A friend of mine who is a teacher was talking about their qualifications one day. They reflected on how times and qualifications have changed. Their original teaching license, issued perhaps thirty five years ago, said they were qualified to "teach elementary school, kindergarten and the retarded".

My friend reflected on how years of work with children with learning challenges had completely disabused any idea of using the word "retarded" ever again.

We're getting there...

a live demonstration of Microsoft’s neural network-based voice processing software in Tianjin, China. In the demo, Rashid spoke in English and paused after each phrase. To the audience’s delight, Microsoft’s software simultaneously translated what he was saying and then spoke it back to the audience in Chinese.

I received a report to day from a museum I was connected with in Montreal, the Donald Stewart Museum. It is a museum in an old fort. It was founded almost entirely  by English-speaking Quebeckers, supported by them, and still depends heavily on the support of English-speaking Quebeckers.

I am curious what people's thoughts are regarding barriers to participation and engagement in this site, especially as they compare to say other online communities or church communities.

I propose that

The following is an excerpt from an article posted on AlterNet, while directed at atheists my opinion is that the suggestion has value not only for atheists but for every one......

I came across this article after being inspired to search further by Crazyheart's biblical symbols thread. The author touches on a number of issues - myth in a literary context, symbolic language in an historical context and the loss of the richness of both in our modern context.

This - of course! - spoke to me...

Enjoy

I am going to present a couple of video's over the next week.

I hope you will tell me if you like them, if they would enhance your worship, if you find them good or not, etc.

Critique is what we like to do...and of course, it is wide open.

They did it again.  A prayer to the Lord to help those who need our pity:  the disenfranchised.  The poor, the ill, the homeless, the addict, those in jail, the disabled.....

This makes me incredibly mad, I think because of the dishonesty even more than the changes.  BASTARDS!!  I find it really, really hard to see how anyone with any interest in caring for the world and each other is able to continue to support these disgusting, immoral, bastards.

Lots of detail at this link:

www.embassymag.ca/page/view/tories_elected_foreign_policy-8-5-2009