TwilightCafé

China bans voodoo dolls. Sales increase.

Read the story here.

What I find surprising (however foolish I may be) is that the government says that those who purchase the voodoo dolls are "a disgrace to socialism for believing in feudal superstitions" when they themselves are tacitly professing a belief in the same superstitions if they think buying and using voodoo dolls is dangerous.

Plus, who doesn't know that if you prohibit the sale of something that sales of that thing will rise? Didn't anyone learn from the U.S. prohibition? Then again, maybe they are making this fuss because they know it will spur their citizens on to buying more and perhaps becoming more superstitious, thereby rendering them more easily led. Maybe I am overthinking this.

Hrm.

p.s. the promotion is official! I transfer (officially) on June 10 and start working on the 12th.

how to help in this crisis

Just a quick note to draw attention to the new "Worthy Causes" link, aiding the victims of Hurricane Katrina through the American Red Cross. Please donate if you haven't already. I am also going to give blood with some friends of mine next week.

more on that Katrina bitch

So much has been happening lately I don't know where to begin. Matter of fact, I'm still making heads or tails of things, but I am looking into going back to school for my master's degree, in library science. Yay!

On the other end of the spectrum is the damage caused by Hurricaine Katrina. New Orleans has borne the brunt of the damage, and history is washing away before our eyes. Well, markers of that history anyway. Beautiful antebellum homes that have withstood over a hundred years of storms didn't weather this one. Families have lost everything. For anyone in the DFW area I urge you to come to the Kismet hafla this Saturday, the 3rd. All profits will go to a hurricaine relief fund and funneled into a charity that can do the most with the money. The fabulous Kismet folks are investigating which charities will do the job. We also hope to collect food and clothing and push them in the right direction as well. From what the Red Cross says, bottled water, granola and energy bars, and cans of hearty soup are most welcomed right now.

The Kismet show starts at 7 pm at the Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church at 1641 Hebron Pkwy, Carrollton, TX.  The web site is www.kismetdance.org for more information.

Anyone down in the Austin area, come see us perform on Saturday, Sept. 10th. The Kismet web site has all the pertinent information. It'll be a great show!

social Darwinism? survey says yes!

Man dies after 50 hours of computer gaming

I wish I had something witty to say about this, but I just don't. Oh I do think it is ironic, I am just at a loss for funny words.

RIP Peter Jennings 1938-2005

Anchorman Peter Jennings has died tonight. He had lung cancer.

He is younger than my parents. It gives me great pause.

Also I found notice of the death of Shana Alexander, of 60 Minutes fame. She was 79.

more on the Schiavo case

I found this article on the Terri Schiavo case to be very interesting. Thanks to billy for posting it. I know we are all sick of hearing about this, but I am seeing opinions elsewhere that I have a hard time agreeing with.

What scares me most is the precedent that the government can intercede in the case of an individual. I know they say it won't be able to be used as precedence, but I don't trust that. I hope it would not happen again, but there will now be something to judge against, that the federal government can step in to change the law for one person.

Please tell me I am misunderstanding what is happening and that isn't a true concern. Yes, I care about the individual that is Terri Schiavo. And not to sound harsh, but people die in war all the time for the better of the country. Isn't that how we revere those we have lost recently? So why does this one person get to turn federal law on its head to save her life? A life which I am not sure anyone would want, and which she has apparently told people besides her husband she wouldn't want either?

*sits back and watches the nutjobs come out of the woodwork to holler at me*

March madness

Just a few links here to mark  the special days of March:

March 14, today (for another 10 minutes) is Einstein's birthday. 2005 would be his 126th birthday, 100 years after he came up with the theory of relativity and other fantastic discoveries. Yep, he was 26. Amazing, isn't it? And they say youth is wasted on the young.

March 14 is also Pi Day. Why? Because 3/14 is the first three numbers of pi, 3.14159......  Go buy a t-shirt and support a mathematician.

March 15, the Ides of March, the day Caesar was warned against which has become synonymous with unlucky days just like Friday the 13th. Note that in some months the Ides falls on the 13th instead of the 15th. Sounds ominous. We all knew teens were trouble. Ever hear of unlucky Thursday the 27th? Nope, it's too close to Thanksgiving.

By the way, has anyone seen the amazing flowers blooming in Death Valley right now? Scientists call this a once in a lifetime event. The floods in California dropped 6 inches of rain on Death Valley, three times the usual amount. This caused dormant wildflowers to bloom all over, which in turn caused caterpillars which will become Sphinx moths to come chow down. The fat 3-inch caterpillars will attract birds and rodents, which will in turn attract larger animals. The cycle of life which isn't normally seen there in Death Valley is present now till around July. Beautiful. Death Valley isn't so lifeless after all.

Great Scott!

Several months ago I wrote a post about Captain's Quarters blogmaster Captain Ed and one of his political analyses. Because of the nature of his post, I mentioned Dr. Gene Scott in the title. No other reference was made. This post has garnered me probably 80% (ok, maybe not quite that much) of my google referrals. People commented on the post title, not the post, and I have quite a few people lauding the good Dr. Scott here. I was amazed.

I watched him once. He was, if I remember correctly, comparing Jesus to Spider Man. Or, that may be apocrophyl. I never followed his ministry, or anyone's in particular. He has apparently made a much larger impact on people than I thought he would have. And, he passed on yesterday afternoon.

I continue to be amazed at this medium, how quickly information is passed, and how easily people come together over common interests.

addendum: I am also amazed at the people who keep commenting on that original post and how they are responding only to other commenters, neither bothering to read the original post or look around this site to realize where they are. I had a direct email from someone who said he would have addressed me by my first name if he had known what it was. I thought it was on here somewhere. Yup, just found it on my "about me" page. I don't want to disparage these people and their beloved religious leader, but it does strike me that so many of his followers who come here don't bother to look at anything but what they see in the space ahead of them. Amazing.

double addendum: I don't want to sound like a basher. Those folks found something really meaningful for them and that is more than many people get in this lifetime. Except us bloggers, of course, who have found our purpose in life :) Anyway, I am amazed at the people who are commenting, but I guess I am glad they have a place they feel they can just talk to the Aether. Maybe that makes me weird. I may not be riding in their car, but I'm glad they are going somewhere, if that makes any sense.

reporting from beyond

Legendary Hunter S. Thompson commits suicide at age 67.

I really don't know what to say about this influential man who was probably the grandfather of modern blogging with his gonzo journalism. Movies based on his books and life are Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, with Johnny Depp, and Where the Buffalo Roam, with Bill Murray. He is also given homage to in Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan.

Addendum: I forgot to mention the recent passing of Sandra Dee at the age of 62. Mostly known to younger generations from a musical number in Grease, she was a teen idol and married Bobby Darrin.

Obsessed with celebrity deaths? Moi?

another one down

Playwright Arthur Miller is dead at age 89.

Highlights of his life include a Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman, writing plays we all had to read in high school such as The Crucible, and getting to legally sleep with Marilyn Monroe. In that way, he was a trendsetter, setting the stage for bespectacled geeks to catch hot women and then realize they are more trouble than they are worth.

Frankly, I think Miller was a genius at capturing the human condition in his plays. I enjoy the angsty Death of a Salesman and the anger I felt when reading The Crucible. I think it's time I go re-read them.