TheyBlinked

9/27/2002 10:52:00 PM

God and Globalization

AS ALWAYS, the relatively few self-styled anarchists who equate property destruction and creating a public nuisance with social change will grab the bulk of the media attention. But overlooked among the demonstrators will be another more restrained group. Its members are the sincere religious believers who feel compelled to also speak out against globalization’s more dubious results...

Members of the Catholic Maryknoll community, ALEPH: The Alliance for Jewish Renewal, the Buddhist Peacemakers Order, and Protestants as diverse as United Methodists and Mennonites are among those whose concerns about globalization stem from religious teachings relating to the repugnancy of greed, wasted or misused economic power, and disrespect for supportive human relationships....

Globalization’s secular critics, and there are many, talk about humanizing the process and reforming the markets to level the playing field to enlarge access to the pie. Essentially, they propose a materialist correction in line with a narrow, economic-focused worldview, a tinkering with globalization’s frayed edges to keep those made angry — and dangerous — by being on the losing end of the process from seeking their revenge.

Religious-based critics take a different approach. They say globalization’s overriding economic focus is the very root of the problem. The real issue, they say, is to maintain a... transcendent connection, human dignity and cultural cohesion that “money-theism” alone cannot replace.

9/27/2002 06:37:00 PM

the money is down on the trust theatre space...

9/27/2002 06:06:00 PM

CNN.com - Hundreds arrested at IMF protests - Sep. 27, 2002 via Daniel.Miller

sarah and i read through some of the net coverage of the D.C. anti-IMF protests. i was fascinated by sarah's immediate reaction and her very cunning, if dangerous, response. upon hearing about the 3200 police present and seeing the faces and reading the stories of some of the 650 people arrested she was aghast at the brutality and presumption involved in arresting so many people for jay walking and loitering that she said, "i would slap that policeman right in the face." i said, "well then you would certainly be arrested for assaulting an officer." she snapped back without a moments hesitation, "NO! they could not send me to juvie because i am not 10 yet. all they could do is send me home!" she then said, "i am so mad i could cuss!"

to say that i am surprised at her response would be to misconstrue my feelings. sarah has always been a vehement activist. i remember her choosing a candidate in the last presidential election (not my choice by the way) and making up slogans that she then wrote on posters that she plastered on the pillars in our community's mail stop. i remember at an even younger age (say 4ish) her shock when she observed an adult throw garbage out of their car window. at 4 there was no gradation of offensive actions so she reacted as if this guy had just killed someone right in front of her. all of that to simply say that she has always had strong opinions and the courage to put them into the public domain. what surprised me about her reaction in the IMF incident that happened today is her rather cunning manipulation of the law to allow her to communicate in the most forceful way possible her offense at what she perceives as a government trampling her and all american's right to assemble and speak out.

sarah, the torch will soon be yours. don't lose your passion or vision. american needs you.

9/27/2002 11:21:00 AM

so, this is what i want for my birthday.
and any of this that you might have laying around.

this birthday
list brought
to you by:

9/27/2002 11:04:00 AM

i visit this site every so often to dream about the ideal PhD program. anyone wanna help fund weekly flights from Dallas, TX to Villanova, PA? i'm thinking corporate sponsors. maybe apple? or sobe? if Caputo can hold on for another 13 years maybe i can hold my interest until i can move.

9/27/2002 10:00:00 AM

A United Hashemite kingdom?

9/27/2002 09:43:00 AM

Yahoo! News - Sears Pulls T-Shirts After Mental Health Outcry via R:brickbats.

so, were the federal anti-discrimination laws meant to prosecute "heartless purveyors" of someone's "bad" taste?

9/27/2002 09:08:00 AM

current mp3:
fugazi::waiting.room

9/27/2002 08:59:00 AM

EXILE
{exploring}

ERRING
{pilgrimage}

ICONOCLASTIC
{eclectic}

A/THEOLOGY
{paratheology}

9/27/2002 07:04:00 AM

there is something about lifestyle advertising that makes me look.

9/26/2002 04:57:00 PM

::the rhythm of spiritual creativity::

it is difficult to deny that our spiritual institutions focus in a near exclusive manner on enculturing a people committed to an external, monogamous patronage of particular places and times of systematized religious organization. the power of ritual observance and cyclical remembrance is not what i am referring to. my main point is that most "religious professionals" have not understood the profound consequences of the question, "is our purpose as spiritual communities to 'do time' or to do something?"*

it is not the plethora of gold stars on our institutional attendance charts that is the point.

to be human is to do something.
to be human in spiritual community is to do something together.
that is the point.

part of the problem is our overemphasis on the short term and our under emphasis on the longer term. the week-to-week urgency of a series of programs and events that make up the church as we know it today is a ridiculous institutional idolatry. this pace and posture of "spiritual life" have made faith gatherings non-events in the strictest baudrillardian sense. they have become little more than the crassest of ideology sales events that report on real human lives of the past all the while contributing to the contemporary christian cultural buffer zone that keeps us from the singularity of living a greatness akin to those of whom we so often speak! greatness requires being fully human! our institutional procrustean beds will not have it so.

the important questions have longer timelines.

who are you becoming (the question of path)?
what are you invested in (the question of value)?
who are you gathered with (the questions of solidarity and community)?

i see a new generation of spiritual gathering
that is organizationally promiscuous while relationally committed.
i see a people who privilege movements of solidarity over self-perpetuating organization.

organization for this generation is
spontaneous
and
self-organizing
in open and adaptive ways.

the relationships are what remain amidst the structural flux.

so begins long now spirituality.

*cf: Pekka Himanen, "The Hacker Ethic," 38

{blogger went down tonight and ate the extended version of this...

arrrg... stream of consciousness version will have to do}

9/26/2002 04:07:00 PM

a suggestion:

christians do not need revival.
they are not dead.
christians need sustainable awakening to the way of the other kingdom.

i would suggest that the rest of us need this too.

9/26/2002 01:01:00 PM

current mp3:
goldfinger:99.Red.Balloons

9/26/2002 10:10:00 AM

so Shannon, Princess of Arabia, Mistress of the Carriage Community and all around Intercultural Diva, now has a blog. one tip: it may not be prudent long term to have your home address out there for your next stalker to see, but hey, that is just me. you are the one who donned your trench coat and used your SBC karate skills to fight off the bad guys in cyprus, egypt and pakistan. maybe a stalker would bring that excitement that you have been looking for.

9/26/2002 09:45:00 AM

reason's Daily Brickbat is hilarious.

9/26/2002 09:44:00 AM

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Turkmen leader redefines youth and age

When does a boy become a man? The government of Turkmenistan is closing in on an official answer. By proclamation, a Turkmen child now reaches adolescence on his or her 13th birthday. At 25, that adolescent becomes a youth, but he won't be mature until age 37. Old age arrives at 85. This was all decreed by the nation's dictator, who has also proposed renaming the month of January after himself. quote and link via reason

9/26/2002 07:02:00 AM

parents in the usa:
your teen is most likely to commit crime after school and have sex from 6pm-7am.
just thought you'd like to know.
msnbc: teens most often have sex at home

9/26/2002 06:47:00 AM

Dude, its the Christian minorities who are paying the price for America's war on terror. We all know that there was no violence against Christians {in Pakistan there was very little} before the US took action in Afghanistan. The situation is getting worse. The US had to do what they had to....but there is always a price which must be paid and guess who is paying......

-from a Pakistani Christian friend regarding this:
Pakistan Christians mourn shooting victims

9/25/2002 11:06:00 PM

My fascination with bios as a literary genre (a subset of the auto/biography) continues to grow. Case in point: I learned today that Hansel (Leonard) listens to anything put out by Dokken.

9/25/2002 12:02:00 PM

Swift Kick - The Virtue of Engineering Cynicism - Darwin Magazine

...deal straightforwardly and not only will the deal go through, but it will be a stronger deal in the long term.

9/25/2002 11:07:00 AM

i don't want to mis/construe, though that is all i can ever do.
and this being the case my desire is fulfilled
as an eternal provisional.

9/25/2002 09:16:00 AM

FreeNetworks.ORG || Community Networks
Free WiFi network access global communities

The DFW group: (( DFWWUG ))
See also Dallas Free Net

9/25/2002 08:56:00 AM

Reason | Poor Planning: How to Make Your Country Really Poor

Reason | Great expectations: How can America resist the imperial temptation?

9/25/2002 07:17:00 AM

9/24/2002 10:49:00 PM

The MacArthur ‘Genius Grants’ have been announced.

9/24/2002 11:44:00 AM

so, why are you afraid?

this is it.

there is nothing to wait for.

what are you going to create?

9/24/2002 11:10:00 AM

culture is perishing in overproduction,
in an avalanche of words,
in the madness of quantity.
that’s why one banned book...
means infinitely more than the billions of words spewed out by our universities.

-Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, p 103

via kaus on carriage

9/24/2002 10:57:00 AM

read the dossier (pdf) released by the UK on Iraq.

9/23/2002 10:20:00 PM

Amnesty International
International Justice System Under Attack

another opportunity to enact justice.

9/23/2002 10:06:00 PM

Language 'no barrier' for Gibson's Flick

Mel Gibson is set to direct a movie about Christ's last 12 hours played out entirely in two ancient tongues - Latin and Aramaic - with no subtitles....

"Many people have told the story but ... it's like looking at it from the wrong end of the telescope, I mean Jesus either suffers from bad hair or it's inaccurate or you don't believe it," he said.

via aintitcool via slate

update: Mel Gibson launches scathing attack on the Vatican

...my Jesus will be shaken by his human suffering. Real blood will flow from the wound in his side, and the screams of his Crucifixion will be real as well.

9/23/2002 09:20:00 PM

Shoot first, ask later

The new world is the one rationalized by Bush’s manifesto: a world in which great powers wink at each other’s misconduct, every threat is imminent, self-defense means pre-emptive action abroad, interests are dressed up as values, and cooperation means cooperating with the United States. We don’t know what history will judge harshly about this era, but there’s a good chance it’ll be the compromises we embraced to rectify the mistakes of Sept. 11.

9/23/2002 01:57:00 PM

how many times have i pushed you from my mind
only to have you reemerge without my consent
intent is without meaning
youth and urgency a fence between us
feigned propriety and conflicted trust
what keeps this from erupting
into that roll of the dice
that momentarily risks the future for the present
and with fevered hand lets go of what one
desires the most, impassioned and haunted
by what is known and half known
desired and feared, courted and rejected
time and again held back by preperceptions
of trajectories untaken but clearly uncontrollable
a disruption that towers above all others
transforming what will be without asking
banning and opening at will paths seen and unseen
this is love in our day

{ 09-20-02 - 5:10pm
in black ink
on the back of a
Dallas Public Library Fine/Fee Receipt }

9/23/2002 01:33:00 PM

Dallas Morning News | Church, Neighbors Battling

from the front page of today's Metropolitan section of the Dallas Morning News. a mega-church just a few miles from where i live is seeking to cut down a wooded neighborhood area and a number of homes to build a parking garage/parking lot. the neighbors are pissed. this really makes me sick. i have too much to say about this and not enough time right now... read it and draw your own conclusions.

more of this on a national scale
an instance of this in CA

9/23/2002 01:25:00 PM

Islam attracts Rwanda survivors

...there was only talk of April 6, 1994, the first day of the state-sponsored genocide in which ethnic Hutu extremists killed 800,000 minority Tutsis and Hutu moderates....

Since the genocide, Rwandans have converted to Islam in huge numbers. Muslims now make up 14 percent of the 8.2 million people here in Africa’s most Catholic nation, twice as many as before the killings began.

Many converts say they chose Islam because of the role that some Catholic and Protestant leaders played in the genocide. Human rights groups have documented several incidents in which Christian clerics allowed Tutsis to seek refuge in churches, then surrendered them to Hutu death squads, as well as instances of Hutu priests and ministers encouraging their congregations to kill Tutsis. Today some churches serve as memorials to the many people slaughtered among their pews.

Here is an interesting piece in the Dallas Morning News on American's converting to Islam.

9/22/2002 10:08:00 PM

U.S. State Department: The Foreign Service

so i took the written exam saturday. i was expecting it to be very hard. all of the stories i heard were of how difficult the process was. it was not. if you know english, have spent time overseas, interact regularly with people from other parts of the world or read international news sites you are prepared to take the test.

9/22/2002 09:59:00 PM

CNN.com - Micro Fuel Cells

for all of our inventiveness we are only now getting to this...

9/22/2002 09:56:00 PM

spy1d -- here are those dubya video clips from The Daily Show that you wanted.

9/22/2002 09:44:00 PM

Boston Globe Online / Sunday | Focus / Failsafe via joho

On Sept. 11, passengers armed only with cell phones and courage succeeded where a multibillion-dollar military failed. Does their achievement mean that 50 years of American defense policy is all wrong?

A great article on de-centralizing defense policy.

9/22/2002 12:19:00 PM

we need to go on more journeys.
we are stripped of our vocational masks and professional personas when we have been off traveling for a long enough period of time. work has defined us to a fault. our humanness is lost in our quest for paycheck identity. who we are to be is forgotten in the shuffle of papers on a desk we seldom leave. we might trade up, but we never really leave.

until we do.

9/22/2002 12:09:00 PM

Get That Gig.com!

why not do something cool?

9/22/2002 09:47:00 AM

i finally went to see possession this weekend. i had to before it left the angelika. i enjoy the nuurban instant trendy spot that is the home for the angelika. i especially like taking the train to mockingbird station, climbing the long escalator to the theatre level and emerging next to the noodle place. the crowd is always an interesting mix of beautiful people--such a stark contrast to the intriguing idiosynchracies of those one sees milling about while sitting outside a cafe in my part of town. the differences and the sameness alike astonish me.

despite the reviews to the contrary, possession is a film that moved me at times and overall was a thoughtful attempt at a literary love story. it was difficult to determine if the writer was intending to give the consumate American-in-the-UK such bad lines or if it was merely bad writing. the juxstaposition of the grand poetic narrative of victorian love with the fear and pretention of two modern poetic characters afraid even to make love was successful.

9/20/2002 10:15:00 PM

Revival Works a Transformation

"Burn This" emerges as an exquisitely arranged chamber piece for four self-distancing people who have misplaced their deepest feelings....

And it can be embarrassingly literal in showing how its characters translate life into art. But it also presents a bracingly clear-eyed portrait of an age of disconnectedness, a state in which American life still seems firmly lodged.

9/20/2002 05:37:00 PM

Shark credited with ‘virgin births’

parthenogenesis or self-fertilizing hermaphrodite? hmm.

9/20/2002 11:21:00 AM

somethings that i have learned from my hitbox stats over the last 3.5 days:

- Generally, even hours are busier than odd hours for TheyBlinked

- TheyBlinked is result #2 if you search for the japanese word for "sex friend" on google/yahoo

- TheyBlinked had traffic every hour of the day during this period of time save 1am, 2am and 3am CT

- Based on the data from 3.5 days the projections are that TheyBlinked should have 5000+ page views this month

- Daily TheyBlinked is getting unique users from all North American times zones, West and South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia

- There have been some crazy google query referrals to TheyBlinked (sekusutomo, beeow, beastie boys, jihad, axis of officially anglophone, 8 mile, bible granola, et al). The worst being someone's query that read "naked 11 year old kiddy." To the person who found the site via this google query, its time to stop the madness, get help (professional counseling) and get accountability (xxxchurch.com perhaps).

9/20/2002 11:18:00 AM

Comments on "Can We Still Trust God's Word?" Continue...

David: Well, the Bible entered into an oral society, so the written word seemed sacred, unique. But once we carried the Bible into a print-friendly culture, the medium lost its uniqueness. The Bible became mundane. There became a counter-reaction to make the Bible holy. As a result, we deified the text and displaced our God.

the discussion in the pub continues. the score:

1 disgruntled lite beer epistemologist,
1 flat guinness religious revolutionary,
1 passed out renaissance conspirator,
1 latte nursing old guard watchman,
1 diet coke publishing peacemaker,
1 media savvy, always teaching, bar tender...

who will pull up a chair next?

9/19/2002 11:42:00 PM

Akbar Ahmed: When Honor is Threatened

Economics is important. But the notion of honor or dignity is more important. What you are seeing in many societies throughout the world is the reaction to perceptions of dishonor.

9/19/2002 10:58:00 PM

Comments on "Can We Still Trust God's Word?"

"It is right because it is right because it is right." That is a type of faith I can't muster anymore.

some great responses to an ongoing article/comment exchange.
thanks michael and jon for your measured responses and scott for your creative delivery.

9/19/2002 08:47:00 PM

DallasNews.com | Dallas-Fort Worth | Rumsfeld raises stakes on Iraq

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, putting Iraq squarely at the center of the war against terrorism, said Wednesday that only a coup or Saddam Hussein's voluntary surrender of power could avert war.

"We can fight all elements of the global war simultaneously," he assured the House Armed Services Committee, leaving little doubt of the administration's intentions.

this is ridiculous. irresponsible.

this smacks of a new public american imperialism that will do nothing but increase the hostility that fomented an event like 9/11. it is time to change our rhetoric in the press. it is time to change our posture in the world. it is time to hold power as a sacred trust.

9/19/2002 08:43:00 PM

Deliver us from evil - Michel Kinsley

So, check and mate: Terrorism is evil, evil, evil — gosh, it’s evil — and there’s nothing else to discuss.

9/19/2002 02:44:00 PM

current.mp3
twisted.sister::we're.not.gonna.take.it
(spy1d is playing it off of his laptop)

9/19/2002 12:35:00 PM

it is still very cool in my little world when people blog about the same thing on the same day without any orchestration. joho wrote about children yesterday too.

9/19/2002 12:04:00 PM

BookCrossing - Free Your Books!

bookcrossing is a very cool grassroots idea virus community mechanism... check it out...

from the site:

You know the feeling you get after reading a book that speaks to you, that touches your life, a feeling that you want to share it with someone else? BookCrossing.com gives you a simple way to share books with the world, and follow their paths forever more!

9/18/2002 10:46:00 PM

"Talks collapse in Winona Ryder Case"

this is an actual news headline i saw tonight. does this strike anyone else as odd and a bit pretentious? talks? what?

9/18/2002 04:46:00 PM

this is not an animal.

this is your son.

global neglect

easy, but don't stop here...
ongoing solutions

9/18/2002 02:00:00 PM

so far,
all that has given color to existence still lacks a history. Where could you find a history of love, of avarice, of envy, of conscience, of pious respect for tradition, or of cruelty? even a comparative history of law or at least of punishment is so far lacking completely. has anyone made a study of different ways to divide up the day or of the consequences of a regular schedule of work, festival, and rest? what is known of the moral effects of different foods?
is there a philosophy of nuitrition?
-F.Nietzsche://the.gay.science::book.1.7

9/18/2002 01:01:00 PM

Monsanto is a huge, agricultural, revenue driven, for-profit corporation. They genetically engineer seed to grow plants that are incapable of producing fertile seeds. This is called a "Terminator Technology." It keeps customers coming back year after year to buy new seed.

American Christianity is a huge, spiritual, revenue driven, not-for-profit corporation. They theologically engineer the kerygma to grow spiritual lives that are incapable of producing maturity. This is called a "Terminator Theology." It keeps pew dwellers coming back year after year to "be fed."

9/18/2002 12:18:00 PM

what is left when success is mounted
the last battle won
the conquest now empty
control no more the arousal it once was?

what is left when life runs its course
and the dust of a hundred billion
who have gone before swallows the
trillion particles that once constituted
a self no more differentiated from the
rest of creation?

what is left?
is there a vast data center in the sky
holding backups of all our lives
somehow archived do we again return
in some cosmic restore
do we find ourselves anew in a place
unexpected and yet home

what is left?
we tell stories and enact secrets
we laugh and play
but what is left in the end
is only what can be held without clutching
known without owning

what is left?
the way, halakah, dharma, sunnah
the details may shift
as indeed we all do
and yet the way continues

aug.3.2002

9/18/2002 11:52:00 AM

in my ongoing series of book recommendations i would like to throw out two on the subject of contemporary islam. these books are representative of a new scholarship that is emerging within islam in progressive cultural centers such as south africa, the uk and to some extent the usa. this particular author is from south africa. farid esak has three books available on amazon. the two that i have read are excellent (Qur'an, Liberation and Pluralism and On Being a Muslim) .

while i am on this topic i guess that i will throw out a couple more. A Faith For All Seasons by shabbir akhtar is good as is Postmodernism and Islam by akbar ahmed. these last two works are older (from the early 1990s).

9/18/2002 11:42:00 AM

Iraq, Upside Down

...this poverty of dignity... drives them to suicidal revenge. The quest for dignity is a powerful force in human relations. Closing that dignity gap is a decades-long project.

9/18/2002 09:29:00 AM

the axis of... applet

my favorite:

New Zealand, Australia and Jamaica:
Axis of island-dwelling, officially Anglophone, vodka-exporting, US bullet-buyers

9/18/2002 12:29:00 AM

my cell phone is again dead--resurrected once there is little hope this time.
a public wake will be held this evening at the coffee haus in arlington, tx.

9/18/2002 12:23:00 AM

NPR : Hunting for Gravity Waves

so, we are going to use this thing called a "laser" to detect "gravity"...
does that get your excited, baby?
grrrr.

9/17/2002 11:59:00 PM

lost in the waves
thrown to the shore
the euphoria of survival
quickly fades as the next
drama that carries life through
the endless cycles of creation and
return makes its way to the forefront of
existence under the brash pretense called
urgency

lost in the waves
thrown to the shore

9/17/2002 06:41:00 PM

The Globalist | Guide to Globalization

9/17/2002 03:25:00 PM

following david's lead i now know what revolution i am:

What revolution are You?
Made by

altern_active

9/17/2002 03:10:00 PM

the cultural matrix that allowed this social phenomenon to emerge in japan is intriguing to me. watching a silent, traditional culture begin to melt under the weight of underemployment and xenophobic sexual presuppositions is like reality television for the sociologically minded. for me this article underscores the need for open discussion around a sexual ethic that is formed from the nuanced sources of our society's traditions in concert with the ground realities that the west functions within--an unprecedented distribution of wealth, the pace and informational sophistication of interconnected global living, the ubiquity of media and the longevity of the human being among other things. for those from the abrahamic traditions we must begin asking how we can live a sexuality that privileges integrity within promises in line with the covenantal thinking of our faiths, that is thoughtful with regard to new science and that is honest in view of our common heritage with other species on the planet. we need to find a path that eschews the extreme polar swings of classical dogmatic sources such as augstine or origen in their work and lives and the monastic/priestly traditions that became central to roman chritianity while holding fast to relational justice, purity on the level of intention and communal integrity.

Dangerous Liaisons

MASAMI HAS SEX with several of her pals, she admits, rotating among partners who themselves enjoy numerous liaisons. Her promiscuity is not uncommon: Surveys suggest that many young Japanese maintain multiple sekusutomo —literally “sex friends.” According to a joint study... in the Shibuya section of Tokyo recently, 43 percent said they keep five or more sex friends at a time...

They form social groups that—like their jobs—are part time, low stress and temporary.

9/17/2002 06:58:00 AM

A Sacred Obligation

an interesting piece on jewish-christian relations from a mainstream catholic/denominational perspective.

9/16/2002 09:15:00 PM

Fatblueman recently wrote, The teachings of Christ don't mix well with the goals of nation-building (as the Romans seemed to understand), but co-opting his name seems to be useful for giving people a sense that whatever the nation is up to is right.

9/16/2002 08:24:00 PM

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Iraq agrees to weapons inspections

Ok, it is time for my $200 Billion USD travel plan to go into effect. I'll be calling Dubya tonight to pass on the information. I think we should all begin getting our visas and brushing up on our ancient Babylonian history.

One more thing while I am thinking about it. How would our self-perception, rhetoric and sense of national security change if, say, Iraq or Iran had bases in Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas?

The USoA has bases in Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Turkey and a sea full of the world's most advanced submarines, aircraft carriers, battle ships and the like in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean. How does this influence the citizens of Iraq, Iran, Syria, et al?

9/16/2002 04:42:00 PM

Statement from the Beastie Boys

the James Newton (jazz musician) vs. Beastie Boys battle royale continues... this is a battle that pits artists that sample digitally against artists that sample through analog human audio patterning. i have a hard time seeing it any other way. everyone borrows unintentionally ("influence") and samples intentionally ("quotes") in some way. i have little sympathy for James Newton's claim that the three note sample that was cleared ten years ago is somehow a composition that he can now claim copyright infringement on. three friggin' notes??? wow. if the Beasties had simply paid some musician to come into the studio and play those notes for them to record and digitally alter just as they did with the six second James Newton sample the situation would never have come to this because no one could have tied the three notes to James Newton. it was the Beasties act of crediting the source for their sonic quote that opened them up to this frivolous suit that has already cost them nearly half a million USD.

9/16/2002 04:06:00 PM

Why C.E.O.'s Succeed (and Why They Fail): Hunters and Gatherers in the Corporate Life

An Anthropology of Leadership... another in the collection of articles that I used to give out during my tenure at Siemens.

9/16/2002 04:01:00 PM

Books by Hans Kung

for those of you who may not have seen the number of kung books in my library i thought that i would put in a plug for the greatest living theologian in the estimation of this small man. kung is a swiss theologian who helped to craft Vatican II, was soon after declared a non-catholic theologian and who has consistently brought a deep reason, honesty and ecumenical spirit to his voluminous writing. in 500 years kung will still be read. there are very few books in your library of which that can be said.

if you want to start someplace and are overwhelmed by the number of books available try Christianity: Essence, History and Future or Great Christian Thinkers: Paul, Origen, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Schleiermacher, Barth.

9/16/2002 03:28:00 PM

current mp3:
gravity.kills:guilty/andy.park:we.will.dance medley

9/16/2002 01:46:00 PM

i am sitting on the third floor of my condo at the moment gazing out the 12 foot windows at the uncommonly cool day just outside the glass. the leaves calmly sway in the slight breeze and my ceiling fans rattle on their circular course that has been unbroken for six months now. i am at peace--not secure, not without challenge--but my needs are daily met and the gift of life is welcomed with the silent embrace of a friend long on the path with me. the dissonant notes of life ring out and when taken together build to a crescendo of song that is the stuff of which we speak when with steeled gaze we utter the word that our time longs to see lived: hope. i am at peace.

9/16/2002 01:27:00 PM

soularize '02 ?
maybe something along these lines:

topic: authority, identity and the other kingdom

synopsis:

when scripture and tradition are one
when authority is an agreement
when apologetics is life

who are we?
what is christianity?

we hear and participate in discussions of deconstruction and reconstruction in postmodern faith circles and usually approach the subject from a missioligical perspective. asking questions that center on how one gets the "product" to the "postmodern culture." these discussions largely miss the point. the central areas where postmodern sensibilities call our comfortable authorities and identities into question remain largely unacknowledged and undiscussed. i would suggest that these postmodern sensibilities are often shared by the deconstructing midrash and community enactments of the other kingdom—the message of Jesus—and that our identities are fundamentally reshaped when we begin asking new questions and living new lives in response to the way of the other kingdom.

9/16/2002 12:14:00 PM

LawMeme: Legal Bricolage for a Technological Age - Top Ten New Copyright Crimes via danielmiller

9/16/2002 12:05:00 PM

Star Telegram | 09/16/2002 | 'Dream Awake' needs time to corral its elements

the first review for last weekend's play is in...

9/16/2002 10:47:00 AM

Shirky: Broadcast Institutions, Community Values via joho.

1. Audiences are built. Communities grow.
2. Communities face a tradeoff between size and focus.
3. Participation matters more than quality.
4. You may own the software, but the community owns itself.
5. The community will want to build. Help it, or at least let it.

i would suggest that the modern church is in large part a hosting organization not a community. more on this later.

9/16/2002 10:19:00 AM

Iraq attack could cost $200 billion

$200 BILLION!

i have a better idea. let's take that $200 Billion and cut a check for $5000 to every tax paying household in the USoA that is good for an extended vacation in Iraq this year. after this momentous year of revitalization for the iraqi economy and hope and perspective for the iraqi people why not again ask for unfettered access for the UN inspection body (we have already waited this long, why not another year?) and if cooperation is not forthcoming utilize the clandestine funds that already exist to insert a regime change body that deals directly with sadam rather than unleashing more war-hell on the children that have come into the world under this tyrannical political economy.

transformation takes place from the inside out. without a transformative evolution in the politics of iraq (read: the iraqi people's expectations) one dictator will be traded for another.

9/16/2002 09:45:00 AM

for those of you who did not live the early, wacko, dot com life here is a late piece from a "company" that was around in the early days:

"a fish, a barrel, and a smoking gun"

the growing old rants on 18 October 2000 are great: 1 - 2.

9/16/2002 09:40:00 AM

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts | Author on trial over Islam 'insult'

"It is anti-Muslim racism that is at the heart of the trial, not the personality or the provocative tastes of one successful author or another."

ridiculous. this is not racism. this may be "bad taste" or conflicting politics, but it is not racism. when will large islamic organizations stop shooting the global ummah in the foot with courses of action such as this french suit?

9/13/2002 05:17:00 PM

Anheuser rolls out low-carb beer

the atkins diet has a new face: steak and ultra anyone?

9/13/2002 04:36:00 PM

the conversation that happens everyday to so many of us:

someone: how are you?
us: fine. (i am tired. really, very tired.
rest is not what i need.
wholeheartedness.
sustainable.
now.)

9/13/2002 04:29:00 PM

two churchy blogs:

stories of simple churches...

thoughts along the lines of the matthew's house folks.

what is christianity?

i like the words describing this new blog:

...Gathering traces of past-orthodoxy, past-liturgy, and past-protesting into a modern way of sorting out what Christianity is in modern contexts.

let's see how it lives up to its name...

9/13/2002 09:43:00 AM

Solicited: Grants: U.S. Institute of Peace

Theme: Religion, Conflict and Peace-building

The interconnections between religion, conflict and peace are as complex as they are varied. The Institute invites proposals for research, training, education and pilot projects that promise to advance the understanding of the role of religion in conflict and peace, enhance faith-based peacemaking initiatives, and explore new approaches to peacemaking in conflicts with religious dimensions. The Institute will not consider support for activities that seek to promote religious belief or observance.

Deadline: October 1, 2002

9/11/2002 11:10:00 PM

i was just asked in an IM what dan's ideal world would look like.
it surprised me how i answered without pause:

a surprising diversity in harmony amidst disagreement

9/11/2002 05:14:00 PM

www.AndrewSullivan.com - Daily Dish - The Real Parallel

andrew sullivan begins this blog entry with a compelling quote from tony blair. he ends the entry by writing this: The advocates of inaction - or, worse, the appearance of action - seem to me to be essentially bargaining away the lives of American citizens to protect their anachronistic notion of an international order.

is the notion of an "international order" anachronistic? how else would one function where something beyond mere brute force comes into play on the international stage if not by some sense of an international order? in our time this function is played out largely in the UN and the smaller bodies of influence that organize UN member countries--NATO, the Organization of Islamic Conferences, the Group of 8, the WTO, et al. i would love to sit down and here andrew clarify his thoughts on this.

9/11/2002 02:00:00 PM

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film | Audiences cheer Eminem film

Eminem and Cusack got rave reviews coming out of the Toronto Film Festival for 8 Mile and Max respectively. 8 Mile should be out in november (i cannot wait). Max in december.

9/11/2002 01:43:00 PM

oh, btw, my cell fell into the toilet today.
my new cell that is. two have now died in 2 months.
does anyone have a gsm phone laying around the house?

9/11/2002 01:41:00 PM

jordan posted a moving excerpt from Tony Campolo's address at North Park University just after 9/11 last year.

9/11/2002 10:58:00 AM

i was planning to hold all of my posts for the day until later tonight.
it is now nearly 11am in my central time zone existence.
i have spoken. i have cried. i have listened.
life must now go on.
peace to you.
9/11/02.

9/11/2002 10:47:00 AM

ayesha and i were talking about 9/11 last night.
she looked at me with a deeply serious face,
that middle place between awe and fear,
and she said,

Did I jump out of that building, too?

later in an unrelated conversation
she told me that she wanted to be a kangaroo when she grew up.

9/11/2002 10:33:00 AM

Giving that is worthy of praise
amounts to action in the service of the poor,
done in secret, by those who themselves are of little means.
- The Prophet Mohammed

9/11/2002 10:19:00 AM

this morning we lit two white candles
and told stories
of heroes and harrowing times.

in large part we choose our roles in life.
we can be heroes.

9/11/2002 09:43:00 AM

beeow on the artistic path:

You've got to let your art go and let it live it's own life apart from your intentions. Nobody will see it the way you want them to, it will be filtered through their own experiences and attitudes. Nobody will ever understand your art, nobody will ever understand you. You've got to live and let live and give up the hope of knowing your art affected somebody the way you imagined it might.

So, set it free, to the actors who might read it, to the copy girl who wants to color it and hang it on her wall, to the studio who has agreed to distribute it, to the kid who wants to replay it on his casio keyboard. Once born, you must raise it, but if you don't let it move out of your house it is worthless to the world.

9/11/2002 09:14:00 AM

on a brighter note: Rütl '02...
thousands of swiss teens and twenty-somethings recently converged on a picturesque swiss mountainside to "recovenant with God for their nation." these physical symbols of faith solidarity are moving to me. it beats watching another rerun or coming up with the next stupid crusade to boycott or poorly copy some entertainment distraction.

9/11/2002 08:41:00 AM

sometimes i just shake my head...
who comes up with this stuff?
it is times like these that make me wish The Door was still being published...
wait maybe it is.

LOGIA: BIBLE GRANOLA

There is no better way to start your day than with a wholesome and nutritious bowl of Bible Granola!

Ban Christian Rock Music!

The Bibleman Family Cruise

Christians For Cannabis

wow. sometimes i think that i have seen it all--then i run across a site like this. it is such an ironically funny thing to see "inerrancy" used as a justification for legalizing weed. i am more concerned with the evidentialist approach and dispensational leanings of anyone who would hawk the Scofield Study Bible on their site (which CFC does) than i am about cannabis use.

9/11/2002 06:26:00 AM

9/10/2002 11:37:00 PM

Nelson Mandela: The United States of America is a Threat to World Peace

...the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace. Because what [America] is saying is that if you are afraid of a veto in the Security Council, you can go outside and take action and violate the sovereignty of other countries. That is the message they are sending to the world. That must be condemned in the strongest terms.

9/10/2002 09:17:00 PM

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Switzerland admitted to UN

can one be engaged and yet remain neutral?
is neutrality an impossibility?
switzerland has been dealing with
these and other issues for 50 years.
today they officially joined the post-WWII world body.

the only powers yet to be represented by UN membership
are the vatican and the palestinian authority.

9/10/2002 08:37:00 PM

sarah's bio is up at trust theatre now...
along with this picture of her.

there are a few other interesting pictures on the site post update.

somehow i make another appearance with a middle eastern sword...

9/10/2002 11:52:00 AM

cool. mike riddell writes on the long now on seven this month. i have blogged a bit on the long now before--here and here. i believe that there is a substantial realignment of issues, priorities and predispositions when communities embrace long now thinking. more on this later. oh, and a bit on this in the post below also. cheers.

9/09/2002 10:44:00 PM

{a stream of consciousness homily on secrecy and the other kingdom}

if you are at all familiar with what we have come to call the 6th chapter of matthew's gospel you know that secrecy played a large part in jesus' teaching about living well (righteousness). so much so that i would suggest that

the way of
the kingdom
is a secret way.

not because of some initiate-only esoteric knowledge (The Secret a la the various gnosticisms the world has seen), but because of a secret practice, a clandestine outworking, an amorphous enfolding of the world into the way... a walking, a touching, a tasting, a refraining, an asking, a giving all done in secret.

we do not like this way in the world of consumer, camp spirituality.

it requires an embodied way--
a spirituality of the Long Now--
that cannot be easily packaged and marketed by the church du jour,

and it demands trust--
a ruthless trust--
in givenness and disproportionate outcomes.

an embodied way
a spirituality of the Long Now does not have hard lines drawn that demarcate the "saved" and the "lost"--judging this being an impossibility and something that should specifically be avoided. this way, when spoken of from classically christian texts and with a vocabulary that is in some fashion formed by these texts and the community that carries them, is about a loss of self--not for christianity or any other religion, but within christianity or any other religion for the express purpose of loving god and loving our neighbor.

loving the other--both the divine and the human other--is the dharma practice, the dogmatic context, the doctrinal praxis that connects us with the revolutionary in palestine who with an audacity few can muster tells a seeker who is already in the way that he lacked one thing and that to gain this one thing required a loss of those things in which his identity had become inextricably intertwined. this embodied spirituality of the long now is not so much about being right as it is about being right. it is not about a crusade for ideological and cultural global homogeneity, but about creating a way for the impossible in our communities, a space to recognize and welcome the divine among us.

a ruthless trust
the ruthless trust of the other kingdom is a trust in the defining benevolence of the creator god; a taking the side of divine abundance in this world; an active hope that puts physical success on the line with the assurance of divine sufficiency. some have lived such that the way of trust has become an ignoble thing in our time. new media religious prosperity charlatans, odd, snake handling literalists, medical knowledge eschewing fundamentalists and the like. this is not living with ruthless trust.

trust is about awakening to the givenness of the world. how we did not bring ourselves into being. how we have no real control over the matrix of our existence. how we are a mystery to ourselves. how we do not really know who we are. this recognition of life as gift is an opening to ruthless trust. the birds and grass are provided for and we will be to, even those of us with so little faith. not that we do not will and act and define and reconfigure and create--we must have the courage to do these things--but that these are now done from within the state of givenness--we act out of the awareness that we participate in a gift--both a receiving of and a regiving of that of which we could not dream in our vast night of nonbeing.

knowing that our sufficiency and creativity is in the gift we can act out with courage trusting that the father who sees what is done in secret will take the widow's small coin and make it a greater gift than the riches being showered into the temple treasury with such pomp and circumstance. we can trust that the widow and orphan will be taken care of by our meager capabilities. that our small obedience over time is in fact where we meet god. that it is in clothing, feeding and visiting the stranger, naked and oppressed that the shadow of the unknown god is for a brief moment seen.

a community of the secret: eschewing The Secret by living in secret

may we find our way forward together in peace
in secret

9/09/2002 10:09:00 PM

so what are you talking about at soularize, dan?

i have some ideas... but what do you want to hear? of the interesting and not-so-interesting things that have appeared in this blog or that we have spoken of what do you think should be developed further in a public forum? i am seriously interested. email me.

9/09/2002 10:02:00 PM

WE'RE COUNTING DOWN, FOLKS!

Only 23,999 more people need to give $1 to meet our pledge drive goal!

Our supply of Urim and Thumim have been depleted, but for those who can become Charter Readers by giving at the $1 level right now a special package of nothing will not be sent to you, postage paid, in the spirit of doing your giving in secret.

you know, folks, last time we mentioned this we received some odd looks and a comment or three wondering if we were being serious or cynical.

do we have to pick just one? peace to you.

9/09/2002 06:10:00 PM

i had to write some bios for the trust theatre site. i think that i have come to truly savor the genre of bio--reading and writing. i am considering writing a new bio every day. maybe each week. it focuses you somewhat--in odd ways. here are the three i wrote today (in the order that they were penned):

dan likes life. he thinks a good bit. he enjoys friends who can forgive him and books that can engage him. he lives in an old 3 story condo that is an off green color--that mix between mauve, taupe and olive that is so difficult to articulate with precision in english. no one without children should be able to turn the key on the nuclear football according to dan. he sometimes spouts off silly utopian phrases like, "love your enemies." dan thinks that all of life can be summed up in a look and that love is an understanding between people that cannot be contrived. he sometimes writes stuff at http://theyblinked.blogspot.com.

emily is originally from austin. she is currently attending school in arlington. emily has danced with the round rock repertory and is currently a tcc elite dancer. emily sends her shout outs to cookie monster, super grover and the letter f. {note: just to be precise my only contribution to this one would be the last sentence...}

sarah wants to go to college after she finishes the 6th grade. this seems like a realistic expectation to her. she feels marginalized by big government for not being allowed to get a job that pays real money just because she is nine years old. hollywood is her home of choice in the coming years. or maybe new york. maybe both. sarah has a sister who wants to be just like her, a cadre of friends whose lives are incomplete when she is gone and parents who are concerned about her capacity to multi-task stress like a corporate raider. if sarah checked her email you could probably reach her at snowqueen2@hotmail.com, but since she does not you better send the fan mail to theyblinked@hotmail.com.

these might eventually be up at the trust theatre site--oops, maybe not sarah's... an email from floss using aja's aol account just popped up informing me that they have found the one sarah wrote last week. it was fun anyway. did i mention buy a ticket yet?

9/09/2002 12:41:00 AM

In Memory Of Masood
d.Sept 9, 2001

9/08/2002 11:12:00 PM

go to this site and buy a ticket. sarah/zoe thanks you.

9/08/2002 09:43:00 PM

so... i went to this punk rawk church thing again today. worship there is always cool. very loud and raw.

the people there are really loving too. amazingly open and friendly (that is what compelled me to return this week).

because of how cool the people and the worship are it was profoundly disappointing when the message was brought today. a few of my notes from my journal during the message:

it seems that there are some substantial presuppositional areas that will keep me from being content with what is regularly spoken in this place.

1. a low view of god -- i would go so far as to say a non-jesus view of god. a least, perhaps, a non-Q yesh'uah view of god. god seemed to be characterized as a bad parent who has determined that their child is for some reason deserving of eternal punishment and a smart ass divine verbal barrage.

2. a low view of scripture/tradition - there is a hollow exegetical literalism masquerading as divine authority in much of what was said today. this approach to religious instruction, while perhaps typical for certain protestant/revivalist/charismatic churches, i take as naive at best and an act of maniacal ideological manipulation at worst. the irony of a person so consistently speaking out against religion as if the sources and spirit of the very thing they are preaching is other than religion is difficult for me to swallow gracefully. the deception, self-deception or simple ignorance must be addressed in some way.

3. heaven, hell, damnation and redemption - the bed rock gospel for this group seems to be a very formulaic blood-ransom message, a get-people-to-heaven methodology that is well past the fine edge of religious proclamation into religious manipulation and a crude, industrial, salvation-factory approach to "soul saving" with all of the modern evangelical, mechanistic, hyper-individual "ask jesus into your heart" religious oddities.

i was uncomfortable with my oldest hearing what was being spoken from the pulpit today. i can filter this kind of stuff against my experience and treat it like an american religious anthropology project or something. though inevitable and perhaps even a healthy inoculation experience, sarah experiencing the, perhaps well meaning but all the while ignorant, american, evangelical, roman-protestant christian religious guilt trips and ideological salvation politics from such a persuasive speaker in a welcoming environment made me feel like i was not being a responsible parent. that was an unexpected odd feeling.

anyway. that should frighten some people.
happy to talk to anyone about it. shoot me an email.