Truth will out

For someone who is overwhelmingly a non-watcher of TV, it's surprising how ads (that run during the news) will catch my attention sometimes. Before advertisers start rubbing their hands in glee, however, I hasten to point out that their efforts pique my interest for reasons far removed from what the creators intend. Case in point: the Lotto Super 7 ads lately - one with a woman on a massage table, and another with a man and a bunch of vehicles. Have you noticed that there is no one around these people other than paid flunkies? Not a soul. They have all the toys, but no real relationships. And this is supposed to make me want to buy lottery tickets? Yech.

Nice to see some truth in advertising for a change.

Cold comfort

Got a new fridge a few weeks ago. This is a good thing. The old one had taken to peeing on the floor. When cats do that I have them put down. However, the job of cleaning the floor fell to me. And as I scoured on bended knee, I ruminated (okay, snarled) thus: Put a man on the moon, we can. Sent an unmanned probe to Mars, we have. But after six thousand years of technological progress, what is a woman still doing? SCRUBBING THE FLOOR, THAT'S WHAT! All those billions poured into NASA, and they still haven't come up with an unmanned probe that does housework. Now THAT would be useful. That would begin to justify the ridiculous amounts of money they suck up. Honestly, those guys are supposed to be so smart, but they can't seem to see the foolishness of looking on lifeless planets for clues to the origin of life. Since life is clearly confined to the earth, it's a safe bet that it originated here. Why not check out the historical evidence? Genesis chapter one...Come to think of it, life used to originate in my old fridge from time to time. But I threw that stuff out.

On being a dad, although I'm not

This being Father's Day, I'd like to dedicate this post to my friend and fellow-musician Dave. I read an article the other day summarizing a lot of research on the importance of a father to a child. In a nutshell, a dad who's around, and involved, has a positive impact on every imaginable aspect of a child's life. Dave is 40-something and has three school-age kids. He spent their early years with booze and cocaine as his companions, so he has some catching up to do and some long odds to beat. And he's determined to succeed. He's been clean and sober for more than a year now, and he's working hard, paying off his debts, taking parenting courses...most of all, he's being the stable, dependable father every child needs. And he knows God is on his side, too.

My prayer is simply that, having put his hand to the plow, he will not look back. Run the race with patience, brother. Keep your eyes on the prize.

NIMBY

Been following the MacLean's/Mark Steyn fiasco?

Geez, these days I don't seem able to step out of the house without committing a hate crime - MARK STEYN
http://www.macleans.ca/canada/opinions/article.jsp?content=20080604_84794_84794

Maybe it would be best if we lost this battle - At the tribunal, there's no defence of fair comment, or good faith, or even truth - Andrew Coyne
http://www.macleans.ca/canada/opinions/article.jsp?content=20080604_37964_37964

Mark Steyn says he wants to lose human rights case
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080606/macleans_article_080606/20080606?hub=TopStories

Let's be clear, now, this is Canada, not Nazi Germany or Stalinist USSR. Canada. Peace, order, and good government. Wake up, sleeping giant, before you bleed to death from gnat bites.

Gleanings

Here's some lovely inflammatory stuff to get your dander up. Wasabi for the mind.

http://www.leaderu.com/jhs/lively.html

http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/index.php?id=876

An adventure

So, here it is the end of May, and while the weather has warmed up somewhat, it has not yet succeeded in drying out. Hope springs eternal. More emphasis on "springs." As in "fountains." Not to mention squalls, downpours, cloudbursts...this must be the west coast. I haven't been here for a while. I spent the first 3 weeks of May rolling across this great land and singing: activities pleasant enough on their own, but, in combination, unmitigated ecstasy. The tour was that of the UVic Chamber Singers, and the timing exquisite. Canada in springtime is worth seeing. The weather was gentle and warm, the hosts were wonderful, the concerts hugely successful, and I managed to cram an amazing amount of sightseeing into a few days between Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa. We performed in Parksville, Comox, Langley, Penticton, Castlegar, Medicine Hat, Regina, Winnipeg, and Toronto. Here are some things that stuck in my mind: Langley: Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church has marvellous acoustics - the sound had a brillliance and clarity that was unmatched by any of the more venerable churches we performed in. Penticton: expecting to be billeted that night, instead we got put up in a hotel that had a pool and hot tub. Nice. Castlegar: borsch, baby, borsch, served up by local Doukhobors, a cultural enclave that has reinvented itself as a vibrant and welcoming segment of society. Regina: Holy Rosary Cathedral has about a 3-second decay, which doesn't sound like much until you're singing in it. Very cool. Winnipeg: six of us were billeted at an upscale B&B on the river, a splendid old house of similar vintage to my grandmother's, only this one was spit-polished and furnished with antiques. Gorgeous. Had two days in Toronto and squeezed in the Royal Ontario Museum, some ethnic eating, and a trip to Niagara Falls. Had a day and a bit in Montreal and went on a kamikaze walking tour of churches and other architectural landmarks, shopped in Chinatown, ate smoked meat at Kraussman's, did one floor of the Museum of Fine Arts, and loved the city and everyone in it. Had half a day in Ottawa and did similar things, including "Canada's biggest 2nd-hand book store" (four floors). I managed to get through the fantasy and murder-mystery sections, and that was it. Went up the Peace Tower, walked along Sparks St Mall to see where the CBC early-afternoon show comes from, poked through the Byward Market, and popped in to Notre Dame Basilica which is similar to the one of the same name in Montreal. Gothic design, Baroque decor. You walk in and your visual cortex threatens to shut down from sheer overload. You have to remind yourself to breathe. We don't put up buildings and decorate them to the glory of God these days, because we know that the church is not made with hands. But what are we doing instead? What do we produce, in our Christian communities, that so obviously points to the beauty and majesty of our God? Is there anything? I wonder. And sometimes we sneer that all that gold could feed a lot of hungry kids, but is that where we put our gold? What did Jesus say to the Pharisees? "You ought to practise the one, without neglecting the other." I think we could learn a lot from those who poured their resources into building for God's glory - whether or not we copy their actions, we would do well to emulate their hearts.

A renewable resource - no, really

I read an article recently about some dude somewhere who has come up with a way to create fuel out of biomass. Mind, we're not talking about turning grain into oil here, but, potentially, compost into gasoline. The inspiration? The guy was watching cows graze and listening to them fart. It dawned on him that cows must have some micro-organism in there that consumes grass and belches out methane. Methane and gasoline both being hydrocarbons, it's not unreasonable to think that a certain amount of interference with the bacterial genome might result in an organism that eats yard waste and pees gasoline. And then, oh what an era of economic and political stability would dawn...no more appeasing the Middle Eastern nut cases just because we need their oil...why, we could end hunger in the developing world and glut the Western appetite for fuel at the same time: just round up starving people wherever they be, and offer them all the beans and cabbage they can eat, in return for having their gut colonized with designer bacteria and promising to excrete into a gas can. Utopia, here we come...

Don't light a match.