'Born that man no more may die'

Stéphane versus Stephen

What will Canada's next election be like? The Economist thinks that Dion has a chance against Harper:

[Dion] is indeed bookish and lacking in charisma. But so is Mr Harper, and that did not stop him from turfing the Liberals out of office in last January's election. Mr Dion, said one commentator, is Mr Harper with a French accent. In an era when politics has degenerated into tawdry glitz, Canada seems to have bucked the trend. The next election campaign promises to be a real thumb-sucker.

Read more here: The geek shall inherit.

Religion and politics down under

Does the Australian Labor Party's selection of Kevin Rudd as its leader mark the desecularization of Australian politics? Paul Kelly considers this possibility: God at the heart of ALP's new strategy.

Paul said it first

My employer, Redeemer University College, really ought to consider adopting this Latin phrase as its new motto: Omnia in Christo constant. Or might that be too similar to that of a neighbouring institution?

Mrs. Methuselah passes on

What would it be like to live to see the 7th generation of one's descendants? This woman knew: Woman listed as world's oldest person dies at 116 in Memphis nursing home. And I'm sure she must have sent every one of them a birthday card each year.

'Beautiful British Columbia'

That's what's written on the licence plates in this western-most province, and it's an accurate description. I just came back from nearly a week there, as the guest of Trinity Western University, where my former colleague Mike Goheen currently teaches. I had the honour to deliver the Lamblight Lecture, titled "Globalization: Where are We Headed?," as part of a series sponsored by the Geneva Society. Everyone there was most hospitable, even going out of their way to ensure that the ground was covered with snow to make me feel more at home. What more could I ask?

Here are some photos of my time there:





This was one view of the mountains as seen through the trees of the TWU campus.



On tuesday Mike and Marnie and I had lunch at a restaurant in the coastal town of White Rock, not far from the border with Washington state. White Rock is a heavily touristed town during the summer months, but less so during the winter.



Here I am on the boardwalk at White Rock, with the inlet between BC and the US in the background.



I was fortunate to take this lovely shot of the sun setting over the Pacific.



It is claimed that Fort Langley is the oldest town in BC. It is another tourist town rather similar to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, but a bit less upscale.



I don't know whether this is in Fort Langley or not, but this is the lovely view from the Glover Road bridge over the Bedford Channel.



I took this photo from the gate at the Abbotsford Airport yesterday while waiting for the plane to return to Hamilton. This was my first visit to BC, which means that I have been to exactly half of Canada's provinces.

This evening Nancy and I had the pleasure of sampling a bottle of homemade mead, a gift from our good friend, Sir Bruce. What a nice way to spend a wintery evening with the family. It's good to be home again.

A true innovation

This should be good news for Venezuela's poor: Chavez Promises to Eradicate Poverty Through Socialism. One wonders why nobody thought of this until now.

Liberal leadership race over

In a stunning upset over previous frontrunner Michael Ignatieff, Stéphane Dion is the new leader of the Liberal Party. Thus the historic pattern continues since 1887 (except for a few months in 1919) of alternating party leadership between an anglophone and a francophone. We shall see whether Ignatieff remains in politics or returns to academia. And we shall see how Dion stacks up against Harper.

Whence life?

Meteorite may have seeded life. Um, haven't Star Trek fans known this for 40 years?

Alternate address

Because Redeemer's server has been in and out of service in recent days, anyone wishing to get hold of me, especially when the image at the top of this blog is missing, can do so by writing to the following address: david{dot}t{dot}koyzis{at}hotmail{dot}com.

The latest from Comment

Check out today's article in Comment, Living with Liberalism: six strategies for faithfulness, co-authored by a certain obscure Upper Canadian political scientist and his part-time colleague. Here's a brief snippet to whet the reader's appetite:

For Christians living in North America, the notion of being in exile may not seem immediately relevant. To be sure, we are still a covenant people, but we are not defined by ethnicity or attachment to a particular piece of land. Nevertheless, Augustine's recognition that we are severed from the tranquility of order—and even our own recognition of the brokenness of our communities—should confirm the continuing reality of exile. The need to pray continually to the LORD for the larger communities in which we find ourselves—as well as acting on their behalf—is at the heart of living as a Christian in a society dominated by any secular ideology, including liberalism.

The Greeks were there first

Here is a story that would warm the heart of Gus Portokalos and confirm his every prejudice: Ancient Greeks charted skies with mechanical calculator. Opaaaa!