Cybrarian at Large

2007-05-13T07:28:00.000-05:00

WE WIN, THEY LOSE...

2007-03-24T15:58:00.000-05:00

FROM THE "ONLY IN INDIANA" DEPT.On Teus. Mar. 13, we had a record high of 80 degrees here in Indy, and some boaters became so entangled in ice on one of our local lakes that they had to be rescued...The melting snow has also provided some ponds large enough for Canadian geese to move in & feel right at home...

2006-09-09T17:15:00.000-05:00

SEPT. 11: NEVER FORGET Twin cities in the City, in the sky,soaring to meet the clouds; greeting the sunwith joy, gladly catching golden light thatkindles answering golden light in glassand metal.Rank upon rank of lights,gleaming in the night like strands of diamonds,carefully arranged in ordered rows bya proud master jeweler. Humming with people, busy at their work;“Just work!” Perhaps, but

2006-01-23T18:45:00.000-06:00

TRUCE? BINNEY, YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR MIND!Sooo..Mr. Bin Laden has crept out from beneath whatever rock he's hiding under this week, and has asked for a truce, has he?We need to:Remember 9/11- the Twin towers wreathed in hellish flame and smoke, then falling from the blue sky and crumbling into wreckage, innocent lives crumbling with themRemember Madrid and London - innocent people killed simply for

2005-09-10T11:40:00.000-05:00

SEPT. 11: NEVER FORGETTwin cities in the City, in the sky,soaring to meet the clouds; greeting the sunwith joy, gladly catching golden light thatkindles answering golden light in glassand metal.Rank upon rank of lights,gleaming in the night like strands of diamonds,carefully arranged in ordered rows bya proud master jeweler.Humming with people, busy at their work;“Just work!” Perhaps, but careful

2004-11-05T14:59:00.000-06:00

ODDS AND ENDS... Well, I'm basically pleased that Mr. Bush won the election, for reasons I detailed in my previous posts. And I am SINCERELY grateful that Mr. Kerry had the class not to drag the election through the courts 'til doomsday - Thank you, Sir, for being gracious in defeat. I am saving my gloating, however, for those special folks who truely deserve it, such as Osama, and Yassar

2004-11-01T20:33:00.000-06:00

WHY I’M SUPPORTING MR. BUSH AND NOT MR. KERRY PART IV, OR WELL, WELL, LOOK WHAT THE CAT DRUG IN…. I thought I was finished with this subject, but it seems that Osama has deigned to crawl out from whatever slimy hole in the ground he’s calling home these days, to favor us with what, when accurately translated, turn out to be some pearls of wisdom regarding the election tomorrow, according to

2004-11-01T11:57:00.000-06:00

WHY I’M SUPPORTING MR. BUSH INSTEAD OF MR. KERRY, PART IIIFirst, let me respond to some comments Elizabeth made on my last post:I think that Mr. Bush’s statement that we can’t win the war was taken out of context somehow, though I can’t find the entire quote.This war involves shadowy, elusive enemies enmeshed in a web of

2004-10-28T21:34:00.000-05:00

WHY I’M BACKING MR. BUSH AND NOT MR. KERRY: PART 2 The second, even more critical reason I’m backing Mr. Bush can be summed up in three words: WAR ON TERRORISTS. I don’t think just war theory has had a problem with preventive war (if you’re planning to invade us Wednesday, we’re allowed to hit you Tuesday). But I’ve concluded, as a follow-up to my previous posts on Just War, that we not only

2004-10-21T17:52:00.000-05:00

WHY I’M BACKING MR. BUSH AND NOT MR. KERRY: PART 1 Well, first off, I’m adamantly pro-life, because I contend that the Bible teaches that a human life begins at conception, and thus is protected by God’s very strong prohibitions against shedding innocent blood. Those of you who are interested might look up Psalms 139:13-16, Jeremiah 1:5, and Proverbs 6:16-19 for starters. There’s a lot more

2004-09-09T07:43:00.000-05:00

NEVER FORGET This is dedicated to all who died on that bright and horrid morning, and those who died in Bali, Madrid, Israel, Russia, and anywhere else terrorists have struck: Twin cities in the City, in the sky, soaring to meet the clouds; greeting the sun with joy, gladly catching golden light that kindles answering golden light in glass and metal. Rank upon rank of lights, gleaming in the

2004-09-06T20:23:00.000-05:00

ENGLAND!! Sorry I’ve not posted for so long, but I have been busy – with, among other things, our trip to England!! Hubby and I stumbled out of our plane about 6:30 AM on Memorial Day (which was about 12:30 AM Indy time), stumbled through what seemed like miles and miles of Heathrow airport, stumbled into a taxi, then into our hotel room, and spent the rest of the day recovering from jet lag (

2004-04-20T08:54:00.000-05:00

HOW CAN A WAR BE JUST? III If you wish, you can start with Part II or Part I Now I’ll make some further comments about just cause. First, Darrell Cole observes: “How can we follow Christ – even at a distance – while fighting and killing? Calvin gives us an indication by pointing out that Christ’s pacific nature (his willingness to suffer violence at the hands of Jewish and Roman authorities)

2004-04-05T16:54:00.000-05:00

HAVE WE FORGOTTEN ALREADY?... In "Did Hitlerism Die With Hitler?," a review of Hitleer's Second Book: The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf, Omer Bartov compares the current Anti-Semitism, which often tries to hide itself as simple criticism of Israel's specifc policies, with Hitler's ideology, and finds that they have the same writhing, all-devouring evil at their center. He also contends that

2004-04-02T19:57:00.000-06:00

SWEET MARY, MOTHER OF JESUS... I'm a little bit late on this, but I finally got a look at some pictures of the recent atrocity in Iraq, courtesy of a link from Emperor Misha at the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, and, so help me, some of the people enjoying the carnage are kids!!! With great big smiles on their faces, too!! OK, OK, so why should I be surprised at anything, after seeing child

2004-03-25T13:32:00.000-06:00

HOW CAN A WAR BE JUST? II I've been rather snowed under at work the past two or three weeks, but I finally have more on just war: Historians tell us that the Romans, at least during the time of the Republic, would take proper steps before sending out the legions. They would notify a state that had managed to really tick them off, and if this state didn't give a satisfactory answer, the final

2004-03-11T18:48:00.000-06:00

MORE THAN 140 KILLED BY TERRORIST ATTACKS IN MADRID "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou (God) art with me; thy rod and thu staff, they comfort me." Ps. 23:4 "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life...nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, or depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of

2004-02-26T19:00:00.000-06:00

THE AXIS OF CHEESE-EATING SURRENDER WEASELS HITS A NEW LOW… The title isn’t meant as a slam against the entire French nation, but I have to say that French writer Alain Soral must be a charter member of the Axis (courtesy of Merde in France). Here is his recollection of Sept. 11, the most rancid bilge I think I’ve encountered outside of the Fundamentalist Islamic fever swamps: "I was in my

2004-02-26T07:43:00.000-06:00

FOR A CHANGE… I thought I’d post a poem that captures the cheerful chaos that’s one of the things I enjoyed about New York City. Old construction photos, BTW, show that the Empire State Building was, indeed built right next to a furniture store… NEW YORK The city is cutting a way, The gasmen are hunting a leak; They’re putting down asphalt today, To change it for stone in a week. The

2004-02-22T20:53:00.000-06:00

BAD PHILOSOPHY PART ONE, OR WHO CARES WHAT DERRIDA THINKS, ANYHOW? I’ve seen this problem in novels with villains as “heroes;” in movies with such a repulsively immoral or amoral “sense of life” that I wish I could take a mental shower after being unwary enough to watch one (or part of one). I’ve seen it in the works of historians who use painstaking research (including some genuinely useful new

2004-02-17T19:26:00.000-06:00

WELL, IT SURE AIN’T NO EMPIRE STATE… Well, at long last, we have supposedly final plans for the Freedom Tower (or Freedumb Tower, as a few of my fellow posters on the architectural forums have been calling it) and for the memorial. First, the tower; it’s better than the Think Group’s twin jungle gyms, to which the actual buildings have to desperately cling for dear life. And it’s better than a

2003-09-08T19:46:00.000-05:00

When I actually looked out over Ground Zero, I still felt sadness and anger, and I felt the same when I stood at the top of the Empire State Building, looked toward the south end of the island, and remembered what should have been there. I don't know that I'll ever completely "get over it," and I don't think I dare to - I have to remember why we're fighting, so that I never support with vote or

2003-06-17T10:41:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK, NEW YORK We came, we saw, I took a million pictures…and New York City is simply amazing! First, there’s the first view of that mighty skyline, which to me has always seemed like the American dream given solid form, and which I don’t think any other city in the world can match. Then there’s Times Square, which at 10:30 PM is as lively as downtown Indianapolis at noon, and please

2003-05-07T11:23:00.000-05:00

ARCHITECTURE FOR THE PEOPLE? INTRODUCTION Michael and Friedrich of The 2 Blowhards, A.C. Douglas, Philip Murphy of The Invisible Hand, and Felix Salmon (links to their sites are on the left, under "Architecture, Anyone?") have been having an interesting debate off and on since December, that started with the WTC design finalists and veered off into architecture in general. I realize I’m late (

2003-04-14T00:44:00.000-05:00

Awful Architecture, Clueless Critic, Corroded Culture If I were a cat, many of the proposals for the WTC rebuilding would make me bare my teeth, arch my back, bush my tail, and hissssssss…(if any of my readers hadn’t already figured that out). And now I think I’ve found another reason for that reaction. Under my first heading, awful architecture, let me quote Nikos Salingaros and Brian Hanson,

2003-04-13T02:28:00.000-05:00

GOTTA LOOVE OUR MEDIA… Never fails, does it? A couple of nights before the war started, Peter Jennings solemnly informed us (as if we DIDN”T already know this) of all the things we had to be afraid of- fear, fear, everywhere! A fear for every fancy! Fear lurking in every bedroom closet, like the childhood boogey man! OK, yes, we have some nasty new worries to add to the traditional list, but

2003-03-24T01:00:00.000-06:00

OVER THE EDGE INTO WAR Well, it’s finally happened, as I suspected it would eventually. In spite of any reservations I’ve had about this particular campaign, I think this quote sums up the larger issue very nicely (a tip of the ol’ blogger template to Andrew Sullivan): “Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your

2003-03-10T02:53:00.000-06:00

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON IRAQ… For those of you who were thinking my humble blog was becoming an unscheduled supplement to the Architectural Record, now it’s back to the chase, with some preliminary, off the cuff observations: One thing I haven’t heard anyone mention, except for a good friend who’s in the military, and who’s quite concerned – do we have enough troops to pull of this invasion, and

2003-02-26T18:59:00.000-06:00

WELCOME TO OUR WINTER… Oh, it may snow and the winds may blow, and the streets may turn to slush, And you may crawl a mile an hour in the evening traffic rush. But we don’t let that bug us – We just dig out gradually – The only crew that’s not at work is the good old D.O.T! Oh, Winter time’s a jolly time, with red and runny noses, Frozen cars and frozen pipes, and frostbite of the toses; Fuel

2003-02-20T00:02:00.000-06:00

WTC DESIGN, ROUND 2: THE PLANS Well, we have the supposedly final round of design proposals for the old WTC site, so let’s see what we have….To look at the designs, you can go to SkyscraperCityForum, open the “Theme: New WTC Designs” forum, and check out the thread with a list of web sites – I’d provide a direct link, but those addresses are sooo long, and Blogger can get very cranky about links

2003-02-02T01:41:00.000-06:00

IN MEMORIUM CHALLENGER 1/28/1986 COLUMBIA 2/1/2003 There's a ship stands checked and ready on the launch pad- tomorrow for the last frontier she sails; facing risks well known and risks as yet undreamed of, that can kill as sure as any earthly gales. And though I might fear the risks, I'll face them freely, for fear cannot control where eagles soar! Great glory means great risk - the glory of

2002-12-25T01:12:00.000-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL Hubby and I went with some friends to an early Christmas Eve service at Christ Church, Indy's Episcopal Cathedral. We're Baptists, but the truths of the Bible and the carols transcend denomination; there's something awesome about singing backed up by a pipe organ, or hearing lovely old carols sung by a superb choir backed up by a pipe organ, and the prayers haven't lost

2002-11-30T01:56:00.000-06:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING Well, Hubby and I had a nice thankgiving, visiting some of his family. Today, we started our Christmas season; first, I tracked down all the presents I'd squirreled away during the year (sometimes I amaze myself!), then we watched the lighting of the world's largest Christmas tree. This is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, a graceful fin de siecle (19th, that is) obelisk,

2002-11-11T21:08:00.000-06:00

WHAT ABOUT THE MEMORIAL? THIS POST IS THE CONCLUSION OF THE TWO POSTS IMMEDIATELY BELOW IT Steven Malanga (“The Downtown Redevelopment Flop”, City Journal, Autumn 2002) contends that the “culture wars” I’ve already mentioned are also affecting the discussion about the specific design for a memorial on the WTC site. One of the LMDC’s big mistakes, he suggests, is that it has “insisted form the

2002-11-08T09:15:00.000-06:00

WHAT SORT OF BUILDINGS SHOULD RISE? (THIS CONTINUES THE POST RIGHT BELOW) Going on the assumption, as I’ve attempted to prove in my previous post, that living buildings, not just a memorial, should rise soaring on the site… WHAT NOT TO BUILD I accept as a basic principle the idea that to find out what something is (or should be), you also need to find out what it isn’t (or shouldn’t be). So I’ll

2002-11-07T18:16:00.000-06:00

WHAT WILL YOU BUILD, NEW YORK, NEW YORK? SHOULD IT JUST BE A MEMORIAL? [Links are to the left, down below the last post –sorry] This is a looong post, which is why I’ve taken so long to get it “on the air”; I’m going to try to weave together all the threads that I think affect the rebuilding plans for the WTC site. I know I’ve mentioned some of this before, so I’ll to repeat myself as little as

2002-09-23T18:44:00.000-05:00

A BIT OF EXCITEMENT I'M GLAD I DIDN'T GET CLOSER TO Maybe you folks in the blogosphere heard about those twisters that ripped through Indiana Friday - well, one of them passed within maybe a half a mile of my workplace - I wasn't there, though. I was headed to an appointment, and went through an intersection about 5 minutes or so before the twister came through and kind of trashed the area (none

2002-09-12T11:53:00.000-05:00

SEPT. 11 – NEVER FORGET! It’s the evening of Sept. 10 as I’m starting to write this, with patriotic music, c/o the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, playing softly in the background. Now, where do I start? On that morning, I’d been in class on the other side of my city from where I work, and when it was over, I stepped, unknowing, out into a morning that was, if I remember, very much like the morning

2002-08-21T10:01:00.000-05:00

WHO WILL WRITE THE HISTORY OF OUR TIMES? Well, fellow netizens, I imagine most of you have heard about how the NEA wants teachers to deal with 9/11. I’m going to try to track down more information, but this, at least, doesn’t sound encouraging: “The National Education Association is suggesting to teachers that they be careful not to “suggest any group is responsible” for the terrorist

2002-08-04T03:25:00.000-05:00

SO SUE ‘EM? UPDATE Caleb Carr (The Lessons of Terror, Random House, 2002) points out some other reasons why Osama and co. warrant war rather than a trial: Actually, many wars have started without a formal declaration; so, he says, we must define war as, “a de facto state of hostile international relations, rather than a de jure or legalistic one. (Of course, it is always…preferable to go into

2002-07-25T12:58:00.000-05:00

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE NOAM KIND – SO SUE ‘EM? Pejman Pundit, by the way, has joined in the “Noam” – “Gnoam” – “Gnome” wordplay; is this the start of a trend, I wonder? (Scroll down to the “Light Humor: this is funny” entry). In any case, Gnoam Chomsky confidently informs all of us who are still, in spite of his best efforts, unenlightened dupes, that the U.S. response to 9/11 was entirely wrong

2002-07-19T01:32:00.000-05:00

APOLOGIES UPDATE - I finally got all the links working in the previous post! Now if I could just delete the one right before it...

2002-07-19T01:20:00.000-05:00

WHAT WILL YOU BUILD, NEW YORK, NEW YORK? Well, the proposed plans for rebuilding at Ground Zero are out, and things could be **MUCH** worse. Someone actually suggested, at Lucianne.com, as I recall, that the whole site should be left to grow back into wilderness. In Manhattan, AKA “Skyscraper National Park?!” Gimme a break!! At least all the plans have one building that doesn’t look like it’s

2002-07-19T01:03:00.000-05:00

2002-07-18T13:10:00.000-05:00

RANDOM THOUGHTS… The name we give something may not be the same thing as what we’re naming, but inaccurate names can still be downright dangerous in a war where we need to accurately understand an elusive enemy. This is why I think we should stop calling The Current Unpleasantness the “War on Terror,” and call it the “War against Islamic Fundamentalism.” Those who point out that we aren't

2002-07-09T23:45:00.000-05:00

Well, the computer is back home, safe and sound, and I don't have to worry about Internet withdrawal symptoms anymore. Since I've been following developments with great interest, I just thought I'd add my two cents to the discussion about what should be built to replace the World Trade Center. Now I don't live in New York, so I don't have a direct stake in this question, but still... I know

2002-07-02T07:48:00.000-05:00

For the Fourth, I thought I'd post this new verse to The Star-Spangled Banner: And still we can see, as the years have gone by, There's a dream in this land like a flame that keeps burning. And the lantern of hope from the harbor still shines. Those who seek freedom's dream to its light are still turnng. Now we look to the skies and we lift up our eyes, For we know with the dawn we will see our

2002-06-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

Hi, folks, and sorry I'm so late again - and please don't ask me how late my last term paper was! I have received my first ***official*** comment, from Ken Summers -Hooray! Someone out there has read my work! Ken also made a very good suggestion, which provides such a fascinating mental image that I am going to recommend that the blogoshpere at large adapt it. Noam, he points out, should

2002-06-21T13:11:00.000-05:00

FIRST ENCOUNTERS OF THE NOAM KIND (Cue theme from the Twilight Zone) Well, I’ve read Noam Chomsky’s disagreeable little book, 9/11 (Seven Stories Press, New York, 2001), and I have to say that it’s been about as much fun as forcing down the absolutely vile mixture, which seemed to me to be about 1 quart of pineapple juice in 1 gallon of laxative, that I once needed to “jump start” my digestive

2002-06-17T16:09:00.000-05:00

Chicago, Chicago... We’re back from vacation – Hubby and I had a great time! Gettysburg, Philadelphia, and Richmond are fascinating and filled with history, which I really enjoyed. But I can’t think of anything to say about them, or my feelings of awe and reverence, that hasn’t been said before, and better, starting with the Gettysburg address, and for me at least, the high point was Chicago.

2002-06-05T15:53:00.000-05:00

If anyone has actually stopped by here and wondered where I've been, I've been on the first leg of a two part vacation; we went with some friends by car (they drove) to Gettysburg, Philadelphia, and Richmond, VA. I always seem to forget something before I leave on a trip, and one of the things this time was to update this site. Sorry! We had a good time and saw a lot of history; the second

2002-05-27T21:48:00.000-05:00

Well - I've finally got this little blog ready to go "on the air" - I'll get links as soon as I can get the template HTML to behave, and more features as I gradually relearn my HTML - Can't believe how easy it is to forget! Please feel free to send me comments - I'll have those nifty comment boxes set up as soon as I figure out how, shamelessly copy some code, or whatever...please note that I'll

2002-05-22T23:48:00.000-05:00

I've tried to somehow put some of my grief, horror and other feelings about 9/11 into words, even though I'm not sure I can completely. Somehow, I had to do this; it's a part of facing up to this evil, and it will remind me not to forget why we're fighting, or should be fighting, this war. I would like to thank all of the blogosphere, especially those who are from NYC or Washington, who have

2002-05-12T17:57:00.000-05:00

Well, here we go... Type...type...This shouldn't be too hard, I hope, with all the coding I did for the net site at work...type...type...type...Oh, Hi! I'm Liz, and maybe I should tell you a bit about myself. I'm the librarian at a Bible college in Indianapolis, IN; my husband is a computer programmer/anaylst. We don't have kids, unless you count three cats, who think they're small people, and