The Junky Car Club

I came across the Junky Car Club today... This seems like a neat idea to me

Junky Car Club members are learning to live with less so we can give more. We're a bunch of happy drivers who are politely rebelling against consumerism by driving junky cars. We encourage our members to use their dough to support social justice causes instead of making fat car payments. We believe in environmental stewardship and hanging onto things a little longer. Junky Car Club members sponsor kids living in poverty through Compassion International.

I ride the bus for a similar reason. We switched to a 2000 mini van as part of our on going goal to just spend less on "things" If junky cars, saving money and donating to the poor can become cool - I think I'm in favour.

via

iThoughts and cool culture

I have been thinking about technology and consumerism a lot lately. It plays into my decision on why I am quitting my job at the end of the summer* There have been a number of great post on it in the last few days.

Empire Remixed has thoughts on media interviewing people people that slept out side to be the first to have an iPod

Why is it that we celebrate those who sleep on the street in order to consume, and yet shun those who sleep on the street because they can’t afford to be anywhere else…what is wrong with us?

Jordon Cooper takes on the culture of cool.

Culture and coolness is local. It’s all local. When I am in rural Saskatchewan, a leather John Deere ball cap is cool and a very important part of culture. Yet when I hear people in the church talk about culture, we talk about “emerging culture” (there is no such thing), or global culture (sorry, culture is awfully localized). The thinking is what is cool in San Francisco or New York is going to be cool in Saskatoon or Calgary is incorrect. I always cringe when I read my blog as being listed as an important blog to read for understanding culture. That is totally incorrect, you don’t understand culture by reading a blog about culture, you learn about culture by observing it or living in it. Now there are those that are completely oblivious to popular culture but they aren’t trying to be cool anyways.

I've been walking through this sort of stuff and should really get my thoughts down, but for now others continue to give me good things to think about

* Sorry if you haven't heard the news on the job change, I should really get around to writing about the eh?

I'm being tracked

I've been noticing the content of the user specific ads that appear all around us - Google, Gmail, Facebook etc.

Today on Facebook I saw the following Ad title

"Is someone tracking you?"

umm...yeah.... Facebook

Please think of your reading public

Public Service Reminder to the People that blog

IF YOUR BLOG IS NOT ABOUT YOUR KIDS (or family) AND SUDDENLY YOU HAVE KIDS. DO NOT START POSTING EVER PICTURE YOU TAKE OF YOUR KID.

I read you blog for the tech/theology/wit/knowledge/whatever. I love your blog and that's why you're on my RSS feed. One picture was nice - now.... stop.


......hmm do I link to the offending web site? sure

Because I have yet to say something cool.

I have yet to read much (ok, anything) of G.K. Chesterton, But I have read many quotes from him in my reading of Marshall McLuhan - So in the interest of the "sound bite" here are some excellent quote that I stumbled on...

Happy Birthday, G.K. Chesterton! «:

"Here are a few of my favorite G.K. Chesterton quotes:

- “The point of an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to close it on something solid.”

- “Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”

- “The artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs.”

- “By a curious confusion, many modern critics have passed from the proposition that a masterpiece may be unpopular to the other proposition that unless it is unpopular it cannot be a masterpiece.”

- “The aim of good prose words is to mean what they say. The aim of good poetical words is to mean what they do not say.”

- “You cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion.”

- “It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.”

- “All science, even the divine science, is a sublime detective story. Only it is not set to detect why a man is dead; but the darker secret of why he is alive.”

- “There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions.”

- “These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own"

Maybe I should go to the library tonight... and try to find some of these.

Stoopid Stoopid Stoopid

I should know better than to leave chocolate covered almonds on my desk before I eat lunch (maybe just in general too)

I think I just ate a half pound.

mmmmm....

Turn up the Computer

I just recently was told I should tell people about some of the little things that I use on my computer that "normal" people don't know about.

If you like music.... never have enough new or old tunes check out LAST.FM

It plays music based on an artist or a style you tell it you like and it does a great job of learning your tastes. I started with U2 and was not surprised that it found a bunch of similar music - Sting, REM, etc. But, when I went back to my obscure tastes it found knew - The Prayer Chain... and suggested other music that I loved back in the 90's

You don't have to create an account to test it out, but if you do it starts to remember you tastes and make your own stations. I think I'm going to add the Facebook app.

Robotic Arms of the Present

It is not often I see a video clip that impresses me. The following link has clip of some of the robotics work that will help people that have lot/never had arms. It is really cool to see where technology is at.
I'm too lazy to embed the video myself - click through to enjoy.
Dean Kamen's Robot Arm Grabs More Publicity | Gadget Lab from Wired.com:


(For the McLuhan fans... this is a case of a technology being a literal extension of man.)

A new message on this old medium

So look here is a post.
I'll give you a minute to recover.


It's been a long time since I've written ANYTHING. Not here - Not anywhere.
It's not like nothing has happened. umm let's see.

Got Married. - could have written about that eh?
thought I should at least write about that. I will keep Brea's mentions to a minimum because she like to keep a low web profile.

But - I am back wanting to write. I think, what I care about has changed, or is in the process of changing.

It started with a book by Shane Hipps and his thought on media, faith and the church - but also his focus on the writings of Marshall Mcluhan on the laws of media. I've started to look at how the church adopt technology with out much thought as to the effects. It has really caused me to think about how we use technology in our faith - in our lives - everywhere.

I don't want to say that this is the beginning of some new blogging experience. Been there done that But I do want to start some conversations about how I think we are just buying into the flow of technology and consumerism (yeah, I'm on that pony too)

Not sure what that is going to look like yet... but here we go.

Don't worry it's gone

This site has never seen so much traffic as when I attempted to post something from my friend (who will remain nameless to keep him out of trouble) who is passionate about the homeless.

Organizations that SAY they are out to help to help people (they will remain nameless because they tend to get upset) get upset when a passionate guys tries to alert people to what it is really like out there.

I know how hard he works to help people find housing and get off the streets - and these organizations that SAY they are about serving people spend more time Googling their organization's name than actually serving people. So the post is gone. So is my support of the organizations... I would name them and tell people how much they suck, but that would go against my friends desire to see basic human needs addressed - while organizations chase unauthorized use of first names that of people I doubt they even know, because they are too busy on their computer... I won't tell you how long it took you to see it...gosh

luckily for us all no one reads this blog... except the vain organizations - so you all go back to your computers - a homeless person can curl up against it for the heat.

By the way.... the post. Full of Truth.
If the truth hurts, then do something about it already. I know how many meetings he goes to where you TALK about doing stuff... sheesh. worry about that already.