Enn meira umhverfisverndarplögg:
Mótmælum stóriðju á Norðurlandi.
mánudagur, febrúar 27, 2006
föstudagur, febrúar 24, 2006
Snow!!
Even if Ithaca is pretty grey these days, Vermont has allegedly been getting dumped with snow in those last few days. That's why Shan and I decided to dump everything we're doing and go skiing in Vermont over the weekend. Habblaha. Live well and prosper.
miðvikudagur, febrúar 22, 2006
Another useless test
 | You scored as Bomb. Your death will be by bombing. You will probably be an innocent bystander, not doing anything wrong and not a person who was targeted at, just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
How Will You Die?? created with QuizFarm.com |
Well, I'm glad that I most likely will not be eaten and that I most likely will not drown. A cut throat doesn't sound too charming either.
þriðjudagur, febrúar 21, 2006
Birthday blog for my sheep-loyal readers
Why can't we have birthday more than once a year?? The treatment I got yesterday, which in case you didn't know was my birthday, was extraordinary.
First of all, I got my co-habitator's approval of sleeping in, which means I showed up at work around noon. This was after I had brunch from the nearby bagel shop, brought to me by said co-habitator. At work I got plenty of happy birthday wishes and eager to make them all come true, I left work before putting in my due 8 hours. Shame on me! A huge flower bouquet was waiting for me in the car as Shan came to pick me up and the three of us took off to Syracuse and the Dinosaur BBQ without further delay. After dinner in our favorite Christian biker joint (which was full to the brim last night, as presumably always) we then raced the clock back to Ithaca and Madeline's, where my favorite molten chocolate cake is to be had.
Sehr schön, ja. And thanks for all the good wishes,
your oldfart Herdis
First of all, I got my co-habitator's approval of sleeping in, which means I showed up at work around noon. This was after I had brunch from the nearby bagel shop, brought to me by said co-habitator. At work I got plenty of happy birthday wishes and eager to make them all come true, I left work before putting in my due 8 hours. Shame on me! A huge flower bouquet was waiting for me in the car as Shan came to pick me up and the three of us took off to Syracuse and the Dinosaur BBQ without further delay. After dinner in our favorite Christian biker joint (which was full to the brim last night, as presumably always) we then raced the clock back to Ithaca and Madeline's, where my favorite molten chocolate cake is to be had.
Sehr schön, ja. And thanks for all the good wishes,
your oldfart Herdis
miðvikudagur, febrúar 15, 2006
My first times and my last time
Ran my first road race the other day. Much to my surprise I came in nr. 535 out of 729 runners, not too bad altogether. At least I got to the post-race chili pots before about 200 other people did!
Later that day I raced my left ski down a bumpy hill for the first time. Just a few seconds later I went looking for my right ski in the woods for the first time too. That time will also be the last time I go skiing without having any leashes to keep my skis attached to my foot. I will not run the risk of having them successfully decide to take off on their own again.
Later that day I raced my left ski down a bumpy hill for the first time. Just a few seconds later I went looking for my right ski in the woods for the first time too. That time will also be the last time I go skiing without having any leashes to keep my skis attached to my foot. I will not run the risk of having them successfully decide to take off on their own again.
Johari - Nohari
Try this:
my positive side
NB: I changed the URL so that the Icelandic letters shouldn't be an issue anymore.
added on Feb. 16th:
and try this too (if you're brave):
my negative side
my positive side
NB: I changed the URL so that the Icelandic letters shouldn't be an issue anymore.
added on Feb. 16th:
and try this too (if you're brave):
my negative side
miðvikudagur, febrúar 08, 2006
Deluxe Firechief and his friends
All hail to Eyja for making my day (or night, as it is well past midnight here). I'm so relieved to see that little children aren't the only ones who can enjoy wearing Ladybug or Deluxe Firechief or Tall Green Turtle rainboots. Now I'm hoping that Mr. Taxman will have some monies for me... plísplísplís...
sunnudagur, febrúar 05, 2006
In a similar vein: The bishop of Iceland made a controversial statement about the civil rights of gays a few weeks ago. Should we allow our concern for the bishop's feelings to outlaw any kind of discussion about gay people's rights to religious marriage?
As far as I know, gays having any kind of civil rights will offend fundamentalist Christians, be they in Iceland or elsewhere. If these people came forward with vandalism against reporters who write on gay rights or artists who include gay people in their artwork, would we Icelanders be willing to succumb to the violence and make gay people and their lives a taboo in order not to offend a particular religion?
Peaceful demonstrations and dialogue are not religious bullying. Death threats and acts of violence are. By giving in to religious bullying we are only asking for an escalation of the problem. I think that this is the road down which we are headed if we go with the claims that publishing these cartoons was wrong. In a society with free speech, you have to accept the fact that at some point you are going to get offended. You might not like everything that you see and hear, but you do not have the right to prevent people from expressing their believes and ideas. If one group comes forward and bullies the rest of society into following their particular rules, we won't have to wait long until another one does so, and then another and another. Where will multiculturalism be then?
As far as I know, gays having any kind of civil rights will offend fundamentalist Christians, be they in Iceland or elsewhere. If these people came forward with vandalism against reporters who write on gay rights or artists who include gay people in their artwork, would we Icelanders be willing to succumb to the violence and make gay people and their lives a taboo in order not to offend a particular religion?
Peaceful demonstrations and dialogue are not religious bullying. Death threats and acts of violence are. By giving in to religious bullying we are only asking for an escalation of the problem. I think that this is the road down which we are headed if we go with the claims that publishing these cartoons was wrong. In a society with free speech, you have to accept the fact that at some point you are going to get offended. You might not like everything that you see and hear, but you do not have the right to prevent people from expressing their believes and ideas. If one group comes forward and bullies the rest of society into following their particular rules, we won't have to wait long until another one does so, and then another and another. Where will multiculturalism be then?
laugardagur, febrúar 04, 2006
Respect or bullyism?
Now I didn't really get up to speed on the prophet-cartoon issue until yesterday. That's what working on a Ph.D. (and spending all your time on weather.com, hoping and praying and begging and almost crying for snow) does to you. But I'm glad I finally did get up to speed on this, because it's a most interesting issue. And a somewhat frightening too.
I just read a lengthy discussion on my friend Stína's blog about the cartoons. Before I knew the word of it, I had posted a blog-size comment on her last post. Assuming that Stína won't sue me for copyright infringements, I'm reproducing (most of) the comment here:
"I am totally commited to the idea of respecting other people's beliefs and values, and I have to assume that the people around me are willing to do the same. I do not accept that fear for one's life for speaking one's mind is an unavoidable cost of living in such a society. I'm not talking about libel here. I'm talking about the right to utter your mind without having to fear for a mob to take your life.
Why did the editor of the "scum"-newspaper Jyllandsposten (btw, why did the "scum" ever enter the discussion here? You need an Order of Merit to be allowed to open your mouth in public?) post the cartoons in the first place? Bea says (and I can't get a link to the comment) it was to provoke. Wikipedia says it was in response to reports from a writer who couldn't get an artist to decorate a children book about the prophet. Now, why would a whole dozen of artists refuse an offer to decorate a book like that? For fear they might be killed by (am I allowed to call them?) extremists, for having depicted Mohammad. If this is correct, that Danish cartoon artists fear taking on an assignment to decorate a childrens' book for fear of being killed, then there is something seriously wrong.
Let's look at this from another angle. Let's think about... birth control. Is it right to have old, white, heterosexual right-wing Christian males decide for all the women in the United States, and further afield for that matter, whether they be educated about birth control use? We're talking about not offending someone's religious beliefs here. The Christian right believes that using birth control is a sin and is doing frighteningly well in imposing its view on women not only in the US, but also in African countries that need UN (i.e., US) assistance to deal with HIV. Treating African HIV spread with abstinence, because the funding agency has the power to impose its religious beliefs over the recipients of the aid? Give me a break here!
In my mind, the issue of the Danish cartoons and of birth control in the US and Africa are different sides of the same coin. Call it freedom of speech, call it freedom of religion, call it the freedom to maintain your convictions and dignity and not being bullied into giving them up."
In addition, I would like to put a link here to zombietime's collection of depictions of Mohammed through history. Looks like Jyllandsposten wasn't the first to publish drawings of the prophet at all. Scroll all the way down the page for some modern low-profile cartoons of Mohammed, but first make sure you read the intro at the top of the page.
I just read a lengthy discussion on my friend Stína's blog about the cartoons. Before I knew the word of it, I had posted a blog-size comment on her last post. Assuming that Stína won't sue me for copyright infringements, I'm reproducing (most of) the comment here:
"I am totally commited to the idea of respecting other people's beliefs and values, and I have to assume that the people around me are willing to do the same. I do not accept that fear for one's life for speaking one's mind is an unavoidable cost of living in such a society. I'm not talking about libel here. I'm talking about the right to utter your mind without having to fear for a mob to take your life.
Why did the editor of the "scum"-newspaper Jyllandsposten (btw, why did the "scum" ever enter the discussion here? You need an Order of Merit to be allowed to open your mouth in public?) post the cartoons in the first place? Bea says (and I can't get a link to the comment) it was to provoke. Wikipedia says it was in response to reports from a writer who couldn't get an artist to decorate a children book about the prophet. Now, why would a whole dozen of artists refuse an offer to decorate a book like that? For fear they might be killed by (am I allowed to call them?) extremists, for having depicted Mohammad. If this is correct, that Danish cartoon artists fear taking on an assignment to decorate a childrens' book for fear of being killed, then there is something seriously wrong.
Let's look at this from another angle. Let's think about... birth control. Is it right to have old, white, heterosexual right-wing Christian males decide for all the women in the United States, and further afield for that matter, whether they be educated about birth control use? We're talking about not offending someone's religious beliefs here. The Christian right believes that using birth control is a sin and is doing frighteningly well in imposing its view on women not only in the US, but also in African countries that need UN (i.e., US) assistance to deal with HIV. Treating African HIV spread with abstinence, because the funding agency has the power to impose its religious beliefs over the recipients of the aid? Give me a break here!
In my mind, the issue of the Danish cartoons and of birth control in the US and Africa are different sides of the same coin. Call it freedom of speech, call it freedom of religion, call it the freedom to maintain your convictions and dignity and not being bullied into giving them up."
In addition, I would like to put a link here to zombietime's collection of depictions of Mohammed through history. Looks like Jyllandsposten wasn't the first to publish drawings of the prophet at all. Scroll all the way down the page for some modern low-profile cartoons of Mohammed, but first make sure you read the intro at the top of the page.
föstudagur, febrúar 03, 2006
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