per·ambu·lation: December 2006

C mentioned that sometime ago she came to the realization that she wasn't a Christian, which didn't draw any reaction from me. A few days later when my wife was away at her weekly "become a Catholic" class I was wondering what being a Christian actually meant. But the same token what does being a "Muslim" mean or a "Buddhist" or any other religion you care to name. Essentially with, Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism at least, the central founding figures are people who there can be no dispute have actually lived. We know Jesus, Muhammed, and Buddha walked the earth. So there can be no reason to not "believe" them. But what are followers supposed to believe about them? And what are they supposed to do with that belief?Because one person belives that Jesus is the Savior, does that give them the right to condemn the person that belives otherwise? Believing in something and living the ideals behind something should not be seperate, but it seems to me that they often are. What's the point of believing in a religion but selectively choosing when to apply it or only choosing to be civil to people who believe the same way?

C's not being a Christian doesn't appear to me to make her any less of a good person. In fact her behavior is indistinguishable from what many people would consider to be hallmarks of Christianity - She is good to her neighbors and the people around her, she does not judge, and she's a loving, caring person. Yet if you told a "Christian" that C considers her self to not be Christian, C would be the target of unwanted attempts to, at best, make her "see the light" or at worse scorn and derision. Neither of which are, IMHO, "Christian" ways of acting. Go figure.

She tells her love while half asleep,
In the dark hours,
With half-words whispered low:
As Earth stirs in her winter sleep
And puts out grass and flowers
Despite the snow,
Despite the falling snow.
-Robert Graves

Interpretation

"And if at whiles the bubble, blown too thin,
Seem nigh on bursting,--if you nearly see
The real world through the false,--what do you see?
Is the old so ruined? You find you're in a flock
O' the youthful, earnest, passionate--genius, beauty,
Rank and wealth also, if you care for these:
And all depose their natural rights, hail you,
(That's me, sir) as their mate and yoke-fellow,
Participate in Sludgehood--nay, grow mine,
I veritably possess them--...

And all this might be, may be, and with good help
Of a little lying shall be: so Sludge lies!
Why, he's at worst your poet who sings how Greeks
That never were, in Troy that never was,
Did this or the other impossible great thing!...

But why do I mount to poets? Take plain prose--
Dealers in common sense, set these at work,
What can they do without their helpful lies?
Each states the law and fact and face o' the thing
Just as he'd have them, finds what he thinks fit,
Is blind to what missuits him, just records
What makes his case out, quite ignores the rest.
It's a History, of the World, the Lizard Age,
The Early Indians, the Old Country War,
Jerome Napoleon, whatsoever you please.
All as the author wants it. Such a scribe
You pay and praise for putting life in stones,
Fire into fog, making the past your world.
There's plenty of 'How did you contrive to grasp
The thread which led you through this labyrinth?
How build such solid fabric out of air?
How on so slight a foundation found this tale,
Biography, narrative?' or, in other words,
'How many lies did it require to make
The portly truth you here present us with?'"
-- Robert Browning from "Mr. Sludge, 'the Medium'"

This poem is on the page immediately preceding the title page of Possession. Its struck me for some reason. Combined with the quote from Mark Twain in an earlier post about Fiction having to make sense but Truth not similarly shackled. How much do you have to leave out and justify in order for something to make sense? Does everything have to make sense? What constitutes Truth and why do we need to know? Can we settle with not knowing? Is our view of Life seen through a thin bubble and poetry, prose, musings, just a way for us to try to see the bubble or the world as we see it through our bubble? If that's the case, and I suspect that our individual experiences do create out own bubbles, what can we get from reading about other people's bubbles? Maybe finding out about other people's bubbles gives us some insight into what our bubble might look like or what our bubble might be distorting. Maybe such insight will let us see past our bubble and at the Truth. That said we have to be looking for it to recognize it.

Intimate strangers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6176235.stm

Care needed with carbon offsets

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6184577.stm

Nothing is ever simple, is it?

Mass mouse escape on Saudi plane

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6183587.stm

Labels: News

A comment!!!

Some one I don't know actually posted a comment!!! "Lucy" signed my Guestbook! Yay! Does this mean that I'm a well read blogger? All Hail "Lucy" Bringer of Blogging Good Fortune!

Creation museum pushes 'true history'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6216788.stm

*sigh*
*shakes head*

I like this part in the end:
"Despite adopting the structure and technology of the most extravagant science museum, it remains that none of it is remotely plausible without first accepting Genesis.
Without taking that leap and rejecting centuries of scientific reasoning, it all resembles just another Disney-style magic kingdom."

Patent essay in Time Magazine

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/20061030_essay.pdf

This is amusing - it might take a little while to load though.

Mark Twain Quotes

A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.
A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read.
A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.
A round man cannot be expected to fit in a square hole right away. He must have time to modify his shape.
Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.
Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man. The biography of the man himself cannot be written.
Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities.
'Classic.' A book which people praise and don't read.
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Don't let schooling interfere with your education.
Don't tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don't tell them where they know the fish.
Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.
Familiarity breeds contempt - and children.
Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't.
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times.
Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.
Going to law is losing a cow for the sake of a cat.
Golf is a good walk spoiled.
Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person.
Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.
Grief can take care if itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.
I can live for two months on a good compliment.
I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.
I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know.
It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.
It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.
It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.
It is easier to stay out than get out.
It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.
It is not best that we should all think alike; it is a difference of opinion that makes horse races.
It used to take me all vacation to grow a new hide in place of the one they flogged off me during school term.
It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.
It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.
It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.
Laws control the lesser man... Right conduct controls the greater one.
Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other, so we can have some conversation.
Let us not be too particular; it is better to have old secondhand diamonds than none at all.
Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.
Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it.
Man - a creature made at the end of the week's work when God was tired.
Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to.
Man will do many things to get himself loved, he will do all things to get himself envied.
Martyrdom covers a multitude of sins.
My books are like water; those of the great geniuses are wine. (Fortunately) everybody drinks water.
My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
Necessity is the mother of taking chances.
Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.
No sinner is ever saved after the first twenty minutes of a sermon.
Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she laid an asteroid.
Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.
Often it does seem a pity that Noah and his party did not miss the boat.
One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives.
Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial "we."
Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.
Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.
Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed.
Prophesy is a good line of business, but it is full of risks.
Prosperity is the best protector of principle.
Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
Repartee is something we think of twenty-four hours too late.
Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough.
The Christian's Bible is a drug store. Its contents remain the same, but the medical practice changes.
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.
The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.
The Public is merely a multiplied "me."
The public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all.
The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.
The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.
The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.
The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.
The wit knows that his place is at the tail of a procession.
There are lies, damned lies and statistics.
There are people who can do all fine and heroic things but one - keep from telling their happiness to the unhappy.
There are times when one would like to hang the whole human race, and finish the farce.
There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.
Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it ain't so.
Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.
Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody.
We are all alike, on the inside.
What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before.
What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin.
What would men be without women? Scarce, sir, mighty scarce.
When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear.
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it's a sure sign you're getting old.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved.
Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which before their union were not perceived to have any relation.
Words are only painted fire; a book is the fire itself.
Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.
Work is a necessary evil to be avoided.
Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.
You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

Labels: Quotes

Mountain range spotted on Titan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6174501.stm

Labels: News

Sea creatures' global warming fix

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6217840.stm

Labels: News

Lately

I've been getting that funny feeling that I love everyone. I suspect that it may have a bit to do with getting closer to several friends in particular that I don't see very often, if at all. You know who you are and if you read this, thank you for being you. :-)

Faith

When you come to the end of all the light you know, and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: either you will be given something solid to stand on, or you will be taught to fly. - Edward Teller (1908-2003)

Now reading

Finished Odd Thomas - a great read. Highly recommended. Very well written.

I picked up Possession by A. S. Byatt. I've had it on my shelf for a long time but I finally decided to read it.

Labels: Now Reading

D&D

I created my first D&D character last night. I sat in on a D&D session and got familar with the game mechanics and some of the back story to the dungeon and the party I'll be joining. The party of 5 had their first session yesterday and the DM and I had discussed how we would bring me into the party without informing the others. Fortunately the party decided to end the night by returning to town which allows my chacter the opportunity to meet up with them in town as opposed to having to explain my presence in the dungeon.

I've created a human ranger with some pretty good stats for a lvl 1. I have yet to name him, but I'm leaning towards Roche after several of my WoW characters.

Living rooms, eh?

An excerpt from another excerpt I'm reading for BzzAgent:

"Under normal circumstances, the dying family member would have had the opportunity to say good-bye to all loved ones as they gathered bedside to hear the last words. The family would then have drawn the blinds, covered mirrors in black crepe and stopped all of the clocks. Strands of the deceased’s hair might be cut and woven into shapes like a cross to display in a glass case in
the parlor. Even the children and babies would take part in the mourning, wearing a touch of black. The body would be packed in ice if it was summer and laid out in the parlor—a tradition that with time would dwindle, and the term parlor would be replaced by the living room. Finally, the women would stay behind in the home, while pallbearers in black gloves carried the coffin to its place of burial, where it would be draped with fresh flowers. Formal announcements of death would be mailed. And the widow would forgo any gold or silver jewelry, wearing a dark veil during the following year and black garments for the next two and a half years."
- Molly Caldwell Crosby in The American Plague The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, The Epidemic That Shaped Our History.

Love

What's the nature of love? I don't think I have the vocabulary to properly express it - I don't even know if such a vocabulary even exists in modern English. I watch my wife interact with our kids and vice versa, my wife interacting with me, I recently watched several friends interacting with their spouses, and I have my own interactions with friends and family. What's the difference? Is it just one of degree? Is there a biological imperative for us to congregate and connect? So what if it is? Do we need to have those connections. I certainly enjoy having those connections even though most of them are long-distance at the moment. At what point in a relationship can you declare love for someone. There is a problem that the word itself may be too strong and too loaded with implications to be able to used without misunderstanding. This is unfortunate because even if it is a matter of degree, how do you qualify it without doing the feeling justice? I feel like I have this standard level of love for the people I know and have met. People don't have to earn my love, they already have it - they have to earn my lack of love and my indifference. The problem then become if my love increases how do I communicate it? Should I even bother to try? It could make the relationship awkward. Ah well. I think right now the people who I need to know that I love do know that I love them and that's all that matters.

Flatulence leads US jet to divert

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6213644.stm?ls

yes, yes, I know...

I've been slacking in my blogging!

Fingernails

I have to remember to trim my fingernails before I go on a long journey by car. On my way up to Albany for my swearing in to the NY Bar I chewed off my fingernails with at least 4 of them a little too close to the quick. They've been sore ever since.

per·ambu·lation

Friday, December 29, 2006

Spiky surface 'kills infections'

Liechtenstein redraws Europe map

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Undertakers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/index.html#a007948

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Free to choose?

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Discrimination

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Belief

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Interpretation

Friday, December 15, 2006

Intimate strangers

Care needed with carbon offsets

Mass mouse escape on Saudi plane

Thursday, December 14, 2006

A comment!!!

Creation museum pushes 'true history'

Patent essay in Time Magazine

Mark Twain Quotes

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Mountain range spotted on Titan

Sea creatures' global warming fix

Lately

Monday, December 11, 2006

Faith

Now reading

D&D

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Living rooms, eh?

Friday, December 08, 2006

Love

Flatulence leads US jet to divert

yes, yes, I know...

Fingernails

Guestbook

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Non-Obvious Abbreviations

Daily Dilbert

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