FRIDAY THE 13TH: One explanation for a bad luck day

The Knights Templar
One theory, recently offered up as historical fact in the novel The Da Vinci Code, holds that it came about not as the result of a convergence, but a catastrophe, a single historical event that happened nearly 700 years ago.

 The catastrophe was the decimation of the Knights Templar, the legendary order of "warrior monks" formed during the Christian Crusades to combat Islam. Renowned as a fighting force for 200 years, by the 1300s the order had grown so pervasive and powerful it was perceived as a political threat by kings and popes alike and brought down by a church-state conspiracy, as recounted by Katharine Kurtz in Tales of the Knights Templar (Warner Books, 1995):

    On October 13, 1307, a day so infamous that Friday the 13th would become a synonym for ill fortune, officers of King Philip IV of France carried out mass arrests in a well-coordinated dawn raid that left several thousand Templars — knights, sergeants, priests, and serving brethren — in chains, charged with heresy, blasphemy, various obscenities, and homosexual practices.

None of these charges was ever proven, even in France — and the Order was found innocent elsewhere — but in the seven years following the arrests, hundreds of Templars suffered excruciating tortures intended to force "confessions," and more than a hundred died under torture or were executed by burning at the stake.

Templar image via Google Images

Laugh and the world laughs with you!

If you missed the post at the NCJ Blogthing by Ryan Burns (Feb.9) satirizing my As It Stand column on Angels last week...check it out.
It's great satire. I'm flattered to be satirized. It's not the first time, and probably won't be the last.
We need more humor during these dark days for the economy, and this Winter's discontent.

Beauty in Reality: Photographs that transpose emotions

No matter how skillful you are as a painter, reality, and natural light is still the winner. Here is very evocative shot of moonlight at seaside, and (below) a riot of colors at sunset.

(images credit: Toby Keller)

See many other Toby Keller's light "paintings" here and on flickr.

Mattel’s Barbie Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Wins Worst Toy of the Year; CCFC Honors Doll with Inaugural TOADY Award

BOSTON – February 12- Barbie’s big year just got a little more exciting.  On the eve of the world’s most famous doll’s fiftieth birthday, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood announced that Mattel’s Barbie Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Doll won its inaugural TOADY (Toys Oppressive And Destructive to Young Children) Award for the worst toy of the year.  In an online vote by more than 6,000 CCFC members, Barbie handily beat four other nominees.

“The toys we give children reflect our values,” said CCFC’s Director Dr. Susan Linn, author of The Case for Make Believe. “And no one who cares about children’s wellbeing could produce a toy like the Barbie Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader doll. It embodies a host of harmful expectations about what girls are supposed to be like.”

Rated by Mattel as appropriate for children age six and up, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Doll comes with the shortest of short shorts, stiletto boots, and a revealing halter top.  The preposterously skimpy outfit allows children to get a better view of Barbie’s impossibly long legs and dangerously thin body. 

“When you combine two classic symbols of gendered stereotypes – the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader and Barbie – you get one terrible toy,” said CCFC Steering Committee member Joe Kelly, of www.dadsanddaughters.com. “Do we really want to teach our young daughters that they belong on the sidelines, not in the game, and the way to get noticed is to show a lot of skin?”

“The Bratz dolls get a lot of well-deserved negative attention,” said CCFC’s co-founder Dr. Diane Levin, co-author of So Sexy, So Soon. “But it’s important to recognize that Mattel is also all-too-happy to contribute to the sexualization of young children.  The Barbie Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Doll teaches girls to focus on their appearance, to aspire to an eating-disordered body, and to play at being sexy before they’re even capable of understanding what sexy means."

CCFC created the TOADY award in response to the Toy Industry of Association’s TOTY (Toy Of The Year) Awards, which celebrate the most popular brands and toys often with little regard for their impact on children’s wellbeing.  Each TOADY nominee was selected for epitomizing one or more of the troubling commercial trends of the toy industry, such as marketing sex and/or violence to young children, promoting brands and screen time at the expense of creative play, and encouraging excessive and conspicuous consumption. In addition to Barbie Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Doll, the 2008 TOADY nominees were Baby Alive Learns to Potty by Hasbro, the Lego Batman Video Game by Warner Brothers, the Power Wheels Cadillac Escalade by Fisher-Price, and the Smart Cycle by Fisher Price.  For more information on why these toys were nominated, please visit http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/actions/toady.html

Location, location, location.. this dream home provides a great escape!

Seen in one Russian journal ..

This Boeing 727 is a work-in-progress home conversion, built by Bruce Campbell from Hillsboro, Oregon. He maintains that anybody can do it, given desire, luck (acquiring decommissioned plane) and determination. As he points out, this house gives
"A feeling of strength, security, capability and ergonomics that eclipses any other, almost as if you were in a home designed 50 years in the future. Imagine removing all the clutter, such as the seats, the overhead compartments... What's left is an open, ultra high tech home". Besides, he says, it's a great toy.
On his site (below) there is a million of pictures of the work-in-progress, both exterior and interior of jet-house, and FAQ, in which he elaborates on the cost of the project (it's possible to do it for under $100K) and a cool possibility to build a house out of wide-body 747 jet (you would need a bigger yard for that)

This is his website: www.airplanehome.com

Controversy surrounds Octuplets and their single Mom

Different views on Nadya Suleman's recent birth of octuplets are reflected in the following columns:

FROM THE NATIONAL LEDGER we have;

By Debra Saunders
Feb 10, 2009

This is not going to be a column that dumps on the misguided and clearly troubled Nadya Suleman -- the 33-year-old unemployed single Whittier mother of six who gave birth to octuplets last month. Of course, a single mother of six has absolutely no business having more children. Click here for Saunders full column.

From the Huffington Post this morning;

Octuplet Mom Nadya Suleman On Food Stamps, Three Kids Receive Disability

Photos of California octuplets released; mom receives death threats

By Shaya Tayefe Mohajer

Associated Press

Posted: 02/11/2009 10:43:12 PM PST

A big share of the financial burden of raising Nadya Suleman's 14 children could fall on the shoulders of California's taxpayers, compounding the public furor in a state already billions of dollars in the red.

Click photo to enlarge

Homeless in America:students with no homes is on the rise!

Poynter Online has a story this morning reflecting another side to the homeless situation in America today.

Just read this heartbreaking lead from a Washington Post story about homeless students:

The economic plunge has generated a growing wave of children nationwide who are sleeping in shelters, motels, spare bedrooms or even the family van as their parents seek to keep them in school. Educators are scrambling to help, with extra tutoring, clothes, food and cab fare.

D.C. school officials have registered about 462 homeless students this school year, twice as many as the same time last year. Schools in Fairfax County, one of the country's most affluent areas, counted 1,314 homeless students early last month, up 20 percent from the same period last year. Prince George's, Montgomery, Loudoun and Arlington counties have also reported increases.

Read on for resources from the National Center on Family Homelessness and other organizations.

Read the Entire Post

Posted at 1:32 AM on Feb. 12, 2009

In Honor of Upcoming Valentine's Day: Lovers in Love

 

(images credit: Botinok)

KBR (formerly part of Halliburton) is at it again - Gets $35 million contract from Pentagon!

TIM FLEMING, writing for OP Ed News has this tidbit about more graft in high places...

"The news is as stunning as it is disturbing. KBR (Kellogg, Brown & Root...until recently a part of Halliburton) was awarded a $35 million contract for major electrical work in Iraq, according to the Associated Press, "...even as it is under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two U.S. soldiers in Iraq."

FOR THE WHOLE ARTICLE CLICK HERE.

Retail gasoline goes up as wholesale gasoline goes down!

The last time I looked at the price of local gas here in Humboldt it was $2.49 a gallon. Listening to the news this morning, I saw that the price of a barrel of crude oil has gone down to $36 a barrel. So how does this justify the increase? It doesn't! When will we ever be free from the greedy oil barons?

cartoon via Multinational Monitor

Capitol Hill Police arrest a man with rifle who wanted to see President Obama!

According to Politico.com...

Capitol Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider says the man did not make an explicit threat against the president. -- (6:35 p.m.)
More details on Capitol Hill arrest: The man walked up to a “birdcage,” one of the Capitol Police guard shacks in the driveway. When challenged for identification, the man was "talking funny," according to a CP officer. Police asked whether he had any weapons, he told them that he had a .22 caliber rifle. -- John Bresnahan (5:56 p.m.)
Capitol police have arrested a man on the Hill who said he had a delivery for President Obama and a rifle. -- Josh Gerstein (5:30 p.m.)