Author: SDG

Gathering A Search Party

In my ever-increasing search for interesting things to blog about, I’ve decided to occasionally discuss how to use the web in your search for answers to apologetics questions.  This particular post will deal with search engines.

Many times people will call the office saying "Where do I find information on [insert obscure subject of your choice]?"  Usually, within five minutes, I have found something online that I can send them.  The trick to doing so is to know how to use search engines effectively.

Most search engines require that you enter key words for it to use in the search.  The more specific the key words, the better.  For example, if the inquirer says "Sister Joan Chittister is speaking at my parish this Sunday.  Do you have any information on whether she is orthodox?" I can go to a search engine, type in "Joan Chittister dissent" and pull up articles that will tell me whether or not the sister in question is orthodox.  (Of course, in this particular case, I already know the answer.  My purpose in running a search in this case would be for links I could send the inquirer documenting Sr. Chittister’s positions on various issues.)

Remember, specific key words are critical.  If you want to information about the Polish Christmas tradition of oplatek and you type "Christmas" into the search engine, you’re going to have to search through a lot of pages to find a recipe for oplatek.  A more fruitful search would use the key words "oplatek recipes."

Where do you find search engines?  The most helpful I’ve found is Google, which has in fact become nearly synonymous with web searching.  Indeed, some unhelpful people will simply tell a novice Internet surfer looking for an obscure bit of trivia to "google it," without explaining what is meant by the term.  If I want to search through a particular site and that site’s own search engine is poor, I use the Google Advanced Search. 

Google will suffice ninety- to ninety-five percent of the time.  For those looking for alternatives, a couple of old reliables are Ask Jeeves and Yahoo! An interesting development in search engines are those that search multiple search engines simultaneously.  A few of them are YaGoohoo!gle (a meld of Yahoo! and Google, natch), DonkeyDo.com, and Dogpile.  (I’m guessing those last two titles might be an intriguing commentary on what must be expected to be found alongside the gems during random Internet searches.)

Once a search engine has spit out a list of results, then one must pan the gold from the silt.  I do this primarily by looking for web URLs with which I am already familiar and know to be from web sites that are orthodox.  Failing that, I must then scan through a prospective article looking for biases and agendas.  Does the writer clearly state only what the Church teaches and use supporting documentation to allow the Church to speak for itself?  Or is the writer stumping for a cause and conscripting the Church’s documents to serve that agenda?

If a new site proves to be especially helpful in providing reasoned, meticulous explanations of the Church’s teachings, I then bookmark it for future reference and send the link off to my inquirer.  If the site has one helpful article but nothing else to recommend it, I may include a caution to the inquirer that the article is helpful but the host site is problematic.

Happy hunting!

Pet Peeves

Do you have a pet peeve that flares up in the most annoying places?  I usually encounter my pet peeves when I’m reading novels.  It’s probably because I do freelance editing in my spare time and wish I could whip out my editing pencil and mark the changes.  (Probably could, thinking about it, but then I’d have a book with editing scribbles.)

Since those editing scribbles would otherwise remain unread, I’ll share a few of my pet peeves here.  Any literary editors out there are free to take notes and incorporate the changes accordingly.

  • Your grandmother’s sister is not your "great-aunt."  Just like your mother’s mother is your grandmother, so your mother’s aunt is your grandaunt.  Just as you are your grandmother’s grandchild, so you are your grandaunt’s grandniece or grandnephew.  Climbing up the family tree, your great-grandmother’s sister would not be your "great-great aunt" but your great-grandaunt; sliding down, you would be her great-grandniece/nephew.  And so on.  The male family titles take the same form.
  • Although the usage is common enough today, a woman in a historical novel should not be dubbed "Mrs. Catherine Lennox."  The title Mrs., according to historical protocol, was always used by a married woman or a widow with her husband’s full name.  That means she was  "Mrs. Nicholas Lennox."  If she was divorced, she combined her maiden and married names and became "Mrs. Granger Lennox."
  • I eagerly await the historical novel that takes note that the title "Ms." is not the invention of twentieth-century secular feminists, but has been dated by protocol historian Judith Martin (aka "Miss Manners") back to the Elizabethan period.  It fell into disuse when the title from which it derived, "Mistress," took on implications inappropriate for chaste women, married and single.  Once secular feminists pointed out that there should be a courtesy title for a woman to use with her own full name and that was not dependent on her marital status (as men have such a title in "Mr."), "Ms." was reborn.  (Secular feminists did get a few things right.)

There.  With that transcribed from my paperbacks to a blog, I feel much better now. 😉  Feel free to share your own pet peeves in the comments box.

Dispensation Needed For Papal Cats

In the weeks since Pope Benedict XVI’s election, his love for cats has become well known. But this story, reported by the English-language version of a Russian news agency, makes no sense:

"New Pope of Rome Benedict XYI, who moved into the papal quarters last week, faced an unexpected problem — the Vatican administrative services did not allow him taking two cats to his new home.

"Everyone knows about the Pontiff’s love for cats, a representative of the Rome City Hall said on Tuesday. She said the Pontiff now has to pay frequent visits to his old apartment outside the Vatican and take care of his cats. Everyone hopes that the Vatican will eventually grant the cats an access to the Apostolic Palace, she added."

GET THE STORY.

The Holy Father is the Vatican’s head of state. If he wants to bring his cats to the Apostolic Palace, one would imagine that he could grant himself permission to do so. If anything, one would think that the Vatican’s security specialists would prefer that papal pets live in the papal household rather than having the Holy Father trudge back and forth between the palace and his old apartment to care for his cats.

All in all, the story doesn’t appear to add up; but I could be missing something.

A Black Hole Is Born

Blackhole_1

"Astronomers photographed a cosmic event this morning which they believe is the birth of a black hole, SPACE.com has learned.

"A faint visible-light flash likely heralds the merger of two dense neutron stars to create a relatively low-mass black hole, said Neil Gehrels of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. It is the first time an optical counterpart to a very short-duration gamma-ray burst has ever been detected."

GET THE STORY.

Never having been Ms. Science Gal, I can’t explain or comment on this story of the birth of a black hole; but I thought it interesting. By the way, in looking up the story, I glanced at Space.com. If you or your kids are science buffs, it looks like an intriguing site.

Want Some Tax With That?

If you live in Detroit, your Whopper may soon be costing you more money:

"In an effort to curb a looming $300 million budget deficit, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick last month floated what he called a ‘different budget than has ever been presented to our city council.’

"The budget includes a proposed 2 percent tax that would be levied only on sales at fast-food restaurants, among other items that would generate additional revenue for the city."

The NRA is protesting. No, not the gun lobby; the restaurant lobby that goes by the same initials:

"If approved by city voters and the state legislature, Detroit would become the first locale in the nation to impose a tax on fast-food. Consumers already are charged an average nationwide rate of 6 percent on restaurant tax, according to the National Restaurant Association (NRA).

[…]

"’We think these type of restrictive tax penalizes consumers for enjoying their favorite foods,’ said Katherine Kim, spokeswoman for the NRA.

"’In a sense, it’s almost discriminatory,’ she added. ‘It targets just a section of the food services industry. The impression is that it will restrict consumers’ free choice in participating in a lifestyle they enjoy.’"

Oh, please, Ms. Kim. I like fast food as much as the next person, but an extra few cents for a Happy Meal is not going to restrict anyone’s "free choice" or "lifestyle." Granted, I think the proposed tax is ridiculous; but let’s argue the matter on the merits and not cloud the issue with claims of victimization.

GET THE STORY.

Baby Girl Remus

In a modern-day version of the childhood of Rome’s legendary founding twins Romulus and Remus, an abandoned baby girl in Kenya was saved by a stray dog who found her and brought her back to the dog’s own litter. Soon thereafter the child was found by neighborhood children who heard her crying.

"The 7-pound, 4-ounce infant was taken to a hospital and ‘is doing well, responding to treatment. She is stable … she is on antibiotics,’ said Hannah Gakuo, spokeswoman of the Kenyatta National Hospital.

"The baby was found after two children reported hearing an infant’s cries near their wood and corrugated metal shack.

"’I followed them outside and we started looking around the compound and a nearby plot,’ said Mary Adhiambo, the children’s mother.

"They eventually found the tan mixed-breed dog lying protectively with a puppy beside the mud-splattered baby wrapped in a torn black shirt, Adhiambo said. The short-haired dog with light brown eyes has no name, residents said."

GET THE STORY.

Is There A Pilot In The House?

Not a question you want to hear during your flight.

"A passenger was forced to crash land a private plane Thursday after the pilot suffered an apparent heart attack, authorities said.

"The pilot later died. The two passengers were taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas after the crash at North Las Vegas Airport, said Donn Walker, regional spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration."

GET THE STORY.

It’s stories like this that make me realize that I have been on only two airline trips in my life (both times were pre-9/11); and while I’m not exactly opposed to flying, I am also not exactly eager to book passage for the sometimes-unfriendly skies.

Made In America

As a sometimes-viewer of the Food Network, I occasionally watched the Japanese cooking show, Iron Chef, a kind-of reality game show that pits the contestant master chef against one of the three master "iron chefs" in pan-to-pan competition. Because the show had to be dubbed for American audiences, I rarely watched. But it has now been Americanized in Iron Chef America and I find that I watch more often.

What is it about foreign shows that they are (usually) better when they are Americanized? With the Iron Chef show the answer was easy: un-dubbed English speakers. But I’ve found that this is the case in other imported shows as well.

For example, I love the American version of the Antiques Roadshow — even appeared on it once, but that’s another story — but the British version left me cold. In that case, I think the difference was two-fold: one, the British show usually only appraised paintings and furniture while the American show features more diverse antiques; and, two, the Americans are more excited about their stuff. A Brit can be told that his great-great-great grandmother’s whatchamacallit is a national treasure and barely blink; an American will jump up and down and hug the appraiser.

It’s interesting how the cultural differences between two different countries — and ones that are relatively similar in many respects — can completely change the texture of a show.

An Emily By Any Other Name

Attention, expectant parents: Do your child a favor and don’t name him or her Jacob or Emily.

"A lot of kids must look up when teachers call out ‘Emily’ or ‘Jacob’ these days. Those were the most popular babies’ names last year — and have been every year since the 1990s.

"Emma and Madison were second and third for girls, just like the year before. Michael and Joshua for boys, like the year before.

"The biblical name Jacob, the most popular choice for boys for the sixth straight year, also was at the top in the first count of names given to twins. Parents like to pair it with Joshua."

GET THE STORY.

Trust me. I know whereof I speak. I was born in the early-1970s, apparently during the heyday of naming baby girls Michelle. (The heyday was likely spawned by that teeth-grittingly awful Beatles’ song of the same name. I bless my parents everyday that they simply liked the name Michelle and did not name me after that song.)

Anyway, growing up, there was almost always someone else in my class named Michelle. When I graduated in 1990, I lost count of how many times the master of ceremonies said the name Michelle as a first or middle name, but I do know that there were four other girls named Michelle Lynn because I counted.

Now, I’m not telling you to go out and give your child some weird name. Just please, please, please give your child a name that hasn’t appeared on the Top Ten Baby Names List for at least the last five years. Your child will thank you.

Trust me.