iConfess

Let's try this again, shall we?


So, there's an interesting new iPhone app that's climbing the charts. I'll let the press release explain it:

South Bend, IN—Little iApps, LLC is pleased to announce the release of Confession: A Roman Catholic App, its very first application for iPhone™, iPad, and iPod touch®. Developed for those who frequent the sacrament and those who wish to return, this confession helper is priced at $1.99 and is available for download at the iTunes store. This announcement follows directly on the heels of Pope Benedict’s message for the 45th World Communications Day address in which he emphasized that new media, “if used wisely, can contribute to the satisfaction of the desire for meaning, truth and unity which remain the most profound aspirations of each human being.”

Designed to be used in the confessional, this app is the perfect aid for every penitent. With a personalized examination of conscience for each user, password protected profiles, and a step-by-step guide to the sacrament, this app invites Catholics to prayerfully prepare for and participate in the Rite of Penance. Individuals who have been away from the sacrament for some time will find Confession: A Roman Catholic App to be a useful and inviting tool.

That's right, an app to help you in the confessional! Just what this world needs! (Seriously, have you been paying attention to what's going on out there? Confession is just the thing for it.) I, personally, haven't picked it up yet. A) I already know how to make a good confession, thank you very much, and B) storing a "personalized examination of conscience" on a portable, easily-lost-or-stolen device makes me uncomfortable, password-protected or no.

But this app is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, it's the first iPhone, iPod, or iPad app to receive a nihil obstat and imprimatur. Secondly, it was written by one of my college buddies, Patrick, who I went to Austria with, and shared a house with my senior year.

He didn't write it by himself, mind. Anyways, the app has been doing very well in the app store, making its way into the top 25 paid apps in the "Lifestyles" section, almost surpassing the "Adult Sex Game HD" app in terms of popularity.

Interesting juxtaposition

So, if you're new to the sacrament, or a frequent-goer, perhaps you could check out my friend's app? I'll let him close out this post:

Pope Benedict’s general prayer intention for January 2011 was, “that young people may learn to use modern means of social communication for their personal growth and to better prepare themselves to serve society.” Little iApps developer and co-founder, Patrick Leinen, said, “Our desire is to invite Catholics to engage in their faith through digital technology. Taking to heart Pope Benedict XVI’s message from last years’ World Communications Address, our goal with this project is to offer a digital application that is truly ‘new media at the service of the Word.’ The app has already aided one man in returning to the sacrament after 20 years. We hope many more will take advantage of this new confession resource.”

Cosplay Twenty-Ten

A look at some of The Creative Murloc's costumes from the last year.


So the Murloc's cosplay year began in April, with Ye Olde Renaissance Faire. Not being pregnant this year, she wore the same (rented) costume that she wore two years previous. Let's compare her pre-and post-pregnancy:

She certainly fills out the dress a bit more. Not that I'm complaining, mind.

The bodice must be tighter the second time around.

As usual, she got her hair done.


Next up was Comic-Con (also known as "Everything-Nerdy-And-Some-Things-Not-Oh-And-A-Comic-Book-Or-Two-Con").

Beware of sinister Murlocs sneaking into cons.

This year, we had to tag team, so were not there on the same days. Friday, she went to Comic-Con, but I fool her; I no show up. Instead, she went with her delightfully cheerful, friendly, and charitable friend, Manny Gonzalez from Blizzard, who took these pictures. (Of Manny, it has been said, "I've only seen him upset once. It was like watching Santa Claus cry.")

She wore her Sith costume again this year, with a modification...

...a corset!

Now, I have no objections, mind, particularly if you consider my Google search history:

Don't judge me.

"Sweetie? Can I buy a leather corset for my Sith costume? It's only $145."

Beware of corset-wearing, lightsaber-wielding Sith.

This left me in the uncomfortable position of either seeing my wife in a corset or, y'know, eating. (Off topic, I've lost nearly ten pounds on the poor man's diet. Ask me how!)

I'm strangely aroused and fearful for my life.

Red-headed Leia and purple-eyed, brunette Sith-in-a-corset. Sounds like a set up for something..

Speaking of fantasies.

Corset-Sith with Leeloo

Corset-Sith! Coming soon to a toy store near you! I'll take a dozen!

Dunno who this is. I mean the one on the right. I know who my wife is. Most of the time. At other times, she turns into a corset-wearing, lightsaber wielding dominatrix.

High five!

Obi-Wan never had to fight corset-wearing Sith. I wonder how he would have fared.

Corset-Sith with Little Richard plushy from Looking For Group comics.

Penny Arcade's Mike "Gabe" Krahulik and Jerry "Tycho" Holkins are not comfortable being around Corset-Sith.

For BlizzCon (also known as "BlizzCon"). The Murloc re-wore her Blood Elf costume, last seen at 2007's BlizzCon.

Front: Blood Elf Mage. Back: Illidan. Not Pictured: Man eating five batteries.

This costume got her on the front page of Yahoo News.

She re-did the staff. The guy who did it the first time didn't put a lot of effort into the lights, so they didn't shine very brightly. This year, she worked with Shawn Crosby, aka Obi-Shawn, aka H-Wing Shawn to improve the lighting system.

Lights!

You remember Shawn? He got me into Comic-Con this year (he had a spare badge, and they had sold out before I got a pass). Mad-eye Moody Shawn?

Awesome guy. Good with props and, apparently, cars.

Not cosplay related, but why did 10,000 gamer geeks travel collectively millions of miles? To play Bejeweled, of course!

For the eve of the feast of All Hallows (or better known as "Halloween" amongst pagans), The Murloc dressed as the only type of red-shirt that doesn't get killed:

Focus! Focus!

...the red-dress. More likely to be seduced by Kirk then randomly killed when beaming down to an unknown planet.

Complete with sixties-style beehive.

Captain Babyface, First Officer Foureyes, and Yeoman Sexymama.

Speaking of Halloween, this is what our condo looked like for the event.

Yes, we did buy a fog machine.

 Except, y'know, in focus.

Not pictured: eerie music and sound effects.

 It looked like it was on fire when you approached it from down the street.

We carved three pumpkins (well, one on Halloween, but we ran out of time, so The Murloc carved the other two on November 1st).

Not really a costume, but for the Blizzard company Christmas party, The Murloc dressed up once more.

She tried to wear this dress to the Blizzard party last year, but it didn't fit for two great big reasons.

As in previous years, she wanted to get her hair done like a movie starlet. This year's choice was Kate Beckinsale from Van Helsing.

Another corset!

She also painted her nails silver.

Keeps the werewolves at bay.

The Good Doctor

A day late, but oh well.

"To the Angelic Doctor, we owe the concordance of philosophy and religion, and the admonition never to cite revelation in the proof of a philosophical proposition. Centuries before, Origen had called God the author of two books: scripture and nature. Because of this, Aquinas held that if revelation seemed to conflict with nature, one or the other (or both) had not been properly understood." ~Michael Flynn, "The Age of Faith and Reason"

Since yesterday was the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, perhaps we can reflect on how the wisdom of the Dumb Ox has shaped the course of philosophy and how much our modern scientific age owes its metaphysical assumptions to him. Perhaps we should celebrate, as Mike Flynn suggests, by doing something logical.

Elsewhere around the interblogs, Mark Shea is celebrating by discussing whether or not Friday really was the feast of St. Thomas.

This Is Not a Baby

Why would the ultrasound technician use the incorrect terminology? One would think that trained medical professionals would know the difference.

His heart beats at a rapid 175 beats per minute but he is not alive.

We can see his arms, legs, fingers, toes, ribcage, nose, genitalia, and both hemispheres of his developing brain, yet he is merely a "blob of tissue" which can be removed like an appendix or the tonsils.

Indeed, we even know that he is a "he", but he isn't really.

His eye and hair color have already been determined. He has a unique set of genes, one that has never been seen before and will never be seen again in the history of the human race. Everything that makes him human is there. But he is only potentially human. Not "fully" human.

In time, as his muscles and organs form and grow, he will suck his thumb, yawn, cry, and blink his eyes. He will act just like a newborn baby outside of the womb, but he won't yet be a baby until he is born.

These are the facts that inform our society, our laws, and our beliefs.

“This is the paradox of America’s unborn. No life is so desperately sought after, so hungrily desired, so carefully nurtured. And yet no life is so legally unprotected, and so frequently destroyed.”

*RESPECT LIFE*

Shopping for a Delli Sandwich

If buying a sandwich were like shopping for a computer from Dell.
(Inspired by Shamus Young: "PC Hardware is 'Toast'".)

INT. "The Delli"

"Hi, how can I help you?"

"I'd like a ham sandwich on rye with swiss cheese."

"I'm sorry, we don't sell sandwiches like that."

"What, you don't sell ham sandwiches? Or on rye bread?"

"No, we have ham sandwiches and rye bread, but we don't sell them in that manner."

"You mean custom made to order?"

"No, we have custom-made sandwiches but—lemme just explain. We've determined that to serve our customers better, it's most efficient if we offer different lines of sandwiches, each tailored for a particular customer demographic's needs."

"Ok... tell me about your sandwich lines."

"Well, we have the Latitude line of sandwiches for our business user who need best-in-class sandwich reliability. Our Vostro line is popular with small business eaters who need a filling sandwich for not too much money. Our Inspiron sandwiches are great for home and home office eaters who need style and satisfaction from their lunches. And our Alienware line is best for power-eaters who want top-of-the-line sandwich performance."

"That... means nothing to me. Do any of them have ham on rye with swiss?"

"You can get that with just about any of our sandwich lines."

"Ok. Then—I don't know—I guess I need a Vostro ham sandwich? On rye with swiss?"

"Well, we have several different Vostro sandwich models to choose from."

"What's the difference between them?"

"Well, mainly bread size and the amount of meat."

"Ok, I see on your menu that you offer a Vostro V130 on two slices of rye. Can I get that?"

"Sure, but the V130 line doesn't have a cheese option. If you want cheese, you'll need to get either the Vostro 3300 or the Vostro 1014, but keep in mind the 1014 comes on three slices of rye."

"Um, I think I only want two slices. I'll go with the Vostro 3300."

"Ok, we have several different configurations of the Vostro 3300. Do you want the 'essential', 'enhanced', or 'ship fast' configuration?"

"Ship fast?"

"Yeah, we pre-build the most popular sandwiches so that we have them available and ready to go when you order."

"That sounds good. What's on it?"

"It comes with mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and onions."

"Can I get it without the onions?"

"Not in the Vostro line. There's a similar Latitude sandwich—the E4310—that comes without the onions, but it's $200 more expensive."

"Um... I think I'll just pick the onions off myself then, thanks."

"Great. So you wanted the Vostro 3300 fast ship with ham on rye. American cheese OK?"

"Can I get it with swiss?"

"Not with the ship fast option. If you go with the enhanced configuration option, you can choose from five different cheeses and three different meats, but it'll take two weeks to make your sandwich."

"TWO WEEKS?!?!"

"Yeah, it's a non-standard build, so it takes our factory a little extra time. But for an extra $100, we can express ship it, and you'll get it in 7 business days."

"You know what? Forget it. I'll have an apple for lunch."

This is basically the experience I have every time I try to build a work computer with Dell, and I dare you to figure out their system. I went through it twice recently—once when configuring my new laptop and another time when configuring a new desktop for my co-worker.

See, for my home computer, I just by the parts I want, throw them into a case, and call it a day. But Dell doesn't allow you to buy computers that way. Instead, they have five different lines of eight different models of
ten different configurations of computers, and it's next to impossible to determine what's in each configuration and what options you have until you've drilled all the way to the bottom level and started configuring it.

The first thing they ask you is if you want a home, small or medium, public sector, or large enterprise computer. They then offer you several different lines, each of which is described by meaningless buzz words that tell me nothing about the computer. You pick a line and are presented with several different models. The model number seems to correspond loosely to the screen size, but are indecipherable apart from that. For instance, the Vostro line of laptops have model numbers 1015, 1014, V13, V130, 3500, 3400, 3700, and 3300 (that's the order they're listed on the website). One of the numbers in the model name corresponds to the screen size. So for instance, the 1015 and 3500 both have 15.6" screens (see? The 5 in the model number?). The V13, V130, and 3300 all have 13.3" screens. But I dare you to determine from the model number alone which is better or has options for faster components or more memory.

So you pick a model and are presented with several different configurations, each of which can be further customized. Certain models also have a "fast ship" configuration that will ship in two business days instead of ten, but woe unto you if the fast ship configuration has one option you don't want. So I pick a certain configuration and start from there, only to find out that there's no option for 64-bit Windows, despite the fact that the computer offers 4GB of RAM (essentially, wasting a quarter gigabyte since 32-bit OSes can only address 3.25GB). So I go back out and pick another Vostro laptop model, and configure it with basically the same options. It has a 64-bit OS option, but is inexplicably $200 more, despite the fact the Microsoft doesn't charge differently for 32- vs. 64-bit OSes. Same processor, memory, HD size, and peripherals. Whatever, I'm not paying for it.

For curiousity, I also compare it against a Latitude and an Inspiron. The Inspiron doesn't have one of the options I like, and the Latitude is inexplicably $300 more expensive for the same options. It's at this point that I want to rip my hair out and see the Dell executives die in a fire. All I want is a small laptop, Intel Core iX processor, 4GB of memory or greater, 500GB hard drive, with Windows 7 64-bit. But any given line-model-configuration option will only have half those options and its impossible to tell which ones will until you've selected from about four hundred different possible builds. And heaven help you should you want to price compare. "How much extra would it be for a configuration with 6GB instead of 4GB memory?"

/Random

News in Briefs
News reported while wearing underwear.


Local Teen Arrested; Authorities Investigate Possible Sarah Palin Connection

Laguna Niguel, CA—A local teenager has been arrested for shoplifting from several stores in a Laguna Niguel shopping center. According to authorities, shopkeepers had suspected the 16-year-old male for some time, but after one store owner managed to catch the suspected thief on security camera, police were able to act to arrest the boy. According to the sheriff's office, they are also investigating a possible connection to former Alaska governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. During the recent midterm elections, Ms. Palin spoke frequently of the need to "take back" the house and her "kleptomaniacal rhetoric" may have spurred the boy to becoming a thief.


Link of the Day/Week/Month

John C. Wright’s Patented One Session Lesson in the Mechanics of Fiction

Far and away, the best introduction to fiction writing I've read.


Boring (Short) Political Rant
I'm going to try to post fewer of these and get back to my roots of humor, satire, and cat/baby pictures. I realized that all of my readers, save one, already agree with me. Of those that agree, they're all smarter than me anyways, so nothing I say will be particularly insightful. And the one dissenter will be unpersuaded by anything I have to say.


On the Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell


Were it not for the comment from Robert J. Wizard, a frequent and usually sensible commenter on John C. Wright's journal, that it's impossible for most men to go more than a year without masturbating, I would have a rather hard time understanding the opposition to DADT. I've always known that the sexual revolutionaries think chastity is unnecessary, or even perhaps evil. But what I hadn't clued into yet was that, at least subconsciously, they actually think it's impossible. So from this perspective, a policy like DADT, where gays are admitted to the military so long as they don't indulge their disordered desires, is akin to asking them not to breathe.

Once I realized this, I saw the mentality all over, from the opposition to abstinence-only education ("they're gonna do it anyways; might as well teach them to do it safely") to the hatred towards the Church's opposition to condoms in fighting AIDS (the Church sees the choice not to be promiscuous as safer than the choice to be promiscuous, but using condoms; the revolutionaries see the choice as using or not using condoms when being promiscuous).

But of course, this is neither here nor there. Just as the gay-rights advocates never ask what the purpose of marriage is when assuming it to be a right (to me, gay marriage seems kind of like a tampon for men), they also miss the point of the military. "The military's job," as Rush Limbaugh would say, "is to kill people and break things." The only real question is will allowing openly gay people to serve in the military help or hinder that job?

The "Death" of the Faith

When Pope Benedict XVI issued his apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum in 2007, there was criticism that the only people who would attend the Mass in the extraordinary form (in Latin, where the priest faces ad oriens, in the same direction as the people) were old people who grew up before the new "proper" Mass was instituted, and would only attend it out of some sense of nostalgia. Even in our own parish, some objected to the pastor that if the Mass was celebrated in a language people didn't understand, that attendance would drop off. It was certainly expected to drive away young people. Who would possibly want to attend Latin mass who hadn't grown up with it?

I smile to myself, thinking about this, as I walk around in the back of the church with Damien. Another father, I think his name's Michael, holds his two-year-old son, while one of his daughters—who looks about ten—takes up the collection with the other ushers. His wife sits in the row in front of Anne Marie, with their other son, and their other daughter sings in the choir.

Damien fidgets loose from my hold and runs about. He finds another boy around his age and the two of them laugh and squeal. Together, they find the cabinets where the missals are stored, and the other boy's dad and I take turns holding them closed. Over the course of the mass, at least three or four other parents of small children will pass through the back, either to calm a fussing baby, or take a child to the bathroom.

I look out over the congregation, who listen to Father Philip's highly-intellectual homily (he's talking about what we can learn from the fact that the vast majority of God's life here on earth was spent in ordinary family life; it's like he knows his audience). There's another family sitting behind us this week, the girls wearing veils. There's the young couple—no kids yet—that look younger than Rie and I. Probably mid-twenties. They're here every week. And, of course, the family that drives the big white full-size van with three bumperstickers; one for The Monkees, one that says "I ♥ the Old Latin Mass", and another that says "Proud Parents of 6 homeschoolers". From where I stand in the back, I can't see a single gray head. I think the average age of this group must be about 35.

The group that attends the 12:30 Mass in the extraordinary form fills me with such hope, and is a reminder that G.K Chesteron's words that he wrote in 1925 are just as relevant then as they are today: "we know how completely a society can lose its fundamental religion without abolishing its official religion; we know how men can all become agnostics long before they abolish bishops. And we know that also in this last ending, which really did look to us like the final ending, the incredible thing has happened again; the Faith has a better following among the young men than among the old."


Father Zuhlsdorf often refers to "people of a certain age". You know the age. Probably close to or at retirement. Silver hair, if any at all. The ones who abolished the Latin mass. The ones who will justify any and every liturgical abuse with "the spirit of Vatican II". The thing is, though, the ones following them aren't picking up the torch. They're letting the baton drop to the ground, then running in the opposite direction. "No thanks," my generation says. "We'll do it our way." Which just happens to be the way our grandparents did it.

In recent decades, it has appeared that there hasn't been much hope for the Church. Scandals, dissent, people leaving in droves over her "outdated" teachings. How could the Faith survive through that? Holy Mother Church is being dismantled from within as much as from without. But this isn't anything unexpected, really. It's not even anything new. As Chesterton says: "At least five times, therefore, with the Arian and the Albigensian, with the Humanist sceptic, after Voltaire and after Darwin, the Faith has to all appearance gone to the dogs. In each of these five cases it was the dog that died."

This is the final fact, and it is the most extraordinary of all. The faith has not only often died but it has often died of old age. It has not only been often killed but it has often died a natural death; in the sense of coming to a natural and necessary end. It is obvious that it has survived the most savage and the most universal persecutions from the shock of the Diocletian fury to the shock of the French Revolution. But it has a more strange and even a more weird tenacity; it has survived not only war but peace. It has not only died often but degenerated often and decayed often; it has survived its own weakness and even its own surrender. We need not repeat what is so obvious about the beauty of the end of Christ in its wedding of youth and death. But this is almost as if Christ had lived to the last possible span, had been a white-haired sage of a hundred and died of natural decay, and then had risen again rejuvenated, with trumpets and the rending of the sky. It was said truly enough that human Christianity in its recurrent weakness was sometimes too much wedded to the powers of the world; but if it was wedded it has very often been widowed. It is a strangely immortal sort of widow. An enemy may have said at one moment that it was but an aspect of the power of the Caesars; and it sounds as strange to-day as to call it an aspect of the Pharaohs. An enemy might say that it was the official faith of feudalism; and it sounds as convincing now as to say that it was bound to perish with the ancient Roman villa. All these things did indeed run their course to its normal end; and there seemed no course for the religion but to end with them. It ended and it began again.

'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.' The civilisation of antiquity was the whole world: and men no more dreamed of its ending than of the ending of daylight. They could not imagine another order unless it were in another world. The civilisation of the world has passed away and those words have not passed away. In the long night of the Dark Ages feudalism was so familiar a thing that no man could imagine himself without a lord: and religion was so woven into that network that no man would have believed they could be torn asunder. Feudalism itself was torn to rags and rotted away in the popular life of the true Middle Ages; and the first and freshest power in that new freedom was the old religion. Feudalism had passed away, and the words did not pass away. The whole medieval order, in many ways so complete and almost cosmic a home for man, wore out gradually in its turn and here at least it was thought that the words would die. They went forth across the radiant abyss of the Renaissance and in fifty years were using all its light and learning for new religious foundations, new apologetics, new saints. It was supposed to have been withered up at last in the dry light of the Age of Reason; it was supposed to have disappeared ultimately in the earthquake of the Age of Revolution. Science explained it away; and it was still there. History disinterred it in the past; and it appeared suddenly in the future. To-day it stands once more in our path; and even as we watch it, it grows. ~G.K. Chesterton "The Five Deaths of the Faith", The Everlasting Man (1925)