Jack's new IP: 98.178.151.160

I really hope he does start with threatening emails, because ISP's can and will take action. FYI, if he does start harassing you via email again, save every email you get with complete header information.

The big elephant in the parish hall

http://notredamescandal.com/

So Obama is going to give the commencement address at Notre Dame. I wonder what percentage of sites like that and the protest around it are actually fueled by unspoken racism of the scary black man over his policies on anything. I don't see Joe Biden getting the same level of hysteria.

Maybe it's my perspective post-civil rights movement, but I don't see the average parish as an overly inclusive place. LA and TX are bit better in some respects, but there's an awful lot of segregation between English and Spanish-speaking Masses. On some feast days at my parish in LA, they'd do a mix of both, which worked really well. But there would be those in the pews who'd bitch about "them" not going to "their" Mass. I think our parish doesn't have Spanish-language Masses, because there just isn't much call for them in North Seattle. Now is kind of a strange time after Fr. Tom's death, but we've always had at least one priest, who's fluent in Spanish.

can't speak for everyone's parish, but aside from one or two families, there just aren't that many PoC at my parish.

I could understand not liking Obama's policies and engendering some sort of discussion on those issues. That's a totally valid disagreement. But a lot of the anti-Obama rhetoric is getting rather personal, which isn't a valid critique of the guy. It's hinting at the big elephant in the middle of the room, which is that the average US Catholic parish isn't overly diverse and has never had to grapple with issues of race like other denominations. (Or so I'm going out on a limb to say.)

don't believe me? how many PoC do you see on EWTN, for instance, on their 'prime time' lineup? how about at EWTN's Masses?

Sorry for the crosspost between blogs, but I think this is an important issue that isn't being discussed.

From a friend on LJ. I don't know whether to be amused or disturbed by this:



I don't think that song means what he thinks...

Haloscan problems appear to have resolved. I wasn't banning anyone who shouldn't already have been banned. I'm really busy in thesis land, so I may disappear for awhile.

Because we all could use a cute cat video right about now.

Do Android Trolls Dream of Electric Bridges?

Guys, I think everyone's favorite troll is a bot. Jeff, do you have that bit of robot, webcrawler, and bot blocking text in your header? I put it in, and he doesn't seem to come around. (That and I've got him banned from commenting in haloscan.) How many of you have it in your header? I was getting hits from him, but haven't, once I fixed a problem with the header. (I mis-typed something.)

He acts a lot like one of those AIM sex bots. I mean, think about it. once you get to a certain point in the conversation, if you keep responding, he'll respond with something completely off topic, but a previous topic of conversation. It doesn't matter what you respond with, so long as certain phrases are there, he'll respond with a set (pre-programmed?) response. But if you get to something that breaks the query/response loop, you'll get gibberish, like it's some sort of parse error.

For instance, Eliza. Here's another interesting article from Salon. (Would seem to contradict my theory, since humans don't always pass the Turing test.)

University of Tulsa does have some people doing AI at it. I could see some grad student getting ahold of the book our favorite troll supposedly wrote for a couple of bucks and using that to set up certain facts about the bot's "life." Eliza's decades old, and I know advances have been made in the field.

Then again it would be more likely (and more ethical) to have a bot you wouldn't notice. It responds appropriately to threads, and goes on its merry way without leaving a shitstorm in its wake. Unless it is learning from analysis of threads. The internet's a nasty place, so I could see any AI loose on it going psycho.

Clerical geeks

Okay, so Maria and I got talking on someone else's LJ about clergy who game. I know some people lurk on my blog, and I'm wondering how well the Catholic Church is represented in Azeroth. So come on, priests and religious who lurk here. Time to fess up. Alliance or Horde? I can completely understand not mentioning servers.

Other gaming is fair game (pardon the pun), as well. I think I remember hearing on a podcast that Fr. Roderick of the Daily Breakfast podcasts played Lord of the Rings Online.

Facebook

PSA time. For those of you using IE, consider using Safari (available for windows) or Firefox. 25% of you are still using IE6. Please upgrade, if you have to use IE. I'd heartily recommend Firefox with NoScript, a plugin that blocks javascript. Considering some of the really nasty security breaches with Safari, I'd consider using Firefox on OS X, as well.

Here's another PSA that follows up on my main post. If you don't know about Facebook's beacon, you might want to read up on it and opt out, if you care about privacy. Also consider downloading the add-on BlockSite and putting this entry in your blocked sites: http://*facebook.com/beacon/ Of course, this works, if you're using Firefox. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog posting.

I'm feeling caught between worlds again.

As a lot of my "regulars" know, I'm on Facebook. On the one hand, it's a nice portal to the outside world. I can fire off something quick there that I can't really do here. It's also a good way to keep in touch with some people. Since I switched to my real name, a lot of people from elementary through high school have found me. Some of them I don't particularly mind, and it's been good to catch up. Others? I have to wonder if they really think I'm going to friend them back, after they were awful to me.

That, aside, I'm not in the same place as I was back then. Jokingly, I've started a FAQ. But there's something deeper about it all. I feel as if I'm forced back into the place I was back then, and it's not a comfortable place to be. I've moved on. Maybe the facebook people have moved on, as well.

Day 4

Accidentally deleted the last one. I got a bit behind, because I was busy...but while I'm waiting for my rice to cook (curry), I'm doing Day 4.

Today's thing to squee over: the whole confession thing.

And as to why it's something to squee over, I'd like to share the story of my first confession. I was in 2nd grade. This was when I was having problems in school, and my teacher had discovered that the reason why I was having problems in school was because I was horribly bored. I loved my second grade teacher. But there were still problems. One such problem happened, and (as is wont to happen), my parents found out about it. Now, in hindsight, it wasn't a big deal, and my teacher wasn't overly bothered about it. But my parents (who weren't winning any parenting awards), raked me over the coals for it. Like I still have nightmares about that "discussion." Every time thereafter when I'd annoy them or do something wrong, they'd bring it up.

So when it was time for our first confessions, I was scared. Now, forgiveness isn't a concept that exists in abusive families. There's nothing that you can ever to do mitigate the consequences of your actions. You are always at fault, no matter what. Love is also conditional upon how good you are. When I had to tell my parents what I had done, it was literally hell on earth.

So when it was my time, I was terrified, and I confessed that incident. I remember crying, when the priest asked if I were sorry. I remember him telling me that God still loved me, which made me cry all the more.

After that day, my parents never mentioned that incident. I never told them what I confessed, either. I don't remember the priest's name, but I wonder if he ever knew what a grace I'd received.

30 Days of Squee, Day 1

So I'm really not feeling the blogging thing. It seems like the blogosphere is dominated by those who shout the loudest, and I'm really not interested in trolls. That having been said, I'm declaring a month-long ban on polemics in my blog. I'll save the bitching for my LJ, and I'm ruthlessly deleting comments that bitch on my blog. Y'all have your own blogs you can bitch on for a month.

That having been said, I'm going to do a "30 days of squee." In other words, each day I'm going to post something that keeps me coming back to the RCC through all the bullshit.

Day 1: There are people like Fr. Tom in the RCC. I know my LJ is probably tired of him by now, but I've never met a more saintly, wonderful person. He lost his battle with cancer yesterday, and although it's sad, I can't help but be happy that I knew him, however brief. I think either this picture or this one sums up how a lot of people remember him.

http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/article.php3?id_article=2417

Everyone's probably already seen this, but there's some good stuff in there. (If you can stand Yet Another Post about the last presidential election.) Like:

A hate-filled blogosphere, on the other hand, feeds a politics of odium, misleading people of faith and good will, diminishing and at times obliterating our ability to know one another. Our faith urges us to presume the stranger is kind, and to seek out opportunities to manifest love of neighbor.

I'd think that World of Warcraft would be the last place to look for commentary on social justice issues, but I've run into a few quests the past couple of days that bring up a number of issues.

First up is the quest, "Art of Persuasion." In it, the player is asked to "interrogate" a prisoner, since the quest-giver is forbidden from such things by his faction. There's no question what the player is being asked to do when given an item that will cause extreme pain, but no damage. There is also no way to progress the quest line without doing this quest, nor are there ways to complete it without torturing a prisoner. (For the record, while there's a lot I've done in video games, this quest was way over the line, and I dropped it.)

What's really over the line for me is that a player can keep poking the prisoner, after information is supposedly received (or so the write-ups on the quest say). That, and players can get other "neural needles" for free from another NPC in the same area. Yet another instance of the Milgram experiments.

Supporters of the quest will point out that it's no different from the TV show, "24," and the Death Knight opening quest sequence. One, the show "24" isn't accurate in that torture rarely gives accurate information. People will say whatever the hell they think the torturers want to get them to quit. Secondly, in the Death Knight opening quests, the person the player needs to get information from is fighting back the entire time. Plus, the Death Knights in that quest line are supposed to be evil and under the thrall of the Lich King. My gnome warlock who happened upon that quest is supposed to be one of the good guys, and fully in control of herself.

If this quest is supposed to be a critique of the Bush/Cheney policy of "special interrogations," it fails. There's no way to finish the quest without playing along, for one.

But the Netherwing Drake quests in the Outland more than make up for the torture quest. In them, the player happens upon the Netherwing Drake flight in one of the Outland areas and eventually winds up helping free them from slavery in a nuanced fable about human trafficking. The entire quest line walks the player through earning their trust, to infiltrating the faction imprisoning them, working with others trying to free the drakes, and finally breaking the fel Orcs' domination of them.

Never mind that the end of that quest line is one of the coolest ever. It's not every day that you fly off into the sunset on the back of a huge dragon.

Yet another drive-by posting, but this link is too good not to share. It's an article written about Our Lady of Guadalupe. I was thinking to myself how she could possibly speak to a 21st century person. Here's how:

http://jesusindisney.blogspot.com/2008/12/nuestra-senora.html

Courtesy of Maria, who posted about it first.

You know, when conservatives start going off on feminism and how Mary (specifically Our Lady of Guadalupe) wasn't a feminist, I wonder who the heck they're talking about.

She was pregnant and not married in a time when that was a death sentence at the hands of men. She's the first contemplative, when she chose the better part of pondering everything in her heart. (It used to be that Trappists--men and women--would take her name at their professions.) She got Jesus off his ass at Cana, when women just didn't talk to men like that. She was there at the crucifixion and then in the upper room. Sounds like a wonderfully empowered woman, to me. She also has a habit of appearing to children and peasants, not exactly bourgeoisie.

And I just learned that she's got her own book in the Qu'ran. This is pretty cool. I think it would be fun to get a Muslim's opinion on Luke.

(Crossposted from my LJ.)

Kind of a drive-by posting. Haven't had much to say lately, I guess. Found a blog to share:

http://youngwomenandcatholicism.blogspot.com/

Now, when I hear "young women" and "Catholicism" on a blog, I immediately think of what the Catholic barfosphere thinks of the terms. That version of womanhood doesn't remotely describe or speak to my life. I was hesitant, but Sr. Julie of A Nun's Life writes for them, so I thought I'd take a peek. (Since she's cool and has interesting things to say.) Glad I did, because it's nice to be reminded that there are others on the 'Net who're like me.

I was trying to express everything I'm thankful for in my bloggy friends, but I think this video conveys a very special Thanksgiving message to everyone:

Bishops ask for stay of execution. This makes me happy with my archbishop. You don't want to read the comments on it. it surprises me how liberal Seattle can be, except when some undesirable is involved (homeless people, people on death row, etc.)

So this morning the video of Sarah Palin giving an interview with a man slaughtering turkeys in the background made its way through my blog feeds and friend's list. The whole fascination with Joe Six Pack makes me wonder a few things.

1.) When did we stop thinking critically about what people say? Seriously. A lot of people I know just trusted Palin without really thinking about what she was saying or the implications thereof.

2.) When did that kind of everyman appeal become a replacement for moral inscrutability? While the whole Troopergate thing was in the news, it seemed as if it didn't really matter. Either the GOP pulled off the greatest snow-job in the country's history, or people are just sheep.

Then I come across a new blog/website by the people who do Rosary Army by accident. Now in my great internet fast of a month ago, I realized a few things. One, I fill my life with a lot of noise, especially the kind of noise that vehemently disagrees with me and sees my life as morally repugnant. I'm not going to convince those types that I'm just as faithful a Catholic as they am. They don't want to be reminded that the Church is about diversity. But I need to get something off my chest.

Anyway, back to the site. On the surface, it's not something to draw attention to. There are the requisite pictures of family and friends. They go to great pains to portray themselves as normal. And they may very well be. I don't know them personally. But then you get to a "joke" page on their site.

Isn't this the same division they're accusing the rest of us of? It's Yet Another instance of the kind of us-vs-them fundamentalist rhetoric that got us into the war in Iraq, not to mention the underlying cause of division in the Church. I'm sick to death of people in the pews trumping themselves up on how good they are and how the rest of us--some of which who faithfully and prayerfully wrestle with some of the cultural aspects of the Church--are just "Catholics in name only" or "Cafeteria Catholics." I think I have a good sense of humor, but I fail to see it in Loophole Cereal.

Go to any blog lately that bills itself as the least bit Catholic, and you'll find screed after screed about why the other person shouldn't receive the Eucharist. There's all sorts of speculation about the state of anyone else's soul but their own, even if it's the thinly-veiled "satire" of Loophole Cereal.

I got news for them: there's plenty of room at the steam table for everyone, as a friend of mine says, and they pick and choose just as much as the rest of us.

Blogroll got put back. If anyone's having problems with trolls finding your blog because of it, let me know. I had to axe it before, because a particular troll would follow peoples' links, like a virus.

Fear and Loathing in Seattle

I have a bunch of thoughts in my head, and none are too coherent. Hopefully once I've had more coffee, they'll condense into some sort of unified whole.

So last night I was watching the documentary, "Deliver us from Evil." Now when it's merely reporting on the facts and interviewing O'Grady, it's superb. When it starts hypothesizing as to why the sex abuse scandals happened, it starts to fail. When the documentary descends into Moore-like tactics to get two of O'Grady's victims to deliver a letter to the Vatican, it outright fails. Seriously, what did Doyle and the filmmakers expect to happen? If you're interested, it's up on fancast, but it's graphic in parts.

Then last week, this came to light about the Catholic Church's cooperation with the Mormons to pass Proposition 8.

It would seem like the proper response to all of this in some circles is self-loathing. I hate what some people do in the Church's name. I hate how a vocal minority is making things worse for everyone. I also hate how a TV station puts forth its opinions on Catholic teaching as gospel. I hate how the bishops in my country failed us on multiple occasions, not the least of which last week. But I can't bring myself to hate the Church, as would seem to be expected of me in some circles. But if I don't express the proper self-loathing, then I'm lumped in with those who would attend Sarah Palin rallies.

I guess I'm tired of people assuming I'm part of a monolith. Catholics have always been about unity in diversity, and that's still true, no matter what a vocal minority says. I'm willing to bet if I poll the people who read my blog regularly, there would be as diverse a collection of opinions here as anywhere else in the US. I'm also tired of people mistaking Roman law for anglo-saxon law. Being Catholic has never been about absolutism, but navigating a living tradition.

I wonder if it's a good thing that we can hear instant opinions from anyone about any subject matter. For instance, were my bishop to post that he likes Code Red Mountain Dew, we could hear about it instantly. He could even come on record saying he thinks all Catholics should drink Code Red Mountain Dew. But would it make it Church teaching? Nope, yet some are willing to elevate everything a bishop, cardinal, or Pope says as having the same moral weight. It's nice to know that the other side of this mess picks and chooses as much (if not more) as I do.