Wed 4 Oct 2006
Yesterday I had a lot of computer time. 5 of the people vying for our one computer are out of town. I had a blast last night clicking around LibraryThing. That site is a wonderland.
I think I have too many news sites and news bloggers on my bloglines. By the time I got finished reading the secular news and the Christian news I was thoroughly disgusted with the state of the world. I am glad yesterday evening I read Psalm 3.
I usually don’t blog about the news but I thought I would hit the roof when Mark Foley said he was going into rehab for alcoholism AND he was molested by a priest.
I just don’t get it.
What’s up with rehab?
I guess since you can’t repent for something that isn’t a sin,
when you cross a line in our society, the only penance is rehab.
How long is that gonna fly?
Am I supposed to feel sorry for him now?
Bless his heart he’s in rehab?
That man is going to end up on Jim McGreevy’s level of the inferno. I empathize with Dante in trying to find a place for all those politicians in hell.
Carmon blogged about Charlotte Church and her fall into the abyss. Add that to the the video clip of Amy Grant getting her Hollywood Star and you begin to wonder why anyone would allow their child to become famous. I have never been a harsh judge of Amy but she behaved like a spoiled, profane child.
Years ago we were supporters of Ligonier Ministries and subscribers to TableTalk. About 3 years ago or maybe 2, we started to receive almost nightly phone calls from a fundraiser for Ligonier. The guy would chat with my husband for a few minutes and then ask for money. My husband wasn’t born yesterday; after a few months of those phone calls he decided to withdraw all of our support from Ligonier and not renew our TableTalk. We figured something was up at Ligonier.
Therefore, we did not need to read Frank Vance to believe that someone was mismanaging that ministry. It is sad. A workman is worthy of the hire but I would rather see RC Sproul live off his book royalties than find out he and some of his family members are making $250,000 a year from Ligonier. This one income family of 11 can’t afford to help that ministry keep up their lifestyles. I am ashamed for them that they asked.
Ok, was there any good news at all yesterday? If it wasn’t for Library Thing I would be tempted to throw this box in the garbage.
As you can probably guess it is 90 degrees here today and the barometric pressure is up. It’s a good thing only the cute people are at home.
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Yeah, thanks to you, Carmon, and a few others I am now addicted to LibraryThing. (Okay, I’ve pinned the blame, now I guess I should find some rehab group…) I’ve decided to limit myself to add only one shelf of books a day - otherwise I sit at the computer all day. But it’s so exciting to finally have a means of cataloging our books, even though as Steve pointed out, we can’t tell where they are shelved. At least we’ll know it’s supposed to be here somewhere!
Comment by Laura D. (October 4, 2006 @ 7:38 am )
Vince and I were just talking about the Ligonier Ministries salaries the other day. I said I wasn’t against Christians having large incomes, but I did think it wrong for them to call it a ministry and then have such salaries especially when they’re soliciting the money from families like us who are just scraping by (and no, we don’t give them anything).
Comment by Jeannine (October 4, 2006 @ 7:57 am )
Laura,
Perhaps you could number your shelves, and then tag the books in your catalog with the shelf number (”shelf1″, “shelf2″, …). I’m in the process of storing a bunch of books. As I put them into boxes I enter them into LibraryThing with a tag such as “box2″.
Comment by Rick Saenz (October 4, 2006 @ 8:04 am )
Rick,
I am so jealous that you thought of that. Now I alreay have 600 books logged in and I don’t have the shelves numbered but then again we may be moving. Maybe I can do it as I unpack the books.
Comment by Cindy (October 4, 2006 @ 8:07 am )
Cindy, I have seriously considered doing The Library Thing, too, since seeing what you do. It’s fun to see a book you have and then find out what other books those same owners have. A way to find someone with similar tastes and interests.
Rick, your suggestion wouldn’t work for me (about numbering shelves) because I have my history in rough chronological order and fiction by author. Buying new books causes me to have to shift books to make room for the new. I don’t generally have trouble finding books even though I have about 3,000. I usually know about where they should be.
Cindy, I know that can be depressing about all the “bad” news. However, especially in the case of Christian “icons” it only serves to show me that people we don’t know personally should not be put up on pedestals. Most people don’t put people they know immediately around them up on pedestals because they can see their faults. In national fora where we’re only presented with what they want us to see, it’s all too easy to make icons of those. I’m almost immediately suspect of someone who is glorified by very many people. (maybe cynical of me, I know) But I think people want to find someone who appears to have all the answers so they have someone to follow. Problem is, I don’t think God works that way. He wants us to follow him, not people we don’t even really know. I much prefer those who we can see are honest in how they represent life and themselves.
Comment by Patti (October 4, 2006 @ 9:33 am )
You think you had a sickening day on the internet. Dear husband and I decided to check out “My Space” because we had heard “rumors”. We kept finding young people we know, and it was most disheartening. I thought XANGA was bad enough, but this stuff takes the cake. I’m feeling very bummed about the home school movement and the vision we all had 15 years ago that our children would be salt and light. What happened?
Sadly, Sandy
Comment by Sandy (October 4, 2006 @ 9:42 am )
Thank-you, Patti, I appreciate your wise words.
Sandy, I finally blocked My Space from our computer. I went to one space of a friend and within 2 clicks I was seeing pornography.
I was also very upset that some very nice girls that we knew were giving out way too much information. I think they finally got wise though.
Comment by Cindy (October 4, 2006 @ 9:50 am )
Wow, that Amy Grant clip shocked me. I thought maybe everyone was upset because she didn’t thank God for her success. That wouldn’t have surprised me at all unfortunatly. What she said was just horrible and crude and unladylike.
The news has been getting to me too, Cindy. The school killings are horrific.
Comment by Janet (October 4, 2006 @ 10:29 am )
Yes, Janet, I agree. Over at Carmon’s I described Amy’s comment as merely “out-of-place” and “unflattering” when really it was completely corrupt and ungodly. (And no, I’ve never had Amy perched on any pedestals and I know she’s made questionable comments and controversial decisions long before this.) It’s just that to hear such crass words flow freely from a mouth you don’t expect them to is very disturbing.
Why in the WORLD would a lady say something like that anywhere, let alone at a supposedly classy ceremony? (I have a hard time talking about nursing a baby in mixed company!) Even Johnny Grant feigned embarrassment at his use of the word “hell” while Amy exhibited no shame whatsoever for her poorly spoken words.
Vince’s comment bothered me, too, as it revealed his priorities.
Comment by Ruthanne (October 4, 2006 @ 1:00 pm )
I just want to add that when I said something about putting people up on a pedestal I didn’t mean everyone does that or even those who are shocked by bad behavior are doing that. I actually was thinking more of those like the Ligonier folks than I was of Christian entertainers. So I was wildly generalizing. Although I think some do that with Christian entertainers, too, though in thinking that they’re more spiritual or have something more to offer than Jane Blow down the street in arenas other than what they’re recognized in just by virtue of their celebrity status. I’ve thought this about Lisa Welchel. I’ve not followed her so she may have some great things to say, but why would anyone think that she has something more to offer homeschoolers in encouragement than the average homeschool mom of 25 years? I heard once that Michael Card doesn’t do homeschool speaking because he realizes that being a good singer doesn’t mean he’s someone who should be advising homeschool parents. And something similar with Marcia Somerville. She didn’t just become famous out of nowhere. She was an encouragement to those around her and they thought she should put out her curriculum and now that her kids are grown, she’s qualified herself as truly someone who knows what she’s talking about. I’m sorry, I may be way overgenearlizing this all, but this is something that all goes together in my brain….maybe it doesn’t in anyone else’s and thus is more confusing than helpful.:-)
Comment by Patti (October 4, 2006 @ 1:11 pm )
I haven’t started tagging them this way yet, but I thought I would label my books according to which room and which bookcase they’re in - that way if they move to another shelf on account of adding books, I don’t have to change the tag.
Re: Amy Grant’s language - I haven’t listened to the clip, but I’d like to point out that just because a person is a female doesn’t mean she’s a lady. It’s actually a pet peeve of mine that people have started using the terms lady and gentleman to refer to any random woman or man, without taking their character and behaviour into account, and on more than one occasion I’ve heard “gentleman” used when the speaker would have been more accurate to use an epithet.
Comment by Kelly (October 4, 2006 @ 2:20 pm )
Ugh. Yes, OF COURSE, Kelly, I agree with you about the use of the word “lady” - I was just trying to be gracious. I think her actions show the obvious but I can still be kind in my words. Her Father in Heaven desires her to behave like a lady even though she’s not and I’m sorry, Kelly, but I can’t bring myself to call someone an ugly name, even if the word may fit. (Factual, like “woman”, yes. Ugly like something else, no.)
If there’s one thing I despise (no kind words here, though!) it’s folks using the term “gentlemen’s club” in referring to slimy, sleazy, exploitative, disgusting, cheap, you-fill-in-the-blank strip joints. I hate those places and there’s obviously nothing gentlemanly about them. I’d never be able to be a secular news anchor because if I were required to report on a story about one of those trashy places I’d quit first before I sat at my little anchor desk with my hair nice and tidy in my nice little suit, degrading myself and all other women by reporting on the local strip joint having legal problems, etc.
Comment by Ruthanne (October 4, 2006 @ 2:49 pm )
Good point Kelly. In my mind, female *should* equal lady but it rarely does even in the Christian community. I’m one of the prudish people that think all swear words are offensive. I know Christians who don’t think that way, I guess they think it’s their liberty. Don’t get me started.
Comment by Janet (October 4, 2006 @ 3:06 pm )
Jnaet,
I have also been so grieved for the wife of the guy in PA who killed the Amish girls. That girl has a lot to handle right now.
Comment by Cindy (October 5, 2006 @ 6:08 am )
Ruthanne, last night I started to worry that I’d been rude to you - I really didn’t mean it be criticism of you for using it, because I realized you were being polite, and no I wouldn’t encourage using epithets. FWIW, I just don’t think we ought to feel obligated to use “lady” and “gentleman” to keep from being rude.
I remember reading an essay by CS Lewis I think, about how at that time people were starting to use the word “Christian” to refer to “nice people,” who weren’t necessarily Christians in the objective sense, and compared it to the use of “gentleman” as a compliment instead of as a statement of fact. Of course, in America we don’t exactly have the same social status of “Gentleman” and “Lady” as they did in England, but I’m still very reluctant to use those words too freely and thus devalue them.
But I’m so sorry to have been rude and unladylike, myself.
Comment by Kelly (October 5, 2006 @ 9:00 am )
Oh, no worries, Kelly! I wasn’t offended and really do understand, appreciate and agree with your point, especially the example you just gave about CS Lewis. I agree that we should not be afraid to call a spade a spade but sometimes it’s hard for me to be as direct as some. Maybe it’s that mercy-wiring God put in me (which can be a little bit of a pain sometimes, too!).
Anyway, I’m sorry to have made you concerned. Please forgive me.
And besides, Kelly, you gave me a reason to spout off about sleazy strip joints being called “gentlemen’s clubs” — something I’ve always wanted to rant about! 
Have a great day. ((Hug))
Comment by Ruthanne (October 5, 2006 @ 9:20 am )
Ruthanne & Kelly,
There is a certain southerness to all this also. For one thing as much as I love the South I never saw a gentlemen’s club in NJ. They abound in Alabama and I have often pondered that. In our town and just recently wet county, we were told they didn’t have a theater because no one around here would dare be caught at an R rated movie. They preferred to drive to the next county for their liquor and their movies but not their massages (?)
Lady is also a highly sought after southern term. Southern and Lady go together like….well, white on rice. Gracious Southern ladies, Dana comes immediately to mind, are slipping quickly from the landscape.
Nashville girl Reese Witherspoon seems more the southern lady than Nashville’s Amy Grant. Maybe I am just holding Amy to a higher standard but really her display was unladylike by any standard.
And what about her clothes? Why would an attractive, thin, wealthy woman wear something so obviously unsuitable?
Comment by Cindy (October 5, 2006 @ 9:28 am )
You eat white rice? grin.
Thanks for posting this one, even though it was hard and depressing.
Comment by deputyheadmistress (October 5, 2006 @ 11:50 am )
BTW, I am such a ninny. I thought LibraryThing sounded fun, so I went to sign up. I had all kinds of trouble until I realized that at some time I had already signed up.
Comment by deputyheadmistress (October 5, 2006 @ 3:03 pm )
That is funny, I just saw your LibraryThing today but it looked like you had been a member for a while. I am always confused about what I have and haven’t signed for online.
Comment by Cindy (October 5, 2006 @ 3:50 pm )
I’m now adding books like a mad woman. So far, you are the user with whom I have the most titles in common. How odd.=)
Only about a fifth of our books are catalogued by ISBN, so I won’t be adding the whole collection.
Comment by DeputyHeadmistress (October 5, 2006 @ 7:10 pm )
Do you have to catalog them by isbn? I was hoping you would add a title, and magically an isbn would appear and full details with it. I suppose though if your book is before the days of isbn you’d have to fill in the details yourself. Maybe that’s why one would rather not catalog them? I thought there might be different editions from which to choose. I’m always afraid to start some of these kinds of things although I’d love to have the end product.
Comment by Patti (October 5, 2006 @ 7:40 pm )
Most of my books don’t have an ISBN so I’m looking them up via Amazon or the Library of Congress, or the other 45 or so choices, and I have manually added some that were either so old or so foreign or so privately published that they weren’t to be found in any of the sources available.
Comment by Laura D. (October 5, 2006 @ 7:43 pm )
You can add them by hand or look up a title and try to figure out which edition you have. For some books it is a little harder than others especially British books published in America near the turn of the last century.
Comment by Cindy (October 5, 2006 @ 8:04 pm )
Since I already have Readerware, I was able to export almost 2000 of our 6000+ books via computer. The actually button clicking part took me only a few minutes. It’s taken hours for the computer to add them because of the queue.
What I have been spending time doing is adding tags and looking at all the lovely books other people have.
A handful of older books I have added by copying the title from my catalog and pasting into the title box of Librarything. You type in the title and you are given a list of titles to choose from. I’m afraid I didn’t worrry too much about details. I had a Genevive Foster from something like 1961, and the only copy they resented me with was from 1971. I took it.
Since I do have readerware, I think I will not put my whole catalog up at LibraryThing. In fact, I’m not sure why I did except for the fun of the peer group thing. Blush.
Comment by DeputyHeadmistress (October 5, 2006 @ 9:20 pm )
Wowee, you guys do have a lot of books. I own more books than anyone I know personally. But I’ve only got around 3,000. I don’t really know since I’ve only extrapolated since the last real count of about eight years ago. I like the idea of finding people with similar tastes to find other good books.
Comment by Patti (October 5, 2006 @ 9:36 pm )
I have always been a little bit afraid of numbering my books. I have estimated before and I really should get some sort of extra insurance on our books since they are the only thing of real value that we own.
Comment by Cindy (October 5, 2006 @ 9:51 pm )
I am really having a hard time with tags. Any advice on that?
Comment by Cindy (October 5, 2006 @ 9:54 pm )
Well, I made myself a Library Thing account, but with being on dialup right now (using the Net blocks the phone line, and it’s a little slow) I don’t think I’ll be spending much time on it. Looks like fun, though!
Comment by Mama Squirrel (October 6, 2006 @ 7:14 am )
Cindy, do you mean coming with which tags to use, or adding them? When I don’t know how to tag a book, I’ve been looking at how other people have tagged it.
Comment by Kelly (October 6, 2006 @ 1:14 pm )
(Should have included this above - sorry!)
If it’s the latter, use the Power Edit function - the pic of pencil with the letters P and E on either side of it like this: P/E.
You can tag the books quickly that way.
Comment by Kelly (October 6, 2006 @ 1:16 pm )