No One Has Yet Answered For This, Nor For The Fact That No Emergency Plan Or Map Was Available For The First Responders

Fourth Anniversary of the Middletown Kleen Energy Plant Explosion

The Archbishop Of Canterbury Has A Bicycle. It's Just Embarrassing.

Pope’s Harley goes for $327K at charity auction

I don't know why, but Francis' Harley reminded me of Geronimo's Cadillac [which was actually a 1905 Locomobile; it's a common error].
 

Hip Christian Books

Yes, there really are such things.

A Coast Guard Admiral Lights Up The Room When Speaking Of Vets And Religious Restrictions

Learned Powerlessness

I'm cautious about commenting on this, especially as it's a touchy issue.  Still, so many are using the death of an actor by narcotic misadventure as a platform for expressing a great deal of bosh concerning addiction and drug policy, I thought it might be interesting to mention the latest perspective on treatment.  This is so new that it will take the Episcopal Church another twenty years to recognize it.

Of course, by then, treatment professionals will have moved to the next level.

[An aside: I'm fatigued by people who have started talking about the "heroin epidemic" in the United States over the last couple of days.  As a former urban rector who has done his share of funerals for those who have O.D.'d on drugs, this is not a new problem at all.  Pardon the radicalism, but what is new is that the latest victim was a wealthy, white man who was beloved by the media class; so now we're allowed to notice a problem.  I'm very sorry that that's what it takes, but so be it.]

We have been informed by most professionals that addiction is a disease. Certainly, given the success of most disease-oriented programs, this is a sound approach. However, it has been noticed that the label "disease" has convinced many addicts that theirs is a hopeless case with little or no chance of true recovery.  The thinking is that since there is no cure for addiction, sooner or later it will kill you. Thus, treatment theory becomes another rationalization for chronic drug use.  Of late, this has been increasingly frustrating to the professionals.

A number of therapists and treatment specialists are advancing a new way to address the paradox of "addiction as disease".  The latest theory is that those combating addiction can fall into a state of learned powerlessness; scientific evidence and analysis appears to show that the natural arc is for the most addicts to "mature" out of the disorder.  Learned powerlessness does not permit this maturity to occur.

This is based on a 1962[!] study entitled "Maturing Out of Narcotic Addiction" from which this telling quotation is written:

The difference between those who mature out of addiction and those who do not may also mirror the difference between addicts who struggle to abandon addiction and may develop some insight, and those who decide that they are 'hooked,' make no effort to abandon addiction, and give in to what they regard as inevitable."

More studies made subsequent to that initial study may be found in this 2012 document.  The end result is that contemporary treatment programs are beginning to seek to avoid learned powerlessness and are likely to bring some evolution to the "addiction as disease" narrative. As there is a lot of money being made through traditional treatment programs, I imagine this will not be an easy change.

[A disclaimer: Addiction treatment is not my field; I'm just noting a discernible change in medical and societal regard for it.  My main interest in any of this, I guess, is a desire never to have to officiate at the funeral of an overdose victim again.]

Well, That's Cheaper Than A Wedding

Wednesday's Art: Santo Tomás de Aquino by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682)

I Think This Is Guaranteed In The Constitution Somewhere

You CAN Carry Your Guitar on a Plane. It’s the Law.

In case you were wondering, United has the worst reputation among professional guitarists for destroying guitars in the airline's "care".

As We've Noted Before, The Irony Of War Is That It Leads To Med/Tech Innovation

How A Simple New Invention Seals A Gunshot Wound In 15 Seconds

Another Facet Of Our Brave, New World

Washington Post:

As a small-business employer, I have seen a disturbing downward talent drift in job candidates — most acutely in the past five years. When a job candidate’s first question is about vacation days or benefits, we know we have encountered collateral damage from the teachers and parents who believed in “softening the learning experience.” Armed with a meaningless bachelor’s degree from colleges and universities that allowed majors in non-core subjects, we see youngsters who cannot write, research or think analytically. Their lack of discipline is evident in job applications filled with typos and cover letters that reveal no interest in teamwork or service — rather, they emphasize their high opinion of themselves. (Many young job seekers come forward with an executive attitude that is backed by zero capabilities).

There Is A Distinct Possibility

Will The Overselling Of Global Warming Lead To A New Scientific Dark Age?

Now This Is Environmental News Worth Posting

Removing the Long Beach Breakwater could bring back the city’s long-lost surf

Tuesday's Wave

"Accepting oneself does not preclude an attempt to become better." - Flannery O'Connor

Another Event On This Day In History

Oh, dear.  I really should have remembered this one, too.  Please read the article that's linked below, as this is a telling story of sacrifice and faith.

Four Chaplains

On This Day In History

1959: Buddy Holly killed in air crash

Not just Holly, but The Big Bopper ["Chantilly Lace"] and Richie Valens ["La Bamba" and "O, Donna"] were on board the ill-fated flight, too.

Galveston, Texas In 1973

A Victory For Luthiers; A Reminder That Music Is Often A Revolutionary Medium

Three years ago, the federal government, in the form of body-armored, AR*-bearing shock troops, raided the Gibson guitar factories in Nashville and Memphis.  Supposedly, this was because Gibson had imported guitar wood [known as "tonewood"] that was protected by a variety of international environmental laws.

This was news to Gibson and to the overseas sources of this tonewood, as all guitar-makers, or luthiers, take great care to use only sustainable, non-threatened product.  After all, no tonewood means no guitars means no profits.  Also, all luthiers use the same wood from the same sources.  In that case, why was Gibson raided and not Martin Guitars [or Clements Guitars, for that matter]?

Some suggested it was because the CEO of Martin gave to the Obama campaign and the Gibson CEO did not, but that just seems cynical, doesn't it?

Well, as it turned out, the wood was harvested according to the environmental laws of the countries that grow, harvest, and export the tonewood and, in fact, did not violate the laws of the USA, either.  Why the raid?  Who knows?  Maybe, given how many government agencies have SWAT teams that need to use their skills from time to time, it looked like a good idea to some petty bureaucrat.

So, to mark the victory, Gibson has created a line of guitars made from the unfairly accused tonewood and is offering them as their "Government Series".  Tweaking the nose of authority is a common activity of musicians.

[*The AR is the rifle that everyone currently fears, especially politicians.  They call it an "assault rifle" and have made its common sale and possession in Connecticut, New York, and Maryland illegal, even though in caliber and action it is identical to rifles of a more historical appearance; rifles that are not illegal to possess and sell.

This is illegal:

This isn't:

Same caliber, same rate of fire, same accuracy, same firing mechanism, same manufacturer, same rifle. You can alter the one on top to become the one on the bottom in under five minutes using a simple screwdriver. Do you now feel safer?  I wonder about the logic of government, sometimes.]

Nobody cares that you don’t care about the Super Bowl

I’m talking to you, the graduate student who tweets “Time to catch up on my Proust” two minutes before kickoff. May you be struck with the flu on the day of your dissertation defense. And to you, the parent who takes his kids sledding on Super Bowl Sunday and posts a picture to Instagram with the caption “What football game?” Oh, and of course you applied the “1977” photo filter. May your firstborn face-plant into the nearest snowbank, and may you capture the moment in tilt-shifted, high-dynamic-range, desaturated glory.

Whatever You Do, Don't Ever Invite This Guy To A Super Bowl Party

Noam Chomsky: Super Bowl reduces ‘Joe Six Pack’s capacity to think’

Chomsky is merely another member of the least exclusive club in the world: The "If You Don't Believe What I Do, You're A Moron" Club.  Pity he's an atheist, as he would have made a fine bishop.

Len Dawson Enjoys A Cigarette And Fresca At Super Bowl I

My kind of athlete.