Leo (Messi) the Great

Jason Kottke has a couple of Lionel Messi posts lately that I loved.

First one: All of Lionel Messi's 234 goals

It begins with a YouTube video reflective of the title. My thoughts:


Fascinating video.

The first thing that stands out to me is how quick Leo is on the ball. All things being equal, he can put a great touch on the ball more quickly than you can. If you're the goalie, he can beat you one on one before you can react, the ball passing right beside you or even under your legs.

Second, I would love to see sabermetric-style stats on how many of these he made (some quite difficult) when he had an open teammate. And how many he missed taking difficult shots when he could have passed. I love Messi, but he comes off a little selfish here. Of course, we're not watching a video of his assists, which he's also very adept at.

There's a second, almost throwaway, link at the bottom of this post that I like really well, too: Barcelona's secret to soccer success

(And not just because Pep looks positively cuddly in the accompanying photo ;-)

After reading the article, I requested the author's book, Soccernomics. Looking forward to reading it.

Kottke's second post: Lionel Messi documentary

Most of this stuff I'd already read or seen somewhere. But it gets me thinking: To me, the Champions League is the highest level of soccer right now in the world, better than the World Cup. I understand the argument that Messi hasn't won a World Cup yet. He's played twice and his coaches weren't too smart. I'm not saying you have to cater to him, but you'd be wise to make better use of him.

Further, how does the World Cup of the past compare to today? When Pele and Maradona faced England, Spain, Germany, France and the Netherlands, were they teams full of superstars the way they are today? I don't know. But how can Messi beat one of those teams by himself. Sure, you've also got Gonzalo Higuaín and some other guys who aren't bad, but it's just not the same, is it?

Furthermore, you better believe Pele's and Maradona's World Cup teams revolved around them, from coach to the last man on the roster. Maradona, I'm sure, and probably Pele, took control. That's not Messi's personality. He's a much humbler guy when it comes to demanding from his teammates (he's obviously not humble in how he performs on the pitch ;-)

Extreme Literary Snobbery!

Two quotes I saw recently used for popular purposes, taken completely out of context:

1. On a mug for sale in the Barnes & Noble cafe: 'I have measured out my life in coffee spoons.'

No: this is not a cute little quote about how much we love coffee. It's from 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock', the subject of which epitome of a useless, wasted, ineffectual, small, little life. Is that how you want to 'measure' yourself?

2. Positive Valentine's Day quote: 'You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.'

Yes, it's from the 'dreamy' Mr Darcy in proposing marriage to Elizabeth (we're talking Pride and Prejudice here). But it's his first proposal, when he is intolerably proud (albeit, she is completely prejudiced). Doesn't the quote conjure the whole scene for you and make it unacceptable as a V-Day sentiment?

Flame off ;-)

Can't stop the Linsanity!

It's crazy. All of a sudden, I'm practically a Knicks fan and know something about Tyson, Landry, Steve and Mike.

Even the entire Knicks entry splash page is Linsane!

A lot of these links are coming from my friend, DJ Chuang.





[video] 23-minute interview with Jeremy Lin on MSG

DJ has embedded all 4 parts on one page

I've got it so bad, I also watched the recommended press conference videos of Jeremy and Mike from the last two games!

Liking Jeremy on Facebook (which seems to be mostly just his Twitter feed. But you have this from about a month before he blew up:

Everytime i try to get into Madison Square Garden, the security guards ask me if im a trainer LOL

A couple articles:
+ Faith, sin and Jeremy Lin
+ Jeremy Lin’s bold humility
+ Jeremy Lin challenges stereotypes, as well as defenses

Jeremy Linsanity!

Wow, it's been fun watching Jeremy Lin this week! A few clips and links:





Tyson Chandler: Jeremy Lin's new best friend ;-)

'I'm riding him like freakin' Secretariat' -- Mike D'Antoni





Lin’s Appeal: Faith, Pride and Points

The Jeremy Lin Show at MSG

At 3:31 the Lakers need a timeout because of Jeremy Lin! :-)

Lin Keeps His Cool; Around Him, Heads Spin

Jeremy Lin Is No Fluke (note: Nate Silver, noted stats guru, wrote this one)

No kidding: I just added a Jeremy Lin section to my Google News :-)

Eric Metaxas Omnibus

Kurt Graves sent me Eric Metaxas' speech at the National Prayer Breakfast. It was a revelation.

Metaxas is actually not new to me. I first heard his name when my kids were still watching VeggieTales. Yep, he worked for them. I guess the name just stuck. Because when I heard it again later in relation to his Wilberforce biography, I perked up. Not sure what the order was on Socrates in the City or the Bonhoeffer biography, but I tracked them.

You're going to think I'm exaggerating, but I say this advisedly: I don't think I've ever watched a better speech. The combination of humor, challenging truth in the face of disagreement, and humility (Metaxas seemed genuinely honored to address Obama) is just stunning. I've watched it twice and I may watch it again.

Denny Burk nails it (quoted by Justin Taylor):

He had some serious and prophetic words about the humanity of the unborn. He even spoke about having a biblical view of sexuality. All of this with the President sitting just a few feet away. This was a courageous talk delivered with winsomeness and joy.

I sincerely hope that you can find the time to watch this speech. It begins below right where Eric's speech starts.

In the video, Eric tells a little of his conversion story and then points to more on his website. Here's the additional video:

Eric Metaxas Conversion Story

Some highlights from Eric's biography: son of European immigrants, went to Yale.

Interesting factoid: his popular children's book It’s Time to Sleep, My Love is the unacknowledged basis for the much-more-popular book Go the F*** to Sleep.

And does anyone else think he uncannily resembles Al Franken?

2012 Annual Loot List

Here are most (all?) of the gifts I got for Christmas and my birthday this year. Christine, as always, is the MVP for buying and liaising with other buyers ;-). My mom and sister also do a very nice job. No men are MVPs ;-)

Ministries of Mercy, Tim Keller
The Meaning of Marriage, Tim and Kathy Keller
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, Eric Metaxas
The Daily Message (audiobook), Eugene Peterson
The Cross and the Prodigal, Kenneth Bailey
Droid X bedside dock/charging station
Coupon books from the twins
New basketball (a little early)
Wartburg soccer shirt (a little early ;-)
New shin guards
Adidas 'slide' sandals
1 package of York Peppermint Patties
Armband case for Droid X
Amazon gift cards

Foreign aid analysis from the Center for American Progress

Interactive Map: Foreign Aid Analysis Made Easy
Saw this linked on Facebook by Cody Postier.

Liberal think tank, so I'm guessing they're against all of the >$1B foreign military aid and for most of the other kinds of aid :-)

What are the big dollar items?

• $2.62B total funding to Afghanistan
• $2.22B military funding to Israel
• $1.45B total funding to Pakistan (I include all funding here since most of this aid is a product of the war in Afghanistan)
• $1.04B military funding to Egypt

Total of these items: $7.29B

How would you change this? Go back in your time machine and never attack Afghanistan? Cut all military foreign aid? If we did something like that, some American jobs would be lost at Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Rockwell Collins et al. Some Congresspeople would go berserk.

Stipulated: Adequate defense prevents aggression.

But we're way beyond that. And to what degree are the industrial  nations of the world arming the other nations of the world against one another in a proliferating way?

There are no easy answers, of course.

Will the real Margaret Thatcher please stand up?

Oddly enough, one of my biggest windows into Thatcher's Britain has been liberal English comic book authors. Warren Ellis and Alan Moore, neither of them particularly 'balanced', portray Thatcher as unhinged. In Moore's  'V for Vendetta' we get his obvious projection: Britain is on the slippery slope to fascism. (My take: 'V' was often artistically excellent but not prophetic at all.)

So I'm interested in some of the commentary emerging around the new Thatcher movie with Meryl Streep. That's why I clicked through to this post: If the real Margaret Thatcher had been like Meryl Streep's Iron Lady, I wouldn't have supported her.

Then I skimmed the Wikipedia article.

How about you? What do you think of Margaret Thatcher?

Opinions from Brits who lived through her administration will be particularly valued :-)

Christmas Music Extravaganza

I'm not 100% sure why I'm enjoying Spotify so much. There are a number of things I don't like about it, and the top one is having to install a desktop application. However, that's a post for a different time.

I set myself the goal of coming up with the Best Xmas Playlist Ever. But I couldn't do it. After working on it off and on for a couple weeks, I've created six playlists so far.

One more editorial precursor: I've been really happy with the selection of Xmas albums available on Spotify. There were quite a few I'd been wanting to listen to or buy and I've found many more worth listening to.

The Best Xmas Playlist Ever is really more of a goal than a fact. And the parameters are pretty confined. I've tried to pick stuff my friends would want to hear. I have tried not to over-represent any one album or artist (this resulted in playlist two, below). This playlist is semi-serious and tends to refer to Jesus in some way.

If you're interested, here's how you should use it: I doubt many people will be interested in listening straight through. Pick a song or artist you think you might like. If you like the song and want to hear more, click over to the album or albums.

The second playlist is Merry Sufjan Christmas!, only selections from Sufjan Stevens' five-volume (though they're basically EP-length) Songs for Christmas. This remains my favorite Xmas album (I think this is the fourth year running). I've narrowed it down to 27 tracks that Spotify says run for one hour. I hope you'll give Sufjan a try if you haven't yet. If you like these selections, you should listen to the whole album. (Important note: If you don't normally like Sufjan's music, we have that in common. I love his Xmas music, but basically don't listen to anything else of his.)

I think my favorite thing about Sufjan's Xmas songs is he seems to come from a real place of reverence for the faith and tradition. From that point of departure, he does standards but also cheesy originals and downright depressive commentaries (especially the epic 'That was the worst Christmas ever').

Third: no comprehensive collection of Christmas music would be complete for me without Fun, Silly Xmas/Winter Songs. They just didn't fit, for me, in the main, relating-to-Jesus list.

Finally, a couple of outliers. Best Xmas Rejects/non-Spotify is a list of songs that didn't fit in the lists above or aren't available on Spotify so I can only listen to them through the Spotify app on my computer. Some good songs here, some I wanted to just keep track of, one amazingly cheesy song from my childhood: stuff like that.

Favorite New Christmas Songs is short: my four favorite songs I heard for the first time this year. Jars of Clay's 'O, Little Town of Bethlehem' is my favorite single this year off of my favorite new-to-me Xmas album of the year. Low is a 'slowcore' band I've been enjoying. Shawn Colvin's 'Little Road to Bethlehem' is sweet. And how did I live this many years without hearing Jackson Browne's Rebel Jesus? Jackson and I would disagree pretty quickly about Jesus, but he's got some nice critique of the excesses of the season and a good, strong point about Jesus' concern for the poor.

And then I started Classic Carols last night and it only includes one album so far and is a total work in progress.

If you've read this far you must: a) really love me (hi, Christine! :-) or b) have some similar geeky music bordering-on-OCD characteristics. I conceive of projects like this, then want to be comprehensive, and usually give up. In this case, it ballooned into something I'm sure beyond the interest of my audience. But there you have it.

Merry Christmas!

Comparing America's politics to Alice's Wonderland

My friend, Carol, sent me this article, and I thought it was really good, so I'm reposting it, along with my comments to her.

American Wonderland, by Morton Keller
From global warming to the Tea Party, our political landscape is patently absurd.

Although Morton Keller seems to come more from the right, probably a Libertarian standpoint, he has lots of good observations and criticisms. Furthermore, I think the comparisons with Alice in Wonderland are interesting and effective. Here are some of my thoughts:

In sum, we have convinced ourselves that in theory we are engaged citizens, while in fact most of us are the self-family-sports-media-obsessed folk that polling tells us we are. But not all of us, all the time. A substantial number of Americans claim some identity with regard to public life. A fifth of us are ready to say we are liberals; close to twice as many identify themselves as conservatives.

exactly.

There is as well a political class that has career self-interests, or a cultural (or psychological) inclination to be steadily engaged in public affairs. Many are drawn by self-interest and by the sheer excitement of the political game. Others enjoy the ample outlet for commitment to causes that politics, as compared to much of the rest of contemporary society, provides.

while both of these paragraphs are a good start, they (understandably) don't take sin into account. so, in reality, the problems are even stronger than the proclivities that are implied here.

+ Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
+ Power attracts the corruptible (this version from Frank Herbert of Dune fame). I almost always think of this version when I think of our politicians.

i know political demonization is older than the Republic, but i still hate it. the Founding Fathers themselves treated one another unconscionably.

but wasn't there a time, say most of the 20th century, when, even if i didn't vote for him, he was still my president?

again: i think our biggest problem is not political polarization but self-absorption and lack of civic involvement.

further, part of my concern with political polarization and its rhetoric (and this is has probably also always been true) is that too few Americans think about it critically and don't know the difference between 'entertainment' and fact. if Rush or Rachel says it, and it sound ok and fits into their worldview, they accept it uncritically.

and this dynamic, along with the others mentioned here, is probably worse with our 24-hour newscycle, talk radio and tv, and that cesspool of ignorant self-expression, the Internet ;-)

A proper concern for excessive government coexists with excesses such as former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo’s observation that “People who could not spell the word vote or say it in English put a committed Socialist ideologue in the White House.”

this kind of thing exactly typifies the problem i have with at least some of the Tea Party. and isn't it racist? i repeat my criticism from 3 years ago: if someone can exaggerate and say Obama is a committed socialist, couldn't we also say Bush was a committed fascist? my point: both have about the same grounding in reality.

Tim Keller addressing 9/11

I have come across two Keller items recently that I wish I had known about two months ago for the tenth anniversary of the 9/11/2001 attacks.

The first is an mp3 of most of Redeemer's first worship service after the attacks, as Manhattanites were trying to cope and process. This mp3 includes most of the service, including scripture readings, prayers and music in addition to Tim's sermon, 'Truth, Tears, Anger and Grace'.

The second item is the full text of a brief talk Tim gave at a five-year memorial service. In the form found over at Reformissionary, it includes a brief introduction by Tim's son, Michael. I reproduce both pieces in full below.

Michael Keller has provided a transcribed version of Tim Keller's "Sermon of Remembrance and Peace for 9-11 Victim's Families", given on September 10th, 2006.  It's a "must read," and I've included the full text below as well.  The White House transcribed it and sent it to the Keller's because Bush (who was present) asked Karl Rove for a written copy. 

Michael's intro to the sermon... 

Below is a sermon that particularly resonates with me on multiple levels. First, it is a sermon delivered by dad to 9/11 victims’ families and national dignitaries (Bush, H. Clinton, Bloomberg, Pataki, Giuliani, etc) about suffering and what they can do with their very personal suffering that still exists. It impacted me because I saw concisely in the sermon the power the resurrection has to those suffering. Secondly, it was a sermon given at an interfaith memorial (8 min long) and therefore as a student currently studying presentation to multiple audiences, I was impacted at both the kindness he had towards the “resources” of other faiths, but also the honesty and clarify that he still spoke from his own convictions. This is the way, to affirm others, and still not lose the distinct Gospel voice that we deem as so powerful in today’s society. Lastly, it impacted me because while many others would have used the pulpit in front of so many political figures to espouse either their own political views, or some well meaning, yet hopelessly ill-timed, alter call type message- dad focused on those suffering and in pain and tried to speak to them in their loss of their loved ones with the message that there is a God, the God, who knows exactly what it feels like and can therefore relate to them in their pain. Way to go dad.

Below is the transcribed version of the sermon done by individuals at the White House who also apparently liked it. 

-Michael

Here's the full sermon text...
    SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE AND PEACE
    FOR 9-11 VICTIMS’ FAMILIES
    Ground Zero/St Paul’s Chapel Tim Keller
    Sep 10, 2006

    As a minister, of course, I’ve spent countless hours with people who are struggling and wrestling with the biggest question - the WHY question in the face of relentless tragedies and injustices. And like all ministers or any spiritual guides of any sort, I scramble to try to say something to respond and I always come away feeling inadequate and that’s not going to be any different today. But we can’t shrink from the task of responding to that question. Because the very best way to honor the memories of the ones we’ve lost and love is to live confident, productive lives. And the only way to do that is to actually be able to face that question. We have to have the strength to face a world filled with constant devastation and loss. So where do we get that strength? How do we deal with that question? I would like to propose that, though we won’t get all of what we need, we may get some of what we need 3 ways: by recognizing the problem for what it is, and then by grasping both an empowering hint from the past and an empowering hope from the future.
    First, we have to recognize that the problem of tragedy, injustice and suffering is a problem for everyone no matter what their beliefs are. Now, if you believe in God and for the first time experience or see horrendous evil, you rightly believe that that is a problem for your belief in God, and you’re right – and you say, “How could a good and powerful God allow something like this to happen?”
    But it’s a mistake (though a very understandable mistake) to think that if you abandon your belief in God it somehow is going to make the problem easier to handle. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Letter from Birmingham Jail says that if there was no higher divine Law, there would be no way to tell if a particular human law was unjust or not. So think. If there is no God or higher divine Law and the material universe is all there is, then violence is perfectly natural—the strong eating the weak! And yet somehow, we still feel this isn’t the way things ought to be. Why not? Now I’m not going to get philosophical at a time like this. I’m just trying to make the point that the problem of injustice and suffering is a problem for belief in God but it is also a problem for disbelief in God---for any set of beliefs. So abandoning belief in God does not really help in the face of it. OK, then what will?
    Second, I believe we need to grasp an empowering hint from the past. Now at this point, I’d like to freely acknowledge that every faith - and we are an interfaith gathering today – every faith has great resources for dealing with suffering and injustice in the world. But as a Christian minister I know my own faith’s resources the best, so let me simply share with you what I’ve got. When people ask the big question, “Why would God allow this or that to happen?” There are almost always two answers. The one answer is: Don’t question God! He has reasons beyond your finite little mind. And therefore, just accept everything. Don’t question. The other answer is: I don’t know what God’s up to – I have no idea at all about why these things are happening. There’s no way to make any sense of it at all. Now I’d like to respectfully suggest the first of these answers is too hard and the second is too weak. The second is too weak because, though of course we don’t have the full answer, we do have an idea, an incredibly powerful idea.
    One of the great themes of the Hebrew Scriptures is that God identifies with the suffering. There are all these great texts that say things like this: If you oppress the poor, you oppress to me. I am a husband to the widow. I am father to the fatherless. I think the texts are saying God binds up his heart so closely with suffering people that he interprets any move against them as a move against him. This is powerful stuff! But Christianity says he goes even beyond that. Christians believe that in Jesus, God’s son, divinity became vulnerable to and involved in - suffering and death! He didn’t come as a general or emperor. He came as a carpenter. He was born in a manger, no room in the inn.
    But it is on the Cross that we see the ultimate wonder. On the cross we sufferers finally see, to our shock that God now knows too what it is to lose a loved one in an unjust attack. And so you see what this means? John Stott puts it this way. John Stott wrote: “I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the Cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?” Do you see what this means? Yes, we don’t know the reason God allows evil and suffering to continue, but we know what the reason isn’t, what it can’t be. It can’t be that he doesn’t love us! It can’t be that he doesn’t care. God so loved us and hates suffering that he was willing to come down and get involved in it. And therefore the Cross is an incredibly empowering hint. Ok, it’s only a hint, but if you grasp it, it can transform you. It can give you strength.
    And lastly, we have to grasp an empowering hope for the future. In both the Hebrew Scriptures and even more explicitly in the Christian Scriptures we have the promise of resurrection. In Daniel 12:2-3 we read: Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake….[They]… will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and…like the stars for ever and ever. And in John 11 we hear Jesus say: I am the resurrection and the life! Now this is what the claim is: That God is not preparing for us merely some ethereal, abstract spiritual existence that is just a kind of compensation for the life we lost. Resurrection means the restoration to us of the life we lost. New heavens and new earth means this body, this world! Our bodies, our homes, our loved ones—restored, returned, perfected and beautified! Given back to us!
    In the year after 9-11 I was diagnosed with cancer, and I was treated successfully. But during that whole time I read about the future resurrection and that was my real medicine. In the last book of The Lord of the Rings, Sam Gamgee wakes up, thinking everything is lost and discovering instead that all his friends were around him, he cries out: "Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead! Is everything sad going to come untrue?"
    The answer is YES. And the answer of the Bible is YES. If the resurrection is true, then the answer is yes. Everything sad is going TO COME UNTRUE.
    Oh, I know many of you are saying, “I wish I could believe that.” And guess what? This idea is so potent that you can go forward with that. To even want the resurrection, to love the idea of the resurrection, long for the promise of the resurrection even though you are unsure of it, is strengthening. I John 3:2-3. Beloved, now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope purify themselves as he is pure.” Even to have a hope in this is purifying.
    Listen to how Dostoevsky puts it in Brothers Karamazov: “I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, of the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, of all the blood that they’ve shed; and it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify what has happened.”
    That is strong and that last sentence is particularly strong…but if the resurrection is true, it’s absolutely right. Amen.

Keller: The Meaning of Marriage

Tim and Kathy Keller's new book, The Meaning of Marriage is out. I look forward to reading it

Nice, long interview (about an hour) with Tim and Kathy for the release last week of their new book. Some great principial and practical stuff in here.

Also, Redeemer has one free sermon to listen to all the time on their main sermon page in addition to the 150 free sermons they always have. The current freebie is a lecture Tim and Kathy gave on marriage on April 1, 2005 (no joke! ;-). This one is even a little more practical and well-worth listening to.

Happy Reformation Day

494 years ago on Monday, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg.


The Ninety-Five Theses

The first thesis is:

1. When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said "Repent", He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

Or, to phrase as I've heard Tim Keller do, 'All of life is repentance.'

Repentance, as Luther taught, is not a not a 'once and for all' kind of thing. Repentance is necessary daily, sometimes constantly, like every five minutes.

Repentance should be considered in a semantic domain with concepts like confession, humility and submission.

For your listening enjoyment, there are 3 different versions of 'A Mighty Fortress' performed by us, The Wartburg Choir, in 1990, the first three tracks of this album: A Mighty Fortress is Our God (and a bonus 4th track with Psalm 46 as the text).

Here is a straightforward translation of the 95 Theses, with no ads.

Whoa:

40. A truly contrite sinner seeks out, and loves to pay, the penalties of his sins; whereas the very multitude of indulgences dulls men's consciences, and tends to make them hate the penalties. 

More analysis of the F-35 problem

Not much different from what I said last time, but since I read coverage of this issue everyday, the outrage just breaks out again sometimes.

First, a comment from an Ares reader:

Jeff-N is exactly right. The problem, as always, is the empty promises. 

It's like we're going to get the 2011 Honda Accord in 2016 (maybe) with 2006 Honda Accord capability, but we're paying the 2016+ plus price for it. 

In the meantime, the Hyundai's are getting better and cheaper. So are the Fords, too, btw.

(Jeff-N's is the previous comment, if you're interested. I thought his take was too mild. Sure, programs are problematic. So why in the heck do we keep buying promises of the moon and getting a plate of cheese?!)

My comment:

i like wjmb75's analogy. 

an additional problem is so much 'strategy' planned around those numbers and capabilities. the cascade effect on jets in 3 US services is massive. if we had been more cautious then with the claims, what would we have decided about F-16s, F/A-18s and F-22s and what would the end cost and capability be? without running the numbers, i sense it would be an egregious delta, likely even a criminal one (as in, some people should go to jail). 

the American taxpayer foots the bill (well, at least makes interest payments) and LM continues to make money and pay shareholders. 

to say nothing of the effects experienced by partner nations (which closer observers should feel free to add).

My old Blogger profile

Just saving it here before I switch to the Google+ profile on blogger. Not much to see ;-)

Amazon Wishlist:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/registry/33RII8C59UV9H

Interests:
Christianity, Tolkien, fantasy, science fiction, politics, technology, culture, the internet, sports, fantasy football, music, movies, economics, military issues, games, etc.

About me:
writing about all sorts of stuff that is interesting to me, from tech to politics, pop culture to philosophy, faith to football, Tom Barnett to Tolkien

Favorite movies:
The Hunt for Red October, The Lord of the Rings, Gattaca, Pride and Prejudice

Favorite music:
REM, Bill Mallonee, Linkin Park, Smashing Pumpkins

Favorite books:
The Lord of the Rings, Disappointment with God

Note: some of these inclusions and exclusions seems a little random. If I were editing I would change them, but here's a strange little time capsule :-)

Keller's Beholding the Love of God

1 John 3:1-3

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.

Beholding the Love of God

Eusebius story of John chasing down lapsed convert
     young man ran away though armed
     'I'll gladly suffer death for you.'
where do you get this kind of courage?
from knowing God. from fellowship with God.
must be born again
John begins to emote here. 'Behold!'
'lavished'
       to make a present, bestow
we are adopted -- called
and we are -- made, nature, born again

1. way to know God
       personal experience
       John demonstrates in this passage
       truth overflows mind
       beyond knowing to 'seeing'
       truth goes through you like lightning through a lightning rod
       movement from analysis to intuition
       truth moves from something you understand to something you stand under
       overshadows
       moves from detachment to connections
       seems ancient and fresh at the same time
       moves from mind to heart
       moves from mere knowing to beholding
       in the 60s: experience has to be anti- or a-rational
       -pathway is still through truth, but it's more than truth
       Thomas Goodwin
               boy walking with father
               knows he's a son
               father picks up boy, hugs and kisses, 'i love you'
               no new knowledge
               knowledge becomes new, fresh
       knowing God means feeling His embrace
examples of 'radioactive' idea
       every great story is two stories
               we will fly (like Peter Pan)
               there is a Prince Who will kiss us and wake us from sleep to new life
               a Beauty will love us and transform us from beasts
               there is a Superman from another planet who comes to save us
       time in Philadelphia
               Xian record, Is 53 'the results of His suffering he shall see and be satisfied'
               we are the results of His suffering that satisfies Him
               can't program it. can't plan it.
       you have to seek it. you have to know it's posssible.
       go back into 1Jn2: if you're not experiencing God:
               1. are you obeying God? is your conscience clear?
               2. do you have fellowship with other Xians?
               3. study the Truth, ask God to open it up
2. the mark of knowing God
       you see God's love for you as a miracle
       Gk idiom: from what country?
               'Behold what country this love comes from'
                       from what planet? unreal?
                               Fisher King illustration
                                    'are you real?'
       a real Xian is a person who says 'it is an absolute miracle that God loves me. it's a miracle that i'm a Xian'
       there are two kinds of people who go to church: religious people and real Xians
               real Xians see everything as a gift. we're totally in debt to God.
               religious people work hard, try, make an effort, go to Bible studies, 'just say no'
               deny themselves trying to put God in their debt
               trying to save God through their good works, think God is in their debt b/c they've tried so hard
               Xians have a spirit of wonder: how miraculous. how unreal. me a Xian? incredible! unbelieveable!
               religious person: of course i'm a Xian. sure i'm a Xian. i've always been a Xian.
               if you're a Xian, there's no 'sure'ness about it. there's no 'of course'ness about it.
               acid test: spirit of wonder, even when things go bad.
               a moralist says: what good is all my religion. i tried hard. God owes me.
               a Xian says: it's amazing how good God is to me. i deserve much worse.
               it's all grace. every good thing is mercy

to the degree that we experience and behold God's love, we'll be able to handle 'bad' circumstances.
'my Father must have a purpose here b/c He loves me'. He doesn't owe me a good life.
and you're amazed by good things
if you've lost it you're slipping back into moralism
'Amazing love, how can it be, that You, my God, would die for me'

Wil's first program

As noted here, Wil started a little programming on Saturday.

RFI: I told Wil I wrote a BASIC program before I was his age to randomly generate D&D characteristics. He wants to start tomorrow. Start him on BASIC or something else like Javascript (which I have only the slightest familiarity with)?

I decided to go with Small Basic because of the simplicity and because I was confident I could help him quickly and we could get the program up and running.

 He really enjoyed it and spent a lot of time on it. Instead of working on the S&D characteristic generator, he spent most of his time on this Tron-inspired dialogue:

TextWindow.WriteLine("Hello Wil")
TextWindow.Write("Enter your Answer: ")
answer = TextWindow.Read()
If (answer = "Hello computer.") Then
  TextWindow.WriteLine("Shall we begin?")
Else
  TextWindow.WriteLine("Sorry Sir?")
 EndIf
 
TextWindow.WriteLine("Enter your Response: ")
response = TextWindow.Read()
If (response = "Yes.") Then
  TextWindow.WriteLine("Good.")
EndIf
  If (response = "Pardon me computer. Let's begin.") Then
  TextWindow.WriteLine("Yes, lets.")
EndIf
  If (response = "Yes." Or "Pardon me computer. Let's begin.") Then
  Else
    TextWindow.WriteLine("I don't understand.")
  EndIf
TextWindow.WriteLine("Enter your command: ")
command = TextWindow.Read()
If (command = "Begin scan.") Then
  TextWindow.WriteLine("Begining sweep.")
EndIf
  If (command = "Enter camera mode.") Then
    TextWindow.WriteLine("Camera mode is already active.")
EndIf
TextWindow.WriteLine("Enter specific instruction: ")
 
  instruction = TextWindow.Read()
 
  If (instruction = "What's my sister doing?" And Clock.Hour < 7) Then
    TextWindow.WriteLine("Sleeping.")
EndIf
  If (instruction = "What's my sister doing?" And Clock.Hour = 7) Then
    TextWindow.WriteLine("She is on her Ipod.")
EndIf
  If (instruction = "What's my sister doing?" And Clock.Hour > 12) Then
    TextWindow.WriteLine( "She's on the computer.")
EndIf

Final RAGBRAI 2011 Post

What more is there to say?

As I planned, Friday we did our own highly-modified route. We offloaded 10 miles to Saturday (to leave from the farm both days), rode 33 back west past Marengo and then 33 back to the farm.

If went really well. We went out fast. I bet the West Amana to Marengo leg was the fastest of our whole week. We must have averaged 15 mph or more and hit 20 some of the time. That was fun.

Friday's map

We stopped under a tree in South Amana and talked with a lady (I'd guess she was about 80) who told us some of her life story: that she moved to Amana from Oklahoma (to get married, I think), that her new mother-in-law told her how everything was to be done and she later took over the whole house and that she wasn't crazy about being married and would never get married again.

I stopped in Oxford to have lunch at Augusta with my friend, Tina Riggan. We had a nice long lunch and then I biked the last 7 miles for that day to the farm. It was nice and easy and the thought crossed my mind that maybe I should have done more. The next day I wished I had.

In terms of nostalgia, I passed my elementary school and the fields where we used to play baseball twice this day.

Saturday's route

Checked my bike tires and the front one was flat. Not much to do but pump it up and see how far I could go.

The first thing we had to do, route-wise, was make-up the almost 10 miles we hadn't ridden the day before by riding from the farm into Coralville. These were the biggest hills we had to contend with all day until we got to Davenport. But we were relatively fresh. We rode into IC on the IWV, turned left on Mormon Trek and right on Highway 6. We then turned left on Iowa Ave, left on Madison and right on Jefferson at the IMU to go up that hill on the north side of the Pentacrest. Another little, early challenge. Then we basically followed Rochester Ave. It became Herbert Hoover Highway and we rode it into West Branch.

Sentimental journey: passed by the high school I attended and, one block to the south, the hospital I was born in.

One of my better jokes of the trip: we were riding in and someone said 'Welcome to West Branch!' I said, 'Dang, I thought this was Davenport!' ;-)

Decided to go ahead and stop at a repair tent and check my tire. Tech found a staple-sized piece of metal in my tire, changed the tube and we were on our way. Didn't have to wait too long and it was worth the 12 bucks.

West Branch to Springdale to Moscow to Wilton was all fine. Stopped for water between Springdale and Moscow at a roadside vendor. Told him my mom was born in Cedar County and he knew the Suchomel name. Told him I was from Tiffin and he said his dad was a Schneider from Cosgrove.

Some bar (the name escapes me) did a good job of advertising their tent and Maid Rites, so that where we ate in Wilton. Christine and the twins met us and we had a pretty leisurely lunch.

Wilton to Durant to Walcott was the worst part of the day and one of the worst legs of the whole week. I think I was just completely tired by then. F58 was an unrelievedly straight and level road that was hot and I think we were fighting a little bit of a headwind, too. Sometimes you wish for a little hill to climb for the change and then the opportunity to coast a little. My mantra for day 7: anytime I can coast at 15 mph, I'm happy to do it.

The bad leg ended in Walcott with a freeze pop a little girl handed me as I rode by and a free water station at a fire hydrant. I felt totally refreshed.

Then, it was just a matter of finishing the last 14.2 miles to the Mississippi, watching over every hill and around every corner for signs of Davenport. I have to say, it felt like they took us through the worst streets in Davenport. On the outskirts, we ran into a bunch asphalt that was either fresh or it was runny because of the heat. Our tires picked up the tar.

There were also two, short but steep hills to finish off the trip. I polished them off and wished them good riddance!

Finished up the ride by finding Christine and the twins in the shade of a little tree and Al rolled in just a couple of minutes behind me. The line for dipping our front tires in the Mississippi was longer than we wanted to wait for, so we just walked over to the railing to get a picture by the river. But Al said (I think it was him) 'The water's almost close enough to touch' and I thought 'I can touch that water', so we lifted our bikes over the railing and dipped the front tires in the river.

I was so happy to be done with RAGBRAI!

Anything else?

As I've intimated before, RAGBRAI would have been much harder without Christine. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to experience it that way.

I love Iowa and RAGBRAI is a great way to see it. There were many nice moments and beautiful, big sky, green fields vistas.

We had great home stays and enjoyed visiting with Kevin and Cindy, the Carlsons outside of Carroll, Ken and Jeanine in Granger and my own family on the farm (though Dad was out of town).

Lance Armstrong was on the ride one day, the same day we rode up the biggest hill (the one I broke a spoke on). Wish I could have seen him fly up it. I'm not a huge Lance fan anymore, but there you have it.

Two posts about him:

Considered a titan in Iowa, Lance Armstrong returns to RAGBRAI today
More excitment in Carroll when Armstrong comes to town

And, if anyone want even more RAGBRAI information, there are about a hundred posts on their weblog.

RAGBRAI 2011 Day 5

Today was my best day of RAGBRAI this year. The sky was overcast most of the day, which really made a big difference. We also had a little rain shower when we were in Colfax. Maybe most crucial: I didn't have any mechanical problems.

Today's map

We basically started at the beginning of the official route and ended at the end, for a change. It was the third biggest day of climbing (3,202 ft), but comparatively short (57.5 miles).

Preview of tomorrow

the map

Since our family farm is on the route tomorrow, but we're staying here tonight about an hour east of Grinnell, we're going to change our approach tomorrow. We're basically going to ride the route backwards for about half of the mileage we want to do tomorrow (I think the total will be about 65 miles) and then come back and finish at the farm (without doing the last 10 miles into Coralville. Clear?

(Since we're going to do an extra 10 on Saturday, we can cut off 10 tomorrow.)

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.