WobLog

Wilfred McClay, a humanities professor at the University of Tennessee, writes a review in the Wall Street Journal on the Teaching Company, the Chantilly, VA-based outfit that provides courses on a variety of subjects on both Audio CD and DVD. Lisa and I have watched several DVD courses now, and we really enjoy them.

Many of the DVD courses are also available on CD. We've never really done the CDs: Lisa spends a fair amount of time in the car, but with the kids in tow, it's not time that's conducive to serious study. I'm fortunate not to have a very long commute, so the CDs wouldn't work for me, either. However, our friend Ed — who hopes one day to get a gig as a "student" for one of the Teaching Company tapings (they're just down the road from him) — swears by the CDs.

If you do decide to order some of their lectures, be sure to buy them when they're on sale. Everything in the catalogue goes on sale once a year, and the discount is substantial.

Posted by Don Roberts at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Matthew Franck writes about a proposal working its way through the California initiative process that would reform the method by which California's votes in presidential elections are awarded in the Electoral College. The proposed change would allocate electoral votes to the popular vote winner in each of the state’s 53 congressional districts, with the remaining two votes going to the statewide winner.

An editorial in the New York Times decries the move as "anti-democratic" because it "would rig elections in a way that would make it difficult for a Democrat to be elected president, no matter how the popular vote turns out."

Democrat activists in California have responded by introducing a ballot measure that would award California's Electoral College votes to the winner of the national popular vote, regardless of the outcome in California. This would be a first step toward instituting a national direct election of the President, abolishing the Electoral College.

I'm a big fan of the Electoral College. It helps protect the interests of smaller states and of people living in rural areas. A direct national election of the President would give all the power to large cities in the U.S. Would the reform proposed above (the first one, not the nutty second one) make matters better or worse? The present system, in which the winner takes all of a state's Electoral College votes, protects local interests down to the state level. The proposed reform would push that protection down to the Congressional district level. To me, that sounds like a good thing.

Franck worries that the reform might weaken the two-party system, since it would be easier for a minor party candidate to win individual districts as opposed to entire states. That's a legitimate concern, given the havoc that multi-party systems cause in European and Israeli politics. Still, I'm inclined to support the proposed reform for California. We wouldn't even be the first state to adopt this approach. Maine and Nebraska already award their Electoral College votes this way. I think it's worth a try.

Posted by Don Roberts at 5:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Fr. George Rutler, host of the wonderful EWTN program Christ in the City, has just published a new book, Coincidentally: Unserious Reflections on Trivial Connections. Here's one example:

That morose day of Napoleon’s surrender…witnessed one of history’s grandest homophonic sentences, a homophone being, we might say, a verbal coincidence….Napoleon stood silent on the deck for a painful while and then muttered with resignation: "Cast off, it is time to go." Only the Corsican said it in his accented French which he had learned at the age of ten: "A l’eau, c’est l’heure." A young British sailor standing on deck knew not the gilded tongue of mankind’s golden race. Under the impression that the fallen emperor was speaking English, the sailor was flattered by what he mistook for familiarity and later reported that Napoleon had the courtesy to address him, "Hello, sailor."

H/T NRO

Posted by Don Roberts at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Global Warming® is omnipotent. Like Oprah.

Since the late 1960s, much of the North Atlantic Ocean has become less salty, in part due to increases in fresh water runoff induced by global warming, scientists say.

— Michael Schirber, LiveScience, 29 June 2005

The surface waters of the North Atlantic are getting saltier, suggests a new study of records spanning over 50 years. They found that during this time, the layer of water that makes up the top 400 metres has gradually become saltier. The seawater is probably becoming saltier due to global warming, Boyer says.

— Catherine Brahic, New Scientist, 23 August 2007

H/T NRO

Posted by Don Roberts at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

With a new baby on the way, one of our tasks has been preparing for the baby's baptism. One such task was choosing godparents (Hi Aherns!). Fr. Jim Tucker, a priest in Northern Virginia, wrote about the role of Catholic godparents:

Canon law actually describes the godparent in some detail:

Can. 872 Insofar as possible, a person to be baptized is to be given a sponsor who assists an adult in Christian initiation or together with the parents presents an infant for baptism. A sponsor also helps the baptized person to lead a Christian life in keeping with baptism and to fulfill faithfully the obligations inherent in it.

Can. 873 There is to be only one male sponsor or one female sponsor or one of each.

Can. 874 §1. To be permitted to take on the function of sponsor a person must:

1/ be designated by the one to be baptized, by the parents or the person who takes their place, or in their absence by the pastor or minister and have the aptitude and intention of fulfilling this function;

2/ have completed the sixteenth year of age, unless the diocesan bishop has established another age, or the pastor or minister has granted an exception for a just cause;

3/ be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist and who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on;

4/ not be bound by any canonical penalty legitimately imposed or declared;

5/ not be the father or mother of the one to be baptized.

§2. A baptized person who belongs to a non-Catholic ecclesial community is not to participate except together with a Catholic sponsor and then only as a witness of the baptism.

Fr. Tucker then goes on to explain the personal role of the godparents as Christian witnesses living their Catholic faith. Choosing godparents, and being a godparent, are serious responsibilities. When Sarah was baptized, there was a little friction on my side of the family that we didn't pick family members as godparents. However, there weren't a lot of qualified candidates. By the time Alex came along, I think everyone had learned that we took the choice seriously, and there wasn't much fuss. Same thing this time. Yet another example of a little pain in the short term preventing a lot of grief in the long run.

Posted by Don Roberts at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today's New York Times has an op-ed by Donald Roberts that describes how DDT has been brought back for use as an indoor mosquito repellant:

DDT, the miracle insecticide turned environmental bogeyman, is once again playing an important role in public health. In the malaria-plagued regions of Africa, where mosquitoes are becoming resistant to other chemicals, DDT is now being used as an indoor repellent. Research that I and my colleagues recently conducted shows that DDT is the most effective pesticide for spraying on walls, because it can keep mosquitoes from even entering the room.

No, I didn't write the op-ed. The Dr. Roberts who did is an emeritus professor of tropical medicine in Maryland. However, I agree with his view that DDT should play a role in fighting malaria. Its use can save many lives.

Posted by Don Roberts at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Great news! Of special interest to those who don't have easy access to a parish offering the Traditional Latin Mass (aka "the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite"), EWTN will televise a Solemn High Mass on September 14 at 8:00 am EDT, in honor of the Holy Father's motu proprio authorizing wider use of the TLM:

DENTON, Nebraska - AUGUST 17, 2007 - For the first time in its 26 year history, Mother Angelica's Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) will be broadcasting a live Solemn High Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama on September 14, 2007 at 8:00AM EST.

EWTN has asked for the assistance of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, an international Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right, to help celebrate this "extraordinary" form.

This past July 7th, Pope Benedict XVI affirmed the beauty and importance of the Tridentine Mass by issuing Summorum Pontificum, a papal document encouraging and confirming the right of all Latin Rite priests to use this more ancient use of the Mass starting September 14th. The Tridentine Mass was the normative liturgy experienced by Latin Rite Catholics prior to the Second Vatican Council.

"Most Catholics have not seen this heavenly celebration in over 40 years," said Father Calvin Goodwin, a professor at the Society's international English-speaking seminary located in Denton, Nebraska. "We are very excited to help EWTN and to support the Holy Father's call for a wider presence of this form of the Mass. This is a cause for great joy."

Priests and seminarians from Denton, Nebraska will travel to Alabama and provide the celebrant, deacon, subdeacon, preacher, master of ceremonies and altar servers.

I'm glad it's going to be a Solemn High Mass. The sung TLM is really the preferred form for the traditional liturgy. "Low Mass" is supposed to be the exception, not the rule (sadly, this isn't often the case). While a more difficult liturgy to perform (requiring more altar boys, a choir, organ, etc.), the High Mass is a more accessible form for the congregation. This will give people watching a better appreciation for what the liturgy is supposed to accomplish.

H/T New Liturgical Movement

Posted by Don Roberts at 2:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I attended a memorial service the other day at a Bay Area Unitarian Universalist church. This was my first direct experience of a UU congregation. Perhaps the most notable feature was that the minister never made reference to God or Heaven. I did some reading up afterward and discovered, as the Wikipedia article linked above points out, that most Unitiarians today identify themselves as Humanists, and that only a small fraction (~13%) identify themselves as Christians (tied with those identifying themselves as Pagans).

As it happens, Lisa and I are watching lectures on Early American History, and we're learning more about the religious foundation of New England. Just prior to that, we finished up a series on the Foundations of Western Civilization, which traced the different threads of the Protestant Reformation in the final lectures. So it was interesting to see that the origins of the Unitarian church are in the 19th century Congregational churches in New England, which in turn trace their origins to the 17th century Puritan churches of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

To go from New England Puritans to a church in which 87% of members identify themselves as something other than Christian. Purely from a Christian perspective, somewhere along the line this train went off the rails.

Posted by Don Roberts at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

For anyone who's a fan of Pachebel's Canon in D Major or who's ever had to put a kid to bed, you'll enjoy this:

H/T Jonah Goldberg

Posted by Don Roberts at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yesterday, we spent the day at the Oakland Zoo. The kids had a blast: they liked the Children's Zoo with its animal-theme play area and petting zoo, they loved the kiddie ride area (especially the roller coaster), and they were even interested in the animals (particularly the meerkats).

That was then; this is now. Today, Alex woke up feeling bad and throwing up. Don't know if it was a bug he picked up from one of the kids at the zoo, from one of the goats (so much for using the hand sanitizer after visiting the petting zoo), or from falling into the pond in the play area, but we're hoping it's a 24-hour thing.

Posted by Don Roberts at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)