The NYT writes about the decline of buddhism in Japan. Within the article is an aside about buddhist priests for hire via the internet:

It was partly to dispel this bad image that Kazuma Hayashi, 41, a Buddhist priest without a temple of his own, said he founded a company, Obohsan.com (obohsan means priest), three years ago in a Tokyo suburb. The company dispatches freelance Buddhist priests to funerals and other services, cutting out funeral homes and other middlemen.

Prices, which are at least a third lower than the average, are listed clearly on the company’s Web site. A 10 percent discount is available for members.

“We even give out receipts,” Mr. Hayashi said.

Mr. Hayashi argued that instead of divorcing Japanese Buddhism further from its spiritual roots, his business attracted more people with its lower prices. The highest-ranking posthumous name went for about $1,500, a rock-bottom price.

“I know that, originally, that’s not what Buddhism was about,” Mr. Hayashi said of the top name. “But it’s a brand that our customers choose. Some really want it, so that means there’s a strong desire there, and we have to respond to it.”

After apologizing for straying from Buddhism’s ideals, Mr. Hayashi said he offered his customers the highest-ranking name, albeit with a warning: “In short, that this is different from going to a shop in town and buying a handbag, you know, a Gucci bag.” Read more…

I want to watch A&E’s remake of Andromeda Strain… However, the digital cable god won’t give it to me. Why is this? I keep thinking it’s somehow related to the rain.

Is this the moment when technology becomes a part of our religious environment? When we suspect it is affected by numinous forces like weather and the hand of nature or gods or weather systems? Why would my digital cable be at all affected by the weather? Why not? I’m affected by the weather.

The little arrows on the screen chase one another round and round never ending or beginning…the screen says “Your program is now being accessed and will begin shortly.” But nothing happens. There is a large eye in the graphic behind the spinning arrows, an eye with a spiral in it. The whole thing concludes with the phrase:

“One moment please…”

(Posted about Bike Blessing on Drunk and In Charge of a Bicycle.)

This is one of the most responsive, interactive and informational web interfaces I’ve encountered:

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/

Take a look at Gregory Donovan’s brilliant research blog - he’s re-launched. What a code master!

Devices are always watching us - and feeding data into the network. This OS X screensaver by Michael Zoellner searches for CCTV feeds and displays them. Very eerie.

Dr. Mala Htun discusses the crucial role that electronic communication plays in the social justice movement for Burma.

riseup.net has a great collection of tech activism listserves.

Highlights include:

nomesh-tech New Orleans Mesh Networking - Technical Support & Discussion

farma Renewable energy sources campaign for the Zapatista communities

leftistpython Leftist and combative object oriented programming

fpl-fbv Forum on the Patenting of Life - Forum sur le brevetage du vivant

vgranjeros List for the farmers who tend the fields of the vfarm

techne technology and democracy

My host switched DNS info and didn’t update - apologies for the outage over the last day!

Reading William Gibson’s blog and thinking about his discussion of ATMs as part of his extended nervous system, I decided to start mapping mine. I began with the interface I spend most of the day with, my Mac - then to the WiFi router, then the cable modem, then the cloud, then the servers and the ‘others’. There’s so much more to add… And strange that it really did come out looking so hierarchical - I was expecting it to be more rhizomatic. Perhaps I’m not representing it correctly - or maybe that which was born of ARPANET actually IS more hierarchical than it seems. After all, the military designed it…

(If you visit Gibson’s blog - take note of the strange structure of the interactivity - rather than allowing comments on the blog, there is a separate message board which he clearly reads and comments on in his blog. Any thoughts on this?)

This is something I’ve always noticed with the change from a generation who couldn’t imagine how they would sound recorded or look on film to the current generation who live as though they are on television - the hyper-mediated state of mind.

In response to text messages, hundreds of participants wore white and crossed the Brooklyn bridge, boarded Subways and made their way (many unknowingly) to Coney Island. Joining the event without understanding the purpose and following this crowd, I had the distinct impression that I had been swept up in some religious ceremony. This congregation of believers could have been a ritual occurrence - and this only one instance. I found great pleasure in following and not knowing. Wondering if I’d wandered into the pilgrimage of a new techno-cult. The events were characterized by a frenzy of costume, face paint, electronics and the sudden appearance of music, fire dancers and magic elixers when we arrived at meeting points as directed by text message and guides carrying flags.

In The Soul of Cyberspace Zaleski quotes Rabbi Yosef Y. Kazen, founder of the Chabad-Lubavitch Web site, description of his “Global Interactive Database of Good Deeds” in which users type in an act of goodness or kindness and a ‘vitrual menorah’ lights up:

“[this database adheres to] our perspective that the Internet is a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of swords into ploughshares”

The text referenced is: “And He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaih 2:4, Neviim, The Tanakh)

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