Stranger in a Strange Land: The Ellen Identity

I had never imagined that I would get a call from a CIA clandestine service recruiter ...

a must read.

- Peace

The 404 of Faith

Other favorite 404s: The System is Down, WMD and The Aglican Church of Canada's actual 404 page.

- Peace

Just short of 2100 km

Was on my way home, about 10 km from home (Elbow and Glenmore) when my chain broke.
Now given that I put 3400 km on my chain, it needed to be replaced. Thing is it was replaced on Saturday. This was a brand new less that 50 km chain that broke just as I started to cross Glenmore trail. grrr. Back to the bike shop and another nice day wasted.

- Peace

Google Local Canada

Google has a new search function for Canada called Local Canada. A friend sent me directions to a Tai Sub place saying it was accross from Wicked Wedge, and while I've heard of it, I've never been there. Searching for Wicked Wedge near Calgary AB did the trick though. I bike past there on the way home from work.

Google Local Canada also did well with Funky Pickle, my favorite pizza place in Edmonton.

And I'm not the only Candaian to notice it, see today's User Friendly.

- Peace

Back in the Saddle

My new Manitou Black Platinum fork came in on Saturday, I took the bike in to PedalHead at 1 pm and had it back by 5 pm. Went riding with Kim Sat night, didn't ride Sunday, or Monday but rode to work yesterday and today. This morning I passed the 2000 km mark for 2004. That 125% of my original 2004 goal of 1600 km. 2000 km was my goal for 2005.

The next big mile stone (km stone?) for me is the 2200 km mark. Anyone want to guess why?

I'm loving the new fork the lock out feature that lets me adjust how stiff the fork is on the fly. As I climb up out of fish creek I can reach down and flick the lock out to 75%, then as I reach to top of the hill I can set it back to 50%. Not sure what setting I'll use for trail ridding, but it's easy to experiment.

- Peace

Last Day of Summer, First Frost?

From Environment Canada:

city of Calgary
6:32 PM MDT Monday 20 September 2004

Frost warning for
city of Calgary continued

Frost is likely over most of southern Alberta tonight.

A ridge of high pressure will bring clearing skies and light winds to southern Alberta tonight. This will allow temperatures to drop to near or slightly below zero giving frost to many areas.

Calgary weather is just about as close to random as you can get.

- Peace

The Terminal

We saw The Terminal last week and really enjoyed it, more comedy, less romance. On a related note I found : Cornerstone Magazine :: **Cornerstone Classic** Down and Out at O'Hare by Chris Ramsey quite interesting.

- Peace

1952 km and holding

The good news: Yesterday morning on the way to work I passed the 1920 km mark, 120% of my goal for 2004.

The bad news: On the ride home I decided the bike has be come unrideable. At luch I had the front brakes readjusted, and by the ride home I had to unhook it for the last couple of kms.

Back in June when I was hit by a truck, there was damage to my frot fork. I noticed somthing was wrong when I started biking again in Aug, but it was minor as I rode on smooth paths there was push back on my left hand, even when going strait. At first I thought that the head set was out of alignment. After a few tries at realigning it, I got Al at PedalHead to take a closer look: indeed the front fork was damaged. I've been able to get by but the sitution has gotten worse. The front wheel rubs against the break pads and ridding becomes dog slow and very hard. I've ordered a new fork a Manitou Black Platnium, but until it comes in I won't be ridding anywhere.

- Peace

The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud

Got a preview copy of the first hour of The Question of God, a four hour series on PBS,Wed Sept 15 and Wed Sept 22.
Here's the blurb

This series explores, in an accessible and dramatic style, issues that preoccupy all thinking people today: What is happiness? How do we find meaning and purpose in our lives? How do we reconcile conflicting claims of love and sexuality? How do we cope with the problem of suffering and the inevitability of death? The series, based on a popular Harvard course taught by Dr. Armand M. Nicholi, author of the The Question of God, frames these issues through the eventful lives and challenging ideas of two of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century, Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis. In the series , the ideas of Freud — an atheist and lifelong critic of religious belief — and Lewis — a Christian and arguably the most popular and widely read proponent of faith based on reason — are brought together in a debate centering on the central question of human existence: Does God exist? Each episode combines dramatic reconstruction with lively discussion led by Dr. Nicholi and commentary from other experts, and deals with a specific theme related to actual incidents and emotional turning points in the lives of Freud and Lewis.

From the first hour it looks like this will be an interesting and faithful introduction to Freud , Lewis and their ideas. I know a fair bit about Lewis and found his sections very representative of the man and his thinking. I now know I need to read A Grief Observed, where Lewis wrestles with his faith after the death of his wife.

I knew next to nothing about Freud, beyond the occasional cigar reference, and the sections devoted to him presented him as an great thinker and very real person.

I didn't find that the panel of experts added much to the discussion, but it was just the first hour. I'm hoping the discussion will get deeper to really wrestle with the idea, not just defend their entrenched positions.

And if you don't get it taped on the VCR, Amazon will have it on DVD.

BTW a PR firm working on the project has been recruiting us bloggers sending out the preview tape, looks like they're doing a good job: Matt Hall, David Peterson, Mark D. Roberts, Stacy Harp, Neely and Stuart Buck have all blogged it.

- Peace

Grief in September

Our men's group meets every second Saturday of the month, and we're going through Leap Over a Wall by Eugene Peterson, one chapter a month. Yesterday's meeting was on Sept 11th and the chapter was on Grief, David in Lament. Here's how Peterson closes the chapter:

A failure to lament is the a failure to connect. If we refuse to learn the Davidic lamentation, our lives fragment into episodes and anecdotes, a succession of jerky starts and gossipy cul-de-sacs. But we're in a story in which everything eventually comes together, a narrative in which all the puzzling parts finally fit, about which years later we exclaim, "Oh so that's what that meant!" But being in a story means that we mustn't attempt to get ahead of the plot -- skip the hard parts, erase the painful parts, detour the disappointments. Lament -- making the most of our loss without getting bogged down in it -- is a primary way of staying in the story. God is telling this story, remember. It's a large, capacious story. He doesn't look kindly on our editorial deletions. But he delights in our poetry.

For me this chapter took me back to Sept 8th, 2001 and the death of my father.

- Peace

Cool Web App Debug Tool for FireFox

If you need to see the headers being sent by a browser or web server check out the LiveHTTPHeaders extension for FireFox. I've used Muffin for this in the past. However, as a proxy Muffin can't display the headers sent over an SSL connection cause the data is encrypted between the server and the browser. LiveHTTPHeaders as a browser plug-in can display the headers after they've been decrypted. Too cool.

- Peace

Christy's argument for universal health care

seems like every time I read about someone actuall experience with an HMO, I'm very glad to be Canadian.

- Peace

110% down, 240 to km to go.

If you're wondering what that's about read this post.

Elim Hall

Elim Hall was one of my favorite bands from the 80's and I still listen to the Things Break casset when I drive my 94 Carrola. But now I have all the MP3s thanks to the Elim Hall Page at the music room. Under songs they link to the The London Music Archives that has archived music from in and around London Ontario in MP3.

My Favorite Elim Hall songs are Park in Spring and Terry and the Pirates. Enjoy!

- Peace

Arrogant?

The real problem is not the charge that you are arrogant but the distinct possibility that you actually are.

- James W. Sire, Habits of the Mind

Bears on the way to work

On the north side of Fish Creek Park is a sign that reads Warning, bear frequenting area, please proceed with extreme caution. Thank You.. Of course I enter from the south side of Fish Creek and there is no sign, so I see this as I'm climbing up out of the park, great!

How weird is it that I live in a city of almost a million people, but could still encounter bears on the way to work? Will let you know if I see any.

- Peace