perhaps they should have hired a proofreader

This just in from AW1L.

Our friend Alan With One L knows that Allan and I share his teeth-grinding annoyance and mystified incredulity at the misuse of apostrophes for plurals.

Not that I've never confused its and it's. That's a tough one for many people. And non-native speakers of English, especially if they've been through the US's lousy public education system, are to be congratulated if they grasp the possessive apostrophe.

However, the use of apostrophes for plurals is beyond rampant. It's pandemic. The pen has already been pulled, but I hope it enjoys renewed life on the tubes.

Background here.

gadget help

A while back, I wrote about the many reasons to continue using my perceptually obsolete cell phone.

I've hung in there since then, but its end-time is soon approaching, as is the usefulness of my handheld computer. I'm going to need to replace both, so I'm looking for ideas of what's out there.

I've used my wonderful little HP iPAQ (picture here) for almost three years. It runs Pocket version of Outlook, Word, Excel and Internet Explorer, and syncs with my home computer. It's not a Blackberry - it needs a wireless signal to connect to the internet and get email - and it doesn't have a phone, but that was my choice. They do make models with phones.

I want to replace both my phone and my organizer, and maybe combine everything into one gadget, but not necessarily.

About the iPAQ, I no longer care about the PC functions. Once upon a time, it was very useful, but I really haven't used it as a computer since moving to my suburban lifestyle. Before the iPAQ, I had a Sharp Wizard - an electronic organizer that synced with my home computer (picture here) - and I'd actually go back to an upgraded version of something like that, if it included text and voice.

Here's what I don't care about:
- an iPhone or anything iPod-related
- music
- a camera
- a video camera
- TV

I realize some of those functions might be included anyway, but I'm not looking for them.

Here's what I need:
- a full qwerty keyboard
- full organizer capabilities (calendar, contacts, tasks lists, notes)
- ability to sync with my home computer - super important
- email/text

Suggestions?

Update. In comments, I learned that the iPhone and iPod Touch could sync with my home PC. I didn't realize that, and now I'm more interested.

canadian hand-wringing at its worst

Although I'm not watching the Olympics, it's impossible to miss all the hand-wringing about Team Canada not winning gold medals.

Apparently a female wrestler and the men's eight crew have ended this great national shame. But in the preceding week, the op-eds and letters were everywhere. I can only imagine what talk-radio was like. I saw the Canadian athletes' performance described as a "debacle," "a disaster" and "a national embarrassment". I saw several demands for an official inquiry.

Is there nothing Canadians can't beat themselves up over?

As I understand it, Canada spends quite a bit of money identifying and supporting elite athletes and coaches. You can lay the ground work, you can prepare, you can give support so athletes can work as hard as possible. Canada does all that.

But you can't control the outcome. Short of bribery, you can't actually buy a championship. (Just ask a Yankees fan.) If you don't invest in a team, chances are they won't see the podium. But no amount of investment will guarantee you a medal. It's a big world out there. On that particular day, there just might be more than three people in the world faster, stronger, and better than your guy.

Personally, I'd like to see more funds invested in grassroots sport, which benefit more people, than sports at the elite level, which benefit the many only as spectators. But if elite sports is the national priority, at least people should grasp what we're spending our tax dollars on. It's as if the complainers don't understand how sport works.

two science q's

I have two questions for you science-y types out there. I can't find a good way to Google or Wikipedia this, and asking wmtc readers is my third choice for random factual information.

1. It is said that if you throw a coin from a great height, it picks up so much force as it falls, that it can do great damage. Where I grew up, we heard that if you threw a penny off the Empire State Building, it would bore straight through someone's skull into their brain and kill them.

If this is true, why do raindrops not bore into our skin? Rain is falling from a great height. Is it because rain is liquid so it has different properties? Then shouldn't hail kill us?

Or maybe that old story is not true?

2. Long ago, people believed in the spontaneous generation of life. The example I remember is that flies arose from rotten fruit, or that spoiled meat gave rise to maggots. Now we know that is not true.

So where do the maggots come from? (From other maggots, yes.) I mean, specifically, when a piece of flesh is rotting - whether it be a creature's untended wound or a dead animal - maggots appear and contribute to the process of decomposition. Where do the maggots come from? Where were they before? How did they "know" there was rotten meat to be eaten? Where do they go when they're finished? Why do we only see them when they are writhing around a piece of dead flesh?

the customer is not always right

Have you seen this website? Those of us who have worked in any service industry will appreciate it. Thanks to James. Great stuff.

"war is over if you want it..."

The priorities of too many USians.

the global village, part 2

Many moons ago, I posted this amazing video made by a guy who had traveled all over the globe.

James, who is responsible for my seeing that in the first place, recently sent me a follow-up.

I find these videos strangely moving, although I'm hard-pressed to articulate why.

Part of it is seeing all the people of the world - being people, expressing joy. How alike we all are.

And part of it is my crazy hunger to see the world, to go everywhere, and the realistic understanding that I never will. Although I travel as often as I can, I would need three or four lifetimes to even go everywhere on my top must-visit list.

I love my life and I know I am incredibly fortunate. But people like Matt, the guy who made these videos, are living another life I want, the one I didn't choose.

art adventurers create a subway double-take

Remember the performance art that froze Grand Central Terminal in New York?

The same group, Improv Everywhere, now creates a human mirror on a New York City subway.

I'd love to have seen this! Thanks to James for sending.

happening tomorrow in canada. maybe.

The New York Times put this story in the sports section. I'm not sure it's a sport if only one person is rich enough and brave obsessed insane enough to attempt it. This is sky-diving in the sense that the Gobi March is a stroll through a park.*

He has spent two decades and nearly $20 million in a quest to fly to the upper reaches of the atmosphere with a helium balloon, just so he can jump back to earth again. Now, Michel Fournier says, he is ready at last.

Depending on the weather, Fournier, a 64-year-old retired French army officer, will attempt what he is calling Le Grand Saut (The Great Leap) on Sunday from the plains of northern Saskatchewan.

He intends to climb into the pressurized gondola of the 650-foot balloon, which resembles a giant jellyfish, and make a two-hour journey to 130,000 feet. At that altitude, almost 25 miles up, Fournier will see both the blackness of space and the curvature of the earth. He will experience weightlessness.

Then he plans to step out of the capsule, wearing only a special space suit and a parachute, and plunge down in a mere 15 minutes.

If successful, Fournier will fall longer, farther and faster than anyone in history. Along the way, he can accomplish other firsts, by breaking the sound barrier and records that have stood for nearly 50 years.

"It's not a question of the world records," Fournier wrote via e-mail through an interpreter on Friday from his base in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. "What is important are what the results from the jump will bring to the safety of the conquest of space. However, the main question that is being asked today by all scientists is, can a man survive when crossing the sound barrier?"

In the past two weeks, Fournier's 40-person team has assembled at the launch site, about 90 miles northwest of Saskatoon. The remote Canadian plains were picked after French authorities denied permission because of safety concerns.

Fournier faces plenty of perils. Above 40,000 feet, there is not enough oxygen to breathe in the frigid air. He could experience a fatal embolism. And 12 miles up, should his protective systems fail, his blood could begin to boil because of the air pressure, said Henri Marotte, a professor of physiology at the University of Paris and a member of Fournier's team.

"If the human body were exposed at very high altitude, the loss of consciousness is very fast, in five seconds," Marotte said. "Brain damage, in three or four minutes."

Fournier's gondola will be sealed, pressurized and equipped with oxygen. He will be in communication with a ground crew on the climb and will be tracked by G.P.S. He will wear a pressure suit and a sealed helmet supplied with oxygen.

More here.


* I'm not pleased with that analogy, but I can't seem to come up with a better one. Consider it up for grabs.

mates burilados from huancayo, peru

When we were in Peru in 2006 - actually on the last day of the trip - we met a young man from Huancayo named Cristian Alfaro Nùñez. He was selling the most amazing craft work we had seen in our three weeks in his country.

The Nùñez family makes mates burilados, which translates literally as "engraved gourds". Here's what I wrote the day after we met him.

In an alcove to the side of one of the exhibits, a young man sat in a room full of a kind of handicraft we have not seen anywhere else. He gave us a beautiful description (in Spanish, dumbed down for me, I believe) of how they are made and what they mean.

They are gourds, meticulously engraved in the most painstaking detail, then rubbed with the black ash of a certain plant, then cleaned with another solution (all from plants found in the rainforest), so the inky colour stays only in the engravings. The drawings are playful and light, depicting festivals, music, work, family life, and other aspects of rural life in Peru.

I cannot begin to describe the intricacy of the drawings. We were positively flabbergasted. Some of the engravings were huge, on giant horn-shaped gourds. Others were small, about the size of a pear, or even smaller, the size of a small egg. The workshop of artists who make them are entirely the young man´s family.

Off to the ATM we went! We simply could not resist buying these unique figures from the artist themselves. After much decision-making - they were all so beautiful - we bought one medium pear-sized gourd, and a very small egg-shaped one. (They were priced according to how long they took to make.) When I asked the boy for his photo in front of his work, he gave me his email address and asked if I would send him the photo. Great!

I don't know if there's anything about this work online. He called it Mates Burilados. (I asked him to write it down with his email address.) Mates are the gourds; the etching instruments are burillas.

. . .

Allan took several close-ups of the amazing mates burilados, but, engrossed as I was in trying to communicate with the artist, I forgot to tell Allan about the close-up setting on the digital camera. So unfortunately, most of those are too blurry to post, and I'm still kicking myself over it. However, you can see the artist himself, Cristian Alfaro, and a few of his family's creations.

Here is Cristian holding one of the huge gourds, with a selection of them behind him. Please click to enlarge.

But to appreciate this work, you must see it up close. The intricacy and detail is mind-boggling. Here is one that we own; I placed it next to an apple to give you size perspective.

And here is some detail.

Cristian and I have stayed in touch since then. Sometimes I stop writing to him, not because of lack of interest, but because my written Spanish is so bad. It takes me forever to compose a simple email, and it's such a painful process, that I become frustrated and quit. Sometimes I use an online translator, but those are suspect. When I run Cristian's email through the translator, it sounds ridiculous, so my email must sound the same to him.

* * * *

When we were in Windsor last week, we went with Gito to a Ten Thousand Villages store to find a gift he needed. I have been to a Ten Thousand Villages in Toronto, but I didn't realize that it's a chain.

From the Ten Thousand Villages website:

Men and women around the world have a simple dream – to earn an honest living, provide a home, food and education for their children, and to be gainfully employed in a job that brings dignity and joy. Ten Thousand Villages partners with thousands of talented artisans in a healthy business relationship.

Often referred to as 'fair trade,' our philosophy of helping to build a sustainable future is based on the principle that trade should have a conscience. Through 'fair trade,' artisans receive respect, dignity and hope from working hard and earning fair value for their work.

Ten Thousand Villages is a not-for-profit, self-supporting Fair Trade Organization (FTO). FTOs are non-governmental organizations designed to benefit artisans, not to maximize profits. They market products from handicraft and agricultural organizations based in low-income countries, providing consumers with products that have been fairly purchased from sustainable sources.

Ten Thousand Villages is a member of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT), a global network of Fair Trade Organizations. IFAT's mission is to improve the livelihoods and well-being of disadvantaged producers by linking and promoting fair trade organizations and speaking out for greater justice in world trade. Over 270 FTOs in 60 countries form the basis of this network.

There are TTV stores all over Canada and many in the US as well.

One of the many great things about this organization is that the artists are paid up front for their work, not on consignment. If the work doesn't sell, TTV takes the loss, not the craftspeople. TTV teaches business practices so the craft community can set up a sustainable collective and work with other buyers.

* * * *

In the store in Windsor, I suddenly remembered Cristian and the gourds. I asked the owner if TTV carries engraved gourds from Peru, and he looked it up: they don't. I got some information on how to suggest a work to the head office, and I tucked it away to deal with later this summer. I thought I would take some photos of the gourds we have, and also send some links to photos online, although there isn't much.

Then yesterday - great coincidence! - I got email from Cristian. Someone has created a website for his family's work! It's not finished yet, but it is really well done.

Mates Burilados y Bordados: La familia Alfaro Nuñez de Cochas Grande, Huancayo, Perú

Now I have great incentive to speak to Ten Thousand Villages, and a way to showcase the work.

Please check out the Alfaro family's website. I'm going to put them on my sidebar, and I'll keep you posted if I make any progress with Ten Thousand Villages.

young me, now me

Have you seen this?

People submit a photo of themselves as a child, then a current photo of themselves in the same pose. There's something very touching about it.

vacations in the culture of fear

Much has been written about the culture of fear that pervades so many people, especially parents, in these times.

There's a lot of money to be made by exploiting fear, from home-alarm systems to war profiteering. (Get 'em over there before they get us over here!) There are websites, catalogues and stores full of products designed with fearful parents in mind. For many, the padded playground has come to symbolize parental over-protectiveness and obsession with safety. We've all read about it; I won't try to recreate the whole argument here.

I see and hear a lot of stories about many parents' attempt to create a risk-free world for their children - as if such a thing is possible, and as if it is preferred. Without risk, there can be no growth, no testing of boundaries, no meaningful accomplishment. One needn't be a daredevil to know that a fearful child will have less self-confidence and have a more difficult time achieving independence. Falling on an ordinary, non-padded, playground, scraping your knee, then continuing to play is something of a metaphor for growing up.

I overheard something recently that perfectly illustrated the culture of parental fear. (Don't know if you've noticed, but a large percentage of my essay-type posts originate from overheard conversations. I'm always listening.)

This particular overheard conversation was lengthy; I was sort of trapped beside it, unseen, for an extended period of time. A woman was telling someone about her recent family vacation. They went on a Disney cruise. She went on and on about how great it was - an enormous variety of activities for kids of all ages and for adults. But what she really loved about the Disney cruise, as opposed to any other vacation they've taken, is how safe it was.

Every time you walked into a dining room or buffet, staff was handing out hand sanitizers. People were sanitizing the elevator buttons and door knobs all day long.

After leaving the ship for island entertainment (also owned by Disney), they had to pass through metal detectors and show identification to re-board. None of the other cruise lines did that!

All the entertainment was produced by Disney, of course, so there was no danger the children would be exposed to anything inappropriate.

The kids had to wear helmets and shin guards for all non-water activities, and life jackets for all water activities.

She talked about this a lot. "And it just made us feel so safe, so protected. It was the best part of the trip."

This astonished me.

I know that there have been illness outbreaks on cruise ships, so I understand that sanitation may be an issue. I'll give her that. But this was the best part of the trip?

Now, I'm not a cruise person in the first place. I can think of few things I'd enjoy less than be trapped anywhere with 2,000 other people and a bunch of "activities". To an independent traveler like me, the whole concept of this kind of holiday is hideous.

I also reject the notion that the only vacation you can take with kids are theme parks or cruises. I grew up going to national parks and historical sites. We hiked and rode horses and talked to park rangers, and we saw our country.

It's not a money issue. This woman's family had first spent a week in Florida (ugh), then did this four-day Disney cruise. She told her friend that the cruise was more expensive than the entire week in Florida including airfare, a giant splurge. I could plan three vacations for this family with what they spent on this one cruise. I kept thinking of all the cool things they could have seen and done for the same cost.

So sure, my reaction to this conversation is tempered by my general disgust at that type of holiday. But the safety issue just amazed me. How fearful she must be to make that such a high priority!

Are you thinking, "if she was a parent, she'd understand"? Well, I'm not a parent (not of humans, anyway), but my parents were. And I thank [something] that they didn't raise me to believe I needed hand sanitation and metal detection every time I turned around.

We knew about safety. We wore seat belts, we washed our hands after the bathroom, we had a fire safety plan. But we were also taught, by example, that there are worlds to explore, and given the confidence to do it.

My sister and brother are parents, and they didn't raise their kids in a fearful environment, either. My nieces and nephews travel all over the world on their own. They move into unchartered territory in their own lives, both figuratively and literally.

I also helped raise a child - I was a nanny, like a second mom, to a boy for five years. I saw risk, and I saw safety, and I saw a person who needed to test the world, to explore.

In addition, I have spoken with dozens of families of children with physical disabilities. Independence and potential over-protectiveness are huge issues in this world. The children who thrive come from families that recognize that life is risk.

But for every parent who is afraid of the big, bad world their children are entering, Disney, and dozens of other companies, are waiting to cash in.

I don't have any huge conclusion to draw from this. I just find it sad, and wrong.

friendly neighbour axes canadian studies centre

I was reading this short item in today's Globe and Mail when I realized it was about a blog-acquaintance of mine.

Canada was heralded as "cool" by a highbrow international magazine a few years ago, but that popularity has dimmed in the ivory towers of the University of Vermont.

The school has yanked funding from its Canadian studies program because interest has sagged in recent years. Only three students at the U of V now major in Canuck.

Faculty members fear the university's Canadian content could soon disappear into the mists of the Green Mountains.

"Symbolically, [the cut] speaks very clearly to the fact that this administration simply doesn't care deeply about the study of Canada on this campus," history professor David Massell said in an interview from the Burlington campus.

Paul Martin, the fittingly named director of Canadian studies, says losing the $35,000 annual allowance will force the program to close its office, shave research assistance and cancel its annual trip to Ottawa.

"That's a heavy loss for us," he said yesterday.

Prof. Martin says the cutback could also spark the Canadian embassy in Washington to chop its annual grant. It awarded $9,500 to the department in 2007.

"As a Canadian who has witnessed the students get so enthusiastic about Canada ... to see the impact that even the small amount of funding that we get has on that whole process, to see that be imperilled, is definitely a personal blow," he said.

The university, meanwhile, says it shut down the administrative centre but the program will live on.

The "the fittingly named director of Canadian studies," Paul Martin, writes the blog As Canadian As Possible... under the circumstances. Martin writes:

Founded in 1964, the University of Vermont's Canadian Studies Program is one of the oldest, most respected programs in North America. It's reputation and long, productive history was what lured me to UVM five years ago and has continued to attract new tenure-track faculty such as Professors Amani Whitfield, Shelly Rayback, and Pablo Bose, all of whom are doing fascinating, cutting-edge research on Canada.

Although the University administration is justifying their cuts to our office with the argument that we only have three majors and two minors in our program and very few connected faculty, this does not accurately reflect the student and faculty involvement in our program. As of 2007-08, we have 10 tenured and tenure-track faculty and three lecturers teaching courses on Canada, and our program today is the strongest it has been in years. In the past year alone, our associated faculty from the departments of History, Geography, Romance Languages, English, Political Science and Anthropology taught 22 courses with either full or partial Canadian content, reaching close to 600 students.

Last year, 65 of our students and 15 Canadian Politics students from Saint Michael's College travelled to Ottawa as part of our legendary, annual field trip to Canada's capital, a trip that has run every year since the mid 1950s. Our program also hosts many high-profile events across campus, such as the visit to campus in October by the Grand Chief of the Council of the Quebec Crees, who spoke to a standing-room-only crowd at the Livak Ballroom about the relationship between the Cree and the Governments of Canada and Quebec whose massive hydro projects have flooded traditional lands in order to provide electricity to Quebec and much of New England.

I recall driving by that little building on Main Street in Burlington, long ago, when I was visiting Allan in Vermont. I always thought it was cool to see the Maple Leaf flying, long before I ever dreamed I'd live in Canada. I wish Paul the best of luck.

beyond any definition of cute

Cute Overload doesn't begin to describe this.

Thank you, Impudent Strumpet! Let's make sure we save their homes.

random notes from nyc and usa

I saw The Rat. I saw Dr. Zizmor on the subway. I bought a $5 umbrella on the street. I feel at home.

Home foreclosures have resulted in animal shelters being inundated with surrendered pets. Families cannot afford to keep their animals, or cannot have animals in apartments - or in homeless shelters, or in tent cities. I can scarcely imagine how heartbreaking this is for both the people and the animals.

Last night I ate kangaroo for the first time. I went to this Australian bar and restaurant - actual Australian, not theme-park Australian - and had kanga skewers. They were totally tender and delicious.

Friends are extremely excited and hopeful about Barack Obama. These folks are very politically savvy, they understand the Democrats, they understand election fraud, they understand racism... yet they have hope in Obama. This is amazing. I am so without hope that I can't even hope that they're right. But I do hope I am wrong.

"Does Canada realize how bad it will be if the war resisters are deported? How un-Canadian it will look??" So says my friend Alan With One L. Canada, please understand this. Please be Canada.

miss bimbo: because you're never too young to think about breast implants

Starvation diets, breast implants and huge mobile phone bills. Sounds about right for a nine-year-old, eh?

Parents in the UK, France, Australia and New Zealand are horrified at an online game being marketed to their pre-teen daughters: Miss Bimbo.

Parents' groups have condemned a new internet game in which girls as young as nine are encouraged to "buy" their virtual dolls breast operations and facelifts.

The aim of the Miss Bimbo beauty contest game, which was launched in Britain last month, is to become the "hottest, coolest, most famous bimbo in the whole world", and contestants who compete against each other are told to "stop at nothing", even "meds or plastic surgery", to ensure their dolls win.

Children are given a naked virtual character to look after. They compete against other players to earn "bimbo" dollars so they can dress her in sexy outfits and take her clubbing. They are given missions, including securing plastic surgery at the game's clinic to give their dolls bigger breasts, and they have to keep her at her target weight with diet pills.

Although it is free to play, when the contestants run out of virtual cash they have to send text messages costing £1.50 each or use PayPal to top up their accounts.

But fear not, plastic surgery and dieting are not only about self-absorption and mindless consumerism. They are vital weapons in service of that all-important goal: getting a man. Some of the targets:

Level 7
After you broke up with your boyfriend you went on an eating binge! Now it's time to diet... Your goal weight is...

Level 9
Have a nip and tuck operation for a brand new face. You've found work as a plus-size model. To gain those vivacious curves, you need to weigh...

Level 10
Summertime is coming up and bikini weather is upon us. You want to turn heads on the beach don't you?

Level 11
Bigger is better! Have a breast operation

Level 17
There is a billionaire on vacation... You must catch his eye and his love!

Are you nauseated yet?

A few quick Google News searches revealed a lot of parental outrage, which is good news. Meanwhile, telecom regulators are investigating the website, because it appears that children are being encouraged to call premium-rate numbers, and the game may "exploit or provide content that parents are likely to think unacceptable", which is inconsistent with the Phonepayplus ethical code.

I wonder, how many years from now will the name "Miss Bimbo" surface in eating-disorder support groups? The game will long since have disappeared, but its effects may be felt every time a malnourished young woman looks in the mirror and believes she is too fat.

Thanks to Mara for turning me on to this.

pharyngula is expelled from expelled

This is hilarious! A must-read for a good laugh.

Many thanks to Zoe at A Complicated Salvation.

to everyone who has asked to be my friend on facebook

To everyone who has sent me a friend request on Facebook: thanks, but no thanks.

I'm not into Facebook. I wasn't into MySpace or LiveJournal, and I won't be into whatever comes after Facebook. I just don't care. Nothing personal. I care about you. I just don't care about Facebook.

I registered because a Facebook URL showed up in my Statcounter, and I wanted to see who was linking to wmtc. That's a minor obsession of mine; I'll register anywhere to trace a link. I'll accept the friend requests as they come in. But that will be the sum total of my Facebook experience.

As far as I'm concerned, Facebook is just another giant time-sucking machine. I already live with a constant feeling of never having enough time to do the things I want to do. Why would I add yet another use (or misuse) of my time? Most people I know share that time-pressed feeling... yet so many of them jump into The Next Online Thing. I don't get it. But each to her own.

My online life happens in the blogosphere, and through email. And that's enough.

catholic church outdoes itself on hypocrisy

I don't usually pay attention to pronouncements by popes and papal cohorts, and I would rarely, if ever, blog about anything Catholic Church- related. But this item from James is just too rich.

Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti, a close ally of the Pope and a top official in the Vatican, has come up with a new list of deadly sins for the modern "globalised" world.

He's told the Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, that the seven classic "sins of yesteryear" - sloth, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, wrath and pride - have a "rather individualistic dimension".

He hopes his new sinful versions will make the faithful realise that their vices have an effect on others.

They include: accumulating obscene wealth, polluting the environment, genetic engineering, drug dealing, abortion, paedophilia and causing social injustice.

Holy cow. Holy shit. Holy shitting cow.

The Catholic Church is including accumulating obscene wealth and pedophilia on its sin list??

The same Catholic Church that accumulated obscene wealth (often by stealing it from people it was forcibly converting and/or torturing and killing) for centuries? And has continued to accumulate obscene wealth while so many of its adherents live in obscene poverty and squalor?

And I assume this is the same Catholic Church that covered up its sexually abusive priests and nuns for decades by moving them to other unsuspecting parishes where they could continue to ruin yet more childhoods?

Now let's all play "what doesn't belong on the list". I love how abortion is on par with child sexual abuse and causing social injustice. Would that be the same social injustice the Catholic Church increases through its anti-woman (anti-contraception, anti-abortion) policies?

Oy. It wasn't always easy to be Jewish (especially as an atheist), but thank something I didn't have to recover from this crap. My heart goes out to recovering Catholics everywhere.

frozen grand central again

My favourite clip yet of that great performance art action in Grand Central Terminal (here incorrectly called Grand Central Station). Since everyone enjoyed it so much the first time, why not post another.