Genres


  •   -Oregon Scribbler, .

    Oregon Scribbler.

     

    Family,  Memoirs,  Sports-Hobbies

    Home brewing: Yeast is your friend

    After many years on home brew hiatus, my son Jon and I have begun brewing beer together, now that he has finished his arduous post-grad studies and has time for something other than work.  We have managed to brew two batches of beer so far, and a third is nearly finished conditioning.  We have made all of the mistakes one can make starting out, but thankfully all of the beers are drinkable.
  •   -CC0 PD, .

    CC0 PD.

     

    Memoirs,  Sports-Hobbies

    Would you let your child play football?

    Growing up, football and basketball were my favorite sports. I played plenty of tackle and touch football, on teams and with friends and family. Yet later as parents, when our boys played high school sports, my wife and I did not allow them to play tackle football:  We felt that with the amount and severity of injuries in football, the risk was too high. Given the recent revelations of long-term injuries in football, the question can be asked anew:  Would we have let our children play football today, or more urgently, would we want our grandchildren to play football today?

  •   -CC-BY-2.0, Dennis Crowley.

    Attrib: Dennis Crowley, CC-BY-2.0.

     

    Observations,  Politics-Government

    False confession? How is that possible?

    In various studies of U.S. legal cases involving confessions, more than one quarter of the confessions are found to be false, and nearly all of those resulted in conviction. These same studies show high rates of suspects who waive their Miranda rights. Why would someone admit to something they didn't do, particularly if they would go to jail or be executed as a result?  Why did they not avail themselves of the Miranda rights to refuse interrogation? 

  • Pocket Review, Title The Incredibles, Studio Disney / Pixar Studios, Rating 5.0,

     

    The Incredibles (2004)

    Director: Brad Bird

    Pocket Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    The Incredibles: A movie that never gets old

    The best cartoons growing up were ones that were aimed at both kids and adults, like the Looney Tunes with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, or the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The Incredibles manages this multi-layered presence with masterful ease at feature length.

  •   -PD-US, Oren Jack Turner.

    Attrib: Oren Jack Turner, PD-US.

     

    Essays,  Philosophy,  Science

    Fuzziness is all

    Alongside Newton's powerful physical model of the universe came a growing belief that the universe in principle was deterministic, that the rules by which the universe behaved could be discovered and modeled, were repeatable, and could be in principle exactly or absolutely determined. Absolute determinism came under serious question with the advent of subatomic physics at the start of the 20th century, more or less collapsing in the face of problems insoluble with the physics of Newton and Maxwell, and only explicable by using the new quantum mechanics, which posits that natural phenomena could be modeled at the highest attainable precision only by using explicitly probabilistic models, that is, by building into the models a modicum of fuzziness.
  • Pocket Review, Title Dumb And Dumber, Studio New Line Home Entertainment, Rating 3.5,

     

    Dumb And Dumber (1994)

    Director: Bobby Farrelly

    Pocket Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    Dumb and Dumber: A movie that never gets old

    This movie just makes me laugh. Usually, movies that feature juvenile humor begin to pale at some point, but Jim Carrey holds my attention as a completely oblivious, selfish idiot.

  •   -Family, .

    Family.

     

    Observations

    AVID teacher

    My brother Peter was pictured in the Eugene Register-Guard newspaper highlighting a program he is running for students trying to improve their grades through self-discipline and efficiency skills. The picture shows Peter and two of his students, Demetrious Wiggins and Antonio Thomas in his freshman Advancement Via Individual Determination, (AVID) class at South Eugene High School.

    Click the Register-Guard to view the picture.

  • Movie Review, Title One, Two, Three, Studio MGM/UA, Rating 5.0,

     

    One, Two, Three (1961)

    Director: Billy Wilder

    Movie Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    One Two Three: A movie that never gets old

    This is a highly informed madcap comedy set in the heart of the Cold War, geographically and in time: Berlin of 1961, just before the Wall went up. Billy Wilder cranks up the pace from the beginning and leaves you out of breath at the end.

  •   -Oregon Scribbler, .

    Oregon Scribbler.

     

    Essays,  Religion,  Science

    Can religion and science be reconciled?

    "Adherents of religion and science too often want to own the unknown"

    Victor Stenger, a physicist who has written extensively about religion and science, asserts emphatically that science and religion cannot be reconciled, and at best merely coexist in parallel thought universes. His primary argument is that faith requires no evidence and science does. Alfred North Whitehead, in his essay Religion and Science, emphasizes the commonality of change in both science and religion, and that both are more plastic than the controversialists from either camp would acknowledge. Is Stenger one of those controversialists? Can religion and science be reconciled?

  •   -Oregon Scribbler, .

    Oregon Scribbler.

     

    Poetry

    Unrequited feast

    Over the neighbor's fence,
    glancing without seeing,
    the smallest flick of an ear revealing:
    deer, ranging in sturdy grace,
    staring back with placid gaze.
    Joy!
  • Book review, Title The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, Author Benvenuto Cellini, Rating 4.5,

    The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini

    Benvenuto Cellini

    Book review

    History,  Literature,  Reviews

    I, Benvenuto Cellini

    Benvenuto Cellini was a master Florentine goldsmith and sculptor who lived and worked during the time of the High Italian Renaissance, and was also, by his lights, tougher and craftier than anyone around him, could take on many men with a sword and live to tell the tale, was a great lover, and so on. His is the most ebullient autobiography I have read, and so wonderful, and so full of life!

  • Book review, Title The second creation, Author Robert P. Crease, Charles C. Mann, Rating 3.0,

    The second creation

    Robert P. Crease, Charles C. Mann

    Book review

    History,  Reviews,  Science

    Humbled again by particle physics

    This is a history of the development of the Standard Model of particle physics, circa 1986. It is well regarded by physicists for its sociological treatment, as well as its attempt to record the false starts and uncertainty that accompany leading edge science; certainly the personalities and their various collaborations and squabbles are vividly rendered. As to the science, it is particularly good in providing a pithy description of how a unified theory of electromagnetic, strong and weak forces gives rise to our description of the early events of the Big Bang theory.

  • Book review, Title How Now Shall We Live?, Author Charles Colson, Rating 2.0,

    How Now Shall We Live?

    Charles Colson

    Book review

    History,  Religion,  Reviews

    The ghost of Schaeffer past

    By the time Charles Colson got out of prison in the mid-70's, having been convicted for acts of political skullduggery during the Watergate scandal, he had converted to Evangelical Christianity. How Now Shall We Live was his best-seller, an homage to Francis Schaeffer's view of Western history. Schaeffer was a presuppositional millennialist who in the 1970's left the quiet life of a Christian intellectual to help lead the evangelicals to the heights of political activism we see today in the U.S.

  • Book review, Title The New Jim Crow, Author Michelle Alexander, Rating 5.0,

    The New Jim Crow

    Michelle Alexander

    Book review

    Politics-Government,  Reviews

    The War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration

    Michelle Alexander's book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is an important and tightly argued treatise on the mass incarceration of black and brown people in the United States since the acceleration of the War on Drugs in the mid-1980's. Most of the incarcerations have been for low level possession, and have disproportionately affected minorities: According to federal figures, blacks and whites use drugs at a roughly equal rate in percentage terms, yet black men 12 times likelier to be jailed for drugs than white ones.

  •   -Family, .

    Family.

     

    Family,  Memoirs

    Glenn Jaeger, in Memoriam

    Glenn Jaeger passed away recently. Glenn's father Nick married my grandmother Edna Wiebe after my grandfather died. Getting to know Glenn and Carol was one of the blessings of that union for me. We moved into the neighboring school district just before my senior year in high school, and Glenn and Carol took me in that last year to allow me to finish high school where I had started. They treated me so kindly, much more kindly than an obnoxious teenager might expect.
  •   -CC0 PD, Max Pixel.

    Attrib: Max Pixel, CC0 PD.

     

    Family,  Memoirs,  Music

    Das echte Lied der Alpenkräuter

    When I was growing up, my father taught us a little ditty from his Mennonite boyhood:

    Dar war ein Mann in Tode Loch,
    Und kein er sahe Mann,
    Und im dem letzen Stunden,
    Stunden,
    Hat er das Alpenkreuter gefunden.

    It was a charming little tune. Eventually, my curiosity was aroused regarding its meaning, so ...

  •   -Family, .

    Family.

     

    Family,  Observations

    Opa welcomes Maiella!

    Cindy and I are dancing with joy - our first grandchild has joined our family! Maiella Skye Estaris Wiebe, whose parents, Jenn and Benn, are starting their journey as parents. May they have as rich an experience as we have had! She was born at 3:21am on June 15th, 2013, weighed in at 6lb 14oz, was 20in long and is our sweetheart. Woo Hoo!
  • Pocket Review, Title Ben-Hur, Studio MGM/UA, Rating 4.0,

     

    Ben-Hur (1959)

    Director: Vincente Minnelli

    Pocket Review

    Films,  Reviews

    Ben-Hur: A movie that never gets old

    I first saw this big screen spectacle as an eight year old, and loved it. It was full of action, more believable than most of today's over-cooked technological wizardry (just think of the disappointing Sherlock Holmes series with Robert Downey Jr; massively ridiculous stunts and special effects, which ruined the stories and minimized the otherwise good acting).

  • Book review, Title Born Again, Author Charles Colson, Rating 2.5,

    Born Again

    Charles Colson

    Book review

    Politics-Government,  Religion,  Reviews

    Hearts and minds

    During his years as a Republican political operative, Charles Colson prominently displayed an old Marine Corp saying in his home: 'When you’ve got ’em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.' Colson described those years and the hard crash that followed in his book Born Again as a mid-life autobiography precipitated by a mid-life crisis. After his role as a self-described 'hatchet man' for Nixon White House was slowly exposed during the Watergate scandal, he converted to Evangelical Christianity, and after being convicted of obstruction of justice, he spent some time in prison.

  • Pocket Review, Title The Jerk, Studio Universal Studios, Rating 4.0,

     

    The Jerk (1979)

    Director: Carl Reiner

    Pocket Review

    Films,  Humor,  Reviews

    The Jerk: A movie that never gets old

    The Jerk is a naïf, a not-quite-holy fool, who finds his life one astonishment after another. It is the most maniacal and subversive of Steve Martin and Carl Reiner's movies together. This film provides the perfect vehicle for Martin's comic style, which I have always enjoyed.

  • Movie Review, Title Bicycle Dreams, Studio , Rating 3.0,

     

    Bicycle Dreams (2009)

    Director: Stephen Auerbach

    Movie Review

    Films,  Reviews,  Sports-Hobbies

    Bicycle dreams?

    Bicycle Dreams is a documentary about the Race Across America (RAAM), an annual beyond-insane bicycle race across the U.S. Few ride it, those who finish do it in less than two weeks, and ride almost the entire time. It is only a matter of time before all participants begin to hallucinate, and some have been injured and killed because of it.

  • Book review, Title How Should We Then Live?, Author Francis A. Schaeffer, Rating 2.5,

    How Should We Then Live?

    Francis A. Schaeffer

    Book review

    Essays,  Politics-Government,  Reviews

    How should we then live?

    Part 4 of 4 of this review of Francis Schaeffer’s How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture suggests an alternative answer to the question regarding how we should then live, and attempts to answer the original question posed in part 1: How did this book influence U.S. Evangelical Christians to become more politically active?

  • Book review, Title How Should We Then Live?, Author Francis A. Schaeffer, Rating 2.5,

    How Should We Then Live?

    Francis A. Schaeffer

    Book review

    Essays,  Politics-Government,  Reviews

    Absolutely relative

    Part 3 of 4 of this review of Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live examines the author's claims that Christian ethics are the only absolute standard for society.

  • Book review, Title How Should We Then Live?, Author Francis A. Schaeffer, Rating 2.5,

    How Should We Then Live?

    Francis A. Schaeffer

    Book review

    Essays,  Politics-Government,  Reviews

    Christianity good, secularism bad

    Part 2 of 4 of this review of Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live examines the author's historical approach, and evaluates his comparison of Christendom and secular society.

  • Book review, Title How Should We Then Live?, Author Francis A. Schaeffer, Rating 2.5,

    How Should We Then Live?

    Francis A. Schaeffer

    Book review

    Essays,  Politics-Government,  Reviews

    The good old days of Christendom

    In his book How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, what did Francis Schaeffer have to say that influenced so many Evangelicals to become more politically active? Part 1 of 4 of this review summarizes the author's primary theses, then assesses the impact of critical historical events that were minimized or left out of the author’s analysis of Western Civilization.

  •   -CC BY-SA 3.0, NotfromUtrecht.

    Attrib: NotfromUtrecht, CC BY-SA 3.0.

     

    Reviews,  Technology

    Moving inexorably to the Kindle

    After my family gave me a Kindle a while back, I was skeptical of its ability to fully replace a bound book, but after some experimentation, I found the Kindle e-reading device more useful than expected, yet remained a fan of the book-in-hand.  By the time I had read through the devices of my Kindle perhaps fifteen books and after a certain amount of experimentation, I gradually became enamored enough of the Kindle to make it my primary mode for reading books.  What was the tipping point?  And why still prefer a bound book on occasion?

  •   -CC0 PD, .

    CC0 PD.

     

    Essays,  Politics-Government,  Technology

    The superweed and GMO crops

    Superweeds are weeds that cannot be killed with the usual pesticides used by by today's agro-businesses, such as Roundup. They have begun to pop up in fields that grow crops which have been genetically modified (GMO) to increase their resistance to pesticides. This allows farmers to use Roundup more liberally to kill weeds. This approach worked very well at first, but after a prolonged overexposure of the weed population to Roundup, weed species resistant to Roundup have been selected. This is a serious agricultural problem, as these weeds lower the yield, increase the cost of harvest, and remain a problem that is not easily solved. Why is this strategy employed, when agronomists predicted that such an outcome was inevitable? Why not just move to organic farming, eliminating the use of chemical pesticides, which like antibiotics, are indiscriminate in destroying both pests and beneficial organisms?

  •   -CC0 PD, .

    CC0 PD.

     

    Observations,  Politics-Government

    Stepping back from blind partisanship

    Steve King recently wrote a sharply drawn satire entitled If My Guy Loses: Confessions of an Anonymous Partisan in the Atlantic Monthly. His rather ingenious device is to give full voice to an angry everyman who is broadcasting a blind partisanship, anonymous in the sense that he could belong to any political party.

    Examples: I will protest things I once advocated. I will threaten to move to Canada. I will criticize the president for dishonoring the office of the presidency while I question his patriotism, citizenship, and character.