Another great Orson Scott Card article

"As with Rome, the American military has been the wall behind which a system of safe trade has allowed an extraordinary degree of specialization and therefore mutually sustained prosperity."

"Our enemies and most of our "allies" and many of our own citizens are working as hard as possible to bring the whole thing crashing down, though that is not at all what they intend. They just haven't learned the lessons -- the principles -- of how great economic empires are maintained.

They only look at the political dogmas du jour and spout their platitudes. People like me are ridiculed for seeing the big picture and learning the lessons of history."

In this article, Card examines the role of the Roman armies on the fall of Rome and ties this into the US army and its role in maintaining the civilization we know today.

Early Christmas Eve donuts

Since Christmas Eve is on Sunday this year and we've been invited to some friends for dinner, we decided to do the donuts tonight.

Best lights in the neighborhood

Well, almost. We tied for first prize in the neighborhood lighting contest. I think the other guy has more lights, but lots of them are just prefab light sculptures. The crazy part is that I didn't even know we had a neighborhood lighting contest. Danae's holly bushes (to the left and right) were a great touch, but I think that the Dr. Seuss tree brought in the prize. If you saw my first pictures you'll note that the rope lights on the tree were added later. What a stroke of genius. The $25 home depot gift card paid for half of what I spent this year to upgrade to two stories worth of icicle lights.

Lexicon augmentation - valetudinarian

valetudinarian-
1.an invalid.
2.a person who is excessively concerned about his or her poor health or ailments. –adjective
3.in poor health; sickly; invalid.
4.excessively concerned about one's poor health or ailments.
5.of, pertaining to, or characterized by invalidism.

from dictionary.com

Images - Stimulated moss

Moss with fruiting bodies in the backyard forest. (taken 12/17/06)

"Can eat smiley"

Some of the girls from church brough Mom a birthday cake. It was chocolate with "happy birthday" written in green, yellow and blue icing. It also had a smiley face with chocolate chip eyes. Mom put the cake on the counter and then went upstairs to wrap some presents while I ran to the store for a few last minute things. Had to get some eggnog for Santa Claus. Everyone knows how much he likes and needs the stuff. I also needed to get about a gazillion birthday candles for the cake. When I came home, this is what the cake looked like. When I asked what happened I was told that Can said, "Can eat yellow and blue. Can eat smiley."

Cute can video

His brothers do this in your face to be annoying. From him, its just cute

Lexicon augmentation - ersatz

ersatz-
1.serving as a substitute; synthetic; artificial.
2.an artificial substance or article used to replace something natural or genuine; a substitute.

from dictionary.com

Peace on earth

Good video. Peace doesn't come cheap or easy and it requires the intervention of angels, both mortal and immortal.

"Romney is different...he’s a profoundly decent man"

Dean Barnett posted a good essay on Hugh Hewitt's blog about Mitt Romney. He used to work for Romney and he discusses the fact that Mitt is a genuinely good and conservative guy. Now facade necessary.

"I knew Romney was special a decade before my brethren in the conservative punditocracy came to the same conclusion. But it is worth noting that I came about the conclusion the same way they have – from first-hand exposure to the guy.
As every reader of this site knows, I don’t find our political class to be particularly impressive. I find them intellectually incurious, pathologically ambitious and morally unmoored. The Democrats are worse than the Republicans, but it’s not a runaway.
But Romney is different. First of all, he’s brilliant. When you spend even a little time with him, you see how his mind attacks a problem from every conceivable angle. This requires an intellectual curiosity and an intellectual industriousness that is foreign to nearly all of our politicians.
Second, he’s a profoundly decent man. All that stuff about what a perfect family he has and how committed he is to it isn’t a crock. And he’s really nice – his affability is no Clintonian act."

He points out that to meet Mitt Romney is to know that he is special. I've seen similar comments before from people who met him in person, like when I went to meet with some Southern Baptists earlier this year. My fellow Latter-day Saints and I would recognize this as the fact that he is worthy of the companionship of the Spirit of God, but others just see that there is something special about him.

Adams-"If all religion and all morality should be over-thrown"

"If [the] empire of superstition and hypocrisy should be overthrown, happy indeed will it be for the world; but if all religion and all morality should be over-thrown with it, what advantage will be gained? The doctrine of human equality is founded entirely in the Christian doctrine that we are all children of the same Father, all accountable to Him for our conduct to one another, all equally bound to respect each other's self love."
John Adams, early 1800's, a comment he made about Mary Wollstonecraft's book "French Revolution" as quoted in "John Adams" by David McCullough, pages 619.

Its too bad the secularists of today feel that they created the doctrine of human equality and therefore we no longer need the "superstition" of religion to support an absolute morality. Like, somehow we can all make up our own relative morality and equality will somehow fall out of the resulting morass of arbitrary value systems. Talk about superstition!

Lexicon augmentation - banal

banal-
devoid of freshness or originality; hackneyed; trite

from dictionary.com

Images - Creeping up

One of the many types of vine I find attempting to take over the forest. (taken 12/17/06)

Why do evolutionists feel so threatened by creationists

A friend, and fellow conservative/Christian/scientist, pointed me to an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology website, where they have a link for a symposium titled "Teaching the Science of Evolution Under the Threat of Alternative Views". He pointed out the use of the word "Threat" and asked the question of why are alternative views a threat in science. After all, if we as scientists do not allow ourselves to question current theories, we will inevitably theorize ourselves into an erroneous corner from which we cannot escape. The need to think critically about all of the science I encounter was pounded into me while I was in graduate school. After all of science is really just a set of theories that approach fact, but never quite get there. However, most scientists only preach about thinking critically until their favorite theory is questioned and then they turn militant in protecting their intellectual constructions. I can understand people who believe in the creation feeling threatened by evolution because it attacks their faith. I don't quite see why the evolution zealots are so up in arms about people who want to maintain faith in a creation. Is it because science is the only faith they have? I think a big part of the problem is that most scientists are so vain that they cannot stand to have their wisdom placed below a God whom they cannot comprehend. Are we building ourselves a scientific tower of Babel?

Pre-war liberal article on why war with Iraq was justified

I haven't read this article yet, but it sounds like it is worth a read. Hugh Hewitt suggested it as a pre-war article where a liberal details the reasons why we need to go to war with Iraq.

Matt Damon digging holes

Hugh Hewitt blogged on Matt Damon's recent Hardball appearance . It sounds like another case of a famous person selectively editing reality. Kinda like he's making a movie and trashing the facts he doesn't like.

Images - The Christmas oak

Nope, Dec did not take this one. I actually did this one by myself. These leaves are on the oak tree I transplanted from the forest behind my house to my backyard. There are only a few leaves still left on it , but likely not for very much longer. To a Michigander like myself it is very surprising that there are any leaves, considering we have less than a week until Christmas. Speaking of which, these leaves fit right into the holiday color scheme. (taken 12/17/06)

Lexicon augmentation - miasma

miasma-
1.noxious exhalations from putrescent organic matter; poisonous effluvia or germs polluting the atmosphere.
2.a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence or atmosphere.

from dictionary.com

"Yellow bus" has now mutated into "white-yellow bus"

Now I know that Can is just messing with me. Mom brought the kids to Chapel Hill last Friday for a departmental Christmas party. While they were here they passed one of the blue and white buses that I ride to the park-and-ride lot and Can got to see it. When I met them coming in from the parking lot he said, "daddy white-blue bus." I grinned and said, "yes, daddy white-blue bus," thinking that I had finally won the argument and he was accepting that I ride a blue bus not a yellow bus on my way to work. This morning, as he was sitting on his mommy's lap trying to return from dreamland to reality, he started mumbling something that I couldn't hear very well. I moved closer to try and catch what he was saying and I heard, "daddy white-yellow bus." Aaargh. "Its not white-yellow bus, it is white-blue bus," I responded. That only got him going and he began chanting, softly at first but then louder and louder, "daddy white-yellow bus, daddy white-yellow bus..." I did the only thing I could, under the circumstances. I grabbed him and gave him a big fuzzy bearded kiss and said, "daddy softy face," before making a break for the front door. As I was closing the door behind me I heard him say, "NO, DADDY POKEY FACE."

Adams-"Go on and improve in everything worthy"

"Oh, that I am always be able to say to my grandsons, ' You have learned much and behave well, my lads. Go on and improve in everything worthy.' Have you considered the meaning of the word "worthy"? Weigh it well... I had rather you should be worthy possessors of one thousand pounds honestly aquired by your own labor and industry, than of ten millions by banks and tricks. I should rather you be worthy shoemakers than secretaries of states or treasury aquired by libels in newspapers. I had rather you should be worthy makers of brooms and baskets than unworthy presidents of the United States procured by intrigue, factious slander and corruption."
John Adams, 1812, an excerpt from a letter to his grandson John Smith quoted in "John Adams" by David McCullough, pages 608-609.

I hope to be able to say similar things to my sons and grandsons someday and I hope that they have similar feelings of what is "worthy".

Lexicon augmentation - dreck

dreck-
1.excrement; dung.
2.worthless trash; junk.
3. merchandise that is shoddy or inferior. [syn: schlock]

from dictionary.com

Images - Remnants of fall

Another of the pictures that 5 year old Dec took in the woods behind our house. (taken 12/17/06)

Lexicon augmentation - hector

hector-
1. to treat with insolence; bully; torment.
2. to act in a blustering, domineering way; be a bully.

from dictionary.com

Al Gore must be right!

It was so warm today that we opened our windows to try and warm up the inside of our house. We went out for a walk and the boys decided to wear shorts and short sleeve T-shirts while riding their bikes. Its gots to be global warming! Somebody save us from all the cows!


After posting this I saw on the news that we had a high of 71 degrees today. This was a new record and beat the old record of 70 degrees. The average temperature for today is 53 degrees. It is predicted to get to 74 degrees tomorrow, but the recored is 77 degrees so we probably won't beat that one.

Images - Dec's Pincone

My five year old Dec took this picture while we were out walking in the woods behind our house. (taken 12/17/06)