Back in Action
Nice to see the Red Birds are acting like their usual selves again:
Four innings after his 12-pitch walk sparked the Cardinals go-ahead rally in the game, Robinson lofted a two-run homer on the second pitch of an at-bat in the seventh inning to put the game away. The Cardinals finished their 10-game, 11-day trek with a 14-2 romp against Houston at Minute Maid Park. It meant for the first time on the journey they had won a series and it was the difference between returning to Busch Stadium on a 3-7 plunge or a two-game winning streak.
14 is an even more serious number.
The Appeal of Swimming the Tiber
A friend of mine posted a link on Facebook to this piece yesterday. I think the article does a good job of explaining some of the reasons why people have left the Reformed world for Catholicism while also noting very clearly some of the core beliefs that are lost when one goes “swimming.” I think his points about what makes Catholicism attractive ought to urge us Presbyterians to think critically about what we do well as part of the body of Christ and what we could improve on. In some cases, we could simply do a better job and deal directly with those yearnings people have that we are currently inadequately caring for. In other cases, the best course of action is simply teaching why we don't do or believe certain things (and, as an important companion, why we do and believe other things).
Call it my historical bias, but I also think we need to spend more time teaching people within the Church about church history. The things that people of faith have faced before are far more relevant than many of us are prone to think. In relation to the topic of the blog post I linked to above, I think that plays out in two very clear ways. First, church history helps us to understand why the Reformation happened and see how it has historical continuity with the church as a whole. Second, thoughtful study of church history helps us to think through how we apply tradition within the church today.
Leaked MacBook Pro Details?
Quite a few sites, including MacRumors, have been reporting about an allegedly leaked label from the next 13” MacBook Pro. The specs seem plausible, though I'm dubious as to whether Apple will give in and offer USB 3.0 when doing so might hurt Thunderbolt's chances of adoption.
My dubiousness feels like it receives some confirmation via another detail: the box refers to Mac OS X being pre-installed. As of OS X Lion, Apple dropped “Mac” from almost all references to “Mac OS X,” yet this label follows the old style. I suspect this was a slip by whomever created the label.
The X-37B
The Daily Mail has an interesting — albeit, overly conspiratorial, perhaps — little article on the X-37B space plane that is preparing to land after orbiting for about a year.
Last May, amateur astronomers were able to detect the orbital pattern of the first X-37B which included flyovers of North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, heightening the suspicion that the vehicle was being used for surveillance.
Is it really being used for surveillance, I wonder? If so, what could it possibly do that existing satellites could not do?
ownCloud
This is an interesting, Free Software combination of what appears to be a upstart Dropbox competitor and an iCloud calendar and contacts syncing competitor. But, unlike those services, this one will run on your own server or hosting account. It looks like it could have the potential to be an intriguing lightweight groupware option.
Dowd on the President
I am not, by any means, a huge fan of Maureen Dowd, but her column in this Sunday's New York Times is an interesting consideration of the current presidential landscape.
Once glowing, his press is now burning. “To a very real degree, 2008's candidate of hope stands poised to become 2012's candidate of fear,” John Heilemann wrote in New York magazine, noting that because Obama feels he can't run on his record, his campaign will resort to nuking Romney.
I'm looking forward to seeing what campaign messages come out over the summer months.
The Problem with Trade Shows
Scott Stein writes for CNet:
Apple, the 800-pound gorilla of the industry, never has an official presence at shows like CTIA (mobile), CES (consumer electronics), and Computex (PCs). But if you read between the lines of the press conferences and press releases, every company at those shows is implicitly talking about — and reacting to — the latest Apple gadgets, new or anticipated.
And now, as we approach the annual E3 trade show, the focus naturally turns to Apple's role in the video game industry.
Naturally.
Between Two Worlds
Matthew Arnold's Stanzas from the Grand Chartreuse is captivating poetry from one of the nineteenth century's best poets. It includes one of Arnold's most famous lines:
Wandering between two worlds, one dead,
The other powerless to be born,
With nowhere yet to rest my head,
Like these, on earth I wait forlorn.
Their faith, my tears, the world deride—
I come to shed them at their side.Oh, hide me in your gloom profound,
Ye solemn seats of holy pain!
Take me, cowl'd forms, and fence me round,
Till I possess my soul again;
Till free my thoughts before me roll,
Not chafed by hourly false control!
Mr. Cook Goes to Washington
Apple has never been the biggest participant in U.S. national politics, but it looks like CEO Tim Cook is bypassing K-Street and doing a little lobbying himself:
Tim Cook met with Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) today. It is unknown what the topic of discussion was, but it's possible that Cook was lobbying Boehner to pass a tax holiday that would allow Apple and other companies with large overseas tax holdings to bring back their earnings at a lower corporate tax rate.
I'd love to know how the conversation went.
On a Happy Note
This is the sort of news story that just needs to be shared:
The funeral of a 28 year-old waiter in southern Egypt turned into a celebration when he woke up after being declared dead. […] A doctor sent to sign the death certificate found it strange that his body was warm. At closer observation she discovered he was still alive.
