¡Team Perez!

iOS Address Book access should prompt the user for permission

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:31:34 -0800

iOS Address Book access should prompt the user for permission:

marco:

We can’t prevent developers from being creepy, so Apple needs to step in.

The crux of the matter Jim Daly at NRO: Consider the facts: The Komen Foundation is a private...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:45:04 -0800

The crux of the matter

Jim Daly at NRO:

Consider the facts:

The Komen Foundation is a private philanthropic organization. It has every right to fund or not fund charities or causes of its choice.
That certain individuals and causes are “outraged” over Komen’s announcement is, in itself, outrageous.
To complain about a gift not given is the highest form of presumption and arrogance. And what about Planned Parenthood?

According to its annual report, the nation’s leading abortion provider is worth in excess of $1 billion. In 2010, abortion procedures constituted 91 percent (329,445) of Planned Parenthood’s services for pregnant women.

Yet, to follow their illogical argument, to have lost Komen’s projected yearly gift of $680,000 was somehow going to cripple their empire — and prevent them from continuing to offer mammograms. But Planned Parenthood centers do not offer mammograms, and instead refer women to other clinics for such services.

More than anything, it surprises me how few people know that Planned Parenthood does not offer mammograms. Bracket everything else in last week’s dustup and you have this simply fact.

"I only wish that people were as certain about what the highest good is as they are about the fact..."

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:27:04 -0800

“I only wish that people were as certain about what the highest good is as they are about the fact that human beings cannot be happy unless they attain it.”

- Saint Augustine, On Free Choice of the Will (II.9)

A Year Resolute (2012 Edition)

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 09:10:33 -0800

Last year I split my goals into professional and personal. This year, none of that. Let’s keep them simple and focused. Besides, my professional goals are fairly straight forward: get good grades in my Ph.D. program, network at conferences, and generally rock it like an aspiring academic. Here we have my goals for 2012. Sure I have a list, like resolutions, but they are more like goals to pursue, to keep me hungry for more.

Sound Body

This is a little tricky. It’s not so much about losing weight (although, that’s part of it) but about continuing habits that I built in 2011. It starts with staying up with CrossFit. Then, when time permits*, I need to explore activities to add into my schedule. Last year’s resolution to climb rocks and do more yoga remain the front runners, but I must add a few to that.

Set new CrossFit Goals (weight loss, Oly Lift PRs, Pull-ups, etc).
Climb Rocks
Do more Yoga
Surf more waves
Paddle/SUP in Austin
Ride my Longboard

Sound Mind

California: 8 Vols

If anything that I write about actually approaches the level of a resolution in the classical sense, Kevin Starr’s eight volume history of California is it. I had it on my list last year and failed to even begin. I’ve since begun the first volume to get a head start and build momentum. Quite simply, the more time that I spend away from California, the more I yearn to be home, to settle near the coast, to know her history and her culture and not simply live ignorant of that which has so greatly formed who I am.

Americans and the California Dream, 1850-1915
Inventing the Dream: California through the Progressive Era
Material Dreams: Southern California through the 1920s
Endangered Dreams: The Great Depression in California
The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s
Embattled Dreams: California in War and Peace, 1940-1950
Coast Of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2002
Golden dreams: California in an age of abundance, 1950-1963

Christian Theology

Short list here. Long on discipline. I really must finally get to A Grammar of Assent for both personal and professional reasons. And since I intend to make Augustine the them of my research, I ought make him a theme in my daily life.

Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent
Read a little Augustine every day

Sound Fun

Travel to Europe Again
Learn Spanish
Go to a Buckeye game in the Fall
Hone my Cooking Skills
Keep a Food Log
Pay off one Credit Card (Yes, this would be fun times if I could do it.)

* “time permitting” sound like a cop out that will only lead to failure. I know. But it’s impossible to predict what kind of schedule one will have each semester until it actually gets underway. I also have no idea what’s going on over the summer, if I’ll be studying Greek (i.e., no free time whatsoever) or if I’ll be power loafing in California (i.e., lots of free time). To compensate, I plan to focus on at least one of those activities per month, starting with the easy ones to fit into my schedule (Yoga and Longboarding). Then, I’ll evaluate regularly.

2011 Resolution Review:

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:35:04 -0800

I had some “pretty basic” resolutions for the year. So let’s see how I did:

~~climb rocks~~, do more yoga, and ~~ride my bike~~ (ankle permitting).
Complete the CrossFit beginners routine.
Keep a food journal.
Read Books

Enchridion by Epictetus

A Grammar of Assent by John Henry Newman

Nicomacean Ethics by Aristotle

Commentary on the Ethics by Saint Thomas

Thomism and Aristotelianism by Harry Jaffa

~~Travel Abroad~~
~~Take a photograph every day~~
~~Learn Spanish~~

My final comments were pretty spot on: it was too big a list to complete, but the journey is always more important than the destination. Often, when setting goals I prefer to pick one that’s too far out, or a few too many, to reasonably complete in the given time. It keeps me hungry. I get board if I set a goal and then cruise past it. But if I come just a hair shy, and nearly could have done it if I slacked off a little less here or there, that makes me eager to fire up and go at it again.

Even though far too many goals were not achieved, I did have some pretty good highlights. After making some progress on my ankle recovery, I picked up surfing, something that I’ve been wanting to do for ages. I successfully defended my thesis and was admitted to the University of Texas for my Ph.D., and I got serious about CrossFit. My general them of ‘sound mind, sound body’ was maintained and achieved in more ways than I could have anticipated.

In the next day or two, I’ll post my goals for the coming year, after I’ve had time to think about the successes and failures from this year’s goal list. The important thing is to give serious thought as to why or why not resolutions were successful so that I can make better ones in the future.

Winnowing the Field

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:53:43 -0800

Winnowing the Field:

From the Editors at National Review:

Just as heartening, the White House seems winnable next year, and with it a majority in both houses of Congress, so that much of this conservative consensus could actually become law. A conservative majority on the Supreme Court, a halt to the march of regulation, free-market health-care policies: All of them seem within our grasp. But none of them is assured, and the costs of failure — either a failure to win the election, or a failure to govern competently and purposefully afterward — are as large as the opportunity. We fear that to nominate former Speaker Newt Gingrich, the frontrunner in the polls, would be to blow this opportunity.

clientsfromhell: Client: “My computer is frozen!”Me: “What screen is it frozen on?”Client: “The...

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:29:01 -0700

clientsfromhell:

Client: “My computer is frozen!”

Me: “What screen is it frozen on?”

Client: “The first screen, where it says push ctrl+alt+del to log in. I can move the mouse around, but when I push those buttons it does nothing”

Me: “Is your keyboard plugged in?”

Client: “No, It’s a wireless keyboard”

Me: “Have you changed the batteries?”

Client: “This thing takes batteries!? I thought it ran off satellite power.”

File under “I fear the survival of civilization”

Updates, soon.

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:55:31 -0700

Holy crap. I’ve really neglected not just this blog, but my other social outlets as well. Foursquare is down, Flickr Pro account is expired, and who knows what else. Some one remind me to get on that: stat.

No sex on campus?

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:48:05 -0700

No sex on campus?:

there is an increasing phenomenon of unlikely bedfellows opting out: Catholic and Muslim women. These women of faith are increasingly allied in searching for a different way to live out their college tenure than from dorm room to dorm room. And they are finding that despite theological differences that run deep, shared perspectives about modesty, chastity, and dignity run deeper.

Interesting approach to genuine ecumenism that is bottom-up, ad hoc, and more genuine than the feigned platitudes that pass for dialogue these days in most circles.

Photo

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:53:00 -0700

Quality family time.

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:25:22 -0700

Quality family time.

Photo

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:25:17 -0700

ZOOEY'S MISCELLANY: an open letter to patt morrison

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:35:58 -0700

ZOOEY'S MISCELLANY: an open letter to patt morrison:

What a great reply. Simply brilliant.

zooeydeschanel:

Dear Ms Morrison, JULY 11, 2011

I feel compelled to respond to your recent blog post, regarding comments I “allegedly” made outside the BAFTA dinner on Saturday night. I never spoke to you at this event; in fact, you weren’t even there. I am completely and utterly shocked that a…

Runaway Agency

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:04:26 -0700

Runaway Agency:

Taken alongside such abuses as targeting Boeing for having the audacity to expand its operations in a right-to-work state, the NLRB is the very picture of a runaway agency pursing a narrow, partisan political policy rather than any legitimate public mandate.

Today's Headlines

Mon, 02 May 2011 12:10:06 -0700

Today's Headlines

Thesis, Defended. Changes in the Works

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:44:51 -0700

I’ve been remiss in my writing lately, but as anyone who knows me knows it has been for good cause. On Monday I successfully defended my Master’s thesis. The last two months have been quite busy, to say the least, as I made all the final revisions, edits, and preparations.

I will be returning to regular writing soon, but I also plan on making some changes. This fall I will move on the doctoral degree—because being a student is better than being unemployed—and I want to move the blog to a different site. This URL will soon be a landing page with links to my personal and professional websites.

Until then, I’m just glad to be finished with the thesis. It took its pound of flesh from me, but it was also a project that I am glad I stuck with to the end.

On Surfing for the First Time*

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:03:53 -0800

As soon as the central California water rolled onto the shore and over my feet and ankles, I was convinced that I would be an embarrassment. Wetsuit be damned, there was no way I was going to be hold my own in the water while literally freezing. Ten minutes and I would be throwing in the towel, pun intended. I would be too cold to think coherently, yet alone paddle, stand up, and ride the waves. This wasn’t going to work, and my cousin would be out there, pumped and ready to catch waves, but inevitably called out of the water to tend my hypothermic corpse.

Chris had brought me to Santa Cruz to take me surfing. I have been asking for some time since returning to California for an introduction. I still can’t run or do many other activities on account of my ankle injury, and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to handle surfing: but the mellow nature of longboarding seemed like it may be way for me to get out there and be active without causing risk or further injury to my ankle. But I digress. For the few days before Sunday it was raining hard. Unusually hard for California, but then again, this is an El Niño winter. Sunday, however, greeted us with sunshine and low winds. The wind mattered more than the sun. Too much wind would kill our plans because the waves would be too choppy for a novice.

Chris already secured a board for me to use. We stopped by a friend of his who loaned me a wetsuit. Total cost: nothing (though I did buy Chris lunch later for the lesson). That others would be willing to lend me equipment merely on account of being Chris’s cousin speaks volumes both about my cousin’s character and also the culture of surfing. Surfers always pay it forward. Help your neighbor and the kindness will surely be returned.

Saddled up and ready, we first surveyed a few locations in Monterey area. After determining that the waves either lacked the push necessary to surf or were breaking to hard for a novice, we headed to Surf City, USA.**

So there I am, just off 41st Street, down the man made steps on the side of a cliff thinking about the first surf explorers who must have either climbed down with ropes, or swam into this cove from the main beach. As I laid down on my board and started paddling behind Chris, the wetsuit worked as advertised. Suddenly, I felt more warm in the water than I did on the shoreline wearing jeans and sweater. Now my primary concern was keeping up. I’m a solid swimmer. My parents enrolled me in swim lessons as child and I have always enjoyed getting in the water. Now was different. Laying on a board and paddling changes the dynamics of moving through the water. Each stroke moved my body ever so slightly on the board, which moved the board’s position in the water, and most of the energy that would normally move me forward was lost in side-to-side rocking. Chris and the other locals glided across the dark glassy water. I was flopping around like a drunken seal.

After about 30 minutes of barely managing to stay on top of my board, I saw a wave that looked as though it would break in just the right spot for me. I turned, paddled, and felt the wave begin to push me up and forward. It felt like I was floating, weightless, for just a second. I began to stand up, trying to get my feet on the board quickly. Then, just as quickly as began to float, I was in the water with my board going in another direction. Without the leash, I may never have been able to get it back. Pulling the board back to me, I climbed back on it, and continued to paddle and wait for another wave, but it was not to be. That was the high point of my session. Some may see it as an exercise in failure, but I don’t. It was a beautiful experience. It isn’t a question of if I’ll try again, but when.

—lmp

* I say “first time” although I went once in Australia way back in 2003. I don’t count that. It was too long and too short a session to have any meaningful impact.

** Don’t get mad if you’re from Huntington Beach. I don’t take sides in the rivalry about which city is the ‘real’ surf city. In my book, they’re both in California and that is all that really matters: California is Surf City

I spoke with a friend of mine, Rhamey, about the recent events...

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 22:57:47 -0800

I spoke with a friend of mine, Rhamey, about the recent events in Egypt, what lead up them, and what we can expect for the immediate future. The entire converstion is short, less than 20 minutes. Tell me what you think, and if you’d like to see (or rather, “hear”) more of projects like this in the future.

Courtesy of PhD Comics

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:33:29 -0800

Courtesy of PhD Comics

Hat-tip to @mgcalifornia

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 08:25:03 -0800

Hat-tip to @mgcalifornia