plato and a platypus

I have long wondered why books, lectures, and the such designed for serious learning rarely do a good job of making the learning entertaining. It is a lot easier to understand a new concept when it is presented in an enjoyable fashion. This is part of the idea of the last book that I completed, Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes.

The book itself is only meant to give a high-level summary of historical philosophical beliefs and thought structures. So, while it is not nearly detailed enough to be a textbook, it presents a lot of concepts very concisely. The jokes are generally used to illustrate concepts or perspectives.

The following joke is used to illustrate the concept of ding an sich, which means "thing in itself," and is supposed to describe an object as it is rather than how our senses perceive it.

Secretary: "Doctor, there's an invisible man in the waiting room."
Doctor: "Tell him I can't see him."

Another joke illustrates relativity of time.

A snail was mugged by two turtles. When the police asked him what happened, he said, "I don't know. It all happened so fast."

A final joke provides a rationale for why it is important to understand the purpose of law.

A judge calls the opposing lawyers into his chambers, and says, "The reason we're here is that both of you have given me a bribe." Both lawyers squirm in their seats. "You, Alan, have given me $15,000. Phil, you gave me $10,000."

The judge hands Alan a check for $5,000 and says, "Now you're even, and I'm going to decide this case solely on its merits."

The only reason that I would hold back in recommending this book to anyone with a sense of humor is that it does contain some blue humor, though I do not think it is excessive. Other than that one thing, this book is perfect for anyone wanting to read up on serious philosophical ideas with a punchline.

da da

For a long while, NJ was not too interested in spending time with me and by far preferred to be with Golden. Over the last few weeks he has changed pretty significantly to the point where he frequently gets upset when I leave for work in the morning and he gets very excited when I walk through the front door in the evening. He will even sometimes want me to hold him rather than Golden, though he still usually prefers her.

It is possible that this is just due to him growing out of the phase where he only favors his mom, but I think it is actually because I have been able to spend more time with him in the last few weeks than I was before that. I have been out of class for a month, so I have had a bit more freedom to spend quality time with NJ. I think this improves his perspective of me from someone who occasionally competes with him for his mother's attention to someone to hang out with.

I never really thought much about this element of parenthood. I have to say, though, that there are few things that I enjoy more than coming home to NJ smiling and shouting, "Da Da!" That can get me through any rough day.

risky business

I am not going to post about our entire Thanksgiving break because most of what I would have to say would be unfortunately boring. Golden may say something about our vacation on her blog, though.

On Thursday we did visit both Golden's and my family. While we were at my aunt's house a few of them got into a discussion of the things my dad did when he was younger. No one really wanted to tell stories about themselves. Most people would not assume this if they met him today, but he was actually the most reckless of all his siblings growing up.

I realized recently that, at least in this respect, I am the antithesis of my dad. The things that I have done in my life that I consider reckless weren't really reckless. I have always been the voice of caution when there is discussion of doing anything that is even just potentially dangerous.

While I am not currently and have never been a risk taker in a cautious person's body, when I hear these stories I wonder if I should have been a little more daring as a kid. Did I hold back more than was necessary? I think most men want to have some things in common with their dads, and to be as different as we are in this area is a bit weird.

Based on my observations of NJ, I could see him as being very cautious or very risky when he gets older. As a sixteen-month-old He can be fearless and he can be timid depending on his mood. Whichever he is, I hope I can relate.

thankful

This is in a similar vein to my "good grief" post, but it isn't the same.

I really am not thankful enough for my lot in life. I have never doubted that, but this has not really made me more thankful. I also always thought listing the things I am thankful for was a little hokey because most items on the list, while important, are the same for a lot of people (family, friends, health, freedom, etc). There is one thing that I have to be thankful for that most people would not think to be thankful for, and that is how everything always seems to work out for me.

Seriously, pretty much every bad situation or potentially bad situation I have ever gotten into ended well. I have procrastinated on many things from schoolwork to yard work throughout my life, but I almost always complete my tasks immediately before they absolutely need to be completed. I have been in many financially tough situations, but everything always worked out. Even my meeting Golden at the time of my life that I did was one of those things that was very fortunate to work out, because we are perfectly suited for each other.

It could be that things just work out for a lot of other people who don't even notice it. Since I notice it, though, I must be thankful.

new cue lar

I remember back in the 2000 presidential election (Motto: "Whoever you elect, it's still a four-letter word") the big deal about Gore was his lack of a personality and the big deal about Bush was his lack of speaking ability. My joke at the time was that my problem is that I have Gore's personality and Bush's speaking ability.

On that topic, Bush has taken some flak for pronouncing the word nuclear wrong with some frequency. To me, this begs the question at what point is the incorrect usage correct. Since I was a kid I always pronounced the word the same as Bush does, though lately I have bowed to convention and pronounced it like it is spelled. It is not that I haven't known that the word is pronounced "new clear." It is that I think "new cue lar" just sounds cooler.

I am not alone. A lot of people besides me and Dubya have used this pronunciation, including Presidents Eisenhower, Carter, and Clinton. The editors for Merriam-Webster actually have a prewritten official letter that they send in response to people who write in to gripe that the dictionary dares to list this colloquial pronunciation as a common usage.

There are a lot of words in the English language that have multiple accepted pronunciations, so it confuses me why we care about specific mispronounciations and not others. Why are we willing to agree with Louis Armstrong about tomato and potato but not about nuclear? I say let's call the whole thing off, because I want to go back to pronouncing it the way I like.

on a tangent about sin

One of the podcasts I listen to is just two guys who record an hour-and-a-half fantasy football conversation out of their living room in Philadelphia. Usually, this podcast makes me think more about what quarterbacks I want on one of my teams than about spiritual issues, but last week was a little different.

One of the guys noted that he had offered a wager to a Dallas Cowboys fan regarding the next Cowboys/Eagles match-up. The response he got from the Dallas fan was that he didn't gamble due to religious reasons. This started a conversation in the podcast over whether gambling is officially a sin. A quote that stuck with me was, "Why is God against everything I think is fun?"

Something that really annoys me is that I often feel forced to either take a position for works or against works. Either I have to be the judgmental person who sees just about everything as a sin, or I have to be the permissive person who can't make the judgment that anything is wrong. On this blog I have picked on the judgmental perspective more, but both options are equally frustrating to me.

If someone asked me why everything they wanted to do was a sin, I would probably have a hard time responding because my conception of sin would likely be different from that person's conception of sin. I don't think that God is waiting to automatically strike down everyone who commits some specific action that a lot of people consider a sin, but anything that a person considers fun has the potential to come between that person and God. Things that may appear to be sins aren't and things that may not appear to be sins are.

When Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, I do not think he was exaggerating. It would make sense that the man who has more money and the trappings that go with it (power, security, popularity) simply has more things that can get between him and God. Having those things is not sin, but being unwilling to give them up is.

So, for the moment, I think that just about everything can be a sin. Whether you put it before God and let it become sin is another story.

important day

There are two notable things about today.

First, I asked Golden out for our first date ten years ago today. We celebrated last night with dinner and a movie. It was nice to have a night when we didn't need to worry about NJ, so we greatly appreciate our sitter giving us so much time.

It's hard to believe that it was ten years ago that I left a note with Golden telling her I was interested in her and asking if she was too. Kind of a high school thing to do, but I was eighteen.

Just about everyone I have mentioned this to has responded with, "You still keep track of when you started dating?" I don't usually feel like a sentimental fool.

Also, this is my sister's birthday. It was not on purpose that I asked Golden out on my sister's birthday so I would remember the date better, but it did work out conveniently. I should probably call my sister to wish her well shortly.

Happy birthday, Miss Carisma, and happy ten years, Golden!