Walking in the snow
Hope you have a Merry Christmas (and other seasonal celebrations) and a Happy New Year to all you Clusterflock folk!
Closet Christians
The Salon article is a little whiney, I’ll admit, but Calhoun summarizes my frustration about attitudes towards my faith:
And now, too, I wonder: When I go to church, am I liable for every monstrous thing every denomination has ever done in the name of Jesus? Am I allowed to get spiritual fulfillment from something that has been, and continues to be, so disastrously invoked by other people? Am I allowed to just go to church sometimes and read the Bible sometimes without wearing a huge cross necklace and checking an official box on forms?
But also, increasingly, I wonder: When I’m getting a ride from some friends and they start talking about how stupid religious people are and quoting lines from ”Religulous,” do I have an obligation to point out how reductive and bigoted they’re being, the way I would if they were talking about a particular race? Increasingly I wonder if I should pipe up from the back seat and say, “Excuse me, but these fools you’re talking about? I’m one of them.”
Also: do people actually take Religulous and Bill Maher seriously, or are those that do like the liberal version of Randians?
(via Gavin Craig)
a history of crop circles
Paradoxically, and unlike almost all other modern forms of art, a crop circle’s potential to enchant is animated and energized by the anonymity of its author(s). Doug Bower now tells friends that he wishes he had kept quiet and continued his nocturnal jaunts in secret. Both circle-makers and croppies are really engaged in a kind of game, whose whole purpose is to keep the game going, to prolong the mystery. After all, who would travel thousands of miles and trek through a muddy field to see flattened wheat if it were not imbued with otherworldly mystique?
Rain Man RIP
Kim Peek, the inspiration for the Rain Man character, died this week of a heart attack.
In his later years, Peek was classified as a “mega-savant” who was a genius in about 15 different subjects, from history and literature and geography to numbers, sports, music and dates.
This Summer – Hayden
Another attempt to mess with video and music. Most of this footage is from the 1983 Andrei Tarkovsky film, Nostalghia. The music is by Hayden from the beautiful Elk-Lake Serenade album.
Birds of Britain
Quietly ridiculous.
(via Back of the Cereal Box)
Today, a while ago
On this day 34 years ago, I was handed over to the state of Texas as a ward. I spent the first week of my life in the nursery of the hospital, alone. No name. No parents.
It all worked out in the end. I was adopted by amazing people when I was 6 months old. I had a wonderful childhood, went to the best schools and have a very good outlook on life, in general, and my place in it, specifically.
I don’t define myself by my start in life. I don’t consider myself unlucky. I’m just tired of being angry at two people I’ve never met.
American LaFrance firetruck speedster
U.S. Limits Tarmac Waits for Passengers to 3 Hours
Airlines that let a plane sit on the tarmac for more than two hours without offering passengers food or water, or more than three hours without letting passengers off, will face fines of $27,500 a passenger, the Secretary of Transportation announced on Monday.
(hat tip to spek)
Weekly Picture 172
Barton Creek Sun Bather, Austin,TX 12.16.2009
Visual Business Clichés
Indeed
1972 Lincoln Bugazzi
You’ll want to check out the interior.
a habitual liar engaged in fraud
Working out of a Reno, Nevada, software firm called eTreppid Technologies, Montgomery took in officials in the CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology and convinced them that technology he invented — but could not explain — was pulling terrorist-produced “bar codes” from Al Jazeera television broadcasts. Using his proprietary technology, those bar codes could be translated into longitudes and latitudes and flight numbers. Terrorist leaders were using that data to direct their compatriots about the next target.
Angel Falls Kerepakupai meru
“How could we accept this idea that the falls were discovered by a guy who came from the United States in a plane. If we do that, that would be like accepting that nobody was living here,” Chavez mused on his weekly radio and television show, “Hello Mr President.”
Putin offers his services to the Russian judo team
Officials praised Putin’s technique in the Japanese martial art, and dismissed any hint that he may have been allowed to win. “He has the psychology of a winner, the psychology of the victorious,” said Georgy Kukoverov, the school’s chief.
&
Lauded like a superstar inside Russia, pictures of Putin baring his torso have previously provoked excitement in Internet chat rooms from female followers and some gay men.
94 Years Young. Annetta Ruth Lea. Taunton, Somerset.
Netta is my mother-in-law. She lives alone and pretty much cares for herself. Her home has always been sparse and yet spotless. I’m always amazed that she still has all her own teeth! I decided a while back it would be nice to try and take a series of photos of her house. This is one of many from a recent visit.
wow
I didn’t win, but I got mentioned on the Hey Hot Shot blog.
Paws
Its cold out there…
on the other hand
For those keeping political score, Democrats were almost twice as likely to believe in ghosts and to consult fortune-tellers than were Republicans, and the Democrats were 71 percent more likely to believe that they were in touch with the dead.
Pear Wine on Stanton Street
Papa said the drunk locked his friend out of the trailer on a January night, woke in the morning to find him frozen on the porch–and set fire to the trailer as he sat on a couch inside.
I don’t know why things can’t happen faster. What steps cancel out, early on? The child’s one meal; the mother giving it; the father going for the doctor.
The stars are mostly like they were. Which means I just left the party yesterday, maybe. Cold makes light and breath precise, but questions cast about for purchase.
I gave him a coat, Papa said. But that was a long time ago.
Red House Painters – Song For A Blue Guitar
I post this because it makes me ache – I put this footage to it today and wanted to share it with my friends.
No Photographs. No Drawings. No Graphic Representations.
Per directive of the Secretary of Defense, August 20, 1954. Savanna Army Depot. Savanna, Illinois.
Read more
Rent
The only review of Rent you’re ever going to need to read, and I promise you, it is worth the two minutes spent reading it.
I’ve never seen the play, but it has the same lyrics and songs as the movie, so it is now on my shit list too. In fact, RENT is the only thing on my shit list. I created my shit list tonight, because of RENT.
The last paragraph is just how I want my movie reviews, from now on. A final burst of energy that makes it about more than what was obvious.
global citizen
A reporter from Der Spiegel told the senator, “You’re ridiculous.”
