September 30, 2004
Silence is a Israeli-made cellphone jamming device
The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Mexico churches find way to jam cellphones
MEXICO CITY — Fed up with cellphones ringing during Mass, four Catholic churches in Monterrey, Mexico, are taking extreme measures to silence them.
They are illegally jamming cellphone signals with Israeli-made transmitters, the kind used to protect embassies and presidential motorcades from bugs and bombs detonated by phone.
"These devices have solved a very big problem for us," said Gloria Cardenas Aguero, secretary at the Rosario church. "This time in church belongs to God, and you should respect it."
Interesting. On the one hand we have churches strategizing to use cell phones during church services and on the other hand we have churches buying illegal jamming devices to silence them.
What a world we live in.
Hat tip: Leah.
Update: Mount St. Helens is a bit "rumbly in its tumbly"
According to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest "Special Conditions" report:
A "Volcano Advisory" — Level II — was issued at 10:40 a.m. Wednesday morning, Sept. 29, 2004. A "Volcano Advisory" means that USGS has determined that "processes are underway that could culminate in hazardous volcanic activity, but the evidence does not indicate that a life or property threatening event is imminent." USGS issued this "Advisory" based on accelerated seismic activity at Mount St. Helens — 3 to 4 earthquakes per minute as of Wednesday morning and preliminary measurements showing a slight 1-2 centimeter movement in the dome, caused by earthquakes over the past five days.
No imminent threat is seen for life or property at the present time.
However, the local news is having field day spreading FUD to as many people as humanly possible. Last night I was with a group of 3rd grade girls who were nearly frantic saying, "The volcano is going to explode any minute!" While Mt. St. Helens might experience some eruptions in the near geologic future, I highly doubt it could "top" its last experience — unless it pulls a "Mt. Mazama" on us. 9/30/04
Heard on the news this morning (9/28) that the Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam is online. The volcano has been rattling a bit over the past few days, so I guess getting the VolcanoCam back online was reprioritized.
Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam - Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
September 27, 2004
Kylia Praise: 2 months, 1 day
Two-month pictures posted of Kylia Praise at the Gallery...taken at Mom and Dad's house. (We were celebrating Mom's birthday.) Similar close-up style pics were taken of Adalie Grace when she was about a month old.
Adalie Grace
Kylia Praise
I have sweet beautiful nieces. Wow.
Off Topic: Albatrosses Sleep in the Air
Google Cached
albatrosses
sleep
air:
- Albatross Flies Off Course to New Jersey
- Arctic Studies Center: Laysan Albatross Diomedea immutabilis
- WSDOT Environmental Services: Phoebastria albatrus: Short-tailed Albatross
Lest you think I knew this when I woke up this morning: Hat Tip: VJ, who just blurted out moments ago, "Albatrosses Sleep in the Air." I just knew this had to be the first entry in a new category, "Off Topic." (Now if only web developers could sleep while coding...now that would be something. Dreaming in code? Been there, done that.)
Happy awaking, this beautiful Monday morning.
A Continuing Shame
"Native Americans came in great numbers to Washington last week, partly to celebrate, partly to correct a historic injustice. The occasion was the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall - a vivid reminder of the profound cultural and symbolic legacy of America's indigenous peoples. In the background, however, was a continuing lawsuit, whose purpose is to restore to the Indians assets and revenues that are rightfully theirs."
Read the rest of: A Continuing Shame by Editorial Board, New York Times
September 24, 2004
Indigenous people have enjoyed only small gains in past decade: UN expert
Nothing really new, just an article for my "archives."
Indigenous people have enjoyed only small gains in past decade: UN expert
September 23, 2004
Outside my window: Rally to Pass the Dream Act
Outside my window (which is, more relevantly, outside Senator Smith's window across the street) Oregon farmworkers and immigrant rights activists are rallying for the Senator's support of the Dream Act. If awareness of the Act was one of PCUN's goals, they certainly succeeded with me. I hadn't heard of the Act until going into the World Trade Center's ground floor Starbucks, outside of which activists were about to begin the march around the WTC, where Senator Smith's office is located. The group of activists are predominately young people, who, according to the PCUN website are part of a larger two-week statewide fast that started in Medford two weeks ago.
There's more info at PCUN - Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United.
The bill number is S. 1545. (Search on THOMAS for Bill Number S 1545 for more info.)
September 15, 2004
File drawer: Damages awarded in Romero case
Damages awarded in Romero case (National Catholic Reporter, Issue Date: September 17, 2004)
September 14, 2004
Ideas
A couple of ideas for visual communcations, interactivity and just plain being engaged while in the midst of a fellowship of believers:
Both ideas found on Andrew Jones' blog (TallSkinnyKiwi). Thanks again for more great ideas and insights.
September 10, 2004
Flannery O'Connor on the Church
I think that the Church is the only thing that is going to make the terrible world we are coming to endurable; the only thing that makes the Church endurable is that it is somehow the body of Christ and that on this we are fed. It seems to be a fact that you have to suffer as much from the Church as for it but if you believe in the divinity of Christ, you have to cherish the world at the same time that you struggle to endure it.
—Flannery O'Connor
The Habit of Being
Quoted in Flannery O' Connor and the Christ Haunted South by Ralph C. Wood
September 09, 2004
On accountability
An editorial on what should be the implications and relevance of the Romero assassination case, reopened after 24 years: that in a campaigning atmosphere in which debate centers around a contest of "who is the best warrior" and "who can keep belligerents accountable", accountability should rather be directed inwardly, at the United States own record of belligerance and warriorlike behavior.
In our effort to gather the best intelligence on terrorists, might we devote the same or greater effort on examining what we already know about our own involvement in the injustices of the world -- and seek to hold ourselves accountable for our actions. Now there's an idea. That could keep us busy for quite some time. And our national soul would be the better for it.
Read this Editorial: Holding Ourselves Accountable (National Catholic Reporter, Issue Date: September 10, 2004).
Alvaro Rafael Saravia found liable for Archbishop Oscar Romero's 1980 assassination
Rigoberta Menchú Tum: "Nearly 25 years after Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated while celebrating Mass in San Salvador, a chance for justice has finally appeared. In a landmark lawsuit, a federal judge in California ruled Friday that a former Salvadoran air force officer now living in the United States must pay $10 million to the family of the late archbishop." Continue reading the article (International Herald Tribune) » IHT: Lawsuit in California: Justice catches up with a Guatemalan murder
Incidentally, if the story of Romero's life and death is unfamiliar to you, I highly recommend the movie, aptly titled, Romero. (Nearby friends or family: I own this movie if you want to borrow it.) I believe I first saw this movie in one of my Intercultural Studies classes at Biola. I think it was a Harold Dollar class. Can't remember which. But seeing that movie triggered a huge turning point in my life. It sparked my interest in human rights and justice related issues and the responsibility of the church to integrate these issues in its gospel witness. This movie isn't for the faint of heart; but, if you're wrestling with how the gospel interfaces with culture and politics, this movie may profoundly impact your soul.
September 08, 2004
Flashback: Adbusters Posts Timeline of U.S. Interventions, 1801-2004
This interactive timeline is "an archive of 163 US Interventions, a multi-faceted catalogue of coups, humanitarian incursions, covert actions, proxy armies, freedom fighters/terrorists and multilateral offensives. Out of this legacy, a complex picture emerges." (From the introduction.)
[Flash required] ADBUSTERS : Hope and Memory
September 07, 2004
Lost in Debate: An International Agreement of Human Rights for Indigenous People Groups
Six years ago last spring I was finishing up two projects to fufill course requirements for my bachelor's degree in Intercultural Studies at Biola University. One was a paper arguing that missionaries have a responsibility toward human rights of indigenous people groups and the other was an annotated bibilography on the same subject - but also encompassing the debate between anthropologists and missionaries on the subject of human rights. Ten years have passed and I have done little to follow up on the subject. I still have all my notes, all my citations, a paper in dire need of a rewrite. One of my primary resources was the Draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Groups. I remember I put each article on a note card and practically had them all memorized by the end of it. But when I have gone to reopen my resesarch, I notice a peculiar thing, the Draft UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Groups doesn't have a "Final" counterpart. After all these years, it's still in "Draft" form.
I'm encouraged to see that this hasn't escaped the notice of Amnesty International. They have issued an action item urging their constituents to write to at least one of four governments in key roles in the debate: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. I will be drafting a letter myself in the coming weeks and will post it here when I have finished it, for anyone who might be interested.
Read the full Amnesty plea (it's not long at all):
Population Growth ?= Healthier Environment
The New York Times > Week in Review > People and Pollution: A Greener Globe, Maybe
(From Dean Baker's Outstanding Stories of the Week list. Subscribe to Economic Reporting Review here.)
AlertNet: SAT MAP - confirmed damaged and destroyed villages in Darfur
According to this item on AlertNet, "This satellite map shows how USAID is using satellite imagery to map the extent of damage to villages caught in the Sudan conflict."
View the full-sized map here (in PDF format).
