Category Archives: Uncategorized

Songbird not-yet-ready-to-be-called-0.2 is now available

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Its much better than the “proof of concept”, even if its still in alpha stage.

Songbird is a media player that is based on Firefox, looks like iTunes, and feels quite heavy. Played just music on 0.1, but now also plays video (just like iTunes does with Quicktime), and (yes) recognizes iPods (for those who may want to know).

I like it (although it won’t play m4a files, and probably for good reason). Try it out (for Windows, Mac, or Linux).

The oncoming partition of Christianity

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I’m currently reading the lively commentary that ensued from Father Jake’s March 10 blogpiece, “Censure Peter Akinola”, which was written in reaction to the controversial statements made by the ever-controversial Peter Akinola, Archbishop of the Anglican church in Nigeria (“they do not have the monopoly of violence in this nation. . . . CAN may no longer be able to contain our restive youths should this ugly trend continue.”) during the infamous Danish Muhammad cartoon crisis. A day after Akinola made that statement, Christians in Onitsha (former capitol of Biafra) and other parts of southeastern Nigeria reacted in equally violent kind to the cartoon-related Muslim violence against Christians in northern Nigeria (where Christians are in the minority), hacking Muslims in the street with machetes and burning/defacing mosques.

Akinola is also known for having objected towards moves to ordain gay clergy in the Anglican/Episcopalian Communion (such as Gary Robinson), and has hinted to the secession of the Nigerian church from under Canterbury’s jurisdiction. He has been decried in the Northern church (Europe, U.S., Australia), but has become quite popular with Nigerians and other Anglican constituencies and denominations based in Africa (save for the South African church and Desmond Tutu) with a conservative bent (even Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, a noted homophobe).

In the following discussion, Chiake from Nigeria debated with Goran from Sweden and other Angliscopalians (who seem to live in the U.S.) on Akinola and the rise of conservative Christianity (Pentecostalism, Prosperity Gospel, Evangelicalism) in the Global South vs. Robinson and the deprecation of conservative Christianity in the Global North. To generalize the discussion, the main point was how the two regions (one which, some 500 years back, imposed the worldview, and the other which took the cock) are diverging into two different directions, one which sees Christianity as a tool for upward elevation (hence Prosperity Gospel) and the other which sees Christianity as an institution for social justice and humanity. The former is becoming much more popular in areas which have experienced enduring economic depression and poverty, while the latter (already popular) is becoming much more nominal in its human relations.

Does this mean that a great schism is in the crosshairs of Christianity, similar to the Great Schism of 1054?

Or, as with the rise of Akinola and the Nigerian church, could this be a shifting of Christianity’s power from North to South?

OK, I’m asking this because of how Buddhism (which was started in India, just like Hinduism and Sikhism, all three of which are, like Judaism and Islam, religions based upon and transmitted through the written word) had once been prominent in South Asia (its place of origin), but once it had been sent over the Himalayas to China and East Asia, Buddhism dwindled down to a tiny minority religion in most parts of India save for modern-day Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Now its seeming that the same is bound to happen with Protestant Christianity, as its numbers and clout gradually dwindles in North America and Europe, while its numbers and clout gradually increases in Africa (particularly in Nigeria). That the Angliscopalian church is readily listening to Akinola is proof enough of this power shift.

So, what if this shift happens, and will it resemble the influence of historic influence and spread of Buddhism in East Asia? Will sub-Saharan, Niger-Congo-speaking Africa, which has been familiar with Christianity for only a few centuries (compared with the much-longer history of Buddhism in East Asia), be able to integrate Evangelical Christianity (which is also heavily influential in the Nigerian church) within its own culture and dialogue? Will, just as in Japan, people in Africa still be able to honor their ancestral spirits alongside Jesus?

I would like to see what will become of this within a few centuries.

Fun Stuff

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So the womb environment makes you gay? LOL, I thought that a certain dancing webslinger would do that to you.

Also, the new Digg.com that was launched some two nights ago seems to be catching well with the natives. Plus, as expected, the new politics and World News sections are filled with “Bush/Muslims/MPAA/Microsoft eat babies” posts. Vigilantes are made for this site.

Also, I’ve come across this God-awfully amazing movie: London Voodoo. This is an amazing film that, for once, doesn’t give Vodun the “Scooby-Doo and Shaggy” treatment. It’s about an American woman (just moved to London) who is mounted by some Dahomean Amazon warrior with a libido to satisfy and a bone to pick with the local Vodouisants, and how her working husband (who moved her and their child to London for his new job) has to win her back from a threat that is beyond any physical control. Here’s the torrent if you want to watch it: http://isohunt.com/dl.php?id=6926170

Also, via the rubbertransformations group, I came across this rather interesting disturbing FREAKY-DEEKY vid on Youtube. Reading the commentary, its evident that even hardened GayNiggers are disturbed by this sort of thing. Wowwee!

Finally, I’m still divided between Islam and the Orishas. However, I do know that standard Islam (Sunni, Shi’ite) is now out of the question.

Why?

Because I’ve figured out that the typical Muslim mentality, as exhibited in every case of some non-Muslim making a critique of Islam or Muslims, is the same as the Jewish reaction to anti-Semitism (or anything that is remotely close to it). Therefore, diversity within standard Islam and the realm within which it predominates is stifled as much as possible (the Kurds are a famous example of this); all that you see is Arabic, Mecca, Muhammad, Qu’ran, Sharia, and Jihad for miles on end.

About as bland as rural Illinois, IMO.

Therefore, apart from the whole “rebellion against the Western way” schtick, there’s really not that much incentive to convert to Islam (and the accompanying Arab cultural enforements). One will be dealing with a single, monolithic ethno-religious culture that works actively against difference and diversity (or uses it for its own advancement).

That is one thing which I’ve dealt with before, and refuse to deal with again.

So, more than likely, it’ll be the Orishas for me.

Follow-up to the cliffhanger post

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Yes, its 9 EST and I said 11, but I was bored, so….

___________________

OK. WHY ISLAM?

Well, it goes back a bit, like, back to the beginning of my 10th-grade year. I was having the first of what would be 3 long years worth of issues with my sadistic bitch of a private school teacher, Mrs. Yvette Brown (who has, since my graduation back last summer, become the school’s counselor). We repelled against each other like magnets most of the time, but there were some short times of clarity in which we had barely-civil dialogues concerning such things as Africa or education, or even about God (which, obviously, would be her favourite subject more so than mine).

However, one day in the first semester of that 10th grade year, it was during one of these false calms that she told me something that I have remembered ever since (and only revealed to Mom sometime last month):

“Harry, what I’m afraid of is that, as soon as you go to college and leave the church, you will convert to Islam.”

Now, at the time, I had just started reading the late Chancellor Williams’ The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D., which stated that the Arabs had been involved in their own African slave trade, which led me to not have that high of an opinion on the Middle East or Islam. So of course, I spurned the suggestion at the time.

Fast forward to 2005. I had graduated from 12th grade with a repugnant outlook towards Christianity and religion in general. I was already familiar with Lucumi in the literary sense (I had, and still have, a soft spot for spirituality), and I’ve wondered ever since about becoming an actual practitioner, but the fact that I don’t live in an area that has that many practitioners is an immediate hindrance to such an endeavor.

Anyway, 2005, graduated, moved to Olgethorpe in Atlanta, smoked weed (didn’t buy any), fucked up, came back this year, now going to a tech school, still nothing exciting about life after high school. Whoop-dee-tapdancing-doo.

Back to surfing the web: I come across stories about disaffected Third World folks in Chiapas (Mexico) or Biafra (Nigeria) converting to Islam as an alternative to the Christianity which is practiced by, and used by the present world order (UN, US, EU) which keeps them under an iron thumb.

I read about how people in these areas are seeing Islam as a religion which presents a challenge to the present world order. A religion of resistance, a religion of popular identification, a religion of the disaffected masses and sidelined minorities, a religion which rehumanizes the human being (or turns him into a WMD?).

Or is it just another religion, another force of deception that is meant to elevate one people, one region (Middle East), and one language (Arabic) above all others, and to assimilate all outsiders into its hegemony? Is it as much of a foe to Christianity as Marxism is to capitalism? If so, then what’s the point? Islam and Christianity both advocate for the submission of “backward cultures” before God/Allah, just as both capitalism and Marxism advocate for industrialization of “backward societies”, notwithstanding the sacrifices which would have to be made in either case.

Or is it time that we look to something other than religions which rely upon the written word for support (note: without systems of writing, you would not have religion. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, none of that)? Aren’t we getting beyond dried, bound paper leaves with the WWW (and whatever that may succeed it in importance)?

Or is the WWW just another extension of European hegemony (no, I am NOT talking within a racial/skin-color context, but rather within a cultural/spiritual context, in which people of any expression have been adversely affected by this)?

Now, you see, I am confused (and a bit addled in the head).

Maybe I should just look harder for practitioners of Lucumi (or American deriviations of such, like Santeria and Candomble) instead of proving Mrs. Brown right?

Or maybe I should just look for a part-time job first?

Epiphany: Mac OS X has some…well…kinks

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I’m trying as hard as I can not to say that “Macs suck” or “Macs are garbage” at the moment, but I have found out that, as good as OS X might look on the exterior, it has some, I guess, irreconcilable kinks that are probably going to prevent me from looking at it the same way as I did prior to today.

How so? Well, let’s start from the beginning.

I was in Operating Systems class, and everyone had already left because they (and I) had gotten through with our weekly chapter tests. I stayed behind, and asked Mr. Carlisle if I could work with the Mac Minis which the school had bought for educational purposes; he said yes, and I switched one of them on.

Needless to say, I immediately started downloading .dmg files for a test drive. I had already known about and tried out the RSS Visualizer screensaver (which displays RSS feeds from Safari in a smooth, airy blue display), so I was ready to go. I tried out Safari, but again, I was reminded of exactly how much a person who “switches” will have to get used to: clicking the middle scroll button on the mouse will get you Dashboard, even if you’re trying to open a link in a new tab in whatever browser you’re using (Safari, Camino, Shiira, even Firefox). So you’ll have to open the link *manually* (left click if you’re using a non-Apple mouse, which they used for the Minis).

OK…..that’s not cool.

Then I tried opening any of those browsers – hell, even any of the applications, like Finder – in fullscreen (y’know, press on the “Expand” button on a window to, well, expand it). However, except for Camino, when I press the plus sign on the upper-left corner of Safari or Finder, the window will shift to one side of the window.

Huh?

I press the plus sign again and it shifts back to the position that it was in before.

“Oh-kay……”, I think.

Finally, feeds: I can’t find the button on Safari that allows you to add RSS feeds to the built-in reader. No Mac browser (save, probably, for Firefox, which I didn’t try out) can recognize Atom feeds (the XML syndication type that is used by Google, Blogspot, and as an option alongside RSS on Livejournal). And finally, for the first time, I felt like there was just too much clutter and disorganization on the desktop (with the Dock showing up everytime I bring the cursor anywhere within its vicinity, although I can barely get it to show up when I shift the Dock to the right or left side of the screen. Peachy.)

Overall, during my short tenure with the OS X desktop, I felt…….debilitated. Yeah, that might be the word. I felt debilitated when I was on it.

That said, I think I have a reason (or two) *not* to “get a Mac”.