sturtle [dot] com

“We Feel Fine” isn’t new, but I think it’s a nice way to end the year. If you’re unfamiliar with the website, here’s a good description:

Every few minutes, [WE FEEL FINE] searches the world’s newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases “I feel” and “I am feeling”. When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the “feeling” expressed in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.). Because blogs are structured in largely standard ways, the age, gender, and geographical location of the author can often be extracted and saved along with the sentence, as can the local weather conditions at the time the sentence was written…. The result is a database of several million human feelings, increasing by 15,000 – 20,000 new feelings per day. (Eyebeam.org)

Just click the big pink heart to start. (FYI, I like the “Murmurs” and the “Mounds” applications, but wander around–it’s all pretty nifty.)

And obviously: happy New Year, y’all.

Today’s Times-Picayune posted an interesting update on the current gay adoption conflamma. It seems that back in the heady days of helmet-hating Mike Foster, something called the “Commission on Marriage and Family” was established–presumably to talk about, you know, marriage and families and stuff. It’s never been very active, but the folks at Forum for Equality are concerned that the adoption case will spur the commission–which is now appointed by the similarly helmet-hating Bobby Jindal–to push new legislation banning gay adoption. That wouldn’t be surprising, given the fact that (a) we’re in the bright red state of Louisiana, and (b) the committee’s membership includes folks like Puritan-at-Large Tony Perkins. However, other members of the commission seem somewhat more level-headed:

Jindal appointee Gene Mills, Louisiana Family Forum director, said he believes gay rights advocates are simply overreacting to the Arkansas vote and California voters’ rejection of same-sex marriages. Mills’ group bills itself as “your voice for traditional families.” He said the commission could yield ideas such as continuing to make it harder to divorce; devoting more resources to job training for single parents; and increasing state prisoners’ opportunities to interact with their children.

But Mills and [commission chair Senator Sharon Weston Broome, D-Baton Rouge] demurred on the question of gay adoption. Mills said, “That’s really up to the Legislature.” Broome did not offer her position.

Asked through his aides about the commission and specifically about his position on gay adoption, Jindal released a one-sentence statement: “I believe family is the cornerstone of our society and look forward to the commission’s work on how we can do more to support healthy families.”

At least one member of the clergy serving on the commission said he has no intention of parroting views of the traditional social conservatives….

The Rev. Chris Andrews of First United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge said he wants to discuss ways to help all families, regardless of composition. He said he will resist any attempts to reduce the likelihood that a child might be adopted.

“In general, I would view adoption issues through the lens of whether an individual or couple has the ability to love and care for a child, ” Andrews said. “I do not think that is something that is limited to a particular sexual orientation.”

–full article at NOLA.com

Am I being a total Pollyanna? Am I putting too much faith in the common sense of our elected and appointed officials? Or am I being lazy? Probably all of the above.

Note: none of this is to say that I want kids–I have four dogs, which must be the equivalent of at least one child–but as an adoptee myself, I understand the value of placing kids in good homes. I fail to understand how anyone can argue against that.

I can’t believe that the full text of D.V. isn’t online somewhere.

Seriously: in the first 100 words, girlfriend busts out with, “Nostalgia–imagine! I don’t believe in anything before penicillin.” That is the kind of book our young people should be reading. Toss all their Twilights and their Lords of Rings and their Hairy Potholes right in the coal fire! (Pass me a bromide, would you dear?)

I bet I could tweet the whole damn thing: D.V., 140 characters at a time. Project!

Yesterday, I was reminded by my friend Jon of two great truisms from Jenny Holzer:

There is a period when it is clear that you have gone wrong but you continue.

Sometimes there is a luxurious amount of time before anything bad happens.

Ain’t that the truth?

TIDBITS

(NB: I’m publishing more frequently than my timestamps indicate, but thanks to some quirks in Blogger’s FTP system, my posts aren’t going up for hours–sometimes days. They are making me out to be more of a slacker than I already am.)

I’m still recovering from a very short, travel-heavy trip to NYC for xmas. (If you follow my Twitter feed, you already know what I’m talking about.) In the meantime, here are some news items that have piqued my interest:

1. Louisiana has two daddies (on one birth certificate): It ain’t the same as GLBT couples having the right to adopt, but it’s a step in the right direction:

The state of Louisiana must issue a birth certificate for a Shreveport-born toddler that includes both names of his adoptive parents — an unmarried same-sex couple — to honor the New York court decision that granted them custody of the boy in 2006, a federal judge has ruled. [more at NOLA.com]

2. Grey Gardens trailer leaked: The HBO-backed feature starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange won’t hit the air for another four months, but a bootleg copy of the trailer leaked out today. Maybe it’s viral, maybe it’s planned, but it looks surprisingly good:

[via Towleroad]

3. Daniel Craig human, also object of lust: Not only did the folks at INF capture Daniel Craig with a bag of Lay’s BBQ potato chips in his hand (my fave!), but they also got this unintentionally hilarious shot of Craig with Bravo’s bunburying bigwig, Andy Cohen:

For goddess’ sake, how do I caption that?

Valid Response or Fighting Words?

The unnecessarily long and painful path toward the approval of government bridging loans for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC has exposed a new threat to Detroit. It’s one that Michigan consumers may want to keep in mind as they consider their expenditures, vacation options and even retirement plans.

The problem here centers on certain southern states — Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and, in particular, Alabama — where certain bone-headed senators seem to have forgotten that the Civil War ended, with the appropriate outcome, almost 150 years ago.

During recent Congressional hearings, these ‘good old’ southern boys made it clear they could care less about Detroit’s survival and blocked passage of emergency loans in the Senate, leaving it to a decidedly reluctant President George W. Bush to approve the financial relief package….

So what should be done about this attempt to put Michigan out of business? The suggestions from readers came in thick and fast.

Apparently Alabama is quite a tourist destination for Michigan residents, so perhaps they will want to find other places to spend their hard-earned dollars. The southern state is also heavily favored by retirees from Michigan, but maybe that could change, too.

One other thought raised by readers concerns disasters; not the financial kind we are all experiencing, but the natural variety — droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods — the sort of calamities that afflict southern states on a regular basis.

As you point out, federal taxpayer money flows freely in these circumstances, and so does free assistance from northern states, including Michigan. Detroit automakers, for example, gladly helped with vehicles and personnel when Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast.

Is it time the South is reminded that a mean-spirited attitude is not a smart play when the whole country is on the ropes?

–full article at The Detroit News

[via Jesus’ General]

…The pope said humanity needed to “listen to the language of creation” to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behaviour beyond traditional heterosexual relations as “a destruction of God’s work”….

—Reuters, via TR

Judgment on the non-heterosexual lifestyles of (allegedly) celibate priests and nuns is still pending.

Dear John Hodgman:

I just read your post about Rick Warren, and I would like to take this opportunity to profess my undying love. (For you, not Mr. Warren.) You are so eloquent and thoughtful on the matter of all things gay that I plan to write the HRC and request special funding for you and your occasional dark master, the equally eloquent Jon Stewart. HRC’s lobbying efforts on capitol hills across the nation would be far more effective with you and Mr. Stewart waging a battle royale for the hearts and minds of America’s hockey moms. Maybe your pal, Ms. Vowell, could tag along, too. She’s neat.

To be honest, I hadn’t given much thought to Mr. Warren. I was vaguely aware of him, and I knew that he had, in the past, taken flack from evangelicals for being too moderate. As someone who spent much of his childhood in a near-evangelical household, that sounded pretty good to me. Which, I suppose, is like a high school sissy saying, “Wow, that bully beats me up a little less than everyone else. He’s awesome”, but there you go.

When Obama announced that he’d tapped Warren–figuratively–I was actually somewhat “meh” (nb: potentially overused word of 2009). I’m not a fan of religion, but I’m a pragmatist, and I understand you have to have a prayer at shindigs like that, or America will call you names.

However, because of you, I am no longer ambivalent about the choice of Mr. Warren. I am not exactly Yosemite-Sam-rootin-tootin mad about it, but it is definitely a mark against Obama in my book. In ink. Thank you.

One more thing: while you’re at this business of changing the world, can you do something about Nicole Kidman? Her face is just…well, it’s just awful. And that Australia movie? I mean, the trailer tells you everything you need to know, doesn’t it? …Anyway, if you could do something about her–at least foment some public scorn–that would be just great. Thanks in advance.

With much love and admiration, I am your humble servant and remain,

Sincerely yours,

Richard