Wizard in Training

Wizard in Training
Originally uploaded by victorpanlilio.

CJ is going out as Harry Potter for Halloween. Good thing his cloak will fit over his parka easily, because it's turned unseasonably cold and there's snow everywhere. Last week was mild, but this week? All of a sudden, winter's here. It's like someone switched programs on the holodeck, but that's Calgary for you. Sigh.

Windows Vista or MacOS X?

Chris Pirillo, a longtime Windows fanatic, publicly expressed frustration with Vista and finds he's in good company. He writes:

I’m a nanometer away from switching my family over to OS X when Apple releases Leopard in Q1 of 2007. It looks clean and elegant. It comes with all the software and services the average user could ever want. It runs on the same hardware. A system will be able to dual-boot between OS X and Windows, and pricing is no longer astronomical. But most importantly? With its UI inconsistencies, Vista feels completely schizophrenic, and that’s enough of a reason for anybody to leave Windows in the dust—just like they left MSN Search and IE.

He didn't even mention that in a multi-PC household, upgrading to Windows Vista is a far more expensive proposition than upgrading the equivalent number of Macs to the next version of MacOS X: a five-user Family pack of OS X costs US$199. Each Windows PC requires a separate Windows upgrade, and Vista Ultimate is US$399 for each user. Do the math.

Thanksgiving

Today, in Canada, is the Sunday of Thanksgiving long weekend. We have much to be thankful for, but that should not blind us to the reality that there's a lot of work to be done to help everyone understand that gratitude should begin with giving thanks for the gift of life itself. This lesson is lost on many of us who, for example, think that abortion is a "right" — a woman's "right" to snuff out the life of her unborn child. Ms. Magazine boasts that they have collected 5000 signatures from women who are proud of having had abortions, so one blogger is collecting as many signatures as possible to present in opposition to Ms. Magazine's. She writes: "Help me create a petition that will put the one in Ms. to shame. Email this post to every man and woman you know. Email your names and cities/states to me. I'll compile them and send a petition to Congress - a petition with the names of people who think women (and their unborn children) deserve better than an abortion."

If you are thankful for the gift of life — yours as well as others — and if you have a few minutes to spare, consider adding your name to that petition. It's a small gesture to show thankfulness, and to speak up for the little ones who have no voice. Thank you.

Life Chain 2006

DSC_8957.JPG
Originally uploaded by victorpanlilio.

October 1, 2006 was grey and overcast. Nonetheless, almost 400 people showed up to hold signs telling the simple truth of what abortion does. I'm saddened that the number of participants is significantly down from the previous two years, but this only underscores the fact that we need to do more to get people to think about what abortion really is — mass murder, perpetrated against the most vulnerable human beings: unborn children. As Mother Teresa observed, "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."