Disney Princess Movie

I can't believe I am writing a post with that title! OK Here goes:

We recently saw the movie Tangled for the second time (yes second) with my daughter and friends for her birthday. Alicia pointed out to a few friends that this movie has probably the most profound scene ever found in a Disney princess movie. She's right.

spoiler alert - don't read any further unless:
1) You have already seen the movie or
2) You don't expect to ever see the movie unless you need a good reason - I will give you that reason.

There are some key points that set this movie apart above most other princess movies from Disney. The hero is a he. Both the hero and heroine are smart (she is naive but smart).

The clincher is the climactic scene. While it is normal for a hero to save the heroine's life it is usually done, in this genre, with little doubt as to the success of the act and with only half-believable mortal danger.

Just as she is willing to sell her freedom for his life (truly heroic) Tangled departs.
     He dies.
The redemptive deed is sudden and surprising. And he knows he will die. Seems a bit christian.

Tangled departs further. He sacrifices his life not for her physical life but for her freedom - life lived fully. A genuine masterstroke that earns this story a claim at being a real fairy tale. I hesitate to offend the sensitive by saying what they have already perceived; but this is seriously Christ-like.

The Academy has nominated it for 1 award - for original song. They overlook the profound masterwork in the story itself. I believe this movie will and deserves to become a long time favorite. (Note: Alicia can vouch that I am NOT in love with the music - I put up with it for the story).

Oh, and the horse Maximus? That's a bit of the best of Disney classic... he is 100% horse, 100% dog and 100% character. A great combination that can only be found in animation.

Art Resource

I love art. And I found a new site that looks like it serves up art really well.

1) High quality views that can be magnified (I can see brushstrokes; I can see details that are invisible when I look at the lowest zoom level, etc) [Can you tell what painting this detail is from??]

2) Viewing notes (use that >>i to get to them - - - and do READ MORE if it's there). The viewing notes actually tell you about the picture's content - not just the normal: Size, artist, date and museum.

3) Various ways to go from picture to picture

4) Museum tours (akin to streetview) (Actually, this is one thing that I would like to see improved... it would make sense if you just click on a picture to view the picture page but this streetview is still kind of 'dumb' that way).

http://www.googleartproject.com/

Worlds Largest Maple Leaf

As we were out walking this afternoon I mentioned that a 9 year old from Canada had recently found a maple leaf that he had certified as the LARGEST MAPLE LEAF IN THE WORLD!

A few moments later Bernie casually picked up a leaf from a leafpile laying out in the street for pickup. Since I hadn't heard how big the world record was I offered her no encouragement as she proceeded to carefully carry it all the way back home.

This is that leaf (and Bernie) (more technical pictures at the bottom)

This is the letter that Bernie (10) is submitting to the Guinness Book folks:
===============================================
Dear Sirs,

I found a large maple leaf that appears to beat the record size that we read about in the news.

My maple leaf (photos available)
Width = 16 - 5/16 inches
Height = 14 - 1/2 inches
 (note: Stem does not extend below leaf so stem size seems not important)

Current record holder: "The width is 13 and 5/8 (inches) and then the length is 15 and 5/8 with the stem" [we weren't able to confirm this at the Guinness site but we found it here: http://newsdurhamregion.com/news/article/166373]

Sincerely,
Bernie
==========================================================

Wind in the Willows ... or Windsheild

What is that? A bird? A plane? A zeppelin?

It's a toad hitching a ride on my windshield.

I don't know how he got there. I don't know where he went after. I only know that he seemed to be enjoying the "wild ride" in the slow traffic for about 5 miles.

Another Great Idea in an Old Movie

You Can't Take it With You

We love this old 1938 Jimmy Stewart movie around this house. So you should see it!

If you see it you may be intrigued by this optimistic scene:

I remember in college another guy and I had an idea [....] We wanted to find out what made the grass grow green. Now that sounds silly and everything, but it’s the biggest research problem in the world today and I’ll tell you why. Because…there’s a tiny little engine in the green of this grass and the green of the trees that has the mysterious gift of being able to take energy from the rays of the sun and store it up. You see that’s how the heat and power and coal and oil and wood is stored up. Well, we thought if we could find the secret of all those millions of little engines in this green stuff, we could make big ones. And then we could take all the power we could ever need right from the sun’s rays. (Thanks http://1morefilmblog.com/wordpress/you-cant-take-it-with-you-capra-1938/ for transcribing it!)

Now that sounds pretty fresh in light of all the solar cell hubbub that's all the rage. In fact someone is going right for the green:

A North Carolina State University-led team has created 'artificial leaves – water-gel-based solar devices which can act like solar cells to generate electricity.

The devices show it's possible to make solar cells that more closely mimic nature, and could also be less expensive and more environmentally friendly

than current silicon-based solar cells. (Read more here: http://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/51728-artificial-leaves-produce-electricity )

 The world is a wonderful place.

And you should watch that movie - that's only ONE of the good ideas in it! (Hint - most of them aren't about science topics - they are about a life well lived).

Cheap Hard Drive Recovery - Success

A friend recently asked if I knew how to recover his pictures from his crashed (Macintosh) hard drive. The "genius" store geeks had tried to read it by booting from another drive and just looking at this one. That didn't work. My friend wasn't ready to pony up for a level-2 recovery attempt - $750 whether or not the procedure was successful!!

Now, I have been pretty tuned into hard drives for years because of my profession. I have seen hard drives crash. I have used both manufacturer's and open source tools to read and interpret SMART data on drives. I have opened and examined hard drives that have suffered from shock, vibration, thermal torture and customer abuse. I have watched hard drives spin topless. I have painted them with Omegalaq and used thermocouples as thin as a hair to check internal temperatures. In addition I have read articles about the various degrees of data recovery possible (from freeware on up to thousand$). I thought I could offer some assistance.

Knowing that the drive didn't even work inside his laptop with an external boot I figured I would try to find a similar drive on ebay and swap in the disks. Yes there's a risk of contamination but I just wanted 1 pass to grab those files - just a few minutes of operation was all I asked. There was one in Australia with a datecode a few days away. But before I spend the $70 (plus who-knows-how-much shipping) I did just a little extra homework.

I found a guy talking about getting those few extra minutes by putting the drive in the freezer overnight and then using it. My young, geek cube-neighbor at work said he had heard about this but always worried about the condensation killing it too fast. He also said that Apple formats its drives in such a way that I would probably need a Linux OS to properly see it.

Since this was a SATA drive I was in luck. I have access to a little USB connected pod that can accommodate a SATA drive. So I put the whole thing in the freezer for a couple days and just ran the cables out to the host laptop (i.e. my work laptop with an Ubuntu install on it). After getting some advice about how to navigate around the command line (not my specialty - yet necessary due to the permissions issues on the Mac drive) we were able to run the drive for hours and recover all the pictures!

St. Francis of Assisi was really John!

So who doesn't love and admire St. Francis of Assisi? (Rhetorical question! Everyone who knows him loves him). I learned in a sermon this morning that St. Francis of Assisi actually shares my name. So I get to add to my extensive list of patron saints:


John the Baptist, preacher, ascetic, and reported baptizer of Jesus Christ
John the Evangelist, speculated author of the Fourth Gospel, traditionally identified with the John the Apostle
John of Patmos, author of the Book of Revelation, traditionally identified with John the Apostle and Evangelist
St. Francis of Assisi (baptized: Giovanni di Pietro Bernardone)
John the Wonderworking Unmercenary (d. ca. 304), Egyptian or Mesopotamian healer
John Chrysostom (347-407), Antiochene Archbishop of Constantinople
John Cassian (ca. 360-435), probably Scythia-Minor priest and abbot
John of Egypt (d. 394), Egyptian hermit
Pope John I (d. 526), Italian pope
John Climacus (ca. 525-606), Syrian or Byzantine monk and abbot
John the Merciful (d. ca. 620), Cyprian Patriarch of Alexandria
John of Damascus (ca. 676-749), Syrian monk and priest, also known as John Damascene
John of Beverley (d. 721), Angle bishop
John of Pavia (d. 813), Bishop of Pavia
John of Rila (876-ca. 946), Bulgarian priest and hermit
John of Matha (1154-1213), French priest; founder of the Trinitarian Order
John of Meda (d. 1159), Italian priest
John of Nepomuk (ca. 1345-1393), Bohemian vicar general of Jan of Jenštejn
Giovanni da Capistrano (1386-1456), Italian friar; summoner of European troops for the 1456 siege of Belgrade
John Fisher (ca. 1469-1535), English cardinal and martyr
John Houghton (martyr) (ca. 1486-1535), English abbot and martyr (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
John Stone (martyr) (d. 1538/1539), English friar and martyr (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
John of God (1495-1550), Portuguese friar; founder of the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God
John of Avila (1500-1569), Spanish Jewish converso priest, missionary and mystic
John Payne (martyr) (1532-1582), English priest and martyr (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
John Leonardi (1541-1609), Italian priest; founder of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca
John of the Cross (1542-1591), Spanish Jewish converso friar, priest and mystic; joint founder of the Discalced Carmelites
John Boste (ca. 1544-1594), English priest and martyr (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
John Rigby (martyr) (ca. 1570-1600), English martyr (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
John Roberts (martyr) (1575/1576-1610), Welsh priest, Prior of St. Gregory's (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
John Sarkander (1576-1620), Polish priest and martyr
John Ogilvie (saint) (1579-1615), Scottish priest and martyr
John Jones (martyr) (d. 1598), Welsh priest and martyr (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
John Southworth (martyr) (1592-1654), English priest and martyr (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
Jean de Brébeuf (1593-1649), French missionary and martyr (one of the North American Martyrs)
John Kemble (martyr) (1599-1679), English priest and martyr (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
John Wall (priest) (1620-1679), English priest and martyr (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
John Plessington (ca. 1637-1679), English priest and martyr (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651-1719), French priest; founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
John Joseph of the Cross (1654-1739), Ischian friar, priest and Vicar Provincial of the Alcantarine Reform in Italy
John Lloyd (d. 1679), Welsh priest and martyr (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
John Dat (ca. 1765-1798), Vietnamese priest and martyr
Jean Vianney (1786-1859), French priest
John Hoan Trinh Doan (ca. 1789/1798-1861), Vietnamese priest and martyr
John Thanh Van Dinh (1796-1840), Vietnamese martyr
John Baptist Con (1805-1840), Vietnamese martyr
John Neumann (1811-1860), Bohemian missionary, Bishop of Philadelphia, founder of the first American Catholic diocesan school system
John Baptist Y (ca. 1800-1839), one of the Korean Martyrs
John Bosco (1815-1888), Italian priest and educator; founder of the Salesians of Don Bosco and the Salesian Cooperators
John of Kronstadt (1829-1908), Russian archpriest and synod member

                                                 ... orate pro nobis!

Maybe Einstein was Right

One would think it's not going too far out on a ledge to suggest that Einstein may have been right. But when he said (and it seems to be a paraphrase) "God does not play dice with the universe." He was talking about quantum mechanics. And the quantum guys probably grimaced and thought to themselves: "Yeah, I'd like to believe the old guy but it seems he's wrong on this one." Maybe the two "sides" are finally coming together as we better understand the unity of the truth. Here's a geeky article that is exciting in that it seems to suggest that there's a more understandable order (indeed a 'harmony") to that quantum mechanical world that we are just now starting to discover.

http://www.physorg.com/news182095224.html

(The highlights are mine)

"...For these interactions we found a series (scale) of resonant notes: The first two notes show a perfect relationship with each other. Their frequencies (pitch) are in the ratio of 1.618…, which is the golden ratio famous from art and architecture." Radu Coldea is convinced that this is no coincidence. "It reflects a beautiful property of the quantum system - a hidden symmetry. Actually quite a special one called E8 by mathematicians, and this is its first observation in a material", he explains.

The observed resonant states in cobalt niobate are a dramatic laboratory illustration of the way in which mathematical theories developed for particle physics may find application in nanoscale science and ultimately in future technology. Prof. Tennant remarks on the perfect harmony found in quantum uncertainty instead of disorder. "Such discoveries are leading physicists to speculate that the quantum, atomic scale world may have its own underlying order. Similar surprises may await researchers in other materials in the quantum critical state."

Taiwan Blog #2 - Taiwan's Size

I did this little study to satisfy my own curiosity about the size of Taiwan. I compare Taiwan to Lake Michigan - something I have a little more familiarity with.

I should not have been surprised when some visitors from Taiwan were very interested in it because they wanted to know about the size of Lake Michigan. - they were surprised that they couldn't see across it --- to them it looked like the ocean. With the same picture they were able to visualize Lake Michigan compared to something THEY were more familiar with.

Proud Dad

Here is my little math guy at work... He explained to ME "Here's 1. And two 1's is 2. And two 2's is 4. ..."



I wrote the powers on the top of the board. But only some of them. I let him tell me what I should put above the 32.

Now for the "penmanship".

You Can't Please Everyone

I had to pass this one along because it made me laugh. You've heard that you can't please everyone. Well someone demonstrates this by rounding up the 1-star reviews on Amazon for classic movies and books. (Actually, they are not all classics.)
Samples of ACTUAL reviews:

This is the worst book I have ever read!!! I started it with an interest toward the Holocaust. Anne Frank never talked about anything even relating to this major historical event in her short life.

Re: The Odyssey

This book sucks. I dont care if Homer was blind or not this book is like 900 pages too long. I could tell this story in about 10 pages. Homer taking all long to say stupid stuff. Teens if you are reading this all I have to say is CLIFF NOTES CLIFF NOTES you will pass the test, unless you are in AP classes. The teachers expect kids to read cliff notes trust me my moms a teacher. P.S this book SUCKS.

Re: The Sound of Music

This movie should be called the Sound of Mucus. The only redeeming quality is that the family has to run from nazis.

and

This movie was made in the sixties, we live in the 21st century, GET OVER IT!

Warning: I would like for this site to do only that - keep it focused. However,
it seems they have to use it to push political stuff as well. Too bad.

Christmas Adam

Today is Christmas Eve.

But the kids' excitement builds and builds and builds. So waiting until the day before Christmas is too hard. Even the day before the day before Christmas should have a celebratable moniker. What comes before Eve? -- Adam!

That's how we invented Christmas Adam.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Reason

I have had to change my mind. When I was younger there was nothing better than reason in an argument. But now I know that there is simply nothing stricter than reason in an argument.



I owe this insight to many things including grace and experience. But I wouldn't have noticed it so easily without my friend pointing it out like so:



"Reason is always a kind of brute force; those who appeal to the head rather than the heart, however pallid and polite, are necessarily men of violence. We speak of 'touching' a man's heart, but we can do nothing to his head but hit it." G.K.Chesterton



This is rather shockingly said - in my experience many touching moments in my life have been due to the beauty of the truth at the end of a line of reasoning. Yet it was too subtle at first to see that reason can be used as a billy club also.



I have been more sensitive this last year to this notion as I have been guiding an engineering project along. When there is a conflict between our expectations and the provided results I have been attempting to stay more human by appealing to the heart first. I have tried to leave the harsh reason of demonstration as a later or last resort.

Taxes

Something to remember when deciding to impose or raise taxes.

"A citizen can hardly distinguish between a tax and a fine, except that the fine is generally much lighter." G.K. Chesterton.

G. can say things much better than I! And still true a continent and a century away. Fines are 10's or 100's of dollars. Taxes are usually thousands.

I am sure he had some good insight into "spreading the wealth around a bit". Fantastic when done voluntarily; NOT SO when required by the Leviathan - under the threat of law, i.e. loss of freedom.

Spicy Food

My friend from Taiwan just told me about a neat little way the chinese (ethnic chinese - not just the PRC comrades) have of describing how spicy they want their food.

Note: This is for people who WANT spicy food. None of these is equivalent to "mild".

They use 3 words in 3 different arrangements:
La (spicy)
Bu (not)
Pa (worry/ fear)

In levels of increasing heat then...
1) Bu pa la = not worried if it's spicy
2) La bu pa = spicy does not worry me
3) Pa bu la = I am worried that it might not be spicy.

Isn't that fun?

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Many, many people (though still not enough) are loathe to deprive any person of life. There are good reasons - not the least of which is the irreversibility of so doing. But that alone is not something we always fear. We have no problem parting with our money for food though the transaction (as soon as we have eaten) is clearly not reversible. There is more to a LIFE than that! This is so eloquently expressed by Tolkien via the sage and humble wizard Gandalf:

Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends.

Wiser than all the wise, God himself is the giver of life. God Himself seems to aver cutting off the lives of even very evil people. (ref. "only the good die young".) Since we do not know his ways, and since we should surely respect his ordinance, it is right to be suitably fearful of making such a verdict on any fellow man.

Now let's turn to liberty. Surely it is similar to life itself. With it one is able to work good or evil. Our nation's founding fathers were not the first to agree that it is granted by God. Then they carefully noted that it is inalienable. But is it?

Once again God seems to allow plenty of people to use liberty to the most self-centered of ends. Some just frittering away their efforts and some as bad as Iago - even Lucifer became Satan using his own free will.

But these considerations are pretty heavy archetypes. What about work? - you know - a job.

I trade about 40 hours a week of my liberty to my employer - making my choices based on the good of the company. Don't I?

A supreme sinking feeling comes over me. If I am really doing this am I not also ceding my very life to him in 40 hour chunks? ... for money??

NO.

The bromide "If you love what you do you will never work a day in your life" hides the substantial answer to the heavy challenge above. I will not make choices "for the company" that are NOT choices that I would consider wicked, evil or in any way bad. And further, in working at the company, as part of a corporation (notably the same root as corpus - used to describe the Church - the body of Christ) I can, and hopefully do, improve the lot of mankind, perfect nature and do what gives glory to God.

It is true that there is sweat of the brow involved. And true that some decisions while not evil are clearly not motivated directly by my personal advancement. But in these, I believe, lie the "small things" of humility that we are supposed to grow in if we are to be ready for the kingdom of heaven. And, as God is good, there are usually commensurate small rewards to draw us on - pecuniary of course, satisfaction also and importantly growth in many facets of being a person. a.m.d.g.

Good Friday

I cannot remember the exact words.
I cannot remember which visionary heard it.
I cannot even remember when I heard it.

But cannot forget the most moving thing I heard about Jesus' suffering and death - that he would have suffered it all if there were just one person who needed it. All that suffering, all that love for one small wretched sinner! Even, gulp, for me!!!

Taipei Trips

At the request of my beloved wife I will post a few things about Taiwan. First post is about food. Besides - that's the first thing people usually ask about.

A lot of what I eat in Taipei is good. Though it took a while to develop the taste for it. (About 2 years to be precise!)

Dragon Fruit is wonderful (taste and texture) AND exciting to look at.

I have found that I love shrimp in almost any dish.
But NOT raw shrimp!!!! They have tricky shrimp that are orange when they are raw (not the common blue-when-raw - orange-when-cooked shrimp). The flavor might actually be good but I was overwhelmed by the gooiness of the texture and the notable features in this photo - black eyeballs and green-brain-goo. Yikes I need some Taiwan Beer just thinking about it!!

They have a killer dish that has tempura shrimp with pinapple-and-mayonaise sauce. Yum. They insist on putting colored sprinkles on it - gotta be cutsie.

You can always find something good in the "lunchboxes".

Oolong tea is wonderful - the best tea! - if made right - light, slightly sweet aftertaste, yum! It is very bitter when made wrong - and no amount of sugar can help fix it.
Zak, the best oolong tea maker I have encountered is trying to instruct me in the art.

The stinky tofu is not something I want to have every day. But if you are ever challenged to eat it there are two things you should know: 1) It smells a lot worse than it tastes. and 2) you really DON'T want to know how it is made.

I really do like sushi. But have learned that you should eat it toward the beginning of a meal rather than when you are already mostly full. Thankfully, the nauseating results were never seen by the world... but only just.

I tried Sea Urchin eggs/roe just this last visit. They came around the resturaunt on a little conveyor - which was fun. They looked great! They didn't taste good. Maybe this is why:

- ouch!

Raw lobster is good but I wish they wouldn't be so instistant on demonstrating the "freshness" by putting the still moving head on the table.

And I was relieved to find out that they don't serve actual people despite what the sign may say!

And yes I ate this fish eyeball:

but none of this meat:

or these cute little guys:

"Suffer the little children..." - my children to be more precise

Last night I sent my kids up to bed. As often happens they come down again by ones and twos to get books or drink water. When I found my daughter downstairs and not actively drinking water I hurried her back up.

She offered no resistance nor excuses but traveled a bit slowly. At the top of the stairs I noticed that her faced seemed a little cloudy. Thinking that I had been too stern in my demand I asked her if anything was wrong and expected to hear that she was downstairs "only looking for a book". Instead, as a couple tears welled up, she quietly explained she had been doing the stations. And I still didn't understand... I asked if she was sad that I stopped her from doing the stations or if it was the stations that made her sad. She was sad for Jesus.

Each time I start to think nothing will get through her skin she does something like this. I love her. I am sure Jesus does too! What could be better?

Physics Grand Unified Theory

I would like to take credit for being uber-insightful. Instead it is just a really satisfying coincidence that my previous post about the 248 dimension beauty may actually have a profound physical significance. Hat tip to Science Mom over on Unity of Truth blog.

It turns out that there is a theory in some physics journal by Garrett Lisi, a very colorful physicist/surfer, that suggests this may be able to explain the four fundamental forces that drive our universe: the electromagnetic force; the strong force, which binds quarks together in atomic nuclei; the weak force, which controls radioactive decay and now finally gravity.

Not even he knows if it is true - it's only a formal (very formal) hunch at this point.

But I want it to be true.

Here's one major reason why: it's mechanism is geometry rather than the much more confusing equation-noodle-pot that is string theory. Wouldn't it be nice if the unity could be pictured. It just makes my brain feel better to look at geometry. At Thomas Aquinas College I got to re-learn calculus. Night was turned into day when the proofs (OK they were quasi-proofs) were shown in geometrical terms and pictures.

Islam Today

Last year Pope Benedict VI gave an intellectual speech with a provocative challenge that Muslims ought to denounce violence done in the name of their religion. In it he recalled a dialog between a Christian and a Muslum from around 1400 that had some strong language!

The immediate and NONintellectual reaction to the speech was to create a few new Christian martyrs and generally burn and smash things.

OK. One sector of Islam heard from. Is there another?

Where are the peaceful multitudes of the "religion of peace"? Probably terrified of sector one! But were are the intellectual leaders? Perhaps we have finally heard from them...

"In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders "to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions."

I have been praying for the impossible... the conversion of all Muslims. Maybe it is only my foolish hope - but I do hope that this is the beginning of a better world.

Rich and Beautiful Book of Hours

Pictures are great! Love 'em. So these little snippets I have seen over the years from Belles Heures and Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry have always caught my attention. Their bright colors and medieval castles together with the agriculture scenes have always felt to me like a canvas of jewels. I am not sure who this Duc fella is* but I thank him for his commissions!

http://www.christusrex.org/www2/berry/berry1.html

This site has not only a lot of the wonderful pictures from this book of hours but also some descriptions of the content of the illuminations. I often find myself wondering about details in paintings and symbolism - what the art books usually tell me is details about the size of the paintings, where it hangs, and maybe a thing or two about the brushstrokes. This is what I prefer.

Enjoy!

*note: Thanks to the Internet I have also found out a little more about the Duc. Not the greatest guy - but he sure left us a lot of good art.

Liberty

"... unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - Declaration of Independence

Alan Keyes, during a Q&A after a talk touched on the Liberty aspect and laid bare the foundations with such clarity... he said (not the eloquent original text): If God himself saw fit to give men freedom we should be most reluctant to reverse that endowment!

So what happens when you give every person freedom? Evil. Yes - some evil will undoubtedly happen in the world. To prevent it wouldn't God have to rescind free will?

St. Augustine defined evil as the lesser of two goods. (This takes some time to get used to but it is based on the simple fact that what God made (created things) are objectively goods.)

So how do you give freedom to every living person? You have to allow for each person to see the various choices available to him - to be able to weigh them according to their different attributes and consequences - and to make the choice based on that stew. Someone who always makes the choice which brings him alone the most pleasure (at the expense of others' or even God) is a hedonist. Someone who always makes the choice which brings him alone the most power (at the expense of others or God) is ambitious (in the bad sense). Someone who genuinely works to make the choice that is THE best available (with respect to God, others and himself) is a saint. Etc.

So every action must touch on several attributes and consequences. We must live in a web with other creatures and with God.

Therefore it seems that God will not remove all hurts and obstacles and ornery folks precisely because He wishes to preserve in us the dignity of Liberty.

Gordon Moore

I have been at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco this week (sweet!). It is really a geek festival. There was a competition going on as I left of 3 guys racing each other building overclocked top-end computers for prizes. And they had a big audience standing around wishing they could be doing it too.

But that serves only to introduce Gordon Moore. Instrumental in bringing the integrated circuit from curiosity to commonplace- (but still staggering-) reality. He was among a handful who made Intel. And he still has some pretty good experience and thinking skills!

He was educated as a chemist and physicist. When asked what he would go into if he had to start today he said Biology. Life sciences are really making leaps and growing lots. It is an area with a lot of potential still too! Meaningful too.

His advice to new engineers is this (paraphrased - I can't write that fast):
It's not the exotic... It's not the non-linear equations... it's the fundamentals that you learned. Keep well grounded in the fundamentals. Make them part of your way of doing things.

Which got me thinking... In electrical engineering V = I * R is a fundamental. I have solved a lot of things in my career by writing that down on the top of a whiteboard or a scrap of paper - and going from there.

In fact there are probably just one or two things to remember in many of the disciplines and sciences. Maybe we could make a list - a simple list!! - to give to the kids. The fundamentals of:

• Electronics: V=I*R
• Chemistry: elements are conserved. Maybe something about bonds too.
• Biology: (help me out here). Life is the universe's consistent exception to entropy.
• Math: = + - zero
• Religion: God is good. He made us to know, love and serve Him.
• Philosophy: There is truth. And it can be known. WE are made to know the world.
• History: History is a great teacher - learn humility. Never use absolutes! Everyone is like you. No-one is like you. There have been remarkable changes in the body of knowledge but people are remarkably recognizable as far back as we can see.
• Manners: Do unto others as you would have them do to you.
• Humor: The surprise of seeing two things together that you weren't otherwise seeing as related.
• Speaking in public:
• Decision making: (This is another thought from the Gordon Moore interview here. I am still mulling on it.) The hard decisions are often the ones where you see the least difference between the choices. Consequently, they in particular probably won't make that much of a difference either way.
• Thermodynamics already has it's own nice little set of laws.
• Mechanics does too. (mostly thanks to Newton).
• Leadership: those who simply DO are usually the leaders.

Comments and corrections ALWAYS welcome.

Love2Learn Consilium Conveniet

Over the past few years Love2Learn mom has enlisted the help of several Internet friends to assist with love2learn.net. During the past week and a half I had a chance to meet some of them in South Dakota.

Wow!

What excellent people! I knew already that I would respect them. I was not expecting to so quickly and unequivocally add enjoy and admire to the list. Those are not things that generally happen quickly. However, I was privileged to see them in action as they discussed the site - from principles down to details. I also met husbands (also great) and kids. I was overwhelmed. I am sure they are cringing at this because among the impressive attributes was that of humility. In deference to which I should probably stop gushing. :)

However, if you ever want to go on a great vacation make sure Love2Learn mom makes the plans.

I also have to mention that we did more. In fact we met wonderful folks at other stops along the way which she has chronicled over at studeo (in a number of posts) if you are interested. It was great to meet Dr. Thursday*. - and others at the Chestercon. Minn. Mom was a great host. Great friends from college were not only good hosts, fun to catch up with, but also helped us enjoy Chestercon by watching the kids. Even met someone new in Sturgis who was most interesting and kind. It all wrapped up to a most wonderful vacation. Thanks!

One of the wonderful things was how well the families met and were instant friends. The kids instantly had friends. (BTW, in case you are wondering, a fresh batch of kittens helps break the ice REALLY well!!)

* Dr. Thursday I promised to send you a link about how to see polarization WITHOUT a film. Here it is. Check out the larger site. This guy is as excited about polarization as you are about Chesterton ;)

Library: $16,000

This is pretty neat! Cliff Missen has made it his pet project to bring libraries to African communities in a unique way. Since much of Africa lacks decent infrastructure (and it costs big$$$ to get it!) many communities can't possibly get on the internet he brings the internet to them.

Using a simple backup drive from Seagate Technology, he started loading as much educational information as he could. After two years, he is now on his fourth version of the eGranary. It can hold more than 10 million documents, including thousands of instructional videos and audio files. By hooking it via network cable to a computer, anyone can access the data.

http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_6026753?nclick_check=1

Here is his site:
http://www.widernet.org/digitallibrary/

And here's the pricelist. For $16k - a comlete lab including the server and 12 stations the town can access the best the english language has to offer. If they already have a computer or two then it can be as little as $750. This is 10 million documents!!!! That's more than your local library probably has on it's shelves. Brilliant!

It will be great to see Africa bloom again - this man's crude-but-effective actions may be a key to that! 1 person with a plan can surely make a difference.

Slave to Sin

The pastor this morning told us a story that I just have to capture.

Frank gets a bow and arrow for his birthday. He goes outside to practice and practice and gets quite good. As he is walking back to the house he spots one of his grandmother's ducks and without thinking of the consequences aims, shoots .... and kills the duck. THEN he thinks of the consequences. So he goes and hides the dead duck in the woodpile and slinks back home hoping no-one saw him.

Later on Betsy his sister says she is going to the lake to swim. When
grandma says Betsy needs to finish her chore Betsy says "No, Frank said he wants to do that today" and passes by Frank before he can protest quietly saying "Remember the duck!!"

Betsy goes out with her friends the next day. Frank has volunteered again for her chores. And she murmurs "Remember the duck."

After a full 3 days of this Frank tells his grandmother about the
duck.

She says, "I saw you kill the duck and hide it. And I forgave you then
because I love you. And I was sad to see how long you let yourself be a
slave to Betsy for it."

My pastor told it better. : )

This was a prelude to his homily about the gospel where Jesus says 3 times "Simon son of John, do you love me?". I don't know how it escaped me for all these years but I finally put together that this is AFTER Peter denied the Lord 3 times. I am sure that Peter didn't miss that connection!!

Jesus let Peter confess it - and he forgave him. It's great. It's catharsis in the fullest.

In fact it goes further than you would have thought at first. Any of us would probably have asked only once and been OK with the answer. But Jesus, the good author, asks 3 times. Hmm. Why?

In this way it reminded me of another story: Eustace doesn't lose his dragon skin in one swoop - it takes several painful peelings. I guess that all of these show us that we need the forgiveness that can come all at once - but there is merit and usefulness and a view of real human nature in that we need to work at rooting out a habit. Real humans live in time. Few things happen so suddenly and so completely all at once. We may say we "fall" in love. But we don't love someone for just an instant. We wake up every day and love them some more. We don't get forgiven once (barring the exception of deathbed conversions) but rather we have the opportunity to ask forgiveness again and again - - - thank goodness!!

Poets vs. Philosophers.

Poets vs. Philosophers.
Hmm. That's a big one!!!! What separates one from the other?

Philosophers. They analyze and synthesize. Some do one some the other some both. At any rate they try to understand (and tell the rest of us) about reality. They abstract from reality to show it to us.

Analysis: They look at things and try to determine the underlying principles. That is they look for what may be a "rule" that applies to the worlds state or activities that shows the unity of different things or actions.

Synthesis: Using the principles (above) they try to show how these assemble to make predictable ends.

Poets. This is a much tougher nut to crack. They seem to feel the principles that the philosophers do. But do they know them as well? Maybe some poets know them perfectly well. Of these poets it would make sense to say that they are able to describe things and events in just such a way as to make the world more understandable to us. But they use the imagery of the world to do it. They don't abstract. They wield a description of a something to cast our minds beyond that very thing into a place with a better view - an understanding. They will usually use an event or thing which the readers already know about (like two roads on a snowy evening) or a character (which we recognize from likenesses to ourselves and those we know) and say it in just such a way as to trigger in our own minds the bigger picture. They can tell a story that makes reality clearer by making the characters' motivations just a little clearer (like Nathan the prophet telling King David about the man with only one sheep. At this point the poet would typically stop and let David figure out the rest for himself. But Nathan goes on - explicitly revealing that that sheep is Bathsheba the widow of Uriah the Hittite). The poet somehow adds more meaning.

This "topic" is going to keep me thinking for the rest of my life. Feel free to share your own ideas!!

Here's another tangent. There seem to have been great philosophers popping up in response to great poets throughout history. Who is Shakespeare's philosopher? - - - John Paul II?

Higher Math - Sophus Lie and the 248th dimensions!!

A calculation the size of Manhattan

http://www.aimath.org/E8/

This is some pretty intense math. The "problem" has been around for around 100 years. The solution took a dedicated team (from around the globe) 4 years and a supercomputer to solve. The solution is in numbers/code that if written out in the tiniest print would blanket Manhattan. For comparison the human genome is about 1GB in a similar coding. This is 60GB!!

Now WHAT exactly is the solution? Well I started looking at what the problem was and started to get tangled in a web of math. I think that generally, it is about a system to classify symmetry. The Lie groups, of which E8 is the Everest, start out with very simple 1 dimensional symmetry (one group) and 2 dimensional (4 groups) on up to this E8 solution which is 248 dimensional being the symmetries of a particular 57 dimensional object. Start to explore some of the terms on Wikipedia and you quickly begin to see that the most basic understanding of this E8 fellow is not a depth easily fathomed!!! I think one would spend years just to understand the question. The solution is mathematical but is making physicists and geometry folks are getting giddy about it. (pretty picture of the E8 root system)

One theme that keeps coming up and is manifest here too is that many of the really great achievements are born and fostered in small groups of great friends.

Here there were a larger than usual group of 20 people who gathered annually altogether and more often in smaller groups.

Get this - Sophus Lie, the Norwegian mathematician who formulated Lie groups including E8, developed the theories with Felix Klein (of Klein Bottle fame).

and over to literature:
The Inklings (including C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien) read aloud and critiqued/heckled eachother's work - with what grand results! English literature finally had mythology.

Mary Shelly (who wrote Frankenstein), Lord Byron (wrote Don Juan), Percy Shelley and others seemed to be a clique of sorts.

and over to politics:
OOOPS!! Most examples of this leave a sour taste!
... but not all. Consider the framers of the US constitution. Consider the advances in Athens.

It seems to be of use to have someone to "bounce things off of". It may have the effect of magnifying your stature since the public only first sees your ideas after they have been subjected to a round of constructive criticism.

The message to me is to never take lightly the criticisms of friends and colleagues - they will usually have your best interest at heart.

As for that exception above - politics. It seems that the best work gets done before there is too much at stake. Once the taxes are high enough and the country big enough that the participants are abnormally interested in that power they do not care about the best interest of anyone or anything but themselves. They end up out-shouting the good ones and even punishing them for "embarrassing [i.e. actual] good ideas".

Challenges

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle

I have met certain people that are terribly hard to discuss things with...

...it is not for want of intellect - they are often intelligent, capable people.

...it is not passion - passion is a love for the topic which drives intense conversation (although rare conversion).

...it is not arrogance - though this is to be loathed in any argument.

...maybe it is the inability to entertain any thought but their own.

Could it be that it is not their fault? Maybe it is just that sort of education which is missing in some schools today. Maybe there is a sad sort of indoctrination going on that fails to admit of more than one idea (too textbookish?). One gets little exposure to a really good adversary. In short one is not suitably challenged enough to develop this part of oneself. Could that be?

If so then it seems that in this way mankind is MADE for challenge and cannot develop fully without it.

Of course this is all about step 1... after entertaining the idea, the next step is being able to correctly judge between the opposing thoughts. And that is a habit well worth gaining!

Poetry Friday

One is not always in the same state of mood or mind. It is human. Sometimes we are ready to be the hounds of heaven, sometimes we find inspiration in St. Thomas Aquinas' absolute reason, and sometimes ...

"Batter My Heart" by John Donne

Batter my heart, three person’d God, for, you

As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;

That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend

Your force, to break, blow, burn and make me new.

I, like an usurpt town, to’another due,

Labour to admit you, but Oh, to no end.

Reason your viceroy in me, me should defend,

But is captiv’d, and proves weak or untrue,

Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved faine,

But am betroth’d unto your enemy,

Divorce me untie, or break that knot again,

Take me to you, imprison me, for I

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

I heard this one over 20 years ago and it resonated to my teenage heart even then.

Chinese Saints

I have fairly frequent dealings with a handful of the good people of Taiwan. They are interesting to me in many ways and many have become good friends. Yet there is a certain youthfulness about them that I have a hard time charitably describing. "Staid" and "Refined" and "Mature" are not words that come up a lot. One huge thing that is missing from their culture is a pervading notion of religion - although there are temples and small sacrifices to ancestors. I would dearly love to win some of those souls for heaven.

Who are some good intercessors from Taiwan??

Of course Taiwan is largely, in culture and heredity, of China. So Our Lady of China is apt. Though she is so busy already!! St. Fracis Xavier is legendary for his work in the orient so I include him. I vaguely know of a lot of martyrs in China but didn't know any of the stories until I noticed this one from a page in the St. Peter and the Vatican book we have.

St. Jean-Gabriel Perboyre
Sounds like quite a guy!! I will include him in the post rosary litany. But I still haven't found out names of some indiginous saints. Taiwan preferred but larger China is definately OK. Please contribute your recommendations with links to more info if possible.

Weather

I love seeing the real deal. Here is the weather radar for the US... the entire US all in a picture/movie.
http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/full_loop.php

From Scratch

I am an engineer and yet I work on the shoulders of so many (giants and minor players too) that I could not do what I do now from scratch.

That gets under my skin a little bit. So I too find myself pondering how I would survive - not on an island - but if I, like the Conn. Yankee, were suddenly transported back in time. Though I confess I was pondering this long before I read that book. I wondered what I could do to be worthy of the gift in my chosen capcity of tinkerer. What could I do to advance technology if I were to land in the year (?)??? B.C./A.D.

In Conn. Yankee Hank is just close enough to the non-industrial past to know a lot of things from the ground up. He can take things that you would find in Arthur's world and recognize them for what the industrial world would make them into - wires, lightning rods and blasting powder to mention one scene. We will say nothing more about his motives or the great wit with which it is written.

But that, in essence, is what I would like to be able to do. I would like to return the favor by advancing man's struggle with nature. Alas, I cannot do it using a PLC and a good computer - they are too far from the earth. The blasting powder is a bit of chemistry I don't understand. But I think I could probably do some good work with motors, solenoids and switches. I even think I could recognize both copper ore and magnetite. Oh, and chocolate cake is now more within reach!! And I think that I am carrying a few ideas around in my head (thanks to some giants) that could be useful regarding science, math, religion and politics.

(On second thought I probably couldn't add too much to religion after about 1400 A.D. - there is some amazingly advanced thought found in some pretty ancient archives of the Catholic Church!)

I would not spend time worrying about the the "grandfather paradox". If I was sent back I would know that it must have a reason.

In addition to the very essence of practicality in this endeavor I like to think it makes me appreciate my current world a little more. For example, I thank heaven I was born after these few advances: indoor plumbing (esp. the commode), the light bulb, the automobile, natural gas heating and readily available sweetened chocolate... No emperor of any age save our own had such luxury!

Old songs in MIDI

I am the first to admit that MIDI, while it has a lot of merits, tends to be the idiot uncle in the digital music age. You would never sit down in front of your entertainment system with a glass of Merlot and fire up an album of MIDI renditions!

However, while being a very svelte way to encode music it is a clinically faithful audible representation of the notes. So for those of us who don't sight-read but still like to sing it may be a good portal.

http://www.recmusic.org/midi/

Here's a website that should be just such a boon. However, I don't seem to be getting the lyrics they "advertise" in my Windows Media Player. I sure would appreciate some advice. I'd like to learn some of these songs.

Themapguy's Geography Meme

Sorry Mapguy that this took so long! In recompense I have given each question several answers.

1. A Place You've Visited and Your Favorite Thing there
The California Coast - Sun, surf, sand, mountains and the feeling that anything is possible.
Sanabel Island - Banyon Tree that is not just interesting to look at but wonderful for climbing!!!!!
Michigan - Sand Dunes so big you can "swim" down them.
King's Canyon - Alivanmom (and the luxury to dote on her).
Kohler - the tour followed by the bratwursts at the American Club.

2. A Country You'd Like to Visit and Why
Japan. Bleeding edge high tech stuff, Mountains (both lush green and snow covered for skiing), sake and the world's best sushi.
Italy - Museums, food and people.
Ireland - the stories coming right from themselves in a nice thick brogue. Maybe on a soft day with some peat making me cosy. Maybe a little music and dancing. Some fine old whisky.
England - London and the countryside

3. A Place From History You'd Like to Visit and Why
The Garden of Eden in summer (i.e. before the fall)
King Arthur's Court and Countryside
Duke d'Berry's court (Louvre as a baby)
Mission San Buenaventura a few years after it was started

A small town about halfway from London in the 18th century to hear people talk.
A british country castle where Psmith and Wooster are in for the week.
A French castle though I can't get more specific than "the ambiance"
An Austrian castle when things were really hopping. Music, food and baroque - even Rococo

4. A Place You Know a Lot About
I wish there was such a place! I know something about the places I lived but only a scratch on the surface. The wood behind my childhood house, the campus of TAC, the beach in Ventura, the parking spots around UWMilwaukee!, the town of Poway and the inside of the Trader Joe's in Carmel Mountain Ranch, the inside and outside of my first house on Park Ave.

5. A Place You'd Like to Learn More About

Heaven. Book me a one way ticket please!

OK. Earth too. Really what place doesn't have interest? But maybe I am thinking about the history of the places rather than the place for the place's own sake. Hmm. I would like to learn more about Africa - good choice Mystical_Rose.

If you press me I will get smaller - Madagascar. It seems that that island is home to all kinds of uniqueness and wonder animal, plant and mineral. Of course this is true of the Galapagos islands too. And probably more than a few in the south pacific. I really can't decide.

6. A Fictional Place You'd Like to Visit
Woodbridge Castle - when they get around to the living happily ever after part of it.
But for those who have yet to hear about Woodbridge here are a few other intruiging spots: Bag End, Perelandra, Valinor, Mount Olympus.

Youtube Catches Shakespeare

Ok - from the sublime (say what?) to the earthy. This shakespeare video is pretty funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwbB6B0cQs4

(Hat tip to http://darwincatholic.blogspot.com/ - good find!!)

Be Who You Want to Be

"Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way... you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions. " - Aristotle

It may not be perfect but it works!! Maybe there is a little something extra - what we christians call grace. However, if you try out this "advice" from Aristotle you find that it works well.

This also works in becoming a LEADER. People are suprisingly willing to follow. More often than not the leader is the one who DECIDES to lead - nothing more than that. However, be prepared to buck up on the other virtues if you do - people also seem to like to topple leaders at signs of weakness.

Books to think about

I have read a number of books lately (last year) that I am too muddled about to write reviews for. Apologies to love2learnmom!

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Goodbye Mr. Chips - James Hilton

A Ring of Endless Light - Madeleine L'Engle
A Wrinkle in Time - ibid
A Wind in the Door - ibid
(The kids enjoyed Wrinkle so much they had me do Wind by popular demand)

Brave New World Revisited - Aldous Huxley

- - - - - - - - - -

Now here's some of the muddle.

- - - - - - - - - -

Brave New World Revisited is Mr. Huxley's chance to explain the context and thoughts that surrounded and shaped BNW in his mind. It is interesting to get a glimpse of this. I reviewed BNW on love2learn.net but I have learned more about it from this book. Actually, I have only read about 2/3 of this book. It's harder and harder to read. It is depressing and dated. Maybe I could have guessed that. I don't think that this invalidates my review. But I think that it shows some of the "more and more and more" that I felt was present. Huxley makes a summary statement comparing BNW to 1984. He thinks that 1984 is what society would look like if the world's dictator favors control through fear, punishment and torture. But that BNW is an exploration should the world's dictator choose pleasure as his primary means of maniuplation. That alone is a staggering premise. It is even more impressive to witness this in BNW itself. For carnal pleasure is so often thought to be the fulfillment of man's desires that we even ply our children with images of the physical pleasures that await us in heaven. In BNW everyone's material needs are taken care of, and even carnal pleasures are addressed. Everyone is subjected to the government by being given food, shelter, etc - even an occupation suited to thier conditioning. And yet it is clear that there is a gap between that and fulfillment.

Here's part of the difficulty. He spends a lot of time talking about "modern psychology" and Hitler and USSR. It is neither impassioned nor completely clinical. But it is too agnostic to sit well in my stomache. I have to both finish it and come to peace with it before I can write a real review.

One other snippet that is particularily interesting (in light of the fact that he bases it on NO religious premise) is that he notes that nature has gone to great lengths to make sure that every person is different. Nature has worked not to make mankind homogenous but just the opposite. How interesting to see that come from this angle. It is something I had begun take for granted because I have been raised Christian. Christianity is where religion took an astonishing turn towards the notion that God values each of us as unique individuals.

- - - - - - - - - -

Goodbye Mr. Chips is a pleasant book. It's feel is mainly reminiscent. Mr. Chipping is a teacher at an english boarding school. He is old now but has become as much a part of the school as a great Linden by the cricket field. He is even old in the fact that he is the Latin teacher. He grows into the school by force of time and I-know-not-how-to-call-it. He grows older, he marries, he becomes respected then formidable then an institution. It is kind of a simple story of a simple fellow's life. I understand that it was a story written without much expectation of notice or even return on the investment. And yet it became unexpectedly popular. In a way it was much like "Chips" himself.

What to "make" of this book? Hmm. Umm. It is a story of a simple but good life. One we can learn from. It is a "little way" book - though not nearly so little nor profound as St. Therese. It is a life to learn from that life goes on and on and that simple good has simple but good rewards.

... besides - it is a pleasant book!

- - - - - - - - - -
A Ring of Endless Light is a much tougher nut! It is mostly about death. Vicky is an interesting girl of about 15 or 16 from a very aware family. They are at once bohemian in openness and stolid in their grounding in christian culture. She is learning about death this summer. They are staying with her grandfather whose cancer is killing him. Her reckless rich would-be boyfreind from the previous summer who during a suicide attempt has caused the death of a good sailor who happens to be the father of another would-be boyfriend - of the solid homely type. And because that isn't enough she meets a college guy who is doing research on dolphin telepathy (it's not quite as wierd as it sounds - more like dolphin emotional communication). Oh yes, he is a would-be boyfriend too. And he is dealing with the death of a friend that happened a year or so hence. The dolphins are dealing with death, Vicky's reckless friend keeps brushing up against death and sometimes taking Vicky along for the ride yet swears that she means life to him. Oh and just to put a dagger through your heart a cute little kid is introduced to us so that she can die in Vicky's arms late in the book. I don't really like this book. Ironically I kept reading it all the way to the end. I kept waiting for a few events that I read about in a review on the internet - of the Disney movie version. Ha ha ha - no suprise that it was far afield of the actual story!

- - - - - - - - - -
A Wrinkle in Time is a much better M. L'E book. Still on the just about out there side if you ask me. It's got a sort-of science fiction thing going on. But without the lasers and blasters and droids that make Star Wars such a fun movie.

What it has is a really interesting little boy named Charles Wallace. - that's his first name not his first and last name! Charles Wallace Murray. Meg Murray is his older sister and the focal point of the book. She has to learn about love and hate to overcome the evil-borg sort of antagonist. She has to do some heroic things to save the universe - or at least some pretty important members of her immediate family. Anyway she does self-sacrifice almost to the point of death. And I think it probably won't spoil too much to say that she is victorious.

It's an engaging story and a good read-aloud. However, it descends into some odd corners of speculation sometimes - which is to say I think M L'E goes a little too far for my philosophy. I have to think more carefully about all the things that get said about love, hate, order and freedom before I could write a proper review.
- - - - - - - - - -
A Wind in the Door is the successor book to A Wrinkle in Time. It feels like it too. There are some interesting new ideas to think about. M. L'E stretches our concept of our world by introducing us to a cherubim who still has a bit to learn and demons who impersonate her old principal (hmm. anyone else ever think these thoughts?). And in a rather brilliant leap she takes Meg and company into a "farandola" world which exists inside a mitochondria inside a cell inside Charles Wallace. Some interesting concepts about "size doesn't matter here" really are worth thinking about. In the order of creation, she is told, a mitochondria may have personhood and a star may have personhood and a cherubim who is not material has personhood. In their personhood there is no difference in size or fullness. Good concept. But I am a little on edge about whether stars and mito's have personhood so it is an excercise rather than a wholly believable story. I don't know why it irks me - I am perfectly comfortable with Tolkien's elves and hobbits and dragons having personhood. Maybe it is that I don't like to have this world twisted in this way.

- - - - - - - - - -

The Great Gatsby is a good book. But it is not easy to review. You can find the storyline on many other sites so I won't get into that here.

This book is full of interesting characters as they weave their way through the world of the rich. The rich are by no means glorified here!! They aren't dismissed either. They are explored. They have different personalities and backgrounds and different degrees of character. That's what makes this more interesting than your average read.

Gatsby is enigmatic and yet seems good through most of the book. But the people that populate his lawn and mansion during his opulent parties fancy thinking of him as sinister. The "old money" across the bay seem to think him gauche and look down their noses at him as nouveaux riche. Yet many come to his parties anyway.

Tom and Daisy are those "old money" folks. And they seem just plain bored. Tom talks about the new ideas and yet is pretty thick. Daisy is a fading flower. They drink - a lot. And in this stupor and life of languor they somehow manage to leave destruction in their wake. Daisy by a trick of fate has twisted Gastby's very life around her little finger. Tom gets away with murder.

I don't know what to make of Jordan. She reminds me of people I knew. She is fetching but selfish. She too is afflicted with boredom where she actually has the means to achive real successes.

Nick Carraway is the narrator. We see the others through his eyes. It's OK though because he is fairly likeable and pretty inert. I have remembered since I first read it that he made a pretty good bit of money by learning to launder rich men's socks just the way they liked it. There is a vocational lesson to be learned here!! And as I have lived I have seen that it is pretty accuate.

There are some pretty dark messages in this story. The lifestyle of the idle rich has its draw. Much in the way of luxury and beauty surround them. It seems that I could live with that! And then along comes this book. And F. has not made it any prettier than it is. He insisted on a gross but critical and I think significant (or should I say symbolic) detail be left in the book - Myrtle is not just killed in a car crash but maimed - and it is important to F. that we see it without glossing over. In the end no amount of money buys character. Having means can reveal the character you have (or lack!) more readily than you would like to believe. - - - which reminds me of another good story along those lines that is much shorter and better for little kids: The Old Woman who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle.

Aspergers Syndrome

A careless self diagnosis suggests that I may have Asperger's Syndrom in some very mild degree or another. Hmm. It's nicknamed Geek Syndrom too. So I perked up at an NPR story that was pretty interesting.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5488463

I have 2 take-aways to savor a little bit more:
1)

If a cure were invented for autism, would he take it?
Carley does not hesitate before answering.
"No. Never will. Never ever will," he says. "I love the way my brain works, I always have and it's one of the things I can now admit to myself. I like the way I think in terms of numbers. I like the way visualize things. I like the way most especially that I can bury myself in work that I love to a degree that makes everybody else in the world looks at me and go, 'God! I wish I could do that.' No, I am not changing anything."

I concur to a point. I like being able to do those things too but I wouldn't mind an opportunity to improve my people skills. If the drug (like some drugs do) just returns you to a medium level on ALL fronts then I would reject it - I don't want to lose what I have. Besides - it may take a while but as I get older I am learning more and more of the cues all the time.

2) I thought the convention sounded really neat. Normally I am a little averse to the "do your own thing" mania. But at the convention the circumstances seem to make it the best of all options. Neat.

From Poem

I haven't posted in a while. - I haven't needed to. - And I have a hard time making a post to follow Easter.

All the rage lately seems to be the poem anybody can write. Here's my version:

I am from a plastic pen that writes well, from an old blue Toyota Corolla and a pair of well made leather docksider shoes.
I am from a red brick home in the woods, from a brown stone school well into the evening, and meaningful chapel under the mighy mountains of
southern California and a studio apartment full of big sunny southern windows and love.
I am from the unmowed field of grass and wildflowers that wave above our heads as we look at the sky, the rose just perfected hung about with
the morning fog and dew which no-one sees but me - yet.
I am from long trips in the car with the whole country all around and an engineering family with an artistic streak, from Germany, Ireland,
France, Belgium and Scotland, from the hedge and from the mill.
I am from a grandpa who TOLD me about when he was a little girl.
I am from and I am for the Roman Catholic church; and it is from the chosen people of Israel; and they were chosen from before the foundations
of the world were set. From before the worlds foundations were set I was known and I hope to read my name in the book of life - written of the
mind of God.
I am from an elm grove in the land of lakes, from bratwurst and cheese and burger-for-a-bunch. I am from Oolong tea, Taiwan beer, tempura
shrimp with mayonaise and pinapple sauce, and also from chicken knuckles, palate-poking krill and stinking tofu.
I am from wheat-bread sandwiches wrapped in wax paper in my brown bag lunch and dry milk because it was cheaper. Yet I am from down-hill skiing
since before I can remember and from golf with dad, and grandparents and friends.
I am from a grandpa who sold insurance but read the Harvard Classics. And from another who with half a thumb became a doctor and the best of
men and beat alzheimers - I hope I never forget where I am from.

Gaude et Laetare!!!

Easter IS the best time. I just have to share...

In fact I am particularily partial to Holy Saturday personally.

I remember vaguely (VERY vaguely) back into the shadows of my youngest days. All Good Fridays seemed to be grey and drizzly. We would suffer from lack of food and drink for 3 long (but not endless) hours. We would color pictures of Jesus' passion. We would talk about it in hushed voices. [ Although my mom was always there I am guessing her story would vary slightly from mine :) ].

Holy Saturday was the waiting time. Easter was just about here. Candy was just about to be devoured. When we were just a little older (10ish?) We learned that you could eat some candy at noon on Saturday - whoo hoo!

- - -

In college the mood of Holy Week intensified and grew immensely rich. We were learning whole new avenues, streets and alley-ways of the faith from the great teachers and fathers of the Church. The kitchen (where I was doing work-study) was being scrubbed in every nook and cranny. Up to our elbows in accumulated dirt we were finding out what the kitchen was intended to be - all clean and purposeful (symbolic eh?). At the same time there was a retreat with meditations by our good priests. Ponder the life and suffereings of Christ. Learn stories of the saints. Remind us of things we knew but in ways that were new. Searching our own experience and cleaning our souls (like to the kitchen). Taking flight down and up with the rich ancient music that the Church has reserved especially for this time. Sad to tears. Happy to tears.

Holy Saturday in college was yet again different. Good Friday had passed. Jesus was dead now. We could not save him. We could only wait. We were subdued and serious - waiting. The "fishbowl" classroom - the waiting place between the sacristy and the chapel - was quiet but intense. The brass was out on the table being polished; the vases were being arranged in preparation; the smells of the coming feast were beginning to alight. All were subdued - and serious - and hopeful. Anticipation was growing. The resurrection was coming but was not yet here - we must be subdued - but it was getting harder and harder to do. Easter was unstoppably on its way. Preparations were coming to a culmination. All pointed towards Easter. The relief of lenten sufferings was happening partly due just to the proximity of the end. Hope was easy now. Here the day seemed always sunny.

It was on this day, in the midst of all this rising tide of hope and anticipation that it became finally clear to me that love2learn mom was standing there right in front of me, sunlit and smiling right there where the path of my life was taking me. I didn't propose to her that day but there was never any doubt from that moment on that I should commit myself fully.

Then well after dark a fire was lit in the spring wind and blackness of that mountain valley night. The chant was repeated at intervals as we processed, haltingly, inside: "Lumen Christi". Then the flame was passed from the easter candle to another, and another and another. The mood and the symbolism were in thick, sweet harmony - the light of Christ brought to the darkness of the world was freely shared and not dimished but rather increased by the acts till the glow was all around me and showed the people and the world more clearly than before. The Mass was begun and grew in beauty and brighness as it went on. The careful eager voice of Johnny H chanting the Easter sequence. The youthful voices of the schola and choir with moderate songs at first and rising to a crescendo of Alleluias. It ALL grew brighter and better as the Mass turned time, turned us all, into Easter.

Then in the very middle of the night completely bathed in and surrounded by light of every kind we ended Mass and began to serve the feast. Everyone fresh and happy and talking and drinking and eating. Everyone happy! Happy Easter!!! Gaude et Laetare Virgo Maria. Alleluia!
Quia surrexit Dominus vere Aleluia!
Regina cæli lætare, Alleluia:
Quia quem meruisti portare, Alleluia:
Resurrexit sicut dixit, Allelluia:
Ora pro nobis Deum, Alleluia

(I turned it around a bit so that I could start with the Gaude. In this re-arranged order it is translated:

Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!
For the Lord is truly risen. Alleluia.
Queen of Heaven, rejoice! Alleluia!
For the Son thou wast privileged to bear, Alleluia!
Is risen as He said. Alleluia!
Pray for us to God. Alleluia!

cool heh? You gotta hear it chanted sometime.)

All this is so dear to me. It is a part of me. Each year it touches the inside of me.

This year I was touched again. We decided last-minute to ALL go to the Easter Vigil Mass at the local Shoenstatt center (Good solid Catholic place). It was all dark. In a webber grill outside the fire was lit. The mood was set! (Even little 2-yr-old Frank was now impressed :) The Easter candle was lit and prepared, the service begun. As we turned to head into the Church at the next "Light of Christ" I caught sight of my own god-father. I didn't know that he was still a regular communicant I have been praying for him for years - and here I see him on Good Saturday at a great Catholic place! (Tears of joy again). Gaude et Laetare! Happy Easter! Woo-hoo!

The curse of intelligence

Named for the shock value. It is not a curse!! I often am sad at the fact that I cannot pursue ideas, commit to pursuits or refresh relationships that have fallen off my day-to-day radar. There is so much I want to do with my eternity! – I wonder if THAT will be enough time?

St Cletus – Ora pro nobis.

St Cletus – Ora pro nobis. This is a very efficient way of praying. Consider that the Saints reside in the presence of God himself and that they have an eternity ahead of them. I can in 3 seconds invoke the help of one whose prayers are clearly desirable to God and probably more intense and more prolonged than I have time for here below. In fact by turning over the petition to the free will of a saint I never know how much "time" and effort they will spend looking after me - - - one prayer, uttered early in my youth, to Saint Cletus may by his graciousness lead to a lifetime of intercessions and graces won by his prayers to God for me. Wow!

Skept-O-meter

Skeptometer. John Of ’Worke introduced me to this wonderful term. It seems that one of the deplorable results of our indoctrination-style school curriculum these days is that people have not learned how to be appropriately skeptical. (I won’t even get into how easy that makes the advertisers’ jobs!!) Basically, as we gain experience we start to learn who we SHOULDN’T believe unconditionally. We look for inconsistencies. We learn to look for signs that might indicate closer examination is warranted. I guess this is one of the elements of wisdom. And it is why we expect that people who are young don’t have fully functionional skeptometers. – and why we expect adults to gain accuracy on their skeptometers as they become seasoned with life. The term itself is brilliant. In one word I can communicate with my friends the whole idea. And it is simple code to refer to someone who’s skeptometer is broken. To refer to my skeptometer pointing to redline as I am hearing a story related via email (about, for instance, someone from a small African nation that wants me to help them recover their lost millions…)

Closely related, perhaps, is the fact that TAC graduates have come to be known by the phrase “careful readers of text” by many in the higher education world. And I believe it is used in an attempted pejorative way sometimes. But I wear the title as proudly as that of “geek”. I would not surrender the tendency to be a “careful reader of text” – in fact I work to maintain it. The tendency is what helps sharpen my skeptometer! It was funny to hear it for the first time because, again, the term describes the situation elegantly and accurately. The method at TAC, of course, includes plenty of calls of “can you cite the text for that Mr. Honey?”