Posted 9/28/2002 04:20:20 PM

BODYWORLDS: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies

wow. cool. if you want to donate your body you can do so here (pdf).

Posted 9/28/2002 04:19:23 PM

a contender for the next odd google referral of the week is:

"feather boa" + "india"

which ranks TheyBlinked at number 5.

i don't go looking for these things, btw. they show up in my log files.

Posted 9/28/2002 05:44:34 AM

Posted 9/28/2002 05:37:12 AM
The Globalist | Global Finance -- IMF/World Bank: The Indictment

what is the difference between the world bank and the IMF?

I always compare the IMF to the Communist Party: A vanguard — very ideological, very top-down. When they make decisions, things really happen. The World Bank is more complex, more like a university....

We give countries a choice: the wrong advice from the IMF straight away — or the right advice from the World Bank too late.

Posted 9/27/2002 11:16:19 PM
Guardian Unlimited
Only love and then oblivion. Love was all they had to set against their murderers

Among their crimes was a failure of the imagination...

sotto's favorite essay. moving.

Posted 9/27/2002 10:52:24 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.

Posted 9/27/2002 06:37:20 PM
the money is down on the trust theatre space...

Posted 9/27/2002 06:06:54 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.

Posted 9/27/2002 11:21:58 AM

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

Posted 9/27/2002 11:04:03 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.

Posted 9/27/2002 10:00:58 AM

A United Hashemite kingdom?

Posted 9/27/2002 09:43:33 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?

Posted 9/27/2002 09:08:03 AM
current mp3:
fugazi::waiting.room

Posted 9/27/2002 08:59:45 AM

EXILE
{exploring}

ERRING
{pilgrimage}

ICONOCLASTIC
{eclectic}

A/THEOLOGY
{paratheology}

Posted 9/27/2002 07:04:26 AM

there is something about lifestyle advertising that makes me look.

Posted 9/26/2002 04:57:35 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.

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

Posted 9/26/2002 04:07:02 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.

Posted 9/26/2002 01:01:41 PM
current mp3:
goldfinger:99.Red.Balloons

Posted 9/26/2002 10:10:39 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.

Posted 9/26/2002 09:45:12 AM
reason's Daily Brickbat is hilarious.

Posted 9/26/2002 09:44:15 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

Posted 9/26/2002 07:02:57 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

Posted 9/26/2002 06:47:58 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

Posted 9/25/2002 11:06:20 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.

Posted 9/25/2002 12:02:51 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.

Posted 9/25/2002 11:07:17 AM

Posted 9/25/2002 09:16:18 AM

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

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

Posted 9/25/2002 08:56:04 AM

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

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

Posted 9/25/2002 07:17:06 AM

Posted 9/24/2002 10:49:19 PM
The MacArthur ‘Genius Grants’ have been announced.

Posted 9/24/2002 11:44:07 AM

so, why are you afraid?

this is it.

there is nothing to wait for.

what are you going to create?

Posted 9/24/2002 11:10:36 AM

via kaus on carriage

Posted 9/24/2002 10:57:50 AM

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

Posted 9/23/2002 10:20:44 PM
Amnesty International
International Justice System Under Attack

another opportunity to enact justice.

Posted 9/23/2002 10:06:34 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.

Posted 9/23/2002 09:20:15 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.

Posted 9/23/2002 01:57:25 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 }

Posted 9/23/2002 01:33:14 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

Posted 9/23/2002 01:25:16 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.

Posted 9/22/2002 10:08:43 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.

Posted 9/22/2002 09:59:26 PM

CNN.com - Micro Fuel Cells

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

Posted 9/22/2002 09:56:53 PM

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

Posted 9/22/2002 09:44:45 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.

Posted 9/22/2002 12:19:17 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.

Posted 9/22/2002 12:09:01 PM
Get That Gig.com!

why not do something cool?

Posted 9/22/2002 09:47:29 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.