“Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and capacity, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings of life, the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion, and independence.” — Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833)
[…]
"The rescue and lucky mentality people have with orphans so easily overlooks the very real pain and trauma inherent in it all. It engenders a need for gratefulness and payback among the children that’s just unhealthy. It turns a blind eye to the reality of their situation and turns adoptive parents into superheros that we’re definitely not."
“But ambitious encroachments of the federal government, on the authority of the State governments, would not excite the opposition of a single State, or of a few States only. They would be signals of general alarm… But what degree of madness could ever drive the federal government to such an extremity.” —James Madison, Federalist No. 46
I wonder what our fourth president, a strict constitutional constructionist, would think of us now.
For future reference. Thanks, Dave!
[D]oubt is a necessary part of faith. We tend to think that faith and doubt are opposites, but they’re not. The opposite of faith isn’t doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty. If we are certain of something, we don’t need faith. Faith and doubt, then, exist side by side — and that plays itself out all over the Bible (“Lord I believe! Help me overcome my unbelief.”).
But — reason #2 — doubt is about as taboo a subject as you can bring up in church. When was the last time anyone in a small group or church service admitted to not knowing if he or she believed in God? Or wondering if God was really present at all, or good? I’ve honestly had readers tell me that they’d love to read my book, but worry about what their friends or family might think when they see them reading a book about doubt. It sounds flippant, but maybe they should hide my book behind a Playboy. It’s more acceptable to be a Christian with a porn problem than a Christian with a doubt problem. That’s horrible. I want doubters to know that they’re not alone in the journey, and that it’s OK. That they don’t have to pretend to have it all together. That they don’t have to fake it. I hope this book gives them the freedom to be honest, and the encouragement to continue pursuing God, however that might look.
The August issue of About This Particular Macintosh is now available for your reading pleasure.
Rob gets us going with a recap of Apple’s latest earnings, as well as their new product introductions. Two lines in Rob’s analysis really stood out to me:
At $65 billion in annual revenue, Apple’s revenue take is greater than the GDP (gross domestic product) of most nations.
And:
It’s interesting to note: In the June quarter close to 50% of Apple’s revenue was generated by products that did not exist in the marketplace just over three years ago.
It’s no wonder how favorite fruit company continues to be the envy of the tech industry.
While vacationing in Normandy, Mark discovers “wee-fee”, a new French cuisine. Despite some, er, “digestive” problems with the “wee-fee”, it was much preferable to the palate than his having to deal with refurbishing a Windows-running Dell.
Ed not only returns to update the Next Actions GTD app list, but shares his workflow and tools for processing e-mail. This is a great resource for those of us floundering through e-mail inboxes full of stuff we know we should get to, but never seem to.
Linus shares his experience going from 10 GB iPod to iPod touch to iPad, and learns some times the greener grass is hiding a few weeds. Sylvester shares his travails on maintaining the household network, noting that this sometimes unpleasant task has gotten easier over the years.
The August edition of our desktop pictures is courtesy of ATPM reader Giuseppe Balacco, his daughter Maria Luisa, and his wife Cecilia. They feature the gorgeous Tremiti Islands. I’ve already downloaded the entire set.
In this month’s edition of Out at Five, we are treated to unqualified sales recruits who’ll stab you in the back at the first opportunity, lightsaber confusion, why you should never finish every project you have at work, and finally those notes taped to the outside of the fridge should always be heeded.
Yours truly reviews the OWC Express USB 2.5-inch hard drive enclosure, a welcome addition to my tech stable. Finally, Matthew puts Ambrosia’s WireTap Anywhere through the wringer of digital recording.
Our all-volunteer publication is always looking for talented writers, photographers, and graphic artists to contribute regularly. If you’re interested, please contact the editors.
As always, this month’s edition of About This Particular Macintosh is available in a variety of flavors:
Thanks for reading ATPM!
“Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a FEDERAL, and not a NATIONAL constitution.” —James Madison, Federalist No. 39
Oh, what of our history we have forgotten.