QotD for 24 July, 2008

"homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching"

Not at all.

Rather "homosexuality is incompatible with 'traditional' Academic theology (from Alexandria) and its FAKED late modern translations" --- the Rev. Göran Koch-Swahne, Church of Sweden

Help Save Totoro's Forest

The Totoro no Furusato
(The Homeland of Totoro) Foundation was created for the purpose of preserving the urban forest of the Sayama Hills near Tokyo.

"Located about 24 miles from the Tokyo metropolitan area, in an area overlapping Tokyo and Saitama provinces, Sayama is a lush hill of greenery, encompassing 8650 acres...The vast woodland area, which includes two reservoirs, Lake Sayama and Lake Tama still maintain an old-world charm. Seen from above, the Hills resemble a small green island in the middle of a metropolis."

Sayama Hills is known as the inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki’s beloved anime My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro), and the foundation was named in honor of this, with Miyazaki being one of the original donors.

With more and more pressure from the surrounding cities, Sayama Hills is in danger of being lost to always increasing urbanization. To help, contact them at the email addr shown on the website above, or consider participating in the fundraising efforts of the Totoro Forest Project - an art auction to be held this Sept. at Pixar Studios in Emeryville, CA by a group of acclaimed artists in the fields of animation, comics, and illustration.

QotD for 17 July, 2008

A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits. ---Robert Heinlein

(/me waves and grins at his literary friends PJ and the Doxy ;)

Obama an Elitist ?

Hey! Guess who called Obama an "elitist" ? ;) Lynn Forester de Rothschild. Also known as Lady de Rothschild.

Author/blogger John Scalzi lays down the (well-deserved) snark here:

Anyone who lives on a 3,200 acre estate that features an entrance hall “notable for its large paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, George Romney, and Joshua Reynolds” loses the ability to criticize anyone else in the entire goddamn universe for being “elitist,” particularly a dude who while growing up got to experience the joys of a food stamp dinner.

Yeah, I got problems with Obama. Serious ones - especially since his "let's tear up the Fourth Amendment" vote on the odious FISA act. But great Googly Moogly! There are some Hillary supporters who are so far out there, you couldn't spot them with the Hubble Space Telescope...

QoTD for 10 July, 2008

I just still can't wrap my brain around the...worldview where feeling excluded because you're disagreed with is — in your mind — the equivalent of other folks being excluded because of who they are. --- the Rev. Susan Russell

So please forgive me when, the next time some neo-con "Anglican" starts whinging about being excluded, I make the rub your fingers together gesture for the "world's smallest violin playing just for you."

7 Songs You’re Diggin’ Right Now Meme

Eileen has done tagged me with this:

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your summer. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

Sounds like fun! So here they are, in no particular order...

1. Closer To The Heart - Rush


2. Migra - Santana


3. My Head's In Mississippi - ZZ Top


4. Ain't That A Shame - Cheap Trick


5. American Woman - Lenny Kravitz


6. Twist Barbie - Shonen Knife


7. Into The Great Wide Open - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

I'll also tag PJ, along with Wormwood's Doxy, IT, and Padre Mickey :)

Happiness is a Warm...Experience ?

An insight from Kevin Kelly of Whole Earth Catalog and Wired magazine fame:

If you want to buy happiness you are much better off buying an experience rather than a thing. That's because a thing like a car, new clothes, or cool gadget will always wear down, break down over time, while an experience, like going to the Galapagos, or a great concert, will only improve over time. You'll always have it (Paris, bunjee jumping, that meal) forever. In the long term an experience delivers more happiness per dollar.

Oh, and warm puppies (and children) are experiences, not things.

Yep, He's a Politician (Surprise!)

I’m fundamentally unsurprised to discover that Barack Obama, who has been in politics for a number of years, is a politician. And a politician who wants to win as big as he can. --- John Scalzi

Scalzi's clear-headed blog entry on this is well worth your time...