Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Will you be on the side of truth or fads
In 1790, when Edmund Burke wrote his classic essay, Reflections on the Revolution in France, the reactions were not positive. He was not popular among the London elites, to say the least. As L.G. Mitchell recounts, “Burke was rejected right across the political spectrum.” Not only did radicals such as Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft “dislike the book,” but the members of his own Whig party disowned it: Charles James Fox considered the Reflections “to be in very bad taste” and the future Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger found only “rhapsodies in which there is much to admire and nothing to agree with.”Burke was right, and Reason was wrong. One suspects it will happen again.
Yet Burke, the reform-minded statesman, decided to stand against the proclamations of the French Revolution. Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity—who would want to be against that? Burke, apparently. And he prophesied the coming Terror and the rise of Napoleon, because he refused to give in to the tyrannical dictates of eighteenth-century deified Reason.
Labels: marriage, philosophy, trends
Monday, June 29, 2015
Pregnant perspectives
I recently read a post to Catholic Newlyweds about how worrying about getting pregnant before you consider yourself ready is the least of your worries. Statistically, it’s far more likely that you will struggle with infertility or miscarriage. In fact, 1 in 3 women will experience a miscarriage through their reproductive life. I’ve heard far too many stories of women who deal with reproductive obstacles. I still have a long span of reproductive life in me, even though conceiving this baby was easy, I don’t consider myself exempt.
During my reversion into Catholicism, and especially as I was looking into NFP (they were simultaneously occurring) I was terrified of becoming pregnant. I fully accepted the modern way of thinking that pregnancy was just about the worst thing that could happen to me. It’s a common 20 something thought. I believe it’s also a common 30 something thought to suddenly fear that not getting pregnant could be the worst thing to happen to you. The modern view of reproducing is very dichotomized. Our ovaries are either turned on or turned off – and the choice is ours. But is it really? I would argue it’s an illusion of choice.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Sketchy sushi is no more
I ate at this deli many times during my brief tenure at NYU. Alas.
Mark Shea and Jenner issues
To get to the point,
Steven Greydanus remarked yesterday: “The more I read and think about it, the more I realize that my difficulty with people calling Caitlyn Jenner a woman begins not with disagreement, but with honestly having no idea what they’re saying or what they mean to claim. In this context, I literally don’t understand what is meant by “woman.”
Tuesday, June 09, 2015
Don't sell any more copies, we can't affort it
Or, what happens when accounting rules get in the way of reality, with references to IBM, HP, and Autodesk.
Labels: computers
Tuesday, June 02, 2015
Rand P and Ron W, getting it done
Rand Paul and Ron Widen managed to stop the renewal of the so called “Patriot Act” yesterday blocking it’s renewal and kicking Obama in the nuts. Not optimistic it will stay that way or that any data collection will actually stop. I think Obama will keep doing it regardless. After all – it was already illegal before the law expired.LOL and true.
Labels: politics
