Rusty Nails, 1/13/05...

Joe Carter has his Outtakes, so I've decided to do my Rusty Nails. After stepping on these, maybe you'll be left with a blog infection. Check out Bonnie's blog, Off the Top. She's started reviewing C. S. Lewis' book, The Abolition of Man. Her first two installments are, Men without Chests, and All values derive from the Tao. If she's seen the recent PBS broadcast of The Question of God, it would be interesting to see her intertwine her review of Abolition with her thoughts about the series. After the devastating crash of his blog site a few months ago, Bill Wallo is up and running. Stop by and check his post, Intellectual Morons, or just stop by to see a beautiful pic of the Hagia Sophia (is that you in the photo, Bill?). In just a few hours the Huygens probe, from the Cassini-Huygens mission, is scheduled to descend into the atmosphere of Titan, one of Saturn's moons. Wow! Imagine an anti-science guy like me excited about such news. Per the L.A. Times, Threat of new slides halts La Conchita search. I've driven by that "hamlet" many times and, yes, it's just like it looks in the photos... a little sliver of land caught between a steep mountain and the ocean. As the residents cope with the devastation one finds that many of the displaced are planning to rebuild, and many of the others planning to stay. From the article,

As searchers continued to probe the rubble, residents debated whether to return. Julio Varele, 53, said he and his wife, Annelle Beebe, would. Even though he lost a close friend, Tony Alvis, in the mudslide, Varele said he couldn't fathom living anyplace else. "We've had the most incredible time with our friends in the house. There's the warmth, the atmosphere, with food and good times," he said. "People love to come to visit. How can you put a price on that?" After the 1995 slide, Varele said, he thought about the dangers "all the time." "It was sort of our choice to live there. It's not that we're dumb. It's just that it's a wonderful place," he said. Bill Matthews, 34, who lives about 200 feet away from the base of the slide, said he planned to stay "as long as the rent is [as high] as it is in Santa Barbara."

Well, there you have it, some people consider the act of choosing to return to live in a place where two devastating landslides have occurred in the past 10 years to not be "dumb" simply because "it's a wonderful place." What is it about our species that causes us to place such a high emphasis on the abstract? Survival? Not in this case. Our friend DarkSyde will be live blogging the progress of the Huygens probe descent onto Titan. Check out the nice Cassini-Huygens wallpaper via JPL's website. A burger and fries on the way to soccer practice? Maybe your family meals should emphasize a bit more of the family aspect. So says the article, Meals together promote better health for girls, from the Assemblies of God News Service.