The emotional toll of our Ecological Crisis: where is the church?

I probably linked to this a couple weeks ago (Christmas week), but can’t remember. But just in case, here it is again: https://www.nbcnews.com/…/climate-grief-growing-emotional-t… HT to Margaret Swedish for the reminder in her post this morning ) ‘Climate grief’: The growing emotional toll of climate change Extreme weather and dire climate reports are intensifying the mental health effects of global warming: depression and resignation about Continue Reading

Rampant dualism

From my Facebook Memories, 2 years ago: It is just flat out gnosticism to suggest that there is ANYTHING that is off the table in the church that concerns the well-being of people, communities, or nations, or the earth. NOTHING. Gnosticism claims that we can keep our soul and body separate; that salvation is a “purely spiritual” matter (that phrase Continue Reading

The Facebook Graph API Explorer found something for me

I discovered that I could get data from my Facebook timeline with the elements I want (like the links and pictures included, which the “Download ALL my Facebook” says it is doing but really doesn’t). I used the Graph API Explorer under ny account. It generates a token for me. When I do a query like so: /myID/posts?fields=story,link,message,picture,description,permalink_url,created_time&limit=9900 I get Continue Reading

Intense time of discernment

I’ve been sitting on a gold mine of content, yet to be “exploited”, for EcoEcclesia features, for over a year now. It’s been a long struggle on many levels. One of the lesser struggles I’ve had over that time, but nevertheless key to my moving my EcoEcclesia efforts to the next level, is to begin to break through with effective Continue Reading

super theological-techological nerdy places

I’m in one of those super theological-techological nerdy places today (one of those “places” of the mind/spirit) where I have, as a result, a deep sense of exile from the church AND techno-nerdism, since the two “places” rarely ever meet in either of the “other’s” domain. This really started in full form when I began working in denominational Web departments Continue Reading

The “Climate CRISIS denial” of the Left

There is certainly a big difference between the outright Climate Change denial of the Right, and the “Climate CRISIS denial” of the Left. The former is simply capitulation to the economic status quo (which gets taught to them by “social osmosis” via their “auto-import” of GOP politics, which is motivated by the GOP’s dependence on Fossil fuel money. The Christian Continue Reading

Between a #Trump and a hard place

I keep feeling the need to reiterate how CLOSE I am in thinking about the Trump/Clinton either/or choice to that of many of my friends who have decided that the risk of a Trump presidency is just too great to leave to chance, and therefore advocate for Clinton as THE alternative. For me, the line there is made up of Continue Reading

Facebook API and Hootsuite users

For a few months now,  Hootsuite removes links and quoted material from posts when selecting Facebook as a recipient of the post.  These things are NOT something that Facebook itself denies from the User standpoint,  but through their API,  since I can go to the Facebook site and post such a thing as a a user.  But I’m having to copy the Continue Reading

the theologically savvy army of database geeks that are thus far UNTAPPED by Church Comm orgs

I’m doing a lot more book reading lately,  and I post things that occur to me as I read.  Amazon could REALLY do with some big-time enhancements and apps to help communities of book readers form and converse.  One can go and find comments under nearly all of their books,  but there is nothing to enable deeper connection with people Continue Reading

Church Communication Orgs could use their own “Facebook Connect” style API

Was reading the final chapters of The Facebook Effect,  and when it mentions “Facebook Connect”,  ” a way to project information about the actions you take on other sites back to your Facebook friends as if they were actions inside Facebook”. This is a key issue for Web social integration.  It is the Facebook strength, writ large and Web wide. Continue Reading

Manipulating Online Communities; Understanding Commuinities of Discourse

just about every digital media company is manipulating and optimizing the information it shows users, generally for commercial reasons. Much of this is essentially “manipulating emotions”. via The Facebook Effect, by David Kirkpatrick. I wrote the following comment on David K’s Facebook Page post linked above Yes, David, I agree, and I also think that , secretly, companies also manipulate Continue Reading

The $3.2 Billion Man: Can Google’s Newest Star Outsmart Apple? via @FastCompany @FastCoDesign

“Apple making software that anyone can connect to is a very Google play, while Google developing beautiful hardware with Nest is a very Apple play,” via The $3.2 Billion Man: Can Google’s Newest Star Outsmart Apple? | Co.Design | business + design. This sounds exciting.  The above quote also refers to the kindof integration/collaboration/cooperation I have bemoaned as missing from Continue Reading

Facebook Social Graph & Theological Communities

I will blog yet again on this topic,  which I have written about before,  and I am accustomed to being greeted with the Web version of CRICKETS.  That’s OK.  “Social Graph” really hasn’t made the rounds into lay usage,  or even programming usage in most circles.  But the Social Graph as I am using it,  refers to the “Connectivity” data Continue Reading

So much better than a “Newsletter”, unless you wanna call it a “Virtual Church Update”

Was just talking to a friend about “Social Singularity” thoughts I’ve been writing about… He mentioned a coffeehouse experience and the “sensory” , etc. that can’t be duplicated. We are heading for a “Social Singularity” that will make that LESS true; that we cant get that from a screen is true…but we wont be talking about “screens” in 20 years Continue Reading

Advances in tech most exciting to me in the area of “Social”; more so than in prospects for “approximating the brain/mind”

The “exponential growth” of computer technology is most immanently apparent to me in the area of communications rather than the focus of Zurzweil in “The Singularity is Near”.  We simply do not yet have the “subject” (in Kurzweil it is the brain/mind)  figure out; sufficiently “mapped out”,  or even yet have much of any confidence in how the brain does Continue Reading