I have divided articles into the categories which I thought most appropriate to them. Many of these articles are reasonably in two or more categories–articles related to music often relate to writing, or Bible and theology; Bible and politics articles sometimes are nearly interchangeable. I, of course, think it is all worth reading; I hope you think it at least worth considering reading.<\/p>\n
I should also explain those odd six-digit numbers for anyone for whom they are not obvious, because they are at least non-standard. They are YYMMDD, that is, year, month, and day of the date of publication of each article, each represented by two digits. Thus the first one which appears, 160325, represents this year 2016, the third month March, and the twenty-fifth day.<\/p>\n
Let’s start with writings about writing<\/b>.<\/p>\n There is quite a bit that should be in this category. After all, that previous retrospective post appeared as we finished posting that first novel, and we have since posted the second, all one hundred sixty-two chapters of which are indexed in their own website section, Old Verses New<\/a><\/i>. If you’ve not read the novels, you have some catching up to do. I also published one more behind-the-writings post on that first novel, #71: Footnotes on Verse Three, Chapter One<\/a><\/i> 160325, to cover notes unearthed in an old file on the hard drive.<\/p>\n Concurrent with the release of those second novel chapters there were again behind-the-writings posts, this time each covering nine consecutive chapters and hitting the web log every two weeks. Although they are all linked from that table-of-contents page, since they are web log posts I am listing them here: #74: Another Novel<\/a><\/i> 160421; #78: Novel Fears<\/a><\/i> 160506; #82: Novel Developments<\/a><\/i> 160519; #86: Novel Conflicts<\/a><\/i> 160602; #89: Novel Confrontations<\/a><\/i> 160623; #91: Novel Mysteries<\/a><\/i> 160707; #94: Novel Meetings<\/a><\/i> 160721; #100: Novel Settling<\/a><\/i> 160804; #104: Novel Learning<\/a><\/i> 160818; #110: Character Redirects<\/a><\/i> 160901; I have also added a Novel Support Section<\/a><\/i> which at this point contains character sheets for several of the characters in the first novel and one in the second; also, if you have enjoyed reading the novels and have not seen #149: Toward the Third Novel<\/a><\/i> 161223, it is a must-read.<\/p>\n Also on the subject of writing, I discussed what was required for someone to be identified as an “author” in, appropriately, #72: Being an Author<\/a><\/i> 160410. I addressed #118: Dry Spells<\/a><\/i> 161012 and how to deal with them, and gave some advice on #132: Writing Horror<\/a><\/i> 161116. There was also one fun Multiverser story which had been at Dice Tales years ago which I revived here, #146: Chris and the Teleporting Spaceships<\/a><\/i> 161220<\/p>\n I struggled with where on this list to put #120: Giving Offense<\/a><\/i> 161014. It deals with political issues of sexuality and involves a bit of theological perspective, but ultimately is about the concept of tolerance and how we handle disagreements.<\/p>\n It should be mentioned that not everything I write is here at M. J. Young Net; I write a bit about writing in my Goodreads<\/a><\/i> book reviews.<\/p>\n Of course, I also wrote a fair amount of Bible and Theology<\/b> material.<\/p>\n Part of it was apologetic, that is, discussing the reasons for belief and answers to the arguments against it. In this category we have #73: Authenticity of the New Testament Accounts<\/a><\/i> 160413, #76: Intelligent Simulation<\/a><\/i> 160424 (specifically addressing an incongruity between denying the possibility of “Intelligent Design” while accepting that the universe might be the equivalent of a computer program), and #84: Man-made Religion<\/a><\/i> 160527 (addressing the charge that the fact all religions are different proves none are true).<\/p>\n Other pages are more Bible or theology questions, such as #88: Sheep and Goats<\/a><\/i> 160617, #90: Footnotes on Guidance<\/a><\/i> 160625, #121: The Christian and the Law<\/a><\/i> 161022, and #133: Your Sunday Best<\/a><\/i> 161117 (on why people dress up for church).<\/p>\n #114: St. Teresa, Pedophile Priests, and Miracles<\/a><\/i> 160917 is probably a bit of both, as it is a response to a criticism of Christian faith (specifically the Roman Catholic Church, but impacting all of us).<\/p>\n There was also a short miniseries of posts about the first chapter of Romans, the sin and punishment it presents, and how we as believers should respond. It appeared in four parts: #138: The Sin of Romans I<\/a><\/i> 161204, #139: Immorality in Romans I<\/a><\/i> 161205, #140: Societal Implications of Romans I<\/a><\/i> 161206, and #141: The Solution to the Romans I Problem<\/a><\/i> 161207.<\/p>\n Again, not everything I wrote is here. The Faith and Gaming<\/i> series and related materials including some from The Way, the Truth, and the Dice<\/i> are being republished at the Christian Gamers Guild<\/a>; to date, twenty-six such articles have appeared, but more are on the way including one written recently (a rules set for what I think might be a Christian game) which I debated posting here but decided to give to them as fresh content. Meanwhile, the Chaplain’s Bible Study<\/a><\/i> continues, having completed I & II Peter and now entering the last chapter of I John.<\/p>\n Again, some posts which are listed below as political are closely connected to principles of faith; after all, freedom of speech and freedom of religion are inextricably connected. Also, quite a few of the music posts are also Bible or theology posts, since I have been involved in Christian music for decades.<\/p>\n So Music<\/b> will be the next subject.<\/p>\n Since it is something people ask musicians, I decided to give some thought and put some words to #75: Musical Influences<\/a><\/i> 160423, the artists who have impacted my composing, arranging, and performances.<\/p>\n I also reached into my memories of being in radio, how it applies to being a musician and to being a writer, in #77: Radio Activity<\/a><\/i> 160427.<\/p>\n I wrote a miniseries about ministry and music, what it means to be a minister and how different kinds of ministries integrate music. It began by saying not all Christian musicians are necessarily ministers in #95: Music Ministry Disconnect<\/a><\/i> 160724, and then continued with #97: Ministry Calling<\/a><\/i> 160728, #98: What Is a Minister?<\/a><\/i> 160730, #99: Music Ministry of an Apostle<\/a><\/i> 160803, #101: Prophetic Music Ministry<\/a><\/i> 160808, #102: Music and the Evangelist Ministry<\/a><\/i> 160812, #103: Music Ministry of the Pastor<\/a><\/i> 160814, #106: The Teacher Music Ministry<\/a><\/i> 160821, and In related areas, I offered #111: A Partial History of the Audio Recording Industry<\/a><\/i> 160903 explaining why recored companies are failing, #129: Eulogy for the Record Album<\/a><\/i> 161111 discussing why this is becoming a lost art form, and #147: Traditional versus Contemporary Music<\/a><\/i> 161221 on the perennial argument in churches about what kinds of songs are appropriate.<\/p>\n The lyrics to my song Free<\/a><\/i> 161017 were added to the site, because it was referenced in one of the articles and I thought the readers should be able to find them if they wished.<\/p>\n There were quite a few articles about Law and Politics<\/b>, although despite the fact that this was an “election year” (of course, there are elections every year, but this one was special), most of them were not really about that. By March the Presidential race had devolved into such utter nonsense that there was little chance of making sense of it, so I stopped writing about it after talking about Ridiculous Republicans<\/i> and Dizzying Democrats<\/i>.<\/p>\n Some were, of course. These included the self-explanatory titles #123: The 2016 Election in New Jersey<\/a><\/i> 161104, #124: The 2016 New Jersey Public Questions<\/a><\/i> 161105, #125: My Presidential Fears<\/a><\/i> 161106, and #127: New Jersey 2016 Election Results<\/a><\/i> 161109, and a few others including #126: Equity and Religion<\/a><\/i> 161107 about an argument in Missouri concerning whether it should be legal to give state money to child care and preschool services affiliated with religious groups, and #131: The Fat Lady Sings<\/a><\/i> 161114, #136: Recounting Nonsense<\/a><\/i> 161128, and #143: A Geographical Look at the Election<\/a><\/i> 161217, considering the aftermath of the election and the cries to change the outcome.<\/p>\n We had a number of pages connected to the new sexual revolution, including #79: Normal Promiscuity<\/a><\/i> 160507, #83: Help! I’m a Lesbian Trapped in a Man’s Body!<\/a><\/i> 160521, and #115: Disregarding Facts About Sexual Preference<\/a><\/i> 160926.<\/p>\n Other topics loosely under discrimination include #87: Spanish Ice Cream<\/a><\/i> 160616 (about whether a well-known shop can refuse to take orders in languages other than English), #130: Economics and Racism<\/a><\/i> 161112 (about how and why unemployment stimulates racist attitudes), and #135: What Racism Is<\/a><\/i> 161127 (explaining why it is possible for blacks to have racist attitudes toward whites). Several with connections to law and economics include #105: Forced Philanthropy<\/a><\/i> 160820 (taxing those with more to give to those with less), #108: The Value of Ostentation<\/a><\/i> 160826 (arguing that the purchase of expensive baubles by the rich is good for the poor), #137: Conservative Penny-pinching<\/a><\/i> 161023 (discussing spending cuts), and #145: The New Internet Tax Law<\/a><\/i> 161219 (about how Colorado has gotten around the problem of charging sales tax on Internet purchases).<\/p>\n A few other topics were hit, including one on freedom of speech and religion called #144: Shutting Off the Jukebox<\/a><\/i> 161218, one on scare tactics used to promote policy entitled #80: Environmental Blackmail<\/a><\/i> 160508, and one in which court decisions in recent immigration cases seem likely to impact the future of legalized marijuana, called #96: Federal Non-enforcement<\/a><\/i> 160727.<\/p>\n Of course Temporal Anomalies<\/b> is a popular subject among the readers; the budget has been constraining of late, so we have not done the number of analyses we would like, but we did post a full analysis of Time Lapse<\/a><\/i> 160402. We also reported on #85: Time Travel Coming on Television<\/a><\/i> 160528, and tackled two related issues, #81: The Grandfather Paradox Problem<\/a><\/i> 160515 and #117: The Prime Universe<\/a><\/i> 160930.<\/p>\n We have a number of other posts that we’re categorizing as Logic\/Miscellany<\/b>, mostly because they otherwise defy categorization (or, perhaps, become categories with single items within them). #92: Electronic Tyranny<\/a><\/i> 060708 is a response to someone’s suggestion that we need to break away from social media to get our lives back. #93: What Is a Friend?<\/a><\/i> 060720 presents two concepts of the word, and my own preference on that. #112: Isn’t It Obvious?<\/a><\/i> 160904 is really just a couple of real life problems with logical solutions. I also did a product review of an old washing machine that was once new, Notes on a Maytag Centennial Washing Machine<\/a><\/i> 160424.<\/p>\n Although it does not involve much writing, with tongue planted firmly in cheek I offer Gazebos in the Wild<\/a><\/i>, a Pinterest board which posts photographs with taxonomies attempting to capture and identify these dangerous wild creatures in their natural habitats. You would have to have heard the story of Eric and the Gazebo<\/i> for that to be funny, I think.<\/p>\n Of course, I post on social media, but the interesting ones are on Patreon<\/a>, and mostly because I include notes on projects still ahead and life issues impeding them. As 2017 arrives, I expect to continue writing and posting–I already have two drafts, one on music and the other on breaking bad habits. I invite your feedback.<\/p>\n [contact-form subject='[mark Joseph %26quot;young%26quot;’][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’\/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’\/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’\/][contact-field label=’Comment: Note that this form will contact the author by e-mail; to post comments to the article, see below.’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’\/][\/contact-form] <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #150, on the subject of 2016 Retrospective. Periodically I try to look back over some period of time and review what I have published, and the end of the year is a good time to do this. Thus before the new year begins I am offering you a … Continue reading #150: 2016 Retrospective<\/span> ![\"img0150calendar\"](\"http:\/\/www.mjyoung.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/img0150Calendar-300x216.jpg\")
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\n#113: Character Movements<\/a><\/i> 160916;
\n#116: Character Missions<\/a><\/i> 160929;
\n#119: Character Projects<\/a><\/i> 161013;
\n#122: Character Partings<\/a><\/i> 161027; #128: Character Gatherings<\/a><\/i> 161110; #134: Versers in Space<\/a><\/i> 161124; #142: Characters Unite<\/a><\/i> 161208; and #148: Characters Succeed<\/a><\/i> 161222.<\/p>\n
\n#107: Miscellaneous Music Ministries<\/a><\/i> 160824. As something of an addendum, I posted #109: Simple Songs<\/a><\/i> 160827, a discussion of why so many currently popular songs seem to be musically very basic, and why given their purpose that is an essential feature.<\/p>\n