Yesterday (June 15, 2010), I attended the funeral of my maternal grandmother. All of my other grandparents passed away well before I was born. She was the only grandparent I ever knew. She was 99 years old. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Family, Relationships
For many of you who do not know, ever since I lived in Vancouver, I have grown to love the nature around me. In my last place, my landlord — a pastor and his family — had a compost bin in his back garden. We would fill the bin with all sorts of rubbish (vegetable clippings, tea leaves, egg shells — I even threw in some pork bones which I later found you are not supposed to do) and, after a few months, it would all turn into this very rich soil (bones included). Aside from the fringe benefits of having stuff to plant with, it was also a means to minimise the amount of waste thrown out for the garbage trucks. Afterall, things that could be composted are usually tightly wrapped in plastic bags and added to landfills – a place where worms, slugs and other friendly critters could not help in the decomposition process. Read the rest of this entry »
The day after Apple introduced the iPad, Macmillan went to Amazon to negotiate the pricing of their products. Amazon was selling their ebooks at $9.99, when their print versions normally go for between $5.99 and $14.99. Amazon was also taking a huge cut of commission, but Macmillan basically wanted to get the same deal they were getting with Apple. So, as a result, Amazon stopped selling Macmillan books. However, on Sunday, Amazon said it would start reselling Macmillan books because they have a “monopoly over their own titles.” [1]
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Tags: Ethics, Technology
A French parliamentary committee has recommended banning Muslim headcoverings. The committee’s report claims that it “is the symbol of the repression of women, and… of extremist fundamentalism.” [1]
BBC reports that many in the UK also want this ban, claiming that it is “not British.” There is obviously a racist underpinning to such a statement, but I’m not even going to go there for now. What really unnerved me was what the journalist was implying about freedom of religion: “In a country [France] where the separation of state and religion is enshrined in law, a parliamentary committee report ruled the veil as “contrary to the values of the republic’…” [2]
And now begins my rant. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: China, Christianity, Ethics, United Kingdom, USA
In literature, there is a concept known as a “suspension of disbelief” where you are mentally are willing to belief in the unbelievable. This then allows the story to make sense, despite the fact that chipmunks don’t sing and different worlds don’t exist deep inside your wardrobe.
Since coming to England for my postgraduate, theological studies, I have come to the realisation that there needs to be a “suspension of belief” — that, in my writing, I cannot appeal to my biblical or doctrinal convictions as authoritative. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Dissertation, Education, Theology
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