A Google Voice Tip
If you have Google Voice like I do, you probably—like I did—took a look at its features and then quailed at the thought of alerting everyone to a new cellphone number. That’s quite a commitment, and, frankly, I don’t think I’m ready for that emotionally. But I discovered a way to use some of GV’s neatest features without commitment! You can forward voicemail calls to GV, and it will send you an e-mail and or SMS with a transcription of the message. No more listening to the fifteen-minute...
Usage Determines Texting
I grew up saying "gee" and having no idea that it was connected at any point to "Jesus." I did nothing wrong.* That’s because my usage community (other third-graders, I suppose) didn't know it either. Usage determines meaning, not etymology. Just because a word came from a bad country doesn’t mean it carried all its suitcases with it. Think of “decimate.” Notice the “deci-” prefix: it once meant, “To select by lot and put to death one in every ten of (a body of soldiers...
Yet Another Note from Nate Wilson
Nathan Wilson nails Darwinism again: In this story, the Darwinian device that moves action is called (hail, the conquering hero) natural selection. But it has no purpose, no goal at all. Survival is the result for some and death for others, but there is nothing in this story to show that one is actually to be preferred over the other. Survival as good is just one of the axioms that’s been adopted by the faithful. The characters? What do you mean? There is only a strange impersonal...
Responsible Journalism
Peggy Noonan offers left- and right-winged examples of the level to which our national discourse has sunk: A few days ago, I was sent a link to a screed by MSNBC's left-wing anchorman Ed Schultz, in which he explained opposition to the president's health-care reform. "The Republicans lie. They want to see you dead. They'd rather make money off your dead corpse. They kind of like it when that woman has cancer and they don't have anything for us." Next, a link to the syndicated show of...
You Lie!
I finished up the history of Southern Seminary. I couldn’t help it. It was a riveting read. I knew the conservatives would win in the end, I just couldn’t guess how Providence would manage it. The story was worse than I expected. When liberal-moderates realized that they were losing both the denomination and its flagship seminary, they embarked on a policy of obfuscation. “Obstructivism,” Wills called it. “Lying” would not be too strong. “Liar” and “Hitler” have the same pedigree in debate...