RAGBRAI 2011 Day 4

Something I neglected to mention yesterday was how much we owe to Christine and how grateful I am to her for all her support on the ride.

I had a great beginning to this day. Took ibuprofen for my bottom this morning and was able to pedal like I thought I could.

Today's map

I am very motivated to cycle myself out of traffic. So, leaving Luther and leaving Slater, I really got a great start (for me). Was probably riding in the 20s. Even tagged onto the back of a pace line leaving Slater and was able to hang with them for quite a while because they were actually going too slowly.

Plus, we had an overcast morning that just made it so much nicer to ride.

Going into Elkhart, I felt my rear tire start to thump on every rotation. So I rode it into town and stopped at the first repair tent. Sure enough, tire had blown out (it kind of takes on a zig zag shape, maybe a 'cord' breaks?). No line, got the repair done and headed out, so it was the best possible scenario for needing to change a tire. (I had actually noticed a partial cut in that tire when we left this morning.)

But then, just a few minutes to the west of Elkhart, the same tube blew out. That was really frustrating. I am so tired of repairing this stupid bike. (We had actually left the route at this point to just bike back to our home stay in Granger.) I could have tried to hitch with a support vehicle back into town, or even had Christine drive me back into town and get the tube fixed and finished my ride, but I just didn't care anymore.

I'll try again tomorrow and I'll try to push through some breakage and discomfort, but I just don't care enough this time to push myself to ride all of the real route or all of the real mileage.

Tomorrow's route

Altoona to Grinnell. 57.5 miles. 3,202 feet of climb.

RAGBRAI Update

Ok, first night of Internet since we started. I know many of my fans have been dying for information, so let me try to catch you up a little ;-)

Daily Maps

A little gnarlier data, if desired

First day: climbed 4,298 feet, heat index was over 100. 50 people were treated for heat exhaustion (that we heard of). Felt ok.

Second day: Had a nice, overcast morning to keep temperatures down. Then I broke a spoke in the first town, Elk Horn. It was the best place to break a spoke, but still a pain. Started to fade at the end, but had a nice conversation with a woman from Waverly as we rode into Carroll, so that helped distract me.

Third day: uncomfortable, bad day on the bike. Same, basic heat. My bottom was really sore most of the day, then my little toes started to fall asleep and I had trouble keeping my hands comfortable. Had to take longer breaks. Then, as I was climbing the toughest hill we face this year, I broke a spoke. I doubted more than once that I would be able to finish it without walking, but was able to do it. Not sure how much the broken spoke contributed. The wheel goes out of true and starts to rub against the brake (for those of you who don't know). Christine was able to meet me at a crossroads pretty shortly thereafter.

So then I had to go in to Urbandale tonight (we're staying with Christine's aunt in Granger for the next two nights) to get the spoke repaired. The guys at Bike World were great and I really appreciate them!

Preview of tomorrow, Day Four: similar to today in climb (just a couple big hills). Short: just over 56 miles to ride. We'll see how I do and if I can get a little more comfortable on the bike. I feel like I've got the legs for RAGBRAI, but I'm just having trouble being at ease. Not sure what's different this time. The bike is technically higher quality. I did more training this time, like 100 or 200 miles more. On the downside, I'm 7 years older and 15 pounds heavier. Are those two factors really making it that much worse? I don't know. It's driving me crazy.

Copywrong: The Case of 'Kind of Blue'

Andy Baio captained a tribute album to 'Kind of Blue' done with 8-bit sounds. He carefully licensed all the music. But he didn't think about the cover art and the original photographer sued him. He settled out of court for $32,500.

This story makes me sick. Artists should control their art, of course. But it just seems ethically wrong and legally asinine to punish your fans.

Some of the takedowns and commentary I've read:
+ Andy Baio was sued for Kind of Bloop
+ Why fair use doesn't work unless you've got a huge war-chest for paying lawyers
+ Bescizza tweeted some good stuff on 6/23
+ Kind of A Dick Move
+ The MetaFilter thread (if you want to go completely down in the weeds, though there are some interesting comments by mathowie and waxpancake (Baio himself) before the thread goes to complete noise.

Champion's League Final

The F-35 Disaster

F-35: Dodging One Bullet, Taking Another.

And, finally, Lockheed can expect fallout from McCain's apparent belief the company is avoiding shouldering any of the cost overrruns caused by its poor performance on the program. Carter said the current cost-plus development contract only allows the Pentagon to withhold awards fees. But the contract is being renegotiated...

Is there any way to interpret the F-35 program as something other than an unmitigated disaster?

We will never build the quantities necessary to approach any economies of scale and all the other savings that were promised have already evaporated.

Then, to add insult to injury, LockMart continues to profit from American taxpayers.

I used to think F-35 was too big to fail, but now it's starting to look like the failure will be too large to salvage. We will start to lose our international 'partners' and end up building many fewer jets. Will anyone else (besides the Israelis, who we basically give them to), hold out to buy any?

I'm starting to think the B will get canceled outright. Will any Cs get built or will the Navy go with Super Hornets til they can get to UCAV? Probably some As will get built, at least.

Can a good argument be made that we should just cancel the whole thing and make do with upgrades to what we have? Would it be possible to re-open the 22 line? Can we stomach doing any more business with LockMart?

What was the mistake? Overreach. We thought we could do more, more cheaply, than we really could. In hindsight, we never should have tried to build the 'Joint' -- three versions with a common planform. We certainly should have built more 22s. We should have stuck with more incremental developments of 16s and 18s and UAVs.

The Pentagon and LockMart are probably equally to blame, but only one of those is profiting in the midst of this disaster.

I said it before, I'll say it again: it's a good thing we probably won't be fighting with a near-peer air force any time soon.

Our Elvish Names

I've known about Now We Have All Got Elvish Names since at least September 30, 2005. It came back up when I linked Speak geek: The world of made-up language in this Facebook post, partially in reference to the ElvenSpeak iPhone app.

As it says in the post linked above, I've known for at least five years that my Elvish name is 'Eruntalon'. Christine asked what hers would be and, based on NWHAGEN, I derived 'Christ-follower' into Eruhilyë. Then Christine asked about Elizabeth and Wil.

That's when I found this more expansive reference for Elvish names (linked from the bottom of NWHAGEN) by someone with more ability than me: quenya lapseparma. So, new method: look at both references for your names. If there are multiple choices, pick the one you like most (unless you have the Quenyan chops to do better ;-)

For myself, I'm sticking with 'Eruntalon', though quenya lapseparma says 'Erufailon' is better.

For Christine, she can go with my humble 'Eruhilyë', or choose from these options:

CHRISTIAN (m.) - from Latin 'follower of Christ, christian'; based on Helge Fauskanger's suggestion "Christ" could be translated as Laivino (from *laivina) "Annointed one", so Laivino itself or Laivindil ("Christ-friend") or Laivindur ('"Christ-servant"); in the meantime Tolkien's own translation of 'Christ' was published: Elpino, so we perhaps can derived an adjective from it: *elpinoina "christian", so Elpinoino

CHRISTIANA, CHRISTINA (f.) - fem. form of CHRISTIAN (q.v.), thus Laivine; or Elpinoine (see CHRISTIAN)

Elizabeth:

ELISABETH (f.) - Erunyauve, see NWHAGEN; it might be 'god's promise/oath'; Eru "god", vanda "oath", so Eruvande

Wil:

WILLIAM (m.) - Old Ger. 'will + helmet'; níra, selma "will"; cassa "helmet", thus Níracas or Selmacas (-casso in declinations), another possibility might be Mercas (with an element mer- "wish, desire, want"; this name is already used)

There you have it :-)

Four Chord Song Omnibus

I knew, of course, that you could play an absurd amount of popular songs by knowing just a few chords. That's what made it so easy for me to learn to play a little guitar 20 years ago: you learn the most common chords, let's say four, in the most common keys, maybe three or four of them. I only had to practice for about an hour a day for a week to be able to make the changes in rhythm (I already had a strong vocal music background and some instrumental work) and I was able to play along with many common songs.

My friend, Jeff, mentioned the 4 Chord Song, so I looked it up on YouTube:



Funny stuff.

Then I started to dig a little deeper:

The Axis of Awesome: Four Chords Song

"Four Chords" is one of The Axis of Awesome's best-known works. It is a medley of popular songs that all follow the pop-punk chord progression. The work is an attempt to outline the perceived formulaic nature of popular music. The "Four Chords", in Roman numeral analysis, are written I - V - vi - IV.[6] The band also uses a vi - IV - I - V, usually from the song "Save Tonight" to the song "Torn". The band plays the song in the key of E so the progression they use is E-B-C♯m-A. Many of the songs featured in the medley have been transposed from their original keys.

The medley of songs that composes the "Four Chords" song is continually varied, often incorporating new releases. The Axis' song "Birdplane" is always included (itself a parody of the Five for Fighting song "Superman"). The melody usually starts with Journeys Don't stop believing.

Pop-punk chord progression

In the form vi-IV-I-V this was named sensitive female chord progression by Boston Globe Columnist Marc Hirsh[2]. In C major this would be Am-F-C-G. Hirsh first noticed the chord progression in the song "One of Us" by Joan Osborne.[3] He claims he then began to notice the chord progression in many other songs. He named the progression because he claimed it was used by many members of the Lilith Fair in the late 1990s.[2]

Both are a variant of the doo-wop I-vi-IV-V "Heart and Soul" progression, familiar from songs such as "Earth Angel" and "Donna"[2].

50s progression

As you can see, you can play a ton of songs with just four chords in these three progressions.

I am very tempted to make a comprehensive list of the songs in these categories, or at least the ones I like. This would be one place to start: Axis of Awesome 4 chords song list?

This video takes the form of an expose, listing many of the songs with the pop-punk and sensitive female progressions:



Of course, there are different melodies and instrumentation. And I'm actually inclined to marvel at the flexibility of basic pop structure rather than belittle it.

And here's the funny Pachelbel Rant:



Hard to believe: a useful YouTube comment:

it's funny, but he's technically wrong towards the end. Pachelbel's Canon goes I, V, vi, iii, in keeping with baroque chord conventions.  Most of the songs he plays are I, V, vi, IV, which is a different phenomenon all together.

Will May 21 Be TEOTWAWKI? I Feel Fine.

I don't know about you, but we've got billboards all over Columbia that say Judgment Day is coming May 21st. The Bible guarantees it!

For our part, we're pretty sure Judgment Day is not May 21st. Elizabeth adapted the lyrics of It's The End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) tonight to accommodate May 21st. Point is, we're not worried

Turns out Family Radio Worldwide and Harold Camping are behind it.

It's pretty clear from the Bible that all Christians will be strange to the world in some ways. I wish some of us didn't have to add to the non-Jesus-originating strangeness. Kind of hard to sort it all, I bet, if you're not familiar with the different kinds of craziness. In my opinion, it makes the Christians look even worse for unnecessary reasons. It's sort of like friendly fire.

Just to confuse the issue, I do believe Jesus will come back one day and that the end of the world will come and justice will roll down like mighty waters. And I'm ready.

But I'm about 99.99% sure the Bible doesn't guarantee the May 21st date.

(Also, to confuse matters more, Camping believes in the 'rapture' and I do not. There could be a rapture, but I don't think there will be.)

The Young Victoria and More

Christine and I watched this tonight for Mother's Day. She loved it and I liked it.

One of my favorite parts was the repeated use of Zadok the Priest, which I think we sang my freshman year in high school (1986).



The Young Victoria has nine clips from the movie (including the trailer).

The Wikipedia article on Queen Victoria makes the movie sound pretty authentic, which is nice for a change. Unfortunately, though the couple was shot at, the movie has Albert actually getting hit.

Short Review of Thor (no spoilers)

Stuff I liked:

• fine for kids
• reasonably humorous
• Asgard - planet/dimension treatment
• Loki 'origin'

The reviews I've seen act like it's not bold enough, too boring, maybe not edgy enough. I'm fine with that for the tradeoffs. A nice, family popcorn movie.

I was really disappointed with Natalie Portman's character, as you can see from this post on Facebook:

Pathetic female physicists in movies:

Denise Richards, The World is Not Enough
Elisabeth Shue, The Saint
Natalie Portman, Thor

NP's character was probably my least favorite part of Thor, probably at least half-due to writing and direction.

You should still see it. Wil and I are going tonight :-)

Osama bin Laden Is Dead

A few thoughts.

1. I'm glad. Part of me wants to celebrate ObL burning in hell right this minute.

2. However, I know there are Christian reasons to not be glad.

3. Furthermore, my understanding of Hell, especially following Tim Keller following CS Lewis, is a state for people who reject God to be away from Him forever. And God is love. So, it's not quite the 'happy' image of ObL roasting and brings home the eternal consequences of all of our decisions.

4. As I said in this Facebook post, it makes me sick that ObL was living in comparative comfort, including with one of his wives (so he got to have regular sex). I begrudge him every need and luxury.

5. I regret so much about our mishandled responses to 9/11 -- not so much attacking the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, but how we screwed them up. Too many Americans and Afghans and Iraqis lost their lives or their loved ones on account of our mistakes.

6. And, as I said on this Facebook thread, many of the things that we fought for and have tried to accomplish will likely be short-changed and squandered. What are the chances of a decent outcome in Iraq, not to mention Afghanistan and Pakistan?

That's it for now.

Sermon notes: He Came to Himself by Tim Keller

Original Series Name: The Fellowship of Grace (original name)
New Series Name: The Prodigal God

He Came to Himself
Luke 15:11-20

A story about the meltdown of community and its restoration. Family is the most basic human community.
To ask for your inheritance when your father is still alive is to wish him dead.

The Importance of Repentance
'Came to his senses' is a Semitic idiom that refers to repentance
If you want the power and love of God to explode into your life, the fuse is repentance.
You notice how often Jesus says 'repent and believe the Gospel'
'If you don't repent, I don't have anything to give you.'
Martin Luther's 1st of 95 theses: 'Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.'
'All of life is repentance.'
Lord Byron: 'The weak alone repent'
What the world thinks about repentance: it's a sign of weakness, it's an experience of disempowerment, it's an aberration - you hope it hardly or never happens
Luther says the opposite. Repentance is a sign of strength. Do you realize how full of joy you have to be, how loved you have to feel, how strong spiritually and emotionally you need to be in order to repent at the drop of a hat when you do something wrong?

--Yes, I do because I so seldom have that strength!

The inability to repent is a sign of weakness.
Who do you agree with? Luther and the Bible or Byron and the world?

Repentance brings liberation. Finally free from pretense and evasion. Free from the need to always win every argument, from the need to defend yourself, from the need to expose others, to show other people 'you're not so great'.
A repentance person is vulnerable and happy to do it. 'Yes, I was wrong. Let's make it right.' Quick to repent. Joyful in repentance. It's liberation. I don't have to control what everybody thinks.

In fairness, there really are two kinds of repentance.
2 Cor 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret. But worldly sorrow brings death.

The Anatomy of Repentace
what did the young man in the parable do right?
1. came to his senses
biggest problem sins are ones you don't see. you're in denial. the human heart runs on denial the way my car runs on gas. coming to your senses happens to you. wrongdoing sets up strains that lead to breakdown. when we come to our sense because of pain, we can repent.
anyone who sees themselves clearly knows we don't always see ourselves clearly. they come circumstantially, not at our command.
what did the younger brother do right?
realized that first he sinned against God
Psalm 51: against you only have i sinned
whatever sin you've done, primarily you've sinned against the goodness and greatness of God.
what wakes us up to what is wrong with us? pain.
and what is wrong with us is a form of self-centeredness.
when the pain comes, it is possible for 'repentance' to be not a change from self-centeredness but a deeper kind. it is possible for 'repentance' to be self-absorbed
story of manipulative husband. he was really upset -- for himself
beautiful Charnock quote: 'i have offended a god who has the deportment of a friend'
How could I treat God so badly given all that He has done for me? How can I break His heart?

'i have sinned against you. i am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
no blame-shifting. takes responsibility.

The Key to Repentance
what didn't he do?
make me like one of your hired men.
NB: this is an illustation of God's love. not all of it applies to our human relationships. eg, if we were the younger son, we should try to make things right, try to pay back. restitution is appropriate in human relationships.
but, in this story, the son's approach to repentance, if it's ours with God, is totally wrong.
religion v. Gospel
religion: 'if i have a good record, then God will bless me'
in religion, repentance is a disaster. it's weak. it separates you from your source of power.
it's a form of atoning for sin. self-flagellation. loathing. bent way of trying to get good record back. 'surely only a good person would think he's so bad, right?'

the father is watching for his son
does not allow working way back in or abjectness
God's love empowers the repentance, makes first part of son's speech easier
in the Gospel, repentance connects you more deeply to your source of joy and power. it's Jesus' record, not ours.
amazing that Jesus told this story, when that was not how Jesus was received by God on the Cross

you're so hopeless, Jesus had to die for you. it's humbling and keeps us from thinking too highly of ourselves, sins of pride.
other times, i feel like i'm not valuable, but the Gospel affirms us: Jesus loved us and valued us and died for us and that affirms us. fights sins of self-hatred.

The Kind of Community that Results From Repentance
1. if 'coming to our senses' doesn't necessarily happen on command, if we sometimes need to be brought to our senses, then what kind of community do we need to be in?
Odysseus had himself lashed to the mast.
too many of us are simply church consumers. we don't join. we don't take a vow that members (elders, officers, pastors, friends) who see us going crazy can confront us. and if not, then you don't understand repentance yet. a Gospel Christian understands that sometimes you're going to be out of your head and need to be brought to your senses. sometimes we say 'tie me to the mast and wait 'til I go sane'
you say 'i've been in a church where authority was abused'
well, there are quack doctors, but you don't swear off anti-biotics.
in a repentant community, any person trying to help you will be gentle and not give up on you
don't you want to be in a community like that? truth and love? no abuse, but no neglect of people who are have lost their senses, either.

Various and sundry Keller stuff

Yes, I'm on quite a Keller kick these days. Hopefully it's not idolatry ;-)

+ How Timothy Keller Spreads the Gospel in New York City, and Beyond, The Atlantic

+ Tim on MSNBC's 'morning joe', What is Christ's appeal in 21st century

+ Tim on Fox News: What is the True Word of Jesus?

Interestingly, in this one, the interviewer is a member of Keller's church.

+ Probably will interest only me: pdf of Keller's sermon notes -- abridged and somewhat cryptic.

+ The preachers Tim listens to on his iPod while he's jogging.

Sermon notes: Sin as Slavery by Tim Keller

Sermon Series: The Faces of Sin
Sin as Slavery (The mp3 can be streamed or downloaded for free here)
Num 11:4-6, 10-20

Notes preceded by '--' are my thoughts.

--God Sends Quails, The 77s
'you failed, you spit out manna and God sends quails'

why when we know what is right to do, don't we?
all religions basically agree on right behavior
the main reason for our problems is that we don't live that way
what is it about the human condition that we can know exactly what we're supposed to do and the consequences when we don't and we still do the wrong thing?
--and, a little more disturbingly, we go to great lengths to convince ourselves that those behaviors are not the right ones, after all
we are slaves to sin. sin is not just an action, it's a power.
every sinful action has destructive power on the faculty that engaged in it: reason, emotions, will

the Israelites want to go back to Egypt
that's insane
--in the same way, we trick ourselves into going back to slavery
'what rational person says 'there was an upside.'?'
they're spiritual slaves, powerless to do what's best for them.
so are we
Rom 7 -- i am sold as a slave under sin
if you're not aware of your spiritual slavery, your moral ambition is too low
'i challenge you to live be the Golden Rule for 12 hours'
--we all agree it's a nice idea, but few of us really try concertedly to live it out
if you think you can do any good you would want to, you're not trying very hard

structure of the slavery
sin undermines ability to do right
craving overwhelms reason
--God turned them over to their desires
addiction pattern
every sinful action becomes an addiction
3 parts of addiction cycle
1. distress
choose to deal with agent
agent promises transcendence and freedom, sense of liberation and escape
tolerance develops. the more you do, the more you need. your emotions are shriveling up.
2. denial
rationalization. can't think objectively
3. dissolves and destroys willpower
trying to deal with distress with very thing that caused distress
thinking disobeying God will bring you freedom is taking your freedom

sin is craving something more than God, living for something more than God.
there's a tolerance effect in life: desired career pales. marriage cannot satisfy us in place of God
emotions shrivel. mind shrivels.
Aldous Huxley is honest: i wanted there to be no God b/c i wanted to sleep around. philosophers aren't objective. i chose my atheism as an act of sexual liberation
holding a grudge rots your mind. you have to feel morally superior to that person.
will shrivels
Jonathan Edwards: sin turns the heart into a fire and there's never been a fire that said 'enough fuel, i'm satisfied'. in the same way, there's never been a heart that said 'i've had enough success, love, approval, comfort'.
what do i tell myself would make me happy if only i had it? shows your idol, your slavery.
the larger the fire grows, the more fuel, including oxygen, it wants

how are we healed?
few good examples in this passage, but some insights
God says 'You've rejected me'
God performs an intervention
we need waking up
our real problem is God is not burning at the center of our lives
there's no bigger slave than the people who don't know they're slaves
'you will loathe the meat b/c you have loathed Me'
we can't stop ourselves by willpower or trying harder
we need an appetite for God, tasting God.
beyond believing and obeying
taste and see that the Lord is good
we need great worship, as much as possible
you can't have quality time with God without quantity time
we need a new fire that says 'if only, i saw the Lord. if only i could feel Him to be as great as i know Him to be'
--and we can remember back to the times when He has shown Himself great to us
the reason nothing else tastes is you haven't tasted that the Lord is good
and there is no tolerance effect
His mercies are new every morning!

we need a real, better-than Moses
Moses wanted to die rather than bear the burden of the people
Hebrews 3: there's a better-than-Moses
Jesus was willing to take the burden and die thereby
if we know the Truth and continue in it, It will set us free

Sermon notes: Sin as Predator by Tim Keller

Sermon Series: The Faces of Sin
Sin as Predator by Tim Keller
Genesis 4:1-16, Cain and Abel

What's wrong with us, the human race? The evil we are capable of is terrifying.
'Terminator' -- Characters keep underestimating the predatory power of the Terminator.

1. 'Sin is crouching at your door.'
Sin is what's wrong with us.
Sin hides itself.
'crouching', like leopards and tigers (in the Hebrew)
crouches in a kind of hiding, taking on a smaller profile
Our sin looks smaller than it is. We rationalize it. There's a monster in the middle of our ordinary lives.
both Cain and Abel bring offering ('minha' in Hebrew, used of dedications (v. commonly taught need for blood)).
like an engagement ring. expensive token of whole being
'i give you this ring and with all that i am and all that i have i honor you'
unless we back up worship with our whole life, it's not love, it's bribery
1 Jn 3:12: Abel's deeds were holy and Cain's were not
Cain is like the average churchgoer
doesn't give God everything. ordinary, half-hearted religion
Cornelius Plantinga's Not the Way It's Supposed to Be
Sin is treating yourself as first cause and God is accessory.
ordinary half-heartedness and absolutely infernal
'i deserve a better life than this!'
in this envy is hidden murder.
Eichmann and Nuremberg trials: terrifying because evil is ordinary. we wish it was only in monsters, but it's not. 'banality of evil'
FDR didn't believe reports coming out of Europe. was recommended Dorothy Sayers and Kierkegaard on original sin.
your biggest sins looks smaller to you than anyone else.
every grudge is murder in a little ball. it wants to be murder.
every lust is adultery in a little ball. it wants to be adultery.
every instance of envy wants to be robbery
sin says 'i'll just stay in the corner. i wont hurt you.'
we tolerate it.
'have quit with sin,' said the old Puritans
sin is coiled in a little ball
you think you can handle it, but it will not stay in a corner

2. Sin is powerful
'It's desire is to have you.'
Sin is not done with you after you are done with it.
Sin takes on a being and life of its own that will chew and devour you.
when you lie, you're not done with lying. you have to lie again. and you will be lied to.
sin has an addictive power. not all addictions are sins, but all sins are addictions.
it's easier to do it the next time.
at first the Nazis killed the Jews because they hated them, then they hated them because they killed them.
you have to keep hating to justify your murder
East of Eden
sin is not just wrong, it's self-damaging, which means it's stupid.
God is not mocked.
liars are lied to. cowards are deserted. haters are hated. gossipers are gossiped about.
The Terminator is after you.

3. There is hope for the defeat of sin.
'you must master it'
God appeals to Cain. he asks him. and not for information. God already knows. He's giving a chance for repentance.
to Adam and Eve: where are you?
to Jonah: do you do well to be angry?
to Cain: where is your brother?
your real enemy is not Able. your real problem is not what he or I [God] have done to you. your real problem is your sin
you're not miserable because of what has happened to you, you're miserable because of what's in you. you're not a victim. there's hope if you can take responsibility.
God says to us: why are you cast down and angry? yes, some bad things might have happened. but you're miserable b/c of your response to what's been done to you. self-pity, anger, bitterness, refusal to forgive, pride, hurt feelings, insistence that certain things (idols) will save you.
repentance is the only hopeful answer
God gives Cain one more chance to repent.
Cain says 'am i Abel's babysitter?'
'Abel's blood cries out to Me from the ground.'
every human life is valuable. our blood cries out to God and He cannot let it pass b/c that would be unjust.
what if Cain had repented?
what if we repent? 'my main problem in life is my sin.'
God takes us, also, to a pool of blood, but it's not Abel's
Abel was the first of pure people who show up the half-hearted
and Jesus was the ultimate Abel because he was perfect
Hebrews 12.24: Jesus cries out: Sin must be paid. I have paid.
'i'm religious, but not fanatical.' watch out, Cain.
when we repent, God takes us to Jesus' blood
the mark of Cain preserves us from getting what we deserve until we die so we have a chance to repent.

Where Does Home Field Advantage Come From?

Interesting excerpt in Sports Illustrated from new book Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won. ESPN calls it 'Freakonomics for sports', which makes the book sound like it's right up my alley, and I certainly enjoyed the part I read. Unfortunately, SI doesn't make it's articles available for free on the web anymore, so I can't link it for you. Here's the Wikipedia summary and some related resources:

+ Home advantage

Sports Illustrated, in a 17 January 2011 report, reported that home crowds, rigor of travel for visiting teams, scheduling, and unique home field characteristics, were not factors in giving home teams an advantage. The journal concluded that it was favorable treatment by game officials and referees that conferred advantages on home teams. Sports Illustrated stated that sports officials are unwittingly and psychologically influenced by home crowds and the influence is significant enough to effect the outcomes of sporting events in favor of the home team.^[3]

+ More on home field advantage and why the price of beer at Wrigley is the largest influence on the Cubs' financial success: A Conversation With Tobias Moskowitz

+ Book excerpt: Wertheim's Scorecasting

+ The curse of the No. 1 draft pick

STS-133 Amalgamation Post

Had a chance to see STS-133 launch with a press credential, which was most excellent.

Most of my stuff was over on Facebook, and mostly in an album, so here's a link: STS-133 Facebook Album

I also wrote three posts for Aviation Week. Here they are:

+ View from the Cape
+ Robonaut Is Ready for Launch
+ Discovery STS-133 Launches After Brief Hold

My friend, Heather's Flickstream of the launch: Spacegasm 2011

And new friend Rick Mann's Flickrstream: STS-133

Nietzsche, Nihilism and More!

My friend, Curtis Gale Weeks, picked up on a Facebook post of mine about Nietzsche. After a few exchanges, he went far beyond my humble beginning in this really large post: The Worldviewer in the World.

For some reason, TypePad won't accept my comment (too long? html?). That's ok. As it got longer, I planned on copying it over here anyway. It's almost impossible that anyone besides Curtis and I will read it, but here it is for posterity.

stream of consciousness comment:

dude, how long is this thing?! ;-)

self/world: yes, a shocking number of people don't at least have a working understanding of the objectivity/subjectivity issues wrangled in modernism/pomo. that said, i work on the assumption that physical objectivity is trustworthy about 99% of the time. that number falls precipitously when it moves into less 'scientific' areas like psychology, sociology, philosophy, etc.

i get the purpose of your WOODA and don't disagree, but wonder if it could benefit from Occam's Razor...

right: naive realism is a big problem. i'm continually surprised at how many people trained in science don't have this basic concept and the criticism thereof as a critique. NR, in many ways, gets us the horrors of the 20th century, including 2 world wars, the Holocaust and, to overlap a little, Hitler, Stalin and Mao.

then again, maybe it's not modernism, strictly speaking, that is the problem, but more uncritical modernism, or naive realism. we get a lot more skewed by our self-limited/interested opinions and presuppositions (limits of human psychology) than any legitimate quantum objectivity concerns. one example from my quotidian work: all of the hubris, politics, etc. that make us unable to procure military equipment on time and on budget.

i'm inclined to think that, for all our speculation in the subjective fields, it's largely moot (using the term strictly): we can argue about it forever without much progress. sure, the analysis is worth it, but you'll likely not convince an opponent, and there we go. most objective progress will be made in more-objective domains. in subjective areas, have we really made much progress as a species? sure, we have a thin veneer of civility sometimes. some places we have made progress with 'liberal' law, etc. but are people more moral than 4000 years ago? more noble? of course, ethics may be the second most esoteric subject (the prize reserved for theology ;-)

right: the funny thing is, naive realism is so easily destroyed. if only they'd read the critiques ;-)

ahh, the sweet Danish prince. i was a lot more into him when i was young and brooding ;-)

Second, the attempt to avoid the recursive tautological dilemma of naïve realism invariably leads to a presumption of the existence of an extra-real, because outside the objective reality, first cause or prime mover; i.e., to avoid U=U and its tautological insufficiency vis-à-vis meaning and value, a meaningful G in some form is imagined to exist outside “the rest” of objective reality that will give meaning to the World. These in conjunction will lead to a philosophical idealism in practice, or to philosophical subjectivity misconstrued as objectivity, or else to philosophical relativism — i.e., ultimately to nihilism, since meaning and value, rather than existing inherently in objective reality, will be found in extra-real or imaginary realities, subjective meanings, imagined relationships, and so forth, and these may begin to appear arbitrary.

hmm. do i agree? i happen to believe in an extra-real, but is that necessarily my guarantee of any objective world? i believe there is an objective world (realism metaphysic) but am skeptical (epistemology) about our ability to know it (in the justified true belief sense). therefore, am in on the hook for your criticism here? they don't seem to apply to me, though maybe it is arbitrary (unprovable, philosophically) in the end. i'd be ok with that ;-)

N's 'God is dead', as you describe it, is, of course, very valuable.

so, which of these labels do we apply to Nietzsche? was he just a critic (valuable, but limited) or did he espouse something? does his philosophy have positive, constructive content?

Notes: The Problem with Sparta

Ok, I give up. I was going to write a full-fledged paper on this, then I got three new video games for Christmas. Time to just cut bait.

So here are some of the ideas and notes, for posterity.

The Problem with Sparta (and Greece)

References
300 (original graphic novel by Frank Miller and better-known movie)
Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield
The Peloponnesian War, Thucydides
A War Like No Other, Victor Davis Hanson
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea, Thomas Cahill

The fiction glorifies Sparta while the non-fiction is more critical than laudatory. I was struck by how much the fictional Sparta, in three stories I really love, did not match the history I'd been studying.

Did Pressfield make his story more palatable to his readership by soft-pedaling Helot slavery, radical conservatism and aristocracy, oligarchy and homosexuality and pederasty?

We moderns are very critical of the real, historical Sparta. Insofar as it stands in for Greece in the fiction above, it's an inaccurate portrayal. To say nothing of all the problems with our view of the Golden Age of Athens...

A Few Reviews

Happened across some Orson Scott Card reviews recently that I liked pretty well. Here they are:

Strokes and Scott Pilgrim

Tangled, Conversations, Gelato, Zagat

Prince of Persia, Medium Season Finale

Tame Dragons and Hornblower (How to Tame Your Dragon and Horatio Hornblower)

Trying to Get My Mind Around WikiLeaks

My initial reaction is that WikiLeaks isn't that bad, and may ultimately be good.

For an opinion piece in this vein, read Why WikiLeaks Is Good for America (thought, ultimately, I don't consider just America my scope).

My friend, Ray's post on Facebook, was the first opinion that pushed me to consider the alternative. He said 'To be clear - Wikileaks is not a "whistleblower." It's a fence - an organization that facilitates the transfer of stolen property for personal gain: fame, fortune and notoriety.'

There's no doubt in my mind that Assange is a disturbed glory-seeker. But that doesn't necessarily invalidate the results.

Here's a take I like:

Wikileaks is like Pirate Bay; something that I don't like but have to defend because of the collateral damage caused by attacking it.

Simon Phipps via Tim Bray

(Idle thought: Which is worse? Pirate Bay or WikiLeaks?)

I agree that we're seeing some ugly collateral damage in response to WikiLeaks. The comments from some of our looser-cannon pundits and Congress members alone is probably more embarrassing than any of the cables.

One of the things we're getting via WikiLeaks is actual evidence of the ways in which our 'diplomacy' is unsavory. The realpolitik fits in just fine with Machiavelli. I still find it distasteful.

Tangential note: As a member of the media who's been commenting on WikiLeaked material, we can't afford not to.

On another hand (how many are we up to now?), David Kenner of Foreign Policy says:

In short, these are the most sensible, boring cables that I've come across yet. And I'm at a loss why Julian Assange thinks that they will do anything but increase the American public's belief that its government, by and large, acts responsibly on the international stage.

Random thought: I have noticed that the closer people are to official positions, the more disturbed or angered they seem to be by WikiLeaks.

Tom Barnett says we have bigger fish to fry, and there's no doubt about that.

Secrecy News says 'the scope of government secrecy in the U.S. has exceeded rational boundaries', and I'm pretty sure that's right.

I guess that's about it for me. Help me out. What are your thoughts about WikiLeaks?

Would Greek City-states Be a Better Governmental Model?

Reading about the Greek polis: 'city-state' or even 'citizen-state'.

I stipulate that federalism has been best for the US up to now. Hamilton's success is obvious, in my opinion. Hard to think our country would have risen to such great heights with Jeffersonian ideals.

However, I do think to continue in strength, we're going to have to start getting smaller, to devolve decision-making and spending to more local levels, as small as possible, really.

At the same time, I think there's a fairly good chance that Stephenson's enclaves will also eventually come to pass, whether we like it or not.

The US would be best-served by more local government, or at least engagement, but will we really be able to pull it off?

It's certainly possible without a Constitutional convention. All it takes is more people, as many as possible, getting involved in their communities. More local involvement is always good. If we had a movement of local citizen activism, it would certainly change this country more than any national change in political partisan control.

Beyond that, as a Christian, I am also a firm believer in local impact through church involvement and local Christian activity. In fact, that would is my preferred local activism for Christians.

There, I've solved our problems. Live long and prosper ;-)

Barca v. Real Madrid Thoughts

Video highlights

Five-star Barcelona thrash Real Madrid

David Villa strikes twice as slick Barcelona thrash Real Madrid

+ Ronaldo continues to supply evidence that he is a punk.

+ How did so many defenders from the World Cup winners, including the keeper, get totally eviscerated by Barca?

+ David Villa looks like a little nerd. Dang, does he have a nose for the ball. Dude can flat out score (two goals, one assist in this game).

Can We Help Cyber-dissidents?

After reading Digital Weapons Help Dissidents Punch Holes in China's Great Firewall, I can't help thinking that there must be something interested parties can do to help. My thoughts begin along the lines of BOINC or the World Community Grid -- distributed computing like SETI@Home and other similar projects.

The article mentions The Global Internet Freedom Consortium, which promotes several actively-developed software solutions.

I suppose a person could host a run a Tor relay, but that doesn't really answer the mail.

I was thinking about this back during the Iranian protests, too...

What do you think?

Download (and Backup) Your Facebook Content

Got a lot of content on Facebook that you don't have anywhere else? Want a reliable backup?

I first tried SocialSafe, and even paid $3 for an early version, which so far has not worked for me. Trying their latest version right now, which seems to be choking on the size of my Fb footprint.

Then I found out that Fb has provided this functionality for a month now. How did I miss it?! It doesn't promise as much as SocialSafe, but it does deliver. Looks to me like the format you get it in is basic html.

The short, self-explanatory version is: Account > Account Settings > Download Your Information.

More:

Lifehacker: How to Download Your Information from Facebook
Facebook: Download Your Information

Obama on 'The Daily Show'

Just a few thoughts I had, again, mostly random, and am just getting posted.

Watch the video here.

no. not the two toughest years since the Great Depression. (economically, yes)

for me to take you seriously, you have to offer an honest critique of yourself and your work

Obama wants it both ways (a little): we will bring massive change (but it will take some time and there are big challenges so be patient with us). problems in DC are systemic. you can't make sweeping changes with the system close to what it is. you just get the same results eventually (Contract with America eventually sold out, etc)

however, i tend to agree that the economy has been stabilized for a comparatively small price (if his numbers are right. i'm sure every Libertarian has a different story)

such a partisan audience, it's crazy

'is government nimble enough to handle these 21st century crises?' now that is a GREAT question.

Filibuster reform is surely needed.

'Troy' Thoughts

Finally got around to watching Troy after Cory's recommendation and reading the 'Iliad'. A few mostly disconnected thoughts while watching:

1:17--no. Hektor would never have done such an ignoble thing [kill Menelaos while he was fighting Paris].

thought i'd like Sean Been as Odysseus. no. once thought i'd prefer him to Viggo Mortensen for Aragorn. no, too.

you feel bad for Hektor. he wants to live. he wants to see his son grow.

'Sing, O Muse, the anger of Achilleus'

'So they buried Hektor, tamer of horses.'

love the characterization of Achilleus. spot on. killing machine. his battle scenes would have been a little cooler in 300 style.

but Brad Pitt doesn't quite have the acting chops, especially to pull off the scene with Priam.

not bad. hits the right emotional notes.

of course, Achilleus would have never gone for such a gambit [the Trojan Horse] (though i see the need to telescope the action).

Curse Orlando Bloom for his terrible archery form in four movies! ;-)

Overall, good movie. Recommended. Would actually make a decent intro if you were going to read the 'Iliad'.

Confucius: Something More Important than Voting

Yes, voting is important. But it's not the most important way to influence our life together as a nation. Not even close.

Being even more engaged than voting can be good, too. Political action can be a good thing.

But we have the sneaking suspicion that all politicians on both sides are slimy. And the longer they've been in the game, the slimier they seem (in general).

If you share these impressions, you'll agree with me that politics is not going to fix or save any nation.

The twins are studying Confucius, who emphasized that the way we treat one another in our personal relationships shapes our nation most. Respect and love must begin at home with children respecting parents and parents loving and nurturing their children. (Parents should endeavor to be worthy of their children's respect.)

Unsurprisingly, we could make a very similar argument from the thought of both Jesus and Paul. It's fun to reference someone else for a change, though, yes? :-)

(Of course voting is an anachronistic concept with respect to Confucius. But the priority fits with his overall concept of government.)

Mini-Iliad Review: Because You Demanded It!

Thanks to Mark Safranski for 'commissioning' this post and Mike Lotus for encouraging it. Mark has crossposted on his much-more-major-than-mine weblog, Zenpundit.

What makes 'The Iliad' a classic? Why is it classic?

I think the primary answer is simple: it's the characters. If you can hang tough through all of the idiosyncratic flourishes and ornaments and repetitions, the characters are compelling: Achilleus, his anger and character; the comparative nobility of Hektor and Patroklos (both of whom we know are doomed); the vagaries of the gods and their adolescent machinations; the supporting cast of Agamemnon, Menelaos the wronged, two very different men named Aias (Ajax), Diomedes, Aeneas, Odysseus, Nestor, Paris, Helen and Priam. Take these characters and others and mix them with an interesting story and you have a classic that reaches out to us from about the eighth century BC (when it was likely 'composed' (with heavy use of previous, oral sources) by Homer), maybe from as far back as the 12th century BC (maybe the original setting of what has come down to us as The Trojan War). 'The Iliad' still resonates with us today.

One reason 'The Iliad' can still move us is that Homer has done a masterful job of relating the 'accidents' of life. 'Time and chance happen to all men', and people who lived 3000 year ago couldn't deceive themselves about their ability to control life the way we 'modern' people do. Human experience and emotions are often inscrutable. 'Love' (baldly called 'lust' by Homer) can easily destroy. When it occurs in the most influential levels of society, it can draw whole nations into its whirling vortex. Even the love between men in 'The Iliad' can seem illogical (no matter where you come down on the homosexuality question): why does noble Patroklos honor Achilleus literally to the death?

'The Iliad', of course, focuses a lot on war in ways that have become shockingly remote for most of us. Nothing is so susceptible to 'luck' as war. One 'good' soldier gets hit by stray friendly fire and dies instantly. Another 'bad' soldier comes through the whole war unscathed. Consider the hazards of love, life and war in 'The Iliad'. Consider them in our own experience. It makes more sense than many theories to conclude that arbitrary and capricious gods can powerfully affect us.

My final guess (for the purposes of this mini-review) at why 'The Iliad' is a classic is that the poetry is timeless. This is, of course, nearly impossible to take in from one read-through in translation. My friend, Jason, listened to the abridged version and talked about its power. The commentators discuss it quite a bit, from what I can tell. Most of us (who aren't going to pay the price to really test it) are going to have to take this on faith and rate it as we will. Poetry is a dying art, and poetry appreciation is probably in an even worse state.

I wonder what role foreknowledge plays in 'The Iliad'. Many of us know the broad outline of the story going in. If we don't, Homer spills it in short order. Does knowing Achilleus dies shortly after this episode in The Trojan War change our view of him? Do we cut him more slack? How does knowing that Hektor and Patroklos die within the bounds of this story affect us? Or that Odysseus lives? Or that Agamemnon will be murdered in his bath by his wife (he had it coming ;-)?

Something else that stands out about 'The Iliad' is the graphic war imagery. Homer's descriptions almost seem gratuitous when he goes into detail about how one soldier killed another, where the spear penetrated and where it came out, what muscles were severed, what happened to the bowels, teeth or brain. It's probably distasteful to many of us in the 21st century, but I think we can just chalk that up to cultural differences.

My second big question is: what does 'The Iliad' mean? I'm very snobbish about exegesis, especially concerning the Bible (my training, as a former pastor), but including any suitably worthy literature (with concomitant training in British Lit and Analytic Philosophy). Exegesis, in principle, is simple: what was the author trying to communicate to the audience? (So why is good exegesis so hard to find? ;-) If we are to make any meaningful connection to the original work, this is where we have to begin. You can deploy your Reader Response Theory on 'Twilight' or some such drivel, but keep it off my Homer (I told you I'm a snob ;-).

We come to 'The Iliad' at a loss because Homer's values are very different from ours. His presuppositions are vastly different from ours. I have touched on some of these already. The gods can show up at any time and throw any wrench in the works for almost any imaginable reason. We have to take the role of the gods seriously to take Homer seriously. What did their role say about the responsibility of people? Humans retain some responsibility, almost paradoxically. Helen isn't completely off the hook for running away with Paris. Achilleus does not get a complete pass for his anger that causes the deaths of so many Achaean comrades. Agamemnon is not excused for his overbearing pride that contributed to the disagreement with Achilleus. And even noble Hektor faces bouts of inaction and cowardice for which he is not wholly exonerated.

Another value we find hard to understand is the ancient Greek concept of nobility. It's just born there. If you're a shepherd who's not the natural-born son of King Priam and Queen Hekabe, that's all you'll ever be: a shepherd. The main characters are noble; many are first-generation half-deities and most (all?) have divinity in their bloodline somewhere. From our standpoint, Achilleus behaves like a monster, especially in his repeated attempted-desecration of Hektor's body (the gods protect Hektor's body and Achilleus' ultimate honor by preserving Hektor's corpse inviolate in almost the perfect proverbial deus ex machina). He's sacrificed any claim to nobility as far as we're concerned. Not so for Homer and the ancient Greeks; Achilleus retains his nobility, though it is clouded by sins. He receives partial pardons and rationalizations. From our perspective, we view him as maybe the original anti-hero. Homer's view is much less ambivalent, and Achilleus gets away with things for which lesser men would go straight to Tartaros without passing 'Go'. It's a far cry from our 21st century Western concept of nobility and our love of 'rags to riches' fables. It's only riches to riches here (though maybe no one knew through the rags that you were really rich).

So what is Homer's message? The conclusion of my barely-better-than-cursory reading is: Given that nobility and greatness are natural, almost literally gifts of fate (the Fates); and that humans are subject to the whims of the gods; it is best to be brave and seek glory (within reason--with a glance forward to Aristotle's middle-way ethic). How's that going to help you with your job or family? Not much. It's fodder for thinking about societal values and a long way from whether or not to stick it out in your mediocre, going-nowhere job. (It might possibly apply to whether or not you should run away with your neighbor's spouse.)

For most of us, 'The Iliad' is probably a test in proper exegesis more than someplace we should or will go to look for meaning. But maybe that's just my soap box ;-)

This morning's run

Got up at 6 to beat the sun and heat. Wil's taking a break from running, at least for now. Running even as late as 8am has been hard on him. My number one goal is that he enjoy running. I'd rather have him take a break than come to hate it. I went to bed too late, almost 1am, so only working on 5 hours of sleep this morning.

Running this early, I'd forgotten the sun doesn't clear the trees in most of the neighborhood. So this morning was 65 and shady almost the whole time. Blissful.

First great song was 'Wave of Mutilation', tearing through it just like The Pixies.

Second great song was 'All These Things That I've Done'. You know that commercial that Nike used it in? Yep. Turning over just like that, heading up the long hill.

Third great song, to finish: 'We Are the Champions'.

Overall, great change. But also missed having my buddy with me. Ambivalence.