jätte bra, sverige!

from the christian peacemaker teams winter 2008 newsletter signs of the times (volume 18, number 4, page 14):

Swedes disarm Iraq-bound weapons
CPT Reserve Corps member Martin Smedjeback and three other activists entered two arms plants in Sweden 16 October and disarmed weapons destined for use in Iraq.

The simultaneous actions at BAE Systems and Saab plants disabled antitank grenade launchers, parts for Howitzer 77 and Archer artillery systems and other armaments used in the illegal war and occupation of Iraq. After disabling the weapons, the activists alerted police of their presence inside the supposedly high-security areas.

"When your government supports an illegal war and sells arms to dictatorships, it's time for ordinary citizens like us to take action," said supporter Annika Spalde.

christian peacemaker teams, whose motto is "Getting in the Way," asks, "What would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?" during the season in which christians observe the birth of christ, it seems like a particularly reasonable question.

can we all just agree that brother bear's return to kallyfornia is a wonderful thing indeed?

can we all just agree that tights are awesome?

although i've had pink ballet tights and other colored dressup tights for quite some time, i recently got my first pair of cycling tights. and oh man, are they fantastic. the dad and i went for a nice ride when i was there for christmas, and i got to try them out for the first time. they're kind of fleecey on the inside, but still breatheable, and they make me feel aerodynamic. and i like how spandex accentuates my leg muscles. tights! try them out!

can we all just agree that brother bear + sarah in the same time zone is one of the best ideas ever thought?

less than twelve hours. assuming the airport picnic works out without the magic of telephones.

can we all just agree that rick warren is an unacceptable choice for obama's inauguration?

i agree that it is important to build bridges between people with different opinions. i know that this is a particular strength of barack obama, and i admire him for it. at this point, i've given up on the idea that an american president would be as progressive as i'd like. i get it. i'm going to be disappointed sometimes.

but seriously. rick warren?

from a beliefnet interview published december 17, 2008:

WARREN: The issue to me, I'm not opposed to that as much as I'm opposed to redefinition of a 5,000 year definition of marriage. I'm opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I'm opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I'm opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.

BELIEFNET: Do you think those are equivalent to gays getting married?

WARREN: Oh, I do.

seriously, obama? that was who you thought would be a good choice for your inauguration? rick warren? who this week compared same-sex marriage to incest, pedophilia, and "fundamentalist mormon" marriage? was rick santorum not available or something?

equality california's got a petition demanding that warren be uninvited here.

i'm still in shock about this one. what a slap in the face to gay and lesbian people and their allies. for shame, obama.

my blog report on "alicublog" by sarah.

alicublog is one of the best places on the entire internet. i told you about it before, but in case you haven't been reading it daily since then, i will remind you about it now.

roy edroso, alicublog's proprietor, is a lifelong new yorker with a beautiful talent for the written word and a superhuman tolerance for reading the craziest wingnut crap in existence without punching his computer screen right in the face. in addition to keeping tabs on (and funny nicknames for) such notable nuts as peggy noonan ("the crazy jesus lady"), bill kristol, and the miserable jonah goldberg, he also finds time to write about arts and culture (and the hilarible results of combining wingnuts and culture.) like donkey punch, the comments are worth your time as well.

back when c.w.a.j.a.?. was brand new, i was stunned to find a link to it in roy's sidebar. (to be perfectly honest, it still kind of surprises me when i see it.) i emailed him to thank him, and it was the first of a few cordial exchanges over the years. his encouragement has meant a lot to me, and it makes alicublog all the more enjoyable to know that there's a real person behind it who is willing to make some time to be friendly to a stranger.

so! go! read!

(read more blog reports)

can we all just agree that it's about time for a word that describes situations both hilarious and terrible?

hilarible. you're welcome.

spam never sleeps.

i used to pay a lot more attention to my spam than i do now, because i found the titles (and sometimes even the emails themselves) so amusing. (i still like these two in particular.)

the gmail spam filter is pretty solid, though, so i haven't seen much of it lately. (although once and awhile i notice that i have 1000 message in my spam folder. awesome.) in the last month or so, though, some spammy spam has been sneaking into my inbox. a lot of it has been in hebrew, so whether or not it has amusing content i cannot tell you. there was one the other day entitled: "ASSISTANCE" and inside it said, "ASSISTANCE" and there was a word document about which i am very curious but which i am not planning to open because compy is grumpy enough already without being asked for ASSISTANCE by strangers.

can we all just agree that karaoke is excellent?

because it is. b.f.h. and i started the evening off right with "girls just wanna have fun," and along the way we got in "livin' on a prayer" (which caused me to realize that many classic rock songs have choruses that are super fun to sing and quite well-known, and verses that are neither. you've been warned), "bohemian rhapsody," and "take my breath away" (i went for the high notes, and i'm not sorry.) we finished with "time after time." it was quite an evening.

next time, madonna.

it seems like it might be worth a try:

if, now or at any other time, the phrase "habitus checker" is or was amusing and/or meaningful to you, please get in touch with me.

thank you.

well, that's one way of looking at oceanic convergence

someone asked my geomorphology professor what happens when two oceanic plates converge. his response: "they draw straws and they say, 'okay, you go under!'" (according to science, the older plate is denser, so it subducts.)

this was right before he explained "mountains are made out of stuff."

and now you know.

this may be my favorite ever search that returned c.w.a.j.a.?.:

"danger mayonaise"

this is an important question:

how did they dance?

thank you, alan.

just so you know:

avocado and goose poop look remarkably similar, especially when you notice it on your pants.

(mine was avocado. phew!)