It cannot be ignored that many men have suffered grievously, most grievously, in the course of world history. It might even be suggested that many men have perhaps suffered more grievously and longer and more bitterly than did this man in the limited events of a single day. Many who have suffered at the hand of men have been treated no less and parhaps more unjustly than this man. Many have been willing as He was to suffer in this way. Many in so doing have done somethig which, according to their intention and it may be in fact, was significant for others, perhaps many others, making a redemptive change in their life. . . . The suffering of man may be deserved or undeserved, voluntary of involuntary, heroic or not heroic, important for others or not important for others . . . . But [suffering] has in it as such something which in its own way is infinitely outstanding and moving . . . .This is true of the passion of Jesus of Nazareth, but in so far as [Jesus'] passion is a human passion, it is not . . . basically different from that of any other human passion. If we single out this human passion above others, we may be able to see and to say something which is noteworthy as such, but we shall not be helped forward a single step towards an understanding of what this occurence is all about.Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, vol IV, I, pp. 246 - 248.
The mystery of this passion, of the torture, crucifixion and death of this one Jew which took place at that place and time at the hands of the Romans, is to be found in the person and mission of the One who suffered there and was cricified and died. His person: it is the eternal God Himself who has given Himself in His Son to be man, and as man to take upon Himself this human passion. His mission: it is the Judge who in this passion takes the place of those who ought to be judged, who in this passion allows Himself to be judged in their place. It is not, therefore, merely that God rules in and over this human occurrence simply as Creator and Lord. He does this, but He does more. He gives Himself to be the humanly acting and suffering person in this occurrence.
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Some Pre-Easter Week "Passion" Reflections
Balanced Newsweek Column on Bush's Foreign Policy. Fareed Zakaria's article entitled What Bush Got Right makes interesting reading, despite its MSM setting.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
SXSW '05: An Insider Perspective part 2
Here we are on the eve of the music portion of the fest: 1368 bands on the official bill. But there's no telling how many shows will be played unofficially--probably as many as there are officially. I expect to see Pedro The Lion twice at free (unofficial) shows and I should see them one additional, free time as Headphones (their alias). They are also playing both as PTL and Headphones at official showcases. Milton Mapes is also playing two free shows in addition to their one showcase, also, if that gives you any indication of how much music there is around here.
**the insider perspective**
It's a bit drizzly and cold outside, so I'm glad to be in here. I'm nursing a Jamba Juice Razmatazz with a protein boost. I had a good workout at the gym today. I'm working my way up to the fabled difficulty of 25 on a scale of 1-25 on the elliptical machine. I sweat at 15 today for 30 minutes. The kettlebell off-days find me on the elliptical machine. Dishonorable, yes, but it won't be once I get to 25.
Some old-school Unashamed is making the speakers rattle on my Aiwa mini-stereo. The CD player hasn't worked since high-school, but the AUX jack let's me blast some iPod magic.
**Thus concludes another inside look at SXSW '05**
Here we are on the eve of the music portion of the fest: 1368 bands on the official bill. But there's no telling how many shows will be played unofficially--probably as many as there are officially. I expect to see Pedro The Lion twice at free (unofficial) shows and I should see them one additional, free time as Headphones (their alias). They are also playing both as PTL and Headphones at official showcases. Milton Mapes is also playing two free shows in addition to their one showcase, also, if that gives you any indication of how much music there is around here.
**the insider perspective**
It's a bit drizzly and cold outside, so I'm glad to be in here. I'm nursing a Jamba Juice Razmatazz with a protein boost. I had a good workout at the gym today. I'm working my way up to the fabled difficulty of 25 on a scale of 1-25 on the elliptical machine. I sweat at 15 today for 30 minutes. The kettlebell off-days find me on the elliptical machine. Dishonorable, yes, but it won't be once I get to 25.
Some old-school Unashamed is making the speakers rattle on my Aiwa mini-stereo. The CD player hasn't worked since high-school, but the AUX jack let's me blast some iPod magic.
**Thus concludes another inside look at SXSW '05**
Familyblogging
Lindsay Harris Crawford goes way back in Sewell Family lore. She went to High School with Kellsey, was a bridesmaid in our wedding, is a fellow X-Files, ALIAS & LOST fan, and introduced us to the pop-television love/satire site Television Without Pity (where we first learned the term "snark"). She also makes an appearance in the comments of this fair blog, though she tells us she lurks more often than she comments.
"Yeah, but," you may ask, "what has she done for us lately?"
Well, actually, on her family's brand new blog, Crawford House, our humble blog takes top billing in the blogroll. (A snarky kind of person might note that there are only two blogs in the blogroll. I mention this because, lacking folks who make snarky comments here at Kith&Kin, you might never have noticed.)
Welcome to the blogosphere, Crawfords! Might I suggest linking to, or creating your own Handy HTML sheet? It's helped the more bloggoreticent around here to include links and pictures in their posts.
Let the deuling baby pictures begin.
And speaking of lurkers, please don't be shy! Stokes Kith & Kin are really nice people, even if we voice our opinions, well, vociferiously. (I'm especially talking to you, Jud & Joel.)
Lindsay Harris Crawford goes way back in Sewell Family lore. She went to High School with Kellsey, was a bridesmaid in our wedding, is a fellow X-Files, ALIAS & LOST fan, and introduced us to the pop-television love/satire site Television Without Pity (where we first learned the term "snark"). She also makes an appearance in the comments of this fair blog, though she tells us she lurks more often than she comments.
"Yeah, but," you may ask, "what has she done for us lately?"
Well, actually, on her family's brand new blog, Crawford House, our humble blog takes top billing in the blogroll. (A snarky kind of person might note that there are only two blogs in the blogroll. I mention this because, lacking folks who make snarky comments here at Kith&Kin, you might never have noticed.)
Welcome to the blogosphere, Crawfords! Might I suggest linking to, or creating your own Handy HTML sheet? It's helped the more bloggoreticent around here to include links and pictures in their posts.
Let the deuling baby pictures begin.
And speaking of lurkers, please don't be shy! Stokes Kith & Kin are really nice people, even if we voice our opinions, well, vociferiously. (I'm especially talking to you, Jud & Joel.)
Charles H. Townes, 1964 Nobel laureate in physics and inventor of the laser. Read here what this Berkeley professor says about science and religion upon being awarded the 2005 Templeton prize. Read one of his books, such as How the Laser Happened.
Monday, March 14, 2005
Stanley Grenz Goes Home
Dr. Stanley Grenz, a theologian, professor, and, in his church, guitar-playing worship leader, passed away on Saturday. If you haven't heard of him, you ought to consider picking up and reading some of his books. I don't agree with all of his theological positions, but after reading Brian McLaren's euology, I'm pretty sure I would have liked him. In fact, the way Brian describes Dr. Grenz's integration of theology and worship, his humility, and they way in which he responded to his critics, I think there are many ways I would like to be like Dr. Grenz.
Dr. Stanley Grenz, a theologian, professor, and, in his church, guitar-playing worship leader, passed away on Saturday. If you haven't heard of him, you ought to consider picking up and reading some of his books. I don't agree with all of his theological positions, but after reading Brian McLaren's euology, I'm pretty sure I would have liked him. In fact, the way Brian describes Dr. Grenz's integration of theology and worship, his humility, and they way in which he responded to his critics, I think there are many ways I would like to be like Dr. Grenz.
Amplifier makes an appearance at SXSW
AUSTIN, TX –
Jordan Stone was the undisputed star of the evening at tonight’s South by Southwest Web Awards ceremony, taking the stage repeatedly to accept awards in an unprecedented 3-category sweep.
The Amplifier corporate site was first to be recognized, winning the award for best Business/For-Profit website. Amplifier President/CEO Joel Bush accepted the award with designer Stone by his side. Bush was characteristically subdued in his remarks, briefly thanking SXSW for the honor before declining a celebratory shot of Jagermeister proffered by MC Laura Swisher (NBC’s “Last Comic Standing”). . . . In an interview taped following the ceremony, Joel Bush gave full credit to Stone for the accolades that the Amplifier site has won. Stone, however, credited Amplifier and Bush for fostering creativity and allowing him to develop such unique and noteworthy sites. “Because you know, most of what’s out there on the Internet sucks,” he told reporters. “It’s really all just BS.”
AUSTIN, TX –
Jordan Stone was the undisputed star of the evening at tonight’s South by Southwest Web Awards ceremony, taking the stage repeatedly to accept awards in an unprecedented 3-category sweep.
The Amplifier corporate site was first to be recognized, winning the award for best Business/For-Profit website. Amplifier President/CEO Joel Bush accepted the award with designer Stone by his side. Bush was characteristically subdued in his remarks, briefly thanking SXSW for the honor before declining a celebratory shot of Jagermeister proffered by MC Laura Swisher (NBC’s “Last Comic Standing”). . . . In an interview taped following the ceremony, Joel Bush gave full credit to Stone for the accolades that the Amplifier site has won. Stone, however, credited Amplifier and Bush for fostering creativity and allowing him to develop such unique and noteworthy sites. “Because you know, most of what’s out there on the Internet sucks,” he told reporters. “It’s really all just BS.”
Sunday, March 13, 2005
This week
Aidan turns 5 months old! To celebrate, The Stokes Family - Charlotte created this video for your viewing pleasure.
Before you mention it, yes, we know this is a "first child" kind of thing: Six videos! But we're having a whole lot of fun here. :-) Perhaps the next (Lord willing) child won't get as many videos. Frankly, we have no idea if they will or not. (We'd like to think they will, but, again, we have no idea what the future holds.) But to not enjoy making another video of Aidan because the next one wouldn't get as many is like staying inside on a sunny day because you're afraid that tomorrow it might rain!
We're working hard here to let tomorrow's worries take care of themselves. :-)
Aidan turns 5 months old! To celebrate, The Stokes Family - Charlotte created this video for your viewing pleasure.
<apologia>Before you mention it, yes, we know this is a "first child" kind of thing: Six videos! But we're having a whole lot of fun here. :-) Perhaps the next (Lord willing) child won't get as many videos. Frankly, we have no idea if they will or not. (We'd like to think they will, but, again, we have no idea what the future holds.) But to not enjoy making another video of Aidan because the next one wouldn't get as many is like staying inside on a sunny day because you're afraid that tomorrow it might rain!
We're working hard here to let tomorrow's worries take care of themselves. :-)
</apologia>
"The Holy City"
Today during Van's message, he referred to the two "next-life" scenes in the movie Gladiator, the first in which the protaginist is a visitor. He returns from his first death experience to wreak vengence. When he dies again, he goes back to that place and stays, having completed his vengeful mission. Van remarked about how washed out the colors were in that idea of heaven; he contrasted those scenes with a vision of a Christian heaven full of rich colors beyond our present comprehension. (He could have said more, of course, about how the protagonist is a sort of anti-Christ, but that wasn't what the sermon was really about.)
I have often thought of the difference between the "Elysian Fields" of Greek mythology, the abode of the blessed at death, and the Christian idea of heaven, an image that I think is much more of a reality than a metaphor, the idea of a holy city.
Palm Sunday comes in a week. As I was growing up in a big, downtown Baptist church full of music, on Palm Sunday Bob McAfee, the choir's top tenor, would often sing Waverly's "The Holy City", to celebrate Jeus coming into "old Jerusalem" on a donkey, with the Hossanahs filling the air. In some other year, the entire adult choir would sing a version of that song arranged for choral music. I just loved it.
To a post-modern ear, the song probably sounds a little hokey. It has a big piano part, with the pianist banging up and down the keyboard, rather like that figure on the Muppets who would pound away at the piano with Miss Piggy squeeking away. And then it has dramatic percussive changes; the dynamics build from a pianissimo to a crezcendo. It repeats the chorus or refrain three times, and the trick for the singer is not to reach a climax until the last time the refrain is sung. The singer simply wants to pound that refrain the first time he or she can get her voice on it. Finally, the song tells a story, a wonderful story about a city that anyone can enter, that has no energy problems, a city that God inhabits with his people, a place that goes on forever.
Think of what it means to have heaven as a city. It means specialization, it means networking, it means friends, it means a sort of time line, it means communication, it means process, it means growth and change without losing the essence of the City. I will take that over boring Elysian Fields any day of the week. Here are the words (but be sure not to miss the very end of this post).
Last night I lay a-sleeping
There came a dream so fair,
I stood in old Jerusalem
Beside the temple there.
I heard the children singing,
And ever as they sang,
Me thought the voice of angels
From heaven in answer rang.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Lift up your gates and sing,
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna to your King!
And then me thought my dream was changed,
The streets no longer rang,
Hushed were the glad Hosannas
The little children sang.
The sun grew dark with mystery,
The morn was cold and chill,
As the shadow of a cross arose
Upon a lonely hill.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Hark! How the angels sing,
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna to your King!
And once again the scene was changed;
New earth there seemed to be;
I saw the Holy City
Beside the tideless sea;
The light of God was on its streets,
The gates were open wide,
And all who would might enter,
And no one was denied.
No need of moon or stars by night,
Or sun to shine by day;
It was the new Jerusalem
That would not pass away.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Sing for the night is o'er!
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna for evermore!
I also found an MPG of the song, sung by a very Irish tenor. If you go on iTunes and search for "The Holy City", you will see a number of ways people sing this song. But I like the way this Irishman does it, and I hope you do. (Actually, I checked, and the singer is not an Irishman at all. He's a Hobbit. Which is perfect.)
Finally, I get to sing this song in church this coming Palm Sunday, just like Bob McAfee used to do when I was a kid. I am unembarrassed to say that I just can't wait!
Today during Van's message, he referred to the two "next-life" scenes in the movie Gladiator, the first in which the protaginist is a visitor. He returns from his first death experience to wreak vengence. When he dies again, he goes back to that place and stays, having completed his vengeful mission. Van remarked about how washed out the colors were in that idea of heaven; he contrasted those scenes with a vision of a Christian heaven full of rich colors beyond our present comprehension. (He could have said more, of course, about how the protagonist is a sort of anti-Christ, but that wasn't what the sermon was really about.)
I have often thought of the difference between the "Elysian Fields" of Greek mythology, the abode of the blessed at death, and the Christian idea of heaven, an image that I think is much more of a reality than a metaphor, the idea of a holy city.
Palm Sunday comes in a week. As I was growing up in a big, downtown Baptist church full of music, on Palm Sunday Bob McAfee, the choir's top tenor, would often sing Waverly's "The Holy City", to celebrate Jeus coming into "old Jerusalem" on a donkey, with the Hossanahs filling the air. In some other year, the entire adult choir would sing a version of that song arranged for choral music. I just loved it.
To a post-modern ear, the song probably sounds a little hokey. It has a big piano part, with the pianist banging up and down the keyboard, rather like that figure on the Muppets who would pound away at the piano with Miss Piggy squeeking away. And then it has dramatic percussive changes; the dynamics build from a pianissimo to a crezcendo. It repeats the chorus or refrain three times, and the trick for the singer is not to reach a climax until the last time the refrain is sung. The singer simply wants to pound that refrain the first time he or she can get her voice on it. Finally, the song tells a story, a wonderful story about a city that anyone can enter, that has no energy problems, a city that God inhabits with his people, a place that goes on forever.
Think of what it means to have heaven as a city. It means specialization, it means networking, it means friends, it means a sort of time line, it means communication, it means process, it means growth and change without losing the essence of the City. I will take that over boring Elysian Fields any day of the week. Here are the words (but be sure not to miss the very end of this post).
Last night I lay a-sleeping
There came a dream so fair,
I stood in old Jerusalem
Beside the temple there.
I heard the children singing,
And ever as they sang,
Me thought the voice of angels
From heaven in answer rang.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Lift up your gates and sing,
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna to your King!
And then me thought my dream was changed,
The streets no longer rang,
Hushed were the glad Hosannas
The little children sang.
The sun grew dark with mystery,
The morn was cold and chill,
As the shadow of a cross arose
Upon a lonely hill.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Hark! How the angels sing,
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna to your King!
And once again the scene was changed;
New earth there seemed to be;
I saw the Holy City
Beside the tideless sea;
The light of God was on its streets,
The gates were open wide,
And all who would might enter,
And no one was denied.
No need of moon or stars by night,
Or sun to shine by day;
It was the new Jerusalem
That would not pass away.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
Sing for the night is o'er!
Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna for evermore!
I also found an MPG of the song, sung by a very Irish tenor. If you go on iTunes and search for "The Holy City", you will see a number of ways people sing this song. But I like the way this Irishman does it, and I hope you do. (Actually, I checked, and the singer is not an Irishman at all. He's a Hobbit. Which is perfect.)
Finally, I get to sing this song in church this coming Palm Sunday, just like Bob McAfee used to do when I was a kid. I am unembarrassed to say that I just can't wait!
Saturday, March 12, 2005
A Fanboy Moment
Today's theme is firsts, apparently. First SK&K incursion to National Mustard (does this make us "insurgents"?), the first external reference to the SK&K blog, first Stokes in the latest Whole Foods in Austin, and now, my first ever published email at Ann Althouse's blog.
She posted on the subject of bumper stickers, their usefulness, and the kind of people that apply them. During one of the many long runs that I ran with Dana while we were training for our never-to-actually-be-run marathon, I developed this idea that bumper stickers, regardless of the content, only delivered binary information: they told you that you were either "in" or "out". (My role as co-runner with Dana was the-guy-who-talks-to-distract-you-from-the-pain-of-running.) So if you got the joke, agreed with the message, or understood the reference you were "in". If you didn't get it/agree/understand then you were "out". (Possible corollaries: (a) each additional bumper sticker you add, you increase the information throughput by an order of magnitude, or (b) each additional bumper sticker you add, you increase the emotional message, "you're really 'out'," by an order of magnitude.) I emailed my theory to Prof. Althouse in a moment of gosh-maybe-she-might-care inspiration, and apparently she did! I also mentioned the fact that my only decal is the Despair "Frownie" emoticon :-((tm).
I really enjoy reading her blog, btw. She posts on all kinds of things, including law. She's also inspired me to post a sketch of mine, as she posts her own sketches from time to time. In particular, it's fun to read her blog as she lives in Madison, WI (and posts pictures), which I visit almost every summer as it's the home of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, my current employer.
Speaking of other blogs, Sean Meade, the editor of Thomas P. M. Barnett's blog (of The Pentagon's New Map fame), would really like the last in this series of hypothetical bumper stickers created by The Armchair Philosopher. While I won't speak for the Sean's reaction to the rest of the list, I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed most of them.
Today's theme is firsts, apparently. First SK&K incursion to National Mustard (does this make us "insurgents"?), the first external reference to the SK&K blog, first Stokes in the latest Whole Foods in Austin, and now, my first ever published email at Ann Althouse's blog.
She posted on the subject of bumper stickers, their usefulness, and the kind of people that apply them. During one of the many long runs that I ran with Dana while we were training for our never-to-actually-be-run marathon, I developed this idea that bumper stickers, regardless of the content, only delivered binary information: they told you that you were either "in" or "out". (My role as co-runner with Dana was the-guy-who-talks-to-distract-you-from-the-pain-of-running.) So if you got the joke, agreed with the message, or understood the reference you were "in". If you didn't get it/agree/understand then you were "out". (Possible corollaries: (a) each additional bumper sticker you add, you increase the information throughput by an order of magnitude, or (b) each additional bumper sticker you add, you increase the emotional message, "you're really 'out'," by an order of magnitude.) I emailed my theory to Prof. Althouse in a moment of gosh-maybe-she-might-care inspiration, and apparently she did! I also mentioned the fact that my only decal is the Despair "Frownie" emoticon :-((tm).
I really enjoy reading her blog, btw. She posts on all kinds of things, including law. She's also inspired me to post a sketch of mine, as she posts her own sketches from time to time. In particular, it's fun to read her blog as she lives in Madison, WI (and posts pictures), which I visit almost every summer as it's the home of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, my current employer.
Speaking of other blogs, Sean Meade, the editor of Thomas P. M. Barnett's blog (of The Pentagon's New Map fame), would really like the last in this series of hypothetical bumper stickers created by The Armchair Philosopher. While I won't speak for the Sean's reaction to the rest of the list, I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed most of them.
More from "Crime, Deterrance and Right to Carry Concealed Handguns."
The potential defensive nature of guns is indicated by the different rates of so-called hot burglaries, where residents are at home when the criminals strike. Almost half the burglaries in Canada and Britain, which have tough gun control laws, are ‘‘hot burglaries.’’ By contrast, the United States, with laxer restrictions, has a ‘‘hot burglary’’ rate of only 13 percent. Consistent with this, surveys of convicted felons in America reveal that they are much more worried about armed victims than they are about running into the police. This fear of potentially armed victims causes American burglars to spend more time than their foreign counterparts ‘‘casing’’ a house to ensure that nobody is home. Felons frequently comment in these interviews that they avoid late-night burglaries because ‘‘that’s the way to get shot.’’ [footnotes omitted.]
I've managed to upload the enire PDF of the article "Crime, Deterrance, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns", Lott and Mustard, Journal of Legal Studies, January 1997,
Did I violate a copyright?
The potential defensive nature of guns is indicated by the different rates of so-called hot burglaries, where residents are at home when the criminals strike. Almost half the burglaries in Canada and Britain, which have tough gun control laws, are ‘‘hot burglaries.’’ By contrast, the United States, with laxer restrictions, has a ‘‘hot burglary’’ rate of only 13 percent. Consistent with this, surveys of convicted felons in America reveal that they are much more worried about armed victims than they are about running into the police. This fear of potentially armed victims causes American burglars to spend more time than their foreign counterparts ‘‘casing’’ a house to ensure that nobody is home. Felons frequently comment in these interviews that they avoid late-night burglaries because ‘‘that’s the way to get shot.’’ [footnotes omitted.]
I've managed to upload the enire PDF of the article "Crime, Deterrance, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns", Lott and Mustard, Journal of Legal Studies, January 1997,
Did I violate a copyright?
There and Back Again
Well, it's quite a spectacle, this new Whole Foods Market. The IKEA of grocery stores, if you will. I'm not sure of the IKEA stores you've been to, but Epcot Center could fit inside Houston's IKEA. (the world's biggest IKEA, by the way)
To be clear, it's four stories of subterranean parking garage. The grocery store is one story. (There are corporate offices in the levels above the store.)
It was fun to walk around, accept my complementary bottle of sparkling cider, and consider the crab-stuffed calimari. Knowing when to say when, I bypassed the wine tasting bar and the beer tasting bar. XsteadfastX
I purchased a slice of pepperoni pizza; Morgan, a slice of vegetarian with pesto sauce. I drank sparkling blueberry juice; Morgan, orangina.
It was crowded, for sure.
I intend to go back in some Tuesday night, after SXSW, at around 9:30 and see how it is that someone might buy groceries from this place. I'm not sure that I saw anyone buying groceries.
Well, it's quite a spectacle, this new Whole Foods Market. The IKEA of grocery stores, if you will. I'm not sure of the IKEA stores you've been to, but Epcot Center could fit inside Houston's IKEA. (the world's biggest IKEA, by the way)
To be clear, it's four stories of subterranean parking garage. The grocery store is one story. (There are corporate offices in the levels above the store.)
It was fun to walk around, accept my complementary bottle of sparkling cider, and consider the crab-stuffed calimari. Knowing when to say when, I bypassed the wine tasting bar and the beer tasting bar. XsteadfastX
I purchased a slice of pepperoni pizza; Morgan, a slice of vegetarian with pesto sauce. I drank sparkling blueberry juice; Morgan, orangina.
It was crowded, for sure.
I intend to go back in some Tuesday night, after SXSW, at around 9:30 and see how it is that someone might buy groceries from this place. I'm not sure that I saw anyone buying groceries.
Stokeses On The Seven Seas
Over a year ago, Sean introduced the Stokes Kith & Kin to blogging, and for his trouble got a slew of Snarky-Stokes-Commentary, liberally spiced with conservative leanings, on his own blog, Interact. Barbarian Hordes that we are, we were unafraid to carry on our own conversations within his comments section.
And now the virus has spread.
Tom & Company's blog, National Mustard (in the blogroll as "Tom's Blog") was recently broadsided and boarded by Stokes Kin in a compelling post comparing EM Forster and CS Forester. This is noted and lamented in a later post.
Stokes Kith, I invite you to join us in our boarding party!
Over a year ago, Sean introduced the Stokes Kith & Kin to blogging, and for his trouble got a slew of Snarky-Stokes-Commentary, liberally spiced with conservative leanings, on his own blog, Interact. Barbarian Hordes that we are, we were unafraid to carry on our own conversations within his comments section.
And now the virus has spread.
Tom & Company's blog, National Mustard (in the blogroll as "Tom's Blog") was recently broadsided and boarded by Stokes Kin in a compelling post comparing EM Forster and CS Forester. This is noted and lamented in a later post.
Stokes Kith, I invite you to join us in our boarding party!
Terri Schiavo's Last Days. The judge in Penellas County Florida, Judge Greer, who originally determined that Terri Schaivo (1) is in a "persistent vegetative state" and (2) would have refused nutrition and hydrataion in such a circumstance, has ruled that her feeding tube be withdrawn on March 18. This after years of litigation first initiated by her husband. (He initiated the litigation not immediately after she was stricken but only years later, when it became convenient for Mr. Schiavo to recall some casual remarks that he said Terri, who had been raised a Catholic, made about end-of-life issues.)
The chorus of protest against Judge Greer's original ruling approaches a crescendo, and arrayed against the chorus are the usual suspects, including but not limited to the mainstream media, the judiciary, substantially consisting of the lawyers now in their 50's who grew up during the 60's, and the ruling organs of the legal profession, similarly dominated.
The Vatican agrees that "extraordinary means" should not be employed to prolong life, but its spokesmen insist that "food, water, and warmth" are "ordinary means", not "extraodinary means". To withdraw "ordinary means", then, is euthenasia in the Vatican's view. It is important to note that a Vatican spokesman this week specifically refers to the Schiavo case.
In legal circles over the past few months, I have attended three speeches by judges and lawyers defending the concept of an "independent judiciary". The Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court spoke on this subject at a general meeting of the Dade County Bar Association about two months ago. A few weeks later I heard David Boies, the NY trial lawyer who represented the government against Microsoft in the anti-trust case and Gore against Bush in the Presidential election cases, speak on the same subject. And two weeks ago I heard the Associate Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, give a similar speech. The frequency with which I am hearing this sort of thing, and reading about it, indicates that the ruling elites see themselves under significant pressure from the the electoral majority as the decisions of the judiciary seem to be increasingly unpopular, a judiciary that relies on the endorsement by MSM as a sort of bulwark, a bulwark that itself has taken some severe hits in the past few years.
Jeb Bush and his allies in the Florida legislature have not given up. Go to terrisfight.org to see the latest developments in the Florida legislature. (This website has a number of other good resources, including PDF copies of Judge Greer's orders, appeals court decisions, briefs and other materials.)
And an effort is mounting in Congress as well. One of them is a bill that would extend the right of habeas corpus to people in Terri's situation. How ironic that our legal system takes such care before it allows the execution of the death penalty on convicted murderers, and yet it directs that Terri be killed on the basis of hearsay evidence from an unfaithful husband who finds her existence inconvenient.
I don't know whether Terri will be killed. (I fear that she will.) But I think that her case may have far reaching consequences on the way we deal with the judiciary. I think the alarm in which the ruling elites view the pressure on the judiciary is appropriate.
The chorus of protest against Judge Greer's original ruling approaches a crescendo, and arrayed against the chorus are the usual suspects, including but not limited to the mainstream media, the judiciary, substantially consisting of the lawyers now in their 50's who grew up during the 60's, and the ruling organs of the legal profession, similarly dominated.
The Vatican agrees that "extraordinary means" should not be employed to prolong life, but its spokesmen insist that "food, water, and warmth" are "ordinary means", not "extraodinary means". To withdraw "ordinary means", then, is euthenasia in the Vatican's view. It is important to note that a Vatican spokesman this week specifically refers to the Schiavo case.
In legal circles over the past few months, I have attended three speeches by judges and lawyers defending the concept of an "independent judiciary". The Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court spoke on this subject at a general meeting of the Dade County Bar Association about two months ago. A few weeks later I heard David Boies, the NY trial lawyer who represented the government against Microsoft in the anti-trust case and Gore against Bush in the Presidential election cases, speak on the same subject. And two weeks ago I heard the Associate Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, give a similar speech. The frequency with which I am hearing this sort of thing, and reading about it, indicates that the ruling elites see themselves under significant pressure from the the electoral majority as the decisions of the judiciary seem to be increasingly unpopular, a judiciary that relies on the endorsement by MSM as a sort of bulwark, a bulwark that itself has taken some severe hits in the past few years.
Jeb Bush and his allies in the Florida legislature have not given up. Go to terrisfight.org to see the latest developments in the Florida legislature. (This website has a number of other good resources, including PDF copies of Judge Greer's orders, appeals court decisions, briefs and other materials.)
And an effort is mounting in Congress as well. One of them is a bill that would extend the right of habeas corpus to people in Terri's situation. How ironic that our legal system takes such care before it allows the execution of the death penalty on convicted murderers, and yet it directs that Terri be killed on the basis of hearsay evidence from an unfaithful husband who finds her existence inconvenient.
I don't know whether Terri will be killed. (I fear that she will.) But I think that her case may have far reaching consequences on the way we deal with the judiciary. I think the alarm in which the ruling elites view the pressure on the judiciary is appropriate.
The Pieces Fall Into Place for Mary's Move To Austin
Ann Althouse brought to my attention the fact that Whole Foods in Austin completed their new Landmark Store located on 6th and Lamar. She writes
Ann Althouse brought to my attention the fact that Whole Foods in Austin completed their new Landmark Store located on 6th and Lamar. She writes
There's a real appreciation for beauty at Whole Foods. The health theme is not medicinal and puritanical as it is in old fashioned health food stores. Shopping at Whole Foods causes you think of eating well: it's easy to see and feel drawn to things that are both healthful and delicious. That is so helpful! In an ordinary supermarket, you feel torn between the good-for-you and the junk food. You transcend that dilemma at Whole Foods. And the people who work there enhance the experience. Supermarket workers usually seem weary and act like they don't even see you, in the hope that you won't ask for anything. Old fashioned health food store workers tend to channel the puritanical theme of the place or to act as though they're too evolved for the work ethic. Whole Foods employees tend to be alert and friendly and knowledgeable -- and not in a phony or annoying way. And that's not just by chance. They have an excellent training program and a real conception of what they are about. They richly deserve their success.She links to Richard Lawrence Cohen, an Austinite, who asks:
What do you demand from your grocery store? Do you demand a 1,000-space, four-level parking lot with specially designed escalators that your shopping cart can go on? Do you demand your choice of five separately themed cafes, one for salads, one for meat, one for pasta, one for pizza and charcuterie, and one for seafood with your choice of any fresh catch, your choice of cooking method, and your choice of sauce? How about a four-tiered fountain of liquid chocolate the size of a large wedding cake, into which an artsy young woman continually dips strawberries and cookies. . . . How about grinding your own nut butter (honey-roasted cashew?) and eating it at an outdoor plaza on any kind of bread you can imagine, from blueberry pecan to hempseed to striata? I think you should also demand a walk-in beer cooler with an attendant in a ski parka, and a glass–fronted meat aging room, and a coffee roasting machine roasting varietal beans from 8 am to 10 pm seven days a week, and a cheese counter where you can taste any of 600 kinds of cheese and get a friendly, well–informed lecture on the rind–washing process or the strains of blue–veining bacteria. Do you demand chipotle–marinated buffalo kebabs, or lime–and–basil–marinated tilapia filets, or a smoked salmon sandwich as big as a softball? Do you demand a Putumayo Records listening station decked out as a red London bus? Or perhaps a natural cosmetics section that could swallow up several Body Shops. And of course you must demand a Willy Wonka–style candy factory where the kids can watch their own candy being made before they pop it into their gaping, quivering mouths. Are these among your needs?Then this is the store for you!
Friday, March 11, 2005
Thursday, March 10, 2005
The Best Man for the Job is a Wo-Man.
This is from a Workforce Week article Carol received commenting on the firing of Carly Fiorina as it relates to the number of women in top management.
"A recent Catalyst study of 353 Fortune 500 companies reveals that companies suffer when there is a lack of women at the top. The data shows that from 1996 to 2000, companies with the highest representation of women in top management achieved 34 percent to 35 percent better financial performance (as measured by return on equity and total return to shareholders) than the companies with below-average female representation."
This is the link to the full article.
I commented on Carly in an earlier post.
This is from a Workforce Week article Carol received commenting on the firing of Carly Fiorina as it relates to the number of women in top management.
"A recent Catalyst study of 353 Fortune 500 companies reveals that companies suffer when there is a lack of women at the top. The data shows that from 1996 to 2000, companies with the highest representation of women in top management achieved 34 percent to 35 percent better financial performance (as measured by return on equity and total return to shareholders) than the companies with below-average female representation."
This is the link to the full article.
I commented on Carly in an earlier post.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Support the Mapes
As their erstwhile Merch Table Attendant, I strongly commend to you the new album from Milton Mapes.
As their erstwhile Merch Table Attendant, I strongly commend to you the new album from Milton Mapes.
.Asymmetry.. The head of Boeing got bounced last week (early this week?) because of a "consensual" affair with a Boeing employee. He was separated. She divorced. He had been called out of retirement a year and a half ago to deal with the mess at that great, but scandal plagued company. (He is 68, had been the CEO, had retired cum laude, and had been asked to come back and help.) He was doing a good job. But his ability to lead depended on his moral heft, and this indiscretion compromised him. Out he goes.
And then there's Bill . . .
And then there's Bill . . .
What were they thinking?
Some big news recently came from Wake Forest not related to its basketball standing in the ACC. It involves their choice for new president: Nathan Hatch. Hatch will come to Wake after serving as Provost at Notre Dame. He graduated from Wheaton College and is, according to press and blog accounts, an Evangelical Presbyterian. This is surprising news for a school that has all but scrapped its Baptist heritage in favor of a more secular academia. Perhaps these winds will blow southward to that better school down the road...
Some big news recently came from Wake Forest not related to its basketball standing in the ACC. It involves their choice for new president: Nathan Hatch. Hatch will come to Wake after serving as Provost at Notre Dame. He graduated from Wheaton College and is, according to press and blog accounts, an Evangelical Presbyterian. This is surprising news for a school that has all but scrapped its Baptist heritage in favor of a more secular academia. Perhaps these winds will blow southward to that better school down the road...
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Ellul
...the intervention of the Holy Spirit is not dependent on man and his choice, any more than the revolutionary character of the Christian situation depends on man. It is not because men choose Christ that they become Christian, it is because Christ has chosen them. It is not because Christians choose to go out into the world that they work there, it is because Christ sends them there. They are not revolutionary because they feel the urgent need for revolution; it is for another, independent reason....The situation of the Christian is revolutionary for other than intellectual or self-chosen reasons: it is revolutionary of necessity, and it cannot be otherwise so far as Christ is acting in his Church. This situation is part of the work of the Church in the world, and it is true to say (as a simple fact) that during the greater part of its history the Church has, indeed, been in a revolutionary situation....Here the concern is not essentially to change the form of the State, or of an economy, but the very framework of a civilization....
Jacques Ellul The Presence of the Kingdom (from the chapter Revolutionary Christianity)
...the intervention of the Holy Spirit is not dependent on man and his choice, any more than the revolutionary character of the Christian situation depends on man. It is not because men choose Christ that they become Christian, it is because Christ has chosen them. It is not because Christians choose to go out into the world that they work there, it is because Christ sends them there. They are not revolutionary because they feel the urgent need for revolution; it is for another, independent reason....The situation of the Christian is revolutionary for other than intellectual or self-chosen reasons: it is revolutionary of necessity, and it cannot be otherwise so far as Christ is acting in his Church. This situation is part of the work of the Church in the world, and it is true to say (as a simple fact) that during the greater part of its history the Church has, indeed, been in a revolutionary situation....Here the concern is not essentially to change the form of the State, or of an economy, but the very framework of a civilization....
Jacques Ellul The Presence of the Kingdom (from the chapter Revolutionary Christianity)
Darfur Genocide. Go to this website to read Elie Weisel's remarks on the atrocities in the Sudan. You can find your way from there to a webpage that will send Condi Rice, Kofi Anan, and your senator and representative a letter asking them to do something about the outrageous situation.
The Cost of Gun Control.
"Using cross-sectional time-series data for U.S. counties from 1977 to 1992, we find that allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes, without increasing accidental deaths. If those states without right-to-carry concealed gun provisions had adopted them in 1992, county- and state-level data indicate that approximately 1,500 murders would have been avoided yearly. Similarly, we predict that rapes would have declined by over 4,000, robbery by over 11,000, and aggravated assaults by over 60,000. We also find criminals substituting into property crimes involving stealth, where the probability of contact between the criminal and the victim is minimal. Further, higher arrest and conviction rates consistently reduce crime. The estimated annual gain from all remaining states adopting these laws was at least $5.74 billion in 1992. The annual social benefit from an additional concealed handgun permit is as high as $5,000."
-From Crime, Deterrance, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns, Lott and Mustard, Journal of Legal Studies, January 1997.
"Using cross-sectional time-series data for U.S. counties from 1977 to 1992, we find that allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes, without increasing accidental deaths. If those states without right-to-carry concealed gun provisions had adopted them in 1992, county- and state-level data indicate that approximately 1,500 murders would have been avoided yearly. Similarly, we predict that rapes would have declined by over 4,000, robbery by over 11,000, and aggravated assaults by over 60,000. We also find criminals substituting into property crimes involving stealth, where the probability of contact between the criminal and the victim is minimal. Further, higher arrest and conviction rates consistently reduce crime. The estimated annual gain from all remaining states adopting these laws was at least $5.74 billion in 1992. The annual social benefit from an additional concealed handgun permit is as high as $5,000."
-From Crime, Deterrance, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns, Lott and Mustard, Journal of Legal Studies, January 1997.
Monday, March 07, 2005
The A-B-C Approach to fighting AIDS
See this interview of Harvard Professor Harold Green concerning the present status of the AIDS fight in Africa and elsewhere.
See this interview of Harvard Professor Harold Green concerning the present status of the AIDS fight in Africa and elsewhere.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Is there life after film school?
Obviously there is for gifted people like Laura Dunn, but what about all those other people. See this
comment on the Althouse.com blog.
Obviously there is for gifted people like Laura Dunn, but what about all those other people. See this
comment on the Althouse.com blog.
Irony? Hypocrisy?
What's a Christian doing with a Concealed Weapons Permit and talking about self-defense?
I am confronted by an attacker. It will be he or I, and I have the means and the opportunity to make it him. God has blessed me with the knowledge of himself through Jesus Christ. It certainly does not appear that He has yet blessed my attacker in such a way. Shall I let him take my life as part of my Christian witness?
What if the attacker is confronting my wife or my child? Is the answer different?
What's a Christian doing with a Concealed Weapons Permit and talking about self-defense?
I am confronted by an attacker. It will be he or I, and I have the means and the opportunity to make it him. God has blessed me with the knowledge of himself through Jesus Christ. It certainly does not appear that He has yet blessed my attacker in such a way. Shall I let him take my life as part of my Christian witness?
What if the attacker is confronting my wife or my child? Is the answer different?
What's World Vision?
Tim Stafford has written two great articles on World Vision, its history, structure, and mission, on ChistianityToday.com. Find it here.
Tim Stafford has written two great articles on World Vision, its history, structure, and mission, on ChistianityToday.com. Find it here.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
"The Bias Against Guns."
Here is the Amazon review of a recent book on guns by John Lott, who wrote the Fox.com Article to which Scott links.
Following up on his controversial study More Guns, Less Crime, economist Lott argues that widespread gun ownership prevents crime. He cites survey data and news reports to argue that the fear that victims might be armed strongly deters criminals, and that guns are used in self-defense or to ward off criminal threats about 2.3 million times a year. Because they impede law-abiding citizens' access to guns, even mild gun-control regulations-assault weapons bans, "one-gun-a-month" laws-actually increase crime, according to Lott, while right-to-carry laws lower crime and help prevent (or violently terminate) terrorist attacks and "rampage" shootings. Even measures to keep guns away from children, like "gun-free school zones" and "safe storage" laws that require guns to be locked away, are misguided because children need guns for self-defense (he cites news reports of kids as young as 11 gunning down criminals). The benefits of untrammeled gun availability are clear, Lott insists, and only the anti-gun bias and selective reporting by the media and government officials have kept this fact out of public consciousness. Lott supports his bold claims with elaborate statistical analyses that tease sometimes small effects out of the welter of factors that influence crime rates; there are lots of graphs and tables, and much space is devoted to scholarly discussions of statistical methodologies. Many readers will find these sections rough going, but Lott's provocative thesis is sure to stir interest among second-amendment stalwarts and gun-control supporters alike.
Here is the Amazon review of a recent book on guns by John Lott, who wrote the Fox.com Article to which Scott links.
Following up on his controversial study More Guns, Less Crime, economist Lott argues that widespread gun ownership prevents crime. He cites survey data and news reports to argue that the fear that victims might be armed strongly deters criminals, and that guns are used in self-defense or to ward off criminal threats about 2.3 million times a year. Because they impede law-abiding citizens' access to guns, even mild gun-control regulations-assault weapons bans, "one-gun-a-month" laws-actually increase crime, according to Lott, while right-to-carry laws lower crime and help prevent (or violently terminate) terrorist attacks and "rampage" shootings. Even measures to keep guns away from children, like "gun-free school zones" and "safe storage" laws that require guns to be locked away, are misguided because children need guns for self-defense (he cites news reports of kids as young as 11 gunning down criminals). The benefits of untrammeled gun availability are clear, Lott insists, and only the anti-gun bias and selective reporting by the media and government officials have kept this fact out of public consciousness. Lott supports his bold claims with elaborate statistical analyses that tease sometimes small effects out of the welter of factors that influence crime rates; there are lots of graphs and tables, and much space is devoted to scholarly discussions of statistical methodologies. Many readers will find these sections rough going, but Lott's provocative thesis is sure to stir interest among second-amendment stalwarts and gun-control supporters alike.
What Kind of Handgun? Lindsay asks what kind of handgun do the experts recommend for self-defense. My reading to this point indicates that there are several opinions. I think, though, that this quote from Chris Bird's The Concealed Handgun Manual is a good place to start:
"Like many things in life, a handgun is a compromise. It is the least-effective firearm for self defense. Except at very close quarters-at arm's length-shotguns and rifles are much more effective in stopping a drug-hyped robber or rapist intent on making you pay for his lack of social skills. A handgun is the hardest firearm to shoot accurately, and, even when you hit what you are shooting at, your target doesn't vaporize in a red mist like on television."
(I would heartily recommend Chris Rice's book. Its in its fourth edition, and I found it to be very informative and well written.)
But Rice does not necessarily recommend carrying around a shotgun or even using that weapon as the main weapon for home-defense. Basically, he seems to say that you acquire the biggest gun you can shoot accurately under the circumstances. By "biggest gun" he would mean that gun that has the most powerful stopping power. If you live out on a farm and can see the bad guy coming from afar, then you would use a deer rifle with a scope, provided you could shoot it accurately. But if you are traveling on MetroRail in a business suit, then you would probably pack a S&W Model 340 Airlite Sc in a .357 Magnum caliber with a high impact round that will flatten out quickly when it hits flesh so as not to completely penetrate and hit people behind the bad person. Its a tiny gun, that is light to carry, and, therefore, kicks like a mule. It is no fun to shoot at a gun range. But by being light and tiny, one is more likely to carry it. And in a confrontation where someone is about to do you mortal harm, one doesn't notice the kick because of what the adrenilin is doing to your body as you acquire the target.
The handgun I mention is a revolver. There are good arguments for a semi-automatic. But for beginners, the revolver appears to be the gun of choice. Plus, it can lay on the shelf for years and be picked up and used immediately, according to what I have read, where a semi-automatic (also called an "automatic") requires care and feeding to prevent a jam. On the other hand, the S&W I mention has only five rounds. The automatic has a clip with more than that in it, and it is much easier to reload if you have a spare clip. On the other, other hand, if you can't take care of the situation with five rounds at close quarters, its probably too late.
"Like many things in life, a handgun is a compromise. It is the least-effective firearm for self defense. Except at very close quarters-at arm's length-shotguns and rifles are much more effective in stopping a drug-hyped robber or rapist intent on making you pay for his lack of social skills. A handgun is the hardest firearm to shoot accurately, and, even when you hit what you are shooting at, your target doesn't vaporize in a red mist like on television."
(I would heartily recommend Chris Rice's book. Its in its fourth edition, and I found it to be very informative and well written.)
But Rice does not necessarily recommend carrying around a shotgun or even using that weapon as the main weapon for home-defense. Basically, he seems to say that you acquire the biggest gun you can shoot accurately under the circumstances. By "biggest gun" he would mean that gun that has the most powerful stopping power. If you live out on a farm and can see the bad guy coming from afar, then you would use a deer rifle with a scope, provided you could shoot it accurately. But if you are traveling on MetroRail in a business suit, then you would probably pack a S&W Model 340 Airlite Sc in a .357 Magnum caliber with a high impact round that will flatten out quickly when it hits flesh so as not to completely penetrate and hit people behind the bad person. Its a tiny gun, that is light to carry, and, therefore, kicks like a mule. It is no fun to shoot at a gun range. But by being light and tiny, one is more likely to carry it. And in a confrontation where someone is about to do you mortal harm, one doesn't notice the kick because of what the adrenilin is doing to your body as you acquire the target.
The handgun I mention is a revolver. There are good arguments for a semi-automatic. But for beginners, the revolver appears to be the gun of choice. Plus, it can lay on the shelf for years and be picked up and used immediately, according to what I have read, where a semi-automatic (also called an "automatic") requires care and feeding to prevent a jam. On the other hand, the S&W I mention has only five rounds. The automatic has a clip with more than that in it, and it is much easier to reload if you have a spare clip. On the other, other hand, if you can't take care of the situation with five rounds at close quarters, its probably too late.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Good Samaritan Gun Use
Foxnews.com has this article regarding the defensive use of handguns. It recounts the tragedy outside a Tyler, Texas courthouse where 2 people were murdered and 4 more wounded and the heroism of Mark Wilson, a licensed concealed handgun permit holder whose actions are credited with saving at least one life, though losing his own.
An interesting read in light of Paul's own journey.
Foxnews.com has this article regarding the defensive use of handguns. It recounts the tragedy outside a Tyler, Texas courthouse where 2 people were murdered and 4 more wounded and the heroism of Mark Wilson, a licensed concealed handgun permit holder whose actions are credited with saving at least one life, though losing his own.
An interesting read in light of Paul's own journey.
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
GTD: Interlude
I haven't finished working my way through Getting Things Done yet. I still have several chapters to finish, but my workflow and office patterns are already significantly changed.
For one thing, I have taken a quantum leap backwards in technology. Before GTD, I'd been struggling to move towards a totally digital lifestyle. I still would like to get there someday, but in order to help me get my workflow under control, I had to abandon the use of my PalmT for anything other than Calendar & AddressBook functions. I also began to print off my emails (at least the first page) if they involved any greater than two minute action on my part. Don't misunderstand me (especially those of you who buy my Xmas presents): I love technology! But I love it as much for the Function as for the Form (pretty Macs!), and the tech wasn't helping me Get Things Done.
In part, the reason for going backwards is that seeing a physical representation of what I need to do helps me to understand the volume of what needs to be done. That's why I've started printing off the first pages of actionable emails. All these actions were hiding in my computer and I was blissfully ignorant of them, until they were past due and I got in trouble. So now they're printed and live in the ASAP files I mentioned in a previous post.
What's the result of having all these folders filled with physical papers? Well, for one thing, I don't feel as bad about telling people "Sorry, I can't do that." It's easier to do because I now know that if I were prioritizing properly, I would never get to it, and if I did get to it, it would mean that I hadn't prioritized properly and would pay for it down the line in other work not done.
Another thing is that I find it easier to stop working when I'm not supposed to be working (eg: when I'm vacationing). All that needs to be done is in a box on my desk, and I can walk away from that pretty easily. Conversely, I'm able to start working quickly by picking up a folder and working on a NextAction that I've put in it. For example, my "read me" folder has been getting fatter & fatter over the past month, but I was able to pick it up and stick it in my bag on the way out the door to Colorado. Rather than pick up a magazine at the airport, I read all the way through it on the way out to my vacation.
Finally, the physicality of my current system helps me focus on what my real Not Getting Things Done problem is: Me. Being on the computer or using another tech device is an end in and of itself for me. The internal reward (pleasure and enjoyment!) of getting my work done is diminished when I'm using tech because I'm already getting an internal reward from simply using the tech! But when there's no nifty technology mediating the work I need to do, I am again confronted with the need to have the discipline to look through my ASAP work and then get to working on it.
The good thing about discipline is that over time it can be learned and developed. (The bad thing about it is that it only happens "over time".) This is where I am in the GTD process, though: working on the discipline of looking through all my work and choosing what to do next. This hard thing to do is easier when everything is in front of me and not hiding in the virtual space of my technology.
How will I get back to the future, technology wise? Eventually, I hope to have developed the discipline to fearlessly look through what needs to be done. After that, then I'll be more comfortable in having multiple places to look through, and will go back to not printing off my emails.
I also hope to be able to use my Palm for more than it's calendar and addressbook applications. (I already sparingly re-introduced the digital dictation application as an on-the-fly InBox.) I haven't figured out what needs to be digital and what needs to stay physical in my own GTD process, but that's a parsing to do on a different day. (I do have to say, though, that I am more than a little attracted to the simplicity of this solution of integrating GTD and a PalmStyle device.)
Previous GTD post
I haven't finished working my way through Getting Things Done yet. I still have several chapters to finish, but my workflow and office patterns are already significantly changed.
For one thing, I have taken a quantum leap backwards in technology. Before GTD, I'd been struggling to move towards a totally digital lifestyle. I still would like to get there someday, but in order to help me get my workflow under control, I had to abandon the use of my PalmT for anything other than Calendar & AddressBook functions. I also began to print off my emails (at least the first page) if they involved any greater than two minute action on my part. Don't misunderstand me (especially those of you who buy my Xmas presents): I love technology! But I love it as much for the Function as for the Form (pretty Macs!), and the tech wasn't helping me Get Things Done.
In part, the reason for going backwards is that seeing a physical representation of what I need to do helps me to understand the volume of what needs to be done. That's why I've started printing off the first pages of actionable emails. All these actions were hiding in my computer and I was blissfully ignorant of them, until they were past due and I got in trouble. So now they're printed and live in the ASAP files I mentioned in a previous post.
What's the result of having all these folders filled with physical papers? Well, for one thing, I don't feel as bad about telling people "Sorry, I can't do that." It's easier to do because I now know that if I were prioritizing properly, I would never get to it, and if I did get to it, it would mean that I hadn't prioritized properly and would pay for it down the line in other work not done.
Another thing is that I find it easier to stop working when I'm not supposed to be working (eg: when I'm vacationing). All that needs to be done is in a box on my desk, and I can walk away from that pretty easily. Conversely, I'm able to start working quickly by picking up a folder and working on a NextAction that I've put in it. For example, my "read me" folder has been getting fatter & fatter over the past month, but I was able to pick it up and stick it in my bag on the way out the door to Colorado. Rather than pick up a magazine at the airport, I read all the way through it on the way out to my vacation.
Finally, the physicality of my current system helps me focus on what my real Not Getting Things Done problem is: Me. Being on the computer or using another tech device is an end in and of itself for me. The internal reward (pleasure and enjoyment!) of getting my work done is diminished when I'm using tech because I'm already getting an internal reward from simply using the tech! But when there's no nifty technology mediating the work I need to do, I am again confronted with the need to have the discipline to look through my ASAP work and then get to working on it.
The good thing about discipline is that over time it can be learned and developed. (The bad thing about it is that it only happens "over time".) This is where I am in the GTD process, though: working on the discipline of looking through all my work and choosing what to do next. This hard thing to do is easier when everything is in front of me and not hiding in the virtual space of my technology.
How will I get back to the future, technology wise? Eventually, I hope to have developed the discipline to fearlessly look through what needs to be done. After that, then I'll be more comfortable in having multiple places to look through, and will go back to not printing off my emails.
I also hope to be able to use my Palm for more than it's calendar and addressbook applications. (I already sparingly re-introduced the digital dictation application as an on-the-fly InBox.) I haven't figured out what needs to be digital and what needs to stay physical in my own GTD process, but that's a parsing to do on a different day. (I do have to say, though, that I am more than a little attracted to the simplicity of this solution of integrating GTD and a PalmStyle device.)
Previous GTD post
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Signing off on Wal-Mart. Today I am cancelling the $13 per month DVD plan at Wal-Mart. Its a great deal, exceptionally cheap and convenient. Which is the problem.
The problem is "displacement". I actually watch the videos, at a rate approaching 2 per week. That's 3 hours of waking time. That's not good. I have books to read; budgets to consider; articles, blog posts and poems to write; clients to serve; other ministries to pursue; friends and others to whom to listen and listen carefully; music to enjoy and to make; plants and trees and flowers and ideas to to grow; prayers to offer; thoughts to think; a small, still voice to detect; and conversations with fascinating people to begin. Time for this is displaced by someone else's idea of reality. And with many of those folks I probably wouldn't think of having dinner. Why spend time, quality or quantity, with people with whom you wouldn't want to share a meal?
So, sorry Bentonville, I'm outa here.
The problem is "displacement". I actually watch the videos, at a rate approaching 2 per week. That's 3 hours of waking time. That's not good. I have books to read; budgets to consider; articles, blog posts and poems to write; clients to serve; other ministries to pursue; friends and others to whom to listen and listen carefully; music to enjoy and to make; plants and trees and flowers and ideas to to grow; prayers to offer; thoughts to think; a small, still voice to detect; and conversations with fascinating people to begin. Time for this is displaced by someone else's idea of reality. And with many of those folks I probably wouldn't think of having dinner. Why spend time, quality or quantity, with people with whom you wouldn't want to share a meal?
So, sorry Bentonville, I'm outa here.
Monday, February 28, 2005
The Tax-Gap.
"The National Taxayer Advocate's 2003 Annual Report to Congress estimates that, in the year 2001, the amount of tax voluntarily and timely paid by taxpayers was approximately $311 billion less than the actual tax liability of taxpayers. The Report attributes the tax gap to underreporting ($249 billion), underpayment ($32 billion) and nonfiling ($30 billion). The Report indicates that the tax gap is growing and, as a consequence, law-abiding taxpayers are being asked to pay more than their fair share of taxes to make up for the resulting revenue shortfall. In addition, the Federal Budget deficit is projected to be $477 billion for fiscal year 2004."
- from the February 26, 2004, letter to Mr. George K. Yin, Chief of Staff, Joint Committee on Taxation, from Senators Baucus and Grassly, Ranking Member and Chairman, respectively, of the Joint Committee. In the letter, the Senators ask the staff to come up with proposals to reduce the size of the "tax gap". That report was given by the staff recently.
The report, IMHO, will not collect appreciably more taxes but make it even less fair on citizens who pay their taxes, by increasing and making more complex reporting requirements, making penalties more severe, and taking away deductions and exclusions that serve one social tax policy or another. The problem is that (a) people think government does a poor job of handling its money and are justified in cheating, and (b) their sense of duty is, in any event, eroded by their upbringing.
I refer the reader to Jesus' parable of the Widow's mite. He praises her for her faithfulness to an institution, the Temple, which was largely unfaithful.
"The National Taxayer Advocate's 2003 Annual Report to Congress estimates that, in the year 2001, the amount of tax voluntarily and timely paid by taxpayers was approximately $311 billion less than the actual tax liability of taxpayers. The Report attributes the tax gap to underreporting ($249 billion), underpayment ($32 billion) and nonfiling ($30 billion). The Report indicates that the tax gap is growing and, as a consequence, law-abiding taxpayers are being asked to pay more than their fair share of taxes to make up for the resulting revenue shortfall. In addition, the Federal Budget deficit is projected to be $477 billion for fiscal year 2004."
- from the February 26, 2004, letter to Mr. George K. Yin, Chief of Staff, Joint Committee on Taxation, from Senators Baucus and Grassly, Ranking Member and Chairman, respectively, of the Joint Committee. In the letter, the Senators ask the staff to come up with proposals to reduce the size of the "tax gap". That report was given by the staff recently.
The report, IMHO, will not collect appreciably more taxes but make it even less fair on citizens who pay their taxes, by increasing and making more complex reporting requirements, making penalties more severe, and taking away deductions and exclusions that serve one social tax policy or another. The problem is that (a) people think government does a poor job of handling its money and are justified in cheating, and (b) their sense of duty is, in any event, eroded by their upbringing.
I refer the reader to Jesus' parable of the Widow's mite. He praises her for her faithfulness to an institution, the Temple, which was largely unfaithful.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Colo-blogging
Not to be confused with "colon-blogging"
After a week in Chapel Hill interviewing prospective InterVarsity staff, I'm on vacation for 4 days in Colorado. I've joined the party already in progress, as Doug, Sue, Justin, Kristin, Noah, Caleb, Walter, Morgan, Kellsey, and Aidan were already here.
Aidan, as you can see, was well prepared for the cold weather.
I've been catching up on my blogosphere favorites, and came across this piece in the Chicago Sun-Times via Instapundit.
Not to be confused with "colon-blogging"
After a week in Chapel Hill interviewing prospective InterVarsity staff, I'm on vacation for 4 days in Colorado. I've joined the party already in progress, as Doug, Sue, Justin, Kristin, Noah, Caleb, Walter, Morgan, Kellsey, and Aidan were already here.
Aidan, as you can see, was well prepared for the cold weather.
I've been catching up on my blogosphere favorites, and came across this piece in the Chicago Sun-Times via Instapundit.
Most administration officials subscribe to one of two views: a) Europe is a smugly irritating but irrelevant backwater; or b) Europe is a smugly irritating but irrelevant backwater where the whole powder keg's about to go up.I wonder: What does Sean Meade, my favorite Tom Barnett interpreter (of The Pentagon's New Map, fame) think of this article? And, WWTBS? (What Would Tom Barnett Say?) (See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, for Sean's major Tom Barnett posts during the past 3 months. And while I'm not quite yet a convert, it's still good reading!)
For what it's worth, I incline to the latter position. Europe's problems -- its unaffordable social programs, its deathbed demographics, its dependence on immigration numbers that no stable nation (not even America in the Ellis Island era) has ever successfully absorbed -- are all of Europe's making. . . .
Until the shape of the new Europe begins to emerge, there's no point picking fights with the terminally ill. The old Europe is dying, and Mr. Bush did the diplomatic equivalent of the Oscar night lifetime-achievement tribute at which the current stars salute a once glamorous old-timer whose fading aura is no threat to them. The 21st century is being built elsewhere.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Dave Seivright and Redeemer PC.
Dave Seivright is a London trained lawyer, born and raised in Jamaica, who came to Christ as a young man and went into "full time Christian service", as folks used to say at Central Baptist Church where I was raised. He has an M.Div., ordained in the PCA, planted a PCA church here Miami-Dade, and for many years under the Campus Crusade umbrella has evangelized and discipled professionals in South Florida and, over the last few years, in Munich to which he commutes from time to time from Miami.
I am on his email list-serve (is that the right terminology?). Here is what he wrote recently.
"Recently in describing our ministry I used the words "genuine relationships, honesty and authenticity" to characterize what God is doing through our ministry both here in Miami and also in Europe. Now I see an article using some of these very same words to describe a new movement of the Holy Spirit in some of the churches.
"My visit to Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC in December has proven to be life-changing for me. It was not the old traditional church with forms and structures which seem irrelevant to the young people I hang out with, nor was it the modern entertainment slick seeker-sensitive manipulative program-driven model, but it was something very different which had no frills and seemed to have more emphasis on Worship and the Word ... not being shouted at anyone but being taught in a conversational style which obviously valued relationships and the questioning intellect of the hearers.
"This article captures what God seems to be doing."
Dave Seivright is a London trained lawyer, born and raised in Jamaica, who came to Christ as a young man and went into "full time Christian service", as folks used to say at Central Baptist Church where I was raised. He has an M.Div., ordained in the PCA, planted a PCA church here Miami-Dade, and for many years under the Campus Crusade umbrella has evangelized and discipled professionals in South Florida and, over the last few years, in Munich to which he commutes from time to time from Miami.
I am on his email list-serve (is that the right terminology?). Here is what he wrote recently.
"Recently in describing our ministry I used the words "genuine relationships, honesty and authenticity" to characterize what God is doing through our ministry both here in Miami and also in Europe. Now I see an article using some of these very same words to describe a new movement of the Holy Spirit in some of the churches.
"My visit to Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC in December has proven to be life-changing for me. It was not the old traditional church with forms and structures which seem irrelevant to the young people I hang out with, nor was it the modern entertainment slick seeker-sensitive manipulative program-driven model, but it was something very different which had no frills and seemed to have more emphasis on Worship and the Word ... not being shouted at anyone but being taught in a conversational style which obviously valued relationships and the questioning intellect of the hearers.
"This article captures what God seems to be doing."
Monday, February 21, 2005
Regulating Away the Opportunity for Good.
I meet with a group of Christian lawyers (oxymoron?) every Friday for breakfast and informal Bible study.
In the group is Frank Valladares, who has a busy trial practice but also, with his wife, has a ministry work going in the Dominican Republic. The ministry takes care of orphaned children with birth defects. Its a great work. Frank and his group are doing lots of good. There are set backs from time to time, but everyone is energized. The environment in the Dominican Republic is completely unregulated.
Now switch to Miami.
I had lunch with a financial advisor whose wife works with disabled children in the public school system. She is three years away from retirement and can't wait. She comes home every day, completely worn out. The financial advisor says that most of the time she is dealing with paper work and bureaucracy. The children get whatever time is left-over, which is not much.
We are so regulated around here, we can't even do good, much less do business (which is a good). We are teaching the rest of the world about "free enterprise" and regulating ourselves into paralysis.
I meet with a group of Christian lawyers (oxymoron?) every Friday for breakfast and informal Bible study.
In the group is Frank Valladares, who has a busy trial practice but also, with his wife, has a ministry work going in the Dominican Republic. The ministry takes care of orphaned children with birth defects. Its a great work. Frank and his group are doing lots of good. There are set backs from time to time, but everyone is energized. The environment in the Dominican Republic is completely unregulated.
Now switch to Miami.
I had lunch with a financial advisor whose wife works with disabled children in the public school system. She is three years away from retirement and can't wait. She comes home every day, completely worn out. The financial advisor says that most of the time she is dealing with paper work and bureaucracy. The children get whatever time is left-over, which is not much.
We are so regulated around here, we can't even do good, much less do business (which is a good). We are teaching the rest of the world about "free enterprise" and regulating ourselves into paralysis.
George Inhaled. We always knew that W smoked marijuana. He never denied it. He just wouldn't talk about it. He thought it was irrelevant to his political gifts and objectives. The tapes confirm what we already knew. Big deal. What concerns me about W these days is (a) why he pushed through the Medicare drug benefit; (b) why he wants to raise the cap on Social Security; and (c) how he goes about deciding who his friends are.
Now we have two Presidents who smoked marijuana during their lifetimes. (I prefer W's approach to dealing with his drug history to Bill's. Come on, Bill. You didn't inhale? Is that like not having sexual relations with that woman? Please.) (And, for that matter, Bill, why didn't you inhale? Why didn't you have sexual relations with that woman? Are you a weenie or what?)
Maybe we should lighten up on pot. I know all sorts of aging Yuppies who are successful people, good family men, who smoked pot at one time or another. If you want to tax something, let's get pot in a position to tax it.
Now we have two Presidents who smoked marijuana during their lifetimes. (I prefer W's approach to dealing with his drug history to Bill's. Come on, Bill. You didn't inhale? Is that like not having sexual relations with that woman? Please.) (And, for that matter, Bill, why didn't you inhale? Why didn't you have sexual relations with that woman? Are you a weenie or what?)
Maybe we should lighten up on pot. I know all sorts of aging Yuppies who are successful people, good family men, who smoked pot at one time or another. If you want to tax something, let's get pot in a position to tax it.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Quoted in The Challenge of Command by Roger H. Nye
The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.
-- Sir William Francis Butler, Charles George Gordon (London: 1907, 85).
But I Never Inhaled.
The DVD of the movie "Super Size Me" has a "bonus" feature, an interview with Eric Schlossser, who wrote "Fast Food Nation". He more recently wrote Reefer Madness, which I am reading right now. Reefer Madness addresses marijuana use, illegal immigrant labor, and the pornography industry. I just finished the section on marijuana.
From the conclusion of that section:
"According to Michael D. Newcomb, a substance abuse expert at the University of Southern California, "Tobacco and alcohol are the most widely used, abused, and deadly druges ingested by teenagers." American children aged eleven to thirteen now drink alcohol almost four times as often as they smoke marijuana. Drug education programs should respect the intelligence of young people by promoting healthy lives without scare tactics, lies, and hyporcrisy. And drug abuse should be treated like alchoholism or nicotine addiction. These are health problems suffered by Americans of every race, creed, and political affiliation, not grounds for imprisonment or the denial of property rights."
The DVD of the movie "Super Size Me" has a "bonus" feature, an interview with Eric Schlossser, who wrote "Fast Food Nation". He more recently wrote Reefer Madness, which I am reading right now. Reefer Madness addresses marijuana use, illegal immigrant labor, and the pornography industry. I just finished the section on marijuana.
From the conclusion of that section:
"According to Michael D. Newcomb, a substance abuse expert at the University of Southern California, "Tobacco and alcohol are the most widely used, abused, and deadly druges ingested by teenagers." American children aged eleven to thirteen now drink alcohol almost four times as often as they smoke marijuana. Drug education programs should respect the intelligence of young people by promoting healthy lives without scare tactics, lies, and hyporcrisy. And drug abuse should be treated like alchoholism or nicotine addiction. These are health problems suffered by Americans of every race, creed, and political affiliation, not grounds for imprisonment or the denial of property rights."
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Aidan Update
New hair: Check.
4 more immunization shots: Check.
Baby Babble: Check.
Head Control: Check.
Arm, Leg & Torso Control: See for yourself.
Thanks to: U2 for their music, and Scott for the inspiration.
New hair: Check.
4 more immunization shots: Check.
Baby Babble: Check.
Head Control: Check.
Arm, Leg & Torso Control: See for yourself.
Thanks to: U2 for their music, and Scott for the inspiration.
Friday, February 18, 2005
Fun with Macs
I found a neato program that allows Mac users to broadcast (for lack of a better term) their own screensavers. So, if you're interested, and are using at least Mac OS 10.2 you can subscribe to my screensaver of (what else) the latest Aidan photos.
To subscribe to my slideshow: (you do not have to have a .mac account)
1. Make sure you have Mac OS X version 10.2 or later installed, and you're connected to the Internet.
2. Open System Preferences and click Screen Effects.
3. Select .Mac in the list of available screen savers.
4. Click the Configure (or "Options") button and enter "citostokes" (that's my .mac username) in the Member Name box. Then click OK.
The slideshow will appear the next time your screen saver is activated. The coolest thing: When you are connected to the Internet, you'll automatically receive any updates I've made to the slideshow. I'll keep the slideshow current to the photos taken of him in the latest 5 weeks.
Oh, and in case you think this is me slacking off in producing a new Aidan video: We're in pre-production right now, and are scheduled to begin principal photography tomorrow. (I learned all kinds of video-words watching LOTR Extended Editions.)
I found a neato program that allows Mac users to broadcast (for lack of a better term) their own screensavers. So, if you're interested, and are using at least Mac OS 10.2 you can subscribe to my screensaver of (what else) the latest Aidan photos.
To subscribe to my slideshow: (you do not have to have a .mac account)
1. Make sure you have Mac OS X version 10.2 or later installed, and you're connected to the Internet.
2. Open System Preferences and click Screen Effects.
3. Select .Mac in the list of available screen savers.
4. Click the Configure (or "Options") button and enter "citostokes" (that's my .mac username) in the Member Name box. Then click OK.
The slideshow will appear the next time your screen saver is activated. The coolest thing: When you are connected to the Internet, you'll automatically receive any updates I've made to the slideshow. I'll keep the slideshow current to the photos taken of him in the latest 5 weeks.
Oh, and in case you think this is me slacking off in producing a new Aidan video: We're in pre-production right now, and are scheduled to begin principal photography tomorrow. (I learned all kinds of video-words watching LOTR Extended Editions.)
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Photoblogging Davidson
This afternoon I attended a Career Services Seminar called "Major Decisions" in which Career Services invites alumni in a particular major to sit on a panel and talk about why they chose that major and how it helps them in their life after college. I was interested to see if any students would show up for such a thing, especially for a major as sexy as Philosophy. As it turned out, there were about nine interested students.
It was a pleasure to talk about the Philosophy Major as it was something I really enjoyed about Davidson. I'm periodically invited to Davidson events: "Local" alumni gatherings in Charlotte, "young" alumni gatherings, ongoing career-development seminars, Lilly Endowment "what-is-vocation" retreats. None of these hold any interest for me. (In fact, it would be difficult for me to care less about them than I currently do.) But here I was driving up to Davidson to sit on a panel in front of nine students to talk about the Philosophy Major. And I was excited about it. Geeky. I know.
Of course, no visit to Fair Davidson is complete without sipping a tasty hot beverage at Summit Coffee. I had an excellent double espresso and shared a table with Mary's friend, Beth, who is wonderful company and engaged to Tim, the proprietor. Among other things we talked about her upcoming wedding, her shiny new iBook, and the glory of picking up the unencrypted WiFi network being broadcast by the Davdison Town Hall down the street. Which, I might add, changes everything. (Incidentally, Beth & Tim raved about AWS Cribs!.)
I took some pictures on my walk over so you could see the campus on a beautiful February day.
To save loading time, I didn't put them all inline. Here are two more:
Old Classrooms
Chambers
This afternoon I attended a Career Services Seminar called "Major Decisions" in which Career Services invites alumni in a particular major to sit on a panel and talk about why they chose that major and how it helps them in their life after college. I was interested to see if any students would show up for such a thing, especially for a major as sexy as Philosophy. As it turned out, there were about nine interested students.
It was a pleasure to talk about the Philosophy Major as it was something I really enjoyed about Davidson. I'm periodically invited to Davidson events: "Local" alumni gatherings in Charlotte, "young" alumni gatherings, ongoing career-development seminars, Lilly Endowment "what-is-vocation" retreats. None of these hold any interest for me. (In fact, it would be difficult for me to care less about them than I currently do.) But here I was driving up to Davidson to sit on a panel in front of nine students to talk about the Philosophy Major. And I was excited about it. Geeky. I know.
Of course, no visit to Fair Davidson is complete without sipping a tasty hot beverage at Summit Coffee. I had an excellent double espresso and shared a table with Mary's friend, Beth, who is wonderful company and engaged to Tim, the proprietor. Among other things we talked about her upcoming wedding, her shiny new iBook, and the glory of picking up the unencrypted WiFi network being broadcast by the Davdison Town Hall down the street. Which, I might add, changes everything. (Incidentally, Beth & Tim raved about AWS Cribs!.)
I took some pictures on my walk over so you could see the campus on a beautiful February day.
To save loading time, I didn't put them all inline. Here are two more:
Old Classrooms
Chambers
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Monday, February 14, 2005
A love poem by George Herbert.
Love (I)
Immortal Love, author of this great frame,
Sprung from that beauty which can never fade,
How hath man parcel'd out Thy glorious name,
And thrown it on that dust which Thou hast made,
While mortal love doth all the title gain!
Which siding with Invention, they together
Bear all the sway, possessing heart and brain,
(Thy workmanship) and give Thee share in neither.
Wit fancies beauty, beauty raiseth wit;
The world is theirs, they two play out the game,
Thou standing by: and though Thy glorious name
Wrought our deliverance from th' infernal pit,
Who sings Thy praise? Only a scarf or glove
Doth warm our hands, and make them write of love.
Love (I)
Immortal Love, author of this great frame,
Sprung from that beauty which can never fade,
How hath man parcel'd out Thy glorious name,
And thrown it on that dust which Thou hast made,
While mortal love doth all the title gain!
Which siding with Invention, they together
Bear all the sway, possessing heart and brain,
(Thy workmanship) and give Thee share in neither.
Wit fancies beauty, beauty raiseth wit;
The world is theirs, they two play out the game,
Thou standing by: and though Thy glorious name
Wrought our deliverance from th' infernal pit,
Who sings Thy praise? Only a scarf or glove
Doth warm our hands, and make them write of love.
After a brief hiatus I'm posting again at Coast & Crown. (Thanks for the encouragement to do so, Walt.)
If you click through, you'll read about our latest Cornerstone Conference. The speaker, Jeff Keegan, has a son, David, who attends SCAD. David wowed the admissions folks there with his self-taught knowledge of Maya and the number of scripts that he wrote himself for that program. You can check out his creativity on his website. I've looked over Jef Sewell's shoulder has he's worked on Maya and I know what kind of cool things you can make with it. Perhaps Amplifier Creative needs to keep an eye on this guy?
Edited by Macon: to indicate I meant Jef Sewell, not to be confused with Jeff Keegan.
If you click through, you'll read about our latest Cornerstone Conference. The speaker, Jeff Keegan, has a son, David, who attends SCAD. David wowed the admissions folks there with his self-taught knowledge of Maya and the number of scripts that he wrote himself for that program. You can check out his creativity on his website. I've looked over Jef Sewell's shoulder has he's worked on Maya and I know what kind of cool things you can make with it. Perhaps Amplifier Creative needs to keep an eye on this guy?
Edited by Macon: to indicate I meant Jef Sewell, not to be confused with Jeff Keegan.
GTD: Organizing III
Before GTD, I had an file organizer holding folders of "Current Projects" on my desk. At first it was populated by a few folders, but as the weeks went by, more and more folders were added to the organizer. I realize now that this was because I have a large number of projects that are "current"! The folders in the organizer held everything that I needed to do the project, and for some projects, this meant having 4+ folders jammed into the organizer. Plus, after a while, I avoided looking at the growing mess that represented my current projects. It was no longer helpful to me, but I didn't dare remove it from my desk, as I'd put those folders on my desk because they were supposed to remind me of the work I needed to do in each project. I was afraid that if I re-filed them into my filing system, they'd be out of my sight and I'd completely forget that I needed to do anything with them. This is the problem that comes when you don't separate your Next Actions from your Support and Reference materials.
Now I have Project Support Materials and General Reference Material labeled, sorted, filed, and put out of the way until needed. I also now have two file organizers on my desk, this time one is filled with my 43 Tickle folders, the other with my ASAP folders (enumerated in a previous GTD post). So I'm all set to Get Things Done, and I realize: I have alot of work to do. Before GTD, I suspected that I had this much work to do, but now I can see it all in one place, and I'm daunted. (This is not the first time I'm daunted in the GTD process!)
Internally I experienced resistance to starting to work. One by-product of reading David's book is that he spends alot of time talking about why we do or don't do work. So, he's gotten me to start thinking along those lines as well: Why don't I want to start working through my ASAP Next Action Items? Well, for one thing, I can't see how I'm going to have time to do it all, so maybe I shouldn't even start. That is, if I'm going to (apparently) fail to get it all done, I'd rather not start, that way, I won't fail. Heh.
Another thing I find in myself is a strong aversion to just looking through the ASAP Next Action Items. Now, this is an essential discipline in GTD. In fact, it's the whole point in getting all the action reminders together: so you can see them all at once. I realize that I'd rather deny that I have all this work to do. Previously, I enabled this behavior in myself by being so disorganized that I couldn't possibly have looked at everything at once if I'd even wanted to! But now I realize that I'm physically chickening out of looking through it, which galvanizes me to action. I look through everything.
That didn't take as long as I thought! And I feel better about knowing all that I have to do. I even now know what I ought to be doing at this very moment, and I pick out some Next Action Items. But now a new temptation arises: sit down to work and don't stop until everything is done - eat at my desk, take only bathroom breaks, go to bed late, come right to the desk as soon as I brush my teeth in the morning. That is, become a workaholic. The thing that breaks me out of this reverie is the fact that I have a beautiful wife, a spectacular son, wonderful friends, and one or two hobbies, and I'd miss all that if I never left my desk.
So, if my first two responses (denial & workaholism) to having more work than time in which to do it are wrong, what's the right response? I think David would say something like, "Oh, you'll get it done eventually, that's why I created my system. Trust me!" And, you know, I think he's right at a certain level. I'm beginning to see the usefulness of his approach, and as I use it, I do see that I'm going to be more efficient at my work and do things faster & better. But at the end of the day, it makes me uncomfortable to trust the system, because I know that I'm at the center of it and I'm remarkably flawed. (I know this to be true. I've heard people remarking about my flaws.) So it seems to me that the alternative to denial & workaholism is actually Faith. Faith in the Heavenly Father who brought me to this work and gave me the blessings of my family, friends and even my hobbies. I come into my office in the morning and look at the pile of Next Actions and think, "Well, I can't do it all today, and probably not even in a month, but I'll do what I can and trust the rest to God." And since this god I follow is a Good one, I can mentally rest about the stuff that isn't going to get done.
Not that Faith is ever a static place (for me, at least). I usually ping-pong between denial, workaholism, and faith.
Previous GTD post | Next GTD post
Before GTD, I had an file organizer holding folders of "Current Projects" on my desk. At first it was populated by a few folders, but as the weeks went by, more and more folders were added to the organizer. I realize now that this was because I have a large number of projects that are "current"! The folders in the organizer held everything that I needed to do the project, and for some projects, this meant having 4+ folders jammed into the organizer. Plus, after a while, I avoided looking at the growing mess that represented my current projects. It was no longer helpful to me, but I didn't dare remove it from my desk, as I'd put those folders on my desk because they were supposed to remind me of the work I needed to do in each project. I was afraid that if I re-filed them into my filing system, they'd be out of my sight and I'd completely forget that I needed to do anything with them. This is the problem that comes when you don't separate your Next Actions from your Support and Reference materials.
Now I have Project Support Materials and General Reference Material labeled, sorted, filed, and put out of the way until needed. I also now have two file organizers on my desk, this time one is filled with my 43 Tickle folders, the other with my ASAP folders (enumerated in a previous GTD post). So I'm all set to Get Things Done, and I realize: I have alot of work to do. Before GTD, I suspected that I had this much work to do, but now I can see it all in one place, and I'm daunted. (This is not the first time I'm daunted in the GTD process!)
Internally I experienced resistance to starting to work. One by-product of reading David's book is that he spends alot of time talking about why we do or don't do work. So, he's gotten me to start thinking along those lines as well: Why don't I want to start working through my ASAP Next Action Items? Well, for one thing, I can't see how I'm going to have time to do it all, so maybe I shouldn't even start. That is, if I'm going to (apparently) fail to get it all done, I'd rather not start, that way, I won't fail. Heh.
Another thing I find in myself is a strong aversion to just looking through the ASAP Next Action Items. Now, this is an essential discipline in GTD. In fact, it's the whole point in getting all the action reminders together: so you can see them all at once. I realize that I'd rather deny that I have all this work to do. Previously, I enabled this behavior in myself by being so disorganized that I couldn't possibly have looked at everything at once if I'd even wanted to! But now I realize that I'm physically chickening out of looking through it, which galvanizes me to action. I look through everything.
That didn't take as long as I thought! And I feel better about knowing all that I have to do. I even now know what I ought to be doing at this very moment, and I pick out some Next Action Items. But now a new temptation arises: sit down to work and don't stop until everything is done - eat at my desk, take only bathroom breaks, go to bed late, come right to the desk as soon as I brush my teeth in the morning. That is, become a workaholic. The thing that breaks me out of this reverie is the fact that I have a beautiful wife, a spectacular son, wonderful friends, and one or two hobbies, and I'd miss all that if I never left my desk.
So, if my first two responses (denial & workaholism) to having more work than time in which to do it are wrong, what's the right response? I think David would say something like, "Oh, you'll get it done eventually, that's why I created my system. Trust me!" And, you know, I think he's right at a certain level. I'm beginning to see the usefulness of his approach, and as I use it, I do see that I'm going to be more efficient at my work and do things faster & better. But at the end of the day, it makes me uncomfortable to trust the system, because I know that I'm at the center of it and I'm remarkably flawed. (I know this to be true. I've heard people remarking about my flaws.) So it seems to me that the alternative to denial & workaholism is actually Faith. Faith in the Heavenly Father who brought me to this work and gave me the blessings of my family, friends and even my hobbies. I come into my office in the morning and look at the pile of Next Actions and think, "Well, I can't do it all today, and probably not even in a month, but I'll do what I can and trust the rest to God." And since this god I follow is a Good one, I can mentally rest about the stuff that isn't going to get done.
Not that Faith is ever a static place (for me, at least). I usually ping-pong between denial, workaholism, and faith.
Previous GTD post | Next GTD post
Sunday, February 13, 2005
"Super Size Me.". Last night was date night, so Carol and I went to Chevy's, a Tex-Mex, jeans, and family sort of restaurant that is on our top five dining establishments. (What does that say about us? At least it wasn't Publix this tiime.)
We came home and watched a video, Super Size Me, which, having seen it, I would name as the Upton Sinclair work of our generation. It had good "bonus" material on it, particularly the interview with Eric Schlosser.
Christianity Today reviews the movie. And there are many more reviews on the net,
Here are some nice pictures to consider as we reflect on the fast-food issue.
We came home and watched a video, Super Size Me, which, having seen it, I would name as the Upton Sinclair work of our generation. It had good "bonus" material on it, particularly the interview with Eric Schlosser.
Christianity Today reviews the movie. And there are many more reviews on the net,
Here are some nice pictures to consider as we reflect on the fast-food issue.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
"Fall Slow Tears". I enjoy a contemporary worship service, and I like the praise songs that go with it. But I also like "traditional", and it was a blessing to attend the "traditional" service at Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church in Austin on January 30 with Walter and Morgan.
Recognizable in the order of service was a Reformed liturgy, including a Prayer of Confession. Immediately after the Prayer of Confession, an actual choir sang: they sang in four parts, they wore robes, they were well rehearsed, they had fine voices - and those were the voices of believers singing. To me it was a bit of Heaven.
The choir sang a choral piece I had not heard before. "Fall Slow Tears" by Ruth Elaine Schram. It is based on Psalm 51. Here are the lyrics:
Fall slow tears and drown all my doubts and fears
And wash away my sin and shame in the flood of forgiveness and mercy.
Weep, sad eyes; my soul in repentence cries.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit withiin me.
Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
Take all my iniquities upon You.
Have mercy on me, have mercy on me.
I found a place on the 'net where you can hear an excerpt of this anthem if you have RealPlayer. Find it
here.
Recognizable in the order of service was a Reformed liturgy, including a Prayer of Confession. Immediately after the Prayer of Confession, an actual choir sang: they sang in four parts, they wore robes, they were well rehearsed, they had fine voices - and those were the voices of believers singing. To me it was a bit of Heaven.
The choir sang a choral piece I had not heard before. "Fall Slow Tears" by Ruth Elaine Schram. It is based on Psalm 51. Here are the lyrics:
Fall slow tears and drown all my doubts and fears
And wash away my sin and shame in the flood of forgiveness and mercy.
Weep, sad eyes; my soul in repentence cries.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit withiin me.
Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
Take all my iniquities upon You.
Have mercy on me, have mercy on me.
I found a place on the 'net where you can hear an excerpt of this anthem if you have RealPlayer. Find it
here.
Lenny Kravitz and "Baptism".
On NPR this AM I heard an interview of Lenny Kravitz that was interesting. Kravitz, who had a culturally Jewish father and similarly Christian mother, has a new album that has some "spiritual" content. Called "Baptism".
On the NPR site you listen to a couple of the cuts off the album. I also listened to some excerpts on the Wal-Mart down load site. The ones not on the NPR site has cuts that are profane in parts. (What is it about the word "f**king" that fascinates these guys so?)
But it appears to me that the Hound of Heaven must be after young Lenny. Good. I hope he catches him soon.
I am thinking about searching the new Album to see if there was something I could risk singing at church.
On NPR this AM I heard an interview of Lenny Kravitz that was interesting. Kravitz, who had a culturally Jewish father and similarly Christian mother, has a new album that has some "spiritual" content. Called "Baptism".
On the NPR site you listen to a couple of the cuts off the album. I also listened to some excerpts on the Wal-Mart down load site. The ones not on the NPR site has cuts that are profane in parts. (What is it about the word "f**king" that fascinates these guys so?)
But it appears to me that the Hound of Heaven must be after young Lenny. Good. I hope he catches him soon.
I am thinking about searching the new Album to see if there was something I could risk singing at church.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Davidson College Moves Away from the Church. This article on Davidson in Christianity Today indicates a change that I am sorry to see. Or maybe it is simply conforming the form to a reality that is already there.
Getting Things Done - Hard Style
Macon gives his updates, so I'll give mine, too.
Just finished the 4th week of the challenge. For the first time, we sweat it out twice in a week.
I felt good coming off of Tuesday. Today tested and crossed the limits.
25 reps of the two-arm swing with a 24kg bell was enough to send me to the little boys room for a spell. Lighter, I returned to finish strong.
I would have some pictures to post of my progress, but I didn't have my wide lense.
Macon gives his updates, so I'll give mine, too.
Just finished the 4th week of the challenge. For the first time, we sweat it out twice in a week.
I felt good coming off of Tuesday. Today tested and crossed the limits.
25 reps of the two-arm swing with a 24kg bell was enough to send me to the little boys room for a spell. Lighter, I returned to finish strong.
I would have some pictures to post of my progress, but I didn't have my wide lense.
A Prayer for Revenge. I am on several email address-group lists with other Christian attorneys and business people. Now and then, someone sends out an email raising a question, and then things start going back and forth. It is great fun, and I wish I could somehow post these conversations easily on the blog. Here is one that has started this morning that I will paste up. If it develops more threads, I will come back and revise this post with them.
Initial email:
Is this really a prayer for revenge?
Psalm 41:1 For the choir director: A psalm of David. Oh, the joys of those who are kind to the poor. The LORD rescues them in times of trouble. 2 The LORD protects them and keeps them alive. He gives them prosperity and rescues them from their enemies. 3 The LORD nurses them when they are sick and eases their pain and discomfort. 4 "O LORD," I prayed, "have mercy on me. Heal me,for I have sinned against you." 5 But my enemies say nothing but evil about me. "How soon will he die and be forgotten?" they ask. 6 They visit me as if they are my friends, but all the while they gather gossip, and when they leave, they spread it everywhere. 7 All who hate me whisper about me, imagining the worst for me. 8"Whatever he has, it is fatal," they say. "He will never get out of that bed!" 9 Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me. 10 LORD, have mercy on me. Make me well again, so I can pay them back! 11 I know that you are pleased with me, for you have not let my enemy triumph over me. 12 You have preserved my life because I am innocent; you have brought me into your presence forever. 13 Bless the LORD,the God of Israel, who lives forever from eternal ages past. Amen and amen
First comment:
I think it is such a prayer [of revenge]. But that doesn't mean that it is a model for us or that God will answer the prayer in quite the way that the person making the prayer is asking. (The model, of course, is the Lord's Prayer: "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.") What it does show is what a great book the Bible is. It shows a decent man who is honest with his God about what he really wants, whether what he wants is quite the right thing or not. I just love it.
Next comment
I agree completely with [the first comment]. Part of the uniqueness of the Bible and one of the reasons it is truly disingenuous to classify it as mythological literature, is that its hero's are not mythologized, but rather, presented warts - failings - and all. The interesting thing is how God would respond. Remember that it is scripture that interprets scripture, and you have to look to the theological passages to interpret the historical passages. See Leviticus 19:18 "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord" and Romans 12:19-20 "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written" 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him: ..."
Initial email:
Is this really a prayer for revenge?
Psalm 41:1 For the choir director: A psalm of David. Oh, the joys of those who are kind to the poor. The LORD rescues them in times of trouble. 2 The LORD protects them and keeps them alive. He gives them prosperity and rescues them from their enemies. 3 The LORD nurses them when they are sick and eases their pain and discomfort. 4 "O LORD," I prayed, "have mercy on me. Heal me,for I have sinned against you." 5 But my enemies say nothing but evil about me. "How soon will he die and be forgotten?" they ask. 6 They visit me as if they are my friends, but all the while they gather gossip, and when they leave, they spread it everywhere. 7 All who hate me whisper about me, imagining the worst for me. 8"Whatever he has, it is fatal," they say. "He will never get out of that bed!" 9 Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me. 10 LORD, have mercy on me. Make me well again, so I can pay them back! 11 I know that you are pleased with me, for you have not let my enemy triumph over me. 12 You have preserved my life because I am innocent; you have brought me into your presence forever. 13 Bless the LORD,the God of Israel, who lives forever from eternal ages past. Amen and amen
First comment:
I think it is such a prayer [of revenge]. But that doesn't mean that it is a model for us or that God will answer the prayer in quite the way that the person making the prayer is asking. (The model, of course, is the Lord's Prayer: "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.") What it does show is what a great book the Bible is. It shows a decent man who is honest with his God about what he really wants, whether what he wants is quite the right thing or not. I just love it.
Next comment
I agree completely with [the first comment]. Part of the uniqueness of the Bible and one of the reasons it is truly disingenuous to classify it as mythological literature, is that its hero's are not mythologized, but rather, presented warts - failings - and all. The interesting thing is how God would respond. Remember that it is scripture that interprets scripture, and you have to look to the theological passages to interpret the historical passages. See Leviticus 19:18 "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord" and Romans 12:19-20 "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written" 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him: ..."
Proud of my Partner. My partner, Jane McMillan, took on a pro-bono case last year, under a program that the Dade County Bar Assocation sponsors called "Put Something Back". She had a successful result, and the project coordinator asked her to write a summary of what she did. I have reproduced it below. Jane's a Christian and a blessing to have as a partner. (I have changed the name of the client.)
"You asked for an outline of the case. Mrs. Garcia and her sister came to us for help in getting title to their deceased mother’s house into their names. We opened a probate proceeding so we could publish notice to creditors. Because there were no estate assets other than the homestead and some exempt personal property, we were able to have all claims stricken. We also obtained an Order Determining Homestead in favor or Mrs. Garcia and her sister. Finally, we assisted Mrs. Garcia and her sister in dealing with their mother’s housemate, who made claims concerning both the house and the personal property, in obtaining new homeowners insurance for the house and in dealing with the mortgage company holding the mortgage on the house to forestall foreclosure and obtain a novation agreement for Mrs. Garcia and her sister."
"You asked for an outline of the case. Mrs. Garcia and her sister came to us for help in getting title to their deceased mother’s house into their names. We opened a probate proceeding so we could publish notice to creditors. Because there were no estate assets other than the homestead and some exempt personal property, we were able to have all claims stricken. We also obtained an Order Determining Homestead in favor or Mrs. Garcia and her sister. Finally, we assisted Mrs. Garcia and her sister in dealing with their mother’s housemate, who made claims concerning both the house and the personal property, in obtaining new homeowners insurance for the house and in dealing with the mortgage company holding the mortgage on the house to forestall foreclosure and obtain a novation agreement for Mrs. Garcia and her sister."
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Monday, February 07, 2005
Following Up on the Gay Culture issue. I am challenged by Mathewes-Green's "gay rights" approach, which I discuss in the immediately preceding post. In another section of her Gender book, she refers to efforts she made to dialog with Pro-Choice advocates. She either created or promoted a group called "Common Ground" that sought a dialog between pro-life and pro-choice advocates. She apparently had some success with this.
In a recent talk that I heard Steve Covey make, he also talks about productive dialogs between pro-life and pro-choice advocates.
All weekend I was thinking about whether a similar dialog could be set up between "evangelical" Christians and "gay rights" advocates. (I put "evangelical" in quotes, because I am about to think that the word has no real utility any more, if it ever did. What's the matter with the descriptive of simply "Christian"? I remember 15 years ago thinking "born-again Christian" was either redundant or divisive, and I'm glad that this moniker has mostly passed out of usage. I am about to think "evangelical Christian" is similarly useless or even unhelpful and divisive.)
I know a lawyer here in Miami who is quite prominent in roughly the same area of law in which I practice. I have known him for many, many years on a professional basis. We are friendly, but the relationship is not one of friendship (or enmity). We just know and respect each other professionally. (Which, when I think about it, is no small thing.) This lawyer is prominent, even a leader, in the gay community. (I don't like the descriptive "gay" either. But "they" seem to like it. Maybe its Christian to refer to "them" with a descriptive that "they" are comfortable with. Wow - this word-choice matter is one to approach with great care, no?) My thinking is to call him up and suggest that we have lunch and see if there is any "common ground" as Mathewes-Green would say. This lawyer is culturally Jewish too.
I will post my progress.
In a recent talk that I heard Steve Covey make, he also talks about productive dialogs between pro-life and pro-choice advocates.
All weekend I was thinking about whether a similar dialog could be set up between "evangelical" Christians and "gay rights" advocates. (I put "evangelical" in quotes, because I am about to think that the word has no real utility any more, if it ever did. What's the matter with the descriptive of simply "Christian"? I remember 15 years ago thinking "born-again Christian" was either redundant or divisive, and I'm glad that this moniker has mostly passed out of usage. I am about to think "evangelical Christian" is similarly useless or even unhelpful and divisive.)
I know a lawyer here in Miami who is quite prominent in roughly the same area of law in which I practice. I have known him for many, many years on a professional basis. We are friendly, but the relationship is not one of friendship (or enmity). We just know and respect each other professionally. (Which, when I think about it, is no small thing.) This lawyer is prominent, even a leader, in the gay community. (I don't like the descriptive "gay" either. But "they" seem to like it. Maybe its Christian to refer to "them" with a descriptive that "they" are comfortable with. Wow - this word-choice matter is one to approach with great care, no?) My thinking is to call him up and suggest that we have lunch and see if there is any "common ground" as Mathewes-Green would say. This lawyer is culturally Jewish too.
I will post my progress.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Bookshelf Sightseeing. One of the many pleasures of visiting our children is the opportunity to look at the books on their bookshelves. Carol and I visited Walter and Morgan in Austin last weekend, and had such a good time. And I got to look at their books. Two of them I borrowed and brought home with me, both by Frederica Mathewes-Green. One is Gender: Men Women Sex Feminisim, which was published in 2002, and the other is Facing East A Pilgrim's Journey into the Mysteries of Orthodoxy, which was published in 1997. I read most of Gender last weekend and finished it today, so I'll discuss it briefly. (I'm looking forward to Facing East.)
I feel like I know Frederica, not only because of the honest and friendly way she writes, but we apparently are about the same age, both went to college about the same time, both are married for a long time, both have thought about the same issues as we grew older (she much more profoundly, obviously). I would really recommend Gender, not only because of the way she approaches headline issues - feminism, abortion, sex, children, marriage, homosexuality, but also because she is an articulate representative of our generation.
The Gender copy I just finished reading is Morgan's, and so I had the benefit of her underlinings. Its not like picking up and using someone else's toothbrush, but to read a book that somone else has obviously poured over and annotated is almost like sharing the reading experience. Time and time again, when I read a sentence of Frederica's that seemed so right about an issue, Morgan had underlined it. Carol and I are so blessed in our daughters-in-law!
Here are some things Frederica writes about:
Women have "the right to have our bodies left whole and healthy, unlatered for any goal of social engineering or impossible idea of beauty."
Women have "the right to be different from men". Not only that, she writes, "it seems more likely that gender differences are meant to fit together [as distinguished from being in conflict]." What a wise woman!
"[T]he fight against legal abotion cannot stand alone. If we could padlock all the abortion clinics tomorrow, we'd see the next morning a line 3200 women long, pounding on the door. We wouldn't have solved the problems that make their pregnancies seem unbearable. We wouldn't have changed the context that normalizes promiscuity and undermines a woman's authority to say no. We wouldn't have restored respect for the profession of mothering, or respect for fathering for that matter, so that men would be proud to love the moms and support the children whose lives they begin."
Getting close to home, she writes about the generation she and I share - raised as we were in the Ozzie and Harriet 50's. She points out that the fifties led to the sixties. "The kids that grew up in those tidy two-parent homes weren't out of their teens before they began doing all they could to overthrow that wholesome security. . . . Though there are many factors, one short response [to why we Yuppies turned out the way we did] might be: children received too much pampering attention."
She calls the process of child-rearing a "process of unlearning self-centeredness . . . a difficult, life-long one, elsewhere known as 'dying to self'. "
"Responsible parenting does not isolate children in a special protected sphere, but places them at Mom or Dad's knee learning daily the trades, chores, and skills of adulthood. . ."
Her chapter on the "gay threat to traditional marriage" (her quotes) is right on target. She sees homosexuality as a "spiritual hindrance for the people involved". But "if we [Christians] were so concerned about defending marriage, why weren't we talking about the most obvious threat: divorce? . . . And what about promiscuity?" She has more to say about the homosexual issue (for example, that it is an issue related to the transcendant issue of chastity and purity with which the hetereosexual community has so much difficulty). It it is so refreshing to read her evaluate this troubling matter. Its so good to move away with her from the "nurture vs. nature" arguments, the scriptural exegesis, the sort of judgmental positions many "evangelical" Christians take that seem so contrary to Jesus' example when he was dealing with those that his culture had singled out for special condemnation.
I could go on, but I will just end with saying that Gender is a book that is well worth reading. I am mailing Morgan's copy back to her this week. Maybe she will let you borrow her annotated copy.
I feel like I know Frederica, not only because of the honest and friendly way she writes, but we apparently are about the same age, both went to college about the same time, both are married for a long time, both have thought about the same issues as we grew older (she much more profoundly, obviously). I would really recommend Gender, not only because of the way she approaches headline issues - feminism, abortion, sex, children, marriage, homosexuality, but also because she is an articulate representative of our generation.
The Gender copy I just finished reading is Morgan's, and so I had the benefit of her underlinings. Its not like picking up and using someone else's toothbrush, but to read a book that somone else has obviously poured over and annotated is almost like sharing the reading experience. Time and time again, when I read a sentence of Frederica's that seemed so right about an issue, Morgan had underlined it. Carol and I are so blessed in our daughters-in-law!
Here are some things Frederica writes about:
Women have "the right to have our bodies left whole and healthy, unlatered for any goal of social engineering or impossible idea of beauty."
Women have "the right to be different from men". Not only that, she writes, "it seems more likely that gender differences are meant to fit together [as distinguished from being in conflict]." What a wise woman!
"[T]he fight against legal abotion cannot stand alone. If we could padlock all the abortion clinics tomorrow, we'd see the next morning a line 3200 women long, pounding on the door. We wouldn't have solved the problems that make their pregnancies seem unbearable. We wouldn't have changed the context that normalizes promiscuity and undermines a woman's authority to say no. We wouldn't have restored respect for the profession of mothering, or respect for fathering for that matter, so that men would be proud to love the moms and support the children whose lives they begin."
Getting close to home, she writes about the generation she and I share - raised as we were in the Ozzie and Harriet 50's. She points out that the fifties led to the sixties. "The kids that grew up in those tidy two-parent homes weren't out of their teens before they began doing all they could to overthrow that wholesome security. . . . Though there are many factors, one short response [to why we Yuppies turned out the way we did] might be: children received too much pampering attention."
She calls the process of child-rearing a "process of unlearning self-centeredness . . . a difficult, life-long one, elsewhere known as 'dying to self'. "
"Responsible parenting does not isolate children in a special protected sphere, but places them at Mom or Dad's knee learning daily the trades, chores, and skills of adulthood. . ."
Her chapter on the "gay threat to traditional marriage" (her quotes) is right on target. She sees homosexuality as a "spiritual hindrance for the people involved". But "if we [Christians] were so concerned about defending marriage, why weren't we talking about the most obvious threat: divorce? . . . And what about promiscuity?" She has more to say about the homosexual issue (for example, that it is an issue related to the transcendant issue of chastity and purity with which the hetereosexual community has so much difficulty). It it is so refreshing to read her evaluate this troubling matter. Its so good to move away with her from the "nurture vs. nature" arguments, the scriptural exegesis, the sort of judgmental positions many "evangelical" Christians take that seem so contrary to Jesus' example when he was dealing with those that his culture had singled out for special condemnation.
I could go on, but I will just end with saying that Gender is a book that is well worth reading. I am mailing Morgan's copy back to her this week. Maybe she will let you borrow her annotated copy.
Friday, February 04, 2005
Forgive me. But another self improvement story.
Back when the telegraph was the fastest method of long-distance communication, a young man applied for a job as a Morse Code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, busy office filled with noise and clatter, including the sound of the telegraph in the background. A sign on the receptionist's counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office.
The young man filled out his form and sat down with the seven other applicants in the waiting area. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. They muttered among themselves that they hadn't heard any summons yet.
They assumed that the young man who went into the office made a mistake and would be disqualified. Within a few minutes, however, the employer escorted the young man out of the office and said to the other applicants, "Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has just been filled." The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and one spoke up saying, "Wait a minute, I don't understand. He was the last to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That's not fair!"
The employer said, "I'm sorry, but the last several minutes while you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse Code: 'If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.' None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. The job is his. "
Back when the telegraph was the fastest method of long-distance communication, a young man applied for a job as a Morse Code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, busy office filled with noise and clatter, including the sound of the telegraph in the background. A sign on the receptionist's counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office.
The young man filled out his form and sat down with the seven other applicants in the waiting area. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. They muttered among themselves that they hadn't heard any summons yet.
They assumed that the young man who went into the office made a mistake and would be disqualified. Within a few minutes, however, the employer escorted the young man out of the office and said to the other applicants, "Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has just been filled." The other applicants began grumbling to each other, and one spoke up saying, "Wait a minute, I don't understand. He was the last to come in, and we never even got a chance to be interviewed. Yet he got the job. That's not fair!"
The employer said, "I'm sorry, but the last several minutes while you've been sitting here, the telegraph has been ticking out the following message in Morse Code: 'If you understand this message, then come right in. The job is yours.' None of you heard it or understood it. This young man did. The job is his. "
Religious Freedom on Campus. The Christian Legal Society has established a new, separate web-site called campusfreedom.org to address the legal issues that arise from restrictions on free assembly the some universities and colleges have imposed on voluntary Christian groups.
Walter and Effort. I have to respond to this Russian weight lifting turn that Walter has just lately taken, and it needs more than a comment on the immediately preceding post.
Obviously, this entire thing is mystifying to Sean and it would be to any reasonable person who has not known Walter as long as I have. I think the best way to help Sean and other reasonable people is to tell one of many stories about Walter that we refer to for reference when he does something out of the ordinary, which is not infrequent. (My mind goes to his announcement during one of his Spring breaks that he was going to go to Khazakstan the following summer, but I digress.)
Once upon a time Walter had a soccer coach who was a former Navy Seal. I think Walter was in the 9th grade. This coach, who sometime later was arrested for raising marijuana in his house with an elaborate hydroponics system, had the team run wind sprints before each practice, run them, and run them, and run them. Walter not only ran them and ran them, he ran them with such heedless determination that he broke both of his legs, with stress fractures.
My prayers are that he will not drop one of those things he is now lifting up in the air on his head or his foot, that he won't compress one or more vertebrae, and that he won't decide to take on this Jason fellow in a friendly boxing match. Please join me in those prayers.
Obviously, this entire thing is mystifying to Sean and it would be to any reasonable person who has not known Walter as long as I have. I think the best way to help Sean and other reasonable people is to tell one of many stories about Walter that we refer to for reference when he does something out of the ordinary, which is not infrequent. (My mind goes to his announcement during one of his Spring breaks that he was going to go to Khazakstan the following summer, but I digress.)
Once upon a time Walter had a soccer coach who was a former Navy Seal. I think Walter was in the 9th grade. This coach, who sometime later was arrested for raising marijuana in his house with an elaborate hydroponics system, had the team run wind sprints before each practice, run them, and run them, and run them. Walter not only ran them and ran them, he ran them with such heedless determination that he broke both of his legs, with stress fractures.
My prayers are that he will not drop one of those things he is now lifting up in the air on his head or his foot, that he won't compress one or more vertebrae, and that he won't decide to take on this Jason fellow in a friendly boxing match. Please join me in those prayers.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
The Russian Kettlebell Challenge
I'm getting too big for this blog.
My core muscles scream in unison for more iron.
the source of my inner strength.
Comrades, back me up here!
I'm getting too big for this blog.
My core muscles scream in unison for more iron.
the source of my inner strength.
Comrades, back me up here!
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Monday, January 31, 2005
The High Cost of Democracy. Over on Sean's blog, he makes the point that the Bush administration made a lot of mistakes in preparing for and handling the invasion of Iraq and its occupation. He is also troubled that no one in the administration seems ready to admit that they made some very important mistakes. I agree that the administration made a lot of mistakes. Its possible that people in the administration are ready to admit them, but I haven't heard any mea culpas. Maybe its too early. Maybe its hubris.
There is an excellent opinion piece in the WSJ today, and you don't have to be a subscriber to read it. Its called A Time for Humility and is written by Eliot A. Cohen. Its about Iraq, and the title speaks for itself. Its well worth reading. The author enumerates many of the mistakes that the Bush administration made.
War is a very blunt instrument of foreign policy. Furthermore, it is an instrument in the hands of "government" and "government" is by its very nature exceedingly inefficient, which is why we want to keep it small. But if you have a very high view of government, if you are a positivist, as most Democrats are, then it is exceedingly upsetting to see the sorts of mistakes that the Bush administration made and those mistake are grounds for resounding, even righteous condemnation. If you are a positivist, you believe not only that government should have done better, it could have done better.
But if one has a low view of government, then you, instead, marvel that anything positive was accomplished at all, and, instead of roundly condemning the players, President Bush, Ms. Rice, Mr. Rumsfeld, you begin to admire them for taking into their hands a very difficult task, using the blunt instrument of war, the corrupted nature of politics, and, with God's help, accomplishing something that may be doing some good.
Speaking of how government works, whether in Republican or Democratic hands, somehow Brenner's administration in Iraq lost track of $8 billion. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.
There is an excellent opinion piece in the WSJ today, and you don't have to be a subscriber to read it. Its called A Time for Humility and is written by Eliot A. Cohen. Its about Iraq, and the title speaks for itself. Its well worth reading. The author enumerates many of the mistakes that the Bush administration made.
War is a very blunt instrument of foreign policy. Furthermore, it is an instrument in the hands of "government" and "government" is by its very nature exceedingly inefficient, which is why we want to keep it small. But if you have a very high view of government, if you are a positivist, as most Democrats are, then it is exceedingly upsetting to see the sorts of mistakes that the Bush administration made and those mistake are grounds for resounding, even righteous condemnation. If you are a positivist, you believe not only that government should have done better, it could have done better.
But if one has a low view of government, then you, instead, marvel that anything positive was accomplished at all, and, instead of roundly condemning the players, President Bush, Ms. Rice, Mr. Rumsfeld, you begin to admire them for taking into their hands a very difficult task, using the blunt instrument of war, the corrupted nature of politics, and, with God's help, accomplishing something that may be doing some good.
Speaking of how government works, whether in Republican or Democratic hands, somehow Brenner's administration in Iraq lost track of $8 billion. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.
Democracy in Iraq:
The WSJ posts exerpts (here for subscribers) from bloggers in Iraq, recounting observations and moods from yesterday's historic election.
This exerpt below was particularly interesting to me. It reminded me of our own freedom and how it is often taken for granted.
Several bloggers posted pictures of Iraqis proudly displaying their ink-stained fingers (the ink was used at polling places to prevent people from voting more than once). From I Should Have Stayed Home, written by two Americans in Iraq: "The permanent ink that so many people were afraid of is being worn as a mark of pride by every single person I have seen in the streets. They hold up their fingers to show that they voted." According to Iraq the Model, one of the more popular Iraqi blogs: "Everyone we saw was holding up his blue tipped finger with broad smiles on the faces while walking out of the [polling] center." And on Kurdo's World, "Kurdo" writes, "In Kurdistan and Iraq now, people check others' index fingers: 'Oh you have a normal finger?!! How come it is not blue?! You are not democratic at all.'"
The WSJ posts exerpts (here for subscribers) from bloggers in Iraq, recounting observations and moods from yesterday's historic election.
This exerpt below was particularly interesting to me. It reminded me of our own freedom and how it is often taken for granted.
Several bloggers posted pictures of Iraqis proudly displaying their ink-stained fingers (the ink was used at polling places to prevent people from voting more than once). From I Should Have Stayed Home, written by two Americans in Iraq: "The permanent ink that so many people were afraid of is being worn as a mark of pride by every single person I have seen in the streets. They hold up their fingers to show that they voted." According to Iraq the Model, one of the more popular Iraqi blogs: "Everyone we saw was holding up his blue tipped finger with broad smiles on the faces while walking out of the [polling] center." And on Kurdo's World, "Kurdo" writes, "In Kurdistan and Iraq now, people check others' index fingers: 'Oh you have a normal finger?!! How come it is not blue?! You are not democratic at all.'"
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Look Sharp. Two lumberjacks compete in a tree-cutting contest. Both were strong and determined, hoping to win the prize. But one was hardworking and ambitious, chopping down every tree in his path at the greatest pace possible, while the other appeared to be a little more laid back, methodically felling tress and pacing himself. The go-geter worked all day, skipping his lunch break, expecting that his superior effort would be rewarded. His opponent, however, took an hour-long lunch, then resumed his steady pace. In the end, the eager beaver was dismayed to lose to his "lazier" competition. Thinking he deserved to win after his hard work, he finally approached his opponent and said, "I just don't understand. I worked longer and harder than you and went hungry to get ahead. You took a break, and yet you still won. It just doesn't seem fair. Where did I go wrong?" The winner responded, "While I was taking my lunch break, I was sharpening my ax."
[This is an old, old story, but maybe it is new to you. This version of it was in a column appearing in Miami Today this week by Harvey Mackay.]
[This is an old, old story, but maybe it is new to you. This version of it was in a column appearing in Miami Today this week by Harvey Mackay.]
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
From Drudge: Hillary seeks common ground on Abortion
"Proposing new political language about abortion rights for an increasingly skittish Democratic Party, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that friends and foes on the issue should come together on 'common ground' to reduce the number of 'unwanted pregnancies' and ultimately abortions, which she called a 'sad, even tragic choice to many, many women.' Clinton, in a speech to about 1,000 abortion rights supporters at the state Capitol, firmly restated her support for Roe v. Wade. But then she offered warm words to opponents of abortion and said that faith and organized religion were the ‘primary’ reasons teenagers abstained from sexual relations...."
My analysis/comments:
1. It seems at least someone in the Democratic Party finally realizes that the road to the White House is closer to the middle of the ideological road. Hillary seems to be trying to soften her tone in prep for 2008. She can make these statements without fear of losing her base.
2. Her language reminds me of President Bush's comments on the campaign trail in 2000, where he states that even reasonable people can disagree on this issue, yet can work together towards "common ground."
3. If "choice" reigns, why do we as a society want to limit the number of abortions? It seems that God's common grace reminds us that ultimately, this act is "sad, even tragic."
4. Speaking of "choice," I wonder when we'll hear more of adoption and abstinence as viable choices? But it's not really about choice. It's now an industry.
5. "Last week, Norma McCorvey, the woman known as 'Jane Roe' in Roe v. Wade, asked the Supreme Court to overturn its 1973 decision." -WSJ 1/24/05. Interesting, but Norma's pro-life stance rarely receives any press.
Outside of the political rhetoric, I mourn for our society that has slipped (even leapt) away from a culture of life.
"Proposing new political language about abortion rights for an increasingly skittish Democratic Party, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that friends and foes on the issue should come together on 'common ground' to reduce the number of 'unwanted pregnancies' and ultimately abortions, which she called a 'sad, even tragic choice to many, many women.' Clinton, in a speech to about 1,000 abortion rights supporters at the state Capitol, firmly restated her support for Roe v. Wade. But then she offered warm words to opponents of abortion and said that faith and organized religion were the ‘primary’ reasons teenagers abstained from sexual relations...."
My analysis/comments:
1. It seems at least someone in the Democratic Party finally realizes that the road to the White House is closer to the middle of the ideological road. Hillary seems to be trying to soften her tone in prep for 2008. She can make these statements without fear of losing her base.
2. Her language reminds me of President Bush's comments on the campaign trail in 2000, where he states that even reasonable people can disagree on this issue, yet can work together towards "common ground."
3. If "choice" reigns, why do we as a society want to limit the number of abortions? It seems that God's common grace reminds us that ultimately, this act is "sad, even tragic."
4. Speaking of "choice," I wonder when we'll hear more of adoption and abstinence as viable choices? But it's not really about choice. It's now an industry.
5. "Last week, Norma McCorvey, the woman known as 'Jane Roe' in Roe v. Wade, asked the Supreme Court to overturn its 1973 decision." -WSJ 1/24/05. Interesting, but Norma's pro-life stance rarely receives any press.
Outside of the political rhetoric, I mourn for our society that has slipped (even leapt) away from a culture of life.
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Citations.
An article on the church in Mongolia
A review of a new book by Richard Mouw, Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport.
An article on the church in Mongolia
A review of a new book by Richard Mouw, Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
The Dorm as Brothel and Naked Parties. For an essay that contains far more intelligent and thoughtful comments than my post below about the Charlotte Simmons issue, see this excellent article by Professor Vigen Guroian of Loyola College in Baltimore.
And read this excellent comment on Professor Gurorian's essay by Frederica Mathewes Green, the author of Gender: Men, Women, Sex, and Feminism (Conciliar, 2002). (Among other things, Ms. Green suggests that the growing incidence of lesbianism on college campuses may have arisen as a defense mechanism to the compulsory nature of "hooking up", etc.)
And read this excellent comment on Professor Gurorian's essay by Frederica Mathewes Green, the author of Gender: Men, Women, Sex, and Feminism (Conciliar, 2002). (Among other things, Ms. Green suggests that the growing incidence of lesbianism on college campuses may have arisen as a defense mechanism to the compulsory nature of "hooking up", etc.)
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