tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83011462024-03-07T13:58:54.274-05:00The Rational AnimalIt is so wonderful to be a rational animal, that there is a reason for everything that one does. --Ben Franklin (attributed)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301146.post-24880300319331394732021-06-03T08:21:00.002-04:002021-06-03T08:21:41.542-04:00The Bible (Unabridged) Says Go to the DoctorSirach 38
1 Honor physicians for their services,
for the Lord created them;
2 for their gift of healing comes from the Most High,
and they are rewarded by the king.
3 The skill of physicians makes them distinguished,
and in the presence of the great they are admired.
4 The Lord created medicines out of the earth,
and the sensible will not despise them.
5 Was not water made sweet with a tree
in order that its power might be known?
6 And he gave skill to human beings
that he might be glorified in his marvelous works.
7 By them the physician heals and takes away pain;
8 the pharmacist makes a mixture from them.
God’s works will never be finished;
and from him health spreads over all the earth.
9 My child, when you are ill, do not delay,
but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.
10 Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly,
and cleanse your heart from all sin.
11 Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour,
and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford.
12 Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him;
do not let him leave you, for you need him.
13 There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians,
14 for they too pray to the Lord
that he grant them success in diagnosis
and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.
15 He who sins against his Maker,
will be defiant toward the physician.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301146.post-1149993065850976632006-06-10T22:28:00.001-04:002010-04-12T19:36:23.659-04:00Grandma Josephine's Meatball RecipeWritten by my maternal grandmother (b. March 4, 1918; d. June 10, 2006). R.I.P.<br /><br /><b>Meatballs</b><br /><i>Ingredients</i><br />1 Onion chopped<br />2 cloves garlisc minced<br />2 pounds meat<br />1 cup bread crumbs<br />3 eggs<br />2 tablespoons chopped parsley<br />1 teaspoon salt<br />½ teaspoon pepper<br />1/8 teaspoon oregano (optional)<br /><br /><i>Directions</i><br />1 Onion Chopped—Sauté in oil in frying pan. Add 2 minced garlic cloves to onions for a short cooking period.<br /><br />Cook the onions until almost done. Add the garlic towards the end of cooking time to the onions, add to meat, salt pepper, parsley, eggs, and bread crumbs.<br /><br />Shape your meatballs and brown.<br /><br />Put onto a shallow baking pan and place in a pre-heated 375˚ oven for 25 minutes or until meatballs are browned and cooked through<br /><br /><i>Food Tip</i><br />Cooking meatballs on the stove requires constant attention. Instead, arrange uniformly sized meatballs (you can use a small ice cream scoop to measure) in a shallow, greased baking pan. Bake at 375˚ for 10 minutes, no turning necessary. Simply add to your favorite sauce and continue cooking. <br />P.S. Put some oil in a cup and dip each meatball, spoon out onto baking sheet.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301146.post-1147314576153233712006-05-10T22:22:00.000-04:002006-05-21T17:07:32.040-04:00Colbert Video and Transcript<a href = "http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-869183917758574879">Click here for video</a><br /><br />Transcript below (<a href= "http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/30/1441/59811">via Frederick at Daily Kos</a>):<br />STEPHEN COLBERT: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Before I begin, I've been asked to make an announcement. Whoever parked 14 black bulletproof S.U.V.'s out front, could you please move them? They are blocking in 14 other black bulletproof S.U.V.'s and they need to get out.<br /><br />Wow. Wow, what an honor. The White House correspondents' dinner. To actually sit here, at the same table with my hero, George W. Bush, to be this close to the man. I feel like I'm dreaming. Somebody pinch me. You know what? I'm a pretty sound sleeper -- that may not be enough. Somebody shoot me in the face. Is he really not here tonight? Dammit. The one guy who could have helped.<br /><br />By the way, before I get started, if anybody needs anything else at their tables, just speak slowly and clearly into your table numbers. Somebody from the NSA will be right over with a cocktail. Mark Smith, ladies and gentlemen of the press corps, Madame First Lady, Mr. President, my name is Stephen Colbert and tonight it's my privilege to celebrate this president. We're not so different, he and I. We get it. We're not brainiacs on the nerd patrol. We're not members of the factinista. We go straight from the gut, right sir? That's where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. I know some of you are going to say "I did look it up, and that's not true." That's 'cause you looked it up in a book.<br /><br />Next time, look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works. Every night on my show, the Colbert Report, I speak straight from the gut, OK? I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the "No Fact Zone." Fox News, I hold a copyright on that term.<br /><br />I'm a simple man with a simple mind. I hold a simple set of beliefs that I live by. Number one, I believe in America. I believe it exists. My gut tells me I live there. I feel that it extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and I strongly believe it has 50 states. And I cannot wait to see how the Washington Post spins that one tomorrow. I believe in democracy. I believe democracy is our greatest export. At least until China figures out a way to stamp it out of plastic for three cents a unit.<br /><br />In fact, Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong, welcome. Your great country makes our Happy Meals possible. I said it's a celebration. I believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least. And by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq.<br /><br />I believe in pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. I believe it is possible -- I saw this guy do it once in Cirque du Soleil. It was magical. And though I am a committed Christian, I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion, be you Hindu, Jewish or Muslim. I believe there are infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior.<br /><br />Ladies and gentlemen, I believe it's yogurt. But I refuse to believe it's not butter. Most of all, I believe in this president.<br /><br />Now, I know there are some polls out there saying this man has a 32% approval rating. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in "reality." And reality has a well-known liberal bias.<br /><br />So, Mr. President, please, pay no attention to the people that say the glass is half full. 32% means the glass -- it's important to set up your jokes properly, sir. Sir, pay no attention to the people who say the glass is half empty, because 32% means it's 2/3 empty. There's still some liquid in that glass is my point, but I wouldn't drink it. The last third is usually backwash.<br /><br />Okay, look, folks, my point is that I don't believe this is a low point in this presidency. I believe it is just a lull before a comeback. I mean, it's like the movie "Rocky." All right. The president in this case is Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed is -- everything else in the world. It's the tenth round. He's bloodied. His corner man, Mick, who in this case I guess would be the vice president, he's yelling, "Cut me, Dick, cut me!," and every time he falls everyone says, "Stay down! Stay down!" Does he stay down? No. Like Rocky, he gets back up, and in the end he -- actually, he loses in the first movie.<br /><br />OK. Doesn't matter. The point is it is the heart-warming story of a man who was repeatedly punched in the face. So don't pay attention to the approval ratings that say 68% of Americans disapprove of the job this man is doing. I ask you this, does that not also logically mean that 68% approve of the job he's not doing? Think about it. I haven't.<br /><br />I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message: that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound -- with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.<br /><br />Now, there may be an energy crisis. This president has a very forward-thinking energy policy. Why do you think he's down on the ranch cutting that brush all the time? He's trying to create an alternative energy source. By 2008 we will have a mesquite-powered car!<br /><br />And I just like the guy. He's a good Joe. Obviously loves his wife, calls her his better half. And polls show America agrees. She's a true lady and a wonderful woman. But I just have one beef, ma'am.<br /><br />I'm sorry, but this reading initiative. I'm sorry, I've never been a fan of books. I don't trust them. They're all fact, no heart. I mean, they're elitist, telling us what is or isn't true, or what did or didn't happen. Who's Britannica to tell me the Panama Canal was built in 1914? If I want to say it was built in 1941, that's my right as an American! I'm with the president, let history decide what did or did not happen.<br /><br />The greatest thing about this man is he's steady. You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday. Events can change; this man's beliefs never will.<br /><br />As excited as I am to be here with the president, I am appalled to be surrounded by the liberal media that is destroying America, with the exception of Fox News. Fox News gives you both sides of every story: the president's side, and the vice president's side.<br /><br />But the rest of you, what are you thinking, reporting on NSA wiretapping or secret prisons in eastern Europe? Those things are secret for a very important reason: they're super-depressing. And if that's your goal, well, misery accomplished.<br /><br />Over the last five years you people were so good -- over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. Those were good times, as far as we knew.<br /><br />But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works: the president makes decisions. He's the Decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!<br /><br />Because really, what incentive do these people have to answer your questions, after all? I mean, nothing satisfies you. Everybody asks for personnel changes. So the White House has personnel changes. Then you write, "Oh, they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!<br /><br />Now, it's not all bad guys out there. Some are heroes: Christopher Buckley, Jeff Sacks, Ken Burns, Bob Schieffer. They've all been on my show. By the way, Mr. President, thank you for agreeing to be on my show. I was just as shocked as everyone here is, I promise you. How's Tuesday for you? I've got Frank Rich, but we can bump him. And I mean bump him. I know a guy. Say the word.<br /><br />See who we've got here tonight. General Moseley, Air Force Chief of Staff. General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They still support Rumsfeld. Right, you guys aren't retired yet, right? Right, they still support Rumsfeld.<br /><br />Look, by the way, I've got a theory about how to handle these retired generals causing all this trouble: don't let them retire! Come on, we've got a stop-loss program; let's use it on these guys. I've seen Zinni and that crowd on Wolf Blitzer. If you're strong enough to go on one of those pundit shows, you can stand on a bank of computers and order men into battle. Come on.<br /><br />Jesse Jackson is here, the Reverend. Haven't heard from the Reverend in a little while. I had him on the show. Very interesting and challenging interview. You can ask him anything, but he's going to say what he wants, at the pace that he wants. It's like boxing a glacier. Enjoy that metaphor, by the way, because your grandchildren will have no idea what a glacier is.<br /><br />Justice Scalia is here. Welcome, sir. May I be the first to say, you look fantastic. How are you? [After each sentence, Colbert makes a hand gesture, an allusion to Scalia's recent use of an obscene Sicilian hand gesture in speaking to a reporter about Scalia's critics. Scalia is seen laughing hysterically.] Just talking some Sicilian with my paisan.<br /><br />John McCain is here. John McCain, John McCain, what a maverick! Somebody find out what fork he used on his salad, because I guarantee you it wasn't a salad fork. This guy could have used a spoon! There's no predicting him. By the way, Senator McCain, it's so wonderful to see you coming back into the Republican fold. I have a summer house in South Carolina; look me up when you go to speak at Bob Jones University. So glad you've seen the light, sir.<br /><br />Mayor Nagin! Mayor Nagin is here from New Orleans, the chocolate city! Yeah, give it up. Mayor Nagin, I'd like to welcome you to Washington, D.C., the chocolate city with a marshmallow center. And a graham cracker crust of corruption. It's a Mallomar, I guess is what I'm describing, a seasonal cookie.<br /><br />Joe Wilson is here, Joe Wilson right down here in front, the most famous husband since Desi Arnaz. And of course he brought along his lovely wife Valerie Plame. Oh, my god. [looks horrified] Oh, what have I said? I -- Je- minetti (sp?). I am sorry, Mr. President, I meant to say he brought along his lovely wife Joe Wilson's wife. Patrick Fitzgerald is not here tonight? OK. Dodged a bullet.<br /><br />And, of course, we can't forget the man of the hour, new press secretary, Tony Snow. Secret Service name, "Snow Job." Toughest job. What a hero. Took the second toughest job in government, next to, of course, the ambassador to Iraq.<br /><br />Got some big shoes to fill, Tony. Big shoes to fill. Scott McClellan could say nothing like nobody else. McClellan, of course, eager to retire. Really felt like he needed to spend more time with Andrew Card's children. Mr. President, I wish you hadn't made the decision so quickly, sir.<br /><br />I was vying for the job myself. I think I would have made a fabulous press secretary. I have nothing but contempt for these people. I know how to handle these clowns.<br /><br />In fact, sir, I brought along an audition tape and with your indulgence, I'd like to at least give it a shot. So, ladies and gentlemen, my press conference.<br /><br />BEGINNING OF "AUDITION TAPE"<br /><br />Colbert shows a video of a mock press conference. It opens with an empty podium. Colbert's head rises from behind the podium until Colbert is standing at the podium. He addresses the assembled Washington press corps.<br /><br />COLBERT: I have a brief statement: the press is destroying America. OK, let's see who we've got here today.<br /><br />COLBERT (acknowledging various reporters): Stretch! (David Gregory nods)<br /><br />Sir Nerdlington! (reporter nods)<br /><br />Sloppy Joe! (reporter nods)<br /><br />Terry Lemon Moran Pie! (Terry Moran nods)<br /><br />Oh, Doubting Thomas, always a pleasure. (Helen Thomas smiles)<br /><br />And Suzanne Mal -- hello!!<br /><br />(Suzanne Malveaux stares at Colbert, looking unhappy. Colbert mimics putting a phone to his ear and mouths "call me.")<br /><br />REPORTER: Will the Vice President be available soon to answer all questions himself?<br /><br />COLBERT: I've already addressed that question. You (pointing to another reporter).<br /><br />REPORTER: Walter Cronkite, the noted CBS anchor, . . .<br /><br />COLBERT (interrupting): Ah, no, he's the former CBS anchor. Katie Couric is the new anchor of the CBS Evening News. Well, well, how do you guys feel about that?<br /><br />You, tousle-haired guy in the back. Are you happy about Katie Couric taking over the CBS Evening News?<br /><br />DAN RATHER: No, sir, Mr. Colbert. Are you? (Laughter)<br /><br />COLBERT: Boom! Oh, look, we woke David Gregory up. Question?<br /><br />DAVID GREGORY: Did Karl Rove commit a crime?<br /><br />COLBERT: I don't know. I'll ask him.<br /><br />(Colbert turns to Rove) Karl, pay attention please! (Rove is seen drawing a heart with "Karl + Stephen" written on it.)<br /><br />GREGORY: Do you stand by your statement from the fall of 2003 when you were asked specifically about Karl, and Elliott Abrams, and Scooter Libby, and you said "I've gone to each of those gentlemen, and they have told me that they are not involved in this." Do you stand by that statement?<br /><br />COLBERT: Nah, I was just kidding!<br /><br />GREGORY: No, you're not finishing. You're not saying anything! You stood at that podium and said . . .<br /><br />COLBERT (interrupting): Ah, that's where you're wrong. New podium! Just had it delivered today. Get your facts straight, David.<br /><br />GREGORY: This is ridiculous. The notion that you're going to stand before us after having commented with that level of detail and tell the people watching this that somehow you've decided not to talk. You've got to . . .<br /><br />(Colbert is seen looking at three buttons on the podium, labeled "EJECT," "GANNON" and "VOLUME." He selects the "VOLUME" button and turns it. We see Gregory's lips continue moving, but can't hear any sound coming out.)<br /><br />COLBERT: If I can't hear you, I can't answer your question. I'm sorry! I have to move on. Terry.<br /><br />TERRY MORAN: After the investigation began, after the criminal investigation was underway, you said . . .<br /><br />(Colbert presses a button on the podium and fast-forwards through most of Moran's question.)<br /><br />MORAN (continuing): All of a sudden, you have respect for the sanctity of a criminal investigation?<br /><br />COLBERT (seen playing with rubber ball, which he is bouncing off attached paddle): No, I never had any respect for the sanctity of a criminal investigation. Activist judges! Yes, Helen.<br /><br />HELEN THOMAS: You're going to be sorry. (Laughter)<br /><br />COLBERT (looking vastly amused, mockingly): What are you going to do, Helen, ask me for a recipe?<br /><br />THOMAS: Your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands (Colbert's smile fades) of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime.<br /><br />COLBERT (interrupting): OK, hold on Helen, look . . .<br /><br />THOMAS (continuing): Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war?<br /><br />COLBERT (again interrupting): Helen, I'm going to stop you right there. (Thomas keeps talking.) That's enough! No! Sorry, Helen, I'm moving on. (Colbert tries to turn her volume off, but the knob falls off his controls.)<br /><br />(Various reporters start shouting questions at Colbert.)<br /><br />COLBERT (agitated): Guys, guys, please don't let Helen do this to what was a lovely day.<br /><br />(Reporters keep shouting at him.)<br /><br />COLBERT (putting his fingers over his ears and shouting in a high-pitched voice): Bllrrtt! No, no, no, no, no. I'm not listening to you!<br /><br />Look what you did, Helen! I hate you!<br /><br />(Helen Thomas glowers at Colbert.)<br /><br />COLBERT (frantic): I'm out of here!<br /><br />(Colbert pulls back the curtain behind him, desperately trying to flee. He says, "There is a wall here!" The press corps laughs. Colbert has difficulty finding a door from which to exit the room, echoing Bush's experience in China. He finally finds the door and hurries through it.)<br /><br />COLBERT: It reeks in there! Ridiculous! I've never been so insulted in my life! Stupid job.<br /><br />(Colbert continues walking away. We hear sinister-sounding music playing. We see Helen Thomas walking behind Colbert.)<br /><br />(Colbert looks behind him, sees Thomas, and starts running.)<br /><br />(Colbert trips over a roller skate. He yells "Condi!" We see a close-up of Helen Thomas' face, looking determined and angry. Colbert, increasingly panicked, gets up and continues running, running into a parking garage. He reaches an emergency call box, and yells into it.)<br /><br />COLBERT: Oh, thank God. Help me!<br /><br />ATTENDANT: What seems to be the problem, sir?<br /><br />COLBERT: She won't stop asking why we invaded Iraq!<br /><br />ATTENDANT: Hey, why did we invade Iraq?<br /><br />COLBERT: NO!!! (runs toward his car)<br /><br />(We see Helen Thomas, still walking toward him.)<br /><br />(Colbert reaches his car, and fumblingly attempts to open it with his key. He is in such a desperate hurry that he fumbles with the keys and drops them. When he picks them up, he looks back and Helen is even closer. In his frantic rush, Colbert just can't get the key into the lock.)<br /><br />(Just as his anxiety is getting completely out of control he suddenly remembers that he has a keyless remote -- so he just pushes the button on the keychain and the car unlocks immediately with the usual double squeak noise. Colbert jumps in and locks the door, and continues to fumble trying to start the car. He finally succeeds, and looks up to see Helen standing in front of the car, notepad in hand.)<br /><br />COLBERT: NO!!! NO!!!<br /><br />(Colbert puts the car into reverse and drives off, tires squealing. Thomas smiles.)<br /><br />(Colbert is shown taking the shuttle from Washington, D.C. to New York. A car and driver are waiting for him at Penn Station. The uniformed man standing alongside the car opens the door and lets Colbert in.)<br /><br />COLBERT: What a terrible trip, Danny. Take me home.<br /><br />(The driver locks the doors, turns around, and says, "Buckle up, hon." IT'S HELEN THOMAS!!!)<br /><br />COLBERT (horrified face pressed against car window): NO!!!<br /><br />END OF "AUDITION TAPE"<br /><br />STEPHEN COLBERT: Helen Thomas, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Smith, members of the White House Correspondents Association, Madame First Lady, Mr. President, it's been a true honor. Thank you very much. Good night!<br /><br />Also:<br /><a href = "http://www.slate.com/id/2140890/">Boiling Mad cited on Slate</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301146.post-1167541602503245182006-03-10T00:05:00.000-05:002006-12-31T00:06:42.513-05:00R.I.P. to my DogMy Dog died on Wednesday. My dog was 9, and I owned her since she was a six-month-old puppy. She was a Lab-Dalmatian mix named Jordan (a very popular pet-name in Chicago), with a shiny black-Lab coat except for her belly and paws which were white and spotted like a Dalmatian's. Prior to her sudden death, she showed only minimal signs of old age or ill health. At least I will always remember my dog in her prime. That's how I'm choosing to look at it, anyway.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301146.post-1140328311872200682006-02-19T00:51:00.000-05:002006-02-19T00:53:17.386-05:00Peter the Longest-serving Pope?<a href = "http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2004-03-14-pope-milestone_x.htm">Source: USA Today:</a><br />The Vatican lists St. Peter, the first pope, as serving from A.D. 30 to 64 or 67 — a total of either 34 or 37 years. Second on the longevity list is Pius IX, who served 31 years, seven months and 22 days until Feb. 7, 1878. Third on the list is Pope Leo XIII, served 25 years, four months and 17 days until July 20, 1903.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301146.post-1139601667957933412006-02-10T14:50:00.000-05:002006-02-10T15:23:29.543-05:00Pope Benedict XVI's Deus Caritas Est<b>This is where Catholic social doctrine has its place: it has no intention of giving the Church power over the State. Even less is it an attempt to impose on those who do not share the faith ways of thinking and modes of conduct proper to faith. Its aim is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just.</b><br /><br /><b>Christian charitable activity must be independent of parties and ideologies.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301146.post-1136154389091852232006-01-01T17:18:00.000-05:002006-01-18T04:32:48.203-05:00Aquinas and ScriptureOne of my New Year's resolutions is to read Peter Kreeft's <a href = "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/089870300X/002-9902785-2778465?v=glance&n=283155">Summa of the Summa</a>. It is an abridged version of Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica, annotated by a Boston College professor. <br /><br />Here's my summary Thomas's argument concerning the nature and extent of Sacred Doctrine in the first chapter:<br /><br />Scripture is the starting point for the study of theology because it has been revealed by God. We know it has been revealed by God because it says it has. We can't use reason to prove what has been revealed by God; indeed, we have no need to. But reason may be used to refute arguments which object to revealed truth.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301146.post-1135733522911646222005-12-27T20:27:00.000-05:002005-12-27T20:32:02.923-05:00Claims of ESP Sagan Said Deserved Study1. that by thought alone humans can (barely) affect random number generations in computers<br />2. that people under mild sensory deprivation can receive thoughts or images "projected" at them<br />3. that children sometimes report details of a previous life, which upon checking turn out to be accurate and which they could not have known about in any other way other than reincarnation.<br /><br />source: <a href = "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/002-9902785-2778465?v=glance&n=283155">The Demon-Haunted World</a>, p. 302Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301146.post-1102775584479576792004-12-11T09:16:00.000-05:002004-12-11T09:47:21.280-05:00Science Leads Atheist to DeismIn an article written decades ago, Antony Flew recounts this parable:<blockquote>Once upon a time two explorers came upon a clearing in the jungle. In the clearing were growing many flowers and many weeds. One explorer says, "some gardener must tend this plot." The other disagrees, "There is no gardener." So they pitch their tents and set a watch. No gardener is ever seen. "But perhaps he is an invisible gardener." So they set up a barbed-wire fence. They electrify it. They patrol with bloodhounds. (For they remember how H.G. Wells's <i>The Invisible Man</i> could be both smelt and touched though he could not be seen.) But no shrieks ever suggest that some intruder has received a shock. No movements of the wire ever betray an invisible climber. The bloodhounds never give cry. Yet still the Believer is not convinced. "But there is a gardener, invisible, intangible, insensible to electric shocks, a gardener who has no scent and makes no sound, a gardener who comes secretly to look after the garden which he loves." At last the skeptic despairs, "But what remains of your original assertion? Just how does what you call an invisible, intangible, eternally elusive gardener differ from an imaginary gardener or even from no gardener at all?"</blockquote>Now Flew says that because of the complexity of the garden, i.e. DNA, <a href = "http://www.wftv.com/news/3986438/detail.html">this invisible, intangible, eternally elusive gardener must exist</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8301146.post-1095022600923893062004-12-01T16:54:00.000-05:002004-12-08T13:38:03.333-05:00The Consolation of Philosophy Part II was recently introduced to <a href = "http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/ellis.html">Albert Ellis</a>, and his psychological school of thought. Ellis lost his faith in psychotherapy when he observed that those who met with him only weekly or bi-weekly had the same results as those who met with him daily. He also realized that in his life he worked through his own issues by reading and practicing the philosophies of Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Spinoza, and Bertrand Russell.
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<br />I found a book by Bertrand Russell with a title that intrigued me, <i>Unpopular Essays</i>.
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<br />Russell is his own man when it comes to philosophy as shown by his panning of Plato's <i>Republic</i>. He wrote the fact that it is so widely admired is "perhaps the most astonishing example of literarary snobbery in all history." He called <i>The Republic</i> a totalitarian tract. It taught that the main purpose of education is to produce courage in battle. It advocated rigid censorship of literature (including Homer), drama, and music. The government should be in the hands of a small oligarchy, who are to practice trickery and lying. And it advocated a sort of social darwinism for the children of the lower classes.
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<br />In case this all sounds familar here is some consolation we can draw from true philosophy: <blockquote>We must hope that a more rational outlook can be made to prevail, for only through a revival of Liberal tentativeness and tolerance can our world survive.</blockquote><blockquote>It is not worth while to inflict a comparatively certain present evil for the sake of a comparatively doubtful future good.</blockquote><blockquote>Systems of dogma without empirical foundation...have the advantage of producing a great degree of social coherence among their disciples, but they have the disadvantage of involving persecution of valuable sections of the population.</blockquote><blockquote>Dogmatism is an enemy of peace, and an insuperable barrier to democracy.</blockquote><blockquote>So long as men are not trained to <a href ="http://www.misunderestimated.net/">withold judgment in the absence of evidence, they will be led astray by cocksure prophets, and it is likely that their leaders will be either ignorant fanatics or dishonest charlatans</a>.</blockquote><blockquote>In thinking about political problems this kind of emotional bias is bound to be present, and only care and practice can enable you to think as objectively as you do in the algebraic problem.</blockquote>If rational thinking like this is not adopted by all of humanity, these will be the results in the most positive terms:<blockquote><i>it is thought by many sober men of science that radio-active clouds, drifting round the world, may disintegrate living tissue everywhere. Although the last survivor may proclaim himself universal Emperor, his reign will be be brief and his subjects will all be corpses. With his death the uneasy episode of life will end, and the peaceful rocks will revolve unchanged until the sun explodes.</i></blockquote>There, don't you feel better now?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1