Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Website 22.1 Revision

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I’ve just launched a minor revision to the site, which brings the version to 22.1. This update brings a number of minor tweaks and improvements to Website 22, which first launched just over a month ago.

A few things you might notice:

  • There is now a ‘settings’ link in the menu (or at the bottom of the page in the mobile site). If you click it, a little settings window comes up that allows you to adjust the article font size and decide whether you want the pinned main menu or not. It saves a ‘cookie’ in your browser with your settings so it’ll remember them between visits. You can also reset to the defaults from the settings menu.
  • There’s now a list of all Off on a Tangent recognized holidays on the Policies & Rules page. For now it doesn’t actually list the dates . . . maybe in 22.2 ;-).
  • There’s a much nicer, Off on a Tangent themed down-time page (which you might have seen while I was preparing this release). This will also serve as a sort of ’emergency backup’ site if I ever need it.
  • There have been a number of small bug-fixes and improvements. These updates include: better contrast (a slightly darker border) for light gray areas, improved scripts to reduce potential future code conflicts, no more spurious 404 errors on empty search results, better animations when expanding the comment fields, support for on-page photo captions, and more!

Happy New Year!

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I’m taking some time to relax this weekend and do some coding (yes, that’s relaxing for me . . . if I’m not on a deadline ;-)).

I wanted to take a few minutes and wish all of my readers a very Happy New Year. I sincerely hope that all of you have a wonderful, safe, blessed 2011. My resolution: do a better job of posting regularly. I kept it up really well for a long time and then started slacking a bit recently. My target has been five posts per week, and I’m going to aim for that again.

All-in-all, 2010 has been a good year for me. It hasn’t been perfect, of course, but I’ve been growing stronger in my faith and my involvement with my Church, keeping reasonably healthy, and working hard. There have been no major catastrophes here; on the contrary, we’ve been very blessed. Hopefully 2011 will keep the good times coming!

God bless you all, and take care!

Christmas Continues!

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In the United States (and likely elsewhere), we do Christmas backwards. We have our parties, celebrations, and decorations up during the penitential season of Advent—which is supposed to be a prayerful season of anticipation and penance. Then, on the eve of December 24 or the morning of December 25, we open our presents, have a nice meal with our families, and go back to life as usual. On December 26, for most people, Christmas is basically over.

But Christmas continues! The celebration of the birth of Christ in the Christian liturgy begins on the evening of December 24 and continues until the eve of the Epiphany on January 5. This is why the songs speak of there being twelve days of Christmas; there are twelve days of Christmas! During this time we continue to meditate on Christ’s birth as a babe in a manger and his early life, including the visit of the wise men from the east. This is when we should be having our parties. Now the Savior is born. Now our anticipation is over. Now we celebrate.

I want to thank everybody for all the wonderful gifts and well-wishes Melissa and I have received at this festive time of year. I hope you all had a blessed Christmas day, and I hope you have a blessed remainder of the Christmas season as well.

Christianity: An Incarnational Faith

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As we come close to the conclusion of the penitential season of Advent and pass into the joyous season of Christmas, we should take some time and consider Jesus—God incarnate as man—and how his incarnation is mirrored in so many other incarnational elements of the faith. The word ‘incarnation’ derives from the Latin word for ‘meat’ or ‘flesh,’ and literally means ‘enfleshment’ or to ‘take on flesh.’

The Incarnation (capitalized) refers specifically to Jesus Christ’s divinity. God Himself condescended to become incarnate as a man, flesh and bone, just like you and me. He lived a human life and, ultimately, was put to death on our behalf. While Jesus’s death on the cross and subsequent resurrection, celebrated on Easter, make up the central celebration of the Christian faith, the celebration of Christ’s incarnation and birth at Christmas is only very slightly less important. Christ’s death and resurrection couldn’t happen if he hadn’t first been born, God incarnate as man.

But the incarnationality of the faith isn’t limited to Jesus’s Incarnation. The faith itself is incarnational—or ‘fleshy.’ While many post-reformation Christians have tried to establish an emotion-based, ‘faith alone’ head-faith that treats the flesh as something to be ashamed-of and ignored, Christianity has always been a sensory, experiential faith rich with symbols, liturgies, ceremonies, and traditions that speak both to the soul and to the body. In Catholicism (and Orthodoxy), we experience the faith ‘in the flesh’—with touch, substance, action, symbols, sounds, smells, and more. The faith touches our flesh, and our flesh touches the faith, and that’s a good thing.

Read more . . .

Random Photos

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Here are some random cell phone pictures I’ve taken over the last month or two. Some of them you might have seen on my Facebook wall already. Enjoy!

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.