Filed by Stephen at 10:56 pm under Activism, Religion
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“Charity and personal force are the only investments worth anything.”
– Walt Whitman

The first year I was in Chicago, my heart broke at the homelessness everywhere. In my hometown in Ohio, there were no homeless people. At all. And in the “big city,” which was Akron, you’d see one or two homeless people a week. It just wasn’t heard of, and when you did see them, you were safely in your car so you didn’t have to make the hard choice to lie to them and say you don’t really have any spare change in your pocket.
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Filed by Bil at 10:44 pm under The Science
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Okay, this is very cool.

NASA Unveils New Hi-Def Map of Antarctica

Perhaps not everybody would find this worth the effort, but hey – if “Marie Osmond’s Merry Christmas” is available on Blu-Ray, then clearly we are not using our most advanced technology for purposes of good.

I’m actually quite intrigued by Antarctica. There’s something about a place so cold and blustery that it can’t sustain life AND YET IT DOES that just…I don’t know…reminds me of home. (My home at the south pole, that is.) Or maybe it just reminds me of Super Mario Brothers 3. Whatever.

There’s adventure there. You know there is. Come with me! Let’s go fight snow monsters and save the Ice Princess!

Filed by Bil at 5:14 pm under Politics, Pop Culture, The Media
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This may just be the best tourism ad in the universe.

Surprisingly, there are people – lots of people – that think this ad is bad for New Mexico. I can see why they might think that, but I would tend to side with this ad. It reaches people through the pop culture of the Roswell legend. Who doesn’t like aliens?

One of the main arguments from the political opponents is that it doesn’t show the beauty of the state. Of course, I don’t live there, so I can counter that everyone knows about the beauty of the state by now, and really, to someone from New England, the whole American Southwest looks the same (in the same way that to someone from the American Southwest, all of New England looks the same). So why New Mexico over Arizona? Well, on top of the desert beauty, there are aliens. Case closed, I’m going to see the aliens.

It’s an interesting (if not completely useless) debate.

Here’s another one!

P.S. We are still waiting for those pictures you promised, Bil. Yes, yes, I know.

Filed by Bil at 10:37 pm under Damn Hippies, The Science
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There are few times when I curse living in a big city. I’ll admit, I am not 100% city slicker. I do love me some outdoorsiness. I particularly enjoy seeing stars at night, which, in Chicago proper, is pretty much out of the question. Most of the time there is a glow that radiates up from beyond the buildings around me, and makes the sky itself impossible to see. All I see is the glow. Most of the time I tell myself it’s okay, it’s the price I pay for living in a place where at least some of the fine establishments stay open till the wee small hours. I mean, it’s not okay, but there are bigger problems to face right now.

But every now and again I see an article like this one from the 16th of November, describing the awesome comet and/or meteor shower that I WAS NOT ABLE TO SEE because I live under a giant cloud of smog and second-hand smoke.
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Filed by Trevor at 12:58 am under Love
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It’s the early-morning reveille,
a stack of letters never sent –
folded neatly, stored with care –
a half-depleted stash of votives,
a table burgeoning to bursting.

It’s a bottomless reservoir of patience
for all manner of injury –
my armor,
my savior,
my energy.

Filed by Stephen at 6:53 pm under Fightin' Words, General, Religion, The Arts, UU
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The Absolute works with nothing.
The workshop, the materials
are what does not exist.
Be a spot on the ground where nothing is growing,
where something might be planted,
a seed, possibly, from the Absolute.
– Rumi

Since my becoming unchurched, I have had some time to think about what speaks to me spiritually. And I’ve come to no conclusions whatsoever. What I have learned, however, is what I don’t like.

One of them is bad sermons.

Sadly, if you’re a Unitarian Universalist, unless you’re attending a church that has hired an amazing minister that always knows just what to say to draw people in, or keep people around, or whatever that congregation wants to do at the time, you’re pretty well guaranteed to get bad sermons at least half the time. And that’s if you’re lucky.
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Filed by Chelsea at 10:41 am under Pop Culture, The Media
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I know I’m not the first to note this, but I pass by it every day on the newsstand in my building.

Oxymorons are way funnier when they are unintentional.
And on the cover of magazines.
And printed a bazillion times.
And clearly visible all over the world.

Witness Michael Jackson, cover boy for this month’s Ebony Magazine, looking as white as the driven snow.

ebony |ˈebənē| noun: heavy blackish or very dark brown timber from a mainly tropical tree.
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Filed by Trevor at 1:31 am under The Arts
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This is my absolute favorite scene of any of the Cirque du Soleil shows — yes, even O and Zumanity. Not just because of the trapeze, not just the song that I really, really wish I’d written, but fundamentally because this is a perfect sample of my absolute favorite voice to listen to: clear, strong, and perfectly straight.

Incidentally, the soloist is Zara Tellander — she’s got some great clips of some of her previous work, including her jazz combo.

Filed by Devon at 12:03 pm under Atheism, Damn Hippies, Love
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It’s not like I’ve been slacking. Really. I have not had a day off in WEEKS. And between the fact that I’m never home and the fact that when I am, I’m in the midst of a very moody, angry depression brought on by grief, I’ve not been much in the mood to write about anything. My cats have even noticed. They are cuddling more with me than usual. But maybe that’s just the fact that it’s getting cold.
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Filed by Trevor at 11:58 pm under Fightin' Words, General, Love, Shameless Plugs
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Some are beginning to doubt of her existence. Perhaps her clever little page on the right side of this website is but a ruse, a childlike tale to give us all hope, like the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, or God.

But I’m here tonight to say yes, Virginia, there is a Devon. She exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Devon. She is alive and well and needs your love. And she needs to get her ass back over here and set us all straight again.

Until that happens, I give you the fabled Unabridged Oeuvre of Devo; read at your great pleasure:

Hello World!
Some Self-Involved Rambling from the Makers of Facebook™
Don’t Cry Out Loud. No, Please Don’t.
Hummmm…
Hmmm…
Incredible
Opera Nerdiness
The Manifesto

That is all.