Provides insights and suggestions for making dance a spiritual practice.
Book Excerpt: Dance – The Sacred Art
Charts some of the spiritual reasons to dance.
Windows Three Dot One Dot Com [Image Cache]
Feel like revisiting Windows 3.1, but can't be bothered firing up a time machine, hot tub or otherwise? This web-based OS emulation (simulation?) should do the trick, by which I mean give you crippling flashbacks. [MichaelV via Crunchgear]
Rebooting Haiti: Eliminating poverty to reduce the impacts of disasters
With the search and rescue efforts officially called off in Haiti, the time has come for reconstruction. But with nearly 200,000 dead and one in nine Haitians currently homeless, it's easy to get caught up in the numbers and lose sight of the primary lesson learned from the catastrophe.
That poverty kills. And it kills big time.
Stop for a moment and imagine an earthquake of similar magnitude in San Fransisco. It's highly unlikely that we'd see a similar death count -- not with San Fran's first-world infrastructure and emergency response network, not to mention the support from surrounding areas.
But we don't have to imagine these things. Back in 1995 the Great Hanshin Earthquake rocked the Kobe area in Japan killing 6,434 people. This earthquake hit 6.8 on the Richter scale and struck a heavily populated area -- very comparable to Haiti. And in 2008 the Sichuan Earthquake killed nearly 68,000 people in China, a country that sits firmly between the third and first worlds.
There's obviously a direct correlation with the relative affluence of a community and their ability to cope with disaster. There's no question that the the death toll in Haiti was severely accentuated by the poor state of affairs in that country.
It's all fine and well that the world's attention is now focused on Haiti, but the damage has already been done, an outcome caused directly by the earthquake and indirectly by years of global neglect and indifference. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Poverty is the worst form of violence." Indeed, this is exactly the kind of unintended violence we impose upon the impoverished peoples of world when they're largely forgotten.
Moreover, the violence that's unleashed by poverty is hardly limited to the impacts of natural disasters. As Peter Singer recently noted, "Every year, more people die from poverty related causes than entire population of Haiti."
It's clear that poverty has to be eliminated, and Haiti offers a remarkable opportunity to take a de facto post-apocalyptic society and set them on the right track. Success in this matter could provide an unprecedented blue print for similar reconstruction efforts around the world.
Here's what has to happen in Haiti:
- All the money that's pouring in has to be routed to the right areas. While aid agencies are doing an exemplary job dealing with the initial humanitarian crisis, they are far too chaotic, uncoordinated and decentralized to rebuild the country. Rebuilding efforts will have to be conducted by dedicated transnational institutions working in tandem with private industry.
- Haiti's infrastructure will have to be rebuilt from scratch. This will include roads, ports, housing, electricity, sanitation and water. The entire Haitian country has to be redesigned for resilience in anticipation of another earthquake.
- The development of viable economic opportunities is paramount, particularly ones that are sustainable. Agriculture would be a good start; Haiti has some of the sweetest mangos on the planet. Looking further ahead, however, the country's infrastructure needs to be brought to first world standards if it hopes to compete and do business with the rest of the world.
All this is easier said than done, I know. And quite obviously the reconstruction effort will be more complicated than my four bullet points. But we have to start somewhere and something has to be done.
As Bono of U2 once said, "We're not looking for charity, we're looking for justice."
If Steve Jobs Had Just One Wish… [Humor]
World peace? Twenty minutes in a steel cage with a heavily sedated Steve Ballmer? No, His Jobsness cares not for these trifles. And after seeing what his one wish truly is, I can't say I blame him. [Fredo&Pid'jin]
More Than Getting Things Done
Since New Years I have been implementing a new life/task/action organizational system recommended to me by my dear friend and colleague Chris Lewicki. It is based on the book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. So far things have gone swimmingly. I have started to take out of my brain every last don’t-forget-this, you-promised-this, and this-still-needs-to-happen and put in into a system for organizing them and tracking them. I feel a new future of being organized awaits me and there is still another 150 pages of the book to read and implement.
Lewicki in his infinite wisdom though, also recently sent me this quote— just to keep my new found gains in perspective:
Productivity
Getting things done is not the same as making things happen.
You can…
…reply to email.
…pay the bills.
…cross off to-do’s.
…fulfill your obligation.
…repeat what you heard.
…go with the flow.
…anticipate roadblocks.
…aim for “good enough.”
Or you can…
…organize a community.
…take a risk.
…set ambitious goals.
…give more than you take.
…change perceptions.
…forge a new path.
…create possibility.
…demand excellence.
Don’t worry too much about getting things done. Make things happen.
by Gina Trapani
It reminded me of who I am. What I am here for. What really motivates me, that I am not just an email processing machine. All of these tools are only as useful as what they enable me to Make Happen.
So I am back. Ready to swing for the fences for Yuri’s Night again, ready to demand of myself, ready to take on a more demanding schedule, ready to create the possibility of being someone who touches the lives of others and moves mountains. Because we have a big future in space to enable and it’s going to take that.
What risks have you been avoiding? How could you make the biggest difference where you are? What is just a little beyond your comfort zone? If you need help, just ask. That is what I am here for. My job is to enable all of you to Make Things Happen.
Email loretta.whitesides@gmail.com and start forging a new trajectory today…
Motz Mini FM Radio Is a Serious Choking Hazard [Portable Media]
Who cares about FM radio right? But what if the FM radio came in a wooden box that's really, really tiny? The Motz is all that and an MP3 speaker as well.
Still nothing? Well, maybe you can tape it to your hamster so it looks like he's carrying around an '80s style boombox. Of course, it will have to be Korean hamsters only until this thing gets imported to the US. [EarlyShop via Technabob via DVICE]
Conference: Il Futurismo nelle Avanguardie (Milan, Feb 4-6)
CONFERENCE
IL FUTURISMO NELLE AVANGUARDIE
Milano, Palazzo Reale
Sala delle Otto Colonne
February 4-6, 2010
Organized by the Comitato Nazionale per le celebrazioni del centenario della pubblicazione del Manifesto del Futurismo
Download the program and brochure here
THURSDAY, FEB 4
Indirizzi di saluto del rappresentante del Governo
di Letizia Moratti sindaco
di Milano di Massimiliano Finazzer Flory assessore alla cultura del Comune di Milano
di Maurizio Fallace MiBAC, Direttore Generale per le Biblioteche, gli Istituti Culturali e il Diritto d’Autore
saluto di Vittoria Marinetti
intervento di Carlo Fabrizio Carli Segretario – Tesoriere del Comitato Nazionale
coffee break
seduta antimeridiana
Avanguardia/Avanguardie
presiede Ezio Godoli
Walter Pedullà Il Futurismo, prima avanguardia
Enrico Crispolti L’immagine-evento futurista
seduta pomeridiana
Velocità,Violenza, Rivoluzione
presiede Walter Pedullà
Zeno Birolli e Marina Pugliese I gessi originali di Boccioni e le successive traduzioni in bronzo
François Livi Futurismo e Surrealismo
coffee break
Matteo D’Ambrosio La guerra nella letteratura futurista
Ruggero Pierantoni L’ottica della velocità
interventi di
Gloria Manghetti Dell’esperienza futurista di Giovanni Papini
Silvana Cirillo Il futurismo segreto. Epistolari editi e inediti
Alessandro del Puppo I funerali dell’anarchico Carrà
Emanuela Bufacchi Le città del silenzio e la poetica del rumore.
Al termine
Presentazione virtuale del Museo del Novecento
FRIDAY, FEB. 5
seduta antimeridiana
Il controdolore presiede Gino Agnese
Franca Angelini Il teatro futurista
Gino Tellini L’eroe e la pulce; il Futurismo autoironico di Aldo Palazzeschi
Andrea Cortellessa Aspetti della poesia futurista
coffee break
Günter Berghaus Futurism and Dada: contacts, conflict and collisions
interventi di
Augusto Sainati Forme futuriste nel cinema
Tecla Biancolatte La narrativa futurista
Patricia Gaborick L’influenza del Futurismo sulla danza statunitense
Maria Elena Versari Rapporti internazionali del Futurismo dopo il 1919
seduta pomeridiana
l’epos futuristanpresiede Wladimir Krysinski
Simonetta Lux Lo scarto assoluto
Ezio Godoli Problematiche d’attualità nell’architettura del futurismo
Luigi Ballerini I romanzi di Marinetti
coffee break
Antonello Negri Pittura e scultura di guerra
interventi di
Gregory Alegi Il fascino del volo
Mario Caramitti Pasternak dal Futurismo degli esordi alla maturità dell’avanguardia
Antonella Greco Angiolo Mazzoni, un futurista
Luigi Sansone Joseph Stella e i rapporti con i futuristi italiani
al termine proiezione del film La metropoli im-possibile di Vincenzo Capalbo ed Ezio Godoli
SATURDAY, FEB. 6
seduta antimeridiana
La materia, l’immateriale
presiede Enrico Crispolti
Remo Bodei Lo slancio verso il futuro: Futurismo e filosofia europea
Paolo Valesio Marinetti: la letteratura all’estremo
Daniele Lombardi La musica futurista
coffee break
Emiliano Gentile Futurismo: La rivoluzione per un disumanesimo anticristiano
interventi di
Simona Cigliana L’immateriale nelle avanguardie
Domenico Scudero Dematetializzazioni futuriste: l’arte elettronica
Silvia Zoppi Garampi Materia e poesia
Paola Pettenella Gli archivi futuristi del MART
seduta pomeridiana
La tecnica e la storia presiede Carlo Fabrizio Carli
Wladimir Krysinki Le identità variabili dell’avanguardia: il Futurismo e gli altri
Giovanni Lista Futurismo ed Espressionismo
interventi di
Luciano Ceri Marinetti alla radio
Riccardo Notte Futurismo e comunicazione
Gianni Eugenio Viola L’ “Ossessione lirica della materia”
coffee break
Renato Barilli Lasciti futuristi nella neoavanguardia europea
Maurizio Calvesi Cent’anni di Futurismo
conclusione dei lavori
In occasione del convegno sarà visitabile a Palazzo Reale una mostra di documenti originali per la storia del Futurismo
Remainders – The Things We Didn’t Post: Keep Dreaming Edition [Remainders]
In today's Remainders, a buncha dreamers: too many people read too much into a fake Apple tablet ad; DARPA, having loved Avatar, casts about for 3D surveillance; a new B&O TV that will cost more than $10,000, and more.
Ad Busters
A few very serious people have been taking this very fake Apple tablet ad very seriously. Why? Who knows. It comes from the very heart of tablet render fakery, nowhereelse.fr. It has USB ports in the back that would necessitate a device twice as thick as the one shown. It looks faker than Heidi Montag. Let's just move along. [YouTube]
War in 3D
DARPA, comprised of some of the more fanciful minds in the Pentagon, is seeking prototypes for "advanced high-resolution 3-D imaging technology" for the next generation of surveillance systems. The push for three dimensions comes as a response to current limitations of video surveillance technologies, specifically their inability to provide viewers with a sense of depth. Current video feeds have been likened to "looking through a soda straw," which definitely does not sound like a very ideal surveillance situation. Still, it's easier to dream in 3D than to make it a reality. If it took the motion picture dictator pictured to the left some twelve years to realize his three-dimensional vision, we don't have high hopes that our bureaucracy will sort this one out any time soon. [Wired]
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Bang & Olufsen specializes in designing products that everyone wants but no one wants to buy. Why? Because they're prohibitively expensive. We don't expect the BeoVision 10-46, a 46", LED-backlit HDTV with built-in speakers, to be any different. B&O hasn't announced a price yet, but the 40" predecessor went for a cool $10,000. Riiiiiight. [Engadget]
Outer Space, Inter Net
This has been a great week for fans of internet in space. First some astronauts tweeted from the ISS. Now, the Department of Defense is beginning a three month test of a new satellite with a dedicated internet router. The router, launched aboard the Intelsat IS-14 satellite last November, is part of a program by Cisco dubbed IRIS, or Internet Protocol Routing in Space. The satellite and IRIS system make military communications for the U.S. and NATO much more flexible, allowing space-bound data to be rerouted more efficiently and directly. All good and well for the military, but I can't help but wonder when someone's going to launch a satellite that makes my internet faster? Is that wrong of me? Oh well. [PopSci]
Second Fix for Flickering 27-Inch iMac Screens Supposedly on the Way [Unconfirmed]
There were complaints that the first firmware update fix for flickering iMac screens made no difference, but now there are whispers that a "combination software and driver patch" will come in "roughly three weeks."
The timeline for this fix is based on what customers are reporting they've heard from Apple Care specialists, but let's just hope that it's not only true, but that the fix makes a difference. [Apple Insider]
Chimp-Directed Chimpcam Project Will Win Every Oscar [Film]
The BBC plans to premiere The Chimpcam Project, a documentary shot by actual chimpanzees, this week. Get ready for the inevitable Avatar comparisons, and check out this video preview below.
Basically, some researchers encased a camera in a chimp-proof box and gave it to both wild and zoo-bred chimps. Enraptured with the viewfinder, they began tossing it around, taking pictures of whatever shiny object or unexpected movement interested their lemon-sized brains. As a side note, this is also how Michael Bay directs his movies.
It probably won't be that interesting (also like a Michael Bay movie!), especially since the majority of the footage was shot in a zoo enclosure in Edinburgh, but I'll still probably watch it when it premieres this Wednesday. I mean, what else is going on that day, besides the Holy Grail of Tech announcement and the State of the Union? Bring on the monkey-movie! [DiscoBlog via GeekSystem - Video Courtesy Animals Don't Think]
‘Il Futurismo a Viareggio e in Versilia’ (Jan 26)
BOOK PRESENTATION
Il Futurismo a Viareggio e in Versilia
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 – 5:30
Libreria Edison
Introduction by Eugenio Giani, president of the Consiglio comunale di Firenze, along with Alessandra Belluomini Pucci, new director of the Galleria and curator along with Riccardo Mazzoni, Glauco Borella and Anna Laghi
Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Speakers Look Great and Sound… Expensive [Speakers]
Just because I could never afford this high-end 800 Series Diamond speaker from Bowers & Wilkins doesn't mean I can't enjoy looking at it, and giggling at the phrase "diamond dome tweeter."
The seven new speaker sets are all pricey, so we may as well talk about the flagship 800 Diamond, which is apparently the latest generation of the speakers used at Abbey Road Studios. That doesn't necessarily tell you anything about how they sound, but for $24,000 per pair you should expect a good conversation starter or two thrown in. The bass is "significantly improved," thanks to a new voice coil and bass realignment, and the entire range of new Diamond Series products are outfitted with diamond tweeter technology.
At the low end, the 805 Diamond costs $5,000 per pair, which isn't so terrible, if you're down with the aesthetics. Otherwise, though, this is one of those look-don't-buy, high-end audiophile systems that most of us can listen to in our diamond dome tweeter dreams.
Bowers & Wilkins launches 800 Series Diamond
Closer to true sound
Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series has long provided the benchmark by which all high-end speakers are judged. Five generations of 800 Series have offered an unbeatable combination of outstanding performance, the latest audio technology and stunning aesthetic design. Now the 800 Series Diamond builds on that legacy, with vastly improved performance across the board and for the first time the inclusion of a diamond dome tweeter in every speaker in the seven-model range.
Bowers & Wilkins is proud to announce the launch of the 800 Series Diamond. The first new incarnations of the legendary 800 Series for six years brings Bowers & Wilkins closer to the ultimate ambition of its founder, John Bowers – to create a transducer that truly neither adds to nor subtracts from the original signal.
The 800 Series has long been the world's premier high-end loudspeaker range. Designed for the home, but offering levels of quality such that the most demanding recording and mastering studios in the world choose to use them. Abbey Road Studios in London and Skywalker Sound in California both use Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series.
The already unrivalled levels of performance are boosted by the implementation of Bowers & Wilkins' famous diamond tweeter technology throughout the whole range, including the new 805 Diamond, a speaker that brings diamond tweeters into the range of more discerning listeners than ever before.
Further major advances in audio-critical areas provide the entire range with a dramatic leap forward in terms of audio quality compared to the outgoing 800 Series. The diamond dome tweeter is now a quad-magnet design, which increases efficiency and improves the dynamic range of the top-end performance. A new surround material aids dispersion characteristics, and provides a more stable stereo image while increasing openness.
At the other end of the tonal scale, bass performance has also improved with the introduction of a new dual magnet motor system, which utilizes powerful neodymium magnets. This innovative design improves the linearity of the bass drivers' performance, therefore reducing harmonic distortion.
Serious work has also gone into the small details that combine to make a loudspeaker special. New Bowers & Wilkins-designed oxygen-free-copper speaker terminals and links ensure the signal quality into the speaker is the best possible. All models' crossovers feature a new design of capacitor using a unique silver, gold and oil construction. This component, chosen subjectively by Bowers & Wilkins engineers, in itself provides a dramatic increase in sound quality.
Elsewhere, proprietary Bowers & Wilkins technologies such as Kevlar® FST™ mid-range drivers, Nautilus™ tube-loaded tweeters, Matrix™ enclosures and the unique sphere/tube heads on the two largest speakers in the range, remain as acoustically valid as ever.
800 Series Diamond is fully manufactured in the UK, at Bowers & Wilkins new cabinet factory in Worthing, West Sussex. All seven speakers feature attractive new design touches, and are available in a choice of three finishes: Rosenut, Cherrywood and a stunning new Piano Black gloss.
The 805 Diamond is possibly the most requested speaker that Bowers & Wilkins has never made… until now. This groundbreaking book shelf model sees diamond tweeter technology arrive in the most affordable, real world speaker yet, and brings this level of stunning audio performance into the reach of many discerning listeners for the first time.
The 804 Diamond is the smallest floorstander in the range, and has a similar footprint to the 805 Diamond when placed on the stand. And like the 805 Diamond it too benefits from the implementation of a diamond dome tweeter for the first time.
The 803 Diamond provides people with more conservative taste many of the benefits of the 800 Series Diamond's range-topping models, but in a more traditional floorstanding speaker design. It has a significantly reduced footprint from the speakers above it, and utilizes three 7-inch bass drivers rather than the 802 Diamond's twin 8-inch cones.
The 802 Diamond is the home-friendly version of the 800 Diamond. It offers many of the benefits of the flagship speaker, including the distinctive head unit, but with a reduced footprint for fitting into living environments. A new voice coil and bass realignment means that the 802 Diamond benefits from dramatically improved bass performance.
The 800 Diamond is the flagship of the range, and is the latest incarnation of the speakers used in Abbey Road Studios. This no-compromise performer is better than ever, benefiting from all of the series-wide developments, and featuring significantly improved bass thanks to a new voice coil and bass realignment, which provides fuller, and more consistent bottom end performance.
The new 800 Series Diamond also features two dedicated centre channels for home theatre use. The larger HTM2 Diamond is the perfect partner for the larger speakers in the range. The more compact HTM4 Diamond, which again sees the introduction of diamond tweeter technology in a real world centre speaker, is the perfect partner for systems comprised of 805 or 804 Diamond.
A number of speakers have been removed from the previous 800 Series in this new slimmed down range, including the 801D and any dedicated rear channel speakers; the latter, because customers usually chose 805s over these options.
Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond is available from February 2010, and priced as follows:
800 Diamond $24,000 per pair
802 Diamond $15,000 per pair
803 Diamond $10,000 per pair
804 Diamond $7,500 per pair
805 Diamond $5,000 per pair
HTM2 Diamond $5,000 each
HTM4 Diamond $2,500 each
To find your nearest Bowers & Wilkins dealer visit http://www.bowers-wilkins.com
When Prions Do Good: Properly Folded Proteins May Protect Nerve Cells | 80beats
For years, prions have been known only as a serious danger to animal and human health. These misfolded brain proteins have been linked to fatal diseases–like mad cow disease in cattle and the deadly variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. But apart from causing these diseases, scientists puzzled for years about the exact function of a properly folded prion protein.
A new study in Nature Neuroscience may have some answers. After 20 years of research, an international team of neuroscientists reports that, in mammals, the mysterious proteins help to maintain the myelin sheath that protects the body’s nerves [Nature News]. A healthy sheath is necessary for nerve cells to transmit impulses rapidly.
The study, conducted by Adriano Aguzzi and his team at University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland, observed mice that were bred lacking prion proteins altogether. They found that these mice developed a condition where their peripheral nerves, which connect the limbs to the central nervous system, lost much of their myelin coating [Nature News]. By the age of two months, the mice’s nerves had lost their protective coating and the mice had become more sensitive to pain. Scientists say this shows that prion proteins (in their properly folded form) play some role in keeping nerve cells healthy, and add that the findings could lead to new research on human diseases that involve the nerves. For example, it could offer a new way of looking at multiple sclerosis, an incurable disease caused by demyelination of nerves in the brain and spinal cord [Nature News].
But there have been other hints that prions play a beneficial role in human health. A few years ago, scientists found that prions could be safeguarding our brains by preventing neurons from overworking themselves to death [New Scientist]. Another team discovered evidence that prion proteins could play a role in protecting our brains against the neural plaques associated with Alzheimer’s, noting that the more prion protein human brain cells made, the less plaque-forming protein they made, and vice-versa [New Scientist].
Related Content:
DISCOVER: Picturing Prions
DISCOVER: When Bad Prions Go Good
DISCOVER: A Cult of Proteins
80beats: Who Needs DNA? Prions Evolve Without It
80beats: New Guinean Cannibals Evolved Resistance To Mad Cow-Like Disease
Image: Steve Gschmeissner/ SPL
Guitar-Shaped iPhone Speaker Encourages Using Your Phone as an Instrument [IPhone]
This awesome guitar-shaped Bird Electron Ezison 100 iPhone speaker is designed to be used with the many guitar apps in the App Store. How long until we start seeing legit bands use stuff like this on stage?
The Ezison 100 is handmade, and there only 50 of them being made. They've got pegs for a guitar strap, are crafted from plywood and acrylic and look downright adorable. They're $290 each, and for that price you get a speaker that the manufacturer admits "may sound distorted." But who cares, with a shape as charming as this? [Bird Electron via CrunchGear via SlashGear]
Hello, Red Planet! | Bad Astronomy
If you’ve been outside after it gets dark lately, you may have noticed the brilliant reddish star in the east. But that’s no star; it’s Mars! About every year and a half, the Earth passes Mars as they both orbit the Sun, very much like how a faster racing car on the inside track laps a slower-moving car on the outside track.
When Earth does lap Mars, the Red Planet’s on the opposite side of the sky from the Sun, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise — we say that Mars is at opposition when that happens. When it does, we get two advantages in one: it’s at its closest point, so it’s bigger in telescopes, and it’s up all night so you can observe it at your convenience. This happens next in just a few days, on January 29, 2010.
That’s why the Beauty Without Borders program has set up a Mars observing campaign, to get everyone outside and looking at Mars. If you are part of a local astronomy group, let them know about the campaign, which lasts from tonight, January 25th, through the 30th. Get folks to attend and see Mars through a telescope! It won’t be terribly big like you might see in space probe pictures, of course, but you may catch the polar ice caps, or some other features.
And when the event is done, you can report your results to the Beauty without Borders group, so they can collate them. Did you see the same things as people across the world?
I love hearing about events like this. The hardest thing to do, sometimes, is simply to get people to look up. You really should try it. Otherwise, you’re missing the entire Universe.
Tip o’ the Tharsis shield to ThilinaH.
Obama’s Stimulus II: Like putting Perfume on a Hog
New from Cato's Dan Mitchell
Dan asks a new Stimulus? Let's consider the massive failure of the first Stimulus first.
And might there be a purely political motive involved? Consider, if the economy is coming out recession, and the Democrats managed to push through a second Stimulus, who might stand to gain from the recovery right before Nov. 2010? -- ED
That Rapscallion von Poppel Is At It Again! [Imagecache]
Neither Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium nor the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus holds any sight quite as bizarre as Arthur von Poppel's Nautilus One Man Band Submarine. [Nautilus One Man Band via Dark Roasted Blend]
Walt Mosspuppet Reviews the Apple Tablet: "The First Completely Perfect Product That’s Ever Existed." [Apple Tablet]
"Fire. The wheel. Barbers. The moveable printing press. Whiskey. The automobile. The personal computer. Walt Mossberg. The iPhone. And now, finally, the iSlate." Walt Mossbergpuppet issues the first and final word on the Apple Tablet. [Mosspuppet]
The Pope to His Priests: Why Aren’t You Blogging? | Discoblog
Go where the flock goes: That seems to be the new message from the Vatican last Saturday, when Pope Benedict XVI sent a message instructing his priests to adopt a “new media mindset.” The pope encouraged his priests to use all the digital tools at their disposal to preach the Gospel, version 2.0. Expect to see more priests online engaging in dialogue with the faithful, and maybe even a priestly Facebook page or two.
The Washington Post reports:
The Vatican has tried hard to keep up to speed with the rapidly changing field. Last year it opened a YouTube channel as well as a portal dedicated to the pope. The Pope2You site gives news on the pontiff’s trips and speeches and features a Facebook application that allows users to send postcards with photos of Benedict and excerpts from his messages to their friends.
Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli, who heads the Vatican’s social communications office, said the Pope’s words aim to encourage the use of social media.
But according to The Washington Post, he clarified to reporters:
“That doesn’t mean that (every priest) must open a blog or a Web site. It means that the church and the faithful must engage in this ministry in a digital world. At some point, a balance will be found.”
Engaging with followers online may be the Vatican’s new mantra, but they could also pick up a few tips from some Hindu temples that have moved their gods online–offering online prayer services and “viewings” for almost a decade now.
And we were recently reminded that on Plough Monday, some Anglican churches bless technological gadgets, the successors to the farm implements of old.
Related Content:
DISCOVER: How to Teach Science to the Pope
80beats: Vatican to E.T.: Hello, Brother
80beats:During Africa Visit, Pope Knocks Condoms for HIV Prevention
Discoblog: Holy Crops! Pope Backs Genetically Modified Foods
Discoblog: Vatican Science: Pope Blames Male Infertility on…the Pill
Image: Wikimedia
