Odd Things Considered

Computational Thinking: A Digital Age Skill for Everyone

2012-01-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

↵ Use original player

The Fate of the US, Canada...and China?

2012-01-23T03:57:00.000-07:00

I'd skimmed the New York Times article on the disappearing American middle class, but I didn't go back and read it carefully until I came across this summary:

Apple doesn't build iPhones in the United States, in other words, because there is no longer an ecosystem here to support that manufacturing. There's no supply chain, there aren't enough super-low-cost workers, and there are not enough mid-level engineers. And many Americans looking for work are still hoping for a return to jobs, salaries, and lifestyles that have simply disappeared.

Uh oh. This might help to explain this Sunday's ominous statement from the Bank of Canada's Mark Carney:

It’s going to take a number of years before they get back to the U.S. that we used to know — in fact, they are not, in our opinion, ultimately going to get back to the U.S. that we used to know,” he said.

Hold that thought.

It reminded me of something unsettling I read a while back—a pensive piece authored by former Intel chairman Andy Grove:

I fled Hungary as a young man in 1956 to come to the U.S. Growing up in the Soviet bloc, I witnessed first-hand the perils of both government overreach and a stratified population. Most Americans probably aren't aware that there was a time in this country when tanks and cavalry were massed on Pennsylvania Avenue to chase away the unemployed. It was 1932; thousands of jobless veterans were demonstrating outside the White House. Soldiers with fixed bayonets and live ammunition moved in on them, and herded them away from the White House. In America! Unemployment is corrosive.

As I reflect on Carney's unsettling comment from yesterday, I worry about the future of the American middle class, not least because their well-being is intertwined with Canada's.

Sure, some U.S. real estate is becoming more affordable for well-off Canadians, but do the long-suffering citizens of Vancouver, BC really want to move to a country where the water in several large metro areas may already be running out?

And what about our erstwhile trading partner China, with its dangerously skewed demographic profile? Is it Canada's turn next?

At a Chinese New Year's banquet I attended last night, one of my dinner companions remarked that "something feels awfully off-balance in the world today."

Indeed.

Nikon D4 - WHY Athletes

2012-01-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

Who needs a DSLR?

2011-11-02T00:09:00.001-06:00

This past weekend I decided to go to Banff without lugging a DSLR or a camcorder. I just brought my iPhone 4S and a Panasonic Lumix waterproof pocket camera. The photograph here is from a panorama shot on the iPhone 4S, stitched in Pano.app.

Changeover

2011-10-20T20:51:00.001-06:00

I finally got my new iPhone 4S activated. The iPhone 3G in this photo served me faithfully for 3 years, and it still works, although it slowed down quite a bit after I installed iOS4 on it. The 4S is significantly faster, of course.

Birthplace of the Web

2011-10-07T11:10:00.001-06:00

The computer Tim Berners-Lee used to invent the World Wide Web, photo by Robert Scoble.

The web's inventor offers a few words in tribute to Steve Jobs, whose company NeXT created the platform on which the web was invented.

Steve Jobs: The Crazy Ones

2011-10-06T04:12:00.000-06:00

Does this ring true for you?

2011-09-09T13:38:00.001-06:00

Created by: Online Schools

Perceptive Pixel demos 82" multi-touch display

2011-08-12T00:56:00.000-06:00

Vancouver Cleanup: Post-Riots

2011-06-16T23:09:00.001-06:00

Vancouver Cleanup: Post-Riots, a set by Maurice Li on Flickr.

A much nicer side to a great city.

Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two

2011-05-02T12:53:00.000-06:00

The Future of Collaborative Visual Communications

2011-04-28T14:22:00.000-06:00

They Got it Right

2011-04-03T16:55:00.000-06:00

Japan Earthquake Swarm Google Earth Animation

2011-03-15T11:25:00.000-06:00

The World Has Changed...Just a Bit

2011-03-04T21:34:00.001-07:00

Doing the Unlikely

2011-02-06T22:51:00.003-07:00

Image source: Apple

Apple has managed to do something everyone else so far has failed at: make UNIX usable for non-geeks. In fact, Apple has turned UNIX into a mass-market consumer operating system. How? iOS, which powers the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, is UNIX at its core. The typical iOS device user doesn't need to know this, and frankly, they don't care so long as their devices work properly. iOS shares core code with MacOS X, so there's a non-trivial degree of reusability between codebases, and lessons learned on iOS are transferred to MacOS X and vice versa. This is only to be expected, since both iOS and MacOS X trace their ancestry to NeXTSTEP, the platform on which Tim Berners-Lee invented the web in 1990. So UNIX is alive and well...and thanks to Apple, popular. Not bad for an OS first developed in 1969. For historical context, scroll through the UNIX timeline.

Is How We Read Changing?

2011-01-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

Doing the Right Thing

2010-12-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

On Dec. 19, 2010, I ordered three items from the Canadian online Apple Store for my brother-in-law's Christmas present. The package was delivered on Dec. 22 to his home in Metro Vancouver. Unfortunately, one of the three items I ordered, an Apple Remote, was not in the package. Today I called Apple to follow up. The automated interactive voice response system took my order details, which I spoke in complete sentences as requested, then transferred me to a customer service agent, Stacy, who apologized for the oversight and arranged to have a free replacement shipped at no charge to my brother-in-law's address. The entire interaction was pleasant and took just a few minutes, consistent with the positive user experience Apple strives for in all of its products and services. Attention to detail is what sets Apple apart from many other organizations. It's yet another reason I'm a long-time Apple customer.

Almost Like New Again

2010-12-07T01:13:00.003-07:00

The old is new again

Last week I made an appointment at a nearby Apple Store to resolve issues with duplicate contact and calendar data on my iPhone. The staffer who helped me noticed my late-2007 Macbook was missing a sliver of plastic from the front edge of the top plate that supports the keyboard and trackpad. According to him, certain MacBooks had quality issues with the plastic used for this part of the case, so he offered to replace the part overnight at no charge even though the computer was well past warranty and I'd bought it from the refurbished section of the Apple Online Store.I got my computer back today. The keyboard and trackpad—indeed the entire top plate—were brand new, as promised. The outer case had been cleaned and polished, so scratches and scuff marks from almost three years of daily use were gone. The display surface was also the cleanest I've seen since I first got the computer. The entire unit was returned to me in better physical condition than when I handed it in for repair.

I've been an Apple customer for 15+ years. Apple's not perfect, but it sure gets a lot of things right.

In Flanders Fields

2010-11-10T03:10:00.002-07:00

The Human Family Can Do Better

2010-10-17T00:31:00.000-06:00

Data visualization is a 21st-century core competency

2010-10-01T00:28:00.002-06:00

Ignorant spammers - pathetic

2010-09-25T17:41:00.002-06:00

Say what?

Today I received this email (note the grammatical lapses):

As a result of unusual congestion in our email servers system, there would be removal of all unused Gmail Accounts. You will have to confirm your login details below for proper verification and for us to confirm your account activeness. Please feed us back with your login information below after clicking the reply button.

Account Name:
Password:

Present Country:

Note: Failure to give Google Account Team your login information above will leads to suspension and elimination of your Account permanently. Your response with the required details is mandatory for your Account security.

Google Account Management.

Riight.

Feeding Time

2010-09-04T23:58:00.000-06:00

Two Weeks With an iPad

2010-06-11T01:02:00.005-06:00

I ordered my 64GB 3G iPad on May 10, and although it was scheduled for delivery on May 28, a flight delay meant I got it on May 31. No biggie. It was good to have a (relatively) distraction-free weekend. So now I've had it for almost two weeks. First impressions: iPad is heavier than I thought it would be; its screen smudges more easily than it probably should; the onscreen virtual keyboard is not really suitable for extended typing.

It sounds like I'm dissing it altogether. Perish the thought. Although I'm still getting used to it, I'm enjoying the different interaction mode it encourages: anytime-anywhere access to information in the cloud or on the device–my 64GB is nearly full, with over 130 high-def TEDtalks. The inertial scrolling, with its subtle and refined acceleration and deceleration, is sheer joy to use. Yes, it seems like a cliché, but Apple hit one out of the park with the user experience on the iPad. Going back to a conventional mouse-windows-icons-keyboard interface on my Mac feels so...20th century.

What Motivates Us?

2010-05-12T21:37:00.007-06:00

Most businesses get it wrong, according to Dan Pink. Watch, listen, and learn.

TEDxCalgary

2010-04-29T21:47:00.007-06:00

The first TEDx conference I attended was an eye-opener. Two months later, my second TEDx event confirms that these gatherings are well worth attending. The notion of "ideas worth spreading" is too tame. Some of the ideas presented are life-altering — in a good way. So why does it seem that so many people still don't know about TED and its philosophy? How else can I explain the knowledge silos that persist in so many places, such as — and it pains me to say this — the organization I work for? I've worked at other large companies, and they all suffer internal gaps in communication. The key point I took away from today is the foundational role that storytelling plays in culture, for any organization or society that wants to develop some form of robust self-understanding. Data + analysis + presentation = actionable insight. I intend to apply this to my work. I've feasted at a brain banquet. Now, to digest.

22 Mar 2010 New Yorker cover painted on the iPhone

2010-03-18T02:54:00.002-06:00

Awesome iPad digital magazine demo

2010-03-17T23:45:00.002-06:00

Behind the scenes: how it was done

VIV Mag Featurette: A Digital Magazine Motion Cover and Feature for the iPad from Alexx Henry on Vimeo.

A New Fuel Cell That Might Actually Be Practical?

2010-02-21T23:27:00.002-07:00

Watch CBS News Videos Online

A Future Where Usability is the Prime Virtue

2010-02-06T00:24:00.019-07:00

(iPad image © Apple)

After months of speculation, rumour-mongering, and hype, the iPad was announced last week. A lot has been written elsewhere about it, much of it utterly wrongheaded, so I won't rehash any of that. However, some folks do seem to grok what the iPad is about — click on the links at the end of this post if you're curious to read what they say. In the meantime, imagine a near-future where computers are different — much more accessible and useful to non-geeks. First, a brief tour of where we came from, and how little progress we've made as computer
victims
users, really — until now.

Jan 2003, self-explanatory:

From: Bill Gates
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:05 AM
To: Jim Allchin
Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame

I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues

Jan 2004 - Allchin (who led the Vista team) wrote:

From: Jim Allchin
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 8:38 AM
To: Bill Gates; Steve Ballmer
Subject: losing our way...

I am not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers (both business and home) the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems [our] customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that doesn't translate onto great products.

I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft...my point is about the philosophy that Apple uses. They think scenario. They think simple.

FAST FORWARD SIX YEARS

Feb 2, 2010 - developer David Alison looks back on his switch in 2008:

In relatively short order I went from having a MacBook to purchasing a Mac Pro, which replaced my primary Windows desktop. Whereas the MacBook was quick, the Mac Pro was-and still is-remarkably fast. With dual 2.8Ghz quad core Xeons and 12GB of RAM, I was suddenly able to run a huge number of applications seamlessly.

The bottom line is I'm really happy I decided to "try out" that MacBook two years ago. Computing-as a software developer the place I spent a huge number of my waking hours-became fun and exciting again.

Former MS Business Development Director Don Dodge tries out Apple stuff:

The most obvious distinction between Microsoft and Apple is design. Apple is quite simply the best hardware / software design company in the world...You see the design ethic in everything Apple does. The Mac, iPod, iTouch, iPhone and iPad are just beautiful, elegant, and imaginative designs that provide a delightful user experience.

Feb 4, 2010 - Former MS VP **** Brass recounts Microsoft's self-inflicted woes:

When we were building the tablet PC in 2001, the vice president in charge of Office at the time decided he didn't like the concept. The tablet required a stylus, and he much preferred keyboards to pens and thought our efforts doomed. To guarantee they were, he refused to modify the popular Office applications to work properly with the tablet. So if you wanted to enter a number into a spreadsheet or correct a word in an e-mail message, you had to write it in a special pop-up box, which then transferred the information to Office. Annoying, clumsy and slow.

Which, when you think about it, describes most Microsoft products.

Contrast this with what's coming soon for the iPad:

People should have confidence that their work is always preserved unless they explicitly cancel or delete it. If your application helps people create and edit documents, make sure they do not have to take an explicit save action.

Bring it on!

Additional reading

Joe Hewitt: iPad

Fraser Speirs: Future Shock

Lucien Dupont: My Dad and the iPad

Mike Monteiro: The Failure of Empathy

Post-holiday mall crowd

2010-01-03T16:24:00.001-07:00

Posted via web from victorpanlilio's posterous

Earlier and earlier...

2009-12-19T16:13:00.005-07:00

Symantec is reporting that porn is among the top four search terms for children under the age of seven. Before we all get bent out of shape wringing our hands about this, know that there are easy steps we can take if we have young children at home and we want to reduce the likelihood of their stumbling upon porn: (1) sign up for a free OpenDNS account and set the appropriate level of filtering for our home network at the router and as a backup also on all the computers our children use, including handheld devices such as the iPhone and iPod Touch; (2) turn on and lock SafeSearch in Google or set the default search engine to one that uses SafeSearch restrictions; (3) set and lock the Parental Controls in the operating system; (4) give our children only non-administrator user accounts so they cannot easily override our settings. OpenDNS can generate reports of which website and domains are being blocked, and we can monitor online activity using the OpenDNS web dashboard from any internet-connected computer or smartphone.

After taekwondo class

2009-09-23T18:50:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

Posted via email from victorpanlilio's posterous

Gaming on the 24-inch LED Apple Display

2009-09-05T00:48:00.004-06:00

via Pixelpipe

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Check out BlockChalk

2009-09-03T13:18:00.001-06:00

I'm on BlockChalk. It's the voice of your neighborhood. Use it to talk to anyone, about anything. It's anonymous, there's no sign-up and nothing to install.

Go to http://blockchalk.com with your iPhone and check it out!

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Deanna's Freaking Awesome Pancakes

2009-08-22T19:08:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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The truth is not always pleasant

2009-08-07T16:41:00.000-06:00

Did I mention that I like cheese?

2009-07-02T13:18:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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The iPhone is not really a phone at all

2009-06-22T20:31:00.012-06:00

My friend Craig Nakamoto just posted his first review of the new iPhone 3Gs. Long story short: he likes it. I'm not surprised. Craig has in the past used (among other devices) a Moto Razr, a Moto Q, a Blackberry, and an iPhone 3G (which got run over by a car).

I've had my iPhone 3G for only 8 months, and I've just updated it to OS 3.0, so I won't be upgrading to a 3Gs but will wait until my current contract ends in 2011. By then, I expect the iPhone 4Gs or whatever it'll be called will have evolved into a badass pocket computer with multi-core CPU, 3D GPU acceleration, universal real-time voice recognition, 2+ megapixel front-facing camera for full video chat, 5+ megapixel rear camera with at least 3X optical zoom that can shoot noise-free RAW images up to ISO6400, full HD (1080p) video recording and playback, 512GB of flash RAM, a micro SDXC expansion slot, outdoor GPS accuracy to under 1 meter, wireless broadband in the 20-50Mbps range, a built-in pico projector with 1+ megapixel resolution, biometric security, and an all-day battery.

CJ plays on my 1996 PowerMac 7600

2009-06-05T02:56:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Lamborghini Galliardo

2009-05-27T20:39:00.001-06:00

Summer in the city brings out the exotic cars, like this blue beauty

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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A Calgary landmark

2009-05-27T20:22:00.001-06:00

I've lived in Calgary for 23 years but I had never gone until today. Cool. This image was stitched together from 3 shots using Pano on my iPhone 3G.

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Why Capitalism Is Failing?

2009-05-10T21:34:00.002-06:00

Sisters

2009-05-09T19:43:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Wineglasses with markers

2009-05-09T16:18:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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CJ creates imaginary worlds

2009-05-09T15:21:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Smashed bus shelter

2009-05-02T17:48:00.005-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Safety glass

2009-05-02T17:48:00.003-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Juice break

2009-05-02T17:48:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Confession time

2009-05-02T17:38:00.003-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Grocery iced tea break

2009-05-02T17:38:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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At the playground

2009-05-02T17:37:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Going bike riding

2009-05-02T17:34:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Dying for cheesecake

2009-05-02T13:32:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Saturday pizza at Spiros

2009-05-02T13:06:00.001-06:00

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Swine Flu Cases Displayed on Google Maps

2009-04-28T00:09:00.001-06:00

View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

Caroline's uptime stats

2009-04-18T21:02:00.002-06:00

iStat report

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Good Friday Liturgy 2009

2009-04-12T00:43:00.001-06:00

Chicken a la Carte: Food As You Rarely See It

2009-04-09T11:01:00.004-06:00

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Now on YouTube: First Moving Image Ever Made

2009-04-08T20:02:00.001-06:00

http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/EbsAq6z46Rg/now-on-youtube.html

Sent from my iPhone 3G

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Celebrities, Before and After Photoshop

2009-04-03T00:50:00.002-06:00

A revealing look at how Photoshop makes celebrities look, um, better

CELEBRITY AIRBRUSHING: BEFORE AND AFTER
http://gossip.commongate.com/post/celebrity_airbrushing_before_and_after

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Sometimes simple is best

2009-04-01T23:15:00.003-06:00

_VPP5784,
originally uploaded by victorpanlilio.

I recently was asked to photograph a family, friends of mine. As I went over in my mind the logistics of executing this assignment, I fell into the usual pattern of thinking about what lighting to use, how to arrange my subjects, etc. On the appointed day, it was cloudy bright, and because the living room in which I was photographing had large windows, I went back to the most basic lighting setup of all — the same one used by the Dutch masters (e.g. Vermeer) — window light. I didn't even need to use a bounce card or fill reflector, let alone a fill flash. That's it. I think I'm going to use this light as much as possible. It just seems so right.

Boys with braces

2009-03-05T05:47:00.001-07:00

CJ and Michael show their metal

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Popsicle Boy

2009-03-05T05:03:00.001-07:00

CJ enjoys a fruit popsicle

Posted via Pixelpipe.

Understanding the Credit Crisis

2009-02-24T00:20:00.001-07:00

Part 2 here.

The "University" of Kalgary

2009-02-06T23:52:00.016-07:00

I can't say it any better than Ezra Levant did — in serving notices of trespass to student members of Campus Pro-Life, the University of Calgary administration merits condemnation, not just from its alumni, but from everyone who believes that a university has a special duty to protect free speech and foster honest debate about controversial issues. As someone who grew up under the military dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, I still remember how one of my childhood friends was tortured and then murdered by that odious regime. Alas, Canada seems to be rapidly devolving towards a 21st-century tyranny of the morally relativistic Left, and this idiocy by the university administration is just more evidence of the accelerating suicide of the West. Today the police knock on doors of university students who are trying to raise awareness about a legitimate public policy issue. Tomorrow, what? Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

Life: Imagine the Potential

2009-01-23T02:22:00.000-07:00

We live in interesting times...

2009-01-06T22:20:00.003-07:00

Video Twitter... or YouTube for the Ritalin crowd

2008-12-23T02:01:00.000-07:00

trying out 12seconds, what else? on 12seconds.tv

What is Advent For?

2008-12-07T22:22:00.002-07:00

Lunch Earlier Today At Chianti

2008-11-30T22:32:00.001-07:00

Geolocate this post

Posted with LifeCast

Dinner at Bonterra Trattoria

2008-11-22T22:36:00.001-07:00

Geolocate this post

Posted with LifeCast

Seafood Dinner

2008-11-18T23:41:00.003-07:00

Posted with LifeCast

Where does e-waste really go?

2008-11-16T23:11:00.000-07:00

Watch CBS Videos Online

Carving Contest

2008-10-28T21:31:00.001-06:00

Posted with LifeCast

Getting Started on Seesmic

2008-09-29T02:47:00.002-06:00

Wall-E briefly reviewed, sort of

2008-09-13T22:04:00.010-06:00

I'm quite late posting my review (I watched the movie months ago, shortly after it was released in cinemas), but here it is, finally.

This film is brilliant in so many ways. It pays subtle homage to other sci-fi movies, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, E.T., and Short Circuit. In the credits there's also plenty of visual homage to Seurat, Van Gogh, and even Atari. Rarely have I enjoyed a film so thoroughly, and the inside jokes for Apple fans are sprinkled throughout - from Wall-E's solar charging completion sound (taken from a rebooting Mac) to the Axiom autopilot (a synthesized Macintalk voice) to the video-capable iPod on which Wall-E views the Broadway musical that taught him about romantic love. There are clever touches and Easter eggs throughout — among the space detritus circling the Earth, Sputnik bobbing in the wake of the ship carrying EVE and Wall-E to the Axiom, and as the Axiom roared past the moon, the lower stage of the Eagle lunar lander, a lunar rover, and a U.S. flag, all reminders of NASA's Apollo space program. Much has been written about the relationship between Wall-E and EVE, but EVE's rebellion against the "Directive" revels in the notion that love can ultimately triumph over all obstacles. Robot love, that is. A bit of a stretch, perhaps, but the humans eventually pick up the hint.

How ironic that future humans are revived from their sybaritic stupor by a lonely, geeky trash compactor and his feisty robot girlfriend. More importantly, perhaps, is the surprising level of cultural self-parody (and criticism) throughout. In fact, it reminds me of The Story of Stuff. Many commentators bristle at the (supposed) environmental scaremongering they see in the film. On the contrary, the movie's dystopian view of our future is entirely appropriate.

Dismissive reviewers might want to look in the mirror to see if they bear any resemblance to the dumbed-down captain of the Axiom, since they seem to have missed the point of the film entirely. There are plenty of movies that cater to philistines. Wall-E is not one of these. If you haven't seen it, rent or buy the DVD when it comes out in November.

Magnetosphere

2008-09-07T09:10:00.000-06:00

Magnetosphere revisited (audio by Tosca) from flight404 on Vimeo

The US Election Just Got More Interesting

2008-09-01T00:44:00.012-06:00

Some people think Sen. McCain picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to woo Hillary Clinton supporters disenchanted with Sen. Obama's failure to name Sen. Clinton as his running mate. It's probably not that simple, but one can't help wondering if indeed gender was indeed a major issue in this case. Is the American public truly ready to accept a woman as its potential next president? Perhaps, perhaps not.

One thing is clear: the US Republican Party is trying to differentiate itself clearly from the Democrats on pro-life issues, and Gov. Palin's pro-life stance seems pretty obvious. For one thing, she said about her youngest child Trig, who was diagnosed in utero with Down Syndrome:

We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed.

OK. Now if that doesn't bring into stark relief the difference between a pro-life and a pro-choice (really pro-death) position, I don't know what does. Regardless of your politics, the pro-death position is really no different in principle from the "useless eaters" philosophy that led to the Holocaust. And this should make us think carefully: what do "pro-choice" people really believe? That some human lives (e.g. theirs) are more valuable than others (in this case, unborn children). This should be clear. Don't let the arguments about "a woman's right to choose" fool you. A right to choose what, exactly? To kill her unborn child. In other words, murder.

Real-world Fuel Economy

2008-08-04T01:30:00.008-06:00

Yesterday, with my fuel gauge reading empty, I filled up my car (a 1996 Honda Civic CX hatchback 5-speed). Regular petrol has gone up over 100% since I bought my car new 12 years ago, so its fuel economy is even more important now. At every fillup, I reset the trip odometer and take careful note of total fuel consumed. For the most recent period I had gone 648.1 km, the fillup was 37.562 litres, so the car used 5.8 litres of fuel per 100 km traveled. This matches the highway fuel economy specified in the 1996 Civic brochure, which is impressive because I mostly drive in the city. By avoiding traffic and shifting into the highest gear as soon as possible, I often exceed the city fuel economy rating of a SmartCar! My next car will be... you guessed it, another Honda. Like this one.

MIT Energy Storage Breakthrough — About Damn Time, Too

2008-08-01T02:08:00.005-06:00

Folks, this just might be it — the Holy Grail of energy storage for off-peak use. Researchers at MIT have apparently found a way to greatly increase the efficiency of electrolysis. If their discovery can be made commercially feasible, our current dependence on fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) for power generation and transport fuel may become a quaint relic of the past:

Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab, have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun's energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night.

The key component in Nocera and Kanan's new process is a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst produces valuable hydrogen gas. The new catalyst consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity -- whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source -- runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced.

Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis.

The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and it's easy to set up, Nocera said. "That's why I know this is going to work. It's so easy to implement," he said.
...
James Barber, a leader in the study of photosynthesis who was not involved in this research, called the discovery by Nocera and Kanan a "giant leap" toward generating clean, carbon-free energy on a massive scale.

"This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the future prosperity of humankind," said Barber, the Ernst Chain Professor of Biochemistry at Imperial College London. "The importance of their discovery cannot be overstated since it opens up the door for developing new technologies for energy production thus reducing our dependence for fossil fuels and addressing the global climate change problem."

Given the projected demand growth vs. production decline of oil, this discovery comes not a moment too soon. It brings us closer to a hydrogen-fueled future.

Mr. Rooter

2008-07-28T19:03:00.005-06:00

I had to work from home today because the plumbers arrived to inspect and clean out our sewer drains. Our next door neighbour had a sewer line backup that flooded their basement just before Christmas. The line had to be replaced, which meant removing a large tree from their front yard and digging a trench up the lawn from the sidewalk to the house. Since our home is about the same age, we decided to have our sewer line checked, and we're sure glad we did. Some tree roots had grown into the joint between our main sewer line and the city sewer line, and there was a partial obstruction. Using a high-pressure hydroscrubber, the plumber cleared away the tree roots and the buildup inside the pipe. In the future we have to call the City Waterworks office for a regular inspection. I'm just glad we caught this problem before it got serious enough to require excavation.

Millennials (aka Generation Y)

2008-06-21T17:14:00.002-06:00

A community grieves and asks "Why?"

2008-06-02T22:51:00.008-06:00

I've lived in the Calgary neighbourhood of Dalhousie, since July 1997, shortly after I got married. It's a safe, pleasant neighborhood, with lots of walkways and green spaces and tidy, well-maintained homes. I've been taking my son CJ, now eight years old, to a school playground near our home since he was six months old. On these walks, I can't help but notice that the homes in the area don't suffer from a bland sameness imposed by strict architectural controls. So each home has a unique personality and character—each one different, and in its own way, charming.

5588 Dalhart Hill NW was one such home.

Until...

Sometime in the evening of Tuesday, May 28, 2008, a young husband and father by the name of Joshua Lall took a knife and fatally stabbed Amber Bowerman, the tenant who lived in the basement suite, then he went upstairs to the master bedroom, fatally stabbed his wife Alison and his daughters Kristen and Rochelle, aged five and three, and then he went to the nursery where he stabbed himself, leaving his youngest daughter Anna, aged one, the sole survivor. The murder-suicide was discovered the next morning, and the horrific news spread quickly, not just throughout Dalhousie, but to the entire city and beyond.

This happened not far away from my home. As soon as I learned the address where it all took place, I typed it into Google Earth, measured the distance, and scrutinised the aerial view. I knew the what, who, and where. But the most important question—why—remains unanswered as I write this.

This evening, June 2, I attended an information session organised by the Calgary Police Victim Assistance Unit, to help Dalhousie deal with the aftermath of the killings. Some families at the town hall meeting knew the Lall family directly. They were struggling to find a way to honour the memory of the family, and one woman who knew the Lall family well choked back tears as she spoke. I saw Cesar and Marichu, fellow neighbourhood residents whom I know from my university alumni association. I met Laurie, an old acquaintance, who often shared a bus ride with Joshua Lall on the way to work. I also met Claire, an old friend who, as it turns out, moved into the area a few years ago. We're not sure what to tell our children.

The news stories cite anonymous sources that claim Joshua reported hearing voices in his head, that he was having a mental breakdown, that he was stressed at work, and so on—the usual sorts of explanations for what can properly be called sheer madness. We're all trying to make sense of what has happened. By all accounts a loving, devoted husband and father, Joshua had committed acts of unspeakable evil. What made him do it?

The mere mention that Joshua may have feared he was possessed by the devil elicits a certain queasiness in many people. Surely in the 21st century we're beyond this kind of superstition! This was a case of undiagnosed, untreated mental illness, nothing more.

I so want to accept the mental illness explanation. It's so... rational.

However, I can't dismiss the possibility of a supernatural explanation so easily. Two days before the murders took place, I experienced possibly the strangest dream I can recall. I'll leave out the details, but suffice it to say that the events in my dream involved people going into a house from which they would never leave.

At the town hall meeting, someone suggested that the residents of Dalhousie should pool their money, buy 5588 Dalhart Hill NW, have the house demolished, and establish a small park, so that we as a community can achieve some sense of closure. This strategy is similar to what one Amish community did with their one-room schoolhouse after five girls were fatally shot in it.

I think it's the best suggestion I heard at the town hall meeting. It may be the necessary step towards healing for our community. Necessary, but not necessarily sufficient. In my 4 April 2008 blog entry, I had written:

Sin affects people around us as well, including our family and friends. Sin is corrosive, and it weakens our ability to discern and do what is good.

Little did I know that less than two months later, I would be forced to ponder the meaning of what I had written, in such stark terms.

Self-Honesty

2008-04-04T23:37:00.015-06:00

An anonymous coward called "foesoftheignorant" scolded me for one of my posts from over a year ago, in which I pointed out that certain types of poor choices we make can have lasting, life-changing negative consequences. For example, we might have sexual intercourse with someone we've just met in a bar. We might then contract a sexually-transmitted disease. If it's HIV, it could mean a death sentence. Or, ignoring the advice of our friends, we might choose to drive after consuming alcohol, and cause an accident that kills or maims us and others. One careless moment can lead to a lifetime of profound regret.

What would be a constructive thing to do in this situation? A person of integrity might use their own sad experiences to warn others about the perils of making poor life choices. When I was a child, our grade school brought former drug addicts to speak to the class about the living hell they'd gone through. I resolved then and there to not become a substance abuser.

We often engage in rationalizing that our sins affect only ourselves, but this, like so many other lies we tell ourselves and others, is ultimately the result of a prideful, selfish delusion. Sin affects people around us as well, including our family and friends. Sin is corrosive, and it weakens our ability to discern and do what is good. Sin leads us away from God.

Tonight I listened to the deeply moving testimony of a former heroin user and alcoholic who was several times given up for dead. It's a miracle that his marriage has lasted thirty years! It was only his faith in God's love and mercy that brought him back from the dark night of the soul into which he had descended. He accepted the consequences of his actions, repented of his sins, and asked for forgiveness.

We may not have undergone such dramatic, harrowing life experiences, but we should still think about those occasions when we've ignored the "still, small voice" within that is calling us to do what's right, instead of what just "feels good" at the moment. Indeed, our spiritual immaturity can lead us to do some incredibly foolish things. To guard against this, we should examine our conscience frequently — and as soon as possible, avail ourselves of sacramental reconciliation.

The truth can certainly set us free, but first we must face it honestly.

Vistagate

2008-03-01T21:51:00.007-07:00

Well, it's now all over the Internet, here, here, and here. Long story short: recently revealed Microsoft internal emails show that Windows Vista was not only far from ready when it was released for sale to the public, Microsoft's own executives knew this, and Microsoft's partners (such as Intel, HP, and Dell) also did. Yet despite this, they all pushed Vista with a campaign about "The Wow! starts now." Filthy stinking liars, all of them. No wonder the Vista launch was met with widespread skepticism and sometimes outright disgust. Vista was called a chrome-plated turd, and worse. All those negative reviews? Utterly deserved. Computerworld's Gregg Keizer writes,

Last-minute changes... broke drivers, forcing key hardware vendors to "limp out with issues" when the operating system launched last year, according to a presentation... that was made public this week.

From the same publication, Mike Elgan opines:

Everybody's talking today about "Drivergate" — internal Microsoft e-mails that show senior Microsoft executives personally struggling to use hardware products sporting the "Windows Vista Capable" sticker. The e-mails also show that Microsoft lowered its standard for some hardware compatibility, apparently to help Intel impress Wall Street. This revelation is simply the latest in a long series that add up to one inescapable conclusion: Windows Vista sucks.

Gee, tell us something we don't already know.

PCMag's Lance Ulanoff wrote:

Overall, Microsoft's chief concern during this time appears to be everything but the consumer.

So, not only does Microsoft treat its customers as suspected criminals (with such nonsense as Windows Genuine Advantage and user-hostile product activation), they utterly disregard the interests of their customers in order to maximize their own revenue (e.g. through selling multiple versions). Whoop-dee-do.

Recently, to prop up lackluster retail Vista sales, Microsoft reduced the price. Brian Caulfield's take in Forbes Magazine? Microsoft's Cheaper Vista: Don't Bother.

Exactly.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I wouldn't bother running Windows Vista even if it was free (as in beer). If I really wanted free, I'd run some flavour of Linux. As it is, MacOS X serves my current needs well, and I'm not even running the latest version.

The Times, They Are A'Changin'

2008-02-21T22:34:00.007-07:00

I used to read PC Magazine (PCMag) regularly, even after I started using a Mac (in 1996) as my primary computer. If I recall correctly, I started with PCMag Vol. 1 No. 3 (and I've kept my Vol. 1 No. 1 issue of PC World magazine). PCMag was one of my main sources of information about personal computing, along with Byte, Macworld, and MacUser. This was all well before the web was invented — no Slashdot, no Ars Technica, no Digg, no Gizmodo, no Engadget. PCMag occasionally ran articles about Macs, just so their readers would know about that other computer. The overall tone of the articles tended to be dismissive. My, my, how times have changed. Now, MacOS X 10.5 Leopard is a PCMag Editor's Choice. Edward Mendelson writes:

Leopard again raises the question of whether to switch from Windows to a Mac. I've found Vista to be a major disappointment that tends to look worse the more I use it. I still use Windows XP for getting serious work done in long, complicated documents. But OS X is easier to manage and maintain and I vastly prefer OS X to Windows for Web-browsing, mail, and especially for any task that involves graphics, music, or video. Leopard performs all such tasks even better than previous versions did—and Leopard is the only OS on the planet that works effortlessly and intuitively in today's world of networked computers and peripherals. Leopard is far from perfect, but it's better than any alternative, and it's getting harder and harder to find good reasons to use anything else.

So, just in case it isn't crystal clear — a Mac is, or should be, the No. 1 choice of anyone who's buying a new personal computer for multimedia use. And nowadays, that's almost everyone whose budget allows for more than a bare-bones $199 Linux desktop PC or an Asus Eee.

Vista SP1: Don't Hold Your Breath

2008-02-14T09:25:00.008-07:00

A lot of people I've spoken with who've tried Windows Vista did so only because it came preinstalled on their new PCs. It's not as though they were eager to "upgrade" from Windows XP. In fact, the opposite was often true: many wanted to go back to Windows XP after experiencing Vista. In case you were wondering whether the upcoming release of the first service pack for Vista would reduce its suckage, wonder no more. Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal has been testing Vista SP1, and he observed:

In briefing me on SP1, Microsoft made a big point of saying that great progress had been made in the past year in making Vista work properly with add-on devices, such as printers. I tried my 2003-vintage Hewlett-Packard printer, which hadn’t worked properly with the original Vista. It still didn’t work well with SP1.

In other words: Vista SP1 still sucks.

The Horror of Vista

2008-02-03T02:34:00.000-07:00

Phil Greenspun relates a horrific tale of software gone awry, which underlines how perfectly awful the Vista out-of-box experience can be for some unfortunate souls. It's not unlike having the transmission fall out just after you drive your brand new car off the lot. Yes, apparently it can be that bad.

No wonder people are sticking with Windows XP, or switching to Macs. Those who switch to Macs, like entrepreneur Mark Cuban, often become fanboys. In some cases, whole families switch to Macs — permanently. A priceless quote:

Adapting to life on a Mac was effortless, and delivered a much easier, better and more intuitive computing experience for everything I needed and wanted to do than any of the Windows-based PCs that littered the previous two decades.

Nowadays, I often wonder why anyone would even consider buying a Windows PC.

Resurgent Apple

2008-01-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

Writing in the New York Times, David Pogue notes that Apple's Macintosh computers are enjoying new popularity and he asks his readers why now? The comments, especially from those who recently switched to a Mac from a Windows PC, are revealing. It might be tempting to dismiss the discussion as fanboy/girl-ism, but there seems to be more than anecdotal evidence for Apple's changing fortunes. More and more people, it seems, plan to purchase Macs as their next computers. Apple's latest operating system, MacOS X 10.5 Leopard, has been getting considerably more positive reviews than Vista.

There are many good reasons to consider a Mac as your next computer. Here's an excellent one: there is much less malware that affects Macs, compared with Windows. Exhibit A: SilentBanker, a trojan horse that invisibly monitors your online banking transactions, and then proceeds to rifle through your accounts. You can get your PC compromised by visiting an infected website (and these include legitimate sites you might normally visit, not only obviously dodgy ones). Thus far, SilentBanker affects only Windows systems, including Vista. Uh-oh, indeed.

New Year's Resolutions

2008-01-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

I will try to write better. I will try to provide more potentially useful information. I will do more analysis before writing off-the-cuff. I will try not to neglect this blog even if no one is reading it — and if someone is actually reading it, why? It's not as though I'm saying anything that hasn't already been said in so many ways, and said better.

I promised myself that I wouldn't write my thoughts down unless I really wanted to leave behind something of myself that I wanted people to remember me by, and for a time I ended up posting to Usenet (those of you who've been on the internet since before the web was even invented, you can find some of my old posts by searching Google Groups).

Christmas Eve Prayer

2007-12-24T18:21:00.000-07:00

Although our office closed at 5PM on Fri 21 Dec, my Christmas break didn't really start until today, because from Dec 21 to Dec 23 I was ill. My fever subsided this morning, and I was able to get a bit of last-minute Christmas shopping done. I noticed that during my illness, I tried to pray more for other people instead of myself. In particular, I thought about Sarah Burchnall, who is battling cancer. What began seven months ago as a lump in her breast has pierced her chest wall and is now a tumour in her aorta. If you are reading this, please say a prayer for my friend Sarah. This might be her last Christmas Eve. She's not quite twenty years old.

Uh-oh

2007-09-29T09:41:00.001-06:00

In earlier posts, I had written about the problems some people have experienced with Windows Vista, shortly after it became widely available, more than six months ago. A lot of folks discovered that their hardware became unusable after upgrading to Microsoft's latest and greatest OS. Have things changed much since then? Apparently not. Chris Pirillo writes:

From the beginning, Vista has had issues. In many instances, we’re not talking minor problems. Driver incompatibility, hardware incompatibility, software not running, programs or the computer itself randomly crashing… all just the tip of the iceberg. For many people, the software incompatibility issue was a nightmare. They installed Vista, only to find a very long list of programs that simply would not work.

Still thinking of upgrading to Vista? Think again. Since when has an upgrade allowed you to do less with your computer than before? The Baltimore Sun's David Zeiler sums it up well:

Earlier this year some PC manufacturers, most notably Dell, started offering XP as an option on many of its new PCs, also because of customer demand. That so many people would prefer a six-year-old operating system over Microsoft’s latest and greatest speaks volumes about how badly the folks at Redmond botched Vista.

The 'Wow' continues — as in, wow, six months later, Vista still sucks.

Pachelbel Bedtime :-)

2007-09-29T00:10:00.000-06:00

Priceless. Of course, one wonders if some of his parenting angst is also avoidable. Some of the childish behaviour he describes in his song reminds me of Dudley Dursley.

God Keep Our Land...

2007-08-04T00:30:00.000-06:00

Glorious and free? For now, only in dreams. It is now unacceptable to express one's most deeply held moral convictions in the public square — the politically correct totalitarianism in the water supply has led to a curious reversal of logic that Orwell would have understood only too well. The Mayor of Truro, Nova Scotia, refused to fly a gay pride rainbow flag because of his moral convictions, and he was predictably pilloried in the mainstream media as a homophobe. Now, let's imagine that the local Aryan Nations chapter had asked the good Mayor to fly a Nazi flag to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday — would his refusal have raised a similar outcry from the chattering classes? Not likely, you say, because the Aryan Nations and National Socialism are morally disordered, whereas homosexuality is not. Oh, really? On what basis can we make this, ahem, fine distinction? That the Nazis persecuted and murdered homosexuals? (They did.) Not so fast.

The backstory may seem a tad more complex than it appears, but it's not, really.

Where to begin?

Let's start with Biology 101 — our species propagates through sexual reproduction. Therefore, long-term human survival depends on adequate numbers of healthy offspring, in the proper gender ratio. But in our time, children (in general, and in many cases girls) have come to be regarded as an unwelcome inconvenience, such that some men are even willing to undergo vasectomies so they can buy mobile phones, and others express (misguided) sympathy and understanding for those who strike such Faustian bargains (read the comments on the linked vasectomy article to see how much children are disliked in contemporary Western culture). Do the math: Labour shortages would not be as severe if 100,000+ Canadians weren't being aborted each year.

I blame this sad state of affairs (pun intended) on the contraceptive mentality of the West.

Most everyone here assumes that if a woman wants to have a baby, all she has to do is stop taking the Pill (why did she start in the first place?) And if she doesn't want to have a baby and gets pregnant anyway, what then?

She kills her unborn child and then asks her partner to get his tubes tied?

Is this what's meant by "glorious and free"?

So, with the intrinsic connection between sexual intercourse and procreation so thoroughly sundered in the popular mind, it becomes much easier to justify not only contraception and abortion (two branches of the same evil tree), but even the oh-so euphemistically-named practice of "selective reduction" based on, among other things, gender preference. Of course, it then also becomes easy to justify non-procreative sexual relationships, such as (by definition) between same-sex partners — who then loudly insist on being accorded the same social and legal status as a traditional family with husband, wife, and child(ren) — despite the glaringly obvious fact that their aberrant orientation more or less consigns them to genetic oblivion.

There was a time when homosexuality was (correctly) classified as a mental disorder. Now it is flaunted as merely another lifestyle choice — what's next, bestiality or coprophilia? Things are indeed getting much worse, and much more rapidly. But there is hope yet.

This brings us back to the embattled mayor of Truro. If you'd like to express support for his courageous stance, write him. The really sad part of the story is that he's just being true to his (morally sensible but increasingly unpopular) convictions — which, by the way, are ultimately informed by the very same ethos enshrined in the words of our national anthem, O Canada.

Being glorious and free is not about being gay and proud of it.

It's about seeking (and upholding) the truth — because only the truth will make us free.

Once Upon a Cell

2007-06-23T01:12:00.002-06:00

Many of the arguments advanced by "pro-choice" people and those who support embryonic stem cell research are based on the idea that embryos (or fetuses) are not human beings, with the rights that human beings enjoy under the law (including the right to life).

In a way, it's easy to see why the preborn child, especially in the earliest stage of development, is not commonly regarded as a human person (with the rights accorded to persons). When we utter the word "person" most people would immediately conjure up a mental image of a bipedal example of Homo sapiens — probably an adult. But clearly, teenagers, children, toddlers, and babies are also persons. They're just at different stages of development. And so we have to ask: what about the preborn, at any stage of development?

Fr. Tad Pacholczyk writes:

Embryos, of course, are remarkably unfamiliar to us. They lack hands and feet. They don't have faces or eyes for us to look into. Even their brains are lacking. They look nothing like what we are used to seeing when we imagine a human being. But they are as human as you and me. When we look at a scanning electron micrograph of a human embryo, a small cluster of cells, sitting on the point of a sewing pin, we need to ask ourselves a very simple question: "Isn't that exactly what a young human is supposed to look like?" The correct answer to that question doesn't depend on religion or theology, but on embryology. Embryos seem unfamiliar to us on first glance, and we have to make an explicit mental effort to avoid the critical mistake of disconnecting from who we once were as embryos.

Isn't it interesting that everyone who advocates the destruction of embryos, whether through abortion or embryonic stem cell research, was once an embryo? This reminds me of the T-shirt with the two embryos on it, with one saying to the other: "It may be hard to believe right now, but we'll be pro-choice someday."

Choice?

2007-06-01T22:16:00.000-06:00

The issue of whether the public display of graphic abortion images is morally licit is not simply a matter of individual taste, nor is it merely an instance of disrespect for the remains of human persons. The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC has plenty of graphic images of dead people. Is the public display of these images a sign of disrespect towards the deceased? I think not. Does it cause some people viewing the images to become emotionally distraught? Likely. That is by design — the displays are meant to afflict the comfortable. And those who choose to view the displays have a further choice: how they will take their knowledge and use it to try to reduce the incidence of this kind of injustice. It need hardly be said that some choices have profoundly evil results. Abortion is clearly one of those choices, because it is the deliberate, willful destruction of an innocent human person.

So why are we so reluctant to publicly acknowledge the truth of what abortion does? Why do we recoil from the idea of displaying images of abortion's ghastly results? If we object to the public display of such images, we should logically object to the display of other images that also portray grave injustice, whether it is the torture and murder of Jews, blacks, or any group that has been stripped of personhood, of human dignity.

Fr. Frank Pavone, the current national director of Priests for Life, would be well aware of what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about giving human remains due respect, and yet he also asserts that in order for people to be galvanized into opposing abortion, they have to see what it does to the unborn child. We have had in utero images of fetal development since the Swedish medical photographer Lennart Nilsson published his pathbreaking book A Child is Born, more than 40 years ago, but that did not stop the U.S. Supreme Court from effectively declaring unborn children to be non-persons (i.e. Roe vs. Wade) in 1973. Now, more than 46 million slaughtered Americans later, can we say that showing beautiful photos of unborn children has been effective in stemming the tide of this present-day holocaust? The data suggests otherwise.

One definition of insanity is: doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. It's time to "Think Different" about exposing the truth about abortion. The current "soft" approach of showing beautiful babies in utero hasn't worked for the last 34 years.

You can read more about Fr. Pavone and his work at Priests for Life.

The Lucifer Effect?

2007-04-27T21:04:00.000-06:00

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting, much has been said about the mental illness of the shooter — about his medical condition. Curiously, very few have commented about his moral condition. Or, more germane perhaps, his spiritual condition. It is as though intelligent public discourse no longer dares speak of such things — after all, quaint notions about good and evil belong in the realm of the supernatural — which is another, more polite way of saying: the world of (ahem) religious superstition. The God delusion, to borrow Richard Dawkins' phrasing.

Alas, distraction from essentials is found everywhere. For example:

Dr. Philip Zimbardo, who in 1971 conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment, asserts in a blog interview about his new book that

People are not born evil, but rather with survival talents, and remarkable mental templates to be anything imaginable — just as infants readily learn to speak and understand any of a thousand languages in an instant in their development. We get a push from nature in various directions, such as being more inhibited or bold, but who we become is ultimately a complex process of cultural, historical, religious, economic and political experiences in familial and other institutional settings.

Most of us fail to appreciate the extent to which our behavior is under situational control, because we prefer to believe that is all is internally generated. We wander around cloaked in an illusion of vulnerability, mis-armed with an arrogance of free will and rationality.

Human free will and rationality are never perfected in this life — but they are no less real for being imperfect, and their reality makes us accountable for our actions.

Now, if I understand Zimbardo correctly, he leaves little or no room for something that once was familiar to everyone. Thus, his prescribed solution to our ills omits a crucial element:

... the very same situation that can inflame the “hostile imagination” in those who become perpetrators of evil can inspire the “heroic imagination” for the first time in any of us.
My concern is how to promote in our children this heroic imagination, to make them accept the mantle of being a hero-in-waiting for a situation that will come along sometime in their lives when others are following the paths toward evil or toward indifference, and instead, they elect to act on behalf of another person or group or ideal without thought of personal gain or even recognition.

I have to believe that by creating a generation of such ordinary heroes is our best defense against evil, whether on the battlefield, in prisons, or corporate headquarters.

The key factor he forgot to mention was — conscience. In a world besotted with what Pope Benedict XVI calls the tyranny of relativism, the proper formation of conscience is all too often neglected.

It has been said that the best gift we can give our children is roots — and wings. I pray that as parents we shall do this. And we do best when our stewardship of their formation is grounded in the holiness we are called to in everyday life. I may have more to say on this later, but for now I assert that those of us who are in a position to influence children should make a regular practice of examining our own consciences carefully, lest we fail to instill this habit in them.

The 'Lucifer effect' is never far away. The best 'vaccine' is a properly formed conscience.

U of C GAP 2007

2007-03-23T22:11:00.001-06:00

GAP Volunteers
Originally uploaded by victorpanlilio.

The University of Calgary Pro-Life Club sponsored the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) exhibit on March 19 and 20. Just like last year, onlookers stopped by and engaged GAP volunteers in friendly debate about abortion. Most of the pro-choice arguments were the usual cliches: what about in cases of rape, what about overpopulation and climate change, who will take care of these unwanted children, etc. Many people refused to acknowledge that unborn human beings are legal persons, entitled to full protection under the law. This is what it has come to in our day and age — comparisons have to be made to the Holocaust, to slavery, and to modern genocide (e.g. Rwanda), in order to stir public debate about Canada's unrestricted access to abortion in every trimester. Unlike in the U.S., abortion in Canada is taxpayer-funded. Such a deal. And we dare to sing "God keep our land glorious and free" in our national anthem? What for? So we can murder more babies?