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Sunday/Monday blogs round-up - 03 October 2010
Tags archbishop cranmer, archdruid eileen, beaker folk of husborne crawley, bishop alan wilson, bishop nick baines, bloggers, blogs round-up, changing attitude, coe, colin coward, cyborgs, daily telegraph, damian thompson, david gorski, david hayward, druid network, druidry, england, jamie vernon, kyle munkittrick, leonard cohen, mammography, mammoth, medicine, medievalism, naked pastor, nature's whispers, paganism, quiet babylon, religion, rob holmes, ruth evans, satanism, science, science not fiction, science-based medicine. slacktivist, significant truths, sswsh, suem, synods, the church mouse, tim maly, transhumanism, women, women bishops
As usual, here are ten blog posts (or topics with more than one blog post on them) I found in the wider blogosphere in the last week or so (roughly speaking), and felt to be interesting or worthy, and all quite random - keep in mind, I may totally disagree with any one blog post mentioned here, but I felt it worthy of mention.
Jamie Vernon blogs on, "The key to success for women in science is not men but they can help". It's also worthwhile reading his previous blog piece, "How will your daughter experience science in the future?". So, like, not just the CoE with problems, but science too. Who woulda thunk it? Long ways to go yet for society - as a whole. You may note that my blog does quietly address the issue often.
David Gorski over on the Science-Based Medicine Blog has a post up: "The mammography wars heat up again". It may be very long, but all the issues involved are complex, and the read is worth it. Keep in mind that the medicine mammography wars affect very much health-insurance in the USA, in regard to screenings being covered or not.
Slacktivist does a good job of exposing Christine O'Donnell, Mike Warnke and the imaginary Satanists. The wider issue is quite important and far-reaching, and I will blog myself about it later.
David Hayward of the blog Naked Pastor has now got a book out, "naked pastor 101". See more info on how to get it here.
Bishop Alan Wilson, in "Magical Mystery Election Candidates?", reveals that a few use astroturfing, entryism and similar tactics in dirty pool in Church of England General Synod elections, and in a comment under his blog post, that the actual number of those in the CoE utterly determined against women bishops is extremely small, despite much hard campaigning by those segments. I do object to that he blames the media (the papers) for the public perception of that number being much greater; the perception was created by those segments with their power-plays themselves. The media basically pass on what they see, and the Synod votes on women bishops weren't all that convincingly overwhelming for one side. This issue is not the media's fault; they're supposed to provide coverage and balance, and it's asking a bit too much of them to make dedicated investigations. However, it's a very good blog post from Bishop Alan, with great follow-up in comments.
Archbishop Cranmer (again) really objects to both some private schools being subjected to "public benefit" tests before being awarded charity status. He also objects to Druidry being recognised as a religion, all in a blog post titled, "As schools lose charitable status, Druids are recognised for charity tax-breaks". In that blog post, he writes, "There is no logical end to the pandering to superstition". I think I see a bit of whitewater navigating ahead for him. The blogger The Church Mouse also addresses the issue of Druidry in Britain and the "public benefit" tests; look for a marvellous reply in comments under that from Archdruid Eileen in reply to a comment by Ed. Additionally, Archdruid Eileen makes her own separate blog post too about the issues; be warned, the blog Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley is not for those who are literalists, or who insist upon ah, ah, ah, muggle-like narrative. In a bit more straightforward fashion, Jasmine of the blog Natures' Whispers is simply very glad the Druid Network got official recognition.
Damian Thompson of the Daily Telegraph this time wantonly abandons us atheists as a target, and ruthlessly, taking no prisoners, goes for the throat of the Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda (SSWSH) from no less than four different directions, in four different but consecutive blog posts (keep in mind Damian Thompson is a conservative Catholic):
And on that other issue, gays in the Anglican Communion and the CoE, Colin Coward on his blog Changing Attitude makes a very powerful post.
Bishop Nick Baines does Leonard Cohen and Terry Eagleton together in one blog post. That should be worthy of mention, although he doesn't give any narrative bridge between the two. It's a bit harder to make a bridge than it looks, since Leonard Cohen, while using a ton of religious imagery juxtaposed with secular imagery in his songs, never really sings about belief or disbelief, not even in his song Suzanne. It would be cheating - too easy, far too facile, and untrue - to use Suzanne as a narrative bridge between Cohen and Eagleton, so how about using his song Field Commander Cohen instead? The connection needs a bit of work (though one hint as to connection is the terror-of-be/ing both write about in all their respective works), but it's there, in a positive as well as challenging way:
And now one for the transhumanists among us, but also with a religious theme for everyone. This may only be one, for the transhumanists hiding like Pod People among us, but it's a honking big one, so can some kind reader please inform Dagny and 333 that they should be bloody well reading my blog, or else they will miss gems like this one? First off, Ruth Evans, a medievalist, makes a guest blog post on the blog Quiet Babylon about: "Surviving in an alien environment: human + Christ as medieval natural-born cyborg". Then after that, Tim Maly, the usual blogger on Quiet Babylon, co-writes a blog post with Rob Holmes (of the blog Mammoth), on "Wearable Ethics", Not to be outdone, Rob Holmes on Mammoth blogs about "Fake cyborgs". Then they and forty-eight other transhumanist bloggers all make posts for a 50-post tumblr -- see "50 posts about cyborgs". Thanks to Kyle Munkittrick on the blog Science Not Fiction for the initial heads-up. Like I said, this blogs round-up entry is one, but a honking big one. I may be only a humanist, and not a transhumanist, but I'm a bloody helpful humanist.
That's it for this week, ten issues, with respective blog posts garnered from the four winds' quarters.
Trackbacks used in this post:
http://disqus.com/forums/telegraphbl...ate/trackback/
http://disqus.com/forums/telegraphbl...ery/trackback/
http://disqus.com/forums/telegraphbl...sts/trackback/
http://disqus.com/forums/telegraphbl...one/trackback/
http://jlvernonphd.tumblr.com/post/1...s-not-men-but#
http://jlvernonphd.tumblr.com/post/1...cience-in-the#
http://nickbaines.wordpress.com/2010...eek/trackback/
http://quietbabylon.com/2010/survivi...org/trackback/
http://quietbabylon.com/2010/wearable-ethics/trackback/
http://m.ammoth.us/blog/2010/09/fake-cyborgs/trackback/
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sc...rgs/trackback/
Comments are welcome! Please keep in mind if you are not registered that comments posted here to this blog post may take a while to appear, since they go onto a moderation queue, owing to a recent flood of spammers. The answer to the so-called "Random Question" is always "human", no quote marks.
Jamie Vernon blogs on, "The key to success for women in science is not men but they can help". It's also worthwhile reading his previous blog piece, "How will your daughter experience science in the future?". So, like, not just the CoE with problems, but science too. Who woulda thunk it? Long ways to go yet for society - as a whole. You may note that my blog does quietly address the issue often.
David Gorski over on the Science-Based Medicine Blog has a post up: "The mammography wars heat up again". It may be very long, but all the issues involved are complex, and the read is worth it. Keep in mind that the medicine mammography wars affect very much health-insurance in the USA, in regard to screenings being covered or not.
Slacktivist does a good job of exposing Christine O'Donnell, Mike Warnke and the imaginary Satanists. The wider issue is quite important and far-reaching, and I will blog myself about it later.
David Hayward of the blog Naked Pastor has now got a book out, "naked pastor 101". See more info on how to get it here.
Bishop Alan Wilson, in "Magical Mystery Election Candidates?", reveals that a few use astroturfing, entryism and similar tactics in dirty pool in Church of England General Synod elections, and in a comment under his blog post, that the actual number of those in the CoE utterly determined against women bishops is extremely small, despite much hard campaigning by those segments. I do object to that he blames the media (the papers) for the public perception of that number being much greater; the perception was created by those segments with their power-plays themselves. The media basically pass on what they see, and the Synod votes on women bishops weren't all that convincingly overwhelming for one side. This issue is not the media's fault; they're supposed to provide coverage and balance, and it's asking a bit too much of them to make dedicated investigations. However, it's a very good blog post from Bishop Alan, with great follow-up in comments.
Archbishop Cranmer (again) really objects to both some private schools being subjected to "public benefit" tests before being awarded charity status. He also objects to Druidry being recognised as a religion, all in a blog post titled, "As schools lose charitable status, Druids are recognised for charity tax-breaks". In that blog post, he writes, "There is no logical end to the pandering to superstition". I think I see a bit of whitewater navigating ahead for him. The blogger The Church Mouse also addresses the issue of Druidry in Britain and the "public benefit" tests; look for a marvellous reply in comments under that from Archdruid Eileen in reply to a comment by Ed. Additionally, Archdruid Eileen makes her own separate blog post too about the issues; be warned, the blog Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley is not for those who are literalists, or who insist upon ah, ah, ah, muggle-like narrative. In a bit more straightforward fashion, Jasmine of the blog Natures' Whispers is simply very glad the Druid Network got official recognition.
Damian Thompson of the Daily Telegraph this time wantonly abandons us atheists as a target, and ruthlessly, taking no prisoners, goes for the throat of the Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda (SSWSH) from no less than four different directions, in four different but consecutive blog posts (keep in mind Damian Thompson is a conservative Catholic):
- "Anglo-Catholicism crumbles as traditionalists prepare to enter the Ordinariate" (September 30)
. - "Who exactly is behind 'The Society of St Hinge and St Bracket'?" An Anglo-Catholic mystery (also September 30)
. - "The 'Society of Saint Wilfrid and Saint Hilda' will lead Anglo-Catholics in the direction of women priests" (October 03)
. - "More on 'Hinge and Bracket': is the Church of England trying to pull a fast one?" (October 04)
And on that other issue, gays in the Anglican Communion and the CoE, Colin Coward on his blog Changing Attitude makes a very powerful post.
Bishop Nick Baines does Leonard Cohen and Terry Eagleton together in one blog post. That should be worthy of mention, although he doesn't give any narrative bridge between the two. It's a bit harder to make a bridge than it looks, since Leonard Cohen, while using a ton of religious imagery juxtaposed with secular imagery in his songs, never really sings about belief or disbelief, not even in his song Suzanne. It would be cheating - too easy, far too facile, and untrue - to use Suzanne as a narrative bridge between Cohen and Eagleton, so how about using his song Field Commander Cohen instead? The connection needs a bit of work (though one hint as to connection is the terror-of-be/ing both write about in all their respective works), but it's there, in a positive as well as challenging way:
... Abandon fields and castles,
Leave it all and like a man,
Come back to nothing special.
Such as waiting-rooms and ticket-lines,
Silver-bullet suicides,
And messianic ocean-tides,
And racial roller-coaster rides,
And other forms of boredom advertised as poetry.
And now one for the transhumanists among us, but also with a religious theme for everyone. This may only be one, for the transhumanists hiding like Pod People among us, but it's a honking big one, so can some kind reader please inform Dagny and 333 that they should be bloody well reading my blog, or else they will miss gems like this one? First off, Ruth Evans, a medievalist, makes a guest blog post on the blog Quiet Babylon about: "Surviving in an alien environment: human + Christ as medieval natural-born cyborg". Then after that, Tim Maly, the usual blogger on Quiet Babylon, co-writes a blog post with Rob Holmes (of the blog Mammoth), on "Wearable Ethics", Not to be outdone, Rob Holmes on Mammoth blogs about "Fake cyborgs". Then they and forty-eight other transhumanist bloggers all make posts for a 50-post tumblr -- see "50 posts about cyborgs". Thanks to Kyle Munkittrick on the blog Science Not Fiction for the initial heads-up. Like I said, this blogs round-up entry is one, but a honking big one. I may be only a humanist, and not a transhumanist, but I'm a bloody helpful humanist.
That's it for this week, ten issues, with respective blog posts garnered from the four winds' quarters.
Trackbacks used in this post:
http://disqus.com/forums/telegraphbl...ate/trackback/
http://disqus.com/forums/telegraphbl...ery/trackback/
http://disqus.com/forums/telegraphbl...sts/trackback/
http://disqus.com/forums/telegraphbl...one/trackback/
http://jlvernonphd.tumblr.com/post/1...s-not-men-but#
http://jlvernonphd.tumblr.com/post/1...cience-in-the#
http://nickbaines.wordpress.com/2010...eek/trackback/
http://quietbabylon.com/2010/survivi...org/trackback/
http://quietbabylon.com/2010/wearable-ethics/trackback/
http://m.ammoth.us/blog/2010/09/fake-cyborgs/trackback/
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sc...rgs/trackback/
Comments are welcome! Please keep in mind if you are not registered that comments posted here to this blog post may take a while to appear, since they go onto a moderation queue, owing to a recent flood of spammers. The answer to the so-called "Random Question" is always "human", no quote marks.
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What - the Beaker Folk are back? Hurray... didn't realise - thank-you Gurdur.
Btw no one would guess you are an Aussie atheist living in Germany from your list. You look like a disgruntled CofE priest who used to be a medic
Perhaps you have missed your calling
Enjoy the round-upsPosted 04-Oct-2010 at 08:25 AM (08:25) by Lesley 
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Yup. Gurdur - The - Grey - sees - all.Quote:Originally Posted by Lesley
What - the Beaker Folk are back?
I ... don't let myself get too stereotypical.Quote:Btw no one would guess you are an Aussie atheist living in Germany from your list.
Cruel.Quote:You look like a disgruntled CofE priest who used to be a medic
Only as an archbishop who would have made Genghis Khan look like a sentimental wussy.Quote:Perhaps you have missed your calling
Thanks!Quote:Enjoy the round-ups
Posted 04-Oct-2010 at 08:42 AM (08:42) by Gurdur 
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Trying to work out whether there is a stereotype you could fit.. I think you are unique in my experience anyway, but if I find another Aussie-German-atheist-son of a preacherman (one of my favourite songs btw), I may find you are typical!
Posted 04-Oct-2010 at 08:47 AM (08:47) by Lesley
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Tell me, and I'll have it destroyed immediately.Quote:Originally Posted by Lesley
Trying to work out whether there is a stereotype you could fit.
Thanks! You don't know the half of it.Quote:I think you are unique
(*long sustained bout of diplomatic coughing, hem hem hem*) 
Oooer, what I could say here.Quote:in my experience anyway,
There - Can - Be - Only - One.Quote:but if I find another Aussie-German-atheist-son of a preacherman (one of my favourite songs btw), I may find you are typical!
Posted 04-Oct-2010 at 08:51 AM (08:51) by Gurdur
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And you act like -I- scare you?Quote:Originally Posted by Gurdur
Only as an archbishop who would have made Genghis Khan look like a sentimental wussy.
edit: Wait, you're a PK, Gurdur? Ouch. >.<
No wonder you're an atheist!Posted 04-Oct-2010 at 04:19 PM (16:19) by Makbawehuh
Updated 04-Oct-2010 at 04:41 PM (16:41) by Makbawehuh -
Well now. Still true.Quote:Originally Posted by Makbawehuh
And you act like -I- scare you?
Such is life.Quote:edit: Wait, you're a PK, Gurdur? Ouch. >.<
No wonder you're an atheist!Posted 04-Oct-2010 at 06:43 PM (18:43) by Gurdur
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Secretly a vicar?
I think that's about right - you really do look like a C of E cleric. Much more than I do, or for that matter Revd Lesley.
Thanks for your reference to my "friend" Eileen. They'll be lighting a tea light for you.Posted 05-Oct-2010 at 12:22 AM (00:22) by gerrardus -
Secretly a vicar?
Quote:Originally Posted by gerrardus
Secretly a vicar?
No, no, I may be secretly lots of things, but not a vicar.
The nearest I would get would be to be a medieval heretic archbishop with a distinct liking for the axe and mace, burning down Rome and Vatican, and for telling Calvin to go take a hike or else.
Quote:I think that's about right - you really do look like a C of E cleric. Much more than I do, or for that matter Revd Lesley.
It's probably that general air of surrealness about me.
Quote:Thanks for your reference to my "friend" Eileen. They'll be lighting a tea light for you.
Better than what the angry villagers usually want to do to me, which is burn me on top of a heap of tea-light candles.Posted 05-Oct-2010 at 03:04 AM (03:04) by Gurdur
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Secretly a vicar?
Quote:Originally Posted by Gurdur
Better than what the angry villagers usually want to do to me, which is burn me on top of a heap of tea-light candles.
Never again the burning times!
*falls over laughing*Posted 05-Oct-2010 at 05:54 AM (05:54) by Makbawehuh
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You've been quoted:
No place for literalistsPosted 15-Oct-2010 at 06:31 PM (18:31) by muddleglum
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Many thanks for the alert! I could have easily missed it, otherwise.Quote:Originally Posted by muddleglum
You've been quoted:
No place for literalists
Going to do a special blog-post soonish in honour of the Beaker Folk.Posted 15-Oct-2010 at 07:15 PM (19:15) by Gurdur
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Sunday/Monday blogs round-up - 03 October 2010 - blog by Gurdur - Blogs on the Heathen Hub
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