Metacentricities

Octavia Butler, one of my favorite Science Fiction writers, and one of a tiny number of African-American Science Fiction writers, died this weekend.

She wrote a number of books that were really important to me. The first book of hers that I read was called Kindred,  which was an amazing story of a black woman who is yanked backwards in time to help her slave-owning ancestor. I read the books of the Patternist series, including Mind of My Mind, and Wild Seed.

Her two-book series, Parable of the Sower, and Parable of the Talents, were, I think, two of the best science fiction books to deal with the near future, ever published. I haven’t yet read her newest book, Fledgeling, but I think it will be on my summer reading list.

There is a nice tribute on Blog Critics. Here’s an obit.

She is a voice in Science Fiction that will not be easily replaced.

technorati tags: sciencefiction, octaviabutler, writer, obituary

Well, doing this on a cold rainy February day in Berkeley seems the right thing (for those of you in New England: no, really, I’m not complaining about the weather!)

There are some interesting goings on in the progressive faith blogosphere, as usual. Next week, the carnival is being hosted by one of my favorite fellow seminarian bloggers, Feminary. The week after, it’s being hosted by someone with probably among the top 5 coolest blog names, Velveteen Rabbi (and I love her blog, too.)

There is a lot going on right now in our country, domestically as well as internationally. Xpatriated Texan thinks that it’s time to bring the troops home. Virushead (another cool blog name) thinks we need to ask Robert Dole about his relationship with Dubai Ports World. Tikun Olam has some interesting comments of his own on the Ports issue. Love Ministries asks us to think about politics and spiritual calling.

The Feminarian ponders about why evangelical Christians don’t show up in interfaith conversations. My homie Radical Hapa asks "When Did the Bible Leave the Church?" Chuck Currie tells us about the World Council of Churches assembly.

Street Prophets is starting a book club! Drat. Why do they have to start when I have no time to read?

Gosh, everyone is having blog awards. The Unitarian Universalists have the UU Blog Awards, the Buddhist blogosphere is having the Blogisattva award, and the Muslim blogosphere has the Brass Crescent awards. And what’s cool is that Velveteen Rabbi won for Best non-Muslim blog! Also, check out Progressive Islam - very interesting group of blogs, across a spectrum of Muslim thought.

Real Live Preacher gives up orthodoxy about homosexuality, and talks about it incredibly elegantly.

Greatful Bear talks about my favorite Gospel.

I’ve been doing some interesting thinking about Lent, lately. Boy in the Bands gives us the details on how that ash is dished out, anyway. Another country does some interesting thinking, too, and takes up a new practice for Lent.

In doing this, and exploring, I found a few new blogs I’d like to check out more often:

• Healing Hagar: for ex-fundamentalists
• Reverend Mommy
• sententiae et clamores

And, last but not least, I love Dylan’s cat blogging (and both her blogs, too!)

technorati tags: blogs, progressive, religion, faith

From Energy Bulletin:

The scientific uncertainty in global warming isn’t about whether it’s occurring or whether it’s caused by human activity, or even if it will "cost" us too much to deal with it now. That’s all been settled. Scientists are now debating whether it’s too late to prevent planetary devastation, or whether we have yet a small window to forestall the worst effects of global warming.

Our children may forgive us the debts we’re passing on to them, they may forgive us if terrorism persists, they may forgive us for waging war instead of pursuing peace, they may even forgive us for squandering the opportunity to put the nuclear genie back in the bottle. But they will spit on our bones and curse our names if we pass on a world that is barely habitable when it was in our power to prevent it.

And they will be right to do so.

technorati tags: globalclimate, climate, earth, environment

I had already decided to drive the present car I have into the ground, so that by the time I needed a new (to me) car, I would likely be able to afford either a used hybrid, or a used diesel that could converted to biodiesel. Well, imagine my surprise that apparently, a whole new raft of little cars are headed to the US from Japan, one of which is going to be a really cheap hybrid. Treehugger (of course) has a story about the  hybrid verson of Honda’s "Fit" car, which is a little thingy. Cute, actually, and not so different than the car I drive now. Nice.

technorati tags: cars, hybrid,

There have been some interesting developments in the death penalty issue in California this week. Michael Morales was supposed to be put to death on Monday, but that has been indefinitely postponed. The basic reason is this: A judge had declared, based on a study about lethal injection, that California had to change their procedure. Lethal injection is based on the injection of three drugs, an anesthetic, a paralytic, and then Potassium Chloride. The study suggested that if the initial anesthesia wasn’t perfect, that a person could be experiencing the incredibly painful process of being killed by the Potassium Chloride, thus constituing, for the Judge, cruel and unusual punishment. The judge said that anesthesiologists had to be present to either make sure the anesthesia was correct, or to administer a huge overdose of anesthesia to kill the prisoner.

However, doctors have ethics, and killing people isn’t part of the picture for them. So no doctors would be a part of Morales’ execution. Thus it’s been postponed indefinitely. And this ruling may effect whether or not executions occur in other states (most states that execute people use lethal injection.) 

The reason that lethal injection has been used is that judges have ruled that other forms of execution are cruel and unusual. Basically, killing people is not very nice for the person being killed, is it? I think it’s cruel and unusual.

technorati tags: deathpenalty, execution, california

As many of you know, there has been somewhat of an interesting coalescence in what could broadly be called the Progressive Faith movement. It seems to have most of it’s center in Progressive Christianity, but there has been a real effort to be more broadly based and inclusive. As well, there are movements within other faiths to be a part of a broad coalition.

Sometime this year, there will be a Progressive Faith Blog Conference, that I hope to attend. In the meantime, they are hosting a Progressive Faith Blog Carnival, which basically is hosted at different blogs, and is a list of the coolest, most interesting blog entries in the Progressive Faith Blogosphere for that week.

Guess what? Next Sunday is my day to host! I’ll be gathering posts on my own, as well as taking submissions. If you’d like to point me in the direction of a great post, please email me (michelle at murrain dot net). I’ll be posting lateish in the day on Sunday (the 26th.)

technorati tags: blogs, progressive, faith, religion

I don’t really "get" enneagrams although apparently, they originate with Gurdjieff, who is someone I’ve always wanted to read, but haven’t gotten around to (and his books always look so intimidating.) Anyway, there’s a quiz I found, thanks to Poppy, that looked kinda interesting, and, as you’ll see if you know me, is pretty close. So here are the results:

technorati tags: enneagram, personality,

I’ve already told people I’m a sucker for quizzes. Well, I’m also a sucker for blog memes. So here’s a new one. The countries and states you’ve visited…

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

technorati tags: travel, world,

This blog is definitely off of my beaten path, but this essay is really interesting. Sometimes, he seems to over-romantasize the past, but there’s some good stuff, here. Here are some tidbits:

After all, what can we really do together? Consume. Drink. Consume. Talk. Consume tickets to entertainment. Consume. There is little else to do with other human beings in America than consume. So most of our primary life activity is solitary. We drive, do housework, pay bills, watch television… When we do "get together with friends," there is little to talk about, other than one form or another of consumption, consuming music, or movies or whatever. We can not tell each other anything new because we all get the same news and information from the same monolithic sources.

…

If anyone is going to turn the ship of the republic around, put us on a course more in the direction of liberty and openness, it will require the navigational help of those among us who can still remember what it was like before totalistic capitalism took such grip. People who can remember that genuine good will and intent were once alive in the hearts of most people even if never in the halls of Congress. Remember when at least some human and social progress was evident around us, thereby giving reason to hope.

technorati tags: capitalism, society, consumerism, middleclass

Yet another study came out yesterday suggesting how much we are screwing up the planet.

Greenland’s glaciers are melting into the sea twice as fast as previously believed, the result of a warming trend that renders obsolete predictions of how quickly Earth’s oceans will rise over the next century, scientists said yesterday.

Sigh.

technorati tags: globalclimate, glaciers, ocean, environment