Forbidden Planet

New and improved! Bigger,! Bolder! Less Fattening!

2008-12-02T16:54:00.003-05:00

Well ... maybe not.

Forbidden Planet has new space-time coordinates. You can find it, in all its infancy (for the time being - eventually it will grow up) here.

I have no plans to move this blog and its contents over (ok, maybe I might move 1 or 2 things).

Image nabbed from here

Belated Summer Movie Review

2008-09-16T17:17:00.002-04:00

Over the summer I saw a bunch of movies with the kids and here are my reviews of them:

Prince Caspian
A movie with no plot, no substance, just lots of fighting. To give you idea of how violent the movie is, whenever I asked the kids what they were watching on TV they would reply, "Don't worry, it's not as violent as Prince Caspian."

I think the movie can be summed up as follows:

Susan: (Examining the ruins of Narnia) "What happened here?"
Peter: "I don't know, but lets go thump something"
Lucy: "Shouldn't we wait for Aslan?"
Peter: "Aslan's not coming. Let's go thump something."

(One epic battle gone wrong, a macho hand-to-hand battle gone well for the hero, and in the midst of another epic battle going wrong, Lucy comes across Aslan.)

Aslan: "Why didn't you wait for me?"

(Lucy looks shamefaced.)

Aslan: (Laughing) "Ok, let's go find your friends and help them thump someone."

The movie was easily 30-45 minutes to-o-o-o-o-o long.

I give it 2 out of 5. Pity, because I did enjoy the first one.

Speed Racer
Ok, not my choice in a movie. I was expecting a mindless racing movie with testosterone pumped men, well, doing mindless racing because "that's what we do."

It was actually a lot of fun. Its primary emphasis was on doing what is right in the face of everyone else telling you not to do it. Great cinematography, wonderful colours. I really enjoyed this one. The trailer for it does not do it the least bit of justice.

I give it 4 out of 5.

Kung Fu Panda
Pretty silly. Light movie going fare. The kids enjoyed it. What kid doesn’t like slapstick cartoon humour?

I give it 3 out of 5.

Get Smart
This was pretty disappointing. Not as funny or silly as the original. I found most of the jokes fell flat. Though it was nice to see McGill University used as one of the sets (I believe they were using the Redpath Museum as Control HQ. Also had a shot of Bernie Kopell just outside the main gates of the university).

I give it 2 out of 5.

Journey to the Center of the Earth
I saw this in 3D. This is not a retelling of the Jules Verne story, but rather it treats the original story as historical fact and follows our heroes as they make a parallel journey, using the book as a guide. It was fairly entertaining. Took the kids, my goddaughter and her brother to see it. They all enjoyed it. Compared to Beowulf, this is 3D light. Beowulf was shot in a way to make keep it constantly in your face - which made it a bit tiring.

I give it 3.5 out of 5.

Missed seeing Ironman, which a friend told me was very good. Said it reminded her of Ultraman.

On a personal note: busy learning out to set up a website. I am very, very disappointed in the available tools for doing so. You would think that by now we would have really good, easy to use tools for this. I have not found Kompozer, Amaya, nor Visual Web Developer (all free) to be satisfactory. Page layout is a real pain. Visual Web Developer does work more the way I would expect a website builder to work, but it is far too much overkill for my needs. Seems I am going to have to handcraft it using a normal editor (Notepad++).

"Contents filled by volume. Settling may occur"

2008-09-05T00:01:00.000-04:00

Erm ... if it is filled by volume, settling of contents should not be an issue.

Read this on the side of a bottle of pigment. I was tempted to buy the pigment, but decided against it. It came in a variety of colors, red, blue, green, yellow, black white as well as copper and silver and gold. The metallic pigments were more expensive.

I can't deny that the thought of possessing those bottles filled with their exquisite powders excites me. Not that I would know what to do with them - aside from making a mess.

[This was prerecorded]

Yard waste bags are not created equal

2008-09-04T00:01:00.002-04:00

I hate Home Depot yard waste bags. Every single one I have used has torn. I cannot even tamp down the yard waste in it without the sides splitting.

I find the ones sold at Canadian Tire or Loblaws to be much more robust. Heck, I can jump on them and the don't rip.

Makes me wonder were Home Depot gets theirs, because there cannot be that many different manufacturers of yard waste bags.

[This was prerecorded]

That was an interesting question

2008-09-03T00:01:00.000-04:00

Found this as one of the search terms leading to my blog:

"do you need sunscreen to protect against fluorescent lights?"

My answer is: No. If they are high UV emitting fluorescent's, then your best option is to turn them off, leave the area, or dress up.

I still maintain that sunscreen is carcinogenic. Over the past 30 years or so that sunscreens have been heavily promoted, the incidence of skin cancer has significantly increased (not decresed). A little bit of sun is good for you, a lot can be damaging. Potect yourself by wearing loose fitting clothing and staying in the shade. Roasting yourself in the full sun, like a turkey being browned, is just plain foolish.

[This was prerecorded]

Guess I am not going to be buying any books for a while.

2008-09-02T13:33:00.002-04:00

I was laid off last Wednesday (27-August-2008) - for economic, not performance reasons.

Not that I am upset or shocked or dazed and confused. It was a great company to work for, I was well treated and respected. I had no complaints (except that possibly the work was not always as stimulating as I hoped).

It renders some decision making a bit easier. Clearly I will be moving to Montreal now, instead of Sofia coming to Ottawa.

Sofia and my dad (especially my dad) seem more shocked by this than I am. My dad even dropped by on the weekend to try and cheer me up, gave me the "blessing in disguise" sermon. I don't believe in blessings in disguise. I don't think God plays mind games with people. "Oh look, you have cancer. Isn't that a blessing in disguise?" Erm ... no.

Sofia is wondering what happened. "They loved you. You said the company was doing well. It is so cold and brutal." Well, yeah, they did like me and they treated me well. Yes, the company, as a whole, is doing very well. When I started 8 years ago, they were around a $200 million / year company. I believe they are on track to do $3 billion this year. The problem is that the particular facility I worked at was counting on landing some Canadian Navy contracts. With the cancellation of the JSS program, a lot of their hopes are dashed.

Is being laid of cold and brutal? Not really. Once you are let go, you are escorted out of the building (policy). After all, they don't want some employee, in a fit of emotional pique, erasing their hard disk, stealing company secrets, destroying work, etc. Understandable, if unfortunate.

What am I going to do in the next little while? Enjoy being at home. Take the kids to school, be at home at the end of the school day for them.

My dad seemed mortified that I have not been scouring the help wanted adds. That I am not hitting the pavement with both feet looking for work, angling for leads. Erm ... well, I am busy. Right now, I have to fix up the house in Ottawa to get it ready for resale. Over the past two days, I have filled 17 yard waste bags with, well, yard waste and I am still not done. Amazing how much yard work piles up over 4 years of inattention.

We could be in a better fiscal position (can't we all), but we will survive for the time being.

I look forward to detoxing and then opening a new chapter in my life.

Out of the corner of my eye ...

2008-08-21T13:02:00.002-04:00

It is interesting how we sometimes notice things in our peripheral vision (although, I am sure there is a lot more we miss).

I don't think I parsed this the right way, but ... then again, I am totally oblivious to the latest trends.

Screen capture, cropping and highlighting by Richard of Forbidden Planet. Content and layout of screen capture copyright Sympatico / MSN

[Also noticed they changed the layout of the Blogger dashboard].

You may spend your life killing,

2008-08-14T12:15:00.000-04:00

but you will not exhaust all your foes. If you quell your own anger, your real enemy will be slain. - Nagarjuna , a Buddhist philosopher, c150-250 CE

He that will be angry for anything will be angry for nothing. - Sallust, Roman historian, 86-34 BCE.

When we reject people in anger, or turn on them with the aim of inflicting pain, we damage our souls even more. - Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, 121-180 CE (Meditations, Chapter 2)

[For those who are curious where I've been ... erm ... mixture of a lack of enthusiasm, energy and time for blogging. But not to worry, I have had plenty of time to come down with Strep throat - twice. I am currently on my second round of antibiotics, apparently the first round wasn't wholly effective. Makes me wonder how 10 days was decided upon as the standard treatment duration because this is not the first time a round of antibiotics has failed to cure me and I have ended up going for a second round.

I have also been busy reading about photography, taking pictures, examining my pictures (there were thousands, I had to left to go over). I have also been brushing of on DCT (Discrete Cosine Transforms), JPEG transformations and file format. Raw file format (CR2) on my camera (a Canon EOS 350D). And SSE (Streamming SIMD Extensions) on the Intel Pentium chips (in many ways I prefer Altivec on the PowerPC - it is far more orthogonal). I have also been honing my image editing / retouching skills using GIMP. The latest version of GIMP 2.4.6 has a healing tool that is really, really good at removing wrinkles, sags, and blemishes from pictures. I can make myself easily look 10 years younger.

My kids were with me in Ottawa for the past 7 weeks (normally, they are in Montreal with Sofia), going to day camp. They have enjoyed it a lot and will be going back to Montreal this weekend. Sofia will be taking a few weeks off in August to care after the kids.

I am not terribly confident that I will be individually replying to comments in the next little while, but I do appreciate each and every comment. Also no major promises that I will be visiting or commenting on other people's blogs. I might. I might not.]

The Paradoxical Commandments

2008-07-22T06:00:00.001-04:00

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

- Kent M. Kieth

I also found this version, which, personally, I liked better:

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Look for the best in them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Work hard and try to succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, others may be jealous; Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see at the end it is between you and God; It never was between you and them anyway.

"To laugh often and love much;

2008-07-21T23:35:00.002-04:00

to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived -- this is to have succeeded."

- attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The accuser will speak first,"

2008-07-20T10:11:00.003-04:00

the chief guardian instructed.

Vandara's voice was firm and bitter. "The girl should have been taken to the Field when she was born and still nameless. It is the way."

"Go on," the chief guardian said.

"She was imperfect. And fatherless as well. She should not have been kept."

But I was strong. And my eyes were bright. My mother told me. She wouldn't let me go Kira shifted her weight, resting her twisted leg, remembering the story of her birth, and wondering if she would have an opportunity to tell it here. I gripped her thumb so tightly.

"We have all tolerated her presence for these years," Vandara went on. "But she has not contributed. She cannot dig or plant or weed, or even tend the domestic beasts the way other girls her age do. She drags that dead leg around like a useless burden. She is slow, and she eats a lot."

The council of guardians was listening carefully. Kira's face felt warm with embarrassment. It was true, that she ate a lot. It was all true, what her accuser was saying.

I can try to eat less. I can go hungry. In her mind, Kira prepared her defense, but even as she did, she felt it would be weak and whining.

"She was kept, against the rules, because her grandfather was still alive and had power. But he is long gone, replaced by a new leader with more power and wisdom --"

Vandara oozed compliments designed to strengthen her case, and Kira glanced at the chief guardian tom see if he was swayed by the flattery. But his face was impassive.

"Her father was killed by beasts even before her birth. And now her mother is dead," Vandara went on. "There is even reason to think that her mother may have carried an illness that will endanger others –"

No! She was the only one to fall ill! Look at me! I lay beside her when she died, and I am not ill!

"-- and the women need the space where their cott was. There is no room for this useless girl. She can't marry. No one wants a cripple. She takes up space, and food, and she causes problems with the discipline of tykes, telling them stories, teaching them games so they make noise and disrupt the work --"

- Lois Lowry, Gathering Blue

The latest book I am reading to Tania. We recently finished reading The Giver and I thought it was better the second time around. According to Wikipedia, it is a companion novel to The Giver. There is a follow up book called The Messenger - which I shall have to try and find.

I thought this book was better written than The Giver - although, I thought it was a little weaker at the end.

Is it true that taking a person’s photograph steals their soul?

2008-07-19T14:41:00.003-04:00

Yes. This is why movie stars, fashion models, politicians and pop singers have such dreadful personality and relationship problems - their souls have been severely depleted by all the photographs which have been taken of them.

- from a very good Canon EOS Beginner's FAQ. Especially good is the section on lenses. I think the FAQ is general enough that any beginner with an SLR camera would benefit from reading it.

scritch ... scritch ...

2008-07-18T11:38:00.000-04:00

I think I have mice in the house.

I'd found two dead mice in the basement last September, but saw nothing to indicate there might be any others, despite paying extra attention to it.

Last Tuesday morning, when most Christian people are sleeping, I heard some scratching / scrabbling noise behind me as I lay in bed. (I sleep in a windowless room in the basement because it is nice and dark and quiet - my kids, who are with me in Ottawa over the summer, sleep upstairs in one of the bedrooms.) Later that morning I heard some scrabbling noise as I went into the laundry room.

Wednesday night I heard quite a bit more scrabbling noise and even something that sounded like purring or growling. That was enough to send me upstairs to sleep.

Last night, it sound like they were running in the ceiling above me - except the basement ceiling is unfinished, so it must have been a trick of sound reflection. Anyway, I decided it was better to sleep upstairs and so I dragged the mattress upstairs. Tonight I'll probably bring the futon frame upstairs.

Now I will have to pull the panelling off the walls and any drywall that has been put up and remove the raised floor. I guess I am going to be renovating a little sooner than expected. sigh.

Roswell Conspiracy

2008-07-17T16:57:00.003-04:00

Roswell is famous (or infamous) for the supposed crashing of a UFO there back in 1947, from which there was apparently at least one alien recovered.

The description of the "alien" has given rise to the familiar grey alien.

I don't believe in aliens and UFOs any longer - I did when I was younger, but that is many decades behind (well, if 2 decades counts as many) - but there are better, more probable and less convoluted ways of explaining and understanding things.

My take on it: (1) the crashed object was not a UFO, (2) it was a military test object, possible a style of plane or perhaps something along the lines of a balloon of connected to a balloon, (3) there was no alien recovered, (4) if a living being was recovered, it was human and very likely suffering from the genetic disease known as Progeria - characterized by accelerated aging, with death occurring in the early teens.

Why would I come to this conclusion? Because people suffering from progeria look an awful lot like "grey aliens" - small, spindly, humanoid, with large bald head, small mouth. Despite their illness, they are typically of normal intelligence.

I could easily imagine some child, an institutional ward, being used as an expendable human guinea pig. Perhaps being carried aloft in a large balloon into the upper atmosphere to study, determine the effects of cosmic rays, low atmospheric pressure.

Of course, maybe I am just all mixed up. After all, it is not as if governments / institutions / researchers have ever been known to callously consider some humans as less human than others. It is not as if researchers fed radioactive isotopes to "feeble-minded" children, or withheld treatment for syphilis so they could study the progression of the disease. Such things would be unimaginable. After all, humans just don't do that to other humans.

Images nabbed from here, here, and here.

"Perseverance is not a long race;

2008-07-07T14:43:00.001-04:00

it is many short races one after the other.” - Walter Elliot (1842-1928)

Good advice for me. I have a tendency to look too far out and see that the final goal is seemingly unattainable. On the other hand, I have to work on reasonable short term goals. I find it easy to set trivial short term goals, unfortunately, achieving them doesn't satisfy; it is the difference between busy work and meaningful work.

Also, I have a tendency to try to do too much, instead of just enough. For example, I might decide to reorganize my chemistry books (despite my best Hell paving intentions, my books have a tendency toward chaos), but I will end up trying to reorganize everything - possibly even catalogue them. Consequently, nothing gets done. Need to focus on just reorganizing what needs to be done and forget about the rest.

Today's thought (no promise of thoughts tomorrow).

What brings people here

2008-07-04T09:23:00.002-04:00

May and June saw a great upsurge in people searching for this SPAM. Normally, it makes up about half the search hits. During those months I saw it go up as high 85% of search hits. At the snapshot I have taken, it was making up 72% of search hits.

I have highlighted in YELLOW two search hits that made me wonder what people are really looking for.

Reading the fine print

2008-07-03T13:22:00.002-04:00

I don't know how many of you read the fine print when you sign up for things .. erm ... I generally don't. I used to, but always found them to be draconian terms of enslavement that that basically said they have all the power and rights and you have none, forever, in perpetuity.

Recently I decided to read the Google terms of service, after all, I use Google to blog (Blogger is owned by Google), I have a gmail account, I have considered using their online office applications to store documents - leaving storage and backup to them (I reckon they are likely to be better at it than I am).

Section 11 starts off promising enough:

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

I own the rights to all the content (intellectual property) I post, store or transmit (e-mail) using Google services and tools.

Then it goes downhill:

By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive licence to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

I may own whatever I post, store, or transmit through Google services, but Google gets a perpetual royalty-free license to do as they please with any and all of that material.

For most people, that probably doesn't matter, since banal chatter about my hernia is not likely to attract much interest, but perhaps discussion about my lint-ball collection might find its way into Google's Index to Weird Hobbies, when I really wished it hadn't.

If I post a photo I took in my blog and it becomes viral, being the entrepreneurial person I am (ok, that I am working to be), I decide to sell it. Ah, but Google has already been granted perpetual rights to do what it likes with it - like giving it away for free, or modifying it and using it to advertise / generate revenue for Google, printing t-shirts to give away, etc - all without obligation to you.

Perhaps I post a few stories about Flodour the Whiny Canine and it becomes insanely popular. Again, Google has the right to adapt and modify, which sounds a lot like granting them the right to create derivative works

Finally, it concludes:

This licence is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

This limits the scope of using your work solely for the benefit of promoting Google. Ok, I didn't really expect them to use it to benefit Microsoft.

And while this is Google's general Terms of Service, other Google services may have other terms that override this one.

For the average person (and that includes me), the Terms of Service probably don't matter a whole lot. However, for someone who makes their living off the content they produce, they should exercise prudence in what they post.

"Getting professional looking shots of people is harder than you might think,

2008-07-02T06:00:00.003-04:00

for one simple reason: the pros hire really good-looking models... . They're models because they photograph really, really well. So, what makes our job so hard is that we are not surrounded by fabulous-looking models who just happen to be standing around not eating. Nope, we usually wind up shooting portraits of our friends, many of whom (on a looks scale) fall somewhere between Mr. Bean and Jabba the Hut. This is why our job, as portrait photographers, is actually substantially more challenging than that of a seasoned professional - we've got to make magic from some seriously un-model-like people. This is precisely why we're often so disappointed with our portraits (when its really not our fault)."

- Scott Kelby, The Digital Photography Book: Volume 2

[Updated 02-July-2008 @ 10:26: added link to author's site selling the book (no, I don't get a commission)]

Made me reflect, but ...

2008-07-01T22:47:00.004-04:00

"Would someone go to Wimbeldon to play one match? Become a heart surgeon just to do one open-heart surgery and then go back to his regular life? Would someone go to law school to try just one case in court? Or go through all the trouble of opening a coffee shop to stay open for one day?"

- Heather Sellers, Chapter after Chapter

My response is "Yes! I would", it is who I am. Some days, I feel I really need to be more passionate about one thing, rather than interested in many things.

You can read a sample chapter (chapter 7) here. It is a pdf, so you might want to right click and download it first (for Windows users, I have no idea how a Mac user would do it). Loved the second and third paragraph on the second page.

[Updated 02-July-2008 @ 10:27: provided link to author's site selling the book (no, I don't get any commission). Also added paragraph and link pointing to sample chapter pdf].

No surprises here

2008-06-24T22:40:00.002-04:00

You are The Fool

Idea, thought, spirituality, that which endeavours to rise above the material.

The Fool is the card of infinite possibilities. The bag on the staff indicates that he has all he need to do or be anything he wants, he has only to stop and unpack. He is on his way to a brand new beginning. But the card carries a little bark of warning as well. Stop daydreaming and fantasising and watch your step, lest you fall and end up looking the fool.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Meme nabbed from Around The World In Beautiful Shoes. Although Tena also has it on her blog(scroll down, it is on the left side).

Dancing Porcupine

2008-06-22T23:55:00.002-04:00

Amazing what you can find on Google Maps. I just discovered today that people put links to all sorts of pictures and videos on the map (I had to select My Maps to be able to enable this).

Found a video of a "dancing" porcupine at the EcoMuseum near where we live (about 7.5Km or 5 miles).

You can take a virtual tour here or look at some photos I have previously posted.

NOTICE OF SUSPENSION

2008-06-18T11:02:00.002-04:00

This was not exactly the response I was hoping for from the USPTO (United State Patent and Trademark Office) to my latest amendment to my trademark application.

SUSPENSION PROCEDURE: This suspension notice serves to suspend action on the application for the reason(s) specified below.  No response is needed.  However, if you wish to respond to this notice ...

I wondered if this was because I had waited until the last minute (as usual) to file my amendment and they were now preparing for abandonment proceedings.

This Office action is in response to applicant’s communication filed on MONTH dd, yyyy.  In its response, applicant amended its identification of goods and services.  This amendment is acceptable and has been entered.

Ok, this sounds good, they have accepted my latest amendment.

 Action on this application is now suspended pending receipt of a true copy, a photocopy, a certification, or a certified copy of a foreign registration from applicant's country of origin.

I've set Sofia (my wife, the lawyer) to look into it.

A brief aside on my Canadian application. I mentioned in an earlier post that it had been accepted, it has now been allowed. Accepted meanted that the examining officer saw no problem with it. It is then published and if no one objects within two months, then it is allowed. I now have until 2010 to send the government $200 to register it.

If you want an idea what a trademark application looks like you can always browse through copies of the Trademarks Journal

For example, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS is a requested trademark by Warner Brothers in Canada (it too has been allowed, so now WB has to send in their $200 to register it). It includes obvious wares in it proposed use: Motion picture films featuring comedy, drama, action, adventure and/or animation. Obvious spin-offs: video and computer game programs, children’s activity books, calendars, gift wrapping paper, t-shirts, sweatshirts and a whole lot more. And this surprising one: batteries for electronic toys - I don't think I have ever seen branded batteries before.

There was no sense in what he said.

2008-06-14T02:00:00.000-04:00

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way. 

Sunday morning the church was filled; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; then came the prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory -- 

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders.

In a deep voice he said, "I come from the Throne -- bearing a message from Almighty God!" The words smote the house with a shock . "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if it is your desire after I, His messenger, have explained to you its full significance. It is like many of the prayers of men -- it asks for more than he who prays it is aware of.

"Is it one prayer? No, it is two -- the spoken and the unspoken and both have reached the ears of God who hears all prayers. I am commissioned by God to put into words the other part of it -- that part which the pastor -- and also you in your hearts -- fervently prayed silently. Listen! 

"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it -- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen. 

(*After a pause.*) "You have prayed it; if you still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!" 

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.

Mark Twain's, The War Prayer.

This is an abridged (and slightly amended for language and structure, not content) version by me. You can easily find the original by Googling. I took my original source from here.

Image nabbed from here.

"Call me old fashioned, but if you really wanted peace couldn't you just stop fighting?

2008-06-13T13:25:00.003-04:00

Lieutenent Cobb: "Only when we have the Source. It will give us the power to erase every stinking Hath off the face of this planet."

The Doctor: "Hang on. Hang on. A second ago it was peace in our time and now you're talking about genocide!"

Lieutenent Cobb: "For us, that means the same thing!"

Exchange between The Doctor and Lieutenant Cobb in the Doctor Who episode The Doctor's Daughter (exchange occurs around time 2:00).

Image nabbed from here (look under Posters).

"I saw in the whole Christian world

2008-06-11T02:00:00.000-04:00

a license of fighting at which even barbarous nations might blush. Wars were begun on trifling pretexts or none at all, and carried on without any reference of law, Divine or human."

- Hugo Grotius, On the Laws of War and Peace (1625)

Inspired by Ice Cream

2008-06-10T09:54:00.000-04:00

[I]f there are self made purgatories, then we all have to live in them. Mine can be no worse than someone else's. - Star Trek, This Side of Paradise

"There was nothing they would not do

2008-06-07T13:02:00.003-04:00

to secure the rights of exploited and abused animals. This year alone they, personally, had already chalked up the realease of several hundred prisoner-rats from a lab in Lisle, Illinois.It was too bad about the mutated bubonic plague spreading through Chicago afterward, but as Ken said, people had choices, the rats didn't."

From Last Rights by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon.

It doesn't hurt to ask

2008-06-05T08:26:00.004-04:00

Two days ago, I picked up a very nice art book called Master's of Deception: Escher, Dali & the Artists of Optical Illusion.

It features the work of many extremely talented illusory artists and at $19.95 Canadian it was an extremely reasonably priced book considering it is full colour and quite large. The problem was that the bottom edge of the book was dirtied and slightly damaged. I looked for another copy but could not find one. I asked at the cash if they had any undamaged copies and they found another, but it too suffered from the same imperfection.

I asked if another store had any copies. They did, but it was in worse shape then the ones I had in my hand - the cover was torn.

So I took the least damaged copy, they gave me a 20% damage discount (book is now non-returnable) and I got an additional 10% off because I'm an iRewards member. (Going online, I see I could have got an immaculate copy for pretty much the same price).

Being religious, I find this picture by Octavio Ocampo extremely powerful.

Image nabbed from here and rescaled to intensify the difference between the small and large image.

If you like illusory art, I definitely recommend this book.

The author's website is here. It contains additional materials that were not included in the book, as well as some movies of "impossible" and amazing art. Book cover (the first picture) picked up from authors website.

"[W]e’ve been receiving material from people who apparently learned to type by throwing their cats at the keyboard..."

2008-06-04T09:43:00.001-04:00

Taken from this post at 101 Reasons to Stop Writing.

Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant

2008-06-03T17:36:00.003-04:00

In the not-productive-but-sidetrack-distraction-of-the-moment I spent some time (please don't ask how much) translating two sentences from Tacitus' Agricola from Latin into English using an online Latin-English dictionary and what Latin roots I can glean out of English words.

It wasn't a completely blind translation since I already had a translation for the above line:

To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.

.

However, I wasn't completely captivated by the English and it didn't quite seem to match the Latin.

After some searches for alternate translations, I came up with a fuller quote,

 Raptores orbis, postquam cuncta vastantibus defuere terrae, mare scrutantur: si locuples hostis est, avari, si pauper, ambitiosi, quos non Oriens, non Occidens satiaverit: soli omnium opes atque inopiam pari adfectu concupiscunt. Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.

, that looked really good. However, none of the English translations convinced me - only bits of them did. So I decided to do the only sensible thing and translate it myself.

Some words I could guess at the meanings and the Latin-English dictionary easily translated some words, however words did not translate well.

atque did not translate well. Eventually, I decided it is roughly equivalent to meaning and.

scrutantur was a word I could get no translation for. In the end, I decided it is probably related to the English word scrutinize and extrapolated its meaning to be seek / search / inspect.

My final translation is:

Universal plunderers, after ravaging all the lands, they turn to the sea: if the enemy is rich, they are rapacious; if he is poor, they lust for dominion; neither the East nor the West has been able to satiate them. Alone among all, wealth and poverty alike they covet. Under the facade of lawful authority they rob, slaughter, and plunder. They give the name peace to the desolation they leave behind.

Other translations include:
Robbers of the world, having by their universal plunder exhausted the land, they rifle the deep. If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude and call it peace. [rr: I used the bolded text in my translation because I thought it was a really good translation - after modernizing the use of be to is]

Brigands of the world, they have exhausted the land by their indiscriminate plunder, and now they ransack the sea. The wealth of an enemy excites their cupidity, his poverty their lust of power. East and West have failed to glut their maw. They are unique in being as violently tempted to attack the poor as the wealthy. Robbery, butchery, rapine, with false names they call Empire; and they make a wilderness and call it peace. [rr: I also like the way the bolded text was rendered and considered using it in my translation, but decided against it].

These plunderers of the world, after exhausting the land by their devastations, are rifling the ocean: stimulated by avarice, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor; unsatiated by the East and by the West: the only people who behold wealth and indigence with equal avidity. To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.

My penultimate (sort of) translation pass was:

Global robbers, after ravaging the land, they search the sea: if the enemy is rich, they are avaricious, if poor, then ambitious. Neither East nor West has satiated them. Alone among all, wealth and poverty alike they covet. They rob, butcher and plunder under the false name of authority. When they have rendered it desolate, they call it peace

Image nabbed from here.

Getting Laid in French

2008-05-27T15:06:00.003-04:00

For those who don't know, Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec (located in that northern country known as Canada). Quebec is a French province and Montreal is mostly French as well.

On Sunday, as the kids and I were walking downtown, we passed a man begging with a sign. As we passed, Tania asked me, "Why does he say he's ugly?" I asked what she meant and she said, "His sign says, 'Je suis laid'". She further explained that laid means ugly.

I had seen the sign but did not understand the first part since I didn't know what laid meant and I assumed (incorrectly) the kids didn't either. The rest of the sign (which I did understand) said ... help me out and I can get a facial. (ok, it said it in French not English).

The word came up again last night as Jason was reading to me Les Trois Boucs: "... un ogre tres laid et très méchant ..." ("... a very ugly and very mean ogre ...") .

It is pronounced the same way as the French words lait and les, namely (for English speakers) leh.

Image nabbed from here.

I adjusted the image to remove a bluish tint, I don't know if this is permissible under the Creative Commons license or not (depends how you argue what constitutes a 'derivative' work).

Montreal Again

2008-05-26T14:00:00.026-04:00

Went downtown with the kids again and took a few pictures (412 - I wanted to experiment some more with panoramas).

I took a number of burst shots on the highway because I was curious what AutoStitch would do with them. This is 1 of 12 shots heading down Autoroute 15.
AutoStitch assembled them together in a sort of fish eye view.
This is one shot (out of 12) on Autoroute 20 heading into downtown.
This is the image retouched using GIMP (something similar to PhotoShop, but free). I straightened the image, cropped out the front of the car, eliminated some window reflections and adjusted the colours to make them brighter and more vivid. I think it came out pretty well. Total retouching time was about 30 minutes.
This is one shot (out of 34) inside the Ville-Marie Tunnel. I liked the colours and the blur.
This is a retouched version of the image (once again using GIMP). The image was straightened and cropped, the colours and contrast were adjusted and front of the car was painted out and the white lines extended. I am not happy with the white lines on the left side. It was pretty difficult to do using a mouse, as well, I could not find a 100% suitable tool for painting in the lines. I did not crop out the front of the car because I wanted the blurred orange cone on the far bottom left. Total retouching time was about 45 minutes.
This piece of art was AutoStitched together from 6 vertically panned shots. It appears AutoStitch expects panoramic shots to be horizontal, not vertical.
It was a quick fix to simply rotate the images 90 degrees clockwise and then AutoStitch them together. I then rotated the panoramic image 90 degrees counterclockwise to get the original.
This is a panned shot of a pool outside Place des Arts. I sat at the corner and clicked away (12 shots). As you can see, there is some fisheye distortion. Again, stiched together using AutoStitch.
Some graffiti for Ingrid and breal who have expressed interest in graffiti. This was stiched together from 8 images using AutoStitch.
I also took a few pictures of some of the flowers in our flower bed. A pretty tulip. Unretouched.
Some blue flowers. Unretouched.
Another pretty blue flower (also comes in pink). Unretouched.
A few days ago I tried my hand at retouching an older photo that I wished was more vibrant (I had taken it on a cloudy Autumn day). Unfortunately there is not much dynamic range in the picture so enhancing it was a bit tough. This is the original.
This is made a bit brighter, with heavy saturation of the reds and yellows. A few minutes retouching time with GIMP.
This is the same as the above, except I removed all the blues and cyans. Again, just a few minutes to retouch using GIMP.

Photo credits: Richard of Forbidden Planet.

All images were taken on the Island of Montreal.

[Update 26-May-2008 @ 21:30 - fixed some typos and grammatical errors because, clearly, I can't write.]

A Stitch in Time ...

2008-05-17T18:27:00.011-04:00

I have been trying my hand at panorama pictures lately - taking multiple overlapping shots and then stitching them together.

My first attempts came out quite well. My later attempts highlighted some shortcomings with stitching software.

360 degree panorama in a park we went to for Mother's Day. This definitely came out well, even though I was just holding the camera and turning in spot.

A smaller view cropped from the panoramic view.

Part of a panoramic shot taken at St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal. Subject matter which moves between shots end up looking like ghosts.

I tried to capture a wall of graffiti by taking multiple shots and sliding horizontally between shots. Unfortunately, it seems the stitching software expects the camera to remain in a fixed position and not to be moving. As you can see, it did not stitch it together correctly. The red door on the left is in the wrong place and if you look to the right side, the automated parking ticket dispenser is partly ghosted on its left side. I tried to stitch the image together in smaller batches (this image is comprised of 63 separate images), but was not successful. I then tried a different photo stitching software. And the result below shows that it was not quite so successful either.

I primarily use AutoStitch to do the stitching. It is pretty simple, just load a bunch of pictures and it does the rest. By default, it generates a panorama with a maximum width of 1400 pixels. You can go to the options menu and change it to be 100%. The application has run out of memory trying to stitch together some of the larger panoramas.

For the last panorama, I tried hugin. This one is not so automatic. It does have some automated tools for matching up and lining up the images (not part of the standard download) and I was not able to get them to work (the just abruptly terminated). So I was forced to identify anchor points among the various images. I only did one of two per pair of images; this may explain why it came out so garbled. The recommended number is 10 or more per image pair.

The Darkness Macabre

2008-05-16T11:11:00.004-04:00

is the title of a fictional poem I quoted from in a play I wrote in 1985, for a course called Theatre and Drama. I was 19. Below are the 3 lines I quoted from it. Even then, I could be pretty morose.

At times fear does seem more to be the enemy than the empty darkness which beckons us to our death.

Oh, foolish mortal! Can you not see or has the darkness entered your eyes?

See how the fool does dare to trek across the open hand of Death.

I also came across a book of compositions from Grade 5. As you can see, my penmanship and artistic skills were a little on the challenged side.

Feb 21

BEING A MALE MOSQUITO

If I were a mosquito I would be small and I wouldn’t bite people yet one day someone will succeed in killing me.

The captions are: HATCHING and KILLED

Image credit: Richard of Forbidden Planet

" Are you weaker than a woman?"

2008-05-15T02:00:00.001-04:00

Throughout the city [Jerusalem] people were dying of hunger in large numbers, and enduring unspeakable sufferings. In every house the merest hint of food sparked violence, and close relatives fell to blows, snatching from one another the pitiful supports of life. No respect was paid even to the dying; the ruffians [anti-Roman zealots] searched them, in case they were concealing food somewhere in their clothes, or just pretending to be near death. Gaping with hunger, like mad dogs, lawless gangs went staggering and reeling through the streets, battering upon the doors like drunkards, and so bewildered that they broke into the same house two or three times in an hour. Need drove the starving to gnaw at anything. Refuse, which even animals would reject, was collected and turned into food. In the end, they were eating belts and shoes, and the leather stripped off their shields. Tufts of withered grass were devoured, and sold in little bundles for four drachmas.

But why dwell on the commonplace rubbish which the starving were driven to feed upon, given that what I have to recount is an act unparalleled in the history of either the Greeks or the barbarians, and as horrible to relate as it is incredible to hear? For my part, I should gladly have omitted this tragedy, lest I should be suspected of monstrous fabrication. But there were many witnesses of it among my contemporaries; and besides, I should do poor service to my country if I were to suppress the agonies she went through.

Among the residents of the region beyond Jordan was a woman called Mary, daughter of Eleazar, of the village of Bethezuba (the name means "House of Hyssop"). She was well off, and of good family, and had fled to Jerusalem with her relatives, where she became involved with the siege. Most of the property she had packed up and brought with her from Peraea had been plundered by the tyrants [Simon and John, leaders of the Jewish war-effort], and the rest of her treasure, together with such foods as she had been able to procure, was being carried by their henchmen in their daily raids. In her bitter resentment, the poor woman cursed and abused these extortioners, and this incensed them against her. However, no one put her to death either from exasperation or pity. She grew weary of trying to find food for her kinsfolk. In any case, it was by now impossible to get any, wherever you tried. Famine gnawed at her vitals, and the fire of rage was ever fiercer than famine.

Driven by fury and want, she committed a crime against nature. Seizing her child, an infant at the breast, she cried, "My poor baby, why should I keep you alive in this world of war and famine? Even if we live till the Romans come, they will make slaves of us; and anyway, hunger will get us before slavery does; and the rebels are crueler than both. Come, be food for me, and an avenging fury to the rebels, and a tale of cold horror to the world to complete the monstrous agony of the Jews." With these words she killed her son, roasted the body, devoured half of it, and stored the rest in a safe place. The rebels were on her at once, smelling roasted meat, and threatening to kill her instantly if she did not produce it. She assured them she had saved them a share, and revealed the remains of her child. Seized with horror and stupefaction, they stood paralyzed at the sight. But she said, "This is my own child, and my own handiwork. Eat, for I have eaten already. Do not show yourselves weaker than a woman, or more pitiful than a mother. But if you have pious scruples, and shrink away from human sacrifice, then what I have eaten can count as your share, and I will eat what is left as well." At that they slunk away, trembling, not daring to eat, although they were reluctant to yield even this food to the mother.

Josephus, The Jewish War, c. 75 C.E.

I find this an incredibly powerful passage describing the desperate plight of the Jewish people as the Romans besieged Jerusalem in 70 C.E.

"I did not stop it, because I had no right to."

2008-05-14T14:34:00.000-04:00

"A man is thrown down on his back and three or four men sit or stand on his arms and legs and hold him down; and either a gun barrel or a rifle barrel or a carbine barrel or a stick as big as a belaying pin, -- that is, with an inch circumference, -- is simply thrust into his jaws and his jaws are thrust back, and, if possible, a wooden log or stone is put under his head or neck, so he can be held more firmly. In the case of very old men I have seen their teeth fall out, -- I mean when it was done a little roughly. He is simply held down and then water is poured onto his face down his throat and nose from a jar; and that is kept up until the man gives some sign or becomes unconscious. And, when he becomes unconscious, he is simply rolled aside and he is allowed to come to. In almost every case the men have been a little roughly handled. They were rolled aside rudely, so that water was expelled. A man suffers tremendously, there is no doubt about it. His sufferings must be that of a man who is drowning, but cannot drown. ... I did not stop it, because I had no right to."

Testimony of First Lieutenant Grover Flint taken by the Senate Committee on Affairs in the Philippine Islands (also known as the Lodge Committe) in 1902 investigating U.S. military atrocities during the Philippine-American War.

"The zinc oxide pigment used ... as a sunscreen active agent in commercial formulations causes significant damage to DNA under UV illumination."

2008-05-13T12:45:00.003-04:00

I love it when one of my off the beaten path observations is right.

I find and article supporting my thesis in the Journal of Oleo Science published by the Japan Oil Chemist's Society.

The article is quite dull (no, really, it is horrendously mind-numbingly dull), but it confirms what I had suspected that sunscreens containing TiO₂ or ZnO are damaging to the skin.

You can find the article here.

The citation for the article is:

Hisao HIDAKA, Hiroyuki KOBAYASHI, Takayoshi KOIKE, Tsugio SATO and Nick SERPONE, “DNA Damage Photoinduced by Cosmetic Pigments and Sunscreen Agents under Solar Exposure and Artificial UV Illumination”, J. Oleo Sci., Vol. 55, 249-261 (2006) .

[Update 13-May-2008 @ 23:48: fixed broken link]

[Update 14-May-2008 @ 00:17: add graphic and more information]

From the study, sun block using TiO₂, ZnO or CeO₂ results in more DNA damage than exposure of DNA to raw UV. Note: the image is somewhat deceptive in that it uses 3 different timescales: 360 minutes, 120 minutes and 180 minutes. Plot (a) is for "unprotected" DNA. Plot (b) is for DNA with TiO₂, Plot (c) for DNA with ZnO. Plot(d) for DNA with CeO₂.

The white bands at the bottom are supercoiled forms of DNA (normal, healthy). The bands at the top are relaxed forms of DNA (damaged). In the ZnO sample, the DNA further transitions to linear form - the bands in the middle of the plot.

Fifteen minutes of exposure with TiO₂ or ZnO results in more genetic damage than 3 hours of raw exposure.

Moses missed a few

2008-05-09T10:41:00.004-04:00

Before gaining entry to the afterlife, the ancient Egyptians believed that the deceased would be judged before a tribunal of gods (actually, his/her heart would be weighed to see if they had been just or not). They were also expected to recite this negative confession.

There are a few different versions of this floating around - the exact number and specific assertions sometimes slightly vary.

The form is always the same: "[Name of god] who comes from [name of place], I have not [committed this transgression]". I have eliminated the introductory clause of each assertion.

The Egyptians had a lot of gods and there is some overlap (e.g. "I have not stolen" and "I have not stolen grain" were affirmed to two different gods).

I have not committed sin. 

I have not committed robbery with violence.

I have not stolen.

I have not slain men and women. 

I have not stolen grain.  

I have not purloined offerings.

I have not stolen the property of God.

I have not uttered lies. 

I have not carried away food. 

I have not uttered curses. 

I have not committed adultery.

I have not lain with men.

I have made none to weep. 

I have not eaten the heart. 

I have not attacked any man. 

I am not a man of deceit. 

I have not stolen cultivated land. 

I have not been an eavesdropper. 

I have not slandered.

I have not been angry without just cause. 

I have not debauched the wife of any man. 

I have not polluted myself. 

I have terrorized none. 

I have not transgressed the law. 

I have not been wroth. 

I have not shut my ears to the words of truth. 

I have not blasphemed. 

I am not a man of violence. 

I have not been a stirrer up of strife. 

I have not acted with undue haste. 

I have not pried into matters. 

I have not multiplied my words in speaking. 

I have wronged none.

I have done no evil. 

I have not worked witchcraft against the king. 

I have never stopped the flow of water. 

I have never raised my voice.

I have not cursed God. 

I have not acted with arrogance. 

I have not stolen the bread of the gods. 

I have not carried away the khenfu cakes from the Spirits of the dead. 

I have not snatched away the bread of the child, nor treated with contempt the god of my city. 

I have not slain the cattle belonging to the god.

If you think about it, this is really a response to a list of commandments. We could easily envision a Jew or Christian standing before God and reciting a negative confession against the Decalogue: "Lord of Hosts, I have worshipped no other gods. Lord of Mercy, I have killed no one. Lord of Fidelity, I have not committed adultery. Lord of Truth, I have not borne false witness. etc ...).

The text is adapted from here. You can find it in Book IX under the heading "The Negative Confession" (just a little past halfway down the page).

gelid

2008-05-06T09:35:00.002-04:00

adj: very cold, icy. From the Latin gelidus which is from gelu meaning frost.

I came across this word last night in Stephen King's short story I am the Doorway: ... the flesh was soft and gelid, like the flesh of an apple gone rotten ....

From the context, I guessed wrong at the meaning. My impression was it meant something akin to gelatinous - I was wrong.

From a writing perspective, I wonder if the adjectives and the simile are both necessary. The simile amplifies the adjectives and repetition or amplification can be a good thing - it can also be wordy

"... the flesh was soft and cold ..."

"... the flesh was like an apple gone rotten ..."

But who am I to tinker?

Has anyone ever seen this word (and knew what it meant) before today?

[As an aside, I notice I haven't been receiving e-mail notifications from blogger for the past few days, so I failed to notice that there were new comments. Yes, yes, I know, I can always check my own blog, rather than checking my e-mail. My settings, I just checked, are to receive e-mail notification.]

"Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water putrefies; the idle mind decays."

2008-05-01T15:25:00.004-04:00

Leonardo da Vinci

Over Belled

2008-04-30T09:12:00.001-04:00

Seeing as I had nothing better to do last night, I calculated the taxes on my phone bill.

There are two taxes: a 5% Federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) and (in Ontario) 8% provincial sales tax (PST).

My bill was $50.07 before taxes.

My GST should have been $2.50 and my PST should have been $4.01. Instead it was $2.51 and $4.02 respectively. I was over billed $0.02!

Of course, that is really insignificant, however, this morning I discovered it is happening to others. Assuming Bell Canada bills 1,000,000 customers (probably low, considering the number of residential, business and cell phones available in Canada), that means an extra $10,000 per month for Bell or $120,000 per year.

Typical rounding practice is to round down if less than ¹/₂ a penny and round up if ¹/₂ a penny of more. And Bell appears to round this way, except it then adds a penny to the final result.

The numbers in bold should be the final result, but since Bell adds a penny, it is actually the numbers in italics.

$50.07 x 5% = $2.5035 => (rounded) => $2.50 + $0.01 = $2.51
$50.07 x 8% = $4.0056 => (rounded) => $4.01 + $0.01 = $4.02

Now I am going to have to go and check various other bills. sigh.

Image grabbed and cropped from here.

If you have an hour to spare...

2008-04-24T18:22:00.001-04:00

Might I recommend listening to the CBC Radio's Ideas episode "How to Think About Science" featuring Richard Lewontin's take on it.

I think he offers a lot to think about.

(Of course, if you don't like him, there are 17 other episodes and ways to think about science).

Pale Blue Dot

2008-04-22T09:32:00.001-04:00

Seeing as today is Earth Day and I am strapped for time, I am gently appropriating this post from Ingrid's blog.

I think it is a powerful message to reflect upon.

To The Nines

2008-04-21T08:12:00.002-04:00

Today, Princess Tania turns 9.

"If we abandon fidelity, for which we are formed, and make designs against our neighbour's wife, what are we doing?

2008-04-18T12:27:00.001-04:00

What else but destroying and overthrowing? Whom? The man of fidelity, the man of modesty, the man of sanctity. Is this all? And are we not overthrowing neighbourhood, and friendship, and the community; and in what place are we putting ourselves? How shall I consider you? As a neighbour, as a friend? What kind? As a citizen? How can I trust you? If you were a utensil, you would be so worthless that no man could use you, and you would be thrown out on the dung heaps, and no man would pick you up. But, being a man, you are unable to fulfill any role which befits a man, what are we to do with you? Since you cannot hold the place of a friend, can you hold the place of a slave? Who will trust you? Is it not reasonable that you too should be pitched somewhere on a dung heap, as a useless utensil, and a bit of dung? But then you complain, "Doesn't anyone care about me"? They do not, because you are bad and useless. It is as if wasps complained that no man cares for them; if a man can, he strikes them and knocks them down. You have such a sting that you throw into trouble and pain any man that you wound with it. What would you have us do with you? You have no place where you can be put.

Epictetus, Discourses, Book 2, Chapter 4 (with minor alterations to, hopefully, make the language a little less stuffy without changing the meaning)

Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher and teacher. The Discourses are dated from the very turn of the 2^nd century.

The Marks

2008-04-17T09:15:00.001-04:00

My Canadian trademark application was approved on 20-February-2008 in accordance with section 37 of the Trademarks Act.

37. (1) The Registrar shall refuse an application for the registration of a trade-mark if he is satisfied that 

(a) the application does not conform to the requirements of section 30, 

(b) the trade-mark is not registrable, or 

(c) the applicant is not the person entitled to registration of the trade-mark because it is confusing with another trade-mark for the registration of which an application is pending, 

and where the Registrar is not so satisfied, he shall cause the application to be advertised in the manner prescribed.

This is really a conditional approval. Basically, the trademark is published and persons have 2 months to challenge it.

As with legal documents, it is worded in an odd way (reorganized by me):

[W]here the Registrar is not ... satisfied [that the application meets the requirements for refusal], he shall cause the application to be advertised.

There was also a note in the acceptance letter that I should ignore any third party solicitations regarding the application.

Yesterday, I received an invoice from a European agency located in Hungary requesting me to send them US $1650 in regards to my trademark application (along with my full business name and tax number).

You can read a warning about such organizations here as well as browse specific sample letters.

(My apologies for not divulging the trademark name. It has nothing to do with trying to be coy. It has everything to do with keeping my anonymity / privacy - the application is easily looked up and from there you could get my full name and address.)

"Sometimes, Grandma reads me stories at night."

2008-04-15T22:16:00.002-04:00

Comment Jason made to me as I put him to bed about a week and a half ago. I asked him if he wanted to have my mother's ashes in his room that night.

Belated Blogiversary

2008-04-11T12:13:00.003-04:00

Earlier this week (07-April-2008), Forbidden Planet became a 3 year old toddler. Over a period of 1101 days, I have managed 556 posts (including this one). Not as prolific as some bloggers, but I think averaging one post every two days isn't too bad.

My ground rules for posting are pretty simple:

no more than 1 post per day (I have broken this rule 3 times, I think)
keep the posts concise. My fictitious goal is 3 paragraphs
avoid repetition
leave the reader with something to think about

I hope the approach I take to blogging is similar to what Lister Sinclair expressed about the way he approached the production of Ideas: (paraphrase) "I assume the listener is intelligent and very knowledgeable in all subject matters, except the one I am presenting."

I think I have been reasonably successful.

Some of my favourite posts over the past 3 years (there is no rhyme or reason to their selection, except that they came quickly to mind and I like them):

Evolution of a Peeve
What Self Cleaning Windows, Deodorizing Lights and Your Skin Have in Common
Non-Conforming or Non-Conformant?
"That was a long time ago."
Pictures of Ottawa

and, of course,

Richardology (the responses are a trove of inestimable wealth).

Image nabbed from here.

What brings people here

2008-04-10T12:40:00.004-04:00

Despite me not posting recently, people still manage to find their way here. This is a recent snapshot of search terms landing people here. I removed all terms looking for this SPAM (which makes up about half my search hits) and any clearly looking for the movie Forbidden Planet.

What we are left with is this - feel free to enlarge and look at it.

I sometimes search on the terms and manage to find myself, other times I have no idea how people managed to find me.

Note: Google seems to track if you search on your own blog. Many times I enter the search terms and find myself, only to enter them a little later and find I have disappeared from the search. This is most evident when a search initially brings up 3 or so pages (including mine) and a subsequent search brings up those pages, less mine. So beware searching on your own blog. This also seems to apply to clicking on searches recorded within Stat Counter.

"There used to be something called God ..."

2008-04-04T13:40:00.001-04:00

"It's a subject," he [Mustapha Mond] said, "that has always had a great interest for me." He pulled out a thick black volume. "You've never read this, for example." ...

The Savage took it. "The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments," he read aloud from the title-page. 

"Nor this." It was a small book and had lost its cover. 

"The Imitation of Christ." 

"Nor this." He handed out another volume. 

"The Varieties of Religious Experience. By William James." 

"And I've got plenty more," Mustapha Mond continued, resuming his seat. "A whole collection of pornographic old books." ...

"But if you know about God, why don't you tell them?" asked the Savage indignantly. "Why don't you give them these books about God?" 

"For the same reason as we don't give them Othello: they're old; they're about God hundreds of years ago. Not about God now." 

"But God doesn't change." 

"Men do, though." 

"What difference does that make?" 

"All the difference in the world," said Mustapha Mond. ...

"Then you think there is no God?" 

"No, I think there quite probably is one." 

"Then why? ..." 

Mustapha Mond checked him. "But he manifests himself in different ways to different men. In premodern times he manifested himself as the being that's described in these books. Now ..." 

"How does he manifest himself now?" asked the Savage. 

"Well, he manifests himself as an absence; as though he weren't there at all." 

"That's your fault." 

"Call it the fault of civilization. God isn't compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness. You must make your choice. Our civilization has chosen machinery and medicine and happiness. That's why I have to keep these books locked up in the safe. They're smut ..."

- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

"I'm Cool, You're Not!"

2008-04-03T15:05:00.001-04:00

A week or two ago Jason asked, "What is 10 minus 100?"

"Minus 90," I said.

"No, it's zero," he said. "If you have 10 and you take away 100, then you take away all 10 and you have zero. Ha Ha! I'm cool, you're not!"

He is always asking about numbers and seems to be pretty good at math. A few weeks ago he surprised me by asking for my dad's age and then my age and almost immediately working out the difference (68 - 41 = 27). I was pretty impressed because that is pretty good for a 6 year old.

Bleh and the Aroma of Fresh Baking

2008-04-02T12:55:00.002-04:00

Last week was a rather hectic as I commuted daily between Ottawa and Montreal (200Km each way or 1600Km in total or 120L of gas) because Sofia was in Brazil and that left me to take care of the kids (same thing happens next week when she goes to Panama). So opportunities to blog were rather scarce. This week, I have to play catch up at work on hours missed last week.

I am not out of ideas, just out of energy to blog. bleh.

Anyway ...

I was in Chapters this past Monday and went to the magazine rack to look at magazines. I picked a glossy one (Circuit Cellar) and it was warm. It felt very nice in my hands and evoked a very pleasant emotional rsponse. I didn't have my infrared pyrometer with me (even if I did, I would have felt self conscious pulling it out to measure the temperature of the magazines, the shelving and lights), but I would estimate it at having been somewhere between 30C and 35C (based on measuring the temperature of my hands later on and remembering that the magazine felt "alive" warm and not "heated" warm).

It got me wondering if this was done on purpose or simply an artefact of the lights crammed into the shelving to make the magazine bright and attractive. I think it is an artefact.

However, it got me thinking about other thinks that evoke strong positive emotional responses in us and can be used to manipulate us to buy things. I've looked at homes where the sales agent has brought in a bread machine and baked bread to give it that nice smell.

I then wondered if other goods could be sold by warming them. Towels came to mind. Imagine walking into your favourite department store, you are browsing, your eye is caught by some display in the towel section, you walk over and pick up a warm towel from the shelf. You could optionally waft in a fresh scent, maybe vanilla, maybe lily-of-the-valley (muguet in French). I think, stores could sell more towels if they were soft and warm when customers picked them up (but it has to be a living warm, close to body temperature, not a heated warm, because then it is artificial).

Of course, maybe this would only work in climates where it is cold or cool. I can't imagine it working in Singapore where it is hot all the time (a blogger described it once to me as the land of perpetual Spring and Summer) - forecast to be between high 20s and low 30s (with rain) for the next few days.

For the curious, I did buy the magazine (along with a few others and a book).

He's not there

2008-03-23T08:00:00.000-04:00


Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia! 

Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly king, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia! 

But the pains which he endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured; Alleluia!
Now above the sky he’s king, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia! 

Sing we to our God above, Alleluia!
Praise eternal as his love; Alleluia!
Praise him, all you heavenly host, Alleluia!
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Alleluia!

- Tradition Christian Easter Hymn

Although, personally, I would prefer something set to the tune of She's Not There by The Zombies

Well some one told me about him - the way he died Well some one told me about him - how many people cried But it's too late to say you're sorry You should have known, you should have cared Please don't bother trying to find him He's not there Well let me tell you about the way he looked The way he'd act and the colour of his hair His voice was soft and cool His eyes were clear and bright But he's not there . . .

Image nabbed from here.

Descent Into Hell

2008-03-22T11:50:00.001-04:00

Today is the Easter Vigil, when we wait for Christ to rise from the dead. Many Christian traditions recite the Apostles' or Nicene Creed, which contain the lines He was crucified, died and was buried. He descended to dead. On the third day he rose again. Some translations use the word Hell instead of dead.

One of the apocryphal pieces of literature, The Acts of Pilate (popularly renamed The Gospel of Nicodemus during the Middle Ages, tells of Christ's descent into the dead. t was written sometime between the mid 2^nd and mid 3^rd centuries and reflects a particular understanding of the events surrounding Jesus' death and resurrection among early Christians sometime around 100 to 200 years after the fact. The text paints an unflattering picture of Jewish involvement in Jesus' death.

Below is my retelling of Christ's descent into Hell. Even though it is not canonical, I find it a very beautiful, moving and inspiring work of early Christianity. (As it is my retelling, it is not wholly accurate to the original source, though it is pretty close.)

After the crucifixion and death of Jesus, Satan was beside him self with pride and descended to Hades to gloat.

"Insatiable one, great devourer of all men, hear me," said Satan. "I have just won a great victory against one of the race of the Jews - an impertinent named Jesus who caused me great injustice in the world. Wherever he found my servants, he persecuted them; and those whom I had made blind, or lame or leprous, or otherwise infirmed, he healed with a single word; there were also many whom I had prepared for death and, again, with a single word he restored them to life."

Hades said, "If he was as powerful as you say, doing such things with only a single word, then I find it amazing that you were able to crush him. I don't see how you could have been able to withstand someone so powerful."

"Insatiable one, great devourer of all men, are you telling me that you are frightened because of what I have said about him? He was only a man; a man with the insolence to call himself the Son of God. It was this conceit I seized upon and worked it upon the Jews until they seized him and had him crucified. As his hour approached, he feared death as all men do, saying, 'My soul is sorrowful, even to the point of death.' And then, just as his spirit prepared to leave his body, he cried out in a loud voice, 'My God! My God! Why have you abandoned me?' You see, he was only a man. Now prepare yourself to hold him firmly in your power when he arrives."

Hades said, "Prince of darkness, son of perdition, didn't you tell me that with a single word he freed from death many you had prepared for their graves? If he was able to free others from their graves, then with what power do you propose I should hold him? You say you heard how he feared death; I think he said this to trick you, to lull you into false security as he laid a trap for you. It was not long ago that I swallowed up a man by the name of Lazarus only to have him forcibly snatched from my bowels with a single word. And, if I am not mistaken, it was this same Jesus who did it. I am afraid that if he enters here, then all whom I have swallowed since the beginning of the world shall be torn from me. I swear by the darkness which encompasses us, if he enters here then none of the dead will be left for me."

While Satan and Hades were speaking, a voice like thunder sounded, "Lift up your gates and allow the King of Glory enter."

Hades said to Satan, "Go and keep him from entering - if you can." Then Hades said to his demons, "Secure well the brass gates with bars of iron. Stand vigilant and watch every point. Do not allow him to enter or we shall be lost."

Again the voice sounded, "Lift up your gates and allow the King of Glory to enter."

Hades answered, "Who is this King of Glory?"

The angels of the Lord answered, "It is the Lord strong and mighty; it is the Lord mighty in battle," and immediately, the brass gates shattered into a myriad of pieces and the iron bars were crushed and all the dead who were bound and fettered were freed from their chains. 

The King of Glory entered like a man and all the darkness of Hades, to the farthest crevice, was made light. The multitude, which Hades had swallowed since the beginning of the world, gathered before Him.

Jesus seized Satan by the scruff of his neck and handed him over to the angels, "Bind his hands and his feet and his neck and his mouth." When he was bound, Jesus handed him over to Hades and said, "Take him and hold him until my second coming."

Hades took Satan and said to him, "There is not one dead left in me. All that you gained through the Tree of Knowledge you have lost through the tree of the cross. You sought to destroy the King of Glory but, instead have destroyed yourself."

Jesus stretched out His right hand and with a loud voice called out, "Adam, first formed among all men, come to me." From the multitude Adam came forward and Jesus took him by the hand and raised him up. Then He turned to the multitude and said, "All who have suffered death because of the tree which this man had touched, today I raise up through the tree of the cross."

Adam, full of joy, said to Jesus, "I give thanks to you, O Lord, because you have raised me up from the lowest depth of Hades." And Jesus blessed Adam with the sign of the cross on his forehead.

Jesus called out in a loud voice, "Moses, who led my people out of the bondage of Egypt, come to me so that today I may lead you to Paradise." Again He called out, "Abraham, father of a great nation, come to me. Today I raise you and your descendants to Glory." Each in turn, Jesus called out the names of the patriarchs and prophets and martyrs and descendents, blessing each on the forehead with the sign of the cross. And each of the righteous gave praise to Him saying, "Praise and thanks to you, O Saviour of the world, because you have raised us up from the depths of destruction."

After He had named and blessed each one, he led them into Heaven, holding Adam by the hand.

Image nabbed from here.

Into your hand I commit my spirit

2008-03-21T10:40:00.005-04:00

In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;
do not let me ever be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me.

Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me.

You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.

Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord,
faithful God.

You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.

I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have taken heed of my adversities,
and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
you have set my feet in a broad place.

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my eye wastes away from grief,
my soul and body also.

For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,
and my bones waste away.

I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
a horror to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.

I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.

For I hear the whispering of many
— terror all around!—
as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.

But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”

My times are in your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.

Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your steadfast love.

Do not let me be put to shame,
O Lord, for I call on you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.

Let the lying lips be stilled
that speak insolently against the righteous
with pride and contempt.

O how abundant is your goodness
that you have laid up for those who fear you,
and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of everyone!

In the shelter of your presence you hide them from human plots;
you hold them safe under your shelter from contentious tongues.

Blessed be the Lord,
for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was beset as a city under siege.

I had said in my alarm, “I am driven far from your sight.”
But you heard my supplications when I cried out to you for help.

Love the Lord, all you his saints.
The Lord preserves the faithful,
but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily.

Be strong,
and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the Lord.

Psalm 31

The image is Salvador Dali's Christ of St. John of the Cross

"Do this in memory of me."

2008-03-20T06:00:00.001-04:00

Today is Holy Thursday in many Christian traditions and it is (at least in my faith tradition) commemorated with a remembrance of the Last Supper as well as ritualistic washing of the feet (though, not all parishioners get their feet washed - usually, just a few are preselected).

The Eucharistic celebration is an ancient Christian practice and some rules / guidelines are given for it in the Didache (or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles). It is most commonly dated to have been composed in the early 2^nd century. Although some date it as early as 70 C.E.

CHAPTER 9 : eucharistic consecration

9:1 Now regarding the eucharist, give thanks in this way :
9:2 First concerning the cup :

"We thank You, our Father,
for the holy vine of David Your servant,
which You made known to us through Jesus Your servant.
To You belongs the glory for ever."

9:3 And concerning the broken bread :

We thank You, our Father,
for the life and knowledge which You made
known to us through Jesus Your servant.
To You belongs the glory for ever."

9:4 As this broken bread was scattered over the mountains, and was brought together to become one, so let Your church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Your Kingdom, for the glory and the power are Yours through Jesus Christ forever.
9:5 But let none eat or drink of your eucharist except those who have been baptized in the Name of the Lord. For concerning this did the Lord say : “Give not what is holy to dogs.”

Taken from here because it is a nice English translation that does not suffer from burdensome use of stuffy anachronistic language.

Le Pingouin is probably not what you think it is.

2008-03-17T16:07:00.004-04:00

	Discovered over the weekend that le pingouin is not a penguin, but a type of auk known as a Razorbill.
	The French translation for penguin is manchot. Apparently, this is a common error. Not surprising since many languages clearly have some sort of agreement on penguin: pingüinos (Spanish), pinguine (German), pikkewyn (Afrikaans), pinguino (Italian), pingwiny (Polish), pingvinfélék (Hungarian), pingüim (Portugese).

Images nabbed from here and here.

Random pictures and thoughts

2008-03-16T12:37:00.018-04:00

	As promised, side by side (well, top by bottom) comparison of the Fly scanned handwriting and my actual handwriting as it appeared on the page.
	The Fly and other digital pens require a special paper. The paper has a series of dots printed on it in a pattern. It is a sort of two dimensional barcode. According to Wikipedia, if the entire pattern was printed out, it would cover an area in excess of 4.6 million km².
	Last weekend, 51cm of snow fell in Ottawa. As you can see, the backyard is filled almost to the top of the fence with snow. Which means the snow is close to 5 feet deep. More than 411 cm has fallen in Ottawa this Winter. There is more snow expected this coming week. We have a chance to break the 1970/71 snowfall record of 441 cm.
	I think less snow fell in Montreal. As you can see in this photo, the snow only goes about half way up the fence. Making it maybe 3 feet deep at best.
	A blood orange.
	The inside of a blood orange.
	The first animated film I have ever made (if you disregard flipbooks). I think it took about 20 minutes to (1) shoot 26 frames, (2) upload them to the computer, (3) get them into Microsoft Movie Maker, (4) adjust the duration of each frame (twice) down to 0.2 seconds. The whole short runs for 5.2 seconds. The kids were impressed.

Uploading the video wasn't too bad. However, the processing step seemed to take forever.

Photo and video credits: Richard of Forbidden Planet.

[17-March-2008 @ 10:05. Just noticed that for some reason the video does not show up in the posted blog, though it is visible in preview mode. Any tech help would be appreciated.]

[17-March-2008 @ 12:24: Combined teh writing samples into one image. Makes it easier to do the comparison.]

Shoo Fly Shoo

2008-03-13T00:19:00.001-04:00

Recently I purchased the Fly Fusion Pentop Computer, just because it looked so cool (and I had some spare money to spend).

It is pretty cool.

To get best handwriting recognition out of it, you do have to print in a fairly clear manner, which I can, though it is a bit of an effort and slows me down as I consciously try to form the various letters. On the other hand, the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology is pretty good if you print nicely. If you don't then it is a bit of a mess.

Below are two samples of writing: one done in nice tidy print, the other in my usual scrawl.

It does quite well with the first sample and horribly with the second. Obviously my normal upper case block printing is pretty hard on the OCR. And it certainly doesn't seem to like the way I prefer to form my letters. It may have helped to be sitting at a table rather than lying on my stomach on the bed scribbling away, but, then again, it is the portability I want.

An interesting observation is that the strokes are more segmented than my actual writing is - making it look as though I have a shaky hand when I write. I am not sure if this is a result of the way the Fly encodes my strokes, or perhaps I am rotating the body of the pen as I write, thus introducing distortion in the recording. For example, the opening R in Rowan has smooth curves in the captured image and on the page. The f in five is very segmented in the captured image, but smooth on the page. It seems even worse in the second sample. I will upload scanned samples of the pages this weekend.

Fly Captured Sample	OCR Result
	Rowan had invited his friends over three days earlier, His home was a mansion situated in the centre of • 25 acre lot, five acres to a side, in an exclusive part of town. He had purchased up all the adjoining properties It had not been that difficult because with Rowan money didn't just talk, he could make it sing. Persuading the city to rezone the land, to close off roads and redirect roads was a little more challenging, but nothing • new museum, park and endowment couldn't help assuage. `[Pretty good if you ask me]`
	Recently, Ts Fascists Erg THE F<y Fusion PENTOP COMPUTER, THERE is A p/z--7=c-72.2--71 ilsnnarz OF WRITING To Engulfs BESTPSSS, is↳ RECOGNITION. HOWER, since IT 1), FFERS FROM My osuna Sanwa, i Hsiu To SLOWDOWN. A 󰀀1󰀁 cy ⇐ o=c-H/d K<M No Paths to ✓ WXYZ an b a def g. h ij k Imp opz- -£ a ✓ a xy, • i 2345678; Ta can also print in a manner that is reasonably close to the way the F<y system wants me to, but there are challenges, such as my desire to join certain letters as is write. `[This is mostly crash and burn.]`

An even cooler looking pen is the Pulse smartpen, but I will hold off purchasing it until I see how indispensable the Fly Pentop Computer becomes.

The main downside of the Fly is that it is a little bulky.

I think one of the actresses on the Fly page is Kelly Vitz who played Magenta in Sky High.

The actress for the Pulse smartpen is wearing lenless frames, which I found annoying (not that the chatter of the Fly kids was wasn't annoying also).

Image samples copyright Richard of Forbidden Planet.

Fly Fusion Pentop Computer image nabbed from here

Green Technology Good. Actually Works Optional.

2008-03-12T14:24:00.003-04:00

I think most people underestimate how much energy it really takes to power things. A quick trip to your local science and technology museum / centre should quickly dispel any misconceptions. These places usually have a stationary bicycle connected to a generator and you are encouraged to peddle to try and light a lamp or two. It doesn't take much peddling to realize that it takes a whole lot of work to light a lamp.

This realization did not occur to the inventor of an environmentally friendly lamp dubbed the Gravia or to the judges judging it.

The idea is that the energy from a slowly descending weight is converted to electricity and used to power high efficiency LEDs, providing approximately 600-800 lumens of light over a 4 hour period. At the end of 4 hours, you just flip the lamp over and the whole process begins anew.

It sounds great ... except the energy output seems a little out of whack - especially if you have ever energetically peddled one of those stationary bikes in a science centre. (I also have a dynamo powered flashlight and have a feel for how much effort is needed to keep the light reasonably bright - though, nowhere near bright enough to light a room.)

A 40W light bulb gives off between 400-500 lumens of light (the amount depends on the bulb - long life bulbs give fewer lumens because they are not run as brightly) and a 60W light bulb between 600 and 800 lumens.

The total power available from the system (assuming a perfect system with no losses) is 270 Watts. Period.

This is enough to light a 40W bulb for 6-3/4 seconds or a 60W bulb for 4-1/2 seconds.

A high powered LED (420 lumens @ 8W) would burn through the power in 33-3/4 seconds.

Assuming we had device that converted 100% of the energy into light, at 600 lumens output, we would still burn through the energy in 5 minutes and 7 seconds. At 800 lumens, we would use up the energy in 3 minutes and 51 seconds

None of those remotely approach the promised 4 hour running time. If the energy were delivered over a 4 hour period, the device would be capable of a continuous output of 18.75 mW. Good enough to run an LCD watch or clock or calculator, but not much else.

Using our mythical 100% energy to light converter, we get an output of 12.8 lumens at that power level. Which is pretty dim. Dimmer than a nightlight.

As the website says for its judging criteria: Entries were evaluated on the following criteria: innovation, clarity of design, originality, form and presentation. Being even remotely plausible was not a criteria.

Image nabbed from here.

We can calculate the energy available in the system (assuming a perfect system with no losses): it is a 50lb weight falling over 48 inches. Converted to metric that is 22.73Kg over 1.22m.

Force (F = ma) available from the free falling weight is 22.73Kg x 9.8m/s² = 222 Newtons (Kg-m/s²).

The entire energy (E = Fd) available in the system is 222N x 1.22m = 270 Joules (Kg-m²/s²).

If you use up 1 Joule per second, you use 1 Watt (N-m/s²) of energy. So the whole system has a grand total of 270 Watts of power available for use.

The continuous power the device is capable of outputting per second if run over a 4 hour period: 270W / (4 x 60 * 60) = 0.01875 W/s or 18-3/4 mW per second.

The theoretical maximum lumens per watt of power is 683 lm/W.

"[Y]ou're claiming the right to be unhappy."

2008-03-11T17:09:00.000-04:00

"All right then," said the Savage defiantly, "I'm claiming the right to be unhappy." 

"Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphilis and cancer; the right to have too little to eat; the right to be lousy; the right to live in constant apprehension of what may happen to-morrow; the right to catch typhoid; the right to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind." There was a long silence. 

"I claim them all," said the Savage at last.

- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

Another Winter Photo Blog

2008-03-07T09:31:00.005-05:00

We got 28cm of snow on Wednesday, bringing the total snowfall total to 355cm in Ottawa this Winter. This makes it the second largest recorded snowfall. The previous record was 441cm back in the Winter of 1970/1971. We are supposed to get another 20cm or more this weekend. So there is still a chance we will beat the old record.

I tell Sofia and the kids to enjoy it because they may not see another snowfall like this for another 40-50 years.

	Picture of a previous snowstorm, but the effect and result is pretty much the same.
	Following the snowstorm, the trees were nicely covered in snow crystals.
	Close up of snow crystals on a branch.
	Snow crystals on pine needles.

Photo credits: Richard of Forbidden Planet.

Two Questions (well, really three)

2008-03-06T13:51:00.000-05:00

When does a difference in opinion, understanding or perception cross the threshold and become a mental disorder?
When does confidence and certainty become delusion?

I am reminded of the story of a woman many years ago on CBC radio, who told how her parents had her diagnosed as insane and committed as an adolescent because she was lesbian.

While I may not agree with her and I believe her behaviour to be wrong (yeah, yeah, I am on the conservative end of the spectrum here), I certainly do not think she was insane.

So what is the difference between being "wrong" and having a fundamentally disordered perception, understanding and experience of the world?

To adapt a saying: I may not know what insanity is, but I know it when I see it.

Principally inspired (bits copied verbatim from my comment) by a post on Barbara's blog.

Five Facts

2008-03-05T18:18:00.003-05:00

SweetiePie has invited me to share 5 facts about my self.

I am male.
My first name is Richard
I am 42
I am married
I have two children

Ok, maybe that is a little too factual and not sufficiently revealing. So the question becomes one of, "Do I recycle old tidbits of information from my blog? Or do I give you fresh pieces of information?"

Since I want to encourage people to read this blog, I prefer not to give out previously revealed information. On the other hand, I also don't want to give identity thieves too much personal information. Oh! The dilemma, the dilemma.

I am sinister (in Latin nominative).
My hair is naturally curly (and increasingly grey).
I cannot read Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince or The Selfish Giant without crying. Actually, I cannot even finish them. These are the only two stories that affect me so and I unable to share them with my kids.
When I was much younger, I didn't quite understand the movie classification system. I thought G meant Good, PG meant Pretty Good and R meant Rotten.
When I was 7 years old, I read a book called, A Doctor Explains Pregnancy to an Eight Year Old. I felt very grown up reading a book targeted for older kids. My mother gave me this book because she was getting tired of trying to field my questions about pregnancy. What I took away most from the book was that cows and humans gestate for about 9 months, whales gestate for about 13 months, and mice gestate for 21 days.

Image nabbed from here.

Drip. Drip.

2008-03-04T23:10:00.009-05:00

I took the kids skating this past Sunday and managed to take 389 pictures during that time. It becomes so easy with digital cameras nowadays - especially when they feature a nice, easy to use burst mode.

I also managed to capture some shots of dripping icicles. If you click on and enlarge the pictures, you can see the drop of water forming and falling. It was a nice surprise to discover when I looked at the picture (they were shot in burst mode).

Photo credits: Richard of Forbidden Planet.

Sorry, I was a little too aggressive with the JPEG compression settings.

[05-March-2008 @ 11:00: added text about the drop forming and falling.]

Message in a bottle

2008-03-03T13:04:00.001-05:00

Hye has invited me to put a message in a bottle.

When I was younger, I used to dream of discovering something unique, import and of value. I did look for bottles with messages, buried treasure, fossils, or gold deposits. Sadly I never really found anything. I did find pyrite (Fools Gold), and some small fossils (various shells and parts of crinoids, but never trilobite. sigh. Though, Jason did find a fossilized shell 3 or 4 cm in length two years ago. Definitely, the largest fossil we have found).

However, I have never thought of putting a message into a bottle.

(The uber-geeky among you should recognize the phrase.)

Quick! What is the cosine of the cube root of 31?

2008-03-01T13:29:00.001-05:00

Yesterday someone shared a useful tip with me: should you be the victim of a robbery in which you are forced to withdraw money from an ATM, by entering your PIN backwards you will send a silent alarm to the bank which will then notify the police.

I restrained, but probably not entirely successfully, the urge to laugh.

It sounds like a great security measure, unfortunately, it is impractical. Under normal circumstances I presume it is hard enough form most people to mentally reverse their PIN (it is for me). Under a stressful situation, I presume it would be pretty nigh impossible.

Further there is the problem of people using palindromic PINs like 1111 or 2332 because they are easier to remember, this person replied, "Well, I guess you're screwed then."

I also wondered why I had never been told or informed about this. The person answered back, "I guess they don't want it general knowledge so the criminals don't know about it."

Uh-huh.

If such a system were implemented, it would be simpler to just use the standard numeric code for help 911 (this code may vary with country, in Great Britain it is 999).

Furthermore, even if it did work as advertised, it is highly likely the police will arrive well after the robbery occurred.

A little research this morning found this debunking of it.

What Superhero am I?

2008-02-28T18:08:00.003-05:00

You're Iceman from the X-Men movies

You're the coolest person around! When other people's tempers heat up, you find a way to stay calm and focused. You're great at staying cool physically, too - who needs air conditioning when you can regulate your own body temperature? Like Bobby Drake, you might have trouble communicating with your family, but you have supportive friends who understand you. Since you never have to worry about getting too hot or too cold, you're great at outdoor sports like snowboarding.

(I had hoped for Spiderman.)

Nimbly nabbed from Elvina's blog.

lugubrious

2008-02-27T12:06:00.003-05:00

What a wonderful word.

A languid, viscous word proceeding out from the pit of chest distending the throat and smothering the tongue as it oozes out.

It is a word that begs for exaggerated pronunciation, loo-oo-oo-goo-oo-oo-bree-ee-ee-us, yet it has a serious short coming:

The meaning is all wrong. It means sad, mournful, gloomy, miserable, melancholic. Yet ... that is not at all what it sounds like. To me, it sounds like it should mean something thick, heavy, slow moving, plodding. I want it to mean languid and viscous, but it doesn't.

I feel cheated, deceived and betrayed.

(There are other words that fit in this category, where the actual meaning is not what I intuitively feel they should be, such as condone or vicarious, their meaning and understanding is a conscious effort.)

I want to use it in sentence like, "He had a lugubrious moustache." and I want it to mean he had a large, heavy, drooping walrus moustache.

I want to be able to say, "He was feeling lugubrious." and have it mean that he was in a lazy, contented, unhurried mood.

While I can say those things, they don't mean what I want them to.

Image nabbed from here.

Easy ice cream recipe

2008-02-25T18:28:00.001-05:00

JJ has eczema and while doctors (here and in Peru) insist it has nothing to do with his diet, we know otherwise (it is one of my peeves of people in sciences, they wear extreme blinders, if it is not published in a peer reviewed journal, it isn't real. They are well disciplined reject anything that is not accepted dogma). Dairy, nuts (of any sort), soy, spinach and MSG definitely aggravate his condition. Fortunately, he seems to tolerate goat's milk fine.

For frozen desserts, he was always limited to gelato or sorbet, recently I have been making him ice cream from goat's milk and it is surprisingly easy to do.

1 litre (4 cups) milk
100g (4oz, about 2/3 cup) icing sugar
1 341ml frozen drink concentrate

Combine the ingredients, mix until blended and put in the freezer. Periodically mix, scraping down the frozen stuff on the side. I mix it about once every 45 minutes or so. After 4-6 hours it will get fairly stiff and you can stop mixing it and let it freeze on its own.

The original recipe called for 400ml of milk and juice from freshly pressed raspberries. I thought my way was simpler. I will try cutting the sugar next time because it is plenty sweet (although, I am sure the sugar helps minimize large ice crystal build up).

Are you trying to kill me?

2008-02-24T13:27:00.002-05:00

I first met my friend Emad back in 1992. Megumi invited me over, telling me that she had a friend whose wife was coming over. We went to his student apartment and I brought some Pujabi mix with me.

Emad grabbed a handful, popped it in his mouth and thought he was going to die. Apparently, Sudanese do not eat spicy food and Punjabi mix is pretty high on the spicy snack scale.

He was incredulous that both Megumi and I seemed to enjoy it without ill effect.

Since then, he has learned to tolerate and even indulge in spicy food.

He still remembers that first encounter with me when he thought I tried to kill him.

Image credits: Richard of Forbidden Planet.

Just because it doesn't really make any sense

2008-02-23T20:07:00.005-05:00

Four clips from my favourite Marx Brother's movie, Animal Crackers.

Not easily grossed out, but ...

2008-02-21T00:00:00.001-05:00

I find this picture pretty nauseating. It is sarcophagid larvae in the gums of an Israeli man. Aside from live maggots crawling around in his gums, the condition of his teeth also leave a lot to be desired.

Image nabbed from here.

My Nerd Type

2008-02-20T11:22:00.000-05:00

Saw this on Tena's blog, so it saves me the trouble of actually thinking of real content.

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Science/Math Nerd (Absolute Insane Laughter as you pour toxic chemicals into a foaming tub of death!) Well, maybe you aren't this extreme, but you're in league with the crazy scientists/mathmeticians of today. Very few people have the talent of math and science is something takes a lot of brains as well. Thank whosever God you worship, or don't worship, so thank no deity whatsoever in your case, for you people! Most of us would have died off without your help.
Literature Nerd
Social Nerd
Drama Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Musician
Anime Nerd
Artistic Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Chocolate lava cakes

2008-02-19T13:21:00.003-05:00

Tried out this recipe yesterday that I found inside a Baker's Dark Chocolate box. They are really, really good. Incredibly rich and decadent without drowning you in chocolate. Very, very suitable with a nice tall glass of cold milk.

112g (4oz) dark (70%) chocolate
125ml (1/2 cup) butter
250ml (1 cup) icing sugar
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
90ml (6 tbsp) flour

Ensure you have everything prepared before hand because the whole process is very quick.

Preheat oven to 220C (425F).

Butter and flour 4 custard cups (I had no idea what custard cups were, so I used a 4 muffin muffin tin – I really should have used a larger one, since I had enough batter for 6).

Place the butter and chocolate in a reasonably large microwaveable dish.

Microwave on high for about a minute.

Whisk the melted butter and chocolate together until smooth.

Add the icing sugar and blend.

Add the eggs and yolks and blend (this was actually kind of tough, just keep going at it).

Blend in the flour.

Pour into prepared custard cups and bake for 13-15 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool 1 minute.

Run a knife around the edge to loosen them.

Turn over onto a plate.

Sprinkle with a little bit of icing sugar and top with 2 or 3 fresh raspberries. (If you are like me, you would prefer to top with a nice heavy whipped cream, tehn dust with icing sugar and finally top with raspberries. I am sure raspberry syrup, with seeds would be good too).

Serve immediately while they are still warm (don't waste your breath oohing and aahing over it, just dig in and experience the decadence - this is a dessert that needs to be eaten warm).

As mentioned, I had left over batter, so I ate it. Even raw it was incredibly good. My suspicion is that you shouldn't fill the cups or tins up to the rim, otherwise the dessert gets a pointy "muffin" top (my did anyway)

If you haven't ever had these I strongly suggest you try it, it is not as over the top and sickly as so many triple chocolate, ecstasy death, coronary collapsing desserts are, it is actually decent and edible.

I did find the recipe on the companies web site, but it is slightly modified (six servings instead of 4, also fewer calories). You can check out the web version of the recipe here.

Image nabbed from here (you can also get another recipe for chocolate molten lava cake there too).

BTW, a serving is only half a cake.

I calculate that the recipe I made yesterday had about 700 calories per whole cake (assuming you manage 4 cakes out of it) and 42g of fat - all of it very, very worth it.

Life, the Universe and Everything

2008-02-18T10:45:00.003-05:00

42. That is what I am today. According to Douglas Adam's trilogy in five parts The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.

I'm not too sure about that.

Ford: "It's unpleasantly like being drunk."
Arthur: "What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
Ford: "Ask a glass of water."

- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Photo credit: Richard of Forbidden Planet.

What time am I?

2008-02-15T12:36:00.000-05:00

You're the time of day right around sunrise, when the sky is still a pale bluish gray. The streets are empty, and the grass and leaves are a little bit sparkly with dew and the day smells new. You are the sound of a few chirpy birds outside the window. You are quiet, peaceful, and contemplative. If you move slowly, it's not because you're lazy – it's because you know there's no reason to rush. You move like a relaxed cat, pausing for deep stretches that make your muscles feel alive. You are long sips of tea or coffee (out of a mug that's held with both hands) that slowly warm your insides just as the sun is brightening the sky.

(Courteously borrowed from Ingrid's blog.)

"It's not that I was afraid of dying,

2008-02-14T10:15:00.001-05:00

it's just that I wanted to live; to enjoy life in all its fullness."
 
Rowan Yew, age 43, a first class dilettante and entrepreneur, lay in his bed, covered up to his chin, in his darkened bedroom. Attending him were his friends, Dr. Jason Reselda, the eminent pathologist, and Gabriel Malachi, the no less distinguished geneticist. While all three were super-achievers, Rowan led the pack; his power, opulence and extravagance a testament to his ability to seize opportunities and profit from them. He did nothing by half measures and never considered failure as a possible outcome. 
 
"That's good to hear, because dying is just what you are doing", said Jason. 
 
"Are you sure?" 
 
"I see no other outcome. The last sample I examined continues to show an expanding infection. In fact, you are more pathogen than man. You should have been dead long ago."
 
"Then perhaps I am not dying."
 
"You're dying alright. Shortly you will cease to be a living, breathing man."
 
"But I shall continue."
 
"We all continue after death. Our atoms disperse and become part of new life, new things - none of which will be recognizable as Rowan Yew."
 
"I am so cold. Is it day yet? I so wish to see the sun, to feel its warmth on my skin."
 
Gabriel shifted toward the patio door. It was south facing window with heavy drapes that admitted no light. He looked toward Jason.
 
Jason said, "It is 10:24, the sun rose about four and a half hours ago at 5:58. So, yes, it is day outside. However, I don't think in your condition, especially in your condition, you should be exposed to the light."
 
"Indulge a dying man one of his last requests. If you are right, then what difference does it make if we hasten my death in the next hour or prolong it another day?"
 
Gabriel pulled back the drapes and Rowan gasped, "The light!"  He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. His friends, thinking he had breathed his last, came to his bedside. And he breathed again. "I must have more. I want so to feel it on my face."
 
"Rest still", Jason said.
 
"No! I will not wither in this bed. If I am to die, then I shall die enjoying the sun on my face. Bring the wheelchair." Rowan's face was white, his nose and cheeks were sunken in. His eyes too were white, the iris had lost all its colour, but instead of pink there was only white. His pupils looked like two small cavities into his skull.. 
 
Gabriel looked at Jason who gave him a small nod and Gabriel proceeded to fetch the wheelchair.
 
"All right", said Jason, "we will grant you your last request. God knows this death watch has taken its toll on us. Perhaps it is better we get it over with sooner rather than later." He peeled back the covers, revealing an emaciated and bleached white body underneath. It was covered with find white hairs which rubbed off as Jason and Gabriel moved Rowan into the wheelchair. It didn't seem to bother him because he did not complain or wince. He seemed eager to get into the chair and seemed to find some strength in himself to assist his two friends.
 
Gabriel wheeled him toward the window and into the light. As the rays of the sun touched Rowan's body, he closed his eyes, tilted back his head, swayed it from side to side and sighed. The two friends observed his intimate encounter with the sunlight. His ardour was uncomfortable to watch and they turned their eyes away. The friends stood in silence, avoiding each others eyes and avoiding looking at him. The time passed without end and they seemed condemned to forever be witness to this macabre scene of the wasted cadaver of their friend, covered in white tendrils, moaning and writhing in the sunlight.
 
After 10 minutes Rowan said, "I am thirsty". Gabriel brought him a glass of water and held it to his lips. No matter how carefully he held it, how gently he tipped it, Rowan seemed insistent on dribbling it down his chin and onto his chest. "More water", he would repeat. This continued until he was well soaked.
 
The wetness brought out a dank, earthy smell from Rowan. "Take me outside. I don't want to be separated from the sun by this pane of glass.
 
He was wheeled outside onto the patio and he sat there. Grinning, happy and fully indulgent in the sun and the air. He rolled his head in the direction of Jason and parted his white lips in a unsettling smile, revealing white teeth set in white gums, "I feel a new man. It was the asphyxiating darkness of the room you deemed to make my crypt that aggravated my infirmity."
 
He rolled his head with their sunken closed eyes toward the sun, "No one should be denied the sun. Its gentle rays are so loving and so tenderly they warm and caress my body. I feel its restorative powers flowing through my veins."
 
He straightened his head and stared through his closed eyes, "The sun is the source of life. It is the goodness which drives all the processes on this Earth. No one should ever be denied its life-giving goodness."
 
Moments passed into minutes. And minutes passed into an hour. The two friends stayed close, but said nothing. 
 
After a little more than an hour, Rowan cried out, "The sun is so beautiful." and pushed himself up and stretched out toward the sun.

This is the first part of a short story I am writing, inspired from the opening line. The opening begins with the final discourse of a dying man. A man who is dying because a life prolongation experiment has gone wrong.

The second part (of which I have written a little, but am in the process of rewriting) takes place 3 days earlier, when Rowan invites his friends over. It will be a debate on life, death, and the ethics and consequences of extended life. It will be revealed that he has taken matters into his own hands and is changing.

I expect the conclusion to be a short, tight summary. Something along the lines of:

He didn't die. Not that day. He just changed. His friends planted him in the garden where he thrived, alone, the only one of his kind. When the wind blows and the leaves rustle, it is said you can hear Rowan whisper.

I would like to end with a powerful word or phrase (something akin to 'Rosebud' from Citizen Cane).

I like the opening. I think the next paragraph summarily introduces the actors and sets the scene.

I am also reasonably pleased with the rest of the dialogue, except ... that I don't think it flows well. I think it is too abrupt. I am struggling with how to indicate the passage of periods of silence in a darkened room as a man dies. My narrative needs work. But I don't want to pad it, I want it to flow better.

I try to indicate the passage of time to some extent with The time passed without end and they seemed condemned to forever be witness to this macabre scene..., but I am not sure if it works well or if it is too much author intrusion. (A good piece of writing engages the reader and makes them forget that there is an author.)

Suggestions, comments and criticisms are welcomed and, indeed, encouraged.

Bad Math

2008-02-13T10:47:00.003-05:00

I really dislike (bordering on zealous detestation) of things that don't make sense, are obviously wrong or, worse yet, deceptive (except as humour).

That great provider of comedy, satire and parody - AOL - recently ran a consumer piece comparing prices between warehouse retailer Costco and normal retailer Giant and showing where you got better savings. What struck me was the way the savings were expressed - they were nonsensical.

If I say you can save 50%, you would expect (at least I would hope you would expect) to pay 1/2 the price for it.

If I tell you that you can save 100%, you would expect the item to be free (zero cost).

That it not how AOL does math. In fact, on some products you can save as much as 267%!

?????

I don't see how you can save more than 100% and I would expect any person to look at that and go, "That is just plain wrong."

For your consideration two examples pulled from the AOL piece claiming 100% and 267% savings. (The real savings is 50% and 72.8% respectively.)

Screen captures and cropping by me, images and bad math copyright AOL.

Certified Honest Blogger

2008-02-12T09:26:00.000-05:00

While I was taking a little lie down back in January, Hye awarded me a Certified Honest Blogger award.

I believe this is the first blogging award I have recieved.

One World, One Dream

2008-02-11T12:51:00.000-05:00

I was listening to Dispatches (with Rick MacInnes-Rae) on CBC radio recently and there was a segment on slogans in China. Apparently China is very keen on slogans - short aphorisms to instil good social and moral values and behaviour. Although, they are so widespread that people pretty much ignore them.

When a Chinese man was asked about the Olympic slogan for 2008, "One World, One Dream", he said he didn't like it. Why should there be only one dream. Why couldn't he dream his own dream?

I agree with him.

Image nabbed from here.

Last words

2008-02-08T13:53:00.001-05:00

Three friends die in a car accident and find themselves in a processing room in the afterlife.

As they are processed one by one, the angel asks them, "When you are lying in your casket and friends and family are mourning over you, what would you like to hear them say about you?"

The first friend replies, "I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor who helped the lives of many."

The second friend says, "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful teacher who made a difference in the lives of the children I taught."

The last friend thought a moment and said, "What I'd like to hear them say is, 'Look, he's moving!'"

"Do you begin to see what kind of world we are creating?"

2008-02-07T10:54:00.000-05:00

"A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. 

The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. 

In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, and triumph. Everything else we shall destroy."

Adapted from George Orwell's 1984.

The text was extracted and modified from a longer quote from 1984 that I previously posted.

Properly marked up it would look like this:

"Do you begin to see ... what kind of world we are creating? ... A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. ... The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, [and] triumph ... Everything else we shall destroy ...

But it is a little harder to read and a lot less punchy that way (I think).

Forty Days

2008-02-06T12:43:00.000-05:00

Today is Ash Wednesday and begins the 40 day period of Lent in the Roman Catholic and other Western Christian churches (Eastern churches start on a different day as do the Oriental churches. This year, Eastern Rite churches begin Lent on 10-March. It begins on Clean Monday and last 42 days. The Coptic Church begins Lent on 03-March this year and it lasts 55 days. For Western and Eastern Rite churches, Sundays are excluded from Lenten observation. In the Coptic Church they are not).

It is a period of fast and abstinence.

The ashes distributed on the forehead are a symbol of repentance from the Jewish tradition of using ashes and sackcloth to signify repentance. I am not aware of any official requirement to use sackcloth during the Lenten period, but I have seen a strip of sackcloth draped over crucifixes in church and a number of Catholics I know carry around a small piece. It is not part of my tradition and I do not participate in that manner. (I recall first observing the use of sackcloth by Catholics in the early to mid-90s by Charismatic Catholics. It may be culturally or traditionally used elsewhere.)

The exact origin of Lent is kind of fuzzy and murky. Certainly there are records of various types of observances preceding Passover / Easter celebration in the early church. The generally official reason for 40 days is in imitation of Jesus' 40 days in the desert.

Personally, I have always seen it as symbolic of the 40 years the Jewish people spent in the desert following their emancipation from Egypt. I have always observed it as an act of solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sister of the hardship they endured.

Arguments could also be made that Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai¹ in the presence of God; the 40 day journey Elijah made to Mount Horeb²; the 40 days Nineveh had to repent³.

However, like any religious observations, customs, requirements, we need to go beyond the letter of the law and immerse ourselves in the Spirit of truth and faith.

Some 4^th century fathers thoughts on fasting and abstinence:

"Let the mouth also fast from disgraceful speeches and railings. For what does it profit if we abstain from fish and fowl and yet bite and devour our brothers and sisters?"

- Saint John Chrysostom (c.347– c.407 C.E.)

"Beware of limiting the good of fasting to mere abstinence from meats. Real fasting is alienation from evil. 'Loose the bands of wickedness.' Forgive your neighbour the mischief he has done you. Forgive him his trespasses against you. Do not 'fast for strife and debate.' You do not devour flesh, but you devour your brother. You abstain from wine, but you indulge in outrages. You wait for evening before you take food, but you spend the day in the law courts."

- St. Basil the Great (c.329 – 379 C.E.)

(1)

"He [Moses] was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

- Exodus 34:28 [Christian spin could be that we are called to write the covenant and the commandments of the Lord into our hearts - Richard]

(2)

"[H]e [Elijah] himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.”6He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God."

- 1 Kings 19:4-8 [two postulates come from this: (1) without God's help, we do not have the strength to reach Him, (2) the journey to God is long and not easy (but, I am sure some literalist will read it and say, "It is only 40 days, so long as God feeds me." - Richard]

(3)

"Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 

And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

- Jonah 3:4-10 [sounds pretty Lenten to me - Richard]

[Update 07-February-2008 @ 11:19 AM: added information about the start dates of Lent for Eastern and Coptic churches.]

Chai Tea or Tai Chi?

2008-02-05T00:54:00.000-05:00

One of life's questions.

Pater Noster

2008-02-04T09:32:00.000-05:00

I saw Metropolis about 15 years ago and then read the book about 8 years later. The book is better than the movie.

As I grow older, the futile image of constantly feeding and tending the machines grows stronger in my mind.

I recognized pater noster as Latin for Our Father (as in the opening of the Lord's Prayer) and assumed that Thea von Harbou's references to the pater noster machine were overt references to a machine that consumed and ate its workers (much like Cronus in Greek mythology ate his children – or perhaps Moloch, to whom children were sacrificed).

I only recently discovered that a pater noster machine is a type of slow moving elevator invented in 1884.

Image nabbed from here.

Helena Maria Barbara

2008-01-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

Today is my mother's birthday. She would have been 64. She died 361 days ago.

I went with the kids to church this morning to pray for her.

The photo is of her when she was 19.

Feeling a bit tired

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

I am going to take a bit of a hiatus from blogging. I will probably post on 22 or 26 January (mother's birth and death dates, respectively) as well as 18 February (my birthday).

Until then:

The Golden Compass

2008-01-04T14:52:00.000-05:00

We saw this with the kids on New Years Day.

Despite the number of rather negative reviews of the movie, we all thought it was really, really good.

It prompted a lot of questions from Tania afterward, which means it made her think. Jason was just pleased there was some fighting.

It is a simple story of the forces of light versus the forces of darkness. Or as the Yahoo movies synopsis puts it, "A 12-year-old girl tries to rescue a kidnapped friend and winds up on an epic quest to save her world."

I wonder why movies such as The Golden Compass, Van Helsing and Willow, which are simple good vs evil stories, get lower critical acclaim than movies such as Aliens or Forbidden Planet which are also simple good vs evil stories. The only difference I see is that the former are steeped more the mythology and symbolism of Western Judeo-Christian thought than the latter. Consequently, people not familiar with it (i.e. possessed with preconditioned emotional responses) miss the impact of those symbols.

The movie is also somewhat anti-establishmentarian in promoting free thought and free will over blind obedience and acceptance, but, mostly, it is an entertaining adventure movie with a 12 year old girl as the heroine.

I have to confess that when I saw the trailer the first time in the theatre, I was interested in seeing it ... until the polar bears came up - then I thought it might be kind of goofy (yup, armoured polar bears in a fantasy movie seemed goofy to me). Fortunately, the polar bears come across very well.

Image nabbed from here.

Happy Birthday!

2008-01-03T19:20:00.000-05:00

Today Sofia celebrates an indeterminate age (as she has for the last many years ;-)

There are things I'd like to say
to you my love on your special day:

I am forever thankful God sent you my way.

Like a gift from up above,
you showed me how it is to feel real love.

I know many mountains we've had to climb
and sometimes forever has seemed like a very long time.

Yes, we've endured our share of pain,
but together we have so much to gain.

Bigger mountains may lie ahead,
but together there is no hill we can not tread.

So always remember my love for you,
and there is nothing together we can not do.

I'll be here forever - my love is true.
The person beside me, that would be you.

Poem was nabbed from here.

Photo credit: Richard at Forbidden Planet. Location is the Colca Canyon in Peru (1996) - hence copyright is mine.

Yes, your willy can really grow beyond its current size!

2008-01-02T12:03:00.000-05:00

Well, maybe not.

That was the title and opening words from a piece of SPAM in my inbox when I got into work. At least this one was honest.

Here are two others I found amusing

Attain your true masculinity by New Year!

Operating under a UN mandate in Iraqi waters.

Dont understand, hope you can help

Might be, for he suggested the idea and gave roseto? On the table, over which all three had been eagerly did not pass unnoticed by the crowd of girls won by her tender they stepped aside, ordered a silver oil-can, inlaid with gold

Sorry, I can't help you, I do not understand either.

The Young Astrologer

2007-12-31T16:30:00.000-05:00

When I was much younger, I had great interest in the occult and paranormal. When I was 13, for Christmas of 1979, I asked for and got a book called The Compleat Astrologer. I wanted this book because it showed you how to draw up a horoscope as well as providing interpretation guides and planetary tables from 1905 until 1979 - which put it far ahead of any other books on astrology which simply were describptive, but didn't show you how to do it hands on.

I have no crystal ball and I have long dismissed divination, however let us see what the new year brings forth. And may it be good for all of us.

Images scanned by me but remain the property and copyright of Bantam books.

End of Year Random Photo Blog

2007-12-29T21:11:00.000-05:00

	Some soccer action from Tania this past summer.
	For some reason they have difficulty painting straight lines in Montreal. This is on Brunswick, just across from the Fairview Shopping Centre. You can see the satellite shot here
	Some Rose Hip found growing along Lac St. Louis.
	A morning glory found growing among some purple flowers in Parc Summerlea along Lac St. Louis. Google map here.
	Some soccer action from Jason this past summer.
	Jason and a horsehhoe crab when we were in New York in August.
	Giraffe's have blue tongues as can be seen.
	This is an edible mushroom. However it has no flavour, so there is little point.
	A mother duck and her ducklings. Taken in Parc Summerlea along Lac St. Louis.
	Tania and my goddaughter.

Retro meme

2007-12-28T20:29:00.000-05:00

I was tagged by Tin-Tin and I have to tag some people later. The instructions are:

1. Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 keywords given below:

family,

friend,

yourself,

love,

anything you like.

2. Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better.

3. Don’t forget to read the archived post and leave comments.

Hmmm ... don't understand the comment part. Am I supposed to leave comments on my posts? I think I will wait for clarification from Tin-Tin.

Who to tag? Who to tag?

Last time I tagged people it was MOI, KayMac, breal, tin-tin, and Barbara.

So this time I will tag: Ingrid, Carra, Tena, Cavalock, and Freckled One.

If I didn't tag you and you want to play, please feel free to appropriate this meme.

Image nabbed from here.

The Iconoclast and the School Pageant

2007-12-27T20:59:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, I went to see a Christmas pageant at my kids' school. It was less a pageant and more the kids singing some Christmas carols. They were divided into grades 1&2, 3&4, and 5&6 with two groups of each.

My kids go to a private school and wear a uniform. I hate the uniform. Sofia likes it, so does my dad. They both feel that it gives the kids more order and discipline. Makes them more uniform and less prone class and fashion discrimination. I simply view it as a symbol of conformity and it really makes my skin crawl. Children need to learn tolerance and respect for others not because they all dress the same and behave the same way, but because it is the right thing to do, despite their differences.

I like the education they are getting. Tania has remarked that she prefers this school to the public because she gets more work. It also seems to provide adequate challenge for Jason as well. But I still can't stand the uniforms.

Anyway, back to the pageant. As I watched the children come up to the stage and arrange themselves into their proper places, then to sing and act out in one uniform assembly, I could feel the bile boiling within me.

I don't mind if adults choose to give up their identity and individuality - that is their choice. But I hate seeing children being coerced into conformity. I am sure the kids enjoyed it, but I wish they could have been more individual.

Children must be lead and guided, not molded and formed.

I felt like running around screaming at people, slapping them; turning over and smashing things.

As usual, I had a big discussion with my dad and Sofia over this.

Image nabbed from here.

Firm plump breasts

2007-12-26T21:12:00.000-05:00

If you have never prepared duck breasts, you will find them extremely firm and plump. They are also quite fatty. I managed to render over 3 cups of duck fat from breasts I prepared Monday night. (And yes, I saved the fat, much to Sofia's dismay, it is sitting in the fridge. I used some tonight when I prepared Turkey a la king - using it to sauté the onions).

Unlike my mother, who always prepared the same traditional dishes Christmas Eve, I always try to prepare something new. Sometimes it is successful, others times it is not. I think my worst failure was an almond rice I prepared a few years ago. It called for amaretto extract - it was overwhelming and quite disgusting (sadly, we had guests that year. oops).

This year we started with potato, pear and leek soup. Which I thought was very good. My kids disagreed.

This was followed with crab cakes. With more disagreement from the kids.

The main course was duck breasts in red wine (I used a very nice sweet Peruvian wine, but I think it would have been better with a dry wine, but we had none), with basmati rice and horrible frozen vegetables (I am never buying that brand again - a local store brand). Again, my kids had disagreement with me over the food. This happens most times I cook, since I am always willing to try new stuff. Last Christmas I had prepared quail and they didn’t want to eat that either. sigh.

Dessert went better; it was trifle, with lots of fruit and jello (and some of that nice red wine). The only thing I didn't like about the trifle was the watermelon flavoured jello I had used (Jason insisted). Sorry, but watermelon flavour didn't go well with it.

Later in the evening, we had hot chocolate with Panettone (for a decadent breakfast, substitute slices of Panettone for bread when making French Toast).

Go Tell it on the Mountain

2007-12-25T11:26:00.000-05:00

Love this song, but I can't find a version I like. I think it needs to be both joyful and lead by a deep powerful voice.

So many versions are just way over produced and so far removed from the simplicity of the message and emotion at the heart of it.

We saw his star rising in the East

2007-12-24T18:52:00.000-05:00

Photo credit: Richard of Forbidden Planet (actually, it is just the flash off falling snowflakes at night).

Overturned!

2007-12-22T19:39:00.000-05:00

This is what happens when you speed on icy and snow packed roads following last Sunday's snowstorm.

I passed two overturned cars on the Quebec side of the border (50 Km worth of highway) and one car nose first in the ditch on the Ontario side fo the border (150 Km worth of highway).

It looks like this fellow left the highway right around this point (you can see where the snow bank on the side of the road has a path through it - slightly covered up by passing snow ploughs, but a path nonetheless).

I was doing about 40 Km/h on the highway. I wanted to go faster, but the cars ahead of me kept me going slower.

Photo credit: Richard of Forbidden Planet.

The Time War

2007-12-20T12:16:00.002-05:00

A pretty good fan made trailer of interest only to Doctor Who fans.

Doctor Who is the world's longest running sci-fi TV show. It started in 1963 and ran until 1989. There was a made for TV movie in 1996 and the series was revived in 2005.

The new series begins following the Last Great Time War between the Doctor's race and the Daleks which resulted in the total extermination of both races. Only the Doctor survived - leaving him a bit hard edged and moody.