Nie wiem, wollę nie wiedzieć

Burn, Baby! Burn!!!
(photo from kypost.com, see full story here)

Today, there is a large hole where the leaked diesel was yesterday -- guess they didn't want any brownfield actions -- just take all the soil and leave. hehehe.

Nice thing about having a construction site next door to the office... Not only do I get to see heavy equipment and concrete pump trucks all day, but today the deisel truck operator filling their fuel reserves up today left the pump running or the shut-off to the ignitor on the pump failed resulting in a pump engine that ran-away, pumping onto the truck and street, and eventually went Ba-boom!

Funny how once you've heard an explosion you never forget what they sound like.

The good thing is that the port-o-lets/jimmy-johns for the site crew, which had been engulfed in flaming deisel, had no occupants -- and the roach coach had already left that spot for the day... otherwise, it'd have been a sad day for the site.

...mortem surrexit hodie! Alleluia!

Wesołego Alleluia!

I'm surprised Catholic News Service would announce this article as a matter of fact result: 'On Eagle's Wings' tops all songs in online liturgical music survey. Especially in light of recent discussions about the character of liturgical music cf. Benedict XVI on Liturgical Music.

On Eagle's Wings is about the pinnacle of hymns that reflect "shallowness, superficiality or theatricality" in my book. cf. Arinze's comment. The droning wail of that song depletes the otherwise great message of Psalm 91 and at least have the effect of emasculating an otherwise excellent psalm.

Speaking of droning wails, the other two selections by David Haas make me wonder if the alleged popularity (3000 music directors participated in the survey) isn't perhaps the deepest cause of dismal Mass attendance in the U.S.

I'm glad I didn't even know what some of the other songs mentioned were.

Who needs a gun? An Arkansas man was at his daughter's house when a 5-point crashed through a bedroom window. It snuck out of the bedroom and went into the master bedroom.

The guy went in, struggled with it a little, and came out to tell his wife to call the police. He went back into the bedroom to finish the deer off.

Forty minutes later, he proved himself to be a visceral man as he emerged from the bedroom as master of the house.

check it out here.

LifeSiteNews release today states that a Vatican leak says:

The Vatican's number two education official predicts that Pope Benedict XVI will follow a path of "evangelical pruning" of secularized Catholic colleges and universities, declaring them no longer Catholic

The article, Vatican Education Official warns dissenting Catholic Colleges may lose 'Catholic' status, is on The Universe.

I think it's a hopeful leak more than a portent, because Miller, the Vatican official speaking, is being equivocal more than anything else. It seems that he may be showing an agenda in hopes of compliance without a real stick with which to beat.

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see it played out and into what character of school they investigate or on what they will place their metrics -- scandal by position or theological content. Seems as if they are difficult things to measure.

Regarding the article in The Wanderer and whether the conditions I referenced has any basis, consider this memo posted on whoseamsol.blogspot.com today from Professor Charles Rice.

It outlines an initial resolution to renominate all board members that was tabled and three subsequent meetings that effectively crafted the term limits as imposed thereby removing Rice.

Among the other quotations that are relevant to Founder's Syndrome, I notice that early on, Professor Rice was asking the question:

As background, it may be helpful to note that, as a Board member, I have disagreed, in writing and in spoken comments, with the Chairman and the Dean on several matters since the projected move to Florida surfaced. I have expressed the view that the move to Florida would be contrary to the best interests of AMSL, including a potentially adverse impact on AMSL's Catholic character. In my view, the continuing speculation as to a move to Florida has significantly destabilized the AMSL community. The decisive issue, however, is not Florida but AMSL's mode of governance. On several occasions I have raised the question of whether there is a tendency for AMSL to be governed, in effect, as a sole proprietorship, with the interests of AMSL and its community potentially subordinated to another agenda, in which case the Board could be reduced to a merely decorative role inconsistent with its fiduciary duty to AMSL and its community. The existence of these and other disagreements I have had, and still have, with the Chairman and the Dean could be relevant to any conjectures as to possible reasons for my removal from the Board. A discussion of the merits of those disagreements, however, would take this memo beyond its proper scope.

I added the emphasis to this quote of Professor Rice.

Ave Maria School of Law is not a toy in the hands on one man, because, as a fully accredited law school and with private donors as well as alumni relying on it to retain its stellar performance and improve, it is a public entity. It's ours now. I get student loan bills every month that remind how much the school is mine, and so do others.

As far as the similarity, if any between Professor Rice's concerns over governance and my own, I can tell you, the reader, that we reached the concerns independently. I think, from my own experience, that the school does not belong to Thomas Monaghan, but to the community and to others whose contributions are relatively far greater. The governance of the school should be more in line with a system that ensures that one man cannot shoe horn his private goals aunchallengedethroughgh the decision making process of the school's management.

More to follow... I promise.

From Bryant v. Cheney, 924 F.2d 525 (4th Circ. 1991):

Bryant is convinced that the government has concealed evidence of UFO visits. He is the director of the Washington, D.C., office of "Citizens Against UFO Secrecy" (CAUS). In 1983, Bryant, on behalf of CAUS, filed a civil action in district court in the District of Columbia styled "Writ of Habeas Corpus Extraterrestrial." In this suit, he sought to compel the Air Force to produce the bodies of space creatures retrieved from crashed flying saucers. This suit was eventually dismissed, but not until it had generated a good deal of publicity.

[...]He sought information from the papers' military audience about the government's alleged coverup of the UFO menace. The advertisements did not use Bryant's name (CAUS was listed), but did give his home address for replies. Some of the advertisements were printed, but others were rejected by the publishers.

Compare that with Gammon v. GC Services Ltd. Partnership, 27 F.3d 1254, note (7th Circ. 1994):

See Nick Mann, "12 Senators Are From Outer Space," Weekly World News 1, 23-25 (June 7, 1994). The article quotes Senator Gramm: "It's all true. We are space aliens. I'm amazed that it has taken you so long to find out." The article poses an interesting constitutional problem: are non-humans eligible to sit in the Senate? Art. I § 3 cl. 3 provides: "No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen." Mann's sources were concerned about this. Nathaniel Dean, an "expert" on extraterrestrial lawmakers, is quoted as saying: "The first question that came to my mind was whether the senators are U.S. citizens and eligible to serve in the U.S. Senate ... From what I understand, they were born in the U.S. and are U.S. citizens. It just so happens that their parents were from another world." But are non-humans "persons" for purposes of the Constitution, and therefore eligible to be citizens of the United States? Professor Ackerman would answer yes, to the extent they have demonstrated "dialogic competence." Bruce A. Ackerman, Social Justice in the Liberal State (1980). Corporations are "persons," although they are not homo sapiens. See Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific R.R., 118 U.S. 394, 396, 6 S.Ct. 1132, 1140, 30 L.Ed. 118 (1886); cf. First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765, 778 n. 14, 98 S.Ct. 1407, 1416 n. 14, 55 L.Ed.2d 707 (1978). But see Miles v. Augusta City Council, 710 F.2d 1542, 1544 n. 5 (11th Cir.1983) (a talking cat is not a "person"). If sentient non-humans are citizens, should "years" be measured from the perspective of Earth or from the perspective of the Senator's native planet? Cf. Richard A. Posner, The Problems of Jurisprudence 265-69 (1990). Perhaps these are political questions. Compare Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 89 S.Ct. 1944, 23 L.Ed.2d 491 (1969), with McIntyre v. Fallahay, 766 F.2d 1078 (7th Cir.1985). Fortunately, it is not necessary to wrestle these issues to the ground in order to resolve a case under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

The Gammon court was indeed wise to leave that question unanswered, but posed that "The 'least sophisticated consumers' actually believe that 12 Senators are from other planets."


Apparently, CUAS still has an axe to grind over the Air Force hiding the bodies of these senators, because they list a link in their favorites on the web site (but, it appears that the CIA cut the ties on the link because it doesn't work).

They are now worried about cover-ups of "flying-triangles" and have 9th Circuit opinions online.

All I want to know is: Who is fighting the Klingons found near Hiannis?

Been quiet and no comments. Somebody must hear something good these days.

The gingerbread looks nice.

I'd like comments on an idea here, and to generate some discussion about how you adequately test for Founder's Syndrome in an organization.

Among the definitions out there, and borrowing from some other problems, I'd take it as essential to a case of Founder's Syndrome that the management direction of the person who is acting as the Founder is in some way or totally divergent from the community needs and the apparent needs of an organization, either by mission statement or by common sense.

Thus, I wonder if there would be a problem but the following statements:

1) But for the founder, an organization should do something else.

2) But for the perception of a duty to a founder, the organization would be different in some way, or, the behave differently.

Is a perception of duty to a founder's directives/desires reasonable in all instances?

After disappointingly returning a Kuerig coffee machine to the store (I'll post a review because I think some people would absolutely love this machine), I turned my attention back to the Senseo, which was had for a song last year when they first came out.

As any other coffee snob knows, the pursuit of cleaner brewing than the coffee press creates the drive to experiment. The pods of coffee sold by Douwe Egbert for the Senseo taste like early Maxwell House... that was never sold in the 50s and now re-packaged as pods...

In a pinch, I've found the Millstone Columbian Supremo to be better than tolerable and enjoyable at times, but I got to thinking and applied my talents to a better solution: what if I used my own ground coffee?

Well, a few iterations later and it's easy as pie.

I'll get the old camera out and make a little post showing you how you can easily use Starbucks (or any other brand) coffee in your Senseo or Melitta pod brewer. Easy as pie, and your mouth will thank you.

So, in the meantime, go back to your french press for a couple days :-)

Nate tipped me on this: Seize the Dei: Lexicon for young adult Catholic acronyms

Do you see yourself or someone you know in these acronymistic gems?

ACART --- Accepts Church And Republican Teachings (M, F)
CHIM --- Catholic Hyper-Intellectual Male (M)
CINO --- Catholic In Name Only (M, F)
CISTO --- Catholic In Skimpy Tight Outfit (hopefully F)
CLOWSIC ---- Cosmo Lifestyle On Weekdays, Sundays In Church (F)
COGISFAW --- Catholic Old Guy, Is Searching For Adolescent Wife (M)
CONOPE --- Catholic, Orthodox, No Other Personality Evident (M, F)
CHUPAME -- Catholic Having Unhealthy Preoccupation About Middle Earth (mainly M)
FOCID --- Flirts Outrageously, Chastity In Doubt (M, F)
FOYIC --- Flirts Outrageously, Yet Is Chaste (M, F)
FOFEBA --- Full Of Faith, Empty Bank Account
FOTSAV --- Full Of The Spirit, Alcoholic Variety (M, F)
GQC ---- "GQ" Catholic (M,F)
ISOFF --- In Search Of Free Food (M, F)
JLAW / JLAH --- Just Looking to Acquire a Wife / Husband (M, F)
MAWBAN / MAWBAP --- Might As Well Be A Nun / Priest (F, M)
OSCAR ---- Overly Sexual Catholic, Advise Restraint (M, F)
SOFTNOS --- Shares Our Faith Though Not Our Sanity (M, F)
SOTVEM --- Seen Once Then Vanishes Ever-More (mostly F)
WOVUOS --- Woman Of Virtue, Underwear Of Sin (F)
WIRTEP --- Will Inevitably Refuse To Ever Pay (M,F)

It all looks great to this point, too funny!
hehehe... I can even think of a few people in most of those categories.

BUT! BUT! It all falls apart with this:

"The CINO JLAW is talking to the excellent CISTO CLOWSIC in the corner. Things may work unless she figures out he's a FOFEBA WIRTEP. If so, she'll be a SOTVEM, after hanging with all these CHIMS... unless she was just ISOFF!"

The better usage, or at least what suits my style better is the single use, i.e.:

trolling for CISTO

Ave Maria School of Law grads should be aware of the following management/organizational health anomaly, especially because they deal with non-profit organizations, and because the issues surrounding this type of problem are often explained away in charitable duties that conflict with the real solution.

Founder's Syndrome
Founder's Syndrome is essentially the series of management difficulties encountered when a single individual involved in an organization begins to make all management decisions of an organization. It is often accompanied with odd behavior metrics, such as a "party line" against which no one may speak or sharp polarization on issues where the side not agreeing with the asserted power is labeled as against the organization.

A great example of founder's syndrome, described by a recovered founder, comes from an article by Hildy Gottleib (available at: help4nonprofits.com). Gottleib founded Diaper Bank.

She states that her organization started in her garage and grew into a $12 million nonprofit. The nonprofit ran into problems and she eventually realized she was the cause. Her nutshell of the syndrome states that the core to Founder’s Syndrome is where decisions are not made collectively, but under the total control of the founder. The founder acts out of fear of losing control of the nonprofit. So the essence is that the founder exerts total control, or attempts to exert total control.

Among Gottlieb’s other observations, is that most frequently, the founder is the infrastructure of the organization. She suggests to other founder’s that they learn two important things:

• Once you give a gift, it’s no longer yours; and,


• by birthing an organization, you accept the responsibility to nurture it and make it independent – it’s no longer your baby.

Some of her other criticisms seem to poke directly at the heart of the matter, such as: founder’s tend to perceive the organizations as being about them, and they forget that their personal vision is not as important as the organization’s and the community’s vision.

Please take a look at this article -- these aren't my comments, but rather the advice of someone who had this problem and worked through it. Sometimes the founder's "vision" is so strong that the significant contributions of others is minimized or altogether disregarded. Among other problems, such a development is not only inaccurate, but uncharitable for it denies basic justice.

From my own experience, I can relate to having seen this type of organizational problem in my work prior to law school. Sometimes organizations can adapt and take a new form, other times the person in the role of the founder can wake-up and change (as Gottleib did), and other times the organization fails.

Google or search Amazon for the term yourself and see that this is a well-documented problem.

You will encounter this problem frequently in dealing with nonprofits that suddenly grow, experience a significant or sudden change in status, or that develop a cult of personality. You should keep this information in your hip pocket as you move into counsel positions with these types of organizations.

The Wheat         The Chaff

Tomorrow marks the day of judgment for Jesuit high schools in Ohio as Cincinnati St. Xavier (8-0 wheat) heads to Cleveland St. Ignatius (5-3 chaff) for a 2:00 face-off.

All I can say is:

X - A - V
I - E - R
we're Number 1, and we know we are!
(they better be cheering that at the game)

But despite St. I's weak record, I imagine they will be looking for a strong win after losing "the holy war" rivalry last week -- after all, without a win to St. X, St. I's is out.

see more at: jjhuddle.com

On a separate note, I'm not sure that the fine academics of my alma mater can sustain such athletic performance, but heck, maybe the math and science teams are first this year, too.

____________
UPDATE: Thanks to live audio via The Sports King.com, first half ended St. X 13, St. I's 0. As of the middle of the 4th quarter, 22-0, St. X. Ouch! Cats are on a dirve into the red zone, though, so it might not be a total blow out, then again, take that back thanks to an interception... St. X ball.

____________
FINAL: SHUT OUT! For the fifth time in a row, the St. X Bombers clinched a win from the Wildcats, 22-0 bringing their record to 9-0. Looks pretty good for state this year.

From Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground:

As far as my personal opinion is concerned, to care only for well-being seems to me positively ill-bred. Whether it’s good or bad, it is sometimes very pleasant, too, to smash things. I hold no brief for suffering nor for well-being either. I am standing for ... my caprice, and for its being guaranteed to me when necessary.

This quote in comparison to a quote earlier in his notes where he calls twice two equals four insolent.

Is he really arguing against fighting for the way things ought to be, or merely against imposed utopic visions?

Suffering would be out of place in vaudevilles, for instance; I know that. In the “Palace of Crystal” it is unthinkable; suffering means doubt, negation, and what would be the good of a “palace of crystal” if there could be any doubt about it? And yet I think man will never renounce real suffering, that is, destruction and chaos.

He goes on to say

Why, suffering is the sole origin of consciousness. [...] Consciousness, for instance, is infinitely superior to twice two makes four. Once you have mathematical certainty there is nothing left to do or to understand. There will be nothing left but to bottle up your five senses and plunge into contemplation. While if you stick to consciousness, even though the same result is attained, you can at least flog yourself at times, and that will, at any rate, liven you up. Reactionary as it is, corporal punishment is better than nothing.

Interesting book, and interesting diary.

Do you think he's railing against static utopia? Is he in a way saying that this life is imperfect and that is what makes it real?

Thanks be to God! Hahahaha! Oh well, if it were true, I can only imagine how many would come for the sheer novelty...

Now, this would be quite the scene and I think we'd see a higher attendance rate of young men. Not to mention football fans, fraternity members, and students. If this world were true, it might actually be one of the few instances where I'd say folk music should be OK at Mass. Heck, what would you play but German Polkas?

Now, lest I cause scandal, we all know, and I know you know that this is not valid matter for Mass. Pope Benedict was very grateful for lunch, that's all.

(check out the link to Professor Bainbridge)

Just sit back and relax.

Several blogs are around talking about Ave Maria School of Law.

Fumare
WhoseAMSOL
Whichavemaria

they mention this article.

and it's been mentioned on other sites linked on each of them.

Everyone is being anonymous, though. I'm not really sure why. I don't think it's a good thing, actually (unless you work for the school, foundation, or are in some other way dependant on the foundation).

Are you not allowed to have an opinion anymore? Is there something wrong with reasonable criticism?

I think the issues about the idea of moving the law school should be discussed and fleshed out. Why is everyone hiding?

Vanity of vanities perhaps, or the timid attempt to scrawl my intials on the stage of the theater of redemption, but this blog is here because I was reading other blogs on an issue that I find personally important.

Spanning the globe to find stories of interest, this is ... oh well, it's just a blog.

enjoy!