Quick takes

I thought I'd do a traditional "weblog" type of post about some stuff that's caught my attention of late:

- Rich Accetta-Evans continues his thoughtful exploration of Christianity and Quakerism at Brooklyn Quaker. He's going to tempt me into the sin of pride: Get thee behind me, Rich!

- Frannie Hall Kieschnick called me today, in response to a note I wrote to her (blogged about here recently). She said she'd like to find ways for people who are not in seminary to get involved with The Beatitudes Society. I told her I was encouraging some Quakers to learn about their work. We're going to talk more.

- She also said her husband had found my blog post. Eep! Be careful what you say in public on your blog! :) (I don't have a TV, so I honestly hadn't heard of her brother before.... this makes more sense if you go back to the original post...)

- Frannie also mentioned a front-page story in the S.F. Chronicle about how Glenn Greenwald's How Would a Patriot Act: Defending America from a President Run Amok has become a best-seller through promotion on blogs, not through the mainstream. Working Assets is publishing it.

- As Quakers well know, NSA is spying on everyone, except a few million Qwest customers. Here's Working Asset's response: Hang up on the NSA! Quote: "Working Assets is the only telephone company participating in the ACLU's lawsuit against the National Security Agency." Okay, I don't want this to be some kind of commercial, so go read FCNL's statement, "No blank check for domestic spying", too. Thanks.

- I'm intrigued by Neil Young's multichannel new media promotion for his new album, Living With War, which includes songs such as "Impeach the President." Not deep, but it rocks. Anyway, he's got (or his marketing agency does anyway) a blog on Blogger, a MySpace page, and they were streaming the album on the web before you could even buy it. Very smart marketing.

- I really like the song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, which was supposedly #1 in UK based solely on downloads. I heard it on KFOG, the well-known FM rock station in SF, but they didn't put it on their website playlist! Fortunately I'd heard a DJ on another station mention the name of the band, which I thought was Snarls Barkley. Hooray for Google, I got the right hit eventually.

- Finally, last night I led the "Stewardship" workshop of our new expanded SPICES workshop series at the SF Friends School. It was a rich experience. It felt spiritually grounded, and not an opportunity for political harangue, which given the ecologically troubled times was an achievement in itself. Thanks to Stephen and Chad for being presenters!