Monthly Archives: June 2010

to Sarajevo to visit Dejan and Michelle

to Croatia today to see Jeremy and Petra and the boys.

Teams in bold are my hopes:

49. Uruguay vs. S. Korea

50. USA vs. Ghana

51. Germany vs. England

52. Argentina vs. Mexico

53. Netherlands vs. Slovakia

54. Brazil vs. Chile

55. Paraguay vs. Japan

56. Spain vs. Portugal

Ok, Brazil is a pick, and I guess Spain is too.

So then…

A. Slovakia vs. Brazil

B. S.Korea vs. USA

C. Mexico vs. England

D. Japan vs. Spain

and then…

I. Slovakia vs. USA

II. England vs. Japan

3rd place Slovakia vs. Japan

Final USA vs. England

So, I’m taking an on-again, off-again retreat until Sunday night. Part of this down-time, indeed its a Sabbath, means quietness, catching up on reading and rest. I’m just back from another failed visit to see a flat (apartment) to lease and a stop at the local box store where I have stocked up with supplies for the weekend. Today, I caught up on the two week old news in the Economist that my sweet Anna sent me and in it is their Technology Quarterly. In that section I read two articles that interested me greatly. One because it was about human behavior, the other about a software program.

The article on human behavior was in context of human-computer interaction. It was about the computer recognizing the nod. Yes, the nod. Have you ever thought about nodding? Not nodding off (which I will do in an hour or so – I just had lunch) but the nod as communication. When having a conversation, one nods. Researchers have discovered that the nod is often preceed by a gaze change to the speaker from the listener. I personally would add an “umhmm” or a “hmmm.” This shows that the listener is indeed listening and engaged. Over and against just waiting for his or her change to speak (which happens way too often in typical conversation). Communication is really happening when we nod.
The other article is about a software that prevents the internet from distracting us. Be it Fb, Twitter or just checking our email, when working on the oomputer, we are very distracted. Sometimes Ill be at my desk working on something that is time sensitive and I’ll get a call, or I’ll be driving (back home) and I will take the call. But I will sometimes warn my caller that they are only getting 47% of my attention since I’m still doing X. It’s what multi-tasking is all about isn’t it? “Dipping” into the stream of the web as we try to work really slows us down. Our attention gets divided. The software prevents distraction by protecting us from the Internet.
This made me think about God. I am glad that God doesn’t have to divide His attention. Any of us who speak to Him have all of His attention (I might have said 100% of His attention, but 100% is a concept of human reasoning and I’m not sure that that is His limit. God is unlimited. He is eternal (something we don’t really get). Thus, he doesn’t need software to keep Him from being distracted. oh, and, I think God nods a lot.

This is my first entry. I traveled with the group but went without headset, I’d been there five time before, I didn’t need commentary. I took notes from which the following submissions come:

“Prayer Shawls”

They hang neatly

striped prayer shawls

worn many times

while reciting Hebrew prayers

the fringes, decorations, embrodery

the trim, frayed

from use

the Shema quoted from heart.

How many prayers were said

while wearing these shawls.

“Braids”

Shuffling through the rooms

visitors hear of

systematic destruction

of tragedy,

pile and piles of hair

burlap sacks filled with hair

cloth and netting are the product

these didn’t affect until the braid

lying just as it is was cut

from the terrified head of the

woman just hours

before her death

her ashes, now scattered,

but her braids remain,

reminding us

never again;

but never never comes

and again keeps coming

again and again,

Babi Yar,

Auschwitz,

Vukovar,

Srebrenica,

Darfur,

Somalia,

Bishkek,

again and again.