“I believe that many who find that 'nothing happens' when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.”
C.S. Lewis - Introduction to "On the Incarnation" by St. Athanasius
12.20.06
Posted in Irritation at 5:45 pm by Adam B.
Anyone who knows me knows that I hate pirating. By pirating I am mostly referring to the practices of using illegal software and downloading illegal music, and only slightly referring to the practice of running around the world on ships looking for loot and treasure while eating eggs and pickles and saying “Aurg matey.” In one sense I am equally opposed to both, but seeing as everyone uses software illegally and only a few true pirates still exist, of which I personally know none, I tend to voice my opposition to the former piracy more than the latter.
Even though I hate using illegal software I hate, almost as much, spending a ton of money on software. It annoys me that I should buy two copies of Microsoft Office if I have two computers at home and may occasionally want to use it on each. Some software companies are more generous than Microsoft and they allow you to install your software on multiple computers if you will only be using one at a time. That makes sense to me, but in the end I still have to fork out the money for the software.
Enter Open Source. Open Source is a licensing standard built on the notion that software should be free. Why programmers buy into this idea I’ll never know, but being a non-programmer myself I like it. All Open Source code is available to anyone to download and change as long as the software they create is also Open Source. The finished product can be downloaded by anyone and used for anything (unlike Student licensed software that cannot be used for commercial purposes). Since its conception scores of programmers have jumped onto the Open Source band wagon and a lot of great software packages have been developed. Listed here are the few I use on a daily basis.
FireFox
FireFox is a web browser built on the old Netscape browser code. They tightened it up quite a bit and made it a lot faster. Since it is not made by Microsoft it is not integrated into Windows so it has fewer virus threats than Internet Explorer. In addition, FireFox has a huge user base that writes plugins for it. The two plugins I use most give me the weather report on the bottom of the browser and an icon that I can click that will use Internet Explorer to browse if a page isn’t setup for FireFox. There are plugins for everything and they work great.
ThunderBird
ThunderBird is made by the same people as FireFox. It is an e-mail client like Microsoft Outlook. I have it setup to check my three different e-mail accounts (including my yahoo and hotmail accounts – this is done through a user generated plugin) and it keeps track of all the blogs I read. As soon as I get an e-mail, or a blog I watch gets a new post, I get a message from Thunderbird (also enabled through a user created plugin) that alerts me. It works perfect.
Gimp
Gimp is designed to rival Photoshop. Since the digital photo market is developing so quickly right now I must admit that Gimp is probably about 2 years behind. Even still it can open and save Photoshop files and it has all the basic and many of the advanced tools that have made Photoshop the standard. It is a little tricky to learn, but then again so is Photoshop. It is designed to be a professional photo editor so it is high on power and speed, but low on user friendliness. It has two major shortfalls. The first is that it cannot open the RAW files from professional cameras. This has been alleviated by a programmer who made the UFRaw utility. This is like a plugin (it can also stand alone) to Gimp and it can open all the standard RAW formats. This has helped me put off Photoshop for at least another 6 months. The second problem is that it only works in 32bit color and everything now is in 64bit (I think – maybe it only works in 16 and everything is now 32). I don’t know what kinds of problems this creates, I suspect it just doesn’t have the full range of color. I have used Gimp since college and it can still do everything I need.
NVU
NVU is a web page creator. It is not as powerful as Dreamweaver, it is more like Microsoft FrontPage. It builds basic web sites intuitively without any knowledge of html. When I was writing a help file for my last job I used this program for everything. NVU and Gimp together give you everything you need to create a web site and images from scratch.
WordPress
WordPress is one of a host of Open Source web utilities. It is the program that generates and upkeeps this blog. It has a lot of features and, like everything open source, tons of great plugins. The way the comments post on my page was setup using a plugin. I think that web tools are the strongest open source category. I have seen Open Source programs successfully used (by myself or people I know) to build a web shop, a discussion forum and, as I said, this blog.
Open Office
Open Office was originally Star Office Suite by Sun Microsystems. I suspect they could not compete with Microsoft Office so they went open source. What that means for us is an entire Office Suite for free. They have been continually updating it and adding features so it can still do everything you would typically use Word, PowerPoint, Access, or Excel to do. It can open and save all the Microsoft formats so you do not lose the ability to send and receive files from the unconverted. Since this was originally a consumer product it has a great help file and it has been very stable for me. They just released Open Office 2.1 this year and it has all the features I was looking for that almost tempted me to upgrade my Office 97 to Office XP. Since it is free I have it installed on everything I own so I can easily transfer files between all my computers and work wherever I want.
If you are using pirated software give these a try, especially Open Office. They are better for your wallet and your soul.
Permalink
12.16.06
Posted in Literature at 9:33 am by Adam B.
The Christmas Carol by Dickens was a surprise in many ways. First off, I was surprised it was a book. I knew that Dickens wrote the Christmas Carol, but after so many movies have been done by anyone from the Muppets to Mickey Mouse you begin to think that he originally intended it as a screen play. The second surprise is that it is short. Dickens, it is no secret, is typically long. I expected no less in this work until I pulled it off the shelf in the library. An easy read for an afternoon. The third surprise is that most of the movies (apart from the addition of Gonzo) actually follow the book closely. Its brevity and poignant message lend it nicely to film, especially a film around Christmas when we think more about giving.
I was not surprised, however, that it was an amazing work. I have never read something that was so moving about how we all ignore the poor. In the movies it is too easy to think that Scrooge alone is the miser and we are not so much like him. It may be that I am more mature now then when I last saw a film but this book was very convicting. I am Scrooge in so many inescapable ways. In the book he is perfectly black and then makes a complete transition to being perfectly good. What is scary about that is Dickens is showing how evil the attitudes he had are. He is not a poor writer who cannot draw good characters. The character in this book are simple because the attitudes he is talking about are simple. You are either a Scrooge or not and if you are you need to change, its as simple as that.
Permalink
12.11.06
Posted in Irritation at 11:15 pm by Adam B.
When you take her order at Starbucks, don’t give her a complimentary shot of espresso. When she smiles at you in Olive Garden, don’t leave a 20 dollar tip. Don’t let her cut in line at the DMV (Secretary of State), don’t pay her toll on the highway and please, please don’t throw your coat on the ground when it rains. But you ask me, “Why not offer appreciation for the ecstasy excited by a nameless beauty?” Fool. You are making it harder on the rest of us. Beauty seems harmless from a distance, yes, but get too close and you will find a ravenous beastie. No, beauty itself is not the terror, nor the direct cause. It is the unregulated idiocy of men that is to blame. What is a girl to think when a smile will earn her more in goods than an hour’s wage? In a world where charm is more valuable than wit and garment more honored than words there is little one can do but take advantage. “The rules do not apply to me” becomes their motto.
Be afraid, you who bow before the goddess and offer trinkets for her every glance. Stand in terror for one day she may work for you. She may wonder and complain that you expect the same from her as from everyone else. Through a fierce gaze she will command the world and they will turn against you, you and your unorthodox fairness. You alone, through the piercing stare, will see hollowness and condemn yourself for your former longings. May your best friend never date her, may your boss never hire her. Girls, heaven help you should she move in with you. Flee, run to the hills bags unpacked. Live in the shaft of a volcano if you must, it will be safer. She is a queen without a country, but demands loyalty and service just the same. The world is her kingdom and her solitary gift for all its labor is light reflected off her perfect form. “More than enough” she thinks. She will hate you for mere common courtesy, equality in any respect is step down for her. You will forever clean her dishes, curb her dog, pickup after her parties and still she will hate you for the audacity of sharing her air.
Pity the pretty face. Since she owns the world any kindness is taken for granted. She cannot receive love because everything is already due her. Since she is only respected for her beauty she only respects those who are beautiful. True friendship is unknown for she has not been taught to value anything in herself worth giving away, and she has not the wisdom to discern selfless affection in others. She is unteachable for she already knows the answer to everything: a sultry smile, a tight shirt and just the right perfume. In all things she is stagnant and with every passing year she slowly ages away into everything she hates. There is no life past 40 for the pretty face except to raise more pretty faces to infest the world.
“I will resist her” you think. A noble thought. Beware, she may find you intriguing. Perhaps her soul is not so dim to find reality when it walks up and says, “you’re shallow and self-centered.” If you capture her attention do not despair, you are but a passing fancy, your depth will soon wear her out. But if you dare I offer this solemn warning; she is trained in nothing else, and I mean nothing else, but the art of captivation. Few can resist captivity for long for all men are weak. While generally dim-witted she is a genius of the senses for she has studied nothing else. With a simple word, gesture, touch, she will send your senses into a comatose state making you dizzy and oh so happy. Her complete lack of general utility proves her expertise here. Had she been forced down a more difficult road to satisfy her needs for food, clothing, etc., she, like every other person, would have adapted. Not the pretty face. With beauty as her solitary tool she has crafted her entire world, she needs nothing else. Nothing, that is, as long as men like you and I venerate.
Permalink
12.08.06
Posted in Literature at 8:46 pm by Adam B.
I had no idea when I started reading “Art of Rhetoric” that I would receive a full education in ethics as well. It seems that Aristotle has a hard time talking about any subject without first saying everything he knows about everything else. Some of his teachings are helpful, though, like the “seven causes” of human action: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, anger and desire (Rhetoric I x. 8 ). You may see this list and feel you can add to it but Aristotle will waste no time demonstrating why your addition is subsumed under his seven, and you will feel quite the fool. Personally I liked the list because modern philosophy (or at least John Piper) has assumed only one cause for behavior, desire. Nonsense.
Aristotle also has a lot of helpful insights about women. In his discussion about noble actions he says, “Virtues and actions are nobler, when they proceed from those who are naturally worthier, for instance, from a man rather than from a woman.” (Rhetoric I ix. 21-22). Harsh.
When Aristotle address the virtues he holds two above the rest, justice and courage (also self-control, magnificence, magnanimity, liberality, gentleness, practical wisdom, speculative wisdom – Rhetoric I ix. 4-6). Courage is not a Christian virtue, per se, but it is understandable among a people who participated frequently in war. Justice is also not a virtue, according to Christians, for the Christian virtues relate to the perfection of the soul. Christians are encouraged to seek justice, but it not considered a virtue in the proper sense. In Aristotle, justice, just as all the virtues, is seen as good in its own right, and the pursuit of justice is always noble. Aristotle teaches, “To take vengence on one’s enemies is nobler than to come to terms with them; for to retaliate is just, and that which is just is noble.” (Rhetoric I ix 25.). Jesus taught that there is more “nobility” (to use Aristotle’s language) in love. Love as the highest end, when compared to the virtues of Aristotle, takes on new meaning. Any virtue, or any good, that does not work itself out according to the principal of love is no longer noble or good. Of course we are not talking about sweaty palm, heart racing, head swimming love, but the consideration of another person before oneself, even if that person hates you.
Some of Aristotle’s “virtues” are shamed by the Christian ethic. Magnificence, for example, is the virtue of greatness. Anything that is great is virtuous (good in its own right, and always good to pursue) and beauty falls in this category. Beauty is virtuous. According to Scripture beauty is vain, that is, it has no positive affect on the soul. While it is not considered evil it is seen as superfluous as it is not helpful in the pursuit of righteousness.
Thus far I have enjoyed Aristotle’s tangents into all subjects as I wait for his discussion on the art of persuasion, but I am increasingly glad that in these last days we have been taught the true nature of virtue by the Son of its author.
Permalink
12.06.06
Posted in Life at 10:09 pm by Adam B.
Chrissy and I, at the bequest of Kevin Hanson, took a personality test. When the tests were done we read the results; they summed us up as well as four letters can. I liked mine, the profile was “Mastermind”. It said I don’t move into leadership until everyone else proves their incompetence. They got me there. It said I had the same personality as CS Lewis. Not a bad personality to have. Of course there are only so many combinations of letters, I am bound to be just like at least one person I respect. Chrissy’s said she liked to serve people, almost to a fault. I lucked out there.
After we had narrowed down the four letters that captured the essence of our being, we saw a marriage compatibility test based on the personality profiles we had just received. We entered our letters and waited patiently for the DLS to reveal our fate. To our shock we were only 25% compatible. You can imagine the thoughts that rifled through my mind.
“How could this happen? Perhaps we moved to fast. Oh, no… why am I so charming? I must have tricked the poor girl into falling for me and before we knew it, we happened on this colossal mistake. 25%!?! How? It is too terrible to be explained by simple charm. Perhaps she was dazzled and dazed by my elegant style, my physique must have enraged her passions, stifling all reason… the poor girl didn’t have a chance to get away. And now here we are, trapped in a relationship doomed by science.”
In actual fact, I thought no such thing. I really thought, “Perhaps love is more than personality.”
Permalink
12.01.06
Posted in Education at 4:15 pm by Adam B.
I just started reading Aristotle’s work on the Art of Rhetoric. Actually, I just read the introduction. It seems that all the latest trends in philosophy were thought of long ago. This was nothing new to me, but what did surprise me was that every philosophical idea that has become popular in the history of Western philosophy was discussed by Aristotle or Plato. When I mentioned this to George he noted that in Athens at that time many different philosophies were championed by different schools of thought. They all existed together and wrote against one another in their dialogs. Plato and Aristotle were simply responding to the current set of ideas discussed in their day.
This interested me because today there is only enough room in for one philosophical system. The metaphysic (if I can call it that) of the day is “post modernism” and if you are hip to the jive you will communicate as a post-modern. It’s not that your ideas have to adhere to the post-modern mind, they just need to be acceptable to a post-modern reader. If you speak as though you believe in absolutes or in the relevance of faith you will be derided as “oh so last century.” The scholar fashion police will be on you before the end of ‘bad boys’ finishes playing. There is enormous pressure to adhere to the current accepted standards of what constitutes scholarship and evidence. If you prove something the wrong way you will not just be proven wrong, but you will be ousted… kept out of the inner circle of scholarship.
I think this all goes back to the foundations of scholarship, nerddom. All the nerds in middle and high school ever wanted was to fit in and to be frenched by a cheerleader. They were never part of the in-crowd and were perpetually unable to keep up with what was “cool”. By the time they figured it out the trend had past and the shirt, pants, hat they bought to help them fit in only served to show how nerdy they were. Their entire scholarly career, up to that point, was defined by social rejection.
Oh how the tables have turned. The world of advanced scholarship is their world and they can now do as they please, or so it seems. My theory is that some how a couple of jocks got into the upper ranks of scholarships and are still playing the same games with the rest of us they played in high school. How did they get to this advanced position, you might ask, as though a bone headed football jock could never become a scholar. Perhaps they were polo jocks. The feminists are the cheerleaders of the intellectual game, no nerd would dare cross them. Either way, the jocks are still in control and all the nerds are just trying to fit in. Nothing has changed, just the social game. Speak against the feminists by suggesting that men and women might be different and your reputation as a scholar will get swirlied by the jocks of the academy. Suggest that evolution doesn’t make sense and you won’t get invited to that party next week.
Yes, times are changing, but the game remains the same and there is nothing new under the sun. What blows my mind is that the current trends in scholarship are presented as new ideas. It is thought that a certain philosophy becomes fashionable and dominate because it is supported by fact, either in science or in some social study that has been done. This just isn’t true. The ideas that we tout as so novel and educated were discussed and dismissed by philosophers thousands of years ago. We do not adhere to a certain way of thought because it is backed up by the facts but because it is in fashion, because the scholar jocks and cheerleaders have told us it is okay to think this way in our advanced age. I am not suggesting that we give up our pursuit of a better system since it has been done before, but we should at least acknowledge that our trends in philosophy are more like trends in music than developments in science. They are based on little more than the current fancy of the public and a few men and women who define what is scholastically cool.
Permalink