Fac Ut Vivas

New blog home

2009-09-29T00:45:00.002-05:00

I've moved this blog over to WordPress for the time being. I like the format over there, and it's got some useful stuff. All the old posts will be over there, everything is pretty much the same.

New Blog: http://cruxdecussata.wordpress.com/

Also, a new photoblog: http://imagodrei.wordpress.com/
(Get the pun in that title? Dei? Dre? Drei? HAWHAWHAWHAW)

Ora et Labora

2009-09-27T21:08:00.002-05:00

This is something I've always thought about doing, but have never done until now. I've created a modified version of the monastic hours, the cycle of daily prayer as laid out in the Rule of Saint Benedict, a system for monastic life, written by Benedict of Nursia in the 5th or 6th century. Of course, because I have school and am not able to sit around a pray all day(although that would be nice), I've had to change things around a bit.

The Hours

I. Matins: 6:00 AM
II. Prime: 7:00 AM
III. Terce : 8:00 AM
IV. Sext: 9:30 AM
V. None: 12:30 PM
VI. Vespers: 5:00 PM
VII. Compline: 8:00 PM
VIII. Vigils: 10:00 PM

Song of the Week

2009-09-24T21:54:00.002-05:00

"Vietnow" by Rage Against the Machine

Typical Rage song, politically charged raps and lots of choice words from our friend Zack de la Rocha, but that's just RATM for you. It's catchy, I like it. Good drum fills, too.

A Theology for Quitting Tobacco

2009-09-20T16:32:00.005-05:00

So, I'm a tobacco consumer. I hesitate to use the term "smoker," since that conjures up images of me as a twitchy, gaunt individual who takes smoke breaks at work and can be found incessantly burning cigarettes whilst standing next to an ashtray outside various buildings. But yeah, I smoke pipes, I smoke cigars, so in the loosest sense of the word, yes, I'm a smoker. Having said that, there is another fact which must be put forth, something which others have mentioned to me. There are a lot of women out there who do not like tobacco. Some may not like the smell, the smoke, the health concerns, or all three. "Andrew, you bold de Bergeracian bachelor," I hear you ask, "what will you do if you happen to marry a woman who absolutely despises smoking? Will you give up your briar?" In a word, yes. (Did you see that, ladies?) But lest you think that I would merely change my behavior at a moment's notice, simply because it is distasteful in the eyes of women, I shall present to you a theological reason behind such a declaration. You see, in the bond of marriage, there is the dynamic of mutual sacrifice, even the sacrifice of your control over your own physical existence. In his first epistle to the Corinthians Paul tells us that "the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does." Now, this could mean a number of different things, but here I'm applying it to tobacco. By smoking a pipe or a cigar, I am, in effect, putting tobacco into her property, that is to say, my body. I think this same principle can be applied to alcohol, diets, exercise, or anything else, really. And so that is why if my wife asks me to stop smoking, I'll do it.

Scotland, I will buy your wares.

2009-09-13T23:55:00.002-05:00

The Scots are taking the Lockerbie Bomber issue way too seriously, if you ask me. Harris Tweed, one of Scotland's leading tweed manufacturers, has actually decided to alter their advertising for fear that al-Megrahi's release would somehow poison American buyers against Scottish products. Now, of course there are idiots out there who would refuse to buy Scottish, I mean, let's all recall the "freedom fries" incident. That was pretty stupid. The Scots didn't do anything to hurt us, everyone, just chill out. People emailed Walker's Shortbread, expressing their anger and displeasure. Walker's. Freaking. Shortbread. Really? "Well, your government released a prisoner that I don't like, so, as an act of protest, I refuse to buy your cookies." Hey, it's your loss, those things are unbelievably tasty. More for me!

"Immer zu! Immer zu!"

2009-09-13T23:08:00.002-05:00

In my voice lessons I'm working on a setting of Goethe's poem "Rastlose Liebe" by Schubert. It's Goethe, so of course it's dramatic. Here 'tis:

Dem Schnee, dem Regen,
Dem Wind entgegen,
Im Dampf der Klüfte
Durch Nebeldüfte,
Immer zu! Immer zu!
Ohne Rast und Ruh!

Lieber durch Leiden
Möcht ich mich schlagen,
Als so viel Freuden
Des Lebens ertragen.

Alle das Neigen
Von Herzen zu Herzen,
Ach, wie so eigen
Schaffet das Schmerzen!

Wie soll ich fliehen?
Wälderwärts ziehen?
Alles vergebens!
Krone des Lebens,
Glück ohne Ruh,
Liebe, bist du!

And again, in a very literal English:

To the snow, to the rain
To the wind opposed,
In the mist of the ravines
Through the scent of fog,
Always on! Always on!
Without rest and peace!

I would rather through suffering
Fight myself,
Than so many joys
Of life endure.

All the inclining
Of heart to heart,
Ah, how curiously
that creates pain!

Where shall I flee?
To the forest move?
All in vain!
Crown of life,
Happiness without peace,
Love, are you!

Sad Truth

2009-09-11T13:54:00.003-05:00

Ok, so if you read this post or this post, you'll see where this one is coming from. I recently bought Metallica's self-titled album on iTunes. I'm not really your typical Metallica listener, and I like different songs for different reasons. But all that aside, here is yet another poignant depiction of the human condition in Metallica's music.

Sad But True, by Metallica

"Hey, I’m your life,
I’m the one who takes you there.
Hey, I’m your life,
I’m the one who cares.
They, they betray
I’m your only true friend now.
They, they’ll betray,
I’m forever there.

I’m your dream, make you real,
I’m your eyes when you must steal,
I’m your pain when you can’t feel.
Sad but true.

I’m your dream, mind astray,
I’m your eyes while you’re away,
I’m your pain while you repay,
You know it’s sad but true, sad but true.

You, you’re my mask,
You’re my cover, my shelter.
You, you’re my mask,
You’re the one who’s blamed.
Do, do my work,
Do my dirty work, scapegoat.
Do, do my deeds,
For you’re the one who’s shamed.

I’m your dream, make you real,
I’m your eyes when you must steal,
I’m your pain when you can’t feel.
Sad but true.

I’m your dream, mind astray,
I’m your eyes while you’re away,
I’m your pain while you repay,
You know it’s sad but true, sad but true.

I'm your dream,
I'm your eyes,
I'm your pain.

You know it's sad but true.

Hate, I’m your hate,
I’m your hate when you want love.
Pay, pay the price.
Pay, for nothing’s fair.

Hey, I’m your life,
I’m the one who took you there.
Hey, I’m your life,
And I no longer care.

I’m your dream, make you real,
I’m your eyes when you must steal,
I’m your pain when you can’t feel.
Sad but true.

I’m your truth, telling lies,
I’m your reasoned alibis,
I’m inside open your eyes,
I’m you.

Sad but true."

The Whole Truth

2009-09-10T23:07:00.002-05:00

There are many different theories as to what determines the course of history. Empires? Men of greatness? Movements, social change, war, economics? The ways in which one can approach the past are virtually limitless. However, these theories, when taken apart from the true Prime Mover of time and space, are utterly meaningless. History is not solely determined by great men or the conditions in which men find themselves, but by God. The motivations of humanity and the workings of the past can all be explained and properly interpreted when the corruption of man is recognized and the redemptive providence of God is applied and used as the lens through which we examine the annals of history. In my historiography class, we discussed the issue of the Whole versus the Partial, the Whole being the entirety of history, with all its depth and infinite complexity, whereas the Partial is far more limited, being only one piece of the puzzle. A particular historian may be an expert on one aspect of the Partial, giving incredible detail and expounding upon various minutiae, but without an understanding of the Partial within the context of the Whole, history cannot be fully interpreted. To understand the Whole, we need the Truth. How did history begin? Why do things happen the way that they do? Where does the Whole originate? As Christians, we recognize that God, the Creator, is the Prime Mover, the one who governs all and directs the world according to his perfect will. He is the Truth, the source from which flows all other truth. Without the Truth and our acceptance of our position in history as fallen creatures, we miss a vital piece of the puzzle. God is the key to understanding history. Without him, history is worthless.

Song of the Week

2009-09-10T01:02:00.003-05:00

"Hell" by Squirrel Nut Zippers

This is a fun song. That's all, really. Just listen to it. You'll see. Trust me.

A Complex Complex

2009-09-08T12:06:00.002-05:00

Y'know... Napoleon wasn't all that short. He was only 5'6", which was actually pretty average for the time. Current French president Nicolas Sarcozy is actually an inch shorter at 5'5". I think Bonaparte's height gets exaggerated to a certain degree. Anywho, I thought that was an interesting fact. Yaaaay.

An Open Letter

2009-09-06T16:22:00.002-05:00

To all the illiterate morons posting comments to my British accents video on YouTube: You can't justify whatever drivel you decide to post by saying "I'm British." You need to read this: http://xkcd.com/481/ The humorous thing is that YouTube actually has that feature now. (Thank you, XKCD.) Also, "lol" doesn't count as an actual comment. Thank you.

Sincerely,
The Rev. Dr. Dre

P.S. Yeah, I lied about that real post stuff.

P.P.S. Crap, I'm out of cigars.

The Boy Who Cried "Fire"

2009-09-04T12:43:00.001-05:00

The day that I catch fire and start burning alive, no one will believe me. Such is my life.

Song of the Week

2009-08-31T00:47:00.001-05:00

Sorry for all the micro-bloggery this month. A real post soon, I promise.

"Northwestern Girls" by Say Hi

Something I Have Realized

2009-08-26T00:31:00.001-05:00

If I could go to my classes barefoot, I'd totally do it. That is all.

Song of the Week

2009-08-23T22:09:00.001-05:00

"Evil" by Interpol

ALL RIGHT SCIENCE, THIS IS THE LAST STRAW

2009-08-20T12:19:00.002-05:00

I DON'T CARE IF I GET CANCER, CANDLES ARE NOT A SODDING HEALTH RISK.

Song of the Week

2009-08-16T08:40:00.003-05:00

"Prefers Unhappy Endings" by Say Hi To Your Mom.

Say Hi always has some good drum beats and oftentimes it's the drums that make the song. This is one of those songs. It just wouldn't be as good without those toms. Plus, this one has some really good synth in it as well, so it's probably one of my favourite Say Hi tracks.

An Observation Both Valid and Applicable

2009-08-10T01:08:00.000-05:00

“Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object that is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we prohibit and abolish women? The sun, moon, and stars have been worshipped. Shall we pluck them out of the sky?” - Martin Luther

Long Term View of Afghanistan

2009-08-08T16:32:00.002-05:00

This guy has the right idea when it comes to seriously helping Afghanistan. If attitudes like this are the ones guiding the future of Afghanistan, things will turn out a lot better for everyone involved and there won't be a return to a Taliban-like form of government.

"Don't make me stick a cigar in your P'Zone."

2009-08-04T23:17:00.001-05:00

www.superpoop.com

Song of the Week

2009-08-03T04:39:00.004-05:00

"I Gotcha" by Joe Tex.

Also, it's on the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack, so... there you go. Oh, and it was in a Dr. Pepper commercial, which is where I first heard it. I've got a nifty new 2.1 speaker system, so I've been making full use of its music playing capabilities. Wooo!

And then there were eight...

2009-08-03T01:40:00.005-05:00

Coming to a theatre near you, from J.K. Rowling and the producers of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"... Witness the untold story of one wizard boy's journey... TO THE MIDDLE EAST, as Harry Potter and his magical pals join the WAR ON TERROR. In a whimsical world where anything is possible, one muggle is playing a dangerous game. And his time is up. OSAMAAAAA! The Ministry of Magic has summoned the Boy Who Lived... find Bin Laden... or DIE TRYING. Join director David Yates as the saga continues in: HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZERBAIJAN!

"Dumbledore lives... and he's really, really pissed."

(This film has not yet been rated. In theatres 9/11/2009.)

[This post is intended for parody purposes only.]

Why I've Lost Interest in Arctic Monkeys

2009-08-01T22:19:00.002-05:00

The Arctic Monkeys will never be the same. They suffer from something I call Multidimensional Music Syndrome, i.e., trying to actually put some depth into their work, and not just pleasing fans. I'll explain. Their first album, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," was great. It was, for all practical purposes, a concept album. The songs were about being a bored teenager in Sheffield, where the band is from. Alex Turner, the Monkeys' frontman, is a very clever lyricist. He brought wit and charm to otherwise mundane tales of underage drinking, party-going, and the general sort of shenanigans that go along with being a wild teenager. It was really good! They turned out a really solid first album and became an instant success. Now, with such success comes a problem. Will they stick to the formula, or branch out? Most bands opt for the latter, even unintentionally, since duplicating such work is quite difficult, unless your style is extremely formulaic to begin with. So, the sophomore album was quite different. As with all bands, evolution is inevitable, and the changes that came with the second album were... well, different. Not so much "Riot Van," more like "Leave Before The Lights Come On." And that's ok, I mean, you can't stay still with your music for too long. But, personally, I liked the Monkeys that we met in the first album better. The second just didn't do for me. Their third album looks like it will continue down this road. The Kings of Leon did this, too. They went from raunchy Southern riffs to expansive arena rock, and it doesn't look like they're turning back. But, I like their new style all right, and their old stuff is still great, so it's all good. However, the Arctic Monkeys are moving towards some sort of psychedelic stylings, according to the band, which is just not the band that I was so enthused with three years ago. Some bands can pull off this transition well, namely, the Strokes. These sorts of garage rock groups begin with simpler songs, lyrics that are a bit more raw, both in topic and in structure, and then move on into more complicated instrumentation, deeper producing, a cleaner, more polished sound, and become more experienced in the studio. The Hives, the White Stripes, the Black Keys, and many other bands have gone through this. Most of these bands have been able to hold my interest throughout, but that really just isn't the case with Arctic Monkeys. But, that's ok, that's just how the band is, and they still have plenty of fans, so, that's all right by me.

Holy Crap

2009-07-29T09:16:00.000-05:00

"On foot, or by the help of transportation..."

2009-07-28T01:48:00.002-05:00

So I finally figured out what Royksopp's song "Remind Me" is all about. But hold up. Y'know that Geico commercial? The one with the caveman in the airport, standing on the moving walkway, carrying a tennis bag? Well, there's a song playing in that commercial, and that song is "Remind Me" by Royksopp. The song is a happy sounding one, but it's really a sort of strange, slightly sad song, and I thought it was interesting, so I'm going to talk about it. So the song is about this dude who was in England for a long time. He comes back home, pokes around a bit, and can't really remember why he wanted to come back so much. So, he travels across the city to where his friends live, only to discover that they don't actually live there anymore, a fact which he had forgotten while he was away. It's an interesting sort of lyric, even if it ends up being a bit glum.

This brings me to another point. There's a website called SongMeanings.net, and on this website, song lyrics are published, and users post comments about what they think the song means. Almost all of these comments are complete bull honkery. They start out in this fashion: "This song obviously contains deep meaning about relationships... blahblahblah, reading in metaphors, blahblahblah." They tried to turn "A-Punk" by Vampire Weekend into some sort of complicated love-saga! WTF, mate? Stop this nonsense! But, people on the internet will do what they will. Personally, I like to take songs at face value, as seen above.

You Fail at Latin

2009-07-23T15:27:00.003-05:00

The other day, my mother, who works in our church's office, emailed me for some help with a Latin translation. There's a song in Latin being sung on Sunday, and she needed a translation to print in the worship folder. The text was Panis Angelicus:

Panis angelicus
Fit panis hominum;
Dat panis coelicus
Figures terminum;
O res mirabilis!
Manducat Dominum
Pauper, pauper
Servus et humilis.

I found a lot of sloppy translations. As a general rule, I hate English translations of Latin hymns. Oftentimes, liberties will be taken with word mean. For example, a number of translations take "panis angelicus" as "the bread of heaven," when the word for heaven is nowhere to be found in the text. Also, "coelicus" is translated as "heaven," when in reality it means "inhabitants of heaven." Clearly, this text is referring to heavenly beings, not merely heaven as a place. Furthermore, the phrase "dat figures terminum" is translated as "puts an end to symbols," which, for one thing, sounds really awkward. But I think there's some context that is missing. Number one thing I remember from Dr. Heckel's Latin I class: Context is king. "Figures" can also be translated as "forms." Ah, forms! Plato! The allegory of the cave! This is a foundational term in classical philosophy. In this context, Christ is the fulfillment of the prophets, the covenant, and, indeed, all creation. Earthly forms. The one redeeming factor in all of the translations I found is their treatment of "O res mirabilis." Well, thank God for that, I'd have been really worried, otherwise. O wonderful thing! Not too complicated. But now we run into some basic adjective/noun agreement issues. The next three lines are one sentence: "Pauper servus et humilis Dominum manducat." Pauper is the subject, servus and humilis are its modifying adjectives, Dominum is an accusative direct object, manducat is a verb, third person singular. For some ridiculous reason, somebody thought it would be proper to connect the adjectives with Dominum, like so: "The Lord becomes our food, poor, a servant, and humble." Now, although all of those adjectives can be used to describe our lord and saviour, and it might sound good in English, it is very, very bad Latin, given that both the adjectives are nominative, and Dominum is quite obviously accusative. Grrr. The intent of this text is to show that everyone, even the poor and humble, are able to partake of the Lord's body, the bread of angels, at the table. THAT is the wonderful thing mention earlier in the passage! So, after all that, here's my treatment of the passage.

The bread of angels
Becomes the bread of men;
The bread of the children of heaven
Gives an end to [earthly] forms.
O wonderful thing!
The poor man, the poor man,
Humble and servile,
Partakes of the Lord.

Latin nerd, away! *whoosh*

Fallen from the Means of Grace

2009-07-23T01:53:00.002-05:00

It's stuff like this that is killing the Church in England and in Europe. Give an inch, and Europe's liberal atheist tendencies will take a mile. The level of importance that the modern Church places upon the sacraments is abysmal. The Lord's table is pushed to the margins of church life, covenant children are barred from partaking, baptism is viewed as a right of passage, rather than the sign and seal of God's grace, and Christian attitudes towards marriage are, on a broad scale, lazy at best. These are not rituals, these are not symbols. These sacraments are physical manifestations of God's power and grace in the lives of believers! Why would we skimp on that? It's ridiculous. The Church MUST strive to cultivate a deep respect the means of grace and take hold of them as her own.

Muir: It's like a swamp, only for English majors.

2009-07-21T22:02:00.002-05:00

Blog blog bloggity blog.

The lightbulb in my room burned out last night. Rather than go through the effort of replacing it, I simply ran downstairs and got a candle. I can't decide if that's lazy or not.

For any Mac users reading, there's a really awesome launcher that I downloaded: Quicksilver. If you like being able to search your files, launch apps, or do pretty much anything on your Mac without a single mouse click, then check this out. It takes some getting used to, but it's pretty nifty.

I've bought another album by Say Hi To Your Mom, and I'm enjoying it. I've got three of their albums, and each one has some really great songs. I'll work my way through the entire catalogue, I'm sure. Another sort of interesting band is the Dead Weather. I'm a bit apprehensive about this one, since it's another of Jack White's non-White Stripes bands. There's a female singer this time, which is something new. I sort of wish Jack would step back and let someone else take control, since the Raconteurs has sort of become "Jack White's Other Band." I mean, there are definitely contributions being made from the other members, but it can't be denied that Jack's musical vision takes center stage. Hopefully this new project will shake things up a bit. OR... Radical idea here... the White Stripes could finish that tour they cancelled! GASP.

Time for some R.L. Burnside.

"You know my methods, Watson."

2009-07-16T03:18:00.002-05:00

At ease, you worthless sons of mothers.

Well, hullo there, blog-reading public. Tonight, I am smoking my favourite pipe. In it, I have packed some tobacco which I purchased today. It's a Peterson blend called "Sherlock Holmes." I'm actually rather unimpressed. Holmes is probably the most well-known pipe-smoking fictional character, and I'm really not sure why they decided to name this tobacco after him. It smells absolutely wonderful, a really great liquorice sort of smell. But, sadly, the taste does not quite match its olfactory presence. I can tell that there's a lot of Burley in this blend. For one thing, it says so on the tin. But it's also rather bland in the taste department, which usually indicates Burley. Burley is a sort of filler tobacco, it doesn't have much flavour, and is pretty light. That's all well and good, but this blend just isn't doing it for me. It's not bad, I mean, it burns pretty well, and the volume of smoke is nicely consistent, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't smell good, but the taste just isn't anything special. Plus, it's got some bite to it right off the bat, which is a turn-off. Not that I mind a little pinch on the tongue, but I'd prefer to be smoking some punchy Latakia if I'm going to go down that road. If it's going to bite my tongue, I'd rather it have something pretty strong in the taste department to back it up. I won't try to quantify the actual taste, since that's pretty subjective territory. I'll give it a few more smokes and see if it grows on me. At least I've got it packed it my Bulldog, which never fails to produce a good smoke. A good English pipe, the way it should be.

As I mentioned before, I've been writing lesson plans for that church history study. I've gotten the first one finished. It covers the inter-testamental period, the rise of the Roman Empire, and sets the stage for the ministry of Christ. No small undertaking. Darius III, Philip II, Alexander the Great, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Augustus... lots of dates and dead people in this round. Next up is the aftermath following the Ascension and the struggles of the early church, namely the introduction of the Pauline gospel, and the conflict between Peter and Paul over the role of Jewish tradition in the life of the church. Heavy stuff. The early days were rough going. It makes one appreciate aspects of orthodox Christianity that we sometimes take for granted. If Peter and some of the more pharisaic factions within the church had won out, we'd all be eating Kosher hot dogs and celebrating Passover instead of eating ham for our Christmas dinner. Kind of makes you think a little harder about how things got to be the way they are. Everything wasn't spelled out at first, and our fathers had to exercise a great deal of discernment to figure out exactly how the followers of Christ should live, worship, and carry out the Micah Mandate. I'm really looking forward to researching this period in-depth. Wait, I get to do this sort of stuff as a career? Whoa, awesome!

What I Have Been Doing

2009-07-15T02:26:00.003-05:00

So, the Summer of Dre drags on. And on. And on. In fact, if there's much more dragging, I'm going to have a very serious rug burn. But no matter. I shall continue in the next paragraph.

Ah, here we are. I'll now discuss some things that I have been up to this summer.

I. Being In Britain. I actually still need to post the transcript of my travel journal. I'll get that up tomorrow.

II. Not Being In Britain. As I expected, upon my return from the Isles, things went back to normal, and the good times ceased to roll, as it were. AND IT GOT REALLY, REALLY HOT. But, it's cool, I began the summer with a bang, and one cannot expect to have such excitement(or 60° weather) on a day-to-day basis. Woooooo.

III. Photography. I've been playing around with my F5 a lot. I really love that camera. Sad thing is, I can't find a photolab that does a really good job. Walgreens and CVS do all right, but their negative scans are at low resolution and cost way too much. Regardless, I'm improving my skills, and I've found a C-41 film that I really like, so it's all good.

IV. Watching Fresh Prince Late At Night With The Lad.

V. Writing. I've been working on some material for a church history study I'll be doing next semester. It's been good so far. I've still got a lot left to do, but I'm off to a good start. I'll probably talk about this more as things progress.

VI. Doing pushups. 100 per day. Wooo.

VI. Sleeping.

VII. Listening To Morrissey. I do this a lot. Whenever I get into my car, I usually pick either Morrissey or Say Hi, so it's a good bet that in the course of a typical day, I've listened to Morrissey at least once. Anyways, I really like Morrissey. Yep. It's good.

VIII. Making Espresso. Apparently, my cappuccinos aren't as terrible as I thought. Meh, who knew?

IX. Cooking Breakfast. I've gotten rather good at eggs. They're tasty, and they've got loads of protein. Yessssss.

X. Not Smoking My Pipe. It's too freaking hot. Unless I want to go outside to smoke at 2 AM. Which I have done. BUT STILL. TOO HOT.

So that's pretty much what I've been doing. The Summer of Dre drags on.

The British need to get out more.

2009-07-12T13:59:00.003-05:00

So, apparently the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001 has gotten up to 184. According to the BBC, this makes Afghanistan the bloodiest conflict since the Falklands. 184? In almost nine years? That's a miracle, really. Of course, I understand that no one wants to see their countrymen die in war, but nonetheless, those numbers are on the modest side.

This is unreal.

2009-07-09T01:55:00.002-05:00

The last 20 seconds are very sad indeed.

A Well-Respected Man About Town

2009-07-04T18:15:00.004-05:00

I've found a most excellent website, The Chap Magazine, one which promote most excellent things, such as quality tailoring, pipe-smoking, and moustache-growing. The protest recounted here has got to be the best thing ever. I'm only sorry that I wasn't there to witness it.

Fallout from the Age of the 10,000 Commandments

2009-07-03T14:47:00.003-05:00

Apparently saltires are racist. This is one of those completely ridiculous instances of political correctness. The saltire is the Scottish flag. It's a rather simple symbol, actually, just the cross of St. Andrew backed by a field of blue. But apparently it might be offensive to non-Scots? What? At the National Library of Scotland, no less. Now, I don't think that this is anything to get worked up over, but it is one of those dumb little situations that arises because of the faux egalitarian world that we live in.

"Spring-heeled Jim winks an eye..."

2009-07-02T04:08:00.001-05:00

"Lord, what fools these mortals be..."

2009-06-24T19:54:00.002-05:00

Ok, I have a problem, here. Where has my attention span gone? When I was 12, I could sit and read a book for an hour or two and be perfectly fine. Now, I feel like I'm having trouble focusing on things, whether it's reading, writing, or anything more engaging than reading a quick news story on my RSS reader. I'm not quite sure why this is. Maybe it's just a lack of personal discipline or something, or perhaps it's some sort of side effect of internet consumption.

On a different note, here's an interesting phenomenon. A lot of times, you'll hear(or read) something like, "Well, Shakespeare once said..." Blahdeblah, insert Shakespeare quote here. But, in pretty much all of those instances, the quote will be taken out of context. And, not only that, but the quote is attributed to Shakespeare, not Shakespeare's character, for Shakespeare always speaks in character, and never as himself. There's a difference, I think. You can't take something from one of his plays and then declare it wisdom and deep, profound truth simply because it's from a Shakespeare production. What if the particular bit of prose is said by a villain or an idiot? Perhaps then it is not so wise. Oh well. Another pet peeve of mine.

In Which Andrew Discusses How He Dislikes Camera Store Salespeople

2009-06-22T12:28:00.004-05:00

Ok. So, today, I went out to buy a replacement for my broken 50mm lens. No big deal. I go to my local Wolf Camera first, in an attempt to save myself a trip downtown to the "real" camera store. I walk in, stand in front of the lens case, and look confused. I wasn't confused in the least, but that's the only way to get attention from salespeople. HONESTLY, WHY IS THAT? Anyways, I look confused, and, as I expected, a salesman who had just walked in the door a few minutes ago comes over, drinking a soda. Well, look who showed up for work bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I ask him if they have the lens I'm looking for. He quickly tells me that they're sold out. In fact, according to this gentleman, every place in town is sold out of this lens. Aha! I call your bluff, sir! I left the store and drove down to the "real" camera store downtown. Now, my problem with this place is that they've never got enough salespeople. I always have to stand around for 15 minutes while the staff work on selling retirees expensive cameras. I'll go on a tangent, here. [new paragraph]

Ahem. There are a lot of things people don't get about digital photography. Here's a big one: There are a lot of things that you really don't need. With digital photography comes a lot of jargon, and with jargon comes confused consumers who don't know what they're talking about and who can be easily talked into things by salespeople. A prime target is megapixels. Anyone who is doing normal, family reunion, annual ski vacation to Colorado-type photography doesn't need 12 megapixels. Megapixels only matter if you're going to make huge prints. I made a 20x30 print with a 10 megapixel camera, and it turned out fine. You can get almost that big with 6 megapixels, and you'll be all right. But just the same, people think that more megapixels = better camera. Not true. The guy in the store today sold an elderly couple a Nikon D60 rather than a D40 because "the benefits outweigh the cost." That's nonsense! Perhaps I'm being too picky, but every single time I am in that store, I see some older person buying an expensive digital camera with a telephoto lens that they really don't need! I have nothing against the older people buying the stuff, I just don't like how the salespeople use the obvious lack of knowledge on the part of their customer to pile onto the pricetag. For hundreds less, you could get a perfectly good camera and lens and be able to make great pictures. But I digress.

Point is, I have to wander around the store until the retirees have gotten all their questions answered, have had their money taken, and are out the door. Then, I can ask for the one little lens that I need and get the heck out. So, back to our story. I ask for the lens, and LO AND BEHOLD! It is in stock. Mr. Soda-drinking-camera-store-salesman, you misled me so that I wouldn't go to your competitor! You didn't even ask me if you could order one for me, or email me when you had the lens in stock. It was obvious you just didn't care about my business. So I had to go all the way downtown, stand in line for 15 minutes, and then drive all the way back home, just to get this stupid lens. Thank you, sir. I shall not frequent your store from now on. Good day.

I was pulling for Barnabas, personally.

2009-06-17T22:36:00.002-05:00

"As it were that one would crucify Paul in order to redeem Peter." - 12th Century Latin Saying

"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." - George Bernard Shaw

"Blame me for robbing Peter, but don't you blame Paul." - Jack White

Look To The Right

2009-06-04T16:28:00.002-05:00

Greetings, one and all, I only have eight minutes to write this, so I'll make it brief. (My internet card only has so much time on it, you see.) We've been in Oxford for the past two days, we took the walking tour this morning, which took us by all the various colleges, libraries, and other university buildings. We had lunch at the Eagle and Child, which was quite good. Tomorrow is Stratford and a performance of Julius Caesar. Once I get my hands on some postage stamps, postcards will be mailed. Cheers, all!

Dre

A Surprisingly Unsung Bard

2009-05-31T13:58:00.004-05:00

I find this amusing, especially given our blatant lack of knowledge about the person generally known as William Shakespeare. Despite what the residents of Stratford-Upon-Avon would have you believe, we really don't know much about the playwright who crafted the body of work that is attributed to Shakespeare. So, I'm not sure anyone is in any sort of position to proclaim what Shakespeare would and would not approve of. That's like saying Homer would be totally down with violent, gory movies, simply because the Iliad features loads of descriptive violence, or that Robin Hood would support redistribution of wealth in modern society. (Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore...)

"He is on the hunt."

2009-05-31T03:24:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I'm usually not into the 80's style of music, and I haven't been all that attracted to the Smiths in the past, but I thought I'd check out some music by Morrissey, the singer from the Smiths, who went on to pursue a solo career. So far, it's been interesting. I'm listening to his first solo album, Viva Hate. The one thing I like about him is that he isn't afraid to use ALL of his voice. He really sings, and sings pretty well. A lot of singers(and I use that term loosely) don't actually tap into the full potential of the human voice, which is just stupid. Morrissey actually sings in a way that sounds full and expansive, which is rare, at least, in my experience. Interesting stuff. Not exactly my usual fare, but a change of pace is always nice.

I've been playing around with my grandfather's old Yashica rangefinder camera, a Yashica Electro 35. I'm not used to the way rangefinders focus, so it's a little different, but I kind of like it. The lens does pretty well indoors, and can take good exposures(at least, according to the meter) without a flash. It's a really fun camera, and I'm glad I've been able to mess around with it a bit.

Leaving for Britain on Tuesday, more later.

Hail Blog, King of Bashan

2009-05-27T03:18:00.002-05:00

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeeeeaaaah.

Anyways, hullo. I am currently preparing for my trip to the UK, which begins on June 2nd. Pretty awesome. I should probably be packing right now. Nah.

On a completely unrelated note, Ashton Kutcher will never be taken seriously. Ever. I cannot look at him without seeing one word blatantly plastered across his face: Kelso.

I've found a new band. Actually, it's not exactly a band. It's one of those deals where it's really only one guy who does the music and the recording, but he tours with some people who play all the instruments. Anyways, it's called Say Hi. It used to be called Say Hi To Your Mom, but the opportunity for "your mom" jokes must have been too tempting for some people, and the dude probably got pissed off and just changed the name. Something like that. I dunno. The sound is basically what you'd get if you took the Strokes, Death Cab For Cutie, and Conor Oberst, put them in a blender, pressed the "liquefy" button, and poured the resulting concoction into a frosty glass. The music is indie pop/rock of a pretty chill sort. Nothing completely mind-blowing, but it's nice to find some indie music that isn't overly angsty, doesn't take itself too seriously, and it's written by some guy wearing skinny jeans and a flamboyantly ridiculous tie. It's catchy, fun to listen to, and talks about cool stuff like vampires and robots and things. What's not to like?

YEEEEEAAAAAAH

The government is my friend

2009-05-21T12:38:00.002-05:00

This is really sort of silly. So, to begin with, everyone is caught up in this notion that the internet is now where everything is happening. Putting things on the internet is the only way to everyone's attention, especially if you're talking about young people. The internet is where everyone gets their news, information, ideas, etc. Well, that's the premise, anyways. Political campaigns have recognized the usefulness of the internet as a more or less free source of advertising, and the most recent Presidential campaign saw the use of YouTube as a campaigning tool come into play. So, the United States government has seen fit to create a YouTube account. Look at this, it's crazy: USGovernment. They've got the EPA, FEMA, the White House, State Department, Social Security Administration, FBI, NASA, USDA... pretty much all manner of governmental alphabet soup organizations. Kind of silly if you ask me. YouTube will probably be on the out sometime in the next five years or so, and it will all be for naught.

Needless to say, I sent the U.S. Government a friend request.

An Open Letter to the Church in America

2009-05-12T14:49:00.002-05:00

Brothers and Sisters:

We screwed up bad, guys. We've got some work to do.

Love,
Andrew

2009-05-08T02:32:00.000-05:00

I don't think I need to comment on this.

Strange Times

2009-05-06T12:55:00.004-05:00

You can always tell what a culture worships by its blasphemy laws, the things that you aren't allowed to say. Blasphemy laws in America, whether on the legal books themselves or merely stigma present in society, are turning against God's truth. That's all there is to it. America's god is not God. America's god is Man's ability to rebel against his creator. As someone who is studying to be a Christian educator, will be going to seminary, and possibly entering the ministry, these sorts of trends are scary because of the fact that within the next twenty years, certain aspects of my profession will almost certainly be criminalized on the federal level. This should be scary for all Christians, really. But even so, I welcome this turn of events. The church has always flourished under the rod of persecution, and this will be no exception. As America continues to descend into the pit of atheism and despair that Europe has fallen into, Christ Triumphant will make his church stronger than ever.

"Though there be those who hate her,
And false sons in her pale,
Against both foe or traitor
She ever shall prevail."

A Thought

2009-04-30T12:06:00.002-05:00

I keep finding people whom I've met at school on Facebook, and these individuals say on their profiles that they are Christians. I would have never guessed from the way they act. This caused me to wonder. Could the same be true of me? This is a simple realisation, but it is a very serious one, and will no doubt give rise to circumspect reflection on my part. In fact, this is something for all Christians to consider, regardless of age or spiritual maturity. We must always be on our guard against assimilation.

"Give us those nice bright colours..."

2009-04-27T01:58:00.004-05:00

I've finally ventured into the realm of film photography. My weapon of choice is the Nikon F5:

This camera is really awesome. The autofocus is insanely fast, the body has the durability of an ironclad war-elephant, and the shutter speeds are, like the autofocus, ridiculously speedy. It makes my D60 seem like a toy, it really does. I can honestly say that despite the slight inconvenience of developing film, I'd much rather pick up my F5 and shoot with that as opposed to my D60. The glass I've got on the F5 is a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D, which is a really great budget prime lens:

It does a good job in lower light conditions and gives me a lot more breathing room when it comes to shutter speeds. Also, the depth of focus is incredible. Shooting wide open at f/1.8, the background is completely blurred, leaving only the subject in focus. Really great stuff. I've already shot one roll of Fujichrome Velvia 100(Not Paul Simon material, apparently):

I'm going to get it developed tomorrow, so we'll see how it turns out. I'll have a digital CD made along with the prints, so I'll be sure to post the photos on here.

A House Divided Against Itself

2009-04-21T16:03:00.004-05:00

BBC News

Some American Christians seem to think that things are getting worse for believers in this country. And while the United States is certainly not receptive to the Church and her ways as a whole, we are in paradise compared to Europe. An entire continent, which had once been the bulwark of Christian civilisation, has now been overcome by despair and atheism. When Christians in both Europe and the United States find themselves unable to take Biblical stances on issues like abortion and homosexuality, as the Church of Scotland is on the verge of doing, we are going to have problems. If Christians allow wholesale murder to continue on their very doorsteps, without saying a word against it, how can they expect to further Christ's kingdom? As for me, I will continue to pray for the church in Africa and Asia, because when our time comes, and our churches are in need, we will have brothers and sisters in those parts of the world that were once dark. We are not immune. American Christianity is a mile wide and only half an inch deep, European Christianity is under assault, and those places which we once ministered to are now beginning to reach out towards us. We must not concede ground. Even if our nation won't listen to us, we cannot conform. As long as portions of the Church are willing to give in to post-modernism, we, as the catholic, universal church, will not be able to move forward.

420

2009-04-21T01:59:00.003-05:00

I don't get this at all. Do stoners need to make up an arbitrary excuse to get high? Wouldn't they just get high anyways? It's really weird and I don't get it. That's like me creating an "Andrew Drinks Dr. Pepper Day." Srsly u guyz.

"Brave men tell the truth, a wise man's tools are analogies and puzzles."

2009-04-17T02:55:00.007-05:00

If at all possible, I am going to smoke my pipe in the Eagle and Child pub when I visit Britain this summer. How brilliant is that? I think it's pretty cool. Here's the full itinerary.

Also, I've ordered a 35mm film SLR for my photography course in the fall. It's a Nikon, of course, namely the N80. I've also purchased a new 50mm Nikon lens, which should work wonderfully with the N80, as well as three rolls of Kodak T-Max 100 B&W film. I'm pretty excited.

I've acquired some new music recently, most of which is outside my usual sphere of listening, if such a sphere could indeed be identified, given my somewhat eclectic collection of artists and albums. First of all, an album which is somewhat related to my last post, Apocalyptica's "Plays Metallica By Four Cellos." Strangely enough, the title is very self-explanatory. Imagine that. Except that it's "celli." However, I digress into nitpicking. But in all seriousness, Metallica's music works very well on the cellos(celli?), and retains a great deal of the original gravity and drone-like qualities that are present in the original cuts. Overall, an excellent idea and an excellent performance. If you don't like Metallica, but like cellos(celli!), you might like this album. A side note: I've no idea how Apocalyptica went from being an awesome cello quartet to churning out that piece of whiny garbage that's on the radio right now. Bring back the cellos(CELLI)! Next up is Dan Auerbach's first solo album, "Keep It Hid." I haven't made up my mind about this one. Definitely not quite Black Keys material, but it's still Auerbach, so it's got some of the same attributes. It's too early to say, I need to give it a few more listens. I didn't like the latest Keys release all that much, so I won't be too surprised if I don't like "Keep It Hid," but because Dan is pretty much le awesome, I want to give him a chance to convince me. I've met the guy, I at least owe him that much, right? I also purchased an album by Royksopp, a duo of electronic musicians. Some interesting, laid-back electronic tunes, good for relaxing, or driving or whatnot. Nothing like the nigh perfection that was The Postal Service, which kind of bridged the gap between the things I dislike about electronica and the things that bug me about Death Cab For Cutie. But Royksopp is nice so far. We shall see.

In conclusion, this is my 100th post on this blog. Wooooo!

"Let the blow fall soon or late..."

2009-04-11T05:01:00.002-05:00

One of the reasons I like Metallica's "Wherever I May Roam" is probably its similarity to Ralph Vaughan Williams' "The Vagabond," both lyrically and musically. I'd be willing to bet that Ulrich and Hetfield had heard "The Vagabond" at least once when they wrote their song. Anyways, it's an interesting parallel.

The Vagabond

Give to me the life I love,
Let the lave go by me,
Give the jolly heaven above
And the byway nigh me.
Bed in the bush with stars to see,
Bread I dip in the river -
There's the life for a man like me,
There's the life for ever.

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me;
Give the face of earth around
And the road before me.
Wealth I seek not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I seek, the heaven above
And the road below me.

Or let autumn fall on me
Where afield I linger,
Silencing the bird on tree,
Biting the blue finger.
White as meal the frosty field -
Warm the fireside haven -
Not to autumn will I yield,
Not to winter even!

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me;
Give the face of earth around,
And the road before me.
Wealth I ask not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I ask, the heaven above
And the road below me.

---

Wherever I May Roam

…And the road becomes my bride
I have stripped of all but pride
So in her I do confide
And she keeps me satisfied
Gives me all I need

…And with dust in throat I crave
Only knowledge will I save
To the game you stay a slave
Rover, wanderer
Nomad, vagabond
Call me what you will

But I'll take my time anywhere
Free to speak my mind anywhere
And I'll redefine anywhere

Anywhere I roam
Where I lay my head is home

…And the earth becomes my throne
I adapt to the unknown
Under wandering stars I've grown
By myself but not alone
I ask no one

...And my ties are severed clean
The less I have, the more I gain
Off the beaten path I reign
Rover, wanderer
Nomad, vagabond
Call me what you will

But I'll take my time anywhere
I'm free to speak my mind anywhere
And I'll never mind anywhere

Anywhere I roam
Where I lay my head is home

But I'll take my time anywhere
I'm free to speak my mind
And I'll take my find anywhere

Anywhere I roam
Where I lay my head is home

But I'll take my time anywhere
Free to speak my mind anywhere
And I'll redefine anywhere

Anywhere I roam
Where I lay my head is home

Carved upon my stone
My body lie, but still I roam
Wherever I may roam
Wherever I may roam
Wherever I may wander
Wherever I may roam.

"So far as it depends on you..."

2009-04-10T00:47:00.004-05:00

Although there are a lot of people with access to the internet who aren't very articulate, and some of them are obviously featured in this video, this is certainly telling about how Christians are perceived by hardline atheists. It is beyond me how people who claim to be followers of Christ can justify ignoring all tact and gentility, as some of us have apparently done.

On the other hand, while Mr. Dawkins does not descend into the realm of the tactless, he is very dismissive and insulting towards this Christian, who is attempting to ask Dawkins a straightforward and sincere question. If only those emails had read more like this gentleman's question.

In Romans 12, Paul gives these instructions to the church in Rome:

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, 'if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

We are to speak the truth in love. Yet if we sink into hypocrisy, our words will only be met with hostility and anger.

April 8th

2009-04-08T12:37:00.001-05:00

1652: Cape Town in South Africa is founded by Jan van Riebeeck as a supply post for the Dutch East India Company.

Smoking a pipe, the Scotsman's way.

2009-04-06T21:32:00.005-05:00

Today was National Tartan Day, and I decided to celebrate with smoke. Earlier this afternoon, I went to my tobacconist and purchased a tin of Presbyterian, as seen here:

(Click to enlarge)

Seeing as I am a faithful Scots Presbyterian(albeit somewhat removed), I thought this would be a fitting way to mark the day. Upon opening the tin, I noticed that the smell was rather like the Windsor, but not quite so strong. Still savoury, since it is an English blend, but a tad more fruit-like than Windsor.

The tobacco packed easily and smoked well, despite the fact that today was rather windy. The smoke was good, I enjoyed it. The flavour wasn't anything mindblowing, but it seems like a solid everyday sort of tobacco, good for a walk, a talk, or a read. Vincent's Torment is still my favourite. It's smooth and burns incredibly well. However, I have a feeling that Presbyterian will definitely be showing up quite often in my tobacco rotation.

"Give to me the life I love, let the lave go by me..."

2009-04-03T19:01:00.003-05:00

And so it begins. I've officially registered for the Fall semester. I'll be taking three history courses, a decision which I pray does not bring about my premature death. It's an interesting mix. There's Roman Civilization, Modern Europe, and Historiography. I think Roman Civilization will be a lot of fun, since I've met the professor before, and she herself seems like a lot of fun. So, we'll see. I expect historiography to be a challenge, especially in the writing department, but my writing style is very structured and to-the-point, so it may be just the ticket. Modern Europe... not sure what to expect. Well, actually, I am. Enlightenment-blah-modernism-blah-Western-civilization-is-evil-blahblahblah. I hope to be pleasantly surprised. Please? Latin III will be taught by a different professor than my previous two Latin courses, which surprises me. I'm sure it'll be fine, just different. Lastly, there's Film Photography, which is more or less an indulgence on my part. But it'll be good for my technique and it should be fun. Also, I'll continue to take voice lessons. All told, this adds up to a glorious 18 hour courseload. Wish me luck.

"All I ask, the heaven above, and the road below me."

I can't speak to his music, but I like this.

2009-03-31T01:31:00.000-05:00

Edifying Thoughts of a Tobacco Smoker

Whene'er I take my pipe and stuff it
And smoke to pass the time away
My thoughts, as I sit there and puff it,
Dwell on a picture sad and grey:
It teaches me that very like
Am I myself unto my pipe.

Like me this pipe, so fragrant burning,
Is made of naught but earthen clay;
To earth I too shall be returning,
And cannot halt my slow decay.
My well used pipe, now cracked and broken,
Of mortal life is but a token.

No stain, the pipe's hue yet doth darken;
It remains white. Thus do I know
That when to death's call I must harken
My body, too, all pale will grow.
To black beneath the sod 'twill turn,
Likewise the pipe, if oft it burn.

Or when the pipe is fairly glowing,
Behold then instantaneously,
The smoke off into thin air going,
'Til naught but ash is left to see.
Man's fame likewise away will burn
And unto dust his body turn.

How oft it happens when one's smoking,
The tamper's missing from it's shelf,
And one goes with one's finger poking
Into the bowl and burns oneself.
If in the pipe such pain doth dwell
How hot must be the pains of Hell!

Thus o'er my pipe in contemplation
Of such things - I can constantly
Indulge in fruitful meditation,
And so, puffing contentedly,
On land, at sea, at home, abroad,
I smoke my pipe and worship God.

Johann Sebastian Bach - 1725 (1685-1750)

From: The Second Little Clavier Book For Anna Magdalena Bach

2009-03-30T23:32:00.002-05:00

There are a lot of people out there who would label classical Christian education as "indoctrination." The way they see it, teachers like the men and women who taught me aren't letting their students think. They are instead implanting narrow ways of thinking, governed solely by religious agenda, into their pupils' minds. Homeschooling comes under attack quite frequently, and prominent classical educators, such as Dr. George Grant, are often demonized as radical conservative Christian brainwashers. I have this to say. If the government begins arresting teachers for such "indoctrination," they are going to have to drag me by my feet out of the classroom. That's all there is to it. I am a slave to the Gospel, one of many, and Yahweh is my master.

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." - Provebs 16:25

The Art of Patience

2009-03-28T02:09:00.002-05:00

Earlier today, I had one of the more enjoyable smokes I've yet experienced. Since I had smoked my briar on Thursday, I decided to take my cob instead. My cob is sort of my travel pipe, if you will. I don't have to worry about breaking it, the maintenance is pretty low, and it holds better in my mouth. So, I packed a bowl of 24 Karat, a blend that I got at a new tobacconist I found about 8 miles from school. I had previously been unimpressed by this blend, as was the case with my other aromatic blends. But, after doing some reading and thinking about my smoking technique, I realised that I was drawing on the pipe too hard and smoking too fast. I had actually been recording some video while smoking my briar on Thursday, and as I was playing the footage back, I noticed that whenever I puffed on my pipe, there was an audible sucking/whistling sound. This didn't seem to be quite right. So, while smoking my cob, I tried making my draws slower and steadier, making sure that I was drawing quietly. Overall, the smoke was much better. I got through the bowl without any significant tongue bite, which is more or less a first, and I could detect small hints of flavour in the smoke.

This is why pipe smoking is known as "the art of patience." Finding a tobacco you enjoy? It takes patience. Packing the pipe? That takes patience. Lighting the pipe? Patience. Smoking the pipe. Yeah. Patience. Cleaning the pipe? Do I even have to say it? The whole affair is one big process, but that's part of it. When you smoke a cigar, you're basically paying someone else to prepare that perfect smoke for you. But with a pipe, the quality of the smoke and your enjoyment of the experience is entirely reliant upon your smoking technique and the way that you use your pipe. Personally, I find my pipe to be a rather relaxing ritual. I'll go outside, find a suitable place to sit, and then I'll enjoy a bowl of tobacco. I've found that smoking my pipe is very conducive to reading. I tend to get distracted easily, especially when I'm reading something I don't want to be reading. But when I'm having a smoke, there really aren't any distractions to take my mind off of my book. Pipe smoking has often been associated with the sophisticated, intellectual man, and it seems to me that there is good reason for this.

All told, I am enjoying this new hobby of mine.

Spider-fireman

2009-03-24T16:19:00.001-05:00

Ok, I'm glad the kid is all right, but I think it's a little wonky that the fireman just happened to have the costume in his locker. Just sayin'.

Thai 'Spider-Man' to the rescue

Puffpuffpuff

2009-03-24T00:58:00.005-05:00

Well, I've decided to take up pipe smoking as a sort of casual hobby, I guess you could say. So far, I'm enjoying it. My pipe is a Savinelli briar, and here it is:

(The first two got cut off because of Blogger's margins, click to make it the right size, or just go to Flikr and view them even larger.)

I've been trying out different tobacco blends, and I haven't quite found one that I really, really like, but I've got this one blend right now that I think will probably grow on me. I'm sure I'll be blogging more about this in the future...

Stuff White People Like

2009-03-10T16:41:00.002-05:00

Here we have a collection of amusing articles, all analyzing the things that white people apparently like. Of course, the white people in question are more or less upper-middle class urbanites, but I can still find some humour in it, even concerning my own habits.

www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.com

Barack Obama: Entertainer of the Year

2009-03-10T00:24:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry, this is ridiculous. I know, I know, the entire world has a giant crush on our new president, but really, let's not get carried away. Apparently, Obama is one of the top nominees for the British Book Awards. I don't quite understand. The man hasn't done anything yet. I walked into a bookstore a couple months ago, and I saw an entire set of shelves covered with books by Mr. Obama and his wife. Realistically, he's America's most popular celebrity. It just doesn't seem to me that this man has done anything to deserve such fame. I haven't been impressed so far. Is it telling that one of the other favourite nominees for the British Book Awards is Stephanie Meyer? Perhaps.

Most Likely to Secede

2009-02-26T06:53:00.005-06:00

Why are Texans so obsessed with the idea that Texas is "the only state that can secede from the Union?" I don't get it. For one thing, it's dumb. Don't be ridiculous. We all know that every hardcore Texan has some sort of fantasy that if the War(you know which one I mean) suddenly broke out again, they could grab the nearest firearm and start shooting Yanks. But that's not going to happen, so stop being silly. And secondly, it isn't true. Vermont joined the United States upon the condition that it could leave at any time, as did other states, such as New York and Virginia. Furthermore, according to Texas v. White, even if every single person in Texas voted to secede, it wouldn't be legal. I'm pretty sure that after the Civil War, the federal government made sure that secession was no longer a legal option. So I don't know what people are going on about, it's all a rather large amount of ballyhoo over nothing. Texans are strange. Just get over it, y'all.

EDIT: This is actually kind of interesting. More than a few states, including Vermont, have current secession movements. Most of the websites for the Vermont movement cite a lot of pre-Civil War material, such as quotes from the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, things of that nature. But they conveniently seem to ignore the Supreme Court case I mentioned, which interprets secession as unconstitutional. I mean... if you can't do it, you can't do it. I'm not saying I don't think they're right in some respects, but it looks pretty rock-solid to me. It's illegal, no matter what Thomas Jefferson might have said.

"An island in the sun..."

2009-02-24T17:54:00.006-06:00

LOST has been one of my favourite television programs for the past few years, and I've recently decided to try and catch up with the story line. I've gotten a little behind, given my lack of a television and all. So, the show has taken a decidedly science-fictiony turn. I was a bit skeptical when people began labelling the series as "science fiction." Yeah, it had some supernatural/unexplained elements, but it's mainly about survival and getting off the Island, right? Apparently not, since in the current season, everyone is trying to get BACK to the Island. I was prepared for the show to go down a completely ridiculous and implausible road, especially when the concept of time travel was introduced. But I'm quite pleased to find that this is one of the better applications of time travel that I've seen. It doesn't involve alternate realities or time streams or anything ridiculous like that. They've taken what could've been a really bad plot twist and kept it under control. The writing team behind this show has always kept a pretty long range view with regards to their plots. With Alias, they kind of messed things up a bit, but I think they've done a great job with LOST so far. I was beginning to have doubts about whether or not the story would remain cohesive, but for the time being, my faith has been restored, so to speak. Now, about Cloverfield...

"And did those feet, in ancient times, walk upon England's mountains green..."

2009-02-10T01:58:00.002-06:00

As much as I love Britain and her culture, the growing difficulties which Christians face there are more than a little disturbing. The Anglican church is headed towards crisis, as far as I know. Islam is given more and more allowances, especially concerning Sharia law and the direct subversion of British law. In Canada, too, it will soon be more or less illegal to criticise the homosexual lifestyle. I remember one story of a Canadian pastor who was accused of hate speech because he was preaching concerning the sinfulness of homosexuality. There is a reason why our brothers and sisters in Rwanda have seen fit to send missionaries our way. The American Mythos tells us that America is still a great beacon of Christianity in the world, but that is not the case. Do you know where the Gospel has seen the most growth? Asia. One of the places in the world where the Gospel is heavily persecuted and even forbidden is the region that has seen the most growth for Christ. I have a feeling that America will soon forsake the Gospel even more than she already has. It is quite possible that my generation will see the beginnings of actual persecution in our country. I'm not talking about prayer being banned at schools or the Ten Commandments being taken out of courthouses. Those are ridiculous little occurrences that really shouldn't surprise anyone. I'm talking about men and women being imprisoned for Christ. This is right outside our door. Let them come, I say. If they want to bring charges against me for "indoctrinating" young Christians and speaking truth in the classroom, then so be it. If it takes persecution to bring about genuine revival in the United States, then I welcome it with open arms. They covet the kingdom, but the kingdom is Christ's already. They hunger for blood, but Christ's blood has already sealed their doom and our victory. The Lord has raised a standard up. Let us follow it quickly.

Sissero or Kickero? Sayzar or Kaiser? Which sounds more manly to you, eh?

2009-02-09T03:56:00.004-06:00

As a student of the Latin language, I am somewhat conflicted when it comes to pronunciation. There are two ways to pronounce Latin, the Classical, which is as close to original Roman use as we can get, and the Ecclesiastical, which is the pronunciation adopted for use in the Church. Now, the biggest difference between these two, and the one that you'll most often hear new Latin students talk about is the V sound. Classical Latin sounds the V like an English W, Ecclesiastical sounds the V as we would. In Dr. Heckel's Latin I class, we used Ecclesiastical pronunciation, for the most part. Under Dr. Haskell's tutelage here at SU, we use Classical pronunciation. It's fine, I've gotten used to it. I prefer the Ecclesiastical. EXCEPT for the C sound. We did not use the soft C in Dr. Heckel's class, and I am incredibly glad that we didn't. Choral Latin uses the Ecclesiastical pronunciation, and this involves using a soft C in front of e, i, ae, or oe. For example, the word "caeli" starts with a "ch" sound, not a "k." To my ears, this makes Latin sound like Italian. Ok, ok, so Romans, Italians, what's the difference? I don't know, I just think the soft C sounds really ridiculous and wimpy. I really, really, really hate having to sing the soft C in choirs. I just hate it. So, I'll keep my hard C and my English V, put my high horse back in the stable, and go on my merry way. As Dr. Haskell's wife reminded us on the first day of Latin I at SU, everyone who spoke Latin as their native language is dead. They don't care how you pronounce it. SPQR in the house. Where my proconsuls at?

--

Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace:
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.

Another Thing I Overheard at Work

2009-02-08T07:07:00.002-06:00

Well, I didn't overhear it, since it was part of a conversation I was involved in with my coworkers, but oh well. We were discussing rap music and the rhymes involved therein, particularly words that rhyme with "rims." One of the servers had this to say: "Seriously, don't underestimate the ability of rims to rhyme with itself... that's totally what they'd do."

Don't you hate it when that happens?

2009-02-05T06:19:00.002-06:00

"A collision at sea can ruin your entire day." - Thucydides

Unrest Among the Victorious

2009-02-03T11:48:00.002-06:00

Post number 80! Two things before you begin. First, this is one of those posts where I begin talking about one thing, and then apply my observations of that thing in a broader and more general sense. I never mean to write this much, or to go off on tangents, it just happens. Secondly, I wrote all of this on my iPod Touch with my own two thumbs. I didn't actually realise how much I'd written until I put it on the blog. Anyways, the post proper begins below.

I recently watched a documentary about the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, produced by the BBC, called "The Most Hated Family in America." The Westboro Baptist Church is famous for their slur-filled pickets, where they employ signs that declare, "God Hates Fags," and give voice to other forms of venom, including vehement criticism of U.S. troops for participating in the war. Now, obviously, I'd have certain qualms about saying that this group is certifiably Christian, but that judgement is not mine to make. I will, however, explain why I have this hesitation.

To begin, I'd like to point out just how gratingly these people are deliverng their message in the name of the Gospel. For Westboro Baptist parishoners, the word "fag" has become a sort of catch-all term for everything that is apparently wrong with world. Our military are "fag-troops," there are "fag-enablers," a term that basically describes anyone who disagrees with them, and a lot of other rhetoric that would offend just about anyone. Indeed, at their pickets, they are cursed by Christians and unbelievers alike. This is partially because their rhetoric is so blantantly offensive. I don't agree with the supporters of the homosexual lifestyle. I think that way of living is sinful. But in my efforts to speak the truth, I do not think it is wise to use such a vulgar term to describe our fellow sinners! Let us not forget that in his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul exhorted Christians to "be at peace with everyone." Christians being cursed in the streets? May it never be! Yes, Christ told us that we will be persecuted for his sake, but that persecution comes from being faithful witnesses, not purveyors of vulgarity. The parishioners of WBC seem to be gluttons for punishment. That's not exactly the way Christ taught us.

Also, based on the things I saw in the documentary, as well as what is published on the church's website, one can observe that as far as the ministry of WBC goes, the Spirit does not seem to be fully present. I am reluctant to completely discount the church as unorthodox, but there are many aspects of WBC's work which cast heavy shadows of doubt across the whole affair. For one thing, according to Fred Phelps, WBC's pastor, his is the only congregation which has salvation. Somehow, this ideology concerning America's evil deeds has given Phelps a monopoly on the salvation market, as it were. There is no concept of the Church Universal, in all of her splendor and diversity. All other believers would probably fall into the category of "fag-enablers," and would thus be considered out of fellowship with the WBC. This is utter foolishness. The entire body of the elect is contained in one group of Baptists living in Kansas? Come now.

In addition to this, the BBC reporter who was conducting the documentary attempted to ask Phelps some honest, sincere questions about the doctrine behind Phelps' teaching. Phelps flat out refused to comply because his interviewer did not have enough knowledge concerning the Bible to understand what he was talking about. This is more a personal fault of Phelps', to be sure, but his attitudes are part and parcel with the beliefs of the rest of the church, given the fact that the parishioners who were featured in the documentary backed him wholeheartedly.

Personally, I think Phelps genuinely has something wrong with him. But even so, he has a good number of people following him, claiming to be followers of Christ, driven by a psuedo-religious political ideology and moral agenda. Their message has no place for forgiveness or mercy. They WANT to be hated. The informational videos on the WBC website are supposed to "dull your ears and blind your eyes." That's parable language! God closed the hearts of an erring Israel to the truth by speaking in parables through his prophets. The verses that are used on the site to back this up lead me to believe that they view their message as something that no one will understand. And is it any wonder? They call their slur-ridden pickets "Love Crusades," after all! Now, maybe the Westboro Baptists are easy targets because of all the radical things that they do. But this is an example, albeit exaggerated, of a problem with modern American evangelism. Spitting the truth into the face of the mob will not speak to the souls of unbelievers, nor will it glorify our savior. You can distribute all the tracts you can print and shout scripture at strangers in the streets until Christ returns. But the reality is that the Spirit works through personal connections. not confrontation. Personal relationships, kind words, the quiet display of Christ's love and the results of his work on the cross. That is how the Gospel advances. We are not the riot in the streets, we are not the revolutionaries. We are to be the meek ones. And yet, despite our seeming weakness when compared to the power of secularism, we have already conquered this world through Christ! There's no need for any sort of "Christian revolution," because the Gospel, at its core, is not a revolutionary concept. Death and sin have already been taken as prisoners of war, because they embody the revolution of Man. Why do the restless heathen madly rage, what haughty schemes are they in vain contriving? Yahweh, who sits enthroned on high laughs them to scorn, he holds them in derision! We are the children of this same Yahweh, Christ is our brother! Who shall then stand against us? Therefore, let us go forth, and make good the victory of Christ.

MAA: Moleskine Addicts Anonymous

2009-01-26T02:12:00.003-06:00

Yes, I am addicted. I am currently planning to turn an old Moleskine of mine into a case for my new iPod. Fun, eh?

Fast Times at the Lane

2009-01-24T05:21:00.001-06:00

So, at work earlier, we had Joe Rogan show up. Yeah, the Fear Factor guy. This wasn't particularly exciting to me, since I couldn't possibly care any less about Fear Factor or Mr. Rogan, but it was interesting nonetheless. Of course, some moron had to go over there and ask to take a picture with the guy, which is just kind of annoying, but what're ya gonna do? /celebrity sighting story

In other news, I have purchased a 16 GB iPod Touch, and am currently using it to write this post. I thought it might be useful in the UK this summer, for directions and such, but it's really rather handy all around. I can access school files on the university's website, store other files, such as Latin homework, check my bank account, read the complete works of Shakespeare, or perhaps my favourite G.K. Chesterton novel. Oh, and it plays music and stuff. So far, it's looking like a great alternative to lugging my MacBook Pro around everywhere, which can be a hassle at times. Anyways, it's a good product, as well as a much more economical alternative to the iPhone.

That's all for now, I must sleep.

Lack of Blog = Lazy Trog

2009-01-21T00:04:00.003-06:00

Yes, I just called myself a troglodyte. But there hasn't been anything to rile me up lately, and therefore, nothing to write about. There have been copious amounts of photgraphy, which I'd love to post on this site, but I have no reliable hosting service. Flickr is great, but I can only upload a certain amount of data per month, and I've already used my quota. Sad day. However, I've ordered some more prints, three 12x18's, to be precise(to be precise, three 12x18's), so that should be good. My 20x30 print of the cactus(this one) turned out magnificently, so I am sure these other three will be just as good, if not better.

More later, when I am not quite so sleepy.

P.S. Extra points if you spotted the hidden reference I made. If not, nevermind.

A Few Photos

2009-01-11T22:56:00.005-06:00

Well, I'm back at school. I got a little bit of relaxation in St. Louis during a week-long trip up north. I did a lot of photography while I was there. Some of the better pictures are on Flickr, but here are a few of my favourites. (Click to enlarge and then use the "All Sizes" button at the top to view the full size photo)

A wider angle

2009-01-05T05:49:00.009-06:00

So, I finally bought another lens for my Nikon D60. It's a Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens, which I purchased at a local camera store. I originally bought a Tamron 10-24mm, but upon further inspection and research, I decided that I'd be better off with a different lens, even if the range on the Sigma isn't as wide. I'm happy with the lens so far, the construction seems solid and it feels good on the camera. I'm looking forward to really testing it out this coming week while I'm in St. Louis. Hopefully I'll be able to capture some decent photos.

"I'm Batman." COUGHCOUGHACKWHEEZE

2008-12-10T16:43:00.003-06:00

Has Christian Bale turned into Emphysema Man? Seriously, I just watched a trailer for his new Terminator film, and he's speaking in the same voice that he uses for Batman. It's that kind of deep, scratchy, I've-been-smoking-for-30-years-but-somehow-I'm-in-perfect-health-what-are-the-odds sort of voice. I like a few of Christian Bale's movies, and I hope he doesn't go off and damage his voice somehow. Then he'd end up being typecast constantly as the Man With The Sandpaper Trachea.

Here are pictures...

2008-12-08T13:57:00.003-06:00

Hullo, people. I've created a Flickr account so that I may post pictures on the internet. It may be found here: Flickr

Woooo.

Things I Overhear at Work #2

2008-11-20T03:17:00.001-06:00

"Yeah, it's like an aerosol, so you just spray it on your butt when you're wearing a bikini."

I have no idea.

Mere Morality

2008-11-20T00:32:00.004-06:00

These are some notes I wrote down while reading the first few sections of C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. I have transcribed them here into blogform, so to speak.

After reading the preface, I am already struck by Lewis's cautious, yet purposeful tone. As a layman, he does not attempt to address topics which a should not, and includes only those which will serve the purpose of his writing and be of benefit to the reader. There are lessons to be learned in this, both for the writer and the Christian. Moving on to Lewis's chapter on Moral Law, we can see that Moral Law, according to Lewis, is not an arbitrarily ordained set of rules, nor is it societal "herd instinct," as many a modernist would have us believe. The relativist is stymied in this regard, because to declare that one brand of morality is better than another would be to compare it to some outside standard of morality. Of course, the only option seems to be to label all forms of morality as equals. This, however, breaks down when you begin to examine various divergent forms of morality that are plainly contrary to the way things are supposed to be. Thus, if we are forced to abandon that line of reasoning, we must conclude that there is, in fact, such a thing as Right, or "real morality." However, this Right must not be confused with the Rule of Decent Behaviour. This rule consists of whatever behaviours society happens to approve of. In this instance, there really isn't a "right" behaviour, since the whims of society are subject to change from time to time. Thus, this line of reason might lead us to believe that there is no natural morality, or real Right, and yet the ways in which we are forced to consider the matter compel us to accept the existence of Right.

This is in no way a complete discussion of Lewis's argument, but it was something I was thinking about earlier, and such things are the stuff of this blog.

Forget truth in advertising, I'll settle for interesting.

2008-11-19T20:12:00.003-06:00

You have to love the advertising style of the J. Peterman company. Instead of using the ho-hum advertising that many other companies use, they actually paint you a picture, tell you a story, and place their product at the center. This is quite entertaining, not to mention effective. Check out this little scenario concerning a bottle of cologne:

"I was browsing in a Paris antique shop one winter afternoon when a fitted leather train case caught my eye. It contained silver-handled brushes, boot hooks, a straight razor, several silver-stoppered glass bottles... One bottle was different. Encased in yew-wood, with a handwritten date: 1903. Inside the bottle, there was still the faint, intriguing aroma of a gentleman’s cologne. A 'prescription' cologne, custom-made for a rich traveler a century ago. Curiosity was eating at me. I bought the case (the price was shocking) and sent the bottle to a laboratory for analysis. They broke down the residue by gas chromatography. Identified its fingerprint through spectro-photometry. The report said: an 'old woody fougère.' Clean citrus notes, bergamot, 'green notes.' The middle notes: clary sage…cardamom. The dry-down: leather notes, smoky labdanum…elemi, tabac, frankincense. The detective work was impressive. So is the thing itself. Women like the way it smells on a man. Like a symphony that begins loudly, then soon slides into subtle, entangling developments that grow on them. Or so I’ve been told."

Now, doesn't that work better than your average romance-novel-esque cologne advertisment? It's an interesting and unique marketing template, in my opinion. Who wouldn't want to buy a product derived from the last few drops in a strange bottle that was discovered in an French antique shop by a world traveller? What's that, you'd rather buy something from Calvin Klein? Pshaw.

Be Aware

2008-11-17T18:44:00.005-06:00

Is there any creature more arrogant and presumptuous than a college student? I think not. The student lives on something that is called a campus, some sort of complex that serves to cut off the student from the world at large. It is within this bubble that the student lives, works, and participates in leisurely activities. Studies and learning are all very good and are not troublesome in general, but the student becomes especially annoying when he or she becomes riled up about this, that, or the other. It is here that the average student is transformed into a fool. A student might take interest in an issue, perhaps something going on in society, and become so excited about said issue that he feels the need to take action. The student will often adopt a rather self-centered attitude, viewing himself as a frontrunner for the future, a new hope of free society and academia, becomes a nuisance. Protests, petitions, meetings, student groups, fliers, fundraisers, and all of this for what? It seems to me that most of the time, this is simply an effort to make the student feel useful while pursuing an education. Students want to matter, they want to be relevant, and yet their attempts to do so are often laughable. They live inside the bubble of academia, among the academics. That is not exactly the real world. But, the students persist. The idealisation of their position as the supposed leaders of a generation compels them to take some sort of action. This idealisation has been more or less ingrained into them. Yes, the children are our future, but not if they are fools. By all means, ignore the wisdom of wiser men, rebel against "the system" by starting a Facebook group to "Save Darfur" or to "raise awareness" for whatever cause you're supporting, and tell me what that accomplishes.

Let's look at this concept of "raising awareness." Awareness, what is it? Being aware? I am supposed to be "aware" of things like gay rights, the war in Iraq, AIDS, Darfur, and the list goes on. BE AWARE, is what I'm told. Very well, I am aware. Now what shall I do with my awareness? If I become any more aware, I dare say that my eyes will pop themselves right out of my head. I want to raise awareness, too. I want everyone to be aware of fish. Not just any fish, mind you. Sardines. Do you know what the fishing industry does to millions of sardines each year? They put them in cans. Tiny little cans. And then they ship them off to countries all over the world, sentencing them to horrible fates. Yes, that's right. Life on a shelf in a grocery store. Is that right? Is that fair? Who speaks for the fish? No one, that's who. So I'm starting a student group for Sardine Awareness at Southwestern University. I'm calling it SA For SU. We want to get the message out so that all of our friends will know about the sardines, and they can tell their friends, and they in turn will tell theirs, and soon, we'll have an entire campus of penniless college students who are aware of the suffering of the sardines. Only then will we have accomplished something.

Knowledge is power, and a bunch of college kids with no experience in the ways of the world, no money, no jobs, and no influence can change the world. As long as they are aware. Be aware.

Note: Although this post is served with a heavy dose of sarcasm, I am being serious as well.

Not the skin of a mole, mind you...

2008-11-17T17:05:00.004-06:00

You know you're addicted to Moleskine notebooks when you're walking to class and realise that you have seven of them on your person. Whoa.

Barack Obama is My President

2008-11-15T05:44:00.003-06:00

There have been a lot of people saying silly things like, "Well, I might as well move to Canada now that Obama's in power..." Don't be stupid. For one thing, Canada is more liberal than the United States is, you won't fare much better. But on to my real point. Liberals said the same thing when Bush was elected. Remember that? And what did conservatives say? "Oh, don't be such wimps, you're sore losers, that's un-American." Like it or not, Barack Obama is the new leader of YOUR country. You can't say things like, "He's not MY president, I didn't vote for him." That's not the way our country works. Barack Obama is the new representative of the United States to the rest of the world. He will enact policies and pass laws, whether for good or ill. And whether you agree with him or not, he's still your president, and therefore worthy of your respect. As for me, I think that Obama's administration will enable the murder of millions of children. But does that change the fact that Mr. Obama has been placed in a position of authority over me as the leader of my homeland? No, it does not. Let's not resort to childish behaviour, regardless of our views.

"I am a camera, camera..."

2008-11-13T23:02:00.005-06:00

I recently purchased a Nikon D60 digital SLR camera, and am so far rather pleased with my purchase.

I've done a lot of research, both before and after my purchase, and I've learned that this is a solid camera, especially for those who are new to DSLR's, like me. One main difference between this camera and Nikon's more expensive models is that a lot of the features are hidden in menu controls, rather than having actual physical controls on the camera body itself. Another thing I've learned is that photography is mainly affected by the skill of the photographer. Even if I had one of Nikon's top models, I'd still be churning out mediocre photos. The D60 is not for anyone who isn't willing to find out how to use the camera properly. The fully automatic modes aren't all that great. You can get all right pictures out of them, but to really harness the capability of the camera and your lens, you should really use the manual modes, which require a little more knowledge about how a camera works. So, if you want a camera for casual purposes, you'd probably do better with an advanced point-and-shoot. And besides, the D60 will cost you around $650, which will get you a great point-and-shoot, one that will probably have more auto-focus capability than the D60. But, for the beginning photographer, like me, it's a really good camera to learn on.

I've also been using Nikon's Capture NX2 RAW processing software, which is really awesome. Since I'm only dealing with RAW, and don't need to make major adjustments, it's a much better option than Photoshop. Plus, it integrates well with iPhoto, making it useful for a Mac user like myself.

Anyhow, enough talk, let's see some pictures. All of these were either taken on campus, or around Georgetown.

(Click to enlarge)

These photos are, of course, much better when they aren't pushed through the meat grinder that is web compression, but hopefully you can get a sense of what I'll be able to do with this camera. I really like it and I think I'll be able to have a lot of fun using it in the future.

The annals of history are the judge

2008-11-03T22:31:00.002-06:00

As a young college student, this recent campaign has been abnormally pertinent for me. Not in the sense that there have issues debated which directly affect my way of life, or anything like that. Rather, I have been the target of a specific form of advertising from the Obama campaign. Never before have I seen or heard young people so universally entranced by one candidate. Now, it may be that I just wasn't paying attention in past campaigns, although I do not think that John Kerry or Al Gore provoked any sort of youth rally. The Obama campaign has actually been able to commercialize a politician. It is fashionable to wear an Obama t-shirt or button. I've seen Obama apparel sold in stores at the mall, right alongside Batman posters and Led Zeppelin shirts. I feel like I have not been asked to vote for Obama. Instead, I have been marketed to. That is one thing that bothers me about Obama. I am certain that the man himself would be misrepresented were I to vote based upon the commercialzation. But I cannot help but feel that a vote for Obama would be a vote for a brand. That's essentially what his campaign has turned him into, a brand. When I think of the Obama campaign, the first thing I think of is my peers, all of whom have, in some cases literally, bought into his message. It is more or less assumed that any person my age and in my position would support Mr. Obama, which I find increasingly curious. The Obama campaign really is a fad. That is not to say that all of his supporters are insincere, for I am sure that many of them are. But, I think that many students my age have bought what Obama is selling, so to speak. Reasons I have heard for supporting him are merely parroted from Obama's slogans: He stands for change, he'll clean up the messes that Bush has left. But what does that mean? It's easy to look politically informed without actually knowing what a politician stands for. Indeed, it is easy for a politician to campaign successfully without really disclosing what he truly stands for. I think that many students will become disenchanted with Mr. Obama when the going gets tough. Obama will no doubt have a soaring thrust of popularity for the first few months of his presidency, maybe the first few years. Many will no doubt frantically hold on to the promises of change that were made, regardless of what Mr. Obama actually does. But in the end, I think that many of Obama's young supporters will regret their decision to support him. Let us remind ourselves that many of our greatest leaders have been extremely unpopular, and many still are today. Doing the right thing is not always popular. At this moment in time, defending human life is not the most popular thing to do. But people still do it. No matter what people say about President Bush, he has stuck to his guns. I admire that. He has faced incredible and unwarranted opposition from the rest of the world and from his own countrymen, but he has kept going. I could care less what today's political commentators say about George W. Bush and Barack Obama. I place a much higher value upon what people will say about them twenty years from now. That is the telling factor. See you in 2028.

Weird Statue Prayer Thing

2008-10-31T12:21:00.004-05:00

Whoever thought this was a good idea was just not paying attention. Come on... really? There was a group of Christians who went and prayed in front of the bull statue on Wall Street. Exodus connections aside, laying hands on a statue and praying for the economy just doesn't send a good message.

Here's a site with some more pictures. Wow, they've even got a shofar. That's pretty intense. Of course, liberal bloggers are having a field day with all sorts of "Look at what the religious nuts are doing this time" stuff, accusations of idolatry, things like that. They obviously aren't worshipping the bull, it's supposed to be symbolic, but still. This was very poorly thought out.

Powell Endorses Obama

2008-10-22T14:30:00.004-05:00

Here is an excellent interview with Colin Powell, concerning his decision to endorse Sen. Obama. While I don't agree with his choice, I think that the concerns he has about the state of the Republican party are legitimate, and it is rare to hear something expressed in clear and civilised manner in today's media. If you look at his reasons for supporting Obama, which he cites briefly at the end, you will find a summary of what most people say about the senator: he can inspire people. Powell says that Obama is a "transformational figure." Only time will tell exactly how our country and the rest of the world is transformed under Obama's administration. (It seems extremely likely that Obama will win, thus I am using language which implies that this is indeed the case.)

Powell interview on Meet the Press

As for my own vote, it will not be cast for Obama. I only need one reason, and that is abortion. I don't like Obama's economics, or some of his policies concerning government programs and spending, but even if I did agree, I would not vote for him. He is radically pro-infanticide, and that is the only reason I need to vote against him.

A Worthy Quote

2008-10-17T15:51:00.001-05:00

“Nearly all the historical work worth doing at the present moment in the English language is the work of shoveling off heaps of rubbish inherited from the immediate past.” - Henry Cabot Lodge

Straight out of Akron

2008-10-13T01:51:00.003-05:00

I think the Black Keys may have just claimed the title as my favourite band. Out of all the bands I listen to, they have a near perfect balance of talent, musical continuity, and innovation. They are able to incorporate a healthy dose of the blues/soul tradition into their music, while still retaining the ability to create something new. Plus, they put on a great show, and I can say from personal experience that they are pretty nice guys. I really urge anyone who is remotely interested in quality rock music to seriously take a look at this band. The only thing I don't like is my continuing inability to play their entire catalogue note for note. I'm working on it.

Ideas Have Consequences

2008-10-11T15:52:00.004-05:00

There are three major problems with the way history is being taught to young adults, and as a student of history as well as a future educator, I must say that this is distressing, to say the least. These problems that I speak of are as follows: An undue emphasis on trade and economics, unhealthy amounts of "chronological snobbery," and the wanton imposition of modern ideals upon the various contexts of history. Let's take a look at these issues, and I shall explain in greater detail what I mean.

Trade. It is undoubtedly an important factor in the development of world events. But if you were to sit in on a university-level history course, you would get the impression that trade was the only factor which affected anything at all. I am currently enrolled in a class called, "World Civilizations Since 1500," an overview of historical events stretching from the late Renaissance all the way up until modern times. I can say without fear of hyperbole that the entire course has been centered around economics. This is not just my perspective, either, I have spoken with a few of the other students in the class who agree with this assessment. Let us take the example of the Enlightenment period. There were many ideas circulating during the Enlightenment, ideas which would effectively cause the destabilization of Europe and in many cases the deconstruction of long-standing governmental structures. These were replaced by new, revolutionary-minded forms of government, the most obvious example being post-revolution France. The ideas behind all of this were extremely influential at the time and also extremely complicated. Yet these same ideas were not really discussed or examined within in the context of my class. We didn't read any of the Enlightenment thinkers, or talk about the details and nuances of the revolutionary philosophy. Instead, we discussed how these new Enlightenment governments affected trade and politics.

What I want to talk about is WHY. Why did these ideas lead to revolutions? What are the consequences of this way of thinking? We were told that the Enlightenment was an age of free thinking, without really being shown what was being thought at the time. Does this make any sense? What is discussed in the classroom is mere FACT. I can find facts on my own, as could any motivated student. Libraries provide the student with essentially the same information that is available to any knowledgeable professor. A history teacher should be able to explain all of the connections and nuances behind the ideas, not merely gloss over their results. This problem exists not only in this particular class, but also in every other college-level history course I have taken. Economics is made the driving force behind everything, and the possibility of any other cause is ignored. The Crusades? Completely motivated by European greed and avarice. There is no allowance for justice or honor as motivators in that situation, and only the desire for land and wealth is "allowed" to control the actions of the past. The Reformation? Simply an ideological movement, something which allowed governments to break away from the supposedly oppressive Catholic church, bringing forth free government, free trade, and free press in Europe. Some of the most important ideas of the last millennium are ignored in favor of mere facts. Facts do not form a worldview, facts do not constitute morality, and facts do not spur the hearts of men to action. Why do we settle for this in the classroom? At the end of a four year education, most students will know nothing about the Reformation or the Enlightenment except for a two sentence textbook summary on the topic. This does not, in my opinion, benefit the student in any way, and I believe that professors do their students a disservice by making gross generalizations and excluding details that are in fact vital to a complete understanding of history.

Another deficiency that can be found in university classroom is "chronological snobbery." This is the assumption that the present is automatically better than the past, by virtue of supposed advances in technology, ideology, or religion. This is an incredibly fallacious way to look at things. Hindsight is, as they say, 20-20. The chronological snob might, for example, look down his nose at a some medieval scholar or logician, one who might have believed that the earth was located in the center of the solar system. The snob will declare said scholar to be a daft old fool, mired in the Dark Ages, and of no use to anyone. This concept can be put into a logical syllogism thusly:

I. You argue that A implies B.
II. A implies B is an old argument, dating back to the times when people also believed C.
III. C is clearly false.
IV. Therefore, A does not imply B.

Well, does that really make sense? Some teachers seem to think it is perfectly all right to go about completely discounting entire periods of time simply because they think that modern man has so vastly improved himself, so much so that silly things like, for example, Medieval Christianity cannot possibly be worth discussing, or even giving credence to. Every period has, as C.S. Lewis said, "its own characteristic illusions." But for professional educators to paint the portrait of history with so broad a brush seems very unscholarly to me, and I'm not sure why more care isn't taken to avoid this problem. The speed at which generalizations are made is indeed astounding, and makes one wonder whether or not some professors even care about accuracy.

The third problem I have seen is that of the modern ideal being applied to the historical context. (It could be said that this is, in fact, an outgrowth of chronological snobbery, so make of that what you will.) One example of this is the modern idea of "tolerance." Tolerance in our day and age is a sort of pluralism, a "live and let live" attitude towards beliefs or customs which differ from ours. Oftentimes, a historical group will be looked at and proclaimed to be more tolerant than other people of the day. We are then led to believe that this makes that particular group somehow better or more agreeable than their peers. But the definition of tolerance used is largely a modernist invention. To the modern mind, tolerance is progressive, tolerance is politically correct, tolerance is necessary for a free society. But is that how the historical context defines things? Was it really a desire for tolerance which prompted the institution of Dhimma within 7th century Muslim law? And should the 4th century Christian church be thought of as intolerant for trying to stamp out Arianism? At first glance, moderns will dismiss feudalism as oppressive and cruel, but is it really? Is that the way it was viewed by the people who actually lived within that context? It seems to me that many times, the vast differences between the modern perspective and the perspectives of the past are completely ignored. History is put into a blender along with modernism, and the result is a watery, revisionist concoction that is more counterproductive than anything else. No attempt is made to break free from the gravitational pull of our own biases. The practice of taking modern ideas and slapping them onto historical events in such a way is just plain old bad scholarship. The willingness of academia to view history through mud-coloured glasses is something which should not be taken with the complacency that so many seem to have towards the treatment of history in the classroom.

It would seem that for the modern university student, history has been reduced to money and power. Ideas are mentioned, but never investigated. Cultures are surveyed, but never explored. If I were to remember only one thing that I learned as a history student in high school, it would be that ideas have consequences. Worldview matters. Philosophies matter. Religion matters. These things affect culture, politics, economics, literature, music, art, architecture, and every other aspect of society imaginable. It amazes me that the most important factors in the development of history are ignored by those who have studied it the most.

"There is a way that seems right to a man..."

2008-10-06T21:29:00.007-05:00

"... but its end is the way to death." - Proverbs 14:12

I stumbled upon a five part documentary(link at the bottom of this post) about the Norwegian Black Metal band, Gorgoroth, and more specifically, their vocalist, a man called Gaahl.

On a superficial level, this series really exemplifies a few of the reasons why metal is an inherently un-Christian movement. Putting aside whatever arguments are made for its status as music, the ideas which lie behind metal, and more specifically, Black Metal, are really awful. Members of Gorgoroth freely admit that Satanism is at the core of this band, and at the core of Black Metal. Gorgoroth itself is blantantly anti-Christian. A quote from Gaahl: "Christianity is based solely on stolen souls and lives. So, of course, every trace of them should be erased." The music of Gorgoroth clearly has an agenda, according to the members themselves, and that is to create fear and change the minds of their listeners to reflect the Satanist ideology that is at the center of the band. "The band is spreading fear, and we use that fear to create change and to also get our ideas across," said . "[There are] few bands around with a Satanic message, it's all about the music ... we are not about that, we are about the message."

Gaahl views himself as a Biblical goat, one with free will, unlike the sheep who follow God. This leads us to the humanism that motivates Gaalh. As the documentary begins to examine Gaahl more closely, we see a man whose ideals are more or less the height of humanism. He utterly rejects God, saying that God is within Man. When talking about breaking away from religion, he says, "You will be allowed to focus on the god within yourself, because that's the only true god, the god within everything. That's the only thing that, for me, is worth calling god. It is the highest spirit of everything, and not this control freak that is telling you, you are not supposed to do this, you are not supposed to do this ... God is within man, God is within nature, and nature will always grow, that's the force of all life, to grow."

Gaahl constructs his own morality. He has multiple convictions for violence, one of which involved torture. Gaahl apparently felt it necessary to teach one particular man a lesson for attacking him, and so he restrained his attacker and beat the man for hours, supposedly collecting the man's blood in a cup. He says that this sort of thing is "punishment," meant to teach others a lesson, and has apparently done this on multiple occasions. When Man is given the status of a god, rather than God's image, this is what can happen. If I am a god in my own right, what's to stop me from constructing my own ideas of right and wrong, however contrary they may be to the urgings of my own conscience, and then carrying them out upon others, regardless of the consequences? In a way, that's what Gaahl has done. In a broader sense, Gaahl embodies the reasoning of Man as he fights against God's sovereignty. Although we are loath to admit it, we are all Gaahl in our heart of hearts, however extreme an example he may be. The grace of God, the work of Christ, and the strength of the Holy Spirit enable us to rise above our sinful natures and follow Christ. Praise Yahweh that this is so.

Note: Concerning the video series, I recommend that you watch it to understand the full scope of what I've discussed here. There are some very poignant aspects of this story that I really can't describe. But, also be warned that there are some graphic images of stage props used at Gorgoroth concerts, for example, and also instances of foul language. Just be aware. I still recommend that you see all five parts, it's very interesting, albeit disturbing.

Here is the link: True Norwegian Black Metal

Nooooo!

2008-10-03T19:38:00.001-05:00

Brandon Flowers Totally Looks Like Gordon Freeman.

The Hand Jive: That's how you do it.

2008-09-28T15:10:00.001-05:00

"Fascinating."

You Can't Legislate Morality

2008-09-25T22:40:00.003-05:00

In my College Writing class earlier this week, we were discussing some articles about marriage as opposed to cohabitation, and the pros and cons that are involved. I was struck by some of the things that were brought up. For example, people are supposedly given incentive to stay married because of the fact that having to go through the legal process of divorce is more of a hassle than simply being able to pick up and leave your current cohabiting lover. On the other hand, cohabitation requires no joint finances, no long-term commitment, and can be abandoned at any time. Yet, it is socially acceptable to bring a child into the world within the context of such a relationship. How is this logical? If you are not ready to make the "final commitment" of marriage, as one of my classmates put it, then how are you ready to be a parent? By the same token, I am of the opinion that as a general rule of thumb, if you don't think you're quite ready to be a parent, you shouldn't get married.

But as I was sitting there, listening to what everyone in my class had to say, I realised that if marriage is removed from its status as a divinely ordained covenantal relationship, it is more or less meaningless. Apart from the covenant and Christ's model of what marriage should be, what is marriage? It becomes nothing more than social contract, no different from cohabitation, "life-partner"-ship, or whatever sort of ambiguous title you'd care to tack onto it. Divorce rates are embarrassingly high, so high in fact, that the government has tried to put programs in place to get married couples to stay married. The institution of marriage as we know it is most definitely in danger, and is attacked from all sides by post-modern ideas and blatant immorality.

As Christians attempt to combat things like same-sex marriage and rampant divorce, I wonder if there's actually anything left to defend. Marriage in the United States, at least, the way statistics portray it, is not the same institution that God created in the Garden at the beginning of time. Is such a shallow reflection of God's covenant worth defending? Well, perhaps not. But the question we must ask is this: do things really have to be this way? The answer is a resounding no. It is the responsibility of Christians, now more than ever, to preserve marriage, not necessarily through Constitutional amendments or senate legislation, but instead though the living out of Christ's example. True cultural change cannot be achieved through revolution, rebellion, or activism. You cannot legislate morality. Rather, true transformation is brought about through Christ's Church. That is how marriage is going to be redeemed.

Campus Photos

2008-09-10T21:13:00.007-05:00

Here's a few HDR images I captured around campus earlier this week. (Just click on the photos to see them in a larger size.)

From SU Campus

I pity the fool who uses Ad Hominem arguments!

2008-09-05T17:15:00.004-05:00

All right, here is a message for anyone online who discusses politics. If you employ obscenities and blatantly slander people in the course of your political discussion, I will disregard what you have to say, regardless of how correct or intelligent you are. Discussion on a civilised and intellectual level should be conducted in a manner which reflects that. Saying things like, "Bush is an idiot" will not get you my attention. Apparently, that is an acceptable way to speak about politics, especially for young people, students who are my age. America's youth has become accustomed to the Stewart-Colbert brand of political discussion. While I find Stephen Colbert to be quite hilarious, he is in no way a serious political commentator. What types of programs do they play on Comedy Central? Just take a stab at it. The News Hour with Jim Lehrer? NO! COMEDY! Analysis has become equated with derision and slander, and debate has been made synonymous with crass bickering. The internet is a haven for misuse and oftentimes complete ignorance of rhetorical standards. If you want me to listen to you, speak to me like an adult.

Here's a good example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZEWdo-I61M

I stopped the video within the first few seconds. (If bad language offends you, just don't click the link.) This video is also a good example of someone trying to make a point, but never showing me any proof. This gentleman makes several statements concerning the content of speeches made by Republicans, but never shows me any examples. There are videos like this all over YouTube. I'd really love it if I could pound the concept of "ad hominem" into the brains of internet users. It's a fallacy! It's not a legitimate point!

The Internet Strikes Again

2008-09-03T14:50:00.002-05:00

Amazing. Misinformation and Photoshopped pictures of Sarah Palin have already permeated the internet's opinion of her. It's completely unexpected, really. The internet is really one of the worst things to happen to political discussion and public perceptions in recent history. Really.

In Which Andrew Proves, via Indisputable Logic, That He Is Gay

2008-08-30T04:00:00.005-05:00

Interesting thing happened at work earlier this evening. One of our tables was occupied by a group of high school kids, and some of them happened to be cheerleaders, in uniform, probably coming from a game or school event of some sort. One of my coworkers came over to me and said, "Dude, did you see those cheerleaders, man?" "Yes," I replied. "Awesome, right?" I shook my head. "How can you not dig that?" (He used some expletives here, but I won't bother including them.) I shrugged. "Well, I mean... are you gay?" "No, I'm not," said I. "Oh," he said. And then he walked away.

So. The fact that I don't ogle high school cheerleaders somehow means that I am a homosexual. Hey! I know! Let's do a logical proof! YAY!

1. Andrew does not like objectifying women.

2. All men who do not like objectfying women are homosexuals.

3. Therefore, Andrew is a homosexual.

Logic makes everything more fun. Yay, logic! But really, do you see how absurd this is? I'm sorry, this sort of thing really gets to me, it makes me wanna slap a foo'. I sincerely apologise to the world at large for the fact that I possess moral fibre. Perhaps the thing that most angers me is that because I'm a "prude," because I don't participate in such stupidity, I am considered abnormal. And it's easy for me to get on my high horse and complain, but seriously, this is bleeding ridiculous. And perhaps the worst part is that women EXPECT men to behave like this. Even some of my female friends are surprised when I don't act that way. That is really horrible. The way I see it, this speaks to the number of real men that our society is lacking.

Windows Mojave

2008-08-30T03:54:00.003-05:00

Wow. Microsoft is really desperate to change the consumer mindset concerning the latest mutation of the Windows operating system, Vista. They conducted a little experiment in which they demonstrated Vista to consumers who had never seen it before, but called it by a different name. The consumers who participated had heard all of the negative reviews of Vista, complaints from other users, etc., but when they tried out "Windows Mojave," they were apparently quite impressed. They were later told that it was, in fact, Vista.

I'm not going to go all "Mac vs. PC" on you, because I think that entire thing is stupid. But I will say that from a marketing standpoint, this is pretty bad. Microsoft has to resort to disguising their product as something else in order to get potential buyers to even look at it. That's not good. Yes, it was an interesting experiment, but Vista still has a horrible reputation. This new "Decide For Yourself" campaign seems to be an attempt to reverse some of the negative hype that Vista has gotten, but I don't think it's going to be very successful.

An accurate examination of an American inanity

2008-08-24T22:54:00.004-05:00

I am no great fan of hip-hop music and culture, but I found this assessment of the "music" of Soulja Boy to be more or less right on the money. The article is a bit long, but I think it's worth reading.

Soulja Boy: In Loco Parentis

Frankly, it is unsettling to me that something that is so blatantly trashy has become so infectiously popular. Hip-hop blurs the line between what is and is not music, but I can say without a doubt that Soulja Boy's product is not music, because it is, in fact, just a product. Just something to think about.