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Confused Expressions #13: Knowledge is Power

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:30:00 -0400

The expression "knowledge is power" isn't confused in and of itself; I agree that knowledge can be powerful. The confusion arises because, in most instances, the speaker seems to think that's the end of the story, as if the single-minded acquisition of knowledge or power is all that matters, as if that acquisition of knowledge or power makes one more powerful. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Without the wisdom to use it appropriately—how to use it and when to use it and why—having lots of power can be much worse than having no power at all, because it may be the power to blow yourself up, or (even worse) the power to blow up your friends, your neighbourhood, or your planet.

No one thinks a little boy with a big shotgun is powerful, for instance; everyone thinks he's a danger, and as much to himself as to anyone else. But the same shotgun in the hands of a hunter is a powerful tool, because presumably the hunter has the wisdom to use it well.

By itself, knowledge is interesting at best and dangerous at worst. Knowledge is power in any good or useful sense of the term only when it's governed by wisdom.

The Lost Stories: Serialized

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:00:00 -0500

The Lost Stories: A Series of Co_smic Adventures is being serialized on Wattpad. The introduction from the book is up now; the plan is to post the first story this Friday (March 9) with new stories to follow every Friday after that (see schedule below).

The Lost Stories are the adventures of James Kollins: greedy, petty, selfish captain of the galactic warship DeVille; a man obsessed with the holodrama Captain Courageous and the Women Who Love Him; a man completely unforgiving of his much-maligned first officer. A man who has just met the Creator of the universe, though he doesn't quite realize it yet, and whose life is about to change in ways he never dreamed possible, though he doesn't quite know it yet.

Here is the God-willing schedule for posting the stories:

Lost Eternity - March 9, 2012
Lost Inheritance - March 16, 2012
Lost Time - March 30, 2012
Lost Word - April 6, 2012
Lost Ship - April 13, 2012
Lost Opportunity - April 20, 2012
Lost Reward - April 27, 2012
Lost Empire - May 4, 2012
Lost Prayer - May 11, 2012
Lost Show - May 18, 2012
Lost Everything - May 25, 2012
... and Found - June 1, 2012

Hope you get a chance to stop by and say hello!

Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:30:00 -0500

Christmas will be here sooner than I expect. I know that, but I haven't started Christmas shopping yet; my Christmas tree and all the lights and other decorations are still in storage; Christmas parties are starting to fill up my schedule but I haven't given them much thought. But I did read a book I try to read every year around this time—Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, the subject of my latest recommendation. I hope you get a chance this Christmas to pick up this wonderful little book and allow its story to haunt you and infect you with its laughter and good-humour.

Confused Expressions #13: Proof Versus Evidence

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:30:00 -0400

I'd be hard-pressed to find an expression more commonly misused by otherwise careful writers and speakers than the expressions I'm sometimes faced with when an agnostic or atheist friend discovers that I'm Christian. "But how can you believe in Christianity when there isn't any proof for it?" they'll say or write. Or, "Well, I believe in science, because it has a lot of proof going for it."

I hope you can see right away that something is amiss. "Any" proof? "A lot of" proof? Proof can't be quantified; there either is proof or there isn't proof. One argument can't have more or less proof than another; that would be like claiming of two turnips that one is more of a vegetable than the other.

The problem here is the misuse of the word "proof" when the writer or speaker clearly means "evidence"; this is obvious in that the confusion immediately disappears when the proper word is substituted. You can have a lot of evidence, or none at all; one argument may certainly be supported by more evidence than another.

Not long ago, this confused expression came up on a writer's blog I sometimes read, where the author seemed to imply that faith is irrational because it is belief without any proof. I pointed out that the two words can't be used interchangeable, and wrote:

No one with any intellectual honesty has any faith without evidence. Christians, to take the example you're using, have plenty of evidence: almost two thousand years ago, a man claimed to be the Son of the living God. According to certain people who knew Him, He performed great miracles, culminating in the greatest miracle of all: He died, but returned to life three days later. Christians have the evidence He left behind in the form of a Church of witnesses who were willing to die for their beliefs, a Church that has survived and thrived for two thousand years. There's also the powerful evidence anyone can have (and millions of people have had, and have left records of their experiences) of a personal encounter with this living God.

I can prove, granted a few basic assumptions, that 2 and 2 make 4. But I can't prove that the world really exists, or that tomorrow I won't wake up and find I've turned into a giant bug, or that my family and friends really love me. It's just that all the evidence is stacked in favour of the world really existing, that tomorrow I'll wake up and still be me, and that my family and friends do love me.

You may think the evidence for or against a position suspect or unconvincing; you may think the evidence on one side so overwhelming that that position is basically proved. Nevertheless, evidence is one thing and proof another. "How can you believe in Christianity when there isn't any evidence for it?" is a loaded question, but at least it's not confused. "I believe in science, because it has a lot of evidence going for it," is a bit bland, but at least it's not confused either.

This confusion isn't always stacked against people of faith, of course. The theory of evolution, to take a common target, is attacked by certain people as not having yet been proved. The fact is that no scientific theory is ever proved, because science doesn't deal in that kind of currency. All scientific theories are provisional and can be modified, extended, shrunk, or dismissed entirely in light of new—wait for it—evidence.

In science as in religion, you must weigh the available evidence and draw your own conclusions. There may be so much evidence that you're left with no reasonable doubt about an argument or theory's truth or falsity; or there may be only enough evidence that you're willing to accept something as likely true or likely false. Either way, evidence is one thing and proof another, and an intelligent, careful writer would not want to confuse the two.

The Lost Stories: Now Available!

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 22:00:00 -0400

The Lost Stories: A Series of Co_smic Adventures is now available for the Kindle on Amazon.com for only US$1.49. It is also available for the same price on Smashwords, which will give you access to a wide range of ebook formats, including ones for the Nook, Sony Reader, and Kobo.

The book has already received a favorable (five-star) review and is today's featured piece on Spirit Filled Kindle, a site worth bookmarking if you're interested in ebooks and Christian writing.

Need a laugh? A chuckle? A chance to groan at some puns? Then you'll love The Lost Stories!

Cover design by the author. Cover photo credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI).

The Lost Stories: Release Date, Free Ebook Offer, and Sneak Peek at Cover Art

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:00:00 -0400

My book The Lost Stories: A Series of Co_smic Adventures will be published on the Kindle store on September 16, 2011 and other ebook retailers in the following weeks.

Advance Review Copies (ARCs) are now available. Simply email arc@ootersplace.com to request a free ebook in your preferred format (pdf, epub, mobi, etc.). ARCs are provided to reviewers and readers in advance of a book's official release with the idea that they will post a review (on ebook retailer sites or on their blog, for example), helping to spread the word about the book. This offer is valid until September 15, 2011.

Below is a sneak peek at the book's cover art.

Cover design by the author. Cover photo credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI).

Free ebook: "Ooter's Place: A Sampler"

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 13:00:00 -0400

Ooter's Place: A Sampler is a free ebook availaible for download in a wide range of formats compatible with the Kindle, the Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and many others. The book offers a taste of the kinds of stories collected in Ooter's Place and Other Stories of Fear, Faith, and Love, consisting of the full introduction and the three stories that start each of the three sections, along with their forewords.

The "Lost" Stories: Coming September 2011

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 11:00:00 -0400

If you like biblically inspired science fiction humor (who doesn't, really?), you'll want to check out my book The "Lost" Stories: A Series of Co_smic Adventures, which is coming to ebook readers across the world in September 2011.

Will you laugh? Very likely. Will you smile? A lot. Will you groan and shake your head on a regular basis? Absolutely. In the tradition of Isaac Asimov's pun-in-cheek “feghoots,” each of the twelve short-shorts that make up The "Lost" Stories ends in a play on words and phrases that will leave you wondering what's wrong with the author.

These are the adventures of James Kollins: greedy, petty, selfish captain of the galactic warship DeVille; a man obsessed with the holodrama Captain Courageous and the Women Who Love Him; a man completely unforgiving of his much-maligned first officer. A man who has just met the Creator of the universe, though he doesn't quite realize it yet, and whose life is about to change in ways he never dreamed possible, though he doesn't quite know it yet.

Find out what happens when an overgrown child in charge of a large military ship, but sadly lacking a conscience and possessed of a strange sense of humor, comes into contact with God Himself, who isn't above playing a few tricks of His own.

You'll be plunged into interstellar war and ultramodern espionage, witness textbook-poor diplomacy and longstanding family feuds, and even encounter a seemingly evil empire of cute babies.

Part loving Star Trek parody (I mean, homage), part spiritual journey, The “Lost” Stories is a series of cosmic and comic adventures that are silly, fun, and also demonstrate the Power of God working in the life of even the most self-obsessed warship captain you've ever met.

Stay tuned throughout August for further announcements, including a sneak peak at the book's cover art.

Forthcoming interview at Indie Books Blog

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 07:00:00 -0400

This Friday (July 29), Indie Books Blog will feature a very short interview with me on Ooter's Place and Other Stories of Fear, Faith, and Love. I talk about what readers will like about my book, why I decided to independently publish the anthology, and I name some of my favourite short story writers.

"Ooter's Place" now available for Nook, Sony Reader, and Kobo (with bonus photo)

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 21:30:00 -0400

Until today, my short story anthology Ooter's Place and Other Stories of Fear, Faith, and Love was only available as an ebook through Amazon.com for the Kindle. Today I'm proud to announce you can purchase a copy from Smashwords, which will give you access to a wide range of ebook formats, including ones for the Nook, Sony Reader, and Kobo. In a few weeks, the book will be available to purchase directly from the respective stores of the different e-readers.

The anthology is also available as a paperback. To prove it, below is a picture of me signing a load of paperbacks for friends and family.

Your God is Too Small When He's Too Big

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 11:30:00 -0400

If you'd only ever read the title of J.B. Phillips' little book Your God Is Too Small, you may feel that the counterpoint needs to be made. Yes, we often build up inadequate images of God in our heads (the Resident Policeman or the Grand Old Man, to take two examples from Phillips' book), idols that need to be smashed as much as any idol that appears in the Old Testament needed to be smashed—but what of people whose view of God is too big? That is, what of Christians who say things like, "I won't bother God with this problem, it's too trivial," or "I can't bring myself to pray for something so insignificant." Actually, Phillips raises this issue in his book, and it's the right place to do so because it is, in fact, still a too-small view of God. The deep implication of such a stance isn't that God is so big that He can't worry about each of our little problems, it's that He's too small and too limited to be able to do anything about them. Phillips calls this idol the "Managing Director," drawing the analogy to a manager who, if he is in charge of fifty other people, can get to know each one as an individual; but if in charge of five thousand, is unable to take a personal interest in each one.

To think of God as "too big" for our pesky problems, then, is to have a rather small view of God. Yet if it seems rather innocuous and humble a belief, it's actually a very dangerous one to hold. If God is too big to be bothered with a small problem, why should He be bothered by a small sin? Besides, what by this conception of God isn't insignificant for Him? Either you have a God who can take a deep, personal interest in each individual, or you have a God for whom the rise and fall of civilizations is no more interesting than the rise and fall of waves in the ocean. It's hard to imagine an in-between God, or to draw the line at which suddenly God can be bothered.

Christ made it clear that we don't have to draw that line. According to Him, every hair on our heads is numbered, and of all the creatures that have ever lived, God hasn't forgotten a single one.

Short Story Collection Book Launch (with Book Trailer!)

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 07:00:00 -0400

Ooter's Place and Other Stories of Fear, Faith, and Love is a collection of 13 of my short stories. Twelve were previously published in magazines between 1998 and 2010, while the bonus story is exclusive to this collection. Organized in three sections—Fear, Faith, and Love—the anthology also contains an introduction and forewords to accompany each story (an afterword in the case of the bonus story).

The stories span a wide range of genres (including science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective fiction, military fiction, and superhero fiction) and a wide range of lengths (from the shortest story at 250 words to the longest at 7500 words). There are light stories and darker stories, funny stories and serious stories—with such a wide variety, it is my hope that everyone can find at least a few stories in here to enjoy and that will stay with them after they've put down the book.

Ooter's Place and Other Stories of Fear, Faith, and Love is now available for purchase as a paperback and an ebook.

Want more information?

You can read more about the book, including a list contents, get more details on ordering a copy, and watch the book trailer below.

Confused Expressions #12: It's Natural

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:00:00 -0400

Some people seem satisfied to justify any action by the claim that "it's natural." Whether it's giving in to every sexual urge or ingesting various products and plants, somehow the claim that "it's natural" (which, I guess, means "it occurs in the natural world") seems to be enough reason to carry on without concern. But just because something is natural doesn't make it safe, or healthy, or wise. There's nothing more natural (in the sense of "it occurs in nature") than having your head bitten off by a lion in the jungle, yet few would claim that jungles are perfectly safe, or that being lion-food is in the natural order of things and shouldn't be resisted.

In fact, isn't our experience of nature the exact opposite? We build shelters to protect us from the (natural) elements and bundle up in colder climates and heat our homes so we don't freeze to death; we toil to grow and clean and prepare our food; we develop weapons and medicines to defend ourselves against naturally-occurring aggressors like wolves and microbes. In fact, perfectly natural events can take such a high toll in human lives that the whole world seems to stop and pay attention, whether it's a tsunami devastating Southeast Asia in 2004, or a flood overwhelming New Orleans in 2005, or an earthquake and its aftershocks pummeling Haiti earlier this year, or monsoon rains flooding many parts of Pakistan this summer. Entire cities and even countries have been devastated by natural disasters. If nature is Mother Nature, she is a sometimes-neglectful and an often-hostile mother.

We are born into a world where mere survival comes only at great cost and effort, where nature itself seems out to kill us. It sounds almost, well, unnatural. And it's enough to make anyone despondent—except for one thing, something that stands in stark contrast to the violence and destruction found in so much of nature. That something is found in the graceful fleeing of a butterfly, the warmth and light of the rising sun, the freshness of cold mountain air. It's a sublime sort of beauty, faint but present, perhaps a remnant or hint of the kind of world this once was and may yet be again.

Bike Log #7

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:30:00 -0400

I've been cycling to work as much this summer as last year, but I've written less about it (in fact, nothing so far this year). This silence is in part due to having less free time, but it's also because the excitement has faded in some ways. Last year, cycling-commuting was a revelation; now, it's just the way I get into work every day and I don't spend too much time thinking about it.

Having said that, the thought often occurs to me that cycling to work is like being on a mini-vacation twice a day. This was particularly evident earlier this month, on Civic Holiday (August 2nd). I live in Ontario but work in Quebec, so my friends and family had the day off, but I had to work. Cycling to the office on roads that were practically deserted, I felt that even if I had the day off, I couldn't think of a better way to start the day than a bike ride. And as I've mentioned before on this blog, there's nothing like a bike ride home to help me shed the stress of a long day at work.

So even though cycling to work is now just standard operating procedure in my life, a part of me (perhaps the efficiency-conscious part) still gets a big kick out of what commuting by cycling involves: as relaxing as a morning and afternoon bike ride on a day off; more economical than commuting by car or bus, and far better for the environment than either one; a great way to get exercise and fresh air and sunshine—all while getting yourself to work and back every day. It's a combination that can't be beat.

How to Print Like You Don't Hate the Planet

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:30:00 -0400

As a writer who likes trees and hates waste, I've tried to cut back on the amount of printing I do.

My first line of defence is similar to the advice Mr. Miyagi gives to the Karate Kid: "Best way to avoid punch, no be there." The best way to save paper is to not use any in the first place. Some writers print each subsequent draft, but I've trained myself to edit (especially early drafts) off my screen. Some writers print research-related pages they find on the web because they're afraid those sites might disappear; if there's something I really want to keep and couldn't do without, I make a local copy, and I know it will be a lot easier to find (and search through) than if I'd printed it. (The best way to do this, when a site has a printer-friendly version of a page, is to use something like PDFCreator to "print" a PDF copy to your hard drive).

But there are times when I do need to print—when I'd like to submit a manuscript to an editor, for example, or when I'd like a different "angle" on a draft (especially near-final drafts). The second line of defence in the war to save trees is to print on both sides of a sheet. Fancy printers will do this for you automatically (if they have a duplex-printing option), but all printers I've come across offer it as a manual option at a minimum (it will print all the odd pages, then you turn them over, return the stack to the paper feeder, and the even pages will print on their reverse sides). If this is your first time trying double-sided printing with your printer, a good technique to make sure you feed the paper in the correct way is to lightly mark the top and front of the top-loaded paper with a pencil, before sending the print job, and notice where your mark ends up when the odd pages have printed.

So far so good, but there's a third line of defence: almost all printers have the option to print multiple pages to a sheet. When combined with double-siding, this feature allows you to easily print four pages on a single sheet. And although two pages per sheet is perfectly readable for most documents, I often print four pages per sheet, especially when I can control the font. Boosting the font size an increment or two might increase the final page count by a few pages, but by splitting a sheet into quarters and double-siding, I can print eight pages per piece of paper; that means I can print a three-hundred page manuscript with less than forty sheets of paper. (If, like me, you like having paper backups of your work, this is a fine way to store archival copies, and you can even bump down the font to just-readable levels. Think of it as your own personal microfiche library). (Although printing multiple pages per sheet has been around for a long time, it isn't a well-publicized feature, and I only started using it when an internet search for "save paper while printing" brought me to this site: http://tipicalcharlie.blog-city.com/print_large_docs.htm.)

By trying to reduce the amount of printing you do, and by using these techniques to minimize the amount of paper you use when you do print, you'll be doing good by the environment, saving yourself money and trips to the paper-store, and even reducing the amount of storage space you need for your work.

As a final note, I would like to declare that no paper was used in the writing, editing, or publishing of this article.

Chuck You

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:30:00 -0500

If you haven't yet heard of a TV show called "Chuck," do yourself a favour: get your hands on Seasons 1 and 2 and clear your schedule. There may have been more meaningful, better-written, or more insightful shows in the history of television, but I'm hard-pressed to find one that's more fun to watch than "Chuck."

The basic premise of the first season is that Chuck (Zachary Levi) is a nerd who lives with his sister (Sarah Lancaster) and still pines after the girl who dumped him in college so she could date his best friend, Bryce Larkin (Matthew Bomer). Chuck drops out of school and gets a job at the Nerd Herd stall in the local Buy More electronics store. Bryce's life is only slightly more glamorous and exciting—he becomes a globe-trotting spy for the United States government. But soon Chuck's life changes completely, as Bryce downloads the Intersect, a computer containing a database of all of the government's super secret spy information, into his old friend's brain. Two handlers are sent to make sure the Intersect doesn't fall into the wrong hands: Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) and John Casey (Adam Baldwin). Sarah is beautiful, Adam is scary, and Chuck finds that having a secret identity and saving the world isn't as much fun as it sounds, but exactly as hard and fraught with peril as you might imagine.

Read no more if you're convinced and want to enjoy the first two seasons without spoilers (which will be minimal).

Now that you've been duly warned: What makes "Chuck" so good?

First, creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak struck the right balance in tone: the show is heartfelt but not maudlin; silly and funny, but never treats its audience like idiots; requires quite a bit of suspension of disbelief, but is so fun you're happy to go along for the ride. I think part of the formula is that they don't take their show seriously but they take the emotions of their characters extremely seriously.

Second, Schwartz and Fedak have assembled a spectacular cast of actors: Zachary Levi oozes charm, and is extremely good at playing funny but making us feel his pain when, for example, Sarah (who he of course falls madly in love with) tells him she isn't interested, and he knows she's not lying because she's under the effects of a truth serum (or is she?). Yvonne Strahovski is not only a beautiful woman, but she can act; so much so that she's one of the reasons cited by TV critic Alan Sepinwall in his open letter to NBC telling them why they would regret canceling "Chuck" when that outcome seemed likely. Adam Baldwin (who I became a huge fan of due to his work as the opportunistic Jayne on "Firefly") can say everything that needs to be said with nothing more than a grunt, and he gets (and pulls off) many of the show's funniest one-liners. The supporting cast carries their weight too, with standouts being Ryan McPartlin, who plays Captain Awesome, Chuck's sister's awesome boyfriend; Joshua Gomez, who plays Morgan Grimes, Chuck's other half in the strange bromance they share; and Scott Krinsky and Vik Sahay, who play the creepy-apart but creepier-together pair that is the musical duo Jeffster!

Another reason? It just gets better as it goes—there was a major development at the end of Season 2 that had the potential to ruin the show. It didn't; Season 3 is as good, and in some ways better, than anything that's come before.

More reasons? You'll hear great music, including (in one episode toward the beginning of Season 2) the best use of the Rush song "Tom Sawyer" I've ever heard, and (at the end of Season 2) the best use of the Styx song "Mr. Roboto." You'll see great use of guest stars, including Scott Bakula, Chevy Chase, John Larroquette, and Tony Hale, to name a few. And there are enough homages to television shows and movies in every episode that a pop-culture-reference drinking-game would be very unwise. It's just pure fun, from opening scene to closing credits.

Consider yourself Chucked—nothing to do now but get your hands on the DVDs and enjoy this special treat of a show. NBC is currently airing the third season, but "Chuck" is on hiatus until the Olympics are over, so you've got a bit of time to catch up before new episodes start airing again on March 1.

Confused Expressions #11: To Split the Infinitive, Boldly

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:50:00 -0500

You've likely heard the rule that in English, the infinitive should never be "split"; in this view, the infinitive form of a verb ("to" + verb, such as "to blog") is a union as sacred as Holy Matrimony and introducing a third word in between the particle and the verb is akin to committing adultery.

Not at all! Those who claim one should never split an infinitive in English are as confused as the rule they're quoting. "To boldly go where no one has gone before," to timidly take the most famous example of a split infinitive, is perfectly grammatical, and sounds a lot better than the alternatives ("to go boldly where no one has gone before," "boldly to go where no one has gone before," or "to go where no one has gone before, boldly.")

The point isn't whether splitting the infinitive is the correct or incorrect way to proceed in English; it's that, as a writer, you should feel free to split or not split as the sentence requires (i.e., what sounds better to your hopefully well-trained ear).

Having said that, please keep in mind that nouns and verbs are the meat and potatoes (or tofu and potatoes, if you prefer) of sentences; adverbs and adjectives are seasonings. So whether you choose to split or choose not to split the infinitive, do go easy on the salt and pepper!

Party Kris Kringle

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:34:00 -0500

I don't know whether it's a wider cultural shift or simply that my friends and I are getting older, but a number of years ago I noticed that many people in my life were getting fed up with the traditions our society has established around Christmas gift-giving. I had long-standing uneasy feelings about those traditions as well, since they seemed perfectly designed to upset as many people as possible: the pressure to get the "perfect" gift, the growing number of friends and family (a blessing in any life) resulting in a growing number of hours and days and weeks spent shopping among the maddening crowds, the hurt feelings when one person surprises another with a gift but the recipient never even thought of getting one for them; the friend who spent half their paycheque or a lot of time and effort on a gift for someone they consider really special, but gets in return the same gift that person has given to all their friends.

Giving gifts should be an act of joyful generosity, but amidst the stress of the season, it often turns into an obligation to tick people off of one's list—and if you're buying dozens and dozens of gifts, who has the time or energy to put a lot of thought into each gift? (unless, I suppose, you start your Christmas shopping promptly on January 2). Not to mention the obligation to spend money you don't necessarily have on gifts your acquaintances, coworkers and friends likely don't need and probably don't want, all in the hopes of meeting your social obligations and not hurting anyone's feelings (I know of some people who buy generic gifts—labeling them "male, older" and "female, my age"—to make sure they always have something at hand with which to reciprocate).

Is there an answer? A number of years ago, I attended a Christmas party at a coworker's house where we played Party Kris Kringle (this is also called Cut-Throat Kris Kringle and, for reasons I don't understand, Chinese Kris Kringle). My friends and I hadn't been in the habit of getting together for Christmas, we just randomly showed up at one another's houses laden with gifts (and returning home laden with reciprocated gifts from our friends). Watching this group play the Kris Kingle game was a revelation: the gift exchange, which was central to my experience of Christmas in relation to my friends, was completely secondary. Here the party was the thing, and everyone was having a great time.

The following year, I held a Christmas party at my house for my friends and suggested we play the game instead of everyone exchanging untold gifts with everyone else. Although there was some resistance (I remember one friend saying that they liked the experience of shopping for gifts for all of their friends, which boggled my mind), most people were up for it. We've done it every year since, and it's growing into something of a tradition that no one would even think to question.

Last year, we tried the same thing with my extended family and it seemed to be very popular with everyone there as well. My suggestion, if you often feel wrung out by the pressure of gift-buying during the holidays, is to try something similar with your friends. Instead of everyone spending lots of money on gifts for everyone else, you and they just have to spend a small amount of money on one gift. And instead of spending hours in shopping malls searching for those gifts, you and they can spend an hour or two in your kitchens making snacks and desserts to bring to the party, so that once the game is over everyone can share in delicious, home-made food.

As for the money you save on those gifts, consider donating at least some of it to a worthy cause (and we all know there are no shortages of those around and, especially at this time of year, no shortages of opportunities to give).

Because for this year's party I tried unsuccessfully to find the rules somewhere on the internet as a reference, here is my version based on the experience of my friends and I, in case it proves helpful to others: Rules for Party Kris Kringle.

Whatever you decide to do—and whether or not you celebrate Christmas at all—I hope you and yours have a wonderful time together over the holidays, and that the new year brings everyone reading these words prosperity, good health, and abundant joy.

Confused Expressions #10: Money is the Root of All Evil

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:50:00 -0500

There's nothing inherently confused about the expression "money is the root of all evil." I don't happen to agree with it, but that's a philosophical point that can be debated. The confusion comes in since most people who use the expression think they're quoting the Bible (and often are trying to defend money against the charge). Those people are confused because the Bible never claims that money is the root of all evil, although something like those words does occur in something like that sequence. While giving his disciple Timothy advice on "fighting the good fight," St. Paul writes:

[...] we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

To claim that St. Paul—who certainly appreciated the need for money as much as anyone does who takes seriously Jesus's call to feed the hungry, for example—to claim that he believes "money is the root of all evil" is in my mind the same as claiming that someone who says "I don't want to date you" is rather interested because they used the words "I", "want", "to", "date", and "you—and all in the right sequence! Few people would make the error in the second case, which does make me wonder why so many intelligent, educated people make the error so often in the first case.

Bike Log #6

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:40:00 -0500

Before several high-profile cycling accidents and enough close-runs of my own changed the focus of the last few bike logs to safety, the initial ones were all about the benefits I was delighted to find by cycling to work.

As I remarked in a previous entry, one of those unexpected benefits was how much fun I was having by cycle-commuting. In this entry, I want to mention another unexpected benefit: the great sense of satisfaction I get from identifying and fixing a problem with my bike, especially when I compare that to experiences with my car. If almost anything goes wrong with my car, the most I can do is sigh and bring it to the mechanic. But nothing so far has gone wrong with my bike that I couldn't fix myself. One of my plastic pedals broke; I replaced them with steel ones. My brakes were too loose; I tightened them. On my bike, I can replace a flat tire in five minutes; it takes me longer to clean my fingers after reattaching a chain that's fallen off than it does to actually fix the chain. Everything is also relatively inexpensive with bikes, so a flat tire will usually cost a few bucks to fix (if you're just replacing the inner tube) and, for most consumer bikes, less than $50 even if you're replacing the whole wheel.

As cars get increasingly complex (so that even independent mechanics throw up their hands because they don't have the sophisticated equipment they need to diagnose problems on the latest and greatest cars), isn't it downright refreshing to have a means of vehicular transportation where one can fix most problems oneself? And though bikes are much simpler than cars, my bike often outpaces cars that are stuck in traffic. In fact, if I'm pushing myself I can do 25-30 km/hr on roads and even reach 40-50km/hr when gravity is helping me down slopes. How do I know? Because I have a sensor on my wheel and a speedometer on the front of my bike . . . which I installed myself, of course.