No wood, just words this time

But what great words they are. From Judge Learned Hand, one of our most respected American jurists. (And what a great name, too, huh? His brother was also a judge, and his name was Augustus.) These words are from a 4th of July address entitled The Spirit of Liberty:

I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.

Amen, Brother L. Amen.

Things I have made, part 9

Made out of better-than-average pine, finished with wax. I designed it to be simple to make and cut it with my scroll saw. I took these pictures before I gave them away because I have a tendency to lose my patterns.

Now every chair is a work chair!

I have a comfy chair by the fireplace. Not only that, it is leather and totally manly. The only problem is that it was only good for sitting in and reading, or dozing off. I needed versatility, or else sitting there would be unmitigated pleasure. Thank goodness I decided to make this lap desk! The top is 5/8 inch plywood and used to be a cabinet door, and the cushion is a pillowcase filled with foam beads and stapled in place. The paint job is not what I hoped for, as the fresh red paint caused the ancient existing paint to bubble up and crack, but it is functional. Now instead of just enjoying my sweet chair by the fireplace, I can get some work done!

Things I have made, part 8

Three pine circles and acrylic paint. One of my first experiments with painting. It was fun.

One reason why English is the Best Language in the World

Not long ago, a brother of mine had the temerity to suggest that Spanish is better than English. (In his defense, he was learning Spanish at the time and was caught up in an understandable love affair with a new language). As examples to show the absurdity of that little heresy, I cited Shakespeare and the King James Version of the Bible. Here is another prime example of why English is the Best Language in the World.

The example is the word Atonement. Now, every language that I know of has a word for atonement. In Spanish it is expiacion – expiation, a Latin word that English has also borrowed.

There are several words in English that convey part of the meaning of the Atonement, with expiation and reconciliation being the most descriptive. To expiate is to compensate or to pay for something. To reconcile is to reestablish a close relationship between – literally, if you follow the Latin etymology, to bring people back to sit together again. We recognize both of these as important parts of the Atonement. But it takes at least two words to express that.



When William Tyndale was translating the Bible in the 1500’s, he felt that there was no sufficient word to express the concept of Atonement as it was found in Hebrew. So he invented a word – at-one-ment. When it is broken down, its meaning is quite clear. This word served to communicate the concepts of reconciliation and expiation. And what a wonderful word it is – two very simple English words with a latinate ending. (Tyndale also coined the words “Passover” and “scapegoat,” as well as phrases such as “let there be light,” “my brother’s keeper,” and “it came to pass,” and “gave up the ghost.”) You won’t find a more simple, elegant, and effective way of communicating those concepts in any other language that I know of.

Summary:

1) William Tyndale = extraordinary wordsmith and reformer

2) English = the Best Language in the World

The Word and wood

This is something I made as an illustration for a Sunday School class. What is it? Here is a hint: Mormon 9:12. Still not sure? Try D&C 20:18-21.

What can you eat with those?

In keeping with the utensil theme, I offer these examples of a spoon and fork. They are about eight inches long, made of basswood. The spoon in finished with paste wax, and the fork is unfinished. Given the size of these and the unwieldy proportions, I suppose they are best suited for giant spagetti.

Ugly things that I have made, part 1

This is a primitive fork I carved as a teenager. I don't know why I saved it. It was made from some cheap pine I found laying around the garage, most likely. My wife thinks it is cool. She is way too charitable about these things.

Things I have made, part 7

I made this necklace in high school. It originally had two beads, until Laughter suggested two more beads to make it look less phallic. Too right. It is made out of citrus wood. We had plenty of that. I finished it with wax.

Chiasmus:

A literary form with two parallel clauses – the second clause reverses the order of the important words or ideas in the first, and thus emphasizes them. There are lots of them in the Bible; Alma is the master of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon. Alma 41 contains my favorite chiasm because it is elegantly structured, it teaches important truth, and it does it all twice:

And now behold, is the meaning of the word restoration1 to take a thing of a natural state and place it in an unnatural state, or to place it in a state opposite to its nature?
O, my son, this is not the case; but the meaning of the word restoration1 is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish – good2 for that which is good;2 righteous3 for that which is righteous;3 just4 for that which is just;4 merciful5 for that which is merciful.5
Therefore, my son, see that you are merciful5 unto your brethren; deal justly,4 judge righteously,3 and do good2 continually; and if ye do all these things then shall ye receive your reward; yea, ye shall have mercy5 restored unto you again; ye shall have justice4 restored unto you again; ye shall have a righteous3 judgment restored unto you again; and ye shall have good2 rewarded unto you again.
For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored;1 therefore, the word restoration1 more fully condemneth the sinner, and justifieth him not at all.

(Alma 41:12-15).

Things I have made, part 6

Everyone needs an ampersand on their bookshelf. It suggests a world of unlimited possibilites and wonderful ideas and beautiful things. But mostly it just looks cool.

The bench, assembled. Mostly.

Here are a couple of images of the bench made from the door. As you can see, I have a lot of work to do still. But I am pleased with how it is coming along. It is sturdy as can be and it looks pretty good in the living room, even without the trim and finish and upholstery.

Things I have made, part 5: a Nativity puzzle.

I made this a couple years back as a Christmas present for my brother and his family. It is made of regular pine. I designed it in a flurry of inspiration, with suggestions from my wife, one Sunday afternoon.

Things I have made, part 4

My kids wanted their initials. J and H wanted them in dragon shapes. E and H weren't quite so picky. Creating the dragon patterns took a bit of thought and a lot of sketches. I cut them out with my scroll saw out of select pine.

Why don't more judges write like this?

The Ninth Circuit just issued an opinion discussing whether a jail was a detention facility within the meaning of a certain federal statute. The majority took about 7 pages to say that it was not. Chief Judge Kozinski disagreed in about 8 pages. But the first paragraph of his dissent is just wonderful writing:

Freud is reported to have said that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. And a facility used for holding prisoners prior to trial is a pretrial detention facility. The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) covers prisoners held in certain kinds of institutions—defined to include both correctional facilities (such as prisons and jails) and pretrial detention facilities. Souhair Khatib was held in a facility where prisoners are routinely detained awaiting trial and other court appearances. She was therefore held in a facility covered by RLUIPA and is entitled to its protections. This pretty much sums up the case for me. Everything below is unnecessary and you could easily skip it.

I wish more judges wrote like that.

You should read this book

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work by Matthew Crawford. The work referred to in the title is manual work- physically manipulating objects to create or repair. He explores the intellectual demands of manual work and explains just how much more mentally invigorating it can be than "knowledge work." It made me want to get my hands dirty, but also made me reconsider the value of college vs. vocational/technical training. Pick up a copy. Better yet, check it out from the library. Warning: There is some salty language, and you may need a dictionary to decode some passages. The author's vocabulary is extensive.

The best dictionary in the world

At least one of them. The Oxford English Dictionary. I got one at the second-hand bookstore for $100. And you didn't. Sorry.

This is the compact edition, where they put four pages on one page. And yes, it is a lousy picture. This was on my old camera.

The awesome door gets cut in half.

Remember the awesome door for a bench? Well, it has been sanded and stripped a little more. Here is a picture of my poor man's table saw, as I ripped it straight down the middle. Clamping a straight piece and then using my Skilsaw worked just fine.

Things I have made, part 3

Isn't this just the cutest little chair you ever did see? Here it is when I made it.

And here it is today, working hard on the bookshelf, where it is a fulltime bookend/shelf support.

I just made it out of cheap pine. Cut it out on the scroll saw, put it together with glue and brads.

Now for some words - a poem by me.

I'm very glad
There is no hell
Set aside for those
That cannot spell.