A friend of mine at work loaned me his copy of The Lillywhite Sessions, Dave Matthews' Band's technically "unreleased" album. I had heard of it, but never really listened to it until today. I'm a DMB fan from way back, and I'm really enjoying this album as I listen to it today. I told my friend the only regret I have is that I'm hearing these songs for the first time at work, while I can't really *listen* to them.
So, I got to thinking. I listen to music all day at work, while I am (hopefully) concentrating on other things. I listen to music while I'm riding my bike to/from work. I listen to music while I work out in the yard. I listen to music while I'm driving. But, do I ever actually listen to music? Not really. I wonder how much deeper this new-to-me album would sound if I were sitting at home listening to it and doing nothing else.
I also wonder what other pursuits this applies to. How many things in my life do I passively experience, but not really experience at all?
My job has been keeping me pretty busy lately, and I've been going in early to try and keep up during one of the busiest parts of the year. One side-effect is that I also get up early (unintentionally) on the weekends. Saturday morning I woke up around 5:00 a.m. I worked on Amanda's new blog for awhile, and then decided to go on a bike ride before everyone else woke up.
I left the driveway around 5:50 and headed for the bike trail that winds from about 40th and Normal to the dam at Holmes Lake. When I rode past the apartments just north of 56th and Van Dorn I smelled smoke, and it kind of looked hazy back between the buildings. This would have been right around 6:00 or a little after. I slowed down a bit and looked to see if there were any flames or anything, but I decided that I didn't really want to interrupt my ride to go investigate and, besides, if there really was a fire I thought the local authorities would have everything under control.
When I looked at the paper Sunday morning, there was an article on the front page of the local section about a fire that had destroyed a 24-unit apartment building near 60th and Van Dorn. At first I thought it had probably burned down in the middle of the night, and that there was still smoke in the air when I rode by that morning. I read through the article and found out that "A resident called 911 and activated a fire alarm at 6:17 a.m. after hearing a smoke detector." 6:17 a.m. About 15 minutes after I had passed by.
The fire started outside, on a 3rd floor balcony. I would guess that the smoke detector didn't go off until the fire had reached the inside of the building. If I would have ridden over there to see what was going on, I might have been able to get somebody's attention before the fire got out of control. Fifteen minutes is a long time when you're talking about a building fire.
I can't stop thinking about this. Why didn't I just go check it out? What if somebody had died? Could I have helped to stop this fire that ended up causing almost $2.5 million in damages?
Boys like to consume and destroy things, but men understand the joy of creating and restoring.
Agree?
For I the Lord love justice…
Isaiah 61:8
My new route to work has a two-lanes-become-one merge point both on the way to work and on my commute home 1. Typically, the good Nebraskans line up in the through lane and wait their turn, but occasionally somebody who is way more important than us slips into the merging lane and floors it when the light turns green. Usually I'm too many cars back to do anything about it, so I watch helplessly as the "cutter" moves to the front of the line.
But not today.
On the way home, traffic was backed up more than usual northbound on 27th street at Highway 2. I waited my turn, missed the light, and ended up two cars back. As expected, a couple of cars pulled up in the right lane while the rest of us behaved ourselves. When the light changed, the first car gunned it and blew past the guy in front of me. The second car, to my right, tried to speed past me but couldn't. They slowed down, and so did I. They sped up, and so did I. And then they had to turn into the Shopko parking lot when the lane ended.
Maybe there's something wrong with me, but seeing that car get snubbed absolutely made my day. I felt like, at least in some little, insignificant way, that I had participated in the righting of an injustice. Somebody tried to cheat, and I didn't let them get their way.
So, that's my question…. Is there something wrong with me? Am I a huge jerk for not letting that car in? Does it matter (in either direction) that it was a snobby-looking lady driving a Lexus and talking on her cell phone? Or, is there maybe something good and just about turning back a cheater who is breaking the rules to put themselves ahead of everyone else?
This morning's downpour got me thinking about a physics professor I had in high school who argued you get just as wet running through the rain as you would at a comfortable walk, except that the former might cause you to get out of breath and/or look silly running around in the rain. Here's how the theory goes, if I remember it correctly.
Consider two people, Walker and Runner, who both have to travel 100 meters through a rain shower falling at a constant rate all along the course. Runner sets out at a dead-on sprint, while Walker takes his time. If the rain is falling at a constant rate it should be thought of as an aqueous medium (i.e. x number of drops per cubic meter) rather than as individual drops. Even though Runner passes through the medium more quickly, he will still pass through the same amount of water as Walker will. Thus, neither of them is "wetter" than the other when they reach their destination.
If you're having trouble keeping up, think of it as driving in the rain on the highway vs. your residential street. You need your wipers on "high" at 60 mph, but only on "intermittent" in your neighborhood, right? Even though the rain is falling at the same rate, you encounter more drops-per-second at higher speeds. Similarly, if you are sprinting through the rain you will run into just as much rain (maybe even more?) as you will if you would just walk.
So far, so good.
However, you may have noticed that when you come in out of the rain your hair is wet, along with the front of your body. The afore mentioned theory accounts for all of the rain you run into, but not that which lands on the top of your head. Even if you're standing still, the raindrops will continue to amass on top of your head at a constant rate.
So, if we really want to know how wet Walker and Runner get, we need to know how long their heads were in the rain.
Let's assume that each of our travelers passes through a gallon of water (for the sake of round numbers) between point A and point B, regardless of their speed. Let's also assume that the rain is falling at a rate of .1 gallons per second per square foot of vertically exposed surface area (i.e. the top of your head). If it takes Runner 10 seconds to get there, he will have received one gallon of rain on top of his head, for a total of 2 gallons on his person. If Walker takes his time and clocks in at 50 seconds, 5 gallons of rain will have fallen on top of his head. Add that to the gallon he "ran into" and his total is 6 gallons of rain.
Since 6 is more than 2, we can conclude that a person does in fact get more wet by walking through the rain than running. Of course, it is worth mentioning that you can reach a point at which you are as "soaked" as you're going to get. In cases such as this, my advice would be to bring along an umbrella.
You know you're in a PCA church when four kids show up to your 1st grade Sunday School class and two of them are named Knox and J. Calvin (Yes, the J stands for John).
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Another sure sign that you're in a PCA church is when 3 of those same four kids are home-schooled.
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I don't have a musical bone in my body, so I was absolutely amazed when Amanda pointed out that Esther was playing the piano with just a chord sheet and no "real" music. Of course, Ann never seems to have any music when she plays the violin, either. Incredible. Simply incredible.
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Another benefit of sitting closer to the front than we usually do was that I was able to notice that the Jesus on the wall at the front of the church looks an awful lot like Kirk Douglas.
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This probably makes me an evil and wicked person, but I'm learning that the younger kids are, the less I like them.
Did you know that first graders barely know how to read? Yeah, me neither. I'll take a room full of hormone-drenched high schoolers wrestling with the sovereignty of God and the free will of man over a bunch of illiterate first graders any day.
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All Creatures of Our God and King is one fine hymn.
And all ye men of tender heart,
Forgiving others, take your part,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,
Praise God, and on Him cast your care,
O praise Him, O praise Him,
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
That St. Francis of Assisi sure knew how to write 'em. 1225 A.D. was a banner year for hymns, if you ask me.
In another case of a personal-care products manufacturer gone bad, Johnson & Johnson is suing the Red Cross over the use of the cross emblem.
From the Fox News article:
Johnson & Johnson began using the red cross design as a trademark in 1887 — six years after the creation of the American Red Cross but before it received its congressional charter in 1900. The lawsuit contends that the charter did not empower the Red Cross to engage in commercial activities competing with a private business.
While the Pope could not be reached for comment, sources close to the Holy Father have said that Jesus Christ is considering a lawsuit against both parties, claiming that they have both violated his trademark, which was established approximately 1850 years before either organization. One source said Christ's lawsuit may also include hospitals, 20th Century Fox (the distributors of the popular television series, M*A*S*H), and Switzerland.
One source who is close to the case, who spoke on conditions of anonymity, pointed out that the International Red Cross created the symbol in 1863, and it was recognized by the First Geneva Convention in 1864, which established the "red cross" as an internationally accepted symbol. When asked about the likelihood of Johnson & Johnson winning their case, our source remarked, "You might be able to get away with that kind of B.S. back in Jersey, but you should know better than to mess with the Swiss. Don't you fools know that John Calvin himself spent most of his life in Geneva? Word."
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