A companion to my latest article on The Good Men Project.

Copyright 2012. Magnifying the Universe by Number Sleuth.

Seriously though, if you haven’t checked this app out yet, I strongly recommend it. You’ll be wondering why you barely ever used your standard phone camera in no time. In addition to offering all sorts of filters to dress up otherwise standard smart phone photography, the social aspects of the experience are instantly addictive and imminently usable.

The other thing I like about Instagram is the simplicity. Everything about the interface screams to me that the design and build team decided to create a better social sharing experience for mobile photos…And nothing else. This is a really smart strategy for a mobile-only play and I hope they stick by their approach as the application matures.

Check out some examples of my new mastery of photography and/or visit http://blog.instagram.com/:

Is this the mark of good, or evil?

It’s a gorgeous day in Boston and I decided to take a walk for lunch to enjoy the sun. Within twenty minutes I encountered a half dozen people with ashes smeared across their forehead and remembered today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. Being a recovering Catholic, I shared the following update on Facebook:

This year for lent I am giving up the observance of traditions invented by the world’s oldest, continuously operating criminal organization.

It wasn’t long before I received a litany of comments, both for and against my point. This is to be expected but I wasn’t prepared for the fact somebody might think I wasn’t being serious, which also happened.

Just to be clear, I wasn’t just saying this to be funny. This is what I did instead of stopping strangers on the street to inform them they are walking advertisements for evil. My mind is fully made up on this point: It is no longer acceptable in this country to claim ignorance of the sins of the Catholic Church. It is impossible for an informed class with even the slightest inclination to investigate the organizations which they choose to patronize to pretend they don’t know what the church has done.

To the contrary, any member of a modern, civilized society, with access to the internet, who willfully donates to the church is, in fact, complicit in these heinous acts. Further, I genuinely believe I, and any other informed person, holds a moral responsibility to point out these self-evident truths.

As we have recently been forcibly reminded, the Roman Catholic Church holds it better for the cries of raped and violated children to be ignored, and for the excuses and alibis of their rapists and torturers indulged, and for a host of dirty and wilful untruths to be manufactured wholesale, and for the funds raised ostensibly for the poor to be paid out in hush money and shameful bribery, rather than that one tiny indignity or inconvenience be visited on the robed majesty of a man-made church or any limit set to its self-proclaimed right to be judge in its own cause. – Christopher Hitchens (Slate, September 2010)

As if to confirm my point on the complicity of allegiance, many members of the Catholic Church oppose the funding of Planned Parenthood because 3% of Planned Parenthood’s annual budget is used to perform abortions. By this logic, these same Catholics who donate to the church must therefore support the systematic sexual abuse and ensuing cover up of thousands of children committed over decades. Forget about the sins of the last 2000 years, the church’s sins in the last 50 years are the revolting, horrifying stuff of nightmares.

However, say this to a devout Catholic and they are quick to point out the good done by the church. To this I can only say, please show me how the Catholic Church is any better at solving the world’s problems than similar secular organizations. To the contrary, I’d like to point out that organizations like Oxfam International do not squander their funds maintaining an entire city in Italy for their CEO to live in.

The truth I believe, as I recently pointed out in an article on the Good Men Project, is giving money to the church in the hope it is used for good is a sinful, irresponsible misdirection of charitable giving.

What’s so confusing is the complete lack of fealty toward traditional Conservative doctrine, like family values and free-markets . Instead, the voters in South Carolina approved of a misogynistic adulterer and disapproved of a classic 20th Century vulture-capitalist. The howls of protest and lament coming from various factions within the Republican party and pundits are truly remarkable to behold. Just listen to what Chris Christie, Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck have to say.

So here we are, three major events into the nomination process and it is anybodies guess who’s going to come out on top. Silos are clearly deepening within the Conservative movement. Last week I discovered cracks may actually be forming in the Christian base after viewing the now famous poem “Why I Hate Religion” (shared below) by a young Christian youth minister and poet named Jeff Bethke.

It didn’t take much digging to learn Jeff is not some irreligious atheist with a taste for slamming the church. To the contrary, he is a respected member of a large Christian church in the Pacific Northwest. This kid lives for Jesus. Now I don’t want to put words in his mouth, yet there it is…He calls out Christians for equating themselves with Republicans twice before the first minute of his poem is over.

For my own part, like many liberals, I am quite amused with the situation. Watching the GOP spin its wheels for months while the Democrats fill their war chests isn’t going to bring me the kind of progress I hope for, but it is still the lesser of two evils. So keep digging conservatives…There’s bound to be a candidate on whom you can agree down there in the mud somewhere.

― Umberto Eco

It's a long walk to the bathroom, but you can't go for another 4 hours anyways.

Over the last few years I’ve absorbed a lot of derision for my general objections to Apple. Particularly for my insistent criticism of  Steve Jobs and the lack of Apple’s social responsibility standards with regards to supply chain practices. I truly don’t care if it changes anyone’s mind but I guess part of me hopes anyone who uses Apple products will listen to this report.

The truth is, I know 90% the electronic devices we use here in America are manufactured under similar conditions. I don’t even know why it annoys me so much more with Apple but I suspect the sanctimonious marketing and attitude of Apple consumers has something to do with it.  I also think Steve Job’s public resistance to any kind of corporate responsibility and charity adds to my disgust.

It truly is overwhelming to think we’ve allowed corporations to push other people into these circumstances after we fought so hard in this country to end this type of treatment.  The way I hear some people talk sometimes it is as if Americans think Chinese laborers want to work 16 hours a day for pennies with no bathroom breaks. That they want to live stacked up on top of each other like cord wood.

The real problem, like just about everything in our lives today, is a lack of sufficient regulation on corporations. At some point the discordant rift between human rights and corporate profits must end. What will life be like on this planet when it does? If Americans stood up and said this situation is no longer acceptable…That we will boycott any company that allows it to happen and vote out any politicians that allow it to take place…What would life be like?

From this point forward I will try to keep my wedding blogging on the wedding blog.

Cape Coral, Fl

Playing the part... (Credit: Felix Ordonez)

I’m preparing to resume writing fiction. I say ‘resume’ because this is something I did as a child and young man. For now the only goal is to write a series of short stories around a fictional male character living around twenty-five years in the future. The work will be an exploration of consciousness, manhood, maturity and the evolving nature of intimacy and relationships in a world of accelerating change and hyper-connectivity.

The backdrop for the first story or two will definitely be a battlefield, with a twist. I haven’t yet named my main character but I am leaning towards names beginning with the letter J. This is probably because there will be a somewhat autobiographical slant to his perspective.

Why am I doing this? I mean, besides the obvious objective of getting published and having a Hollywood movie made out of something I imagined so I can retire on a sailboat and stop working forever? Well, to be honest, it recently occurred to me that when compared to the editorial essays I’ve had published over the last few months, fiction is a relatively low risk mechanism to sort out what it means to be a man. And it seems like more fun.