95 Theses & Earthly Authority

Today's the day.  Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther put 95 theses on an announcement board in Wittenberg about Catholic practices he viewed as wrong.  Requesting a conversation, desiring a reformation, what followed was a revolution.

Luther wasn't the first (or the only contemporary) to express concern about how the Church had veered from Scripture; other movements were afoot throughout Europe.  But in a complex movement with many independent pieces, the Wittenberg event is an easy marker to remember, as it provoked a strong response from Rome and ignited into flame the heretofore embers of discontent throughout the continent.  Gutenberg's printing press would help, enabling distribution of pamphlets at a breathtaking pace (for the time) and enabling fast circulation of Luther's ideas.  Luther didn't want to break away from the Church; he wanted change and a return to the practices of Christianity laid out in the Bible.  But it soon became clear that the Papacy was too tied up in worldly affairs, and focused on worldly power, to take such concerns seriously; schism was the only option.  Luther broke away, and many others followed suit, eventually resulting in a collection of denominations known collectively as Protestants.

At its heart, the Reformation is about Earthly authority.  Christians view the Bible as God's word and, therefore, the ultimate authority on life.  But who interprets God's word?  The Church in Luther's day said that only the Pope had the authority to do so.  Luther argued otherwise, for "a priesthood of all believers," enabling even common men and women to read the Bible for themselves and access the word of God directly.  To facilitate this, he would translate the Bible into German, and many others would follow suit in their own languages in subsequent decades.

In denying a central (earthly) authority, Luther unwittingly appealed to a broader humanistic trend occurring at the time, and the idea ultimately established Protestantism as a movement set up to schism.  If the Pope isn't the central authority, who is?  Initially, many argued the Scriptures were clear enough that all could read, understand, and draw the same conclusions from the text.  In practice, there are many areas where Scripture isn't explicit, leading to varying conclusions about interpretation and application.  Scripture itself calls for both unity (in essential matters) and liberty (in others) but never defines which doctrines belong to which category.  And with no central authority to arbitrate disputes, many denominations would result.  Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and Anabaptist movements would spring up in the decades following Wittenberg, with many more on the horizon.  Even today, those who do not like the teaching in a given Church can simply find another more suited to their tastes- or start a new one entirely.

I thought I'd be happy today, reflecting on the momentous event and what has resulted.  Instead, I find sadness.  Sadness that the Church strayed so far, that reform from within was impossible, and that continued schism, even among those following Christ, is inherent in our fallen world.  Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

I've done a number of posts on the Reformation; I recommend you read a book or two about this momentous event, as its impact affects us to this day.

Pictures from Wittenberg (taken during my trip there, when we lived in Germany)
Summary of the Reformation from a recent men's retreat

The Unquenchable Flame (this is a fast read and great starting point)
The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World
The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century (more in-depth work, but my summary gives you the gist of the Reformation)
Christianity's Dangerous Idea.  A phenomenal look at Protestantism and its impact on the world through the centuries.

The Long Halloween (Various)

Gotham City is reeling from a new maniac.  Dubbed "Holiday" by the papers, a serial killer is taking out members of the Falcone crime family- always on holidays.  As Batman, Commissioner Gordon, and Harvey Dent race to bring him to justice over the course of a year, Falcone hires the rogue gallery  (Joker, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, etc.) to get to the bottom of things in their own way.  For Gotham and its citizens, it seems an eternal nightmare . . . a long Halloween.

I enjoyed this one.  The art is monochromatic but good, the story has surprise and suspense, and the mystery is gripping.  Check this out if you can.

Rating: A

The Workouts of Yore

I recently stumbled across some old race results (those running numbers you get for each race, on which I'd record my times).  Minimizing my stuff, it's time to part with them, but not before I reflect on fitness and how I've changed over the years.

Childhood
Growing up, I played intramural soccer consistently (fall & spring), and pickup games of baseball, basketball, and football with neighborhood friends.  That, plus occasional bike rides, was as far as it went for physical activity.  I hated jogging and most other forms of working out.  I loathed gym when it was wresting or gymnastics.  Things started to change between junior and senior years of high school.

High School
By the summer of '97, I had a decent gut (probably attributed, in no small way, to my daily habit of munching on cool ranch Doritos after dinner) and little strength- I recall being able to do only 4-5 push-ups.  But on a whim, and friend and I decided to try out for the football team.  So began a transformation.

I don't remember how much I worked out before tryouts; I think I did daily push-ups.  But once football started, oh boy.  Twice- or thrice-daily summer camps whipped me into some semblance of shape.  Circuit training (working to exhaustion at rotating exercise stations) was an amazing experience- I'd have trouble holding my arms up afterwards.  I took to standard weight training, and my initial bench of 95 lbs went up slowly but surely.

Surprisingly, I was announced as the starting placekicker for the team (the day before our season opener), a position I would hold all season despite being mediocre at best.  But success there encouraged me to continue training in all facets.  It would come in handy when I applied to the Air Force Academy.

Receiving a nomination to the Academy, I had one final hurdle: the physical test.  I did fine in push-ups and shuttle run, but fell one short of the 4 pull-up requirement.  I could have re-tested, but my enthusiasm waned, and having an offer from Penn State, I accepted without further thought to a military career.  I'd remember the pull-up failure, though.

College
I decided to try out for the Penn State football team.*  An elite unit, I knew it would take the utmost dedication to even have a shot.  That's when things really got started.  I was a machine freshman year, and for most of undergrad.  Every day (except for Sunday), I'd do 4-5 sets of push-ups throughout the day and an evening high-rep dumbbell routine with extensive stretching.  On specific days, I'd do the following:

M: Run 3 miles
T: Lift
W: Run 3 miles
R: Lift, run 1 mile
F: Lift
S: Jog 1 hour
S: Rest

The above, combined with miles of daily walking to/from class, had me in amazing shape.  I could do 12 pull-ups, bench 200lbs, and run 3 miles easily.  I put on 20-30 lbs of muscle between freshman and sophomore years, now weighing in at 180 lbs; it felt good.  Best of all, my metabolism increased as the week progressed, and on Fridays, I could eat anything I wanted.  In an all-you-can-eat dining hall, it was paradise.

It's funny how things change.  Once loathing the sport, I now loved running, and my runs were not jogs.  For the 3 mile intervals, I'd run hard but stop 3 times, at specified intervals, during the run.  My 1 mile was as fast as I could do it (PR is 5:30, achieved during this time).  After two years of this, I'd start running in 5Ks.

My best time in a 5K was my first: 19:55 on 3/26/2000.  I remember that race well; I ran the first two miles in 12:00 even (still my PR for that distance).  I came in 21/377 (overall) and 5/90 (M18-22 age group).  Subsequent 5Ks in following years would be 21:22 (2001), 20:00 (2002), 21:50 (2004).  I've run more but lost those records.

Senior year of college, an unusually large course load saw me taper off, and when I tried to start back up again, my body rebelled.  (I still remember stretching, feeling a gut, and think "where'd that come from?")  I'd continue working out regularly, but never again achieve that level of proficiency.

Ever Since
I left college in good shape.  That's varied over the years- I hit a low (or high?) point of 215 lbs in 2004- but in general, I'm in reasonable condition.  I shoot for 6 work outs per week, generally making 4 (since children).  My weight oscillates between 185-195 lbs.  I run 1 mile in 6:15 (as of last year) and 5Ks in 22:30 (pushing it) to 24:00.  I can bench my body weight and have reasonable strength.  For a time, I'd end each workout with those 4 pull-ups I couldn't do back in high school, helping me remember where I was and be thankful for progress.  Today, the back isn't what it used to be, my arthritic knees aren't getting better, a shoulder is getting problematic, and my children are intent on my destruction, but I can't complain overall.

If I could go back and do anything differently, it would be working out more in middle/high school, and getting into that routine earlier.  Life is better when you're in good shape; I need to remember that, especially as these goals get harder to achieve.


*didn't make the team, but it was a worthwhile endeavor

Van Helsing

A 2004 film, Van Helsing pits the famed vampire hunter against a number of foes.  Dracula, predictably, is causing chaos in Transylvania and must be stopped.  He and his brides are trying to create legions of spawn, and (for some reason) need to electrocute humans during lightning storms to give their eggs life.  But it has to be a certain amount of energy, or else the babies randomly explode after living for a few minutes.  Also, Dr. Frankenstein creates his monster, and there are werewolves and must obey Dracula, but not entirely, or something.  And the last line of a family of hunters appears to be the last hope, or isn't.  Thankfully, there are tons of ropes around for the swinging necessary to get around.  And Jekyll/Hyde even shows up at the beginning for an unnecessary scene.

As can be inferred from my summary, this movie didn't do it for me.  I can't think of a good thing to say.  Plot was horrible, characters poor, dialogue pitiful, humor flat, and action blasé.  They tried to put too many monsters into one story; the result was a nonsensical mess that fails to impress on any level.

Rating: D-

The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre (Various)

It's October; time for the macabre.  As can be insinuated from the title, The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre is a selection of 14 short stories by various nineteenth-century authors on gruesome subjects.  The goal "is to exhibit the variety and vitality of the terror-tales and similarly macabre fiction published in the rival magazines of London and Dublin, in the two decades following the appearance of Polidori’s tale; that is, the 1820s and 1830s."  Vampires, the dead returning, murder most foul, demonic visitations, body snatchers, people hidden away for years or buried alive . . . it's the standard fare of the genre.  I had read two of the authors (James Hogg and Sheridan Le Fanu) previously.

All stories contained herein are eloquent, though some are difficult to follow (long/convoluted sentences, references to events unfamiliar to modern readers, and Scottish dialects contributed).  Most are told well and suspenseful; I enjoyed this overall.  I chose the book for the title tale, written in 1819 by John Polidori (but erroneously attributed to Lord Byron at its publishing), which kicked off a vampire craze that Bram Stoker would solidify almost 80 years later with Dracula:

The story had made an indelible impression on the imagination of Europe, and Polidori had succeeded, however inadvertently, in founding the entire modern tradition of vampire fiction. Not only was his tale the first sustained fictional treatment of vampirism in English, it also completely recast the mythology upon which it drew.

While this collection isn't quite as good as the stories of M.R. James, it's worth a look.

Rating: A-

Codenames

Today's review is of the 2015 release, Codenames.  For 2-8 players, it takes 15-30 minutes.

Overview
On a 5x5 grid of words, you and your teammates have one goal: expose all 'your' cards before your opponents do the same for theirs, while avoiding the forbidden word that will lose you the game instantly.

Each team has one clue speaker, with the rest being guessers.  Team colors (red and blue) are assigned.  The grid is laid out by randomly selecting and placing 25 word cards.  Then, a tile is chosen, which tells the clue speakers on both sides:
- which team goes first
- which cards as associated with the red team (and the blue)
- which are neutral (white)
- which is forbidden (black). 

The first team to go has nine words; the second has eight.  There are seven neutral words and one forbidden.

Simplified Gameplay
On its turn, the team's clue speaker looks at the grid, the tile, and chooses one (and only one) word to tell his team, along with a number indicating how many cards he thinks fit that word. 
Example: the blue team goes first, and their nine words, when matching the template with the grid, are "France, Cathedral, Dog, Rain, Grass, Lamp, Car, Politician, Government."  The clue speaker could say "Paris, 2."  The rest of the team would confer and decide which two of the 25 words best fit "Paris."  They guess one at a time.  When the guess a word, the color of that word is revealed by placing the appropriately-colored marker on top of it.  If it's blue, they can guess again.  If blue again, they can guess a third time (you can always exceed the clue speaker's stated number by one).  But if any of their guesses reveal a red or white word, play immediately passes to the other team.  And if they reveal the black word, it's game over! 

game in progress; image from here.  In this example, "date" is the forbidden word, and the red team needs to reveal four more cards to win (pirate, face, bill, cotton)

The obvious goal is to guess your words without guessing another color's.  The challenge is finding that perfect word to enable your teammates to do so.

Review
This is a simple yet challenging and fun game.  It's impressively difficult in many cases.  I love the "one word only" rule; that's the key for me.  For example, in one game I played, I had two words left to make my team win, and my opponent one.  My words were "mine" and "crane;" his was "drill."  I failed to find a word that would clue my teammates into my words without them potentially guessing my opponent's, because many associations with mines and cranes would also apply to drills (like "dig," "excavate," "tunnel", etc.).  And you never know what associations other people will make with your one-word clue.

With near-infinite variety due to many templates and many grid layout possibilities, this is a winner.

Rating: A

Nothing Like it in the World (Stephen Ambrose)

The transcontinental railroad, built in the 1860s and connecting Council Bluffs, Iowa to Sacramento, California, was a mammoth undertaking, not least because it was done almost entirely by hand.  The men who pulled it off are the subject of Stephen Ambrose's Nothing Like it in the World.

the first transcontinental railroad; image from here

Summary
In the nineteenth century, The United States saw its territory enlarge considerably until it stretched 'from sea to shining sea.'  Such size in an age before modern transportation posed prohibitive logistics problems.  Shipments and travelers to California had to go either:
- over land by horse/carriage
- by ship to Panama (over the isthmus by horse to another ship on the Pacific side)
- around South America
Each method had obvious dangers and costs.  The solution was a transcontinental railroad, though that too had breathtaking challenges.  Discussed since the 1830s (and more heatedly as the California gold rush and land opportunities encouraged explosive migration in the 1850s), people wanted it, but nobody knew if it could (or should) be done.  Who would undertake such a feat?

The answer was two companies: the Central Pacific (starting from California) and the Union Pacific (from Iowa).  First came surveyors like Theodore Judah (out West) and Grenville Dodge (in the East) to find the most feasible route.  Railroads required relatively straight and flat routes, and their work showed the possibilities and 'paved the way' (though there was considerable debate about the best way forward).  After that, funding needed to be obtained by a combination of private investors and government assistance/land grants.  Finally, both companies started in the early 1860s.  "The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific were the first big business in America."  They needed to be for the magnitude of work ahead of them.

How was it done?  "The surveyors went first, followed by the engineers, who laid out the exact line.  Then came the bridge gangs, so that when the gradings got to the bridge site they could continue.  Then there were the men who dug the cuts or who dug and dumped the dirt to make the fills.  Next came the track layers with their rails, spikes, fishplates, distance markers, sledgehammers, and ballast.  After them the carpenters, who built the roundhouses, depots, and other buildings."  The goal was to minimize cuts (in soil or rock) and fills/bridges (in valleys or spanning water) to save time and money.

Both the CP and UP faced considerable difficulties- technical, financial, and more.  Out West, the CP first tackled the mountains, requiring frequent tunneling (where progress could be as slow as six inches per day) and facing harsh terrain and climate (frequent blizzards could bury the track in 10-20 feet of snow), not to mention the challenge of getting all supplies shipped around South America from the East Coast.  In the east, the UP had a severe wood shortage on the plains, a similarly harsh climate, and hostile Indians, who regarded the land as theirs and rightly recognized the railroad's ramifications.  For both companies, even favorable terrain and weather couldn't overcome the sheer logistics challenges- typical progress was a mile or two a day; one day's progress of ten miles was unmatched.  In the end, the CP would lay a total of 742 miles of track, and the UP 1032 miles (source).

The workers out west were largely Chinese, who did their jobs well and behaved themselves much better than their Irish counterparts (who dominated eastern work crews).  Mormons in Utah were also critical.  Tens of thousands were involved, and many died during the work, though their numbers are unknown (no records were kept).  Their feats were unbelievable- the strength, endurance, and resilience they showed has been seldom equaled.

The teams met at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869.  An amazing achievement.  In early nineteenth century America, men "traveled no faster than Julius Caesar," and no "information could be transmitted any faster than in Alexander the Great's time.  In 1869, with the railroad and the telegraph that was beside it, a man could move at sixty miles per hour and transmit an idea or a statistic from coast to coast almost instantly."  Together, these inventions "made modern America possible."  A trip from New York to San Francisco that might have cost more than $1000 and taken months could now be done for $65 in 7 days.  And for a country recently torn apart as north and south, the railroad helped heal that wound and tie the land together from east to west.  Truly, there was nothing like it in the world.

meeting at Promontory in 1869; image from here

Review
Back in May, I read Ambrose's Undaunted Courage, an excellent account of the Lewis & Clark expedition.  I was eager for more, and this (largely) fit the bill.  His account is balanced and fair to many parties, thorough, and well-written.  And yet . . .

I should have paid attention to the subtitle: "the men who built the ..."  This is largely their story.  Of course, Ambrose covers the construction process and technical hurdles, but the emphasis is on the men behind things- the financial backers (and their corruption), the surveyors, engineers, and 'common' laborers, etc.  He does a good job with all of them, but some chapters (especially concerning the political and financial fights) were mildly confusing and (I felt) detracted from the story.*  The account also appeared unevenly paced at times, with several points repeated and some elements glazed over or skipped entirely.**  These things aside, this is a good read.  You get an idea of how impressive this accomplishment truly was.

Two things I didn't realize:
1) These companies were not friends- they were in competition, with the meeting place unknown until very late in the process.  That produced a furious race, which spurred men on both sides to do more than any thought possible (and to sacrifice quality for speed).  You can see which companies did which portions in the graphic above.
2) It wasn't truly a transcontinental railroad.  The portions east of Iowa were mostly in existence already, and Sacramento to San Francisco was completed later.  The result certainly tied the land together, but the actual construction covered 'only' 70% of the width of the States.

Rating: B+

*Though to be fair, perhaps understanding the complexity of this aspect should have produced the opposite reaction in me.  I like to focus on the technical side.

**Though again, I must be fair and admit it was probably the same challenges over and over again, so Ambrose probably felt justified in sparing the reader.

Risk Europe

Today's review is of the 2015 release, Risk Europe.  For 2-4 players, it takes 45-180 minutes.

Overview
Don't be fooled- this isn't your traditional Risk game.  Set in Medieval Europe, here your goal is to own 7 crowns by the end of a round.  Most crowns are obtained by controlling territories with major cities (like Paris, Rome, Berlin).  To do so, you'll tax the populace to build castles and purchase units, and then use siege weapons, archers, cavalry, and foot soldiers to sweep across the continent to claim territories and expand your power.  Each 'gold crown' city you control grants you unique bonuses to further your aim.  Are you up for the challenge?

example of units; image from here

Simplified Gameplay
Unlike traditional Risk, Risk Europe gives each player a deck of eight cards, each with two orders on it.  At the beginning of a round, each player secretly chooses two cards and places them face-down in front of him.  The first player (determined by bidding or card effects) starts, revealing his top card and choosing/executing one order on it.  Turns proceed clockwise, with the players then revealing their second cards in the same manner.  Orders can be things like:

- tax (gain gold for your controlled territories, with bonuses in city areas)
- spend (spend your gold to buy military units or castles; units must be placed in city or castle territories)
- expand (move an army into an adjacent territory; if it's occupied, a battle will happen at the end of the round)
- maneuver (move any number of armies up to two territories away, if you control each)

At the end of the round, perform battles if applicable.  Here, Units go in a certain order before 'regular' Risk combat:

- 1: Siege engines attack first, rolling two dice per unit and hitting on 3+
- 2: archers, rolling one dice per and hitting on 5+
- 3: cavalry, rolling one dice per and hitting on 3+
for each of these, a 'hit' means the opponent chooses and discards one of their units.  If the opponent has equivalent units, they perform these same attacks simultaneously.  There are no 'attack' vs. 'defense' dice comparisons here. 

Then, the final order is like regular Risk:
- 4: everyone (foot soldiers on up); the attacker rolls one die per unit (up to 3), the defender up to 2.  The deltas are compared, with ties going to the defender.  If any units remain, then go back to step 1 and repeat the steps until one side is eliminated.  The winner claims that territory.

After battles are performed, victory check verifies if any player controls seven crowns.  If nobody does, the two cards each player used is set aside, and two new cards are chosen (out of the six you have remaining).  Rounds proceed in like manner until all cards are used; then the full eight-card deck is taken back into hand for the next cycle.  Play proceeds until one player satisfies the victory condition.

a game in progress; image from here

Review
Growing up, I played Risk a good deal.  And it always seemed to end in anger, primarily because 1) it took forever and 2) it generally involved shifting alliances and associated betrayals.  That said, I heard good things about Risk Europe, so I picked it up on clearance.  I was glad I did.  This game is superior to Risk in every respect.  The city bonuses, action cards, unit types, castles, and combat rules are all a step above the original.  It was simple yet strategic.  My one ding is that the rules must be modified for 2 players (and even 3), and (in my opinion) the changes aren't satisfying- play this as a 4-player game.

Rating: A-

Luther

Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses to a door in Wittenberg, Germany, taking issue with certain Church practices.  The subsequent days and years would see Reformation and revolution far above what he intended, dividing families and nations as Protestantism was born.  Luther is his story.

This was a good film- better than I remembered.  It's not a large-budget movie; production value was adequate but not fantastic.  Plot and dialogue were good, if rushed (fitting years of seminal events into two hours isn't easy).  It even seemed reasonable accurate historically.  As the Reformation anniversary approaches, check out this film to understand the history.

Rating: A-

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends (Ronan Coghlan)

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends is exactly what it claims to be.  "This book is primarily intended as a reference book and its main aim is to provide a detailed 'who's who', 'what's what' and 'where's where' covering all the different strands of the Arthurian legends, something which no book has hitherto achieved."  After a brief introduction concerning a potential historical Arthur, author Ronan Coghlan produces a 250-page encyclopedia, dotted with relevant artwork from the ages.

Long have I sought this out-of-print book, and delighted to find it on ebay for $12, I tore into it upon its arrival.  Though thorough and informative, I was disappointed.  The fault is not with the author- he accomplishes what he sets out to do.  I was expecting many more and larger illustrations, which I now realize is my ultimate interest.  This is mostly text.  Encyclopedias in the digital age are of limited value . . . google searches can tell me much of what exists herein.  But if you're fanatically interested in all things pertaining to King Arthur, this book would be a nice addition to your collection.

Rating: B

Hollywood (Ultimate Spider-man Vol. 10)

Spidey is outraged when Hollywood makes a motion picture about him.  As he stews, an imprisoned Doc Ock telepathically summons his bionic arms to rejoin him.  "Complete" once again, he wreaks havoc on the city as he fights one man he hates above all others: Peter Parker.

This book is good, in keeping with many others in the series to date.  Of the ten volumes, I liked eight of them.  They feature good art, some valuable insights (though I wish they'd develop those more), and accurate depictions of moody teenage life.  I won't be reading beyond this; here is a summary of the entire series.

Rating: A

Ultimate Six (Ultimate Spider-man Vol. 9)

Nick Fury has managed to capture Sandman, Doc Ock, Green Goblin, Kraven the Hunter, and Electro.  That's good.  He puts them all in one prison.  That's not so good.  When they escape, Goblin is dead set on revenge on Fury- and he knows the best way to get it comes through Peter Parker.

This one let me down.  The art wasn't quite as good as the other volumes, but the real disappointment was the pace of the story- way too fast- and the point- not sure there was one (aside from revealing that Fury actually funded Osborne's research- the very same testing that produced the villains- with the goal of creating more heroes like Captain America).  It was cool to see the Ultimates (the Avengers, apparently, with the same cast of heroes) show up, but I didn't see the point of the tale.  The title implies that Spidey joins the criminals, and indeed they attempt to convert him, but that part was especially rushed and poorly done.

Rating: B

Cats & Kings (Ultimate Spider-man Vol. 8)

All is not well in New York.  The Kingpin has returned, using his resources to exonerate himself for his documented murder.  Peter's fury, but doesn't have much time to muse on the partiality of the justice system . . . for he gets caught in the middle of Elektra hunting the Black Cat after she robbed the Kingpin.  Meanwhile, Mary Jane's life is in tatters and her dad forbids her to see Peter.  What's a Spider-man to do?

I enjoyed this story, touching as it did on this idea of justice and partiality.  I wish it explored the topic more.  The series continues to do a good job capturing a teenage Spider-man, both heroic and temperamental.

Rating: A