andiedg’s Neighborhood

Go forth and fill your libraries with media.

Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.

~daisy

I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.

I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.

Cheers,

daisy

Gentlemen, we're history.
     -Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

    I don't what made me pick up not one but two MORE history books at the library not long ago, but for whatever reason, I did. The two books take contrasting approaches to how one looks at history. The first book, 1688: A Global History looks at how the entire world looked during one year in the late 17th Century. The other book, The Way of the World, is a sweeping look from the first stirrings of civilization to the present age. And I must say, while I found neither book to be incredibly spectacular, I enjoyed them both.
  In 1688: A Global History by John E. Wills, Wills picks one year and travels all over the world to give us a idea of what was going on during that pivotal period in the late 17th century. I liked how Wills focused on specific people from this era to show us the world almost through their eyes. Unlike many traditional historians, Willis covered the entire earth, detailing events and personalities in China, Japan, South America and the Muslim world. His scope as well as his writing style made for interesting reading and kept this book from being a dry history textbook. I liked it.
   David Fromkin's The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Eve of the Twenty-Third Century is a nice, well-written history of the last five thousand years. Fromkin, known also as the author of the well respected A Peace to End All Peace, takes on the thankless job of writing a history of everything and pulls it off

.It won't win any awards, but it give you a nice, readable introduction to the history of the world. No complaints-I liked it.

    

Tomas Halik's book Patience with God: The Story of Zacchaeus Continuing In Us was another one of those books I saw sitting on the "new books" shelf at my public library that, after a cursory inspection I decided to take home with me to read. Halik, a Czech Catholic priest, Professor and adviser to former Czech President Vaclav Havel in his book tries to reach out those outside creedal belief, people like atheists, skeptics and agnostics. To Halik, these are the modern heirs of the New Testament figure of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus of course according to Gospels was the Jewish tax collector who while perched in a tree watched Jesus preach to the crowd. Since Zacchaeus was not actively participating, he was nevertheless curious and to a degree engaged by what he saw going on around him. Today while many of those individuals are not in the Church, they might be hanging outside listening, or more likely engaged in intellectual discovery or doing admirable deeds.
    In a sense, Halik advocates a new ecumenicism. He calls on the Church to reach out those whose intellectual honesty and commitment to the Greater Good make them admirable in the eyes of God. To make his point Halik uses numerous examples from Liberation Theology, literature, philosophy, the writings of St. Paul and the lives of the Saints.
    While this is a good book, alas it is not a great book. I suspect Halik, is a better thinker than a writer. And for all his sincerity, many of the modern Zacchaeuses will strongly disagree with his opinions. I do think however, his book has contributed nicely to the ongoing debate between belief and nonbelief. Some might think his book is a bit muddled, but then again, so is the middle ground when it comes to the classic argument between belief in God and the denial of God's existence.

Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.

We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.

I will keep you posted.

Thank you for being so patient.

~daisy

Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.

This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!

Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.

Can't wait to read your posts!

~ daisy

Something NEW at RBR!  read more

ますます充実なＲＢＲ、この秋は新たな学び方でもっと自由にアートを楽しもう！詳細を読む

If you are looking for a place, a one day event to show off and sale your artworks!!
BOOK NOW !!
RBR ART Marketing on 12 December, Saturday, from 12:30-16:00
Booth rental starts at 3000yen, BOOK NOW !!!!
Drop us a line now at info@rbrart.com

手作りアートマーケット　クリエイターを募集中！ 詳細を読む： http://www.rbrart.com/artm.html

MORE and MORE ARTsy news from RBR... read more

ますます楽しく！充実なRBRニュース！

RBR Art Market is COMING BACK !!! This December 12, Saturday at RBR Gallery and Creative Space.

More details will be uploaded soon, check HERE for our FIRST Art Market held last December!

Drop me a line to reserve your booth NOW. More details will coming on 01 Oct.

第2回RBR Art Market開催決定！

出店者の募集はいよいよ！！！！昨年の様子もどうぞぜひご覧ください。

１０月1日より応募開始！