November 01, 2009
Best costume
The auto-run feature of this video was just tooo damn annoying. So here is a link instead!
October 31, 2009
Playing at Atheism
Perhaps you’ve heard about a successful campaign sponsored by some atheists in Europe to put placards on the sides of buses propagating the anti-God point of view. The signs displayed in and around London and Genoa read “The Bad News is There is No God; The Good News is You Don’t Need Him.” This is just the latest in a worldwide campaign to debunk the very idea of God and to mock religion, especially Christianity. Like so much of the “new” atheism, which has gathered steam since September 11th, 2001 and includes the work of Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and their army of disciples, this latest expression is popular, flip, and deeply unintelligent.
Around the mid-point of the twentieth century there flourished the existentialist movement, led by such figures as Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. These philosophers argued rather vigorouly against the proposition that God exists, but, to their credit, they saw the deep sadness and feeling of emptiness that result from atheism. They sensed that there exists in the human heart a longing for meaning that nothing in the world can satisfy and hence they pronounced life without God as absurd. The “ethic” of existentialism involved a willingness to accept this absurdity and to assert one’s freedom in the face of it. Now, I don’t think for a minute that Sartre and his colleagues were right about the non-existence of God, but at least they were clear-eyed enough to appreciate the terrible tension that obtains between the infinite longing of the human heart and the absence of the one reality that could possibly assuage it. The one thing that they were intelligent enough never to have said is that God does not exist, but not to worry, we don’t need him. Even as they denied him, they knew that God, by definition, is what the human heart desperately needs. The bus placards reveal that today’s atheists, by contrast, are childish, playing at atheism rather than seeing to the bottom of it.
If we consult the Bible, we find, in fact, a way past atheism. There are parts of the book of Job, many of the psalms, some of the lamentations of the prophets that could have been written by Sartre or Camus on their darkest days. But the most “existentialist” text in the Bible is the book of Qoheleth, known in older translations as the book of Ecclesiastes. Qoheleth presents himself as an old man who has seen it all, done it all, achieved it all. He has experienced deep friendship; he has explored the wisdom of the ages; he has built palaces and gardens; he has had sexual delight; he has weilded power. And all of it he pronounces “wind and chase after the wind,” for none of it has finally satisfied him. But this doesn’t lead Qoheleth to despair or to a willful embrace of absurdity. Rather, it leads him to confess his faith in God, to allow his desire to pass beyond the goods of this world to the supreme and transcendent Good. Every one of us, if we are honest, move readily into the stance and attitude of Qoheleth. We experience an aching sense of incompleteness when we fail, suffer, and want but even more so when we succeed, rejoice, and achieve. For especially in those times of fulfillment, we become acutely aware of what the spiritual writer Ronald Rohlheiser calls “the holy longing,” the desperate need for God.
And the awareness of this need is precisely what pushes us past atheism. An animal eats enough, finds sufficient shelter, gets his requisite exercise—and he falls blissfully asleep, utterly satisfied. But the human animal attains all of those goods—and many others besides—and yet turns uneasily in his bed, still wanting more, even if he is unable to articulate clearly what that “more” is. What this proves, so our great tradition argues, is that we humans are very peculiar creatures indeed. We are hybrids and half-breeds, part animal and part angel. Our very desire for goods and truths that transcend this world proves that there is more in us than an animal nature. If we were, as the materialists and atheists argue, just extremely clever animals, we should remain as content as any dog when, with our superior skill, we attain those simple things that make a dog happy. But our very restlessness proves the reality of some alluring and transcendent Good that we call God.
And this brings me back to those buses and their atheist slogans. The claim that God’s non-existence is a matter of indifference is not only offensive to believers; it’s actually stupid, even on atheist grounds. And at any rate, once we’ve been through the finally illuminating darkness of which Qoheleth speaks, we can see that another slogan is far more appropriate: “The bad news is: nothing in the world satisfies us; the good news: so what, God exists!”
Happy All Saints Eve!
The origin of the festival of All Saints as celebrated in the West dates to 610AD, when Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs; the feast of the dedicatio Sanctae Mariae ad Martyres has been celebrated at Rome ever since.
The feast of All Saints, on its current date, is traced to the foundation by Pope Gregory III (731–741) of an oratory in St. Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world", with the day moved to November 1.
In the Catholic Church All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation, meaning going to Mass on the date is required (unless one is ill or elderly). However, in the United States, All Saints Day is not considered a Holy Day of Obligation when it falls on Monday or Saturday, as well as having no obligation at all in Hawaii.
October 30, 2009
House Bill linked
If your interested in the House version of the Health Care reform, Click here. The Senate Bill has not been posted as of yet. There is a strong suggestion that it should be posted. Which will hopefully allow We the People to peruse what they are wanting to do.
As far as the House bill goes. Per the Heritage Foundation: "The bottom line is: Almost everybody will pay more, and a new appointed bureaucrat will make your health care choices for you."
Contact your Senator, let them know how you want them to vote.
- Number one: let families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines.
- Number two: allow individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together and acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and labor unions do.
- Number three: give states the tools to create their own innovative reforms that lower health care costs.
- Number four: end junk lawsuits that contribute to higher health care costs by increasing the number of tests and procedures that physicians sometimes order not because they think it's good medicine, but because they are afraid of being sued.
October 29, 2009
Tops Day Info
Weight 202
Calories this week: 11,786
Calculated RMR: 15,229
Should have lost ~ 1 pounds
Walked 15 miles.
Biked 15 miles.
October 28, 2009
Dollhouse
Maybe it was heightened expectations. After all Firefly had such untapped potential that it was crushing to see it die too soon. It is still one of the best shows never seen. Funny in that if it was BBC it would be a full series....
Joss himself lamented over the problems with season one and boy were they deep. Every so often (not often enough) you would get a glimpse of something, only to tune in next week to find it was nothing. I have considerably lowered expectations now, the last week was more "meh" then riveting, still it was better then the entirety of last season. I really have a wait and see attitude that is yawningly away from loosing me.
With my DVR I decided to watch Angel. I had never gotten a chance due to the WB oddness that occurred (suddenly it wasn't a broadcast channel, then it was dumped from various services) . As luck would have it, TNT shows it early in the AM. Two shows a day, so I can play catchup in a minimal amount of time.
This show has everything that Echo and crew are missing. A flawed hero, character conflicts, confused loyalties, plot twists and delicious dialog. It is character driven with a weave of plot lines that get to the edge logic and reason, with that lucky device of a magical world.
I can only imagine that Joss has lost his mojo for creating interesting, engaging characters when looking at Dollhouse. At this point I am biding my time for Chuck to start up.
Oh, White Collar started this week. It was pretty fun and on my keep watching list.
October 26, 2009
Red Plus blud letting
I'm a car carrying donor of the Red Cross, I would post my ID but I am fairly sure thats top secret, need to know... umkay, maybe not. But I do give regularly and today was another blood letting.
Now the cool thing about giving blood is that they take your Blood Pressure and write it on the card. Any given day any given blood pressure can be up or down. It is a trend over time you are looking for.
So with my weight loss earlier this year I was wondering how my BP was looking.
1-2007 122/88 (I am around 270lbs)
3-2007 134/80
5-2007 138/88
7-2007 138/74 **you get the idea**
Moving forward
3-2009 132/80 (When I started loosing)
5-2009 118/68 (around 230 lbs) Walking to and from work.
7-2009 114/72 (around 211 lbs) Starting to ride my bike.
8-2009 118/70 (around 208 lbs)
10-2009 112/58 (around 200 lbs)
Well, anyways I was pleased.
Now the cool thing about giving blood is that they take your Blood Pressure and write it on the card. Any given day any given blood pressure can be up or down. It is a trend over time you are looking for.
So with my weight loss earlier this year I was wondering how my BP was looking.
1-2007 122/88 (I am around 270lbs)
3-2007 134/80
5-2007 138/88
7-2007 138/74 **you get the idea**
Moving forward
3-2009 132/80 (When I started loosing)
5-2009 118/68 (around 230 lbs) Walking to and from work.
7-2009 114/72 (around 211 lbs) Starting to ride my bike.
8-2009 118/70 (around 208 lbs)
10-2009 112/58 (around 200 lbs)
Well, anyways I was pleased.
As is tradition in the Autistic mind (pictures)
Trevor making the "Angry face." Note the Dremel pumpkin tool we got at Lowes.
This is my assigned "Smile" pumpkin, I went for a Mater look...
This one is Connor's design. Not sure if he assigned himself anything. He likes the results.
Mom got to do the "Love" face. Which came out the best.
October 24, 2009
Civility online (the loosing art)
"Trolling" Internet Terms to know and share:
Trolling is an attempt to bait someone. To get them to respond, either through wise-crackery, knowingly posting incorrect information, asking blatantly stupid questions, or other foolishness.
Nearly all trolled statements are meant to be funny to some people, so it does have some social/entertainment value. "Trolling" isn't simply "harmful statements".
Intentionally insulting/libelous statements are "flaming".
The goal of trolling is to get fed; "Feeding the Trolls". This is when people 'take the bait' or respond with a trolled reply or replying to comments that are blatantly from a troll.
This is especially true when a troll first makes his comment, and (usually many) people respond, either trying to correct the troll, or express anger at the statement. At that point, the trolling was successful and has been fed.
When encouraged by success and feeding, trolls often return.
October 23, 2009
As is tradition in the autistic mind.
Today is a very special day. It is the day Connor goes to the pumpkin patch to pick up a pumpkin.
This has been a local outing since Kindergarten. More then that, it is a a ritual tradition that Autumn means "Go to Pumpkin patch." Early last month he ambled into our room and proclaimed that he would be going, never quite sure if he was told he was going to go or he decided he was going to go we dutifully set up a timeline. Which was then etched into the stone of his life.
When we got a note saying he needed to dress for muddy conditions, it seems as a near sure thing. If not, we will make a family journey to get pumpkins. We have to get four Pumpkins and will be assigned on what emotion\design we are to create. After all Connor is a benevolent task master. I can only attempt to explain how much fun he is when thus motivated. He gets so much enjoyment out of these little traditions. I feel it helps him make sense of things, gives him that consistency of life that keeps him even keeled.
As a family we had all but eliminated the pumpkin carving portion of things. On our hill, we do not get many trick-or-treaters. Our towns tradition is to have a huge kids parade downtown which all the shops have treats for the kids. There are some neighborhoods that are well traversed, just not ours.
He was going to get four pumpkins and put them in his backpack. We told him to get one and we would get three more. Maybe a few more, so we can make some pie.
Autumn is awesome. Connor sees to that...
October 22, 2009
Tops Day Info
Weight 208
Calories this week: 11,500
Calculated RMR: 15,528
Should have lost ~ 1.15 pounds
Walked 15 miles.
Biked 15 miles.
October 21, 2009
Dad Stuff
While I was enjoying my day off I spotted a stave in the yard. That got me to thinking about Connors Halloween costume (toon Link). So I headed off to make him a sword.
I picked out a couple of decent staves (read; no knots) and rough sanded one of them down. Cut a couple of pieces for the cross guard and rough sanded those as well. This is one of those times that having a table belt sander would have been really handy.
I pre-drilled and drywall screwed the contraption together and presented it to Connor.
Which turns out to be the best bit. Connors eyes lit up with excitement as he became Link. Of course he soon asked for the shield. Further the sword needs to be painted.
Thus runs the fleeting heroism that is a Dad.
Pain in the foot.
On my right foot at the base of the Navicular, between the Cuboid and Calcaneus there is an injury of some kind. Yes, I looked up the chart as a means of pinpointing, not to be all snooty about my skillz.This all seems related to standing on the break during a traffic accident a few years ago. For the longest time I would periodically get a nerve blast of pain from my ankle. That is no longer the case.
This particular injury feels like there is a break deep inside. I know that massaging the connective tissue helps, as does heat. So I think it might be something other then a break. I really do not have any clue.
My thought is to go to a podiatrist and find out. I have already had x-rays, post crash. It seems my recent bike ride flared it up, but I did not notice anything till the next day.
It does not stop me from walking (I have some good new balance shoes). It just makes me wonder if It is going to get worse.
October 20, 2009
Motivation and Lazy.
I am pondering celebrity. Is it about the fame, the lifestyle, the money, the power or all of the above? Entertainment is an odd thing, it starts with that one person in the tribe that can make the others laugh "with him". The cool thing is that part has never changed.
Somehow we as a group have misplaced awe about people due too their ability to entertain on certain media. While I fully agree that a great performance deserves credit, the actor is just another shlub with a job.
So you have a given performance, into a string of performances. That would indicate said schlub is good at said craft. As a group we should certainly recognize ability.
I would say the mastery of several entertainment crafts, writing and acting, singing and dancing, etc, would be your next level of performer.
Finally that special niche for those who excel at one area of performance. Jugglers, acrobats, and so on. While they are fairly stuck at what they do, they have become the art.
And still it would be about achievement. The did-you-see-when-they... of it all.
As a group we tend to "worship" based on silly criteria. I enjoy the writings of G. K. Chesterton. I do not understand the fascination around Paris Hilton. Guess which one is better known...
October 19, 2009
Monday Errands
It rained last night. It had cleared up by morning. So I decided to run errands. By Bike!
9:00 AM I headed down our hill and over the next, through downtown and across the Umpqua River. Harvard Blvd. heads out of town West and leads to the more rural area's of our county, and heads along the river. The houses across the road all have large picture windows (for obvious reasons). It was surprisingly warmer then the cloudy sky would indicate. Next to no wind could be felt and while my cheeks got cold it was a pleasant sensation. Fall colors abound and littered the black asphalt with a mosaic that hinted at traction danger. At this time of day, on this route, I was the only person on the planet. There is an underlying noise that a lazy river makes. At the fifteen minute mark I stopped to re-hydrate and stood at a slight bluff overlooking millions of gallons of slow moving water. Wonderful, sounds, sights and smells was quite the reward.
Onward I started the loop back into Roseburg. This goes past our local farms, surprisingly busy at this time. As Garden Valley is a more popular route, I started seeing more cars. (I should note that in my town more cars are in the tens). Now was a climb into town. This bluff, at this time, thirty minutes into my journey. Second water break at the top of the hill, also a reminder that getting into shape is a journey, not a destination. The bummer is after all that climbing the downhill was nil. Just as well as I am working, which is a good thing.
Now for the Errand, locked the bike and returned some items. Then to the bank and finally buying some groceries. We are having a tight week, having paid some medical bills. So I got a 10 lb bag of potatoes, 5 lbs of carrots, a jar of sauerkraut and veggie dogs. Get that? Approx 18 pounds of food to strap on my back. It was a step backwards in weight loss.
The final leg was through the city park and along the river again. Something of a theme for this trip. For one of the first times in a long time I was not able to make it all the way up the 150 foot climb to the house and had to walk it a little. Still it was a nice ride.
14. miles. 235' ascent. I made a map link thingy of my ride. I hope it works.
October 18, 2009
101
O truant Muse, what shall be thy amends
For thy neglect of truth in beauty dyed?
Both truth and beauty on my love depends;
So dost thou too, and therein dignified.
Make answer, Muse: wilt thou not haply say
'Truth needs no colour, with his colour fix'd;
Beauty no pencil, beauty's truth to lay;
But best is best, if never intermix'd?'
Because he needs no praise, wilt thou be dumb?
Excuse not silence so; for't lies in thee
To make him much outlive a gilded tomb,
And to be praised of ages yet to be.
Then do thy office, Muse; I teach thee how
To make him seem long hence as he shows now.
By William Shakespeare
October 16, 2009
Quite the Vindication for Mr. Limbaugh (link list)
There is no doubt in my mind, that if Mr. Limbaugh had stated anything racist it would have come out. Instead you have falsified quotes that any serious journalist would have vetted. Of course that speaks loudly about the state of journalism.
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