Supporting Starbucks in an anti-boycott

I was reading the paper the other day and stumbled across this juicy article, where I learned that Christians in the US are actually boycotting Starbucks. They are doing this because Starbucks had supported a Washington State bill that legalized gay marriage in their state.

First things first: if you want to be a Christian and happen to believe that a gay lifestyle is not for you, fine. I am not here to object. Everyone should have the right to their own religious beliefs (or non-belief.) Everyone should have the right to determine their sexual orientation on their own and without outside involvement. The mere fact that I have to explicitly say these things boggles my mind.

Now for the other things: What we do not have the moral right to do is to impose restrictions on others who may, or may not share our religious views. This is oppression, especially when it is a majority applying restrictions against a minority. It is oppression to put forward a law that restricts others outside our community in ways that don't apply to ourselves. It is oppression to bully corporations who don't actively support these laws or beliefs. To boycott Starbucks is to actively punish a corporation because they actively stood up in support of basic human rights and equality for all.

To boycott Starbucks is to put yourself on the wrong side of a human rights debate. To boycott Starbucks is to illustrate a measure of hypocrisy, since Christianity is, at least on the face of it, supposed to be about forgiveness, acceptance and love - and this action is none of that.

Anyway, enough ranting. I need a coffee.

Canucks iPad app Fail

I have enjoyed watching the Vancouver Canucks regular season games on my iPad this year. I had to get a special app that would stream the games and it is geo-restricted to BC and Yukon. Being in Vancouver this was a restriction I could live with (although being able to follow my team while traveling seems kind of obvious to me).

Tonight however, I am frustrated. I got home shortly after the game started, fired up the iPad, launched the app only to discover that tonight's game (against the hated Chicago Blackhawks) was not being streamed. No reason was given, restarting the app doesn't 'fix' things, the option to watch the game just does not show up, making this app basically worthless for tonight's game.

This is the second time this has happened. As a customer I expect more visibility into which games will or will not be available for streaming. Actually, I expect that ALL the games for the season should be available through the app - that is basically the reason people get this app.

To be clear: this is not an anti-Apple rant. They merely supply the marketplace. This gripe is leveled at the NHL or possibly the company that was commissioned to write the app for the NHL. If you are not going to serve up some games this season , TELL ME WHICH GAMES I WILL MISS OUT ON FIRST. At this point I don't know if this app is going to work for the next game or not, or if they will withhold playoff games.

It's the uncertainty that puts a bad taste in my mouth more than anything else.

Almost six months with nothing to say

I am sitting here trying to post to a blog I have not used in almost six months, from my iPad, while partially covered in hives from antibiotics I was given to address a cold that would not go away. Yes, I am using run-on sentences purposefully although to what purpose I am not entirely clear. I just know that I wanted to say it that way.

I enjoyed blogging but after losing Louise I had to walk away from it for a while. I lost the taste for it. For a while, I lost my voice. I switched to twitter and other micro-posting venues and they were able to fill the diminished need I had to write. I didn't want to do any more than that and that was okay.

While it has felt like it for the past several months, I don't see this blog as dead. I see it as something that has fallen into disrepair and in need of some restoration. At what pace I set about resuming things I do not know and I don't care to know.

But it is not dead. Well it's might be if one considers the readership I currently get. No new content generally means no more page views and I am not seeing any exceptions here. But I still like the idea of having a forum to give voice to my thoughts so I expect to resume things again at some point.

I just don't know when.