Posted 11/2/2002 10:18:02 PM
Black People Love Us!

Posted 11/2/2002 05:44:44 PM

Posted 11/1/2002 04:09:49 PM

BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Swazi court defies king

this is the 34-year-old king of Swaziland, the last absolute monarchy in Africa. in august he abducted a girl that he announced he would marry--two months after marrying wives number eight and nine.

he is being tried by a valiant supreme court under massive royal pressure to resign or drop the case. bravo to the judges in this case! they speak with eloquence in support of justice for their people.

Posted 11/1/2002 04:04:06 PM
is it odd to be preparing for a war like you would a product launch?

"market research? check. product demand? check. let's see... oh, we need press coverage. let's hold a wine and cheese and give out some branded calculators to the press before the big day."

the govt understands the power of media in this war in a way they did not in Somalia when the press beat them to the beach. i trust that our collective global press is cynical enough not to report from the press releases, oh, i mean talking points produced by this CEO-king who is going to war.

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | US boot camp for journalists

As a further sign of preparations for possible military action in Iraq, the Pentagon is planning special training for journalists who may be reporting on the conflict if it happens.

Posted 11/1/2002 02:51:57 PM
i'm reposting an old thought on the material structure of spiritual communities, or really, communities in general. it seems like a good time:

• authority follows responsibility


• responsibiliy follows competency in action


• people connect as families (definition not restricted to nuclear) then as tribes then as networks of tribes


• connecting as families provides natural connections of love and communication that form a networked structure for pilrimage together


• tribes have people, leaders and councils to provide flowing, networked structures of group pilgrimage and identity


• by definition networks have no center, just nodes


• nodes have varying degrees of relevance to any other point on the network due to a cacophony of relative circumstances: proximity (in space, in time), history of interaction (offense, obligation, indifference), et al.


• a 'main node' from a given perspective does not act as center, but as switch and protocol for communication "following a networking logic rather than a command logic in their performance." (Manuel Castells)

Posted 11/1/2002 02:45:51 PM
current webradio:
Radio.Free.Virgin::Liquid.Lounge

Posted 11/1/2002 01:51:20 PM
the unlived life isn't worth examining.
-d.hopkins

Posted 11/1/2002 01:45:16 PM
On Suburbia: Things are more easily fit into the Economy Of The Same: the same housing developments, the same strip malls. Things are also more easily fit into the Economy Of The More: with more space you can have more house, more furniture, more gadgets... this creates a spirit of comformity. Homogenous neighborhoods aren't bad in theory, but when all you see are other kids and people who look like you, think like you, do the same things you do, and dream of the same things you think you're supposed to dream of, it is just simply not an environ for growth or change.

a comment by d.miller.
get into the conversation at the jason.evans.online QuickTopic.

Posted 11/1/2002 12:00:05 PM

all existence is an act of grace.
-the fourth sutra of jesus, 1:35

Posted 10/31/2002 01:01:14 PM

Posted 10/31/2002 11:02:16 AM


buynØthingchristmas.org via evans

have yourself a merry buy-nothing-christmas...

maybe these Canadian Mennonites are on to something.
the mp3 on this site by Joel Kroeker is pretty good, too.

Posted 10/31/2002 10:38:18 AM
GuNs R Us & bush doctrine 2.0 via daniel.miller

Posted 10/31/2002 09:44:04 AM
current mp3:
medly:yo-yo.ma::jesu.joy.of.man's.desiring&sum.41::crazy.amanda.bunkface

Posted 10/31/2002 01:21:25 AM
IHT: Putin's 'war on terrorism' outmaneuvers the U.S.

It was a fateful mistake for Bush to have declared his war a "war against terrorism" after Sept. 11, 2001. That made it a war that can't be won. At the same time, it aligned the United States with governments around the world engaged in suppressing nationalist, regional, religious or ethnic separatism, too often by methods of social and political injustice.

Posted 10/30/2002 03:38:01 PM
current mp3:
nin::and.all.that.could.have.been::piggy

Posted 10/30/2002 11:28:27 AM
"but, dan, come on things aren't as bad as you make them out to be."

how do i make things out to be? seriously? do i seem that morose on this blog? seriously, i want to know. i am interested in your perspective because i see myself as pretty damn happy most of the time. i also realize that we are rather self-deceptive creatures so i need to know. ;-)

things are not bad. things are as they are. i am simply not content with how they are. the oddly verbose ignorance of the Christian pulpit that sends out viral memes of fear that play themselves out in the lifewaste that is the main byproduct of spiritual sloth and material self-indulgence that screams, "damn the consequences, i'm an American!" (replace with your favorite word: Christian, European, etc.) is something that, at this moment, i refuse to stand by and watch happen any longer.

the mainstream voices of this thing called church have pursued a series of odd cultural, economic and political alliances that have begun to strain the credulity of even the least cynical pew dweller--not to mention those who never hazard the threshold of a church and those of us formerly known as the faithful.

it is time.
the periphery must lead.
this requires something from you.

this requires lives that sacrifice and give rather than consume and binge.
this requires contemplation on a timeline that stretches as far as the horizon of this life
and beyond into the lives of our heirs.

we need new leaders.
normal people living in abnormal love, community and solidarity.

we need those who will help hold together local nodes of friends on this journey.
this requires a commitment to think primarily about what one can act out. this is a gifting of hospitality: the eating and drinking and storytelling and laughing and crying and sinning and forgiving and serving and dreaming of communities on long walks together.

we need those who will create culinary, visual, auditory, tactile and aromatic experiences.
this work of bringing forth the full spectrum of human experience and emotion through the subtle crafting of participatory art that speaks to and elicits answers from all who partake is a vital role in periphery leadership. the community whose art fills their lives is a community supple to the touch. these moments cannot be programatized. art is the outpouring of life. the space opened by art for the encounter with a broader humanity and perhaps even with the divine is one that demands a cadence and a space that by definition annihilates any attempt at programitization.

we need those who will help fund the imagination of these networks of friends.
this requires a depth and breadth of curiosity and commitment that does not see "the meat" of the faith in the fix-to-fix jesus cocaine of the market driven national and international worship and teaching boxed sets nor spiritual health in the fad-to-fad spiritual masturbation of the cycles of christian consumption that characterize the products and programs of late modern christianity. rather, these see spiritual vitality in the integration of the emerging voices in the arts; the beautiful chaos of the new physics; the frightening propositions of bioinformatics/engineering/chemistry; the ever unfolding and enfolding discovery of world culture; the questions and assumptions that underlie our global conflicts; the ritual, confession and outworking of the various confessional communities in our midst, et al into the life and teaching of the community. this is a role of ever ongoing midrash at the nexus of both our times and our traditions.

we need more than this. we need the uncategorized distinction that each person and community brings to the profound network of being that is the substance of this vast now that we inhabit.

this was not intended to be a book chapter so i will stop.

peace to the friends who have begun.

Posted 10/30/2002 10:28:59 AM
ok, so i saw this on adan and thelion and thought i would try it....

"< cough > < cough >, merman!"



You are a siren.

What legend are you?
Take the Legendary Being Quiz by Paradox

Posted 10/29/2002 06:24:48 PM
A New View of Our Universe

If the universe is big enough, Dr. Tegmark and others say, everything that can happen will happen, so that if we could look out far enough we would eventually discover an exact replica of ourselves.

Posted 10/29/2002 05:38:14 PM

At her parliamentary inauguration in Turkey, Leyla Zana a member of the Kurdish ethnic minority took the oath of loyalty in Turkish as required by law and then added in Kurdish, "I shall struggle so that the Kurdish and Turkish peoples can live peacefully together in a democratic framework." Members of Turkey's Parliament responded with cries of "Separatist," and "Arrest her." Following an unfair trial, authorities convicted her and three Kurdish parliamentarians elected with her of being members of an illegal opposition group and sentenced them to 15 years' imprisonment. Amnesty International considers all four to be prisoners of conscience. Please urge Turkey's Ambassador Dr. Osman Faruk Logoglu to free Leyla Zana and her colleagues.

take action - it only takes a moment

Posted 10/29/2002 03:24:07 PM
Forbes.com: AOL: Drop The Name, Keep The Unit

at $14 and change AOL/Time Warner is a pretty cheap stock these days. with the talk of moving the identity of the firm back to Time Warner and AOL acting, for branding and balance sheet purposes, as the equivalent of an online HBO the stock could perform well over the coming decade... but what do i know.

Posted 10/29/2002 03:17:31 PM
BBC NEWS | UK | Arrest call for Israeli ex-army chief

potentially interesting use of the UK judiciary with regard to war crimes in the Israeli/Palestinian debacle. though it is likely that Scotland Yard will simply wait it out until the General leaves the country making the suit impotent.

Posted 10/29/2002 01:11:34 PM
Consumer confidence falls to nine-year low

low consumer confidence is, perhaps, a good thing. maybe it means that we are less afraid. that we are not trying to distract ourselves with stuff. that we are accepting our collective fates and living with a deeper responsibility.

maybe not.

whatever the case may be, it is time to find alternatives to a debt-based economic order that privileges consumer spending over all else. not just because it is a faulty system--in fact, the system has worked well for some time, though undoubtedly flawed. the real danger is the kind of life these debt-based orders have engendered. what do we now value?

this is going to hurt.

Posted 10/29/2002 12:29:42 PM
via amazon.com via the USPS:

Dan: Thought we'd get you the gift that keeps on giving, but Mexican food doesn't keep well through the mail. So we send you laughter and hope instead. Happy Birthday! With Warm thoughts and affection, Rowell and Jennifer.

you brightened this cold Dallas afternoon, my friends. thanks for thinking about me as i approach 3-0. i am excited to finally experience the Tenenbaums--though would have preferred Mexican with the two of you. i hope that we can do that someday soon. peace and love to you both.

Posted 10/29/2002 12:12:38 PM

responding to the unsaved

well... reaction, reaction, reaction... hit a chord here...

the funniest reaction?

a concern over my use of the word funny in, "the same paragraph as the Lord Jesus and hell... there is nothing funny about either of these!"

well, comicless reader, do you know what is even funnier? Jesus' complete lack of regard for the religiously privileged; his fixation with the marginalized, loving and faith-filled; his focus on a community becoming like God without running after the prodigal or codling the self-righteous; his active loving of the enemy and blessing of the persecutor; his admonition to give without thought of equality or repayment and ultimately his example of sacrificing one's rightful place in life to wash feet....

it may not be funny in a traditional sense, but those are funny things when you juxtapose them with the religious idiocy that is self-righteously masquerading as the people/way of God in our time.

so, what was the most self-righteous attempt at profundity amidst the reactions?

"You sir despise the foundational beliefs of the Christian Church whose profoundity has given her VICTORY over all other false systems of the devil in this world..."

wow. well sir, may i initially say that it is "profundity" and may i suggest that victory is not what the other kingdom is about.

this one who tells us to forgive 70*7 and who himself forgave even those executing him on the barbaric Roman electric chair also sets no limit to the love and forgiveness of his Father. God loves his enemies. God sends the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. God forgives 70*7. victory is a posture of reconciliation and selflessness; not right systematic beliefs.

as Jesus entered Jerusalem with his firey critique of the temple establishment that set the dramatic backdrop for his arrest and execution he left those around him in communities of the other postured in love, humility and service as they lived and proclaimed the kingdom of the impossible in their midst. a kingdom always invading the present from the future.

we are left in this same place. in a communal-seeking-after of an embodied purity of intention and active justice. we find ourselves walking with the master to Jerusalem as he readies his whip and drives out the god-merchants and submits to the death sentence of the powers that be. he leaves us in this place knowing that the mercy of that which cares for the grass of the field, the raven and the lily is sufficient for even us--we who follow with so little faith.

peace to you woman without laughter.
peace to you man of profundity.

being saved is metaphor.
metaphor that no longer communicates well.
let's find new ways of speaking that keep us from lying.

oh, thanks to those who responded with exuberance... peace and courage for the journey.

Posted 10/29/2002 11:57:50 AM
My 1.2 GHZ PIII Commodore SX-64

this is the computer that i took to boarding school and carried around the world for so many years.

it is still floating around austin someplace with the guy who was supposed to fix the keyboard about 10 years ago... man, i wish i still had this so i could attempt this cool mod.

Posted 10/29/2002 11:41:58 AM
Zine Zone

so, few know this, but i put out a 'zine in 1989-1990. it was called "Lamb's Blood" (yeah, i know, it was the era, though my last two issues were simply "LB"). i found a couple "masters" in a trunk i had not opened in a decade a while back when aja and i were going through my garage. funny thing... i found a reference to it in someone's online 'zine collection list. aw, the good old days. it was an underground music 'zine, btw. i think that Billy from Summoned/Oblation/Discern was my biggest fan. maybe i'll put another issue out just for Billy.

Posted 10/29/2002 10:17:28 AM
go see this

i had a great time last night with jimmy, em, winter, david, kauser, senator and jordan @ the inwood... thought the conversation @ Cafe Brazil post-columbine was even better.

Posted 10/29/2002 07:57:58 AM
Putin Vows Hunt for Terror Cells

the problem with the bush preemption doctrine: everyone wants to do it. it's like the old eye for an eye saying ("we all end up blind and toothless") only in this case it is a third world village for a first world eye. self-defense is one thing, but is this international cowboy justice carried out by the strongest nations not the definition of injustice? no wonder countries are surreptitiously building nukes. if you don't have them you get threatened or invaded. it is time for new global structures to emerge; actual inter-national bodies that have authority without the first world prejudice of the current UN system.

Posted 10/28/2002 04:14:41 PM
The New York Review of Books: Is the Universe a Computer?

Posted 10/28/2002 12:38:27 PM
transformation is always local. the kingdom is always viral.

Posted 10/28/2002 12:18:11 PM
Interview with Commander A. S. Massud

I haven't ceased dreaming for my daughters of a free life in their free country. -The Lion, Ahmed Shah Masood

i still sometimes stop to think how different things would be if Masood was still with us. i pray that Afghanistan's children will aspire to the strength of this man's gentleness, love and honor. for Masood's daughters and for all of Afghanistan may peace come quickly, insh'allah.

Posted 10/28/2002 09:57:05 AM
Zwan has some new home movies up on their site.

Posted 10/28/2002 08:44:34 AM
Boston Globe / Depression may be tied to cell birth

my hippocampus is flaring up.
i'll take neurogenesis over paxil any day.

Posted 10/27/2002 10:22:26 PM
the kingdom of god is not a catered event