Christmas is about family, not going to church!

Wait, what?

No, seriously, apparently that's where we are now. My mind boggles that people would decided that because Christmas falls on a Sunday, they shouldn't go to church. If that's where we are, not just as a culture, but as Christians, then we've really lost touch with the whole point. Even worse to me is the startling number of churches that cancelled services pre-emptively. I mean to say, really.

A certain subset of my in-laws even said this to me earlier today. Surprise was expressed that church where I attend was not cancelled and they commented that it makes sense to cancel church so you can spend time with your family. Not only is this misguided in a general way about what the meaning of Christmas is, but I think this also bespeaks a distance and lack of closeness between people who are supposed to be our family. The Bible speaks over and over about how our fellow Christians are our brothers, and to shun them because we're going to be with family in the strictly biological and legal sense seems short-sighted to me.

Link from FT.

The naïveté of libertarians

Some interesting thoughts on Ron Paul over at First Things, but the part that struck me particularly was the pointing out that libertarians take a remarkably Panglossian view of the individual outside of government and a rather Hobbesian view of the individual in government.

Non-pseudo-Nietzschean libertarians  have always struck me as somewhat Pollyannaish in their assumptions regarding the power—more precisely, the lack of power—of human sinfulness.  They see sinfulness in government, but somehow assume that the rest of us will be “good enough” with only the most minimal restraints.  What’s more, they seem to assume that a “merely individualist” public philosophy won’t have untoward consequences for our common lives together.

Slow December

I apologize for the dearth of content, but Christmas preparations have occupied my time and I've come down with a cold on top of it all. I hope everyone has gotten everything done on time.

In honour of the season, I have a link to a long article, but one that repays your attention, I think. John C. Wright considers the reason for the season, and I'm willing to bet that regardless of what you think that means, he doesn't exactly mean the same thing.

Peter Jackson strikes again!

Not content to ruin the story of The Lord of the Rings with his monstrous film adaptation, he has now set his sights on another cherished portion of my childhood and prepares to mangle Tintin almost out of all recognition.

Jackson, is there no depth you will not plumb, fiend?

ST: Halloween episode

Tonight's episode is The Return of the Archons, and, judging from the teaser appended to the end of the previous episode, it looks like the Halloween episode. More mysticism than science and investigations of strange doings on a weird planet. Okay, to start, Sulu and "O'Neill" are being chased through an old town set by Grim Reaper lookalikes. Sulu is touched and his mind altered and the extra runs off. So we're already off to a good mysterious start.

ST: Law and Order

Next up, Court Martial. It's like Law and Order and NCIS, but in space! I guess. I'm not sure about this episode either. Nifty, we open with several starships orbiting Earth? But they're on Starbase 11. Turns out the captain is going to have a court martial because one of his crewmen died. Spock turns up with the computer log and seems concerned. The dead man's kid then comes in and accuses him of hating her dad and murdering him and *shock* the computer log shows that Kirk jettisoned a pod (?) before the red alert. I was right, it will be Law and Order/NCIS... but in space!

ST: I have no concept of time

This episode is Tomorrow is Yesterday, and in fact I have no concept of time. No, what I mean to say is I have no idea what this one is about. So off we go, into the unknown together then. Ah, we open with a "modern" US Air Force plan taxiing for take-off. I've seen clips of this before in special features. Apparently our heroes have gone back in time somehow and have to deal with us backward 20th century folk. Just to start with, the Enterprise is about the most unconvincing model ever when they put it in the "blue sky".