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Sunday, February 25, 2007

Religious upheaval

Religious upheaval is not always a bad thing. Yeah, there was the Spanish Inquisition and we can blame our Puritan roots for "voluntary overtime" but right now, as you read this, there is a schism happening, and I think it's a good thing. The first link may not work because it's the New York Times, but the link from Slate will eventually take you there. Having been raised Episcopalian, liberal, and American, I must say I'm damn proud.

Quick recap in case you don't want to put the effort into reading the article or don't know the back story: the US Episcopalian Church (part of the world-wide Anglican Communion - sort of a religious federation) voted to put a woman in as Archbishop and also instated an openly gay bishop. The conservatives freaked out and whole churches turned from their diocees to Anglican diocees abroad for help. The British, who started the whole Anglican thing way back under Henry the VIII, try to use their influence to keep the other branches in line, but obviously that's not going to fly right now.

The big question is: will the Episcopalian church break off from the Anglican church? Hm.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Snow where?

Well, here in New England, they pride themselves on the amount of snow they get. Which is stupid if you talk to a person from the mid-West, where they get REAL snow or people from the warmer, sunnier states (like yours truely), who point out that the weather everywhere else is just better. But lately New Englanders have been a bit vexed because there has been no snow. Yeah, there was some last week that then melted and froze, turning the entire state of Rhode Island into a skating rink. (A bumpy skating rink.) So the question has been WHERE IS THE SNOW?

The answer is Denmark!

For everyone who doesn't actually read Danish, they've gotten 16-20 inches of snow in the last 24 hours. With drifts up to 3 feet (although in that picture I'm thinking 6 feet, but maybe its the house of a midget). And if you scroll down a bit to the box "Se også" (see also) and pick the gallery Sne over Danmark you get great pictures of snow over Denmark. Hey! Look you read Danish!

Anyway the point is, Denmark never gets that kind of snow. New England does. Thus, obviously, Denmark stole New Englands snow.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Six words or less, count 'em!

Okay, I'm an obsessed person. I loved the Wired article about a bunch of writers being asked to submit and entire story in 6 words or less. I keep telling people to read the stories... READ THEM! They're great! And as of course things go, I had to give it a try....

Suicide? No, my wife killed me.

Run! The end is here! The...

Apocalypse delayed: War is busy.
(alternative endings to the above story)
Pestilence has a cold.
Famine stopped for lunch.
Death took a holiday.

Go on, try it. You know you want to...

Sunday, February 11, 2007

I thought it was funny...

Next time someone tells you to stick it "where the sun don't shine," you can reply, "Wasn't that in the Alps somewhere?"

Between mid-November and mid-February, Viganella, Italy was that little corner of the world where the sun just didn't shine. Until now.

For those of you who read Terry Pratchett, you already know that the other place the sun don't shine is a valley in Slice over near Lancre.

Does it count as irony if...

Strom Thurmond Jr. is handling the James Brown will?

The important quote from this article:
"An attorney handling Brown's will, Strom Thurmond Jr., asked the Aiken County judge for a restraining order against the children, saying they have interfered with the administration of the estate."

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Oh...

Overheard in the dinning hall:

Boy: "Her parents totally couldn't accept me for the person I am."

Girl: "No, they didn't accept you because you're black."

Boy: "Oh, I just thought they didn't like me."

This odd conversation continued in which the following jems were overheard:

Boy: "Just tell me the name of the guy she's dating now."

Girl: "You should just think of it like a one-night stand and move on."

Friday, February 02, 2007

Google bombing

In case you don't know what it is, it's getting a whole lot of web-pages to link to each other through a specific name or phrase that is then missunderstood by the Google program and cause that name and web-page to bounce to the top of the google search engine. Or something like that. Google "google-bomb" if you want a better definition, I only tell it like I see it and I see the complexities of the internets about as good as a bat in a vaccuum. (Sonar needs air to work and a vaccuum ... nevermind.) So, that being said: Penn Jillette.