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  • A Pepys and a Sutton

    In “today’s” entry in the online Pepys’ Diary:

    Up, and after my wife had dressed herself very fine in her new laced gown, and very handsome indeed, W. Howe also coming to see us, I carried her by coach to my uncle Wight’s and set her down there, and W. Howe and I to the Coffee-house, where we sat talking about getting of him some place under my Lord of advantage if he should go to sea, and I would be glad to get him secretary and to out Creed if I can, for he is a crafty and false rogue. Thence a little to the ‘Change, and thence took him to my uncle Wight’s, where dined my father, poor melancholy man, that used to be as full of life as anybody, and also my aunt’s brother, Mr. Sutton, a merchant in Flanders, a very sober, fine man, and Mr. Cole and his lady; but, Lord! how I used to adore that man’s talke, and now methinks he is but an ordinary man, his son a pretty boy indeed, but his nose unhappily awry.

  • Steampunk

    Because of my Second Life, I decided to dip into steampunk (a subdivision of science fiction). So over the weekend I finished a novel, something I haven’t done in quite some time. It’s been interesting to note that I just haven’t been interested in reading for a good six to eight months.

    The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter was recommended to me as a good example of steampunk. It continues the story of the inventor told by H.G. Wells in The Time Machine. I’m almost too embarrassed to admit that I enjoyed it so much more than the Wells.

    And this morning I found R2-S2 (R2 Steam Too) via Brass Goggles.

  • Nice article on Second Life religion in USA Today

    A very nice article in USA Today: Faithful build a Second Life for religion online, even if they did ignore the Quakers (and almost skipped the Buddhists and assorted Pagans). Near the end is a statement that rings true for me:

    Indeed, says Internet expert Julian Dibbell, “virtual reality is in some ways an essentially spiritual experience.”

  • Fantastic maps

    The Daily Mail has a feature on How the world really shapes up with images of maps where land mass of countries has been distorted to show things like population, alcohol consumption, or death by war or violence. (via Strange Maps)

  • Pepys on his brother’s death

    From the online version of Samuel Pepys’ Diary:

    I lay close to my wife, being full of disorder and grief for my brother that I could not sleep nor wake with satisfaction, at last I slept till 5 or 6 o’clock.

  • Great Buddhist/Jewish mashup!

    “Sayings of the Jewish Buddhist”

    Be here now.
    Be someplace else later.
    Is that so complicated?

    Tip of the hat to Noli Irritare Leones.

  • UU Church in Second Life member interviews

    Longer excerpts of the interviews I conducted with members of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Second Life have been published as a companion to the story I wrote. The excerpts include one interview that was cut from the edited story.

  • Christian peace witness

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  • No longer a Quaker

    Unless something unusual occured, as of yesterday I am no longer a member of the Religious Society of Friends. Here’s the letter I sent to my meeting:

    Dear Friends,

    This letter is to let you know of my decision to resign my membership in Beacon Hill Friends Meeting. I have not, for some time, been acting as a member of the meeting; this resignation is to bring my formal status into harmony with my behavior. While there are many people in Beacon Hill Meeting and in the wider Religious Society of Friends who are dear to me, this affection is not, in my heart, an appropriate reason to remain in membership.

    I don’t think I’ve rejected any of the values of Quakerism, but I’ve been going through a prolonged period of spiritual dryness and have not felt any drawing towards Quakerism as a way out of it. In fact, I have some glimmerings of interest in Buddhism. For most of the past twenty years, being a Quaker has played a major role in my sense of identity, encompassing vocation, avocation, community, and lifestyle. It is painful and confusing to realize that things are no longer clear. What has become clear is that I need to create an open space in my heart–silence, if you will–in which to seek for my right spiritual path.

    It may be that my journey will lead me back into the Religious Society of Friends. Ironically, I have become involved in drawing together a community of Quakers in a particular Internet venue. If my journey does lead me back into active participation in a meeting, I am prepared to reapply for membership should that occur.

    Thank you, Friends, for the fellowship and welcome I found when I moved to Boston over five years ago. I’m sorry to find myself no longer among you.

    with affection,
    Kenneth Sutton

    (The Internet venue I mention is Second Life, where the most recent meeting for worship, which I could not attend, drew sixteen people.)

    Getting around to writing this letter took a long time. I finally couldn’t not do it. I feel a much greater sense of integrity already. (Having objected to accepting the membership application of someone living at a distance, I felt keenly the lack of integrity in continuing to hold membership when I was not participating in meeting.)

    The questions of identity are, indeed, hard. Last night I was at shiva for my friend Barbara, and when I was introduced to one person had to explain that while I was a Quaker, I no longer am. And when discussing my work, the immediate question that follows my statement that I’m not a UU is, what are you? One dear friend last night named it exactly when she said I can no longer use Quakerism as a crutch to shape identity or to maintain relationships.

  • Web design diversity

    If you look at the lists of presenters at conferences on web design, you might think there is no diversity. But that’s not true, and the discrepancy is pointed out now and again. There’s currently another go-around about it on and between a number of blogs. Jeremy Keith of Adactio has a good post: The diversity division. I don’t agree with every detail of what he says, but it’s a good statement. I particularly appreciate his comments distinguishing between sex and gender.