General Events

A Florida church's decision to hold a Qur'an burning event this year on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks is a sad reminder of the hate that can be directed toward a group of individuals as if they were a monolithic entity.  By the way, this is the same church that sent kids to school with shirts that said "Islam is of the devil".  And they have the gall to call themselves the Dove World Outreach Center.

This upcoming event, along with the recent protests of a planned Islamic community center in New York or the planned expansion of a mosque in Tennessee are showing the willingness to vilify an entire community for the actions of a few misguided fanatics.

It would be like saying all Christians are like Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church and therefore we should be protesting churches across the country because of his actions.  Or condemning the Christians for actions of a few who went around shooting doctors who performed abortions or who vandalized abortion clinics.  Are these actions not terrorism?

It's amazing to me that some within these two religions who at their heart pray to the same God, the God of Abraham, can hate each other so much.  And these types of attacks, although propagated by a minority, fuel the flame of the idea of a religious war being waged between Christianity and Islam.

The US has some history of this type of stereotyping.  We've all heard of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.  You would think we had learned our lesson, but then again, history tends to repeat itself, especially for those who ignore it or fail to learn its lessons.

The United States of America has long been a melting pot for many diverse cultures and faiths.  And because of the idea of religious pluralism, we've all gotten along just fine.  If we forgo this tenet of our society, we could be heading down a path that will lead to internal strife like that seen in countries around the world.  Should we become like Bosnia-Herzegovina? or Sudan? or even Iraq?  Where vying religious factions resorted to genocide to cleanse the country in what became brutal civil wars?

We need to step back and ask ourselves if we would want to be judged based on the actions of another?  Are you willing to let a distorted stereotype define you?  If not, then look at your actions and ask yourself if you're being fair to the community at large.  And then direct your energies in a way that will reflect positively on you and the country.

Philip Pullman, author of the popular trilogy, His Dark Materials, has a new book out called The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ.  Now, it's well known that Pullman is no fan of religion and His Dark Materials books have been labeled as atheist propaganda, so it's no surprise that this new book is getting some people up in arms.

It's a retelling of the life of Jesus from conception to death.  In this version, Jesus has a twin brother called Christ.  Jesus is the outspoken prophet while Christ is content to stay in the shadows recording the events and words of his brother and in some cases making small changes to help clarify the meanings.  Jesus believes the kingdom of God is imminent while Christ is more forward thinking concerned about building a structure for the future of the ministry that could last for centuries to come.

I listened to the audio-book which is a short 3 and a half hours, read by Pullman himself.  He does an excellent job of telling his own story and it moves along briskly.  The end is somewhat predictable but enjoyable none the less when it arrives.  I especially liked the chapter when Jesus is about to be arrested.  He's gone off to a clearing by himself to express he feelings to God about what is coming and his own revelation...there is some great writing in there.

This book probably won't appeal to anyone who is overtly religious, but if you take it as I did, as just a story and enjoy it for its literary merit, you may just find it worth the read.

I heard about this book because of a video that made it's way around the net.  It's of Pullman responding to someone complaining about the title of his book being potentially and purposefully offensive.  Here's his response, which in my view is one of the better defenses of free speech I've heard in a while.

We hear this phrase all the time...it's a colloquialism that pervades our society.  We use it for everything from the mundane such as "Thank God they aren't out of beer!" to the more emotional such as "Thank God that car didn't kill me!".  I can understand these, it's just a saying for the most part, not something we truly mean.

But then there's what I heard a friend say one day.  I'll paraphrase a little, but the point is the same.

"How dare I feel sorry for myself when I have so much and others have so little.  Thank GOD for my health, my family, my friends and for all that I am blessed with."

This was said with thought behind it, not just blurted out as the reaction to a recent event.  On the surface, it sounds like a nice sentiment, no?  Giving thanks for what you have to a higher power who bestowed them upon you.  But as it sunk in, what hit me was the implication that GOD had given him these things.  GOD had insured he had good parents, made sure he was healthy and had good friends.

So does this also imply that GOD ignored or decided not to give these things to those less fortunate?  GOD decided to give some people bad parents, or to make them orphans?  GOD decided to make others sick or disabled?  Is he saying that GOD preferred him over others?

I guess I shouldn't berate him for expressing thanks for his relatively good life, but I feel his thanks are misdirected.  Why not thank your parents for raising you well, or thank your friends for being there for you.  As for your health, it's more a matter of your genetics, lifestyle and where you live that decides that.  Do you have access to clean drinking water, access to good food, do you exercise, do you have easy access to doctors and medications when you become ill?  In other words, were you born in the right place?

Why attribute all your good fortune to some divine power?  If you do that, should you not also blame GOD for everything bad that happens to you?

Life is a matter of circumstance.  You don't choose who your parents are or where you are born.  And to imply that some supreme being decides who will be given the advantages in life and who will be born into a disadvantaged life seems ludicrous.

Some may recognize that the title of this post is the punchline for a joke...I'm sure there are many versions, but the one I'm thinking of is "What do you call 1000 lawyers drowned at the bottom of the ocean?".  That's how a lot of us feel about lawyers.  We see the frivolous lawsuits all the time.  Someone spills hot coffee on themselves and sues the restaurant.  Or the guy who sued for millions because the dry cleaner lost his pants.  Then there are the threat of lawsuits that begin to change our daily lives.  First, it's the diving board being removed from the public pool, or the warning signs on everything from plastic bags to ladders.  The fear of lawsuits becomes crippling.  It's not so much the lawyers, but the abundance of laws.

Why am I talking about this?  Well, a recent TED talk discusses this topic and presents 4 propositions to try to begin to rectify the situation.  It's a good start.

I don't consider myself a "foodie"....for that I rely on The Hungry Engineer.  Don't get me wrong, I like a good meal as much as the next guy and my wife is an awesome cook, but personally, I don't like to cook and I don't watch the celebrity chef's or any of the other food related shows that are on TV.  So when I saw the recent TED talk that got pushed to my iPod, I wasn't that enthusiastic to sit and watch this 20 minute video.  It's Jamie Oliver talking about his TED Prize Wish.  But after watching it, I have to admit, it's pretty awesome (like nearly all TED Talks).

Check it out.

Much of what he says is pretty common sense, but it's amazing how much we've forgotten about basic nutrition and of course, he's does it in a pretty entertaining way.  With talks like this and documentaries like Food, Inc. and Super Size Me, there are people raising the red flags regarding the obesity epidemic in this country.

Now it's a question of whether the public at large will listen.

If you haven't noticed, the frequency of posts on this site is slowing down, almost as if the equivalent of blog entropy is taking its toll as I head toward a lower energy state.  Maybe I should invent the blog version of a perpetual motion machine, I'll call it a perpetual entry machine.  But then again, we all know that can't exist given the laws of blogs.

But in reality, since it's just me at this blog, and with other things in my life requiring more and more of my time, along with a lack of motivation to post about the crap going on in the world, it seems that the pattern going forward will be maybe 3 or 4 posts a month.  It's not that there isn't stuff to post about, it's just that the time to put it together is not there.  Also, the more I pay attention to politics in this country, the more I get pissed off, so I'm stepping back from it for a while.  I didn't watch Obama's State of the Union address, nor the Republican response.  I avoided the media frenzy around the event as much as I could...although the bit with Justice Alito was plastered everywhere...again, a media looking for controversy over substance.

Other things I've been avoiding include the democrats screw-up of health care reform, the Texas State Board of Education re-write of the Social Studies curriculum to eliminate historical figures they don't like, the recent Senate election in Massachusetts for Ted Kennedy's seat, even the Leno vs. Conan crap.  As you can see, there's plenty to write about, but instead, I feel my sanity is more important, so I'm focusing on my family, my work and a few hobbies instead.

I'll continue to post about movies, and maybe eventually I'll get back to the other stuff, but for now it's time to reset and refocus and preserve my sanity.

Thanks for listening.

It wasn't really planned, but one night earlier this week while out to dinner with the family, the discussion came to Christmas.  I thought it might be nice to go to a midnight mass for Christmas to show my daughter what that spectacle is all about.  You see, she's been to plenty of church's, but I had never taken her to a full Catholic mass.  What better time than Christmas.

So on Christmas Eve we changed the plans a bit and instead of midnight mass, we went to a 9pm mass at a local Catholic Church.  We left early knowing it would be crowded.  Sure enough, even though we got there more than 30 minutes before the mass was to begin, we had some trouble finding a place to sit.  One of the families was nice enough to scoot over a bit to make room and we took our seats at the end of one of the pews.  I didn't feel comfortable though.  You see, when I was growing up going to church every week, we used to talk about those types, the ones who only came to church at the holidays.  The "visitors".  Now here I was, one of those.  Finally, the mass began.

It's been a while since I've attended a mass myself, and this time it felt different.  It was like being an alien from another planet observing the gathering.  I didn't feel part of the community anymore and as I listened to the priest talk and the ritualistic response of the crowd, I couldn't help but feel like they were brainwashed, reciting the appropriate lines at the right time in unison without really any thought to their meaning.

You see, the Catholic mass is very much a set ritual, not much variation beyond the readings and the sermon by the priest.  I found myself going through the motions without having to really think about it.  The standard prayers came back to me with ease that I had recited for so many years growing up.  My daughter looked at me in confusion and several times during the mass asked me questions about what was happening and why.

During his sermon, the priest welcomed the "visitors" and expressed his hope that we might become permanent members of the congregation.  It was a nice sentiment and I appreciated the openness.  But I couldn't help but see Donald Sutherland from the movie The Invasion of the Body Snatchers every time the term "visitors" was used.

Then the time came for the Eucharist.  I could have gone, but decided not to.  Given my feelings about religion in general, it wouldn't have been right for me to accept communion.  So when the time came, we had to stand up, get out of the way and let everyone else in the row get in line.  Another clear indication that we were "visitors".  Once they were past, we sat down again.

The mass ended and we headed home.  My daughter and I had a nice discussion about the mass and especially about the Eucharist.  She was curious about what a person had to do before they could accept communion.  I told her about the sacraments of the church and how a persons first communion is one of them.  And really that was the intent of the event.  To let her see some of what the church is about and to help her better understand what Christmas is supposed to be for.

Finally, it was getting late and it was time to get her to bed so that Christmas could come.

Merry Christmas everyone.

I'm in the process of looking for a new car.  Not my favorite thing to do, but my current one is about 8 and a half years old and recently took a bit of hail damage.  But what I'm finding is that trying to buy a car is an education in behavioral economics.  What do I mean by this?  Well, a recent TED video put it in perspective.

The myriad of options the car companies throw at you at various price levels seem designed with the ideas expressed in that video.  Premium packages, technology packages, sport packages, extra value premium packages, sport technology packages...the options go on and on.  Providing choices that make other choices look more attractive seems to be the name of the game with the goal of the car company to upsell you with just the right option package so they can make more money.

I was planning to head back out this weekend for another round of evaluations.  Now after watching this video, I'll pay a bit more attention while I'm doing my homework on how the options are presented and hopefully avoid the traps set for me.  I'm not optimistic I'll succeed because lord knows I need that premium sport technology package that seems to have everything for just a bit less than buying all three packages separately.

No, not the ice cream store, but Johannes Brahms who was born on this day back in 1833.  Why do I care?  Well, I went through a period of about 3 to 5 years where I listened only to classical music.  I went out and bought the books to help a novice figure out what composers and pieces of music to listen to...it was an education process for me.  I hadn't grown up with much classical music, other than what I heard in cartoons and such, so I was pretty much starting from scratch.  I even went as far as getting season tickets to my local symphony orchestra for a couple of years.

Over that period of time, I listened to quite a bit of music spanning a variety of styles and time periods and bought my share of CD's, but of it all, I found myself drawn to Brahms.  I'm not sure why, but something about his music is enthralling.  Over his lifespan of nearly 64 years, he wrote only 4 symphonies.  Not many compared to Mozart's prolific outpouring of 41 over a mere 35 years.  In contrast, Brahms took years to write his first symphony as he was nervous about the giant footsteps behind him, referring to Beethoven.  The 1^st is not his best.  My favorite is his 3^rd symphony which has a somewhat unusual quiet ending.  A close second for me is his powerful 4^th symphony.  However, if you limit yourself to these major works, you'll be missing out on some very fine music, including his Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in B Minor, Op. 115 along with many other works.

I thought of embedding his entire 3^rd symphony, but elected to just add the 3^rd movement from that work.  Enjoy.

For a different look at Brahms, I'm embedding the 3^rd movement from his 4^th symphony.  If any of you are fans of Yes, you might recognize this tune from the song Cans and Brahms off their album Fragile.  It was Rick Wakeman's take on this classic piece.

Classical music takes effort, but it's worth it.  I find I can't really have it on as background music, I have to sit and listen to it.  But finding that 30 to 40 minutes of uninterrupted time to just sit and listen can be difficult.  And with the growth of downloadable compressed music and MP3 players with their crappy earbuds combined with the short attention span of people busy with junk like twitter and blippr, I worry that classical music might die away.  I certainly hope I'm wrong and that this great music will be enjoyed by many for centuries to come.  Happy birthday Brahms.