I guess it was a Facebook status update that prompted me to think about the role of individual social network sites. Should all social network sites be connected? Or should they exist somewhat independently of one another? I’m not sure, but it seems that they should stay separated to limit some of the confusion.
“Friend, here is my big news.”
“Oh yeah, I heard that on Facebook… or Twitter… or Foursquare… or somewhere on the cloud.”
“Nevermind then.”
If they are all linked together, is it preferable to have Twitter followers get exactly what the friends on Facebook receive? I can’t help but think of the Office episode in which Ryan uses Woof to “link” everything together.
Maybe it’s just best that it is up to the user to decide for the time being. So if you want to be my friend, befriend me on Facebook; if you want to follow me, follow me on Twitter; and if you want to know where I am, find me on Foursquare.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
I failed to blog about a project for which I was recruited as director of photography. ”Heaven’s Touch” is the name, and it was produced by Blair Hanns and directed by Christian Sutton. Check out other photos from the set here.
I have noticed that it takes increasingly less involved activities for myself to enjoy it. In other words, it just doesn’t take as much for me to have a pleasant time nowadays. I mean that when I was young, I thought an exhausting day at a theme park was necessary for me to really have a good time. This included spending money, walking until my feet hurt, body sweat, and a sick stomach from way too much cotton candy. No doubt, this can be fun at times, but overall, it’s pretty tiresome. Now I find it totally enjoyable to just have an absence of activities.
Some kind of old, rock song is blaring in my ears while I take a short jog on the road close to my house. Thriving on the vitamin D, I am soaking up the sun on this 72 degree day with only one fear: dogs.
I see one… then two… then six dogs slowly approaching me. I stop. Then, they stop. This is totally unusual. In the meantime, an old Astro van has passed, and then I see the reverse lights. The van cruises up beside me and I hear an old man ask, “Pack of wild dogs, eh?”
There is an awkward silence. The handicapped passenger gives a blank stare at me. I concur and then, oddly enough, I find myself getting in this van. After 100 yards down the road and a short story about an animal cruelty lawsuit, I climb out of the van. I start my chronograph and watch the generous duo slowly pull away.
I am thankful for the short breather, but even more relieved I didn’t have to act as some afternoon entertainment for a pack of mischievous beasts.
I respect Richard Dawkins and his scholarship. I wanted to share a letter from The Greatest Show on Earth written by Dawkins and several others, including bishops, to Tony Blair about their concern for teaching science in the classroom. I find the letter interesting and Dawkins uses it in the beginning of the book to introduce some other compelling ideas about the coexistence of science and Christianity.
Dear Prime Minister,
We write as a group of scientists and Bishops to express our concern about the teaching of science in the Emmanuel City Technology College in Gateshead.
Evolution is a scientific theory of great explanatory power, able to account for a wide range of phenomenon in a number of disciplines. It can be refined, confirmed and even radically altered by attention to evidence. It is not, as spokesmen for the college maintain, a ‘faith position’ in the same category as the biblical account of creation which has a different function and purpose.
The issue goes wider than what is currently being taught in one college. There is a growing anxiety about what will be taught and how it will be taught in the new generation of proposed faith schools. We believe that the curricula in such schools, as well as that of Emmanuel City Technology College, need to be strictly monitored in order that the respective disciplines of science and religious studies are properly respected.
Yours sincerely,
The Right Reverend Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford
Sir David Attenborough, FRS
The Right Reverend Christopher Herbert, Bishop of St Albans
Lord May of Oxford, President of the Royal Society
Professor John Enderby, FRS, Physical Secretary, Royal Society
The Right Reverend John Oliver, Bishop of Hereford
The Right Reverend Mark Santer, Bishop of Birmingham
Sir Neil Chalmers, Director, Natural History Museum
The Right Reverend Thomas Butler, Bishop of Southwark
Sir Martin Rees, FRS, Astronomer Royal
The Right Reverend Kenneth Stevenson, Bishop of Portsmouth
Professor Patrick Bateson, FRS, Biological Secretary, Royal Society
The Right Reverend Crispian Hollis, Roman Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth
Sir Richard Southwood, FRS, Past Biological Secretary, Royal Society
Sir Francis Graham-Smith, FRS, Past Physical Secretary, Royal Society
