Yesterday we took a walk in Fish Creek Park and saw twelve white tailed deer. We normally see one or two deer, four is a big day. So twelve is a record.

- Peace

I've written the voice over for the beginning of tonights candle light service. Comment if you wish.

I'll read it, using a mike, we start off in total darkness.

Physical darkness, it doesn't impact us they it used to. We have all sorts of lights: street lights, headlights, house lights, flashlights, and automatic night lights. But for the ancient cultures of the north this time of year meant one thing, the night was at it's longest. But there was hope, the light was coming back, it was time to celebrate.

For a 1000 years the Church has celebrated this time of year as the coming of the great spiritual light. John opens his Gospel with theses words:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.


John also records Jesus saying

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

So tonight we light the Christ candle in Celebration of of the light of world.

We also light the four advent candles that celebrate four dimensions of walking in the light.

Hope - our hope is in Christ the redeemer, who as the great artist reworks and restores our lives into works of his art. There is nothing in our lives Christ can not redeem for good, if we are willing.

Peace - Issiah over 700 hundred years before the birth of Jesus Prophesied

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Jesus promised

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid

Joy– is more about running in the light than walking, it's the excitement of knowing God is for us, not against us, it's the picture of the angles lighting up the sky with glad tidings, it is David the ancient King who grew up in Bethlehem declaring

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

Love– the love of Christ is one that loves us without condition, and calls us to do the same, to love our enemies, to love our rivals, our bosses, even our in laws.

While Christ is light of the world, for all people and all times, each of us have a unique story in his light, we've asked three people to share part of their story tonight, as we light more candles.

- Peace

The Joy of Tech! The Return of the King

What a Crappy Present - CD Gift Advice, Parents and Kids.

- Peace

The Smell: top ten excuses... I mean, reasons why I wait 'till the last minute to shop for Christmas

I'm with you Pernell. And with that in mind here's a tip: How To Give The Last-Minute Gift of Blog

- Peace

For my birthday Kim took me to River Cafe in Prince's Island Park, just north of downtown. I had the wild boar, it was wonderful, moist and rich with flavor. Their hot cider was rich, almost buttery and after a walk in the cold hit the spot. If you're looking for a unique dinning experience in Calgary I'd recomend it.

They certainly live up the their reviews.

On a side note I've been in Calgary for four years and this is the first time I've noticed it's Prince's Island Park and not Princess Island Park. Go figure.

- Peace

Check out the ad for I Robot. As seen on /.

- Peace

Slashdot Poll: Worst Holiday Tradition? - Got to go with the Muzak. Number 2 and not on the list is Christimas lights in November. But Jordan has it covered with a mini rant against unseasonal Christmas lights.

- Peace

From my first post back in May 2002.

I'm hoping to convince Pernell at the Freeway to get his team blogging about their lives and media. So I'll do this for a while and see how it goes.

today I got this email

Merry Christmas.

Okay, don't laugh at me... but I finally decided to try to learn the art and discipline of online journaling (weblogging, blogging). I have started a blog today and I promise to update it as much as possible... at least every few days. You can read my musings at
http://pernell.blogs.com/. Let me know what you think.

I hope and pray that this Christmas Season will bring you a new and fresh experience of the One who came to bring peace on earth.

Peace.

Pernell

So welcome to Pernel to the world-o-blogs, and feel free to laugh at him.

- Peace

Jeffrey Overstreet's review of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King:

If the Academy voters once again deny Peter Jackson his overdue Oscars, they only accelerate their increasing irrelevance. Titles more likely to win awards—Mystic River, for example—are impressive, but also bleak and morose. Return of the King is not only a Herculean feat of workmanship; it is also charged with tangible hope. It will be quoted by young and old alike for decades to come. It has inspired a generation to read, surpassing Harry Potter in motivating them to read literature. Jackson’s saga serves us not only with entertainment, but with art that will inform the decisions of the wise and tweak the consciences of the proud and self-serving.

Thanks to Thunderstuck.

- Peace

As I've said before the Savlation Army comes up with some unique partnerships, like The Salvation Army and the Humane Society.

- Peace

New Honda SUT Concept Vehicle

Honda today released a sketch of the Honda SUT Concept vehicle, scheduled to make its worldwide debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on
January 4, 2004.

This new truck concept will provide the world with its first glimpse of the direction Honda will take with a future production sport-utility truck model.

Looks like the Element may be just the first of a new breed of Honda.

The Centre for Faith and the Media

The Centre for Faith and the Media is an independent, non-profit organization to inform, advise and help media and the general public achieve a stronger understanding of spiritual history, practices and values in Canadian society.

The Centre provides non-partisan resources to journalists and the public to enable a more accurate and fair portrayal of faith in our midst. It conducts research, creates guides and other reference works, and operates an online site to enable broad access to information.

The Centre is based in Calgary but has a national board of directors from academia, media and business. Its initial financing has been provided by Heritage Canada, but it is seeking charitable status to enable diverse support.

an interesting project. I'll be checking their site from time to time.

- Peace

Salvation Army captain banned from Australian detention centre

The Immigration Department has banned a Salvation Army captain from visiting detainees at South Australia's Baxter Detention Centre. Captain David Wright says the ban is punishment for speaking out on the conditions that asylum seekers live under in the centre.

The Immigration Department says it's simply exercising its right to refuse entry to people it deems a security risk.

- Peace

Shake the snow globe! thanks to His Royal Highness, the Emporer of Penguins

On a more serious note today, Dec 6, is St Nicholas Day!

- Peace

Bob Passantino, Veteran "Apologist for Everyman," Dies

I met Bob and his wife this summer at Cornerstone 2003. It was in the speaker trailer, Bob was telling a story of how his daughter out smarted him and an other gentelman in a debate by focusing on simple truth and not geting lost in abstract problems. He obviously relished simple truth and how his daughter had bested him.

C-Stone Mag has post one of his articles One of the Latest Urban Myths from 2000. A great article on how to spot a myth.

- Peace

The new 2004 Demotivators are out.

- Peace

Zed visits a living Nativity.

- Peace

Anchorage Daily News | Salvation Army steps up to save leg : Staph infection made work impossible; antibiotics were too costly.

- Peace

Over at Studio 360 (Part of Public Radio International) check out the Nov 22 show feature Evangelical Pop w/ Randall Balmer. They take a look at everything from POD to the Left Behind Serries. Six minutes into the stream.

- Peace

A couple of stories from /. on Google

Google Blocks 'Optimized' Pages.
Looks like IdeaJoy has gotten caught in this, IdeaJoy was number one for Dave King but now it's not even in the first few pages. Now you have to enter 'Dave King' blog to find it. Oh well it was fun while it lasted.

Also via /. an article from Fortune Can Google Grow Up?.

- Peace

Eugene Peterson - The Contemplative Christian - Christianity Today Magazine

'We can't participate in God's work if we insist on doing it our own way.' [Peterson] cited two examples of 'doing the right thing the wrong way': congregation and Scripture. We consider both to be our matters, not God's. Instead of forming communities that embody self-denial, sacrifice, and patience for God to become present in them, we form 'consumer churches,' using commercial methods to attract people and cater to their wants. And rather than reading Scripture as a way of 'listening to God revealing God,' we treat it as information for us to process to become more successful and enlightened people. In both cases, the ways and means—bowing to the gods of salesmanship and efficiency—are out of sync with the ends—forming a community of believers submitting to God's work within them.

Thanks Jordon

- Peace

Ananova - Pamela Anderson has revealed that she's now working as a Sunday school teacher.

The average lifespan of a Web page today is 100 days. This is no way to run a culture.

Job 6 15 - 20

But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert--
one day they're gushing with water

From melting ice and snow
cascading out of the mountains,

But by midsummer they're dry,
gullies baked dry in the sun.

Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink,
end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst.

Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water,
tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink.

They arrive so confident--but what a disappointment!
They get there, and their faces fall!

This morning it struck me how this is the flip side to what Jesus said to the woman at the well

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

John 4:13-14

Not sure that means anything, other than I like contrasts.

- Peace

Best Review of Cat in the Hat
Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/21/2003 | Myers coughs up a furball

It pains me to tell you,
But really, it's true:

The Cat in the Hat
Is a piece of dog doo.

Not the book, you silly,
That's the cat's meow,

But Mike Myers' movie
Is a feline bow-wow.

Shades of pistachio
Avocado and lime

Had me feeling green -
What a terrible time!

The stars did not shine,
The sun was not sunny,

This movie's a snooze -
Do not waste your money!

- Peace

MP3.com's Content to Be Destroyed

As a long time fan of MP3.com I'm sad to see it go. My favorite find the Echoing Green, great power techno songs of faith and life.

- Peace

CANADIAN POLITICAL LESSON NEEDED

Brad wants to know why Paul Martin, is considered to be a fiscal conservative but is the head of the Liberal Party?

I've taken my best shot at it, but feel free to jump in.

- Peace

I've been quite for almost a week, now if I could just learn to do that in my real life.

- Peace

Today is Rememberance Day in Canada. I allways think of my grandfather who flew with the RAF durring WWII. He flew spitfires in England and Kity hawks in North Africa. He met my Grandmother while training at Moose Jaw. They wrote letters back and forth for the four years he served and they married when he returned.

- Peace

The Salvation Army and Disney Team Up for the Holidays

One of the things I've noticed about the Army is how it partners with others to serve people. While the Southern Baptists has a boycot of Disney, we're working with them to feed the needy.

- Peace

Isle Salvation Army facing funding crisis

GALVESTON — Salvation Army officials, facing losses of $10,000 a month in Galveston, are considering cutting services.

The agency is the largest provider of food and shelter for the poor in Galveston.

To be honest, the Salvation Army is in decline right across North America. But here's a place where it looks like they are doing what they should be doing, (talking care of the poor) but the Church (corps. in army speak) can't keep up.

I can't help but wonder if past mistakes in how the Army ran it's churches has lead to it's current issues. For instance in the past the army would move officers every two years like clock work. Stability in the pastorship is the one thing that everyone from Rick Waren to Eugeene Peterson agrees is required for a healthy church, and for years the Salvation Army underminded that. So now we have declining corps and increased demands for help.

God have mercy on us.

- Peace

"You know you’re living in 2003 when…"

Worst Album Covers Ever

- Peace

One of the great impoverishments of many adults lives is the absence of children's stories. - Eugene H. Peterson, Leap Over a Wall, ch. 4: Imagination.

Designer Funerals: The Final Getaway

A lot of people are very un-church; they don't go to church, they don't have a church, so it makes them even sadder if they have a minister at the time of death.

Not sure what to make of that, are we Christians that bad a mourning with those who mourn, or do people just want to avoid thinking about eternal consequences? Should we worry that people don't want a religious ceremony, or be glad that church is being freed from it's role as provider of empty passage rituals?

as seen on Thunderstruck

- Peace

"I love mankind...It's people I can't stand" - Linus

as seen on HONEST TO BLOG

There's something about Alberta, there's always snow by Oct 31. In fact in Calgary I think there are more white Halloweens than there are white Christmases. Now that's scary.

- Peace

Elemental Lego!

When I first told Steve I was getting an Element, he asked is that the one that looks like it's made out of Lego? Well tonight I can say yes. Here's a great lego element, and the same guy who built that links to a CGI comercial showing an Orange Element being built out of lego. I love my Element!

- Peace

He was rich, young and powerful
She was used to being an outcast
He was upstanding, moral and right
She had five husbands, now with an other's
He was looking for answers
She was thirsty
He walked away
She brought a whole village into the kingdom

- Peace

One Wed Oct 22 I has the pleasure of hearing Measha Brueggergosman give a recital at the Jack Singer Concert Hall. Measha has become quite the name on the Opera circuit both in North America and in Europe. Before going to hear her I read the blubs on her web site and other reviews I could find, including this review from the CincinnatiBeat

Cincinnati audiences adored Measha Brueggergosman in last year's Dead Man Walking. This season she returns as the servant girl Liù. Her casting in this particular role at first seems odd: Her power-packed stage presence brings something new to the role of the long-suffering servant girl. But the formula works. Brueggergosman shows herself truly capable of a wide range of roles, and her singing is exquisite. When she opens her throat, her soul pours out. For the audience, the experience is at the same time thrilling, intimate and deliciously tragic.

And I'm glad to report that Measha gave a recital that was all that. What the reviews did not prepare me for is Measha's amazing sense of comedic timing. While listening to songs in German and French I found my self laughing out loud at the punch lines, simply from Measha's expressions, in her voice and on her face. This made for a much more light hearted evening than I was expecting.

At the end of the evening I felt she a delivered a 10 out of 10 performance, but in her encore she cranked it to 22 for the black spiritual Where You There. This is becoming Measha's signature song, she delivers it with a passion and power that makes the rest of the evening pale in comparison.


Measha Brueggergosman is an opera diva with pop accessibility, if you have the chance to hear one of here recitals, I recommend you take it.

For backgroud you can read my previous post about Measha.

- Peace

I passed the 1200 km mark for the year yesterday while biking the elbow trail in kananaskis country. 1200 km was my goal for the year, first anounced when I made last year's goal of 1000 km. My goal for 2004 is 1600 km, 2005 is 2000 km, making 2006 the year I return to the 2500 km / year level. Well at least that's the plan. 2500 km was my best year ever.

My bigest issue is what to do over the winter to stay active. We're in the Trym Gym program run by the U of C. That will keep me active through Decemember, but I've got to find something to do with Jan - March. If I'm going to make the 2500 km level I can't be starting from scratch each spring.

- Peace

THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE BOOK X

"What then have I to do with men, that they should hear my confessions- as if they could heal all my infirmities- a race, curious to know the lives of others, slothful to amend their own? Why seek they to hear from me what I am; who will not hear from Thee what themselves are? And how know they, when from myself they hear of myself, whether I say true; seeing no man knows what is in man, but the spirit of man which is in him? But if they hear from Thee of themselves, they cannot say, 'The Lord lieth.' For what is it to hear from Thee of themselves, but to know themselves? and who knoweth and saith, 'It is false,' unless himself lieth? But because charity believeth all things (that is, among those whom knitting unto itself it maketh one), I also, O Lord, will in such wise confess unto Thee, that men may hear, to whom I cannot demonstrate whether I confess truly; yet they believe me, whose ears charity openeth unto me."

- Peace

Love

You're familiar with the old written law, "Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, "Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your e"You're familiar with the old written law, "Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, "Hate your enemy.' 44I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, Mat 5: 43-44

Yeah, I'll get right on that. but right now I'm just having trouble loving the guys in my Church.

- Peace

Yahoo! News - Want a Raise? Standing Tall May Help

"MIAMI (Reuters) - Tall people earn considerably more money throughout their lives than their shorter co-workers, with each inch adding about $789 a year in pay, according to a new study."

If this is true, its offset by the cost of clothing, stuff at Big and Tall aint cheap, size 14 EEEE shoes don't come for $40 at wall mart either. And at 6'4'' finding a car to fit is always a challenge.

As seen on /.

- Peace
Dave

Update: after posting this I realized it was the perfect intro to 1 Samuel 16:1-13 the anointment of David.

When [Jesse and his sons] arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, "Here he is! GOD's anointed!"
But GOD told Samuel, "Looks aren't everything. Don't be impressed with his looks and stature. I've already eliminated him. GOD judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; GOD looks into the heart."

3500 years later and we're still impressed by tall people.

I'm thankful for a new strip from the creative mind of Kevin Frank: Zed.

- Peace

I've added two mp3's from PatseMusic to my collection, both by Jonathan Rundman Tape and Carol Of The Bells. Folk/Rock Americana. Thanks to the Rablin Man for pointing these out. (On the left hand side of his blog)

- Peace

You are the Fourth Doctor: A walking Bohemian
conundrum with a brooding personal magnetism
and a first-rate intellect concealed somewhere
beneath your charmingly goofy exterior. You are
perhaps the most terribly clever of all the
Doctors, though your occasional bouts of
childishness get you in trouble. You never go
looking for a fight, but when someone messes
with you... good heavens, are they ever sorry
they did.


Which Incarnation of the Doctor Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla


I used to wat the 3 to 4 hours of Dr. Who in one shot on PBS. By the end of the night I had a bad English accent. Thanks Richard!

- Peace

Just a snap shot of the moose that was on the Dimond T trail when we went biking last week. One of the great things about going biking in brag creek / kananaskis country is getting up close with nature. We were happy he choose to walk away, instead of charging us.

update: 20:50 We just back from a walk in Fish Creek, we saw a huge owl perched on a sign. He didn't move till Sarah shined the flashlight on him. He dove into the high grass. We couldn't have been more than two meters from him. One of the great things about where we live is how easy it is to get to some great biking or hiking. Fish creek is 2 km from my house, brag creek / kananaskis country is about a 40 minute drive from my house.

- Peace

Questions for Suzi

Is the Twins – Yankees series a big deal in your house?

In hosting exchange students, what part of American culture has been the hardest to explain?

Have you traveled internationally, if so where?

Where would you like to go and why?

What book would you recommend to help your exchange students understand America?

- Peace

A quote I just don't understand from EducationGuardian.co.uk Research paper claims gay people can be 'straightened out'

A spokesperson for the gay rights campaigning group Stonewall said: 'This is dangerous, sinister, nonsense, there's no evidence that gay people can be 'cured' as if it's some kind of illness.

'We're in favour of free speech. I don't think we would say repress it, but we would say it was flawed and flimsy research. It would be interesting to see research on whether straight people can be made to be gay.'

Ok so why is research showing gays can become strait sinister, but research that would show straits can go gay would be interesting? Wouldn't that just show that human sexuallity is more mutable than we like to admit? Just wondering.

- Peace

eMinders

"Members of A-Channel.com can set custom reminders to watch any show on A-Channel.com. A-Channel servers will email your SMS enabled wireless device or send you an email just before the show starts.

Ok, I don't think I need to be reminded to watch more TV. I think I can remember to watch Enterprise without a reminder thank you.

- Peace

The plan is for our men's group to work through Peterson's Leap Over a Wall this year. I've read this book once and loved it. So I'm looking forward to reading it again. Here's an exaple of why you should read this book.

We can't be human without God. That's what Christians believe. We believe that this human life is great gift and every part of it is designed by God and is therefore means something, that every part of it is blessed by God and therefore to be enjoyed, that every part of is accompanied by God and is therefore workable.

We can't get away from God: he's there weather we like it or not, whether we know it or not whether we like or not. We can refuse to participate in God; we can act as if God weren't our designer, provider, and covenant presence. But when we refuse we're less; our humanity is less. Our lives are diminished and impoverished.
...
And the David story is the most complete, detailed rendering of God-dimensioned humanity that we have, the common life that God uses to shape humanity to his glory. As the story develops we see everything about us inter penetrated with God; our imaginations expand and we see what it means to live largely, aware of God's grace and beauty in every detail of which we're invited to participate in.

- Peace
Dave

My daughter just made my day.

We were out for lunch and the subject of "posers" came up. She gave the great example of a girl who has a skate board and takes it to school, only she walks it to school instead of riding it.

I gave the example of the Pharisees, a group of people who liked do dress religious and act religious but weren't interested in what God was going.

Sarah: Oh like the guy in the Jones movie

Me: [Thinking Jones Soda] Jones Movie?

Sarah: you know the guy version of Tomb Raider!

Me: Indian Jones?

Sarah: yeah the guy at the end who was dressed in all the robes but was working for the bad guys, and got killed.

Me: [me a bit stunned] Yes that's a great example, you can't be a Nazi and expect God is going to be on your side just cause you're wearing the robes.

What impressed me is Sarah took what was going on in School, connected it to my example from the Gospels and tied it together with a pop culture reference on her own. I didn't even think she was paying attention when we watched Raiders of the Lost Arc. I tend to think pop culture can provide some interesting symbols to work with, seems like my daughter has picked up on some of that. Excuse me while I beam!

- Peace

Seen this email on a list?

Acocdrnig to an elgnsih unviesitry sutdy the oredr of letetrs in a wrod
dosen't mttaer, the olny thnig thta's iopmrantt is that the frsit and lsat
ltteer of eevry word is in the crcreot ptoision. The rset can be jmbueld and
one is stlil able to raed the txet wiohtut dclftfuiiy."

Now I was skeptical cause anything that shows up via email with out specific details as to who did the research and where is almost always a hoax. But it turns out the there is some research done at UC Irving to back this up. Uncle Jazzbeau's Gallimaufrey has the details.

Do you ever feel lost, disconected, ignored? And you know you have no one to blame but your self? It's just one of those mornings...

Need to listen to Jesus Is For Losers.

- Peace

My Handspring Visor died a few weeks back, no doubt a final result of being smashed last November, part of a nasty wipe out on ice. I've replaced it with a Sony Clie Peg - SJ33. Staples had them for 299.97 CDN, but the store near me was out of stock, so I went down the block to Future Shop. Made use of their price guarantee to get it at the same price $50 and 3 cents less than Future Shop's list :) I also picked up a 128 meg memory stick for $59 CDN , so I almost got the memory stick for free! You need the memory stick to play mp3s. I'll be able to listen to music on the c-train with out carrying an extra gadget. Works for me. I can also plug the Clie into the stereo in the Element. The Element comes with an auxiliary port to plug in a walkman or mp3 player directly into the stereo.

So here's what's on my clie right now

One Bad Pig - Man In Black
Ideola - Go Ask the Dead Man
Ideola - How to Grow up Big and Strong
MXPX - Punk Rawk Show
The OC Supertones - Superfly
Pedro The Lion - BigTrucks
Midnight Oil - Say Your Prayers
Midnight Oil - Been Away Too Long
Pierce Pettis - My Life Of Crime
Bill Mallonee - Double Cure
Vigilantes Of Love - She Walks On Roses
Waterdeep - At Least I Got A Car
Jeff Elbel - Miracle Rain
Massivivid - Boomerang
Newsboys - Breakfast
Five Iron Frenzy - Wizard Needs Food, Badly
Dakoda Motor Co. - Sing Hallelujah
Dakoda Motor Co. - Win 'An 'Sea
Downhere - In America
Downhere - Feels Like Winter
Superchick - Karaoke Superstars
Riley Armstrong - Sleep
Breakfast With Amy - Come On, Joan
Breakfast With Amy - Tell Mama
D-Boy - Cease For Peace
Michael Roe - For Crying Out Load
7&7 is - UUUU
Bruce Cockburn - Waiting for a Miracle
Bruce Cockburn - Wondering Where the Lions Are
The Choir - What Is The Cherry Bomb?
The Choir - Enews only secret Choir song
Paul Aldrich - Oh, Thank Heaven
Paul Aldrich - Drivers Test
Sixpence None the Richer - Paralyzed
Sixpence None the Richer - Waiting on the Sun

- Peace

More questions from the Interview Meme.

Questions for Christopher

You are an endangered species, the male elementary school teacher. Any thoughts on how other teachers, students & parents react to you as a man in a woman's world?

My worst moment in teaching was catching students cheating. What's your worst teaching moment?

I'm a hard marker, in part cause I've failed courses and survived. Plus after school, no one asks to see your grades. How do you see the role of grades in education?

Across Canada most elementary schools run from Sept. to June. Why does your school year run from August till May?

Would you like to have kids of your own?

Questions for Roy

Fargo best known for the movie of the same name. Is that a good thing?

What's the best thing about Fargo?

What's the worst thing about Fargo?

What do you call someone from Fargo?

A you a native son of Fargo?

Update: Roy get's the fastest answers in the mid west award, for getting his answers out in a flash.

I should also note the Jay has answered his questions.

The Interview Meme

1. If you want to participate, leave a comment saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions — each person's will be different.
3. You will update your journal or blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions

From Nowheresville, USA

"In fact, Canyon Hills Church's newest series on friendship is certain to be a draw for bikini-wearing ladies who, as we all know, have difficulty making friends. As an added bonus, Canyon Hills Church in Mission Viejo, California caters to another 'cast off' segment of society - those men (single or otherwise) who want to be sandwiched between two nearly naked young ladies while worshipping God (these are those of a 'best of both worlds' mindset).

You just can't make up stuff like that.

- Peace

We got even more snow over night and I still have the digital camera. Jay I promise I'll give it back.

A friend of mine from Fredericton (east coast of Canada) came out to Edmonton for a summer job at the University of Alberta. She saw two snow storms, one in May at the end of August. That summer (91 maybe) Edmonton had only 90 days between snow storms. Alberta doesn't have seasons we have an on going argument between Summer and Winter with lot's of heckling.

- Peace

My first digital photo. You can see what's left of the snow we got today in the bush in front of our house. Click the image for larger pic.

Read: Snow falls before leaves - Sudden dump typical for Alberta

- Peace

Bye, Aquila; hello, Fortis
Newfoundland utility company scoops up Alberta power assets.

Aquila was a client of mine for almost two years.

- Peace

Jay and Gail both asked for an interview so here are the questions:

Questions For Jay

Deo Omnis Gloria means All Glory to God, how did you pick that phrase as your blog title?

Why in Latin?

The sub title of your blog is “holding out the candle of truth to the world”. Who do you see as your main audience?

One of the things I've found fascinating about the Catholic Church is it's diversity, the Jesuits who are known for their philosophy, the earthy mysticism of the Franciscans, charismatic movements like Couples for Christ, reform movements like the Voice of the Faithful, or the conservative “traditionalists” mentioned in your blog. What flavor of Catholic are you?

Who would you like to see as the next Pope?



Questions for Gail.

How did you first get interested in Live Action Role Playing (LARP)?

How often do you get out to a LARP game?

What type of Character(s) do you like to play?

Does your game character reflect your personality or are you a different character when you play?

What's your favorite thing about a LARP game?

- Peace
Dave

Some parts of christendom are still Up tight about hair.

- Peace

Entertainment Weekly's EW.com | Johnny Cash dies at 71.

Before he covered U2's one, or Nine Inch Nails Hurt, I knew Johnny Cash was cool in 1991 when he appeared on I Scream Sunday with One Bad Pig for a punk version of Man In Black. It's a good day to wear black.

- Peace

Wired News: Westerners Pretty Rich

I've often guessed that I'm in the top 10% of the world population when it comes to money. [It's all the free software I use.] Funny thing is when you say that the reaction is either, no it's can't be, you're not that rich or wow you must be super rich. Thing is it's not that hard to be in the top 10%. People in the USA who make $9300 per year are in the top 12%. I just don't think we know how rich we are. Oh and it turns out I'm in the top %1 on the planet.

Check your self on the Global Rich List.

- Peace

Just haven't been in the blogging mood. Don't know why. but here are some quick notes

• On Sunday I passed the 1000 km mark of biking for the year, my goal is 1200 km. If the weather holds out, I'd love to make it to 1500 km.
  
• SSX3 looks amazing. Christian punk band MXPX is on the soundtrack
  
• Berkeley Breathed is resurrecting Opus the penguin for a new series to appear in Sunday comics this November. Let's hope it's available on the web,
  

- Peace

Canadian Questions for Jen:

For a self described valley girl, you have quite the fascination with Canada, How did that start?

I know you've been to Canada at least once, if you could make another trip where in Canada would you go?

Do you have a favorite Canadian singer / band?

Favorite Canadian author / book?

Favorite Canadian movie and or tv show?

Update: Jen has given her answers. I'd gladly nominate here as an Honorary Canuk.

- Peace

Aug 30 - Biking in Brag Creek

Jay just sent me the pictures:

For thos that don't know, I'm the big guy on the left.

- Peace

VeggieTales Creators File for Bankruptcy - Christianity Today Magazine:

Bob the Tomato and friends sold to company that already has Lassie, Lone Ranger, and Rudolph.

Ouch. How I wish this was just a silly song. Thanks to Brad Boydston for pointing this out.

- Peace

Jen did a post on the Interview Meme, answering a set of questions and offering to interview others, and in a moment of weakness I said sure. Jen's questions and my answers follow.

Jen: You're Canadian, which means that you stereotypically live in an igloo and travel from place to place by dog sled. You interact with moose and beavers on a daily basis and say "eh" at the end of every sentence. What are some of your favorite stereotypes of Americans (now that I've listed every Canadian one that I can think of)?

DJK: I guess my favorite stereotypical American would be the blissfully oblivious American as seen on Talking to Americans with Rick Mercer.

Jen: What is "ideajoy"?

DJK: Well "ideajoy" would be a variable name, where as "IdeaJoy" is a class. See the Java naming conventions. It's seven letters that returned no documents from Google when I changed the name from Ideola. It reflects the interaction of the mind and spirit. If we had a logo it would be a dove and lightbulb.


Jen: If money was no concern and you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and what would you do?

DJK: Two answers to that
1) Bike across Canada, Victoria to St. Johns. It's about 7000 km. I'll do 1200 km biking this year so if I had three – four months and was in slightly better shape I could do it.
2) Tour Africa, see Kenya, visit my sister who is looking to live in Angola.

I have a career goal to work out side of North America for at least six months. When I travel, I don't feel it's been a good trip unless I get to spend a significant amount of time talking to local people. I don't ever see my self just doing sight seeing.


Jen: You live in Calgary. Are you into rodeo stuff? Have you been to the Stampede?

DJK: Been in Alberta since 1988 and have yet to go to a rodeo. However you can't avoid the Stampede if you are in Calgary that week. Each year my daughter and I make it to a least one of the hundreds of Stampede breakfasts for pancakes and sausages. Our church holds it's carnival day during Stampede and I've helped out with that. Last year we did go down to the fair grounds. The only part I really enjoyed was the western art exhibit. For rides Calaway Park or West Edmonton Mall are better deals.


Jen: Why do you blog?

DJK: I've been on the net since the early nineties. To me it's the latest, and I'd say best form of online discussion. A set of interlinked blogs have a natural way of keeping the signal to noise ratio high. People don't link to a noisy blog. I believe one of the strengths of the net is many to many communication, Other wise it's just a poor substitute for TV.

I am obviously in love with reading my own writing.

The Interview Meme

1. If you want to participate, leave a comment saying "interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions — each person's will be different.
3. You will update your journal or blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions

- Peace

Wired News: Study: Saving Trees Saves Water and Money

A recent evaluation showed it would cost $7 billion to build a water treatment plant, compared with a $1 billion bill for actively managing the forest catchment area by raising water taxes and paying farmers to use less fertilizer and reduce grazing.

- Peace

More on Q & A in Church

A couple of weeks back I asked Why don't we do Q & A in Church?. A freind told me the Westside Kings Church did Q & A in their service. So I emailed Tom Morris, Senior Pastor at WKC and asked him to do a brief interview, and he was kind enough to agree.

DJK: First for context, can you give me the quick answer to what is Westside Kings Church?

TM: Go to www.wkc.org it has all our vision values on it

DJK: I've heard you do Q & A as part of your services can you tell me how that fits into service, how long is the Q & A session and any other mechanics of how you do Q & A at church?

TM: Yes we do have Q & A and have been doing this for a couple of years on Sunday night at our young adult focused celebration. we have done it a few times on the other celebrations but it is a little unwieldy there. We have an evening host and after the message that person walks around and holds the mic while people ask away.

DJK: How many people attend the evening service? How many questions / how long does the Q & A sessions go?

TM: We began the evening celebration two years ago and presently have over one hundred of our regular two thousand that attend. Q and A is for around 15 mins and usually about four questions sometimes a few more.

DJK: Why did the q & a sessions start at WKC?

TM: We did it because it fits with our core ideology as to the interaction. We believe is nessesaty in the context of people influenced by a more dialouge oriented culture rather than the one way communication of the traditional modern church.

DJK: Have there been any awkward moments during Q & A, what do you do to handle them?

TM: A few. Mostly people who expose themselves in a way that shows that they really don't get what is being talked about. we have a very gracious community so it is not a big deal.

DJK: What does having a q & a session say about the WKC culture?

TM: I am not sure, but i think it says we are open and want to learn together rather than a sage on the stage we are a learning community of fellow struggelers.

- Peace

Okanagan Gleaners

Okanagan Gleaners save surplus fruits and vegetables, converting them into dried fruits and soup mixes, and donating the products to the poor and needy through reputable, well established relief organizations, soup kitchens, food banks and street ministries. Their products have been shipped to North and South America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa. In 1998, most of the production went to the survivors of Hurricane Mitch in the Honduras.

People go to the Okanagan, camp at the gleaners site, help in the morning and enjoy the Okanagan valley for the rest of the day. What a brilliant idea.

- Peace

In my morning devotions I was reading Isaiah 35 and was blown away by the beauty of the words.
Jesus quoted some of verse 5 to John's deciples when they asked "Are you really the Messiah we've been waiting for, or should we keep looking for someone else? ^{Matthew 11: 3}"
I found verse 10 especially moving because we sing it or I thought we did. When I looked it up in the song book I found that it was actually Isaiah 51: 11 but the similarities are amazing.
Isaiah 35: 1 - 10

¹ Even the wilderness will rejoice in those days. The desert will blossom with flowers. ² Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel's pastures and the plain of Sharon. There the LORD will display his glory, the splendor of our God. ³ With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. ⁴ Say to those who are afraid, "Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you." ⁵ And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf. ⁶ The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will shout and sing! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the desert. ⁷ The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived. ⁸ And a main road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-hearted people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God's ways; fools will never walk there. ⁹ Lions will not lurk along its course, and there will be no other dangers. Only the redeemed will follow it. ¹⁰ Those who have been ransomed by the LORD will return to Jerusalem, singing songs of everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be overcome with joy and gladness.

Isaiah 51: 11

Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

The Least Likely Soil
Where God is more certain than death
By Philip Yancey

In the soil of this violent, disordered world, an alternate community may take root. It lives in hope of a day of liberation. In the meantime, it aligns itself with another world, planting settlements-in-advance of that coming reign.

- Peace

etan: Stories from the bank... Etan catches an identity theif in the act.

- Peace

CBC News:New Brunswick soprano places second

OSLO - Measha Brueggergosman has placed second in the prestigious Queen Sonya International Music Competition in Norway. The 26-year-old soprano is a native of New Brunswick.

The Oslo event is a tuneup for the Munich International Music Competition, which takes place in September.

Brueggergosman is a graduate of the University of Toronto. In addition to her numerous musical accolades, she has recorded a jazz album with PEI's The Jive Kings.

She will tour Iceland and Finland in October as part of a Canadian Arts Commission recital tour."

I went to church with Mesha's family, her dad taught me Sunday school. I hung out with her older sister from time to time. She was the little sister who we ignored, now she's a big time diva with her wall paper. Small world.

- Peace

War, what is it good for?
I do really wonder what George Bush was thinking when he started the war in Iraq.
A) Weapons of mass destruction? Nope, the NSA, CIA and others knew that the letter tying Iraq to Africa for Uranium was a hoax. (This didn't stop them from using it to coax reluctant senators into voting for the war of course)
B) Ties to Al-Qaeda? Nope, Al-Qaeda are Sheite Muslims, Sodam is a Sunni and even publicly executed Sheite Ayatollahs. They would have put the bullet in him for the Americans but for his direct male line decendency from the prophet.
C) Democracy? Nope, there are painfully few democracies in the Middle East and Iraq does not have the essential ingredient, a large fat middle class for whom democracy would be a bonus.
D) Oil? Maybe, France and Russia were ready to agree to war to remove Sodam if they could keep control of the oil fields in which their companies were working. The US said no and so France and Russia prepared to veto the war.
E) "They tried to kill my daddy!" Well, that's what one of my friends thinks I'm hoping he isn't right.

My heart says that no matter what the reason it's a terrible waste.
The CWRC is starting a program that should help get the basics going but it will be a long time before this thing settles.

Greetings from the Revelstoke visitors center. $2 for 30 min, great deal for net access.

So far:

our portable gas bbq caught fire. We tried wraping the grill with aluminum foil and it over heated. The coating on it caught fire. We were not impressed.

We could see glowing fire from our camping spot, on the Mt. across the river from the KOA.

The National park is closed, so no easy ride down Mt. Revelstoke.

On the plus side:

We (Wayne and I) did get to go biking in the provincial demonstation forest, had a great ride.

It rained last nigt so the air is much clearer.

- Peace

Dispatches from Outland remarks on an article about a sponge

So many of these biologists would be quick to tell you that all these amazing things--like this sponge--are just the results of blind chance (a.k.a. evolution). At the same time, they can't help but use words like engineered and designed.

I noticed the same trend. Good call.

- Peace

Q & A in Church

Why is it we don't have Question and Answer sessions at the end of a sermon? Every other speaker / presentation format I can think of has them, even large events with hundreds of people have Q & A. So why not in Church? Just wondering.

- Peace

If you played any of the old point and click adventure puzzle games of the late 80's early 90's such as Space Quest then Samorost will feel like a tripy flash back. It's a short Shockwave game with fun puzzels and lush graphics. Time well wasted.

- Peace

Shane has a post on how it can be hard to take a compliment. So I won't say it's a good post, I'll just say me too.

- Peace

Famous Players needs to get a clue

Read: CalgaryMovies.com - Accurate Showtimes Initiative.

Famous Players should be happy that a site like CalgaryMovies.com is out there for movie fans and work with them to bring as much bussiness as possible to their theaters. Instead they make getting good movie information harder for their customers by not sharing information with CalgaryMovies.com.

I know they have their own site, but it's not as good as CalgaryMovies.com for the same reasons that Amazon is a better site than DelRey. DelRey is a fine site, but they only list DelRey books. Imagine how foolish DelRey would look if they refused to share information with Amazon in 2003.

Makes you wonder what Famous Players CEO Robb Chase is getting paid for.

- Peace

Slag : "Verb. To verbally put down someone or something. E.g.'If you are going to persistently slag off your friends you soon won't have any left to upset.'"

A dictionary of slang - "S" - Slang and colloquialisms of the UK.


When I was at c-stone 2003 I said something like "and he was totaly slagging him for ..." My American friend stoped and asked "slag? Canadian slang or internet?" I didn't know. Checked with a fellow Cunuck and she could define slag, so it seems to be Canadian. And then there's the above page from the UK. So gentle readers before reading this post would you have known what slagging was? Please let me know in the comments.

- Peace

A great post form LT: Emerging from Postmodernism

Today our faith rests upon human wisdom disguised as Christ. Call it theology or religion or whatever. We have yet to realize our deception even though it should be readily apparent that we reflect very little of what the apostles describe.

For me I feel I need to leave the human wisdom behind and seek God. I want to have my faith in the power of God, not in my wisdom or the wisdom of others. I only have an idea of what this looks like. I know that I will be glad to leave behind the postmodern label. Using a label that is defined a hundred different ways and is ultimately no philosophy at all, just a reaction to a dying one, seems silly to me now.

You need to read the entire post.

- Peace

The Infamous Exploding Whale - Video

Wow, that's so simpson-esque it's scary.

- Peace

On Sunday I preached my first, and who knows maybe my last sermon. Our pastors were on vaction and I got asked to fill in. I used open office to do a web export of my images and notes. I don't write out an entire presentation, I just use points and talk around that. I'm used to talking for about an hour at a shot, so I found aiming for 15 - 20 minures quite hard. At the end of my sermon I felt like I should have been just getting started. My church was quite kind, I got lots of positive feed back. Having Mike there ment alot to me. And Yes I'm going to copy right hell for lifting all those images via Google.

Please take a monment and consider God as Artist.

- Peace

lightning kills blog - ouch.

- Peace

Links for Leighton
(Mike and I spent a great weekend with LT at his cabin talking about Life, the Universe and Everything, I promised LT a bunch of links)

Post Moderen Programers

Agile Development and test first design

jEdit

Larry Wall on /. - read question seven.

The new Battlestar Galactica and negitve fan reaction.

Five Iron Frenzy - songs that speak to the history of Native Amricans
The Day We Killed (Crazy Horse)
Old West
Banner Year

Gahndi thrown out of Chruch. The quote I remember was "That poor man thought he was ushering one Indian our of church, when realy he was helping ushrer England our of India". I can't find the source. However on pages 174 and 175 of Soul Survivor, Yancey tells that Gandhi was turned away form a church in South Africa because of his skin colour, he quotes E. Stanley Jones

Racialism has many sins to bear, but perhaps its worst sin was the obscuring of Christ in the hour when one of the greatest souls born of a woman was making his decision.

I'd highly recomend Jones Gandhi: Portrayal of a Friend.

Spontaneous Generation in Exploring Emergence is a good example of the type of hype that has been tied to the idea of emerging systems in the past.

For the life of me I can't find the article on the improtance of dynamic elements in a system and how we tend to focus on the static because it's easier to capture. I gues I didn't blog it, my bad.

- Peace

Jakob Nielson has a good rant against Information Pollution:

Information pollution is a worldwide scourge that afflicts not just travelers but everyone. In the United States, for example, you can't buy a lawnmower without a label saying that you're not supposed to mow your feet.

He also links to a 2001 article by design guru Tog: Good Lawyers, Bad Products

The automotive GPS lawyers weren't satisfied with making drivers curse the car company and the GPS manufacturer every time they have to clear the same legal message they've cleared a thousand time before. No, in their fanatic pursuit of zero liability, they've set up the ideal conditions to actually kill people.

A really great time:
I had just an awsome time with Dave and LT.
You would think the idea of a retreat to discuss "the church in a post-modern context" would not be the most exciting thing you could do for 4 days.
But it was just great.
We had many discussions some arguments. Large quantities of hyperbole and cliches were thrown about. And even an opinion or two changed.
I wanted to say thank you to both Dave and Layton for being such awsome brothers in Christ.
You guys really show Jesus in such an honest way it just makes folks want to say "I want to come too"

From the pseudo random links dept:

10 points of office etiquette...
Confessions of an Obnoxious Christian

and cause the perma link is broken, a quote ...

Email forwards are the fruitcake of the Internet.
Most people throw it away,
Some keep it, but never open it,
And a few reuse it to pretend they care.

from Whisper the Muse Alive, Aug 7 post.

- Peace

Load the Jump Program, The Wart Hog Jump.

- Peace

Had a great time on the weekend:

Friday

• picked up Mike in Edmonton
  
• listened to great music, with Mike in the Element, it's all about the journey.
  
• missed our turn in North Batleford and had to ask directions
  
• one kid thought the Element looked like a Mini cooper. Other than the fact the the Element is over twice as large I guess he had a point.
  
• Arrived in Chitik Lake, realized it is much larger than I had thought. We wandered around looking for post modern Christians.
  
• Asked one man wearing a large wooden cross if he would describe himself as a pre, mid or post modern Christian. He considered him self to be a present day Christian. Clearly not one Christians we were looking for.
  
• The genral store had a map of Chitik listing all the names of the cabin owners, we found Tebey.
  
• I guess I forgot to tell LT we were coming, oops. I did tell him we were interested, but didn't confirm, my bad.
  
• as reported by LT we geeked out.
  
• I slept in the Element, there was tons of space at the cabin, but I wanted to try it. It was quite comfy.
  

Saturday

• LT made a breakfast of bacon and eggs, mmmm bacon.
  
• Not even going to try to list all the things we talked about, but I do owe LT a set of links, that will be a seprate post. LT has posted some of our best sound bites.
  
• cooked up some steak, potatoes, veggie kabobs, salad and it was good.
  
• we watched Zoolander, very funny.Three geeks in a cabin watched a movie on male models, make of it what you will.
  

Sunday

• went to hear Jordon preach at spirit wood.
  
• Met a guy named Jeff, who had also been to c-stone 2003 and is writing a rap musical. What are the odd of the that happening in a small town church?
  
• Went our for lunch. The fish was amazing, second only to the Atlantic salmon I had beside the Miramichi river on a fishing trip when I was a kid. LT and Jordon agree the food was amazing..
  
• got to meet a real mini Cooper
  
• Wendy does bear some resemblance to Halle Berry, but that's being kind to Halle. The pics on Wendy's blog don't do her justice.
  
• I got to show off the Element, but I can't keep up with Jordon in his Caravan on gravel roads.
  

Monday

• left at just before 9:00 am
  
• picked up an older gentelmen, quite well dressed, who's car had broken down. Gave him a lift to the next town.
  
• asked cops in Notrth Batelford for directions to Tim Horttons, you wouldn't believe the look they gave us.
  
• Picked up a couple of hitch hikers, we the comented that we had good karma headed our way, Mike explained that we were more Christian than Karmatic. They said that what goes around comes around, I agreeded saying the Christian translation is "because he first loved us". It's all a reaction to being loved.
  
• Mike, Carrol and I saw X2 at the cheap theater. I bid Mike goodbye and headed home.
  

LT was a fantastic host, we had a great time. Here's hopping we can make it next year.

- Peace
Dave

PS The essence of hope is vision....

Mike and I are headed out to the Emerging Camping Trip. I'm taking Mike, so I won't be the oldest guy there.

- Peace

Malaysia to ban divorce by SMS.

update: the above link has expired, but here is an other look at the same story:
SMS Divorce Raises Controversy In Malaysia

- Peace

- Peace

Keeping Track of Money

Got a $20 bill with the words track this bill on line @ www.cdn-money.com. I filled in the request info and reward with the following info:

Date/Time of Hit	Location	Time Between Hit	Distance	Speed	Condition	Date Entered
28-Jul-2003 2:49 PM	Calgary, AB	105 days, 23 hours, 4 minutes	298 km	0.117 km/h	fine	28-Jul-2003
13-Apr-2003 3:45 PM	Sherwood Park, AB	52 days, 17 hours, 12 minutes	42.3 km	0.033 km/h	very good	13-Apr-2003
19-Feb-2003 9:33 PM	Morinville, AB	--	--	--	about uncirculated	19-Feb-2003
Totals:		158 days, 16 hours, 16 minutes	340 km

Now I've often wondered who had bills before me, now I have a partial picture. This just speaks to my inner geek.

- Peace

Unchained Melody - another of Richards creative visioning of scripture.

- Peace

A Scary thing I found…
from How To Rig An Election In The United States

Imagine for example if you could:

- secure control of the companies that make the voting machines and vote counting software;
- centralise vote counting systems, and politicise their supervision;
- legislate for the adoption of such systems throughout your domain, and provide large amounts of money for the purchase of these systems;
- establish systems of vote counting that effectively prevent anybody on the ground in the election – at a booth or precinct level - from seeing what is happening at a micro-level;
- get all the major media to sign up to a single exit-polling system that you also control – removing the risk of exit-polling showing up your shenanigans.

And imagine further that you;

- install a backdoor, or numerous backdoors, in the vote counting systems you have built that enable you to manipulate the tabulation of results in real time as they are coming in.

Now imagine someone already did it.

White House E-Mail System Becomes Less User-Friendly - as seen on useit.com.

The White house has introduced a new web based system for sending email to W. Now the old president@whitehouse.gov still works but ...

there is no guarantee it will be read or responded to

Nice double speak that. The new system has some interesting features including:

• Users get the chance to declare that they want to a) write a supporting comment or b) write a differing opinion
  
• Choose from a set of prefab subject lines like the Economy - Fire Act. As the NYT points out there is no category for Jobs/Unemployment.
  
• You need to be an American to send W. an email. State and zip are a required field. There is no country field. No pesky Canadians or Iraqies or anyone else need apply to send an email to W.
  

You can try the new Whitehouse Web Mail system for your self.

- Peace

One of my favorite shows at Cornerstone 2003 was put on by Robert Randolph and the Family Band. They do what is known as sacred steel. Their c-stone interview describes at as "the soulful sound of the electric lap-steel guitar" Yound Robert adds "a freshness and youthful verve to the genre".

For just pure emotion and energy this band was the top of my week at c-stone. And I wasn't alone - Jeff C., reported to be a member of the elite but elusive band Hip By Proxy, called the set "amazing!".

You can down load live recordings (mp3 format) from their site, or check out their on-line sampler. I'd say the music on the sampler is closer to what we heard at c-stone. The mp3s seem to be of a bit more compressed bit stream, but are well worth the time.

The only draw back for me is that Robert doesn't go much in the way of lyrical depth. But that's not the point, Sacred Steel as done by Rober Randolph is all about the emotion. Enjoy.

- Peace

I've created a new site/blog. The Friends of Cornerstone. It's a list of all the sites/blogs that I know have some connection to c-stone. It of course includes all the folks who stated a blog as a result of my seminar on blogging. Will update it as I find/hear about new c-stone related sites.

- Peace

From the You want to call it what? dept.
powergenitalia.com - a company called PowerGen has an Itallian subsidiary so .....

Thanks to Jordon for pointing that out.

From Of Kleenex and Cheez Whiz by Joe Hadzima

When you are naming a product you should try to come up with a unique name. Depending on the "strength" of the mark, the breadth of the class of goods or services to which the trademark right pertains may be greater or smaller. If your mark is fanciful and contrived, such as "Exxon" or "Kodak" it is highly unlikely that someone else is using it. You also will have a stronger case against someone who later uses a similar mark to trade on (or "dilute") the reputation of your product.

...

A name that is "merely descriptive" won't be entitled to trademark protection unless you can show that over time the mark has acquired "secondary meaning;" that is, customers actually associate the mark with your goods.

If you thought that was good you may want to check out the index of articles published by Joe Hadzima.

- Peace

As seen on Bene Diction and Ian's Messy Desk.

Can you believe someone trademarked the term Bible Geek? How is it that generic terms like Bible Geek can be trademarked? It's as silly as Microsoft having the trademark for Windows, when the term Window has been in use long before "Windows, the add on to DOS".

BTW the much cooler, more Christian way for Bible Geek tm to defend it's trade mark would be to grant our fellow blogger Bible Geek with permision to use the term Bible Geek. (Under TM law you need to show that you defend your trade mark, but as I understand it giving someone to the permision to use it counts)

- Peace


PS the Who Links Who page for Cruciform Chronicle shows quite the reaction from fellow bloggers.

The Day My Butt Went Psycho.

- Peace

No Yukon, P.E.I. on new maps of Canada - as a man well aquinted with typos I feel for them, still this is just bad.

- Peace

One of the things about blogging is that anyone any where may pop in and read what you write, so it helps to be aware of the dangers of assuming that the jargon you use is universally understood.

- Peace

Stupid Protests 2
... as seen on JordonCooper.com

- Peace

Alberta Recording artist Jan Arden has a blog.
... as seen on HomoTextual.

- Peace

Now the Truth Can Be Told: Steve Taylor on what happend to Squint Entertainment

Steve Taylor gives his first interview on why he had to leave Squint at Cornerstone 2003. Here are the highlights.

In the fall of 2000, Roland [ed: guy who did the original deal with Steve] was pushed out of his position at Word. I guess the best way to put this would be in biblical language: the new pharaoh knew not Steve.

So Word decided to sell Squint. Big Idea tried to buy Squint with Steve, but as we know now Big Idea had a cash crunch funding Johna. And that was the end of that.

So what's he doing now? Is there any hope for a new album?

Those of you who are wondering what I've been doing for the last two years, I've been working almost exclusively, especially for the last nine months, on film projects. One of them sounds suspiciously like something you've heard before, but I really think this one is going to happen. We're supposed to start shooting in January. It's decent budget, $2.1 million dollars. The trick about movies, of course, is it takes so much money to make them. You can't go into your own studio and record something for $15,000, or something like that. You have to find people with money, and I'm not very good at that, as you know. But I think this one is going to happen.

You'll hear all about the project when it's announced, but that's supposed to be shot in January. Even these two concerts were a little bit awkward because movie people are used to hearing ideas from music people, but they just look at it as a hobby. I think they are inherently suspicious of music people wanting to get into movies. I've had to go out of my way to make sure that everybody knows I'm not doing music anymore, that this film pursuit is real, that that's what I'm doing with all my time. I've managed to burn most music bridges behind me and I'm sure I'll be going back to those people and saying, listen it was just a joke. I made a terrible mistake. So I've put everything on making this film happen. It it's any good, maybe I'll get to do another one, and it it's not, it'll be my fault because there is certainly enough money to make something decent. So that's my plans for the near future.

Ok so at least the sound track should be cool, and being a total Steve fan, the movie (if it gets made) should rock.

Bonus quotes :
Steve on Country Music:

In country music, we have one genre, country, and we have one set of radio stations, and we all just are aimed at that one group of radio stations. ... I'm thinking, yeah, that's why country music, like, sucks completely

Steve on the Music Industry

the record industry is so corrupt and is founded on so many wrong foundations. And those get piled up on top of bad foundations to where it's just a very corrupt industry

Steve on fans getting the old albums

if you want to get them off the Internet, I have no problem with that, go ahead. They are not available, have at at.

-Peace
Dave

PS I'm the Dave mentioned at the begining of the article. And I asked the 1st and 3rd "Audience" questions.

After spending all week at C-Stone 2003 telling folks that I was the number two site for Dave King on Google, I get this email tonight

Dave,

I went looking for you in Google and you came up first. Your life is complete...

Joe

Well I wouldn't say compleet but I feel lucky. Maybe Joe will quit calling me Blog Boy and start calling me Blog Man. Yeah that would be better.

- Peace

Some folks have decided to give blogging a spin attending a couple of sessions with yours truly. Clearly these folks got too much sun a c-stone. It's my pleasure to introduce:

Nacho Average Blog – a high school student and fellow member of tribe geek. He has a deep love of all things microsoft.

Mozart's Pageturner has a great review of the movie Heaven.

Scott is still trying to figure out the significance of his blog title: Hardcore Poetics. Scott it just works, it is what is.

Heather's ambitious with two blogs Whisper the Muse Alive and Linguistic Liability.

Marry has her Tongue In Cheek and is thinking about dust.

Karen and John are telling their story as parents of a bipolar son on BipolarSupport. I hope they ceck out Alison's - Christian Depression Pages.

Adam is having fun with his never server and web cam over at The Blue System.

Nate His Royal Highness, the Emporer of Penguins. has been blogging for a while, but came by the seminar just to see what was up.

Some other blogs with Cornerstone Festival connections:

The folks at dreifuss.org - have been to c-stone.

brad boydston - is in part of the Evangelical Covenant Church, JPUSA's denomination. JPUSA host c-stone each year. JPUSA is pronounced je-poo-sa, by those in the know. Me I had to ask what Jepoosa was. Brad links to CT's Conerstone article.

Mustard on Your Leg got it's name from it's Cornerstone History.

Zac who's part of the Freq107 group was at C-Stone 2003 in an RV, not tenting with the masses.

Jason at Farmhouse Blues tell some cstone 2003 horror stories.

So there you go a whole crop of blogers with connections to Cornerstone. I'll turn this into a proper list this week. If you know of other C-stone related blogs, let me know.

- Peace

Traci Lords says FBI raid ending porn career 'saved my life’

I've tried to write about this before, but I've never been able to do it justice. John's widow asked me to speak at the memorial service today, so here's my best shot at explaining walking on holy ground.

For me it feels right to have this service on Friday. For the pas few weeks I've been heading up to the Rosedale hospice on Fridays to visit John. It was the highlight of my week to see John, to spend time with him was to walk on holy ground.

We'd talk about work, church, the squirrels that jumped from tree to tree out side John's window, the problems involved with plotting points on a globe, the books he was reading, how Bible study was going, the latest movie I'd seen. Just about anything.

We'd talk about how he was doing, What always came through was the sense of peace that God had given John. This was not an easy path by any means, he shared how his mind would race about a problem, and then God would show him that it wasn't a concern and he'd just relax. My prayers in the last few weeks have been “Lord give me the peace of mind you've given John, I want to be more like John”.

John had a peace and a joy that passes our understanding, that passes the things we don't understand. Who can make sense of the tragedy of losing John? I know I can't, all I know is it hurts. All I can do is pray that I would be open to God's love the way John was.

I can tell you that John lives with God in heaven today, because I was a witness to the Lord living with John. I'm deeply thankful to John for allowing me to walk on Holy ground with him.

- Peace

We're home from the trip. Just under 7000 km in all. I'd love to write more but I need to prepare to speak at a friend's Memorial Service tommorow.

- Peace

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Good things:
Good thing #1: Harry takes an important step in teaching the other kids about defence against the dark arts.
Good thing #2: The children work together at the end to face their fears and their enemy. (it just took too many pages to get there)

Bad things:
Bad thing #1: 800 pages; The pacing and feel of this book made me want to scream several times GET ON WITH IT! (the movie version will have the good bits and be much more bearable)
Bad thing #2: Children's Book?; This is the darkest book of the lot so far. If this book had been J. K. Rowling's first it would have been clearly stacked in young adult.
Bad thing#3: Rowling needs a new villain or needs to do something to make Voldemort more interesting.

Overall:
I must be becomming a muggle. I didn't like the Order of the Phoenix very much (although I think it will make for a decent movie)

I wish I was going with Dave.
I will be praying that they will have a safe journey.
God is taking me on a journey too.
I met with a couple of friends who were with me in a bible study at work.
They want me to join their small group. Sounds good, sounds easy right?
So how come I'm terrified?

Ok one last thing, Last Saturday we got our copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and so far it's the best book yet. I'm only half way through, I've been reading it in secret. See I'm waiting for our daughters first "I'm bored!" statement on the trip before telling her we have the book. :) I expect much excited screaming when she get's her hands on it, and she'll be ticked that I'm a head of her. But I can't read and drive, even on the prairies.

I'm glad that J. K. Rowling has stoped the habit of retelling chunks of the previous story, just so folks who skiped previous books know what's going on. She still fills in the details, but does it in a way that's integrated into the nartive. So that almost 800 pages you've heard about? There's no filler.

- Peace

OK just doing a last few things before we go. I've posted a detailed trip plan. This map will show where we will be sleeping each night. Talk to you all when we get back.



- Peace