Sunday Funnies

Horse makes deposit at German bank

I just love this story!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070425/tod-uk-germany-horse-0296dc8.html

Dear Mr. President

Sung by Pink and featuring The Indigo Girls, this is an "open letter to the President".

According to Pink, the radio stations in the US won't play it and Jimmy Kimmel was the only show in the US has invited her on to sing it.

It's a song that deserves to be heard and most of these images fit so well with the lyrics that I chose it over the official version.

Free Alan Johnston

Sunday Funnies

Took this picture on a road trip in France with a friend. It made us laugh, so we pulled off the road, turned around in a farmers field and risked our lives crossing a busy motorway, all for the sake of a laugh!

Beannachd Dia dhuit

Beannacht ("Blessing") by John O’Donohue

On the day when

the weight deadens

on your shoulders

and you stumble,

may the clay dance

to balance you.

And when your eyes

freeze behind

the grey window

and the ghost of loss

gets in to you,

may a flock of colours,

indigo, red, green,

and azure blue

come to awaken in you

a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays

in the currach of thought

and a stain of ocean

blackens beneath you,

may there come across the waters

a path of yellow moonlight

to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

may the clarity of light be yours,

may the fluency of the ocean be yours,

may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow wind

work these words

of love around you,

an invisible cloak to mind your life.

Great Big C, if I'm lucky ;-)

Today I HAVE to complete a couple of projects for some on line classes I'm taking. The biggest lesson that I've learned is that I should not be taking on line classes! I'm no good at sitting or concentrating on classes that frankly, I don't care about any more. There's far better ways to learn than sitting alone behind a laptop, reading poorly prepared material and waiting for days for a response from the "Ask the Instructor" question I left when I got stuck. There's got to be interaction, voices, dialog, engagement, noise in order for me to learn.

Now, it's the last week of class, I need to focus, concentrate, have self discipline, be a grown up, set the example, put my nose to the grind stone, get 'er done etc. I decided what I really need to do is listen to Great Big Sea!!

2007 Pulitzer Prizes Announced

The 2007 Pulitzer Prize in the Breaking News category was awarded to Associated Press' Oded Balilty for this "powerful photograph of a lone Jewish woman defying Israeli security forces as they remove illegal settlers in the West Bank."

In the Feature Category, the prize went to Renee C. Boyer for her series of black & white photos of a woman helping her 10 year old son in his unsuccessful battle against cancer. They are poignant photos of the love and commitment of family. Deeply personal, technically beautiful and emotionally intimate. You can see the images here:

http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2007/feature-photography/works

This year, both prizes were awarded to photographers who showed the world the power of a woman fighting for what she loves.

Congratulations to both photographers!!

Runaway Rabbits

Reuters - Monday, April 16

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's busiest highway, connecting Budapest with the Austrian capital Vienna, was closed early on Monday after a truck carrying rabbits crashed, letting 5,000 of the animals loose on the road, police said.

The M1 motorway was closed around 40 km (25 miles) west of Budapest and could remain closed for hours while police try to capture the escaped animals, highway police spokeswoman Viktoria Galik said.

"There are thousands of them on the road but they're not using their newfound freedom well; they're just sitting around, eating grass and enjoying the sun," Galik told Reuters

Sunday Funnies

George Eastman House

Everyone in my family loves baseball!

So, in a few weeks time, we're headed off on a pilgrimage of sorts to the Baseball Hall of Fame. My brother has generously set up a trip to take my mom and my uncle, who love baseball more than all the rest of us combined, on a trip to Cooperstown. The rest of us are along for the ride. Oh and for the hot dogs which my nephew, who's been before, tells me are the best he's ever eaten.

Now it's true, I love baseball. What I don't love is the idea of spending 3 days (yes 3) inside the Baseball Hall of Fame. The thought alone is making me cranky. Can't imagine what I'll be like when I'm really there.

Since one of my goals this year is see the musical "Wicked", I saw this vacation as the perfect opportunity to get that one out of the way. Heck, we're just a few hunderd miles away from New York City! I suggested to my family that we take one of those 3 days, grab a train and head off to NYC to see a broadway play! I said it with as much enthuiasm and persuavise power as I could muster and threw it out there for a family vote. It was unnaminous! NO! Not one other person thought getting on a train to go 200 miles into NYC just to see a play that cost over $120 a ticket was a worthy venture. Imagine that.

Now it's on to Plan B. Jump in the rental car at the crack of dawn, drive 3 hours to Rochester and tour the George Eastman House! Way better!!

I've wanted to go to The GEH since the day I heard about it 30 some years ago. I'm fascinated with the history of photography and this is THE premire spot in the world for it. I've been to photo history museums in Ireland, The Czech Republic, Holland, France, Sweden and England. None of them can compare to the prestige or vast collection of the GEH.

I want to spend all three days there! When I told my nephew that today he said "yuck" and when I asked him why, he said "Just looking at photographs for 3 days? Are you kidding". I laughed because I knew exactly how he felt. It's the way I feel about baseball memorbillia.

When I told my mom she said "make sure you ask everyone else what they want to do first before you make plans".

and then I really laughed!!

Zooming out

I posted this at another blog...

Found this blog today and have to say, I’m breathing a little easier.

Been trying to figure out how to separate my beliefs from my Americanism for the last few months. What would I believe about the church, Jesus, Christianity if I wasn’t so saturated with the red, white and blue?

This guy gives me hope that I’ll figure that out and will be able to leave behind the culture of my upbringing to find a better, more unadulterated faith or a more authentic “unfaith”.

First glimmer for a while that things don’t have to be the way that causes me to not like the church. Maybe I just need to expand my view of what "church" looks like.


Thanks Bob!

http://iamachristiantoo.org/

Can a muslim be a muslim-american?

Just received this email and was taken aback by both the tone and the content. The last time I checked, this is America, the great melting pot, still a free country where any citizen is allowed to run for public office. A place where individual merit, not any type of class or caste, determines your worth as a canidate for office. It's up to voters, not the church, to decide who best represents them.

This is hate mongering, nothing less. When I saw it, I was reminded of the quote from Pastor Martin Niemoeller (1892 - 1984)

"First they came for the Communists but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists but I was not one of them, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews but I was not Jewish so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me."


Subject: CAN A MUSLIM BE A MUSLIM-AMERICAN
With the stark reality of these facts, why in the world are Americans voting Muslims into office?... Seeing the Muslim sworn into the US Congress today brought this article to mind. What do you think? I think this pretty much sums up this question!!!!!! We are living in the twenty first century version of the "Crusades" Have you ever thought -- Is Muslim-American really an oxymoron? Can a devout Muslim be an American patriot and a loyal citizen?

I forwarded that question to a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years. The following is his forwarded reply:
"Theologically, no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia.
Religiously, no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256)
Scripturally, no. Because his allegiance is to the five pillars of Islam and the Quran.
Geographically, no. Because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he turns in prayer five times a day.
Socially, no. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.
Politically, no. Because he must submit to the mullah (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America, the great Satan.
Domestically, no. Because he is instructed to marry four women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him Quran 4:34).
Intellectually, no. Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.
Philosophically, no. Because Islam, Mohammed, and the Quran do not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or Autocratic.
Spiritually, no. Because when we declare "one nation under God," the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in the Quran's 99 excellent names."
Therefore after much study and deliberation.... perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country. They obviously cannot be both "good" Muslims and good Americans. Call it what you wish.....it's still the truth. If you find yourself intellectually in agreement with the above statements, perhaps you will share this with your friends. The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country and our future. The religious war is bigger and more complex than most Americans currently know or understand. A Muslim cannot be an American. Their Quran prohibits it.