Collateral Bloggage

A Year After Sun Ban, Phoenix Still Not Seeing the Light
Phoenix, AZ

One year ago, the Phoenix, Arizona City Council passed a resolution calling for sun protection for all residents. This move came in response to complaints from the parents of a thirteen-year-old girl, Sonya Emberast. Her parents explained that Sonya’s rare skin disorder, xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) made life in Phoenix very difficult for her. XP makes the victim’s skin extremely sensitive to sunlight, causes premature skin aging and makes the victim more prone to develop skin cancers.

Phoenix averages more than three hundred sunny days every year, making life more challenging for someone with XP. Ms. Emberast had to take such precautions as wearing long pants and hooded sweatshirts, as well as a full face mask when walking about town. “I never had this problem in Ketchikan,” Sonya was quoted as saying. The Emberasts moved to Phoenix early last year.

In response to the pleas of the Emberasts, Councilman Ben Better put forward the Sunscreen Act. Said Councilman Better, “It is simply unfair to ask any of our residents to cover up in order to enjoy our fair city.” The Sunscreen Act called for an enormous Sun Protection Screen to be put up over the city.

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If your only exposure to Rowan Atkinson is through his inimitable character Mr. Bean, then you probably already know Mr. Atkinson is one of the most gifted physical comedians of our time. But you probably also aren’t aware that he’s really, really funny doing skits and sketches. A number of years ago, TFE and I caught his “Rowan Atkinson Live” show on cable, and it’s got some of the funniest material I’ve ever seen. Here’s an example (content warning: the very last word in this video is a curse word): (more…)

Day off from work…day off from blogging (to go along with the weekend off).  Not much about which to muse about (that’s for you, Katie), but I *did* happen to notice a happening that’s coming up on the telly.  “Band of Brothers” is going to be going marathon on the History Channel on June 1st (starting at 8am).

I’ve never been a WWII buff, or really even a buff of anything (I’m more of a flabby than a buff), but “Band of Brothers” is simply an amazing television experience.  It just brings home again the remarkable things that generation of people did.  Given all the pain they went through, I figure watching the series is my way of honoring their sacrifice.  I’ve already got the DVR set up to record the whole shebang.

California enacts “No Child Left Home” legislation

Dissociated Press - Sacramento, CA

In a landmark move, the California State Legislature has passed a law to make child home care illegal past the age of four months. Called the “No Child Left Home Act” (NCLHA), the bill effectively makes home rearing of children by parents illegal.

“We’re encouraging parents to put their children into childcare as early as two weeks old,” said Senator Burt Heed (D) upon the bill passing the senate. “Nobody wants to see children deprived of their rights to adequate early socialization.”

When asked about how this law will “encourage” parents, Heed responded, “Here in California, we find it’s much easier to encourage folks to do things our way when we’ve got the force of law on our side.”

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I’ve been told my Theology Thursday posts have a tendency to be a bit heavy. This one should be a bit lighter, and it’s more Biblical Background than theology. I’ll try to keep it pithy-ish.

A few years ago as I was reading through the New Testament it suddenly occurred to me to ask, “Who exactly are the Samaritans and why did they and the Jews hate each other?” Reading the Gospels, we learn that Jews and Samaritans pretty much avoided each other, but we’re never given the reason for the antipathy. Such was the hatred of the Samaritans that the Jews even used “Samaritan” as an insult, and accused Christ of being of that race (John 8:48).

Christ (and the Gospel writers) didn’t approve of the separation of the two groups, as evidenced by the strongly good portrayal of Samaritan characters (with the exception of the village which turned Jesus and the Twelve away in Luke 9:51). In Luke 17, Jesus healed ten lepers, one of whom came back to thank him. The grateful one happened to be from Samaria. In John 4, Christ preached to the woman at the well and reached an entire village of Samaritans. And, of course, there’s the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10).

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I’ll be surprised if Cook wins, and I actually think he’ll do better post-Idol if he grabs the Silver Medal. David “Golly gee oh my heck I’m so overwhelmed” Archuleta seemed to win handily last night, and I think he’ll take the title.

I don’t feel the need to go song by song for my recap, but I’ll give some general impressions. First, I must address the “average people submitted dreadful songs for our finalists, because, like, how can it be worse than ‘This is My Now’?” thing. The whole thing reminds me of a passage from 1984:

This is pretty much the task of the AI Finalist…make the dreadful rubbish sound almost pleasant. Is there any question about that? Didn’t think so.

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If you’re unfamiliar with the phenomenon of the LOLcat, check out Wikipedia’s article on the subject. Basically, snap a cute picture of a cat, put some Pidgin English on it, and everybody LOLs. Of course, it doesn’t have to be a cat…

So, what happens when you combine LOLkitties with the Bible? Well, this:

In the end, I think the LOLcat phenomenon is one more reason to like dogs.

Two thoughts I had during my bicycle-commute to work this morning:

1. “Wow am I out of shape. It shouldn’t be possible to sweat this much.”
2. “Idiot.” (aimed at several cars)

Not much else to add to the first thought. Hopefully that one will occur to me less and less often in the coming weeks. My legs just aren’t used to the punishment yet.

But, about the “idiot” comment. Oregon drivers just do not know how to deal with cyclists. Here’s a hint: treat us like any other vehicle.

Now, that doesn’t mean you have to stay behind me…I’ve got my own lane most of the time. Feel free to pass. And even when I’m in your lane, you can go around without driving on the opposite shoulder (really, I’m not that fat!). If you come to a four-way stop and notice I’m also approaching it…wait for it…read my mind here…TREAT ME LIKE A CAR!!!!! If you’re there first, GO. If you’re on the right, GO! Stopping and giving me the wave (grounds for summary amputation of that hand) just slows everybody down. Do you really want to follow me? (the four-way stop I hit most frequently is me going straight, car turning left to go the same way I’m going)

One more thing. If there’s a bike lane, stay out of it. Please. Or at least check to see if I’m there before you run me over. Pretty please? I get blocked by cars several times a month by thoughtless drivers (and I use that term completely literally). You’ve got mirrors for a reason.

Let me close by saying, “It’s not totally your fault. It’s only almost totally your fault.” Cyclists around here don’t always know what they’re doing, either. Some of us ride on the sidewalk (no, we shouldn’t!). Some of us ride through crosswalks (shame on us!). Some of us ride the wrong way in the bike lane (drivers, go ahead and give those guys a little nudge. Tell them I told you it was okay).

So, it’s understandable that you may not be comfortable sharing the road with those big, scary, two-wheeled vehicles. Just try to do better, mkay?

My reading this past week hasn’t yielded anything much to blog about. So this week I thought I’d throw out a little post about something about my personal theology that makes me different. Here it is:

I don’t believe in the Rapture

I imagine that comes across very shockingly, but allow me to soften the blow. I absolutely believe in the Second Coming of Christ. I could even be convinced that it’s imminent (but I’m not convinced it is). Just not The Rapture.

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Since the contestants sang three songs this week, I went with “Triple Play” for the title of my recap. Also, because Asdrubal Cabrera of the Cleveland Indians pulled off an unassisted triple play two nights ago. That’s only happened fourteen times in the history of the Major Leagues. Go watch the video (but read my recap first…mkay?). Baseball is awesome.

Like last week, I’ll just group the reviews by singer. I’ll also give my ranking for each performance, then average them out for my combined rankings.

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