seeker for truth

Sermon delivered at First UU Church of Austin on  April 29, 2012. Children’s story: green eggs and ham by Dr. Seuss Reading: Every Riven Thing by Christian Wiman Every Riven Thing God goes, belonging to every riven thing he's made sing his being simply by being the thing it is: stone and tree and sky, man who sees and sings and wonders why God goes. Belonging, to every riven thing he's made, means a storm of peace. Think of the atoms inside the stone. Think of the man who sits alone trying to will himself into the stillness where God goes belonging. To every riven thing he's made there is given one shade shaped exactly to the thing itself: under the tree a darker tree; under the man the only man to see God goes belonging to every riven thing. He's made the things that bring him near, made the mind that makes him go. A part of what man knows, apart from what man knows, God goes belonging to every riven thing he's mad

A ten month experiment in naturalism - specifically in exploring my genetic hair growth patterns unimpeded by social convention or personal intervention - ended today... before the end of the experiment: after the end of the experiment: I have opted for reasons of time and resource consumption to return to my practice of periodic self-intervention with a pair of clippers.  The experiment was interesting and resulted in a practical appreciation for the potential value (never tested) of mustache wax for keeping one's mustache out of one's food and mouth...  The use of baking soda solution and apple cider vinegar for hair care worked very well, but with my natural oil levels and the daily run-commute the treatments needed to become more frequent as the mass of hair continued to increase.  The experiment did not culminate in the 'growth plateau' that I had aspired to when I began the experiment, but I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what I would like if

(delivered to First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin on Sunday July 31, 2011) Prayer: Somewhere out there On a dusty shelf Or a spinning disk On parchment aged Or in pixels bright There are words waiting for you These words were written for you And when you find them They will touch your heart And change your life. Somewhere in there Between the synapses Of your frontal lobe Or floating around In the recesses of you consciousness Are words destined for another Words that will touch their heart And change their life It is your duty to record them So that they may be found. Somewhere out there Is a better world waiting to be described We spend our days and our nights Imagining this world When we are wise, We record these imaginings For each other To bring this dream one step Closer to reality. When we are unwise, We think that all of these imaginings are just stories. We pray this in the name

I used to shave off my mane. Because I was in denial of being a lion. Hear me roar!

I think that this is my first blog post that has any significant intersection with my professional life, but after listening to a couple of Podcasts on Google Plus and hearing the incessant plugging for Bing on the Slate Gabfests (it is, IMHO, a little over the top... just let them run their ads, don't become their mouthpiece) I felt compelled to throw in my two cents about balance in the cloud-o-sphere out there... As a human being out there in the technosphere, it is in your best interest to preclude the emergence of a Goliath from the fields of competitors.  In no market since the discovery of fossil fuel has this been easier than it is with the internet in this age.  In the evolution of modern computing, anti-trust regulation against Microsoft and ongoing similar actions (mostly in and by the EU) works to thwart some of the most abusive practices that are trending toward monopoly.  But, the most important thing is user behavior, where you click and for what is the main determ

if you seek healing radical transparency is the only path