Global Scam

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Here it is, folks. What follows is an important read. And my thoughts will follow.
This is a typed excert from the Glenn Beck radio program...


Global Warming... a scam?
NOVEMBER 09, 2007
GLENN BECK PROGRAM BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
GLENN: I also have to spend a few minutes on this. The Weather Channel founder, the guy who founded the Weather Channel, he's a meteorologist. He's just not some businessman who went, hey, we can make money on the weather. He's the Weather Channel founder. He wrote, "Global warming is the greatest scam in history." I want to read this letter to you. His name is John Coleman. He said,

"It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM. Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data to create an illusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental whacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the “research” to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus.

Environmental extremists, notable politicians among them, then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild “scientific” scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda. Now their ridiculous manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmentally conscientious citizens. Only one reporter at ABC has been allowed to counter the Global Warming frenzy with one 15 minutes documentary segment.

I do not oppose environmentalism. I do not oppose the political positions of either party. However, Global Warming, i.e. Climate Change, is not about environmentalism or politics. It is not a religion. It is not something you “believe in.” It is science; the science of meteorology. This is my field of lifelong expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a nonevent, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won’t believe me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it.

I have read dozens of scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct. There is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismissal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming.

As the temperature rises, polar ice cap melting, coastal flooding and super storm pattern all fail to occur as predicted everyone will come to realize we have been duped.

The sky is not falling. All natural cycles, drifts in climate are as much, if not more responsible for any climate changes underway. I strongly believe that the next 20 years are equally as likely to see a cooling trend as they are to see a warming trend."



That again is from John Coleman, the founder of the Weather Channel. But he's, I'm sure, "in (bed) with big oil, or he's an idiot, or he's just naive, or he is just trying to further someone else's agenda. Let's believe all the environmentalists. Yet there's no question that global warming -- that the globe has warmed in the last 100 years. The problem is the warmest date on record in the last 100 years was 1934. 1934 was the warmest year in America. 1934. If it's warming, shouldn't it have been warmer? They said it (the warmest year in the last century) was 1998 but, unfortunately, that's not true. One of the gold standard from NASA for Al Gore got that one wrong, later had to correct it (That's right, some guys at NASA who supported Al Gore actually made that fact up for him, but it was discovered that it was a fraudulent "fact"). Wouldn't it be getting warmer now? How's that possible?

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The answer to the question, of course, is simple...The people of this planet are being lied to. There is no catastrophic global warming. The stuff that gets blamed on global warming, has nothing to do with it. Mankind is not causing the earth to get any warmer, nor is mankind able to, by his efforts, cool the earth. It...is...all...lies. They want to take your freedom from you, your liberties, your wealth. Who? Well, start your search for the culprits by looking straight at the UN, and you'll be "getting warmer" as the environmentalists like to say!

Our Neighbours To The South

I am getting more and more worried about America. The USA, protector of the free world, is no more. It is no wonder that our Canadian Conservative Government wants to increase spending to our army! Who will protect us now?!?
US economists say that over the next two years, they expect the American dollar to drop another 40-50%. That is devasting news. See, the worst thing about the low American dollar, is what it really means on the worldwide stage. Why is it (the US dollar) low? Because no other countries want to invest in America. The US has always been the top country for foreign investors, because it was so stable and so good. Now, the top investment country is evil communist China!
In order to prop up their own economy, the US Government has done stuff lately, like with the interest rates and loans and stuff. But, to do what they need to do to keep the bottom from falling out of their own country, they had to fudge the figures. See, they have to declare what the rate of inflation is in order to mess with interest rates and stuff, so the US government declared that the rate of inflation is .08%, or some stupid number like that. The problem now is, every other country in the world sees that that is a bold-faced lie, and it makes other countries even less likely to invest in America; basically, they (the politicians) are hastening the crash that is coming.
Think about it. Why is America not mentioned in the Bible? Because they will not be a major power in the end times. Why not? Because they are being destroyed by their enemies, right now. China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and other hateful countries, have been working hard over the years at destroying America from within. They have succeeeded! Between wars, the death tolls of soldiers, liberal/democrat uprisings, bad policies, inneffective court systems, a United Nations controlled by Arab countries, and now economic collapse, America is finished.
God help us all.
He must. And He will. Because, in the end, America cannot save the people of this world. Our Only Saviour will be Jesus Christ. That is the way it must be. As Christians, we will reach out for Him even more than we do now, because we will have nowhere else to turn. The rest of the world, they'll reach for a saviour too - the Man of (false) Peace, the AntiChrist.

Update

Just a quick (?) update, as I have not been posting for a while.

It is October 31st. You know, that pagan holiday. Tomorrow, were I Catholic, would be All Saints' Day. That means it is November 1st tomorrow. Fall is moving right along. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees around here, and the vast majority of them have landed in my yard. Good thing C has been diligent in bagging them all up (most likely due to her being paid per bag). Winter will soon be here. It has turned cold the last two weeks or so, even dropping belong zero on occasion. Frost on the car windows and such. Very beautiful time of year.

The wife and C have started reading together, a book on forgiveness that I bought for the wife a while back. I think that is a very good thing, they are reading chapters together at night, discussing them, and then praying together and working at allowing forgiveness to reign in their lives. It is such a blessing when God begins a new work (or continues an older work) in those you love.

K came to visit a few weeks ago, and the visit went pretty good. The girls fought a lot, as girls will do, but it was enjoyable in spite of that. K seems to be doing well in school, and her reading skills are quite impressive. C has begun to put more effort into her school-work as well, and we are happy and pleased that her effort level has increased, as it creates less stress at home and gives her better marks that she can be rpoud of (and us too).

Not much else to say right now. But I will be back to blog more when I have something on my mind to say! Count on it!

The World As I See It

Still think that Israel won't attack Iran and it's nuke reactors if the US doesn't do it first?

Then you need to read this article!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/washington/14weapons.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Glenn Beck quotes

Here I present some quotes and things from Glenn Beck, host of the Headline News program (The Glenn Beck Show), and host of the number three rated radio program across America.

Enjoy!


Common sense will tell you and so will our founding fathers that you cannot erase religion and God and have this country stand. Our founding fathers are extraordinarily clear on that. Common sense will tell you the same.


First of all, we should all be down on our knees in praying for the troops. We should all be down praying for an end to this war. We should all be down on our knees every day praying for the President and praying for members of congress. My family prays for the President and members of congress, our leaders in all parties, our leaders all around the world. My family prays for President Tom. How do you not pray for everyone? How do you not pray for your enemies? How do you not understand that we all need guidance from God? What has happened to our country?

We are Americans. We are not Democrats. We are not Republicans. We are Americans. We are a good and decent people. We are a people with God at the forefront. We are a people that we don't pray for God to smite our political enemies. If you believe the President is wrong as I have believed the President is wrong on more than a handful of really big issues, those are the days I pray for the President even more: God, please humble him; please, Lord, make sure, drive him to his knees, please; let him do your will, not anybody else's will; your will; please, Lord, find a way into the hearts of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi; please, Lord, find a way for those two to be able to meet with George Bush and find a way to secure the blessings of this country; please, Lord, please let us reconnect with you, let us reconnect with each other.We are in trouble, people. Am I alone? I don't think so. I don't think so but, boy, when I see a poll that says 20% of Democrats say it would be better for the world if America would lose a war, I don't understand it. I don't understand America, I guess. It's a day to hear from Democrats.


The following is an interview conducted by Glenn Beck with Pastor John Hagee...

Pastor John Hagee Speaks Out OCTOBER 09, 2007


GLENN BECK PROGRAM,BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

GLENN: Hello, sir, how are you?
PASTOR HAGEE: I'm fine, Glenn, how are you today?
GLENN: I'm very good. So where do we start with your controversial views on Iran?
PASTOR HAGEE: Well, you first begin with the principle that there's a right and there is a wrong. There's an evil and there's a righteous. There's a light and there's a darkness. You cannot continue to walk in this American political fog and come to definitions of right and wrong. We have to recognize that Iran is a threat to Western civilization. Iran is deadly serious about acquiring nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad has pledged to share those weapons with terrorist organizations around the world. The statements this man is making, they are not statements off the cuff. They are statements that he has made from prepared speeches, which means it was the thought process of his innermost being. He's saying that Israel should be wiped off the map, he's saying that Israel will disappear in a sudden storm, and that means a nuclear storm, he said I can see the day God willing, that God being Allah, when there will be no more Israel and no more America. Very clearly this man intends to attack Israel first, he wants to create a nuclear Holocaust and then he wants to bring that sight to the streets of America.
GLENN: You had several meetings with fairly prominent individuals. You've met with Benjamin Netanyahu. Have you had enough conversations with these people to tell them that you believe that we're living in the end times, and what is their reaction?
PASTOR HAGEE: Yes, Benjamin Netanyahu sat in my office and we have talked about the geopolitical circumstances of the Middle East. Benjamin Netanyahu sat just across my desk and told me that when he was prime minister, he had to give photographic proof to the United States intelligence agencies to convince them that Russia was in Iran helping them produce long-range missiles. Now, those long-range missiles would have the ability to hit London, New York, and Jerusalem, and right now Israel. Iran is trying to get their hands on nuclear weapons and if they can put nuclear warheads on these missiles, can you imagine, Glenn, a world where London, New York, and Jerusalem have been hit by a nuclear missile on the same day. That's the nightmare scenario that Ahmadinejad is trying to put together and he's dangerously close to doing it.
GLENN: Everyone will say that Iran is a third world country, it doesn't have this kind of power, it doesn't have the control that we say. He is just thumping his chest and he's just a guy who's using religion to whip everybody up in his own region and hold onto his power, that he doesn't have -- he is not a threat because he just doesn't have the power to get it done.
PASTOR HAGEE: That's a serious mistake and it's totally wrong. He does have the power, he does have the wealth, he does have the assistance. The Russians have been helping him for years. The intelligence agencies of Israel know that he's dangerously close to having nuclear capability. He does have a following of at least 200 million people. There are 1.3 or .4 billion Islamics and all authorities say that 15 to 20% of these people feel that they have a mandate from God to kill Christians and Jews. That means he has 200 million people following him who would be willing to strap a bomb on and to walk into the place where you're eating or to walk into a school or to a university or to a church or to a synagogue and blow everybody up in there and think that they have done God a favor. This man does have the motive, the ability, and the theology to drive him to do it. He believes that if he starts the third world war, the twelfth Imam will suddenly and mysteriously appear. I understand they don't know where he is now and they don't know who he is. But if they start this world war, he will appear and lead them to victory and produce a global Sharia, which is an Islamic law that rules the world.
GLENN: All right. So what makes you believe -- by the way, we're talking to Pastor John Hagee. What makes you believe that we're living in the end times? No man will know.
PASTOR HAGEE: Well, the Bible says no man knows the day, nor the hour. That's a 24-hour period of time. So that means no one can set the date that Jesus Christ is coming back to Earth. But the Bible says that as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the son of man. The days of Noah were these: That God told Noah that a flood was coming, that he was to build the ark and that when he built the ark, the animals would get on it, he would put his family of eight people on that ark and God would shut the door.
Now, as it was in the days of Noah, whenever Noah got that ark built, which took him over 100 years, and the animals were on by the assistance of God himself, his family was on and the Bible says and God shut the door. When you're Noah, you've built the ark, the animals are on, your family's on and God has shut the door, you know it's time for the rain to start. You don't know exactly what day it's going to start, but you know it's very, very near. And the Bible gives a series of prophetic signs in the Bible that will be a very clear indicator of the terminal generation that is on the face of the Earth.
GLENN: You know I'm playing devil's advocate here, so to speak. You know, people have been saying the end is near forever, forever. I mean, even the apostles thought he was coming back pretty quickly.
PASTOR HAGEE: That's true.
GLENN: So what makes you say that this is, this is it, this is the scenario?
PASTOR HAGEE: Well, the thing that makes me say that is the Bible signs that were given. This is the only generation that has ever lived on the face of the Earth where all of these phenomenons line up like lights leading an airplane to a landing strip. There's thirst of knowledge explosion of Daniel 12. Daniel said -- God's saying to Daniel, shut up the book, the book that Daniel is writing, until the time of the end. That's a very important phrase, "Until the time of the end," when knowledge shall be greatly increased. Now, that phrase literally translates there will be a knowledge explosion. We are the generation that has had that knowledge explosion. From the Garden of Eden until the 12th century, men rode on horseback just as King David and Julius Caesar and George Washington to found this nation. And then came the automobile and then came jets and then came a man on the moon. Consider communication. From the Garden of Eden until the 12th century, men communicated principally the same way, beatings of drums, mirrors from mountains to mountains. But then came the telegraph and then the television and now we have the ability, with satellite television, to communicate to people all over the Earth anywhere on the Earth because the knowledge explosion has happened. From the Garden of Eden to the 12th century and medical science, nothing changed. But now medical science has become so advanced that we've had to redefine death because we have the ability to keep people alive with machines and stimulants. So we are, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that generation that has had the knowledge explosion. So that's signal number one.
GLENN: Do you believe, do you believe that the Army of the Mahdi, which is basically the Army of the twelfth Imam if you are Shia and you believe as President Tom does, do you believe that the Army of the Mahdi and President Ahmadinejad are fighting a battle for the literal antichrist?
PASTOR HAGEE: You have asked a question that is really the hot button question in Christian theology right now because when the antichrist comes to the Earth, he's going to do three things. One, he's going to come as a prince of peace, he's going to establish a one world government, and he's going to establish a one world religion and now there are many religious believers, religious theologians who believe that perhaps that one world religion that he's talking about is Islam because one of the things that happens in the tribulation period, and the tribulation period is the seven-year period that happens on the Earth when there's such devastation that happens on the planet is that anyone who does not receive the faith of the antichrist is beheaded, and beheading is the methodology of execution of Islam.
GLENN: So you didn't really answer the question. You don't have to, but you didn't really answer the question. All right. Well, pastor, I appreciate it. Are you surprised at how few people are paying attention to things that are seemingly so clear when Ahmadinejad got up in front of the UN and now has moved to the front of his speeches what used to be at the last: Oh, Allah, give me the strength to hasten the return of the promised one.
PASTOR HAGEE: That's who he's talking about.
GLENN: Yeah, I know that's who he's talking about. And are you surprised how few people are paying attention to this or taking him seriously and how the media is just completely dismissing his religiosity?
PASTOR HAGEE: I am surprised that that's happening in America, and here's the problem. If you admit there is a problem, you have to then solve the problem, and it's just so much more convenient for political leaders, for media leaders to talk about the problem rather than confess there is a problem because if you say there is a problem, you have to solve the problem. And then if you say there's a problem, people become disturbed, but let me tell you something. If we let this man do what he wishes to do, we will see the day that he will put missiles that have nuclear warheads and he will start a world war that will literally destabilize Western civilization and the day. He has the power, he has the knowledge, he has the willingness. 9/11, 9/11 proved that radical Islam has the willingness to attack us. They just didn't have the power. But if Ahmadinejad gets his hands on nuclear power, they will then have the willingness and the power to take us down.
GLENN: Are you advocating going in with troops and taking him out?
PASTOR HAGEE: I think that the United States should put everything on the table and quit talking about the problem and solve the problem. Everyone says that Iran is killing one third of our people in the field of combat in Iraq. That's an act of war. That gives us the license to go in, to take action without dancing with the United Nations for the rest of our lives, but no one in Washington seems willing to do that. I'll assure you whatever it takes, forces on the ground, a military preemptive strike to destroy his nuclear capacity to produce nuclear weapons. If we don't do it, Israel will have to do it because Israel knows they are number one on his hit list and they have the muscle to back him down.
GLENN: Are you under attack? I've got to believe you are. Can you talk a little bit about the strange situation that you must find yourself in where you are under attack for saying, you know, quote/unquote hateful things when you are talking about an individual who has said what he has said and yet there would be those in this country that would label you a religious zealot that would be dangerous?
PASTOR HAGEE: Yes. The same thing happened when Hitler was in Germany, and Hitler was saying we're going to kill the Jews. There were a handful of people who rose up and resisted Hitler and predominantly the majority of the German people resisted. Martin Niemoller was a Lutheran pastor who resisted Hitler aggressively. Hitler put him in prison and the final days of Hitler's administration had Martin Niemoller killed because Martin Niemoller spotted him for who he was, labeled him and everything he said about him came exactly true. History is repeating itself. We are, in fact, reliving 1938. Iran is Germany. Ahmadinejad is Hitler. When Hitler was talking about killing the Jews, no one was listening, and especially the Christians of Europe were strangely silent, the Christians of the world were strangely silent. Here we are in the 21st century. We have another Hitler. He has the ability, he has the power, he has the motive. He wants to put together nuclear weapons to have a nuclear Holocaust in Israel, and this time we have organized a national organization called Christians United for Israel for the purpose of standing up and speaking for Israel and the Jewish people. We're not going to do this two times in a row. We are not going to have another Holocaust, not on our watch. There are millions of Christians in this country who are ready to scream on any given day that Israel is threatened and in a serious way.
GLENN: Pastor John Hagee, I appreciate your time, sir. We're going to spend some more time with you later in the television show, spend a full hour with you. I want to get into a little bit of what you talked to me about last night, that America does not exist in the end times, in the Bible as it is laid out and you said that's because we won't play any significant role. And we'll get more into that later on in the week on the TV show. Pastor, thank you very much. I appreciate it, sir.
PASTOR HAGEE: Thank you, Glenn. I look forward to seeing you Friday.
END TRANSCRIPT

See it yourself at ...

http://www.glennbeck.com/news/10092007a.shtml

Changing Life Directions

Some random thoughts and stuff.

A few hours ago or so, I was thinking about all of the work that we put into our home renovations this past summer. As the weather turns chill and the leaves all fall to the ground, I am forced to come to a sad realization; it was all pointless.

Making a life of ease was not, is not, and will never be, brought about by what you spend your money on (or how much of it you earn, or borrow). A life worth living is a life of contentment that does not come through material possessions. It is the contentment that you get from having all your relationships in good order – your relationship with God, your relationship with your spouse, your relationship with your children, your relationship with your parents and siblings and family of origin, your relationship with your church and your community, your relationship with your friends and your neighbours and your work peers. Having those relationships in proper working alignment, starting with God and working your way down, is the path to a life of contentment.

I have come to realize that, just like my home renovations, I must also come to grips with where my time and energy has been spent (and mis-spent) over the last few years. And I know that my relationship (my fellowship) with God has really suffered as I have spent my time and energy on other distractions, and all of my other relationships have suffered as well. Just recently my wife had a heartfelt talk with (to) me, where she expressed some frustrations with me and asked me to “step up to the plate” and meet her where she needed me to meet her, especially on an emotional level.

Just a few days after that talk, the new household computer arrived. And I got pretty involved in that, let me tell you! It took me days to put it together, set it all up, transfer the information between the old computer and the new one, begin to learn to use the new computer, and install old programs on the new computer. Whew! – Just talking about it takes a lot out of me!

But here’s the thing…I got really distracted. I poured myself into the new computer, as I wanted to get it all running just right for us. And my attitude suffered greatly. I hardly slept at all for a few days. There was a few spans of time there where I focussed on God while I was working on the new computer, and that enabled me to stay in a good mood and right frame of mind for those moments. But, for the most part, I was tired and grumpy and snarly and distracted. I wasn’t fun to be around, my mind and attention were elsewhere.

I am sure by now that you can see where the story is going. At a time when my wife needed me to be connected with her, I was disconnected. When I needed to be focussed on her, I was focussed elsewhere. So, long story short, I hurt her. Bad, I think. It is hard to tell exactly, she isn’t opening up to me at all right now. She’s closed off from me. She cried herself to sleep, and would not tell me anything.

As I sit here typing this, I quite frankly am not sure what I should do. What can I do? Damage has been done. I think she has lost faith in me. I do not really blame her. I am sort of a putz when it comes to love. Too often, I am like a frightened bunny rabbit, jerking back when I should be close. I don’t really know why I am like that. And, as I told my wife recently, when my relationship with God isn’t where it needs to be, I do not like myself. Without God, I am nothing, and nothing good exists in me in and of itself.

I am slowly watching life slip out of my control. I do not like that feeling. Although I have been working harder at my relationship with God lately, I fear that it may be “too little too late.” I ignored all the signs, and refused to do what was right for far too long. Why? Why do I always pretend that I can carry my life and life’s expectations on my own shoulders and do it by myself, when I know that it is a lie?


On a side (somewhat related) note, a few days ago I was walking home from work, and I was thinking about my formative years (ages 16-21). It is truly amazing how many people I was close to in that time, who went on to become Pastors, Youth Pastors, who married Pastors, or went on to other callings in the church. God surrounded me with some really good people back then. Makes me wonder where I would have been in life if I had not had the steadying influence of some of those great people in my formative years.

And, it makes me wonder where I might be today, if I had some of those same type of people around me now. Where have all of the good and godly people gone? Why are they so hard to find nowadays? It has been so very, very long since I had a good Christian friend, other than my spouse.

Perhaps a lot of the reason that I remain closed off from others, that I jerk back when I should rush forward, is because of what I told my wife about not liking myself when my relationship with God is not good. I have low self-esteem. I do not think too highly of myself, I will probably never have that problem! I have the exact opposite one. The only time I feel good in life, truly good, is when my relationship with God is good. A casual relationship with Him is not enough for me, it doesn’t do it. It is when I lose myself in Him, that I find peace and joy and happiness. But, then I get distracted. And I veer off in a wrong direction. And I try to hold things together by myself. And, eventually, after many failures, I hit rock bottom…

…And I look up to find my Saviour there waiting for me. And He picks me back up, hands me the royal robes, gives me the biggest hug, puts His loving arm around me, and as we walk back home He talks to me about His love for me, and it is THEN that I get it. I truly get it. Distractions turn me from God; pain sets in and destroys; pride and fear keep me plodding down the road to destruction; one too many falls leads to a time where I just cannot get up anymore. And then He is there to pick me up and love me, show that that the only thing I have been missing in life, was Him.

God, I hope that is where I am right now. I really do not think that I can go on this way anymore. Let this be the bottom. I definitely feel like I have bottomed out in my life. I put all this money and work into my home, but really I am just whitewashing the tomb. There’s death inside without Christ on the throne. As long as I take the throne, death is the only outcome. But when Christ comes and sits on the throne, He brings healing waters of Life. All the work I have done, all the distractions I have allowed in, they have been more than pointless, they have been deadly. In and of themselves, they are not evil. But, placed in my life ahead of God, they are sin. I gotta get back up. I gotta get back up, and head the right way. But, you know what? I think I am gonna spend my night just sitting here, waiting on God’s presence, because I need The Giver of Life to pick me up. I cannot do it myself any longer. And I refuse to keep going down that road any more.

Down And Out

Just so you all know, my home computer is H-O-O-P-E-D.

So, I have ordered a new pc from Dell, it should be arriving in three weeks or so.

Until then, do not expect to hear from me in these pages.

But check back later, I look forward to blogging at you in the near future!

Whtaz Noo?

Well, thought I ought to catch up a bit on what has been happening around here...

One of my cats (Felix) has lost some weight. He is now down to about 19 lbs, and if we can get him down to 18 lbs he will be the perfect weight for his size. He looks much healthier and happier now, I am so glad for him!

My daughter K is staying with us for a few days right now. It sure is different having her here while my other daughter C is off in Alberta (where she has been since late June, and will be there for about two more weeks before she heads home) with family. It is good.

All the renos are pretty much done around here. The wife did a wonderful job painting the radiators around the home white to match the trim. Our patio door and patio screen door are going to be replaced (manufacturer's defects on both of them) relatively soon, and we should also hopefully be getting the manufacturere to cut us a cheque due to some damage to the outside of the frame. We are stilll awaiting the blinds to come in, so we can actually have window coverings on all our windows and doors, which will certainly help us to sleep better, I am sure! We also have a slight bit more work to be done on the top of our back fence, some handmade latticework from our contractor and stuff like that. Speaking of the back, we did a heck of a job on the back yard, landcaping it. We hauled in 44 bags of rock in the trunk of our car and in our little hands, it took a few days (44 bags, 40 lbs per bag, equals 1760 lbs of rock), but it looks great. When we were done with all that, R planted some flowers. We still have not used the BBQ, I was going to do so today but it is raining quite nasty right now.

My parents are moving down the street to a new building tomorrow, so R and I are going to go help them with that. We also hope to hook up with my sister and brother-in-law, who are in town from Comox (via San Antonio) for a bit. Then in the afternoon I have to drop R off at the Kelowna airport, as she is going to Alberta for one week.

...and when she gets back, that same afternoon we have our new dining room furniture arriving!

Yep, the money that we got from re-financing is now all gone. But it looks great!

That is all for now! I will post a few pictures of our back yard soon!

Like Seasons, All Changes

Somehow, the lyrics to this song keep coming to my mind. Today, of all days, seems like the time to reprint them here.



I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night
Soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change

The world closing in
Did you ever think
That we could be so close,like brothers
The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

Chorus:
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

Walking down the street
Distant memories
Are buried in the past forever

I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

The wind of change blows straight
Into the face of time
Like a stormwind that will ring
The freedom bell for peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to say

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

Winds Of Change by The Scorpions

aw...nuts!

Rats! Hockey season has ended for yet another long summer.

Congratulations to the 2007 Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks! Way to go, boys!



On another hockey note...

Tim Cowlishaw wrote an insightful article on the state of the NHL. Tim writes for the Dallas Mornign News, and the article (a quick and painless read) can be found here - http://www.dallasnews.
com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/hockey/stars/stories/
060607dnspocowlishaw.2cb3128.html


And here are my comments on the story, as I see it...

Here are my thoughts on Tim Cowlishaw's article:

1: Put microphones on all coaches and captains for all games.

I think this idea has merit. How much merit, i am unsure. But it cannot hurt, as long as they resist any and all broadcasting of live audio from these sources, as (a) you do not want to give away any pertinent game-plan information on live television to the other team, and (b) the last thing we need on tv is more cussing.

2: Start the season a month later.

That's a bad idea, really. The season goes too long as it is. Traditional hockey fans (ie. knowledgeable ones) want the season to start earlier, not later, so that it can be over by the first of June. Shorten training camps, start earlier, end earlier.

3: Convince the selfish Eastern Conference general managers to act in the best interests of the game and change the schedule.

I completely totally.

4: Kiss up to ESPN. Make amends.

Yeah, I would go along with that one. Sure, why not?

5: Let the skaters in shootouts go without their helmets.

Makes sense to me.

6: Eliminate the ability to ice the puck during penalty killing.

An excellent idea. I have agreed with this one for 5 or 6 years now. It is time to do it. Make a PowerPlay really mean something.

7: Adopt the 2-3-2 travel format for all series.

It makes sense. I could go either way on this one.

8: Adopt the shootout after 40 minutes of playoff overtime hockey.

No! However, other tweaking of OT I could live with. Like, say, after 20 minutes of scoreless OverTime play, go to 4 skaters aside. That should help to end things quicker. If that does not work, then after 40 minutes, go to 3 skaters aside!

9: Move the U.S. league office to Atlanta.

Dumb idea. Means nothing. So, here is a better idea...
Move the league head and corporate offices to Winnipeg. If they can't give them back the Jets, give them the prestige of having the Commish right there in their city. It is centrally located, it is in Canada, and there can be no crying about how it is unfair to have the league headquarters in (insert city name here) because it is also the home of the (insert name of team or teams here).

10: Contract to 26 teams.

This is an excellent idea. But i think 28 would be better, because it'd be easier for divvying up the divisions - simply go back to 4 divisions, 7 teams per division, two conferences. Much better plan, if i do say so myself!

File This!

I got this article from metaleater.com .


Effect On Legal Music Sales "Not Statistically Distinguishable From Zero"
Posted: May 09, 2007 at 13:51 (PST)

For the last few months, our colleagues at The Classic Metal Show have been spreading awareness about the CRB's (The Copyright Royalty Board) decision to substantially increase royalty fees and how the RIAA's (Recording Industry Association of America's) apparent manipulation of these rates will not only hurt artists and smaller record labels, but also put small webcasters (like The Classic Metal show) out of business due to outrageous fee hikes. In relation to this issue, several sources say that illegal downloading is the main cause of all this. However, this report posted by Ken Fisher from Ars Technica back on February 12 states otherwise:

A new study in the Journal of Political Economy by Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf has found that illegal music downloads have had no noticeable effects on the sale of music, contrary to the claims of the recording industry.

Entitled "The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis", the study matched an extensive sample of music downloads to American music sales data in order to search for causality between illicit downloading and album sales. Analyzing data from the final four months of 2002, the researchers estimated that P2P affected no more than 0.7 percent of sales in that timeframe.

The study compared the logs of two OpenNAP P2P servers with sales data from Nielsen SoundScan, tracking the effects of 1.75 million songs downloads on 680 different albums sold during that same period. The study then took a surprising twist. Popular music will often have both high downloads and high sales figures, so what the researchers wanted was a way to test for effects on albums sales when file-sharing activity was increased on account of something other than US song popularity. Does the occasionally increased availability of music from Germany affect US sales?

The study looked at time periods when German students were on holiday after demonstrating that P2P use increases at these times. German users collectively are the #2 P2P suppliers, providing "about one out of every six U.S. downloads," according to the study. Yet the effects on American sales were not large enough to be statistically significant. Using this and several other methods, the study's authors could find no meaningful causality. The availability and even increased downloads of music on P2P networks did not correlate to a negative effect on music sales.

"Using detailed records of transfers of digital music files, we find that file sharing has had no statistically significant effect on purchases of the average album in our sample," the study reports. "Even our most negative point estimate implies that a one-standard-deviation increase in file sharing reduces an album's weekly sales by a mere 368 copies, an effect that is too small to be statistically distinguishable from zero."

The study reports that 803 million CDs were sold in 2002, which was a decrease of about 80 million from the previous year. The RIAA has blamed the majority of the decrease on piracy, and has maintained that argument in recent years as music sales have faltered. Yet according to the study, the impact from file sharing could not have been more than 6 million albums total in 2002, leaving 74 million unsold CDs without an excuse for sitting on shelves.

So what's the problem with music? The study echoes many of the observations you've read here at Ars. First, because the recording industry focuses on units shipped rather than sold, the decline can be attributed in part to reduced inventory. Gone are the days when Best Buy and others wanted a ton of unsold stock sitting around, so they order less CDs. The study also highlighted the growth in DVD sales during that same period as a possible explanation for why customers weren't opening their wallets: they were busy buying DVDs.

testing, 1, 2...

I took this personality test today...

http://similarminds.com/cattell-16-factor.html

Here are my "results" ...

Cattell's 16 Factor Test Results Warmth 42% Intellect 62% Emotional Stability 58% Aggressiveness 10% Liveliness 10% Dutifulness 82% Social Assertiveness 10% Sensitivity 54% Paranoia 62% Abstractness 62% Introversion 82% Anxiety 82% Openmindedness 50% Independence 82% Perfectionism 54% Tension 58%

Take Cattell 16 Factor Test (similar to 16pf)
personality tests by similarminds.com

Scars From Mars

Hey all!

Another gruesome picture of my surgery scar, taken two days ago. I took this picture, cuz it looks like my dissolving stitches have finally dissolved...

The Right Thing

Getting Deep About The Right Thing

Sometimes, you just have to do the right thing. And that has to be enough for you. In the end, it is yourself that you have to live with, after all.

So, my boss never picked me for the promotion to Relief Supervisor. Not a shock, it was expected that he would pick the person he did, due to personal attachments to her.

Lately, as I have worked with her, more and more I find her to be not nearly competent enough in the job to be a supervisor. Hey, my boss picked her, more power to him! He was allowed to, because the choice was his and his alone. And never ONCE have i bitched and complained about that. I knew my chances were slim to land the position, but I applied because I wanted the position , and I knew that I could do it.

On the other hand, there is the person who got the job. It really irks me that I have to watch over her, when she is my boss, and do her work for her because she is incapable of doing it. She has not learned enough in her 9 months on the job...because she was never interested in it. Still isn't, really. So, it irks me. It irks me that she was picked over me, and when I work with her, I have to do her supervisor work, because she has no clue how to do it. And she doesn't really care.

That seems so unfair. It irks me, and hurts me. I take my job seriously, and this whole situation is a travesty.

In the end, though, i cannot do anything to change anything.

So, I have to do the right thing. What I WANT to do is go complain; to my boss, to my workmates, to anybody who will listen. But I don't, and I won't. Instead, groaning on the inside, I hide my true feelings, and I do her work for her. Why? Because I care about my job, and that is just the kind of person i am. Do I really want to react differently, to let this situation change my core values and sense of self? NO!!! So i pitch in and do everything I can to make things run smoothly, doubling my workload if need be at times. I do the duties to which she was assigned to do, and I was told I was not good enough to be wanted to do them. But I am the one doing them. No, it is not fair. But life isn't fair.

In the end, i am not here to please my boss, my co-workers, or anybody. I am here to do what is pleasing to my God.

Sometimes, all you can do is the right thing. And it has to be enough.

Hockey Predictionz

Here are today's NHL hockey playoff 2007 predictions.

Before this season began, I picked Nashville to beat Philadelphia in the Stanley Cup Final. Oops. Okay, so no Philly in the playoff picture...

Well then, here are my updated predictions;

In the West, Nashville will beat the Vancouver Canucks in 7 games (off of an OT goal by Paul Kariya, set up on a breakaway by Peter Forsberg) for the right to go to the Stanley Cup Final.

In the East, the Atlanta Thrashers will beat a young and exciting Pittsburgh Penguins team in 6 games, advancing to the Finals to face Nashville. Winning goal goes to center Keith Tkachuk, off a rebound of a Marian Hossa shot. Don Waddell and Bob Hartley kiss each other on both of their very wet cheeks; they look like geniuses, and they know it.

Stanley Cup Finals 2007 -
Nashville will beat Atlanta in the Finals in 6 games, to win their first ever Stanley Cup.

Winning goal scored by rookie winger Alexander Radulov, assisted by Martin Erat and Scott Hartnell (I dunno, I don't understand either, I just pick 'em - maybe it was a line change, or something?) .

Peter Forsberg will lead the Predators in playoff scoring, but Nashville defenseman Shea Weber will be the recipient of the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoff MVP (5 goals, 11 assists, 16 points, 29 PIM, plus 16) .

HB Mommy

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Mommy,
Happy Birthday to you!




Sorry about the picture, Mom, but it is the newest one I have of you! Send me more!
love,
AD and R and C

Intelligent Quotient

Hello.

I recently took CBC's (that is the offical federally-funded Canadian television station, for those of you who may not know) Test The Nation IQ Test.

Click on the picture below to be taken to my score...

comics and the Irish Holy Day

Well, I am pleased to announce that this last week I was able to purc hase an E-Bay auction of 15 Alpha Fligth comics that I did not already own. This makes my quest to get all of the Alpha Flight comics much easier now, as now I only need 26 more to complete my set of Alpha Flight Volume I ( I also need approximately 16 comics in Volume II, and 12 comics in Volume III).
And, OF COURSE (big smiles all around), what I like to think of as Alpha Flight Volume IV, Omega Flight, is due to commence next month.
Anybody interested, can read much more about my love of comics, and Canadian heroes Alpha Flight, in my Alpha Flight blog at http://Canadas-own-The-Flight.blogspot.com .

Also, I really thought my St. Patrick's Day was going to suck this year. Instead of celebrating my Irish heritage in the traditional ways, I fully intended to wallow in misery. See, it is just me and the cats at my home right now, R and C are on holidays in "another province which will remain nameless to protrect the innocent" visiting family. So, there was really no point in cooking up any traditional Irish meals, and there was nobody to drink Irish whiskey with and make traditional Irish toasts. *Sigh* - yup, it wasn't going to be a good St Paddy's Day for me at all. I was going to go out and buy a big green Irish hat to wear to work that day, but I ended up having to buy a green t-shirt (I apparently do not own any) to wear, and also I ordered some comics from E-Bay (scroll up to read more about that), so I ended up not buying a hat because I figured I had spent enough money already.

So, what made my Irish Holy-Day better? Well, I got to apply for a new position at work, and will find out in two days whether or not I got it (promotion! promotion!). My boss even, if I read him correctly, seemed pleased that I applied for the job opening. Also, just moments before I got off of work, with about 15 minutes left in St. Patrick's Day, I was given a green-sprinkled shamrock-shaped shortbread cookie. *Sigh* - makes me wish I had my camera here (it is gone on vacation with the rest of the family who are not me), I almost had a tear in my eye as I gazed lovingly at the semi-yummy little thing!

So, it is amazing - my St. Paddy's Day was not at all traditional, I did not do any of the things I normally try to do on it, but yet...somehow, it was a little bit satisfying.

Slainte mhath!

Happy Day and all that

Happy Belated Birthday to my buddy, Pastor D!

And, Happy St. Patrick's Day, to all of you who are Irish (and the rest of you, who just wish you were)!

Today, i will be applying for a new position at work, that of On-Call Supervisor. Wish me luck!

Incisions, Incisions

Just a pic of my incision from my recent surgery.

more NHL news

Have you seen these articles?

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=198850&hubname=nhl

and

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/article.jsp?content=20070305_102636_4128

They allege the police are looking into pressing charges against the NHLPA for tampering with its members' email accounts. Specifically, the email accounts of those NHLPA members who oppose(d) the hiring of Ted Saskin as the head of the NHLPA.

Not good, NHLPA, not good at all.
:-(
Morons...


On another note, some of you may be wondering what my thoughts are on the Oilers dealing away Ryan Smyth at the trade deadline...so here they are.

First, let's get a few of the numbers straight, shall we? In the summer of 2006, Ryan Smyth asked the Oilers for a five year deal paying him 5 million dollars a year. GM Kevin Lowe looked at the numbers, and realized that (a) Ryan Smyth was a good hockey player, asking to get payed like a superstar hockey player, and (b) because of Ryan's style of play, figured that Ryan would not be worth that kind of money at the tail end of the deal (when he would be 36 or 37 years old). So Kevin said "no."

Next, guys like Alex Tanguay of the Flames signed for 5.25 million dollars a year, and even though most people agree that Alex's contract is way out of whack and he is not worth that kind of money, Ryan's agent told Kevin Lowe that Ryan was now asking for 5.5 million dollars a year. Ryan Smyth also informed, through the media, that he would not be accepting any kind of 'home town discount.' This, in my mind, is a nice way of saying, "Kevin, i feel i have been underpayed up until now. Even though i love this city, i am willing to go through with my unrestricted free agency and leave this place, rather than take one cent less than i beleive that i am worth. Pay me what i ask for, or lose me."

The media has falsely, numerous times, reported that the Oilers and Ryan Smyth's agent were only one hundred thousand dollars apart in their contract talks when things broke down and Kevin Lowe traded Ryan Smyth to the Islanders. NOT SO! Listen to what Kevin Lowe says in his media statements, and he says that they were "far apart" in the number figures. I believe that the Oilers were offering Ryan somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.5 million dollars a year, while Ryan originally wanted 5 million and then jumped that up to 5.5 million. Over 5 years, that is a lot of money.

Also, if you want to compare players, Darcy Tucker of the Leafs is a strong comparison case for Ryan Smyth. I believe Ryan is a bit better than Darcy, but not by much, they both play similarly and mean just as much to their respective teams (Leafs and Oilers). Darcy Tucker just signed a contract worth 3 million dollars a year. Think about that. And Ryan Smyth wants almost DOUBLE that amount! Get real! Ryan, give your head a shake, and get a new agent, buddy!

As much as I love and respect Ryan Smyth, i do not believe he was justified in asking for that kind of money. Nor do i believe that he was smart to hold a gun to the head of the Oilers management with his "home town discount" remarks. You do not try to embarrass your employer, that is just stupid.

It will be interesting to see how Ryan reacts this summer, after he has had time to meditate on all of this for a while. I would welcome him back to the Oiler ranks as a free agent, but only if he slides in under what the Oilers originally wanted to pay him.

As for what the Oilers got for him...give your head a shake, people! This was a GREAT deal for the Oilers! Robert Nilsson will play in Edmonton next year, he is a skilled puckhandler and passer. Ryan O'Marra will play in Edmonton in the future, he has been favourably compared to Mike Peca, a real team player with grit and defensive acumen with a little scoring. He never quits - that sounds like a prototypical Oiler to me! Three first round draft picks for Ryan Smyth. Tell me, did anybody make a better deal at the deadline? I give you a resounding NO!

Mending My Own Business

lol

"Mending" my own business - cuz i am writing to tell you quickly that i am currently resting and mending from my surgery.
I am thinking i may end up with a nasty scar out of all this - oh well.
gotta go, i am not supposed ot be sitting, so am standing up and typing - is hard on the back to do so.
I am just slowly mending. Thanks to all who are praying for me. I will be out fo action for quite a while yet, i still have lots of abdomenal swelling to deal with, and lots of bed rest.

Cheers!

As The Scalpel Falls Part 1

Well, tomorrow is the big day!
Surgery. Yuck.

To make things worse yet, i found out i have to be at the hospital at 6 AM. Now, i live 45 minutes or so from the hospital, being in a different city. This means i will have to be up by 4:30am. Considering that i do not usually fall asleep until somewhere between 2:30 and 4:00am on a nightly basis...hm...no sleep for me, i guess.

Well, this is all i will be blogging on this subject until after i get home (hopefully without my doctor's watch somewhere inside my body!)...

hockey article of interest

(Re-printed without permission) :-O


Silent Treatment

February 19th, 2007


Jim Kelley

(for Sportsnet.ca)



Amid the buzz of who might be traded where, the real issues affecting the NHL go unnoticed.

Here are a few thoughts jotted in a notebook while watching NASCAR roar past the National Hockey League via the Daytona 500; the PGA tour capture a massive share of attention with Phil Mickelson blowing another chance to shed his "Never On Sunday" image; and the National Basketball Association showcase an All-Star "competition" that still manages to capture your wandering eye even though it's very much like
the NHL's silly showcase (that you can't find without television's answer to a digital microscope).

I mention all this as the collective hockey media is gearing up to run endless hours of televised, print and internet speculation about trade rumors that may or may not come to pass during the three-days of general managers meetings in Florida ... while the real issues of the NHL are virtually ignored.

Some examples:

Bogus Issue No. 1: Some teams will be buyers at the February 27 deadline, and some will be sellers.

No kidding! Is there something new here? Have we not heard or read or seen this every year since the NHL established a deadline. Look, this isn't the issue. The issue is whether or not the GMs will suggest to the powers that be in the NHL (Gary Bettman, Bill Daly and Colin Campbell) will make any real and/or relevant suggestions regarding what is necessary to move the game forward.

The general consensus seems to be that the changes imposed after the lockout are enough for now and the old saw about "don't fix it if it ain't broken" applies. How can that be? Fans across North America are looking at the new NHL with a very large ho hum. Ratings are static in Canada. Ratings are non-existent in the United States. The league claims attendance is on the rise but it doesn't release paid attendance figures, or even the value of those paid attendance figures. The league has those numbers; but nobody in media unearths them or holds the league accountable for not providing them. Meanwhile, we see thousands of empty seats in arenas from Boston to Chicago to Los Angeles and a great many cities in between.

While the talk is endless about whether or not Nashville overpaid for Peter Forsberg or Edmonton is signaling they are sellers after the dumping of Marc-Andre Bergeron, nothing is being said or written about the demise of the NHL on both broadcast TV and cable in the United States. The rise of NASCAR to a place of mega-prominence on ESPN (once the home of hockey in the US) was witnessed Sunday when ESPN opened with 15 minutes of coverage of the Daytona 500 Sunday night. A whole 15 minutes of coverage for an event it didn't have the rights for. Hockey coverage was non-existent except for the crawler at the bottom of the screen.

Bogus Issue No. 2: The endless debate regarding scheduling changes and whether or not the GMs will take a stand during their meetings.

Hello? The GMs can stand on their heads on the 19th tee or hook each other off the deck of the "Looking for the Big One" charter boat and it won't matter.

Changing the schedule, or even recommending changing the schedule, to address divisional or conference play isn't their domain. It wasn't their domain when the met in Toronto earlier this winter and it won't be during these meetings.
This just in: the general managers don't control the scheduling, the owners do. The general managers do not reshape the way the game is played these days, the competition committee does.
The real issue that needs to be addressed is what the heck has happened to the competition committee? They don't seem to be meeting; they don't appear to be addressing anything. They appear as immobilized as Brendan Shanahan (one of their
members) was while being wheeled off the Madison Square Garden ice over the weekend, the victim of a head-on-head hit.

Look around, concussions are still a major problem for the NHL. What's being done? Knee-on-knee hits seem to be on the rise. What's being done? The coach of the Eastern Conference at the All-Star game, Lindy Ruff, charges that hooking, holding and obstruction are making their way back into the game. He gets about one day of coverage and then it's back to who might be traded.

These are serious issues in the game today. So is the fact that Campbell has unilaterally changed the rules about physical contact and seems to have turned a blind eye to the seriousness of serious intent to injure, ignoring some incidents that scream for supplemental discipline while holding to a three-game-no-matter what standard for the few instances he does rule on. How is it that one man holds so much power to determine the shape and course of the game?

Isn't that worth writing about or asking about? Isn't that more important than a national debate on the value of Ryan Smyth's contract?

Meanwhile ESPN Sunday spent about five minutes after its Daytona report on the NBA All-Star game with a promise to come back to it later in the show. Still no mention of the NHL, or even the fact the GMs are meeting. Coverage moves to Phil Mickelson's melt down on the 72nd hole (shades of the US open revisited) and a lengthy segment on pitchers and catchers reporting to baseball spring training. Finish up with an endless chat with Lou Pinella about the joys of managing a baseball team in Chicago, an event that hasn't happened yet.

The NHL and NHLPA need to be looking at their "partnership" agreement. How close can the two sides be when there is an ongoing federal investigation (According to a report in Sports Business Journal) into whether or not labour laws were violated regarding contractual side agreements between the league and the Players' Association? Or what about the fact these letters were not revealed to the players who ratified the agreement? The CBA issues between the Players' Association and the league and the players and their leadership are huge yet go virtually unreported.

Bogus Issue No. 3: The length of pregame ceremonies honoring former players, teams or events and how maybe the Toronto Maple Leafs got it right (as if honoring a 40-year drought by bring back it's last championship team really matters).

Okay, maybe it matters to visiting teams that Steve Yzerman's goodbye took 80 minutes or that Mike Vernon's number retirement dragged on. That being said, what about some dialogue on the bogus system that gives teams a point for losing in overtime or a shootout? Anybody find it interesting that goalies, everyone's consensus choice as the most valuable players in the game, are being run at every
opportunity and it's not an accident, it's a coaching tactic?

Anyone notice that Wayne Gretzky has flip-flopped on the need for fighting in hockey and how that might open the door for more of it in the game? Does anyone have a lick of interest about revising the instigator rule or "no-touch" icing or the fact that goaltenders really haven't given up much of anything in regards the size of their equipment or that some coaches and GMs are arguing for a lessening of "soft"
penalties, an affront to the still-new officiating standards if there ever was one?

Doesn't seem like it.

Hockey has issues, but we in media rarely seem interested. In the race to be first to report the hot rumour or denigrate Sidney Crosby, or be funny, different or sexy, we've managed to overlook the fact that the game is still struggling to come back from a horrific labour dispute, one that is only now showing the extent of the damage it did to the game.

In the race to rack a GM in either the buyer or seller category we've neglected to ask whether or not he has a viable idea for fine tuning the game. In the hustle to identify a hair-thin report of a possible new commissioner have we even bothered to take an in-depth look at the accomplishments and/or failures of the current commissioner?

The consensus say hockey is a hard sell, especially in the States, because far too few people play it; but how many sports fans have ever piloted an automobile around a packed race course at 200 miles per hour with a competitor sitting right on his bumper? How many of us have actually jammed a basketball home from above the rim or had to putt-to-win on 18 with the eyes of millions questioning whether or not we're
going to choke?

Hockey has just as much right as any other major sport to be in the eye of the entertainment world. The fact that it isn't is the question that needs to be addressed. The ways to make hockey happen need to continue to be discussed.

That it isn't happening now is part of the reason why it took until thirty one minutes into the show before ESPN showed about 30 seconds of hockey, profiling the Pittsburgh Penguins-Washington Capitals showcase of young talent and another 15 before other game highlights are shown, other game scores announced. It's why NBC has the games virtually for free and can't get people to watch. It's why the sport we know and love is dropping like a rock in terms of major audience appeal.

The Knife Cuts Both Ways

"I'm so vein, I bet I think this song is about me,
I'm so vein, I bet I think this song is about me..."

Sorry, had to do it.

Well, I just got the news today - gotta go under the knife next week. Friday the 23rd, that is the big day. Off to KGH for what should be a simple, in-and-out procedure, whereby the top of my head is cut off and sewn onto the bottom of my left foot...Just Kidding! Actually, it is just a procedure to fix some vein problem I apparently have (I can just see the specialist now, gazing all teary-eyed at a glossy full-page magazine photo of the new set of golf clubs that he is about to place an order for...) in my groin-al area somewhere.

But enough with the gory details, and enough with the useless chatter.

Tat-ta!

Holiday

Just wanted to wish all of my loved ones a Happy St Valentine's Day!

However, I do NOT want to be that guy who puts up the stereotypical picture of a heart...the holidays are WAY too commercialized, I do not want to be a part of that stuff.

So, i chose this picture instead.








Go raibh míle maith agat!

Saskin Not Baskin' In The Sun No More...?...

Alright, this is a direct quote from off of Sportsnet.ca's Jim Kelley's Backhand Column. It can be seen here
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/columnist.jsp?content=20070208_120344_5044

and I personally find this piec eof news ot be EXTREMELY interesting. Looks like, in time, a poopload of trouble could be coming the way of the NHLPA. I've said it before, and I will say it again - something is crooked with Mr. Saskin, and not all the dirt in the world can cover it up forever.
Now, on to the quotation...


The Buzz: The ongoing battle between NHLPA executive Ted Saskin and dissident members is really never going to amount to anything, especially since Saskin has won every court battle so far.

The BACKHAND: Right and Alan Eagleson's Order of Canada made him untouchable, too. Look, yours truly has a copy of the resolution passed by 19 reps (and two sleepy Floyds) during the 30-team conference call and it's a killer. If Saskin can't get this overturned in court or reversed by the members themselves, lawyer Sheila Block has the power to turn the NHLPA record office into Ozzfest. Block has been given the power to interview former execs Bob Goodenow and Ian Pulver under oath about how they came to be dismissed and at what cost, as well as how Saskin came to be hired and at what price point, and whether or not the executive committee was given proper information regards the salary structure for union bosses. The resolution is a black and white paper bomb. The shock waves it will create will rock the union and be felt all the way into the league's NYC digs.

It's About That Time

Hey All,
I thunk it was about time i blogged something here. Starting to smell stale and musty around here lately...

Well, life is changing. My life, that is. Slowly, but i can see some progress. It's weird, really. Lately, things just seem...different, in various areas. Hard to describe, hard to put a finger on, but i will try (for you, my faithful readers, all for you)...

Various stuff is going on with me. I applied for, and will soon be receiving, my very first-est credit card (ooo...let's all bow down and worship the shiny plastic...***thick dripping sarcasm***) . This is exciting for me, as I will be using it to order my 5-issue comic mini-series Omega Flight direct from Marvel Comics (see http://canadas-own-the-flight.blogspot.com/ for much more info and excitement on this subject).
Also, i will be able to, in time, use my credit card to order more obscure and annoying-to-my-family-due-to-its-antiquity Christian music online. Only, though, when i have available funds to be able to pay for it as soon as the bill comes in. (Nuts! Responsibility SUX!)

Lately in my life, i am feeling more relaxed. That is not to say that i do not get stressed at times, or angry at times. Rather, i just feel more comfrotable being me, and allowing a lot of me that i have repressed over the years come out. Really, i am amazed sometimes at the person that i used to be, before my ex-wife cut my heart out, and the person that i became after that. Like two completely different people. Now, i am consciously (or is that unconsciously) trying to let more of who i used to be come out. A little more fun-loving, a little more relaxed and a little less uptight.

Some examples of this. Well, one tell-tale example that I see, is that i have begun to hum and sing a little bit more. You see, i used to break out loudly into song when i was a younger man. It didn't matter how loud or off-key or off-tempo i was - the whole point was to be heard. Now, i am nowhere near where i used to be in this regard. But lately i have noticed myself humming or singing quietly, even with people around me! This has been unheard of for the last 5 years or so! I dunno, maybe nobody else has really noticed it yet, but i sure do!

There are other changes going on in my life. I am completely enjoying a return to my teenage years of loving comic books. Although i have not bought as many on E-Bay lately (after having some money stolen by a fellow Canadian on E-Bay, and getting nothing from him in return - the Crook! I leave him in God's hands to be dealt with swiftly and drastically! ), i have bought a few used ones locally, and am just enjoying the experience - searching for them, purchasing them, putting them in protective bags, labelling them, listing them on my computer, reading them, blogging about them; it is all so enjoyable! What a lovely hobby, i never realized how much i missed it! And to be able to collect a new series, albeit a mini series (5 issues only), still, what a tremendous pleasure, one that I have not been able to enjoy for about 19 years or so. Wow, time flies, doesn't it?! Hard to believe that I am already 36 years old!

Also, i have been pushing myself in my commitment to reading my Bible in the mornings after i get up, to start my day off by focusing my thoughts on the right things. Although I , so far, have not been perfect at this, still I know it is a very good thing to shoot for. And my bass guitar, is something i have recently took back out of mothballs, dusted off my Bass Guitar For Dummies book, and I still believe that, God willing, I may still have enough time left on this earth to learn to play the bass.

Okay, that is it for now. I blogged a lot more than i thought i would! Tata for now, true believers!

Musical Tastes

LOL.

Okay, here is the scoop. Lately I have been going through some of my more 'obscure' musical collections on my computer, and i took a bunch of songs and organized them into four groupings, deciding that I would burn four CDs. These CDs would consist mainly of music by Christian musicians (notice I avoid the incorrect label, "Christian music") that I listened to during some of my more formative years. Yup, the classics. I threw in a few more modern songs, just to round things out.

So far, i have burned and listened to 3 albums worth of tunes. And i discovered something quite profound..."only i have good taste in music in my home."

Apparently, i am now encouraged by my loved ones to not bother to play my favourite old tunes when they are anywhere within listening distance. At 9 years old, I really believe that Chelsea would say she liked it if her mom did. But it seems that the 7 years difference in age between Rachelle and I make a very large gap between our musical likes and dislikes ( I like my music; she says what i listen to isn't music).


I titled my four CDs (one still to burn, and listen to jubilantly on my headphones) "Christian Rock Instant Classics". Here, for those interested (you may copy my ideas if you wish to, free of charge! Or, if you wish copies of these CDs, please contact me at dreddsweet@shaw.ca) , are the track listings of my four CDs.

CD 1 -
Randy Stonehill - Awfully Loud World
Rez Band - Walk Away
Russ Taff - Farther On
Rez Band - Love Comes Down
Phil Keaggy (featuring Matthew Ward) - Your Love Broke Through
Hocus Pick - Love And Co.
Imperials - Eagle Song
Michael W. Smith - Help You Find Your Way
Petra - Disciple
Whiteheart - Hotline
Steve Camp - Upon This Rock
Daniel Amos - The Bible
Grover Levy - If You Want To Lead Me To Jesus
Keith Green - There Is A Redeemer
Petra - Come And Join Us
Skillet - Your Love (Keeps Me Alive)

CD 2 -
Randy Stonehill - Lung Cancer
Steven Curtis Chapman - Dancing With The Dinosaurs
Third Day - Holy Spirit
Degarmo & Key - Apathy Alert
Undercover - He Lets Me Know
Sweet Comfort Band - Contender
Third Day - Your Love Oh Lord (Psalm 36)
Steve Taylor - Guilty By Association
Imperials - Higher Power
Chuck Girard - Rock 'n Roll Preacher
Matthew Ward - Angels Unaware
Sam Cunningham - The Sun Is Here
Rez Band - Who's Real Anymore
Petra - Praise Ye The Lord
Sweet Comfort Band - You Can Make It
Imperials - Trumpet Of Jesus

CD 3 -
Rez Band - Mommy Don't Love Daddy Anymore
Love Song - The Cossack Song (Rock 'n' Roll Ruskie)
Ransom - I'll Never Leave You
Tragedy Ann - Why Can't The World Love
Whiteheart - Over Me
Servant - Jungle Music
Amy Grant - El Shaddai
One Bad Pig - Never Forget The Cross
Geoff Moore & The Distance - Evolution...Refined
Michael W. Smith -Secret Ambition
Skillet - Savior
Russ Taff - Higher
Sweet Comfort Band - I Love You With My Life
Steven Curtis Chapman - Jesus Is Life
Third Day - Worthy Is The Lamb
Undercover - Talk To God

CD 4 -
Idle Cure - Ordinary Man
Benny Hester - When God Ran
Jars Of Clay - Rose Colored Stain Glass Windows
Mylon Lefebvre & Broken Heart - Crank It Up
Jars Of Clay - If I Stand
Sweet Comfort Band - Good Feelin'
Rick Cua - I Can I Will
Randy Stonehill - Big Ideas
Third Day - City On A Hill
Whiteheart - His Heart Was Always In It
Steven Curtis Chapman - What I Really Want To Say
Rez Band - Shadows
Sweet Comfort Band - Got To Believe
Russ Taff - Rock Solid
Rez Band - Defective Youth
Veggie Tales - Pirates Who Don't Do Anything


Any comments?

...

HBday

Happy Birthday 2 Me!

Yup, I be 36 years old today. Yippee yahoo.

I have been meaning to blog here for quite a while...but somehow i just have not felt like it. You know, i go through stages in life - blog stages. Sometimes i wanna blog and blog and blog...and sometimes i just don't wanna at all.
Pretty deep stuff, ain't it? Yup, a look inside my head, courtesy of the Birfday Boy.

Toodles 'til next time, y'all

Addition

Hey. Here, finally, is some pics of the newest addition to the Dredd Sweet family.
"Jemma" is our puppy. She is a Cockapoo/Pomeranian. We have had her for a few weeks now.




Click the pics to see them bigger!


Caio!

Too Busy / Quote

Life is too busy, too hectic, too disorganized and ...frantic...right now, to be worrying about blogging about 'mirror images' and 'how I see myself'.
So that idea is on hold, and possibly on permanent hold.

And now, a quote, from Stephen R. Donaldson's masterpiece work, A Man Rides Through .

"Father," Myste replied like the sun, "all children must be risked. Mother knows that. How else are we to discover ourselves?"

How Is Your Mirror Today?

Okay, with a title like that, you will probably want some explanation.
Well, so do I.

Unfortunately, I am still working out all of the details.

Suffice it to say, that I plan on doing some thinking and some blogging this weekend. Both of these activities may even extend on through the week, if needed.

'Why, thinking and blogging of what, oh great Dredd Sweet", you innocently ask of me.

'Good question', reply I.

Hmm...now I need to think of an answer.

Well, it is like this. I have something of a puzzle that i wish to work out.
The puzzle goes something like this...
We all know what we look like. As long as we have the capacity to see, the gift of vision, most of us have a pretty good idea of what we look like. Everytime we look in a mirror or otherwise see our reflections, we know that we see ourselves. And this helps to define us to us.
Now, what if we lived in a society where mirrors were not allowed? Where it was wrong to see a reflection of oneself.
What, my puzzle asks of myself, what would i think of myself then? How would i describe myself, never having seen myself? If the way that i thought of myself was totally independant from what i looked like, because i did not know what i looked like, how might that change my perception of who i am to me?
How would i describe myself? My traits, would they be any more important? Would comparisons come into play less? What things about myself might i be able to see more clearly, or less clearly, if i had no true idea of what my features looked like? If i had no idea how i compared, physically, with those around me, how would that change my views about myself?

And that is what i aim to tackle.

How?
Truthfully, i am not sure. And i am not overly sure where this is leading, or what it may or may not dredge up.

But at the very least, it will be an exercise of sorts that will expand my thinking about myself, force me to examine some things a little differently than i normally would.
And perhaps it may help us all to see ourselves a little differently.

So, keep reading, and look forward eagerly to reading what i go through as i examine a personal view of myself from a world without physical reflections...

I Will Remember

Remembrance day. Here in Canada, the day that we honour all those who have fought for our freedom, both the living and the now deceased.

Two things seems appropriate for me to do on this day. The first is a quote from a book, the second a famous poem. Firstly, i present for you a fitting quote, from the work of fiction called Into The Fire, by Dennis L. McKiernan (who just happens to be my favourite author).


And he turned to the gathering, and a hush fell over them all. And then he said, “The King has told you of the terrible cost of the war – lost comrades, lost friends, lost brothers and cousins and fathers and mothers and daughters and sons.” Tipperton held the pewter coin between finger and thumb and looked down on it on it’s thong, and then he looked up at the faces of the lords and ladies and honoured guests waiting and said, “Know this, my friends: freedom is not free, for in times of darkness, in the fires of war, freedom is forged of iron, iron oft quenched by the blood of the innocent, a terrible price to pay. Yet to let evil rule is even more costly. No, my friends, freedom is not free, so cherish it and know its true value, for it is paid for by the highest coin of all.”



And now, I present this...

In Flanders Field
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McRae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is the story of the making of that poem:
Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.

As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient.

It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:

"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done."

One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.

The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.

In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.

A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."

When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:

"The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."

In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.



- We thank all the veterans who fought for our freedom, this day and all days. Also, our thanks go out to the brave men and women who fight the good fight around the world today. Special Thanks go out to the Canadians soldiers serving in Afghanistan and other areas. May God keep you safe, and grant you strength. -

Cooper's Garage

ALICE COOPER - "THE ROLLING STONES Are The Ultimate Garage
Band"




More than three decades into his enormously successful rock
career, the Valley’s own ALICE COOPER is still reaching goals
he set long ago.

“Get a star on Hollywood Boulevard, have a platinum album, go
to No. 1 and open for THE ROLLING STONES,” Cooper says by
phone from a Connecticut stop on his tour after a round of
golf in which the scratch player shot a 75.

Cooper has his star in Hollywood, has hit No. 1 on the album
charts and has gone platinum several times over. On Sept. 23
in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Cooper got to open for The Rolling
Stones, and he’ll do it again Wednesday when The Stones play
University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ.

“It’s one of the things I get to scratch off my list,” Cooper
laughs.

Like millions of others, Cooper is a die-hard Stones fan and,
in a roundabout way, it was The Rolling Stones that got a
track star at Phoenix’s Cortez High School named Vince
Furnier and his teammates to form a band called The Spiders.

“In those days you didn’t play original material,” Cooper
explains of the Valley music scene in 1966. “So we were the
Rolling Stones band and it would say, ‘Tonight at the V.I.P.,
THE SPIDERS will be doing “19th Nervous Breakdown.” ’ That’s
all we did. We were expected to do Rolling Stones just like
the record and, honestly, that’s why people came. Everybody
was doing BEATLES, so we were the band that ventured out and
started playing the Stones.”

And when The Spiders undertook the task of writing their own
material, the Stones’ music was a touchstone for the young
band that would later change its name to Alice Cooper (when
the group split in 1974, Furnier legally changed his own name
to Alice Cooper).

“The Stones are so good — they are the prototype garage
band,” Cooper says. “And I say that in all great respect
because AEROSMITH is a garage band, Alice Cooper is a garage
band and The Rolling Stones are a garage band, but they are
the ultimate garage band. You take their band and you could
put them in 70,000-seat (arenas) or you could put them in a
club, and it’s still the same music and it still works.”
Cooper, who will begin recording his 29th album in January to
be followed by another world tour — he has done five global
treks in the last five years — after the disc is released in
April, is still influenced by The Stones.

“To this day,” Cooper says. “On my last album (2005’s ‘Dirty
Diamonds’) we did two songs — ‘Sunset Babies (All Got
Rabies)’ and ‘Zombie Dance’ — that were absolute, pure
Rolling Stones.”

Work-Related Musings

Hey Y'all!

Seems to be quite a while since i have posted here. Sorry about that!

Well, a few weeks back i had my yearly evaluation at work. This is my third one, as I have now been at my job for three years.
My evaluation marks directly affect the percentage pay raise that i get for the coming work year, as well as the performance-based bonus that i receive.

I finally managed to discover what my marks were like. Well, actually, i already knew that my marks on the Eval were fairly high, but i was unaware of how exactly that affected my pay raise and bonus. THOSE are the figures that i finally'figured out' (pun intended).

Okay. Without giving away too much personal financial detail over my blog, let me just say this; Wow!
Apparently, i got the second highest possible mark. To my knowledge, nobody has ever gotten that high before at my workplace. So, i now co-share a record here , although unofficially since nobody else is supposed to know what other people at work got for marks. And I say co-share because i am knowing that one other person, one whom i work with on an almost daily basis, got the same mark as me on this year's Eval.
Although the pay-raise involved is only percentage based, and therefore is not very large at all, still, it is a lot more than i have gotten in any other evaluations, and hey! , a little something is better than nothing, right?

As for the bonus - again, i do not want to give away any financial details of my life. It is not a huge amount of money. That being said, if the bonus was out of ten dollars, with a ten being the highest possible denomination that one could get, and if the bonuses paid out were only paid in ones (thus, there were only 10 possible bonus amounts to get), then i would have gotten 9 bucks. Again, as far as i am aware, nobody has EVER gotten more than eight bucks from the Eval Bonus. And that has only happened once in the last three or four years. And i, and a workmate of mine, both now hold the record (unofficially) of nine bucks for a bonus. Wa-hoo!

So, it just goes to show me. As goofy and frustrating as my job can be...and no matter how many times i complain that i never get noticed, that too many people have their heads up their own butts to have any idea about the rest of us employees...yet it just goes to prove that as long as the Right Person or two have their eyes on you, and can see your passion for the job and your efforts and your level of competence, and as long as God is for you and you do all that you do as if you were working for God, then good things can still happen.

My faith has been restored. And i continue to pray for some good changes to happen in my workplace. If THIS can happen, most unexpectedly, then anything good Can and Should be expected.