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Tuesday, 17 November 2009

The Most Amazing Thing You've Ever Heard...

My friend John sent me a link to this video:

Needless to say... I'm in awe. Talented fellow from New Zealand. Check out his other videos and his website:

http://www.youtube.com/user/mattmulholland26
http://www.mattmulholland.co.nz

Spread the good news!

***UPDATE 11/19/09***

Ok, so if you listen to his album "Toilet Secrets" you MAY be offended. Rather PHALLIC in nature. The guy is obviously talented, no doubt, and I like his covers. But I can't really promote his album lol. Ah well.

Saturday, 14 November 2009

PUBLIC DOMAIN!!!!

As I was ATTEMPTING to study hematologic disorders in pregnancy I was suddenly struck with the urge to research Maurice Ravel. While reading about him I thought to myself "wouldn't it be nice if I could see the scores of his compositions?" Out of the clear blue sky a memory* concerning public domain entered my head. I read about it on wiki and realized, with absolute glee, that music works as old as those composed by Ravel would have entered the public domain. Through the wiki article on Ravel I found the following three sites (listed in order of awesomeness):

http://imslp.org/
http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
http://icking-music-archive.org/

BAM! Instant PRINTABLE musical scores from countless composers for countless works! YEAH BABY!!! You know that piano piece you've just been itching to play? You know that choral piece you really want your church choir to sing? They are YOURS for the taking, and it's legal.

*I was to accompany my college choir (the Genevans) on a piece of music and we were going to play a prank on the conductor (Dr. Bob). When he started to conduct the piece I was going to break into the Hallelujah Chorus introduction instead, with the choir following suit (we used the public domain to get the score). It would have been EPIC, and he wouldn't have seen it coming. Someone with much wisdom (or too much caution) decided that his old heart may not be able take it. The last thing we wanted was to induce a heart attack in our beloved choir conductor. The plan was abandoned and I'm left only with the memory of what could have happened.
Catholicism vs. Protestantism

I have long desired to understand what is at the heart of the differences between Joe Catholic and Joe Protestant. Yesterday I had a brief, but enlightening conversation with a medical student who is Catholic and minored in Catholic theology in undergrad. Whenever I would bring up an individual doctrine and ask for an explanation he boiled it down to one thing for me. Here was my conclusion about the CRUX of many of the differences between us:

CHURCH AUTHORITY

He acknowledged that Christ is the ultimate authority, but that Christ gave Peter authority over the church:

Matthew 16.18-19 - And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

The Pope is believed to be sort a direct spiritual descendant of Peter, but my friend informed me that he does not have the final word, per se. Rather, Peter's authority extends to all church leaders (cardinals, bishops, etc.) so that there is more of a collective exercise of authority (i.e. the buck doesn't stop with the Pope). Catholics have faith that God, being a God of history, is choosing to exercise his authority through these earthly leaders. (NOTE: I will submit too Protestants must believe this to some degree in order to accept that the Council of Trent picked the correct books to be included in the Bible). Put another way:

God gave Peter authority over the church --> the Pope + Catholic leaders exercise this God-given authority

Now based on the conversation, it would seem that the following ideas stem from the exercise of this authority (though I'm sure it's not that simple):

Praying to Saints for intercession
Purgatory
The Importance of Mary

It is my opinion that these ideas are extra-Biblical, even when considering the Apocrypha as Scripture (NOTE: I've never read the Apocrypha, but the summaries I've read do not seem to support these ideas). But if I were to believe that Catholic leaders throughout history were directly exercising God's authority I would have to believe what they say as God's truth.

Protestants, in short, are of the sola scriptura variety, meaning the buck stops with the Word of God. The Word of God does give authority to the church leaders, but not the sort of authority that requires their words to be nearly on par with Scripture. I'll admit, however, that the interpretation of the verses above has always been quite difficult for Protestants.

In short: (taking for granted the Holy Spirit)
Catholics --> God's DIRECT authority = Scriptural AND Church Authority
Protestants --> God's DIRECT authority = Scriptural Authority

My point here is not to debate which is right and which is wrong, nor is it my goal to debate the minutia of doctrinal differences. Who/What administers God's authority on earth has far-reaching ramifications for practice and doctrine. I'm hoping that some learn-ed Catholic scholars might chime in and give me some insight as I know my sources are anecdotal (i.e. not infallable). I feel relieved to know at least this much more about our differences.

Monday, 09 November 2009

Sacrifice

PA school has come with many challenges, not the least of which is all of the things that you need to sacrifice in order to be successful. The sacrifice I'm feeling the most depressed about tonight is music. My piano practicing dropped DRAMATICALLY once I started PA school. I hardly practice at all now - I'm lucky if I play for 30 minutes once a week. It's even more depressing when you sit back down at the keyboard and start playing and your fingers are like "huh?" and your brain is like "you suck". What makes it worse is that I'm not playing at church any more either. I don't sing in choir, I don't play in jazz band, I don't jam with friends, I don't take lessons. It's like everything just stopped once I started PA school (even worse now that I'm on rotation).

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about what we intend to do once we're out of school and working. She wants to join a competitive swim team. I want to get back into the music scene. No doubt I'll need some practice, but I have to do it. It's the single biggest part of me that is laying dormant right now and it's KILLING me.

All in due time.

Tuesday, 06 October 2009

Cashing in on my earnings.

Ok, this week and last at the ICU have been particularly... how shall we say it... malodorous. While ADHDing around on the interwebs I read the latest of a favorite webcomic and was forced to look up "polish sausage" on wiki. Here is the picture for the article:

Now, when doing a medical interview concerning BMs, we may ask if your stools are any of the following:
"formed"
"not formed"
"clay colored"
"pencil-thin"

Wiki has PERFECTLY depicted a platter of said options :). Before anyone protests: I've earned the right to make poop jokes after these last 2 weeks. So there. :)