1. Intellectual Key Stone: Wealth is not money; wealth is what you own or can produce. 2. In 1856, the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing Party only carried Maryland, which had been founded as a Catholic colony, when it ran Millard Fillmore, the first major Presidential Candidate to have had a meeting with the Pope. History is weird. … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Hodge-Podge
Faith
Friday Flotsam: ‘Short Circuit’, Sick, More Economics, and Lent
1. My tastes have been skewed in a 1980s direction lately. This week's movie night was Short Circuit (at least most of it; the copy I watched had a section missing that I couldn't find elsewhere, between when the jerk boyfriend shows up and the fight with the other three drones), about a military robot … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: ‘Short Circuit’, Sick, More Economics, and Lent
Friday Flotsam: Death Comes Near, Teaching, Life
1. My second semester of teaching started off on a tragic and jarring note. The weekend before we came back, one of my co-workers and her husband were killed in a car crash, leaving six young children behind. I didn't know her very well, but it's still a sobering experience to have a violent death … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Death Comes Near, Teaching, Life
Back on Catholic 365: Infant King
First article in a long time is up on Catholic365, just in time for Christmas: Among the strictures against monarchy presented by the American Revolutionaries was the absurdity that a king can come to the throne at any age, and that, as Mr. Hamilton put it in one of the Federalist Papers, “a helpless infant … Continue reading Back on Catholic 365: Infant King
Saturday Flotsam: Late, Haphazard Edition
1. I missed yesterday owing to poor time management. Oh, well. 2. I'm officially on a 3-week Christmas break from work. A break I'll need to use to find another part-time job and get myself onto a good schedule so that I can be more successful in the next semester. Not that this past semester … Continue reading Saturday Flotsam: Late, Haphazard Edition
Friday Flotsam: Immaculate Conception, Hapsburgs, and More
1. A blessed Feast of the Immaculate Conception! 2. This is, of course, the national feast day of the United States, as instituted in 1846 by the US Bishops and confirmed by Pius IX. This seems primarily based, historically, on the fact that Christopher Columbus's flagship was the Santa Maria de la Inmaculada Concepción, and … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Immaculate Conception, Hapsburgs, and More
Sunday Thought: Toy God
The God of the deists is often described as a "watchmaker God," but I think a better appellation would be a clockwork God. That is, a God whom man can wind up and make go as he likes: a toy God, who will never tell you something you don't want to hear or ask anything … Continue reading Sunday Thought: Toy God
Sunday Thoughts: The Pull from Outside
A few Sundays ago, I felt the 'pull from outside.' I won't say it was the first time, but it was the first time I gave it that name. I had just watched a video on the Spanish Civil War, which spoke of how much of the Spanish population in those days were dead-set against … Continue reading Sunday Thoughts: The Pull from Outside
Thomas Jefferson and Intellectual Humility
Note: This is a reconstruction of the post mentioned in this week's Flotsam: the one eaten by WordPress. Turns out I exaggerated a bit and the opening few paragraphs at least survived, though everything after the 'Council of Nicea' bit - that is, basically all of my own thoughts - is a reconstruction, and I … Continue reading Thomas Jefferson and Intellectual Humility
Friday Flotsam: Teaching, St. John Vianney, and Beavers
1. This week was training for my new teaching job. It looks like it'll either be an amazing experience or a catastrophic disaster. I guess we'll find out. 2. At the very least, I won't have to worry about what I should read for a while; it's pretty much all read books and discuss, and … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Teaching, St. John Vianney, and Beavers
Serpent's Den 