True Christian Freedom by Samuel Bolton

At one of my other blogs, I posted a year long Puritan reading list challenge. I'm pretty weak in this area, so the only name I recognized was John Bunyun, and I did struggle through Pilgrim's Progress a few years ago, but that wasn't on the list. For your reading pleasure, I'm supposed to be reviewing for my blog One Month to Live; Thirty Days to a No-regrets Life, by Kerry and Chris Shook (Waterbrook Press, a division of Random House, 2008). But frankly, when you've been reading 17th century Puritans, like Samuel Bolton's The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, 21st century Warren-wannabees are pretty thin stuff. Suffice it to say, the 30 day book is boot-strap Christianity, and I don't know a soul who would have the time or patience to complete the daily three "Make it last for life" homework suggestions, or even the "Make it count moments" that precede them.

Day 17

1. "Number a page from one to five, and list five different gifts that you know you possess. Don't be modest [yada yada]. . . This week ask at least 3 close family members or friends to list 5 gifts they see in you. Have them give you their lists. . .compare. . .what's the surprise and why."
2. "In what ways does your current job or career field reflect your passion? If you knew you only had a limited amount of time [yada yada] List the obstacles that prevent you from having your dream job. . . Go over this in prayer with God."
3. "Think through the handful of people who have helped you most in your life. (thinking, thinking, thinking) Now prayerfully consider sharing one of your struggles with someone this week . . ."

Isn't this right out of Willow Creek's Network Guide, which asked for an assessment which you matched with one from three other people? And you had to list your passions? Or am I thinking of What color is your parachute?

Keep in mind, this was just one day--the 17th. This was preceded by several pages of discussing GPS systems, and the Gospel hasn't been leaked yet--not sure the authors get to it. I checked the last few chapters/days and didn't find an explanation of the Gospel. By day 27, it is suggested that if the reader feels a vague, nagging question, sensing her time on earth is running out, she should snap out of her self-focus (which she's just been doing for a month) and start praying for the poor and hurting people on the other side of the world. Would that grab you?

I predict this title (the Willow Creek book says I score high in prophecy and wisdom) will be a very successful--maybe not a best seller like Rick Warren's books, but it has all the elements many church members want--lists, assignments, time frame, God-words, positive pep talks, and anecdotes ranging from construction to leprosy to mountain climbing (which is used as an example of forgiveness rather than the cross).

Time for a new ticker

Not heart surgery, but a new 30 day challenge. I wasn't even close to my 6,000 steps a day (although I think I forgot to update some days), averaging 4600 a day. Now I'm resetting to 7,000. If the weather would settle down, this would get easier. I unclogged a storm drain today which is good for the brakes, but doesn't do much for my pedometer.




It's pretty wet here today, so here's the new ticker.

The high cost of living

or the cost of living high? The middle class isn't disappearing; it isn't endangered. We've been sold a myth.

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Defense spending

A chart in the WSJ today showed that defense spending is at 4% of the GDP. It was above 5% in 1990 according to OMB, then went down to 3% 1999-2001, then rose to 4% 2004-2007 (I'm reading the chart; didn't see the numbers in the article). In Bush's budget predictions it should go up--I'm not sure if that is in spending, or because revenues will be down when the Democrats increase taxes. During the Korean War defense spending was 14% of GDP, and 9.5% during the VietNam War, and 6% during the Reagan years as noted in Bret Stephens article on Declinism. He notes that within a few years of the Reagan military build-up the Soviet Union collapsed. Europe and Japan with virtually no military costs during the same time period entered a period of economic stagnation.

Hand wringing over how Europeans and Asians see us is a politicians' hunt for fools gold, he says. Watch for a new book by Fred Kaplan, another author getting paid for predicting America's decline. They've been quite popular during the Bush administration and will probably drop off if a Democrat is elected, even if nothing changes globally. These declinism books are a bit like the anti-war movies these days. Do they sell--I mean to anyone but public libraries, who love this stuff.

Does anyone who speaks English know what this means?

"Differential access to and ability to use communication technologies creates potentially disenfranchising knowledge gaps."

I'm guessing it means someone at the local level wants federal government money to teach kids to use computers, but only if the kids are poor or minority. What's your guess?

"Distributed Data Curation Center (D2C2) investigates and pursues innovative solutions for curation issues of organizing, facilitating access to, archiving for and preserving research data and data sets in complex environments."

Someone was enamored with the first Star Wars character, R2D2. "Facilitate" is one of the squishiest words in the English language. Very useful--stretches, morphs, expands into total worthlessness. My good spell checker burped at "curation."

"Beginning April 1, 2008, The Frank Gates Companies/Attenta will become Avizent™."

I remember when Lutheran Brotherhood (fraternal insurance company) became Thrivent--a made up name. Acronyms are one thing, like JAMA or OCLC, but "designer names" that sound like pharmaceuticals are just irritating. I would rather do business with a Frank Gates than an Avizent, which sounds like a med for an STD.

I love words, especially in English, and I hate to see them abused and kicked to the curb.

Wine vocabulary;
men and women use different vocabulary;
teen-speak ;
ingredients lists;
Latinized vocabulary
using must, may and might
adverbosity
sheep

First place for tacky radio ad

On my way to the coffee shop about 6:30 a.m. this morning I heard on 1230 am radio the tackiest ad I've ever heard. I'll have to paraphrase since I couldn't stop and write it down:

"If Patty hadn't signed up for Match dot com she wouldn't be brushing her teeth in her bathroom with her boyfriend."

That's beyond bad taste. And speaking of which, it's probably not a good idea to shelve his razor next to your tooth brush, either, but this was the best I could come up with.

Warm, wet and wild

That ought to confuse the spam bots, but it's just a description of our weather today. The golf course is oozing fog as the warm air hits the cold ground, and there's standing water everywhere. I think we have what Illinois had yesterday; then the temps will drop tonight. I only have one more day on my step-challenge, but won't make it, but I will still up it for the next 30 days to 7,000.




A friend in Colorado called Sunday and said he was putting something in the mail that he hoped arrived here by Thursday. Yesterday we got an e-mail stating that their access road had been closed by an avalanche. In the last 3 days they'd received about 3 ft. of snow and he'd been on the roof shoveling, 7'-6" of snow (deepest spot). He says in his county they design for 65lb snow load, and his roof came out to 72 lbs per sq. ft. They have had 33 ft. of snow this winter. Good skiing. But the mail will have to wait.

Church of the Best Buy

Sometimes I arrange my poetry into shapes. My best efforts were a Christmas tree, a tornado, and a side profile of a man's face. So when I see information in an ad arranged to give two messages--one verbal, one graphic, I stop to read it. In yesterday's paper there was a small ad for the Best Buy Scholarship fund. I don't think I own BB stock, but I shop at Best Buy once a year for my son-in-law--it sells "consumer electronics, home-office products, entertainment software, appliances and related services through more than 1,200 retail stores across the United States, throughout Canada and in China." Volunteerism figures prominently at its corporate website. 1500 of the scholarships (non-renewable) are $1,500, but 51 are for $10,000--well worth taking the time to apply.

The ad I saw was all words, but shaped like a human, and it listed all the volunteer activities high school students might be doing which would qualify them for a Best Buy college scholarship. It was really quite clever and well done. Here's the list, and notice #14. (I added the numbers.)

1. Worked at the local food pantry.
2. Mentor
3. Picked up garbage off the freeway
4. Delivered meals on wheels.
5. Tutored a 2nd grader.
6. Walked the neighbor's 2 dogs.
7. Visited residents at a nursing home.
8. Rang the ------ (unreadable) for a total of --??--- hours.
9. Raked leaves for elderly people.
10. Mentor for a 3rd grader,.
11. Mowed the lawn for a handicapped neighbor for the past 4 summers.
12. Shoveled snow for Mrs. Jones.
13. Volunteered at a book drive to raise money for children's literacy.
14. Got a B+ on my chemistry test.
15. Organized a school blood drive,.
16. Basketball coach for 5th grade boys.
17. Read to toddlers at the local bookstore.
18. Children's summer program assistant.
19. Wildlife nursery volunteer.
20. Cooked for homeless teens on the week-end.

The only academic item on this list is a B+ in chemistry, and it is so different than the others, (it was the left arm of the figure), it almost looks like an error. The scholarship does have a grade point requirement, and obviously, the selectors are not looking for a teen who did all of this. In fact, a B+ in chemistry won't get you far in academic competitions--perhaps that's why it was included, to encourage the less than stellar students to apply.

What I like about this list is, 1) specificity, and 2) age appropriateness. They are not asking 15 year olds to go out and organize farm workers, picket abortion clinics, sleep on the streets with the homeless, or build homes for low income people. The list just by appearing in the paper shows that everyone, no matter how young, can do something close to home (and close to a Best Buy store, which is part of the FAQ). Only #20 seems out of place, considering the logistics and exclusivity of the idea (a pizza party with other teens sounds like a better idea to me rather than let-me-help you-feel-inadequate).

I think it is nice that Best Buy is a good corporate citizen, that it helps the communities from which it earns its income, and that its employees have opportunities to volunteer. However, I also believe its first commitment has to be to its real mission, to make money honestly in an ethical manner for its investors, which will in turn be good for its employees, the U.S. economy and the global economy.

This is a good lesson for youth staff of churches--as long as they keep in mind their real mission, which is to preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ--his life, death and resurrection--discipling their youth to move out into the community, and not just compiling to-do lists to keep their young, affluent members busy with feel-good projects.

Update on Pinky

I've now added Pinky's photo sent by a member of his family to this entry, which updated this entry. Pinky the pony taught several generations of children how to ride.

Monday Memories--When time ground to a halt

Last week my hairdresser, just making conversation while she made me presentable for another 7 weeks, said, "And what have you been doing lately," an easy question, but time whirls past so quickly I was just speechless (yes, it does happen). Then another friend asked the same question on Friday, and again I had the feeling I'd just stepped out of a hurricane--not because I'm busy (I'm never busy), but because time just seems to go by with storm speed. And when it doesn't, it's not a good sign.

You've probably all experienced a moment, minute, hour when time, instead of rushing by, seemed to slow down, or even move backwards. Maybe it was a fall from a ladder that seemed to last forever, as the ankle turns and the fingers slip and you go down, down, down; or you're in the hospital at mother's final illness, and every breath seemed an hour; or your husband / lover / boyfriend tells you over a cup of coffee in the kitchen that he has fallen in love with someone else and all you can process is the stain the cup makes on the placemat because you don't want to know the next minute and what he will say.

And that's all the further I got with this memory of my daughter's auto accident in 1988. I could feel that icky, sticky feeling in my throat and the beginnings of A-fib, and decided, it wasn't worth a blog. So, you can fill in the blanks here with your own time-slowing-down-story. Everybody has one.

Change--is it just a campaign phrase?

I wonder if this is what Obama means. That a Clinton might tell the truth.

Concerning her records buried in the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, which opened in 2004: At the time, Mrs. Clinton promised that "everything's going to be available." More than three years later, the library that is partly funded by taxpayers has released less than 1% of its records, and the withheld documents include two million pages covering Mrs. Clinton's White House tenure. As usual with the Clintons, they've managed to make the controversy seem so complicated that everyone has lost interest. If she's got all this experience, shouldn't we know what it was? Story here

If it weren't so serious, it would be funny

I was reading through comments left at my church blog written over 3 years ago. I was describing dehydration and starvation as a medical treatment--and it wasn't about Terri, but about an elderly man I knew, whose daughters were trying to go around the stepmother's wishes. My list for his end of life included:

· Dry mucous membranes (mouth, nose throat and genital organs)
· Constipation
· Impaction (buildup of stool in the body), severe abdominal cramping and bloating, nausea and vomiting
· Electrolyte imbalances (salt and water problems in the blood and tissues)
· Arrhythmias (heart problems); myalgias and malaise (muscle pain and marked fatigue)
· Cough and shortness of breath
· Severe depression and confusion, severe agitation and fear, delusions
· Dry, cracked skin
· Urinary, vaginal and bowel infection
· Bronchitis and pneumonia
· Blood in the bowel, stomach, kidney and lungs, kidney failure
· General systemic collapse and death

Three comments were left, either by spam bots or real people with bad English who surf the internet with key words. 1) If you suffer these symptoms . . ., 2) I have the pleasure of visiting your site. . .contact______for medical services, 3) You may want to read about obesity. . .

The irony of a spammer or bot trying to help when the wife and staff were colluding to kill him.

Now in your 65th year

In your 65th year
by Norma Bruce

Do your shoes squeak
and your knees creak?
Does your nose run
when you’re having fun?
Do your chin hairs
appear in flares
of righteous self pity
and poetry so witty?

Does your inner self
demand more wealth?
Do your feet hurt
and the tomato squirt?
Does it all hang out
so you want to shout
Enough’s enough
Life’s getting tough?

Does the sky look bluer
and your last love truer?
Do little snacks matter
and make you fatter?
Do you know it all
right before the fall?
Calm all those fears
Welcome to your “Golden Years.”

DSpace and institutional repositories

If you aren't a librarian, archivist or pinhead, you won't care, but there's an article in the latest D-Lib magazine on Carrots and Sticks. When I first stumbled into an institutional repository (probably Ohio State's) I began specifically looking for them. As a former cataloger, I would give them a D- in access. Miss Oldfather and Miss Dean would have rapped my knuckles. If it weren't for Google, they'd be worthless. I don't care what they do in Portugal or Pennsylvania to market these to their faculty, staff and students, they are one more black hole of information that needed a good librarian to design and run it, but which looks like it was turned over to the campus IT department instead. They are the 21st century equivalent of the mid-20th century closed stacks, using the Katrina method of shelf arrangement.

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From my Birds of a Feather archives

"Am I the only one who notices that the same folks who think we pea-brains control the climate are the same ones who thought it was OK to remove food and water from a woman who wasn't sick or dying, just helpless and dependent, and let her starve and dehydrate? Or that it is OK to kill babies because they come at an inconvenient time or have defects and anomalies? Or that it is OK to use human embryos to get grant money for research as long as it is for a worthy cause? Or that it is OK to deprive 3rd world peoples of DDT so that millions of them die, but the bird eggs will be strong? There seems to be a god complex infecting the liberals. And the humility vaccine seems to be in short supply." From March 23, 2007

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New Notebook Time

There just wasn't enough time, space or pixels for everything in the last one. So here's what I didn't write about.

Deaths of journalists--I had noted particularly Mexico and Africa

Role disability--53.4% of us according to Archives of General Psychiatry

What the Constitution says about the religion of candidates

What Anabaptists say about Doctrine of Justification

November consumer spending rising fastest in 3.5 years

Americans aren't saving enough--GAO

Schwarzenegger's $14 billion health care plan

Public housing solutions in architecture journals--40 years of reading this

Social worker jargon for staff workshops

Should churches and religious groups be paying real estate taxes

Consumer changes 2005-2007

AMT, Bush tax cuts

Recipe for Chicken Merlot

13 fudge factor phrases (I'll probably still use this for a TT)

Free genealogy sites on the web

My "new" first issue (1895)

"If you're not hungry several times a day, you're eating too much."

New strain of MRSA in MSM

"Overcoming the worry gene" was most e-mailed WSJ story

Abortion front page story in Dispatch--word choices of reporters show hostility to pro-life supporters and advocates

The 2001 rebates

Lithuanian Jews "The Unknown Black Book"

Black 17 year old, accepted at 6 colleges, comments on Obama are really strange

How will your candidate handle Jihadism?

Posting calorie counts in restaurants

Stomach banding also cures diabetes - better than lifestyle changes - JAMA

Edwards' rich-poor gap a lie - Thomas Sowell

Freddie Mac swindles Ohio pension system

When half as much is twice as good

Top 1% of income earners paid 39.58% of all income taxes in 2005

Do not smoke or drink during Super Bowl--health risk

Notebook by Colorbök, Inc. 2716 Baker Road, Dexter, MI 48130, made in China, of course. Each page has narrow lines, and either the pinto (verso) or the sorrel (facing) with head turned. I also bought earlier a small nesting box with four horses in this design which includes a butterscotch/palamino color horse.

Who's behind the push pull into a recession?

I used to think it was media--but they only read what they're sent; then I thought maybe it was the Democrats since they've been moaning about the economy for seven years in order to get elected (remember 2004?); but lately I've been thinking it's the get-rich-quick guys, who rush in for the bargains when everyone else gets weak kneed. Reading the January results in today's paper

The Dow is still off just 0.2% from a year ago

Employment grew in January by 75,000

Unemployment is 4.9%

The average fixed rate 30 year loan was at 5.68%. Wasn't it about twice that in the Carter years?

January projections for subprime losses were double digit, but actual losses on 2006 subprime loans are slightly above 1%

The Dow had its worst January since. . . January 2000 (Clinton, if I recall)

Follow the (guys hoping to make) money.

Extending unemployment benefits

A look at the history. They are usually extended far beyond the original plan, some for years, having the effect of "permanent" jobless benefits.

Crappy White Trash Stuff

Placemats with Lionel Barrymore's artwork. It's an interesting way to sell on e-Bay. I followed the link from Books Found who sells on line. You've got to admit, she's got a way with words. I don't read e-bayese, so I don't know if they sold. Nice touch--I think we had carpeting in that green color.

Because the placemat potential is trashed by the fact that some stupid guy in some placemat marketing department who came up with the idea of these placemats ruined the whole thing by printing them on panic-level ugly green backings and then, if it was possible to screw them up more than that, he thought it would be clever to laminate them with apparently the cheapest worst quality laminate he could find in the 1960s.

Retro-Soviet art

When visiting the former Soviet Union, specifically St. Petersburg (aka Leningrad, Petrograd), "if you are really interested in art and have limited time, I'd go for the Museum of Russian Art, Государственный Русский музей. The Hermitage is European art, but the other is Russian art, and much of it you've probably never seen, not even in art books or classes. There was a huge display of Soviet era art [summer of 2006], both the public and the underground." Me blogging about Russia. Neo-Neocon thinks this Obama poster is retro-Soviet; some of her readers say it is Che-lite, others Yugoslav partisan. It makes me nostalgic for my early career years in Soviet studies, shuffling the PL480 novels about machine-tractor station romances and 5-year plans.

"Art has a duty to speak out fiercely and courageously against oppression, exploitation, lies and hypocrisy in all their manifestations. It must point to the possibility of a better life and a better world. It matters not that the message lacks clarity, that it is incomplete and imperfect, and that it deals only with this or that particular. Art is not politics or science. It has its own identity and speaks with its own voice. While adopting a passionate stance on the great issues facing humanity, it must ever remain true to itself." In defence of Marxism.

Oh yeah! Slogans and Shibboleth. I'm picking up my poster right now to go march in the streets.