Yet

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.

Casimir Pulaski Day

Today I discovered this song. Today, coincidentally, to the extent that there are coincidences, is the first Monday in December, three months before the first Monday in March.

I keep listening to this over and over. Sufjan Stevens - Casimir Pulaski Day.

Sweet Irony

This article informs us of the following:

Snow fell as the House of Commons debated Global Warming yesterday - the first October fall in the metropolis since 1922.

The article continues:

Recently the American media has begun to notice the odd incongruity odd incongruity of saturation media coverage here which insists that global warming is both man-made and urgent, and a British public which increasingly doubts either to be true. 60 per cent of the British population now doubt the influence of humans on climate change...

Unfortunately God's gift of snow did not seem to sway the debate taking place indoors.

Conservative Dreams

There are certain movements within American conservative Christianity. The philosophies of family, relationships, education, government, and business are re-thought. Families homeschool. Daughters perhaps stay home and serve the family. College is questioned. Entrepreneurial attitudes are encouraged and small businesses are started. The family works together. Excellence in all things is encouraged.

But sometimes when reading or viewing material from various groups related to such movements, I am left with an undefined uneasiness. I think I have perhaps finally determined the reason for some of this. There seems to sometimes be a promotion of a sort of modified version of the American Dream in all this. One could perhaps call this the "sanctified" American Dream. I imagine this is mostly unintentional. However, I still see it as being there. There seems to often be undue emphasis on superficial pursuits.

Certainly, something of the American Dream does not necessarily proceed from the ideas and values of these movements -- which movements I generally find to be good, wholesome, and praiseworthy, and which, for the most part, I myself adhere to. Nonetheless, it would seem that the ever prevalent American Dream has crept in, or remained where it was all along.

The Instrument Flight

So the crew fly on with no thought that they are in motion. Like night over the sea, they are very far from the earth, from towns, from trees. The clock ticks on. The dials, the radio lamps, the various hands and needles go though their invisible alchemy. . . . and when the hour is at hand the pilot may glue his forehead to the window with perfect assurance. Out of oblivion the gold has been smelted: there it gleams in the lights of the airport.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 'Wind, Sand, and Stars,' 1939

110 Pseudo-Arbitrary Facts

Having been nominated by the One Who Thinks About Issues, I have compiled the list below. For those who know the background behind this list, you have no need for further explanation, therefore I will not make the effort to offer you one. For those who do not know the background of the list, I shall leave you to whatever wild theories you may come up with.

• I enjoy raising chickens
• I get motion sickness easily; I am afraid of heights; I am an aircraft pilot
• I love road trips
• I use two computer screens with my computer
• I love digging holes
• There are very very few things that gross me out

The Government Spiral

For anyone with an interest in aviation, or government regulation, or economics, take a look at this article. Heres an excerpt:

Government regulation is like a graveyard spiral: you know something is dreadfully wrong, but unless you understand the signals, there is no way out. Regulation blinds an economy to signals comparable to an airplane's pitch and bank, signals that would let producers and consumers adjust their activities in response to their desires and available resources.

The Government Spiral