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'Learning Humility, Learning Patience'
Today alienated Catholics do not gently "lapse" or nostalgically "fall away," they decisively and definitively leave for good. Forget "once a Catholic, always a Catholic" or a "Come Home for Easter" campaign. Every poll shows the nonreligiously affiliated—now called "nones"—increasing in number. That number includes all my grown children. But it wasn't always this way.
In 1967, my husband Dan and I, along with our five sons and one daughter (all born between 1955 and '65), could be found each Sunday at Mass. Everyone was baptized, the three oldest confirmed. I had been teaching in the CCD program for seven years. We were a full-court-press Catholic family, members of the Christian Family Movement (observe, judge, act), Catholic Worker enthusiasts, and eager advocates of Vatican II reforms. Dan was an editor of Commonweal and we both wrote for and participated in exciting Catholic intellectual circles. Forty-six years later, I sit alone in the same pew on Sundays, and have been doing so for decades. I remain a grateful Catholic convert, while everyone else in the family is long gone from the church.
[Editors' note: Go here to see all of the stories we've posted as part of the Raising Catholic Kids symposium.]
I date 1968 as the onset of the cultural hurricane that beset our family and New York City suburb. One year we were a '50s-style American family with suits, ties, and dancing lessons, the next we were battling countercultural chaos and hippie mayhem. The '60s' swirl of riots, protests, assassinations, promiscuity, drug use, and dropouts could not be held at bay. This produced predictable disasters. My children's classmates died from drug overdoses, jumped out of windows on LSD, and got arrested for smoking pot in the woods. Quite a few were carted off to jail, rehab, and mental hospitals. The schools, police, church, and most middle-class families were not prepared for this youth revolt. Certainly, our ordinary and relatively conservative parish could not cope.
As each of our children got older they were captured in turn by the counterculture, stubbornly refusing to cut their hair, dress properly, work in school, or attend church. One son, a devotee of Nietzsche, departed from our CCD program with a Nazi salute and a "Heil Hitler, I quit." No more Catholic Family of the Year after that! I was deeply shamed by this out-of-control adolescent behavior, but I was even more frantic and fearful for their physical and mental survival. To this day that era's walking wounded can be seen around town. Many never recovered. Thank God our children, like most others, came through alive, but that was only after years of struggle.
Our parental battle was to fight against the moral relativism and permissiveness of the youth culture. I still loathe Jimi Hendrix. Using every stratagem at our command, we urged dropouts to go back to school, others to stay in school, and all to stay away from addicted and aimless peers. We devised ways to expose our children to attractive young adult worlds and included them in our own work activities. Our affectionate family bonds were strengthened by frequent celebrations, trips, and happy vacations. But church was a lost cause. Since my husband's faith had faded, he wasn't worried over the religious defections of the children. In fact, he wanted all of us to leave the church when he did. Now he hardly remembers all the grief he gave me for staying, and those long-ago arguments about Catholicism have gradually evolved into a general détente. Mom is the designated believer in the family—and that is that. Let's all just love, support, and be grateful for one another every day.
When it comes to Catholicism and my children, I have learned humility from parental failure. But I have also learned about hopefulness. Hopefulness, patience, and perseverance are now at the top of the list of the virtues I esteem. If death or permanent damage at an early age can be avoided, disasters can be turned around, rifts healed, and weaknesses overcome. Today my middle-aged children are happy, morally upstanding people. Our five grandchildren are blessed with super parents. Our children all love and help one another and seem devoted to their old parents.
Here, amidst the remains of the day, we who believe are confronted with the mystery of faith. Clearly, no one can answer God's call for someone else. But social and cultural factors can play a part in nurturing faith. In hindsight, I can now see how crucially important Catholic peer groups are for faith development. In our town the educated professionals were mostly secular or Jewish, the Catholics mostly working-class people. Going through the excellent public schools, none of my children had a close Catholic friend or peer group that could support his or her faith. Did we choose the wrong town, the wrong parish, and the wrong schools?
Looking back I see that there was no structured way in our parish for my children to get what I had gotten in my intellectual journey to the Catholic faith. I always had access to the sophisticated historical, intellectual, and theological dimensions of the faith. I've always known exemplary, magnetically attractive Catholics who inspire me. With these wellsprings of truth and joy, the faith and the Sunday liturgy sing. But I can't seem to communicate such religious experiences to my skeptical family and friends. For many of them the church remains a medieval, male-dominated, and authoritarian institution that's focused on unintelligible rituals. Worse still, it is repressive, corrupt, and power-hungry. Needless to say, the horror of the sexual-abuse crisis has confirmed such anti-Catholic attitudes among many people.
Fortunately, despite their rejection of religion, my children have continued to develop in moral sense and sensibility. With the aid of providence, conscience and morality can still flourish outside religious communities. Reason, experience, and goodwill generate good people. Through trial and error persons discover for themselves that virtuous commitments to love and work do indeed lead to happiness. The Holy Spirit continues to transform the hearts and minds of believers and nones alike. Where love is God is. As the gospel says, "A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not quench."
[Editors' note: Go here to see all of the stories we've posted as part of the Raising Catholic Kids symposium.]
About the Author
Sidney Callahan is a psychologist and the author of Created for Joy: A Christian View of Suffering.
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We too have 5 sons and one daughter and we are same age as Sidney and Dan. Also long timers w/ CFM, Pax Christi and Catholic Worker SVDP & family ministry. .. Our middle aged children too are small c catholics in name only.They only admire the preferential option stance for the poor but never see much of that in most parish life. Hierarchs are their turn off.and they are seen as blocking any view of the Way.
We are still traveling together in our Faith life but at 80+ and early onset of dementia we have hope that the thin threads lashing our children and grandchilren to the drifting faith raft will hold and not sever until relief comes. Francis I gives hope but the real hope is that the spiritual DNA and grace will be transforming in that generations' lives. We see our generation dying out and with few signs of rescue ahead.
New programs, initiatives , encyclicals, leaders, etc are not much to relie on... as St Thomas A said they amount to straw in the wind... But Christ still lives.
Ed & Peg Gleason
I can relate to Sidney's and Dan's children experience(s), even though I am of the parents' generation.
Born and raised in a quietly observant family that played by all the rules (don't know about birth control, but there were 3 of us kids). Good Catholic primary education; 3 years of minor seminary. Four years of Catholic university. I had been enculturated, catechized and totally enveloped in that Pre-V2 cultural environment where your life was intertwined with almost daily Catholic life.
Then, adulthood and drift, drift, drift. As Mark Twain put: it is easier to stay out than to get out. So true, so true.
Of all the things that happened to me in the Catholic cocoon in which I was raised, one thing obviously was missing: conversion.
That took time, a wise minister in a non-denominational church, and one heck of a lot of luck. One of the things that he taught me was that morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Micromanaged "religion" is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.
I came back after a lot of years of self-discovery, a great deal of hope and more than a lot of very skeptical faith.
I suspect that many of the kids who have drifted, even if they hadn't the benefits of the small town rural Midwestern Catholic cocoon that I had, may eventually take some timid steps back through the doors, assuming they can find doors open to them.
Daughters and wives will have the most difficult time (and I shamefacedly say that as a man who should also be fellow travelers with my sisters) because it is clear to me that people who have no vote tend to vote with their feet.
I wonder how those errant folks who possibly return will experience the difference between their childish Catholicism and their adult experiences.
The 70+ years of Catholicism that I have experienced bear witness to what I read a long time ago by Christopher Dawson (anyone old enough to remember him?): We are much further from the generation of our grandparents than they were from the age of Charlemagne.
My own grandmother could have written a similar essay. Ardent, strong family - but none of her children are practicing Catholics. What she would later learn is that many of her grandchildren moved from "cultural catholic" on to practice.
We can can point to a cultural lapse in the '60s for the intermediate generations catholic-lightness. War, drugs, v2 - played their part.
But seeing a strong, liberal Catholic grandmother does wonders for future generations. She now has 5 GGchildren who can say a serious Hail Mary. It's important for all of us not to lose faith in our families. Motherhood isn't over when kids turn 18.
If we believe that God made a covenent with the Jewish people, a chosen people, and that covenent is being passed down even to today, [in the DNA?] we too may take hope and believe that in Catholic families God's grace has a pass on regirmen too.
I think it's a big mistake to use the word "authority" in reference to Church teachings. -- by clergy, including magisterium, and by laity, in reference to clergy. Assertions of infallibility are in conflict with centuries of tolerance of abuse and cover ups of abuse, ended not by the Magisterium but by the Boston Globe. This elephant in the room will continue to evoke contempt and cynicism and remain one more barrier to full communion. Better to show some humility in emphasizing the beautiful basics of loving God and neighbor and the mass as a communal gathering of human souls where true grace comes from the Holy Spirit and not necessarily from the "disjointed doctrines" promulgated by the transparently fallible Magisterium. I would like to believe that Francis has arrived on the scene in the nick of time and will continue to take the above approach - I pray that he will and I pray that the Fr. Zs and other doctrinal and cultural warriors will do so as well. -- Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
So I was born smack in the middle of your six children, with parents who were probably a bit younger than you were. Try to imagine if you had lost your faith, because that's what my parents did (their own siblings were half and half on that score). They hated the counterculture that you blame for your own children's exit; in this, they were clearly cultural Catholics -- my mother is still horrified when parents of young children get divorced. If I had to pick one thing, I would say their final link was severed by HV. At that point, my father, a serious person who really wanted to believe, lost hope. Because he was serious he refused to pretend otherwise to the neighbors. I was told by a few kids up and down the block that we were all going to hell. So having been definitively NOT raised in the Church after the second grade, I did make my way back as a graduate student, and then left again. What can I say: faith has a window of opportunity for anyone, however unlikely a candidate, but by your fruits ye shall be known, and for too long now, the "fruits" of the organized church have focused to the point of obsession on a kind of sexual orthodoxy that seems less and less important to me in defining morality as I grow older. The window opens, but the window closes for current generations in a way that it probably didn't previously. No one is going to be stuck inside if they don't want to be. It's going to be a challenge any way you look at it, but not just for Catholics, but for all Christians -- and Jews, and Muslims, and so on.
Once upon a time, in the early 1980s, Daniel Callahan was invited to my house for drinks after he gave a talk in the university town where I was then living. (I had written for Commonweal in the 1970s, and a newspaper colleague had been ushering him around.) After a few drinks, he talked in some surprising detail about his children, whose lives at the time seemed to be in some measurable state of peril, and disorder. When he mentioned that his wife was also a writer, my wife asked him what she wrote about. 'Parenting,' he replied.
Philip, I am not sure what your point is, but the one thing I can say is that parents of children who take a more tortured path to adulthood typically have much more to write about in the way of parenting than those whose kids never deviate from the straight and narrow. When my first child was born she didn't sleep through the night for close to two years. When my second was born she slept through the night almost immediately. I ascribed the difference to more assured and competent parenting, only to be confronted with my third child, who didn't sleep through the night for close to 16 months. Sure, parenting matters, but the relationship between trouble free kids and good parenting is hardly linear. The world is a complicated place.
There is something stunning about the open way Sidney tells her story. More so since Daniel Calahan was the Lay Catholic leader of the Sixties. At any rate her story is refreshing as it is disturbing. Parenting is indeed complicated. Experts on the subject can be enraging. We talk about celibates giving advice on marriage. In parenting, usually, people without children teach the seminars. Which is fitting since they don't have to face the contradiction and realities in their own lives. Being a parent is a setup for disappointment. No child measures up to expectations. But keeping up with the Jones' prompts parents to lie all the time. Also the need to know that one did not fail colors our description. We know that we are all sinners. But somehow our children may not. Yet if they turn out to be selfish, nothing is more devastating. It is complicated. One of the contributors to this symposium wrote about how psychologists say that a child needs to be loved for her to be open to family values. Yet so many "loved" children really turned out to be rascals. Not a knock on love. But something else is going on.
I wonder how God feels about so many of Her children acting so bad and ungrateful. Seems there is no other answer than forgiveness. No technology, no matter how glittering, can gloss over betrayal. Psychologists will pontificate that a parent's desire to make a clone of himself is the problem with parental disappointment. Yet a child must be taught values as so many disasters has proven. So the generous Father welcomes the prodigal child. The son who remained home is a sinner also.
This is why we always revert to original sin. What else can explain it? Not that Adam and Eve necessarily imparted it. But there is something in wo/man that is truly wounded. What other answer than forgiveness and redemption and reconcilation?
I was so moved by this essay. I am roughly of the same age as Sidney Callahan. I was never married and had no children. I have always been and will remain a Catholic albeit very ecumenical and both broad church and high church. I have 8 nephews and nieces who are middle aged and with one exception all of them and their parents are apart from the church. Her expression of being alone in the pew is so very moving. Most of my friends left. And yet if one looks in the world there are so many, and also young people, both Catholics and other Christians who are bearing witness today. I hope Francis will help. He wil not recreate the world but, as in every age, Christians witnessing by the works of love will.
Sydney, my guess is that although your severe disappointment faulted Jimi Hendrix, expecially, I am sure that you realize that there are more serious culprits. Namely, a history of domination and haughtiness in the clergy. Until Vatican II the clergy considered itself far superior to the laity. Catholic writers and historians lied about the faults of even the Fathers of the Church. That it was such a victory that Augustine united the church by exiling the Donatists and Pelagians; confiscating all their churches and property. Practically approving Augustine's dictum to use force in coralling heretics back to the Catholic church. Using the emperor to employ force against Christians. Yet Augustine has risen even higher than Paul the Apostle. Although I believe that Dan and your children could have worked through this as so many of us have. I believe it is especially difficult for converts who are giving a one sided picture. While Catholics learn to live their faith and many times despite the clergy.
It Italy, especially, there has traditionally been wide spread contempt for the church as they have seen it up close for centuries. Many practicing Italians are in denial of this. When I told my Italian grandfather that I was leaving for the seminary he was upset that I would join a group he did not like. Through the years i began to undersand his position. The Iriish were separated by distance from that sight. Today the Irish have a different view.
Vatican II allowed us to grow up. Growing up brings all the tensions of adolescence. Today Catholics are understanding that Jesus is front and center. Not the church.
In the large extended ffamily descendants of my parents, Catholic immigrants from Ireland, only one individual (my brother) and one family (Wall Streeters but moderate Republcans) remain Catholics. Nobody else misses the church at all, and they lead virtuous lives. Many rlatives have left the church in their 60s and 70s, though most got out in their 20s. The older bolters got fed up with the sour, nsaty "real Catholics" and could not imagine how a relgion made up of bitter haters of the poor and minorities could be worth a second thought.
Contrary to the claims of the pope, many people do not have any deep longing for God, or feel unfulfilled with the lives they lead without God. They are and have good neighbors. They help the poor, though they would prefer more systematic responses to poverty over glorifying acts of charity, they are virtuous, they are good parents, and they are not going to hell. In additiomn, many find churches to be creepy places.
I do notice that some evangelical and Baptist churches that are active in building small communiyies of mtual assiatance materially and spiritually do attract many young people, especially young famiies. Their church is not a building, or a set of rityuals,. they are conservative in their sexual morality without turning sour.


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Getting Up To Speed With…Jimmy Owen
By Ben Deatherage
(Photo Courtesy of Hull Family Photography)
The 2014 season at the Cottage Grove Speedway will see the debut of the Northwest Extreme Modifieds. With the introduction of this class some new drivers are looking to cut their teeth and get some valuable laps under their belts. It will also introduce some new names to the loyal CGS fan base that should create some new stars in the future whether it be for the IMCA Modifieds, Late Models, etc.
Despite the 2014 campaign not being his first time racing Cottage Grove driver, via Lake Havasu City, Arizona, Jimmy Owen looks forward to turning his first laps at the famed ¼-mile clay oval this April when racing is expected to get underway. Despite having a limited background in dirt track racing Owen has spent several seasons competing or crewing on pavement cars specifically Modifieds. During his asphalt tenure Jimmy raced with the Lucas Oil Modified Series in the Southwest running on tracks in Arizona, California, and Nevada.
Last season Owen competed at Roseburg's Douglas County Speedway where he returned to racing after a brief hiatus. This year he will go from the blacktop to the dirt chauffeuring his #27 Northwest Extreme Modified and donating all race winnings to St. Jude Children's Hospital. Now let's get up to speed with Jimmy Owen.
Driver: Jimmy Owen
Home Track: Cottage Grove Speedway
Hometown: Cottage Grove, Oregon
Occupation: Owner of CJ Motorsports
Age: 35
Years Racing: 4
Classification: Northwest Extreme Modified
Team: Owen Racing
Car Number: 27
Sponsors: St. Jude Children's Hospital
Special Thanks: Cyndi Turner, Johnny Owen (Father), Eagle Racing Graphics
BD: Racing last year in a Modified at Douglas County Speedway on pavement and now transferring to a dirt track how difficult will that be?
JO: I've ran dirt a little bit but I hope it won't be too difficult. I raced at the Mojave Valley Raceway in Arizona several years ago. There is going to be a lot of competition in this class and should be a fun year of racing. The biggest thing for me is going to learn how to set the dirt car up.
BD: You've had some racing history back in Arizona. Correct?
JO: Yes. I ran with the Lucas Oil Modified Series on pavement. I ran Havasu 95 Speedway in Lake Havasu City and Lucas Oil I-10 Speedway in Blythe, California. I then moved up to Oregon in 2008 and didn't start back racing until 2013.
BD: Do you hope to eventually move from the Northwest Extreme Modifieds into the IMCA Modifieds?
JO: Yes, I really would like to do that. But first I want to get comfortable and learn the setups before I make the jump to the IMCA Modifieds.
BD: What is the story behind your #27?
JO: When I raced on pavement in Arizona I ran with the Gerchman group. They gave me the number 27 because we had two other drivers whose numbers were 25 and 26 on our team. I guess it just stuck with me.
BD: Who are some of your supporters that are going to help you out in 2014?
JO: Well we're looking at obtaining some sponsors to help us out for this year. But my dad (Johnny Owen) is building my engine and Steve Kerstulovich is going to be crew chief. I first met Steve last year at a race in CG and he offered to help me out. Also Jason Hauge will be helping out on the crew.
BD: You are pretty unique in that your race winnings go straight to charity. That's pretty cool.
JO: We're giving all winning that we earn to St. Jude Children's Hospital in October. We are also going to give fans a chance to sign the car and at the end of the year we'll auction off the body panels and all of that money will go to them too. St. Jude's is a great cause it helps a lot of sick children out.
The Cottage Grove Speedway is set to host a test and tune play day on Saturday April 5th while the first race of the year is planned for the following Saturday on the 12th. Log on to www.cottagegrovespeedway.com for news stories and articles related to the upcoming 2014 campaign.
Driven by MyRacePassTM
Cottage Grove Speedway | All rights reserved

subset: commoncrawl


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Spirituality and Genetics
Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King's College London, reported recently on studies indicating that spirituality is genetically influenced. Money quote:
Twin studies conducted around the world in the U.S., the Netherlands and Australia as well as ours in the U.K. show a 40 to 50 percent genetic component to belief in God.
This isn't the first time such a link has been shown: D. T. Lykken, T. J. Bouchard, Jr., M. McGue, and A. Tellegen, writing in the Journal of Applied Psychology in 1993 (Vol. 78, No. 4, 649-661,) also found evidence of genetic factors in behavioral traits, including "religious orientation." Working on a large population of twins from Minnesota (no, not the baseball players...) they concluded:
These findings extend the already large body of evidence that indicates the important influence of genetic factors on virtually all traits that are of interest to applied psychologists.
And this takes us back also to the hotly-debated 2005 book by Dean Hamer, the director of the Gene Structure and Regulation Unit at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, The God Gene: How Faith is Hardwired into our Genes. (NB: Spector and the Minnesota twin researchers don't point to a specific gene, as Hamer did.)
Behavioral genetics is tricky business, and it's important not to overreach. There was criticism of Hamer's work, both scientific (is it replicable? does he over-interpret his data?) and theological. Among the theological skeptics was John Polkinghorne, an Anglican priest and member of the Royal Society and Canon Theologian at Liverpool Cathedral. Commenting for The Daily Telegraph, he said "The idea of a God gene goes against all my personal theological convictions. You can't cut faith down to the lowest common denominator of genetic survival. It shows the poverty of reductionist thinking." Hamer insisted, (correctly, I think,) that his thesis was not about the existence of God, but about human capacity to experience what we might describe as spiritual awareness.
Of course, it's possibe to consider these findings from a more scientific perspective. Human beings are adept at perceiving patterns, whether or not they're actually there. (Two easy examples are the way we so easily see a face on the moon, or the way superstitions arise from temporally-but-not-causally related events.) Obviously this deep trait is adaptive—one can imagine the usefulness for hunters of being able to infer from this set of imprints in the mud that a deer walked here. A more ethereal version of the same would be spiritual awareness. One could also posit a strong community-building function to spirituality, regardless of the nature or existence of its referents.
But is there another way to think thelogically about this?
In Christian tradition we affirm a God who rather fervently wants to be in communion with creation. God continually establishes covenants with erring humankind, and ultimately came to walk with us as a human being, like us in all things but sin. Taking human evolution as a given, and also God's involvement somehow in our creation, (yes, yes, I'm thinking final cause, and not wanting to open that particular can of worms here,) why wouldn't a God who so clearly wants to be known be pleased at the presence in creation of a capacity for knowing God? We have eyes with which we perceive light, ears with which we hear sound, so why not some kind of capacity for knowing God? And if, as Aquinas said, God wills for us what is good for us, why couldn't that capacity have adaptive/survival/evolutionary benefit as well as spiritual mojo? A two-fer?
Like many traits, this one is affected by environment and is present to a differing degree in different individuals, just as some have keener hearing or sharper vision than others. And in some ways we seem to cultivate our perception in our worship spaces. We can see one example in church architecture, which, ideally, is designed to enhance or elicit particular kinds of affective responses that may be related to spiritual self-transcendence. And the particular effect varies—a gothic catheral almost forces one's eyes heavenward, while an intimate contemporary setting draws a community together to feel God in its midst. Music should create an atmosphere of—well, it varies too, right? Reflection, joy, a sense of being loved, insight, etc.?
So a genetic dimension of spirituality? Sure, why not? Some are more attuned or capable than others? Anyone who's ever directed the Spiritual Exercises or discussed experience in prayer shouldn't be surprised by that. But all in all, this seems like good news to me—we are fearfully and wonderfully made, after all, and our species seems to carry in its very genes a capacity for God.
About the Author
Lisa Fullam is professor of moral theology at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. She is the author of The Virtue of Humility: A Thomistic Apologetic (Edwin Mellen Press).
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It does seem like our bodies/brains have something to do with our perception of God ... people with epilepsy and with Alzheimers have radically different abilities to have religious experience. But that doesn't necessarily say anything about God's existence.
The article strikes me as awfully fuzzy and perhaps does not do justice to the science behind the report. It leaves me with many questions. Here are the three that bug me most:
1. If a predisposition to faith is genetic, then couldn't some of us have been born without the genetic cocktail needed for faith? And, if some of us are born without the mix necessary to believe, doesn't that mean Calvin was right? God does have an Elect and some of us are not it.
2. The twins in the example are supposed to illustrate a link between belief in God and faith. But what is really measurable and observable (i.e., scientific) only seems a shared predisposition for organized religion. That strikes me as somewhat different than a predisposition to faith.
3. I am always hinky about surveys that purport to show what percentage of a population believes in God. Are these surveys just "yes" or "no"? Or do such surveys take into consideration the waxing and waning nature of faith? Can people choose "most of the time," "once in awhile," "I have no idea," "I don't care," "not today"? And, while I'm pretty sure what most people mean by "no," I always wonder what the "yes answers mean: Yes, there could be a God. Yes, there's a God, but He cut out of here a long time ago. Yes, and he and other super-intelligent beings live on the planet Kolob.
Articles like this remind me why the sincere and scholarly work of the Jesus Seminar folks made me uncomfortable: You slice and dice the Good News into only what can be verified and corroborated, and limit it to what does not strain mundane human credulity, and you're left with just another story of an innocent man trying to do the right thing who got strung up for it.
We are social animals through and through, with very little chance of thriving or even surviving entirely on our own. It helps to be able occasionally to subordinate our individual well-being to the needs of the group, which means self-sacrifice in small ways and great. It will be easier to make that sacrifice if we believe that there is more to life than what we see before us, and that there is a chance that we will survive and even be rewarded for our selflessness. So it should not be very surprising to find that such a belief is heritable. even if we still do not know the details.
But that belief need not necessarily be true to be useful. Our perception of color, to take another case, is very useful to us, even if it is an interpretation the mind imposes on what we see, and not the external reality.
Robert Bellah, who died the other day (RIP), published his masterpiece in 2011.
Religion in Human Evolutions: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age, Belknap Press, Harvard University.
I hope anyone who hasn't read it will take a look at the Editorial Reviews and see if they make you want to know more about the Ancestors and their rituals. (The quotation from Randall Collins is particularly good, imho.)
(Sorry for the misspelling of Evolution. I wish non-subscribers were allowed to edit.)
Augustine would not have liked this. The reason is how do you determine if all those people you are forcing to join the Catholic Church have the God gene. That is an awful burden of proof put on those who choose domination over persuasion. Be that as it may it is totally absurd to pose a God gene. It is like saying your children do not have your dna. This is another example of an attempt to take away free will. There is a God gene in all of us. It is our choice to foster its growth.
My problem with the Specter article (or the articles upon which his is based) is not that there *might* be some specific gene or combination of genes that incline(s) one to believe or to not-believe.They have not determined *which* specific gene/genes it is, nor have they explained why *other* genes might not account for those disposition(s). For instance, being *generally* gullible or skeptical, or being excessively imaginative or deficient in imagination might account for those different inclinations.
Somewhat off-topic: This week it was reported that there is now some evidence supporting the belief that there really are such things as "near-death" experiences in which the dying person has visions of a wonderful light and of different people or celestial beings, etc. It seems that a study of some rats has shown that *even if the rat's heart has stopped* its brain brain can show a burst of electricity activity just prior to death. See, for instance, the CBS report about the experiment.
The electrical (nervous) systems of our hearts and brains are not identical, though they are connected. This allows the heart to live/function somewhat longer than the brain and (contrary to common belief) vice versa -- the brain sometimes survives the heart for a while. So perhaps humans do have some near-death experiences, as many have claimed = it is physiologically possible.
Theologically this might be interpreted as a "last chance" for a person to ask forgiveness, and one might even see the hand of God in the evolutionary process producing this last chance. Or a theologian might simply see it as one more sort of evidence for man's possible immortality.
I say hold the scientists to their own highest standards and believe them when they do meet them, but never assume that science can explain everything. (Back to Nagel, et al.)
There are a lot of chemical changes in the body that can occur naturally or that are induced by meds at the end that could account for any number of "near-death" experiences that are touted as proof of heaven or hell.
I don't doubt that some people take advantage of what they see (or think they are seeing) to make their final peace, even if they can no longer communicate with those in this earthly vale. But that is predicated on prior beliefs and whatever sense they are able to make of the experience. Some (not many in my experience, thankfully) die in fear or discomfort and are unable to focus on anything but that. I pray that Jesus, remembering his own death, has special compassion for these souls.
St. Julian of Norwich's "Shewings," in which she delineates carefully and lucidly the types of visions she experienced, are about the best description of what can happen when someone is near death that I've ever read. She had what Oliver Sacks called a "privileged consciousness" when he wrote about St. Hildegard of Bingen's mandelas--someone who, in affliction, is able to turn their experiences into something meaningful and beneficent in great bursts of creativity. i would call it grace.
A few thoughts back:
--The lead scientist wrote the report I first linked to, so failures to be true to the science are entirely his own, istm. In the other sources I mentioned, and to some degree also in Spector, indeed, precision often gets lost in the transition to popular media.
--The definition of "spirituality" they used is deliberately broad, viz: "'the capacity to reach out beyond oneself and discover or make meaning of experience through broadened perspectives and behavior.' The scale is based on three main factors: self-forgetfulness, transpersonal identification and mysticism." So it seems to be trying to get at capacity more than specific belief.
--Near death experiences are intriguing, but surely do not prove anything vis a vis the afterlife. The same God who seems to want so deeply to be known seems also not to want that "known-ness" to be objectively, intellectually provable.
--Which gene? Almost certainly polygenic, so not as simple as Hamer tried to make it. in the way that, e.g., the gene identfied for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. In humans, there are 141 different mutations in 8 different genes that can lead to the disease, and environmental factors and other genetic factors also play a role. So to establish that a trait is genetically influenced is one thing--to say exactly how and where is another. All the Spector data showed is that there's a genetic component.
--But I'm fascinated by the fact idea that this genetic component is expressed more strongly in some than others. (I wanted to talk about this in the original post, but it was already too long...) What might this imply about religious vocation, and vocational discernment? How about how we understand different "ways" of being in the Church? One person has an intense prayer life, seemingly effortlessly, while another helps the community by making the coffee, but can't say much about personal self-transcendence. Church communities certainly err by not providing enough support for those who have great aptitude for spiritual things, but also must provide, istm, for the spiritual growth for those who are, perhaps, more colorblind to the numinous than others. We know now that "intelligence" is not one thing, but several. A person might have great physical or artistic intelligence, but be lousy at math. Spirituality might be more like an "intelligence" to be cultivated to the best of one's capacity.
Lisa --
You've raised half a dozen great questions about "spirituality" -- including: what are the various important meanings of "spirituality"? (Not to mention the adjective "spiritual".) I suspect that your last question, about our various capacities for spiritual experience can't be clearly answered till we define "spiritual" and "spiritual capacity", much less "mysticism".
I also suspect that you're right that our genetic consitutions have a lot to do with our different spiritual practices. But I disagree that near-death experiences are irrelevant to the general topic == those experiences seem to reveal the reality of a spiritual dimension of human life whose existence many people deny. To the extent that they open up the minds of the skeptics, I think they're very valuable. Some of them do provide some evidence of an after-life -- in many cases the dying person says that a parent has come to meet him or her with news/information about the afterlife.
Such experiences, of course, raise epistemological questions -- why should we believe these people? I say that if we would have believed ttheir testimony about other topics, that it makes sense to believe them unles we have reason to think they're lying or suddenly a bit crazy or whatever. I other words, our criteria for belief should be the same for them as for any other person we have known to be sensible and truthful before. But that's yet another thread :-)
And none of this touches on the *value* of these varied experienced. Merely having a splendid ecstatic experience of God doesn't guarantee love of God, apparently. St. Teresa of Avila said that at one point God showed her her place in Hell if she didn't stop being so proud of her mystical experiences.
"It is totally absurd to pose a God gene."
"If some of us are born without the mix necessary to believe, doesn't it mean that Calvin was right?"
That would be extreme. All that is suggested is that some are genetically predisposed so that it's easier for them to believe. And why not? Tomorrow's gospel reading is immediately preceded by: " And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not knowit, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more."
Belief is a virtue, but belief alone doesn't assure salvation, at least according to Catholic teaching. One can believe with the Church and sin very badly. I think that Graham Greene's novels are particularly good on this point.
"Belief alone doesn't assure salvation." That's true, but you can't have salvation without belief, and unless your works flow from belief, they have no impact on your salvation (as I understand it from the joint Catholic/Lutheran statement on justification seems to indicate, see item #25).
Without wishing to get too serious about hypotheticals, here's a thought experiment: Imagine that the genetic components that allow for spirituality/religion/belief, now only suggested, are one day identifiable and testable. In utero. Mr. and Mrs. Jones can be told that their impending bundle of joy is physically healthy and will have blue yes and a facility with languages, but will have little capacity for belief, a necessary component for salvation. How to raise such a child? What religious instruction to provide? What will the Church teach about his immortal soul?
Claire believes that those who cannot act out of knowledge/understanding get a pass. But the Church has not been so generous in its teachings about the unborn who die before they can be baptized. It only counsels parents that they "may hope" that the child is with God. It's the whole reason abortion is viewed as more heinous than murder, no? It not only ends a life but possibly sends a soul to perdition before the soul can find its way to faith.
"Claire believes that those who cannot act out of knowledge/understanding get a pass." Rather, I belive that those for whom faith comes easily have a heavier responsibility. Everyone is called to have faith, no? (if I may borrow a turn of phrase from our pope - now it's ok to end a sentence with "..., , no?".) And if for some people faith seems impossible in spite of their best efforts, it must be that we have not found a way to reach them. That is, those who have difficulty should be carried by others around them, for whom it is easier, and who therefore must make radical choices in their lives and grow in holiness in such a way that their witness converts even those who think they cannot believe.
Many of us have had the experience at Mass of being carried by the prayers of others around us, so that's not so far fetched, yes?
I think I've exceeded my ability to understand the responses here; possibly just not plugged into the Catholic mode of thinking about this, so I'll bow out of the conversation.
My only departing question is that if belief/spirituality/a quest for the Almighty is somehow part of our normal genetic code, then how come it's so damn hard to get a teenager to go to Mass or to engage in any conversation about religious matters that doesn't end in the kid telling you that "you're close to death, so of course you want to believe that stuff."
No more success at my end, I admit. But that does not mean it's impossible, only that we still have to work at it.
Advice from the saints: How many years did Monica pray for her son's conversion? She just wouldn't give up. Maybe we can even enlist her help???
Advice from the Acts: St Paul, when he talked to Jewish people, always started from the old testament to explain the good news. Maybe if we start from something that our kids take seriously, that is important to them, then we can get somewhere. He also repeated the story of his own conversion over and over again shamelessly. Maybe if we're willing to talk about ourselves with the same openness, about why we are Christians, it may make an impression.
Advice from the hierarchy: Pope Francis suggested once that it is by putting our fingers in the wounds of Christ (looking at poverty, social injustice, getting involved) that faith will come.
There are so many possibilities yet to be explored!
Many years ago I had a psychiatrist friend who said quite seriously that he thought that all teen-agers are a bit crazy, that such mild craziness is part of being an adolescent. The psychologists are telling us today that people's brains keep developing into their mid-20's, including the parts having to do with more difficult levels of rational thinking. I wonder if maybe the kids' on-going brain development has something to do with their very common irrationality. For instance, the psychologist say that teen-age boys willingly take unnecessary risks that adults consider highly dangerous.
So maybe their not-very-sensible behavior is not a result of stubbornness or ill will. Maybe it's just due to their limited adolescent understanding and reasoning. In other words, it's genetic and not to be taken personally.
Ann O.,
In many primate societies, it is the role and function of subadult males to run extreme risks in taking on predators such as leopards. Although the behavior seems crazy and often proves suicidal, it is nevertheless adaptive if it promotes the survival of the group as a whole. A one-to-one balance between males and females is not required. Up to a point, males are expendable.
In our own warlike societies, young men have been the primary risk takers on battlefields, where some degree of irrationality may become a virtue. No one has much time to think about falling on a live grenade to save half a dozen comrades, and the more time one had, the less likely the action might be. There the impulse to act without weighing the consequences is beyond praise.
It is mostly in civilian life that young men's underdeveloped thought processes and hair-trigger responsiveness can be as troublesome as old men's endless debates and dithering.
Wow, John Prior! What a fascinating viewpoint, one that would never occur to a woman. The insane attraction of war for some men become slightly rational.
This evening I saw part of a documentary on Winston Churchill. It portrays him as a warrior from childhood. And, sure enough, his strange, reckless attraction to war eventually served his country mightily.
To be clear, Ann, I am not saying that an easy resort to war, which is almost always a decision made by older folks, is itself a good thing, but only that once in a war, the ability to act without fear or caution may be an advantage, although usually not for the soldiers themselves.
Ah, teenagers and risky behavior: Terra firma!
I recently took a course on aging, and John Prior is right; the area of the human brain that controls impulse is the last to develop (about mid 20s) -- and also the first to go. Some neuroscientists want to do studies to see if that accounts for those so-called mid-life crises when impulse control begins to dwindle and but health (and the ability to make mischief) is still good. May also explain why many older people are more outspoken.
In the Middle Ages, European males of a certain class began military training in early adolescence and were went out to battle in their earlier teens. I don't have a reference for this, but I seem to remember dimly that somewhere around the twelfth century there were many more young men than women, and the surfeit who could not be married off or sent to monasteries were rounded up for wars.
Jean --
it seems to me that aggressiveness in boys is much more of a problem than aggressiveness in girls -- the psychologists seem to have established quite firmly that boys are simply more physically aggressive on average than girls are. Couple this with the need of societies to defend themselves from aggressive neighbors and aggressiveness becomes a value, and the rearing of boys becomes of particular interest.
In Europe in the middle ages a man got to become an aristocrat by being a heroic leader in battle If such a leader wasn't killed in battle (they very often were -- officers are the first targets in battle), he was rewarded with land and social position when he got back home. In other words, particularly brave boys who take risks were of particular value to the whole community.
Eventually , to preserve the status of rich, powerful families, the families would harden their boys by sending them off to schools to become hardened leaders, schools in which the boys were treated in a manner we would call abusive. Consider especially the notorious English public schools in which the masters were expected to beat the little aristocrats unmercifully not with switches but ith sticks. Consider also that the British empire probably thrived because it produced such military leaders.
I suspect boys don't need such an educational system to have boy groups emerge into the same sort of leader-with-troops today. It's why boy-gangs still thrive and are a problem, but girl-gangs don't develop any further than high-school cliques. It's why parents have to caution their sons about their associates much more often that they have to caution their daughters. It's part of human nature.
John --
It seems to me that young men (and others as well) develop a different attitude towards war after they have experienced war. It used to sometimes be relatively easy for a leader to inspire a romantic view of what a war would entail when the young men were ignorant of all the horror that war involves. See, for instance, Bernard of Clairvaux gathering troops for a Crusade. Sometimes the young were even eager to go to war.
ISTM that photography and especially TV have educated everyone, including the young, as to just what the horrors of war really are. No one with TV romanticizes war any more. And that, I think, is why many people are now so very anti the military establishment -- they wrongly think that all generals are bloodthirsty. What they often dont' realize, however, is that there is such a thing s an aggressive neighbor or aggressive forces even with a country and that a military is sometimes necessary. Just look at Egypt today. But many people automatically assume that the military must be the worst of the bad guys
After the police, the military are the most dangerous, because they come with a legitimacy of sorts. If they abuse their power, who does one turn to?
I wonder if you are not overly optimistic about people nowadays being educated about war. If people were educated about war, would the US have engaged into the Iraq war as easily as it did ten years ago? Also, see http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/Blog/2013/08/05/At-Hunger-Games-summer-camp-kids-fight-to-the-death/3801375725800/
I'm fascinated by the fact idea that this genetic component is expressed more strongly in some than others. (I wanted to talk about this in the original post, but it was already too long...) What might this imply about religious vocation, and vocational discernment? How about how we understand different "ways" of being in the Church? One person has an intense prayer life, seemingly effortlessly, while another helps the community by making the coffee, but can't say much about personal self-transcendence. Church communities certainly err by not providing enough support for those who have great aptitude for spiritual things, but also must provide, istm, for the spiritual growth for those who are, perhaps, more colorblind to the numinous than others. We know now that "intelligence" is not one thing, but several. A person might have great physical or artistic intelligence, but be lousy at math. Spirituality might be more like an "intelligence" to be cultivated to the best of one's capacity.
Lisa, yes, I agree - very interesting stuff.
FWIW, when I was in formation, I took a Myers Briggs test (not for the first nor last time). If there are any Myers Briggs geeks out there, It turns out that my particular M-B profile (which is, I believe, ENTP) is somewhat atypical for people in ministry.
One of the interesting little nuggets I took away from the exercise is that people in ministry tend to cluster around the same specific personality profiles (according to the Myers Briggs taxonomy), while there are other profiles for which people in ministry are relatively rare - including a couple of profiles that are notable gaps, i.e. almost *nobody* with those particular profiles ever goes into ministry in the Catholic church. The facilitator's overall point of view of personality profiles is that no one profile is better nor worse than another, and that people with a variety of profiles are known to succeed and find satisfaction in any given profession, and he wondered what it is about the church, and/or the process of calling forth and discerning ministers, that accounts for those gaps; perhaps, if we could figure out how to call forth more ministers with those gapped-out profiles, our church would be the more enriched.
Inasmuch as there is a physical dimension to psychological behavior, it doesn't surprise me to read that there may be a genetic component to faith "aptitude". While I don't suppose anyone is determinatively barred from Christian faith because of his or her genetic profile, it makes sense that a physical explanation may at least partially account for the fact that some of are attracted to particular ways of expressing our humanity. It also strikes me as profoundly in accord with Christian anthropology: I am body, mind and spirit, all knit together as one creature.
Ann, I don't know if boys have bigger aggression problems; I've only got the one. I would not underestimate female aggression. I've seen some little girls who are able to cause an awful lot of strife and misery without raising a finger.
APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE: This is a rant about Meyers-Briggs, and my feeble attempts to tie it to the original thread won't fool anybody.
I'm a M-B INFJ, and I have certainly always resisted the caring, sharing, intuitive love muffin I'm supposed to be (ideal for the ministry, but, whoops! Catholic woman, not going far in that endeavor).
We had to do the M-B profiling as part of an offsite retreat years ago, and I felt at the time that some of the questions/options seemed to have a clearly desirable answer, and I was left with the nagging feeling that I lied to make the test happy because sometimes I do that just to get things over with.
Anyway, I spent most of the retreat thinking about how dicey these tests and profiles are, how characteristics associated with my astrological sign (Virgo) seemed more predictive of my attitudes and behaviors than the M-B profile (though I realize now that astrology is a sin), and I came away wondering if other psychological profiling was this slipshod.
I was even more skeptical of the M-B enterprise when I read a lists of famous people who were supposedly INFJs: Chaucer, Aristophanes, Jesus, Adolph Hitler, and Shirley Temple. How would anyone know how these people would respond to the questions?
The whole idea of the retreat was that we would learn our strengths and learn how to form up complementary and enthusiastic work teams. Like we couldn't figure that out without a retreat? Other than the fact that my co-workers called me Hitler (maybe jokingly, but who knows) whenever I criticized anything, the whole thing seemed to be a waste of time.
Frankly, I would have been more enthusiastic if the company had just divvied up the money they blew on the retreat and given us a bonus.
Jean --
i think of aggression as meaning physical aggression, though of course there is also psychological aggression. All I know about it is what I read in Psychology Today, but it is published by the American Psychological Association, so I doubt that it makes stuff up and suppose that it is at least fairly accurate.
My understanding is that there is a great deal of evidence now that male humans are indeed generally more physically aggressive than female humans, and the cause seems to be testerone -- the more testerone, the more physically aggresive the person is, whether male or female. (Yes, women have some testerone).
The good news is that we're all malleable to some extent at least.
Claire --
I'm not very optimistic about people avoiding war. I just think that now that people generally know more about how horrible it it that they will *be less* likely to choose it.
This is somewhat off=topic, but it is about the basic mind-body issue: The NYT's blog The Stone has published a summary by Nagel himself of his arguments in his controversial new book about mind-body differences. Comments are hot and heavy. You can throw in your two cents :-)
It seems to me that young men (and others as well) develop a different attitude towards war after they have experienced war.
Yes, they certainly do, Ann. I have seen newsreels from the earliest days of the First World War that show young men marching gaily off to battle. Martial music, cheering crowds, glorious expectations. It's pretty much the same at the start of any war.
And this is the reality:
A segment on consciousness, art, and science that aired on Science Friday last week that might be of interest to folks on this thread. I found the artist frustratingly vague and the scientist's conviction toward the end that science could explain everything emblematic of the frustration trying to get spirituality and science to communicate.
Jean - I'm a Virgo, too. No wonder we're so simpatico :-)
As far as I can tell, Jim, Virgos are not simpatico with anyone.
They are critical, obsessed with cleanliness, undemonstrative, unromantic, do not like people to move their stuff, do not want other people's stuff mixed in with theirs, are prone to nervous disorders, dislike having a lot of people around, and, if pushed too far, will tell people off in public for needlessly holding up lines, not having the exact change ready, or spelling words wrong on menus and cocktail napkins. Virgos overexplain everything, and they will also notice and judge you for setting the table incorrectly or accessorizing with the wrong colors.


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AUSTIN — On Friday, Canyon's Arin Rice ran the fastest 800-meter run ever by a Texas Panhandle girl — and finished second.
Just more than two hours later, the junior proved why she is in the argument for one of the greatest middle- to long-distance runners in Panhandle history.
Rice shook off the intense Class 4A 800 at the UIL state track meet to win the 1600-meter run with a late kick in a personal best time of 4:55.75.
Her 1600 time was just more than a second off the state meet record held by Hereford's Betzy Jimenez (2006).
"It's bittersweet," Rice said of winning a gold and silver to give her four UIL state track medals. "I mean, you run that fast and get beat it's disappointing. It was awesome running that fast."
In those two trips around the track, Rice, along with Manvel's Meschelle Gills and McKinney's Meghan Shea, wound up bunched with about 300 meters to go.
Down the stretch, Rice and Gills were stride-for-stride, changing the leads with each stride, both on pace to break the Class 4A state record of 2:10.23.
As the pair approached the finish line, Rice started an early lean, falling across the finish line in a career-best time of 2:09.90. That time bested the previous state mark and crushed the all-time Texas Panhandle-area mark of 2:12.2 set in 1984 by Amarillo High's Brenda Moore.
Yet, Gills won in 2:09.82, or eight-hundreths of a second faster than Rice.
"I tried to bend over and couldn't get my feet underneath me, and all I could do was dive, kind of like a dolphin," said Rice, who handed Gills her only defeat in the 800 in the previous two years at state last year.
Rice needed no part of diving in the 1600.
With about 300 meters to go, she took control and in the final 120 meters easily outlasted Shea in a time of 4:55.75. Although she wanted to break the record held by Jimenez — who was in attendance — Rice's day of running was nothing but a ray of sunshine.
"That was an awesome feeling winning," Rice said. "I decided after the 800 I wasn't leaving here without a gold medal."
Canyon coach Ray Baca said he was ready to give Rice a pep talk after the 800, but she came off the track, grabbed her water bottle and was already focused on the 1600.
"I'm so proud of Arin," said Baca, who also coached Jimenez at Hereford. "I wanted her to win that 800 so bad, and you look at the clock and go 'Holy Cow.' Then for her to come back like she did, I was so pleased."
Randall senior Libby Strickland joined Rice in coming up with a strong performance during the 4A meet.
Strickland matched her career best effort in the high jump at 5 feet, 6 inches and came away with a silver medal.
Strickland looked headed for a busy day when seven of the nine competitors cleared 5-foor-4. However, only gold medalist Darby Graff of Hallsville and Strickland cleared 5-6.
"I was sitting talking to (Graff) and asking who had cleared 5-4," Strickland said. "All of a sudden it was just us two. I did want to win, but I'm really excited. I was shooting for this, but I didn't expect it. It was awesome."
Strickland made it to state as a sophomore in the high jump, missed out last year, and rebounded in a big way Friday.
"I kind of had some mental issues my sophomore year and I just didn't perform," Strickland said. "I just wanted to do my personal best, and if that was good enough to medal, that would make me happy."


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I am considering getting the NN3 to use with the D7000, just want to make sure that with the Kirk camera plate attached it will be compatible with the NN3 with the QRC-2 clamp (http://store.nodalninja.com/products...ase-Clamp.html).
Also, I currently have the full frame Nikon 16mm f/2.8 fisheye lens, is there any advantage in considering the Nikon 20mm lens instead? 16mm on DX will be equivalent to 24mm, while 20mm will be 30mm equivalent. Potentially less distortion with the 20mm (30mm) when going through the stitching process maybe? Any thoughts or suggestions as to which is the better option?
I would be interested to find out the various parameters for the D7000 and 16mm/20mm combination as well, if readily available.
Any information or advise would be very much appreciated. Thanks.


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Juvenile Huntington disease
- Huntington disease, juvenile onset
- Juvenile onset HD
Newline Maker
What are the signs and symptoms of Juvenile Huntington disease?
The Human Phenotype Ontology provides the following list of signs and symptoms for Juvenile Huntington disease. If the information is available, the table below includes how often the symptom is seen in people with this condition. You can use the MedlinePlus Medical Dictionary to look up the definitions for these medical terms.
The Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) has collected information on how often a sign or symptom occurs in a condition. Much of this information comes from Orphanet, a European rare disease database. The frequency of a sign or symptom is usually listed as a rough estimate of the percentage of patients who have that feature.
The frequency may also be listed as a fraction. The first number of the fraction is how many people had the symptom, and the second number is the total number of people who were examined in one study. For example, a frequency of 25/25 means that in a study of 25 people all patients were found to have that symptom. Because these frequencies are based on a specific study, the fractions may be different if another group of patients are examined.
Sometimes, no information on frequency is available. In these cases, the sign or symptom may be rare or common.
- Huntington Disease. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). August 2010; http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/huntington/detail_huntington.htm. Accessed 3/15/2011.
- Huntington disease, juvenile onset
- Juvenile onset HD


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This question already has an answer here:
I recently bought an Sony Vaio SVS13A1V9EB, which has a RAID between two 64 GB SSDs and a Hybrid-graphics.
(Major Issue) I want to have Windows 7 (It is preinstalled) and Ubuntu on this notebook i.e. on the RAID Drive. In UEFI boot mode, the Ubuntu installation fails to start with both Alternate- and Live-CD, throwing an Kernel Panic error.
Does anyone have suggestions?
Thank you in advance!


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February 08, 2013
Facebook Feedback Friday: the best pizza in Cape Town
Yesterday evening we asked people who like the I ♥ Cape Town Facebook page: "Which restaurant serves the best pizza in Cape Town?" It generated a fierce debate, with hundreds of comments from our Facebook fans, but Posticino in Sea Point came out on tops, with the Col'Cacchio pizzeria franchise another very popular choice. Other places frequently mentioned included Borruso's in Kenilworth, and Ashley's Restaurant in Goodwood.
Check out a selection of their verbatim comments below:
Stuart-Lloyd Alderson: Posticino. No contest. Morituri isn't bad either. But Posticino is first prize.
Aldo Serci: I'm Italian, and i think the best pizza for me is Nonna Lina, but don't forget everyone has their own taste for pizza.
Alan Wagenaar: Pizza time in gatesville beats all pizza place's hands down
Lars Rosencrantz: Blue Peters, blouberstrand. Preferably with a cold beer on the lawn after a surf at big bay!
Nic Robertson: burrata, old biscuit mill – this was already voted on last year by some foodies including JP Rossouw, and have to agree – they are the only place that i have been to that make proper authentic pizzas
Claire Chivell: Brass Bell in Kalk Bay and Red Herring in Noordhoek
Gerard Bergstedt: You have not lived untill you've had a pizza from, Borruso's, in, Kenilworth, or, Rondebosch!
Keenan Ryan Syster: ASHLEY'S Family restaurant Hands down..
Roxi Newham-Blake: Casareccio in Hout Bay and Bardelli's in Town!
Debbie Hawtrey: Brugell's in Little Mowbray. Thin, crunchy base – delish!
Matthew Dylan Smith: The Brass bell in kalk bay hands down the best pizza's in cape town. The pizza's on the beach are even better. Just saying.
And if all that talk of delicious pizza is getting to you, you're not alone ...
Raschid Appoles: And now I'm so hungry, I'm heading straight for Posticino's now!
To receive excellent advice from people such as those listed above, like our Facebook page and interact as much as you like.


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Factory-AdaptWritten on June 13, 2005 Hot Rod Air's Retrofit A/C (and heat!) For trucks.
For anybody who's like me, the only thing you really know about air conditioning is that you like it. (Okay, there is one more thing I know--when it doesn't work!) Granted, I live in a region of the country where the summer temps literally blow the mercury out of the thermometer, and as you may have guessed, I drive my pickup daily. As we're approaching those dreaded summer months, I began to consider that I should "address" the climate control situation before it gets too late.
Now, when I say "address," I really should say, "rectify," as the existing A/C in my Cheyenne had been, well, heavily dissected due to a cam swap (don't ask...just remember that the condenser is on front of the radiator, which needs to come out to allow room to slide the cam out). Nevertheless, the factory unit was pretty much trash, so I don't believe an R&R was what I wanted to embark upon. At the same time, I didn't really want a fully aftermarket A/C-heat unit, either. What to do?
My question was answered earlier last year when Hot Rod Air introduced their Factory Control Adapt units. Basically, their new units are just their average Elite Series (Standard, Standard SE, or Deluxe), except with one major difference--the controls. If your truck never came with A/C to begin with, then that won't play much importance in your decision-making. If, however, your truck did come with factory A/C and you're fairly fond of the stock controls, here's where this particular unit really shines. Instead of having to worry about replacing the stock controls with the modern ones that came with whichever unit you chose, Hot Rod Air will build a unit "around" your old controls. Simply remove your "working" controls--vacuum or cable-operated--ship to Hot Rod Air, and in a short amount of time, the delivery man will return your controls, with an Elite Series A/C-heat unit attached!
The other benefit to using the Factory Control Adapt unit is the Elite Series under-dash evaporator. Unlike your old unit, which took up plenty of space in the engine compartment, the all-inclusive Hot Rod Air evaporator will mount concealed behind your dash, allowing you to clean up your firewall all nice-like. In some cases, you may have to sacrifice glovebox space, but in this situation, I'd gladly give up my entire glovebox for air conditioning!
Suffice it to say, after hearing about the new units, one was ordered for the '75 Cheyenne. When it arrived, complete with the modified controls and a full Alan Grove mounting bracket kit, we (the collective "we" being myself and Installation Jason) set out to adapt and install. Of course, the majority of the first day was spent tearing out the remains of the factory components, which included an elaborate molded-plastic ducting system. With all the antiquated remains out of the way, we were able to get the Elite evaporator hung, strung and singing in no time. Dealing with the "underhood" necessities like the compressor, drier and condenser were straightforward, as well.
About the only part of the entire install that took some creative thinking was the routing of the ducts/registers. Keep in mind, if you're dealing with a late-'60s or early-'70s pickup, the registers may not "take" to the universal ducting like you'd want. Hot Rod Air's Factory Control Adapt kits are more universal than direct replacement once they've modified your controls, so be prepared to perform further adapting. In our case, we ordered brand-new registers from Chevy Duty--the only people outside the dealership we could find that carried them--and then got clever with adapting the 2 1/2-inch flexible ducting (let's just say Home Depot was our friend that day). You may find easier or cheaper alternatives, but just know ahead of time that the round ducting supplied won't fit square registers!
With all that said and done, we got the lines crimped and the unit charged by Quality Air. And it was during this final stage that we also learned a valuable lesson: It is imperative that you crimp all your high-pressure lines with the appropriate crimp. In other words, don't crimp R12-style if you're using R134, which pretty much every unit on the market is these days! An R12 crimp will hold the higher pressure of 134, but not for long. Do it right the first time!
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Air conditioning is cool--literally. You may not need it in some regions of the world, but it's pretty safe to say that the majority of us greatly appreciate it. The folks at Hot Rod Air have made it even easier for those of us with original A/C-equipped (non-working!) pickups with their Factory Control Adapt Elite Series systems.The "adapt" portion refers to the controls. Hot Rod Air takes your controls (keep that in mind, as they do not have shelves full of OE control panels, so it's necessary that you send them yours)......and integrates them with one of their Elite Series kits. Cable- or vacuum-style, they can retrofit pretty much most systems out there.Here are the old factory components--emphasis on "old"--which we were originally dealing with. While an OE rehab was something to consider, it was nowhere near cost-prohibitive, especially considering that some of the parts had literally been torn out and discarded to perform other work!And here's the old evaporator unit. Its crusty appearance reflects the condition of the internals. Actually, just a month prior, the heater core let go, making for a nice mess of coolant on the carpet!As with most any job, the removal aspect went fairly quickly--and it helped that we didn't have to keep any of the parts coming out, so a little strong-arming here and there didn't hurt....Unfortunately, the new evaporator will require the glovebox to be slightly modified, but that's a minute price to pay for the benefits that lie ahead.
After Jason had filled up the gaping holes left from the stock A/C unit, he located the new aluminum bulkhead for the fluid hose to pass through the firewall and into the evaporator.Hot Rod Air supplied us with a variety of crimp-style and threaded hose fittings. Four 90-degree fittings were sufficient for the interior side of the firewall......(Also note that the bulkhead is equipped with the appropriate threaded fittings for water/Freon lines.Next, we moved onto mounting of the hard parts, specifically the compressor and a new Powermaster alternator. When ordering a kit (from anyone for that matter), always consider and be specific about the configuration of your engine's components, (i.e. alternator/power steering pump location), as well as water pump style--long or short.For a number of reasons--mainly plumbing the compressor--we opted for a left-side alternator mount. The supplied Alan Grove brackets are laser cut plain steel (and also bolt up nicely), so you have the option of final finish.Obviously, the compressor mounts on the right side of the engine, which made the routing of the fluid lines much easier. Also note that you can "clock" the compressor so that the coolant lines point further downward if you desire.Wrapping up the hard parts installation, the condenser and drier were mounted in front of the radiator, behind the grille. In this situation, we are running a dual electric fan behind the radiator, so keeping the condenser cool won't be a problem. If you happen to run into heat problems with a single mechanical fan, flip to the "Back Up Cool" story in this issue.
Before we closed the hood, the remainder of the fluid lines were routed and hooked-up. For the crimping of the fittings, we opted to have our refrigerant specialist, Ron Gimenez, handle that before he charged the system.Back inside the cab, Jason remounted the factory control panel. Note that it's not as new and shiny-looking as we'd like; we were unable to locate a new one for this particular application ('75 C10). Earlier models--and even later ones--are plentiful.Getting the registers mated to the 2 1/2-inch flexible ducting was not quite as easy, as the center vent features a "rectangular" outlet and the outers have two different diameters--each larger than 2 1/2 inches!A quick trip to Home Depot landed us with the necessary "adaptation" goods to make everything work together. Probably not nearly as factory--let alone professional--as the original ducting, but the cold air gets to and out of the vents just as easily as before!On top of the brand-new registers, we also ordered a new factory-style dashpad from Chevy Duty as well.Finally, the only component that Hot Rod Air cannot integrate into the factory control panel is the temperature dial. A separate dial knob is supplied for that function, which we mounted slightly out of sight towards the bottom of the dash.


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Do you have an obligation to go to the mikvah erev Yom Kippur.
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Rambam writes in his preface to his Commentary on the Mishnah that one who rejects "minhagei Yisrael" - customs that are considered valid and universal in Torah Judaism, on him the verse is applied "One who knocks down a fence will be bitten by a snake." (Definitely something bad!)
That being said, the custom to immerse in the mikvah on erev Yom HaKippurim is brought in Shulhan Aruch, O.C. Siman 606, S'if 5. It is universally accepted among all Torah Observant Halachic authorities, Ashkenazic, Sefardic, Yemenite, etc. The Aruch HaShulhan uses the wording "Nahagu kohl Yisrael (All Jews are accustomed...). (Ibid. Si'if 5) It definitely fits the term "minhag Yisrael"!
It is referred to as a mitzvah, not as hovah, literally meaning that it is not obligatory. (Kitzur SA 131,6) This just means that the precautions taken for an immersion that is actually required by the Torah do not apply. It does not mean that the minhag is optional. If one absolutely cannot immerse (e.g. too sick), then the pouring of 9 kabin of water over the body is acceptable for this immersion. There are those who maintain that standing completely under a fully opened shower for a while would fulfill the 9 kabin requirement. (Halichos Olam Page 179)


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This performance is a conceptual piece. There is no notated sheet-music, only descriptive instructions. The composer will conduct the performance.
This performance is a conceptual piece. There is no notated sheet-music, only descriptive instructions. The composer will conduct the performance.
Revision as of 21:33, 22 June 2013
- The Second Triannual NOISE JAM
- A concert of handmade, hand-wired, and hand-coded instruments.
- Sunday, June 23rd, 2013, 8 pm
- Location: in the Hackatorium, front room at Noisebridge, facing Mission Street.
- Duration: about 15 minutes
The Noisebridge Orchestra is a free and open ensemble of handmade, hand-wired, and hand-coded instruments. Anyone in the Noisebridge community (which means, everyone on planet Earth) can be a member of the orchestra.
Music performed by the Orchestra gives meaning and shape to Noise. Noise is a bridge to enlightenment: a Noisebridge.
The Noise Jam is a participatory ritual. A way for the NB community to come together, away from the dramas, the list, the meetings, the talk. A way to bring together disparate, solo hacks into a unified collaboration. The Noise Jam is a celebration of the freedom that Noisebridge embodies.
To help to set up chairs, work with the PA, Recordist, Welcomer, Snack Wrangler, Videographer, Photographer. Contact firstname.lastname@example.com.
This performance is a conceptual piece. There is no notated sheet-music, only descriptive instructions. The composer will conduct the performance.
Chaos is the source of life in the Universe. When we become one with chaos, then we can begin to give shape and meaning to chaos, to transform into something which is not chaos. Hence, noise is a path. A bridge. A noise bridge.
Some ask for a moment of silence; I ask for a moment of noise.
- Bedlam: During this movement, all instruments are encouraged to play loudly and raucously. Players should play with no regard for the other instruments, and should step on each other's sounds with gusto. Wake the audience up! 5 min.
- Whisper: This movement will begin with the quietest instruments in the Orchestra. Throughout the movement, players are asked to play as quietly as possible, and to listen carefully to the other instruments. Lull the audience into a dreamlike state. 5 min.
- Pulse: Players will play on and around a slow, steady pulse, increasing in tempo during the movement, until it ends in high-speed frenzy. Give the audience a heart attack. 5 min.
If you build your own instrument (of mineral, vegetable, circuitry, or code), then you've already passed the audition. No music experience required.
- You must build or program your own instrument.
- No unaltered, pre-recorded music.
Software, hardware (electronic), mechanical, metal, wood, traditional acoustic, percussive/rhythmic, tonal/melodic, atonal/unpitched, live processing of other instrument sounds during the performance, group-built instruments, circuit bending, hacked acoustic instruments, electro-acoustic (pickups or contact mics), flesh and bone, amplified vegetables.
Performance Etiquette:
- Don't be continuously louder than everyone else.
- Be silent more than you play
- Play in just one pitch range-- high, middle, or low. Not all three (there are exceptions, depending on your instrument).
- Don't dominate the sound-space (unless directed to).
(Note: this project is about good vibes and good humor. No drama please, and let's not take ourselves too seriously :)
- Setup: Sunday, 4 pm
- Rehearsal: Sunday, 5 pm
If you want to perform in the Noise Jam on Sunday, contact firstname.lastname@example.com ASAP.
Join the Sound-Hacks mailing list, for music hacking discussion and announcements: https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/sound-hacks


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You support Ujpest or someone similar? Guy I used to work with in Prague was from Dunajska Streda and supported DAC as well as Ujpest. Still remember that brutal game a few years back where all the hardcore Hungarian nationalists went to their game with Slovan and were basically crippled by the brutal Slovak police. Was a bloodbath. Awful to see for any fan.
Tbh losing your best defender is bad but it could be good in the long running. Sell on players for such large amounts is the only way to grow such a small club. Sign talented youngsters on frees, play them for a year or two and then sell them on to a big club at a big profit. Just make sure you re-invest the funds well if your board actually give you any! (Mine never seem to cos the clubs I always manage seem to be broke).


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I'm making pickles. What do you want to do(-it-yourself)?
Out of some bizarre survivalist urge, and the desire for more (food) knowledge, I've set out on a quest to make and jar pickles. What skills do you think you should have? Post-apocalyptic check-lists?
(Next up: pie!)
15 Answers answer
Everyone upvote! It's a mod question, guaranteed to go sky high!
Get it while it's still hot!
Mutten bustin
Make mayonnaise with nothing but eggs, oil, and lemon juice. If you can do that, you can do just about anything.
Good luck making pie next-the key ingredient is a buttery, flaky crust. Yummy!
Get thee a decent sized food processor and use this recipe for the BEST and painfully easiest pie crust you can make: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_pie_crust/
Yes, it's an all butter crust, but hell, it's PIE! It can be used for sweet dessert pies or pot pies. Pot pies on a cold & dreary winter day are the best. I promise you fantastic results if you follow the recipe.
3d printing. I soooo want a makerbot :)
And money. My own printing press would be nice.
I started making beef jerky a few months ago. It's super easy and I LOVE trying out new flavors. I always wanted to try pickles. Is the process easy. I know I can google it but I like first hand info much more.
Buffalo Beef jerky = amazing btw
I love Korean food but I can't afford to go to our local restaurant very often so I learned how to make a few dishes at home. You can buy pre-made jars of kim-chi at the local asian market but I can't eat a lot of cabbage so I learned how to make kim chi out of cucumbers.
So far I can make bulgogi, beef galbi, cucumber kim chi and tak toritang. I really want to make some dol sot bibimbap but it looks like so much work.
Yogurt! I think I'm going to start a blog sometime, it's sure tasty AND healthy AND simple!
@triplebud: Deer jerky is awesome too. Unfortunately I don't know any hunters so I've only tried it once or twice :)
@tippypaws: if I could get my hands on some venison I'd definitely make deer jerky. I've had stew, steak and jerky. I only like the jerky. Everything else tastes gamey if you know what I mean.
@triplebud: Deer chili tastes like normal chili. I guess all the spices over-ride the gaminess of it.
@omnichad: Ooh, that's a good one. I've always heard that's one of those soufflé kind of things: hard to master, but totally worth it.
@triplebud: Yes! Though it does take some time. The USDA guide seems to be the go-to resource for pickling information: http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/usda/GUIDE%206%20Home%20Can.pdf
Mostly, it seems to be make a brine, make sure everything is clean, then wait for delicious food. Easier than makin' dinner.
@gatzby: Get one of the Ball "Blue Books" for canning. If you can still find one, an older Kerr canning book is even better. The Kerr books are out of print (but often appear in second hand stores). The blue book is still available on Amazon, and hasn't really changed all that much for years (other than the addition of some recipes).
Pickling is easy.
(I only show the Kerr one as an example. No way should you give someone $100 for it.)
This is also good:


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After falling short in both halves of an April 6 doubleheader at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., the Bobcat baseball team roared back, scored 26 runs and routed Benedictine in both halves of an April 7 doubleheader.
Benedictine College beat the Bobcats 6-5 and 9-4 on April 6 before Peru State picked up wins by scores of 10-1 and 16-3 a day later. In other recent action, Peru State beat Nebraska Wesleyan, 7-5 on April 4 and split a doubleheader at home against Central Methodist on April 3, losing by the count of 6-2 and winning by the score of 8-2.
Counting the results from last week, the Bobcats are now 15-15 overall and 8-8 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play.
Peru State is scheduled to return to action at 6 p.m. Wednesday for a nine-inning game against the Midland University Warriors at Nebraska City.
Other games coming up on the schedule include back-to-back doubleheaders against Avilla University in Kansas City on April 13 and 14. Game times are 1 and 3 p.m. on both days.
The Bobcats will play Baker University in back-to-back home doubleheaders on April 20 and 21. Game times are 1 and 3 p.m. on both days.
Location, ST | website.com