RSS Feeds Directory - Alive feeds for you
A conversation about how to create a more just, compassionate and peaceful world
This is it. The very very end of Justice and compassion.com. It’s been enormously fun, and we couldn’t have done it without all the amazing commenters and occasional posters. You all rock. OTM will still be around and quite busy, so come over and say “hi” on the practicing church blog. Wish I could give you all a big hug. If you’ve ever commented even once, you’ve become part of the 7% of blog readers who *ever* leave a comment. Congratulations!
I can definitely say the experience has changed me. Just keeping my line in the water trolling for ideas for blog posts has made me look at the world differently. I see our planet, and other people, as a lot more valuable and precious than I did when JaC started two years ago. Y’all’s willingness to engage in conversation around MTWABP (Making the World a Better Place), and challenge me, and show me crazy awesome new ideas and ways of thinking I’d never had come across otherwise–all this has altered my paradigm. Although the blog is ending, I know for sure that in the future I’m going to be involved in big and small ways in trying to MTWABP. I’m so much more aware now of the amazing possibilities/hope, *and* of the astounding darkness and despair, out there in the world. And beyond that, I’m a lot more aware than I was two years ago of the fact that while I *certainly* can’t fix it all, I can totally make a difference, here, and there, and everyday somewhere. An enormous thankyou to Jim and Helen and Rachel and Joe and Martin and Elaine and Eliza and Seren and David and Craig and Peter and way too many more to name. You’re all awesome. You can and do make a difference in the world. Way to go.
In case you hadn’t heard about it, tomorrow, Saturday March 28th at 8:30 PM local time is Earth Hour. Earth Hour organizers are shooting for 1 billion people around the world turning off the lights for an hour. Hope you’ll join us. =)
At the end of March Off The Map will be closing the Conversation at the Edge, Justice and Compassion, and eBay Atheist blogs to new posts. They’ll stay open a little longer than that for comments.
We appreciate everyone who has blogged for us on these three blogs and participated in the comments conversations. We’ll keep the existing content up even though the blogs are being closed.
The reason for closing them and opening our new blog, The Practicing Church, is that Off The Map’s focus has changed. As Jim wrote in From Mirrors to Maps on The Practicing Church blog
As Off The Map enters a new season we’re going to focus less on mirrors and more on maps, less on critiquing the church and more on energizing the church.
I’m going to miss all the great conversation and ideas being thrown around. Thank you so much for hanging out over the last two years. After this blog closes you’ll be able to find me online at my personal blog http://oxymoronredundancyparadoxtrap.blogspot.com. I’ll probably also still be hanging out a bit over at Off the Map’s new blog, The Practicing Church.
Joe will still be writing at A Life Reviewed, as well as running the Freedom Clothing Project. You’ll probably continue to see articles and posts by him elsewhere on the web as well (here, for instance).
Our huge thanks and best wishes also to Rachel, who was cofounder of Justiceandcompassion.com (and without whom the blog just hasn’t been the same =).
So long and thanks for all the fish. Do well, friends.
Suw Charman Anderson has declared today Ada Lovelace day. Ada Lovelace, the daughter and only child of the English poet Lord Byron, is hailed by many as the first computer programmer. She wrote “software” for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine back in the 1840’s. Suw complains of misogyny in the tech world, and references psychologist Penelope Lockwood, who found that women need to see female role models more than men need to see male ones (which is another interesting discussion all by itself). I kind of see Suw’s point, as I had certainly heard of Babbage, but never of Lovelace.
Towards the end of overcoming the aforementioned misogyny and giving women the tech industry role models to look up to, Suw promised to write a blog on March 24 about a woman in tech whom she admired, but only if 1000 others promised to do the same. Way more than 1000 people joined her, making today the first ever Ada Lovelace Day. The whole thing seems to be a rather huge success, as there are currently 76,000 google results for “Ada Lovelace day”. Here’s a list of many of the blog posts.
One of the women I learned about in reading through some of the posts is Ptolemais of Cyrene, who formulated the commutativity of multiplication: AB=BA. Who knew?
Do you know, or know of, any women who have excelled in mathematics or technology whom you would like to mention?
Honestly now, how many of you knew that today is not only the vernal equinox, and the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, but also the Iranian New Year?
After Arabic, maybe I’ll have to learn Farsi.
Do you think Obama’s rhetoric matches his actions?
When we have beliefs that are not attached to actions - that’s when we begin to live a “pretend” spiritual life
-Jim Henderson, from here.
93 countries in the world have abolished use of the death penalty. The U.S. is not one of them. This past Friday the New Mexico state legislature voted to do away with capital punishment in the state of New Mexico. The repeal of capital punishment is now awaiting New Mexico governor Bill Richarson’s signature. Richardson has said he is considering it.
The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is asking its members to lodge their opinions with Governor Richardson by calling the hotline he has set up for this purpose at +1 (505) 476-2225, or by using this contact form.
If Richardson signs the bill, New Mexico will become the 14th U.S. state to abolish the death penalty.
What are your thoughts on the arguments for and against the death penalty?
One of the ones that really gets me is the arbitrariness. I mean in one sense, life is kind of like that–some of us get to have, for instance, food, clean water, a place to live, education, etc. etc., while lots of others don’t. I don’t see why we should be sort of reiterating this arbitrariness when choosing who shall live and who shall die.
Another one that gets me is the long list of people who have been sentenced to death only to be later exonerated, some even posthumously. Seems beyond horrible to me to allow ourselves the possibility even of accidentally executing an innocent.
Thanks to Martin for the suggestion (I like this unplugged version best. Here’s a version with the lyrics for the video. Or here’s a post with the lyrics written out.)
Jon Foreman is is the lead singer of the alternative rock band Switchfoot. (You can read about them at the wiki article)
Changing Lives Through Literature is a program which was begun by a judge, a probation officer, and an english professor in the state of Masachusetts. The three founders hypothesized that exposing criminals to good literature would be more effective in reforming them than would jail time. So 8 men, with 148 convictions between them, were given probation rather than jail time, with the stipulation that they attend and complete a 12 week Modern American Literature Seminar run by the English Professor, Robert Waxler. The judge and the probation officer attended the seminar right along with the 8 men.
The results were astounding. Reading and discussing literature such as Jack London’s Sea Wolf and James d***ey’s Deliverance became a path to insight and integration for these men. This program has now expanded throughout Massachusetts and into 9 other states as well as England. Recidivism rates have been significantly lower for graduates.
I think that is astoundingly kewl. It also probably speaks to why I have managed to avoid jail time. I don’t mean to be flippant. I am thankful once again for my mom, who taught me to read and encouraged me to read through lots of little things growing up, such as making it clear that she really didn’t mind me sneakily reading under the covers with a flash light after lights out.
What literature has been transformational for you?
I was surprised to learn that March 10th is the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers here in the U.S., and has been since 1996.
Doctors, nurses and technicians are reluctant to work in clinics in anti-choice places where they will be picketed, socially ostracized and forced to protect themselves daily against possible violence. Low pay is another factor: anti-choicers love to talk about abortion as a business, but adjusted for inflation, the price of a first trimester abortion is about what it was thirty years ago, although security-related costs have skyrocketed — one reason why clinic staffers make about half what they would in another specialty
Some abortion opponents like to claim that abortion is a big profit making industry. It makes more sense to me that while perhaps a select few are making a lot of money, most people who work for “abortion providers” are people much like me, making enough money to make ends meet and trying to do something which they feel matters.
I really liked this story about a church in Virginia who invited a Planned Parenthood Representative to come and help teach their teens about preventing teen pregnancy. At the start of the evening, Elder Frankie Fells prayed
We come together as a team, working to try to pass down wisdom to the young ladies and young men who are part of this pandemic we call teen pregnancy.
Rashti, the Planned Parenthood representative, talking about her organization message, admitted that some find it difficult to hear their talk of “abstinence and ….” However she clearly had the cultural sensitivity required for her presentation, and never mentioned abortion during the church’s evening called “Teen Pregnancy: Dreams Deferred.” Instead, she encouraged the teens and the adults to talk openly about s** and what it means, and its emotional and physical consequences. Rashti, an unpaid volunteer for Planned Parenthood in Virginia, strikes me as just the sort of person who would probably me encouraged and helped in a good cause by receiving some appreciation on this day.
Articles on Rss and atom feeds, Latest Rss articles.
Rss tools that help you dealing with Rss feeds.
News Rss feeds, Health Rss feeds, Arts Rss feeds and more categories.
