Opus 2015-481: Why Is College So Expensive?

Have you wondered why it is so expensive to go to college?  Take a look at these numbers for private schools:

    Median compensation of chief executives, $436,429 a year
    Number of presidents who make over $1,000,000, 32
    Highest at Columbia University, $4,600,000

Private schools have a right to pay what they want but you might be interested in these numbers next time they hit you up for a donation.

How about public colleges?

    Median compensation of presidents, $428,000
    Highest at Penn State, $1,400,000

Doesn’t it warm your heart to know that your taxes are being used so well.  Think about it next time they want to pass a bond issue for education.

This comes from the Washington Times, National Weekly for December 14, 2015 on page 8.  The Times is quoting something called the Chronicle of Higher Education.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-480: How Can You Disagree with Me?

That is really one of the big questions for me.  I don’t mean about whether you like sausage or pepperoni on your pizza.  I understand that people actually have taste buds that work different.  I understand that you get used to some things.  I know about the comfort of the familiar.  I am more concerned about things like the basic difference between Democrats and Republicans.  I wonder how one person can be a Christian and another a Muslim. 

How can you disagree with me?

I don’t have an answer but today I am going to try to show a false concern when it comes to Christianity at least.  As Christians we are expected to share what we believe and hope that others will also believe.  One of the driving forces is a belief that people simply have not heard the truth.  How can they believe if they have not heard?

My point today is that the problem is not ignorance as much as rejection.  I am rereading a science fiction novel written by Poul Anderson.  I was surprised by some pretty clear statements made by him about what Christians believe.  We sometimes fall for the red herring in the question of how can God send people to Hell who have never heard of Jesus.  Actually they have.  They understand.  They reject.

The novel by Poul Anderson was from twenty years ago.  I remember that I enjoyed him in my youth and thought I would reach for the magic again.  As I was reading I came across the following dialogue.

    “‘On the other hand, the Roman Church in modern times has taken pains to investigate alleged miracles, establish their empirical authenticity.  As Saint Paul did in the beginning’
    “Donaldson waited.
    “‘First Corinthians,’ Dick said.  ‘By now I have the passage memorized.  He realized that the Resurrection is the central fact of Christianity.  If you can believe that a corpse rose from its tomb, walked and talked, ate and drank and lived for forty days, why, then you can swallow anything, ancient prophecy, virgin birth, wedding at Cana, instant cures of leprosy - those are mere detail.  The Resurrection is what matters.  “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”  Paul went to considerable trouble to find eyewitnesses; he names them and lists the reasons for trusting them.’”, p. 41

I would not have been surprised to find this in a story written by a Christian but based on my reading of Anderson I don’t believe he makes that claim.  In the story he proceeds to attack all religions.  He is an equal opportunity attacker.  I quit reading because the story was being lost in his enthusiasm in making an anti-religion rant.  But if you read what he wrote, it shows a clear understanding of basic Christianity.

He goes even further a few lines down,

    “Dick smiled. ‘I suppose.  You must know better than I how much science is taken on faith.  How many crucial experiments have you carried out yourself?’
    “‘Uh-huh.  Or how many theoretical developments have I tracked the math of, step by step?  Precious few.’”

So we have a popular, successful author who expresses clearly the basic foundation of Christianity and an awareness that science if also based on faith.  It does not make a believer out of him.

So, if you are a believer, relax.  Even when people know what we consider the truth it does not make them believe in Jesus.  They have other beliefs.

Keep in mind that some people like liver and onions.  Some people like anchovies on their pizza.  You don’t need to agree or understand, just acknowledge and be able to sit at the same table with courtesy.

Anderson, Poul.  Dialogue with Darkness.  New York:  Tom Doherty Associates, 1985.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-479: Plow and Crown: Dietary Sumptuary Laws

I don’t know if you are familiar with the concept of sumptuary laws.  In many cultures of the past there were laws about what clothing and colors you could wear.  Silks were for one class.  Wool was for another.  The purpose was to make it clear what class you belonged to and keep control of the lesser humans.  One example many are familiar with is Jews being required to wear a yellow star in the Nazi era. 

I was not aware that the need to control went further.  You come across things in strange places.  Montesquieu says,

“Whether it was from a republican spirit, or from. some other particular circumstance, sumptuary laws were made in Aragon, in the middle of the thirteenth century. James the First ordained that neither the king nor any of his subjects should have above two sorts of dishes at a meal, and that each dish should be dressed only one way, except it were game of their own killing.”  (Kindle Highlight Location, 1805-1808)

So it would seem that the need to control your fellow human beings also extended to food.  Does that sound like some of the things we hear coming from the White House?  Have you noticed the health laws about transfats, salt and sugar.  We are still being told what to eat and how to eat it by the Progressive elites that know what is best for us.

Bon Appetit

Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat.  The Spirit of Laws.  Lonang Institute, www.lonang.com.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-478: Ode to Old: Stereotype or Generalization

Recently as I met for the final step of my evaluation with my principal, she made a statement about how I might not be open to learning new technology because I am getting close to the end of my time in teaching.  Those are not the exact words but it was a clear example of “ageism”.  I should have been offended, but it was just another opinion from a source I disagree with on almost everything.  No big deal.

But, like so many things, it got me thinking.  Take a general statement that old people don’t like new things.  It is both true and false.  It is both a stereotype and a generalization.  It is an as assumption that correlation makes causation.

Old people, like myself, tend to not fall in love with new things.  The big question is, “Why?”

Fear?  Sometimes. 

Lazy?  Sometimes.

Reduced ability?  Sometimes.

Wisdom and experience.  Usually. 

I don’t need to try every commercial offering that comes down the pike.  I have been around the block a few times.  I know generally what works and what doesn’t.  When I go to a restaurant that I frequent, I don’t need to experiment with new items.  I have already done that.  When I go to a new restaurant I might go with what experience tells me works or I might try something exotic but I will never get the liver and onions no matter how glowing the description.

Young people are in love with the new and different.  Think about the advent of texting and smart phones.  If someone came out with a device that would deliver them where they want to go they would be no danger to the rest of us.  On the highway they are developing cars that drive themselves.  If they came up with a helmet that had radar and a way of directing a teen ager they would buy it in a heart beat.  I have an easier solution:  Watch where you are going.

That is just the Old Fart in me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-477: Merry Christmas

Are you one of those people who say a “Bah Humbug!” to Christmas?  Let’s look at some of the reasons.

If you do not celebrate Christmas because you are not a Christian, I salute you for your consistency and honesty.  This would include Jehovah’s Witnesses, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and assorted atheists and agnostics.  Since Christmas is the day that the Catholic church decided to celebrate Christ’s Mass in recognition of Jesus’ birth, it would be strange to rejoice in something that you don’t believe.  It would be like me declaring Mohammad’s birthday a national holiday.

If you don’t celebrate Christmas because it is a pagan holiday, you might want to examine other areas of your life for the same consistency.  Maybe you should avoid cooked food since fire was used by pagans to sacrifice their children.  That would make fire a pagan religious symbol.  Or perhaps you should avoid using calendars with pagan names for the days and months.  Perhaps you might want to avoid products with names in foreign languages since you don’t really know what they mean.

If you don’t celebrate Christmas because it has become too commercialized then maybe you should stay away from hospitals for the same reason.  I would also suggest that you not watch TV or go to any web site that has advertisements.  Stop reading newspapers and magazines.  Get rid of all those articles you wear and carry that have logos giving free advertising to a product.

We have a saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”  We have purged our home of all Santa Claus images.  We don’t go into other people’s homes and make a big issue of it.  We are very much aware of what Christmas is about.  And keep in mind that the whole point of the coming of Jesus was the incarnation.  There was a need of a savior.  There was a need of redemption.  There was a need of change.  Think about how Jesus turned Saul into Paul.  He took the nemesis of Christianity and turned him into its greatest advocate.  If God can do that to a member of the Sanhedrin, I think He can do it to a Christmas tree.

But if you disagree with me, I still love you.  Celebrating Christmas is not like the Lord’s Supper.  Jesus did not tell us to do it.  Paul did not put it in with the gifts of the Spirit.  It is not rooted in the calendar like the resurrection.  It is not a means of grace.  It is a celebration.

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-476: Big Brother Takes Another Baby Step

Do you travel much?  I fly several times a year and I am growing to hate it more each time.  That is really the ultimate purpose of the TSA, to discourage mobility and isolate us.  It goes along with the subtle ways they are trying to get us out of our cars.

Now a new wrinkle is emerging.  They are starting to take away the option of avoiding the body scanners.  The camels nose is under the tent.  Total compliance is just around the corner.  You can check it out at a site called Slash Gear with a hat tip to Drudge.

If you don’t travel much you may not even think about it.  Airport security has had scanners for years that are designed to detect metal objects.  A few years ago they developed a more advanced design that gives a full body scan.  There have been a lot of headlines about nude pictures and such.  My concern has always been the radiation they put out to do the scan.  The government keeps telling us it is safe but they also tell us they are not listening to our phone calls or reading our e-mails.

So far I have been able to opt out of the radiation scanners.  It requires being frisked like a criminal and searched with no due process or probable cause, but who cares what the Constitution says?  Certainly not our government.  My concern is health, not nude pictures.  I figure if someone gets their thrills by looking at x-ray nudes that is their problem.  If I develop cancer because of their fetish, that is another story.

Now they can make the radiation machine mandatory.  It will start slowly, only suspicious characters will be required to be scanned but keep in mind that the income tax was only going to effect the rich. 

Coming to an airport near you.

Welcome to Amerika.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-475: Ignorance or Irrelevance?

I am constantly shocked at the ignorance of people.  I guess they are shocked by mine.

When I graduated I had read a couple of Shakespeare plays but nothing by Maya Anjelou.  One reason is that she was not writing then.  Another is that no one would have bothered with what she wrote.

I had read Ivanhoe but not The Hunger Games. 

I had read Lord of the Flies but not Harry Potter.

It isn’t just a matter of timing.  It is also a matter of cultural value.  I have no quarrel with Hunger Games or Harry Potter.  They could be passing fads.  Will they endure?  At this point of time there is no way of knowing.  The reason I doubt it is that they appeal to children who don’t like to read.

It is cultural ignorance that disturbs me.  Recently I ran into a substitute and had a chance to talk a bit with her.  She was an ex L.A. Times writer.  She was working as a substitute to pay the bills while she pursued here dream of making film documentaries.  All that was interesting.  What surprised me was when I referred to sticking your finger in the dike and she gave me a puzzled look.  Evidently she had never heard the story about the little Dutch boy putting his finger in the dike.  I had never before run into anyone before who had not heard the story.  It is not a big deal and my background is not her background but it is like meeting someone who thinks Europe is a country or skin color.

Then I read the blog of a High school student who complains about being forced to learn new words.

We are creating a culture in which comfortable ignorance is the norm.  It is the desired goal.  If you can keep people happy with their phone apps and social media then they will not make trouble in the future.  They won’t realize there is any need to make trouble.  When the government official says we are to ignore the man behind the curtain, we ignore the man behind the curtain.

Welcome to the Nanny State.

homo unius libri