Blog friend (but dire enemy of Lars Forkbeard) Hunter Baker says he “agreed to do an essay on The Communist Manifesto for John Mark Reynolds new Great Books reader.”

Beloved Pictures has announced it is developing an adaptation of N.D. Wilson’s “100 Cupboards” trilogy. Wilson is also adapting C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce and appears to have a head of steam behind it. According to this article, The Screwtape Letters has been “developing” for several years. I wonder if studios are balking at its Christianity.

The IPCC consensus on climate change was phoney, says IPCC insider. By trying to establish consensus, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has set itself up for critical slams. Criticism has been ignored; uncertainty marginalized.

Here’s a critique of a rebuttal of the post linked above from the IPCC insider with egg on his face.

Tony Woodlief has a good column on so many people’s acceptance of pornography. The damage is never limited they way many argue. “How dare anyone deprive these women of their self-esteem,” he asks, “by telling them that, in blunt terms, they’re simply taking off their clothes for money and applause?”

Apparently, the Nampa Classical Academy of Boise, Idaho, received praise from school officials in 2008 and several months following for its curriculum plans. Now, things have changed.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed an appeal Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, contesting a federal judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit that challenges the Idaho Public Charter School Commission’s across-the-board ban on the use of texts and documents deemed to be “religious.” ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit on behalf of Nampa Classical Academy last November after the commission threatened to revoke the academy’s charter if it used the Bible or other religious texts on its classroom resource list for any purpose whatsoever.

Yesterday, those who care, who give a rip, who find interest in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses (or perhaps just want another excuse to drink beer), did something or other to celebrate Bloomsday, June 16. For your literary edification, The Daily Beast has a run down of novels from various countries which have been called the Ulysses of that county. (via Literary Saloon)

In related news, Apple will not allow a webcomic version of Ulysses to be on its iPad product because of “frank nudity,” to quote the co-illustrator, Rob Berry. Though it wasn’t illustrated, Joyce’s novel was banned from the U.S. when it was released in 1920. Several years later, Random House staged a customs incident to get the courts to review the ban, and judges released it for print in 1934.

My mortal enemy, the unspeakable Hunter Baker (don’t buy his book) relates a positive experience with colleagues in his new teaching gig, over at his blog.

A female colleague in the sciences opened our discourse by asking the philosopher, “Why did you find this author’s argument either intereresting or persuasive?” She quickly followed that by adding, “Because I didn’t.” In many circles, her question and comment would set up a quick ending to the discussion. Instead, she merely piqued our interest as the philosopher patiently explained his choice and his opinion. Soon, we were well down the road in trying to find some common ground. Before I knew it, over two hours had passed.

Maybe there’s hope for the nation after all.

Stefan Kanfer has a fascinating article over at City Journal about a man who has always been (in an ambivalent sort of way) one of my personal heroes—the cartoonist Al Capp, creator of Li’l Abner (thanks to Daniel Crandall of The American Culture for the tip).

Back in its heyday, during the Great Depression, World War II, and the Fifties, Li’l Abner occupied a place in the American consciousness for which it’s hard to find an analog in today’s world. Back then everybody—except members of the most extreme religious communities—read the daily comics. Comic strips were what network TV used to be (but also is no more). If there were a page on the internet that everybody in the country visited every day, that would be something like what Li’l Abner was back then. When Abner finally gave up his fight to remain a bachelor and married Daisy Mae, the nation rejoiced (or grieved, depending on their point of view). Continue reading No feather in his Capp →

A few thoughts on how can Christians appreciate non-Christian art

It was a quiet weekend at home for me, the first in some time. The rain delayed, giving me a chance to do some of the yard work I haven’t been able to get to before. And I made at least a token effort to clean the house (I might mention that I love the Swiffer Wet Jet. This is the mop I’ve waited for all my life. I’m sure it’s environmentally evil, what with chemicals and throw-away pads and all, but I’ll just keep it as my personal iniquity, until the EPA pries it from my cold, dead hands).

Sunday evening I drove down to Rochester (Minnesota, not New York. The place where the original Mayo Clinic is) to meet some distant relatives. Two shirttail cousins and their wives. One of them comments on this blog, but I’d never met him personally before. He’s here on vacation. We shared family stories, and I slipped into Lecturer Mode, explaining at length about Norwegian history, naming customs, and immigration patterns, among other things. In spite of that, they paid for my dinner.

I got from them yet another version of how our family acquired the British name, Walker. This one says the change was made at the urging of a local banker in Iowa, a relation by marriage. He is said to have told my great-grandfather’s brother he ought to change his name to “get ahead” in America. He then picked out Walker himself, because it sounded vaguely like “Kvalevaag,” the name of the farm this ancestor had come from.

So now I have three different versions. I’m not sure what conclusions to draw from all the disinformation. Maybe the Walker brothers were spies, and this was all deep cover.

We wondered about another odd circumstance, that although the two brothers weren’t many years apart in age (my great-grandfather was the younger), and although these two fellows I had dinner with are roughly in my age range, we have a full generation difference in our genealogies. In other words, while my ancestor is my great-grandfather, their ancestor (his brother) was their grandfather. In fact, their father is still alive. I guess a couple young marriages in my family tree account for the differences.

Anyway, I had a jolly time, and if they read this, here’s my thanks.