Human nature (2013/11/23)
People talk a lot about human nature, often fairly cynically. I do it too. People say things like “in theory, only people who actually need the aid are supposed to apply for it, but human nature being what it is, lots of people apply fraudulently”. And, barring some dispute over what constitutes “lots” of people, that kind of thing is true. It really is the case that people steal, that people commit violent crimes. It is true that people try to get ahead without regard for others, and even at other people’s expense. It is the truth, and nothing but the truth… But it is not the whole truth.
[read more...]Sympathy for the devil (2013/04/21)
A poster on tumblr recently expressed some unpopular views; to wit, the hope that Dzokhar Tsarnaev would escape and never be captured or killed. Lots of people have expressed the hope that he’d be captured alive, and some have hoped that he might one day be rehabilitated. Not so many have thought to show off their empathy by hoping a killer escapes to kill again.
[read more...]Theme and variations (2013/04/02)
Music tends to rely heavily on the use of recognizable themes; little bits and pieces of melody and/or rhythm which are repeated to create consistency in structure. In the simplest form, a theme may simply be repeated. The “rounds” often used in early music classes add the complexity that each part may be at a different point in the theme than the others, but all the parts are still the same. The famous example is “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”, a piece of music which still has the power to enthrall children up through the age of seven or so, but tends to pale a little after that.
[read more...]Did this ever happen? (2013/02/14)
I am curious.
[read more...]Here and now, you are alive. (2013/01/30)
This, right here? This is it. You are alive. You are the one making your choices now. If your choice is to put everything on hold until the future, you can make that choice, but: It’s never going to be then; it’s always going to be now. When you do get to college, life will begin when you graduate. When you graduate, life will begin when you find work. When you find work, life will begin when you start paying off your student loans. Finish paying them off. Get that promotion. As long as you let yourself get tricked into thinking that life is somewhere else, some other time, you’re missing out.
[read more...]Burying cats: Humans are not sane. (2012/10/15)
Jesse’s cat Maya died today. She was 15ish. Our friend Aud had a cat named Penny, who also died today, so we dug them a grave. It turns out this is a lot of work. Our back yard has fairly dense dirt, full of rocks and tree roots, and it is really hard to get dirt out of a deep hole with a shovel. (We now own a shop vac.)
[read more...]Why I still think there's hope for humanity (2012/08/23)
On a forum I hang out on, someone mentioned that he was going to have to go to court and see the kid who had (inadvertantly) killed his wife. He was going there to plead for mercy. (Apparently, the kid looked down for a moment to set something down, looked up, saw a car, WHAM.) He chose to share with us the text of the speech he gave. Yeah, it’s full of typos. I put it to you that this is worth the time to read anyway.
[read more...]Oh, that's... wow. (2012/06/27)
Some friends have commented on yesterday’s entry about my correspondent who argued that a relationship without a clearly defined male head of household and female non-head is defective. One comment, which I found very interesting, was the observation that analogies and similarities Do Not Work That Way. Even if we grant that a marriage is supposed to reflect the nature of Christ’s relationship to the Church, that doesn’t mean that having a different structure of marriage has any impact on Christ’s relationship to the Church. Good point.
[read more...]Thank you for your concern (2012/06/26)
I was sent a copy of a reply to my recent opinions piece in the Star Tribune. I think it deserves some commentary and consideration.
[read more...]Thoughts on Christians and Leviticans (2012/06/25)
John Scalzi coined the useful term Leviticans for the subset of people who identify as Christian but appear to be more focused on compelling other people to follow particular moral rules than on being nice to people. I only just now noticed this, because I happened to have a copy of his delightful Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded.
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