| Date |
Title |
Summary |
| 2/09/2002 |
Web Log |
Introduction to Web
log |
| 2/09/2002 |
How
Much Power Can It
Take to Run a Map Light? |
How I
killed my battery by leaving the map light on |
| 2/09/2002 |
Out of This World |
Why
doesn’t the space station spin? |
| 2/09/2002 |
Historicity |
Opening
ceremony of the Winter Olympics |
| 2/10/2002 |
Windows Update |
How I
zapped my computer by using Microsoft’s Windows Update |
| 2/10/2002 |
Tech Support |
How
Microsoft helped me restore my computer |
| 2/14/2002 |
Wire |
Discovering
a landscape with fewer overhead wires |
| 2/19/2002 |
On-line |
Pronunciation
in an American Online TV commercial |
| 2/19/2002 |
Sarah Hughes |
A
figure skater makes watching the Olympics worthwhile |
| 3/01/2002 |
Steel |
Commentary
(and prediction) about the upcoming presidential decision on
steel tariffs |
| 3/04/2002 |
On- and Off-line |
Pronunciation
and origin of “on-line” and “off-line” |
| 3/16/2002 |
Ins and Outs of
Completing Forms |
Idioms
regarding the use of forms |
| 3/19/2002 |
World Premier |
My
hymn “O Lord the Invisible” is sung in church for the first
time |
| 3/19/2002 |
How’s
That Again? |
NPR
trouble with word order in a report |
| 4/02/2002 |
Gloomy Words |
Words
related to “Tenebrae” |
| 4/18/2002 |
Things Might Have Been
Different |
Conciseness
vs. precision in a pharmaceutical industry ad |
| 5/18/2002 |
Back Again! |
How a
Web hosting migration kept me away from this log (and other
things in life) |
| 5/21/2002 |
Did I miss the coup? |
President
Bush’s use of the war to suppress criticism |
| 6/11/2002 |
Homeland Security |
Let’s
call the new cabinet department something else |
| 6/13/2002 |
ADM as God? |
Can
one “make” something natural? |
| 6/17/2002 |
Unpatriotic? |
Corporate
income tax and plans to move the headquarters of The Stanley
Works to Bermuda |
| 6/18/2002 |
Quotation |
You
never know what you say will be quoted |
| 7/5/2002 |
Puns |
An
interesting class of puns |
| 8/5/2002 |
Too Fond of a Good
Thing? |
Hanging
on to titles that are no longer appropriate |
| 9/18/2002 |
Inspections in Iraq |
A
proposal for effective weapons inspections in Iraq |
| 10/4/2002 |
Letter on Iraq |
Advice
to Congress on the Iraq situation |
| 12/6/2002 |
Deconstructing an Icon |
What’s
in a Federal Express logo? |
| 1/5/2003 |
Far Apart |
Symmetry
in negotiating positions |
| 1/5/2003 |
Where Did the Other
Calorie Go? |
How
did sugar lose one calorie per teaspoon? |
| 1/6/2003 |
Where Do They Come
From? |
Why
did I see no goldfinches before getting a goldfinch feeder? |
| 1/9/2003 |
A FrontPage Story |
Microsoft
changes a program and almost nobody notices |
| 1/23/2003 |
On Reaching Consensus |
Another
noun gets verbed |
| 1/27/2003 |
Travel Tip |
How to
“lock” your checked airline luggage |
| 2/24/2003 |
Thought Experiment |
Is
NASA being completely forthright about risk analysis during
Columbia’s mission? |
| 3/18/2003 |
Thanks, But No Thanks |
Why we
stand on the brink of war with few allies |
| 3/20/2003 |
No Protest Today |
As war
in Iraq begins, I find myself supporting it and hoping for the
best |
| 4/9/2003 |
Man-to-man |
Are
the feminist language police asleep at the switch? |
| 4/14/2003 |
Looting |
Why we
must stop the looting in Iraq now |
| 4/15/2003 |
The Next Battle for
Iraq |
First
steps toward a new government for Iraq |
| 4/26/2003 |
Incest |
What
do you call a person who engages in incest? |
| 5/7/2003 |
All New |
How
does an “all new” program differ from a simply “new”
one? |
| 5/12/2003 |
Bucking the Odds |
George
W. Bush risks our President’s life |
| 5/13/2003 |
Chicken or Egg? |
Why
don’t the Democrats attack the President? |
| 5/15/2003 |
Constituent Services |
Senator
Rick Santorum reveals his sensitivity |
| 5/22/2003 |
Some Random Thoughts
on Iraq |
Where
do we go from here? |
| 5/23/2003 |
Thought Experiment
Redux |
NASA
answers a hypothetical question regarding Columbia |
| 6/5/2003 |
Repartee |
Some
recent witty conversations |
| 6/12/2003 |
Cannot |
Are
“can not” and “cannot” synonymous? |
| 6/20/2003 |
More Ambiguity |
Ambiguity
in a hotel commercial |
| 7/16/2003 |
Disconnect |
Congressman
Jim Nussle demonstrates the Republican thought process |
| 7/31/2003 |
Church and State in
the Bush Administration |
The
President speaks out against gay marriage |
| 12/13/2003 |
Back Again |
An
explanation of why it has been so long since the last post |
| 12/15/2003 |
Ground Zero Memorial |
A
proposal for a less abstract memorial on the World Trade Center
site |
| 6/24/2004 |
Surprising Old Usages |
Archaic
meanings in historic Anglican texts |
| 6/28/2004 |
Senate Indecency |
How
sincere is the Senate about indecency? |
| 7/5/2004 |
Independence Day
Thought |
Why
separation of church and state is such a good idea |
| 8/25/2004 |
Is “Both” Really
Necessary? |
Why do
people insist on using “both” when speaking of symmetric
relations? |
| 9/15/2004 |
Lower Manhattan |
A name
takes on new significance |
| 11/15/2004 |
Reflection on the
Recent Election |
Post-election
thoughts offered to members of Progressive Episcopalians of
Pittsburgh |
| 1/4/2005 |
Charitable Diversion?
|
Tsunami relief provides another opportunity to play politics |
| 5/23/2005 |
Nuclear Option |
A
letter to my senators on attempts to circumvent the filibuster |
| 7/7/2005 |
From Yellow to Orange |
Did
Homeland Security really raise the threat level? |
| 7/28/2005 |
E-commerce at eMusic |
Aggressive marketing at a music download site |
| 7/28/2005 |
Space Shuttle Design
Flaw |
Is the
Space Shuttle the victim of a bad early design decision? |
| 7/31/2005 |
Finding the Right Noun |
NASA
or CNN is imprecise |
| 8/3/2005 |
John Bolton |
From
the Democrat’s point of view, the outcome isn’t so bad |
| 8/16/2005 |
Another Comma Problem |
J. K.
Rowling omits a comma |
| 9/6/2006 |
Favicon |
Explaining a new
feature of Lionel Deimel’s Farrago |
| 9/8/2006 |
Apply Directly to the Whatever |
How do
you pronounce “forehead”? |
| 9/11/2006 |
Bishops Meeting Again |
Thoughts on the meeting of Episcopal Church bishops (September
11–13, 2006) |
| 9/14/2006 |
Update on New York Meeting |
A brief post-meeting report |
| 9/23/2006 |
Trying Too Hard |
Odd
pronunciations |
| 9/29/2006 |
Eat How? |
Does
“eat healthy” make any sense? |
| 10/7/2006 |
Trying Too Hard
II |
Another odd pronunciation |
| 10/25/2006 |
What, Me Worry? |
The
White House has no plans for dealing with the aftermath of an
election that does not go its way |
| 10/31/2006 |
What
Does the Diocese of Pittsburgh Really Want? |
Is the
Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh asking for alternative primatial
oversight, appointment of a Communion Commissary, or both? |
| 11/25/2006 |
Unqualified Accession |
Can a
diocese modify its accession to the constitution and canons of
The Episcopal Church? |
| 11/27/2006 |
Three Parents? |
More on problems that commas (or their absence) can cause |
| 1/2/2007 |
Public Reading |
How I
read better in church |
| 1/5/2007 |
Blog Improvements |
Some recent blog
changes and other administrivia |
| 1/7/2007 |
Syndication Joys and Woes |
Thoughts on
syndicating my blog |
| 1/7/2007 |
Unity Collect |
My
collect on the theme of Christian unity is again on the Anglican
Cycle of Prayer for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. |
| 1/8/2007 |
Can You Hear the L? |
Another word for my list of words in which an L is silent |
| 1/9/2007 |
Do We Need the Anglican Communion? |
Maybe
not |
| 1/11/2007 |
Advice for the PB for the Primates’ Meeting |
The
new Presiding Bishop will be severely challenged at the upcoming
meeting of the primates, but she may be able to turn things
around. |
| 1/11/2007 |
Just to Be Clear ... |
A
brief note reiterating the point made in the last essay, namely,
that The Episcopal Church must be willing to walk away from the
Anglican Communion is it is to have any hope of saving it |
| 2/7/2007 |
Going to Hospital |
A plug
for my essay
in Language Notes. |
| 2/10/2007 |
High Anxiety in Pittsburgh |
Parishes in the Diocese of Pittsburgh could be affected by the
upcoming primates’ meeting more than other Episcopalians. |
| 2/14/2007 |
Nonbinding Resolutions |
Efforts by Democrats to pass nonbinding resolutions about the
Iraq war are not pointless. |
| 2/15/2007 |
Latest Improvements |
Some recent blog
changes and thought on what I do with my blog |
| 2/17/2007 |
The Consents Question, Again |
A review of the saga of obtaining consents for the consecration
of Mark Lawrence as Bishop of South Carolina, along with an
analysis of the recent letter from the South Carolina Standing
Committee |
| 2/18/2007 |
Last Minute Thoughts on Consents |
A few more thoughts on the Mark Lawrence matter that didn’t find
their way into the previous post |
| 2/20/2007 |
A New Urgency |
At the
risk of seeming obsessive, I relate the matter of Lawrence
consents to the communiqué from the Tanzania primate’s meeting |
| 2/22/2007 |
Lambeth 1998 1.10 |
Some
initial thoughts on the outcome of the primates’ meeting in
Tanzania |
| 2/28/2007 |
Anglican Ambiguity |
Thoughts on communiqués from the Anglican primates and the
process that produces them |
| 2/28/2007 |
Arkansas’s |
What
is the singular possessive of “Arkansas”? |
| 3/3/2007 |
Can We Trust Our Bishops? |
Consent to consecrate Mark Lawrence by the House of Bishops
raises concerns about whether its bishops will protect The
Episcopal Church. |
| 3/4/2007 |
And the correct date is … |
What
is the deadline date for standing committees to respond
to the request for consent to consecrate Mark Lawrence? |
| 3/7/2007 |
Down to the Wire |
Traditionalists are lobbying for consents for Mark Lawrence.
They cannot say that only the election process, and not Mark
Lawrence himself, is fair game for consideration, however. |
| 3/8/2007 |
Unconvinced |
Mark Lawrence has tried, in a letter to standing committees, to
assure the church of his loyalty. I am unconvinced. |
| 3/14/2007 |
Some Mathematical Reflections on Communion |
I look
at communion relations within the Anglican Communion from a
mathematical point of view. Perhaps only mathematicians will
want to read this one. |
| 3/15/2007 |
And the correct date is …, Part II |
A look
at the three-day extension gratuitously given the Diocese of
South Carolina to obtain consents for Mark Lawrence |
| 3/15/2007 |
Lawrence Bid Fails |
Mark
Lawrence’s quest for consents to has consecration has failed.
This item contains a link to my press release on the matter. |
| 3/18/2007 |
Reflections on the Mark Lawrence Affair |
Thoughts on the Mark Lawrence consent process |
| 3/30/2007 |
“Bovine Sue” |
My
latest poem honors Episcopalian activist Sue Boulden, who died
on 3/27/2007. |
| 3/31/2007 |
Stupid Chess |
President Bush is likely to lose the current battle with
Congress over a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. The
loss will not be pretty. |
| 4/1/2007 |
The Covenant We Do Need |
A
covenant defining how the Anglican Communion works might not be
such a bad idea. |
| 4/18/2007 |
Here We Go Again |
Will
South Carolina choose Lawrence again? Will The Episcopal Church
reject Lawrence again? |
| 5/2/2007 |
Following the Rules |
Letters in The Living Church respond to coverage of
Lawrence rejection |
| 5/2/2007 |
Reading the Signs |
Odd
signs I’ve encountered lately |
| 5/14/2007 |
Helping Episcopalians Put in Their Two Cents’ Worth |
PEP
has issued a worksheet to help Episcopalians respond to the
Study Guide to the draft Anglican covenant |
| 5/22/2007 |
Reflecting on Responding to the Study Guide |
Having
posted my answers to the questions in the Episcopal Church’s
Study Guide to the draft Anglican
covenant, I have taken the
opportunity to reflect on the process of developing those
answers. |
| 5/26/2007 |
“Troops” |
Why do
reporters misuse this word? |
| 7/4/2007 |
Missing Episcopal Words |
Some
thoughts and information about nomenclature in The Episcopal
Church. |
| 7/5/2007 |
“Why Others Stand as Well” |
I
recommend an essay to counter the distorted essay of the Rev.
Dr. Leslie Fairfield “Why We Stand.” |
| 7/23/2007 |
Doing Consents Right |
The
Rev. Dan Martins has reported that the San Joaquin standing
committee has questioned the consistency of the Presiding Bishop
in handling the consent process for bishops. San Joaquin has a
point, though I think it is too early to be talking about
Consentgate. |
|
7/24/2007 |
Doing Consents Right
Redux |
This a
a follow-up post to the one above, based on additional
information. |
|
7/28/2007 |
Aquafina Scandal |
Do you
know where your bottled water comes from? Do you care? |
| 8/6/2007 |
And/Or |
Can
one be both a woman and a child? |
|
9/6/2007 |
Agreeing to Agree |
Analysis of a curious compact from the Diocese of Pittsburgh |
|
9/10/2007 |
Pittsburgh Mystery |
Diocesan Council of the Diocese of Pittsburgh will be discussing
changes to its constitution and canons related to the accession
clause Tuesday night. There is unusual secrecy surrounding this
discussion. Is something dramatic afoot? Or not? |
|
9/11/2007 |
“... the bishop didn’t say that.” |
Did
Bishop Duncan say that he was going to try to take his entire
diocese out of The Episcopal Church or not? Audio is included. |
|
9/12/2007 |
Something Dramatic |
The
Diocesan Council meeting did live up to its billing. The end of
the Anglican Communion, The Episcopal Church, or both might be
near. |
|
9/13/2007 |
Controlling the Message |
The
diocese gets out its message. |
|
9/24/2007 |
The Church Waits |
Thoughts as the House of Bishops considers its response to the
Anglican primates |
|
9/28/2007 |
Bishop Salmon’s Solution |
Bishop
Salmon thinks the church needs more grace and less law. I
disagree. |
|
10/3/2007 |
One Vestry Takes a Clear Stand |
My own
parish vestry has written a letter to parishioners in support of
The Episcopal Church. |
|
10/31/2007 |
Congratulations, Bishop Lawrence |
Mark
Lawrence has finally received consents. |
| 11/13/2007 |
The Faith Once Delivered |
An
oft-used phrase could not possible mean what it is supposed to. |
| 11/30/2007 |
A Pittsburgh Lament |
Friend
Jane Little muses on the situation in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. |
| 12/10/2007 |
Now what? |
What
is the church going to do about San Joaquin? |
| 12/12/2007 |
“Schism” |
A
limerick about the goings-on in San Joaquin? |
| 12/23/2007 |
Welcome to my church... |
A new
Web site displays ads for The Episcopal Church that have been
appearing in newspapers in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. |
| 1/11/2008 |
What Didn’t Happen |
The
Episcopal Church has brought abandonment charges against Bishop
John-David Schofield. No charges have been brought against
Bishop Robert Duncan or Bishop Jack Iker, however. What’s going
on here? |
| 2/9/2008 |
What
to Call Her |
What
do you call a female gunman? |
| 2/10/2008 |
The Pittsburgh Laity Speaks |
A
letter from “Pittsburgh Laity” is less than what it seems. |
|
3/3/2008 |
Playing by the Rules? |
Do
Hillary Clinton’s campaign tactics suggest that we would do well
to keep her out of the White House? |
| 3/12/2008 |
Random Linguistic Oddities |
Related sentences with different meanings |
| 3/17/2008 |
Duncan Responds |
Bishop
Duncan has responded to the charges of abandoning the communion
of The Episcopal Church. His response is unconvincing, but what
does he have to lose? |
| 3/17/2008 |
Duncan’s Defense |
Analysis of Bishop
Duncan’s letter in his defense (see previous item) |
| 3/17/2008 |
Legal Matters |
Analysis of legal matters related to Bishop Duncan’s case |
| 3/19/2008 |
A Punctuation
Oddity |
Punctuating a troublesome sentence from Trains Magazine |
| 3/29/2008 |
Is Obama Applying for the Wrong Job? |
Obama should not look to George Bush as his presidential role
model. |
| 3/31/2008 |
A New Service |
A new Web site, Pittsburgh Update, will help Pittsburgh
Episcopalians keep abreast of developments in the church that
could affect them. |
| 4/9/2008 |
Even I Am Not That Paranoid |
The disappearance of a diocesan magazine from the Web seems to
have been a simple clerical error. |
| 4/23/2008 |
Has Anyone Looked at the Numbers? |
The
percentages being reported for the Pennsylvania presidential
primary are not quite right. |
| 5/9/2008 |
The Ignorant Vote |
Clinton touts her advantage with whites who have not graduated
from college. |
| 5/14/2008 |
A Pittsburgh Conversation |
A
conservative priest opposed to realignment in the Diocese of
Pittsburgh speaks at a Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh
meeting. |
| 5/19/2008 |
Realignment Reconsidered |
A new
document from Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh,
“Realignment Reconsidered,” of which I am principal author, is
being announced today. It attempts to correct the misinformation
being disseminated by the Diocese of Pittsburgh. |
| 6/3/2008 |
Resigned
to Realignment |
Episcopalians in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, whether for or
against realignment, seem resigned to a coming division of the
diocese. |
| 6/16/2008 |
Which Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh? |
The
Bishop of Pittsburgh registers a new Pennsylvania corporation. |
| 6/26/2008 |
Whither
Pittsburgh? |
What
will the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh that is part of The
Episcopal Church be like after realignment? Pittsburgh
Episcopalians are working on that. I offer an unofficial preview
of where the Diocese of Pittsburgh may be going. |
