Tom Cruise's CRAZY Scientology Video... It's years old, and now they want to try and ban it...

I saw this video some time ago... In it Tom Cruise, in another of his weird rants, goes on and on about the evils of psychology... All that it proves is that some people actually DO NEED a psychologist more than others (if you get my drift?)

Here's an interesting story about how the Church of Scientology is trying to stop Gawker from hosting the video... Bad publicity I guess?

Gawker is hosting a controversial Tom Cruise Scientology video that other sites were forced to remove after legal threats from the Church of Scientology. In the Cruise video, high-energy music plays while Cruise gives forth a stream of claims about the powers and responsibilities of people who've been turned into mystical beings by the cult's teachings.

The Church has sent a legal threat to Gawker as well, alleging that hosting the video infringes copyright (amid a host of nonsensical allegations about "receiving stolen property"), but Gawker's refused to take the video down. Instead, they've taken the ballsy stance that this video is posted for the purposes of news reporting and analysis, making it fair use. I hope they stick to their guns. Link to video, Link to legal threats from the Church of Scientology (Thanks, Gareth, Ryan, and Siva!)

Update: All (?) of Tom Cruise's Scientology videos here (for now) -- thanks Xeni!

Walt Mossberg's (from the Wall Street Journal) Video review of the TINY Asus Eeepc!

I posted about the Asus Eeepc a few days ago. It is an incredible little subnotebook with a 7" screen, running Linux.

I am still keen to see one 'in the flesh' and try out the keyboard to see if this will make an useful PC for writing, email, and web browsing on the road (it has Skype with video, a fairly good keyboard, and the killer app from my perspective, Openoffice)! As it is I already use OpenOffice almost exclusively on my Mac and PC (well the Mac version is called NeoOffice). If it were not for the automatic referencing capabilities of Zotero in Microsoft Word, I would have given up on it completely!

Oh, and did I mention that you can hack it to install Windows!? But who would want to subject their computer to that kind of punishment?

Technorati tags: Asus, Eeepc, South Africa, Linux, Openoffice

I know lust is a sin... But here's what I am lusting after!

Yup, the Apple Keynote (an annual highlight in January) is over... And as usual Apple had some incredible hardware to display, some great software to show off... And Steve Jobs' ubiquitous "... but wait, there's one more thing..."

Well, this year they launched the BRAND NEW Apple Air!

This is a 13" Apple powerhouse that is ALSO the world's thinnest notebook! It runs the latest Apple OS, and because it has Intel processors it also runs Windows and Linux right out the box.

They also announced the release of MS Office for Mac 2008! I need to start saving my sheckles!!!

Now, as I say in the title, I know that lust is a sin... But Lord, if you permit me to lust after the computer that YOU would use I would be most grateful!

Living in the hope that there are still some things of immeasurable beauty in the world,

Dion

Technorati tags: Apple Air, lust, God's computer, I want an Apple Air

a NEW motto for the Christian faith... Sadly...

I read this very telling quote on The Corner....

"And now these three things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is truth."

Isn't it sad that our pursuit for [t]ruth so often robs us of the [T]ruth?

Just a thought....

Don't update your iPhone or iPod touch to firmware 1.1.3 if you have used jailbreak!

Yesterday Apple released the firmware update for the iPhone and iPod touch - it is now on firmware 1.1.3. I am still using 1.0.2 on my iPhone and she works like a champion!!! There is truly very little reason to want to update to 1.1.3 (the only draw card for me would be the update to the SMS application - however, I am using SMSD anyway, that allows me to send SMS messages to multiple recipients etc.)

Here's a brief report from Rupert Gee's iBlog....

Apple posted today a new firmware 1.1.3 for iPod touch. The update shows up in iTunes (version 7.5). Apple also posted updates to iTunes, now version 7.6.

Needless to say, running the firmware update will restore your jailbroken iPod touch to factory original condition. Third party apps will not run, until a new jailbreak hack is made available.

So in the mean time, do not upgrade to the new firmware. In fact, I wouldn’t even upgrade iTunes to 7.6 as a comment left by a user seems to indicate new functionality — there’s apparently a “Recovery” button in iTunes 7.6.

Stay tunes for more info ….

Meanwhile, I hope you already have safe keep a copy of the version 1.1.2 firmware.

Misc notes:

The copy of iTunes in Leopard Install DVD (/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/Packages/iTunes.pkg) is version 7.4.2

iTunes 7.5 for OS X is still available here.

Direct Download Link for 1.1.3 Firmware (162MB).

Podcast: [Repost, fixed] An exceptional critique of Philip Pullman's series 'His Dark materials', and the book 'The Golden Compass' by Simon Coupland

This podcast is a pre-recorded talk given by Rev Simon Coupland, a minister of the Church of England in London, on Philip Pullman's books in the 'His dark materials' series.

Simon is levelheaded, his talk is exceptionally well researched. It offers facts about both Philip Pullman, and the contents of each of the three books.

This is the best input I have heard on 'His dark materials' and 'The Golden compass'. Coupland is a Minister, but seems to have been trained as an Historian. So what he offers is tempered and framed by facts and substantiated by quotes from Pullman and the three books. (Thanks to Paddy for the link to Simon Coupland's Church site, and for helping me with the correct spelling!)

Just to warn you, Coupland gives a very good overview of the plot of each of the three books in this series (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber spyglass), so if you have not yet read all three and don't want to spoil the plot please just skip through the first 15 minutes or so of the podcast.

The podcast is just on an hour in length, the sound quality is great (for a change!), and it weighs in at around 12.5MB (so don't go downloading this on your cellphone!).

Thanks for downloading it.

Update: I must appologise! When I uploaded the podcasat previously I accidently left the podcast track muted!!! AAaaaaarrrgghhh!!! So sorry, it has been fixed and reposted (sorry to waste your precious bandwidth!) Simply click on the link below to download the FIXED version!

'Simon Coupland's critique of Philip Pullman and the 'His Dark Materials' series [Fixed].mp3. (12.5MB)

Technorati tags: Simon Coupland, Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber spyglass, podcast, Dion Forster

Open lecture at John Wesley College, Prof Joerg Rieger from Perkins school of Theology at Southern Methodist University, Texas

John Wesley College is pleased to invite you to attend a public lecture by Prof Joerg Rieger (see below) on Tuesday the 22 January 2008. The lecture will be split into two parts, Part 1 from 11h30-12h45, and then Part 2 from 13h30-15h10.

The Title of the lecture is Christ and Empire - (from Paul to postcolonial times) rethinking the imperial legacy of Christianity.

Unfortunately we are not able to offer lunch to those who wish to attend the lecture. However, there will be tea and few biscuits etc. available over the lunch hour.

Joerg Rieger is Professor of Systematic Theology at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dalls. He is also the author of Remember the poor: The Challenge to Theology in the Twenty-First Century, and God and the excluded: Visions and blindspots in Contemporary Theology, and editor of Opting for the margins and Liberating the Future: God, Mammon, and Theology.

I had the great joy of spending some time with Joerg in Oxford last year. He is an incredible thinker, a youthful man with great passion, insight, and an engaging manner! I have just recently read 'Christ and empire', and 'God and the excluded'. I rank them among the top books that I have read, and they certainly the top of my reading list from last year.

Please spread the word about this lecture, invite members of your Churches, clergy, and other interested parties to attend. I hope to be able to record the lectures (for those who are too far to attend in person). I will post MP3 copies of them on http://www.spirituality.org.za within a week or two.

If you are interested in coming, please could you drop me a line via email, or phone Taryn our receptionist on 012 804 3022 just so that we can be sure to prepare an adequate venue and enough tea and biscuits!?

Rich blessing in Christ!

Please don't forget to pray for our seminary, the student ministers, and the staff who serve them. As always we have families at John Wesley College who need financial support, so please do consider and remember us when you make your mission and tithe allocations for 2008!

Asus eepc? Any ideas?

Yup, stuck in traffic again... It seem to be the only time I get to post to my blog these days! Busy times!!

Does anyone out there know if the Asus eepc is available anywhere in South Africa? It looks like a great ultra portable pc. I must say that I quite like the idea of Linux on a PC of that size.

I believe that it has OpenOffice on it. That would be great to work on books, talks, etc. on a laptop with that small form factor.

Scheduled 'load shedding' and the cost to the economy... Whatls the answer? Here's one!

As I write this post I am sitting in a traffic jam on William Nicol drive in Bryanston. I have been in the same spot for almost an hour... I have no other choice but to endure it because I am on my way to a meeting with one of our Bishops at OR Tambo international airport.

The cause of this terrible traffic is not an accident... No, it is the scheduled 'load shedding' by ESKOM our nations electricity bungler... I cannot in all honesty call them a 'provider' since they do it so seldomly these days!

As I sit her wasting time that I don't have, watching all the other people stuck in the traffic with me, I wonder, how much is this scheduled load shedding costing our country in lost revenues and productivity? Perhaps there is a subtle plan to make the WHOLE nation as inefficient as the Department of Home Affairs so that they won't look so bad? Oooohhh... That's a cheap shot.

Seriously though, what could the solution be? Well, the one group of persons who seem to be making a roaring trade are those guys who sell Cokes and sunglasses on the side of the road! Perhaps that's what we should do? Shut down all formal trade and all just sell our stuff from the backs of our cars when the traffic stands still?

Last night I spent my birthday by romantic candle light, my daughter her homework by less than romantic candle light, and we ended up boiling water for my son on a small gas stove.

My ban account seems a little overloaded by the many demands upon its resources. I think this month I may do a little load shedding myself and withhold payment to ESKOM. What do you think?

/end rant! Sorry!

Kenyans reports on the Kenyan crisis using the net and google maps

This comes from boingboing:

Ushahidi is a website created to give Kenyans a way to report incidents of violence in the ongoing post-election crisis. The project came together, it seems, during the TED Global conference event earlier this year in Tanzania. Erik Hersman, who publishes Afrigadget and was one Ushahidi's organizers, tells us more about who's behind it:

Ory Okolloh - Was the nexus-point of information for news during and after the elections in Kenya as the mainstream media went quiet. Ory was also the genesis of Ushahidi as she opined in one blog post, "Google Earth supposedly shows in great detail where the damage is being done on the ground. It occurs to me that it will be useful to keep a record of this, if one is thinking long-term. For the reconciliation process to occur at the local level the truth of what happened will first have to come out. Guys looking to do something - any techies out there willing to do a mashup of where the violence and destruction is occurring using Google Maps?"

Daudi Were - Has been blogging and working to hold together a disparate group of 400 bloggers in the Kenyan Bloggers Webring. He is working full-time on two initiatives. First, to create strong partnerships for Ushahidi through the Kenyan NGO Council. Secondly, to create easy ways for people to donate to the Kenyan Red Cross.

Juliana Chebet - Being upcountry during elections gave her a unique view of the post-election aftermath. Also a blogger, she has been busy taking pictures and video, and chronicling what she sees. Juliana has also been a part of making Ushahidi, primarily in putting new reports into the system.

Segeni Ng'ethe - Owner of Mamamikes.com. As people have had a hard time getting cash and an even harder time trying to find cell phone charge cards, Segeni has been providing one of the only ways for people to send money from abroad and recharge people's cell phones. On top of that, he has created a voucher system that allows anyone in the world to donate money directly for distribution and use by the Kenyan Red Cross.

Link. Over at Global Voices, contributor Juliana Rincón Parra has this roundup of online video that provides a glimpse into the current state of affairs in Kenya, including first-person testimonies of violence recorded and published by Ushahidi participants: Link. More coverage of the crisis in Kenya on Global Voices here. (thanks, Emeka Okafor!)

Previously on BB:

Video from TED Global conference - Africa: The Next Chapter

Deconstructing Vanity Fair's "Africa" issue

posted in: Civlib , Innovation

Various inputs, and analysis, on the Kenyan crisis from around the web.

Tonight my good friend Mark Russel prayed for the crisis in Kenya...

Here's a little something that may shed some light, and give some insight, as we pray for that nation.

What struck me about Mark's great prayer was they he framed it in terms of our South African past, thanking God for the many Kenyans who remembered South Africa in our dark days, and remembered to pray for us. Now, it is our time to remember them, and our joy and duty to pray for them!

Snip from an article on AllAfrica.com:

"It is the Kenyan People Who Have Lost the Election," headlined Pambazuka News in its special Kenya election edition on January 3.

"But the real tragedy of Kenya," the editorial continued, is that the political conflict is not about alternative political programmes that could address ... landlessness, low wages, unemployment, lack of shelter, inadequate incomes, homelessness, etc. ... [instead] it boils down to a fight over who has access to the honey pot that is the state. ...[citizens] are reduced to being just being fodder for the pigs fighting over the trough."

Commentaries of particular interest from the U.S.include an op-ed in the Washington Post by Caroline Elkins, "What's Tearing Kenya Apart? History, for One Thing," a statement by Africa Action stating that U.S.-Kenya policy should support "robust democratic processes" rather than be defined by "a narrow agenda of the war on terror and international business", and a statement by the Association of Concerned Africa Scholars highlighting "the role of the U.S. government -- far from a neutral player -- both before and after the elections" and the danger that U.S. involvement will be biased by its close military relations with the Kenyan government..

More on current events in Kenya at AllAfrica.com: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3. (via Ned Sublette)

posted in: Civlib

Technorati tags: Kenya, election,pray

Doing what you can with what you've got!

I heard a lovely little story recently when in the worship service of my friend, Deacon Ernie Nightingale in Durban.

He told of a mighty warrior who was riding his great big horse through the Kingdom. As he rode people scattered in his way. He was truly impressive as he rode through the towns and cities.

Then, something strange happened as he was riding on a small pathway in the country. As he came over a hill he could see a small bird lying in the road in front of him. While he was still some way away he shouted "Hey bird, you're in my way! Move so that I can pass!" The bird didn't move at all..

When the warrior got closer h noticed that the bird was lying on its back! He called for it to move again, but it just lay there. So, he got off his horse and walked up to the bird.

When he came close to the bird he asked it "why are you lying in the middle of the road with your legs in the air?" The bird said "well, I heard that the heavens were going to fall down, so I thought I will hold them in place." The warrior laughed so much that tears began to run down his cheeks... "Do you think you'll be able to hold up the heavens with those tiny little legs of yours? They are so small and skinny!"

The little bird thought for a moment and then answered "I can only do what I can with what I've got... And guess what, it seems to be working! The heavens are still up there!" The warrior left in silence.

This was a wonderfully encouraging story for me! It is so true, when we do what we can with what we've got, God graciously does the rest!

Have a blessed week!