6.28.2005 

Latin Practice

As I will be taking more Latin in September, I need to start reading some Latin again, so as to remind myself of alllll that stuff I learned last Fall and Winter. But I don't really want to struggle through Cicero or Caesar on my own, so I decided to read something a little lighter.

Enter "Winnie ille Pu".

That's right, Winnie the Pooh in Latin. It's gonna be great. I found an online version of the text, but here's an image from the print version (click to enlarge):

19:34 | |

 

I hadn't realized!

The Real Group has a new CD out!

I didn't know this; why didn't anyone tell me?

I had been watching their website for updates for some time now, and hadn't realized that if you go to http://realgroup.se you get their *old* site, but if you go to http://www.realgroup.se you get their *new* site. And here I was starting to wonder if they were ever going to put anything out again!

Anyways, the new album is called "In the Middle of Life" and you can find more information about it (including song lyrics) here: http://www.realgroup.se/page/3

13:33 | |

6.27.2005 

Goodbye, Tigger. Goodbye, Piglet.

Original Story

Two renowned actors who voiced roles in "Winnie the Pooh" on television and in film have died.

Paul Winchell, who voiced Tigger, died Friday at 82. John Fiedler, the voice of Piglet, died Saturday. Fiedler was 80.

09:44 | |

6.26.2005 

The Day God Came on the Radio

This is a story -- a parable, if you will -- of why it's imporant to study other people's religions. More exactly, it's an example of what could happen if you don't try to understand other people's religious traditions. Names of people, places, gods and goddesses have been changed to avoid reader's-bias. At the end, I'll tell you the basis for the story. Now, remember, in order to get the full impact of the story, you have to realize that for the people who believe in this religion, this story is as true as, say, the Genesis account is to a Jew or Christian. Let's call the people who's religion this is the "Islanders" for lack of a better pseudonym.

In the beginning, a god and a goddess were looking out over the world, which was enveloped in water... The god threw down his spear from heaven, and created the first land-mass. He and his wife (the goddess) descended to the earth and made all kinds of creatures and beings, but something went wrong. When the goddess was creating fire, she got badly burnt, and ended up dying. She descended to the underworld, a place of impurity, because her burns had disfigured and damaged her body so badly. The god got lonely, and searched everywhere for his wife. Finally, he found her in the underworld, but she sent him away, lest he become impure because he had been in the underworld. So the god returned to earth and purified himself by jumping in the ocean. When he jumped in the ocean, he created all kinds of other creatures and gods, including the Sun (a god). The Sun had a son, who married a human being, and together they had another son, who was fully divine and fully human, who became the first king of the Islanders.

Every king of the Islanders descended from this son, and was also fully god and fully human. The king, because he was divine, was never heard from or seen in public. When he went outside, he was covered up, and when he had something to say, he had an aide say it for him. In order to preserve their religion from outside influences, the Islanders made their religion the official religion of their nation. The king would often go to the temple and ask his ancestor, the Sun, for advice and wisdom. The nation's schools all taught the special nature of their people, and the divinity of their king, and everyone in the nation knew that their king was a god.

This was the Islander's life for many thousands of years: their king was god, and they were created specially by the gods on the island where the god's spear had landed. Then, one day, the Islanders got into a great war with the other inhabitants of the world. Eventually, after many years of fighting for their country and their king (god) the Islanders were defeated. On the first day of the New Year after their defeat in war, something happened that had not happened before.

God got on the radio.

The king, who was not seen or heard from before, got on national radio and said to all of the Islanders:

"We stand by the people and We wish always to share with them in their moments of joys and sorrows. The ties between Us and Our people have always stood upon mutual trust and affection. They do not depend upon mere legends and myths.
They are not predicated on the false conception that the Emperor is divine, and that the Japanese people are superior to other races and fated to rule the world."

And the Emperor of Japan, Hirohito, renounced his divinity, and destroyed thousands of years of Japanese history, tradition and culture in doing so. God got on the radio and said that he was not God, that the creation account sacred to the Japanese was not true, and that they should not depend on "mere legends and myths."

The question begs to be asked, "Why would he do this?"

Maybe we should ask, "What does this have to do with why we should learn about other people's religions?"

Most of the readers of my blog live in Canada, though there may be some in the United States, or other "Allied" nations from the Second World War.

Your country -- my country -- made the Japanese give up what they had always known to be true: the divinity of their Emperor. Because the leaders of the allied nations did not understand the Japanese religion.

What if Hitler had won the war, and had said to the Pope, "You must tell the world that you are not in the line of Peter, and you do not speak for or on the behalf of God."

What if Saddam Hussein won against the Americans in the first Gulf War and told the Christian leaders "You must disavow Christ's divinity or we will not accept your surrender?"

What if? What if they told the Americans that they must give up free speech, because they just didn't think that it was important? Or that the Civil War must not be taught in school because they thought that politics shouldn't be in education?

What if?

Below, I've included the memo, sent to the Japanese (to the Emperor, really), outlining a condition of the Japanese surrender: The Directive for the Disestablishment of State Shinto. Don't get thrown off by the label "State Shinto" -- it is not a mixing of "church and state". It is not putting religion into government, where it doesn't belong. State Shinto is where we find the creation account that the Japanese people had believed for thousands of years. It's the religion that, according to Japanese scriptures, has the Emperor as the divine head of the Japanese people. The same Emperor who was forced to go on the radio and say that his own divinity was a myth.

Directive for the Disestablishment of State Shinto
 
Orders from the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers to the Japanese Government
 
15 December 1945
 
MEMORANDUM FOR:             Imperial Japanese Government
THROUGH:                            Central Liaison Office, Tokyo
SUBJECT:                              Abolition of Governmental Sponsorship, Support, Perpetuation, Control, and Dissemination of State Shinto
 
            1.  In order to free the Japanese people from direct or indirect compulsion to believe or profess to believe in a religion or cult officially designated by the state, and
 
            In order to lift from the Japanese people the burden of compulsory financial support of an ideology which has contributed to their war guilt, defeat, suffering, privation, and present deplorable condition, and   
 
            In order to prevent recurrence of the perversion of Shinto theory and beliefs into militaristic and ultra-nationalistic propaganda designed to delude the Japanese people and lead them into wars of aggression, and 
  
            In order to assist the Japanese people in a rededication of their national life to building a new Japan based upon ideals of perpetual peace and democracy,
   
         It is hereby directed that:       
 
            a.  The sponsorship, support, perpetuation, control, and dissemination of Shinto by the Japanese national, prefectual, and local governments, or by public officials, subordinates, and employees acting in their official capacity are prohibited and will cease immediately. 
     
            b.  All financial support from public funds and all official affiliation with Shinto and Shinto shrines are prohibited and will cease immediately.
 
            c.  All propagation and dissemination of militaristic and ultra-nationistic ideology in Shinto doctrines, practices, rites, ceremonies, or observances, as well as in the doctrines, practices, rites, ceremonies and observances of any other religion, faith, sect, creed, or philosophy, are prohibited and will cease immediately.
 
           d.   The Religious Functions Order relating to the Grand Shrine of Ise and the Religious Functions Order relating to State and other Shrines will be annulled.
      
           e.   The Shrine Board of the Ministry of Home Affairs will be abolished, and its present functions, duties, and administrative obligations will not be assumed by any other governmental or tax-supported agency.
       
           f.   All public educational institutions whose primary function is either the investigation and dissemination of Shinto or the training of a Shinto priesthood will be abolished and their physical properties diverted to other uses. Their present functions, duties, and administrative obligations will not be assumed by any other governmental or tax-supported agency. 
     
           g.  Private educational institutions for the investigation and dissemination of Shinto and for the training of priesthood for Shinto will be permitted and will operate with the same privileges and be subject to the same controls and restrictions as any other private educational institution having no affiliation with the government; in no case, however, will they receive support from public funds, and in no case will they propagate and disseminate militaristic and ultra-nationalistic ideology. 
     
           h.  The dissemination of Shinto doctrines in any form and by any means in any educational institution supported wholly or in part by public funds is prohibited and will cease immediately.
 
             1)  All teachers' manuals and text-books now in use in any educational institution
                 supported wholly or in part by public funds will be censored, and all Shinto
                 doctrine will be deleted. No teachers' manual or text-book which is published
                 in the future for use in such institutions will contain any Shinto doctrine.
 
             2)  No visits to Shinto shrines and no rites, practices, or ceremonies associated
                 with Shinto will be conducted or sponsored by any educational institution
                 supported wholly or in part by public funds.  
    
            i.  Circulation by the government of "The Fundamental Principles of the National Structure", "The Way of the Subject", and all similar official volumes, commentaries, interpretations, or instructions on Shinto is prohibited.    
  
            j.  The use in official writings of the terms "Greater East Asia War", "The Whole World under One Roof", and all other terms whose connotation in Japanese is inextricably connected with State Shinto, militarism, and ultra-nationalism is prohibited and will cease immediately.
      
 
           k.  God-shelves (kamidana) and all other physical symbols of State Shinto in any office, school institution, organization, or structure supported wholly or in part by public funds are prohibited and will be removed immediately.
      
            l.  No official, subordinate, employee, student, citizen, or resident of Japan will be discriminated against because of his failure to profess and believe in or participate in any practice, rite, ceremony, or observance of State Shinto or of any other religion. 
     
           m.  No official of the national, prefectural, or local government, acting in his public capacity, will visit any shrine to report his assumption of office, to report on conditions of government, or to participate as a representative of government in any ceremony or observance.    
 
       2. a.  The purpose of this directive is to separate religion from the state to prevent misuse of religion for political ends, and to put all religions, faiths, and creeds upon exactly the same legal basis, entitled to precisely the same opportunities and protection. It forbids affiliation with the government and the propagation and dissemination of militaristic and ultra-nationalistic ideology not only to Shinto but to the followers of all religions, faiths, sects, creeds, or philosophies.  
   
           b.  The provisions of this directive will apply with equal force to all rites, practices, ceremonies, observances, beliefs, teachings, mythology, legends, philosophy, shrines, and physical symbols associated with Shinto. 
    
           c.  The term State Shinto within the meaning of this directive will refer to that branch of Shinto which by official acts of the Japanese Government has been differentiated from the religion of Shrine Shinto and has been classified as a non-religious national cult commonly known as State Shinto or National Shinto.
      
           d.  The term Shrine Shinto will refer to that branch of Shinto which by popular belief, legal commentary, and the official acts of the Japanese Government has been recognized to be a religion.
   
           e.   Pursuant to the terms of Article I of the Basic Directive on "Removal of Restrictions on Political, Civil, and Religious Liberties" issued on 4 October 1945 by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in which the Japanese people were assured complete religious freedom,
 
            (1)  Shrine Shinto will enjoy the same protection as any other religion.
            (2)  Shrine Shinto, after having been divorced from the state and divested of its
                  militaristic and ultra-nationalistic elements, will be recognized as a religion if
                  its adherents so desire and will be granted the same protection as any other
                  religion in so far as it may in fact be the philosophy or religion of Japanese
                  individuals.      
 
           f.  Militaristic and ultra-nationalistic ideology, as used in this directive, embraces those teachings, beliefs, and theories, which advocate or justify a mission on the part of Japan to extend its rule over other nations and peoples by reason of:
 
            (1)  The doctrine that the Emperor of Japan is superior to the heads of other states
                  because of ancestry, descent, or special origin.
            (2) The doctrine that the people of Japan are superior to the people of other lands
                  because of ancestry, descent, or special origin.
            (3) The doctrine that the islands of Japan are superior to other lands because of
                  divine or special origin.
            (4) Any other doctrine which tends to delude the Japanese people into embarking
                  upon wars of aggression or to glorify the use of force as an instrument for the
                  settlement of disputes with other people.
   
      3.  The Imperial Japanese Government will submit a comprehensive report to this Headquarters not later than 15 March 1946 describing in detail all action taken to comply with all provisions of this directive.
 
      4.  All officials, subordinates and employees of the Japanese national prefectural, and local governments, all teachers and education officials and all citizens and residents of Japan will be held personally accountable for compliance with the spirit as well as the letter of all provisions of this directive.
 
For the Supreme Commander:
 
    [Signed] H. W. Allen
      Colonel, A.G.D.,
    Asst. Adjutant General


That is why we need to learn about other people's religions. So we don't destroy them through our ignorance.

23:23 | |

6.25.2005 

I'm not a Movie Reviewer

Going to see movies in theaters is expensive.

That being said, I went to see Star Wars (Ep. 3) yesterday. I was told that it's one of those movies that you "have to see in theaters", but I'm not so sure. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad movie, but I don't know if the big-screen is worth it. Maybe at a second-run place, but I'm not sure. It is definately an action flick, though; much more than the previous 2 -- maybe even all of the previous five -- have been. I guess the action made up for the corny dialog, though it *is* surprising how much less corny dialog says when said with a British accent. I can't imagine how bad it would have been if most of the actors had a more American accent. There were some humorous parts -- at least I found them funny -- but overall, the movie was too much action and not enough struggle for me. Not that I'm a film director, or even close, but it just felt like the dark side seemed too evil from the outset, which detracted from Anakin's struggle. In the end, the movie didn't have enough of the struggle in it, and what it did have seemed significantly cheapened. But still, it was nice to get out and go see a movie; something I haven't done for a long time (I can't remember the last movie I went to see in theaters).

But enough movie reviewing. I worked 9 hours yesterday... actually closer to 9.5, once all was said and done. I have exams all day Monday, work Tuesday night (tech support) and then Wednesday and Thursday at the bookstore. No work on Friday, since it's Canada Day. And then I start my new class right away the next week... Tuesday, I believe. No rest for the weary (or something like that), I guess.

The advisor did end up putting me into the "Death and Afterlife" course that begins in January, so now it's a matter of watching the timetable in hopes that people will drop one or more of the courses I still want to take. There's no real urgency yet, though, since most of the problematic courses are in January. There's only one course I'm still waiting to hear on for September, and that's the one that I may or may not have to take. So we'll see.

Anyways, exams on Monday means studying today and Sunday. Back to it.

10:57 | |

6.21.2005 

Course Update

Well, I did get in to meet with the advisor today. Getting into courses isn't easy; I have to wait to see if I can get into some courses on overload, but I at least know what I'm going to do. Summer semester (July and August) I'll be studying Mahayana Buddhism. Then in September, I'm registered in 4 courses, and am waiting approval for one more. I will be taking "Advanced Origins of Christianity", "Latin III", "Ancient Greek I" and "Advanced Indian Buddhism" for sure, and am waiting on a research methodologies course. Then again, because I write so well, the advisor said that if I can't get in on overload, I may be able to just not do that course -- though it's a required course, she says it could be worked that I don't have to take it in order to graduate. So that's fall, but winter (starting in January) is where things get interesting. Most everything is full, or at the same time as something else. Here's what I'm taking for sure: "Intermediate Readings in Latin", "Ancient Greek II" and ... that's all I'm registered in, at the moment. But the advisor (I think) is going to register me in a course on "Death and the Afterlife", and I'm waiting on notice of whether or not I can get in another two courses on overload. The three options I've requested are "Greek and Roman Religion", "Magic and cult in the Roman Empire" and "Research Methodologies". Research methodologies is another required course, and it'd be best if I could take it this year. You will, of course, note that there is no Hebrew on that list. Classical Hebrew was being taught at the same time as my Latin readings course, so I am taking Latin. Hebrew may be offered next summer, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Anyways, that's the way courses are looking at the moment. We'll see what happens when I get things finally and completely sorted.

18:51 | |

6.20.2005 

Two New Things

A) Admitted to UofC (tentatively), which means I can register for courses now. I might go see the advisor tomorrow to get registered; it depends if our schedules work out.

B) I'm typing this message on my brand-new Apple G4 Powerbook. I am a happy person. It is in immaculate condition; you can't even tell that it's used. So yeah, I'm quite glad I bought it, though I am now kinda wondering if there's a point to my having both my desktop and my mac... Kev, you might yet get your wish. I'm not going to decide for a while yet, but I do like what I'm seeing so far. That and someone in the building has an open wireless connection, so I'm feeling truly portable... no wires (except the power cable to charge the battery). It's a very nice machine; I was worried / nervous a bit earlier today, before getting it, but having it in such good condition and... well, it's a PowerBook! makes me really happy with the purchase.

Anyways, I'm going to keep playing with my new tech-toy for a bit. Goodnight, blog-land.

23:16 | |

6.19.2005 

Apartment Pics

J and I signed the lease this afternoon. It's such a good deal, and such a great townhouse. Here are some pictures that the landlady sent us.

http://photobucket.com/albums/v301/maverickstruth/apartment/

Click on each photo for an enlargement. Of note, the size of the room seen in the picture with the dining table, fireplace and balcony is about twice as large (it has a lot of open area to the right of the shot).

Hm... I don't know if that makes sense. Let me try to explain with some layout diagrams...

Symbols: D=door; SU=stairs up; SL=stairs landing; SD= stairs down; C=closet; W=window; F=fireplace; LR = laundry room; BR = bathroom; | and - = walls


Ground level:

----------
| SUSLSU |
| SU  SU |
| SU  SU |
| SU    C|
|       C|
--DDDD----

Main living level (one above ground)

------------------------
| SDSLSU| L  |         |
| SD  SU|    D kitchen |
| SD  SU|    |         |
| SD  SU|----|         |
|                      |
|                      |
|            |         |
|                      |
|                     F|
|                    FF|
--WWWW---------DDDDD----
              |balc.|
              -------

Bedroom level (2 above ground)
I'm not 100% sure about the layout on this one.

------------------------
| SDSLSU| BR |CCCCCCCCC|
| SD  SU|    |         |
| SD  SU|C   |   bdrm  |
|     SU|--D-|    #2   |
|C           D         |
|---D--------|--WWWWW--|
|C           D         |
|C           |---------|
|C  bedroom  |
|C     #1    |
|C           |
------WWWW----

19:22 | |

 

Snapshots of Wetness

"Pursuant to Section 21 of the Disaster Services Act (R.S.A. 2000 ch. D-13) and Section 4 of The City of Calgary Bylaw 25M2002, a state of local emergency has been declared in the City of Calgary effective 6:20 p.m., 2005 June 18."

"The average rainfall for June is 79.8 mm, said Brad Shannon, Environment Canada meteorologist, but Calgary has already had 165 mm this month alone." [preliminary measurements at YYC now put this over 200 -- Alberta Environment, 18-Jun-2005 21:09 MST]

"The last time the month of June was this soggy was in 1902, when 224 mm of rain fell."

"Elbow River below Glenmore Dam; Water Height in metres
2005-06-16 20:30:00 1.831
2005-06-18 20:30:00 3.012"

"The excessive rainfall also forced the evacuation of the hamlet of Priddis west of Calgary and surrounding areas after the Loon Lake Dam was breached."

"Water began cresting over the Glenmore Dam along the Elbow River in the city's south end late Saturday night."

"At least 2,000 residents and campers in the city have been ordered to seek higher ground. Some people had to be airlifted from flood ravaged parts of the city using emergency helicopters."

"This is mandatory and it's mandatory because of public safety."

"The normal flow rate in one area is 80 cubic meters per second, the mayor said, but 'we are anticipating by midnight a flow rate of 400 cubic meters per second.'"

"[R]ising water washed out bike paths and swirled around lilac trees in areas in the shadow of the downtown skyscrapers and signature Calgary Tower."

"Motorists are advised to avoid several areas of the city where roads have been closed as a result of high water conditions.

Sections of Memorial Drive at Centre Street
Bannister Road under Macleod Trail
Access to westbound Glenmore Trail from Glendeer Circle
Elbow Drive, south of Sifton Boulevard S.W.
25 Avenue S.W., west of Macleod Trail to 1 Street S.W.
4 Street S.W. bridge over Elbow River, south of 25 Avenue
S.W."

"The Calgary Zoo has an emergency evacuation plan in place. Selected animals at the zoo have already been evacuated..."

"[I]n Sundre ... about 800 people were forced to leave for higher ground as the Red Deer River rose.

Even the emergency operations centre is being moved....

"Our biggest concern now is exit out of [Sundre],' Mayor Roy Cummings said. Two of four exits from the town northwest of Calgary are impassable, and 'if we lose those (other) exits, we won't have a place to go, or to get out.'"

"Near Okotoks, just south of Calgary, about 50 campers who ignored an earlier request to leave had to be airlifted out by helicopter when rains made a moat out of their escape routes."

"In Okotoks itself, residents tried to save their businesses as a river of water ran down main street."

"In Cochrane, the RCMP said traffic has delayed crews moving sandbags, causing more flooding."

"[T]he Trans Canada Highway remains closed with almost two metres of rain covering parts."

"We now know how this valley has been carved out - by the power of the river."


00:34 | |

6.18.2005 

The World's Best Drink

Well, maybe not the world's *best* drink, but I'm a fan of my new OJ recipe.

1 can concentrated Orange Juice
2 cans water
1 can milk


Anyways, the apartment we saw today looks very nice, and I think that's the one we're leaning towards. More as it happens ;)

21:10 | |

6.17.2005 

Out of Customs.

Canada Post agrees that at 11:25 last night, my laptop was released from customs. Now it's just got to get here.

There's a slight change to the "agenda" I posted yesterday; the app't we were supposed to go see this evening, we are now going to see tomorrow morning. Not a big deal. I think we may drive by it regardless.

By the way, in case you haven't heard, my transcript finally arrived up here, so now they're processing my documents to see if I can be admitted. In the next two weeks, hopefully, I should be admitted and be able to (finally!) register for courses. Theoretically.

Oh, and it looks like hockey might be "back" with a deal announced by the end of the month. Of course, we've all heard *that* before.

Anyways, my lunch break is nearly over, so I should head back to work. *yawn* long day.

14:20 | |

 

Out of Customs?

USPS says that it cleared customs at 5:53 pm on June 16, 2005. According to Canada Post, however, 5:53 is when "Item arrived at the Canada Post sortation plant and is now enroute to Customs", and at 11:57, "Item accepted and entered into sortation plant" at Richmond, BC. So... maybe Monday?

08:35 | |

6.16.2005 

Bits and Pieces

So let's recap my last couple of weeks, shall we? Starting a week ago last Saturday...

Sat: worked 8 hours, 8.30-4.30
Sun: worked 8 hours, 8.30-4.30
Mon: training @ new job (9-5)
Tue: school all day, including a quiz
Wed: work @ new job (9-4)
Thur: school all day, including a quiz
Fri: work 9 hour conference, 7.30-4.30
Sat: wedding and dinner with family
Sun: wrote a paper
Mon: continued writing and revising paper
Tue: school all day, handed in paper, had a presentation worth 15%
Wed: work @ new job (9-5), looked at a condo for renting come August
Thur (today): school all day, including an exam (25%, on Buddhism), looked at a townhouse for renting come August
Fri (tomorrow): work @ new job (9-5), looking at a townhouse for renting come August
Sat: a day off!

So it's been a busy two weeks. But I get a day off on Saturday... only one more day. I hope I can make it... cuz I need to fight off this sore throat that's coming. But yeah... that's basically all my news. Saw a really nice condo yesterday, but it'll be too small (darn big ole computer desk). Then today was an awesome townhouse: 3 bdrm (one would be used as an office), 1 bath (bedrooms and bath upstairs), kitchen, living room area, laundry w/ storage, a wood-burning fireplace, dishwasher (yay!) and fenced-in patio. The area it's in is beautifully landscaped, with mature trees all over. Really nice and quiet, and just on the edge of the University Research Park (which features a duck pond!). It's about a 10 min walk to campus and 5 to the train, as well as about 5 mins to shopping and groceries. The landlady seems extremely nice, and would be a really good landlord, and she said that we'd be free to paint, etc. to our hearts content, to give it a personal touch (we'd have to check the colors, etc. first, but if they approved, they'd reimburse us for the paint).

Tomorrow we go to see another one in the same complex, but from the pictures I've seen, it looks more modern and whatnot. It is a bit cheaper, and supposedly has only 2 bdrms, but the same # of sqft, so there should be desk space, etc. The plan is to go see it tomorrow evening, assuming that works for the current tenents.

I really like the area these townhouses are in, and I'd love to live there. Just the atmosphere of the place... J and I spent about 1/2 an hour, just wandering around thru the complexes, listening to the birds in the trees. There's pathways everywhere, and a nice mix of open spaces thrown in. Including a nice space for throwing a ball around :-)

On an unrelated note, Canada Post sucks. On Monday, according to USPS (United States Postal Service), my laptop had entered foreign (Canadian) customs. However, according to Canada Post's parcel tracking...
2005/06/13 11:21 VANCOUVER, BC Item has entered Canada from International location
2005/06/15 10:51 VANCOUVER, BC International item has been sent to Canadian Customs for processing
2005/06/16 17:53 Item arrived at the Canada Post sortation plant and is now enroute to Customs

as of today it hasn't even reached customs yet! It wasn't even dispatched to customs until today!! *Sigh* this is just agonizing.

22:03 | |

6.15.2005 

Laptop is...

Stuck in customs. The joy of Canada customs.

17:54 | |

6.13.2005 

Digital Imagery

The first "published" pictures from my digital camera... scaled down about 80%, taken through glass and during rain, this is four pictures hand-stitched together to make a panoramic. Looks pretty good to me. Click for larger version.



17:20 | |

 

Woohoo

My laptop is in Vancouver. It's shipping priority, so should be here tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest... :)

15:55 | |

6.12.2005 

I need more words for...

"discusses"

I'm writing a book review for my take-home exam, and so far, it seems like every sentence, I have the author "discussing" something or other. Time to pull out the good old thesaurus... or in this case, go to thesaurus.com

As a side note, while I was procrastinating this morning, I added a "progress bar" to the left hand side of the blog. The idea is to keep track of how far along I am on my projects, so as to (perhaps) keep myself honest, as well as give me incentive to update the blog more often. Here's hoping.

15:15 | |

6.08.2005 

On the DaVinci Code

Okay, let me start by saying I haven't read The DaVinci Code. But then again, I don't really have any desire to read it. And this article by Bart Ehrman explains why... Here are some exerpts


Dan Brown begins [The DaVinci Code] by laying out what he calls historical facts, and he includes the statement that all descriptions of art, architecture, sacred rituals, and documents are factual. The difficulty I had reading through "The Da Vinci Code" with that in mind was that most of the descriptions of ancient documents, in fact, are not factual—they’re part of his fiction. But people reading the book aren't equipped to separate the fact from the fiction.

Some of the big [discrepancies]: It's not true that before Constantine, Christians understood Jesus to be human but not divine. That's absolutely false. Most people thought Jesus was divine centuries before Constantine. Second, it's not true that Constantine decided which books to include in the New Testament; he had nothing to do with it. And the Council of Nicea didn't have anything to do with which books to include in the New Testament. It was called to resolve the issue of how to understand Jesus' divinity.

[The novel's character] Teabing says that the council was called because Constantine wanted to declare Jesus divine, and that's what the council was about, deciding whether Jesus is divine or not. And that he used the council as a way of deciding which books would be included in the New Testament, and they just included the books that called Jesus divine and excluded all the others. That's wrong on every point.

There are several gigantic points that have to do with Jesus' marriage to Mary Magdalene. Maybe the first thing to say is that it's absolutely false that as [the character] Robert Langdon says, it would have been highly unusual for Jesus not to be married because Jewish men were always married. That's false... We know Jewish men from the first century who remained single and celibate. What's most interesting is that the ones we know about are ones with a worldview that's very similar to the worldview ascribed to Jesus in the Gospels—which is an apocalyptic worldview. We know about Jews from Jesus' time from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

And by the way, Dan Brown indicates some of these lost gospels were included among the Dead Sea Scrolls. That's absolutely false... [H]e indicates the Dead Sea Scrolls contain some of the earliest records of Jesus, and that's false. The Dead Sea Scrolls don't say anything about Jesus. There are two completely different collections that have nothing in common with each other. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 in Judea, west of the Dead Sea in what was then Jordan, what is now Israel.

The Nag Hammadi Codexes were discovered a year and a half earlier in Egypt about partway down the Nile, not far from Luxor. The Nag Hammadi documents are Christian Gnostic documents; the Dead Sea Scrolls are Jewish documents that have nothing Christian in them. So the Dead Sea Scrolls tell us about a Jewish community living at the same time as Jesus and in about the same place, and what is striking about these Dead Sea Scrolls is that the community that produced them consisted of single, celibate men.

[T]he Gospel of Mary is misportrayed in "The Da Vinci Code." What Dan Brown has his character say is that Jesus entrusted the church to Mary, based on the Gospel of Mary. But in fact, the Gospel of Mary doesn't say that at all. The Gospel of Mary is about Jesus appearing to Mary after the resurrection and giving her a revelation, and there's a debate among the disciples about whether Jesus would actually reveal something this important to a woman.

The Gnostics understood that these revelations could be given to women, and that there wasn't to be a kind of apostolic hierarchy in which you have men who are making all the decisions and were in charge—that everybody had access to the spirit of God. And that the church hierarchy that was beginning to form was, in fact, misguided.

There are a couple of other things I should point out as interesting mistakes in "The Da Vinci Code." One howler occurs when Teabing is trying to convince Sophie Neveu that Jesus' spouse was Mary Magdalene, and proof for this is one place in the Gospel of Philip where Mary is described as his companion. And Teabing points out that the Aramaic word for "companion" actually means spouse. Now, the problem with this is that the Gospel of Philip wasn't written in Aramaic. (Laughs)

It's written in Coptic. And the word that's used there is a Greek word which, in fact, does not mean spouse—it means companion! And there’s another passage from the Gospel of Philip that Dan Brown quotes, but he doesn't realize there's a problem with the text—which is, like many manuscripts from antiquity that have been discovered, it has holes in places where it got worn out. So we're missing some of the words. There's a passage Brown quotes which says, “Jesus loved Mary and he frequently kissed her on the ___ People often assume the word is “mouth” but we don't know what the word was.

19:10 | |

6.04.2005 

Huh

Guess I've officially graduated, huh? Strange, doesn't feel any different. And it's not like I even have any urgent need to take the "Degree to be awarded Spring 2005" off of my resume. Oh well, what's done is done. :-)

Oh, and if any of you are curious about this website that I designed (the one I mentioned a few days ago), you can check out the part that's done at: http://www.hockeychatter.com

17:00 | |

6.03.2005 

Work Hours

Wow... from no work to lots all in a couple of days.

I'm sure most of you know by now that I got another job, working in the bookstore on campus. My job isn't all *that* exciting -- mostly just scanning and cleaning up documents to go into the coursepacks, but hey! It's a job. And it's also union, so it pays quite well. And I start training at 9am on Monday morning. I also work all day Saturday and Sunday (some 17 hours over 2 days), and am scheduled for all day next Friday. I probably will also train for the new job on Wednesday, so things will be busy.

I also am finishing up the last bits of that website I wrote about recently, and have two quizzes next week on Buddhism.

So busy, yes. But it's all good....

10:16 | |


About

  • My Wish List
  • My del.icio.us

Last posts

Archives

My Del.icio.us Tags

Recently Bookmarked

Links

Wish List

Google Ads