talk" had taken place, but he denied touching the woman. "But you've got to remember," he said, "I'm the idol to these women who are there." In the recent arbitration case, he also testified that he had never claimed to be perfect.

Everything doesn't seem to be settled yet, but Kinkade is still looking much less pretty than usual. In the end, I feel sorry for the man, but I also can't deny a bit of satisfaction, since I never was that impressed with his artwork in the first place. In light of that thought, however, the big question I'm left with is this: where does Kinkade's corruption most lie? Which is the more heinous crime of Kinkade's, the actions mentioned above or the millions of prints of awful commercialized artwork that he's left us with in its various forms? Personally, I'm leaning towards the latter.

[Note to Steve: This is not to say I didn't enjoy the giant Thomas Kinkade puzzle we put together that one summer. That was actually a lot of fun.]

Philosophy of...what?

2006-03-28T23:16:00.000-05:00

Augustine of Hippo (b. 354 - d. 430) - One of the most influential thinkers ever in the West, both theologically and philosophically.

So I've been going through a lot of philosophical texts lately and I thought some of you might be interested in a few of the deep insights that I've come across. Well, in recently reading Augustine's De Civitate Dei (City of God), amidst important ethical reflections concerning how one ought to live the good life, I found this interesting passage from Book XIV Chapter 24, where he's reflecting upon the power of the will over the body:

We do in fact find among human beings some individuals with natural abilities very different from the rest of mankind and remarkable by their very rarity. Such people can do some things with their body which are for others utterly impossible and well-nigh incredible when they are reported. Some people can even move their ears, either one at a time or both together. Others without moving the head can bring the whole scalp -- all the part covered with hair -- down towards the forehead and bring it back again at will. Some can swallow an incredible number of various articles and then with a slight contraction of the diaphragm, can produce, as if out of a bag, any article they please, in perfect condition. There are others who imitate the cries of birds and beasts and the voices of any other men, reproducing them so accurately as to be quite indistinguishable from the originals, unless they are seen. A number of people produce at will such musical sounds from their behind (without any stink) that they seem to be singing from that region...

Pretty good stuff, eh? And you probably thought philosophy wasn't any fun! Of course, the more serious stuff is fun too, for me at least. I was wondering though, if one tried to develop that last strain of thought from Augustine in the above excerpt, would you call it a "philosophy of flatulence"?

Facebook Demographics - BGSU

2006-03-13T10:11:00.000-05:00

Being the budding armchair sociologist that I am, I thought I'd take advantage of the information Facebook provides to try and get a better understanding of the diverse crowd of people at my alma mater, Bowling Green State University, located in Bowling Green, OH. (That and the fact that I thought I'd rather waste an hour of my time doing this instead of studying during spring break.)

Now, I admit there is a decent percentage of error here, as some of the numbers even suggest, but I think the results are somewhat interesting nonetheless. I place it in your hands, however, to interpret just what these statistics "say" or "tell us" about BGSU students.

Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
Facebook Results as of 11 am, Monday, March 13, 2006:

Current Students signed up on Facebook:
Est. 16,353 undergrad, est. 648 grad = 17,001 total
(est. to be about 1,000 more females than males)

Alumni on Facebook: est. 2,103 total

Current Students' Political Views:

Very Liberal - 497 undergrad, 45 grad = 542 total
Liberal - est. 2,112 undergrad, 125 grad = 2,237 total
Moderate - est. 2,028 undergrad, 87 grad = 2,115 total
Conservative - est. 2,263 undergrad, 49 grad = 2,311 total
Very Conservative - 184 undergrad, 4 grad = 188 total
Apathetic - 237 undergrad, 12 grad = 249 total
Libertarian - 114 undergrad, 11 grad = 125 total
Other - 722 undergrad, 22 grad = 744 total

Est. facebook students who don't state political views: 8,490 total

Now for the Alumni:
70 Very Liberal
318 Liberal
251 Moderate
231 Conservative
29 Very Conservative
22 Apathetic
14 Libertarian
88 Other

Current Students Looking for "Random Play":
444 females, est. 926 males = 1,370 total

Alumni looking for "Random Play":
53 females, 88 males = 141 total

"Engaged":
Alumni: 81 total (49 females, 32 males)
Grad: 11 total (4 females, 7 males)
Undergrad: 259 total (193 females, 66 males)

"Married":
Alumni: 122 total (65 females, 47 males)
Grad: 30 total (14 females, 16 males)
Undergrad: 588 total (441 females, 147 males)

That's all I have time to look up, and in many ways, all I really can look up; it's hard to get good results in other categories (for example, trying to type in words for things people are "interested in" doesn't seem to produce even semi-accurate searches). Feel free though to add any of your own Facebook demographics, as well as interpretations of the above, in the comment box.

Life of late...an overdue review

2006-03-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

Yes folks, I really do still exist, and there's more to my life than mere pictures without labels (sorry Mike, I'll get captions up soon on those). I apologize for the long absence, but school has been busy. For anyone wondering what my class schedule is like, I'm taking four grad courses: Texts of Augustine, Texts of Alasdair MacIntyre, Epistemology, and Philosophy of the Human Person.

For a while, I was also sitting in on two undergrad philosophy courses: Texts of Dietrich von Hildebrand, and Franciscan Traditions. Lately though, my workload has come to the point where I'm only able to go to the Franciscan Traditions history of philosophy class. In fact, it was so hectic earlier this week that I had to pull my first "all-nighter" in years. It was hard, yet in a strange way, I loved the challenge and the work.

Schoolwise, I feel like I'm learning so much, but this also means that I'm changing in some ways, which brings me to the point for mentioning a new type of upcoming posts on the blog: my personal "retractationes" (Latin for "retractions"). To be honest, I'm stealing the idea from Augustine. Toward the end of his life, he reviewed all that he'd ever written (which was an unbelievable amount) and wrote The Retractions, renouncing all of the past things he'd said that he then felt were unfair and/or untrue. Now, I realize it's not the end of my life, and I have no plans on actually going through all that's been said on this blog (or the countless other things I remember saying). Nonetheless, I really think it'd be good to clarify some of my current thoughts, particularly where they go against what I may have held previously (and which people may still believe me to hold). I'm also doing it this way, because I find it humbling (and helpful for my own personal growth) to reflect back upon my past.

Despite all the "intellectual" stimulation, it hasn't totally consumed my time. About a month a go I saw Oscar Wilde's famous play The Importance of Being Earnest with some friends at the O'Reilly Theatre in Pittsburgh.

The play was hilariously entertaining, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys comedy. While I'm on the topic of entertainment, I've also seen a number of movies lately. A week ago, I had the chance to attend a British cultural event where various English foods were served, and a couple of students shared their experience studying abroad in England. I especially enjoyed hearing a new good friend of mine share about his Oxford experience. Seeing the pictures, hearing the stories, and examining the map of Oxford really added to my perspectives on so many things: my friend, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, medieval life, and even Harry Potter! When all the talk was done, we finished by watching the British film The Remains of the Day (1993), a very interesting commentary on various aspects of life in relation to work (in this case, being a butler), and to a lesser extent other issues surrounding the WWII time period.

I also recently saw the extremely gripping Hotel Rwanda (2004), a movie everyone should see, especially in light the continuing problems in Africa that the Western "civilized" nations continue to largely ignore. But keeping with the topic of cinema, by far the best movie I've seen of late is the French film Les Choristes (2004), titled "The Chorus" in English.

The French movie critics in general despised this film, describing it as too "happy" (and thus "American"?), yet the French people themselves love it, not to mention the rest of the world. The story is a good one, but it is the music that truly makes the movie magical. I very likely will be eventually buying the soundtrack for this one, and I highly recommend that everyone see the film itself (it's now available on DVD in the U.S.).

Now that I've mentioned music, some of the most listened to songs lately by me include three tracks from Mark Knopfler's album The Ragpicker's Dream (which I've only recently listened closely, despite owning it for years): "The Ragpicker's Dream," "Daddy's Gone to Knoxville," and "Old Pigweed." I hadn't listened to Knopfler in a while, but these have been quite refreshing, and so I just might also have to finally pick up his Shangri-La album. I've also realized one of the reasons I enjoy Knopfler so much: his eclectic interest in a variety of music styles, coinciding with his interest in different cultures and histories, and a desire to enter into those traditions through his music.

Aside from also listening to classical music and jazz pretty regularly these days, I've also been getting into a new genre: cajun! Unfortunately, I can't remember names of any of the cajun artists right now. But I can mention one non-cajun artist that's really impressed me: Ry Cooder (specifically, his album Boomer's Story). His instrumental blues/bluegrass stuff is very good, but he's supposedly pretty eclectic in his style as well, like Knopfler!

Music then, leads me into one last topic of entertainment: parties. Last week I celebrated Mardi Gras with some folks straight from Louisiana (they're the ones who introduced me to Cajun music) and it was a great time. I had jambalaya for the first time, along with a couple of Hurricanes. Then, just last night, the university student association threw an early St. Patrick's Day celebration, with an excellent Irish Band (though they never played "Star of the County Down") and good Irish beer (at a reduced price!). All in all, people seem to know how to have a good time out here, and I especially like when they make a cultural experience out of it.

Lastly, on a more spiritual (and more personal) level, I'm coming to deeply love the Franciscan spirit within the Christian tradition. St. Francis of Assisi continues to amaze me more and more. (For a great introduction to the saint, Chesterton's book is one of the best.) I think Francis is by far one of the greatest exemplars of all of the saints in regards to his life of charity and passion in everything that he did. May we all, whatever our beliefs, do likewise in our own day to day lives. Peace.

[And if you want to see pictures (taken by someone else, not me) from my trip in January to D.C. for the March for Life, click here.]

Vacation Photo Album #3 - SF and Napa, California

2006-02-17T18:41:00.000-05:00

Vacation Photo Album #2 - The Island of Maui

2006-01-27T12:41:00.000-05:00

Vacation Photo Album #1 - The Island of Oahu

2006-01-10T11:49:00.000-05:00

Genealogy Findings: "Gerber Kidnapped, Robbed"

2006-01-07T14:21:00.000-05:00

[Note: I can't spell. I just realized I'd originally spelled "genealogy" wrong. It's corrected now.]

For those of you that don't know, I've been interested in genealogy for quite some time now. I'm primarily researching into the McAnall line on my dad's side of the family and the Gerber line on my mom's side of the family. Here's an interesting story that I came across about my great uncle Carl Gerber from Tuesday, September 11, 1934, when he was kidnapped and robbed of $509.19, which I calculated to be equivalent to around $5,500 nowadays. Also, this article in particular comes from the Septer 12, 1934 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal, 26 pages long and costing a whopping 3 cents...

Above Text: "Familiarity with Akron News Agency office routine enabled an ex-employe, who quit only a week ago, to know that Carl W. Gerber, its proprietor, would take the day's receipts from his safe and start for First-Central Trust Co. at 1:30 p. m. Tuesday. Gerber was kidnapped by the former worker and a confederate outside the office, robbed of $509.19, driven in his own auto toward Kent, then put out of the car."

[Now, on to the rest of this page 2 story which had headlined the front pages of the afternoon/evening editions for papers the day before. Yes, in case you didn't know, there were morning and afternoon/evening editions of newspapers back then. One front page headline read "2 GUNMEN KIDNAP, ROB CARL GERBER."]

ROBBER IGNORES GERBER'S APPEAL
Former Employe, Companion, Kidnap News Dealer, Steal $509

Back at his Akron News Agency office after being kidnapped in Akron's downtown business district, robbed of $509.19, and put out of his own car just outside of Kent, Carl W. Gerber, Wednesday, recounted the half-hour's earnest but futile pleading with a former trusted employe to realize "what a fool you are making of yourself."

Police short-wave radio stations over Ohio and neighboring states Wednesday at regular intervals were broadcasting toneless, staccato descriptions of the ex-employe, of a companion, and the tan Chevrolet coupe in which the highwayman executed the holdup late Tuesday afternoon.

Gerber, proprietor of the news agency at 282 E. Exchange st., was pinioned between the two bandits at 1:30 p. m. Tuesday as he entered the auto to make the daily trip to First-Central Trust Co. with deposits.

Step on Car

One man stepped on each running board, he told police. The former employe, who quit only a week ago on his own accord with the explanation he was going to Florida, did the talking then.

There was only a brief: "Shove over to the middle," Gerber told police. The other man took the wheel and started the car.

The auto immediately was headed out through Bettes Corners, to Tallmadge, then down route 261 toward Kent. Within a mile and one-half of that city, one of the highwaymen, Gerber did not recall which, said: "Here is a good place to let him out."

They stopped, let him step from the car, then speeded on. With the gasoline tank half-filled, Gerber believed they were able to travel a hundred miles before stopping for more fuel.

Pleads With Bandit

Gerber said he pleaded with the former news agency worker throughout the entire trip to realize his folly, telling him constantly that "you can't get away with it. You are sure to go to the penitentiary." The man only looked ahead, watching the road, saying nothing. He kept the gun prodded in Gerber's ribs all the time, however.

Employes of the news agency noticed the pair enter Gerber's auto, commented that it was peculiar, but knowing the one former associate let the topic drop. Later, when he failed to return, they called the bank and found Gerber had not been there.

About the same time, around 3 p. m., Gerber called Kent police and detailed the holup. He had been picked up, finally, by Harry Herman, special policeman at the Akron waterworks, as he neared Kent on foot.

=================
That's it for now. I'm pretty sure the guys were caught and Carl got his car back, but I can't find any newspaper clipping or notes from relatives on that right now (perhaps I was simply told by word of mouth and forgot to write it down).

Pretty exciting stuff though, eh?

Used Book Sale Time!

2006-01-06T10:38:00.000-05:00

Well I came across a used book sale today and what deals did I discover! If you didn't know already, I honestly think I have an addiction to these sorts of circumstances. You see, I just can't help getting excited anytime I think I've found a good price on a good book (whether it be at a library book sale, garage sale, Amazon.com, Alibris.com, or anywhere else).

I'm sure everyone is wondering what I purchased at this point (sarcasm intended), so here's the list:

- Homer, The Iliad
- Aeshylus, The Oresteia
- Denis Diderot, Jacques the Fatalist
- Henry David Thoreau, Walden and "Civil Disobedience"
- Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights
- Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
- Frank Norris, McTeague
- Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage
- Theodore Dreisner, An American Tragedy
- Ernest Hemmingway, The Old Man and the Sea
- Rober Bolt, A Man for All Seasons
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
- The Vatican II Sunday Missal (Hardcover)

That's 13 books, all in fairly good condition (though mostly paperback), and all for a mere $7.50! The question now is when I'll get around to reading any of them. The missal will come in handy on a weekly basis, of course, while the books that I hope to soon break into are Wuthering Heights, Moby-Dick, The Red Badge of Courage, and The Old Man and the Sea.

What a morning!

Interesting concept for our rushed modern noise-diven world...

2006-01-05T23:44:00.000-05:00

Silence.

Actually, Into Great Silence is the title of this German film about silent Carthusian monks living the monastic contemplative life high up in the French Alps. It's currently packing theaters full in Germany.

I don't see myself becoming a monk, but is there anybody else out there who enjoys a little silence -- or "peace and quiet" as my parents might put it -- each day. Don't get me wrong. I love sounds. It's just that I can only take so much of them. Eventually, I begin to feel a sort of disconnect with myself when I miss that silence for too long.

Does anyone else have this problem? Is our rushed world of action and noise really a stopper on silence? Furthermore, is silence really that important? And if so, then what type of silence? One totally void of sound, or simply a general quietness in a more natural way, in contrast to the "artificial" or "mechanical" sounds of the city and technology, as they might be called?

Thoughts?

Happy New Year

2006-01-03T13:45:00.000-05:00

Me standing in the rain near the top of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco on the morning of New Year'sEve.

Well folks, I'm home from Hawaii and California. The trip was great, to say the least! In both places, I don't think I've ever wanted to stay on vacation more than I did this time around. Hawaii was simply amazing and well, family is family -- this was honestly the first time my sisters and I were able to really hang out with our only cousins. I miss them (and the rest of the clan from Napa valley) a great deal already!

By the way, in case you were wondering, yes, we did arrive in San Francisco the morning of New Year's Eve, right smack dab in the middle of the onslought of rain and flooding that received some national media attention. In my aunt and uncle's hometown of Napa, I believe it was the worst known flooding in the city's history. Fortunately (for my family at least) their house is high enough on a hill to avoid any real trouble. We didn't even see the damage in the area until New Year's Day though, since we spent New Year's Eve celebrating in San Francisco.

And let me tell you, New Year's Eve was quite an experience -- one that really makes me want to go to Times Square in NYC for New Years eventually. First of all, the rain surprisingly cleared up around midday, with partially sunny and clear skies for the rest of the day as we continued to tour the city and do a bit of shopping. After seeing Cirque du Soleil's Corteo (probably my favorite overall show of theirs yet) and eating at the ACME Chophouse (connected to the Giant's SPC Park), we took a trolley up to Fisherman's Warf and walked down to Pier 1 to watch the fireworks celebration at midnight. There were 300,000+ people in San Francisco and that alone was a spectacle, not to mention the good firewoks display! Here are a few pictures from the San Francisco trip (I'll try to post Hawaii pictures in the next week or so):

My youngest sister, myself, and my dad, riding on the side of a trolley down Powell Street on New Year's Eve.

A picture of Lombard Street, the "world's crookedest street."

A shot of the Golden Gate from Vista Point on New Years Day Morning.

"Urbi et Orbi", Christmas 2005

2005-12-29T02:57:00.000-05:00

"Wake up, O man! For your sake God became man."
- Saint Augustine, Sermo, 185.

Sunrise from atop Haleakala ("house of the sun"), the 10,023 ft tall dormant volcano on the island of Maui, December 28th, 2005.

Some words from Pope Benedict's "Urbi et Orbi" message ("to the City [of Rome] and to the World") on Christmas Day...

Last night we heard once more the Angel’s message to the shepherds, and we experienced anew the atmosphere of that holy Night, Bethlehem Night, when the Son of God became man, was born in a lowly stable and dwelt among us. On this solemn day, the Angel’s proclamation rings out once again, inviting us, the men and women of the third millennium, to welcome the Saviour. May the people of today’s world not hesitate to let him enter their homes, their cities, their nations, everywhere on earth! In the millennium just past, and especially in the last centuries, immense progress was made in the areas of technology and science. Today we can dispose of vast material resources. But the men and women in our technological age risk becoming victims of their own intellectual and technical achievements, ending up in spiritual barrenness and emptiness of heart. That is why it is so important for us to open our minds and hearts to the Birth of Christ, this event of salvation which can give new hope to the life of each human being....

At Christmas, the Almighty becomes a child and asks for our help and protection. His way of showing that he is God challenges our way of being human. By knocking at our door, he challenges us and our freedom; he calls us to examine how we understand and live our lives. The modern age is often seen as an awakening of reason from its slumbers, humanity’s enlightenment after an age of darkness. Yet without the light of Christ, the light of reason is not sufficient to enlighten humanity and the world. For this reason, the words of the Christmas Gospel: "the true Light that enlightens every man was coming into this world" (Jn 1:9) resound now more than ever as a proclamation of salvation. "It is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of humanity truly becomes clear" (Gaudium et Spes, 22)...

Men and women of today, humanity come of age yet often still so frail in mind and will, let the Child of Bethlehem take you by the hand! Do not fear; put your trust in him! The life-giving power of his light is an incentive for building a new world order based on just ethical and economic relationships. May his love guide every people on earth and strengthen their common consciousness of being a "family" called to foster relationships of trust and mutual support. A united humanity will be able to confront the many troubling problems of the present time: from the menace of terrorism to the humiliating poverty in which millions of human beings live, from the proliferation of weapons to the pandemics and the environmental destruction which threatens the future of our planet...

At Christmas we contemplate God made man, divine glory hidden beneath the poverty of a Child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger; the Creator of the Universe reduced to the helplessness of an infant. Once we accept this paradox, we discover the Truth that sets us free and the Love that transforms our lives. On Bethlehem Night, the Redeemer becomes one of us, our companion along the precarious paths of history. Let us take the hand which he stretches out to us: it is a hand which seeks to take nothing from us, but only to give...

With the shepherds let us enter the stable of Bethlehem beneath the loving gaze of Mary, the silent witness of his miraculous birth. May she help us to experience the happiness of Christmas, may she teach us how to treasure in our hearts the mystery of God who for our sake became man; and may she help us to bear witness in our world to his truth, his love and his peace.

Here's the Pope's Christmas Urbi et Orbi in its entirety. God bless!

Mela Kalikimaka!!!

2005-12-21T12:15:00.000-05:00

Well folks, come Thursday afternoon I should be enjoying the warm weather of Hawaii with my family on vacation. We'll be staying on the islands of Oahu and Maui until the 31st. While there, amongst other things, we plan to go snorkeling, check out volcanoes, and even participate in a luau on Christmas day! By the way, in case you were wondering, the forecast for Christmas weekend there is mostly sunny to sunny, with highs in the upper 70s every day. I'll try to take plenty of good pictures for your future viewing.

On our return home though, we'll be making a 3-day detour in California to visit family in the Napa Valley region. From there we'll also be travelling south a little ways to celebrating New Year's Eve with them in San Francisco, beginning the night with a nice dinner out on the town, followed by some Cirque du Soleil entertainment, and then a trip down to the bay for a fireworks celebration to bring us into 2006. I'm especially excited for that night with all the family on the West coast, but the whole trip should be blast!

Thank you all for your conversations on this blog and elsewhere. May you have a blessed time these next couple of weeks with family and friends. I'll be back sometime soon in the new year.

And just so I don't leave anybody out this holiday season...

[Photo courtesy of the Glenn Beck Program]

And on a more spiritual note...

2005-12-21T12:06:00.000-05:00

Perhaps more than ever this Advent season, my thoughts have been on the Blessed Virgin Mary, her role in relation to Christ, and our relation to her and Christ. If I had time, I'd try to share what's come from those reflections, but since I'm rushing to pack and get other things done before I leave, you'll have to settle for two Chesterton quotes worth pondering.

The first is a passage from the chapter "The God in the Cave" in Chesterton's great work, The Everlasting Man:

If the world wanted what is called a non-controversial aspect of Christianity, it would probably select Christmas. Yet it is obviously bound up with what is supposed to be a controversial aspect (I could never at any stage of my opinions imagine why); the respect paid to the Blessed Virgin. When I was a boy a more Puritan generation objected to a statue upon my parish church representing the Virgin and Child. After much controversy, they compromised by taking away the Child. One would think that this was even more corrupted with Mariolatry, unless the mother was counted less dangerous when deprived of a sort of weapon. But the practical difficulty is also a parable. You cannot chip away the statue of a mother from all round that of a newborn child. You cannot suspend the new-born child in mid-air; indeed you cannot really have a statue of a newborn child at all. Similarly, you cannot suspend the idea of a newborn child in the void or think of him without thinking of his mother. You cannot visit the child without visiting the mother, you cannot in common human life approach the child except through the mother. If we are to think of Christ in this aspect at all, the other idea follows as it is followed in history. We must either leave Christ out of Christmas, or Christmas out of Christ, or we must admit, if only as we admit it in an old picture, that those holy heads are too near together for the haloes not to mingle and cross.

The second has less to do with Mary specifically, and more with the Christmas story in general. It's quite possibly my favorite poem by Chesterton (alongside Lepanto):

The House of Christmas
by Gilbert Keith Chesterton

There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.

Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honour and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.

A child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost---how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky's dome.

This world is wild as an old wife's tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening
Home shall all men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.

The Underground History of American Education - Discussion #2

2005-12-19T15:56:00.000-05:00

Is modern education in a dismal situation? You tell me. Here are just a few of Gatto's words...

By 1940, the literacy figure for all states stood at 96 percent for whites, 80 percent for blacks. Notice that for all the disadvantages blacks labored under, four of five were nevertheless literate. Six decades later, at the end of the twentieth century, the National Adult Literacy Survey and the National Assessment of Educational Progress say 40 percent of blacks and 17 percent of whites can’t read at all. Put another way, black illiteracy doubled, white illiteracy quadrupled. Before you think of anything else in regard to these numbers, think of this: we spend three to four times as much real money on schooling as we did sixty years ago, but sixty years ago virtually everyone, black or white, could read...

In 1882, fifth graders read these authors in their Appleton School Reader: William Shakespeare, Henry Thoreau, George Washington, Sir Walter Scott, Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Bunyan, Daniel Webster, Samuel Johnson, Lewis Carroll, Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and others like them. In 1995, a student teacher of fifth graders in Minneapolis wrote to the local newspaper, "I was told children are not to be expected to spell the following words correctly: back, big, call, came, can, day, did, dog, down, get, good, have, he, home, if, in, is, it, like, little, man, morning, mother, my, night, off, out, over, people, play, ran, said, saw, she, some, soon, their, them, there, time, two, too, up, us, very, water, we, went, where, when, will, would, etc. Is this nuts?"...

Do you think class size, teacher compensation, and school revenue have much to do with education quality? If so, the conclusion is inescapable that we are living in a golden age. From 1955 to 1991 the U.S. pupil/teacher ratio dropped 40 percent, the average salary of teachers rose 50 percent (in real terms) and the annual expense per pupil, inflation adjusted, soared 350 percent. What other hypothesis, then, might fit the strange data I’m about to present?

Forget the 10 percent drop in SAT and Achievement Test scores the press beats to death with regularity; how do you explain the 37 percent decline since 1972 in students who score above 600 on the SAT? This is an absolute decline, not a relative one. It is not affected by an increase in unsuitable minds taking the test or by an increase in the numbers. The absolute body count of smart students is down drastically with a test not more difficult than yesterday’s but considerably less so.

What should be made of a 50 percent decline among the most rarefied group of test-takers, those who score above 750? In 1972, there were 2,817 American students who reached this pinnacle; only 1,438 did in 1994—when kids took a much easier test. Can a 50 percent decline occur in twenty-two years without signaling that some massive leveling in the public school mind is underway?...

And he goes on and on with the facts, looking at everything from grade schools to high schools to colleges. Feel free to read the rest of what he says in chapter 3, "Eyeless in Gaza". They're pretty depressing facts though.

Eventually, I might get around to sharing some of Gatto's follow-up thoughts on just what the problems are, where they come from, and how we might solve them. For now though, I think this pathetic statistics are worth ruminating on.

By the way, I still can't get over what fifth graders were reading in the 1800s (see paragraph 2 in above quotation)—AMAZING!

Television anyone?

2005-12-19T15:45:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm not completely anti-TV, but this is still a pretty interesting site nonetheless...

Into the wardrobe we go...

2005-12-11T15:01:00.000-05:00

For those excited about the new Narnia movie, you might enjoy this article from the Telegraph:

'I was sure that children would not want to be told that this old lady was Lucy'

It's the first ever interview with the girl (now "this old lady," Jill Freud) who was the inspiration for Lucy, the first of the fictional Pevensie children to enter the magical wardrobe in Lewis' now famous fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. In the interview, she tells some interesting stories of the time she spent in C.S. Lewis' home as a refugee from London during WWII, as well as how she ended up marrying a grandson of Sigmund Freud!

Personally, it's gotten me all the more excited for the new movie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Unfortunately, I probably won't be seeing it until Thursday, December 15th. Too much schoolwork to do before then.

But after I watch LWW, I also plan to see King Kong ASAP this upcoming weekend in Perrysburg, for anyone that's in town and interested.

Plus, I'm somewhat interested in Munich as well. What a movie season this is turning out to be!

p.s. Discussion #2 of the Gatto book is coming later on this week, for those that are still interested. Additionally, Meggers posted on the book at her blog a week or so ago, if anyone wants to check it out.

Next question: What ever happened to Advent? Heck, do people even remember what "Advent" is?

2005-12-08T15:45:00.000-05:00

Do all non-Catholics reading this realize that traditionally Christmas season begins on December 25th, whereas the weeks leading up to Christmas day are known as the season of Advent? That is, Advent, a season of repentance, reflection back upon life, sin, and death, perhaps a little fasting, remembrance of God and thanksgiving, and a looking forward to the coming of Christ, both in the memorial celebration of his birth on Christmas day and in the Second Coming and Last Judgment. [Note: no mention of gift giving during Advent season.] Ring a bell? Sound like the period after Thanksgiving until Christmas that you know?

Honestly, I was wondering when Advent disappeared off the charts. Well, here's the answer...

How Christians Stole Christmas, Part II

In short...

"World War II changed the understanding of Advent and Christmas. As war swept the world, buying habits had to change. Because it took six weeks to transport anything by ship over the ocean, Americans were told to buy their Christmas gifts for their sons overseas by Thanksgiving, or their sons would not receive those gifts by February 2.

"The Christmas buying season had been December 25th through February 2nd, with the most intense gift-giving happening during the twelve days of Christmas. But during the war, it extended from Thanksgiving to February 2nd. American Protestants, that is, American businesses, liked the extra income generated by the much longer and earlier selling season."

Interesting stuff. So Kellmeyer does explain how Advent disappeared--it was replaced by the new "Christmas" season. Yet, if it's really the marketing/commercializing businessmen (just Protestant?) instigating this, why does the original Christmas season shorten? Shouldn't we have a "Christmas" season still lasting until February 2nd? That part doesn't make sense to me.

I have other questions too, but that's it for now.

Update: Steve Kellmeyer's Answer to my Question...

"They moved the entire selling season so that it runs from mid-October (Halloween is now the second biggest sales holiday of the year) through Dec 24. They've got roughly 70 consecutive days - 10 weeks - in which they drive people into the stores. Better yet, there are three distinct pushes: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas in that interval.

"Compare that to Dec 25 through Feb 2 - only 38 days, and only one major push, the twelve days of Christmas.

"...this all correlates to the end of the tax season (December 31), so it also empties out their shelves right before they get taxed on inventory. It's perfectly placed, from an economic perspective."

Pretty good (and fast)!

Just what does "Christmas" mean after all?

2005-12-02T10:53:00.000-05:00

Christians often lament about Christ being taken out of Christmas in our ever more commercialized consumerist culture, but I think Catholics equally have every right to express sorrow and concern (especially to our Protestant brothers and sisters) over the fact that so many have taken the Mass out of Christmas. Christmas is "Christ's Mass" after all.

Steve Kellmeyer has an interesting short article on the history of holy days being downplayed to eventually become holidays: "How the Christians Stole Christmas".

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us," not just 2,000 years ago, but every time the bread and wine are consecrated at a Mass. Whether you believe such an incredible idea or not, it is the truth taught to us by the Christian faith whose tradition has also given us the word "Christmas."

[Note: Kellmeyer doesn't go into many details, but he does give a good general overview. However, I'm honestly not sure about the points he raises concerning the church-state separation issue.]

The Underground History of American Education - Discussion #1

2005-11-18T00:10:00.000-05:00

So I just finished the prologue and first two chapters of Gatto's book, The Underground History of American Education, and it's been quite a ride. I honestly didn't expect this much jam-packed into one book. But it's good information, with well-told stories. And the book is also challenging you to really wonder about how education ought to be--occasionally I'm having flashbacks to Plato's Republic (a famous philosophical work that also deals with the question of education).

Anyways, I'll try to get this discussion going by sharing some of the important things that stood out to me early on...

First of all, since chapters 1 and 2 are primarily historical analyses--though there are plenty of juicy tidbits, quotes, and ideas contained in them--I'm going to limit this discussion "starter" to the prologue. I do this particularly because I think it provides some good general information that should actually lead into chapters 1 and 2 during our discussion here, and also because I'm going to be making a long enough blog post as it is!

That being said, before getting into Gatto's criticisms and history of education, I think it's important to point out his assessment of the present situation in schools:

It’s not so much that anyone there sets out to hurt children; more that all of us associated with the institution are stuck like flies in the same great web your kids are. We buzz frantically to cover our own panic but have little power to help smaller flies.

Yes, he sees problems in the system, but he's clearly not necessarily pointing fingers at individual people. I thought that worth pointing out. On a related note, I appreciated his honesty and humility in admitting this work to be just what he's personally come to uncover in research, basically implying that it is up to us (and the scholars) to test its veracity:

By now I’ve invested the better part of a decade looking for answers. If you want a conventional history of schooling, or education as it is carelessly called, you’d better stop reading now. Although years of research in the most arcane sources are reflected here, throughout it’s mainly intuition that drives my synthesis.

Whether his ideas will survive passing through the fire, we must wait to see. I for one am looking forward to the test though.

[By the way, before moving on, since he mentions it in passing here, and we'll probably be getting into it soon enough, did everyone catch his distinction between "education" and "schooling" in history?]

Now, I'm honestly not too sure how to faciliate or get one of these discussions going, so I'll simply end with two prologue excerpts (the first a bit lengthy, the second very short) that each delve into a lot of what the first two chapters covered:

Somehow out of the industrial confusion which followed the Civil War, powerful men and dreamers became certain what kind of social order America needed, one very like the British system we had escaped a hundred years earlier. This realization didn’t arise as a product of public debate as it should have in a democracy, but as a distillation of private discussion. Their ideas contradicted the original American charter but that didn’t disturb them. They had a stupendous goal in mind. The end of unpredictable history; its transformation into dependable order.

From mid-century onwards certain utopian schemes to retard maturity in the interests of a greater good were put into play, following roughly the blueprint Rousseau laid down in the book Emile. At least rhetorically. The first goal, to be reached in stages, was an orderly, scientifically managed society, one in which the best people would make the decisions, unhampered by democratic tradition. After that, human breeding, the evolutionary destiny of the species, would be in reach. Universal institutionalized formal forced schooling was the prescription, extending the dependency of the young well into what had traditionally been early adult life. Individuals would be prevented from taking up important work until a relatively advanced age. Maturity was to be retarded.

During the post-Civil War period, childhood was extended about four years. Later, a special label was created to describe very old children. It was called adolescence, a phenomenon hitherto unknown to the human race...

And a great one to finish this start to discussion:

The shocking possibility that dumb people don’t exist in sufficient numbers to warrant the careers devoted to tending to them will seem incredible to you. Yet that is my proposition: Mass dumbness first had to be imagined; it isn’t real.

Alas, the Triwizard Challenge is here!

2005-11-18T00:01:00.000-05:00

This is by far my favorite book of the series, so hopefully I'll feel the same about the movie. My plan is to see it sometime this weekend, probably Saturday or Sunday, but I'd love to talk about it afterwards with any other "Potter" moviegoers.

UNFALCONBELIEVABLE!!!

2005-11-16T10:17:00.000-05:00

Bowling Green Routs Miami, 42-14, To Claim First Place In East Division

Who Is Lying About Iraq?

2005-11-13T01:20:00.000-05:00

Interesting essay by Norman Podhoretz titled "Who Is Lying About Iraq?". Podhoretz basically confirms how I've felt for a long time when it comes to whether Bush purposely lied or not about WMD.

Yes, it's true I wasn't too keen about war with Iraq when it began. Nonetheless, no matter how hard I try to convince myself, I still don't think any evidence gives me reason to seriously think that the Bush Administration was involved in some mass conspiracy, lying to our Democrat leaders, the public, and the entire world about WPDs in Iraq.

Anybody who does think the Bush Administration had the gaul to do such a thing, seems to be reading much more into the circumstances and evidence than I'm able to. Perhaps I'm wrong though, so please share information if you disagree.

Curious as to why our school systems are so screwed up? Join my online book group!

2005-11-08T19:01:00.000-05:00

"The shocking possibility that dumb people don't exist in sufficient numbers to warrant the millions of careers devoted to tending them will seem incredible to you. Yet that is my central proposition: the mass dumbness which justifies official schooling first had to be dreamed of; it isn't real."

Those are the some of the opening words of John Taylor Gatto's book, The Underground History of American Education. In 1991, shortly after he received both the New York State and New York City Teacher of the Year Awards, Gatto resigned to begin his new career as an education reform advocate. He's been doing that ever since.

I heard about this specific book and some of its ideas from another book I was reading. When I looked it up online, I found out that--though in its 3rd edition--it is being made available for free viewing on the Internet by The Odysseus Group.

Here's where you can read the book for free.

My plan is to read a 1-2 chapters a week and post blogs to foster discussion on them. If people want to join me, all the merrier. If not, too bad. I just thought this might be a fun new way to interact.

At least check out the website above, read the reviews, and consider whether it might be worth your while. Besides, I'm not concerned about this just because I have a degree in secondary education. I've been seriously concerned for a long time with how our school systems run, and I've had ideas about what some problems might be, but never a sense as to why it got to be how it is. Perhaps this book will give some answers, perhaps not, but it at least is worth looking into.

Afterall, the stakes are high. Think about all of the money we pour into education, yet so much is wasted. More importantly, think about the effects upon children and society that education has.

And if you're still not interested, here's a teaser of what we'll probably be reading about (based upon what the references this other book I just read made to Gatto's). Have you ever heard that mass compulsory education began primarily because industrialists in England were looking for a better way to draw people into working in large and hazardous factories? That it is based off of the educational system of the Indian caste-system? That Prussia adapted it in the 1800s to rebuild their army for military expansion? Basically, that the modern mass compulsory education system is limiting and coercive force against most children's real potential?

All of that and more is dealt with in this book. And supposedly, there's plenty of historical evidence to back it up. I'm excited about this history lesson, and hope that you'll join me! (seriously, it won't take up that much of your time!)

Immunity to Black Plague linked with HIV Immunity

2005-11-07T11:05:00.000-05:00

"Researchers have recently found an interesting group of people that are either partially or completely immune to HIV. A gene mutation that has been passed down since the time of the Black Plague in the 1600s makes people now immune to the virus that causes AIDS."

I caught an fascinating episode of Secrets of the Dead on PBS last week dealing with the "Mystery of the Black Death". I find the Black Plague to be a very interesting (and tragic) historical subject in itself, but this episode shed some light on recent discoveries of a link between the plague and AIDS. Now, it's true that they're very different forms of disease; the Plague is a bacterial disease--either bubonic, pneumonic, or septicemic--whereas HIV is a viral disease.

Despite this difference, though, both infect and kill humans in a similar fashion uncommon to almost all (if not all) other bacteria and viruses: they attack the immune system itself. This makes it extremely difficult for the immune system to ever bolster the forces needed to destroy them, because the very cells that produce what is needed are under attack.

Scientists have discovered this link through the mutated form of the gene CCR5 (called "delta 32"), which is found both in patients known to be immune to HIV and a high percentage (for DNA standards) of the modern-day descendents of Plague survivors. This also sheds light (only partly) as to why Africa--much of which never experienced the Plague--is now struggling more than many other areas of the world.

I don't know what implications this will have in the overall fight against AIDS, but it still seems to be an interesting discovery in itself. Now let us hope that some greater good may come from it.

[Note: I apologize if I incorrectly stated anything...I'm no scientist.]
___________________
Update: Here's an article I just found that goes into a bit more detail:
"Biologists discover why 10% of Europeans are safe from HIV infection" (original story found here)

Explore Narnia

2005-11-06T18:56:00.000-05:00

Kinda cool: an interactive map of the world of Narnia.

Higher education and porn

2005-11-06T18:50:00.000-05:00

Did anybody here about this story from my undergrad college, BGSU?

"Porn Star Shocks: Sprinkle flashed breasts, reveals her past"

After you've read it, here's my question: should this be happening in a public institution of "higher learning"?

Way to go Jimmy!

2005-11-04T11:59:00.000-05:00

My kind of democrat...

If only the rest had this much common sense, especially the "Catholic" ones.

Are you a "real" book lover?

2005-10-31T23:26:00.000-05:00

A while ago I was reading Sheldon Vanauken's autobiographical book A Severe Mercy. I can't describe the story more succinctly than the back cover: "This poignant memoir traces the idyllic marriage of Sheldon (Van) and Jean (Davy) Vanauken; their search for faith, which led to their friendship with C.S. Lewis, and the tragedy of untimely death and love lost."

Aside from the beautiful (and tragic) love story between Van and Davy, a number of remarks/observations caught my eye (or perhaps both of my eyes, or my mind via both of my eyes...). Here's one of them. Describing how the two of them would read books together, Vanauken made the following comment: "Rereading books, we said with immense agreement, was the mark of the real lover of books."

So I'm curious, do you reread books? If so, which ones?

Honestly, I don't have that many "rereads" myself, but here are some of my all time favorites:

- The Bible (not the whole thing, but particular sections, notably the Gospels)
- Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
- The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
- Confessions by St. Augustine

Books (or literature) I'd like to reread:

- Some of Shakespeare's works
- Tolkien's The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings
- Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment
- Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility (I think I didn't appreciate her enough the first time)

Lastly, I'm curious, what's everybody reading right now? Here are some of the books I've been reading (or read) of late:

- The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky
- Utopia by Thomas More
- Petrarch and other Renaissance writers
- Various Works by Plato (notably The Republic)
- Aristotle's Metaphysics
- Descartes
- Joseph Seifert, Back to 'Things in Themselves': A phenomenological foundation for classical realism

I must say, I absolutely love Petrarch, Pico, and the other Christian Humanists (i.e. the original humanists before secular humanism ever existed) of the Renaissance period. It's especially cool that Petrarch's famous "Assent of Mount Vosioux" took place on April 26th, my birthday (which means a lot, since I know of no major events, nor famous people being born or dying on that date).

I'm also growing more appreciative of Rene Descartes. He's not perfect, for sure, but he did have some valuable insights, and I think he's often misunderstood (by both modern and traditional philosophers). Maybe I'll say something more about him next time.

That's all then for this post of various sputterings. (I apologize, but my brain is fried and I'm pretty busy right now...)

Medieval (Music) Festival

2005-10-09T21:43:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I've been pretty poor at the updating weblogging business lately. I'm going to take Mike's challenge and try to get in the "weekly update" habit. Soooooo...

Two weekends ago our campus hosted a Medieval Festival and it was truly a delight.

The only downside was that there weren't as many actual reenactors as one would hope for. Because of this, I ended up flocking to the music stages, which encompassed a variety of more traditional music, some directly from the Medieval and Renaissance periods. The entertainment also included a family of Irish dancers! (will I some day put my own children through such tortue? Probably not, but you never know!)

All in all it was a beautiful day and a great time. Here are the highlights of my experience...

THE HARP. Have you ever really listened to it? (not in an orchestra, but alone by itself.) Listening to these two girls was by far the biggest surprise of my day. I never realized how beautiful and peaceful harp music is! To be honest, the music took me to another world--it is very entrancing (or at least it was on that day). Talking to the two girls afterwards, I managed to get a list of the "top" harpists, so I plan on buying my first "harp" CD sometime soon. If you'd like to explore this new genre with me, let me know and I'll try to get you more information.

SCYTHIAN. These were the guys I finished my day with at the festival. All the band members were trained in classical music and are extremely gifted, but rather than play in an orchestra, they've decided to have a band and play traditional folk music with their own "edge" in bars, pubs, and other venues. This about sums them up:

They are a charismatic group of friends whose music ranges from traditional folk to high energy Celtic, with strains of gypsy and Klezmer in between, and they are quickly becoming known for their intense, high-energy shows and dynamic crowd interaction.

Led by a pair of young raging fiddlers, Scythian brings a passion and energy that makes them unpredictable, spontaneous and contagiously festive. With a great respect and admiration for the traditional - the foundation of their music - Scythian is nevertheless not afraid to wink at convention in search of a little fun, lending them an appeal to young and old alike.

To be honest, they remind me a bit of Barrage, for those of you who know who that is. Our school newspaper said they're based in the DC/Maryland area, but that they've also played all over the world, once even for the president of Hungary!* I heard there was also a relatively recent MTV Real World where they went to a popular pub in the DC area and MTV requested Scythian to play during the taping of the episode, because they'd heard of their popularity. (Who would have thought, Celtic and folk music--with an "edge" of course--on MTV?!)

Anyways, 3 of the band members were also former Franciscan University students. Check out their music at the website. I think they're CDs are pretty good, but they're even better live, because they really get into the show with the crowd. You can also read more about them in this Washington Post article.

BUCA DI BEPPO. This one actually came in the evening after I'd left the festival, but I have to recommend this Italian restaurant if you can find one near you. The restaurant buildings in and of themselves are fascinating in how they're designed on the inside, but the food is great too. They also serve you your courses just like they do in Italy. I could easily see myself making this place my "once-a-month-eating-out-treat." Now if only I could find a good Indian restaurant...

That's all folks!
___________
* Correction--Scythian has played for the President of Ukraine, NOT Hungary.

Goodbye to Blogback...

2005-10-09T20:57:00.000-04:00

...and all of the old comments...unless I find a new comment system host that I can import them into.

Ideas anybody? Or should I just stick with Blogger's comment system?

60 years later -- why using the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a grave mistake

2005-08-08T21:00:00.000-04:00

In risk of being labelled a "revisionist historian" or a "liberal", let me say to all now that I firmly believe the use of the atom bomb during WWII was a gross evil. I just don't buy into the notion that either of the bombs on Hiroshima or Nagasaki were necessary. We blatantly targeted two heavily populated civilian areas (just as we did at other times in the war); if we really wanted to demonstrate the power of the bomb to threaten the Japanese, we should have looked for a way to better respect the lives of non-militant civilians.

I came across this nice little article the other day. If you like history at all, you'll probably enjoy it. Before you go on (and I hope you do!), I will say that this writer argues against the bombings on what he calls "Catholic moral principles", but I'd be surprised if anyone would argue against the points he makes:

SWEENEY'S SAD TESTIMONY

Unless you are a World War II history buff, you probably do not recall the name of Charles W. Sweeney, who died on July 16 at the age of 84. He had finished his Army career as a major general, but he became famous while a major for piloting the plane the dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. That was on August 9, 1945.

Sweeney's obituary explained that "At 11:01 a.m., the pumpkin-shaped bomb called Fat Man was dropped on the industrial city of Nagasaki, killing and wounding tens of thousands, heavily damaging a steelworks and arms plant, and demolishing an estimated 14,000 residential buildings."

In a ghostwritten autobiography published in 1997, Sweeney said, "I took no pride or pleasure then, nor do I take any now, in the brutality of war, whether suffered by my people or those of another nation. Every life is precious. But I felt no remorse or guilt that I had bombed the city." Those who should have felt remorse and guilt, said Sweeney, were the Japanese leaders who brought the war upon their own people.

JUSTIFICATION?

Many justify the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima by saying the abrupt end to the war saved as many as a million American lives that would have been lost had Japan been invaded. I don't know where the figure of one million came from. My understanding is that the War Department estimated a maximum of 46,000 casualties in an invasion. That was a worst-case scenario, meaning the likely number of casualties would have been far lower.

Some commentators have argued that no invasion was needed at all, since Japan no longer had an air force or navy and had no domestic source of oil for its industries. A blockade would have resulted in the Japanese war machine and economy grinding to a halt. The war thus could have ended without an invasion, though the end probably would have come long after the summer of 1945.

Be that as it may, what concerns me is the attitude, so prevalent among political conservatives (most of whom are religious conservatives), that there are no limits in defensive warfare: If the other guys started the fight, they deserve whatever they get. In a defensive war it is not a matter of "My country right or wrong" but of "My country can do no wrong," which is an odd thing coming from conservatives who, on domestic matters, can be highly critical of their government's moral failings (as regards abortion or homosexuality, say).

IDENTIFYING EVIL

Catholic moral principles are easy to apply to other people, difficult to apply to ourselves. This is as true in public life as in private life. During World War II our enemies did atrocious things on the battlefield, to conquered nations, and even to their own people. Many of these evils we knew about during the war; others came to light only after the cessation of hostilities.

Even those evils we knew about during the war were so prevalent and so gross that, to many, it seemed permissible, for the duration, to lay aside a principle that we insisted be followed by our enemies: The end does not justify the means.

Rephrase that in Catholic terms: To achieve a good, you may not perform a sin. To provide your family financial security, you may not rob a bank. To protect your wife's health, you may not abort the child she is carrying. And to defeat an enemy in war, you may not violate just war principles. But we did--and more than once, sad to say.

The atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, like the fire bombings of Dresden and other German cities, cannot be squared with Catholic moral principles because the bombings deliberately targeted non-combatants. The evil done by our enemies did not exonerate us from the moral law. Their evils did not provide us justification for evils of our own. Being a Christian in peacetime is difficult; it is more difficult, but even more necessary, in wartime.

TRUE SACRIFICE

Fat Man exploded directly above the Catholic cathedral in Nagasaki. The city was the historical center of Catholicism in Japan and contained about a tenth of the entire Catholic population. The cathedral was filled with worshipers who had gathered to pray for a speedy and just end to the war. It is said their prayers included a petition to offer themselves, if God so willed it, in reparation for the evils perpetrated by their country.

Karl Keating. "An Unhappy Anniversary". August 2004.

The Half-Blood Prince and More... ...Open Harry Potter Discussion!

2005-08-04T18:05:00.000-04:00

*WARNING -- THIS POST/THREAD CONTAINS SPOILERS*

After talking to a few of my friends who have also read the most recent Harry Potter book, I thought it'd be fun to set up a space just for the purpose of continuing the discussion, with other HP6 readers hopefully getting involved as well...

Irish all the way!

2005-07-30T10:21:00.000-04:00

Your Inner European is Irish!

Sprited and boisterous!

You drink everyone under the table.

Who's Your Inner European?

Amazingly, I got Irish without even choosing the probable "Irish" answer to the question "Your idea of a great night out is...", which would be "Drinking beer in a cozy pub with your friends".

Though if I change my food selection to the other answer I was strongly considering, I become French.

B-16 and HP 6...

2005-07-23T01:35:00.000-04:00

Well folks, word has been out for over a week now that the "Pope opposes Harry Potter novels" and the "Pope criticizes Harry Potter". Some of my friends -- non-Catholic themselves -- seem to be concerned I might be disobeying Pope Benedict's "commands" by reading the newest Harry Potter book. I appreciate their concern.

However, I think we can all agree that the media don't always get the story straight. In fact, even Catholic media outlets can sometimes get news stories on their own Church wrong!

At the most, it could be argued that Cardinal Ratzinger was writing about the need to be cautious with the Harry Potter books. Nothing in his 2 letters gives any sense that he is condemning the books, labeling them as inherently evil, or even outright opposing them entirely. When you read the letter, all you can be certain of is that Ratzinger expressed some caution and concern about Harry Potter because the stories can be subtle seductions that could lead the soul astray before it has properly grown to a certain level of maturity.

And honestly, I agree with this! A child not developed enough and/or not receiving guidance from his parents on the issue could possibly be led away from his/her faith into witchcraft somewhere down the line. But many other things could lead people astray as well, alcohol for example. Yet this doesn't necessarily mean that the thing is inherently evil, but rather simply that it needs a proper balance (in the case of Potter, an understanding that it is fantasy; in the case of beer, a sense of moderation). It's true that fantasy novels may have fair influence on future Wiccans, especially those involving wizards and/or witches (for example, a study showed the majority of American Wiccans cite LOTR as their favorite childhood book), but for every Wiccan there are probably 20 times as many (or more) other people who turned out non-Wiccan.

Getting back to Ratzinger's letters then, probably the most important fact is that these letters were written 2 years before the man even became Pope, which means they carry no papal authority whatsoever!

Here's some further and more in-depth clarification for you guys, and anyone else who's interested and open-minded...

Pre-16 On Hary Potter (Jimmy Akin)

Vatican Radio On Pre-16 Potter Brouhaha (Jimmy Akin)

By the way, I've started Harry Potter 6 and I'm loving it!

Ethics of Replicating Music, Books, Movies, Software, Etc.

2005-07-16T12:39:00.000-04:00

I came accross a very interesting post from Dave Armstrong's weblog Cor ad cor loquitur: "On the Ethics of Replication of Music, Books, Movies, Software, Etc." It's opened my eyes to some things I never considered before. Perhaps it will for you as well. And if it doesn't, well, I hope you'll say why, or what's wrong with it . . .

============================================

The following is based on an actual dialogue I had with an atheist friend, two years ago, over the ethics of replication. The original context was a discussion of software. It then branched out into a larger discussion. I've added a few clarifying additions here and there.

--------------------------------------------

Is it "stealing" to buy a used record or CD? I don't think so. Is it stealing to rent a video at Blockbuster rather than buy one or go to the theatre? No. Or to tape something off the TV rather than buying the video for $29.95? Or to buy a used book rather than a new one? No to all, in my opinion. I think the ethics depends (largely, but not solely) on whether someone was going to buy a product in the first place. People are taping things on VCR's and tape recorders and now on CD's from the Internet all the time (I use Napster -- which is perfectly legal and determined by courts to not be a violation of copyright law --, for $9.95 a month). If this is massively immoral and unethical, then why do VCR's and tape recorders and CD burners exist in the first place?

The ethics of software is confusing because most of these things are available for free at some point. Two years ago, I needed Word 97 in order to send in the manuscript of my first book. I couldn't afford to buy it new and I wouldn't have, anyway. So is borrowing it from someone else who wanted to enable me to be able to send in my manuscript "stealing"? I don't see that it is. Now, it's true that (like most people) I didn't read the license or whatever. I just knew that I wasn't able to buy the software, so that Microsoft wasn't being deprived of my contribution to their profits. I acknowledge that there is some room for discussion here but I'm not convinced that any of this is "stealing," given the fact that everyone is reproducing stuff all the time, whether audio, video, or software. I think it is a hard case to make, that no one can make a tape of a record or of a show on TV. What are we supposed to do with VCR's and DVD player / recorders, and tape recorders and (now) iPods?

The only sense I can make of this is whether a person would have, and was able to, buy something in the first place. I was not able to, so Microsoft was not deprived of anything by my in effect) borrowing the software from someone else. I don't believe I have "stolen" anything, per the above reasoning (and much more, below). I do think it's confusing and that the reasoning behind reproduction is tangled and confused. Maybe you'll convince me that I must go spend the money to buy Word 97. I would be very interested in your reply to this, as [a mutual friend] never adequately answered my counter-reply when we talked about this years ago. He said it was wrong to tape albums from someone else. I said that it wasn't wrong to tape an album from the [local] library. They rent them out to do just that (someone bought those records; they weren't stolen). And I argued that it wasn't wrong to tape a show off the TV or buy a used book or record. As far as I know, [our mutual friend] does all that stuff. He borrows videotapes from me. So I wasn't convinced by his reasoning at all. It may be that it is a different argument with software.

I would like to hear your reasoning. If you argue strictly from what the license says, that might seem clear-cut, but my argument hinges on the ethics of other people using or reproducing what someone else has bought, and how that works ethically, with software, as well as with music and video and written materials.

In fact, my own computer was put together by a friend of mine. It was his old computer. I assume it had some programs in it already, like Windows 98 and so forth. Does that mean I had to delete Windows 98, go buy it, and re-install it? It was already bought! It's like buying a used car. I can't afford a new car and I couldn't afford a new computer. I'm only a "starving writer." My friend was nice enough to donate his old one, and that was for the purpose of my website, which offers over 500 web pages free of charge to the public. I've written twelve books, and that is the only for-profit part of what I do. This is the problem I have with this reasoning. It becomes a reductio ad absurdum, because the logical chain seems to have no end, and winds up being absurd if applied consistently.

I think that a legitimate, non-relativistic ethical argument can be made on these matters: that it is not stealing. That's what I believe. It may be that you can convince me otherwise if you can offer a cogent reply to my questions above. I respect the fact that you are taking a position on this, and I'm sure you have thought it through, because I see that you are a conscientious thinker.

. . .

When . . . stealing happens (in particular instances) is what remains to be solved here, as well as what "make use of wrongfully" means. E.g., say that a US spy had "stolen" Nazi plans to construct a nuclear bomb. Would that truly be stealing or would it have been completely ethically justified? For that matter, would an individual knocking off Hitler be a murderer?

My friend then asked whether I disagreed with "the concept of intellectual property rights."

No (I'm an author and purveyor of ideas myself; I certainly accept this notion); rather, I am confused as to what constitutes "stealing" by any standard definition, given the massive reproductive resources available today: VCR's, tape recorders, downloads of music from the Internet, used records and books, used cars, etc. It's not so much that I am asserting a point of view definitely, as you are, but that I am confused about this and would like to see it clarified. Obviously, I am not convinced at all that what I did was stealing, or I wouldn't have done it. I would like to think that I am a principled person, especially in matters of ethics, and Christians have all sorts of guidelines as to what is moral and ethical and what is not. If I am convinced by your reasoning, I will go and buy the software as soon as I am able.

My argument was essentially one of analogy: since all these things occur, how does one determine when their uses constitute stealing, and where does one draw the line? I pretty much assume the things you assert. My problem arises from difficulty of application of what is assumed by most parties, in a world where sharing of all these things occurs regularly and routinely, and where loans and gift-giving are not regarded by most human beings as unethical or immoral activities. Actually it is both an analogical argument and an argumentum ad absurdum, simultaneously.

============================================

These are only some excerpts from the blog post, and the best points/arguments are not necessarily included (especially some of the later analogous comparisons, such as libraries and video rental stores). If your heart desires it, you can read the rest here, as well as the continuing dialogue folks are having in Dave's comment box. If I have time, I'll try to extract what I think are the best points and put them in the comment box here...if I have time.

Leaving town for Brats and Beer...

2005-07-07T23:40:00.000-04:00

Actually, I'm going to Milwaukee to visit some long lost relatives and learn more about my family genealogy, as well as meet my sister Stefanie's boyfriend for the first time. It should be a fun little excursion. We're leaving Friday morning and we may see the Wallflowers that night at Milwaukee's Summerfest. We should get back late Sunday, but we're also going to squeeze in a visit to the Miller brewery before we leave. (I'm not sure whether I'll actually get around to having a brat yet.)

On another note, I'm writing this to let everyone know that I probably won't be blogging any new posts here for a while. I've been commissioned for quite some time now to design a website and I really need to buckle down and finish it up. On top of that, I have 2 distance learning courses (Philosophy of the Human Person and Nature of Love) that I have to focus more on. Lastly, it's summer time and I just want to be outside more! Of course, I'm sure I'll still be reading and commenting on others' blogs.

That being said, just for fun, here are some of my recent favorites from my "Fact or Crap" flip calendar (note: these are all "fact", not "crap"):

Yogurt was developed before the days of the refigerator as a way to preserve the benefits of milk.

It is thought that yogurt was invented and used before recorded history. An unrefrigerated cultured yogurt can be eaten safely for several days, and the bacteria promote good intestinal health. Genghis Khan's army ate yogurt as a staple of its diet. In modern times yogurt is refrigerated to keep it safe for weeks at a time.

Shel Silverstein wrote articles for Playboy magazine before becoming a children's author.

For nearly two decades, Shel Silverstein worked as a contributor to Playboy, where several of his cartoons were also published. Later he went on to write the best-selling books A Light in the Attic and The Giving Tree. Silverstein earned a Grammy for Best Country Song for the lyrics he wrote for Johnny Cash's 1969 hit "A Boy Named Sue."

Nearly a quarter of all mammals can fly.

Bats are the largest species (there are 985) of mammal, making up 23% of all known mammals by species. Bats can be found in all climates except extreme desert and polar regions. The smallest bat is the bumblebee bat of Thailand; the largest, the flying fox, has a six-foot wingspan.

Etiquette dictates that it is improper to use the term congratulations when greeting a bride.

While it is perfectly acceptable to say "Congratulations" to a groom, it goes against the rule of etiquette to use the greetings "Congratulations" or "Good luck" with a bride. If you need something proper to say, try "Best wishes."

And this last one I already knew, but it's a good one so I'll post it anyways (plus we just celebrated Independence Day):

Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4, 1826.

Ironically enough, the only presidents to have signed the Declaration of Independence both died on its 50th anniversary. Having supported each other in helping create the famous document, they feuded for many years afterward. Adams, seven years Jefferson's senior, had once proclaimed that he would outlive Jefferson. It is said that Adam's last words were "Thomas Jefferson survives," though Jefferson had died a few hours earlier.

Alright then, adios folks!

Which Star Wars character are you?

2005-06-29T21:45:00.000-04:00

If I were a Star Wars character, I would be:
Qui-Gon Jinn.
You're very in touch with nature and greatly value living things, even the more inferior creatures. Your calm demeanor is admired by many and you don't sweat the small stuff and things you can't change. You're kind, quiet, and strong.

Take the
" Which Star Wars Character Am I?" Quiz
by Always Two There Are

On the other hand...

You are LANDO CALRISSIAN!

Take the Star Wars Personality Test!

Which test results should I trust?

And who are you?

Anamorphic Illusions -- eye-poppers galore!

2005-06-17T18:52:00.000-04:00

Despite my urgent need to catch up on schoolwork, I couldn't resist sharing this stuff with everyone. Enjoy!

"Julian Beever is a UK-based street painter. You'll only need one look at some of his work to realize he's a real master in this art form. Because the drawings are made on the ground, some of them have to be made anamorphic (distorted). You need a particular viewpoint to see the image in 3D (see anamorphosis for more examples). The art of creating an image that looks real is called trompe l'oeil."

Is this the real thing?

Arctic streat conditions with soft drink.

Push the boat out.

The illusion of the Portable Computer was drawn on The Strand, London and was commissioned by Procom.

Pre-modernist and post-modernist.

Rembrandts with Rembrandts.

Self-Portrait Of The Artist With Liquid Refreshment.

A series used by White's Electronics of Inverness in Treasure Hunting magazine.

Here we see the Swimming-Pool, drawn in Glasgow, Scotland, but viewed from the "wrong" side. These drawings only work from one viewpoint otherwise the image appears strangely distorted.

Swimming-Pool In The High Street.

To see more of Julian Beever's artwork, click here for his website.

Dan Brown, the "evil" Catholic Church and the "Sacred Feminine"

2005-06-14T23:47:00.000-04:00

My friend Fred recently lambasted the Catholic Church and I was shocked to see every single one of his arguments coming straight from Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code. To separate this from the other discussion, I'm starting this post to focus exclusively on "Da Vinci" topics. I'll start things off by citing what can be found over at Wikipedia on the criticisms of the "facts" in this novel (and these are just the tip of the iceberg, I might add):

Criticisms

Because of the book's opening claim:

"Fact: (...) All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."

many have viewed The Da Vinci Code as a genuine exposé of orthodox Christianity's past. As a result, the book has attracted a generally negative response from the Christian, Jewish and Italian communities, as well as from historians dismayed by the way Brown has, in their view, distorted – and in some cases fabricated – history, and other readers complaining of sloppy research.

Moreover, the book is arguably very poorly written: for example, contradictions such as "... the curator froze, turning his head slowly" abound.

Criticisms include:

The claim that, prior to AD 325, Christ was considered no more than a "mortal prophet" by his followers, and that it was only as a consequence of Emperor Constantine's politicking and a close vote at the First Council of Nicaea that Christianity came to view him as divine: This has been debunked with extensive reference by various authors to the Bible and Church Fathers, sources that pre-date the First Council of Nicea. (See this example, or Olson and Meisel (2004), who refer to The Church in Crisis: A History of the General Councils, 325–1870 (1964) by Philip Hughes.) At the Council, the central question was if Christ and God were one, or whether instead Christ was the first created being, inferior to the Father, but still superior to all other creatures (see Arianism).
The claim that Mary Magdalene was of the tribe of Benjamin (Chapter 58): This is not supported by any historical evidence. The fact that Magdala was located in northern Israel, whereas the tribe of Benjamin resided in the south, weighs against it.
The idea that the purported marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene would create a "potent political union with the potential of making a legitimate claim to the throne" (Chapter 58): According to the Gospels, Jesus clearly stated that his kingdom "is not of this world"; if, on the other hand, Jesus was merely a "mortal prophet" seeking to establish only a political kingdom, he failed.
The assertion that "the sacred feminine" has been suppressed by Christianity: In Roman Catholicism, for example, Mary (of Nazareth), the mother of Jesus, is specially venerated as the "Mother of God," the "Queen of Heaven," the spiritual mother of all mankind, and is believed to be free of sin. (It is hypothesized that Mary's Virginal nature does not accord with Brown's ideals.)
The allegation that "the Church burned at the stake an astounding five million women" as witches (Chapter 28): Olson and Miesel (2004), referring to information at Gendercide.org, state that the most reliable current estimates – including those not executed at the Church's recommendation, not killed by burning, and not female – range from 30,000 to 50,000.
The assertion that the original Olympics were held "as a tribute to the magic of Venus" (Chapter 6), i. e. apparently Aphrodite: actually, they were celebrated for Zeus Olympias.
The theory that Gothic architecture was designed by the Templars to record the secret of the sacred feminine: historians note that Templars were not involved with cathedrals of the time, which were generally commissioned by European bishops.
The depiction of the Templars as builders, guild-founders and secret-bearers: Templar historians point to abundant evidence that Templars did not themselves engage in building projects or founded guilds for masons, and that they were largely illiterate men unlikely to know "sacred geometry," purportedly handed down from the pyramids' builders. If architecture owes anything to the templars, it is their fortresses.
The portrayal of the Priory of Sion as an ancient organization: While the Priory is a genuine organization claiming to have been the Templars' driving force, most historians suspect it originated in the aftermath of World War II, on the grounds that it was registered with the French government in 1956, and only became widely-known in 1962 (see Pierre Plantard). However, according to claims made by the Priory, it was founded in 1090.
The suggestion that all churches used by the Templars were built round, and that roundness was considered an insult by the Church: Some churches used by the Templars were not round, and those that were round were so in tribute to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Moreover, there is quite a number of round churches, and no account that the Church considered this an insult.
The contention that the Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci as a self-portrait: Art historians are almost unanimous in holding the painting to be of a real woman, Madonna Lisa, wife of Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo. However, other researchers have concluded, using "morphing" techniques, that the resemblance to Leonardo is striking (Lillian Swartz of the Bell Labs and Digby Quested of the Maudsley Hospital in London).
The depiction of Opus Dei as a monastic order. In fact, it is a personal prelature with primarily lay membership. There are no monks in Opus Dei, (although members of Opus Dei do practice mortification of the flesh).
Mary Magdalene is said to have been labelled a whore by the Church (Chapters 58 and 60); in fact, there is no Biblical correlation whatsoever between the whore that Christ saves from being stoned to death and Magdalene . This common misunderstanding was initiated by Pope Gregory I, who proclamed this, based on a false analysis of Luke 7 and 8. He "integrated" three different women into one. (See Pericope Adulteræ.)
The suggestion that the Tetragrammaton is "an androgynous physical union between the masculine Jah and the pre-Hebraic name of Eve, Havah" (Chapter 74). It is generally believed that the four Hebrew letters that form the Tetragrammaton (Yud, Hay, Vav, Hay) represent the tenses of the Hebrew word for to be -- Quoting Exodus 3:14-15, "And God said to Moses, "I am who I am [...]". Actually, the phrase in Hebrew is "eh-yeh asher eh-yeh", which in English translation would really be, "I will be who (or what or that) I will be." Therefore, The Verb emphasizes God's absolute being.
Venus is depicted as visible in the east shortly after sunset (Chapter 105) which is an astronomical impossibility. This was corrected to "west" in some later editions, like 28th printing of British paperback, ISBN 0552149519 and apparently current printing of the US hardback too - [1].
Brown characterized the cycle of Venus as "trac[ing] a perfect pentacle across the ecliptic sky every four years", and from there claimed this as the basis for four-year Olympic period (Chapter 6). The fact is, Venus completes five cycles in eight years [2] [3], a fact well known to the ancient Greeks and Mayans. This eight-year cycle is one of the factors in predicting the transit of Venus. This was changed to "eight years" in some later editions such as the British paperback and at least the April 2003 printing of the US hardback - [4].

In view of its popularity and widespread acceptance as being factually correct, some have held the novel's historical defects to be so serious and numerous as to warrant separate works debunking its claims. Among others, this includes Carl Olson and Sandra Miesel's The Da Vinci Hoax .

On March 15, 2005, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, Archbishop of Genoa and former second-in-command of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (and then seen by many as a potential successor to Pope John Paul II), castigated the book and those who sell it because of his claims of anti-Catholic bias. "This seems like a throwback to the old anti-clerical pamphlets of the 1800s," he said. It is a "gross and absurd" distortion of history full of "cheap lies." He also made a strong defense of Opus Dei, the Catholic organization which is a major antagonist of the book.

Aesthetics 101: "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder" -- Really?

2005-06-04T13:04:00.000-04:00

Perhaps this will spark discussion, or perhaps not, but it's been on my mind of late (especially in anticipation of my upcoming "Philosophy of Aesthetics" class in the Fall)...

What is Beauty? Is it something objective? Or merely subjective? Or a mix of both?

Here's a little history that I've pieced together on the origin of the phrase in the title above...

In 1878, Margaret Wolfe Hungerford penned the proverb as we know it today, in her novel Molly Bawn:

'I have heard she is beautiful -- is she?' 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,' quotes Marcia. (Molly Bawn, I.xii.)

But the concept goes back further in a variety of forms. Charlotte Bronte wrote, "Most true is it that 'beauty is in the eye of the gazer'" (C. Bronte, Jane Eyre, 1847). Even earlier, it was said, "You should remember, my dear, that beauty is in the lover's eye" (F. Brooke, History of Mary Montague, 1769). Here's the rest of the phrase's history in the English language:

"The first stirrings toward this proverb appear to have come from the English dramatist John Lyly, who wrote in 'Euphues in England' (1580). 'As neere is Fancie to Beautie, as the pricke to the Rose,' and from William Shakespeare, who in 'Love's Labour's Lost' (c.1594) penned the line 'Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye.' Almost a century and a half later, Benjamin Franklin in his 'Poor Richard's Almanack' of 1741 included the lines, 'Beauty, like supreme dominion/ Is but supported by opinion,' and Scottish philosopher David Hume's 'Essays, Moral and Political' (1742) contained the perhaps too analytical 'Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them.'"

(Stuart Flexner and Doris Flexner. Wise Words and Wives' Tales: The Origins, Meanings and Time-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk Sayings Olde and New. Avon Books, New York, 1993.)

Supposedly it goes back even further though. I found one online source citing The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (Fifth Edition, p. 595 "Proverbs", to be precise) as describing the idea to go all the way back at least to Greek writings in the 3rd century BC. Though I didn't find any primary sources to document this, I have no problem believing it. Afterall, the phrase does seem very commonsensical.

But is it absolutely true? Is beauty purely subjective? Is there no objective beauty? And consequently, is there no objective ugliness or filth?

I'm still thinking all of this through myself, but I really want to hear others' perspectives, especially the artists! Please share your thoughts and any good and/or interesting readings on the subject. I've always loved art, so this is a very interesting topic to me.

Here is one essay that I'm trying to work through, if anyone is interested (let me say though, it is not an easy read!):

Alice von Hildebrand. "Debating Beauty: Jacques Maritain and Dietrich von Hildebrand." Crisis. July/Aug. 2004.

Forget "Real Audio"...Read Audio!

2005-06-01T18:36:00.000-04:00

Well, I honestly don't know what to say right now, but I was getting sick of having those ugly pictures at the top of my blog page. If anyone's interested in the audio books I've finished of late at work, here they are in order from oldest to most recent, beginning all the way back in December when I started working again...

Heather MacDonald. The Burden of Bad Ideas: How Modern Intellectuals Misshape Our Society. 2001.

Richard L. Purtill. C. S. Lewis' Case for the Christian Faith. 1985.

Bernard Goldberg. Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News. 2001.

G. K. Chesterton. The Man Who Was Thursday. 1907.

Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels. 1726.

Oscar Wilde. The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1891.

Dan Brown. Angels & Demons. 2001.

P. G. Wodehouse. Right Ho, Jeeves. 1934.

Scott Hahn. First Comes Love: Finding Your Family in the Church and the Trinity. 2002.

Plato. The Last Days of Socrates: Euthyphro, The Apology, Crito, Phaedo.

Yann Martel. Life of Pi. 2003.

Gilgamesh: A New English Version. Translated by Stephen Mitchell.

Mitch Albom. The Five People You Meet in Heaven. 2003.

Lewis Carroll. Alice in Wonderland. 1865.

Leo Tolstoy. Anna Karenina. 1877.

Scott Hahn. Swear to God: The Promise and Power of the Sacraments. 2004.

Daniel Keyes. Flowers for Algernon. 1966.

John Paul II. Crossing the Threshold of Hope. 1995.

Aristotle. Nichomachean Ethics.

Richard E. Rubenstein. Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages. 2004.

I'm also too tired to review any of them right now, but I did enjoy them all (at least to certain degree). Perhaps I'll write reviews and share insights from some of my favs eventually, but no guarantees on this. If you want my two cents on any of them right now, just ask!

By the way, up next on my "Read Audio" list...

Anne Frank. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. 1947.

Mother Teresa. Loving Jesus. 1991.

G. K. Chesterton. The Everlasting Man. 1925.

Aldous Huxley. Brave New World. 1931.

40 years later...

2005-05-18T20:58:00.000-04:00

Props to Spence for the tip on this fun! I apologize for not getting everyone's face done, but I couldn't find good pictures and this was starting to become time consuming. But don't fret! It doesn't have to end here. Add your own creative works to the Geezer collection!

Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?

2005-03-30T19:48:00.000-05:00

I guess I'm a Liger...

Works for me. (BTW, thanks for the quiz Heather!)

Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Remember those kids with moxie?

2005-02-06T13:04:00.000-05:00

After putting up a picture of the "Steve Doll" a while back, I've decided to continue with these occasional "blasts from the past". This time around, we have a panoramic image (sorry about the sloppy editing, folks!) of the freshmen year dorm room that I shared with my good friend Mike, as it looked then (c. Fall 2000).

Wow! Can you believe we had that much junk in...exactly how big were those rooms anyways? Mike? Justin? Steve?

Introducing the life-size Steve Doll!!!

2004-11-27T19:33:00.000-05:00

A request was made for this picture over at Mike's blog, so I thought I'd upload it for all to see. If you really want to hear the story behind the picture, just say so. I'm sure between Justin, Mike, Steve and I, one of us will be able to fill you in.

And who can come up with the funniest caption?

The Constitution -- a protector or regulator of rights? Or both?

2004-11-27T15:55:00.000-05:00

I tried furthering this topic on two other blogs, but since they both seem to have died of late, I'll try to revive it here. In a discussion on same-sex marriage, a friend of mine argued against a constitutional amendment, writing

"The Constitution is not a document that limits freedom. The Bill of Rights tells government what it cannot do. Not what people cannot do. A constitutional amendment banning gay marriage is astoundingly unconstitutional."

He made a similar point in a discussion about an anti-abortion law. Now, I think there's an inkling of truth here, but I have to question whether we get the whole truth.

Indeed, it is correct to say that the Constitution and Bill of Rights protect various freedoms of the people, not only against the government but against other people as well. But isn't the most obvious (and paradoxical) consequence then the fact that precisely as people are guaranteed certain freedoms and rights, they are also denied other freedoms and rights? When you guarantee the right to life, you deny the right to murder. When you guarantee the right to freedom of speech, you deny the right to silence someone simply because they disagree with you. When you guarantee the right to vote, you deny the right to stop someone from voting who is legally registered. I think I've made my point.

Conversely, usually even when an amendment or law is stated in a negative form ("thou shalt not ____"), there is also a positive understanding to it; something is being protected in the process.

The bottom line then, is that I now seriously question the value of any argument against something simply because "it is regulatory" and we have "too much regulation" (BTW I'm guilty of this bad logic too). Rather, we must focus on whether it truly is or is not a good or bad form of regulation (i.e. protection).

Whoohahaha...

2004-10-31T18:23:00.000-05:00

Well folks, I carved a pumpkin this afternoon. Can you guess which one's mine? (I'll give the answer on the blogback, along with which of my parents carved the other two. Happy guessing!)

Now...we've had a lot of serious discussion of late here at the blog, so to lighten things up a bit, here's a question for everyone:

What is your favorite halloween costume that you've worn?

Personally, it's really hard to pick just one (plus I'm limited to "halloween" costumes); I'll have to go with the Garth (from Wayne's World) outfit that I wore in 6th grade. I had the blond hair, drumsticks, ripped jeans, and everything. On top of that, supposedly I did a pretty good impression at the time! Now if only somebody had been Wayne...

BTW, why is it that people enjoy dressing up so much? Honestly, I still think dressing up in different characters is fun! But why??? Is it so that we can hide a part of our real self for a while? Or is it so that we can let our imaginations run wild? For me, I tend to think it's the latter. Perhaps it varies from person to person though. Any thoughts?

Moving on, I can't think of any good halloween stories off the top of my head, but if you have any funny past experiences, you're welcome to share them too!

One last thing...

2004-10-15T17:33:00.000-04:00

Everybody likes pretty pictures, so I'll end my postings for the day with this one. It really caught my eye when I first saw it earlier this afternoon, partially because of the beauty and partially because of the amusement. Honestly, it is a fascinating piece of artwork--the imagery is very creative and the painting itself is well done, artistically speaking.

That being said, I also have my reservations about the message it sends. To quote Mark Shea, "No secular messianism here" (sarcasm intended).

The day be here, scumbags!

2004-09-19T14:17:00.000-04:00

Ahoy, mateys!!!

Buy the ipatch! (it's a real beauty!)

or get yer copy o' Well Blow Me Down! The Guys Guide to talking like a pirate!

or at least scurry on o'er to The Original Talk Like A Pirate Day Site!

And be sure today to AVOID ALL LUBBERS!!! ("land lovers")

Is it any wonder we don't trust the media...

2004-09-15T13:15:00.000-04:00

...when stories like this continue to come out? I won't even go into my problems with the New York Times. You know, it's truly a sad picture of the day when we actually have to read news about the news (and how screwed up it is). While I'm mentioning the media, can I vent on some other issues?

Why is it we must have news coverage 24/7? Is relevant "news" really happening 24/7? NO! So what happens? Well, either 1) we have the same real story regurgitated a million times over by four news stations, or 2) we have some of the most ridiculous and irrelevant stories covered and labelled "news". Somehow, someway, the stories also always manage to be "breaking" news, even if they've been reported 50 times already! Every report has to have a thrill factor and a fresh factor, because any other way would just bore the viewer audience, right?

But positive exageration isn't all that happens. We also need to consider the many stories that are downplayed by the media, simply because they're viewed as unimportant--"un-newsworthy"--or even [gasp!] going against their own ideology! Now don't get me wrong here--I have no problem with a newspaper or newscast reporting from a certain worldview. My problem is with media folk who deny the truth because they are so obsessed with their own agenda and beliefs. That brings me to another point (get ready for a mega-semi-tangential thought here).

Perhaps our skepticism of the media is really just a symptom of the reality of the world which we live in, for all humans are fallible and must strive to overcome biases. The problem with modern culture, however, seems to be that many have seen this gloomy fact and simply given up, saying everything must therefore be biased and relative. Well folks, relativism just doesn't cut it logically (we can go into this if you'd like). In my opinion, the entire post-modern relativist culture is one of the most anti-intellectual emotionalist movements in history. Rather than reason, it's based on an emotional fear due to the ever increasing amount of knowledge and of claims to truth out there. Besides being unreasonable, the bottom line is that the relativist position lacks the virtue of courage. This is not to say that courage will lead one to a grasp of all truth by any means (one could be agnostic and still possess courage), but rather it will lead to a grasp that relativism is foolish. Oh, and let's not forget the virtue of humility too--we need that to clean sort through those unhealthy biases.

As technology improves and the flow of knowledge continues to increase with leaps and bounds, this push to simply view everything as relative will no doubt continue to thrive and spread. But let's be honest and take a stand; let's be brave and make an effort to actually pursue the truth of things. It's not easy, that's for sure; but if it's the right thing to do, then it's well worth it.

And in the process, we'll continue to unveil the lies of various groups of the media, exposing them for what they really are.

(See, I brought it all back together, sort of. I apologize, but my brains is kind of "blah, blah, blah" right now.)

===================================================
G.K. Chesterton, a journalist his entire lifetime, had a lot to say about the business. Here are a couple of blips:

"Modern man is staggering and losing his balance because he is being pelted with little pieces of alleged fact which are native to the newspapers; and, if they turn out not to be facts, that is still more native to newspapers." - ILN, 4/7/23

"Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction. Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers is another."

If you're really craving more, check out "The Real Journalist" or "The Mildness of the Yellow Press".

What lies at the very core of the Passion...

2004-09-14T17:24:00.000-04:00

I've had some interesting discussions in the past with a wide variety of friends regarding the meaning of various aspects of the film, The Passion of the Christ, and I've gotten numerous wonderful insights. Well, I was quite pleased to see that this writer for the Toronto Sun, Michael Coren, had a sort of epiphany experience of his own with the whole matter:

I originally wrote about The Passion of the Christ the week it opened in theatres. I stated how excited I had been before I saw the film and how disappointed I was afterwards. Many supported me in my views, many opposed me. Sadly, the majority of the latter were abusive. It was a sobering experience.

Months later, I have watched Mel Gibson's version of the death of Jesus Christ on the newly released DVD. I still believe that this work should have been different in various ways. Yet now I have seen, or allowed myself to see, what lies at the very core of The Passion. The Eucharist.

The epicentre, the quintessence of the Christian faith, was no symbolic act but a literal instruction. "Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you." And "Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all men so that sins may be forgiven."

What had been a barrier has now become a bridge. A connection between a broken, smashed and needy creature like me and his perfect and glorious creator. The great paradox of God. In so simple a matter as a wafer is the most wonderful gift in all the world. Given at a very great price indeed.

What had been a barrier has now become a bridge. A connection between a broken, smashed and needy creature like me and his perfect and glorious creator. The great paradox of God. In so simple a matter as a wafer is the most wonderful gift in all the world. Given at a very great price indeed.

He goes on reflecting upon this idea. Then he writes about another major realization: the significance of the role of Mary, mother of Jesus, in the Passion.

As I watched again, another reality embraced me, like the arms of a loving mother around an eager if sometimes foolish child. It was that Mary is not merely a background figure in a magnificent drama, but the divine conduit for salvation. In other words, she is sublime and perfect and with us forever. The mother of us all.

Through her eyes, I saw the life and death of Jesus once again, with all of the human as well as godly suffering that it entails. I use the present tense, because although Christ died for us so long ago, He still lives. His sacrifice exists in the present and can be witnessed every day by us all. Yes, even by me.

Mary weeps for her son. Her tears and His blood mingle to soak the world in hope and love. Within their grandeur all despair is smothered and all sin cleansed. Yes, I see it now. I see it so clearly.

I'm especially glad for his realization regarding the Eucharist, but this was all around a neat story. It sounds like he was already a Catholic, but what good news to hear that he now "gets it". To read more of the story:

"The Passion of Michael"

Also, feel free to comment. What do you think of these thoughts? What'd you think of the movie?

Getting Ahead

2004-08-22T16:33:00.000-04:00

I still laugh when I read this story I found a couple of years back by a guy named Eric Scheske. Enjoy!
===================================================

"Getting Ahead"
by Eric J. Scheske

D1 felt scrunched in the middle. He was as big as the guys immediately above him, bigger than most of the guys around him, and lots bigger than everyone below him. He deserved to be higher, where things were better.

The guy next to him, D2, was thinking the same thing. "I'm as big as these other guys; I should be up there." D2 was standing on some smaller Ds.

D1 turned to D2 and asked if he wanted to switch places. D2, noticing that D1 was a bit higher than him, eagerly accepted.

D2 didn't realize that the extra Ds under him were making him appear nearly as tall as D1 but that, in fact, D1 was far bigger. D1 knew this, but didn't mention it to D2. After the switch, D1 was much higher than D2.

D1 was enjoying his substantial gain, and was now in a position to rub shoulders with some of the bigger guys.

He then saw D3, a little D, break off from his big father who was at the top. D3 had been slipping for a long time. He didn't do anything but sit and contemplate things that don't really matter.

"Hey D3, wanna switch places with me?" asked D1, an absurd request, given D3's far better position.

"Sure," said D3, resignedly.

"What are you doing?!" the Ds around D3 wanted to know. "His spot is horrible; don't change with him."

"It doesn't matter; I'll trade places," said D3, and he switched with D1, who was now near the top and beaming at his gains.

He was higher than he'd ever imagined he'd get. And now he noticed that the guys at the tope weren't much bigger than him.

He grabbed D4, an older D, and forcibly pulled him down, at the same time using him as leverage to get into D4's spot.

The other Ds at the top didn't like D1's antics and told him so. D1 didn't care. He challenged on of them, D5, to a fight, which D5 couldn't turn down without great embarrassment. They fought; D1 won.

And now he was at the top with a handful of other Ds. No Ds had their feet on his head. No Ds were jostling his side. Plenty of room.

The crummy little Ds on the bottom; the non-aggressive Ds that were gradually falling to the bottom; the slightly smaller Ds below him. He was on top.

Then the bag of Doritos was opened and D1 was the first one eaten.

New most awful smell day!

2004-08-08T18:44:00.000-04:00

Hi folks, in between what I hope to be deep discussion on the existence of God, here's a very funny short story by one of my favorite bloggers, Elliot Bougis. The topic: bug zappers in Taiwain. Prepare yourself for a load of laughter:

Now I realize the following confession may drive scads and scores of readers away, but I'm nothing if not honest (except with myself, of course).

Here in Taiwan they don't mess around with mosquitoes. They play electric tennis with them. As you probably know, we in the USA have two main ways of dispensing with mosquitoes, the creature my old friend always said were the one animal God let the Devil create. Often we just try to smack them to death with our bare hands. So savage, so artless. Alternatively, we let inert hanging bug zappers slaughter any bug stupid enough to stumble in with a small shower of crackling blue light. But the Taiwanese are much more hands on in their bug prevention. Most Taiwanese homes are equipped -- armed? -- with a plastic tennis racket with electrified wires as the net. Don't worry, there is a trigger. (And yes, I've tested it; the shock hurts like a devil.) If a mosquito begins to pester you just swipe him into the electric net and a short, sharp, popping sound with a tiny flash occurs. Mosquito magic.

[continued over at FCA...]

Does God Exist?

2004-08-06T20:28:00.000-04:00

I was so excited the other day when visiting my friend Fred’s website, to discover a recently revised philosophical essay titled “Does God Exist?” This being the stuff I live upon, I quickly begin clicking and scrolling through the pages, feasting upon every sentence. Can it get more thrilling than reading an essay by a friend on one of the big questions of life? By the way, this isn’t sarcasm. I really do love this stuff!

Anyways, when all was said and done, I greatly enjoyed the paper, but at the same time had a number of qualms with it. So naturally, I feel it's my duty to try my best to present my thoughts on some of Fred’s specific points, as well as a concluding general critique of the overall paper. Now for the sake of anybody who dares take the time to actually read these, I'll be splitting them up over the course of the next few posts (pick and choose what you want to read). Lastly, Fred even said that he would respond to my posts, so this could prove to be fun and interesting dialogue...I hope.

A day to remember...

2004-07-25T15:09:00.000-04:00

In case you didn't know, today is the anniversary of the date Humanae Vitae ("On Human Life") was issued--July 25, 1968. It is probably the most infamous papal encyclical in Church history, with all of the division that it's caused in the last 30 years (it's the one that said contraception is a 'no-no' for Catholics).

More and more Catholic scholars are saying that this date will go down as one of the most important days in the last century, because of the influence (for the better) that they think it will eventually have. The entire "Theology of the Body" developed by Pope JP II in the early 1980s is an example of this impact, for it was a direct response to the call of Paul VI in his encyclical Humanae Vitae. To be completely honest, in all my readings on the questions of the meaning of life, being, sex, etc., no one has given so profound an answer as JPII in this theology. IMHO, it is the true Christian antidote to the disease of the sexual revolution that has plagued society for the past 70 years or so (though the roots of the problem go much deeper and further back).

Anyways, to coincide with this epic date, I plan to shoot some stuff out in the next couple of days on the question of contraception and sex. Before I really dive into this though, I'd love to hear people's thoughts on the Church's moral teaching here, since this is probably one of the biggest turnoffs to people looking at Catholicism. So please do share!

Well, there's Christianity...

2004-07-25T01:55:00.000-04:00

...and then there's this:

Cartoon fans start Spongebob church

Funny and a bit creepy. All I can think is, "I thought I'd heard it all ... until now." As Chesterton reportedly quipped, perhaps prophetically, when people stop believing in God, they don't then believe in nothing--they believe in anything.

Out of commission (temporarily)

2004-07-16T00:53:00.000-04:00

Well folks, as of Saturday morning, July 17th, this blogger will be out of commission while away for a week in Virginia. I should get back sometime in the evening on Friday, July 23rd. Hopefully, if all goes well, I'll have some good ponderings for the blog when I return home. Until then, God bless!

p.s. Feel free to keep discussions going while I'm gone.

Music and Memory

2004-07-15T19:21:00.000-04:00

On a lighter note, I learned something incredible this weekend. This past Saturday, I was talking with a friend in Michigan who happens to know a half dozen languages or so. At one point, I asked him what he considered the best way to go about learning a language. Well, he gave several suggestions, but the one that struck my attention most was poetry and music.

For years I've marvelled at the ease with which we can remember the words of a song we haven't heard in 10 years, yet we struggle to remember some concepts for a test from material we spent hours studying over! Well, this fellow (his name be John) gave me an answer for this mind boggler.

He explained how when one is merely read/speak/memorize prose, they usually are merely using the left side of their brain. In contrast, when one begins to read/speak/memorize poetry (with the rhyme, meter, etc.) or music, they not only use the left side of their brain, but the right comes into play as well. Consequently, with poetry and music, one is practically doubling their brain power in the attempt to memorize words or concepts. Amazing!

Then he told me a story of when he was once taking an Italian class. The professor took all of the students to a neurology center one day, and they observed doctors working with several patients. One patient in particular, had lost nearly all of the left portion of his brain. Because of this, he struggled greatly to say complete sentences and could rarely pronounce (or say at all) words that had more than two syllables. Usually, he knew there was a word to use, but he simply couldn't access it because he was missing that part of his brain.

For one experiment, they had this man try to recite (in regular speech) the "Star Spangled Banner". He tried and tried, but could not do it, because he always got stuck up on the larger words. Then, however, the doctors played the music to the song, again asking him to recite the lyrics, this time singing. Lo and behold, the man sang the entire song without missing a beat, pronouncing every word perfectly! Incredibly, he was still able to access those words from the right side of his brain!

The power of music (well, rhyme and rhythm in general, to be more precise)! What a gift!

Colors in Motion

2004-07-05T12:37:00.000-04:00

I have to give props to Steve for finding this neat little site:

http://www.mariaclaudiacortes.com/colors/Colors.html

My appreciation for colors skyrocketed after watching the 6 short films on the primary and secondary colors. If you have 5 minutes to spare, you must take the time to check them out! The other stuff on the site is cool too though. Looking at the "star profiles", I was surprised to find how much I connected with the traits of my favorite color, green.

BTW, what is your favorite color? And can you relate much to the traits of your color?

Fire and the Fourth

2004-07-04T21:42:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday USA and happy 4th of July everybody!!!

What a beautiful day it’s been. We had a splendid Independence Day meal here at the McAnall family household: barbequed chicken, corn on the cob, mixed fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, and blueberries), and corn bread, with a glass of milk to top it all off. Great stuff! Nothing particularly extraordinary happened today, except that I had a wonderful moment of self-reflection and appreciation for life as I sat outside pulling the husks off of the corn in preparation for dinner. Life truly is beautiful. Anyways, if anyone has a good (or bad, or funny) 4th story to share, go for it!

Moving on, what I really wanted to focus on is the splendor of fire. Just think about it: if you asked most Americans, they would agree that the 4th of July just wouldn’t be the same without fireworks. But what is it about fireworks, and fire for that matter, that is so appealing? The light? The warmth? The glow? Guys especially seem to have an incredible fascination with fire. I don’t think there’s a boy in the world who doesn’t go through a “pyro” phase at some point during adolescence. Heck, to be completely honest, I think I’m still in that phase to a certain degree. The only difference is that maybe I’m a little more responsible now, but I still love to mess with fire! Perhaps that's half of the reason that I've grown to like candles so much, because I don't get to play with fire nearly as often as I used to.

So here's the bottom line: Fire is cool! Seriously folks, where would we be without it? We'd be dead! Even if the early humans could have survived long ago without fire on earth, they still needed the heat energy from that great ball of fire we call the Sun! What a thought! I think we need a moment of silence in gratitude of fire. What a gift!

In light of all of this (pardon the pun), I'd love to hear people's stories about their experiences with fire. I'm sure we've all got some good ones. Also, I'm curious as to whether or not there are any ladies out there that have gone through a "pyro" phase too, because frankly, I just don't see it like I do with guys.

Thoughts on Amiable and Constructive Dialogue

2004-07-04T17:02:00.000-04:00

Folks, I really hope this blog can be a place of good and fun dialogue, and not a waste of time. It's my hope that we will have plenty of challenging, yet good-spirited discussions, with as little bitter argumentation as possible. Chesterton put it well when he said, "The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion."

Assuming you agree with me on such common sense goals (let me know if you don't), I think the following points from my friend Dave Armstrong (originally written for his own blog Cor ad cor loquitur) will also be helpful in working towards those ends:

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FREE SPEECH

This is a free speech forum, and people will not be banned. But I would like to see it ... characterized by charitable, amiable discussion carried out with respect and consideration of others at all times.

GOOD TALK

In order to better understand each other, we need to communicate, listen to each other, and become friends, if possible. Experience and knowledge of human nature teaches us that good, constructive dialogue is not possible unless there is openness, charity, and respect and courtesy shown to the other person. God gave us two ears and one mouth, but it seems that many folks use their one mouth four times as much as their two ears. I want dialogue to occur here, not lectures, speeches, and "mutual monologues." By all means, render your own opinion, but then be open to talking about it and having it challenged in a friendly manner.

...Holding strongly to one's opinion (and even defending it vigorously) is not incompatible to listening to another position and respecting and liking the person holding it. A person's viewpoint is not the person. They are distinct. ...And "rational argument" is not the equivalent of "quarrel" or "brawl".

RESPECT OTHERS AND ACT CHARITABLY

PLEASE keep in mind at all times that just because a person may hold what we believe is an erroneous viewpoint, that this is not necessarily (and, I think, relatively rarely) because they are wicked, evil, or obstinate. They may need to simply be more educated. They may have had extremely bad teachers and mentors, or a terrible life history (i.e., various influential and debilitating handicaps). They may in fact change their mind very quickly if shown another viewpoint. ...Give them the benefit of the doubt, and be unassuming about their motives and intents. We can't read minds or hearts. In any event, "you catch more bees with honey, not vinegar." And we can learn many things from almost anyone.

AD HOMINEM NONSENSE VS. CONVERSATION

Personal attacks will, unfortunately, be inevitable on this forum, as they seem to be everywhere else which allows free speech. ...[Many people] believe that certain things are true and other things false. This will always offend some people who don't agree with conclusions which differ from their own. Often this leads to personal attacks and insults, for lack of a cogent reply. It's very common, and (like the poor) will always be with us.

I would advise all participants here to simply ignore posts where a person obviously wants to primarily insult and run down others personally... If you respond at all, then do so with much...charity, and try to focus on actual substance in these posts, and ignore the attacks and nonsense. Many such people simply want to get a rise out of others and to bait and goad them. That is defeated by ignoring the bait. If they don't get what they came to get, eventually they'll disappear (because they are deprived of the thrill and charge that motivates them to act in this fashion), and the quality of the blog threads will thereby be improved. Try it; it works almost every time.

MEPHISTOPHELES AND ARCHIMEDES? (NICKNAMES)

Lastly, I don't care much at all, personally, for the Internet phenomenon of using nicknames, but I have to live with it. Better to dialogue with "C3PO" or "Thucydides" than no one at all, I suppose, and I understand that some people want or need privacy, for various reasons (some legitimate, some perhaps frivolous and unnecessary). But I would like to request that, whenever possible, people use their real names on this blog, so others will know who they are talking to, and to also freely indicate personal beliefs such as denomination, atheist, Muslim, etc. -- especially when asked (a website or blog listed would also help people get a handle on posters).

I care for the policy of refusing to reveal one's own religious affiliations even less than I do for the pervasive nicknames. People are entitled to know where the other person is coming from. This makes for much better and fairer discussion, in my experience. If your dialogue partner knows what broad category you are in, that (at least potentially, if they are considerate) fosters more respect and understanding, because they will be able to be more sensitive to your particular opinions due to knowing what they are in the first place. Makes sense to me, anyway ... I certainly talk and argue differently, depending on who I am talking to.

[Note: These are only excerpts (what I felt to be most pertinent) from a longer article, but the rest can be read at the following webpage:
http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ126.HTM]
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A hearty welcome, the meaning of "Quo Vadis?" and a bit about myself...

2004-07-04T16:18:00.000-04:00

Welcome to "Quo vadis?" or "Where are you going?" What a simple yet important question to ask, one in which the answers might be as straightforward as "Up the hill" or as deep and mysterious as the very meaning of existence. Join me then as I muse (and blog) upon the countless questions of life, big and small, serious and lighthearted. After all, as G.K. Chesterton once said, "The only thing that matters is everything." Thus, you can expect the content here to possibly be quite diverse.

Let me also say from outset that I am no blogging professional. I do this primarily for my friends and for personal growth. At the same time, I'll do my best to make the blog a place of quality information and fruitful dialogue for strangers as well.

Now, to give you an idea of who I am, born and raised in northwest Ohio, presently I'm a 23 year old grad student working on an MA in Philosophy at the Franciscan University in Steubenville, OH. I'm also one of the billions of people in the world trying to figure out where I'm going in life.

Almost 3 years ago though, I entered into the Catholic Church. Since then especially, while I continue to look to a multiplicity of views on various questions, I cannot deny the fact that the Catholic Christian spirit has had the strongest influence upon my outlook and perspective of things. This "spirit" however, is amazingly diverse, much to the chagrin of those who prefer nicely-packaged boxes of thought.

I say all of this though, in order simply to caution against any temptation to try and place my "worldview" (if you can call it that) into one particular philosophical or political camp. I especially dread the thought of being labelled a Republican or Democrat, Neo-Con or Liberal, for I truly despise that dreadfully naïve binary way of thinking. Yes, you ought to consider my thoughts in light of the various groups/traditions which may influence them, but please also strive to take them for what they are in and of themselves. The same goes for others commenting on the blog (unless they themselves really want to be seen as in one camp or another). Hopefully, this will help in keeping discussion fruitful and charitable.

That being said, enjoy what goes on here. And if you ever have any idea of your own, or even want to be a guest-blogger, be sure to drop a comment and let me know. Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to hearing from you!