I request a moment of empathy for all the teachers out there whose only indication that they are doing a good job is that no one is happy in the class. "It is too hard" "It is too easy" "We follow the text too close" "We don't go over the text enough" "This is like an [easy] class" "I have no idea what is going on". All on one evaluation. It's like being a politician. You know you are doing a good job if everyone hates you, but you get reelected.

From CNN this morning - the final thoughts of the candidates:

From the Bible:

Micah 6:8 (New International Version):
" He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God."

Barack Obama on Jesus Christ (more)

"You need to come to church in the first place precisely because you are first of this world, not apart from it. You need to embrace Christ precisely because you have sins to wash away - because you are human and need an ally in this difficult journey.

"It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street in the Southside of Chicago one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn't fall out in church. The questions I had didn't magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt that I heard God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth. "

Philippians 1:18(New International Version)
"But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice."

Abraham Lincoln was amazing. He shouldered such an incredible weight during such an uncertain time. The way he wrote about the role of God in the civil war continues to astound me.

After an uncomfortable evening of political discussions regarding the fate of our nation, often cast in terms of an internal, invisible war, I am reminded of what he said at the moment the Civil War of the United States was on the knife edge. This election doesn't have anything to do with slavery, but the emotions and philosophical issues that Lincoln was grappling with are relevant this hour.

"One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether"

President Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address was delivered March 5, 1865 before the end of the Civil War. Lincoln was assassinated a few weeks later on April 14, 1865.

(text copied from here)

Source:United Stated National Debt

"Look around you: Everything you see is God's—the heavens above and beyond, the Earth, and everything on it. But it was your ancestors who God fell in love with; he picked their children—that's you!—out of all the other peoples. That's where we are right now. So cut away the thick calluses from your heart and stop being so willfully hardheaded. God, your God, is the God of all gods, he's the Master of all masters, a God immense and powerful and awesome. He doesn't play favorites, takes no bribes, makes sure orphans and widows are treated fairly, takes loving care of foreigners by seeing that they get food and clothing.

You must treat foreigners with the same loving care—
remember, you were once foreigners in Egypt.
Reverently respect God, your God, serve him, hold tight to him,
back up your promises with the authority of his name.
He's your praise! He's your God!
He did all these tremendous, these staggering things
that you saw with your own eyes. "
Deut. 10:17-20

Now that I have successfully pissed off a ton of people with my last abortion related post, I will continue on...

Today I am musing about whether it is possible to be "anti-abortion" and not actually be "pro-life". I wonder this because I see a lot of people that are really happy to make abortion illegal (something for which I would vote for if was ever asked), but not particularly active in helping to alleviate the pain associated with poverty, war and disease. So, great, we bring a lot of kids into the world and leave them to suffer? That is lame.

Note to self: When people tell you that there is an alien fungus growing in your office, do not blow them off with some vague statement about the reproductive cycle of tropical plants. Instead put on your Sigourney Weaver and get fierce...

This is my account of being called to jury duty in Orange County:

Day one:

I spent the morning in the Orange County Jury Assembly room trying to get my laptop to connect to the internet using my GPRS phone. The Jury Assembly room was a big room filled with ~150 people. It was reminiscent of the DMV, but it was a little nicer and the people were dressed better than at the DMV. My local friends tell me that this is because of which court this is, not because it is *a* court in general. A woman with an English accent, friendly, but no nonsense, was in charge of managing this mostly disgruntled group of potential jurors. The role of the people in this room was to hang out for 8 hours in case there was a trial which needed a jury. In fact there were at least three. For each trial about 30 people were called out of the room. From each pool of 30, 12 jurors get picked for a trial.

So below is a little quiz that my wife and I put together. It challenges you to guess which presumed presidential candidate made which statement. It's a little eye-opening to see how similar the vacant rhetoric is. On the other hand its also a little surprising to see who stands on which slightly less vacant rhetoric. Hopefully it will challenge your preconceptions about which party stands for which issues.

In a discussion with my daughter last night we stumbled on to two of life's most challenging questions. Do crabs have heads? and the related questions: Do whales have heads?

What do you think? Comment below.

I previously blogged about a presentation that Cory Doctorow gave on campus. One of the points that I made to him during the presentation and then blogged about was that fighting for net neutrality is a waste of time:

"My prediction is that this fight is going to disappear because it's already lost. The net is not neutral any more. There was never any law saying it had to be. Let it go. We would be better off finding a way to publicly and objectively analyze the service from different providers."

It appears that Google is tacitly agreeing with me. They have recently announced that they are developing tools to identify when carriers are biasing your traffic based on relationships formed with other companies. So now, by using Google's forthcoming tools, consumers can compare the services provided by different providers and decide if having super fast access to ESPN is worth super slow access to to your favorite independently hosted blog.

" We're trying to develop tools, software tools...that allow people to detect what's happening with their broadband connections, so they can let [ISPs] know that they're not happy with what they're getting -- that they think certain services are being tampered with," Google senior policy director Richard Whitt said this morning during a panel discussion at Santa Clara University, an hour south of San Francisco.

The Patterson household predicts that Obama will pick Caroline Kennedy as the vice presidential running mate. By doing so he will win the female vote that was sympathetic to Sen. Clinton, he will capitalize on sympathy for Sen. Kennedy, he will tap into a very popular presidents legacy, he will win over the white northeastern Democratic vote.

Its a brilliant move.

And now I hate myself for making a political comment which has nothing to do with policy and everything to do personality, demographics and strategy. Where is the substance!

Also I don't want to imply that my endorsement is what eventually made the difference, but I do need to point out that it was way back on November 9th when that strategic microdelegate threw his support behind Obama.

At this moment, I am enjoying being a professor. When people ask me what it is like to be a professor I find it hard to answer. Sometimes I say it's like being a Senator, because it is very political and your job is evaluated based on how a group of peers think you are doing. Sometimes I say it's like being an entrepreneur because you spend a lot of time selling ideas, raising money and training people on a vision. Today it's like being a writer. My desk is covered with manuscripts and writing guides and empty coffee mugs. On the whole, I like doing all these things.

I was talking with some friends this week. Since we are in Orange County and since conversation here always goes toward real estate (plus we were in a new house) we started talking about the real estate crash. Locally many people have lost their jobs because of the crash and, although this group is strongly opinionated anyway, there were strong opinions about the appropriateness around any sort of government bail-out of the people involved.

It also turns out that these men are also attempting to follow Christ in their lives. Eventually our conversation shifted to the moral culpability of the real estate crash. This reminded me about the distinction between rich and poor vs. righteous and unrighteous.

Now, I'm no religious scholar, secular or otherwise, but I have a working definition for "religion" that I use which includes three components. Religion..

1. makes claims about meta-physical truths. (e.g., What is my purpose? What is the goal of humanity?)
2. has symbols which support those claims. (e.g., cross, crescent, pentagram)
3. has symbolic ceremonies which also support those claims (e.g,. communion, ritualized prayer)

Religion differs from philosophy because philosophy largely ignores the second two points.

Given my working definition, the olympic "movement" is totally a religion. It is a religion of humanism. Hope in the power of man to be unified

On the left is a link to the lighting of the torch. It is so explicitly pagan in its references to ancient Greek religion that it's troubling to me. Below are the lyrics to the song they are singing. As a Christian I find these philosophies, symbols and ceremonies run counter to what I believe to be true. They are worthy goals which the Olympics will never achieve.

I submit the following two signs that the economy is tanking.

1. The bus that I have been taking for two years now is suddenly packed with people for no apparent reason. It used to be that if I got on the 7:10 Route 79 I could sit down, spread out and use my laptop. Now there are mornings when it is standing room only. Same thing on the way home. I attribute this to people having less money to afford gas and parking.
2. In the same vein, four new signs showed up on the path on the way into campus this morning, all of them warning students that if you park in the shopping center next to campus and go to class, your car will be towed at your expense. Again, price sensitive students are no longer footing the bill for a parking pass and are trying to get away with parking nearby instead.

I might feel differently about these things if it was the start of the school year, but it's the second week of spring quarter. No big changes to anything that I can otherwise identify.

Finally, there is something besides rhetoric published about the Iraq war. The graph on the left comes from the BBC. (Because British people are smarter) This graph shows that the surge was actually quite modest and that there was a drastic drop in military deaths during the time the surge was going on.

While correlation is not causality - meaning that it is not shown at all from this graph that the surge was responsible for the drop in deaths (although that is clearly implied.) It is nice to see some hard data to actually reason about.

The reason why the surge might not have anything to do with the drop in deaths is because a cease fire from one of the militia armies (I am not an expert) has widely been attributed as being behind the drop in violence rather than the surge

I just finished submitting a paper. The following pertains:

O bed!
O bed!
delicious bed!
That heaven upon earth to the weary head.
- Thomas Hood, Miss Kilmansegg--Her Dream

"Jesus, Jesus help me
I'm alone in this world
And a fucked up world it is too
Tell me, tell me the story
The one about eternity
And the way it's all gonna be

Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man

Jesus, I'm waiting here boss
I know you're looking out for us
But maybe your hands aren't free
Your father, He made the world in seven
He's in charge of heaven
Will you put a word in for me

Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man

Jesus, were you just around the corner
Did You think to try and warn her
Or are you working on something new
If there's an order in all of this disorder
Is it like a tape recorder
Can we rewind it just once more

Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man"

Photo courtesy of ã¨ã³ã²ã¼ã

"You know I ran across an old box of letters
While I was bagging up some clothes for Goodwill
But you Know I had to laugh at the same old struggles
That plagued me then are plaguing me still
I know the road is long from the ground to glory
But a boy can hope he's getting some place
But you see, I'm running from the very clothes I'm wearing
And dressed like this I'm fit for the chase

'Cause no, there is none righteous
Not one who understands
There is none who seek God
No not one, I said no not one

So I am thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own

'Cause we're all stillborn and dead in our transgressions
We're shackled up to the sin we hold so dear
So what part can I play in the work of redemption
I can't refuse, I cannot add a thing

'Cause I am just like Lazarus and I can hear your voice
I stand and rub my eyes and walk to You
Because I have no choice

I am thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own
I'm so thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own

'Cause by grace I have been saved
Through faith that's not my own
It is a gift of God and not by works
Lest anyone should boast"

"The Death of Lazarus

1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus[a] was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." 8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." 11 After saying these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." 12 The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." 16 So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary(R) to console them concerning their brother. 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" 27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world."

28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?"

38Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." 40Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." 43When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

My Uncle Bill passed away yesterday afternoon after a lengthy battle with lung cancer. Uncle Bill was a person that always reminded me of an old photograph where somber looking black and white weather beaten farmers are leaning on a tractor while kids play in the background. He was given a difficult life but it never seemed to get him down.

Uncle Bill married my Aunt Penny years ago. Shortly afterward my Aunt was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy multiple sclerosis. They had one son, my cousin Billy, who also has M.D. M.S. as well as a variety of other medical issues.

So the part of my life that I knew Uncle Bill, I knew him as a man who was faithfully taking care of a very sick wife and son. I remember visiting him in a very literal shack in Ohio. I was a kid, so I didn't quite realize how poor they were, but the floors were sloped and the roof leaked. I think the house was held together by the linoleum on the floor more than the wood underneath. Uncle Bill had a garden out back where he grew a pretty big chunk of the food that they ate. He lived next to some horses. That was were I learned about electric fences and how not to touch them. He fixed tractors and lawn mowers for a living. Most of the support that they got came from grants from the National M.D. M.S. Society. There were a lot of cigarettes, beer and good ole boys around Uncle Bill.

Dale Dougherty writes, in this very timely piece, a response to the MacWorld Apple announcements and the realization that many of the technological advancements that get "us" excited are worthless to most of the world.

The Rest of the Rest of Us

"It's unacceptable that our government is indifferent to the poor. But let me reframe this argument again in terms of technology, lest you think I'm trying to make a political point. (I hope you understand that I'm not trying to argue on behalf of a candidate but rather for the importance of poverty as an issue deserving our full attention.)

Is the high-tech world indifferent to the problems of the poor? Do we have any competence that matters in helping them find a better life? Or are we just making "the happy few" that much happier?

What is a social network if the people facing the toughest problems are not part of it? They don't need more signs that tell them that they are on their own. The have-nots don't do networking. It doesn't get them anywhere."

My Uncle Larry passed away yesterday after a couple years of battling cancer:

"This emphasis on thinking as the solution to our problems fails to introduce the Person who has come not only to change the way we think about life, but to change us as well. We are more than thinkers. We are worshipers who enter into relationship with the person or thing we think will give us life. Jesus comes to transform our entire being, not just our mind. He comes as a person, not as a cognitive concept we insert into a new formula for life."

from How People Change.

This quote resonates with me on lots of levels. I like the reference to the fact that we are worshipers. Whether it is Apple, Jaguar, Starbucks, Barry Bonds, or John Calvin, people naturally devote themselves to things. I also like the reminder that a relationship with Christ is not all about theory. It is a whole body, mind, soul, heart, experience because it is a relationship not a technique. Finally an error that the quote refers to is the error of thinking that good design will solve all problems. This thought is the institutional sin of my entire line of work.

The religious right (in the media) are complete hypocrites. I cannot believe that anyone is endorsing Guiliani just so that they can support a Republican candidate. It tells me that their all consuming issues of homosexuality and abortion are nothing more than manipulations to keep an iron in the fire of power. Because now, sticking to their guns on those issues promises to kick them out of the Republican power circle because Guiliani supports both homosexual rights and abortion. What i