People on the Metro

I commute a fare distance on the Metro going to and from work. Now that I've been doing this for a few months I have noticed that there a few repeat characters. Last night I saw a family that I typically only see in the mornings. I was very surprised to see them on my commute home.

This family is the typical American family with a mom, dad and child. They get on the metro at Forest Glen and ride into the city. The mom probably works in a law firm or at a court office. This theory comes from the types of documents she is typically holding when she exits at Judiciary Square.

The father and son continue along the red line after her departure. I'm not entirely sure what the dad does in the day. He continues on the Red line after I transfer at Metro Center. I feel like he has a fun job somewhere. He wears jeans and simple sweaters.

The little boy is of Asian decent, adopted by his Caucasian parents. He is adorable. He is still young enough to stand on his mother's lap while riding the train, however judging by his size and her face after about a minute of this I think she's going to start vetoing that idea in a month. He seems like a smart child, his stroller is always filled with little books, which I've seen his dad read to him.

I have grown a fondness for this family and their morning intersations. It's just anouther reason why I love the city. You can develope an unwriten relationship with people you've never met.

More Pictures

A cyclone kills thousands and leaves even more stranded in Bangladesh.



The Writer's guild went on strike this week, as this cartoon seen in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel shows. this is just bad timing (depending on your point of view of course). With the busiest TV season at hand we viewers are going to be sadly feeling the down sides of this strike. Meanwhile networks such as Fox must be ecstatic with their decision to rely heavily on reality tv.



Jones Soda Co. is selling holiday-themed packs of flavored sodas. This crazy soda has flavors like: Sugar Plum, Christmas Tree, Egg Nog and Christmas Ham, Jelly Doughnut, Apple Sauce, Chocolate Coins and Latkes sodas. Yum!



While Romo is behind Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre among the NFC quarterbacks, 10 other Cowboys were leading their respective positions from the fan votes for Pro-Bowl.

The Closing of the Western Mind by Charles Freeman

I just finished a book titled "The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason" by Charles Freeman. I really enjoyed this book. Freeman takes the reader along the path of Christianity from just before Christ to the Renaissance. Freeman follows a series of events with a perspective that is not typically expressed, as it is not how the Church views it's past.

When looking at the title of the book I thought that it was going to be about undermining the Church. Saying that the Church squandered the potential of the human mind. I am happy to say that this was not the case. Freeman did not write this book to bash the Church, but to show that "Greek intellectual tradition was suppressed rather than just faded out" as is the widespread belief.

Here are a few quotes of Freeman, or of others that he used to enforce his points.

"If truth is to be effectively advanced any findings must be open to challenge, and this means that even the greatest thinkers must never be made into figures of authority"

- on the stance of Greeks prior to the foundation of Christianity.

"No authority can dictate in advance what can and can not be believed, or there is no possibility of progress."

Greek philosopher/scientist predicts an eclipse. This was the start of Greek Philosophy, and the idea that the cosmos had an observable order.

"As long as no ruler attempted to force a definition of the Supreme Deity fruitful speculations about 'him' and 'his' nature could continue."

-on why debate about a supreme god could flourish in ancient Greece and Rome.

By the 4th century Paul and the Old Testament were used to justify the destruction of pagan art and architecture.

Constantine's philosophy did NOT involve Jesus. Constantine created a relationship between Christ and war for political reasons. This was not backed by scripture.

"You submit to the judgement of the elders (in all you do and think)"

-Basil on how monks should act in a monastery.

Pagan teachers had their licenses (parrhesia- freedom of speech) to instruct others removed.

St. Augustine was unknowingly using poor Latin translations of a Greek and Hebrew bible. This caused a moss of meaning and could lead to misinterpretation.

"Now we have no more meetings, no more debates, no more gatherings of wise men in the agora, nothing more of all that made our city famous."

-An ancient Roman's account of how his city had changed.

The penalties for transgressing the boundaries in this world and the next were too great for debate. The volume of heresies that caused you to be condemned in this world and the next worried those who would have debated to the point that people made the effort to focus only on what is acceptable and not step off of that line.

"The Arabs sustained the Greek tradition by valuing the intellectual achievements of the past without being overawed by them." - Freedman on how Greek tradition stayed alive in the Arab world, which would later come to help in the time of the Renaissance.

St. Thomas Aquinas restored the relationship between reason and faith.

For a more coherent explanation of Freedman's book and more information I suggest... reading the book. It's really good. It makes you think, but only about the bureaucracy of the Church, it never addresses the authenticity of Christianity, just the authenticity of it's Orthodoxy.

CSI: Sara

CSI, the origional, is one of my favorite shows. I have had difficulties seeing the show this season, however I still try to catch it as much as possible. A big change is about to happen on the show. It seems that they are getting rid of the charecter Sara Sidle.

Sara, played by Jorja Fox, has been with the show since the first season. She came onto the show in the second episode, following the murder of a fellow CSI in the pilot. Personally, I never really liked Sara on CSI. Her arrival at CSI in the first season always felt a bit off. In fact, of all the charecters, I'm glad Sara is leaving. She has grown on me over the years but I never felt her charecter really fit the show. All the other charecter's fit together so well and gave room to have side plots and for the viewers to really relate. I always felt that they gave Sara the "love" story because her charecter was the weakest. Now that they've sorta played that out it only makes sense that she's leaving.

Now I wonder how their going to send her off. There are alot of theories out there: murder, mental breakdown, something invloving her mother. Since I haven't been able to watch much this season I'm not going to hazard a guess, but I do hope it is a good send off. Her charecter has been here for too long to just send her off.

How will Grissom handle Sara's departure?

I can't wait to find out.

Walk Like An Egyptian

All the old paintings on the tombs
They do the sand dance don't you know
If they move too quick (oh whey oh)
They're falling down like a domino

All the bazaar men by the Nile
They got the money on a bet
Gold crocodiles (oh whey oh)
They snap their teeth on your cigarette

Foreign types with the hookah pipes say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Walk like an Egyptian

Blonde waitresses take their trays
They spin around and they cross the floor
They've got the moves (oh whey oh)
You drop your drink then they bring you more

All the school kids so sick of books
They like the punk and the metal band
When the buzzer rings (oh whey oh)
They're walking like an Egyptian

All the kids in the marketplace say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Walk like an Egyptian

Slide your feet up the street bend your back
Shift your arm then you pull it back
Life is hard you know (oh whey oh)
So strike a pose on a Cadillac

If you want to find all the cops
They're hanging out in the donut shop
They sing and dance (oh whey oh)
Spin the clubs cruise down the block

All the Japanese with their yen
The party boys call the Kremlin
And the Chinese know (oh whey oh)
They walk the line like Egyptian

All the cops in the donut shop say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Walk like an Egyptian
Walk like an Egyptian

I love how a song can sweep you up and send your mind racing back to a different time and place. This is one of those songs for me. The Bangles one-hit-wonder doesn't hold any specific significance for me, however the memories that I associate with it are priceless. (Yes I know that was a very corny line)

When I was in High school my roommate and I would dance to this song, and others, late into the evening. Are favorite activity to do with this particular song was to stand in the windowsill and do the famous "Egyptian" dance. That's right folks! We were two crazy mummies!! (haha, another great line!)

I was listening to this song tonight as I downloaded it to i-tunes (a new thing for me, as I only download i-tunes about...a week ago) from a cd my roommie had made me to remind me of our awesome times. Immediately after hearing the opening notes I remembered being in that windowsill. (The best part about that dance was we had the room directly above the main entrance to the school.)

A great song with wonderful memories.

Pictures

Since I forgot to post a pictures last Friday this week will be a combination of last week and this week.



In the biggest Football game since..well the Superbowl.. Manning and the Colts faced Brady and the Patriots. This time Brady came out on top, outscoring the undefeted Superbowl Champions. Here the two quarterbacks are seen shaking hands after the game.



A fish out of water. The Mangrove Rivulus is found here living in a damp log.



Queen Elizabeth II gives a speach, which she had never seen before, durring the "opening of Parlimont" ceremonies. Her Magisty has reigned since February 1952.



The Boston Redsox celebrate their win in the World Series over The Colorodo Rockies.



A baby Giraffe was born last week. In honor of the baby's team of caretakers' favorite sports team the giraffe was named Sox.

Fish breaths... Air??

That's right folks. A very unique fish, the mangrove rivulus, also known as the mangrove killifish, is native to the Americas and is about two inches long, is able to live out of water.

National Geographic has reported studies that suggest the animals can breathe continuously through their skin, as long as they remain in a moist environment. The fish have been discovered to crowd together in logs when their habit, a swamp, annually dries up. Scientists estimate that the fish can live out of the water for 66 days.

The mangrove rivulus is not new to scientific study. It has a very rare sexual design. It's the only vertebrate known to naturally self-fertilize. In some populations, it can become a hermaphrodite, developing both male and female parts simultaneously. In these situations it has been known to clone itself.

The preliminary results of research will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal American Naturalist.

This fish could be key to understanding how life original left the oceans and came onto land.