Weblog dreaming

Oh yeah, being on Blogger reminds me that I dreamt that my titles were screwed up. Funny.

Moneyball redux

Though I haven't read 'Moneyball', I like reading about it. And I think I've got the general idea without reading the whole book: the young turks in baseball are transforming personnel approaches by watching stats and money closer and making good trades.

Here's an article on Moneyball from a pure business angle.

So here's a short article on where Billy Beane, Moneyball's central figure, is today.

The Red Sox have adopted this method, promoting 28-year old Theo Epstein to GM. He's doing pretty well.

I think the thing I like most about Moneyball is the way it breaks the rules and works. It's innovative and smart. There are lots more Moneyball posts over on Blissful Knowledge's July page (scroll down about half-way for the first one).

From what I've read, the Patriots and Eagles try to manage their cap carefully, too, in a similar way. They're both struggling this year. That's part of it. The parity in the NFL and enforced salary cap make that a different deal.

Here's a post that includes comments about Moneyball's penetration in the NFL.

(I'm sure there are other NFL teams doing this, too. Maybe the Bills (?). Hopefully that will defuse Jaq's ire at me implying something positive about the Pats :-)

It was a great weekend for football

Iowa beat ASU on national TV saturday night. Of course, the announcers were focused on ASU. As Iowa took command. They started to say ASU was beating themselves. We finally pummelled them into submission. We didn't hear much of the commentary anyway. We were having my brother's bachelor party weekend, eating grilled lamb and drunken goat cheese and drinking some yummy Ridge.

Sunday we went to The Fox and Hound and watched a bunch of games at once, focusing on the Vikings game (the Bucs-Falcons was secondary). It wasn't pretty, but the Vikes won another one to go 3-0, all in their division. That puts us in the fabled catbird seat.

I watched a little of the Bills-Dolphins last. Since I have Bledsoe and Moulds on my fantasy team, it was pretty disgusting, and I was too tired to stick with it anyway.

Palestine/Israel continued

It's so good to see Johnny13 drop by! He commented on the thread below:

He quoted me: Is it fair to conclude that the Palestinian government, and many/most Palestinians, prefer war to peace?

Then he wrote: I would certainly not say that, tho they may prefer it to a hostile and humiliating peace.

I would counter by saying that Abbas was not moving toward a hostile and humiliating peace. But maybe this is all just my frustration speaking. I want justice for Palestine and I think, overall, as I've said many times before, that they need a break because Israel has so much power over them, including a virtually unconditional alliance with the US.

Silflay Hraka

Cool title for a weblog (if you're into 'Watership Down') with contributors being Bigwig, Kehaar, and Woundwort. Also an NC weblog. Can't speak to the content :-)

Translation from rabbit (if I'm not mistaken): rabbit feeding.

Click to find closest Krispy Kreme

Driving directions from Bag End to Mordor (via kottke).

Really nicely done.

Anyone want to buy me the tshirt?

Iowa wins!

Woo hoo!

Best column result ever!

Dave Barry wrote a column slamming telemarketers and listed the phone number of their national organization.

Thousands of Barry's readers have done as they were told, forcing the association to stop answering its phones. Callers now hear a recording, which says that because of "overwhelming positive response to recent media events, we are unable to take your call at this time."

"It's difficult not to see some malice in Mr. Barry's intent," said Tim Searcy, executive director of the ATA, who said the added calls will be costly to his group because of toll charges and staffing issues.

Barry hardly sounded apologetic.

"I feel just terrible, especially if they were eating or anything," he said. "They have phones like the rest of us have phones. Their attitude seems to be if you have a phone, people are allowed to call you."

(article via AP)

Fantastic.

A few thoughts on Palestine and Israel

I was disappointed by Abbas' resignation. Is it fair to conclude that the Palestinian government, and many/most Palestinians, prefer war to peace?

In the wake of that development, Israel may have a point about exiling Arafat.

Dean has gone on the record for a more balanced treatment of Israel. His fellow candidates have made it clear that they still want money from pro-Israel donors. (via robot wisdom)

Speak out against the RIAA!

Sign the EFF's petition. Couldn't hurt, right?

Did ya notice the titles?

New Blogger feature. Pretty fun, aye? Just like the big boys! Yeah, boy!

Football redux

I haven't mentioned yet how much I enjoyed the Vikings crushing the Packers at Lambeau on sunday.

Iowa v. Iowa State

I know I speak for my brothers and Jason when I say please, please, please, please let Iowa win this weekend.

How to talk like a pirate.

I always like pirate stuff.

The RIAA is a bunch of bullies

Those guys stink, suing a twelve year old girl.

(More thoughts about this brewing... Coming soon.)

9-11-2003

A sad day remembered with sadness.

Matt's tribute is my favorite so far.

Scrabblog

For y'all Scrabble fans: Scrabblog (via kottke).

I want to beat Jaq to the punch: Buffalo was amazing today! I have carried Tom Brady's torch before, including over against Drew Bledsoe. I'm glad for the Bills. Congrats. (And I have Drew Bledsoe and Eric Moulds on my Fantasy team, so I've got a new interest in the Bills.)

My friend, John Hardy, took up with Hitchens' opinion in a much more respectful way (to me and other believers) over on Finches' Wings. Rather than sending you to the comments over there, which get in some funky order, why don't I just copy them here (though if you want John's links you'll have to go over there, and the commenting system is funky with single quotations, so if I don't get them all changed, you'll know why.).

John: Well there's the funny thing, normally I disagree with everything Hitchens writes.

Sean: so does that mean that you agree with at least some of what Hitchens says this time, John?

John:

Absolutely. In fact I agree with all of it.

The main difference is that I wouldn't have written an article about it because I know that it would offend a lot of people''s religious view (although I might argue it over a nice meal with a couple of wines in me The reason why I wouldn't write an article is because I have learnt that people come to their most deeply held convictions through processes which have little to do with rational thought and therefore argument is generally a pointless exercise. Religious people are far more likely to admit that their premises are fundamentally irrational than non-believers, readily invoking concepts such as spirituality, faith or a sense of mystery as a counter-influence to reason and rationality but it is a point that is just as true for non-believers. So in summary, if you really believe something and I really believe something else, there's no point trying to sway the other through the exercise of mere reason.

The big exception, of course, is when the person to be swayed is already suffering a severe crisis in their own convictions. In other words if they were already at the point of giving up their faith or philosophy and just waiting to embrace another. Every proselytiser intuitively knows this, a polemicist like Hitchins preaching from a highly influential pulpit might interested to score a few converts as well. It's not really my interest to try and sway anyone.

But I'll admit I did leave a comment along the lines that implied my agreement with Hitchins and you did ask... please accept this as just my personal view. It is not intended to inflame, offend or convince anyone to change their minds or beliefs.

So what do I agree with? I agree with Hitchins that, when looked at from the outside the Bible, especially in its early chapters reads like an inherent depository of Bronze Age legends. The the main character, Yahweh comes over as a somewhat insecure and immature adolescent. That the Ten Commandments on closer inspection do look like a fairly patchy list with some pretty serious omissions. This might be a problem if they were held up as being universally significant in this day and age (which I don't believe they really are) but not if one considers them as a cultural artifact crafted in a cultural backwater by a tribe of uncouth Bedouins. It's not really up there with the considerably older Code of Hammurabi, for example.

Of course, if I was starting from the point of view that these were the utterances of my father, well, of course I'd probably view them differently:

"So Dad was a bit of a brat in his youth, threw tantrums, flooded the world, smited, cursed, destroyed, blamed his own creation. Okay but he's still my father, show some respect.

AND he's a lot more grown up now, a regular transcendental Supreme Being, an Unmoved Mover no less".

But like Hitchins, I do not think of Yahweh as my father so any talk about showing him "humility" is to my mind as preposterous as showing humility to any of his contemporaries, Baal, Amon or Marduk. Also any argument that expects respect for "4,000 years of history and faith" I find equally unconvincing. Mere numbers don't do it for me, I'm afraid, how much respect is due now to the religion of ancient Sumer? For four thousand years people built temples and came to worship the gods at the Southern Mesopotamian holy city of Nippur. Today nothing remains, just a few mounds of mud in the desert and few broken tablets. The only echoes that remain withus in our culture are in the form of the horoscope in the daily newspaper and, ironically enough, the Old Testament.

But it doesn't matter, perhaps the point where you and I disagree most, Sean, is in the notion that somehow our morality and the morality of our society really rests on these religious underpinnings. First you say that without humility before God it is "it's no surprise that we have no morality." Well, I consider that, beyond using this as a rhetorical device, to imply that we have no morality is patently false.

>> religion is not just incongruent with morality but in essential ways incompatible with it

> Wrong. Religion is necessary for true morality.

Both wrong. Morality is an essential ingredient of any society. All societies have moral codes, all societies have taboos on theft and murder, all societies have narratives and myths to explain them. Sometimes these take the form of religious stories at other times they take the form of reconstructed histories (such as the myths surrounding the glorious founding of the United States of America for example).

As way of demonstrating the point, China is an ancient society which has always found its source of morality in the teachings of the sage kings and of philosopher like Confucius. Even though the Jesuit missionaries of the seventeenth century spent a great deal of effort and tried their dardest through the meticulous translation and interpretation of these texts, they could find no place in them for their interventionist deity.

Instead they found a moral code that was based completely on the rights and responsibilities of people living beneath an all pervasive but essentially disinterested Heaven. It was the influence of these text flowing back to the West that helped to create the conditions that led to the Enlightenment and to the establishment of secular and religiously tolerant societies throughout the world. This side-lining of religion in favour of freedom was, I believe, a very good thing but I don't believe it made people who lived before or after this evolution any more or less moral.

So there you have it, that's my contribution to the global supply of digital crap.

Sean:

dear John

first of all, thanks for commenting.

then, what to say, what to say?

the most disgusting thing about Hitchens is his lack of respect for those of us who value faith. in this regard i put him in the same category with Richard Dawkins.

believe it or not, my main goal is not to sway anyone, either. i do want to present the reasoned side of my faith. believe me, i have met a lot of people who just assume a person of faith has checked her braon at the door. i''m fond of saying ''i'll match my smart people to theirs any day.''

thank you for your senstitivty, John. i don't feel enflamed at all :-)

(the Code of Hammurabi is much older according to the conclusions of secular and liberal scholars. there are good arguments for the Ten Commandments dating to ca. 3500 BC.)

i still maintain that the Judeo-Christian faith deserves better than to be summarily dismissed by the likes of Hitchens. what distinguishes them from most other ancient faiths is that they are still living and still practiced by people who are deeply committed to them. these people find sane, self-consistent, contemporary ways to practice faiths which have ancient origins.

i may have overstated on the whole ''no morality'' business, but part of what i was saying comes out of an unexplained technical definition. we can define ''morality'' basically as ''values'' and then, of course, everyone has them.

part of what i'm alluding to, coming specifically from a Christian context, is the assertion that no person can really do good without being changed by God. being ''born again'' is one of the descriptions that's well known, along with things like ''regeneration''. of course most people will disagree with me and other holding to historical Christianity in this regard. that''s no surprise.

ultimately, historical Christianity comes across as arrogant in some ways: ''we're right and you're wrong''. i don't know of any way around it. we feel God has revealed Himself with some strict delimiters. how should we be different from Hitchens? by engaging others'' beliefs without demeaning them.

and now i have exceeded my limit of sermonizing.

cheers!

There's something really cool about Scott Blake's Bar Code Clock when you just watch it run (via Kottke's remaindered links).

Grrr...Who does this Christopher Hitchens think he is?

I guess he thinks he lives in the 21st century and doesn't have to respect 4000 years of history and faith. I guess he thinks he can stand in judgment over The Ten Commandments. I guess he thinks he can measure all things (which isn't what Erasmus meant). His little offscouring makes me furious.

Don't get me wrong. I understand that some people don't want the government posting the Ten Commandments. I disagree with their interpretation of Freedom of Religion (in short: it's supposed to keep the government out of religion, not religion out of government), but I understand it.

But to have the audacity to stand in judgment over the Ten Commandments is so ridiculously arrogant that it boggles my mind.

I hesitate to even dignify his pronouncements with an answer, but I feel compelled to address his arguments because it may not be self-evident to some people why they are idiotic.

First of all, the Ten Commandments build the proper foundation for morality by showing the necessity of humility relative to God (something Hitchens totally lacks). Since our society, collectively speaking, has no humility relative to God and sets itself up to judge God, it's no surprise that we have no morality.

Incidentally, plenty of people who claim Christ as Lord don't have this humility either. They buy into the system to use as a scoring method, like the Pharisees did. And that's not the right answer, either.

This humility is similar in kind to the humility a child should have relative to her parent. Is the parent insecure for insisting on respect and obedience? No. Why? Because it's best for the child. It's necessary. One of the worst things we can find in a chlid is being spoiled. On the other hand, proper, loving discipline with proper boundaries is almost universally recognized as necessary in child-rearing. Hitchens' lack of humility leads him into the execrable error of calling God insecure.

The sabbath is part of humility before God. Not that I practice it traditionally. But the point is: remember that God is your provider and God is in control. Don't get so caught up in your own work and your own production. To tie the sabbath, even in jest, to building the pyramids...reprehensible.

Child-like humility before God follows quite naturally into the literal humility of children before their parents. (I wonder how Hitchens scores hereon...) The Ten Commandments are the ultimate minimum code for civilization (some unrelated commentary by Adam Greenfield in his first section (0.0) unwittingly makes this point). You couldn't do better if you tried, and neither could Christopher Hitchens. You could make something closer to your criteria. The objective criteria would remain the same. Sure, you and Hitchens (and I) could come up with things we'd like to see included, like Hitchens does here with protection of children. But parents normally care for their children. Some sick parents don't, but we're working with a minimum of ordinances here.

Hitchens doesn't understand 'covetousness', which doesn't surprise me. It would require a somewhat open mind to approach the commandments on their own terms, like any good exegete. The sense here is not 'Never think about or desire other stuff.' The real psychological injunction is 'Don't dwell on it. Don't mull it over. Don't obsess about it. You might want it. OK. But you don't have it, so let the want go.

We all know the answer to Hitchens' patently stupid 'imago Dei' argument, right? (Answer: free will and the Fall.)

religion is not just incongruent with morality but in essential ways incompatible with it

Wrong. Religion is necessary for true morality. Hitchens' solipsism is the system that's incompatible with comprehensive morality.

And that's all the stomach I have for this digital piece of crap.

And this from the 'nobody cares but me' department, Drake Players Get Early Look at Davis' System.

And now, from the 'that totally stinks' department, beth got fired for reading MetaFilter at work. (via kottke)

Woo hoo! Jason finally has his own weblog: Finches' Wings. He's starting strong with a whole lot of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Godspeed, old friend.

Matthew Baldwin is so funny!

And, curiously, the church he picted is a church from my denomination, and I know the pastor! Fun.

I know everyone except me had already seen the Google Calculator (via Kottke).

OK, except maybe you.

Dorothea had this over at her site. My results are pitiful, but I coudln't resist taking it. I'm such a linguistics groupie.

----------------------------------
BEGIN LINGUIST GEEK CODE BLOCK
version 0.9b1
LGA(-) F++ Pc- Pn- M Sx H- O
Lg < L(3)D(2)>
Data: Lg-ProtoIndoEuropean

C- Im I()U() S
END LINGUIST GEEK CODE BLOCK
----------------------------------

Take it yourself.

You see so many nice rhododendron plants here in the mountains, and I always wonder about the etymology, since I've studied a little Greek. I knew the 'dendron' part was tree.

from Gk. rhododendron, from rhodon "rose" + dendron "tree."

- from the Online Etymolgy Dictionary

That defective yeti guy really is funny: Reo Speedwagon and the Police jailed for stalking and pick up lines on the bus .

'interact' correspondent Kathy Linfoot sends in the VH1.com Which icon are you? quiz. She got Princess Di and I got Tony Soprano. How about you?