Blog author: Harry Truman
Someone has started a Mount St. Helens blog.
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Monday, November 22, 2004
Heidi fails to read blitz, thrown for a loss
Last week marked the anniversary of "The Heidi Game", which is the reason that all sports events on TV are broadcast until they end. NBC cut away from a Jets-Raiders game, with just over a minute left, only to have the Raiders score the winning points as Heidi began to frolic on TV screens across the Eastern United States.
Last week marked the anniversary of "The Heidi Game", which is the reason that all sports events on TV are broadcast until they end. NBC cut away from a Jets-Raiders game, with just over a minute left, only to have the Raiders score the winning points as Heidi began to frolic on TV screens across the Eastern United States.
Pardon while I pout
David Frum is understandably pleased that the Argonauts won yesterday's Grey Cup, but even if I didn't live and die with the fortunes of the Lions, I would raise my eyebrows after reading this:
My brother-in-law last year became part of a new ownership group for the long-troubled Argonauts, and since then the team somehow heaved itself out of the League basement and into the finals. BC dominated the early minutes of the game, but thanks to some crucial strategic miscalculations on the part of the stronger Western team, the Argos surged to win a 27-19 victory. One of the most exciting Cups in years, all agree..
I'd disagree. Although the Lions did make a try at tying the game late, I would say that the game went to the team making the least mistakes, and that was the Argos. The 2000 Grey Cup, won by the Lions on a last play field goal, was one of several recent Grey Cups that I would cite as more exciting than yesterday's game. I'm sure that Colby Cosh could point to several games, not involving the Lions, that CFL fans would agree are more exciting than yesterday's boo boo fest.
The game would be one of the most exciting wins for Argo fans. That, I would concede.
David Frum is understandably pleased that the Argonauts won yesterday's Grey Cup, but even if I didn't live and die with the fortunes of the Lions, I would raise my eyebrows after reading this:
My brother-in-law last year became part of a new ownership group for the long-troubled Argonauts, and since then the team somehow heaved itself out of the League basement and into the finals. BC dominated the early minutes of the game, but thanks to some crucial strategic miscalculations on the part of the stronger Western team, the Argos surged to win a 27-19 victory. One of the most exciting Cups in years, all agree..
I'd disagree. Although the Lions did make a try at tying the game late, I would say that the game went to the team making the least mistakes, and that was the Argos. The 2000 Grey Cup, won by the Lions on a last play field goal, was one of several recent Grey Cups that I would cite as more exciting than yesterday's game. I'm sure that Colby Cosh could point to several games, not involving the Lions, that CFL fans would agree are more exciting than yesterday's boo boo fest.
The game would be one of the most exciting wins for Argo fans. That, I would concede.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Oh. My. Lord.
Some improv comedians have just finished a live theatre recreation of the Star Trek episode SPOCK'S BRAIN.
Some improv comedians have just finished a live theatre recreation of the Star Trek episode SPOCK'S BRAIN.
He violated the CUP Statement of Principles and now he sleeps with the fishes
John Gushue, in his kind mention of my post, says that there is another CUPpie blogger of his era: Bill Doskotch. The latter doesn't ring a bell, but I am happy to link just the same.
John Gushue, in his kind mention of my post, says that there is another CUPpie blogger of his era: Bill Doskotch. The latter doesn't ring a bell, but I am happy to link just the same.
Saturday, November 13, 2004
The CUP mafia
I see that John Gushue, whose byline I remember from reading Canadian University Press materials, also has a weblog.
Pssst, CUPpies, as long as you are writing for almost free, why not start a national group CUP blog?
I see that John Gushue, whose byline I remember from reading Canadian University Press materials, also has a weblog.
Pssst, CUPpies, as long as you are writing for almost free, why not start a national group CUP blog?
It would have been a travelogue to end all travelogues
Earlier this fall, I was at the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition to all you non-Vancouverites). While there, I had a look at a couple of indoor historical exhibits.
I saw a working model of a 1899 Locomobile car. One of the cars of this model was reportedly the first car in Vancouver. The Locomobile, I am led to understand, was the top selling car in North America in the years 1899 and 1900.
I also saw a 1907 two-reel travelogue, Vancouver and Victoria Street Scenes, made by Seattle filmmaker William Harbeck. the film shows a series of point-of-view shots of scenes shot from the front of a boat or streetcar. You can see Victoria's harbour, an unfinished Empress Hotel, and the streets of downtown Vancouver. Although this was shot in 1907, I spotted no Locomobiles, or otrher cars, in the film. Just pedestrians, bicyclists and horse-drawn wagons or carriages.
William H. Harbeck made at least a dozen of the sorts of films for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The CPR was trying to encourage new customers, er immigrants, to come to Canada.
The above link takes you to the fine Enclyclopedia Titanica website, as Mr. Harbeck was one of the Ttanic victims, drowning when the ship sank. The bio at the PNE speculates that Mr. Harbeck had been hired by The White Star line to make a travelogue of the trip.
Now *that* would have been something to see.
Following the various links may also lead you to an enduring Titanic mystery...was Mr. Harbeck having an affair with his unmarried female cabin roommate?
Earlier this fall, I was at the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition to all you non-Vancouverites). While there, I had a look at a couple of indoor historical exhibits.
I saw a working model of a 1899 Locomobile car. One of the cars of this model was reportedly the first car in Vancouver. The Locomobile, I am led to understand, was the top selling car in North America in the years 1899 and 1900.
I also saw a 1907 two-reel travelogue, Vancouver and Victoria Street Scenes, made by Seattle filmmaker William Harbeck. the film shows a series of point-of-view shots of scenes shot from the front of a boat or streetcar. You can see Victoria's harbour, an unfinished Empress Hotel, and the streets of downtown Vancouver. Although this was shot in 1907, I spotted no Locomobiles, or otrher cars, in the film. Just pedestrians, bicyclists and horse-drawn wagons or carriages.
William H. Harbeck made at least a dozen of the sorts of films for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The CPR was trying to encourage new customers, er immigrants, to come to Canada.
The above link takes you to the fine Enclyclopedia Titanica website, as Mr. Harbeck was one of the Ttanic victims, drowning when the ship sank. The bio at the PNE speculates that Mr. Harbeck had been hired by The White Star line to make a travelogue of the trip.
Now *that* would have been something to see.
Following the various links may also lead you to an enduring Titanic mystery...was Mr. Harbeck having an affair with his unmarried female cabin roommate?
Friday, October 29, 2004
Next President elected by Rock Paper Scissors, best two out of three
Political researchers come up with 14 scenarios where the U.S. doesn't know who has been elected President when Americans wake up on Wednesday morning.
Canadians shouldn't feel too smug about this. Our PM is traditionally the leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Commons. In 1972, if I recall correctly, the Tories and Liberals were tied in their seat count totals until military votes gave the Liberals a two seat edge and a minority government.
Political researchers come up with 14 scenarios where the U.S. doesn't know who has been elected President when Americans wake up on Wednesday morning.
Canadians shouldn't feel too smug about this. Our PM is traditionally the leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Commons. In 1972, if I recall correctly, the Tories and Liberals were tied in their seat count totals until military votes gave the Liberals a two seat edge and a minority government.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
A little birdie told me
Now that the Boston Red Sox have finally won a World Series after 86 years of futility, I think that lots of charismatic Christians will see this as God saying "It's time for losers to win." Expect modern-day prophets to hear such a cue, I predict.
I'll have to buy a newer edition of The Curse of The Bambino. A small sacrifice to pay.
Now, did the Chicago Cubs ever own ther rights to Babe Ruth? :)
Now that the Boston Red Sox have finally won a World Series after 86 years of futility, I think that lots of charismatic Christians will see this as God saying "It's time for losers to win." Expect modern-day prophets to hear such a cue, I predict.
I'll have to buy a newer edition of The Curse of The Bambino. A small sacrifice to pay.
Now, did the Chicago Cubs ever own ther rights to Babe Ruth? :)
A little birdie told me
Now that the Boston Red Sox have finally won a World Series after 86 years of futility, I think that lots of charismatic Christians will see this as God saying "It's time for losers to win." Expect modern-day prophets to hear such a cue, I predict.
I'll have to buy a newer edition of The Curse of The Bambino. A small sacrifice to pay.
Now, did the Chicago Cubs ever own ther rights to Babe Ruth? :)
Now that the Boston Red Sox have finally won a World Series after 86 years of futility, I think that lots of charismatic Christians will see this as God saying "It's time for losers to win." Expect modern-day prophets to hear such a cue, I predict.
I'll have to buy a newer edition of The Curse of The Bambino. A small sacrifice to pay.
Now, did the Chicago Cubs ever own ther rights to Babe Ruth? :)
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Reaping the whirlwind
Earlier today, a slim majority of B.C.'s Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform expressed a preference for a Single Transferable Vote (STV) system. The chairman of the assembly expressed the delegates' disappointment with our current first-past-the-post system on the grounds that many votes are "wasted".
The STV ballot system allows voters to rank all of the candidates in their riding in the order that they prefer them. If no candidate wins a majority on first choices alone (that is, winning in the same way one would win today), lower placing candidates are eliminated until second, third, fourth and fifth place preferences, from the ballots that picked them, select a winner.
Sound a little hard to understand? It was a little confusing in the 1952 B.C. provincial election when a similar system was used.
The Liberals and Conservatives, loathing each other to dissolve their electoral alliance, came up with the scheme. The plan was that anti-CCF voters amongst the Liberals and Conservatives would hold their nose and vote for the other party (Liberals for Conseravtives and Conservatives for Liberals) as their second choice. Their plan backfired, with the rise of the anti-CCF B.C. Social Credit Party, which won thousands of second choices.
Those complaining about the "democracy" of first-past-the-post shouldrecall the election night results of B.C.'s first STV election. The socialist CCF was leading with the most first choice votes and a plurality, but not a majority, of the seats. In a first-past-the post system, they would have won the election. But, as second and third choices were distributed, the Socreds eked out a 19-18 lead in seats over the CCF.
W.A.C. Bennett formed a minority government. In 1953, another STV election gave the Socreds a majority. Before the next election, the Socreds returned B.C. to first-past-the-post.
In an STV election we could have several political situations that should dismay electoral reform advocates. I can imagine the NDP and Greens making a deal where the Greens don't run candidates in 10-20 ridings in order to force NDP voters to vote for Green leader Adrienne Carr because there is no NDP candidate in Carr's riding. Green voters, under such a deal, might be forced to vote Liberal if they really dislike the NDP candidate in their riding.
I recall the last French presidential election. France's electoral system holds a runoff between the top two candidates if no-one wins the election. The main left candidate Lionel Jospin, finished third, forcing left-leaning French voters to face a choice between the conservative Chirac and the extremist Le Pen, a nauseating choice for them. Not a STV ballot, true, but one can imagine some dismaying final results in some B.C. ridings that no one could have foreseen.
Do British Columbians really want to roll the dice when they vote in provincial elections? One would hope not.
Earlier today, a slim majority of B.C.'s Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform expressed a preference for a Single Transferable Vote (STV) system. The chairman of the assembly expressed the delegates' disappointment with our current first-past-the-post system on the grounds that many votes are "wasted".
The STV ballot system allows voters to rank all of the candidates in their riding in the order that they prefer them. If no candidate wins a majority on first choices alone (that is, winning in the same way one would win today), lower placing candidates are eliminated until second, third, fourth and fifth place preferences, from the ballots that picked them, select a winner.
Sound a little hard to understand? It was a little confusing in the 1952 B.C. provincial election when a similar system was used.
The Liberals and Conservatives, loathing each other to dissolve their electoral alliance, came up with the scheme. The plan was that anti-CCF voters amongst the Liberals and Conservatives would hold their nose and vote for the other party (Liberals for Conseravtives and Conservatives for Liberals) as their second choice. Their plan backfired, with the rise of the anti-CCF B.C. Social Credit Party, which won thousands of second choices.
Those complaining about the "democracy" of first-past-the-post shouldrecall the election night results of B.C.'s first STV election. The socialist CCF was leading with the most first choice votes and a plurality, but not a majority, of the seats. In a first-past-the post system, they would have won the election. But, as second and third choices were distributed, the Socreds eked out a 19-18 lead in seats over the CCF.
W.A.C. Bennett formed a minority government. In 1953, another STV election gave the Socreds a majority. Before the next election, the Socreds returned B.C. to first-past-the-post.
In an STV election we could have several political situations that should dismay electoral reform advocates. I can imagine the NDP and Greens making a deal where the Greens don't run candidates in 10-20 ridings in order to force NDP voters to vote for Green leader Adrienne Carr because there is no NDP candidate in Carr's riding. Green voters, under such a deal, might be forced to vote Liberal if they really dislike the NDP candidate in their riding.
I recall the last French presidential election. France's electoral system holds a runoff between the top two candidates if no-one wins the election. The main left candidate Lionel Jospin, finished third, forcing left-leaning French voters to face a choice between the conservative Chirac and the extremist Le Pen, a nauseating choice for them. Not a STV ballot, true, but one can imagine some dismaying final results in some B.C. ridings that no one could have foreseen.
Do British Columbians really want to roll the dice when they vote in provincial elections? One would hope not.
This week's winner of the Strange New Respect Award
David Frum writes that Canada's over-taxation has a positive consequence--forcing Canadians to be heathier by being able to afford less food that is bad for them:
....What accounts for this difference? Perhaps many things, but here is one that surely has a lot to do with it: food portions. Incomes are generally lower in Canada and costs and taxes are higher. Food vendors respond by offering smaller sizes in order to hold prices down. The market is still dominated by 10 ounce aluminum cans of soda, not 20 ounce plastic bottles. A “small” coffee contains six ounces not eight. At Canada’s best-known chain of sit-down family restaurants, the standard dinner is a quarter piece of roast chicken and about as many French fries as would comfortably fit inside a wine glass.....
The Super-Size Me school of conservatism!
I'll admit that Mr. Frum has a valid point, namely that as long as there is any form of socialized medicine, that the state has a right to keep costs down. Nevertheless, there are so many areas of policy where the state throws up its hands instead of imposing a set of moral standards on citizens. Why crack down on food?
David Frum writes that Canada's over-taxation has a positive consequence--forcing Canadians to be heathier by being able to afford less food that is bad for them:
....What accounts for this difference? Perhaps many things, but here is one that surely has a lot to do with it: food portions. Incomes are generally lower in Canada and costs and taxes are higher. Food vendors respond by offering smaller sizes in order to hold prices down. The market is still dominated by 10 ounce aluminum cans of soda, not 20 ounce plastic bottles. A “small” coffee contains six ounces not eight. At Canada’s best-known chain of sit-down family restaurants, the standard dinner is a quarter piece of roast chicken and about as many French fries as would comfortably fit inside a wine glass.....
The Super-Size Me school of conservatism!
I'll admit that Mr. Frum has a valid point, namely that as long as there is any form of socialized medicine, that the state has a right to keep costs down. Nevertheless, there are so many areas of policy where the state throws up its hands instead of imposing a set of moral standards on citizens. Why crack down on food?
Monday, October 18, 2004
Re-inventing Christianity. Again.
While surfing the net, I recently came across a blog operated by some of the people who frequent The Well, a hip alternative-y worship outreach by a Langley Vineyard, a charismatic church here in B.C..
I like their group weblog, despite my reservations expressed below.
One of the prominent people behind The Well--which would appear to be a swell thing in and of itself--is Jordan Bateman, a former journalist. This piqued my curiousity as Mr. Bateman freelanced for a couple months for B.C. Report, my old magazine. He's currently working on various writing projects.
Anyways, in this post here, Mr. Bateman argues that the Christian church has, in some ways "jumped the shark", and that "intelligent people" need to save Christianity from itself.
Here's most of the salient parts of what he writes. Emphasis is mine throughout:
....[The] modern church jumped the shark during the televangelist scandals of the late twentieth century. It was the moment that the Bride of Christ became a joke with most people, falling into a deep pit of mistrust and irrelevance. We forfeited God's deity and turned Him into a punch-line for late night comics. No local church was safe from the snickering. Christians left in droves. Any sermon on generosity--no matter how anointed, sincere or God-breathed--immediately raised the hackles of those who remained.
But Church has survived. It hasn't flourished, and it hasn't returned to the prominence it once held in society, but it has lived on. Like the post-apocalyptic survivors in The Postman or the little ants in A Bug's Life, we limp through life, oppressed by the thought that, at any moment, the world might lash out against us again. We think that the evil soldiers of pop culture are at our gates, wanting to annihilate us, once and for all.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Church, for the most part, has dropped off the world's radar. God, however, has made a comeback. Film and television is littered with references to a patient, kind God. The Jim Carrey movie, Bruce Almighty, cast Morgan Freeman--one of the world's most respected and gentlemanly actors--as the Divine One. God was treated with respect and dignity. Dogma's Alanis Morissette portrayed God as fun and alive (shocking!). The voice in Field of Dreams restored the relationship between a father and son--what greater gift can God give than that? Even the God of The Simpsons' Ned Flanders is full of grace.....
....Music, film, art, literature, the Internet--God is busting out all over and the so-called "Christian" world is beginning to recognize it.
Now, we must ask God for the right answer in how He wants to use this new move. If the Church has jumped the shark, what spin-off does God have in mind for the next period of time? Where does He want to take His bride next?
"Intelligent people are always open to new ideas," Solomon added in Proverbs 18:15. "In fact, they look for them." Christian leaders who desire to be "wise as serpents and gentle as doves," as Jesus ordered us to be, must now look for new ideas. If we do what we have always done, we'll get what we have always gotten: Nowhere.
The future of the Church is now--it's time for the intelligent people to listen to God's heartbeat and take some risks.
I would like to make some observations on this.
I am well aware of the irony of using something new, the Internet, to stand up for the "old time religion". But the subtext here, that what is new is often inherently better, is a bit troubling to me.
I usually am content to concede that new technologies and new methods of doing church are worth trying. But the Christian church should be careful to kick the tires of any new theological ideas before describing them as sound.
Take the example that Mr. Bateman cites, that of the excesses of the televangelists. These televelangelists were grounded in theologically "new" ideas that only came into prominence in the Protestant wing of Christianity after World War Two.
Jimmy Swaggart--an Assemblies of God Pentecostal.
Oral Roberts, who needed $7 million U.S. lest God "call him home", was a prominent faith healer in the 1950s. Much of his theological underpinning springs from the radically new "Latter Rain' movement of the late 1940s.
Although Jim Bakker is sometimes self-serving in his autobiography "I Was Wrong", he has realized some of the errors in the "prosperity gospel" message that he used to prominently feature on his PTL broadcast. He now believes that treating God as a celestial ATM machine is misguided.
One could argue that the excesses of these men was partly due to a lack of spiritual balance and a lack of grounding in the historical tenets of their faith. The "new spiritual wisdom" may have led them to a mindset where morally dodgy behaviour was now acceptable in their own minds.
If we concede that these men were theologically wise, the Bible does note that a man should take care when he thinks that he is standing, lest he fall.
I would advise those of us in the church, who consider that we are the "intelligent people" in Christendom, to take particular note of this Biblical admonition. I have a sneaking suspicion that the televangelists who fell into scandal felt, at the time, that those who were critical of them were dumber than a bag of hammers.
Let's not make those mistakes again.
While surfing the net, I recently came across a blog operated by some of the people who frequent The Well, a hip alternative-y worship outreach by a Langley Vineyard, a charismatic church here in B.C..
I like their group weblog, despite my reservations expressed below.
One of the prominent people behind The Well--which would appear to be a swell thing in and of itself--is Jordan Bateman, a former journalist. This piqued my curiousity as Mr. Bateman freelanced for a couple months for B.C. Report, my old magazine. He's currently working on various writing projects.
Anyways, in this post here, Mr. Bateman argues that the Christian church has, in some ways "jumped the shark", and that "intelligent people" need to save Christianity from itself.
Here's most of the salient parts of what he writes. Emphasis is mine throughout:
....[The] modern church jumped the shark during the televangelist scandals of the late twentieth century. It was the moment that the Bride of Christ became a joke with most people, falling into a deep pit of mistrust and irrelevance. We forfeited God's deity and turned Him into a punch-line for late night comics. No local church was safe from the snickering. Christians left in droves. Any sermon on generosity--no matter how anointed, sincere or God-breathed--immediately raised the hackles of those who remained.
But Church has survived. It hasn't flourished, and it hasn't returned to the prominence it once held in society, but it has lived on. Like the post-apocalyptic survivors in The Postman or the little ants in A Bug's Life, we limp through life, oppressed by the thought that, at any moment, the world might lash out against us again. We think that the evil soldiers of pop culture are at our gates, wanting to annihilate us, once and for all.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Church, for the most part, has dropped off the world's radar. God, however, has made a comeback. Film and television is littered with references to a patient, kind God. The Jim Carrey movie, Bruce Almighty, cast Morgan Freeman--one of the world's most respected and gentlemanly actors--as the Divine One. God was treated with respect and dignity. Dogma's Alanis Morissette portrayed God as fun and alive (shocking!). The voice in Field of Dreams restored the relationship between a father and son--what greater gift can God give than that? Even the God of The Simpsons' Ned Flanders is full of grace.....
....Music, film, art, literature, the Internet--God is busting out all over and the so-called "Christian" world is beginning to recognize it.
Now, we must ask God for the right answer in how He wants to use this new move. If the Church has jumped the shark, what spin-off does God have in mind for the next period of time? Where does He want to take His bride next?
"Intelligent people are always open to new ideas," Solomon added in Proverbs 18:15. "In fact, they look for them." Christian leaders who desire to be "wise as serpents and gentle as doves," as Jesus ordered us to be, must now look for new ideas. If we do what we have always done, we'll get what we have always gotten: Nowhere.
The future of the Church is now--it's time for the intelligent people to listen to God's heartbeat and take some risks.
I would like to make some observations on this.
I am well aware of the irony of using something new, the Internet, to stand up for the "old time religion". But the subtext here, that what is new is often inherently better, is a bit troubling to me.
I usually am content to concede that new technologies and new methods of doing church are worth trying. But the Christian church should be careful to kick the tires of any new theological ideas before describing them as sound.
Take the example that Mr. Bateman cites, that of the excesses of the televangelists. These televelangelists were grounded in theologically "new" ideas that only came into prominence in the Protestant wing of Christianity after World War Two.
Jimmy Swaggart--an Assemblies of God Pentecostal.
Oral Roberts, who needed $7 million U.S. lest God "call him home", was a prominent faith healer in the 1950s. Much of his theological underpinning springs from the radically new "Latter Rain' movement of the late 1940s.
Although Jim Bakker is sometimes self-serving in his autobiography "I Was Wrong", he has realized some of the errors in the "prosperity gospel" message that he used to prominently feature on his PTL broadcast. He now believes that treating God as a celestial ATM machine is misguided.
One could argue that the excesses of these men was partly due to a lack of spiritual balance and a lack of grounding in the historical tenets of their faith. The "new spiritual wisdom" may have led them to a mindset where morally dodgy behaviour was now acceptable in their own minds.
If we concede that these men were theologically wise, the Bible does note that a man should take care when he thinks that he is standing, lest he fall.
I would advise those of us in the church, who consider that we are the "intelligent people" in Christendom, to take particular note of this Biblical admonition. I have a sneaking suspicion that the televangelists who fell into scandal felt, at the time, that those who were critical of them were dumber than a bag of hammers.
Let's not make those mistakes again.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
When small town reporters go bonkers
The Muckraker: a tale of Robert Marquart's erroneous discovery that a heating duct company in his small Missouri town was using their products as teleportation devices.
The Muckraker: a tale of Robert Marquart's erroneous discovery that a heating duct company in his small Missouri town was using their products as teleportation devices.