THESE MAKE ME SAD

1. Ill-advised movie sequels - "Ill-advised" as in "crime against humanity." Or at least "against culture."
2. Schneier on Security: Hand Grenades as Weapons of Mass Destruction - The devaluation of the term "weapons of mass destruction." Read the comments for actual legal definitions -- yeesh!
3. The problem with the one-eye veil for women, and a... - The willingness of ideologues to tromp on any semblance of human liberty in order to make people comply with their beliefs never fails to amaze (and disgust) me.
4. Nick Reynolds, RIP - Boing Boing - The short member of the Kingston Trio.

THESE MAKE ME THOUGHTFUL

1. Who is "essential" during a pandemic? - Clearly the societal necessity of IT Directors has been greatly underestimated.
2. Save a Tree - Shrink Your Sunday Bulletin - I can't imagine doing a full-up service bulletin with all the text each week. That would be incredibly wasteful. We don't force people to flip back and forth within the BCP, but we do create season service booklets that are used for 2-3 months.
3. Bush's sad finale | Reaping the whirlwind | The Economist - When The Economist proclaims your conservative presidency a failure, that's pretty darned sad ... for you. (And, I suppose, for the rest of us as innocent bystanders.)
4. What's missing from the oldest Bible - Pish-tosh -- we all know the King James Bible is the final, ultimate, perfectly revealed Word of God, right?
5. The J-Walk Blog: Christ As Magician - An interesting archaeological find, though not particularly decision-making in in particular directoin.
6. Pam's House Blend:: Gay or queer? - Um, you people settle it amongst yourselves and send me the memo. Meantime, I'll try not to be linguistically offensive while writing in support of your rights.
7. 317 - Tea As A North/South Litmus Test « Strange Maps - If it weren't for slavery, I've little doubt that Sweet Tea would have been the eventual cause of a civil war.
8. Obsidian Wings: Mark To Market - What I don't understand about the current financial crisis could fill a book (or twelve), but this is an interesting article about "mark to market" vs "mark to model" asset pricing. 

THESE MAKE ME HAPPY

1. Barbarian Class Playtest - Wait! I already have characters figured out! No fair introducing new D&D 4E classes!
2. Simon Says… - A clever way to deal with NPC generation in a game.
3. Bailout Provides More Mental Health Coverage - NYTimes.com - Okay, earmarks = bad. But that they were able to slip this into the bailout bill is both remarkable and, I'll say, a net gain.
4. a new twist on alternate energy - Coolness. At least until Homeowner Associations get wind of it (so to speak) and ban them.
5. A Is For Alignment: The Geek Alphabet - Probably a scosh sophisticated for folks who really need ABCs, but still cool.
6. 314 - Watch the Road: World’s Earliest SatNav « Strange Maps - Way too cool -- I'm surprised that Lord Peter Wimsey didn't have one of these.
7. 318 - The Semicolonial State of San Serriffe « Strange Maps - A greatly amusing story.
8. Document sans nom - Helvetica Monopoly
9. Texting drives viewing of subtitled movies? - An interesting idea -- texting is making subtitles more acceptible, as are CNN-style TV tickers.

Filed under :: Food & Drink :: Gaming :: Health :: Hi-Tech :: Homeland Security :: Media - Movies :: Media - Music :: Parenting :: Politics & Law :: Potpourri :: Religion :: Religion - My Parish :: Travel :: Writing and Language :: ZT & PC
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At the dunk-a-priest booth at the parish carnival.

Filed under :: Parenting :: Religion - My Parish
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So when ever I talk about the Episcopal Church, it seems like I'm dwelling on the divisions within it from controversies over gays and women and whatever. And that raises the bigger issue of divisions between various Christian sects/denominations. While there may be some cynically pragmatic reasons why it's maybe just as well that Christian unity is more of a distant goal and slogan than a reality, it is one of the directives that Christians -- as informed by Jesus in the Bible -- ought to be striving for.

Our rector now posts his sermons on a blog at our church, and a couple of weeks ago he included this quote:

The great labor of ecumenism has barely managed to dent the walls of separation that keep the divided Christian denominations from a genuinely common life… Protestant and Catholic, East and West, Christians remain divided –- and seem by and large content with their separation.

I started writing a response to the blog/sermon, but it got long enough in thought that I decided to post it here instead.

Why is it, in the face of calls by their founder to be "one" that Christians seem to be divided into so many sects and denominations and groups and subgroups. It's such a recognized phenomenon that it's made its way into the (ostensibly) world's funniest religious joke:

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump. I ran over and said: "Stop. Don't do it."

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.

"Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Are you religious?"

He said: "Yes."

I said: "Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?"

"Christian."

"Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant."

"Me too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow. Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"

He said: "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915."

I said: "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.

(Alternate versions here, here, here, and elsewhere around the Net.)

Part of it is, I think, tribalism. We like to herd together with birds of a feather. Even within a given parish (take my own), you end up with folks banding together by service time, by participation in different groups, by the choir folks vs the "contemporary music" people, by the women vs the men, etc.

But that's only a part of it. When you look at the rhetoric that gets thrown about disagreeing between Christian groups -- heck, just the things that are said (on both sides, though I have my preference) in the current Episcopal divisions -- it's not just herding, but downright hostility, even hatred. Which, for folks who've been told in no uncertain terms, to love one another, is pretty (as they used to say in the old days) scandalous.

It seems to me, watching these sorts of contentions, is that a lot of people aren't interested in being One, they're interested in being Right. Or, more importantly, in being the Winners, the ones whose beliefs are proven and vindicated by other folks agreeing with (or giving in to) them. They may want unity, but it's a unity on their terms, by their rules. They want to win the debate, to be acknowledged as right in every jot and tittle of theological controversy, rather than in working together to further what they're supposed to be doing in God's name -- feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, etc. They are more interested in asserting what the "Good News" is ("Now pay special attention under section three, paragraph twelve, clause 47/a, where it clearly states that ...") than in sharing it.

It's a matter of pride, in other words. And, yeah, I can be that way sometimes, too. Though I try to hold it in check.

Too, I think ecumenism and a "common life" is misperceived. Too much emphasis is given on coming up with a fully agreed-upon theology and formal; recognition of each others' flavors of priesthood and hierarchy and so forth. Too much emphasis is placed on uniformity vs unity. Arguments over ordaining women, or married priests, or bishops vs presbyters vs congregational control, which flavor of creed to adhere to or whether the eucharist is symbolic, transubstantiational, or consubstantiational, all miss the point; trying to settle them is like trying to convince everyone in a big crowd what restaurant go to -- and what to order there. The goal in the latter is not that everyone eat mushu pork, but that everyone go out for a good time. 

From my way of thinking (and, yes, I'm cognizant that I'm dancing around a bit of hypocrisy here, but bear with me), God didn't make everyone the same, so why do we have to come up with a laundry list of identical and identically interpreted rules in order to work and live together? Wasn't over-adherence to rules something that Christ himself is recorded as condemning? I'm willing to live with a little ambiguity, mystery, and disagreement over the specifics of God's will -- because I think the general guidelines are pretty clear. "In essentials unity, in non-essentials freedom, in all things love." I'm less interested in folks' theology than in what they do with it.

Or, looked at another way, I can be good neighbors, coworkers, even friends, with people with whom I disagree in one or more particulars (religious, political, recreational, aesthetic, etc.). Heck, Margie and I don't agree on everything, but we seem to get along together pretty well. 

The "non-essentials" aren't unimportant -- but they aren't (by definition) essential to be in agreement about. The trick, of course, is that what is "essential." My own opinion is that the "essentials" in Christianity need to boil down to the actual dictates by Christ as to what the most important commandments are, to wit, loving God and loving our neighbors. Most of the creedal and theological differences between Christian denominations -- let alone the organizational and ritual differences --  have only tangential importance to those commandments. 

But, of course, they aren't something you can win at, play power games with, easily condemn people for, or otherwise use as a club for being holier-than-Them. Perhaps that's why they have such a hard time catching on.

But until they do, or until people act more on them than in hurling vitriol over which direction to cross themselves, or what sort of paraphernalia to have up on the altar, or what version of the song book is being used, or who's married to whom -- it seems unlikely we'll ever have much in the way of unity within Christianity.

Filed under :: Religion :: Religion - Episcopal Church :: Religion - Me :: Religion - My Parish
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So I think I ended up volunteering for something new down at the church -- which is probably the last thing I need to be doing, given the "busy" and all that. But it should be relatively quick, not too fraught with politics, and a fun bit of community-building: creating a Cafepress page for the parish.

Of course, I'm sure there will be as-yet-unresolved conflicts between the "new logo" people and the "old logo" people. The old logo was a stylized sheep next to running waters. The new logo shows our church steeple in front of the mountains (which is a particularly nice view we get of it driving down Dry Creek). The new logo came about with our new web page, stationary, etc., and has much to advise it as a logo and all that good thing. That said, the old logo has a lot of nostalgia with it, and many of the old-timers seem to prefer it.

Nobody's actually brought the two groups into conflict as yet -- but I'm sure if we end up with a just-new-logo web page, someone will raise the question. And if we do two connected stores, then there will be those who wonder why we're watering down the "brand" with both, and whether it promotes divisions within the congregation ...

When given the opportunity to argue about stuff, Episcopalians seem to be great leaders.

Hmmmm ...

On the other hand, doing a Cafepress thang would be fun (contention over logos aside), and, once set up, minimum effort to keep up. Just the sort of volunteering I like to do! And, honestly, if we can get over the (probably hyperbolized) conflicty bits, I think people will really like it. And we can make a small amount of money to be used for good things, too.

Filed under :: Hi-Tech :: Religion - My Parish
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Well, not quite, but Margie did volunteer to do a breakfast and lunch for a diocesan event down at the church, planning for the 65 who RSVPed (though the actual total was closer to 50). Muffins and croissants and yogurt and granola for breakfast (plus fruit and juice coffee). For lunch, two yummy soups (potato cheese bacon and italian chicken), plus five different salads, bread, cookies and fruit for dessert. And lemonade.

Yeah.

Katherine and I did go down to help with final prep and setup and serving and cleanup for lunch, but Margie deserves the kudos. It was all quite yummy. And, given how ostensibly easily she did it, quite marvelous.

(No, it wasn't actually that trivial an effort on her part, by any means. But if I had to do it, it would have been five times the work for something a third as good, so Margie really does deserve a big round of applause for it all.)

(Kitten was helpful, except when she was deciding not to be helpful, in which case she was passively helpful by staying out of the way.)

Filed under :: Food & Drink :: Religion - My Parish
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A soft, steady rain down at home as I started off this morning, turning a bit slushy as I got up to the office.

All the ops folks in my wing are packing up to move to the other building this weekend. I have no idea when I am slated to move over there, as it's a different floor and the move coordination is being handled with all the planning, coordination, and aplomb of a bunch of three-year-olds (with IT saving the day more often than not).

Someone I've worked with for many years -- in fact, who I hired into the company -- is shifting their base of operations to the downtown office we gained in the acquisition last year. And someone else I've known here for some time is, rather goofily, being made redundant by that same office/acquisition, so I'm busy trying to figure out if I have a position in my department for them.

Last night was Family Art Night down at Katherine's school, with a (mostly) Asian Art theme. Katherine performed in a puppet play about the building of the Great Wall of China, and there were various calligraphy and painting projects, free food, Chinese dancers, dragon dancers (Katherine's favorite), and some Ultimate Martial Arts guys who were as much dancers and Power Rangers as actual self-defense masters (no matter how many degrees of black belt they claimed or how high they kicked). Good fun for all.

We're getting ready for some travel coming up. We're off to New York in a week for Doyce and Kate's wedding -- we'll be staying on a couple of days beyond so as to do some whirlwind touring (it's my First Time). Jim and Ginger are coming out on Monday to stay for a couple of weeks, including taking care of Katherine while we're gone; they have some fun touring plans, too.

While I'm glad that tomorrow's Friday, Saturday Margie's volunteered to do breakfast and lunch for 65 down at the church, Which we'll be helping her with, of course.

A busy, unsettled, changing, promising time.

Filed under :: Job Jollies :: Personal :: Religion - My Parish :: School Daze :: Travel :: Weather
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Unlike all the Cool Kids, I've never gotten down with using Tags for my blog entries.  I don't trust myself enough to tag things consistently, frankly.  So I use categories to group things together for those times I want to review a subject (vs. searching for individual posts).

I've added a bunch of new subcategories today for several categories that had grown unwieldingly large.  In most cases, these were categories I'd been pondering for a while, but which I finally got around to building.  I've done them as subcategories of the parent categories I'm trying to break up.

Now, in theory, I should go back through those parent categories and reassign things appropriately.  Alas, with over 12,000 entries, that's a herculean job that I'm saving for when I have a week with nothing else to do.  Perhaps when retire ...

So for the most part these categories are starting off as stubs that will build from this point, with possible backfilling if I reference back to an earlier post.  Let's see how that works for now; in another 12,000 posts, nobody will remember the difference.

Sub-categories being added:

• Blogging - Technical (to track posts about MT and technical issues with my blog, vs. other general Blogging subjects)
• Family (broken out from Personal)
• Health - Science (to distinguish from "I am down with the grippe" Health posts)
• Media - Art (to make various reference to the Tate Modern, etc.)
• Media - Sports (for the occasional obligatory sports post)
• My Mobile / PDA (for stuff having to do with cell phones and PDAs and combos thereof)
• Religion - Episcopal Church (broken out from the general Religion category)
• Religion - My Parish (my local church activities)
• Religion - Me (my own musings on the subject)

And I'm doing this post as much to note these changes as "starter" posts for those new subcategories than as anything I figure anyone would be interested in actually reading.  We now resume my regular blather, normally scheduled for this time.

Filed under :: Blogging - Technical :: Family :: Health - Science :: Media - Art :: Media - Sports :: My Mobile / PDA :: Religion - Episcopal Church :: Religion - Me :: Religion - My Parish
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