Social Media

When I was a teenager, I read a book called The Keeping Days. It focuses on a deep, insightful girl named Tish who lives in Yonkers around the turn of the century. Keeping days are those days when everything aligns and you feel a strong awareness of unity and good.  This was a very important book for me.  So important that I bought it for my own girls.

I have keeping days too.  I had one at Christmas. One of the girls' friends came to stay with us a week. She is Jewish. It was Hanukkah. She asked if she could light the candles and pray, and we agreed. All evening, this makeshift menorah, a combination of tapers, votives, and tealights, sat on the dining room table. All of my children were home, Bradley was home, no one went anywhere. It was a rare moment.

It's hard to know what to do with those moments. Tish drank it in, recited it to herself, wrote it in her journal. I took a photo and put it on Instagram.

Funny thing about social media. We use it to be heard, to communicate, but our most meaningful thoughts tend to get lost in the flood of everything at once. Scroll, scroll, scroll.  It's a strange combination of loneliness and togetherness. Although, I suppose no one was reading Tish's journal, either.

Myself, I love social media. People are comfortable there, they reveal more, perhaps more than they intend. I learn a lot about a person's true nature by following them.  It's much easier than meeting them in person with all their noise and energy coming at me.  I take what I know of them in real life, pair it with what I see on social media, and gain a better idea what kind of human they are.

Plus, I find it easier to respond to people on social media. Real life conversations move so fast and only skim the surface. A lot of social media only skims the surface, too, but I tend to limit myself to people who go deep.  I've found good conversationalists online, and by that I mean people who listen as well as speak. Social media is a mixed bag, but if you edit your feeds and limit your time, it can be great.

I want to feel connected to others. I don't get that very often in real-life social settings. I connect when I'm one-on-one with a person, no one else there, they are focused on me and I on them and both of us on the task at hand.  A task is essential to good communication, seems like. For instance, in piano lessons. I learn so much about these individual souls that show up fierce and expectant.  Kids are such people. I love one-on-one teaching.

Group activities/tasks are a much bigger challenge for me. Needs and agendas clang against one another, it seems almost impossible to move forward without stepping on someone.  I hate stepping on people.  If we took enough time and went deep enough, I think we could negotiate outcomes that meet everyone's needs.  But people don't. They check off lists and go to the next thing, encouraged by the powers that be.  Stinking powers. I want a slower life. That's hard to find in a group.

I'm still deliberating about social media. I've thought all along that it simply magnifies what people already are. It remains to be seen if that magnification is healthy or destructive. Social media gives a voice to those who are trapped in real-life power structures.  There is a lot of pain in the world, beautiful rowdy people with something to say. We can learn a lot from those who are different. Lively online debate will certainly improve the accuracy of the picture, despite the false news that inflames peoples' fear and anger. If we exert ourselves to listen, we will hear the voice of the oppressed. This is a good thing.

Think of Martin Luther King, Jr. A lot of people wanted him to shut up. But fifty years later, we are so thankful for him and his ideas.  We realize, oh my goodness, he was right, and we couldn't see it. He said some very uncomfortable things. People told him to stop, he was making things worse. He upset the status quo, but in a good way. I hope we can use our social platforms the way he used his, with patience and grace and stalwart dedication to truth. For good.  He just kept speaking, not quiet, not shrill. He just kept speaking and would not go away, even when they arrested him.

There is beauty and there is truth. There is justice and there is mercy. Social media can magnify these things or it can diminish them. Depending on us. Me, I'm going to keep posting, praying my barbaric yawp is true enough, balanced enough, redemptive enough, and refining my choices as the picture becomes clear. Meet me there.

Pro-life Action List

My 20yodd and I were talking the other day about some friends of ours who have a young baby and are also foster parents. We love watching them with their little foster boy and their baby girl.  The boy has a lot of struggles, because early on he missed out on some experiences important to development, but oh, the love showered on that little boy, and he is a treat and a half to be around.  Such bright eyes and so much life.

What our friends are doing is the work Christians should do if they care about the life of unborn children.  In that vein, here is my action list for pro-lifers who want to take the long, arduous road of compassionate love:

1. Stop vilifying women and girls who have babies out of wedlock.  I've seen the disgusted looks, heard the condemning comments. Yes, from Christians. Yes, in church. This has got to stop.  Abortion is blood on the hands of us as Christ-followers. The shame we heap on women who get pregnant outside of marriage often leads them to take the lives of their children. Yes, fornication is a sin. A haughty attitude is also a sin. Which does Jesus dislike more?  He hates both sins equally.  He died for people who commit both sins.  He loves them both. 
2. Teach your sons to take responsibility for their actions. Our sons' bodies and reputations will not be sacrificed for a child the way our daughters' will be.  This is a huge reason to teach young men not only to respect young women, but to honor them the way Christ honors the church.  I understand guys are wild at heart, but please. Teach your sons to honor women and take responsibility for their actions and not act like girls are overreacting when they try to protect themselves.  The conversation about rape culture has arisen because we do not teach our sons properly and well on this point.  
3. Welcome and serve single moms in your community without demonizing or "other-izing" them.
4. Volunteer for a reputable crisis pregnancy organization.
5. Work in foster care.
6. Adopt.

These are Christian responses to the abortion debate. The culture will do whatever.  We as Christ-followers have an obligation to respond with humility and compassion as well as truth.

Current Events: Science

IT is a new school year, and with it come new intentions.  We are hoping to be more dedicated to our different journals this year.  With that in mind, I plan to write a current events post once per week.  So here goes:

Scientists have produced brain-like structures from stem cells.  These aren't actual functioning brains, but structures that resemble brains.  They were able to produce these "cerebral organoids" with both embryonic and IPS (developed from skin cells rather than embryos) stem cells.  The structures in some ways resemble the brain of a 9- to 10-week-old embryos, but are missing certain key components such as the cerebellum and hippocampus.  The researchers said they did not intend to try to reproduce fully functioning brains, but that these organoids are useful for studying the brain.

Book Review: Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book clarifies some of the moral dilemmas intrinsic in a culture that values knowledge work and egalitarian autonomy over work done with physical things and face-to-face with people.  Work has consequences, and work that divorces itself from outcomes hides those consequences.  Knowledge work can be done in a way that keeps consequences to the forefront, and has been done that way in the past, but in our era it generally is not done that way.  This is a *moral* loss for the individual worker as well as the whole society.  I never thought of it that way.

Take this example: as recently as one hundred years ago, bankers were not allowed to operate banks in communities outside of their own.  People had to trust their banks.  Bankers were supposed to determine whether someone was a good credit risk when giving loans.  This knowledge was not just extrinsic, but tacit.  The banker would ask around, talk to local merchants, etc.  He was skilled at reading the responses of others in the community, and therefore able to use his intuitive judgment to reward virtue with a loan.  Nowadays, banks are national and international, loans are bundled and sold off to other entities (even other countries), and the banker is often required to offer loans to those who haven't demonstrated a pattern of trustworthiness.  This degrades the morality of the loan officer.

You can see this in government as well.  (This is my own rabbit trail, not included in the book.)  For instance, in TX right now we are debating whether people receiving food stamps ought to be required to take a drug test.  This is a dilemma for many reasons, but my main problem is how can you know? Obviously, you don't want to help someone who isn't interested in helping himself, but what if it is a family?  What about the rest of them?  And should government even be doing this?  Isn't helping the poor the duty of individuals and churches?  But what if individuals and churches are not involved enough in their communities to understand which individuals need and merit help and which do not?  See the problem?

Anyway, this is a very thoughtful book.  He does not extol the virtues of working with your hands to the exclusion of other work, but he does raise some questions about how we respect or disrespect our own humanity and that of others in the work we do and the work we value.  I have these questions too.  There are no easy answers, that's for sure.

I'm giving it four stars because I did find it difficult to navigate his analogies at times-- I'm not a mechanic. ;)  I was able to get around the difficulties though.  It is an excellent, thought-provoking book.  I recommend it to anyone that is a person, and educators/legislators especially.  Also to people in middle management who wonder why they feel so spiritually/mentally bankrupt.


View all my reviews

Life as a Raid or Great Adventure

What is right with the world has nothing to do with future changes, but is rooted in original realities."

--G.K. Chesterton, What is Right with the World

The news is depressing.  Strangely, I almost wish it was already January 1st.  I just want to know what is going to happen with the fiscal cliff.  And what will happen in the next decade with foreign issues like terrorism and domestic issues like healthcare.  Worry, worry, worry.  I need to stop reading the news so much.  I do not need up-to-the-minute coverage.

I already know what is ultimately going to happen.  The Lord will come in the clouds and every knee shall bow and we will all go to live with him in glory.  Before that, we will live on earth and deal with the good and evil under the sun and be delivered in or through trouble.  "In this world you will have tribulation, but be not dismayed. I have overcome the world."  We will draw closer to him or we will rebel.  He will sustain us through pain and sorrow or we will forget him and lose that earnest of our inheritance.  Yet when we die we will be with him.  Who or what can separate us from Christ Jesus?  No one and no thing.  Not even our very own selves.  Let me not forget this.  But if I do forget-- I am a sinner, Lord help my unbelief! I will still ultimately be united with my Savior.

Do I really need detailed information on what will happen in the coming months?

Chesterton, again:  "We are to regard existence as a raid or great adventure; it is to be judged, therefore, not by what calamities it encounters, but by what flag it follows and what high town it assaults. The most dangerous thing in the world is to be alive; one is always in danger of one's life. But anyone who shrinks from this is a traitor to the great scheme and experiment of being."

What high town am I assaulting with my existence if I whine and fret?

I must fly in the face of gloom.  I am off to make beds and do dishes and wash clothes and generally redeem household things and comfort family and friends.  Open siege on disorder!  Let me know when my strength is required for greater things; right now I am building my house.

July 4th and the Late Great Andy Griffith

Andy Griffith is one of Cornflower's all-time famous shows. I think she'd like to move to Mayberry. (Wouldn't we all?) In this five-minute video, Andy inspires Opie and his friends to study history with a captivating retelling of the Shot Heard Round the World. Thank you, Andy. You were a great man.

 Have a great July 4th, ya'll. We will be cooking out with friends from church, singing patriotic songs, and watching fireworks. I'm thankful we can do these things and hope I will always have the courage to stand up and defend our inalienable rights.

Why We Can't Have a Conversation

Recently, Citizens Against Government Waste caused quite a stir with a clever commercial speculating on the future economic and political outcome of our government's recent actions. (By recent, I mean in the last twenty years, maybe longer.) I thought the ad, while chilling, was an effective wake-up call for those who may not understand the implications of all that debt. And I was surprised by some responses to the ad.

I am an economic conservative. I believe the borrower is servant to the lender. We ought not to be in debt if at all possible. Going into debt is stupid unless there is an extremely compelling reason.

Going into debt is stupid for individuals, and it is stupid for governments. There is a short list of good reasons to go into debt. What are these reasons? This is where debate ought to take place on the issue of the National Debt.

Unfortunately, economic liberals have focused on the presence of the Chinese in the commercial, saying the commericial is a symptom of the "new McCarthyism" in which the Chinese are demonized for holding American debt.

Economic liberals, please understand that economic conservatives do not dwell in the victim-mentality paradigm. Economic conservatives believe in personal responsibility, which means that going into debt is generally the fault of the debtor, not the lender. Economic conservatives do not say, "Those evil Chinese held us by the throat and forced us to borrow money from them!" How ridiculous. WE are the stupid ones, and we need to stop it.

The CAGW ad was well-placed rhetoric meant to say to Americans, "We have a problem, folks!" And we do have a problem. Whether or not we literally become servants to the Chinese in twenty years is beside the point. (That was rhetoric. It got your attention, didn't it?) It would be nice if we could get past the he-said/she-said blaming and move on to determine which debt situations are acceptable to both economic liberals and economic conservatives. After we figure that out, we may be able to move forward with some sense. But we will never get anywhere by refusing to listen because "they're insulting so-and-so".

Science Texts, Living Books, Thinking, and How We Don't

There was an article on MSNBC this week on how Christian homeschooling science textbooks 'stack the deck against evolution.' It is an interesting article. I thought it somewhat balanced, although I do not agree that the Apologia textbooks go as far as to 'stack the deck'. (The Apologia response is here. I do not know anything about the Bob Jones textbooks. We do not use Bob Jones, but we know people who do, and their fourteen-year-old daughter just took the prize overall in the middle school division of the regional science fair, competing against kids from public, private and science magnet schools in a multi-county region which includes a very large metropolitan area. Also, if folks would take the time to read up on homeschool graduates, they would find that they are quite as adequately represented in science careers as other demographics, and with excellence.) The Apologia texts are Christian textbooks and as such can be expected to present creation theory as well as the theory of Evolution, since, based on the scientific method (which must include empirical evidence), neither theory can be elevated to the level of 'fact' or 'law', it makes sense to include the Christian belief as well as the materialist one. (I also think it makes sense for secular texts to present both sides, based on the same argument.)

I feel for the secular homeschoolers. It is tough when you can't find the books you want to use because you aren't a large purchaser such as a school district, although I think they would be wise to discuss both viewpoints with their children.

So, there was the article. Now there is a poll on the article. The question asks, "Is it okay for homeschool textbooks to dismiss the theory of evolution?"

:sigh: I did not vote in the poll. But I did make a comment:

I would like to point out that this question is slanted, as it implies that the choice is either 'embrace evolution as fact' or 'dismiss evolution out of hand'. (I realize the question does not actually state that the alternative is embracing evolution as fact, but it is implied from the tone of the AP article.) This presents a problem for a homeschooler like me, who teaches her kids using both the Apologia textbooks and classic science books such as Rachel Fields'* _The Sea Around Us_ and Darwin's _The Origin of Species_.

Education is about surrounding your students with ideas and allowing them to think and reach their own conclusions. I think folks in the mainstream United States would be surprised at how many people homeschool their children because they want to *broaden* their children's viewpoints, rather than narrow them.

*(I had to write another comment to correct this-- _The Sea Around Us_ was written by Rachel *Carson*, not Rachel Field.)

It is astonishing to me how some folks following the most popular line of thinking on any given subject simply assume they are being broadminded and tolerant. It is not tolerant to dismiss another viewpoint out of hand, even if it is the Christian viewpoint. (And don't tell me that Christians do it too-- I know that. Wrong is wrong no matter who is doing it, and anyone who tosses out that argument and thinks he has just made a telling point is succumbing to a juvenile level of reasoning and ought not to be taken seriously.)

I just wish more people would *think*. Then we could have sensible conversations instead of bashing each other.

Ice Skating and Fiscal Responsbility

A few years back, the local ice skating rink offered homeschool ice skating classes at a reasonable rate, and we took them up on it, along with several other homeschool families in the area. The girls and I both enjoyed visiting with friends every Thursday, and the kids got some exercise and training in a sport-- bringing their bodies under subjection. It was very good.

And Mariel was *very* good. I mean, she is talented at ice skating. Her sisters are good, too, but Mariel has the risk-taking and high energy needed to really excel at this sport, and she intuitively knows how to spin and when to jump. She and her sisters wanted to keep taking lessons after they passed through the levels taught in the homeschool classes. A beginning ice skating coach agreed to teach all three of them in one private lesson, and we were off.

There was a small problem, though. Finances. It is *expensive* to get into ice skating. You pay for the skates, and the rink fees, and the coaching tuition and the competition fees and the costumes. We kept up the semi-private lessons for around six months (I think) using rental skates and barely scraping up rink fees, and then the girls' coach said she would like Mariel to enter a competition in the spring. There would be a competition fee and she would require a costume, and it might be a good idea to get her some better skates-- the blades on rental skates are so warped that they interfere with performance.

It was then that Mr. Honey and I realized that pursuing ice skating for even one of our three was not sustainable in our current financial situation-- that no matter how good it would be for our girl, we would be sacrificing other, weightier matters, to give her this dream.

This is a sad story, isn't it? I mean, we all want to give our kids the best. But there are limits to what we can give.

We talked to Mariel and explained that we just couldn't keep paying for the sport. We explained that if she really wanted to do it, she needed to work hard and save up money so we knew she was serious, and then we would put in as much as we could. She would probably have to get her lessons, skates, costumes and competitions in fits and starts, but would still be able to do her sport.

Now, a wise person would have counted the cost before committing and not have broken her daughter's heart. I never said we were wise. But we do learn lessons when experience knocks us over the head.

It just struck me as I was reading this article on the sustainability of government entitlement programs, that our government needs to learn the lesson that Mr. Honey and I learned in the ice skating situation and that Europe is now learning: if you commit to spending you cannot sustain, something will have to give down the road.

Let's say, in theory, that passing one of the recent spending bills in Congress would be (or was) a good thing. If the United States was the responsible head of a family, it would need to decide what it was going to eliminate from the budget in order to fit this new good thing into the budget.

But, as the article points out, once a popular government starts handing out money, it isn't strong enough to repeal those entitlements.

No joke. It was incredibly difficult as parents to backtrack with the ice skating. We did it because it was necessary, and we were able to do it because our household is not a democracy, nor even a republic. But it made us unpopular for awhile. And in a popular government, it is very hard to sustain your majority when you are unpopular.

We can only be a republic if we as a people have the integrity to deny ourselves. We are not superhumans-- our government is not immune to laws of economics. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone is paying for what someone else gets for free, and eventually the people paying get discouraged.

(I understand that some folks are in horrid financial straits, and all I am saying here is that if our government is going to help those folks, it needs to cut programs somewhere else. Money, like time, is finite.* However, my personal political belief is that help and relief ought to come from the private sector as much as possible, and that government's job is defense and infrastructure. Mr. Honey and I give as much as we can to worthy causes because of this belief. Of course, we are also paying for government entitlement programs. Think what we could do if we were free to focus our giving on organizations we feel are doing the best job helping folks.)

*((By this statement I mean that when you are doing a budget, there is a finite amount of money you can reasonably count on. I realize that in saying that 'money is finite' I open up the argument of wealth creation vs. spreading the wealth. I haven't studied enough to know my position on that issue. But we can all agree that there is a finite amount of money an entity can reasonably count on when figuring out a budget.))

Haiti Relief

We have a friend with a personal connection to One5 Foundation. This is a smaller organization that has been helping in Haiti for years and is able to be more effective than the larger groups. From their website:

The One5 Foundation has been working in Haiti over the last few years to bring healthcare services to orphan children in several Haitian communities. One5 volunteers will provide emergency healthcare and logistical support for earthquake relief efforts.

If you are planning to donate to the relief efforts in Haiti, please consider this organization.

Congratulations

...to the Pittsburgh Penguins for winning the Stanley Cup! It's been too long.

We got married only two months after the Penguins' last Stanley Cup title in 1992. One of the first gifts I ever gave Mr. Honey was a Pittsburgh Penguins t-shirt. I remember purchasing it at the Rivergate Mall in Nashville our first year of marriage. (I wanted to get him a jersey, but it was way too expensive for broke newlyweds.) Here's to you and your Penguins, Mr. Honey. They made it back.


Soon they will have another one to display...

Of a Storm

Halfway to church last night, the weather person on the radio informed us that there was a tornado warning for our county.

Light clouds overhead got heavier and thicker as we drove. We got off the freeway and headed west, and the horizon took on a green aspect, punctuated by lightning.

The sky was beginning to churn when we arrived at church.

Mariel and Cornflower ran inside, eager to play with friends, but I was drawn to a portion of cloud with wisps hanging down. Rather small in diameter, it seemed to be forming a dent in the cloud cover, and I could see the forefront drift to the right, while the background slowly moved to the left. Like a dream, it was.

“Triss, come here. Triss, come here!” I blurted, anxious to have someone verify what I thought I was seeing.

The breach in the clouds was widening. We watched as it moved toward us, rotating and enlarging. It was over the building next door to our church. My friend A came toward us.

“Do you see the rotation?” I asked.

“Oh, wow,” she said.

“What do you think? Should we let the others know?” I still wasn’t sure whether to trust my eyes. I had never seen rotation form in the clouds before.

“Maybe. Where do you think is the safest place in the church?”

Sirens sounded.

“I was thinking the cry room. It doesn’t have outside walls. Kids, go inside!”

My kids and hers had gone through the church building and out into the fenced area, and were playing on the playground.

“Why? What is it? What’s that noise?” they called, as they moved to obey.

“We don’t know. It’s a storm and we need to get inside. Those are tornado sirens.”

We went into the building and informed the other adults, who immediately went outside to see. I did too. I could hardly keep my eyes off the now huge gap directly above us. As we stood watching, my parents drove up.

“Get over here!” we shouted.

We all stood under the porte-cochere and watched the clouds. Truly a breach in the darkness by now, the slow rotation was almost directly above us. We had to step out from under the roof to view the entire thing at once. I thought it was odd that the wind did not blow.

Bigger and bigger it got, until one of the deacons remarked that we were doing the wrong thing standing out here watching. I came to myself and realized my children were next to me.

“Okay kids, let’s go inside,” I said briskly.

Groans, mutterings. I was insistent.

My friend A gathered her children as well, and, except for her husband and mine, the congregation moved inside.

We were behind closed doors, but couldn’t keep ourselves from the windows, and witnessed the wind becoming fierce and strong, catching and whirling small debris. The men were still out there. Surprisingly, four birds attempted to fly past, their way impeded by the forceful gusts which kept them in place as they flew.

“Mom, you know those pictures of hurricanes?” Mariel asked.

“Okay, into the cry room!” I ordered, as the lights went out.

“Where am I?” A's daughter shouted.

“It’s okay, you’re in the same place you were when the lights were on,” I reminded her. The lights popped back on.

We waited in the cry room, wondering what was happening. The lights flickered off and then on again. A brought us a candle. We couldn’t even hear anything. I sent Triss out of the room for an update and asked the kids what they did that day. We had a pleasant conversation about guitars, punctuated by the flickering lights. The men had come inside and were phoning members to ask them to stay home. A’s husband had been nearly blown off his feet by the wind.

A kept in communication with her mother, who was from out of town, and was in the storm trying to find her way back to the church. Every turn A advised her to take was blocked by debris—fallen trees, telephone lines. Finally, A went out to guide her back.

The event subsided into heavy rain, thunder and lightning. We wandered out of the cry room to look out windows again. The children grabbed songbooks. They wanted to sing, “Master, The Tempest Is Raging”. It was good to be in the Lord’s house. Another family arrived safely, having been halfway to church when the storm hit. We went through the song service and began the lesson. A and her mother walked in.

(The lesson was a comparison of the character of Abigail and the character of Nabal. The elder especially emphasized the hard life Abigail had being unequally yoked to a “son of Belial”. I always appreciate someone besides me pointing out to the children how important are the choices we make in life. I suspect Abigail’s was an arranged marriage, but since we don’t really do those anymore—and I don’t think we should—marriage really is about choices. And what an admirable woman she was, subject to an abusive husband and still able to think outside herself to save her household from destruction and even the future king of Israel from grief.)

As we drove home after church, we surveyed the damage in the immediate neighborhood, taking a route least likely to be blocked. Many fences were down and trees uprooted or snapped off at the trunk. A power line and a large tree had fallen across a major city road. One tree was resting atop a pick-up truck.

We arrived home and turned on the news. As we watched, we heard something in the backyard. It was our neighbor, who had chased his dog through a gap in the fence. One portion fell down in the wind. We have a little repair work to do-- along with friends and neighbors across the area, who have fences down and shingles lost. I hear our local home improvement store has already been slammed with customers needing fence supplies. It could have been a lot worse. Across the entire metro area, I know of only two homes that had major damage, and three semi-trucks tipped over by the winds. I haven’t heard any report of injuries.

An event like this reminds me how small we are, how little, for all our brave ideas of government and progress, we actually control things. I am glad to put my trust in the Creator of Heaven and Earth, who knows all things and has power over all.

Master, the tempest is raging!
The billows are tossing high!
The sky is o'ershadowed with blackness,
No shelter or help is nigh;
Carest Thou not that we perish?
How canst Thou lie asleep,
When each moment so madly is threatening
A grave in the angry deep?

Refrain

The winds and the waves shall obey Thy will,
Peace, be still!
Whether the wrath of the storm tossed sea,
Or demons or men, or whatever it be
No waters can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean, and earth, and skies;
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, be still! Peace, be still!
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, peace, be still!

Master, with anguish of spirit
I bow in my grief today;
The depths of my sad heart are troubled
Oh, waken and save, I pray!
Torrents of sin and of anguish
Sweep o’er my sinking soul;
And I perish! I perish! dear Master
Oh, hasten, and take control.

Refrain

Master, the terror is over,
The elements sweetly rest;
Earth’s sun in the calm lake is mirrored,
And heaven’s within my breast;
Linger, O blessèd Redeemer!
Leave me alone no more;
And with joy I shall make the blest harbor,
And rest on the blissful shore.

--Mary A. Baker, 1874

Galileo and Global Warming

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. --Wm. Shakespeare

In 1632, Galileo Galilei wrote his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, an act that eventually drew the condemnation of the Catholic Inquisitors; he was convicted of heresy for thinking the Earth rotated around the Sun and not vice versa, and lived the rest of his life under house arrest.

Galileo was a staunch believer in God and felt that his observations and discoveries increased God's glory rather than diminishing it-- he thought, rightly, that what we observe with our eyes proves rather than disproves the existence and might of God, and if our careful observations go against our ideas of God and His creation, we need to examine both our observations of the natural world and our ideas on what the Bible says. If all truth is God's truth, why be afraid of it? But the Catholic hierarchy of the time was bloated and drunk with power, and could only think of maintaining the status quo (and its lawless position of authority over the thoughts and beliefs of others). This clouded the vision of the inquisitors, making it impossible for them to view the evidence objectively.

I thought of this last night after reading an article on how NASA has established that the sun heats the earth. (Yes, this is a concept already present in every first grade science book.) The scientists at NASA have conceded that the sun has had an influence over the temperature changes of the Earth at least as far back as the Industrial Revolution.

I am proud of them for this.

Despite the fact that common sense tells us the sun heats the earth, NASA has established, using the scientific process (which takes nothing for granted), that even after machines and engines came into broad use during the Industrial Revolution, and people migrated increasingly to cities (causing more 'heat islands'), the sun still had a role in heating the earth.

Do you see where this is going? Perhaps man is not at the center of the universe after all. Perhaps we are little, and there are forces at work the likes of which we can barely begin to understand. Perhaps there is something the global warming theorists haven't considered. The scientists are being very Galilean and using their eyes and their reasoning ability, rather than accepting what they have been told by the powers that be.

Then I read this paragraph:

"While the NASA study acknowledged the sun's influence on warming and cooling patterns, it then went badly off the tracks. Ignoring its own evidence, it returned to an argument that man had replaced the sun as the cause current warming patterns. Like many studies, this conclusion was based less on hard data and more on questionable correlations and inaccurate modeling techniques."

:sigh:

They didn't quite have the courage to stand up and present the facts of the study objectively.

But I am still encouraged. The fact that they are even considering that something other than man might have an effect on global warming and cooling shows that we aren't completely out of the realm of common sense yet.

Credits: The book, "Galileo's Daughter" by Dava Sobel, warmed my thoughts on this subject. Also, I thank the DHM at The Common Room blog for pointing out the news article on NASA's findings. And I thank my children for their ideas on the significance of studying the heating of the earth since the Industrial Revolution.

Surely Congress Will Fix CPSIA When They See The Harm It Is Doing.... Won't They?

Update: I called our beloved "purple bookstore" to see what they were doing with their pre-1985 children's books, and they hadn't even heard of the CPSIA. The person I talked with said he would look into it right away. I didn't want to call our other two favorite used-book haunts. I know forewarned is forearmed, but I just didn't want to spread bad news.

The industry consensus is that the concept of ensuring children’s safety is, in principle, a good thing. “Everybody agrees that the basis of the [CPSIA testing] requirement is absolutely in good faith,” said Kathleen McHugh, president of the American Specialty Toy Retailers Association. “But there must be exceptions to that. With books, you’re testing for lead on a material that’s just not associated with lead at all.”

“This is an absolutely knee-jerk reaction to the fact that, yes, there have been children’s toys and cribs that have contained lead,” said Bruce Smith, executive director of the Book Manufacturers’ Institute. “But let’s not take a paintbrush and paint everything the same color.”

Chip Gibson, president and publisher of Random House Children’s Books, goes further. “This is a potential calamity like nothing I’ve ever seen. The implications are quite literally unimaginable,” he said, noting that children’s books could be removed from schools, libraries and stores; nonprofit groups like First Book would lose donations; and retailers, printers, and publishers could ultimately go out of business. “Books are safe. This is like testing milk for lead. It has to be stopped.”

--Publishers Weekly, "Industry Scrambles to Comply With Child Safety Act", 1/12/2009 (see note)

We use a literature-based curriculum to teach our children at home, and of the many books we need to purchase each year, quite a few were published before 1985 and are out of print.

(I am so thankful for the out-of-print books that have been preserved electronically and are accessible for free online. Hopefully we won't get to the point where we need to scan every valuable child's book printed before 1985 in order for kids to have the benefits of these books in the future.)

You can't imagine the wealth of wisdom in these books that are now being treated as hazardous substances and must go through an expensive testing process, despite the fact that historically, **NO child has ever been harmed by lead or phthalates in a book.**

We have a pretty large collection of kid's books, but we are not done building our collection. I remember one time at a homeschool meeting, someone opined that our book collections are heirlooms for our children and their children, etc. We certainly feel that way about our books. But like I said, we aren't finished collecting yet. (I don't know that we ever would be, but we want the opportunity to continue.)

Think of the waste! So many excellent stories that awaken the imagination and inspire virtue-- and if that isn't enough, think of the recycling nightmare! So much *paper* tossed into the trash as hazardous waste.

(And am I being alarmist to worry that this law could lead to a ruling that would tell me I am criminal to allow my children to peruse the books we own that were published before 1985?)

Surely, Congress will fix this. They aren't so far gone as all of that.

Please call your thrift stores and libraries and find out what they are doing with their pre-1985 books now that CPSIA has gone into effect. I'm calling mine today and will report what I find out.

(Workers in at least one thrift store were seen already tossing books, refusing to allow anyone to even take them home for free because of liability issues. I wonder if there would be a problem with going round to the dumpster and pulling them out without the store workers' knowledge?)

Some links that talk more about this law and why libraries and used book sellers alike are worried and unsure what to do:

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

CPSIA Enforcement Waived for *Post-1985* Books (Some of you logical, lawyerly types tell me what is implied in this statement.)

Why Libraries Cannot Comply

You Can't Buy These Books Anymore

The Deputy Headmistress has done a great job making her blog a kind of clearinghouse for CPSIA info and discussion. For more info, click on the CPSIA category.

Note: The article at the head of this post was written before the Act was waived for post-1985 books. So when you read it, you have to think "pre-1985 childrens books" instead "childrens books".

Ice

(Photo by Cornflower)

It is 16' outside this morning.

CPSIA

This just makes me sick.

The DHM has more untangling of language and some links.

It seems that people are waking up to this problem. I hope the government listens.

Trouble for Cottage and Secondhand Industries?

I've been following this story for the past couple of days. I wonder if I am understanding it correctly. Surely the lawmakers realized when they wrote this law that it would adversely affect small businesses, the secondhand industry, charitable organizations. (Maybe not, but I just feel like I'm missing something. I can't believe a law that seems so all-encompassing, with so few exceptions, made it all the way to law status without a fight. It was passed back in August.)

A succinct article detailing how this law came into being.

An article on Etsy. Apparently, the CPSC asked for "comments regarding component testing and natural materials exemptions," and the deadline was today, January 5th. Etsy has also been asking for some kind of interactive communication with the commission, and it looks like that may happen.

There is a show on BlogTalkRadio tonight at 9 pm Eastern, entirely about this issue.

Wait and See

So far, every time I hear about something President-Elect Obama has said, or done, or a person he has nominated, I have thought, "Well, that's not so bad." Apparently, it isn't my imagination:

Obama’s post-election rhetoric on Iraq and choices for national security team have some liberal Democrats even more perplexed. As a candidate, Obama defined and separated himself from his challengers by highlighting his opposition to the war in Iraq from the start. He promised to begin to end the war on his first day in office.

Now Obama’s says that on his first day in office he will begin to “design a plan for a responsible drawdown,” as he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. Obama has also filled his national security positions with supporters of the Iraq war: Sen. Hillary Clinton, who voted to authorize force in Iraq, as his secretary of state; and President George W. Bush’s defense secretary, Robert Gates, continuing in the same role.

((snip))

“My economic team right now is examining, do we repeal that through legislation? Do we let it lapse so that, when the Bush tax cuts expire, they're not renewed when it comes to wealthiest Americans?” Obama said on “Meet the Press.” “We don't yet know what the best approach is going to be.”

That caution sounds a bit conservative to me. I have to adopt a wait-and-see attitude because, like John Isaacs points out in the article, "He hasn't had a first day in office."

But still..

More here.

Moon, Venus and Jupiter on Monday

A fascinating and well-written article on the moon, Venus and Jupiter, with beautiful pictures linked at the end.

Yep.

Many times we find ourselves making decisions about policy, whether in public or private life, without having our principles firmly in place first. This can lead to contradictory policy decisions...

For instance:

"The one thing that has struck me, though, is how frantic the Dems are to save the automobile manufacturers when so many of their other efforts are aimed at destroying the car."

Of course, it doesn't help to have principles if you are afraid to act on them. (Think "Republicans.")

Read the rest here.