Hard to be Glad About This

I am having a hard time figuring out exactly how badly Obama got beat in West Virginia, but it looks like “severely” is accurate. I’m sure the talking heads are positing theories. “Voters with middle-American values.” “Conservative blue-collar Democrats.” Whatever. Here’s the answer: racism. Appalachia is full of racism. I was born there, and I’m honest about it. Certain parts of the country just have not caught up with the civil rights movement. End of story.

I wonder if I can find results for the coal counties in the Kentucky primary. No, it’s next week. But the polls for the entire state have Hillary up about 27 points. Does anyone seriously believe it’s because people think Hillary is a better candidate? A bad Yankee carpetbagger lawyer who screwed up health care reform and then went on to be a professional housewife and then a lackluster junior Senator? No way. It’s because she’s white.

And it’s happening in other areas, too. Canvassers are encountering some vile responses in northern states. Yankees always claim to be immune to racism. Tell that to the people who got their windows shot out in Chicago’s Airport Homes development. Bring up that topic in a bar in South Boston or Little Italy. Obama is doing well as a candidate for nomination. He’s winning over the far-left types who participate in primaries and caucuses. But in the general election, he’ll have to deal with people who are more diverse. And my bet is, his race will cost him 20% of the votes a Democrat candidate would otherwise get.

Far-left kooks are very good about accepting minorities, although they are openly bigoted toward Israel, men, white people, conservatives, Jews, and Christians. Give them credit. Nominating a black candidate is genuinely “progressive,” unlike the backward-looking policies to which liberals generally apply that oxymoronic label. But it’s probably bad strategy. I think Obama is going to end up like Martin Luther King. Not dead, I hope and pray. I simply believe he will help open a door for other people, and that he himself will be unable to walk through it. I think he’ll lose big in the general election, and Democrats will have to be satisfied with a moral victory. Which will be a first for them.

I don’t like the idea of winning an election this way, but winning is winning, and it’s not the right’s fault that racist Democrats won’t support their man, and Obama will be very bad for the country, so I guess I’ll get over it. We’re probably headed for a fairly good result. Republican in the White House; black man nominated by Democrats. Two things that are both blessings.

My father thinks black people will vote for McCain if Hillary steals the nomination. Could be. I would not blame them. Well, yes I would. You don’t frag your nominee over something like that. I am highly critical of childish people who vote for the opposition out of spite. But I would certainly understand why black people would feel cheated.

One thing no one is mentioning: the possibility of riots. If Hillary cheats her way to the nomination, it’s not unlikely that we’ll see video of burning cars and broken windows. We’re not supposed to talk about it, but unless the folks at the DNC are completely out of their minds, they’re thinking about it. They’re thinking about the difficulty of succeeding with a black candidate, they’re thinking about ways to give Hillary the nomination, and they’re considering the consequences.

My father also thinks putting Hillary in the VP slot would be good for the Democrats, but he feels–and I agree–that it would be career suicide for Obama. Put the Obamas and Clintons in the White House, and nobody will even notice the Obamas. The Democrats may get scared and insist on it, but it will cause them problems down the road. And supposedly, Michelle Obama refuses to tolerate a second queen bee. Thank goodness for female competitiveness.

The only thing I know for sure about Obama’s running mate is that he or she will be white. And he’ll probably be male.

Things could be worse. If McCain can survive “gook” video, he’ll win the election. And hopefully he’ll appoint sane judges. If that happens, only Congress will be a problem.

From a Christian perspective, let me point out that the Bible says God chooses our leaders. That doesn’t mean all leaders are good. Sometimes it means we get bad leaders we deserve. So pray for revival and good leaders. That’s my advice.

“Childish Superstition”

I guess it’s predictable that I would have something to say about the Drudgebart.tv.com-linked story about Einstein dismissing religion as “childish superstition.”

I don’t think anyone should be surprised, assuming the story is true. Einstein was a leftist who had a childish superstition of his own: that the world could be a man-created utopia ruled by a single central government. And many of his fellow physicists, scientists, and mathematicians shared his superstition.

As I have noted many times before, mathematically inclined people tend to be a lot like idiot-savants. All the brains are packed into one side of their heads, leaving little grey matter to deal with things like humanity and human relationships. They typically have very childlike ideas about human nature. They often lack the capacity for empathy, which explains a lot of the misery inflicted on us by people who write code. They often have gigantic egos. They are among the last people we should turn to for advice regarding subjects like love, ethics, or religion.

Some people swing both ways, but they are rare. It’s not uncommon at all to see people who score 800 on the math SAT and around 500 on the verbal side. In fact, unless things have changed since I was a kid, the vast majority of the really high scores are mathematical, period.

Aside from his basic nature, consider Einstein’s qualifications. From a fairly early age, he was a pampered, prized, tenured academic. Why anyone would expect a person like that to know anything about life is beyond me. Think of the academics you’ve known. How would you like to live in a world where their kind ruled? It would be like Cambodia under Pol Pot. Academia attracts the petty, the cruel, and the naive. As professors and instructors, they’re harmless and amusing. As rulers? Horrifying. The end result is piles of bloated bodies decaying in the sun.

I do not suggest that Einstein was cruel or petty. But naive? Absolutely. Before you give me someone like Albert Einstein to tell me how to live, give me a pastor or rabbi or priest chosen at random, any day. Someone who has married and raised children and lived with adversity, without giving up his or her faith. Someone familiar with other people’s suffering. Not an academic who has never known anything but a big, warm, permanently attached university nipple. A nipple which tends to flow more freely–more liberally, if you will–when the beneficiary attacks God.

I have never understood why academics get tenure. Presidents don’t. Engineers don’t. What’s so special about academics? We give them so much security, it warps their minds. They forget what life is like for the rest of us. No wonder they make up such a huge portion of Democrat delegates. Social engineering is all theory to them. They can’t understand what it’s like when people are forced to become their gamepieces and endure the consequences of their inept theorizing. It’s only natural that socialism and purges and so on make sense to people like that.

The Apostle Paul (a reformed academic) supported himself as a tentmaker while traveling the ancient world on foot, to spread the Gospel. He was flogged repeatedly; the skin and flesh were ripped from his back. He was stoned. He was shipwrecked. Finally, he was murdered. Corrie ten Boom survived on offerings as she traveled the world telling the world that she loved God, in spite of the fact that the Germans killed most of her family for saving Jews. I respect their humbly expressed opinions more than the pompous, sterile, conformist musings of a professor speaking down from the invulnerability of an ivory tower.

To put it in terms Einstein would have understood, to enter the heart of a brilliant, feted, Nobel-prize-winning scientist, a particle of faith has to make it into a very high-walled potential well constructed of ego. The odds are on a par with those of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. To steal an analogy from a source I respect a great deal. To stretch the analogy even further, in quantum mechanics, the seemingly impossible becomes possible. And with God all things are possible. However it looks like Einstein did not benefit from that iota–that quantum–of hope.

To me, the odd thing about all this is that Einstein himself laid the groundwork for experiments that seem to demonstrate that observation and belief alter the material world. In other words, his work seems to support the notion that faith has power. I don’t remember enough about it to write about it with any degree of competence, unfortunately.

When I see intellectual theories put forward to deny the existence of God, I always think of what Archie Bunker said to Michael “Meathead” Stivic, when Stivic said he had renounced his baptism. “Renounce your belly button! You still got it!” It’s pointless to raise arguments in a cerebral vacuum, to convince people of the nonexistence of things they have personally witnessed. Give me a word processor and a week, and I could probably prove I have three arms. Would that make it true?

Render unto Einstein when it comes to science. When it comes to religion, listen to someone who has been there.

Sorry About That

I am so mad. I drove all the way to the gun range, and it looks like they’ve changed their rules again. Their sign now says they’re closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. I’m completely positive it was Tuesdays and Wednesdays a month ago. It seems like they do this all the time. And checking their website is pointless, since they don’t update it.

I got an interesting comment RE prophecy:

With respect to prophets, pardon me for not having a cite, but in the gospels Jesus said that John the Baptist was the last of the prophets. The next true prophets will be the two old testament saints that return to Jerusalem during the first 3.5 years of the tribulation. Anyone who claims to be a prophet during this current church age is at best misguided. That’s not to say that God can’t or doesn’t use dreams to speak to people, but my view is that it would be more for personal revelation and not true revelation of future events.

Naturally, I mentioned the New Testament prophecies. Response:

You’re correct Steve, you definitely have to account for the prophetic revelations of John of Patmos. Perhaps the distinction is between the definition of a “prophet” vs. someone whom the Holy Spirit reveals prophetic information to.

I don’t think “prophecy” is something Christians have defined all that well. I always thought a prophet was someone who could function pretty much like a P.A. system or a ventriloquist’s dummy. The prophet’s mouth moves, but God says the words. But having read the book of Numbers and the bulk of the New Testament, I’m inclined to think that “prophet” is a term that can apply to a wide spectrum of people, from Moses, who spoke to God face to face, to Stephen, who died after seeing into heaven. My best guess is, anyone to whom the Holy Spirit gives the ability to perceive things ordinary people can’t perceive is a prophet. And if that’s true, then there are super-prophets like Moses, above-average prophets like Jeremiah and Zechariah, and so-so prophets who occasionally get a revelation which may or may not be of great importance. So I guess that if you have a few bona fide inspired dreams or visions, you’re a prophet. Not the best prophet around, but still, a prophet.

I am among the Christians who believe that the Holy Spirit is being meted out much more generously than it used to be, and that we are supposed to connect to it and be changed and empowered by it. I believe this is what prayer in tongues is all about. I think modern Christians who refuse to admit that this is happening are like divers who want to go down with knots in their air hoses. Doing God’s will and fighting on His behalf have always been extremely hard. I don’t believe we were ever expected to succeed on our own. If anything, God has made a point of proving we can’t do it. The Holy Spirit is the power supply mankind has been lacking.

God is strange. He plants a seed, but doesn’t reap the harvest for thousands of years. He established the Jews and allowed them to ruin Israel and be cast out, and He let them turn Israel into a wasteland inhabited by inept, barbaric squatters. He established a powerful Christian church and let it give up on the Holy Spirit and become worldly and weak. And apparently, He plans to bring it all together toward the end of time. Israel restored, the Church reconnected to the power of the Holy Spirit, and so on. You have to wonder. Why not just make us do it right the first time around? Why let Satan get away with so much for so long?

Regrettably, I was not involved in the decision. I don’t know why God never asks my advice.

God is always letting us screw up and then giving us the power to fix things. It’s a constant pattern.

I sometimes think the story of Samson presages the history of the church. Samson started out strong, because the Spirit of God was in him, and then he was seduced by worldiness and lost his power, and then he was blinded, and in the end he regained his power and destroyed the temple of his enemies, killing them in the process. The church started out full of the power of God, but it became corrupt and full of idolatry and pantheism, and it lost its power and its ability to perceive God’s will. And it ended up serving the enemy. And maybe now the power is coming back.

There are other hints, like the bit about releasing foxes to burn the grain of Samson’s enemies. Jesus compared people to grain. I suspect the foxes symbolized evangelists, destroying the harvest of the enemy.

I dunno. I always see the world in terms of symbols. For that reason, the Bible has always driven me crazy.

One thing I believe very strongly is that Christians need to get over feeling superior to Jews. I believe Jews missed the boat, with regard to the Messiah. But Christians threw away and even reviled the Holy Spirit, which is probably worse. It’s the power to change the world. What we did was like losing the Ark of the Covenant, and the result was pretty much the same. We lost battles we should have won. And a lot of people who feel superior to Jews would have been clamoring for the Crucifixion as loudly as anyone, had they been around to do it.

I can tell you as an eyewitness that the Holy Spirit is still here, and that things that qualify as prophetic events still happen, and I am sure I’m one of many. If I were you, I’d be wary of ignoring what is happening, because to do so is on a par with failing to recognize the Messiah.

I’m not qualified to teach, and I am not fit to be a spiritual leader, but I feel safe in saying that much.

I really will catch up on emails soon. Sorry.

ISO9000 NOT

Marv is somewhat disappointed in his adoring fans for not asking him questions, so he has gone off on a rant about human intelligence. You can read it here.

I am going to try to get my butt to the range today. I have decided I don’t totally trust the first box of ammunition I made, so I’m going to have to make more. I dread taking the first box apart, but I think it’s a smart move. I’ve read about the fun things that happen to people who overcharge their rounds, and I am not interested in destroying a magazine and possibly damaging the gun and my precious self.

One nice thing about shooting with Mike is that we went to an indoor range, so we were able to find and recover almost all our brass, including nearly a hundred precious nickel .38 Super cases. Mike wanted to shoot .38 Super; what can I tell you. In the end he liked the .45 a lot better, and vice-versa. Don’t know why. They seem to shoot about the same, from my perspective.

I hope he’ll be able to shoot more often. The only thing more fun than shooting with a good friend is shooting with a good friend who shoots really well. Mike was a little rusty, but he would still be in the 95th percentile at Trail Glades.

I want to get into shotguns. When Mike and I were kids we used to go to arcades and wear out the skeet machines, shooting from the hip. I’d love to get proficient with the real thing.

You would think we could go ten days without a new natural disaster, but it looks like it’s not going to happen. As I’m sure you know, there was an earthquake in China, and they think it has killed 3,000-5,000 people. It’s particularly unfortunate that it happened right on the tail of the Burma cyclone. Ordinarily, a disaster like this earthquake would be big news, but with Burma death-toll estimates ranging up to a million, it will be harder to get the public excited about earthquake donations. I am sure World Vision will be all over this, and here’s where you can find them.

While looking up information on China and Burma, I found a moving story on Yahoo! News. Irena Sendler has died at the age of 98. If you don’t know who she was, don’t feel bad. Neither did I. She was a Polish woman who saved the lives of thousands of Jewish children. She delivered them out of the Warsaw Ghetto. The story is a little sparse, but it says she was arrested by the Nazis, who broke her arms and legs for her troubles.

I will never understand how violent people can take pride in brutalizing the weak. I suppose you can derive a sick sense of accomplishment by harming someone who has the capacity to hurt you. But how can you be proud of breaking an unarmed woman’s arms and legs? I think I would vomit for a month.

As for Mrs. Sendler, wouldn’t you love to face God with a record like hers? As eternal resumes go, hers is hard to top. Most of us pack our lives with pleasure and goods, and then we die, and it all disappears. Mrs. Sendler packed boxes and suitcases with Jewish children and smuggled them to freedom. And her deeds will live forever, and they will continue to give dividends in the form of the new lives of the descendants of the Jews she saved. There is hope that the rest of us can be as lucky as Mrs. Sendler, or maybe less lucky, but in the same general way. If you send Jews to Israel via the IFCJ’s On Wings of Eagles program, the good consequences of your act will continue to flower as long as the world endures. The people you send will have children, and their children will have children, and so on. As charitable donations go, that is a real bargain. Helpful tip: if you specify the country to which you want your donation to go, you’ll receive a card identifying the people or person you helped.

Mrs. Sendler’s story reminds me of another one. I doubt most people are aware that the physicist Niels Bohr was instrumental in saving around 6,000 Danish Jews. And he was Jewish himself, although I don’t think he thought of himself that way. His mother was Jewish, so that made him Jewish, too. If you’re not a physicist, that may not mean anything to you, but if you understand how great Bohr’s contribution to physics was, it’s interesting. Gentiles have done a lot of good work in physics, but for most of the 20th century, you could accurately have referred to physics as a Jewish science. Bohr, Einstein, Teller, von Neumann, Szilard, Meitner…the list is very long. Their work changed the world by giving us nuclear weapons, and sadly, many of them were instrumental in helping the Soviets get the same technology, resulting in the Cold War. So they reshaped the political world at the same time. Mainly in the name of socialism, the primary, seminal exponent of which was a German Jew.

Always at the center of the world. So strange. Scientifically, politically, in matters of religion, and even physically. Check a globe. If Israel isn’t at the center of the world’s land masses, I don’t know what is.

But the Bible is a fairy tale, right?

In related news, via Stand for Israel, Victor Davis Hanson questions Jimmy Carter’s bizarre human rights priorities. Don’t we all? I would hate to have to explain to God why it was that out of all the people in the Middle East, the Jews were the ones I felt most compelled to criticize and hinder. I guess they’ll never be as humane as their progressive neighbors, who are shelling Israeli civilians as I type this.

Pray I don’t blow myself up at the range. Or that if I do, I survive long enough to write an amusing blog entry about it.

Sabbath Ends too Soon

Here is a weird end to my sabbath. I went over to check on Leah Friedman, who has been recovering from respiratory arrest for some time now. Looks like she continues to improve, and she credits prayer, and I know a lot of my readers prayed for her and left comments. I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you doing this for her. A lot of fine people read this blog. And you enabled me to do something good with it.

While on her blog, I saw this Matisyahu video.

This guy is a Lubavitcher chassid who sings reggae. Go figure. He calls himself a rapper, but he’s doing himself a disservice, because he composes his own music, and he sings. It sounds nothing like rap.

I was very impressed. Because I grew up in Miami, my friends were getting me into reggae back before Reagan, and I’ve heard a lot of stuff. Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, and so on. And I think this guy beats them all. I wonder if all of his stuff is this good. You can sense the crowd wanting to laugh at him at first, but he bulls his way through and ends up slaying them.

Coincidentally, I read about the Jewish denominations in How Firm a Foundation this week, and Rabbi Eckstein wrote about the chassids. One thing he pointed out, which had not been clear to me before (in spite of knowing a one-time Lubavitcher) was that the chassids are passionate about enjoying life’s pleasures and spreading love. So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised to hear Lubavitcher reggae.

The sabbath was good. I’m still trying to polish the rough edges off of my sabbath technique, however. I think every week I’ve learned a little bit more about what Jews go through. This week, I’m learning how it feels for the sabbath to end too soon. I’ll bet Jewish readers have been having this feeling since they were born, or since they became observant.

Thinking about observant Jews and dance music, I remember dancing with the rabbis and students at Yeshiva Ohr Somayach, in Jerusalem, in 1984. What a strange night. Maybe the awful beard I had grown gave them the impression that I was Jewish. Who would grow a ratty beard like that if his religion didn’t force him? Anyway, I got drawn into a big circle, and a little boy with sidecurls grabbed my leg and made me put him on my shoulders.

Which reminds me of this:

14 But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.

15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

17 Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.

19 For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.

20 The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?

22 Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.

Okay, it says “daughters,” not “sons.” I realize that. But men and women were segregated. Cut me a little slack. And Isaiah was talking about Gentiles bringing Jews back to Israel, not dancing on Purim. But now we Gentiles are part of that, too.

Whatever the drawbacks of living in this turbulent era are, it is one of the few times since the Crucifixion when people have had the privilege of seeing that they are mentioned in prophecy. That’s really something. If I can see myself and others like me in the book of Isaiah, how hard should it be for me to believe that I am also mentioned in the Book of Life?

We are living in a remarkable time of cooperation and understanding between certain Jews and certain Christians. Some beliefs separate us, but in an unprecedented way, we are in agreement about many things. We agree that the Messiah is coming soon. We agree that the Temple will be rebuilt. We agree that all of the prophecy of the Hebrew Bible is true, and some Jews are even willing to concede that bits of the New Testament are true. Such as the part about Christians being grafted onto the root of Judaism.

When the Messianic Age begins, it won’t really matter who was wrong or right, will it? Eventually, everyone will agree on the identity of the Messiah. And there is little for us to fight about in the meantime, as far as I can see. So there is no reason why cooperation should not continue and increase. Jews are more cautious about eschatology than Christians are; nonetheless, eschatology is turning out to be a powerful uniting force. And I think it’s becoming easier for Jews to tell the difference between the classes of Christians they can trust and the ones they can’t.

I learned one more interesting thing today. In the book of Numbers, God Himself describes the difference between Moses and every other prophet who had lived until his time. He spoke to Moses face to face, but He communicated to prophets in dreams and visions. I didn’t realize that. I had always assumed prophets opened their mouths, and God’s words came out, and that dreams and visions were fairly useless, because they may mean a lot or nothing at all. So maybe there are a lot of people out there who are prophets, yet don’t realize it because they discount the things they’ve seen. Maybe the fact that something happens to you while you’re sleeping or drowsing doesn’t mean it has no meaning. That gives me pause, when I think about things that have happened to me.

I’m up too late. Talk to you tomorrow.

I Didn’t

I just realized it’s Mothers’ Day. Usually, Blue Mountain reminds me. I guess I finally took my grandmother and mother off the reminder list. I did not enjoy having unexpected emails remind me that they were gone.

Let me post something my mother loved. I posted it in 2005, and I’m posting it again. It’s from the book of Proverbs, verses 31:10-31.

“Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
She will do him good and no evil all the days of her life.
She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
She is like the merchants’ ship; she bringeth her food from afar.
She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.
She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.”

I Must Learn to Have an Original Thought Once in a While

I have started on the book of Numbers. And I have to say, the title is appropriate. There are some parts of the Bible I just skim. I know I will never remember the names of the tribe leaders and how many people were in each tribe. I admire anyone who can memorize things like that.

I feel the need for a break, so I am perusing my weekly Winn-Dixie ad. As you may recall, Winn-Dixie is the Florida supermarket chain which is NOT funding a lawsuit to make it impossible for people to carry arms in their cars. As far as I know. Wish I could say the same of Publix. I haven’t shopped there in quite some time.

I was busy with nonsense on Thursday and Friday, so I neglected to check this week’s ad. And it breaks my heart, because skirt steak has been on sale. Oh, the ache.

They’re also selling boliche (eye round roast) for $2.99 a pound. This stuff is wonderful, if you do what the Cubans do with it. Open a channel down the middle and stuff it with fat and/or sausage. Brown it and put it in a pressure cooker with various stew ingredients. Give it an hour and a half. It will be excellent. I think you could make it better by adding a beef rib (nearly free) to bulk up the sauce.

Boneless pork roast, $1.99 a pound. Be still, my heart. The things I can do with that.

Rib roast, $5.99 a pound! Oh, yes. Get me some of that. The freezer is already full of aged rib eyes, but I can make room for more.

Lots of good stuff today. I better go grab something that cooks up fast and easy, so as to minimize the impact on my Sunday.

I ate a Cherokee Chocolate tomato and a Dr. Wyche’s yellow tomato today. I managed to grow them, although they were small and not pretty. The flavor was magnificent. Much better than the heirlooms you get at stores. People keep telling me hybrids are the way to go. Whatever. I may never know, because I can’t grow hybrids, either.

I have a new batch of tomato plants going. We’ll see how they do. The Dr. Wyche’s tomatoes are considerably better than the Kentucky Beefsteaks I grew, so in the future, I guess I’ll just try to grow Dr. Wyche’s. That offends my national pride as a person born in Kentucky, but I have to call them as I see them.

Mike tells me his plants grow beautifully INDOORS in NEW HAMPSHIRE with ONE HOUR OF SUNLIGHT PER DAY in TWO-GALLON BUCKETS. I am so mad. I gave him the seeds, so I know I could have done this. It’s time for me to try. I should have known better than to trust the people who claimed plants had to have all-day sun. I’m going to put two plants indoors, even if I have to throw out furniture. In here, there will be no bugs and no fungus.

Mike and I are a lot alike. Neither of us does anything the orthodox way. I tried to follow the rules, and I got nothing for it. He did everything wrong and has tons of tomatoes. What was I thinking?

See you at the meat counter.

Seems That Way

Wow, thank goodness the problems in Myanmar are all fixed. That was fast, huh?

Of course, I am being sarcastic. But it seems like this horrible catastrophe–one of the worst in human history, if the numbers are to be believed–is no longer important enough to attract the attention of the American press. I admit, I don’t stare at cable news all day, but I do turn it on a few times every day, and what are people talking about? Obama and gas prices. Am I wrong? That’s how it seems to me. And Drudgebart.tv.com hasn’t updated the Myanmar situation in a while. Google still has it at the top of their page.

I guess Myanmar is like Afghanistan. Just not sexy. Or maybe part of the problem is that Myanmar’s bizarre, evil government is obstructing aid and press coverage. I thought Kathleen Blanco was the only governing official in the universe who would turn down aid during a major disaster, but apparently, I was mistaken. I should have remembered the leftist regime in Ethiopia, which created artificial famine by refusing food to citizens who didn’t support the government’s politics.

They’re saying 100,000 people are probably dead because of Cyclone Nargis. I can’t grasp the enormity of that figure. Dead bodies are rotting in the sun or clumping together, bloated, in bodies of water. As they did in Thailand and Indonesia. There aren’t enough people to bury them. People are dying of starvation and disease and injuries and exposure. And somehow we have time for American Idol, but not Myanmar. Am I getting a warped picture because I never watch network TV? I can’t believe this.

After Hurricane Andrew, Miami was on TV every day for weeks. Disaster tourists were a major problem. When I finally got electricity and television back, I saw them on the news, standing through the open moonroofs of cars and minivans, shooting footage of downed houses. Slowing traffic to a crawl. That was bad, but ignoring a disaster is much worse.

Maybe it’s not just a human failing. Maybe it’s God’s judgment. Myanmar has an official policy of eradicating Christianity, and as I understand it, Myanmar’s Jews could all fit in a school bus. Perhaps the lack of press coverage is part of the judgment.

It’s peculiar that we are no longer allowed to hypothesize that God punishes nations and cities. It happened in the Bible a number of times. Sodom, Gomorrah, Babylon, Shiloh, Egypt, and even Israel as a whole. How many examples do you need? It’s not offensive for a Christian to opine that a disaster may have been related to God’s anger. It’s common sense. If the God of the Bible exists, persecuting Jews or Christians is a very bad idea. So is afflicting the weak. The Torah said that if Israel didn’t observe the sabbath and sabbath years, the land would spew the people out and give itself a sabbath. And that’s what the land did. Trying to ban Christianity from an entire nation can’t be a wise move.

I think about things like that a lot, in connection with my own failings. It’s surprising, the list of things you can do to mess up your life. Things that don’t spring to mind immediately when you think about sin. Failing to honor your parents. Failing to help the needy. Failing to support ministries. Harming the Jews. Failing to forgive. It’s possible to work hard to be good and still do things that cause you problems. Purely from ignorance. And you may be unaware of proactive things you’re required to do.

The other day I was watching an IFCJ video, and Rabbi Eckstein said Jews didn’t understand how Christians came up with “the Ten Commandments,” since the Torah is loaded with other commandments. True, the tablets from Mt. Sinai only contain ten, but there are many others. The Jews count 613. I don’t suggest that Christians should obey every part of the Mosaic law, but you can learn a lot about God’s desires by reading the Torah. And you can’t say you haven’t sinned just because you’ve obeyed the Ten Commandments. If that were true, things like kidnapping and incest would be okay.

On the one hand, I would not be surprised if the government of Myanmar caused this disaster by persecuting Christians. On the other, it’s clear that we have a duty to help, now that it has happened. Shouldn’t our journalists be doing all they can to provide coverage and keep our attention focused on the suffering? I believe they should. Maybe they are. We can’t expect them to risk doing time in Burmese jails.

I know I’m inconsistent, using the term “Burmese,” but I can’t stomach “Myanmarese.”

If you run over to World Vision’s site, you’ll see a video about their work in Myanmar. Admittedly, they are not being permitted to do much, but they have been there for decades, and they are probably a good bet if you’re looking for a charity that will eventually be able to get something done there. Here’s a link.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Only Heathens Have Hangovers on Monday

Once again, thanks for all the reloading info. I hope everyone realizes that when I write posts complaining about the press, I am in a homicidal mood. Imagine dealing with a problem with Microsoft software for about three days, having to reboot your computer a thousand times and getting utterly inadequate information from the boys over in Calcutta. Remember how you felt the last time that happened (shut up, George Moneo)? That’s the state I’m in when I write these things. So if I seem unhinged, consider what I have been going through all day.

On top of that, I have always had a problem with bad teaching, which is what you get from a bad manual. Back when I was studying math and physics, I vented my spleen constantly on bad teachers and the authors of bad books. Very often, I ignored the text for a course as much as I could, in favor of better things I found at bookstores. Schaum manuals, in particular, were fantastic. Fifteen-dollar paperback manuals often blew away seventy-dollar hardcover doorstops.

For some odd reason, people in math and science feel entitled to write text books just because they’re good at what they do. Sometimes they’re right. A few Nobel winners have managed to write excellent books. Generally, they’re completely wrong. The skills it takes to be a great scholar are utterly unrelated to the skills it takes to be a good teacher.

Part of the problem is that math and science people have gigantic egos, and many are a bit hostile, and they like making things hard for other people, because then they can swoop in and show how obvious the answers are. It’s an insecurity thing. You spend your childhood with a perpetual wedgie, and you get used to mommy patting your head every time you say something smart in front of company, and you grow up with an insatiable need to prove your superiority. So you deliberately explain things badly and then express pretend surprise when intelligent or even brilliant people have no idea what you mean. The other side of this equation is the insecure students who sit and nod approvingly when they don’t have the faintest clue what you’re talking about. I assume they grow up to be textbook authors.

One physicist at the University of Texas said he considered something “obvious” if a graduate student could figure it out in a day and a half. Boy, I’ll bet he has great friendships and romantic relationships. You can tell he’s a joy to be around. Richard Feynman said that if you can’t explain something to someone who isn’t as knowledgeable as you are, you probably don’t understand it yourself.

I think math and physics students should develop a practice of raising their hands and saying, “I realize you are a towering genius and I am a moron, so let’s get past that and get straight to the explanation of what you just said.”

I don’t think bad manuals are driven by insecurity. Just bad business skills. If you punish your customers, they punish you right back, and they always win.

Sunday was great. If you’re religious, let me urge you again: try it. If you’re Jewish, take Saturday off. If you’re a Christian, pick the weekend day of your choice. It really works.

Let’s see. I finished Exodus and got started on Leviticus. I read more of Rabbi Eckstein’s How Firm a Foundation. I stayed away from the reloading press. And I discovered one more benefit of observing the sabbath. I got to bed at a more reasonable hour.

I have come to the realization that almost nothing worthwhile happens after ten p.m. It’s too late to play music. TV is like toxic waste mixed with junk food, and the older you get, the more boring it seems. It’s too late to use noisy tools. Too dark to do anything outside. You can’t eat, unless you want to lie in bed with a giant lump in your stomach. It’s too late for me to take Marvin and Maynard out. Best choice? Hit the hay and get up at a better time the next day. The early morning, horrific as it is for the first half hour, is nothing like as useless as the hours after ten p.m. You can get your prayers done properly. You can have a decent breakfast. You can leave for work at the correct time and not drive like a maniac. All around, getting up early is a good idea.

Last night I managed to get in bed not long after ten, and it was due to the nature of the day. You can’t observe the sabbath and then sit up websurfing or watching R-rated cable movies. So it’s easier to get to bed early and reset your internal clock.

While reading Rabbi Eckstein’s book, I was surprised by the attitude he takes toward the suffering of the Jews. He seems to think Christians believe Jews are supposed to suffer, and that this drives anti-Semitism. And he believes Man has the tools to end Jewish suffering, as well as suffering in general. I know Christian ignoramuses have come up with a lot of insane rationalizations for anti-Semitism, but I think Rabbi Eckstein is mistaken. For one thing, anti-Semitism is not a Christian idea; it’s more pervasive than that. I think the Rabbi focuses too much on Christians. Right now, the worst offenders are Muslims. And the atheists who ran the USSR were also extremely damaging. As were the Nazis, who hated Christianity as well as Judaism. For another thing, I believe the world is manipulated by evil supernatural beings hostile to God, and the Jews are special to God, so they will always be targets. I think the same beings drive the persecution of effective, faith-filled Christians. And I don’t think Man can put an end to any of this, under his own power. Seems to me that Christians and Jews have to stand together in faith.

Christians believe Satan is evil and has his own agenda. Jews believe he works for God, so I suppose they would have a hard time accepting the idea of legions of fallen angels under Satan’s control, attacking everyone God loves.

Now that I think about it, it seems like Africans suffer more than anyone. Like I always say, compared to Africa, even India looks like paradise. And Jews have fared better than American Indians.

I may attack the reloading press again today. I ordered the fancy Hornady parts that are supposed to make pistol charges uniform, but I would love to make it work without them, just so I could feel like I beat the silly thing.

Place your bets.

Sunday Brings Welcome Break From Struggle With Mechanical Ineptitude

Yesterday I had an experience that helped me understand what Jews go through every week. Observant Jews always go crazy on Friday, talking about the things they can’t get done by sundown. Well, yesterday I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish, and because the reloading press soaked up so much time, I had to cross a bunch of them off my list. I think getting the first batch of pistol rounds out of that thing may turn out to be my most rewarding experience since taking up tools. I felt great when I fabricated a smoker box for the Hoginator, and I was on top of the world the day I finished my outdoor entertainment cabinet, but those tasks were child’s play compared to reloading.

It’s funny how people live in little segregated subsets of society, and how that limits what we do. For example, let’s say I want to redo some ducting for my air conditioning system. I’m screwed. I have to buy books and read websites. I’ll come here and ask my readers questions. It would be a living hell. But a guy from a blue-collar background may have a totally different experience. Someone in his family will know how to do it. One of his friends, maybe. And in all likelihood, someone he knows will be able to “borrow” tools and materials from work.

Similarly, I suppose, people from blue-collar families have it rough when they need professional services. If I have a legal problem, I can handle it myself. I can call other lawyers and get free help. Doctors treat each other’s kids free of charge. Something that might cost you five thousand dollars may cost a doctor’s kid nothing.

I have never had a relative or friend who reloads! Not one! There is absolutely nobody near me I can ask for help. So problems that seem simple to other people are very difficult for me. I can email people or make phone calls, but it’s not the same. It’s like trying to learn machining in Miami. You can either enroll in vocational training and pay thousands, or you can do your best with DVDs, books, and the Internet.

Throw ADD into the mix, and things are even worse. The manuals are just plain bad, and on top of that, they’re boring, so I have to read every page over and over. I can tell my attention span is getting worse with age.

Regardless, I’ll beat it. All I have to do is conquer the powder measure. People are telling me they get consistent pistol charges with the rifle meter. I admire their skill. I’m getting +/- 0.5 grains on a 5-grain charge. I don’t know if it’s humidity, or stubborn bits of the manufacturer’s greasy film, or what. But it ain’t working, and I would rather spend another 70 bucks than keep beating my head against the wall. I do know I’m not the only one who has this problem.

It seems like reloading–like shooting–is an art, and I think that is the source of many of my problems. I expect cut-and-dried solutions, and everyone else is relying on experience and creativity.

Homebrewing was much easier to learn, and I had no help at all. My first batch of beer was magnificent. And I had to invent my own methods.

Commenters are now telling me things which confirm my fears. You have to work the press handle with a consistent motion. You have to have some vibration to make the powder flow. You have to keep the powder measure loaded up so the weight of the powder moves things along. Art, art, art. Okay, I accept it. It’s not a toaster. You can’t push a button and wait for bullets to come out.

I have this thing set up to where it will work, once the powder issue is fixed. From here on out, I’m going to start applying my own ideas. I’ll quit letting it intimidate me. I think I’ll rig something up to vibrate the powder measure. I may put a Dillon powder checker on the press, even though Hornady makes something less sophisticated which is supposed to do the same basic thing.

The goal of saving money is going to have to be abandoned. I am going to have to do what the manufacturer expects and buy items to make the machine work. Maybe over several years I’ll come out ahead, but for now, it’s expensive. To make four different calibers, I’ll end up spending maybe eleven hundred dollars on equipment. I don’t care. I want control of my ammunition, and I want to understand it. And I am not going to let this silly machine beat me.

I am off to enjoy the rest of my Sunday. Even though I am not where I wanted to be by today, I am doing better than I did last week. My preparation is improving.

Maybe by next Sunday, I’ll have a post up telling how well my ammunition worked.