tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-232006542024-03-12T23:37:16.674-06:00The Blog I Never UseThe blog I never use: not-at-all-misleading title of a self-conscious blog by a rambling and reluctant rationalist who hopes that the humor of the absurd in everyday life outweighs the annoyances.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.comBlogger178125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-41584881391520627412011-10-11T17:14:00.002-06:002011-10-11T17:14:48.797-06:00Have Recipes to share?<iframe frameborder="0" height="715" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dGliQ2VrV0xrTklrTjhDek1KNW5jU2c6MQ" width="760">Loading...</iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-33814802119693439272010-03-09T02:34:00.004-07:002010-03-09T03:37:30.779-07:00The Brothers WarnerI am watching the long version of a documentary on the Warner Brothers by Cass Warner Sperling, The Brothers Warner, and I'm being recalled to history as ethical text. Harry Warner was a great man in many ways, and he insisted on following his moral conscience in his film-making. In 1934 he pulled Warner Brothers out of the highly profitable German market. 1934. Years before anyone else dared to put their profits on the line.<br /><br />I was impressed by this but I was more impressed by his thwarted attempt to make a movie called <span style="font-style: italic;">Concentration Camp</span> that same year. Though most people never suspected the extent of the horrors of these camps, people knew the basic outline of what was happening, but ignored it in favor of ease. They never made the movie becasue they were censored by the production board. In fact the production board refused to let them make any anti NAZI films before <span style="font-style: italic;">Confessions of a Nazi Spy</span> in 1939.<br /><br />My personality profile places me firmly in the group of people who have no particular desire for change, or challenges to the status quo. When it comes to most issues, I feel only an ambivalence toward such things because my focus is on relationships with people and fighting the man inevitably means putting relationships at risk. Oddly, I am more comfortable with personal change and I enjoy moving between cultures and sub-cultures for the same reason: I see intercultural movement as relational in nature and adapt quickly because it fosters relationship.<br /><br />Now, I think I should apply the insights of theological hermeneutics (or perhaps the hermeneutic of suspicion) to the ethical reading of history. In the story of the prodigal son, we must read ourselves as the inhospitable older brother, in Anna Karenina we must read ourselves in the degenerate cast, in the Gospels we must read ourselves on the side of the murderers of Jesus, in Gulliver's Travels we must be both the Yahoos and the transformed Gulliver (but not the Houyhnhnms). If I read the ethical text of history with this suspicion of self, I must come to the conclusion that I would be an isolationist; therefore, I must beware of my tendencies and fight them even though my position seems perfectly logical to me.<br /><br />Does that constitute advocacy of actions against logic in the name of ethics?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-17199430449093174492008-11-28T09:16:00.004-07:002008-11-28T10:20:21.688-07:00Hello Christians, You Need to Read This:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?isbn=0830834524&event=AFF&p=1022507"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 146px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaPK1JiSWya7525wETutt6LDe48pm0iEUVHIw5ws9MJVqEeFTvKrXaIkI1s29YdnretdZB6vFhHHuByduy1-05OpkNgcxzJ7lV8e0OZnikbXFHlgs-6XPNIj6v1cNqbgvpj_Gb/s400/Living+Gently.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273744099407022626" border="0" /></a><br /><blockquote>"If Vanier is correct that within France within the next few years there will be no children born with Down Syndrome because they will all have been aborted, then something is deeply wrong with our society. As my friend John, who has Down Syndrome, puts it, 'That doesn't make us feel very welcome, does it.' And he's right. Stanley Hauerwas correctly points out . . . that one of the real dangers for people with disabilities in Western cultures is compassion . . . How odd"</blockquote>What was the scene in heaven like when God chose those people with disabilities to incarnate. Did his voice boom through Heaven, "Who shall I send and who will go for us?" A humble soul squeaks, " here am I . . . send me"<br /><br />"Go and show this people who I am, show them that my power is made perfect in weakness. Give flesh to Jesus in the lives of his people."<br /><br />"How long, O Lord?"<br /><br />"Until they have driven you from the Earth."<br /><br /><hr /><br />Couldn't this be considered genocide? Killing a type of people because of their genetic material? That is the same reasoning that led to the dehumanization of native peoples all over the world, and aren't we ashamed of that? Have we only relented and stopped heedlessly killing "primitives" because we were wrong about their intellectual capacities? One major excuse for American slavery was that black people could not become civilized, that they lacked the same capacities as people of European descent. Was their argument right? Is it okay to devalue people because of diminished capacities? Are they less "human" than us? What about sentience<span></span>? People with mental disabilities are, in my experience, capable of feeling as deeply as anyone else. And self-awareness? Arguing this way is stupid and wrong-minded; the truth is that we do not kill from right-minded good will, but for misguided compassion, from self-interest, and from fear.<br /><br />We reflect on the horror we would feel to have our capacities diminished, but we do not ask those who actually live in those bodies if they wished that they had not had a chance to live. Instead we let our instinctual fear of difference drive us. We let our fear of having to give too much of ourselves, of having to be burdened with people made in God's image who are less able.<br /><br />I am misguided, selfish, and terrified too.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-129753582393130892008-05-16T23:58:00.002-06:002008-05-17T00:11:33.284-06:00My Favorite New BooksI am about to start even more hours at my second job until August. Please pray for me: I need the extra hours so that I can afford to do all the stuff I need to do when I finish my thesis, but the deadline is coming up and I need time to write too. So, I'm keeping my warehouse job until August (or so I have planned) so I can save more, but I'll need a lot of blessings to help after that.<br /><br />Here are my favorite new books:<br /><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td align="center" width="115"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Patristic-Greek-Reader-Rodney-Whitacre/dp/1598560433/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211004331&sr=1-1"> <img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51G%2B7RphXHL._SL160_AA115_.jpg" class="" alt="A Patristic Greek Reader" border="0" height="115" width="115" /> </a></td><td width="8"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Patristic-Greek-Reader-Rodney-Whitacre/dp/1598560433/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211004331&sr=1-1"><span class="srTitle">A Patristic Greek Reader</span></a> by Rodney A. Whitacre is helping me get my Patristic Greek into better shape so that I can be more accurate with Epiphanius.<br /><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td align="center" width="115"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Readers-Hebrew-Bible-Philip-Brown/dp/0310269741/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211004032&sr=8-1"> </a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Readers-Hebrew-Bible-Philip-Brown/dp/0310269741/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211004032&sr=8-1"><img src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51WzQ60cE%2BL._SL160_AA115_.jpg" class="" alt="A Reader's Hebrew Bible" border="0" height="115" width="115" /> </a></td><td width="8"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>I don't currently need the Greek version of this except in Hebrews (but that is mostly because I'm not a big fan of Hebrews (it's my least favorite biblical book) so I don't read it as often as the others, but I do need <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Readers-Hebrew-Bible-Philip-Brown/dp/0310269741/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211004032&sr=8-1"><span class="srTitle">A Reader's Hebrew Bible</span></a> by A. Philip Brown II and Bryan W. Smith so that I can follow along in church even though my Hebrew is not half as good as my Greek. Now if only I had one for Latin.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-90529080492311531582008-04-06T18:10:00.001-06:002008-04-06T19:11:28.696-06:00103.4 AMSo, TANK has a fever. I discovered this, and a much lower fever of my own, at about 3 AM. What a fever means to him is that he wants to play harder and all the time especially when he should be sleeping. What it means to me is that I need to work harder to keep up with him.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-76145750510503067442008-03-14T08:57:00.004-06:002008-03-14T09:20:48.311-06:00The Art of PresentationMy friend, Chris, and his wife, Ally, are ministers in Brazil. I was reading their <a href="http://praiagrandenews.blogspot.com/">blog</a> and noticed the fine art of presentation at work: Chris is preaching in two towns blah- blah- blah . . . he's starting a new certificate program for people there blah- blah- blah . . . so-and-so was baptized blah- blah- blah . . . Two gunmen broke into our home and robbed us . . .<br /><br /><blockquote>We also need to share something unpleasant that happened at the beginning of March. As we were arriving home after going to the mall on Saturday with Junior and Patricia and Ally’s other sister Priscila and her husband Jefferson, and Liduina, Ally’s mom, two guys pulled up to our house and held us at gunpoint. They forced us into the kitchen floor after taking all our wallets, cash, and wedding rings. One searched the house looking for cash while the other held us in the kitchen at gunpoint with their .22 revolver. After going through the house they began taking the microwave, TV, stereo, DVD player, and anything else they could find.<br />They continued to threaten us and ask for more cash. Patricia remembered her purse was in our bedroom and went in to get it, followed by the older one. She soon returned to the kitchen and joined us on the floor. <div><br />When Jonathan and Stephanie began to cry, the one with the gun began to threaten to shoot them in the head if they didn't shut up. Ally and Liduina did a great job keeping the kids calm. Jefferson at that point began to cry and moan as if he were really scared in order to take his attention off the kids. Jefferson is a trained actor, and did a great job. He then convinced them that there was a purse in his car. He led one outside to the cars, which were still parked outside the house with the gate open, all the while holding his hands in the air and begging the thief not to shoot. Even though he had no gun, he didn't think to ask Jefferson to stop. Jefferson opened all the car doors and let the guy search both vehicles, and then they returned inside. The one who was holding us with the gun told us that if we didn't give them more money in 30 seconds he would shoot someone. </div><div><br />Suddenly we heard scuffling noises and someone shouted “Police!” and I grabbed Ally and the kids and we all hit the deck in case there was going to be a shootout. The guy with the gun threw it on the ground and was tackled by two officers. Jefferson and Junior shouted that there was another, and the police searched the house and found him in our bedroom, unable to escape through the bars on the window. </div><div><br />The police took them into the living room and beat them for a few minutes before taking them to the cars. We began to calm down slowly. Liduina has high blood pressure and was suffering a lot. We made her lie down and tried to keep her calm.<br />We began to tell the police what had happened and what had been taken. They went to the thieves’ car and found everything there, plus a stash of cocaine the thieves had been using. One of them was 19 years old, the other 17. </div><div><br />The police beat them outside again after the youngest one told them he was a minor and would get off without doing time. Then they drove them off to the police station, followed by Jefferson and Junior who would make statements and bring the evidence home again. They arrived at about 5 am and told us the outcome. Both would go to jail for 2-4 years, one in Juvenile in São Vicente or Santos and the other in prison in Guarujá. Because they were caught in the act, in Brazil, there is no trial or wait time. The next day they stood before the judge and then were shipped off. </div><div>God was with us through the whole ordeal, which lasted about 45 minutes. We were amazed that the police arrived and caught them in the act, which is a very rare thing in Brazil. We asked them how they knew, and they told us that one of the neighbors was an angel and called them. As it turned out, the neighbors across the street heard the robbers yelling and saw what happened from the beginning, and called the police the whole time that we were held inside. Their names are Roberto and Elizabete. We believe that God will use what happened to bring us closer to this couple. They are wonderful neighbors and have a daughter that is 2 years old who is partially blind. We hope that through our growing relationship that we can help them see that God has a plan for everyone, o matter what the circumstance. We are forever in their debt for the help they gave us.</div><div><br />As we tried to calm down afterward, we realized how much God had been in control even as we feared the worst. Even though police procedure in a case like that is to wait outside and either negotiate or catch the bad guys, we were told later by one of the two officers who are evangelicals that when he saw the guy with the gun through our front window, they decided that they couldn't wait. They were very quick, secure, and professional. I don't think we could have had a better response even if we were in the states. Later the two christian officers came back by the house to make sure we were OK and answer any questions or concerns we had.</div><div><br />We continue to recover, and try to go on. </div><br />We were very blessed in that things ended up about as well as they could in a bad situation like that. Bad things happen to good and bad people alike, but the difference is that God is with those who believe in Him and in His power.</blockquote>Wow! I am so relieved that they are all right, but they should have at least led with a teaser.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-34141110717821795982008-03-10T19:09:00.002-06:002008-03-10T19:16:58.766-06:00Bizarre SimilaritiesWhich one is the preacher, which the fighter?<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5lvU-DislkI&rel=1&border=0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5lvU-DislkI&rel=1&border=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="400" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZG0kWnsBGZY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZG0kWnsBGZY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="475" height="355"></embed></object>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-20579279283301570872008-03-04T20:43:00.000-07:002008-03-04T20:44:08.573-07:00Happy Birthday ArwenArwen's blog wont let me comment so:<br /><br /><blockquote>When else are you going to get a credible excuse to eat all the cheesecake you want?<br /><br />Happy Birthday --Did you know that the British use the phrase "it's my birthday" as a sarcastic way of saying, "what just happened to me stinks," but I guess that they usually say it on a days which are not, in fact, their birthdays.</blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-79152748612775073292008-02-28T17:19:00.002-07:002008-02-28T17:34:30.840-07:00Tomorrow Looks GoodIn January my hours at work got cut in half and Steve's company eliminated his twenty hours of overtime a week. God has blessed us, though, and we've been (barely) making it. Today I got word that I will be starting my second job tomorrow. The competition was fierce, but they think that I am the right person for their business.<br /><br />"What is the business?" you ask: the business is what you give to someone when you want to tease them, but that doesn't matter now. My new job is at a small book store. They . . . <span style="font-style: italic;">We </span>sell new and used books of various types. I frequent the bookstore already and I love it, so I really want to help make it a success.<br /><br />Here's the deal: I may be helping to plan future acquisitions in the religion section (Christian is the largest section, but Judaism, Islam and various "Eastern" religions are also represented). So, I'd like you to give me your religion suggestions and wish lists: authors, books, and subjects. You don't have to answer right now, I'll do a separate post soon where we can discuss your answers. Maybe I'll give my "wish I had time to read it" list.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-20877733452514143342008-02-26T07:13:00.002-07:002008-02-26T07:17:23.393-07:006:30That's right, it was 6:30AM when the construction workers started hammering outside Bennett's window this morning. Furthermore, I could find no specific noise provision in Boise City Code that would apply. I realize that they have to finish a house per day, but they are currently going home at 3pm, couldn't they make it 4 and let us sleep?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-70573682070186525702008-02-25T17:16:00.003-07:002008-02-25T17:21:34.993-07:00Killer: PumpkinSo, Gina and I were at the doctor's office with TANK this afternoon when Killer got home. He ate pumpkin pie. We had half a pie left (Gina and Bennett ate two pieces and he had four yesterday), he ate the rest. Half a pie. All at once. Wow. And he sees nothing unusual or embarrassing about it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-66452044804120719482008-02-18T15:54:00.000-07:002008-02-18T15:55:25.405-07:00Wake up and Go HomeWhat do you do after an opera? Well today I listened to Haydn after listening to some Wagner on Pandora. No, I'm not especially cultured or anything, being a musical moron (I know less about music than almost any other mainstream field of inquiry), I just happen to like the variety and depth of textures presented by classical music. It seems like no one but the great composers has discovered that silence can be more moving than noise, that the drum need not run the show, that variation in volume is as important as change in tempo.<br /><br />Some people like Haydn because he wrote such an amazing variety of pieces (104 symphonies) or because he was an outstanding person (<a href="http://www.aam.co.uk/index.htm">just read a little about him</a>), I like him because he wrote his Symphony 94 with shocking changes just to wake up the people who normally fall asleep at the symphony.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-37032396934073666102008-02-12T20:37:00.002-07:002008-02-12T20:46:14.860-07:00PrayersHi people,<br /><br />Please be praying for Killer's dad. He has cancer and was supposed to get an operation today, but when he got there he had blood clots in his lungs, so they have to put it off for two months (in addition to the month or so they waited already to get into the hospital they like best).Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-32507710769712710792008-02-09T21:01:00.000-07:002008-02-09T21:08:58.146-07:00Lectionary Readings<div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Hi People, Over on <a href="http://theblognobodyreads.blogspot.com/">Blogum Nemo Legit</a> I am trying to start regular translations of the lectionary for our new Wednesday night church group. Right now the notes and introductions to the passages are very limited, but over time I hope to expand them based on the comments I receive. Tell me what you would like to know about the passages and translations. The translations may not be perfect either, I am only spending short blocks of time on it so, ask if you think something might be questionable, or if you see a real difference from what you're used to. I'll probably spend the most time on Psalms because they have some special concerns related to their poetic and illocutionary content (see no. 4 in Lefevere's factors in translation below).<br /><br /></span></div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ></span> </div> <div><strong><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >Book review: Andre Lefevere's _Translating Literature: Practice and Theory in a Comparative Literature C</span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >ontext_.<br /><br /></span></strong></div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ></span> </div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><strong>Watch out if you are offended by coarse language and sexual situations</strong>. Lefevere handles these issues well, but he does include translations of passages concerning things like ancient pubic depilatory practices and Cattulus' use of the F-word. His point seems to be, if you are going to pursue translation, you'd better be prepared to approach texts that offend you. When you do, you should have already considered your responsibilities and commitments in these situations before they arrive and become insurmountable.</span></div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ></span> </div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >The offence and embarrassment factor aside, Lefevere presents a clear and systematic introduction to literary translation, and insight into the reasons virtually all translators who produce significant volume will violate their stated goals and rules.<br /><br /></span></div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ></span> </div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >According to Lefevere, there are four factors in translation:</span></div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ></span> </div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >1. Ideology (the guidelines by which you live; personal worldview)</span></div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >2. Poetics (how to render poetic devices: rhyme, off-rhyme, meter, etc in culturally appropriate ways)</span></div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >3. Universe of Discourse (cultural differences between source and target cultures/ Author and modern society etc.)</span></div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >4. Illocutionary Language (language used primarily for effect, like the use of formal and informal dialogue)</span></div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ></span> </div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ><br />They actually come in this order of priority, regardless of translators expressed intent. Translators tend to find it imposable to move on to poetological considerations if they have to break their own ideological commitments to do so. They will, should the conflict of ideologies be dealt with, minor or absent, be unable to reflect the historical considerations before making (expressly or not) decisions on how to render any poetry/ form/ genre in the text under consideration. Should they fail to make a decision (again, this is seldom done consciously) about if or how to reflect the source culture's context (such as the literary parallels in the minds of the author and readers) in the text, translators will be unable to deal with the problems caused by the fact that language has connotations and implications that go beyond the unit of the word. Rather than giving pat, easy, and, therefore, wrong solutions to these problems, Lefevere tries to help the reader consider what types of things might cause issues and gives open ended options to the reader.<br /><br /></span></div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ></span> </div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" >His advise is basically, decide what your ideological and poeticological commitments are and let them guide you through the problems of different worldview and the gap between languages.</span></div> <div><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ></span> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-1665832763011371822008-01-09T21:03:00.000-07:002008-01-09T21:15:40.255-07:00CavitiesThe surgeon was kind. I explore the cavities with my tongue. These cavities in my gums are much more pleasant than those that destroyed my wisdom teeth. Gina needed a week for recovery: she had to have stitches in her gums; healing was slow in coming. My teeth were mostly exposed, so little invasion by Dr. Cook was necessary. I was back at work the next day. the sockets are still there, but they have healed over in the week since surgery. Just a few days and the gums were closed. Four days of minor bleeding, I take my last antibiotic tonight, and I only needed two or three pain pills, other than Tylenol and Ibuprofen.<br /> My parents footed the bill, Thank you Dad and Mom. I only got out the bottom two because the others are still okay, and because I didn't think the price increase within my budget (no matter the giant donation of my parents. What a relief!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-17093134045241593742007-12-28T10:57:00.000-07:002007-12-28T17:20:46.370-07:00Cutting Edge TechnologyA few weeks ago I was sitting in <a href="http://42daiye.blogspot.com/2007/12/long-road-home.html">The- Coffee- Place- Which- Must-Not- Be- Named</a> because I had dropped Killer off at work at 4:30 and my shift didn't start until 6:30. I was quietly slurping a Carmel Apple Cider and looking out of the front window when I saw it; the sign that would forever change my perception of just how far technology has advanced:<br /><blockquote style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Safe Protected by Time Control Device.</span></blockquote>Evidently The- Coffee- Place- Which- Must-Not- Be- Named can now control time itself. I was unable to uncover the details of just what aspects of time they control, or the rules they have placed upon its use; the science behind this discovery surely remains top-secret, but their very possession of such a breakthrough signals the extent of their power over humanity.<br /><br />I wonder . . . what type of system do they have in place to protect the Time Control Device?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-45508708905934666352007-12-02T20:19:00.000-07:002007-12-02T20:25:04.485-07:00LOST?Well, actually, lost: my phone. If you can't reach me, that's why. I'm pretty sure that I just set it down in the wrong place, I don't think that it has been stolen.<br /><br />In other news: I've had three different viruses in the last week- and- a- half and I think that I've finally gotten rid of the fever that I've had (off- and- on) since Thursday of last week.<br /><br />bad week.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-14808275973345141892007-11-17T10:22:00.000-07:002007-11-17T10:29:12.124-07:00The Wrath of the Conformists<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you know me, you know that I have more bouts with stupidity than I do with genius (and I know it). You also know that the people I value are those who care about others, have dreams that they are pursuing, and care about becoming better people (even if they don't know it). Yeah, I respect genius and I can even be intimidated by it, but I'd rather say that I had helped people than say that I was smarter than them.<br /><br />I'</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman";">m getting sick and tired of people thinking that, just because they think that I'm smarter than them, I somehow think that that makes me better than them. I know a lot of random stuff --random stuff is fun for me-- so I share random knowledge when I hear something connected to it. Actually, I think that my interests and my way of talking tend to intimidate people, but should I change everything about myself just to avoid the wrath of the conformists? I may not be typical punk, but I'm too much of a punk for that.<br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-66608079036509988922007-11-15T20:16:00.000-07:002007-11-15T20:20:31.200-07:00Setting a Questionable ExampleI'm sure that you have all seen , or perhaps used, the family window decals that are so wildly popular on mini-vans and SUVs right now. First a warning from Gina: DO NOT PUT ACTUAL NAMES ON THEM, your friendly neighborhood child collector might just use this free knowledge about your family to convince your children that he is a family friend sent to, say, pick your kid up from school.<br /><br /><br />Now on to our story: A few days ago I was at the Sonic drive through when I discovered the following decal (or one strikingly similar, instead of a bat, the boy was holding a bow and arrow)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHAi3SZLQy_BdHo1qObGUeZgq8uFoSn9LSZmlXI6JxiDx8uhYIh7BKyXVnLhBKfpgC-c1L4yezzT8TuDCGTVnYmMyq1PyEGHacoPJZEbjg1mCT2Qizw6PG63YAugCbrP79XmyB/s1600-h/Family+Decal.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 540px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHAi3SZLQy_BdHo1qObGUeZgq8uFoSn9LSZmlXI6JxiDx8uhYIh7BKyXVnLhBKfpgC-c1L4yezzT8TuDCGTVnYmMyq1PyEGHacoPJZEbjg1mCT2Qizw6PG63YAugCbrP79XmyB/s400/Family+Decal.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5129763892893088738" border="0" /></a>As you can see, Mommy is dead and she was pregnant when she died, and judging by how happy Dad is, and by the firearm in his hand, he's the one who did it. It looks like junior is about to follow his dad's example and off one of his sisters.<br /><br />Please, set a good example for your kids: don't kill your spouse and, if you do, don't print a happy note about it on your car window.<br /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/T1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg" alt="" />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-22026742578691339672007-11-13T21:10:00.000-07:002007-11-13T21:15:11.880-07:00Courage<span style="font-family:georgia, bookman old style, palatino linotype, book antiqua, palatino, trebuchet ms, helvetica, garamond, sans-serif, arial, verdana, avante garde, century gothic, comic sans ms, times, times new roman, serif;">Ambrose Redmoon</span><span style="font-family:georgia, bookman old style, palatino linotype, book antiqua, palatino, trebuchet ms, helvetica, garamond, sans-serif, arial, verdana, avante garde, century gothic, comic sans ms, times, times new roman, serif;">, whoever that is said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear."<br /><br />I think that most of the time, though, we'd be more accurate if we said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather of judgment." Most of the time courage would be stupidity if someone else's life or liberty were not on the line.<br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-51628640304272883952007-11-06T08:49:00.000-07:002007-11-06T08:59:34.787-07:00Exhaustion and DiogenesSorry about my absence from Blogatopia; lately whatever time I am not spending at work I'm spending with Tank. I've made no real progress on thesis work in more than two weeks and I'm exhausted a good share of the time. The thing is, I find it very difficult to resist spending time with Bennett and Gina needs the help. Steve works 10 hour days and he worked the last two weekends (that means more than twenty days of work in a row) so he can't be around to help as much as he'd like, and when he does get any free time he wants to play video games and study in the hope that he'll get an interview in the aviation industry (I'm guessing that he is an introvert, in the sense that he "recharges" and feels refreshed only after having some time alone).<br /><br />Now, on to a post:<br /><br />My favorite philosopher right now is Diogenes, the Cynic. Diogenes wasn’t into writing, he just taught people out in the middle of the city. He thought Socrates was a hack and, when Plato defined man as an animal with two-legs and no feathers, he plucked a chicken and named it “Plato’s Man.” He was always up for insulting the elite, for instance, when he saw a prostitute’s kid throwing rocks at some rich guys he said, “Careful, you might hit your dad.” <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Really, the thing that I’m not so happy about with Diogenes is that he always seemed to expect to be helped by others but no record exists of him helping a lot of others.</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-5974263812788639742007-09-12T19:32:00.000-06:002007-09-17T06:37:08.575-06:00Cooking: It's All about the CheeseSometimes cooking isn't about unusual ingredients or the right spices; sometimes it is about using the normal ingredients to their best advantage. If you make a chili dog, you might use mozzarella or add some sour cream or cottage cheese, and you might add some black beans to the mix, sure, but a change in ingredients is not necessarily the way to go.<br /><br />Why not take your chili (with pinto beans) and pan fry it, like refried beans, though mashing the beans is probably not the best idea, if you decide to try this, be sure to serve small amounts of chili with your dogs, the oil can be a little too much. Better yet, in my opinion, do what I did tonight:<br /><br /> While you are heating your hot dogs and chili, cut a slab off of your block of Tillamook cheddar cheese; it should be just a hair narrower than the length of the cutting surface on your vegetable peeler (<span style="font-style: italic;">potato peeler</span>), shave enough slices from it to cover the surface of your hot dog buns. Put the cheese on the buns and broil them until slightly crispy. Now put a hot dog on each bun and then another layer of cheese. Now pop it in the oven again until crispy on top. This makes your chili dogs seem like a real meal, which is worth it, even if it does take a few extra minutes.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-39183434934309765812007-09-11T19:01:00.000-06:002007-09-11T19:50:08.552-06:00O Henry, . . .Today was the birthday of one of my all time favorite authors of fiction, O. Henry, or should I say William Sydney Porter. His stories are a must read for anyone interested in learning about plot construction. His most famous short story <i>The Gift of the Magi</i> is, in my opinion, not among his best, but you should decide for yourself; one of O. Henry's collections of short stories, <i>The Four Million,</i> is available for <a href="http://librivox.org/the-four-million-by-o-henry/">download</a> as an audio file at Librivox.<br /><br />You might also check out other writings, like those by <a href="http://librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?reader=&mc=&amp;bc=&cat=&genre=&language=&type=&author=&title=&offset=880&status=complete&reader_exact=&amp;mc_exact=&bc_exact=&offset=840">Oscar Wilde</a>, which are also on my "must read" list for hopeful authors. Wilde had the best dialog in the business, it is now dated, but any fan of <i>The Gilmore Girls</i> or <i>Boston Legal</i> ought to appreciate his works.<br /><br />On the lighter side, they have copies of one of the first authors of science fiction that I ever read, <a href="http://librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?reader=&mc=&amp;bc=&cat=&genre=&language=&type=&author=&title=&offset=80&status=complete&reader_exact=&amp;mc_exact=&bc_exact=&offset=120">Edger Rice Burroughs</a>. A quick listen to <i><a href="http://librivox.org/a-princess-of-mars-by-edgar-rice-burroughs/">A Princess of Mars</a></i> will show that his work was written before much of the scientific knowledge that we take for granted, but it will also reveal the art of the cliffhanger. Burroughs strove to create anticipation when he wrote each chapter as a short story in a magazine. He was preoccupied with anthropology and seems to call upon the "Orientalism" of his time as a major informant.<br /><br />If you've never read other great authors (like Mark Twain) you might also give them a try and see if they're there. Among the authors I'd suggest are Frank Baum, who wrote an entire Oz (as in Wizard of) series that is far trippier than the movie; I'd compare him to Lewis Carroll (<i>Alice in Wonderland</i>), who is also featured. Then maybe go for some Tolstoy, Poe, or Shakespeare, and continue to the Avonlea series by Montgomery (which I have yet to read, but which Gina loved). Of course, I should probably listen to some James Joyce (since I avoided him in High School) and the braver of you should try Kafka, and the Christians among us, and those who are interested in such things, might try Brother Lawrence's <i>Practice of the Presence of God</i> (BTW - Lawrence authored one of my favorite prayers).<br /><br />Have fun, kids . . .Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-63574216124939598022007-09-07T20:59:00.000-06:002007-09-07T21:17:35.520-06:00That's Just MeanTy's been working a lot, and referring to himself in the third person a lot. In the last month, if I haven't been working or helping Gina and Steve keep the house in sale-worthy condition, I've been helping my friend Jon get rid of some computer viruses (a work still in progress) or I've been reading my book for the Science Fiction Fantasy reading group down at the <i>Rediscovered Bookshop</i> or I've been translating passages from Epiphanius' <i>Panarion</i> (also still in progress), so I've not been to bloglandia nearly enough, and I think it unlikely that I shall return to my former level of activity in the foreseeable future. I suggest that you get an rss reader, like bloglines, and subscribe to all of your favorite blogs (except Laila's, 'cause she disabled that feature) so that you don't have to keep being disappointed after going to all the work of looking up my blog. That's right, I'm suggesting that following a link is too much effort.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">****<br /></div>Now, back to our story: I just came from the kitchen where Gina had just made Tank quit eating before he was done so that he'll nurse at the right time, about which he was not happy. She was eating in front of him. Ice cream. That looks like his baby food. Niiiiiice.<br /><br />Poor kid.<br /><br />(to be fair, she was there because she wanted to spend time with him)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23200654.post-72968041685595263742007-09-01T12:08:00.000-06:002007-09-01T12:25:00.565-06:00Dear Mister PotterDear Poor Blind Mr. Potter,<br /><br />I am sorry that you've lost your legs, I'm sorry that your sight is going. I'm sorry that you are lonely and bitter and angry. I am sorry that fear of helplessness consumes you, as does your greed for power.<br /><br />It is no sin to be rich, Mr. Potter, but it is a sin to buy people to use against Bill Baily. It is not a sin to pay for the vacations of the Building and Loan office staff, or to pay for them to adopt children, those would be noble actions. But, letting them know where the money came from and then using the loyalty that you've bought from them to help gain you sole control of the Building and Loan IS a sin.<br /><br />I fear that you have been misreading the words of Jesus, Mr. Potter: Jesus said that one should use one's possessions to help build friendships with those in the world so that, when persecutions come, they will hide and protect us. Jesus did not say that we should buy the loyalties of people so that we might persecute each other.<br /><br />May God save you, and all of us, from your greed,<br /><br />--GeorgeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06154556994302825043noreply@blogger.com0