Quoteums

To:

Those who are weak,

To climates unknown did courageously steer
Through oceans to deserts, for freedom they came
And dying, bequeathed us their freedom and fame
Heart of oak are our ships. Heart of oak are our men.
-Unknown

My fellow Brothers who choose to send their seed to be instructed by heathens,

From these truths it would appear that the soul cannot be successfully cultivated by patches. We cannot have the intellectual workman polish it at one place, and the spiritual workman at another. A succession of objects may be presented to the soul, to evoke and discipline its several powers; yet the unity of the being would seem to necessitate a unity in its successful education.
- R.L. Dabney

My fellow Brothers who allow their daughters to leave the house naked,

A fair text deserves a fair margin.
-Thomas Watson

Mr. Starch,

In short, pietism leads directly and inexorably to impiety. But we have to take care; pietism should not be defined as having tight standards, but rather a problem of having inverted standards.
-Doug Wilson


Mr. Terry,

If a person can't tolerate wine, omit (the Sacrament) altogether in order that no innovation may be made or introduced.
-Martin Luther

Mr. Owen,

Life without industry is guilt, and industry without art is brutality.
-Unknown

Mr. John(son),

The goodness of God only remains, in all storms, the sure foundation to the afflicted, against which the devil is never able to prevail.
-John Knox

Mr. Marble,

E pluribus unum

The many faces of Ag

Probably 25% of my work is collecting data for research projects. Currently I’m in the field working on two projects (amongst my other work); one is classified pending and the other is monitoring milk composition of farms that switch from ‘conventional’ to organic. These farms are known as transitional dairies.
Tuesday morning I went to one of the transitional farms participating in the study. They are a 50 cow seasonal herd incorporating rotational pasture. As an aside, transitional dairies really bite the bullet (which is a good screening mechanism) in that they must produce (for the most part) organic milk while selling to a conventional market. The cows are to be managed using organic standards for 1 year before they become organic. In the same way, 3 years must pass for the land to be organic.
Being a congenial fella, after milking was done he took me on a tour of the place. He has a greenhouse that he raises calves in, and clear back in the corner were a few pigs. I’m always happy to see animals other than cows. It gets redundant seeing only bovines. So upon seeing the pigs I mentioned something about chickens fertilizing pasture, eating grubs, etc. Quickly he retorted back “have you heard of Joel Salatin?”
Saying to myself sarcastically “have I heard of Who!!!” I couldn’t believe my ears. I thought only wing nut Presbyterians were associated with that department of heresy.
After I picked myself up off the ground I said that I’m familiar with that name. I told him my friend just got back from Polyface last month.

This fella seems quite encouraged by Joel. He has several of his books and he is considering running chickens in the pasture next year. It made my week to know Joel’s stuff isn’t just in certain circles.

Mindlessness

"This Shining Moment in the Now"
by David Budbill


When I work outdoors all day, every day, as I do now, in the fall,
getting ready for winter, tearing up the garden, digging potatoes,
gathering the squash, cutting firewood, making kindling, repairing
bridges over the brook, clearing trails in the woods, doing the last of
the fall mowing, pruning apple trees, taking down the screens,
putting up the storm windows, banking the house—all these things,
as preparation for the coming cold...

when I am every day all day all body and no mind, when I am
physically, wholly and completely, in this world with the birds,
the deer, the sky, the wind, the trees...

when day after day I think of nothing but what the next chore is,
when I go from clearing woods roads, to sharpening a chain saw,
to changing the oil in a mower, to stacking wood, when I am
all body and no mind...

when I am only here and now and nowhere else—then, and only
then, do I see the crippling power of mind, the curse of thought,
and I pause and wonder why I so seldom find
this shining moment in the now.

I suppose with fuel prices, maybe this is the way to go. 'Course he's feeding jerseys and everybody knows they don't eat much. 

Hide-n-Seek and other childish games

Nay, the same Solomon the king, although he excelled in the glory of treasure and magnificent buildings, of shipping and navigation, of service and attendance, of fame and renown, and the like, yet he maketh no claim to any of those glories, but only to the glory of inquisition of truth; for so he saith expressly, “The glory of God is to conceal a thing, but the glory of the king is to find it out;" as if according to the innocent play of children, the Divine Majesty took delight to hide his works, to the end to have them found out, and as if kings could not obtain a greater honour than to be God’s play-fellows in that game.

Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1603)


I’m about 200 pages into reading a 700 page book by Daniel Boorstin called The Discovers. As the title partially reveals, it’s a compendium of ‘firsts’. Being such a large and daunting work to read let alone publish, you can only imagine how captivating a book it is that I’m nearly half done (ok, just over a quarter) and not wanting it to end.

I like his writing style and his approach seems to be compassionate, yet truthful, towards Judeo-Christian thinking. He first set the stage on the discovery of the clock. (Which, in a weird way reminded me of Watson’s quote about how he felt that there would never be a need for a household to own a PC) The clock is something which we can’t even imagine there being a time without. That is to say I can’t even think about thinking about being clockless. I have no reference point. I know what it was like to be single because I was once single. Also, I’m not old but I know old people and I can at least put myself in their shoes. But being separate from knowing what time it is or time specific appointments, I’m clueless.

Next Boorstin writes about the invention of the clock in relation to navigation. This section in particular interests me. He reveals the discovery of latitude and how that logically lead to Columbus’ voyage (which the author comments against being everything but heroic or daunting). He also parenthetically served justice to one of my longest unanswered questions in a chapter called ‘The Prison of Christian Dogma’.

Because of the Medieval Church after the takeover of Rome, the work of the Greeks was pridefully ignored. Needing biblical warrant and actual passages the church basically started from scratch in the 4th century. The study of geography did not fit into the then current learning programs, ex. the seven liberal arts, quadrivium, trivium, or linguistic disciplines. The author states, “For a thousand years of the Middle Ages no common synonym for “geography” was in ordinary usage, and the word did not enter the English language until the mid-sixteenth century.” (pg 100 emphasis mine) With Jerusalem being the center of the earth (umbilicus terrae) as per an anemic literal translation of Eze 5:5, all cartographers who wished to stay within the graces of the Church (and stay with the living) would comply with stated beliefs. All in all, Boorstin does an excellent job of unearthing the issues and politics behind flat vs spherical earth.
Ptolemy (A.D. 90-168) had calculations to prove a spherical earth and so did Erastosthenes (276?-195 B.C.?) along with many others.

Summarily, Boorstin tries to convey that the largest blockade to discoveries is an ‘illusion of knowledge’. Believing the earth to be flat is a classic example. If only the church was smart enough to use the sweat equity of Greek geeks, who knows where we’d be (maybe Mars, John). In reference to the first quote, I wonder if we Christians what to play our own game and make our own rules (even more so that heathens)?

Mel Shmel

Forget about Hollywood. You should visit Oberammergau in 2010.

Are you Saved?

More Heresy from the bottomless pit of Potatoes (russets, of course).