The first paper managed to get turned in on time, though admittedly it's not my best work, particularly with the citations and flow, and worse might accidentally have stated a position of Biblical inerrancy incompatible with Catholicism...which, even more embarrasingly, had just been touched upon in lecture barely a week prior.

On the other hand, I got to work putting together a dresser. The assembly of Walmart furniture is extremely tedious (2 hours thus far and I have yet to even begin assembling the drawers), but I think my dad would compliment the work, excepting the one nail I half split through the side in back. Being handy is a healthy source of pride now and again, confirming that I'm not totally inept at any job that requires tools.

Posted by Justice at 12:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I have learned a few things tonight, among them...

- Never leave a 7 page theology paper until the day before.

- Do not separate the reading phase of the assignment from the writing phase. Poring over 300 pages of material across 12 sources to write the paper is not fun on a deadline.

- Knowing the gist of the reading is not a substitute for the actual words used in the text.

- Writing theological papers is an ultimate exercise in precise language. I've been catching and deleting excess verbiage all night, fixing tenses and misuse of synonyms. Thankfully, this skill seems to have developed on the fly...or maybe it was the year of Latin.

- Highlighting is very helpful, it has bailed me out substantially.

- It helps not to be sick.

- Papers like this are best written in pieces, section by section, and then integrated, as opposed to trying to write the whole thing in one unified piece from the start.

At the moment, for those curious, about 5 pages have been written. If I am in bed by 4, I will consider the night a success.

Posted by Justice at 1:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

To student health centers, that is. I dropped by Franciscan's health office to have them look at a cold that's been lingering for three weeks. From that visit, I got 2 prescriptions which may cost in excess of $200 and definitely not less than $55 because the doctor felt that a pair of expensive name-brand drugs with no generic alternatives was the best way to get me a sinus decongestant (Allegra) and an antibiotic (Levaquin). Last time around, 2 years ago, I was given a $7 antibiotic and Robitussin for something far worse.

Hopefully the pharmacy is willing to drop the prescription, as I definitely don't have the funds to pay for this at the moment.

Posted by Justice at 8:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I just took a political quiz, which identified me as a Republican, which isn't terribly surprising. However, the interesting thing I note from the statistical info they're collecting is that, even though Kerry voters outnumber Bush voters by nearly 2 to 1 among quiz takers, and less than 1 in 6 respondents are for the Iraq war, only 44% of all respondents describe themselves as pro-choice (given only the option of for/against legal abortion).

Even though this poll is by no means scientific, Democrats may seriously want to re-think their dogmatic obsession with legal abortion if the actual percentage of pro-choice voters is anywhere close to what's suggested by this. If they can't get a favorable outcome on that position in a poll where they win by 2 to 1, and the respondents are overwhelmingly anti-war, one has to wonder just how badly pro-choice support really is among the electorate.

Posted by Justice at 2:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Pius XII's encyclial Divino Afflante Spiritu, required reading for a paper due later this week, contains a rather interesting little citation of St. Pius X in paragraph 8:

"In the year 1907, with the benign approval of Pius X of happy memory, 'to the Benedictine monks had been committed the task of preparing the investigations and studies on which might be based a new edition of the Latin version of the Scripture, commonly called the Vulgate."

I'd never thought that the impetus for the Nova Vulgata, the eventual new edition of the Latin Vulgate, began as early as this, thinking it to be largely an idea thought of in the wake of Vatican II.

DAS drops another little bombshell in paragraph 20:

"It is historically certain that the Presidents of the Council [Trent] received a commission, which they duly carried out, to beg, that is, the Sovereign Pontiff in the name of the Council that he should have corrected, as far as possible, first a Latin, and then a Greek, and Hebrew edition, which eventually would be published for the benefit of the Holy Church of God."

That sounds much more like a modern way of Biblical interpretation, to have those 3 languages side by side to study. It's too bad the Church hasn't put out any Greek or Hebrew edition yet.

One more neat line, from paragraph 31:

"How difficult for the Fathers themselves, and indeed well nigh unintelligible, were certain passages is shown, among other things, by the oft-repeated efforts of many of them to explain the first chapters of Genesis."

In consolation to the Fathers, the cat fight is still ongoing with regard to interpreting the beginning of Genesis. One of the professors has been sadistic enough to subject us to that very task in class this semester, so there will be more fuel to add to this fire.

Posted by Justice at 11:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The movie Cry Wolf is eerily similar to life in that the game featured in that movie is a variation of one of the more popular games among the graduate community here at Franciscan, Mafia. I'm still puzzled why we use the terms mafia, townspeople, sherrif, and medic, as opposed to more colorful words like heretics, laity, inquisitors, and the like.

At any rate, this is just a funny coincidence. I may end up seeing the movie just because of that connection, but then I might not (probably depends on if a group goes to see it).

Posted by Justice at 11:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

In roughly a week and a half, I'll be playing Noah in a little play which is intentionally designed to have bad acting in an effort to raise money by selling "tomatos" - water ballons - to the audience to throw at the performers. The script is a rather humorous and silly remake of the flood story.

It's part of Franciscan's larger Medieval Festival, being held this year on September 30-October 1.

Posted by Justice at 12:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I find it funny that the way schedules work around here, somehow it's expected that I can manage to keep finances in order despite not having any revenue streams from student loans until the end of September and no paycheck from the University until the end of October.

I hate having to balance things on a credit card until money comes through, but at least at 2.9% APR, it won't be killing me on the interest.

Posted by Justice at 4:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Seen pasted on bulletin boards all over campus:

SUPPORT BACTERIA

It's the only culture some people will ever have.

This was put up by the Fine Arts club advertising their meeting for tomorrow.

Posted by Justice at 11:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

E-mail isn't going to have a very bright future if days like today are typical. My site server has been flagged as a spammer, hence any e-mail originating from any website on it isn't clearing spam filters, which is probably affecting several dozen people.

Second, even Thunderbird is flagging as spam a message sent to me by the University which included nothing more than a couple names and e-mails that I needed to get it touch with.

Posted by Justice at 11:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

It's been a while since I updated, but a lot of things have gone on in the last week.

First, I got sick with a cold that's been going around campus for the last few weeks, which made the weekend rather miserable. It's gradually starting to pass.

Second, I didn't quite make the cut for flag football referee the first time out (~90% was needed for that), but was close enough for a retest this week. If that doesn't work out, I think I'll consider asking to be added to the GNT men's team.

Carpools are the way to go. Even more so when they can be arranged spontaneously most days without any trouble.

Graduate students here seem to have lots of free time. I think it must be the grace of God that any of us get anything done.

Theological discussion abounds here. I've been involved in 2 separate debates the last couple days on 2 totally different topics:

- Lumen Gentium's characterization of Islam in paragraph 16

- A question on whether non-Catholics/non-Christians (I forget which) are capable of a holy act

The LG debate mainly centered over whether or not Muslims are praying to the same God as we are. That's a sticky subject, since in one way, one can say they are due to acceptance of Old Testament prophets and Abraham as a founder. On the other hand, one can say that since their concept of God is flawed, they really aren't praying to the true God, but a fake one (of course, this can extend beyond Muslims to anyone not holding the orthodox Catholic faith). I'm undecided where to stand on this one, though I have a slight leaning toward the latter option.

The holy act question was one in which I came down rather solidly on the "yes" side of the coin, with apparently most everyone else, but someone thought "no" because there was a belief that being baptized is at least a pre-condition for this. I think Old Testament history is enough to say that it's possible at least.

Interestingly, this took a digression to the question of whether or not the souls of those who haven't yet reached the age of reason are capable of making a holy or moral act. I'm pretty firmly of the opinion that the soul can actually do that, it's just incapable of doing so through the body due to the latter's immaturity. I base this in part on the fact that since we don't assign them all to Heaven automatically, while at the same time not assigning them to the state of "poena damni" whether in hell or limbo. But primarily, I figure if the soul is rational and has free will, it has that ability from creation, not from maturity of reason in the temporal world, and thus can, at the least, choose to respond to God or not.

Hopefully, that question can get fleshed out some by asking the professors.

Posted by Justice at 10:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A little more than a week ago, I posted my selection for exegesis, which comes from Sirach 2:1-6. Contained in that passage are the following words:

Accept whatever is brought upon you, and in changes that humble you be patient. For gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.

In what seems to be a divine sense of humor, I get to live through this quite literally next week. Of course, this is also partly due to the fact that I didn't bother to indicate something to the effect of "Don't put someone who's never done this before on a tough assignment for their first time."

Good preparation should eliminate any goofs, but I may get it anyway to help me understand the passage selected.

Posted by Justice at 6:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The absence of blogging has been precipitated largely by falling behind on listening to my lecture recordings and recomposing the notes taken from them.

I haven't done it very efficiently so far, so tomorrow I'm going to try a new strategy to attempt to avoid having to listen to irrelevant portions of the lecture.

Chrisitan Moral Principles is right now by far the most engaging course, and I think will prove the most useful. I will eventually write something concerning a theme from night one, namely:

Agere sequitur esse, namely, the principle that to act follows being.

Anyway, that will probably be it until the weekend.

Posted by Justice at 11:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Hurricane Katrina has certainly exposed problems in the evacuation procedures down in the gulf coast, especially New Orleans, and the long-term preparations for such a disaster.

With respect to the evacuations, any time a city is ordered evacuated, the usual result is clogged interstates, broken down cars, and people who either can't or won't get out. I think part of this is due to the fact that civil authorities never really map out a plan for getting people out. If people are only told to leave, the natural result is that most people will have the same idea - the Interstates or other major highways, leading to a panicked frenzy.

I have no real knowledge of exactly what plans were already in place or considered, but here are some ideas that came to mind while thinking about it.

Civil planners might want to consider employing the procedures used in public schools to evacuate the building fast - specific routes out for each and every classroom. In this way, it's possible to get people out fast with a minimum of congestion. Might it not be worth the effort to map out evacuation plans that break municipalities down into individual neighborhoods or zones and give each one a specific route out? It probably wouldn't totally solve congestion, but I think it could speed up the evacuation a bit. Plus, the mere fact that officials have a specific plan for any given citizen might cut down on the panic factor.

I'm not sure exactly what the road plans are like in an evacuation, but if they aren't already doing it, blocking off intersections on major roads and onramps/offramps could work too. The quickest way to get people from A to B is by having a long, straight run with as few delays as possible from traffic lights, people trying to turn on or off at every little side-road, and people making a mess with onramp merging or offramp congestion.

For those who can't get out, the same idea of regions/zones could be useful. City school districts manage to bus thousands of people to schools every day, so copying the model might be a possibility. Establishing a list where people who have no way of getting out in the event of disaster can put their name down would allow an emergency busing plan to be set up. Even if a list is too tedious, just setting up neighborhood locations and sending buses there might be workable.

Of course, evacuations really depend on time and cooperation. If the order comes too late, not all the efforts of heaven and earth are going to empty the place in time. If people choose to be stupid, it's necessarily going to slow everyone else down.

As for long term preparations, there's really not much that can be done about a city built on a lousy location to weather a hurricane. Common sense says urban areas should not be built on floodplains or right by low-lying coastal areas, but common sense tends not to direct urban planning, as my own native city can attest quite well, the process tending to be subverted by politics and money.

Rebuilding New Orleans only really makes sense if it gets rebuilt on higher ground which won't end up sinking like the land the city was on heretofore. Otherwise, all we'll be doing is literally rebuilding a Venice doomed to be wiped out again, with the result again being huge loss of life (particularly of the more impoverished residents) and property.

Updated 9/4

Posted by Justice at 11:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Despite having played 5 games of Mafia while here, in which more than half the people playing are just regular citizens, not once have I actually drawn that role. Twice I've drawn a role that only one person plays. It definitely makes the game more interesting, but I'd love to not have a special role to play.

Posted by Justice at 2:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Now that Hurricane Katrina has caused a wide swath of devastation down in Mississippi and Louisiana, the residents down there could definitely use some help. I'll put a banner up sometime later today, but for now, I'll put up a link to Catholic Charities' relief effort.

For more news on Katrina, Brendan Loy and nola.com are both full of information.

Posted by Justice at 3:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Over the next few weeks, I am going to give my archives a bit of a remodeling, which will mainly involve diversifying my topic classification system and also moving posts to new categories as events warrant. The topical archives may be a bit messy until that's done.

Posted by Justice at 3:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack