blog

The Logos and the Tao

2011-05-05T18:14:00.001-04:00

Great Article! I like this train of thought and the concept of Christianity that flows from this way of looking at reality very much!

Malcolm Smith

2011-04-01T15:01:00.004-04:00

Anyone want to give me some help with Malcolm Smith's theology?

http://www.zoechs.org/webinars/

I read a book from him years ago that was extremely encouraging. I'm listening to his March 30th webinar and finding it encouraging as well but also maybe not 100% mainstream. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone out there if you think that it's square with the Bible or not.

"Three Truths and a Dismissal" by Michael Berry

2011-03-19T21:53:00.003-04:00

Just googled this title. There was a time in my late teens when I somehow found this poem online (it's only posted in one place and doesn't appear to be famous, so that's kind of surprising). I printed it out and taped it on my wall. I think that it disturbed my parents. Warning: There is a swearword in it. I am posting this more out of nostalgia than to make any sort of a point.
Although, I think that dismissal mixed with self depreciation is a fascinating human emotion (I want to say great or marvelous but I hesitate)... It's practically a staple for great stories, but I wouldn't want to live there.
I present to you, dear reader, "Three Truths and a Dismissal" by Michael Berry

http://users.rcn.com/cntrfld/centerfold/3truths.html

Another video by the fall.

2011-02-24T22:04:00.002-05:00

I bought this album back in the 90's and have always considered it pure genius. I mean, I'm no expert on music, but this is quite great.

"Propositions are integrated within
[Jammed] up to electric dog status
We pat you on the back
Your ears prick up
We call you Hitler
And then kick you around like homogenized milk"
He reads books; of the list book club
And after two months--his stance a familiar hunch
It's that same slouch - you had the last time he came around
His oppression abounds, his type is doing the rounds
He is a scum-egg; a horrid trendy wretch
C.R.E.E.P. CR E.E.P.
BLACK saucers at the back of your neck
Interruptions, from the side when you talk
in the presence, of this ugly gawk,
is offending, make sure you're not absorbed
(With hideous luck - he'll absorb all your talk)
CR E.E.P. C.R.E.E.P. (3 times)
FROM the bright sun, he came one fine morn
"Populist" - as well in his class at least
But then came REAL AGE, and for that we all must pay
(and for that we all do pay)
c.r.e.EP. C.R.E.E.P.
C.R. EEP C.R.E.E.P
CR E.E.P. - cr E.E.P. CR E.E.P. - CR E.EP (2 times)
And he wants world peace! (and for that we all must pay)
He likes ABC! (C.R.EE.P.)
C.R.EE.P. CR.E.E.P. (2 times)
CREEP!

Which Roman Catholic approach to diversity do you prefer?

2011-02-22T15:58:00.003-05:00

Do you prefer the strictly secular approach to diversity that is promoted by French Catholics?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_law_on_secularity_and_conspicuous_religious_symbols_in_schools

http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Quebecers+rally+secularism+agenda/2706835/story.html

Or do you prefer the Tony Blair, tossed salad, cultural mosaic type of Roman Catholicism.
When I heard about Tony Blair's Faith Foundation, I started to think that this diversity of faith working together might be a great idea. Or at least a superior approach to the apparent secularism of Katimavik (I participated in 98-99. I applied for a job once and was asked in a phone interview about my faith because of concerns that some people "bring their religion to work". It was a live-in position that I had applied for and the assumption seemed to be that people who professed different religions could not get along.).
Tony Blair's Faith Foundation initially appeared to make a lot of sense. I moved back to the fence after reading Tony Blair's Wiki page. The Wiki page about his Faith Foundation didn't help at all. It's hard for the average guy to know what to think about a lot of these big political issues... I think that I like the cultural mosaic approach, but not if it a movement toward a plan for world domination....
How do we do diversity right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_cracker

2011-02-22T15:56:00.000-05:00

The Graham cracker was originally marketed as "Dr. Graham's Honey Biskets" and was conceived of as a health food as part of the Graham Diet, a regimen to suppress what he considered unhealthy carnal urges, the source of many maladies according to Graham. Reverend Graham would often lecture about the adverse effects of masturbation or "self-abuse" as it was commonly called. One of his many theories was that one could curb one's sexual appetite by eating bland foods. Another man who held this belief was Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of the Corn Flakes cereal.

FUNKY GREEN DOGS - FIRED UP ( MURK'S ORIGINAL GROOVE )

2011-02-09T22:49:00.000-05:00

2011-01-14T10:58:00.000-05:00

The Inbreds - Any Sense of Time

2010-12-14T18:09:00.001-05:00

I used to own this on cassette. I think that it got chewed up just a couple of years ago. I'm not sure.

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

2010-12-12T17:58:00.001-05:00

not the best cover of this in my opinion, but an interesting interpretation non-the-less

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea cover

2010-12-12T17:40:00.000-05:00

...how strange it is to be anything at all....

Your Kingdom come!

2010-12-10T15:48:00.002-05:00

From this article: http://www.alphaconsultant.com/2009/12/your-kingdom-come.html#links
"We confuse cause with consequence. Jesus came to save us from the cause (sin) rather than the consequence (hell). In other words, the problem Jesus came to deal with is not impersonal hell but personal sin."

Nice! Sin sucks... we all need to improve our archery.

Songs ... : Neutral Milk Hotel-In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

2010-12-10T09:43:00.002-05:00

The people I like live in Kitchens and Halls.... it's Friday!!!!!!

2010-12-03T13:55:00.002-05:00

It's definitely not the type of Friday in the song for me, but Friday non-the-less. It is for someone.

life runs the animals

2010-11-26T12:03:00.002-05:00

If I had to pick an overall theme to bring a sense of coherence to the experience of life from the time of my first memories until now, I would have to say that it would be reasonable to describe all of it as an indepth study on anxiety. Not to give you the impression that I am a person with a noteworthy experience of anxiety or some sort of anxiety sufferer. I just mean that there is always that anxiety element, I think for everyone at all times, that is at various times greater or lesser. I wonder if a person who had no anxiety whatsoever about anything ever, if such a person where to exist, if they could truly be considered alive.

profound meditation based on a dog training show

2010-11-09T20:13:00.005-05:00

If there is a dog in your path:
Don't kick it. it might learn to bite you.
Don't walk around it. Then it will dominate you.
Walk through it. Then it will learn to move out of your way.

Anyone else ever imagine the Bible if God spoke more like a social worker?

2010-10-28T22:22:00.002-04:00

I am the Lord thy God, who apprehended you from the Egyptians who may have struggled with some of the skill set required to maintain appropriate conditions for you.
I am the Lord thy God. I have excellent boundaries and know how to not engage in a power struggle.
If you keep this covenant and complete the following forms, you will live long in the land that I have given you. Please wait.

I could go on but it's wasting brain cells that could be used on something better.
Maybe someone should translate the entire Bible into social work lingo. it would be awesome.

Did Jesus teach about Reincarnation?

2010-10-24T22:02:00.002-04:00

Not according to this essay. http://www.comparativereligion.com/reincarnation3.html

I think that this is a very important question.

I was watching an English subtitled interaction on DMC, a Buddhist Channel that I receive 2 feeds of on my fta dish (one is on 97W and the other is on the new Mongolian mux on 101W) (these are the only 2 satellites that I target with a dual linear ku lnb on a small 32" oval dish). The man in the Yellow robe was reading a letter from a transgendered prostitute about his Karma and the Karma of his customers and brothel owners. After reading the article, the man in his yellow stained robe closed his eyes and went into some sort of trance or something. He told the author of the letter that he had been a middle class womanizer in a previous life and had then spent many rebirths in the 3rd major hell as punishment and had worked his way back up to what he is doing now.
They don't always have the English subtitles on that channel.

0 = 1. A way of thinking about existence.

2010-08-09T17:24:00.002-04:00

I don't know if this is an original thought or if others have thought about this.

I was thinking about existence today in a way that can be described by 0=1

One of the questions people often ask is how does something exist out of nothing?
As Christians, we believe God created the universe. Others have other explanations, but what was the initial cause? Why does something exist rather than nothing?

Many people have at some point looked at life through a depressing lens and thought that in a way nothing exists. I don't know all the details off the top of my head, but I seem to remember Keirkegaard and Sarte saying things about whether or not Finite existence has any meaning if it doesn't connect in some way to infinity.
What do our actions mean if they are all just a temporal exercise that will disappear into nothingness after we die and our works have faded from the earth?

Rather than trying to make the finite (1) somehow into the infinite (∞) ie, 1 = ∞
Why not make 0 = 1.
If 0 = 1, even sometimes, then it's perfectly reasonable for nothing to become something.
Well, 0 is sometime 1. For example, if nothing existed... absolutely nothing... how many nothings would there be? There would be 1. 1 nothing. Therefore, 0 = 1.
So, following this logic, the Buddhist saying that everything is 1 actually makes some sense.
Now, there is no need to try to make 1 into infinity because we are already talking about 1 infinite object. 0 = 1 * ∞
So, creation ex nihilo is actually perfectly logical...

But how can 0 ever equal 1? God decided that it should for an instant and then, poof... everything that was nothing became something.

Why do thin people do fat things?

2010-07-15T20:27:00.002-04:00

Most people like finding a familiar franchise in an environment of frightening and foreign dining options. Why? they know what to expect there, so it's less scary.
Some people can go to a Buffet and eat everything and stay thin.
I don't really know where I'm going with this.
Some people have catchy titles pop into their brains but don't really have anything to say about them.

waste

2010-06-09T15:55:00.004-04:00

A lot of our knowledge of God comes from people who write books.
Academics research and write books,
They pay their bills because professors and students buy the books,
The professors teach what's in the books to the students,
The students become pastors and teach what's in the books to churches,
The books sit on shelves and are eventually donated to a thrift store,
The thrift store has volunteers rip the cover off the books and put them in separate bins,
The thrift store gets some money for the bin of recycled paper.

A homeless man will sometimes have wealthy parents who don't want to support his drug habit,
They will buy him expensive designer clothes such as those puffy black rapper jackets with the fur that you always see people wearing,
The homeless man will sleep at a homeless shelter and put his bag of clothes in storage,
The police will put him in jail for breaking and entering,
This allows him to sober up as he was close to killing himself with the drugs,
The room now is too full of old bags of peoples stuff that they left there,
It smells bad and there is no room to store new bags for visitors,
Someone will have to spend half the afternoon working to sort out what belongs to people who have left and those who are still there,
The bag containing designer clothes, court documents and identification goes in the dumpster to sleep below many other bags.
At night someone jumps in the dumpster and is infected with bed bugs.

What if church was like this?

2010-05-19T22:19:00.003-04:00

Took me a while to realize that these aren't hipsters, they are Russians. Hmmn.... there are some implications to that thought. Are hipsters actually leading us to be more like Russia?
Maybe I'm just mixing up my genre's. It's probably more influenced by the blue's than by Bardo Pond.
Anyhow, this guy's singing in tongues.
This is one of the best youtube video's that I've ever seen. I would post it on Facebook, but I don't want to give the wrong impression

Model trains with Curt Cobain

2010-04-27T20:16:00.004-04:00

I first met Curt Cobain in the late 80's at a historic train station in his home town of Jackson, Missouri. He was down there visiting his 4 older brothers who would always take him out drinking, but the real reason for his visit was to photograph the train station. Curt rarely talked about his obsession with model trains. He would always be building a model of this city or that, and his wife Courtney Love was very good with the fine details whether it be painting or assembling trees for brush areas. He told me that quite often when he was out on stage singing his heart out, all that he could really think about was designing railroad models.
There was this cat that we used to call princess HO (but never to her face (after the popular HO gauge of trains)), she was the manager at Elite Train and Model Emporium. She could import models and construction supplies from all over the world.
One of Curt's favourite models was a large installation that he built of an African village. It was inspired partially by Courtney's ambition at the time to learn and perfect African dances.
On sunny days, we'd all sit out in the boat and write letters to train stations worldwide asking if we could purchase photos of the local tracks and buildings. Quite often, people were more helpful that you would imagine. Curt's celebrity status didn't hurt the cause either. Except, like, some people would think that we were full of crap.

You want to be free?

2010-04-27T19:15:00.002-04:00

You want to be free?
I know folks much richer than you and they ain't happy, but it helps, right?
I know folks much poorer who could tell you what your day is worth
That's what's so funny about it all; the universality of discontentment
It's how I spell Irony.

The internet has gotten more intellectualized
I searched "I am happy" once in the late 90's and all I got where pages devoted to pets and children

Had a good laugh at the expense of a duct cleaning telemarketer named derik yesterday.
Picture the muffled, energetic and foreign accented reading of a script on his end
I give a long, happy/stupid sounding "hi Derik"
He goes off on the script reading for another incomprehensible 2 minutes
I tell him that I don't have any ducks but I have a cat and he's welcome to send someone to clean that. (I don't really have a cat).
After much attempt to bridge the communication gap, the conversation ended with him saying something like "uh uh uh... well okay then"... and me laughing my head off and saying loudly, "you clean ducks hahahahaha"
It was classic.

Jesus and Ice Cream

2010-04-26T16:13:00.002-04:00

Oh boy sundays....

This clip got me thinking about the model for "love thy neighbour" that Jesus demonstrates in scripture. Is true Christian love a simpler form of love than the 21st century version? Jesus has a different way of helping/loving people. I'm tempted to think that giving people ice cream is consistent with scripture. Jesus turns water into wine at a party... He heals people, raises them from the dead, forgives them of their sins... It seems like a simple love... a reckless and benevolent kindness... and maybe that's what it was....

It seems consistent with his ministry. God had already demonstrated the logical conclusion of tough love on his chosen people, the Jews. Now, it was time for extreme love action. It was time for God's son to be killed as a free life buying gift to people who hate God (Romans 5:8).

It was time for free ice cream and wine.

2010-04-24T22:36:00.001-04:00

To Choose a path

2009-08-25T22:19:00.003-04:00

The Bible tells us that God has a plan for our lives and that people hear from God in different ways.
In my own life, I have often looked for the synchronicities. The things that seem to come together as a surprising connection of events and the moments when the timing of events couldn't be better. Maybe they are answers to my own prayers or to someone else's or maybe God just has something for me to do or learn at that time.

I think that I missed one this week. Near the end of last week, my boss at my day job told me that they were taking off to their cottage to do some fall clean up. As a result, I would have Monday - Wednesday off this week.
On Saturday, my great uncle died. He lived about 6 hours drive north of here and I hadn't seen him in several years. The funeral was today. I could have gone up there with my parents on Monday and would have gotten back tomorrow. But, I had some excuses. There was a church meeting on Monday night, my wife would have to work so I would have to leave her here, and there was lots of work for the church that I needed to get finished.

I decided to stay behind without much reflection and it wasn't until today that I started thinking that maybe I really was supposed to go. It does seem like quite the coincidence that I would have the time off. I have strongly felt in the past that God was guiding me through these kind of coincidences. I don't know why I wouldn't have put more consideration into it this time. Have my priorities changed? Maybe there was something great that was supposed to happen up there, or someone was praying that I would be able to attend. Who knows. If God really does attempt to direct me in this way, it would be the most important thing in the world for me to follow. I must find the internal silence to listen better in the future and not let myself hesitate to embrace the adventure.

There is a danger of falling into the comfort of the reasonable life.

I was quite impressed by a story in the book The Tipping Point that I read last year. Princeton University did a study where they created a rushed situation for Seminary students to create a sermon on the Good Samaritan. They were given so much time to write in the library and then asked to walk across to a lecture hall to give the talk. Between the two buildings, they had an actor lay on the path and act as if they were in a lot of pain. It ends up that there was a direct correlation between how much of a hurry the seminarian was in and whether they stopped or not.

All of this makes me think about priorities and values. How does a person make good choices in this life?

Jesus tells a story about a great banquet in Luke 14:15. Basically, a bunch of wealthy people with careers are invited to a banquet. They can't make it, so the king invites all the bums instead. This is a metaphore for the kingdom of heaven.

Seeking first the kingdom of God gets difficult sometimes, afterall we all want to be career people rather than bums, right? There is just that moment where there is a hint of fear about spending too much time on something that isn't in line with the goals of survival that occupy the day to day, and that's enough to distract a person and throw them off course.

I wonder what benefit could have come out of going to that funeral and why I didn't take the time to give it more consideration.
I need to break out of the day to day more and find a way to connect with the eternal.
I don't want my time here to be for nothing.

Lord help me to be aware of synchronicities that come from you.
Help me to let myself be an answer to prayer.
Help me to Live in your moment and to be willing to give up the controls to this machine of a life, that I call the day to day, built around me.
Lord, if it's possible, protect me from my fears both of a meaningless life and often of adventures you might place before me.

Maybe miracles are something that we have to choose.

2009-02-03T13:38:00.001-05:00

All the world runs on incompetence masked by skillful communication.

Just for laughs - Gags

2009-01-28T16:42:00.003-05:00

I just love Just For Laughs Gags. I finally found them on the net. This show was on for years and I never thought much of it either way, and then I watched it closely one day. I realized that it seems to exist in a completely different world (Quebec?). In Ontario, you would risk being criminally charged for at least 1/4 of these gags. I can't help but criticize ourself for being too uptight. Just for Laughs Gags are the funniest thing ever.
Check it out online - here

2008-12-14T19:29:00.001-05:00

This is part of something. I didn't watch the rest. I found this oddly while searching for Christmas youth group games. I have no idea what the context of this is supposed to be. I found it strangely entertaining.

"The End's Not Near" by The New Year

2008-11-24T13:21:00.002-05:00

"Disease" by The New Year

The New Year - Touch and Go 25h Anniversary gig

I love this record!

2008-11-03T11:12:00.000-05:00

THE NEW YEAR

News | Albums | Audio/Video | Shows | Store | History | Links | Contact

The End Is Near - Complete Lyrics

THE NEW YEAR The End is Near

The End's Not Near

The end's not near
It's here
Alleluia
Spread the cheer
And watch the millenarians
Throw a party for a thousand years

You won't see the pious praying
They'll be too busy flaying
All the martyrs with better ways
To stop the world decaying

If you call me I won't be home
I'm hiding from the kingdom come
They can't see everything on earth
With the satellites and the roving drones

This is why hell is underground
Like a reclaimed bad part of town
We don't want to lose our souls
We're the saints who don't want to be found

-Matt Kadane

Sinking Ship

I'm driving slow
Because I don't want to show up early
There's nothing worse than a party
When you don't know anybody

The men want to get it on
The women want to show it off
I just want to get out of here
And unhook my smile from my ears

The exit may be behind you
Take some time to look
When this party crashes
That's time you'll wish you took

Because all these quick friendships
Can't survive a sinking ship
I just want to get through
That bad vodka and the dip

-Matt Kadane

Chinese Handcuffs

I've come to face myself
In a staring contest in the mirror
Where there's more chance of victory
Than in an argument with you

We're not two peas in a pod
We're two fingers in Chinese handcuffs
The more we pull we stay
The more we stay we pull
Apart this wicker toy
With it the joy
The things that bind in pain
Keep us in love

-Matt Kadane

Plan B

This isn't breaking my back
But my spirit
You know that it is
when you just take it
and start to forget who you were

It's not just the hours
that feel so wasted
I've wasted more than this
when I used to just look
for a way around everything

I did it all to stay clean
It was instinct

This isn't hard on my hands
And I wouldn't care if it was
I'd rather not even think
if I have to think
inside this other world

This may be just what I need
Keep everything separated

I'll never really stay clean
No way I can see

This may be just what I need
Keep everything

It may be what I need
But it's not what I want
Anymore

-Bubba Kadane

Disease

It was summer
And a hundred and six degrees
The air was hot water
There was no motion in the trees
And in this weather only two things grow
Or three
Frustration
Hot tempers
And disease

That menace has found us again
It's not just the old giving up and in
Don't let it take your breath away

We're all feeling ill at ease
Since we were swinging through the trees
And everyone knows that no one will ever know the true source of
disease

I don't know about God
But I'm sure there's a devil
You see it in the eyes
Of every man and woman who's ill
I don't know about heaven or our souls
But our bodies are all going to hell

And disease has found us again
In a few healthy years
Did we think it would end
Don't let it take your breath away

-Matt Kadane

Age of Conceit

Last week I would have said there's no way
Today I'm giving in
I don't believe in what I now have to believe in
But no one sees and end to the end

I have a recurrent memory
The world has its legs spread in front of me
Now they mark off the limits of the possible
They went on forever now they come together

But legs can't stay uncrossed for long
The pleasure can't escape the perverse
We have to stay together
The men have taken over
The vainglorious masters of fact
Give me back my childhood
But let me keep my beard
I'll be the freakish little man

Do you feel inspired
I'm not fired up (all I feel is tired)
There's no motive in misery

You're smiling through your teeth
It's shaken your belief
There's no hiding in self loathing

Your friends are digging in
And squirting out their kin
And giving up on self-definition

This is a new age of conceit

-Matt Kadane

Start

I left everything a mile from here
I dropped it when I thought it was the end
Can I go back and get everything I left
And start where I stopped

You mean it's too late to change my mind
I have to live with my decision
Quitting at the first sign of trouble
and have to live with the decision

Can I still go back and get anything
and start where I stopped
Pick up everything I left
so I can just start where I stopped

You mean there's no way to turn around
I have to live without revision
Learning too late to do any good
and I have to live with my decisions

Just let me go
Let me go back

-Bubba Kadane

18

Even when you're looking
Out of a body that's one day away
From being a corpse
You still feel eighteen on the inside

This is something you should know
There's no escaping getting old
But did I hear that when I was told so
When I was eighteen on the outside

Even when you're smiling
From the side of your mouth
I can hear you say that you want out
You still feel carefree on the inside

Somebody come through that window
And get me out of here
I thought we'd go through together
But I've never been so wrong

-Matt Kadane

Stranger to Kindness

Your teeth are grinding down into sand
Your fingers are coming through your hands
Your hair is graying
Your eyes are shaking

You can't expect the kindness of strangers
From those strangers to kindness
But don't acquiesce
Control your anger
You're in danger in this part of the world

Are we cowards
Are they jackals
Are we bitter
Or better off than they are

They jump into bed like it's the end of the world
Have those girls never seen boys
And have those boys ever loved men
They ones who give head to get ahead

-Matt Kadane

All songs copyright Kadane/Kadane (Bedhead Songs, ASCAP)

The left and right wing

2008-10-31T16:15:00.002-04:00

These wings both seem to perpetuate philosophies that seem somewhat simple on the surface but are extremely mind blowing just under the surface.

Is it fair to say that the right represents a desire for Justice with a selective motive towards mercy
While the left represents a desire for Mercy with a selective motive towards justice.

Does not the bible teach generally that humans are to practice mercy while justice is to be left to the lord?

Another angle, Are not powerful operators of systems responsible for that which they can not make use of? For example, a responsibility is placed upon for grocery stores for food that is waisted. They are limited in regards to how much they can waist. On the other hand companies often find it necessary to destroy old stock in order to maintain the economic need. Lamps that go out of style are sometimes destroyed in order to limit the number of lamps available rather than sell the lamps too cheaply and destroy the demand for expensive lamps. Does not the nation have in the same way a responsibility to those souls that it is not able to make use of within the system that it is operating? The system must either be changed to incorporate these people or they must be paid off and given a minimum standard of living for the systems inability to make them a part of the joy and surplus that everyone is able to experience through it's dynamics and structures.

It is for these reasons that I cannot understand why there is a Christian Right. Can't we leave that job to people like Ayn Rand?

thank you for reading these thoughts.

Drinking shrink brain?!?

2008-10-14T22:28:00.002-04:00

"In fact, any level of alcohol consumption resulted in a decline in brain volume." -here and here

Doctors

2008-10-10T15:39:00.002-04:00

So. For the past two weeks everytime that I lean forward, or slouch slightly, my left arm goes completely numb. I go to the doctor and wait in the waiting room for 2 hours and then he tells me that it's just a mechanical problem and I should sit up straight. Looks at me like I'm an idiot.

This is why I don't like going to doctors. I guess that this is the type of thing that a person is supposed to just ignore then?

2008-09-25T13:50:00.001-04:00

what's on, tv?

2008-08-07T09:51:00.002-04:00

Television
Great Zen Ocean
You make me feel like my experiences aren't that unique
With less thoughts of unexplored magic in the world
You help me keep in sink with the opinions of the status quo
In only 31 years, I have lived thousands of years through your characters

ani difranco subdivision

2008-07-12T11:13:00.002-04:00

I was listening to random music today and this just kind of hit me:

White people are so scared of black people.
They bulldoze out to the country, and put up houses on little loop-d-loop streets.
And while America gets its heart cut right out of its chest
The Berlin wall still runs down main street separating east side from west.
And nothing is stirring, not even a mouse, in the boarded up stores and the broken down houses
So they hang colorful banners off all the street lamps
Just to prove they got no manners, no mercy, and no sense.
And I'm wondering what it will take for my city to rise.
First we admit our mistakes and then we open our eyes.
The ghost of old buildings are haunting parking lots in the city of good neighbors that history forgot.
I remember the first time I saw someone lying on the cold street
I thought, "I can't just walk past here, this can't just be true."
But I learned by example to just keep moving my feet.
It's amazing the things that we all learn to do.
So we're led by denial like lambs to the slaughter
Serving empires of style and carbonated sugar water and the old farmroad's a four-lane
That leads to the mall and our dreams are all guillotines waiting to fall
And I'm wondering what it will take for my country to rise.
First we admit our mistakes and then we open our eyes.
or nature succumbs to one last dumb decision
And America the beautiful is just one big subdivision.

Hegel's Dialectic process, evil?

2008-07-03T16:17:00.002-04:00

Is Hegel's Dialectic process being used as an evil attack against Christian thought?
The Institution for Authority Research thinks so.

Hey, can't we come to a consensus on this?!?

Here is an interview with the Institution for Authority Research's president, Dean Gotcher called, "

UNDERSTANDING HOW THE HEGELIAN DIALECTIC

IS TRANSFORMING THE WORLD TO BRING IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER"

There are definitely some thought provoking ideas here. Whether you end up agreeing or disagreeing, it is much worth taking a look at.

no more satellite tv.

2008-06-30T21:46:00.001-04:00

God works in mysterious ways. A mixture of conviction, and fear can create a shortage of free entertainment. sometimes. in general.

A lesson on Pride and Shame from the Avatar Cartoon

2008-06-26T09:10:00.002-04:00

I watched this and it made me think. I googled around and found the following description of the interaction here. I bolded the last bit for added emphasis because that's the point:

The antagonists in the series are also multilayered and fully realized personalities. Zuko, the obsessed Fire Prince who would be Aang’s nemesis, is disgraced and banned from the Fire Nation, and believes he can achieve redemption only through capturing the Avatar, who, legend has it, is the only thing that can stop the Fire Nation from destroying the rest of the world. Zuko was disgraced arguing with a general in counsel over using troops as cannon fodder in a diversionary tactic, and is told he must settle the matter in a fire duel. He accepts, imagining he will fight the general, not realizing that by speaking out in counsel, he has offended the Fire Lord – his father. He refuses to fire upon his father, and is fire-scarred and accused of cowardice, and exiled.

He is accompanied by his Uncle, who is also disgraced for having failed in a siege against the Earth Nation capital city of Ba Sing Se, during which his son was killed. General Iroh, memorably voiced by the remarkable late actor Mako, is perhaps the most intriguing character in the series, capable of great wisdom and buffoonery, but a man who despite his grief strives to repair the damage to his nephew’s soul. In one remarkable sequence, he is attempting to teach Zuko to control lightning. Finally, after numerous fizzles, he tells Zuko, “You cannot control your anger until you have dealt with your shame,” to which Zuko retorts, “I am not ashamed. I have never been more proud of who I am than now.” Iroh replies, “You think that pride is the opposite of shame. It is not. It is the source of shame.”

Living near Waterloo, this strikes me as very relivant. Waterloo has been labeled Canada's smartest city. Some days, it seems like it could also be Canada's most ego driven city. That may not be fair. Cities in general are not laid back places with people constantly competing for scarce resources. I think it's important to think, when you meet people who act proud and put others down, what is it that they are ashaimed of? Same goes for ourselves.

Youth Ministry Books

2008-06-24T21:06:00.002-04:00

I've been reading a bunch of youth ministry books lately trying to get up to speed and fill my head with relevant knowledge. While a lot of these books make a lot of good points, I have to say, what a bunch of over-sensitive complainers. I guess that I just don't get it yet, but it seems like a lot of these authors are really negative about their experience.
I got a lot of helpful points out of, "things that they don't teach you about youth ministry that you should know", and then I've started reading doug fields, "your first two years in youth ministry" and it has a lot of good points, but he makes it sound like such an emotional roller coaster. I've also started reading duffy robbins, "this way to youth ministry" and it has kind of the same feel to it.

Ontario Wage Survey

2008-06-17T15:08:00.001-04:00

How much do people make in your area make in various fields? Find out here

concept

2008-06-17T12:56:00.002-04:00

I see that the dollhouse is all boarded up and for sale. Someone should buy it and turn it into a church and arts centre. Just picture it, Come bare your soul on the stage where women once bared their bodies. It could be powerful.

dream

2008-06-17T12:44:00.002-04:00

I went into a McDonald's naked. I wasn't being a pervert, I was just too lazy to put clothes on and wanted to get something to eat. I saw some people that I knew and felt self conscious about the whole situation.
I put on a bathing suit and went swimming in a giant puddle in the parking lot.
The police got me. I tried to explain it all to them, but they thought I was a pervert. I was afraid that I would lose my new job. I managed to convince the police that I just wasn't thinking properly and hadn't been walking around naked on purpose. They agreed to take me for some kind of blood test to figure out if there was some reason that I wouldn't be thinking clearly. It was late and they had to catch a few more criminals before they could do the test on me. I was still hungry, so I asked if I could get something to eat. I got a big mac meal from McDonald's because I figured with a big mac meal coursing through my veins they would be sure to find something wrong with me.

we want simple answers

2008-06-15T08:27:00.002-04:00

for the most part, none of us really want to think.

I've been told that addicts often obtain medications of their choice by going to a doctor and faking symptoms. Some of us like to imagine that a doctor could have some deep analysis of things, but quite often they just respond to what is presented.

Aren't we all like this for the most part? While some of would like to try to describe life in all it's complexities, what people see is the simple label; that's what he is like.

In the end, is it better to try to present reality as you see it in all it's complexities or is it better to just focus on presenting yourself well? If you show up somewhere and say, hey, life is kind of sad sometimes, people are going to think that you're depressing. If you act like you have it all together, people will probably assume that you do...

It's kind of unfortunate that the world is like that for those of us who would like a little bit more gray and to speak of reality rather than presentation.... but it kind of is.

Yup

2008-06-14T11:17:00.004-04:00

So, I'm beginning my first part time position working at a church। I've decided to take the spotlight off this blog a little bit for now for reasons of privacy, and just in case I've ever said anything on here in a moment of contemplation that might interfere with my new assignments.

I have put in place a new design for this blog that reflects a spirit of minimalism and have stripped away a basic reasonable amount of identifying information. If someone where really looking for this blog, they could probably easily find it and figure out the connection with me, but disconnecting it from facebook, I'm at least not shoving it in peoples faces.

I will probably eventually start a new blog with more of a focus on what is relevant to the youth group. I also intend to keep using this blog because I enjoy it. I just plan to keep it more on the down and low.

Please pray for this new journey that I'm embarking upon. Specifically that I will form good connections with the people at the church and that God will bless them through me and also that I will make wise decisions especially concerning what programs to implement and when to keep my mouth shut. My mind has been working hard, and I have a few major ideas for programs to create, but I need to know what is most in line with God's will and not just that I'm coming up with things on my own strength. I need help knowing how best to spend my time and who in the community to work at connecting with and who to reach out to.

While your at it, a friend of mine's mother has brain cancer, if you could say a prayer for his family, that would also be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your prayers and support

facebook notes and posted items

2008-05-19T11:00:00.002-04:00

Does anyone understand how notes and posted items on facebook work. I have it set up so that it takes what I post on my blog and makes it into a note on facebook. Do I then have to go to the note and click on share and post the note as well, or is that completely redundant? When it makes my blog post into a note, does it announce it to the world, or does it only do that if I post it as well? or does it announce it to the world twice if I post something that is already a note? Or is there a setting for it to automatically post it?

Calling and Coincidence

2008-05-19T10:25:00.003-04:00

It seems that for the most part, off the top of my head, their are three types of calling that modern Christians speak of: a) The internal sense of calling b) The general calling, as in, this is just what the bible says that we should do c) The coincidence calling, where everything falls in to place and seems like more than just a coincidence... If everything came together like that, it must be a sign from God.

Signs and having things fall in to place or in sync are certainly not unique to Christianity. I've rambled on this blog before about my limited knowledge of Carl Jung's idea of Syncronicities, in 70's new age pop culture there was the (in my opinion very poorly written and annoying) book Celestine Prophecy, and lets face it, nearly every religious group has ancient texts of some sort where magical things happen or life comes together in a fantastic way. It leaves us to wonder if the Calling of Coincidence is only for the Christian.

Have you ever had a calling of coincidence that didn't come to fruition? Nearing the end of my bible college degree, I went and talked to a local representative for Youth for Christ because I was looking in to different places that I might work for a while. I ended up telling him about another plan that I had been thinking over. I had been considering becoming a Katimavik leader (having been a participant several years earlier). I talked to him and we prayed about it and then I went across the street to the Tim Horton's to write in my journal a bit. While I was sitting in the Tim Hortons, the first Katimavik van that I had seen since participating over 5 years earlier drove right past the window. I was so excited and was sure that it was a sign from God.

The thing about it all was that after doing several phone interviews and two different full day group interviews, I didn't get a job with Katimavik.

What did end up happening was that someone from church who I had only known for a short time gave me an old car and then someone else from my church said that he had been praying about a job for me and a local homeless shelter had come in to his mind and then I got a job at that homeless shelter where I drove a lot of the homeless men around in the car that I had been given and tried to help them with finding housing. I've moved on from that job to other work now after doing it for three years.
Now, I'm happily married and I'm glad that I didn't become a Katimavik project leader because I wouldn't be where I am right now. But what a strange thing life can be, hey?

I don't know if I can imagine God saying, "Okay, this is what we are going to do... no, wait! I have a better idea". Maybe, he would?!? It's strange to think of change in calling like that.. or maybe it's not... or maybe it has to do with prayer.

The Bible tells us that God hears the prayers of righteous people:
(from the message version)
James 5:16
Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.
Proverbs 15:29
God keeps his distance from the wicked;
he closely attends to the prayers of God-loyal people.

It's fairly common practice for Christians to get other Christians to pray for important things in their lives. This can be a community building activity, but it also might be that it just takes the right person to pray. When Jesus walked the earth, lots of people wanted him to heal the sick or pray for people because they saw that he was able to do these things effectively.

Could it be that someone had prayed for me to become a Katimavik leader and then a more righteous person had prayed for something even better?
I wonder if God just decides to do things on his own, there are bible stories where he negotiates with people and we are taught that prayer is very important. Maybe God prefers to work in consultation with the community.

contemplating the meaning of calling

2008-05-18T22:42:00.002-04:00

The Christian idea of being called to something is an important one and I'm still working through it.
For me, there are two issues, a) does God call people to things and b) in what way should a person choose to speak about what God has called them to. The first question is the easier question, I do believe that in a variety of ways, God calls people. The second question is more difficult for me. Is it appropriate for people to go around saying that God has called them to this or that.
There is also an aspect in there somewhere of occupational calling. They say that this was a Calvanist idea whereby people would be destined to one particular line of work and God would call them in to it. I'm not sure about that; I mean, ya, it probably happens sometimes, but what about people who just aren't called in to any particular line of work. Don't such people get left out? Maybe fairness was never supposed to be the main focus of this...
But that brings me back to talking about calling. Should a person be like Gideon and be skeptical of that which God has called them to do? We live in an era that values skepticism a lot. Or on the slightest suspicion that God is guiding you to do something, should you immediately go and tell everyone this? I guess that I tend to be a bit more like Gideon because I've heard a lot of people say a lot of things that a person should be skeptical of. I mean, apart from whatever vocabulary you choose to use to express your own faith, I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few people out there somewhere who would say that they are called to something for imperfect reasons. Often social pressures can be overwhelming and we can't all relentlessly express the exact truth as we understand it in all situations like Mr. Marsault in Albert Camus' L'Etranger.
I think that "Calling" or "Called" must be some sort of very powerful word that we should be careful how we make use of. It would be true to say that the thing in front of my couch is a table and someday it might be true to call that thing something other than a table but only under a few circumstances. I might call it garbage if it became no longer good and it was thrown out. I might cut it up and put it back together and call it some sort of ramp. I might chop it to pieces and call it fire wood. maybe without physically changing, in some other situation, it could be called a bench or a workspace. But if I went around saying that it was called a pumpkin, I would be confused and I would be confusing other people who may be trying to figure out what it is themselves. How much stranger would it be if God called it a table and I tried to argue that it was somethings else.
I think that when people talk about calling, they are talking about what they are called in there current form and situation. I think that to get that sort of thing wrong or to wave it as a flag to show our own greatness just increases the confusion for those who are trying to figure out what things are called; to learn the language so to speak.
If Christians are all parts of Christs body, maybe we need to find knew ways to see what we are called. I'm often uncertain of what I'm called and it seems better to say nothing at all.

Mac users and my site

2008-05-14T07:43:00.002-04:00

Do mac users have difficulty loading my site? I just loaded it in Safari for windows and it locked up. I checked my stats and have only 1% mac visitors.

2008-05-03T10:37:00.002-04:00

Does anyone know where I can find some more music from The Wisdom of Harry or other music from Pete Astor?

Guitar Hero controllers used to make live music

2008-05-02T19:26:00.000-04:00

Weird... I want to do this now!

Ellis Island Sound - Waveney Waltz

2008-05-02T19:19:00.000-04:00

Food Not Bombs article in the Record (newspaper)

2008-04-30T21:27:00.001-04:00

Here it is

Food Not Bombs

2008-04-18T15:18:00.003-04:00

I just received an e-mail saying that "Food Not Bombs (FNB) has just been served with a 'cease and desist order" asking us to stop 'distributing free food" at the Kitchener City Hall Civic Square, which we have been doing quite publicly and without incident for almost 10 years."
They are doing a letter writing thing and having people, "pack the chambers of city Hall on May 5th" when it will be discussed.

I used to help out with food not bombs at one time and I thought that it was a pretty good thing all in all. It would be a shame to have it ceased. On the other hand, I think that they should consider going to the media as this would raise awareness about poverty.
The local Food Not Bombs is co-ordinated through the waterloo and laurie's group wpirg and can be contacted at http://www.wpirg.org .

Food not bombs, as far as I recall, makes vegetarian food out of things that would otherwise be thrown out and distributes it for free in public areas as a form of protest over food distribution. Although the food might being handed out might come in handy to someone who is poor or oppressed by the system, it is handed out to anyone. Giving it to everyone makes it not just for 'those people' and emphasizes that it is really a protest. The poor might feel more comfortable eating the food if they saw non-poor people eating it as well. It is really a statement about food distribution and the fact that some people can't afford nutritious food while at the same time vegetables are often thrown out.
It's a good thing. It doesn't scratch the surface of the poverty issues downtown and it isn't always a reliable source of a meal for people, but what it does do is make a statement. It also gives some students a chance to experience volunteering on a noble task. Do what you can.
Such a statement should expect to be challenged.

Randy Pausch Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

2008-04-16T21:14:00.001-04:00

I can't quite wrap my head around the idea that finding a way to make children want to do computer programming = a good thing. It just makes me imagine a nightmarish world where people would be able to say "a life is a waste of good coding time" to kids.

The first bit and the last bit of this video are quite interesting. Unless you have a lot of free time on your hands, skipping the middle hour, and just know that he developed some revolutionary university program for IT students and artist, is probably the ideal way to watch it.

5440 - Casual Viewing

2008-04-16T21:03:00.002-04:00

I've always kind of liked this song. Wow! What these people did with it though is really more interesting than the original video. nice work!

"You can't Rollerskate in a Buffalo Herd" by Roger Miller

2008-03-25T07:22:00.001-04:00

I heard this song on CBC the other day. It's great. I found it on YouTube, I don't know who's pictures these are.

Datarock - Computer Camp Love

2008-03-03T22:15:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! it's the new new thing!

Mapquest got us lost in Toronto.

2008-03-03T19:57:00.003-05:00

10 points for anyone who can identify what is wrong with the following directions:

Driving Directions from Kitchener, ON to Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Pk, Toronto, ON

These are actual directions provided by mapquest that take you to a small suburb like drive called Queens drive and not to the Royal Ontario Museum as they state.

Directions Distance
Total Est. Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes Total Est. Distance: 94.04 km
1: Start out going SOUTHEAST on KING ST W toward GAUKEL ST. 3.1 km
2: KING ST W becomes PROVINCIAL ROUTE 8 E. 7.4 km
3: Take the HWY-401 E exit. 1.3 km
4: Merge onto PROVINCIAL ROUTE 401 E. 64.5 km
5: Keep LEFT to take HWY-401 EXPRESS E toward AIRPORT. 11.3 km
6: Keep RIGHT to take HWY-401 COLLECTORS E toward ISLINGTON AVE. / WESTON ROAD / BLACK CREEK DR.. 3.2 km
7: Take the HWY-400 exit- EXIT 359- toward BLACK CREEK DR.. 0.4 km
8: Merge onto PROVINCIAL ROUTE 400 S toward BLACK CREEK DRIVE. 0.9 km
9: Take the JANE STREET exit- EXIT 20. 0.3 km
10: Turn RIGHT onto JANE ST. 0.4 km
11: Turn RIGHT onto QUEENS DR. 0.7 km
12: End at Royal Ontario Museum:
100 Queens Pk, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6, CA
Total Est. Time: 1 hour, 5 minutesTotal Est. Distance: 94.04 km
map
Start:

Kitchener, ON CA
End:

Royal Ontario Museum: 416-586-5549
100 Queens Pk, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6, CA

Need something to do

2008-02-29T15:55:00.002-05:00

I've been getting a lot of reading done. My wife bought me "The Year of Living Biblically" by A.J. Jacobs for Valentines day and I'm already 275 pages in to it.
I'm working with a disabled client and, as long as I do all the required work, I am able to read while he watches movies. Last week I picked up some extra hours working with him, so between that and another job, I have full time work now.

The problem is that I feel like I need to make better use of this free time that I have. I want to learn something.

Can anyone recommend any distance education courses, certifications, or absolutely life changing books that I can occupy myself with?
The things that I have looked at or thought about:
- Mdiv at McMaster (problem being I wouldn't be able to start something like this immediately)
- Addiction Counselor program at McMaster (Same problem)
- Starting to work on a B.A. from a real university (Same problem)
- Working on a B.A. from one of those distance education universities. (I understand that it's difficult to transfer these type of credits and they seem to cost a lot of money for what you get)
- Reading text books (maybe)
- Trying to learn a language on my own...
- looking in to getting a motor boat licence
- Reading some computer books to try to learn the material for one of those microsoft certifications (the problem being I'm not sure that I would make any more use of this than when I studied computers before.
- Just reading some really great books (any suggestions?)

Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas?

2008-02-29T15:52:00.000-05:00

Quality Generosity Safety Structure Support Systematic

1 cor 1

2008-01-22T14:20:00.000-05:00

I recently copied nearly all of my mp3's on to an external hard drive. I bought a really cool one using christmas money and a gift certificate from my honey plus a few extra bucks. I can plug this thing directly in to the tv and watch all episodes of the office, black and white twilight zone, arrested development, or sliders that I want. but I digress.

In order to work, it needs to be plugged in to the electricity. If I unplug it to plug the vacuum in, and then plug it back in, for a few minutes my party shuffle seems to populate itself entirely with songs by Modest Mouse and an audio bible clip of 1 Cor 1.

After (accidentally?) listening to 1 Cor 1 quite a few times lately, it got me thinking about a few things.

10I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas^[a]"; still another, "I follow Christ."

13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into^[b] the name of Paul? 14I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 16(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

This is a very interesting section. I think that this is a good reminder in light of the vast division that the church is currently experiencing that we are baptized in to Christ and not in to specific leaders or denominations. You can't get baptized in to those kind of things, they weren't crucified for you. You can only get Baptized in to Christ.

18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."^[c]

20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."^[d]

Somehow, Jesus Christ saved us through a total self sacrifice, and this showed up every intelligent thing that we, as a human race, have ever managed to put together. So, don't go around saying how great Paul is, or how great Kierkegaard is, or how great the pope is, or how great some other smart man is. Let's hear it for Jesus. He really knows how to posit the existential paradox. His medium of choice? a cross, not "words of human wisdom".

The Golden Compass

2008-01-22T13:29:00.000-05:00

Imaginary interviewer - How did you like the Golden Compass?

Me - I liked it. I heard the the pope wasn't a big fan, but we don't always agree on everything, ya know?

I.I - Have you read the book?
Me - No, I just watched the movie. The book could be different.

I.I. - Wasn't it Satanic and hateful towards all that is good?

Me - Na... not really. It mostly starts out criticizing an establishment in a fictional world that caries a lot of parallels to how some people might see the catholic church. These folks are all about oppressing the truth because it doesn't fit with their ideology and their need to maintain power and control. It reminds me of how in real life people didn't want to admit that the world was round because they wanted people to believe it has 4 corners.

The movie also has tones of the inquisition with the catholic establishment'esque folks using cruel means against those who disagree with them.

By the end of the movie, their are a lot of words like "witch" and "deamon" being thrown around and portrayed as good, but this isn't really offensive either. The reason that it's not offensive is because these are just names for things. Just because you call something a "deamon" or a "witch" doesn't mean that it is the same thing that the bible is talking about when it talks about a deamon or witch.

If you take away the language that is used and the genre and just look at the themes of the story, you basically have The Matrix, and as we all know Christians loved The Matrix. Why are we so kind to The Matrix and so unkind to The Golden Compass? If the computer in The Matrix was somehow metaphorically connected with Catholicism and Neo was looking for the truth with the help of witches and had his own personal Deamon, would the pope have called it, "godless and hopeless"?

Those who are rejected from the establishment seem to be fighting for truth. The golden compass is a tool that points people to the truth and the characters are on an epic journey in search of truth. Truth as it is rather than how it has been forced down their throat.

In the end, I laugh at the irony that the pope would criticize this movie. The underlying message seems to be that the catholic church attempts to quiet or oppress voices that go against it's own. Does it? Am I wrong in thinking that this is not what we should do?

I think that in some ways, this is a good movie for Christians to watch. It's important to ask the question, does the church act oppressively to those who are only seeking truth the best way that they know how? Does the church have a monopoly on truth? We've been wrong about things before in history. Is it really wise to take a "my way or the highway" approach to propagating the gospel?

Itunes 7.6

2008-01-22T13:19:00.000-05:00

Anyone else notice that their MP3's sound different on the new itunes (7.6.....) ?
Could just be me... Something sounds different though... It could be playing the compressed file more accurately and making it sound worse...
Sounds like the crappyness that you hear when an eq or base boost or some other kind of odd processing is being used....
I installed the .net architecture and the thoosje optimizer the other day... it doesn't optimize your audio processing at all, does it?!?
I donno... I'll probably just get used to it and then it will be normal... it's just something different in the sound.

Let Me Get Down

2007-12-16T09:35:00.000-05:00

The rules:
1. Put your music player on Shuffle
2. For each question, press the Next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT (this is in capital letters, so it is very serious).
BEGIN
1. IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
(I'm Gonna) Sing, Sing, Sing (Hank Williams)
2. WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
I feel Love (Blue Man Group)
3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
End (The Cure)
4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Bring the Mood (Janes Addiction)
5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
Gentlemen's agreement (The Fall)
6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Flush Thumb Blues (Tara Jane O'neil)
7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Halloween (Sonic Youth)
8. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
Easy Ride (The Doors)
9. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
What it's like to be Made... (New Idea Society)
10. WHAT IS 2+2?
Mince Up (Octant)
11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Tame (Pixies)
12. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Come Back To Your Man (Songs: Ohia)
13. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Karma Police (Radio Head)
14. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Tim Buckley Cove (Dot Allison)
15. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
I will never Marry (Moth Wranglers)
16. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Mo Money Mo Problems (Notorious BIG)
17. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Ringfinger (Nine Inch Nails)
18. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Noel, Jonah and Me (The Spinanes)
19. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Fool (Cat Power)
20. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
A Past Gone Mad (The Fall)
21. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Wrong Number (The Cure)
22. WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS?
Let Me Get Down (Notorious BIG)

Wizard of Oz - Dark side of the moon

2007-11-25T22:14:00.000-05:00

The legendary synchronicity. the pink floyd classic dubs perfectly over the classic movie.

bible quote thingy

2007-11-06T21:11:00.000-05:00

I feel like the bible quote of the week thing that I have at the top of my blog has an agenda. It said something about obeying the government and something about paying taxes and obeying the government all in one week. I think that it has an agenda.

While I enjoy the idea of displaying random bible verses, I wouldn't want completely random verses because there are a few things that need to be in context.... I also don't want random bible verses with too much of an agenda. Does anyone have any suggestions for a better random bible verse program?

2007-10-26T21:26:00.000-04:00

After spending the past couple months going to a pile of different churches, we went last week to one that we kind of enjoyed. We may have finally found our new church!

http://www.freedomkw.com/

Thinking outloud about God's will and church denominations

2007-10-11T08:38:00.000-04:00

Quakers and Existentialists have a similar problem, starting out to promote the great truth of the subjective experience of Christianity. Ending up being hijacked by people who talk about subjective experience of whatever God.

Most other Christian institutions have a similar problem; Starting out to promote what they have experienced as the fundamentals of Christianity along with a love for Christ. Ending up being hijacked by people who talk about the rules, theologies, and denominational "party lines" that cause division... Usually in the name of unity.

Churches, and quakers, and Existentialists, and Nature can all be used by God as forms of evangelism. God can use your church. ;But his ultimate goal is not to have you conform to a denominational party line.
There are many things things that I could say here as being God's ultimate goal, but I'm not going to take a swing at that today.

2007-10-09T12:13:00.000-04:00

Apparently "God Hates Religion", according to the meeting house.
That's funny because I don't think I hate religion.
I don't hate church either.
I don't even hate denominations,
but what I realized the other day is that I do hate the denominations "party lines".
Why does each denomination hold so tightly to core beliefs that alienate other denominations?
More on this as time allows...

Daniel 4

2007-10-08T19:40:00.000-04:00

..God is in control of the earthly kingdoms and can put people in power and take away their power...

...In social work language, we wouldn't say that Nebuchadnezzar was prideful, we would say that he had power and control issues...

- When Nebuchadnezzar looks at the city, he sees only his own work.
- When we look at our own lives do we see only our own work or do we see God's work?

Proverbs 16:18
Luke 18:9-14
Micah 6:7-9

There are 2 deeper issues that come to mind from reading this scripture:

1) seems like a salvation story... it's in the old testament, reads like Nebuchadnezzar is reconciled to God in some sense or at least acknowledges God's power. There is no mention of the law. This fits with the author of Romans use of Abraham as a person saved by grace (Romans 4). Interesting... The law and grace as represented in the bible are confusing themes at times. Especially O.T. law and grace.

2) "Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes." When I think of all the chaos in the world and it's leaders, this seems like a difficult teaching. I guess that we can all rest safely knowing that God knows what he's doing... but in the case of some world leaders, it wouldn't have been my first guess to think they were given their position by God.. hey, it's a complicated world after all. I guess that we really don't know the mind of God.

Who are you most like in Daniel Chapter 4?
- The faithful Daniel
- The Prideful Nebuchadnezzar
- Nebuchadnezzar as he experienced the insanity of God's wrath
- Or a redeemed Nebuchadnezzar who has realized the falsities of his thinking and gives all praise and glory to our most high God.

unicorn radio

2007-09-24T10:25:00.000-04:00

I just noticed that my favorite online radio station has improved it's bit rate from 32 to 96kps!!!! It sounds great! Worth checking it out

http://www.uc.pl/

Why teaching as many worldviews as possible as well as possible would glorify truth

2007-09-20T11:53:00.001-04:00

I'm a Christian. This is not an anti christian argument, it's a pro christian argument.

There are three different ways that people think that people become christians:
1. God Chooses them
2. They Choose God
3. They are in a community or environment where Christianity is the only worldview that is explained properly.

Therefore, teach the youth as many worldviews as possible, as well as possible, and let the truth shine for itself.

An idea to promote true free speach

2007-09-20T10:17:00.000-04:00

Every month in every town or the area surrounding a high school, a person should be selected from the towns population at complete random. The entire school would be assembled and the random person from the town would have to talk to them for half an hour about whatever they wanted to.
Any child who made fun of the speaker loudly would have to eat a habanero pepper.

On grouping similar items

2007-08-22T11:54:00.000-04:00

Do you ever share my suspicion that life is just one big wood pile? Humans seem to have this endless compulsion to sort and stack things of one sort or another.
On a simple level, this isn't saying anything very interesting. Yes, we wash the dishes and then pile them in a cupboard to separate the dirt and properly store the useful item.
But on a more complex level, I think this becomes much more interesting.

Are not literature and essays also just an attempt to clean and stack things and group similar items. Philosophers and Theologians and poets have spent eternity writing and creating, but is any of it more than just a variety of attempts at creating a good sorting methodology for concepts. To stack one word upon another... To stack one letter upon another to form a word... To stack one sentence upon another to create a well thought out argument or an interesting story. To create something solid. To create a nicely stacked woodpile that won't easily fall over. To say that this idea belongs here and that idea belongs there. To put some dry wood in the basement and stack the rest outside to let it dry out.

Humans are creatures who sort and pile things. Hairbrushoiewutrafowa. Hey! Those letters don't belong there!

Reality is paradox

2007-08-03T23:42:00.000-04:00

Whether you imagine the universe being created out of nothing in a big scientific bang, or created by God who always existed, there is a feeling of paradox in thinking about the beginning. Cause and effect seems to be thrown out the window when you think about the universe.

The universe of your mind is similar. You consciousness just seems start out of no where. You can't remember anything before you were born... except for some people who believe they remember past lives... but one day you didn't exist and the next day you did. Whether you believe that you were born from your parents or that you suddenly appeared from a scientific explosion, you at one point became a conscious being.

These are amazing and absurd impossibilities. For a lot of people it would be much easier to believe that the universe doesn't exist and that people can't actually reason.

In realities great game of rock, paper, scissors, the paradoxical beets the reasonable every time... I don't know what the reasonable beets... maybe the stupid... oddly, that would mean that the stupid beets the paradoxical if we follow this metaphor to it's stupid logical conclusion. Seems like a bit of a paradox to me.

Based on that, I predict that after the somewhat paradoxical reasoning of postmodernism, the next great intellectual paradigm shift or renaissance will be one towards stupidity... and after that we'll get logic again...

The Bible

2007-08-02T20:26:00.000-04:00

I could probably say that the Bible hasn't lost a bit of it's awe and magnificence or that it has, but I wouldn't say either with a great force of enthusiasm. You see, going to a Bible college is in some ways a lot like choosing to lock yourself in a church for four years, only with some extra rules that you have to sign off on that are geared to protect those young and delicate souls for whom this is their first experience away from some even more structured situation.

And then you get back to real life, bettered by the experience and the knowledge that you have gained, but I find myself also somehow really glad that that wasn't my starting point for real world experience and that I lived before I went to Bible college. I learned a lot of really great things at bible college but on a practical day to day basis, a lot of the things that I learned prior to it are as helpful or more. I still need God's help every single day in all sorts of ways, and while I find time for prayer, I don't read the Bible that much. There tends to be other things to do. I don't tend to stop and meditate on scripture the way that I used to, but it doesn't seem like a problem. In some ways I felt like I was missing out on more locked away at Bible college.

I've seen God use the Bible to change the lives of people who are struggling with some serious issues before at the hostel. I've seen that happen a few times, but not as much as I really would like to. I still like the bible a lot and haven't taken a break from believing it, but maybe taking a break from the need to read it all the time.

us after the nuclear explosion

2007-07-17T10:59:00.000-04:00

A lesson on living in an apartment building

2007-07-03T22:37:00.000-04:00

I just went out and watered the tomato, pumpkin and two pepper plants on the 6th floor balcony here where I live. The pumpkin just happens to be planted in one of those containers that leeks out the bottom. It's looking the least healthy of any of them, and I decided to give them all an extra good watering tonight, more than usual.

Well, I dump an entire large salad bowl full of water on to my pumpkin plant in the container with the holes in the bottom and I watch a minute later as a lot of the water runs out through the bottom and then starts dripping off the edge of the balcony and making a sound like rain as it hits the many balcony levels below.

It was then that I faintly heard a female voice somewhere below me say in frustration, "ew, what the hell is that" and then the closing of a screen door.

... so this is a lesson to me... I need to find a more considerate way to water my plants... I hope that they think it was from the roof or something

2007-06-21T09:43:00.000-04:00

God's Calling?

2007-06-10T09:52:00.001-04:00

Hey, remember that bible story where God calls someone to do something very reasonable and obvious?
no?!?
Well, I guess that the rebuilding of the wall in Nehemiah could be compared to a church rebuilding project of some sort...

however... what I wanted to get at is that in a lot of bible stories, God does seem to call people to things that seem contrary to human wisdom.

It seems like nowadays when we hear people say that they've received a calling to this thing or that, it quite often has a bit more money and potential personal gain attached to it than it did for many of those who received callings in the bible stories....

Okay, I'm back
I don't want to throw a lot of scepticism towards all those people who are called to things by God. That's great, and you should be happy.
All that I've noticed is that a lot of time anymore when someone says that they've been called by God to do something, it's often to their advantage to convince others that they have been called to the aforementioned task. ie, televangelists. It's to their advantage for us to believe that they have received this calling.

I wonder if this is a Biblical model for calling. I guess that moses had to convince the egyptians that he was sent by God. There are lots of examples of people having to convince their opponents that they were sent by God... I guess that Paul spent enough time convincing people in the church that he was sent by God. But Paul was also on a die hard speaking tour that would make the rolling stones look settled. He wasn't really called to something comfortable or worldly or calm and reasonable.

Does God call people to things that are reasonable, lucrative and comfortable? I guess that there was King David and King Solomon who had those types of situations. Was that God's calling or God's provision? Is there a difference?

my internet speed at my new place

2007-06-09T16:19:00.000-04:00

It looks like it's probably fast...

Anti-Hitchhiking law?!?

2007-05-19T12:23:00.000-04:00

Someone that I know got stopped by the police on HW 8 leaving Kitchener while Hitchhiking. Apparently, the police officer told him that hichhiking has been made illegal in Ontario effective Jan 2007 and can warrent a $300 fine and a night in prison.
I would be very upset and possibly willing to take part in some sort of protest or civil disobedience if this is true. I googled Ontario Hichhiking law, but couldn't find anything. As a person who has hitchhiked in the past, I feel it should be a basic human right.
I think that I will have to call the police and find out for myself.

Infrastructure for worship; a search for church; the irony of organized religion

2007-05-07T23:05:00.000-04:00

Virtually my entire life, I've attended one church or another. I've gone to a really wide selection of christian churches to try to get what they were about. I even took a theology course where one of the main topics was ecclesiology.
I've really been struck lately by the masive trend (at least in my experience) of a lot of the chrisitians that I know making a choice to stop going to church.
Having grown up going to church, I've found myself more succesful than most people at making it a comfortable routine. While everyone else at places would be arguing about the music, I would barely be concerned at all about what any of the music sounded like. I enjoyed going to a place, seeing the same people, and singing whatever as a chance to make some sound...
I enjoy a good sermon though... I like hearing the scripture... and if a sermon's terrible, I'm not too worried about it usually, unless they said something really horrible... Next to the routine and the familiarity, the biblical lesson is probably one of the most important parts.
I also like prayer requests. I feel like praying for those around us is an effective way of dealing with life and that God hears our prayers.

What I wanted to say though, is that lately I'm feeling like even after all of this, I really don't know anything about church.
I know that the church is the people as the body of christ, and not a building that you go to.
I just learned the term missional living and I was surprised that that wasn't a given in this day and age... I guess that there are still people out there who hold a strong brand loyalty to one type of church... ya, for sure there are...

I'm really at zero with it.

The biblical Infrastructure for church, as best as I can understand it, seems different than what we see today.... Going from pooling all of your worldly posessions to becoming incorporated to avoid being suid is quite a stretch... Are we just unable to make that sort of a leap of faith in todays world? Maybe brands of churches should simply become providers of spiritual and cerimonial services... Maybe my focus has just shifted too much from the days when I just went somewhere and didn't worry about what it was like.

As long as you just enjoy going to church to worship and you don't evaluate the big picture too much, it's all fine... Once you start asking why you go to church and what church really should be, you start opening up a really big can of worms.

People in my generation tend to ask those sorts of questions and to try to think critically about things... and it seems like very few believers are putting up with church as we know it.

Should church therefore be remixed or rewired or repackaged in some way? Is it time for a new kind of christian church? There are a lot of churches acting like they need more people.
I think that there is also a need amoungst christians for something... something....

but what... what is church and why is it there?....

"Irony is the birth-pangs of the objective mind" Søren Kierkegaard

Is there a cure for complacency?

2007-05-02T22:20:00.000-04:00

com·pla·cen·cy (km-plsn-s)

1. A feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy.

2. An instance of contented self-satisfaction.
3. All things Craig.

If there is a cure, is it easy?

A list of some of my favourite things to listen to and music

2007-04-24T12:12:00.000-04:00

(They wouldn't let me put this many bands in my facebook profile, but I still wanted to share it)

764 Hero , 90 Day Men, A Silver Mount Zion , A Tuesday Weld , Absinthe Blind, acapella , Adrian Belew , Adult , aerogramme , Air , Air French Band, Air ft. Beck , Airport 5 , Albert Brooks , alexisonfire, Alife , Aloha , American Analog Set , American Football , amor belhom duo, Andrea Parker, Ani Difranco , Antarctica , Appliance, Arab Strap, Arcade Fire, Ass Ponys , At The Drive, Avril Lavigne, Azure Ray, Badly Drawn Boy , bailter space , ballboy, Barbara Morgenstern , bardo pond, bauhaus , beachwood sparks , Beat Happening , Beck , Bedhead , Bedhead / Macha , Belle & Sebastian, Ben Kweller, Beta Band , Betagarri , Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man, Beth Orton, Beth Orton & William Orbit , Big Audio Dynamite , Big Dismal, Bill Haley & The Comets, Bjork , Bjork and matmos , Black Box Recorder, Black Lipstick , Black Watch , Blek Ink , blonde redhead , Blue Rodeo, Boards Of Canada, bob dylan and janis joplin, Bob Mould , Bon Jovi , bonny prince billy , boom boom satellites , Boyd Rice & Tiffany Anders , Bright Eyes, Bright Eyes and The Album Leaf , BS2000 , BT , BT w M. Doughty , Buffalo Daughter , built to spill , Burakumin , Burning Airlines, Burt Bacharach and the Posies, Busy Signals, Butthole Surfers , Cake, Calexico , Califone , Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band, Cat Power, Cat Power / Myra Lee, Catherine Wheel , Caufields, Cause & Effect , Cesarea Evora , cevin key and Nivek Ogre , Chemical Brothers , ChemLab , chicks on speed , chris connelly , Chuck Berry, Ciccone Youth, Clan of Xymox , Cobolt , Comet Gain , Conan O'Brien, Concretes , Cornelius , Cracker , Cranes, Crooked Fingers, Cropduster , Cub Country , Czerwony Tulipan , Dambuilders , Dandy Warhols, The , Daniel Ash , Dashboard Confessional , Dave Matthews Band and Neil Young , David Dondero , David Sylvian & tweaker , De Facto , Death by Chocolate , Death Cab for Cutie, defacto , Deloris And The Rondelles , dim stars , Discos , DJ Shadow , Dot Allison, Dump, Dylan, Bob, Eddie Brickell & the New Bohemians, Eduardo Paniagua , Eels , Elbow , Electrelane , Electrocute, Electronic , Eleventh Dream Day , Elf Power, Elk City , Enon , Evan Dando and Julian Hatfield , Evanescence, Failure , Faint , Fair Verona , Fairmount Girls , FASOLKI vs Zambari , Fenix TX, Film School , Firewater , FISZ , Fisz & Novika , Flin Flon, Fluke , Flying Saucer Attack , Foo Fighters, For Stars , Four Corners , Franka Potente & Thomas D. , Fridge , Friends of Dean Martinez , Fuck , Futro, Future Pilot A.K.A. Vs. The Pastels , gentle waves , Get Off The Internet , Giant Sand , Glider , Godspeed You Black Emperor, Goldfrapp , gone , Gorillaz , Graig Markel , Grand Champeen , Grateful Dead, Green Day, Guided By Voices , Handsome Boy Modeling School, Hank & Audrey Williams, Hank & Curly Williams, Hank Williams, Hank Williams & Anita Carter, Hank Williams & Grant Turner, Hank Williams, Johnnie Wright, Kitty Wells, hard rock matt pond pa , Havergal , Hayden , Hefner , Hem , Henry Fool , her space holiday , Her Space Holiday , His Name Is Alive , Hood , Hoover Phonic , Hooverphonic , Hope Sandoval , Hope Sandoval & The Warm Invention , Howard Hello , Idaho , Iggy Pop and Kate Pierson , Illyah Kuryahkin , impala , Indigo Girls, insound com , internal, International) Noise Conspiracy , intinite x's , Invention , Jack Drag, Jad and David Fair , Jad Fair & Teenage Fanclub , Jad Fair & Yo La Tengo , Jad Fair and Daniel Johnston , Jane's Addiction , Janis Joplin, Jason Upton/Keith Green/Martin Smith, Jean Leloup , Jefferson Airplane, Jen Wood , Jim O'Rourke , Jimmy Eat World , Joan Of Arc, John Mars, John Vanderslice , Johnny Cash, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion , Jorane, Jose Padilla , Julian Cope , Juliana Hatfield , juliana theory , Julie Doiron , julie doiron & the wooden stars , june of 44 , June Panic, Juno , Juno & The Dismemberment Plan , Kanye West , Karate , Keith Green , kepler , Khan , Kill Creek , Kilowatthours , Kim Gordon, DJ Olive & Ikue Mori, King Cobb Steelie , kittie , Kyle Fisher , La Luz Roja , Ladybug Transistor , Ladytron , Laptop , Lauryn Hill, LazyRocket , le tigre , Ledenhed , Leonard Cohen, Les Savy Fav , libraness , Lifter Puller , Lilys , live , Liz Phair , Llama Farmers , Lockgroove , looper , Looper and Belle and Sebastion, Loreena McKennitt , Louis Armstrong, Love And Rockets , Love Tractor , Low , Low & Dirty Three , Ludwig van Beethoven, composer. Seattle Symphony. Gerard Schwarz, director, Lumen , Luna , Lupine Howl , macha , Macha / Bedhead , make up , Make Up featuring Mighty Flashlight , Man...or Astroman?, Marc Seales, composer. New Stories. Ernie Watts, saxophone., Marmoset , Mary, Massive Attack , Mates of State , Matt Pond , Matthew Sweet , Meat Beat Manifesto , Medeski Martin Wood , Meg Lee Chin , Melissa Etheridge , Mellow , Mercury Rev. , Mike Johnson , Mike Simpson With SpongeBob, Patrick & Goofy Goober, Ministry, Mirah , Mixed by Joe Claussell, Danny , Moby , Modest Mouse, mogwai , Mogwai , Mogwai , Mogwai My Father, My Kingdom , MOGWAI Rock Action , mojave 3 , Mojave 3 , Momus , Monaco + The Other Two , Money Mark , mono , Mono , MONO , Monster Movie , Morphine, morphine , Morphine , Morphine , Moth Wranglers, Moth Wranglers , Motorhead, Mouse on Mars , mp , Murder City Devils , Muse, muse , Muse , MUSE , Muse live , MuziQ , my morning jacket , My Morning Jacket , Nas, Nas f. Puff Daddy, Nay This Not Death , Neil Young & Crazy Horse , Nelly furtado , Nelly Furtado , neutral milk hotel, Neutral Milk Hotel, neutral milk hotel , Neutral Milk Hotel , NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL , Neutral Milk Hotel , new amsterdams , New Amsterdams , New Amsterdams , New Artist , New Artist (192) , New Idea Society , New Visions, New Wet Kojak , Nikki Sudden , Nikki Sudden (Creation) , Nine Inch Nails, Nine Inch Nails r. Clouser , Nirvana, no artist , Nokki Sudden , noonday underground , Noonday Underground , Notorious B.I.G., Notorious BIG, Numb , oasis , Octant, Octant , OCTANT , Octant , ohia , Olivia Tremor Control , One Dove , one line drawing, One Line Drawing, Oneida , Oneline Drawing , onelinedrawing, Onelinedrawing, Onelinedrawing , onlinedrawing , Onlinedrawing , Oranger , outlaws , owen , Owen , owls , Owls , P Diddy, P J Harvey , P.J. Harvey , Panoply Academy Glee Club , Panoply Academy Legionaires , papa m , Papa M , Paradise Motel , Parasol Records Compilations , Park Avenue Music , PARKER, ANDREA , Parties 3 helps both ways , Pastels, The , Patrick, patrick o'hearn , Patrick O'hearn , Patrick O'Hearn , Patsy , Patti Smith , patti smith live 1978 , pavement , Pavement , pearl jam, Pearl Jam, Pearl's Girl , PearlJam/Nirvana, pedro the lion, Pedro the Lion, Pedro The Lion, pedro the lion , Pedro the Lion , Pedro The Lion , Pedro_The_Lion, Perry Farrell , Pete Tong , peter murphy , Peter Murphy , Peter Parker, Peter Parker , pixies, Pixies, pixies , Pixies , Pixies(Man... or Astroman?), Pizzicato 5 , Pizzicato Five, Pizzicato Five , pj harvey , Pj Harvey , PJ Harvey , PJ Harvey with Thom Yorke (Radiohead) , placebo , Plastillina Mosh , Pleasure Forever , Plus-Tech Squeezebox Feat. SpongeBob, pop , Pope Factory , POPE FACTORY , porcupine tree , Porcupine Tree , Potomac Accord, Potomac Accord , Preston School Of Industry , primus, Primus, PRIMUS, propellerheads , Propellerheads , Propellerheads & Jungle Brothers , Propellerheads f. Jungle Bros , Puff Daddy & Faith feat. 112, Pure Moods 3 , Quail , Quails, Quails , Quasi, quasi , Rachel's , Radar Bros. , Radio City , Radiohead, Radiohead , Radiohead (Thom Yorke) & PJ Harvey , Rainer Maria, rainer maria , Rainer maria , Rainer Maria , Rainer Maria , Recoil, Recoil , Red House Painter , Red House Painters, red house painters , red House Painters , Red House Painters , Red Red Meat , red stars theory , Red Stars Theory , refused , regal recordings , regular fries , Regular Fries , Regular Fries , Rick Bain & The Genius Position , Rick Bain and the Genius Position , Robert Pollard and His Soft Ro , Roni Size & Soul Coughing , roundhead , run lola run soundtrack , Sad, Sappy Sucker , Sakamoto Maaya, sarah dougher , Sarah Dougher , Saturnine , Scorched Earth ,,
, Sebadoh , Seether feat. Amy Lee, self , Self , Set Fire To Flames , Shakira Vs Dj Macha, Shannon Wright , Shins, the\Oh, Inverted World, Shipping News , sigur r s , sigur ros , Sigur Ros , SIGUR ROS , Sigur Rÿs , SigurRos , silkworm , silver jews, Silver Jews, Simon And Garfunkel, slackjaw , Slackjaw , SLAVES , sleater, Sleater, Sleeping Flies , Sleepytime Gorilla Museum , Smith, Patti , Smog , SMOLIK & NOVIKA , sneaker pimps , Sneaker Pimps , Snow Patrol , Solex , songs, Songs, Songs 4 Worship, Songs of Ohia , Songs Ohia, songs ohia , Songs Ohia , Songs OHIA , songs ohia Nobody tries that hard anymore, Songs: Ohia, Songs: Ohia , Songs:Ohia, Sonic Youth, Sonic Youth , Sonic Youth W/Yamatsuka Eye, Sorry About Dresden , soul coughing, soul coughing , Soul Coughing , Soul Coughing & Roni Size , South , South w/UNKLE , Spaceman 3 , SPACEMAN 3 , Spacemen 3 , Spaemen3 , Sparklehorse , spinanes, Spinanes, spinanes , Spinanes , Spinanes, The , Spiny Anteaters , Spiritualized, spiritualized , SpongeBob, SpongeBob, Patrick & The Monsters, spoon , Spoon , Squares , Squire , staedtizism , Starseeds , Stella, Stephin Merritt, stereolab , Stereolab , Steven Wright, Stigmata soundtrack, stratford 4 , Stratford 4 , Strobe Talbot , stroke 9 , sunless day , Sunless Day , Sunny Day Real Estate , Sunshine Fix , Super Car , Super Xx Man , Super XX Man , Swearing At Motorist , Swearing At Motorists , Sweet, Matthew , Swell , SXSW , System of a Down, System Of A Down, tagging satellites , Tagging Satellites , Takako Minekawa , Takako Minekawa v. Nobukazu Takemura , taking people , Tami Hart , tara jane o'neil , Tara Jane O'neil , Tara Jane O'Neil , Tara Jane Oneil , Tara Jane ONeil , Tarwater , Teenage Fanclub and Jad Fair , Television , terris , Terris , Text , The (international) noise con , the album leaf , The Album Leaf & Bright Eyes , The Arcade Fire, The Bicycle Thief , The Black, The Black Heart Procession , The Capitol Years , The Chamber Strings, The Clash , the constantines , The Convocation Of... , The Cure, The Dandy Warhols , The Danielson Famile, The Dead Milkmen, the dismemberment plan , The Doors, The Doves , The Drifters , The Dust Brothers , The Ex , The Faint, The Fall, The Flaming Lips, The Flaming Stars , The Flying Phantom & His Famous Flaming Stars, the folk implosion , The French Kicks , The Frogs , The Get Up Kids , the good life , The Grapes of Wrath, The Halifax Pier , The Helio Sequence , The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Jigsaw Seen , The Kingsbury Manx , the lapse , The Mars Volta , The Mercury Program , The Microphones , The Murder City Devils , The Nectarine No. 9 , The New Amsterdams, The New Amsterdams , The New Year , the offspring , The Panoply Academy Corps of Engineers , The Panoply Academy Die, The Panoply Academy Glee Club , The Panoply Academy Legionaire , the panoply academy legionnaires , The Panoply Academy of Legionnaires , The Paradise Motel, The Paradise Motel , The Pirates, The Pixies , The Potomac Accord , The Rapture , The Regular Fries , The Replacements , The Rondelles , the roots and bt , the sea and cake , The Sea And Cake , The Secret Machines , The shins, The Shins, The Silver Jews, The Silver Mt. Zion ( Memorial...) , The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra And Tra, the six parts seven , The Six Parts Seven , the spinanes , the Spinanes , The Spinanes , The Spinanes , The Standard , The Starseeds , the stratford 4 , The Stratford 4 , The Strokes , the sunshine fix , The The , The Velvet Underground, The Waikikis, Prince Paul & Wordsworth, The Weakerthans, The Wellwater Conspiracy , The Wisdom of Harry , The Wisdom Of Harry , The Witches , there's no drinking , Throwing Muses , Tiffany Anders , TIFFANY's RAPTURE , Tim Kinsellas, Tim Mcgraw, TINC , to rococo rot , to rococo rot and i, To Rococo Rot and I, To Rococo Rot And I, Tom Rothrock, Tom Waits, Tom Waits (w/Frank Zappa?), Tom Waits & Primus, Tom Waits.... Michael Garlington, PHD, Tomahawk , Tones On Tail , tori amos , Tori Amos , tori amos north carolina , tortoise , Tortoise , Trance to the Sun , trans am , Trans Am , Trembling Blue Stars , Tricky with DJ Muggs and Greas , Tristan Psionic , Tristeza , Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, Trust Obey vs Paved in Skin , Tuesday Weld , Turn of the Lights , Tweaker , Twigs , Underworld , underworld live at organic , Unicorn Radio , Unisex , Unknown, Unknown , Unknown Artist, Unknown Artist , Unread Records comp II , unwed sailor , Unwed Sailor , unwound, versus , veruca salt , Veruca Salt , Vue , Waits, Tom, Various (mixed by DJ Shagz), Weather Report , Ween, wellwater conspiracy , Wellwater Conspiracy , WELLWATER CONSPIRACY , Wilco, Wisdom of Harry , Wisdom Of Harry , Yo La Tengo , yume bitsu , Yume Bitsu , Zambari , Zero Zero

Easter Monday and non commercial tourism

2007-04-14T12:49:00.000-04:00

(I was looking at my records and noticed something interesting. I present to you a modified Beatles logo. And now back to the story....)

I went driving in search of some empty café
A place still enough that I might write something creative in my journal
or remember how to truly pray

Always have to be realistic though
Life takes over with all of it's day to day
I know that I don't listen enough
I'm not exactly the worlds most mystical

It never hurts to seek divine inspiration
or at least a touch of solitude
Any reason to get away from the city for a bit?
Certainly, without hesitation

I didn't really find a sense of God that day
I ended up in the town of Elora
I parked beside decorated art car and a statue pointing down
I got out of my car and walked around and around
it all and then into a store, uh

It was a connected store and restaurant
So they asked if I wanted launch
but I couldn't decide what I wanted so I said that I'd be back in a minute

In the store, I stood and stared at the wall
At all of the colourful and pointless wares
It must have seemed like too long of a stall
Because the shopkeeper asked if she could help me in finding
and I said it's a day trip from the city, unwinding
She told me the best town to visit is theirs
I said that it's nice to get away from it all

I walked down the street towards the river
I felt slightly uncomfortable
I must have been tired
Still in awe of the beauty of the inter mished broken stone walls
and the blatant commercialization thereof

I stood at the re-enforced wooden fence
and looked around at the river
and the climbing apparatuses attached to the remnant support pilers of a long gone bridge
I don't know what people had been doing
An old man smiled at me and said that it wouldn't be a good spot for cannoning
I laughed out loud as water pounded past the far side rocky ledge

I went to one final shop before returning to my car
A wood fireplace in an old converted barn
There were plates and statues made out of clay
One of the three artists who shared the space was working that day
She didn't seem pretentious, evil or snobby
She said all three work as professionals
and share the art space as a hobbie
I told her my fiancée was working today
and I'd gone for a drive to get the city away
She was building an installation for some sort of show
and talked about art and people I don't know
She couldn't make a living just sculpting that way
Art's therapeutic non-the-less so she wasn't really grumbling
she said have a nice day,
bring your fiancée next time
and then buy something

I've decided to become a mountain climber

2007-04-11T22:48:00.000-04:00

So, here it is folks!
At nearly the age of 30, having gotten myself in to progressively worse physical shape since I was a teenager. The last two and a half years I've been on blood pressure medication. I never exercise and rarely go for a walk. I went swimming tonight, and I can still dive off the high diving board, but that's a matter of form not strength and after diving off twice I wasn't sure if it would be wisest to dive again or go sit down for a minute. I've felt like I was here before. I need to eat less that 2 grams of salt a day and lower my body mass index from 34.4 to around 26 if I want to put off having a heart attack or stroke.
Things aren't that bad. It's just going to take a bit of work.
I want to be a mountain climber.
Now where do I start?

a powerful Kierkegaard quote

2007-03-24T23:36:00.000-04:00

This was on blog that I've been reading. the bloggist posted this kierkegaard quote which he found in a book that he was talking about. It fits with what I was thinking and blogging about the other day regarding cynicism.
Read his post yourself >>>

The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament. (pp. 71-71)

I must make an effort to read some more kierkegaard. He's usually bang on about so many things!

2007-03-21T10:28:00.000-04:00

So, Katimavik has a new website contest thingy where they want people to upload photos for a chance to win prizes. I read the fine print. They get to use the photos for whatever they want. Good job Katimavik on a strategy to get lots of free photos for your advertising.

http://www.shareyourexperience.ca
http://www.katimavik.org

Tax-cut mantra music to ears of the wealthy

2007-03-21T09:33:00.000-04:00

Toronto Star
Mar 16, 2007 04:30 AM

Linda McQuaig

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." John Kenneth Galbraith

For the past 2 1/2 decades, modern conservative economic thought, also known as neo-conservatism, has dominated Canadian public debate and shaped Canadian public policy.

By now, we're so steeped in it that we're barely aware there are other ways to think about these things. As the incomes of the rich soar ever higher, we've come to accept all sorts of rationalizations for what amounts to a policy of letting the rich indulge their selfishness.

This experiment in neo-conservatism has changed the face of Canada. Thirty years ago, the richest 10 per cent of Canadians had incomes 31 times as big as the bottom 10 per cent. Today, their incomes are 82 times as big.

Meanwhile, the bottom 40 per cent of Canadians – about 12 million people – are actually worse off, with lower incomes today (after inflation).

For most of the rest, the picture is also pretty dismal. They're managing to keep pace or slightly improve their incomes only by working considerably longer hours. Read More >>>

john belushi

2007-03-20T23:45:00.000-04:00

I watched a bit of a documentary tonight about John Belushi's struggle with drugs.
Thier was a quote from addiction specialist Drew Pinsky that was really good. I don't remember it exactly, so I'll have to paraphrase:

The specialist said that when he trains doctors to work with addicts the first thing that he tells them is to put thier fingers in their ears and not listen to anything that the person is saying. Everything is deception and untruth and manipulation in order to find ways to keep using. Instead you have to watch thier behaviour and sort of intuatively try to figure out what they are trying to do.

Cynicism

2007-03-20T12:51:00.000-04:00

a reflection

One thing that I learned working in tobacco when I was young is that if you want to keep your boss happy, don't talk about the negative effects of tobacco. Employers want employees who believe in the cause or at least talk like they do.

I was telling this to a co-worker the other day, and he pointed out how cynical that way of thinking is and compared it to the way that soldiers in the military wouldn't talk about if killing is wrong or not (I don't know if they actually talk about this or not, I imagine that some probably do).

It made me think about the pervasiveness of cynicism within our culture. There's sort of a cynicism of politeness whereby a person is expected to either not talk about certain things or to talk about them in a certain way; to talk the party line. I mean, I enjoy politeness as much as anyone, and I guess that it's a very fine line where politeness fades to cynicism.

I was talking to a pastor once about things that I had learned from travelling and I told him that when you visit some place new, you should tell people all the really positive things about the place. People seem more likely to like you if you tell them that you like their town and won't like you if you say that the place sucks. He challenged me on this by asking what if the place really does suck?

I guess that it's easy and often even helpful to by a polite cynic. It's much more challenging and makes a person much more vulnerable to be deeply honest. Maybe cynicism is at the heart of a lot of today's world's problems?

2 Timothy 3:1-8 (The Message)
1-5Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people.

6-9These are the kind of people who smooth-talk themselves into the homes of unstable and needy women and take advantage of them; women who, depressed by their sinfulness, take up with every new religious fad that calls itself "truth." They get exploited every time and never really learn. These men are like those old Egyptian frauds Jannes and Jambres, who challenged Moses. They were rejects from the faith, twisted in their thinking, defying truth itself. But nothing will come of these latest impostors. Everyone will see through them, just as people saw through that Egyptian hoax.

Not changing much

2007-03-20T10:41:00.000-04:00

the music that I listen to is the same music that I've been listening to for a long time now
I visit all the same websites almost every day
I think that I've reached that sort of fixed state that comes with age
where you're no longer aware of what music the young people listen to
and it doesn't appeal to you anyway.
you listen to the same music that you've been listening to
do all the same things that you've been doing
become part of a fading era

Be an optimist! (by me)

2007-03-13T23:31:00.000-04:00

Life's an amazing thing
You have lots of time to listen to a few good tunes
It's always a good idea to do your dishes
Someday you look forwards and back
and see all the things that could possibly have been your wishes!

There's some time
to climb
and find what you find
beings are so complex and so simple
maybe this is the top of life's hill!

I could never be so happy
I have everything I need
I forget what it's like to be down and out
This must be everything that I could ever dream!

I'll never be a singer
I'll never be a painter or a writer
I'll never be famous, an artist or a fighter!

but there are things in my life that are even better
Enjoyable work, wonderful fiancée, a future that seems almost plan-able
I'll fall asleep and dream that I'm some strange sea animal
The stable and normal life is actually pretty damned cool!

Maybe if I can loose a lot of weight in my 30's,
I could try some kind of rock climbing.
There's rock climbing in a book that I'm reading right now
and it sounds like something really great!

Hey Yeah!

Trippy!

2007-03-11T12:39:00.000-04:00

http://www.brasserie-schaffhausen.ch/index.php?action=falken

Bush shows his crew how to party and shows brazilians how americans get down!

2007-03-10T23:22:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blITr8n56BY

2007-03-09T15:38:00.000-05:00

I've been quite sick with a fever yesterday and today. On the positive side, I went to the walk in clinic when my glands started to swell up and they tested me for mono and it came back negative.