Author Archives: Funky Dung

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.

Help Strike Out Health Disparities

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“Learn how you can strike out glaring inequities in our health care system at a forum on ‘Race & Health Care Disparities: The Heart of the Matter’, Sunday February 12th from 1-3:30pm at St. Paul Cathedral Center/Synod Hall. This is one series of racial justice and diversity forum sponsored by the Race & Reconciliation Dialogue Group of St. Paul Cathedral. On hand with information will be three dynamic speakers, experts in minority health: Wilford Payne, executive director of Primary Health Care Centers; Dr. Robert Bennett, a noted cardiac surgeon; and Patricia Fenton, executive director of the American Heart Association. Blood pressure screening and information on health care topics will be available. Attend this free interfaith program. Hear the glaring facts on health care inequities and what you can do about them. Everyone is welcome. For information call 412-683-2651.”

WHY: St. Paul Cathedral’s Race and Reconciliation Committee Dialogue Group’s Health Forum Committee
WHAT: “Race and Health Care Disparities: The Heart of the Matter”
WHO: Wilford Payne, Pat Fenton, Dr. Robert Bennett
WHERE: Synod Hall, St. Paul Cathedral
WHEN: Sunday, February 12, 2006 from 1:00 P.M. to 3:30 P.M.
INFO: 412-683-2651

Something Better Than Blogdigger

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The rate of feature development (or lack thereof) at Blogdigger has led me to the decision to move the St. Blog’s Parish Aggregator somewhere else. Can anybody recommend a similar service for managing a publicly searchable list of syndication feeds?

Update: I had a very nice chat with Greg Gershman, one of the men behind Blogdigger. He made some temporary fixes to appease me, so I won’t be moving the aggregator. We also discussed various potential new features on the horizon for the service. I hope they come to fruition. Blogdigger has something unique and it’d really be a shame if they fell behind with feature development. I switched blogging software for that very reason.

I Hate Internet Explorer

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Changing blog themes (or in this case, the whole blogging platform), can be a liberating a renewing experience. It can also be a pain in the tuchus. Every time I’ve changed themes, I’ve had to chase down bugs that only show up in Internet Explorer. That browser is a steamy pile of feces and I strongly urge, nay beg, my readers to pick a better one.

A kind reader informed me that the right sidebar is fubar in IE. I’ll try to fix it soon, but I’ll confess it’s a low priority. Might any of you have suggestions for fixing what’s broken? Anyhow, in the meantime, if you’re an IE user, please click this link:

Browse Happy logo

Addendum:

“While it is true that our implementation is not fully, 100 percent W3C-compliant, our development investments are driven by our customer requirements and not necessarily by standards,” said Greg Sullivan, a lead product manager with the Windows client group.

>:{

Religion of Peace?

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[On 02/26/06 I changed the title of this entry.  I did so not because I feared personal retribution from radical Muslims but because I feared for Christians in less safe parts of the world, like Nigeria. –  Funky]

"Cast of ‘Will and Grace’, in fear for their lives, go into hiding after lampooning Christians.

"Oh. Sorry. I meant ‘Danish cartoonists, in fear for their lives, go into hiding after lampooning Muslims’"

Ah, Mark Shea has such a way with words.

I’m getting real sick of all the news surrounding Mohammed-gate. I really have nothing substantial to add to millions of opinions on the net, so I’ll keep this short. These "foaming Bronze Age fanatics" (Mark’s phrase) who are throwing a temper tantrum over some bloody cartoons, combined with the great number of Islamic terrorists, are really changing my view of Islam. I’ve been trying very hard to accept Islam as a religion of peace and give people the benefit of the doubt when they say that the nutjobs are the exception and are perverting the religion. However, the more often I see stuff like this, the harder that is for me to believe. I’m starting to susepct that Islam has always been a fanatically violent religion and that the peaceful sects we see today are splinter groups. IOW, they’re the fluke, not the psychos. I hope someone can prove I’m wrong.

Addendum: The Catholic League‘s response to all the hubbub is worth quoting in its entirety.

"The decision of most mainstream media outlets not to reprint or show the controversial cartoons is the right one: the Catholic League sides with the U.S., Britain and the Vatican in denouncing the inflammatory cartoons. Regrettably, the decision by the media not to offend Muslims is motivated by fear, not ethics. Worse than this by far is the violent reaction, and calls for violence, that have sprung up all over the Muslim world. This is pure barbarism."

"Whenever the Catholic League criticizes a work of art, cartoon, movie or TV show, we are told that (a) we’re the intolerant ones (b) what is offensive is in the eye of the beholder (c) art is supposed to make people uncomfortable (d) no one can criticize anything until they have seen it (e) protests have a ‘chilling effect’ on free speech (f) it’s not real anyway, and (g) get over it. So why have Muslims been spared this lecture? Because the extremists in their ranks—and they are not a tiny minority—have shown they may respond with beheadings."

"Why, according to the Washington Post, did European newspapers reprint the cartoons? It was ‘not their love of freedom but their insensitivity—or hostility—to the growing diversity of their own societies.’ The Los Angeles Times says it won’t reprint ‘these insensitive images.’ The Miami Herald boasts that it ‘must take great care not to offend.’ The New York Times says it is wrong to publish ‘gratuitous assaults on religious symbols.’ The San Francisco Chronicle says ‘insulting or hurting certain groups’ is wrong. Both CBS and NBC say it isn’t necessary to show the cartoons in order to report on them. CNN even went so far as to say that it ‘has chosen not to show the cartoons out of respect for Islam.’ Now if Catholicism were treated with such sensitivity and respect, we would have to shut down the Catholic League."

"Ethics, not fear, should guide the media. As for Muslims offended by the cartoons, they should learn what a civilized response entails."

Addnedum 02/11/06: Greg, at the Discerning Dilemma offers some interesting thoughts.

"First off, Islam does not mean ‘peace.’ It means ‘submission’, and the peace that comes from that submission. Islam itself, not necessarily its adherence, plain and simply is not a religion of peace. Mohammed was a warmongering lunatic. In the centuries after Jesus Christ died, Christians hid in the catacombs for fear of their lives, yet being willing to give up their lives (if things happened that way) as witnesses to Jesus Christ (in fact ‘martyr’ actually means ‘witness’). In the centuries after Mohammed died, his followers A) had to keep the masses from reverting to their old ways under threat of death, and B) went on a campaign of blood across North Africa and into Spain."

"Now how about today’s Moslems? The majority of them are not like that, and love peace and freedom. The majority of Moslems are peaceful folks. In other words, they are polar opposites of Mohammed. They are dissidents and good for them, too. When a Catholic dissents, they contribute to a decaying society and a culture of death. When a Moslem dissents, they lead a life of serenity and maybe even freedom."