“The Reason for the Season”

It’s strangely interesting to watch Christmas evolve into something nearly unrecognizable. Each year, we as a society seem to take one more step away from the true meaning towards the politically correct atheistic/ agnostic “holiday season”. It has grown to the point where people feel self-conscious about saying “Merry Christmas” to others for fear of offending them. How long will it be until our calendars say “Festive Holiday” on December 25? Many people already refer to it as ‘Xmas’ (which drives me nuts).

Christmas is first and foremost the celebration and remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ. That’s where it starts and ends.

Personally, I really don’t care that December 25th was once a Roman holiday celebrating the winter solstice and the Festival of Saturnalia. It could’ve been the Buldavian festival of the Holy Hippopotamus for all I care. What is important to me is what it is now, not what it was nearly 1700 years ago (it became Christmas sometime before 336 AD). We get to take one day to stop and think about Christ and what He did for us.

Whether or not you believe in Christ as the Son of God, a prophet, or just a wise teacher is up to you. I don’t believe that celebrating Christmas, or even calling it Christmas, detracts from anyone else’s experience or imposes a set of beliefs on anyone. I don’t feel threatened or that that I am being pressured into changing my beliefs when someone celebrates Hanukka. I’m secure enough in my own faith that I can respect and admire the beliefs and traditions of others.

In remembering the birth of Christ, we also remember His life, teachings, and example. But most of all we remember the sacrifice He made on our behalf in Gethsemane and on the cross. We remember how death is no longer the end, the resurrection of Christ means that we too will live again.

“Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.” (2 Nephi 2:8)

Do you remember when Christmas used to bring a feeling of goodwill to others? When people would give service to others just because it was Christmas? People wonder why “goodwill to men” is on the decline as the focus of the season moves further away from Christ. . .

Rampant Stupidity

As you probably picked up from my previous posts, I have a "thing" against email hoaxes that get mindlessly forwarded and thrust upon everyone in cyberspace. Now these hoaxes are encroaching into Facebook territory in the form of FunWall posts that can be just as easily forwarded. Great.

Lately, I have taken it upon myself to see what I can do about combating these pesky hoaxes. I started by posting the debunk information on the walls of friends & family who had been hit by the hoaxes (since I can't post to people not on my friends list), hoping the truth would get circulated as far and fast as the hoax. Then I started thinking that I'm just cluttering up the wall of an innocent victim, and it could seem that I was taking it out on them rather than the proliferater of the hoax (there is a point to all of this, try to keep up).

Then I realized that I could send a message to the original poster of the hoax. Sure, they can see my limited profile for a month, but it's a small price to pay. So I started sending information on the hoaxes to whoever had the audacity to put the hoax on my friends'/ family's walls.

I got one reply that reaffirmed my belief in the stupidity of the general public. And I quote:

"Thanks for the heads-up, however, I did figure it was not true. To me it was the thought that counted."

Seriously!?! You pass on a bogus message about some super-articulate 7-year-old with a brain tumor from supposed regular beatings who will get $0.07 from the Make-a-Wish foundation every time someone forwards the message, and it's the thought that counts?!?

Which thought would that be, exactly? The one that involves perpetuating useless and completely fabricated information? Or the thought that creates additional work for people who could otherwise be doing real good? From the Make-a-Wish foundation website:

"The time and expense required to respond to these inquiries distracts the Foundation from its efforts on behalf of children with life-threatening medical conditions, and more importantly, can divulge information that is potentially harmful to a child and his or her family."

I sometimes hold back, trying to give these people the benefit of the doubt. They can't all be maliciously trying to spread junk. I figure many people are well-intentioned and under-informed. But good grief!! You know a story is false but you pass it on anyway, trying to justify your actions with well-meaning intentions?? It's a good thing many of the vital processes in the human body such as breathing and circulation are autonomic (that means your body does them and you don't have to think about it), because some of these people would be wondering why they are turning blue and getting dizzy.

Missing Child Hoax emails

Dawn received an email today asking for help in locating a missing child by the name of Ashley Flores. The email says she has been missing for 2 weeks from Philedalphia, PA and is feared she may be in South America, Canada, or even overseas and asks that the email be forwarded to everyone in your address book. "If it was your child, you would want all the help you could get."

Who could say no to a heart-wrenching plea like that?

I, for one.

A lengthy and exhaustive search on Google returns about 17,600 pages on this hoax. Try it for yourself, go to http://www.google.com/, enter "Ashley Flores" (with the quotes), hit enter, and voila! After 0.23 seconds of processing time, your top results are:

www.snopes.com

urbanlegends.about.com

www.hoax-slayer.com

www.breakthechain.org

There are now variations that say Ashley (same photo) is missing from Mandurah in Australia. The original version was first reported in May 2006 and is almost word-for-word identical to the Penny Brown hoax that has been in circulation since 2001. Other variations based on the same "template" include searches for children named Michael Hunt and Evan Trembley.

While there is an Ashley Flores, she is not missing. Her friend(s) thought it would be funny to put her name and picture into the Penny Brown email. We're all laughing buddy...

The problem with hoaxes like this is that when a legitimate email comes along (like for Matthew Leveson), we dismiss it as a hoax. My world would be a much happier place if people would learn to take a few seconds to research before forwarding on the email.

Internet pranksters learned long ago that hoax emails are often more effective than viruses at filling up inboxes and being annoying. I'm often reminded of the "Amish Virus" when I see these emails that ask you to pass it on to everyone you know:

"As we haveth no technology nor programming experience, this virus worketh on the honour system. Please delete all the files from thy hard drive and manually forward this virus to all on thy mailing list.

"We thank thee for thy cooperation,

"— The Amish Computer Engineering Dept"

Tagged from Krista...

Apparently, I'm supposed to fill this out now. You know I'm not going to take this seriously, right? I assume that's a given by this point.

A- Attached or single: Are we talking conjoined twins sort of attached? Then no, I am not.

B- Best Friend: Yes, I do...

C- Cake or Pie: Yes. Why do people insist on making these into either/or questions? It is not a binary decision, both can exist at the same time.

D- Day of choice: as in day of the week? holiday?

E- Essential Item: my head

F- Favorite Color: Red

G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Bears. Worms don't really wrestle very well.

H- Hometown: Raymond, Alberta

I- Indulgence(s): Ice cream.

J- January or July: Where? If I was in NZ, I'd say January...

K- Kids: Trevor (8), Terina (6), Rhys (4), Alaina (3)

L- Life is Incomplete Without: Oxygen. Water would probably be a close second.

M- Marriage Date: 20 January 1996

N- Number of Siblings: 1 of each

O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges

P- Phobias or Fears: I don't particularly want either of them, thank you.

Q- Quote(s): "Give a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

R- Reason To Smile: They say that gas makes babies smile, but I don't believe them. I've had gas before and it never made me smile, but I can't discount it as a reason for other people...

S- Season: Again, where? I could winter in Florida or NZ and enjoy it just fine.

T- Tag Three: No. You can't make me.

U- Unknown Fact About Me: If I tell you, then it's not unknown anymore, is it.

V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: There's room for all of God's creatures... right next to the mashed potatoes! If we weren't supposed to eat animals, they wouldn't taste so good.

W- Worst Habit: Probably sarcasm

X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I'll leave that to the doctor's discretion. After all, he's the one who went to school for that sort of thing.

Y- Your Favorite Food: Umm... just one? I can't think of my single favorite food... mashed potatoes & gravy, steak, really good hamburgers, Dawn's BBQ ribs, shrimp-fest @ Red Lobster, good Chinese food (not spicy), fried chicken, pizza, desserts too numerous to mention...

Z- Zodiac: Leo

Still proud...

Dad & Sandy took Trevor & Terina to Home Depot on Saturday to pick up a few things. On their way in, Trevor "used the Force" to open the automatic doors... (the Obiwan slide-your-two-fingers-through-the-air-causing-the-doors-to-slide-open trick). Grandma Sandy and Rina headed off to look at something, so Grandpa Kim tells Trevor to go with him. Trevor's response? "Roger that, Rogue leader! We're going in..."

Dawn was hunched over the counter crying after we heard the story. Something about, "why me?" It was hard to make out what she was saying amidst the tears and uncontrolled sobbing. Truth be told, my eyes were a little moist too, but for an entirely different reason...

Makes me proud...

This week would not have been possible without the help of Dad & Sandy and Michael & Jenie watching our kids while Dawn & I have been in Edmonton. There's no way we could have done it without their help, and we are very grateful for the way they jumped in when we needed them. So here's the story (it may not be word-for-word, but the idea is there)...

Grandma Sandy was helping Terina, the 6-yr-old, get her school bag together and asked her what her mom usually gives her for snack. Terina replied, "Banana peels."

"So, I can eat the banana and give you the peel?"

Terina said, "Yes. Sometimes Mom just picks through the garbage and gives me whatever is in there."

So Sandy had an idea, "I could feed the cat and just give you the empty cans."

"Oh, that's good! Mom never thought of doing that!"

There are times when a parent wonders if a child is going to grow up to be normal and well-adjusted. Will they grasp the intricacies of social interaction, or will they end up on the "special" bus to school? And then there are heart-warming experiences like this when personality shines through and you know your little girl is going to do just fine. I just wonder where she gets this from...

I may be a geek, but...

...not this bad. I was wandering through Best Buy in Edmonton on Monday and saw this line-up forming outside.

It was about 6:00 PM, and I started to wonder if there was a big sale or something coming up. When I got to the door, I saw the cause of the awaiting masses along the building. HALO 3 for XBox 360 was being released between Midnight & 4:00 AM that night.

I've stood in line for many things: Star Wars Episode III on opening day, Splash Mountain at Disneyworld (both of which I would've gladly gone back in line again if time had permitted), the checkout line at Costco (desperately wishing there was an express lane), but standing in line for a computer, sorry, console game is outside my realm of desired experience.

HALO 3 is the muchly-anticipated conclusion to the HALO trilogy. the first of which was released in November of 2001. The first-person shooter is tbe best-selling XBox title to date. Three years later, HALO 2 was released and made available to the Windows platform as well.

Not only can you buy the game for $60, there is a limited-edition version that comes in a special tin case for $70, and die-hard fans can even buy a replica of Master Chief's helmet for $130. $400 will get you the special HALO 3 edition of the XBox 360 console with the HALO paint job (you still have to buy the game separately).

HALO 2 grossed $125 million in sales within the first 24 hours. and while sales figures for 3 aren't out yet, it was expected to clear $200 million. Hollywood boxoffices pray for opening weekend figures like that. Speaking of which, I'm starting to wonder how long it will be until we get to see HALO on the big screen.

Even if game consoles were allowed in our house, I can't see myself rushing to wait in line for over 6 hours to be one of the first to get a copy. Now, if it was Star Wars Battlefront III, that might be a different story...