The Hall of Fire

In the Catholic mass, the penitential rite generally takes the form: I confess to Almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do. I ask blessed Mary ever virgin, the angels an...

It would also be unfair to claim that only those who are attempting to disprove or discount or disregard evolution use the distinction between 'microevolution' and 'macroevolution' - you can find those terms in standard biology textbooks (and I'm not referring to texts written by creationists). Micr...

Funny, I had the opposite experience. I was there for all the really early discussions before Fellowship and I left just before it came out cause of the ridiculous (to me...) Purist vs Revisionist stuff. You would not believe how many pages of vitriol there was over stuff that never even ended up o...

Most risk factors (as calculated by groups such as the CDC) aren't as interested in the specifics of your situation, but about whether or not you belong to a high risk group. Meaning, if you know the needle used for your tattoo was sterile and never punctured anyone else...that doesn't mean you get ...

Original thread topic I was curious what the risk of contracting HIV from a blood donation was these days - it's one in two million. As Anthy 's story amply demonstrates, if you are that one...it sucks. The main group that is saying they don't want the ban removed without sufficient research is the...

Gotcha. I'm pretty sure I don't want to know.

I guess it's always easier to point out flaws in the other guy, though. I'm pretty sure humans spend a lot of time destroying each others' dignity worldwide.

Well, yes. But on the other hand, Japanese culture puts a great emphasis on showing respect for other people with all of that ritual bowing and use of honorifics and such. So, externally, at least.... I don't know if you're referring to hentai in general or lolicon in particular, but either way, I d...

Wow, those look really difficult to walk in, but you did a great job! The platform shoes were crazy, though.... I really liked the African print one; you can tell she knows quite a bit about kimonos .

Thanks for sharing .

Still, I think in any event involving Israel, people mostly formed their opinions long ago. Not quite so long ago as WWII, maybe, but still, that's there. Being sensitive to that is probably a good thing. Though, unless you're a lot older than I think, you weren't even alive during WWII, Nin - so ho...

While hospice decisions can be made by the patient, they are more often made by the family. It's a difficult position to be in, to say, 'no, don't treat my loved one - just let them die.' Obviously, no one words it so harshly, but that is essentially what families are asked to consider. Ultimately, ...

Morphine can certainly achieve the goal of a quick death. There are forms of "hospice" that consist of 'give the patient morphine in such high doses that he/she is dead in less than a week.' It's legal in most places, because you are simply managing the pain, and the death is a...side effe...

Prion diseases are evil.

I was recently reminded of this scene:

The pirate wedding from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The first movie, overall, was better, but this scene needs to be nominated for something - it's awesome!

A fun scene from the Karate Kid: Show me 'Sand the Floor' Part of me thought I only appreciated the 'underdog wins the game/fight/tournament' in this movie because I hadn't seen the whole slew of kids sport movies that came after it. But, this was never about winning the tournament, so even though t...

Ax , I'd like to nominate another 'best chase scene not involving vehicles' (unless horses count as vehicles): Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid It's 9 1/2 min, but I guess it can count as a single scene. Chases take longer when you're not driving cars ;). The final 3 min., if you don't want the b...

Festival was fun :). I've confirmed that I prefer the fast songs, but then, that wasn't much of a surprise. Hehe, though I did notice that I tend to like the music better than the lyrics, so that might have something to do with it! A bit of a disappointment that this was a lawnchair-only crowd, so v...

There is a lot of Irish influence in Bluegrass/Appalachian music, certainly The third song I linked was a sea shanty.

The Wailin' Jennys:

The Parting Glass

One Voice

Saucy Sailor

This seemed as good a place as any to announce that I'll get to see Allison Krause and Union Station live this weekend. It'll be my first bluegrass festival. I'm excited!

River wrote:Can you reduce them to quivering blobs of jelly with your voice? That's so unnerving.

No. I'm actually not all that intimidating of a teacher. But you do learn to give disapproving looks because that doesn't interrupt the flow of what people are saying.