The asterisk in modern apologetics

This morning I dropped by a blog I hadn't visited in a long time.  I saw it nestled deep in my favorites and couldn't remember anything about it or even bookmarking the site so I figured I'd click on it.  I saw a post that was strangely appropro in describing a dilemma I frequently encounter.

Such an issue inevitably brings up a hundred other things, and I'm often caught trying to distinguish between what Protestants think Catholics teach, what your average Catholic believes, what the bishops and priests are likely to say, and what the Catholic church really teaches - whatever the heck that means.  And, reflecting on that last point, I'm feeling myself falling into my old habit of not giving a rip what the bishops or the pope says.

Not really, of course, but as a practical matter it hardly matters.  When they do say something, it's usually something stupid.  Just a couple days ago I read how the U.S. bishops want to press their opposition to the death penalty.  You know, I simply don't care what they have to say on that subject.  They're so woefully out of touch with Scripture and tradition that I don't see why I should pay any attention.

The same seems to apply to most other matters, actually. Unless and until they start showing some sense, I don't think it's worth while to pay any attention to them.

Posted 7/3/2008 by Michael Inman | Link |

This Day

Our emancipation draweth nigh.  Taking a little road trip this morning.  Details later.

Later...

The other night, Janet, Alison, and I were talking and we all agreed that the last thirteen months has been the worst year of our collective lives.

What could you possibly mean, you say?

Today, the long dark night came to an end.  What follows may sound heartless but it's not meant to be and before you judge it so, you need to have walked in our shoes for the last year.

It started in May, 2007 as I sat in a Draffenville, KY, Dairy Queen attempting to make conversation with a seven-year-old girl who, I was just discovering, was obviously quite retarded.  I'm not going to go into a lot of detail but we accepted an assignment of guardianship of this girl at the desperate request of her aunt and uncle, former neighbors of ours when we lived in Paducah, who were about to see her go into foster care because no one in her family was able/willing to care for her.  They knew we had gone through the state foster care classes and approached us privately about their niece in an attempt to keep her "out of the system".  She had previously lived with her grandmother who we later discovered was just about as crazy as a loon, an apparent pathological liar, and had subjected the poor child to a lifetime of (benign) neglect.

This arrangement was originally meant to be temporary while the grandmother was in the hospital but when we uncovered the history of neglect, we decided that she couldn't go back to her grandmother.  However, we never intended to adopt another child.

The family never told us about the neglect which they were aware of.  They also never told us that she was mentally retarded with serious emotional, mental, and communicative developmental delays.  It would seem that the whole family was in denial about this one.  She was also still wearing diapers.  We found out about this when they brought her to us and said, "Oh, here are her diapers."

They later admitted that they had intentionally deceived us about her condition and history of neglect out of a fear that we would refuse to take her.  They were correct.  We would have.  Someone told us recently that when there is an alcoholic in the family, they tend to suck all the energy from the rest of the family and become the center of everything.  In our case, the same thing was true with a special needs child, especially one with a history of neglect.  This was a seven-year-old child who had, until coming to us, been basically raised by wolves.  To say "developmentally delayed" is putting it mildly when you have to pretty much start out with potty training and how to talk.

I do believe it may have been God's will that we keep her for the time we did.  She made a lot of progress while she was with us, mainly due to the heroic efforts by Janet.  She lost the diapers within the first month of coming to us, is now reading on at least a first grade level, can do basic addition and subtraction, and can at least talk intelligibly most of the time.  She has been taught about God and has an innate love for beauty.  For the survival of our own family, though, it's time she went back to hers.  It's time they stepped up to the plate and did what's right.  That's why, today, she returned to them.  We have our lives back.

Posted 7/1/2008 by Michael Inman | Link |

Saturday Linkies

I went to Larry Correia's blog to find an article he had written a few days ago I wanted to link to, and discovered something else he had written more recently in response to a NY Times editorial lamenting the SCOTUS Heller Decision.  It's pretty funny:

So how good was the Heller decision? Well, let’s take a look at what that bastion of journalistic integrity, the New York Times, is saying about the decision. Because, you know the NY Times will never lead you astray. This article was forwarded to me by Bob Westover for your reading enjoyment. As we go through, I will poke them. With a stick. NYT will be in italics, which is how they actually talk anyway. [More]

When George Bush says stupid crap, it is on every news station, comedians mock it ad nauseum, and even Iranian sock-puppets laugh at him. Barack says that he’s visited all 57 states where typical white people can abort their mistake children, sweetie, and that’s totally cool. And if you point that out, then obviously you’re a racist.

John McCain doesn’t misspeak. He actually is a democrat on 70% of the issues. The stuff he says that pisses me off is actually on purpose. He’s talking about how Lieberman and Bloomberg are still possible running-mates, and all I want to do is vomit. I’m really wanting to support you here John, because you’re running against a spoiled child that will destroy my country, so stop making it so DAMN HARD to support you!

Five years ago, when I told people that my eventual goal was to build a house out in the middle of nowhere that was totally off the grid, powered by solar panels, a wind turbine, with my own well and gravity fed water tower, I was a psycho right-wing militia type. Now, apparently I’m “environmentally aware” and “Green.” Oh, barf. Anybody who tells me that, I then point out that my off-the-grid house is also going to have a giant fence around it, topped in razor-wire, with solar-powered spotlights for my .50 BMG sniper rifle. Stuff it, hippie. Us government-hating survivalists were into that stuff way before you showed up to the party in your Prius.

Posted 6/28/2008 by Michael Inman | Link |

Our "Neighborhood"

Our small paved (no stripes) dead-end road with few residents makes for a great walking path.  I took this picture yesterday evening.

More pictures from the evening walk are here.

Posted 6/27/2008 by Michael Inman | Link |

A Good Day for the US Constitution

The Supreme Court has determined what should have been obvious to anyone:  The Second Amendment is an individual right, not a collective right.

A huge victory for American citizens.

Posted 6/26/2008 by Michael Inman | Link |

So that's what that means

After spending the afternoon working on a dead frame synchronizer with no luck, I have realized something.

They're not called switching power supplies because they use high frequency square waves to efficiently produce stable, relatively ripple-free, multiple dc voltages using smaller components than those required for a basic rectified and filtered regulated linear dc supply.  Oh, no.

They call them switching power supplies because when one goes bad... instead of wasting a day working on it... you're supposed to switch it with a new one.

Posted 6/25/2008 by Michael Inman | Link |

Quote of the Day

From this UPI story:  Many Dutch Prepare for 2012 Apocalypse

"You know, maybe it's really not that bad that the Netherlands will be destroyed," Petra Faile said. "I don't like it here anymore. Take immigration, for example. They keep letting people in. And then we have to build more houses, which makes the Netherlands even heavier. The country will sink even lower, which will make the flooding worse."

Posted 6/24/2008 by Michael Inman | Link |

Firsthand History

Yesterday the two kids and I drove down the hill to the rocky beach to recon the area, see if anyone was down there, and maybe do some swimming later that afternoon.  Right when we got there an older couple drove up on a golf cart and, as folks nearby do, struck up a conversation.  I had noticed their golf cart before cruising by the house on previous days so I knew they had to live nearby.  We started off discussing chickens... the man had asked me about our chickens and wondered if I needed any bantam roosters.  When he mentioned his guineas I figured out who he was.  Where the little road we live on stops at a larger state road, right across the state road is a little white house.  The older couple that live there are almost always sitting outside and wave every time I drive up to the stop sign to pull onto the main road.  They had several guineas but had lost a few to traffic on the road and when he mentioned them I figured out who I was talking to.

After official introductions, we had a fascinating conversation about the beautiful area we live in.  He was born and raised right on the road we live on in a big log cabin that had been purchased by a doctor and moved to another location a mile or so away.  His father had worked on the construction of Kentucky Dam and, while he had been too young to remember when the water rose and the Tennessee River became Kentucky Lake, he had certainly been around since TVA had acquired the hundreds of acres bordering our land as well as extending well into the woods along the mile or more of shoreline we were on.

I found out that the road bed on our property used to extend down into an actual community in an area he called Goat Hollow.  The other end of the road came out where the road we live on now ends at the lake.  Back in the hollow, besides a few homes, was a small general store that had been relocated when the dam was being built.  During my many treks back into those woods I've noticed pieces of old foundations, small lengths of what was obviously an old road bed, and even an old cistern at what appeared to be a homesite.  Many places back there have some old remnants of fencing left behind by a long forgotten farm.

He told me all about living back in here when there were only two houses on the whole road.  In those days you could spend the entire winter back here and never see another soul.  My kind of place.

Like some of my ancestors, he also had family that were displaced by TVA when they acquired all the property that later became the Land Between the Lakes.  TVA managed LBL until the mid 90's when they transferred control to the US Forest Service.  We both agreed wholeheartedly that, say what you will about TVA, LBL was a lot better place before the Forest Service took over.  That sentiment is shared by almost everyone I ask.

He also told me about a little known path that leads to a section of the land we were on that you can't get to by vehicle.  Although I know where the path is that he mentioned I had never been down it.  Apparently it widens out to an old road bed.  He promised to show it to me this fall when he goes squirrel hunting back there.  I quit hunting squirrels years ago (too much trouble to dress and clean) but I enthusiastically agreed to go.

We must have stood there in the shade by the lake talking for an hour before I figured I had bored the kids long enough and Janet was likely wondering where we were.  I could bend the ears of these local old timers for hours, especially when they share our appreciation for the area and love to talk about it.

Posted 6/23/2008 by Michael Inman | Link |

Haiku for today

New Bud Light with Lime:
Because homosexuals
Want a cheap beer too.

    ~ Shamelessly stolen from an internet forum

Posted 6/20/2008 by Michael Inman | Link |

My Chickens must be Franciscans

It was getting toward evening and the chickens were milling around the entrance to the coop when we looked out the window and noticed a doe walking across the field.  Then we noticed that the chickens all were standing stock still.

Then, they started walking single file toward the deer.  Kind of a slow amble.  The deer just stood and watched them approach.  I ran for the camera and got another one of those slightly blurry maximum zoom shots looking out the window.  By the time I took this picture, the chickens had broken formation and had sped up their advance on the deer.

I don't think the doe was quite sure what to think.  Eventually she had all twelve chickens just milling around her before she walked into the woods.  By that time they were all around a corner and partially obstructed by the trees so I couldn't get another picture.  After their visit was over and the deer walked back into the woods, the chickens trotted back to the coop.

Speaking of the chickens, one lady mentioned the other day that she was amazed that we still had all our chickens; that none had been lost to predators.  I haven't even given it much thought, really.  There are no free-ranging dogs around here and I haven't noticed any hawks or owls giving them any attention.  The only coyotes I ever hear anymore are a pretty good ways off.  I close the coop at night so they're probably safe from possums and raccoons.  If you've looked at the House in the Woods © pictures, then you may remember me tearing down some old henhouse that was on the property when we moved here.  I believe the folks that lived here before tried having chickens and lost all of them, mostly to a dog (that has since disappeared), within a month or so.

I figure with the chickens free ranging during the day, it's only a matter of time before it happens but, so far, I guess they've been pretty lucky.

Posted 6/18/2008 by Michael Inman | Link |

Best. Father's Day. Gift. Ever.

This morning Alison surprised me by saying, "Happy Father's Day," and giving me the reimagined Battlestar Galactica season one plus the miniseries on DVD.  She rolled a hard six on that one.

We don't watch much TV around here.  We don't have cable, satellite, or any of that stuff.  Our antenna mounted in the attic picks up the Paducah NBC affiliate, KET, and a lower power CW station.  I could turn the antenna toward Nashville and get more but we keep it turned this way for the local news.  Other than that, it's a few PBS shows and not much more.

Odd for someone who doesn't watch television to work in television but there it is.  In my engineering shop at work I have cable.  The TV is usually tuned to our college cable station to monitor our air signal but occasionally I'll flip around.  That's how I got completely hooked on Battlestar Galactica.  I came into it when the SciFi channel was showing a BSG marathon one day.  It was about the end of season one when I started watching.  About four or five episodes into season two I decided that I needed to be recording these babies so I bought a spindle of blank DVD's and began my BSG collection.  Catching reruns, I was later able to get most of the earlier episodes I missed.  As of last night I was only lacking the first seven episodes.  I had the miniseries but a cable system emergency alert test had interrupted a large chunk of part two which made it frustrating to watch.  I was lamenting last night that the SciFi schedule didn't show any BSG "marathons" in the near future so I didn't know if I'd ever catch the earlier season one episodes I had missed.  Janet and Alison found that pretty funny considering that they knew something I didn't.

Since I started recording them, Janet and Alison have both become BSG converts.  If you've seen the series, obviously, you know I have to carefully monitor what parts I let Alison watch.  Such is the nature of just about any dramatic series nowadays.

The current season four has rocked and for me has completely redeemed the lackluster season three rut the series seemed to fall in toward the end.  If you've been following the series, then you know that the producers have indicated that this will be the last season.  The mid-season finale aired last Friday night and it was a doozy.  Ten more episodes to go but we'll have to wait until 2009.

Posted 6/15/2008 by Michael Inman | Link |

Wildlife Happenings

During last night's monsoon rains Janet and I went out under an umbrella to admire our drainage system we had fixed up on a low part of the driveway.  We got back up onto the front porch and OHMYGOSHLOOKATTHATSNAKE!!

A colorful red, black, and white snake was laying on the edge of the porch underneath a glider right where Alison and her friend who is spending the night had earlier hung out drying off after swimming in the pool.

"Quick, where is a hoe?"  "I don't know. Look around for something!"  "There's nothing here... what about this garden rake!"  "No! I have to go out to the wellhouse and get the shovel!"  "I'm not staying here with this snake by myself!  I'll go!"  So, I stood guard while Janet ventured out into the monsoon and brought back a suitable snake killin' device.  I went around the edge of the porch where the flower bed so I could reach its head and "OH CRAP THERE ARE TWO OF 'EM!"

After a short battle the snakes were dispatched.

Then we went inside and looked online to identify this dangerous villain we had just defeated.

It was one of these.  Harmless.  It figures.  Even better, considered "rare".  Sheesh... I probably killed the only two in the county.

So, I've now memorized the saying, "Red and black, venom lack.  Red and yellow, kill a fellow."

This morning we noticed a turkey wandering around out in the back field.  Wasn't that unusual until we noticed that she had four young poults with her.  That was cool.  I took this picture out the window with the zoom lens maxed.  You can barely see some under her and one a little bit back behind.  She disappeared into the woods a few seconds later.