Matthew Henry John Bartlett

Better ideas for the NZX building scroller on the Wellington waterfront

Archbishop Rowan on St Benedict, the Rule and geopolitics

A Mormon on Hauerwas, polygamy, religious freedom

As you may recall, I recently posted a comment inviting you all to come to is the first of our monthly letter writing events. Take the number 23 bus and get off after you see Mikey Ds and you’re nearly at our doorstep.

“…if anyone wants to complain/congratulate Helen or any other of our governing class feel free to come along to our last of Sunday of the month letter writing afternoon. There’ll be pens and paper and envelopes and pots of tea and snacks. Maybe you could direct your ideas about governing our country to the people doing it. Some folks (Sir Ron Oxburgh amongst others) say it’s the best way to effect change in legislation. Even National supporters welcome. 16 Russell Tce Newtown Wellington from one til the tea runs out.”

If no one shows it’ll just be matt and I trying to be optimistic that everyone might just be running a bit late but really feeling very forlorn indeed as we sip our tea and scribble fearsomely intelligent/grumpy things to our MPs. And we don’t want that happening now do we, children?

Interview with Haudenosaunee leader agin private property, for responsibility

Quality post-op discussion on The Bypass
Some quite good Will Ferrell shouting [streaming video]
The smallest possible garden you could live off

Who is/are the smartest person/people you know (of)?

Procrastination equation [via Richie F]
Stephen Webb on Stanley Hauerwas

Bel’s account of the highs and lows of Onaero

New retrospective song of 2006: “While you sleep”, from The Muttonbirds’ Live in Manchester CD.

Also, drugs are the opiate of the masses.

rummaging through Google’s data warehouse
God saw
the most fascinating patterns

An idea for a big hotel stuck into the side of a quarry in China

As a sort of light relief to debate on Climate Change and interpretations of scriptures I thought I would introduce ya’ll to Kathy’s DVD Review Time. Catchy, no?

I’m currently addicted to watching dvds. It’s fairly a indefensible pasttime, especially when used to help ones young child fall asleep but it does give me something to blog about and heaven knows it’s been too long. You will learn not to expect a measured, well thought out review. And the punctuation may be a little patchy. Apart from my main aim (to rant) I am hoping that if I commit to publicly reviewing every dvd I watch perhaps it will lift the tone of them somewhat. I am well known in our household as having the worst of all possible taste in dvds but you know, I aim to improve and perhaps this will help (I largely blame the pickings at our local United Video). (more…)

May 2006 Leonard Cohen interview [streaming audio]

Welcome to the first instantation of my NYR to summarise all the worthy nonfiction I read, in the hope that more of it will stick, not wash over me like knowledge off a duck’s back. Can you feel it? The personal development vibes are palpable! It’s the chapter “‘Sleeping giants’: surprises in the climate and Earth system” by Will Steffen, from Confronting Climate Change: Critical Issues for New Zealand, edited by Ralph Chapman, Jonathan Boston and Margot Schwass. So:

Science done since the IPCC’s Third Assessment Report in 2001 shows that global warming is likely to be in the upper range of IPCC estimates. Three areas contribute to this likelihood:

• Climate sensitivity: The effect of aerosol masking in the troposphere (the lowest part of the earth’s atmosphere) is uncertain. Aerosols include industrial polutants and smoke from wood fires, and work to some extent against global warming. We want to remove aerosols, as they are a health hazard, and as they’re removed their masking effect will go too, there may be a corresponding surge in warming global warming. (more…)