About Funky Dung
Who is Funky Dung?
29-year-old grad student in Intelligent Systems (A.I.) at the University of Pittsburgh. I consider myself to be politically moderate and independent and somewhere between a traditional and neo-traditional Catholic.
I was raised Lutheran, spent a number of years as an agnostic, and joined the Catholic Church at the 2000 Easter Vigil.
Why Funky Dung?
I haven't been asked this question nearly as many times as you or I might expect. Funky Dung is a reference to an obscure Pink Floyd song. On the album Atom Heart Mother, there is a track called Atom Heart Mother Suite. It's broken up into movements, like a symphony, and one of the movements is called Funky Dung. I picked that nickname a long time ago (while I was still in high school I think), shortly after getting an internet connection for the first time. To me it means "cool/neat/groovy/spiffy stuff/crap/shiznit", as in "That's some cool stuff, dude!"
Whence Ales Rarus?
I used to enjoy making people guess what this means, but I've decided to relent and make it known to all. Ales Rarus is a Latin play on words. "Avis rarus" means "a rare bird" and carries similar meaning to "an odd fellow". "Ales" is another Latin word for bird that carries connotations of omens, signs of the times, and/or augery. If you want to get technical, both "avis" and "ales" are feminine (requiring "rara", but they can be made masculine in poetry (which tends to breaks lots of rules). I decided I'd rather have a masculine name in Latin. ;) Yeah, I'm a nerd. So what? :-P
Wherefore blog?
It is my intention to "teach in order to lead others to faith" by being always "on the lookout for occasions of announcing Christ by word, either to unbelievers . . . or to the faithful" through the "use of the communications media". I also act knowing that I "have the right and even at times a duty to manifest to the sacred pastors [my] opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church, and [I] have a right to make [my] opinion known to the other Christian faithful, with due regard to the integrity of faith and morals and reverence toward [my and their] pastors, and with consideration for the common good and the dignity of persons." (adapted from CCC 904-907)
Statement of Faith
I have been baptized and confirmed in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I, therefore, renounce Satan; I renounce all his works; I renounce all his allurements.
I hold and profess all that is contained in the Apostles' Creed, the Niceno- Constantinopolitan Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.
Having been buried with Christ unto death and raised up with him unto a new life, I promise to live no longer for myself or for that world which is the enemy of God but for him who died for me and rose again, serving God, my heavenly Father, faithfully and unto death in the holy Catholic Church.
I am obedient to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. That is, I promote and defend authentic Catholic Teaching and Faith in union with Christ and His Church and in union with the Holy Father, the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of St. Peter.
Thanks be unto Thee, O my God, for all Thy infinite goodness, and, especially, for the love Thou hast shown unto me at my Confirmation. I Give Thee thanks that Thou didst then send down Thy Holy Spirit unto my soul with all His gifts and graces.
May He take full possession of me for ever.
May His divine unction cause my face to shine.
May His heavenly wisdom reign in my heart.
May His understanding enlighten my darkness.
May His counsel guide me.
May His knowledge instruct me.
May His piety make me fervent.
May His divine fear keep me from all evil.
Drive from my soul, O Lord, all that may defile it.
Give me grace to be Thy faithful soldier, that having fought the good fight of faith, I may be brought to the crown of everlasting life, through the merits of Thy dearly beloved Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Behind the Curtain: an Interview With Funky Dung (Thursday, March 03, 2005)
I try to avoid most memes that make their way 'round the blogosphere (We really do need a better name, don't
we?), but some are worth participating in. Take for instance the "interview game" that's the talk o'
the 'sphere. I think it's a great way to get to know the people in neighborhood. Who are the people in your
neighborhood? In your neighborhod? In your neigh-bor-hoo-ood...*smack* Sorry, Sesame Street flashback.
Anyhow, I saw Jeff "Curt Jester"
Miller's answers and figured since he's a regular reader of mine he'd be a good interviewer. Without
further ado, here are my answers to his questions.
1. Being that your pseudonym Funky Dung was chosen from a Pink Floyd track on Atom Heart Mother, what is you
favorite Pink Floyd song and why?
Wow. That's a tuffy. It's hard to pick out a single favorite. Pink Floyd isn't really a band known for
singles. They mostly did album rock and my appreciation of them is mostly of a gestalt nature. If I had to
pick one, though, it'd be "Comfortably Numb". I get chills up my spine every time I hear it and if
it's been long enough since the last time, I get midty-eyed. I really don't know why. That's a rather
unsatisfying answer for an interview, so here are the lyrics to a Rush song. It's not their best piece of music,
but the lyrics describe me pretty well.
New World Man
He's a rebel and a runner
He's a signal turning green
He's a restless young romantic
Wants to run the big machine
He's got a problem with his poisons
But you know he'll find a cure
He's cleaning up his systems
To keep his nature pure
Learning to match the beat of the old world man
Learning to catch the heat of the third world man
He's got to make his own mistakes
And learn to mend the mess he makes
He's old enough to know what's right
But young enough not to choose it
He's noble enough to win the world
But weak enough to lose it ---
He's a new world man...
He's a radio receiver
Tuned to factories and farms
He's a writer and arranger
And a young boy bearing arms
He's got a problem with his power
With weapons on patrol
He's got to walk a fine line
And keep his self-control
Trying to save the day for the old world man
Trying to pave the way for the third world man
He's not concerned with yesterday
He knows constant change is here today
He's noble enough to know what's right
But weak enough not to choose it
He's wise enough to win the world
But fool enough to lose it ---
He's a new world man...
2. What do you consider your most important turning point from agnosticism to the Catholic Church.
At some point in '99, I started attending RCIA at the Pittsburgh Oratory. I mostly went to ask a lot of
obnoxious Protestant questions. Or at least that's what I told myself. I think deep down I wanted desperately
to have faith again. At that point I think I'd decided that if any variety of Christianity had the Truth, the
Catholic Church did. Protestantism's wholesale rejection of 1500 years of tradition didn't sit well with me,
even as a former Lutheran.
During class one week, Sister Bernadette Young (who runs the program) passed out thin booklet called "
Handbook for Today's Catholic". One paragraph
in that book spoke to me and I nearly cried as I read it.
"A person who is seeking deeper insight into reality may sometimes have doubts, even about God himself.
Such doubts do not necessarily indicate lack of faith. They may be just the opposite - a sign of growing faith.
Faith is alive and dynamic. It seeks, through grace, to penetrate into the very mystery of God. If a
particular doctrine of faith no longer 'makes sense' to a person, the person should go right on seeking. To
know what a doctrine says is one thing. To gain insight into its meaning through the gift of understanding is
something else. When in doubt, 'Seek and you will find.' The person who seeks y reading, discussing,
thinking, or praying eventually sees the light. The person who talks to God even when God is 'not there' is
alive with faith."
At the end of class I told Sr. Bernadette that I wanted to enter the Church at the next Easter vigil.
3. If you were a tree what kind of, oh sorry about that .. what is the PODest thing you have ever
done?
I set up
WikiIndex, a clearinghouse for reviews
of theological books, good, bad, and ugly. It has a long way to go, but it'll be cool when it's finished. :)
4. What is your favorite quote from Venerable John Henry Newman?
"Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt."
5. If you could ban one hymn from existence, what would it be?
That's a tough one. As a member of
the Society for a Moratorium on the Music of
Marty Haugen and David Haas, there are obviously a lot of songs that grate on my nerves. If I had to pick
one, though, I'd probably pick
"Sing
of the Lord's Goodness" by Ernie Sands.
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I do believe you missed the point and spectacularly so.
Set aside the content of the issue and which side you like and just focus on the fact that two very similar words (“abortion” and “adoption”) which carry much conflicting social baggage for the human users of the system carry absolutely no social baggage as far as the system itself was concerned. However, due to the twin flukes that (1) the spellings of the words are similar and (2) both words happen to be socially charged with much controversial meaning, the mistake on the part of the system, which, although it operates without direct human supervision in the decisions such as the one described above, does operate under the auspices of human control, was then potentially credited with a bias it was not capable of having.
If you step back from your saliva-spewing righteous indignation, you should also note that purely human miscommunications are essentially identical: the first person hears in the words of a second person a meaning that the second person positively did not attach nor intend to attach.
The issue of miscommunication arises here not because of the particular content of the words involved, but because of the complexity of the computer system in attempting to communicate something to users and ultimately communicating something that was not intended.
I should also add that your vociferous, typo-ridden response on my blog (and here) is the result of yet another miscommunication, as a careful and reasonable reader of what I wrote will notice that I have not come down on either side of the controversy in this instance, nor do I care to, and yet you have responded as though I had.
Most interesting.
Pardon my lack of spell-check. I’ve been meaning to get a WP plugin for that. Anyhow..
I guess there’s more than a little irony here. I am very much aware that you took no side on the abortion issue. I am also quite aware of the complete lack of human bias involved in the offending “glitch”. My point, which was either poorly communicated by me or poorly understood by you, was that this was not a matter of miscommunication. You’d have to be be paranoid delusional, a moron, and/or totally blinded by your agenda(s) to be offended by that automated prompt. Also, you missed the deeper implications of the supposed miscommunication. That is, people were offended at the mere mention of the word “adoption”. Adoption is only a threat to abortion if one is pro-abortion rather than pro-choice. I was, in my sloppy little way, trying to point out the hypocrisy of calling oneself pro-choice and then proceeding to be offended by one of the choices.
I did not mean to imply that you had ome down on either side of the controversy in this instance, and yet you have responded as though I had.
Most interesting. 😉
I will edit this post to replace “you” with “one”. This is a genuine miscommunication. Blasted English language…
BTW, I’ve missed your comments round here, Peter. 🙂
I tried to allude to why a person could reasonably be offended by that prompt in my responsive comment:
“…the system, which, although it operates without direct human supervision in the decisions such as the one described above, does operate under the auspices of human control…”
People like you or I are clearly able to tell when we are dealing with simulated intelligence. Other people (perhaps most people) are not so good at it, particularly when they are dealing with corporations (be it Amazon.com or any other), against whom individual citizens tend to construe conspiracy theories with vigor equal to that by which they sling them at the government.
Considering that most people are not aware of how complex computer systems work (and, as the systems get more complex, there will be even more people who understand less and less), I think it is perfectly reasonable to expect that they will be confused or even offended by some of the responses those systems generate.
Thus the comment at the end of my original post, “Welcome to the age of miscommunication between people and software.” One tends to say “welcome” at the beginning of something, and I suspect that this is only the beginning of such problems. I foresee a time when software used by corporations will face legal status not dissimilar to that of employees, when software miscommunication will be just as important a management issue as employee customer-service skills.
Thank you. I have missed participating. However, I find that I can easily kill half of my day writing blog entries or engaging in discussions. If I want to maintain myself in school, I simply can’t do that — particularly here, where responses to and from Jerry and Steve can consume hours and hours of time.
Someday I’ll just have to pitch to a publisher for a book deal so I can have my say to my heart’s content. Until then, furtive posts to my blog and infrequent comments to others’ will have to suffice.
I was trying to point out that, technological glitch aside, being offended by the suggestion of “adoption” when you type “abortion” is asinine.
It’s not asinine if you recognize that there is a polarized debate out there, with each side trying to sneak its influence into myriad media moments, where one of those sides would certainly advocate suggesting adoption to anyone who considers abortion and the other side would probably not. Considering the shrill whining on both sides (even yours) and the numerous apparent attempts by proponents of both views to hijack the minds of the nation to force them into an all-or-nothing proposition, I don’t find it remotely unreasonable that someone would detect a bias there.
Both sides of the abortion controversy have couched themselves in such a way that everyone understands what they believe victory would look like: complete suppression of all discourse on the matter and unswerving legal enforcement of one side or the other. So long as the debate remains as shrill and vicious as it is, even appearing to take one side or the other will probably be bad for business with respect to one segment of the population.
Or, to put it another way, it’s no more asinine to see a substantive bias in the automated prompts of a search engine than it is to see a substantive bias in the decision of the company to change the prompts.
I’m well aware of the whining on both sides. I still think you’re pretty wacked if you’re offended by the mere suggestion of adoption. Even if the prompt was intentional, why in the world would anybody be offended? Does anyone actually think abortion is the ideal choice in all cases?!? What ever happened to “safe, legal, and rare“?
I agree.
I am looking for message board posters about prescription drugs, conditions, and disorders. Feel free to post at my board and plug your blog in your signature file. See ya.
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