BilikFamily.com

Timothy - A light bulb went off in Timothy's head today. When I left for work this morning he gave no indication of trying to walk. When I brought him home from the YMCA tonight, he was walkin! Not just a few steps, but from the family room, through the kitchen, and into the play room. Granted, he's still wobbly -- doing the "orangoutang strut". Nonetheless Michelle agreed: never have we seen it "just click" so quickly amongst his older siblings. Perhaps it was accelerated by the desire to keep up with his older siblings. Do you think we can potty train him along with his older brothers this spring? *grin* Michelle jokes that at this rate he'll be potty trained before his older brothers.

Christian - My college junior year roommate has been visiting, last night and tonight. Last night we just had pizza at the house. Tonight he helped me get the kids home from the YMCA whilst Michelle taught a step class. Once Michelle came home, he, Claire, and I went for dinner/dessert at Santos Dumont. Being the flying buff that he is, I knew he would like their early aviation theme. Christian and his wife, Lori, have a son, Carl, who is just one day younger than Timothy. What a coincidence!

Weather - Claire was telling me yesterday about some unusual occasions she was learning about in school: pink snow and raining frogs. At first I thought these were just stories, but no. It's real -- as those links confirm. Weird!

Mac OS X is three - A couple of days ago was the three year anniversary of Apple's release of the OS X (version 10.0) operating system for their Macintosh line of computers. It was a huge gamble for them because it was a complete departure from their earlier versions. It was not like the Microsoft incremental and evolutionary changes from Windows 95 to 98 to 2000 to XP. Apple has had three major releases (10.1, 10.2, 10.3) since then about once per year. Currently it's up to 10.3.3 with each release getting faster more polished. It's hard to praise it without coming off as one of those zany Macintosh weirdos, but it really has made computing enjoyable again. It doesn't crash, there hasn't been any virus attacks, it includes a powerful suite of software for developers, and usually it all "just works".

Annunciation - Today is the Catholic feast of the Annunciation -- when the angel Gabriel brought Mary the message that she had been chosen to be the mother of Jesus. When I pray the Rosary, it's one of my favorite mysteries to ponder. In modern lingo you could say that she "had no idea what she was in for", and yet she humbly and completely said yes. Today is typically a day when Catholics contemplate that openness to the Will of God. I was particularly moved today by writer Rachel Watkins as she comments on what saying yes to God meant for her as a wife and mother.

Libertarianism and Abortion - I was reading a point by point refutation by a blogger who took issue with a libertarian explaining why she (and libertarians in general) support existing abortion policy. The libertarian philosophy runs deep in New Hampshire, probably a derivative of Yankee individualism and do-it-yourself'ism and 'take personal responsibility' rather than letting the government transform itself into the nanny state. It's quite at odds with the modern "we need a government program for this" Massachusetts philosophy. Normally the libertarian philosophy centers around minimal government interference in the lives of individuals. But then I was struck by this paragraph of the refutation:

These facts about pregnancy aren't exactly a secret. Moreover, whatever happened to the rugged libertarian demand that one take responsibility for one's freely chosen actions? A responsible libertarian position would say that consensual sex involves a consent to all the reasonably foreseeable possible consequences deriving from that act, except death. That would include, to use the parlance, getting knocked up. In short, responsible, consistent libertarians would be opposed to abortion in all cases except rape, incest, the life of the mother.

I thought to myself, he's got point. Is just acquiring an abortion how a libertarian sees "taking responsibility for one's freely chosen actions"? I understand their "government shouldn't tell me what to do" mindset, but how does that square with libertarianism's usual "you take your punches" view of the world?

Ahh, well, it's late. Enough of the soapbox. Time to catch some sleep.