No privacy anymore
Microsoft recently updated their online map product and the results are amazing - and possibly a little frightening. Check out your address, and be sure to bypass the aerial view and go straight to the birds-eye. Then use the curvey arrows to do a fly-around. You may be surprised what you - and the rest of us - can see.
Sunday Seven
- Forgiveness isn’t a spare tire you drag around in your trunk and hope you’ll never need it. It’s a way of looking at the world with deeper understanding. So says Martin Doblmeier, the director of a new documentary on forgiveness in this Christianity Today interview.
- On the other hand, I’m not sure I want to forgive copper thieves like the ones who stole the copper name plates off the Hacketts‘ gravestone. The first link is to a Roane County News story about local copper theft.
- Ten handy numbers to save in your cell phone. Your car insurance hotline, a locksmith…I shoulda thought of these. From Mark and Angel via Lifehacker.
4-7 (I’m cheating again). Wake up Cat. My wife’s current favorite video…
Cyberbullying and e-vigilantes: The tragic Megan Meier case
By now you have probably heard or read something about the cyber-bullying mom who caused a young girl down the street to commit suicide. 13-year-old Megan Meier took her own life in October 2006 after being befriended and then rejected by a “cute guy” she met online. The guy turned out to be a fictitious account set up and monitored by an area woman who wanted to find out what Megan was saying about her daughter. Prosecutors say that no crime has been committed and no charges will be filed.
A clear case for vigilante cyber-justice, right? Not so fast…
First, consider the easily-forgotten truth that the reported facts can be miles off target. Whenever I have seen a news story written or taped about something I’m involved in, I am usually amazed at the inaccuracy.
Second, think about the dangers of mob justice, especially the internet variety where we can all throw rocks from safely behind our firewalls. Wired has an excellent article on this very topic, which includes some chilling stories of past cyber-mobs-gone-bad as well as a few recent efforts to shame this meddling mother.
Megan Meier’s tragic end makes my blood steam. Her death is one of a thousand illustrations you could find today of our vital social need for justice. And yet…
The things Jesus said about loving our enemies, treating others as we want to be treated, and refusing to cast stones - they don’t seem to make sense at first. But dig deeper and see that his ways are best.
Sunday Seven
- ATMs (Automatic Tithing Machines) at church. Sure it sounds crazy. But church is one of the last three or four places where I still pay (er, give) by check. We need new methods. From Out of Ur.
- The man who saved the world by doing nothing. 23 years ago last week, Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov
decided NOT to launch Soviet missiles against the U. S., though he had good reason to. From Wired. - Seventies design. Cars, clothes, furniture and other 70s goodness. Via Signal vs. Noise.
- Everyone needs a place to belong. For a select few, the place is Gym Jones, an invitation-only, no frills gym (with a great name) for the toughest of the tough. The main page description is worth reading and may make you wish you could join. Which you can’t.
- Emoticons turn 25. The digital smiley-face
actually has an inventor and a birthdate. ROFL. From Wired. - Panoramic views are so cool, and here’s a collection of them from around the world. From ViewAT.org via eHub.
- A new record for the marathon. 2:04:26, or 4:45 per mile for 26.2 miles! From ESPN.
The hot new trend in blogging is quitting
Ted Olsen, one of the original bloggers at Christianity Today, has posted a bitingly witty article on how blogs are passing away.
As weblogs proliferated earlier this decade, Andy Warhol’s famous aphorism was modified to read, “In the future, everyone will be famous to 15 people.” Now it looks like Warhol was right after all: Thanks to widespread blog burnout, everyone will be famous to 15 people for 15 minutes.
Olsen cites a study saying that 200 million people have given up blogging this year! Try naming anything else that 200 million people have done.
One of the more profound quotes comes from Alan Jacobs who says that “the blogosphere is the friend of information but the enemy of thought” (but Jacobs has two blogs!) Maybe blogs are the CB radio of the 2000s. We can broadcast our message and make it look pretty, but we find we don’t have that much to say.
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On a personal note, my friend Summer (who always had a lot of worthwhile content) is, as usual, on the bleeding edge of this trend. She completely and suddenly dumped her blog last week. I dreamed last night that she brought it back, with no explanation too! No such luck. Ah, Summer-breeze, you made us feel fine…blowing through the collective jasmine of our collective minds!
Sunday Seven
- Where Job’s friends went wrong. A Christianity Today article by Walter Kaiser on making suffering too simple.
- Arm-wrestling machine recalled for breaking arms. This wouldn’t sound funny if it had happened to me. But it didn’t. Via Slashdot.
- How to start writing. Good writing begins by just writing. From Scott Burken via Signal vs. Noise.
- Trying to build a church. A college friend of mine, Tom Morris, has begun writing an interesting blog about his church’s journey toward a permanent building.
5, 6 and 7. Miss Teen USA contestant’s thoughts on education…(via AmberMac)
Sunday Seven
- Our Universe: Merely a computer simulation. An Oxford philosopher offers his reasons for believing we may be living in The Matrix. From The New York Times.
- Your NOT To Do list. Success isn’t just getting things done but not wasting life on other things. Here’s a start for your list of what to not do. Example: “Don’t let people ramble”. From Web Worker Daily via Lifehacker .
- CD turns 25. I remember the first time I heard one - in 1985, on my girlfriend’s Dad’s player, a Madonna CD. This Network World story tells you who was on the first CD. Via Slashdot.
- On NOT transforming the world. Christianity Today says Jesus gave us better things to do.
- Art, rituals and the formation of community. An exceptionally perceptive article by Jessica Friesen.
- Dale Jr. says step-mom won’t let him have #8. I don’t watch NASCAR anymore but I still can’t resist reading the gossip. From ESPN.
- Software awards scam. I post this merely for personal reasons. Going through my Dad’s email this week, I found that some software he wrote (which actually continues to make money!) has recently won several awards. Too bad they’re fake. He deserved real ones. From Successful Software via 43 Folders.
Sunday Seven
- A Bible without verses. Out of Ur published a two-part article by someone who thinks that depending on chapters and verses ruins our experience of God’s word. An interesting and partially compelling idea.
- Creation museum opens near Cincinnati. Young earth creationists rejoice, others mock. This Christianity Today item contains links to both reactions.
- Four hours up front, then re-evaluate. Signal vs. Noise, which is always useful and/or intriguing, suggests that when you’re starting a new project, you need to put a few hours in before you can properly measure its value…but not so many that you can’t abandon it.
- Narcissistic blog disorder. Does someone you love have it? This Wired column, which lists several other Internet maladies, is meant to be ironic. Of course I didn’t need to tell you that.
- Livin’ and dyin’ baseball. A minor-league fan’s strange and fitting funeral. From ESPN.
- Your inkjet printer lies to you. It tells you to buy ink when you have lots left. I knew this about MY printer, but if it’s this widespread, it sounds like a scam. From Ars Technica via Slashdot.
- Steampunk. If you like high tech and 19th century kitsch, you’ll love these designs. From Wired.
Sunday Seven
- Suddenly, the paranoids don’t seem so paranoid anymore. A Wired article about how easily we surrender our privacy.
- How do you put your heart into something dull? Signal vs. Noise has a great anecdote about that very problem, from author Hillman Curtis.
- New taxes for the internet are coming. States seek to replace lost sales taxes AND collect fees wherever they can. From CNET via Slashdot.
- Getting your essential info together. Recent events have reminded me how important to have a small number of very important papers in good order for your family. This Lifehacker post gives you a good rundown on how to do it.
- Success covers a multitude of sins. Here’s a short post from Out of Ur about how pastoral leadership is often measured in a worldly way…success at what you trumps major character problems.
- Pulling the pieces apart. Jessica Friesen served at MHCC last summer with Group Work Camps. Now she’s in Malawi for the next six months. This is her blog, and it’s worth reading.
- Finally, a joke I heard on NPR: A Buddhist walks up to a hot dog vendor and says: “Make me one with everything”.
Sunday Seven
- Free summer movies for kids. You with little ones probably know already that local theaters show kids’ flix in the a.m. for free. If not, follow the link above from Raising4boys.com (via Lifehacker and Parent Hacks).
- Donald Miller. You’ve read Blue Like Jazz and Searching For God Knows What. Now read about the writer and his influence. From Christianity Today.
- There is a Rock Paper Scissors World Championship. And there apparently is a lot of strategy involved. From TechCrunch.
- How to be unremarkable. If you’re building a blog, promoting a business or trying to draw people to church, this article tells you some good things to AVOID. From Small Business Branding via ProBlogger.
- Is Christianity Good For the World? So many debates between Christians and unbelievers are lopsided mismatches and flame-wars. over the past month, Christianity Today has published this exception to the rule, a weighty and worthy debate between two good scholars, one atheist, one Christian. The link points to part one of six.
- Rob Bell sermons. Rob Bell is among the most influential evangelical preachers for the generations younger than me. And he’s awesome! The link above lists his 12 most recent sermons.
- Kevorkian Freed After Years in Prison for Aiding Suicide. I’d almost forgotten about this guy, and I certainly didn’t know he had been in prison for 8 years. The varied reactions in this New York Times story show that people truly see what they want to see.
