DonaldFlatherPointnoPoint

Originally uploaded by Will_Tom.

I am a fan of the Group of Seven. Also I like Emily Carr. This artist has some of this spirit. He passed away in 1990 but Donald Flather could really capture some of the West Coast ethos. I see the possibility of calling him derrivative but I see here a little of the Japanese influence not seen in Carr and a sharper more modern treatment of the paint itself. “Point No Point”

Sleepy dog

Originally uploaded by ms_doyle.

Ok so you have seen this dog before. You know about the dog. You have seen the photos. You have even been privy to the details of paper training in the kingdom of puppyland.

But you haven’t seen this photo yet! Yup its another pic of the Schnauzie-schnauz. Deal.

Citroen 2CV

Originally uploaded by Will_Tom.

I just thought I would post a photo of this Citroen 2CV. It strikes me as one of the best looking cars ever made.

freecycle

Originally uploaded by Will_Tom.

Hey, have any of you Freecycled? We have a bunch of times now and it is always facinating. Once we were giving away a bunch of clothes and pots and pans and the cutest couple came to our door. They were very nice and very clean and any moment I thought they would either tell me about Jesus’ Plan For My Life or the Swingers Club they had just joined. (no , really, they were Stepford meet Trinity Western.

The crazy part really is always the same. We post something on the service and moments later the phone starts ringing. Got Stuff? Poof! It’s gone!

You have to deal with the randomness. Today we had a nice lady come to the door who just wanted to take away some ‘new’ clothes. We also had a character from the Sin City movie take away an old paper shredder. Bree hid in the back of the apartment while I handed over the loot. Once we had a lady and her kids pick some stuff up and the kid thought we were millionares or something. He just kept saying “You have a laptop! Cool!” or “Wow! Rechargable Batteries! Look Mom! They got batteries!Plugged into the wall!”

As a rule, I think this is ok. Citizens are generally a force for good and common precautions can ensure a favourable result. The whole thing makes my faith-in-humanity-meter max out.

All power to the Freecycle.

I have a passionate, immediate need to blog and yet nothing is currently in the forefront of my mind to post about. I really want all of my posts to be “on message” or topically coherent. I have read and enjoyed blog points that are meandering or more personal but I have never posted thus. Until now I guess.

I have just finished the Vancouver Boat Show where I represented the company I work for and spearheaded their efforts to sell more stoves, heaters and BBQs to boaters. Hum. Endless yacking to peoples of various intelligences and politeness. Endless belly-aches, the same questions. The same sales pitch. Briana said I was talking in my sleep last night telling her about the three year warranty. Yes, yes darling, warranty, hmmmn.

I have a dog. He is a puppy. His name is Wagner. He is a Schnauser. See below posts and Bree’s Bopping. He doesn’t really bark. He likes people. He behaves in a typically puppy like way.

Bree is talking to Sharon here in the ‘Banff Apts’ . They are yaking away about shoes and hair colour and boys and feelings and other et ceteras. Aparently this someone has a low tolerance for men and treats them in this certain way and that is perhaps not the best thing and although they disagree with this behavior, they can relate.

Spinny Birds.

I have been ‘memed’…and by my little sister! She (mis)quotes what I once said would be a vast improvement in the human skull. She lists what would be other improvements and insists others do the same. I comply with my thoughts below.

My ideas for human improvement deal with the ability to remove the risk of sinus infections and ear infections while keeping all the abilities they provide. To wit:

Remove inner ear. Replace with solid state tuning fork system. Benefit, transferable parts, no ear infections, improved hearing. Cons include lack of balance control. Thus…

Fill sinus with elasto-polymer or metallic fill. Encase in said elasto-polymer a gyroscopic balance device to compensate for the loss of the inner ear.
Benefit includes the ending of sinus infections and the inability to get dizzy.

I tag Jason and Gillian but don’ t worry too much about it.

The social fimament shifted today in Lonoke Arkansas, as the town’s most respected citizens were accused of coercing prisoners to act as labourers and sex slaves, drug manufacturing and corruption. Read for your self.

LONOKE, Ark. (AP) - The mayor was arrested in a corruption probe, the police chief is accused in a drug-making scheme, and the prosecutor says the chief’s wife took prisoners from jail to have sex with them - and more arrests could be coming.

It’s a lot for a town of fewer than 4,300 residents to stomach in one day.

Well. Huh. That sounds like a South Park episode.

P1090493

Originally uploaded by ms_doyle.

Cultural sensitivities are and important thing. No one wants to see their Norse heroes depicted as thick skulled axe draggers. The French don’t like references to hygene or cowardice. Americans insist Uncle Sam is not imperialist and Jesus has a plan for your life. Crocodile Dundee, Buddha the jolly fat nit-wit, the parsimonious Jew. It is all touchy, it all makes it into the press; it is all cultural fodder for those trying to make us think or piss us off.

Is one culture special enough to be exempted from this treatment?

Jews and Muslims do not eat pork. I eat pork and so do people I know. None of us are causing a riot. You don’t like depictions of your religious icon? Don’t draw them. You don’t like it when others draw them? Suck it up.

Protesters protest at the embassies of the countries where the people live that draw pictures to go into newspapers for people to read. The actions of those persons are legal in those countries and beyond the jurisdiction of the governments they protest.

What is Denmark going to do? “Sorry boys no more journalism carreer for you. You drew a picture of the prophet Mohammad (may Allah truly bless him) and now you must go”.

Don’t buy La Monde (et al). Write a petition. Tell all of your friends not to buy it. Live in an autocratic regime where copies of La Monde are not permitted. These are all valid reactions.

Demanding Western Countries become dictatorships just so they have the power to suppress journalism? What do you expect to achieve?

Jocelyn recently on Awake-to-Dream posted a personal story about adapting both to a modern world filled with intellegent, skeptical people and a peer group devoted to faith and sharing that faith with others. Making that oil and water work was producing friction. She posted thusly and posed a number of questions she wished she had answers to:

Never in my life have I more wanted to just go into a group of completely non-religious people and just sit down and listen. I thought of going to my friend Cak’s room, where almost every night, a group of her friends congregate to watch TV on DVD. The questions I most wanted to ask were: What do you think about Christianity? How did you come to think that (i.e. what experiences or understanding lead you to that view)? What do you think about Christian people? What do you think when you come in contact with an “evangelistic event?”

To answer and generally contribute, I commented with the below. This was a real hum-thinker so I thought I would share it with you here.

Hey Joss,

You know I could go on, and on but my own opinions are well known and so defined in me that expressing them in this gentle forum would probably be seen as acerbic and rude so I’ll stick to some peripherals.

I have had few bad experiences with evangelicals. I even listen to them in my car on am 550 most afternoons to practice my funny accents (J Vernon Mcgee and Ian Gollahurt). Aside from not being offended by the practice, I do write them off as being irrelavant. Once in a while I wish they would do something useful with their convictions (you mentioned the Sisters in Calcutta in your post). But, like Bree the trend in my reaction has to be humour and pity.

My pre-teen and teen conversions to christianity were all about the soft sell, Great music, good activities and doe eyed brunettes got me coming back to the chapel time and time again. My rejection of the very premise of an unexplainable spiritual realm (let alone any one religion) was reached antiseptically and not form any particular aversive event. I had just seen the similarities and differences in the cultural stories, noted the appropriation of myth and tales for social control and tracked the changes through time.

There are lots of folks who could still be converted and not just the socially bankrupt. I may have a Bible-Story detector at 10,000 watts but put out the right cheese and go heavy with the emo-rock and the SFU group is surre to fish a few men.

Keep tryin’ for the answers Joss. I respect no one’s faith more than your own.

I don’t know. I want to be nice, I mean this is my little sister but for some people I meet I think, ‘hey, there is a reason youre struggling with this’.

P1090582

Originally uploaded by Will_Tom.

This is not a dog blog but it is my first day with our new puppy so I subject you all to uber cute puppy image of doom. We have yet to name the canis fuzzballius but we have a short list we are happy with.

Just the cutest. Bree is over the moon.