Tensegrities

Robert Reich offers a great short piece on the differences in underlying economic philosophies between Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama.

Ok, so this is not only amusing, but better coverage in some ways than anything I’ve caught a glimpse of in the regular news.

Here’s a comprehensive list of useful sites for teaching kids with various kinds of special needs. While it’s not oriented towards religious educators, it’s still very useful in that context, too.

Here’s an exercise I’m going to try as soon as I can find the beads (we’re not a beading household, I’ll have to borrow some). I particularly like the questions she asks, and the ways she leads people gently into consideration of race. (Hat tip to Harlow’s Monkey)

Here’s a great little video that makes the important point that we should be focusing on “what people did” rather than “who they are” if we are really going to make a difference around racism. It also reminds me why a study of rhetoric is such an important part of theological education. (Hat tip to Racialicious)

John Dwyer is an amazing architect who cares deeply about appropriate technologies and design solutions. He writes about the “shotgun” house in Louisiana, in ways I’d never considered before, and which makes an interesting point about social production in architecture:

as I peruse the “green” solutions of late by the “world’s greatest architects”, none of them come close to the shotgun; a home made almost entirely of recycled materials with a 100% passive heating and cooling system. Today, their beauty is so valued, that the city rigorously reviews almost any proposition to even alter, much less demolish, a single one.

It was designed by a social network, using social production, based on vernacular architecture, and in response to a real economic problem. This, in my humble opinion, is the true power and necessary future of design.

Let me start by pointing out that I know nothing personally about this situation, but any time a faculty member is pushed out from a seminary — and the news makes the higher ed papers — there’s got to be something worth investigating.

Peter Enns is a professor of Old Testament with a PhD from Harvard. He’s been at Westminster Theological since 1994, and is currently a full professor there. The joint statement that was issued is very proper, suitably bland, and one wonders what agonies exist beneath it.

I’m very curious, and will post more when I know it.