Sunday can be the Cruelest Day

I know it is not supposed to be, and as it dawns there is still the joy of week ending. But as it grows older, the work week and everything left to be done looms larger and larger.

Here is scripture for such a Sunday afternoon:

Isaiah 40: 27 - 31

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and complain, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Philippians 4: 4 - 9

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

A Stroller Full of Toys

When Carol and I lived in New York City the second year of our marriage, we subscribed to the New York Magazine. One cover I will never forget was that of a baby stroller not carrying a baby but brochures for trips to Europe, a Walkman and other consumer electronic devices, tickets to Broadway shows, and the like. The point was, of course, that instead of spending money on raising children, young marrieds were putting their dollars into "stuff". (Back then, we got married. We divorced, but we got married again. We divorced. We remarried. Again and again. We were so moral.)

The still-new birth control pill and, later, outright legal abortion, kept the ankle-biters out of the way. More and more young people left off the marriage rituals (really, what's the point?) and then some of them avoided having to deal with the opposite sex altogether (it can be quite trying) and made their unions with a partner who mirrored themselves. We can condemn these people all we want, I suppose, but without assigning a very high value to having children (through procreation or adoption), does it really make that much difference?

Mark Styne writes in the National Review Online:

For much of the developed world, the "credit crunch", the debt burden, and the rest are not part of a cyclical economic downturn but the first manifestations of an existential crisis.

The existential crisis to which he refers are the aging populations in the developed world that have not reproduced themselves. Michigan, where health care is now the leading economic sector, may well be a straw in the wind. As Michigan goes, so goes the country?

17th Century Nun's Prayer

Lord, Thou knowest better than I know myself, that I am growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion. Release me from craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all, but Thou knowest Lord that I want a few friends at the end.

Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains. They are increasing, and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others' pains, but help me to endure them with patience.

I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessing cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a Saint - some of them are so hard to live with - but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people. And, give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so.

AMEN

Carol and I attended Georgia Nelson's funeral service early this afternoon. One of her daughters-in-law read this prayer; it was framed and hung in Georgia and Cliff's bedroom. We learned something more of Georgia in finding out that this was a favorite of hers. We learned that she knew herself pretty well. Georgia and Cliff were members of our church from the time we first joined it.

So Much for a Quick Recovery - But We Knew That

Homeowners’ equity fell to 41.4 percent of the total value of household real estate at the end of the first quarter of 2009. This percentage has decreased sharply since the end of 2005. It first fell below 50 in the fourth quarter of 2007 – marking the first time that homeowners’ mortgage debts exceeded their equity in their homes since 1945, when the Fed’s data begin.

-from an article by Kerry A. Lynch written for the American Institute for Economic Research

It was, of course, the equity in American homes that powered our consumer-spending driven economy. That equity reflected the inflated prices of those homes, as new buyers entered the marketplace and drove up those prices. Many of those new buyers were armed by the government's easy money policy that permitted substandard loans. The loan money was then recycled, thanks to the creative and completly unregulated greed of Wall Street, through its packaging of those substandard loans and selling them to the world. The world bought those loans, because they were insured by the likes of AIG.

As the graph indicates, the equity is in a state of free-fall decline.

My idea is to place a giant laser in space, and direct it back at the East Coast so as, first, to cut away Washington DC, using the belt-way as the cut-away point. Then we do the same with Manhattan, using the East and Hudson Rivers as our guides there. This will allow both pieces of real estate to float east, across the Atlantic, where they can be joined with Europe. Those people on that real estate will be happy, and the rest of us left behind will be happy. Then, maybe we will have half a chance of fixing this mess.

UPDATE:

While we're at it, take a look at this graph regarding Michigan's unemployment.




Thanks to theblogprof by way of Instapundit.

The Word on Harry Potter

" . . . a callow student with prodigious wizard gifts and little discernable personality."

Now and then the New York Times gets it right.

UPDATE: Did Rene Rodriquez see the same movie?

Also: They are showing this thing at the IMAX in 3D already.

The Stimulus

How could this happen [i.e., the economy being worse than you think] when Washington has thrown trillions of dollars into the pot, including the famous $787 billion in stimulus spending that was supposed to yield $1.50 in growth for every dollar spent? For a start, too much of the money went to transfer payments such as Medicaid, jobless benefits and the like that do nothing for jobs and growth. The spending that creates new jobs is new spending, particularly on infrastructure. It amounts to less than 10% of the stimulus package today.

-Mort Zuckerman today in the WSJ. Zuckerman is the Chairman and CEO of U.S.News & World Report. He is also a frequent panelist on the McLaughlin Group program on NPR, which Carol and I watch often. He usually sits to the right of Mr. McLaughlin, which makes him to the left of the viewer. This is appropriate, because that side of the two sided panel is the pro-Democrat side. He is a wise man, but completely missed the mark on Obama.

Heroism Along US 27

We know the place below Clewiston where this accident took place. Makes you feel good to read about these young men and their coach.

UPDATE: Sad.

Go, Dawgs!

In the House, there is more chaos. Commerce committee Chairman Henry Waxman has delayed the health care markup he had planned for this week, giving the administration and House leaders a chance to win over balky Blue Dog Democrats.

-Michael Barone, describing Chaos on Capitol Hill.

Michigan's Largest Employment Sector is now . . .

Health care. And it's not doing very well, according to a front page article in the WSJ.

"Augmented Reality"

This NYT article today discusses technology developments that would allow one to look through the camera feature on his iPhone and see notes on the various objects within that view, restaurants for example. Or, in medicine, projections of the x-ray on the body of the patient under examination.

Palin May be on to Something

The Washington Times reports that she may campaign for "conservative" Democrats. In my layman's view, there is no way that the Bush/McCain approach will fly ever again - the Republican party really showed us its all about big government. Obama is more of the same, much more, but of the same. Time for a third way, and my thinking is that it will come out of the Democratic party. Whether it will come all the way out into a third party remains to be seen. But Palin as the vanguard for this movement is a fascinating idea. She seems to inspire such fear and loathing in the sectors that have brought us to the sorry pass in which we find ourselves that she could be on to something very important.

Fertilizer Bin for the Dove Avenue Plantation

Banana plants are voracious eaters. I bought fifty pounds of a special banana mix fertilizer, and we're looking for a bin to keep the stuff in. Carol had this idea. My idea was this one.

Cap-and-Trade vs. Carbon Tax

If the federal government is to regulate carbon emissions, then a carbon tax, under certain important conditions, is much more attractive than the cap-and-trade scheme, at least according to this economist. He makes a lot of sense to me.

Happy Birthday, Calvin!

In the rise of your university education . . . in the decentralized . . . character of your local governments . . . in your championship of free speech, and in your unlimited regard for freedom of conscience; in all this . . . it is demonstrable that you owe this to Calvinism and to Calvinism alone.

-Abraham Kuyper, in his Lectures on Calvinism given at Princeton Seminary in October 1898, as quoted by John Piper in "America's Debt to John Calvin" in the July 4, 2009 issue of World Magazine.

The 13 Articles of Faith

Yesterday, I met with a friend who is a Jewish lawyer and a man of faith, albeit that of a Conservative Jew. I remarked to him that I had attended recently a funeral at a Reformed temple and that the rabbis who officiated, although they said sympathetic things about the decedent and attempted to be comforting to the mourners in their loss, at the same time seemed absolutely intent on denying that the decedent had an immortal soul and that there was at least a possibility of her spending eternity with God. I said to my friend that the only mention of an after-life came during the eulogies from family and friends, where people gave heart-felt witness to their hope of the decedent being in heaven and their seeing her again some day.

My friend said, in so many words, that the rabbis there weren't really rabbis in his opinion, and that being a Jew included the belief in one's immortal soul. He referred to Moses Maidmonides, and his 13 Articles of Faith. He saw belief in those articles as an indicator of whether one is really a Jew. For him, it seemed a sort of litmus test, not unlike our Apostle's Creed. Among the 13 is the belief in the resurrection of the dead.

As I considered the 13 Articles, I thought how close we Christians come to being inside the circle my friend and Maidmonides would draw around true Judaism. Or maybe I should say how close to salavation through Jesus Christ are those who are inside that circle. In discussing with Van last Sunday the matter of where righteous Jews are with respect to salvation (yes, I know that no one is "righteous, not even one" but you know what I mean), he said he was loathe to say that they are not saved, but he would absolutely affirm that if they are (and we hope that they are, surely) then it is only by Christ's blood that they are.

I like that expansive view of God's grace through Jesus Christ. It makes me no less adamant about sharing the Gospel, about the need to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. But it gives me the sort of hope that enables me to share the Gospel with anyone without an underlying suggestion of severity and self-righteous judgement.

(On the trip that Mary, Carol and I took to Spain in 2007, we visited Maimonides birthplace, Cordova, and toured an ancient synagogue there.)

From "a remote fishing village 30 miles north of the Arctic Circle"

Sarah Palin comments on her withdrawal speech of a few days ago.

People keep comparing her to Ronald Reagan. That's fine, I guess, but if we have to search for a male-actor metaphor, I say it's John Wayne.

David Booth talks about Retirement and Investing

Just to let you know we are keeping an eye on this subject.

Miami Cop-turned-Doctor partners with the Miami Rescue Mission

From the Miami Herald. A great story. Our church has supported the Miami Rescue Mission for many, many years. My childhood church, Central Baptist, was a big supporter of the Mission. Now this doctor, a son of the Cuban diaspora, teams with the Mission to do good with the Mission's recently opened medical clinic.

It's 4th of July Weekend. What do Vegans Bar-B-Que?

(Those are fresh pineapple slices on the right. Marinated in balsamic vinegar)

How Goes the Plantation?

Compare.

UPDATE: Last night I heard something in the backyard. It awakened me from a deep sleep. I walked out on the porch and looked over at the banana plants. Something was being sprinkled on them that reflected the moonlight. The plants began to turn in their beds, began to spin, the leaves like so many rotors on a helicopter. I felt just the slightest lurch and the entire lot was being lifted up. And up. And up. Soon we were moving across Miami Springs, the plants still spinning. We circled downtown and then came back, settling back in the blank space that we had left at 1190 Dove. It reminds me of what happened to our camper years ago, when the Magic Chicken took us all for a ride while we were on a camping trip.

The Kindle, its iPhone App, and a Free Francis Schaeffer Book

It's probably not news to anyone carrying an iPhone that there is a free app available that will turn the device into a Kindle. (And it will do it for the iTouch too.) I have had the Kindle 2.0 for several months now, and I have enjoyed it. I am still not sure that it is worth the initial cost, however. And certain kinds books I still prefer to read in hard copy, for one or more reasons.

For example, if it's a book I think Carol would like, then I would prefer to have the hard copy so I can give it to her. The same goes for books that I think other people among the kith and kin might like too.

On the other hand, certain reading seems very good to have available "inside" the Kindle: I really enjoy the WSJ showing up every day on it, and I like it for certain kinds of reference books, although there is still a limited supply of those kinds of books available in eBook form.

But if one already has an iPhone (or an iTouch), one bypasses the entry cost imposed by the Kindle device. So why not use the iPhone for those kinds of books that you are ready not to have on your bookshelf for Dad to borrow when he's in town?

Francis Schaeffer is a beloved writer with some of the kin and maybe some of the kith too. Amazon is offering without charge in eBook form Schaeffer's No Little People. (Obviously a title selected before the Hobbit craze, and a little unfortunate, don't you think?) The book is a series of his sermons.

There are a number of free eBooks out there, and I have downloaded several. One source of information about eBooks that will let you know about the latest free eBook offer is Books on the Knob, , which describes itself as a blog that deals with Bargain reads, book reviews, the Amazon Kindle and some games, technology and computers tossed in now and then. This is where I heard about the Francis Schaeffer offer.

UPDATE: On Kindle and the iPhone, take a look at this title.

Sammie Died Today

She was 98 years old, and full of feist. The widow of an Eastern Air Lines radio man, she'd lived in the same house here in Miami Springs for probably 60 years. She always sat in one of the back pews of the church. She was quite deaf these last several years. I would walk by her and say, "Hi, Sammie!," and over my shoulder I would hear her say, "Oh, the big lawyer's too proud to say hello to an old lady." I would turn around and say, "Sammie, I said hello, you just didn't hear me. And I don't see any old lady anyway." She would be smiling at me, and I thought to myself, "If you know she can't hear a thing, why did you just throw a hello at her and walk by? She may be right, you know." But that smile told me that she knew that I just forgot. Again.

She was good friends with my mom, and they played bridge. She only stopped driving three weeks ago. Snap. Another link to Mom, to Eastern Air Lines, to Dad, to my growing up in Miami Springs, to the past, goes. She joins that "cloud of witnesses" and gets her hearing back today. It's really Independence Day for her. Trade in that tired old body for a new and perfect one. Not bad.

She wouldn't have anyone live with her, nor would she move to Epworth. Her daughter lives three hours away, near Vero Beach. But Sammie let Corina help her, another lady at our church who is a CNA ("Certified Nurse's Aide"). Corina would come by several days a week, drive her a bit, fix her meals, help her bathe. just enough assistance to let her continue to live by herself.

This morning we were in the church parking lot, decorating Rick's pick-up truck for the church's "float" for the parade, when Liz, the church secretary, came out to tell me that Corina had been calling Sammie's house and not getting answer for the last 24 hours (and you get no answer when you call a deaf person). She had gone by her house this morning. The paper was still in the front yard, the door was locked, and Sammie didn't answer the door. Corina didn't have a key, but Liz had one in the church office and Corina was coming to the church. Would I go back with Corina and see what was going on? I knew that nothing was going on, because I was sure Sammie had gone on. Everybody knew that right away.

We got in, and Corina went into Sammie's bedroom, and she was under the covers and not breathing. We called 911, the police came, the EMT people. I went into Sammie's little kitchen, Thursday's paper was open to the crossword puzzle, and it was half completed, the pen laid down right beside it. Did Sammie get up in the middle of it, feeling poorly, and gone back to bed? My guess, anyway. The crossword puzzle was being solved answer after answer - not like I do them (when I do them). I fill in an answer here, then I stumble through several questions, and may come up with an answer there. Then I get frustrated and quit. Sammie was answering that crossword puzzle, answer by answer. She was sharp.

I really get frustrated with our little church. What exactly do we do for the Kingdom, I ask? We barely hold ourselves together. We've been barely holding ourselves together for years and years and years. Our "programs" limp along; the preacher is a good guy, but not near a spellbinder and not good at organization, just a man of God, loves his family, tough in a quiet way, but just not bringing them in, you know. But Carol and I have been there now since 1973, God led us there a couple of months before our baby died, and those people were there for us. And we've had the privilege to see the generations ahead of us move through middle age and beyond. And beyond, and find ourselves middle aged now, and young people coming up behind. It is a wonderful thing in rootless South Florida to have this community that the Holy Spirit has bound together so wonderfully. I'll see Sammie again. I'm happy here right now, but I'll see Sammie and the rest again. It will be great.

"Brave Republicans" Who Voted for the Climate-Change Bill in the House

But the fact remains; the climate bill never would have made it out of the house, if it weren’t for eight brave Republicans: Reichert (WA) Bono Mack (CA), Castle (DE), Kirk (IL), Lance (NJ), LoBiondo (NJ), McHugh (NY), Reichert (WA), Smith (NJ).

-According to this person.

Here's a more interesting analysis of the voting. All but one of those Republicans were from districts that went for Obama during the Presidential election. Such bravery!

My guy Walt Minnick voted against it. Minnick represents a district that went for McCain.

He Shines in All That's Fair

Carol and I saw Pixar's "Up" last night. What a charming movie! And what a remarkable example of God's Common Grace, coming as it does from Hollywood to a theater near you.

Maybe Not So Much an "Infomercial"

President Obama struggled to explain today whether his health care reform proposals would force normal Americans to make sacrifices that wealthier, more powerful people — like the president himself — wouldn’t face.

The probing questions came from two skeptical neurologists during ABC News’ special on health care reform, “Questions for the President: Prescription for America,” anchored from the White House by Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson.

Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a neurologist and researcher at the New York University Langone Medical Center, said that elites often propose health care solutions that limit options for the general public, secure in the knowledge that if they or their loves ones get sick, they will be able to afford the best care available, even if it’s not provided by insurance.

Devinsky asked the president pointedly if he would be willing to promise that he wouldn’t seek such extraordinary help for his wife or daughters if they became sick and the public plan he’s proposing limited the tests or treatment they can get.

The president refused to make such a pledge, though he allowed that if “it’s my family member, if it’s my wife, if it’s my children, if it’s my grandmother, I always want them to get the very best care.

-From this discussion of the President's appearance on ABC tv last week to discuss his health care proposals.

At least credit the President for honesty on this issue. The fact is this: there is a scarcity of health-care services. If that were not the case, then they would all be free. So is the question, then, how are we distribute those scarce resources? If that is the question, then we could answer, "To those who need them," but this begs the question. How do we know who needs them? With government health care, those scarce resources are allocated by the government. Government will make the decisions and not "the market," another name for "the people." Government is not good at allocating resources.

But even the question - how are we to distribute scarce health care resources? - is not exactly right. The question assumes that the quantity and quality of health care services is fixed. ("Quality" is another way of describing "quantity" when one deals with "services." A "service," in the technical sense of that word, should the mean the "quality" provision of resources, because if it isn't, it is no service at all, but something that displaces true service.) The fact is that the quantity of health care services is not fixed; it is dynamic. A health care system that does not increase the health care services pie is a bad health care system. One that shrinks it, is worse than bad.

The fact that Obama's children may get better health care services than everyone else within a five mile radius of the White House is not necessarily bad. In a way, rich people are "early adopters." They lead the way in assessing new ideas coming into the health care system. The rest of the market, if it is a free one, will go to work on standardizing what Obama's kids get and then reducing the cost so that the rest of our kids will have a better chance of getting that treatment. The problem with the health care reform that the left-wing Democrats appear to propose is that it will suck the freedom out of that market.

And it is worth mentioning that the general attack of the left-wing Dems on the free market threatens health care. As they lard our economy with regulation, taxes, and government debt, they take the oxygen out of the market place everywhere. By doing such great harm to our economy generally, the left-wing reduces any chance that health care services will grow to meet demand.

"Definitely Ideal for Senior Citizens or those with Disabilities" BINGO!

I am abandoning my Palm Treo as my mobile phone. It does a good job of synching Time Matters, but it is awful as a phone. At least so it is for me, as one who is increasingly challenged by electronic devices (not to mention . . . life). The little keyboard is simply too small for my fingers, I have difficulty making calls when I want to, I inadvertantly make calls when I don't want to, and I am always challenged when a call comes in about how, exactly, one answers the phone. You also have to take the battery out of it to turn it completely off. I am going to keep it as an old fashioned PDA, but good-bye to the phone "capability."

So, what is my new mobile phone? The new iPhone? Blackberry?

The Pantech Breeze. As CNET reports:

The Pantech Breeze is definitely ideal for senior citizens and those with disabilities . . .

It has BIG KEYS. That's the main thing. And the keys "click." It turns off on its own. It has three buttons at the top for speed dialing. There is a button dedicated to "answering" a call. There is a button dedicated to "ending" a call (which I once knew as "hanging up" but I am carrying a card around that reminds me that "ending" means "hanging up." The only difficulty with the "ending" key is that its symbol is in the color red, so I can't see the symbol. But I will remember it as the "blank" button.) I think this will work for me.

This phone has other interesting features. Chief among them is that when I am next with my children, I will be able to take the phone out when they are with their friends, and be able to embarrass them. I hope to first do this at a Starbucks or a Whole Foods Store.

The CNET review of the phone linked to above has the phone in white. Mine is in gray. That just seemed right to me.

My Friend's New Ferrari

The other night after a business meeting, a friend who was a participant took me out the street to show me his new Ferrari. I don't know how much those things cost, but it looked very expensive. My friend is "doing well" in his business, and I am happy about that.

But as I looked at the car, I thought about alternate uses for the money that went into the car. Immediately a prayer lept to my consciousness. "Lord, I thank you that I am not like my friend."

Ooops. (See Luke 18:9-14)

As I read Steve's last email, I thought about how much it takes to feed that boy about whom he writes. Probably about what it costs me to park my car for an hour downtown here. I live in the same never-never land as my friend with the Ferrari.

Out of which land the Lord is continuing to call me. Sometimes I listen.

Steve's Most Recent Email

Steve Peifer's most recent email is the following, entitled "Fear." All of his emails are good, but this one really struck me.

Recently Korean missionaries were targeted in a country north of here, and several were killed. All of them were known by our students whose parents work in that country. None of our students' parents were killed, but the game you can play with yourself that it is all ok and you aren't in danger being here, came unglued. The next day you could tell every kid that was from that country; the fear was all over them. Their parents were in danger, and that was the reality of the choices they had made to share the gospel.

I was at one of the schools I work with in the valley, and I was trying to film the students about using computers, and it wasn't coming together. After three tries with three students where I could get nothing but a yes or no out of them, I asked the computer teacher why they were acting like that. She told me that there was no food in most of their homes, and school was ending soon, and that the lunch at school was the only food they got in a day.

Then she asked me, very gently, if I had ever been hungry.

I told her no, I had never been hungry.

She told me that if you had ever been hungry, and you knew you would be again, it was the worst feeling you could imagine. The fear would grab a hold of you and not let go.

The reason the children were not helping was because they were wrapped up in the fear of being hungry.

I thought about this all weekend. On Sunday, my daughter had asked if we could go into town and watch the Hannah Montana movie. (Ben threw up in his mouth when I asked him if he wanted to go) As we sat in that awful movie, with her sitting eagerly at the edge of her seat, I thought about the unusual path that it took for us to have a daughter.

Having a daughter has helped me face all the awful things I've seen in Kenya. Love is the only thing that can help you face fear. And love is the only thing that makes you want to fight for those who don't have a voice or a chance.

I'm so grateful that love is greater than fear.

Your pal

s

More about Steve here.

I think I was right with my Iran solution.

Four years ago I proposed that our bombers fly over Iran, dropping thousands of iPods. My idea was that the Western culture soon thereafter would so infect the country that the mullahs would be overthrown. Something like that may be actually happening. See this opinion piece in the WSJ.

The problem with my idea was that it assumed that our government would undertake this program. Of course it didn't, wouldn't, couldn't, whatever. But the market undertook the program with similar although more extensive and advanced communications technology.

Now let's wait for the rest of the dictatorships to morph into something tolerable. Maybe we won't have to wait long unless, as China is doing with Google and Yahoo, the tyrannical governments figure out how to seize the viral information systems.

Governor Sanford of South Carolina

Good grief! And I thought that he was one of the good guys! What a disappointment.

Bernie Kosar's Journey

With Carol's mom, we attended the 1984 Orange Bowl Game when Bernie Kosar led the 'Canes, coached by the great Howard Schnellenberger, to an upset victory over the Cornhuskers and the national title. Kosar declared bankruptcy recently, and the Herald spotlighted his troubles in this article on Sunday. Here is a morality tale of a good man pulled down by a special sort of hubris. I think he will get back up from all of this an even better man. The article hints that he may have spiritual resources.

"Advancing a Dependency Agenda"

A good discussion of the health care matter by George Will.

The Father Metaphor

The Bible makes liberal use of metaphors to show God's truth. Jesus as a Shepherd comes to mind. Hosea's unfaithful wife as a metaphor for wayward Israel. And there's the Church as the Bride of Christ. What strikes me today is the "Father Metaphor." Jesus, when asked by his disciples about how they should pray, begins "Our Father . . . " So, we have God as Father: that could be quite a metaphor to confront for those of us men who have children.

For the Father Metaphor, I think, works both ways. The standard use of it is that the Lord God, in his great love for us, is like the perfect human father. That metaphorical use works for us who have had good fathers, as we try to understand God's character. (But what of those of us whose earthly fathers were not good fathers?)

On the other hand, maybe the Father Metaphor works the other way and would apply regardless of how our earthly fathers measured up. That is, God, in his relationship to us is the true father. In the reverse metaphor, God as father is the reality, but the relationship of us men to our offspring is something else. The ideal of our relationship to our children should be like the way God fathers us. God's love for us, then, is the standard to which we are to be held in respect to how we treat our children. Maybe that's the hidden point of the "Our Father . . . " metaphor.

So when I think of myself as a "father" on this Fathers Day, it is a challenging and disturbing thing, at least in part. How like the Father am I? In this respect "Fathers Day" presents us dads with a challenge as well as a celebration, or so it seems to me.

Sizing up Western New York

We were talking to Sam and Lisa Reyes at our church a week or so ago. They and their four children have been part of our congregation for the least five years, while Sam was doing an ENT residency at the University of Miami Medical School. Sam went to the University of Buffalo Medical School and met Lisa during that period - she was a med student too, and her family is from Buffalo. Now they are moving back to Buffalo, where Sam will join an ENT group there. We hate to see them go, but we were talking to them about the sights in their part of NY, as Mary will not be far away from Buffalo when she goes to the University of Rochester medical school.

Sam and Lisa said that they were avid campers in NY and their favorite place to go was Letchworth State Park. The park looks very attractive, and it's not far from Rochester.

They also said that on almost every camping trip to Letchworth, they were sure to make a visit to the Valley Inn in Warsaw, NY, where there's a great chef. The Valley Inn is a bed-and-breakfast, and looks like it would be a great jumping off place to Letchworth State Park if one were not intending to camp.

Healthy Journey Onward

Going here tonight with some friends.

Important Goat Information

Here. Thanks, Glenn.

Now, what was your problem again?

Blind young pianist wins Van Cliburn Piano Competition.

More Fun in the Sun (SoBe), Opening Coconuts . . . and then Done :(

Fun in the Sun!

The Crandon Park Beach on Thursday and the Everglades today.

OH, Gross!

So, my children, my adorable children (see the pictures) have been dealing with pin worms. Did you know that this is one of the most common worm infections in the U.S.? Did you know that the human is the only natural host, so the worms don't usually spread to animals? Did you know that the eggs, which are microscopic, (thus explaining how you could pick them up without knowing it) can live on things for like 2 whole weeks!!!!! UGH!!!!!!

Did you also know that you have to wash the bedding every 3 to 7 days for at least 3 weeks (and every time you wash the bedding or the clothes, you must wash on hot (good-bye rich colors) and that you must wash everything 2 or 3 times on hot with soap before drying them). Sheesh!!! I already do laundry all week long. Now, laundry is ALL I do all week. Even with these precautions, it is common to get reinfected and to have to go through everything AGAIN.

yuck, Yuck, YUCK!!!!!

In case you were wondering, I am not enjoying this particular common childhood illness.

Cleverness

Entropy is the tendency of everything going to hell

Entropy isn't what it used to be.

Entropy: Not just a fad, it's the future!

Geologists rock your world.

Geology: Subduction leads to Orogeny.

Gravity isn't MY fault--I voted for velcro!

Gravity... not just a good idea: It's the law.

I like angles, but only to a degree.

If the Earth is the size of a pea in New York, then the Sun is a beachball 50m away, Pluto is 4km away, and the next nearest star is in Tokyo. Now shrink Pluto's orbit into a coffee cup, then our Milky Way Galaxy fills North America.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

In The Beginning there was nothing, which exploded.

It might look like I'm doing nothing, but at the cellular level I'm really quite busy.

Little Johnny was a scientist. Little Johnny is no more. For what he thought was H2O was H2SO4.

May the torque be about you.

Nature abhors a vacuum. So does my sister's dog.

On the sixth day, God created the platypus. And God said: let's see the evolutionists try and figure this one out.

Particle physicists are always trying to hold a meeting, but whenever they decide on a place, the time changes.

Photons have mass!? I didn't even know they were Catholic...

Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of.

More here

Jackie Bueno Sousa Has a Good Answer for Judge Sotomayor

And this wise (at least now and then, I hope) old white man appreciates that answer.

Somebody Should Have Told Him Mary was Coming

The Gators hire Dean Guzick of Rochester Med School to head the University's Health Care System.

Trifecta on the Plantation

The third banana plant arrived today at the Dove Avenue Plantation, this one by mail, carefully boxed up and in good condition, from Stokes Tropicals. This one is known as an "Ice Cream" or "Blue Java" banana, an irresistible name. It's the one on the left in the photo.

That gives us a Cavendish from Lowe's, a Goldfinger from Katie's Going Bananas, and this Ice Cream from Stokes Tropicals.

Three's a charm. Now we give them tender, loving care for about a year as they grow up. In about six months after that, we may well be awash in bananas. What joy!

Healthy Living on Decline in US

This, notwithstanding what we now know about the link between good nutrition, moderate weight, exercise, moderate drinking, and shunning cigarettes, on the one hand, and a relatively disease-free life, on the other. This example of man's inhumanity to himself is and will continue to be the key factor in rising health costs.

Yet we insist on health care for all and demand that government pay for it. Will it be any surprise, then, that government will soon regulate how and what we eat? And, of course, government will botch that effort, as it will the matter of universal health care. We will get the government we deserve. Such is the connection between individual choices, not only at the ballot box, but especially in all other aspects of our lives, and the way the nation goes.

Thinking like a Christian for a moment, the problem in Jeremiah's time was not Babylon, the problem was the choices being made by Jeremiah's people.

Elderly Man a Sensation in His Glennz Tee!

I had on my "Rock Me Amadeus" Glennz Tee at Roberts is Here yesterday. It was busy there, but it's always busy there. Anyway, I walked in and the first thing that happened was a group of young adults stopped and stared at me and my t-shirt. I wasn't sure whether it was the t-shirt or whether it was I, a sort of old guy, you know, wearing the t-shirt.

I walked on by, but later they walked by me, and one of the young women among them came up and said she liked my shirt. (You have to understand that this is not a usual thing for young women to come up to me and comment on my clothes, nor older women for that matter, nor any women, except Carol, when there's a mancha or the collar of my sports coat is turned-up.) She said she liked my shirt, and I told her that I bought it on the internet at Glennz Tees. She said, "Thanks" and left with a smile.

Made my day.

Or it would have made my day, had the banana plant we acquired earlier in the afternoon from Katie's Going Bananas not already made my day.

Flash!! Dove Avenue Banana Plantation Doubles!

On the right in the photo is the newest addition, a "Goldfinger" banana plant from Katie's Going Bananas. More on the development of the Goldfinger here. It is also known as the FHIA-01.

In the photo's background is our compost box and a pile of compost on the right. We throw all our veggie kitchen scraps in the box, along with lawn and shrub clippings, and let them all cook down.

Composting is very important to the banana plants, because it keeps the soil warm and helps kill nematodes. Nematodes attack the roots of the banana plant, making it weak, subject to disease, with an adverse affect on the banana bunches. The Goldfinger may be better able to withstand the nematodes, but we are going to take no chances.

Israelis Singing to the Pope

Somehow I missed this on ABC, CBS, and NBC:

The Western Hemisphere's Sudan

The refugee crises [in Ecuador] spawned by ongoing conflict in neighboring Colombia has left millions displaced, making the nation second only to Sudan in nations with the most internal refugees. Rural farmers and families are frequently intimidated by guerrilla and paramilitary groups, who send them fleeing amid death threats, forced recruitment, the demand of unaffordable taxes, persecution for political organizing, land seizures and intolerable violence in their villages and towns.

- from today's Miami Herald.

One sad thing about this article (in addition to the overwhelmingly sad situation in Ecuador) is that there is nothing said about the situation in Colombia that generated this migration. The article begins with a story of a family who fled Colombia when "[a]rmed men entered their home, murdered [a brother] and threatened to kill the rest of the family if they did not vacate the town within 48 hours." Given the bias of the Miami Herald, my guess is that the "armed men" would be the guerillas and not the Army. My bias as to the Herald is that if the armed men were from the Army, then that would have been specifically reported.

On the other hand, the reporter could have decided not to inject the Colombian political situation into the matter of considering the desperate situation of the immigrants. Thus, she could have been writing in good faith. However, I would consider the story so incomplete without referring to the problems in Colombia that it verges on not the whole truth and, therefore, a journalistic failure.

The Cavendish is [not] a GMO

Like all edible bananas, [the Cavendish (AAA group)] members have been long cultivated and are hybrids of Musa acuminata and M. balbisiana. The “AAA” is a genetic designation, which specifies the members of this group as triploids (having an extra set of chromosomes) rather than diploids, the natural genetic state of most plant cells. In contrast, tetraploids would be noted as “AAAA” and diploids as “AA.” The letters in “AAA” also distinguish its relative genetic content from Musa acuminata (A) and M. balbisiana (B). Because Cavendish bananas are triploid, having an extra chromosome copy, they are more vigorous than average bananas and produce larger fruits in greater quantity.

-from the Learn2Grow website.

UPDATE: This afternoon we went down to the Homestead area with Van and Juliet to a nursery called "Katie's Going Bananas". Among other things, Don (Katie's husband I think) told us that bananas are NOT GMOs. He definitely had a few not nice things to say about GMOs and said that the soy and corn here in the US were pretty much GMOs, but that Europe has done a much better job. We learned a lot about growing bananas and bought another plant, this one a different variety. That will be the subject of a separate post, but I needed to inform the world that bananas in the US are still non-GMOs. Whew! (We stopped off at Robert is Here.)

Banana Oat Meal Cookies (vegan)

Mary made these while she was here. I calculated two WW points per cookie. They were super good!

Dove Avenue Banana Plantation

It was inevitable.

UPDATE: Well, of course!

I purchased the banana plant pictured from Lowe's. The plant had a Lowe's tag, and it said that the banana variety is "Cavendish," also known, according to the tag, as Musa acuminata 'Cavandish'. The tag had other helpful information, and it gave a web address for "care instructions." There is more on the webpage for this plant than care instructions. For example,

The Cavendish (AAA Group) includes the following edible banana cultivars and cultivar subgroups:

* ‘Double’
* ‘Dwarf Cavendish’
* ‘Extra Dwarf Cavendish’
* ‘Giant Cavendish’ (and its cultivars)
* ‘Grand Naine’
* ‘Pisang Misak Hijau’ (the green ripe bananas)

The tag didn't say to which subgroup the banana plant we brought home belongs. My guess is that it is a "Grand Naine," which I understand to be the kind we buy at Publix that are grown by Chiquita. But we'll see.

U of Chicago T Shirts

This subject is featured in an article in The Core: the College Magazine of the University of Chicago, which came with the May-June 2009 issue of the University of Chicago Magazine this time. The subject of T-Shirts generally is important to the Austin economy and, indirectly, to the Miami Springs economy, so this is a worthy subject to consider as it applies to my alma mater.

The article lists some "favorites," chief among them is Where fun comes to die, which is not fair. It may be true, but it's not fair.

More:

Chicago dating - the odds are good, but the goods are odd

University of Chicago. When you sleep, we study

Where the squirrels are cuter than the girls.

Where the squirrels are more aggressive than the guys

The level of hell that Dante forget

It it were easy, it'd be your mom

U of C: Not UIC since 1892

If I wanted an A, I would have gone to Harvard.

Hell Does Freeze Over (You got that one right!)

Cresat Tutula, Universitys Ditetur (which is supposed to translate "By Increasing Tuition, Let the University Become Enriched")

Let the Sonnenschein in (which was created in 1993 to celebrate the inauguration that year of a new president, Hugo Sonnenschein)

The article reports:

"Mike Moebs, MBA '75, has two [UC T-Shirts]. One lists Chicago's Nobel laureates in economics. The other has a photo of Milton Friedman and George Stigler waking down a Hyde Park street. 'Either U of C T-shirt always, always gets someone to come up to me and start a conversation,' he writes. Sadly, his interlocutors 'are almost always older, distinguished men. Seldom do young, good-looking, intelligent, rich women approach me, which just reinforces that economics is the dismal science.'

Uh, Mike, if you got your MBA in '75, then you are just a year or two younger than I. Believe me, as to the women you profile, it ain't the T-Shirt.

Another one, this for the Model United Nations event: World peace in four days or your money back. The producers of that T-Shirt said "We were careful to ensure that the last line said - in Chinese - 'Just kidding!'"

Here's somebody else's favorite, obviously a Classics major:

Universitas Chicaginiensis/Universitatis Chicaginiensis/Universitate Chicaginiensi. I wish I had declined the University of Chicago sooner.

There is an event each year on campus called "Kuviasungnerk and Kangeiko." According to Wikipedia, this is a "festival celebrating Chicago in the winter. Often referred to as Kuvia, it entails a variety of events, including ice sculpting, hot chocolate get-togethers, musical performances, faculty fireside discussions, and a rigorous program of early morning exercise (kangeiko, a Japanese tradition of winter training) that culminates in a yoga-influenced "salute to the sun", performed outdoors in freezing temperatures just before the sun rises." The T-Shirt from 2008: Because the University of Chicago just isn't intense enough.

Tom Barnett on the President's Nuke Policy

And he's not happy. (H/T Instapundit)

Satellite Flybys

What's going by overhead? Find out here.

Approximate Justice

[R]ead Augustine. We really do live between the City of God and the City of Man. We live at the intersection of the ages. . . Because of reading Augustine, I have a chastened view of politics, which is that we live in two kingdoms. We are to bring approximate justice to basically insoluble problems. That's Reinhold Niebuhr, having read Augustine: Because the world is fallen, because it is decayed and we live in a sinful world, we will never bring in any kind of utopia. That's a warning for people on the right and the left.

-Michael Cromartie, interviewed by Marvin Olasky in World Magazine, May 9, 2009, issue.

Pro-Abortion = Anti-Black

And though blacks make up only 12 percent of the U.S. population, they account for one-third of all abortions performed in the United States. More than three in 10 black women abort their unborn children. According to the 2006 census, deaths now exceed live births among African-Americans.

"We no longer replace ourselves, " [pro-life pastor Walter] Hoye said. "So we're not using terms like holocaust and genocide just to elicit a response. It's the truth."

-World Magazine, May 9, 2009, p. 53.

Jane Goodall on Giving up Meat

"People . . . ask how I coped when I first gave up meat. Psychologically, I felt really good about it, especially during the first few months, when the smell of bacon still made my mouth water, and I could be proud of my strength of will! But soon I began to feel so much better physically, too. Lighter, somehow. Other people who have given up meat have said the same. Nor is it surprising, for when we eat meat we waste a lot of energy getting rid of the toxins in the flesh that the animal was also trying to get rid of before it died. Perhaps that was why I started to feel so much more energetic. Since 1986 I have been traveling three hundred days a year, lecturing, going to meetings, lobbying, teaching, and so on. Never in one place for more than three weeks consecutively, and usually only a few days. I honestly don't think I could have maintained this pace when I was thirty years old - and I believe that giving up meat is the reason why I can today. [She was born in 1934; the book published in 2005.]

"If I was not on the road all the time I'd probably be a vegan. But it is not easy when you spend 300 days per year on the road and stay with people in all parts of the world to maintain a balance diet without any animal products. It's fine if you can cook yourself, or go to a good vegan restaurant. But home-cooked vegan food and vegan restaurants are not options on much of my travels. So I still eat eggs and cheese, and I know that milk is present in many sauces and desserts. Whenever possible I get organic, free-range animal products, but it's often not possible.

"Many people believe that meat is necessary for good health. The opposite is usually true. First, humans do not have the right kind of anatomy for frequent heavy meat eating. There is a difference in the length of the intestines of carnivores and herbivores. Carnivores have short intestines (about the length of their bodies) and are able to pass the nondigestible portion of their food quickly through the body before it starts to putrefy. Herbivores need more time to get the nutrients from the vegetable matter they eat and so have long intestines (about four times their body length). Humans have long intestines, too, so that flesh may sometimes stay for much too long in our guts. In other words, the human species does not have the physical attributes of the carnivore - and that includes ripping, slashing teeth and claws. And, finally, unless they only eat organic products, they are constantly contaminating their own bodes with the hormones and antibiotics fed to factory-farmed animals."

-Jane Goodall in Harvest for Hope - a Guide to Mindful Eating

This Weekend I'm [Fightin'] Irish

and a pro-life Romanist.

iPhone and Kindle

News here.

On that Notorious DHS Memo

"Abortion is the white supremacist’s best friend,” said Dr. King. “It eliminates black babies at much higher rates than white babies. Disproportionately more abortions among African American women mean they suffer physical and emotional trauma in greater percentages than others. To say, as the Department of Homeland Security does, that white supremacists have exercised a ‘longstanding exploitation of social issues such as abortion’ tells me that either the government, the supremacists, or both are clueless about abortion’s grave impact on the black community.”

“The DHS memo is just plain wrong and incredibly offensive on many levels,” added Dr. King, “none more so than in its attempt to link pro-lifers with hate groups. Janet Napolitano has apologized to veterans for her memo’s characterizations of them, now she needs to do the same for her smears against those of us who want all Americans, including the unborn, protected.”

-Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as quoted here.

Springs Backyard Critter vs. Swarthy TX Critter

(Walt, my critter would make a meal out of your critter!)

UPDATE: And then there are Mary's critters.

Peanut Butter and Banana

Uganda is famous for bananas - of which there are so many varieties - served with a delicious peanut sauce.

-Jane Goodall in Harvest for Hope - A Guide to Mindful Eating.

Did Aunt Frances know about this, Ken?

A Happy Mother's Day Story

Via the Herald.

Colossians Study

The minister commenced a sermon series on Colossians this morning. He covered the first half of the first chapter, 1:1-14. Of particular note to me was the section that begins with verse 9:

9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption,[e] the forgiveness of sins.[My italics]

What has my particular attention is the prospect of "bearing fruit in every good work." That seems to be an important outcome of being filled with "the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."

Although our church is all about "spiritual wisdom and understanding" at an important level, it has lost its way to some extent in the matter of "bearing fruit in every good work." What are these works that we are to bear, in addition to obedience in the realm of morals and ethics? Are we to be simply "good people" as many of our non-Christian neighbors appear to be? Is there something more, beyond presenting the Gospel where ever we can? What would "something more" be for FPC Miami Springs?

GMOs Everywhere!

Am I wrong, or is the malaria parasite a GMO on account of pesticides and on account of simply moving through the bodies of various victims?

Fettuccine with Spinach Pesto

Saturday evening supper! This is a "one-pot pasta and grain entree" Carol made from Lorna Sass' Short-Cut Vegetarian. It included with the fettucine and spinach pesto, tomatoes and capers. Carol added side servings of broccoli, sweet potato, garden salad, and some slices of "wheat Italian 5-grain bread" from Publix. We had a smoothie for dessert. (This vegan thing is really tough.)

What's a GMO?

I really like the Smart Balance Whipped Buttery Spread. It tastes as close to butter as I can remember anything tastes that is not butter. We were using it before I lost my mind.

As I was reading the label (which I am doing a lot these days), I read "100% Vegan - Non-Dairy - Non GMO . . . " There's that GMO thing again. I read that on the Amy's frozen dinner box the other night. Quick, ask the internet.

Genetically Modified Organism. That's a GMO. This is a no-no in Veganland. Go here for the scoop. But I made some money on my Monsanto stock that I sold early enough last year. Oh, well. I guess I won't buy back into Monsanto, although it's at a bargain price these days. This is hard.

Sabbath

Macon, over on his Unrelated blog, raises the question of the Sabbath.

I have been thinking about what we are to do with Sabbath for most of my grown up life. (I posted on it once before.) I think the day is to be set apart and honored in some way that makes us more like the person that God intended us to be before creation, "back there" when he first thought us up and pictured how we would be, absent a Fall or, now, fully redeemed and restored. Jesus said that the day is made for "man," and, like an American, I would first read that to mean that is is made for "me." But it must also have a huge corporate component, as the commandment itself indicates when it warns us that the people and animals over whom we have control are also to enjoy its special rest.

When I grew up a Southern Baptist, we observed the Sabbath carefully: no movies, no beach going, no games, being quiet, taking a nap. On the other hand, being a Baptist growing up meant a Sunday that got to be very, very busy with church activities, and the inconsistency of that approach struck me as a teenager. Sunday got to be exhausting with the "early [worship] service" that began at 8:30AM, where the Youth Choir sang. This required us us to get to church even earlier so that the choir could assemble, dress in the robes, and do a quick run-over of the anthem.

Following that was Sunday School, which went to about 10:30. Then our family returned home for lunch and a nap. Then back to church for ensemble practice at 3:30PM or even earlier, Youth Choir practice proper at 4:00PM, then a light supper in the church dining room, then "Training Union," followed by the evening service at 7:30PM. After the worship service, which ended about 8:30, we youth went to some one's house for "Afterglow." That meant I got home about 10PM on a school night. Some Sabbath!

That experience has made me jealous of the Sabbath, especially when it comes to church activities. Often our church leadership calls for meetings before or after church, because everyone is there, or later in the afternoon, because the leadership figures that people would not have commitments on that time. And, after all, this is for God, right? Wrong. I just don't go to those things. I will go to worship service, and a Sunday school class, but I really don't want to be involved in church activities otherwise. The Sabbath was not made for Church.

But that begs Macon's question of what should be done with Sabbath. All the delicious time! What's the Plan??!! What would David Allen do? Or should we care? What do you think?

Mystery Writers

When I come across a book review or even a reference to a book that whets my appetite, I often jot the title down on a piece of paper or note card or tear out the article from the magazine or newspaper, and throw these bits of someday into my desk drawer or on the current "opportunity" pile on the desktop. Then, every month or so, I go through the drawer and the piles and attempt to straighten up, with the emphasis on "attempt."

This morning I did that and came across a Dear Book Lover column, clipped from the WSJ's Weekend section sometime last year, and there was a letter to its editor Cynthia Crossen looking for a "good mystery, action, and intrigue novel." Well, me too. I'll tell you about the answers Crossen gives in a minute, but the clipping brings to mind two mysteries that I read recently and which I would recommend, though only as mind candy.

One is Rain Fall by Barry Eisler. Eisler's hero is a contract assassin who lives in Tokyo, a Viet-Nam vet of mixed Japanese/American parentage, who, with a little plastic surgery, manages to pass for a native Japanese. Eisler appears to know modern Japanese culture well, and that makes up for whatever credibility problems one might have with the lead character. It reads fast. It's fun. It's a guy book, I think. I also think its a dead-end series, because the next one in Eisler's line, Hard Rain, didn't sing for me.

Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn is about another assassin, although this one works for the CIA. This also moves fast and is even more gripping than the Eisler book. More mind candy here. And, like Eisler's Rain Fall, the next one in Flynn's series, The Third Option, is not nearly as good. So I think I'm through with both Eisler and Flynn, but thanks guys.

The book lover whose letter of inquiry made Cynthia Crossen's column lists his own favorite authors, Lee Childs, Harlan Coben, Gayle Lynds, David Baldacci, Vince Flynn and Bernard Cornwell. I've read David Baldacci and, as I already indicated, Vince Flynn. But I don't know the others.

Crossen, in response, mentions Helen MacInnes, and says she has read of all of hers, as did I years ago. Crossen refers to Helen MacInnes as "maybe the Gayle Lynds of her time." If that's true, then hand me one of Gayle's.

She also mentions "Michael Connelly [read a bunch of his], Robert Crais [nope], the Kellermans (John and Faye)[heard of them, but don't remember reading either], George Pelecanos [nope], to name just a few." She goes on:

Responding to an earlier question about thrillers that didn't feature serial-killers of women, readers suggested Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder mysteries and Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti series (start with "Death at La Fenice"). My mystery-mad friend Jean likes Laurie King.

* * *

I prefer mystery, action or intrigue books to be well written, and fortunately, that's not a problem. I like Dennis Lehane, Martin Cruz Smith, John Burdett and Ian Rankin - polished storytellers who don't always make the airport racks. I also enjoy Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series. Ms. George should put all her books on diets, but her characters make excellent company. Also, look for the just published "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Steig Larsson. That will keep you awake, and it's the first volume of a trilogy.

Rethink Church? The Very Idea!

Anyway, the UMC says it's doing so, and has a very attractive website.

FatFreeVegan

Mary gave me a link to FatFreeVegan. But do they include being free from veggie fat? I think veggie fat is OK. This site has some marvelous photos!

Yum

Tonight I played hooky from our "Wednesday Night Live" evening at church. I haven't been going to the suppers for a number of weeks because they are "traditional American" fare, loaded with animal-based protein and refined carbs. But I have been arriving in time for the Chronological Bible Study. But tonight I stayed home entirely, because I am still catching up from the busy weekend.

That meant I went foraging in the fridge/freezer for supper. I found an edition of Amy's Bowls in the freezer, this one "made with organic black-eyed peas, vegetables and [brown] rice." The veggies included broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, onions, extra virgin olie oil, tamari (wheat free), cilantro, ginger, sea salt, garlic, spices, all "organic" except for the salt. The plastic bowl full of this stuff is covered by some sort of transparent wrap. One is to cut a one-inch slit in the wrap and put it in the microwave on "high" for five minutes. I must say it did not look that exciting, but I proceeded nevertheless.

It was really good! I made some whole wheat toast to go with it and had a banana and an apple for dessert. I recommend Amy's Bowls, if this is an example of what all of the various types are.

Cookbook of the Year?

The James Beard Foundation's "Cookbook of the Year 2009" award goes to:


Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes.

Mathewes-Green on "Wolverine"

Macon pointed out this review of the new X-Person movie. Frederica Mathewes-Green wrote the review. Sounds like fun - both the movie and Mrs. Mathewes-Green.

Mr. Wizard in Austin

On a RadioShack visit recently I discovered a display of ScienceWiz kits. I bought two to bring to Austin on our trip this weekend, one for Aidan called "Electricity" and the other for Felicity call "Inventions." We had such a packed weekend that, to my dismay, I did not have a chance to do the Inventions kit with Felicity, but Aidan and I did get a chance to work through the Electricity kit. It was a big success, and I would heartily recommend these little project kits. I am hoping that Walter will be able to work with Felicity on the other kit and give us a report.

These are really good kits! The author is Penny Norman, PhD., and the book that accompanies the parts of the kit is very well done - not only well illustrated but structured in a way to lead the student through a step-by-step illumination process. For example, in electricity, we begin with the concept of a "loop," and the kit piece is a red loop from a pot holder. Dr. Norman has the student form it into various shapes (circle, oval, square, triangle), making the point that it is always a "loop" regardless of the shape. Then she moves to the idea of an electrical loop, and the next project is a battery, some wires with alligator clips and a light bulb. We consider how, when we make a loop with these materials, we have a lighted bulb - later in the narratives she will call this a "loop circuit."

This morning Aidan demonstrated to his mother how something is "on" and "off." For "on," he put his arms in a circle, with one hand holding the other, He said, "Mom, this is 'on'." Then he let go his hands, but keeping his arms otherwise in a circle as before, he said, "Mom, this is 'off'." Four years old. Awesome!

If God gives me another life, then I think I am going to ask him to be a middle-school science teacher.

Hello from Austin!