Happy Charles Sumner Day
On May 22, 1856, abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner was attacked and nearly killed on the Senate floor by Congressman Preston Brooks. Sumner had insulted Brooks’ cousin in his “Crime Against Kansas” speech, and Brooks decided to retaliate. Sumner was seated at his desk when Brooks approached and began beating him with his cane, while a friend drew a pistol to prevent bystanders from intervening. Sumner was blinded by head trauma and his own blood almost immediately, and Brooks continued the attack even after the cane broke and Sumner lost consciousness.
Return to Poverty
Teresa wanted to return to poverty. I did too. I still think this. If you are not fighting to have stuff and maintain stuff all the time, you can actually do something good in this world. She saw that. — Fr. Reginald Foster
Paranymphs
Calvin on the minister as friend of the Bridegroom, from the Commentary on 2 Corinthians 11: That his zeal was of such a nature, he proves from the design of his preaching, for its tendency was to join them to Christ in marriage, and retain them in connection with him. Here, however, he gives us in his own person a lively picture of a good minister; for One alone is the Bridegroom of the Church — the Son of God.
Alexander and Diogenes
Tony Hsieh passed away this week. He was the close colleague of a close colleague, and we worked out of his apartment for a few days in 2013. I felt close to the guy. I was both shocked and unsurprised. On the one hand, it’s hard to die in a house fire these days; on the other, it’s easy to die from anything if you’re wasted. This Forbes piece lays it out.
Finished Reading: A Christian Philosophy of Education by Gordon H. Clark
I have two small children, and education is increasingly on my mind. I discussed this with a more experienced parent recently, and his first question was, “What are you trying to accomplish?” It was a good question, and it shook me. What am I trying to accomplish? I decided to read Clark’s A Christian Philosophy of Education, which I’ve at least partially read before. I love Clark, so this seemed like a good place to start.
The Lord Feeds Them Up
The Lord Feeds Them Up, as Hogs for the Day of Slaughter But why does he say that we would be the most miserable of all men, as if the lot of the Christian were worse than that of the wicked? For all things, says Solomon, happen alike to the good and to the bad. I answer, that all men, it is true, whether good or bad, are liable to distresses in common, and they feel in common the same inconveniences, and the same miseries; but there are two reasons why Christians have in all ages fared worse, in addition to which, there was one that was peculiar to the times of Paul.
Let Your Women Keep Silence
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
As Though They Had None
Calvin on possessions, from the Commentary on 1 Corinthians 7:30: “As though they had none.” All things that are connected with the enjoyment of the present life are sacred gifts of God, but we pollute them when we abuse them. If the reason is asked, we shall find it to be this, that we always dream of continuance in the world, for it is owing to this that those things which ought to be helps in passing through it become hinderances to hold us fast.
Files Are Hard
Someone linked to this on HN: Files Are Hard. It describes the problems that can occur with even the most basic file IO. A naive approach is often fine, but for critical applications doing a lot with files, beware: You need to checksum your data since you will get silent errors and corruption. The only questions are whether or not you detect the errors and whether or not your record format only destroys a single record when corruption happens, or if it destroys the entire database.
Latin Text-to-Speech
Sometimes I encounter Classical Latin in my reading. I don’t know Latin, which is fine, but it bothers me that I can’t even pronounce it. I’ve also wanted to include the Latin version of the Geneva Catechism, Catechismus Ecclesiae Genevensis, in catechism.app. The app includes a feature to read catechisms aloud, and I decided to use this to practice my Latin pronunciation. There’s just one problem: I used iOS VoiceOver to implement this, and VoiceOver doesn’t support Latin.