The End.

Do you ever notice themes to certain years in your life? I half-jokingly called 2007 my year of worldly success. I started that year unemployed, living with my parents, and without a girlfriend. By the end of the year, I had a job, I owned a condo, and I had a girlfriend.

2008 seems to be the year of endings.

For the first time that I know of, a couple whose wedding I attended are now separated.

My girlfriend and I broke up (in February).

On more of a national and global scale, our economic growth has ended, for a while. Somebody even said, "We are not in a recession. We are not even in a depression. We are at the end of an era." I have no idea if they're right.

For the second time that I know of, a couple whose wedding I attended are now separated.

Recently, the Christian college I attended in 2000-2001 (Taylor University College) announced that it is closing next year. Its seminary will remain open.

Most of these things don't directly involve me, and I can't say that I regret the changes that do directly involve me. But thinking about all this stuff puts me in a bit of a melancholy mood.

Anticipating Jesus' arrival

O come, O come Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O Come Thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here.
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
And order all things, far and nigh;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And cause us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come desire of nations, bind
All peoples in one heart and mind;
Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease;
Fill the whole world with heaven's peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

--John M. Neale

The coalition

It's finally time for me to weigh in on that coalition that almost replaced our minority government here in Canada. Here are a few of my thoughts:

• In Canada, we technically elect our Members of Parliament (MPs), not our Prime Minister. Parliament has the right and the responsibility to hold the Prime Minister and cabinet accountable. Forming a coalition to defeat the government was within the rights of the parties involved. We don't have rules to distinguish between legitimately holding the Prime Minister accountable and making a shameless power grab. Nor should we. Bad policies and lack of leadership skill are legitimate reasons to defeat a Prime Minister, and I don't think we can make a rule to define these situations. If the opposition parties really do make a shameless power grab, hopefully the public will see through it and punish them for it in the next election.
• In Canada, we technically elect our MPs, not our Prime Minister. But when we vote for our MP, we know which party each candidate is in, and we know who their leaders are. I'm sure many people in my riding voted for Tim Uppal because he's in Stephen Harper's party, not because he's Tim Uppal. Likewise, I'm sure many votes across Canada were influenced by the party leaders more than the local candidates.
• More people voted for the Liberals, NDP, or Bloc Quebecois than for the Conservatives. This gives the coalition some democratic legitimacy.
• More people voted for the Conservatives than any other individual party. This should count for something. While I believe most NDP and Bloc Quebecois supporters would rather have Stephane Dion as Prime Minister than Stephen Harper, there are many exceptions. They voted against the Liberals for a reason.
• When Stephen Harper threatened to take away government funding of political parties, I think that gave the opposition parties a legitimate reason to defeat the government. To do that on such short notice would cripple the opposition. But Harper changed his mind, taking away a major justification for the coalition.
  
• When I saw Stephane Dion on TV during the election campaign, it sounded like he thought Canadians were morally obligated to defeat Harper and make Dion our Prime Minister, because of Harper's lies. (I'm not even going to touch the issue of whether Harper was lying or not.) When he announced his resignation after the election, it looked like he would be only the second Liberal leader in Canadian history not to become Prime Minister. Did he decide to bring down the government because of some post-election bitterness? I suspect a shameless power grab.
• While I don't like the idea of suspending parliament to prevent a non-confidence vote, that's apparently within the rights of the Governor General. And based on opinion polls showing a strong Conservative lead, suspending parliament was probably the only way to keep the government that the most people wanted.
• Without the threatened loss of party funding, the coalition used the government's lack of action on the economy as its justification. I have no idea what would be best for our economy. I would lean toward a small bailout, but I'm no expert. Since I'm not very sure which path to take, I would favour keeping the Conservatives in power because they won the last election.

While I think Harper should remain Prime Minister for now, he hasn't been very cooperative and he seems to take pleasure in hurting the opposition. He needs to watch himself. Meanwhile, I'm glad to see that the new Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is sounding more cooperative than Stephane Dion. Maybe our government can accomplish something this winter, and if not, maybe it will be defeated for a more legitimate reason.

Making fun of Stephane Dion

"I didn't know Celine Dion had a sister."
--John Stewart talking about Stephane Dion

Rut

I'm having trouble thinking of ideas on what to write here. So until I think of something good to write, or I take some time away from reading total strangers' blogs to make another envelope-pushing video, click here to read a letter that someone wrote to The Onion explaining her faith.

I learned something at Canadian Tire!

Most Canadians know how hard it can be to find someone to help you at Canadian Tire, but as I discovered this week, the people they do have there sometimes know stuff that I don't. I'm not much of a handyman; I know there are lots of people who know more about fixing stuff than I do; I just didn't know Canadian Tire hired those people.

I was trying to pick out a replacement flapper for one of my toilets and I had a couple questions. While I was talking to an employee (who seemed to be in a rush to stop talking to me), he told me that if a flapper leaves black marks on my hands, it's rotting through and needs replacement. I'd already confirmed that the toilet is leaking by putting some food colouring in the tank and then checking the colour of the water in the bowl a while later, and this confirmed it's leaking. But now that I know this thing about the black marks, I have extra confirmation that it's leaking.

Good job Canadian Tire! Now go and hire more of these people.

Snowing

I woke up this morning and saw snow on the ground, and I couldn't help but smile. This seems to happen every year when the first snowfall happens. (Technically, we have had some snow earlier this fall, but those light dustings barely count. This one might not last either, but it's more significant than the others we've had.)

But why do I smile when this means there are months of cold weather coming up? Maybe I like cold weather with snow more than somewhat cold weather without snow (which is how it's been for most of the last month or two). Maybe I'm looking forward to skiing. Maybe it's because a snowy landscape is more beautiful than the brown landscape I've been looking at lately. Maybe it's just a different kind of beauty, one I haven't seen in several months (except that one day in Banff at the end of August). Maybe it's because anticipating bad times is sometimes worse than experiencing bad times. (The cold weather made me anticipate winter. Now the snow makes me feel like winter is here.)

Unfortunately, I'm sure my happiness about this weather won't last. Hopefully I'll enjoy it today anyway.

Why it's great not having cable

I haven't seen a single American election commercial on TV, but I still get to watch them make fun of the candidates on Saturday Night Live.

Going the wrong way

On the way back home from a one-day spring skiing trip in Jasper, I saw a flock of birds flying south. I thought they're supposed to fly north in spring. My brother was there too and he is my witness.

Today on the way home from work, I saw a flock of birds flying north. Again, I would've expected them to fly the other way. I didn't have any witnesses with me, but shortly after that, I saw another flock of birds flying south, so if my sense of direction is messed up, there was still at least one flock of birds going the wrong way. A little while after that, I saw several flocks of birds quite close together, all flying north, and then another lone flock flying north.

I wonder what makes these birds go the wrong way. Maybe they got tired and thought, I saw a lake back there. I'll turn around and rest there. Or maybe they read a Yellowknife weather forecast in Fahrenheit and they thought it was in Celsius. Any other far-fetched explanations?

Fun with expired coupons

Peter Griffin isn't the only one with a good story about an expired coupon. Yesterday I was at my weekly Ultimate game (the last one of the year), and afterward we decided to go to Dairy Queen. We usually go out for some food after the game, but it's been a while since we went to Dairy Queen. I found some DQ coupons in my house a while back (probably at least a month ago) and I've been bringing them every week, but this was my first chance to use them.

We got to DQ and I started reading off the coupons to see if any of my friends wanted to use one or split a 2-for-1 coupon. One coupon was for $3 off a cake, so someone suggested we get an ice cream cake. After being indecisive for a few minutes, we became decisive. We got a Reese cake. But someone looked at the expiry date on the coupon. November 4. We didn't have much time left to use the coupon. Then I noticed the expiry date was November 4, 2007. D'oh!

We got the cake anyway, and we asked for plates or bowls to eat it from. They had small plastic bowls for us, and they handed us some plastic forks and knives too. Someone asked if they had a metal knife for cutting the cake, and they did. They even let us use it!

And it's a good thing they had the metal knife. Apparently you're supposed to let the cake sit outside of the freezer for a while before eating it. They aren't really meant for eating in the restaurant. It was tough to cut that cake! Three of us took turns and after several minutes of hard work, we cut the cake into five pieces. (There were only five of us at DQ this time.) They were big pieces, and of course quite tough to eat with a plastic fork. But we persevered! That cake didn't know what hit it. By the time we left, there was just one piece left (because the two girls shared one piece).

I guess that's not as exciting as a fight almost-to-the-death with a giant chicken, but it wouldn't have happened without that coupon. But maybe you had to be there.

The four most romantic words

"It's a minority government."
--Helena Guergis, a Member of Parliament from Ontario

With those four words, Helena Guergis convinced her fiance, recently defeated MP Rahim Jaffer, to get married that day. They went out, got rings, found a marriage commissioner, and got married. They had planned to get married on October 18, but called it off when the Prime Minister called an election. Although the election was over before the 18th, I bet it would've been hard to campaign and plan a wedding at the same time.

So they found a way to guarantee that an unexpected election (which can easily happen when there's a minority government) wouldn't interfere with their wedding. Congratulations!

Here's an article about it if you want more of the story.

Fearmongering

With the election less than a week away here in Canada, I guess it's time for me to comment on it. As usual, there's plenty of fearmongering, especially the governing party trying to make us afraid of the opposition party. The last few elections, the Liberals have warned us about the Conservative Party/Canadian Alliance's hidden agenda. Now the Conservatives are warning us that the Liberals' environmental policy will endanger our economy. They say these tough economic times are no time to try out risky new policies.

To be fair, the other parties want us to be scared of the Conservatives. But what's riskier: going too slow on environmental protection, or damaging the economy? And if Elizabeth May is right, a carbon tax (with an income tax cut) can actually stimulate an economy. She claims it worked well in Sweden. She even said it during the big debate, and I didn't hear anyone claim that's not true or give a reason why Canada is so different it wouldn't work here.

Speaking of Elizabeth May, I'm starting to warm up to her. During the last election campaign, I was impressed with the Green Party's claim that, "We're not left or right; we're forward." While that could easily be a nice soundbite with little substance to it, I liked it that they're trying to reach out to all ends of the political spectrum, recognizing that some conservatives want stronger environmental policies too. Then Elizabeth May became the leader. She became very critical of the Conservatives while forming a special agreement with the Liberals, despite the Liberals' lack of action on climate change when they were in power. And she decided to run against Peter MacKay in this election. She seemed more left than forward.

I was glad they let her into the leaders' debate last week. I may not have been a fan of the leader, but I like what she and the party stand for. But she impressed me in the debate. She seemed smart, passionate, and articulate. She showed that she values both the environment and the economy (for example, she talked about revitalizing our pulp and paper industry). And among leaders that seem to care most about insulting their opponents and scaring voters, she seemed to have an optimistic, long-term vision for this country.

Yes, she's a tad left-wing for my tastes, and she probably has some ideas that aren't so great. I don't think the Green Party has the Parliamentary experience needed to run this country either, but I'd like to see them elect some MPs and maybe even hold the balance of power in a minority government.

Peanut butter

I bought peanut butter today.

Is that the most exciting opening line in the history of this blog?

I noticed two kinds of Kraft peanut butter side by side: the regular kind, and the unsweetened, unsalted kind. I had a look at the nutritional information and found that the big print really wasn't the whole story, but I suppose that shouldn't be a surprise. The unsweetened, unsalted stuff had more fat (including more saturated fat) and a few more calories than the regular stuff. Sure, it had no sugar or sodium, but the regular stuff only had 1 gram of sugar and 75 mg of sodium (3% of the recommended daily intake) per serving.

Unless you're extremely sensitive to salt or sugar, or you eat copious amounts of peanut butter, I don't think buying unsweetened, unsalted peanut butter will make much difference in your low sugar, low salt diet. And based on the number of calories, I'd say the extra fat more than compensates for the lack of sugar.

Sweatshops

For a while, I've been wondering where I could find ordinary, casual clothing that wasn't produced in sweatshops. I can't just look for a "Made in Canada" label anymore because those are so hard to find (not that I did look for those labels when they were easier to find).

Recently, I got an email from Mountain Equipment Co-op saying they'd released their 2007 Accountability Report. I knew they try to get their products from ethical sources, so I decided to learn more by reading Chapter 3: Manufacturing MEC-Brand Products. The report comes across as an honest assessment. There are problems in many of the factories where they get their products, but they're working to improve things. And the Ethical Trading Action Group ranked MEC 2nd out of clothing brands in North America. Not too shabby.

Which company was in first place, you may wonder? Reebok. I was kind of surprised to see that. I expected MEC to have a high ranking because it's a co-op that isn't so profit-focused, but Reebok seemed like a pretty ordinary company with no big efforts to promote its ethical standards. I think I'll be a bit more likely to buy Reebok clothing in the future.

I ended up visiting the website where this ranking came from and I searched for "Reebok". In my brief search, I didn't find the full rankings, but I did see that Nike and The Gap ranked high too. I thought these were some of the worst offenders. Apparently they got decent marks because they are starting to report on problems at their factories and they're making efforts to improve things. I wonder if Reebok is in a similar boat.

It got published!

Several days before my last post, I sent a letter to the editor of the Edmonton Journal. It said basically the same thing as what I wrote on the blog, with a few parts left out (like the Stephen Colbert paragraph). Today I found out that letter actually appeared in the Journal on Monday. I'm still waiting for that royalty cheque.

Queer kids

I saw an interesting article in the Edmonton Journal a couple weeks ago about the hardships students face if they are gay. You can read it here (until they delete it from their website; I don't know how long they keep these articles posted).

For at least a few years, I've found myself caring more about what people go through when they find themselves attracted to people of the same sex, so I was glad to see the Journal give a voice to some gay students in this article. Because what I've learned over the years (mainly from reading, because I don't have any out-of-the-closet gay friends that I'm aware of), I do think our school boards need to do more to make sure sexual minorities aren't bullied in schools. This policy should probably include some teaching about homosexuality in schools. Like many Christians, I am concerned that such a policy would discriminate against people who believe homosexual activity is morally wrong, but I still think creating that policy is better than doing nothing.

At the very least, I hope all Christians could agree that kids should not be picked on and bullied for fitting gay stereotypes or for having gay parents. And I hope most of us believe that out-of-the-closet homosexuals still need to be treated with proper respect and dignity. Nikita Rowsell's old guidance counselors need to stop telling people they made a choice to be a target, and start standing up for the people who are hurting. I'd like to encourage other Christians to learn more about the experiences of homosexuals from homosexuals themselves, and support anti-discrimination efforts, with some reservations. I don't think this requires compromising our own morals on sexuality. If we just stand by and let others be persecuted because we're afraid to face some public ridicule ourselves, I don't think we're being very Christ-like. Yes, we probably will need to stand up for ourselves, but let's not let that stop us from standing up for people different from us

And since I don't have any out-of-the-closet gay friends, I'd like to start a search for a new gay friend, much like Stephen Colbert's search for a new black friend. Please leave your applications in the comments. (Just kidding.)

Miscellaneous thoughts

Two weeks ago, I reformatted the hard drive on my four-year-old laptop computer. (Don't worry, I backed up all my important files first.) I reinstalled a bunch of stuff and restored my documents, photos, music, and stuff. The computer is running better than it has in at least three years.

Last weekend I went camping in Banff. Camping can be a lot of fun even if it snows a bit. Fortunately we had one day of good weather anyway, and we spent part of another day at Banff Hot Springs, which doesn't need good weather. I posted some photos here.

A friend who I saw during the camping trip claims most of the people who contributed to the UN's climate change report aren't actually climatologists, and that most climatologists don't think humans are significantly contributing to climate change. I want to look this up and see if there's some evidence to refute that. But so far I've been too busy (having fun) or lazy. So do any of you know if this is true? And am I arrogant for thinking he's wrong about this (and some other things) even though he's more well-read and a more skilled debater than I am?

Olympics and human rights

Near the start of the Olympics I saw a blog (it was on the Persecuted Church Weblog, but after a quick skim, I can't find the specific post) where the writer said if these Olympics become a train wreck, it might force some serious changes in the Chinese government, and maybe they'd show more respect for human rights. It sounded like he hoped for problems.

But the Beijing Olympics were a resounding success. Right after they ended, I read an Edmonton Journal article, which said, "Many China watchers feared that if the Olympics went badly for China, if terrorism or massive demonstrations grabbed the headlines, the country might climb back into its shell of paranoia and distrust. Successful Games, they argued, would give the leadership confidence to continue and expand the policy of openness it is cautiously embarked upon."

For the sake of everyone oppressed in China, I hope this Journal article was right. And if we look back at history, it seems like democracy and human rights tend to develop best gradually. I certainly don't want to hold back improvements, but it seems like when things change very fast, some of the oppressed become the oppressors, or society gets unstable and violent.

Olympics

The Olympics are over again. This is the most that I've watched the Olympics in years. For the first time in a long time I wasn't in school during the Olympics. Yes, I was even in school during the summer of 2004. (According to Wikipedia, those Olympics ran from August 13 to 29, so I guess my exams probably ended during that period. But then I was preparing for four months in Colorado, so I probably didn't see a lot of the games.)

I didn't sit down for hours at a time every day to watch the games, but I usually watched during breakfast and supper anyway, cutting into my normal newspaper reading time. I got to see plenty of sports that I almost never pay attention to, like swimming, diving, running, rowing, and the list goes on. I learned about a few of their athletes too.

Several years ago, I remember seeing an article saying they should stop having the Olympics. The writer thought they're too big and they've become corrupt (this was when the bribery scandal was going on). He pointed out that almost every major sport has its own world championships too.

But my experience this month is one reason why I want the Olympics to continue. As I said, I paid attention to sports and learned about athletes that I wouldn't see otherwise. Sure, we'd all pay a bit more attention to those other world championships if there were no Olympics, but not the way we watch the Olympics. Plus, those other championships are just too many, too often. When it's just two weeks every two years, it's not so hard to put some parts of life on hold to watch the Olympics.

Yes, they need to deal with their corruption, and yes, it probably is too big. But I don't think you need to cancel the whole event to fix these problems.

Unpredictable construction

This month, a somewhat major road near my house (144 Avenue) is under construction. I use a 2-km section of this road every day to get to work and a bunch of other places.

When I've seen road construction before, the road is typically either open (with less lanes) or closed for quite a while, or maybe turning is restricted at an intersection. But on 144 Ave, it's unpredictable. So far I think it's always been open in the morning. But on my way home, sometimes it's open with one or two lanes in each direction, and sometimes at least one direction is closed. Sometimes the direction I want to go is closed. Today I could drive down the first more-than-half of that road, but for the last longish block before I wanted to turn, the road was down to one lane. That lane went west. I was going east. So I had to take a detour.

Is this unpredictability becoming more common? Did I just miss it in the past?

Living biblically

If you've got 18 minutes to spare, I highly recommend this video: The Year of Living Biblically. In it, an agnostic talks about the year he spent trying to follow every rule in the Bible.

As one commenter pointed out, he totally misses the idea of living under God's grace. But he also learns to see the good in many biblical rules. I hope you enjoy it.

Song idea

Have you ever heard songs where people put Christian lyrics to popular songs, usually with cheesy (sometimes entertainingly cheesy) results? (Here's one example, complete with an amateur fan-produced video, complete with outtakes.)

Well, as much as I don't listen to that kind of music, I accidentally came up with an idea for a song like that. It's to the tune of Joy to the World (the "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" Joy to the World, not the "Let earth receive her king" Joy to the World). It's about the biblical prophet Jeremiah. Here it is:

Jeremiah was a prophet.

That's all I have so far. It needs a bit of work. For one thing, I'm not sure what to do with that "Joy to the world" line, because Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet. So I'm going to leave it to you, my loyal readers (yes, both of you!), to add more to the song. Any ideas? On the very very slim chance I get royalties from this, I'll split it with you, unless you submit the lyrics anonymously.

But really, what are the odds that I'm the first person with this idea? Someone else has probably written the entire song already.

Home again

I got back from my backpacking trip at Mount Robson a few days ago. It's a beautiful place, probably the best scenery of any place I've been backpacking. There were waterfalls, glaciers, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies, lakes, rocks, trees, flowers, and real outhouses (not the roofless, doorless kind we had on last year's trip).

No matter how long or short a backpacking hike is, it seems like I'm ready for it to be over long before it's actually over, especially on the last day. I guess that means I could handle almost any length of backpacking trail if I had enough time. And somehow, it all seems worth it when I'm doing shorter hikes without a heavy pack, and eating, sleeping, and just hanging out in the middle of nowhere. Miles away from my job, my other responsibilities, and even the nearest car.

I've posted photos on Facebook from this trip, and you don't even have to be a Facebook member to see them. Here they are:
Part 1
Part 2

And here's one to look at even if you don't feel like looking at the albums:

Free samples

I was at Superstore today and they were giving out free samples of some food. That never seems to happen at that store.

Vacations

Well, I'm back from Texas. Actually, I've been back for almost a week now. (I'm having a little trouble keeping up with my goal of one blog post per week. I've been busy, but I've been enjoying myself. I've been playing Ultimate and sometimes soccer, and I've checked out a few festivals. Then I went away for a week. I'm also in a bit of a rut when it comes to blog ideas. But for those of you that saw me push the envelope a while back, I thought of another way to push the envelope. So stay tuned and I might try it.)

Last week in Texas was kind of like my weekly games of Ultimate--it has me liking my church more. We had a great bunch of teenage people with us. They didn't cause too much trouble and they were a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them and the other adult leaders. The trip included a Christian youth convention that probably had about 5000 people at it. For me, the speakers had some good things to say, including a good reminder that God really does change lives. It's also motivating me to think more about how I talk about faith in conversations at work. I know my standards on some things like sex and alcohol are different from a lot of people at work, so how do I make it clear where I stand, without being judgmental and defining my faith mostly by what I don't do? I've certainly thought about this question before, but I think I'm a bit more motivated now. Let's hope it lasts.

One special time was when our group sat down outside the convention centre to talk about what we're learning at the convention. We also prayed. It's great to see these people wanting to follow God more closely. Even if they're not so interested in God, I appreciate their honesty and having them as part of my life.

And soon I'm off on another vacation. This time I'll be backpacking near Mount Robson in British Columbia.

Vacation #1

I'm off to San Antonio tomorrow with the youth group from my church. I'm one of the adult leaders helping take them to the Church of God International Youth Convention there. Should be a fun time, but I might get just a bit tired and maybe a bit sunburned. I hear the Mexican restaurants there are excellent. My taste buds will be so happy and my stomach won't be. I can't wait.

June

At my church, we used to have fairly regular activities for the College and Career group. ("College and Career" is a common label that churches use for their younger adults.) Eventually, maybe people got too busy and nobody really wanted to plan anything. There were some of us that played squash, but there were a lot that didn't.

In May the place where we played squash shut down for renovations, so for a few Wednesdays nothing was planned. But someone had brought up the idea that we could play Ultimate (a.k.a. Ultimate Frisbee) sometime. Around the end of May, I got some of them together for a game of Ultimate, and I enjoyed it a lot. Quite tiring though. I thought it would be nice to do it again, and I guess some others thought so too because they decided to do this every week for the summer. We've also been going for ice cream afterwards.

I think this was what I needed. I have friends at church who are close to my age and older who I haven't spent much time with in the last while, except at church services and maybe lunch after church. And then there are the friends younger than me. They hadn't really had the chance to be involved in the group back when it was going, because they were too young. I work with them in running the youth group, and as much as I usually enjoy my time with the youth, it's nice to finally hang out with these friends without having responsibilities going on at the same time. Maybe it helps having a bit less going on with the youth group this month (no fundraisers in the last few weeks!). The exercise is good too.

It's been a refreshing month, and maybe it's been refreshing for some others too because they keep coming. Maybe in certain ways, pursuing some self-interest in church can actually do some good. After all, there's a good chance that if I need something (for example, refreshment and times with friends), others need it too. Of course, selfishness in a church can be a very damaging too. So how do you decide when your own desires are a good thing?

Nothing worth doing

Today I'm going to share a quote I found on another blog. Yes, it may be the epitome of laziness to copy from another blog that was itself copied from something else. But it's a good quote.

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love.
--Reinhold Niebuhr

Silverlight

A while ago when I visited the Microsoft website, it tried to get me to install something called Silverlight. I turned it down and looked up a bit more information about it. It turns out that Microsoft finally made a product to compete with the Adobe Flash browser add-on that almost everyone has.

I'm not militantly anti-Microsoft, but I would like to see them lose some of their market dominance. Generally, I don't think monopolies are a good thing, so I like to support Microsoft's competition, especially free high-quality programs. But where does Adobe fit in here? Adobe is one of the few software companies that truly dominates the market for software that almost everyone has. How many computers have you used lately that don't have Flash and Adobe Reader installed?

So in the Flash vs Silverlight battle, who should I support? Until now, Adobe had a virtual monopoly in that type of software, but if somebody has to have a monopoly, it's nice if it's not Microsoft. On the other hand, competition can encourage innovation. I ended up installing Silverlight, and I think its video quality is better than Flash's, so I see innovation happening already.

What would really be nice is if websites didn't tie people to certain products. If Flash and Silverlight could be replaced with an open standard and anyone could make programs that support that standard, then I wouldn't need multiple products that basically do the same thing.

Hockey Night in Canada song

So there was a big uproar when CBC decided not to renew the rights to the Hockey Night in Canada theme song. It looked like this could get bigger than that time they weren't going to renew Ron MacLean's contract.

On the way home from work today I heard that CTV/TSN got the rights to the song. When I got home, I checked my email and found out that someone invited me to a Facebook group called "Boycott CBC until they bring back Hockey Night In Canada's theme song!" Umm. It might be a little late for that. I don't think CBC can legally get it back for a while.

I think I know how the Conservative party can win a majority government. Just get Don Cherry fired and make it look like Liberals pulled the strings.

The house is filling up

Last weekend a co-worker of mine moved into my house, so now I'm not all alone here. It's nice to have another person here, and the extra money doesn't hurt either. It will take some time to get used to each other's schedules and not having the entire fridge to myself, but it should be a good thing overall. Besides, this gives me some more motivation to clean up and throw some junk out.

Fear is my strategy

I got together with some friends for some paintball today. The weather was great (not too hot, not too cold), and it's an exhilarating sport (and apparently it's safer than bowling--who knew?). I think it had been three years since the last time I played.

There is one problem for me going to paintball: I fear pain. When I experience pain, I can usually handle it, although it sometimes slows me down and makes me more cautious until it goes away. But I think the anticipation is the worst part. And it hurts to get hit by a paintball.

Most of the games today were team elimination games--two teams trying to wipe each other out. The teams start at opposite ends of the field. I usually stayed somewhere near the back while some others went forward further where they were more exposed to enemy fire. I'm sure this was partially because I didn't want pain. I got hit a few times anyway. After a few quick exits, I sometimes survived until near the end of the game and helped a lot in getting the enemies' last people eliminated.

The first time this happened, we were in a field with towers on each end. We sent two people up onto the tower where they could spy on the enemy and tell us where they were. It was pretty hard for the enemy to hit the guys in the tower without actually getting to the stairs and going up there (which was also pretty hard), but someone managed to hit one of them. Anyway, I ended up being the last person left on my team aside from one or two people in the tower. The other team only had one person left, and if there had been anyone in their tower, they'd abandoned it. With the help of the people up in the tower, I eliminated their last person. And I owe it all (partially) to my fear of pain.

Complaining etiquette

If I got a free cookie from Cookies by George and it was stale, am I allowed to complain, or do I have to keep my mouth shut because it was free? (Just to confirm: I didn't get said cookie at a Cookies by George location. At the store, I'm sure they don't sell stale cookies. Just very very yummy cookies. Mmm.)

If I got the cookie at the blood donor clinic because I donated blood, does that mean it actually wasn't free, so I do have a right to complain? Or does the fact that they never promised me Cookies by George and they don't always have Cookies by George mean it really was free?

Sympathy for the beaver

"All them birds and predators just take from the land, but the beaver always gives a dam."
--The Arrogant Worms

There's a buffer zone between the plant where I work and the nearest neighbourhood. The buffer zone is basically a park, but it's owned by the owners of the nearby plants. One day last week during my lunch break, I went for a walk with a co-worker, and we decided to walk down a trail that goes along a creek. As we got closer to the end with the beaver dam, we saw lots of freshly-cut trees lying on the ground, with lots of teeth marks where they were cut. The beavers had been busy.

When we got to the dam, we saw another co-worker. He showed us two beaver traps that had been set on the dam. (I'm not sure if they were set by the city government or by the company that owns the land.) He said a couple of beavers had been caught and killed earlier that week.

I couldn't help but be disappointed. They're killing our national animal! And then the less sympathetic side of me kicks in and reminds me that beavers are a pest when they're in a city. The co-worker who showed me the traps pointed out how few tall trees there are near that part of the creek, and he said it's because of years of beaver activity.

Maybe it's necessary to keep the beavers out of the city to keep the park in better shape, but I wish it wasn't necessary. Are these trees any more important than the ones they cut down to build the plants? Besides, I still think the area around the creek is beautiful even if all the trees are short. But maybe it would get a lot worse without any animal control around there, and maybe it's harder for predators to get into the city so beavers can naturally do more damage there.

He's smarter than you

Thanks to the magic of Photoshop and video editing, we can now watch Richard Dawkins rapping about atheism:

Did I promote a cult?

"I told one guy his place was to be a pimple on the ass of the body of Christ."
--Ole Anthony

About a month ago, I posted this quote from a man named Peter Rollins: "God spoke to me, repeating four simple words: 'I do not exist.'" Then I linked to an interview with Peter Rollins, done by The Wittenburg Door. I mentioned that Rollins had a very interesting way of thinking about God and that The Wittenburg Door is one of my favourite websites.

Today I found an article there about Ole Anthony, the founder of the organization that owns The Wittenburg Door. The organization is called the Trinity Foundation, and publishing Christian satire isn't its only activity; it also investigates televangelists and manages affordable housing projects, among other activities. The article is written by a friend of his, who is quite involved in running The Wittenburg Door (he is two of the most frequent writers on the website--yes, he goes by two different names). It makes Ole Anthony sound like an eccentric man who stands up for the little guy and doesn't care about offending people. He also has a strong sense that following Jesus requires sacrifice. That quote at the top of this post is from this article.

Today I found an article that told a different story. This one paints him as an egotistical control freak. His organization that helped people who'd been controlled and victimized by religion was controlling and victimizing people itself.

I know journalists sometimes twist things, but if this second article is accurate, this organization just might be a cult. I'm not one to tell people what they can and can't read (I'll probably keep reading The Wittenburg Door myself), but I'd like to remind people to take things with a grain of salt. I still think The Door has some great things to say, but not everything in it is good. And I'd be very leery about joining their organization if the opportunity ever presented itself. The articles I linked to are long, but they are both recommended reading if you ever start reading The Wittenburg Door.

Your Beautiful Mind

I got a new CD recently--"The Impostor" by Kevin Max. I'd like to share the lyrics of one of the songs with you:

The question is
where did this begin
who authored and who finished it?
such a beautiful world
but such a twisted plan
for it to end before we really lived in it

oh tell me why is this happening?
oh tell me why should i believe in anything?

and I find your beautiful mind in everything
but everything can't make me believe
and I find your beautiful eyes see everything
so show me something beautiful please

corporations rise
as the working man will fall
we bit the apple
now the apple is eating us
we want our 15 minutes
and then we want it all
and watch our own image bleeding us

I feel so cold, and i'm growing old
so come on now just finish it

oh tell me what's the purpose of love anyway?
she looks the best when she just walks away

and I find your beautiful hands make everything
and everything is all I need
and I find your beautiful eyes see everything
so show me something beautiful please

oh I cannot figure it ( please show me Lord)
I cannot get into it ( please show me Lord, oh let me see You)
is there a code that I can't crack
my life is slipping right off the tracks
don't even know if I want it back
so take it away from me

and I find your beautiful mind in everything
and everything is all I need
I find your beautiful eyes see everything
so show me something beautiful
I find your beautiful eyes see right through me
so show me what you want me to be

The envelope gets pushed

Last week, I promised I'd push the envelope this week. So this week, for the first time in the history of this blog, I am posting a video that I made:

Promotional Gimmick, Coming Soon

I'm short on ideas for stuff to write this week. I did think of something to post, but it's not ready yet. Stay tuned. Next week, I'll really be pushing the envelope.

Destroying the universe?

It looks like someone is trying to sue to stop scientists from running something called a Large Hadron Collider. Check out the article here. Basically, some people are worried that this Collider could create a black hole that might swallow the earth. Or the Collider could destroy the universe.

As far as I know, there's no real scientific consensus on whether the universe is infinite or not. But I think this article proves that either the Large Hadron Collider will not destroy the universe, or the universe isn't infinite. If the universe is infinite, then basically everything that could possibly happen in 13 billion years would have happened somewhere. Since we're on a relatively new planet, odds are, aliens would've already developed Large Hadron Colliders, and some of them would've tested it. Obviously, it did not destroy the universe. But we don't know what happened to their planets. On the other hand, if the universe is not infinite, there is a chance we might be the first to develop this technology. Should we be worried?

I do not exist

"God spoke to me, repeating four simple words: 'I do not exist.'"

I just read an interview with a guy named Peter Rollins on one of my favourite websites, The Wittenburg Door. (If you noticed that they don't know how to spell Wittenberg, your knowledge of German geography is much greater than mine. I had to be told about that.) Anyway, Peter Rollins has a pretty interesting way of thinking about God. Have a look at the interview here.

Later on Sunday

(See my post from earlier today if you haven't read it already.)

Mary turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).

Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

--John 20:14-18 (NLT)

Sunday morning

Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb. On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.

When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”

The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.

--Mark 16:1-8

Why people give up faith

You get two posts for the price of one today!

A Christian radio station in Edmonton likes to mention something related to Christianity during it's newscasts. Frequently, they have reports about things that World Vision or other Christian organizations are doing in poor countries. Today, they played a clip of Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis talking about how bad it is that some churches support the theory of evolution. The report said many people give up their faith in Christ when they get into college where they're taught evolution as fact.

I wonder about the backgrounds of these people who give up their faith. How many of them actually came from churches where evolution is accepted? Maybe many of them were raised in churches where evolution was fiercely denounced. If they end up thinking the evidence for evolution is pretty good, and they've been raised to think Christianity and evolution are incompatible, I can certainly see why they'd give up their faith. Maybe the message of Answers in Genesis is backfiring.

Or maybe some of these people who give up their faith come from churches where commitment to God doesn't really matter. Maybe they get into college and think, "Why bother? Faith doesn't make a difference in my life anyway."

There are some people, like Human Genome Project leader Francis Collins, who say a person can be completely committed to God and believe the theory of evolution. And it's not like this leaves us with no evidence for Christianity. Francis Collins himself wrote a book about why he believes in God. There's also evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. And some people have personal experiences that make God's involvement in their lives seem pretty obvious.

Romeo Dallaire

"You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won't listen, for they are completely rebellious!" --God's words to the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 2:7

Last Sunday, while I was in Calgary, I had the opportunity to hear Romeo Dallaire speak. He led the UN mission in Rwanda during the genocide there. While he didn't say much about Rwanda, he talked about some ways in which conflict has changed, and what Canada can do in it. He thinks that as a "middle power" we need to step up and intervene more in situations like Rwanda and Darfur. He also spoke of the need for countries like ours to be less motivated by self-interest.

While I was thinking about Romeo Dallaire before he spoke, I noticed some similarities between him and the prophets in the Old Testament. He had an important message (many people in Rwanda were being killed and the world needed to do more about it), he was ignored, the results were disastrous, and now we honour him. How long will it take us to learn to listen to these warnings? I suppose the world doesn't always ignore the important warnings we get, but I think we can do better.

Why life needs some messes

An empty stable stays clean, but no income comes from an empty stable.

--Proverbs 14:4 (NLT)

Election day

I'm watching the TV coverage of the Alberta election as I'm writing this. So far it looks like the Progressive Conservatives will have a strong majority, but it's not over yet.

Over the last year and a bit, I've been moderately satisfied with Ed Stelmach's leadership. One of my biggest worries about him was that he's too nice and can't make tough decisions or take criticism. But he's been decisive on issues like natural resource royalties and some other areas that Ralph Klein neglected.

Then there's the issue of integrity. He may not be very charismatic, but he seems trustworthy. But I'm concerned about some things, like having his own party appoint the people running the election--not his party's election campaign, but the actual polling stations and things like that. Maybe this was a lapse in judgment, and I doubt it would lead to any significant electoral fraud. As much as I hate "slippery slope" arguments, I have to say that this could be a slippery slope to increased government corruption. Maybe this wasn't Stelmach's idea, but in his position, he has a responsibility to stop this kind of thing. Since he didn't stop it, it shows some weakness in his leadership.

I also think we should slow down this crazy rate of economic growth here, and Stelmach doesn't want to do that. The Liberals, NDP, and Green Party all want to slow the growth. Actually, I've been more impressed with Kevin Taft than any other Liberal leader (provincial or federal) in my voting years. I tend to think the NDP is too left wing and the Wildrose Alliance is too right wing. I'd like to see the Green Party gain some seats, but so far it doesn't look like they will.

So how did I vote? I'm not telling.

An amusing quote from the Green Party

In the Alberta Green Party's platform for this election, they talk about promoting geothermal energy, saying, "If there is on thing Albertans know how to do well; it is drill holes in the ground."

I'd like to see the Green Party get some MLAs elected. I just hope their leadership and ideas are better than their spelling and grammar.

Funniest part of the debate

I watched Thursday's debate between the leaders of Alberta's biggest political parties. I suppose I could comment on what I thought of their policies and leadership abilities, but instead I'll just tell you what I thought was the funniest part of the debate. Maybe I'll comment on policies and leadership another time.

One time when everyone was trying to talk at once, Ed Stelmach interrupted and said, "One at a time. You have had your chance. This is not the Legislative Assembly."

Judgment

Have you ever heard someone say it's worth being a Christian simply because there's a remote chance that hell exists? I've heard that a number of times, and the last time was about a week ago. While I have a lot of respect for the person who I heard say this a week ago, it doesn't sit right with me.

The problem: this plays into the hands of fearmongers. We end up following whichever religion claims the worst punishment for its non-followers (as long as the religion seems somewhat plausible). Then religion becomes a tool for controlling people, rather than something that tries to make the world a better place and connect people with God. Would you be willing to make the world a worse place if there's a slight chance it would help you avoid hell?

I'm not denying that there is judgment after death (whether or not it fits the traditional definition of hell) or that there's one right religion. Actually, in a way I think it's good that Christianity is split into so many denominations that--for the most part--respect the fact that other denominations are legitimate Christian churches. This makes it harder for Christian leaders to control people.

Besides, judgment has its good side. Jack White shows that he realizes this in the song "You Don't Know What Love Is". He criticizes someone who refuses to judge, saying, "but in his mind there can be no sin if you never criticize." The Bible shows one reason that judgment can be good in Psalm 76:9 (NLT), which says, "You stand up to judge those who do evil, O God, and to rescue the oppressed of the earth."

(I just found out the music video for "You Don't Know What Love Is" was filmed in Iqaluit, Nunavut. It looks warmer than Edmonton was a week or three ago.)

Why sugar is good

I saw this article about artificial sweeteners:

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/02/11/lowcalorie-study.html

I don't think I know too many people who drink more diet pop than regular pop, but I know a few. I have heard some people say that sugar is so bad for you, you shouldn't drink regular pop at all. Now I feel vindicated. (Yes, I know diabetics generally shouldn't have regular pop, but I think it's alright for most of us, in moderation.)

I'm not a big pop drinker. I rarely drink it at home, except for the occasional time when I have guests, and I sometimes drink it when I'm at a restaurant or visiting someone. After I've had a glass or two, I often feel like I have too much sugar in my system. When that time comes, I'd rather drink water than pop. My experiences seem to confirm that article. Do yours?

Emissions intensity

Last week I talked about the possibility of a carbon tax to encourage greenhouse gas emission reductions. Today I'm talking about another controversial subject in emission reductions: emissions intensity. And once again, I am assuming the majority of climate scientists are correct--human activity is causing climate change. If you disagree with that, feel free to say so, but I am not prepared to debate it.

The Alberta government wants industrial polluters to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions intensity (emissions per dollar of product produced) rather than their absolute emissions. This is controversial because it allows growing companies to actually increase their total emissions while the world actually needs reduced total emissions. (Actually, the world needs reduced CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, and that's going to take some major reductions in total emissions.)

Assuming most scientists are right, I would agree that we need absolute reductions, but I think requiring each company to reduce its emissions intensity is a good way to divide up the responsibility. If every company needed to do absolute reductions, it would take a lot of the flexibility out of our economy. If a company comes up with a newer, much more efficient way to produce something, expanding their production could actually be good for the environment because their more-polluting competitors could lose market share. Requiring absolute emissions reductions would make this more difficult. It would also make it hard for companies to respond to changing demands from consumers.

Another example: as it gets harder to find conventional sources for oil, we're getting more development of the oil sands and other less conventional oil sources. These sources need more energy, so they pollute more. I hope we can reduce our dependence on oil, but as long as there's so much demand for oil, the oil sands will have to expand. The emissions intensity of oil sands plants will have to decrease, but we can't expect overall emissions from oil production to decrease.

This situation also shows that each of a company's activities should probably be treated separately (for example, oil sands should be considered separately from conventional oil) in evaluating emissions intensity. Also, we don't want companies expanding their low-polluting activities just so they can get away with doing nothing to improve their high-polluting activities.

One question I have: is emissions intensity a good way to divide up reduction targets for countries, provinces/states, and individual people? This would seem to favour the rich over the poor, because the rich can pollute more. Or maybe it would prevent introducing a new barrier to development in poor places. And maybe it is unrealistic to expect absolute emissions reductions in places like Alberta, in the short term. I already mentioned some reasons for oil sands expansion. That's happening because of increased demand and decreased supply of oil from other places. That's not Alberta's fault. Yes, we need to produce the oil as efficiently as we can, but we can't be expected to reduce other places' demand for oil. Or is this favouring a rich province while holding back the poorer ones?

Carbon tax

With all the talk about climate change and the provincial premiers' conference, I thought I'd weigh in on one issue within the climate change issue: a carbon tax.

I'm not going to address the question of whether or not human activity is causing climate change. It's a very complex subject that I haven't studied in much depth, so for the sake of this post, I'll boldly assume that the majority of climate scientists are right. (A side question: since evangelical Christians are typically taught to be skeptical of the theory of evolution, and sometimes the big bang theory and modern geology, does that make us more prone to doubting other theories--not contradicted by any common biblical interpretation--believed by the majority of scientists? Is our desire to trust God actually making us think we're smarter than everybody else? That seems arrogant, and arrogance doesn't jive well with Christianity.)

So, is a carbon tax a good idea? Some say it would unfairly pick on Alberta's oil industry, but I'm sure the demand for oil won't go away for a while, and it seems selfish to value the economy of our little province over the livability of much larger parts of the world holding many more people. And it might work better than existing regulations. Right now in Alberta, companies are expected to cut their emissions (or is it emissions intensity?) by a certain amount or face fines. If that's the main incentive to reduce emissions, there's less incentive to cut emissions further. Yes, many emissions cuts come from saving energy, which is an incentive itself, although maybe not a big enough one, considering how emissions keep increasing. And some ways of cutting emissions may not save money at the same time. If we tax all emissions, then there's always an incentive to cut emissions further.

Of course, if we're shifting taxation criteria more toward emissions and away from income, we'll need to make sure this system isn't tough on the poor. But I'm pretty sure we could come up with something.

Another interview

Want to get interviewed? Here's the idea:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better!
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

I interviewed Kate a while back, and now she's interviewing me. By the way, I also answered an interview from Elim last year, which you can read here. Here are my answers to Kate's questions:

1. You get a plane ticket that goes around the world. Like all great offers, it has a catch- you have to keep going in the same direction (so if you fly towards China, you can't suddenly turn around and decide to go to Japan), and you have to use it in a month. Where will you go?
Hmm. Tough one. Let's say a couple days in LA, a day in Seattle, 3 days in Australia, three days in Japan, 3 days in China, 2 days in Thailand or somewhere around there, 3 days in India, 2 days in Ethiopia, 2 days in Russia, 2 days in Israel, 2 days in France, 2 days in Britain, 2 days in Florida, and then a day in Manitoba, since it's close to home and I haven't been there in a very long time.

That's just a really quick list of some places I'd want to go, just thrown together. In reality, I think I'd prefer to spend more time in less places, but then I wouldn't get as much of my money's worth out of the plane ticket. Is it possible that I'd care so much about getting my money's worth that I'd choose a less pleasant, same-priced vacation just so I could say I got more flights for the same amount of money?

2. What was your favorite toy as a kid? Why?
I think I'll say Transformers or Lego. With Transformers I enjoyed turning one thing into another, and with Lego I liked building stuff and taking it apart, even if I built the same thing multiple times (the thing in the instruction book).

3. What are the 5 worst songs ever (in your opinion). Why?
This is the toughest question of the five. I think I'll have to list artists or albums, not specific songs. In no particular order, here are my picks:

• My grandma has a record by a German boy named Heintje or something like that. Just about anything on that record could be on this list. (Hmm. I just looked him up on Wikipedia and he's still making albums. I think my grandma must have his debut album.)
  
• Usually I can tolerate Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera, and maybe even like some of their music. But if I listen to an entire album of either of them, I'd put some of the songs on this list.
• Anything from P.O.D.'s early albums. It's basically yelling without rhythm.
• I Hope You Dance. The song has a good message, but it's cheesy, and at one summer job I was forced to listen to EZ Rock way too much, and I think that song was popular then. But I think that song is still popular on that station.
  
• The Song that Never Ends, written by Norman Martin. Using it in a painkiller commercial was genius though.

As I was working on this list, I thought of a few that deserve honourable mention, but they're so amusing I couldn't possibly put them on the actual "worst songs ever" list. Here they are:

• Old MacDonald by Frank Sinatra
• Yummy Yummy Yummy by Ohio Express
• David Hasselhoff's cover of Hooked on a Feeling - the video wins the Worst Ever Use of a Green Screen award
  

4. What's the most surprising thing you've learned in the last year?
It's easier to find a girlfriend at Hickfest than at Bible college. Actually, for me, maybe that's not so surprising. I didn't enter Bridal College seven years ago with much for relationship expectations.

5. If you lost any of your 5 senses, which would be the worst to lose and which would be the least problematic?
I think the sense of touch would be worst to lose. I probably don't think about that one as much as vision or hearing, but it's so essential. Without that I think I'd feel so detached from my environment, and it would be so easy to damage my body without realizing it. I've heard of somebody who was born without the ability to feel pain and she scratched out one of her own eyes before her parents figured out a way to fasten goggles to her face securely.

I think the least problematic one would be taste. As much as I'd hate to be without some of the pleasure of eating, my sense of smell would still give me a partial sense of taste. And outside of eating, the sense of taste really serves no purpose, unlike all the other senses.

Dissent because of Love

I recently read something interesting about some parallels between Vladimir Putin's leadership of Russia and the leadership of Christianity's leaders. You can read it here. After talking about Russia's increasing success and Putin's suppression of opposition, this writer says, "The church, I think, is willing to sacrifice basic human and civil liberties for good and noble results. We prefer success or even just stability to freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is messy and unmanageable." He claims he is a dissenter because he loves the church.

Tonight I watched a movie about another person who was a dissenter because he loved the church. The movie is called Luther. Believe it or not, it's about Martin Luther. He stood up to a corrupt church that was taking away people's freedom and abusing its influence to make money. One thing I didn't realize before is that Luther also stood up to his own supposed followers who used violence to oppose the Catholic church.

This is one of several movies I've seen that makes me wonder how willing I would be to stand up to oppression (religious or not). Would I do it if it meant giving up a good job? If it meant losing friends and dividing my family? If a friend or family member was the oppressor, would I still be willing to oppose them, even if it led to some pretty bad punishment for them? Would I be willing to oppose my church and lose their approval? Would I be willing to die? Or would I keep doing what I'm doing because I think standing up to oppression would never work? Would I wait for someone else to stand up for the oppressed?

Some other movies that prompt thoughts like this, each in their own unique ways, include The Lord of The Rings series, Star Wars Episode 3 (Revenge of the Sith), and The Last King of Scotland. Are there any other movies that get you thinking about things like this? More importantly, what do you think might stop you from standing up to oppression? What might your excuses be?

Something for my readers with high blood pressure

I saw the World's Greatest Commercials at a movie theatre with Kate last weekend. This one here is probably my favourite of the bunch.