Goodbye Smytty

Today the Oilers traded one of the best and most dedicated players of the post-Gretzky-and-Messier era. I'm sure every Oilers fan will miss Ryan Smyth. I was hoping he'd finish his career as an Oiler, but now it doesn't look like it. (Yes, he could sign with the Oilers again someday, but I don't know if that's likely.)

Security Certificates

So the Supreme Court of Canada struck down some parts of our security certificate law that let the government hold non-citizens without a trial based on secret evidence of terrorist ties. So far, I think this was a good decision. As I've said before, I think these people should have fair trials because they're accused of fighting against the rights and freedoms that we have; it hasn't been proven that they're terrorists. I'm skeptical about the secret evidence because--while I respect the vast majority of police officers--the RCMP showed during the Maher Arar case that they sometimes find extremely flawed and even fabricated evidence against some people.

The decision to wait a year before this ruling takes effect is probably good too because we may need something to replace the security certificates. We should still have some way to make sure that terrorists who enter Canada don't get the chance to attack us, but I think the security certificates go too far. And since there is evidence against the people who are imprisoned, they shouldn't just be set free; they should be able to hear the evidence against them and defend themselves in court.

I'm not super well informed on this issue, so that's all I'll say. If this topic interests you, please search for other articles about it.

Free e-book

I recently finished reading an interesting book called "God's Debris" by Scott Adams. Although it's written by the creator of Dilbert, it has very little in common with Dilbert. It's a book about two fictional characters discussing things like probability, God, relationships, science, free will, etc. and it intentionally includes some ideas the author thinks are dead wrong. If you like books that mess with your mind a bit, you'll probably like this one. And it's only 132 fairly small pages. Not only that, you can download a free copy here.

High on an Addictive White Powder

I spent yesterday (Family Day here in Alberta) skiing at Marmot Basin in Jasper with my brother, who was snowboarding. It was probably my best ski day in a few years. The snow was great. There wasn't much virgin powder (just a bit off to the sides on a few runs), but there was a good number of places that still had several inches of very loose snow. Marmot may not quite be the biggest and best ski resort in Alberta, but the conditions right now are great.

Out of Context Bible Verse of the Day

"Money is the answer to everything."

--Ecclesiastes 10:19 (NASB)

Update on the Gay Marriage Issue

In November I wrote some comments on a bill that would have allowed marriage commissioners in Alberta to refuse to perform same-sex marriage. In my comments I said, "Before the beginning of gay marriage, I think marriage commissioners were expected to marry any couple that was legally eligible for marriage. (I've been having trouble confirming this though. Even the Alberta government website seems kind of vague, although I didn't read the Marriage Act, or whatever it's called.)" Recently I read something that Glenn Penner from Voice of the Martyrs Canada said (Sorry, this link may eventually lead to the wrong place, but hopefully not for a few weeks): "It is worth noting, that marriage commissioners are licensed by their provincial governments and not employed or paid by the government. Therefore, they should not be forced by the government to perform marriage ceremonies contrary to their religious beliefs. The Supreme Court of Canada has confirmed that clergy cannot be compelled to perform marriages contrary to their religious beliefs. This same freedom should apply to licensed marriage commissioners. Interestingly enough, in the past, marriage commissioners could refuse to officiate at weddings that violated their religious convictions."

Assuming the facts (not the opinions) in this statement are accurate (as I mentioned earlier, it's hard to find a clear answer on this from the Alberta government website), I would like to apologize for making assumptions in that post in November and I'd like to clarify my views now.

If marriage commissioners really could refuse to perform whichever weddings they didn't want to perform, then that right should include the right to refuse to do gay weddings. But if this is the case, I don't think Ted Morton's Bill 208 is the right solution because it puts the focus on homosexuality. I think it would be better to just say that marriage commissioners can refuse to do any wedding they disagree with.

Nintendo Wii

Last night I tried a Nintendo Wii for the first time, playing the game "Wii Sports". I enjoyed the game, but this isn't about how much I liked the game. I'm commenting on the characters, the "Mii's". (You can design your own characters for the game. I didn't, because it takes a while, but my friends who actually have the system did create their own.) I think the characters are a ripoff of Homestar Runner. Two reasons:

1. They have no arms.

2. They might not wear pants.

There are some differences. For one thing, the Wii characters have hands. (The hands just float in midair near the torsos.) Also, the Wii characters have shorter shirts. Because of the shorter shirts, we can tell that the Wii characters either wear white skin-tight pants that blend in with their shoes and they wear shorts over their pants when they're boxing, or they have no genitals or butt crack. Either way, it is a little creepy.

So what do you think? (Click here for a screen shot, in case you haven't played.) Do the Mii's wear pants? Does Homestar wear pants? Is Nintendo copying Homestar?