While we were living in England, my younger son and I were talking about writing. I think he was about seven at the time. Together we developed the idea for a story about a boy and his toy dragon. Starting with a mind-map, and moving on to a full-blown outline, we talked the story through. It took a long time to get it all written, but both our boys took an interest in the story and offered suggestions.

The book was completed a while ago, but as anyone who has tried to get a children’s book published knows, it’s tough out there.

Finally, five or so years later, the book is published! You can get a copy by clicking here, or on the cover image.

It’s published at lulu.com, which offers print-on-demand services.

You can also get an electronic copy here.

The next step is to get the book into Barnes and Noble and the Amazon bookstore: hopefully you’ll soon be able to order it from there as well.

If you haven’t read it yet, Ollie’s New Beginning is the story of a young boy and his dragon. It explores the challenges of separation and independence in a story that makes great bedtime reading for a young child.

Now if you buy a copy, I can share the royalties with my son and writing consultant!

It occurs to me that there’s a connection to something the Jesuit theologian Teilhard de Chardin said many years ago – that there’s educational evolution as well as physical evolution. When we learn new things, we are irrevocably changed. The connection is that Kurtzweil is reminding us that technology, which is the result of knowledge, and therefore inextricably linked to education, evolves faster than we do biologically. Our bodies will be overtaken developmentally by machines. This is unavoidable.

The challenge for all of us is to make the absolute best of this that we can. To be responsible, forward-looking, and to express our care for the future of our world in the way we harness the potential of our technology-rich future.

RSS feeds are the way to keep up with the news – and with NetVibes you can build your own real-time newspaper. There’s lots of information around on what RSS is and how to use it: here’s one from CNET.

You can also use NetVibes to watch your Google Mail.

This controversial piece was written to try to counteract the black-and-white, good and evil, freedom versus terrorist rhetoric that abounded following the 9/11 attacks. Now several years on, I think it still has merit. We see the US and other governments spending enormous resources on war, creating enormous pain and division, while there are many humanitarian causes that would not only have benefited directly from those funds, but that would go some way to building bridges between East and West, Christian and Moslem. It is deeply disappointing that fear and anger continue to prevail, where in truth compassion – and compassionate action – seems much more likely to create sustainable progress.

Attending Aurora Theater’s marvelous “Saint Joan” last week in Berkeley, I was struck by the parallels between the life of this fifteenth century warrior and our current nemesis in Afghanistan. Joan of Arc was a religious extremist who believed that God gave her precise instructions, independent of the advice of the established church or civil government. She also spoke of “France” and “England” in a day when both land masses were ruled in haphazard fashion by feudal lords.

Shaw suggests she was cast out of the church and burned at the stake because she threatened and undermined the institutions of the day. The Catholic Church was unwilling to embrace a theology of individual relationship with God, and the feudal lords were unwilling to relinquish power to a national leadership. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that nationalism and Protestantism have both taken hold across the world.

As we look at the events of September 11th, we may see them very much in the way the English viewed Saint Joan. An individual, with a personal vision that is independent of the mainstream dictates of Islam and independent of the national interests of nations, launches crippling attacks on an enemy who bin Laden believes to be interfering unjustly and illegally with the rights of Arabs and Moslems. The damage caused by his attacks is unprecedented on this continent. Ultimately, however, like Saint Joan, bin Laden stands outside the perceived interests of his own constituency. His extremism threatens Arab self-determination, and it does not implement mainstream Islamic theology and ethics. Equally, his aggression threatens and outrages the West, where we have enjoyed, perhaps unrealistically, an illusion of security.

Early Christian doctrine, as well as some elements within Islam, take the view that those who die in the service of their God have a special place in heaven. Political and religious extremists emerge when there is a deep feeling of injustice in the world. A leader needs followers, and a sizeable organization like Al Qaeda is staffed by men and women who share the sense of anger and outrage bin Laden embodies. I do not say this to dignify or excuse their actions. Once a person or a group has crossed the line from anger to terrorism, they must be brought to justice. Yet it would be so much better to undermine the anger and injustice by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and using our foreign policy as a tool for balance and respect, rather than short-term self-interest.

It has become clear that we are engaged in two wars: the (supposedly) short war in Afghanistan addressed to the disabling of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, and the longer global war against terrorism. While the short war may be won with bombs and bullets, an even-handed, generous and ultimately forgiving approach to non-military aid is our most powerful weapon in the larger war against terrorism. It took more than five hundred years for Joan to be declared a saint – she was the enemy in the short war, but the hero of a longer campaign for peace and principle. If Osama bin Laden prompts us to create a world in which there is no need for terror, might he not have earned his own canonization?

Sailing connects me with the planet, and with all the peoples of the world. It is easy to forget in these difficult times that the US is not the center of the universe, and that we are not the only people to have suffered a terrorist attack or to have lost innocent citizens in recent years. Yet every time we climb into a boat, and head away from the dock, we are physically connected, through the seas that surround the globe, to our fellow-travelers across the world.

The sea does not play favorites, or reward one ideology or religion or political system over another. We are humbled by its power, and rewarded by its beauty every time we sail. On the sea we have learned a code of behavior that is very much like the Bedouin tradition of hospitality. On the seas, as in the desert, we understand our frailty and interdependence – our need for each other. Help is granted immediately, generously, and often at some personal risk, when the need arises.

In our anger and pain, let us remember the lessons of the sea: care, tolerance, and a healthy dose of insignificance.

“Of course the people don’t want war… That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

]]> http://www.tangramart.com/2006/08/31/an-unsettling-similarity/feed/ 0 http://www.tangramart.com/2006/08/13/its-sad-to-see-the-government-so-defensive/ http://www.tangramart.com/2006/08/13/its-sad-to-see-the-government-so-defensive/#comments Sun, 13 Aug 2006 15:18:00 +0000 tim http://www.tim-barnes.com/t/2006/08/13/its-sad-to-see-the-government-so-defensive/ The government response to the Moslem leaders’ letter is remarkable for its defensiveness. The letter suggests that Britain’s foreign policy is not working, and asks for change. As evidence it points to the failure of our policies to create a solution in either Iraq or the Middle East, and to the rise in terrorists targeting Britons.

We should change our policy because it is not working. There is no evidence that the kinds of force Britain and the US are deploying can successfully conclude a guerrilla war, as these are decentralized and driven by passionate belief (rightly or wrongly) in an injustice needing a remedy. Shifting to compassionate aid, collaboratively delivered, will yield faster results.

]]> http://www.tangramart.com/2006/08/13/its-sad-to-see-the-government-so-defensive/feed/ 0 http://www.tangramart.com/2006/08/12/letter-from-uk-moslems-to-tony-blair/ http://www.tangramart.com/2006/08/12/letter-from-uk-moslems-to-tony-blair/#comments Sat, 12 Aug 2006 21:42:00 +0000 tim http://www.tim-barnes.com/t/2006/08/12/letter-from-uk-moslems-to-tony-blair/ This was published earlier today by Moslem leaders in the UK:

“Prime Minister, As British Muslims we urge you to do more to fight against all those who target civilians with violence, whenever and wherever that happens.
It is our view that current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the UK and abroad.

To combat terror the government has focused extensively on domestic legislation. While some of this will have an impact, the government must not ignore the role of its foreign policy.
The debacle of Iraq and now the failure to do more to secure an immediate end to the attacks on civilians in the Middle East not only increases the risk to ordinary people in that region, it is also ammunition to extremists who threaten us all.
Attacking civilians is never justified. This message is a global one. We urge the Prime Minister to redouble his efforts to tackle terror and extremism and change our foreign policy to show the world that we value the lives of civilians wherever they live and whatever their religion.
Such a move would make us all safer.”

I think they are right. As I’ve said before, this militaristic and interventionist approach to the Middle East just won’t work. I’m not advocating “giving in” to terrorists – I am advocating engaging with the leaders in the Middle East and giving them the help they want, rather than imposing our solution on them.

]]> http://www.tangramart.com/2006/08/12/letter-from-uk-moslems-to-tony-blair/feed/ 0 http://www.tangramart.com/2006/08/10/uk-us-travel-threatened/ http://www.tangramart.com/2006/08/10/uk-us-travel-threatened/#comments Thu, 10 Aug 2006 10:36:00 +0000 tim http://www.tim-barnes.com/t/2006/08/10/uk-us-travel-threatened/ Today we see headlines about the foiling of a terrorist plot to blow up planes flying from the UK to the US. This resonates with me as I’m supposed to make that trip tomorrow. I will probably delay my flight – both to minimize risk and to avoid the hassle of extra security.One of the key elements of the heightened security is the banning of carry on luggage – down to elements like spectacle cases. It’s obvious that there are many ways for a suicide-bent terrorist to create something poisonous or damaging from apparently innocuous carry-on items, so these restrictions are not surprising. But they do make travel very unpleasant for all of us.I think there’s a fundamental point being missed in this “war on terrorism”. So far as I know, no country or power has every definitively won a war against a guerilla force. These forces are characterized by:

1. Idealogical absolutism
2. Deep anger
3. Decentralization

Points 1 and 2 mean that damage you do that doesn’t completely destroy them makes them stronger and more extreme. Point 3 means you can’t completely destroy them.

There is therefore only one way to deal with this kind of threat – remove their need to fight. In the end, wars mostly end because the cost is perceived to be too great to continue relative to the potential benefits. Vietnam was clearly like this.

The only solution, and it will take time, is to shift funds from weapons to aid. Gradually build up a culture of trust and openness and demonstrate the benefits of cooperation rather than collision. I propose a policy for the British and American governments: over a three year period transfer the budgets for defence activities outside the UK and US respectively to aid. Imagine how much good could be done by providing medical aid and education to the countries that need it.

]]> http://www.tangramart.com/2006/08/10/uk-us-travel-threatened/feed/ 0 http://www.tangramart.com/2006/08/08/a-blog-about-our-place-in-the-world-2/ http://www.tangramart.com/2006/08/08/a-blog-about-our-place-in-the-world-2/#comments Tue, 08 Aug 2006 14:37:00 +0000 tim http://www.tim-barnes.com/t/2006/08/08/a-blog-about-our-place-in-the-world-2/ I can’t help being a bit philosophical. Life has given me so many experiences and so much diversity. I wish more than anything else for people to better understand each other, so that we can have peace.
I know it’s a dream, but why not? As one of my ex-colleagues pointed out, in order for dreams to come true, you have to wake up! So dreams are good, but action is better. This is a small kind of action – using words to influence.

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