Rain, Suckaz

UMMMM it's raining. I'm in the library again, but this time I'm soaked to the skin. I got caught in the deluge between my 8AM and 10:15 class. Sweet.

My dad sent me an email the other day with this John Adams quote in it:

• We think ourselves possessed, or, at least, we boast that we are so, of liberty of conscience on all subjects, and of the right of free inquiry and private judgment in all cases, and yet how far are we from these exalted privileges in fact! There exists, I believe, throughout the whole Christian world, a law which makes it blasphemy to deny or doubt the divine inspiration of all the books of the Old and New Testaments, from Genesis to Revelations. In most countries of Europe it is punished by fire at the stake, or the rack, or the wheel. In England itself it is punished by boring through the tongue with a poker. In America it is not better; even in our own Massachusetts, which I believe, upon the whole, is as temperate and moderate in religious zeal as most of the States, a law was made in the latter end of the last century, repealing the cruel punishments of the former laws, but substituting fine and imprisonment upon all those blasphemers upon any book of the Old Testament or New. Now, what free inquiry, when a writer must surely encounter the risk of fine or imprisonment for adducing any argument for investigating into the divine authority of those books? Who would run the risk of translating Dupuis? But I cannot enlarge upon this subject, though I have it much at heart. I think such laws a great embarrassment, great obstructions to the improvement of the human mind. Books that cannot bear examination, certainly ought not to be established as divine inspiration by penal laws. It is true, few persons appear desirous to put such laws in execution, and it is also true that some few persons are hardy enough to venture to depart from them. But as long as they continue in force as laws, the human mind must make an awkward and clumsy progress in its investigations. I wish they were repealed. The substance and essence of Christianity, as I understand it, is eternal and unchangeable, and will bear examination forever, but it has been mixed with extraneous ingredients, which I think will not bear examination, and they ought to be separated.
• Letter to Thomas Jefferson (1825-01-23), published in Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams (UNC Press, 1988), p. 607.

Thought I'd share that. Way to go John Adams.

I've had a really good week. I'm so proud of Acappology and our performance at Unity and I think Amy and I have a rock-solid plan for getting ready for our concert on November 17. There is a lot to be done but now that I've seen what our group can do when we're focused I'm really looking forward to it.

If you get a chance, pick up this week's copy of the Independent. It has an article in it about the end of the newspaper as a medium. It is interesting to say the least that the citizen journalist (blogger) is on the verge of usurping the attention of the masses. My favorite part of the article is the graphic on the fourth page that shows a cloud of blogs floating around (but not quite capturing) the truth. The idea that the internet is giving us the means to subscribe only to the opinions that we agree with is scary in its inevitability. The article comes across as somewhat left-leaning (in the INDY??? Say it ain't so!), blaming Rupert Murdoch and Fox News for the downfall of television news and predicting the inevitable downfall of The Wall Street Journal now that Murdoch is running it. I can't say I entirely disagree, but I do think that it's out of bounds to say that Fox News is the only sensationalist station on the air. I can't bear to watch CNN anymore because they are so much more focused on entertaining with shock and fluff than they are in actually reporting the pertinent news. Maybe if I ignore television news it will go away.

It is bloody freezing in here. I'm not drying fast enough.

My World Series predictions: if the Red Sox win two in Boston, they'll win the series. In fact, the only scenario in which I can see the Rockies coming out on top is if they win both games in Boston. At that point I think the momentum shifts significantly to Colorado when the Red Sox have no choice but to put their b-list pitchers on the mound for Games 3 and 4.

So, I'll say Boston in 6 games.

.....WAIT did I just predict that Boston would win the WS? FUCK that. Colorado in 5 games. That's my final answer, Regis.

A personal note to Travis Smith:
I don't know if you read my blog, but I miss you buddy. I hope you're doing well in Ireland and I can't tell you how jealous I am that you saw the Arcade Fire. Come back soon, we have a lot to talk about.

I guess that's all. I still have a long time until my 10:15 class.