The Wanderer

We've been really enjoying the weekly challenge we've been getting at church this month about how "God is green."  Our teaching paster, Rob Bell, has been teaching a series by that name (and inviting in outsiders to discuss the same).  We've been trying to make some changes in our lives to be more green like God.  Here's a quick list--some things implemented, other still under investigation.  Who knows, maybe you'll be inspired too:

• Changing our incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescents
• More open windows, less A/C
• Signing up for a drop-off recycling program run by the county where we live
• Walking and riding our bike if we can (tough one where we live)
• Buying and eating locally produced food, primarily at the local farmers market
• We're looking into growing some of our own food
• Our next car purchase will probably be a Honda Civic Hybrid
• I'm seriously looking into vermiculture for our food waste
• We're buying more environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies and other home products
• I'm looking into our power company's green generation program where, with a 1.6 cent-per-KwH charge, all our power comes from renewable sources.  Specifically 70% wind and 30% land-fill gas.  All together, this would probably cost us an average of $15 month.
• Brooke signed us up for GreenDimes, a service that saves trees and water and reduces carbon emissions by reducing the amount of junk mail we receive...everybody wins!

I'm looking for more good ideas.  Hit me with a comment if you have any.

Sermon links (mp3):
"Serve God, Save the Planet" author Matthew Sleeth
Crackus Drivewaya Michiganus - Rob Bell
Towers and Tomatoes - Rob Bell
*UPDATE: The New Seatbelt - Rob Bell & Matt Krick

This Wired article (non-subscribers: Wired is not one of those mags that usually writes breathlessly about flying cars and cyborgs...you're thinking of Popular Science/Mechanics) talks about an Irish company, Steorn, that claims to have stumbled onto a true "perpectual motion" machine--a machine that produces more energy than it uses.  They are currently accepting scientist volunteers to validate their claims.  Count me very skeptical but interested...

Steorn: http://www.steorn.net/frontpage/default.aspx
Video Mirror: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1784833525509845733

For all you Lost fans out there...

Today I just reading this news story about the Supreme Court allowing constitutional challenges to lethal injection by death row inmates.  This prompted me to decide that I should bone up a little on the history of the US Bill of Rights.  After all, it has been a few years since high school government class. 

Anyway, I read about how the framers of the US Constitution were influenced by the English philosopher John Locke and his "natural rights."  Suddenly it hit me that this philosophers name was the same as a character on ABC's Lost.  Sure enough, turns out there are significant enough philosophical and other similarities between the two Lockes to assume that the writers planted this information purposely.  The similarities included the fact that the fictional Locke's father is named Anthony Cooper and the real Locke's mentor was named Lord Anthony Ashley-Cooper. 

I find it amazing and intriguing that the writers of Lost are putting that much thought into the details of the story.

Update: (Thanks, Avesh)
 • Desmond (David) Hume
 • Danielle Rousseau

Frontline: The Age of AIDS (Full video available online) - The topic of this "look-back" special is likely to be the defining issue of our generation, and yet it's amazing to see how far we've come in the past 20 years. It wasn't that long ago that the President went on TV and failed to assure the public that HIV wasn't spread through casual contact--not because that information wasn't known to science, just because ignorance was that wide-spread. I highly recommend this refresher on the history of the HIV/AIDS emergency.

With a potential AT&T/BellSouth merger in the works, I thought it would be a good idea to brush up on the history of the bell system, or Ma Bell.

Pat Robertson is an embarrassment to the church and a danger to American politics. . .

I've been wishing for a long time that I could find some good compare/contrast information about social health like Canada's versus a completely free market system like ours in the US.  I've heard a lot of arguments from both sides by people who I was suspicious might have agendas, so I wasn't sure who to believe.  The wikipedia had this great article that was just what I needed, and I thought you would all find it interesting and informative.  I also found an interesting article related to this topic at the Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference website.

• Canadian and American Health Care Systems Compared
• Health Care Systems: An International Comparison