State of the Newspaper

New evidence is in this morning, suggesting that America’s newspapers are  being edited by a dedicated crew of chimps.  Today’s schpla-BAM comes from the once illustrious WSJ.  No more.  The modestly well paid staff can’t even get out of the top story’s third paragraph before tripping over the delete key.  

The story, “House Attacks Fed, Treasury,” begins to build a head of steam and move out of the rail yard, but then the brakes lock with this sentence:  ”The vote was the latest blow to the central bank, which has been become a lightning rod for politicians responding to popular anger that Wall Street was bailed out while the public wasn’t.”

The last time I checked, “has been become” wasn’t standard or common usage.

Maybe it has been become accepted slang in the WSJ newsroom.  On the other hand, maybe someone at the editing desk should been become fired.  Staffers who care about language could roll up back issues into a likeness of the offending wannabe editor, soak it in oil and burn it in effigy on an altar consecrated to Clarence Barron.

Seriously, folks, this is a sign of the times.  I realize that literacy rates are dropping, but shouldn’t simple copy editing skills be a prerequisite for getting a job with the largest newspaper in the U.S.?

 

NaNoWriMo is around the corner!

On November 1, 2009 my creative juices will be flowing so hard that my head will look like a fresh squeezed lime.  They will continue for thirty consecutive days until on the 30th of the same month, I will have the first draft of a fifty thousand word novel in my hand.

That is the plan.  And it will happen.  Since I work four days on and four off, it will require close to 3,000 words per day on my “days off.”  I can do it.  Anyone can, really.  The real question is whether it’ll be any good.  And so, my friends, I’m requiring two things from you.  First, suggestions for novel genre, a title for the book, and some good plot ideas.

I will, over the next few days, take your comments into account before I start writing.  After that, all bets are off.   But for your trouble, you just might see your ideas fleshed out.

Second, I’m looking for encouragement from the first to the thirtieth of November.  Daily encouragement and perhaps writer’s block breakers.  Also, feel free to send me cookies and pies so I don’t starve.

Those who are most helpful may be asked to give the draft a read through.

Don’t let me down, friends.

 

Settling in

Now I don't have to sit on the floor

I’m at the end of my house hunting “vacation.”  I didn’t have to fly far from Martha’s nest, as the new place is right around the corner from where I’ve been staying for the last couple of months.

I flew back to Indiana for a couple of days, spent some time with the family, and drove back to Virginia with Sissy since there’s no convenient time for her to switch schools and she wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible.  We switched drivers every hundred miles or so and indulged in typical road trip comforts, listening to tunes as we drove through the foothills in darkness until we finally arrived at 2 in the morning. 

But this is the place where we’ll spend the next year, or maybe two or three.  The house has a very nice fireplace, oak main and upper floors, and is big enough for the family but small enough to feel cozy.

When Madame gets here end of the week, she’ll purtify and decorate it up real good.  I’m looking forward to that.  Well, I’m looking forward to having furniture besides the sectional which I snagged from Craigslist earlier today, and the card table and two chairs we’re using as a dining room set. 

I’m looking forward to nights of conversation and laughter around the fireplace, bright holidays, and four days off every eight in which I can write!

 

And a fireplace, too?

Keep your fingers crossed that we get this place. It’s around the corner from where I’m living. Martha the nice realtor lady who lets rooms out to military guys will be thrilled to still have me as a neighbor, I’m sure.

(Hi Martha if you’re reading this!)

The owner said “okay” when I asked him if I could put a wood stove insert in the fireplace if we ended up renting it. I’m stoked, and hopefully the stove will be, too.

More updates as they happen.

 

Where you hang your hat

Crystal Sports Pub, third floor bar

I won’t take up a lot of your time, but I did want to let you know that I’ll be staying in the D.C. area for a year.  Or so.  Maybe three. 

I’ve enjoyed it here since my boots hit the ground a couple of months ago, and yes, I am ready for more.  Now, amazingly, I get to bring Tawnya and the kids with me.  Tomorrow is my last day in my current cubicle.  I’ll be moving upstairs to work for a new boss.  Thursday I go on permissive TDY, which is the military way of saying, “find a house, get it rented, fly home to pack up your other house, uproot your family and move them to the new house in one week.” 

I love a challenge. 

One of the perks of this new job is that I don’t have to move into a trailer and eat food stamps to finish my trunk novel.  Although my FB friends chose that plan overwhelmingly over all the others I presented when I laid out my employment (or un) options, I’m afraid it will be unnecessary. 

I will be working twelve hour shifts, four days on and four days off.  The four day off schedule will not be anything like the four day on schedule. 

You’re wondering about the photo.  We were giving a send-off for a staffer who was leaving us to pass out bandaids in the desert.  We happened to be in luck because Sports Center was taping Miss Virginia getting her head shaved by the St. Baldrick’s Society to raise funds for children’s cancer research.  Nothing like tossing back brew and watching a ”hot chick” get her head shaved.  But that my friends was just another day in Babylon. 

 

In the glimmer of a young girl’s eye

I’ve been parrying back and forth on Facebook with several friends.  I’m seeing quite a portfolio of Glory Days pictures going up.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, though I appreciate the people who are posting new pictures of what they’re doing now.  Thats the attitude.

I can speak from experience because I am officially old now.  Last weekend was my 25 year class reunion.  Wabash High School class of 1984.  Go APAX!  Maybe its a combo of me wondering why I don’t feel older, actually feeling a bit older because I’ve been running on the G.W. Parkway along the Potomac River and *old* legs don’t carry you quite as fast as *young* legs do.  They were moving, I assure you;  mine, not the young guy who carried me the last quarter of a mile.  Kidding.  But I’m motivated.  I’m excited about the future, even though, at this point, I don’t know what that is going to be two weeks down the road.  End of September, end of fiscal year…end or orders.  And no new orders have been cut yet. 

I may stay here.  Dunno.  I may wind up back in western Illinois.  Dunno.  I may end up moving into a trailer park in Wabash, eating food stamps through the winter and actually finishing a novel.  Dunno (not likely, I only write for kill fees).

Bottom line though.  I gotta get home.  Wherever that ends up being.  Being apart sucks in B flat minor.

 

Fishy Friday

Its Friday, and in the interest of mortification, not to mention traditional forms thereof, I have partaken of a Quizno’s “Big Kahuna Tuna” Torpedo. Yeah, I know, I know…shut up.

 

A promise kept

A few days ago, I promised that I’d go into more detail about the Google Books project.  Here it is in a nutshell.  I haven’t been this impressed by an internet undertaking since I first fired up a modem.  You may think this is overstating the case.  Okay, I can see why.  The creation of email, the development of the World Wide Web, the near instantaneous availability of video reports from all corners of the map…what is so special about Google Books?

Two things:  First, this little thing called public domain.  Second, Google’s tireless Library Project.  Even as you read this, there are “agents” all over the place scanning library holdings into Google Books.  For the most part, I am only concerned with their public domain scans.  These are works whose copyright has expired or those which never held a copyright.  They belong to…me.  And you.  And they are increasingly more available now online.  You can read them online.  You can download the PDF on a portable drive and take them with you anywhere.

Okay, PDFs are kind of clunky to read on a computer and are even worse on portable devices.  Gotcha.  It is better than not having the books available to you.  And then, two things are quickly coming down the pike that could erase the headache.  Amazon is coming out with a next generation Kindle book reader with nearly a ten inch diagonal screen, which will make most of these public domain books eminently readable.  The new Kindle will cost around five hundred bucks.  If you have the cash, that’s a small price to pay to be able to carry an entire library around in your briefcase or purse, and when you find time to read, for it to feel like…well, like a book.

Sometime next year, Barnes and Noble will be rolling out their version of an electronic book reader which incorporates plastic electronic technology…that means a flex screen book reader.  Why am I so excited?

It is simple really.  I subscribe to John Senior’s worldview.  That is to say, if we are to restore Christian culture, it will be because we smash the television and the video game system and all of these technologies of separation and return to the hearth and the porch as families.  We have to return to a human scale and pace.  And we have to have the normal experiences which will prepare us to fight for our culture.  That includes hiking in the woods, sledding down hills, wading through creeks, chasing dragonflies, singing wholesome songs together and reading the “thousand good books” that prepare the soil of the soul to receive The Faith.  If you didn’t have those experiences as a kid, can you still?  I don’t know.  What I do know is that we had darn well better make these experiences available to our children.

At this point, ninety-or-so percent of these irreplaceable works are available for free on Google Books.  Many of them had been out of print for decades, and if you couldn’t find a copy in a used bookstore after weeks or months of searching, your only recourse was to unicode text versions stripped of their artwork and peculiarities.  Google Books are the real thing…high quality scans of the actual books, in most cases with color artwork intact.

I am in awe of those at Google who have devoted their time and effort to this undertaking.  They may not realize it yet, but they’re saving the world, one book at a time.

As I said, these books are available for PDF download if that appeals to you.  You can also create your own library.  Check out mine.  It is fledgling, but I’ll flesh it out.

The GB project is still in beta, believe it or not, and there aren’t a lot of controls, but to help you out, here are some simple instructions.  Go to books.google.com and then click on the “advanced book search”.  Once on that page, click the radio buttons for “full view only” and “all content.”  That will give you only the books which are public domain, and it’ll give you all of them.  Happy hunting!

What happens after you get there, I’ll let you discover.  Make sure you get to bed before 3 a.m.

 

A proposition

On a given Sunday

Whereas the General Instruction for the Roman Missal 162 states: “The priest may be assisted in the distribution of Communion by other priests who happen to be present. If such priests are not present and there is a very large number of communicants, the priest may call upon extraordinary ministers to assist him, e.g., duly instituted acolytes or even other faithful who have been deputed for this purpose. In case of necessity, the priest may depute suitable faithful for this single occasion.

And whereas the Instruction “Redemptionis Sacramentum” in paragraph 88 states “Only when there is a necessity may extraordinary ministers assist the Priest celebrant in accordance with the norm of law.”

And whereas the same instruction in paragraph 151 states: “Only out of true necessity is there to be recourse to the assistance of extraordinary ministers in the celebration of the Liturgy. Such recourse is not intended for the sake of a fuller participation of the laity but rather, by its very nature, is supplementary and provisional. Furthermore, when recourse is had out of necessity to the functions of extraordinary ministers, special urgent prayers of intercession should be multiplied that the Lord may soon send a Priest for the service of the community and raise up an abundance of vocations to sacred Orders.”

And whereas the same document states in paragraph 158: “Indeed, the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion may administer Communion only when the Priest and Deacon are lacking, when the Priest is prevented by weakness or advanced age or some other genuine reason, or when the number of faithful coming to Communion is so great that the very celebration of Mass would be unduly prolonged. This, however, is to be understood in such a way that a brief prolongation, considering the circumstances and culture of the place, is not at all a sufficient reason.

And whereas the Vatican instruction “On Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priest” states in Article 8 § 2: “Extraordinary ministers may distribute Holy Communion at Eucharistic celebrations only when there are no ordained ministers present or when those ordained ministers present at a liturgical celebration are truly unable to distribute Holy Communion. They may also exercise this function at Eucharistic celebrations where there are particularly large numbers of the faithful and which would be excessively prolonged because of an insufficient number of ordained ministers to distribute Holy Communion.

And whereas the same document at the end of Article 8 states:  ”To avoid creating confusion, certain practices are to be avoided and eliminated where such have emerged in particular Churches: the habitual use of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion at Mass thus arbitrarily extending the concept of “a great number of the faithful.”

And whereas the conclusion of the same document states:  ”All particular laws, customs and faculties conceded by the Holy See ad experimentum or other ecclesiastical authorities which are contrary to the foregoing norms [On Certain...] are hereby revoked.”

And whereas in “Norms for the Distribution and Reception of Holy Communion Under Both Kinds in the Dioceses of the United States of America” paragraph 24 states:  ”In practice, the need to avoid obscuring the role of the priest and the deacon as the ordinary ministers of Holy Communion by an excessive use of extraordinary ministers might in some circumstances constitute a reason either for limiting the distribution of Holy Communion under both species or for using intinction instead of distributing the Precious Blood from the chalice.”

And whereas the same norms in paragraph 28 states:  ”When the size of the congregation or the incapacity of the bishop, priest, or deacon requires it, the celebrant may be assisted by other bishops, priests, or deacons. If such ordinary ministers of Holy Communion are not present, “the priest may call upon extraordinary ministers to assist him, i.e., formally instituted acolytes or even some of the faithful who have been commissioned according to the prescribed rite. In case of necessity, the priest may also commission suitable members of the faithful for the occasion.”  … When recourse is had to Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, especially in the distribution of Holy Communion under both kinds, their number should not be increased beyond what is required for the orderly and reverent distribution of the Body and Blood of the Lord. In all matters such Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion should follow the guidance of the diocesan bishop [Mindful of the fact that this paragraph draws its authority from GIRM 151 which speaks only of instances where a great number of the faithful are gathered, and it is the competence of the Holy Father alone, and of no bishop or priest, to legislate anything in the liturgy against the norms which the Holy Father has duly set forth].

We put forth the following observations:

Observation 1:  The habitual use of extraordinary ministers at Masses in the United States is in fact a violation of the norms set forth in “On certain questions.”  In most parishes across this country are even scheduled weeks ahead of time.

Observation 2:  The majority of these Masses are not attended by “a great number of the faithful” and thus this term is being arbitrarily extended in violation of the norms of the Holy Father set forth in “On Certain Questions…”.

Observation 3:  In point of fact, aside from being viewed as supplementary and provisional, extraordinary ministers are being utilized in such a way that they believe that their ministry involves a fuller participation in the Eucharistic celebration, in violation of the norms set forth by the Holy Father in “Redemptionis Sacramentum.”

Observation 4:  The continued unnecessary recourse to the use of extraordinary ministers continues to blur the distinction between the ordained and lay members of the Catholic Church.

And in light of the above observations we submit the following petition:

 Petition:  Considering the constant violations of the norms set forth above, we humbly ask  you to implement the provisions set forth in the Norms for the United states, namely that Holy Communion normally be distributed only by the ordinary minister, under one species [the Host], or by intinction in those parishes and communities where the faithful wish to receive under both species.

 

Everything old…

I’m impressed with Google Books. More on that and the excellent work they’ve been doing on the public domain later. But, I’ve been scanning the January 1, 1915 edition of the Catholic “Fortnightly Review” by one Arthur Preuss. On page 25 thusly: Commenting on the fact that Attorney General Hogan, of Ohio, was defeated in the recent election mainly in consequence of the warfare waged against him on account of his religion, the New York Freeman’s Journal (No. 4210) asks the “significant question”: “How is it that it is only against Catholics the ‘religious warfare’ is ever raised in politics?” Can it be for the reason that the average Catholic politician is notoriously a scamp?!?