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You can also visit my Medical Terminology Page

The Pathology Blues! Students learn best when they're laughing. Click here to download a DOS routine that plays a song made up of verses written by medical students taking their final exam. Sing along with me in my ASCII-art incarnation.

Episcopalians on the "Web": Help yourselves to my spinning logos.
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Episcopalian Date Applet

Since I became an Episcopalian in 1978, the denomination (1) has never told me anything that I knew was not true; (2) has never told me I was better than anybody else; (3) has never told me to hate anybody; (4) has never told me to do anything I knew was wrong; (5) has surprised me with the lack of hypocrisy among clergy and laity; (6) has never pestered me for money.

The denomination doesn't proof-text, embraces natural science, supports a person who chooses a clean-living single lifestyle, treats your private life and your politics as your own business, uses the golden rule as guide to behavior, regards all people of good-will as friends, focuses on life in this world, and insists that the Gospel faith and the Christian commitment are not merely personal or cultural prejudices. I say I made a good choice.

Meet the Archbishop of Canterbury. Anglican Communion -- official site What Is Christianity? -- lecture by Rowan Williams Episcopal Church Episcopal Church St. James's Cathedral, Chicago -- my first parish St. Mary's, Kansas City St. John's, Johnson City Anglican Franciscans -- daily office prayers Textweek Anglican Communion -- official site Virtue Online -- Global Orthodox (ultraconservative) Anglicanism. Link provided to show our diversity and as a balance to our left-wing crazies; in particular, I cannot really support their anti-evolution talk or their outrage over women's ordination. Survey of Theology -- St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Forum

August 2003: The denomination has been in the news. The whole business has gotten a lot more attention from outside the Episcopal church than from within. Since the early 1900's, it's been understood that what goes on between consenting, safety-conscious adults in private is their own business. However, the norm is still (1) saving "the best" for a stable, lifelong marriage between a man and a woman; (2) focusing on stable, quality friendship rather than "romance" with your own gender; (3) following the Golden Rule in every aspect of your walk through life. All this seems best to me. If your experience as a grown-up has been different, you'll need to conclude that I'm wrong.

If your browser were Java-capable, you would play "Medical Vocabulary" here.

Mind Stuff

"I chose to become..."

... 'Tis known, I ever
Have studied physic, through which secret art,
By turning o'er authorities, I have,
Together with my practice, made familiar
To me and to my aid the blest infusions
That dwell in vegetives, in metals, stones;
And I can speak of the disturbances
That nature works, and of her cures, which doth
A more content in course of true delight
Than to be thirsty after tottering honor
Or tie my treasure up in silken bags,
To please the fool and death.

Shakespeare, "Pericles"

Despite my being an aggressive man, my interests have always been primarily academic.

For me, relaxing is learning a new computer language and using it to program. Entertainment is reading the classics or "Scientific American". A good vacation is one spent at the local public library.

I have an extremely high regard for truth, and very little tolerance for lies, especially the ones that interfere with human health and reasonable human freedom.

If 47 years on this planet has taught me anything, it's that making good decisions (for yourself and others) begins with looking at the world as it really is, taking elaborate precautions against kidding ourselves. This is called science. I recommend it. Science cannot tell us what's right or wrong, or answer our questions about ultimate concerns. But it's self-correcting, tremendously satisfying, and (contrary to what the crackpots on every side have told you) clearly makes its practitioners more, not less, humane.

The primacy I give to science as a way of knowing should not surprise any persons of faith (Christian, other) who actually know their stuff.

Here are a few of my favorite links.

American Scientific Affiliation -- the premiere organization for mainstream Christians interested in dealing honestly with the implications of scientific discovery. No one will agree with everything on these pages, but I especially appreciate the debunking of pseudo-Christian anti-science.
Arbatel of Magic -- Live to thyself, and the Muses; avoid the friendship of the Multitude: be thou covetous of time, beneficial to all men. Use thy Gifts, be vigilant in thy Calling; and let the Word of God never depart from thy mouth. Also Johannes Trithemius.
Archive X -- people share tales of "paranormal" experiences
"The Bad Astronomer" As rowdy as me.
Bible Codes? My notes on the new pseudoscience fad.
Bible Study

The quality of the Bible, especially considering the era in which it was written, speaks for itself. My background, especially during my first several years as a Christian, includes examining its composition by the rules of secular scholarship. There is little online about this, but the study is fascinating and (I find) persuasive.

In college, I went through the synoptic gospels word-by-word, underlining as follows:

Mark only: Orange
Luke only: Red
Matthew only: Blue
Matthew and Mark, not Luke: Yellow
Mark and Luke, not Mark: Pink
Matthew and Luke, not Mark: Purple
Matthew, Mark, and Luke: Black


It took me a full week. I concluded that "Matthew" (the first evangelist) and "Luke" (the third evangelist) used written copies of "Mark" (the second evangelist") and another document ("Q"), the latter having the form that was used in the time for saying of the famous rabbis. I also concluded that Matthew had some special material ("M") that I suspected was orally transmitted, and that Luke had some special material ("L") that I couldn't decide (oral or written). Later I applied these techniques to the Gospel of Thomas, and concluded that the author had used a written copy of the Third Gospel at the time of writing. All of this seems to be generally agreed-on by secular scholars.

My exegetical paper was on the finding of the Book of the Law in the temple (I Kings 22). I strongly favored the Wellhausen idea, which I discovered had been strengthened by the then-recent discovery of cuneiform tablets bearing the vassal-treaties of Esharhaddon. So far, this is the first mention of this on the web. Again, the quality of the Book of Deuteronomy speaks for itself.

In no way did this study compromise my Christian faith -- it strengthened it -- as my fellow-Christians on the college faculty and chaplain's office assured me that it would. All that you'll find online against this kind of study is ad-hominem attacks, diatribes, and proof-texting from religionists. I have a ninth-commandment problem with this. And life has taught me that people sling mud when they know they have no case. The Third Evangelist even says he used sources.

Law and Former Prophets -- Roman Catholic source
Authorship and Date

Bill Long -- Christian thinker and friend from Brown. Thanks, Bill!

Buddhist thought

Yahoo! Buddhism
Buddha Net
Progressive Buddhism -- focus on social service and scientific thinking
Progressive Buddhism -- Mahayanist focus on building a better world right here and now

Even today's neo-pagans are looking to Buddhist morality as a model for good living.
Vimalakirti Sutra -- a favorite for its conciseness and humor. Link is now down.

Buddhist Humor
Near-Death Experiences of Buddhists -- "The essential and most important qualities in life are love and knowledge, compassion and wisdom."


Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

-- Attributed to Siddhartha Gautama ("The Buddha")

Since apostolic times, many Christians have explicitly stated that other cultures -- perhaps every culture -- have received supernatural insights. Although for Christians (myself included) the definitive revelation is Jesus Christ, it is hard for an informed, mainstream Christian not to appreciate the faith of our Buddhist brothers and sisters.

Buddhist ethics are simple -- try to avoid violence, sexual impropriety, dishonest or abusive speech, stealing, and recreational intoxicants, and be generous. Notice that these are all about how you treat others. When you do wrong, there is no need to obtain supernatural forgiveness; you simply try to understand why you failed and to do better. Since Buddhism does not address questions like "Is there a God?" or "Were we specially created?", and does not require belief in particular doctrines as a condition of salvation, it has always been easy to incorporate it into existing theologies, as happened in Tibet and among its many Judeo-Christian admirers.

Although this culture-neutral was supported by foreign conquerors in India, China, and Japan, Buddhism was never a government sect that sought to change human nature through legislation. Its early development was in a monastic community. Despite its supposed world-negating outlook, early Buddhists founded hospitals and did other good works for their neighbors.

Buddhist monks and outspoken laity have been persecuted under communism and under right-wing dictatorships. The mistreatment of the Dalai Lama's people by the Communist Chinese is infamous. During the early 1960's, the world admired the series of Vietnamese Buddhist monks who burned themselves to death to protest the corruption of the Diem regime. Madame Nhu, the fabulously wealthy wife of the chief of Diem's secret police, described their self-sacrifice as "a waste of good gasoline." That was when I first realized we'd made some terrible mistakes and would probably lose the war.

The Buddha's teaching begins with what we all realize to be true, at least in our more lucid moments. Our names, our bodies, our possessions, our accomplishments, our ordinary relationships, and so forth are all transitory and are not really us. By thinking clearly and living well, we can start removing illusions and senseless attachments. Buddhism teaches that real happiness is found in this way, and only in this way.

Some Buddhists have taught that there is no "real self", while for Christians, it is the norm to say that each person harbors a spiritual something -- not really like anything we know in daily life -- which chooses its ultimate destiny by affirming or denying the supreme Love made known in Christ. A Christian might say that we are not really ourselves until we love one another as Christ loves us. Both faiths agree that our life in this world is not of ultimate concern (though our decisions made here may well be), and that only the life of the spirit has real value. So perhaps they are really saying the same thing.

"Nirvana", the Buddhist goal, means "cessation". Some people have said that for Buddhists, the world of our experiences is a sort of disagreeable movie that we leave only with great difficulty. Other Buddhists have told me this is wrong, and that "nirvana" is simply the end of hatred, lust, greed, and ignorance, and the surprising joy we find when these cease. Freed from the petty concerns of life, the enlightened Buddhist becomes a minister to others in this world and the worlds beyond this life. For such a "bodhisattva", life in the world is nirvana.

Many people in many different cultures -- not just Buddhists -- have said that real happiness is something we discover when, and only when, we detach ourselves emotionally from the ordinary preoccupations of life. Those who claim to have experienced it say it is a big surprise. These claims are so common and similar that even a secularist might think they could be true. A practicing Buddhist might look forward to life without passions. A Christian would look instead to being filled with unselfish love for others, no matter how undeserving. I wonder whether these could be the same.

Years ago, I read an article in a medical journal comparing the effectiveness of Christian and Buddhist pastors in preparing condemned criminals for execution. Imagine facing this yourself. Then consider someone asking you, "Uh... just exactly what do you think you're going to miss out on?" The latter message is both Buddhist and Biblical, and it was by far the most effective.

Post-Vatican II Christians are fond of using the term "anonymous Christians" for all persons of good will, believing that they have unknowingly but truly accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. Whatever others may think of this, one of the questions I'm looking forward to having answered in heaven is whether a saint is the same as a bodhisattva.

Let nothing trouble you, nothing frighten you.
God never changes. All else passes away.
Patient endurance accomplishes everything.
If you have God, you lack nothing.
Only God is enough.

-- Theresa of Avila

Caltech Astronomy Knowledgebase
Christian Solidarity Worldwide -- update on persecutions. Nonsectarian and seemingly reasonable.
Chess and variants

Hans Bodlaender
Ed's Chess Variants
Chess Openings

Noted composer John Carbon and I played keyboard together in high school.

Chinese Dictionary
Samuel Taylor Coleridge the poet and thinker.
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
Contemporary Critical Theory -- mostly people pretending to talk about literature while actually promoting various left-wing ideologies. Lots of this going on in college English departments these days
David Bennett -- cyberfriend and rational Catholic thinker
Deliverance Ministry -- from a group that distrusts personal intuition in this situation
Deliverance Ministry -- Anglican
Spiritual Warfare -- Roman Catholic
Deliverance Ministry -- Virgil Michael OSB
Dickens -- "A Christmas Carol". ...Any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness.... No space of regret can make amends for one's life's opportunity misused! -- Marley's ghost
The Didache -- a very early guide to Christian doctrine and behavior
The Didache -- Ben H. Swett's notes
Dinosaurs
Dream of Scipio -- Cicero's vision of human life viewed from the unchanging heavens.
Ed's Basic Science Trivia Quiz
Essentials of Music (Norton)
Exam Master -- largely the work of my former assistant Ed Lulo MD

Andre Fairchild's multilingual medical dictionary

"Forgiven" -- Thomas Blackshear's 1992 Christian painting
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
George Ritchie -- "How could [Christ] have told me, and I not heard?" "I told you by the life I lived. I told you by the death I died."
Georgia State Hyperphysics
Glossary of Literary Terms -- U. of Toronto, no weird left-wing stuff
Goethe's "Faust". Goethe's mixed thoughts on life and the beginnings of the modern age. Powerfully suggestive. "One kiss from Gretchen is worth a thousand allegories." Goethe's Faust, rather than the devil, is the monstrous egomaniac. In one very funny scene, Faust invents junk bonds.
Goethe's Faust (notes)

John Glashan -- my family's favorite cartoonist in the 1960's. Memorial site placed by his family.
Mikhail Gorbachev. I had the privilege of hearing him at K. State in October 2005.

Harry Potter -- link is now down. a Christian appreciation by Charles Colson. "The plots reinforce the theme that evil is real, and must be courageously opposed. As this theme unfolds, so do the characters of Harry and his friends. They develop courage, loyalty, and a willingness to sacrifice for one another -- even at the risk of their lives. Not bad lessons in a self-centered world."
Harry Potter Facts
Stephen Hawking's website
I Hate Histology -- motivational drama for entering medical students
Homonyms
Humor

Capitol Steps
Edgar Allen Poe's Cat
The Flying Rat
The Rider and the Adder -- classic doggerel
Poddy's Joke Collection -- PG13
Clean Jokes Page
Clean Jokes Page
World Ideologies Explained by Reference to Cows
Why The Stork Stands on One Leg -- homage to Kipling
Teddy the Red Nosed Senator. Not so much humor as a sorry reminder of how little our nation once cared about drunk driving.
We Never Mention Aunt Clara. Classic parody recalled from my years as a kid playing keyboard.
Cymbeline Refinished by Shaw

I have long believed that these people, whose original language became the basis of the major languages from Ireland through India, conquered because they were the original horse-riders.

Hints from prehistory Celtic culture and the Vedas suggest that they had a professional full-time military (centered on their rider-archers) that accepted the authority of a civilian learned class (Brahmins / Druids). I would think this explains their phenomenal success.

The Left alternates between blaming these people and the Judeo-Christians for all the world's evils. Specifically, they are accused of destroying the early civilizations in which everybody lived in love, sweetness and harmony with nature and each other. I wish that could have been true.

Piotr Gasiorowski's Indo-European page

Jeff Cox on Progressive Creationism. Link is now down

A pleasant change... a self-described creationist who takes care to tell the truth. If you are a conservative Christian struggling with the creation-evolution business, Jeff's synthesis is easily the best statement I've found of what's become mainstream Evangelical belief. Jeff admits common descent (i.e., humans and apes have a common ancestor) and an old earth, and argues that God's hand can be seen in the process and especially in the origin of life. Interestingly, there's evidence that Darwin believed pretty much the same as Jeff. Evaluate Jeff's claims for yourself; I consider the whole question to be open and worthwhile. I also share Jeff's concerns about contemporary meaninglessness and despair, etc., etc. I would see science and religion working hand-in-hand against superstition, stupidity, tyranny, ennui, and nastiness, and I bet Jeff does, also. (We're both Anglicans!) More on progressive creationism.

All mainstream Christians believe in the doctrine of creation -- that the world is essentially a good and worthwhile place, and that we are meant to be God's friends and companions. This is in contradistinction to some Gnostic sectarians and some non-Christians who hold that the natural world is the devil's work and/or an unpleasant charade that we escape only with much difficulty.

Notice that believing in creation does NOT require me to believe that the Good Lord designed me and my solar system like engineers design automobiles. Pythagoras said, "It's all in the math". The current work in physics gives me a sense of both astonishment and reverence. Only very ignorant or the very crooked people ridicule today's astrophysics on "Christian" grounds.

If you have ever had pets, you know how much they have in common with us. They possess many qualities that we admire, often being good in ways that few humans are. It puzzles me that some Christians object to the idea that we are descended from animals. The truth is that we usually show the Christ Child surrounded and adored by both humans and animals. I think this reflects something that most of us believe. If the animals are our (and His) blood relatives, then isn't it reasonable to think that they, too, are saved by His Incarnation? And only humans sin, so only humans need the Cross.

Even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motions and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience. Now it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for a non-Christian to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. -- St. Augustine, "The Literal Meaning of Genesis"

John Savard -- another varied website by a man who shares several of my interests (physics, music theory, chess variants)
Kansas City, Kansas Community College
Lord Byron Popular romantic writer with whom I identify (at least partly). Man's man, distance swimmer, also "invisibly handicapped". I wish I had his wit or his scores of lady "admirers". At the end of his short life, Byron gave up a self-indulgent lifestyle to be a freedom fighter.
Lord Byron -- online biography that does not try to explore every secret
Marat-Sade: One of my favorites when I was a sixties teen interested in ideas. The play's theme -- the debate between Marat and deSade -- is stale today, but still easy to recognize. Marat is a sixties communist. DeSade is a sixties proponent of free love. In real life, neither man, and neither idea, proved to be much good.
Martinus -- the famous Danish visionary. He is not explcitily Christian but I think his claims are consistent with the Gospel.
Meet Joe Black -- Hollywood for once celebrates spiritual goodness.

Bill: You know about money, don't you?
Death: That it can't buy happiness?

Pascal's Memorial
Pascal -- French physicist, mathematician, and Christian thinker

Paul of Tarsus.

Author of much of the Christian Bible. Our most important theologian. He deserves more appreciation than he gets nowadays.

Paul dedicated much of his life to spreading the Gospel. His main opposition from within the Church came from those who wanted to make Christianity into a religion focused on laws and rules. Paul's own life experience, and evidently his meeting the risen Christ, taught him that (1) he could make as many rules as he wanted and it wouldn't make things right, and (2) he was a flesh-and-blood human being and couldn't control his own behavior anyway. Instead, Paul focused on the need to accept Christ as Lord, and to grow in goodness by walking in Him.

We are often reminded that the milieu in which Christianity originated valued being a good community member, talked about love of neighbors, and so forth. But it was still cooties to talk to a Samaritan, or eat with a friend who was not circumcised.

I am glad that Paul was successful in persuading the rest of us to discard legalism and focus on how our behavior really affects others. Today, mainstream Christian behavior is mostly applied common sense and following the Golden Rule.

In II Corinthians 12:3, Paul describes being taken into heaven, not knowing whether he was in or out of his body, and being told "inexpressable things", secrets that he was not allowed to share. I have concluded that Paul learned about the Big Bang, the true size and age of the universe, atoms and molecules, relativity, quantum theory, the genetic code, the common origins of living things, life on other planets, and how these fit with the Christian world-view though not with the "science and philosophy" of the Hellenistic age. I would like to have seen Paul's face when he saw the dinosaurs. Paul must have been forbidden to talk about what he had learned, because the human race would not believe it until we discovered it on our own.

Nowadays Paul takes flack for saying "A woman should keep silent in church", "Wives be subject to your husbands", "Slaves be subject to your masters", "Fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of heaven", and so forth. These have been used as proof-texts for political positions that I think are wrong today. Whatever Paul may really have meant, his own letters show that women exercised an extensive ministry in his church, and that he used his pastoral skills to bring about a reconciliation between a master and his runaway slave.

If there is human error in Paul's letters (reasonable people will disagree, for example, about such passages as "baptism for the dead" or "the reason some of you are sick or have died is because you did not perceive Christ's body and blood in the sacrament", and so forth), this does not detract from my appreciation of his key contribution. Especially, I am impressed by Paul's explanation for human imperfection ("We inherited it from Adam"). Despite the limits of ancient knowledge, Paul recognized (by inspiration?) that the problem was human origins and the impact they still have on human nature.

Catholic appreciation of Paul

Pelagian Christianity.

My book is called "Shut Up and Stop Whining: How to Do Something With Your Life Besides Think About Yourself." -- Bill Watterson's Calvin.

Although Pelagius Britto is probably wrong on a technicality, it is hard not to admire his "take charge and decide to live well" philosophy.

We know that Pelagius taught that sickness and death were natural phenomena rather than a divine punishment for hereditary sin. (Of course I'm with Pelagius on this, as are most of today's mainstream Christians.) Pelagius also took strong exception to Augustine's "Confessions", with the focus on massive guilt over what most people (then and now, Christians and non-Christians) would probably consider just being human.

I'm told that when Pelagius challenged Augustine, he was in his early twenties. If he'd been older, he might have realized that grace had operated in his own life before he made his conscious decision to follow Christ.

Still, Pelagius deserves to be remembered by all Christians (and friendly non-Christians) who want to focus on common sense, good living, and treating others well.

A self-described "Pelagian / Celtic Orthodox" prison ministry focused "It's YOU who makes the moral decisions, and it's YOU who are responsible" used to operate one of my favorite websites; it's gone now. Augustine's "Confessions" are also a great read. Whatever you may think of the fine points of his theology (or Pelagius's), this work began the literature of harsh introspection in the West.

Pelagius
Anglican source on Augustine, clearly with divided sympathies
Neopagan appreciation of Pelagius

Peter Olver, math giant, shared a room with me in college.
Planning Commissioners Journal -- a tremendous internet site by my college friend Wayne Senville

Planescape.

This brilliant adventure-game scenario from TSR Hobbies parodies our own world's ideals and ideologies. In the city of Sigil, the police force is operated by the Religious Right. The law courts are controlled by the scientific naturalists, and the guilty are handed over to the justice-activists for punishment. New-age "you create your own reality" mystics run the legislature. Progress mystics run the manufacturing operations. The radical intuitivists operate the sports complex. The sensualists run the entertainment district. The self-empowerment militants collect the taxes. The insane asylum is run by the existentialists. The nihilists control the military, and the death mystics run the mortuary. The shout-and-pout Left, the anti-clericists, and the joyful anarchists all take part in the propaganda war. Staunchly open-minded people operate the business district.

The city of Sigil is the source for all the conflicting answers people have given for the central mystery of suffering. Travellers from Sigil carry ideas to all the worlds. And from Sigil, one can travel to dimensions where whole communities are united by common moral and ethical commitments. These resemble the "intermediate state" in which many of my fellow-Anglicans believe.

Like many other people, I've used "Planescape" to write for young people about life in our our confusing world. I believe that when we think hard about the larger issues in life, most of us will make the right choices.

Progressive Islam

Muqtedar Khan's "Challenge to American Muslims"
www.moselm.org -- great site
Islam and science
What is the Koran?
Yunus Emre; classic Islamic humanist who is a favorite of the progressives in Turkey
The Quest of the Historical Mohammed -- even secularists recognize a good man

Riddles

Here's one I wrote:

I proved that I could help and heal, with medicines and surgeon's steel,
Then turned my heart and mind and eye to tell my fellows what and why.
No longer hearing beating hearts, I meet the living but as parts.
The parts exposed to glassy view, and much enlarged, give answers true.
No longer touching vital skin, I find the truth hid deep within.
Though I still wear the surgeon's mask, the final search is now my task.
Still as a surgeon gloved and gowned, I'm here when last things must be found.
And now on me my peers depend to tell what happened in the end.


Answer: Pathologist

Sacrament of Reconciliation -- Roman Catholic. Includes notes on examining the conscience and making a good act of contrition. Many Anglicans also find this helpful; we are expected to have a plan to avoid repeating misbehavior.
Steve Barrett's QuackWatch
Quartz Hill School of Theology. Southern Baptist site committed to quality, common sense, and clear thinking. "The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ." The site differs from typical Anglican positions only over Biblical inerrancy and the nature of the Lord's Supper.
Science Premiere US science journal.
Science World
Science Friday Public Radio news program
Scientology -- the death of Lisa McPherson. A few hours after this article was published, I received a phone call from St. Petersberg, by a man who stated that he was NOT officially representing the Church of Scientology, but was friendly to them. His exact words were, "You can name your price." I told him, as politely as I could, to go to hell. I heard no more, and wondered whether this was actually a church representative who wanted me to switch sides, somebody trying to trap me, a loose cannon, or an elaborate prank.
Shakespeare web entry
Shaw -- "Man and Superman." Don Juan strives for even-he-doesn't-know-what, while the devil simply tries to keep people ordinary. Something about the "Life Force." Reasonable people will disagree with one another about all this.
Society for Psychical Research site with a special focus on "the survival question".
Society for Scientific Exploration Warren Ong and I gave a paper for these folks. Link is now down.

St Malachy's prophecies for the papacy. I noted that when John Paul I was coronated, he would be "pope of the half moon", and he lived for half a month afterwards. John Paul II is "of the labor of the sun", and was supposedly born on the day of a solar eclipse, buried on the day of another solar eclipse, and the first pope to go around the world.

Stars, listed by name by Jim Kaler
Straight Dope Cecil Adams
Stuart Little. The authors wrote, "Stuart's journey symbolizes the continuing journey that everybody takes -- in search of what is perfect and unattainable. This is perhaps too elusive an idea to put into a book for children, but I put it in anyway."
Theodore M. Drange -- famous secularist philosopher and moralist, and a personal friend. We are united by our commitment to reason, common sense, and common kindness.
Theoi Project -- Greek mythology
Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Answers From the World's Thinkers
Talk-Origins Why the best-known creationists are wrong. Nice review of the (in my opinion overwhelming) evidence for common descent and an old earth.
Dr. Tammy Tucker
Volunteer Match -- high school buddy Crispin Perdue is their chief software engineer.
Who Am I In Christ -- scripture verses.
Who Named It -- great collection of medical eponyms. Highly recommended.
William James: "The Varieties of Religious Experience" After the Bible, my favorite book.

Monasticism

Little Portion Friary -- Episcopal Franciscans. I was friends with these folks during the 1980's.
Saint Benedict's Abbey
Clear Creek Monks -- Benedicting
Bernard of Clairvaux
Monks of Adoration -- Augustinian
Adrian of Canterbury, celebrated on my birthday, is especially honored by students in trouble with their teachers.
Rosary applet
Ramakrishna Mission -- old friends of mine; supposedly the most active and effective private charity in India

Philip of Moscow
Philip of Moscow

Man Stuff

"I might have been..."


I'm a fighter -- not a lover.

I prefer the freedom and ease of the single life. A wonderfully satisfying job, a good range of hobbies, and a great buddy system take the place of most "romance", "relationships", and family-of-generation.

No two men are the same. Most distinctive for me are (1) my very strong preference for the single, uncommitted life, (2) a quality buddy system; (3) a spartan lifestyle, owning only about as much as the average US teenager, and "home" being wherever I've slept the night before, and (4) my flattop haircut, with its macho, disciplined lines and angles.

I'm told that every culture has a small percent of men who like being professional military, always out on campaign, and never settling down. Ever since I was a small kid, I've thought this is the kind of guy that I'm genetically programmed to be. Comparing notes with career soldiers has satisfied me that I'm correct.

My parents were wise enough to raise me to be a man of peace. My war is against disease and ignorance, and my comrades-in-arms are good men and women across the various spectra.

I've worked hard to overcome shyness. The most important thing for me is simply being one of the guys, being able to be a friend, to like and be liked by my peers. There's occasionally been romance in my life, but I've been unwilling to give up my privacy or freedom even for the enduring love of any of several fine women.

With other guys, I've found that my limit of comfort is a bearhug, and that only with close friends. This was one of the first things I learned about myself in college, and it's how I've been ever since. And for me, friendship's about bringing a bunch of good guys together, rather than forming couples. I've discovered that lots of guys who share my hobby interests -- working out, programming, skydiving -- are the same as me.

My best all-male experience (by far) has been as a perpetual college fraternity man, part of a group where all the members are bonded. As a Christian-based, non-hazing college fraternity, there's a tremendous amount of warmth. I'm very fortunate.

This is just what has worked best for me. I think a lot about how great it would be to have a successful marriage with a very special lady. It'd a total restructuring of my priorities, and I'm happy with my life now, but I'm still open to the possibility. I won't pair-bond with a guy, nor could I imagine a life of acceptable quality without a buddy system. Different people tell me widely different things about what all this "makes me" in terms of my "identity politics". Anything you want to call me is fine.

Maybe you'll find something you like on this selection of guy-stuff links.

Alexander the Great Not mentioned at this site is that (according to my reading) it was Alexander who made it fashionable for us men to go around clean-shaven.
Angels In art, they usually appear androgynous. In the experiences of some of the mystics and visionaries, they show the same gender dimorphism as we do, only more so. I hope it's that way....
Lambeth Resolution on Sexuality -- 1998. Link is now down. What all the fuss was about back then. Most of the Anglican bishops "believe that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage." (I might have replaced "right" with "best" or "the ideal", and defined my terms more clearly -- even the most conservative partisans in the Episcopal church simply ask that unmarried people not "go all the way".

It's a sad commentary on our times that it's fairly difficult to find websites that simply celebrate feminine beauty, without degrading or indecent content. I'm glad to be able to share my best finds.

The web is constantly changing. Even my longtime favorite site has started posting x-rated stuff and I've dropped the link. Let me know about any problems with these sites.

Adolescence -- guide by a mainstream Christian. "If you live in a male body... you have to learn how to drive it!" This is the clearest single site I've seen.
Barry King, photographer
Beautiful Women -- popular actresses
Beautiful Women -- -- including 94 women wearing glasses. Highly recommended. No pornography.
Beautiful Women -- classic and current film. No pornography.
Beautiful Women -- Tommy Edwards photography. No pornography.
Beetle Bailey Mort Walker's site for support of the national cartoon museum.
Beetle Bailey
Beetle Bailey "a typical American boy from Kansas City, Missouri".
Beetle Bailey -- how the characters have developed
Beetle Bailey
Benedictines

Kansas City Community Blood Center. Link is down. . This is where I donate blood usually. I've donated eleven gallons. It is a big turn-on for me.

Bob Richmond, M.D., pathology friend.

Boxing. Here's a tough one for the medical ethicists. The health risks are real but unpredictable. In particular, I believe that the health risks of amateur boxing have been exaggerated by other physicians. Some people, especially male teenagers, are going to want to box regardless of what we say. The benefits are enjoyment and the power of self-defense. The best way to avoid being hurt and to be able to live peaceably is to be willing and able to hit back effectively. This is most literally true in the milieu that produces most boxers. Should physicians push for a ban on boxing? Should we refuse to screen and care for boxers? I say "No" to both, and support amateur boxing as a ringside doctor. Many other reasonable people will disagree.

Canada's Wrestlers . Jim C. Miller, who for years was Canada's olympic wrestling coach, was among my closest college friends. Kindness still exists on our planet. So does gratitude. Thanks, Jim! Jim now trains other elite athletes as National Sport Performance Director for Pacific Sport in Vancouver.

Chad -- internet friend and lay minister in training
Craig Bash MD, a cyberfriend, helps disabled American veterans
Dirty Harry Goes to Church
EARchives Sound clips from movies, mostly action flicks.
Five Dollar Fine For Whining -- Geezinslaw Brothers Friendship in the Classical World
False allegations of child abuse When it has occurred, child abuse is a terrible thing. When it has not occurred, and you are an innocent adult whose life is being ruined by misguided do-gooders, I might be able to help you. I take some cases pro-bono, and never charge for an initial conversation.
Francis Marion -- considered the founder of the US's special forces. An early biography. The Mel Gibson movie "Patriot" is about Francis Marion, though he has been renamed and a few details of his life altered to please contemporary audiences.
Francis Marion -- another biography by a contemporary. This account from a contemporary who actually knew General Marion indicates that he was anything but a malicious bigot.
GI Joe Hospital
Guy Fawkes Day Celebration Rituals Includes instructions on how to make a straw dummy of unsuccessful terrorist Guy Fawkes. English children, instead of saying "Trick or Treat" carry the dummy in a wagon and say "A penny for the Guy?" The term has (understandably) come to be applied to all adult men ("guys").

Lifetime friend Hank Heidt now has a family and works at Stensat.

Jim Sharp -- Navy Seal alumnus and extreme sportsman. Also here (center), here (right), here (right), here, and here (front).

Skydive action photos

Back in 2000. Jim is now a professional research diver in Florida. Great work, kid!

Scuba action photos

Jimmy Kimmel -- has a sense of humor, especially about the male experience
Joel Douthat, one of my house and exercise buddies in Tennessee, 1984-6. A thoroughly good guy.

Jon P. Jarow, MD. When we were in medical school, "Funky Jon" was a beer-and-chess buddy and one of the best-liked guys on campus. Now he's one of the nation's leading andrologists. Great work and thanks, Jon!

Mark T. Hash, DO shared my home for a while in Tennessee. His link is now down.

KDA Industries -- manufacturers a special flashlight system for police officers. The inventor was one of my college roommates.

Ladies World. Link is now down. "Not from Adam's brain, to think like him, or from his foot, to be subject to him, but from the rib, to be closest to his heart." Pictures, humor, no pornography. By a Rutgers student.

Law Enforcement.

Li'l Abner
MenStuff
Men's Health Magazine
Men's Fitness Magazine One of my life ambitions is to get a doctor-article published on a fitness magazine. So far, only rejections....
Moby Dick My favorite novel. The "Pequod" is a microcosm of humankind, with every conflicting perspective on life. Ishmael survives because (like me), he's able to see everybody's point of view. No romantic (yuck) sub-plots either.
Movies For Guys -- movie reviews from the male perspective
Multi-National Force -- Iraq
Natural Bodybuilding
LostEye.com -- famous people who've survived the loss of an eye
Michael S. Usey -- link is now down. A mainstream Christian talks frankly about sexuality. "Let your physical intimacy reflect your commitment... save sexual intercourse for your marriage partner. Neglecting the sexual needs of your partner is asking for trouble."

Pirates!

Playboy. My politics and my romantic side, though not my lifestyle. My mother's father was a friend of Hugh Hefner's in the 1950's, and this magazine -- now mainstream -- is something of a family tradition. This link is placed without apology to either the Right or the Left.
Promise Keepers Evangelical men's organization, with which I can (at least partly) identify. Although I am not a fundamentalist and am much more accepting of my neighbors'"un-Biblical" behaviors that seem to do no harm, I am generally sympathetic to Promise Keepers' emphasis on us men assuming responsibility and acting with self-respect and courage. The site is filled with positive-inferential material, and I expect that visitors will reach different conclusions about the primary agenda, i.e., is it personal moral growth for its members, right-wing activism in the area of family law, or both? I'm much impressed by the Promise Keepers' promises to be blind to race and ethnicity, and not to commit or tolerate verbal or physical abuse in their homes. By the way, "In Christ is neither male nor female...." and when I enter services, I leave my gender, ethnicity, and anything else that might divide me from the rest of the human race. Camille Paglia on "Promise Keepers" and the screwball Left.

Institute on Religion and Public Life, sponsors of the Ramsey Colloquium.There are legitimate and honorable forms of love other than marriage. Indeed, one of the goods at stake in today's debate is a long-honored tradition of friendship between men and men, women and women, women and men. In the current climate of sexualizing and politicizing all intense personal relationships, the place of sexually chaste friendships and of religiously motivated celibacy is gravely jeopardized. In our cultural movement of narrow-eyed prurience, the single life of chastity has come under the shadow of suspicion and is no longer credible to many people. Indeed, the non-satisfaction of sexual 'needs' is widely viewed as a form of deviance. Like everything else from the Episcopalian Right (and Left), this is one-sided and they don't define their terms clearly. And frankly, I don't see this as the business of the church. But the Ramsey essay has been very true to my own experience as an Episcopalian. If your experience of life has been different, then you'll need to conclude that I'm wrong. Clean-living combined with tolerance still gets the best results, at least for me.

Random Country-Western Song Generator
Robert E(dward) Lee freed his slaves long before the Civil War began, because he knew slavery was wrong. My father is named for the general.
Rodeo clown school

Safe Sex and Astinence. Good news. In the 1970's, I would probably have been flunked for my "psychiatry" rotation for recommending that a teen consider abstinence or at least major limits on sexual behavior. The Left dominanted "mental health", and saving yourself for that one person who'd be special -- or for "single blessedness" -- was anathema. I'm glad to see things changing, I'm sad about the price that... But not everybody will succeed in living up to the ideal of today's Right-wing "abstinence only" sex-education curricula. This site seems to strike the most useful balance -- encouraging clean living, educating for safety no matter what happens.
Scott McMillan, my cyberfriend and a lawyer from San Diego, Clifornia
Shakespeare's Sonnet 129; for me, this pretty much sums it up. Both the sonnet, and the fact that an adult male at the beginning of the 21st century does not believe in making love outside of marriage, may surprise you.

Soldier -- Kurt Russell with a flattop. I related especially well to Sgt. Todd sitting just outside, brooding and puzzled, while the ordinary people partied.

Sammy Gravano as described in Underboss. A tragic story of a wasted life, of unalterable choices and the web of lies, weakness and treachery that underlies the so-called Honored Society. -- New York Times. How I could have put Cosa Nostra ahead of loyalty to my wife and my kids is something I will always have to live with... All my life, growing up, I thought that people who went to school and put their noses to the grindstone were nerds, taking the easy way out. I know now that I was the one who took the easy way, that I didn't have the balls to stay in school and try. That was the tough road, which I didn't take. -- Sammy Gravano.

Recent events (April 2000) confirmed my suspicion that Mr. Gravano was allowed to survive because he was still engaging in massive criminal misbehavior, and that his whole repentance was questionable at best.

Taser Video 83.4 MB 7:26 min

Terminator 3. "My database does not comprehend the dynamics of human pair bonding."

Tony Donley -- Kansas City buddy
Travis Morgan -- gym buddy, skydiver, long-term friend
Trinity Episcopal Church, where my college buddy Tom "Trench" Momberg recently turned up in my own backyard. Tom is now at Holy Communion in Memphis, TN.

Union Army. I like to mention that 183,000 people, mostly white males, died fighting to free the slaves. Nowadays Americans across the political spectrum usually say to me, "I never thought of it that way." My male-line great-great grandfather is Colonel David Friedlander, a one-time Jayhawker who returned from Kansas, raised a company of volunteers from Albany, New York, and was wounded at Fredericksburg near the "sunken road".

Decent Webcams

Monks of Adoration -- Augustinian webcam
Pandas

Yahoo Pro-Life List
Yusuf and Zuleika -- the happy ending to the story of Potiphar's wife, as told by the Moslem poet Jami.
ZDXi also here. Lots to remember, mostly good. "They'll be glad they knew me." -- Eric Berne. "The world changes, and we change with it." Their exemplar is now Wile E. Coyote.

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Mainstream Christianity

Rockefeller Chapel, on the University of Chicago campus. It was here that I first identified myself, at age 17, as a mainstream Christian.

Then as now, it seemed a reasonable decision. I based it on:

• the obvious quality of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures;
• the amazing impact for good that the gospel has on individuals and on the world;
• and a few surprising things that I think I've seen but cannot explain in terms of natural science.

I have a very high regard for truth. If you can honestly say that your experience has been different from mine, then you should conclude that my decision was a bad one. But three decades later, I have found no reason think I was wrong.

Through the rest of a stormy life, this decision has made all the difference. I'm no saint, but I find I have less to be sorry for nowadays, and the help I've needed has sometimes come in the most surprising ways.

Heaven begins in this life -- with a shifting of your personal focus toward kindness, repentance, humility, forgiveness, and trying (you won't succeed fully) to love others as Christ loves us.

Hell also begins in this life, with the decision to focus on greed, sensuality, and/or hate.

Mainstream Christianity gives you very few rules to follow. Instead, it's about a relationship -- like a marriage (the foremost New Testament comparison.) The doctrines that a new Christian accepts (partly on faith) are only what's required to make that relationship possible and meaningful. And even the Biblical rules all seem to be for our own good.

Mainstream Christians are not afraid of supernatural beings, and we do not try to manipulate or appease them. We do not worry about performing ceremonies exactly right, or pretending to have special supernatural insights or to know the future. We do not dwell on the wrongs we've done, but we simply make amends where we can. Maybe all this sounds corny today, but two thousand years ago, this approach to religion was radical. And even today, Christianity's rejection of magic and superstition frees us up to focus on treating other people well, and doing what we can to build a better world.

You'll need to decide for yourself whether the Bible mandates particular positions on stem cell work, sexual matters, pacifism, or whatever are tomorrow's topics. If you spend time with our scriptures (both Hebrew and Christian), you'll discover the recurring themes. Tyranny must give way to just government. Mercy is better than strict justice, especially in private life. You must do what you can to improve the lot of those truly in need. Every individual is of great value and possesses an innate dignity. As corny as these ideas sound today, they were radical when the Bible was written, and I cannot find them clearly enunciated even in the great Greek or Roman philosophers.

Good people from Socrates to the framers of the Humanist Manifestos have taught that when human beings are shown the right things to do, they will do them. My experience of human nature, beginning with my own, is that we still fall far short of being the good people we want to be. I have given up trying to understand the Atonement using human language. It cannot be that the Good Lord forgives a debt only on the condition that it be paid, or discards erring children unless they ask an innocent person to accept punishment, or overlooks everything good about you if your theology isn't straight. Instead, I would ask you to understand these explanations as imperfect human language to describe a wonderful gift that nobody fully understands but that still changes lives for the better every day.

Christian behavior follows from the personal relationship with Christ. We find ourselves turning to others in love, just as He first turned to us. We find ourselves curious about, and grateful for, His creation. We may choose whatever scientific and political positions persuade us. Since genuine Christians actually care about other people, our choices are most likely to be reasonable, humane, common-sensical, and broad-minded. We have a duty to be accurately informed. And in an imperfect world, we must make the difficult decisions as best we can. (Mainstream Christianity does not offer the peace that comes from having someone else do all of your thinking.) The Golden Rule forces us to consider the consequences of our actions, and this in turn forces us to try to understand the world around us.

Do you think all this makes Christianity more difficult, or less difficult, than the legalistic faiths? In your experience, which type of religion makes real-life people treat one another more kindly? My experience with many different kinds of people has made it very easy for me to answer this question.

There have always been many good non-Christians. But forty-five years on this planet has taught me that the strongest force for good in our world is the Invisible Church. Organized Christianity is its outward and visible sign. The changes that are the mark of heaven seem to begin in each life following some contact with the Church. I've seen enough to make me confident that its tremendous power to change lives and civilizations for the better derives from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

I believe that some supernatural phenomena actually occur, and I believe the major doctrines of trinitarian Christianity. I don't waste my time worrying about the unprovable claims that divide today's major denominations from one another. (In terms of "today's issues", I am not aware of any reason to believe in "natural law", rather than common sense and the golden rule, as the way to tell right from wrong.) Many members of the Invisible Church, especially today, simply look to Jesus as the great ethical teacher and try to follow him. My own experience has satisfied me that these people, too, are channels of supernatural grace -- even if they do not (yet?) know it.

If you know about Christianity mostly from hearing televangelists or fire-and-brimstone preachers, you might get the idea that Jesus Christ is our "savior" mostly from our being arbitrarily and atrociously punished after death just for acting like human beings. This never seemed reasonable to me, and if it were true, you'd expect to find it stated explicitly somewhere in the Bible. It's not there. I'm told that the Greek ψυχη means as much "life" as it does "soul". Among other things, following Christ as my Lord has saved me from wasting my life in vanity, greed, malice, meaninglessness, whining, sensuality, and despair. It's made all the difference.

I'm told that in the afterlife, the Good Lord will treat each of us as we've tried to treat the people who couldn't do us favors in return. And if it turns out that there is no afterlife, I think the Christian walk is still the best way to live.

If miracles actually happen, I would ask God for only one miracle: that I be made a good person.

-- St. Anskar of Norway.

Warning! If you are considering becoming a Christian or renewing your faith commitment, the most difficult thing you'll be required to do is to love your enemies. You don't have to be a pacifist or a pushover, but you do have to try, insofar as it's possible, to return good for evil. Fortunately I do not have any enemies.

Warning! There are good people across the political spectrum. But almost all of the thoroughly rotten people I've met have identified strongly either with ultraconservative religion, or with shout-and-pout left-wing politics. You will find both kinds of people presenting themselves as "the only genuine Christians". You already know that they aren't.

Gospelcom: Reasons to Believe. "Inteligent design" has been essentially been dropped. Good review of the other classic arguments.
Holy Bible Sketch Pad -- these are great

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Why jump out of a perfectly good airplane? Because the door is open! Some of the things I like best about the sport... No emphasis on "winning"; everybody has a good time. Go at your own speed. Ultra-strong emphasis on safety. The innate risks, though real, are less than those that an ordinary motorist accepts. For me, it is well worth it. Great people; nobody drunk, on drugs, or henpecked. United States Parachute Association Missouri River Valley Skydivers Skydive Arizona Arizona Skydiving Skydive Elsinore Perris Valley Skydiving Christian Skydivers Association Parks College Parachute Research Group Military Skydiving

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"Karyotype stereotype", in this case, the XYY man. (As with all stereotypes, the reality of the XYY male is somewhat different.) Halloween 1993 or thereabouts.

My sister, Chris Leone, got most of the brains and all the good looks. She also shares the strong family social conscience, and is very active with the American Association of University Women. Chris's friend Kathleen Brenniman. AAUW-IL

Dad continues to bicycle avidly at age 88. Age in a virtuous person ... carries in it an authority which makes it preferable to all the pleasures of youth. -- Sir Richard Steele

Harmonica man!

Getting awarded a bottle of "Sheep Dip" whiskey by Class of '98 President Steve Parr.

Piano man. Chopin's "Tristesse" Etude. Union Station, 2006.

I like to program in Java.

Click anywhere for fraternity fireworks! If your browser were java-capable, you could shoot off the Lambda Chi Alpha Fireworks here.

Click on me to get ready for a swim! If you had a java-capable browser, you could see my swim trunks here! Rated PG. Yahoo! Swimming-Diving USMS Long Distance Swimming More about this applet, and links

Ed Friedlander discovered this sentence which contains four A's, five C's, seven D's, thirty-two E's, seven F's, three G's, nine H's, fifteen I's, two L's, twenty-one N's, nine O's, nine R's, twenty-eight S's, eighteen T's, three U's, six V's, seven W's, two X's, and four Y's.

If you had a Java-capable browser, you could play Chopper Checkers II here. Keys "s"=save "l"=load "b"=back once I made a little checkers-playing applet in 1996. It was the first one that I could find online that did kings. Now that machines are faster, this is my new version.

Skydiving. I'm wearing the red-and-black jumpsuit. Over Central Missouri

If you had a Java-capable browser, you would play "Sigil's Mazes" here.

If you had a Java-capable browser, you could play "Ed's Chess Applet" here. Keys "s"=save "l"=load "b"=back once For more of a challenge, try Soccer Chess. Also Dark Chess, Kriegspiel, Hexagonal Chess, Rainbow Chess, and lots more.

Remember the good times. They left us a legacy that has touched our hearts.

Air Lambda Chi. My friend and sometime skydiving buddy Tony Robbins is building his own site and in the meantime invites you to his favorite links here, here, here, and here.

The Young Doctors of UMKC

Many Episcopalians like to remember famous Christians from the past. We are all one big extended family. Many people have depicted Mary of Nazareth in art. I wonder whether this Dutch vision might look much like the historical Mary.

My house buddies, Lewis Burton and Bryan Lee. Bryan's married now, and has moved on to complete his medical education. The friendship of a lifetime, BryGuy!

Lamyl Hammoudi, former Algerian national kickboxing champion and my longtime friend, trying out the new Cirrus. Lamyl plans a career in aviation.

If you had a Java-capable browser, you would play "The Right Choice" here.

Thanks for visiting.

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Fellow Ivy-League English Majors: I put my commas and periods outside my quotation marks and parentheses when I think it makes sense. That way I know who did my typing. The illogical "rule" was designed to protect fragile bits of movable type. I also know that I use contractions and slang.

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Try one of Ed's chess-with-a-difference java applets!