Magic Statistics

Received this morning via e-mail:

Vancouver (Reuters) Chilled Vancouver commuters faced their second day of winter hell today, as an additional 1/4 centimeter of the peculiar white stuff fell, bringing the lower mainland to its knees and causing millions of dollars worth of damage to the marijuana crops. Scientists suspect that the substance is some form of frozen water particles and experts from Saskatchewan are being flown in. With temperatures dipping to the almost but not quite near zero mark, Vancouverites were warned to double insulate their lattes before venturing out.

Vancouver police recommended that people stay inside except for emergencies, such as running out of espresso or biscotti to see them through Vancouver's most terrible storm to date. The local Canadian Tire reported that they had completely sold out of fur-lined sandals.

Drivers were cautioned to put their convertible tops up, and several have been shocked to learn that their SUV's actually have four wheel drive, although most have no idea how to use it. Weary commuters faced soggy sushi, and the threat of frozen breast implants. Although Dr. John Blatherwick, of the Coastal Health Authority reassured everyone that most breast implants were perfectly safe to 25 below, down-filled bras are flying off the shelves at Mountain Equipment Co-op. "The government has to do something," I could sit around and be treated like someone from Toronto."

Vancouver weather has definitely become nastier since I emigrated to Whitehorse in 1988. Must be that global warming thing.

Canada's Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin forthrightly calls for judicial activism apparently based on nothing more than judges' personal preferences:

"The rule of law requires judges to uphold unwritten constitutional norms, even in the face of clearly enacted laws or hostile public opinion," said a prepared text of the lecture Judge McLachlin gave to law students at Victoria University of Wellington late last week.

"There is certainly no guarantee or presumption that a given list of constitutional principles is complete, even assuming the good faith intention of the drafters to provide such a catalogue."

Actually, Madam Justice, there is such a guarantee and presumption, namely, that the elected representatives of the people wrote that list of enumerated constitutional principles. In any case, if the people decide that the list is incomplete, then the elected representatives of the people have the means to amend said list. It's called "democracy".

Moreover, even if the list is incomplete according to some unspecified standard (or maybe it's just that a majority of the Supreme Court doesn't like the list), then why do unelected judges have the authority to change it, when even Parliament on its own does not? Who told the Supreme Court that it runs the country?

Justice McLachlin bluntly states that she favours a system of government in which unelected and unaccountable judges make up the laws as they go along. Where in the Constitution does it say that? If that isn't an election issue, then I don't know what is. In fact, if the dangerous nonsense spouted by Ms McLachlin goes unchallenged, then we may as well cancel the current and all future elections right now.

Paul, Stephen, Jack, Gilles: what do you think of the Chief Justice's speech?

via Angry in the Great White North.

St Mary Woolnoth occupies one of the most prominent sites of any church in the City of London. (The City is the oldest part of London, now the financial and business centre.) It stands at the junction of Lombard Street and King William Street, directly above Bank tube station. Also located in the immediate vicinity are the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange, and the corporate headquarters of many British banks.

The official name of this church is St Mary of the Nativity and it is said to have been originally founded by a Saxon noble named Wulfnoth on the site of a former Roman temple. It is first mentioned by name in a deed of 1191. Either the name of the founder or the proximity of a wool market led the church to become known as Wolnoth and now Woolnoth. The first church on the site was replaced in 1438. The second church was damaged in the Great Fire of 1666 so severely that, despite restoration by Sir Christopher Wren in 1674, it was finally judged unsafe and pulled down in 1716.

The present church was built by Wren’s highly original pupil Nicholas Hawksmoor between 1716 and 1727. Although he had only a limited area to build in, Hawksmoor created an imposing and distinctive masterpiece of English baroque.

The photo at right shows the StatWife standing outside the main gate. The heavily rusticated west front is square and rugged, giving a sense of intensity and power.

(As always, click on photos for larger views.)

For a photo showing the tower rising above, click here.

The interior is laid out as a square within a square. The inner square is enclosed by three rows of four columns that is itself enclosed by a larger square. The photo at left shows one side of the square with one of the semi-circular clerestory windows visible above. Beneath are twelve tall Corinthian columns, grouped in threes at each corner. The arms of Elizabeth II were added in 1968.

Because of its prime real estate location, there have been several attempts to have the church demolished in favour of more commercial projects. One of the more notable attempts took place in the late 1890s when the Tube was being extended to this area of London. Permission was at first given for demolition, but a public outcry forced reconsideration. It was decided that the tube station would be built underneath the church and, in a marvel of Victorian engineering, the Bank tube stop was constructed without harm to the church.

In the Second World War, St Mary Woolnoth was the only City church to escape bomb damage.

The most famous person associated with St Mary Woolnoth was the Rev John Newton, who served as rector here from 1779 until his death in 1807. Newton is author of one of the best-loved gospel hymns of all time, "Amazing Grace". His preaching and personal encouragement inspired William Wilberforce to take up the fight against slavery. The photo at left, showing the pulpit Newton preached from, illustrates the small size of the church’s seating area. On the wall on the far side is a memorial tablet placed in honour of John Newton, with the epitaph he wrote for himself.

On the right is a close-up of the memorial. The text reads:

John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa,
Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
Preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy.
He ministered near 16 years as curate and vicar of Olney in Buckinghamshire
And 28 years as rector of these united parishes.
On Feb the first 1750, he married Mary,
daughter of the late George Catlett, of Chatham, Kent,
Whom he resigned to the Lord who gave her, on Dec the 15th, 1790.

The tablet says that John and his wife Mary were buried in the vault beneath the church. When the Bank tube station was built, however, the crypt had to be excavated and the bones removed to other locations. The remains of John and Mary Newton were re-interred at St Peter’s and St Paul’s Church, Olney, Buckinghamshire, where John had served as curate and vicar before coming to St Mary Woolnoth.

Several more fine photos are posted here. A map showing the church’s location is here.

The church does not appear to have its own home page.

Links to all my blog posts about British churches and Christian sites can be accessed through the box located at the top of the page.