Scales of Life

It's March 31st, 2006.

Nothing very significant about the date, but just to reflect on it, it means that another month has disappeared. The end of March seems to be the REAL demarcation point between the winter and summer seasons. We just finished off the last of the sap run into four gallons of pure maple syrup. Today was rather sultry - humid, warm, breezy with intermittent showers and sunny spots. I just came in from a night walk.

The moon is at that 'fingernail' stage, with a very good earthshine. The stars are spectacularly brilliant against that post-sunset bluish black. The clouds to the south are reflecting some distant lightning, and Orion and Pleiades are standing guard. The first night of the year to hear the frogs singing again, which means the frost is well out of the ground. And its Friday, the last of the month.

Tomorrow is the first of April, 2006. Nothing very significant about that date either. It says April Fools Day on the calendar - better known as National Atheists Day in this neck of the woods. But for us 'nonFools', it just means the beginning of a new month, the Sabbath, and the first REAL spring month.


Yesterday I tuned a piano that belongs to some friends of ours. Nothing very significant about that either, but it happens to be something that provoked me to draw some parallels with.

Pianos are tuned to what is known as 'equal temperament tuning', which was first successfully promoted by J.S. Bach. To obtain a well-tempered scale, two things are absolutely necessary:
1)Not all intervals can be 'perfect' intervals.
2)The intervals must be evenly balanced in order to obtain the versatility of using more than one scale - it must work in all twelve major scales.

Anyone can tune to a perfect interval, but that won't get you a well-tempered piano.
The difficulty comes in knowing and hearing exactly how much to flatten the fifths in order to make the corresponding third equally useful. It's not very much, but it has to be absolutely the right amount. You can't get away with any amount of discrepancy in any of the scales. If you're wrong anywhere, it will be wrong everywhere. With one tuning fork, one note is calibrated, and all eighty-eight keys are tuned to that calibration.

There's a certain dogged perseverance to this type of thing. I'm not an expert, so it takes me a full two hours and then some to get a result I'm happy with. Once you start, there's no leaving it unfinished.

That brings me to a point which I observed in all this:

Life has similar realities. If we take one scale and think we are working it into perfection, with perfect intervals, we will get what is called a meantone temperament, and that tuning will be only useful in that one scale - all the others will be horribly dissonant.

But for an equal-temperament, there are only two perfect intervals - the unison and the octave. The fifths must be slightly flattened, or the thirds will be horribly sharp. That adjustment is so minute that by itself most people do not notice it, but it makes all the difference needed for the temperament of the piano scale.

That's not compromise. That's something called grace. The right amount, in the right place, creates the versatility of keys that has made the piano what it is - the king of musical instruments.

Have you ever noticed that God didn't say that the earth was perfect when He had finished creating it? He said that it was 'good'. That wasn't a 'good enough', that was simply 'good'.

The unisons must be perfect. There can be no compromise, because they form every note in the piano. Each interval, however, has just the right amount of grace to sound pleasant in twelve major and twelve minor keys.

Simply put, the Well-Tempered Klavier.

Run, That Ye May Obtain

In the 2006 Olympics in Turin, there was one relatively obscure, but notable performer.

Finishing 21st in figure skating was Tugba Karademir, a twenty year old woman from Turkey with dual citizenship with Canada. The story of her pursuit of figure skating is an intriguing anecdote:

-AP
.... As a kindergartner, Tugba Karademir ventured with her classmates onto the first full-size rink ever built in Turkey - and started on a remarkable path that uprooted her family, tested her pluck and now has led her to Turin as her country's first figure skater to reach the Olympics.....

....Even as a 5-year-old in 1990, skating weekly with her classmates at the then-new rink in Ankara, it was clear that Karademir - an only child - had talent. By the time she was 12, and already a winner of a Balkans under-18 medal, her parents decided she should move abroad to obtain the best possible coaching.

Her mother gave up a job with Roketsan, a Turkish rocket and missile maker, and the two of them moved to Barrie, Ont., while Tugba's father stayed behind - maintaining his restaurant business in Ankara in case his wife and daughter abandoned their adventure and opted to return home.

What strikes me as particularly noteworthy in this is the incredible sacrifices the family - particularly the parents - made in order to assist their daughter in her desired pursuit of figure skating.

To pull up roots, give up a prestigious job, leave family and friends and move across the world to a foreign country in order that their daughter would have the best environment, training and development is, to say the least, remarkable.

If anything qualified to be considered an interference in their lives, that would have.

How many of us would give up that much for such a venture?


I'd like to draw some parallels here. 1Corinthians 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
25. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

We, who have been called to run the spiritual race which is of eternal value, to obtain the incorruptible crown of righteousness: Do we consider such things as careers, as salaries, as lands, homes, and comfort as things with which the spiritual race is an interference? Do we seek with anywhere near as much self-sacrifice a place where we can raise our children in the best environment for training in the spiritual race?

Or do we cling to these sins which so easily beset us? Have we pitched our tent toward Sodom? Are we found even living within Sodom? Have we even given consideration to the training environment of both ourselves and family and children?

Let's take a more serious look at what we consider our important occupations in this life. Are they corruptible or incorruptible?

Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Kingdom Knights: Fight the Scandal: A discussion of Contemporary Christian Music

There's a fairly indepth discussion of this subject going on right now over here:

Kingdom Knights: Fight the Scandal: A discussion of Contemporary Christian Music

If you're interested, check it out before it really gets too long to read through. :)

Of Cats and Catowners

This afternoon I went to a conservation area near here to take a look at the Tundra Swans on their migration route. The swans were great to watch, as always, but this particular incident was brought by a different species.

I walked around to the other side of the lake, and on my way back I passed an older couple with a cat on a leash. A little bit amusing, but I've seen that before. Apparently this cat was not very cooperative with the route her staff had chosen, because she was making every effort possible to reach that clear, cold, water in the ditch. Straining, leaping, then following a few feet with her tongue hanging out, then straining and leaping...

As I passed, I greeted them, which they did acknowledge, but they were busy trying to deal with their insubordinate pet. I commented that it appeared that the cat was thirsty and was probably trying to get a bit of that water.

"Yeah, we have some bottled water in the car."

Then she turns to her husband and worries: "We don't have a bowl or anything. I guess we'll have to give it some in the bottle cap."

*cough*

Hats Off

In the Toronto Star, a letter written by a young woman:

A few years ago, when I first started driving, I went shopping only to come out and find that I left my car lights on and killed the battery. I did not have a cellphone so I could not call anyone for help.
I looked around the parking lot to see if anyone could help me. I found a man sitting in the passenger seat of a car. I figured that his wife was inside shopping and he was waiting in the car.
I asked him if he had booster cables and if he could help me boost my car battery. He told me that he did not have boosters, but would help me "pop" the battery (it was a standard transmission car).
He very carefully got out of his car, told me to get into my car. He told me what to do (he was going to push the car and I had to take my foot on and off the clutch real fast) once I knew the path was clear.
I did as I was told and the car started.
I decided to let the car run some before I went on my merry way and I wanted to thank this kind soul for helping a young woman who didn't know what to do. As I got out of my car, I noticed him walking back to his car.
To my absolute astonishment I realized that the man was blind!
He helped me start my car and I didn't even realize that he couldn't see. What a wonderful man he must have been to offer his help the way he did. I realized afterwards that there was nothing I could ever do that would compare to the kindness that this man had offered me, but I wanted to try....

...

I'm speechless.

Remember this when we're old, okay?

Separation of Church and State: The Deception and Danger

In the examination of current events and past history, two cherished principles of Protestantism, of the Reformation and of both the United States and Canada exist:

Liberty of Conscience and Religion.
And
Separation of Church and State.

Comparing the two countries' declaration, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution affirms:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms specifies the five fundamental freedoms of our nation:

Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:

Fundamental Freedoms
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other means of communication.
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association. 1

Both of these principles are under attack. Both are being used unlawfully. But what we see today is that the unlegislated principle of 'Separation of Church and State' is being used to destroy the legislated fundamental freedom of 'Liberty of Conscience and Religion'.

We observe that prayer and Bibles are banned in many school districts. In the name of Separation of Church and State.

We observe that the law of God is banned from display in the court of law. In the name of Separation of Church and State.

We observe here in Canada governments working overtime to ascribe all morality to the realm of religious opinion, thereby entitling them to legislate immorality. In the name of Separation of Church and State.

Both are on a course of extinction.

Licentiousness has usurped the robe of liberty, and sits in the seat of the Supreme Court, in the streets of the cities, in the schools, in movies, music, television and media channels. Despotism has pronounced society in her domain and raises the next generation for self annihilation.


Let the discerning beware, and observe the deception of despotism. In the name of 'Separation of Church and State', 'Freedom of Conscience and Religion' will be struck down, and with the same blow, the true reality of 'Separation of Church and State' will be abolished, and the state will impose a religion of its own upon those who have fallen prey.

In an address delivered July 4th, 1788, Justice James Wilson declared:

"The enemies of liberty are artful and insidious. A counterfeit steals her dress, imitates her manner, forges her signature, assumes her name. But the real name of the deceiver is licentiousness. Such is her effrontery, that she will charge liberty to her face with imposture; and she will, with shameless front, insist that herself alone is the genuine character, and herself alone is entitled to the respect which the genuine character deserves. With the giddy and undiscerning, on whom a deeper impression is made by dauntless impudence than by modest merit, her pretentions are often successful. She receives the honors of liberty, and liberty herself is treated as a traitor and usurper. Generally, however, this bold impostor acts only a secondary part. Though she alone appear upon the stage, her motions are regulated by dark ambition, who sits concealed behind the curtain, and who knows that despotism, his other favorite, can always follow the success of licentiousness. Against these enemies of liberty, who act in concert, though they appear on opposite sides, the patriot citizen will keep a watchful guard." 2

(I dare not attempt to match the eloquence of the above quote.)

In order for licentiousness to assume the cloak of liberty, morality must be declared a religious notion, and therefore, under the banner of 'Separation of Church and State', Parliament publicly legislates immorality, decriminalizes sin, and without fail must also follow the criminalization of morality and the downfall of all freedom of conscience. On April 28 2004, the Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-250, which effectively rules speaking, writing, or influencing against homosexuality to be a hate crime. That means, folks, that certain parts of the Bible are classified hate literature. In the name of 'Separation of Church and State'.

According to Ontario Provincial law, the duties of a teacher include:

(c) to inculcate by precept and example respect for religion and the principles of Judaeo-Christian morality and the highest regard for truth, justice, loyalty, love of country, humanity, benevolence, sobriety, industry, frugality, purity, temperance and all other virtues; 3

That law has never been kept. Instead, in the name of 'Separation of Church and State', homosexual 'families' are illustrated in preschool and kindergarten books.

Separation of Church and State is none of the above, FYI.

Separation of Church and State is the fundamental principle which must be kept in order to guarantee that the State holds 'Freedom of Conscience and Religion'. Instead, the enemies of liberty are holding up the banner of 'Separation of Church and State' while they are desperately hacking at the foundation of 'Freedom of Conscience and Religion'.

Do not be deceived. It doesn't take a homeschooler to figure this one out. What we need here is men, MEN, who will stand for liberty, for truth, and for freedom. What we need is women, WOMEN, who will stand for liberty, for truth, and for freedom. And what we need is the youth, the YOUTH who will put to shame the lies of enemies of liberty.

So help us God.



1 Constitution Act 1982, Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
2 The Works of the Honourable James Wilson, Vol. III, p. 307.
3 Ontario Education Act, 1990, Section 264c.

Job description

Job descriptions.

Now what comes to mind the moment you hear that term?

If you're like me you likely thought of 'union labor' bureaucracy.

Well, never mind. What's your job description?

This afternoon this topic happened to crop up in some chatter, and a friend who was working with me today had a very fitting remark:

Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do. I wonder what labor union ever dreamed of such a philosophy. Whether it may be sweeping streets or building skyscrapers, do it with your might.

With that job description, go figure where unemployment insurance comes in. :)