Curbing the time I spend writing doesn't mean there won't be new posts; rather, you'll get less of me and more of links to interesting things I find. Here's one in honor of recently-deceased Michael Crichton, author of (among many others) The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, and Five Patients: The Hospital Explained; you probably have not heard of the last one, but it was my introduction to Crichton and the only of his books to reside in our library.
Aliens Cause Global Warming. Check it out with an open mind. Crichton's purpose isn't to tell you (or his Cal Tech audience) there's no other intelligent life in the universe, or that atomic bombs and second-hand smoke are safe, or that there's no such thing as global warming. His concern is that our approach to all these issues (and many more) is that of false prophets, taking the name of Science in vain. (Since apparently Science was Crichton's god, you can see why this would be particularly upsetting to him.) We are invoking Science to back the positions we want to support when in fact there is no truly scientific evidence undergirding our conclusions. The Priests of Science are allowing this to happen, even participating in the abominations, and Science's lesser worshippers follow blindly. If Crichton cannot cleanse the temple, perhaps he can at least clear our minds.My own fears about an Obama presidency and a heavily Democratic Congress notwithstanding, I can see one factor in his election that may do much for both the economy and the country: Hope. Gripe as I may about the messianic adulation of Barack Obama, there are a lot of folks who are happy right now, and people who had all but given up on the American political process who now believe in it. Confidence in the system and hope for a better life can be powerful forces for good.
(Li'l Writer Guy is even now on an airplane, winging his way toward the French Alps. I can still manage short posts on my own, however.)I don't expect my resolve to last long, but I'm going to attempt to put a gag on Li'l Writer Guy. I love to write, and there's always a large backlog of issues, large and small, on which my mind is constantly spewing forth essay fragments. Crafting them into some coherent form and publishing the result usually offers some relief, but recent political and philosophical discussions (of which what is published is but the tip of the iceberg) have instead left me enervated.
When I consider the long hours it takes to get my thoughts into shareable form, hours that have much more pressing needs tugging insistently at their sleeves, I'm thinking Li'l Writer Guy needs to spend some time with the Carthusian monks.Permalink | Read 3389 times | Comments (2)
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Like it or not, our country has placed itself under the threats I mentioned in Part I, and I can only hope that the mitigating factors of Part II will enable me to say, at the end of four years, "That wasn't so bad." Regardless, although I believe the results of this election will make life more difficult, the important things do not change. Here's some of what I believe we need to do in the coming years.
Who is the "we" in the following ruminations? Mostly I'm speaking for myself, to myself, but often there will be a more general application, anyone who wishes to come along for the ride is welcome. (More)If I'm going to make a political post before Election Day, I'd better move quickly. This won't have as much as I want to say, nor as much careful crafting as I want to put into it, but it will still be too long and take too much time. It will be in three parts, reflecting my three conflicting and complementing moods as I contemplate the next four years.
Part I — Why This Election Is So Threatening
It is far too tempting to begin this section with a slight alteration of Mark 13:14. (More)
Yesterday we capped a busy day (at church till mid-afternoon for a special event, followed by—oh, joy!—flu shots) with our second Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra concert of the year. I'm greatly enjoying Chris Wilkins' approach to concert programming: he chooses a good blend of old and new, familiar and unknown, comfortable and challenging. Well, just barely challenging, but that's okay; I prefer my musical challenges on a smaller scale and with explanation, as with Bernard Rands' Memo 8, which came to mind when I was pondering "challenging." That was one of my favorite Eastman concert experiences, and I would love to hear it performed again, but I don't see that happening; even a Google search nets little, and my favorite oboist has gone Medieval—not that I mind that! Ah, well—I have my recording. But I digress greatly.
Last night's concert showed Wilkins' programming strengths and his willingness to venture into non-traditional concert territory. The theme was Abraham Lincoln, and the program a collaboration with the Orange County History Center. (More)
