Godfearing gay student expelled from gayfearing god school
So, this time, a student who, when 14, told his mum that he wanted to go to this private catholic school, has been expelled for being gay. Actually, he's been expelled for being gay and coming out. He still loves god, apparently, but he's launched a lawsuit, and you can check on the church's defence here. And a lot of people have a lot to say about this.

ARGH!
If Google merges with Microsoft, I'll never search with it again. Which would be a real shame. Get with it, Google. Don't merge. DO NOT MERGE. NO. BAD GOOGLE.

And deliver us from homosexuality, for thine is the kingdom...
The Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the worldwide Anglican communion, has just announced the commission which will look at all the thorniest issues facing the church worldwide. It won't have the power to rescind the expected canonisation of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.

It'll have the 'powers' to go "Hmm. Erm. Yeeeees. Well, those homosexuals. Well! Well!! They're like chocolates. Have one, you want even more, but it's not so good for the old tum, what? Need some evangeligestion tablets afterwards, ha-ha."

It'll be chaired, encouragingly, by the Primate of All Ireland, Dr Robin Eames. Dr Eames, when I last heard him speak, seemed to have his head firmly screwed on. Let's hope someone doesn't unscrew it on the sly.

Grrrr
You never fully realise you miss someone until they're utterly unreachable. Grrr! Why is he the only one of my friends who doesn't have a goddamn mobile phone?!

All these people
Last night the clocks were turned back. Not a massive amount of time - just an hour. British Summer Time became the usual Greenwich Mean Time. But it's not mean time. It's rich time, chestnut time, woodsmoke time, silverbreath time - and it meant more. Last night I sat there, got up, paced back and forth. It was a Saturday. I wanted my friends. And they didn't call. So I called them, and they didn't answer, so then I went online, and saw them there, and they came over, and we talked about houses and computers and work. I think about completely different things, but I talk about things like work. I worry about things like work. Particularly when there isn't any.

So, last night I told my friends I'm depressed because... I don't know why, but I'm apathetic too, and I'm having to switch career, and I don't want to switch career. I want to escape career. I want to write. That's really all I want to do. Not out of wanting comfort or an easy life. Writing, creatively, isn't an easy life. It's not comfort. It's not even an escape. It's a fight, with the world, against the world, with others, with yourself. It's a redress. It's a lens. It's work. But it's not a career. And it doesn't make money. And I don't want to have to worry about loads of things anymore. I don't want to have to worry about money. But to be paid money, I'll need to find something that I'd be willing to turn myself off and do for 9 hours a day. And I'm far too much of a misfit to actually be happy with that. So, the world's off-kilter. So, --what? It's always been.

But I told them last night. And I was shaking. And I didn't even know why I was shaking, but I told them and I was, and I don't know whether or not they respect me or are uncomfy with me or are puzzled by me. But there are all these people out there who someday I'm going to meet or work for or work against or love or hate or argue with or snog, and they don't know it. And in a way, neither do I. I just don't know.

This was originally meant to be posted on Sunday but blogger was fucking around.

Interesting stuff...
...about one aspect of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Quuuu---iiiiiiiiiick. MARCH!
If anyone, by now, wants to see a version of what happened during Operation Iraqi Freedom... well, I just thought I'd mention it... :o/

Snow
Yes, I know it's only October. No, we haven't had snow here today. But the really cold air which greeted me at the door this morning, coupled with some slight flurries forecast for the Western Isles of Scotland, made me do a little searching and I've found a couple of really great snow galleries. If you see any more, let me know.

'Gay, gay, gay - the papers are full of it these days'. ;o)
On wandering downstairs to the kitchen this morning, I reached for the pile of newsprint on the table, thinking hmm, coffee and papers, heaven. Dad had taken the main section of the paper into the living room so the Review was top of the pile. Two teenage boys lying on a bed together, looking happy, quizzical... well, just normal, really. And the headline: Have you told your mum yet? Well, I haven't told my mum because she's dead, but this lengthy article by a lady whose son came out to her last year is so touching and sane that it'd almost make you tempted to write to the woman and come out to her, even if you weren't gay.

Of course, dad probably hasn't read it. I'm not going to say anything to him about it. He's already, I'm sure, got gay overload from the content of the rest of today's paper. First, the news that the Archbishop of Canterbury has been warned that riot and death are the offspring of gay ordination (riot and death which wouldn't happen, presumably, if a single communion already in schism just split into two happier, more united churches), and then an article by David Aaronovitch urging them to just leave it all on the back burner, on top of a surprisingly conservative editorial warning against a split. (Better for liberals to be patient? Nah. What bollocks. Two happy churches would be better. It's not going to solve itself in a single communion. No way.) And the icing on the cake is the news that pastor / reverend / shitface Fred Phelps plans a monument furthering homophobia for Matthew Shephard's tome town.

Sex
Sex is much, much healthier than any of us realised! Thanks to a study by Queen's University here in Belfast, it's postulated that:

More sex = improved sense of smell
More sex = reduced depression
More sex = pain relief
More sex = less colds
More sex = better teeth (hehe)
More sex = more time to get to the toilet when you've got to piss a gallon

Man turns up in casualty - "NURSE! I need more sex." I can just see it now. :oD

More sex, anyone...?

Balls of Brass. Wet, warm Balls of Brass.
If you're ever in the fair city, and feel like having a dip, here's a guide to trespassing in infiltrating Toronto's luxury hotel swimming pools. Heheheh. :o)

Marriage Protection... erm, what?
So. in another great coup for the religious right in America, conservative Christian lobby-groups have George W Bush's signature on a Presidential Proclamation. Not that they had to twist his arm much to get it, either. It's about Marriage Protection Week, and he supports it wholeheartedly.

Marriage, apparently, is a union between a man and a woman. Hmmm. Not entirely so in many other countries, however. So maybe it should be "USA Marriage Protection Week". Or, better, USA Reinforcement of Creaking Social Edifices Week. I thought the US had really high divorce rates, though, so how's this Week going to help them? Oh, sorry - I lost the plot. It's not about protecting marriage at all, but pressing for denial of state financial and legal status to other partnerships. Ah, right. Makes sense now.

Growls and snapping sounds in New York City
This guy had a tiger and an alligator in his apartment. Police found out after he was admitted to hospital with rather bigger lacerations to the leg than a chihuahua or budgie could inflict. The Mayor of the city said "Clearly these animals shouldn't have been anywhere in this city other than a zoo". No shit, Sherlock Bloomberg, you idiot.