North Western Winds

A Collection of link-ity goodness I read something the other day about how Microsoft is playing catch up to Google and has been for some time now, and how Google is now the cool place for young techies to work. The article then took a look at how one could work on a computer without using an MS product, excepting Windows itself. That is a big exception, and if you do office work you would likely need a software package of some sort (WordPerfect, perhaps). The interesting thing is that the article in question made me ask how I do in that regard. I surprised myself by realizing how little MS software I use other than Windows. I didn't plan it that way, it just kind of happened. My workhorse is Firefox, of course. I can't imagine trying to do one of my Links! posts without Firefox up with ten or fifteen tabs open. The thought of using IE to do that puts me in cold sweat and makes my trackball thumb get snarky. Yesterday I visited the Firefox site to check for anything that m...

Is it a duck, or a rabbit? Peter Van Inwagen's contribution to God and the Philosopher's , "Quam Dilecta", is impressive. I'm still mulling it over. The title means, roughly, "How lovely!" and is taken from Psalm 84. For now, here is a bit in which he describes a transitionary period in his life - a movement from Naturalism to Naturalism plus . I shall try to describe three of these "episodes of thought." First, I can remember having a picture of the cosmos, the physical universe, as a self-subsistent thing, something that is just there and requires no explanation. When I say a "having a picture," I am trying to describe a state of mind that could be call ed up whenever I desired, and which centered round a certain mental image. This mental image--it somehow represented the whole world--was associated with a felt conviction that what the image represented was self-subsistent. I can still call the image to mind (I think it's th...

From Mixing Memory I came across this website that promises to evaluate your writing and tell you how your page or website rates according to three different measures. Here are the results for NWW: Total sentences 704 Total words 8,653 Average words per Sentence 12.29 Words with 1 Syllable 5,813 Words with 2 Syllables 1,656 Words with 3 Syllables 787 Words with 4 or more Syllables 397 Percentage of word with three or more syllables 13.68% Average Syllables per Word 1.51 Gunning Fog Index 10.39 Flesch Reading Ease 66.54 Flesch-Kincaid Grade 7.03 What it all means... The Gunning Fog score of 10.39 means that NWW reads just slightly higher than Time or Newsweek but not as lofty as the Wall Street Journal . The Fleisch score of 66.54 means that NWW is pretty readable. 60-70 is a normal score. The Flesch-Kincaid score of 7.03 means somebody in grade seven could read NWW. This I find hard to believe. Although I'm sure a brainy kid could do it, I'd be surprised if ...

I've just finished reading an essay by C. Stephen Layman called Faith has it's Reasons and thought it would be fun to share some of it here. This may or may not have to do with me stumbling onto an ignorant hatefest on an atheist blog. I'm not saying all atheists are ignorant and that's an important point in this post. Layman rightly begins by pointing out that there are many instances in which we have to make decisions and we do not, and cannot, have access to all the evidence we would like to have. Still, we have to do something and no one could justifiably say that doing so can reasonably be called irrational. We rely on 1) the evidence we do have, 2) arguments about that evidence, and 3) testimony. The very first difficulty facing us is how much weight to give the different parts of the case before us. The other is how high a standard we will hold ourselves to. In civil law, for example, the evidentiary burden is set at "a preponderance of the evidence....

Ilaanaq: Inukshuk or Inunnguaq? The selection of the logo for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics provides me with an opportunity to try and show some of the ideas I've been writing about this week in action. Officially, the logo is said to be an inukshuk who's name is Ilaanaq. The winning artist says she was inspired by a well known piece of artwork in Vancouver, left behind after Expo '86. Generally speaking, I like it. It's warm, simple and clear. It is likely to grab the interest of people around the world. One of the most common criticisms of the icon since it's unveiling a few days ago has been that it has little or nothing to do with Vancouver itself. The kind of rock sculpture it represents originates in native cultures much father north. I even read about some native elders voting on a council of some kind (annoyingly, I can't find the source) that they felt the icon misrepresented their culture and as a result, they felt insulted. The notch on t...

The latest Red Ensign Roundup is at Canadian Comment (which, incidentially, was one the first blogs to link to NWW). Check it out. BTW, this thing is getting seriously long... Also on hand is the latest Catholic Carnival , which The Curt Jester is hosting. Jeff has a great sense of humour, so if you've never taken the time to visit his site before, go on and see what you're missing.

Part one of this series is here , and part two here . Feeling that last night's post was probably as clear as mud for most readers, I decided to make a diagram of the kind of reader / text relationship that I was trying (futilely) to describe. You're invited to click on the image above for a larger copy that will probably be much easier to read. To start with, I see a text as an artifact created by an author, using any tools at his disposal - not just text, but also familiar words, phrases, ideas, values and taboos of his time and place. He may try to uphold them or invert them. He is not fully autonomous, but is shaped by his encounters with the natural world, which he will perceive through normal senses like sight, hearing and touch, and also through the mental imagery of his culture. Unlike the physical senses, culture can be engaged with. An author can simply use it or he can try to nudge it or shape in some way. Success in such an attempt is likely to be very difficul...

The subject of one my recent posts , prompted by some of Ratz's comments, has twigged my interest. As a result, I'm reading things on the net about hermeneutics . The point of view that I was critical of in that post seems to be what this introductory article assigns to Edmund Husserl, namely that: [Husserl's] phenomenological hermeneutics also assumes that in order for the object to be fully interpreted, a proper context, or a mental frame is needed. But instead of considering the extraneous historical and cultural contexts, phenomenological hermeneutics argued that the text reflects its own mental frame. Husserl stated his dictum Zu den Sachen selbst! ("to the things themselves"), because he considered objects as complete in themselves. To interpret a text, therefore, means to methodically isolate it from all extraneous things including the subject's biases and allow it to communicate its meaning to the subject. The goal of phenomenological hermeneutics is ...

Penitens has the text of B16's Inaugural Mass Homily . His discussion of the Pallium and the Fisherman's ring is interesting. What I personally expect to see from B16 in office? This report from Scotland sums it up: The matters in question fall into four related areas: Church governance, theological speculation and instruction, priestly formation and religious practice. Who knows how long he may have for the task and what resistance he may meet, but Benedict XVI will aim to reform and renew the Church. Part of this involves purification. He feels deeply shamed and personally disgusted by the revelations of sexual abuse and the failure of bishops to deal with it. In some parts of the world national and regional conferences of bishops will be wondering, and worrying, about what may soon come their way from Rome (sackings are not inconceivable). In somewhat similar vein he will continue the challenge to those employed in Catholic institutions to teach in accord with the faith a...

It's about that time, I suppose. Cartoon by Cox and Forkum .

Not an object Via this WSJ article on B16, I found a review of Raztinger's book, Milestones: Memoirs 1927–1977 , by none other than Richard Neuhaus . It's interesting because it gives us a look at B16 the theologian and scholar, before he took on his role as a defender of doctrine under JPII. Example: [Ratzinger] was most deeply engaged by biblical scholarship and writes that "exegesis has always remained the center of my theological work." His academic career was almost derailed when his Habilitation (the degree beyond the doctorate and necessary for teaching) was not accepted the first time around. He wrote on the concept of revelation in the High Middle Ages, and especially in Bonaventure, and offended a teacher who thought himself to be the expert on such questions. Much Catholic theology, he says, had fallen into the habit of referring to Scripture—or to Scripture and tradition—as "the revelation," as though it were a thing . From Bonaventure he le...

G.K. Chesterton I've been thinking about some of the negative reaction to the new Pope, B16. Not about what people who are not Catholic and know almost nothing about the church, but about those who are within the church and are feeling frustrated. I'm not sure what particular thing has set off Sinister Thoughts ' Greg, who is not only a Catholic but a friendly left leaning reader of mine. I probably don't have a lot of those, so I'll try and reach a bit here. It's not really pleasant to hear about this kind of distress. It doesn't fill me with the urge to yell, Homer Simpson like, "in yer face!" In response to Greg's post, I understand that Hans Kung was taken down a peg, probably by Ratzinger (albeit perhaps at a distance), for teaching what was deemed to be too far beyond the pale of what is considered acceptable for a Catholic theologian. Kung is still a Catholic, however. He wasn't excommunicated. Under John Paul's "authorit...

I am thinking of picking up one of these tomorrow. Don't tell Rebecca.  

Your Inner European is Italian! Passionate and colorful. You show the world what culture really is. Who's Your Inner European? I took this last night and was surprised to find myself Irish. Nothing wrong with that - I love Irish culture, and beer, and lit. But there isn't a drop of Irish blood in my family. If I change the car in the quiz to a Saab, however, I get something closer to home... Italy. I think there is a wee bit o that floating around. And like Rue says, any excuse to post those boots will do too.

For some strange reason, Blogger is acting up again. This is a new twist, however. I can't access NWW through Firefox anymore. I'm automatically redirected to the Blogger 'create a blog' page. Last night the 'new post' page was still available in Firefox, but today trying to access the 'new post' page gave me a really long error message: java.lang.RuntimeException: can't load class com.google.blogger.base.User from database at com.google.blogger.dbreader.SqlServer.query(SqlServer.java:1639) at com.google.blogger.base.BaseUser.select(BaseUser.java:116) at com.google.blogger.base.BaseUser.selectByUsername(BaseUser.java:95) at com.google.blogger.base.User.load(User.java:146) [and on and on it goes] The really odd thing is that I can still access the site and create posts in Explorer. I'm mystified . I added a post last night after the trouble began, just to be sure that IE wasn't simply showing me a cached page. Nope, the new po...

I haven't done a quiz in a while... Your Linguistic Profile: 65% General American English 15% Dixie 10% Yankee 5% Midwestern 5% Upper Midwestern What Kind of American English Do You Speak? I've been told I speak a pretty quick sort of English english. In Carlifornia years ago someone told me he knew I wasn't from "around here." He thought I might have been English.

In my hasty link round up earlier, I somehow missed Blimpish's contribution. It's too good to ignore, so here it is. Click to enlarge. See his entry here and commentary here .

It's a beautiful day in the Fraser Valley today, so I spent most of it working in the garden. I don't mean I did easy stuff like planting and watering. No, I dug up some grass for a new plant bed and made a small retaining wall for a bed we made last year that was suffering some erosion. And now... now I'm pooped. Tomorrow I'll likely be doing more of the same. I love the work and I love the results even more but you end the day feeling it in your limbs, especially your hands. That's my explanation for the lack of any posts this morning, even though I am home this week. As things warm up around here I suspect there will be more days like this, days where it's too nice to be sitting inside, pecking away at the keyboard. That said, here are a few links to share... first, more papal reaction... I've had some fun watching how others have responded to the announcement of the new Pope yesterday. People like myself are pleased, obviously. Andrew Sullivan's...

Joseph Ratzinger in an older photo "The American soldiers photographed us, the young ones, most of all, in order to take home souvenirs of the defeated army and its desolate personnel." I assume this quote is from Ratzinger's book, Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977 . The fact that he has been in very low and very high places in his life (he spent time as a POW) has got to be a good thing in his new position as Pope. Deserting the Nazi army at eighteen is also heroic, especially when it meant risking death to do so. It suggests that he knows being right has nothing to do with being on the right 'side' or wearing the 'right' uniform. More from this article here , including some interesting quotes. There is a simple biography of the new Pope at the US Bishops' website . This Telegraph article also casts an interesting light on the man: his favoured images are of survival, preservation of treasure, and of the regrowth of the Church from a tiny grain o...

Congratulations to Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. I'm not at all disappointed with this result but will admit to being surprised. I didn't think he would win it. My first thought is that he may be the man to do some housecleaning of the sort that it is said JPII refrained from doing. Here are some quotes from the former Cardinal. And here are some of Ratzinger's own words on a number of scholarly and church issues. I'm sure we will hear more in the future.

Debates about Freedom are necessarily religious debates Edward Fesser is my kind of Libertarian. He started as a Libertarian but as he got older (and wiser) he began to question some Libertarians strands of thought, to the point that he concluded he had nothing to loose by admitting that he was, in fact, a conservative. A series of articles trace his thinking on this issue, which I find fascinating as it closely mirrors my own. In The Trouble with Libertarianism , Fesser begins by correctly diagnosing the claims Rawlsian liberalism makes for itself: Libertarians have objected that the details of Rawls's theory so incorporate his social and economic egalitarianism into what he counts as "reasonable" that his claim to neutrality between actually existing worldviews is disingenuous; for Rawlsians are ultimately prepared to apply that honorific only to those comprehensive doctrines compatible with an extensive regime of anti-discrimination laws, forced income redistributio...

"An engagement that I cannot move prevents me from being with you all" Andrew Coyne has been following an exciting day in Ottawa (oxymoron?). There's a letter from Paul Martin to Claude Boulay now making its way around the Canadian blogosphere. It sounds cozy. It's got a handwritten postscript. Then, there's more about WK's testimony ... Personally, I love the fact that they (Matinites and Chretienites) have their guns pointed at each other and each side thinks it's doing something good for its own fortunes. Would I be showing too much of my true colours if I revealed my strong preference for somebody to take this sick donkey of a government out behind the barn and pull the trigger? Awww.... Now I feel dirty. Confused readers from outside Canada are invited to investigate the following link for a) background information or, b) a cure for insomnia.

The Conclave had its first vote today and was not successful in picking a new Pope. Meanwhile, the rest of us can still ponder what might lie ahead. David Warren suggests that what we need is another Pope like Pius X . I don't known a whole lot about Pius X, although there are some things that are intriguing, like the ' syllabus of errors .' I am not sure that what the world needs right now is hectoring. A charismatic, telegenic and thoroughly orthodox example would my own preference. Mark Alexander explains why JPII saw a negative commonality between the communism he lived under in Poland and 'liberation theology,' a school of theology that was popular in South America until he gave it the cold shoulder. Alexander points out that there was no contradiction in the previous Pope's thinking on the issue: The Polish Solidarity Movement, itself congealed by the Pope's historic visit to Communist Poland in 1979, was an anti-Marxist, pro-democratic movement ...

Here's are a few of Paul Martin's responses to allegations he met with Claude Boulay to discuss advertising contracts: "I have never had a lunch with Claude Boulay or anybody else to discuss the direction of contracts, directing contracts, intervening in contracts , that's just simply not my style of politics," he said, referring to the Montreal ad executive. Asked if he had lunch with Boulay to discuss something else, Martin told reporters Thursday: "I can't recall having had lunch with him since we formed the government ." "I do not remember ever having any lunch with Mr. Boulay. But I did make his acquaintance at the beginning of the leadership in 1990, but it didn't last for long ." I'm no lawyer but I read all these qualifiers in Paul Martin's explanation of testimony at the Gomery Inquiry and what I come up with is this: Paul Martin did meet with Mr. Boulay prior to forming the government. What they discussed is unknown a...