Remembering Dad

This weekend marks the third anniversary of my father’s death–a shock to us all as he died of a massive heart attack out of the clear blue sky at 71 years old.

Here is what I wrote as a memorial the next year, and what follows now is a more recent remembrance:

Remembering Dad

Missing him
like the mountain gone from the front window
or the maple tree gone from the backyard

Life goes on just the same
but less sure
and less shady

A Scientist Who Believes in God! That’s Real News!

Well, no, it isn’t. But with Francis Collins being named head of the National Institutes of Health by President Obama, a number of media seem to think it is.

Your servant’s brief riposte is here.

(Your servant’s previous post on “creation versus evolution” is here. And my semi-celebration of Darwin’s birthday is here.)

Facebook: Worse than a Waste of Time, but with Pix

Matt Labash is mostly right: Facebook is a waste of time. And here are a few more reasons to hate it:

1. I keep my “friend” list to people I have actually met. That means I’m constantly risking annoying or offending nice people who have read my articles or books, or who have heard me speak, or who otherwise want to get to know me better. (See my website, please: It has lots more information than my Facebook profile.) But if I don’t keep my list to acquaintances, then I get deluged with information about people I don’t know doing things I don’t care about.

2. Even the people I do know seem to post all sorts of “status updates” that provide information about them doing things I don’t care about. So you’re tired: So what? So you’ve been up late working on a project: Maybe you should spend less time procrastinating by reading and writing on Facebook and get your freakin’ work done! So you’re celebrating some event in your life that you’re not specifying and I’d have to scroll back through dozens of other people’s postings to find it . . . ah, forget it. Sorry. Warmest congratulations on–whatever.

Happy Canada Day & Happy Insurrection Day!

Okay, I’m just kidding about the second one. But please, American friends, forgive me. My branch of the Stackhouse family fled north at the time of the Revolutionary War to remain loyal to the Crown. Things do get sorted out, however: My entire family of origin have become Americans, and two of our three sons are dual citizens. I myself was recently pronounced “bicultural” by an American friend, which she meant, and I received, as a high compliment.

So here’s today’s question. When you Americans celebrate Independence Day—and when you Canadians celebrate Canada Day—what do you do, or participate in, that has actual content?

We might eat special foods in the company of special people, yes, and perhaps end the day with fireworks. But that’s all completely generic celebration. What is particularly American or Canadian in your day? What happens on July 1 or July 4 that reminds you of your country’s heritage, identity, mission, what-have-you?

I’m wondering if patriotism has burned so low now in most of our lives that aside from perhaps hanging a flag out front, we aren’t hearing or saying or viewing or otherwise doing anything that fills these national days with any actual content.

True in your case?