I choose to be a child.

Jason

Much of the controversy surrounding research on stem cells hinges on the source of the cells—particularly whether they come from embryonic sources or adult ones. Now research published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides new insight into the abilities of stem cells taken from hair follicles. The results indicate that these adult stem cells can develop into neurons.

I’ll resist making a connection between neurons and bald people.

~Jason

Here’s the audio file (she sang some of the lyrics wrong, so ignore that).

Nights ‘Round the Table
by Jason Silver

I long O Love, just to dance through the night.
You take the lead and I’ll move in Your light.
See, I await the return of the King.
Soon You’ll return and I’ll be here to sing:

Chorus 1
Welcome to You my Lord
So glad to meet You now.
Your majesty is too much for my eyes!
So before You I bow!

Hark! Now the Son has begun to arise
I see his smile looking back through my eyes.
Where flees the night and what beckons the day?
Naught but a hope in each word that You say.

Chorus 2
Simply, You are my Lord!
Find me on bended knee.
In your high courts, safe within your strong walls
This is where I shall be!


Bridge:
‘Tis but a fortnight before You return
Look, I am waiting, behold how I yearn!
On your white horse you will ride o’er the earth
Coming for those who have found second birth.

Nights ‘round the table
I hold to the sword.
Breastplate and shield,
Shoes of faith, little more.
Dragon will flee when he sees the King’s son.
Rage on! O battle, for vict’ry’s been won

Chorus 2
We are your servants Lord.
And we shall ever be!
You’ve made mere peasants now heirs to your throne!
Tell me! How can this be?

(c) 1998 Jason Silver. All Rights Reserved. Used by
Permission. International Copyright secured.

Hmmm. Constantine. What a movie. I loved it.

It wasn’t because this movie had any kind of accurate portrayal of theological truths. It came close lots of times, but fell short.

Examples it came close:

Constantine is trying to earn his way into heaven, and the angel Gabriel explains to him that salvation comes through faith, not knowledge. (Ironic, considering Keanu Reaves is a Gnostic). One can hear echoes of Jesus’ message in these, Gabriel’s words. For example, Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (NIV) (Link is to The Message version)

I was sad to see little children attend this movie. The pictures of demons and excorcisms were much too scary for kids. The lad I noticed had eyes like saucers as he walked out of the theatre. Stupid dad.

On the other hand, hell was portrayed in a really scary way. If you ever thought going to hell seems more fun than going to heaven, you’ll reconsider once you see this.

I decided to collect some of the theological mistakes, and contemporary myths which I found listed on various sites (linked to above).

• Hell is a fiery version of LA
• Hell is a place where demons torture damned souls
• God and Satan are two equal opposing forces
• Self-sacrifice will redeem a soul from a “mortal” sin — actually, Christ’s sacrifice covers all sins if we will accept his forgiveness.
• Constantine is looking for and earns redemption, although the conditions of his search are not of Christianity, nor does he earn redemption through Christ
• Demons can be harmed with physical objects like holy water and blessed medals, or 12 guage shotguns that use “special” blessed metal bullets filled with holy water.
• Angels are jealous of “mankind” and free-will.
• Gabriel tells Constantine that he will surely go to hell for what he has done
• Angels can be made mortal
• The writers tried to throw in aspects of every known religion in some manner
  • the “balance between good and evil” (Karma – Buddhism/Hinduism)
  • concern about facing east (Islam)
  • importance of holy water and crucifixes (Catholicism)
  • universal properties of water (Nature - New Age)
• Mythical items were included like dragon’s breath and the electric chair from Sing-Sing— perhaps the movie is trying to discredit itself— if those items seem ludicrous and make-believe, then angels and demons must be as well. 
• The power and especially intelligence of supernatural beings is underestimated, if not trivialized.
• Constantine approaches the demons with shameful arrogance and even calls them names and curses at them, all of which we are warned against in Jude 1:9.
• The Bible teaches us that supernatural beings are extremely powerful and intelligent—especially Satan, who was also the most beautiful angel—and it’s dangerous to flaunt ourselves to them
• God is not only absent, but distant throughout all that happens.
• Constantine explains how God made a wager with Satan for the souls of all mankind, and then sat back to watch what would happen. This leaves a rather disdainful and cruel impression of God, instead of the God of the Bible who is intimately involved in everything that takes place and with whom we can have a relationship

These are mildly fascinating comparisons, but in no way devalued the entertainment value for me. There is enough truth here to have a good conversation with someone who is interested in Christianity, and if you’re moderately confident in your faith these won’t get in your way. If you’re easily troubled by half-truths and misrepresentation, then you might want to avoid this film.

~Jason

I have watched him sleep or play and been hit by this total wave of sadness…that 4.5 years has gone so fast. I see those little cheeks and think he is way too little…He still dozes in the afternoons and rocks when he’s tired and carries his ‘kiki’ around. He’s not ready yet. I’m not ready yet.

…

But this morning I was really wrestling internally with the idea that I have 6 months left alone with him full time. I was starting to wonder if building a log cabin in the mountains and escaping with my family forever was even a remote possibility. But then a quote came to my mind from a book called “The Timepiece” by Richard Paul Evans.

So I dug out the book. In this story, a father, David, is pondering the fleeting years of his daughter’s life. But I love his perspective:

“It would seem that my Andrea is growing so quickly, as if time were advancing at an unnatural pace. At times I wish it were within my power to reach forth my hand and stop the moment - but in this I err. To hold the note, is to spoil the song”.

I so relate. The gentle curve of Seth’s back as he leans over some point of interest on the floor… the adoring eyes imploring daddy to “come play with me…”

That’s a concerto in itself. I want to sing it out and repeat the stanza too many times. “I like you, daddy; I LOVE you. IlikeyouIloveyou.” Those words are the counter-melody to parenting— the part that makes sleepless nights and potty-training all worth while.

Lucas is nine now, and let me tel you— grade 4 boys don’t smell or act quite the same way three year old boys do (you smell great Lucas, just different!). I want to press down on Seth’s head— to keep him from sprouting.

I admit it, I want to spoil the song.

I want that melody going through my head like a two-dollar jingle.

Time is passing and I’m afraid I’ll forget it all. I already forget the little bits of Lucas from when he was three years of age.

Whatever shall we do?

~Jason (from my comments on Christie’s post)

~Jason

It’s an RSS feed which posts the cheapest gas prices in Hamilton. If you live in Ancaster, sorry— I didn’t include the gas stations there, nor in the little towns around Hamilton. I just included Hamilton East, West, North and South.

Here’s the RSS link:

http://www.crookedbush.com/cgi-bin/fetch_hamiltongaspricescom.pl/rss

Here’s the HTML link:

http://www.crookedbush.com/cgi-bin/fetch_hamiltongaspricescom.pl

Let me know if you like it, or if you want any features added.

~Jason

Update: Added a text view if you want it.

http://www.crookedbush.com/cgi-bin/fetch_hamiltongaspricescom.pl/txt

Some good conversation regarding Salman Rushdie going on over at the oXyGEN blog. I’d love to hear some perspectives on this that don’t use our freedom of democracy as their saving grace.

~Jason

Update: Read Austin Fusilier’s blog entry today. Great comments.

Now it automatically calculates points on each move!

~Jason

So today, Joanne received an urgent call from some representative of the school. Apparently she was concerned that we had not seen this letter. Oh great. It’s probably in his lunch bag, which he also keeps forgetting at school.

The voice on the line was quite agitated— even excited. She had never had the fortune of experiencing this before, and wanted to meet Lucas for herself… because he’s the first student she’s interacted with who was graded as ‘gifted!’

Imagine! Our Lucas! Gifted! but… meeting for herself!?! What does that mean?

“This isn’t just a grade of his abilities, or achievements.” She paused dramatically. “This isn’t a grade of what he’s learned— it’s his inherent ability! Do you know what this means?!?” 

“No…” Joanne was still bracing herself.  So he’s not in trouble.

“He’ll be able to do anything he wants, to be anything he wants! There’s no limit.”

“Wow.” Joanne wasn’t sure what to think. It wasn’t really sinking in. Of course, we know our kids are the best. But what was this woman saying? “He kind of wants to be a doctor,” she breathed.

“Perfect. He’d make a great doctor! He is in the top 3 out of 100 students in his level of giftedness! We’ve sent you a special packet of information. Take a look at it, and then decide how you want to proceed. There’ll be special programs available, opportunities!”

Grandpa Sawatzky wasn’t phased at all. “Of course he is,” he said. “You two are way too hard on him. He’s a good kid. Now don’t forget to put him in baseball.”

I’m chuckling now. Baseball is exactly what he needs. I’m having vague recollections of that big black eye he got last season after missing a pop fly. Perfect.

I can’t think of a better kid to have this happen to. (It must be his old man wearing off on him, right?)

~Jason

Don’t despair, Check out this video from Despair.com.

~Jason

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0307/p11s01-stct.html

~Jason

I don’t see how it can make money for people!?! I mean, who are the idiots our there who are actually responding to spam messages— who are the people making spam worth someone’s effort?

Here’s what my spam software told me this morning:

SpamBayes has processed 255202 messages - 10145 (4%) good, 115926 (45%) spam and 129122 (50%) unsure.

Almost all of those unsure messages were spam, by the way. SpamBayes learns to recognize spam as you use it.

Unbelievable amounts of that icky ham-link substance in my mail-box every day. Yuck.

~Jason

Let’s not lose focus here. The current Liberal homosexual fiasco is likely meant to distract us.

~Jason

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they
carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored
lead-based paints.

We had no child-proof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we
rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking).

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE
actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but
we weren’t overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back
when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down
the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no
99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms……….WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we
were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the
worms live in us forever.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t
had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They
actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers
and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

So let’s all relax, shall we?

~Jason

I’ve come to a point where I don’t really want to argue with Mac users anymore. I figure the easiest way to do that is concede, “Yes, Macs have some cool features. They look cool. They’re fast and stylish. I don’t want one, but yeah, maybe they’re better than PC in some ways.”

That’s akin to Canadians (jealously) demonising their Southern cousins. Canada is pretty cool, it’s not the US; okay, we’re done talking about it.

Throw me a bone, people. Stop trying to irk me with anti PC quips. Mac’s are cool, Microsoft is a giant, profit-oriented company. Okay, we’re done. Pass me a PC, please.

Next?

~Jason