Year / 2010

by Greg

Unexpected Fun at Swift’s Landing Park

Swift's Landing Park

Following some errands yesterday (which mostly didn’t go as planned, since, due to a much later start to our excursion, everything was closing on us!) on a lovely, nearly-summer’s night with a beautiful sunset, I decided that we should finish off the day with a visit to a local park.

It’s a small county park that features lots of grass, lots of picnic tables, and a few creeks running through and around it. There’s a baseball backstop which we have employed a time or two. And the train tracks which run through our town are just across the creek, so we’ve been known to spend an evening or two sitting on the bank of the creek watching for trains. (The kids—and Dad—love it!)

Last night, thanks to the recommendation of a friend who heads up this group, we headed to the other end of the park to see some “waterfalls”. Now, these are not regular, natural waterfalls, but spillover from the Erie Canal. However… there is water… falling… and so, we enjoyed seeing the waterfalls!

More than enjoyed, Alex was ecstatic! He was at the lead of our train of people, and when he caught the first glimpse of the rather long/wide “waterfalls” he squealed, “Whoa!! Come here!!! Look at these!!!!” I love seeing my kids excited. I think it’s one of my favorite things. 🙂

So we crossed a pretty cool-looking bridge to the other side where Alex was seeing these exciting waterfalls, and observed all that there was to observe for a while. After a few minutes, we observed a beaver! He swam out from one of the banks, heading up the creek where the path ahead of us went.

Always the explorers, the older three kids (followed by their younger sister, number four) ran up the path to see if they could see Mr. Beaver up there. Sure enough, there was another bridge where they could watch him swimming right to them! Mom & Dad and the babies finally caught up and watched as Mr. Beaver swam up as close as I’ve ever seen a beaver… just under the bridge there was a small “island” that he came up on for a moment… then he swam back where he came from! Funny!

So, if you’re in Wayne County, NY, and want to explore a new park … we recommend Swift’s Landing on the east side of Palmyra. Actually, it’s on the Canalway Trail which goes along the Erie Canal for… well, I have no idea how far. Perhaps this website will tell us? (Looks like it goes from Buffalo to Albany! Wow!)

As it has been in the past, and maybe even more now, the Canalway Trail and the parks it connects us to will be much frequented by the Campbells this summer!

by Greg

FIFA World Cup 2010: Vuvuzelas!

If you have been watching any of the World Cup so far this month (perhaps even if you haven’t) you know that the word of the tournament so far is: Vuvuzela.

Now, I am no fan of the constant, buzzing drone that provides the soundtrack to every minute of every match… nor am I so completely anti-Vuvuzela. (First of all, it’s a pretty fun word, and probably lexically reminds me of one of my previous homes.)

If you watch the video above, and read the linked page … well, you’ll see that even though it might be slightly annoying—enough to want to ban it—it’s not all bad. It has certainly given the entire world something to talk about!

There’s even an iPhone app!

So, if it really bothers you, just turn down your sound and root on your country in silence. Or… you could just buy your own?

by Greg

The Real Hues Are Delicate

Oliver Twist - Charles DickensNot sure if you have read the Charles Dickens work Oliver Twist, or, if you have that it has been recent enough that you would recall the plot in any detail. The boys and I are almost three quarters of the way through it, and rapt by the story of this gentle young boy’s circumstantially unfortunate life. (Though at this point of the novel, things have “picked up a bit”) It’s been a very interesting look into the specific time in history, the people of England, and on a larger scale, human nature in general, all levels of good and bad.

We read the following paragraph last night, and it struck me as an interesting observation on how we perceive the world around us. It follows another traumatic period for Oliver, where he was sure he would lose to disease one of the only people who were ever kind to him, and she especially so. After she recovered, these were Oliver’s (and the author/narrator’s) thoughts:

Oliver rose next morning in better heart, and went about his usual early occupations with more hope and pleasure than he had known for many days. The birds were once more hung out, to sing, in their old places; and the sweetest wild flowers that could be found, were once more gathered to gladden Rose with their beauty. The melancholy which had seemed to the sad eyes of the anxious boy to hang, for days past, over every object, beautiful as all were, was dispelled by magic. The dew seemed to sparkle more brightly on the green leaves; the air to rustle among them with a sweeter music; and the sky itself to look more blue and bright. Such is the influence which the condition of our own thoughts, exercises, even over the appearance of external objects. Men who look on nature, and their fellow-men, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the sombre colours are reflections from their own jaundiced eyes and hearts. The real hues are delicate, and need a clearer vision.

The lines I emphasized were the ones that we also highlighted last night after reading them. It’s interesting to think that the world we perceive around us is more a creation of our own heart and mind and eyes than it is “reality”. (Philosophically of course, it’s difficult to then distinguish what is “reality” and what is, in fact, our reality. Whether “real” or not, it is all that we can perceive, although it is possible to change based on our change of heart and mind, I suppose.)

It reminds me a bit of what Jesus said, as told by Luke:

“No one lights a lamp, then hides it in a drawer. It’s put on a lamp stand so those entering the room have light to see where they’re going. Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body. If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don’t get musty and murky. Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room.”

Luke 11:33-36 MSG

You’ve heard of rose-colored glasses. Much the same idea. The world is as we see it, and we see it as our current condition allows us to see it. Fascinating to me that we are both affected by our surroundings and circumstances, and equally able to “affect” them, even if only in our own perception of them.

May you see the real, delicate hues of your world more clearly today.

by Greg

Fleeting

On our way home from a night of re-stocking our cupboards, we came upon a line of stopped cars. It was very odd, and, from where we were we couldn’t quite see what was happening (or had happened), but it soon became apparent that an accident had just very recently occurred.

There were cars pulled off to either side of the road, and people out checking on the wellness of all parties involved. I rolled down our windows to assess the situation and see if assistance was required, and/or if we could actually be of any help (with our van full of groceries and very tired tiny people). As we passed one fairly smashed up vehicle, we could hear the driver crying: though not hysterically, she was definitely audibly shocked by the preceding events.

There were a half-dozen people around her, tending to her, with one man on a cell phone, so, being satisfied that she had enough aid, I continued forward. To our horror we saw on the opposite side of the road a fairly large fire coming from a vehicle that was completely engulfed in the flames. Those who were out next to the vehicle (whether they were the passengers or had arrived to the scene after the crash, we don’t know) all seemed fairly calm, despite the burning vehicle. We surmised—quickly at the scene, and then later down the road—that likely that meant the occupants of the burning vehicle were either safely removed, or it was much too late.

And this has me pensive tonight, as indeed I could see in the countenance of all our children. (Well, except the babies. They were just crying for want of sleep…) Life is so, so fleeting. Had we been to that very spot but a few minutes (at most) earlier, that may have been us in either of those two vehicles. We had been complaining (ok, again, perhaps I had been complaining) of many frivolous things leading up to our encounter with disaster: mostly tiredness, some incredulity at the rate with which money can leave our hands, and sundry other insignificant things.

But we may have been witness to the end of someone(s) lives tonight.

Again, upon further reflection, I said out loud to everyone in our vehicle, “Life is very different than they were expecting it to be tonight, the people in those cars.” All nodded. I commented to our oldest son as he was helping me unload, “That was pretty scary, wasn’t it.” He again, agreed with a hearty and thoughtful, “Yeah…”

One other thing observed tonight—in the positive—was how great we (people) are at responding to disaster and emergency. Complete and total strangers, whom I am certain had other things to get to (though, perhaps not) were stopped on the side of the road offering assistance, compassion, and just human comfort to people whom they may never see again: but treating them like family.

There is an amazing quality of our souls that shines brightest in disaster.

As I reflect on the scene once more tonight with you, I am simply struck by the fleeting nature of our days. Not just that we can die so suddenly, though that is certainly the main thought in my head. The title of this post is that word, “Fleeting,” because these moments that shape us come and go so quickly, and but for a slight change in time or place, our lives could be very different than they end up being. Whether it’s the hand of Providence or not (though I tend to believe it is, even in the allowance in this broken world for some great disasters, as somehow He is so great at bringing life and hope through and even from those) all I know is that it is so fleeting, so fragile.

So all we can do is live it: now, here, today. We never know what twists and turns we will face. We can’t know, and don’t need to. We know that God will go there with us (I will never leave you, nor forsake you). That in itself is quite truth enough. But we also have been placed in the lives of all those people we interact with every day (and, in reciprocity, they too have been placed in ours).

Moments like the one we saw tonight—some great, most really hard, really bad—remind us just how much of a speck our lives are on the timeline of eternity. Our very existence, so replete with richness and complexity, is equally so miniscule, and fleeting.

Don’t put off today what you think you may be able to do tomorrow. (I know I’m not the first to say that, but at the moment, I can’t recall who was…) Live life well today.

by Greg

House Cleaning Fairy

Recently we’ve been—ok, I’ve been—more bothered than usual with both the amount of stuff we have in our house; AND (perhaps more) how often way too much of it is left out all over our floors!

So I told the kids this past weekend—in no uncertain terms—that at 6:30am or so every morning when I get up, I was going to pick up anything that was on the floor, not in its place, and just throw it away. Yes, I know… there are poorer people than we who would love to have such things… I shouldn’t just throw them away. But we’ve tried everything we can think of … and now we’re trying just discarding. (Although, I did add the disclaimer that if I found something of greater value that I would either keep it for myself or sell it on ebay…) 🙂

“I will be like … the House Cleaning Fairy!” said I, “Who will come in while you’re sleeping, without you noticing, and get rid of all the extra stuff!” The big smile on my face didn’t quite match the smiles on their faces, but… well… I did just call myself the “House Cleaning Fairy”…

So, we’ll see how it goes. I have collected a little bit so far, but thankfully, not a lot! The kids have done a good job cleaning up just before they go to bed. What we’re really hoping for, though, is that they will learn to put things in the right place before they move on the next thing in their day. Then less stuff would be lost, more stuff would be easily found, and our floors would be much less cluttered!!!

Till then, the House Cleaning Fairy visits us early every morning…

by Greg

“Reader” Feature for Safari 5

iPhone 4

Along with the announcement of the new iPhone on Monday (including a fantastic new design, Apple’s A4 processor for greater speed and battery life, and many other great features like the new FaceTime video calling), Apple also released Safari 5 (for Mac/Windows).

As is my wont, I updated all our computers as soon as I heard of the available update, and didn’t think much of it. I always assume most of the updates are bug fixes and/or security patches, which are of course beneficial. But this time, I also noticed a fun new feature: Reader.

Reader lets you view a web page (like this very one) with all of the extraneous content “stripped” away, allowing the viewer a more enjoyable “reading” experience. So, header, ads, sidebars… all of that is gone, and up pops a nicely formatted version of the article in a window that sits on top of the one you were just viewing.

Once you’re in Reader mode, if you scroll over the content, several buttons appear near the bottom of the window. There are the two magnifying glasses with the plus and minus (for zooming in and out), an envelope (for emailing the simply-formatted article, along with a link to the full version), and a printer icon (for printing this reader-friendly format). There is also a circle with an X, to exit the Reader mode.

To access the feature there is a handy little button that appears at the far right end of the address bar whenever a page has content that can be viewed in the “Reader”. The button says, “READER”. 🙂 One click takes you to the new view.

Go ahead. Give it a try…

Now that you’re seeing this content in it’s purest, simplest form, you can just relax and enjoy reading all of the great content on the web—for example, you could start with a perusal of the archives of GregsHead.net, starting with any of the “Related articles” at the bottom of this post!

To exit the reader, click anywhere on the window, or click that READER button that got you to the simpler view to begin with.

A pretty neat new feature that I am going to give a go for a week or so. If it’s as usable as it seems… then I’ll be doing so for much more than a week!

Interesting take… Some are concerned that removing the ads and other extraneous stuff will limit the site owners’ money-making potential. However, once you see the feature, you’ll realize that first, you have to actually click the button to use this feature on EVERY single page you navigate to, and likewise, it’s completely a voluntary option—no way to make it the default.

by Greg

Steve Jobs Keynote at WWDC 2010 – 10am PT, June 7th

Steve Jobs Keynote

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is set to give another keynote address today, where most expect that the 4th generation iPhone will be announced (if not made available today) among the many other traditional rumors and speculations. (Personally, I’d like to see some sort of “cloud” music service, speculated to be “iTunes.com” or something similar to that…)

If you’d like to follow it live, there are a couple sites that I usually pull up in my browser tabs on such days:

MacRumors Live
Engadget’s live coverage

by Greg

Math Whiz

I have mentioned here many times before that my Dad (probably much like your Dad?) is a great proponent of the email forward. 🙂 Now, honestly, I don’t like email forwards, I don’t trust them, and usually I just delete them. But I’ll at least scan> most of the ones that come in from my Dad.

Today’s was a fun little math puzzle that claims that anyone who can come up with the answer has an IQ of at least 120. (According to some sources, that means you are either “Gifted” or “Highly Intelligent”.) Not sure how accurate that really is, but it was a fun puzzle to solve. Took me about five minutes… (what does that say about me?) 🙂

(Note: after solving the puzzle that supposedly showed that my IQ was over 120, I decided to take an online IQ test here… great way to “wake up” my brain this morning!)

Leave your answer as a comment and I’ll post the answer later this week (also as a comment). (If you’re reading this well after the post date… DON’T READ THE COMMENTS before you figure it out. (What fun would that be??)

Alright, get those math wheels a crankin’

Here is a neat math problem. The people who forwarded it to me claim that only people with an IQ 120 and over are able to figure this out.

If:
2 + 3 = 10
7 + 2 = 63
6 + 5 = 66
8 + 4 = 96

Then:
9 + 7 = ???

by Greg

A Few More Thoughts on William Wilberforce

I finally officially completed the book I wrote about previously, Amazing Grace, which tells the story of the life of William Wilberforce. I said it before, but I feel like I can’t say it enough: this man was an incredible human being. His life, so affected by what he called the “Great Change”—his awakening to a real, life-changing relationship with God—was not only completely dedicated to just treatment and equality for all his fellow man (and just and kind treatment of animals, actually) but the effectiveness of that life given to this cause was simply astounding. He was relentless, never tiring of doing the right, good thing… and the world is better for it.

In his lifetime he not only took on and defeated the African slave trade, he also saw slavery abolished altogether, Africans were emancipated and the British citizenry was brought along to view them as fellow men and women (rather than some sub-human species), and he also just in general turned the entire culture of his nation (and likely others) toward a more thoughtful, and in reality, a more Christian people.

The affect of true, life-changing “Christianity” was an interesting thread to follow throughout the narrative. In a time when religion had sullied the name of Jesus and the Kingdom of which he spoke, to the point that anything bearing his name had become completely irrelevant, Wilberforce’s life righted the ship, so to speak, and set Britain’s course for the next century or more on improving (or at least being concerned with) the plight of the oppressed around the world. One of the things he tackled following the victory he’d won for abolition was the condition of life in the British colony of India. He endeavored to bring the truth of the Gospel to that nation, educating her people, and in so doing, hoped to set them free: both spiritually, and socially… and otherwise.

It is a misunderstanding (often brought on by those who would presume to promulgate it) that Christianity is in any way the cause of suffering in our world. There are certainly those (previously mentioned) who would distort the teachings of Jesus, usually to their own gain, but sometimes just out of a sheer ignorance of the grandness of God’s grace. When properly understood, however, there is no greater “force” for change than a true understanding of the Good News that Jesus taught and lived.

For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

Sadly, we under the banner of his name, too often judge the world (though even God himself through Jesus did/does not) … and end up pushing our fellow creatures away, and/or elevating ourselves above others, where we should not. The truth is, we are all the same. And when we know that truth, when we see the world in that way, and when we live in the world in that way … the world is a much, much better place.

William Wilberforce did that. And, as much as one man with such a view of his world can change and affect it for the better, he most certainly did.

by Greg

Apple Posts HTML5 Showcase

I just saw a link to a new section of Apple’s website, showcasing the power of HTML5, the next coding language for the web. It of course was named in Steve Job’s open letter to Adobe as one of the main reasons Apple is not using Adobe’s Flash on their portable devices. (Almost) All of that can be done via the features of HTML5.

It’s a pretty neat little overview/demo, even if you’re not in the business of making websites as I am. But, if you are, there’s a link there for more info for developers.