Saturday 27 April 2002

categories: Computationally Minded

Well, in the last week I’ve learned to run LoadRunner. I like the fact that its C-like TSL gives me access to a huge codebase and a huge jumpstart (ahem) in learning the bugger. I don’t like the interface or the fact that I can’t see the raw data myself and run reports on it. At least I haven’t found a way to do this. Knowing C from my early career (ha! five, six years ago) means I didn’t have to learn another language; however it meant that I need to use C and deal with pointers. Funny, I remember using Rational and thinking, if only I had explicit pointers in this blasted VU language, I could solve this like that! Now I am adding *s and &s to all my variables, trying to figure out what level of referencing they are at. Too much Smalltalk, Lisp, and Java on the brain. Need to think C. At least writing headers seems much more sensible in this environment. Bill had Dan send out certification exam requests earlier this week. 11:41:52 AM    comment []

Now here’s a question that keeps popping into my mind for no apparent reason. Given that God is one divine nature and three persons; and Christ participates in two natures as one person; and Christ is Really Present in the Eucharist as we are told in the Bible: do the accidentals of the Eucharist, its appearance and taste, arise from (subsist on) the human nature, or the divine? The collocation of Christ throughout all eternity since the original Paschal sacrifice seems to participate in the Divine Nature. But the accidentals—the feel of the bread, its extension in space, its taste—would seem to emanate from the human nature. Yet the nature of the humanity that we know does not admit of such radical transformation in accidentals while retaining our substance or nature. So is the bread which nourishes us eternally—is this an accidental of Divine Nature?—yet can the Divine Nature be embodied, can He limit His infinite self in the bread and wine? Something to investigate. 2:57:17 AM    comment []