May 2012
1 post
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PastorFashion.com →
The end is near.
April 2012
1 post
4 tags
Seven Stanzas at Easter, by John Updike
Make no mistake: if He rose at all it was as His body; if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall.
It was not as the flowers, each soft Spring recurrent; it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the eleven apostles; it was as His flesh: ours.
The same...
March 2012
1 post
5 tags
Literature & Loren
Walker Percy:
While no serious novelist knows for sure where his writing comes from, I have the strongest feeling that, whatever else the benefits of the Catholic faith, it is of particularly felicitous use to the novelist. Indeed, if one had to design a religion for novelists, I can think of no better. What distinguishes Judeo-Christianity in general from other world religions is its emphasis...
February 2012
2 posts
3 tags
“I’d rather spend our money on energy-saving lightbulbs than on happy...”
– Sarah (my wife), explicating her environmental commitment.
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How to get an extra 5GB on Dropbox for free (!) →
Basically, you beta-test their new camera-upload feature (just make sure you back up your Dropbox folder first!). I did it, and boom - a free 5GB extra, which is super-helpful for school. So now I have 7GB total. Awesome.
January 2012
4 posts
2 tags
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In Which I Fix My Girlfriend’s Grandparents’ WiFi... →
Mike Lacher:
But then one gray morning did Internet Explorer 6 no longer load The Google. Refresh was clicked, again and again, but still did Internet Explorer 6 not load The Google. Perhaps The Google was broken, the people thought, but then The Yahoo too did not load. Nor did Hotmail. Nor USAToday.com. The land was thrown into panic. Internet Explorer 6 was minimized then maximized. The Compaq...
1 tag
Sleep
Some choice words from Martin Luther King Jr. (via thenewinquiry):
“I’m sure that you have read that arresting little story from the pen of Washington Irving entitled Rip Van Winkle. The thing that we usually remember about this story is that Rip Van Winkle slept 20 years. But there is another point in that story that is almost always completely overlooked: it was a sign on the inn in the...
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3rd
Andrew Sullivan:
The great modern enemy of friendship has turned out to be love. By love, I don’t mean the principle of giving and mutual regard that lies at the heart of friendship. And I don’t mean what Saint Paul meant by love, the Christian notion of indiscriminate and universal agape or caritas, which is based on the universal love of the Christian God. I mean love in the banal, ubiquitous,...
December 2011
3 posts
2 tags
Mary Karr, "Descending Theology: Christ Human"
Such a short voyage for a god, and you arrived in animal form so as not to scorch us with your glory. Your mask was an infant’s head on a limp stalk, sticky eyes smeared blind, limbs rendered useless in swaddle. You came among beasts as one, came into our care or its lack, came crying as we all do, because the human frame is a crucifix, each skeletos borne a lifetime. Any wanting soul lain...
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November 2011
6 posts
3 tags
All The Angry People →
Kachel had four hundred and fifty dollars from the sale of his copy of Final Cut Pro. For two hundred and fifty, you could travel to New York City on a Greyhound bus. He had never been farther east than Dallas, but New York City was so dense and diverse, and so full of ideas and ways to make money, that if he could learn to exist there he could surely find a place to exist. On the last night of...
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From the other side
Jonathan Rauch:
Remember too that the battle for full equality will be won in the political center. Liberals are with us already; homophobes will never come around. We have made progress by persuading the persuadable center that our loves and our families pose no harm to others, no threat to mainstream values. Especially now that majority support is swinging behind us, going the extra mile to be...
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Exactly.
I’ve been following a Wheaton professor’s tumblr the last few months and am constantly subjected to a steady flow of incredibly smart quotes. For everyone who’s ever wracked their brains over IB or any sort of schooling, this is for you. (And especially for you, Regent students.)
Will Wilkinson:
I’ve got a good bit of student-loan debt myself, acquired studying philosophy in...
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October 2011
4 posts
3 tags
A Sister's Eulogy for Steve Jobs →
Very much worth reading.
(via Daring Fireball)
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Outburst
followthewus:
There is so much that I wish I could say to you all about these last 2 months at Regent. They have been exhilarating, healing, vigorous, full, lively, joy-filled, peaceful, and an unspeakable gift. So many stories; so many thoughts swimming around just below my consciousness, waiting to be clothed in words and sent out for you to read. Classes have been like a feast for the mind...
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Here's to the Crazy One →
I’ve been surprisingly moved by the death of Steve Jobs. Haven’t had time to process it yet - haven’t had time to process a myriad of things - but I know that I couldn’t let this pass without some tribute to the man. MG Siegler expresses what I’ve been feeling to the tee:
But it didn’t just rob Jobs. It robbed us too. That’s why people who haven’t met the man care...
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“If the Church is truly the ‘newness of life’ - the world and nature...”
– Alexander Schmemann, Sacraments and Orthodoxy (1965).
Read this tonight for class. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
September 2011
5 posts
3 tags
"Don't Ask Don't Tell" is History →
From health care to Wall Street, and now to this, I am continually impressed and surprised by the issues Obama chooses to take on. I can’t believe this is done - definitely a bold move, and whatever you think of it, definitely an act of leadership.
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"Sex" →
I think I’m in the right school.
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Follow The Wu's →
Well, this is a little overdue. But in case you haven’t heard, Sarah and I have created a site for our friends to keep up with our adventures in Canada. Here you’ll find sushi as wide as our palms, a zombie parade with literally thousands of undead participants, and the first traditional hymn I’ve heard with the word “sex”, smack in the middle of it. It’s...
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Thomas Aquinas' argument for the existence of... →
Absolutely hilarious. And brilliant.
(And probably too profane for our more sensitive readers.)
August 2011
1 post
4 tags
Sarah's first cry (over Tai Hing)
Richard: I'm going to tumblr this.
Sarah *crying*: Tumblr what???
Richard: "Sarah's crying over a duck."
Sarah: No, it's a GOOSE!!!
July 2011
6 posts
9 tags
Amusing Ourselves To Death in Malaysia →
A lot of the discussion tonight - especially the frustration with this generation’s apathy and skewed sense of priorities (“I can’t believe I can’t go clubbing tonight because of Bersih!”) - reminded me of this comic, based on Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves To Death.
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“You cannot quell our voices. This is the message that we must put across to our...”
– Ambiga Sreenivasan, chairwoman of Bersih 2.0, in her statement to the press on 9th July 2011.
(Source: youtube.com)
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Malaysia →
It is an honour to be in this country today.
I married into a good family.
Some came for food. But this is the stuff that keeps me alive.
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June 2011
11 posts
4 tags
Desperate Times: Man Robs Bank to Get Health Care... →
GOOD:
Two weeks ago Verone walked into a bank and robbed the place of $1. He then sat down and waited for the police to come. After applying for early Social Security and being denied, and struggling to stay healthy with no insurance, Verone decided that going to jail was the only way he could get the help he needed. “The pain was beyond the tolerance that I could accept,” he told...
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Man Robbed Bank for $1, Hoping to Be Sent to... →
Perfect, three word summary from Daring Fireball:
NBC News:
That’s right, James Verone says he has no medical insurance. He has a growth of some sort on his chest, two ruptured disks and a problem with his left foot. He is 59 years old and with no job and a depleted bank account. He thought jail was the best place he could go for medical care and a roof over his head. Verone is hoping for a...
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Thank you, twe12th.
What a huge part of my life, coming to a close. A letter to twe12th, my youth group:
Hi guys! Just want to say thank you for your hilarious, beautiful, honest, and joy-filled submissions. I’ve had a sneak peak at most of them - about 30 in all - and am pretty blown away. Thank you, most of all, for sharing your lives, hearts, dreams, failures, and joys with us. Sarah and I have given...
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Awesome People Hanging Out Together →
This is almost too much for me.
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Unfriended: Six Million Americans Fled Facebook... →
From GOOD:
Though the social networking behemoth continues creeping toward 700 million global users, six million Americans quit the site in the month of May. That’s the first time Facebook has lost U.S. users in over a year.
I have noticed a growing trend… And also:
What Facebook initially had going for it was exclusivity—it was for young Ivy Leaguers. Now that moms and grandmas...
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Please, please read this article. →
So I found out the other day that, apparently, a whole bunch of my Wheaton friends have been posting this same article on Facebook. Interesting how the same things resonate with us. After a conversation with Ariel, I couldn’t help but add just this little bit more:
You can all supply your own favorite, most nauseating examples of the commodification of love. Mine include the wedding...
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Rooftop Bugs
Ariel: Bugs here fly pretty high huh? I'm getting chewed out there!
Richie: Tonight is fertility night.
1 tag
Daniel on Blue Ice
Sarah: How is it?
Daniel: Eugh...reminds me of high school.
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Philosophy
Chris, to Daniel: Are you interested in an English teaching job? I know of a vacancy.
Ariel: I'll take it! . . . But it depends how much I'd get paid.
Chris: Well, my friend, he gets paid $180 an hour.
Ariel: Oh, no way then.
Sarah: Yeah - I get paid $300 an hour!
Ariel: And I get paid $250!
Sarah: And I don't even really teach English.
Ariel: Dammit! I teach Philosophy!
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Liking Is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts. →
An astute article on the interplay of love and technology, originally titled Technology Provides an Alternative to Love. One small snippet:
Love is about bottomless empathy, born out of the heart’s revelation that another person is every bit as real as you are. And this is why love, as I understand it, is always specific. Trying to love all of humanity may be a worthy endeavor, but, in a funny...
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“To friend a person is merely to include the person in our private hall of...”
– Jonathan Franzen, in his NY Times article, Liking Is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts. Ouch.
May 2011
4 posts
6 tags
A Memorial Day Prayer
David Swanson, a former mentor, now a pastor:
Here is the prayer I offered before my sermon yesterday.
Our Heavenly Father,
As our country celebrates Memorial Day tomorrow, a day set apart to remember those women and men who have died in military service to the United States, we pause to remember all those who are grieving the loss of a loved one in armed conflict. We pray for families who are...
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Anyone need these Mac apps? →
I feel terribly commercial for doing this, but…poor college student days are ahead! So here goes:
Does anyone need these apps, as in the ones in the link? They’re definitely for the geekier among us - especially the folks who type a lot. I bought ‘em - and if more than two people buy them through the link above, then I get them for free :D
The best apps there are TextExpander...
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Obi-Wan Kenobi is Dead, Vader Says →
In a late-night appearance in the East Room of the Imperial Palace, Lord Vader declared that “justice has been done” as he disclosed that agents of the Imperial Army and stormtroopers of the 501st Legion had finally cornered Kenobi, one of the leaders of the Jedi rebellion, who had eluded the Empire for nearly two decades.
Brilliant…and revealing.
April 2011
5 posts
3 tags
Word
I had a word tonight.
And I gave it.
Laid it down.
Said some things that needed to be said -
not only for others, but for myself.
I couldn’t leave Hong Kong
without putting some of those thoughts out there.
I hope
and pray
that it did justice to this generation
which is called to be
a new kind of humanity:
healed
real
salt
light.
If you lose your saltiness…
If you...