Vol XVI. No. 37
As you may know, I worked for twenty-four and a half years in data processing, starting as a junior programmer at the ripe age of 38 in the spring of 1979 and retiring from the business in 2004. My first project was called "end of decade date change, to modify Prudential Assurance's systems" so that they could now use two digits to encode for year. Thus 1980 would be encoded as "80", not "0", which had already been used for 1970. That's how the development of computer systems works. We cross one bridge at a time. It turned out that I became pretty good at it. Who would have guessed that a Ph. D. in Religious Studies was just the perfect background for the job.
As my proficiency grew, I became part of the database administration team, and for a time worked closely with security. As part of my job, I read technical magazines. I learned that while security was a problem for mainframes, it was a horrendous problem for small systems, micro - and minicomputers. I regret to say that it still is. Along with stories of Liberal members of parliament getting caught with their pants down, we have reports of hospital systems being shut down by the North Korean army and held to ransom, and confidential data being stolen from databases belonging to Revenue Canada. The only response so far is to require more and more complex passwords, sixteen characters, random mix of numbers, digits and special characters, to be committed to memory and reset frequently by the user. One system I had to use when I was still working had a password that expired every thirty days, Unfortunately, I only ever needed that system once a month.
Microcomputers also become obsolete very quickly. McLuhan's law: "If it works, it's obsolete." My own computer does not have the necessary hardware to run Zoom. I have no reason to upgrade. After all, what if I get caught with my pants down? I gather that Zoom was invented in the first place to facilitate small social contacts, and that the designers themselves were taken by surprise when, because of COVID19, Zoom sessions became worth hacking.
My advice: Use it if you enjoy it? Why not. But don't entrust it with confidential information. Anything you don't want to share with the Russian secret service does not belong on your computer. Your computer is only really secure when it is off.
- Margaret Walker
- Randy Woodley
The Bible leaves no doubt at all about the sanctity of the act of worldmaking, or of the world that was made, or of creaturely or bodily life in this world. We are holy creatures living among other holy creatures in a world that is holy. Some people know this, and some do not. Nobody, of course, knows it all the time. But what keeps it from being far better known than it is? Why is it apparently unknown to millions of professed students of the Bible? How can modern Christianity have so solemnly folded its hands while so much of the work of God was and is being destroyed?
- Wendell Berry
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Readers of Tolkien will recognize the word “eucatastrophe” – the term the great fantasy author coined to describe the sudden turn towards joy and salvation at a point in the plot when all seems lost. It’s the eagles over the horizon, the echoing crack of the Stone Table, the moment in the myth when something of the power of Easter morning resounds in the realm of fantasy.
Through very simple language, Astrid Lindgren convinces a kindergartener of the depth of love that moves us to self-sacrifice and courage – a loyalty beyond blind obedience, intertwined with childlike trust in the Father’s goodness. It’s the love that moves a scared boy to mount his flying horse and fulfill a prophecy.
- Elizabeth Hansen
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The risen Jesus had appeared, not to rulers and kings, not even most of all to his male disciples, but to a woman whose love had held her at the cross and led her to the grave.
Mary Magdalene, a person afflicted by demons, whose testimony would not have held up in court because she was a woman, was the first witness to the resurrection.
Once again, God has revealed himself to the lowly, and it would only be the humble whose hearing was sharp enough to perceive the message of his love.
- Anne Spengler
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