CalvinDude.com

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. I’ll be away from a computer for the rest of the week, unless something major changes in my plans :-) Ergo, no further blog posts for a while. Not that you read them anyway :-P

That’s right, I got my computer back last night (for home). Pulled it out of storage and fired it up. Right now, the only problem with it is my external hard drive isn’t being read. I haven’t had any chance to really fiddle with it yet, so I don’t know if it’s damaged or just being mean. In any case, the good news is that I didn’t have any of my writings saved on the external hard drive. The bad news is that I did have most of my mp3s saved on that drive, as well as some game data. But given the choice of which to lose, I’d rather lose what I did lose than my writings! :-)

I’ve discovered a drawback to not owning a vehicle. It’s called Public Transportation.

Get this. From my new address to work is 7.28 miles. If I want to ride the bus in to get to work at 8:00 AM (which is when I have to be in), I will need to walk about 0.5 miles to the bus stop before 6:33 in the morning. That’s right, it will take me nearly an hour and a half (plus I will have to walk at least three blocks after I get off the bus, in addition to the half mile to get to the original stop) just to go 7.28 miles.

With Public Transit operating at the exhillerating speed of 4.8 miles per hour, I could probably wake up at the same time and jog in to work while saving me $1.25 each way. And the health nuts driving their SUVs are still surprised that public transit hasn’t saved the city with pollution? Could it be because it doesn’t work and no won wants to ride it? And why did I spell one as “won”? Who cares anymore?!?!?!

UPDATE

In case you’re wondering, it works like this. If I ride the bus in, I’ll actually get to the terminal at 7:36 in the morning (but since the buses are always late, that means 7:50) and then I’ll have to walk in to work from there. So the bus doesn’t actually go at only 4.8 miles per hour, but that’s only how fast I would have to go to get to work by 8 o’clock if I left at the same time that I would need to leave to catch the bus. I’m thinking I’m gonna get the tires on my bike fixed. Even though there are a couple of hills, I know my speed would never drop as low as 4.8 miles per hour. Sheesh.

A word, breathlessly whispered
Mentioned on the hiss of a sigh.
Softly carressing the folds of the
Sound, falling deep into the eye
Of a long melody. Tragically, it seems
That the melody was not to be.
For if it was not a mistake
It still seemed like one to me.

Up lifted on the wings of a sad
Melody, it finds survival in the host
Of melancholy memorials and
Unwitting hauntings by specoral ghost.
If only a gasp, a sigh, and a hope
Was leveled like a charge of disdain
Then seeing, not believing, would
Respect the end of my soul’s stain.

Alas, it was not my choice to make
Or even to close my eyes and pretend
That someone would listen to me scream
When hope has reached its end.
And all you have left is the whispered
Voice of the long, sad melody.
The tragic reminder of what was lost
When you were lifted up for me.

The story begins with a Levite and his concubine, and it ends with the death of all but 600 men from the tribe of Benjamin and a unique method of getting brides. Chapter 19 - 21 of the book of Judges detail the events, but a brief synopsis is sufficient for our current discussion.

When the Levite and his concubine rested in Gibeah, a Benjaminite town, the men of the town tried to rape the Levite. When they were unable to do so, they raped and killed his concubine. As a result, the Levite gathered the rest of the tribes of Israel to attack Gibeah, but the Benjaminites fought on the side of Gibeah instead. Thus outnumbered, they were slaughtered. Only 600 Benjaminites survived.

The other tribes, not wanting to make the Benjaminites extinct, made peace, but then discovered that the Benjaminite men needed wives so they wouldn’t die out. Since all the other tribes had vowed not to give their daughters to the Benjaminites, they ultimately settled on having the Benjaminites kidnap young virgins to take for their wives (that way, they weren’t given them, but no one would punish the kidnapper either).

The very last verse in Judges sums up the motivation for this “solution.” It says:

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Relativism, in other words, is the genesis of the problem. People had no standards, and thus the only solution was to kill one another, and then to kidnap survivors. Indeed, if the only standard is what is right in your own eyes, then nothing that anyone did in that story was actually wrong. It was simply action and reaction, nothing more.

If, however, there are universal standards, then we can measure and judge whether anyone in the story acted nobly. But only if the standard is not relative. Relativism must lead to behavior like that found in the end of Judges. It is the only logical outcome of anarchy.

I got an interesting e-mail forwarded to me. It stated that Target was denying their employees the right to say “Merry Christmas” because it might be offensive to some people. Naturally, my first reaction was, “Why aren’t they concerned about those who might find the ban offensive?” However, there’s something more troubling about that that I think takes precedence in America.

It’s the idea that employees have the “right” to say whatever they want to. Presumably, this comes from the idea of the First Amendment, which gives us free speech.

Or does it?

The First Amendment says, in it’s entirety:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

See that first word? Congress cannot make a law. This does not mean that employers cannot make a rule that their employees cannot say certain things. And when an employer decides that certain things may be offensive to their customers, then they certainly have the ability to say, “If you want to work for me, you cannot say this.” It therefore does not violate any rights to say that employees at Target cannot say “Merry Christmas.”

This doesn’t mean I support their decision that the term “Merry Christmas” is offensive. But it also doesn’t mean I support the e-mail boycott of Target for violating a non-existent right too.

To live without faith is to die a hyppocrite. Man cannot live without faith, for we all must believe in something unprovable for the basis of our knowledge. All knowledge (real knowledge, not mistaken beliefs) is still, at root, faith for it is based on our presuppositions. To find your presupposition, simply ask yourself “Why?” to each fact. So if you say, “The sky is blue” you ask yourself “Why is the sky blue?” If the answer is “Because the atomosphere scatters light such that blue is the lightwave that is perceived” you ask yourself “Why is that the case?” At the point at which you finally must answer, “Because that’s the way it is” then you have found your presupposition, which is by nature unprovable and therefore taken by faith.

By the way, the ESV continues to be a great translation to read. I have now completed Joshua and Luke, in addition to the nine books I previously read. I’m also most of the way through Judges and Acts too.

Individual verses are almost identical to other translations, but for some reason the flow of the text just feels better. It’s not something I can put my finger on. Before, my favorite translation was the NASB, but I’ve found the ESV to be more readable in long passages and just as accurate. So I’m thinking I’ll switch to being an ESV advocate (which isn’t to knock the NASB, this is just a personal preference).

If empathy doesn’t lead to action, then what’s the difference between empathy and apathy?

That’s right, time for the annual punk rawk version of Silent Night just in time for Christmas!!! Done by Selenium, which was my band back when I called it a band instead of just me messing around on my computer, it’ll knock your socks off. Do not click it if you don’t like fast music with a cool beat.

Silent Night
Performed by Selenium
Arranged by P. Pike
Drums and bass by P. Pike’s computer