Sunday Sampler 5: The Spring Cleaning Edition

 Good afternoon all, and welcome to the fifth Sunday Sampler. The theme for today is spring cleaning, which my immune system appears to be doing by way of a cold. That same cold has also told me about the awesome medicinal properties of coffee*. Enough about me, let us get to it.

First, Didact has an excerpt from the Book of Chronicles, about Israelite king Ada, son of Odo, who did some spring cleaning with idols in the temples. Good on him. Here is Calvary Chapel's sermon on the same passage:

Rev. Matt,  our favourite upside-down preacher, wonders how much divorce has to do with decadence in clown world. What other sins might get cleaned out by impending economic hardship? I think most of the sins you don't have to get up for, since people will be struggling to sit on the couch all day and still pay the bills.

Last but certainly not least, Fr. Mark Goring lets off a broadside against Canada's euthanasia program:

As it happens, yours truly needs to get better at choosing topics, because that's it for spring cleaning content, we are now moving on to other stuff that people posted. First, we have a sermon from Rev. Matt, which he uploaded to his very own YouTube channel:

Finally, Frank Luke discusses what appears to be a chronological issue in the story of King David. Ironically enough, he dissected the Hebrew notion of years, and how it may differ from ours, a week before. Have at it, Bible nerds.

And that's a wrap for today. Have a blessed Sunday!

*This may only apply to those of us with severe coffee addictions.

Why all your tools are fragile garbage

Behold, my recently expired kitchen knife. Cause of death was the first quarter of a fairly boring soft cheese that I had for dinner. You read that right: soft cheese. Today, I will narrate the life story of this knife, and many like it.

Our tragic tale of consumerist usury starts on the drawing board. An engineer of some description was asked to come up with a cheaper and lighter kitchen knife. Now, this engineer was not the top of his class. If he had been, he would be designing fighter jets or something, not household tools. This guy is a ways below the spatial reasoning prodigy that his job title used to be associated with. Furthermore, he's anything but happy to be working this job. Regardless of his professed faith, he is highly unlikely to try being 'faithful in little things'. In short, he's neither competent nor motivated.

So here he is, asking to cut weight and costs out of the previous design, in a way that prototyping won't notice. Since prototyping and design testing is going to be done by people of comparable skill, they won't notice too much. In mass production, plastic is cheaper than metal every time. Therefore, he makes the blade socket as short as he can get away with. The cheapest production material of all is air, so the plastic grip is hollowed out. Maybe the CAD has a button to automatically insert some ribs into the hollow, that will make the FEA guys happy, while saving weight. [1] [2]

Here is where the problems start to show up: neither CAD nor FEA are particularly handy, because so few of my generation are. Especially the nerdier guys, who constitute the bulk of engineering students, grew up in the gaming chair, not in dad's garage. Ergo, their structural requirements and tests are fairly inaccurate. To save weight and cost, they always err on the side of too litttle material. After all, the worst that could happen is that the knife breaks sooner, giving them an easy sale in six months time.

A third way to cut costs is to use lower grades of material. The stuff will break sooner, but it's cheaper, lighter, and probably easier to work with. Now we have an under-strength design of inferior materials, so let's go to the actual manufacturing of our short-lived knife.

As we already saw, nobody's trying to spend any money whatsoever on this thing. So the cheapest manufacturer gets hired. You get three guesses where this manufacturer is and how much he cares about training his workforce, but you'll only need one. These guys do not care to make the end product one iota better than their QC forces them to. Here's an audio of their QC guy looking at bad production runs. I have heard stories about QC getting pressured to pass a certain amount of product, to make their toxic manager look good. The effect of that is the same as curves and affirmative action in academics. [3]

Finally, we get to the last culprit of this tragic knife, the customer. You and I share some of the blame. See, we're also not as handy as our forefathers. So we use the underspecced cheap knife in ways that it should not be. For instance, the tragedy up there was not a cheese knife. And when it did not want to cut, I just pressed down even harder.

This is one of the ways in which nothing works anymore. Looking on the bright side, consider the benefits of teaching your children the universally attainable virtues of thoroughness and humility. If they don't think of their work as beneath them and pay attention to it, they will outperform a lot of people.

[1] Computer Aided Design: drawing stuff on a computer.
[2] Finite Element Analysis: a way to stress test a design on the computer, without having to make a prototype and then smash it up.
[3] Quality Control: the people who are supposed to stop bad product from hitting the market.

Sunday Sampler No.4: The dragons edition

Welcome to the fourth Sunday Sampler. Today is Mothers Day, and the topic at hand is dragons. It is for you to decide whether or not these are related.

We start with regular feature Rev. Matt's Writings, who draws a connection between dragons, dinosaurs, and the Behemoth that Job heard about. Again, I invite you to draw your own conclusions, mostly because I know less about dinosaurs than normal people know about computational fluid dynamics.

Comrade Didact has the same Job verses up, with a sermon for interpretation. We also have his Sunday Scripture from last week, with Micah foretelling the Lord Jesus and a sermon.

Rev. Matt also writes about a topic that I sincerely hope none of y'all have to associate with Mothers Day: dealing with emotionally unhealthy people.

Finally, we have Fr. Mark Goring, who closes us out on a high note by showing us what mothers and angels have in common.

Tis a short one today, which leaves more time for our mothers. Happy Mothers Day!

Sunday Sampler No. 3: the you edition

 Good morning everyone, and welcome to the third Sunday Sampler. This installment's theme is you. Yes, you specifically. Now you may say that I do not know very much about you specifically. This is correct. Therefore, let me pass the mic to the one who does know you specifically, and His Word.

We begin with the three readings from Mass earlier, and some musings from yours truly to accompany each of them. First: from the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, or the Book of Acts, depending on which Bible you read.

 1 And in those days, the number of the disciples increasing, there arose a murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews, for that their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.  2 Then the twelve calling together the multitude of the disciples, said: It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.  3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.  4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.  5 And the saying was liked by all the multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch.

 6 These they set before the apostles; and they praying, imposed hands upon them.  7 And the word of the Lord increased; and the number of the disciples was multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly: a great multitude also of the priests obeyed the faith.

There are ministers of the word of God and ministers of the food, among many others. It matters not how any two compare to each other, it matters that the same person doing both requires neglecting one. In some way, it seems a microcosm of 'one cannot serve two masters' from Jesus' own mouth. What is your ministry, dear reader, and what is it not?

The second reading is from St. Peter's first letter:

  4 Unto whom coming, as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen and made honourable by God:  5 Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

 6 Wherefore it is said in the scripture: Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious. And he that shall believe in him, shall not be confounded.  7 To you therefore that believe, he is honour: but to them that believe not, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner:  8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of scandal, to them who stumble at the word, neither do believe, whereunto also they are set.  9 But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

You are chosen, and purchased. By whom and to what end?

The third, Gospel, reading is from St. John:

 1 Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.  2 In my Father's house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you.  3 And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be.  4 And whither I go you know, and the way you know.  5 Thomas saith to him: Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

 6 Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.  7 If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also: and from henceforth you shall know him, and you have seen him.  8 Philip saith to him: Lord, shew us the Father, and it is enough for us.  9 Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known me? Philip, he that seeth me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, shew us the Father?  10 Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I speak not of myself. But the Father who abideth in me, he doth the works.

 11 Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?  12 Otherwise believe for the very works' sake. Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do.  13 Because I go to the Father: and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do: that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  14 If you shall ask me any thing in my name, that I will do.

God both knows and loves you, more than any human ever could. And he's had forever to prepare your mansion in His house. What does it look like? What is worth sacrificing to spend eternity in it?

Now onto more recent authors. Rev. Matt is writing a book, and this paragraph is promising.

Frank Luke has a sermon up on Judas' betrayal. Call this the dark side of today's sampler: you too betray Jesus with your sin. As do I, much as I can relate to the sons of Zebedee in the garden. 'Resting in the Lord' is probably my most frequent form of prayer, if you catch my drift.

Finally, Fr Mark Goring urges you to be gentle with yourself. Especially on Sunday, which is a day of rest.

And that's a wrap for today. I hope you have a good Sunday!