Was going to write something about Green Lantern: Rebirth, superhero origin stories and the Incarnation but it’s late, I’m tired and it’s almost Christmas Day and I need to go to bed so I’ll start tomorrow well.

So have a good Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

P.S. If you do want to read something on superheroes and Christmas then flip over to Planet Telex: Christmas Letter 05.

From the recent essay Metanexus Institute – Evolution and Intelligent Design by Sjoerd L. Bonting:

The basic fallacy of the ID proponents is that they fail to distinguish between the questions that can and should be answered by science (how-questions) and by theology (why-questions). If scientists would have to conclude that certain complex systems cannot have originated by a traditional evolutionary scenario, then it is up to them to find out how they did originate without appealing to a transcendent cause. Theologians must ask themselves why the Creator made these systems develop, regardless of the exact mechanism by which they arose. In a dialogue between scientists and theologians it will then be possible to reach a deeper and comprehensive understanding of their respective findings.

Some interesting comments in his two-worlds approach (science = “how”, religion = “why”) on deficiencies in the ID approach.

Article/interview with one of my favourite authors, Ursula Le Guin, at Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | The magician.

Tonight’s dinner was interrupted when the spontaneous singing of “A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree” foundered on the eighth day of Christmas – seven eels a swimming and nine sacks of pipis but eight what? The answer of course is “Eight plants of puha”.

Now for those of you who don’t know what this is all about, back in 1981 Archdeacon Sir Kingi (Matu) Ihaka (Interpreter, Anglican priest, broadcaster, songwriter, Maori language commissioner) adapted the traditional Christmas song to have a more New Zealand feel to it.

You can get the full lyrics and mini biography of Kingi Ihaka at NZ Folk Song * A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree.

In the process of looking up the lyrics I came across Mama Lisa’s World Blog – “Conversations about the languages and cultures of the world, especially the songs and traditions of children”. If you go to this link you can get not only the lyrics to the Pukeko song but also notes on what some of the different things listed are. Currently the blog is listing Advent songs and poems from around the world.

Photos and other information about the said bird at Fish and Game New Zealand – Pukeko.

Especially as it would allow you to relocate critters to a better place. See Cool Tool: Bugzooka.

A very busy week last week and now time to ease into Christmas.

Had a nice birthday weekend with family and friends – Saturday morning at the Mainly Music Christmas gathering at church that Kim had organized, followed by walking through the last night of the ‘Drive-Thru Nativity’ at church that evening (that Kim also helped organize). We all walked so the kids could pat the sheep, calves and donkey and it was good – simple but good. Sunday spending time watching Mark at soccer coaching (IPDP – more info here), collecting bark for the garden and then having friends around for dinner.

Now we await the influx of my family, building to 19 staying here and at a friend’s for Christmas plus celebrating another birthday this week too. Easy after the past week or too (esp. For Kim who’s been the busiest).

These look cool. Anything to save 0.5 seconds in a day.

Looking to get some insight into what transhumanism is? Have a look at JET 14(1) – April 2005 – Bostrom – A History of Transhumanist Thought. Nick Bostrom sketches an overview of transhumanism (from the point of view of a transhumanist) in a fairly easy to read paper. The final section is interesting too with Bostrom sketching what he sees as points of contact between bioconservatives and transhumanists. The bibliography is a good survey of the area too.

Bostrom, Nick. “A History of Transhumanist Thought.” Journal of Evolution and Technology 14, no. 1 (2005): 1-25. (HTML and PDF formats available at link above)

This paper traces the cultural and philosophical roots of transhumanist thought and describes some of the influences and contributions that led to the development of contemporary transhumanism.

Toi te Taiao: New Zealand’s Bioethics Council has their reports on xenotransplantion online now. From a quick skim through there’s some interesting stuff there, including the range of views that Christians have about humanity’s relationship with the biosphere. A useful resource if you want a sample of how different cultural and spiritual grouping in NZ respond to an issue like this.

Short piece about the desire to reconnect the body with the mind in computer technology. Some points in it that I’d feel need “fleshing” out some more (and today I’m writing up some virtual reality stuff in the thesis). Oh, and I’ve seen my kids playing the PS2 games mentioned in the article. My observation is that the younger ones do better than the older ones – maybe they’re more in touch with their bodies when dealing with technology.

See: Wired News: I Dance, Therefore I Am.