HNT - My Favorite

I love this "Half-Nekkid Thursday" picture.

RANT: Open Source != Mao, Marx or the Left!

I would like to make this statement for the record.
YES, I am an annual PAYING member of the EFF, I LIKE open-source code, file-sharing (to a limit! Not interested in forcing U2 to work at Micky D's for a living) open-text availability (open textual searching actually ought to lead to LESS plagerism and MORE access to library info... without the accompanying upper page corner coffee rings!) and am a proponent of common technalogical and corporate/strategic frameworks (transparency) and vocabularies. And yes, I do wish everyone on the EARTH had enough food and healthcare (but yes, I admit that the military and UK both suck at it...)

however, NONE of these facts means I am a COMMUNIST, MARXIST or SOCIALIST. I am an IDEALIST and a LIBERTARIAN... which means I want everyone to stay out of everyone elses business, yet hope that people could develop enough human empathy to stop suffering and intervene to halt criminal activity. (i.e. I want the military and I want cops... but I dont want a reason for either.)

THAT BEING SAID... If you raise your eyebrow at me one more time for wearing an EFF shirt (B), or hint that I have Marxist leanings (Stew) because I happen to be fond of Wikipedia (as it is run similarly to how I wish the earth were... with some signifigant screwballs but mostly on the up-and-up) I will be forced to strike you dead. or at least... ignore you for a while. :)

So there.

Passion, Intellectual Rejection & Rebirth!

It is a great thing when we find an enduring passion in our lives.

I did not sleep a wink last night, I had the same discussion three times yesterday - once with my uncle, again on the phone, and then later in the evening, with my mother. The newly translated book purporting to detail Judas's betrayal as not so - he was asked by Jesus to reveal his location to the Romans. It was pointed out to me this past morning in Arizona - my uncle having read the front-page local-paper (Tucson) article and bringing it to my attention for some discussion which, I have to laugh, was more interesting to me than to him. I think he was trying to have some good pre-coffee (though he, do to allergy, cannot have coffee (caffeine) and I endured a week of minor headaches to respect his position) morning discussion to lighten the mood.
I, of course, launched into a discussion of the nag hammadi library (discovered in the desert in the 40's, and includes my favorite of the heretical gospels (Gnostic) "The gospel of Thomas", as well as the lesser gnostics and the dead sea scrolls...
After a few sentences back and forth, I just sort of rushed out with a 5 minute monologue on how exciting it was, but how the search for "truth" in there was silly, as it only gives us a better understanding of the variety of beliefs held by the early Christian and 1st century Jewish communities ("only" being not as base as it seems, due to how valuable and interesting many scholars find that subject!)
He nodded for the first three of five minutes, then quickly retired to the other room.

Now, perhaps it seems I am being snide about my uncle... I am not. My uncle is a brilliant man, a retired air force colonel who later worked on the nuclear disarmorment treaties with Russia under Bush Sr. My uncle, it so happens - is a very bright and well educated man. He just isn't as interested in the detailed minutiae of textual criticisms in its various forms and what we can learn from that. I'm not particularly interested in every detail of the early SALT treaties, either (though one might well be smart to have such interests in this day and age!) but there it is... we each have our passions.

Later phone conversation occurred somewhere over New Mexico (ahh, yes... one death in the family and another to follow shortly. I am blase about this only because I have not yet dealt with the feelings surrounding the current circumstances, and so share this with you only as a means of explanation for my current interstate travels.) The individual had obviously read a Yahoo! Headline on the issue, knows my passion for religious studies, and called to comment on it. This was not quite so uncomfortable, as my phone was not in a social mode in New Mexico, and therefore the signal was quick to cut us off. It did, however, prompt me to beg of my mother her laptop, and spend two hours trying to get a mobile signal in order to research the article... to no avail (of course.) I had given up and returned the tablet by the time we reached Albuquerque... (where, for the first time, a signal was to be had..) and shortly before crossing into Colorado my mother ran across a similar article in USA Today.

My mother is as opinionated as I, and certainly had her thoughts on the subject - dealing with it from a perspective of accepting it - and that meaning that it would have been self-betrayal on the part of Jesus. This led to a discussion on philosophy, and soon my blood was racing again with the exchange of ideas at 85 miles an hour across the dessert.
Within 20 minutes, of course, my mother went back to reading... and I was starving for academia again.

I put Pnt to bed upstairs when we arrived at my parents house in CSprings, and laid in bed with the laptop reading all night... Surprised as the sun came over the horizon. I simply cannot continue to force my needs upon my poor family, or those who happen to have a mild interest in such topics... I must go back and get my PhD. I must, I must... I do not know how much longer it will allow itself to be put off.
Despite the obvious lack of sleep.. I admit to feeling invigorated in an emotional/intellectual manner that I have been so deeply lacking.... It's good. Very good.

~Psyche

Testing mobile text... Thanks, llama, for posting my hnt pic!