What *Really* Isn't Natural

Okay, so I haven't posted in a while... Shrug. Here's something anyway.

Fundamentalists often say things like "Homosexuality isn't found in nature, and is therefore wrong." Aside from the fact that homosexuality most certainly does occur in nature (Let me Google that for you), and aside from the fact that some of us consider humans part of nature, and aside from the fact that whether or not something occurs in nature isn't actually a test of its morality by almost any standards, I'd like to follow this fundamentalist train of thought a little bit.

If we use their definitions and assumptions. we find that there are many other examples of human behaviour that don't occur in nature, such as building churches, reading Bibles, and donating 10% of our income. By their own logic, these behaviours are unnatural and are therefore also wrong. And let's not even get into money, cooking, computers, cars, medicine, science, or politics. Since these are all human inventions, they are all clearly wrong by this particular set of fundamentalist "logic".

So in closing, if you happen to believe that homosexuality is wrong because it's unnatural, I cordially invite you to live consistently with your views and stop cooking, buying, voting, and doing anything else that animals don't do.

Capital Punishment

It randomly occurred to me that one of the standard anti-capital-punishment arguments is way off base. Specifically, people often say that by employing capital punishment, society puts itself on the same level as murderers. That we have some kind of moral imperative not to kill, and that we cannot expect others not to kill if our very legal system does it.

The problem here is as follows: the exact same logic would say that by jailing people, society puts itself on the same level as kidnappers, and that we cannot expect others not to forcibly confine people if our legal system does. This can also apply to fines, or indeed any negative consequence imaginable.

So unless you're advocating no punishment at all, stop trying to hold society to a higher standard in terms of punishments. The whole point of a punishment is that it's something bad.

Please note that I am not pretending to address all anti-capital-punishment arguments here, just this one.

Ottawa Canada Day

Free flags, martinis by the pitcher, various performance stages, random street shows, 300,000 people in the downtown core... What more do you want? Click here or the pic below to see the entire set of pictures.

Funeral

I am posting this here on the off chance that anyone only gets their information about me from this site:

My father passed away this morning. I am posting the funeral and visitation information so that anyone who wishes to attend can do so. Please feel free to attend even if I don't invite you specifically, but do not feel any obligation. Obviously some of you are far away and it would be difficult or impossible.

Visitation:
Monday, June 23, 2-4pm and 7-9pm
Tallman's Funeral Home
3277 King St.
Vineland, ON
905-562-5454

Funeral:
Tuesday, June 24, 1pm
366 St. Paul St.
St. Catharines, ON
905-682-8328
Refreshments will be served in the church hall after the service. Parking is available behind the church and in the parking ramp on Carlisle. There is also metered parking on the street.

Boat Cruise

On Saturday, Lisa and I took a guided tour of Ottawa... on a boat! We also had dinner on Dow's lake, and our trip took us across some great scenic driving (Rockcliffe Parkway, and Queen Elizabeth Dr along the Rideau Canal). Click here or the pic below to see several pictures from the day.

Museum of Civilizations

We went there! I took pictures. Click here or the pic below to see the rest.

My Bike Ride to Work

Technically, I suppose these are ordered to fit my ride HOME, since I took them on the way home, but hey. Close enough.

The bike ride really is awesome though. Almost exactly 10km; about 90% of it is trail. Going up the hill just before I get to work kinda sucks, but thankfully there is a shower at work. Also, when I head home I have hit 60 km/h going down it. Click here or the pic below to see the whole album.