Thursday, September 08, 2011

10 years later: Mark Bavis (repost)



Mark Bavis loved hockey. He started skating at the tender age of 4 and started shooting goals shortly after. His identical twin brother Mike also enjoyed the game and the two practiced and played together in minor hockey and then for their high school team, the Catholic Memorial Knights. Mark and Mike helped the Knights win three state championships.

In college, Mark played for the Boston University Terriers and played in the NCAA Tournament four times with three trips to the semi-finals and one championship game against Northern Michigan in 1991. The championship game went into triple-overtime, but ended in an 8-7 win for Michigan.

After college, Mark played in the American Hockey League for three years as a ninth-round draft pick for the New York Rangers. Later, he played for the South Carolina Stingrays for two years, where he and Mike became teammates again the first year. This would be the last time the two played together professionally. Mike eventually went on to become an assistant hockey coach at Boston University.

After leaving the Stingrays, Mark turned to coaching and eventually landed jobs as assistant coach for Brown University and then Harvard. Of the latter, he said, "I'm very excited to have the opportunity to be at one of the best institutions for academics and hockey in this country." Mark's work at Harvard eventually earned him the notice of the Chicago Freeze, a North American Hockey League team, who made him an assistant coach in 1999.

Then in 2000, Mark was hired by the Los Angeles Kings as an assistant scout under hockey great Garnet "Ace" Bailey.

On September 11th, 2001, Mark and Garnet were traveling together aboard United Flight 175, which crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m. Eastern.

At Mark's memorial mass on September 19th, Mike spoke of Mark's deepening faith, his plans to enroll in law school, and their love for each other. "We had an unspoken love. We spent so much time together. I knew how he felt and he knew how I felt."

Mike spoke of when he became a father for the first time, saying, "Nothing was like the day I saw my brother holding my son, Jack."

And of the fateful events surrounding Mark's death, Mike stated, "It makes me feel good that my brother was with Ace. We need courage to face what happened, as a family and as a country. We need to return to life as it was on September 10th. I'm going to be out there again. And I'm going to be flying by plane... trying to figure out a way to beat BC. In no way am I going to let the people involved in this think they got me twice."

Mark's legacy did not die with him, however. During his days playing and coaching, he mentored many young hockey players. Mark worked for both the Massachusetts USA Satellite Program (where he eventually was named the program director) and the International Hockey Academy. He also opened a hockey summer camp of his own in Canton, Massachusetts, which helped children both athletically and academically.

His work now lives on with the Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation, which was founded by his family and friends. The Foundation provides annual grants to help young people with tuition, summer programs and appropriate extracurricular activities so as to better themselves as well as their schools and communities.

Additionally, Kevin O’Sullivan, an old friend and Catholic Memorial teammate, recently opened a sports complex in memory of Mark: the Mark Bavis Ice Arena in Rockland, Massachusetts. The complex features two ice surfaces, a turf field, 5 locker rooms, 5 party rooms (where kids can enjoy sports-themed birthday parties), a lounge with a big-screen TV, a meeting room and a pro shop.



Mark was preceded in death by a brother and his father. He is survived by his twin brother, Mike; his mother, Mary; two other brothers, Pat and Johnny; and three sisters, Kelly, Mary Ellen and Kathy.

Additional information and photos about Mark can be found on the Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation website.

We remember Mark and everyone one else who died on September 11, 2001. They may no longer be with us, but their legacies will live forever. Please click the image below to go to the "2,996" project website where you can find links to more tributes. Thank you, and may God bless you, God bless the Bavis Family and God bless America.

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Sunday, August 07, 2011

PZ scrubs an embarrassing post. UPDATE: Then unscrubs it! UPDATE 2: Comments scrubbed! UPDATE 2.1: Or maybe not.

This is funny! Yesterday (Saturday, August 6th), PZ posted this on his blog:

American Patriarchy News wants to poll you on their god

August 6th, 2011 PZ Myers

Today is the day of Governor Rick Perry’s crazy prayer rally in Houston. It’s going to fizzle: Reliant Stadium seats 75,000, and only 8,000 tickets have been sold (if you go, please get pictures of the sea of empty seats); he invited all 50 governors of the US to attend, only one said he would (Throwback Brownback of Kansas), and even he apparently hasn’t made travel arrangements, so it’s more like he said he would but won’t. And then it’s going to be populated with odious villains like Hagee and Dobson and Perkins on the stage, and is paid for by the gay-hatin’ American Patriarchy Association.

What’s really sad about this monstrous promise to violate separation of church and state and to pander to the most hateful lunatics of the extremist religious right is that it might just work…American evangelicals will just love Governor Godhair.

Here’s a nice little evangelical poll prompted by Perry’s folly.

Do America and its leaders need God’s guidance?

Without a doubt – 58.86%
Probably – 0.25%
No – 40.89%


As reported, however, 30,000 (and probably more) showed up for the event. Here's a brief video showing the crowd:



I posted both the video and a news report highlighting these facts on PZ's blog. In response, his mindless PZombies (fans) reacted in their typical fashion: with hate, vitriol, vulgarity, and moving the goalposts (e.g. "Only 30,000? That place seats 75,000!"). Not only that, but PZ scrubbed the post from his blog! Here's the original link, which redirects to his front page:

American Patriarchy News wants to poll you on their god

It's supposed to appear between his posts "Episode CCXLI: Squidgirl" and "Brazil needs your help."

However... you can still access (and comment) on the post using a link to one of the comments (a quirk -- or glitch -- of his new digs, I guess). To wit:

Comment #1

Oops! lol!

UPDATE 1: He put it back! lol! I totally caught him and he put it back! Convenient. Now he can lie and deny that he ever hid it.

UPDATE 2: Now he's scrubbing comments! Not just mine, but everyone who responded to or after me! lol! This just gets better and better!

UPDATE 2.1 Or maybe not. For some reason, when I go to the post in Firefox, it isn't showing posts after a certain point. I see them in Chrome, though. Weird. Must be another "quirk" of the crappy new host system over there.


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Sunday, July 24, 2011

Purging some links

I'm purging links in past posts to a certain little blog whose author has turned conservatives sickly-green since Obama took office. In other words, I'm taking my footballs and going home because I don't want to be associated with that jerk anymore.

UPDATE: Purge complete. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

To DR

"Christian Out" is not my blog. If you had any brains and knew how to use them competently, you could easily find my profile and the profile for the author of "Christian Out" and discover that we are two different people. But you're not interested in facts and the truth. All you are interested in is smearing me with your lies. And to think you call yourself a Christian. You are no such thing. You are nothing more than an arrogant, loud-mouthed, lying bully who is headed towards destruction. If you truly want to be a Christian, repent now before it's too late. Repent before you meet Jesus and he tells you, "Depart from me, for I never knew you."

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Left Behind: Eternal Forces - Mission 28

Mission 28 continues the story arc. You must help a main character search for another. It's not easy! GC forces are everywhere and reinforcements arrive continually.

Mission 28

Recruit, train, build, protect, safely reach map coordinates and survive.

VE*: 0
CK*: 0
PS*: 38 (no change due to no "Peaceful mission" goal)

*Abbreviations: "VE" = number of times violence is encouraged, "CK" = number of times "convert or kill" is encouraged, "PS" = number of times a peaceful solution is encouraged.


Previous posts.


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Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Left Behind: Eternal Forces - Mission 27

Mission 27 is a continuation of a story arc involving a main character from the novels, whom you must protect from GCP attacks while you traverse the city. You are instructed to train a couple of soldiers and some musicians, but again, the musicians are far, far more effective at countering the attacks. This level also features a little something special that relies on you having paid attention to the information screens you get at the end of levels.

Mission 27

Recruit, train, build, protect, safely reach map coordinates and survive.

VE*: 0
CK*: 0
PS*: 38 (no change due to no "Peaceful mission" goal)

*Abbreviations: "VE" = number of times violence is encouraged, "CK" = number of times "convert or kill" is encouraged, "PS" = number of times a peaceful solution is encouraged.


Previous posts.


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Friday, January 14, 2011

Left Behind: Eternal Forces - Mission 26

Mission 26

Recruit, train, build, heal and survive.

VE*: 0
CK*: 0
PS*: 38 (+1 for "Peaceful mission" goal)

*Abbreviations: "VE" = number of times violence is encouraged, "CK" = number of times "convert or kill" is encouraged, "PS" = number of times a peaceful solution is encouraged.


Previous posts.


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Left Behind: Eternal Forces - Mission 25

This mission continues the story arc started in the last mission and introduces some new characters and units (though you may have already used the units in question on your own in previous missions).

Mission 25

Recruit, train, build, heal and survive.

VE*: 0
CK*: 0
PS*: 37 (no change from last because "Peaceful mission" is not a stated goal)

*Abbreviations: "VE" = number of times violence is encouraged, "CK" = number of times "convert or kill" is encouraged, "PS" = number of times a peaceful solution is encouraged.


Previous posts.


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Left Behind: Eternal Forces "placeholder"

Doing something new. The list of past posts about the game is getting a little long, so I'm going to confine the list to a single post which I will update and link to at the bottom of each new post.

Left Behind: Eternal Forces - Mission 28
Left Behind: Eternal Forces - Mission 27
Left Behind: Eternal Forces - Mission 26
Left Behind: Eternal Forces - Mission 25
Left Behind: Eternal Forces - Mission 24
LB:EF - Mission 23
LB:EF - Mission 22 (finished)
LB:EF - Mission 22 (currently playing)
LB:EF - Mission 20 (complete)
LB:EF - Mission 21
LB:EF - Mission 20 (incomplete)
LB:EF - Winning a few battles in my modest fight for the truth
LB:EF - Giveaway of LB:EF for a limited time
LB:EF - Free upgrade to Tribulation Forces
LB:EF - *snicker* EF's ratings vs. Golden Compass game's ratings
LB:EF - Eternal Forces on HSN
LB:EF - Some screenshots
LB:EF - What neutral reviewers have to say about the game
LB:EF - The latest brouhaha and the left's continued lies
LB:EF - Revisiting my earlier concerns (by request)
LB:EF - Mission 19
LB:EF - Mission 18
LB:EF - More falsehoods spread in the media
LB:EF - More response to criticisms
LB:EF - Mission 17
LB:EF - Mission 16
LB:EF - Missions 13, 14, and 15
LB:EF - Mission 12
LB:EF - Missions 9, 10 and 11
LB:EF - Addressing an opening animation criticism
LB:EF - Easter egg?
LB:EF - Email from the game's senior producer!
LB:EF - Missions 6, 7 and 8
LB:EF - The first few missions
LB:EF - Tutorial
LB:EF - the manual
New S&B; series: "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" in detail
The left's lies about "Left Behind: Eternal Forces"


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Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Left Behind: Eternal Forces - Mission 24

Another pretty straightforward mission which requires a little work and finesse to complete the penultimate objective.

Mission 24

Recruit, train, build and survive.

VE*: 0
CK*: 0
PS*: 37 (+1 for a mission goal of no killing)

*Abbreviations: "VE" = number of times violence is encouraged, "CK" = number of times "convert or kill" is encouraged, "PS" = number of times a peaceful solution is encouraged.


Previous posts:

LB:EF - Mission 23
LB:EF - Mission 22 (finished)
LB:EF - Mission 22 (currently playing)
LB:EF - Mission 20 (complete)
LB:EF - Mission 21
LB:EF - Mission 20 (incomplete)
LB:EF - Winning a few battles in my modest fight for the truth
LB:EF - Giveaway of LB:EF for a limited time
LB:EF - Free upgrade to Tribulation Forces
LB:EF - *snicker* EF's ratings vs. Golden Compass game's ratings
LB:EF - Eternal Forces on HSN
LB:EF - Some screenshots
LB:EF - What neutral reviewers have to say about the game
LB:EF - The latest brouhaha and the left's continued lies
LB:EF - Revisiting my earlier concerns (by request)
LB:EF - Mission 19
LB:EF - Mission 18
LB:EF - More falsehoods spread in the media
LB:EF - More response to criticisms
LB:EF - Mission 17
LB:EF - Mission 16
LB:EF - Missions 13, 14, and 15
LB:EF - Mission 12
LB:EF - Missions 9, 10 and 11
LB:EF - Addressing an opening animation criticism
LB:EF - Easter egg?
LB:EF - Email from the game's senior producer!
LB:EF - Missions 6, 7 and 8
LB:EF - The first few missions
LB:EF - Tutorial
LB:EF - the manual
New S&B; series: "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" in detail
The left's lies about "Left Behind: Eternal Forces"


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Sunday, January 02, 2011

LB:EF - Misson 23

Mission 23 involves recruiting and training Praisers, then protecting them and four churches spread out across the map. Pretty straightforward mission which still proved challenging. Keep your eyes on the mini-map! It also helps to know and use the abilities of various units.

Mission 23

Build, protect vehicles, recruit, train, and survive.

VE: 0
CK: 0
PS: 36 (+1 as, again, one of the mission goals is for no killing)


Previous posts:

LB:EF - Mission 22 (finished)
LB:EF - Mission 22 (currently playing)
LB:EF - Mission 20 (complete)
LB:EF - Mission 21
LB:EF - Mission 20 (incomplete)
LB:EF - Winning a few battles in my modest fight for the truth
LB:EF - Giveaway of LB:EF for a limited time
LB:EF - Free upgrade to Tribulation Forces
LB:EF - *snicker* EF's ratings vs. Golden Compass game's ratings
LB:EF - Eternal Forces on HSN
LB:EF - Some screenshots
LB:EF - What neutral reviewers have to say about the game
LB:EF - The latest brouhaha and the left's continued lies
LB:EF - Revisiting my earlier concerns (by request)
LB:EF - Mission 19
LB:EF - Mission 18
LB:EF - More falsehoods spread in the media
LB:EF - More response to criticisms
LB:EF - Mission 17
LB:EF - Mission 16
LB:EF - Missions 13, 14, and 15
LB:EF - Mission 12
LB:EF - Missions 9, 10 and 11
LB:EF - Addressing an opening animation criticism
LB:EF - Easter egg?
LB:EF - Email from the game's senior producer!
LB:EF - Missions 6, 7 and 8
LB:EF - The first few missions
LB:EF - Tutorial
LB:EF - the manual
New S&B; series: "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" in detail
The left's lies about "Left Behind: Eternal Forces"


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Saturday, January 01, 2011

Happy New Year and welcome to a new day for S&B;!

You can now reach this blog via www.shockandblog.com! Hurray! My deepest most profound thanks to my friend Daniel for helping me with the domain registry.


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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Also in the works

I bought the shockandblog.com domain name earlier this year and am finally attempting to set it up to show this blog. I will let you know when that is finished.


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In the works: a walkthrough guide to LB:EF and more

A friend has requested (quite a while ago, actually -- sorry, Steph) that I put together a walkthrough guide for "Eternal Forces." I will probably create and publish this walkthrough mission by mission, so it's going to take some time to finish.

I also am playing around with screen capture programs in order to possibly create videos for a "let's play"-type YouTube series. My thoughts for that are along the same lines as my coverage of the game here: i.e. debunking the "convert or kill" falsehoods.

In the meantime, here's something for you to chuckle about:

Left Behind Terrorist Training Material

Be sure to read the apoplectic rant behind that petition:

Terrorist Training Videos OK for Christians?

I wonder what my old friend Shannon would have to say about all that. Maybe she signed the petition herself!


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