Coming to Grips with Modernism

While I'm not as big a fan of the current Pope as the last one, Pope Benedict does have some redeeming qualities. As Paul Smith points out in his review of the Pope's latest book, his take of Christ is a whole lot better than many modern theologians:

One thing that really struck, especially at the end of the book is how much of an effort Benedict is making to "recapture" the real Jesus from modern "scholars" who seek to redefine Christ in modernist terms. He frequently points out how some exegetes go beyond what the Gospel writers actually record to try to figure out what Jesus really meant, or which sayings attributed to him He "actually" said. Some go so far as to attribute sayings attributed to Christ as having their origins in works written centuries after the Gospels rather than believe the Apostles wrote down what Jesus actually said and that he meant what he said. They, like Thomas Jefferson, prefer to make God in their own image and ignore the parts of the Bible they see as not fitting that mold.

Good for the Pope for hammering on this. It seems to me that much of Modern theology has been an attempt reconcile the irreconcilable. A large part of it doesn't seem to be "theo"-logy because it strips so much of God and the supernatural from the text.

The main issue is that you cannot take a fundamentally Naturalist philosophy and marry it to religion. The fundamental concepts of the two are in direct opposition with Naturalism decrying the spiritual and religion accepting and fundamentally building upon it. When you take a religious work like the Bible and then strip the supernatural (and largely God himself) out of it, all you have done is gutted the text. And they have to replace those parts of the narrative with something, otherwise they'll just have a gaping hole. The question then becomes, what will the supernatural be replaced with? Looking at the results, it seems to be replaced with whatever the scholar's pet theories seem to be.

Someday soon people will point to the collected works of these theologians and say "Look there's what confounding the wisdom of the wise looks like!" That is if they're not already doing it.

Missing Loved Ones

I'm not a huge fan of Mainstream Baptist's Bruce Prescott. I keep his blog on my roll largely because our views are so different. His father died yesterday. Even though it is a life event most of us will face, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

The Perils of Mountain Biking

You know, you might skin something or hit a tree. Or maybe you'll return to your car only to find that a grain silo had fallen on it and squished it flat. Man I knew I didn't mountain bike for a reason.

Via John Scalzi at Ficlets.

A Look at the Budget

A friend from work showed me an interesting article from The Kiplinger Letter. It listed the percentage of federal spending by program from three different years: 2008, 1983, and 1968. Some interesting things I learned:

• Despite the fact that we're fighting a war, defense spending as a percentage of the federal budget today (~21%) is lower than in '83 when Reagan was rebuilding the military up during the Cold War (26%). It is much lower than spending during Vietnam (46%).
• While Social Security's share of the budget has largely remained constant over the last 15 years (~21%), Medicare and Medicaid have been growing exponentially and are now as expensive as Social Security or National Defense.
• The low income tax credit is much larger than it used to be.
• Agricultural subsidies are actually down by quite a lot in comparison to past years. In '68 and '83 they were about three percent of the budget, now they're less than one.

I have to wonder what this data would look like in real dollars though instead of percentages. Has the federal budget just ballooned to such an extent that certain things look the same or have gotten smaller in proportion. We're probably paying far more in agricultural subsidies today than in '68, but the federal budget is so much larger the actual percentage of federal spending has dropped.

UPDATE: Jim the Baptist points out that largely the war has been funded by supplemental spending requests that don't appear in the main budget. He is right. However the reason Kiplinger did this comparison is that their 2008 budget doesn't have this problem. Which is why the Defense portion of the budget is $600 Billion instead of some smaller amount.

Big Trouble in Little China

Ah yes, convincing your wife to watch a movie from days gone by that she will probably hate. I'll probably have to do this with the new Flash (Aah Aah!) Gordon DVD that's coming out.

I must say that I find the cat bathing instructions to be much funnier. I'm planning on shoving him in a toilet with lots of soap and then flushing repeatedly.

Crappy Columnists

Were I running the Boston Globe, I might stand by a columnist who uses newspaper money to commit a felony straw purchase of a handgun. Might. But why would I stand by such a man when his column is almost 700 words of pure unadulterated ad hominem? To me that seems to be another thing entirely.

Ethanol Production

Kim du Toit has a piece up on why ethanol is a bad idea. Last weekend I had a talk with my sister and brother-in-law. They're chemical engineers who work for the EPA. My sister does research into cleaning up parasites and pollutants. My brother-in-law, oddly enough, does most of his current work on bio-fuels. I learned a lot which is one of the reasons I now know that articles like Kim's are largely hype with a silver lining of truth. Here is an overview of what I picked up:

• While many of the criticisms of transporting ethanol are valid for all types, most of the criticisms of ethanol you see in print are only valid for corn-based ethanol production. While that is the process the US is currently using, nobody expects us to keep using it because, as all these articles are eager to explain, it is far too inefficient.
• There are still invalid criticisms of corn-ethanol. One of them is that increased livestock feed prices from the use of corn for ethanol will cause horrible harm. This one is *ahem* bull. Ethanol is made from the corn's sugar and carbohydrates. The good livestock feed is made from the corn's protein (also referred to as distillers grain). You can do both.
• The long term bio-fuel solution will problem come from crops like switchgrass. They grow quickly with less energy input in less restrictive soil types. They are nitrogen fixing so they don't deplete the soil like corn (and therefore don't require petro-fertilizers like corn). But the technology and the agricultural infrastructure is going to require some time.
• The holy grail of biofuels is making them from waste streams like sewage or your household trash. It is also unlikely to happen any time soon. It is possible to reprocess a waste stream like this, but if they have been thoroughly processed already, it won't be easy. Or in other words, poop is poop because it is the stuff our bodies didn't want to bother breaking down any further for energy.
• It is entirely possible that the long term biofuel solution may not be ethanol, but a different compound like butanol or propanol. These are less soluble in water, a major problem with the transportation of ethanol. They are also more soluble in fossil fuels like gasoline which makes them better additives. They also have higher energy densities.

So now you know and knowing is half the battle.

Top Gear Coming to America

I really like our satellite service at home. I like it even more now that BBC America will be showing episodes of Top Gear. Sweet!

50 Rules You Won't Learn in School

Michelle Malkin and her readers seem to really like Charles Sykes' book. His rules include such sage advice as "life isn't fair" and "looking like a slut does not empower you."

I wonder if it includes "look both ways before you cross the street." It seemed like at least one person died every year at U of Delaware because they didn't follow that simple dictum.

Putting Drops in Your Eyes

There a lot of things I thought I would know how to do by now. They just don't seem that hard. Over the last couple of days, I've started putting drops in my eyes to combat some redness that I hope is due to allergies. But I'll be damned if I'm not bouncing most of the eye drops off an eyelid, eyelash, or just missing my eye entirely and running them down my cheek. It shouldn't be hard, but for me it is.

So I turned to the internet for a solution to my problems. And I found one. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary has a video on their website dealing with this very issue. They suggest using specific hands positions to index the bottle to your eye. They also suggest keeping that eye closed for a full minute after you have applied the drops to enhance their effectiveness. The video looks a little dated and is intended for Glaucoma patients, but drops are drops.

I Thought It Would be Higher

68%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Portland Singles from Mingle²

Christianity Explodes in China

Thinklings and Michelle Malkin are both commenting on a recent Asia Times article about the rise of Christianity in China. It cites numbers like 10,000 converts per day. Now how they get those numbers, I don't know as much of the church in China is underground in order to avoid religious oppression by the government. But still, those kinds of numbers are just amazing to me.

Cute Kitty

Amy has new pictures of Milo up at the cat blog. Aww isn't he cute when he's sleepy? Pay no attention to the doofus in the background with his nose in A Wrinkle in Time.

Shooting with Nothing to Show for It

Took my AR-15 to the range on Saturday to zero in a new scope. No dice, it wouldn't group. Honestly, I've shot better patterns out of my 12 gauge.

I suppose it could be my fault. It was hot and I was sweating profusely, so my grip was constantly shifting. I was also shooting a new brand of ammo that I'd never put through the gun before, so maybe the two don't mix well. But I'm far more inclined to believe that the scope I picked up for a song isn't worth even the minuscule sum I paid for it. And since I can't get a refund without the misplaced receipt, I'm guessing it'll end up on ebay as some kids bb-gun scope. It should still work for that.

With my new mortgage payments, I really need to think about shooting economically. If this weekend taught me anything, it is that commercial .223 is way to expensive to use learning basic riflecraft. I think it's time to start shopping for a decent .22 rifle. Used Marlin model 60s are reputed to be available for under $100 at pawn shops across our fair land. Considering the price difference between .22lr and .223, that rifle would pay for itself within the first brick of rimfire. By the time I'm ready to transition back to centerfire shooting, I'll probably be reloading it myself.

Chore Wars

I've been playing Chore Wars with several of my coworkers for over a week now. I've been cleaning their clocks, largely because I mow my lawn regularly and have to take turns cleaning up after the cat.

When I told my wife about it, she insisted on being included. Honestly, I can't see a downside.

Lost Words

Do you want to impress people with your vocabulary? Do you just want a word like epalpebrate that perfectly describes your great aunt with no eyebrows? Prontistery has a website full of old words that you just don't hear anymore. They're like snigglets except that people did actually use them at some point.

Now Where Did I Put My Scimitars?

What type of Fae are you?

Worst Dress Habits

Forbes has a list of men's ten worst fashion sins:

1. Pants That Are Too Long/Too Short
2. White Socks With Dress Shoes
3. Mixing Patterns
4. Ties Too Long/Too Short
5. Stained Clothes
6. Waists That Sit Too High/Too Low
7. Scruffy Shoes
8. Wearing Handheld Devices On Your Belt
9. Over-Layering
10. Mismatched Belts And Shoes

These are all classic mistakes, but some issues seem overstated. Does a guy with a stained shirt really need to go buy a new one on his lunch break because a pen leaked? Perhaps for a job interview or a major meeting, but for day-in day-out work that is overkill. Stains happen and your coworkers should understand, if they do not it is more of a reflection on them than a reflection on you.

One last thing that is touched upon, but not suitably explained is the ever-spreading creep of shabbiness that invades your closet. It is like virus. I work in a business casual office and my regular work wear is black oxfords with khaki pants, a collared shirt, and a matching leather dress belt. For a while the oxfords and belt did double duty with my suit, but they always performed their function poorly as regular wear had made them worn in a way that even a coat of polish could not wholly conceal. The best way to prevent its spread is to have dedicated dress clothing. I now have dress shoes and a dress belt that I take special care of and quarantine from my normal business wear items so that they stay nice.

Literary Tradition

There is long literary tradition that it is the clown or fool who tells the truth. ScrappleFace does this for the blogosphere. In print media, it is often cartoons like the one QandO noticed below:

Freewheeling Messerschmidts

Scooter Scoop linked to this video of a German stunt show that featured a three-wheeled Messerschmidt Kabinroller. Unlike the actual cars going up on two wheels, the trike foregos the usual launch ramp and gets onto two wheels the old fashioned way.