22 thoughts on “February 26, 2019: HBH”

    1. For some reason, that movie only got me the first time.

      Plenty of others, though, that spring the waterworks every time.

      1. It was Dave Lee, I think. No, I'm not a fan of that, either. It seems like they do that once or twice every spring training. I can put up with it in an early spring training game, but I'd sure hate it in the regular season or even late in the spring.

  3. German Word of the Day - Knoblauch

    Knoblauch means garlic.

    Usage: Edward Charles aß zu viel Knoblauch.

    1. Actually, IIRC, it would be "Edward Charles hat zu viel Knoblauch gegessen." When there is a past participle, German will move the active verb to the end of the sentence. Of course, it could be that my German teacher was entirely full of Scheisse.

      2. Not a knowledgeable as one might hope, but feel obligated to show up...I'm having trouble expressing it grammatically..."Modal verbs" is apparently the word I'm looking for...It isn't just past participles that kick an infinitive verb to the end of the sentence.

    2. I knew Knoblauch means garlic because it was on the back of a 1995 Topps baseball Chuck Knoblauch card and it felt like I got a Knobby card every third pack I bought.

  4. I haven't been here in forever. But about ten years ago I adamantly argued that Lady Gaga would be a lasting force for the next decade.

    So. Yeah.

  5. Jeff A: without saying anything about the ethics of the decision by the United Methodists, do you expect a schism to result, nationally? I don't know anything about the political structure of the United Methodist Church.

    1. It kind of depends on what you mean by "schism". I don't really expect an organized group to formally break away and start a new church. I do expect that we'll lose some people, and possibly lose some churches. I think that would've happened regardless of what decision was made at General Conference.

      My understanding is that the conference also passed a plan for a "gracious exit". As you may or may not know. the current United Methodist Book of Discipline makes it very difficult for a congregation to leave and keep their church property. I don't really know what the provisions are of the "gracious exit" plan, so I don't know what impact that might have. But again, I think we'd have lost people and churches no matter what decision had come out of the General Conference.

      And of course, just as in the secular political realm, nothing is ever finally decided. There's another General Conference next year and every four years after that. There may or may not be an appetite to fight the battle again next year, but it will surely come up again at some point.

    2. To expound on above, individual churches are not locally owned, so to leave, the church would have to "buy their way out" from the denomination, and most churches are not sitting on that kind of cash, so the ability to exit ("graciously" or not) is going to be difficult.

      I totally agree though, people/churches are going to leave whichever way the vote went. I fully thought that there would be a stalemate and no resolution to come out of it at all. I think many churches will continue their "don't ask, don't tell" for now.

      One huge complication is the Methodist Church is worldwide, and in at least one major country a "yes" vote could cause legal issues which could easily result in scenarios like seized property and arrests.

      1. that (who owns the property) was high on my list of questions. Seems like a major, major deterrent to an organized departure. On the other hand, if the congregation just picks up and leaves, the property would not be self-supporting and likely have to be fire-sold.

        Thanks.

        1. Sale of church property is a really fascinating area of real estate law. In MN, at least, it differs by denomination. I've handled both Catholic and Lutheran (naturally), and had to do different things for both.

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