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I don't post here any more... see http://www.silverlib.com/

does this thing still work?

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http://www.coinflation.com/silver_coin_values.html

Bump: a cool cross-platform mobile app for file transfer

Having just joined the smart phone wave a few weeks ago with my HTC Evo running Android on the Sprint network, I'm still discovering essential apps. One category is "cross-platform" by which I mean an app that has a version for iPhone also. "Bump" is a simple file-transfer app which has this cool gimmick interface: bump your phone to the other person's to initiate transfer!

FourSquare is another cross-platform app. Basically it is like a location-aware Twitter. You "check in" (aka post) and it senses your physical location. The gimmick is that the server tracks the number of times you check in from a particular location, and awards "badges" based on who checked in the most from that site, or who checked in with the most different sites, etc.

blog interlink about Appleseed

Sometimes I think I want to blog in a little longer format than Facebook, or *cough* Twitter. So I posted this big outline of my Appleseed experience on my wiki and mentioned it at http://markhu.blogspot.com/2010/05/bachelor-weekend-extraordinaire.html Curious if it will generate any traffic. Or will I be able to measure it if it does.

I kind of forgot I had this old blog, as you can see from the big gap to dates on prior posts. It was formerly an FTP-published blog, but Blogger quit supporting those. I thought it was frozen in amber, but I guess at some point I must have migrated it.

Duncan the Cat, RIP

Duncan was always skittish around men, but he followed my wife around like a loyal "puppy-cat." His favorite companion was his brother, "Cupcake" who survives him.

Mourned by his brother and owners.





I bought the box as a coffin for him since the city said we should put him out for their service to pick up.

In memorium of my first priest

Fr. Michael's funeral was Monday. I was strangely numb during most of it. Perhaps it was because he had been ill for years. My expectation of his death is itself a source of sadness for me, because I had actually lost hope the first time he was stricken by Parkinsons. I have this bad habit of withdrawing from loved-ones in pain, due perhaps to a fear of losing them.

Many people have fond memories of Fr. Michael in public settings, such as the time during liturgy a duly delegated deacon forgot to prepare a sermon, so Fr. Michael simply stood and faced the congregation and intoned, "The sermon will be dispensed with today."

But my two fondest memories are of personal interactions. Once was early on in our association when I was an inquirer and informed him of my catechumen intentions. His reply was to look skyward and cup his hand to his ear, grinning, "Do I hear the sound of angels rejoicing?" Another was years later as I was honored to accompany him to the Antiochian North American Archdiocesan convention in Chicago. The highlight for me was not attending the Western Rite delegates meeting, but rather two quiet meals we had together, one at the Palm where he treated, and another at some nice Italian place on my treat. My perception of dining out was forever changed by hearing his praise of the professional waiters. It was at this time that he asked me if I was interested in the priesthood, and I was privileged to hear his personal insights on the celibate life.

Mere months later, I met the love of my life, Jen, whom he welcomed into the Church family.

Here are links to other rememberances of Fr. Michael:

* bourgeois-baby.blogspot.com/2007/05/passing-of-fr-michael.html
* checkity.blogspot.com/2007/05/he's-very-handsome.html
* www.scriptoriumdaily.com/2007/05/22/good-bye-friend-mentor-and-spiritual-father
* geislersuffers.blogspot.com/2007/05/my-thoughts-on-man-of-true-piety-and.html

courage or foolishness?

I'm not sure whether I'm more insulted as a male, or as a human, but Caitlin Flanagan's book-review-cum-op-ed on abortion works on both counts in the April 2007 issue of Atlantic Monthly. But her piece actually spends more words insulting women. A particular quote sticks in my brain as an epic oxymoronic fallacy: "how they [women] got the courage to have sex." Calling it courageous to have unprotected/out-of-wedlock sex strikes me about as bizarre as would praise of street-drug users or graffitti "artists." And oddly, now that I ponder it, perhaps it resonates the same animalistic/naturalistic view of humanity in which we are described as merely a set of uncontrollable urges with "needs" that "must" be met.

Completely missing in the article is any sense of right or wrong. Her world is one without a moral compass, so no wonder her sense of "courage" is meaningless. Without morality to inform risky choices, I see only lucky or unlucky. A moral vacuum leaves no way to describe courage or heroism. Perhaps the class of people most insulted by Flanagan's article is those totally un-mentioned: the chaste. As a person who consciously decided to exercise self-control before marriage, I find it demeaning to be accused of being a mere "bicycle-ride away" from hapless humping.