doberman pizza. a baha'i (bahai, bahá'í) blog.

Neat thing found on Baha’i Blog: a new website called Baha’i Locations. It uses the Google Maps API (the same thing I used to put this together) to provide a geographical interface listing Baha’i landmarks and activities in various places. Basically, if the Baha’i community in a city has a whole bunch of activities going on and wants to advertise them, they can submit them to the web site and they’ll pop up on the map. From their FAQ:

The initial prototype for Bahá’í Locations was created in June 2005. Over the summer months, two Canadian Bahá’í youth set out to create a full-scale version of this prototype. By September 2005, they had the first version of Bahá’í Locations up and running, and launched pilot projects in the Seattle area with the support of the Auxiliary Board Members for Washington State and the Spiritual Assemblies of the Pudget Sound area.

It’s pretty cool. For a good idea of what the web site can do, load up the site and go check out the Seattle area. There’s tons of stuff going on, and it even shows you a little colour-coded pin where a Ruhi study circle is taking place! It’s a little bit like the Google Earth (KMZ) maps on bahai-ottawa.org, which show you where different Baha’i activities are happening in the Ottawa area… only FANCIER!

I love maps. Can you tell?

check out the Children’s Theatre Company, a theatre company based in New York. what’s so special about them? the actors are kids. and apparently, they’re really good. this is not your ho-hum elementary school presentation – we’re talking professional theatre. Not only that, but it’s a Baha’i-inspired project, one that promotes theatre as an active way of learning.

The Children’s Theatre Company (CTC), a non-profit organization, provides not only a creative haven for children through theatre and arts, but also a ‘think-tank’ where values such as peace, racial harmony, and unity in diversity, are explored and indeed, celebrated. (spiritual-education.org)

The goals and principles of their project are really impressive, and their achievements are no less so. Check out their seasonal lineups, including a hefty serving of musicals based on the works of Dr. Seuss (The Sneetches and Horton Hatches The Egg grace this season’s lineup, and past seasons have included such hits as The Lorax and Yertle The Turtle).

The company has chapters in several places now – notably Boston, where some of their proceedings are going to help refugees displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Most days, I get quotes from the Baha’i writings coming into my email inbox courtesy of some of the Baha’is in Montreal. I thought this one was really cool, it’s about luxuries. I was walking through the Rideau Centre (shopping mall) this morning, and passed a random store selling baubles and whatzits – a tall, colourful (and maybe a little presumptuous) graphic display inside the store shouted the following at me:

LUXURY ONCE ENJOYED BECOMES NECESSITY
That’s why I found the following quote so interesting. It’s from the book “‘Abdu’l-Baha in London”, on pages 87-88 [source]. Read it and let me know if you get the same feeling.

Luxuries cut off the freedom of communication. One who is imprisoned by desires is always unhappy; the children of the Kingdom have unchained themselves from their desires. Break all fetters and seek for spiritual joy and enlightenment; then, though you walk on this earth, you will perceive yourselves to be within the divine horizon. To man alone is this possible. When we look about us we see every other creature captive to his environment.

The bird is a captive in the air and the fish a captive in the sea. Man alone stands apart and says to the elements, I will make you my servants! I can govern you! He takes electricity, and through his ingenuity imprisons it and makes of it a wonderful power for lighting, and a means of communication to a distance of thousands of miles. But man himself may become a captive to the things he has invented. His true second birth occurs when he is freed from all material things: for he only is free who is not a captive to his desires. He has then as Jesus has said, become captive to the Holy Spirit.

Over the weekend, the baha’is of Ottawa experienced what can arguably be called the best reflection meeting in their community’s long history. Organized by a tirelessly devoted Teaching Committee (who selflessly volunteered weeks of work, sometimes meeting ’til up to 2 AM, in order to pull it off) and backed by the love, encouragement and active engagement of the various Institutions of the Faith, the meeting brought together what must have been over a hundred individuals from across the city to share their experiences in an atmosphere of learning and encouragement. To hear the reactions of those participants who attended the city-wide Feast the next evening, it was a smashing success that was universally enjoyed.

The materials presented at this reflection meeting were clear and easy to understand, and even fun (when someone calls a PowerPoint presentation “fun”, you know it’s a big deal). The arts played an important part in making this meeting special, from the Official Video launching the 3rd cycle of growth to the spontaneous singing that broke out during the meeting. The facilitation was expert, including the reading of recent guidance and profound consultation with members of the local and national Spiritual Assemblies, the Baha’i Council of Ontario, Assistants and Area Coordinators. Perhaps what was most special was the presence of the entire National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Canada, fresh from their weekend-long meeting held in the newly-acquired Ottawa Baha’i Centre, who shared with us their love, their greetings, and their words of wisdom and encouragement.

Many thanks to all those who made this meeting possible. I can’t wait to see what this new cycle of the intensive program of growth will bring!

For more information about Ottawa’s program of growth, you can check out Martin’s summary.

Launching the 3rd Cycle of Ottawa’s
Intensive Program of Growth

Jack Purcell Community Centre
September 25th, 2-5pm

The successful results of cycle 2
will be shared, and the chance to
form new teaching teams and/or join
existing projects will be available.

Most people who use chat/IM programs know what LOL means: Laughing Out Loud (or, if you’re dutch, it means “fun”). LOL is one of those acronyms / abbreviations that entered the popular vocabulary during the days of online bulletin board systems – precursors to the Internet. It’s tiring to type out “I’m laughing out loud right now!” so people just started typing LOL to let other people know when they found something funny.

Several people have asked me recently what ROFL means. It means Rolling On (the) Floor Laughing. It’s another one of those net acronyms, but I guess it’s fallen out of popular use (since few people *actually* roll on the floor laughing when they use ROFL). Variations include ROTFL, ROFLOL, ROFLMAO, and my favourite, ROTFLAICGU (Rolling On The Floor Laughing And I Can’t Get Up).

Check out Wikipedia’s article and list of Internet slang. It’s fairly up to date and complete, but it lacks a lot of the oldskool (read: archaic) terms, like TANSTAAFL or DILLIGAFF. For those, you may have to check elsewhere, like the Jargon File (see also the Wiki version).

NOTE: the above links contain some coarse language – view at your own risk.

hey – look alive, it’s time for some IMPORTANT INFO regarding the Ottawa Baha’i Community – the first tidbit is from Elham who reminds us that the National Spiritual Assembly wants to meet ALL of the region’s junior youth – yes, if you’re older than 11 and younger than 15, that means YOU! Check it out:

Meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly with the junior youth of Ottawa

Dear friends,

As informed in the last newsletter the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada has requested to meet with all the junior youth of Ottawa. The details have now been confirmed.

Date : Sunday September 25
Time: 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. Pizza lunch served.
Location: 40 Landry

Next is Jessica T. from the Teashing committee who reminds us that on the same day, we’ll all be getting together for the long-awaited Cluster Reflection Meeting to launch the much-anticipated 3rd cycle of the intensive program of growth. 3rd time’s a charm, baby!

We hope to see you all at the next Cluster Reflection Meeting where we will be launching the 3rd Cycle of the Intensive Programme of Growth.

It will be held:

September 25th, 2-5pm at the Jack Purcell Community Centre

Please note that a children’s program will be available.

Come join in the excitement!

hehehe

from the chain-letter department: tomorrow is national “i love you” day. well that’s funny – it’s not Valentine’s Day, and all the greeting card sites say that January 19 is “Whisper ‘I love you’ Day” … I wonder what’s so special about September 20th. Well, it’s Sophia Loren’s birthday, and Dr. Joyce Brothers’s birthday as well.

September 20th doesn’t seem that interesting to me (sorry, ladies). Not like September 23rd, which is the first day of fall. Fall is my favourite season – everything turns colours, and there’s wonder all about. It gets cold and nippy outside and we need to put on jackets to take walks through the falling leaves. We appreciate our homes more for the protection and warmth they afford us. We reap the benefits of the harvest, and make good food like turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie – not to mention steamed carrots, sweet potatoes and pickled beets.

found on news.bahai.org: David S. Ruhe, 1914-2005. An obituary for former member of the Universal House of Justice David Ruhe, who passed away this month after suffering a stroke in August. Catherine has several prints of David Ruhe’s paintings – gifts from her service at the Canadian Baha’i National Centre in Thornhill, ON. We cherish these paintings – Dr. Ruhe was a very talented artist. Undoubtedly his craft helped him grow closer to God – now, freed as he is from material limitations, may his journey continue to carry him ever closer to his Creator, and may his works help inspire those he left behind in this mortal world.

And a youth said:
Speak to us of Friendship!

And he answered, saying:
Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.

And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the “nay” in your own mind, nor do you withhold the “ay”.
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

hey yo
just came back from a little town in the Sherbrooke area called Asbestos. Yeah, it’s called that because there’s a huge asbestos mine in the town – in fact, the largest open-pit asbestos mine in the world. fun (not). seriously though, it was fun – I was there for a farewell party for two baha’i youth, friends of mine from my quebec days, who are going on a year of service to Gabon. plenty of photos were taken – check some of them out at my flickr photoblog. some of the comments are in french only, but hopefully the pictures explain themselves.

I’ve been geotagging more and more of my photos, that is, tagging them with coded information that shows where each one was taken. then, using a website like geobloggers.com – or even by using a Google Earth KML file – you can plot thumbnails of all the geotagged photos on a map. The Google Earth interface is especially cool. You just click on the link, open it directly from the browser, and voila, Google Earth opens up and shows you the 50 geotagged flickr photos nearest to your current location (interestingly enough, Google Earth’s default location when starting up is Lawrence, Kansas, home of the University of Kansas. probably a coincidence.) Anyway, try that KML file sometime. You’ll like it. Scroll around Ottawa and see what you find – or check out the area east of Montreal and see some of the pics I’ve geotagged so far.

ahhhh, in for a fun week this week. watch this space soon for the launch of a website I’ve been working on at work. it’s phat.

oh, by the way, Mr. and Mrs. Nakhjavani’s talk was amazing and touching (as usual). I recorded the talk and hope to digitize it soon enough – if you’re interested in a copy, let me know. (btw: I apologize to those people who I haven’t gotten back to about last year’s talk – just email me again to refresh my memory and we’ll talk) The Nakhjavanis are presently on a tour of the province of Quebec: they should be in Valleyfield right now (west of Montreal, off the island); they’ll be giving a talk in Montreal on Tuesday, and apparently they’ll be passing through several towns, including Drummondville and Sherbrooke. What a bounty to be showered upon the friends there!!! hopefully their efforts will be confirmed by the Blessed Beauty and the Baha’is in those regions will come out, as they say in Québec, “un peu moins niaiseux”.

I can say that, because I lived there ;)

hey -
I haven’t updated my blog for a week, but that’s because I’ve been working at filling up my flickr photoblog. yeah yeah, I’m j. speaking of j, fans of CABS and quirky Ottawa Baha’i slang will rejoice to know that I’ve recovered the CABS slang glossary, and will be posting it up soon… I haven’t quite decided what form the glossary will take – it might lend itself well to a wiki implementation – but more will be revealed in due time.

still on the subject of j, I was impressed to learn that own very own Jay Howden sat down to dinner with the President of China last Thursday. Just the thought of Jay H. kickin’ back with good ol’ Hu J. for some grub in the GG’s digs sent my mind reeling for some sort of equilibrium.

in other news, Mr. and Mrs. Nakhjavani are in Ottawa tonight, and I (along with the rest of the city) am now off to hear them speak at Marion Hall, U of O. Auf wiedersehen.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Don’t forget, if you’re lacking stuff to do this weekend, there’s a youth music night / fireside at the Howdens’ tonight (Saturday) at 7:30 PM, perfect for bringing friends to… so gather up all the bored ppl without any other plans and get ‘em having fun instead of sitting around eating cake!

Furthermore, we’re having a BBQ / beach / picnic day tomorrow (Sunday)… come for noon and bring meat to be BBQed, bring your swimsuit, bring soccer balls, footballs, rugby bladders, Ultimate Flying Discs, african djembés, whatever! the weather forecast for Sunday promises sun and relative coolness – a perfect day to hang around having fun. See photos of the previous installment of the Lac Philippe Beach Day (or the one before that).

Hope to see you this weekend… Above all – have fun!

“I want you to be happy… to laugh, smile and rejoice in order that others may be made happy by you.” – ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Promulgation of Universal Peace