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Faith is about inverting the worlds values

"Having spent 20 years outside the US in societies that are being rent apart by violence I don't quite share America's mania for hope. When I covered the war in El Salvador and the war in the former Yugoslavia, it was standard practice for the Salvadoran military or in the case of the former Yugoslavian Serbian para-military to go in to villages and carry out massacres. And then they would block the roads. So both in El Salvador and in Bosnia we had to walk in - in the case of Yugoslavia with our satellite phones, the Serbs would often have snipers firing on us because they didn't want the massacre to be reported - and it was the ability to document the atrocity, to give the victims names, on the front page of the New York Times often, that was victory enough. That was Hope enough. It didn't mean that I wouldn't get up a few days later and do the same thing again. And we did this at tremendous risk. In Sarajevo alone 5 foreign journalists were killed and dozen...

Thoughts on Solo

Two things: 1) tonight (Dec. 25th, 2018) I am feeling the joy of a new Star Wars movie at Christmas time when there isn't one in the theatre this year.. I purposefully didn't see the Han Solo movie in the theater so I could watch it here at Christmas as has become a tradition these past few years to watch a new Star Wars movie at Christmas.. 2) reviews of the movie (both good and bad) are unrealistically polarized.. my own opinion is, in my best Lando Calrissian voice, that "everything you heard about the movie is true" .. both the good and the bad. I was born in 1972, if there was ever a generation where Star Wars penetrated into one's worldview with the magical inspiration it is famous for.. it was mine.. I will always love the original Star Wars trilogy as part of my beloved childhood.. My summary of Solo is simply this: As a generic Sci-Fi Heist movie - it's fantastic.. as a Star Wars side movie.. it's really quite good.. as the "Han Solo origin s...

Taking christ down off the cross

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Descent from the Cross, 1653 Adam Lenckhardt (German, 1610-1661) http://www.clevelandart.org/art/1967.134 I was searching through my hard drives looking for a specific picture (not this one) when I found a set of pictures that I took at the Cleveland Museum of Art a few years ago.. looking through them this one jumped out at me as a particularly striking piece that I had forgotten about.. I really like it ... it reminds me about a part of the christian redemption story that we tend not to focus too much on.. the sad and dreary work of taking christ down off the cross in (apparent) total defeat. This piece stylizes the figures (including christ) in a very typically european/greek italian renaissance way (muscular, healthy, etc..) ... but it still manages to stir the intense sadness and despair that this moment embodies (no pun intended) .. People who know me know that I am not at all religious in any culturally recognizable way (in fact, I couldn't fault anyone for counting ...

Star Wars - Last Jedi Analysis

Is Blogging dead? ... I had some thoughts about the new Star Wars film (The Last Jedi) that I wanted to express and decided this was an appropriate place to do so. Note: there are spoilers So here it is, What I think is going on in (and to) the Star Wars Franchise (typos and run-on sentences and all  ) If Joseph Campbell's concept of the "The Hero's Journey" was the universal archetypal formula behind the story of Lucas's original Star Wars film in 1977, then I say that Slavoj Zizek's thesis on Kung-Fu Panda as an example of "the way Belief functions in today's world" is the key to understanding the formula of the Last Jedi of 2017 and what to expect from here on out. But first, let me draw attention to an important point. In Episodes IV, V, and VI, (Luke, Han, and Leia) .. The Force is binary (Light and Dark = Good and Bad) and this binary opposition is never called into question. In our cultural naivete of the 70's and 80's...

Purists -vs- Pragmatists

Point and Counterpoint: Purists are just pragmatists who believe that moral imperatives are an adequate tool for achieving effective collective bargaining. When the bargain fails to materialize, the purists blame a defective culture... and the pragmatists just roll their eyes. [But] the purist seeks to change the world to fit him, whereas the pragmatist changes himself to fit the world. --> Ergo all progress relies on the purists. :-) While the purist is sounding off about some moral crusade for cuter kittens or something, the pragmatist will have finished what they're doing and be in the bar with a beer. The purists see this as proof that they are right. The pragmatists see this as proof that they've got a beer. taken from the user comments at: http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/07/24/1853226/The-Battle-Between-Purists-and-Pragmatists?from=rss

Factum est... (it is done)

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...So ends another year of FIRST Robotics. Good Job, Mavericks!

Tilting at Robots

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Now, I'm not much of a joiner, but one of the best things I've gotten involved in since we moved to Ohio, is FIRST Robotics This weekend is the 2009 Buckeye Regional at the Weinstein center in downtown Cleveland. This three day event is free to the public and promises to be a great deal of fun for everyone who attends. The main fun (competition finals) will happen on Saturday. The kids have worked really hard this year (as they do every year) and have built a very competitive robot for this years game. If you are interested in more information, please feel free to contact me and/or check out the links below: Our Team's Information: We are Team #2252 - "The Mavericks" Our Website is at: http://www.mavericks2252.net The FRC 2009 Buckeye Event Website: http://www.firstbuckeye.org/ The FRC 2009 Buckeye Event Schedule: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/OEP/first/regional/info.htm Also, you can watch the robot games LIVE on Friday and Saturday as NASA will be providing a Li...