It would appear that the wheels are already starting to fall off the Episcopal Church.

Thanks to Mark Shea for the link.

I went up to Intel's Dupont facility on Friday for work; it was a gorgeous day. I managed to get a tour of Intel's Remote Access cluster. Wow! For a hardware geek like me, it was very, very cool. Until you are face-to-face with it, it's hard sometimes to remember just how challenging it is to maintain a large (256-node) cluster, with accompanying fat network pipes, management overhead, etc. All in all they have a pretty large number of machines. It's very, very cool. I've not had so much fun since I got to tour the San Diego Supercomputer Center back in... 96?

On the way back I snagged a picture of Mt. Rainier from my camera phone:

First Things' Fr. John Neuhaus has some good insight into the recent dismissal of Robert Smith from the board of directors for the DC transit authority, and its implications for all who hold the traditional view of the morality of homosexual activity:

The removal of Robert Smith is thus an early-warning sign. Unless things change in ways now quite unforeseeable, it will not be very long before the principle of traditional Western morality that homosexual conduct is immoral will be contrary to the public policy of the United States. As this new public policy takes hold, it will filter through the law and society just as other anti-discrimination norms have. Adherence to the new policy will be a de facto requirement for holding public office, and, as private entities adopt the policy as they have other anti-discrimination norms, people adhering to the traditional moral view will become unfit to serve as directors of public corporations, as officers of professional associations, as union officials, and as university professors. Organizations that do not ascribe to the policy may lose government licenses necessary to carry on their business, become ineligible to receive grants and subsidies, and be disqualified from bidding on government and other contracts. Catholic Charities in Boston recently had to cease arranging adoptions because Massachusetts required that it not discriminate against same-sex married couples in placing children. Organizations not ascribing to the new policy may even lose tax-free status under the Internal Revenue Code to which they would otherwise be entitled. This happened to Bob Jones University because of its racist policies; there is no reason why, a few years hence, the same thing could not happen to Notre Dame because of what will be called its homophobic policies.

Thanks once again to Mark Shea for the link.

It would appear that the Episcopal Church is giving the Anglican Communion the finger -- Episcopalians Reject Ban on Gay Bishops. It's too bad, but I guess it's the essence of Protestantism at work.

Thanks to Mark Shea for the link.

Fascists in Vegas -- not surprising, but still. Apparently speaking about Jesus is the equivalent of hate speech and won't be tolerated.

And apparently the Presbyterians are at it again.

Thanks to Mark Shea for the links.

So... lots of small stuff. Marie's parents are visiting. We took them to see "Nacho Libre" on Sunday... save your money! Marie's dad is even better than Marie at kicking my butt in Scrabble. We went to the nature park Friday evening, and saw some of the biggest and scariest slugs I've ever seen in my life. Okay, that's not why we went, but it was definitely "memorable."

Sunday was Father's Day. We took Marie's Dad and her friend Rob (both dads) out to dinner to celebrate. I had a chance to call my own Dad and talk to him a bit and wish him the sentiments of the day. It was good to talk to him -- he was having brunch with my brother Gary.

Happy Flag Day!

It's a grand old flag.

An interesting piece from Nat Hentoff, The Devaluing of Human Life. How sad that a 9-year-old can see what so many cannot.

Thanks to Mark Shea for the link.

So Marie and I went to get new phones on Friday. We have a shared-minutes plan now so we can call each other for free, etc. It's pretty neat. Marie got an LG Fusic LX550 phone, it's uber-cool. I got an LG 350, it's pretty neat too -- Bluetooth-enabled, has a camera, etc., etc. And of course it was pretty inexpensive since I've been a Sprint customer for a long time. Best of all I can get a 15% discount since I'm an Intel employee. Yay!

The hard thing, though, was that I had to transfer all my phone entries to the new phone manually, deleting them as I went so I can donate the phone. In doing so I came across my brother Greg's entry... having to delete it brought it all back to me. It's not even been a year since his death, and I miss him more than words can say.

Congrats to the amazing University of Arizona® Wildcat softball team, who won their 7th national title! Way to go ladies, you make all us Wildcats proud!

I've been getting into podcasts lately. There are a number of interesting Catholic podcasts, especially. Perhaps the most interesting/unusual one I've come across so far is Francis Cardinal Arinze's podcast. I've only listened to one Arinze podcast so far, but it was fascinating. The man is amazing.

Some other worthwhile podcasts I've come across:

• Catholic Exchange's Rock Solid with Mark Shea
• Heart Mind and Strength Radio
• The Weekly Roman Observer

Check 'em out.