Mín Englisc Blog

While reading today from the Reformed Presbyterian (one of two RPCNA denominational magazines in the 1840s and 1850s), I read an article by then-future RP minister J.L. McCartney, father of the prominent Presbyterian preacher Clarence Macartney. This article consisted of travel notes as McCartney travelled in Europe, primarily in Scotland, where he met Miss Catherine Robertson, the future Mrs McCartney; in many of these paragraphs, he deals with religious questions. Here's a quote from a year in the late 1850s (don't remember the year for sure), perhaps 1859:

The "badges of idolatry"—gown and bands—are worn by all Presbyterian clergymen, except Cameronians [RP Church of Scotland].

Since when is a ministerial gown a badge of idolatry? How would the minister's wearing of a gown (1) induce you toward worshipping the minister, (2) induce you toward worshipping anything else that's not God, or (3) induce you toward worshipping God in an improper way? And how is a type of extended clerical collar any more idolatrous than the gown?

On a less absurd note, we had a joyous occasion at church today: two people (both Geneva seniors) officially joined the congregation, one of whom had never been a professed member of a church before.

Just now, when I was filling out my absentee ballot for this election — it's rather ironic that I'm voting right now, as most of today's work has been with RP history! — I was surprised to see all the presidential/vice presidential candidates on the ballot. Obama/Biden? No surprise. McCain/Palin? No surprise. Baldwin/Castle (Constitution)? Interesting. Barr/Root (Libertarian)? Interesting. Nader/Gonzalez (independent)? Interesting. McKinney/Clemente (Green)? Somewhat surprised. Moore/Alexander (Socialist)? Rather surprised. Duncan/Johnson (independent)? Who are they? I had to go online to find out about these guys; as they have no campaign website, all I know about them is from this story from the ''Plain Dealer''. Somehow I doubt that these people will get elected, as I can imagine the Socialists (I didn't know that they'd been on the ballot for many years) having a far greater chance of winning. Ah well...it's interesting being able to vote while sitting on my bed, listening to some divertimenti written by Mozart :-)

Due to technical problems that I had with the required submission of my political science paper online, I only just now got it on; thankfully, this accidental lateness won't hurt me much. The website to which I must submit the paper is "turnitin.com", which checks to ensure that I've not plagiarised the paper; as soon as I upload the paper, I can see the website's review of the paper. What's funny is the odd bits that it tags: among other things, the professor requires each paper to include the exact same declaration that it was authored by the student submitting it (I suppose to ensure that we can't claim that we didn't know that we shouldn't plagiarise?), and the website flags that statement as possible plagiarism, since many papers have been submitted with the same text :-)

I'm finally done with the paper for my political science class, on which I've worked since late evening. It would have been nice to have begun it sooner, but my schedule has been so busy that I didn't really have time to do much of anything until today — and if the paper were (like most papers are) in a double-spaced twelve-point font, rather than the single-spaced ten-point font permitted by my professor, this would be slightly more than nine full pages of text. I'm glad that such papers don't normally come about, and that I don't have much of any work due next week — as a result, I should have time to work a bit at the library, I'll be able to catch up on reading for my Russian literature course, and I'll be able to research (including carrying out interviews) for my Senior Seminar paper.

In the name of God,
the Benevolent,
the Merciful.
Praise is proper to God,
Lord of the universe,
the Benevolent,
the Merciful,
Ruler of the Day of Requital.
It is You we serve,
to You we turn for help.
Show us the straight path,
the path of those You have favored,
not of those who are objects of anger,
nor of those who wander astray.

Any idea what this is?

As part of course requirements for a class this semester, I'm reading bits out of the magazine Sojourners, the current issue of which includes a story by a woman who was with a Christian peacemaking group in Iraq: when a member of her group was killed, she accompanied the coffin to the airplane, whence it was flown back to the United States. Also flown back was the body of an Iraqi prisoner who had died in US custody. According to her narrative, she tried to recite the above text in the original, but couldn't. I don't have any problem with any of the words or the entire narrative (the statements are either true of God or valid prayers to him), but in this context she plainly means it differently, the Bismallah, the first surah of the Qur'an — why should a woman who claims the title of a Presbyterian minister recite an alien scripture in this context?

"Belle Center bank robbed"

According to the local paper at home, the "Union Banking Co. in Belle Center was robbed Friday afternoon for the second time in just over four years." The robbers last time were caught, so they know it was someone different.

Reading this article from Time from 1933, I came across an interesting bit about the Marx Brothers' film Duck Soup:

Mayor Harry B. Hickey of Fredonia, N. Y. protested to the Marxes: "The name of Fredonia has been without a blot since 1817. I feel it is my duty as Mayor to question your intentions in using the name of our city in your picture." Back cracked the Marxes: "Your excellency: Our advice is that you change the name of your town. It is hurting our picture. Anyhow, what makes you think you are Mayor of Fredonia? Do you wear a black moustache, play the harp, speak with an Italian accent or chase girls like Harpo? We are certain you do not. Therefore we must be Mayor of Fredonia, not you. The old gray Mayor ain't what he used to be."

Back from a visit home for fall break. We met with doctors in Cleveland today and got positive results, but I can't post now (nearly bedtime).
Tonight, I finished proofreading the minutes of the Synod of 1823, leaving me just six synods' worth of minutes to proof. As I go through this process, I've used the read-aloud feature of Adobe Acrobat, and it's been interesting to see its quirks. For example, "Dr." is sometimes read aloud as "Drive" (i.e. "4 Privet Drive") and sometimes as "Doctor" (i.e. "Doctor Jones' Neurology"), with no reason that I could realise: Bill suggested that it depended on the context, but one sentence was read "Revs. Gavin McMillan, Drive Wylie, Doctor McLeod, and John Gibson are that committee." This apparently proves that it's not the context, but what is it?

Talk about an interesting sign! This one lies between the towns of Buffalo and Bison in northwestern South Dakota.

According to reports, the titular government of Somalia has authorised the navies of multiple several states to enter Somali territorial waters, apparently without per-incident permission, in order to combat piracy. Combined with increasing international awareness of the problem, this might lead to a reduction in piracy off that coast: in the past, ships chasing pirates had to stop at the edge of Somali territorial waters.

Sorry for no posts most of the week; although the wireless returned permanently on Tuesday, I've been quite busy in many ways, and I've not really had time to post much.