The Martyrbation of Saints Gingrich and Santorum

Saints Gingrich and Santorum, Martyrbators

Urban Dictionary defines Martyrbation as "The pleasure of complaining about being persecuted, when practiced by people who aren't actually being persecuted."

Saints Gingrich and Santorum, Martyrbators, are complaining that Catholic schools and hospitals are not getting special treatment for their ideas on contraception. Universities and hospitals take in huge piles of taxpayer money for infrastructure, tuition, and so forth. They also get gigantic tax breaks for offering health plans to their employees. In return for all these benefits, they should have to treat their employees the same as everyone else, and that includes covering contraception.

Martyrbation is not necessarily a bad thing, so long as you do it in private. It's only when you do it in public that you can't expect people not to point at you and laugh.

The Order of the Stick Reprint Drive

One of the most interesting new developments in economics is the growth of microfinancing. Instead of begging bankers for capital, people with great ideas (...or who think they have great ideas ...) can go directly to ordinary people like you and me, and solicit contributions to be paid back in one form or another if the financing is complete. Kickstarter.com is a leader in the field and among its thousands of projects is raising the capital to finance reprints of one of the best in contemporary literature. Most of what follows is taken from that capital drive:

"Rich Burlew has been making the stick figure fantasy-comedy comic strip The Order of the Stick since 2003. Since then, it has grown into one of the most read webcomics in the competitive stick figure fantasy-comedy genre. He began publishing it in book form in 2005, and would like to continue to do so. Maybe you could help?

What's In It For Me?

Good question. Just like with public-radio pledge drives, there are rewards for different pledge amounts. These aren't tote bags or sweatshirts; they're the actual creative work that your pledge supports. But that's only part of the story.

If you're not familiar with Kickstarter or how it will work, here's a brief overview (or you can read the official one, here). For the next 30 days, you'll be able to make pledges to help support this project, ranging from $1 to whatever you can afford without your spouse/parent/financial advisor slapping you. For your pledge, you can select one of the reward packages—listed to the right—of equal or lesser value to your pledge. You can always pledge more than the minimum to get a reward if you want (and for some packages, you'll need to do so if it must be shipped internationally). Your credit card or other account will not actually be charged at the time you make your pledge, and you can change your mind right up to the final deadline.
If the final deadline comes and we've reached our goal, then everyone gets charged the amount they pledged at once and we get to work printing and mailing books and magnets and whatnot. But if for some reason we don't meet our goal, then the whole thing is called off. No one gets charged, no fees are applied, everyone just keeps their money. So there's no risk of putting up money and then the reprint project never getting off the ground."

Now, the Order of the Stick is entertainment that probably won't change the world, but we all need entertainment ... and this stuff is just about completely free of corporatized hackery - it's owned by the artist. You can like it or ignore it! Its financing model is exciting because it is completely scalable - you can try it for your own projects with zero risk except for your own time. Ponder where this might lead, or where you might go with it!

This is really something that makes you go "Hunh!"

• The Order of the Stick Reprint Drive 
• The Order of the Stick Webcomic
• Kickstarter.com

Restarting Fitness For Net Energy Gain

Before we bought our house, we'd gotten into the habit of exercising almost daily. There was a gym (AllStar Fitness) very close to where Kris works, so we'd get up at O-God-Thirty and walk over there fore whatever class they were having. We got a nice mix of spinning, weightlifting (...under some cool name like "BodySculpting", but whatever!), and yoga. We were looking pretty good and feeling great! Also we made some good friends ... there's nothing like sweating and hurting just a little together!
The only real downside to buying a house is that we had to completely change our exercise routine. We tried to stay at the same place, but it just didn't work out; it made no sense to drive out of our way even though the classes were just as good. We soon found many excuses to take off a day or two, and then all of them.
Nature took its course: weight up, tone down, creaking increasing!
Recently, we restarted by joining the West Seattle YMCA. It's on the way to Kris' work and has classes early enough that she can get to work on time. It seems to be a nice bunch of people and the price is right. In fact, the price is so right that we can afford to chip in a little extra for scholarships; it just feels good to be a contributing member of our community!
We're starting slow and easy with yoga classes. Getting injured because we cranked up the weights too soon after a year or more off didn't seem smart. From the very first class, we felt better: looser, more energetic. We'll add some of the more intense stuff as we get back to trim, but at least we've started; as they say, half of life is just showing up!
I'm writing about this because this week's Change The World Wednesday Challenge is

"This week unplug your exercise routine by using no power. No treadmills, ellipticals, gyms, TV, music, or anything powered to assist in exercise. Make your workout Eco-friendly ... and, as always, let us know all about it."

This lead me to see that one minor benefit of our preferred exercises is that they are energy-efficient. Yoga, spinning and weights take no energy except our own - and I just don't like treadmills! I don't know whether it's because of the risk to being flung off when you put your foot where the belt meets the frame (yes, I've done this!), or  just because an endless treadmill is too much like a metaphor for life. I've stepped off the office treadmill, so why step back on at the gym?

Painting as A Pastime, by William Churchill

This delightful little treasure is worth acquiring if only for its 18 color plates of Churchill's watercolors, but it is the 32 pages of personal reflections of the value of the art as a means of relaxing from a stressful life that turn this into a small masterpiece in the area of self-help.
Those who have not read Churchill may not have realized that his masterful command of the English language makes his works very easy to read; this work shows him making thoughtful points so effortlessly that you don't realize how much practical wisdom you are swiftly absorbing. Churchill's life at the center of his century's great crises was at times very stressful, and in dominating his era, he developed a practical method of relaxation that may be helpful to the many of us who are interested only in mastering our own lives.
This is a very short read, and it will waste none of your time. His methods may or may not work for you, but you will be enriched for having learned them!
I completely enjoyed this book!

R.I.P. Don Jones

Don's Truck

Don Jones was the first neighbor to greet us at the house we now own.  "You thinking to buy?" he asked, with his usual economy of words. He drew on his cigarette and said only, "Good house."
He was right. Don was reliable. When he made an estimate on a project, he stuck with it. Once he was installing some doors in our house and unforseeable factors turned it into a two-day job. He waved off any offer for more money (although he didn't turn down Kris' canned tomatoes; he's a character but he's not crazy.)
Don was a very good neighbor. When someone abandoned a stolen car on our block, he noticed; and his report to the police resulted in the owners getting it back before they themselves noticed it was gone.

Doing what he liked best

I admired Don's initiative with his mobile car repair business. He was going to replace the back-up light switch on my car as soon as I picked up the part. Someone else will drive his truck and eventually live in the house he kept so trim, but noone could replace him.

Don Jones (from FB)

A couple of weeks ago we heard Don had had a heart attack and a stroke. Characteristically, he was working on someone's car at the time. He came home after some time in the hospital, but the aid car was called a couple of days ago and he died the next day in the company of his brother and sister.
Rest well!

Recently On Law & Order: Conception Police!

Crime in Progress:
Attempted Murder of Fertilized Egg!

It was night watch on Friday when we got the call from a patrol car, "Attempted Murder in progress at the corner of Liberty and Bell!"
My partner and I rushed to the scene, followed by the SWAT van. The house on the corner was dark, but with infrared goggles we saw two figures struggling in the den. There were muffled noises, and then a scream of "Oh God!".
We broke down the door to a hellish scene. The perp was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a belly the size of a beer keg. He was obscenely naked. The victim of the crime was no where to be seen, but on the couch a woman in a teddy covered her face.
"What are you doing here, coppers?" Fat Gut sneered. "You got nothing."
"Oh yeah?" I shot back, "What do you call this prescription for birth control pills, filled earlier this month in the name of your wife?"
"So? Sex with my wife isn't a crime!"
"Tell that to a jury! Everyone knows life begins at conception, and that the pill keeps a fertilized egg from implanting. Your sex act is going to create a fertilized egg that you know is going to die - you murderous slime ball!"
"That's ridiculous!" he snapped. "You'll never make the charges stick!"
"That's for the prosecutor to decide. Meanwhile, you're coming with us downtown. But first," I waved forward my assistant, the one with the black doctor's bag and the dry-ice container, "We have to impound the murder weapon. Surgeon, do your duty!"
Fat Gut screamed as his weapon was put on ice, and I smiled. Another would-be killer meets pro-life justice!

Pondering the "No Budget" issue ...

All over the internet, I see Republicans angrily demanding Reid present a budget, and it puzzled me why he didn't.

It turns out: it's already been done.

Remember, a budget is not a binding document; it's just a blueprint for spending. The president does not sign it and it is not a federal law. It's just a memo describing how spendings will go, subject to actual appropriations bills.

And guess what! for 2012, the debt-limit agreement in August directs spending for 2012!

Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) has already asked the heads of the subcommittees to write their appropriations bills for fiscal 2013.
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/208593-reid-this-years-budget-is-done

Save Yourself? or Save the World? What is Christianity anyway?

Whether Jesus was presenting a recipe for personal salvation (and to heck with your impact on the rest of the world) or one for right behavior (which necessarily involves caring about your neighbor) is a traditional debate, and arguments may be fairly made on either side. Indeed, it is so balanced that the most reasonable answer is that He was presenting either both or neither, for had He intended either alone, He was quite capable of saying so.
Those who prefer the teachings of Jesus that talk about right living in the world may consider those who emphasize only personal salvation as selfish; after all, given the choice of eternal bliss or aiding your neighbor in a temporal world, it would be irrational not to choose the eternal. However, it is the demanding of such a choice that is the error: salvation and serving your neighbor are not separate things but the same. When asked directly how to achieve Salvation Jesus said it was all in how you treated the least of His People.
If it unlikely that Jesus knew the word “socialism” and certainly there have been some hellish schemes propounded by humans in the name of “socialism”, but Matthew 25:40 is pretty clear.

Neighborcycling - a Change The World Wednesday Discovery (#ctww)

Take my word for it  -
There's a birdbath in there
which was Neighborcycled

We've all heard of recycling, and I've often talked about "freecycling", but my latest discovery is "Neighborcycling" - moving on usable goods, for which we have no current use, to our neighbors.
This is just a normal part of being neighborly but it depends on reaching out and making contact with the people on our block.
A while back, I was asked the lady a couple of doors down something about gardening, and she mentioned her next task was potting a whole lot of plants. I remembered that I had a huge stack of excess red clay pots. A few minutes later, she had pots, I had an empty space, and the landfill had nothing!
One of my favorite neighborcycles involved the birdbath. Our nearest neighbors had decided that theirs didn't really fit into their yard, and set it on the curb for anyone to pick up. That anyone was me. I'd like to say that I was just looking out for the birdies that provide us with so much amusement, but the fact is, been looking for something to set next to the oil intake in our front yard, because I was always running into it when walking barefoot - ouch! The birdbath was the perfect visual cue to step around.
Neighborcycling is nothing fancier that just getting to know your neighbors, talking on a regular basis and sharing your surplus. This has a whole lot of benefits - fun, friendship and neighborhood security - but if it can also help keep things out of the landfill, why not?
I was moved to write about this in response to the latest Change the World Wednesday Challenge:

"Share ideas on how we can keep stuff out of landfills."

I've been doing CTWW for over a year now, and it's fun. Each week, we get a new challenge to try; don't you love a challenge? The fact that it's good for you and good for our future generations is a bonus!