The Rhine River: Random Notes

Monday, July 04, 2005

Random Notes

I'm back in the USA, looking at the pile of material that I brought back and thinking, "not this week." In the next few days I should get back to regular blogging. I will finish up my diary on Alsace. I will also write about Fatou Diome's Le Ventre de l'Atlantique, the bourgeios perception of ongoing revolution, and an article in the French culture magazine Les Inrockuptibles that announced the coming of the Sixth Republic.

Being home I can get back to reading blogs. Sharon gives an extensive link-fest on the history of clothing and couture.

While I was gone Frog in a Well opened its China annex. Lots of great stuff: Jonathan Dresner raising questions about the consequences of China's one-child policy on private life, and Alan Baumler looking at the problem of recognizing a legitimate state in Chinese history.

On the more political side, David Sucher has blogged up a storm on public domain. He has brought together numerous posts: two on a development project in Buffalo (here and here) which developers are arguing will solve urban blight; and the weakness of a Democrat bill which attempts to inject separation of powers and federalism issues into the debate. Just go over there and start scrolling down.

Peter Levine has some excellent thoughts about defining the former space of the World Trade Center, both culturally and politically. As time goes on, I begin to agree with Donald Trump: either rebuild the Twin Towers exactly as they stood, or make a nice park (I prefer the latter).

I don't know why I did this one, but here are my results for the "What kind of [Christian] theologian are you?" quiz. I am not surprised that I share nothing in common with Martin Luther. (Hat-tip to Through the Cellardoor of Existence).

You scored as Friedrich Schleiermacher. You seek to make inner feeling and awareness of God the centre of your theology, which is the foundation of liberalism. Unfortunately, atheists are quick to accuse you of simply projecting humanity onto 'God' and liberalism never really recovers.

Friedrich Schleiermacher

53%

Paul Tillich

40%

J�rgen Moltmann

33%

John Calvin

27%

Charles Finney

20%

Augustine

20%

Jonathan Edwards