However this year, with the Newtown shooting, and getting some inspiration from different sources, I wrote this up. It gives us some perspective; how good most of us have it, how much some people are hurting, and how much God has for all of us.

And I dare you not to cry when you hear the toy piano plink out "Silent Night".

Merry Christmas.

Doug

During the American Civil War, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s oldest son Charles Appleton Longfellow joined the Union cause as a soldier without his father’s blessing. Longfellow was informed by a letter dated March 14, 1863, after Charles had left. "I have tried hard to resist the temptation of going without your leave but I cannot any longer," he wrote. "I feel it to be my first duty to do what I can for my country and I would willingly lay down my life for it if it would be of any good". Charles soon got an appointment as a lieutenant but, in November, he was severely wounded in the Battle of New Hope Church in Virginia during the Mine Run Campaign. Coupled with the recent loss of his wife Frances, who died as a result of an accidental fire, Longfellow was inspired to write "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”.

He first wrote the poem on Christmas Day in 1863.

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Those two previous verses are not usually sung as part of the Christmas song because they are referring directly to the American Civil War. Still, the war added to all Longfellow’s other reasons for despairing. And tonight, there are many families who feel that same sense of despair. They have family members who have been killed in wars thousands of miles away in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have had children killed just down the street at their school in Newtown, Connecticut.

There are, and there will always be, people who ask you, “Where was your god? How could he allow these things to happen to good people, to innocent people?” I can imagine the same question being asked in Bethlehem, after Mary, Joseph and Jesus fled to Egypt, and Herod ordered all boys under 2 be killed.

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

The answer to the question is, God is there, just like He always is, to be with us in our desperate times. Jesus wept when confronted with the death of Lazarus, even though He knew what He was going to do. But to really understand that answer, we have to rephrase the question. Where is God when I do evil things? Why doesn’t He stop me when I lie, cheat or steal? The answer is, because He has given me a choice, and in His love, He lets me choose. If I were forced to do the right thing every single time, if I were forced to love Him, it wouldn’t be love. It would be conformity, coercion; not love.

Those who ask the question, “Where was your god?” would not accept that coercion on themselves. And therefore, we cannot expect that coercion from God for anyone. He gives people the choice to make good decisions and bad ones. His own Son’s mere presence turned into a massacre of boys age 2 and younger in Bethlehem. Just as He wept at the death of Lazarus, He weeps now for those innocents killed. But also, just as He came to comfort those who mourned Lazarus, He is there to comfort those who have lost family members to a war and children to a mass murderer.

And even more than His promise to comfort those who mourn, is the promise that, even when bad things happen, all things God works for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Ultimately, Longfellow’s poem ends on this very note; that all this is temporary. In spite of personal loss and tragedy, he takes the long view – God’s view – that even these things work together for good.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

As we listen to “Silent Night”, let’s remember those who are away from home this Christmas, those who are missing loved ones that are no longer here to celebrate Christmas, and to be thankful for all of us that are here at this time of the year.

And, if you watched the movie "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole" (yes, a movie about a city of owls), you might have heard this during the end credits.

Owl City’s previous CDs have had, as their hallmark, whimsical, imaginative lyrics, much like these hits. It’s not the sum-total of his work, but it’s certainly been what he’s best known for. Also, as a Christian, while his lyrics on released material are not overtly religious, he has used words that, understanding his religion, add further meaning to them. For example, the chorus from his song "Galaxies" (another imaginative song):

Dear God, I was terribly lost,
When the galaxies crossed,
And the Sun went dark.
Dear God, You’re the only North Star,
I would follow this far.

Where, elsewhere, the "Dear God" would be simply an interjection for emphasis, here it’s a prayer.

(I say the lyrics are not overtly religious "on release material", because he posted his rendition of "In Christ Alone" on his blog. I can’t find it there anywhere, but a YouTube video is here.)

With this as the backdrop, "The Midsummer Station" marks a few changes in the music of Owl City. First, there’s less of the one-man band aspect. His Wikipedia entry lists the current members as just "Adam Young – lead vocals, programming, keyboards, piano, synthesizers, guitars, bass guitar, drums, percussion, vibraphone". But on Midsummer, there is collaboration on vocal, writing and producing credits. On the vocal front, the first hit off the CD, "Good Times", pairs Young with Carly Rae "Call Me Maybe" Jepsen. Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus also appears for the track "Dementia".

Secondly, this CD moves Owl City towards more in the way of a rock sound and slightly away from the previous very-electronic sounding, synth-pop music. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. My kids introduced me to Owl City, and I frankly loves the sound he put together on the previous CDs. So not moving too far from his roots is OK, as is his willingness to experiment with the sound and let go a little of the creative control.

Thirdly, the lyrics are less whimsical and more rooted in a concrete subject matter, even if the treatment is teenage-ish. Rather that musing about fireflies, Midsummer has two break-up songs, for example, in addition to the upbeat and uplifting songs. Adam said that the song "Dementia" was written when he was having some regrets. But not to leave it completely behind, "Metropolis" is a song that Superman might sing when he gets homesick.

There is one aspect of Owl City’s music that has not changed with this release; enunciation. Yeah, not something that you typically think of when listening to music. But hey, Mom and Dad (and I count myself as one of you), if you listen to this CD, you will not need a page of lyrics to know what’s being said. And yet, it doesn’t sound enunciated, not like a high school English teacher trying to get you to pronounce your words properly. It’s very natural and, with a combination of the sound mix and voicing, you always know the words. (Listen to one of the videos again to see what I mean.) I appreciate this, and even more so since he doesn’t try to drown out any Christian expression in the lyrics.

The song lyrics themselves might have felt at home in my high school years of the late 70s. And that may be why I like this CD; it’s a throwback to those fun days, where I can imaging blasting "Good Time" out the open windows cruising down the main drag with some buddies. It has cuts that would cause some teen being interviewed by Dick Clark on "American Bandstand" to say, "It’s got a good beat, and you can dance to it; I give it a 90."

Some may find certain tracks a bit "cheesy", and I can understand that. But overall, I like this CD and would definitely recommend it to, well, friends of my kids, as well as old guys like me who did like the pop music scene in the late 70s/early 80s. It’s got a good beat, and you can dance to it. I give it a 95.

But there’s one thing I’ve not figured out. I’ve always preferred CDs that I can buy and hold. I can play them on a CD player or in my car. Anytime, anywhere. Sure, I’ve had MP3 players for a long time , but I’ve always pulled the audio from the CD first and then copied it to my player; first an old RIO player, then a Sansa, and these days an iPod Touch. Never an issue.

But for some reason, huge music publishers are trying to figure out a way to do exactly that; the same thing I’ve been doing for a decade.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) is in talks with record companies to give iTunes music buyers easier access to their songs on multiple devices, three people with knowledge of the plans said.

Apple is negotiating with music companies, including Vivendi SA (VIV)’s Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group Corp. (WMG) and EMI Group Ltd., said the people, who asked for anonymity because the talks are private. An agreement may be announced by midyear, two of the people said.

The arrangement would give users more flexibility in how they access purchased music. Apple and the record labels are eager to maintain demand for digital downloading amid rising popularity for Internet services such as Pandora Media Inc., which don’t sell tracks and instead let users stream songs from the Web, whatever the device.

Talk of streaming music providers aside (and I love Pandora), I already have access to my music on multiple devices. This is because I have the physical media and can do with it what I want. Today, not 4 months from now. It’s for this reason I don’t even intend to buy any music from the iTunes store.

I like the concept of buying just single songs that you like rather than a whole album that you might not like the rest of, but if it requires Apple and at least 5 other music publishing houses to figure out how to get the music you buy onto multiple platforms, did you really buy it in the first place?

While at the mall a couple of years ago, my then four year old nephew, Spencer, saw kids lined up to see Santa Claus. Having been taught as a toddler that Christmas is the holiday that Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, he asked his mom, "where’s the line to see Jesus"? My sister mentioned this to my dad, who immediately became inspired and jotted words down to a song in just a few minutes.

And thus began a year-long try to get someone in the music industry interested.  Failing that, Becky Kelley recorded it herself and the family created their own video for it. 

Since then, they’ve done the recording up better, with full instrumentation, and created a new video for it.

And now you can buy it in iTunes.  Wonderful song.

"Life in My Day"
Newsong
More Life (2003)

Yeah, well now it’s my turn.

Little Stevie Wonder turns 60 today?  Wow.  Scott Johnson over at Powerline has a nice retrospective of his recording career and some good videos.  Steve Wonder hit the music scene when I was just 1 year old, so suffice to say that I didn’t catch his early career, but my musical interests were formed in the 70s when he had a number of hits in the top 40, all of which I enjoyed.

Do you remember the group "Stars on 45"?  In 1981 they came out with a Beatles medley, done by sound-alikes but very good ones.  In 1982 they recorded "A Tribute to Stevie Wonder", a medley of his biggest hits and (mostly) without the disco beat behind it that had become their trademark up until that point.  Folks came up to Stevie congratulating him on his new hit, because the singer sounded so much like the original.  I read in a magazine article that Steve had heard the song on the radio and was suitably impressed.

It’s a wonderful tribute, in that you realize how many songs of his you remember because you’re singing along with everything, and there are a lot of songs in this almost-8-minute medley.  (Click here for all the lyrics.)  And just before the final bit (of his first hit "Fingertips") are these lines from "A Place in the Sun".

There’s a place in the sun
Where there’s hope for everyone
Where my poor restless heart’s gotta run
There’s a place in the sun
And before my life is done
Got to find me a place in the sun

I believe he has. The video won’t embed, so click here to listen to some great musical history.

We knew each version of the songs, which song by which artist followed which (we’d start singing or humming the next cut immediately after the previous one finished), and we even knew where to expect a skip in the record.  The pops and crackles became as much a part of the song as the singer, the arrangement and the lyrics were.

We had our favorites, and we also laughed at some of the awful renditions.  (You haven’t lived until you’ve suffered through John Wayne singing “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”.  We love it just for how awful it is.)  One of my dad’s favorite secular Christmas songs from our LP collection is this little-known song done by Bing Crosby, “The Secret of Christmas”.  He liked it so much that I remember one afternoon he sat us down in the living room and had us write down the lyrics (one kids listened to the first line and started writing what he heard while the next kid was listening to the second line, etc.).  For a secular song, it really does a wonderful job of driving home the point that Christmas is not just a December 25th thing, and that one of the secrets of Christmas is not just smoothing things over at the end of the year, but it’s what you do the other 364 days that really matters.

Now, as a Christian, I have my own thoughts on how best to do this (and with who’s help I am able), but Christian or not, this is a song for everyone, and a message for us all.

It’s not the glow you feel when snow appears.
It’s not the Christmas card you’ve sent for years.
Not the joyful sound when sleigh bells ring,
Or the merry songs children sing.

That little gift you send on Christmas Day,
Will not bring back the friend you’ve turned away,
So may I suggest the secret of Christmas
Is not the things you do at Christmas time,
But the Christmas things you do all year through.

I found out recently that this song was done in a movie (“Say One For Me”, 1959).  This is a YouTube clip from the movie with Bing singing the tune.  It’s not the version that was on our LP, but I like the video for this one better.

The Secret of Christmas

(The LP version is also on YouTube, as well as many other versions including those by Ella Fitzgerald, Julie Andrews, and a fantastic acapella version where one guy sings all 4 parts.)

And, for those of you who know my dad, this is one of the reasons he’ll tell you “Merry Christmas” just about anytime;   Christ came to redeem the whole year.

Merry Christmas!

Below is the text of my commentary.

Hi, this is Doug Payton for Shire Network News asking you to "Consider This!"

I’ve heard this sentiment many times.  "Why do we pay pro athletes millions of dollars a year, but pay teachers so little?  Which is more important?"  Indeed, it is true that occupations like teachers, fire fighters, and police aren’t paid in accordance with their importance in our society.  Instead football, basketball and baseball players, who strut and fret their hour upon the field and then are heard no more, are lavished with huge salaries and signing bonuses.  Who decided that was how society should remunerate people?

Frankly, we did.  We pay the athletes when we pay big ticket prices at games, when we watch the Super Bowl commercials, and when we buy sport memorabilia.  And we pay our teachers when we give their jobs over to the government, when we vote for politicians who waste our tax money on pork barrel projects instead of salaries and when we cheer while spending ourselves into huge debt.  Now, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying professional sports, but if you want to know why the disparity, there it is.

Here’s another, similar sentiment.  When Private William Long was gunned down by a Muslim who was upset about US military actions, it garnered a bit of coverage.  The Commander-in-Chief did come out with a statement on the incident, 2 days after the fact.  But aside from some conservative blogs, it was soon forgotten.  Here was essentially a kid, who’d hadn’t yet seen combat, killed in his prime.  He was willing to lay down his life for his country, and he wound up doing just that soon after finishing basic training.  This was a kid worthy of having the country hear his story; worthy of mourning.

When singer Michael Jackson died…well, you know what happened.  Here was essentially a man who was obsessed with his appearance to the point of overindulging in plastic surgery, and was taking a cocktail of pain killers as a result (and a cocktail of mood enhancers, hinting at the cause of the indulgence in plastic surgery).  Here’s a guy who dangled his child over a balcony, although the lineage of his children is now in question.  Speaking of children, here’s a guy who has had very questionable relationships with young boys.  And, oh yes, he had some hit songs in the 70s and 80s.  Since his death, there’s been non-stop coverage of it and its aftermath.  Who decided this is how news coverage should be doled out?

Frankly, we did.  We decided when people flocked the Apollo Theater and Neverland Ranch.  We did when we conferred on him the title of "King of Pop".  We did when we did all this while ignoring or brushing off his Howard-Hughes-like behavior, becoming no better than the codependent Yes-men and Yes-women he surrounded himself with.  Now, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a song on the radio or buying a vintage copy of the "Thriller" album.  But if you want to know why the disparity, there it is.

I don’t know, maybe I’m turning into my dad, who didn’t quite get the whole deal made over the death of John Lennon.  Or perhaps I’ve always been him; I didn’t quite get it either.  Yeah, the Beatles were music legends, but really.  You see video of girls crying when the Beatles came on stage, but just recently, as news of the release of Michael Jackson’s last rehearsal tape leaking hit all the evening cable news outlets, one channel was replaying a concert that the Jacksons did just a few years ago.  Yup, crying girls. 

This isn’t a generational thing; it’s a celebrity thing.  It’s image and packaging, and it’s ignoring what’s important to elevate that which is, essentially, a facade.

It’s kind of like electing a President who promises change, and then doesn’t, or who promises fiscal responsibility while spending us into a level of debt previously unimaginable.  But he says the right things and makes a good speech, and the Left in this country just drools over it.  You can almost hear the teenage girls crying in the audience, and the teenage boy on the old "American Bandstand" show saying, "Well it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it; I give it a 95."

If we don’t watch it, we might look right past obvious problems, buy into the image and elect a Michael Jackson, or a John Lennon…or a Vladimir Lenin.  Some might say we already have. 

Oh, and as a public service, and in case you missed it while watching the Michael Jackson coverage; there are reports that North Korea will be testing an ICBM and more nuclear devices soon.  Y’know, you may want to consider this.

For your information, here’s what I wrote:

Personal note: This is probably longer than the usual response to this meme. I’m like that (and it’s one of the 25 items below).

I’m a Christian, I love Jesus, and I don’t apologize for it. I won’t beat you over the head with it, but I certainly won’t hide it, either. If you ask, I’ll answer.

The way I met my wife Susan is one of those small-world stories. While working at a summer camp after my senior year of high school, I met her sister, Joy, who was also a counselor. She was going to be a senior at the same college I would be a freshman at; Asbury College. So I got to know her to find out more about Asbury. Then, my senior year, as I was bringing my sister to the school (her freshman year) I saw Susan and though, “I either know her, or someone related to her.” They looked very much alike. Separately, I got to know a guy named Kevin who was also a freshman and was taking computer classes (as was I). Turned out that Susan and he went to the same missionary boarding school in Malaysia (Dalat International School).

My first car was a 1976 Dodge Coronet Crestwood station wagon, which was already rather old by the time I purchased it in 1983 from Zikakus Chevrolet (Ithaca, NY). It was so big, I named it the Battlestar Galactica. Its size came in handy, from carting a carload for camp staff breaks, to hauling all the luggage back to school after a van accident at an Asbury College SASF retreat, to hauling everything I owned in the world to my first job in Atlanta, GA. Sometimes, in order to start it, I had to take the air filter cover off, put something in the “butterfly” flap to keep it open (like a stick), and then it would crank up. Susan and I went on our honeymoon in it because the Ford Escort I had purchased in Atlanta was stolen shortly before the wedding. More and more started going out on it (power steering pump, radiator) that, in 1987, I finally gave it to the auto mechanic who’d worked on it for so long so he could scrap it for parts.

My first computer was an HP150 Touchscreen PC that I bought in 1984. No, you most likely have never heard of it. I immediately bought Borland Turbo Pascal 2.0 for it. (If you’re a programmer, you might have heard of that.) Hewlett-Packard does list that model in its Virtual Museum. Yes, I still have it in our storage room.

When it was just Susan and I, before kids, we would sometimes go camping, often with other family. As the kids came along, we continued to do that, even bringing along a crib for when we had babies in the tent. The kids have really enjoyed it, and we’ve camped in many places including the Great Smokey Mountains, which was wonderful. The thing about me is, I’m not a huge camping fan. Now, when we decide to go camping, I’m in, and do my best to make it a great experience, and enjoy many parts of it myself, especially the sounds. But overall I’d prefer a hotel. With a shower.

I love Mountain Dew. I even drink diet Dew (in fact, most of the time these days). I like most of the variations of it, except for the Baha Breeze nastiness they serve exclusively a Taco Bell (which is my favorite fast food place). I wasn’t thrilled with the orange version, and the grape was so-so. But I love Code Red, and really enjoyed the recent (2008/2009) trio of flavors they introduced for people to vote on. I’m glad the Voltage flavor won, but any of them would have suited me just fine. I love Mountain Dew.

I enjoy writing about what I think. (Hence, the length of this piece.) I wrote a number of guest articles for my alma mater’s weekly paper, the Asbury Collegian. That led to writing the (very) occasional essay and posting it on my website, which was followed by blogging. (Actually, some of my “essays” turned out to be mini-blogs, when you think about it.) That led to joining a Christian group blog. This was followed by being a contributor to a podcast.

I was mentioned in a UPI article on blogging in January of 2003. In it I’m quoted as saying, “I wouldn’t mind having a little influence, but not to the point that I would feel like I would have to write something every day. I’m not that prolific.” I’ve pretty much become that prolific, though if I miss a few days here and there, I don’t sweat it.

I’m the Anti-Toolman. Tim “The Toolman” Taylor wouldn’t let me near his show. I do what I can because I must, but I don’t enjoy it at all. I hate buying a tool that I will never use again, and I’ve had to do that a few times. It once took me three tries to get the right sizing for a simple pull-down shade for a bedroom window. (Fortunately, Home Depot is very customer-friendly.) The kicker is, I married a woman whose father built his own house in the interior of what is now Papua, Indonesia.

I was born in New York City, and since then have lived in (or in the suburbs of) Portland (Maine), Manchester (Connecticut), Long Island (New York), Syracuse (New York), Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) and Cleveland (Ohio); all before graduating High School. My parents were ministers with The Salvation Army, and they move their clergy around as needed.

Speaking of that, The Salvation Army is the church I grew up in. Yes, it is indeed a church, whose social services are an expression of their love for God (who said to take care of the needy). No, neither I nor my parents are converted drunks. Yes, I did play my horn on street corner meetings (“open air meetings” in Army parlance). No, we never played “Bringing in the Sheaves” during an open air.

Speaking of that, I play trombone and other brass instruments as required. I helped out in my son’s homeschool marching band playing trumpet (cornet, technically) while in the stands. (No, I didn’t march. I did that in high school. I paid my dues.)

We currently attend the Lilburn Alliance Church (Christian & Missionary Alliance denomination). My wife’s parents, as noted before, were missionaries for 30 years with the CMA in what is now Papua, Indonesia, which figured into our attending LAC. Fred Hartley is an absolutely fantastic preacher, and you can download his sermons from the website.

We visited Papua (then Irian Jaya) for Christmas & New Years in 1986, about a year after we got married. Pictures of the place do it absolutely no justice. I enjoyed it immensely.

We have been homeschooling our kids up until high school. Alpha Omega’s “Switched On Schoolhouse” was our curriculum of choice (since the computer does the vast majority of the grading) until Susan started running “LAC Homeschool Classes”. That’s a group of independent teachers offering classes at LAC for homeschool students.

I don’t like spoilers. I like to be surprised at movie twists and endings. I realize that there will be times when I am spoiled about something (like the recent casting of the next Doctor Who), but I’m OK with it. I just don’t seek it out and will avoid it when possible.

My siblings and I all have the same initials; DEP. We never had monogrammed things as kids.

I like strategy games. Growing up, my favorites games were old Avalon Hill “Bookcase Games” like “Rise and Decline of the Third Reich”. A group of friends and I would play this over a weekend, where one turn for the Allies, one turn for the Axis and a 10 minute diplomacy/strategy break would take 1 hour. I especially like AH’s “Kingmaker”. This does not mean I’m some sort of history buff (that’s Susan’s territory), but I enjoy the games; the strategy and the human elements, even in a computer game. I still have those old board games, and occasionally pull them out, but my family is mostly a card-game sort of crowd. My kids, however, do enjoy more strategy-type games. Current favorite: Killer Bunnies. Yeah, technically it is a card game, but this ain’t Spades or Hearts, lemme tell you.

Currently on my MP3 player: The Electric Light Orchestra (big fan from way back), Michael W. Smith (big fan since his first album), ABBA, England Dan & John Ford Coley and lots of podcasts. Also like a lot of the Christian Pop (OK, OK, “Contemporary Christian Music”) out these days. I was very happy when Atlanta finally got a Christian music station, and quickly got my kids into it.

When at college, I took the introduction radio course so I could spin disks on the college radio station, WACW (5 watts of pure POWER wired directly into The Grill and maybe, if the weather was good, to your actual radio). I always wanted to be the morning show guy after a few years of listening to Jack Bogut on KDKA in Pittsburgh. Yeah, only 6 or 7 songs an hour, but that guy was an entertainer. One year when I worked at a summer camp in New York, instead of having someone play the Reveille bugle call in the morning, I would do a 5 minute “morning show”. I shamelessly stole some of Bogut’s material. (The camp staff that would normally take turns having to get up to play the Reveille recording was more than happy to allow me to do this.) If this whole computer fad ever wears out, I want to be a DJ. Or a call-in talk show host.

I’m a fan of science fiction & fantasy. Since I don’t do much personal reading, my fandom consists mostly of TV and movies. I seem to have passed it on to my kids, who read much more than I ever did. Our current favorite is “Doctor Who”.

Speaking of that, while I’m more a movies than books, I would read to my wife early in our marriage and now to my kids. These days, we mostly do it during the summer, as reading during the school years gets broken up with things like homework and busy weekends, and you lose track of the plot. We’ve read short stories like The Magic Garden, and A Dog of Flanders, but have also read The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings, and historical fiction like The Cat of Bubastes. (We had to finish the whole thing before we’d let them see the movie. Hey, get your own “movie” in your head before letting Hollywood put theirs in there.) Most recently read the books in the Eragon series (Eragon & Eldest) and Inkheart. (The Eragon movie was pitiful, but the Inkheart one was very good.) My favorite moments reading to the kids, when I knew it hit them, was the tear drop from my oldest at the end of A Dog of Flanders, and the consternation they all felt when Frodo appeared to die in The Return of the King.

I have Multiple Sclerosis, which first hit in July of 1986, 9 months after I got married. Different parts of me have gone numb because of it (one time, the whole left side of my body), but fortunately I have the kind that comes and goes. The only lingering affect is mild numbness in my hands, which is a little annoying since computer programming requires typing. (I can still touch type, but my error rate has gone up a bit.) Also, my legs give out after about 1/2 mile of walking.

If I was served Mexican food every day for a month, I wouldn’t complain.

I appreciate living through historic events (e.g. the first Africa-American president), even though some of those events are horrific (e.g. 9/11). Some of my favorite places to visit are historic sites (Washington, DC, colonial Williamsburg), even though I don’t remember much history.

Sexual content on television is strongly associated with teen pregnancy, a new study from the RAND Corporation shows.

Researchers at the nonprofit organization found that adolescents with a high level of exposure to television shows with sexual content are twice as likely to get pregnant or impregnate someone as those who saw fewer programs of this kind over a period of three years. It is the first study to demonstrate this association, RAND said.

Next week, RAND comes out with their study that gravity leads to falling.

The suggested remedy is equally obvious.

A central message from the study is that there needs to be more dialogue about sex in the media, particularly among parents and their children, said Anita Chandra, the study’s lead author and a behavioral scientist at RAND.

Although the Hollywood culture is certainly a major contributor to the oversexualization of the media (and they could do their part, but won’t, and will whine publicly and loudly if you suggest they do), parents still need to be the gatekeeper.

As my kids would say, "Thank you, Captain Obvious!"