Three New Toilets

After living in a house with just one bathroom for eight years, we now have a home with three toilets. [Actually, in the States they’re called “restrooms”, as the locals don’t even know what a “washroom” or “bathroom” is. And in Arkansas, they’re called “necessary rooms”.] One had a small crack in its rim and was leaking a bit onto the floor, and one had a trickle running from tank to bowl. We found a water-saving dual-flush toilet at Home Depot ($99), and I spent one Saturday morning replacing the leaking one. It worked so well that we bought two more, one to replace the trickling one, and one to replace the one with no problems except that it used three times as much water as these new ones. It seemed a stewardly thing to do: flushing only 4 Litres for a #1, and 6 L for #2. So this past Saturday morning was the third of a series of toilet replacements. Yippee!

Apparently dual-flush toilets are hard to find in North America, though they’re popular in Europe. One big problem with ours is shown in the photo: it’s not particularly clear how to flush it. There is a little symbol on the handle which is actually ambiguous, so we had to put up a note to remind ourselves and to inform our guests. But in Europe they have creative solutions for such things; relatives in the Netherlands have one which is flushed by either pressing a large oval button or by pressing a smaller circular portion of this button: no language is needed to communicate the idea.

The Dawkins Delusion

Oxford University Reformed theologian and expert in science & Christianity Alister McGrath (together with his wife Joanna Collicutt McGrath) has published his rebuttal to Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion of 2006. It's entitled The Dawkins Delusion: Atheist fundamentalism and the denial of the divine, currently only available in the UK until Inter-Varsity Press publishes it in May. Should be a good read, as McGrath is known for his incisive critique. In the meantime, you could also listen to a lecture by McGrath on Dawkins's book available at the website of the CiS, where numerous other resources are collected, including the text of a recent presentation by McGrath. It is interesting to note that while McGrath and Dawkins live near one another in Oxford, they apparently interact mostly through their books, including McGrath's Dawkins' God of 2004.

Reformed epistemologist Alvin Plantinga has a great critique of Dawkins in the Mar/Apr 2007 issue of Books and Culture.

Saturday at "A Rocha"

We spent a few hours volunteering at A Rocha on Saturday. Forgot the camera, but this one is from last March, and the weather was about the same: 14-15 degrees C and sunny. My wife gave advice on their new native plant nursery, and the rest of us cleared some gardens. An excellent family/community day, and a great way to help out this organization of Christians in conservation. Plus, delicious soup and bread and good Christian fellowship at lunch. They have a volunteer day the second Saturday of each month, from 10am-1pm.

The First Copernican - a Regent public lecture

I'm planning on going to a public lecture by Dennis Danielson, who will be speaking on the topic of his new book The First Copernican: Georg Joachim Rheticus and the Rise of the Copernican Revolution.  Thursday, February 15, 7:30pm under the green roof.  Details here.  Interested in carpooling?

To Kill or to Save: Which is it?

The BC government stepped in to force blood transfusions on the surviving sextuplets, against the wishes of their parents, saying the best interests of the child must be taken into account. But before they were born, government-funded doctors counseled the parents to "terminate" two of the babies. It would be good if they made up their mind: do they want to save life, or take life?