The Unusual Silence

Power was out at work most of the day and, of course, that happened just as I was close to being done with the work I was slammed with that made all other things fade into the background. The power just recently came on long enough for Tom to copy the files so he can bring them home to me.

So, I'll be working at home tonight to catch up. And then catching up some more tomorrow morning.

If I haven't worked my way to anyone who has emailed me, rest assured I will do so but it will be tomorrow. Thanks, y'all!

HOWEVER ... I will still be watching Lost and getting a few comments posted about it. I'm just busy. I haven't died.

What Would You Choose for Your Last Meal?

Check it out at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Never Say Never: Podcasts

As some with those memories may remember (yes, Curt Jester, I'm talkin' to you), I previously swore that never would a podcast soil my dainty ears.

So if I sprinkle a lot of sugar on those words, will eating them be any easier?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

Truth is, not only do I have limited time to listen to podcasts and also prefer to get my info in writing, but I was intimidated by the technology. I just couldn't figure out how to get the darned things into my iPod.

When Dom Bettinelli mentioned the podcasts that he listens to, I tried one more time. Lo and behold, I figured it out (actually very simple using iTunes for most podcasts).

I do not listen to many but have gotten hooked on four of them, which thankfully do not update more than once a week.

• LOST - the official podcast from ABC, this features the executive producers of the show who are the most enjoyable couple of geeks around. Not only are they fun to listen to but they will drop a few hints here and there about what is happening with the show. Update: Thanks to comments boxes intervention by Dom I see that if you search for Lost on iTunes and be sure to put "official" in the search as well, eventually you can find the official podcast from ABC. Whew! So much easier than what I was doing. (Also we find out that if you misstate something and put his name next to it ... then Dom comments ... AND you find out that he actually reads your blog sometimes. *screaming like a Beatles fan at a concert, y'all.* )
  


• BRENDA IN JAPAN - my all time favorite thus far. Brenda does these podcasts about her life in Japan for her family. Luckily for us she also posts them on iTunes. You get Brenda's top 10 countdown of favorite Japanese things, her tips on traveling, and much, much more. Not the least of which is Brenda's charming personality. I wondered how she was such a polished speaker and have just found out that she is a university professor and thus is used to public presentation. Go to iTunes' podcast directory and search for Brenda in Japan. You can subscribe from there.


• REEL REVIEWS - Insightful commentary about a really eclectic assortment of movies. This guy really loves movies and that is contagious. He actually had me considering renting "Ran" for a while. I definitely will be renting Murderball which I am not sure would have been a blip on my radar otherwise. Subscribe via iTunes (link on their sidebar).


• GRAPE RADIO - This is the most hit or miss of the bunch because I am not very knowledgeable about wine and these are wine geeks. Often the conversation is aimed at someone just like me and then it is fascinating. However, occasionally these guys have a guest who is more concerned with impressing everyone with who he knows or how long he has been in the wine biz than on informing. The hosts' enthusiasm is what keeps me coming back. Subscribe via iTunes (link on their side bar.) Also via Dom.


• BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - We are working our way slowly through the DVD of the first season (a welcome Christmas gift). When we get to the 9th show, which is where it looks as if the podcasts begin, then I will give these commentaries by the producer a shot. Mostly because they are recommended by Dom who was spot on with the Lost podcast recommendation. Subscribe via iTunes.
  

Let's Just Be Clear About This ... Jesus Founded the Church

Did he plan to "found" a church? Or is the church a thoroughly human movement that can only be associated with Jesus post facto? ...

Explanations of the origins of the church that assume Jesus himself had no intentions of founding a church are simply implausible.

I start out here to make a very basic point: Jesus followers who wish to eliminate, reinterpret or reduce the church face the problem that nothing in the New Testament is on their side. Seeing Jesus as the guru of individual Christians, or the church as some kind of accidental fan club that institutionalized a spontaneous spiritual experience, simply cannot be done without doing radical surgery on Jesus himself. A church-less Christianity requires such an edited, reworked Jesus, that the New Testament could no longer be read with any kind of integrity. This needs to be faced squarely and honestly.

I conclude that Jesus, from the outset, intended to found a continuing movement, and that movement is the church as we see and experience it, imperfectly and often far removed from Jesus, in history.

The Internet Monk begins by wondering how he became identified as being with the emergent church (which I still do not understand) and, in the process, proceeds to give us cogent reasoning that Jesus founded the church and intended us to be a part of it.

Thank you! Recently I have come across an odd trend among a few people that ask questions such as do we follow Jesus or do we follow the church that Paul founded? Or to say that Jesus worshipped as a Jew so the only way to really follow him is to follow Jewish customs ... or perhaps to become Jewish. Then we have people who say that they don't need to go to church ... they can worship God without any church. I have seen these sorts of ideas raised in more than one blog.

Talk about bewildering ... to me, anyway. Paul was the first to point the way to Jesus whenever anyone tried to do otherwise, to say that he was simply living and teaching what Jesus taught and revealed. Yes, his writings and teachings helped explain what Jesus revealed but we are "Christians" not "Paulists."

As for the idea of worshiping as Jews, Jesus was the Messiah, which they deny. Yes he worshiped as an observant Jew but He completed and fulfilled the law ... which to me at least necessarily indicates that he moved it along into something new. Baptism. The apostolic leadership. The Eucharist. Knowing that Jesus is the Son of God ... both fully human and fully God. Jesus gave us these things.

Probably the most commonly heard of these three ideas is that people don't need to go to church to worship God. That is both true and false. You can worship God from anywhere you are, at any time of day or night. On the other hand, it is meeting in communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ that keeps us centered, keeps us focused, keeps our eyes and heart on God. I need the Eucharist. I need the support and advice and admonitions and reminders of my priest and my fellow worshippers. It feeds my soul in a totally different way than solitary prayer and worship. That is how we are made. Jesus knew it and provided for it.

I thoroughly realize that I am not saying any of this very well and certainly am being sketchy in supporting my thinking. There is much that I am leaving unsaid. That is why I am pointing people toward the Internet Monk. He has doctrinal issues with Catholicism but at the base he has more solid understanding of Christian theology than many Catholics I know.

Go. Read. Jesus founded the church for us to worship and serve in together ... as Christians.

My Quote Journals

I have been asked by a few people about the quote journals that I refer to in my daily "Background Music" posts.

This is where I am low tech. I buy a blank book with lines on the pages. As I come across quotes I like I write them in the journal. There is no particular order. As they come up, I enter them. It is as simple as that.

One person has mentioned that is not an easy way to retrieve the quotes. True. But that is not the point of the journals. It is simply to keep the quote I like (and we all know that I am all about quotes, right?).

The quotes are predominantly Catholic or Christian inspiration. However, as time has gone by (I am almost done filling a second journal) I have taken to adding significant scripture as well as a few quotes that amuse me. (Not the sidebar quotes. Those I keep in some unpublished Blogger files.) For me to take the trouble of handwriting a quote, especially some of the longer ones, it has to really hit me where I live. Often weeks will go by without my entering anything.

The quotes that appear in Background Music are in order as I go through from the beginning, alternating between the two journals daily.

And that's really all there is to it.

It's a Lovely Day in the Neighborhood

ANOTHER SON TO BECOME A FATHER

I have for some time thought about the priesthood, and I can now say that yes, I will be a priest. That is where I want my life.

It's a good thing that Darren's mother is a careful reader. I totally missed this declaration of vocation at A Catholic Life. Congratulations Moneybags ... this has me grinning!

WELCOME HOME OWEN
Owen of Luminous Miseries and his family were received into the Catholic Church yesterday. Well I remember how wonderful that time was for me and I am joyful in welcoming these new brothers and sisters.

Owen has taken us with him on the journey from being a Protestant minister with unavoidable questions as he has made his way toward crossing the Tiber. I am looking forward to getting a glimpse of how things proceed on this side.

Serenity Now!

SERENITY 2?
DVD sales seem to be doing pretty well at the moment and that is what will dictate a sequel says Sci-Fi Wire. Via Looking Closer Journal.

ANCHORESS SAYS FIREFLY RULES
So say we all! In fact, she says the series was better than Cowboy Bebop. I tell ya, the lady has good taste!

In the News: The Elephant in the Room

WHO'S ACTING WHITE?

Go into any inner-city neighborhood, and folds will tell you that government alone can't teach kids to learn. They know that parents have to parent, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.

Sen. Barack Obama, Keynote Address, Democratic National Convention, 2004

Economist Roland G. Fryer has a fascinating editorial about the peer pressure faced by black and Hispanic students to perform poorly to fit in.

I'D CONVICT

Angry about the way an ex-girlfriend used his car and parked it without locking the doors, Gerome Alexander left a brief message on her telephone answering machine: "I'm going to catch you, and you're going to get yours."

That one call could send Mr. Alexander to prison for the rest of his life.

The 35-year-old Garland man is one of 59 convicted sex offenders in Texas who were released from prison and placed under civil commitment after being deemed sexually violent predators.

I don't know a single person who would make a telephone call like that. Considering this guy was released early and this is how he acts? Back in the slammer. No question.

Read the rest of the story and you'll discover that he has admitted to viewing pornography, drinking, and more that are all parole violations. How about having a girlfriend at all? That was off limits. Or having a car? Also off limits. It looks to me as if this lawyer wants to make her name on one issue. Shame on her.

What made me madder than all the rest is the way the story is written. It begins with that seeming attempt at showing the injustice of it all, "That one call could send Mr. Alexander to prison for the rest of his life." Don't even. Because if you don't read any further you will take away the impression that this poor guy is being hunted down for nothing. Nothing could be further from the truth. Shame on them for bad journalism.

IT DON'T COME EASY

Differences among Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans and Protestants over issues such as homosexual activity, abortion, euthanasia and other moral questions "are not on the top of the hierarchy of truths" -- like the belief in Jesus as savior is -- "but they are very emotional and, therefore, very divisive," [Cardinal Walter Kasper] said.

Just five or six years ago, he said, Catholic bishops and leaders of some other churches seemed ready to explore concrete steps their communities could take toward organizational unity.

Since then, however, it has become clear that "both the ecumenical mood and the ecumenical situation worldwide have changed so radically as to virtually run counter to the ecumenical movement toward unity," he said.

Thank you, Cardinal, for pointing out what the rest of us always knew was gonna be a problem. Even when I wasn't Christian at all I wondered about that call to ecumenism. We can all get together on some things but the whole reason there are different denominations is that we can't agree on the big basic issues at one level or another. Otherwise why be Catholic? If what the Faith stands for is just the same as everyone else, well, then what difference does it make? And it does make a difference.

Via that vicarious blogger, Rick Lugari.

I Didn't Remember to Tape 24 ...

... which is very necessary to help with our Prison Break hiatus replacement needs. Hmfph!

I see that it is being rerun on Saturday so if I tape the second installment tonight then we can catch up. Whew!

Would that all my problems were so small and so easily fixed!

Parents and Knitters

The top ten ways why being a parent is like being a knitter.

1. You have to work on something for a really long time before you know if it's going to be okay.
   


2. They both involve an act of creation involving common materials, easily found around the house.
   


3. Both knitting and parenting are more pleasant if you have the occasional glass of wine, but go right down the drain if you start up with a lot of tequila or shooters.
   


4. With either one, you can start with all the right materials, use all the best reference books available, really apply yourself, and still get completely unexpected results.
   


5. No matter whether you decided to become a parent or a knitter, you are still going to end up with something you have to hand wash.
   


6. Parents and knitters both have to learn new things all the time, mostly so that they can give someone else something.


7. Both activities are about tension. In knitting, the knitter has control of the amount of tension on the object in progress. In parenting, the opposite is true.
   


8. No matter how much time you spend at knitting or parenting, you are still going to wish you could spend all your time at it. Which is odd, since both activities are occasionally frustrating that you want to gnaw your own arm off.
   


9. Knitting and parenting are both about endurance. Most of the time it's just mundane repetitive labor, until one day, you realize you're actually making something sort of neat.
   


10. One day, you will wake up and realize that you are spending hours and hours working at something that is costing you a fortune, won't ever pay the bills, creates laundry and clutters up your house, and won't ever really be finished ... and the only thing you will think about it is that you can't wait to get home and do more.
    

Yarn Harlot : The Secret Life of a Knitter
by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen...

... a few links to some recipes that looked quite tasty can be found.

Now, except for checking comments, I am outta here until Monday. Have a good weekend, y'all!

Prayer Request

Quite recently I have gotten very involved in our parish's youth ministry. It is at a low ebb right now and in the process of rebuilding and revamping.

I am enjoying every second and I think there are some very exciting things that will be happening quite soon. I cannot wait to get some of these programs started. They are going to be so much fun, y'all! (Not that this is about me ... riiiiight.)

Of your kindness, if it happens to cross your mind, please say a prayer for the program, the kids, the priest who is running it, and me. I want to do right by this. Anyone who knows me also knows that the teenagers in our parish (and outside of it too) have long been on my heart. However, I also want and need to balance time with my family, our business, and ... ahem ... my addiction (aka this blog).

I think this is totally do-able and also, as far as I can tell, God's will. But I am praying ... that we all may do His will in this in all ways.

My Newest Addiction to an Author

THE DUTCH by Les Roberts

Milan Jacovich is an old style detective in Cleveland. Ellen Carnine was a singularly homely woman who seemed, nonetheless, to have been perfectly happy. So why did she do The Dutch (police slang for suicide)? When Ellen's distraught father comes to him and asks Jacovich to find out why his daughter committed suicide, it doesn't seem like too much trouble. Of course, there isn't much of a mystery in that simple story and soon Jacovich discovers that the apparent suicide is actually murder.

The author also takes an interesting philosophical look at the role that appearance plays in American women's lives as well as the desperate measures that lonely people are driven to in this day of internet chat rooms. Roberts does an excellent job of discussing distasteful subjects such as pornography, on-line sex, and more without making the reader dive into sordid details.

Interestingly, Amazon reader reviews kept mentioning a shocking plot twist which I, in my infinite mystery reading jadedness, thought could not possibly be that shocking. Wrong. Luckily I was skimming the page when that plot point was revealed, thinking that I probably didn't want indepth information about that particular bit (the only part of the book like that I might add). But the twist was truly shocking.

Not only does Roberts weave a fascinating mystery, but Jacovich is an honest and interesting character who loves Cleveland, justice, his sons. He has just enough ties to mob bosses to get him the information he needs and the trouble that he doesn't. Milan Jacovich reminds me to some degree to another of my favorite detective characters, Spenser (before Robert Parker pounded his formula into the ground). I especially like his inherent respect for each person and the way he views each as having value, even if that person happens to be a hooker without any apparent heart of gold.

I never thought about Cleveland much one way or the other but I found myself picturing some of the classic Kansas City downtown buildings as Roberts fondly describes this Midwestern city. That may not be too interesting if you don't have Midwestern ties but it certainly sets a complete scene if nothing else.

Roberts' books do not seem to stay in print long and, as I discovered when dropping by Half Price Books, people must be hanging onto them because they aren't being recycled. Luckily the library has a fair number and I hope to catch up on Jacovich's earlier adventures.

This is #6 of books read in 2006.

Last Chance to De-Lurk For No Good Reason!

Created by Paper Napkin to encourage the quiet ones among us to leave a comment, De-Lurker Day has been extended to an entire week to give everyone a chance. It is a lot of fun for me having those quiet readers surface just for a moment to make a remark.

I'll have a "sticky" post at the top of the blog all week to remind all those quiet people out there that it's ok to comment. Via Quiet Life.

The Decadence of 1st Century Rome...

... is swimming before my eyes ...





You know, the subject matter makes it very difficult to write practically any remark ("what's up with that?" "what's the world coming to?"). I'll just settle for, "Ick!"

Via Catholic Packer Fan and Confessions of a Hot Carmel Sundae.

UPDATE
I just read this from Catholic Exchange's Words of Encouragement. What a perfect commentary on the above decadence.

Psalm 121:2
My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.

--------------------
Today's verse comes just after one of the most misquoted passages in Scripture. That passage reads, "I lift up my eyes to the hills./From whence does my help come?" We've seen it, seemingly millions of times, decorating greeting cards that invariably have pictures of Judean hills bathed in the warm glow of sunset. The sentiment seems to be that we can "draw strength" from contemplating the beauty of nature in the mountains etc. etc.

That is a lovely sentiment and a perfect reflection of the notions of Romantic poets like Wordsworth or John Denver. Unfortunately, it has less than nothing to do with the actual meaning of Psalm 121. In fact, it is close to the opposite of what the Psalmist intended. For him, the hills were not sources of strength but sites of idolatry. When he lifted up his eyes to the hills he saw "high places" where idols to Baal, Asherah, or Moloch were erected and their rites of worship were carried out.

Thus, today's verse, so far from being an expression of squishy sentimentality, is an act of brazen defiance against the culture of death that surrounded the ancient Israelite faithful to the LORD. Make that act of defiance your own the next time our culture tempts you to worship at the high places of money, sex, or power. For our culture also masks the appeal of these three gods in squishy sentimentality and delivers them through commercials and television programs as warm and fuzzy as a greeting card.

Ask Jesus For More

Do you have an ongoing relationship with Jesus? Is your experience of him moving you to leave everything behind to follow him? Do you see him alive and at work in your life and in the world? If you feel this may be lacking in your life, ask Jesus to give you more. And for heaven’s sake, don’t feel guilty for asking! Trust that Jesus wants to be generous with you. Believe that he wants to convince you that he is worth everything.

Don’t be afraid to ask him to fill you with more of his presence. In faith, go ahead and tell him that you need to know him more and to touch his love more fully. Remember: Jesus demonstrated himself over and over again to his disciples. He was for them—and he is for us—a great treasure to be discovered and rediscovered day after day after day.

Read the whole daily devotion at
Word Among Us

I always forget about Jesus demonstrating things repeatedly for the disciples (or DUH-sciples, as our deacon reminds us). I like the fact that they were so normal and that provides a good example for me. If they can persevere so can I. And if they can ask him what looks to our eyes in hindsight like stupid questions ... then surely so can I. Paraphrasing Mother Teresa: I'm not here to be smart, I'm here to be faithful. That's reassuring.

It Ain't Necessarily So: Radioactive Material

The long half-life of radioactive material is often cited as the most dreaded aspect of nuclear power, rendering contaminated sited uninhabitable for eons. That is false. The key variable is the rate at which particles radiating from a given volume of radioactive material strike the body. At a low rate they are harmless — they may even be beneficial. Natural background radiation subjects us all to a low-level bombardment anyway.

Unfortunately, government policy decrees that there is no safe level of radiation, and in so doing it has created a rationale for the anti-nuclear activists to oppose any and all man-made radiation, even when it is lower than that found naturally. In the Rocky Mountains, where uranium is abundant, natural radiation is relatively high. Bernard Cohen of the University of Pittsburgh offered to eat some plutonium if Ralph Nader, the activist's activist, would eat the same amount of caffeine. Nader, who had said that a pound of plutonium could cause eight billion cancers, refused the offer. Cohen later offered to eat plutonium on television, but producers and reporters were not interested. Yes, plutonium is dangerous, because you can make an atom bomb out of it, but its long half-life ensures that its radioactivity is not toxic to humans.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science

More Miss O'Neill

The most astonishing thing about Miss O'Neill was that she proceeded on the assumption that she could teach a pack of potential poolroom jockeys how to write clear, clean, correct sentences, organized into clear, clean, correct paragraphs -- in their native tongues.

I do not think Miss O'Neill had the slightest awareness of her influence on me, or anyone else. She was not especially interested in me. She never betrayed an iota of preference for any of her captive and embittered flock.

Nor was Miss O'Neill much interested in the high, grand reaches of the language whose terrain she so briskly charted. She was a technician, pure and simple — efficient, conscientious, immune to excuses or flattery or subterfuge. Nothing derailed her from her professionalism.

And that is the point. Miss O'Neill did not try to please us. She did not try to like us. She certainly made no effort to make us like her. She valued results more than affection, and, I suspect, respect more than popularity...

I think Miss O'Neill understood what foolish evangelists of education are bound to rediscover: that drill and discipline are not detestable; that whether they know it or not, children prefer competence to "personality" in a teacher; that communication is more significant than camaraderie; that what is hard to master gives students special rewards (pride, self-respect, the unique gratification of having succeeded) precisely because difficulties have been conquered, ramparts scaled, battles won; that there may be no easy road at all to learning some things, and no "fascinating" or "fun" way of learning some things really well.

People I have loved, known, or admired by Leo Rosten

This was written in 1970. Thirty six years later we are still waiting ...

It's Funny Because It's True

Go check out Sigmund, Carl and Alfred's advice about do-it-yourself home renovation.

Why the Lion is Beating the Ape at the Box Office

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
It's a better movie.

I read the book when I was in my early 20s, prompted by many who told me how good it was. Maybe you had to be either a kid or Christian to like it. I was neither. Or maybe I just wasn't in the right mood that day. Whatever the reason, it didn't grab me.

Consequently I wasn't all that interested in seeing the movie. However Rose definitely was. So Sunday afternoon she, Hannah, and I trekked to the nearest theater showing it.

Wow.

I loved the movie in a way that I never loved the book.

Maybe it's because I'm Christian now. Maybe I was just in a better mind set generally. But ... wow.

Many reviews have been done by many people so I will just set down my favorite bits, among the many there were to enjoy. Which means ...

SPOILERS

How about the Queen's lion fur cape made from Aslan's shaved fur? A couple of things occurred to us here ... evil can imitate good, can put on it's "clothes" so to speak, but that is not enough to make it the real deal.

When Aslan went to the Queen's castle to release the frozen soldiers all three of us were struck by the similarity to Jesus going to release the souls that had been waiting for him ... so they could go to heaven ... before he returned to be with the disciples.

Did anyone else notice that Aslan did that cat thing of squeezing his eyes shut in a long blink at someone when he was fond of them? Loved it ... and being used to seeing it from our cat, all three of us picked up on it.

I liked the Queen's point when she told Mr. Tumnus (the faun) that Edmund had betrayed him "for sweeties" which is usually the sort of basic, immediate gratification that it is so easy to be tempted by and give in to on a daily basis.

That little girl playing Lucy was adorable. Period. I especially liked the fact that during grand moments when the other three children would be looking appropriately awed, solemn, or whatever, she'd have a giant grin of joy on her face.

My vague memories of the story included Aslan's death and resurrection, but they did NOT include the plot point that brought him to that pass. When the Queen said that she was due the death of any traitor I suddenly put it all together and it took my breath away. I mean, Edmund had willingly, knowingly, thoughtlessly betrayed everyone "for sweeties" ... he owed that price. Aslan knew all that and paid the price anyway. Ouch!