June 2005

For those of you in Waitakere City, you can pick up your copy of ‘Native to the West’ - a guide for planting and restoring the nature of Waitakere City. Free to Waitakere City residents and ratepayers. (Copies available at public libraries or from the council)

From the media release,

If you live in Waitakere City and want to know what native plants to grow on your property, this booklet is for you. It offers useful information, whether your patch is in suburban New Lynn, backs onto bush in the Waitakere foothills or is within walking distance from a West Coast beach.

You may want to ‘restore’ a piece of land to its original bush cover or simply create a corner for native plants in your urban garden to attract native birds, lizards and insects.

Whatever the size and scope of your planting project, ‘Native to the West’ is a clear guide to researching your back yard’s ecosystem and helps you decide what natives are best suited to your conditions.

For the period June 27-July 8, Damaris are making G8-related resources available for free on their web site. Check out: www.damaris.org/g8.

Tinkering around with the Movable Type stylesheets and templates in MT2.6x to try and get things just how I want them. But it has been a bit of an exercise in futility. They’ll look fine in Firefox but not in IE (or vice-versa). So I’m wondering about scrapping the whole MT 2.6 set up and moving on. Not that I haven’t been very happy with it but just that I’d like some more up to date functionality.

So I’m looking for a system that will allow:

• Multiple authors
• Blogging (obviously)
• File management - a sensible way to manage a set of uploaded documents and files. Might be a plug-in.
• Plug-in support of some type - for polling modules, special searches, interfaces to other systems etc.
• Good comment spam handling.
• Flexible theme/appearance management (even allow others to pick the scheme?)
• Web link database functionality.
• Nested categories.
• Integration of static pages. (I already do this in MT but it’s a pain to manage)
• Integration with Ecto.
• Image management.
• Behaves well in both Mac and Windows browsers - both for admin and viewing final result.
• Cost is a factor - but it doesn’t have to be free.

So far the contenders are:

• Movable Type 3 - Familiar interface, some good plug-ins, works with Ecto.
• Drupal - the full CMS - works with Ecto
• WordPress - easy set up, good blogging tools and configurability, current version won’t receive images from Ecto (previous versions did apparently, so I assume it’s a bug)

Don’t have too much time to spend on it so I’m only downloading a few, installing them on the iBook and having an initial play around. Any suggestions would be well received.

If all else fails I’ll just revert to the default MT 2.x templates and tinker on an interactive basis.

Also check out: http://www.opensourcecms.com/ for a great site allowing you to try these types of systems out.

The Make Poverty History campaign has a local web site now.

Check out: Make Poverty History (New Zealand-Aotearoa)

No local banner yet for NZ web sites (but nothing that a little Javascript hacking can’t fix).

The NZ Listener article I mentioned a few weeks back has come off online embargo. See: Turns out we didn’t save the whales afterall by Dave Hansford | New Zealand Listener.

Related whale stories at:
The New Zealand Herald : Group rejects Japanese plans for coastal whale hunt.
The New Zealand Herald : Whale burger on menu at Japanese fast food chain.
The New Zealand Herald : Carter urges IWC shake-up.

Interesting article in yesterday’s NZ Herald on plagiarism and Waikato University’s attempts to stamp in out. See: NZ Herald : Not in their own words by Philippa Stevenson.

One of the things about attempts by Amazon to build online digital libraries is that facility they provide for being to search books for key words or sentences. Sometimes if I’m suspicious about some text in an essay I’m marking I’ll find the book at Amazon and do a search in it (if that books been scanned). It’s surprising effective and quicker than skimming the paper book in the library. (For example try here)

One of the other things I’ve noticed is that school project instructions often include directions to use electronic or internet sources to find material out, but don’t include guidelines for children or parents on how to use that content. Is cutting-and-pasting from Encarta or a Google-search acceptable or not? Should they cite the source somewhere? And how critical should they be of information off the net? I’m trying to educate my kids but it seems we might be breeding a deeper culture of plagiarism that will be very hard to deal with later in tertiary education, church and the workplace.

Saw the slogan above (or very similar to this) on lots of posters pasted up around the Massey public library the other day. I immediately thought it was a promotion to get more adults to use the library, but on closer inspection, it’s a “Treaty of Waitangi” information campaign.

Then in the mail the other day (in the Listener, I think) we get a flyer about the Treaty of Waitangi web site, along with information about a new series of books that you can order for free about it - Called respectively “the Story of the Treaty,” “The Journey of the Treaty,” and “Timeline of the Treaty.” (Others coming later.) It’s part of the $6 million set aside by the State a while back to develop the Treaty of Waitangi Information Programme.

So I’ve surfed over there and ordered some books and had a browse around. I don’t imagine it will meet everybody’s demands as to what is relevant or needs to be included/deleted, but it’s worthwhile going to have a look at.

Paul said (grumped?) that he’d been looking for the D’Aquili and Newberg book but couldn’t find it on sale. So to make his day happier here’s a link to Metanexus’ collection of articles by Andrew Newberg.

Andrew Newburg mini-bio here.

Science and Theology news has a good selection of links this week covering stem cells, cloning, artificial consciousness and a great article about Sister William Julie Hurley.

See: Science & Theology News : The Daily Dose: June 17, 2005

Picked up the final issue of Reality magazine today which was a bit sad. It’s been a constant companion through the past 6 years or so, and there’s always been at least one article or letter that’s made it worth my while looking through it. I know a lot of the authors and how much effort they’ve put into it (along with Diane’s faithful editing), as well as many who have been challenged and encouraged by it. So it seems a shame that it’s gone “belly-up”. This month’s article “Enough is Enough?” by Mark Forman is a provocative look at Christians and wealth. It’s a shame there won’t be a next issue for some of the letters it will provoke. (I hope Mark has an asbestos suit)

Hopefully in the near future something similar to Reality will reappear in NZ - bridging the gap between the “newspaper-type” publications and more academic journals.

This week I’ve also picked up “The Mystical Mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience” by Eugene G. D’Aquili and Andrew B. Newberg in the sale pile at a bookshop. Part of the excellent Theology and the Sciences series out of Fortress Press and normally quite pricey here so I’m rapt with finding it.

And finally, Andrew Jones (AKA Tall Skinny Kiwi) looks to set the record straight about what actually is a Kiwi. See: Getting Your Kiwi’s Straight.

Took a bit of a mental break today and tripped into Auckland city centre today. Nice crisp day here so good for walking around town (not so good waiting on the station platform though) and I stomped around all my favourite book, music and DVD shops in town. Kim and Laura have birthdays coming up soon so I did a bit of browsing outside of my normal science fiction, theology and reference sections.

Then met up with Hobby, Bobby and Daniel (over from Tennessee) in the Borders cafe. Good to meet some people via the blog in the flesh. Good coffee and excellent company. Some of you out there in NZ might meet them on their tour down south. They identified me in Borders off the new School of Theology brochure that has some very brief profiles with photos of current students. (Full profile here)

The back home on the train and meeting up with the family for tea out after the kids all had their haircut. Christopher’s gone for the the Otago supporter look (his maternal grandmother’s team) prior to their game against the Lions on Saturday. One half of his hair is (mildly) spiked blue, the other a goldey-orange. Should make school interesting tomorrow.

Tomorrow looks like a day of filing and tidying. Time to find the desk under all the paper on it.

Submitted two revised journal articles in the last week and now, before the final wave of theology essays arrives, I’m going to spend some time shaping the thesis into something that bears a passable representation to its final form.

As part of that process I’m making a mini-thesis - like one of the Grove Booklets. A 24 page document that is structured around the same chapters as the thesis, summarizes each of them clearly and concisely, and shows the connections within the thesis. Should end up at about 8000-10000 words (final thesis is 100,000 words - 250+ pages). People often ask, “What’s your thesis - in one sentence?” but sometime you need more words in the summary.

I’ve written quite a bit over the past 3 years or so but sometimes it pays to step back and look at the big picture again, rather than beavering away on some particular aspect and forgetting how it fits into the overall scheme.

Matt and Maggi link through to some interesting stuff about using Augmented Reality (AR) out of the HITL project (NZ / US) for children’s books. I’ve also wondered about the possibilities for shared ritual experiences - that go beyond things like the primitive “CyberSamhain” described here in Erik Davis’ “Techno-pagans” article.

Beyond Tomorrow
News story about Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand

I came across AR when I did my initial foray into looking at virtual reality for my BD, when I started looking at how emergent technologies interact with Christian understandings of being human. Some very clever, and potentially helpful, stuff there.

The HITL (NZ) stuff originates in the “Magic Book” project (HITL project in the US). There used to be some video clips there you could view on the net that showed multiple people using the augmented reality stuff. The clips are a bit dated now but might give you the general idea. I like the facility to move between the fully immersive virtual world and an augmented one.

BBC World has a programme “The Virtual World” on a few years back that showed AR technology using, among other things, haptic (touch) feedback - you could “feel” the surface of molecules through an interface hooked up to a scanning electron microscope while working in a normal work environment with others. Might be some clips from that around somewhere. BBC World’s “Click Online” has some AR stuff here.

Went to Cathy and Steve Ross’ farewell gathering at the weekend. A chance to wish them well for their new venture in Oxford, UK. As usual good food, drink and company. Cathy has accepted a position with UKCMS as Mission Interchange Adviser, beginning mid year, having been the Director of the School of Global Mission at BCNZ for the past seven years. I’m sure she’ll do an excellent job with all her usual vigor.

It’s been a pleasure getting to know both Cathy and Steve, first as a student at BCNZ and then later on as a colleague, and I wish them well for their time in Oxford. They’re stimulating company and if you have the chance it’s well worth getting to know them (over a good cup of coffee, a glass of wine or watching a game of cricket or soccer).

IBM and The Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland will work together to develop a detailed digital model of the brain, focusing upon the neocortex. See: IBM News - United States 2005-06-06 “Blue Brain” project explores thought at molecular level.

One of the banes of my existence as a theological tutor/lecturer is the (fatalistic?) tendency of students not to connect their biblical studies work with theological reflection. “Pick a topic, decide what you believe and throw a handful is supporting verses at it” seems to be a predominant methodology for some. Richard Briggs sums the problem up nicely in his glossary in “Be an expert in 137 minutes in interpreting the Bible.”

Proof-texting

Using a Bible verse or passage out of context to provide a handy ‘proof’ of whatever point you are trying to make, regardless of the the Bible verse you used is actually trying to talk about. Proof-texting is extremely popular because it is much easier than interpreting the Bible properly.

(Of course, this leads into heated discussions about what “proper” interpretation is anyway.)

The other day I was reading this article on Buddhism and transhumanism (like you do when you’re looking at how religion and technology interact) and I came across this outstanding piece of proof-texting. Now I’m fairly sure that the author’s tongue is firmly in his cheek but this will go down in my proof-texting examples for the next time I’m teaching hermeneutics. Here is it,

Another powerful cognitive therapy is suppression of that notorious toxin, testosterone. Suppressing testosterone, either through castration or hormone treatments, dramatically reduces repeat offenses in sex offenders, while significantly enhancing the victimizer’s quality of life, no longer plagued by violent and shameful thoughts. Castration is also a demonstrated life extender for men, and one of the more extreme body modifications growing in popularity.

The Buddhist tradition appears to frown on castration, as eunuchs are barred from ordination. But Jesus appears to encourage castration for Christian men of stout heart. In Matthew 19:10-12, where the disciples ask if it is okay to marry, Jesus replies: “All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.”

So perhaps, at least for Christians, testosterone suppression could be one of the technological assists for ethical behavior.

From: Technologies of Self-perfection : What would the Buddha do with nanotechnology and psychopharmaceuticals?

And quite possibly a remedy for proof-texting too! (At least for some of the class)

(Now there’s a thesis idea! Is gender determinative in cases of “proof-texting”?)

Democratic transhumanist James Hughes interviews Lutheran theologian Ted Peters (Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary & Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences) about theology, genetics and humans as created co-creators.

Podcast at : Changesurfer Radio: Co-Creator Theology (2005-02-12).

That’s all I seem to be doing. Taking pieces of my writing apart. Putting it back together again. And again, and again. Really hard not to be too critical of my stuff but rather to continue to see its merits amongst the flaws.

Plus, those I’m critiquing start to look more plausible over time. Must be having an “Anakin moment.” Time to step back and do something else for a while.

Article on “embryo adoption” (”or “embryo donation” in some circles), the practice of couples (often conservative Christians) adopting frozen embryos left over from fertility treatments. See: Stem cell opponents enter fertility crusade - Health & Science - International Herald Tribune.

Min Jung Kim has put together a blogging life cycle. She writes,

Having blogged in one form or fashion for the last 6 years or so (not including personal journals that I’ve written in, on paper even, with crayon even, since I was six years old), allow me to personally provide you with a rundown on the lifecycle that I’ve observed from personal bloggers.

Where are you in the cycle?