HOW MANY DEATHS WILL IT TAKE...?

From Michael Jones at Gay Rights/Change.org:

Imagine this as the opening statement of your latest school board meeting.

"Hi, I’m Tammy Aaberg, the mother of Justin Aaberg, who was a gay student at Anoka High School who committed suicide July 9th of this year."

Tragedy. Statistics on LGBT suicide are alarming, and when the numbers fly by -- that LGBT students are 8.4 times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers -- most of us take a moment to reflect on how hard it must be, still, to grow up LGBT.

But this tragedy gets even worse, at least when it comes to the Anoka-Hennepin school district in Minnesota. Because it's not just Justin Aaberg who committed suicide this year. It was two other LGBT students, too. That's three gay students in the span of one year who have taken their lives, all the while the school district has done nothing to open discussions about LGBT bullying or creating safe spaces for LGBT students in Anoka-Hennepin schools.

Read the rest of the post and links and weep. Watch the poignant video memorial that Justin's family and friends put together.

Why is it so difficult for the Anoka-Hennepin School Board to make rules to stop the cruel bullying? Why can't the board act like adults in this situation and take responsibility for making the schools a safe place for all students? Could it be that they're afraid of the reaction of the bigots in the community?

Obituary from the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

H/T to Athenae at First Draft.

PORTREE PARISH CHURCH

On our last Sunday in Scotland, Cathy and I attended Sunday morning services at Portree Parish Church, which is Presbyterian and part of the established Church of Scotland.

As you see the interior of the church is quite beautiful - simple but lovely.

The church was built as a Free Church in 1854, to a design produced by John Hay of Liverpool. Since then its history has reflected the changes that have taken place in the Church in Scotland more widely. In 1900 it became Portree's United Free Church, before finally becoming part of the Church of Scotland in 1929.

I could find only a small picture of the exterior of the church. The church sits right on the main square, Somerled Square, in the town of Portree.



The cover of the service bulletin.


The morning service.

Cathy and I both enjoyed the service, which was quite well done with an intelligent and thoughtful sermon and good participation by the congregation.

At the end of the service, on the way out, folks smiled at us, but no one spoke a word to us, until we greeted the minister outside the church door. Cathy speculated that Scottish reserve may have kept the people from speaking to us. What about welcoming strangers? Reserve or not, to me, it's a vital ministry and responsibility for members of the congregation to speak a few words of welcome to visitors to the church and not leave the greetings only to the minister. Thus sayeth the unofficial mystery worshiper.

Photos and history from Undiscovered Scotland, where you can see more pictures of the interior of the church.

Labor Day 2010

For those who work, have a good holiday.

For those who work, but must work the holiday, have a good work day.

For those who want to work, but have no jobs, may you find work soon.

For those who worked all their lives, but are now retired, have a good day.

For the kids, have fun.

For the Unemployed

Heavenly Father, we remember before you those who suffer want and anxiety from lack of work. Guide the people of this land so to use our public and private wealth that all may find suitable and fulfilling employment, and receive just payment for their labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


Collect For Labor Day

Almighty God, who hast so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Reposted from 2009 with the addition of the video. I'm having a busy morning, but I wanted to take note of our workers and all they contribute on this their day.

GUESS WHAT THIS IS

And don't cheat.


Hint: picture was taken in 1956...
Answer below...
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It's a hard disk drive back in 1956... with 5 MB of storage.

In September 1956 IBM launched the 305 RAMAC,
the first 'SUPER' computer with a hard disk drive (HDD).
The HDD weighed over a ton and stored a 'whopping' 5 MB of data.

Do you appreciate your 8 GB memory stick a little more now?


THAT WAS SOME 54 YEARS AGO............WHAT IS TO BE 50 YEARS IN THE FUTURE??????????????????

Note: I did not guess correctly.

Thanks to Doug.

OUR TRAILBLAZING ELIZABETH IS IN THE NEWS

From the Daily Record:

The Episcopal Church of St. Paul's first woman rector and pastor, and the parish's first openly gay spiritual leader, is leaving the parish to figure out "where God might be calling me next," she said.

In her more than eight years at St. Paul's, the Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Kaeton brought "challenging" sermons and a new perspective to the Main Street church.
....

Kaeton, a long-time activist in the Episcopal Church who worked with New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay, noncelibate Episcopal bishop, to have his consecration approved amid controversy in 2003, said she sensed it was time to move on.
....

"I think you know when it's time," she said. "You can't take them any further than you have already taken them. And when you can't go any further, it's time to go."

She said she will consider how she can best do the work of the Gospel in communities, and hopes St. Paul's members know she loves them. Kaeton officially resigns as rector on Sept. 1, 2011, and is taking a sabbatical leave until then.

From the website of The Episcopal Church of St. Paul:

Rev'd Elizabeth is on Sabbatical leave. While she is away, the leadership of the church is under the care of the Wardens and Bishop. Rev'd Elizabeth will be doing post-doctoral work as Proctor Fellow at The Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, during the Spring Semester, 2011. In the interim, she will be busy renovating her home on Rehoboth Bay in DE, spending time with her brother who has early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, assisting at All Saint's, Rehoboth Beach and St. George's Chapel, Harbeson, considering early retirement, and discerning how she can best use her skills and talents, to the honor and glory of God, to pursue her vocation as a Servant Leader of the mission of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She will officially leave St. Paul's on September 1, 2011

Dear Elizabeth, I offer my prayers, blessing, and best wishes to you and Ms Conroy as you set out on the next phase of your lives together. With the people at St. Paul, I say, "Well done!"

Thanks to Ann for the link.

SOMETIMES THINGS GO THE RIGHT WAY

From the Independent:

As the fugitive businessman Asil Nadir flew back to Britain from his North Cyprus bolt-hole last week, Sean O'Neill, the crime editor of The Times, scooped Fleet Street by being the only print journalist on the plane. Yet those searching Google for the latest on the breaking story that morning would have found no sign of O'Neill's exclusive – only follow-up stories by rival news organisations such as The Guardian and ITN.

Two months after Rupert Murdoch's decision to erect a subscription paywall around the websites of The Times and The Sunday Times, thus removing their content from search engines, the bold experiment is having a marked effect on the rest of British media. There are many who still wish the 79-year-old mogul well, hopeful that he is at the vanguard of a cultural shift that will save newspapers. Yet elsewhere there is dismay among analysts, advertisers, publicists and even some reporters on the papers.

Faced with a collapse in traffic to thetimes.co.uk, some advertisers have simply abandoned the site. Rob Lynam, head of press trading at the media agency MEC, whose clients include Lloyds Banking Group, Orange, Morrisons and Chanel, says, "We are just not advertising on it. If there's no traffic on there, there's no point in advertising on there." Lynam says he has been told by News International insiders that traffic to The Times site has fallen by 90 per cent since the introduction of charges. "That was the same forecast they were giving us prior to registration and the paywall going up, so whether it's a reflection on reality or not, I don't know."

The move to put the newspaper's content behind a paywall seemed idiotic to me. The New York Times tried putting their opinion writers behind a paywall but abandoned the practice after several months, because not enough people would pay to read.

I sympathize with the staff who work for the papers, but, as for Murdoch, the result couldn't happen to a better person. Had Murdoch's scheme been successful, before long, the other papers would have followed suit in setting up paywalls.

Nevertheless, as the sub-headline says, Murdoch is digging in his heels:

Advertisers don't like it. Analysts are unconvinced. The paywall at News International may not be winning many fans, but the man behind it is determined to keep it standing.

H/T to Mark at News Corpse, who says:

This was entirely predictable. When there is an abundance of news available online, why would anyone pay to receive information that is not distinguishable from the free information available elsewhere? Especially when consumers are already “paying” as a result of their presence being sold to advertisers. That’s traditionally how media produces revenue.

In addition to the traffic almost disappearing from the The Times site, reporters are anxious about having lost their voice and their reach into the community. What journalist would want to see their readership decline by 90%? What’s more, publicists are avoiding The Times because they know that their stories will not be seen by very many people.

Thanks to Ann V. for sending the link.

IN ANTICIPATION OF THE POPE'S VISIT TO ENGLAND

From Reuter's:

The leader of the Catholics in England in Wales rejected accusations that Pope Benedict was fishing for converts and said "delicate and difficult" issues existed between his church and the Anglican Communion.

His comments come two weeks before Pope Benedict's four-day trip to England and Scotland, the first papal visit since John Paul II's pastoral visit in 1982 and the first-ever official papal visit to Britain.

Relations between the two churches have been tense since the pope offered disaffected Anglicans opposed to their church's ordination of women and homosexual bishops the chance to convert to Rome while keeping some of their traditions.

"There are delicate, difficult issues between our two churches at the moment," Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, head of the 5.2 million Catholics in England and Wales, told Reuters.(My emphasis)

That's about right, Abp. Nichols. As my correspondent who sent me the link said:

[N]ot fishing? It's that "ordinariate" bait bucket that gives him away.

That's about right, too.

Many Anglicans believe Williams was humiliated by last October's offer, which was made with little advance warning, while some Catholics are unhappy at the terms of the offer, which would allow married Anglican priests to convert.
....

It is not clear how many intend to convert, he said. The lack of financial provision is likely to be a stumbling block, but in July the traditionalist Anglican Bishop of Fulham, John Broadhurst, suggested several hundred clergy and many laity would leave in the next three years.(My emphasis)

For heaven's sake, why don't the folks contemplating departure to one of the ordinariates just convert to the Roman Catholic Church? They may call themselves Anglicans, but they will be Roman Catholic converts. The powers in the RC Church can change the rules any time down the road, and if the "Anglicans" in the ordinariates don't like the changes, what will they do?

Meanwhile, he said the cost of the pope's visit between September 16-19 was likely to rise above 9 million pounds ($13.92 million) -- higher than the initial estimate of 7 million pounds.

The state's share of the bill is likely to rise by 50 percent to 12 million pounds.

The cost is scandalous. What is the justification for such a high price? There is none. The powers in the English government should have nipped the plan for the pope's visit in the bud or required the Vatican to reimburse the taxpayers' money.

Thanks to Ann V. for the link.

STORY OF THE DAY

A lot of people have asked me how I got
to be so wise, she said, & I never had an
easy answer, so most of them left
convinced they'd made a mistake.

From StoryPeople.

Note: A slight edit with change of gender to make the post all about me. I hope the folks at StoryPeople don't mind.

OOPS!

Thanks to Ann.

QUALITIES IN LIFE

 

Thanks to wise man Doug.