tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234404662024-03-07T22:15:31.010-06:00Ask ChakaA gathering site for distantly dwelling friendsSpecial Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16894140609018031975noreply@blogger.comBlogger422125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-13832315622123775982011-07-25T19:19:00.003-05:002011-07-25T19:29:26.587-05:00One-sentence book reviewsFor some of my recent reading:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:</span> I know this wasn't your intention, but now I really feel like a loser for how little my garden is producing.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Aeneid </span>(trans. Sarah Ruden): This translation is clear, memorable, and moving; it made me wish that Vergil had finished the poem, just so I could read more.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Phantom Tollbooth </span>(in progress): Why did it take me so long to discover this book?<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Trumpeter of Krakow:</span> I'm not actually reading this one--my wife is. But this book smells like a happy childhood.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics</span> (in progress): I feel the ceiling of what is possible for me to learn about math rushing precipitously toward my head.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-57850348871875794912011-07-15T18:51:00.002-05:002011-07-15T19:57:08.092-05:00The Potter ChallengeSo, you're put off by the Harry Potter hype. You had to live through "the end of HP" back when the seventh book came out, and now the media is filled with the same recycled stories. The breathless devotion of the fans is annoying. You just don't get what all the fuss is about, and you're not planning on reading the books yourself any time soon.<br /><br />Well, I was once just as put off as you. And I'm now one of those breathless fans. I have a hard time formulating how much I love these books. I turn into a cliche factory: they're about good and evil, about love conquering all, about growing up, about learning how to die.<br /><br />Yeah, I wouldn't want to read them on that description.<br /><br />But I really think you should read these books. Not so you can wring some enjoyment out of the mediocre movies or catch esoteric references. It will improve your life to have this narrative walking around with you.<br /><br />So as an incentive for you to read the series, I'm going to put my own reading time on the line. There are plenty of supposedly "great" books that I don't see what the fuss is about. I've written these authors off; I'll never read them. Unless you read Harry Potter.<br /><br />Here's what I propose. If you pledge to read a certain number of pages in the HP series, I'll match those pages with something that you love from my Never Gonna Read It list.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Feel free to choose works by any of these authors:</span><br />Ayn Rand<br />David Foster Wallace<br />James Joyce<br />Kurt Vonnegut<br />Karl Barth (or pick your favorite systematic theologian)<br />Sylvia Plath (I don't even know what she wrote. Just her name annoys me.)<br />Virginia Woolf (I'm not sure I know the difference between her and Sylvia Plath. Also, her name has too many o's.)<br />Kate Chopin (let's just make a category called "Depressing Lady Books")<br />Stieg Larsson<br />Leo Tolstoy<br />Stephanie Meyer<br />William Faulkner<br />Thomas Hardy<br />Marshall McLuhan<br />Any French Novelist (Proust, Balzac, Hugo, Flaubert, Zola)<br />Any of the Brontes<br />Suggest something you know I'll hate!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Suggested page pledges:</span><br /><br />Sorcerer's Stone: 309<br />Chamber of Secrets: 341 (650 cumulative)<br />Prisoner of Azkaban: 435 (1085 cumulative--you should go at least this far)<br />Goblet of Fire: 734 (1819 cumulative--you really should go at least this far)<br />Order of the Phoenix: 870 (2689 cumulative)<br />Half-Blood Prince: 672 (3361 cumulative)<br />Deathly Hallows: 759 (4120 cumulative)<br /><br />This is a genuine offer. I honestly loathe the thought of reading any books by these authors. But I'm willing to make the sacrifice. Let's make a deal.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-11923865426268875692011-06-13T18:31:00.000-05:002011-06-14T15:30:06.892-05:00Paul among the People<span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Among-People-Reinterpreted-Reimagined/dp/0375425012">Paul among the People</a> </span>is a good book. You should read it.<br /><br />The author, Sarah Ruden, is a classical scholar and translator of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Aeneid</span>. Based on the snippets of her translation scattered throughout the book, I'd say she's a very good translator. (Maybe she'll be able to get me past Book I of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Aeneid</span>.) Her renderings are striking, immediate. The danger in translating classic texts is that the unnatural English of the translation will lay like a haze over the terrain of the original's ideas. The haze masks the landscape, the places where it rises to meet us and where it falls away abruptly. Ruden is clear, and the disorientation you feel when reading her translations is the result of seeing the extremes of the landscape: These ancient people were just like us, except when they were exactly unlike us.<br /><br />In <span style="font-style: italic;">Paul among the People</span>, Ruden lets us hear Paul in the context of "his own time." This is what New Testament scholarship is supposed to do, but Ruden does it more vividly than any commentary I've read. What kind of behavior were the early Christians and their polytheistic neighbors engaged in? What was Paul warning them to avoid? (The short answer: A lot of sexual violence and exploitation.)<br /><br />Ruden's approach is driven by the way Paul is viewed in modern society (outside the evangelical sphere, it should be added): as a hater of fun, women, and homosexuals, a supporter of oppression and slavery. Ruden's project is to debunk this view, topic by topic.<br /><br />Reading this book from within evangelicaldom is an interesting experience. Ruden shows that Paul was on the right side of history, but she doesn't have the highest opinion of his personality. I don't think evangelicals perceive Paul as <span style="font-style: italic;">having </span>a personality, at least, not personality flaws. (Is this a consequence of inerrancy? Was Paul's crankiness covered in verbal plenary inspiration?) Some of the hardest passages are punted away by saying, "Paul didn't write that letter." This was a let-down for me, but fair enough: Ruden's project isn't to tell the church what its Scriptures teach; she wants to present what Paul, the ancient thinker, actually taught. As an outsider to New Testament scholarship, it makes sense for Ruden to defer to the highest-credentialed scholars in the field (i.e., her colleagues at Harvard and Yale) on the limits of the Pauline corpus.<br /><br />This is a unique, helpful, and riveting book. (I read it in only a couple of sittings.) The designers and typesetters also deserve credit for an excellent finished product.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-26610676252489035752011-05-05T14:15:00.003-05:002011-05-05T14:27:15.535-05:00Lord and Master<a href="http://www.nationalledger.com/lifestyle/article_272639720.shtml">Pets</a> aren't supposed to be called pets anymore, apparently. It makes sense when you think about it. There's already something odd about referring to a dog and his "master," isn't there? Something 1950s, patriarchal, racist. The concept of master recedes further and further from our minds and everyday experience, until it relates solely to two opposite images: the Christian God (Lord = Master) and a fat Southern slave owner. A mental continent is sinking under the waves, with these two promontories the last pieces of ground above water. Is there anything valuable in seeing that they are connected under the surface?Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-39110245702777797702011-05-05T13:37:00.002-05:002011-05-05T13:48:21.039-05:00UnfaithfulnessA certain stock scene has cropped up in a couple of recent books I've read. I feel like I should reflect on the meaning of the scene in it's various incarnations, but the closest I'll get is probably making a note of them here:<br /><br /><table><br /><tr><td><b>Work</b></td><td><b>Faithful spouse</b></td><td><b>Unfaithful spouse</b></td><td><b>Result</b></td></tr><br /><tr><td><i>2666</i></td><td>Amalfitano</td><td>Lola</td><td>AIDS</td></tr><br /><tr><td><i>The Moon and Sixpence</i></td><td>Dirk</td><td>Blanche</td><td>suicide</td></tr><br /><tr><td><i>Todo sobre mi madre</i></td><td>Manuela</td><td>Lola[!]</td><td>AIDS</td></tr><br /><tr><td><i>Hosea</i></td><td>Gomer</td><td>Hosea</td><td>reconciliation</td></tr><br /></table>Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-15744567185427149192011-02-23T12:00:00.001-06:002011-02-23T12:02:24.989-06:00Who Owns the Slave?*This is a <a href="http://dougwils.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8464:who-owns-the-job&catid=119:the-good-of-affluence">satire</a>. Don't take it too seriously, mkay?*<br /><br />Just a quick note about "slave labor." The real question for those who would understand the nature of slavery is the question of ownership. Say there is a particular slave working in the fields, or at the factory, or in the house on Main Street. Who owns that slave's labor?<br /><br />The assumption behind the free labor movement is that the worker owns his labor. The biblical understanding is that the one who owns the worker owns the labor (1 Tim. 6:2). This is not the same as saying that the slave owner is a great guy. No, the slave owners are frequently evil, and they abuse their position of ownership (Exod. 1:11).<br /><br />Owner/slave disputes often fall into a false good guy/bad guy dichotomy, and it betrays a false understanding of the antithesis. In the Bible the owners are often the bad guys. But that does not mean they are not the owners of their slaves. Bad guys can own things. And the commandment does not say, "Thou shalt not steal, except from bad guys."<br /><br />So there is absolutely nothing wrong with slaves deciding that conditions on the job are horrendous, and asking the owner to remedy the situation. And there is no problem with the slaves using whatever persuasive ability they have to make his case. Say they are asking for an increase in rations, or for safer working conditions. That is fully legitimate as well. What is not legitimate is for them to refuse to provide the owner with their labor as though they are the owners of it. To refuse to work until your demands are met is a claim of ownership, which in this case is a false claim.<br /><br />This sin (and it is a sin) is in evidence when slaves abandon their duties entirely by running away. This deprives owners of both the slave's labor and the slave himself, and also negatively affects all the remaining slaves, who must shoulder the extra burden left by the runaway.<br /><br />In other words, the proposal to emancipate slaves and pay them for their labor is nothing but extortion, and Christians should do everything in their power to have nothing to do with it.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-14899947463732660262011-02-16T21:02:00.002-06:002011-02-16T21:31:39.584-06:00Homemade NaanIndian food is the best food on the planet. I've tried my hand at several different Indian dishes over the years (some of my favorites are <a href="http://www.holycowvegan.net/2009/05/aloo-gobi.html">Aloo Gobi</a>, <a href="http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baingan-Bharta-Eggplant-Curry/Detail.aspx">Baingan Bharta</a>, and for special occasions, <a href="http://www.route79.com/food/rogan-josh.htm">Rogan Josh</a>). But I've never tried to make the naan before. I've always been content to serve the dishes with basmati rice. But you only live once, right? Go big or go home.<br /><br />There are several naan recipes out there. I wanted to start simple, so I ignored the ones that called for yeast. <a href="http://onceuponaplaterecipes.blogspot.com/2009/05/naan-flatbread-without-tandoori-oven.html">This recipe</a> seemed a good base. I diverted from it a bit, so I'll spell out my own work below.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ingredients:</span><br /><br />1.5 cups flour (plus more flour for dusting)<br />1/2 tsp salt<br />2 tsp sugar<br />1/2 cup soymilk (this is just an accommodation to my wife's lactose intolerance--cow's milk is what's typically called for)<br />2 tbs vegetable oil<br />olive oil (or butter for those who can handle lactose)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Directions:</span><br /><br />Combine dry ingredients in a bowl or food processor. Mix in wet ingredients. Dump dough onto floured surface and knead (with floured hands) until dough is smooth, about 8-10 minutes.<br /><br />Dump dough into a greased bowl and turn the ball so that the whole ball is coated with oil. Cover with a towel and put in a warm spot for an hour.<br /><br />(I'm not sure why you have to let the dough sit for an hour, since there's no yeast involved, but I decided not to skip this step. Since we keep the heat on low in my house, there aren't many warm spots. I turned the oven on low for a couple minutes, turned it off, and stuck in the bowl.)<br /><br />Divide dough into quarters. On a floured surface, roll out each ball into a very flat tear-shaped loaf with a floured rolling pin. In the meantime, position your cooking surface (a baking stone, upside-down cast iron skillet, upside-down baking sheet) a few inches away from your oven's broiler and turn the oven on to the broil setting.<br /><br />Pop the loaves onto the hot cooking surface. They will cook <span style="font-weight: bold;">very quickly</span>. Turn the loaves over when the top side has browned and blistered. When the other side is finished, pull them out and brush them with oil or butter.<br /><br />I honestly didn't think these would turn out very well, but I was pleasantly surprised. We quickly devoured the four loaves, so I'm tripling the recipe next time. Wish me luck.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-14525607478019430322011-02-13T20:07:00.002-06:002011-02-13T20:33:34.945-06:00Sunflower SatayIn my last post, I talked about making "tahini" from sunflower seeds (instead of sesame seeds). I suppose it was really more of a sunflower butter--just roasted sunflowers and oil ground into a paste.<br /><br />I had some leftovers from the recipe, and used it up by adding a little salt and sugar, then spreading it on celery like one would peanut butter. This was a great snack, and there was something about the taste that reminded me of Asian food (East Asia, that is).<br /><br />I thought that this sunflower paste might be a workable substitute for an Asian peanut sauce. (We've been avoiding peanuts in our household to prevent our son's getting allergies.) I found a base recipe for a peanut satay recipe at <a href="http://www.thaikitchen.com/Recipes/Chicken-Beef-and-Pork/Chicken-and-Broccoli-in-Peanut-Sauce.aspx">ThaiKitchen.com</a> and started modifying. We like the results; here's the recipe:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ingredients:</span><br /><br />1 inch ginger, minced<br />4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced<br />1 onion, sliced<br />1 can coconut milk<br />1 cup sunflower sauce (recipe follows)<br />4 cups broccoli, cut into florets<br />1 red bell pepper, cut into strips<br />2 limes, quartered<br />1 bunch cilantro, chopped<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Directions:</span><br /><br />Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a wok or deep pot over high heat. Stir fry the ginger and garlic for about a minute, then add the sliced onion. After frying the onion for a few minutes, add the sunflower sauce and coconut milk. Run some water into the coconut milk can and swirl it around to avoid wasting any of that coconut goodness and add it to the pot. Stir to combine.<br /><br />When the pot begins to boil, add the broccoli and red pepper, reduce heat, and cover. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the broccoli is tender. Remove from heat and add chopped cilantro. Squeeze the juice of the limes over the sauce and mix in. Serve over jasmine rice.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sunflower sauce:</span><br /><br />1/2 cup of roasted sunflower seeds<br />1/4 cup of vegetable oil<br />1/4 cup of fish sauce and/or soy sauce<br />2 tsp chili paste (I used some homemade paste that I made by just roasting some peppers and processing with garlic and cilantro)<br />2 tbs brown sugar<br />Curry spices to taste (cumin, coriander, tumeric)<br />1/2 cup hot water<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Directions:</span><br /><br />Combine all ingredients except the hot water in a food processor. With the motor running add some hot water to thin out the sauce (you probably won't need the full 1/2 cup). Process until smooth.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-81337883826612992132011-02-02T19:45:00.007-06:002011-02-02T20:48:02.309-06:00Falafel Meal from ScratchThank God for <a href="http://chicagofalafel.com/">Sultan's Market</a>. Without them, I would not have known how awesome falafel is. I've been on a quest for the last several years to make as great a meal at home as you can get at Sultan's Market. I'm still a long ways away from that goal, but I've made progress.<br /><br />If there's one key to that progress, it's this: from scratch is better.<br /><br />I started by buying packaged hummus, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ziyad-Tahini-Ground-Sesame-Seeds/dp/B001KWGLU0">tahini paste</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ziyad-Falafel-Mix/dp/B000LQL9SK">falafel mix</a>. I thought I was showing mad skillz by making my own tahini sauce from the paste (following the recipe on the side of the bottle).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiTDB55QW4oDVAkoufkgGBX_MDMN6rqpv1KHpOVEog9QdT0GRmG-9JWtVFK0PT9-uvXGbEoYJIi_GqeltbF13VC8nb4w_Zy3LKxRjEz5m8UomvWuul5YuyU5CWeU4lOhEAUkRcOA/s1600/IMG_7420.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiTDB55QW4oDVAkoufkgGBX_MDMN6rqpv1KHpOVEog9QdT0GRmG-9JWtVFK0PT9-uvXGbEoYJIi_GqeltbF13VC8nb4w_Zy3LKxRjEz5m8UomvWuul5YuyU5CWeU4lOhEAUkRcOA/s320/IMG_7420.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569283983142408242" border="0" /></a>I took the next step toward "from scratch" by making my own falafel, following <a href="http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10709">this recipe</a>. I used our food processor to make the falafel, without which it would have been much more of a pain. Shallow frying in olive oil doesn't produce quite the same deep-fried deliciousness that Sultan's falafel has. This recipe is quite tasty, though.<br /><br />The results were good enough to make me want to try again soon. However, I had used up the last of my canned chick peas and the last of my tahini paste. We ran out of hummus long before we ran out of pita. The price tag for these three products (chick peas, tahini paste, and hummus) is higher than I would like: about $1.00 for a can of chick peas, $5.00 for tahini paste, $2.00 for a tiny tub of hummus. I figured I could get better flavor and better value by cutting out a few middle men and moving closer to "scratch."<br /><br />A 2-lb bag of dried chick peas was only $2.00. For the price of two cans of chick peas (28 oz), I ended up with about 80 oz of cooked chick peas--plenty of raw material for falafel and hummus, with plenty left over. I followed <a href="http://www.mediterranean-food-recipes.com/chick-peas.html">these helpful directions</a> for preparing the dried chick peas.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjELa-Y-F30lCRiVrbD-eVNW4Z_ThVg1pqli21o_5yZ0hAp3KQEbBElWhyphenhyphenWNGSzjJDyOyrYUfWve5mDTr1GN8B8DE_0x2IAv5PsmSslwLdGkCCBG2uy-Xm2CuebGz4wUFL_Yu6LqQ/s1600/IMG_7423.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjELa-Y-F30lCRiVrbD-eVNW4Z_ThVg1pqli21o_5yZ0hAp3KQEbBElWhyphenhyphenWNGSzjJDyOyrYUfWve5mDTr1GN8B8DE_0x2IAv5PsmSslwLdGkCCBG2uy-Xm2CuebGz4wUFL_Yu6LqQ/s320/IMG_7423.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569284693613343826" border="0" /></a>For some reason, I conflated sesame seeds (the raw material from which tahini is made) with sunflower seeds. So I bought bulk unroasted sunflower seeds for $2.00 a pound. I intended to follow <a href="http://www.suite101.com/content/home-made-tahini-a49997">this recipe</a>, but at the roasting stage, I suddenly realized I'd bought the wrong kind of seeds. Fortunately, someone has <a href="http://www.naturallysavvy.com/recipes/sunflower-seed-paste-alternative-to-tahini">made this substitution</a> before. My $2.00 investment in sunflower seeds produced the equivalent of $8.00 worth of tahini paste. The food processor did all the work.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh11x2P-mhL1sU6jkhfe1hHhuPIxzAp4DpZIUk19K_SjAhKZnzIC03zH22bhmkKQiWfIOb-3Fh0o_xhxjy20r7lDa7TaTphXxhn9YwhpKCMA3sQtFDVDFxPYJm8F0XMfiCmFKnifQ/s1600/IMG_7419.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh11x2P-mhL1sU6jkhfe1hHhuPIxzAp4DpZIUk19K_SjAhKZnzIC03zH22bhmkKQiWfIOb-3Fh0o_xhxjy20r7lDa7TaTphXxhn9YwhpKCMA3sQtFDVDFxPYJm8F0XMfiCmFKnifQ/s320/IMG_7419.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569285111863307922" border="0" /></a>The cooked chick peas and tahini paste go together into the homemade <a href="http://www.mediterranean-food-recipes.com/hummus-recipe.html">hummus recipe</a>. (I followed the second, faster method.) This makes about 2 lbs of hummus for about $2.00 in raw materials. That beats out even the <a href="http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?prodid=11543410&whse=BD_827&topnav=bdoff&cat=12008&hierPath=11122*12008*&lang=en-US">famous Costco hummus</a>, and blows out of the water the teeny 10 oz containers you usually see in the grocery store.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRqx1u5nXHsxVXDUf9vX4sFYK_8fk_terSTARhG7SoFpIiURSk9OipVBRWTylGFp7qjgYJuGwnoY5iOoC8uw3XGvR1uCokde66AfurbFc1LXevMsJ3MjR0Ag8odd4HBLivUwoPqw/s1600/IMG_7422.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRqx1u5nXHsxVXDUf9vX4sFYK_8fk_terSTARhG7SoFpIiURSk9OipVBRWTylGFp7qjgYJuGwnoY5iOoC8uw3XGvR1uCokde66AfurbFc1LXevMsJ3MjR0Ag8odd4HBLivUwoPqw/s320/IMG_7422.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569286372296699826" border="0" /></a>The tahini paste goes into the <a href="http://veganyumyum.com/2007/03/jerusalem-salad/">tahini sauce</a> that I mixed with the Jerusalem salad.<br /><br />All in all, this is a pretty cheap way to eat. I figure I can easily get 8 meals out of the following ingredients:<br /><br />$1.00 for chick peas (1 lb dried)<br />$1.00 for pita (8 loaves)<br />$1.00 for tahini paste (1/2 lb sunflower seeds + some vegetable oil)<br />$3.00 for fresh produce(cucumber, tomato, onion, garlic, parsley, lemons)<br />$1.00 for all the other incidental ingredients (a bit of oil, spices, etc)<br /><br />That's less than $1.00 per meal.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3OtyLQUHCuZ9bST7vbZMGWj0I2ocxftXCPpWhxjkdhcQPZrPSdufiCLZ4i8_-nez-ryWDSpyKwWEoNzbXQSPha8s19pnBkCn_iZhp9XMQw7BGumXNIzov_e91UE-47vZvtzuj1Q/s1600/IMG_7421.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3OtyLQUHCuZ9bST7vbZMGWj0I2ocxftXCPpWhxjkdhcQPZrPSdufiCLZ4i8_-nez-ryWDSpyKwWEoNzbXQSPha8s19pnBkCn_iZhp9XMQw7BGumXNIzov_e91UE-47vZvtzuj1Q/s400/IMG_7421.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569288817567444162" border="0" /></a>Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-5479435770101073262011-01-04T15:43:00.003-06:002011-01-04T15:46:50.557-06:00John and June, George and TammyOne of my Christmas gifts:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/g/george-jones/album-the-essential-george-jones.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 500px;" src="http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/g/george-jones/album-the-essential-george-jones.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />I'm enjoying it. I'm also ready for the George Jones biopic starring Jim Carrey (Mrs. Chaka's idea).Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-45532673959846902592010-12-15T22:18:00.004-06:002010-12-15T22:47:31.608-06:00The Sci-Fi/Fantasy Franchise RingMrs. Chaka and I started talking tonight about science-fiction/fantasy franchise crossovers. You know, like how since Star Wars took place a long time ago in a galaxy far away, and time travel happens in every third Star Trek movie, you could have a movie where the Enterprise joins in the attack on the Death Star. (This crossover is Mrs. Chaka's idea. I had not fathomed that such a thing was possible.)<br /><br />That reminded me that I had heard of a Star Trek/X-Men crossover (apparently what I was thinking of was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek/X-Men">this comic book</a>). If they did a movie crossover, Patrick Stewart would get to negotiate between the Federation and the X-Men as both Captain Picard and Professor Xavier. That scene makes the whole project worth doing.<br /><br />And from that point, we tried to connect the cardinal science-fiction and fantasy franchises to each other. Jim Broadbent connects <span style="font-style: italic;">Harry Potter</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Narnia</span>; Christopher Lee connects <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars</span> to <span style="font-style: italic;">Lord of the Rings</span> . . .<br /><br />It took some brain-racking (and eventually some help from IMDb), but this is what we came up with:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg70inPFymtp_C8zxX_T1WxT6NBEsEj8aNtkbvPQBuHvEseftbHFlt6-W9WjfkDmKkqumTkqLP7UoUZ3ido1IxTZWptJWvIYFwiN2ziIs3ldd6WXRKUH3kaKg7wE5aj973pP0_PUQ/s1600/Sci-fiFantasyFranchiseRing%25282%2529.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg70inPFymtp_C8zxX_T1WxT6NBEsEj8aNtkbvPQBuHvEseftbHFlt6-W9WjfkDmKkqumTkqLP7UoUZ3ido1IxTZWptJWvIYFwiN2ziIs3ldd6WXRKUH3kaKg7wE5aj973pP0_PUQ/s400/Sci-fiFantasyFranchiseRing%25282%2529.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551137072871231474" border="0" /></a>There are other, more marginal franchises we could tack on: Batman, X-Men, Terminator, Pirates of the Caribbean. But they would destroy the symmetry of the above.<br /><br />Incidentally, several of these franchises to <span style="font-style: italic;">Kingdom of Heaven</span>. I'll let you flesh out the connections in the comments.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-31717871961901027962010-12-14T13:29:00.002-06:002010-12-14T13:46:28.765-06:00Idea for competitive exerciseFor two teams of 2 or more players<br /><br />Equipment: 2 jump ropes, room to run (a 100-meter course would work well)<br /><br />Object: Be the first team to reach 1000 jumps<br /><br />Rules: Each team has a jumper and a runner. The jumpers begin doing (single-under) jumps. If either jumper misses, it's a fault, and the runners start sprinting.<br /><br />Let's say the two teams are called "Legends" and "Leaders". Assuming it was the Legends jumper who faulted, then if the Legends runner loses the sprint, the Legends have to do an extra 100 jumps. If, on the other hand, the Legends runner wins, his team suffers no penalty.<br /><br />While the runners are sprinting, the jumpers may rest, change jumpers, or continue to jump. If they miss a jump during the sprint, it's not considered a fault, and there are no game effects.<br /><br />First team to hit 1000 jumps (plus any penalties they've incurred) wins.<br /><br />If someone can do 1000 single-under jumps without missing, feel free to substitute double-unders.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-74263268974017658142010-12-10T11:10:00.000-06:002010-12-10T11:12:13.739-06:00Computer viruses and the OT<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/26/secret-agent-crippled-irans-nuclear-ambitions/">Fascinating story</a> of the computer virus that ground Iran’s nuclear program down to a halt. An excerpt:<br /><br />“Originally, all eyes turned toward Israel’s intelligence agencies. Engineers examining the worm found “clues” that hinted at Israel’s involvement. In one case they found the word “Myrtus” embedded in the code and argued that it was a reference to Esther, the biblical figure who saved the ancient Jewish state from the Persians. But computer experts say "Myrtus" is more likely a common reference to “My RTUS,” or remote terminal units.”<br /><br />Myrtus is the genus of the myrtle plant, and Hadassah means “myrtle”. (Which makes me wonder why we don’t just call her Myrtle.)<br /><br />If I were writing a virus to save the Jews, I’d call it CyRus. (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Cy</span>ber <span style="font-weight: bold;">R</span>escue Vir<span style="font-weight: bold;">us</span>)Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-59815196098092318192010-12-01T11:24:00.005-06:002010-12-01T11:53:14.675-06:00Phrases from Homer to Incorporate into Daily Conversationnothing loath (=quickly)<br />Now tell me, and tell me true . . .<br />. . . and his armor rang rattling around him as he fell (This one will have to go into the file with "I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin on the mountainside"--someday I will bust this out. Someday. And it will be awesome.)<br />vouchsafe X to Y<br />Tell me, O Muse . . .<br />and while he was thus in two minds . . .<br />and they put their hands on the good things before them<br />the blessed boon of sleep<br />the child of Morning, rosy-fingered DawnChakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-40631143100777058012010-11-23T08:08:00.002-06:002010-11-23T08:17:18.536-06:00Reviewing the IliadI’ve been listening to the <a href="http://librivox.org/the-iliad-by-homer-translated-by-samuel-butler/">Librivox recording of the Iliad</a> during my household chores. I’m really enjoying it, despite the unevenness of the readers (Pete Darby, yay! Hugh Mac, your talents lie elsewhere).<br /><br />I can’t help but compare it with that other great work of the ancient world, the one with which I am much more familiar. You know, the Hebrew Bible. There’s really very little in common between the two, except for one episode: <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%202:12-32&version=NLT">2 Samuel 2:12-32</a> feels reminiscent of the Iliad, what with the fighting, the spoiling, the speeches in the midst of battle.<br /><br />But anyone who thinks of “the Old Testament God,” or of the Old Testament itself, as bloodthirsty . . . well, one wonders if they’ve examined the competition.<br /><br />The Iliad, like the Bible, also uses a lot of stock phrases: So-and-so kills such-and-such, “and his armor rang rattling around him as he fell heavily to the ground.” There are maybe a half dozen of these phrases that Homer cycles through to describe somebody biting the dust (actually, “he bit the dust” is used now and then in the text—yes, there was a time when this wasn’t a cliché). I enjoy this stable of phrases, but <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Iliad-Penguin-Classics-Homer/dp/0140447946">some people</a> apparently find them irritating. (Scroll down to the review entitled “One of the most important works of literature ever - and a damned good read too” for some unintentional humor.)<br /><br />Last night the idea for a game based on the Iliad came to me in a dream. I still haven't perfected my game based on the wars of Alexander the Great's successors, but the Iliad one is simpler . . . I know what I'll be working on over Thanksgiving.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-59432879117562936122010-11-12T17:33:00.002-06:002010-11-12T18:21:34.139-06:00For some reason, <a href="http://headhearthand.posterous.com/is-holy-hip-hop-holy">this kind of argument</a> (X has an ungodly/pagan origin and is thus unacceptable for Christians) drives me insane. See also, <a href="http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/09/20/the-subtle-body-should-christians-practice-yoga/">Al Mohler on yoga</a>, Frank Viola on "the institutional church." (As an aside, Viola <a href="http://frankviola.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/10-straw-man-myths-about-pagan-christianity-reimagining-church/">claims</a> that he doesn't reject ideas just because they're pagan. Well, that's the impression I got from reading <span style="font-style: italic;">Pagan Christianity</span>. In fact, I'd call that list of "straw men" an accurate summary of the book's theses.)<br /><br />Now that I've asserted but not argued anything, I'll drift on to other points, if you don't mind.<br /><br />My parents and their home church rejected Halloween because of its pagan origins. I heard some great, lurid stories about the origins of jack-o-lanterns and trick or treat.<br /><br />I call the stories "great" with only partial irony. Now they sound to me like folk etymologies, but I was interested in them at the time. I was in a phase when I wanted to find out the etymon, the true origin, of everything—words, names, symbols, customs.<br /><br />There is a perennial attraction to the quest for the etymon, a feeling that once you find it, you’ve grasped true meaning. I’m still very interested in etymons, but more because they often make for a good story than because they’re the key to ultimate meaning. The kind of meaning I find more relevant is how the word (name, custom) fits into the larger system. In anthropological terms, I’ve moved from James George Frazer to Claude Levi-Strauss. In linguistic terms, from Jakob Grimm to Ferdinand de Saussure.<br /><br />Take yoga. The Christian anti-yogaists are dismayed that Christians would put their body in a pose dedicated to a Hindu god. The woman at the health club teaching a yoga class might not be a Hindu. She might not even know anything about the pose's link to a deity. But if you go back far enough, the argument goes, the etymon lies in pagan worship. So the yoga pose *means* devotion to another god. Taking on the pose is like speaking praise of that god, which a Christian should not do.<br />If the etymon of the yoga pose truly lies in pagan worship, that would be an interesting story. I have my doubts whether the story is true. If I were in a real argument on the topic, I'd like to see some non-polemical scholarship on the question. But would such an etymology imply that the pose *means* pagan worship?<br />I was thinking that it could mean such a thing in a sacramental view of the world. Sacramentalism does emphasize that we're not disembodied minds, that what we do with our bodies has spiritual impact. But to call this position sacramental would be an insult to sacramentalism. Even in sacramentalism, the body cannot mean what the person as a whole does not mean. You could bless the public swimming pool on a hot day in July, but that doesn't mean all the swimmers become baptized.<br /><br />Hence, I submit to you that to believe that yoga constitutes pagan worship isn't even sacramental. It's purely magical. It's a pagan idea if there ever was one. (Look, the argument just folded in on itself!)<br /><br />At some point I stopped despising earlier Christians for the pagan customs they retained/redeemed—and started admiring them for their audacity. (This is one of the things that made Chesterton my homeboy, finding that he had this attitude.) Maybe it had something to do with learning about all the good things in my life that had “bad” backgrounds—Christmas trees, Easter eggs, eeny meeny miny moe, the European settlement of America, most of the names of God . . .<br /><br />If you want to reject everything with a tainted origin, what will you be left with? Utopia, I suppose. Nowhere to stand.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-37275875271776735652010-10-28T08:59:00.002-05:002010-10-28T09:10:41.041-05:00Medieval MentalityFrom a <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/11/worst-madness/?pagination=false">review</a> of <span style="font-style: italic;">Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin:<br /><br /></span><blockquote>Perhaps we need a new word, one that is broader than the current definition of genocide and means, simply, “mass murder carried out for political reasons.”</blockquote>My first thought on reading this sentence was, "Isn't all war 'mass murder carried out for political reasons'?" If the international community is to allow war but criminalize some mass murders, what makes the criminal ones criminal?<br /><br />My second thought (and now you're going to laugh) is that the difference between war and criminal war is . . . chivalry.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-75275053341658537092010-09-30T11:31:00.002-05:002010-09-30T11:35:29.656-05:00Jesus and Violence<p><a href="http://www.gregboyd.org/blog/revelation-and-the-violent-prize-fighting-jesus/">Heh</a>:</p><blockquote><p>In an interview several years ago for <em>Relevant Magazine</em>, Mark Driscoll (well known pastor of Mars Hill in Seattle) said,</p> <p><!--EndFragment--><!--StartFragment-->“In Revelation, Jesus is a prize-fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is the guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up.” (You can find the original interview <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20071013102203/http://relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7418" target="_blank">here</a>). <o:p></o:p></p> I frankly have trouble understanding how a follower of Jesus could find himself unable to worship a guy he could “beat up” when <em>he already crucified him</em>.</blockquote><br /><br />Now I'm going to have "<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=the+hammer+by+ray+boltz&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a">The Hammer</a>" in my head all day. HT: Matt TebbeChakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-18012364739640572232010-09-01T09:16:00.002-05:002010-09-01T09:24:11.902-05:00"What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!"Is it sacrilegious to say that the wine at last Sunday's Eucharist was particularly excellent?<br /><br />I don't think so. The Eucharist is many things simultaneously. Among those things, it is a foretaste of the Messiah's banquet. And we know that <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%202.1-12&version=NLT">the Messiah serves the good stuff</a>.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-70321242451649785422010-08-12T12:11:00.003-05:002010-08-12T12:13:27.130-05:00George Clooney's Secret<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg2DYdrRihtGmfI-j14GHS4tsurQAYyMhmqT0vUobxWqXQB6R8r3Cvbb9eTDcwdwPbpPwPsHYLYLhJlMoco7QpvZ9HeXxzaghDLosFnu8_ww5FzcNi8y1QPyRaFme_gZpdVXYpog/s1600/Bald+Clooney.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 322px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg2DYdrRihtGmfI-j14GHS4tsurQAYyMhmqT0vUobxWqXQB6R8r3Cvbb9eTDcwdwPbpPwPsHYLYLhJlMoco7QpvZ9HeXxzaghDLosFnu8_ww5FzcNi8y1QPyRaFme_gZpdVXYpog/s400/Bald+Clooney.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5504572454846942466" border="0" /></a><br />He's really Peter Sagal.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.greatertalent.com/backend/speakers/252/Sagal,%20Peter.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 185px; height: 232px;" src="http://www.greatertalent.com/backend/speakers/252/Sagal,%20Peter.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-67127471046278104702010-05-26T11:35:00.005-05:002010-05-26T21:08:17.351-05:00Wasting Time and Money<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://api.ning.com/files/cRrgX-GaPmP4aA2HTQA3l0dKBbg-2GQ0KOHFGAyTC7MF-NcVSJ8K-UXukvVOtNtLC8aQTg6xaraISSWY3zbPFIG4Mtset6dT/trekkies.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 800px; height: 600px;" src="http://api.ning.com/files/cRrgX-GaPmP4aA2HTQA3l0dKBbg-2GQ0KOHFGAyTC7MF-NcVSJ8K-UXukvVOtNtLC8aQTg6xaraISSWY3zbPFIG4Mtset6dT/trekkies.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Mrs. Chaka and I have made the dangerous discovery of two hours of Star Trek (TOS and TNG) being broadcast each night. Last night's episodes (<a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Changeling_%28episode%29">The Changeling</a> and <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Emergence">Emergence</a>) were somehow archetypal; each embraced all the joys and absurdities of its respective series.<br /><br />It's always amusing to see how dated the future is. The Changeling made frequent reference to data being stored on "tapes". Then again, in Emergence, Dr. Crusher had a pretty cool blue iPad.<br /><br />Oh, and I had a Double Down a week ago. Definitely not worth the price of admission.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-84866897847794589042010-05-18T15:28:00.003-05:002010-05-18T15:42:57.250-05:00Spite FoodI read (on the <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/waitwait/2010/04/kfc_double_down_live_blog.html">Wait Wait Don't Tell Me blog</a>) that KFC introduced the Double Down because of complaints that there wasn't enough chicken in their chicken sandwich. If true, it places the Double Down in that delightful genre, Spite Food.<br /><br />Potato chips are the best-known example of Spite Food. To quote the Wikipedia article:<br /><br />"The original potato chip recipe was created by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Crum" title="George Crum">George Crum</a>, the son of an African American father and Native American mother, in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saratoga_Springs,_New_York" title="Saratoga Springs, New York">Saratoga Springs, New York</a> on August 24, 1853.<sup class="Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from April 2010" style="white-space: nowrap;">[<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a></i>]</sup> Fed up with a customer who continued to send his fried potatoes back complaining that they were too thick and soggy, Crum decided to slice the potatoes so thin that they could not be eaten with a fork. As they could not be fried normally in a pan, he decided to stir-fry the potato slices. Against Crum's expectation, the guest was ecstatic about the new chips."<br /><br />I'm still hoping to eat one of those Double Downs; haven't got to it yet.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-47972129210625901052010-05-13T15:36:00.003-05:002010-05-13T15:40:54.622-05:00Endless RainBlogging has suffered, what with the moving house, the many calls to AT&T trying to convince them to take my money, the computer dying, etc. But I just discovered this and had to blog it:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtuberepeat.com">YouTube Repeat</a>!<br /><br />Insert the word "repeat" into a YouTube URL before the ".com" and the video will loop endlessly. I'm using it to listen to <a href="http://www.youtuberepeat.com/watch/?v=k0gsduLrfSU&a=Q0px6bouYkg&playnext_from=ML&playnext=6">this </a>over and over. Helps me focus on the giant pile of work.Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-55269005065218520922010-04-21T11:59:00.004-05:002010-04-21T12:07:26.089-05:00Wading through Stacks<a href="http://www.thesecondeclectic.blogspot.com">Adam Graber</a> directed me to this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/books/21mash.html">New York Times article</a> about the consequences of digital (and hence, mashable) texts. The whole thing is interesting in its entirety, but what drew my attention was this quote:<br /><br />“Online research enables scholars to power-search for nuggets of information that might support their theses, saving them the time of wading through stacks of material that might prove marginal but that might have also prompted them to reconsider or refine their original thinking.”<br /><br />This strikes me as a very real problem. It’s really easy to be a bad scholar. The task of refining your thinking and mastering your subject requires time, focus, and discipline—three things we have in short supply. For all their benefits, digital texts make it easier to veil poor thinking and inadequate mastery of the subject. The power of machine searching delivers a trade-off: a vastly greater pool of data with a vastly more superficial grasp of it. The efficiency of search obsoletes that horribly inefficient part of research, “wading through stacks of material.”<br /><br />(Perhaps I should qualify my pronouncements: I obviously speak for myself, not for all of academia. My academic credentials amount to a master’s degree and a single journal article*. The temptations and follies I describe are my own.)<br /><br />A few weeks later, Adam noted that <a href="http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/04/oxford-university-press-launches-the-anti-google.ars">Oxford University Press is trying to address these concerns</a>. In brief, they’re producing “a straightforward, hyperlinked collection of professionally-produced, peer-reviewed bibliographies in different subject areas—sort of a giant, interactive syllabus put together by OUP and teams of scholars in different disciplines.”<br /><br />The Oxford Bibliographies will no doubt have efficient search capabilities, quick retrieval of the desired documents, and a large pool of data in one place. But by foregrounding the texts that scholars have judged most important, they encourage you to wade through material that should be known, even (especially?) if it’s irrelevant or destructive to your thesis.<br /><br />As you can tell, I like this image of “wading through stacks.” It sounds like a mixed metaphor, but it makes me think of walking the key shelves in the library stacks. The mass of (potentially) relevant titles thicken the air in that spot, slowing your pace to a shuffle. You look up and down the shelf, pulling out a volume, browsing, letting your mind quicken as your feet slow.<br /><br />Interestingly, the library in which I picture myself wading like this is the University of Edinburgh library, where I spent a mere six months (as opposed to the four years at the University of Minnesota and three years at Trinity University). I suppose it’s related to the fact that British syllabi encourage more wading. Instead of telling you about the five required books and when you’re supposed to read each chapter, British syllabi give you a list of forty books and tell you to have fun. Read around, master the subject, and at the end of term, write a big old essay about the subject (which will be 100% of your grade for the course).<br /><br />In my experience, this system results in lower grades but better habits.<br /><br />---------------------------------------------<br /><br />*Forthcoming :-)Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23440466.post-19962007095185609542010-04-19T13:28:00.003-05:002010-04-19T13:32:43.005-05:00"It made me feel significant and connected to ancient traditions"A little satire on <a href="http://sacredsandwich.com/archives/6252">Philippe the Postmodern Evangelist</a>:<br /><br />"Read it again, more slowly this time. I want to hear the poetic forms and imagine myself in the context of the ancient tradition."<br /><br />That cuts close, that does.<br /><br />HT: <a href="http://lingamish.com/2010/04/fundamentally-postmodern/">Lingamish</a>Chakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405341165307564619noreply@blogger.com0