is more deadly than the mail, which is why I've decided to post this little bit of commentary pertaining to electronic correspondence.

I just checked my email and found that yet another infected message has been caught by my antivirus scanner. I haven't spent many entries on this issue, but it has become a fairly regular occurrence.

What is scary to me is that my ISP claims to have anti-viral and anti-spam software protecting email boxes at the server level, and yet so many seem to slip past, only to be caught just before I open them. This would be more of a concern if I wasn't already in the habit of reading email in plain text. Still, I would suggest this one little resolution for the great unprotected masses in cyberspace, since it is New Year's Eve:

If you don't have antivirus protection on your computer, you really should get some installed. And for those that have antivirus protection on their machines, it's also good to remember to regularly update your antivirus definitions. Most antivirus programs have an option to automatically download updated protection; making sure this option is turned on is a good idea.

Then, once you've made sure your antivirus is up to date, the next important step is to run full system scans on a regular basis, just in case something has already slipped onto your computer.

Beyond these steps it's also useful to remember that even the best antivirus can fail from time to time, so little additional steps, like not opening attachments from strange senders or simply reading your email in plain text can help you and your antivirus to beat the odds.

Now, if you're on board with the idea of using antivirus to help protect your computer, but you don't have the money to buy a fancy program like the ones offered by brands like Trend or Symantec, there are free options out there also. One such option is AVG Antivirus Free Edition, which you can download from www.grisoft.com.

It's important to remember that when you use updated antivirus software to protect your own machine, you also help protect other people too, including everyone in your address book.

That's it for today's public service announcement.

 [writing/literature] 

"New Year's Eve" Robert Service

Having gotten such a kick out of the last Robert Service poem I linked to for Poetry Friday, and with the title of this one fitting the day, this was an easy choice -- and another attempt to expose my readers to the work of an excellent American poet.

[personal/blog]  [music] [writing/literature] [sociopolitical] 

"When the flood calls
You have no home, you have no walls.
In the thunder crash
You're a thousand minds, within a flash.
Don't be afraid to cry at what you see..."
-Peter Gabriel

I've been a little numb on the writing side this week. It was supposed to be the ideal week to relax a little, start reading some new books, and maybe write something worth reading.

Then Sunday came. And I've been internally preoccupied ever since.

I did start in on some new reading material I received for Christmas, but I haven't gotten far with it. And the writing end of things has been stifled quite a bit by the oceanic events that have infiltrated the entire blogosphere, including this small corner of it. I don't mean to suggest that an event the magnitude of last Sunday's earthquake-induced tsunami belongs anywhere but on the front burner -- however, I seem to have been saturated to the point that I wish I could write intelligently about something, anything, else. And in the absence of a decent post without tsunami content, I wish I could have written something more profound about it, as Steve did in yesterday's post. At the very least, I'd like to publicly thank my brother-in-law for filling in a bit yesterday.

The quote at the head of this post is from a Peter Gabriel song called "Here Comes the Flood", which I've had in my CD collection for about ten years. It floats back into my head every time I hear news of any kind of water-related tragedy, from the flooding that seems to periodically trouble the Midwestern U.S. to hurricanes in the Caribbean to things like the tsunami that has led to the perpetually rising body count in Southeast Asia. The tone of the song is quiet, slow and sad. I've appreciated the song over the last decade or so, the way that a tragic song could only be appreciated by someone with no realistic frame of reference on the tragedy being described.

I sometimes wonder if there isn't something cheap about my vicarious experience through such a sad song. I have not even the most remote idea what it is to flee the crashing waves. Most of us have no idea of it, as most of us, even this short distance from lower Manhattan, have no clue what horror was experienced by those who died, or even those who narrowly escaped the falling towers.

But sympathy, even as it falls far short of true empathy, is better than callous disregard, is it not? That's the question I've held silently these past few days, as I notice how many people are literally oblivious to the worldwide news from this past weekend. Some of the same people no doubt would have thought of people in the middle east as callous or even hostile to not express sympathy for the U.S. in the wake September 11.

My point is not to draw any blatantly apples-and-oranges comparisons, but to note how we tend to think our tragedies more tragic than those that happen on the other side of the world. Causes aside, the deaths of tens of thousands (close to 70,000 at last count I received) can not be considered anything less than supremely, profoundly, tragic. But many of us here in the U.S. are still oblivious to it.

The rest of us just wish we could be.

Just a note on the passing of one of my favorite television actors. Jerry Orbach succumbed to prostate cancer on Tuesday. He was 69.

Rest in peace.

[sociopolitical] 

by Steve Nicoloso

(I've been attempting to post a message very much like this one over at Ales Rarus, but have been unable to upload. An essay quite similar to one may appear there at some point in the future, but considering the timely nature of these musings, I've begged the indulgence of H² to post it here.)

The problem of evil has long been one of interest to me. This problem, concisely stated, pits the existence of evil against the presumed goodness of God, e.g., if God is good and all-powerful, why does he let planes crash? By my estimation, the lion's share of the problem of evil is the suffering inflicted by men & women upon their fellow creatures. Thus for me, very little of the problem of evil is really a problem with God at all, except perhaps with him having made us freewill creatures, with inherent abilities toward evil, in the first place. While I suppose we could fault God for having created us this way, if he hadn't there wouldn't now be anyone or anything capable of finding such fault. In the main, I'd say we're better off having been created with free will.

But when 9.0 earthquakes happen, resulting in catastrophic tsunamis, and death, suffering, and loss for untold millions, this is a problem with God, is it not? That's why there's that bit in our insurance policies about "Acts of God", right? Surely no human agency can prevent earthquakes and tsunamis. In such instances, the wisest and most godly must simply admit that God's ways (if we take by faith such ways exist) are simply inscrutable.

Nevertheless, at least some of the time with catastrophic "Acts of God", a big piece of blame continues to rest on our own mortal shoulders. Across the world, those most at risk of pain and suffering due to "Acts of God" are the poorest and least powerful among us. That's why the 1970 typhoon in Bangladesh killed around a million, and not 1/100th of that number. That's why Hurricane Mitch in 1998 could kill around 10,000 in Honduras, but 4 hurricanes hitting Florida in 2004 only a few dozen. And that appears to be why Sunday's Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis are to be blamed for (at most recent count) over 50,000 deaths instead of just a couple thousand. Warning systems could have been installed. Civil governments could have had means and methods of warning and evacuating the public.

They could have, but they didn't. And that is because the poor and powerless can't afford (or are not judged worthy to have) such systems, which we in the wealthy west would surely take for granted. This article over at CNN tells us:

Most of developing Asia lacks such infrastructure, and casualties were by far highest in three highly impoverished areas -- the coasts of eastern Sri Lanka and southeastern India, and the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island.

Now we could argue about why the east coasts of India and Sri Lanka, and the northern tip of Sumatra are so poor, or so poorly served by their civil governments, or both. But that is not the point. Suffice it to say that, as usual, a grossly inequitable distribution of wealth is to blame for most of the pain & suffering caused by an "Act of God". While we in the west sip our lattes, drive our climate-controlled SUVs, and relax in our super-sized McMansions, a significant portion of the world lives in bone-crunching poverty, fully exposed to and at the mercy of the "Acts of God."

So go ahead and blame God, if you must. But only blame him for his part. The rest of the responsibility, the vast majority of it, belongs squarely to us.

[personal/blog] 

(The changes being made to this page are an ongoing part of my attempt to improve the readability and navigation of the smedley log. Anyone who approves, disapproves, or has suggestions, feel free to comment or email with your thoughts.)

After a whole year and change of doing this, I've seen the wisdom in keeping monthly, as opposed to weekly, archives. When I first set out on this blog thing, I thought weekly archives were a grand idea -- I guess I just never saw the archive list getting so long. I'm aware that the permalinks some other sites have made to past entries will now be broken links, and for that, I apologize.

I've also revamped the category process a wee bit. One early New Year's resolution is to try to label every post with a category link, just in case readers want early warning. This is not retroactive, so it will only apply to posts starting today. I've even clarified the names for two of the categories, so as not to be more confusing than necessary. Hope it helps.

Red Cross calls for quake aid

The tsunami waves sent by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake onto Asian shores have left survivors with the terrible task of trying to restart their lives, while the death toll continues to rise, though we may be days, if not weeks, from knowing the real numbers. Prayers and thoughts should also go to the many profoundly affected by this sudden tragedy.

The Red Cross is calling for monetary donations to help deal with the aftermath of this disaster. Aside from the dead and injured and homeless, the affected areas will likely struggle with waterborne diseases like malaria and diarrhea, as well as respiratory tract infections.

Today's two posts haven't exactly relayed the happiest of news, but this is the news that I came back to, and it's definitely worth mentioning, even though most people have already heard the news.

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day to talk about my Christmas gifts -- I definitely hope so.

Update: Mouse Musings has posted a whole list of information for various relief agencies, for anyone inclined to donate to help the victims of the Asian earthquake/tsunami.

"As great a player as Reggie was, he was a better person, and it isn't close..."
-Detroit Lions CEO Matt Millen

I don't have any eloquent speeches about the passing of Reggie White yesterday. Like any other Philadelphia football fan, I was impressed with him on many fronts. Not only was he one of the greatest players in NFL history, but he was also someone who seemed to know that the privilege of professional sports stardom carries with it the responsibility to contribute to his community. He was active in community efforts at each stop of his NFL career; and he also made sure that the millions of dollars spent on his NFL salary went into much more than just his personal bank account.

The reports I've seen so far seem less than conclusive on the cause of death. Some are saying heart attack; others are referring to an ongoing breathing problem he'd had. Whatever the cause was, it was a shock to hear of his passing, and especially in the places where he spent parts of his football career, he'll be missed. I know he'll be missed here in Philadelphia. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

(and repeat some of what I wrote yesterday, maybe. I'll be away from the blog for a good day or so.)

(the title is an acknowledgement of a friend whose four-year-old doesn't yet completely grasp the lyrics to "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer")

It is now the day before the end of epic consumption for the Christmas-celebrating population. Millions will be swarming malls everywhere today, as their deadline draws near. Holiday music is ubiquitously piping through these great halls of commerce, but its time is quickly running out. Families are traveling, including members of my own family -- for me, the driving probably won't begin until tomorrow morning (because in another nod to materialism, I'm working this evening).

Tomorrow, I will most likely post no more than a brief Christmas greeting, not likely to exceed two words. Today, I leave you with three posts, this being the last of them. These are a few simple wishes, or maybe just hopes:

I hope that everyone still shopping for Christmas gifts keeps in mind that the best things that can be given still can't be bought with any amount of cash or credit.

I hope that people on the roads today can find the grace, patience and discipline to not drive aggressively, recklessly or intoxicated.

I hope that those who are alone this holiday season don't feel it too much so.

The above hope goes at least double for those serving far from home this Christmas, some in more dangerous places than I will ever see; I hope and pray for the safe and relatively quick return of all of them. And I pray for their families to be comforted and provided for until they return.

And finally, I hope that those of us who celebrate Christmas as Christians would keep in mind the grace brought by a baby in a manger a long time ago, and that we'd continually realize the most vital examples from his life were ones of compassion, sacrifice and humility, not self-righteousness, greed or pride.

Omni posted an essay yesterday that offers the non-Christian perspective on why some people think so lowly of Christianity. Relax, she keeps it civil, and maybe it would be useful for some of us who are Christian to keep some of her essay in mind when we interact with those who don't believe as we do. I don't completely agree with her reasoning, but I definitely see what she's saying.

It's a shame Omni doesn't allow commenting, because many of her posts are good conversation-starters -- but I see where a comment thread on this particular post could go awry. Probably the same reason Den Beste never allowed live comments? Hmmm... anyway, anyone with comments on Omni's post can comment here (in abbreviated fashion -- sorry Steve).

A Christmas Carol poem by G.K.Chesterton

Well, it is the day before, and it is a poem... and I do have at least a few visitors who'd appreciate a good Chesterton reference, right?

I just came across this entry at Rishon Rishon, many thanks to Bene Diction for the heads-up. I'd never had much insight into the background of Steven Den Beste's retirement from the legendary essay blog USS Clueless, but the aforementioned Rishon Rishon post casts some informative light on the subject by cataloging some comments from Den Beste himself. This comment collection was an eye-opener for me, and I'm a little bit sadder for having read it, but as someone who was challenged many times by his writing, I have a renewed sense of appreciation for his work.

For anyone who appreciates fine analytical essays who isn't already familiar with the name Steven Den Beste, I'd say you missed out. I would say you missed out, but apparently you haven't yet. As a result of skimming the Rishon Rishon entry I linked at the top of this post, I was prompted to once again visit the old USS Clueless page, where I discovered that Den Beste has made his writings from the site available in a zip file for anyone who's inclined to download them. I have, in fact, just finished downloading the file for myself. I know there are other folks out there who would be inclined to do the same; I'm just trying to make sure they know about it.

Thanks again SDB.

Andre Salles has posted his top ten albums list for 2004. I'm actually unfamiliar with several of the albums on the list, but based on a couple with which I am familiar, I'm considering checking out several of the other suggestions on the list.

I have made a few minor changes to the site, thinking the holiday season would be a good excuse to change something, anything...

First off, you may notice that the category listings have migrated from the sidebar to the space directly below the page header. Apparently some people like to catch up on my posts only once a couple weeks or so, focusing on specific categories, while yet others weren't previously aware there were any categories here. This small change is designed for the benefit of both preceding categories of readers. (Thanks for the feedback.)

Second, in keeping with my aforementioned discovery of Tom Carter's Notes the other day, along with my continued enjoyment of his blog after sifting through several of his archives, I thought it suitable to add him to the eclectics list on the side. He hasn't been on the blog circuit very long, but in just two months and change he's compiled some worthy material. I've happened upon several posts on his site that I've found compelling and informative, so to avoid pointing out each individual one, I'll reiterate my suggestion of going over to visit and sifting through for yourself.

I tried Blog Explosion (heretofore known as B.E.) a few days ago, following a mention by the Funky webmaster at Ales Rarus. He warned of some of the pitfalls of using such a service, which is self-admittedly dedicated to driving up website statistics.

It is free, though, so I used his referral link and signed up. I have to say after just a few days of fooling around with it, it has had a pretty significant impact on my site traffic, but I was heavily concerned with the idea that the hits provided by this type of service are somewhat meaningless.

Truth be told, most of them are meaningless, at least for statistical purposes, but for exposure purposes, any extra visitors who might not otherwise see a website are priceless, even if only 1 out of every 100 visits results in a new regular reader. I've noticed a small handful of people who first found me through B.E., and amazingly enough came back on their own. I'm sure Funky benefited, at least in the same minute way, from his extra exposure.

One pitfall highlighted in Funky's post about B.E. was the reality of losing 30 seconds of your life staring at a web page you find profusely boring. I'd agree with him on that observation, as many of the blogs featured weren't really my kind of blogs -- but then, my own blog probably bores a great deal of the people who found it on B.E.

One other website that has at least one new regular reader as a result of B.E. is Tom Carter's Notes. Tom's site is one that seems to invariably point to interesting news and news commentary items, but also offers well-written first person commentary on various subjects. I can guess that I don't agree with him completely on politics or general philosophy, but so far, I'm enjoying his site immensely.

Michelle Malkin wrote a worthwhile critique of current air marshal policies that may be inhibiting their effectiveness.. I'm not a regular Malkin reader; otherwise I would have noticed this on her website a few days ago, rather than wait for it to hit the pages of the Philadelphia Daily News just yesterday. Since I get the sense that maybe some of my readers aren't necessarily Malkin fans, I thought I'd point this one out.

If you are a Malkin fan, please pardon the redundancy.

I've recently been engaged in a comment discussion at Ales Rarus about the appropriateness of religious leaders making declarations from the pulpit regarding issues that are also political. It's fascinating, and I can see where people who are against this sort of thing get their rationale; I don't entirely disagree. I think it's a little scary to have religious leaders invoking God's will into presidential politics, which is something that happened on both sides this past election season, but I don't think the problem is at all related to the establishment clause -- that is, unless religious leaders are making such statements in the public forum under the guise of church teaching. Otherwise, it just seems a lot better left to the churches involved to decide what's appropriate within their own confines.

Of course the other great issue in that debate has to do with the non-profit status of churches, but keep in mind that a churches non-profit status isn't born from a lack of political involvement, but rather the fact that they aren't for-profit organizations. And it seems a little creepy to me that so many people (many of whom let their voices be heard when certain Catholic leaders made general statements about not supporting pro-choice candidates) think the federal government should ostracize private non-profits simply because their principles coincide with hot political issues.

Keep in mind, for instance, that religious groups had positions on things like abortion, civil rights and slavery long before the government became willing to deal with them. According to the model that some people have, the church should cease speaking on certain issues once the federal government (or perhaps, the general public) starts to acknowledge that the issues exist. It doesn't seem to be an idea that makes any sense when you consider the establishment clause of the Constitution (often euphemistically referred to as the "separation of church and state") was intended to protect religious practice from the government.

People who argue against church leaders spouting rhetoric that happens to oppose the issue du jour seem to be of the mind that the establishment clause also implies protecting the state from any form of religious influence. Then it follows that religious leaders are also prohibited from influencing their followers (who then might influence government in some way). This is nonsensical. Religious institutions have always had a right in this country to influence the hearts and minds of their own attendees, and those attendees, as individuals in this society, have the right to influence government as their conscience leads.

There seems to be a popular misconception that was furthered by certain statements from figures like Senator John Kerry this past year: that people can have their faith, but that their faith should have no influence on their politics or decision-making. I don't know who came up with this concept, but it falls amazingly short of what I have always believed about spirituality: a person's spirituality always has, at the least, implicit principles. It follows that if you truly believe in a principle, then that principle will show in your actions. People who are more concerned with curbing religious leaders from sharing interpretations of principle with church-goers seem to think that not only can we separate our belief systems from our actions, but furthermore, that we should separate the two. As my mind tires of trying to figure out this argument, I honestly believe that is the real dividing line in the debate.

Helpful reading to accompany this post: Why You Should Use Mozilla Thunderbird

It's been a while since I've actively plugged the alternate internet lifestyle known as Mozilla, so I'm back with another endorsement, fresh off my recent upgrade to Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0, the extremely efficient and super secure Mozilla email client.

In previous mentions I have plugged both Thunderbird and Firefox (the standalone Mozilla web browser), but with the acquisition of 1.0, I feel it necessary to re-engage in the truly shameless promotion of my favorite open-source internet applications. By now, many browsers have woken up to the superiority of the Firefox browser, as I have noticed personally from the percentage of visitors to this website who use it (up from 16% this past August to over 21% this month). This is probably connected to the relatively heralded release of its recent 1.0 release, but some of us (like myself) didn't rush out to get the Thunderbird 1.0 release like we did for Firefox's.

Well, what I can say, having upgraded and sampled it a bit, is that it is still light years better than anything I've tried from Microsoft or anyone else. I recommend it. It's secure, user-friendly, customizable and has the best junk mail filter you can't buy. This last quality was important to me, especially as I've recently abandoned the Norton Internet Security suite in its entirety, and having done so, I would be without a decent junk mail filter if I didn't have Thunderbird.

Of course, Thunderbird was a great mail application long before its 1.0 release, but on the occasion of my discovering it, why shouldn't I remind the rest of the people out there in the wilderness of inferior email clients?

I came across an interesting item courtesy of time spent using Blog Explosion this morning. It's called A Brief History of Rhyme: MC Hawking's Greatest Hits. Something I would have never thought existed: a rap CD with Stephen Hawking's name on it. Hmmm...

I recently found Philly Future, which is a compendium of online writing done in the Greater Philadelphia region. So, being overjoyed to find a place to belong and not wanting to be a snob, I signed up. I just can't believe I've been online this long, and blogging continuously for the past year, without seeing anything like this before.

(I am pleased to present this guest appearance by my brother-in-law, Steve.)

My children were asking me recently, as they do every year, what I wanted for Christmas. And I, having the genetic disposition to not really care much for receiving presents, and wanting nothing in particular, told them what I really wanted: their success. Yes, what I wanted was for them to grow up to be godly, successful in their endeavors, and to be happy. And in exchange for this I would gladly forego any Christmas or birthday presents for the rest of my life. And this I would do, gladly. What father wouldn't?

In this I am reminded of C.S. Lewis' bit about the child who uses his father's money to buy him a small gift. Although the father is thrilled with gift, even though it was bought with his own money, only a fool would think the father is richer for it. Such is our relationship to God... only more so. (For those who don't know, this where the band Sixpence None the Richer took their name.) My children can't really enrich me with any gift they might purchase at store with their allowance. But my how they can do so by living lives well lived!
But now that I think about it, there is something I would really like. And though my kids might play a small role in procuring it for me, I doubt they can afford it all on their own. What I would really like to get for Christmas is the world that ought to be. Yes, I would like a world like the one promised, the one longed for.

I want a world at peace. I want a world where wicked leaders and their plans are brought to nothing. I want a world where those blessed with abundance willingly and cheerfully share with those less fortunate. I want a world where, when women and children are kidnapped, exploited, and trafficked to serve the greed and lusts of men, the whole world hears of it, condemns it, and does something the hell about it. I want a world where 13 year old boys don't have to choose between the suffering of their families and joining renegade militias, where they will learn the arts of rape, torture, and murder. I want a world, where no amount of demagoguery can incite even one man to take up a machete against his own neighbors. I want a world where the sick are cared for, the naked clothed, the hungry fed, the ignorant taught, the repentant forgiven. Yes, this would be the perfect gift for me.

But wait a minute! Isn't this the gift that Jesus was supposed to be? So where is the promised peace? Where is the good will toward men? Where is the guarantee of justice? Let's not for a moment assume some "spiritualized" notion of this so called peace and so called good will and so called justice. For this would be to emasculate our religion of any real power. Instead let's assume, because it is true, that it is God's absolute and unambiguous will that there be real peace, real good will, and real justice on earth. Moreover, let us assume, because it is true, that his will is for right now, and not some non-corporeal future state of bliss. For any God whose will does not include such things is certainly not a god worthy of our devotion.

Ah, but any god worthy of our devotion would also surely be powerful enough to rid the world of evil, right? Well God can't do everything. He can only do things that are logically possible. And it is not logically possible for God to create free will beings in his own image, and then force them, against their will, to do his will. We might as well ask God to make square circles or blue redness. And of the world's horrors that need be eliminated for me to get my perfect Christmas package, all of them stem directly from the actions and desires of morally corrupted free will beings.

So at the cosmic level, though we might wish it weren't true, God mysteriously allows human free will to trump his own. Yet we are called to believe, even in the face of seemingly impossible odds, that this self-imposed weakness of God will somehow accomplish his purposes--that this weakness will somehow prove stronger than the corrupted strength of man.

Thus we find in Bethlehem, 2000 years ago, a theodicy, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger. Here is a Prince of Peace so helpless to bring peace and justice, that hundreds of children die in his stead as a monomaniacal King Herod seeks to stamp out the "Newborn King." And this is only the beginning. Not considering equality with God something to hold onto, this so-called king's self-imposed weakness and helplessness persists, not bruising a reed, not quenching the smallest wick. So it goes, right up til the end when the very hands that formed the iron are pierced by it. And the very creator of the tree is nailed to it. Such is the strength of the weakness of God.

So it turns out that the gift I want, the world as it ought to be, is fully contingent upon our gifts to God. And the gift that God wants this Christmas is the same gift I told my children about: for all of his children to live well, to live lives worthy of the calling with which he's called us into his glorious light, to live lives of self-giving sacrifice in the microscopic recesses of our daily lives. For in doing so, we find that it is in us and by our actions, living in the strength of Christ's weakness, that these promises are fulfilled: peace, justice, and mercy flowing to the world's nooks and crannies wherever we bring them.

And with all this, of course, the Father is very well pleased. But lest we become too puffed up, remember that we would be fools to think he is any richer for it. The power came from him to work through us in the first place. We are the ones who are the richer.

-Steve Nicoloso, Second Executive Assistant to the Blogger

"Life" by Lord Bacon

I titled this post the way I did for a reason. It was meant to illustrate one of the popular societal trends that particularly annoys me. I'll call it the "don't offend" trend. Do you know whereof I speak?

This trend can be found in many corners of society. The "holiday" season only provides a narrow glimpse into the crux of it. It's not just about the prohibition of religious specific language in public life, but also about how stupidly we pursue this strange ideal. We bend over backwards to appease those we fear offending, even when they couldn't care less. Our tendency towards tolerance for the minority view has been turned inside out to the point that it reeks of intolerance toward anyone in the majority.

We don't let Christmas decorations into public schools anymore -- many districts won't even allow the word Christmas, even in the labeling of the vacation days that just happen to fall right around December 25. It's likely that many who celebrate Christmas aren't really celebrating a religious holiday at all -- for most people it's just another excuse to spend money, exchange gifts, perhaps attend a few extra parties, or in a more noble mindset, a great excuse for family gathering (though some might argue family gatherings aren't the most enviable situations).

So really, when most of us say the word "Christmas", are we really cognizant of the word's meaning? Are we really thinking of it as the celebration of Christ? Or are we thinking about the trappings that have been shrewdly tied to the original meaning? Maybe we should ban people from using the word "Christmas".
-not all people mind you. And certainly not for fear of offending those in our society who don't celebrate Christmas. Do it for the fact that by allowing the rampant use of the word to describe what it was never supposed to describe, we have allowed it to be diluted of its real meaning. I would encourage those who honestly see it as a celebration of Christ's birth to continue using the word "Christmas". In fact, use it until your voice goes hoarse on you. But for those who don't see Christmas for what it is, maybe another term would be more fitting, more honest.

But that aside, is it really a constitutional concern whether or not someone says the word "Christmas"? Like I was pointing out earlier, how many people even see it as a religious matter? I know several people who celebrate Christmas without its religious inspiration -- what of them? Are they saying a dirty word when they unwittingly offend a non-Christmas person by saying a word that, to them, has no spiritual meaning? Should banks be sued for closing on Christmas, but not honoring Kwanzaa or any of the days of Hanukkah? The Post Office?

The list of theoretical offenses could drag on for miles, but the point is that if someone really has a problem with the idea of Christmas, that person's got more to worry about than a public school teacher or some civil servant using the word -- if that person really wishes to sanitize religious (read that "Christian") references from our culture, he would need to aim much higher. Such a bold crusader would need to wipe the influence of abominations such as Christmas from places as high as the federal government (which does, in fact, bestow special status on the 25th, simply because of Christmas).

But our brave anti-Christmas warrior needs to be prepared for more than just a throng of angry Christians -- he'd also have to fight off a formidable corporate structure that relies on Christmas sales to bolster profits. Then there's organized labor, and so on. The point is, it's a tough road to travel, if you really wanted to take it so far.

But the scary thing is, some people actually do.

This past weekend I took a special friend of mine to see Cats at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia. Having been one of the nine people left in the civilized world to have next to no exposure to the long-running musical (save, perhaps, the incessant singing of certain songs by friends who had seen it on Broadway), I was not completely prepared for the experience. My friend had seen it years ago, so she was a relative expert compared to me, and she schooled me on the plot. Otherwise, it would have been simply an exposition of a bunch of loosely connected music to me.

We got to see the show in the middle of its current two-month run at the Walnut Street Theater (which is apparently the oldest Theater in America). It was pretty fascinating for me, and the music, singing and choreography were all devoid of any perceptible flaws. We had orchestra seats fairly close to the stage, so we also got some close-up attention from the felines themselves. but I heard from some of the people there who'd seen it before that there were some changes from previous incarnations of the show, but regardless, I y enjoyed the performance immensely.

Prior to the show, we visited Penn's Landing, where we toured both the USS Becuna (a WW2 submarine) and the USS Olympia (a Cruiser from the Spanish-American War era), which were docked right next to the boat on which we dined, an establishment way over our budget called the Moshulu. All three vessels provided fascinating experiences -- the third, of course, also provided excellent food. All three vessels have interesting histories, but I was surprised by how much I had forgotten from the tours I had taken of the two Naval ships when I was younger. I highly recommend taking the tours of both ships to anyone who might be visiting Philadelphia, or even those who live in the area and haven't been down to Penn's Landing lately.

And that, for anyone who was wondering, is what I did this past weekend.

Cziltang has posted a profound piece about how so many of us who have spent our entire lives in this country often overlook the simpler blessings in our lives. We, as U.S. citizens, do tend to be melodramatic about the negative aspects of American life. But the truth is, unless we are intimately familiar with the truly horrible conditions under which so many people in the world live, it's too easy to forget how good we really have it.

For a brief reminder, wander over to yesterday's post in the Ratlands.

I've made an occasional habit out of quoting a particularly obscure music source known as the Guilded Lilies -- particularly obscure, as opposed to many of the musical quotes I use from groups that are merely relatively obscure.

I've fielded a small handful of queries from readers who have been compelled to ask one simple question: Who are the Guilded Lilies?

Not that I'm going to answer that particular question, but I can refer the curious would-be Lilies listeners to a website with a little more information, as well as some downloadable music that originates from their humble studio space. If you're interested, you can mosey on over and check out the somewhat versatile sounds available there. Click here to check out the Guilded Lilies home page.

"Richard Corey" by Edwin Arlington Robinson

-this poem is linked, at least in my memory with another Robinson poem, "Miniver Cheevy" (which I linked to a couple weeks ago). We studied the two poems side by side, with our teacher using "Miniver Cheevy" as a cautionary tale about those who complain too much based on the wrong criteria. This poem was the one about how even those with outwardly glamorous lives can be profoundly sad on the inside.

Activists Dominate Content Complaints

I wasn't really in the spirit of blogging most of this week, which is an odd reason to have no real content these past three days, because I really do try to maintain a consistent rate of drivel here at the smedley log, regardless of inspiration. I have been a little busier than usual with school work (end of the semester very soon), and a couple other matters of planning related to this weekend. That aside, I had to link to the above-mentioned story from MediaWeek.com. It underscores the reason why the popular outcries we often hear about in the news aren't always such popular things after all.

In keeping with the mood of the last post, I want to point out an Alternet article stressing the importance of engaging American Christians on Christian terms. I agree with the overall theme of the author's argument, in that the most appropriate and effective way to reach most Bible-believing folks is to address important issues from a Biblical context. That's what makes me care about most of these issues. Here's an excerpt from the article:

"A Bible-believing America? Yeah, and I'm the next pope. It's true that when scripture is wrenched out of context the biblically ignorant can prop up just about any polemic. But when you consider the Bible in its entirety, there are certain ethical principles that scream out at you. And because secular, anti-religious arguments will never win over the religious, I think it's more useful to engage Bible-believers on their own terms, considering the political influence they apparently hold."

"I am blinded by need when it is only desire..."
-Guilded Lilies

Two recent things reminded me of this subject. One was a song off the new U2 album called "Crumbs from Your Table". The other was a recent post on Ales Rarus called "Green Chri$tma$". I'd be remiss if I didn't also give a little credit to the song from which my lead-in quote was taken (a song called "Needs of Another" that, sadly, has yet to make it past the analog format, unlike a handful of Guilded Lilies demos). The idea that has stricken me so, especially in the context of the Christmas shopping season, is that so many people feel pressured to spend, spend, spend -- and usually on things that are far from necessary.

Beyond exceeding necessity is the rampant ignorance of those in our world who have true needs. Using the term ignorance to describe this phenomenon will probably be met with skepticism, but it's true. We may see the news of those in third world countries, or even those in the parts of this country that merely resemble the third-world in many ways, but are we actually aware of these hardships? I wonder sometimes. And if we believe ourselves to be truly aware, what do we do about it? How many of us believe we have a responsibility to do anything? I suppose for those reading this who have no spiritual or conscientious impetus to act on such problems, this type of diatribe is fairly useless, but what about the many people of faith in this world whose religious/moral directives are intimately connected to caring for the less fortunate?

Part of this problem may be the paradigm that many Christians hold, the idea that if you're a good Christian, God will bless you with material wealth. I know Christians who look at the less fortunate accordingly, not as a group of people they've been commanded to help, but as a class of people who've obviously shunned God, hence they deserve whatever lowly condition they happen to be in -- meanwhile those of us with jobs, health insurance and other things we refer to as basic needs, well, we must've done better in God's eyes.

Most Christians in our society tend to think that what we have is ours to keep, and charity is just something you do with your spare resources (what's leftover after we've satisfied our own desires). We feast on what we have, as though we truly deserve it; meanwhile the needy are generally relegated to mere crumbs from the table. And far too many of us are okay with that.

I know this will be the second straight tm3am column I've linked to in a week, but I have to do it. In his rant about Rolling Stone magazine's recent list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", Andre Salles really strikes a chord regarding what some people are calling great music.

I would rant about it myself, but he does a far better job of it.

I had heard the news of the statements about unions being welcome at Chinese Wal-Marts, and I received an email link to a story that provides a little background and commentary on what it might mean.

"The Song of Despair" by Pablo Neruda
(translated by W.S. Merwin)

I am relatively new to Neruda's poetry. I'll confess that the only thing that made me search him out at the local bookstore was the use of some of his lines in a film called The Motorcycle Diaries, which I recently saw, and enjoyed. For some reason, every time I see a foreign language film with subtitles, or for that matter, a foreign language poem translated to English, I wish I could enjoy it in its original language. Reading Neruda's poems makes me want to brush up on my long-since eroded Spanish skills.

I got the new U2 last week, and I've been digesting it ever since. I actually like it quite a bit -- I'm not yet sure where it fits in my internal U2 rankings, and I rarely have a fixed order for that anyway. Prior to hearing this album, I had four U2 albums specifically set apart in my mind as my four favorite:

• Achtung Baby - took me forever to get used to, but unlike some old-timers on the U2 fan circuit, I adjusted and ended up liking a lot of their 90's material, though neither Zooropa nor Pop were nearly as good as this one.
• All That You Can't Leave Behind - a first listen fave for me. Probably the most technically well-made music I've heard from U2, but I especially liked songs like "Walk On" and "In a Little While" (the latter reminded me of Van Morrison a little bit, which wasn't a bad thing).
• The Joshua Tree - this album was the first I owned of theirs (when you don't the dubbed tape copy I had of War). A top 100 of the 80's list in Rolling Stone remarked that the B-sides for this album were better than the A-sides on most other 80's albums -- probably true.
• War - possibly because it's the first U2 album I ever heard, but I still love listening to it. (I always had an especially soft spot in my heart for "Surrender")

I use the term "favorite" when referring to U2's work, as opposed terms like "best", because I'm firmly of the belief that a band like U2 tends to appeal to its fans on a visceral level, where the technical quality of the music is sometimes of secondary importance. So far, I'm enjoying the new stuff. I can't say whether or not it will stretch the aforementioned favorite four into a favorite five, but the more I listen to it, the better I like its chances.

(Incidentally, if you want what I'd consider a pretty good review of the new U2 album, check out this week's Tuesday Morning 3 a.m.)

"I like the sound of my own voice
I didn't give anyone else a choice..."
-U2

Well, it seems I forgot something when I posted last. The one-year anniversary of this blog (at least the portion that managed to avoid accidental erasure) was on November 28. Someone once said that 90% of new blogs fail within the first year, or was that independent restaurants? I'll just apply it to blogs, since it does seem there are many that don't make it past a certain point -- a point that I'm fairly sure coincides with the blogger losing interest. I suppose it's something like the fate of a new toy. Other bloggers, like my Jayhawk friend from the Ratlands, suffer from having too much real-life obligation I think; or perhaps it's that people like me suffer from an inexplicable knack for finding too much time to write.

In looking around at some of the mainstays of my usual blog rounds, I notice that most of the blogs that seem to persist are those that are about something other than just being a blog. In other words, the medium is not the message. There are many weblogs out there for which the medium is an end to itself, and most of them (I assume) are short-lived. I think people like me (assuming such people exist) keep adding to these online train wrecks we call blogs because, at least in our own minds, we have something to say. I will concede that I have drifted into the realm of absolute drivel on occasion, and I'm sure some might even think I live there. But the point is that people who push on tend to be those for whom a purpose exists, and I would contend that this is true of many other sorts of efforts as well.

For me, the real drug is writing. About what? Doesn't really matter, as long as it's something that seems interesting to me. My first regular reading in the blogosphere was over at the Ratlands, and I have often lamented, whether to myself or to whoever reads this, that I wish he wrote more often. He and I both seem to lament that someone like Steven den Beste isn't still writing -- I always wanted to sound so well-reasoned and articulate, but I write in fits primarily, and I can almost always see the restlessness in it when I'm done. I wonder at times if it's as obvious to other people.

I am a small, small fish in a gigantic pond, and I am quite happy to be so. I think I always imagined this as an out-of-the-way spot on the internet, resigned to reaching a handful of occasional passersby. On the other hand, I have been pleasantly surprised to realize my traffic is a bit heavier than I ever thought it would be. I guess there's something to be said for longevity, if one year is actually any kind of benchmark.

So, to wrap up the gratuity of this late anniversary post, I humbly thank those who have linked to me, those who have stopped in, and anyone who's graced me with feedback over the past year.

Hope you'll keep coming back.