Under The Sun

I received a copy of this email from Zimbabwe describing the madness that is being perpetrated by Mugabe’s government.

The BBC has reported on the situation and pressure is mounting against Mugabe but as yet there has been no action.

Subject: News from Zimbabwe - PLEASE PASS ON FAR & WIDE

Please pray for these people and keep this email rolling.

A letter from Zim……
Sent in by John Winter:

I reckon that these are the last days of TKM and ZPF.
The darkest hour is always before dawn.

We are all terrified at what they are going to destroy next……..I mean they are actually plowing down brick and mortar houses and one white family with twin boys of 10 had no chance of salvaging anything when 100 riot police came in with AK’s and bulldozers and demolished their beautiful house - 5 bedrooms and pine ceilings - because it was “too close to the airport”..so we are feeling extremely insecure right now. You know - I am aware that this does not help you sleep at night, but if you do not know - how can you help?

Even if you put us in your own mental ring of light and send your guardian angels to be with us - that is a help - but I feel so cut off from you all knowing I cannot tell you what’s going on here simply because you will feel uncomfortable. There is no ways we can leave so that is not an option. I just ask that you all pray for us in the way that you know how, and let me know that you are thinking of us and sending out positive vibes… that’s all.

You can’t just be in denial and pretend its not going on. To be frank with you, its genocide in the making and if you do not believe me, read the Genocide Report by Amnesty International which says we are IN level seven (level 8 is after its happened and everyone is in denial). If you don’t want me to tell you these things then it means you have not dealt with your own fear, but it does not help me to think you are turning your back on our situation.

(more…)

American right-wingers like Tom Tancredo who want to destroy Muslim holy sites are showing how little they understand Islamic fundementalism — the Wahhabists are doing the job themselves:

Almost all of the rich and multi-layered history of the holy city is gone. The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two decades. Now the actual birthplace of the Prophet Mohamed is facing the bulldozers, with the connivance of Saudi religious authorities whose hardline interpretation of Islam is compelling them to wipe out their own heritage.

Wired News: Christians Code Heavenly Games

Christians looking to provide alternatives to the sex and violence of video games like Grand Theft Auto are trying to attract some of the PlayStation generation with more wholesome fare.

Games as an educational tool are well and good, but a coincident post by Tim Challies strikes me as relevant. In Making Christianity Better or Rock N’ Roll Worse? he writes:

Too often it seems that God is treated as just another product. Children are unable to seperate Him from the other fads that sweep through their lives when they are young. Beanie Babies and Ninja Turtles come and go. For too many children, God does the same. As long as God is all the rage they are happy to acknowledge Him, but as soon as He goes out of style, they put him in a box like all the other fads. He ends up on the top shelf, along with the Revolve Bible-zines, the “Got Jesus?” shirts, the purity rings and the WWJD bracelets. God is thrown aside as just another fad.

Guardian Unlimited Books Review: The Impact of Inequality by Richard G Wilkinson

Richard Wilkinson is a professor of social epidemiology, an expert in public health. From that vantage point he sees the world in terms of its physical and psychological wellbeing, surveying great sweeps of health statistics through sociological eyes. He has assembled a mountain of irrefutable evidence from all over the world showing the damage done by extreme inequality. However rich a country is, it will still be more dysfunctional, violent, sick and sad if the gap between social classes grows too wide. Poorer countries with fairer wealth distribution are healthier and happier than richer, more unequal nations.

As a writer of Proverbs put it:

“Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” [Proverbs 30:7-9]

The Podcast as a New Podium - New York Times

Wired News: RFID Foes Find Righteous Ally

There are many good reasons to be wary of RFID chips, but the “mark of the beast” isn’t one of them.

A useful list of vector drawing packages, many of which are free/open source.

Math Games: Vector vs. Raster