Side Notes

It's really hard to study when you're sick. I don't even know what I have. I think it's from overworking myself. Work from 5:30-10:30am, then class some days until 6:30pm. Mixed with no exercise and unhealthy eating habits = sick.
I have this perpetual headache and occasional nasal greenery. Not the worse – still very, very annoying. And my exams are next week. If you are of the praying persuasion, pray for me.

On a side note...

Have you ever heard anyone say, "our thoughts and prayers go out to such and such…"?
Prayers I get. But "thoughts"? What is that? Thoughts are nice, but useless. Like a car, with...ah, no wheels. You get it.

One other side note...
This is for people who take verses out of context.

Picture Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Beautiful smile, pleasant features, apparently sitting on a mountainside, etc. Now picture me cutting a nice hole in the canvass, plucking her wondering eye from its rightful place.
You should cringe, or at least tell on me.
Why did I do it? Well, for me, I like the tone of the paint in and around her eye. It warms me when I'm down. Not only that, now I know that she's always looking at me.

Ridiculous.

When you rip a verse out of context, you are essentially defacing a masterpiece. Mere recognition of a biblical verity does not free you to misapply it. As students of the Word of God, we must consider the sentence in the paragraph in the chapter in the section that is in the letter or document. Look at the background context. Study the literary devices used. It is ignorant to do otherwise. All Scriptural meaning will be universal, application is what will vary.

Barry Bonds

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/sports/baseball/27ball.html

This article describes the future of Barry Bonds' 756th homerun ball. It sold for $752,467, and the new owner wants to have some *special work done to the ball before he donates it to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Funny and sad.

Ideas Have Consequences - Richard Weaver (1948)

Weaver begins his discourse by identifying medieval nominalism as the principal cause that fragments universals into particulars. To discard universals is to assume man has no authority outside of himself; this leads to moral corruption. As knowledge becomes more and more empirical, man becomes increasingly materialistic, and the metaphysical dream is lost. Virtue is then devaluated. The media becomes indecent, infants and elders are neglected, and heroism vanishes. As a result of this egotism, art becomes impulsive and subjective, and hard work insufferable. Man has become his own ends with comfort as his means. Weaver issues three chapters to reconcile mankind from this moldering mindset. By guarding private property, education, and piety, those who uphold universals and absolutes may revive their fellow man and civilization.

Richard Weaver was heralded for upholding conservative, southern values. He grew up in Asheville, NC.
Ideas Have Consequences was quite a read, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys the history of ideas. You will gain a new perspective about the culture we live in today, if you can suffer a week or two of focused reading in this book.

Eaves!

I don't try to listen in on other people's conversations.
But recently I overheard some interesting things. Let me set them up for you.

1. Coffee Shop
I'm listening to classical guitar and writing up a paper. Two sorority sisters sit down and begin having a conversation beside me. To quote Stanley from the Office, "Sometimes women say more in their pauses than they say in their words..." Needless to say, he is so right on this one. I had to leave the coffee shop because I heard the word "like" at least 76 times. I couln't take it.

2. Coffee Shop
I was, yep studying, sitting between an Asian couple and three Arab guys, with a Mexican mother/daughter combo across from me, and two guys speaking German in the corner. I didn't overhear too much this time. But quite the melting pot, eh?

3. The Library
By now you've firgured out my daily routine. Sitting at the library, studying mind you, and I heard the following conversation between two elderly women trying to find a library card in their wallets.
(Increase volume by 10x)
"IS THIS THE CARD?" (one woman who doesn't have her specs hands the card to the other woman)
"WELL, NO THIS ISN'T IT...THIS IS A CARD TO GET TEN FREE PANTIES, IT EXPIRES IN 2003"
I have no words to further this entry.

That's it for now.

Old Ironsides

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar; --
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee; --
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!

Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!

(one of my favorite poems by Oliver Wendell Holmes)

The Great Stereopticon

Title says it all, right?
I am reading "Ideas Have Consequences," by Richard Weaver. A philosophical rant on the decadence of Western culture in the 30s - 40s. It is really hard to read, I have learned at least 50 new words. Like decadence.
Weaver calls the mass media "The Great Stereopticon" for good reason. First of all, a stereopticon is a 3D projector, that layers or dissolves images, to make them appear life-like. What a great idea. He argues that radio, press, and television herald industrialism and therefore only promote what is ultimately materialistic and mundane, turning the public eye from what he calls "the metaphysical dream" and subjects them to "falsity born of technology and commercialism." Thus the 3D idea; fake. A great illustration of the media machine.

Oh, and earlier he went off on Jazz music. Here is a quote that will probably take me a minute to type...

"Jazz, by formally repudiating restraint by intellect, and by expressing contempt and hostility toward our traditional society and mores, has destroyed this equilibrium [of sentiment and reason in art]. That destruction is a triumph of grotesque, even hysterical, emotion over propriety and reasonableness. Jazz often sounds as if in a rage to divest itself of anything that suggests structure or confinement. (brackets mine)"

I wonder what he would think of Donald Miller...

That's all for now. Time to read.

Mail Purses

Ok. I have a Timbuk2 bag, a messenger bag, and I recently got some criticism for carrying one.

One: It's not a purse.
Two: I don't have makeup, millions of receipts, gum, wallet-size photos, trinkets, or any feminine nick-nacks in it.
Three: I don't have it with me all the time.
Four: Contents: Books, computer.
Five: The Pony Express used them.

In closing, I will submit that only one of the two ways of wearing the bag looks feminine. If you don't wear it across your chest (See Jack above), but wear it only on one shoulder, you are more likely to be accused of carrying a purse (see below). That is all.