Author Archives: Rob MacD

At the cenotaph today, a couple of things struck me:

1) it’s rather neat to hear the low rumble of a few hundred people mumbling The Lord’s Prayer.

2) the song “God Save The Queen” fails me on both counts (or I fail it?). I don’t believe in God, and I don’t respect the divinity, or observance, of royalty.

3) I’ve further pinpointed what it is about the Remembrance Day ceremony that gets to me, emotionally. It’s when the veterans, each one, comes up to the monument and salutes. I imagine them, in that salute, remembering a particular awful memory, momentarily reliving the extraordinary hell of losing a friend or comrade, or the less-extraordinary hell of wet boots in the midst of gunfire, or the hell of whatever. That moment of salute, when the old soldier is once again the soldier he once was, rips a bit of my heart out of me.

Of all the ‘holidays’, Remembrance Day is the one that means the most to me. Really, it is the only one I can stand behind and endorse. It’s the only one that moves me. The religious holidays are nice for getting together with family and friends, but to my non-believing mind, they don’t have much of an impact. Thanksgiving is okay, but there is that ‘we stole your land’ vibe to contend with. Canada Day (our wedding anniversary, btw) is always fun, and does a good job at instilling the patriotic feeling, but it’s just a carnival.

Remembrance Day, though, is Honest and True.

I wonder what kind of soldier I’d have been in a combat situation. I would hope that I’d be the type who was among the first up the hill, or the type who’d sacrifice my life for others. I suspect, however, that I’m more selfish, more cowardly, more analytical than that. Of course, it’s because I’ve lived my life completely in a safe and secure country that I can afford to be selfish, cowardly and analytical. I wonder how I’d perform in a combat in which I truly believed I was fighting for right. I don’t know. For that lack of knowledge, I am thankful.

What I do know, though, is that I get very emotional at the Cenotaph when the old soldiers march and the bus of ailing veterans drives by. I appreciate true and honest sacrifice.

This is something of a confession: I’ve always appreciated the acting stylings of Jason Bateman. His talent, I thought, always was better than any TV show in which he could be found. Perhaps I’m confusing ‘talent’ with ‘ability to convey his likable personality’, but whatever it is, he made bad shows better.

Now he is in the new Fox sitcom Arrested Development, along with Jeffrey Tambor (of Larry Sanders fame), David Cross (of Mr. Show fame) and other quirky, enjoyable castmates. [I feel so Matt Rainnie, gone link crazy!] I saw my first episode (the series’ second episode) last night, and I found it quite funny. I recommend everybody check it out quickly, as I fear it’ll be cut down and cancelled soon by lack of viewership. This is the norm for most shows that don’t stick to the basic rules of sitcom success.

This is something of a confession: I’ve always appreciated the acting stylings of Jason Bateman. His talent, I thought, always was better than any TV show in which he could be found. Perhaps I’m confusing ‘talent’ with ‘ability to convey his likable personality’, but whatever it is, he made bad shows better.

Now he is in the new Fox sitcom Arrested Development, along with Jeffrey Tambor (of Larry Sanders fame), David Cross (of Mr. Show fame) and other quirky, enjoyable castmates. [I feel so Matt Rainnie, gone link crazy!] I saw my first episode (the series’ second episode) last night, and I found it quite funny. I recommend everybody check it out quickly, as I fear it’ll be cut down and cancelled soon by lack of viewership. This is the norm for most shows that don’t stick to the basic rules of sitcom success.

Just a friendly (‘you got some mayonnaise on your chin’ type) reminder that the conference is over now, yet advertising for it continues to be displayed on many sites. You might want to remove the ads and links to it.

or “The Voyager Probe Has Left The Building”

Yes, after more than 26 years and 8 billion miles of hurtling through space, the Voyager space probe is leaving our solar system. How can we put that in perspective, in terms of how that relates to the rest of the universe? Here’s one explanation that caught my imagination:

If the universe was 100km long, then Voyager has so far travelled the grand total of 10 millimetres.

Also, the nearest stars to us are multiple light-YEARS away from us. So far, Voyager has travelled one-half of one light DAY.

Thanks to Steven Garrity for pointing me to the theory of everything. Now I’m looking for a spoon to scoop up my brain, since it’s leaked out of my ears upon watching the 3 fantastic hours.
String Theory theorizes that *everything* is based on, and created from, infintesimally small strings of energy. How small? It’s impossible to imagine. However, imagine that an atom (already too-impossibly small to imagine) is the size of our universe (already too-impossibly large to imagine). A single string would be the size of a tree in this universe-sized atom. That’s small.
String Theory was discovered/invented/imagined so that a single, unifying mathematical equation or formula could be used to explain our universe. The problem with String Theory is that it cannot be proven or disproven. Scientists are excited about it because the math seems to indicate that it’s viable, even if they are forced to invent/imagine a universe in which 11 dimensions must exist for string theory to work.
Of course, after watching the program, I am now an expert, and have a valid opinion on the whole thing. My opinion is this: String Theory is as valid to string theorists as the existence of God is to Christians. It is no more factual and likely than any other philosophy of existence. To me, there are simply too many leaps of faith, assumptions, and if-then scenarios required of string theory, many of which are unprovable, to put my faith in it.
If this kind of stuff interests you in the least, I highly recommend watching this. It’s mind-blowingly fascinating.

or “The Voyager Probe Has Left The Building”

Yes, after more than 26 years and 8 billion miles of hurtling through space, the Voyager space probe is leaving our solar system. How can we put that in perspective, in terms of how that relates to the rest of the universe? Here’s one explanation that caught my imagination:

If the universe was 100km long, then Voyager has so far travelled the grand total of 10 millimetres.

Also, the nearest stars to us are multiple light-YEARS away from us. So far, Voyager has travelled one-half of one light DAY.

So far, I’ve managed to identify 42 of the 95 pop icons from the quiz at this site. It’s an .xls file, so you need some type of Excel program in order to open it.
Some of them are pretty tough and obscure. The majority are music related, with a slight 80’s and British slant to it. One of them is Rick Astley, for cripe’s sake, so what does that tell ya?

In reference to this story about what Prince Charles did or didn’t do, I would just like to make it clear that I also heartily disclaim any knowlings or involvementations of any and all such events which have and/or have not taken place; also I impunicate myself from any and all such events which may have taken place but not with my direct involvementary physication or brainial attunedness; or of any and all such events which may have taken place, and of which I was informationally implicatory to, yet moralistically disinclinated from.

That being said, does anyone have any idea what Prince Charles supposedly was involved in?