Who Do People Say That I Am?

After 8 years, this is what they say.  Hey, 1 out of 10 ain’t bad!  12 days, America…12 days.

Who Throws a Shoe?

Doubtless, you’ve probably read this story.

I find it humerous for a couple of reasons:

1. Bush has earned nothing less than the experience of having shoes thrown at him by Iraqi journalists.
2. To throw a shoe at someone in the middle of a press conference takes guts.
3. I can’t watch the footage or read the story without thinking of a certain Austin Powers scene.

That really hurt!  I’m going to have a lump there, you idiot!  Who throws a shoe?!  Honestly!  You fight like a woman!

My Brother, the Swimmer

Along with the rest of the country, I’ve been watching Michael Phelps on TV for the past couple of weeks.  The guy is amazing, no doubts there.  However, the thought that continues to recur in my mind is how much he looks like my little brother.  Maybe it is just me, but I seriously feel that the two could have been separated at birth.  What do you think?

Happy Codex Sinaiticus Day!

Not many people have ever heard of Codex Sinaiticus…even fewer are excited that 1/4 of it is now available online.  Let me say that I, for one, am excited.  Cheers.

Codex Sinaiticus Online!

Wikipedia

Memorial Day: Look Forward As Well

For the past couple of years, I’ve been a bit conflicted about Memorial Day as a national holiday. Every year, millions of Americans take the day off and enjoy being able to do so. This is not, by any means, a bad thing. We should be reminded of those things that we take for granted; having a job, taking time off from that job, being able to travel on the highway without significant fear of being roadblocked and robbed at gunpoint. Our country, however flawed it might by, affords us certain privileges that we all too often forget.

So, my conflict does not come from questions of whether or not we should enjoy our freedom. What is not to enjoy? As well, in keeping with the holiday, remembering those who have died for our freedom is not a bad thing.

My conflict concerning memorial day comes mostly from what we have made out of it in recent years. It has become a sort of military pride celebration in which we not only remember those who have died in the past, but we glorify (perhaps even deify) the wars that killed them. Memorial Day is a day for celebrating freedom as well as for remembering who we have to thank for it. However, as we celebrate, perhaps we should also look to the future and think of ways to prevent more from dying.

Glorifying the military might of the United States can be a dangerous thing. Yes, we have fought wars in the past that have been for the greater good, and we have done so with the greatest intentions. However, we forget that, while we continue to enjoy freedom, our wars have transformed functioning nations into ruined police states. We do not fight wars on our own turf, and thus it may be difficult to remember that we are elsewhere taking freedom away from persons who deserve it as much as we do.

So, on this Memorial Day, let us indeed remember those who have died and let us continue to support those who volunteer for service, but let us also try and imagine a world characterized by peace rather than by war. Let us imagine a world where armies become unnecessary, or at least a world in which they are bored and can find absolutely nothing to do. On this Memorial Day, let us remember those who have fallen, but let us work towards a world in which others will not.

Its Your Mess…You Clean It Up

For at least a month now, there has been a wrecked sailboat sitting on the shore of Lake Michigan. It is an interesting site, and it causes almost everyone on the road to slow down a bit and stare. Apparently it attracts large quantities of photographers in the morning, who like to take pictures of it against the rising sun. Every time I drive by it, I halfway expect for it to be gone. After all, it can’t sit there forever, can it? Today, on my way back from the coffee shop, I noticed it was still there and I figured it was high time that I figured out what the deal was. So, I looked it up in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (our newspaper) and found the following article.

Cast away but not forgotten

It is a sad story, involving an old boat, an ambitious man and some ill-positioned rocks. The owner of the boat spent a good deal of time restoring it, with the goal of sailing to Europe to meet his girlfriend. Keep in mind, this is a 34 foot sailboat, not exactly a trans-ocean voyager. Regardless, these details don’t matter because he apparently didn’t spend nearly enough time learning how to sail his prized boat and, on its second voyage, he wrecked it.

Sad as this story may be, it becomes rather entertaining in its aftermath. The boat is still on the shore because no one can figure out what to do with it and, more importantly, whose responsibility it is to get rid of it. The boat itself isn’t worth much, especially after being thrashed by the lake for almost two months. Plus, it seems to be sitting in some sort of “gray area.” The Coast Guard won’t deal with it because it isn’t interfering with other boats, and the Department of Natural Resources claims that it isn’t enough of an environmental hazard for them to get involved. Milwaukee County doesn’t want the responsibility and neither does the state.

It almost sounds like one of those arguments you have with your parents when a sibling spills something on the carpet. “She spilled it, why should I clean it up? Its not my mess, let her do it.” My personal experience has showed me that these arguments rarely endure and inevitably someone is going to get stuck with a mess that isn’t theirs. Currently, a private contractor has been attempting to pull the boat out of the water, but he has only succeeded in removing the mast. Maybe it will be gone by Christmas?

The Extra Hour

I have never been a fan of daylight savings, mostly because I fail to see the larger point.  Also, the turning back or thrusting forward of our clocks tends to make me either late or early to my scheduled obligations.  I generally miss the memo that ‘tonight is the night’ until it is too late.  One of these days, when someone can offer an adequate explanation as to why we still hold to it, other than ‘it has something to do with farmers,’ I might feel differently.  Until that happens, daylight savings time will remain a mystery to me.

Today, however, I had a different experience of this strange phenomenon.  I knew ahead of time that the clocks would be set back an hour, but I realized last night that I had no good reason to wake up on time this morning.  So, I decided that I would leave time alone until I had a reason to grab and use the extra hour.  This afternoon, I was writing a paper (that I have yet to finish) which is due tomorrow.  I’m enjoying the material, but I found myself with a terrible case of writers block as I neared the end of the sixth page.  Around 1:00, I realized that I had an extra hour today, and so I decided to sit down and start a new book.  After an hour of reading, I got up and set all my clocks back.  MAGIC!  All of a sudden, it was 1:00 again and I was back on schedule, only without the writers block!

So, today I found myself in total awe and appreciation of daylight savings time.  Of course, it is now barely 4:00 and the sun is already starting to set.  This could be a slight problem.

What did you do with your extra hour?

Something to Read

Dr. April DeConick is a Professor of Biblical Studies at Rice University in Houston, TX.  I have been reading her blog for the past couple of months, and today I ran across this post that I feel needs to be shared.  It is a response to Joel Osteen, the pastor of a Houston mega-church.  Definitely worth your time.

Here it is

Lectionary Goodness

For those interested, I’ve started the process of translating the weekly lectionary readings. Currently, I’m only engaging the New Testament readings (epistle, gospel), but I’m planning on moving to the Old Testament (both Hebrew and LXX) in the near future. I’m posting my translations on the following website:

A Lectionary Project

A Music Blog?

This isn’t necessarily a music blog, but perhaps it should be. I was looking at my blog stats today, just to see where people are coming from and how they’re managing to stumble upon this page. The results were striking. If you will look at the following image, you will see that the majority of my visitors in the past couple of days have come here by searching the lyrics to that song “Ridin” by “Chamillionare.” I feel special and blessed, although I think the song is pretty ridiculous. For those who missed the post, here you go.