Religion, SF, and Other Speculative Fictions.


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Entries from February 2009

Spark: Michelle Obama, Budding Locavore.

February 27th, 2009 · by John · 6 Comments

Good news for Jana and my other favorite food activists out there: the Obamas are bringing on Sam Kass, a Chicago chef with a demonstrated commitment to preparing local, organic food.
Mr. Kass’s appointment should please chefs like Alice Waters, who have lobbied the Obamas to set an example for the rest of the country by [...]

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Tags: Health · Michelle Obama · Politics

Pictures of the Week.

February 26th, 2009 · by John · 3 Comments

I ordered prints of my favorite flickr pics (from the ones I’ve taken) and created a photo mosaic in my office:

And Discover Magazine’s blog picked up a picture of GameBoy contemplating a good breakfast to illustrate a post (free, with attribution: this, my friends, is how Creative Commons is intended to be used):

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Tags: Personal · Photos

The Great Republican Snow Job.

February 26th, 2009 · by John · 2 Comments

I really wish I could’ve live-blogged Obama’s un-State of the Union, but gainful employment can be restrictive sometimes. But don’t get me wrong–in this economic climate, I welcome such restrictions! Chain me up, The Man!
Listening to Obama’s last weekly address, I was struck by how non-partisan, or two-partisan he sounded. Take this statement on the [...]

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Tags: Politics

Sexual Identity & Faith: Growing Up Gay in a Christian Family

February 25th, 2009 · by xJane · 3 Comments

This is another lecture that was put on at my school, this time by the ACLU, in response to Prop 8. The California Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments about the Constitutionality of Prop 8 a week from tomorrow. In preparation for that, the local ACLU chapter invited to gay people who grew up in [...]

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Tags: Activism · Belief · Christianity · Church and State · Culture Jamming · Dialog · Gay Rights and Queer Issues · Gender · Getting over Religion · Gods · Humanity · Mormonism · Politics · Pop Culture · Religion · Sexuality · Social Hacking · Society · Spirituality

Spark: XBox Live (Microsoft) Homophobic

February 25th, 2009 · by xJane · 6 Comments

not a huge surprise, I suppose…
RT @pizzocalabro RT @consumerist: Identifying Yourself As A Lesbian Gets You Banned On XBOX Live : http://tinyurl.com/cc48g8

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Tags: Activism · Culture Jamming · Ethics · Gay Rights and Queer Issues · Gender · Media and Design · News · Politics · Pop Culture · Second Life · Social Hacking · Social Web · Society · Spark · Technology · Web 2.0

#Lent09

February 25th, 2009 · by xJane · 5 Comments

I told a professor here (who was running a forum on the Question of God) that my religious background is ex-Catholic but that I am an active blogger in the ex-Mormon part of the Bloggernacle; that my husband is humanist, my father-in-law is Buddhist, and my mother-in-law is First Nations/Pagan. I got an awesome look [...]

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Tags: Atheism · Belief · Charities · Current Events · Getting over Religion · Goals · Personal · Religion · Ritual

How am I Gay? Let Me Count the Ways.

February 22nd, 2009 · by John · 17 Comments

Here’s a few thoughts on the meaning of “gay” and how I sometimes encounter the word in my life.
I was on YouTube the other day, watching a some clever homegrown production and a couple of the commenters left one liners that said something like, “this is so fucking gay.” I know, I know, you may [...]

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Tags: Gay Rights and Queer Issues · Gender

Music Monday: Emily Wells.

February 22nd, 2009 · by John · 2 Comments

I first caught Emily Wells doing a cover of Notorious B.I.G.’s Juicy on NPR a few months back–I’ve been fascinated with her ever since. Her primary instrument is the violin, but her music is an eclectic mashup of sorts–classical, hip hop, gypsy jazz would be just the tip of her musical iceberg. She lists [...]

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Tags: Music Monday

Video: Osaka Bang!

February 19th, 2009 · by John · 4 Comments

For my fellow Japanophiles. How do you think Americans would react to sudden pretend shootings and slashings?

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Tags: Japan · Video

Steampunk Han and Chewy.

February 19th, 2009 · by John · 3 Comments

(On Victorian-era Bespin?)
I’m not sure who sent this to me, but thank you. May you see the world through smoked-glass, brassy spectacles. (with clockwork mechanisms that swap out telescopular and microimagery lenses as your trod through the London grime with the aid of your steam-powered techno-trousers…)

UPDATE (2009-03-16): I now know the identity of my (inadvertently) [...]

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Tags: Steampunk