Thursday, April 9, 2009

When Pesky Turns Productive

In another "Genius!" moment (see post below on cardboard oven for the other one), I came across this article about CAPTCHAs. You know, those images where you type in the corresponding letters to show that you're a real human being and not some spybot infiltrating a site.

CAPTCHA is short for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.” It was developed by a Guatemalan professor who thought he'd put it to greater use than just identity-verification. He has started a project that now spans from Facebook to Craigslist and other sites where the image is a snippet from a scanned-in book where the computer can't decipher the text... but the human eye can.

Find out much more by clicking here.

So whenever you think you're being pestered into deciphering some random letters, when they form words there's a good chance you're giving 10 seconds of your brain power to the global effort to turn out-of-copywrited texts into digitally-searchable material for the Internet. Alas, it doesn't seem blogger (my host for this blog) employs reCAPTCHA, but I'm urging them to do so if they aren't already! Anyone, let me know if they already are!

So how does it feel to be a part of an Eternal Digital Project? ;)

UPDATE: In a NY Times article, reCAPTCHA is reportedly being used by Twitter, Facebook, Craigslist, the NY Times and Ticketmaster, and is deciphering about 25 million words each day!!!

Cardboard Oven: A Beautiful, 'Impossible' Reality

[This week I preached a sermon on Matt 11:28-30, where Jesus beckons all who are weary to come and find rest in him, and to bear his yoke, for it is easy and light (find my sermon notes here). I have some more thoughts about yoking and bearing burdens...]

There is a picture given to us by one of Emily's friend in Central America, of a woman throwing her head back in pure laughing joy. In the background is a mound of trashing filling the frame. It's a beautiful picture, seeing the joy amidst so much trash. And yet, it's hard to catch her contagious laughter without filling a twinge of irony and guilt.

Too often in this economically developed, individually-minded American culture, we focus too much on the "yoke" and "burden" part rather than the "easy" and "light" part. When I was in East Africa, Ecuador and Central America, I saw many women carrying huge loads of firewood on their backs. (Yes, it was always women - if it were men, they'd have a donkey to carry it for them.) It's a "woman's job" since gathering firewood was for domestic (and usually not commercial/business) use, and the household is the woman's domain (traditionally in many societies).

So for many poor, especially women, society weighs on them both figuratively and literally, whereas we rich tend to be more afraid of losing our individual freedom. Which is why I found this invention of a cardboard oven to be utterly amazing.

Flabbergasted, I read the article where a man in Kenya created this $5 invention with his daughters. Mass production is now planned out of factories in Nairobi. The article ended with these wonderful words: "I don't want to see another 80-year-old woman carrying 20 kilos of firewood on her back. Maybe we don't have to."

Simple is Beautiful.

I now look at this picture on the wall, and I'm able to laugh heartily with this woman, filled with a real hope in relieving at least one of her burdens.

Monday, April 6, 2009

The First are First, until the Last become First

Confession: I'm a current events junkie. Between Democracy Now, the NYTimes, Washington Post and WSJ, I spend at least an hour a day digesting the news. Perhaps it's the Political Scientist undergrad in me. I would love to ween myself off of this habit, but then I do get theological insights such as this...

In the NYTimes today, there is an article about Brain Power and drug doses that help a person forget certain memories.

On the same day, there is an article in the Washington Post that speaks of how the stress of poverty affects memory retention.

The Irony? The FIRST persons, the poor, who may benefit from drug treatment to either forget or better remember things, will be the LAST to ever receive these drugs. In our system, the first are those with money and access, and the last are those who are poor and unable to access the markets, the benefits of what "money can buy."

Thankfully, we believe in a God who subverts this system, flipping it on its head and saying that NO, the First will be Last and the Last will be First, in the Kingdom of our God (Matt 19:30, 20:16; Mark 10:31; Luke 13:30). Those who are most needy shall be clothed, nourished and sheltered FIRST.

. Let us work hand-and-hand to make this vision a reality.