Quaerens Sapientiam

Negative on the Russia dealio

2007-04-04T00:30:00.000-04:00

Ya durachil vas, in English, means "I fooled you."

No one in Russia wants me to teach Russian to Russian kids. I wish it had been true, really. It would have rocked, and I hope to teach overseas some day. Thanks for the well-wishes, I appreciated them.

Props to Beth C and Kassie for not buying my story.

And special recognition to Jonathan Cannone, who was fooled in 2005 when I announced that my mother was expecting triplets. Don't get fooled again, Jon. It's more than a song, it's a way of life.

Moving to St. Pete's, RU!

2007-04-01T00:12:00.000-04:00

Some of you know that I've been studying Russian for the past year. Well, I've been looking for an opportunity to put my new skills to good use and see an awesome part of the world.

So I applied a couple weeks ago to the Eurolingua Institute, and have been accepted to teach with them next year! Here's my new job description.

While they haven't told me for sure where they will place me, the lady who I talked with (Lirpa Solovyava, in charge of recruiting and placement) said there was a good chance that I'd be near St. Petersburg, working as part of a new government project to combat illiteracy in rural children. Because children there usually have to work on their family farms and can't regularly attend school, almost 35% of the rural population are classified as illiterate when they reach adulthood. So I'll be teaching them to read and write Russian.

The job will last for a year, this August through next July, after which I will come back and lay down some pwnage on anyone who wants to play me in chess. And perhaps anyone who wants to try to outdrink me.. just kidding. I'll tell you more specific dates, where I'll be, etc. as I find out.

не верьте этому!

(posted late.. I first posted this on xanga and myspace at the date below. It is now 4/3, at the same time)

Christmas/Year in Review from my family and me.

2006-12-25T22:41:00.001-05:00

Greetings, people whom I love. There's little to report to you on my life this year. I have been working full-time since April at a place called United Plastics, grinding up industrial plastics such as bins and car bumpers. For fun, I play basketball whenever possible. I also bowl every week with some awesome friends of mine, Jayna and en and Matt. We lose most of our league games in spite of large handicaps, but we have a lot of fun. I plan to have more excitement next year, either finding a place to teach on the east coast in the fall, or traveling from Spain to China this summer with some friends and perhaps teaching English in Asia. Or, perhaps something else will happen; the Lord's plans are often unpredictable.

Have a merry Christmas and a great 2007, and let me know how you are doing,
-David

To those of you who are interested in my family's life: we send you our annual Christmas letter. Everyone wrote a piece, from my dad to 3-yr-old Lydia. You just read my piece. Find a link to download the rest on my xanga, facebook or myspace (you must be listed as my friend on the particular site).

Go Blue!

2006-11-18T10:11:00.000-05:00

Go Blue! Beat the Buckeyes!

McDonald's value: Fries vs. double cheeseburger

2006-11-13T20:21:00.000-05:00

One of the best food values in the prepared food business, measured by energy per cent of cost, is McDonald's double cheeseburger. For only a dollar, it provides an amazing 460 calories, for a value of 4.6 Cal/cent.

The problems with this burger is, it's nasty in more than one way. It tastes like one would expect for a dollar. And the worst problem is, it tastes like it is loaded with salt. Salt is ok, but too much not only disrupts the body's water-sodium balance (leading to water retention, thirst, high blood pressure and kidney problems), it tastes bad. One DC contains half of the body's maximum recommended daily intake of salt.

The more expensive large fries ($1.79) tastes better, but has its own problems. Suprisingly, salt is not one of them. Lightly salted in the box, the fries provide an acceptable 14% DV of salt, 1/7 of the maximum daily intake, and still taste good. They provide more energy than the large fries - 570 calories, or 3.2 Cal/cent. But they contain 8 grams of trans fat. Any amount of trans fat, and especially more than a few grams per day, massively increases one's risk of heart disease and may cause other health problems.

Oh, and to anyone who received a free food coupon while playing McDonald's Monopoly: tomorrow (Tuesday) is the last day to redeem your coupon.

Michigan election endorsements

2006-11-05T23:59:00.000-05:00

Here is who and what I'm voting for on Tuesday (between 7 AM and 7 PM at your local voting station). Hopefully you'll find at least part of this helpful.

U.S. Senate race: Michael Bouchard
Incumbent Debbie Stabenow is the classic senator who thinks that a big, federal government is the solution to any problem.

Bouchard doesn't have a Senate voting record, but he seems to be a typical conservative. It appears he actually believes in cutting taxes, government spending, and regulation. For example, he'd like to phase out the 15% tax on our paychecks - that's way more than I spend on all other taxes combined - that goes to a Social Security program that will go broke before young people benefit.

Most Republicans give lip service to things like this, then enact federal oversight of schools (No Child Left Behind - though it should be the states' and communities' job to oversee schools). I'm optimistic that Bouchard will stand out; he criticizes the Republicans currently in charge. My main concern is that this long-time sheriff will outlaw things because they're illegal rather than because they should be illegal. This includes immigration - will he only try to punish/fence out illegal immigrants, or encourage legal immigration? Will he be too pro-war?

Leonard Schwartz is also appealing. He's a Libertarian who knows what the Constitution allows congress to do (not as much as it does). If Michael Bouchard didn't stand so strongly for small government, I'd vote for Schwartz, never mind that it would mean (horrors!) the Republicans might lose control of the Senate. Good riddance, I'd say. They're not really any less of an evil than the Democratic system.

Governor's race: Dick DeVos
I'm pretty much basing this on money issues. We need someone who will make Michigan friendly for business, especially small business, as soon as possible. That, not state-sponsored health care or other social programs, is the only way to slow Michigan's job bleed. DeVos, a successful businessman himself, should be able to do this. He'll also be able to help the state work efficiently within its cramped budget. Granholm wants the state to add a health insurance program to its budget woes. How will we pay for that? Raise taxes on the few rich people left in Michigan to drive them out?

Michigan ballot proposals.

I tried to reword these slightly so they made sense.

Proposal 1: A constitutional amendment to require that conservation funds must be used for their intended purposes.
Vote no. This is ridiculous. It is the job of the state House and Senate to decide how to spend the state's money. If this passes, the only way to do anything new with the money is pass a new amendment. The state has only diverted money from these funds once over the last few years, anyway.

Proposal 2: A constitutional amendment to ban state affirmative action programs based on race, gender, color, ethnicity, or national origin. (This applies only to state-based hiring/contracting/school admission.)

vote no. I almost said "yes". This wouldn't be a bad thing. If it passed, discrimination would still be illegal; this only bans favoring minorities. If it only banned quotas, this would be a good idea. But if it bans a CMU admissions director from admitting an Argentinian student to keep the school from being just a bunch of boring white people, it's bad. I hate to ban personal discretion, even when it's abused sometimes.

Proposal 3: To allow a mourning dove hunting season in the state.

vote yes. Doves are no different from anything else we hunt. The one objection that carried weight with me was that mourning doves mate for life. However, Wikipedia says that single mourning doves will find a new mate.

Proposal 4: To prohibit the state and local governments from using eminent domain to take private property for private purposes.

vote yes. This protects private property from the state. The specific purpose is to keep the state from taking private property to let Wal-Mart or GM buy and build on it. The state can still take land for parks, highways, and other public uses (with proper payment).

Proposal 5: A law to establish mandatory school funding levels, and significantly raise current funding levels (by $565 million).

vote no. Where will the money come from? Money doesn't correlate to better schools anyway, as a Home School Foundation study found. Not that I'm opposed to , but let the state congress decide on the funds rather than voters. That way, they can decide how to fund it rather than mandating "give them $565 mil right now."

State senate, district 27: John Gleason
John Gleason seems to have more common sense than concern for political wrangling.

I might post another blog with Attorney General, Secretary of State, and other endorsements.

nooo!

2006-10-28T13:32:00.000-04:00

It started last winter. The Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons both played strong during their seasons and ended with the best record in their leagues.

The Red Wings promptly lost in the first round to Edmonton.

The Pistons, favored early in the playoffs to win the championship (with amazing 2:1 odds) lost in conference finals. I watched most of their 82 season games, and they let me down hardcore.

Now the Detroit Tigers, a cinderella team coming from several sub-.500 years including a 106-loss season in '02, spend most of 2006 with the best record in baseball.

They beat the Yankees, then swept the pennant series.

And then, they rolled over and lost the World Series 1 game to 4. How do my awesome sports teams lose so badly? Will the Michigan Wolverines choke like that?

But
The Tigers are still the coolest-looking people in sports. Check out these mugs:

Maglio Ordonez:

Curtis Granderson:

second baseman Placido Polanco is still the bomb-diggity. Check out the grin:

my second favorite Tiger, catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez:

and Kenny Rogers, who among a team of greats stands out as the greatest.

go 2007 Tigers!

The convenience of reason

2006-07-20T20:49:00.000-04:00

From Benjamin Franklin: His Autobiography. The first paragraph illustrates an important consequence of human reason. I couldn't resist including the second and third paragraphs for your entertainment.

I believe I have omitted mentioning that, in my first voyage from Boston, being becalm'd off Block Island, our people set about catching cod, and hauled up a great many. Hitherto I had stuck to my resolution of not eating animal food, and on this occasion consider'd, with my master Tryon, the taking every fish as a kind of unprovoked murder, since none of them had, or ever could do us any injury that might justify the slaughter. All this seemed very reasonable. But I had formerly been a great lover of fish, and, when this came hot out of the frying-pan, it smelt admirably well. I balanc'd some time between principle and inclination, till I recollected that, when the fish were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs; then thought I, "If you eat one another, I don't see why we mayn't eat you." So I din'd upon cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other people, returning only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet. So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.

Keimer and I liv'd on a pretty good familiar footing, and agreed tolerably well, for he suspected nothing of my setting up. He retained a great deal of his old enthusiasms and lov'd argumentation. We therefore had many disputations. I used to work him so with my Socratic method, and had trepann'd him so often by questions apparently so distant from any point we had in hand, and yet by degrees lead to the point, and brought him into difficulties and contradictions, that at last he grew ridiculously cautious, and would hardly answer me the most common question, without asking first, "What do you intend to infer from that?" However, it gave him so high an opinion of my abilities in the confuting way, that he seriously proposed my being his colleague in a project he had of setting up a new sect. He was to preach the doctrines, and I was to confound all opponents. When he came to explain with me upon the doctrines, I found several conundrums which I objected to, unless I might have my way a little too, and introduce some of mine.

Keimer wore his beard at full length, because somewhere in the Mosaic law it is said, "Thou shalt not mar the corners of thy beard." He likewise kept the Seventh day, Sabbath; and these two points were essentials with him. I dislik'd both; but agreed to admit them upon condition of his adopting the doctrine of using no animal food. "I doubt," said he, "my constitution will not bear that." I assur'd him it would, and that he would be the better for it. He was usually a great glutton, and I promised myself some diversion in half starving him. He agreed to try the practice, if I would keep him company. I did so, and we held it for three months. We had our victuals dress'd, and brought to us regularly by a woman in the neighborhood, who had from me a list of forty dishes to be prepar'd for us at different times, in all which there was neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, and the whim suited me the better at this time from the cheapness of it, not costing us above eighteenpence sterling each per week. I have since kept several Lents most strictly, leaving the common diet for that, and that for the common, abruptly, without the least inconvenience, so that I think there is little in the advice of making those changes by easy gradations. I went on pleasantly, but poor Keimer suffered grievously, tired of the project, long'd for the flesh-pots of Egypt, and order'd a roast pig. He invited me and two women friends to dine with him; but, it being brought too soon upon table, he could not resist the temptation, and ate the whole before we came.

Happy anniversary

2006-07-11T23:51:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to my parents on 25 years!

and a kid for every two of them.

Review: Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest

2006-07-08T07:11:00.000-04:00

Pirates II is a decent sequel, and in my opinion, one of the better if not best action movies of the year. It dispenses with some of the fun of the first movie, replacing it with lots of quality action. Really too much action, like a too-rich cake, yet I didn't tire of it after 2 1/2 hours. The plot is pretty good, and the action never strays from it. This movie is closer to the feel of a decent blockbuster, which some viewers don't care for, but it still retains a much of the attitude of the first. This is largely thanks to the actors. Johnny Depp is still masterful, making Kiera Knightley's passable acting look a bit pale in comparison. Not that I'm complaining about casting Knightley.

I did hear a complaint that the movie showed too much of the sea monsters, but they're not really that disgusting, nothing like King Kong. If you stay until after the end credits, you can see a 5-second cut scene that's kind of funny but not at all worth the wait. Looking forward to Pirates III: At World's End in May 2007.

edited 7-8 20:11

Review: Superman Returns

2006-06-28T01:40:00.000-04:00

Superman Returns is a worthwhile addition to the corpus of superhero comic book-to-movie adaptations. It isn't quite as good as my friends and I expected it to be, considering the trailer and the fact that X-Men/X-2 director Bryan Singer directed it. Compared to other recent superhero movies, it lacked a philosophical/moral theme or point. The main themes were Superman's romance with Lois Lane and his battle with Lex Luther. The primary theme, the romance, was well done. Based on the idea that Lane has gained a fiance and a son during Superman's 5-year absence, the movie mantained a romantic tension between the main characters throughout the entire film. The second theme was a bit flat. There was no sense of a grand war of any sort between Luther and Superman, or the fate of the world hanging in the balance, though the plot called for both.

In spite of this shortcoming, I recommend the movie for anyone but those who hate superhero movies. I can't compare any of it to the "real" Superman story, as I am not familiar with any other versions. Some further notes: it's a fairly clean PG-13 with some violence. Be aware that it's a long, 2 1/2 hour view.

Arrive on time to see trailers for M. Knight Shyamalan's movie Lady in the Water, to be released July 21, and Spiderman III, which we have to wait for until May 4 of next year.

Victory is won

2006-06-09T19:06:00.000-04:00

By Judah B. Kiley
Charge to Graduates of Patrick Henry College, May 20, 2006

Several years ago, Dr. Farris initiated an essay contest titled "What is Victory?" At the time, victory, for me, meant winning the scholarship, and since I knew I probably wouldn't win, I put off the formulation of my concept of victory. I did, however, make a list of what victory is not, hoping that perhaps I would come closer to an understanding of what it is.

Victory is not your S.A.T score. Victory is not a 4.0. Victory is not Harvard law school. Victory is not Patrick Henry College. Victory is not further success by the home schooling movement. Victory is not a Republican president, congress, and 9 conservative Supreme Court justices. Victory is not the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Victory is not a marriage amendment. Victory is not returning America to the state of its founding.

These are victories perhaps but not victory. Victory implies achievement, success, finality. When can we here at PHC hammer our swords into plowshares? What is our final goal which when achieved we can claim success? Is it to make Patrick Henry College a Christian Ivy League School? Is it to make America a Christian nation?

You have no assurance that if you bring America to where it fits your ideal that it will not stray back down the path of godlessness. You have no reason to believe that two-hundred years from now, Patrick Henry College will not suffer the same fate as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. If you become a president or a senator the changes you make will last a few generations. If you write an epic of grand proportions or rival Shakespeare himself you too will fall out of favor.

Perhaps victory is not the permanence of the mark you leave, but the preeminence of the life you live and the institution you lead. Hear the word of the Lord, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"

Which do you want more, a perfect America or the exaltation of God? You might say this is a false dichotomy? Isn't our "leading the nation and shaping the culture" one of the primary ways by which we might exalt God?

The riches, the wisdom and the power you will attain do not exalt God. God exalts Himself. He is more permanent than nations. He is more powerful than all the governments of the earth. His wisdom is greater than wisest council, and his wealth extends beyond the whole earth.

Victory is not yours to win. It has already been achieved in the person of Jesus Christ the Son of the living God. Jesus Christ is not a concept. He is not a stamp of approval for your personal ambition and desire. Jesus Christ is a person. He is the face of God in whom all glory dwells. Whether you succeed or fail, He will be glorified, and whether America stands or falls, He will be exalted.

If your grades are more urgent to you than encountering the Person, if your vision of change and transformation of this nation and culture are more pressing than the exaltation of God, then no matter how well intentioned you may be, you have missed the point of our faith completely. We are stewards of His glory, and bearers of the Good News that Christ Jesus, the glorious one, has achieved final victory at the cross and has made it possible through that victory for us to participate in His glory.

There is no doubt that the things you seek to accomplish are good things. But are you seeking the glory of His person in the midst of these pursuits, or are you putting it off till later? Do you think somehow that your achievements will compensate for your lack of worship? Seek that place where you will find his glory thickest. That is your vocation. For some of you, you will know the Person of Jesus in prosperity, for others in poverty; for some in reputation, for others in obscurity; for some in power, for others in weakness. In all of these things, whichever you pursue remember this: victory is to know Him and be known by Him.

If you look at your program you will find a verse. Jeremiah 9: 23-24: "Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD."

reprinted with permission from Judah Kiley.

Graduation

2006-05-16T21:55:00.000-04:00

By God's grace, I narrowly got permission for my last-minute time off request (and didn't have to start working second shift in exchange.. would've been painful). Lord willing, I will drive to Purcellville Thursday night, attend the Friday Campbell-Hyde festivities and Saturday graduation and leave some time Sunday.

If anyone could put me up for the night Friday and Saturday, I'd appreciate it. If anyone in Michigan, northern Ohio or Pittsburgh would like a ride or to give me a ride, email me, comment, post on my facebook or myspace pages or call me.

This post will probably be deleted this weekend.

Top 5 music albums

2006-04-22T16:28:00.000-04:00

Five favorite music albums:

5. Yo-yo Ma: Classic Yo-Yo

This list needs a good classical album, and this sampler of Yo-Yo's beautiful cello performances of classical, film soundtrack, and folk is an excellent choice.

4. Evanescence: Fallen

It's a tragedy that Ben Moody left the band; Amy Lee's amazing voice is just a pleasant sound without his songwriting. The words, voice and music combine perfectly in this album.

3. Good Charlotte: Young and the Hopeless

I don't have enough experience with "real" punk bands to compare it to them, and they are geared toward a high-school audience, so I won't claim that Good Charlotte are great rockers. However, they do a good job with their rejection of popular culture and the story, treated in several songs, of how their father left his family when they were 16. Avoid their subsequent sellout album, The Chronicles of Life and Death.

2. Johnny Cash: The Man Comes Around

Some of the covers, such as "Tear Stained Letter" are fairly weak, but the power of the rest of the album makes up for it. "The Man Comes Around" and "I Hung My Head" are the best of the album, along with "Hurt" which has one of the few profound music videos ever made.

1. Death Cab for Cutie: Plans

When someone coined the phrase "music to my ears", he was surely talking about this album. Favorite tracks: almost all of them. I could listen to this every day for the rest of my life.

Honorable mention: Some albums that don't quite make the list, or that I haven't listened to enough to include them, are the School of Rock soundtrack (in all seriousness, I want to see the School of Rock give a live concert), Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlanticism, Eiffel 65: Europop (great electronica), and the 5 Browns: No Boundaries.

For other great top five lists, see elgaberino's posthere.

Atoms

2006-04-21T18:38:00.000-04:00

So there's this atom.

He says ....

"I think I have lost an electron!"

Another atom asks..
"Are you sure?"

The atom says
"I'm positive!"

yeah.

A neutron walks into a bar, orders a beer, and asks, "How much?"

The bartender says, "For you, no charge."

(thanks to I want you to throw and rsadelle)

My hero

2006-04-14T17:14:00.000-04:00

Jesus is awesome. He didn't care what anyone else thought, but did what he knew was right. He protected the weak, shamed the strong, accepted no excuses for himself, needed none. When he was to be arrested, he threw his captors onto their backs in the dirt simply by speaking a word, but let them kill him anyway. Tried for crimes he did not commit, he did not defend himself or plead for his life, but when asked "are you the Christ, the chosen one?" merely said "I am." He walked out of his grave by God's power, in defiant victory over man's most hated and feared enemy, death. He conquered Satan by the power of God's word. He forgave his murderers, the entire human race. Jesus is my hero, the ultimate man.

Herald

2006-04-04T14:21:00.000-04:00

I just got my hands, or my hard drive, on the Friday, March 17 issue of the Herald. It was quite helpful in giving me a perspective on the recent events at my college.

I especially appreciated Stefanie H's editorial which called for a calm, sensible response.

comment and I'll email you the issue.

More pictures of my brother

2006-04-01T20:24:00.000-05:00

Three more pictures of Caleb (now known as Airman Derby, he leaves Monday for the pansiest boot camp ever). As you can see, he'll have no problem there, because he's xHaRdXcOrEx.

DPK 4 life/ 4 eva! He's the one on the left.

And the last picture of Caleb. I'll miss him, that punk.

Concert: The 5 Browns

2006-04-01T00:33:00.000-05:00

My family went out to see the 5 Browns in concert this evening. The Browns are Desirae, 26, Deondra, 24, Gregory, 22, Melody, 21, and Ryan, 19. They all play piano, together, each on an individual piano. It's quite impressive. You can hear them on their website, but it's definitely more impressive live.

Their quintet pieces included Stravinsky's Firebird, and Bernstein's West Side Story, and an combination of "Simple Gifts" from Copeland's Appalachian Spring and "Going Home" from the New World Symphony.

Gregory, Melody, and Ryan soloed. Gregory played a crazy Superstar Etude No. 1 - a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis by Aaron Jay Kernis - and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6. The sisters played a piece on one piano, written by Rachmaninov originally for 3 sisters to play together. They played with violinist Bryan Hernandez-Luch, Desirae's husband, in the beautiful "Aquarium" movement of The Carnival of the Animals by Saint-SaÃ«ns

How did they get to be good enough to be in the Billboard classical top ten for the 50th consecutive week? They started the piano at age 3, studied hard (their own choice, not from excess pressure from their parents), and attended Julliard together. The lucky kids have 10 Steinway Grands at home, 5 for practicing together (4 hours a day during summer) and 5 for individual practice (another 4 hours).

As an encore, they played Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee, possibly their best piece. To not play it at the concert would have been like Panic! at the Disco not playing "Time to Dance" in their show (true story.. I was mad).

The Browns produced a self-titled album last year and just released their second, No Boundaries. They say No Boundaries is even better, but the first contains the Flight of the Bumblebee. Both are available in a dual-disc set with DVD.

Check their tour page regularly at the5browns.com. If they don't have a show near you, I expect that dates are being added on a regular basis.

Big events

2006-03-22T02:37:00.000-05:00

In two weeks, my brother Caleb is scheduled to leave for Air Force basic training.

Also in two weeks, I get to hear Lech Wałęsa speak here in Flint.

I've been feeling oddly unmotivated to blog lately. Hopefully I'll break that soon with some stuff on childrens' books. For now, though, I'll just leave you with a cautionary tale:

The tired and thirsty prospector threw himself down at the edge of the watering hole and started to drink. But then he looked around and saw skulls and bones everywhere. "Uh-oh," he thought. "This watering hole is reserved for skeletons."

- Jack Handey

Schedule

2006-02-17T02:21:00.000-05:00

Here is a rough outline of my planned schedule for the next couple weeks:

Fri, 2/17-2/20: Marquette
2/21: working with bro Joel at his place in Philly.
2/24: P-ville, PHC, see Mark and Erin on their way back to MI
2/25: Nelson-Williams wedding, near DC - the reason for the whole thing (except going to Marquette.. that's with a youth group)
2/27??: go home
3/13-3/17: fill in for Caleb, who will be in Florida at work.

Political partisans don't use logic

2006-01-25T12:41:00.000-05:00

A new study here at livescience.com shows that political partisans use emotion rather than logic when evaluating political statements.

From the article:

"The tests involved pairs of statements by the candidates, President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry, that clearly contradicted each other. The test subjects were asked to consider and rate the discrepancy. Then they were presented with another statement that might explain away the contradiction. The scenario was repeated several times for each candidate.

"The brain imaging revealed a consistent pattern. Both Republicans and Democrats consistently denied obvious contradictions for their own candidate but detected contradictions in the opposing candidate.

'The result is that partisan beliefs are calcified, and the person can learn very little from new data,' Westen said.

"Notably absent were any increases in activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain most associated with reasoning."

Gonzales v. Oregon

2006-01-18T14:12:00.000-05:00

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld Oregon's decision to allow doctors to prescribe drugs for suicides, a violation of federal drug law.

I was hoping that the decision, Gonzales v. Oregon, had upheld states' rights, but instead it seems that the court only said that the attorney general didn't go after them quite right. In combination with Gonzales v. Raich, which allowed federal regulations to trump California drug law, it looks like the current court shows little opposition to unconstitutional federal drug laws.

For an illustration to paleocons as to the error of such laws, the Ninth Circuit ruled in United States v. Stewart that a man who built his own machine guns couldn't be prosecuted for their possession under commerce clause-based firearms law. In light of the Raich decision, the Supreme Court vacated* Stewart.

Props to Clarence Thomas for arguing for federalism in both Oregon and Raich. In his Oregon dissent, he quotes 545 U.S. at 27, n38, that states have "traditional police powers to define the criminal law and to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens."

*ordered a new decision

Iraq myths (edited)

2005-12-13T14:16:00.000-05:00

(edit) since I posted this, Aaron has shown that this guy Miniter is wrong. Regarding the Mexican border argument, Aaron said:

In the month of November alone, four Al-Quaida operatives were arrested on the Mexico-US border. Three were known Muslims trying to cross the border. The fourth was an Al-Qaida member living in Mexico just south of the border monitoring security activities.

So, Miniter seemed to be "in the know", but now it looks as if he may be all talk.

My original post:

In an interview by World Magazine, author Richard Miniter takes on 7 popular myths about 9/11, Iraq, and terrorism, providing evidence that each one is false.

The myths are:

Russian nuclear suitcase bombs may be used by terrorists (they no longer exist)

There was no tie between Iraq and al-Quaeda (there are a number of links)

Poverty causes terrorism (it's an upper-middle-class activity)

Halliburton made a fortune in Iraq (it made a terrible profit and is trying to sell its Iraq unit)

Racial profiling is important to stop Muslim terrorists (more Muslims are westerners, asians, and/or women; profiling relationships would work better)

Al-Quaeda terrorists infiltrate the U.S. via the border with Mexico (no al-Quaeda operatives have been captured crossing from Mexico, compared with several from Canada, because Canada has a Muslim community and other advantages)

A post-9/11 world is more dangerous for Americans (the risk is about the same)

Read the entire interview here.

Review: Walk the Line

2005-11-23T15:40:00.000-05:00

Walk the Line is the story of the life of Johnny Cash as he started his singing career, wrecked his life, and found salvation in God and June Carter.

Joaquin Phoenix did a good imitation of Cash's look and guitar strumming, and his voice imitation would be hard for anyone to improve on - only two of the songs in the movie are Cash recordings. Yet his performance struggles to get beyond imitation. You can't blame Phoenix. Johnny Cash was almost certainly one of the five greatest American musicians of the 20th century (I made that up; don't ask for the names of the other 4). He was an extremely strong and distinctive character, and Phoenix had gigantic shoes to fill. Also, Joaquin is distinctive in his own way - maybe it's just his face, maybe something deeper - in a manner that makes it hard to see him as his character. This also interfered with his performance in The Village.

The story was good but not compelling. World complained that it didn't do justice to the factor that Christianity played in restoring his troubled life. While I don't know enough of his bio to say, I don't think it was as bad as they say. His religion is most widely seen through his songs, which came through the movie between his gospel beginnings and some things he said later in the film. And it certainly didn't capture my larger-than-life ideal of Cash.

His divorce and remarriage interested me. God hates divorce and remarriage - Christ calls it adultery. Yet June Carter Cash apparently was a big factor in Cash's recovery from drug abuse and depression. Another story I just read today has some similarities, showing that good can indeed come from a bad thing.

Altogether, while the movie doesn't seem compelling enough for a big Academy Award showing, it was good and I'd recommend it to anyone mature enough for its themes.

Social implications of RSS readers

2005-11-12T19:02:00.000-05:00

Reading your blogs with an RSS reader comes with consequences. The blog-reading seems less personal, less like a conversation with the author and others of his friends. I encourage you, at least when on your good friends' blogs, to click the little link to see the whole post with comments, so you can read and leave comments on the blogs you read. It turns the blog from a news service to an interaction.

Read 35 blogs at once

2005-11-11T22:25:00.000-05:00

I should have set this up long ago, and you should set it up today. It's a RSS/ATOM feed reader - a program that grabs updates to blogs and news sites you like and displays them for you without the effort of visiting each site individually and checking for new posts. The interface is much like an email reader - it shows the number of unread posts and everything. It's like a daily xanga subscription report, for those of you that use those, except it's much simpler and useful.

FeedReader is especially useful since I have bookmarked 35 blogspot blogs - far to many to check regularly for updates. 2 of my sites seem to have disabled their feed, so I have to check them manually. Unfortunately, xanga doesn't support syndication, and I have maybe 50 or 60 of those. It seems Livejournal does, so I should add those next. No, wait: it seems that even xanga supports RSS. Sweet.

Here's how to set it up:
Download an RSS/ATOM reader program. There are many out there; I used the program FeedReader. It's GNU/open-source, which means it's simple and there's no restrictive licensing to agree to. Download it here.

Install, run, and add your feeds. FeedReader comes with some news feeds pre-loaded; I deleted most of them, but some were useful. The hardest part is finding the feed. Blogspot feeds are the address plus /atom.xml - for example, http://quaerenssapientiam.blogspot.com/atom.xml

LiveJournal feeds are at http://www.livejournal.com/users/exampleusername/data/rss or http://www.livejournal.com/users/exampleusername/data/atom ; for some other features, see the LiveJournal faq.

Xanga feeds are at http://www.xanga.com/rss.aspx?user=americansamerican

Go for it - it's such a timesaver. I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner.

Online Freedom of Speech Act

2005-11-09T12:59:00.000-05:00

I'm something of a skeptic when it comes to how great the Republicans are and why you should almost always vote for them above Democrats, but this votes like this keep hope alive for the party. This vote was for the Online Freedom of Speech Act, which excludes internet communications from the onerous McCain-Feingold speech restrictions. The act says in its entirety,

Paragraph (22) of section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431(22)) is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: “Such term shall not include communications over the Internet.”.

The vote was as follows (see voting list by congressman here):

Yeas Nays PRES NV
Republican 179 38 13
Democratic 46 143 13
Independent 1
TOTALS 225 182 26

The act failed on a motion to suspend the rules and pass, but should suceed on the next vote if it is not amended to death.

Bono interview

2005-10-27T22:38:00.000-04:00

The current issue of Rolling Stone contains an excellent interview with Bono, the lead singer of the band U2. The third section of the interview discusses his Christianity, the nature of which has been a topic of debate among Christians and at Patrick Henry College. I don't think this interview will convince all conservative evangelicals that Bono is a Christian. Though this article and another recently published quote certainly seem to indicate that Bono is a Christian, I can't tell you for sure of his status. It doesn't matter to you or me, though, just him and God; all I can say is that he says some good things:

What is your religious belief today? What is your concept of God?

If I could put it simply, I would say that I believe there's a force of love and logic in the world, a force of love and logic behind the universe. And I believe in the poetic genius of a creator who would choose to express such unfathomable power as a child born in "straw poverty"; i.e., the story of Christ makes sense to me.
How does it make sense?

As an artist, I see the poetry of it. It's so brilliant. That this scale of creation, and the unfathomable universe, should describe itself in such vulnerability, as a child. That is mind-blowing to me. I guess that would make me a Christian. Although I don't use the label, because it is so very hard to live up to. I feel like I'm the worst example of it, so I just kinda keep my mouth shut.

His answer to the last question in the interview reflected a changed attitude toward conservative Christians similar to an attitude change I've been coming to in the past year.

read the article

Quotes

2005-10-13T16:00:00.000-04:00

Quotes from a work of literature I'm reading for the first time, and a film that I just saw for the second time. Tell me the work from which either quote was taken, and I will leave you a message on your blog telling you that you won. If you don't guess, you can't win!

The book

"Is it possible!" repeated D------, bitterly. "Yes. And a beautiful world we live in when it is possible, and when many other things are possible, and not only possible, but done–done, see you!–under that sky there, every day. Long live the Devil. Let us go on."

The film

"How I envy the young. For them everything is so clear. Things seem to be either one way or another. It is only with a little age that you begin to see life as a series of compromises. But even in compromising one must draw a line."

Using google, the IMDB, wikiquote, or similar searches is cheating, of course.

Columbus day

2005-10-11T20:46:00.000-04:00

Remembering Christopher Columbus who, at the close of the 15th century, thrust into European consciousness the knowledge that it is a global world, after all.

Meme

2005-10-05T14:27:00.000-04:00

Obligatory meme that everyone else is doing:

Go into your archive.
Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

And the winner is:
$4.
From Items for sale. I never sold any of the things I listed in the post.

Young man, recently kicked out of a Buddhist convent, is looking for a family to love him.

2005-09-26T15:54:00.000-04:00

Young man, recently kicked out of a Buddhist convent, is looking for a family to love him.

Many of you know the Estradas, and know that they're a great family. Will and Jordan are well-known at PHC as great guys, good-natured and friendly and welcoming. I'm hoping their reputation is true, because my currently-fragile emotional state depends on them right now.

I recently joined a Buddhist convent because I liked the people there. Bad idea. I was ignored for a few weeks, and then they found out I was there and kicked me out on my ear - while Lauren laughed at me. ouch.

here's a copy of my application to join the (crucial edit: the -Estradas Only!-) blogring:

About You
it's Derby, you know me (will and jordan do, anyway)

Why You'd Like to Join
I was recently kicked out of the Buddhist Convent by Lauren, (I think at the behest of Naomi, because Lauren isn't mean like she is , even though I love her in the fashion of a Christian brother) because I was not a girl. The blogring specifically said that the Buddhist Convent was "for girls", and I am definitely for girls, but they made it clear that they are not for me. So now I am feeling very left out, and just need a family to welcome me again. All you have to do is let me into this blogring. I'm not asking you, I'm begging that you let me feel loved again. *tears*

If they reject this, I am holding Jordan and Will personally responsible for gleefully confirming my status as an outcast from society. I know my brother already "hates me," and I "haven't seen my parents" in a few months. It's getting pretty bad.

In other news, I plan on visiting my second home, NoVA, Wed. evening through Monday. I hope that you, my reader, will be there too.

pic credits to zoneonepress, used under their Creative Commons license

I'm taking comments on xanga for once.

Majestic music

2005-09-24T23:58:00.000-04:00

I just returned from a night of beautiful music. Most of my family went to the Whiting Auditorium to hear the Flint Symphony Orchestra's first concert of the season. The year's theme is Russian music, in honor of which my family bought a few season tickets - the cheap ones in the top row. The rest of us got cheap student tickets. Some of my siblings, as students, took advantage of Whiting's opportunity to upgrade their tickets to some unsold main floor tickets.

The FSO is a decent professional orchestra - no Atlanta Symphony, but clearly quality. Our 17-year director and conductor, Maestro Enrique Diemecke, also directs music for the National Symphony of Mexico and Long Beach Symphony, and is principal conductor for the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, and has guest conducted the Royal Philharmonic, National Symphony, Paris Orchestra, and many others.

The concert was amazing - as a friend said, one of the best of the many times she has been there.

The first piece was Glinka's Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila. It's a moderately nice piece, but only a warmup compared to what followed.

The next piece was Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. The symphony welcomed a guest violinist to perform the solos: Vadim Gluzman. He played on a 1690 Stradivarius, and produced everything he and it held inside themselves, with excellent backup by the orchestra. Gluzman's playing was exquisite. His interpretation of the already beautiful solos make the playing on my mp3s of the concerto sound boring in comparison. One of the solos in the middle of the concerto was a bit long; it seems that all instruments, even the most beautiful like the violin, become tiresome after a few minutes because virtually every instrument has a characteristic sound. The conductor did well, but it seems that most conductors have a yearning to lead themselves, rather than following a soloist.

At the end of the second movement, the audience assumed the piece was finished, and we gave Gluzman, Diemecke and the orchestra a standing ovation. We had to repeat it, for much longer, after the final movement continued a good thing.

After this piece, during intermission, Mr. Gluzman graciously signed my ticket. "I don't know how I can listen to my Tchaikovsky CDs anymore," I told him.

"I will tell you how," he began.

"No, it won't be the same," I insisted, misunderstanding the great violinist.

"get the Tchaikovsky CDs with David Oistrakh. He's far better than me." Receiving listening advice from such a man is far more of an honor, and more useful, than a signature.

The conductor treated us to one of his own pieces, his Two-Sun Tango. The piece, like its writer, was a bit ostentatious and short, and impossible to not enjoy. It was more of a brief standard orchestral piece, whatever that would be called, than a tango. The tango occurred in the middle, during which Enrique danced on his platform, something I believe the audience had never seen.

The fourth piece was Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture. Though not one of the two Tchaikovsky pieces that were the climaxes of the performance, this was the most purely beautiful piece and my favorite of the evening. It was possibly the orchestra's best performance, and the talented flutists were especially nice. The piece wonderfully captures the sorrow, glory, beauty, and trepidation of Christ's resurrection, and it might even correspond to the chronological sequence of events.

All but the virtuoso violin performance were swept away by the last piece, sounding muted in comparison to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. This grand composition is a challenge for a mere orchestra to do by itself, and the FSO acquitted itself well though not stunningly. The composition is powerful enough recorded, but of course it's a piece that is only truly realized in a live performance.

The cannons at the end, of course, were recorded. The bells were performed on pipe bells - I don't know the real name - but some deeper ones might have been recorded. The orchestra's 17 small strings (including violist Beverly Austin, my sisters' grandmotherly violin teacher), 9 cellos, 7 bass, 5 French horns, 3 trumpets, 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 trombones, tuba, 2 oboes, harp, triangle, tympani, cymbals and a handful of miscellaneous woodwinds, brass and percussion did admirably, and received a 3-minute standing ovation.

Interestingly, Tchaikovsky himself was never able to perform this the piece as he wrote it, with bells and 16 cannon. Richard Freed tells us in the program notes that the czar he wrote it for was killed before it could be performed, and though the piece became extremely popular throughout Europe, Tchaikovsky never again got the right combination of funds and an outdoor performance for this commissioned piece that he really did not care for. It wasn't until 1967, 87 years after its composition, that Erich Kunzel and the Boston Pops gave the 1812 Overture the full stunning performance it deserved.

After the concert, bits of the rolling sounds of the end of the overture kept rolling uncalled through my head for most of the next hour, with no recall of any of the lesser works, but a few breaks for pieces of Aerosmith's worthy "Dream On" also presented themselves without asking, for some variety.

The amazing thing is: in heaven, far more beautiful music is played even more skillfully and majestically before God.

"Take one"

2005-09-06T10:38:00.000-04:00

Take One is a multi-player, speed variation of Scrabble.

Materials needed
Letters from one or more Scrabble games (more if you have quite a few players), or suitable substitute.
Optional for obsessive-compulsive dictionary checkers: Scrabble Dictionary

Players
Two to at least a dozen

Directions
Turn the letter tiles upside down on a table, mix.
Each player takes seven letters.

On a signal, players turn their pieces over and begin forming interlocked words with their letters. Unlike Scrabble, players do not play off of others' words, only their own.
When one player has used all of his tiles, he calls "take one" and each player takes another tile from the center pile.
Players may rearrange any and all of their tiles after they have been played.
The round ends after the center pile of tiles is gone, and one player has used all of his tiles.

Scoring
Players receive points as marked on the tiles, with tiles used in two words counted twice. Players with unused tiles must subtract those points from their score.

Try it out, it's a lot more fun than my characteristically systematic description.

Devastation: New Orleans almost entirely flooded.

2005-08-31T12:20:00.000-04:00

The governor of Louisiana today called for a complete evacuation of the city of New Orleans, which was hit hard by the winds, rain and storm surge of Hurricane Katrina. As of last night, 80% of the city was flooded, covering streets and building foundations and in some spots reaching 20 feet deep. The National Guard lost the battle last night to rebuild a damaged levee that holds back Lake Pontchartrain next to the city, but the lake's levels, elevated from the storm surge, are receding back into the ocean, and the water in the city has essentially stopped rising.

The mayor estimated the death toll for the city to be in the hundreds if not thousands.

23,000 residents are stranded in the Superdome, where the water is expected to soon flood both the lower levels and the generators, cutting off power and forcing occupants to higher levels. Authorities are uncertain how to evacuate so many people, but have a temporary location for them: the vacant Houston Astrodome.

Problems will remain

The floodwaters are not expected to rise, but the city's problems are far from over. Current estimates predict that it will be four weeks before the flooding is pumped out of the city. The powerful pumps that removed rainwater from the city are underwater or otherwise not operating.

New Orleans was built in a low area, with the Mississippi River on one side and the Lake Pontchartrain on the other, and is shaped like a bowl. This bowl has partially filled with water that is contains snakes and alligators, a shark, bodies of animals and humans, and toxic chemicals from many nearby industrial sites. One estimate predicts that it will be four months before the city is again habitable. This for a city of almost half a million residents, and another 850,000 in the surrounding metropolitan area who have lost the economic and logistic support of the city.

The situation could have been worse. The hurricane's center, which earlier appeared to be on a direct track toward the city, missed New Orleans by 10 to 15 miles. Katrina also weakened from a Category 5 to Category 4 before it made landfall. These providences kept Katrina from doing the full damage predicted by the National Weather Service:

AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE...
THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL...
[A FEW] HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY... TO THE POINT OF COLLAPSE.

Disaster was predicted years ago

The potential for disaster has been predicted for several years.

Worries began as early as 1969, when the powerful Hurricane Camille came within 100 miles of the city. 1998's Hurricane Georges and 2004's Hurricane Ivan had a chance to hit the city, but made landfall elsewhere.

The June 2005 FX miniseries Oil Storm described a series of events causing massive oil shortages in the US. These included the massive "Hurricane Julia" hitting New Orleans, with many residents taking refuge in the Superdome, as happened this week only two months later.

The risk of a hurricane causing massive damage to the city has been well reported in recent articles in American Radio Works, Natural Hazards Observer, and Popular Mechanics.

Mississippi received brunt of storm

The center of the hurricane made landfall in Mississippi, where a 30 foot storm surge destroyed an estimated 90% of the buildings along the Biloxi-Gulfport coastline. One third of the state is out of power. Two major bridges, and major piers and casinos were destroyed. Thousands of National Guard members are attempting to open roads, severely damaged by floodwaters and debris, to coastal Mississippi. An apartment complex has collapsed, trapping some residents. The state's death toll is expected to reach several hundred.

Sources:

Wikinews:
Louisiana locked down; New Orleans could become a "toxic soup"
Wikipedia: Hurricane Katrina
Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans
List of demolished structures in Biloxi, MS

Commercial online news:
Mercury News
CNN

Google News items on Hurricane Katrina

Followup: Maria Full of Grace, and Red Eye

2005-08-29T00:58:00.000-04:00

Dave asked:

Out of curiosity, what exactly made Maria Full of Grace such a good movie?... I thought that the point of view from the young girl who wanted to make money was done excellently. However, the movie moved slowly and ended anti-climatically in my humble opinion. Although it was more intense in a realistic manner than the overdone action/comedy/horror/ poo poo that has been released as of late.

Maria told the story of a real, everyday person among everyday people. Even the drug dealers were human; their lives, like everyone else's, made up of events and relationships that were interesting even though they weren't unusual. For each person in the film, there are thousands of similar characters in the real world.

(spoiler warning)

The film ended on a high note, with Maria starting a new life. An everyday life, but one full of hope.

For other reasons to like it, the film gave a good view of the drug trade from the mule's perspective. The people in the film were (all but two) Hispanic. The movie gave a comparison between life in Columbia and the US, and calls for one between the life of immigrants to the US, and our lives as citizens from birth. In particular, Maria herself shows an illegal immigrant's perspective as someone working for a better life for herself and her baby.

(end spoiler)

I was disappointed that the story gave virtually no notice of religion's place in the lives of its characters, since it did chronicle all of the other important everyday circumstances.

Overall, it was memorable, but I admit not especially life-changing. It was more encouraging and much deeper than most Chicken Soup for the Soul stories. Not entertainment as it is generally considered, just a good story.

Good point about being intense in a realistic manner. Quality stories about an ordinary situation can be at least as interesting, and have a sort of intensity at least almost as good as a save-the-world scenario. You get a bit of that in Red Eye, too.

Another review: Red Eye was pretty decent. The story and characters could exist in real life, though not quite as much as in Maria. The ending to Red Eye had a lot of action, yet it fit the plot almost perfectly.

This movie is a "suspense thriller." I suspect that men and women will react quite a bit differently to the situation that provokes the thrills. The main character is a young woman, with whom I could sympathize but not really empathize. Most women will probably feel a much stronger bond with Lisa, at least as much empathy as sympathy. Their reactions may be closer to Lisa's herself: fear and hope that she escape; men, seeing the event as if from the outside, may have more anger in place of fear, and a desire to intervene, along with hope to see Lisa escape. This is, of course, a generalization and a made-up theory – could anyone comment? Comparisons of Red Eye to Hitchcock are also welcome.. I don't know Hitchcock well enough to comment.

Good movies versus Bad: Producers get a clue

2005-08-25T15:04:00.000-04:00

____

The New York Times is reporting that movie attendance this summer will likely be 11.5% less than it was last summer.

11.5% is a massive amount for a sales industry. Why are sales down? Most Americans know why. Movies this summer were junk, there are other forms of entertainment available, renting is as enjoyable as going out, and renting is far cheaper. $18 for two tickets and several more for snacks is far too much to charge if you want regular spending by a middle-income and low-income demographic.

Read the astounding common-sense insights that studio executives have reached this summer:

Before, "you could still count on enough people to come whether you failed at entertaining them or not, out of habit, or boredom, or a desire to get out of the house. You had a little bit of backstop." - Robert Shaye, chairman of New Line Cinema.

Some of our movies "should never have been made." - Marc Shmuger, vice chairman of Universal.

"Audiences have gotten smart to the marketing, and they can smell the good ones from the bad ones at a distance." - Michael Lynton, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment

"It wasn't like the last crop of summer movies were that much better than this summer... This summer has been as deadening as it has been exciting... People are just beginning to wake up that what used to pass as summer excitement isn't that exciting, or that entertaining. This is vividly clear in terms of the other choices that consumers have." - Mr. Shmuger

Not only are they seeing the light, some are talking about correcting the problem:

(We will focus on making) "only movies we hope will be really good." - Mr. Lynton

If you're looking for a truly good new movie, go out and rent Maria Full of Grace. It was too good to be strongly marketed or widely released. (Actually, it wasn't widely released because it is in Spanish, with optional English subtitles). And stay away from the worst movies of all: senseless cookie-cutter comedies. Because,

"Rebound wasn't worth the dollar I spent for it" - my brother Caleb and friend Matt.

A defense of my last entry.

2005-08-09T10:58:00.000-04:00

I knew I'd have to do this, and Ped has now forced my hand. A defense of my picks in the last entry:

Napoleon Dynamite, as Ped said, is "one of the best thought out comedies ever made." That pretty much sums it up. It was supposed to be stupid on some level, and that is its brilliance. So there, Naomi and Rebekkah.

Star Wars III- the acting and dialogue, particularly Portman's, wasn't the best, but I loved the story. I love Star Wars, what can I say? Palpatine's acting was good, and there were some soon-to-be classic lines. My favorite: "So this is how freedom dies - to thunderous applause." Very true.

I almost never buy CDs as a matter of economics, being a broke college almost-grad, and CD rentals were outlawed by congress many years ago at the behest of the music industry, so I get my music from friends and the radio. Still, I think my picks are worthy of a listen.

I really have to defend Good Charlotte. Ped, have you listened to the whole album, or just their singles? The album not only is a unified piece of art, unlike most such popular works, but does an excellent job of telling the (true) story of Benji and Joel's father who left a great home for a miserable life of sin, at Christmas when the boys were 15. Yet one of the last songs says, "I'm writing this letter to tell you, it's not okay, but we're okay." Powerful stuff, and it's heart-rending to see how close they get to forgiveness without touching it. To be honest, a dad that stupid and who acted so wrongly, I'd have a hard time forgiving. But they miss him in spite of all.

There are two closely-tied themes in this album: not wanting to be like popular society, and not wanting to be like their dad. Both of the goals are worthy ones, if incomplete by themselves. The album does a good job of showing the bankruptcy of both popular society and Mr. Madden.

Hoobastank is good at least for a limited audience - those whose hearts are sore after a relationship breakup, as mine is. It does a good job of vocalizing some things I felt last year. For the audience, they're good, better than most country out there, anyway. (I'm not anti-country, for the record).

Readers, check out the first picks of each list. They're all amazing.

Favorites of the first half of 2005

2005-07-22T00:21:00.001-04:00

I've read, heard, and watched many works of art in the first half or so of this year. Many were bad, and I am tempted to recommend my readers against them. But there is no end to the making of books, as Solomon wrote, and my warnings would likely be wasted on those who would not have experienced them anyway, and interest others in them who would otherwise have remained unstained. So instead, I will recommend the best.

In each section, I listed the works roughly in order, with the best first.

Movies (DVD and cinema)

Brokedown Palace
Man on Fire
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Batman Begins
Collateral
Napoleon Dynamite
School of Rock
Bourne Supremacy

Books

The Day Boy and the Night Girl - George MacDonald*
On the Abolition of Christianity in England - Jonathan Swift*
1984 - George Orwell
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen*
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series - Douglas Adams
The White Company - Arthur Conan Doyle*

Music albums

Your Daughters and Your Sons - The Duhks. I'd rather not label them, other than "modern folk/world", which also happens to be my favorite style of music.
Young and the Hopeless - Good Charlotte
The Reason - Hoobastank
Writing on the Wall - Jill Phillips
Be Not Nobody - Vanessa Carlton
The Very Best of Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow. Folk-rock is also a favorite.
Under My Skin - Avril Lavigne

* Work is in the public domain and no longer subject to copyright, because more than 70 years have passed since the death of the author. 1984 will pass into the public domain in 2020, and the other books, movies, and music will be released, roughly speaking, after you are dead.

2005-07-19T22:48:00.000-04:00

Jonathan Krull and I are cousins.

expressions of condolence for either of us will be met with a swift kick to the face.

Read or post comments

We're not afraid

2005-07-14T20:58:00.000-04:00

Images used by permission from werenotafraid.com

A classical liberal's opinion of Wal-Mart

2005-07-12T18:49:00.000-04:00

The classical liberal, by the way, is me. The common terms conservative and liberal really only have meaning in certain issues (though most think otherwise), and socialist and libertarian don't describe me, so I am now classifying myself as a classical liberal.

I first posted this as a comment in the daily comment free-for-all at WorldMagBlog.

I personally hate Wal-Mart, and to a lesser extent, other big-box stores. And yes, I generally believe in a free market, with certain limits.

They treat their employees poorly, as I understand (though unions have major problems of their own). There is a study on this, though I haven't read it thoroughly, at dsausa.org

They use their clout to muscle into communities that don't want them, and exert excessive control over their suppliers. They forced the Vlasic Pickle company into bankruptcy. See the Fast Company magazine.

State and federal regulations of all sorts, and the insurance system, systematically harm small businesses that have trouble keeping track of them. Local governments greedy for the promise of tax revenue act the same way, even selling public property and muscling other owners out of their property through such things as zoning and eminent domain to help build a big-box store.

But the main blame for the problems of Wal-Mart falls on society. People shop at big-box stores for their low prices, and won't spend the money to buy something priced 50% higher that will last twice as long. This supports our consumerist economy, in which we buy something, use it for a short time until it stops working, and throw it away to buy a new one. Ultimately, this is less efficient than purchasing for quality.

The free market inherently supports companies that scrounge for every last cent of profit regardless of all other considerations, like Wal-Mart. Companies that care for their employees, and sell the products that best balance quality and cost, will only survive if employees value working for caring employers and buyers realize the true cost of savings. The education and the entertainment-advertising systems are largely to blame for society's current ignorance in these matters. In the name of savings, Americans shop at big-box stores, and some of us defend it by arguing that we are supporting capitalism.

Though I generally support a free market, I am not a capitalist. A classical liberal believes in few restructions on free enterprise. A pure capitalist it seems, believes that money is the ultimate measure of good. I am far more concerned about quality of life than I am about money.

In a free market, I can choose to not support businesses I dislike. This includes businesses that care more about profit than the well-being of their employees and their community/ies. In a free market, that's the only way to control rogue businesses such as Wal-Mart.

This is how a heart breaks

2005-06-24T12:04:00.000-04:00

It's over, and the Detroit Pistons have narrowly lost a repeat NBA championship.

In the first round of the playoffs, we beat the Philadephia Flyers 4-1.

We went on to beat Indiana, going down 2-1 before rallying and winning 4-2.

And we beat Miami in the Eastern Conference Championship, holding back their star players Shaquille O'Neal

and Dwyane Wade in a fierce 7-game series after going down 3-2.

The finals versus San Antonio was long and hard.

Games 1 and 2 were blowouts in San Antonio, with the Spurs winning 84-69 and 97-76.

Games 3 and 4 in Detroit were decided by even higher margins, 96-79 and 102-71 for the Pistons.

Game 5 in Detroit was a 1-point loss in overtime, when the team left Robert Horry undefended to allow a 3-pointer. Final score: 96-95.

We came back in game 6 to win 95-86 and postponed San Antonio's parade plans.

But the Spurs played best in game 7, winning 81-74.

Once we were so fine, you and I
And why you gotta make it so hard on me
Yeah it's hard on me

And I'm sorry but it's not a mistake
And I'm running but you're getting away

Well this is it now
Everybody get down

This is all I can take
This is how a heart breaks

You take a hit now
You feel it break down
Make you stay while I wait
This is how a heart breaks

No trophy. Our heads are hanging, not from shame, for there was no shame in this loss. Our heads hang with a broken heart.

Flag desecration

2005-06-23T00:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, the House passed a proposed constitutional amendment, H.J.R. 10, against flag desecration. The vote count was 286-130 and was the sixth time the house passed such a resolution.

The First Amendment to the Constitution was added in part to protect criticism of the government. Yet this amendment, if it passes the Senate by a 2/3 vote and is ratified by 3/4 of the states (38 of them), will allow Congress to punish certain forms of criticism of the government. One survey reported that 75% of Americans support such an amendment.

The Founding Fathers knew that free political speech is essential to a democracy, even (especially?) when that speech is unpopular. Why have we modern Americans (predominantly "conservatives," who give plenty of lip service to the founding ideals), forgotten this?

Unconstitutional Commerce Clause powers upheld

2005-06-07T14:34:00.000-04:00

"The Congress shall have power... To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes."

Fellow PHC students are familiar with the Federal government's ability to do almost anything based on an absurdly broad interpretation of the Commerce and General Welfare clauses of the Consitution. Yesterday's Supreme Court decision Gonzales v. Raich, decided on a 6-3 vote, has further stated that Congress can use the Commerce clause to pass any law that they can link to the economy in any way. To cite Justice Thomas's dissent,

Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything–and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers.

Thomas, Rehnquist and O'Connor agreed with the Ninth Circuit Court, which argued that Supreme Court precedent did somewhat limit Congress's commerce clause powers. Specifically, in U.S. v. Lopez, the SCOTUS held that Congress could not create gun-free school zones under the Commerce Clause, and in U.S. v. Morrison, in which the court held that Congress could not regulate gender-motivated violence (rape) under the clause. Both were non-economic activity.

Justice Stevens, speaking for the majority (himself, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsberg, and Breyer; Scalia, concurring) argued that

regulation is squarely within Congress’ commerce power because production of the commodity meant for home consumption, be it wheat (Wickard v. Filburn) or marijuana, has a substantial effect on supply and demand in the national market for that commodity. In assessing the scope of Congress’ Commerce Clause authority, the Court need not determine whether respondents’ activities, taken in the aggregate, substantially affect interstate commerce in fact, but only whether a “rational basis” exists for so concluding.

This decision is not primarily about marijuana, but the regulatory authority of Congress, but its immediate effects are on drug policy, and basically maintain the status quo. The Constitutional, federalist position rejects the status quo and calls into question part of the authority of Congress to regulate prescription drugs.

Political Animal notes that this ruling will find conservatives and liberals switching their normal positions on constitutional interpretation, proving that they are more concerned with getting their way in specific issues than the bigger picture of principles. How about the justices? SCOTUSblog notes that the "liberal" justices put their permissive reading of the commerce clause above the specific issue at hand, while the conservatives varied. In her opinion, Scalia's decision was not, an inconstistency as some said; the distinction is between activity that is part of a web of interstate commercial activity (wheat and marijuana distribution) and activity is not (carrying a gun). I don't agree with her argument, and at any rate, the Wickard decision was wrong.

O'Connor makes an excellent argument that this is not economic activity decision strips Lopez and Morrison of all significance. All Congress has to do to pass a gun-free school zone law or anti-rape law, in spite of the court's decisions, is to adjust the wording, she says. O'Connor is not courageous enough to take issue with Wickard, instead arguing that the effect of homegrown wheat on interstate commerce was far more significant than the effect of a few marijuana growers.

For an excellent, non-partisan, detailed analysis of the decision, see Lawrence Solum's Legal Theory Blog.

(article expanded and edited 13:30 June 8)

My sister

2005-06-04T02:30:00.000-04:00

My sister Joy graduated earlier today (ok, yesterday, technically).

Joy loves God. And she loves animals, the land and the fruit of the land, painting, playing good music, her friends, her family, everyone else, cooking, eating, hard work, and hard play. And she's beautiful. More than enough to make any older brother proud.

Mark and Erin Leichliter

2005-05-27T00:17:00.000-04:00

There you have it, folks! (photo courtesy of Aaron Noble)

Miracles

2005-05-25T14:13:00.000-04:00

Mark 6: Familiarity is bad for faith¹Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him.
²When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands?
³"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?" And they took offense at Him.
⁴Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household."
⁵And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.
⁶And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.

Christ's ministry was marked by amazing miracles that He performed almost every day. Modern American Christians almost never see such obviously supernatural miracles. Perhaps this is because we (among others) often analyze our theology to death or are chained by legalism, and just as with the Nazarenes, familiarity breeds contempt.

Matthew 16: Scripture is sufficient
¹The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.
²But He replied to them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.'
³"And in the morning, 'There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?
⁴"An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah." And He left them and went away.

We generally explain the dearth of miracles by saying that we no longer need such signs, as Scripture is complete. If unbelievers do not believe the signs throughout Scripture, they will believe nothing.

What are the true causes?

Are obviously supernatural miracles such as instant healings rare among us because the signs are no longer needed? Or is it because we have no faith in the Miracle Worker? Or is it both? Does Scripture indicate the answer elsewhere?

House passes universal ID card requirements

2005-05-06T16:28:00.000-04:00

A national ID card is like a drivers license, except everyone must have one, it's managed by the federal government, and everyone must use it to do a number of tasks in society. Plans to mandate such cards were mainly a concern for Britain, with stiff opposition over there, and had no chance in the U.S. until after September 11, 2001. During the last decade, and even the first couple years of this one, the concept was thought of as a liberal proposal, and was vigorously opposed by conservative groups, as can be seen here, here, here, here, and here. The CATO institute called it "Big Brother's solution to illegal immigration." The CATO institute still sees national ID crds as a bad idea. But now that the idea is supported by Republicans instead of being pushed by the Clintons and strongly opposed by Reagan, Phyllis Schafly and National Review have reversed their position and now support the proposal, ignoring the effects on citizens because it will help keep many illegal immigrants from obtaining drivers' licenses.

Supporters of the current REAL ID proposal say that it is merely an enhancement and regularization of current drivers licenses. Under the proposal, the new licenses will store fingerprint or retinal data in a remotely readable chip. Information linked to the card such as traffic tickets, currently held by states, will be put in a new national database. They argue that it will reduce terrorism by helping keep terrorists off of planes and out of nuclear power plants (although all of the "9/11" hijackers had legitimate ID) and ensure that illegal immigrants cannot receive government services.

It won't be truly mandatory. In fact, states won't even have to comply with the standards, if they don't care about their federal highway funds and enabling their citizens to continue receiving government services or certain private sector services. From the news article: You'll need a federally approved ID card to travel on an airplane, open a bank account, collect Social Security payments, or take advantage of nearly any government service.

continuing,

The House of Representatives approved the package on Thursday by a vote of 368-58. Only three of the "nay" votes were Republicans; the rest were Democrats. The Senate is scheduled to vote on it next week and is expected to approve it as well.

The bill's supporters say that the Real ID Act is necessary to hinder terrorists, and to follow the ID card recommendations that the 9/11 Commission made last year.

National ID cards are nothing new, of course. Many European, Asian and South American countries require their citizens to carry such documents at all times, with legal punishments in place for people caught without them. Other nations that share the English common law tradition, including Australia and New Zealand [and the US, until now, as noted in the Supreme Court's HIIBEL v. SIXTH DISTRICT of NEVADA decision - ed.], have rejected such schemes.

"Supporters claim it is not a national ID because it is voluntary," Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, one of the eight Republicans to object to the measure, said during the floor debate this week. "However, any state that opts out will automatically make nonpersons out of its citizens. They will not be able to fly or to take a train." - C|NET news

How was this done, with practically no warning? The measure was added onto an emergency spending bill for Iraq. It next goes to the Senate, then to the President. I'm emailing my senators.

You won't see the new ID cards for up to 3 years, hopefully enough time for the Democrats to get back in power and kill the measure. I can't believe I just said that about the Democrats. No, wait, this all started with Clinton. Ok, maybe a third party will gain power. (yeah, right).

And you know many "conservatives" will still think the Republicans are their party. Sorry, but with things like this and the No Child Left Behind Act, I can't claim them as my party. (Note: I hold to some liberal positions; I don't necessarily identify myself as a conservative).

Email your senator at DownsizeDC.org.

edit: added description of national ID cards

Dislike of Christianity and Christians

2005-05-04T22:21:00.000-04:00

Many non-Christians have a very low opinion of Christians and Christianity. Here is a concise summary, minus the taking over the government and banning abortions/etc. part, also a common theme:

"I was one a poor ungrateful wretched athiest, but was saved by the morality of the Christian religion. I learned from this how I am far superior to others and to show this through my constant moral self-rightousness. I also learned that I owe everlasting thanks to my invisible creator whose only proof of existance is a 2000 year old book with no sources. It has provided me with thoughts, so there won't be a chance of me thinking heretical one, thank god. I'll say, if it wasn't for religion, I might actually contribute something to society!"

(source)

How do you respond, not to me and your fellow Christians, but to the writer and those of similar opinions?

Note: In an attempt to combine my xanga and my blogspot blogs, I'm directing my xanga comments here.

Merry Intellectual Property Day!

2005-04-26T23:19:00.000-04:00

Today, April 26, is World Intellectual Property Day according to the Business Software Alliance (BSA). This day, according to the BSA's press release, is "an initiative to educate young people about how intellectual property rights foster innovation, creativity and economic opportunity." The BSA is a leading member of the fight against "intellectual property" "theft."

Intellectual Property is a fiction
This young person says: Ownership of intellectual property does not exist except as a legal status, a legal fiction, if you will. This is a completely different status from ownership of tangible property, which has existed as a moral right since Adam. I'm not apologizing for those who break the law, but theft is by definition taking of another's property. Illegally copying software may be illegal (and thus immoral), but because intellectual property is not property, it is not theft.

Think of it this way: In Exodus, a law was received (from God) that forbade theft. The Mosaic law never mentions intellectual property, whether it be a building design, a tool design, a piece of writing, or a song. Suppose an ancient farmer, Fred made a new hoe, designed to be easier on his back. Stealing this hoe is theft, and is morally wrong. However, another farmer, his neighbor John, can easily make a hoe just like the first without any payment to the first farmer. Is this theft? Not at all. That evening, John makes up a song and sings it to his family. Fred hears the song. He has every right to sing that song all day, every day, for the rest of his life. If someone asked Fred, "that's a nice song, who first sang it?" and he said "I did," he would be lying, but there was no such thing as theft of intellectual property. He isn't depriving John of the use of his song, merely making use of it for himself.

Under modern patent law, Fred can keep John from making a similar hoe with the design he made. John can keep Fred from singing his song by the wonders of copyright law.

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA)
This legal fiction does have its uses, and I hope discuss those one day. However, the current system is screwed up. And interested groups like the BSA are trying to strengthen "intellectual property rights", and so far they have been suprisingly successful. Until laws like the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (PDF) one of the worst-ever copyright laws, you were allowed to use copyrighted works you owned in whatever way you liked.

The DMCA "criminalizes production and dissemination of technology that can circumvent measures taken to protect copyright, not merely infringement of copyright itself, and heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet." (Wikipedia) Under this law, it is illegal to hold down the shift key while you put certain copy-restricted music CDs because that is circumventing copy protection. It is illegal to put a chip in your Xbox to run it like a computer because that is circumventing copy protection. Perfectly legitimate activities - it is legal to rip your CD for personal use, and to use your Xbox as a computer - made illegal by a bad law. Many more bad IP laws abound.

Copyleft and Creative Commons
You don't have to patent your inventions, but what you write is automatically copyrighted in the United States. You can, however, put what you write under copyleft. Copyleft is licensing anyone to use a work in any way, with the caveat that if they make any derivative work from it, they must license that work under the same license. This can be viewed as the opposite of copyright: copyright is used to restrict your right to use something; copyleft is used to prevent your right¹ to use a work from being restricted.

In honor of my opposition to intellectual property and the excesses of government protection, I have licensed this blog (for what it's worth) under the Creative Commons Share-alike license, probably the most popular copyleft license. You are free, according to the license,

to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work
to make derivative works
to make commercial use of the work

as long as you attribute to me and make it clear to others the terms of the license. You may distribute derivative works only under this license.

My copyright on the contents of this blog, like all copyrights, will expire 120 years after my death, unless I release it into the public domain. You have the right to quote parts of this and any blog, and copy it for strictly educational purposes, and do certain other things under the "fair use" doctrine.

Notes
(1) I use the term "right" to mean legal permission; I do not use it in the sense of an inalienable right.

A few notes

2005-04-25T14:36:00.000-04:00

Linkage to some quality blogs in the sidebar.

See my xanga for some 419 scambaiting.

XHTML/CSS editing doesn't work well in Word.

Churches with issues

2005-04-16T03:14:00.000-04:00

There's a discussion raging about the church - their function, the role of the individual Christian, and pretty much everything. Hopefully someone will point out the couple of issues that lie at the core of the debate, if such issues exist. (I say, unwilling to find them myself).

On the Christian's responsibility: In general, we should be imitators of Paul, even as he was of Christ. Imitating Christ means obeying our Father in everything, and obeying the two meta-commandments, which are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. This means doing as the early church: setting up hospitals to minister to the uncaredfor ill and dying, feeding and clothing widows and orphans. (aside: this would do a lot to fix our bad rap for trying to gain political power and impose morality on everyone.) That's the second meta-commandment. The first is even more important, and involves worship, prayer, and meditation upon the Word. But note that the commandment is to love, not to pray, worship, obey, or anything else. All of those are essential, but the greatest deed is to love. Love the Lord your God who saved you from sin.

In the church, we should not forsake the assembly of the saints. This may not necessarily mean "you must go to church." The second commandment does mean that when you go to church or meet with believers elsewhere, you need to talk to them, exhort and encourage and pray with them. Praying for four different church members every day would be an excellent starting practice. Be wary of using "the members of the church don't reach out to me" as an excuse not to start the reaching out.

On seeker services: Evangelism in a meeting of believers is never recorded in Scripture. The assumption is that the attendants of such meetings are already saved. If your friend is lost, don't bring him to a meeting to pray, worship, remember the Lord in communion, or study the Word as it applies to the saints - which should be the content of such meetings. Tell him the good news, and probably do it yourself, in an appropriate manner.

Then again, if, as Gabe noted, a number of Christians he knew were avoiding church, and non-Christians were attending to participate in free sports leagues, why not try to evangelize?

linkage to the discussion:
First post - Dave
Second post - Gabe
Third post - Dave
Fourth post - Hank
Fifth post - Eric
And finally, as one untimely born, myself.

News rants

2005-04-08T13:06:00.000-04:00

I woke up in a good mood today. Then I opened the newspaper. No, I didn't even open it; I read the first page.

A 17 year old high school girl who gave her friend (via Instant Messenger) a 65-member hit list she had made, and said she would blow up her school, is being prosecuted for charges of "false reports or threats ofa bomb/harmful device, a 4-year felony, and conspiracy to maliciously use a telecommunications serivices [sic], a 1-year misdemeanor."

The article notes that "police quickly determined the threats were not credible," but "Genesee County Prosecutor David S. Leyton told The Flint Journal that he wants to send a message that such activity won't be tolerated."

So she was charged under a terrorism law. "Law enforcement officials say the law against threatening terrorism, enacted [after September 11, 2001], gives them a vital tool to avert shootings." It also gives prosecutors the tools to gain political capital at the expense of a messed up girl. "It is not a defense to a prosecution under this section that the defendant did not have the intent or capability of committing the act of terrorism," neither of which the girl had. In other words, they want to be able to put a felony on the criminal records of girls like this, when they know she didn't mean it.

But that's ridiculous. State law considers threats to be assault.

"Michigan Law [MCLA 750.81] defines a criminal assault and battery as an attempt or offer to do bodily injury with a present intention and ability to do so. See above. Assault is an attempt or threat, with unlawful force, to inflict bodily injury upon another, accompanied by the apparent present ability to carry out the intent if not deterred by another. A threat coupled with present ability may be considered an assault."
Any person who shall assault another with intent to commit the crime of murder, shall be guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for life or any number of years.
- source

Why couldn't prosecutors use the law against "assault with intent to commit the crime of murder"? Because this girl had no intent or ability to carry out her "plan", so for good reason, she couldn't be prosecuted under assault law. But the prosecutor has an image to keep up, a re-election to win in 3 years, and knee-jerk parental reactions to placate, so he has to prosecute. At least he was nice enough to let her plea down to a single misdemeanor after the story got enough front-page newspaper mentions.

I could kill idiots like that. Note I don't say "that idiot", but "idiots like that." Maybe that caveat will save me from prosecution for a terrorist threat, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $20k fine.

You can encrypt instant messages over all popular messaging services, with encryption so strong that even the NSA probably can't decrypt them, using Gaim and a plugin.

An auction house has cancelled its agreement to sell an estate after finding out what was being auctioned: Ku Klux Klan - related items.

There is an Auschwitz museum. These KKK items should be used in a similar way.

Good news: Three people will be recognized for heroic efforts to save two young people from a burning car, which is cool.

Funny news: A Department of Transportation message sign was hacked yesterday morning to display the message "speed limit 1000 mph go go go." The DOT turned the sign sideways after it was corrected, to keep it from further confusion. The DOT spokesman "apologized for the inappropriate message, adding: "We want people to drive a safe speed on our roads."

keywords that will make me the subject of federal interest: Hit list, bomb, felony, terrorism, September 11, 2001, Auschwitz, high school girl, encryption, assault, NSA, Ku Klux Klan.

personal stuff

2005-04-01T15:42:00.000-05:00

Again, I'll direct you to my xanga site for some cool personal news.

The Triumphal Entry

2005-03-20T23:22:00.000-05:00

¹²On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

¹³took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, "Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel."

¹⁴Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written,

¹⁵"FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY'S COLT."

¹⁶These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him.

- John 12:12-16, NASB.

Let us not behave as the Judeans did, welcoming Christ as king on the first of the week, and crucifying Him on the sixth.

We're so kind...

2005-03-16T14:29:00.000-05:00

I'm proud of my country. We recently made a trade agreement with Australia, the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. In this agreement, we allowed them very nicely to keep local content restrictions on television. Nice of us, since we have similar requirements for our cable TV. Australia was quite proud of their retention of this policy.

But all is not ok in Australia. Free Trade agreements are for the benefit of large companies, right? That's not explicitly stated, but that is why we're requiring them to adopt U.S.-style copyright law, like our Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). This law bans circumvention of copy-protection schemes. That means that you can't legally buy a copy-protected music CD and hold down the shift key while inserting it into your computer, becuase doing so prevents the anti-copying software from installing. Be aware that copying your own CD to your hard drive is perfectly legal, and when you buy the CD you are purchasing it, not licensing it.

So now Sony is suing Australians for doing something similar: making a chip, called a "mod" chip, for the Playstation II that allows the gaming consoles to play non-Sony games and watch DVDs purchased in the U.S. Why shouldn't people be allowed to play these games? Because 1) Sony wants them to buy Sony-approved games and 2) the new copyright law says that modifying these things is an illegal circumvention of copy protection.

That's right, it may be used to illegally copy games. This argument is similar to that given by Universal Studios in a lawsuit against Sony in an attempt to quash the emerging videotaping technology. The Supreme Court ruled in 1984 that Sony was not liable for copyright infringment by users of its Betamax tape systems, by U.S. copyright law. To quote the decision, "The judiciary's reluctance to expand the protections afforded by the copyright without explicit legislative guidance is a recurring theme." But Congress is allowed to do what the courts could not, and did so in 1998 with the DMCA. VHS player manufacturers haven't been sued, of course.

Here's the kicker. This trade agreement was to remove trade restrictions betwen the U.S. and Australia. However, this particular provision's effects are to 1) prevent Australians from watching DVDs sold anywhere outside of Central/South America, Australia, and a few Pacific islands, and 2) prevent buyers of Sony Playstations from using their machines in ways not approved by Sony. In a previous case, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission "argued that Sony was using the copy control mechanism to erect artificial trade barriers between Australian consumers and overseas games and DVD markets."

The Betamax case said that the makers of the video recorder was not liable, but rather the illegal copier. But Sony wants to sue the makers of add-on chips rather than going to the work of suing individual infringers.

Next thing you know, printer companies like Lexmark will be suing companies that make cheap printer cartriges that work in Lexmark printers. Wait, that has already happened.

What to do? Ask your federal representatives to repeal the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and to oppose efforts to pressure other governments into adopting such legislation.

Germany cracks down on speech

2005-03-12T00:55:00.000-05:00

Deutsche World reported today that the German parliament overwhelmingly passed a law adding restrictions to freedom of assembly and nazi speech. From the article:

After weeks of heated debate, members of Germany's ruling government coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens as well as the conservative opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) on Friday voted overwhelmingly in favor of tightening the right of assembly and making changes to the existing criminal code.

The arguments in favor of this law seem to be given without any sort of thought.

Most parties on Friday hailed the vote as a boost to democracy. "We'll have a few additional possibilities in the future to prevent Nazi mischief on our streets and squares," said Dieter Wiefelspütz, SPD domestic policy expert.

While the article reports that Holocaust deniers have been active recently in Germany, the follow-the-party-line attitude that the article portrayed in the nation and it's leaders reminded me of the novel 1984, in which everything Big Brother says is parroted and parroted without question. And various entities admitted in the article that the new law may not be effective. While these restrictions may improve order, they are not "a boost to democracy" as the article said. They are a restriction to democracy.

It was reassuring to see that there were serious concerns about the bill being allowed under the constitution, and that it may well be struck down. I don't have any sympathy for holocaust supporters, but I do have sympathy for any nation without freedom of speech and assembly.

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

On an unrelated note, I've been listening to German internet radio to get a feel for the language, especially pronunciation. The news sites are good, of course, as newscasters tend to use precise language.

The contemporary music sites have been less help than I thought. Well over 3/4 of the music is English. The genre is best described as pop; one song was called "Three is Family" by Dana Dawson . I've had somewhat better luck with the news/oldies station. After 10 minutes of music, basically '60s-'80s pop, I'm only now hearing the second English song, Concrete and Clay by Honkong Syndicat. Like the contemporary music, I haven't heard any of this stuff before.

Things are looking up

2005-03-04T15:34:00.000-05:00

David Brooks wrote an article on the numerous countries that have gained democratic government recently. Ukraine, Iraq, and now Lebanon - it makes one feel warm and fuzzy all over. Now, how soon can North Korea and Cuba's despotic governments kick it?

Edit: now James Lileks has a similarly optimistic take on the destabilization and resulting democratization of the Middle East.

Communism or competition?

2005-02-25T14:05:00.000-05:00

Wired's Lawrence Lessig joins the cry against banning municipalities from offering communications services.

He argues that the big telecos have their own priorities to providing high-speed internet, and if communities don't want to wait ten years or more to get high-speed wireless internet, they might want to do it themselves.

Unfortunately, several states are (at the behest of the telecos) banning their communities from doing this. Good grief, says Lessig - they offer lighting and road services, why not wireless internet, if the taxpayers desire it? This is providing competition for the telcos, and encouraging them to get on the ball.

Any responses?

The Stanley Cup should still be awarded...

2005-02-21T23:57:00.000-05:00

...even if the NHL won't be playing. The Cup was around before the NHL even existed, and still probably isn't legally in the control of the NHL. Several minor and non-pro leagues are playing this season. You could get some sweet hockey action going on if you play the champions from these different leagues.

For more information, check out the Free Stanley website.

Home school or public school - which is superior?

2005-02-08T22:58:00.000-05:00

Captain Awesome's blog is one of the better ones out there for general reading. It's entertaining, yet makes some pretty good points. Here is a recent post I enjoyed detailing problems with students in both public and home schools.

In Defense of my Kind

One of the favorite pass times of kids who were or are home schooled is to make fun of those children who are attending public school for being dumb. This is actually terribly ironic as it is the public schooler’s pass time to make fun of home schoolers for being too smart. Having been on both sides of the fence, I find it my responsibility to make fun of both parties for being retarded each in their own special way.

Read the rest of the post

Paul Graham on high school

2005-01-21T15:55:00.000-05:00

In "What You'll Wish You'd Known," Paul Graham tells high school students to take life more seriously than school.

To Sum Up:

Don't give up. But not "don't give up on your dreams" - sometimes, dreams don't work out.

Don't be lazy.

"What someone else with your abilities can do, you can do; and don't underestimate your abilities."

Stay upwind of your plans - work on hard problems, learn hard, useful things.

Treat high school like a day job, not the focus of your four years.

Don't focus too hard on college admission, either, because the stuff needed for admission isn't always that useful.

Basically, much of high school, and much of college admissions, is crud.

Be curious. Good, mature curiosity turns work into play. A lot of geniuses have/had no self-discipline, but did what they did because they enjoyed it. Don't be lazy, but don't settle for doing painful work. "Find a way to make it interesting".

Work now on something that interests you, even if it doesn't seem to be useful for your goals.

Don't waste all of your time "hanging out." It's just the 16-year-old's version of the 8-year-old kids' "playing." You're too old for it.

There ya go. The whole article has more detail, and I particularly recommend the footnotes. I'll leave you with the best one.

The key to wasting time is distraction. Without distractions it's too obvious to your brain that you're not doing anything with it, and you start to feel uncomfortable. If you want to measure how dependent you've become on distractions, try this experiment: set aside a chunk of time on a weekend and sit alone and think. You can have a notebook to write your thoughts down in, but nothing else: no friends, TV, music, phone, IM, email, Web, games, books, newspapers, or magazines. Within an hour most people will feel a strong craving for distraction.

Company Works Out Of Coffeehouse

2005-01-16T01:11:00.000-05:00

Company Works Out Of Coffeehouse

This sounds like a great place to have an office. Coffeehouses are great places to study and work, because they're quiet, and aesthetically pleasant in sight, sound, and smell. We need to create these sort of places everywhere - especially offices and school. (PHC is pretty nice, but it's also home, and we feel the need to get away.) But can the typical office get along if they all work at the same table?

Gmail et alia

2004-12-28T23:20:00.000-05:00

As a reward for reading my drivel, I'm giving a free Gmail invitation to the first two commenters to request one.

This is a good time to remind Windows users that if you use want to keep your computer free from viruses, spyware, and other malicious programs you should do two simple and very important things:

1) Most important: Keep your version of Windows updated at windowsupdate.microsoft.com

2) Very important: Download Firefox the internet browser and Thunderbird the email program. Use these instead of the default Internet Explorer (the blue "E") and Outlook/Outlook Express. Firefox and Thunderbird are absolutely free and have some great features, and are immune to almost all of the security flaws that plague the Microsoft programs.

Runner-up: I strongly recommend running Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE. This is the premier anti-adware program out there, and it's free. Use it even if you use another spyware detection program. Over 4/5 of the times you use it, it'll find and eliminate something you don't want on your computer.

Take these steps seriously. They are even more important than using an antivirus program. Not following these steps can result in:
- Internet browsing becoming practically impossible due to pop-up ads and random webpage changes.
- Theft of sensitive information such as email passwords and credit card information.
- Your computer and your internet connection becoming incredibly slow because it is being used to send millions of spam emails hawking porn, software and prescription drugs.

Best essays of '05

2004-12-27T22:05:00.000-05:00

Here is David Brooks's list of Hookie Laureates. "Named after the great public intellectual Sidney Hook, they go to the authors of some of the most important essays written in 2004."

Find the list at http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/25/opinion/25brooks.html.

To log in to the NY Times, you can enter the following info:

Username: lxw56
Password: password

Populism: just say no.

2004-12-23T06:15:00.000-05:00

My response to a general 17th-amendment bashing (yeah!) at this xanga site:

Hukee [the previous respondent], it isn't just the left that likes the amendment. Most Americans, right or left, are populist. Amendment XVII is about populism, which is strongly tied to the idea of pure democracy, the people decide what is right. Populists are pro-majority, and believe that they should always be the majority. Most mindless "liberals" and "conservatives" hold to this view, whether or not they realize it.

Christian/social conservative right-wingers are largely populist. Even Mike Farris is a populist in some ways and thinks the seventeenth amendment was a good thing. Much as I respect a lot of his opinion on the constitution, I can't agree with him on this.

Right-wing populists are proud of the redness of the "who voted for bush" map, Christianity, killing terrorists, and the heartland of America. The majority of Americans oppose partial-birth abortion and gay marriage, and therefore they should be outlawed. These populists view left-wingers as outsiders, as academics, artists, or bums (alas, they often stereotype academics and artists as necessarily left-wing) who are out of touch with mainstream America. Right-wing Christian populists are anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant in general (though they may disguise their views as anti-terrorist and anti-illegal) because these groups will take power from we Christians who built the nation and made it free - a Christian take on a hallmark populist view. They say, "Remember, America was founded as a Christian nation." They don't realize how carefully the founders crafted the Declaration of Independence to avoid making it explicitly Christian.

Eschew populism. Argue from the authority of the founders or come up with your own arguments on political positions, rather than appealing to public opinion or even what public opinion was in the '50s.

Edited for slight clarification/toning-down of opinion. Note also that America was founded on a combination of Christian, classical and rationalist ideas - Christianity is a key basis of our government, and would have been even if Franklin and Jefferson wrote it themselves.

2004-12-22T01:38:00.000-05:00

Home-schooling and public-schooling parents both struggle with scheduling all of their kids' time. MSN explains why this is bad.

What your iTunes music says about you

2004-12-18T02:26:00.000-05:00

Do you share music on iTunes? It may be what makes you "cool." (Or, maybe you don't care.. this is college, not high school.)

See Wired News for more.

Apparently, some iTunes sharers are even victims of "playlistism," which is discrimination based not on age, race, sex or definition of divine election and human free will, but on the music available on your playlist.

"Some people have obscure bands I’ve never heard of. These people are probably too cool for me and I’ll leave them alone until I have an iPod." - Stephen Aubrey, The Wesleyan Argus.

Until I read this, I had no idea why some people put passwords on their iTunes folders. Why restrict others from legally listening to your music? Now I know - they listen to the Backstreet Boys or something like that.

New post

2004-12-13T16:40:00.000-05:00

I usually post here, but I just posted at xanga.com/americansamerican. Xanga is a better site for personal posts.

Interesting ideas from the NY Times

2004-12-12T23:02:00.000-05:00

Some developments reported by the New York Times

Good

The professional amateur: high-quality amateurs are making breakthroughs all over. As professional becomes synonymous with working for a big corporation/government, those who experiment with science, technology, art and life for love rather than profit acheive more.

Lawfare: International government, whether of treaty, government, or business, may not be acheivable. Here's to independent local rule.

Soccer model of warfare: Good, only if war can be good. 250 years since the French and American war, we're still moving away from massed attacks.

Self-storage: Sleep at night or nap in the day. Not just for businessmen in cramped East Asia any more.

Debunking photoshop fakery: a computer program that analyzes digital images. How long will it be before we find a way to fool it? Probably yesterday.

Bad

Acting white myth: The Times notes correctly: white kids beat up on their smart peers, too, and we don't say it's because they're "acting black".

Narci-cinema: Making movies about yourself. I was tempted to make this "mixed", since autobiography can be very good, but narcissism is rampant and annoying and far worse in our culture.

Wal-mart sovereignty: should corporations be allowed autonomy or indirect participation in government?

Downwardly defined celebrity flaw: tabloids criticize anything that can be interpreted to look imperfect.

No opinion yet/mixed:

Keyboard evesdropping: each key makes a slightly different sound when hit; can be computer-analyzed.

TV Zapper: A remote control that sends "power" codes for 69 different kinds of TV sets.

Feral cities: the police are no longer in control; organized "crime" is the de facto government. Of course, the NY Times and those affiliated with the traditional government & police don't like it. But are the new rulers any worse?

The acceptable substitute: brand-name knockoffs are on the rise.

The employable liberal arts major: professional classes for liberal arts majors.

The benign corporate oligarchy: Shift power from temporary shareholders to execs, as in Google.

Genetic family values: One gene may control whether male voles are sexually moral or loose. Can we change human social behavior with gene therapy?

Items for sale

2004-12-11T13:31:00.000-05:00

Fellow students,

I'm moving out and need to sell some books and other items.

Books for class:

Latin flash cards - suitable for a year of Latin study. $4. They don't match Wheelock, but would be great for summer study to prepare for real translation.

Non-school books:

One of my fellow students has said that she does better in her classes when she reads good fiction during the semester. Paperback unless noted.

Good condition, $1.25:

The Brethren, John Grisham.

Net Force: Breaking Point, Tom Clancy

Fairly good condition, $1.00

The Bourne Identity, Robert Ludlum

Somewhat used, $.75

Without Remorse, Tom Clancy.

The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy

A Time to Kill, John Grisham

Misc.

White Patrick Henry t-shirt, size XL. New, never worn. This style is no longer available in the bookstore. $12.

Set of 4 matching bowls. These are attractive, but not feminine, large and shallow enough to make decent plates, without making poor soup/ramen dishes. $4

Set of 4 matching spoons, $1.00

Set of 4 same-sized, but not-quite-matching, forks. $.75

For your computer

Dell CD-ROM drive, $10, free installation. Buy this if your desktop only has one drive, and you'd like another. Does not write CD-Rs or play DVDs.

512 MB of RAM, with free installation! My computer switches between programs and multitasks many times faster after I installed one of these. $70, new in packaging. Usable with any desktop systems. ~$70 after shipping the cheapest price you can find online for this amount of RAM, and that's at the deep discounters and the cheapest brand.

If you have a desktop a year old or less (a Pentium 2.66? or faster processer), I'll sell you a DDR3200 stick instead if you would like it. This will give you faster performance if your other stick is high-speed, or if you choose to buy more memory in the future. $75, not new, but works fine, I'm using it right now. Free installation. If you have any questions about RAM, I'll be happy to answer them.

If you want to inspect any of the items, simply email me or IM phcderby or phcderby1.

Two arrested for vote fraud

2004-12-10T23:26:00.000-05:00

Two men, one a Democratic Party county chairman, were arrested Tuesday for vote fraud.
Read the article in the Indianapolis Star

I don't know what they did, but if it really was vote fraud I hope they get large fines and lengthy prison terms. This stuff is shaking confidence in our electoral system, which will inevitably lead to people wanting to change the system. And changes, in my opinion, have little chance of being positive.

So mad

2004-12-09T20:17:00.000-05:00

Mail order delicious genuine UP pasties - handmade by grandparents - just heat and eat!

I just read a news article that made me incredibly angry. Apparently, 3 years ago, Albie's Foods, a small catering and grocery company, was sued by Smucker's for an alleged patent violation.

Among other things, Albie's makes pasties (pronounce pass-tees, not paste-ees). These are potpie-like things, pastries filled with meat and potato. Very delicious. These things have been a staple of Northern Michigan diets since the old mining days. (Here and here are a couple of recipies).

Smucker Co. holds patent #6004596 on "sealed crustless sandwiches." Apparently, they make a crustless, PB&J sandwich. Pasties are not sandwiches, as you can see from the picture above; they are pastries, like pies. Albie's presented no threat to Smucker. I can't figure out why Smucker chose to do this; maybe they're looking for another revenue source, or are hoping that if they destroy this cultural tradition, they will sell more of their less-unique products.

Of course, this STUPID patent, like the majority of patents, should never have been granted. And the courts should be more friendly to defenses like the one Albie's tried to put up. The federal government really is unfriendly to small businesses in countless ways. I'm sure this has absolutely nothing at all to do with the fact that the big businesses and the "pro-business"* lobbying groups give massive sums of cash to members of Congress in both parties.

In conclusion, boycott Smuckers and buy from small businesses. They generally make better products, anyway. And vote to elect sane politicians to Congress and other offices. Support patent reform. And if you ever have the opportunity to visit northern Michigan, take it. Not only is it beautiful, but they have good hearty food.

*"Pro-business" is almost always used to mean pro-big business, as if small businesses didn't employ over half of all workers in the US.

Email is just for old folks these days...

2004-11-30T20:05:00.000-05:00

At least in Korea. Now, young people use SMS text messaging or IM to communicate.

From the article in the Digital Chosunilbo:

The email era is coming to an end because replacement communication means such as Internet messengers, mini-homepages (dubbed "one-man media"), and SMS are wielding their power. As a consequence, the stronghold of email, once the favorite of the Internet, is being shaken from its roots.

The ebbing of email is a phenomenon peculiar to Korea, an IT power. Leading the big change, unprecedented in the world, are our teens and those in their 20's. The perception that "email is an old and formal communication means" is rapidly spreading among them. "I use email when I send messages to elders," said a college student by the name of Park.

Read the rest of the article

David Sessions and fashion

2004-11-20T03:03:00.000-05:00

Check out a friend's tips for avoiding ugly dressing. Homeschoolers, especially, can always use these reminders.

David's seven fashion nevers for girls

David's seven fashion nevers for guys

I'd point out my personal pet peeve with girls' fashion: unnecessary makeup - which is to say, most makeup. First, I quote David (or his female sources):

On makeup

“Nothing is evil in moderation. Let's do our part and make ourselves at least bearable to male eyes; after all, do you really want all those husband prospects wandering off in desperation to search for more attractive spouse material? BAG YOUR HUSBANDS BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!”

(In other words, you should wear AT LEAST SOME makeup. Otherwise, your chances of marrying go at least slightly down. Maybe you don’t want to get married…in that case, well, it’s nice of you wear it anyway.)

“When putting on foundation, let’s try to avoid the ‘somebody baked a cake on my face’ look.”

(So…you see that you have to wear some, but, it’s important, don’t wear TOO MUCH or you just look ridiculous.)

Kenneth and I think that girls look good without makeup, and that makeup is generally unnecessary, and even counterproductive. To quote our comments to David's post:

Kenneth:
why do girls alway pull out that "well we at least need to look like normal human beings! (or "bearable in male eyes as your example says)"? it makes absolutely no sense to me. isn't that some kind of fallacy? "ok, i need to make myself look normal by putting stuff on my face that isn't normally there." and why do they think they look somehow abnormal of unbearable to begin with? and another thing: the whole husband argument isn't such a good one. a guy with any brains at all is going to know that he's going to have to see you every morning when you wake up without makeup. so, if you want a smart guy, you better make sure you look good without makeup on. you're only shooting yourself in the proverbial foot if you always wear makeup.

Derby:
I agree, Kenneth. Makeup -can- be good in moderation, but in my opinion is usually unnecessary and often even unhelpful. And too much makeup (ugh), which is dreadfully common here, is far worse than no makeup at all.

Republicans raise debt limit

2004-11-19T20:19:00.000-05:00

Congress raised the debt limit by $ .8 trillion today. Though the bill passed because the government was about to shut down, the vote nearly followed party lines, with Republicans calling to cut spending and Democrats arguing against allowing the government to shut down. Investor's Business Daily gives us some of the debate (edited a bit):

But Republicans opposed the measure, arguing it should have been accompanied by new rules that would require future tax cuts and new spending to be offset and rendered budget-neutral.

Amen! Let's hear it for a balanced budget!

"The most irresponsible thing to do is to borrow the money knowing that you will never pay it back and that the interest cost will fall on your children and not you," said Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, the senior Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said as the House debated the measure Thursday.

And on the other side of the aisle:

"We can demagogue it. We can keep putting on all sorts of messages to feel good or draw political lines. ... But the reality is, we keep screwing around with this thing, we're going to shut the government down," said Rep. Thomas Reynolds, D-N.Y.

STOP. Hold on. This sounds like typical party warfare, right? Except there is a twist in this battle that I covered over. I changed all the party affiliations in the quotes. It was the Democrats arguing for fiscal responsibility and the Republicans saying "we have to do this."

I know, most of the Democrats don't really believe in fiscal responsibility, at least not enough to remember the concept when it's time to fund the latest vote-buying pork project. But Republicans, traditionally the champions of small government, appear to be no better.

DC United wins MLS cup!

2004-11-17T17:48:00.001-05:00

My hometown* pro soccer team rocks! BTW, the game was played Sunday, so I've known about this for awhile, but only just decided to post this.

Get the full story here (dcunited.mls site) and here (Washington Times).

Why are the two best sports in the universe (ultimate frisbee and soccer) not widely televised?

Anyway, for another good game, watch #7-ranked Michigan football take on Ohio State (away game for my team, the Wolverines) in their annual game, continuing one of the top college sports rivalries of all time. The game is this Saturday at 1 PM.

*My true hometown is Swartz Creek/Flint, Michigan; Detroit for most sports purposes. But since Detroit has no soccer team, I use my new/current hometown, DC/Northern Virginia.

Starbucks: a brief response

2004-11-16T23:24:00.000-05:00

In response to the aesthetic realist:

I don't think of Starbucks as a representative of the American Dream. If my dream was to be the next Howard Schultz, multi-millionaire and owner of a chain of stores across the U.S., I'd be depressed.

Thanks a lot, Adam Smith. Conservatives are as obsessed over economics as Marxists were, just in a different way. Quality of life is so much more than raw economics. Don't get me wrong, the state government should stay out of market regulation. But responsible business owners need to focus on more than the bottom line, tempting as it may be to do otherwise. I admit that many big business owners are very conscious of doing good. But is the damage that big businesses do to the closeness local communities any better than the dehumanizing aspects of big government? Lets not worship the bottom line. I know that businesses need a profit to survive. But could we say that profit is not the primary purpose of a business? I know my grandpa's blueberry farm isn't. When I start a small one-man teaching business some day I hope it will provide for my family, but otherwise profit is not a significant part of my reason for it.

Life is so much more than money. Although Dewey had a lot of things wrong, all Americans (and most of the world) desperately need to acquire the value he placed on community.

Admit it: we didn't find any

2004-11-16T22:54:00.000-05:00

Andrew Sullivan takes on Colin Powell for not apologizing for the lack of WMDs he promised the UN. Now, I believe that the war was justified without WMDs, and that most nations really thought Iraq had WMDs, but that's no excuse for not at least admitting we were wrong. Why doesn't Bush admit it? Apparently, face-saving trumps honesty.

A call for patent reform

2004-11-15T21:59:00.000-05:00

Finally The Economist is echoing the call for patent reform. The patent process seems to be getting more absurd each year, with patents such as Amazon's one-click internet shopping patent, the hyperlink, and others.

Patents are supposed to be for innovative ideas, not narrow new uses for old or obvious ideas.

"Vote: It's the only way to make the ads stop."

2004-11-02T18:24:00.000-05:00

My Way News: Officials predicted a turnout of 117.5 million to 121 million people, the most ever and rivaling the 1960 election in the percentage of eligible voters going to the polls. Voters welcomed an end to the longest, most expensive election on record.

"It's the only way to make the ads stop," Amanda Karel, 25, said as she waited to vote at a banquet hall in Columbus, Ohio.

Andrew Sullivan endorses...

2004-11-02T02:40:00.000-05:00

Well, before I mention that, let me point out that, as Sullivan says, our (stupid, black&white, blindered) definitions of liberal and conservative don't work.

Why is this election so hard for so many people? Here's one theory. It's not so easy to tell who's the liberal and who's the conservative anymore. You want a candidate who pumps unprecedented amounts of money into agricultural subsidies, uses tariffs to protect some American industries and adds a whole new entitlement to Medicare? That would be the, er, Republican, George W. Bush.

You want a future President who will be hard nosed about committing U.S. troops abroad, wants to balance every new spending item with a tax hike or a spending cut elsewhere and backs states' rights on social issues? Then go ahead and vote for the, er, Democrat, John Kerry.

You think there's too little federal control over education? Vote Bush. Want to expand health-care coverage primarily through the private sector? Vote Kerry.

And the Votemaster shows us a page linking to more evidence that the two don't follow traditional left-wing/right-wing views. Of course, I don't trust Kerry farther than I can throw him. I trust Bush more, though not totally; he is largely unswayed by political expediency, while Kerry seems to choose his position on each issue based on its popularity.

Anyway, the reasons Sullivan endorses Kerry are merely given as reasons to vote against Bush, not to vote for Kerry. They are: not having a rock-solid case for WMDs, since that was given as the main reason for the Iraq war. Ok, I'll grant him this one, it was certainly harmful for international opinion, but it isn't by itself enough of a reason to not vote for him. Miscalculations in Iraq: the initial war went great, and the "nation-building" really hasn't been going badly. Of course it's slow! The nation had been trashed by Sadaam. Abu Ghraib: not Bush's fault.

"He has spent like a drunken liberal Democrat." This is my main problem with Bush - the single worst piece of spending legislation since perhaps the creation of the Department of Education was the No Child Left Behind act, which vastly increased federal control over education in the name of "standards." Let the communities choose their own standards, not have them imposed from the federal government! Funding and regulating public schools is the community's job!

"His proposal to amend the constitution to deny an entire minority equal rights under the law is one of the most extreme, unnecessary and divisive measures ever proposed in this country. " I believe that homosexual couples should not be guaranteed treatment equal with heterosexual couples. However, this should be dealt with at state level. If the president and Congress don't like it, appoint judges that won't impose their whims on the states.

I'm voting for Bush. I'd vote third-party if Peroutka were more practical and at tried to market himself to non-Christians and non-fundamentalist Christians, or if Badnarik didn't hold the very un-libertarian position that we should be allowed to kill babies because it's a personal choice (libertarians believe that behavior should only be outlawed if it directly, adversely affects another - which abortion certainly does), and if his party platform didn't oppose parents teaching their children their religion.

Maybe someday there will be a candidate I can truly endorse.

2004-11-02T02:20:00.000-05:00

Cannone made an interesting comment, and made me realize: baptism isn't like a wedding ring. It's like a wedding, because it's a one-time thing. You're just as married without the ceremony, I've believed for a long time. The difference is, God's word commands us to be baptized. It doesn't command us to have a wedding ceremony to be married.

Or, it could be seen as being like an engagement ring, since the true marriage ceremony will be in heaven (Matthew 22:1-14, Matt 25:1-13, Revelation 19:7-9):

"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready."
It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Then he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb '" And he said to me, "These are true words of God."

Keeping up with the (meaningless) polls

2004-11-01T11:51:00.000-05:00

Get your electoral-college poll and voting updates from electoral-vote.com

electionprojection.com has similar information, though the maps usually look different due to the many-faced world of polling. I prefer the first site because it doesn't strongly favor one candidate (the author has an admittedly strong Kerry bias, but his main page is usually objective.)

In the latest news, Zogby polled previously unpolled cellphone users and found that 55% favor Kerry. This could be bad news for Bush, but then we have to look for other uncounted demographic groups, such as large families (my family has 6 registered voters, but only one phone if you don't count cells).

If the electoral-vote.com site is slow (as it has been, and will be through Wednesday morning), try www.electoral-vote2.com, www.electoral-vote3.com, or www.electoral-vote4.com

(update: it's up to electoral-vote9.com)

Of course, the only poll that matters is the official one held Tuesday...

A must-read for government majors

2004-11-01T09:06:00.000-05:00

How to Survive a Power Surge in Post-Election Washington

Washington Post staff writer Sally Quinn tells you how to stay in the power circles and return to a position of influence when you, or those whose coattails you are hanging onto, lose. If you have the chance, read the full article, but here are the basic rules:

1. Never, never, never count anyone out, unless you have seen the body with a stake through the heart. Because they always come back.

2. If you decide to stay here once you've lost power or lost access to it, make sure you're staying for the right reasons.

3. It's actually more comfortable being on the outside than on the inside

4. Only invite the people you really like, whether they are in or out of power.

5. Once you have made a commitment, stick with your candidate through ups and downs.

6. The people who last, who remain socially and politically viable in Washington, are those who have confidence in their own social standing despite the prevailing political winds.

She sums up:

In the end, the only people who ultimately survive in Washington are those who have made friends and kept and cherished them over the years. There is nobody here who has not been down and out sometime, and it's then that the values of those friends are tested.

Oh, and don't forget . . . those here whose friends either desert them or stick with them have very long memories.

Faith like a child

2004-10-31T17:25:00.000-05:00

I went to a baptism service today at church. The pastor gave a good illustration of the importance of baptism as a sign. Baptism is like a wedding ring, he said: you're just as married without it, but it cheapens it if you keep it quiet.

The amazing thing about this baptism was the age of these new believers - in a Bible (neo-Baptist) church, remember. Beto Berry is 4, Kenton Geyer is 5. I tried to transcribe their testimonies in response to why they were being baptized.

Beto: "Because I believe in Jesus Christ, that He died for me and gave His life on the cross."

Kenton's was a bit more detailed and harder to take down: He talked with his mom about his family all being baptized... and prayed that Jesus would come into his heart.

It is tempting to look down on the faith of these children, and think our grown-up, rational faith is better than theirs. But Christ condemned this attitude in Matthew 18:1-4:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And in the next chapter:

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

The angels in heaven are rejoicing.

Choose between the two evils

2004-10-30T22:55:00.000-04:00

You, fellow voter, have a choice: #1 or #2. Nope, #3 is not an option.

And we wonder why half the population doesn't vote in a given presidential election?

On a side note, I wish we'd take local elections more seriously. They affect us as much as presidential elections, and your vote makes at least as much of a difference. Caleb Derby for Clayton Township trustee! Kick out the homeowners-association-president types and their sycophants!

2004-10-29T22:09:00.000-04:00

It's going to be so freaking close...

Here is the tally of likely electoral votes from poll data, updated daily. This data is used to make a very cool animation.

And then, here is the site's prediction: Gore was polling consistently farther below Bush than Kerry is currently, yet won the popular vote; thus, Kerry will win.

But there's no telling. It'll be all about turnout, I guess. But I know who will win in the end:

Keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time–God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords - 1 Timothy 16:14, 15

More good stuff

2004-10-27T01:18:00.000-04:00

Another of my favorite thinkers. This time, he's not a cartoon character, though he can be as funny as one: Jonathan Cannone. His latest article is again great.

Christian unity in China

2004-10-26T16:06:00.000-04:00

Ralph Covel, a missionary to China after WWII, explains why he doesn't want China to "open" to Western missionaries. Apparently, they're doing fine without us, being led by God. They don't have to deal with criticisms that Christianity is western. And - get this - he says they don't have schisms or separate denominations as the West.

We American Christians have a lot to learn from our Chinese brethren about unity. It is humiliating to the Church, and thus humiliating to Christ who deserves a single holy and spotless bride, that the church is split into multiple dozens of competing groups. It is humiliating that God's one eternal, never-changing Word is sold in dozens of different flavors.

We have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, people. Take a cue from our brothers in China. Go worship with another local group this Sunday. You don't have to become a member; you don't have to agree with all of their petty differences. Just prove that you are their brother or sister, worshipping the same God and Savior.

disclaimer: I don't consider all denominations listed in the above directories to be following Christ.

2004-10-26T02:03:00.000-04:00

Why do blogs and news sites so often go for the sensational? There is an answer, but I'm too tired to write it out. But here is a good commentary on the fact that it is bad, from possibly my favorite person in the newspaper: Frazz

2004-10-13T23:12:00.000-04:00

Court throws Nader off PA ballot

Apparently over 3/5 of the signatures he collected were forged or not elegible. How do you do that? If his supporters are that dishonest, it reflects poorly on Nader's honesty. It probably wasn't a sabatoge attempt by Democrats - they wouldn't take the risk of him actually making it to the ballot. Maybe dishonest Republicans trying to kill Kerry's chance in PA?

I'm all for Nader being on the ballot, and I don't say this because I want him take votes from Kerry. It's because I hate the two-party system. More on that later.

2004-10-13T13:55:00.001-04:00

Take back the web. Get firefox.