Thursday, January 31, 2008

Knowing why and when and where to flee

Via Wittingshire, you can take a quiz about the last day of Pompeii: Would You Survive?

I was (according to the quiz) one of the theoretical survivors. Let's not go into how much of that was by dumb luck and wild guesses, shall we?

Why good people do evil things (like kill babies)

As some of you know, I used to be pro-choice, but now am pro-life. The blogger "Et tu?" also used to be pro-choice, and is now pro-life. Don't miss her post on what made her change her mind, and how hard it was to make the changeover. She brings some good insight to the discussion, I think. (And also some history.)

The Rebelution's Keep Moving Forward series/ Book note: Do Hard Things

The Rebelution challenges teens to not give in to low expectations. Check out, for instance, Keep Moving Forward: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four. Even if you aren't a teen.

From Part One:

Most of us, however, are not so passionate, tending to get comfortable just living life and getting by — neither giving our current activities the energy they deserve nor dreaming of anything better than what we already have. We stop exerting ourselves and get comfortable halfway up the ladder. Or, to use a different analogy, it is as if we are sitting on a stepping-stone in the middle of a stream. We’re comfortable, yes, but we were never intended to get cozy on a stepping-stone. Our ultimate goal is to cross over to the other side.
From Part Four:

...our hope is that you would learn to throw yourselves 100% into the small things God has in front of you, but to not get so comfortable there that you miss the next thing, the bigger, better opportunities He brings your way when you keep your eyes open for them. We want you to be like someone who has been faithfully exercising, but is constantly looking for opportunities to use the strength that he or she has developed to serve others in a productive, real world situation.

One of our mother’s favorite sayings is the line, “Hustle while you wait.” She might tell us that after dinner when we are all sitting around waiting for dessert but the table hadn’t been cleared. She would get the dessert all served out but often wouldn’t bring it to the table until everything was completely cleared. ‘Hustle while you wait’ meant that something good we wanted depended on our quick and cheerful execution of a task immediately in front of us.

Not familiar with The Rebelution? From the official book description of Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations, due out April 15, 2008:

The next generation stands on the brink of a "rebelution."

With over 14 million hits to their website TheRebelution.com, Alex and Brett Harris are leading the charge in a growing movement of Christian young people who are rebelling against the low expectations of their culture by choosing to "do hard things" for the glory of God.

Written when they were 18 years old, Do Hard Things is the Harris twins' revolutionary message in its purest and most compelling form, giving readers a tangible glimpse of what is possible for teens who actively resist cultural lies that limit their potential.

Combating the idea of adolescence as a vacation from responsibility, the authors weave together biblical insights, history, and modern examples to redefine the teen years as the launching pad of life and map a clear trajectory for long-term fulfillment and eternal impact.

Written by teens for teens, Do Hard Things is packed with humorous personal anecdotes, practical examples, and stories of real-life rebelutionaries in action. This rallying cry from the heart of revolution already in progress challenges the next generation to lay claim to a brighter future, starting today.

Go ahead. Do a dance step or two, or stand up and cheer. I understand. Really, I do. (And nothing would make me happier than to see this book become a New York Times bestseller. Heh.)

Browsing through the links

I'm spending some time this week going through my links list, visiting sites I haven't been to in a long time. I've found a few places that have changed a name and/or a site, or gone out of business (I've removed those). And can Nathaniel be turning two already? Where does the time go? Wasn't it just a few months ago he was fighting for his newborn life?

At Cheat-Seeking Missiles, I found a couple of interesting posts right at the top. Fade-Out On The Campaign TV Spot looks at changes in how national political campaigns are run, now that television ads are so expensive, and now that there are more (and better) alternatives. Creationism Bragging Rights takes a mostly-humorous look at recent claims about machine-made life. He says what the scientists are really claiming (when you cut through the hype and spin) isn't that they're on the verge of creating life. As he puts it, they're talking about hijacking it. There's a difference.

When you get through laughing at Laer's punchline, though, please go read the article that prompted his post: Giant step toward artificial life, by Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical writer, San Francisco Chronicle, January 25, 2008. Except for the rather unfortunate "there is the matter of bragging rights of mythological proportions. Mere mortals have yet to lay claim to creating life" segment, it's really an interesting, informative, and rather well-balanced article, I thought. And it does give space to concerns about what's going on.

Update: Sallie is leading a discussion on Jane Austen movies. She also has a long and thoughtful, very good post in which she revisits a post from May of 2005 on deciding what's important, and acting on it. I'm in a simplify-and-cut-back phase right now, and appreciated the inspiration.

Update: Patrick Deneen takes a look at "the breakdown of a covenant of respect and honor," and "the growing evidence of shamelessness among our middling debtor class."

On the Democratic contenders

Anthony Esolen notes:

Truth to tell, I'm cheered by Barack Obama's victory over Mrs. Clinton. So are a lot of people who call themselves conservatives, and that demands some explanation, given that on social issues, on taxes, and on immigration, Mr. Obama's positions are impossible to separate from Mrs. Clinton's. What is going on here?

Read the rest.

This year I can't see myself voting for either Democrat, but I find Esolen's comments interesting. I'm not sure he has any grounds for his admittedly slim hopes that Obama might help return the Democratic Party to stances, values, and focus more in line with its worthier days, but here's hoping he's right. Certainly I can't see the Clintons doing it.

Fooled by randomness

I like lessons that leave me with a useful mental picture, or a humorous way of reminding myself to watch out for common mistakes. I'd say this fits the bill nicely.

From Cafe Hayek: Snapping his fingers (a post mainly addressing the stimulus package):
There once was a man on a Manhattan street corner snapping his fingers over and over again. What are you doing, someone asked. Keeping away tigers, he said. You don't think that really works, do you? It's working so far, he answered.

Hah. There you go, I said to myself, when I read that. I spend a fair amount of time looking at things and wondering if something has really helped, or if it was coincidence, or what. Now I can look at a situation and ask myself if it's real, or finger snapping to keep away tigers. Heh.

Russell Roberts filed that post under Fooled by Randomness. Fooled by randomness? Uffda. Been there. Done that. Expect it will happen again despite my best intentions. Ahem.

Quotes

To know who said this (and when):

"Do not let us be hair splitters. Let us not ask ourselves whether the Americas should begin to defend themselves after the first attack, or the fifth attack, or the tenth attack, or the twentieth attack. The time for active defense is now."
And this (and when):

"...if you treat the Americans well they will always want to treat you better."
And this (and when):

"I prefer to collaborate with my allies rather than with my enemies."
...pop over to Expat Yank and check out the sidebar.

(A hint: one is by Winston Churchill.)

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

I'm from the government and I'm here to help (raise your kids)

This post is going to haunt me for a while, I think. I've tried for a couple of days to come up with useful commentary, but, well, I need to think about this a while longer, I guess.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Margaret Truman Daniel, dead at 83

The multi-talented Margaret Truman Daniel has died at age 83 after a short illness. I have mixed feelings about many of her books (see my rambling thoughts on her remarkable biography of her mother, for instance), but there's no denying her intelligence, talent, skills, insider's insight, and spirit. My condolences to her family.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Simplify

Phil at Brandywine Books shares some advice borrowed from Paul Borthwick's book Simplify: 106 Ways to Uncomplicate Your Life.

Tim Challies on his first book

In Reflections from a First Time Author, well-known evangelical blogger Tim Challies discusses book writing, and publishing today. (Via Albert Mohler's review of Challies's book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment.)

Give this man a Daddy Award

Daddyhood, in four minutes of music.

Welcome to the era of sailing ships

Sort of.

Side note: I think the currently-fashionable panic about CO2 is offbase, and based more on vogue than science. But I do like the projected savings in operating expenses. And I like that this new technology saves fuel. (When the wind cooperates, of course.)

hat tip: Expat Yank

Terrorism by any other name...

The UK government has decided to rename Islamic terrorism, designating it henceforth as "Anti-Islamic Activity"?

Mark Steyn considers this and other recent actions as excessive deference to Islam (not to mention Orwellian, not to mention self-defeating). His argument here: First They Came for Piglet (National Review Online, January 26, 2006).

The Saturday Review of Books...

...is up at Semicolon. Link a review of your own and/or read reviews written by other bloggers.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Changing attitudes about abortion

In Have your views on abortion changed? (Mommy Life, January 21, 2008), Barbara Curtis writes:

As someone who was in on the early days of abortion - and had one myself - I can say that never in our wildest dreams did we think that abortion would become a form of birth control ending up in 1.5 million deaths per year and wiping out 1/4 of the next generation. Why aren't feminists worried about the message that sends about women and children - that our lives and decisions are worth so little?

[...snip...]

What I'd really like to take to the Blogs 4 Life conference is a message of reality and hope. How are blogs affecting the way readers perceive abortion and other life-related issues? How has the Internet/how have blogs changed the way you think about abortion?

I'm asking because some of my readers have shared that they have been led by stuff they've read here to question their preconceived notions about abortion. Many were unaware of the number of babies aborted. Some had never considered the psychological implications for a generation growing up knowing that their parents had the power of life and death over them. Many are awakening to the fact that the Boomer Generation in its selfishness has created a huge societal problem as it grows to demand longer and better living - with Social Security benefits paid for by a population base shrunken - not by pestilence, famine or flood, but by their own hands.

Read the rest

Canada's cheap lives

January 28 marks the 20th anniversary of R. vs. Morgentaler, which struck down abortion laws in Canada. This week, National Post writers will be looking at the legacy of the ruling. In the first installment, The Day Humanity Became Cheap, "David Frum argues that the decision served to cheapen the value of human life."

hat tip: The Black Kettle

Welcome to the Wild West


On our sidewalk, deer tracks overlap boot prints, and cat tracks...

We never have figured out who scraped the sidewalk for us right before this latest dusting of snow. I was changing into work clothes to head out to clear off the few inches of snow that had built up, when someone with a motorized scraper drove up onto the sidewalk and did the job for us, and then drove off without so much as saying howdy. Whoever you are, thanks.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Historic Sunday School Books online

From American Memory (The Library of Congress), "Sunday School Books: Shaping the Values of Youth in Nineteenth-Century America":
This collection presents 163 Sunday school books published in America between 1815 and 1865, drawn from the collections of Michigan State University Libraries and the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University Libraries. They document the culture of religious instruction of youth in America during the Antebellum era. They also illustrate a number of thematic divisions that preoccupied nineteenth-century America, including sacred and secular, natural and divine, civilized and savage, rural and industrial, adult and child. Among the topics featured are history, holidays, slavery, African Americans, Native Americans, travel and missionary accounts, death and dying, poverty, temperance, immigrants, and advice.
The home page for the collection at Michigan State University is here.

The people who "happen to be there"

I like this C. S. Lewis quote.