Our day got off to a marvelous start as Margaret received an email saying that her paper proposal was accepted for the Systematic Theology section (a very competitive section, with blind submission, so that she was in the pool with some big theological wigs) of the grand yearly professional meeting. She practically levitated off the bed, since we had agreed that although her proposal was terrific, the bare odds were against her being invited to read it. Margaret was reluctant on the first clause, but had latched onto the second. The news that she’ll be on the program exhilarates her and encourages her.
But then we got a phone call in the afternoon from one of our dearest friends on earth, saying that one of their children had been taken to the hospital this morning after some mysterious affliction had struck him. He just didn’t wake up this morning; only after some serious treatment did he stir at all. The hospital brought him around, but everyone’s spooked and he’s going in for some extensive brain and blood testing tomorrow.
That doesn’t just cozily “put things in perspective”; it blows everything vaguely resembling perspective away, leaving you aching with sorrow and sympathy, disconnected from all the stuff that you ought to have been tackling. If you have a spare prayer, candle, positive thought — and in the current state of the world, we recognize that they’re scarce — keep young Andrew and his family in mind.
Posted by AKMA at April 14, 2003 07:52 PM | TrackBackHey, AKMA. Shoot me an email. What is Andrew's last name?
Posted by: Tripp at April 15, 2003 09:14 AMGo Margaret!!!!!!!!!!!!!
keeping a prayer for Andrew. Not scarce at all.
Posted by: laura at April 15, 2003 09:18 AMJoy and heartache mingled; so, I am praying: please and thank you.
Posted by: Jane Ellen at April 15, 2003 11:17 AMPlease give Margaret my congrats and tell her, as someone who had the privilege of being in class with her, that I am not at ALL surprised!
Keep us posted on the young person and we will pray for that family.
No particular news tonight. . . .
Posted by: AKMA at April 15, 2003 09:38 PMNote the new asterisks whenever we reference favoriteNumber, except for that new line right before the return.
Posted by: Hieronimus at January 13, 2004 04:26 AMThe Stack is just what it sounds like: a tower of things that starts at the bottom and builds upward as it goes. In our case, the things in the stack are called "Stack Frames" or just "frames". We start with one stack frame at the very bottom, and we build up from there.
Posted by: Dudley at January 13, 2004 04:27 AMBeing able to understand that basic idea opens up a vast amount of power that can be used and abused, and we're going to look at a few of the better ways to deal with it in this article.
Posted by: Florence at January 13, 2004 04:28 AMWhen a variable is finished with it's work, it does not go into retirement, and it is never mentioned again. Variables simply cease to exist, and the thirty-two bits of data that they held is released, so that some other variable may later use them.
Posted by: Rose at January 13, 2004 10:42 AMNote the new asterisks whenever we reference favoriteNumber, except for that new line right before the return.
Posted by: Valentine at January 13, 2004 10:42 AMEarlier I mentioned that variables can live in two different places. We're going to examine these two places one at a time, and we're going to start on the more familiar ground, which is called the Stack. Understanding the stack helps us understand the way programs run, and also helps us understand scope a little better.
Posted by: Michael at January 13, 2004 10:42 AM