58 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2024
    1. scholastic learning

      How much different things may have been if the state, and not the Church, had been the progenitor and supporter of the early university?

      How might education have been different if it came out of itself (or something like curiosity or even society in general) without the influences on either church or state?

  2. Jan 2024
  3. Dec 2023
    1. the Catholics are much more straightforward about these things they to everything so you know chimpanzees for instance according to Catholic dogma chimpanzees don't have souls when they die they 00:06:36 don't go to chimpanzee heaven or chimpanzee hell they just disappear now where are Neals in this scheme and if you think about this kid whose mother is a sapiens but whose father is a 00:06:49 neandertal so only his mother has a soul but his father doesn't have a soul and what does it mean about the kid does the kid have half a soul and if you say okay okay okay okay neander had Souls then 00:07:02 you go back a couple of million years and you have the same problem with the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees again you have a family a mother one child is the ancestor of 00:07:16 chimpanzees the other child is the an is our ancestor so one child has a soul and the other child doesn't have a soul
      • for: question - Catholic church claim - humans have a souls but other creatures do not

      • comment

      • question: Do only humans have souls?
        • Harari explores this question about the Catholic church's claim that humans have a soul and shows how messy it is
        • Where does "having a soul" begin or end, if we go down the evolutionary rabbit hole?
  4. Nov 2023
    1. Maybe you were even taught this at school, that historically seen the church has stood in the way of scientific progress. 00:00:50 And with the coming of Christendom, the light of reason was taken away and a dark age fell over Europe. I'm here to tell you this is all 19th century propaganda of a number of guys fed up with the church and applying their personal grudges to the entire history of Christianity, And they totally succeeded.
      • for: historical myth - church opposed science

      • historical myth: European churches opposed science in the middle ages

        • historical fact: European churches supported science in the middle ages
  5. Jun 2023
    1. “The purpose of our life should be to build up the Zion of our God, to gather the House of Israel, … store up treasures of knowledge and wisdom in our own understandings, purify our own hearts and prepare a people to meet the Lord when he comes. … “We have no business here other than to build up and establish the Zion of God. It must be done according to the will and law of God [see D&C 105:5], after that pattern and order by which Enoch built up and perfected the former-day Zion, which was taken away to heaven. … We, through our faithfulness, must prepare ourselves to meet Zion from above when it shall return to earth, and to abide the brightness and glory of its coming” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young [1997], 111–12).

      a couple things:

      • as social creatures, human beings rely on establishing relationships with those around us. our existence begins within families, through the union of a mother and a father, and this pattern repeats throughout generations

      • these communal relationships form the foundation for unity, creating a shared purpose and principles. any discord within these relationships can result in separation

      • death serves as the most explicit form of separation: firstly, physical death separates the body from the spirit, and finally, spiritual death represents the separation of men from god.

      • another explicit instance of separation found in the scriptures is the scattering of Israel. our current work involves gathering israel, which requires severing our ties with our brothers and sisters across the globe. this gathering process is vital in building the zion we are commanded to establish before the second coming of christ

      [[the church is one body]]

      "1 Corinthians 12:12-14 emphasizes the idea that all individuals, regardless of their background or status, are united as one body through the Spirit of Christ. Paul teaches the importance of unity and care for one another within this body to avoid any divisions or schisms. It also emphasizes the interconnectedness of all individuals within the body, such that if one member suffers, all members suffer, and if one member is honored, all members rejoice." - The Doctrine of Belonging - Elder D. Todd Christofferson

    2. The Lord explained in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith ‘that when ye are assembled together ye shall instruct and edify each other, that ye may know … how to act upon the points of my law and commandment’ [D&C 43:8]. But knowing ‘how to act’ isn’t enough. The Lord in the next verse said, ‘Ye shall bind yourselves to act in all holiness before me’ [D&C 43:9]. This willingness to take action on what we have learned opens the doors for marvelous blessings” (“The Blessings of General Conference,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2005, 52).

      some thoughts i have on this:

      this commandment is reminiscent of what was instructed to the nephites in moroni 6:4-5. to break it down:

      in verse 4, it is indicated that three things kept the nephites on the path of their covenant and enabled them to flourish:

      a) they consistently remembered and nourished themselves with the word of god

      b) they actively sought opportunities for prayer

      c) they highly valued the virtues of christ

      these three points encompass the holy habits then listed in verse 5:

      a) gathering together frequently

      b) fasting

      c) praying, and

      d) discussing the welfare of each other's souls

      the commandment to instruct and edify one another when we gather, in its apparent form, refers to attending and participating in sunday school classes and other church gatherings. but as we prepare for the Lord's second coming, we are called to build zion here on earth first. to truly accomplish that, we should engage in church-like interaction beyond just the first day of the week.

      we are meant to create a community of like-minded individuals who come together as one in christ (zion). this entails supporting one another even outside of church, continuing to hold each other's hands after attending the sacrament together

      [[holy habits make the covenant path sustainable]]

    3. “We must understand that we have got to act upon certain principles by which we can bind ourselves together as a people, to bind our feelings together that we may become one, and this never can be accomplished unless certain things are done, and things that require an exertion on our part. “How would you go to work to bind yourselves together? How would a man go to work to unite himself with his neighbor? If two men were associated together who had never been acquainted, how would they go to work to secure each other’s friendship, attachment and affection one towards another? Why something would have to be done, and that not by one party only, but would have to be done by one as well as by the other. It would not answer for one to do the business alone; it would not do for one to answer those feelings and do the work himself, but in order to become as one in their sentiments and affection—the action of both would be requisite” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow [2012] 198–99).
      • this sheds a light on how the church becomes a unified entity, encompassing not only shared objectives and principles, but also a profound sense of interconnectedness on an emotional level. [[emotions allow us to make decisions]]

      • elder d todd christofferson instructs that a sense of belonging arises not only from being a member of a group but also from the acts of service and sacrifices made for others

      • such a complex and tightly-knit community can only be established when it is driven by a higher purpose. when too much emphasis is placed on personal needs and comfort, it can impede the sense of belonging that arises from contributing to a cause greater than oneself

      [[much of our belonging comes from our contributions]]

    4. President James E. Faust (1920–2007) of the First Presidency summarized five fundamental truths relating to how God reveals truth in His Church: “First, the keys and the authority of God have been given by Him to Joseph Smith and each of his successors who have been called as Presidents of the Church. “Second, those keys and authority are never to be given to another people, and those who have such authority are ‘known to the Church’ [D&C 42:11]. “Third, continuing revelation and leadership for the Church come through the President of the Church, and he will never mislead the Saints. “Fourth, individual members of the Church may receive revelation for their own callings and areas of responsibility and for their own families. They may not receive spiritual instruction for those higher in authority. “Fifth, those who claim direct revelation from God for the Church outside the established order and channel of the priesthood are misguided. This also applies to any who follow them” (“The Prophetic Voice,” Ensign, May 1996, 7).

      1) those who follow christ are granted access to his spirit, which consequently opens the pathway to divine revelation

      2) the extent of one's revelation is dependent on their role and responsibility. the greater the responsibility and the more significant the role, the broader the scope of the revelation they may receive

      3) conversely, being entitled to the gift of revelation carries a sacred responsibility that is governed by eternal laws

  6. Mar 2023
  7. Feb 2023
  8. Dec 2022
    1. By AD 500, the Christian Church had drawn most of the talented men of theage into its service, in either missionary, organizational, doctrinal, or purelycontemplative activity.—Edward Grant, Physical Science in the Middle Ages

      quote


      Google is like the Catholic Church both as organizers of information and society<br /> Just as the Catholic Church used funding from the masses to employ most of the smartest and talented to its own needs and mission from 500-1000 AD, Google has used advertising technology to collect people and employed them to their own needs. For one, the root was religion and the other technology, but both were organizing people and information for their own needs.

      Who/what organization will succeed them? What will its goals and ethics entail?

      (originally written 2022-12-11)

    1. So it's the fifties and sixties, the stations, they're cutting the NBC coverage of the civil rights movement and it's not just, you know, morally dubious, it's actually against the policies of the FCC. Exactly, right. So civil rights activists decided to put that to the test and they ended up challenging Wlbt? S license for repeatedly denying them airtime. At first, the FCC dismissed the case, but then the activists sued the FCC and they won. And eventually, years later, a federal court decided that Wlbt could stay on the air, but their license would be transferred to a nonprofit, multiracial group of broadcasters.

      Enforcement of the FCC Fairness Doctrine

      The case was decided at the D.C. Circuit court level with the future Justice Warren Berger writing the opinion. The opinion forced action at the FCC.

      Office of Commun., United Ch., Christ v. FCC. 425 F.2d 543 (D.C. Cir. 1969). (see https://casetext.com/case/office-of-commun-united-ch-christ-v-fcc)

  9. Jul 2022
    1. This also made me think of church bulletin ads, which all look the exact same way, except maybe it’s just a Catholic thing2?

      I thought of the same aesthetic as well, in part because it wasn't as "busy" as the comic book page aesthetic.

  10. Jun 2022
    1. Weber left home and lived in poverty while working as a street-corner evangelist and social activist for two years with the evangelical Church Army Workers, an organization similar to the Salvation Army, preaching and singing hymns on street corners and singing and playing the organ in rescue missions in red-light districts in Pittsburgh and New York,[13][33] until the Church Army Workers disbanded in 1900.

      This is interesting background given her subsequent blockbuster film Where are My Children? (Universal Studios, 1916) which covered abortion and birth control.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_Weber

    1. “In my Irish American Massachusetts family, you were born a Democrat and baptized a Catholic,” Mr. Shields wrote in 2009. “If your luck held out, you were also brought up to be a Boston Red Sox fan.”
  11. Apr 2022
    1. In addition to the practical advantages of thiswriterly inertia, in a work for Catholic consumption (such as the editions of theeighteenth century produced for the seminary in Padua) a traditional definitionfor “terra” was necessary to avoid potential censorship; it was in any case also anaccurate description of what “terra” meant to the ancient authors whose worksthe Calepino was designed to help elucidate.

      I'm missing some context here. Why would alternate definitions of terra face censorship? Related to Galileo's trial and Lodovico delle Colombe's Contro il moto della terra? Or something like Paracelsus and Roman censorship – Johannes Faber’s 1616 report in context?

    2. An alternative kind of note-taking was encouraged in the late Middle Agesamong members of new lay spiritual movements, such as the Brethren of theCommon Life (fl. 1380s–1500s). Their rapiaria combined personal notes andspiritual reflections with readings copied from devotional texts.

      I seem to recall a book or two like this that were on the best seller list in the 1990s and early 2000s based on a best selling Christian self help book, but with an edition that had a journal like reflection space. Other than the old word rapiaria, is there a word for this broad genre besides self-help journal?

      An example might be Rhonda Byrne's book The Secret (Atria Books, 2006) which had a gratitude journal version (Atria Books, 2007, 978-1582702087).

      Another example includes Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life (Zondervan, 2002) with a journal version (Zondervan, 2002, 978-0310807186).

      There's also a sub-genre of diaries and journals that have these sort of preprinted quotes/reflections for each day in addition to space for one to write their own reflections.


      Has anyone created a daily blogging/reflection platform that includes these sorts of things? One might repurpose the Hello Dolly WordPress plugin to create journal prompts for everyday writing and reflection.

    3. Under the impact of the Carolingian Renaissance, flori-legia included classical authors as well, often arranged haphazardly in the order in which they were read.

      Florilegia began to include classical authors in addition to biblical passages and those of church fathers due to the influence of the Carolingian Renaissance.

    1. One of the many reasons my wife and I want to plant a church is because it is the very place to foster such virtues and practices! The church gathers to announce that even in the midst of feeling disoriented, demotivated, discouraged, and disembodied, God has not abandoned us. In a season that is marked by so much death and distance, we confess our need for an in-breaking of the Spirit. My hope for the umms is that our love for and wonder of the triune God will not grow stagnant—and that in years to come, we will yet be able to testify, “Great is Thy faithfulness.”

      This is incredibly beautiful.

    2. Each Sunday I awake with a longing to gather around song, Scripture, and sacrament. Most of those mornings my wife and I walk to the nursing home to celebrate the Eucharist with a faithful but forgotten few. This year my wife and I want to plant a church in Chicagoland, but many weeks I am left wondering, Where do we fit in? Recently, I was lamenting this season with a friend. He echoed my sentiment, “I’m also floating without a church—it isn’t ideal, just the way it is.” Our exchange wasn’t significant, just two friends consoling each other through ecclesial purgatory. Later that week, I heard similar thoughts repeated by my neighbors who are new parents. Again, this sentiment was echoed by a friend who works at a large Christian nonprofit. Over text messages and phone calls, my old roommate and my denominational executive repeated a similar status. But what really caught my attention is when I heard my students and colleagues at Northern Seminary describe themselves and their congregants in much the same way. All expressed a strong commitment to Jesus and a desire to be part of the church, but they are not active in a local congregation. This growing segment of believers is what I am labeling the “umms.”

      I'm wondering what underlying issue it at play here that is causing this widespread disconnect.

  12. Mar 2022
    1. Bells, primarily handbells, have been a technology of school since their outset, well before "the factory" they were purportedly modeled on. They were used, as were the bells in churches, to summon students to ye old one room schoolhouse for the beginning of the day.
  13. Jan 2022
  14. Dec 2021
    1. As Barbara Alice Mann suggests to us (in personalcommunication), bourgeois women may have especiallyappreciated the Jesuit Relations because it allowed them toread about discussions of women’s sexual freedom in a formthat was entirely acceptable to the Church
  15. Nov 2021
    1. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/evangelical-trump-christians-politics/620469/

      Evangelical Christians have been held together more by political orientation and sociology than they have by a common theology. This has set them up for a schism which has been exacerbated by Donald J. Trump, COVID-19, and social changes.

      Similar to Kurt's quote, "We go to church to see and be seen", too many churches are focused on entertainment and being an ongoing institution that they aren't focusing on their core mission. This is causing problems in their overall identity.

      Time at church and in religious study is limited, but cable news, social media, and other distractions are always on and end up winning out.

      People are more likely to change their church because of politics than to change their politics because of church.

      The dichotomy of maleness and femaleness compound the cultural issues of the evangelical church.

      Southernization of the Church

      Pastors leaving the profession due to issues with a hostile work environment. Some leaving because parishioners are organizing and demanding they be fired.

      Peter Wehner looks at the rifts that are appearing in the Christian evangelical movement in America, some are issues that have been building for a while, while others are exaggerated by Donald J. Trump, the coronavirus, the culture wars, political news, political beliefs, and and hypocrisy.

    2. “southernization of the Church.” Some of the distinctive cultural forms present in the American South—masculinity and male dominance, tribal loyalties, obedience and intolerance, and even the ideology of white supremacism—have spread to other parts of the country, he said. These cultural attitudes are hardly shared by every southerner or dominant throughout the South, but they do exist and they need to be named. “Southern culture has had a profound impact upon religion,” Alexander told me, “particularly evangelical religion.”
    3. “Evangelical militancy is often depicted as a response to fear,” she told me. “But it’s important to recognize that in many cases evangelical leaders actively stoked fear in the hearts of their followers in order to consolidate their own power and advance their own interests.”

      This sort of power dynamic in smaller individual churches sounds like the problems of power in the centralized Catholic church. In this case it's decentralized into thousands of smaller churches.

  16. Oct 2021
  17. Sep 2021
    1. In his intriguing book “The Rise Of Christianity,” sociologist Rodney Stark recalls the “Plague of Galun” which ravaged the Roman Empire in 164CE with a death toll of approximately 30% of the population.

      The great epidemic of the second century, which is sometimes referred to as the “Plague of Galen,” first struck the army of Verus, while campaigning in the East in 165 A.D.,

      Semeia 56: Social Networks in Early Christian Environment: Issues and Methods for Social History

  18. Aug 2021
  19. Jul 2021
    1. Anne: And did your mom work too? Or just your dad?Ben: My mom, she worked quite a bit, but there was a period when my youngest sister was born, she ceased from working and she stayed home with her for a few years. And then once—I think my sister was about four years old—then she went back and started working again until we were doing good in the construction. When I jumped into the construction and started my own business, then my dad went to work for me. And when he went to work for me, then my mother didn't have to work any more. We were really doing pretty well, we did pretty well. Did a lot of construction projects all throughout the Midwest and eastern seaboard. Lot of government projects.Anne: Really?Ben: Yeah. A lot of low-income housing for the government.Anne: So, you moved around, it wasn't a local company that just stayed—Ben: I based my company in Indianapolis and the main reason that we ended up based in Indianapolis is that I had a project going on in Akron, Ohio, one in Indianapolis and then I had two coming up in the Kansas City—in both-- Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Kansas. And I knew it was going to be a lot of jumping around, and I figured well Indianapolis will be right in the center. So, I rented an apartment there for me and my wife and my son and my daughter; my son was a baby, but my daughter, she was like four years old, or three years old.Ben: And then right about after that, we bought a house. Well, no, my wife wanted to enroll my daughter in pre-K to get her going because her age. Her date of birth and the cut off with the school, they won't let her in for regular elementary school. So, she found this church and she told me, "There's this church that's got pre-K and we're going to get her started there.” And I go, "Well okay, go ahead.” So, we enrolled her there and we ended up getting involved with that church and we were the only Hispanics at the church at the time, whenever we did it. But they were good to us and they still attend there.Ben: That church, they started building one year on, every year they would add a year onto the school. And my daughter was one of the original students. So, she's one of the original students. The first original student to go all the way through the academy and graduate.Anne: What's it called?Ben: Cornerstone Baptist Academy in Indianapolis.Anne: That's great.Ben: Yeah.

      Time in the US, Family, Parents, Jobs, Children; Time in the US, Jobs/employment/work, Careers, Construction

  20. Jun 2021
    1. Google’s headquarters, in Mountain View, California—the Googleplex—is the Internet’s high church, and the religion practiced inside its walls is Taylorism.

      The idea of Taylorism as a religion is intriguing.

      However, underlying it is the religion of avarice and greed.

      What if we just had the Taylorism with humanity in mind and took out the root motivation of greed?

      This might be akin to trying to return Christianity to it's Jewish roots and removing the bending of the religion away from its original intention.

      It's definitely the case that the "religion" is only as useful and valuable to it's practitioners as the practitioners allow. In the terms of the McLuhan-esque quote "We shape our tools and thereafter they shape us." we could consider religion (any religion including Taylorism) as a tool. How does that tool shape us? How do we continue to reshape it?

      While I'm thinking about it, what is the root form of resilience that has allowed the Roman Catholic Church to last and have the power and influence it's had for two millennia?

  21. Mar 2021
    1. I've come across about 20 reference for Ivan Illitch over the past month. Not sure what is driving it. Some mentions are coming out of educator circles, others from programmers, some from what I might describe as "knowledge workers" (digital gardeners/Roam Cult/Obsidian crowds). One tangential one was from someone in the hyperlink.academy crowd.

      Here's a recent one from today that popped up within a thread shared in IndieWeb chat:

      Ivan Illich continues to be even more more relevant than he was at the height of his New Left popularity. Conviviality in the digital tools we use has continued to wither https://t.co/D88V6KL7Ez pic.twitter.com/OFDYTjXyCn

      — Count Bla (@123456789blaaa) March 15, 2021
      <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

      Deschooling Society and Tools for Conviviality look very interesting. Perhaps they've distilled enough that their ideas are having a resurgence?

  22. Feb 2021
  23. Aug 2020
    1. That restructuring of societies in Western Europe in turn also benefited the church, notes Henrich. "In some sense, the church is killing off clans, and they're often getting the lands in wealth," he says. "So this is enriching the church. Meanwhile, Europeans are broken down into monogamous, nuclear families and they can't re-create the complex kinship structures that we [still] see elsewhere in the world."

      If true, this is an astounding finding.

  24. Jun 2020
  25. May 2020
    1. Yong, S. E. F., Anderson, D. E., Wei, W. E., Pang, J., Chia, W. N., Tan, C. W., Teoh, Y. L., Rajendram, P., Toh, M. P. H. S., Poh, C., Koh, V. T. J., Lum, J., Suhaimi, N.-A. M., Chia, P. Y., Chen, M. I.-C., Vasoo, S., Ong, B., Leo, Y. S., Wang, L., & Lee, V. J. M. (2020). Connecting clusters of COVID-19: An epidemiological and serological investigation. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, S1473309920302735. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30273-5

  26. Oct 2019
    1. The Swedish Royal Court has confirmed that it has been receiving abusive faxes from the fanatical Westboro Baptist Church sect.

      More info is found here.

    2. Carl XVI Gustaf

      He's found here in Wikipedia.

      He's an adulterer and a scumbag, but perhaps not popinjay; he doesn't dress well enough to deserve the adjective.

    1. "I know that this is happening all the time. There have been strange faxes containing all sorts of terms of abuse," court spokeswoman Nina Eldh told the newspaper.
  27. Jul 2019
    1. An ungrounded, dangerous separation of joy from happiness has infiltrated the Christian community. The following is typical of the artificial distinctions made by modern Christians:
  28. May 2019
    1. Parsonage

      A church house provided for a member of the clergy. A rectory or vicarage" (OED).

    2. Parsonage

      "The church house provided for a rector...the house of any beneficed member of the clergy of the Church of England; the residence of any minister of religion" (OED).

  29. Apr 2018
    1. Nay if we may openly speak the Truth and as becomes one Man to another; neither Pagan, nor Mahumetan, [59] nor Jew, ought to be excluded from the Civil Rights of the Commonwealth, because of his Religion.158

      I was taken by just how clearly Locke, in the 17th century, speaks in support of religious diversity and a separation between church and state (I highlighted many remarks and passages in this work). This will be a powerful document to allow students to read in conjunction with the first amendment.

  30. Sep 2017
    1. This doctrine is the genuine fruit of the alliance between church and State

      While Jefferson is often accredited with being on of the primary figures supporting a separation of church and state, this line brings that into question. This seems to assert that the church and the government have a bond and are on the same side. In many ways, this is true; both religion and public education have similar goals in educating youth so that they can be productive and valued people in the future. The only difference being that these institutions have different definitions for what is "valued". In the Can a text be Ethical engagement class, it is frequently discussed how the Bible is used as evidence for many philosophical arguments. It is clear that the writers of the Rockfish Gap Report do respect the church and its basic beliefs because they freely admit to being in an alliance with the church. However, in spite of this, it must still be asked whether Jefferson and the other writers of this document were for or against the complete separation of church and state.

      Ryan Keane

  31. Oct 2016
    1. Cosby didn't want the movement to become institutional and frozen by inertia

      Wanted to ensure that his legacy (the work, not his name) continues on past his retirement/death.

    2. After decades of bringing white, middle- and upper-class people into neighborhoods around Columbia Road and Adams Morgan to serve the poor and lecturing to seminarians and faith leaders, Cosby has concluded that societal change might go in the other direction.

      The rich-white are not the only ones who can help...

    3. "We've got to move from believing so deeply to doing," he preached. "We've got to keep in mind the discrepancy between belief and embodiment."

      -Cosby

      In his last sermon he makes sure that his parishioners know: it is not enough to come up with a way to help, but you must go into the field and give aid to those who need it.

  32. Jun 2016
    1. Title: The dying breed of craftsmen behind the tools that make scientific research possible - LA Times

      Keywords: government-funded research opened, snake glass coils, fuse glass beakers, organic chemistry, research hubs, world war, experienced glassblowers, glassblowers remain, church laboratory, befallen glassblowing, glass manufacturer, glass technicians, cost-cutting world, jobs tend, entry-level jobs

      Summary: Hunkered down in the sub-basement of the Norman W. Church Laboratory for Chemical Biology, underneath a campus humming with quantum teleportation devices, gravity wave detectors and neural prosthetics, Rick Gerhart chipped away at a broken flask.<br>Peering into the dancing flames, he examined his work for wrinkles — imperfections invisible to the untrained eye.<br>“It not only should be functional,” he said, smoothing the rim with a carbon rod, “it has to look good.”<br>Here in Caltech’s one-man glass shop, where Gerhart transforms a researcher’s doodles into intricate laboratory equipment, craftsmanship is king.<br>In a cost-cutting world of machines and assembly plants, few glassblowers remain with the level of mastery needed at research hubs like Caltech.<br>“He’s a somewhat dying breed,” said Sarah Reisman, who relied on Gerhart to create 20 maze-like contraptions for her synthetic organic chemistry lab.<br>Rick Gerhart, scientific glass blower at Caltech, has been helping to make scientific research possible at the campus since 1992.<br>(Dillon Deaton/Los Angeles Times)<br>Similar fates have befallen glassblowing at UCLA and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.<br>Across the U.S., those who land such jobs tend to stay until retirement.<br>He chuckled: “Looks like we have to steal somebody.”<br>To master scientific glassblowing, proper training and apprenticeships are key.<br>In addition to the hands-on training, which requires a knack for precision as well as coordination, students must take courses in organic chemistry, math and computer drawing.<br>So it really takes a long time to get to a position like Rick’s.”<br>Gerhart enrolled in the Salem program in 1965, after dropping out of college to give his father’s profession a try.<br>The craft, which dates back to alchemy in the 2nd century, took hold in America by the 1930s and 1940s, after World War I cut off glassware supply from Germany.<br>The profession peaked after World War II, when booms in oil and government-funded research opened up numerous glassblowing jobs in many a lab.<br>At first, Gerhart hopped around a number of firms and worked alongside more experienced glassblowers at TRW Inc. and UCLA.<br>When he settled at Caltech in 1992, the glassblower before him handed over the key to the shop and said, “Good luck.” On his own, Gerhart pieced together his patchwork of experience to twist and fuse glass beakers and snake glass coils over vacuum chambers.<br>“That’s when I really started learning.”<br>Social media videos have sparked new interest in the craft, Briening said.<br>But while his students have no trouble getting entry-level jobs at companies like Chemglass Life Sciences, a glass manufacturer, and General Electric Global Research, rarely are universities willing to budget the overhead costs for more than one glassblower, if any.<br>“Years ago, all the universities had two or three people,” Briening said.<br>One of the few resources left for the next generation is the American Scientific Glassblowers Society, a close-knit group that hosts national workshops and swaps ideas when a researcher’s custom order stumps one of its members.<br>Its members also serve as Caltech’s best — and possibly only — options once Gerhart leaves.<br>“Rick’s one of those glass technicians that I put in the top 5%,” Ponton said.<br>

    1. What is the difference between an energetic Sunday morning at church and the rapturous hours of dawn spent at the club? To him, they both aspire to the same physical and experiential ends.
  33. Dec 2015
    1. “Speakin’ o’ creeds,” and here old Mrs. Sargent paused in her work, “Elder Ransom from Acreville stopped with us last night, an’ he tells me they recite the Euthanasian Creed every few Sundays in the Episcopal Church.  I didn’t want him to know how ignorant I was, but I looked up the word in the dictionary.  It means easy death, and I can’t see any sense in that, though it’s a terrible long creed, the Elder says, an’ if it’s any longer ’n ourn, I should think anybody might easy die learnin’ it!” “I think the word is Athanasian,” ventured the minister’s wife.
  34. Aug 2015