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6 THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2007 EDITORIAL Distributed to every home in Acton and area as well as adjoining communities. 373 Queen Street East, Unit 1 Acton, Ontario L7J 2N2 email: thenewtanner@on.aibn.com Frances Niblock Mike OLeary Angela Tyler Janis Fread Rebecca Ring Publisher Editorial Ted Tyler Hartley Coles Editorial Contributors Advertising and Circulation Composing Marie Shadbolt Bruce Cargill Danielle McIsaac Janine Taylor By Angela Tyler with Hartley Coles (519) 853-0051 Fax: (519) 853-0052 Every effort will be made to see advertising copy, neatly presented, is correctly printed. The publisher assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors or omissions in advertising, but will gladly reprint without charge that part of an advertisement in which an error may occur provided a claim is made within five days of publication. All articles, advertisements and graphic artwork appearing in The New Tanner is copyrighted. Any usage, reproduction or publication of these items, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of the publisher of The New Tanner is a copyright infringement and subject to legal action. Blogs... what are they? It was about 15 years ago and the computer was something I didnt want to have any part of. I had a typewriter and I loved the sound of my fingers pounding on the keys. I am now somewhat computer literate. I dont really have any real computer training, which can be dif- ficult, especially if you have to call into a computer program help desk. When they start asking questions and Im getting confused, I usually have to tell them that they are talking to a computer dummy and need to really explain what they are asking me in order for them to help me with my problem. Ive picked things up here and there and when stuck, I have a crew of people I know that I call upon to explain things to me. Sometimes, I learn something and there are plenty of times when I just dont get it, and have to ask someone to do it for me or face defeat just not be able to do it. There is also the whole computer short form lingo that is now as well being used with text messaging, which I am slowly starting to un- derstand. Basically, if youre over the age of 30, there is a lot about computers that is a mystery. The older you are, it seems the bigger the mystery is. I remember when I first had instant messaging on my home computer. I had no idea what a friend meant when at the end of a sentence they put lol. I soon was informed that it stood for laugh out loud, but how was I to know? Trying to understand what ttyl, lol, lmao, brb, btw, aamof, jk and :) were starting to make me have a mental break down. Why did they have to shorten everything? Why couldnt we just type the words out? Instead of using jk, why not type just kidding? No wonder there are so many younger people who cant spell very well or who have sloppy handwriting. Everything is being sent by computer or cellular phones/Blackberrys in these text messages that are full of symbols and short forms. Last week, one of our readers talked to me about this paper. He said when he gets his paper each Thursday its a toss-up of whom he reads firstme, Mike OLeary or Hartleys editorial. I thanked him for the compliment and like some read- ers in the past, he offered an idea of what I should write about. He too had computer concerns. Hes an older man and his beef is with blogs. I could hear the frustra- tion in his voice. Blogswhat are they? he asked me. He went into a little rant that the word blog is not in the dictionary and he doesnt know what it is. He didnt know if he went up to someone and said they had a nice blog whether it was an insult or a compliment. If he said that to a woman would he get a slap in the face thinking he was commenting about their bust? It may not yet be in your printed dictionary, however, according to dictionary.com and the Websters New Millennium Dictionary of English, the word blog means to author an online diary or chronology of thoughts. Instead of a young lady writing in her diary, locking it and hiding it under her pillow, she could now go on-line and become a blog- ger. Blogs are everywhere. If you Googled (search on-line) the word blog there are over 8-million possible websites that you could look at. The computer and internet are a wonder sometimes. The good news is if you tell a woman she has a nice blog, you wont get slapped across the face. SCOTIABANK CELEBRATES: Long-time Acton Scotiabank customer Helen Jocque (left) joined staffer Trish DAmbroso, customers William Mainprize and John Buckman in a cake offered by vet - eran employee Pat Curtis to customer Don Ryder, Scotiabank district vice-president Ahmad Dajani and Branch manager Angela Horobin as they celebrated the banks 175th anniversary last Friday. Frances Niblock photo A time for faith in the resurrection Although we are constantly bombarded with Easter bunnies, Easter eggs and other symbols during the Easter season, it is not what it is all about. Good Friday and Easter Sunday are religious holidays commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Most of the old pagan traditions derived from the rites of spring when a celebration for the Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility was held on the day of the vernal equinox, our March 21. Traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in coloured eggs, originally painted with bright colours to represent the sunlight of spring. Beautiful traditions but not what Easter is about. Over the next few days Christians throughout the world commemo- rate the death of Jesus on a cross, executed like a criminal on the day of Good Friday, two words which somehow fail to grasp the meaning of the event. It caused great consternation among his followers until it was followed by His resurrection on the Sunday, the most important date in the Christian calendar. The physical resurrection of Jesus has not been without its skeptics. Even today some Christians, or those who profess to be Christian, question the central belief of Christianity although the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians: If there is no resurrection from the dead, then even Christ did not rise; and if Christ did not rise, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain. There have been frequent attempts to question Christs resurrec- tion with books such as The Da Vinci Code and a recent one by a Canadian who claimed to have found the grave of Jesus, buried along with Mary Magdalene. Of course, they are fiction, the latter an at- tempt to piggyback on the success of The Da Vinci Code. The Code is a cracking good yarn but based on old stories and the imagination of Dan Brown, the author. Now we are in the midst of Holy Week, which started last Sunday with Christs triumphal entry into Jerusalem, called Palm or Passion Sunday. It has become increasingly difficult to hear the real Easter story in media which glorify the excesses of film stars and worships at the feet of wealthy entrepreneurs. It is a time of faith and a time of reflection on a faith which started in a remote part of the Roman Empire and exists today in every part of the globe. This year the celebration coincides with Passover, the commemora- tion of the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, which Jesus, a Jew, celebrated with His apostles and at which the first Com- munion was celebrated. It is significant that the early word for Easter was Pasch; Jewish early Christians regarded the Easter celebration as a new part of the Passover festival. So to Jewish people everywhere who celebrate their faith we wish a Happy Passover and to Christians throughout the world an Easter filled with hope and faith in the resurrection.