I accidentally prayed midday prayer from the wrong week, but I rather liked what Ps. 24(25) had to say anyway:
Dulcis et rectus Dominus,... Read More!
propter hoc peccatores viam docebit;
diriget mansuetos in iudicio,
docebit mites vias suas.
(Sweet and upright is the Lord,
for this reason he will teach sinners the way;
he leads the mild in judgment,
and will teach the meek his ways.
[or: will teach [them] his gentle ways]
I happened to visit an old friend in blue Virginia the other day, and while driving about town we stopped in a bank so he could get his name corrected. (They had added an e to the end of his name: so, for example, if it had happened to me, the account name would have been "Johne Perry".) My friend had opened an account there because they were offering a free flip ultra camcorder, which Google tells me sells for $130 or so. All you have to do is open a checking account with at least $100, then within 45 days use your Visa Debit card for 8 purchases, and use their online banking's bill payment service at least twice. My friend had decided to get himself the camera, then (if I understand correctly) close the account.
This is rather sensible from a consumer's point of view. I'd ask myself how the bank makes money, but then I looked at their deposit rates. A Money Market account pays 0.1% APY for a deposit up to $9,999. The credit union where I keep my deposits currently pays a 1.51% APY as long as you keep at least $250 there. So for a $9,999 deposit, the bank will by the end of a year pay you $10 and give you a camera. Okay, so my credit union won't give you a camera, but by the end of a year they will have paid you $145, which is more than $10 plus the value of that camera. Plus, my credit union will pay $145 the next year, too, whereas this bank will stil pay a measly $10. Part of that problem solved.
While perusing the place, I felt as if I was somewhere other than a bank. There was a penny arcade for kids. A sign told me to,
I don't get why I should smile, but, okay, I smiled my crooked smile. Another sign told me that I could earn points by using their Visa Debit Card whenever I signed for purchases.SMILE!
We're happy to see you. For your safety, we are monitoring the premises through video surveillance.
Two different weblogs (FT and Siris) I read refer to the Pew Research Center's quiz, "How Millennial Are You?" The higher the score, the closer you are to the Millennial generation supposedly, and those two authors reported a 19 and a 45.
I got a 4.
Yup, I'm in there with the so-called "Silent" Generation (1928-1945). I wonder if this means I can't relate to the new generation(s) (like my own!) and should make some concession to modern fashions. Like, say, get a tattoo of Carl Friedrich Gauß? beneath it, I could add the text of The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra.
On first thought, no.
I'm not sure how I managed such a low score, but I'm proud of it.
My wife and/or I noticed a few things on our drive from Mississippi to Virginia. In no particular order:
Keep in mind that this building lies near two other churches, one of which plays bells every quarter hour, and hymns every hour. I half-wonder if they deliberately designed it to resemble a church.George Weigel appears to have only recently noticed that university commencements have turned into screaming matches:
When did it become socially acceptable for adults to shriek like banshees when their graduate’s name is announced? …The problem with this line of reasoning is that most people's definition of adulthood is closer to what I, and probably Mr. Weigel, would term adolescence. I've grumbled about this before.
The award of a degree ought to mark a point of passage into adulthood. Parents, siblings, and friends who understand that might want to stop acting like berserk adolescents on these occasions.
My wife left for Russia today, taking the kids with her. They'll return in late July.
I just wanted to say that I found TSA at Dulles Airport to be very helpful and considerate, both when I contacted them by email some months ago, and when we dealt with them in person today. A thank you to a bunch of civil servants whose job is definitely not easy.
Thank you also to the Aeroflot personnel who were helpful and even personable (!). We appreciate it.
Now, don't go and make my wife's life miserable on the flight, because I will update this!
According to an article in a recent issue of AMS Notices, the Pythagoreans referred to their founder as The Man. (ο ανθροπος? they didn't say)
The author noted that any correlation with modern American argot was purely coincidental, but that makes them all the more awesome in my book.
I defended Cantalamessa last week, and I've defended Benedict a few times in the past week (here, here, and here). I've expressed my disappointment with the media's propensity to bury deep within a story facts that are inconvenient to the insinuations of a headline and the first few paragraphs, if not flatly contradicting said insinuations.
Nevertheless, the Vatican is shooting itself in the foot. Sure, Cantalamessa was quoting a Jewish friend, but the quote really did not fit well into his homily. At best, it was tangential. As for Angelo Cardinal Sodano's referring to "petty gossip"… geez! I know what the guy meant, and he didn't mean the accusations from victims against a few devils in Roman collars, but didn't anyone, anyone at all, stop to think about how that might have been quoted in a media that, according to them, is misquoting, giving only partial facts, etc.? No one?!?
The new response appears to be, We don't have time for this:
We have documented the contrary and let’s not talk about this subject now, because otherwise we’ll be here all day precisely examining the action” of the congregation in those days.
Today's Latin message on my board* was,
Quis custodiet ipos custodes."Who watches the watchmen."
Ipsæ custodes."The watchwomen."
I expected Sandro Magister to report on the story surrounding the accusations against Pope Benedict. I didn't expect him to come to Pope Benedict's defense by pointing out that meritless accusations have been leveled by Benedict, and reported credulously by the international media, from the beginning of his pontificate:
[O]gni volta, su un terreno diverso, è colpito in Benedetto XVI proprio l'uomo che ha operato e opera, su quello stesso terreno, con più lungimiranza, con più risolutezza e con più frutto.Magister reviews six accusations against the pope, and argues (not, sadly, in sufficient depth) that they are not merely meritless, but the complete opposite of what the man has been doing during his life and his papacy. English translation here. ... Read More!
…I sei capi d'accusa contro Benedetto XVI, fin qui richiamati, aprono una domanda.
Perché questo papa è così sotto attacco, da fuori la Chiesa ma anche da dentro, nonostante la sua lampante innocenza rispetto alle accuse?
Un principio di risposta è che papa Benedetto è sistematicamente attaccato proprio per ciò che fa, per ciò che dice, per ciò che è.
(Each time, on each matter, the man attacked in Benedict is in fact the man who has worked and who works, on that very same matter, with greater far-sightedness, with greater resolution, and with greater fruit.
…The six principal accusations against Benedict XVI, recalled here, raise a question.
Why is this pope under such an assault, despite his clear innocence with respect to the accusations?
Any response must begin from the fact that Pope Benedict is under systematic attack precisely for what he does, for what he says, for what he is.)
My son asked me at lunch today, So your Spring Break starts tomorrow, right?
I fixed him with a perplexed look. Where have you been? My Spring Break was last week.
It was his turn to be perplexed: he was at home all week, on his own Spring Break. But you worked all week.
Welcome to real life, I sighed.
Spring Break started with a huge disappointment, but got better. I had spent two or three months studying a problem that I was sure would be fruitful. I was right. It was quite fruitful, to someone else, seventeen years ago. Worse, I discovered his paper in my files, which means that at some point in the recent past I was aware of his work. At least I wasn't studying something pointless. In any case, it looks like I might be able to carry something further from there, but I want to talk with the author of the previous paper, to make sure I don't waste my time.
I haven't done so yet because several things distracted me. I received good news on two papers I'd submitted: one has been accepted, and I received proofs to check; the other has been deemed "acceptable, subject to revision," but the revisions seem relatively straightforward. Then there was all the other work I did, which I won't bore you with.
My wife once observed that students think that teachers and professors had the greatest jobs in the world, because it involved so little work. After all, we have no home work; we only work nine months a year, and get weeks off for Spring Break, Christmas vacation, …
Update: My wife corrected my memory of what she said.
The second reading today, about the Church as the body of Christ, sent my mind wandering a bit, and it occurred to me that we can infer from this an interesting explanation of the Real Presence. Someone has probably said this before—it wouldn't surprise me if my subconscious was dredging up something I've read long ago—I just hope that, if so, I'm dredging up something correct, and not marring it by my choice of words.
All of us are members of the Body of Christ, in the corporal sense of the word "member": each with his or her role. Just as the members of a body need nourishment, so do the members of the Body of Christ.
Unlike a human body, the Body of Christ does not need external nourishment, but is nourished by its communion with the Head, Christ our Lord. For example, when someone fasts completely from food, the body takes no nourishment outside itself, but converts fat into nourishment: it is internal to the body, but external to each member that is nourished. Likewise is the Eucharist not external to the Body of Christ, but from itself. That said, the analogy goes only so far: a human body loses part of itself by the conversion of fat into nourishment, whereas the Body of Christ converts nothing; rather, Christ, our Head, draws our nourishment from the inexhaustible fountain of divine grace.
So this communion, which we receive in the Eucharist, is a communion with the real, glorified Body and Blood of Christ. As occurs with the nourishment of a human body, each member receives something external to oneself, for none of us is a source of grace; Christ alone is. However, we do not receive a different Body of Christ, as if there could be such a thing, let alone do we receive grace that is external to the Body of Christ: we receive grace from the Body itself, which by union with the divinity is self-sufficient. So people who see the Eucharist as a kind of physical or spiritual cannibalism are quite mistaken: a cannibal receives something external to oneself, but when the Body of Christ receives the Eucharist, it receives itself, not something external to it—external to the members, but not to the Body.
I am not really competent to explain it much further, if even this far, so I'll stop here.
A priest gave me a bit of wisdom the other day that I think worth sharing. A paraphrase:
You cannot change the past; do not dwell on it. Say a prayer for those whom you may have offended long ago; perhaps God has brought them to mind precisely because they need prayer. Offer your regrets to the only one who was at your side both then and now, and ask him to guide your future.The context of what I was discussing with him probably matters. If I had been talking about "grave matter", the advice might well have been different! ... Read More!
Speaking of the end of a decade whatever, I'd just like to acknowledge that the past ten years of my life a huge improvement over the previous ten. Not necessarily financially—I earn more money, but between inflation and the family, I'm actually poorer per capita than ten years ago. But I'd much rather be the man I am now than the teenager I was twenty years ago, or the man I was ten years ago.
If you read the newspapers, you know that opinion writers have been writing off the terrible decade we just survived like some sort of business loss. Many people really did survive it at best, but opinion writers really ought to know better.
Sure, I could focus on the bad aspects of the past decade, and in some ways I guess I had a pretty miserable decade. But as Nonno Felice used to observe in his recollections of the Second World War, many experiences that would otherwise be awful can be made bearable, even pleasant, with a little optimism and a sense of humor. To place this in context, he was speaking of a time where much of Italy was destroyed, the Germans occupied his city and eventually expelled all its inhabitants, including the sick and infirm, sending them wandering for months until, after a brief stay in a concentration camp, they ended up in occupied Rome.
In that spirit, I'd like to reflect on some of the happier parts of a not-nearly-so-miserable decade as that one.
To start with, my life is much better, and much happier, now that I'm married, and have children. I'm not sure that they feel that their lives are better and happier, but I'm resolved to do my best to ameliorate that. That's one of the down-/up-sides of marriage: you discover defects you never knew you had, or (from a different point of view) opportunities to weed out your vices and grow in the virtues. If only I had more than half a life to do my best for my family!
I completed my education with the proverbial "terminal degree". The discovery of new knowledge has been among the greatest pleasures I've experienced, enhanced by sharing it with others, learning what they've discovered, and combining it. I can't for the life of me fathom why more people aren't fascinated by science and scientific research: it's wonderful!
I've been lucky to have traveled both in the States and abroad over the last ten years, for work, family, and spiritual reasons. As for places abroad, I'd recommend:
Just don't expect them to speak English, wherever you go. The guidebooks lie, lie, lie about that, and people who visit places where lots of people speak English haven't (in my opinion) discovered the real place they're visiting. Then again, I'm not sure I have, either.
I've read, or reread, some great books. My favorites would have to be Il fu Mattia Pascal, Gli ultimi soldati del Ré, Lettera a un bambino mai nato, Безы, and Братья карамазовы. (The Late Mattia Pascal, The King's Last Army, Letter to a child who was never born, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov.) I've read some excellent English novels, too; I just can't call them to mind.
I'm proudest of the moments when I made my wife and children smile. The only pleasure that could outshine that, is the same one I have been privileged to share in since Easter, 1994. I described it to my three year-old last week in my atrocious Russian grammar: самый лучшее тортик—Евхарист. The sweetest treat of all, is the Eucharist.
Some people are all wrapped about today being the end of a decade. They're out getting extra drunk right now to commemorate the event.
Others are all wrapped up about it not being the end of a decade, because we have no year zero. Since the numbering system starts with 1—there being no year 0 AD—decades start in years ending with a 1, so the decade doesn't end until next year. So there, says they, exchanging smarmy glances of intellectual superiority betwixt themselves. It will surely dismay them that the first group will be none the sadder for the opportunity to get extra drunk next year, too. Tho there, theth they. (hic)
Well, says I, two can play that game. As a matter of fact, we do have a year zero, it's just that we tend to call it 1 BC instead of 0 AD. Likewise, we have a year -1, but we call it 2 BC. And so forth. You can, in fact, start a decade on a year ending with zero, so today is, in fact, the last year of a decade.
But, says the mathematician in me, it gets better, because it's merely a frame of reference. You can start a decade anytime you want: in a year ending with zero, ending with one, or even ending with π if such a thing existed. (It is, in fact, quite possible to imagine a year ending in π—quite natural, even. Maybe I shall go into the details in a later post.)
If you think I'm being disingenuous, then let me ask, How old are you? And whatever you answer, do you count from the first of the year in which you were born, from the date of your conception, or from the date of your birth? If you don't count from January 1 of the year in which you were born, why not?
The point is, it's all relative to whatever start date you choose. If someone wants to start his decade in 2000 and end in 2009, who else would begrudge him but a smarter-than-thou killjoy who thinks it's more important to feel superior (while being wrong) than to have a little fun?
I felt the same way over the furor about the new millennium ten years ago, too. Look: the new millennium started when the Age of Endarkenment began: on my birthday, which was (far too) long before 2000, 2001, or any of that Y2K nonsense. All you ignoramuses who argued about when the new millennium began were wrong. Now go out and have fun!
A letter sent to all liturgical ministers at my parish church included several notes on procedures and practices. The following admonition startled me:
Out of respect for God and the people assembled to worship, it is very important that all liturgical ministers keep always a proper and modest attire when serving. No tennis shoes, jeans, shorts... Ladies, please, no low cleavage. Blouses, shirts and skirts should be modest at all times, no matter what is the occasion or in what ministry you serve. All of us, women and men, must strive to bring people’s attention to God, not to ourselves.So… "high" cleavage is okay?
…well, not really. After all, I've been in at least one Wal-Mart that doesn't sell Fanta, or at least not the Fanta that someone asked me to find, and I know that Fanta exists.
All the same, last night I was in dire need of wire nuts and an electrical outlet—never mind why, I'm sure your imagination can fill in the details—and it was after 10pm, so the home improvement stores were closed, Radio Shack was closed, and the 24-hour pharmacies who sell electrical equipment claimed over the phone not to have it. I'm not sure they even knew what I was talking about, never mind.
But, at quarter of 11, I was able to walk into the Wal-Mart down the road from me, head over to the hardware section, and locate quite quickly wire nuts and and a new socket. Awesome.
This doesn't change my general opinion of the store, but it was a huge relief to find them.
My next house will be made not merely of stone, but of non-conductive, non-flammable stone. Assuming I can find such a thing. Since Wal-Mart doesn't sell such houses, maybe they don't exist…
Great story at washingtonpost.com. The five myths are:
Most of the return from owning your home comes not in financial gains but in the benefits you enjoy by living there.The primary reason I bought a house was so that my wife and kids would have a yard to play in and grow food in, wouldn't have to worry about loud neighbors, or neighbors' complaints that we were too loud (the only complaint I've ever received was when my son jumped on and off furniture), and so forth.
An interesting point of view. I agree with the conclusion, but for different reasons. My reason is more the effect of: the vast majority of students attending universities are grossly unprepared and lack motivation. You can make up for lack of preparation if you are seriously motivated. Trouble is, most people fresh out of high school think that "motivation" means attending class and attempting to learn via osmosis.
Some of the most motivated students I have ever met are what we call "non-traditional students": adults who have spent a few years (or decades) in the real world and, whether for pride or profit, decide to go back for that Bachelor's Degree. Many told me explicitly that they were frustrated by the lack of options in a life without a college degree. Others merely feel as if they lack something, and are seeking it. Either way, they tend to be more motivated than the average eighteen year-old.
Of course, one does meet the occasional non-traditional student who acts as if an education is a terrible burden and obstacle, but in my experience this is more the exception than the rule. Nevertheless, I've read that universities are starting to realize the potential market in this group, and exploit it.
I've suggested to my department that we offer evening classes, and I've even offered to teach them; so far to no avail. Maybe I haven't tried hard enough.
I've been repainting parts of the house, and last week I thought I'd spend an hour or two on a section of fascia and eaves. I only finished that section today.
What happened? In my quest to do a good job, I removed the gutters from their brackets, then started scraping away the old wood. I discovered that it had decayed pretty badly; I think I'm the first person to repaint that section in twenty-five years. As I scraped, wood came off with the paint, and I discovered that some healthy fungus was growing out of the board.
That was bad enough, but then I saw the ants. They were crawling out of the cracks in the board, disturbed by the scraping away of their nest. Carpenter ants! Dismay set in. By now it was obvious that it would take a lot more than two hours to paint this section of the house: I'd have to replace the fascia board entirely, and if the infestation went further I'd have a lot of wood to remove.
So, off came the board, as quickly as I and my crowbar could get it. There turned out to be two nests, but the surrounding wood looked good: no galleries moving from one to the other.
I drove down to Lowe's for the wood. Their pre-primed fascia boards were the wrong size (1×4 when I needed 1×6), so I had to buy two unprimed boards, take them home, measure, cut, and prime them. A couple of hours later, I was nailing the primed face of the wood against the beams, with the unprimed face towards me. I then primed that, too. I don't know if that's necessary, but the boards at Lowe's were primed on both sides, and in any case I feel more comfortable knowing that both sides of the wood are primed. The wood that the ants had infected was not primed on both sides; whether that was the problem, or something else, I won't speculate. The next day I came home from work to paint it, and today I returned the gutters to their positions. It almost looks like a professional did it; I even have the fascia board level.
So much work just from a small paint job. Never mind the other problems I've fixed and/or discovered lately. Owning this house is like playing one of those whack-a-mole games: you fix one problem, and another one pops up. Never mind the improvements you make. I'm starting to wonder if there's any end to the amount of upkeep a house requires. At this point I want my next house to be made of stone!!!
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