tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63074302009-12-14T19:38:35.895ZNous -'knack' in scouse? Nous: Greek 'mind' some use? Nous: we -French- oui? Oooh. Life -don't talk to me about life: me with this pain down the diodes in my left side... Here's not-nearly-random-enough loggings of what feeds my promiscuous curiosity. Your pay-off is some useful[?] links and provocative thoughts but also more insight than you may care on my thought-processes.Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.comBlogger4836125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-60945023479856928862009-12-14T17:38:00.001Z2009-12-14T17:38:57.420Z

It's nice to find an article on this topic that isn't doing the moral panic thing (hand wringing and exclaim 'modern life is going to the dogs ... or hell in a handbasket). This one actually mentions the positive enhancements that our continued interaction with the technology might be producing. What's quite interesting is that one of the downsides noted was actually said about the technology

Pneumaculturisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06481350117800672297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-29038484604612459762009-12-13T20:29:00.001Z2009-12-13T20:35:56.778Z

One of our students/ordinands very recently was plunged into thinking about this, see here: Re-vis.e Re-form: Priesthood and ontological changeHer dilemma will probably sound familiar to many of us as it probably names something many of us who have evangelical streaks will likewise struggle with: "If, as I heard today at my ordinands' Christmas retreat, that ordination brought about an

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-86979255327796463352009-12-12T10:04:00.001Z2009-12-12T10:06:00.593Z

Quite challenging this. Five eco-crimes we commit every day - environment - 01 December 2009 - New Scientist: "You might think you are doing your bit for the environment, but even if you shun bottled water, buy local produce and reuse your plastic bags, chances are that you have some habits that are far more environmentally damaging than you realise. What's more, if everyone else is doing these

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-13172324973179755822009-12-12T09:49:00.001Z2009-12-12T09:50:48.030Z

I recall hearing of this a couple of years ago. So it's interesting to read that the prototype is now producing power. It looks like quite an exciting development from a process that I am surprised produces the kind of power it can apparently do."In the prototype plant, the two solutions used are salt and fresh water, siphoned from near the point where they meet at the mouth of the fjord. The two

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-1827363555243159752009-12-12T09:33:00.000Z2009-12-12T09:34:55.883Z

Eating less meat helps the planet – and your heart - environment - 25 November 2009 - New Scientist: "explored the livestock industry's potential to help the UK halve its carbon emissions by 2030, relative to 1990 levels, and the knock-on effect on the nation's health.They found that the industry could slash its emissions, but only if the livestock the UK produces, and the meat the nation

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-58618204681611330182009-12-01T07:11:00.001Z2009-12-01T07:12:25.875Z

'I shall concede to you indeed that the way in which God knows the infinite propositions of which we know so few is exceedingly more excellent than ours.'Face to faith: Galileo's lunar work drew on another Christian iconoclast who had lived 1,000 years earlier, says Mark Vernon | Comment is free | The Guardian:

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-9994761193038170962009-11-29T21:41:00.004Z2009-11-29T21:47:29.822Z

Well, over the summer, I wrote a wee little article which has been published -well, is about to be:"Encountering God in the midst of our physicality Andii Bowsher challenges the popular view that spirituality is an escape from the physical world"I'll put it online in due course, once Retreats Journal have had it for a few months.

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-28880325158881602492009-11-27T20:22:00.001Z2009-11-27T20:22:51.720Z

The fact is that that no matter how green our boilers and cookers etc, they still use hydrocarbon that was naturally sequestered from the rest of the ecosystem mostly in the carboniferous period (and there's a reason it's called that, folks; the clue is in the title). If, like me, you are somewhat vexed by this, then I share with you glad tidings that are for, hopefully, all the UK people. Our

Pneumaculturisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06481350117800672297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-90503999635837125352009-11-27T20:09:00.001Z2009-11-27T20:11:22.353Z

This article, Clergymen and dentists marry for keeps | Life and style | The Observer, is tantalising. It tells us that clergy and some other professions tend to produce fewer divorces. It tells us about the main way the figures were collected and worked. So we can be reasonably confident that this: "Those looking for a life of fidelity and loyalty, however, should marry agricultural engineers,

Pneumaculturisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06481350117800672297noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-52271031408492771192009-11-26T22:14:00.001Z2009-11-26T22:14:35.330Z

This "It is not only because there can be potentially infinite owners of property that the internet redefines our notion of it. It is also that people who participate in the exchange of immaterial works do not treat them as property. When they exchange music, books or movies, they are not merely transferring ownership from themselves to others; they simply do not recognise themselves as owners in

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-55351669715134566912009-11-23T15:57:00.002Z2009-11-23T16:11:07.700Z

For a long time now, we've known that birthrate drops with development. I've tended to go along with the usual explanation that a higher birthrate makes sense with higher infant mortality and low economic security in old age; if those are addressed, then the birthrate falls, releasing wealth for other things than bringing children through early childhood until you can send them up chimneys (a

Pneumaculturisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06481350117800672297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-37638964034568132462009-11-21T21:34:00.001Z2009-11-21T21:35:55.793Z

Nice one: Face to faith: The real challenge to the biblical literalism held dear by creationists is in the Bible itself, says Judith Maltby | Comment is free | The Guardian: the real challenge to biblical literalism and fundamentalism is to be found in the Bible itself. The first two chapters of Genesis contain two creation stories, not one. In Genesis 1-2:3, the earth, the plants, the animals

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-36013444680372035352009-11-21T20:47:00.002Z2009-11-21T21:02:31.858Z

A bit of fun here: Language Log � Does God want you to use more initial conjunctions?: evidence came from a sample consisting of the first 80 verses of Genesis in the original Hebrew and in the King James translation. The serious point here is the precariousness of prescriptive linguistics. Remember folks, the most you can say is that particular locutions do or don't find acceptability within

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-28939810706224847842009-11-19T07:23:00.002Z2009-11-19T07:29:46.707Z

"From a postwar population of around 50,000, French evangelicals are now estimated to number between 450,000 and 500,000. According to the Evangelical Federation of France (FEF), the number of churches has risen from 800 in 1970 to over 2,200 today." That's quite a big change. It looks like a lot of the growth is in Pentecostal style churches but not all. The Guardian article has a kind of

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-11267413316225325072009-11-11T20:12:00.001Z2009-11-11T20:13:27.841Z

I think that Ben McIntyre in this article, The internet is killing storytelling | Ben Macintyre - Times Online is drawing on an article last year: In a remarkable recent essay in the Atlantic Monthly Nicholas Carr admitted that he can no longer immerse himself in substantial books and longer articles in the way he once did. “What the net seems to be doing is chipping away at my capacity for

Pneumaculturisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06481350117800672297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-32524198936012542462009-11-10T21:35:00.001Z2009-11-10T21:36:22.182Z

I think I recall blogging about a number of these. Worth revisiting if you're beginning to think 'what the hey; surely nuclear must have a place at the table?' A bright nuclear future: true or false? | Jeremy Leggett | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Here are some of my 'favourites': This July, a heatwave shut a third of French reactors, because rivers became too hot to act as coolant. France

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-42464674633662691452009-11-09T19:47:00.001Z2009-11-09T19:49:45.461Z

'Flexitarian' may be taking over from 'piscetarian' but what's most interesting is the move towards less meat eating. Come on Christians.... BBC NEWS | Magazine | The rise of the non-veggie vegetarian: "Mintel categorises 23% of the population as meat-reducers, people attempting to eat less meat, probably mainly for health reasons. Another factor is climate change - livestock rearing produces

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-12516123783292568132009-11-08T08:23:00.001Z2009-11-08T08:24:45.508Z

As I hope many readers will know, the Christian gospel has a nuanced relationship to cultures: on the one hand it has adaptability and can, indeed should, find expression within human cultures. There are issues of identity, of communication and translation involved in that. Indeed, in some cases the gospel even acts to affirm and develop vernacular cultures (see Lamin Sanneh's work on the way

Pneumaculturisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06481350117800672297noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-63111904397309181932009-11-04T22:04:00.001Z2009-11-04T22:05:50.203Z

I just got an email I'd like to ask you to consider acting on. It reads in part:Today many politicians are telling us to "move on" - the problem is fixed, the beast has been tamed.I welcome Christopher Kelly's report - and urge MPs to take their medicine and accept his recommendations in full. But this crisis was the result of our failed politics - not the cause. And in truth, yesterday's broken

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-28841931856696532682009-10-28T14:09:00.001Z2009-10-28T14:10:18.673Z

As a sometimes protester who thinks that it is important we do have the right to protest, I'm concerned at some of the things I've been hearing about the policing of peaceful protest and the collusion of big business with police authorities in what appears to be a political agenda favourable to corporate interests and against those of ordinary people. Too worried? Well, when they came for the

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-43492357562083607552009-10-28T09:28:00.001Z2009-10-28T09:29:23.904Z

I'm not sure, now I come to think of it, what defines 'superpower', but by most historical standards I suspect China ought to be so classified and India seems not far behind. Have a look at this opinion piece (admittedly written by an Indian, by the looks of it): Superpower rivalry, Sino-Indian style | Kapil Komireddi | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk The final paragraph says: "The Sino-Indian

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-11073957901723626962009-10-26T21:20:00.001Z2009-10-26T21:21:49.101Z

Well, I thought that letting the BNP have the oxygen of publicity might be a chance for them to show what they're really made of and for their positions to be exposed to proper questioning. What I didn't expect was that the collateral damage might be the opening up of fissures within the BNP itself; see: Nick Griffin attacked by his own BNP supporters over Question Time | Politics | The Observer

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-47214511004785976482009-10-25T15:43:00.001Z2009-10-25T15:45:38.483Z

Well whatever the Pope's intentions, this certainly looked like crowing: "In Rome, Vittorio Messori, who has co-written books with the Pope, said that the Anglican Communion was already losing followers because of female and gay priests." See: 400,000 former Anglicans worldwide seek immediate unity with Rome -Times Online: Of course, what no-one (well, hardly anyone) reports is the steady traffic

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-31010671651005399642009-10-22T07:18:00.000+01:002009-10-22T07:18:54.567+01:00

Why outrageous? Well, in the midst of this article: Windows 7 set to break retail records | Technology | guardian.co.uk is the clue: "Vista came in for heavy criticism when it was plagued with problems soon after its launch, but signs are encouraging for Windows 7 so far.Reviews have been largely positive, and high street retailers say they anticipate strong sales of the software."Basically the

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6307430.post-2559983691187740312009-10-22T06:47:00.001+01:002009-10-22T06:48:41.976+01:00

Worth a read: BBC is right to allow BNP on Question Time, says Mark Thompson | Politics | The Guardian And my 'hear, hear' goes to: Ben Bradshaw, the culture secretary, said: 'I have always thought we have to take the BNP on. I have always thought they condemn themselves as soon as they open their mouths. In a democracy where they have elected representatives not just at European level but at

Andiihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03545699854077420349noreply@blogger.com0