Dimly Lit

For any graphics types that might happen upon this little site (John?) wasn’t this just a matter of when, not if?

Maybe this can be incorporated on the site somewhere?

Maybe this can be incorporated on the site somewhere?

I knew it! This article describes what I do for a living. Emailing is the constant form of communication involved in my job. In the past I’ve complained about how I start to get all ADD and have a hard time focusing on one thing for very long.(Please ascribe all run-on sentences, misspelled words and incoherent mutterings that may come up in the future to this problem.) I’ve often speculated that it’s because I’m a wretched cube dweller whose mind is slowly but surely rotting away to nothing as I send out email all day and in between bounce around to a couple dozen websites briefly absorbing whatever information is there before going back for another round of email.

CONSTANT text messaging and e-mailing causes a reduction in mental capability equivalent to the loss of ten IQ points, according to research.

obsessive use of phones and e-mail devices could impair mental capability even more than smoking cannabis - and suggested the modern culture of information could cause a permanent drop in intelligence.

So basically I’d be better off smoking pot than doing what I do for my job? I actually really like the little nugget above saying that our information rich culture may actually result in a drop off in intelligence. Is this news? I suppose to many it is but at the very least TS Eliot saw it coming at least 70 years ago:

The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to GOD.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from GOD and nearer to the Dust.

But there’s still more from this article:

Forty years ago, Harold Wilson predicted we would only have to work a 20-hour week because of the benefits of new technology. But as we create the technology that handles information faster, we have simply increased the volume of information to fill the gap.

I admit, when I’m at work I am usually trying to juggle several things all at once. I’m managing a clients website, frequently doing some of the layout work for a book or CD, checking and replying to email, checking several blogs and forums that I like to read as well as other sites of interest.

Of course this just feeds my agrarian/neo-luddite tendencies. It’s time to go back to the land, Wendell Berry here I come! Time to join the ranks of the Lead Pencil Club.

And his name is Benedict. Cosnervative Joseph Ratzinger was elected successor to Pope John Paul II much to the consternation of the moderates and liberals in the Catholic church. Or as a Catholic friend of mine just wrote: “The dissenters and baby boomers are in apoplexy right now…”

Ratzinger was the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith; essentially the chief disciplinarian of the Vatican.

As John Paul’s doctrinal overseer, Ratzinger disciplined Latin American “liberation theology” theologians, denounced homosexuality and gay marriage and pressured Asian priests who saw non-Christian religions as part of God’s plan for humanity.

He’s also branded other Christian churches as deficient, which of course includes people like me. I’m really not sure I understand why that would surprise anyone, after all isn’t that the general post-Vatican II position?

All in all, I think this is a choice that should be viewed as positive by all Christians. The only potential for concern might be his age.

This story is just very cool. I can be a little bit of a nerd when it comes to stuff like this…

Among treasures already discovered by a team from Oxford University are previously unseen writings by classical giants including Sophocles, Euripides and Hesiod. Invisible under ordinary light, the faded ink comes clearly into view when placed under infra-red light, using techniques developed from satellite imaging.

Yes, it’s true, you can find anything on the Internet. Mike the Headless Chicken’s Amazing Story

Now remember - the third weekend in May is Mike the Headless Chicken weekend. Is barbeque chicken an appropriate way to celebrate?

This review found over at Catapult Magazine has definitely placed the book The Death of Adam by Marilynne Robinson near the top of my must read list.

So now malls are going for the new urbanism feel without the urbanism? Notice the promotional material for Kierland Commons calls itself “a unique urban village”. Clearly there is a felt need for commonality and community that can be found in an urban environment - otherwise the marketing gurus wouldn’t be putting places like this together. Seems like a good idea to a degree, but then you get to the money sentance:

Lifestyle centers are privately owned space, carefully insulated from the messiness of public life.

Now as several people that know me can attest, I’m not necessarily a big fan of the messiness of public life. I live in an urban neighborhood where horns are honked at 1:00 in the morning for drug deals, trash is routinely thrown in my front yard, and a former neighbor was beaten up simply because he made eye contact with someone. But something seems amiss. The messiness of public life that can take place in a public space includes living with and getting to know neighbors and their foibles, not getting into our cars while their still parked in the 2-car garage that takes up the entire front of the house to drive 45 minutes so that I can experience the feel of urbanism.

I’m rambling and not sure if I’m making sense - I’ll stop.