We're only a few broken guardrails from lynching.

Michael David Dunn

If I can be permitted a legal opinion now that the dust has settled: I think Michael David Dunn (who shot and killed Jordan Davis at a gas station on November 23, 2012 in a dispute over loud music), lost his temper, was armed, and killed a man.

He was found guilty earlier this year and I hope he spends the rest of his life in jail. Folks who can't control their tempers shouldn't be armed. And if Mr Dunn hadn't been, Jordan Davis would still be alive.

What many may not remember is that when this happened, there was still a lot of debate over George Zimmerman's acquittal in the shooting death of 17-year old Trayvon Martin, and that was fueling unhinged outrage over Jordan Davis's death.

(I don't think Zimmerman should have been armed, either.)

We've always tolerated protests and indignant pontification, by both those we support and those we despise, but when we agree to trust a process that's in all of our interests, let's do that.

Scourging in effigy may be cathartic, but it's also dangerous.

Dunn convicted of attempted murder; hung jury on murder in 'loud music' trial >

Michael David Dunn on Wikipedia >

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Not to be confused with THIS Michael Dunn, who was a popular character actor in the 60's and appeared on two of my weekly favorites, Star Trek and Wild, Wild West.

Left: Michael Dunn with William Shatner in Star Trek. Right: In Wild Wild West.

[2014-2-17]

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Secretive or inscrutable? (an enigma wrapped in an enigma)

Winston  Churchill and Adolf Hitler. Winston Churchill
once referred to Adolf Hitler as "an enigma wrapped in
an enigma." A fellow student at Calvin College
used the same language to describe me, though
I didn't know at the time who those words were
 first applied to.

I frequently accompany my wife (whose first language is Chinese) on outings in which she'll need to talk about things that require a specialized vocabulary, such as doctor appointments.

Once in Toronto, while I tried to answer for her in a hospital, the attending nurse rudely cut me short and insinuated I was not letting my wife talk. We muddled our way through it, but it was very difficult to help answer the nurse's questions by waiting after each one for my wife to try, then look at me, then for the nurse to look at me with an expression that read "Oh all right, but make it quick."

I felt like I was being reprimanded in kindergarten for eating paste.

This has happened in the US, too, sometimes it's blunt and obvious, other times just a suspicion that seeps from the corners of eyes and seems to say, "What are you doing here?"

(If you're an American married to an American, imagine what it would be like accompanying your wife and children to the doctor every time. People that don't know you suspect you are hiding something or preventing your wife or children from answering questions about abuse.

If you layer in my reserved personality in instances like this, I can come across as secretive rather than inscrutable, though I never try to be either.)

I'm now especially sensitive to these situations and ask before I start to answer if they don't mind me helping.  

Despite my best efforts, I'm afraid those who don't know me draw their own conclusions, and I can't really do much about that.

[2014-07-25]

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You'd think Christians would be different...

Imitation of Christ,
frontispiece and first chapter,
1878 (Wikimedia Commons)

… but you'd be wrong.

There is a greater tolerance among non-Christians toward Jesus and Christianity than there is among Christians themselves.

And it's not necessarily because they don't understand the distinctions we insist on, but because they see through us.

This is endemic to all human institutions, of course, a deep contempt that arises only from a deeper familiarity, like that which divides Republicans and Democrats today. (I can barely stand to watch the cocking heads and puffery that characterizes politics today, like alpha baboons taunting each other over a female in estrus.)

Internal divisions are deeper and more painful than peripheral ones. You'd think, though, that some groups (who wish for example to imitate Christ) would be different.

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While in college, I gave an old copy of The Imitation of Christ to Dad that I picked up at a used book store and had read. Wasn't any special occasion. Was very pretty, with opalescent linen-lined covers and wood block engravings that were slightly embossed. It made a very nice devotional.

[2014-07-20]

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My bibles.

Inside front of Douay-Rheims bible

I rarely read from print anymore. I use a Nook, and otherwise get news and do my writing on a desktop.

However, these are the bibles I've owned over the years. Funny that I've kept them all. Each has some special memory, I suppose. I've read them all, but the Scofield I received from Bethel Baptist Church when I graduated from McDowell high school is far and away the one I've spent the most time in. Even so, my favorite version for a couple years has been the RSV.

My bibles. Bottom Left to top Right: Scofield King James Version, New English Bible, Douay-Rheims Bible, New Living Bible, Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible, St Ignatius New Testament Study Bible.

My favorite form factor is the very cool and tiny Douay-Rheims, which holds the complete Old and New Testaments and Apocrypha. The Challoner Douay-Rheims is regarded by some Catholics much like the King James is among evangelicals. I bought it many years ago at a used book store for a few dollars because it was so intriguing.

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An approach to the Apostolic Fathers

I've set myself a long-overdue goal: Reading the Apostolic Fathers. I wanted to get modern translations and a good commentary. My Process: First, I read Simon Tugwell's overview on a particular Father, then Michael Holmes' introduction and text. I've picked at the Fathers over the years, but never made a concerted effort to read the earliest all at one go.

(For the unfamiliar, the Apostolic Fathers are early Christians who were disciples of the twelve Apostles; ie, they knew someone who knew Jesus. The "Apostles" knew Jesus himself.)

The Apostolic Fathers in English, Michael W. Holmes

Apostolic Fathers, Simon Tugwell

[2014-07-29]

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Back in the day… from my first calculator to my first computer...

I was an early adopter of the Internet. My first modem was 1200 baud. I splurged and passed up a discounted 300 baud modem. If you don't know what "baud" means, don't worry about it. Measuring Internet speed baud rate today would be like measuring the moon's orbit in inches. (A mixed metaphor, but you get the idea.)

When I entered the advertising world, I used the Internet to research companies and products for advertorials.

You never knew what you were going to find, and no one was watching (IP sniffing was still a forensic science). This was long before companies began jealously acquiring URLs, and domain "squatters" or "profiteers" could often sell a domain to the company of the same name for a lot of money. (It wasn't too long before courts forced squatters to turn over ownership based on infringement laws.)

It was like the Wild West - few rules, few to enforce them, few consequences.

There was something rugged and exciting about it that quickly went underground as commerce came to dominate traffic.

Something else like it will come along again, and someone will make it boring again.

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My first computer:  An Amstrad PCW

My first computer was an Amstrad PCW. It ran on the CP/M operating system, used 3" disks (that's not a typo), and came with a keyboard, monitor, and 24-pin printer (which produced excellent quality at that time). You could also do BASIC and LOGO programming. And it all cost less than $500 at Sears.

My first calculator: A TI-30

I remember poring over the pages of the handbook that came with it, transfixed by the faux vintage illustrations (popular at that time) and new mathematical principles. It came with a denim print vinyl zipper pouch. I sometimes looped it on my belt. Boy, did I feel smart.

I loved math then and now. I was a very eager, but very uninspired, mathematician. I wanted to prove Fibonacci's theorem. I loved primes. But I couldn't even do my times tables through the twelves.

[2014-06-17]

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