The Daily Me

I'm quite a fan of Nicholas Kristof, and really liked his op-ed talking about how we read the newspaper - how when we go online we often act as 'our own editor, our own gatekeeper. We select the kind of news and opinions that we care most about', and conversely we don't read much that we don't agree with.

Its easy to do too, as with my Google Reader, I can bring all of my favourite columnists to one place and just read them. I also liked his solution: no not the Tax breaks for liberals who watch Bill O’Reilly or conservatives who watch Keith Olbermann? ;-) But rather, "the struggle on our own to work out intellectually with sparring partners whose views we deplore".  Sounds like good advice to act on, to try to learn from people we disagree with.

Updated - here's another linik to his blog on the op-ed above.. interesting to look through the comments..

Mothers of invention

So recently England's Women Cricket team beat New Zealand in the final of the world cup, something which their men have failed to do in nine attempts. I enjoyed reading this article which looked at 11 occasions "where the women beat the men to the tape". For example Belinda Clark's double hundred is still the only double-century in International One Day Cricket.

A New Page

This article more or less explains how I feel at the start of each footy season. Here's a quote:

For many fans this is their favourite time of the year. The culmination of months of anticipation. When the umpire holds the ball up for the first bounce the excitement is intense. “I love that moment”, one fan told me, “it feels like anything could happen, anything is possible, and the collective energy is great, far greater than the sum of the parts”. [...] For the next five months - hopefully six - our lives will be governed by the comforting weekly cycle of our club battling 15 others for the right to hold the premiership cup aloft. But this will be no easy time. For Aussie Rules footy frequently drives fans to the edge. To the edge of sanity. To the edge of reason. To what often feels like the edge of life. It produces great suffering and joy, and an almost insatiable hunger for more. It’s evident in the roar of the crowd, the thunders of triumph, the cries of distress, and the howls of frustration. In the continual cycle of pleas, curses and cheers. In the bodies that ride the game with the players, fists clenching, legs trembling, guts churning, eyes that sometimes long to look away but cannot. And it’s the return of this gripping drama - with all its glory and heartbreak - that we gather to celebrate yet again at grounds around the country.

Influences..

I enjoyed reading this post by [What's with today?], and while my Facebook page has the Album's which have lived in my CD player, I thought that I would list the 5 books which have been my favourites or the most influential to me. I excluded the Bible because it is the light by which I see everything else.

1] Knowing God [J.I. Packer]
It is a great book about the character of God, there is a lot in it, but its well worth the read.

2] The Little Prince [Antoine de Saint-Exupery]
One of the books I reread every so often, I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but I just love the story.

3] Les Miserables [Victor Hugo]
I encountered the story, in the musical before I read the book - but I deeply love the characters and the them of mercy and redemption which run throughout the book.

4] Ender's Game [Orson Scott Card]
I really love the series, and can just reread it.

5] The Sum of All Fears [Tom Clancy]
While its not a book I can read every year (It a book I can just pick up, and read) When i read it I thought it was almost too plausible.. Though if I want to pick a book that was trashed by Hollywood, this would be one of the first I'd pick.

T+19 Years

So, today, my family celebrates 19 years in Australia. We moved here when Dad got a job at ANSTO in March of 1990. It is hard to believe it has been nineteen years since we left New Zealand. I must say though, that I do support New Zealand in all sporting matters  :-)

Goodbye to Childish Things..

Quite an interesting read [listen], the article did not really go in the direction I expected. But the question I was left with, before I thought about the content of the article was, can you really say Lord of the Rings is a 'childish thing'?.

"Let me say, from the experience of years, that I'm not sure this is good for us. Real people — maybe you've heard this — are slightly more difficult to handle than imaginary people. Even more than Balrogs; and Balrogs, as everybody knows, are a pain. I'm raising children now — a challenge, by the way, on which J.R.R. Tolkien sheds no light at all — and I see them drawn to the flickering, dimly lit holes leading from our house to the other worlds — the TVs and movies and computer games — and I can understand the almost overwhelming urge to crawl through. But I also wonder if, like me, when they grow up and have to say farewell to childish things, they'll have nothing real to let go of."

He makes an interesting point about real people (and by extension issues) are harder to deal with in real life, than the online-game prepares you for. Maybe there is scope for research into the skills people learn from an online-community - because in some ways games like these are akin to team sports.

I also wonder if the new generation of books made for the e-readers will be enabled with multiple tangents defined by the interests of, or interaction with the reader. Maybe they will be harder to write, but possible rewarding in a different way.

As for me, and my reading habits though, I have to admit, I'm old fashioned and definitely prefer the paperback.

Gender in Religion

The article here, outlined some interesting gender differences in religious behaviour.

Most striking among the findings are that women are far more apt to believe with absolute certainty in a God or universal spirit, as well as to believe that this supreme being is a personal one. More American women than men are affiliated with a religion. Two-thirds of women say religion is a very important factor in their lives, as opposed to roughly half of men — percentages that are about the same for those who say they pray on a daily basis. Forty-four percent of women attend weekly religious services, as opposed to just a third of men.

The article goes on to make a point about leadership, and these above numbers don't translate in being leadership or 'advancement'. Thought this was interesting reading but I wasn't really sure what to make of the conclusions. [Links: Article, Findings]

*Did anyone else know that March is Women's History Month in the US, and does Australia have one too?

On the World Cup...

Here's a couple of pieces about the Women's World Cup which finished this week. To fill in the gaps, NZ lost to England in the final.

Here's two differing takes on the media coverage. Dominic Lawson - whose point could be summed up as, don't ask me to watch it,. Lawson wrote his article in response to the Minister for Sport [Andy Burnham] who argued that Women's sport is treated more or less as a sideshow and this needing to change.

I have to admit, my sympathy lies more with Burnham. There was a great deal of theatre throughout the cup (and I did enjoy the bits of it I heard).

No Line - Wordle

[via U2 Sermons]

I have to admit that this is a great picture of what No Line is about.

"hug the spaces in between"

I read a fascinating article today about how society deals with death (by Johann Hari - The Independent), detailing how we insulate ourselves and are weaker for it. The article quoted from Being Dead (a 1999 novel by Jim Crace), were one of the characters upon identifying family senselessly killed the daughter says - "There is no remedy for death – or birth – except to hug the spaces in between. Live loud. Live wide. Live tall.",  which reminded me of the counterpoint in the hope provided by Christ - because in Him, we know the one who conquered death; who makes how we spend this space meaningful. Once we understand our life is eternal, rather than wasting our life, we are challenged to spend it wisely, because we are accountable to our Maker.

Glimpses..

:: breaking up with technology.
A new diagnosis coming your way - e-fatigue.

:: how we write about young people (from the UK, but I'm sure its true of Australia too). The quote below is scary, because perception can become reality.

The vast majority of stories about teenage boys centred on crime and drugs. Sport and entertainment barely got a look-in and, even more depressingly, when they did, the majority of the coverage was neutral or negative. [Horowitz]

 

On the Horizon

Given that I've had U2's new CD playing for a while my impressions have settled and I thought I'd post my thoughts. I have to admit, that after hearing the lead off single, I was not so optimistic or enthusiastic about the album. I shared these thoughts with the sales assistant, who slightly improved my mood by saying it wasn't all that bad, and sometimes people want to tear down bands like U2.

Onto the album, overall, I think No Line On the Horizon is a reaction away from 'How to Dismantle', and 'All that...' in the same way that All that was a reaction away from Pop. The album is perhaps a little bit more uneven than most, one of the highlights being Bono's character sketches in White as Snow and Cedars of Lebanon, while perhaps equally disappointing was Bono's impersonation of the Office IT guy as he earnestly implores us to "restart and reboot ourselves'

Even after two weeks or so, I have to admit that I don't get "Get On Your Boots" (perhaps Vertigo II), perhaps a fun, joyous piece, but its filler on the album. The tracks that stood out on my first listen are Crazy Tonight (the worst bit of the song is the title), White as Snow, Cedars of Lebanon. In spite of its lyrics I do have a soft spot of for Unknown Caller (reminiscent of Walk On). I do look forward to hearing the translation of some of these songs as they begin their tour in June.

All in all, I would say its growing on me but not their best. For me, Pop, Achtung Baby and The Unforgettable Fire have held that title. 

~~~

I really found this post interesting, made up of lyrics from the album, in the order they appear. [h/t U2 Sermons]. Also from U2 sermons, was this post about contradictory comments about the album (and No-Line does seem to have created more diverse responses than other U2 albums).

Christianity in the UK

Given a few events in the UK, including the suspension of a nurse who offered to pray with her patient and the disciplining of a foster mother because one of her children converted from Islam, the Guardian posed the question whether Christian's are being persecuted in the UK this week - these three responses were published. I found it interesting the pieces and the comments which could be summed up as:

No, its the Christians who are discriminating, Probably, but we should all be more tolerant, and perhaps the one I've got the most sympathy for, No, given what's happening in other places around the world.

32 Songs... in 8 minutes..

I loved this youtube clip..