“If you had been on the Titanic after it hit the iceberg, you’d have paid anything for a life preserver. . .”
So runs the narration in a current radio ad urging us to buy gold. There is a slight problem with this analogy however. Buying a life preserver on the sinking Titanic would have preserved your life for only minutes. When the ship sank, those who didn’t drown immediately were dead from hypothermia and exposure very quickly. The water temperature that night was around 30 degress F. At that temperature, someone in the water will lose consciousness in less than 15 minutes and be dead 30 minutes later.
At least the life preserver would keep your body afloat. . .
And that, gentle readers, is your encouraging thought for the day!
– Rob Shearer
PS: Searching for a suitable Titanic image for this post, I ran across THIS!
Just ran across Shelley Esaak’s art history section at About.com. I recommend it highly. She’s a delightful writer with a direct style and has a way of making art accessible, interesting, and fun.
Her descriptions of what these three titans would be like as dinner party guests seemed to me “spot on” as well as delightfully funny:
Leonardo: As a dinner guest, would monopolize all conversation (but so interestingly, none would complain), enjoy the soup (and write down half of a new, improved recipe – wandering off, midway through, to fix the leaky faucet – never to finish writing the other half), linger long enough that all would beg him to stay and leave to a loud chorus of “Come back soon!”, whilst misappropriating a wine glass and forgetting his hat.
Michelangelo: As a dinner guest, would participate in conversation just enough to avoid outright rudeness, slurp the soup (probably complaining about its lack of salt to others, after the fact) and leave early, after eating two desserts and squirrelling a third into his napkin-lined pocket.
Raphael: As a dinner guest, would bring a hostess gift, engage everyone at the table in delightful conversation, praise the soup, stay exactly the perfect amount of time and send flowers the next day.
One of the intimidating parts of the Web 2.0 / Social Networking phenomenon is figuring out how to use it – and how it’s being used. The awkwardness of trying a new online experience can be daunting.
To my fellow boomers, I have two exhortations:
1) Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly (at first!)
2) The Gen X & Gen Y folks don’t know what they’re doing either. They just jump in and make it up as they go along. We can join them!
Twitter can be a great time-waster – but then, so can the telephone (and so can email). But, if you exercise some self-discipline, Twitter can be a very useful tool. Twitter connects you to other individuals, who you otherwise might never have contact with, who can provide you with information, answers to questions, encouragement, or for whom you can provide the same.
With that in mind, I’d like to recommend two tools that will help you understand, use, and then master Twitter (and help you avoid becoming obsessed with or distracted by it).
The first is Tweetchat. In a previous post, I observed that Twitter could be thought of as a giant on-line chatroom, with thousands of conversations taking place simultaneously. Think of it as going to a reception with several hundred other folks, all of whom want to talk about politics, or homeschooling, or religion, or fashion, or organic food. How will like-minded folks find each other? With a crowd of only 100 or so, you’d probably wander around the room and listen for snippets of talk on the topics you were interested in and join the ones that seemed really interesting. This is somewhat the way deciding to “follow” another Twitter user works. It means you want to listen to the things they are saying.
Now imagine that instead of a small gathering of 100, you’re walking into the Superdome with 75,000 other people. You’d need a more efficient way to find the folks talking about the things you are interested in. This is where hashtags come in.
The size of Twitter is several orders of magnitude larger than our Superdome thought-experiment. Twitter hasn’t released official statistics, but there are traffic estimates for their website that showed 4-5 million website hits in February and over 20 million in April. One estimate I saw recently estimated one million messages a day.
Twitter users have spontaneously developed a convention in which users voluntarily “index” their own tweets by dropping into their messages a “hashtag” which gives an indication of the topic of their message. I routinely check to see who has posted Twitter messages with the hashtag #homeschool. At this point there are only a few dozen messages a day, though at times there might be a flurry of messages, especially if two or more users are on at the same time and following the same tag.
There are some tags which are MUCH more popular. You can go to http://hashtags.org to get a live, updated list of what hashtags are currently most in use on Twitter.
But how do you actually listen in on these streams of messages? That’s where Tweetchat (which I’ve just discovered) comes in. Tweetchat lets you sign in to a “room” which is defined as the stream of messages all using a particular hashtag. One of the perennial top hashtags on twitter is #tcot. #tcot stands for Top Conservatives on Twitter. There’s a fairly large number of Twitter users out there 24/7 who use that tag to share links to web sites, blog postings, Youtube videos, etc. along with their own observations (mostly political. Tweetchat lets you pull up that stream of messages and watch as they are being posted, live – the stream of messages scrolls down your screen as the new ones are posted.
Click on the image to enlarge
To try it with the hashtag #tcot, click here: http://tweetchat.com/room/tcot. You’ll need a Twitter account to access this (you do have a Twitter account, don’t you?), and Tweetchat will ask you for your Twitter username and password. It’s ok to go ahead and enter them. This will allow you to post your own Twitter messages to others using the hashtag, should you decide you want to join the conversation.
And what is Tweetdeck? Think of it as Tweetchat on steroids. Tweetdeck lets you define multiple columns of messages based on search criteria and have them scrolling on your monitor (helps if you have a widescreen monitor – or better yet, a multiple monitor setup). Each column can be a search based on a different hashtag, or just a set of keywords.
Click on the image to enlarge
Tweetchat and Tweetdeck are especially useful when there is some breaking, realtime news event. There will rather quickly (and spontaneously) develop a hashtag associated with the event and once you find it (try checking hashtags.org first), you can see real-time observations / contributions from individuals all over the world, often from multiple on-the-ground observers who can contribute their own eyewitness information.
When George Tiller was killed in Wichita two days ago, a stream of messages quickly began to be posted on Twitter using the hashtag #tiller. Tonight I learned from messages in the stream that the murderer of Dr. Tiller had been spotted vandalizing the clinic on Saturday the day before, his license number had been noted and called in to the local police and the FBI. This detail has not been widely reported. A word of caution, the messages in this stream are raw and angry – for understandable reasons. But dipping into it is not for the faint of heart.
enough on Twitter for tonight. I need to shut-down and get some rest.
The show is hosted by Babe Huggett (who blogs at TheRealityCheck.org) and Warner Todd Huston (who is a prolific blogger and owner of StopTheACLU).
You can click on the Life, Liberty link to go to the show’s homepage and listen to the show on your PC, streamed over the internet.
Hosts Babe Huggett and Warner Todd Huston discuss and examine current political events, put them in historical context and follow trends to their logical conclusions through a conservative, Christian viewpoint. Phone in comments from listeners always welcome! Call-in Number: (347) 237-4040
Hosts Babe Huggett & Warner Todd Huston dig deep & analyze the news with their usual insightful and historical approach all the while being as politically irreverent as possible! It’s time to spend your Summer 2009 vacation cramming & jamming with home schooling advocates, Kay Brooks & Rob Shearer, as they educate us tonight about the deliberate persecution of home schooled graduates, the dumbing down of students in government propaganda factories a.k.a. public schools & the erosion of educational liberty in Tennessee in particular & the USA in general.
This banner pretty much says it all. It was displayed in New York City as part of a counter-protest to a rally celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the nation of Israel on Sunday, May 31, 2009 – just hours ago.
It is this assertion that the Islamic terrorists use as justification for attacks on the civilian population of the United States. In their minds, we are all legitimate targets.
Whoever killed George Tiller has committed murder. For that they will have to give an answer to the civil authorities and, ultimately, to God.
As will George Tiller for his actions. But Tiller’s notorious guilt as a late-term abortionist does not make the act of murdering him any less wicked.
The best immediate quote I have seen today came from Prof. Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University:
Whoever murdered George Tiller has done a gravely wicked thing. The evil of this action is in no way diminished by the blood George Tiller had on his own hands. No private individual had the right to execute judgment against him. We are a nation of laws. Lawless violence breeds only more lawless violence. Rightly or wrongly, George Tilller was acquitted by a jury of his peers. “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.” For the sake of justice and right, the perpetrator of this evil deed must be prosecuted, convicted, and punished. By word and deed, let us teach that violence against abortionists is not the answer to the violence of abortion. Every human life is precious. George Tiller’s life was precious. We do not teach the wrongness of taking human life by wrongfully taking a human life. Let our “weapons” in the fight to defend the lives of abortion’s tiny victims, be chaste weapons of the spirit.
Conversations I have had with a few friends today have prompted me to review the Christian and Biblical case for the use of the sword.
The sword is a symbol for civil authority. It is referenced as such in Romans 13:4:
for it [the governing authorities] is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
I am not a pacifist, though I do believe that for a private individual, gentleness and a soft answer are our first line of defense, and when confronted with a tyrannical authority it is our only appropriate response.
But there are those to whom God has legitimately entrusted the sword – the civil authorities. They not only may use force, they have an obligation to use force to protect those who are in their charge. Civil authorities are called “minister of God” (diakonos) twice and “servant of God” (leitourgos). They are directly commissioned by God as his servants and ministers. They have the responsibility to use the sword to restrain wickedness and punish evil-doers.
This is why a police officer may legitimately use force to arrest a law-breaker, and why the civil authorities may biblically, legitimately use corporal punishment, up to and including putting to death. It is also a justification for the use of military force – not in every instance, obviously, but to restrain wickedness in the world, and to be a terror to evil-doers.
But what is lawful for a civil magistrate, commissioned by God, is NOT lawful for those who have NOT been commissioned by God. NOTE: I am not saying that every use of force by the civil authorities is biblical or justified. All are subject to God’s law. But as individual Christians, we have NO authority to use the sword to punish evil-doers. Personally, I believe I have the right to use force to protect those in my charge – but not necessarily to protect myself. Translation: I may not fight back if you attack me, but if you attack my wife or one of my children, expect me to use any means at my disposal to protect them.
What has this got to do with the murder of George Tiller? Tiller did evil. The dismemberment of children in the third tri-mester of pregnancy is evil. Partial birth abortion is evil. But only the magistrates have a legitimate commission from God to punish evil-doers. The magistrates of Wichita and of Kansas had an obligation to stop him. They could have done so. They should have done so. When they first learned that he had killed the first child, they should have arrested him and punished him. It is an outrage that he was allowed to continue to commit his evil deeds. But we who are not magistrates have no commission from God to use force to punish him.
Many of these issues were worked out in thoughtful detail during the 16th & 17th century by Huguenot resistance leaders dealing with the persecution of French Protestants and then further developed by John Locke, the great English philosopher and father of political science. The French Protestants had to deal with the very real and troubling issue of how to respond when the civil authorities persecuted Christians. They concluded, after exhaustive study of the scriptures, and with special reference to Romans 13:4, that an individual Christian did NOT have the right to use force to resist the persecution of the civil authorities, but that lesser magistrates, who had been commissioned by God to bear the sword DID have a right to resist the persecution of those under their care and in their charge. This became known as the “right of resistance.” The right of lesser magistrates to use force, in some circumstances may very well prove to be an obligation to use force to protect those in their charge.
These ideas played a key role in the political thought of the English colonists in North America in the 1700s. They held that it would be illegitimate for private citizens to rebel and take up arms against the English authorities. But it would be legitimate for the colonial legislatures, and local magistrates to resist the attempt to impose tyrrany by the English government. There is a legimate use of force. There is, indeed, a legitimate right to resist tyranny. But it is limited to those whom God has commissioned with the sword.
The killing of George Tiller by a private individual was wicked and sinful. Though the deeds of Tiller were evil, it was the duty of the civil authorities to stop him and to punish him.
We may need to revisit this issue again in the coming days. . .
Several weeks ago, we drove over to Knoxville to watch our oldest daughter receive her Masters Degree in History. Chinese history to be more precise. All my fault, actually. I took her with me when she was thirteen when I went to China to complete the adoption of her younger sister (you can read all about this if you want to, over at the Greenleaf Press website on the page titled “Corrie’s Story“).
As I started reading, I found myself smiling, then chuckling, then laughing out loud. The book was originally published in 1913, and the author (Helen Rowland) had a comedic gift and a skill with words that was both astonishing and entertaining.
The premise of the book is that Mrs. Solomon is passing on her hard-earned wisdom about men to younger women. There are chapters on Husband, Bachelors, Flirts, Damsels, and Sirens. My daughters loved it. And I must admit, it is funny.
Here are some sample lines:
And Verily, a Woman Need Know But One Man Well, in Order to Understand ALL Men;
Whereas a Man May Know All Women and Understand Not One of Them.
and:
He muttereth unto his wife, “Lo! I will go
unto the corner for a cigar” – and behold, he
wandereth unto many corners and returneth
by a circular route.
Rowland has 120 pages of these pithy sayings, illustrated with period engravings and very stylized Egyptian border-art.
The Shearers (especially the Shearer daughters) enjoyed the book so much, that we decided we would bring it back into print. Mrs. Solomon, in fact, now has her own web site (http://MrsSolomon.com) and twitter account (http://twitter.com/mrs_solomon).
which is a magnificent book. It’s 500 pages of narrative, 100 pages of appendices, and 200 pages of footnotes! The author is a brilliant writer. What has stood out for me though the book (I’m on about page 400) is the proximity in time and space of the French efforts with the English efforts – both somewhat belated attempts to find a foothold in the New World after a century of Spanish colonization. The French founded Port Royal in 1605, two years before Jamestown (although it was not continuously inhabited until after 1632) and Quebec in 1608, the year after. Also quite surprising was how small and precarious the French colonies were. The had fewer than 50 permanent residents for many years and only a few families. More on this later, when I’ve finished reading and draft a short bio of Champlain for the Famous Men of the 16th & 17th Century.
Taken from Captain John Smith by Arthur Granville Bradley, copyright 1905:
A colony of French Huguenots had settled on the coast of Florida in 1565. Pedro de Menendez attacked it with overwhelming numbers, and hanged every grown male in the settlement on trees to the number of a hundred and forty and on the breast of each he attached this inscription, Not as Frenchmen, but as Lutherans.
When a certain valiant De Gourgues, a Frenchman who had once been taken prisoner by the Spaniards, and hated them with a deadly hatred, heard of the catastrophe, he set about preparing to avenge it with grim deliberation, in spite of the frowns of his own government. The Spaniards had made a considerable settlement at St. Augustine in Florida, a day’s journey from the one they had so brutally destroyed, and upon this De Gourgues fixed his avenging eye. He sold his property in France, and invested the proceeds in three small ships, carryingeighty sailors and one hundred soldiers.
Having obtained a commission to sail the Guinea Coast as a slaver, he immediately crossed the Atlantic. He laid his plans, and kept his followers in hand with infinite skill and patience, surprised the Spaniards, who far outnumbered his own party, in their forts, and captured them all. He then deliberately hanged every man of them upon trees, and over each body he nailed the inscription, Not as Spaniards, but as traitors, robbers, and murderers.
This is perhaps the most appallingly dramatic episode that the story even of the Spanish Main can furnish, and in its daring almost rivalled the greatest even of Drake’s feats. The hero of it was offered high commands by foreign countries, but he died, like a later and less bloodthirsty hero, “at the moment when his fame began.”
The Director's Blog – Rob Shearer, Francis Schaeffer Study Center, Mt. Juliet, TN
