Sunday, August 31, 2003
NZ Listener back online
Our home copy of the NZ Listener is regularly mauled by visitors excitedly reading the articles and regular columns (and for some reason only known to them do not buy it themselves).
However hope is at hand as the magazine has a new web site with links to articles (and some web-only) content there at: NZ Listener
P.S. Web design for the Listener by Cactuslab set up by Kim's cousin Karl.
However hope is at hand as the magazine has a new web site with links to articles (and some web-only) content there at: NZ Listener
P.S. Web design for the Listener by Cactuslab set up by Kim's cousin Karl.
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
GM Decaff anyone?
From the "Tech Files" it appears the the sci-tech people have been at it again. If you need is for fully flavoured coffee without the caffeine hit then someday this may be what you're drinking.
Decaffeinated coffee beans now a possibility
Decaffeinated coffee beans now a possibility
Media watching
William Gibson made the point in the novel Neuromancer that being in cyberspace is like "being wrapped in media" - cyberspace as a "consensual hallucination". Much the same can be said of television and other mass media which is pretty scary if your only window on the world is what's piped down your TV screen.
Here are a few links on the nature of reporting in the current Iraq war situation. Don't read them uncritically for all media producers have a bias of some sort or another. Still they make interesting reading. Even in NZ it pays to check out the different news sources, both locally and globally, to get a broader picture.
Matt 10:16 "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." seems somewhat appropriate here in our understanding of the media.
Here are a few links on the nature of reporting in the current Iraq war situation. Don't read them uncritically for all media producers have a bias of some sort or another. Still they make interesting reading. Even in NZ it pays to check out the different news sources, both locally and globally, to get a broader picture.
Matt 10:16 "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." seems somewhat appropriate here in our understanding of the media.
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Way Past - New Way Forward?
Having to prepare some lectures on a Christian understanding of sin has had me pondering the question of evil in the world recently. We see, hear and read each day of evil and its effects - in fact the mass media seems to dwell upon it! Bombs in Bombay, the massacre of people in Liberia, the death of innocents in Iraq, Palestine and Israel all greet us daily when we wake up.
Yet mostly this sort of evil is held at a distance from us. Not so for Christ as he walked in Judea and Galilee - the oppression of the poor and the injustice of the rich and powerful were always in his face. In our own worlds there is evil, though it often takes a variety of "hidden" forms - the futility of battling a government bureaucracy that reduces flesh-and-blood people to "clients" identifed by numbers is one example.
Today the first elections in Rwanda since the 1994 massacres have been held. Here is a page with links to three articles on evil written in response to those events in 1994. Even after seeing those atrocities have we learned anything?
Check out
"Know Your Enemy! 1" by Richard Bauckham, Walter Wink and Brice Avery.
"Know Your Enemy! 2" by Michael Taylor, Roger Forster, Andrew Walker and others.
"The Horror at the Door" by Ruth Etchells.
at Third Way's Way Past.
Yet mostly this sort of evil is held at a distance from us. Not so for Christ as he walked in Judea and Galilee - the oppression of the poor and the injustice of the rich and powerful were always in his face. In our own worlds there is evil, though it often takes a variety of "hidden" forms - the futility of battling a government bureaucracy that reduces flesh-and-blood people to "clients" identifed by numbers is one example.
Today the first elections in Rwanda since the 1994 massacres have been held. Here is a page with links to three articles on evil written in response to those events in 1994. Even after seeing those atrocities have we learned anything?
Check out
"Know Your Enemy! 1" by Richard Bauckham, Walter Wink and Brice Avery.
"Know Your Enemy! 2" by Michael Taylor, Roger Forster, Andrew Walker and others.
"The Horror at the Door" by Ruth Etchells.
at Third Way's Way Past.
Monday, August 25, 2003
Coffee
For those just venturing into the realms of the blessed coffee bean check out Coffee snobbery for beginners.
Interesting site
A friend lent me a copy of "The Biblical Vision of Sabbath Economics" by Ched Myers the other day so I could look at the Matt 25 parable of the talents. An interesting reinterpretation of the parable that is as shocking in our capitalist times as the original probably was to Jesus' audience.
Myers has a website called Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries which has some material on restorative justice, conflict resolution and "liberation-style" interpretations of the Gospel.
Myers has a website called Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries which has some material on restorative justice, conflict resolution and "liberation-style" interpretations of the Gospel.
Saturday, August 23, 2003
Only in America...
While flicking through this week's Listener magazine I saw a reference to this. Unbelievable. I wonder if they do a Tony Blair as well?
Elite Force Aviator: George W. Bush - U.S. President and Naval Aviator - 12" Action Figure.
Click here for a picture.
More details and a picture at KBToys.com
Elite Force Aviator: George W. Bush - U.S. President and Naval Aviator - 12" Action Figure.
Click here for a picture.
More details and a picture at KBToys.com
Friday, August 22, 2003
Mars on my mind
I've been reading and thoroughly enjoying Kim Stanley Robinson's Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy at the moment. Somewhat appropriate give Mars' current proximity to Earth.
The books are science fiction but are not beyond the realms of our current technology. As well they deal with many issues to do with the creation of new societies and cultures mixing a varieties of religions, ideologies, individuals stories and environmental issues. If you have a spare week or three they're a good read.
More about them at: The SF Site: Kim Stanley Robinson Reading List
Also check out the following for more current information about Mars.
Auckland's Star Dome
NASA - Approaching Mars
The books are science fiction but are not beyond the realms of our current technology. As well they deal with many issues to do with the creation of new societies and cultures mixing a varieties of religions, ideologies, individuals stories and environmental issues. If you have a spare week or three they're a good read.
More about them at: The SF Site: Kim Stanley Robinson Reading List
Also check out the following for more current information about Mars.
Auckland's Star Dome
NASA - Approaching Mars
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
Truth Claims
The other day I was listening to the radio programme Touchstone on Radio NZ's National programme and they featured the "Truth Claims" radio broadcast. It's a Canadian programme about religious, and in particular Christian, claims about the truth in our contemporary world. Well worth a listen.
You can either buy the tapes from CBC or you can listen to it via RealPlayer (and download it!) from: Tapestry Archives - April 8 & 15, 2001.
The whole "Tapestry" web site for CBC's religious programming looks really interesting too.
CBC Radio | Tapestry
You can either buy the tapes from CBC or you can listen to it via RealPlayer (and download it!) from: Tapestry Archives - April 8 & 15, 2001.
The whole "Tapestry" web site for CBC's religious programming looks really interesting too.
CBC Radio | Tapestry
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
Here we go...
Welcome to GreenFlame!
I've decided to move to a web log format but still maintain the links library on my own pages. Over the next few weeks I'll be adding more links in. If I mention a link in a posting I'll try and add it into library at the same time.
Cheers,
Stephen.
I've decided to move to a web log format but still maintain the links library on my own pages. Over the next few weeks I'll be adding more links in. If I mention a link in a posting I'll try and add it into library at the same time.
Cheers,
Stephen.
GreenFlame comes from Hildegard of Bingen, an inspirational woman, who coined the term viriditas - the greening power of God. She described this power as the agent of the God, a divine attribute, that was the animating life-force within all creation, giving it life, moisture and vitality. Viriditas was green fire and energy, and Hildegard has been associated through history with the colour green.
Copyright © Stephen Garner 2003
Email: webmaster@greenflame.org
