Reading and Writing

Leo Strauss, Persecution and the Art of Writing:

It is a general observation that people write as they read. As a
rule, careful writers are careful readers and vice versa. A careful
writer wants to be read carefully. He cannot know what it means to
be read carefully but by having done careful reading himself.
Reading precedes writing. We read before we write. We learn to
write by reading. A man learns to write well by reading well good
books, by reading most carefully books which are most carefully
written. (Quoted from Edwin Curley, Behind the Geometrical Method:
A Reading of Spinoza's Ethics, Princeton University Press, 1988,
p. ii.)

"We learn to write by reading." This is why reading good books is
essential to becoming a good writer.

Copied and posted from MaverickPhilosopher.com, a blog recommended by my son, Daniel.

Prepare to Be Moved

A few weeks ago I posted a video of a group of singers around the world performing Sophie Madeleine's song, "You Are My Favorite." It was cool -- but not as cool as what's below. Don't let the length of the videos dissuade you; this is well worth the time invested. If you haven't seen the "Sophie" video you might want to watch it first in order to appreciate the enormous scale you'll see in the second video below.

I realize this music may not appeal to everyone. Rather, I'm posting these videos as further examples of the never-ending expansion of creativity of which human beings are capable -- here related to the arts (music and visual) and technology. The TED conferences serve as amazing symposia in which talented, creative, and inquisitive people can sharpen and stimulate one another by sharing, affirmation, and enjoyment.

First, watch this for background (14+ minutes):

Then this (9+") (go to 720p and full screen if you can):

Longing to Be Ruled

Yes, I rose at 5:00 a.m. last Friday to watch the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge marry in Westminster Abbey. I admit to being a sucker for pageantry and nobody does it better than the British. Why did an estimated two billion people worldwide, including 23 million Americans, tune in to watch the ceremony and pageantry? It's an interesting question. In America, we call ourselves proud to have jettisoned the baggage of royalty in the 18th century, yet we are still fascinated by the "royals." For me, it may be the English genes my maternal grandfather passed down to me, but I think there's another reason why I -- and people in general -- are attracted to "kings and queens." It goes beyond the fairy tale bit, I think. Yes, they are beautiful (at least these two) and rich and live in castles and palaces. But I think there's something else happening besides envy.

I think human beings have a longing to be ruled. After all, the Bible says we were created as subjects of God -- a royal relationship that mankind threw off by choice. And perhaps we give our emotions to earthly kings in a misdirected attempt to find our created place as subjects of a true king. Again, in America we set aside royalty because the examples of the day -- the British kings -- were not good models. And yet, in establishing our tripartite government we reflected the three dimensions of God's kingly rule:

For the Lord is our judge (judicial branch),

the Lord is our lawgiver (legislative branch),

the Lord is our king (executive branch);

it is he who will save us.

(Isaiah 33:22)

Deep down, we know we need saving. And we know that is a king's business. So even though America is a republic and not a monarchy, we still long for a leader to save us. I remember the emotion I felt when watching the funeral of Ronald Reagan -- maybe the closest thing we've had to a "good king" in the modern American era (in spite of his imperfections).

So when Prince William and Princess Catherine open the balcony doors on the second floor of Buckingham Palace and appeared to the hundreds of thousands who stood below, looking up endearingly at them, cheering at the tops of their lungs, it was like a fresh opportunity for the British people, and many more around the world, to feel something that is likely undefinable to most: the longing to look up to someone who is bigger and better than we are.

Of course, that is an unreasonable expectation to project onto a couple of twenty-somethings who stand on the same clay feet as do the rest of us. Though they will likely sit on the thrones of England one day, their ceremonial-only positions will have little impact on the world. But when we see royalty taking their rightful place, it ought to remind us that we were created to be loyal subjects. The real question is, Subjects of whom? Certainly not of any earthly king. Palaces, royal colors and guards, and earthly wealth cannot fill the heart of commoners like us. They can only remind us that a true king is coming -- Jesus, the King of kings -- in whom our longings for submission will finally be realized; by whom we will ultimately be saved as we bow in submission to Him.

For now, royal reminders like the wedding of William and Catherine have their place -- earthly shadows of an eternal reality.

Brussels Sprouts

I planted six Brussels sprouts plants and five of the six have done beautifully. Isn't that interesting that one of the six has hardly budged?

These plants have grown remarkably. I hope they produce fruit in keeping with their foliage size:

I put a tray of wheatgrass in the dirt and it has begun to produce heads of berries:

These are two Swiss chard plants that were planted last summer. They survived through the winter but this spring promptly bolted and are going to seed. The one is nearly six feet tall. I decided to let them go to see what the flower/seed production looks like:

Spring Water

Went to Cold Spring outside Concord, NC, after church to fetch spring water. Was sad to see two gigantic trees that stood in back of the church now in pieces. I don't know if recent storms brought them down -- I didn't see evidence of them being uprooted or "broken." Looks like they were both just cut down. Would love to have the wood -- would love to have a wood-burning fireplace.

Lots of years represented by these rings:

I love the coolness and quiet of the little grotto where the spring is located. This is standing by the spring looking up:

Filling five-gallon bottles:

Water weighs eight pounds per gallon, so each five-gallon jug weighs 40 pounds, or two equals 80 pounds. Good resistance training for the bones. No wonder our ancestors rarely had osteoporosis:

What a treasure this spring is -- it's been running steady since the early 1800's (the earliest records) and I assume long before then.

Thought For the Day 3.0

“All that is thought should not be said, all that is said should not be written, all that is written should not be published, all that is published should not be read.”

- Rabbi Menachem Mendel Morgenstern of Tomashov (The Kotzker Rebbe)

See also 1 Corinthians 10:23: "'Everything is permissible'—but not everything is beneficial. 'Everything is permissible'—but not everything is constructive."

Diigolet

Because I do so much reading on the Internet, I have long wished there was a way to highlight paragraphs in long pieces on a web page -- like using a highlighter pen when reading a book or article in hard copy -- so I could come back and find them again . My wish was granted with Diigolet -- a simple browser extension that works beautifully. It does more than I need (like bookmarking, sticky notes added to the web page, etc.), but what I do need -- highlighting -- it does beautifully. It even holds the highlighting/sticky notes if you navigate away from the page, then return to the highlighted page. I think it even holds the highlighting if you quit the browser, then return to a highlighted page later and click on the Diggolet button in the browser tool bar. (Can't risk that at the moment -- I'll try it later!) For anyone who is tempted to pick up a felt-tip highlighter and draw pink or yellow lines across your computer screen, install Diigolet instead.

Here's a quick screen shot of highlighting in two colors and a sticky note:

Westminster Abbey

A few huge, beautiful pics of the interior of Westminster Abbey on the day of the royal wedding. What a gorgeous setting.

Thought for the Day 2.0

Someone once asked Somerset Maugham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. "I write only when inspiration strikes," he replied. "Fortunately it strikes ever morning at nine o'clock sharp."

Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle

Grief

Read the story here.

Thought for the Day 1.0

If tomorrow morning by some stroke of magic every dazed and benighted soul woke up with the power to take the first step toward pursuing his or her dreams, every shrink in the directory would be out of business. Prisons would stand empty. The alcohol and tobacco industries would collapse, along with the junk food, cosmetic surgery, and infotainment businesses, not to mention pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and the medical profession from top to bottom. Domestic abuse would become extinct. as would addiction, obesity, migraine headaches, road rage, and dandruff.

—Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle

BikeShare—Hopefully Coming to Every City

The largest metro BikeShare program is in Paris, but a similar program has been implemented successfully in Washington, D.C. Read the full article here.

He Is Risen!

How Great

Undoubtedly the highlight of the Academy of Country Music "Girls' Night Out" concert: Vince Gill and Carrie Underwood. Matching what may be the purest voice in country music with a guitar virtuoso and singer like Vince Gill is quite a combination.

(My old computer wouldn't have been able to keep up, but if you have one that can . . . choose 1080p in the resolution selector in the lower right, and full screen for a knock-out version of this song.)

And purely in the interest of passionate performing, I'm adding this duet by Ronnie Dunn and Jennifer Nettles—I don't think there are two singers anywhere that make you believe they are singing something that's painfully true more than these two. Until I checked, I didn't realize this song was written by the amazing Patty Griffin -- on her A Kiss in Time album.

Scary

Does this guy remind you of somebody you know? Not likely. He's (it's) a robot created at National Taiwan University. I wonder if, one day, it will be hard to tell the living from the non-living.

Uh, I Have to Be Going Now

Hmmm—Vine Ripe Tomatoes

I snagged this picture from an Atlantic article on migrant workers unions in Florida, etc. (Lost the link to the article and couldn't find it searching Atlantic's site.) I'm only posting it because it's a great illustration of modern commercial agriculture: picking tomatoes when they're green and rock hard, then gassing them, etc., to bring them to maturity when it's time to sell them. If you look on some of the leaves, you can see white residue from some sort of spray. Toxic? Non-toxic? I don't know. But the whole picture is very unappealing. Compare that picture with a bright red organic tomato at a farmer's market picked red off the vine the day before. Or better yet, one pulled five minutes before you slice it, picked from a tomato plant in your own yard.

How Is This Different from a Laptop?

I'm on record as saying that the laptop's days are numbered; that the "pad" computer will replace the ubiquitous lapper. (Not soon, obviously, but eventually.)

And maybe not as soon as anybody thinks given this iPad ad. It's for a device that does three things: provides a keyboard for the iPad; holds the iPad upright for typing; provides a protective cover for the iPad. Hey -- how is that different from a laptop?!

Okay -- I get how the iPad is different. I just found it amusing that folks are buying iPads and also devices that turn their iPads back into the laptop they used to use.

Meaning Through Music

Paul Simon's new album, So Beautiful or So What? received a 5-of-5 stars review from Christianity Today. In fact, there are so many references to God and spirituality in the songs that, in a video about the album, Simon says Paul McCartney came backstage after hearing the songs at a concert and asked Simon, "Aren't you Jewish?" There have always been a lot of references to God in Simon's songs, as well as Sting's. In neither case do I know what that means to them personally.

Moby has always been identified as a "Christian" of some sort, and this song ("The Day") from his new album (Destroyed) supports that contention—about the victory of good over evil.

The music video:

Moby explaining more about the making and meaning of the song:

The 12 Worst Cars on the Road

Forbes.com has a survey of the "12 worst cars on the road" drawn from a number of performance-reliability studies. Might'ave known -- the car I've been thinking about the last couple years -- the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited (pictured) -- is on the list. Oh well -- good reason not to spend money.

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