"And I answered unto all these things which stand about the door of my flesh, "Ye have told me concerning my God, that ye are not He; tell me something about Him." And with a loud voice they exclaimed, "He made us." My questioning was my observing of them; and their beauty was their reply?
Tuesday, February 28
augustine
says
veiled glory
veiled beauty
I think I understand why brides wear veils.
A friend of mine showed me a passage from a book that talked about how women are beautiful because they are the image of God's beauty. I had forgotten that man and women are the image of God and I realized that I had never really considered God to be beautiful.
Sometimes girls are too beautiful to look at. It almost hurts to see them. I've always relegated that to the "strange guy-girl phenomenon" pile, but now it makes complete sense—the glory of God is shining through them. Moses saw a glimpse of God's glory and had to wear a veil. The beauty of a woman is the image of God's glory and beauty.
The Bible is very clear that marriage is a symbol of our relationship to Christ. The whole idea of submission is an image of our submission to God—it is one way husbands reveal Christ to their wives. What my friend found liberating and I find stunning in its simplicity and truth is that wives reveal the glory of God to their husbands by being beautiful.
We cannot see God's face on our own. It is only when we turn to Him that we see His face (2 Corithians 3:12-18). Wedings are symbols of that: the bride is veiled, just as God's glory was veiled. Once the bride and groom are married, the veil is removed and the groom can see his bride as she is.
I always knew that marriage is a beautiful symbol of our relationship with Christ, but I only saw half the story. The husband and wife are simultaneously showing and being shown Christ. At the same time, they both see Christ in and and show Him to each other.
The crazy beauty of this just makes me want to praise God! How does He think this stuff up?
I think I understand why brides wear veils.
A friend of mine showed me a passage from a book that talked about how women are beautiful because they are the image of God's beauty. I had forgotten that man and women are the image of God and I realized that I had never really considered God to be beautiful.
Sometimes girls are too beautiful to look at. It almost hurts to see them. I've always relegated that to the "strange guy-girl phenomenon" pile, but now it makes complete sense—the glory of God is shining through them. Moses saw a glimpse of God's glory and had to wear a veil. The beauty of a woman is the image of God's glory and beauty.
The Bible is very clear that marriage is a symbol of our relationship to Christ. The whole idea of submission is an image of our submission to God—it is one way husbands reveal Christ to their wives. What my friend found liberating and I find stunning in its simplicity and truth is that wives reveal the glory of God to their husbands by being beautiful.
We cannot see God's face on our own. It is only when we turn to Him that we see His face (2 Corithians 3:12-18). Wedings are symbols of that: the bride is veiled, just as God's glory was veiled. Once the bride and groom are married, the veil is removed and the groom can see his bride as she is.
I always knew that marriage is a beautiful symbol of our relationship with Christ, but I only saw half the story. The husband and wife are simultaneously showing and being shown Christ. At the same time, they both see Christ in and and show Him to each other.
The crazy beauty of this just makes me want to praise God! How does He think this stuff up?
Friday, February 17
distractions
are good for you, apparently
This morning, I spent a thousand dollars. Canadian dollars, though, so it's not that much. You would expect that in making that important decision, I would have spend hours poring over the pros and cons to make sure I was making a good call.
However, that's not my style. I checked out the prices. I checked out all the details. I heard what a few people thought about it. And then I got into a long discussion about software engineering, posted some pictures and watched the Olympics. Was I irresponsible? Ought I to have spent more time studying and deliberating?
Well, according to this guy: no, I shouldn't have. His research suggests that the best way to make a complicated decision is to get all the relevant info, and then distract yourself. As you distract your conscious self, your (way more betterer) unconscious mind gets to work and you'll make better decision.
I know what you're thinking: Dave that's just an excuse to be your usual lazy self. And? What if it is? The best excuses are the ones that are actually good reasons for doing something. I wasn't being lazy, I was using state-of-the-art multicriteria optimization techniques ;)
This morning, I spent a thousand dollars. Canadian dollars, though, so it's not that much. You would expect that in making that important decision, I would have spend hours poring over the pros and cons to make sure I was making a good call.
However, that's not my style. I checked out the prices. I checked out all the details. I heard what a few people thought about it. And then I got into a long discussion about software engineering, posted some pictures and watched the Olympics. Was I irresponsible? Ought I to have spent more time studying and deliberating?
Well, according to this guy: no, I shouldn't have. His research suggests that the best way to make a complicated decision is to get all the relevant info, and then distract yourself. As you distract your conscious self, your (way more betterer) unconscious mind gets to work and you'll make better decision.
I know what you're thinking: Dave that's just an excuse to be your usual lazy self. And? What if it is? The best excuses are the ones that are actually good reasons for doing something. I wasn't being lazy, I was using state-of-the-art multicriteria optimization techniques ;)
Thursday, February 16
expression
between creation and translation
Let's start with the Oxford English Dictionary:
Creation: the action or process of bringing something into existance
Translation: the conversion of something from one form or medium to another
Expression: the process of making known one's thoughts or feelings
They are similar because they all generate something in a particular medium or context. They all have the same result. They are different because they start in different places.
Creation starts with nothing and adds something totally new. Translation starts with a source and adds nothing to it.
Expression lies in between. The process of "making known". It is translation because an expression simply points to something that previously existed. It looks like creation, because before the expression, that which is expressed was unknown.
Translation takes something visible and makes it comprehensible. Creation has nothing and makes something. Expression takes something unkown and makes it knowable.
Maybe the Author should say that software engineering is the process of expressing human desires as computer actions. The Author is right to say that translation is a powerful word, though it exists only as an aid to expression.
A software engineer doesn't translate someone's desires into computer actions, he helps people express themselves with computers.
Authors writes in their own language. Their work is later translated to other languages. The software engineer helps his clients to write directly in a language they do not know. What makes the job challening is that language affects how you think and the client must be able to express themselves as natives in a language they do not speak.
Expression: simultaneous creation and translation.
Let's start with the Oxford English Dictionary:
Creation: the action or process of bringing something into existance
Translation: the conversion of something from one form or medium to another
Expression: the process of making known one's thoughts or feelings
They are similar because they all generate something in a particular medium or context. They all have the same result. They are different because they start in different places.
Creation starts with nothing and adds something totally new. Translation starts with a source and adds nothing to it.
Expression lies in between. The process of "making known". It is translation because an expression simply points to something that previously existed. It looks like creation, because before the expression, that which is expressed was unknown.
Translation takes something visible and makes it comprehensible. Creation has nothing and makes something. Expression takes something unkown and makes it knowable.
Maybe the Author should say that software engineering is the process of expressing human desires as computer actions. The Author is right to say that translation is a powerful word, though it exists only as an aid to expression.
A software engineer doesn't translate someone's desires into computer actions, he helps people express themselves with computers.
Authors writes in their own language. Their work is later translated to other languages. The software engineer helps his clients to write directly in a language they do not know. What makes the job challening is that language affects how you think and the client must be able to express themselves as natives in a language they do not speak.
Expression: simultaneous creation and translation.
Saturday, February 11
raw & managed
tasks
It occured to me, that there are two different types of tasks that we engage in. We perform a managed task in a context that was created by someone else. Computer programs, for example. We don't actually do anything, we just give instructions. The context may do what we ask, it may do more than we ask, it may disregard our instructions, it may crash randomly. In a managed context, we are users, we are merely using a tool.
When we perform a raw task, we do something. Think of paddling a canoe or slicing vegetables. We do not tell the paddle to make the canoe move; we don't instruct the knife to cut the peppers. When we perform a raw task, we are responsible for making sure that nothing goes wrong. In a managed task, the 'manager' can prevent us from doing stupid things. When you're cutting veggies, it's up to you to avoid your fingers.
It's not just about computer programs and boats, though. Large organizations (NGOs, governments, corporations) are set up as managed context. The people in charge don't actually do anything, they give instructions to the context, the organization. In theory, organizations have adequate checks and balances to operate as a managed context. A lot of havoc is wreaked when people step out of the managed context -- they can do a lot of damage.
It occured to me, that there are two different types of tasks that we engage in. We perform a managed task in a context that was created by someone else. Computer programs, for example. We don't actually do anything, we just give instructions. The context may do what we ask, it may do more than we ask, it may disregard our instructions, it may crash randomly. In a managed context, we are users, we are merely using a tool.
When we perform a raw task, we do something. Think of paddling a canoe or slicing vegetables. We do not tell the paddle to make the canoe move; we don't instruct the knife to cut the peppers. When we perform a raw task, we are responsible for making sure that nothing goes wrong. In a managed task, the 'manager' can prevent us from doing stupid things. When you're cutting veggies, it's up to you to avoid your fingers.
It's not just about computer programs and boats, though. Large organizations (NGOs, governments, corporations) are set up as managed context. The people in charge don't actually do anything, they give instructions to the context, the organization. In theory, organizations have adequate checks and balances to operate as a managed context. A lot of havoc is wreaked when people step out of the managed context -- they can do a lot of damage.
Thursday, February 9
engineering
poetry
My TA said that reading my homework was like reading pure poetry. This is quite possible the weirdest comment I've ever received on any homework, ever. My english teachers never said that when I was *trying* to write poetry.
At any rate, I decided to answer a question on my next assignment in haiku. I have reproduced it below for your reading pleasure:
Acceleration
that causes severe damage
is one point one g.
Mind you, my first attempt had the wrong answer, so the lines came out a bit different:
Acceleration
causing total collapse is
one point seven g.
My TA said that reading my homework was like reading pure poetry. This is quite possible the weirdest comment I've ever received on any homework, ever. My english teachers never said that when I was *trying* to write poetry.
At any rate, I decided to answer a question on my next assignment in haiku. I have reproduced it below for your reading pleasure:
Acceleration
that causes severe damage
is one point one g.
Mind you, my first attempt had the wrong answer, so the lines came out a bit different:
Acceleration
causing total collapse is
one point seven g.
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