Looney

2009-07-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

Favorite Furniture.

This was a topic chosen by Rummuser. My favorite piece of furniture is this rug which is on the floor in my work room. When I get drowsy from my work or am waiting on my computers to finish something, I just grab a pillow, lay down on the rug and have a quick snooze. It is also a comfortable spot to sit and read a book. We have some short Japanese tables that we can set up and the kids sometimes sit on the rug using the Japanese table for doing homework.

The rug is a handmade Persian rug of the Gabbeh design. It is made from wool with traditional dyes for the coloring. The rug is quite thick, so it is very nice to sit or lay on for longer periods of time.

Something mysterious to me is that most Persian rugs do not have any plant or animal patterns on them as this violates the Koran's proscription against depicting living things. The Persian Gabbeh rugs, however, often have only one or two deer, and maybe a tree on a very simple background. This particular one was much too busy with deer, but came for a very good price so that I could both afford it and not be upset with all the usage it gets.

2009-07-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

Nearing the top of Rose Peak.

2009-07-11T20:18:00.001-07:00

The Life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus, by his son, Ferdinand.

James asked me about any passages indicating Columbus had been involved in genocide, as is the currently popular accusation flying around politically correct circles. Going by the testimony of Ferdinand, Christopher seems to have repeatedly restrained his people from their evil designs against the Indians. This eventually caused mutinies to break out and almost cost him his life. One example of this is from the last voyage where the last two ships were no longer seaworthy so he put in at Jamaica, sending out a canoe to Espanola for help:

"We being in such straits, God was pleased to bring us to an island abounding in eatables and densely inhabited by Indians eager to trade with us, so that they came from all directions. For this reason, and that his people might not disperse throughout the island, the Admiral preferred to fortify himself aboard and not ashore. Our people being by nature disrespectful, no punishment or order could have stopped them from running about the country and into the Indians' huts to steal what they found and commit outrages on their wives and children, whence would have arisen disputes and quarrels that would have made enemies of them; and if we had taken their food from them by force, we would later have suffered great need and privations." - chapter 101.

In this incident, the canoe reached Espanola, but the governor refused to send help to Columbus, apparently hoping that he would die on Jamaica. One of the officers took a ship back to Spain, outfitted another ship, and then sailed back to Jamaica to finally rescue them - taking about 15 months altogether. Such was the state of the cooperation among the leaders in the New World.

Throughout the book, Columbus is always insisting on fair trade with the Indians, but the adventurers who joined the voyages always seem to have a different agenda. There is plotting and scheming, with every manner of accusation being made against Columbus. At one point Ferdinand includes this little gem regarding a particular group of Indians:

"The fact that they refused to take anything of ours was more evidence that they suspected us of being enchanters, confirming the adage that says a rogue sees himself in every other man." - Chapter 91.

This I have seen many times in my career as those who are corrupt and dishonest usually are the first to accuse others. A friend of mine once cited this as a general principal: "If someone is angry with you for what you have done, whatever it is, accuse them of doing the same thing!" This is a great way to stir up dissension, but I hope no one who reads that quote puts it in practice.

The introduction to this book spends many pages as the translator, Benjamin Keen, reviews the history of Columbus histories. What stands out in this is how each generation seems to take what Ferdinand wrote, but then re-tells the story projecting the values of that current age onto the story telling. This by itself is a very interesting read. Perhaps this is a good justification for my preferred method of fetching the original authors on a particular subject first rather than the derivative works.

2009-07-11T19:29:00.000-07:00

FYI: Heathrow is in Florida, not the UK.

Yes, I learned this today as I am preparing to risk my life and the life of many others by driving in a foreign country. Just a few more days. Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures.

2009-07-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

Rose Peak.

Fitness is certainly coming back as it took 4:50 to cover the 18 miles of trail and dirt road. This is the best time in more than a year. The weight loss certainly seems to help getting up the steep slopes and causes a lot less pounding running down hill. There is still a bit of coughing.

The view is looking west towards Mission Peak (center-right) and Mount Allison (left) both covered in grass, and the distant hills of the peninsula. Today was some strange, but very nice weather as it stayed fairly cool and there was a bit of light sprinkling about 1:00PM.

2009-07-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

Alcatraz Swim?

I am still not recovered from the flu, but was able to swim 2 kilometers today in Quarry Lakes before the coughing forced me out. That is a hair less than the Alcatraz swim distance, so I should be able to do this. The next organized swim is the Alcatraz 100 which is on August 29th. 45 minutes in the water should be a lot easier than the 12 hours needed for a 50 mile trail run, although I still plan to do one when I am fully recovered and prepared. A problem is that my swimming wet suit was destroyed and I don't want to buy a new one. That would mean swimming in the non-wetsuit division and I hate cold water.
Should I sign up for an Alcatraz swim?

2009-07-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

Gujarat and Alcohol.

First I should note that I never drink alcohol. Except when I take Nyquil for my cough, or eat an overripe grape, or when I am in an interfaith mood and take communion at a Lutheran church. Yes, I am strictly anti-alcohol and never touch the stuff.

The above article about people becoming sick and dying from bad, illegal alcohol wasn't too surprising, but I was surprised to learn that the state of Gujarat is dry - no legal alcohol sales. If the state had a large percentage of Muslims, I wouldn't be too surprised at this, but the infallible wiki lists Gujarat as being 89.1% Hindu and only 9.1% Muslim. Is Hinduism opposed to alcohol? I guess this mainly just leaves me wondering about how little I know about the values of a very large population group. There seem to be more Indians than Caucasians among the kids in the local schools, so this is a subject that is now more about our neighbors than people on the other side of the world.

2009-07-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

Fremont Beaver.

Actually it is just a very big rat. I too was swimming yesterday for 1.2 kilometers over at Quarry Lakes. The day before was a 6 mile flat run. The cough is subsiding very slowly, so hard exercise is still out, meaning that the 50 mile trail run on August 8th will need to be skipped. Maybe a month or so later, but it will be hard to find something so convenient.

2009-07-07T20:23:00.001-07:00

The Life of the Admiral Christopher Columbus, by his son, Ferdinand.

I am a bookoholic. Actually, I am more addicted to buying books than reading them, but sometimes I actually do open them up and start figuring out what they said! In fact, I have about 8 books that I feel obligated to read before I start buying again. The above book I bought just to find one quote showing that the Flat Earth Theory was unknown during the time of Columbus. It was in fact invented by Washington Irving for his novel about Columbus in the 19th century, but malicious scholars managed to get this retarded story into the textbooks used in the government schools when I was growing up.

Here is some more of what caught my attention regarding the Indians:

"They are such an affectionate and generous people, and so tractable, that I assure Your Highnesses there are no better people or land in all the world. They love their neighborrs as themselves, and their speech is the sweetest and gentles in the world, and they always speak with a smile." - Chapter 33. Here, Ferdinand is quoting a letter from his father, Christopher. This passage is a wonderful bit of support for the notion of the Noble Savage, but something that seems to directly contradict the Christian notion of the Doctrine of Total Depravity.

Then there is this:

"Moved by their pleas, the sailors again brought them aboard from the Caribs. For those people felt themselves more secure in the hands of men whom they had never seen before and who differed so greatly from themselves than among those wicked, cruel men who had eaten their children and husbands. It is said that Caribs do not eat or kill women, but keep them as slaves." - Chapter 47.

There is a footnote claiming that modern anthropologists doubt this passage, but I suspect that this has more to do with modern political correctness rather than actual evidence to the contrary. The alternative explanation is that the Caribs killed, dismembered, and kept the bones of their victims as trophies. Is the alternative really any better?

2009-07-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

Safely to Santa Cruz ...

We started my two students off with the start-stall-start practice at Ohlone College this morning using the manual transmission Volkswagon. With a successful early training, at noon time I had them drive off on the freeway towards the coast. We took highway 9 up to Saratoga Gap, then switched student drivers. From here we continued on down to Boulder Creek before switching them again. Then it was up Alba Road, down Empire Grade, and into the hilly stop, stop, stop of the University of California at Santa Cruz campus, which was thankfully rather empty on the fourth of July. With this done, we headed on down the hill and into Santa Cruz, stopping next to the Surfing Museum. All of the passengers were thoroughly traumatized by this point, so we had a relaxing stroll among the crowds and I drove it home on highway 17. I would have to classify this as quite a successful day of training, given that it appears that we will live to see at least one more day.

2009-07-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

Manual Transmissions and teenagers.

Well, it is that exciting time again when I need to start teaching the new drivers how to use a manual transmission. We will be off to the local parking lot. I still haven't had any who have formally "graduated" from my school. "Graduated" means going over to San Francisco and driving up the back side of Lombard Street in stop and go traffic, along with a bit of parking practice on 30% slopes.

2009-07-02T08:44:00.001-07:00

The Missing Turkey?

Yesterday I went up Mission Peak for my first trail effort in two weeks. I now weigh 10 kg (22 pounds) less than when the swine flu hit and am still keeping the fasting going. I also ditched the camera and Camelbak, carrying only a water bottle so that the climb was carrying 30+ pounds less than usual. It left me completely exhausted and was one of the few times I considered turning back before the summit. Mountain climbing and fasting don't quite go together, or perhaps the flu took more out of me than I realized ...

As for the missing turkey, a decent sized turkey weighs about 10kg, which is what is missing from my waist at the moment. My wife prefers to think of it as a missing 10kg bag of rice. There is still one more turkey wrapped around my waist, but this one is going to be much harder to remove than the first.

2009-07-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

A Book Meme passed to me from John Hobbins: What five books/authors influenced your view of the Bible the most?

After a life time of influences from lectures, sermons, discussions and countless little tidbits, it is hard to identify single books that made a difference in my Bible understanding. A new book may provide info I agree with, disagree with, or take a neutral stance towards, but it isn't likely to cause a significant change. Most of my theological views were formed by lectures and discussions, so there aren't any books on theology that count as influential. Even my reading of Augustine's City of God isn't influential to my view of the Bible, although it was certainly informative. Here are five, however, that did make a difference:

The Late Great Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsey.

I read this as a teenager, and it did form my view of the Bible and prophecy dramatically. Since this time, I have changed my views considerably, while not fully abandoning the overall themes of the book. Mainly, I find the sensationalism of the interpretations causes us to miss the repeated themes of prophecy that are spot on and have implications for how Christians live and view our place in the world.

Maccabees.

This conflicts quite nicely with some of Hal Lindsey's themes involving the book of Daniel. It isn't that I think this book is canonical, but it is helpful when looking at Daniel 11.

Histories, by Herodotus.

I was studying to teach the book of Esther and ran across an Encyclopedia Britannica (1910) article scoffing at the book and asserting that it was refuted by Herodotus. Taking up the challenge, I picked up Herodotus and read the book cover-to-cover. The result was a wonderful treat as I got to appreciate Xerxes and the Persian Empire from a completely different angle. The scoffing scholar proved to be bluffing, as usual.

The Acts of the Apostles, by Ben Witherington.

The beginning of this book emphasizes that the books of Luke and Acts were written per the scholarly standards of the age, and specifically mentions authors like Thucydides and Polybius. This got me even more hooked on my classics reading. If there is a problem here, it is that I spend too much time reading everything but the Bible.

Mesopotamia, Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods, by Jean Bottero.

This book provides a view of the culture of Babylon that provides a much better context to the stories of Daniel. John Walton's book on Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament can have a similar effect, on people. My preference for Bottero is that his book really is more about Mesopotamia directly.

An honorable mention in all this must be the two works by Josephus.

2009-06-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

I am still suffering from the flu and a lingering cough plus fasting, so intense exercise is out. For Saturday, I decided to walk the Alameda Creek Trail from end to end, resulting in this picture. Sadly, I picked up a nasty blister and only did 16 miles before calling my kids to be rescued. Why is it that 20+ miles in the hills won't produce blisters, but walking on flat pavement will?

Today was back to the bicycle for the first time since last October, since this doesn't bother foot blisters. Palomares Canyon was the choice to cover 20.5 miles with a nice climb to 1,200 feet. Probably I should throw some swims in too at Quarry Lakes. According to the internet news, pigs lose on average 20 pounds from the swine flu. I too have lost about 20 pounds now, but still can't seem to get rid of that pot belly.

2009-06-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

Eusebius (263-339AD), on the time just before the persecution of Diocletian (244-311AD).

"But increasing freedom transformed our character to arrogance and sloth; we began envying and abusing each other, cutting our own throats, as occasion offered, with weapons of sharp-edged words; rulers hurled themselves at rulers and laymen waged party fights against laymen, and unspeakable hypocrisy and dissimulation were carried to the limit of wickedness. At last, while the gatherings were still crowded, divine judgement, with its wonted mercy, gently and gradually began to order things its own way, and with the Christians in the army the persecution began. But alas! realizing nothing, we made not the slightest effort to render the Deity kindly and propitious; and as if we had been a lot of atheists, we imagined that our doings went unnoticed and unregarded, and went from wickedness to wickedness. Those of us who were supposed to be pastors cast off the restraining influence of the fear of God and quarrelled heatedly with each other, engaged soly in swelling the disputes, threats, envy, and mutual hostility and hate, frantically demanding the despotic power they coveted." - The History of the Church, 8.1

This is a startling passage, but then again, it is a feature of churches that I have witnessed. It is unbelievable that in Christianity people would grab power for power's sake, given all of the Biblical threats against those who do so. Sadly it is one of those universal features so that we sometimes would be tempted to pray for some persecution to clean those out of the church who are driven by false motives. Hopefully, just tempted.

2009-06-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

2009-06-26T07:47:00.001-07:00

Touring Hetch Hetchy.

"The same man, after his own third consulship in the consulship of Gaius Sentius and Quintus Lucretius, twelve years after he had constructed the Julian aqueduct, also brought Virgo to Rome, taking it from the estate of Lucullus. We learn that June 9 was the day that it first began to flow in the City. It was called Virgo, because a young girl pointed out certain springs to some soldiers hunting for water, and when they followed these up and dug, they found a copious supply. A small temple, situated near the spring, contains a painting which illustrates this origin of the aqueduct." - The Aqueducts of Rome, I.10, Sextus Julius Frontinus (40-103AD).

Above is a picture of the water temple at Sunol on the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct taking water from Yosemite National Park to San Francisco. I am not sure what story the pictures relate to! The system is an engineering marvel, while some of the architecture seems to point back to memories of classical Rome. The aqueduct passes quite close to my house where it divides into four pipes to be directed to different Bay Area locations.

2009-06-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

50-miler planning: Headlands Hundred event on August 8.

There is still plenty of room in the signup for this event, so I can continue to dream and procrastinate. The way I compute this, to complete a 50 mile trail run will require about 1/4 to 1/3 actual running with the remainder being done as a power walk. The 14.5 hour time limit should be possible with no running at all, but that isn't much of a goal. The bigger challenge is to meet the 11 hour threshold that qualifies for many 100 mile events.

Unfortunately my weight, which had reached 220 pounds (100kg), is simply not at a level that makes sense for mountain trail running, never mind that I have been covering 20+ miles without too much trouble. Thankfully the flu is helping to correct this. For the first few days, my appetite was completely gone. I decided to keep this going by consuming no more than a few hundred calories per day (one small meal). Since the flu isn't completely gone yet, the exercise program is a few hours of fast walking to cover 10 or more miles per day. The result is that I am down 17 pounds in 7 days. The real challenge is to keep this going, since a weight of about 170 pounds would be ideal. We will see if the will-power is there to keep this going.

UPDATE: It looks like the course was changed to eliminate Mount Tamalpais State Park. Sigh. The original was an out-and-back 50, but now it is two 25-mile loops. It is always too easy to drop out when you are at the finish line at 25 miles.

2009-06-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

2009-06-23T21:25:00.000-07:00

Eusebius (263AD-339AD) regarding Anatolius (?-283AD).

"Anatolius was appointed his successor, one good man following another, as the saying goes. Anatolius was by birth an Alexandrian, and for his learning, secular studies, and philosophy was in the first rank of the most eminent men of my time; indeed in arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and the other sciences, physical or metaphysical, and in the speaker's art too, he had climbed to the summit. It was apparently on this account that he was invited by the citizens there to found the school of the Aristotelian succession at Alexandria.

...

Anatolius has also left us an Elements of Arithmetic, complete in ten parts, as well as evidence of his lifelong study of divinity. He had first been consecrated bishop by Theotecnus, Bishop of Palestinian Caesarea, who was anxious to secure him as his successor in his own diocese after his death, and indeed for some little time they both administered the same church. But he was summoned to Antioch by the synod that dealt with Paul, and as he passed through Laodicea the Christians there took possession of him, Eusebius having fallen asleep." - History of the Church, 7.32

This section in Eusebius has a number of points that jump out at me, such as the method of assigning a new bishop by kidnapping. Sadly it doesn't appear that Elements of Arithmetic has survived. Mainly I wanted to highlight it since this passage does give a clear indication of the esteem that was held for mastery of learning outside of the immediate scope of Christianity by early Christian leaders. This, of course, conflicts directly with what I was taught in the government schools as a young child growing up in America's Bible Belt a long time ago.

Awhile back I had reviewed The Rise and Fall of Alexandria, Birthplace of the Modern World", by Pollard and Reid. Sadly, this little tidbit about Anatolius didn't make it into their narrative.

2009-06-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

2009-06-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

Some more from the Pleasanton Ridge series ...

2009-06-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

"On The Death Of God", by Ben Dench.

Rummuser sent me the above article, and I thought I would give it a quick review.

"There was a time when God was the explanation for everything, and everything made reference back to “supernatural” causes. Not anymore. Natural explanations abound. There was a time when Christianity was the unquestioned, taken for granted truth in European culture. Not anymore." - Ben Dench

To be polite, Ben Dench, Valedictorian and B.A. of Philosophy from Richard Stockton College, should sue for a refund on his education. He was scammed, as can be seen clearly from the first few sentences of his article.

Augustine in the City of God has a fairly extensive writeup on this. (If someone wants, I will dig up the exact place, since it is a long book.) Augustine asserts that some novelties, like the lodestone, were first assumed to have spirits in them, but later they were simply accepted as part of nature, which is how they were viewed in the place where they were acquired. The next problem is even bigger: Stoneage and pagan cultures generally mixed the supernatural with nature in a way that is inseparable. Where Christianity differs is that it focuses entirely on the relationship between the creator and the creation:

"Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'He has no hands'?" Isaiah 45:9

There are many more verses of this sort. Basically, Christianity separates the supernatural from the natural in a way that paganism could never do. There is a supernatural creator, who set in motion a magnificent machine governed by fixed physical laws God created, and our challenge was to discover and utilized these laws. God, and the supernatural may intervene at times, but this isn't the normal state of affairs. This is the reason that science continued to progress in medieval Europe eventually blossoming into the scientific revolution during the Reformation. Anyway, the scientific revolution is over, and we have technology all around us, while the careful methods of our ancestors are what we use. Living here in Silicon Valley we work with teams of just about every religion, while the atheists take credit for everything.

The Mythical Scientific Theory of Evolution is something that figure prominently with Ben. I say Mythical because a scientific theory has to be a fixed relation involving measurable quantities, like Newton's theory of gravity. The Scientific Theory of Evolution is a blank sheet of paper. It explains the fossil record. It also explains the relationship between Orcs and Elves, Klingon and Romulons, to the exact same level of precision. Ben says that it disproves God. I will let him argue with the mainline theologians who insist that evolution enhances their understanding of God. The main point on the theological theory of evolution was that it was a starting point for neo-Pagans to take control of the science that they didn't create, and then rewrite the histories.

One thing I have seen is people getting excited over a book describing how to do genetic algorithms. Suddenly they feel like they have the creative powers of God in their hand, rather than a 0-th order search algorithm with a random number generator. The atheist boasts that superstition is done away with in his world view, but in fact, the supernatural powers of God just seem to be projected back onto the creation. Evolution can do anything! It is all knowing! If you don't believe in evolution, you can't do science! Evolution Saves! (Yes, I have heard the last in different words.)

Next, we must introduce the notion of Chapter 11 Bankrupcy. This is something we in the US do to keep a bankrupt business running, like GM, Chrysler, United Airlines, and many others. Lawyers go to the courts and file paperwork and this keeps the business going when it should die. The Mythical Scientific Theory of Evolution is one of those things that survives on court orders. Yes, a scientific theory can literally be bankrupt. Ben Dench also apparently hopes to be a spiritual leader for a new age spiritualism that involves no god. Godless religion? In the US, however, a godless religion is not technically in violation of the mythical Separation of Church and State, which isn't in the US constitution, but do lawyers read the constitution? Anyway, godless religion has a higher standing in the US than Christianity. This article also links together both godlessness and climate change histeria in an interesting way. I haven't really given this much thought, as I have considered the climate change people to be simply old-fashioned leftists looking for a new forum after the US won the cold war. On the other hand, could it be that a large number of Americans are embracing militant environmentalism while reverting to mystical stoneage notions of the world, thanks to the triumph of scientific atheism? Certainly Dench forces me to consider this possibility.

One thing I wonder about is what the point of a godless religion is in the first place.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." - Proverbs 1:8

For the Christian, our purpose in life, our morality and ethics, all derive from God. What point is there to morals if we can say, like Al Gore did, "There is no controlling legal authority ...". Yes, I know, atheists can be moral and some are truly praiseworthy, but morality here in California certainly hasn't been going anywhere except downhill under secular rule. As for mysticism as an end in itself, well, I prefer my tail runs and butterflies.

2009-06-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Mystery Butterfly.

I couldn't find this in the online lists of local butterflies.

2009-06-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

C alifornia Dogface.