27 November, 2008

An Exercise in Brevity

Who do you love?

  • I love my wonderful twin daughters.
  • I love my beautiful girlfriend.
  • I love my family.
  • I love my friends.

What do you love?

  • I love music.
  • I love books.
  • I love writing.

Where do you love?

  • I love to be at my beloved's side.
  • I love London, one of the few places on Earth I've felt at home.
  • I love to be in the snow.

When do you love?

  • I love the 1980's, when the world was a little less crazy and a little more kind.
  • I love it when it rains.
  • I love it when the coffee's done.

Why do you love?

  • Because I'm human.
  • Because it's easier to remember to love, than to forget to hate.

How do you love?

  • With passion.
  • With compassion.
  • Unconsciously.

23 November, 2008

'cause I Gotta Have Faith

A few weeks ago, someone challenged my religious views, based largely on my political opinions. As a liberal, I don't believe religion should have any part whatsoever in government...at least, not as long as we advocate for religious freedom. Religious freedom is one of the things that America has been built upon, and by legislating based on any faith, you are automatically infringing upon others' rights, not to mention flying in the face of the very liberties this country has been founded on. Religion and politics should not mix. The rest of this post, which are merely my own personal musings, will not focus on the political side of this at all. Instead, I want to examine the charges leveled against my beliefs in the religious context.

Before going forward, however, I should note two crucial points. One is that I don't expect to change anyone's mind. The vast majority of people of any religious stripe are so close-minded in this regard, that nothing anyone says will even be taken into consideration. To them, there is no room for discussion. To them, they are right and everyone else is wrong, and the morality, validity, or even the consistency of their beliefs is irrelevant in their eyes. I pity them. The other is that I was raised and continue to be a Christian, though admittedly not a wholly orthodox one by conventional standards.

The gist of the accusation that was brought to bare was that, if I did not follow the doctrine of the church, as presented in the canonical gospels, I was an ignorant, lost soul, who knew nothing of Christianity. The Bible, in their view, was to be taken literally, unquestioningly, and to be interpreted exactly as the Catholic church originally intended it to be. This last part is important. It was the Catholic church that originally determined what was or was not canon in the original gospels. It was the Catholic church which edited, reinterpreted, and even altered the texts for hundreds of years after Jesus lived and died. This is a matter of undisputed historical fact.

The next part of the argument for those who subscribe to unquestioning faith in the church is typically something to the effect of, "Well, God wanted it that way. The texts were only changed based on how He wanted them changed, and therefore must still reflect his ultimate word." This point breaks down in several key areas.

First, these folks who call themselves Christians and believe that the Almighty must have guided the edits of the holy texts over the centuries are the same people who say they revere the words of Jesus and his Disciples above all else. Yet, they have no qualms about the fact that what they are reading in their modern Bibles are not necessarily the words of their savior or his followers. They are effectively saying that, they revere the things that are falsely being reported about Christ over what he truly said or did, because at some point down the line, God had a light bulb go off in his head and thought, "Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn't have had him say that. Let's change it to this instead. There. That's better."

Second, the politics being played by the Catholic church over the centuries are easily discerned in historical retrospect. Many things were changed in the canonicals, not to make them more accurate, but to tighten Rome's hold over the masses, further agendas, and conform to the culture of the times.

Third, Christians, guided by whatever church they may follow, largely pick and choose which parts of the Old Testament are still valid arbitrarily. When asked why they do not adhere to certain rules and prescribed in Old Testament or Jewish law, they will say it is because the New Testament was meant to replace the old. And yet, they do not hesitate to point to passages in the Old Testament when it suits their purposes, or the political agendas of their church.

Finally, the biggest flaw in this kind of argument is so huge that I cannot fathom why it does not bother even them. Over the the intervening twenty centuries since Jesus performed his ministries, countless variations on the basic faith have emerged. Both Islamic and Mormon faiths, among others, have their routes in Christianity and the New Testament. If God only allows the Bible to be altered as he divines, then surely these faiths must also be of his design as well. If they are not, and it is possible for the holy Word of God to be desecrated by man, then it is possible...even highly probable...that the Catholic church is guilty of the same warping of the gospels.

In the end, I am more interested in the truth. If there is a higher power, and if He sent a messenger in the form of Jesus Christ to Earth to deliver it, then I want to know what that message was, not the message as it has been tailored by a power hungry church.

To that end, my mind is open. I have read the Gnostic Gospels. I have read the reports of the discovery of what may have been the tomb of Jesus and his family. I believe that the Catholic church has wrongly vilified Mary Magdalene, a woman who even many modern Christians celebrate, though the reasons why have been largely obscured by the dark veil the church has tried to place over the Bible.

The church, beginning with the Catholic and spreading outward to most, if not all, the denominations in the world, is a cancer upon Christianity. As long as we Christians continue to follow their lead like blind, brainless, senseless sheep, the malignant seeds planted centuries ago will continue to eat away at the true message of our faith.

"Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you," Jesus is reputed to have said. Is that what we're doing when we deny loving couples the right to marry? Is that what we're doing when we force our faith upon those who do not share it?

I am not saying that everyone should follow the road that I have walked upon, far from it. Spirituality is a private journey. The path we travel is different for each and every one of us. I believe that whatever higher power is out there knows that. In the end, the core of every religion teaches us to love. The roads to get their, and the details along the way may be different...but the basic message is always the same.

It's time we started listening.

20 November, 2008

On the Tip of Your Tongue

Fandom, the term used to describe the community and/or mania surrounding a particular entertainment property, is a strange thing. The number of fandoms that exist is staggering, and that number has grown exponentially since the introduction of the Internet, which has proven to be an ideal breeding-ground and meeting-place for fans of all sorts to share their love of...well...virtually anything.

I'm no stranger to these phenomena. In fact, anyone who knows me is well aware that I'm a first-class geek of the highest order. I might not be a black belt in the category of geekiness, but I'd be close. I count myself among the "He-Fans" and "She-Ravers" who obsess over the fantasy property Masters of the Universe first and foremost. I'm a Trekkie too. (I refuse to use the term Trekkor.) I know the wizarding world of Harry Potter well enough to be appointed Minister of Magic, and I'm no stranger to the Jedi.

Hands down, Star Trek and Harry Potter have the largest legions of voraciously dedicated fans, with Masters of the Universe in hot pursuit, but it is the Trekkies in particular that I want to discuss for just a moment.

I'm a Trekkie. I'm a really big Trekkie. That being said, I'm not the sort of fan who agonizes over the least of canonical inaccuracies in the franchise's forty-some years of historical continuity that spans several centuries in the Star Trek timeline. Because of that, I'm able to be very much looking forward to the 2009 film from J.J. Abrams, which seems to be breathing new life into the franchise, building new civilizations of Trekkies, and boldly going where Rick Berman has never gone before.

Still, I'm in awe of the lengths to which some Trekkie's have gone in their dedication to the universe of vulcans, klingons, and Romulans. In the words of Mr. Spock: "Fascinating."

One of these extremities has been in the birth of several languages, largely produced by acclaimed real-world linguists, for various Star Trek alien races. Did you know you could get Shakespeare's works translated into Klingon? It's true.

Strictly by accident...ahem...I was...uh...searching the Internet for...um...well, anyway, I stumbled into links to some fascinating resources.

The Klingon Language Institute (KLI) provides a scholarly environment, activities, and other resources to teach and spread the joys that is the warriors tongue. Yes, not only could you get Shakespeare's Hamlet in Klingon, but you could actually learn to read it.

Perhaps the Klingons are a little much for you. Maybe you're a more of an isolationist sort. You might find The Central Institute of the Romulan Language more to your taste. The Romulans have always been the most fascinating of Star Trek's alien races to me, and this site illustrates much of the reason why.

Finally, for those with a more logical disposition, the Vulcan Language Institute will certainly bring out your inner-Spock. Learning to speak the tongue of Surak's people just might lead you to live longer and prosper.

As geeky...or even ridiculous...as these projects may seem to some, I think they serve a multitude of important purposes, and help to display what can be done by us mere humans when we band together.

Do I think these languages should be taken seriously? Actually, I do. Every language known to mankind is pretty much arbitrary. Someone, somewhere, decided that one set of sounds was better than another set of sounds to express a given concept or to represent a given thing. The primary difference here, is that the inspiration for the language sprung out of a common love for a story in which the human race finally cleans up its act, cleans up its planet, and lives together in a cooperative, peaceful way. I can think of worse things to encourage. Can't you?

19 November, 2008

A Jinx for the Jinxed: Limeriticus Totaluss

Excerpted from "Jinxes for the Jinxed" as found in the HOgwarts library.

Throughout the wizarding world, there are a great many hexes and jinxes that can be legally used against your foes in defense...or more frequently against classmates whilst out and about in the grounds around Hogwarts. Few are as terrible as Limeriticus Totalus, which causes the target to speak in endless limericks. Let's learn about this horrific hex from one of its pitiable victims.


To be used when confronting a threat,
'twill bamboozle Death Eaters I bet,
For as you can asee,
It was once cast on me,
And I've not found a cure for it yet.

You ask for the counter spell,
You believe it is mine to tell,
But I'm sorry to say,
If this hex comes your way,
The best defense is to just run like hell.

17 November, 2008

Juggling Books

It's a rare thing that I juggle anything heavier than C++ modules in a software development project...unless you count the projects themselves. I try not to do that. If I thought about all the projects I take on at once, I'd never get anything done. But I digress.

I'm just about always reading something. I've been an avid reader for as long as I can remember, whether that meant the mini-comics that came with my Masters of the Universe figures when I was a wee lad of four and twopence, the Hardy Boys books of my youth, or the latest thriller by Stephen King. Literature is in my blood. But it is very rare that I read more than one book at a time.

By "reading," I of course mean actually reading. I have a fondness of falling asleep at night with the talented narrations of Jim Dale reading the Harry Potter series. These nighttime wanderings through Hogwarts, Hogsmead, and the Ministry of Magic, are completely random and seldom in any sort of coherent order. So I don't really count those as reading, per se. Besides, I've read the Potter books so many times that I can, by and large, recite them verbatim in perfect synchronization with Mr. Dale...but, again, I digress.

At present I'm reading three books, all wildly different from one another. One is the recently released "Just After Sunset" by the afore mentioned Stephen King. It's a collection of short stories and novellas told by the master storyteller in only the way he can deliver. As usual, they're presented with a level of excellence that few writers...particularly American ones...can even hope to aspire to. So far, "The Gingerbread Girl" is probably my favorite, though all the stories thus far have their merits. It's a bit on the heavy side. I wouldn't recommend it if you're battling depression or are particularly adverse to a case of the hopping heebie geebies.

At the other end of the galactic literary spectrum, I'm also reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It's a classic that I might not have ever gotten around to if not for the coaxing of my beloved. Not that I generally have anything against classics, mind you...I just don't gravitate toward them as a general rule unless they contain legendary swords, fairy creatures, or vagabond outcasts named after fruity pie fillings. It's an excellent read, full of the sort of wit and dry humor you'd expect from a Dickens masterpiece. I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. Not that that comes as a total surprise. My girl adores classic literature, and she's not steered me wrong yet.

Finally, I'm also working my way through American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I'm a newcomer to Gaiman's strange worlds and terrifying, twisted tales, but I'm finding that I rather take to his style and prose. I read his latest book The Graveyard Book just a few weeks ago, and found it delightfully spooky. (It's a retelling of sorts of The Jungle Book, where the boy is raised by ghosties, ghoulies and vampires in an old abandoned graveyard.) It was a great read that led me to try Gaiman's other works. American Gods is a surreal trip through the world's various mythologies distorted and warped by the lens of modern society. It's brilliant, unsettling, and remarkably insightful. It's likely that Neil Gaiman will become one of my preferred writers if the rest of his stuff is as good as these.

Well, I've rambled on long enough, I suppose. Hopefully some of you will have found this entertaining enough to leave a comment. (Hint! Hint!) If not, I'll just set Neil and Stevie on you. Ha! Take that!

Captain's Personal Blog

Captain's Blog Star Date 17.11.2008

It's been a couple of years since i had a personal blog. I was beginning to think it was time to resurrect the notion, dust it off, and see what could be done with it. It ain't much, and I'm not sure just how much I'll update it, but it's at least a place to sound off about whatever happens to be on my mind at any given moment, aside from the Mac-cessibility Site, which is specific to accessibility of Mac products for the blind and other disability groups.

Last time I had one of these things, it was primarily full of political rants. I expect there will be a fair number of those in this incarnation as well, but I'll try not to post exclusively on the latest atrocities by America's rightwingers. But, you've been warned. If you're offended by leftwing viewpoints, don't bother reading this blog, because I'm sure to offend you sooner or later...probably sooner.

Now I'll post this, see how it looks on the blog page, and tweak some more settings before I write anything substantive. Thanks for stopping by.