eclecti

Evolution?

2009-12-08T04:12:00.002Z

Here is a wonderful read titled "Public Education and Intelligent Design". It's from Stanford, so not just pulp philosophy.

Physical Training III

2009-09-24T03:04:00.003Z

Have you ever worked out, given it your all, felt the burn? Pushed through it? Paid for it for days afterwards?

Dedicated athletes and devotees of physical culture all know that real gains do have some associated pain, or at least discomfort. And here is a good point for physical training being of some value for Christians. Learning to master the body, master the part of us that wants the easy way, the part that doesn't want to be uncomfortable. This is a valuable lesson.

A method of study

2009-09-24T03:00:00.002Z

Wow, now here is a marvelous post about using your morning time to get some real brain work done.

http://maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher/2009/09/my-method-of-study.html

Physical Training II

2009-08-27T03:54:00.003Z

Another reason that I think physical training is good, is that it forces one to take stock of oneself. If you're going to do it right, you need to cast a critical eye at your own capabilities, your own performance, and make a realistic assessment. Then set about improving the areas that are lacking, aiming at the goal.

The same process is applicable to all areas of life. A realistic assessment of the situation as it currently is. A goal to be reached. A plan to get there. A whole lot of energy, determination, and grit.

I think that perhaps in our instant world, the last part is what is missing.

Canadian Style Health Care

2009-08-27T03:43:00.002Z

Couldn't have said it better myself....

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/letter+American+cousins/1917335/story.html

Physical Training

2009-08-19T04:39:00.003Z

In 1 Timothy, Paul makes this interesting statement:

1 Timothy 4:8 (New International Version)

⁸For physical training is of some value...

Why is that? What use is physical training to Christians? I think that this might be worth exploring.

Perhaps instilling some discipline in our lives is helpful in being disciples. Learning to persist in an activity. Learning to make mistakes, recover, and progress.

I think there may be a good many reasons why Paul thinks that physical training is of some value.

Vishay

2008-09-05T21:30:00.001Z

OK, so really we just call him Fishy, but I like my spelling better. Our kiddos have their first pet, a blue veil tail betta from the local fish store. Learning about our aquatic friend has been quite the eye opener as I didn't have fish when I was young.

Apparently there are clubs, and associations, and a world congress for siamese fighting fish. I nevery knew there was so much attention payed to these little $7 fish. Well, the ones that the clubs oo and ah about are quite a bit more pricey. You can pay $20-60 for a spectacular fish from a breeder. Ususally the LFS has the cast offs from the breeding programs.

As you can imagine, the start up cost for a new aquarist is about 90% stuff, and 10% fish.

I'll say this for our little refugee from the LFS, he has quite a personality! He thinks he is king of the world. He flares up at food, fingers, and his own reflection.

I'll have to figure out how to take some good pictures to post.

Anyways, you can feed Virtual Vishay over on the right. Drop some food by clicking in his bowl.

life without a blog

2007-08-01T20:44:00.000Z

aye... refreshing no? yes we're alive. life is just too interesting to sit and type. maybe i'll be back in a couple weeks.

oh, i am reading Anselm of Canterbury. if anybody wants to stretch their mind with some medieval devotionals, i highly recommend.

life without a fridge

2007-05-04T14:13:00.000Z

i know that we had a tough time getting used to the small refrigerators here in the uk. how on earth did people survive before the power grid and vapor compression heat exchangers? here's a clue...

fridge-less living

the really simple life

2007-05-04T12:46:00.000Z

now here is an inspiring example of simple living... looks more like camping year round! don't think it would work too well with kids though. also a little too cold in canada; but well worth the read.

"We must achieve the character and acquire the skills to live much poorer than we do. We must waste less. We must do more for ourselves and each other. It is either that or continue merely to think and talk about changes that we are inviting catastrophe to make."

Wendell Berry, from the essay "Word and Flesh," What Are People For? North Point Press, 1990

Living Outside the Box

engineers without borders

2007-05-01T19:41:00.000Z

hey, now here we go - 'geers getting in there and helping people! too bad they didn't have this when i was in school....

EWB Canada

technology challenging poverty

2007-05-01T19:30:00.000Z

here is a great bunch. sustainable use of technology to reduce poverty and it's effects (food and clean water are two big ones) throughout the developing world

Practical Action

it's hard to find ways to use engineering to benefit those who could really use it. maybe there are some organizations like this in canada!?

speechless

2007-05-01T10:41:00.000Z

3 men were made martyrs in turkey

what is most amazing is the widow is asking people to forgive the perps

...

simple living

2007-04-18T19:28:00.000Z

reading this post about facebook vs. myspace over at tim's blog got me to thinking. all these people living so much of their lives online. if they don't yet have a second life, they still invest a lot of time publishing their thoughts & stuff. why don't i? sure i blog, but it's fairly sparse and short. mostly we blog to post pix of the kids (but that's pretty sparse too).

it's kind of strange, being an electronics engineer at a semiconductor company - ooooo the technomages themselves - and yet take me away from professional life and something strange happens. i like to go outside. i like to walk. i like to read books - the paper kind - philosophy, theology, technology, astronomy, engineering, woodwork, fiction, whatever. sure the internet is great for research, but if i'm really interested i'll buy the book (or at least print the article off).

i'm very interested in unplugged life. unplugged from utility companies, media conglomerates, advertising, retail thieves, most of modern life. i tried to find a term that would apply to my attitudes: luddism, anarcho-primitivism, anti-modernism. none of them fit. but simple living seems to work.

technology is useful, a means to an end. but not an end in itself. maybe i'm an old-worlder, but i'm still firmly in meat-space.... until i start my real second life!

gridblog: earthday

2007-04-18T19:12:00.000Z

well, john's request for an earthday post fest ties in with my thoughts as of late. unfortunately, i'm too lazy to read up on the earthday site other than the front page. so, it looks like it's about climate change. ok. on that topic i would point everyone to the half plan at builditsolar. This family cut their energy usage by 1/2 in one year. sure it cost some money, but the return on saved energy bills was 45% the first year! oh, yah and they saved loads of CO2 emmisions.

now, i'm thinking that living off-grid would save even more (money & green-house-gas). not using nasty utility energy or burning fossil fuel. all we need are good electric cars and it's perfect ;-).

back to the half plan. they have stuff to help you make your own half plan. hey what have we got to lose? save money, and our kids' future while your at it!

self-sufficient.... no.... God sufficient living

2007-04-17T19:17:00.000Z

after reading john's consumerism post it got me to thinking... no, not about joining a commune... but about unplugging from the world, or at least the materialist-consumerist-lemmingish aspects. i mean unplug; both metaphorically and physically. let's go off-grid. live on what God gives us (gives everyone). ok, so let's take our inventory:

wow, looks like He has given us everything doesn't it? maybe crofters have it right? i wonder if it might be possible to 'live off the land', right in the middle of a developed, first-world country. hmmm i like a challenge. it seems that The Lord Almighty gives everything needed to all, regardless of your opinion of him. might just need a little ingenuity to "...subdue it". how cool would that be?

are the odds in favour of Christianity?

2007-04-13T20:03:00.000Z

well, who would have thought it? statistical methods actually support the historicity of Jesus' resurrection. and the math really isn't that scary.

A Bayesian Analysis

reclaim easter from the bunny!!

2007-04-08T19:57:00.000Z

i've seen posters around town for the past month, on walls and on the buses. yesterday there were even people handing out little bunny shaped fliers for it.

wish we could have gone, but it's my son's birthday, and both the kids will be in bed...

rock on scotland!

stubble jumping

2007-03-28T19:53:00.000Z

wow. it's feels like such a relief having made the decision now. we're going home. now that i'm thinking about it there are some interesting insights into life that i have gained...

i have a new appreciation for canada. not because i've been to some developing country or seen people living in poverty. it's because i live somewhere ridiculously affluent, but even more absurdly expensive! i can't think of how to save any costs off our budget without moving into a 1 bed flat!!

family is the greatest support system (both bio and christo fams). this is especially evident with a growing family. it's fun to explore the world, but eventually ya want to settle down "where everybody knows your name".

people are mostly the same the world over. at the basic level we all want pretty much the same things.

it's just really trippy thinking about being back to stay. so many times we've been booking a return flight.

not this time.

attitude check!

2007-03-27T20:08:00.000Z

i'm not ashamed to own my Lord
nor to defend his cause
maintain the honour of His word
the glory of His cross

amen.

Gridblog: Generosity

2007-02-11T20:31:00.000Z

due to receiving another of God's great gifts into our lives, i haven't been spending much time on the computer at all. other than uploading pix of our new family member from the camera, i really haven't had a desire to get an lcd-tan.

being that i'm getting pale, and friends are slagging me for my lack of picture posting on the family site, i'm online. and hey - a gridblog topic has been announced! and so i will add a short rambling to the group.

generosity should be encouraged - at a personal level. none of this left wing "have the government take care of them, isn't that what our taxes are for". that's all well and good, and the government should help those who have no where to turn. but let's not get lazy in our giving. find a cause that touches you; give to it generously.

give from what you have. if you are blessed with money, give it. if you are blessed with time, spend it. if you have skills and abilities that can be of use, put them to it. most of all, give with a joyful heart.

pax

the problem of evil blog

2007-02-05T19:39:00.000Z

a relatively new blog concerned solely with the aforesaid problem. this could be very interesting as it is often one of the last resorts of disbelievers.

who's soliciting who?

2007-01-23T20:33:00.000Z

talk about the pot calling the kettle black?

even old people can be a threat....

2007-01-23T20:30:00.000Z

get this, the us secret service actually came to some 81 year old dude's place and questioned him over an editorial letter he wrote. they were concerned that it might be construed as threatening to the president.

the queen city

2007-01-23T20:25:00.000Z

well, it's official... not only is regina a great place to live, it's the most affordable city to buy a house in canada.

it's quiet in here.... i think i like it...

2007-01-15T22:02:00.000Z

yes, here in my own out of the way part of the net. posting ideas that probably only my wife and brother read. for the most part, i think i like it like that. i'm sure that some blog reading vagabond may find his random click bring him through some day... and that's ok. maybe someday i'll go back through this blog and see how my ideas have evolved. laugh at myself. grin at my sad attempts at poetry or photography. and that's going to be fun.

so am i talking to myself? most likely. but that's ok with me.

goodnight myself.... g'night.

christianity today

2007-01-15T21:39:00.000Z

my eyes are getting sore after staring at a bunch of different sites about the emerging church movement. a lot of it seems to be verbiage defending itself from 'evangelicals' who are 'attacking' and then dishing out as good at it gets to the 'evangelicals' and 'modernism' in the church in general.

why all the labels? it seems that each time a group of Christians want to challenge their thinking and grow closer to God, the come up with a new label. a new rallying cry. a new set of tenets, even if the tenet is the lack thereof.

how about this for a radical idea?
- Christians are followers of Christ.
- Christians try to find out the truth of what God wants for us.
- Christians try to share that truth with the world.

... and the truth shall set you free

any questions?

are answers bad?

2007-01-15T20:57:00.000Z

following on from thinking about velvet elvis, i've been reading up a little on the emerging church thing which it's author is a part of. the book struck me as asking a lot of questions, encouraging the asking of questions, but not giving what the author thought were answers, or may be answers, or hints of answers. it seems that questions, and dialog, and investigating, etc. are the end... rather than the means.... to the answers.

what good is questioning if not to find the answers?

velvet elvis

2007-01-04T22:15:00.000Z

i received this book for Christmas last year and read it before the hols were finished. i thought that i'd post my thoughts on it, since i have seen it pop up in discussion at a few places.

i will sum up my assessment with a comment (as best i can remember), that my father-in-law made when i was telling the generous gift giver what i thought of it:

searching and questions are important, sure. but when you get to a certain point, you become more interested in answers, you already know the questions.

lord of it all

2007-01-04T21:47:00.000Z

in some recent discussions, a supposed dichotomy has been raised. God or science as the answer to "why". i say that this is a not a dichotomy. the two are different. science has no power to answer why. it is descriptive. it isn't metaphysical.

now i hear the inevitable 'god of the gaps' rant coming. i'll repeat, there is no dichotomy. regardless of whether science has an equation for something, God is still the why. he is the why of the things we understand as much as those we do not. science was invented by people who believed in God, thought that he was an orderly God, and that his creation would therefore be orderly. they didn't have a problem with filling in knowledge gaps. this wasn't threatening to their belief in God.

it confirmed it.

score for religious people!

2006-11-23T21:24:00.000Z

thanks to arthur c. brooks for writing up his research in a new book called Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism. here's a clip from a beliefnet article:

The book's basic findings are that conservatives who practice religion, live in traditional nuclear families and reject the notion that the government should engage in income redistribution are the most generous Americans, by any measure.

Conversely, secular liberals who believe fervently in government entitlement programs give far less to charity. They want everyone's tax dollars to support charitable causes and are reluctant to write checks to those causes, even when governments don't provide them with enough money.

not surprizing to christians, since pure religion consists of helping orphans and widows in their distress james 1:27

careful what you listen to

2006-11-16T21:41:00.000Z

Gin thu neuere leuen alle monnis spechen, Ne alle the thinge that thu herest stingen. (_Proverbs of Alfred_, c1300)

believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear. i wonder if that goes for what we read as well. it's quite frightening to see what books are out there claiming some kind of expertise on a subject, when looking at the author's credentials shows that they aren't formally educated in it...
beware what may be lurking in the prose you read. it may do your brain more harm than good!

an athiest not to be taken seriously

2006-11-09T22:13:00.000Z

a while back the topic of sam harris and his thoughts on religion came up at a blog i was frequenting. the blog post linked a youtube clip of him speaking at a convention. he made a comment that totally took a verse of the bible out of context and made a wild claim about christianity. i made the point that someone who is willing to stand up in front of people, pose as an authority on a subject, and then speak about something he a) knows nothing about, or b) is purposely misrepresenting is not to be taken seriously. the blog author has gone off the web, but i hope that he will read these responses to mr. harris' latest book specifically aimed at christianity.

ps - also at the end of the above link are some points about mr. harris' previous work.

is work worth anything?

2006-11-09T22:08:00.000Z

read this, think about it. whatever you do, do it as for the Lord.

pax

thinking out loud

2006-11-09T21:47:00.000Z

i have been wondering to myself, as of late, what is the use of this blogging thing anyways. is it a public journal? a place for me to put my ideas; to bounce them around off of random people that come traipsing though?

again i wonder if it is all very egocentric; a strange sort of group navel gazing. now that i think of it, that last comment is directed at a certain type of blog. there are blogs that i read and appreciate that focus on a specific topic. and family news blogs are a blessing in our dispersed age.

maybe those that blog are the ones that have eshewed gathering at the village pub or coffee house to swap stories, and engage in conversation to hash out our ideas.

and so for today, that is what i will conclude. for me anyways, my blog is my conversation with you the random reader who may sit in your chair, or on your sofa, and engage with me in witty debate, a search for truth, or appreciation of what beauties God has blessed our day with.

pax

martyrs

2006-10-23T21:08:00.000Z

lest any of us forget, much of the world is still a dangerous place for christians. a quick stop by the voice of the martyrs will show you that we are still under threat of property confiscation, imprisonment, or execution for professing the name of Jesus. and throughout the civilized(?) world, speaking out regarding the truth will be met with vandalism and death threats. it's one thing to die for our faith... is it getting difficult, even in the west, to live for it?

logical fallacies

2006-10-23T21:03:00.000Z

here is a great introduction to some issues in critical thinking and philosophical discourse. it is a gallery of logical fallacies. these are pitfalls to avoid in our own thinking and to watch out for in discussion with others. sloppy thinking is behind much of what ails society. don't be sloppy ;-)

simply christian

2006-10-23T20:52:00.000Z

why christianity makes sense - by n. t. wright
this was a lovely gift. a book about christianity in the same vein as mere christianity is very welcome in this day of misinformation. it is unlike its predecessor in that nowadays, society at large is pretty much ignorant of christian beliefs. and so mr. wright goes about explaining the good news from a more basic level (therefore not getting to some stuff).

i quite enjoyed reading this book. it was well written. he proposed some interesting and thought provoking analogies to explain what is happening these days with the new-age movement, and other 'spiritual' stuff that is prevalent. for those who know why they believe Jesus, it will be a relaxing read. for those who don't believe it will be a level headed, readable introduction to the faith.

a nice read. thanks j.

worship

2006-09-26T21:03:00.000Z

i was reading the link that i put up a couple posts ago about the biblical meanings of words, and how they are different than our modern meanings: the one about worship. the conclusion struck me as very relevant.

In conclusion: "Worship" is often used to refer just to the time of singing and music in our services, but it is clear from contextual study that worship is a life and lifestyle, not just acts in isolated pockets of time. Worship can mean serving in a soup kitchen, or going on a mission trip, or conducting a ministry of some sort -- and we may consider deeply how far our Western, individualistic perceptions have in some cases taken us from the NT ideal.

i recommend you read that essay, and give some thought to it. we are instructed to pray continually. i think that we are also called to live lives of worhip.

the modal fallacy

2006-09-25T20:47:00.000Z

ah, the english language; a source of wonderful beauty and mind numbing consternation. the way we naturally express our thoughts in english doesn't help when trying to explain very specific philosophical nuances. the modal fallacy goes like this. we would naturally say something like this:

if john has one son and two daughters, he has to have at least one daughter.
john has one son and two daughters.
therefore john has to have at least one daughter.

but think about it... that's rubbish. he doesn't' have to have any kids; daughters or sons. it is true that if john has one son and two daughters he will have at least one daughter, but it's not true that he must. in other words it is incorrect to mistake a logically necessary condition, as a logically necessary truth.

this holds for a number of philosophical problems. they are dependent on this misusing of modal concepts. if you're interested, please check out this article by Norman Swartz.

what does it all mean....

2006-09-07T20:32:00.000Z

as christians reading the bible, and looking back on bible times, it is necessary that we understand what the authors meant when they talked of certain subjects. the culture of the ancient near east was very different to our modern western one. it's very dangerous for us to read the words of the bible using our modern vocabulary and understanding. thankfully there are serious scholars, of various faiths (or lack thereof) who study the way that people in the culture of the ancient near east thought and acted. three sources of this kind of information are: Malina's The New Testament World, Malina and Neyrey's Portraits of Paul: An Archaeology of Ancient Personality and deSilva's Honor, Patronage, Kinship and Purity.

to give a quick taste of what's inside, please check out these essays, they may change the way you think about your christian walk: what is faith, what is hope, what is love, what is mercy, what is worship, what is humility, what is repentance?

pax

code debunking

2006-09-05T20:07:00.000Z

hi all. just in case you haven't read any really good articles debunking the rubbish in that book named after a renaissance man named leonardo, read this. if nothing else, mr. brown has got non-christians asking questions about christianity; this is good. so let's be prepared to answer them!

gridblog #1 - the good book

2006-09-04T20:22:00.000Z

yes, i'm a little late to the blog-party, but here are my 2p...

the book is God's inerrant word. that statement has taken lifetimes of people far better qualified than i to explain. therefore i'll just give you some of my thoughts on what an impact that has on my life.

it is the revealed truth of how God relates to humanity, and how he expects us to behave as his children. it tells me how to relate to God, and everyone else in creation.

lately the all embracing nature of its truth has been changing the ways i look at many things in life. the presuppositions we bring to our day to day existence. how our world view is shaped, and the implications that has for how we live.

not to say that it's crystal clear and simple to apply. the christian walk might well not be so interesting if it was...

pax

the cornett has arrived

2006-08-29T19:14:00.000Z

last tuesday, my cornett from CMI finally arrived. it has been a long wait, but so far i'd say it was worth it. i have progressed from making rude, flatulent, noises to making sounds that might be considered to have a pitch! i think that i have got something close to an octave range on it now: d' - d''. according to the tutor book i should need to get to at least c' - a''' (historically the range of a cornett is g - d''', or maximally f - g'''!?). that's a ways off for this aspiring musician. here are some pix of my new fave toy:

what colour is the sky in your world?

2006-08-28T19:36:00.000Z

i don't remember when the thought first occurred to me. the first recollection i have of it is talking to my brother in the kitchen on le jeune. what colour do you see the sky as? if i was in your head would i recognize it as blue? or would it look green or pink?

we all know the sky is blue because we have been told so. common colours are named, and we have accepted certain archetypal representations to point to. the sky is blue, grass is green, blood is red, paper is white, and so on. but, if i was in your head, would what your brain perceives look to me like that? there's no way to know. maybe if i could see what you see, it would be a psychedelic vision of fluorescent pink skies, blue trees, streets paved with gold, and populated with gray scale people.

could this account for people with a good sense for the visual arts? the colours they perceive line up well with the population average? and perhaps people who have the most aweful fashion sense... maybe it does look good to them... hmmm...

so, what colour is the sky in your world?

maverick philosopher

2006-08-07T20:45:00.000Z

i have been doing a lot of reading about philosophy and appologetics the last while, thanks to my brother-in-law's brother-in-law. a recent addition to my links section has been that of the maverick philosopher. i have enjoyed reading a number of his blog posts. it's pretty heavy stuff, so be warned! thankfully he seems to be towards my way of thinking (as much as i've read so far anyways ;-) i hope to learn lots from his site. i would definitely recommend. his refutations of naturalism, scientism, positivism and relativism are brain expanding and welcome. enjoy!

slinging

2006-08-03T19:13:00.000Z

following a link from my friend tim to wildwoodsurvival
to read an article about making fire with a chocolate bar and a pop can, i also came across a link to slinging. yes, i mean as in the ancient weapon of 'dangerous dave'! as with all things now, the revival of this ancient projectile flinging device has gone online. all i can say is, very cool.

colour science

2006-08-01T19:42:00.000Z

what do you get when you mix psychology, physiology, computers, and a can of paint? i'm sure that these guys could help you figure it out... color matters.

colours affect moods. colours affect vision, your body, and have applications on a whole pile of stuff. does colour affect taste? these guys have an answer.

i am a christian

2006-07-26T19:50:00.000Z

following my own admonition of a month back i want to share what i believe and why.

i believe there is one God. i believe that Jesus is his son.

currently my evidences consist of the Bible, testimony contained therein, and external historical evidences corroborating it's claims.

ah... summer...

2006-07-26T19:30:00.000Z

the summer dresses
flowers twirling on parade
forgotten things stir

arnold retires!?

2006-07-24T11:15:00.000Z

i guess that it happens to all of us. after a time we want to retire. arnold robinson, bass for the nylons has retired. i have many fond memories of singing along to his parts; even won an air-band competition with some friends with 'love potion #9'. below is the post from the nylons site.

After 26 wonderful years with The Nylons Arnold Robinson has decided to move on to the next stage of his life and retire as the bass singer for the group. His career with The Nylons has taken him to all corners of the earth and enriched his life with a world of experience and fond memories.

Arnold will have an ongoing interest in the group and will be supportive as The Nylons continue their legacy in performance and on record.

Arnold can be reached at arobi44@yahoo.com regarding his activities in stage presentation and consulting.

The group has always been greater than the sum of its parts and The Nylons will continue as a premier force in the world of vocal music.

- nylons

ad eminem?

2006-07-19T20:59:00.000Z

no... ad hominem! for someone who is new to the critical thinking field as a formal area of study with all kinds of jargon, it's cool to find terms for stuff that makes sense!

basically it goes like this. so-and-so says "bla". someone who doesn't agree with so-and-so says they're a moron so bla can't be true. how often does this happen? and in all kinds of situations? it can go the otherway too. so-and-so says "bla". they are instead a great person, so bla must be true. how often does that happen?

the problem with this kind of reasoning is that whether or not so-and-so is a moron/genius, "bla" must be proven/disproven by logical means. maybe the moron is right for once and the genius is wrong!?

basically i guess we could look at it this way... truth is truth whatever the source.

link to wikipedia for ad hominem

where have the real men gone?

2006-07-18T20:07:00.000Z

today i offer for your enjoyment a short quote from the book that my wife bought me for father's day.

Society at large can't make up its mind about men. Having spent the last thirty years redefining masculinity into something more sensitive, safe, manageable and, well, feminine, it now berates men for not being men. Boys will be boys, they sigh. As though if a man were to truly grow up he would forsake wilderness and wanderlust and settle down, be at home forever in aunt polly's parlor. "Where are all the real men?" is regular fare for talk shows and new books. You asked them to be women, i want to say. The result is a gender confusion never experienced at such a wide level in the history of the world. How can a man know he is one when his highest aim is minding his manners?
-john eldredge, wild at heart

men and women are different. i think that it's time that society recognize that instead of trying to squish us all into some kind of androgynous mold as though there is nothing different about us except our hardware.

do we know how to think?

2006-06-28T20:26:00.000Z

i've heard it said, and i have started saying it too, "common sense ain't so common". especially when dealing with matters of religion, do we know how to think - how to identify what's valid in the morass of ideas.

in our modern society of moral relativism, it is difficult to convince people that there is such a thing as moral absolutes, or even that there is such a thing as truth. is one person's opinion really just as valid as any other's? or are some right and some wrong?

what a brave new world that would be! a world where there is something - someone - that you could be sure of. a world where right and wrong are spelled out clearly. a world where there is absolute truth, not just subjective matters of perspective. can we handle that much certainty? whoops, off chasing rabbits...

back on topic. critical thinking is not something that is covered in k-12, or Sunday morning. so is it any wonder that people seem to be swayed by the most ridiculous and ill founded of arguments because it seems to be grounded in common sense.

i would like to challenge all of us human beings to look at what we believe and why. have a basis for our beliefs. know why we believe what we believe. have reasons why it is the one way. and if we find it is not based on anything, scrap it and find the one that is.

yidaki

2006-06-27T19:57:00.000Z

what a great instrument. most will have heard of it called a didgeridoo (in any of numerous different spellings), but that is just onomatopoeia. yidaki is it's name in the language of it's originators.

it's cool to think that somewhere in the outback, some dude found a hollow log and picked it up and made some cool noises with it. then someone figured out that termites hollow the logs for you. what a wild instrument. if someone today had come up with the idea we'd think he was a quack!

my reason for posting about yidaki today is that you can construct one, or more likely find one in your home. any tube of sufficient length and diameter can make a cool didge-like noise. if you want to 'make' one PVC pipe is an inexpensive medium. a length of pipe around 1.3m long, give-or-take. yidaki sound wild, and there is something distinctly un-modern about playing one. it takes you out of the everyday existence; time just flies by. also, i dare say that the breathing involved must be therapeutic.

so go grab some big long tube-ish thing you have around your home. make rude noises down it with your lips, and birdcalls, catcalls, whatever. go a little on the wild side. forget yourself for a bit...

if you'd like to read more of the history or physics have fun.

fathers

2006-06-18T20:34:00.000Z

my thoughts today are with my dad. i'm thankful to him for the way he modeled many of the behaviors that i now try to emulate, either consciously or subconsciously. it's true that our estimation of how wise our fathers are changes throughout our life time. right now the dad-o-meter is very high. i often marvel at all the stuff i remember him doing. the skills he has that i still have no grasp of. he still amazes with his knowledge of various unrelated topics.

here's to you dad. you are a singular individual. i love you.

math & music

2006-06-13T21:07:00.000Z

yes everyone says that music is mathematical.... ok they don't, but it turns out that music is all about math. sound is vibrations in the air. vibrations at a certain frequency, we call notes. and more specifically, notes are related to each other by very specific ratios. the simplest four would be: unison, perfect octave, perfect fifth, perfect fourth, major third. or in notes this could be starting from a c: c', g, f, and e, respectively. as mathematical ratios they would be 1: 2/1, 3/2, 4/3, and 5/4. if your really interested in some of the nitty gritty, check this wiki page on intervals.

now, this makes me wonder if one could write music that is based purely on math. is it possible to describe or produce a work based solely on math? and if produced would it sound any good? i have a feeling that this might be what 'new music' is about. who knows, food for future bloggings.

so back to math-music... i think that it would be interesting to try to write some music based on mathematical series: geometric, exponential, hypergeometric... who knows maybe even Taylor series! i wonder what it would sound like? maybe music could be produced by random number generator, with notes, chords, and dynamics determined by some statistical method? i'm sure some computer science jocks have tried something like this, but it's fun to think about... maybe you could have your own background music generator that could have it's coefficients tailored to your preferences of key, tempo, style, etc.? music just for you...

is anything sacred anymore?

2006-06-12T20:37:00.000Z

modern society seems to have largely decided that nothing is sacred. and anything that someone may hold up as special or sacred is immediately attacked, marginalized, and pulled down into the morass.

back in antiquity, some things were sacred. some things were so special - so sacred - you didn't dare to even speak their name.

maybe some things are special. maybe some things are more important. maybe some things are sacred after all.

rude noises... musical sounds...

2006-06-05T20:24:00.000Z

i have been interested in the possible sounds and physics of the human voice for a long time. the last few years that interest has come to include wind instruments. there are many kinds of wind instruments, but the kind that i'm writing of today are the brass, or lip-reeds as they are also known. this includes everything from the cornett to the cornet, alphorn to the digeridu.

what is intriguing about the brass family is that it takes something that babies do, "buzzing" with their lips and turns it into music. apparently making rude noises is not rude after all, provided you do it down a long pipe! the physics (acoustics) that describe the making of music by..... ahem.... doing whatever you want to call it... down a pipe, are relatively straight forward. greatly simplified, the fundamental (lowest note) is determined buy the length of the pipe. other notes that can be played are multiples of this frequency. this doesn't give us many notes to play with (bugle, natural trumpet). so what do we do? drill holes, make valves, do anything we can to make it possible to change the length of the pipe on the fly while we're playing! this way we can fill in the notes that we were missing before.

in the end, the way that the pipe, the mouthpiece and the bell (if that instrument has one), all work together to change our rude lip noises into something interesting and beautiful to hear. something worthy of donning good clothes and paying money to see and hear. something that doesn't make us laugh out loud when we see men and women in formal tuxes and gowns performing. behold, the brass instrument!

teach your child to read in 60 days

2006-05-31T20:50:00.000Z

i am just getting ready to teach my son to read using the same phonetics based "box of games" that my mother used to teach me. it's all material that was written and thought of in the '70s.

to my amazement it seems that there is still some sort of argument amongst academics about how to teach kids to read. the two camps are phonics and whole-word. to make the comparison simple, i'll put it like this: with phonics you teach what the letters sound like (as well as some other weird combinations), with whole-word you teach kids what words look like (recognize the whole word). which would you rather try to do? teach 45 sounds and the letters that make them.... or try to teach your kids to memorize by sight every word in the english language? in mandarin you have no choice, with an alphabet you do!

putting all the academic mumbo aside, my mom taught me to read/spell using phonics, and that's how i'm going to teach my son. it works.

just my tuppence.

quel lascivissimo cornetto...

2006-05-30T20:05:00.000Z

as a birthday present from my wife i received "How to Play the Cornett" by Jeremy West. this gracious gift will go miles towards me making noises that are more melodious than rude when my resin cornett arrives from Christopher Monk Instruments a few months hence.

now your obvious question - unless you are a fan of Monteverdi, Gabrieli, and Bassano - what on earth is a cornett (also variously known as cornetto and zink)? well.... imagine, if you will, a recorder with a brass type mouthpiece; six finger holes and one thumb hole at the top, made of wood, and sounding “like a ray of sunshine piercing the shadows, when heard with the choir voices in the cathedrals or chapels” according to someone in 1636.

the cornetto was the 'cool' instrument from about 1500-1650. every group that was any good had cornettos in it. the top players were the highest paid musicians of the day. its use in virtuoso music was at least equal to the violin, with much of the music indicating "violino o cornetto" meaning that either was a suitable choice. there are a number of theories as to why its use died out. one has it that many of the greatest players died out during the Venetian plague of 1630 leaving few to teach the instrument; another that since it is a difficult instrument there were few players to begin with, and the development of violin technique and new instruments like the oboe made it outdated.

thankfully for classical music buffs, interest has been revived in the last half century and there are now a good number of players world wide, and groups making recordings for us to enjoy: Jeremy West, His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts, Bruce Dickey, Concerto Palatino, and many more.

as an example of the sound i have linked a cornett/vocal duet from the website of Kiri Tollaksen: In Dulce Jubilo

buona notte tutto!

aha! that's better

2006-05-27T20:07:00.000Z

ok, we seem to be in business now. let's try posting a picture.... hmmmmm.... what's out the window?

the weather today has been kind of variable. this was taken during a breif respite from the rain shower that has been falling on and off through both cloud and shine.

rain stops, for a while
spring is fresh, and clean, and green
sun low in the west

testing.... testing.... 1....2.....3.....

2006-05-27T19:53:00.000Z

i'm not sure what's going on. status says that my last post is published, but it's not showing.... and neither are the changes to the links. so this is a test of the publishing again, to see if this will kick start it. there was a message while i was publishing last night about there being a problem with the servers but an 'engineer' was 'aware'....

so many settings!

2006-05-26T20:48:00.000Z

that was a blur. i have set a bunch of settings in the blogger.... hopefully i haven't broken anything. if there are any settings that would make this blog more useful, please email me as i'm still completely ignorant of how this whole thing works.

hello world!

2006-05-26T19:42:00.000Z

well.... this should be interesting....

i had wondered about this blogging thing.... thought that it might be a bit narcissistic. ;-)

i guess we'll see how far this rabbit hole goes, eh?