Two engineering students in New Zealand have demonstrated how a diesel engine can run on a blend of diesel and coconut oil, or on pure coconut oil alone.
This isn't all that surprising since there are numerous examples of people around the world who are utilizing used cooking oil to power engines originally designed for diesel. Corn farmers in the US have shown how corn oil can be used, too.
There is no lack when it comes to potential alternative fuel sources. The hang-ups are in large scale production and distribution -- at an acceptable price.
REGISTER TO VOTE
Californians will be voting on some important issues on November 8th. The deadline to register is October 21st. You can start the registration process online (although full online registration is not yet available) -- http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/votereg1.html
CHRISTIAN CHURCHES TOGETHER
On the one hand, the Southern Baptist won't join because anything "ecumenical" is too liberal. But the United Methodists won't fully get behind it because they see it as too conservative (They have joined "provisionally").
The Methodists still think the future lies with the National Council of Churches. But the NCC and the old style ecumenical movement is pretty much dead in the water -- if not sinking -- a structurally over-loaded boat that has really never gone anywhere. (Not me, I'm not opinionated!)
Christian Churches Together in the USA is an informal, less structured attempt to bring leaders together from the American churches. Members already include the Standing Conference of Catholic Bishops, several Eastern and Oriental Orthodox bodies, the Evangelical Covenant Church, Moravians, ELCA, Episcopal Church USA, Reformed Church of America, the Free Methodist Church, the Salvation Army...
Anyone who has read my writing knows that I have pretty major issues with some of the member churches. But this needs to happen. The churches need to talk -- and it's not going to happen in the bloated and politicized environment of the NCC.
TALK ABOUT CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY...
Keith Drury says that he was raised in a monastery. He is trying to explain to some of the emergent types how it is that boomers adopted a truncated approach to Christian community.
MARRIED CATHOLIC PRIESTS SOON?
The issue of once again allowing Roman Catholic priests the right to marry is apparently on the docket as 250 bishops are in Rome for a major confab.
They've got to do something. And they already allow married priests in certain circumstances. I know that this issue has been hashed and rehashed. But there is a new pope and the shortage of priests is getting worse. The expected ban of men struggling with same-sex attraction from RC seminaries is going to compound the issue. I think there might be enough motivation to act on this issue in the very near future.
And this could change the face of the RC Church in many many ways. It would also have a ripple affect on the Protestant churches where some married clergy would jump at the chance to go Roman.
The rules regarding celibacy for priests were implemented in the 11th century. Up until that point priests could be married. But in 1074, in an effort to purify the church (and to bring moral order out of the chaos), Pope Gregory VII established priestly celibacy as the norm in the Western church. The rule was driven more by pastoral concern than dogma, and if the current pastoral setting dictates, the church is free to reverse itself without affecting the official body of Catholic teaching.
ORTHODOX MERGER?
Fr Thomas Hopko, a distinguished scholar and priest from the Orthodox Church in America (Russian background) has in the October issue of the Antiochian magazine, Word (.pdf), spelled out a proposal for a merger with the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (Arab background).
I see this as an indication that the two groups are going to seriously move forward with merger plans. Both have expressed enthusiasm in the past for a single Eastern Orthodox body in the US. However, the other major player is the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Their leadership in the US would like to have all three groups merge. However, the Greeks are under the direct authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and he has managed to side-track all previous discussion.
I suspect the Antiochians and the OCA will simply move forward and hope that the Greeks can join them sometime in the future. Fr Hopko is suggesting a 2008 target date. I think they'll do it.
THE HISTORIC EPISCOPATE LOCALLY ADAPTED
Richard Kew is musing on the messy network that is emerging within Anglicanism.
SOMETIMES GOOD THINGS GET BETTER
Diet Rite Cola is now Diet Rite Pure Zero Cola -- made with Splenda. Definitely an improvement -- and I liked the old Diet Rite Cola -- the low cal version of RC Cola. Now, if they could come up with an equally tasty calorie free, carb free, fat free, sodium free Moon Pie -- I would be able to have my RC and Moon Pie without guilt.
CHRISTIANITY IN THE CONGO
This week Kevin Sites (THE Yahoo journalist) is doing a series on Christianity in the Congo.
NEW CHURCH IN CAF
The Covenant Church in the Congo has started a sister church in the Central African Republic. The Rev Jean Bete was recently installed as president of the Communaute Evangelique de l'Ubangi en Mission en Afrique (CEUMA), which launches with ten congregations.
INTERNET SURPRISES
There are over 900 knitting blogs. The network has created a host of face-to-face connections. This is the Internet at its best -- fostering community.
Many of the most influential bloggers are also lawyers. It is unclear if any of them also knit.
In Britain a third of all 14-21 year-olds have their own online content. This is eating into the "traditional media's" share of their time, attention, and money. On average they spend eight hours a week online -- most of it socializing in some way.
Rob Hof resports that the number of blogs continues to double every five months. About 55% of them are still active three months after creation. 8% of blogs are spam sites -- mostly originating in China.
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