Disaster Area

Freedom from Stupid Religion

What I'd like to know is, if Richard Mourdock's, Todd Akin's or Paul Ryan's wife or daughter were to be raped and become pregnant, would they be happy to let these female relatives and loved ones go through 9 months of gestation and raise the babies in their homes as if nothing happened? And what of the father's, I mean rapist's, rights? Visitation, partial custody? Can you imagine? Maybe they think that would make a great sitcom (I'm sure Fox would jump on that.)

Do these guys even have a half a brain to think this through? Oh, and of course there would be no government benefits, although in this equation the financial strain is a tiny fraction of the anguish.

And even more: Only one third of fertilized eggs even implant in the womb, and there is further attrition from there, so taking steps to ensure a theoretically possibly fertilized egg doesn't implant is hardly "abortion".

Just say no to these clowns and their millennia old religious views which should not be involved in any way in making laws in the 21st century.

The Things You See On The Road...

Driving along the other day, I found myself behind this car...

You see lots of those cutesy little family graphics, but as I pulled up behind it, I saw this one was a little different:

Makes you wonder what that's all about...

Workplace Perception

Mostly true...

I guess this would require some modification for the engineering world. But I'm pretty sure the Project manager's line (as perceived by...) would stay the same.

Pacific Northwest Ballet - Giselle opens tonight

Preview from PNB featuring Carla Körbes

Church Dysfunction Defined

Not sure this really needs a comment...

And yes, I know that many of these groups only use the church space, and aren't necessarily affiliated with the church directly, but still...

Update - it's actually a piece of "artwork" dating back to 1991.

See :http://erikarothenberg.com/ptgsetc/ptgs.shtml

But apart from the overly peppy sermon topic, this is too depressingly realistic, even today.

The Gandhi Man Can...

Interesting book out on Gandhi: Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India...

Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew
Cover it with choc'late and a miracle or two
The Gandhi Man, oh the Gandhi Man can
The Gandhi Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good

From the Wall Street Journal review:

Yet "Great Soul" also obligingly gives readers more than enough information to discern that he was a sexual weirdo, a political incompetent and a fanatical faddist—one who was often downright cruel to those around him. Gandhi was therefore the archetypal 20th-century progressive intellectual, professing his love for mankind as a concept while actually despising people as individuals.

Sounds about right, although far from the sanitized, revered icon he has become, which understandably brings down the wrath of those who would protect the myth.

He was also crazy and impractical (non-violence only really works on those with a sense of fair play, for example):

Starting a letter to Adolf Hitler with the words "My friend," Gandhi egotistically asked: "Will you listen to the appeal of one who has deliberately shunned the method of war not without considerable success?"

As Dr. Phil might say, "How's that working out for ya?"

He advised the Jews of Palestine to "rely on the goodwill of the Arabs" and wait for a Jewish state "till Arab opinion is ripe for it."

Yeah, we're still waiting to see which comes first - that or hell freezing over.

Even more delusional thinking:

Gandhi claimed that there was "an exact parallel" between the British Empire and the Third Reich, yet while the British imprisoned him in luxury in the Aga Khan's palace for 21 months ­until the Japanese tide had receded in 1944, Hitler stated that he would simply have had Gandhi and his supporters shot. (Gandhi and Mussolini got on well when they met in December 1931, with the Great Soul praising the Duce's "service to the poor, his opposition to super-urbanization, his efforts to bring about a coordination between Capital and Labour, his passionate love for his people.")

Ah, Mussolini, how we miss you - the trains running on time, the megalomania...

There's much more weirdness in Gandhi's life, but we all know the real story of his sexual passion from Seinfeld (Episode 4.18: The Old Man):

Mrs. O: That's when I began my affair with Mohandas.

Elaine: What?

Mrs. O: Mohandas.

Elaine: Gandhi?

Mrs. O: Oh, the *passion*. The *forbidden pleasure*--

Elaine: You had an affair with Gandhi?

Mrs. O: He used to dip his bald head in oil and rub it all over my body. Here, look... [shows Elaine a picture of the two together]

Elaine: Oh, my God... The Mahatma?

One annoying legend myth-busted.

 

 

Regretsy Sad Hipster

Ah, so sad. Etsy is full of pix of sad boyfriends modeling bad crocheted headgear. Ah, the life of a sad hipster boyfriend...

Hipster Anthem

The World's Worst Place to be Gay?

Uganda probably tops the list.

BBC Radio DJ Scott Mills went to Uganda to film a segment for the show The World's Worst Place to be Gay? and ended up running for his life with his crew after an interview with the infamous Ugandan MP David Bahati, author of the Anti-Gay legislation currently under consideration in Uganda. Mills is gay, and during the interview with Bahati, he told him he was gay, at which point Bahati ordered the cameras to stop and called afterwards to find out where they were staying and registration numbers of the cars they were using. The person they reached gave them erroneous information and the group were able to get out safely.

In the interview above, Mills makes the point, echoed by many of us, "...like a lot of Africa, their laws are pretty outdated."

It's a point that's not often made for fear of showing ex-colonial disdain, but it is pretty much true.

Total Eclipse of the Concert

One of the last remaining Christmas presents was a trip into Seattle to see Sarah McLachlan and Friends tonight. No, she wasn't performing with Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Joey, Phoebe and Monica, just with Butterfly Boucher (rhymes with voucher), along with wife and husband Melissa McLelland and Luke Doucet.

The format was brilliant - instead of the usual opening band schtick, the guests (the latter two of which have been backing band members before) were integrated into the evening, so at 8:03 pm we kicked of with Sarah herself. The guests got feature spots a few times during the evening and were mostly excellent, with the possible exception of BB's depressing song written in the North of England when she was particularly depressed.  Even that was only meh, rather than outright bad.

The stage, sound and lighting were incredibly good. Sarah's voice continues to be amazing, and she can sing the vast majority of her repertoire live just as well as any studio recording. Her voice was crystal clear and beautiful on most songs. To be honest, I haven't been keeping close tabs on her career of late, so Laws of Illusion kind of passed me by last year. The songs from it were ok, never bad, but the high points for me were definitely the pre-2000 material. Hold On was simply brilliant. It's amazing to think a 20-something year old could come up with such an emotionally intense yet mature song about loss.

Sarah's first couple of albums were stellar, but often ignored live, so it was very nice to hear Path of Thorns - I think it suprised her how good it is in retrospect.

The highlight, though, was Possession, which ended the main part of the concert. Peter Stroud rocked the house on lead from one side, with Luke Doucet adding on from the other, while Butterfly Boucher kicked in with the amazing bass lines. Vince Jones keyboards were vital, of course. Maybe it's  because Possession was the first Sarah McLachlan song I ever heard (the ultra hard rock version from the rare CD single) bit this was easily the high point of the evening (but not, apparently, for the potheads around us for whom the entire evening was the high point...)

The encore was lower key, with Angel (well received) and Ice Cream (ok singalong) which ended with Sarah improvising notes and ending with one terrible off key note - the only one of the night, really - that cracked her up nd precipitated the end to the song and the evening.

So, overall, an A+ for Sarah and a solid A for everyone else.

Oh, the eclipse? The guy in front of me was maybe 6' 4" with a giant planetoid of a head (I swear it had it's own ecosystem) so Isaw the entire concert with my head tilted to one side or the other trying to see the stage. I did think of complaining, but what can you say? "Shrink your head, buddy, it's eclipsing my view of the stage"? Oh well...