Lift Up Your Hearts!

Lift Up Your Hearts! http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. sursumcorda 2008-08-24T19:45:11Z Baby Pool http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1168 I'm tired and have too much to do.  Therefore, I'm procrastinating.  I'm putting our guesses about <a href="http://jon.limedaley.com/plog/archives/2008/07/09/32-weeks">Little Baby Daley</a>'s arrival here where it's easy to update as they come in. JW:  September 1, 11:00 p.m., girl, 8 lbs. 5 oz. DL:  September 2, boy, 10 lbs. 2 oz., 22 in. JMD:  September 3, 3:00 p.m., 9 lbs. 15 oz, 21.5 inches. <pre> PW: September 4, 3:00 a.m., girl, 7lbs. 12oz. </pre> SS:  September 4, 19:56, boy, 4210 grams, 51 cm (7:56 p.m., 9 lbs. 4.5 oz., 20 in.)  LW:  September 5, girl, 8 lbs. 8 oz. HD:  September 6, 6:00 a.m., 9lbs. 8 oz. SL:  September 6, 9:06 p.m., boy, 9 lbs. 6 oz. NA:  September 9, boy, 9 lbs. 9 oz. More to come. Living 2008-08-19T21:32:39Z sursumcorda European Genealogy and Genetics http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1167 No time for something more thoughtful at the moment, but I saw this and can't resist passing it on.  Check out this genetic map of Europe, and read the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/science/13visual.html?ex=1376798400&en=729a4ad21e1491d7&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink">New York Times article</a> that goes with it. <img src="http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/gallery/1/Genetic%20map%20of%20Europe%201.jpg" /> Fascinating!  I'm very much looking forward to the new genealogical DNA tests that will come from this. Genealogy 2008-08-19T12:19:03Z sursumcorda It Begins... http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1166 ...and as far as I'm concerned, Hurricane Season can end right here.  <a href="http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200806_flashtool.html?extraprod=flashtool#a_topad">Tropical Storm Fay's path</a> is looking suspiciously like that of <a href="http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/at20043.asp">Hurricane Charley</a>, and most of us would just as soon not relive that part of 2004. Thanks for your prayers. Hurricanes and Such 2008-08-18T11:35:28Z sursumcorda Can You See the Bookshelves? http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1165 I think maybe I know why no one has commented on my new bookshelves.  They're currently located under "Welcome" in the side panel.  They are on my machine, anyway.  But I just discovered that not everyone can see them.  My question is, can anyone? Computing 2008-08-17T13:45:30Z sursumcorda Why I Won't Be Applying for My Airborne Refund http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1164 Years ago, when a friend recommended <a href="http://www.airbornehealth.com/">Airborne</a> for staving off colds, I was skeptical, as I always am with such claims.  But after reading the ingredients and deciding they wouldn't hurt me (and I'm past the age of worrying that what I ingest will hurt someone else), I tried it.  And it worked.  Repeatedly.  The number and the severity of my upper respiratory tract infections were drastically reduced, even though I was travelling and visiting young children, two definite risk factors.  One year I had none at all.  Zero.  At the time, I exclaimed to all who would hear, "Maybe it really works, or maybe it's just the Placebo Effect.  I don't care.  I'm quite willing to pay a dollar a tablet for something that 'doesn't work' but so obviously improves my health." The Federal Trade Commission <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081403142.html?hpid=topnews">disagrees</a>, claiming there is no evidence for the efficacy of Airborne's products, and requiring the company to issue refunds for the price of up to six packages to those who request them.  That won't include me.  Not only am I not certain that $30 would be worth the paperwork involved, but more importantly, I don't see how I could in good conscience ask for a refund when the product worked. Even Steven Gardner, director of litigation for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which was part of a class-action lawsuit against Airborne, admitted, ""It is pretty much impossible to prove that it didn't prevent a cold if you don't get a cold."  And that's the point.  Doctors, lawyers, and the government can worry about advertising claims and scientific proof of efficacy, but my concerns have a narrower focus: if I don't get a cold, that's good enough for me. Speaking of the Placebo Effect, <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17792517">here's an interesting story</a> on how it relates to exercise and fitness. Health 2008-08-16T10:19:32Z sursumcorda A Digression on Extraterrestrials, the Church, and Conspiracy Theories http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1163 Okay, I'm being really lazy today and merely posting a link to someone else's post, but there are too many other things to attend to, and John C. Wright has another good one:  <a href="http://johncwright.livejournal.com/180931.html#cutid1">Albino Jesuit Assassins ... IN SPAAACE!</a>  I mean, really...with a title like that.... Anyway, enjoy!  I have to get on with life. Living 2008-08-14T13:42:48Z sursumcorda What If the Catholic Church Got This One Right? http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1162 When an article from my "to blog" backlog, a recent post from one of my blogging contacts, and an article from the most recent issue of a magazine I respect all converge, I can take that as a good suggestion for today's post. Jennifer Fulwiler writes the <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/">Conversion Diary blog</a> (formerly "Et Tu?"), which I've featured before (<a href="http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1109">here</a>, among other places).  <a href="http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=10904">This is her article</a> in America.  John C. Wright is a science fiction writer.  It was <a href="http://johncwright.livejournal.com/180695.html">his blog post</a> that alerted me to the First Things article.  Read his introduction, but don't settle for his summary of the article.  Instead, read Mary Eberstadt's <a href="http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6262">The Vindication of "Humanae Vitae"</a> yourself. This is bound to raise the blood pressure of a number of readers...but very thought-provoking.  I can testify from experience to the coercive pressures of the Malthusian movement.  It was the Global Warming of its time:  part valid concern, part bad science and worse economics, all hype and politics, but a nearly irresistable force. Perhaps it will turn out to be no more than a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy to blame so many of the problems that now beset us on the great sea change half a century ago in societal attitudes toward the purpose, meaning, and regulation of sexual activity, fueled by the availability and use of contraceptive technologies. But it certainly bears investigating, for those who can bear the thought. Parenting/Homemaking Politics 2008-08-13T11:04:06Z sursumcorda While the World Slept...er, Watched? http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1160 Whatever you think about John Edwards, he isn't stupid, and choosing to admit his adulterous affair while our attention was focused on the Olympic opening ceremonies was probably a smart move. Russia isn't stupid, either.  They couldn't hope to invade another country without generating some controversy, but doing so while the eyes of much of the world and even more of the news media are on events in Beijing gives them a good chance of being ignored, at least long enough to accomplish their purposes. <a href="http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18264888&BRD=1597&PAG=461&dept_id=188818&rfi=6">Jim Balk</a> was my World Cultures teacher in high school.  I don't know what was supposed to be covered in a course with that title, but we didn't learn much about the cultures of the world.  Somehow I would have expected a broad survey course, which this wasn't.  Whatever I've learned about ancient Greece and Rome, Chinese history, African civilizations, and the history and culture of almost anywhere else in the world—which isn't much—I had to learn outside of school. What Mr. Balk did instead was cover in detail two areas of the world of special importance in the late 1960s:  the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.  No doubt he figured that if his students were going to have opinions on the events of the day they might as well be informed by the history, religions, customs, and politics of the region.  He was also big on current events, and tried to make us lazy, self-centered teens pay attention to events of significant import, such as the American civil rights movement, and the <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/571568/Sudetenland">Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia</a>. I wasn't one of Mr. Balk's greatest successes, I'm sure.  Oh, I got A's in his class—I knew how to do homework and take tests—but didn't develop an appreciation for history until long after I graduated, and am not much better than I was back then at paying attention to the news.  (To be fair to myself, I think I might do better with the latter if news reporting were less about hype, gossip, entertainment, sensationalism, and trivia.)  But I actually learned in his class, learned both facts and ideas that are with me to this day, which is a lot more than I can say about any other of my history classes. Therefore it is not surprising that the Russian invasion of Georgia made me think of Mr. Balk.  If I were in his class today I know he'd be making me keep a diary of the event.  He'd force me to turn my eyes from the Olympic glories and pay attention to an event that may turn out to be as significant as Germany's pre-World War II acquisition of <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/571568/Sudetenland">the Sudetenland</a> from Czechoslovakia. Education Politics 2008-08-12T08:21:17Z sursumcorda Sacred Causes http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1159 John Stackhouse has another perspicacious post, this time on the homogenization of music in contemporary churches.  I know nothing about the "white gospel" style he laments in <a href="http://stackblog.wordpress.com/2008/08/03/disappearing-musical-languages/"></a><a href="http://stackblog.wordpress.com/2008/08/03/disappearing-musical-languages/">Disappearing (Musical) Languages</a> but his experience strikes a sympathetic chord, since my musical "mother tongue" for worship is equally endangered. <blockquote> [T]he Welsh, among others, would tell us to keep alive the languages we love. Those who still speak them must take them up as sacred causes, maintaining these vital ways of perceiving and articulating the world without which humanity is diminished. </blockquote> That's much more encouraging than being told to "get over it" and learn to like the new "languages."  It's helps to realize that when it comes to church worship music I am a Native American child forced to speak only English in school, a deaf child forbidden to sign, or a Scot required to use the language of his conquerors.  Prudence tells me the value of learning the dominant tongue, but a higher wisdom calls me to preserve that which is in danger of perishing.  Call it the <a href="http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1089">genealogical impulse</a>. Living 2008-08-11T09:51:26Z sursumcorda Why Blog? http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1156 It's been harder than I thought to write the "why I blog" post that's been on <a href="http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/1/1130">my backlog</a> for ages.  So I'm just going to do it. I suppose my blog can most charitably be called "eclectic."  Some blogs are political, some personal journals, some accumulate interesting articles and news stories, some keep far-flung families in contact, some are formed around a specific cause or issue.  I aim to be jack-of-all-trades, and if that means being master of none, I see nothing wrong with that. It depends on your audience.  Five-star restaurants require highly-trained and gifted chefs, but I'd take my mother's home cooking and the family dinner table any day.  Fine.  But why?  Why do I put so much time and effort into blogging?  What do I hope to accomplish? I post first of all because I can't stop my mind from writing, and it's helpful to give concrete expression to the phrases, paragraphs, and essays that are constantly churning within my brain.  See the story of <a href="http://sca.salemsattic.com/lwblog/post/1/173">Li'l Writer Guy</a>.  The blog is a particularly satisfactory way of getting my thoughts into print:  the primary audience may be small, but they're loyal readers, and occasionally people stop by from all over the world and find something useful.  I can write what I want, when I want, with no pesky editors, stockholders or advertisers to interfere. Because I write primarily for family members and friends who actually enjoy hearing about the details of our lives, there are a number of posts that are personal and of no interest to the general public, whoever that may be.  I make no apology.  You don't like it?  Don't read it.  This is not high school English class.  There will be no homework grade and no final exam. Then there are the random posts of odd bits of news, posts from other blogs, and anything else good or ill that has struck me as worth sharing.  There's a lot of data, and a very poor signal-to-noise ratio, out there.  If I find something good, important, or thought-provoking, I want to increase its visibility. Years ago I overheard one woman speaking derisively of another, saying, "She's the kind of person who gives books to other people."  This puzzled me at first, since I find books to be among the best possible of gifts.  What I eventually learned was that the complainer felt the gift books were being used as weapons, a means for pointing out the recipient's faults.  Perhaps that was true, but as one who loves to give books at least as much as to receive them, I suspect the giver was misjudged. It is obvious to me that most of the best ideas I've had, and the good decisions I've made, especially in the areas of childrearing and education, came because someone else was willing to share them.  I take some credit for implementing and expanding ideas, and for having a few of my own, but I'm keenly aware that most of what I've done right I owe to someone's book, someone's conversation, someone's example.  What's more, there have been many, many ideas about which I've thought, "Why didn't I know this years ago, before it was too late?  Why didn't someone tell me?"  For this reason I have not hesitated to pass on good ideas when I think the recipient might be receptive, or at least interested.  I love to give books that I've found helpful, though I almost always add the caveat that I don't necessarily approve of everything the author has to say.  Sometimes there's much I don't like, but always there's at least something I find so valuable I want to share it.  Do I expect everyone to appreciate what I find valuable?  Of course not.  Am I offended if they ignore what I find important?  No.  Do I direct certain books or articles at specific people because I think they "need" them?  Believe it or not, I don't.  I share what I find good, useful, enlightening, or helpful.  I want to make information available, in hopes that fewer people will look back and say, "I wish someone had told me about that before." Blogging provides many more opportunities than giving away a few books, and that's another reason I write.  This is the one area where I think of a wider audience; someone, somewhere out there may care about what I have learned about xylitol, or epidurals, or math curricula.  Again, I don't apologize for writing what some may not find interesting; if you don't like it, skip it.  But if you find something valuable in it, and especially if you have something to add to the discussion, I greatly appreciate comments.  From the beginning I had hoped this blog would be "<a href="http://sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/static/1/about">a forum for spirited—but polite—discussion and the exchange of ideas</a>," and I still mean that. One thing all my posts have in common is commentary.  You get my opinion on politics, education, and health; on books and movies; on bike trails and genealogy.  More often you get my opinion-in-progress, as writing is as much my way of forming thoughts as of expressing them.  What you won't get is something directed as a weapon against you—certain public persons excepted, although even then I prefer to challenge ideas, not people.  I write from my own accumulated knowledge and experience; whether you agree or disagree, your own experiences are more than welcome.  My best work still comes from those who are willing to share. Living Computing 2008-08-10T14:44:16Z sursumcorda