Blind Kitties Ahead
January 31st, 2007
I’m trying to imagine a context in which this made sense to the person who made this sign. Found on Flickr.
Can Polyester Save the World?
January 25th, 2007
From the NY Times:
While so-called organic cotton is exemplary in the way it avoids pesticides, cotton garments squander energy because they must be washed frequently at high temperatures, and generally require tumble-drying and ironing. Sixty percent of the carbon emissions generated by a simple cotton T-shirt comes from the 25 washes and machine dryings it will require, the Cambridge study found.
A polyester blouse, by contrast, takes more energy to make, since synthetic fabric comes from materials like wood and oil. But upkeep is far more fuel-efficient, since polyester cleans more easily and dries faster.
Over a lifetime, a polyester blouse uses less energy than a cotton T-shirt.
An interesting read. Check out the full article, and also an interesting chart in the sidebar called “How ‘Green’ Is Your T-Shirt?”
Parenting Beyond Belief
January 23rd, 2007
So I’ve been doing some web consulting on the side to bring in some extra money while Jen’s on the job search again, and as a bit of a creative outlet. I’ve been doing several hours a week of web design for a guy by the name of Eliot who runs a consulting company in addition to his day job. I met Eliot through church at First Pres.
My recent project has been a ground-up design of a site for a new book that’s being published by a guy by the name of Dale McGowan who’s relationship with Eliot apparently goes back to their freshman year at Cal. Dale has edited a book called Parenting Beyond Belief, which is billed as a parenting manual for non-religious parents. Now I come from a religious background where your first reaction to a book title like this would be to scoff and dismiss it right out. And there was a time in my not too distant past where I would have towed that party line.
I’m sure that I don’t agree with everything he says, and he says up front that as the editor of a book with multiple contributors, he doesn’t neccessarily agree with each of the authors’ every position. But what struck me about Dale is that his tone is decidedly different from the stereotypical vocal secular/atheist writer. Read this quote from his FAQ on the book’s site:
Honest questioning is too often disallowed in religion, the word “values” turned on its head, and an “us-vs.-them” mentality reinforced. Many feel that fear—of God, sin, doubt, and difference—is more prevalent with religion than without, and that children often learn to obey authority rather than develop their own judgment.
Instead of in-your-face arrogance and an air of see-how-stupid-those-religious-people-are, Dale writes with a humble posture and the sincerity of an honest questioner or doubter (gasp!). Now he is clear that he’s already made up his mind that religion is a deception, and he and his wife have decided to raise their children in a non-religious home. But I have a lot of respect for parents that raise their kids to ask questions and encourage them to seriously wrestle with what they believe to be the true nature of things. Here’s one last quote from the FAQ:
So religion isn’t all bad?
Of course not. Like most human creations, it’s a mixture of good and bad. We should embrace the best elements while finding our way out of those that are undesirable. The most important freedom we can give our children is the freedom to think, to discern, to determine for themselves what’s good and what’s bad in anything. But when we place ideas beyond critique, the bad survives along with the good—and that’s not good for anyone. Only if we agree to put all of our ideas on the table can we work together to separate those ideas that are unworthy and life-destroying from those that are noble and life-affirming.
Making Sense of Time, Earthbound and Otherwise
January 23rd, 2007
An interestinig article from the NY Times:
The long and short of the universe is just that, almost exclusively long and short, with the hyperclipped quantum clickings of the atom on one end and the chasmic lollygags and foot drags of the greater cosmos on the other. We terrestrial, tweener-timed life forms are the real outliers here, the kinky boots at the party.