Atlas of True Names

This seems to bring together two of my favourite things: language and maps. I'm not convinced that the etymologies are always just so, but it's fun anyhow. I feel vindicated when I look at where Dublin is and it says 'Blackpool': as a child I remember finding out what the Gaelic meant and finding it amusing that there was a Blackpool on both sides of the Irish Sea -sorry that should be Westland Sea, perhaps. I also like that the Land of Strangers gives the sense of 'Wales' and the Mountains of Fellow Countrymen gives something of the sense of the Welsh (strangers') word for Wales, 'Cymru' (pr "come ree" if you're speaking a version of English where that first vowel is not like in 'foot'). Have a look.Atlas of True Names

Historicisation of God's being

I've just recently come across this article (and it's worth noting that this site makes a number of academic articles available in full). It is an examination of Some of Karl Barth's thought in relation to resurrection and God's eternity. I was drawn to it because the title "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Karl Barth and the Historicization of God's Being" seemed to offer some help with my own project of interpreting the atonement as a historicising of God's being -those weren't the words I had been using to describe the insight I was trying to develop, but there was a sense of recognition when I saw it.
Here's a quote from Barth which seems to go to the heart of the matter:

in the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have to do with a movement and action which took place not merely in human history but first and foremost in God Himself, a movement and action in which Jesus Christ as the Son of God . . . [is] a pure object and recipient of God [the Father's] . . . free and pure grace which as such can only be received, and the historical fulfilment of which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

and

'the resurrection . . . took place . . . not merely in human history but first and foremost in God himself'

Now that is very helpful in making a case for events in the history of the Christ being out-showings of God's 'inner' being. What I want to do, I think, is a bit harder: that the cross is an out-showing of God's forgiving. This may be harder because it is something that is more fully dependent on contingent being; fallen humanity needing forgiveness.

I think that my approach will be to start with the human experience of forgiveness, practical theology style; to analyse some of the more important aspects of forgiving and to relate those to divine forgiveness (including, wrath, love, mercy, compassion and pain-bearing). The end to which I am heading in this thinking is, in effect, to say that the cross is the space time eikon of God's forgiveness. I think I mean eikon rather than 'icon' in the sense that I'm drawing on what I understand to be the Eastern understanding of a quasi-sacramental thing: an outcrop into ordinary spacetime of divine or spiritual reality such that our interaction with is is a real spiritual interaction.

Obviously, there are a lot of gaps to be filled in on this, but I think it could be sound. And finding out Barth was saying this stuff, really helps.
Wiley InterScience :: Article :: HTML Full Text

Not quite baptised

I have read recently of how it was reported that there had been cases in the church of the late Roman period where men being baptised did so with their right hands raised out of the water so that their sword hand would remain unbaptised, allowing them (by some twisted logic) to continue as soldiers. Well, I wonder whether there is a lot of truth in this late capitalist version (save that it should perhaps be a credit card)?

Of course, if we held that as some kind of doctrine, what would it say about baptism by aspersion?
Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders

The honest truth about Christmas card sending

Dave Walker anatomises the dilemmas of Christmas card sending very neatly in his latest cartoon:
Cutting down the Christmas card list

The Bible is not a metanarrative

I seem to spend a lot of time on the quiet questioning fellow Christians about the assertion that Scripture is a metanarrative. I've tended to ask if that's so: why do the same stories get told differently? How come there are clear culturally-different takes on things? Why is it that we can't come to agreed Christian views about various things on the basis of Scripture? So, I was happy to discove that I'm not a voice in the wilderness. Here's the article I found comfort in: THEOOZE - Articles: Viewing Article: And here's a quote to try to persuade you to read it. "In light of this explanation of meta-narratives, does the Bible fit into such a category? Is the Bible a meta-narrative in the modern sense? The answer is clearly, no. As was discussed earlier, the New Testament church is not part of a meta-narrative, but is a movement of resistance against such. The Roman Empire oppressed the early Christians with its power, but through weakness the church endured; and this is the proclamation that we read each time we open the Scriptures. Just as Homer’s Odyssey is a “big story” of proclamation, so also biblical authority is found in the story that is told, not in some form of scientific or universal reason. James K. A. Smith states:

While in modernity science was the emperor who set the rules for what counted as truth and castigated faith as fable, postmodernity has shown us the emperor’s nudity. Thus, we no longer need to apologize for faith—we can be unapologetic in our kerygmatic proclamation of the gospel narrative."

Charity Christmas gifts online

And this isn't just buying a physical present for someone that is fairtraide, say. Rather this is not buying something that you send to a friend or family member, rather you buy something for someone in the developing world, to help lift them out of poverty, and your would-be-donee gets a card to say what has been given on their behalf, so to speak. A few years back, I got a card with 10 chickens on it as 'my' present was 10 chickens to a family in east Africa. I really liked that -after all, like most people in the west, I actually have my fill of little ornaments and fripperies. What do you get for the person who has, well, if not everything, at least most things that they could need and many they could want? Something for someone else who doesn't have much. This is much more in the spirit of Saint Nicholas, methinks. Anyway, there's a good explanation here: Charity Christmas gifts online are perfect solution for Christmas shoppers | Ekklesia: "Instead of simply giving more unwanted clutter to friends and family, the Christian aid agencies have come up with a range of 70 charity Christmas gifts which you can give to developing communities - on behalf of others.
From an ox to an HIV education system, a wheelchair to a bicycle, you can order and send your charity Christmas gifts all online too. All you have to do is visit the web site, choose a price range and select a gift with the details of the friend on whose behalf you are sending the present. The charity then sends a special card to your friend or family member, telling them what has been given on their behalf."
And at that site links to three charity sites where they are doing this.

One note of caution though. Don't do this to someone else unless they are happy about it, or you could lose a friend. Better is to let people know that this is what you'd like for Christmas, and hope that some of them might take the hint. And remember, it doesn't have to be either/or: you could elect for a little gift and ask for the rest to be a charity gift.

Children and religious belief -psychological findings

I'd commend this to your attention. It's only short but it manages to acknowledge that there are two basic ways to interpret the data. Justin L Barrett: Do children believe because they're told to by adults? The evidence suggests otherwise | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:
After looking briefly at the findings, Justin Barrett concludes "That belief comes so naturally to children may sound like an attack on religious belief (belief in gods is just leftover childishness) or a promotion of religious belief (God has implanted a seed for belief in children). What both sides should agree upon is the scientific evidence: certainly cultural inputs help fill in the details but children's minds are not a level playing field. They are tilted in the direction of belief."
Interesting, don't you think?

Motivating creatives - Personal Values

Another helpful article from Wishful Thinking, Wishful Thinking � Blog Archive � Motivating Creative People - Personal Values: "What makes the Enneagram so powerful? For me, it’s the fact that each of the personality types is not just a list of traits, but is based on core values and motivations. For example, point Eight, known as the Boss or Leader, values power and control. This leads the typical Eight to seek leadership roles, shouldering responsibility and challenging others to be ‘top dog’. When lacking self-awareness they can also abuse their power, becoming an overbearing bully. The character traits - such as responsibility, bravery and aggression - are really side-effects of the motivation to seek out power."
I find the enneagram harder to work with, but I do think that this aspect of it is the helpful thing as a tool for spiritual growth, but highlighting the core tendency, we identify the besetting temptations and even sins as well as how that tendency can look when redeemed. And that is helpful -rather than 'just say "no", giving us a way to see how a sinful trait can actually be the twisting of a good and potentially redeemed trait gives hope, life and a sense of potential change that is in line with who we are (before God). Sometimes our vision of what it might be for us to be holy is actually death-dealing because it is a vision of how someone else might be holy. What we need is something that helps us to gain a vision for what it might be for 'me' to be holy; that will be something that could resonate and inspire us because something in us knows that it is 'me'; who I could be, who I actually should be (should in the sense of what I am made for).

Frog in the kettle ...

boiled by stealth. And that's the analogy the Indy's editorial gives us for NIR and ID cards under the present government: "The Government's strategy on ID cards has been to turn up the heat slowly on us all. Foreign nationals will be the first to receive them; then Britons who work in tight security zones such as airports. People who renew their passports will be next to be given then. Eventually, a general roll-out."
With the editor I cheer the airline pilots' union's intention to strike against the introduction of them to airport-related workers. May their efforts be fruitful and may they not lose their nerve. Do I get an 'Amen'?
Leading article: Jumping frogs - Leading Articles, Opinion - The Independent:

Rubbish art by Yao Lu

I'm a real fan of art that is about recycling. I'm not sure if this counts under that heading but it is certainly interesting. Viewing the City’s Places of Interest in Springtime, by Yao Lu | Culture Making: "Another of Yao Lu's photos just won the BMW–Paris Photo prize, which is how I heard about him: 'The artist photographs mounds of garbage covered in green protective nets which he assembles and reworks by computer to create bucolic images of mountain landscapes shrouded in the mist inspired by traditional Chinese paintings. Lying somewhere between painting and photography, between the past and the present, Yao Lu’s work speaks of the radical mutations affecting nature in China as is it subjected to rampant urbanization and the ecological threats that endanger the environment.'"

Prince of Wails

This is really just to say that this seems a sensible comment on some of Prince Charles' recent comments, which are constitutionally horrifying. Check out the whole article Graham Smith: If the Prince of Wales wants political influence and power, he should relinquish the throne and run for president | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "Apparently Charles sees his future role as similar to that of the presidents of Ireland or Germany. If only. What he has apparently failed to grasp is that the role of president in these two countries is democratically accountable, and the person chosen for the job is chosen by democratic means, not by accident of birth. If Charles genuinely wants to emulate his Irish or German counterparts, he should do us all a favour and begin to advocate the abolition of the monarchy. Were he to do that, I have no doubt that he would be rewarded with being elected as our first president."
Quite so.

Freeing the Saints From Hallmark Festivals

First this specific got my attention: "Robyn learned the story of St. Nicholas, the Turkish bishop who became a symbol of anonymous gift-giving by providing dowries to three destitute sisters. (You can read the story in Samantha Baker-Evens article, “The Real Santa Claus”.) When Robyn shared the story of St Nicholas with her children, she was able to encourage them to focus their gift-giving on those who were really in need at Christmas and remember the One who gave us the greatest gift of al—Christ our Saviour. The whole family volunteered to serve Christmas dinner at a local homeless shelter, and they bought a goat for a poor family in Ethiopia. “It was our most satisfying Christmas ever,” she said."
As much as anything because I'm considering sending a note to most of the people that usually buy me presents to suggest to them that (a) I don't really have anything that I especially want as a present, (b) I recognise that it can be difficult to know what to get someone and (c) when people have done what I'm about to suggest for me in the past, I have found it really moving and quite exciting. So I'm going to suggest that they surprise me by whatever it is they select to improve the life of someone in the developing world. Here's one site that enables that Present Aid.

It was actually the more general message of this article that got my attention in the first place, so secondly I'm signalling my agreement with the basic message here about extracting ourselves, somehow, from the fact that our culture has a really unhealthy and vicious little trap around gift and card sending. The occasions for these things are expanding and you are made to feel a heel if you try to opt out of the spiral of reciprocity. So the important message here is "Rather than ranting and raving against consumerism, however, I think that we need to explore ways to transform these corrupted symbols of the consumer culture into real celebrations of our faith." And it gives an example. We need to be able to do this kind of thing with Valentines, parents' days, and so forth, not to mention Christmas and Easter.

Starting article: Mustard Seed Associates � Freeing the Saints From Their Hallmark Holidays � Creating the future one mustard seed at a time:

Most blogged about NT chapters

Most blogged New Testament Chapters (May 2007:)
1 ) John 3 (36,269)
2) John 1 (27,154)
3) Rom 8 (24,442)
4) Mtt 5 (21,710)
5) John 14 (20,961)
6) Matt 6 (17,285)
7) Acts 2 (16,953)
8 ) John 2 (14,288)
9) 1 Cor 13 (14,209) (1 Corinthians + I Corinthians)
10) John 8 (13,322)
Most blogged New Testament Chapters (November 2008:)
1) Romans 8 - 120,123 (previous rank 3, change in frequency +95,681)
2) John 3 - 115573 (1, +79,304)
3) John 14 - 93,477 (5, +72,516)
4) Matthew 5 - 89,385 (4, +67,675)
5) Matthew 6 - 84,559 (6, +67,274)
6) John 1 - 84,700 (2, +57,546)
7) James 1 - 84,091 (NA)
8 ) Philippians 4 - 73,310 (NA)
9) Romans 12 - 72,362 (NA)
10) John 15 - 67,532 (NA)
Least blogged - Hebrews 4 - 1,115 & Revelation 10 - 1,961

Check out the article for more comments on some of the results. I'm wondering whether there are any possible significances to these.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

The premise is reasonable and, I think basically true: "Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self." This draws on the insight of Marshall McLuhan that the tools we use extend our bodies and so our minds, our ways of thinking. Our tools enable some things and disable others. The trick for us in analysing culture is to learn to pay attention to both.
Now this article tends, imo, towards the glass-is-half-empty thing. While it does a nice little job of pointing out a few ways that artefacts have probably altered our thinking (and therefore the clustering of neural connections in our brains; thus our brains are literally shaped by our technologies), we aren't as fully reminded that the Jeremiads about new technologies have been a part of their births and infancies for a long time too: printing was maligned as the end of rigorous thinking because, and this was predicted rightly , it meant that no longer would people remember huge passages (and in so doing usually engage in depth with the arguments of the authors).
So we have this paragraph towards the end: "The idea that our minds should operate as high-speed data-processing machines is not only built into the workings of the Internet, it is the network’s reigning business model as well. The faster we surf across the Web—the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements. Most of the proprietors of the commercial Internet have a financial stake in collecting the crumbs of data we leave behind as we flit from link to link—the more crumbs, the better. The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction."
Admittedly, the author owns that this is a downside-view, but I think we should also be looking for the upside-view that will enable us to see the equivalents of the many positives that writing and printing have brought to us.

You see, I don't see the widening of information vistas quite so negatively. I think that I can put this in terms suggested by the Myers-Briggs Type Analysis. One of the continua for human personality they work with is that between iNtuitive approaches to taking in data, and Sensing. The former is about big pictures the latter about detail. What I find happening is that I do indeed, as the experience of those mentioned in this article suggests, tend to skim more than I used to. But this suits me: I get wider pictures of things and then move into the details as I get a sense of what the big issues are. I'm wondering whether what is changing is that scholarship etc is moving from the age of the bottom-up synthesiser to the big-picture, algorithmic. From, the Sensers to the iNtuitives, perhaps even from the Introverts to the Extroverts aswell as connectedness is more fully enabled and valued.

Are the nay-sayings merely the bleats of the formerly artefact-advantaged as new artefacts help a different set of human traits to come to the fore?

Is Google Making Us Stupid? - The Atlantic
(July/August 2008):
Htt El Pais and The Edge

Concerns of Dyslexic Evangelicals.

more music charts
Concerns of Dyslexic Evangelicals � GraphJam: Music and Pop Culture in Charts and Graphs. Let us explain them.

Police warn of growing threat from eco-terrorists | Environment | The Observer

This is worrying; ostensibly because it represents a new terrorist threat thus: "Police have warned of the growing threat of eco-terrorism after revealing they are investigating a group which has supporters who believe that reducing the Earth's population by four-fifths will help to protect the planet."
However, I'm not so sure that this isn't an attempt to demonise people like those who get involved in climate camps and similar protests (and I could be one of them).
"Among the network of groups under the Earth First! umbrella are various climate camps. Last August police found a stash of knives and weapons beside one such camp in Kent. Protesters, however, said they had nothing to do with the weapons and accused police of launching a 'smear campaign'."
Now I'm not saying that there cannot be extremists in this way in the environmental movements. However, I think we should recognise that just as one idiot (and I use the word under etymological advisement) attacking an abortion clinic doesn't justify keeping all Christians under suspicion or even surveillance, so here.

Police warn of growing threat from eco-terrorists | Environment | The Observer:

Lest We Forget

On the theme of Remembrance, the other day, this article is intriguing: Monbiot.com � Lest We Forget: It looks at the causes of the so-called "Great war" and shows that it could have been avoided, just maybe. Very interesting. "Could the Great War have been averted if, in 1911, the British government had done as Morel suggested? No one knows, as no such attempt was made. Far from seeking to broker a European peace, Britain, pursuing its self-interested diplomatic intrigues, helped to make war more likely. Germany was the aggressor; but the image of affronted virtue cultivated by Britain was a false one. Faced, earlier in the century, with the possibilities of peace, the old men of Europe had decided that they would rather kill their children than change their policies."
I'm also wondering whether there is an alternative history novel in this?

Remembrance creep

I haven't got a lot of time to say much about this, read the article and think about next year... We must be wary of remembrance creep | Politics | guardian.co.uk. I must admit though that I have a similar impression about this: "My impression remains that the event grows bigger with every year that passes, but that comprehension does not. We talk about the horror of war but also sentimentalise it."
I suspect that for me I've long been uncomfortable with the occasion and so any ramping up of it's prominence is something that I am sensitive to. I think that it relates to the issue behind why white poppies came into being in the 1930's when a number of women became concerned that the red poppy remembrance was losing a focus on 'no more war' and becoming part of the myth of glorious war. As I say, I can't say more just now, but I do want to flag this up (pun intended).

Language and the psychology of health

"

Response Rates To Antidepressants Differ Among English- And Spanish-speaking Hispanics via kwout

"
This grabbed my attention beyond the sheer interest of something like this and its implications for dealing with human well-being, because it put me in mind of a story reported by C Peter Wagner in one of his books on strategic level spiritual warfare. The story was of a town straddling the Uruguay (I think) -Brasil border; someone who was resistant to the gospel on the Uruguay side would become open on crossing to the Brasilian side. Wagner presents this as evidence of territorial spirits and the need for SLSW. I'm not at all sure about that and my reasons for skepticism are somewhat supported by this research, I think. How far is our psychology affected by culture and language; and this includes receptiveness to the gospel.

The Answer

Yes!

more
The Answer � GraphJam: Music and Pop Culture in Charts and Graphs. Let us explain them.

Muslim-RC relations

Important to note the events covered in this article: Muslim and Vatican leaders hold talks to ease religious tensions | World news | The Guardian What I found interesting was this, near the end. I have a great deal of sympathy: "Vatican insiders say the German pontiff is impatient with the polite but, as he sees it, ultimately unproductive exchanges between theologians of different faiths and, in the case of Islam, has specific issues he wants to see tackled urgently. Chief among these is what the Vatican terms 'reciprocity' - the freedom of Christians in the Muslim world to worship with the same ease as Muslims do in the west."

Why more young people say cannabis is a drag

A little while back I drew attention to the stats underlying this article: Why more young people say cannabis is a drag | Society | The Guardian and I asked for any clues as to why cannabis use should be shrinking (being picked up by increasing use of Cocaine, though). I wondered verbally (but not on blog, I was surprised to discover) whether it might be linked to smoking and health education. Well, it may be that I was right: "'A lot of young people are strongly anti-cigarette smoking and as society changes the way it views tobacco it seems to be changing attitudes to cannabis as well,' said Paul Griffiths, of the European monitoring centre for drugs and drug abuse.
The trend is evident across Europe, where smoking bans are now widespread. The drug experts say cannabis use has always been more prevalent amongst tobacco smokers than among non-smokers and as it becomes less socially acceptable to smoke a cigarette in public so it has become more difficult to find a place to smoke a joint."

Religious / faith literacy

Joanna Cox of the CofE's adult education unit sent the following out in her regular Friday mailing.

A concept being discussed increasingly recently is that of "Faith Literacy" / "Religious Literacy" (and, of course the reverse case of illiteracy in these areas - a brush that you may have heard used to tar various bits of officialdom!). While the issue has been the source of much debate in school based religious education for some time, a variety of concerns are now bringing the matter into a much wider arena - not least because of concerns about community cohesion and social exclusion.

Issues around this are likely to come increasingly 'onto the radar' of those with a range training / development briefs in the church - and it could be useful to liaise with diocesan inter-faith advisors particularly. I gather that a couple of interfaith organisations are thinking about developing faith / religious literacy "curricula" - partly to encourage officialdom / service providers etc to work sensitively. Our training networks could potentially have useful input here - both in terms of educational / learning processes, and in relation to Christian input .

The following description of "religious literacy" comes from ACT - The Association of Christian Teachers.

A religiously literate person is one who:

(a) Demonstrates an awareness of what life looks like from both theistic and atheistic points of view;
(b) Knows and understands the central determining features of certain religions (e.g. Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism) and secular ideologies(e.g. humanism);

(c) Recognises religious and secular worldviews in practices and ideas (e.g. relating to the natural environment) and has some grasp of what makes each religion/belief system what it is;

(d) Appreciates the principal effects of each religion/belief system in terms of the values, attitudes and impact it generates in individuals, families and communities;

(e) Values the development of their own religious insight;
(f) Values the development of religious insight for other people.

However there may well be other definitions / understandings of the terms in use, and it would be interesting to hear from any of you who are aware of / working with different perspectives or approaches.

The ACT definitions (which seem to be from this paper -the email didn't have a reference) are very interesting and my first reaction was to think them right and proper as parts of a definition. Then I began to think ... actually I think it's possible that quite a number of clergy and ordinands would fail to be religiously literate by the standards of part (c) and might mainly touch (d) in terms of negative impacts. Many, I suspect would struggle also with (f) if it meant that religious insight kept the person in their own religion. Now recall that ACT is an evangelical organisation, so this is doubly an interesting list. I do think that the list is probably about right; but it indicates to me that we have a way to go even with 'religious professionals'. Part of the task is to be able to make a robust biblical case for evangelicals to take this seriously. Unfortunately the ACT seems not to do this and as it stands I would anticipate some responses to write it off. However, I think that the longer perspective of loving others as ourselves, valuing human freedom of conscience, leaving room for the work of the Spirit and general realpolitik of good neighbouring demands that we take such an approach seriously.

Should USAmerican ambassador be ASBO'd?

Morally; yes, I think. Obviously, under the Geneva Convention legally; no. Here's why I think Boris Johnson, like Ken Livingstone before him, is right to insist that diplomats pay the congestion charge. Boris said 'The Swiss typically have come forward with trying to broker some kind of deal, I'm very keen that whatever deal we do should reflect the fact that these people are using London's roads. This is not a tax, this is a charge for the use of our roads, and I believe the diplomatic community should have the decency to pay it. I intend to stick to that decision.'
To make an analogy, which I think is just; I assume that the embassies pay for their power, sewerage, water, food, and so on, just like anyone else, so a charge for road use like everyone else is fair. I suppose the reason for resisting might be that it could be argued that it is a tax, which diplomats are exempt from. Just shows you how important naming things is, sometimes. If it's named a tax then it keeps company with various other calls on finance that diplomats may ignore. If it's a charge then it keeps company (has a paradigmatic relation to) with calls on money which everyone must pay. However we should note that within the UK system this is not a road tax; that is paid differently. No it's a charge, levied for use. If a diplomat wants to avoid it they should walk, cycle or take public transport (and they'd pay the charges for that too!).
Diplomats deserve asbo for London congestion charge snub, says Boris Johnson | Politics | guardian.co.uk:

Congrats Obama: Let's Do it Together

"After 8 long years of Bush - a fresh start. Let's seize this historic moment to send a flood of global messages to Obama.

Our message and the number of signers, as well as all our personal messages, will be displayed on a giant wall in the heart of Washington DC.

Over the next 48 hours, the wall could become a focal point for US media reporting on global reactions to the Obama win. A massive global response will help make this a major moment of unity and reconciliation between the US and the world. Let's get to a million!"
Congrats Obama: Let's Do it Together:

Fungal diesel could revolutionise fuel production

These are the days of miracle and wonder: well maybe ... Fungal diesel could revolutionise fuel production - earth - 04 November 2008 - New Scientist Environment: "A fungus that can convert plant waste directly into diesel could allow us to generate biofuel without sacrificing food production."
The big issue will be about how easy it could turn out to be to scale it up and whether it would really be true that it needn't cost food production to do it. Signs are positive on the latter and the jury's out on the former.
Also read Wired's article on it. Original paper (pdf) here.

So, tell me again: why did the govt want ID cards?

This really does seem to be a whisker short of admitting that the project is doomed. I can't make promises about keeping your personal details safe, admits Brown in wake of latest data blunder | Mail Online: "Mr Brown said: 'It is important to recognise that we cannot promise that every single item of information will always be safe because mistakes are made by human beings. Mistakes are made in the transportation, if you like the communication of information.'

Given that money is in short supply from the public purse just now, I think that Gordy has just made the case for the idea that GBP4.5 billion ID cards scheme should now be scrapped.

E-mail error ends up on road sign

My Welsh in rudimentary (I started to learn a number of years back but wasn't able to continue), but what I do know does indeed support this. BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | E-mail error ends up on road sign:

"When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed.
Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: 'I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated'."

Peak oil: the geologists speak.

Check it out: WorldChanging: The End Is Nigh (Now With Charts!): "Three out of five petroleum geologists surveyed believed that global oil production would 'peak' within 10 years."

Furthermore: "The geologists may be wrong, of course. But trying to outguess the considered opinion of well-informed scientists is a sucker's game. So no matter what oil prices do in the short term, we'd be wise to prepare ourselves for tightening oil supplies, and higher oil prices, in the not-too-distant future."